cherished his Son in his members. Not that their love to him, or their charity to them purchased any such right; but only proves and evinces it; it is not the cause of their justification, but a reason why God declares them justified; as the deeds, which I produce, are the reason why an estate is adjudged mine, though the cause of my title to it be either my own purchase or another's gift. As, therefore, those are said to have no right nor title to what they pretend, who can shew no evidence for it; so those, who obey not the holy will and com mands of God, have no right to the Tree of Life, because they have no evidence to shew, nor no plea to urge for it, but will certainly be cast in their suit. [2] Those, who do God's commandments, have a Right of Heirship and Inheritance unto eternal life. For they are born of God, and therefore heaven is their patrimony, their paternal estate: for so are the words of the Apostle, 1 John ii. 29. Every one, that doeth righteousness, is born of God. And, if they are born of God, then, according to the Apostle's argumentation, Rom. viii. 17. If children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ, who is the heir of all things. The trial of thy legitimation, whether thou art a true and genuine Son of God, will lie upon thy obedience to his commands: for, In this, says the Apostle, 1 John iii. 9, 10. the children of God are manifest, and the children of the Devil: Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit sin.....and whosoever doeth not righteousness, is not of God. Now if, by our obedience and dutifulness, it appears, that we are indeed the children of God, our Father will certainly give us a child's portion; and that is no less than a kingdom. So saith our Saviour, Luke xii. 32. Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. [3] Those, who do God's commandments, have a Right to eternal life by Promise and Stipulation; and therefore it is called eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, hath promised : Tit. i. 2. Indeed, the whole tenour of the Gospel is nothing else but the exhibition of this promise, and a comment upon it. This is the sum of the Gospel, the terms of the covenant, the indenture made between God and man: If thou wilt enter into life, says our Saviour, keep the commandments: Matth. xix. 17. And, in another place, our Lord tells us, Not every one, that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he, that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven: Matth. vii. 21. And thus you see what Right it is, which obedience to the commands of God gives us to eternal life: a Right of Evidence, a Right of Heirship, and a Right of Promise. "But," may some say, "is not this again to establish the antiquated Covenant of Works, Do this, and live? And doth not this abolish the law of faith, He that believeth shall be saved? Is it not the office of faith alone, to convey unto us a right and title unto eternal life?" I answer, No; it doth no prejudice unto faith: for we still affirm, that our original and fundamental right to heaven is grounded, not upon our obedience, but Christ's; not upon our works, but upon his; his merits and purchase, which, through faith, are imparted and imputed to us. Yet, give me leave to say, that I think the notion of justifying and saving faith is very much, if not generally mistaken by us: and, as the soul is the most noble and most vital principle of man, and yet is most unknown to him, what it is and how it operates; so faith, which is the vital principle of Christians, and by which the just are said to live, is yet most, unknown, both as to its nature and operations, unto the generality of them. Some place it in assurance; some, in affiance and recumbence: some, in one act of faith; and some, in another: which are either the effects of faith as true, or the degrees of it as strong, rather than the proper and adequate nature and essence of it. And then they mightily puzzle themselves, how to accord and reconcile faith and obedience in carrying on the great work of our salvation, which yet were never at a variance about it, but only in their mistaken hypothesis. For what is faith, but an assent to a testimony? the very force and import of the word can carry no other sense and he, who says he believes, must needs mean that he believes some record or testimony; or else he speaks that, which neither himself, nor any other can understand. Consequently, therefore, a divine faith must be an assent to a divine testimony; that is, to the Word of God, contained in the Holy Scriptures. But if this faith rest only in a bare and naked assent to the truth of divine revelation, it is but historical and dogmatical; which, though it be a divine faith in respect of the objects believed, yet is but human and natural in respect of its principles and motives. But when this assent to the truths of the Scripture is joined with proportionable affections to those truths, and doth excite us to actions conformable to the disco veries of the divine will, there this faith is justifying and saving. And, certainly, this is not so very distant from obedience, as to be thought hardly reconcileable with it. As, for instance: a man may give a bare assent to this great gospel-truth, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, and yet this faith may not save him; because it may be unoperative, and pass no farther than the act of the understanding: this is a dead faith, which can never bring any man to heaven; yea, such a faith as the very devils and damned spirits in hell have, who believe and tremble: James ii. 19. Another man believes the same truth, and assents to the same proposition; but this his assent influences his affections, and governs his actions, in conformity to the nature and consequences of such a belief: and, because he is assured that Jesus Christ came into the world to be the Saviour of it, therefore he loves him, trusts in him, relies upon him, hopes in his promises, and obeys his commands. And this, indeed, is a true saving, justifying faith: for saving faith is a firm assent unto the truths of God revealed in the Holy Scriptures, working in us proportionable affections and actions: he, who so believes the glory of heaven, as to have his endeavours thereby quickened to use his utmost diligence for the obtaining of it; he, who so believes the torments of hell, as thereby to be terrified from doing any thing that might expose him to so great and fearful a condemnation; he, who so believes the attributes of God, as thereby to be excited to fear him for his greatness, to love him for his goodness, to imitate him in his bounty, purity, and holiness; he, who so believes the all-sufficiency, merits, and mediatory office of Jesus Christ, as thereby to be engaged with all his soul to love him, to trust in him, to rely upon him alone for salvation, and to yield to him all sincere obedience, as the law requires: such an one's faith is saving and justifying. So that, you see, there is no such discord between Faith and Works, as some would imagine: for that faith, which saves us, must work by love; Gal. v. 6. and those works, which capacitate us for salvation, must be the obedience of faith: as it is called, Rom. xvi. 26. III. Now, what is the END of all this, but to press you to true practical holiness, and a strict obedience to the commandments of God? If I should go from one person to another, and ask you one by one," Do you hope to be saved?" where is the man, who would not testify the confidence of his hopes, by his disdain at the question? Yea, but remember that salvation is a litigious claim and you have a powerful adversary, who puts in a strong plea against you; even the justice of God and his eternal wrath and vengeance; whose title to us, were it but better weighed and considered, would woefully stagger the hopes of most men, and make their faces gather blackness, and smite their hearts with amazement, and their knees with trembling. In a matter of such infinite importance, it highly concerns us to examine our right and title, and to peruse and try our evidences; lest, at the day of trial, we be cast in our suit, and pay dreadful damages unto the justice of God. Only those, who do God's commandments, have this Right to the Tree of Life. Christ hath, indeed, purchased salvation for all; but he is the author of.....salvation only to those who obey him, as the author to the Hebrews speaks; Heb. v. 9. and, without holiness no man shall ever see the Lord; Heb. xii. 14. The inheritance is, indeed, purchased; but where are your evidences of your heirship? Sirs, flatter not yourselves with any vain conceits of the mercy of the Gospel, in prejudice to the authority of the Law: the Commandments are the Statute-Law of God's kingdom: the Gospel is his Court of Chancery: but neither justice nor equity will relieve those, who have not done their utmost to observe his statute-law; and therefore those, who indulge themselves in their sloth, and wilful neglect both of what they ought to do and might have done, do but deceive their souls with vain hopes: they have no right to the eternal inheritance; but their portion must for ever be, with dogs and swine, without the holy city, into which no unclean thing shall ever enter. And if any think this Legal Preaching, let mine ever be so. |