Works, Book 1 · Discourse 26
DISCOURSE XXVI.
S. MARK 1. 15.
Repent ye, and believe the Gospel.
WHilest our Blessed Saviour preached here on earth, what else, in likelihood, could the argument of his preaching be, but the Mystery of Christian Religion, or way of attaining Salvation through himself? Accordingly this Brief of his Sermons, recorded by our Evangelist, contains no less than the Sum of all Christian Divinity. For the Knowledg of the Kingdom of God, and the means how to attain to be a member, and so to have interest in the benefits and priviledges of the same, (which is Salvation) containeth the Sum of all a Christian is either to know or do. The first of which (The knowledg of the Kingdom of God,) is in the first words, The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; of which I have spoken already. The second is contained in the next words, Repent ye, and believe the Gospel; of which I am to speak now.
None can be Members or Citizens of the Kingdom of God, but only those who are the Sons of God: The means to become the Sons or Children of God, is by Regeneration or New-birth. This is the Mystery our Saviour told Nicodemus of, when he came to him by night; Except a man (saith our Saviour) be born again, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God, Iohn 3. 3. Now Regeneration, or New birth, consists of these two parts, Repentance towards God, and Faith towards Christ; according to that which the Apostle Paul told the Elders of the Church of Ephesus, Acts 20. 21. that he had testified both to Iews and Greeks, Repentance towards God, and Faith towards our Lord Iesus Christ; that is, the whole mystery of Regeneration, whereby a man becomes the Child of God, and a member of his Kingdom. Where we are to note (and it will serve us to understand these things the better) that Repentance, properly and distinctly taken, looks towards God the Father; and Faith unto Christ our Mediatour. The one is our returning unto God, from whom we are gone astray by sin: the other, the means or way of our return unto him, by Christ, without whom we can neither be reconciled to our heavenly Father, nor perform any service acceptable unto him.
These two therefore our Saviour distinguisheth, when he saith, Repent, and believe the Gospel; the one looking to his Father, the other to himself. Both joyned together make the New birth or a new man: even as in natural generation, the Soul being united with the Body makes a natural man; Repentance here being as the Body or Matter, which Faith in the Gospel of Christ inlivens and informs as a Soul. Those therefore who make Faith a part of Repentance, understand by Repentance the whole Regeneration of a sinner. Otherwise, if Repentance be taken precisely and distinctly, as it is here by our Saviour, then is not Faith a part, but a necessary concurrent of Repentance; as the Soul is no part of the Body, but concurs therewith to the making of a Man.
And thus much I held needful to speak of Repentance and Faith in general, to make my way the more straight and easie to the handling of them severally and apart; which now I come unto. And first to begin with that which is first, Repentance.
REPENTANCE is A turning of the whole heart from Satan and Sin, to serve God in newness of life. I say, from Satan and Sin, because he that lives in Sin, serves the Devil, and belongs to his jurisdiction. And therefore in our Baptism, which is the Seal of our New birth, we profess our Repentance by renouncing the Devil and all his works; that is, the works of Sin wherewith he is served: and then we swear fealty to God, saying, I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth, &c.
The Definition I have given, you shall find full and whole in our Saviour's words to S. Paul, when he appeared to him going to Damascus, Acts 26. 18. as S. Paul himself reporteth them; namely, that he would send him to the Gentiles, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God; that they might receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them that are sanctified. Which voice S. Paul there saith V. 19. he was obedient unto; and thereupon went and shewed first to the Iews and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance, V. 20. The Commission therefore given him in the words aforesaid was, To preach Repentance.
And howsoever the name of Repentance be by a custome of speech restrained only to that Sorrow and Remorse for sin which is but the beginning of our Turning;Repentance i… more than a Sorrow for sim. yet, if we will speak according to Scripture, (as we must do when we expound it) the word foreign, translated Repentance, is of a larger extent, signifying not only those pangs of Contrition wherewith Repentance begins, but the whole change and journey (as I may so speak) of the Soul of a sinner, leaving the service of the Devil, and turning to the service of God. For this word in the New Testament answers to that of Turning and Returning so frequent in the Old; as appears not only by the Syriack which so renders it, but by those places in the New Testament where the one is put to explain the other; as in that of S. Paul now quoted. And that the word, Turning, is of as large sense as I speak of, I shall need go no further for proof, than to the words of our Saviour to S. Paul even now mentioned. But this will appear better by the ensuing Discourse of the Parts of Repentance.
Repentance (as any one almost may gather by the Definition given thereof) hath two parts, according to the two terms, à quo, & ad quem; An aversion or turning away, and A conversion or turning unto. An aversion or turning away from Satan and Sin; that is the first part: then A conversion or turning unto God by newness of life; that is the second part. The one is a falling off from the Creature, the other a betaking to the Creator.
The first some call Mortification, See Rom. 8. 1….from that phrase in Scripture of Dying to sin, (Rom. 6. 11. Col. 3. 3.) that is,Col. 3. 5. of ceasing to be the servants of sin. The second, Vivification, Eph. 2. 5.from that Scripture-phrase of Living to God, (Rom. 6. 11. Gal. 2. 19.) that is,Col. 2. 13. of beginning to be to God-ward; the first receiving virtue from Christ's death, the other from his resurrection.) For to live, in the Scripture notion, is as much as to be; to die, as not to be. Because therefore to turn away from Satan and Sin is to renounce them, and to be no more (theirs) under them; it is called Dying to sin: and because to turn unto God by newness of life is to become his, and be that to him which before we were not; it is called Living unto God.
But the more usual name of the first part of Repentance, or the act of aversion and turning away, is Contrition; a term borrowed from the*Psal. 51. 17. Old Testament. The other part is simply called Conversion unto God, Esay 57. 15. & ch. 66. 2.(or by some, Reformation or Newness of Life.) I shall use some of these terms, so as not to neglect the rest. And the first part of Repentance I will call Contrition, or Dying to sin, as the most easie expression; of which I shall now begin to speak.
Contrition, or Dying unto sin, hath sometimes the whole name of Repentance and Turning given to it; namely, as often as the thing to be turned from is solely mentioned. As Heb. 6. 1. we have repentance from dead works. S. Peter saith to Simon Magus, Act. 8. 22. Repent of thy wickedness. S. Paul, 2 Cor. 12. 21. speaks of repenting of uncleanness, and sornication, and lasciviousness. In all which, and the like places, Repentance seems to signifie only Contrition, or the act of aversion and turning away from sin. Otherwise, as I have already said, it signifies the whole act of our turning, from the beginning to the end: as appears plainly, either when both terms are mentioned, or but the thing or term to be turned unto: as Acts 20. 21. Repentance unto God; and Act. 26. 20. where S. Paul saith, that he preached both to the Iews and Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God. For no man can turn unto God, unless he first have turned from the Devil.
But to leave words, and come to the matter. Contrition, or Dying unto sin, is such a Compunction of the Heart for the same as is joyned with a purpose to leave and forsake it. Not every Compunction for sin is true Contrition, but such a Compunction only as is joyned with a purpose to leave and forsake it. Contrition hath therefore as you see, two parts or degrees. The first is, A Compunction of the Heart for sin; the second, A Purpose to forsake and renounce sin. The one is a turning away from sin, in the affections or passions of the Mind; the other is a turning of the Will.
Compunction is a turning in the affections and passions of the Mind; and that not of one passion only, but of every passion wherewith we abhor and fly a thing as evil; as Fear, Grief, and Hate: for we must turn with our whole hearts. Fear leads the rank, and trembles at the wrath of God and dreadful Iudgment to come, when it shall be said to every unrepentant sinner,Matt. 25. 41. Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels, there to be tormented for ever and ever. For Fear is of an evil to come.
Next comes Grief, and laments that ever it was committed, whereby we have incurred so great an evil as to become vassals of Satan, and the loss of so great a good as the favour of Almighty God, yea of so good and gracious a God as saith again and again, As I live, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his ways, and live. Ezek. 18. 23. & 33. 11.What wretch would have lost the favour of such a God as this? O that it were to do again! I would never do it. For we grieve at the presence of evil and absence of good, as we joy in the contrary.
Thirdly comes Hate, and begins to loath and detest sin as a thing not only hurtful, but ugly and abominable, a soul and beastly thing, most contrary to and unbefitting the nature and excellency of a Reasonable creature, as man is. For we hate that which is contrary, and love what is agreeable to us.
These are the several motions and degrees of that Compunction of Heart whereby a Repentant Soul turneth from his sin. And that this is the order of them, may appear, because that is always first which may be without the rest. Now a man may tremble at God's judgments for sin and wrath to come, and yet not grieve for them; yea a man may tremble and grieve too for his sins, and yet not hate and loath them.
But all these repentant passions of Compunction, though diverse in themselves, yet are wont to be comprehended under the name of Sorrow and Remorse for sin: Not as though that were the only passion in our Compunction; but because all passions of the Mind which spring from the apprehension and sense of evil are grievous and painful, and so may, as by a general name, be comprehended under the word Sorrow: as the contrary passions, being pleasing and delightful to nature, may be, and are wont to be, comprehended under the name of Pleasure. For Dolor and Voluptas, Pain and Pleasure, divide all our Passions between them. foreign, saith Aristotle, foreign, Every action of ours is attended with some either pleasure or pain. Though yet there be among the doleful passions a passion peculiarly called Tristitia or Sorrow; and among the delightful passions one likewise in special called Laetitia or Ioy.
But all this Fear and Trembling at the wrath of God to come for sin, this Sorrow for sin, this Hating and Loathing of sin, will not make our Contrition full and perfect, unless our Will also do his part, and resolve to forsake and leave it. For so I defined true Contrition, or Dying to sin, to be A compunction of the Heart for sin, joyned with a will and resolution to forsake it.
Hath then the wrath of God Almighty, and the everlasting woe denounced to all impenitent sinners, made thee fear and tremble? Hath thy trembling been seconded with a true and hearty sorrow for thy sins? Hath thy sorrow been such as brought forth hate and loathing of sin, so that sin appeared ugly and abominable unto thee? Hath there then followed a Will to be rid of it, a Purpose to forsake and leave it? Then art thou truly contrite and dead to sin-ward. With this last act thy service of sin gave up the ghost. Thou hast turned away, bidden farewel, and shaken hands with Sin and Satan.
An Effect of this Contrition is Confession: when out of a contrite and wounded heart, we acknowledge and lay open our sins before the face of Almighty God (our heavenly Father) begging pardon and forgiveness for them. A Duty always necessary to be performed to God himself, whom we have chiefly and principally offended; and in some cases also convenient to be made unto his Ministers, not only for advice, but for consolation, by that power and authority which God hath given them to exercise in his name, according to that, Whose sins ye remit, shall be remitted. For if we confess our sins, (saith S. Iohn Iohn 20. 21.1 Epist. 1. 9.) he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness; and Proverb. 28. 13. He that covereth his sins, shall not prosper; but whose confesseth and forsaketh them, shall have mercy.
THUS have we seen the several degrees and steps of Contrition and Dying to sin: Trembling at the fearful doom and vengeance due unto it; Grieving for it; Hating and loathing of it; a Will and Purpose to forsake and leave it; together with the common Effect of them, Confession. And so now we are arrived at the main Cardo and hinge of Repentance, the Ioynt where the two parts thereof, Aversion and Conversion, meet and are knit together: For where the Act of Aversion from sin endeth, there Conversion unto God begins. The last Act of turning from sin was that of the Will, to forsake and leave it: The same Act is the beginning of our turning unto God. For no man can resolve to forsake and leave sin, but he must purpose also to lead a new life to God: Nor can any man have a purpose to lead a new life, but he must withal resolve to leave sin. This is then the main Ioynt of Repentance, where the Spirit and Grace of God (the vis foreign of our Regeneration, which from the beginning stirred our hearts) gives that great and powerful lift which doth the deed.
Here and not before now, that Faith in the Gospel, which applies and reaches hold of Christ, first comes in to give life unto Repentance, as a Soul unto a Body. Which union of Faith and Repentance (as I said in the beginning of this Discourse) makes the Regeneration of a spiritual man; as the union of the Soul with the Body makes the generation of a natural man. And as in natural generation, the Soul is not infused at the first conception, but after the Body hath been in some measure fashioned and formed: So in our Regeneration, or generation spiritual, Iustifying Faith, or that Faith whereby the Soul flies unto and relies upon Christ, hath no place till Repentance be come to the last degree of Contrition. Matt. 11. 28.For then our Saviour inviteth a sinner to come unto him, and not till then: Come unto me, saith he, all ye that labour, and are heavie laden, (that is, all ye that are contrite, and groan under the burthen of your sins,) and I will ease you. Till then he invites them not, as being not till then fit to be eased; For the whole hath no need of the Physician, but the sick. Matt. 9. 17.I speak not of an Historical faith, whereby a man believes in general, that Christ is the Saviour of mankind; nor of a Legal, wherewith a man believes the punishments and threatnings of the Law, (for these may be, yea are, before Repentance:) but of a Saving faith, which applies Christ as a salve to a sick and wounded soul.
BUT now, to dwell no longer upon the connexion of the two parts, let us see what are the degrees also of this second part, namely, of Turning and Living unto God, by a new and reformed life, answerable to the degrees of the former part, which was Dying and Turning from sin. Where first we are to know, that because Turning to a thing, and Turning from a thing, are motions of a contrary nature; therefore the degrees of our Turning unto God are to be ranked in a clean contrary order to those of our Turning from sin. For the first degree here, is the Act of the Will, which as it concluded our Turning from sin, by resolving to forsake it, so it begins our Turning unto God, by a firm purpose of Heart to serve him thenceforth in newness of life. After this, the Affections begin to act their parts answerably, and as it were to eccho the good choice the Will hath made.
First Love, when a man begins to find himself affected and enamoured with this change of life. After Love comes Delight, when the Penitent takes some pleasure in doing the duties whereby God is served, and finds joy and comfort in his favour. From whence in the third place springs Hope of the reward; namely to be partaker of the glory and life to come, promised unto all those who unfeignedly turn to God, and set themselves to do his will. But we must know, that these Affections appear not all at once, nor in like measure, but according as a mans growth and proficiency in Conversion is more or less.
Howsoever the inseparable Effects of this second part of Repentance are good works, or, as the Scripture calls them,*foreign works worthy of, or meet for, or beseeming Repentance; that is, works of Religion towards God, and of Righteousness towards men. I shewed (saith S. Paul, Acts 26. 20.) first to the Iews, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. Without such works, he that saith he is turned unto God, and yet doth them not, is a lier and deceives his own soul.
THUS much of the second part of Repentance. I will conclude this whole Discourse with these two excellent descriptions of Repentance in the Prophets Esay and Ezekiel, which contain the Sum of what I have hitherto spoken concerning the same.
For thus saith Esay, chap. 1. 16. Wash ye, make ye clean, put away the evil of your doings from mine eyes, saith the Lord, cease to do evil: This is the first part of Repentance. V. 17. Learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow: This is the second part.
Ezek. ch. 33. v. 14, 15. thus; When I say unto the wicked (saith the Lord) Thou shal… surely die; if he turn from his sin, [there is Contrition, the first part] and do that which is lawful and right; If he restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the Statutes of life, without committing iniquity [here ye fee the fruit of a New life, the second part] he shall surely live, he shall not die.
Believe the Gospel.
THUS much shall suffice to have spoken of Repentance, the first part of our Regeneration. I come to the second, Faith in the Gospel, Repent, and believe the Gospel. Where first I will shew, What this Gospel is; secondly, What it is to believe it, or, What is that Faith concerning it which our Saviour here requires.
For the First; The Gospel is the glad tidings of Salvation to be attained by Christ; who by taking away of sin, reconciles us unto his Father, that through him we might turn unto God, and perform service and obedience acceptable unto eternal life. Before I prove every part of this Description out of Scripture, and explain the same as shall be needful for your understanding, we will first speak of the Antiquity of this Gospel, and shew when these glad tidings were made known to the sons of men.
Know therefore, that albeit the Fulfilling and solemn publication thereof were not until our Saviour's coming, yet the Promise of the same was from the daies of old, even as ancient as the time of man's sin; and afterwards continued and repeated all the time of the Covenant of the Law, until the Mediatour of the New Covenant came in the flesh. For when the Devil, abusing the shape of a Serpent, had seduced our first Parents unto sin, and so had gotten dominion over them and theirs by this title; the Gospel or Promise of a Redeemer (that they might not be without all comfort) was given them in these words, The seed of the woman shall break the Serpent's head. The Serpent's head is Satan's soveraignty, which is Principatus mortis, the soveraignty or principality of death; a Soveraignty that whosoever is under, is liable to death both temporal and eternal; the power thereof consisting not in saving and giving life, but in destroying both of body and Soul. The Sword whereby this dominion is obtained,1 Cor. 15. 56. the Sceptre whereby it is maintained, or, as S. Paul speaks, the Sting of this Serpent's head, is Sin. This is that which got this dominion at the first, and the title whereby he still maintaineth the remainder of his jurisdiction in the world. This Soveraignty, this Headship of the Devil, One to be born of mankind, the Seed of the woman (which is Christ our Lord) should one day destroy and overthrow; as was then promised, and we at this day see fulfilled.
But this Promise was general, and not yet restrained to any part of mankind, but so that any son of Adam might, for ought was yet revealed, be the progenitor of that Seed which should deliver man from the Devil's thraldom, and reconcile him to his God. But when God called Abraham forth of Vr of the Chaldees, the Promise was made more special, being restrained to the off-spring of his loyns: For the Almighty tells him once, and again, and the third time, That in his seed all the Nations of the earth should be blessed, Gen. 12. 3. ch. 18. 18. & ch. 22. 18.
Now Abraham had two sons, Ishmael the son of the bond-woman, and Isaac the son of Sarah his wife. Of which of these two the promised Seed should come was yet indifferent, till God entailed it to Isaac; both telling Abraham, *Gen. 21. 12.That in Isaac his seed should be called, and repeating to Isaac the Promise made to Abraham, That in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed, Gen. 26. 4.
Isaac had two sons, Esau and Iacob: Esau was excluded, and the Promise entailed to Iacob, That in his seed all the families of the earth should be blessed, Gen. 28. 14. that is, the blessed Seed should come of his loyns.
Of Iacob came the twelve Patriarchs, and of them the twelve Tribes of Israel, among whom the Promise of the blessed Seed was entailed to the Tribe of Iudah, and of him promised That Shiloh (that is, the Saviour or Peace-maker) to whom the Nations were to be gathered, should come. The Sceptre saith the Text, shall not depart from Iudah, nor a Law-giver from between his feet, until Shiloh come, and unto him the gathering of the people be, Gen. 49. 10.
After this Tribe was multiplied, and some hundreds of years together with the other Tribes setled in the land of Canaan, the Promise was made yet more special, and entailed to David, a man of that Tribe, whom God exalted to be King of his people, as a Type of that Blessed King to come. And to this all the Prophets bear witness, That Messiah the Redeemer should be a Rod out of the stem of Iesse, a Branch or Impe of David, the Son and Heir of David's house, yea another David. For under these terms Esaiah, Ieremiah, Ezekiel, Zachary, prophesy of him, and the rest of the Prophets to like purpose.
And this was the last limitation of the blessed Seed until the Angel Gabriel was sent of God to a Virgin of the house of David, with a message, That God had chosen her of all David's house to be that highly favoured one, and that blessed Mother of that Great King who should be called the Son of the Highest, of whose Kingdom there should be no end, Luke 1. 32, 33.
Thus was the Gospel or glad tidings of a Redeemer prophesied; and not only so, but it was also signified and sealed by the Types and Shadows of the Law. For the Legal Sacrifices, which were offered to make atonement for sin, were nothing else but shadows and representations of that Offering upon the Cross which Messiah was one day to make of himself for the sins of the world. For the way whereby the blessed Seed should vanquish Satan, and redeem his Elect out of his power and jurisdiction, was by becoming a Sacrifice for sin, so to cancel the title whereby the Devil held the world in thraldom.
This was foreshewed unto Abraham, unto whose loyns, as ye have heard the Promise of the blessed Seed was first confined. For when Sarah had born him his son Isaac, the son wherein his seed should be called, and so either himself to be that happy Seed, or the progenitor of the same; God, to reveal unto him by way of mysterie, how that Seed of his should make all the Nations of the earth blessed,Of this see Discourse XIII. commanded him to take his Son Isaac, the only hope and pledge of that happy and blessed Seed, and to offer him for a burnt-offering to the Lord upon the mountains of Moriah: to intimate and signifie, that this blessed Seed of Abraham should suffer death, and by sacrifice of himself redeem the world from the claws of the Serpent; yea and more than so, that he should be offered even in that very place, even in the land of Moriah: and so he was; for there was Ierusalem and the Temple for Sacrifice afterwards builded. But when Abraham had brought his son to the place appointed, had built an Altar there, and made all things fit, and was now ready to slay his son; the Angel of the Lord stayed his hand, and shewed him a Ram caught in a thicket by the horns; which Ram Abraham took and offered for a burnt-offering in stead of his own son: To signifie, that the offering of the blessed Seed should be yet suspended, and that God in the mean while would accept the offerings of Bulls and Rams, as a pledge of that expiation which the blessed Seed of Abraham should one day make. So this wonderful Story was to be the Key of the Sacrifices of the Law, whereby it might be known what they meant, and whither they tended: namely, That the bloud of Bulls and Rams and other Beasts of themselves do not work atonement for sin, but only as they were ordained by God to stand for Types and Pledges of the Sacrifice of Christ to come. Which that they might the more lively express, God so disposed, that that very place where the Ram was offered in stead of Isaac, should be the place of Sacrifice for Israel. For there it was where the Lord answered David by fire from heaven, and so designed it for the place which he had chosen for his Altar. There David pitched him a Tabernacle; there Solomon built him his Temple.
By all which it is plain and manifest, That the Fathers in the Old Testament under the Law were saved by Christ as well as we: but with this difference, That to them Christ was but in promise, and hoped for; to us he is already sent and exhibited: To them the mysterie of Redemption by him was obscure and dark, as known but for the general, That it should be, not in particular for the manner, How it should be; but to us all is open and revealed: Their Faith groped after shadows; but ours lays hold on the substance. And let this Information be the Use of this Discourse.
This being premised touching the Promise of Christ so long before he came, and how the Mysterie of his Gospel was pourtraied by Types and Shadows before it was openly revealed and exhibited; I come to confirm and explain the Description I gave thereof; to wit, That it is the glad tidings of Salvation to be attained by Christ, &c.
I say, It is the glad tidings; for so the name thereof both in the Greek and in our English imports: For Spell in old English was to speak or read, and so Gospel is as much as Good spell, that is, the good speak or say, the good tidings, the word of good news. Under which name it was revealed by the Angel to the Shepherds who were watching their flock in the fields the night our Saviour was born; Behold, saith the Angel. I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people: For unto you is born this day a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord, Luk. 2. 10, 11.
I call it the glad tidings of Salvation to be attained by Christ; for so much the name of Saviour implies. And saith S. Paul, 1 Tim. 1. 15. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, That Iesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Neither is there (saith S. Peter Acts 4. 12.) Salvation in any other; for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
The next words I used, shew the way and manner how and whereby Christ purchased this Salvation unto men, and the means whereby it is attained through him: namely, by cancelling of sin by his alonement made he reconciles us to his Father, that we through him might turn unto God, and perform works of obedience acceptable unto eternal life. All which was foretold by Daniel, chap. 9. 24. where prophesying of the time of Messiah's coming, he said, Seventy weeks were determined upon the people, and upon the holy city, to finish transgression, and to make an end of sin, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness.
To prove in particular that Christ dyed for sin, I shall not need. No man that ever read the Gospel but knows it. That by the atonement he made for sin by death he hath reconciled us to his Father, is as evident by what S. Paul tells us 2 Cor. 5. 19. That God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses to them. That the ministery of the Gospel is the Ministery of reconciliation, v. 18. whose Ministers as Embassadors for Christ, beseech men in Christ's stead to be reconciled unto God, v. 20. For by reason of Sin all mankind is at enmity with God, and liable to eternal wrath: Christ, by taking our sins upon him, abolished this enmity, and set us at peace with God his Father, according to that the Quire of Angels sang at his blessed Birth,Luke 2. 14. Glory be to God on high, and on earth Peace, Good-will towards men: that is, Glory be ascribed to God, forasmuch as Peace was come upon earth, and Good-will towards men.
All this is plain. But that which the greatest part of men (as may be guessed by their practice) seem to make question of, is, that last parcel of my Description; That therefore Christ took away sin and reconciled us to his Father, that we might through him, whose righteousness is imputed to us, perform works of piety and obedience, which God should accept and crown with eternal life. But that this is also a part of the Gospel, as well as the former, is plain and evident. First, by that of S. Peter, 1 Ep. ch. 2. ver. 24. where he tells us, That Christ his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sin, might live unto righteousness. Secondly, by that of the Apostle Paul to Titus ch. 2. 11, &c. The grace of God (saith he) that bringeth Salvation hath appeared unto all men: Wherefore? Teaching us, that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Iesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. Is not this plain? Thirdly, by that of the same Apostle, Eph. 2. 10. where the Apostle having told us (v. 8, 9.) that we are saved by grace, through faith, and not of works (that is, not according to the Covenant of works, wherein the exact performance was required) lest any man should boast, namely, that he was not beholden to God for grace and favour in rewarding him; he adds presently, lest his meaning might be mistaken, That we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Iesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained (foreign) that we should walk in them. As if he should say, Though of our selves we are no ways able to perform those works of obedience ordained by God aforetime in his Law for us to walk in, yet now God hath, as it were, new created us in Christ, that we might perform them in him; namely, by way of acceptation, though they come short of that exactness which the Law requireth. And thus to be saved, is to be saved by grace and favour, and not by the merit of works; because the foundation whereby our selves and services are approved in the eyes of God and have promise of reward, is the mere favour of God in Iesus Christ, and not any thing in us or them.
Agreeable to these Scriptures is that in the Revelation, where glory is ascribed to Iesus Christ who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own bloud, Rev. 1. 5. 6.and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God his Father; that is, that he might make us kings and Priests unto God his Father. For [and] is here to be taken foreign, for [that.] Kings, to subdue the world, the flesh, and the Devil; Priests, to offer Sacrifices of prayer, thanksgiving, works of mercy, and other acceptable services to our heavenly Father.
Moreover and besides these express Scriptures, this Truth may be yet further confirmed by Demonstration and Reason. Repentance is a forsaking of sin to serve God in newness of life. Now the Gospel includes Repentance as the subject wherein it worketh, as the Body which it enliveneth as a Soul. Or, to use a similitude from weaving, Repentance is the warp of the Gospel, and the Gospel the woof of Repentance: Repentance is as the warp which the Gospel, by the shuttle of Faith, runs through as the woof, whence proceeds the web of Regeneration. Therefore is Repentance everywhere joyned with the Gospel: Both Iohn Baptist and our Saviour so published it, Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand: Repent, and believe the Gospel. Our Saviour in his last words or commission to his Disciples tells them, Luk. 24. 47. that Repentance and Remission of sins (which is the Gospel) should be preached in his Name among all Nations, beginning at Ierusalem. All which is elsewhere comprised in the sole name of preaching the Gospel: which argues that the Gospel of Christ, and consequently our Faith in the same, supposeth Repentance as the ground to do its work upon. So S. Peter, in his first Sermon, Acts 2. 38. conjoyns them, Repent (saith he,) and be baptized in the name of Iesus Christ, for the remission of sins: as if he had said, Repent; and that thy Repentance may be available, betake thy self to Christ, become a disciple and a member of his Kingdom. S. Paul likewise taught the Gospel in like manner, for himself tells us so, Acts 20. 21. that he testified both to Iews and Gentiles, Repentance toward God, and Faith toward our Lord Iesus Christ. Repentance therefore and the Gospel cannot be separated. If Repentance includes newness of life and good works, the Gospel doth so. For Christ is the way of Repentance; without Repentance there is no use of Christ, and without Christ Repentance is unavailable, and nothing worth: for without him we can neither be quit of the sins we forsake, nor turn by a new life unto God with hope of being received. He is the blessed Ferry-man, and his Gospel is the Boat, provided by the unspeakable mercy of God, for the passage of this Sea. As therefore in Repentance, we forsake sin to serve God in newness of life; so in the tenour of the Gospel, Christ delivers us from sin, that we might through Faith in him bring forth the fruits and works of a new life acceptable to our heavenly Father.
Hence it is that we shall be judged and receive our sentence at the last day according to our works: Come ye blessed of my Father, Mat. 25. 34. &c.inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was hungry, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Vers. 42.Forasmuch as ye have done these things unto the least of my brethren, ye have done them unto me. Lord! how do those look to be saved at that day, who think good works not required to Salvation, and accordingly do them not? Can our Saviour pass this blessed sentence upon them? No; assuredly he will not.
But if the case be thus in the Gospel; What is the reason, will some men, say, that the Apostle tells us,Rom 6. 14. Gal. 5. 18. & 2. 16. that we Christians are no longer under the Law, nor justified by the works of the Law? but under Grace, and justified by Faith only?Rom. 3. 28. and elsewhere.
I answer, It is true, that we are justified, that is, freed and acquitted from sin, by Faith only: But besides Iustification, there is a Sanctification, with the works of piety towards God and righteousness towards men, as the Fruits, yea as the End of our Iustification, required to eternal life: For therefore we are justified, that we might do works acceptable to our heavenly Father through the imputation of the Righteousness of Christ (which of our selves we could not,) and so obtain the reward he hath promised the doers of them.
As for the Law, it is to be considered either as a Rule, and so we are bound to conform and frame our actions to it, (for who dare deny but a Christian is bound to fear God and keep his Commandments?) or the Law may be considered as it is taken for the Covenant of works. The Apostle, when he disputes of this argument, by the Law means the Covenant of works, which he also calls*Rom. 3. 27. The Law of works; and by Faith, and the Law of Faith, he understands the Covenant of grace, the condition whereof is Faith: as will easily appear to him that shall diligently read the third and fourth chapters of the Epistle to the Galatians, where he expresly changeth those terms of Law and Faith into the equivalent appellations of the Two Covenants.
Now as the Law is taken for the Covenant of works (the Seal whereof was Circumcision) 'tis true, we are not under it. For the Covenant of works, called by the Apostle the Law, is that Covenant wherein Works are the condition on our part, which if we perform in every point as the Law requires, we are justified before God, as keepers of his Covenant; otherwise, if we fail in the least thing, we are condemned as guilty of the breach thereof. Under this Covenant we are not; for if we were, and were to be judged according to it, alas! who could be saved? For, all (saith the Apostle) have sinned, Rom. 3. 23, 10.and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no not one.
But the Covenant we are under, is, Believe, and thou shalt be saved; the Covenant of Grace: the condition of which Covenant, on our part, is not the doing of works which may abide the Touch-stone of the Law; but Faith in Iesus Christ, which makes our works, though of themselves insufficient and short of what the Law requires, accepted of God and capable of reward. This is that S. Iohn saith, 1 Ep. 5. 3, 4. That to love God, is to keep his commandments, and his commandments (now under the Gospel) are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God, overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our Faith, &c. Whence our Saviour also saith, that his yoke (the yoke of the Gospel) was easie, and his burthen light. Matt. 11. 30.The condition of the first Covenant was that which we could not do; the condition of the second Covenant is that which enableth us to do, and makes accepted what we can do: and this is the Covenant of the Gospel, a Covenant of savour and grace through Iesus Christ our Lord.
And thus we have seen what the Apostle's meaning is, when he saith, we are not under the Law, but under Grace. Not as though a Christian were not bound to walk after God's commandments; but that the exact fulfilling of them is not the condition whereby we are justified in the New Covenant, but Faith in Iesus Christ, in whom whosoever cometh unto the Father, is accepted, be his offering never so mean, so it be tendered with sincerity and truth of heart.
Most unworthy therefore should we be of this so great and unspeakable favour of Almighty God our heavenly Father, offered us in the Gospel, if when he hath given us his only Son, to make the yoak of our obedience easie and possible to be born, we, contemning this superabundant grace, should refuse to wear and draw therein. Far be it from the heart of a Christian, to think it possible to have any benefit by Christ as long as he stands thus affected; or ever to win the prize of eternal life, without running the race appointed thereunto. Shall we sin that grace may abound? saith S. Paul, God forbid.*Rom. 6. ….
THUS much of the Gospel. Now of Faith, whereby we are partakers of the grace therein, being the condition of the New Covenant which God hath struck with men.
Faith is to believe the Gospel, that is, to attain Salvation through Christ. But there is a three-fold Faith wherewith men believe in Christ. 1. There is a false Faith: 2. there is a true Faith, but not a saving: and 3. there is a saving Faith.
A false Faith is, to believe to attain Salvation by Christ any other way than God hath ordained; as namely, to believe to attain Salvation through him without works of obedience to be accepted of God in him: which is a Faith whereof there is no Gospel. A true Faith is, to believe Salvation to be attained through obedience to God in Iesus Christ, who by his merits and satisfaction for sin makes our selves and our works acceptable to his Father. A saving and justifying Faith is, to believe this so as to embrace and lay hold upon Christ for that end, to apply our selves unto him and rely upon him, that we may through him perform those works of obedience which God hath promised to reward with eternal life. For a justifying Faith stays not only in the Brain, but stirs up the Will to receive and enjoy the good believed, according as it is promised. This motion or election of the Will is that which maketh the difference between a saving Faith which joyns us to Christ, and that which is true indeed, but not saving, but dogmatical and opinionative only. And this motion or applying of the Will to Christ, this embracing of Christ and the Promises of the Gospel through him, is that which the Scripture, when it speaks of this Faith, calleth coming unto Christ, or the receiving of him. Come unto me, all ye that are heavy-laden, and I will ease you, Matth. 11. 28. See Iohn 5. 40. and chap. 6. 37, 44, 45. So for receiving, Iohn 1. 12. As many as received him, to them he gave power (or priviledge) to be the sons of God, even to them that believe on his Name; where receiving and believing, one expounds another.
Now if this be the Faith which is saving and unites us unto Christ, and none other; then it is plain that a saving Faith cannot be severed from good works, because no man can embrace Christ as he is promised, but he must apply himself to do them. Would we then know whether our Faith be true and saving, and not counterfeit? This is the only sign and note whereby we may know it; if we find these fruits thereof in our lives and conversations. For, 1 Iohn 1. 6. If we say we have fellowship with Christ, and walk in darkness, we lye, and do not the truth. Ch. 2. 3. Hereby we know that we know him, (namely, to be our Advocate with the Father, and the propitiation for our sins) if we keep his Commandments. And ch. 3. 7. Little children, let no man deceive you: He that doth righteousness, is righteous, even as Christ is righteous. For if every one that believes in Christ truly and savingly, believes that Salvation is to be attained by obeying God in him, and so embraces and lays hold on him for that end; how can such a ones Faith be fruitless?