0 vsvaawa vin»$ e 7 c % Ql 0 5 o O V!)W9»V9 V1NVS I o AU5i>3AlNr. 3HJ, O TMt UNIV(<=. B . , & I'D j / filS <-ftf- i_Jr c£f LI* y u A.X15- ty>kr / > soil \ LTv { Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from Microsoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/bodyofdivinitywh02ridgiala BODY OF DIVINITY: WHEREIN THE DOCTRINES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION y ARE EXPLAINED AND DEFENDED. BEING THE SUBSTANCE OF SEVERAL LECTURES ON THE ASSEMBLY'S LARGER CATECHISM. BY THOMAS RIDGELEY, D.D. A NEW EDITION, REVISED, CORRECTED, AND ILLUSTRATED WITH NOTES BY THE REV. JOHN M. WILSON. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. NEW YORK : ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, No. 285 BROADWAY. 1855. to' 1° CONTENTS 01 VOL. II. Page QUESTIONS LXI, LXII, LXIII, LXIV. The Church, Visible and Invisible, 1 The meaning of the word Church, . 1 The meaning of the phrases, 'the Vis- ible ' and ' the Invisible Church,' . 4 The invisible church, ... 5 The visible church, .... 7 The church under the Mosaic dispensa- tion, 10 The church under the ministry of the Apostles, 13 The nature and government of the Chris- tian church, 15 Notes. — Various significations of the word 'Church,' 36 The invisible church, ... 38 The holy catholic church, . . 38 The visible church, ... 40 Qualifications for church-fellowship, 42 The office of a ruling elder, . . 43 QUESTIONS LXV, LXVL The Benefits enjoyed by the Invis- ible Church, .... 44 What th% benefits are which the Invis- ible Church enjoys, .... 44 What union to Christ is, . . . 44 QUESTIONS LXVII, LXVIII. Effectual Calling, . . . 48 The general nature of the Gospel call, 48 The external call of the Gospel, . 48 The previous character of persons who are effectually called, . . .55 The change wrought in effectual calling, 57 Effectual Calling a Divine work, . 61 Notes. — Common grace, . . .75 Regeneration, .... 77 QUESTION LXIX. '.'ommunion in Grace with Christ, 80 QUESTIONS LXX, LXXI. 81 Justification The importance of the doctrine of justi- fication, ...... 81 The meaning of the word 'justify,' 82 The privileges contained in justification, 83 The foundation of justification, . 66 Man's inability to work out a justifying righteousness, 86 Christ's righteousness as the ground of justification, ... 88 Justification an act of God's free grace, 93 QUESTIONS LXXII, LXXIII. The Connection of Faith with Justi- fication, .... 95 Other graces than faith do not justify, 95 How faith justifies, ... 98 Inferences from the doctrine of justifi- cation, . . . . . 103 The nature, kinds, objects, degrees, and uses of faith, 106 The general nature of faith, . . 107 The various kinds of faith, . . 108 The objects and acts of saving faith, 110 How faith is produced, . . . 114 The degrees of faith, . . .116 The use of faith in a believer's life, 117 How faith is attained or increased, 120 Notes. — The connection of faith with jus- tification, . . . . 121 What is faith? .... 124 Are there several kinds of faith ? 126 Acts of faith, direct and reflex, . 130 QUESTION LXXIV. Adoption, 131 The various senses of the name ' Sons of God,' 131 The difference between divine and hu- man adoption, .... 132 The reference of the sonship of believ- ers to the sonship of Christ, . 133 The privileges of adoption, . . 134 The connection between adoption and justification, .... 136 QUESTION LXXV. Sanctification, .... 137 The meaning of the word ' sanctify,' 137 What sanctification includes, . . 138 Practical inferences from the doctrine of sanctification, . . . . 143 QUESTION LXXVI. Repentance, The subjects of repentance, 1 46 146 IV CONTENTS. Page Man's natural aversion to repentance, 146 Repentance wrought by the Divine Spirit, 147 The means of repentance, . . 147 The differences between legal and evan- gelical repentance, .... 149 The various acts of evangelical repent- ance, • 150 Practical inferences from the doctrine of repentance, ..... 151 Note. — Legal convictions of sin, . 152 QUESTION LXXVIL The Connection and the Difference between Justification and Sanctification, .'..•■ - 152 The connection between justification and sanctification, . • . • 152 The difference between justification and sanctification, .... 153 QUESTION LXXVIII. The Imperfection of Sanctification, 154 The imperfection of believers, . . 154 Why believers are allowed to be imper- fect, . . . . . . 156 How the imperfection of sanctification is displayed, 157 The consequences of the prevailing power of indwelling sin, . . . 161 Practical inferences from the imperfect state of believers, .... 161 QUESTION LXXIX. Perseverance in Grace, . . 164 General view of the doctrine of perse- verance, 164 Explanation of the doctrine of persever- ance, 165 Perseverance the result of the Divine power and will, . . . .167 Proofs of the doctrine of perseverance, 168 Examination of objections against the doctrine of perseverance, . . 179 Practical inferences from the doctrine of perseverance, 193 Note The characters described in 2 Pet. ii. 21, 22 194 QUESTION LXXX. Assurance of Salvation, . . .194 The nature and degrees of assurance, 195 The attainableness of assurance, . 196 The character of the persons who enjoy assurance, 201 The means of attaining assurance, . 201 QUESTION LXXXI. Destitution of Assurance, . . 210 Assurance not of the essence of faith, 210 may not be soon obtained, 213 may be weakened and inter- mitted 213 The state of believers who want assur- ance, 215 QUESTION LXXXII. Communion with Christ in Glory, 217 QUESTION LXXXIII. P»ge Earnests of Glort, and Apprehen- sions of Wrath, . . . 217 Earnests of glory 218 Apprehensions of wrath, . . . 223 Practical inferences from the different prospects of the righteous and the wicked, 224 QUESTIONS LXXXIV, LXXXV. Death, 225 The certainty of death, . . . 225 The sting and curse of death, . . 228 Death an advantage to believers, . 228 QUESTION LXXXVL The Future State, .... 230 The immortality of the soul, . . 230 The immediate happiness of the righteous after death, . . . . .236 The misery of the wicked at death, 245 Notes Christ's preaching to the spirits in prison, .... 245 Arguments against purgatory, . 246 QUESTION LXXXVIL The Resurrection, . . . 248 The meaning of the resurrection, . . 249 The resurrection not contrary to reason, 249 a doctrine purely of re- velation, 250 Proofs of the doctrine of the resurrection, 252 Examination of objections against the re- surrection, ..... 262 The resurrection universal, . . 265 The condition in which the body shall be raised, 267 Note. — The identity of the human body, 269 QUESTION LXXXVIII. The Final Judgment, . . . 270 Proofs of the final judgment, . •. 271 The person and appearance of the Judge, 272 The persons judged, . . . 274 The manner of the judgment, . . 276 The place and time of the judgment, 279 Practical inferences from the doctrine of the final judgment, . . . 280 QUESTION LXXXIX. Final Punishment 281 The nature of the punishment, . 282 The degree of the punishment, . . 283 The duration of the punishment, . 283 How the doctrine of final punishment is to be preached, .... 285 QUESTION XC. Final Blessedness, . . . 286 The saints acknowledged and acquitted, 286 ■ joining Christ in judging, . 287 blessed in heaven, . . 289 Practical inferences from the doctrine of final blessedness, .... 296 CONTENTS. QUESTIONS XCI, XCIL Page Moral Obligation, .... 298 Man bound to obey God, . . . 298 Connection of revelation with moral obli- gation, 299 The law of God as the rule of obhgation, 299 QUESTIONS XCIII, XCIV, XCV, XCVI, XCVII. The Nature and Uses of the Moral Law, 300 The nature of tbe moral law, . . 300 The uses of the moral law, . . 302 Strictures on Antinomianism, . . 305 QUESTION XCVIIL The Judicial and the Ceremonial Law, 307 The judicial law, .... 307 The ceremonial law, .... 308 The legislation from Horeb, . . 311 QUESTION XCIX. Rules for understanding the Ten Commandments, . . ' . . 312 QUESTIONS C, CI, CIL The .Preface and Sum of the Ten Commandments, . . . 314 QUESTIONS CIII, CIV. The Duties Required in the First Commandment, .... 316 QUESTIONS CV, CVI. The Sins Forbidden in the First Com- mandment 318 Atheism, 318 Idolatry, 321 Note Doctrines of Devils, . . 327 QUESTIONS CVII, CVIII, CIX, CX. The Second Commandment, . . 328 Difference between the first and the second commandment, . . 328 The duties enjoined in the second com- mandment, ..... 329 The sins forbidden in the second com- mandment, ..... 330 The reasons annexed to tbe second com- mandment, 334 QUESTIONS CXI, CXII, CXIII, CXIV. The Third Commandment, . . 335 General view of the third commandment, 335 The duties enjoined in the third com- mandment, ..... 336 The sins forbidden in the third command- ment, 337 The reasons annexed to the third com- mandment, 341 QUESTIONS CXV, CXVI. The Sabbatic Institution, 341 Page General import of the fourth command- ment 34] The nature of the sabbatic institution, 342 The date of the sabbatic institution, . 344 The change of the sabbath, . . 346 The relative time of the sabbath, . 352 QUESTIONS CXVII, CXVIIL The Duties Enjoined in the Fourth Commandment, .... 353 Preparatory duties to sabbath-sanctifica- tion, 353 The sabbatic rest, .... 355 Works of necessity and mercy, . . 356 The sanctifying of the sabbath, . 358 QUESTIONS CXIX, CXX, CXXL The Prohibitions and Motives of the Fourth Commandment, . . 360 The sins forbidden in the fourth com- mandment, ..... 360 The reasons annexed to the fourth com- mandment, 361 Import of the word •remember' in the fourth commandment, . . . 362 Inferences from the fourth commandment, 363 QUESTION CXXIL The Sum of the Second Table of the Law, 363 Love to our neighbour, . . . 364 Doing as we would be done by, . . 364 QUESTIONS CXXIII, CXXIV, CXXV, CXXVI. The Relations of Life, . . . 366 The meaning of 'father' and 'mother' in the fifth commandment, . . 366 Why superiors are styled father and mother, . . 366 The bases and nature of the social rela- tions 367 QUESTIONS CXXVII, CXXVIII, CXXIX, CXXX, CXXXI, CXXXII. Relative Duties 368 The duties of inferiors to superiors, . 368 The sins of inferiors against superiors, 374 The duties of superiors to inferiors, . 374 The sins of superiors against inferiors, 376 The duties of equals, . . 377 The sins of equals, .... 377 QUESTION CXXXIII. The Reasons Annexed to the Fifth Commandment, .... 378 QUESTIONS CXXXIV, CXXXV, CXXXVI. The Sixth Commandment, . . 380 The duties enjoined in the sixth com- mandment 380 The sins forbidden in the sixth command- ment, 38i Note — The Judicial Law The Civil Punishment of Death, . . . 386 VI CONTENTS. Page QUESTIONS CXXXVII, CXXXVIII, CXXXIX. The Seventh Commandment, . . 392 The duties required in the seventh com- mandment, 392 The sins forbidden in the seventh com- mandment, ...... 392 The aggravations of sins against the se- venth commandment, . . . 394 The occasions of the sins against the seventh commandment, . . . 395 QUESTIONS CXL, CXLI. The Duties Enjoined in the Eighth Commandment, .... 396 The promotion of our own well-being, 396 The promotion of our neighbour's well- being 397 QUESTION CXLIL The Sins Forbidden in the Eighth Commandment, .... 399 Self-robbery, 399 Theft, 399 Breach of trust, . . . . 400 Non-payment of debt, . . . 400 Oppression, ... . . . 401 Litigiousness, 402 Usury, 402 Restitution, 402 QUESTIONS CXLin, CXLIV, CXLV. The Ninth Commandment, . . 403 The duties required in the ninth com- mandment* . . , . . 403 The sins forbidden in the ninth com- mandment 405 QUESTIONS CXL VI, CXL VII, CXL VIII. The Tenth Commandment, . . 416 The duties required in the tenth com- mandment, 416 The sins forbidden in the tenth com- mandment, 419 QUESTION CXLIX. Man's Inability to keep the Com- mandments, .... 423 The nature and limits of man's inability, 423 The uniform and constant display of man's inability, .... 424 QUESTION CL. The Degrees of Sin, . . . 426 QUESTION CLL The Aggravations of Sin, . . 426 Aggravations from the person offending, 426 parties offended, 427 nature and quality of the offence, .... 428 — ■ — circumstances of time and place, .... 429 QUESTIONS CLII, CLIII. Page The Desert of Sin, and the Way of Escape from it, . . . . 430 The desert of sin, .... 430 The way of escape from the desert of sin, 431 QUESTION CLIV. The Ordinances, The import of the ordinances, . Classification of the ordinances, The ordinance of praise, . QUESTION CLV. 433 433 434 434 The Ordinance of The Word, . 443 The Word is to be read and explained, 444 The Word made effectual to salvation, 444 QUESTIONS CLVI, CLVII. By Whom and How the Word is to be read, 448 The Word to be read by and to all men, 448 Directions for reading the Word of God, 452 Note. — Scriptures ' hard to be understood,' 472 QUESTIONS CLVIII, CLIX, CLX. The Preaching and Hearing of the Word, 473 By whom the Word is to be preached, 473 How the Word is to be preached, . 476 The hearing of the Word, . . . 480 Note. — Are unconverted persons to be ex- horted to pray ? 481 QUESTIONS CLXI, CLXII, CLXIII, CLXIV. The Sacraments, .... 483 The nature and parts of a sacrament, 483 How the sacraments become effectual means of salvation, . . . 487 What the sacraments of the gospel dis- pensation are, .... 488 Notes The design of observing the Lord's Supper, 490 Extreme unction, .... 490 QUESTION CLXV. 492 492 493 494 Baptism The nature and authority of baptism, The form of baptism, . What baptism signifies and entails, . QUESTION CLXVI. The Subjects and Mode of Baptism, 496 Who are excluded from baptism, . 496 The profession of faith made in baptism, 497 Infant baptism, .... 497 The mode of baptism, .... 506 Abuse of the ordinance of baptism, . 511 Note — The connection of discipleship and baptism 512 QUESTION CLXVII. The Improvement of Baptism, . . 513 Our obligation to improve baptism, . 513 How baptism is to be improved, . . 514 CONTENTS. VII Page QUESTIONS CLXVIII, CLXIX, CLXX. The Lord's Supper, . . . 517 The Lord's Supper an ordinance of the New Testament, .... 518 By whom the Lord's Supper is to be ad- ministered, ..... 518 The elements used in the Lord's Supper, 519 The setting apart of the elements in the Lord's Supper, .... 519 The actions performed in observing the Lord's Supper, 520 What is signified in the Lord's Supper, 522 The qualifications of communicants, . 524 Notes Half-communion, . . . 524 Transubstantiation, .... 525 QUESTION CLXXI. Preparation for the Lord's Supper, 527 Self-examination, . . • . . 527 Various duties of preparation for the Lord's Supper, .... 534 QUESTIONS CLXXII, CLXXIII. The Partakers of the Lord's Supper, 535 The case of doubting professors, . . 535 i ignorant and immoral pro- fessors, 537 The use of the Lord's Supper as a civil test, 540 QUESTIONS CLXXIV, CLXXV. Duties connected with the Obser- vance of the Lord's Sdpper, . 541 Duties while observing the Lord's Supper, 541 Duties after observing the Lord's Supper, 546 Note — Covenanting and Vowing, . . 549 QUESTIONS CLXXVI, CLXXVII. The Correspondence and the Differ- ence between Baptism and the Lord's Supper, .... 550 Correspondence between baptism and the Lord's Supper, .... 550 Difference between baptism and the Lord's Supper, .... 551 QUESTION CLXXVIII. The Kinds and Parts of Prayer, . 552 What prayer supposes, . . . 553 The various kinds of prayer, . . 553 The various parts of prayer, . . 554 QUESTIONS CLXXIX, CLXXX, CLXXXI. To Whom and in Whose Name Prayer is made, 561 Prayer is to be made to God only, . 561 in the name of Christ, 562 Why prayer is to be made in the name of Christ 563 QUESTION CLXXXIL The Holy Spirit's Help in Prayer, . 563 Page Prayer cannot be made without the Spi- rit's help, '563 In what the Spirit's help in prayer con- sists, ..."... 565 Raised affections in prayer, . . 566 Practical inferences from the Spirit's help in prayer, 567 QUESTIONS CLXXXIII, CLXXXIV. For Whom and for What Prayer is to be made, ..... 568 For whom prayer is to be made, . 568 For whom prayer is not to be made, . 571 For what prayer is to be made, . 575 Note. — Is any sin unpardonable? . . 576 QUESTION CLXXXV. How Prayer is to be made, . . 580 The frame of mind in which prayer is to be made, 580 The graces which are to be exercised in prayer, 583 Requisites to the graces which are to be exercised in prayer, . . . 587 Perseverance in prayer, . . . 588 QUESTIONS CLXXXVI, CLXXXVII. The Rule of Direction for Prayer, 590 The necessity of a rule of direction for prayer, 590 The word of God the rule of direction for prayer, 590 Practical inferences from the word of God being a rule of direction for prayer, . 600 The Lord's Prayer a special rule of direc- tion for prayer, .... 600 QUESTIONS CLXXXVIII, CLXXXIX. The Preface of the Lord's Prayer, 602 QUESTION CXC. The First Petition of the Lord's Prayer, 608 QUESTION CXCI. The Second Petition of the Lord's Prayer, 617 What is supposed in the Second Petition, 618 What is prayed for in the Second Petition, 619 QUESTION CXCIL* The Third Petition of the Lord's Prayer, 623 The meaning of doing the will of God, 625 What is prayed for in the Third Petition, 6/6 How the will of God is to be done, . o27 QUESTION CXCIII. The Fourth Petition of the Lord's Prayer, 62f- The meaning of the word * Bread ' in the Fourth Petition 628 CONTENTS. Page What is supposed in the Fourth Petition, 629 What is prayed for in the Fourth Petition, 629 QUESTION CXCIV. The Fifth Petition of the Lord's Prayer 633 Man's uneasiness under a sense of guilt, 634 How a sinner is to ask forgiveness, 63 > The connexion between forgiving others and enjoying forgiveness from God, 638 Note. — Prayer for Pardon, . . 643 QUESTION CXCV. P«fe The Sixth Petition of the Lord's Prayer, 644 The meaning of the word * temptation,' 644 What is supposed in the Sixth Petition, 644 Temptations, and prayer for deliverance from them 646 QUESTION CXCVI. The Conclusion of the Lord's Prayer, 663 THE DOCTRINES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION EXPLAINED AND DEFENDED. THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. Question LXI. Are all they saved who hear the gospel, and live in the church f Answer. All thnt hear the gospel, and live in the visible church, are not saved, but they only who arc true members of the church invisible. Question LXII. What is the visible church ? Answer. The visible church is a society made up of all such as, in all ages, and places of the world, do profess the true religion, and of their children. Question LXIII. What are the special privileges of the visible church? Answer. The visible church hath the privilege of being under God's special care and government, of being protected and preserved in all ages, notwithstanding the opposition of all enemies, and of enjoying the communion of saints, the ordinary means of salvation, 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, and excluding none that will come unto him. Question LXIV. What is the invisible church f Answer. The invisible church is the whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ the Head. They who are made partakers of Christ's redemption, and are brought into a state of salvation, have been already described as members of Christ's body the church. We are now led to consider them as brought into this relation to him. Accord- ingly we are to inquire in what sense they are members of Christ's church ; and to speak of this church as to its nature, constitution, subjects, and privileges. The Meaning of the Word ' Church.' We shall first inquire what we are to understand by the word 'church,' as we find it applied in scripture. I. It is sometimes used to signify any assembly that is met together, whatever, be the design of their meeting. Though it is very seldom taken in this sense in scripture ; yet there are two or three places in which it is so understood. Thus the multitude who met together at Ephesus, who made a riot, crying out, • Great is Diana of the Ephesians,' are called 'a church ;' for the word is the same which we generally so render.a Our translators, indeed, render it, ' the assembly was confused ;' and it is said, ' This matter ought to be determined in a lawful assem- bly,'15 that being an unlawful one ; and, • the town-clerk dismissed the assembly.'0 In all these places, the word, in the Greek, d is the same which we, in other places, render ' church ;' and the reason why our translators have rendered it 'assembly,' is that the word 'church' is used in a'very uncommon sense in these places, — a sense in which we do not find it used in any other part of scripture. a Acts xix. 32. b Verse 39. c Verse 41. d cxxAixrva. II. A 60 THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. 3 spise ye the church of God V He there attempts to prove from the opposition that there is between their 'own houses' and 'the church of God,' that the apostle, by * the church,' means the place of worship. But the inconclusiveness of this argu- ment has been already considered. What he farther says, to prove that there were places, in the apostle's days, appropriated or set apart for divine worship, and, in par- ticular, that the room in which the disciples met together on the day of our Saviour's resurrection and eight days after, in which they were honoured with his presence, was the same in which he ate his last Passover with them, and instituted the Lord's Supper, and that it was in that place that they constantly met together for worship, that there the seven deacons were afterwards chosen,11 and that afterwards a goodly church was erected on the same spot of ground, — what he says to prove these points, is mere uncertain conjecture. That the disciples met together in an apartment or convenient room iu the dwelling-house of some pious one of their number, is very pro- bable. But his observation that it was an upper room, on account of being freest from disturbance and nearest to heaven, seems to be too trifling for so great a man. As to his supposing that this room is referred to in the account of the disciples' 'break- ing bread from house to house,'0 a phrase which he contends ought to be rendered 'breaking bread in the house,' that is, in this house appointed for the purpose; his rendering and the opinion founded on it, are not so agreeable to the sense of the Greek words.P as our translation is. As to his proving that there were particular places appropriated for worship in the three first centuries, by referring to several quotations out of the Fathers who lived in those ages, what he says is not to be contested. Yet the objection which he brings against this being universally true, taken from what Origen, Minutius Felix, Arnobius, and Lactantius say concern- ing the Christians, in their time, declining to build them, after they had been dis- turbed and harassed by various persecutions, seems to have some weight, and is not sufficiently answered by him. What he says on the subject may be consulted in the work of his to which we have referred. All that we shall say is, that it is beyond dispute that as the church was obliged to convene together for religious worship, it was necessary that the usual place in which this was performed should be known by them. But it still remains uncertain whether, — though, at some times, in the more peaceable state of the church, they met constantly in one place, — they did not, at other times, adjourn from place to place, or sometimes convene in the open air, in places where they might meet with less disturbance from their enemies. All who are conversant in the history of the church in those ages, know that they often met, especially in times of persecution, in caves and other subterraneous places, near the graves of those who had suffered martyrdom ; their object in doing this was not only to encourage one another to bear a similar testimony to Chris- tianity to that which the martyrs had done, but that they might be more retired and undisturbed in their worship. But, as most things connected with this subject are of little moment, what I would principally oppose is an opinion which the excellent writer now mentioned attempts to prove, in his following Dissertation, °- as to the reverence which is due to these churches, not only whilst divine duties are performed in them, but at other times, as supposing that they retain a relative sanctity which calls for veneration at all times. The main stress of his argument rests on the sanctity of those places which, by divine appointment, were consecrated for worship under the ceremonial law ; and on the reverence which was expressed by persons when they entered them, which, by a supposed parity of reason, he applies to those places which are erected for worship under the gospel-dispensation. But it does not follow that, because the tabernacle and temple had a relative holiness in them, the same thing is applicable to places of worship under the gospel-dispensation. The temple was a type of God's presence among men, and in particular of the incarnation of Christ, which was a glorious instance of that presence. The temple was also an ordinance for their faith in this matter ; and on that account it was holy. Besides, there was a visible external symbol of God's presence, whose throne was upon the mercy-seat, between the cherubim, in the holy of holies ; so that this might well be called ' a holy place,' 11 Acts vi. 1 — 6. o Acts ii. 46. p K«r' cikov. q See p. 432, et seq. 4 THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. even when worship was not performed in it. But it is certain that other places of worship, and, in particular, the synagogues, were not then reckoned so, when no worship was performed in them, though they were erected for that purpose. More- over, our Saviour seems to intimate, that the holiness of places is taken away un- der the gospel-dispensation. This appears from his reply to the woman of Samaria, when, speaking concerning their ' fathers worshipping in this mountain,' that is, in the temple which was erected on mount Gerizim, he says, ' The hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father;'' that is, no place shall he so consecrated for religious worship that it shall be more acceptable there than elsewhere, and consequently no veneration is to be paid to sny such place more than another, where the same worship may be performed.3 3. What we have been stating is little other than a digression from our present design; which is to show that the word 'church,' in scripture, is, for the most part, if not always, taken for an assembly of Christians met together for religious wor- ship, according to the rules which Christ has given for their direction. The He- brew word, in the Old Testament, by which the church of the Jews is signified, is generally rendered ' congregation, 'fc or assembly ; so that, in our translation, we never meet with the word 'church' in the Old Testament. Yet what is there called * the congregation,' or assembly of the Israelites, might very properly be called 'a church,' inasmuch as it is so styled in the New Testament. Thus it is said con- cerning Moses, that ' he was in the church in the wilderness. 'u But it is certain that the word 'church,' is peculiarly adapted, in the New Testament, to signify the Christian church, worshipping God according to the rules prescribed by our Saviour, and others delivered by his apostles, under the Spirit's direction. This is the sense in which we are to understand it, in discussing these Answers. [See Note A, page 36.] The meaning of the phrases ' the Visible1 and ' the Invisible Church.' We proceed to consider the church as distinguished into visible and invisible. Each of these is particularly defined, and will be farther insisted on under some fol- lowing Heads. At present, we may offer something, by way of premisal, concern- ing the reason of this distinction. .The word 'church,' according to its grammati- cal construction, signifies a number of persons who are called ; and, in its applica- tion to the present subject, every one who is a member of it, may be said to be called to be made partaker of that salvation which is in Christ. Now, there is a twofold calling spoken of in scripture. The one is visible and external, whereby some are made partakers of the external privileges of the gospel and all its ordinances ; the other is internal and saving, whereby others are made partakers of those special and distinguishing blessings which God bestows on the heirs of salvation. The for- mer our Saviour intends when he says, ' Many are called, but few are chosen ;'x the latter is what the apostle speaks of, when he connects it with 'justification' and r John iv. 20, 21. s It maybe observed, that though the learned author formerly mentioned gives sufficient evidence from the Fathers, that there were several places appropriated, and some erected, for divine worship, during the three first centuries; and though he thinks that whether they were consecrated or not, there was a great degree of reverence paid to them, even at times when divine service was not performed in them ; yet he does not pioduce any proof for this out of the writings of the Fathers in those centuries. It is impossible, indeed, that he should ; for, from Eusehius' account of the matter, it appears that the consecration of churches was first practised in the fourth century. [Vid. ejusd. Hist. Ecil. lib. x. cap. 3.] As for the quotations which Mr. Mede brings from Chrysostom and Ambrose, to prove that reverence was paid to the churches in their time, it must be observed that they lived in the fourth century, in which churches being not only appropriated, but consecrated for public worship, it is no wonder to find the Fathers of that age expressing a reverence for them. Nevertheless, it is very evident, from the words of these Fathers there cited, that they intend nothing but a reverent behaviour, which ought to be expressed by those who come into the church to perforin any act of divine worship; and this we are lar from deinintf, whether the external rites of consecration be used or not. As for his quotation from Tertullian, who lived in the end of the second century, it does not prove that he thought reverence ought to be expressed to the places of worship, but that the highest reverence ought to be used in the acts of worship, and particularly in prayer ; which is an undoubted truth, whether we worship God in the church or anywhere else. t mp. u Acts vii. Sa x Matt. xx. 16. THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. 5 ' glorification. 'y Now, thej who are called in the former of these senses, are in- cluded in that branch of the distinction which respects the visible church ; the lat- ter are members of that church which is styled invisible. The former are members o£ Christ by profession ; the latter are united to him as their Head and Husband, are made partakers of spiritual life from him, and shall live for ever with him. The members of the visible church are the children of God, as made partakers of the external dispensation of the covenant of grace. These God speaks of, when he says, ' I have nourished and brought up children.'2 Elsewhere also he says concerning the church of the Jews, who were externally in covenant with him, 4 Israel is my son, even my first-born. 'a But the members of the invisible church are the children of God by faith ; b and because children in this sense, ' heirs, — heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.'0 These things, however, must be parti- cularly insisted on. The Invisible Church. Accordingly, we shall say something concerning the invisible church. This is described, in one of the Answers we are explaining, as containing the whole num- ber of the elect who have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ their Head. 1. They are said to be elect, and subject to Christ their Head. On this account, some have included in the number the holy angels ; inasmuch as they are styled, by the apostle, ■ elect angels ;'d and Christ is, in some respects, their Head, as the apostle calls him ' the Head of all principality and power ; ' e and elsewhere the church is said to come to ' an innumerable company of angels. 'f But though they are indeed elected, it may be questioned whether they were chosen in Christ, as the elect among the children of men are said to be ; and though Christ is styled their Head, yet his headship over them does not include those things which are implied in his being the Head of his chosen people, as he is the Head of the covenant of grace on which their salvation is founded, or • the Captain of their salvation, * who, having purchased them by his blood, brings them into a state of grace, and then to glory. For these, and similar reasons, I would not assert that angels are pro- perly a part of Christ's invisible church, but would infer that it includes those only who are elected to salvation among the children of men. 2. They are farther described as persons who have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ the Head. Hence, there is a part of them that are not ac- tually brought in to him. These our Saviour speaks of, under the metaphor of sheep who were ' not of this fold,' concerning whom he says, ' Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice. 'h There is also another part of them who are triumphant in heaven ; as well as those who are actually called by the grace of God, and are on their way to heaven, struggling, at present, with many difficulties, through the prevalence of corruption, — and conflicting with many temptations, and exposed to many evils, which attend the present state. These different circum- stances of those who are brought in to Christ, give occasion to the known distinction between ' the church triumphant' and ' the church militant.' To that part of this description of the invisible church which includes those who shall be gathered unto Christ, it is objected that no one can be said to be a member of this church who is not actually brought in unto him ; for to say this would be to suppose that unconverted persons might be members of it, and consequently that Christ is their Head, Shepherd, and Saviour. Yet they are characterized, in scrip- ture, as children of wrath, running in all excess of riot, refusing to submit to him, and neglecting that great salvation which is offered in the gospel. How, then, it is asked, can such be members of Christ's church, and that in the highest sense of the word 'church?' Moreover, it is objected, against the account given of the in- visible church in this Answer, that a part of those who are said to be the members of it, are considered, at present, as not existing. It must, we are told, be a very y Rom. viii. 30. z Isa. i. 2. a Exod. iv. 22. b Gal. iii. 26. c Rom. viii. 17. d 1 Tim. v. 21. e Col. ii. 10. f Heb. xii. 22. g Chap. ii. 10. h John x. 16. 6 THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. improper, if not absurd, way of speaking, to say that such are members of Christ's church. Now, I am not inclined to extenuate those expressions of scripture which repre- sent unconverted persons as children of wrath, in open rebellion against God, and refusing to submit to him ; nor would I say any thing from which such might have the least ground to conclude that they have a right to any of the privileges of God's elect or of Christ's invisible church, or that they are included in that number. To do this would be to expose the doctrine of election to one of the main objections which are brought against it, — that it leads to licentiousness. Yet let it be considered that this Answer treats of the invisible church ; so that whatever privileges are reserved for those who, though elected, are in an unconverted state, are altogether unknown to them, and it would be an unwarrantable presumption for them to lay claim to them. We must not deny, however, that God knows who are his, who are redeemed by Christ, and what blessings, pursuant to their being so, shall be applied to them. He knows the time when they shall be made a willing people, in the day of his power ; and what graces he designs to work in them. He considers the elect in general as given to Christ, and Christ as having undertaken to do all that is necessary to fit them for the heavenly blessedness. Moreover, we must suppose that God knows, without the least doubt and uncertainty, the whole num- ber of those who shall appear with Christ in glory, at his second coming. For things which are future to us, are present with respect to him ; as, with one single view, he knows all things past and to come, as well as present. Now, if the ex- pression made use of be thus qualified, which is agreeable to the design of this Answer, I cannot see that the objection has sufficient force to overthrow it ; any more than those arguments which are usually brought against the doctrine of elec- tion, can render it less worthy to be received by us. The other branch of the objection, is that they who are not in being cannot be denominated members of Christ's church in any sense. Now, though it be allowed that such cannot be, at present, the subjects of any privileges ; yet we must consider that, since God seeth not as man seeth, they may, in his eternal purpose to save them, be considered as the objects of his grace, and therefore, in his account, be reckoned members of Christ's invisible church, that is, such as he designs to bring into being, and afterwards to make meet to partake of the inheritance of the saints in light. I see no reason, therefore, to except against the mode of speaking in which they are described as persons who shall be gathered under Christ their Head. If, however, the objection respected only the propriety or impropriety of a word, and had not a tendency to overthrow the doctrine of God's certain and per- emptory election, I would not militate against it. 3. This church, which is said to consist of the whole number of the elect, is styled invisible. By this we are«not to understand that their election of God cannot be known by themselves ; for we have sufficient ground, from scripture, to conclude that believers may attain the assurance of this in the present life. But the church is so called, because many of them have finished their course in this world, and have entered into that state in which they are, with respect to those who live here, no more seen. Moreover, the number of those who are styled the members of this church, cannot be determined by any creature. It is known to God only. That grace, also, which any of them experience, how far soever they may arrive at the knowledge of it themselves, cannot be said to be certainly and infallibly known by others. Hence, the apostle says concerning them, that 'their life is hid with Christ in God.'1 [See Note B, p. 38.] Although, however, this church is at present invisible ; yet, when the whole number of the elect shall be brought in to Christ, and, as the apostle says, 'gathered together unto him,'k it shall no longer remain invisible. For ' when Christ, who is their life, shall appear, then they shall also appear with him in glory.'1 We may farther observe concerning the church, as thus described, that it has many glorious characters given of it. It is frequently, in the Song of Solomon, (•ailed Christ's spouse. By this name, the inspired writer seems to intend more than what could well be said concerning the Jewish church ; for the descrip- i Col. iii. 3. k 2 Thess. ii. 1. 1 Col. iii. 4. THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. 7 tion there given of it, as being all fair, and without spot,"* is applicable rather to the state in which the saints shall be hereafter, than to that in which they are at present, so that I am inclined to think that he speaks of the invisible church, or the election of grace. The character which he gives of them is an allusion to that conjugal union which there is between Christ and believers. In reference to this union, it is said elsewhere, ' Thy Maker is thine Husband, the Lord of hosts is his name ; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel.'11 The psalmist, also in a very elegant manner, describes the church as thus related to Christ, when he says, ' Upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir ;'° and then goes on to speak of it as arrived at the highest pitch of honour and happiness, and as introduced into the king's presence 'in raiment of needle-work, 'with gladness and rejoicing, being brought into his palace.P The apostle calls it, ' the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written,'** or, as it is in the margin, enrolled, 'in heaven.' It is considered also, when brought to perfection, and 'presented ' by Christ 'to himself,' or to his own view at last, as ' a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but holy, and without blemish. 'r In this respect it may be called, 'the holy catholic church;' though many, without sufficient ground, under- stand the words of the Creed in which it is so called, in a sense very different from and inferior to this. [See Note C, p. 38.] — Again, the invisible church is but one body, and therefore not divided, like the visible church, into many particular bodies, as will be observed under a following Head. This seems to be the meaning of the expression in which it is said, 'My dove, my undefiled is but one.'s — Further, it is not the seat of human government, as the visible church is ; nor are persons said to be received into its communion. Whatever officers Christ has appointed, to secure the order and promote the edification of his churches, have nothing to do in the church considered as invisible. It is, however, eminently under Christ's special government; who is the Head as well as the Saviour of it. — Again, there are many special privileges which belong to it. These include all the graces and comforts which are applied to its members by the Holy Spirit ; and so they are considered as enjoying union and communion with Christ in grace and glory, as being called, justified, sanctified, and many of them assured of their interest in Christ here, while all of them shall be glorified with him hereafter. These privi- leges are insisted on, in several following Answers. We therefore pass them over at present, and proceed to consider another of the Answers which we are to explain. The Visible Church. We have next an account of the visible church. This is described as a society made up of all those who, in all ages and places of the world, profess the true reli- gion, and of their children. In this description of the church, we may observe that it is called visible, not only because the worship performed in it, and the laws given to those particular churches of which it consists, are visible, but because its members are so, or known to the world, and because the profession they make of the true religion, or subjection to Christ as their Head and Sovereign, is open, free, and undisguised, whereby they are distinguished from the rest of the world. Moreover, it is called a Society. This denomination it takes from the com- munion which its members have with one another. But as the word is in the singular number, as denoting but one body of men, it is to be inquired whether this be a proper mode of speaking, though frequently used. It is allowed 1by all Protestants, that there are, and have been ever since the first preaching of the gospel by the apostles, many particular churches in the world.u That there were m Cant. iv. 7, et seq. n Isa. liv. 5. o Psal. xlv. 9. p Verses 14, 15. q Heb. xii. 23. r Eph. v. 27. s Cant. vi. 9. t The Papists, indeed, pretend that there is no church in the world but that which they style catholic and visible, of which the Bishop of Rome is the head. But we may say, in answer to this vain boast, as is said concerning the church in Sardis, (Rev. iii. 1.) ' Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.' Protestants, though they often speak of the visible church as one, yet do rot deny that there are many particular churches contained in it. See the Assembly's Confession of Faith, chap. 25. sect. 4. 8 THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. such in the apostolic times, appears from what we often read in the New Testament, as the apostle Paul directs his epistles to particular churches, such as those at Ephesus, Corinth, Philippi, &c. Some of these were larger, others smaller ; yet they are equally called churches, denoting that no regard is to he had to the numher of persons of which each of them consists. Thus we read of churches in particular houses ;u and these, for the reasons above-mentioned, may each of them, without the least impropriety of expression, be styled a visible church. — But it must also be allowed, on the other hand, that the church is spoken of in the singular number, in scripture, as if it were but one. Thus it is said, ' Saul made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women, committed them to prison.'* Speaking of himself, he says, ' Concerning zeal, persecuting the church ;'? and else- where, ' Beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it.'z Now, it is certain that it was not one particular church that he directed his persecuting rage against, but all the churches of Christ wherever he went, especially those in Judea. These he speaks of in ,the plural number ;a and, by doing so, he explains what he means by his • persecuting the church of God ;' for it is said, • He which persecuted us in times past, now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.'1* Elsewhere, too, it is said, • God hath set some in the church ; first, apostles ; second- arily, prophets ; thirdly, teachers.'0 By 'the church,' here, we are to understand all the churches ; for the apostles were not pastors of any particular church, but acted as pastors in all the churches wherever they went. Though every church had its own respective pastor set over it, who was in a peculiar manner related to it, yet all these churches are called in this place 'the church.' We are not, there- fore, to contend about the use of a word, provided it be rightly explained, whether persons speak of the church in the singular, or churches in the plural number. If we speak of the church as if it were but one, the word is to be taken collectively for all the churches of Christ in the world. This the apostle explains, when he speaks of them all as if they were 'one body,' under the influence of the same Spirit, 'called in one hope of their calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in them all. 'd This is that ' unity of the Spirit' which they were to 'endeavour to keep,' and, in keeping which, they were to act agreeably to their faith. In this respect, we freely allow that all the churches of Christ are one. There is but one foundation on which they are built, one rule of faith, one way to heaven, in which they all professedly walk. Moreover, not only have the churches of Christ communion with one another in their particular societies ; but there is a communion of churches, whereby they own one another as walking in the same fellowship with themselves, express a sympathy with one another in afflictive circumstances, and rejoice in one another's edification and flourishing state. In these respects, we consider the churches as one ; and so call them all the church of Christ. This is to be understood, however, with certain limitations. We are not to suppose that the church, as the seat of government, is one ; or that there is one set of men who have a warrant to bear rule over the whole, that is, over all the churches of Christ; for none suppose that there is one universal pastor of the church, except the Papists. All Protestants, however they explain their sentiments about the catholic visible church, allow that the seat of govern- ment is in each particular church, of which no one has any right to give pastors to other churches, or to appoint who shall be admitted into their respective communion. There is another thing in this description of the visible church which stands in need df being explained and defended. It is said that it consists of all such as, in all ages and places of the world, do profess the true religion. If nothing be intended hereby but that none have a right to the privilege of communion of saints, or are fit to be received into any church of Christ, but those who profess the true religion, or the faith on which the church is built, I am far from denying it ; for to do so would be to suppose that the church professes one faith and some of its members another, or that it builds up what it allows others to throw down. But I am a little at a loss to account for the propriety of the expression, when the church is «i 1 Cor. xvi. 19. x Acts viii. 3. y Phil. iii. 6. z Gal. i. 13. a Gal. i. 22. b Ver. 23. c 1 Cor. xii. 28. d Eph. iv. 4—6. THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. Q I said to be a society professing the true religion in all ages. It cannot be supposed that the church or churches which are now in being are any part of that society which professed the true religion in Moses' time, or in the apostolic age. It is, however, principally the propriety of expression which is to be excepted against; for I suppose nothing is intended by it but that, as the church in every respective foregoing age con- sisted of those who embraced the true religion, so it consists of no other in our age. There is one thing more which I would take leave to observe in this descrip-' tion of the church. What I refer to is a defect in the description, which ren- ders it incomplete. It speaks of the church as consisting of those who profess the true religion ; but makes no mention of that bond of union which constitutes every particular branch of the universal church, a church of Christ. It speaks, indeed, of those qualifications which belong to every one as a Christian, which is a remote, though necessary condition, of being received into church-communion ; but it takes no notice of that mutual consent which is the more immediate bond by which the members of every church coalesce together. But this we may have occasion to consider under a following Head. The last thing I observe in this description of the visible church is, that it con- sists not only of the professors of the true religion, but of their children. This is rather to be explained than denied. Yet I cannot but observe that many have run too great lengths in what they have asserted concerning the right of children to this privilege. Some of the Fathers not only considered them as members of the church, but brought them to the Lord's table, and gave them the bread dipped in the wine, in the same way as food is applied to infants when they are too young to discover anything of its design. That which led them into this mistake was their misunderstanding the sense of our Saviour's words, • Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.'e They supposed that these words were meant of eating bread and drinking wine in the Lord's Supper ; though they might easily have known that this was not our Saviour's meaning, inasmuch as the Lord's Supper was not instituted till some time after, and, when instituted, was not designed to be reckoned so necessary to salvation that the mere not partaking of it should exclude from it. Cyprian gives an account of his ad- ministering it to an infant brought by her mother, and relates a circumstance attending the ministration which savours so much of superstition in that grave and pious Father, that I forbear to mention it.f The giving of the Lord's Supper to children, was practised not only by him, but by several others in some following ages. Many, also, in later ages, speak of children as incomplete members of the church. Some suppose that their being so is the result of their baptismal dedica- tion. Others suppose that it is their birthright ; and they have, in consequence, maintained that when the children come to be adult, they rather claim their right to church-communion than are admitted to it, as those who are not the children of church-members. As a farther consequence of their opinion, they assert that, if they are guilty of vile enormities, and thereby forfeit their privilege, they are in a formal way to be excommunicated ; and that it is a defect in the government of the churches in our day that this is not practised. The opinion of these parties, how- ever, is not what is meant, in the Answer under consideration, by children being members of churches, together with their parents. What is meant will, I think, be allowed by all : it is, that children being the property of parents, the latter are obliged to dedicate them, together with themselves, to God, and, pursuant to their doing so, to endeavour to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, hoping that, through his blessing on education, they may, in his own time and way, be qualified for church-communion, and then admitted to it, that hereby the churches of Christ may have an addition of members to fill up the places of those who are called off the stage. As to the concern of the church in this matter, which in some respect redounds to the advantage of the children of those who are members of it, they are obliged to show their regard to them, so far as to exhort their parents, if there be occasion, to express a due concern for their spiritual welfare ; or, if the chil- dren are defective in religion, to extend their censure rather to the parents than, to e John vi. 53. f Vid. Cypr. de baps. cap. 1, § 13. II. B 10 THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. them, as neglecting a moral duty, and so acting unbecoming the relation they stajid in to them. Having thus spoken concerning the description given of the visible church in this Answer, we shall now proceed to discuss it more particularly, and accordingly shall consider its former and present constitution and government. [See Note D, page 40.] The Church under the Mosaic Dispensation. As to the Jewish church before the gospel-dispensation, it was erected in the wilderness, and the laws by which it was governed were given by God, and trans- mitted to Israel by the hand of Moses. We read of a very remarkable occurrence preceding their being settled as a church. God demanded an explicit consent from the whole congregation to be his people, and to be governed by those laws he should give them. They then made a public declaration, ' All that the Lord hath spoken we will do ;' and ' Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord.' Soon after, there was another covenant-transaction between God and them, mentioned in a following chapter : ' Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments ; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the Lord hath said will we do. ' This was confirmed by sacrifice. • He took half of the blood, and put it in basons, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar, and he took the book of the covenant and read in the audience of the people.' They here repeated their engagement, ' All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient:' and then 'he took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord hath made with you, concerning all these words. '» Immediately after, we have an account of an extraordinary display which they had of the divine glory : ' They saw God, and did eat and drink, 'h which was a farther confirming of the covenant. On some important occasions they renewed this covenant with God. They ' avouched him to be their God ;' and he condescended, at the same time, to 'avouch them to be his peculiar people.'1 Thus they were settled in a church- relation by God's appointment, and by their solemn covenant and consent to be his people. After this, we read of God's settling the form of their church-government, ap- pointing the various ordinances and institutions which are contained in the cere- monial law, settling a ministry among them, and giving directions concerning every branch of the work which was to be performed. Aaron and his sons had the priest- hood committed to them ; and they were to offer gifts and sacrifices. The high priest was to be chief minister in holy things ; the other priests assistants to him in most branches of his office. And when the temple was built, and the service to be performed in it established, the priests attended in their respective courses, each course entering on their ministry every sabbath ;k and there being twenty-four courses,1 it came to their respective turns twice every year. The porters, also, who were to wait continually at the avenues of the temple day and night, to pre- vent any unclean person or thing from coming into it, as well as its being plundered of the treasures which were laid up in chambers adjoining to it, — they also, the number of whom was the same as that of the priests, m ministered in their courses. The singers, too, who attended some parts of the worship, ministered in their courses.11 Besides these, there were some appointed to represent the people, who were chosen to come up from their respective places of abode with the priests when they minis- tered in their courses. These are called stationary men. Dr. Lightfoot0 gives an account of them from some Jewish writers who treat on the subject. Not that we have any mention of them in scripture ; but it is supposed that the appointment of them took its rise from the law? which obliged those who brought an offering to the Lord to be present, and to ' put their hands upon the head ' of it, as well as g Exod. xxiv. 3, 5—9. h Verse 11. i Dent. xxvi. 17, 18. k 2 Chron. xxiii. 4. 1 1 Chron. xxiv. m 1 Chron. xxiii. 5. romp, with chap. xxvi. n 1 Chron. xxiii. 5. comp. with chap. xxv. o See his works, vol. i. pages 92-1, 925. p Lev. i. 3, 4. THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. 1 [ the priests who had the main concern in the service. From this law it is inferred that, as, besides the sacrifices which were offered for particular persons, there were daily sacrifices offered in behalf of the whole congregation, and as it was impos- sible for them to be present to bear a part in this service, it was necessary that some should be deputed to represent the whole body of the people, that so there might be a number present to assist in this service, and that these acts of worship might be performed in the most public manner. Inasmuch, too, as this was to be performed daily, it was necessary that some should be deputed whose proper busi- ness it was to attend. Dr. Lightfoot thinks also, that, as there were priests deputed to minister in their courses, so there was a number of persons deputed to repre- sent the people, who went up to Jerusalem with the priests of the respective course. He adds, that at the same time that these were ministering in the temple, the peo- ple met together, and spent the week in those synagogues which were near the place of their abode, in fasting and other acts of religious worship ; in which, though at a distance, they implored a blessing on the service which their brethren were performing. As to the rest of the people, they were obliged to be present at Jerusalem at the solemn and public festivals performed three times a-year. Such of them as had committed any sin which was to be expiated by sacrifice, were to go up thither to the temple at other times, and bring their sacrifices to atone for the guilt which they had contracted. It may be said that though this was, indeed, a solemn method of worship, exceed- ingly beautiful, and having a feature which was its glory, namely, that the temple- service was typical of Christ and of the way of salvation by him ; yet it seems to have included no means for instructing the people in the doctrines of religion, as there would be but a small attainment of this end in coming up to Jerusalem to wor- ship at the three yearly festivals. How, it is asked, did they spend their sabbaths ? Or, what acts of worship were they engaged in, in their respective places of abode ? We answer, that God appointed a sufficient number to be their ministers in holy things, helpers of their faith as to this matter ; he appointed not only the priests, but the whole tribe of Levi, whose place of residence was conveniently situated. They had forty-eight cities in various parts of the land ; some of which were not far distant from any of the people. These instructed them in the way of God. The people sought knowledge from their mouths.** Besides, in addition to the temple, there were several other places appointed for religious worship. These were of two sorts, synagogues, and places of prayer. The synagogues were generally built in cities, of which hardly any were with- out them, if they consisted of a number of persons who were able to erect them, and had leisure from their secular employments to preside over, and set forward the work to be performed in them.1" This work was of a different nature from the temple-service, in which gifts and sacrifices were to be offered, God having expressly forbidden the erecting of any altars elsewhere than in the temple. The worship performed in the synagogues was prayer, reading, and expounding the law and the prophets, and instructing the people in all other duties of religion which were neces- sary to be performed in the conduct of their lives. The manner of doing this, was not only by delivering set discourses, agreeably to our common method of preach- ing,8 but by holding disputations and conferences about some important matters of religion. Thus the apostle Paul ' disputed in the synagogues.'' Disputations were held occasionally ; but the Jews met constantly in the synagogues for religious worship ; and our Saviour encouraged them in doing so by his presence and instruc- tions. Thus it is said, not only that 'he taught in their synagogues,' but that this was his constant practice ; for it is said, ' He came to Nazareth, and as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath-day, and stood up for to read.'u There were also certain officers appointed over every synagogue. Thus q Mai. ii. 7. r These were called t5"3bu3 Otiosi. See Lightfoot's Works, vol. i. p. 610 — 613. and Vitring. de Synag. Vet. p. 530, et seq. Lightfoot says, from one of the Talmuds, that there were no less than 460 synagogues in Jerusalem, vol. i. p. 363, 370, and that the land was full of them; in which the people met every sabbath, and some other days of the week. s Acts xiii. 15, et seq. t Chap. xvii. 17. u Luke iv. 15, 16. 12 THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. we read sometimes of ' the rulers of the synagogues,'* whose business was to prevent the doing of any thing which was indecent and disorderly. And there were some persons from whom a word of exhortation was expected, who were called ministers * of the synagogue.2 Nor are we to suppose that this method of promoting religion in the synagogues, was practised only m the last and most degenerate age of the Jewish church ; for they had their synagogues in the more early and purer ages. If we had no express account of this in the Old Testament, yet it might be inferred from the notices of the synagogues in our Saviour's time ; for certainly there were then no methods used by the Jews to instruct the people in matters of religion, which were not as necessary, and consequently in use, in preceding ages. It is true, we do not often read of synagogues in the Old Testament. Yet there is men- tion of them in the scripture formerly referred to,a in which the psalmist complains, that • they had burnt up all the synagogues of God in the land ;' where the word, being in the plural number, cannot be meant, as the Chaldee Paraphrast renders it, of the temple. This appears from the context, in which the psalmist speaks of ' the enemies of God roaring in the midst of the congregations.' Besides, he ex- pressly mentions their burning the temple, by ' casting fire into the sanctuary of God, and casting down the dwelling-place of his name to the ground. 'b Besides the synagogues, there were other places in which public worship was per- formed, called places of prayer.0 Mr. Mede gives an account, from Epiphanius, of the difference that there was between these and the synagogues. He says, that a ' proseucha,' or a place appointed for prayer, was a plot of ground encompassed with a wall or some other-like mound or enclosure, open above, much like our courts ; whereas a synagogue was a covered edifice, as our houses and churches are. He adds, that the former were generally fixed in places without the cities, in the fields, in places of retirement ; and that they were generally rendered more private, and fit for the work which was to be performed in them, by being surrounded with a plantation of trees. He supposes that these were not only made use of in our Saviour's and the apostles' time, but in preceding ages ; and that the grove, which Abraham is said to have planted, in which he called on the name of the Lord,d was nothing else but one of these convenient places, planted for that purpose, in which public worship was performed. This seems very probable.*5 Moreover, we read, in scripture, concerning 'high places.' These, as Lightfoot observes, f are sometimes spoken of in scripture in a commendable sense. Thus Samuel is said to have gone up into one of these 'high places, 's to perform some acts of religious worship. We read also of another 'high place,' in which there was ' a company of prophets, with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp before them, and they did prophesy.'11 It is true, in other scriptures, we read of them as abused by that idolatry which was performed in them.1 These the pious kings of Judah, who reformed religion, took away. And as to its being said in the history of some of their reigns, that how much soever they destroyed idolatrous worship, yet 'the high places were not taken away ;'k Lightfoot thinks that they should not have been destroyed as places of worship or public assemblies ; that it is not reckoned a blem- ish in the reign of those kings, that the high places were not taken away ; and that, whatever abuse there was, consisted in sacrifice and incense being offered there, which were parts of worship confined to the temple. So that if the kings had not only reformed them from the abuse of those who exercised their idolatry in them, but had proceeded to reform this abuse of their sacrificing there, they might law- fully have met there to perform religious worship ; which it is supposed, they did in synagogues, high places, and groves, which were appointed for that purpose. Thus, then, they met together for religious worship in other places besides the synagogues. — Again, we read in the New Testament, that Paul went, on the sabbath-day, out of the city of Philippi, ' by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made ;'' and there he preached the word by which Lydia was converted. This some think to x Mark v. 22. Luke viii. 41, 49. y Luke iv. 20. z See more of this in the pages of Lightfoot, before referred to. a Psal. lxxiv. 8. b Psal. lxxiv. 3, 7. c n^nvxat, Proseuchae. Evxrtip*, «-?««u*r»{i«, Oratoria. d Gen. xxi. 33. e See Mede's Works, voi. i. book i. disc. 8. f See vol. i. p. 608. g 1 Sam. ix. 19. h Chap. x. 5. i 1 Kings xi. 7; xii. 31. k 2 Kings xii. 3; xiv. 4; xv. 4. 1 Acts xvi. 13. THE CHURCH, VISIBLE A.ND INVISIBLE. 13 have been one of those places to which the Jews resorted for prayer and other pub- lic worship. Others suppose also that the place mentioned in the gospel, to which our Saviour resorted, was one of these ; and that the words, ' he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God, 'm ought to be rendered, 1 in that particular place where prayer was wont to be made to God. ' n But the Greek words may as well be rendered as they are in our translation ; and then they have reference to no particular place of prayer, but import his retirement to perform this duty. We have thus endeavoured to prove, that the church of the Jews had other places in which worship was performed, besides the temple, — a circumstance which was of very great advantage for propagating religion among them. We might have farther proceeded to consider their church- censures, ordained by God for crimes committed, whereby, when the crimes they were guilty of did not deserve death, persons were cut off from among their people by excommunication. But I shall not enlarge any farther upon this Head, but proceed to speak concerning the gos- pel-church. The Church under the Ministry of the Apostles. Here we shall consider the methods taken, in order to the first planting and in- crease of the church, by the apostles. When our Saviour had finished the work of redemption, he, ■ after his resurrection, altered the form of the church, and ap- pointed his apostles not only to signify to the world that he had done so, but to be instruments in erecting the new church. We have already considered the apostles as qualified to be witnesses of Christ's resurrection, and also as having received a commission from him to preach the gospel to all nations, and an order to tarry at Jerusalem till they received those extraordinary gifts from the Holy Ghost which were necessary for their performing the work they were to engage in. Agreeably to the instructions given them, they all now resided at Jerusalem ; and, a few days after Christ's ascension into heaven, the Holy Ghost was poured upon them on the day of Pentecost.0 They then immediately began to exercise their public ministry in that city ; and they had there the advantage of publishing the gospel to a numer- ous concourse of people, who had resorted thither from the various parts of the world in which the Jews were dispersed, to celebrate the festival. Some suppose that there was a greater number gathered together than was usual, it being one of those three feasts to which the Jews resorted from all the parts of the land. A learned writer p supposes, indeed, that the Jews were not obliged to go to this feast from other nations ; and that those who did go were not said, as these are, to dwell at Jerusalem. He thinks, therefore, that what brought them thither from the several parts of the world, was the expectation which the Jews generally had that the Messiah would appear, and erect a temporal kingdom, and that Jerusalem was the place where he would fix his throne ; so that they would be there to wait on him, and share the honours they expected from him. But, whatever occasion brought them thither, it was a seasonable opportunity for the gospel first to be preached. Accordingly, Peter preached his first sermon to a multitude who were gathered together ; and therein he exercised the gift of tongues, by which means, not only was his discourse understood by men of different languages, but they had a plain proof that he was under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. He takes oc- casion also to improve this amazing dispensation of providence, by telling them that it was an accomplishment of what had been predicted by the prophet Joel ; and then he preached Christ to them, declaring that he and the rest of the apostles, were all witnesses that God raised him from the dead, and exalted him by his right hand, and that, in consequence of this, the extraordinary gift of the Holy Ghost was conferred upon them. The success of his first sermon was very remarkable ; for there were added to the church, as the first-fruits of his ministry, 'three thou- sand souls. 'i We read also that ' the Lord added to the church daily such as should m Luke vi. 12. n E» rri tr^co-i-j^ri rev Bieu, in proseucha. Dei. o Acts ii. i, 2. p See Light foot on Acts ii. o. vol. i. pwjjes 751, 7o2. q Acts ii. 41, 47. 14 THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. be saved.' Soon after it is said that ' the number of the men,' of whom the church consisted, 'was about five thousand.'1- This was a very large and numerous church ; and, as is more than probable, it met in the same city. For we must conclude that they fixed their abode there, rather than that they returned to the respective places whence they came, that they might have an opportunity to sit un- der the sound of the gospel, which was at that time preached nowhere else. What makes this more probable is the method they adopted for their subsistence in the world. There would have been no occasion for those who had possessions to sell them, and dispose of the price to supply the exigencies of their fellow-members, had they not removed from their habitations, and forsaken all ior the sake of the gospel. Tins church had wonderful instances of the presence of God among them, which did more than compensate for the loss they must be supposed to have sustained as to their secular affairs. We read, for some time, of little else but success attend- ing the gospel, and of persecutions raised by the Jews against it which rather tend- ed to their own shame and confusion than to the extirpating of it. When the Jews, at length, so far prevailed that, after the death of Stephen, the first martyr, a new persecution was begun by the instigation of Saul, as yet not converted to the faith, the immediate consequence was the scattering of the church 'throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria,8' but the eventual result was the furtherance of the gospel ; for, wherever the brethren went, they preached, and many believed. The apostles, at the same time, obeying the order which was previously given them, continued at Jerusalem ; * and there still remained a church in that city sitting un- der their ministry. This was wisely ordered by the providence of God, not only as an accomplishment of those predictions which respected the gospel being first sounded thence, but that, in this church, a sufficient number might be trained up for the exercise of the ministry in other places, when there should be occasion for their services ; and, in order to this, they had some advantages which no schools of learning could afford them, for they had the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost. Here it was that the prophets and evangelists were first raised up, being imme- diately taught by God. This was the first scene of the gospel-church. Here it con- tinued till the apostles were ordered, by the Holy Ghost, to travel into those parts of the world in which, by his direction, their ministry was to be exercised. The greatest part of them were ordered to those places in which some of the Jews resided. But Paul was ordained to exercise his ministry among the Gentiles. Accordingly, we read that ' the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.'u This divine command they imme- diately obeyed ; and then we read of churches erected in various parts of the world by his ministry who is styled ' the apostle of the Gentiles.' There are several things observable in the exercise of Paul's ministry. Wher- ever he went, he preached the gospel, and confirmed it by miracles, as occasion served. This was attended with such wonderful success and expedition, that the multitudes which were converted by his ministry exceeded not only what might be gathered by one man in the compass of his life, but by several ages of men, unless their ministry should be accompanied by a remarkable hand of providence. At one time, we read of him exercising his ministry ' from Jerusalem, and round about unto IllyricAim ;'x at other times, in several parts of Asia Minor ; then in Spain, and at Rome, and in some pans of Greece ;? and wherever he went, his ministry was attended with such wonderful success as might be described in the words of the Roman emperor, 'I came, I saw, I conquered.' When the apostle had, by the success of his ministry, prepared in any place fit materials for a church, as it would have taken up too much of his time to reside among them till they were provided with a pastor and other officers, who were necessary to carry on the work which was begun, he sent for one of the evangelists, who, as was formerly observed, were fitted for this service by those extraordinary gifts which they had received, while they continued in the church at Jerusalem. The office of these evangelists seems r Acts iv. 4. s Chap. viii. 1. t Chap. i. 4. u Chap. xiii. 2. x Rom. xv. 19. y Ver. 28. THE CUUltCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. 15 to have been principally this ; they were to ' set in order the things that were want- ing,' or left by the apostles to be done, and to ' ordain elders in every city ;' as the apostle Paul intimates in his charge to Titus, z who appears to have been an evangelist particularly ordained to minister to him, and to build upon the founda- tion he had laid. The evangelists appear to have had all the qualifications for the ministry which the apostles had, excepting what respected the latter having seen Jesus, and having been thereby qualified to be witnesses of his resurrection ; and they continued till they had performed their work, in settling pastors and other officers in churches ; and then they were ready to obey another call, to succeed the apostles in some other places, and so perform the same work there. While the apostles were thus concerned for the gathering and building up of churches, and were assisted in this work by the evangelists, there was a continual intercourse between them and those churches Avhose rise was owing to the success of their ministry. Accordingly, they conversed with them by epistles ; some of which they received by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, as designed to be a rule of the church's faith in all succeeding ages. Some of these epistles were written by other apostles, but most of them by Paul.* He sometimes desires to ' know the state' of the churches to whom he wrote ; at other times, he informs them of his own, the opposition he met with, the success of his ministry, the persecutions he was exposed to for it,b and the necessity of the churches which required contribu- tion for their support ; and in doing this, he often enlarges on those important truths, which, had he been among those to whom he wrote, would have been the subject of his ministry. This was necessary to strengthen their hands, and encourage them to persevere in that faith which they made profession of. We may add, that there were, upon several occasions, messengers sent from the churches to the apostle, to in- form him of their state, to transmit to him those contributions which were necessary for the relief of other churches, and to give him the countenance, encouragement, and assistance, which his necessities required. Some of these were very excellent persons, the best that could be chosen out of the church for the service. The apos- tle calls some of them, ' the messengers of the churches, and the glory of Christ,'0 which is an extraordinary character. Some think, that he means, by the expres- sion, that they were the messengers of churches which were the glory of Christ, that is, the seat in which he displays his glory. Others suppose, that he calls the messengers, 'the glory of Christ,' as they, by their wise and faithful conduct, pro- moted his glory ; which was not dependent on, but illustrated thereby. Sometimes they were ministers of churches, sent occasionally on these errands. Thus Epa- phroditus was a messenger and minister of the church at Philippi ;d and One- siphorus was sent to strengthen and encourage the hands of the apostle, when he was a prisoner at Rome, whom Paul speaks of with great affection, when he says, • He sought me out very diligently, and found me, and was not ashamed of my chain. 'e These were very useful persons to promote the interest of Christ, which was carried on by the apostles ; though it does not appear that theirs was a stand- ing office in the church, their service being only occasional. The Nature and Government of the Christian Church. Having thus considered the apostle as engaged in gathering and building up churches, in the way which was peculiar to them in the first age of the gospel, we shall now proceed to speak concerning that state and government of the church, which was designed to continue longer than the apostolic age, and is a rule to the churches of Christ in our day. We have already considered the evangelists as succeeding the apostles, in appointing officers over churches, directing them to fit persons who might be called to the ministry, and instructing these how they should behave themselves in that relation. This was necessary, in consequence of these officers not having ground to expect such extraordinary assistances from the Spirit of God as the apostles and the evangelists had received, any more than pastors and z Tit. i. 5. a Phil. ii. 19. b Col. iv. 7 ; 2 Cor. i. 8; I Cor. xvi. 9. c 2 Cor. viii. 23. d Phil. ii. 25. e 2 Tim. i. 16, 17. 16 THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. other church-officers are to expect them in our day. This leads us to consider the nature, constitution, and government of the churches of Christ in all ages. I. We shall first consider what we are to understand by a particular church, and what is the foundation of it. A church is a number of visible professors, called to be saints, or, at least, denominated, and, by a judgment of charity, esteemed saints ; united together by consent, in order to their having communion with one another ; and testifying their subjection to Christ, and hope of his presence in all his ordinances ; designing hereby to glorify his name, propagate his gospel and in- terest in the world, and promote their mutual edification in that holy faith which is founded on scripture revelation. For these purposes they are obliged to call and set over them such pastors and other officers as God has qualified for the service, to be helpers of their faith, and to endeavour to promote their order, whereby the great and valuable ends of church communion may be answered, and God therein be glorified. This description of a particular church is agreeable to scripture, and founded on it, as may be easily made appear by referring to several scriptures in the New Testament relating to this matter. We read that the members of Christ are char- acterized as saints by calling, or ' called to be saints. 'f The churches in Macedonia are said to ' give their own selves to the Lord, and to the apostles by the will of God,'? — to sit under their ministry, and follow their directions, so far as they im- parted to them the mind of Christ, and were helpers of their faith and order, to his glory ; and we read of their ' professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ. 'h The church at Ephesus also is described as ' built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,' namely, the doctrines laid down by them, as the only rule of faith and obedience, 'Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone.' As to their duty towards one another, they are farther said ' to build up themselves in their most holy faith, and to keep themselves in the love of God ;' that is, to do every thing, by the divine assistance, which is necessary for these ends, ' looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life ;' ' or, as it is said elsewhere, to ' consider one another, to provoke unto love, and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of themselves together, 'k inasmuch as this is an instituted means for answering that great end. Many other scriptures might have been brought to the same purpose, tending to prove and illustrate the description we have given of a gospel-church. But this may be evinced, also, in a reasoning from the laws of society, as founded on the law of nature, and applied to a religious society, which takes its rise from divine revelation and is founded on it. In order to our doing this, we shall lay down the following propositions. First, it is agreeable to the law of nature, and the whole tenor of scripture, that God should be glorified by social worship, and that all the members of worshipping societies should endeavour to promote the spirit- ual interest of one another. Man is, by the excellency of his nature, fitted for conversation ; and he is obliged to it, by his relation to others who have the same capacities and qualifications. As, moreover, the glory of God is the end of his be- ing, it ought to be the end of all those intercourses which we have with one an- other ; and, as divine worship is the highest instance of our glorifying God, we are, as intelligent creatures, obliged to worship him in a social way. — Again, it is the great design of Christianity to direct us how this social worship should be performed by us as Christians, paying a due regard to the gospel, and the glory of the divine perfections as displayed in it. These are the subject of divine revelation, especially of that part of it whence the laws of Christian society are taken. — Further, they who have been made partakers of the grace of God, are obliged, out of gratitude to him, as the author of it, to proclaim his glory to the world. And as the experi- ence of that grace, and the obligations which it lays persons under, are extended to others as well as ourselves, so all who are under like engagements, ought to be helpers of the faith and joy of one another, and to promote their mutual edification and salvation. Now, that this may be done, it is necessary that they consent or agree to have communion with one another in those duties in which they express f Rom. i. 7. g 2 Cor. viiL 5. h Chap. ix. 13. i Jude, ver. 20, 21. k Heh. x. 24, 25. THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. 17 their subjection to Christ, and desire to wait on him together in all his holy insti- tutions. And the rule for their direction in this is contained in scripture ; which sets forth the Mediator's glory, as King of saints, gives a perfect directory for gospel- worship, and encouragement to hope for his presence in it whereby it may be at- tended with its desired success. Finally, as Christ, in scripture, has described some persons as qualified to assist and direct us in this matter, as well as called them to this service, it is necessary that these religious societies should choose and appoint persons to preside over them, who are styled pastors after his own heart, who may feed them with knowledge and understanding, so that his ordinances may be rightly administered, and the ends of church communion answered, to his glory, and their mutual advantage. In this method of reasoning, the constitution of churches appears to be agreeable to the law of nature. We are not to suppose, however, with the Erastians and others, that the church is wholly founded on the laws of civil society, as if Christ had left no certain rules by which it is to be governed, besides those which are common to all societies, as an expedient to maintain peace and order. For there are other ends to be answered by church communion, which are more immediately conducive to the glory of Christ, and the promoting of revealed religion, which the law of nature, and the laws of society founded on it, can give us no direction in. It is a great dishonour to Christ, the King and Head of his church, to suppose that he has left them without a rule to direct them in what respects the communion of saints ; as much as it would be to assert that he has left them without a rule of faith. If God was so particular in giving directions concerning every part of that worship which was to be performed in the church before Christ's coming, so that they were not, on pain of his highest displeasure, to deviate from it ; certainly we must not think that our Saviour has neglected to give laws, by which the gospel- church is to be governed, distinct from such as are contained in the law of nature. It may hence be inferred, that no church, or religious society of Christians, has power to make laws for its own government, in those things that pertain to religious worship, or are to be deemed a part of it. I do not say that a church has no power to appoint some discretionary rules to be observed by those who are of the same communion, provided they are kept within due bounds, and Christ's kingly office be not invaded. There is a very great controversy in the world, about the church's power to decree some things which are styled indifferent ; but persons are not generally agreed in determining what they mean by indifferent things. Some understand by them those rites and ceremonies which are used in religious matters. These they call indifferent, because they are of less importance ; but by being made terms of communion, they cease to be indifferent. Besides, whether they are of greater or less importance, if they respect a necessary mode of worship, con- ducive to the glory of God, such as occasions him to be more honoured than he would be by the neglect of it, to call them indifferent is to carry the idea of indifference too far, and to extend the power of the church beyond its due bounds. For as the terms of communion are to be fixed only by Christ, and as the means by which he is to be glorified, which have the nature of ordinances in which we hope for his pre- sence and blessing, must be sought for from him ; so the church has not power to ordain or sanction them without his warrant. Hence, when we speak of those in- different matters which the church has power to appoint, we mean those things which are no part of religious worship, but merely discretionary, which may be ob- served or not, without any guilt contracted, or censure ensuing. II. We are now led to consider the matter of a church, or the character of those persons who are qualified for church communion. We have already considered the church as a religious society. It is, therefore, necessary that all the members of it embrace the true religion ; and, in particular, that they deny none of those funda- mental articles of faith which are necessary to salvation. It is not to be supposed that the members of any society have a perfect unanimity in their sentiments about all religious matters ; for that is hardly to be expected in this world. They are- all obliged, however, as the apostle says, 'to hold the head, from which all the body, by joints and bands, having nourish dent ministered, and knit together, increased^ n. c 18 THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. with the increase of God,'1 and puhlicly to avow or maintain no doctrine which is subversive of the foundation on which the church is built. Revealed religion cen- tres in Christ, and is referred to his glory as Mediator. Hence, all the members of a church ought to profess their faith in him and willingness to own him as their Lord and Lawgiver, and to give him the glory which is due to him as a divine Person, and as one who is appointed to execute the offices of Prophet, Priest, and King. The apos- tle gives a short but very comprehensive description of those who are fit members of • a church, when he says, ' We are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. 'm It follows, that every religious society is not a church. False religions have been propagated among the heathen and others, in distinct societies of those who performed religious wor- ship, who yet had no relation to Christ, and therefore were not reckoned among his churches. On the other hand, we cannot determine concerning every member of a particular church, that his heart is right with God. That is a prerogative which belongs only to the Searcher of hearts. It is the external profession which is our rule of judging. All are not in a state of salvation who are church-members, as the apostle says, ' They are not all Israel which are of Israel.'11 He makes a dis- tinction between a real subjection to Christ by faith, and a professed subjection to him. He says, concerning the church of the Jews, ' He is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh ; but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, and not in the letter ; whose praise is not of men, but of God.'° Yet they were all church-members, professedly or apparently devoted to God. Concerning such we are bound, by a judgment of charity, to conclude, that they are what they profess themselves to be, till their conduct plainly gives the lie to their profession. The visible church is compared to the net, which had good and bad fish in it ;P and to ' the great house' in which are ' vessels' of various kinds, — ' some to honour, and some to dishonour,'^ — some fit for the master's use, others to be broken as ' vessels wherein is no pleasure,'1" — some sincere, others hypocrites. Yet till their hypocrisy is made manifest, they are supposed to be fit matter for a church. [See Note E, p. 42-.] III. We are now to consider the form or bond of union, whereby the members are incorporated into a society, and so denominated a church of Christ. It is neither profession of faith, nor conduct agreeable to it, which constitutes a person a mem- ber of a particular church ; for, according to the laws of society, there must be a mutual consent to walk together, or to have communion one with another in all the ordinances which Christ has established. As the materials of which a building consists, do not constitute the building unless they are cemented and joined to- gether ; so the union of professing Christians, whereby they are joined together and become one body by mutual consent, is necessary to constitute them a church, as much as their professed subjection to Christ to denominate them a church of Christ. Hereby they become a confederate body ; and as every one, in a private capacity, was before engaged to perform those duties which are incumbent on all men as Christians, now they bring themselves, pursuant to Christ's appointment, under an obligation to endeavour, by the assistance of divine grace, to walk becom- ing the relation they stand in to each other, or, as the apostle expresses himself, 'to build up themselves in their most holy faith,'3 so that the ends of Christian society may be answered, and the glory of Christ secured ; and they have ground to expect his presence in waiting on him in all his holy institutions. By means of this union they who were before considered as fit subjects for church-fellowship are said to be united together as a church of Christ. But as this principally respects the foundation or erection of churches, there are other things necessary for their increase, for the maintaining of that purity which is their glory, and for thereby preventing their contracting the guilt which would otherwise ensue. IV. We are thus led to consider the power which Christ has given them, and the rules which he has laid down to be observed by them, in the admission of per- sons to church communion, and in the exclusion of them from it. 1 Col. ii. 19. m Phil. iii. 3. n Rom. ix. 6. o Chap. ii. 28, 29. p Matt. xiii. 47. q 2 Tim. ii. 20. r Jer. xxii. 28. s Jude 20. THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. 19 1. As to the admission of members who may fill up the places of those whose relation to them is dissolved by death, it is highly reasonable that the churches should have all the satisfaction which is necessary concerning their fitness lor church communion. But we must inquire what terms or conditions are to be insisted on, and complied with, in order to admission. We must not suppose that these are arbitrary, or such as a church shall please to impose ; for it is no more in their power to make terms of communion, than it is to make a rule of faith or worship. In this, a church differs from a civil society. The terms of admission into the lat- ter are arbitrary, provided they do not interfere with any of the laws of God or man. But the terms of Christian communion are fixed by Christ, the Head of his church ; and therefore no society of men have a right to make the door of admission into their own communion straiter or wider than Christ has made it. This is a matter in which some of the reformed churches differ among themselves ; though the dis- sention ought not to rise so high as to cause any alienation of affection, or any de- gree of uncharitableness, so as to occasion any to think that because they do not in all things agree as to this matter, they ought not to treat one another as those who hold the Head, and are designing to advance the interest of Christ in the various methods they are pursuing to advance it. I think it is allowed by most of the churches of Christ — at least by those who suppose that persons have no right to church communion, without the consent of that particular society of which any one is to be made a member — that nothing short of a professed subjection to Christ, and a desire to adhere to him in all his offices, as well as worship him in all his ordinances, can be reckoned a term of church communion. For we suppose the church to be built upon this foundation ; and nothing short of it can sufficiently set forth the glory of Christ as its Head, or answer the valuable ends of church com- munion. It follows that, as ignorance of the way of salvation by Jesus Christ dis- qualifies for church communion, so also does immorality in conduct ; for both of these evince a person to be alienated from the life of God, a stranger to the cove- nant of promise, and in subjection to Satan, the god of this world, which is incon- sistent with a professed subjection to Christ. Hence, a mind rightly informed in the great doctrines of the gospel, with a conduct in life corresponding to it, is to be insisted on, as a term of church communion. But that in which the sentiments of men differ, is the way and manner in which this qualification for church communion is to be rendered visible ; and whether some things which are merely circumstantial are to be insisted on as terms of com- munion. That those qualifications which are necessary to church communion ought to be, in some way or other, made visible, is taken for granted by many on both sides. Indeed, without it the church could not be called 'visible,' or a society of such as profess the true religion, and, together with it, their subjection to Christ. Qualification for fellowship must, in a special manner, be made known to those who are to hold communion with the persons admitted, as called to be saints ; for this communion cannot, from the nature of the thing, be held, unless the character of saints be, in some way or other, made to appear. If it be said that there is no occasion for this character to be explicit, or the profession of it to be made other- wise than as their relation to a church declares them visible professors ; we must observe that that relation is only a presumptive evidence that they are Christians, and does not sufficiently distinguish them from the world, especially from that part of it who make an outward show of religion, and attend on several branches of .public worship. This mere outward profession is certainly very remote from the character given of all those churches which we have an account of in the New Tes- tament, concerning some of whom the apostle says, that 'their faith' was not only known to the particular society to which they belonged, but was 'spread abroad,' or 'spoken of throughout the whole world.'* This it could never have been, if they who were more immediately concerned to know it, had received no other con- viction than what is the result of their joining with them in some external acts of worship. That Christian character must be made visible may be inferred, also, from what is generally allowed by those who explain the nature of the Lord's Sup- t 1 Thess. i. 8, compared with Rom. i. 8. 20 THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. per, which is a church ordinance, and lay down the qualifications of those wlio are deemed fit to partake of it, particularly that they are under an obligation to ox- mine themselves, not only concerning their knowledge to discern the Lord's body, but concerning their faith to feed on him, their repentance, love, and new. obedience, their trusting in his mercy, and rejoicing in his love, and that they are tmder a necessity of renewing the exercise of those graces which may render them meet for this ordinance." This is consonant to the practice of many of the reformed churches ; who will not admit any into their communion, without receiving satisfaction as to their having these qualifications for this ordinance. Now, as the matter in contro- versy with them principally respects the manner in which this is to be given, and the concern of the church in it, we may infer that there is the highest reason that the church should receive satisfaction, as well as those who preside over it. They are obliged, in conscience, to have communion with the persons admitted, and to reckon them among the number of those who have been made partakers of the grace of Christ; and this they cannot well be said to do, unless the Christian char- acter of the persons admitted be in some way or other made visible to them. We are thus led to consider the manner in which a profession of Christianity is to be made visible, — whether it is to be done by every one in his own person, or whether a report of it by another in his name may be deemed sufficient. This I can reckon no other than a circumstance. Hence, I am of opinion that one of these ways is not so far to be insisted on, as that a person whose qualifications for it are not to be questioned, should be denied the privilege of church communion because he is unwilling to comply with it, as thinking that the main end designed by it may be as effectually answered by the other. If a person be duly qualified, as the apostle says concerning Timothy, to make ' a good profession before many witnesses ;'x if his making such a profession may not only have a tendency to an- swer the end of giving satisfaction to the church, but be an expedient, in an un- common degree, to promote their edification ; if he have something remarkable to impart, and desire to bear his testimony to the grace of God which he has experi- enced in his own person, and thereby to induce others to join with him in giving him the glory of it ; there is no law of God or nature which prohibits or forbids him to do it. Nor ought such a public profession to be censured, as if it could not be made without being liable to the common imputation that pride must be the necessary inducement to it ; for that is such a censure and reproach as is unbe- coming Christians, especially when it is alleged as an universal exception. I am far, however, from pleading for such a public profession as a necessary term of communion ; nor do I think that a person's desire to give the church satisfaction in such a way, ought always to be complied with ; for whatever occasion some may suppose they have for it, all are not fit to do it in such a way as may tend to the church's edification. There are various other ways by which a church may know that those who are proposed to its communion have a right to it, which I forbear. to mention. But one of them is not to be so far insisted on, as that a refusal to comply with it rather than another, provided the general end be answered, should debar a person, otherwise qualified, from church communion. The church being satisfied, he is joined to them by their consent ; and is, in consequence, laid under equal engagements with them, to walk in all the ordinances and commandments of the Lord, blameless. 2. We are now led to consider the exclusion of members from church communion. This is agreeable to the laws of society, as well as their admission into it ; and hereby a becoming zeal is expressed for the glory of God, and a public testimony given against those who discover the insincerity of their professed subjection to Christ, which was the ground and reason of their being admitted into that relation which now they appear to have forfeited. Now, the church has a right to exclude those from its communion who appear to be unqualified for it, or a reproach to it. Here I cannot but take notice of the opinion of the Erastians, that a church has no power, distinct from the civil government, to exclude persons from its communion. This opinion was advanced by Erastus, a u See Quert. clxxi, clxxiv. x 1 Tim. vi. 12. THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. 21 physician in Germany, soon after the beginning of the Reformation. What seems to have given occasion to it, was the just prejudice which he entertained against the Popish doctrine, concerning the independence of the church upon the state. This was then, and is at this day, maintained and abused to such a degree, that if a clergyman insults the government, and sets himself at the head of a rebellion against his lawful prince, or is guilty of any other enormous crimes, he flies to the church for protection, and generally finds it there ; especially if the king should, in any respect, disoblige him, or refuse to lay his crown at his feet, if he desire it. Opposition to this was, I say, a just prejudice ; and gave first rise to the opinion of Erastus, who, in opposing one extreme, ran into another. The argument by which his opinion is generally supported, is, that the independence of the church upon the state tends to erect or set up one government within another/ But this is not contrary to the law of nature and nations, when a smaller government is not co-ordinate with the other, but allowed and protected by it. The government of a family or corporation must be acknowledged by all to be a smaller government in- cluded in a greater. But will any one deny that they are inconsistent with it ? May not a master admit into his family whom he pleases, or exclude them from being members of it ? Or may not a corporation make the by-laws by which it is governed, without being supposed to interfere with the civil government ? And, by a parity of reason, may not a church, pursuant not only to the laws of society, but to the rule which Christ has given, exclude members from its communion, with- out being supposed to subvert the fundamental laws of civil government ? We do not deny that, if the church should pretend to inflict corporal punishments on its members, or make use of the civil sword, which is committed into the hand of the magistrate ; or if it should act contrary to the laws of Christ, by defending, en- couraging, or abetting those who are enemies to the civil government, or excluding them from those privileges which the laws of the land give them a right to, its do- ing so would be a notoriously unwarrantable instance of erecting one government within another, subversive of it. But this is not the design of excommunication, as one of those ordinances which Christ has given to his church. We are now to consider the causes of inflicting censure on persons. These are no other than those things which, had they been before known, would have been a hinderance to their being admitte'd to church communion. Hence, when a person is guilty of those crimes which, had they been known before, he ought not to have been received, and when these are made to appear, he is deemed unqualified for that privilege which he was before admitted to partake of. On this account we generally say, that every one first excludes himself, by being guilty of those crimes which disqualify him for church communion, before he is to be excluded from it by the sentence of the church. — But, that we may be a little more particular on this subject, let us consider that they who disturb the tranquillity of the church, by the uneasiness of their tempers, or who are not only unwilling to comply with the me- thod of its government, but endeavour to make others so, or who are restless in their attempts to bring innovations into it, or to propagate doctrines which are contrary to scripture, and the general faith of the church founded on it, though these be not di- rectly subversive of the gospel, yet, inasmuch as the persons are not satisfied in retain- ing their own sentiments, without giving disturbance to others who cannot adhere to them, such, I think, ought to be separated from the communion of the church, purely out of a principle of self-preservation ; though it is not the church's im- mediate duty to judge the state so much as the temper of the persons, whom they withdraw from. — Again, if a person propagate a doctrine subversive of the gospel, or of that faith on which the church is founded, he is to be excluded. It is such an one, as I humbly conceive, whom the apostle styles ' an heretic,' and advises Titus • to reject,' and of whom he speaks as one that 'is subverted, and sin- neth, being condemned of himself. 'z Some think that the person here spoken of, is one who pretends to believe one doctrine, but really believes another which is of a most pernicious tendency ; that he is to be rejected, not for his sentiments, but for his insincerity; and that on this account he is said to be ' self-condemned.'* But I cannot acquiesce in this sense of the text. For though there may be some y Imperium in imperio. z Tit. iii. 10, 11. a AvrtKarax^rtt. 22 THE CHUKCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. in the world who think to find their account, gain popular applause, or, some way or other, serve their worldly interest, by pretending to believe those doctrines which they really deny ; yet this cannot be truly said of the person whom the apostle, in this scripture, describes as 'an heretic' He is, indeed, represented as inconsis- tent with himself ; and his being so is supposed to be known and alleged, as an ag- gravation of the charge on which his expulsion from the religious society of which he was a member is founded ; but did ever any man propagate one doctrine, and tell the world that he believed another, so that he might, for this conduct, be con- victed as an hypocrite ? Certainly his acting thus could not be known without his own confession ; and the church could not censure him, but upon sufficient evidence. It may be said that they might know this by divine inspiration. But though it is true that they were favoured with divine inspiration in that age, in which, among other extraordinary gifts, they had that of ' discerning spirits ; ' yet it is greatly to be questioned, whether they ever proceeded against any one upon extraordinary intimations, without some apparent matter of accusation, which was known by those who had not this extraordinary gift. For, if they had a liberty to proceed against persons in such a way, why did not our Saviour reject Judas, who was one of that society who attended on his ministry, when he knew him to be an hypocrite, or 'self-condemned,' in a most notorious degree? Yet our Saviour did not reject him ; and the reason, doubtless, was, that he designed that his churches, in succeed- ing ages, should, in all their judicial proceedings, go upon evidence which might easily be known by all, when they expelled any one from their communion. Besides, if the sense contended for be the true sense of the text, and the ground on which persons are to be rejected, no one can be known to be self-condemned now ; for we have no extraordinary intimations since miraculous gifts ceased ; nor can we believe that any thing was instituted as essential to the church's proceedings, in the modes of government, which could not be put in practice except in the apostolic age ; and if so, then having recourse to extraordinary discerning of spirits, as a foundation of proceeding against persons to be excluded from church communion, will not serve the purpose for which it is alleged. It must be concluded, therefore, that the person here said to be 'self-condemned,' was deemed so, not because he pre- tended to hold that faith which he really denied, but because his present professed sentiments were the reverse of what he had before pretended to hold, his profession of which was a term on which he was admitted into the church. In this sense he is said to be ' self-condemned ; ' his present errors being a contradiction to the faith which he then professed, in common with the rest of the society of which he was ad- mitted a member. — Further, persons are to be excluded from church communion for immoral practices, which not only contradict their professed subjection to Christ, but argue them to be in an unconverted state. When they were first received into the church, they were supposed, by a judgment of charity, to be Christ's subjects and servants. Their own profession, which was not then contradicted by any ap- parent blemishes in their conversation, was the foundation of this opinion, which the church was then bound to entertain concerning them. But, when thev are guilty of any crimes which are contrary to their professed subjection to Christ, the church is to take away the privilege which they had before granted them. For by these crimes they appear to be disqualified for their commuuion ; and the church's excluding them is necessary, inasmuch as by it they express a just detestation of every thing which would be a reproach to them, or an instance of disloyalty to Christ, or rebellion against him as their Head and Saviour. We are now to speak concerning the method of proceeding in excluding persons from church communion. We must consider this as a judicial act, and therefore not to be done without trying and judging impartially the merits of the cause. A crime committed is supposed to be first known by particular persons, who are mem- bers of the church ; or if any injury be done, whereby another has received just matter of offence, he is supposed to be first apprized of it before it be brought be- fore the church. In this case, our Saviour has expressly given direction concern- ing the method in which he is to proceed. He says, ' If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then THE CHUKCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. 23 take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. 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 hea- then man and a publican. 'b If this scripture be rightly understood, it will give great light to the method of proceeding in this matter. Here we must consider, that the crime, is called 'a trespass.' Accordingly, it is, in some respects, in- jurious to others ; and by its being so, the offender contracts some degree of guilt lor which he is to be reproved. Were it otherwise, there would be no room for a private rebuke or admonition, in order to bring him to repentance ; nor, upon his obstinate refusal to repent, would the church have ground to proceed in excluding him from its communion. We are not to suppose, however, that the crime is of such a nature as is, in itself, inconsistent with a state of grace, or as affords matter of open scandal to the Christian name, as if a person were guilty of adultery, theft, or some other notorious crime ; for, in this case, it would not be sufficient for the person who is apprized of it to give the offender a friendly and gentle reproof, so that, upon his confessing his fault, and repenting of it, all farther pro- ceedings against him ought to be stopped. For, in such a case, I humbly conceive that he who has received information concerning it, ought to make it known to the church, that so the matter may not only be fully charged upon him, but his repentance be as visible as the scandal he lias brought to religion, by his crime, has been. If I know a person to be a traitor to his prince, a murderer, or guilty of any other crime whereby he has forfeited his life, it is not sufficient for me to re- prove him privately for it, in order to bring him to repentance ; but I must dis- cover it to proper persons, that he may be brought to condign punishment. So, in this case, if a person be guilty of a crime which in itself disqualifies for church communion, and brings a reproach on the ways of God, the church ought to ex- press their public resentment against it ; which will tend to secure the honour of religion. Hence, it ought to be brought before them immediately ; and they ought to proceed against the offender, by excluding him from their communion, even though, for the present, he seem to express some degree of sorrow for his crime, as being made public. And if they judge that his repentance is sincere, and that the world has sufficient ground to conclude it to be so, then they may express their forgiveness of it, and so withdraw the censure they have passed upon him. But, in crimes of a lesser nature, a private admonition ought to be given ; and if this be to no purpose, but the person go on in his sin, so that it appears to be ha- bitual, and his repentance not sincere, the cause is then to be brought before the church. But, in order to this, the person who first reproved the offender must take one or two more, that they may join in the second reproof ; and if all this be to no purpose, then they are to appear as evidences against him, and the church is to give him a public admonition ; and if this solemn ordinance prove ineffectual, then he is to be excluded. His exclusion is styled his ' being to them as an heathen man or publican ; ' that is, they have no farther relation to him, any more than they have to the heathen or publicans, or no immediate care of him, otherwise than as they are to desire to know whether the censure inflicted on him be blessed for his advantage. We are now led to consider the temper with which the sentence of exclu- sion from church communion ought to be denounced, and the consequences of it, with respect to him who falls under it. The same frame of spirit ought to discover itself in this as in all other reproofs for sin committed. There ought to be a zeal expressed for the glory of God, and, at the same time, compassion to the souls of those who have rendered themselves obnoxious to it ; without the least degree of hatred being felt toward their persons. The crime is to be aggravated in proportion to its nature, so that he who has committed it may be brought under conviction, and be humbled for his sin ; yet he is to be made sensi- ble that his spiritual advantage is intended by the discipline to which he is subjected. This is very contrary to those methods which were taken in the corrupt state of the Jewish church; who, when they excommunicated persons, denounced several curses against them, and whose consequent behaviour was altogether unjustifiable. b Matt, xviii. 15 — 17. t 24 THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. "We have an account, in some of their writings, of two degrees of excommunication practised among them. One of these deprived them of only some privileges which that church enjoyed, but not of all. Another carried in it more terror, by reason of several anathemas annexed to it ; which were a great abuse and perversion of the design of the law relating to the curses which were to be denounced on mount Ebal.c This law was given, not as a form to be used in excommunication, but to show the Israelites what sin deserved, and to be an expedient to prevent those sins which would expose them to the divine wrath and curse. d The Jews pretend, too, to have a warrant for their excommunications by anathema from Deborah and Barak's cursing Meroz,e and from Joshua's denouncing a curse upon him who should rebuild Jericho.f But these instances do not give countenance to their proceedings ; for we must distinguish between anathemas denounced by immediate divine direction by persons who had the spirit of prophecy, and those curses which were denounced by others who were altogether destitute of it.s — Moreover, as the Jews, in the degenerate ages of their church, abused the ordinance of excommunication, so they discovered such a degree of hatred to those whom they excommunicated, as ought not to be expressed to the vilest of men. An instance of this we have in their behaviour towards the Samaritans ; who, according to the account we have from Jewish writers, were excommunicated in Ezra's time, for building a temple on mount Gerizzim, and setting up corrupt worship there, in opposition to that which ought to have been performed in the temple at Jerusalem. For this they were justly excluded from the Jewish church ;h but their morose behaviour towards them was unwarrantable. That there was an irreconcilable enmity between them, appears from the woman of Samaria's answer to our Saviour, when desiring her to give him water ; and it is evident that he was far from approv- ing of the behaviour of the Jews towards them. The woman was amazed that he should ask water of her, and said to him, ' How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans ;M that is, they retain the old rancour and prejudice against them, that they will not have any dealings with them which involve the least obligation on either side. These things were consequences of excommunication, which they had no ground for in scripture. As to the Christian church, they seem to have followed the Jews too much in that in which they are not to be imitated. Hence arose the distinction between the greater and the lesser excommunication ; which is agreeable, though expressed in other words, to that which we have already mentioned. Their denouncing ana- themas against persons excommunicated by them, how much soever it might have argued their zeal against the crimes they committed, is no example for us to follow. It is beyond dispute, that they endeavoured to make this censure as much dreaded as was possible, to deter men from committing those crimes which might deserve it. Tertullian calls it, ' an anticipation ol the future judgment ;'k and Cyprian supposes a person on whom it is inflicted to be ' far from a state of salvation.'1 Moreover, some have supposed that persons, when excommunicated, were possessed by the devil. This they conclude to be the sense of the apostle, m when he speaks of ' delivering' such 'unto Satan. 'n They think that Satan actually seized and took possession c Deut. xxvii. d The former of these, Jewish writers call "TT3 Niddui. The latter they call Erin Cherem, or Know Schammatha. This was performed with sevtral execrations, by which they, as it were, bound them over to suffer both temporal and eternal punishments. See Lightfoot's Horoe Hebr. and Talmud, in Cor. v. 5. e Judges v. 23. f Josh. vi. 26. g See more on this subject in Vitringa de Synagog. Vet. page 745, and also the form used, and the instrument drawn up, when a person was excommunicated and anathematized, in Seliien de Jure Nat. et Gent. lib. iv. cap. 7. and Buxt. Lex. Talm. in voce CHEREM. h See an account of the manner of their excommunication, and the curse denounced apainst them at that time, and the first cause of it, taken from Josephus and other Jewish writers, in Lightfoot's Works, vol. ii. pp. 538 — 540, and vol. i. page 599. i John iv. 9. k Vid. Tert. Apol. cap. 39. ' Summum futuri judicii praejudicium.' 1 Vid. C\ pr. de Orat. Dom. ' Timendum est, et orandum, ne dum quis absUntus seperatur a Christi corpore, procul remaneat a salute.' m 1 Cor. v. 5. n Vid. Cave's Prim. Christ. Part III. can. 5. THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. 25 of them ; that God permitted this as an expedient to strike terror into the minds of men, to .prevent many sins from heing committed ; and that it was more neces- sary at the time when the church was destitute of the assistance of the civil magis- trate, who took no care to defend the church, or to punish crimes committed by its members. But I cannot think that there was ever such a power granted to the church, how much soever the necessity of affairs might be supposed to require it. We read nothing of it in the writings of those Fathers who lived in the early ages, such as Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Origen, or Cyprian ; who would, doubtless, have taken some notice of this extraordinary miraculous punishment attending excom- munication, had there been any such thing. Some of them, indeed, speak oi the church's being favoured, in some instances, after the apostle's time,0 with the ex- traordinary gift of miracles, and particularly that of casting out devils ; but we have no account of the devil's possessing any upon their being cast out of the church. We read in scripture, indeed, of ' delivering' a person excommunicated 'to Satan. *P But I cannot think that the apostle intends any more by the phrase than a person's being declared to be in Satan's kingdom, that is, in the world, where Satan rules over the children of disobedience. If, too, his crime be so great as is inconsistent with a state of gtface, he must, without doubt, be reckoned a servant of Satan, and in this sense be delivered to him. Besides, there is a particular design of the deliver- ing to Satan mentioned by the apostle, namely, 'the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus ;' so that the person's good is to be intended by it, that he may be humbled, brought to repentance, and alterwards received again into the bosom of the church. We have thus considered the general description of a church, the matter and form of it, and the power granted to it of receiving persons into its communion or excluding them from it. From what has been stated on these subjects, we may infer that nearness of habitation, how much soever it may contribute to the answer- ing of some ends of church communion, which cannot be attained by those who live many miles distant from one another, is not sufficient to constitute persons church members, or to give them a right to the privileges which attend that relation. Parochial churches have no foundation in scripture ; for they want both the matter and form of a church ; nor are they any other than a human constitution. — Again, the scripture gives no account of the church as national or provincial. Though persons have a right to many civil privileges, as born in particular nations or provinces, it does not follow that they are professedly subject to Christ, or united together in the bonds of the gospel. If a church which styles itself national, exclude persons from its communion, whether it be for real or sup- posed crimes, it takes away a right which it had no power to confer, but which is founded on the laws of men, which are very distinct from those which Christ has given to his churches. V. We are now led to consider the government of the church, by those officers which Christ has appointed in it. Tyranny and anarchy are extremes, inconsistent o Justin Martyr tells the Jews, [Vid. ejusd. Colloq. cum Trypb.] that the church, in his time, had the gift of prophecy. This Eusebius [in Hist. Eccles. lib. iv. cap. 17-] takes notice of, and, doubtless, believed to be true in fact; though it is very much questioned whether there were any such thing in the fourth century, in which he lived. Gregory Nyssen and Basil, who lived a little after Eusebius, assert that there were many miracles wrought in the third century by Gregory of Neo-Csesarea, for which reason he is called Thaumaturgus; though it is not improbable that they might be imposed on in some things which they relate concerning him, especially when they com- pare him with the apostles and ancient prophets, not exceptii g Moses himself in this respect. It is certain that many things are related of his miracles which seem too fabulous to obtain credit. Yet there is ground enough, from all that they say, to suppose that he wrought some, and that, therefore, in his time, they had not wholly ceased. [Vid. Greg. Nyss. in vit. Greg. Thaum. and Basil de Sp. Sanct. cap. 29.] Origen affirms that, in his time, the Christians had a power to per- form many miraculous cures, and to foretell things to come. [Vid. lib. i. Contr. Gels.] * K*» i« 'Xyr> Teu *y"u txiit'u Hnvf4.tt.rc; ira^a. %£imavei( eofyrmi i!nr*Jay#7 iaiftoms xai xeXXas i*eu( tvrirtXtufi tcai oouat riva xara re €t>uXyfi fjuXXniruv.1 If this had not been true, Celsus, w ho wanted neither malice nor a will to oppose, would certainly have detected the fallacy. Tertullian . [Vid. Apologet. cap. 23.] appeals to it for the proof of the Christian religion, offering to lay his life and reputation at stake, if the Christians, when publicly calling upon God, did not cure those who were possessed with devils, p I Cor. v. 5. II. D 2t) THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. with the good of civil society, and contrary to the law of nature, and are sufficiently guarded against by the government which Christ has fixed in his church, lie has appointed officers to secure its peace and order, and has limited their power, and given directions which concern the exercise of it, so that the church may be gov- erned without oppression, its religious rights maintained, and the glory of God and the mutual edification of its members promoted. We have already considered those extraordinary officers whom Christ set over the gospel-church, when it was first constituted, namely, the apostles and evangelists. But there are others whom he has given to his churches. These are either sucli as are appointed to bear rule, more especially in what respects the promoting of faith and order, who are styled pastors and elders ; or they are such as have the over- sight of the secular affairs of the church, and the trust of providing for the neces- sities of the poor committed to them, who are called deacons. As to the former, namely, pastors and elders, we often read of them in the New Testament. All, however, are not agreed in their sentiments as to whether the elders spoken of in scripture are distinct officers from pastors, or whether Christ has appointed two sorts of them, namely, preaching and ruling elders. Some think the apostle distinguishes between them, when he says, ' Let the elder% that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine. 'q The ' double honour' here intended, seems to be not only civil respect, but maintenance, as appears from the following words, ' Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn; and the labourer is worthy of his reward.' Now, the parties to whom I refer suppose that this maintenance belongs to such only as 'labour in word and doctrine,' and not to the other elders who are said to 'rule well.' They hence conclude that there are elders who 'rule well,' distinct from those who 'labour in word and doctrine.' Others, indeed, think that the apostle, in this text, speaks only of the latter sort ; and then the stress of his argument is laid principally on the word ' labouring,' as if he had said, ' Let erery one who preaches the gospel and presides over the church, have that honour conferred on him which is his due ; but let this be greater in proportion to the pains and dili- gence which he shows for the church's edification.' I cannot but think, however, since it is agreeable to the laws of society, and not in the least repugnant to any thing we read in scripture concerning the office of an elder, that, in case of emer- gency, when the necessity of the church requires"it, or when the work of preaching and ruling is too much for a pastor, the church being very numerous, it is advisable that some should be chosen from among themselves, to assist him in managing the affairs of government and performing some branches of his office distinct from that of preaching, a work to which they are not called, as not being duly qualified for it. These are helpers or assistants in government ; and their office may have in it a very great expediency ; as in the multitude of counsellors there is safety, and the direction and advice of those who are men of prudence and esteem in the church will be very conducive to maintain its peace and order. But I cannot think that the office of ruling elders is necessary in smaller churches, in which the pastors need not their assistance. [See Note F, page 43.] We shall now speak concerning the office of a pastor. This consists of two branches, namely, preaching the word and administering the sacraments on the one hand, and performing the office of a ruling elder on the other. We may first consider him as qualified and called to preach the gospel. This is an honourable and important work, and has always been reckoned so by those who have had any concern for the promoting of the glory of God in the world. The apostle Paul was very thankful to Christ that he conferred upon him the honour of being employed in this work, or, as he expresses it, that ' he counted him faith- ful, putting him into the ministry.'1" Elsewhere he concludes, that it is necessary that they who engage in this work be sent by God, * How shall they preach, except they be sent ?'* This is a necessary prerequisite to the pastoral office, as much as speech is necessary to an orator, or conduct to a governor. Yet persons may be employed in the work of the ministry, who are not pastors. These, if they faith- q 1 Tim. v. 17. r Chap. i. 12. • Rom. x. 15. THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. 27 fully discharge the work they are called to, may be reckoned a blessing to the world, and a valuable part of the church's treasure. Considered as distinct from pastors, however, they are not reckoned among its officers. This is a subject which very well deserves our consideration. But, as we have an account elsewhere * of the qualifications and call of ministers to preach the gospel, and of the manner in which their work is to be done, we pass the subject over at present. We shall next consider a minister as invested with the pastoral office, and so re- lated to a particular church. The characters by which those who are called to it are described in the New Testament, besides that of a pastor, are a bishop or over- seer, and a presbyter or elder, who labours in word and doctrine. The world, it is certain, is very much divided in their sentiments about this matter. Some conclude that a bishop is not only distinct from, but superior, both in order and degree, to those who are styled presbyters or elders ; while others think either that there is no difference between them, or, at least, that it is not so great that they should be reckoned distinct officers in a church. The account we have, in scripture; of this matter, seems to be somewhat different from what were the sentiments of the church in following ages. Sometimes we read of several bishops in one church. Thus the apostle, writing to the church at Philippi, directs his epistle to the bishops and deacons.u Elsewhere he seems to call the same persons bishops and elders or pres- byters ; for he sent to Ephesus, 'and called the elders of the church, 'x and advised them to ' take heed to themselves, and to all the flock over whom the Holy Ghost had made them overseers' or bishops. * At another time, he charges Titus to 'ordain elders,' or presbyters, 'in every city.' He then gives the character of those whom he was to ordain, bidding him take care that they were ' blameless,' and had other qualifications necessary for this office ; and, in assigning a reason for his doing so, he adds, ' For a bishop must be blameless,' i(N)(l, Altar. Dhiimsc. Jameson's Fundamentals of the Hierarchy examined; For- rest.t's Hierarchical Bishop-' Claim. &c. ; nrid Clarkson's ' No Evidence for Diocesan Churches,' and liis •D.octs..ij Cuutchea not \et discovered,' &c. 28 THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. of Ignatius, Tertullian, Cyprian, and other Fathers in these ages, that there was a superiority of bishops to presbyters, at least in degree, though not in order ; that the presbyter performed all the branches of the work which properly belonged to bishops, with only this difference, that it was done with their leave, or by their order, or in their absence ; and that, there being several elders in the same church, one of these, when a bishop died, was ready to succeed him in his office. Some of the Fathers speak also of the church as parochial, and contradistinguished from diocesan. But as it does not appear, by their writings, that the parochial churches of which they speak had no bond of union but nearness of habitation, I cannot so readily conclude that their church state depended principally on this political cir- cumstance. I am of opinion rather that Christians thought it most convenient for those to enter into a church relation, who, by reason of the nearness of their situa- tion to each other, could better perform the duties which were incumbent on them as church members. It appears, too, from several things occasionally mentioned by the Fathers, that the church admitted none into its communion but those whom they judged qualified for it, not only by understanding the doctrines of Christianity, but by a conduct becoming their profession ; and that they caused them to remain a considerable time in a state of probation, admitting them to attend on the prayers and instructions of the church, but ordering them to withdraw before the Lord's Sup- per was administered. These are sometimes called ' hearers,' by Cyprian, at other times, 'candidates,' but most commonly 'catechumens.' And there were persons appointed not only to instruct them, but to examine what proficiency they made in religion, in order to their being received into the church. In this state of trial they continued generally two or three years.s Such was the care taken that per- sons might not deceive themselves and the church, by their being joined in com- munion with it, without having the necessary qualifications. This was a very different state of things from that of parochial churches, as understood and defended by many in our day. Hence, the calling of churches ' parishes,' in the three first cen- turies, was only a circumstantial description of them. In every one of these churches, too, there was one who was called a bishop or overseer, with a convenient number of elders or presbyters ; and it is observed by the learned writer just refer- red to, that the churches were at first comparatively small, and not exceeding the bigness ot the city or village in which they were situated, each of which was under the care o* oversight of its respective pastor or bishop. This was the state of the church, more especially, in the three first centuries. But, if we descend a little lower to the fourth century, when it arrived at a peaceable and flourishing state, we shall find that its government was very much altered. Then, indeed, the bish- ops had the oversight of larger dioceses than they had before. This proceeded from the aspiring temper of particular persons,11 who were not content till they had added some .neighbouring parishes to their own ; and so their churches became very large, till they extended themselves over whole provinces. But even this was com- plained of by some as an abuse. Chrysostom frequently insisted on the inconve- nience of bishops having churches too large for them to take the oversight of, and of their not so much regarding the qualifications as the number of those over whom they presided ; and he signifies his earnest desire that those under his care might excel rather in piety than in number, as it would be an expedient for his better dis- charging the work committed to him.' We have thus spoken concerning the character and distinction of the pastors of churches, together with the form of the church in the first ages of Christianity, and what is observed by many concerning the agreement and difference which there was between bishops and presbyters. But this last point has been so largely in- g See Clarkson's Primitive Episcopacy, chap. 7, in which he observes, that it was decreed, by some councils, that they should continue in this state of probation at least two or three years: and that Augustin continued thus long a catechumen, as appears from the account that Father gives of his age when converted to Christianity, and afterwards of his being received into the church by Ambrose. h See Primitive Episcopacy, pp. 189—197- i See Clarkson's Primitive Episcopacy, chap. 8, in which he refers to several places in the writ- ings of that excellent Father to the same purpose. THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. 29 sistcd on by many who have written on both sides of the question, and the contro- versy turns so very much on critical remarks on occasional passages taken out of the writings of the Fathers without recourse to scripture, that it is less necessary or agreeable to our present design to enlarge on it. We may observe, however, that some of those who have written in defence of diocesan episcopacy, have been forced to acknowledge that Jerome, Augustin, Ambrose, Chrysostom, in the fourth cen- tury, and Sedulius, Primatius, Theodoret, and Theophylact, in some following ages, all held the identity of both name and order of bishops and presbyters in the primitive church. k Jerome, in particular, is more express on this subject than any of them, and proves it from some arguments taken from scripture. He also speaks of the distinction between bishops and elders, as the result of those divisions by which the peace and order of the church was broken ; and says that it was no other than a human constitution. x This opinion of Jerome is largely defended by a learned writer ;m who shows that it is agreeable to the sentiments of other Fathers who lived before and after him. Having thus spoken concerning a pastor as styled a bishop or presbyter, we shall now consider him as invested with his office, whereby he becomes related to a par- ticular church of Christ. That no one is pastor of the catholic church, was ob- served under a foregoing Head.n We there showed that the church, when styled catholic, is not to be reckoned the seat of government ; that, therefore, we must consider a pastor as presiding over a particular church ; and, that, in order to his doing so, he must be called or chosen, on their part, to take the oversight of them, and comply with the invitation on his own part, and afterwards be solemnly invested with this office, or set apart to it. Let us now consider what more especially re- spects the church, who have a right to choose or call qualified persons, to engage in this service, and to perform the two branches of the pastoral office, namely, instruct- ing and governing. This right of a church to choose their pastor is not only agree- able to the laws of society, but is plainly taught in scripture, and appears to have been the sentiment and practice of the church in the three first centuries. The church's power of choosing their own officers, is sufficiently evident from scripture. If there were any exception, it must be in those instances in which there was an extraordinary hand of providence in the appointment of officers over the churches ; but even then God sometimes referred the matter to their own choice. Thus, when Moses made several persons rulers over Israel, to bear a part of the burden which before was wholly laid on him, he refers the matter to their own election. ' Take ye wise men,' says he, 'and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you.'° The gospel-church, also, which at first consisted of ' about an hundred and twenty ' members,? when an apostle was to be chosen to succeed Judas, 'appointed two' out of their number, and prayed that God would ' signify whether of them he had chosen ;' and, when they had ' given forth their lots, the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles. 'i So we render the words ; but if they had been rendered, 'he was num- bered among the eleven apostles by common suffrage,' or vote, the translation would have been more expressive of the sense.1- Soon after, we read of the choice of other officers in the church, namely, deacons ;s and the apostles said to the church, ' Look ye out among you seven men, whom we may appoint over this business.' And afterwards, in their appointing elders or pastors over particular churches, we k See Stillingfleet Iren. p. 276. 1 Vid. Hieron. in Tit. i. 5. ' Sicut ergo Presbyteri sciunt se ex Ecclesia consuetudine, ci qui sibl propositus fuerit esse suljectos, ita Episcopi noveriiit se magis consuetudine quam dispositionis doiniincae veritate, Presbyteris esse mnjores, et in commune debere Ecclesiam regere.' m Vii er of ' binding and loosing,' which was committed to the apostles. But what, in the two earliest centuries, was viewed as admission to mere fraternal confidence, began, in the third, to be viewed as in a degVee the imparting of a character, or the deciding of a moral condition. What chiefly, and perhaps solely, occasioned this change, was the gradual usurpation by the pastors or ' bishops' of undue ecclesias- tical power. When the ecclesiastics of the third century set up pretensions to a loftier domination than comported with the simplicity of more primitive times, they claimed for their authority every possible kind of importance, and naturally promulged new and strange doctrines, such as miuht i in - press the people with awe, respecting the nature and consequences of their acts of discipline. To admit or to excommunicate members, was hence represented as ' a binding' or 'a loosing' in some mysterious or peculiarly solemn sense, — 'a binding' or 'a loosing' of such a character, as to involve more or less the highest interests of the soul. This error, which was destined to assume, in the course of a few centuries, the settled form of the Romish doctrine of absolution from all sins by ordained priests, bail acquired sufficient distinctness of outline to be perceptible, even in the days of Tertullian; and as first mooted, or as existing in a shadowy and unacknowledged state, it is exactly what that primi- tive writer denounces in the quotation which closed our last paragraph: "The church will, indeed, give remissions; but the church is the Spirit acting through the spiritual man; the church is not a number of bishops." Tertullian's doctrine, promulged during the first years of the third century, was extensively undermined between the years 248 and 2C0, — a period which was distinguishedby alike the pious labours and the injurious influences of the celebrated Cyprian. That generally ex- cellent man was the worst innovator, whom the churches had hitherto encountered, on the rights and liberties of the Christian people; and, without intending or foreseeing so painful a result, he did more than many of his predecessors united, to convert the primitive form of church order into an incipient system of unscriptural domination. Now, excepting one given by Origen which talks simply of ' the preaching of truth in the churches,' that given by Cyprian is the only one of the primitive summaries of faith, which affords even a re- mote sanction to the clause in the apostles' creed : ' The Holy Catholic Church.' Yet even Cyprian says nothing respecting 'the Catholic church,' and he speaks of 'the Holy church,' not as a distinct' article of belief, but as connected with 'remission of sins and lite eternal.' He identifies — not in his creed, indeed, but in bis accompanying writings — first, 'the church' wiih the church's bishops, and next, the bishops' acts of discipline with some loose or floating ideas of absolution from sin or of infliction of punishment as affecting the permanent condition of the soul. He no doubt repre- sents faithfully the belief which prevailed at the period, especially among hiso ,\ n immediate people; yet he states it as a belief simply in the doctrine of ' remission of sins through the holy church ;' and he leaves us to infer, what is rendered abundantly certain by even later records than his writings, that all such notions of ' the Holy Catholic Church' as prevailed from near the commencement of the fourth century, generally till the epoch of the Reformation, and in a degree till the present time, were unknown and uuthought of at the period when he wrote. We must thus look to later documents than the primitive summaries of faith, iti order to find sanction for the phrase, 'the Holy Catholic Church.' The earnest creed. in which it appears is the JS/icene. No writer mentions any thing of 'the church' as an article of belief, or says any thing like ' 1 believe in the Holy Catholic Church,' before Alexander bishop of Alexandria; and even tie is known or thought to have written so, only as he is reported in tlie ecclesiastical history of Theo- doret, who wrote about the year 430. Alexander himself was the cotemporary of the council of Nice, and was a chief party in bringing before it both the Ariaus and the orthodox sect of Miletians; and, as represented by Theodoret, he speaks of 'the one only Catholic and apostolic church,' in the course of a professed commentary on the enactments of Nice. Alter him, except as existing in the Nicene creed, there is no further trace of the clause till the time of Epiphanius, who wrote ahout the year 390. This writer, as well as several cotemporary or immediately subsequent Greek authors, record it as begun to be incorporated, among the eastern chuiches. with copies ot the apostles' creed. Yet, even at the late dale of the close of the lourih century, when this clause began to lie copied from the Nicene creed into the apostles', it r< ad for a season in all copies ot the latter, not ' the Holy Catholic Church,' but simply 'the Holy Church.' Rutin us, who was cotemporary with Epi- phanius, remarks, — " We do not say * we believe in the Holy Church,' but ' we believe the Holy Church,' not as in God. but as a church congregated by God;" and Augustine, writing about the year 410, and expounding the apostles' creed, says, " We believe the Holy Church, to wit, the 40 THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. Catholic one." clearly adding the word 'catholic' as a term expository of the phrase, 'the Holy Church,' winch was all his copv of the creed contained. Tiis phrase, then, 'the Holy Catholic Church,' belongs, in all its authority and parts, to the creed of Nice, and in no degree or resp ct whatever to the apostles' creed, except as carried into it Iroin the other toward the end of the fourth century, and during the progress of the filth. If we would know either its history or its intended meaning, we must look solely to the proceedings of the Nicene council. In the creed of that assembly, it reads, ' I believe one Holy Catholic and Apostolic church.' This is its legitimate shape, that which it originally possessed, and the only one in uhuh it ought ever to have appeared. Let the clause retain this form, and let a glance be given at the occasion and the objects of convoking the council of Nice, and all its intended meaning, as well as its utter want of sanction in the consent ol the three earliest centuries, will be distinctly understood. The Nicene council was summoned by Constantine the Great, to settle existing differences among the various parties and sects of the professing Christians. It dealt, in- the fiist instance and chiefly, with the Aiians, who were a heterodox party in the bosom of the general communion; and next to them, it dealt most prominently with the Novatians and the Miletians. who were two large sects of or- thodox dissenters, or according to the language of the period, orthodox ' schismatics.' One of its twenty canons is occupied wholly u it li the affairs of the Novatians. Now, as regarded doctrine, it declared — fitly enough — that the Arians were not believers in Christ's true gospel; and as regarded commu- nion, it declared — most unfitly — that the Novatians and the Miletians were not members of Christ's true' church; or what amounted to the same thing, it enacted that the Arians should not be treated as Christian brethren because tbey were ' heretics,' and that the Novatians and Miletians, except on condition of tneir 'conforming,' should not be treated as such, because they were ' schismatics.' What the council decreed against error was summed up in the numerous clauses ol their creed which assert the true Deist of Christ; and what they decreed against the orthodox sects was summed up in the words, ' the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic church.' Their conduct virtually amounted to the foreshadowing, though unwittingly, of those baneful claims which have, for so many centu- ries, been pleaded by the Church of Rome. The words ' Holy Catholic Church,' if interpreted either by the light of bistort', the concurrent usage of early authors, or the original intention of the council of Nice, intaii little else than that the large sect protected and endowed by the Christian Roman Emperors, anil afterwards presided over by 'the patriarchs' of Rome, is the one only church built on the apostles or acknowledged by Christ, whilst the holiest and most orthodox communities who dissented from it, in common with such egregious errorists as the Valentinians, the Basilidians, and the Carpocratiatis, lie under the displeasure of the great King of the Christian dispensation. We might quote several early writers on the clause to show that this view of its original meaning is correct; but we shall content ourselves with one quotation from Augustine: " We believe the Holy Church, to wit, the Catholic one ; for heretics and schismatics call their congregations churches; but heretics, by false opinions concerning God, violate the faith; and schismatics, by unjust separa- tions, depart from brotherly love, although they believe what we believe. Wherefore a heretic doth not belong to the catholic church, because she loves God; nor a schismatic, because she loves her neighbour." So far, then, as the apostles' creed represents the Christian sentiments of the three earliest cen- turies, the clause, ' the Holy Catholic Church,' must be expunged ; and so far as it represents the sentiments of later ages, that clause must be treated as at war with the doctrines of the Bible, and as a defence of the corruptions which pioneered the papacy. The best possible apology which can be made for it is, that, viewed apart from its history, it absolutely wants meaning. ' To believe a church,' in any such sense as to believe a doctrine, such as ' the resurrection of the body,' or ' the life everlasting,' is manifestly absurd; and 'to believe in a church,' would be to make erring mor- tals the guides of unerring faith, or to invest them with an authority over the conscience which should be inconsistent with the supreme claims of revelation. The scriptures invite us to 'believe' only in doctrines revealed; and they invite us to 'believe in' only the living God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Christ's churches upon earth are simply communities of ' saints,' ' faithful men,' 'called,' 'brethren;' they are bodies of believers who must 'bear one another's burdens,' and ' each esteem others better than himself '—' fed' and 'taught' by ministers who are not 'lords over thein, but helpers 01 their joy' — and bound to 'stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made them free.' — Ed.] [Note D. The Visible Church — Used as a collective term to denote all Christian congregations, or the aggregate body of professing, Christians, the word 'church' is convenient and expressive, and can hardly, even by a fastidious thinker, be regarded as liable to exception. This sense of it, however, must not, 1 thinly be exhibited as having the sanction of scripture; nor must it be allowed to have any influence or place in questions of ecclesiastical economy. To speak of the church in a general way as expressive of the aggregate body of professing Christians, is only a convenient usage, which saves a writer from periphrases, or from the cacophonous use of such phrases as ' the pro- fessing Christian churches of the world,' 'the professedly Christian population of the earth;' but to speak ol ' the church' in the technical and distinctive manner intended by the designation ' the visible church,' is to introduce interminable confusion into our ideas of ecclesiastical economy, and afford an inlet and a sanction to innumerable abuses in the practice of discipline and the observance of ordinanees. The phrase ' visible church,' if viewed in the light of history, or even in that of present usage, is a perfect pohglott of significations, — sometimes exhibiting six or eight languages in a row. Even an alleged part of "the visible church ' — 'the national church' of an> given country —is not unfrequentlj understood in a variety of conflicting senses. At one time it means all the inhabitants of the soil ; at another, all the baptized inhabitants; at another, all the baptized who ba.e received baptism m the established communion ; at another, all the Christian communicants ol the country; at another, all the communicants of the established sect; at another, all the church judicatories of the country ; at another, the supreme ecclesiastical judicatory of the establishment THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. 41 co-operating with the state. In all these senses, and perhaps in some others, the phrase * the church of ,' as designative of the sect established by law in a country, is often understood. Yet this phrase, with all its diversity of meanings, designates only a part of what is meant to be expressed by the phrase, 'the visible church.' How perplexingly contused, then, how surpassingly indefinite, how exquisitely adapted to the purposes of subterfuge and corruption, must the latter phrase be! The grossest outrages on Christian liberty, the most latitudinarian or licentious invasions on scriptural views of ecclesiastical discipline, the wildest efforts to extend the Christian name to almost any thing in faith and almost every thing in morals, the most audacious courses of antichris- tian usurpation and tyranny, have all careered over the phrase 'visible church' as a field of summer dust, a wilderness of impalpable sand, throwing up such clouds as have at once concealed their own movements and blinded the eyes of onlookers or pursuers. The only definition of 'the visible church' which can at all bear examination, is that which makes it a colL ctive name lor all single Christian congregations, or a designation of the aggregate body of professing Christians. This seems to he, with some deviations, the sense attached to it throughout Dr. Ridgeley 's remarks; it is, at all events, the sense in which he understands it « hen he claims for it a scriptural sanction. As tar, then, as he is concerned, the only question is, whe- ther the use of the word 'church,' thus understood, is simply a matter of convenience, or whether it possesses sacred authority, ami, in consequence, ought to influence our views of ecclesiastical economy ? Now, Dr. Ridgeley does appear to me to fail in his attempt to adduce scriptural proof. As to the passage, 'God hath set some in the church, first apostles; secondarily prophets,' &c, (1 Cor. xii. 28.) it would be hard to >how that ' the church' of which it speaks is the aggregate body of Christian congregations cotemporaueously existing at any period on the earth. Just to that church, to those persons, to that elected multitude whom Christ bought with his blood, ha? God given, as they pass in their successive generations through the world, all those ordinances, whether the ministry of apostles, or the ministry of prophets, or the ministry of evangelists, or the ministry ot pastors and teachers, which are for 'the perfecting of the saints, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till they 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,' Eph. iv. 1 1 — 13. The apostles, in particular — on the peculiarity of whose office Dr. Ridgeley appears wholly to rest his argument — were not given to the aggregate body of single congregations in the primitive age, nor to the aggregate body of professing Christians in any one period of the world's history, hut to "the general assembly and church of the first-born which are written in heaven,' or to that entire church over whom their inspired writings will have an everlasting influence. Hence, the wall of the new Jerusalem, the emblem of the entire body ot the saved in a state of celestial glorification, is said to have 't.'tKe foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb,' Rev. xxi. 14. Hence, ioo. the united multitude of Jewish and Gentile believers — all who have 'access by one Spirit to the Father' — are said to be 'built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himselt being the chief corner-stone; in whom all the buildmg, fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord,' Eph. ii. 20, 21. As io the passages which speak of Paul's persecuting ' the church,' they may not be of so easy explanation. If, however, any one should assert that by ' the church' of which they speak is to be understood only the church at Jerusalem, the obligation to prove the opposite would lie with persons who adopt Dr. Ridgeley 's exposition. For before it can he alleged that the word is an aggregate designation of several churches or congregations, proof must be furnished that such churches existed at the time to which the passages refer. Now, where is the proof that, at the period of Paul's being a persecutor, there had been formed any other stated congregation than that at Jerusalem? Paul, it is to be remembered, was converted in the year 33; and be is first noticed as a persecutor only in the previous year, when, in consequence apparently of his proceedings, the church at Jerusalem ' were all scattered abroad throughout Judea and Samaria.' His persecution is noticed in the book of Acts seemingly in connexion with Jerusalem only, and with his purpose to make inquisition in Damascus. He appears to have remained at Jerusalem till ' he went to the high priest ; and desired of him letters to Damascus to the sy nagogues.' He speaks, indeed, of ' the churches ot Judea;' but he not only says that ' he was unknown by face to them,' but makes mention ot them as cotempoianeous with his 'going into the regions of Syria and Cilicia,' Gal. i. 21, 22. Now, as we learn from comparing Gal. i. 17, IS. with Acts ix. 22 — 30, he did not go lino ' Syria and Cilicia,' or toward ' Csesurea and Tarsus,' till at least three years — possibly not till tour or five or six — after his conversion. Is it not probable, then, that 'the churches ot Judea* which then existed had sprung out of the labours of the brethren composing the church at Jerusalem who, a little while before his conversion, • were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria,' and who ' went everywhere preaching the word?' Acts viii. 1, 4. If so, these churches 'hearing tiiat he who persecuted us in tunes past, now preacheth the faith which onee he destroyed,' (Gal. i. 23.) must refer simply to his persecuting persons ot their views and character, — persecuting the class ot men to which they belonged. Had ihey existed as churches in the days of his being perse- cutor, and been subjected, as Dr. Ridgeley 's argument assumes, to his persecuting rage, he could i ardly have been • unknown to them by face.' At whatever time these churches were planted, they were, so late as at least three years after his conversion, unacquainted with bis person, and had only heard of bis character and history. Two tilings may seem strange in the supposition I have made, — that, so late as the date of Paul's conversion, or in the fourth year atfer the day of Pentecost, there was no Christian church except that of Jerusalem; and that, so early after that interval as the date ol his going to Syria and Cilicia, churches bad sprung up in Judea. But it must be remembered that the apostles, in the commission they received to preach the gospel to the world, were instructed to 'begin at Jerusalem;' (Luke xxiv. 47.) and that they appear to ha\e been remarkably slow to commence exertions beyum. iu« II. S 42 THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. precincts of that citv. Peter's visit to Cornelius, for example, (lid not occur till eleven \ears i, t. r Pentecost, or wven after Paul's convention. As to ehurehes springing up in Judea between the date of the dispersion of the church of Jeiusalem and that of Paul's going to Syria and Cilicia, no evnit, not expressly narrated, can teem more probable. The interval between the dates u as four \eurs; and the number of dispersed brethren employed in preaching must have been very great, —almost multitudinous. During this interval, too, we are expressly told ' Samaria received the word of God,' or for the first' time produced any materials for a Christian church, Acts viii. 14. Now. the dispei sion which affected Samaria was exactly the event which affected Judea ; lor the brethren who went everywhere preaching the word were 'scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria.' What more probable an inference, then, than that ' the churches of Judea ' r> lei red to by Paul were planted during the period immediately succeeding bis persecutions? There is onlv another point in Dr. Ridgeley's argument, or in the passages adduced by him, which requires notice". Paul says he ' persecuted the chvrch of God;'' and he here employs a designation v. l,i,-li may be thought too emphatic to be applied to the congregation of Jerusalem. But exactly lli. iam« designation is elsewhere applied by him to each of several congregations. Thus he in- scribes his First Epistle to the Corinthians ' tojhe church of God which is at Corinth,' 1 Cor. i. 2. He asks the disorderly communicants of that congregation, in reference to their seemingly contemp- tuous treatment of the stated public meetings of their brethren, ' Despise ye the church of God?' 1 Cor. xi. 22. He exhorts the elders of Ephesus, in reference to the pastoral duties which they owed to the congregation, to ' feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood,' Acts xx. 28. He asks, in reference to a bishop or pastor's relation to the congregation which he rules, ' If a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?' 1 Tim. iii. 5. To apply the designation 'church of God' to a single congregation, is thus a current usage of the apostle's style. I am far from asserting that the view I have given of the church which Paul persecuted, accords with assured fact. All I would say respecting it is, that it is vindicated by what appears to me respectable evidence; while the view contended for by Dr. Ridgeley is, so far as I know, supported by no evidence whatever. Before it can be asserted that 'the church' which Paul persecuted wa. what is usually termed 'the visible cliurcb,' or even a plurality of Christian congregations, a refuta- tion must be made of the reasons which have been assigned for supposing that it was only the church at Jerusalem, and evidence must be furnished that other churches than the latter existed prior to Paul's conversion. Alter all, the three texts which speak of Paul's persecuting the church, — texts one in subject, though three in number, — are the only ones out of upwards of one hundred which are seriously claimed in sanction of any of the technical or scholastic meanings attached by syste- matic writers to the word 'church.' Of thirU -two texts in which the plural ' churches' occurs, none whatever are claimed; and of about seventy in which the singular 'church' occurs, almost all are admitted, and the small remainder are but feebly dtnied, to exhibit 'the church' either as the aggregate body of the saved, or as a single Christian congregation. — Ed.] , [Note E. Qualification for Church-feUowship. — " The apostle," says Dr. Ridgeley, "gives a short but very comprehensive description ot those who are fit members of a church, when he says, ' We are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.' " Does it not follow, then, that some evidence of persons possessing this character is requisite for their own sakes, and ought to be demanded by a church before their being admitted to its fellowship? Yet Dr. Ridgeley makes the only qualification for admission to consist in *a piofession,' — a qualification, according to him, so valid and conclusive as to entitle persons to the enjoyment and retention of fellowship till they shall perpetrate conduct which 'gives the lie' to what they profess. No term, perhaps, has been more abused, more indefinite in meaning, more accommodated to all varieties of laxity or severity ol discipline, than this word ' profession.' Every body of nominal Christians attaches to it just such a meaning as best accords with its own practical standard of fitness for church-fellowship. The geographical pastor, who admits all persons above a given age and within certain territorial limits, and the austere separatist disciplinarian, who demands acquaintance with not only the elements but the minute lessons of* Christian character, equally, according to their own showing, require candidates to make 'a profession.' It is high time that Christian churches should define 'a profession' to be positive evidence — such evidence as satis- fies the judgment of faithfulness and charity — of nothing less and nothing more than a person's being *a new creature in Christ Jesus.' The notion of ' the visible church,' as distinguished from 'the invisible,' has worked havoc upon correct notions of Christian fellowship. Pastors without number imagine that they are building up a community which is in some sense a true church of God, and composed of persons in some s. use Christians; all the while that, confessedly to themselves, they are including in it but an in- different proportion of hopeful members of what they are pleased to call "the invisible churcii.' " The members of the invisible church," says Dr. Ridgeley, in a previous part of his work, (,See conelu-ion ot Sect. 'The meaning ot the phrases, the Visible and the Invisible Church,' under this Quest.) " are the children of God by faith;" but " the members of the visible church are the chil- ui en ol God as made partakers of the external dispensation ot the covenant of grace." All, then, w bo enjoy the ministry of the gospel — for that alone can be meant by the external dispensation of the covenant — are members of the visible church, and of course are to be admitted to its fellowship! Now, in what conceivable sense are tbey ' the children of God?' B\ what imaginable process does the mere enjoyment of the gospel ministry constitute persons Christians? In what consistent or vind, cable sense can men who are destitute of faith in Christ b? regarded as members ot bis body add subjects of his kingdom? To talk of the Israelites having been the children of God, is onlv to confess the tolly of the sentiment in question. For if all persons under the external dispensation ot the covenant are the children of God because the Israelites were so, the offering of wine and oil must be a Christian act ot thanksgiving, and the burning of incense a Chnstiau act ot pray er. These THE ( HURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. 43 'carnal' acts were not less certainly symbolical of spiritual affections, than the act of circumcision was symbolical of the regeneration of the heart, or the outward sonship of an Israelite symbolical of the inward and heaven-bom sonship of 'a new creature in Christ Jesus' Dr. Ridgeley's prin- ciple, then, of esteeming all who enjoy 'the external dispensation of the covenant of grace' to be • the children of God' and ' members of the visible church,' till they ' give the lie' to their pro- fession, is directly contradictory of the only sound qualification for church-membersbip which he had himself virtually stated, — satisfactory evidence of regenerated and believing character. Dr. Ridgeley further says, ' The visible church is compared to the net which had good and bad fish in it, or to the great house in which are vessels of various kinds, some to honour and some to dishonour.' Now, what our Lord compares'to 'the net* is, not 'the visible church,' but the king- dom of heaven, h fatiXuu, een before in some suspense ; but tliat dictate of the understanding which it follows, is the last, after mature deliberation; and it is suppos d to have compared things together; and therefore presents a thing, not only as pood, but more eligible than any thing else, which they call a comparate dictate of the understanding; and i>\ this means the will is persuaded to a compliance. But though this may be true in many in- Riances which are natural, daily experience proves that it does not hold good with respect to things t.ivine and supernatural. e John viii. 12. f Chap. xvii. 3. 62 EFFECTUAL CALLING. In this sense we understand effectual calling to be a work of God's almighty power. That it may appear to be so, let it be premised, that it is not inconsistent with God's dealing with men as intelligent creatures, endowed with liberty of will, to exert this power ; for special providence or efficacious grace does no more destroy man's natural powers, by its internal influence enabling and exciting him to do what is supernaturally good, than common providence being conversant about the free actions of men, makes them cease to be free, — only the former exerts itself in a different and superior way, producing effects much more glorious and excellent. This being supposed, we shall, without pretending fully to explain the manner of the divine agency, which is principally known by its effects, endeavour to show that effectual calling is, in a way of eminence, the work of divine power, as distinguished from other works which are, in their kind, the effects of power in a natural way. We shall next observe what effects are produced by it, and in what order. We shall then consider it as it is, in a peculiar manner, attributed to the Spirit of God, and also show that it is a wonderful display of his grace. We shall farther consider this divine power as irresistible, and consequently such as cannot but be effectual to produce what it is designed to bring about. And finally, we shall say something concerning the season in which this is done ; which is called 'God's accepted time.' I. Effectual calling is eminently a work of divine power. For the proof of this, we have not only many express texts of scripture which sufficiently establish it, but we may appeal to the experience of those who are made partakers of this grace. If they compare their former and present state, they may easily perceive in them- selves that there is such a change wrought in them as is contrary to the inclinations of corrupt nature, — a change in which the stubbornness and obstinacy of their wills has been subdued, and such effects produced in them as they never experienced before. And the manner in which these effects have been produced, as well as the consequences of them, gives them a proof of the agency of God in the change, and of the glory of his power exerted ; so that they who deny that effectual calling is eminently a work of divine power, must be unacquainted with themselves, or not duly observe that which carries its own evidence with it. But we shall take our proofs principally from scripture. There we have an ac- count of the beginning of this work, which is styled ' the new birth.' In this we are said to be made • partakers of the divine nature ;'g that is, a nature which is produced by divine power. We are also said to be ' born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.'h The gospel, which is the instrument he makes use of in calling effectually, is styled ' the rod of his strength. ' * The effect of it is ascribed to the ' revelation of his arm. ' k The season in which this is done, is called 1 the day of his power.'1 And the gospel itself is, by a metonymy, called ' his power. 'm The cross of Christ is also, when preached and made effectual for con- version, styled ' the power of God.'n Moreover, the progress of the work of grace is ascribed to ' the power of God.'0 It is this power which ' keeps ' those who are effectually called 'through faith unto salvation. 'p That the power may appear to be extraordinary, the apostle uses an uncommon emphasis of expression, when ne calls it ' the exceeding greatness of his power,' and ' the working of his mighty power ;*t which words' can hardly be translated without losing something of their force and beauty. Indeed, there is not an expression used in scripture to signify the efficacy of divine power, which exceeds, or, I may say, equals them. That the apostle may appear to speak of the power more strongly, he, in the following words, represents it as being no less than 'that power which wrought in Christ, when God raised him from the dead.' — Let me add, that something to the same purpose may be inferred from those metaphorical expressions by which conversion is set forth. Thus it is called * a creation.' When we are made partakers of this privilege, we are said to ' be created in righteousness and true holiness.'3 The apostle seems to compare it with the creation of man at first after the image of God, which consisted f f P,t- '• 4- h John i. 13. i Psal. ex. 2. k Isa. liii. 1. I • > n i Cor> j, 24. f> -» lhe». u 11. pi pet. i. 5t q Eph j 19 20. r Ti vrt^nXX-.t fttyiht r»f luretuiatf xvrov, xa.ro. rrn fueyuat rev xoxrevt mt itYy'i aurtv. S 1. 1 ll. IV. 24. EFFECTUAL CALLING. 63 principally in righteousness and true holiness. He, accordingly, considers this image as restored when a principle of grace is implanted, whereby we are again disposed to the exercise of righteousness and holiness. Elsewhere, also, he says, ' We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, that we should walk in them. 'l Here he supposes that this creating power must be exerted before we can put forth good works ; so that it can be nothing less than the power of God. Nor would it have been styled 'a creation,' if it had not been a supernatural work ; so that it is, in that respect, more glorious than many other effects of the divine power. — Conversion is styled, also, ' a resurrection from the dead.' Thus the apostle says, ' You hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.'u In this respect, it certainly exceeds the power of men. A physician by his skill may mend a crazy constitution, or recover it from the confines of death ; but to raise the dead exceeds the limits of finite power. This mode of speaking our Sa- viour makes use of to signify the conversion or effectual call of sinners, when he says, ' 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-.'* He had, in the preceding verse, been speaking of those ' having eternal life,' and ' not coming into condemnation, and being passed from death to life,' who hear his words and believe ; and then it fol- lows, that ' the hour is coming,' that is, the time is near at hand when the Spirit shall be poured forth, and the gospel-dispensation be begun, and it 'now is,' in some degree, namely, in those who were converted by his ministry, 'when the dead shall hear his voice and live,' or pass from a state of spiritual death to life, as a means for their attaining eternal life. This view is much more agreeable to the context, than to conclude, as some do to evade the force of this argument, that, in the words 'now is,' our Saviour speaks concerning some who were then, or should thereafter be, raised from the dead in a miraculous manner ; and that ' the hour is coming,' refers to the general resurrection. But this seems not to be the sense of the text ; because our Saviour, in a following verse, supposes his hearers to be astonished at the doctrine, as though it was too great an instance of power for him to implant a principle of spiritual life in dead sinners ; and therefore he proves his assertion from his raising the dead at the last day: ' Marvel not, for the hour is coming,' that is, at the end of the world, ' when all that are in their graves shall hear his voice. '? This cannot well agree with understanding Christ's raising the dead to refer to the general resurrection ; for that would represent him as answering their objection, or putting a stop to their wonder at what he had said, by asserting the same thing in other words. If, how- ever, you suppose the dead ' hearing his voice,' to imply a spiritual resurrection, and ' the dead being raised out of their graves,' to be an argument to convince his hearers that his power was sufficient to bring about this great effect, there is much more beauty in the expression, and strength in the reasoning, than to understand the passage otherwise. — This is so plain a proof of the argument we are endea- vouring to defend, that nothing needs be added. However, I cannot but mention another scripture, in which our Saviour says, ' No man can come to me except the Father draw him.'z Here Christ, by ' coming to him,' does not mean attend- ing on his ministry, which did not require any power to induce them to it ; but 'believing on him,' so as to 'have everlasting life.' In this sense, 'coming to him ' is often understood in the gospels ;a and it is the immediate consequence of effectual calling. Now, when our Saviour says that ' no man can ' thus ' come to him' without being ' drawn by the Father,' we may understand what he means by what is said in a following verse, namely, their being ' taught of God,' and having ' heard and learned of the Father. 'b Such, says he, 'come unto me.' Now, this ' teaching ' certainly implies more than giving a rule of faith contained in divine revelation ; for Christ is not here, as elsewhere, proving the necessity of divine revelation, but is speaking concerning its saving efficacy ; and none can deny that many have been objectively taught and instructed by the word, who have not come to Christ, or believed in him to everlasting life. The words are a quotation from the prophets, to whom he refers, and who intimate that they should be ' all taught t Eph. ii. 10. u Chap. ii. 1, 5. x John v. 25. y John v. 28. z John vi. 44. a Ver. 47. b Ver. 45. 64 EFFECTUAL CALLING. of God.' But this teaching- certainly implies more than an objective teaching and instructing; for in this sense they, having divine revelation, were always taught of God. What the prophet Isaiah mentions, when he foretells this matter, is a special privilege ; as appears by his connecting it with the great peace which its subjects should have, or the confluence of saving blessings which should attend it. c The prophet Jeremiah, who speaks to the same purpose, says, ' They shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord ; for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them;'d that is, not only shall they have an objective revelation, or that which some call moral suasion, but this shall be made effectual to their salvation. And in order to its being so, God promises that he would ' put his law in the inward part, and write it in the heart, ' and that he would ' give them a new heart, ' and ' put a new spirit within them,' and hereby 'cause them to walk in his statutes. 'e The teaching, therefore, is not merely a rectifying of some mistakes to which they are liable, but a producing in them of something which they had not before ; not building upon the old foundation, but laying a new one, and so working a change in the powers and faculties of the soul. And as they formerly were obdurate and hardened in sin, lie promises to 'take away the heart of stone, and give them a heart of flesh,' and by his 'word,' which is compared to 'a hammer,' to 'break the rock in pieces.'* This is certainly a work of power. But that it is so, will farther appear from what follows in considering the work itself. II. We are thus led to show what effects are produced by the power of God, when we are effectually called. 1. The first step which he is pleased to take in this work, is his implanting a prin- ciple of spiritual life and grace, which is absolutely necessary for our attaining to, or receiving advantage by, the external call of the gospel. This is generally styled regeneration, or the new birth, or, as in the scripture just referred to, 'a new heart.' If it be inquired, what we are to understand by this principle, we answer that, as principles are known only by the effects they produce, springs of acting, by the actions themselves, we must be content with the description, that it is something wrought in the heart of man, whereby he is habitually and prevailingly biassed and inclined to what is good. In virtue of it, he freely, readily, and willingly chooses those things which tend to the glory of God ; and refuses, abhors, and flees from what is contrary to it. As this effect more immediately concerns the understand- ing, whereby it is enabled to discern in a spiritual way the things which God re- veals in the gospel, it is styled his * shining in the heart, s to give us the light of the knowledge of his glory,' or his giving ' an eye to see, and an ear to hear.'h As it respects the will, it contains a power whereby it is disposed and enabled to yield the obedience of faith, to whatever God is pleased to reveal to us as a rule of duty ; so that we are made willing in the day of his power. And as it respects the affec- tions, they are all inclined to run in a right channel, to desire, delight, and rejoice m every thing which is pleasing to God, and to flee from every thing which is pro- voking to him. This is that whereby a dead sinner is made aLve, and so enabled to put forth l.ving actions. Concerning this principle of grace, let it be observed that it is infused, and not acquired. The first principle or spring of good actions, may as truly be supposed to be infused into us as Christians, as the principle of reasoning is said to be in- fused into us as men. None ever supposed that the natural power of reasoning may be acquired, though a greater facility or degree of it is gradually attained. In the same way, that power whereby we are enabled to put forth supernatural acts of grace, which we call a principle of grace, must be supposed to be implanted in us ; for, were it acquired, we could not, properly speaking, be said to be born of God. I am hence obliged to infer, that the regenerating act, or the implanting of this principle of grace, which, in the order of nature at least, is antecedent to any act of grace put forth by us, is the immediate effect of the power of God. rius none who speak of regeneration as a divine work, pretend to deny. I cannot but conclude, therefore, that it is wrought in us without the instrumentality of th ! r Is., liv. 13. ,] jlT, xxxi> 33> 34 e Ezek xxxvi 26 f Jer> xxiii> ■_>». g 2 Cor. iv. 0. L Deut. xxix. 4. EFFECTUAL CALLING. 65 word, or of any of the ordinary means of grace. My reason for thinking so is, that it is n'ecessary, from the nature of the thing, to our receiving or improving the word of God. or reaping any saving advantage by it, that the Spirit should produce the principle of faith. Now, to say that this is done by the word, is, in effect, to assert that the word produces the principle, and the principle gives efficacy to the word ; which seems, to me, little less than arguing in a circle. The word cannot profit, unless it be mixed with faith ; faith cannot be put forth, unless it proceed from a principle of grace implanted ; therefore this principle of grace is not pro- duced by the word. We may as well suppose that the presenting of a beautiful pic- ture before a man who is blind can enable him to see, or that the violent motion of a withered hand can produce strength for action, as we can suppose that the pre- senting of the word, m an objective way, is the instrument whereby God produces that internal principle by which we are enabled to embrace it. Nor would this so well agree with the idea of its being a new creature, or of our being ' created unto good works ;' for then it ought rather to be said, we are created by faith, which is a good work. This is, in effect, to say that the principle of grace is produced by the instrumentality of that which supposes its being implanted, and that it is the result and consequence of it. — I am sorry that I am obliged, in this assertion, to appear at least to oppose what has been maintained by many divines of great worth ; who have, in all other respects, explained the doctrine of regeneration agreeably to the mind and will of God, and the analogy of faith. ' It may be the principal dif- ference between this explanation and theirs is, that they speak of regeneration in a large sense, as including, not merely the implanting of the principle, but the ex- citing of it, and do not sufficiently distinguish between the principle as implanted and as deduced into action ; for, I readily own that the latter is by the instru- mentality of the word, 'though I cannot think the former so. Or it may be, they consider the principle as exerted ; while I consider it as created or wrought in us, and therefore can no more conclude that the new creation is wrought by an instrument, than I can that the first creation of all things was. I am ready to conjecture that what leads many divines into this way of think- ing, is the sense in which they understand the words of the apostle : ' Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liv- eth and abideth for ever;'k and elsewhere, ' Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures.'1 But this language respects not so much the implanting of the principle of grace, as our being enabled to act from that principle. It is as if the inspired writers had said, ' He hath made us believers, or induced us to love and obey him by the word of truth.' This supposes a principle of grace to have been implanted ; otherwise the word of truth would never have produced these effects. Regeneration may be taken, not only for our being made alive to God, or created unto good works, but for our putting forth living actions, proceeding from that principle which is implanted in the soul. I am far from denying that faith and all other graces are wrought in us by the instrumentality of the word ; and it is in this sense that some who treat on this subject explain their sentiments, when they speak of being born again by the word. I persuade myself, therefore, that I differ from them only in the acceptation of words, and not in the substance of the doctrine they maintain.1" [See Note H, page 77.] 2. The principle of grace being implanted, the acts of grace in those who are adult, immediately follow. There is, in other words, a change of our behaviour, a renovation of our lives and actions, which may properly be called conversion. Having explained what we mean by regeneration, it is now necessary to consider how it differs from conversion. Here I shall take leave to transcribe a few passages from the excellent divine just mentioned. " Regeneration is a spiritual change; i See Charnock, vol. ii. pages 220, 221, &c. and Cole on Regeneration. k 1 Pet. i. 23. 1 James i. 16. m See Charnock, vol. ii. page 232, who, speaking concerning its being an instrument appointed by God for this purpose, sa\s, " God hath made a combination between hearing and believing; so that believing comes not without hearing;" and while he infers from this, that the principle of grace is implanted, by hearing and believing the word, be must be supposed to understand it, con- cerning the principle deduced into action, and not concerning the implanting of the principle itself. II. I G6 EFFECTUAL CALLING. conversion is a spiritual motion. In regeneration there is a power conferred : con- version is the exercise of this power. In regeneration there is given us a princi- ple to turn ; conversion is our actual turning. In the covenant, the new heart, and God's putting the Spirit into them, is distinguished from their walking in his statutes, from the first step we take in the way of God, and is set down as the cause of our motion. In renewing us, God gives us a power ; in converting us, he excites that power. Men are naturally dead, and have a stone upon them ; regeneration is a rolling away the stone from the heart, and a raising to newness of life ; and then conversion is as natural to a regenerate man, as motion is to a living body. A principle of activity will produce action. The first reviving us is wholly the act of God, without any concurrence of the creature ; but, after we are revived, we do actively and voluntarily live in his sight. Regeneration is the motion of God in the creature ; conversion is the motion of the creature to God, by virtue of that first principle. From this principle all the acts of believing, re- penting, mortifying, quickening, do spring. In all these a man is active ; in the other, he is merely passive."11 This is what we may call the second step, which God takes in effectual calling ; and it is brought about by the instrumentality of the word. The word before this was preached to little or no purpose, or, it may be, was despised, rejected, and disregarded ; but now a man is enabled to see a beauty and a glory in it, all the powers and faculties of his soul being under the influence of the spiritual life implanted in regenei*ation, and inclined to yield a ready and cheerful obedience. This work is gradual and progressive, and as such, is called the work of sanctification, — of which more shall be said under a following Answer ;° and it is attended with repentance unto life, and all other graces which accompany salvation. In this respect we are drawn to Christ by his word and Spirit ; or, by his Spirit making use of his word, our minds are savingly enlight- ened, our wills renewed and determined to what is good ; so that, as it is expressed'- in the Answer we are explaining, we are made willing and able freely to answer the call of God, and to accept of and embrace the grace offered and conveyed in the gospel. The first thing in which that change which is wrought in effectual calling mani- fests itself, is our understanding being enlightened to receive the truths revealed to us in the word of God. Accordingly, we see things with a new and different light, — behold a greater beauty, excellency, and glory in divine things, than ever we did before. We are also led into ourselves, and convinced of sin and misery, conclud- ing ourselves to be, by nature, in a lost and undone condition. The soul then sees the glory of Christ, the greatness of his love who came to seek and save those that were lost, and who now appears precious, as he is said to be to those who believe. Then the will — being determined or enabled so to do, by the Spirit of God excit- ing the principle of grace which he had implanted — accepts of Christ on his own terms ; and the affections all centre in him, and desire to derive all spiritual bless- ings from him. Thus the work of grace is begun in effectual calling, which is after- wards carried on in sanctification. As we are here considering the beginning of the work of grace in effectual call- ing, I cannot but take notice of a question which frequently occurs on this subject, namely, Whether man, in the first moment of effectual calling, that is, in regen- eration, be merely passive, though active in every thing which follows ? That he is so, we cannot but affirm, not only against the Pelagians, but against others whose method of treating the doctrine of divine grace seems to agree with theirs. Here, that we may obviate a popular objection, usually brought against our assertion, as if we argued that God dealt with men as if they were machines, and not endowed with understanding or will, let it be observed that we consider the subjects of this grace no otherwise than as intelligent creatures, capable of being internally excited and disposed to what is good, or else God would never work this principle in them. Nor do we suppose, however men are said to be passive in the first moment in which this principle is implanted, that they are so afterwards ; but we say that they are enabled to act under the divine influence. The case is similar to the literal n See Charnock on Regeneration, vol. ii. page* 70, 71. o See Quest, lxxv. EFFECTUAL CALLING. 67 creation of Adam. When his soul was created, it could not be said to be active in its own creation, and in the implanting of those powers which were concreated with it ; yet it was active, or those powers exerted themselves, immediately after it was created. This is the state #of the question we are now debating. We cannot but maintain, therefore, that men do not concur in the implanting of the principle of grace ; for then they would be active in being created unto good works. But these are the result, and not the cause of that power which is infused into them, in order to their being produced. The doctrine we have stated is sufficiently evi- dent, not only from the impotency of corrupt nature as to what is good, but from its utter aversion to it, and from the work being truly and properly divine, or, as was formerly observed, the effect of almighty power. This is not a controversy of late date ; but has been either defended or opposed, since the time of Augustine and Pelagius. Many volumes have been written concerning the aids and assistances of divine grace in the work of conversion. The schoolmen were divided in their sentiments about it, as they adhered to or receded from Augustine's doctrine. Both sides seem to allow that the grace of God affords some assistance ; but the main thing in debate, is, Whether the grace of God bears only one part in this work, and the will of man the other ; like two persons lifting at the same burden, and carrying it between them ? Some have allowed that the divine concourse is necessary, and yet have not been willing to own that man bears no part in this work, or that ' it is God that worketh in us, both to will and to do of his good pleasure.'1* This the apostle asserts in so plain terms, that the most known sense of his words cannot well be evaded. Indeed, were it otherwise, it could hardly be said, that ' we are not sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves ; a saying which, though immediately applied to ministers, is certainly, by a parity of reason, applicable to all Christians.** Nor would it be, in all respects, true, that we are 'born of God,' or that we, who formerly were dead in sin, are raised to a spiritual life, or made, with respect to the principle of spiritual actions, new creatures ; all which is done in regeneration. We might also take occasion, under this head, to notice what we often meet with in practical discourses and sermons, concerning preparatory works, or previous dis- positions, which facilitate and lead to the work of conversion. Some assert that we must do what we can, and, by using our reasoning powers and faculties, endea- vour to convert or turn ourselves; and that then God will do the rest, or finish the work which we have begun. Many things are often considered as the steps which men may take in the reformation of their lives, — such as abstaining from gross enormities which they may have been guilty of, thinking on their ways, observing the tendency of their present course of life, and setting before themselves proper arguments which may induce them to repent and believe ; and then, it is alleged, they may be said to have prepared themselves for the grace of God, the bestowal of which upon them will follow. It is added that, if there be any thing remaining, which is out of their power, God has engaged to give success to their endeavours ; so that he will bring them into a state of regeneration and conversion.- — Now, this method of accounting for the work of grace is liable to many exceptions ; parti- cularly as it supposes man to be the first mover in his own conversion, and the divine energy to be dependent upon our conduct. For the contrary is agreeable, not only to scripture, but to the divine perfections, as well as to the doctrine we have been maintaining as to effectual calling being, in the most proper sense, a divine work.— But that we may impartially consider this matter, and set what some call a prepa- ratory work in a just light, let it be observed that preparatory works must either be considered as good in all those circumstances which are necessary to denominate them good, particularly they must proceed from a good principle, that is to say, a prin- ciple of regeneration ; or else they are only such works as are materially good, which many perform who are never brought into a state of conversion. Or if, on the other hand, they are supposed to proceed from a principle of regeneration, they are works, from the nature of the thing, not preparatory to the first grace, but rather consequent upon it.— Again, it is one thing to assert that it is our duty to p Phil. ilia. q 2 Cor. iii. 5. 68 EFFECTUAL CALLING. perform all those works which some call preparatory for conversion,— such as medi- tation, attendance on ordinances, duly weighing those arguments or motives which should lead us to repentance and the exercise of all other graces ; and another thing to say that every one who performs these duties* shall certainly have regenerating grace. Or, it is one thing to apply ourselves to the performance of those duties, as far as it is in our own power, and, at the same time, to wait, pray, and hope tor success to attend them ; and another thing to assert that success shall always at- tend them, as if God had laid himself under an obligation to give special grace to those who, in this way, improve that which is common. For the contrary to this may be observed in many instances ; and when we have done all, we must conclude that the grace of God, if he is pleased to give success to our endeavours, is free and sovereign. — Further, they who say that if we do all we can, God will do the rest, advance very little to support their argument ; since there is no one who can pre- tend that he has done what he could. May we not suppose, too, that God, in a judicial way, as punishing us for the many sins we commit, may deny us success « How can it be said, then, that success will necessarily follow ? When we perform any of those duties which some call preparatory to conversion, they are to be con- sidered as the Spirit's preparing his own way, rather than as corrupt nature's pre- paring itself for grace. We are far from denying that there is a beautiful order in the divine dispensations. The Spirit of God first convinces of sin ; and then shows the convinced sinner where his help is to be had, and enables him to close with Christ by faith. He first shows the soul its own corruption and nothingness ; and then leads him to see Christ's fulness, or that all his salvation is reposed in his hands, and enables him to believe in him to the saving of the soul. One of these works, indeed, prepares the way for the other. None of them, however, can be said to prepare the way for regeneration ; which is the work of the Spirit of God, and without which no other can be said to be a saving work. It is objected that there are several scriptures which seem to speak of common grace, as being preparatory for special. Thus the scribe, mentioned in the gospel, who expressed himself 'discreetly,' in asserting that, 'to love God with all the heart, and with all the understanding, soul, and strength, and to love our neigh- bour as ourselves, is more than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices,' is said to have been 'not far from the kingdom of God.'r Elsewhere, too, we are exhorted *to ask' and 'to seek ;' and a promise is annexed, that 'it shall be given us, and we shall find.'s In another place, we are commanded 'to turn at God's reproof;' and it is said, ' he will pour out his Spirit' unto us, ' and make known his words unto us.'1 There are also several other scriptures, in which superadded grace is connected with duty enjoined ; which duty is supposed to be in our own power, and to be preparatory for it. — Now, as to the first of these scriptures, in which our Saviour tells the scribe that he was 'not far from the kingdom of God,' ho intends nothing else but that the profession he made, which he calls his ' answer- ing discreetly,' was not very remote from that which was made by those who were the subjects of his kingdom. It is the doctrine the scribe mentions which Christ commends. It must hence not be inferred that he had regard to his state, as if his inward temper of mind, or moral conduct of life, were such as more imme- diately disposed him for a state of grace, so that he was hovering between a state of unregeneracy and conversion. — As for the instance in which persons are supposed to prepare themselves by prayer for that grace which God gives in answer to it, the meaning is not that he has obliged himself to give whatever they ask for relating to their salvation. Neither the scripture referred to, nor any other to the same purpose, can have this meaning, unless it be understood of the prayer of faith, under the influence of the Holy Spirit. This, however, supposes regenerating grace, and therefore, is foreign to the argument in which man is considered as pre- paring himself for the grace of God, and not as expecting farther degrees of grace, upon his being inclined by the Spirit of God to seek them. — As for God's engaging ' to give the Spirit,' and to ' make known his words,' to those who ' turn at his reproof;' this, I conceive, contains nothing else but a promise of the Spirit, to carry on the work of grace in all those in whom it is begun. Though ' turning,' in scripture, is some, r Mark xii. 33, 34. . Matt. vii. 7. t Pror. i. 23. EFFECTUAL CALLING. 6]) times taken for external reformation, which is in our own power, as it is our indis- pensable duty ; yet, whenever a promise of saving blessings is, as in this scripture,- annexed to it, it is to be understood as denoting the grace of repentance. If it be said that this is God's gift, and therefore cannot be the subject of an exhortation, it may be replied that saving grace is often represented, in scripture, as our act or duty ; in order to the performance of which we ought to say, as the church is re- presented as doing, * Turn thou me, and I shall be turned ;'u that is, ' I shall return unto thee with my whole heart, and not feignedly.'* — The same reply might be given to the objector's sense of several other scriptures brought to maintain the doctrine of preparatory works performed by us, as necessarily inferring our obtain- ing the special grace of God. But I shall close this head with a few hints taken from the excellent divine formerly mentioned. "Man cannot prepare himself for the new birth. He hath, indeed, a subjective capacity for grace, above any other creature in the inferior world ; and this is a kind of natural preparation, which other creatures have not, — a capacity, in regard of the powers of the soul, though not in respect of the present disposition of them. He hath an understanding to know, and, when it is enlightened, to know God's law, — a will to move and run, and, when enlarged by grace, to run the ways of God's commandments ; so that he stands in an immediate capacity to receive the life of grace upon the breath and touch of God, which a stone doth not ; for in this it is necessary that rational fac- ulties should be put as a foundation of spiritual motions. Though the soul is thus capable, as a subject, to receive the grace of God, yet it is not therefore capable, as an agent, to prepare itself for it, or produce it. It is capable to receive the truths of God ; but, as the heart is stony, it is incapable to receive the impressions of those truths. Though some things which man may do by common grace, may be said to be preparations ; yet they are not formally so, — as that there is an ab- solute, causal connection between such preparations and regeneration. They are not disposing causes of grace. Grace is all in a way of reception by the soul, not of action from the soul. The highest morality in the world is not necessary to the first infusion of the divine nature. If there were any thing in the subject that was the cause of it, the tenderest and softest dispositions would be wrought upon ; and the most intelligent men would soonest receive the gospel. Though we see them sometimes renewed, yet many times the roughest tempers are seized upon by grace. Though morality seems to set men at a greater nearness to the kingdom of God ; yet, with all its own strength, it cannot bring it into the heart, unless the Spirit open the lock. Yea, sometimes it sets a man farther from the kingdom of God, as being a great enemy to the righteousness of the gospel, both imputed and inhe- rent. And other operations upon the soul, which seem to be nearer preparations, such as convictions, &c, do not infer grace ; for the heart, as a field, mav be ploughed by terrors, and yet not planted with any good seed. Planting and water- ing are preparations, but not the cause of fruit. The increase depends upon God."* Thus this learned author, who also proves that there is no obligation on God by any thing which may look like a preparation on man ; and adds that, if any pre- parations were our own, and were pure, which they are not, yet they cannot oblige God to give supernatural grace. III. We are now led to consider that this work is, in a peculiar manner, attri- buted to the Spirit of God ; the only moving cause of it being his grace. That the Spirit is the author of this work, is not to be proved by experience, as the impres- sions of divine power in it are ; but it is to be proved by scripture ; and the scrip- ture is very express on the subject. Thus, when God promises to ' give a new heart, to take away the heart of stone, and to give an heart of flesh, and to cause his people to walk in his statutes,'2 he tells them that, in order to his doing so, he would ' put his Spirit within them.' Elsewhere they are said 'to have 'purified their souls in obeying the truth, through the Spirit.'11 Our Saviour also asserts the necessity of our being • born of the Spirit, 'b in order to our entering into the kingdom of God. So that, from these and several other scriptures which might be u Jer. xxxi. 18. x Jer. iii. 10. y See Charnock on Regeneration, vol. ii. pages 147, 148, &c. z Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27. a X Pet. i. 22. • b John iii. 5. 70 EFFECTUAL CALLING. referred to, it appears that. effectual calling is the internal powerful work of the Holy Ghost.c It is objected by some, that this doctrine savours of enthusiasm ; since it supposes that there is no difference between the Spirit's internal influences and his inspira- tion ; and to pretend to this, now that the miraculous dispensation which was in the apostle's days has ceased, is vain and enthusiastic. — But the charge of enthusiasm is very unjustly deduced from this doctrine ; for we must distinguish between the extraordinary and the ordinary influence of the Holy Ghost. The former is allowed by all to have now ceased ; so that they who pretend to it are liable to this charge. But it is a very great dishonour cast upon the Holy Ghost to deny his powerful influence or agency in the work of grace ; and it renders the present condition of the church, in a very material circumstance, so much inferior to what it was of old, that it is incapable of attaining salvation, — unless it could be proved that salvation might be attained without the divine energy. — But, that we may farther reply to the objection, let it be considered that the Spirit's influence, as subservient to the work of grace, is evidently distinguished from inspiration. The latter was a pecu- liar honour conferred upon some persons, who either were to transmit to the church a rule of faith by the immediate dictates of the Holy Ghost, or were favoured with inspiration to answer some extraordinary ends which could not be attained without it, namely, their being furnished with wisdom, as well as courage and boldness, to maintain the cause which they were not otherwise furnished to defend, against the opposition that it met with from their persecuting and malicious enemies, that so it might not suffer through their weakness. Hence our Saviour bids his disciples * not take thought what they should say,' when brought before rulers, &c. ; and promises that 'the Spirit should speak in them.'d In some other particular in- stances, especially in the church at Corinth, we read that when ministers had not those advantages to qualify themselves to preach the gospel which they afterwards were favoured with, some had this extraordinary gift, so that they spake by the Spirit, but this was only conferred occasionally, and for some special reasons. Hence those scriptures which speak of the influences of the Spirit which were more common, and immediately subservient to the work of grace in the souls of those who were the subjects of them, were, at that time, the same with those that we are pleading for, and were designed to continue so in the church in all ages. Thus, when persons are said ' through the Spirit to mortify the deeds of the body,'e the language does not respect any extraordinary dispensation which they were then under ; since it is the duty of all men, in all ages, without the extraordinary influ- ences of the Spirit, to mortify the deeds of the body ; so that we may expect this powerful energy as well as they, or else our condition would be very deplorable. — Besides, we never find that extraordinary gifts were immediately subservient to tho subduing of corruption, or, at least, that every one who had them did mortify sin, and so appear to be internally sanctified. Yet, to mortify sin, is a character of those who are under sanctifying influences ; and not to have these influences, determines a person to be in an unregenerate state, or ' to live after the flesh,' and so to be liable to death. f No one can suppose that when the apostle, in the fore- going verse, says, • If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die,' he means, ' If ye are not under inspiration, ye shall die, as living after the flesh.' His reasoning, however, is strong and conclusive, if we understand the divine influence of which he speaks, as what is distinct from inspiration, and consequently a privilege necessary for the beginning and carrying on of the work of grace, and so belonging to believers in all ages. — Again, when the Spirit is said 'to help our infirmities'* in prayer, is not prayer as much a duty now as it was when they had extraordinary gifts ? and ought we not to hope for the assistance of the Spirit in all ages ? The Spirit's c When we speak of effectual calling being the work of the Spirit, the agency of the Father and Son is not excluded; since the divine power by which all effects are produced, belongs to the divine essence, which is equally predicated of all the persons in the Godhead. But when any work is peculiarly attributed to the Spirit, it implies that his personal glory is demonstrated thereby, agree- ably to wn»tis elsewhere called the economy of the divine persons. See this farther explained in Sect. ■ The Economy of the. Persons in the Godhead,' under Quest, ix, x, xi. (1 Matt. x. 18—20. e Rom. viii. 13. f Ver. 12. g Ver. 26. EFFECTUAL CALLING. 7l help, therefore, is not confined to the age when there was a miraculous dispensation, or extraordinary inspiration. — Further, when it is said, ' As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God,'h can we suppose that none were the sons or God but such as had extraordinary gifts I Does not this privilege belong to us as well as to them ? Now, if we are the sons of God, as well as they, we have this evidence of our being so, that we are ' led by the Spirit of God ;' though we pretend not to be led by him as a Spirit of inspiration. — We may add, that the apostle elsewhere speaks of some who were ' sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance.' These are described as ' trusting in Christ, after they had heard the word of salvation,' and 'believing in him.*' But this character belongs to the church in all ages ; so that the ' sealing ' spoken of is not a privilege confined tp those who had the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost, but one which belongs to believers as such. — Moreover, it is said, ' The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.'k Therefore some per- sons may, in a way of self-examination, know themselves to be the children of God, by the witness of the Spirit which is common to all believers ; they may do so with- out pretending to be inspired, which would be to know this matter without the con- curring testimony of our own spirits. — Many things of a similar nature might be observed concerning other scriptures which are generally brought to prove that be- lievers, in our day, though they pretend not to the Spirit of inspiration, are made partakers of the powerful influences of the Holy Ghost. But what we have stated is a sufficient Answer to the objection we have been considering. It is farther objected, that, if the Spirit does work internally in the souls of men, we are not to suppose that he works a change in their wills, but only that he presents objects to them which they, by their own power, improve and make use of for their good ; even as a finite spirit may suggest good or bad thoughts, without disposing us to comply with them ; or, as the devil is said to work in men, and is called, ' The spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.'1 But an objective influence, properly speaking, is no influence at all ; much less is it becoming the dignity of the Holy Ghost, to say that he has no more an hand in the work of conversion than that which a mere creature might have. I will not deny that the Greek word,m which signifies energy, or internal working, is sometimes taken for such a kind of influence as is not properly the effect of power, as in the instance stated in the objection. Yet, let it be considered that in other instances the same word is often used, in senses very different, when applied to God and the creature ; the word, in itself, being indeterminate, while the ap- plication of it so determines the meaning as to leave no doubt as to the sense of it. Thus, when 'to make,' ' form,' or 'produce,' is applied to God, and the thing made, formed, or produced, is represented as a display of his almighty power which exceeds the limits of finite power, the sense is determined to be very differ- ent from making, forming, or producing, when applied to men, acting in their own sphere. So the apostle speaks of ' building,' in a very different sense, as applied to God and the creature, which no one is at a loss to understand: ' Every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.'n Now, to apply this to our present purpose, we do not deny that a finite spirit has an energy in an ob- jective way ; but when the same word is applied to God's manner of acting, and, as was formerly observed, is used to denote a display of his almighty power, produc- ing a change in the soul, and not only persuading but enabling a man to perform good works, from a principle of spiritual life implanted, it may easily be under- stood as having a very different sense from the same word, when applied to the in- ternal agency of a finite spirit. The objection in question, therefore, does not overthrow the argument we are maintaining. It is farther objected against the illustration of the powerful work of the Spirit from a person's being raised from the dead, that this implies nothing supernatural, or out of the power of man ; since the apostle says, ' Awake, thou that sleepest, aud arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.'0 If arising from the h Rom. viii. 14. i Eph. i. 13, 14. k Rom. viii. 16. 1 Eph. ii. 2. m Eti^yua. ii Heb. iii. 4. o Eph. v. 14. 72 EFFECTUAL CALLING. dead, it is said, be the effect of almighty power, when applied to the work of grace, it seems preposterous for this 'arising from the dead' to be recommended as our duty ; and if it be not a work of almighty power, those scriptures which illustrate effectual calling by the resurrection of the dead, are nothing to the argument for which they have been brought. Now, some suppose that its being assigned as a matter of duty for sinners to rise from the dead, does not infer that their doing so is in their own power ; but that it signifies only that none can expect eternal life except those who rise from the death of sin. Accordingly, as the promise here mentioned, relating to our 'having light,' is said to be 'Christ's gift;' so the power to perform that duty which is inseparably connected with it, namely, ' rising from the dead,' is to be sought for at his hand. But if this Answer be not reckoned sufficient, I see no absurdity in supposing that the two expressions, ' awake, thou that sleepest,' and ' arise from the dead,' import the same thing. Sleep is, as it were, the image of death, and, by a metaphorical way of speaking, may be here called death ; and if so, the apostle commands believers to awake out of their carnal security, or shake off their stupid frames, as they expect the light of eternal life. Though, however, it be taken in this sense here ; yet when we meet with the words ' quickened,' or 'raised from the dead,' elsewhere, they may be understood in a dif- ferent sense, as denoting the implanting of a principle of grace in regeneration, as will appear by the context. Thus when God is said to ' quicken those who were dead in trespasses and sins, who walked according to the course of this world, ful- filling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath ;' and to do this with a design to show 'the exceeding riches of his grace, and kindness towards them;' and, in consequence, to work that faith which accom- panies salvation, and which is not of themselves, but is his gift ; when God is said to do these things in our being 'quickened or raised from the dead,' the expres- sions certainly argue more than a stupid believer's awaking from the carnal security which he is under, who is supposed to have a principle of spiritual life, whereby he may be enabled so to do. It is also objected to what has been said as to effectual calling being a work of divine power, that those scriptures which speak of it as such, denote nothing else but the power of working miracles ; whereby they to whom the gospel was preached were induced to believe. Thus, when the apostle says, ' My preaching was in de- monstration of the Spirit and of power, 'p his meaning is alleged to be that the doctrines he preached were confirmed, and the truth of them demonstrated, by the power of the Holy Ghost enabling him to work miracles. Again, the words, ' The kingdom of God is not in word, but in power, 'i are alleged to mean that the gospel was not only preached, but confirmed by miracles ; and the words, ' Our gospel came to you in power and in the Holy Ghost, 'r are paraphrased, — ' The gospel which we preach, was confirmed by the power and miraculous works of the Holy Ghost;' which, say the objectors, has no reference to the internal efficacious influences of the Spirit put forth in effectual calling. — Now, though we often read that the gos- pel was confirmed by miracles ; yet I cannot see that this is the principal, much less the only sense of these scriptures, and some others which might have been produced to the same purpose. — As to the first of them, in which the apostle speaks of his preaching being 'in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power,' it may be observed that, in the preceding chapter, he had been speaking concerning Christ preached, and his glory set forth among them, as ' the power of God ;' that is to say, the power of God rendered the preaching of the doctrine of Christ effec- tual to the conversion of those who believed. Now, this the apostle concludes to contain no less a conviction of the trutli of the Christian religion, than if he had wrought signs or miracles; which the Jews demanded, and which he had no design to work among them. Why, then, should we suppose that, when he speaks of his preaching being 'in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power,' he means the confirming of his doctrine by miracles, and not the confirming of it in the same sense he had just signified of Christ being the power of God— As for the scripture in which it is said, ' The kingdom of God is not in word, but in power,' it is to p 1 Cor. ii. 4. q chap. iv. 20. r 1 Tbess. i. 5. • 0 EFFECTUAL CALLING. 73 be understood by comparing it with what immediately goes before, in which he says, ' I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and know not the speech of them who are puffed up, but the power.' If we suppose that, by ' them who are puffed up,' he means some of their teachers, whdfswelled either with pride or envy, probably were sowing some seeds of error among them, it does seem to be just to explain the following words, ' I will know not the speech of them who are puffed up, but the power,' to mean, 'I will not so much regard the doctrines they deliver, as I will inquire and be convinced that they have confirmed them by miracles.' For he would rather regard their doctrine than their pretence to miracles, or have said, ' I will not inquire whether they have wrought any miracles, but what efficacy their doctrine has had.' By 'knowing the power,' therefore, the apostle does not mean that of working miracles ; but he intimates that he would know, not only what doctrines these persons taught, but what success attended their preaching. And then he adds, that 'the kingdom of God,' that is, the gospel-state, is advanced and promoted, not merely by the church's enjoying the means of grace, such as the preaching of the word, but 'by the power of God,' which makes the word preached effectual to salvation, whereby sinners are converted, and many added to the church, such as shall be saved. — As to the last scripture mentioned, in which the apostle says, ' Our gospel came to you, not in word only, but in power,' I can- not think that he has any reference in it to the confirming of the gospel by miracles ; because what it says is assigned as a mark of their election, ' Knowing, brethren, your election of God ; for our gospel came unto you, not only in word, but in power,' &c. Now, whether we take election for God's eternal design to save them, for the execution of that design in his applying the graces of the Spirit to them, or, in the lowest sense which they on the other side of the question generally adopt, for their being a choice, religious, unblameable society of Christians, excelling many others in piety, it could not be evinced by the gospel being confirmed by miracles. This tense, then, seems not agreeable to the apostle's design. Hence, the objection founded on those scriptures which speak of the power of God in conversion, as implying nothing else but his power exerted in working miracles, will not, in the least, be sufficient to weaken the force of the argument we are maintaining. Thus, concerning effectual calling being a work of power attributed, in particular, to the Holy Spirit. There is one thing more observed in the Answer we are explaining, which must be briefly considered, namely, that effectual calling is a work of grace, which was the internal moving cause of it, or the reason of God's exerting his divine power in it. Effectual calling must be a work of grace, without any motive taken from those who are its subjects ; for they had nothing in them which could render them the objects of divine love, being described as 'dead in trespasses and sins, alienated from the life of God,' and 'enmity ' itself 'against him.' Their condition, ante- cedent to effectual calling, cannot be supposed to be the moving cause of it ; for that which is in itself altogether unlovely, cannot afford a motive for love to any one who weighs the circumstances of persons and things, and acts accordingly. But it is objected, that though the present condition of unregenerate persons cannot afford any motive inducing God to make them the subjects of effectual call- ing, yet the foresight of their future conduct might. We answer, that all the good which shall be found in believers is God's gift. He is the finisher as well as the author of faith ; and therefore it cannot be said, that any thing out of himself was the moving cause of it. We may add that God foresaw the vile and unworthy be- haviour of believers, proceeding from the remains of corrupt nature in them, as well as those graces which he would enable them to act ; so that there is as much in them which might induce him to hate them, as there is to move him to love them. We must conclude, therefore, that his love proceeds from another cause, or that it is by the grace of God alone that we are what we are. IV. We are now led to consider that the power and grace of God displayed in effectual calling, is irresistible, and consequently such as cannot but be effectual to produce that which is designed to be brought about by it. To deny this, would be to infer that the creature has an equal, if not a superior force to God. For, as in nature, every thing which impedes or stops a thing which is in motion must have an equal force to resist with that which is affected by it ; so, in the work of n. K 74 EFFECTUAL CALLING. grace, if the will of man cau render the power of God of none effect, or stop the progress of divine grace, contrary to his design or purpose, the creature's power of resisting must be equal to that which is put iorth by God, in order to the bringing of this work to perfection. This consequence is so derogatory to the divine glory, that no one who sees it to be just, will maintain the premises whence it is deduced. If it be said that God may suffer himself to be resisted, and his grace which would otherwise have been effectual to be defeated, this will not much mend the matter, but will only, in order to the avoiding of one absurd consequence, bring in another ; for if every one would have brought to pass what he purposes to be done, and would not be disappointed if he could help it, the same must be said of the great God. Now to say, that God could have prevented his purpose from being defeated, but would not, argues a defect of wisdom. If his own glory was designed by purposing to do that which the creature renders ineffectual, then he misses that end which cannot but be the most valuable, and consequently most desirable. Hence, ior God to suffer a purpose of this nature to be defeated, supposing he could prevent it, is to suffer himself to be a loser of that glory which is due to his name. More- over, the supposition is directly contrary to what the apostle says, 'Who hath re- sisted his will?'8 or, "Who hath rendered the grace which he designed should take effect, ineffectual?" or, which is the same thing, " Who can do it?" The ground on which many have asserted that the grace of God may be resisted, is taken from some scriptures which speak of man's being in open hostility against him. Thus we read of a bold daring sinner as ' stretching out his hand against God, and strengthening himself against the Almighty, running upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers.'* Stephen reproves the Jews as having 'always resisted the Holy Ghost, both they and their fathers.'11 The Pharisees are said to ' have rejected, 'x or, as the word? might have been rendered, •disannulled the counsel of God against themselves.' And the prophet speaks of God's 'stretching out his hand all the day, unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.'2 These, and similar scriptures, give occasion to some to suppose that the power and grace, as well as the purpose of God, may be resisted. But that we may understand the sense of these scriptures, and, at the same time, not relinquish the doctrine we are maintaining, and thereby infer the consequence above-men- tioned, we must distinguish between our opposition to God's revealed will contained in his word, which is the rule of duty to us, and resisting his secret will, which de- termines the event. Or, as it may be otherwise expressed, it is one thing to set ourselves against the objective grace of God, that is, the gospel ; and another thing to defeat his subjective grace, that when he is about to work effectually in us, we should put a stop to his proceedings. The former no one denies ; the latter we can by no means allow. Persons may express a great deal of reluctance and per- verseness at the time when God is about to subdue their stubborn and obstinate wills ; but the power of God will break through all this opposition, and'the will of man shall not be able to make his work void, or without effect. The Jews, as above-mentioned, might ' resist the Holy Ghost,' that is, oppose the doctrines con- tained in scripture, which were given by the Spirit's inspiration ; and they might make this revelation of no effect with respect to themselves ; but had God designed that it should take effect, he would have prevented their resisting it. Israel might be ' a gainsaying people,' that is, they might oppose what God communicated to them by the prophets, which it was their duty and interest to have complied with ; and so the offer of grace in God's revealed will might be in vain with respect to them ; but it never was so with respect to those whom he designed to save. And if the hardened sinner, 'stretching out his hand against God,' may be said hereby to express his averseness to holiness, and his desire to be exempted from the divine government, he may be found in open rebellion against him, as hating and oppos- ing his law, but he cannot offer any real injury to his divine perfections, so as to detract from his glory, or render his purpose of no effect. Moses, speaking concern- ing God's works of providence, says, ' They are perfect; for all his ways are judg- ■ Horn. ix. 19. t Job xv. 25. 26. u Acts vii. 51, 52. x Luke vii. 30. V AhrnvKi. % Rom. x. 21. EFFECTUAL CALLING. 75 ment.'* Elsewhere, God, by the prophet Isaiah, says, ' I will work, and who shall let it;'b whence he argues his eternal Deity and uncontrollable power, ' Before the day was, I am he, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand ;' so that if a stop might be put to his works of providence, he would cease to be a God of infinite perfection. May we not infer, then, that his works of grace are not subject to any control ; so that when he designs to call any effectually, nothing shall prevent this end from being answered? This is what we intend, when we speak of the power and grace of God as irresistible. V. We are now to consider the season or time in which persons are effectually called. This, in the Answer under consideration, is said to be ' God's accepted time.' If the work be free and sovereign, without any motive in us, the time in which he does it must be that which he thinks most proper. Here we may ob- serve that some are regenerated in their infancy, when the word can have no in- strumentality in producing the least acts of grace. These have therefore the seeds of grace, which spring up and discover themselves when they are able to make use of the word. That persons are capable of regeneration from the womb, is no less evident, than that they are capable of having the seeds or principle of reason, which they certainly have ; and if it be allowed that regeneration is con- nected with salvation, and that infants are capable of the latter, as our Saviour says that 'of such is the kingdom of God,' they must be certainly capable of the former. Not to suppose some infants regenerated from the womb, would, without scripture-warrant, be to exclude a very great part of mankind from salvation. Others are effectually called in their childhood, others in riper years, and some few in old age ; that so no age of life may be an inducement to despair, or persons be discouraged from attending on the means of grace. Thus ' Josiah, in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, began to seek after the God of David his father.'0 David was converted when he was a youth, a stripling of a ruddy and beautiful countenance.'*1 Moses seems to have been effectually called, when he left Pharaoh's court, and 'it came into his heart to visit his brethren the chil- dren of Israel ;' at which time he was 'forty years old.' e Abraham seems to have been made partaker of this grace, when he was called to leave his country, when he was seventy-five years old ; before which it is probable that he, together with the rest of his family, served other gods.f We read also, in one instance, of a person converted in the very agonies of death, namely, the thief upon the cross.* Sometimes when persons seem most disposed to conversion, and are under the greatest convictions, and more inclined to reform their lives than at other times, the work appears, by the issue of it, to be no more than that of common grace, which miscarries and leaves them worse than they were before ; and it may be that afterwards, when they seem less inclined, God's accepted time will come, when he begins the work with power, which he afterwards carries on and completes. Some are suffered to run great lengths in sin, before they are effectually called ; as the apostle ' Paul, in whom God was pleased to show forth all long-suffering, as a pattern to them which should hereafter believe.' h Hence the time and means being entirely in God's hand, as we ought not to presume, but to wait for the day of salvation in all his ordinances ; so, whatever our age and circumstances, we are encouraged to hope for the mercy of God unto eternal life, or that he will save and call us with an holy calling. a Deut. xxxii. 4. b Isa. xliii. 13. c 2 Chron. xxxiv. 3. d 1 Sam. xvi. 12. compared with chap. xvii. 56, 58. e Acts vii. 23. f Josh. xxiv. 2. compared with Gen. xii. 14. g Luke xxiii. 43. h 1 Tim. i. 16. [Note G. Common Grace Dr. Ridgeley, in what he says respecting ' common grace,' ' restrain- ing grace,' and ' common operations of the Spirit,' appears to have got so engaged in expounding the Catechism that he forgot duly to inquire, ' What saith the scripture?' Grace which does not ' bring salvation,' and a work of the Holy Spirit on the soul which does not renovate and savrngly enlighten, mu-t seem, to any person who has studied the scriptures apart from the theology of the schoolmen, very extraordinary ideas. Dr. Ridgeley himself appears not to understand them. He says, " Though the Spirit is considered at an external ayent, inasmuch as he never tin ells in the heart of any but helitv, rs ; yet the effect produced is internal in the mind and consciences of men, and, in some degree, in the will, which is almost perr-uaded to comply." Now, if the Spirit is not an inter- nal agent, — if he never dwells, or carries on a work, in the heart of any but believers; how can he 76 EFFECTUAL CALLING. be said to perform ' operations,' whether ■ common * or otherwise, on the souls of persons who continue to reject the truth ? ' Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.' ' When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he leads into all truth.' ' 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.' While the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, is ' known' to believers, and ' dwelleth with them, and shall be in them,' the world ' cannot receive him, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him.' Nor is the case altered by saying that " effects are produced internal in the mind and consciences of men, and, in some degree, in the will." By the common occurren- ces of providence, bereavements, losses, public calamities, pestilences, and rumours of war, as truly as by direct appeals concerning 'temperance, and righteousness, and judgment to come,' many an unconverted sinner is occasionally made to ' tremble,' to stand self-convicted of guilt, to resolve upon amendment of conduct, and, in general, to experience strong internal effects upon his moral affections. Yet who would speak of the consternations, the moral panics, the temporary reforma- tions of ordinary life as a work of grace, or the result of common operations of the Spirit ? Im- pressions on the human mind, by means of the occurrences of providence, through the medium of natural conscience and reason, are, in all respects, perfectly distinct from impressions by means of the word of God and the ordinances of Christianity, through the divine Spirit's illuminating power or gracious operations ; and these two classes of impressions seem to include all the varieties of moral feeling of internal effect on the mind and consciences of men, or even upon the will — which come within the limits of human experience on earth. To distinguish a middle class of impres- sions, and represent these as of higher quality than such as properly comport with man's fallen and unregenerated character, and yet of lower quality than such as are connected with the renewing of the heart and the spiritual illuminating of the understanding, appears to be just a breaking down of the lofty and broad line of demarcation between a work of natural conscience and a work of divine grace, — a work which belongs to the economy of God's general government, and a work which belongs to the sovereign and gracious economy of redemption. Some sinners, it is true, experience, in coming under the saving work of the Holy Spirit, a con- currence of impressions by means of the divine word and by means of providential events ; and other sinners, on the contrary, experience, while they continue in unregeneracy, a series of excite- ments as truly from the appeals of the Bible as from the general lessons of the divine government. It is not, however, the nature of the instrumentality employed, but the nature of the agency at work in the mind, which constitutes the difference between the effects produced. In the one class, the reason works with the aid merely of natural conscience, while, in the other class, it is enlight- ened, convinced, and directed by the Holy Spirit. Natural conscience, even in circumstances where the light of revelation is nearly extinct, achieves many a self-accusation ; and, in circumstances where the full light of the gospel is enjoyed, may easily be supposed to work out, in thousands of instances, quite as strong moral excitements as those which were felt by Felix under the preaching of Paul. ' For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves : which show 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,' Rom. ii. 14, 15. Yet the strong workings of conscience even in the heathen, and its still stronger workings in unconverted men under the ordinances of the gospel, take place in connexion simply with God's general moral government, and are quite dis- tinct from any results whatever of the dispensation of the economy of grace, or the redemptional operations of the Holy Spirit. Dr. Ridgeley vindicates what he calls " the Spirit* common work of conviction," by an appeal to the text, ' When he is come, he will reprove the world of sin.' But this text clearly speaks of the demonstrative evidence which the Holy Spirit should furnish — not by transient impressions on the minds of the ungodly — but by the miraculous establishment of the gospel dispensation, and by the actual conversion to God of multitudes of unbelievers. When he descended on the day of Pentecost, and when he afterwards gave power to the ministry of his faithful servants, he demon- stratively convinced thousands of 'the world' that they sinned in rejecting Jesus as the Messiah, the only Saviour of sinners, — that they could become righteous, as to either their acceptance before God, or the purification of their hearts from defilement, only through the merits of Christ's sacrifice and intercession, — and that thpy could act safely for themselves and piously toward God, only by seeing that ' all judgment is committed to the Son,' that he is the King and the Lawgiver of the re- deemed, and that he reigns ' the Lord of the living and the dead,' ' alive for evermore,' having ' the keys of hell and of death.' ' When the Paraclete is come,' says the Saviour, ' he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment ; of sin, because they believe not on me : of nj?hteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more : of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged,' John xvi. 8 — 11. The Divine Spirit began this work on the day of Pen- tecost, when three thousand ' gladly received the word and were baptized ;' he carried it on in the ministry of the apostles, who ' preached the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven,' — who>e ' preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power ;' and he continues still to conduct it both by the enduring attestation of those miracles by which he established the new dispensation, and by his gracious power upon men to en- lighten them savingly in the knowledge of the gospel, and to turn them from the error of their ways to the wisdom and obedience of the just. But his thus ' reproving the world of sin,' is a work altogether different from his alleged ' common operations ' as an agent acting ' externallv ' upon unbelievers. ^Dr' Rjd^eley refers als.° to the passage, « My Spirit shall not always strive with man.' But if the words be read in their connexion, they will be seen to have no reference whatever to the moral or economical work of the divine Spirit, but to refer entirely to the shortening of the period of human life UDon earth. The chapter in which they lie, narrates simply the general wickedness into EFFECTUAL CALLING. 77 which the antediluvians had plunged, the longevity and physical strength for which they were dis- tinguished, the tendency of their conduct to undermine all their well-being, and the denunciation, against them of a suitable punishment for their luxurious profligacy. Just after their peculiar wickedness is mentioned, and immediately previous to a statement of their robustness and lon- gevity, the words»occur: ' And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he als-o is flesh ; yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.' Even apart from the context, this passage may be distinctly seen to speak of the shortening of man's mortal life. He had hitherto lived, on the average, to upwards of nine hundred years ; but he was mortal — he possessed that ' fleshly' and fallen nature which was doomed to return to its original dust ; he had been upheld in his longevity by the special kindness of the Giver of life ; and as he was now pursuing a course which directly tended to debilitate his frame, and entail diseases on his posterity, and poison the stream of hurrian generation at its fountain, he should no longer be maintained in his robustness and his extreme length of earthly existence ; — ' yet his days,' though no longer extending to eight or nine centuries, ' should be an hundred and twenty years.' What means this finishing clause, this exceptional or mitigating statement, if the passage does not entirely refer to the abridging of his longevity ? Nor is it strange that the intimation of that event was made in the phrase, • My Spirit shall not always strive with man.' In transmuting chaos into the organized world, ' the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters ;' and in the whole process of calling away mortals from the earth and repeopling their places with successors, God ' takes away their spirit ami — they die and return to their dust ; he sends forth his Spirit "jm"i — they are created, and he renews the face of the earth,' Psalm civ. 29, 30. The Septuagint, the Vulgate, and the Arabic versions, accordingly, appear to understand the clause in question as speaking of the animat- ing principle, and all render it, ' My Spirit will not always dwell with man.' A third passage is alluded to by Dr. Ridgeley — ' Quench not the Spirit.' But as this text oc- curs in connexion with the commands, ' Despise not prophesyings,' ' Prove all things,' it seems be- yond doubt to refer to the Holy Spirit's miraculous gifts. Both in the word vStm/pi, here rendered 4 quench,' and in the word ata^wru^.a, signifying to ' revive a fire,' in the somewhat parallel pas- sage, 2 Tim. i. 6, there appears, in the judgment of Macknight and other critics, to be an obvious allusion to the ' cloven tongues as of fire,' which rested on the disciples at the impartation of mir- aculous gifts on the day of Pentecost- These gifts, it is quite clear, were conferred on a principle altogether distinct from the grace of the Holy Spirit's economical operations ; for, as appears by some examples, as well as by our Lord's statement of what he shall say at the day of final ac- counts to many who have ' cast out devils and done wonderful works,' they were possessed, in some instances, by persons who were strangers to divine grace. Nothing, therefore, can be in- ferred from either the possession or the ' quenching' of the Spirit in the sense of miraculous gifts, to sanction the notion of 'common' as distinguished from ' special' operations of the Spirit in the economy of salvation. In addition to the three texts at which I have glanced, I am not aware of any argument in favour of the doctrine in question, except appeal to the ordinary history of unregenerated hearers of the gospel. We are invited to observe how many of these persons are brought into temporary religious concern, and how all of them are more or less subjected to an influence for good, by means of the ordinances of Christianity ; and we are then requested to say on what principle, different from that of ' common grace,' or ' common operations ' of the Spirit, we can account for the phenomena we witness. Now, the beneficent tendency of the gospel, its humanizing influence, its power to awe and restrain and agitate even its enemies, are quite manifest. But, while it operates on all who come within its sphere, and is eventually to every one either a savour of life unto life or a savour of death unto death, it is the instrument of the Holy Spirit's economical work only in achieving salvation, — it is ' the law of the Spirit of life' only in making men ' free from the law of sin and death.' In every other respect, the results of its influence stand connected not with the covenant, not with the system of grace, but with the moral government of God, — with the beneficence and the equity of the divine general administration. All men have consciences, and ure accountable beings, and experience movements of the moral affections ; and when any two sections of them — one section sitting under the light of Christian ordinances, and the other section sitting in the dark- ness of dominant heathenism — experience kindred emotions of self-accusation or religious concern, the former section are not, on account of these emotions being stronger or from a more influential instrumentality, to be viewed, any more than the latter, as the subjects of ' common grace,' or as possessing, in any degree or in any sense, the peculiar boons of sovereign favour which are bestowed on the renewed and justified. There hence comes to be no alternative but either unqualifiedly to reject the doctrine of ' common grace,' or to mould it into the latitudinarian form of the kindred but broader doctrine held by the Pelagians. — Ed.] [Note H. ltegentration Dr. Ridgeley makes a distinction, to which he appears to attach con- siderable importance, between the implantation of the principle of grace, and the exciting of that principle into activity. This, however, is either a distinction without a difference, or it distin- guishes regeneration from sanctification. Regeneration, define it as we may, consists in the com- mencement of the work of holiness in the heart, — in the first breathing, the first experience, or the actual reception of spiritual life ; and sanctification consists in the progressive advancement of the work of holiness, — the continued existence, the strengthening, the maturing, or, in one word, the activity of the spiritual life. Now, if the life conveyed to the renovated soul is at all to be viewed in itself, abstractedly from the same life viewed in its activity, there can be a distinction, not be- tween two things constituting the commencement of the life, but only between the life as received and the life as performing its functions. We shall hence have a distinction, not between the im- plantation and the activity of the principle of renovation, but between renovation or regeneration itself, and the sequent work of sanctification. What- Dr. Ridgelev means by ' the principle of grace' can be easily conjectured and understood. 78 EFFECTUAL CALLING. hut is ill expressed by the phrase which he employs. ' A new heart,' or desires different from any the miuI experienced "before,— ' the seed of God,' or love to holiness, love to the divine service, love to whatever is divine,—' conformity to the divine image,' or moral affections kindred in character to those di.-played in the divine word and government, — ' eternal life,' or the begun experience of a spiritual vitality perfectly suited to the soul's capacities, and enduring as its own immortality, — « a new creation,' or the instantaneous but silent appearance of order, and light, and beauty, where all before was chaos, darkness, and deformity ;— these are the graphic images, the illustrative de- scriptions, by which the inspired oracles exhibit the idea of regeneration. But they are clumsily, and not a little injuriously, epitomized in the phrase ' the principle of grace.' The word principle is too general, too abstract, too misty to bring vividly or fully before the view the glowing notion of transformation, creation, life. We usually think of a principle as something distinct from prac- tice, either as the precept or doctrine by which conduct is directed, or as the moral impression, the belief, the habitual conviction which the precept or doctrine produces. No such conception, however, is to be formed of the differentia — whatever it be — between a regenerated and an unre- generated man. Call it what we may, we must conceive of it as ' a heart,' ' a nature,' an animus, ' a life,' something which has activity in its very essence, and which exists at all only as it thinks, and feels, and propels to conduct. When we reflect on the act of material creation — on God's speaking and it was done, on his commanding and it stood fast — we cannot conceive of the implant- ing of a principle of organization and order and beauty in our world, apart from the exciting of that principle into action ; nor when we reflect on the communication of life to Adam— when God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul — can we conceive of any commencement of his animated being, call it what we may, apart from the first actual movement of his vital organs, or any commencement of his moral and intellectual existence, apart from his first act of consciousness, or his real capacity of rational and moral thinking. So with regard to ' the new creation,' or the spiritual life of regeneration, there is no abstraction, — no abstraction especially which is ' implanted,' — nothing but what is positive or what exists in an active state. Perception of divine truth, love to God, desire for holiness, or whatever else constitutes the spiri- tual life, is, in its essence, as truly active in regeneration as in sanctification. Indeed, sanctification is just the perpetuation and bringing to maturity of what is begun in regeneration, — a series, in progressive strength and growing fulness, of the same acts as that in which regeneration consists, — the development of that vitality, the confirming and enlarging exercise of those vital functions, which begin in regeneration, as the developing and growing life of an infant began in the first pul- sation of the heart. As truly, therefore, might we speak of a principle of grace in sanctification apart from actual and active holiness, as we may speak of a principle of grace in regeneration apart from the active nature of the commencement of spiritual life. Dr. Ridgeley's distinction seems to have been framed in order to support his notion that " the regenerating act is wrought in us without the instrumentality of the word, or of any of the ordi- nary means of grace." How he could have adopted this notion in the face of the texts which he himself quotes, is not very easy to conceive. These texts seem to be sufficiently explicit : ' Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God which liveth and ahid- eth for ever.' * Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures.' Dr. Ridgeley discovers, however, that " this language respects not so much the implanting of the principle of grace, as our being enabled to act from that principle ;" that is, he previously sets up a distinction between the abstract being and the active nature of spiri- tual life, and then, on the faith of that distinction, perceives the texts of scripture in question to refer, not to ' the regenerating act,' but to the moral ability or activity which it imparts. Yet no words, in any part of scripture, would seem to speak more directly and even distinctively of 'the regenerating act,' than the phrases, ' We are born again,' ' Of his own will begat he us.' Where, if not in these phrases, as they occur here and in other texts, is inspired language to be found which describes even what Dr. Ridgeley calls 'the implanting of the principle of grace;' or where, if these phrases be otherwise explained, does authority exist for speaking, in any respect whatever, of re- generation ? Yet the two passages in which they lie explicitly ascribe our being ' born again,' and our being ' begotten of God ' to the instrumentality of ' the word of truth,' ' the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever.' Dr. Ridgeley states, as the ground of his opinion, that the regenerating act is effected without the instrumentality of the word, that " it is necessary, from the nature of the thing, to our receiv- ing or improving the word of God, or reaping any saving advantage by it, that the Spirit should produce the principle of faith ;" and he thus reasons : " Now to say that this is done by the word, is, in effect, to assert that the word produces the principle, and the principle gives efficacy to the word ; which seems to me little less than arguing in a circle." But does not the vice of reasoning in a circle appear somewhat strongly to characterize his own argument? 'Saving advantage,' if the phrase have any due signification, must mean the advantage of obtaining or receiving salvation. Now, this advantage he very justly represents as received by faith in the divine record ; while, at the same time, he represents it as ' from the nature of the thing,' previously received in a regenerat- ing act which is wrought without the instrumentality of the word. In other words, saving advan- tage, according to him, must be received in order to saving advantage being received ; or while enjoyed by faith in the word, it must, nevertheless, he previously enjoyed without the instrumen- tality of the word. That I do not misstate his argument, seems certain from a remark which he makes respecting faith,— a remark of somewhat startling discord with his preceding context. " 1 am far from denying," says he, " that faith and all other graces, ore wrought in us by the instrumen- tality of the word." Yet he had said, " It is necessary to our receiving or improving the word of God that the Spirit should produce the principle of faith." The word, that is to say, is the instru- ment in producing faith ; and yet is of no saving use to us whatever, and, of course, of no use in producing faith, till faith be actually produced. Dr. Ridgeley may be alleged, indeed, to distinguish EFFECTUAL CALLING. 79 between 'the grace of faith' and ' the principle of faith,' for he uses the former phrase when ad- mitting, and the latter, when denying that faith is wrought by the instrumentality of the word. But, if words have meaning, faith is a grace simply as it is of divine origin, and it is a principle simply as it prompts and regulates conduct ; and, under the two names, it is strictly and entirely one thing, merely viewed in different aspects. Besides, he uses the word ' faith ' without the ad- junct of either 'grace' or ' principle,' in a sentence which exhibits even a larger circumference than that already noticed, of reasoning in a circle. He says, " The word cannot profit unless it be mixed with faith ; faith cannot be put forth unless it proceed from a principle of grace implanted ; there- fore this principle of grace is not produced by the word !" Yet, while a principle of grace goes before faith, and faith goes before the instrumentality of the word, both "faith and all other graces are wrought in us by the instrumentality of the word." Such is the confusion of thought resulting from the distinction between the implantation and the activity of " the' principle of regeneration." ' Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.' We believe, not by possessing ah abstract capacity, but by counting true the record which God has given concerning his Son. Our minds, by their own unaided efforts, will look in vain upon divine truth in order either to understand its spiritual import, or receive it in its evidence; yet they are necessarily turned toward it, and made to look on some of its declarations, when the divine Spirit gives them ' the light of the knowledge of the glory of God.' Just while he speaks in his word — while he discloses the truth in its real colours, its genuine glory, its perfect adaptation to man — he makes all things new. In the moral creation, as in the physical, ' he speaks and it is done, he commands and it stands fast.' Exhibiting the truth in its evidence, enlightening the understanding, affecting the heart, giving origin to faith, and renewing the spirit of the mind, are all but different phases of strictly one act. When the change which passes upon a sinner on his being made spiritually alive, is viewed in reference to the instrumentality employed, it is called his believing or receiving the truth ; when it is viewed in reference to its result upon his understanding, it is called the enlightening of his mind ; when it is viewed in reference to its result upon his heart or character, it is called regeneration ; and when it is viewed in reference to its result on his condition, or in reference rather to the redemptional grounds on which it is effected, it is called justification. These constituent parts or different as- pects of the impartation to a dead soul of eternal life, are exhibited in scripture, not as consecutive acts in a causational process, — not as separate events or separate things following one another in a given order, — but strictly as one great change, constituting the man who was dead in trespasses and sins alive unto God. Perfectly distinct, therefore, as the conceptions afforded us by the Bible are of our change of state, our change of character, and our change of views — our justification, our regeneration, and the saving enlightenment of our understanding — we are not to conceive of even these as arising out of one another in the order of causation or the order of priority ; and still less are we to conceive in this manner of any number of parts or aspects into which we may divide our notions either of believing, of being enlightened, or of becoming ' new creatures in Christ Jesus.' However much, in particular, we may, for the sake of clearness of conception, distribute our thoughts on regeneration into classes referring to the agency, the instrumentality, the concomitant circumstances, the results upon the will, the desires and the affections, we must carefully sum them all up in the one idea stated in the expressive phrase, ' Of his own will begat he us by the word of truth. A dispute, then, in which some writers have indulged, as to whether, in regeneration, there is the implantation of a positive principle, or merely the communication of light to the understanding which acts reflexly on the heart, is — if the subject be viewed as we have stated it — a 'mere logo- machy What one party really mean by the reflex influence of communicated light, is probably just what the other party mean by the implantation of a positive principle. Both expressions — as all words must be which refer to matters of mere consciousness or abstract intelligence, and espe- cially to matters of divine influence on the soul — are essentially figurative ; and they differ from each other, if they differ at all, only in the strength and appropriateness of their respective tropes. Light, literally understood, is just as really positive as any palpable substance capable of being im- planted ; and light, understood metaphorically of what is conveyed to the understanding and im- pressed on the heart by the divine Spirit, can differ nothing from what is termed the implantation of a principle of grace. The metaphor of implanting, however, — especially when collocated with the very general and indefinite word ' principle' — falls far short, as to either fitness or force, of the expressive metaphors of the shining of light into darkness, a resurrection from the dead, a new creation, and a being begotten of God, or begotten again, employed in the scriptures. Even the phrase, ' the new birth ' or being ' born again,' so < urrently applied to regeneration and repeatedly occurring in our English version of the New Testament, is considerably less expressive than the phrase whose place it usurps, ' begotten anew,' or 'begotten from above.' Reading the passage as it ought to be translated, how doubly significant, for example, are the words : ' Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love ye one another with a pure heart fervently, ye having been begotten again, not of corruptible ste/i. but of incorruptible, by the word qf God which liveth and abideth for ever.' The great features of regeneration, additional to the grace and the divine agency of its origina- tion, the instrumentality of the divine word in effecting it, and its connexion in identity of occurrence with justification through the merits of Christ, are its instantaneity, its moral nature, its totality, its incompleteness, and its imperceptibility to consciousness. Its instantaneity is its being, not a work or a process, but a single act ; and appears from the character of the metaphors, especially those of creation, resurrection, and the impartation of life, which are employed to describe it. Its moral nature is its affecting only man's will, his affections, and his views or motives of action, and not his intellectual powers or the peculiar configuration of his mind ; and appears both from the fact that regenerated men retain just the intellectual faculties and culture which they possessed when un regenerated, and from the statement that ' the old man' is crucified in the crucifixion of 80 COMMUNION IN GRACE WITH CHRIST. depraved ' affections and desires,' and that the new man is created after the image of God ' in right- eousness and true holiness.' Its totality is its affecting all the moral faculties, leaving not one moral power, not one member of the heart, untouched ; and appears from the idea of entireness conveyed in the images of a new creation, a new heart, a new man, as well as from the declaration, ' Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new.' Its incompleteness is its affect- ing the soul only in the way of begun holiness, of the commencement of a work of sanctification, of the impartation of what requires to be reared up to maturity ; and appears both from the imper- fect state in which regenerated persons continue while on earth, and from the image of ' a babe in Christ' employed to describe the comparative condition of a recent convert. Its imperceptibility to consciousness is its not being, by the mind of its subject, distinguishable, as to the very act in which it takes place, from those emotions of concern which precede or accompany it, or from the commencing growth of those fruits of inward holiness by which its reality is evinced ; and it appears, both from the experimental testimony of men who afford eminent evidence of having been its subjects, and from the express declaration of our Lord : ' The wind bloweth where it livteth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth ; so is every one that is born of the Spirit.' Such seem to be the characteristic features of regeneration. They are exhibited, however, not as separate things in the act, and still less as things which in any sense originate one another, but simply as different aspects of the same thing, conceived of sepa- rately, and viewed each by each, for the sake of distinctly conceiving the undivided whole Ed.] COMMUNION IN GRACE WITH CHRIST. Question LXIX. What is the communion in grace, which the members of the invisible church have with Christ f Answer. The communion in grace, which the members of the invisible church have with Christ, is, their partaking of the virtue of his mediation, in their justification, adoption, sanctiricntion, and whatever else, in this life, manifests their union with him. Having considered the vital union which the members of the invisible church have with Christ in their effectual calling, we are now led to speak concerning the com- munion in grace which they have with him. Communion with Christ does not in the least import our being made partakers of any of the glories or privileges which belong to him as Mediator; but it con- sists in our participation of those benefits which he hath purchased for us. It im- plies, on his part, infinite condescension, that he will be pleased to communicate such blessings to us ; and, on ours, unspeakable honours and privileges, which we enjoy from him. It is sometimes called 'fellowship ;'* which is the result of friend- ship, and proceeds from his love. Thus our Saviour speaks of his ' loving ' his dis- ciples, ' and manifesting himself to them.'k It also proceeds from union with him, and is the immediate effect and consequence of effectual calling. Hence, God is said to have 'called us unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ.'1 It is farther said, in this Answer, to be a manifestation of our union with him. He has received those blessings for us which he purchased by his blood ; and, accordingly, is the treasury, as well as the fountain of all grace ; and we are therefore said to ' receive of his fulness, grace for grace. 'm And the blessings which we are said to receive, by virtue of his mediation, are justification, adoption, and sanctification, with all other benefits which either accompany or flow from them. These are particularly explained in the following Answers. i 1 John i. 3. k John xiv. 21. 1 1 Cor. i. 9. m John i. 1(5. JUSTIFICATION. 81 JUSTIFICATION. Question LXX. What is justification f Answer. Justification is an art of God's free grace unto sinners, in which he pardoneth all their sins, accepteth and accounteth their persons righteous in his sight; not for any thing wrought in them, or done by them, but only for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ, by God imputed to them, and received by faith alone. Question LXX I. How is justification an act of God's free grace f Answer. Although Christ, by his obedience and death, did make a proper, real, and full satis- faction to God's justice, in the behalf of them that are justified; yet, inasmuch as God accepteth the satisfaction from a Surety, which he might have demanded of them, did provide this Surety, his own only Son, imputing his righteousness to them, and requiring nothing of them for their justifica- tion but faith ; which also is his gift ; their justification is, to them, of free grace. The Importance of the Doctrine of Justification. Hitherto we have been led to consider that change of heart and life which is be- gun in effectual calling ; whereby a dead sinner is made alive, and one who was wholly indisposed for good works, and averse to the performance of them, is enabled to perform them by the power of divine grace. Now we are to speak concerning that change of state which accompanies change of heart ; whereby one who, being guilty before God, was liable to the condemning sentence of the law, and expected no other than an eternal banishment from his presence, is pardoned, received into favour, and has a right to all the blessings which Christ has, by his obedience and sufferings, purchased for him. This is what we call justification ; and it is placed immediately after the subject of effectual calling, agreeably to the method in which it is insisted on in the golden chain of salvation exhibited by the apostle, ' Whom he called, them he also justified.'" This is certainly a doctrine of the highest importance ; inasmuch as it contains the way of peace, the foundation of all our hope, of the acceptance both of our per- sons and our services, and the beholding of the face of God, at last, with joy. Some have styled it the very basis of Christianity. Our forefathers thought it so necessary to be insisted on and maintained, according to the scripture account of it, that they reckoned it one of the principal doctrines of the Reformation. Indeed, the apostle Paul speaks of it as so necessary to be believed, that he concluded the denying or perverting of it to be the ground and reason of the Jews being rejected: * Who being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish a right- eousness of their own, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.' If, as many suppose, their call be meant in the account which we have of ' the marriage of the Lamb, and of his wife having made herself ready,'0 it is worth ob- serving that she is described as ' arrayed in fine linen, which is the righteousness of saints,' or, Christ's righteousness by which they are justified. This is that in which they glory ; and therefore they are represented as being convinced of the impor- tance of that doctrine of which they were formerly ignorant. This doctrine we have an account of in the two Answers which we are now to explain. In considering it, we shall endeavour to observe the following method. First, we shall consider what we are to understand by the word 'justify.' Second- ly, we shall inquire what the privileges are, which are contained in it, as reduced to two heads, namely, pardon of sin, and God's accounting those who are justified righteous in his sight. Thirdly, we shall inquire what the foundation is of our justification, namely, a righteousness wrought out for us. Fourthly, we shall show the utter inability of fallen man to perform any righteousness which can be the matter of his justification in the sight of God. Fifthly, we shall show that our Lord Jesus Christ has, as our surety, wrought out this righteousness for us, by per- forming active and passive obedience, which is imputed to us for our justification. Sixthly, we shall consider justification as an act of God's free grace. Lastly, we shall show the use of faith in justification, or in what respects faith is said to justify. n Rom. viii. 30. o Rev. xix. 7. II. L 82 JUSTIFICATION. The Meaning of the Word * Justify.' We shall first consider in what sense we are to understand the word 'justify.* As there are many disputes about the method of explaining the doctrine of justi- fication ; so there is a contest between us and the Papists about the sense of the word. They generally suppose that - to justify,' is to make inherently righteous and holy ; because righteousness and holiness sometimes import the same thing, and because both denote an internal change in the person who is so denominated. Accordingly, they argue that, as to magnily signifies to make great, — to fortify, to make strong, — so to justify, is to make just or holy. And they suppose that what- ever we do to make ourselves so, or whatever good works are the ingredients of our sanctification, must be considered as the matter of our justification. Some Protes- tant divines have supposed that the difference between them and us is principally about the sense of a word. This favourable and charitable construction of their doctrine would have been less exceptionable, if the Papists had asserted no more than that justification might be taken in the sense they contend for, when not considered as giving us a right to eternal life, or as being the foundation of that sentence of absolution which God passes upon us. But as this is the sense they give of it, when they say that we are justified by our inherent holiness, we are bound to conclude that it is very remote from the scripture sense of the word. We do not deny that justification is sometimes taken in a sense different from that in which it is understood when used to signify the doctrine we are explaining. Sometimes nothing more is intended by it, than our vindicating the divine perfec- tions from any charge which is pretended to be brought against them. Thus the psalmist says, ' That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.'P And our Saviour is said to be justified, that is, his person or character vindicated or defended, from the reproaches which were cast on him. • Wisdom,' it is said, ' is justified of her children. 'i We frequently read in scrip- ture, also, of the justification of the actions or conduct of persons ; in which sense their own works may be said to justify or vindicate them from the charge of hypocrisy or unregeneracy. Again, to justify is sometimes taken, in scripture, for using endeavours to turn many to righteousness. Hence, the words, in the pro- phecy of Daniel, which signify, ' they who justify many,' are rendered by our trans- lators, 'they who turn many to righteousness, shall shine as the stars. 'r There are various other senses given of this word, which we pass over as not applicable to the doctrine we are maintaining. We shall proceed to consider the sense in which it is used, when importing a sinner's justification in the sight of God. When thus used, it is to be taken only in a forensic sense ; and accordingly signifies a person's being acquitted or dis- charged from guilt or a liability to condemnation, in such a way as is done in courts of judicature. Thus we read in the judicial law, ' If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them, then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked.'3 Here 'to justify the righteous,' is to be understood for acquitting, or discharging from condemnation, one who appears to be righteous, or not guilty ; while ' the wicked,' that is, they Who appear to be guilty, are to be ' condemned.' In this sense the word is used, when applied to the doctrine of justification, in the New Testament, and parti- cularly in Paul's epistles, who largely insists on this subject. Now, that we may understand how a sinner may expect to be discharged at God's tribunal, let us consider the methods of proceeding used in human courts of judicature. In these, it is supposed that there is a law which forbids some actions which are deemed criminal ; and also that a punishment is annexed to this law, which renders the person who violates it guilty. Next, persons are supposed to be charged with the violation of the law ; and if the charge be not made good, they are said to be jus- tified, that is, cleared from presumptive, not real guilt. But if the charge be made good, and if he who falls under it is liable to punishment, and actually suffers the p Ptal. li. 4. q Matt. xi. 19; Luke vii. 35. r Dan. xii. 3. »p«TXDV » Deut. xxv. 1. JUSTIFICATION. 83 punishment, he is justified ; as in crimes which are not of a capital nature. Or if he be any otherwise cleared from the charge, so that his guilt be removed, he is deemed a justified person, #nd the law has nothing to lay to his charge, with re- spect to that which he was accused of. Thus, when a sinner, who had been charged with the violation of the divine law, found guilty before God, and exposed to a sentence of condemnation, is freed from it, he is said to be justified. The Privileges contained in Justification. We are now led to consider the privileges contained in justification. These are forgiveness of sin, and a right and title to eternal life. They are sufficiently dis- tinguished, though never separated ; so that, when we find but one of them men- tioned in a particular scripture which treats on this subject, the. other is not ex- cluded. Forgiveness of sin is sometimes expressed in scripture, by not imputing sin ; and a right to life, includes our being made partakers of the adoption of children, and a right to the inheritance prepared for them. The apostle mentions both when he speaks of our having ' redemption through the blood of Christ, even the forgiveness of sins,' and of our being ' made meet to be made partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.'4 Elsewhere, also, he speaks of Christ's ' redeem- ing them that were under the law,' which includes the former branch of justifica- tion ; and of their 'receiving the adoption of children,' which includes the latter. Again, he considers justified persons as ' having peace with God, ' which more especially respects pardon of sin ; and of their ' having access to the grace wherein they stand,' and 'rejoicing in hope of the glory of God,'u which is what we are to understand by, or includes, their right to life. That justification consists of both these branches, we maintain against the Papists. They suppose that it includes nothing else but forgiveness of sin, which is founded on the blood of Christ ; and they say that our right to life depends on our internal qualifications or sincere obedience. There are also some Protestant divines who suppose that it consists only in pardon of sin. This is asserted by them, with different views. Some assert it as most consistent with the doctrine of justi- fication by works, which they plead for ; while others assert it as most agreeable to another notion which they advance, namely, that we are justified only by Christ's passive obedience, which will be considered under a following Head. Again, there are others, whose views of the doctrine of justification are agreeable to scripture, who maintain that it includes both forgiveness of sins and a right to life ; but who yet say that the former is founded on Christ's passive obedience, and the latter on his active. We cannot but think, however, that the whole of Christ's obedience, both active and passive, is the foundation of each. But as this point will be considered when we come to speak concerning the procuring cause of our justification, all that we shall observe at present, is, that the two privileges in question are inseparably connected. As no one can have a right to life, but he whose sins are pardoned ; so no one can obtain forgiveness of sin, without, in consequence, having a right to life. As by the fall man became guilty, and then lost that right to life which was promised in the event of his standing, so it is agreeable to the divine perfections, provided the guilt be removed, that he should be put in the same state as if it had not been contracted, and consequently he should have, not only forgiveness of sins, but a right to life. Forgiveness of sin, without a right to eternal life, would ren- der our justification incomplete. Hence, when any one is pardoned by an act of grace, he is put in possession of that which, by his rebellion, he had forfeited ; he is considered, not only as released out of prison, but as one who has the privi- leges of a subject, such as those which he had before he committed the crime. With- out this he would be like Absalom, when, upon Joab's intercession with David, the guilt of murder, which he had contracted, was remitted so far as that he had liberty to return from Geshur, whither he had fled ; but who, nevertheless, reckons him- self not fully discharged from the guilt he had contracted, and concludes his return to Jerusalem, as it were an insignificant privilege, unless by being admitted to see t Col. i. 12, 14. u Rom. v. 1, 2. 84 JUSTIFICATION. the king's face, and enjoy the privileges which he was possessed of before, he might be dealt with as one who was taken into favour, as well as forgiven ;x which was accordingly granted. This leads us to a particular consideration of the two branches of justification. 1. Forgiveness of sin. Sin is sometimes represented as containing moral impu- rity, as opposed to holiness of heart and life. Accordingly, it is said to ' defile a man ;'*" and it is set forth in scripture by several metaphorical expressions which tend to beget an abhorrence of it as of things impure. In this sense it is removed is sanctification, rather than in justification. Not but that divines sometimes speak of Christ's redeeming us from the filth and the dominion of sin, and our deliverance from it in justification. But when the filth and the dominion of sin are thus spoken of, they are to be understood as rendering us guilty ; inasmuch as all moral pollu- tions are criminal, as contrary to the law of God. For, were they not so viewed, our deliverance from them would not be a branch of justification. In speaking on this subject, therefore, we shall consider sin as that which renders men guilty be- fore God, and so show what we are to understand by guilt. Guilt supposes a person to be under a law, and to have violated it. According- ly, sin is described as ' the transgression of the law.'2 The law of God, in com- mon with all other laws, is primarily designed to be the rule of obedience ; and, in order to its being so, it is a declaration of the divine will which, as creatures and subjects, we are under a natural obligation to comply with. Moreover, God, as a God of infinite holiness and sovereignty, cannot but signify his displeasure in case of disobedience ; and therefore he has annexed a threatening to his law, or passed a condemning sentence, as what is due for every transgression. This, divines sometimes call the sanction of the law, or a fence with which it is guarded, that so, through the corruption of our nature, we may not conclude that we may rebel against him with impunity. The scripture styles it, 4 the curse of the law;'a so that guilt is a liableness to the curse, or condemning sentence of the law, for our violation of it. It is sometimes called a debt of punishment which we owe to the justice of God for not paying that debt of obedience which was due from us to his law. Thus, when our Saviour advises us to pray that our sins may be forgiven, he expresses it by ' forgiving us our debts ;'b so that forgiveness, as it is a freeing us from guilt, discharges us from the debt of punishment to which we were liable. There is a twofold debt which man owes to God. One he owes to him as a crea- ture under a law. This is that debt of obedience which he cannot be discharged from ; and therefore a justified person is, in this sense, as much a debtor as any other. There is also a debt which man contracts as a criminal, whereby he is liable to suffer punishment. This alone is removed in justification. Moreover, we must carefully distinguish between the demerit of sin, or its desert of punish- ment, and the sinner's obligation to suffer punishment for it. The former is in- separable from sin, and not removed, or in the least lessened, by pardoning mercy. For sin is no less the object of the divine detestation, nor is its intrinsic evil or demerit abated, by its being forgiven. Hence, a justified person remaining still a sinner, as transgressing the law of God, has as much reason to condemn himself in this respect as if he had not been forgiven. The psalmist, speaking concerning a person who is actually forgiven or justified, says, ' If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, 0 Lord, who shall stand?'0 He was in a justified state, but yet con- cludes that there is a demerit of punishment in every sin which he committed ; though, when it is pardoned, the obligation to suffer punishment is taken away.d Hence, the apostle speaking of such, says, ' There is no condemnation to them.'e We must farther distinguish between our having matter of condemnation in us, — which a justified person has ; and there being no condemnation to us, which is the immediate result of being pardoned. There are several expressions in scripture whereby forgiveness is set forth. It x 2 Sam. xiv. 32. y Matt. xv. 19, 20. z 1 John iii. 4. a Gal. iii. 10. 5 tl! fxu 4; Matt* vi- 12, c PsaU cxxx- 3- d I he former of these divines call ■ reatus potentialis ;' the latter, * reatus actualis.' The far- mer is the immediate consequence of sin; the latter is taken away in justification, e Rom. vih. 1. JUSTIFICATION. 85 is called God's covering sin. Thus the psalmist says, * Blessed is he whose trans- gression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 'f It is called, also, his hiding his face from it, and blotting it out ; its ' not being found "* ' when it is sought for ;'h and •casting our sins into the depths of the sea.'1 Elsewhere it is said that, when God had pardoned the sins of his people, ' he did not behold iniquity in Jacob, nor see perverseness in Israel. 'k This amounts to the same thing as the foregoing expres- sions, as to sin being covered, hid, blotted out, &c. I am sensible there have been many contests about the sense of this scripture, which might, without much diffi- culty, have been compromised, had the contending parties been desirous to know one another's opinion without prejudice or partiality. It is not to be thought that, when God forgives sin, he does not know or suppose that the person forgiven had contracted guilt by sins committed ; for without this he could not be the object of forgiveness. When God is said not to look upon his people's sins, or to hide his face from them, it is not to be supposed that he knows not what they have done, or what iniquities they daily commit against him ; for that would be subversive of his omniscience. When, again, he is said not to mark our iniquities, we are not to understand it as if he did not look upon the sins we commit, though in a justified state, with abhorrence ; for the sinner may be pardoned, and yet the crime forgiven be detested. God's not seeing sin in his people, is to be understood in a forensic sense. Accordingly, when an atonement is made for sin, and the guilt of it is taken away, the criminal is, in the eye of the law, as if he had not sinned. He is as fully discharged from the indictment which was brought in against him, as if he had been innocent, — not liable to tany charge founded upon it. Hence, the apostle says, ' Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justi- fieth.'1 It is the same thing as for God ' not to enter into judgment,' as the psal- mist elsewhere expresses it ; or to ' punish us less than our iniquities have deserved.'"1 In this sense, the indictment which was brought against the sinner is cancelled, the sentence reversed, and prosecution stopped ; so that whatever evils are endured as the consequence of sin, or with a design to humble the transgressor for it, as bring- ing sin to his remembrance with all its aggravating circumstances, he is encouraged to hope that these are inflicted, not in a judicial way by the vindictive justice of God demanding satisfaction, but to display and set forth the holiness of his nature as in- finitely opposed to all sin, and also the holiness of the dispensations of his provi- dence, and that with a design to bring the transgressor to repentance. That the privilege of forgiveness may appear to be most conducive to our happi- ness and comfort, let it be considered that, wherever God forgives sin, he forgives all sin, cancels every debt which rendered the sinner liable to punishment. Were it otherwise, our condition would be very miserable, and our salvation impossible. Our condition would be like that of a person who has several indictments brought in" against him, every one of which contains an intimation that his life is forfeited ; and whom it would avail very little for one indictment to be superseded, while the sentence due to him for the others should be executed. Accordingly, the apostle speaks of ' the free gift' being 'of many,' that is, of the multitude of our 'offences unto justification.'11 Elsewhere, too, he speaks of God's forgiving his people ' all trespasses.'0 And as he forgives all past sins, so he gives the pardoned ground to conclude that iniquity shall not be their ruin ; so that the same grace which now abounds towards them in forgiveness, together with the virtue of the atonement made for sin, shall prevent future crimes from being charged upou them to their condemnation. Thus concerning forgiveness of sin. The other privilege which they who are justified are made partakers of, is the acceptance of their persons as righteous in the sight of God. They are said to be 4 made accepted in the Beloved, 'p And as their persons are accepted, so are their performances, notwithstanding the many defects which adhere to them. Thus God is said to have ' had respect unto Abel, and to his offering. 'i Besides, they have a right and title to eternal life ; which is that inheritance which Christ has pur- chased for them, and which God, in his covenant of grace, has promised to them. f Psal. xxxii. 1. g Jer. 1. 20. h Psal. li. 9. i Micah vii. 19. k Numb, xxiii. 21. 1 Rom. viii. S3. m Psal. c.xliii. 2; Ezra ix. 13. n Rom. v. 16. o Col. ii. 13. p Eph. i. G. q Gen. iv. 4. 86 JUSTIFICATION. This is a very comprehensive blessing ; for it contains a right to all those great and precious promises which God has made respecting their happiness both here and hereafter. But we shall have occasion to insist on it under a following Answer, when speaking on the subject of adoption, which some divines, not without good reason, conclude to be a branch of justification, or at least to contain those positive privileges which they who are justified partake of, either here or hereafter. The Foundation of Justification. We now proceed to consider what is the foundation of our justification. This must be some righteousness wrought out either by us or for us. Since justification is a person's being 'made righteous,' as the apostle styles it,r we must consider what we are to understand by this phrase. A person is said to be righteous who never violated the law of God, or exposed himself to its condemning sentence. In this respect, man, while in a state of innocency, was righteous. His perfect obedience was the righteousness which, according to the tenor of the covenant he was under, gave him a right to eternal life ; and it would especially have done so, had it been persisted in till he became possessed of that life. But such a righteousness as this cannot be the foundation of our justification ; for the apostle says, ' By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.'8 The righteousness we are now speaking of must be something wrought out for us by one who stood in our room and stead, and was able to pay that debt of obedience and endure those sufferings which were due for sin. This debt the law of God might have exacted of us, and insisted on the payment of in our own persons ; and, as paid by Christ for us, it is, as will be considered under a following Head, that which we generally call Christ's righteous- ness, or what he did and suffered in our stead in conformity to the law of God ; whereby its honour was secured and vindicated, and justice satisfied, so that God appears to be, as the apostle says, ' just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.'* Mans inability to work out a justifying Righteousness. We are now to consider the utter inability of fallen man to perform any righte- ousness which can be the matter of his justification in the sight of God ; whereby it will appear, as is observed in this Answer, that we are not accounted righteous in his sight for any thing wrought in us or done by us. That we cannot be justi- fied by suffering the punishment which was due to sin, appears from the infinite evil of it, and the eternal duration of the punishment which it deserves. Thus our Saviour observes in the parable concerning the debtor who did not ' agree with his adversary while in the way,' but was ' delivered to the officer, and cast into prison,' that he should not come out 'till he had paid the uttermost farthing, 'u that is to say, he should never be discharged. A criminal -who is sentenced to endure some punishments short of death, or which are to continue but for a term of years, is discharged or justified when he has suffered them. But it is far otherwise with man, when fallen into the hands of the vindictive justice of God. Hence, the psal- mist says, ' Enter not into judgment with thy servant,' or do not punish me accord- ing to the demerit of sin ; ' for in thy sight shall no flesh living be justified.' — Nor can any one be justified by performing active obedience to the law of God. No- thing is sufficient to answer that end, but what is perfect in all respects. It must be sinless obedience ; and that not only as to what concerns the time to come, but as respecting the time past. But this is impossible from the nature of the thing, to be affirmed of a sinner ; for to affirm it implies a contradiction in terms. Besides, the holiness of God cannot but detest the least defect, and therefore will not deal with a sinful creature as though he had been innocent. As for sins which are past, they render us equally liable to a debt of punishment with those which are com- mitted at present, or shall be hereafter, in the sight of God. Moreover, the hon- our of the law cannot be secured, unless it be perfectly fulfilled ; and it cannot be so if there be any defect of obedience. r Rom. v. 19. 8 Gal. ii. 16. t Rom. iii. 26. u Matt. v. 25, 26. JUSTIFICATION. 87 As for works which are done by us without the assistance of the Spirit of God, they proceed from a wrong principle, and have many other blemishes attending them, on account of which they have only a partial goodness. For that reason Augustine gives them no better a character than that of shining sins.x But what- ever terms we give them, they are certainly very far from coming up to a confor- mity to the divine law. And as for good works which are said to be wrought in us, and are the effect of the power and grace of God, and the consequence of our being regenerated and converted, they fall far short of perfection ; there is a great deal of sin attending them, which, if God should mark, none could stand. This is ex- pressed by Job, in a very humble manner: • How should man be just with God ? If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand.' ' If I wash myself with snow wrater, and make my hands never so clean, yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me. For he is not a man as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment. * When God is said to 'work in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight, 'z we are not to understand that the grace which he works in us renders us accepted in his sight, in a forensic sense, or that it justifies us ; for in this respect we are ' made accepted' only ' in the Beloved,' that is, in Christ.a — Moreover, as what is wrought in us has many defects ; so it is not from ourselves, and therefore cannot be accepted as a payment of that debt of obedience which we owe to the justice of God ; and conse- quently we cannot be justified by it. Some, indeed, make the terms of acceptance or justification in the sight of God as low as if nothing were demanded of us but our sincere endeavours to yield obedience, whatever imperfections it be chargeable with. Others pretend that our confessing our sins will be conducive to our justi- fication, and assert that our tears are sufficient to wash away the guilt of sin. The Papists add that some penances, or acts of self-denial, will satisfy his justice, and procure a pardon for us ; yea, they go farther than this, and maintain that per- sons may perform works of supererogation, or pay more than the debt which is owing from them, or than what the law of God requires, and thereby not only satisfy his justice, but render him a debtor to them ; and they put them into a ca- pacity of transferring these arrears of debt to those who stand in need of them, and thereby lay an obligation on them in gratitude to pay them honours next to divine. Such absurdities do men run into who plead for human satisfactions, and the merit of good works, as the matter of our justification. Indeed, nothing can tend more to depreciate Christ's satisfaction, on the one hand, and stupify the conscience on the other ; and therefore, it is so far from being an expedient for justification, that it is destructive to the souls of men. — As for our sincere endeavours or imperfect obedience, these cannot be placed, by the justice of God, in the room of perfect ; for to do so is contrary to the nature of justice. We cannot suppose that he who pays a peppercorn or a few mites, instead of a large sum, really pays the debt which was due from him. Justice cannot account this to be a payment ; and a discharge from condemnation on the ground of it, cannot be styled a justification. To say that it is esteemed so by an act of grace, is to advance the glory of one divine perfection, and, at the same time, detract from that of another. Nothing, therefore, can be our righteousness, but that which the justice of God may, in hon- our, accept of for our justification ; and our own righteousness is so small and incon- siderable a thing, that it is a dishonour for him to accept of it in this respect ; so that we cannot be justified by works done by us or wrought in us. — This will far- ther appear, if we consider the properties of this righteousness, and in particular, that it must not only be perfect, and therefore such as a sinful creature cannot per- form, but also be of infinite value, otherwise it could not give satisfaction to the infinite justice of God, and consequently cannot be performed by any other than a divine person. It must also bear some resemblance to that debt which was due from us ; inasmuch as it was designed to satisfy for the debt which we had con- tracted ; and therefore it must be performed by one who is really man. But as this has been insisted on elsewhere, under the head of Christ's priestly office,b we shall not farther enlarge on it. x Splendida peccata. y Job ix. 2, 3, 30—32. z Heb. xiii. 21. a Eph. i. 6. b See Sect. ' The Necessity o( Satisfaction for Sin,' under Quest, xliv. 88 JUSTIFICATION. Christ's Righteousness as the ground of Justification. We now proceed to observe that our Lord Jesus Christ has wrought out this righteousness for us, as our surety, by performing active and passive obedience ; which is imputed to us for our justification. We have already shown that it is im- possible that such a righteousness as is sufficient to be the matter of our justification, should be wrought out by us in our own persons. It must hence be wrought out for us by one who bears the character of a surety, and performs every thing which is necessary to our justification. Such an one is our Lord Jesus Christ. 1. Here we must show what we are to understand by ' a surety ;' since it is the righteousness of Christ under this relation to us, which is the matter of our justifi- cation. A surety is one who submits to be charged with, and undertakes to pay, a debt contracted by another, to the end that the debtor may be discharged. Thus the apostle Paul engages to be surety to Philemon for Onesimus, who had fled from Philemon whom he had wronged or injured, and to whom he was in consequence indebted. Concerning Onesimus, the apostle says, ' If he hath wronged thee, or owetli thee ought, put that on mine account ; I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it.'c We read also of Judah's overture to be surety for his brother Benjamin that he should return to his father, as a motive to induce the latter to give his consent that he should go with him into Egypt: ' I will be surety for him ; of my hand shalt thou require him. If I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever.'d Suretiship is so com- monly known in civil transactions of a similar nature between man and man, that it needs no farther explication. — It may be observed, however, that a person's be- coming surety for another, must be a free and voluntary act. For to force any one to bind himself to pay a debt which he has not contracted, is as much an act of in- justice as it is in any other instance to exact a debt where it is not due. — Again, he who engages to be surety for another, must be in a capacity to pay the debt ; otherwise he is unjust to the creditor, as well as brings ruin upon himself. Hence, it is said, ' Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts, if thou hast nothing to pay ; why should he take away thy bed from under thee?'6 — Further, he who engages to be surety for another, is supposed not to have contracted the debt himself ; and therefore the creditor must have no de- mands upon him, as being involved together with the debtor, and so becoming en- gaged antecedent to his being surety. Yet after he has become surety he is deemed, in the eye of the law, to stand in the debtor's room and to be charged with his debt, and to be as much obliged to pay it as if he had contracted it, especially if the creditor be resolved to exact the payment of him rather than of the original debt- or. — Further, as debts are of different kinds, so the obligation of a surety admits of different circumstances. Thus there are pecuniary debts resulting from those dealings or contracts which pass between man and man in civil affairs ; and there are debts of service or obedience ; as also debts of punishment, as was formerly observed, for crimes committed. In all these cases, as the nature of the debt differs, so there are some things peculiar in the nature of suretiship for it. In pe- cuniary debts the creditor is obliged to accept of payment at the hand of any one who, at the request of the debtor, is wdling to discharge the debt which he has contracted, especially if what he pays be his own ; but in debts of service or punishment, when the surety offers himself to perform or suffer what was due from another, the credi- tor is at liberty to accept or refuse satisfaction from him, and might insist on the payment of the debt in his own person by him from whom it is due. 2. Christ was a surety for us, or substituted in our room, with a design to pay the c Philem. verge 18. d Gen. xliii. 9. e Prov. xxii. 26, 27. fThe distinction is often used in the civil law between 'fide-jussor' and 'expromissor.' A per- son's being hound together with the original debtor, and the creditor's being left to ids liberty to exact the debt of which of the two he pleases, is called ' fide-jussor ;' and the surety's so taking the debt upon himself :bat he who contracted it is discharged, is what we understand bv 'expromis- sor.' This distinction has been considered elsewhere. See Note near the end of Sect. ' The ad- ministration of the Covenant under the Old Testament,' under Quest, xxxiii, xxxi , xxxv. JUSTIFICATION. 89 debt which was due to the justice of God from us. — Here, that we may resume the ideas of a surety just mentioned, and apply them to Christ as our surety, let it be considered that what he did and suffered for us was free and voluntary. This ap- pears from his readiness to engage in the work, expressed by his saying, ■ Lo, I come to do thy will.'s Hence, whatever he suffered for us did not infer the least injustice in God who inflicted it.h — Again, he was able to pay the debt; so that there was not the least injury offered to the justice of God by his undertaking. This is evident, from his being God incarnate. In the one nature, he was able to do and suffer whatever was demanded of us ; and in the other nature, he was able to add an infinite value to what he performed. — Further, he was not rendered incapable of paying our debt, or of answering for the guilt which we had contracted, by any debt of his own, which involved him in the same guilt and rendered him liable to the same punishment with us. This is evident from what the prophet says concerning him, that he was charged with our guilt, though 'he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.'1 What the prophet calls 'doing no violence,' the apostle Peter, referring to and explain- ing it, styles ' doing ' or committing ' no sin ' of any kind. He was not involved in the guilt of Adam's sin, which would have rendered him incapable of being a surety to pay that debt for us ; nor had he the least degree of corruption of nature, being conceived in an extraordinary way, and sanctified from the womb ;k nor did he ever commit actual sin, for ' he was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners.' — Another thing observed in the character of a surety, which corresponds very much with Christ's being our surety, is that what he engaged to pay was his own, or at his own disposal. He did not offer any injury to justice, by paying a debt which was before due to it, or by performing any service which he had no warrant to do. It is true, he gave his life a ransom ; but consider him as a divine Person, and he had an undoubted right to dispose of or lay down that life which he had as man. Did he consent, in the eternal transaction between the Father and him, to be incarnate, and in our nature to perform the work of a surety ? This was an act of his sovereign will ; so that whatever he paid as a ransom for us, was, in the highest sense, his own. The case was not the same as if one man who has no power to dispose of his life at pleasure, should offer to lay down his life for another. We are not lords of our own lives. As we do not come into the world by our own wills, we are not to go out of it when we please. But Christ as God, was, if I may so ex- press myself, lord of himself, of all that he did and suffered as man ; by which I un- derstand that he had a right as God to consent or determine to do and suffer whatever he did and suffered as man. The debt, therefore, which he paid in the human nature, was his own. — Further, as in some cases he who is willing to substitute himself as a surety in the room of the debtor, must be accepted and approved by him to whom the debt is due ; so our Saviour's substitution as our surety in our room, had a sanc- tion from God the Father ; who gave many undeniable evidences that what Christ did and suffered for us, was accepted by him as really as if it had been done by us in our own persons. This, as was formerly observed, might have been refused by him, it being the payment of a debt of obedience and sufferings. But that God the Father testified his acceptance of Christ as our surety, appears from his well-pleasedness with him, both before and after his incarnation. Before he came into the world, God seems to speak with pleasure in the forethought of what he would be and do, as Mediator, when he says, 'Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth.'1 He is also said to be 'well-pleased for his righteous- ness' sake,'m or in his determining beforehand that he should, as Mediator, bring in that righteousness which would tend to magnify the law and make it honourable. Moreover, his having anointed him by a previous designation to his work, as the prophet intimates, speaking of him before his incarnation," is certainly an evidence of his being approved to be our surety. And when he was incarnate, God approved of him, when engaged in the work which he came into the world to perform. Thus, when he was solemnly set apart by baptism to the discharge of his public ministry, g Heb. x. 9. h Volenti non fit injuria. i Isa. liii. 9. k See Sect. * Christ not re- presented by Adam,' under Quest, xxii. 1 Isa. xlii. 1. m Ver. 21. n ha. lxi. 1, 2, II. M 90 JUSTIFICATION. a voice from heaven said, « This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well- pleased.'0 We may add, that there was the most undeniable proof of God's well-pleasedness with him, as having accomplished this work, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places. Again, that the Father tes- tified his acceptance of Christ as our surety, may be argued from his justifying and saving those for whom he undertook to be a surety, before the debt was actually paid, and from his applying the same blessings to his people since the work of re- demption was finished. The application of what Christ undertook to purchase, is an evidence of the acceptableness of the price. This may be considered, either as respects those who were saved before his incarnation and death, or those who are, from that time, in all succeeding ages, made partakers of the saving benefits of re- demption. Before the actual accomplishment of what he undertook to do and suf- fer as our surety, God the Father trusted him ; and, by virtue of his promising to pay the debt, discharged the Old Testament saints from condemnation, as effec- tually as if it had been actually paid. There are some cases in which a surety's undertaking to pay a debt, is reckoned equivalent to the actual payment of it ; namely, when it is impossible that he should make a failure in the payment, either through mutability or fickleness of temper inducing him to change his purpose, or from unfaithfulness, which might render him regardless of his engagement, or from some change in his circumstances, whereby, though he once was able to pay, he afterwards becomes unable: I say, if none of these things can take place, and especially, if the creditor, by not demanding present payment, receives some ad- vantage, which is an argument that he does not stand in need of payment, then the promise to pay a debt is equivalent to the payment of it. Now these things may well be applied to Christ's undertaking to pay our debt. It was impossible that he should fail in the accomplishment of what he had undertaken ; or change his purpose, and so, though he designed to execute his work, enter into other mea- sures ; or, though he had promised to execute it, be unfaithful in the accomplish- ment of it ;— these things are all inconsistent with the character of his person ; for though he suffered for us in the human nature, it was his divine nature that under- took to do the work in the human nature ; and the divine nature is infinitely free from the least imputation of weakness, mutability, or unfaithfulness. While, too, the present payment was not immediately demanded, nor designed to be made till the fulness of time was come, the delay of it was compensated by the revenue of glory which accrued to the divine name, and by the honour which redounded to the Mediator, in the salvation of the elect before his incarnation. This, then, was certainly an undeniable evidence of God's approving his undertaking. Moreover, since the work of redemption has been completed, all those who are or shall be brought to glory, have, in themselves, a convincing proof of God's being well- pleased with Christ, as substituted in their room and stead, to pay the debt which was due from them to his justice, and so to lay the foundation of their justification. It hence plainly appears, that Christ was substituted as a surety in our room and stead, to do that for us which was necessary for our justification. We have also sufficient ground to conclude that he was so from scripture, whence alone this point Can be proved, it being a matter of pure revelation. Thus it is said, in express terms, that he was 'made a surety of a better testament. 'p And that, as our surety, he paid the debt of sufferings which was due from us, is evident from its being said that ' he offered himsell a sacrifice for our sins/i and that he was 'once offered to bear the sins of many.'1" From his being holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, the apostle argues that he had no occasion to offer a sacrifice for himself, or that he had no sin of his own to be charged with ; so that, when he suffered, he bore or answered for our sins. Thus the apostle Peter says, ' He bare our sins in his own body on the tree; by whose stripes ye were healed.'8 And elsewhere we read of 'his being made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him;'4 that is, he who had no guilt of his own to answer for, submitted to be charged with our guilt, to stand in our room and o Matt. iii. 17. p Heli. vii. 22. q Ver. 27. r irieb. ix. 28. « 1 pet. ii. 24. t 2 Cor. v. 21. JUSTIFICATION. 91 stead, and accordingly to be made a sacrifice for sin. Now all this implies his having been made a surety for us. But on this point we particularly insisted else- where when speaking concerning Christ's satisfaction, which could not be explained without taking occasion to mention his being substituted in the room and stead of those for whom he paid a price of redemption ; and we also considered the mean- ing of those scriptures which speak of his 'bearing our sins.'u 3. We shall now proceed, then, to consider what Christ did as our surety, in his paying all that debt which the justice of God demanded from us, and which consisted in active and passive obedience. There was a debt of active obedience demanded of man as a creature ; and upon his failing to pay it, when he sinned, it became an outstanding debt due from us, but such as could never be paid by us. God determines not to justify any, unless this outstanding debt be paid. Christ, as our surety, engages to take the payment of it on himself. While, too, this defect of obedience, together with all actual transgressions, which proceed from the corruption of our nature, render us guilty or liable to the stroke of vin- dictive justice, Christ, as our surety, undertakes to bear that also. This we gen- erally call the imputation of our sin to Christ, the j lacing of our debt to his ac- count, and the transferring to him of the debt of pujuslmitnt which was due from us. On this account he is said to yield obedience, and .-uffer in our room and stead, or to perform active and passive obedience for us. These two ideas the apostle joins in one expression, when he says that he ' became obedient unto death.' x But this having been insisted on elsewhere, under the head of Christ's satisfaction,? where we not only showed that Christ performed active as well as passive obedience for us, but endeavoured to answer the objections which are gen- erally brought against Christ's active obedience being part of that debt which he engaged to pay for us, we shall pass it by at present. — Again, that our sin and guilt was imputed to him, may be argued from his having been ' made a curse for us,' in order to his redeeming us from the curse of the law ;z from his having been ' made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him ;'a and from other scriptures which speak of him as suffering, though innocent, — pun- ished for sin, though he was the Lamb of God without spot or blemish, — dealt with as guilty, though he had never contracted any guilt, — and made a sacrifice for sin, though sinless. These things could not have been done consistently with the jus- tice of God, had not our sins been placed to his account, or imputed to him. — It is indeed a very difficult thing to convince some persons, how Christ could be charged with sin or have sin imputed to him, in consistency with the sinless purity of his nature. This some think to be no better than a contradiction ; though it is agree- able to the scripture mode of speaking, as 'he was made sin for us,' and yet 'knew no sin.'b When, however, we speak of sin being imputed to him, we are far from insinuating that he committed any acts of sin, or that his human nature was, in the least, inclined to or defiled by it. We choose, therefore, to use the scripture phrase, in which he is said to have 'borne our sins,' rather than to say that he was a sinner. Much less would I give countenance to the expression which some make use of, that he was the greatest sinner in the world ; for I do not desire to apply a word to him, which is often taken in a sense not in the least applicable to the holy Jesus. We cannot be too cautious in our expressions, lest the most common sense in which we understand ' the greatest sinner' when applied to men, should give any one a wrong idea of him, as though he had committed sin, or were de- filed with it. All we assert is, that he was charged with our sins when he suffered for them, — not with having committed them, but with the guilt of them, which, by his own consent, was imputed to him. For had it been otherwise, his sufferings could not have been a punishment for sin, nor could our sin have been expiated, or his sufferings have been the ground of our justification. 4. We are thus led to consider the reference which Christ's suretiship-righteous- ness has to our justification. This is generally styled its being imputed, which u See Sect. ' Tlie Reality of the Atoupmeiit,' under Quest, xliv. x Phil. ii. 8. y See Seet. ' The Nature of the Satisfaction required,' under Quest, xliv. z Gal. iii. 13. a 2 Cor. v. 21. b Ibid. 92 JUSTIFICATION. is a word very much used by those who plead for the scripture sense of the doctrine of justification, and as much opposed by those who deny it. We are obliged to defend the use of it ; otherwise Christ's righteousness, how glorious soever it be in itself, would not avail for our justification. ' Here it is necessary for us to explain what we mean by the imputation of Christ's righteousness. There are some who oppose this doctrine by calling it a putative righteousness, the shadow or appearance of what has no reality ; or our being ac- counted what we are not, whereby a wrong judgment is passed on persons and things. We are not, however, to deny the doctrine because it is thus misrepresented, and thereby unfairly opposed. It is certain that there are words used in scripture and often applied to this doctrine, which, without any ambiguity or strain on the sense of them, may be translated ' to reckon,' 'to account,' or to place a thing done by another to our account, or as we express it, 'to impute.'15 This respects either what is done by us, or something done by another for us. Imputation in the for- mer of these senses, our adversaries do not oppose. Thus, it is said, that ' Phinehas executed judgment, and it was counted unto him for righteousness, 'd that is, it was approved by God as a righteous action. This expression seems to obviate an ob- jection which some might make against imputation. They might suppose that Phinehas did that which more properly belonged to the civil magistrate, or that his judicial act was done without a formal trial, and, it may be, too hastily. God, however, owns the action, and, in a way of approbation, places it to his account for righteousness, that it should be reckoned a righteous action throughout all genera- tions.— Again, sometimes that which is done by a person, is imputed to him or charged upon him so that he must answer for it, or suffer the punishment due to it. Thus Shimei says to David, ' Let not my lord impute iniquity unto me ;'e that is, ' Do not charge upon me that sin which I committed, so as to put me to death for it, which thou mightest justly do.' And Stephen prays, ' Lord, lay not this sin to their charge ;'f that is, impute it not to them, or inflict not the punish- ment on them which it deserves. No one can deny that what is done by a person himself may be placed to his own account ; so that he may be rewarded or pun- ished for it, or that it may be approved or disapproved. This, however, is not the sense in which we understand imputation, when speaking concerning the impu- tation of Christ's righteousness to us ; for this supposes that what was done by another is placed to our account. This is the main thing which is denied by those who have other sentiments of the doctrine we are maintaining. They pretend that, for God to account Christ's righteousness ours, is to take a wrong estimate of things, to reckon that done by us which was not. This, they say, is contrary to the wisdom of God, who can, by no means, entertain any false ideas of things ; and they add, that, if the action be reckoned ours, the character of the person perform- ing it must also be applied to us, — which is to make us sharers in Christ's media- torial office and glory. But this is the most perverse sense which can be put on the words, and a setting of this doctrine in such a light as no one takes it in who pleads for it. We do not suppose that God looks upon man with his all-seeing eye, as having done that which Christ did, or as sustaining the character which be- longed to him in doing it. We are always reckoned by him as offenders, or as contracting guilt, and unable to do any thing which can make an atonement for it. Hence, what interest soever we have in what Christ did, is not reputed our action. God's imputing Christ's righteousness to us, is to be understood in a forensic sense ; which is agreeable to the idea of a debt being paid by a surety. It is not supposed that the debtor paid the debt which the surety paid ; yet the payment of it is placed to his account, or imputed to him as really as if he had made it himself. So what Christ did and suffered in our room and stead, is as much placed to our ac- count as if we had done and suffered it ourselves ; so that we are, in consequence, discharged from condemnation. This is the sense in which we understand the imputation of Christ's righteous- ness to us ; and it is agreeable to the account we have in scripture. Thus we are said to be 'made the righteousness of God in him ;'s that is, the abstract being put c ajpn XtyZ*. d Psal. cvi. 31. e 2 Sam. xix. 19. f Acts vii. 60. g 2 Cor. v. 2 JUSTIFICATION. 93 for the concrete, we are denominated and dealt with as righteous persons, acquitted and discharged from condemnation in virtue of what was done by him. Elsewhere, also, he is styled 'the Lord our righteousness.' The apostle, too, speaks of his 'having Christ's righteousness ;'h that is, having it imputed to him, or having an in- terest in it, or being dealt with according to the tenor of it. In this respect, he opposes it to that righteousness which was in himself as the result of his own per- formances. Again, Christ is said to be 'made of God unto us righteousness ;' that is, his fulfilling the law is placed to our account. Further, the apostle speaks of ' Christ being the end of the law for righteousness to every one that belie veth ;'1 which is the same as what he asserts in other words elsewhere, concerning ' the righ- teousness of the law being fulfilled in us,'k who could not be justified by our own obedience to it, ' in that it was weak through the flesh,' or by reason of our fallen state. Christ, therefore, performed obedience for us, and accordingly God deals with us as if we had fulfilled the law in our own persons, inasmuch as it was ful- filled by him as our surety. — This maj farther be illustrated, by what we generally understand by Adam's sin being imputed to us, as one contrary may illustrate an- other. As sin and death entered into the world by 'the offence of one,' namely, the first Adam, ' in whom all have sinned ; so by the righteousness of one, the free gift,'1 that is, eternal life, 'came upon all men,' namely, those who shall be saved, ' unto justification of life.' For this reason the apostle speaks of Adam as 'the figure of him that was to come.'m Now, as Adam's sin was imputed to us as our public head and representative, so that we are involved in the guilt of it, or fall in him ; so Christ's righteousness is imputed to us, as he was our public head and surety. Accordingly, in the eye of the law, that which was done by him was the same as if it had been done by us ; so that, as the effect and consequence of it, we are justified. This is what we call Christ's righteousness being imputed to us, or placed to our account ; and it is very agreeable to the acceptation of the word, in dealings between man and man. When one has contracted a debt, and desires that it may be placed to the account of his surety, who undertakes for the payment of it, it is said to be imputed to him ; and the debtor's consequent discharge is as valid as if he had paid it in his own person. Justification an Act of God's Free Grace. We shall now consider justification as an act of God's free grace. This point is particularly insisted on in one of the Answers we are explaining. We are not to suppose, however, that our being justified by an act of grace, is opposed to our being justified on account of a full satisfaction made by our surety to the justice of God ; in which respect we consider our discharge from condemnation as an act of justice. The debtor is, indeed, beholden to the grace of God for this privilege ; but the surety who paid the debt, had not the least abatement made, but was obliged to glorify the justice of God to the utmost, which accordingly he did. Yet, there are several things in which the grace of God is eminently displayed. 1. It is displayed in God's willingness to accept satisfaction from the hands of our surety. He might have demanded the satisfaction of ourselves. The debt which we had contracted was not of the same nature with pecuniary debts ; in which case the creditor is obliged to accept payment, though the offer of it is made by another and not by him who contracted the debt. But, in debts of obedience to be performed or of punishment to be endured, he to whom satisfaction is to be given, must of his free choice accept one to be substituted in the room of him from whom the obedience or sufferings were originally due, otherwise the overture made, or what is done and suffered by the substitute, is not regarded, or available to procure a discharge for him in whose room he substituted himself. God might have exacted the debt of us, in our own persons ; and then our condition would have been equally miserable with that of fallen angels, for whom no mediator was accepted, no more than provided. 2. The grace of God farther appears in having provided a surety for us. We h Phil. iii. 9. i Rom. x. 4. k Chap. viii. 3, 4. 1 Chap. v. 18. m Ver. 14. 94 JUSTIFICATION. could not have provided a surety for ourselves, nor have engaged Him to he so who was the only person that could bring about the great work of our redemption. Tho only creatures who are capable of performing perfect obedience are the holy angels. These, however, could not be our surety ; for, as was formerly observed, whoever per- forms it must be incarnate, that he may be capable of paying, in some respects in kind, the debt which was due from us. He requires, therefore, to suffer death, and consequently to have a nature which is capable of dying. But this the angels had not, and could not have, but by the divine will. Besides, if God should havo dispensed with that part of satisfaction which consists in subjection to death, and have declared that active obedience should be sufficient to procure our justification, ' the angels, though capable of performing active obedience, would, notwithstanding, have been defective in it; so that justice could not, in honour, have accepted it, any more than it could have dispensed with the obligation to perform obedience in general. It would not have been of infinite value ; and it is the value of things which justice regards, and not merely the matter or perfection of them in other respects. Hence, the obedience must have had in it something infinitely valuable, else it could not have been accepted by God, as a price of redemption, in order to the procuring of our justification ; and such an obedience could be performed by none but our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious author and procurer of this privilege. It was impossible for man to have found out this Mediator or surety. The ap- pointment of him had its origin with God, and not with us. It is he who found a ransom, and laid help upon one that is mighty. This was the result of his will. Hence, our Saviour is represented as saying, ' Lo, I come to do thy will.'n That we could not, by any means, have found out this surety, or engaged him to have done that for us which was necessary for our justification, will evidently appear if we consider that, when man fell, the Son of God was not incarnate. Even if we allow that fallen man had some idea of a trinity of persons, in the unity of the divine essence, — and it is not unreasonable to suppose that he had, since it was necessary that this doctrine should be revealed to him in order to his performing acceptable worship ; yet, can any one suppose that man could have asked such a favour of a divine person, as to take his nature, and put himself in his room and stead, and expose himself to the curse of that law which he had violated? Such a thing could never have entered into his heart ; yea, the very thought, if it had taken its rise from him, would have savoured of more presumption than had he entreated that God would pardon his sin without a satisfaction. But if he had sup- posed it possible for the Son of God to be incarnate, or had conjectured that there had been the least probability of his being willing to express this instance of conde- scending goodness, how could he have known that God would accept the payment of our debt at the hands of another, or commend his love to us who were such ene- mies to him, in not sparing him but delivering him up for us ? If God's accepting a satisfaction, as well as the perfection or infinite value of it, be necessary in order to its taking effect ; it is certain, man could not have known that he would have done it, for this was a matter of pure revelation. Moreover, should we suppose even this possible, or that man might have expected that God would be moved by entreaty to appoint and accept the satisfaction ; yet such was the corruption, per- verseness, and rebellion of man's nature as fallen, and so great was his inability to perform any act of worship, that he could not have addressed himself to God in a right manner, to entreat that he would admit of a surety. Besides, God cannot hear any prayer but that which is offered to him by faith ; which supposes a Medi- ator, whose purchase and gift it is. Now, as the sinful creature could not plead with God by faith that he would send his Son to be a Mediator, how could he hope to obtain this blessing? It evidently follows, then, that, as man could not give satisfaction for himself, so he could not find out any one who could or would give it for him. Hence, the grace of God, in the provision which he has made of such a surety as his own Son, unasked for, unthought of, as well as undeserved, is very illustrious. 3. It was a very great display of grace in our Saviour, that he was pleased to ii Heb. x. 7. THE CONNECTION OF FAITH WITH JUSTIFICATION. 95 consent to perform this work for us. Without his consent the justice of God could not have exacted the debt of him. He being perfectly innocent, could not bo obliged to suffer punishment ; and it would have been unjust in God to have in- flicted it, had he not been willing to be charged with our guilt, and to stand in out room and stead. Though, too, he knew beforehand all the difficulties, sorrows, and temptations which he was to meet with in the discharge of this work, he was not discouraged from undertaking it. Nor was he unapprized of the character of those for whom he undertook it. He knew their rebellion and the guilt contracted by it, which rendered satisfaction necessary in order to their salvation. He knew also that they would, notwithstanding all the engagements he might lay on them to the contrary, discover the greatest ingratitude toward him ; that, instead of improving so great a display of condescending goodness, they would neglect the great salvation when purchased by him ; and that, in consequence, they would appear to be his greatest enemies, notwithstanding his friendship to them, unless he engaged not only to purchase redemption for them, but to apply it to them, and to work those graces in them whereby they might be enabled to give him the glory which is due to him for his great undertaking. We are next led to consider the use of faith in justification, and how, notwith- standing what has been said concerning our being justified by Christ's righteous- ness, we may, in other respects, be said to be justified by faith ; and also to show what this faith is, whereby we are justified. These subjects- being particularly in- sisted on in the two following Answers, we proceed to consider them. ' THE CONNECTION OF FAITH WITH JUSTIFICATION. Question LXXII. What is justifying Faith 1 Answer. Justifying faith is a saving grace, wrought in the heart of a sinner, by the Spirit and Word of God , whereby he, being convinced of his sin and misery, and of the disability in himself, and all other creatures, to recover him out of his lost condition, not only assenteth to the truth of the promise of the gospel, but receiveth and resteth upon Christ and his righteousness therein held forth, for pardon of sin, and for the accepting and accounting of his person righteous in the sight of God for salvation. Question L XXIII. How doth faith justify a sinner in the sight of Godf Answer. Faith justifies a sinner in the sight of God; not because of those other graces which do always accompany it, or of good works that are the fruits of it; nor 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 receiveth and applieth Christ and his righteousness. As the latter of these Answers, in which faith is considered as that whereby a sinner is justified, seems better connected with what has been before insisted on in explaining the doctrine of justification, we choose to discuss it before discussing the former. In considering the account which it gives of justifying faith, there are two things which may be taken notice of. First, it is observed that, though there are other graces which always accompany faith and the good works which flow from it, none of these are said to justify a sinner in the sight of God. Next, we have a statement of how faith justifies, or what it is to be justified by faith. Other Graces than Faith do not Justify. We observe, then, that though there are other graces which always accompany faith and the good works which flow from it, none of these are said to justify a sinner in the sight of God. There is an inseparable connection between faith and all other graces ; and, though it is distinguished, it is never separate from them. They are all considered as ' fruits of the Spirit.'0 The apostle reckons up several graces which are connected with faith and proceed from the same Spirit, such as 'love, peace, joy, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance.' The o Gal. v. 22, 23. 96 THE CONNECTION OF FAITH same apostle commends the church at Thessalonica for their ' work of faith ;' and considers this as connected with a ' labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 'p The apostle Peter exhorts the church to which he writes to 4 add to their faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, to knowledge temperance, to temperance patience, to patience godliness, to godliness brotherly-kindness, and to brotherly-kindness charity ;** which supposes that all these graces ought to be con- nected together. The apostle James calls that a ' dead faith 'r which has not other works or graces joined with it. Indeed, these graces not only are connected with it, but flow from it, or are the fruits of it. Thus we read of ' the heart being purified by faith ;'" that is, this grace, when exercised in a right manner, will have a ten- dency, in some degree, to purge the soul from that moral impurity which proceeds out of the heart of man, and is inconsistent with saving faith. Elsewhere, also, we read of faith as ' working by love,'' that is, exciting those acts of love, both to God and man, which contain a summary of practical religion. It is likewise said to 'overcome the world ;'u and it enables Christians to do or suffer great things for Christ's sake, of which the apostle gives various instances in the Old Testament saints.x But notwithstanding the connection of other graces with faith, and with those works which flow from it, we are never said in scripture to be justified by these graces, — not by love to God, nor by any acts of obedience to him, which can be called no other than works. On the contrary, when the apostle speaks of our justification by faith, he puts it in opposition to works. ' A man,' says he, '.is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law.'* It is objected that the apostle here speaks concerning the ceremonial law, which he excludes from being the matter of our justification ; and not the moral law, or any evangelical duty, such as love and sincere obedience, which, together with faith, is the matter of our justification. We reply that, when the apostle speaks of our justification by faith, without the deeds of the law, he does not intend the ceremonial law ; for those whom he describes as justified persons are said, in a following verse, to be not Jews only, but Gentiles who were converted to the Chris- tian faith. The former, indeed, were under a temptation to seek to be justified by the ceremonial law, and so to conclude that they had a right to eternal life because of their being distinguished from the world, by the external privileges of the cove- nant which they were under, many of which were contained in or signified by that law ; but the Gentiles had nothing to do with it, and therefore never expected to be justified by the ceremonial law. Accordingly, when the apostle speaks of justi- fication by faith without the deeds of the law, he cannot be supposed to intend the ceremonial law. Besides, if we look a little farther into the context, we shall find by his reasoning, that he excludes all works in general, and opposes faith to them, lie argues that we are justified in such a way as tends to exclude boasting. But he who insists on any works performed by himself as the matter of his justification, cannot do so any otherwise than in a boasting way, valuing himself, and founding his right to eternal life, upon them. We are justified therefore, not by them, but by faith ; that is, we are justified in such a way that, while we lay claim to the greatest privileges from Christ, we are disposed to give him all the glory, or to renounce our own righteousness at the same time that we have recourse by faith to his righteousness for justification. That it may farther appear that our justification by faith is opposed to justifica- tion by works, either those which accompany or those which flow from it, we may apply to this argument what was formerly suggested, in considering the matter of our justification. If we consider the demands of justice, or what it may in honour reckon a sufficient compensation for the dishonour which has been brought to the divine name by sin, or what may be deemed a satisfactory payment of the out- standing debt of perfect obedience which was due from us, or of punishment to which we were liable according to the sanction of the divine law ; we may easily infer that no obedience performed by us, though including the utmost perfection winch a fallen creature is capable of attaining, is a sufficient satisfaction ; and if p 1 Thess. i. 3. q 2 Pet. i. 5, 6, 7- r James ii. 17. 8 Acts xv. 9. 1 Gal- v- & u I John v. 4. x Heb. xi. J Rom. iii. 28. WITH JUSTIFICATION. 97 there can be no justification without satisfaction, we cannot be justified by such obedience. It is a vain thing, therefore, for persons to distinguish between works done before and after faith, as though the former only were excluded from being the matter of our justification ; or to say, as some do, that we are justified not in- deed by obedience to the moral law, but by our obeying the precepts which our Saviour has laid down in the gospel, such as faith, repentance, &c, which they call obedience to the gospel as a new law. Let it be observed that these evangelical duties are supposed to be performed as the result of a divine command, which has the formal nature of a law, whether they be contained in the moral law or not ; so that, when we are justified by faith in opposition to the works of the law, obedience of any kind performed by us must be excluded. This point appears farther from the nature of faith, to which justification by the works of the law is opposed. For faith is a soul-humbling grace, and includes a renouncing of all merit, or induce- " ment taken from ourselves as a reason why God should bestow upon us the bless- ings we stand in need of. It trusts in Christ for righteousness, and in him alone ; and therefore turns itself from any thing which may have the least tendency to eclipse his glory, as the only foundation of our justification. Hence, when we are said to be justified by faith, and not by the works of the law, the meaning is, that we are justified in such a way as tends to set the crown upon Christ's head, acknow- ledging him to be the only fountain whence this privilege is derived. From what has been said, it follows that our justification cannot be founded on our repentance. That it is founded on repentance, is often maintained by those who are on the other side of the question. They suppose that justification con- tains nothing else but forgiveness of sin ; and that, if offences are to be forgiven by men upon their repentance or confessing their fault, then forgiveness may be expected from God on our repentance. Some use a very unsavoury way of speak- ing, when they say that our tears have a virtue to wash away our sins. That they may gain farther countenance to their opinions, they refer to the scripture in which it is said, ' Repent, that your sins may be blotted out ; 'z and to other scriptures of a similar nature. We are not to suppose, however, that, in the text just quoted, the apostle means that forgiveness of sin is founded on our repentance, as the mat- ter of our justification in the sight of God ; but we are to understand him as teach- ing that there is an inseparable connection between our claim to forgiveness of sin, together with all the fruits and effects of the death of Christ whereby this blessing was procured, and repentance, — so that the one is not to be expected without the other. While men are to forgive injuries when the offender acknowledges his fault and makes sufficient restitution, they may do so as far as the offence is committed only against a creature, — especially if the offence be of a private nature. But in. juridical and forensic cases, will any one say that the prince is obliged to forgive the criminal who is under a sentence of condemnation, because he is sorry for what he has done, or confesses his fault ? Would his doing so secure his honour as a lawgiver ? And if, upon his pardoning the offender, the latter were to be discharged, from his guilt, would there not be a defect in the administration of the legisla- ture ? How, then, can the principle of pardoning on the ground of repentance be applied to forgiveness as expected at the hand of God ? Here justice as well as mercy is to have the glory which is due to it ; and we are to be not only acquit- ted, but justified, or pronounced guiltless. How, then, can forgiveness be expect- ed, when our acknowledgment of our offence cannot be reckoned a sufficient satis- faction to the justice of God? It is objected by those on the other side of the question, that, though repentance be not in itself a sufficient compensation to the justice of God, for the crimes which we have committed ; yet God may, by an act of grace, accept it as if it had been sufficient.* This they illustrate by a similitude taken from a person's selling an estate of a considerable value, to one who has no money to buy it, provided he will z Acts iii. 19. t a This is what is generally styled, by a diminutive word, ' Acceptilatio gratiosa,' which is an ac- cepting a small part of a debt, instead of the whole; a sort of composition, in which, though the payuif nt be inconsiderable, the debtor's discharge is founded on it by an act of favour in the credi- tor, as if the whole sum had been paid. II. 2f 98 THE CONNECTION OF FAITH pay a peppercorn of acknowledgment. Thus, say they, how insignificant soever repentance, or any other grace which is deemed the matter of our justification, be in itself, it is by an act of favour, deemed a sufficient price. Now, I would ob- serve, that the objection which was formerly brought against the doctrine we have been maintaining, concerning the imputation of Christ's righteousness, namely, that it is a putative righteousness, a not judging of things according to truth, and the like, seems to be of no weight when it affects their own cause ; otherwise we might turn their argument against themselves, and ask them whether it be for God to judge according to truth, when that is accepted as a sufficient payment, by his justice, which is in itself of no value ? But passing this by, we may farther observe that their supposition wholly sets aside the necessity of satisfaction, as the Socinians do ; so that it is no, wonder that the latter make use of the supposition. As for others who do not altogether deny the doctrine of satisfaction, yet think that a small price may be deemed satisfactory for sin committed, it may be re-' plied to them, that if justification, as tending to advance the glory of divine justice in taking away the guilt of sin, depends upon a price paid which is equivalent to the debt contracted, and if nothing short of a price of infinite value can be reck- oned such an equivalent, then certainly that which is performed by men cannot be deemed a sufficient payment, or accepted as such. It is a vain thing for persons to pretend that there is a difference between satisfying God, and satisfying his jus- tice, or that to satisfy God is to pay a price which he demands, be it never so small, while satisfying justice is paying a price equal to the thing purchased ; for we must conclude that God cannot deem any thing satisfactory to himself, which is not so to his justice. This distinction, therefore, will not avail to free their argument from the absurdity which attends it. We might here observe, that as some speak of pardon of sin being founded on our repentance, others speak of our justification being by the act of faith, or by faith considered as a work. In defending justification by works, as if, contrary to what has been already proved, it were not opposed to justification by faith, they argue that we are often said in scripture to be justified by faith, that faith is a work, and that, therefore, it cannot be denied that we are justified by works. But it is one thing to say, that we are justified by faith, that is, a work, and another thing to say, that we are justified by it as a work ; or, it is one thing to say, that we are justified for our faith, and another thing to say, that we are justified by it. This will more evidently appear under the following Head. How Faith Justifies. We therefore proceed to consider what it is for us to be justified by faith, or how faith justifies. None can, with the least shadow of reason, deny that justification by faith is a scripture mode of speaking. Some, indeed, have questioned whether the apostle's words, ' Being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ,' give countenance to the doctrine of justification by faith ; for they observe that, by putting a stop immediately after the word justified, the sense would be, that they who are justified by Christ's righteousness, have peace with God by faith, through our Lord Jesus Christ. But though this will a little alter the reading of the text ; it will not overthrow the doctrine of justification by faith as contained in it. For if we understand our 'having peace with God,' as im- porting, not merely peace of conscience, but that peace which they have a right to who are interested in Christ's righteousness, it will follow that to have this peace by faith, is, in effect, the same as to be justified by faith. This farther appears from the following words, ' By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand.' The 'grace wherein we stand' is that grace which is the foun- dation of our justification, and not merely peace of conscience. When, therefore, •we have access by faith into this grace, it is the same as for us to be justified by faith. — Moreover, this is not the only place in which we are said to^be justified by faith. The apostle says elsewhere, ' We are justified by the faith of Jesus Christ, 'b b Gal. ii. 16. WITH JUSTIFICATION. 99 or, by faith in Jesus Christ. Again, he says, ' The just shall live by faith ;'c which, agreeably to the context, must be understood of their being justified by faith ; in which sense he particularly explains the words elsewhere. d In another place he speaks of ' the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ ;'e and also of a believer's ' waiting for the hope of righteousness by faith. 'f We must, there- fore, not deny that justification is by faith ; but rather explain the sense of those scriptures which establish this doctrine, agreeably to the mind of the Holy Ghost in them. There are vai'ious methods taken to explain the doctrine of justification by faith ; particularly one which we think subversive of justification by Christ's righteousness ; and another, that which is contained in the Answer which we' are explaining. 1. As to the former of these, namely, that which is inconsistent with the doc- trine of justification by Christ's righteousness, it is maintained by those who plead for justification by works. They say that we are justified by faith and all other graces; and these they call the conditions of our justification in the sight of God. Indeed, to be justified by faith, according to them, is little other than to be justi- fied for faith. Whether they reckon it a meritorious condition or not, they must own it to be a pleadable condition, otherwise it would have no reference to justifi- cation ; and if it be understood in this sense, our justification depends as much upon it as if it had been meritorious. This is the account which some give of justifica- tion. To prepare the way for their opinion, they suppose that the terms of salva- tion in the gospel, which are substituted for those which were required under the first covenant made with Adam, are faith, repentance, and sincere obedience, in- stead of perfect; that God, in justifying a penitent, believing sinner, pursuant to the performance of these conditions, declares his willingness that there should be a relaxation of that law which man was at first obliged to obey ; and. accordingly, that sincerity is demanded by him instead of perfection, or is substituted in the room of it. This some of them call the new law, and others a remedial law. Hence, according to their opinion, instead of being justified by Christ's yielding perfect obedience, or paying the outstanding debt which we were obliged, by rea- son of the violation of the first covenant, to pay ; we are to be justified by our own imperfect obedience. What may be objected to this reasoning, is, that it is incon- sistent with the holiness of the divine nature, and the glory of the justice of God, detracts from the honour of his law, and is, in effect, to maintain that we are justi- fied without satisfaction given. For though the alleged terms of our justification and acceptance in the sight of God may be falsely styled a valuable consideration ; yet none will pretend to assert that they are an infinite price ; and nothing short of such a price, which is no other than Christ's righteousness, is sufficient to answer the end of satisfaction. I am sensible that they who lay down this plan of justifi- cation allege in defence of it, that, though the terms of acceptance are of small value in themselves, yet God, by an act of grace, reckons the payment of a small debt equivalent to that of a greater, as was formerly observed. They also speak of faith and repentance as having a value set upon them by their reference to the blood of Christ,^ who merited the privilege for us of our being justified in such a way, or upon these conditions performed. They call them indeed easier terms or conditions, and include them all in the general word sincerity, instead of perfec- tion. Yet they are somewhat divided in their method of explaining themselves. Some suppose these conditions to be wholly in our own power, without the aids of divine grace, as much as perfect obedience was in the power of our first parents. Others, though they do not suppose that these conditions are altogether out of our own power, ascribe a little more to the grace of God, according as they explain the doctrine of effectual calling ; and they so far lay a foundation for the sinner's glory- ing, as to suppose that our right to justification and eternal life are founded on per- forming the conditions. I cannot but think that this method of explaining the doctrine of justification is c Rom. i. 17. d Gal. iii. 11. e Rom. iii. 22. f GaL v. 5. g These works they speak of as ' Tincta sanguine Christi.* 100 THE CONNECTION OF FAITH subversive of the gospel ; and that it is highly derogatory to the glory of God to assert that he can dispense with the demand of perfect obedience, and justify a person on easier terms. To say this is little better than what the apostle calls ' making void the law.' This, says he, we are far from doing 'by faith,' or by our asserting the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ's righteousness ; ' but we rather establish it' hereby. Moreover, to say that God sets such a value on our performing these con- ditions of the new covenant that they are deemed equivalent to Christ's perform- ing perfect obedience for us, reflects on his glory, as set forth to be a propitiation for sin to declare God's righteousness in the remission of it, and detracts from the obligation which we are laid under to him for what he did and suffered in our be- half for our justification. — Again, to assert that God sets this value on our per- formances pursuant to. Christ's merit, or that they are highly esteemed by him because they are tinctured with his blood, is contrary to the design of Christ's death. For that design was, not that such an estimate might be set on what is done by us, but rather that the iniquities which attend our best performances may be forgiven, — that, though, when we have done all, we are unprofitable servants, we may be made accepted in the Beloved, — and that, having no justifying righteous- ness of our own, we may be justified by that which he hath wrought out for us, and glory in it. — As to the supposition that faith, repentance, and new obedience are not only conditions of justification, but conditions easy to be performed, it plainly discovers that they who maintain it, either think too lightly of man's impotency and aversion to what is good, and of his alienation from the life of God, or are strangers to their own hearts, and not duly sensible that it is God that works in his people both to will and to do of his own good pleasure. — The only thing which I shall add, in opposition to the doctrine of justification by works, is, that what- ever is the matter or ground of our justification in the sight of God, must be plead- able at his bar. For we cannot be justified without a plea; and if any plea taken from our own works be thought sufficient, how much soever the proud and deluded heart of man may set too great a value upon them, God will not reckon the plea valid, so as to discharge us from guilt, and give us on account of it a right and title to eternal life. 2. We now proceed to consider the method taken in the Answer before us, to explain the doctrine of justification by faith. This method, we think, is agreeable to the divine perfections, and contains a true state of the doctrine in question. We formerly considered justification as a forensic act, that we might understand what is meant by our sins being imputed to Christ our head and surety, and his righte- ousness imputed to us, or placed to our account. And we are now to speak of this righteousness as pleaded by or applied to us, as the foundation of our claim to all the blessings which were purchased by it. Here we must consider a sinner as bringing in his plea, in order to his discharge ; and he does this either with the view of being declared innocent, or with the view of being justified on the ground of Christ's righteousness. If he be charged by men or by Satan with crimes not committed, he pleads his own innocency ; if charged with hypocrisy, he pleads his own sincerity. In this sense, we are to understand several expressions in scripture. When, for example, a charge of the kind mentioned was brought against Job, Satan having suggested that he did not serve God for nought, and that, if God would touch his bone and his flesh, he would curse him to his face, and his friends having often applied to him the character they give of the hypocrite, and so concluded him to be a wicked person, he said, ' God forbid that I should justify you,' that is, that I should acknow- ledge your charge to be just. 'Till I die, I will not remove mine integrity from me. My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go. My heart shall not re- proach me so long as I live ;'h that is, ' I never will own what you insinuate, that my heart is not right with God.' David, also, when complaining of the ill treat- ment which he met with from his enemies and persecutors, who desired not only to 'tread down his life upon the earth,' but to 'lay his honour in the dust,' to murder his name as well as his person, prays, ' Judge me, 0 Lord, according to h Job xxviL 5, 6. WITH JUSTIFICATION. 101 my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in roe.'1 What could he plead against malicious and false insinuations, but his righteousness or his integrity ? Elsewhere, also, when he says, ' The Lord rewarded me according to my righteous- ness ; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me ; for I have kept the ways of the Lord ; his judgments were before me ; I was also upright before him, and have kept myself from mine iniquity, 'k his words are nothing else but an intimation that, how much soever he might be charged with the contrary vices, he was, as regarded them, innocent. Though God did not justify him at his tribunal for his personal righteousness ; yet, in the course of his providence, he seemed so far to approve his plea, that, whatever the world thought of him, he plainly dealt with him as one who was highly favoured by him, or as one whom, by his dealings with him, he evidently distinguished from those whose hearts were not right with him. It is true, some who plead for justification by our own righteousness, allege these scriptures as a proof of it; but they do not distinguish between the justification of our persons in the sight of God, and the justification of our righteous cause, or be- tween our being justified when accused at God's tribunal, and our being justified or vindicated from those charges which are brought against us at man's. When a person stands at God's tribunal, as we must suppose the sinner to do, when bringing in his plea for justification in his sight, he has nothing to plead but Christ's righteousness ; and faith is the grace which pleads it. On this account, we are said to be justified by faith, or in a way of believing. Faith does not justify by presenting or pleading itself, or any other grace which accompanies or flows from it, as the cause why God should forgive sin, or give us a right to eternal life ; for no grace has a sufficient worth or excellency to procure these blessings. When we are said to be justified by faith, it is by faith as apprehending, pleading, or laying hold on Christ's righteousness. This gives occasion to divines to call it the instru- ment of our justification. Christ's righteousness is the thing claimed or appre- hended; and faith is that by which it is claimed or apprehended. Agreeably to the idea of an instrument, we are said to be justified, not for faith, but by it. Christ's righteousness is that which procures a discharge from condemnation for all for whom it was wrought out ; and faith is the hand which receives it, whereby a person has a right to conclude that it was wrought out for him. Christ's righte- ousness is that which has a tendency to enrich and adorn the soul ; and faith is the hand which receives it, whereby it becomes ours in a way of fiducial application. As the ^righteousness of Christ is compared, in scripture, to a glorious robe which renders the soul beautiful, or is its highest and chief ornament ; so it is by faith that this robe is put on. Thus its beauty, as the prophet says, is rendered 'perfect through his comeliness, which is put upon him.'1 Hence, Christ's righteousness justifies, as it is the cause of our discharge; faith justifies as the instrument which applies this discharge to us. Accordingly, when it is said, ' The just shall live by faith,' faith is considered as that which seeks and finds life in him. The effect is, by a metonymy, applied to the instrument ; as when the husbandman is said to live or be maintained by his plough, and the artist to live by his hands, or the beggar by his empty hand which receives the donative. If a person, were in a dungeon, as the prophet Jeremiah was, and a rope were let down to draw him out, his laying hold on it is the instrument, but the hand which draws him out is the principal cause of his release. Or, that we may make use of a similitude which more directly illustrates the doctrine we are maintaining, suppose a condemned malefactor had a pardon procured for him, which gives him a right to liberty or a discharge from the place of his confinement, this pardon must be pleaded, and his claim be rendered visible ; and afterwards he is no longer deemed a guilty person, but discharged, in open court, from the sentence which he was under. Thus, Christ procures forgiveness by his blood ; the gospel holds it forth, and describes those who have a right to claim it as believers ; faith pleads it, and claims it as belonging to him in particular ; and hence arises a visible discharge from condem- nation, and a right to claim the benefits which attend it. If we understand justi- fication by faith in this sense, we do not attribute too much to faith, on the one hand, nor too little to Christ's righteousness on the other. [See Note I, page 121.] i Psal. vii. 8. k 2 Sam. xxii. 21, et seq. 1 Ezek. xvi. 14. 102 THK CONNECTION OF FAITH We choose to call faith an instrument rather than a condition of our justifica- tion, as we are sensible that the word * condition ' is generally used to signify that for the sake of which a benefit is conferred, rather than the instrument by which it is applied. Not but that the word may be explained in such a way as is con- sistent with the doctrine of justification by faith. We do not deny that faith is the condition of our claim to Christ's righteousness ; or that it is God's ordinance* with- out which we have no ground to conclude our interest in it. We must distinguish between its being a condition of forgiveness, and its being a condition of our visible and apparent right to forgiveness. This privilege cannot be said to belong to us, unless we receive it ; nor can we conclude that we have an interest in Christ's re- demption, any more than they for whom he did not lay down his life, but by this medium. We must first consider Christ's righteousness as wrought out for all those who were given him by the Father ; and then consider faith as that which gives us ground to conclude that the privilege belongs in particular to us. This account of the use of faith in justification, we cannot but think sufficient to obviate the most material ejections which are brought against our way of maintaining the doc- trine of justification, namely, by Christ's righteousness, in one respect, and by faith in another. It is an injurious suggestion to suppose that we deny the necessity of faith in any sense, or to conclude that we may lay claim to justification without it ; for we strenuously assert, on the one hand, the necessity of Christ's righteousness being wrought out for us, and of forgiveness being thereby procured, — and, on the other hand, the necessity of our receiving it. Each of these points is true in its respective place. Christ must have the glory which is due to him ; and faith the work or office which belongs to it. We have thus considered Christ's righteousness as applied by faith. It may be observed, also, that there is one scripture in which it is said to be ' imputed by faith.' The apostle Paul, when speaking concerning Abraham's justification by faith in this righteousness, says, ' It was imputed to him for righteousness ;' and adds, that ' 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.'™ In this scripture, I con- ceive, imputation is taken for application. Accordingly, the meaning is, the righ- teousness of Christ is so imputed that we have ground to place it to our own ac- count, if we believe. This is the same as applying it by faith. It must be allowed, indeed, that while the apostle speaks elsewhere of ' faith being counted for righ- teousness ;'n there is a great deal of difficulty in the mode of expression. If we assert that the act of believing is imputed for righteousness, as they do who establish the doctrine of justification by works, or by faith as a work, we overthrow what we have been maintaining. If, on the other hand, we understand faith for the object of faith, namely, what was wrought out by Christ, which faith is conversant about, and conclude, as I conceive we ought to do, that this is imputed for righteous- ness, we are supposed by some to deviate too much from the common sense of words. But if there be such a figurative way of speaking used in other scriptures, why may we not suppose that it is used in the text under consideration ? If other graces are sometimes taken for the object of them, why may not faith be taken, by a metonymy, for its object? Thus the apostle calls those to whom he writes, ' his joy,' that is, the object or matter of his joy.0 In the book of Canticles, the church calls Christ ' her love,'P that is, the object of her love. Hope also is plainly taken for the object of it, when the apostle says, ' Hope that is seen, is not hope ; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?'0- He here plainly intends that whatever is the object of hope, cannot be in our present possession. Christ, moreover, is styled, ' the blessed hope,'r that is, the person whose appearance we hope for. Jacob, too, speaks of God as ' the fear of his father Isaac, 's that is, the person whom he worshipped with reverential fear. Now, in all these cases the phraseo- logy is equally difficult with that of the text under consideration. m Rom. iv. 22, 23, 24. n Ver. 5. o Phil, in 1. p Cant. viii. 4. 0 Rom. vni. 24. r Tit. ii. 13. s Gen. xxxi. 53. WITH JUSTIFICATION. 1(J[ Inferences from the Doctrine of Justification. "We have thus spoken concerning Christ's righteousness as wrought out for us, and applied by faith. This doctrine is the foundation of all our peace and com- fort, both in life and in death ; and cannot but be reckoned a doctrine of the high- est importance. We shall now consider some things which may be inferred from it. 1. From what has been said concerning justification, as founded in Christ's suretiship-righteousness, wrought out for us by what was done and suffered by him in his human nature, and having infinite value as depending on the glory of the divine nature to which the human is united, we cannot but infer the absurdity of two contrary opinions, namely, that of those who have asserted that we are jus- tified by the essential righteousness of Christ as God,* and that of others who pre- tend that, because all mediatorial acts are performed by Christ only as man, the infinite dignity of the divine nature has no reference to their being satisfactory to divine justice. This is what they mean when they say that we are justified by Christ's righteousness as man, in opposition to our being justified by his essential righ- teousness as God.'u I think, however, that the truth lies in a medium between these extremes. On the one hand, we must suppose that Christ's engagement to become a surety for us, to stand in our room and stead, and to pay the debt which we had contracted to the justice of God, could not be done in any other than the human nature ; for the divine nature is not capable of being under a law, of fulfilling it, or, in any instance, of obeying or suffering ; so that we cannot be justified by Christ's essential righteousness, as God. On the other hand, what Christ did and suffered as man, would not have been sufficient for our justification, had it not had an infinite value put upon it, arising from the union of the nature which suffered with the divine nature, agreeably to the apostle's expression, ' The church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. 'x 2. From what has been said concerning the fruits and effects of justification, that our sins are pardoned and we made accepted in the Beloved, we infer that it is not only an unscriptural way of speaking, but has a tendency to overthrow the doctrine we are maintaining, to assert, as some do, that God is only rendered re- concilable by what was done and suffered by Christ. This seems to be maintained by different parties with different views. Some speak of God's being rendered recon- cilable by Christ's righteousness, that they may make way for what they have farther to advance, namely, that God's being reconciled to a sinner is the result of his own repentance, or the amendment of his lii'e, whereby he makes his peace with him. This is to make repentance or reformation the matter of our justification, and to substitute it for Christ's righteousness. They, therefore, who speak of God's being made reconcilable in this sense by his blood, are so far from giving a true account of the doctrine of justification, that, in reality, they overthrow it. — But there are others who speak of God's being reconcilable as the consequence of Christ's satis- faction, that they may not be thought to assert that God is actually reconciled by the blood of Christ, to those who are in an unconverted state, — a state which is inconsistent with a state of reconciliation. They hence use this mode of expression, lest they should be thought to give countenance to the doctrine of actual justifica- tion before faith. But certainly we are under no necessity of advancing one absur- dity to avoid another. Let it be here considered, therefore, that the scripture speaks expressly of God's being reconciled by the death of Christ. He is said, as a God of peace,? to have ' brought him again from the dead.' Elsewhere the apos- tle speaks not of God becoming reconcilable to us, but of his ' having reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ.'2 Again, he says, • If when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son ; much more being reconciled, we shall t This opinion was propagated soon after the Reformation, by Andr. Osiander, who lived a little before the middle of the sixteenth century. u This opinion was propagated soon after by Stanearus, in opposition to Osiander, whom Du Pin reckons amongst the Socinians. or who, at least, after he had advanced this notion, denied the doctrine of the Trinity. [See Du Pin's Eccl. Hist, sixteenth century. Book \v. chap. 6.] x Acts xx. 28. y lleb. xiii. 20. z 2 Cor. v. 18. 104 THE CONNECTION OF FAITH he saved,' * that is, shall obtain the saving effects of this reconciliation, • by his life.' Again, ' Having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself. And you that were sometimes alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled, in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable, and unreproveable in his sight. 'b Here he describes those who were reconciled as once enemies ; and speaks of their re- conciliation as having been procured by the death of Christ, and of holiness here and salvation hereafter as the consequence. What he speaks of, therefore, is such a reconciliation as is contained in our justification. — But though this appears very agreeable to the mind of the Holy Ghost in scripture, it must be understood in con- sistency with those scriptures which represent persons in an unconverted state as 'children of wrath, 'c and as being ' hateful,' d that is, not only deserving to be hated by God, but actually hated, as appears by the many threatenings which are denounced against them, and by their being in a condemned state. We must un- derstand the doctrine of reconciliation consistently with what the scriptures say respecting such persons, that we may not give countenance to the doctrine of some who, not distinguishing between God's secret and revealed will, maintain that we are not only virtually but actually justified before we believe ; as though we had a right to claim Christ's righteousness before we have any ground to conclude that it was wrought out for us. But what has been already suggested concerning justifica- tion by faith, will, I think, sufficiently remove this difficulty. — The only thing which remains to be explained is, how God may be said to be reconciled by the blood of Christ, to a person who is in an unconverted state, and as such, is represented as a child of wrath. Now so long as a person is an unbeliever, he has no ground to conclude, according to the tenor of God's revealed will, that he is reconciled to him, or that he is any other than a child of wrath. Yet, when we speak of God's being reconciled to his elect, according to the tenor of his secret will, before they be- lieve, we in effect say that justification, as it is an immanent act in God, is antece- dent to faith, — which is a certain truth, inasmuch as faith is a fruit and conse- quence ; and we add, that God does not declare that he is reconciled to us, or give us ground to conclude that he is, so as to make it appear that we are no longer the "children of wrath, till we believe. If this be duly considered, we have no reason to assert that God is reconcilable rather than reconciled by the death of Christ, lest we should be thought to maintain the doctrine of justification, or deliverance from wrath, as a declared act, before we believe. We may add that God was reconcil- able to his elect, that is, willing to be reconciled to them, before Christ died for them ; otherwise he would never have sent him into the world to make reconcilia- tion for the sins of his people. He was reconcilable, and therefore designed to turn from the fierceness of his wrath ; and, in order to this, he appointed Christ to make satisfaction for sin, and procure peace for them. 3. There is not the least inconsistency between those scriptures which speak of jus- tification as an act of God's free grace, and others which speak of it as by faith founded on Christ's righteousness ; or between God's pardoning sin freely, without regard to any thing done by us to procure it, and his insisting on and receiving a full satisfaction, as the meritorious and procuring cause of it. It is sometimes ob- jected against what we have advanced in explaining the doctrine we maintain, that it represents justification, as, in some respects, an act of justice, and in others an act of grace ; as though the doctrine were inconsistent with itself, and our method of explaining it were liable to an absurdity ; or as though two contradic- tory propositions could be both true, namely, that justification is an act of the strictest justice, without any abatement of the debt demanded, and yet an act of free grace, without insisting on the payment of the debt. But this seeming contra- diction may be easily reconciled. For the debt was not paid by us in our own per- sons. Had this been done, it would have been inconsistent with forgiveness being an act of grace. But the debt was paid by our surety ; and as paid by him, there was no abatement of it. He did not receive a discharge by an act of grace, but was justified as our head or surety, by his own righteousness, or works performed by a Kom. v. 10. b Col. i. 20, 21, 22. c Eph. ii. 3. d Tit. iii. 3. WITH JUSTIFICATION. 105 him ; while we are justified by his suretiship-righteousness, without works per- formed by us. Moreover, as was formerly observed, this surety was provided for us. Hence when we speak of justification as an act of grace, we distinguish be- tween the justification of our surety, after he had given full satisfaction for the debt which we had contracted ; and the payment being placed to our account by God's gracious imputation of it to us, and our consequently obtaining forgiveness, which can he no other than an act of the highest grace. 4. From what has been said concerning justification by faith, we infer the method, order, and time in which God justifies his people. There are some who speak of justification, not only before faith, but from eternity ; and consider it as an im- manent act in God in the same sense as election is said to be. I will not deny eternal justification, provided it be considered as contained in God's secret will, and not made the rule by which we are to determine ourselves to be in a justified state, and as such to have a right and title to eternal life, before it is revealed or apprehended by faith. If we understand it in this sense, it is beyond dispute that justification is not by faith. But as the most known, yea, the only sense in which justification is spoken of, as ap- plied to particular persons, is, that it is by faith, we must suppose that it is a declared act. That which is hid in God, and not declared, cannot be said to be applied ; and that which is not applied cannot be the rule by which particular persons may judge of their state. Thus, to speak of eternal election, and say that God has per- emptorily determined the state of those who shall be saved so that they shall not perish, is nothing to particular persons, unless they have ground to conclude them- selves elected. So if we say that God has, from all eternity, given his elect into Christ's hands ; that he undertook before the foundation of the world to redeem them ; and that, in consequence, God promised that he would give eternal life unto them ; or, if we consider Christ as having fulfilled what he undertook from all eter- nity, finished transgression, brought in everlasting righteousness, and fully paid the debt which he undertook ; consider him as being discharged, and receiving an acquittance, when raised from the dead ; and all this as done in the name of the elect, as their head and representative ; and if we farther consider them, in terms of an expression often used, as virtually justified in him ; all this is nothing to them, with respect to their peace and comfort ; they have no more a right to claim an interest in the privilege or relation of being justified persons than if he had not paid a price for them. We suppose, therefore, that justification, as it is the foun- dation of our claim to eternal life, is a declared act. Now, if justification be a de- clared act, there must be some method which God uses, whereby he declares it or makes it known. Yet it is certain that he nowhere in scripture tells an unbe- liever that he has an interest in Christ's righteousness, or that his sins are pardoned, or gives him any warrant to take comfort from any such conclusion. On the con- trary, such an one has no ground to conclude otherwise concerning himself than that he is a child of wrath ; for he is to judge of things according to the tenor of God's revealed will. Christ's righteousness is nothing to him in point of application. He is guilty of bold presumption if he lays claim to it, or takes comfort from it ; as much so as he would be were he to say, ' Some are elected, therefore I am.' When a person believes, however, he has a right to conclude that he is justified, or to claim all the privileges which result from justification. This is what we call justification by faith ; which, therefore, cannot be before faith. That which gives a person a right to claim a privilege, must be antecedent to this claim ; or, that which is the foundation of a person's concluding himself to be justified, must be antecedent to his making this conclusion. Hence, all who duly consider what they affirm, must conclude that justification is not before faith. 5. From what has been said concerning the office or use of faith in justification, as an instrument which applies Christ's righteousness to ourselves, we infer that it is more than an evidence of our justification. We do not indeed deny it to be an evidence that we were virtually justified in Christ as our head and representative, when he was raised from the dead ; in the same sense as it is an evidence of our eternal election. But this is equally applicable to all other graces ; and therefore cannot be a true description of justifying faith. If we are justified by faith, only as it is an evidence of our right to Christ's righteousness, we are as much justified II. o 106 THE CONNECTION OF FAITH by love, patience, and submission to the divine will, or any other grace which ac- companies salvation. But they who speak of faith as only an evidence, will not say that we are justified by all other graces, in the same sense as we are justified by faith. Indeed the scripture gives us no warrant so to do. 6. From what has been said concerning faith, as giving us a right to claim Christ's righteousness, we infer that a person is justified before he has what we call the faith of assurance ; of which more shall be said hereafter. We hence consider the grace of faith as justifying us, or giving us a right to claim Christ's righteous- ness, whether we have an actual claim or not. If this were not allowed, the loss of assurance would infer the suspension or loss of our justification ; and consequent- ly would render our state as uncertain as our frames, and our peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, as liable to be lost as that peace and joy which we sometimes have in believing, and at other times are destitute of. 7. From what has been said concerning justifying faith being accompanied with all other graces, we infer that that faith which is justifying, is also a saving grace, or a grace which accompanies salvation. Yet there is this difference between saving faith, as we generally call it, and justifying faith, — the former respects Christ in all his offices, the latter considers him only in his priestly office, or as set forth to be a propitiation for sin. The Nature, Kinds, Objects, Degrees, and Uses of Faith. We are now led to consider the grace of faith in its larger extent, with respect to both its acts and its objects, as stated in the former of the Answers we are ex- plaining. We shall here examine the nature of faith in general, or of that faith which, as already explained, we call justifying. There are some things in this grace which are common to it with other graces. In particular, it is styled a saving grace, not as being the cause of our salvation, but as it accompanies it, or is connected with it. Again, it is said to be wrought in the heart of a sinner, to distinguish it from other habits of a lower nature, which are acquired by us. It is also said to be wrought by the Spirit and word of God, — by his Spirit, as the principal effi- cient, who, in order to work it in us, exerts his divine power, — and by the word, as the instrument which he makes use of. The word presents to us the object of faith ; and it is God's ordinance in our attending to which he works and excites it. Moreover, there are several things supposed or contained in this grace of faith, which are common to it with other graces. When we speak of a believer, or one who has faith, being convinced of sin and misery, of his being unable to recover himself out of the lost condition in which he is by nature, and of the impossibility of his being recovered out of it by any other creature, we view faith as containing several things in common with other graces, particularly with conversion, effectual calling, and repentance unto life. These things, therefore, we shall pass over as having been considered elsewhere, and confine ourselves to what is peculiar to this grace mentioned in this Answer. Yet a few things may be observed concern- ing it, as it is styled a saving grace, and wrought in the heart of man by the Spirit and word of God. We shall add also some other things of which we have no par- ticular account in this Answer, and which may contain a full explanation of this grace. In discussing the subject, we shall observe the following method. First, we shall consider the meaning of the word 'faith,' in the more general idea of it. Secondly, we shall speak particularly concerning the various kinds of faith. Third- ly, we shall speak concerning the various objects and acts of saving faith ; espe- cially as it assents to the truth of the promise of the gospel, and receives and rests upon Christ and his righteousness held forth therein. Fourthly, we shall consider it as a grace which accompanies salvation, and is wrought in the heart by the power of the Spirit, and instrumentality of the word. Fifthly, we shall consider it as strong or weak, increasing or declining ; and also the various marks and evidences of its being in these respective states. Sixthly, we shall speak of the use of faith in the whole conduct of our lives ; as every thing we do in an acceptable manner is said to be done by it. Lastly, we shall show how it is to be attained or increased, and what are the means conducive to these ends. WITH JUSTIFICATION. 107 The General Nature of Faith. As to the meaning of the word 'faith,' in its more general idea, it is either an assent to a truth, founded on sufficient evidence, or a confiding or relying on the word or power of one who is able and willing to afford us sufficient help or relief.6 1. As an assent to a truth proposed and supported by sufficient evidence, it is more especially an act of the understanding. In order to its existing, it is neces- sary that, as the matter of our belief, something be discovered to us which demands or calls ior our assent; and this is considered either as only true, or as both true and good. If it be considered as only true, the faith or assent which is required is speculative ; but if we consider it not only as true but as good, or as containing something redounding to our advantage, the faith resulting from it is practical, and is seated partly in the understanding and partly in the will, or, at least, the will is influenced and inclined to embrace what the understanding not only assents to as true, but proposes to us as what, if enjoyed, would tend very much to our advan- tage.— As to this general description of faith, as an assent to what is reported, founded upon sufficient evidence, we may farther considerf that it is not in our power to believe a thing, unless the judgment be convinced, and we have ground to conclude it to be true. Accordingly, there must be something which has a tendency to give conviction ; and this is what we call evidence. Every thing which is reported is not to be credited ; for it has very often no appearance of truth in it. Besides, it is reasonable for the understanding to demand a proof before it yields an assent. If the matter be one of report, we are to consider the nature of the evidence, whether it be sufficient or insufficient to persuade us to believe what is reported ; and according to the strength or credibility of the evidence, we believe it, hesitate about it, or utterly reject it. If, according to our present view of things, it may be true or false, we hardly call it the object of faith ; we can only say con- cerning it, that it is probable. If, on the other hand, it be attested by such evi- dence as cannot without scepticism be denied, there arises what we call certainty, or an assurance of faith supported by the strongest evidence. — Moreover, accord- ing to the nature of the evidence or testimony on which faith is founded, it is dis- tinguished into human and divine. Both of these are referred to in the apostle's words, ' If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. '* As to human testimony, though it may not be termed false, yet it can hardly be deemed any other than fallible ; for it cannot be said concerning sinful man, that it is im- possible for him to lie or deceive, or to be deceived himself. But when we believe a thing on the divine testimony, our faith is infallible. It is as impossible for us to be deceived, as it is for God to impart that to us which is contrary to his infinite holiness and veracity. It is in the latter sense that we consider the word 'faith,' when we speak of it as an act of religious worship, or as included or supposed in our idea of saving faith. Accordingly, we style it a firm assent to every thing which God has revealed as founded on the divine veracity. Let us now consider faith as an assent to a thing, not only as true, but as good. On this account, we call it a practical assent. It is first seated in the understand- ing ; and then the will embraces what the understanding discovers to be conducive to our happiness. We first believe the truth presented to us, and then regulate our conduct agreeably to it. When a criminal- hears a report of an act of grace being issued forth by the king, he does not rest in a mere assent to its truth, but e This is commonly called 'fiducia,' and as such is distinguished from * tides,' by which the former is generally expressed. f In this respect faith is distinguished from science. Accordingly, we are said to know a thing which is contained in an axiom, which no one, who has the exercise of his understanding, can doutit of; for example, that the whole is greater than the part, or that a thing cannot he and not he at the same time, &c. Every thing which is founded on a mathematical demonstration, is in- cluded in this word science ; to which we may add ocular demonstration. Now these things are not pioperly the object ol faith ; or the assent we give to the tru^h of them is not founded merely upon evidence. In this respect, faith is distinguished from it: for which reason we call it an assent to h truth touuded on evidence. g 1 John v. 9. 108 THE CONNECTION OF FAITH puts in his claim to it. Or when a merchant is credibly informed that there are great advantages to be obtained by trading into foreign countries, he receives the report with a design to use all proper methods to partake of the advantage. ' The kingdom of heaven,' says our Saviour, ' is like unto a merchant-man seeking goodly pearls ; who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.'h We have sufficient evidence to support our faith, that there is forgiveness of sin through the blood of Christ, and that all spiritual blessings are treasured up in him for the heirs of salvation. In this respect faith does not con- tain a mere speculative assent to the truth of these propositions ; but it excites in us an endeavour to obtain the blessings in the way which is prescribed by him who is the giver of them. 2. Faith may be farther considered as an act of trust or dependence on him who is its object. This is very distinct from the former sense of the word. For though it supposes, indeed, an assent of the understanding to some truth proposed ; yet this truth is of such a nature that it produces*in us a resting or reliance on one who is able and has expressed a willingness to do us good, and whose promise is such as we have ground to depend on. This supposes in him who is the subject of faith, a sense of his own weakness or indigence ; and in him who is the objectof it, a fitness to be the object of trust for giving relief. Thus, the sick man depends upon the skill and faithfulness of the physician, and determines to look no farther for help, but relies on his prescriptions, and uses the means which he appoints for the restoring of his health. Or when a person is assaulted by one who threatens to ruin him, and is able to do it as being an overmatch for him, he has recourse to and depends on the assistance of one who is able to secure and defend him, and thereby prevent the danger which he feared. Thus Jehoshaphat, when his country was invaded by a great multitude of foreign troops, being apprehensive that he was not able to withstand them, exercised the faith of reliance on the divine power, when he said, ' We have no might against this great company that cometh against us, neither know we what to do ; but our eyes are upon thee.'1 God is very often in scripture represented as the object of trust. The church says, • I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength. 'k Elsewhere, ' he that walk- eth in darkness and hath no light,' that is, knows not which way to turn, and is helpless and destitute of all comfort, is encouraged to ' trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God.'1 This is truly and properly a divine faith ; and, accordingly, an act of religious worship. It is opposed to a ' trusting in man, and making flesh his arm ;'m and it supposes a firm persuasion that God is able to do all for us which we stand in need of, that he has promised to do us good, and that he will never fail nor forsake those who repose their trust or confidence in him. With this view the believer relies on his perfections, seeks to him for comfort, and lays the whole stress of his hope of salvation on him, not doubting concerning the event, but concluding himself safe if he can say that ' the eternal God is his refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.'n [See Note K, page 124.] The Various Kinds of Faith. We are now led to consider the various kinds of faith mentioned in scripture. We read of a faith which was adapted to that extraordinary dispensation of provi- dence in which God was pleased to confirm some great and important truths by miracles. This faith is styled a faith in miracles. There is also a faith which nas no reference to a supernatural event, and is not confined to any particular age or state of the church in which miracles are expected, but is founded on the gospel- revelation; which, how much soever it may resemble saving faith, yet falls short of it. There is likewise a faith which is inseparably connected with salvation. 1. We shall speak first concerning the faith of miracles. This is what our Sa- viour intends, when he tells his disciples that, • if they had faith as a grain of mus- tard-seed, they should say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and h Matt. xiii. 45, 46. i 2 Chron. xx. 12. k Isa. xii. 2. 1 Chap. 1. 10. m Jer. xvii. 5. n Deut. xxxiii. 27. WITH JUSTIFICATION. 109 it should remove ; and nothing should he impossible unto them.'0 It is a faith which many had who were not in a state of salvation ; as is plain from what our Saviour says, ' Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not pro- phesied in thy name ? and in thy name have cast out devils ? and in thy name done many wonderful works ? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you ; depart from me, ye that work iniquity, 'p The apostle Paul supposes that a person might have ' all faith,' that is, this kind of faith, ' so that he could remove mountains, 'i which is a proverbial expression, denoting that extraordinary and mira- culous events might attend it; and yet, at the same time, be destitute of 'charity' or love to God, and consequently without saving grace, and so appear in the end to 1 be nothing.' Some have questioned whether this faith of miracles was peculiar to the gospel dispensation in the time of our Saviour and the apostles, and so was not required in those who wrought miracles under the Old Testament dispensation. Others suppose that, from the nature of the thing, it was always necessary that faith should be exercised when a miracle was wrought. We have little or no ac- count, however, of this faith as exercised by those who wrought miracles before our Saviour's time ; and, therefore, we cannot peremptorily determine this matter. According to the account we have in the New Testament, there were several things necessary to or included in this faith of miracles. First, some important arti- cle of revealed religion required to be proposed for confirmation ; and, in order to this, an explicit appeal was made to God, in expectation of his immediate interposition in working a miracle for that end. Everything which was the object of faith, was not, indeed, to be proved true by a miracle ; but only those things which could not be suffi- ciently evinced without it, so as to beget a divine faith in those who were the subjects of conviction. We never read that miracles were wrought to convince the world that there was a God or a providence, or to persuade men concerning the truth of those things which might be sufficiently proved by rational arguments. But when there could not be proof given without the finger of God being rendered visible by a mira- cle wrought, then those who had the faith of miracles depended on such an instance of divine condescension, and the people who were to receive conviction were to expect such an extraordinary event. — Again, it was necessary that there should, in him who wrought the miracles, be a firm persuasion of the truth of the doctrine to be confirmed by it, together with an explicit appeal to it for the conviction of those whose faith was to be confirmed. Sometimes we read that, when miracles were to be wrought in favour of those who before had a sufficient proof that our Saviour was the Messiah, it was necessary that they should have a strong persuasion of this truth, and that he was able to work a miracle ; otherwise they had no ground to expect that a miracle should be wrought. . In the former case, we read of Christ's disciples working miracles for the conviction of the Jews, and exercising, at the same time, the faith of miracles ; and in the latter, a general faith was demanded that our Saviour was the Messiah, before the miracle was wrought. In this sense we are to understand our Lord's reply to the man who desired that he would cast the devil out of his son, ' If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that be- lieveth ;'r which is as if he had said, ' Thou hast had sufficient conviction by other miracles that I am the Messiah, and consequently hast no reason to doubt that I can cast the devil out of thy son ; therefore, if thou hast a strong- persuasion of this truth, the thing that thou desirest shall be granted.' Elsewhere also it is said, ' He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.'8 — Further, how much soever a person might exercise this strong persuasion that a miracle should be wrought, which we generally call a faith of miracles, I cannot think that this event always ensued without exception. For sometimes God might refuse to work a miracle, that he might cast contempt on some vile persons who pretended to the faith of miracles ; who, though they professed their faith in Christ as the Messiah, yet contradicted their profession by their conduct. Hence, God would not put the honour upon thorn to work a miracle at their desire. Much less are we to suppose that he would work a miracle at the pleasure of any, if they were persuaded that o Matt. xvii. 20. p Chap. vii. 22, 23. q 1 Cor. xiii. 2. r Mark ix. 23. 8 Matt. xiii. 58. 110 THE CONNECTION OF FAITH he would do so. Again, sometimes God might, in judgment, refuse to exert his divine power in working a miracle, when persons had had sufficient means for their conviction by other miracles, but believed not. Finally, when the truth of the Christian religion had been sufficiently confirmed by miracles, they were less com- mon ; and then we read nothing more of that faith which took its denomination from them. 2. There is another kind of faith, which has some things in common with saving faith, and is sometimes mistaken for it, but is vastly different from it. This, in some, is called an historical faith ; and in others, by reason of the short continu- ance of it, a temporary faith. An historical faith is that whereby persons are convinced of the truth of what is revealed in the gospel, though it has very little influence on their conduct. Such have right notions of divine things, but do not entertain a suitable regard to them. Religion with them is little more than a mat- ter of speculation. They do not doubt concerning any of the important doctrines of the gospel, but are able and ready to defend them by proper arguments ; yet, though in words they profess their faith in Christ, in works they deny him. Such as these the apostle intends when he says, ' Thou believest that there is one God ; thou dost well: the devils also believe and tremble.'* He charges them with a vain presumption, in expecting to be justified by their faith ; it being without works, or those fruits which were necessary to justify it, or evince its sincerity, or to prove that it was such a grace as accompanies salvation ; and therefore he gives it no better a character than that of a dead faith. As for that which is called a temporary faith, it differs little from the former ; unless we consider it as having a tendency, in some measure, to excite the affec- tions, and so far to regulate the conduct as to produce in those who have it a form of godliness ; and it continues as long as this form comports with or is subservi- ent to their secular interest. But it is not such a faith as will enable them to pass through fiery trials, or to part with all things for Christ's sake, or to rejoice in him as their portion, when they meet with little but tribulation and persecution in the world for the sake of the gospel. Trials and persecutions will evidently discover its insincerity ; for it will wither like a plant which is without a root. Our Saviour speaks of it in the parable, of the ' seed that fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth, and forthwith they sprang up, because they had no deepness of earth ; and when the sun was up, they were scorched ; and because they had no root, they withered away.' This he explains of him ' who heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it ; yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while ; for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.'11 This parable had a particular relation to the Jews, who heard John the Baptist gladly, rejoicing in his light for a season, and seemed to be con- vinced by his doctrine concerning the Messiah who was shortly to appear ; but who, when they apprehended that his kingdom, instead of advancing them to great honours in the world, was likely to expose them to tribulations and persecution, were offended in him. It is applicable also to all those who think themselves something, and are thought so by others, as to the profession they make of Christ and his gos- pel ; but who afterwards appear to be nothing, deceiving their own souls. 3. We are next to consider faith as a grace inseparably connected with salvation. This is called 'justifying faith,' and also 'a saving grace,' in this Answer in which the nature of it is explained. What may be farther said concerning it will be con- sidered under the following Heads, which we propose to insist on in the general me- thod before laid down. [See Note L, p. 126.] The Objects and Acts of Saving Faith. We proceed, therefore, to speak concerning the various objects and acts of sav- ing faith. _ 1. Concerning its objects. Every thing which is the object of it must take its rise from God. We are now speaking concerning a divine faith ; and inasmuch t James ii. 19. u Matt, xiii. 5, 6, compared with ver. 20, 21. WITH JUSTIFICATION. Ill as saving faith supposes and includes an assent to the truth of divine revelation, we are hound to believe whatever God has revealed in his word ; so that as all scripture is the rule of faith, the matter which it contains is the object of faith. As scripture contains an historical relation of things, these are the objects of faith, and we are to yield an assent to what God reveals, as being of infallible verity. As it is a rule of duty and obedience, we are bound to believe so as to adore the sover- eignty of God, commanding us to submit to his authority, and having a right to give laws to our consciences ; and we are bound also to acknowledge ourselves his sub- jects and servants, under an indispensable obligation to yield the obedience of faith to him. As scripture contains many great and precious promises, these are the objects of faith ; as we are to desire and hope for the accomplishment of them, and to depend on the faithfulness of God for bringing it about, — particularly, we are to consider the promises as they are all yea and amen in Christ to the glory of God. As for the threatenings which relate to the wrath of God due to sin, and warnings to guard the soul against it, and induce us to abhor and hate it ; these are objects of faith, so far as that we must believe and tremble, and see the need we stand in of grace, which we receive by faith, to enable us to improve them, that, through the virtue of Christ's righteousness, we may hope to escape his wrath, and by his strength be fortified against the prevalence of corruption which has proved destruc- tive to multitudes. But the principal object of faith is God in Christ, our great Mediator. Thus our Saviour says, ' Ye believe in God, believe also in me.'1 This is sometimes styled coming to the Father by him, as it is elsewhere said, ' No man cometh unto the Father but by me ;' or it is styled coming to him as Mediator immediately, that in him we may obtain whatever he has purchased for us, and thereby may have access to God as our reconciled God and Father, and in so do- ing, obtain eternal life. Accordingly, he says, ' He that cometh to me shall never hunger ; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. ** 2. We are now led to consider the particular acts of saving faith in which we have to do with Christ as Mediator, whereby we have access to God through him. There are several expressions in scripture, by which these acts of saving faith are set forth. Some of these are metaphorical. In particular, faith is called a looking to him. Thus he is represented by the prophet as saying, ' Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.'2 Sometimes it is called coming to him, pursu- ant to the invitation he gives, ' Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.'a This coming is elsewhere explained, as in the scripture formerly mentioned, by 'believing in him.'b Moreover, as we hope for refreshment and comfort in believing, faith is set forth by the metaphorical expres- sion of ' coming to the waters, and buying wine and milk without money, and with- out price,'0 that is, receiving from him those blessings which tend to satisfy and exhilarate the soul, and which are given to such as have nothing to offer for them. Sometimes also faith is represented by fleeing to him ; or, as the apostle expresses it, 'fleeing for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us,'d — alluding to the eminent type of faith contained in the manslayer's fleeing to the city of refuge from the avenger of blood, and therein finding protection and safety. This is a description more especially of faith as justifying. In this respect it is elsewhere described, as a 'putting on the Lord Jesus Christ, 'e or the glorious robe of his righteousness ; on which account we are said to be ' clothed with the garments of salvation, and covered with the robe of righteousness. 'f Again, when we are ena- bled to apprehend our interest in him by faith, together with the blessings which are the result, we are said to rejoice in Christ Jesus. There are many other expres- sions by which this grace is set forth in scripture. But those acts of it which we shall more especially consider, are our receiving Christ, giving up ourselves to him, and trusting in or relying on him. Faith is that grace whereby we receive Christ. It is said, • As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, 's This contains the application of an overture made by him, not merely x John xiv. 1. y Chap. vi. 35. z Isa. xlv. 22. a Matt. xi. 28. b John vi. 35. c Isa. lv. 1- d Heb. vi. 18. e Rom. xiii. 14. f Isa. lxi. 10. g John i. 12. 112 THE CONNECTION OF FAITH of something he has to bestow which might contribute to our happiness, but of him- self. Christ has many things to bestow upon his people, but he first gives himself; that is, he expresses a willingness to be their Prince and Saviour, their Prophet, Priest, and King, that, being thus related and adhering to him, they may be made partakers of his benefits. Accordingly, the soul by faith applies itself to him, and embraces the overture. Hereupon he is said to be ours ; and, as the conse- quence, we lay claim to those benefits which he has purchased for us as our Re- deemer. Christ is considered as the first promised blessing in the covenant of grace ; and 4 with him' God ' freely gives' his people ■ all things' they stand in need of which respect their everlasting salvation.11 This supposes the person re- ceiving him to be indigent and destitute of every thing which may tend to make him happy, brought into the greatest straits and difficulties, and standing in need of one who is able to afford relief to him. He has heard in the gospel that Christ is able to supply his wants, and that he is willing to come and take up his abode with him. Accordingly, the heart is open to embrace him, esteeming him alto- gether lovely and desirable, — and beholding that excellency and glory in his person which renders him the object of his delight, as he is said to be precious to them that believe.1 Looking upon him as God-man Mediator, he concludes that he is ' able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him,' and that all the treasures of grace and glory are purchased by him, and given into his hand to apply to those who have an interest in him. He expects to find them all in Christ, as the result of his being made partaker of him. Accordingly, he adheres to him by this which is called an appropriating act of faith ; whereby he who was before re- presented in the gospel as the Saviour and Redeemer of his people, the fountain of all they enjoy or hope for, and by whom they have access to God as their reconciled God and Father, is applied by the soul to itself, as the spring of all its present and future comfort and happiness. Another act of faith is giving up ourselves to Christ. As, in the covenant of grace, God says, ' I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people,' so faitli builds on this foundation. It first apprehends that he is able and willing to do his people good, and make them happy in the enjoyment of himself ; and with this encouragement the soul, as has just been observed, receives him, and in conse- quence devotes itself to him, as desiring to be amongst the number of his faithful servants and followers. God sanctifies or separates his people to himself as the objects of his discriminating grace and love ; and they desire, as the consequence of this, to give up themselves to him. Two things are supposed in this act of self- dedication. It supposes, first, a firm persuasion and acknowledgment of his right to us. It not only supposes him to have this right as the possessor of all things, or as God, — for as the potter has a right to his clay, so has the Creator to the work of his hands ; but it supposes that he has a right to us by purchase as Mediator, — in which character, faith, particularly saving faith, of which we are now speaking, has more especially an eye to him. • Ye are not your own, ' says the apostle, ' for ye are bought with a price. 'k Hence, this act of faith is an ascribing to him of that glory to which he lays claim by right of redemption. And as God has con- stituted him heir of all things, more especially of those who are called his peculiar treasure ; so the believer gives up himself to him. Before this, the matter in dis- pute was, Who is Lord over us? whether ought we to be at our own disposal or at his ? whether it be expedient to serve divers lusts and pleasures, or to be subject to him as our supreme Lord and Lawgiver? But the soul is thoroughly convinced, by the internal efficacious work of the Spirit, that our great Mediator is made of God both Lord and Christ, that no one has a right to stand in competition with him, and that we owe not only what we can do but even ourselves unto him ; and as the result of this conviction, it devotes itself to him by faith. — Again, our giving our- selves up by iaith to Christ, supposes that we are sensible of the many bless- ings which he has in store lor his people. We hence give up ourselves to him in hope of his doing all that for us, and working all that grace in us, which is neces- sary to our salvation. More, however, shall be said on this subject, when we con- h Rom. viii. 32. i 1 Pet. ii. 7. k 1 Cor. vi. 20. WITH JUSTIFICATION. 113 sider him as the ohject of trust. All that I shall add at present is, that, having this view of the person of Christ, as one who demands obedience, love, and gratitude from us, we give up ourselves entirely and without reserve to him. Thus the apostle says, 'They first gave their ownselves to the Lord;'1 and he exhorts the church to 'yield themselves unto God, as those that were alive from the dead,'m and to 'present their bodies,' that is, themselves, and not merely the lower or meaner part of themselves, 'a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is their reasonable service.'" As the result of thus giving up ourselves to Christ, we say by faith, ' Lord, truly I am thy servant, and desire to be so for ever. Work in me what thou requirest, and then command what thou pleasest. I am entirely at thy disposal ; do with me as seemeth good in thy sight ; only let all the dispensa- tions of thy providence be displays of thy love, and be made subservient to my salvation.' This is represented as our solemn act and deed ; whereby, with the most mature deliberation, we make a surrender of ourselves to him. The prophet speaks of it as if it were done by an instrument or deed of conveyance; and our consent to be his, is represented as a giving up our names to him : ' 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 surname himself by the name of Israel.'0 This is done with the highest veneration, as an act of religious worship, and with the greatest humility, as being sensible that we give him nothing more than his own, that he is not profited hereby, and that the advantage redounds en- tirely to us. We do it with judgment. As faith always supposes a conviction of the judgment, it considers those relations which Christ stands in to his people, and endeavours to behave itself. in conformity to them. We are desirous hereby to give up ourselves to him as a prophet, to be led and guided by him in the way of salva- tion ; as a priest, to give us a right to eternal life as the purchase of his blood ; as an advocate, to plead our cause ; and as a king, to give laws to us, and defend us from the insults of our spiritual enemies, and advance us to those honours which he has laid up for his faithful subjects. We give up ourselves to him to worship him in all his ordinances, in hope of his presence and blessing to attend them, in order to our spiritual and eternal advantage ; and we do all this without the least reserve, and without desire to have any will separate from or contrary to his. Another act of faith consists in a fixed, unshaken trust and reliance upon him.. This, as was formerly observed, is a very common and known acceptation of the word 'faith.' As we depend on his promise as a God that cannot lie, and give up ourselves to him as one who has a right to us ; so we trust him as one in whom we can safely confide, and on whom we can lay the whole stress of our salvation. This act of faith is more frequently insisted on in scripture than any other, it being a main ingredient in all other graces which accompany salvation, and there being nothing by which God is more glorified. It is not one single perfection of the divine nature which is the object of it; but every thing which he has made known concerning himself, as conducive to our blessedness. We trust him with all we have, and for all we want or hope for. This implies a sense of our own insufficiency and nothingness, and a sense of his all-sufficient fulness. The former of these is what is sometimes styled a soul-emptying act of faith. It is that whereby we see ourselves to be nothing, not only as we cannot be profitable to God, or lay him un- der any obligations to us, as those who pretend to merit any good at his hand, but as unable to perform any good action without his assistance. In this respect it says, 'Surely, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength. 'p Nothing tends more than this to humble and abase the soul before him. Hereby also we are led to another act, which more immediately contains the formal nature of faith ; in which it depends on the all-sufficiency and faithfulness of God, to supply our wants and bestow the blessings which he has promised. God the Father is the object of this trust or dependence, as the divine all-sufficiency is glorified, grace imparted, and the promises fulfilled by him, through a Mediator ; and Christ is the object of it, as the soul apprehends him to be full of grace and truth, and sees the infinite value of his merit, and his ability to make good all the promises of the covenant of 1 2 Cor. viii. 5. m Rom. vi. IS. n Chap. xii. 1. o Isa. xliv. 5. p Chap. xlr. 24. II. P 114 THE CONNECTION OF FAITH grace, and thereby to render us completely blessed. Our trusting Christ with all we have or hope for, supposes that there is something valuable which we either enjoy or expect; and that we are in danger of losing it, unless it be maintained by him who has undertaken to 'keep' his people 'by his power through faith unto salvation, 'i and to perfect what concerns them. We have souls more valuable than the whole world; and we 'commit the keeping of them to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator,'1- and merciful Redeemer, being assured that 'none shall' be able to 'pluck them out of his hand.'s We also commit all the graces which he has wrought in us to him, to be maintained and carried on to perfection. And since we are assured that all the promises are in his hand, and that he has engaged to make them good to us, we are encouraged to trust him for all that we expect, namely, that he will conduct us safely and comfortably through this world, and at last receive us to glory. In so doing, we have the highest satisfaction, or, as the apostle expresses it, ' We know whom we have believed,' or trusted, 'and are per- suaded that he is able to keep what we have committed unto him against that day,'* or the day of his second coming, when grace shall be consummated in glory. These acts of faith are generally styled, by divines, direct. In performing them, we have more immediately, to do with Christ, as our great Mediator, or God the Father in him. As they are, properly speaking, acts of religious worship, the object of them must be a divine person. But there is another sense of the word 'faith,' which as it does not imply any act of trust or dependence as the for- mer does, so it has not God for its immediate object as that has. This is what we call the refiex act of faith, or the soul's being persuaded that it believes, or that those acts of faith which have God or Christ for their object are true and genuine. This every one cannot conclude at all times, who is really enabled to put forth those direct acts of faith, which we have been speaking of; and it is the result of self-examination, accompanied with the testimony of the Holy Spirit to his own work. Some indeed have questioned the propriety of the expression which styles this an act of faith ; supposing that nothing can be so called, but what has a divine person for its object. But we have already considered that faith, in a sense differ- ent from that in which we have now explained it, may be conversant about divine things. Hence, as we may be said, by a direct act of faith, to trust in Christ ; so we may be persuaded, by this reflex act, that we do so. And this is more imme- diately necessary to assurance, together with that joy and peace which we are said to have in believing. [See Note M, page 130.] But this we shall have occasion to insist on under a following Answer." How Faith is Produced. We are now to consider the grace of faith as that which accompanies salvation, on which account it is called 'a saving grace ;' and also that it is wrought in the heart by the power of the Spirit, and by the instrumentality of the word. We do not suppose that every act of faith denominates a person to be in a state of salva- tion ; for there is a mere assent to the truth of divine revelation, which may, in a proper sense, be styled faith ; and there may be an external dedication to God, a professed subjection to him, which falls short of that faith which has been described, as it does not proceed from a renewed nature or a principle of spiritual life im- planted in the soul. There may be a willingness and a desire to be saved, when the heart is not purified by faith, — a hearing of the word with gladness, a rejoicing for a season, in the light which is imparted by it, and a doing of many things pur- suant to this, in persons who shall not be saved. But faith is often described as referring to and ending in salvation. Thus we are said to ' believe to the saving of the soul, x and to ' receive the end of our faith, even the salvation of our souls.'' This consists more especially in those acts of faith which contain an entire subjec- tion of all the powers and faculties of the soul to Christ, arising from the views which it has of his glory, and its experience of his almighty power. This is not q 1 Pet. i. 5. r Chap. iv. 19 s John x. 28. t 2 Tim. i. 12. u See Quest, lxxx. x Heb. x. 39. v 1 Pet. i. 9. WITH JUSTIFICATION. 115 only the way to everlasting salvation, but the first-fruits of it. It is such a receiv- ing and resting on Christ for salvation as has been already described. This grace is farther said to be wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Spirit. We formerly considered effectual calling as a work of divine power, and proved that the Spirit is the author of it,z and that they who are effectually called are en- abled to accept of and embrace the grace offered in the gospel. From this it is evident that faith is the fruit and consequence of our effectual calling ; and that, therefore, it must be a work of the almighty power and grace of the Holy Spirit. That it is so, farther appears from the account which we have of it in several scrip- tures. Thus the apostle Peter, describing those to whom he writes as having ' ob- tained like precious faith, through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ,' and also as having ' all things that pertain unto godliness,' in which faith is certainly included, ascribes this to 'the divine power.'* Elsewhere also we read of 'the exceeding greatness of the power' of God exerted 'in them that believe. 'b When the work of faith is carried on, or fulfilled in the souls of those in whom it was begun, it is considered as an effect of the same power.0 And as all that grace which is the effect of divine power is ascribed to the Holy Ghost, when he is said, as acting in subserviency to the Father and Son, to demonstrate his personal glory ; so the work of faith, as included in that grace, is represented as his work. On this account he is called 'the Spirit of faith. 'd But what we shall more particularly consider is, that the grace of faith is wrought by the instrumentality of the word. We have already observed that the principle of grace, implanted in regeneration, is the immediate effect of the divine power, without the instrumentality of the word; but that when the Spirit works faith, and all other graces which proceed from that principle, then he makes use of the word. Thus the apostle says, ' Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.'6 As it is necessary, in order to our seeing any object, that the eye be rightly disposed and fitted for sight, and that the object be presented to it ; so there are two things necessary to faith, namely, the soul's being changed, renewed, quick- ened, and so prepared to act this grace, and the object's being presented to it, about which it is to be conversant. The latter is done by the word of God. Hence, the soul is first internally disposed to receive what God is pleased to reveal relating to the way of salvation by Jesus Christ before it believes ; and what he is pleased to reveal is contained in the gospel, which is adapted to the various acts of faith, as before described. As faith implies a coming to Christ, or receiving him ; the word of God reveals him to us as giving an invitation to sinners, encouraging them to come to him. Thus our Saviour says, ' If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. 'f As a farther inducement to come to him, it sets forth the advantages that will at- tend it, namely, that he will not reject them, how unworthy soever they be. He says, 'Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.'s There are also many other privileges which he will bestow on those who come to him, namely, tho blessings of both worlds, grace here, and glory hereafter, all which contain the very sum and substance of the gospel. — Again, if we consider faith as including a giving up ourselves to Christ to be entirely his ; the word of God represents him as having an undoubted right to all who do so, inasmuch as they are bought with the price of his blood, given to him as his own by the Father. And as they devote themselves to him to be his servants, it sets before them the privileges which at- tend his service, as they are delivered from the dominion of sin, and a servile fear and dread of hi3 wrath ; and lets them know the ease, pleasure, and delight which there is in bearing his yoke, and the blessed consequences in their having ' their fruit unto holiness, and the end life everlasting.'11 — Further, as faith looks to Christ for forgiveness of sin, in which respect it is called justifying faith ; so the word of God represents him to us, as having made atonement for sin, — as set forth' to be a pro- pitiation to secure us from the guilt to which we were liable, and from the con- demning sentence of the law, — as bearing the curse, and, in consequence, giving z See Sect. « Effectual Calling a Divine Work,' under Quest, lxvii, lxviii. a 2 Pet. i. 1. compared with the third verse. b Eph. i. 19. c 2 Thess. L 11. d 2 Cor. iv. 13. e Rom. x. 17. f John vii. 37. g John vi. 37. h Rom. vi. 22. 116 THE CONNECTION OF FAITH us a right to all the privileges of his children. It also represents this forgiveness as full, free, and irreversible ; and the soul, by faith, rejoices in its freedom from condemnation, and in that right and title to eternal life which is inseparably con- nected with it. — Again, as faith includes a trusting or relying on Christ, the gos- pel represents him as an all-sufficient Saviour, ' able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him;'1 and as faith trusts him for the accomplishment of all the promises, it considers him as having engaged to make them good, inasmuch as • in him they are yea and in him amen, unto the glory of God.'k The believer, therefore, runs no risk, or is at no uncertainty as to this matter ; for Christ's media- torial glory lies at stake. If there be the least failure in the accomplishment of any promise, or any blessing made over to his people in the covenant of grace which shall be conferred upon them, he is content to bear the blame for ever. But this is altogether impossible, since he who has undertaken to apply the blessings promised, is faithful and true, as well as the Father who gave them. This affords those ' strong consolation who are fled for refuge, to lay hold upon the hope set before them' in the gospel.1 Thus Christ is set forth ; and agreeably to this dis- covery made of him, faith takes up its rest in him, and therein finds safety and peace. The Degrees of Faith. We shall now consider faith as strong or weak, increasing or declining ; and also the various marks and signs of its being in these respective states. As habits of sin are stronger or weaker, the same may be said concerning habits of grace. It is one thing for them to be entirely lost ; and another thing to be in a declining state. Their strength and vigour may be much abated, and their energy frequently interrupted ; yet God will maintain the principle of grace, as we shall endeavour to prove under a following Answer.m Grace is not always equally strong and lively. The pro- phet supposes it to be declining, when he says, ' Revive thy work, 0 Lord, in the midst of the years.'11 Our Saviour's advice to the churches at Sardis and Ephesus implies as much, when he exhorts the former to ' strengthen the things which re- main, that are ready to die ;'° and when he bids the church at Ephesus ' remem- ber from whence they were fallen, and repent and do their first works, 'p Some are said, as Abraham, to be ' strong in faith, giving glory to God ;'i and others are reproved, as our Saviour does his disciples, when he says, ' 0 ye of little faith.'1* As our natural constitution is not always equally healthy and vigorous, nor our condi- tion in the world equally prosperous ; the same may be said concerning the habits of grace. Sometimes they are strong, and then, as the apostle says concerning his beloved Gaius,8 'the soul prospereth,' and we 'go from strength to strength,'1 from one degree of grace to another ; but at other times, we are ready to ' faint in the day of adversity,' and our 'strength is small.'u This cannot but be observed by all who are not strangers to themselves, or who take notice of the various frames of spirit which are visible in those whom they converse with. But it will be inquired, By what marks or evidences may we discern the strength or weakness of faith ? Though this will more evidently appear from what will be said under a following Answer, x when we are led to speak concerning the reason of the imperfection of sanctification in believers ; yet we shall not wholly pass it over in this place. Let it be observed, then, that the strength or weakness of faith, is to be judged of by the degree of esteem and value which the soul has for Christ, and the steadiness or abatement of its dependence on him. The greater diffidence or distrust we have of self, and the more we see of our own emptiness and nothingness, the stronger is our faith. On the other hand, self-confidence, or relying on our own strength, is a certain sign of the weakness of our faith. — Again, strong faith is that which carries the soul through difficult duties. Thus the apostle says, ' I can do all things through Christ which strengthened me.'"' Weak faith, on the contrary, i Heb. vii. 25. k 2 Cor. i. 20. 1 Heb. vi. 18. m See Quest, lxxix. n kIab- '•'• 2. o Rev. iii. 2. p Chap. ii. 5. q Rom. iv. 20. r Matt. vi. 30. ■ 3 John ii. t Psal. lxxxiv. 7- u Prov. xxiv. 10. X See Quest, lxxviii. y Phil. iv. 13. WITH JUSTIFICATION. 117 is ready to sink under the discouragements which it meets with. The former is • steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord;'35 the latter is like a reed shaken with the wind. Strong faith, as it is said of Job,a blesses God when he strips him of all earthly enjoyments, and rejoices that the soul is 'counted worthy to suffer shame for his name ;'b and it carries the believer above those fears which have a tendency to deject and dishearten him. ' He shall not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.'0 Weak faith, on the contrary, is borne down with discouragements. The believer under its influence finds it hard to hold on in the performance of his duty ; and sees mountains of difficulties in his way, in consequence of which he is ready to con- clude that he shall not be able to get safely to his journey's end. He does not rightly improve the consideration of the almighty power of God, and his faithful- ness to his promise, in which he has engaged that ' the righteous shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger. 'd When we sustain losses and disappointments in the world, or things go contrary to our expectation, we are ready to say with the psalmist, ' Hath God forgotten to be gracious ? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies ? e We sometimes con- cluflte also, that we have no interest in the love of God, because the dispensations of his providence are afflictive, and fill us with great uneasiness. In this case, fear looks upon every adverse providence, as it were, through a magnifying glass, and apprehends it to be but the beginning of sorrows ; for it cannot say with the pro- phet, ' I will trust and not be afraid ;f for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. '* — Moreover, the strength or weakness of faith may farther be discerned by our enjoying or being destitute of communion with God, — our conversing with him in ordinances, or being deprived of this privilege. We may conclude our faith to be strong, when we can say as the apostle does, 'Our conversation is in heaven,' or we live above. But when, on the other hand, we have too great an anxiety or solicitude about earthly things, and an immoderate love to the present world, we may conclude our faith to be weak. — The difference between strong and weak faith may also be discerned by the frame of our spirit in prayer. When faith is strong, the soul has a great degree of boldness or liberty of access to the throne of grace, —a greater measure of importunity and fervency, accompanied with an expecta- tion of the blessings prayed for, by a secret and powerful intimation from the Spirit as a Spirit of grace and supplication ; whence it infers that he who excites this grace will encourage it, as he ' says not to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain.'h— . We might add, that strong faith may likewise be discerned, when it is accompanied with an assurance of an interest in Christ's righteousness, and of our right and title to eternal life founded thereon, or that God will guide us by his counsel and afterwards receive us to glory, and a persuasion wrought in the soul by the Spirit that nothing shall separate us from his love. Weak faith is attended with many doubts concerning our interest in Christ ; sometimes fearing that our former hope was no other than a delusion, our present experiences not real. The ground we stand on sinks under us ; and we are ready to conclude that we shall one day fall by the hands of our spiritual enemies. When I speak of these doubts and fears as an evidence of weak faith, I do not say that they are ingredients in faith ; for they are to be considered rather as a burden and encumbrance which attends it. Hence, though there be some good thing in us towards the Lord our God, or a small degree of faith like a grain of mustard-seed, these doubts proceed from the weakness of faith, as opposed to that which is strong, and which would denote the soul to be in a happy and flourishing condition. The Use of Faith in a Believer s Life. We are now led to speak concerning the use of faith in the whole conduct of our lives ; as every thing which we do in an acceptable manner, is said to be done by it. It is one thing occasionally to put forth some acts of faith, and another thing to live z 1 Cor. xv. 58. a Job i. 21. b Acts v. 41. c Psal. cxii. 7> d Job xvii. 9. e Psal. lxxvii. 9. f Isa. xii. 2. g Chap. xxvi. 4. h Chap. xlv. 19. 118 THE CONNECTION OF FAITH by faith. As tho latter is the most noble and excellent life ; so nothing short of it can, properly speaking, be called a good life, how much soever many are styled good livers who are wholly strangers to the grace of faith. The apostle Paul speaks of this way of living, and considers it as exemplified in himself, when he says, ' The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God.*5 He speaks of faith as his constant work, or that which ran through the whole busi- ness of his life. Whether we are engaged in civil or in religious duties, they are all to be performed by faith. 1. Here we shall consider the life of faith, first, as it discovers itself in all the common actions of life. In. these we act as men ; but the faith which is the prin- cipal ingredient in them, and their chief ornament, denotes us to walk as Christians. This we are said to do when we receive every outward mercy as the purchase of the blood of Christ, as well as the gift of his grace, and consider it as a blessing bestowed by a covenant-God, who, together with outward things, is pleased to give himself to us ; which infinitely enhances the value of the blessing, and induces us to receive it with a proportionable degree of thankfulness. — Again, we live by iaith when we sit loose from all the enjoyments of this world, not taking up our rest in them as if they were our portion or chief good ; so that the esteem and value we havf for them is very much below that which we have for things divine and heavenly. When we use the things of this li.e to the glory of God, and account the best outward enjoy- ments nothing if compared with Christ ; or when, as the apostle says, ' we count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, and do count them but dung, that we may win Christ ;'k our exercising faith in this way will quiet our spirits under afflictions, and induce us to submit to the disposing providence of God when our best outward enjoyments are removed, or we called to suffer the loss of all things for Christ's sake, or by his sovereign will. — Further, we live by faith when all the success which we hope for in our secular employments, is considered as a display of that care which Christ takes of his people, in which he overrules and orders all things for his own glory, and their welfare. We are, in consequence, persuaded that lie will cause whatever we take in hand to prosper, provided he sees that it is best for us ; and if not, we are disposed to acquiesce in his will. This is such an instance of faith as will put us upon doing every thing in the name and to the glory of Christ, and fortify us against any disappointment which may attend our expectation in every employment wherein we are engaged. — Further, we live by faith when outward blessings, instead of proving a snare and temptation to draw off our hearts from Christ, are a means to bring us nearer to him ; so that if our circumstances are easy and comfortable in the world, and we have more frequent opportunities offered to us to engage in religious duties than others, we are accord- ingly inclined to embrace them ; while every thing we enjoy, as an instance of dis- tinguishing favour from God, above what many in the world do, excites in us a due sense of gratitude, and an earnest desire and endeavour to use the world to his glory. — Again, we live by faith when adverse providences, which sometimes have a tendency to drive the soul from Christ, and occasion repining thoughts, as though the divine distributions were not equal, are made of use to bring us nearer to him, so that whatever we lose in the creature, we look for and endeavour to find in him ; when, with a submissive spirit, we can say that he does all things well for us, as we hope and trust that he will make even those things which run counter to our se- cular interests subservient to our eternal welfare ; and when, in consequence, we endeavour to keep up a becoming frame of spirit, in such a condition of life as has a tendency to cast the soul down and fill it with great disquietude. — Again, we live by faith when we devote and consecrate all we have in the world to God, consider- ing that, as we are not out own but his, so all we have is his ; when, in consequence, we are endowed with a public spirit, desirous to approve ourselves blessings to mankind in general, to the utmost of our power ; and when, after having done all, we not only say with David, ' Of thine own we have given thee,'1 but say as our Saviour taught his disciples to do, ' We are unprofitable servants.' — Finally, the life of faith discovers itself in the government of our affections, namely, as they are i Gal. H. 20. k Phil. iii. 8. 1 1 Chron. xxix. 14. WITH JUSTIFICATION. 119 •% kept within due bounds, set upon right objects, and rendered subservient to pro- mote Christ's glorj and interest. We are prevented from setting our affections immoderately on the things of this world, when faith shows us that there are far better things to draw them forth, which deserve our highest love. It also prevents our being worldly and carnal ; as though we were swallowed up with the things of sense, and had nothing else to mind, and religion were only to be occasionally en- gaged in ; or as though an holy, humble, self-denying frame of spirit were incon- sistent with worldly business. Faith suggests the contrary ; it puts us upon making religion our great business, and engaging in secular affairs rather as a ne- cessary avocation than as the chief end of living. It also puts us upon glorifying Christ in our secular concerns, as we manage them in such a way as he ordains. By faith the believer is kept in a spiritual frame, while abiding with God in the calling to which he is called. This we attribute more especially to the grace of faith, not only as it is connected with other graces, and, as will be observed under our next Heady excites them, but as it has its eye constantly fixed on Christ as its object, and by this steers its course, and takes an estimate of the valuableness and importance of all the affairs of this life by their subserviency to our salvation, and the advancement of his glory. 2. Faith discovers itself in the pei-formance of all religious duties, and in the exercise of all other graces. Thus, we read of the prayer of faith, whereby a soul has access to God as to a father, in the name of Christ, firmly relies on the promises which are established in him, and has a liberty to plead with him, and a hope of acceptance in his sight. Moreover, when we wait on God to hear what he has to impart to us in his word, faith, having experienced some degree of communion with him already, and had some displays of his love, puts the soul upon desiring more. Accordingly, the psalmist says, ' My soul thirsteth for thee ; my flesh longeth for thee, to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.'m And whatever other ordinances of divine appointment we are engaged in, we are encouraged by faith to hope for his presence and draw nigh to him in them, with a reverential fear, and delight in him. — Faith also puts us upon the exercise of those graces which are necessary for the right performance of gospel-worship in general. These are not only joined with it, but may be said to be excited by it; so that faith is, as it were, the principle of all other graces. Thus, when the heart is drawn forth in love to Christ, it may be said that ' faith worketh by love.'n When this love is accompanied with 'joy unspeakable and full of glory,' this we have in a way of ' believing.'0 What tends to excite the grace of love, is the view which faith takes of Christ's mediatorial glory and excellencies, and of the obligations we are under to love him from his love to us. This is a strong motive, inducing us to express our love to him by universal obedience ; which is called ' the obedience of faith, 'p — Again, when we exercise the grace of repentance, and thereby hate and turn from all sins, and are, in a peculiar manner, sensible, as we ought to be, oi the sin of unbelief, it is faith which gives us this sense of unbelief, as it is best able to see its own defects. When we confess sin, or humble ourselves before God for it, faith views it not only as a violation of the divine law, but as a display of the highest ingratitude. When we desire, in the exercise of repentance, to forsake sin, faith makes us sensible of our own weakness, and puts us upon a firm and steadfast dependence on Christ to enable us to do so. When, in the further exer- cise of repentance, our consciences are burdened with a sense of guilt, and unbelief is ready to suggest that our sins are so heinously aggravated that there is no room to hope for pardoning mercy, faith relieves us against these despairing thoughts, and encourages us to wait for the mercy of God, who will ' abundantly pardon, '* and with whom there is ' forgiveness, that he may be feared. 'r — Again, when we use endeavours to mortify sin, we are to do so by a fiducial view of Christ crucified ; and when we encourage ourselves to hope that the indictment brought against us for it was nailed to the cross of Christ, that there is ' no condemnation to us' as being in him,9 and that, as the apostle says, • our old man is crucified with him, m Psal. lxiii. 1, 2. n Gal. v. 6. o 1 Pet i. 8. p Rom. xvi. 26. q Isa. lv. 7. r Pgal. exxx. 4. 8 Rom. viii. 1. 12C THE CONNECTION OF FAITH I that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should no longer serve sin,'* all this is to be done by faith. — We might observe, also, that the grace of patience is connected with and is incited by faith. The apostle" joins faith and patience together, as supposing that faith affords a motive to patience. Elsewhere, too, in the account which we have of the great things which the Old Testament saints did and suffered by this grace, we read of what great things patience enables us not only to do but to bear. Hence, whatever graces are exercised under the afflictions of the present life, faith excites in us a resignation to the will of God, and considers them as the chastisements of a merciful Father, and as ' bringing forth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby ;x and we are encouraged to bear them with such a composed frame of spirit that they seem light, and not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be re- vealed. This, faith has constantly in view, setting one against the other ; so that what would otherwise be a hinderance to us in our way, is improved by us to our spiritual advantage ; and we are enabled to go on, not only safely, but comfortably, till we arrive at the full fruition of what we now behold at a distance, and rejoice in the fiducial expectation of. How Faith is Attained or Increased. We are now brought to consider how faith is to be attained or increased, and what are the means conducive to these ends. Though faith, in common with all other graces, is wrought in us by the power of God, yet we are far from assert- ing that there is no duty incumbent on us, in the performing of which we are to hope and wait for the divine blessing, upon which all the success of it depends. To deny this, would give just occasion to charge the doctrine of efficacious grace with leading to carnal security or licentiousness ; a charge which many bring against it without ground. Though grace and duty are very distinct, they are not inconsist- ent with each other ; the former is God's work, the latter our act. The duties required of us, considered as expecting the divine grace and blessing to attend them, are a diligent waiting on God in all his ordinances, — looking into the state of our souls, by impartial self-examination, — calling to mind our past miscarriages, and what matter of humiliation we have for them in the sight of God, as also our natural aversion and inability to do what is good, our need of Christ's righteousness to take away the guilt we have contracted, and of his strength to subdue our corruptions and enable us to plead earnestly with him for these privi- leges. As for the unregenerate, they must pray and wait on him for the first grace, and say with Ephraim, ' Turn thou me, and I shall be turned. '? They must be earnest with him that he would bestow upon them the grace of faith, which is styled his gift ; that he would remove everything which is at present an obstacle or hinder- ance to this grace, and also all the prejudices which corrupt nature has entertain- ed against Christ and the way of salvation by him ; and that he would shine into their souls, to give them the knowledge of his glory in the face of Christ, reveal his arm, and incline them, by the internal working of his power, to receive the grace which is held forth in the gospel. These are duties incumbent on persons who are not called effectually, being destitute of regenerating grace. But, on the other hand, they who have ground to conclude that they have experienced this grace, though at present they apprehend that their faith is weak and on the de- cline, must be found waiting on God in his own way, and be importunate with him in prayer for the revival of his work, that so they may recover their former experiences. They must bless him for the privileges they once enjoyed, and be humbled for their past backslidings, whereby they have provoked him to withdraw from them. They must say with the church, * I will go and return to my first husband ; for then was it better with me than now ;'z and, as- it is elsewhere ex- pressed, ' Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously ; so will we render the calves of our lips.'a They must lament the dishonour which they have brought to t Rom. vi. 6, u Heb. vi. 12. x Chap. xii. 11. y Jer. xxxi. 18. i 11 os. ii. 7. a Chap. xiv. 2. WITH JUSTIFICATION. 121 God ; and consider how, by means of it, they have grieved the Holy Spirit, wounded their own consciences, and made work for a bitter repentance and humiliation be- fore God. They must be sensible that it is the same hand which wrought grace in them at first, which must now recover them from their fallen state, and, by exciting the principle of grace implanted, bring them into a lively frame. And when he has done this, they must still depend on him to maintain this frame of spirit ; considering that as the beginning so the progress of grace is owing to him who is the author and finisher of faith, who worketh in us that which is pleasing in his sight, and carries on his own work to perfection. Note I. The connexion of Faith with Justification — If there were a necessity for calling faith 1 the hand of the soul,' 'the appropriating act,' or ' the medium,' ' the condition,' or ' the instrument of justification,' or for applying to it any other name or description whatever not used in scripture, there would be intense interest in the discussions of theological writers as to which name or description is the most proper. All evangelical divines discard at once such names as obviously assign to faith a meritorious character, or represent it either as the sinner's own act, or as the reason of his obtain- ing justification ; but while, for the most part, they retain or select terms not found in scripture, and apparently to them somewhat expressive, they seem, in a considerable degree, embarrassed to harmonize the use of them with strict notions of the immediate connexion of justification with the imputation of Christ's righteousness, and of its being an act of God extraneous to the sinner, and affecting not his understanding or his heart, but his condition in reference to the divine law. In one instant the sinner lives, or passes from death to life : he lives as to both his acceptance with God, and his experiencing the commencement of personal holiness. On the grounds of Christ's merits he passes from under condemnation, and by the power of the Divine Spirit, he passes from under the uncontrolled dominion of depravity ; in the former respect, he begins to live in his posi- tion towards the divine law, and in the latter, he begins to live in his experience of personal holi- ness ; in the one view, he becomes alive to God, in being accepted in the Beloved, and in the other view, he becomes alive to God, in being a subject of the work of the life-giving, the sanctifying Spirit. In other words, he is at once justified and regenerated : he, at the same instant, is ac- cepted of him who justifies the ungodly, and becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus. He is not first regenerated and then justified, or first justified and then regenerated ; but, in one change, in one transition, in one event, he begins to live both from the death of condemnation and the death of sin. What he receives is life; and this, though widely different in its aspect as to his relation to the divine law and its aspect as to his personal character, is strictly one in its nature, and one in its commencement — it is eternal life — life together with Christ : not for one instant, or in any circumstances, can we conceive of the life of acceptance with God existing apart from the life of begun personal holiness, or the life of begun personal holiness existing apart from the life of accept- ance with God. The two are not distinct or separate lives, but the one life of the soul viewed respectively in its enjoyment of the imputation of Christ's righteousness, and in its being the sub- ject of the operations of the Divine Spirit. Now, if there is, in point of fact, no priority in the order of justification and regeneration, and if the two, however different in their aspects and references, constitute jointly the instantaneous com- mencement of one spiritual life, there can be neither wisdom nor correctness of thinking in setting up and advocating doctrines based on the assumption, not only of the priority of the one to the other, but of the priority of occurrences belonging respectively to each. Yet it is a taking for granted of the latter sort of priority which occasions all speculations and disputes as to the relative connexion which faith has with justification. Most theological writers assume that faith goes be- fore justification, and, in consequence, institute an inquiry as to whether it is the condition, the in- strument, or the medium of our being justified ; and a few assume it to follow justification, and become divided in opinion as to whether it appropriates the righteousness of Christ, or, as the hand of the soul, receives the pardon which has been granted, or as to whether there are not even two Justifications, — one going before faith, and constituting the sinner righteous by union to the Savi- our, and another following faith, and constituting him happy in the reception of the peace which ■esults from his acceptance. These opinions all indicate embarrassment in so adjusting the position and describing the character of faith, as strictly and clearly to maintain that justification is altoge- ther of grace, an act of God, and based on the righteousness or sacrificial merits of the Saviour. Evangelical writers justly regard the exhibition of this doctrine in its integrity and in perfect lucid- ness as of essential importance ; but they see, at the same time, that faith has a connexion with justification altogether inseparable, — that wherever a sinner is justified he is necessarily a believer, — and they endeavour, each class in his own way, so to speak of the act of believing and the event of being justified, that while the latter is viewed as wholly of grace, the former shall be regarded as indispensable or co-existent. Most of them, however, lose sight of justification being strictly an art, and not a process, or a series of acts ; and in proportion as they do this, they depart from the simple phraseology of scripture, and involve their ideas in obscurity. Every epithet, every mode of discussion, in particular, which represents a priority of a sinner's believing to his being justified, entails consequences which, if not directly at war with the doctrine of grace, can be kept in appa- rent amity with it only by means of manifold and not very luminous explanations. Dr. Ridgeley justly objects to faith being called the condition of justification, because, as he ob- serves, " the word condition is generally used to signify that for the sake of which a benefit is con- ferred " Yet he adds, that " the word may be explained in such a way as is consistent with the doctrine of j ustification by faith ;" and he afterwards proceeds to speak of faith both as " the con- dition of our claim to Christ's righteousness," and as "the medium of our concluding that we ha.v« li. ^ 122 THE CONNECTION OF FAITH an interest in Christ's redemption." What he maintains is that, in speaking of the forgiveness o( sin, the putting on of Christ's righteousness, or the receiving of discharge from condemnation, the word 'condition' as applied to faith is wrong, and that the word then proper to be used is instru- ment. He would hence appear to make faith an instrument before the act of acquittal, and a con- dition or a medium <>fier that act, — the instrument of our receiving or having imputed to us Christ's righteousness, and the condition or medium of our concluding ourselves to have an interest in it, or experiencing a sense of acceptance. If I do not mistake the import and tendency of bis dis- tinction, he thus exhibits faith as both anterior and subsequent to the justifying act; so that, to be consistent, he must be viewed as exhibiting two acts of faith, each distinct in quality and office from the other, and holding a different place in' the order of priority. I am quite convinced, in- deed, that he never would have adopted any such consequence; and I mention it, only to show the confusion of idea occasioned by instituting distinctions of consecutiveness in the parts or connex- ions of justification, and applying to them epithets unsanctioned by scripture. Even, the word 'instrument' which Dr. Ridgeley prefers to express the main connexion of faith with justification, and which, if any distinction of priority were allowable, is probably the least objectionable term which can be found, is defined and illustrated by him in such a manner as to become but in a small degree less offensive*than the phraseology which he rejects. " When we are said," he observes, " to be justified by faith, it is by faith as apprehending, pleading, or laying hold on Christ's righteousness ;" and to illustrate what he means by it as an instrument, he says, " If a person were in a dungeon, as the prophet Jeremiah was, and a rope were let down to draw him out, his laying hold on it is the instrument, but the hand which draws him out is the principal cause of his release." Now, there is a life, an activity, a conditional connexion, a concurrent agency, in the idea of the endungeoned person seizing a rope and clinging to it while another per- son draws him from his dungeon, which is utterly repugnant to the doctrine of the sovereign and entirely divine agency of justification. So very much, in fact, of the idea of concurrent agency or concurrent causation is involved in the so-called instrumentality, that Dr. Ridgeley speaks of the hand which draws the prisoner out as ' the principal cause of his release,' — clearly implying that what he terms ' the instrument' is, in reality, a cause, and a cause not the less necessary and active that it is merely subordinate. He obviously does not mean to teach what his language imports ; yet, in nearly all he says respecting faith as an instrument — not only in his illustration of it from a pardoned criminal pleading his pardon and rendering his claim to it visible in open court before he obtains his discharge, but even in his very definitions — he makes more or less of an impression upon the mind, that it is really more a precurrent though subordinate cause than what may strictly be termed an instrument. The reason of this impression is obvious : an instrument is what is employed by an agent, and faith, when spoken of as the instrument in justification, is represented as employed by the sinner, or as that by which he lays hold of the righteousness of Christ, or by which he pleads that righteousness and receives acquittal. The idea of an instrument is therefore quite as embarrassing to correct notions of the entire sovereignty and divine agency of justification, as that either of medium, of condition, or of anything else on the part of man which is represented as connected with the divine act of acquitting the sinner, and as preceding it ; and both it and all kindred ideas — if we would have distinct conceptions of that all-important doctrine — would need either to be better expounded than they usually are, or laid entirely aside. Yet the invariable, the necessary connexion of faith with justification requires to be fully and prominently stated. But in what terms is the statement so to be made as to be free from objec- tion ? Obviously in the very terms of scripture, — in a translation or paraphrase of the expression, hxxiorwn ix. -ritrnut or liKaiuStvn; %x imrtiuf, as literal, or as faithfully representative of the sense of the Greek words, as English vocables can frame. As regards the connexion of faith with justi- fication, the entire force of either phrase depends upon the preposition »*. Now, this word is ill represented in English by the word ' by,' and very rarely, if ever, denotes the relation of strict in- strumentality, and still less that of agency or causation. Its literal or primitive meaning is ' of,' or ' out of.' In a figurative sense, or in expressing a moral or abstract relation, its prevailing signifi- cation ranges through almost every variety of mode which can be expressed by ' in connexion with,' ■ in relation to,' ' out of,' ' from,' ' of.' But what may be regarded as its distinctive or chief use is to give explicitness and energy to the expression of the principal idea conveyed — whether after a noun or after a verb— by the genitive or possessive case of nouns This idea, according to the de- finition of Moses Stuart, in his Grammar of the New Testament Dialect, " seems to be that of an essential and immediate relation or connexion of objects ;" and is so expansive as to include, besides the ideas of other subordinate relations or connexions, those of possession, source, occasion, object, subject, material, quality, place, time, and value. So many of these and other connexions as may be expressed fey 'of,' or ' out of,' are just those, or at least are peculiarly or specially those which, with added distinctness and energy, are designated by the preposition i*. If any one of them, to the exclusion of every other, were necessarily supposed to be intended in the phrase, Itxauoew* ix *iff-Ttu{, it would seem to be that of quality, — justification tx vritTttx being distinguished, quali- fyingly or adjectively, from justification t* t(y*». The phrase, however, appears to take •*, not in the sense of any one subordinate relation of the possessive case, but in the general sense, or in a sense approaching the general one, of essential and immediate connexion. Justification, in other words, seems to be represented in it, not as by faith, or on the condition of faith, or through the instrumentality of faith ; but simply hs of faith, — as inseparably connected with faith. Two texts of scripture — and to these other quotations might be added — will place in a strong light the use of ix in so general yet definite a sense of essential connexion as cannot justly be identified with any one subordinate relation designated by the possessive case. In this ' tabernacle we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with t» «*jit«{«>» ift*» t« %\ ouoanv our habitation which is of heaven." 1 If ye, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall i r*T«g i »g ov{a»ev the Father who is in heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him,' 2 Cor. WITH JUSTIFICATION. 123 y. 2 ; Luke xi. 13. Now, in what specific sense of the possessive case can a relation be affirmed between heaven and the glorified body of believers, or between heaven and the Giver of the bless- ings of salvation ? If any specific or subordinate sense whatever can be understood, must it not be one of the dative case, — not that of ' from ' or ' of,' but that of ' in?' But, as the case used is actually the possessive, and as »* belongs in its invariable use and in all its meanings to that case, what other relation can be intended but the general one — made by its particular application to be expressly specific — of necessary connexion ? The glorified bodies of believers are necessarily con- nected with heaven, — they can be enjoyed or can exist only in the heavenly state — they are strictly, as to inseparable relation, m***-*^* %\ ev^atev. This idea is not only distinct but graphic, and mani- festly would be utterly impaired by any attempt to fuse it into the notion of medium, quality, con- dition, object, instrumentality, or any other subordinate relation designated by the possessive case. If, then, the general but emphatic idea of inseparable connexion be a sense of the preposition i*, and a sense, from the nature of the case, less secondary than any subordinate idea of possession, quality, or instrumentality, persons who speak in the usual way of the relation between faith and justification, must feel themselves bound to show cause for departing from this sense in interpret- ing the phrase iixaieruvn u vnmat. Is there anything in any statement of scripture, or in the scrip- tural view of the abstract nature either of faith or of justification, to show that the relation be- tween these is one of condition, medium, or instrumentality? Does not every scriptural statement, on the contrary, and every scriptural view, exhibit faith and justification as related simply in the emphatic sense of inseparable connexion ? He who believes is justified ; and he who is justified believes. A sinner is ' saved by grace, through faith ; and that not of himself: it is the gift of God.' His believing is as truly a phasis of his salvation as his being justified. He believes through the operation upon his mind of the divine Spirit; and is justified by God's imputing to him the righteousness of Christ. Both his faith and his justification are of God : the former a gift or grace of the Holy Spirit, and the latter an act of God in Christ, — of the Father imputing the sacrificial merits of the Saviour, and accepting into his sovereign and complacent favour. Nor though dif- ferently viewed in the economy of salvation, do they seem, as respects their experience by the sin- ner, to be otherwise regarded than as constituting, along with regeneration, one event, — as related simply by such inseparable connexion as to be the commencement of his spiritual life. If, by a dis- tinction based upon supposed analogies in human operations, faith may be supposed to go before the imputation of Christ's righteousness ; then, by a similar distinction, life, on the other hand, may be supposed to go before faith, and the imputation of Christ's righteousness to go before life. One man, on the footing of human analogies and distinctions, may as truly say that he cannot con- ceive of the soul's believing before it be made alive, as another man, on the same footing, may say that he cannot conceive of its being acquitted from condemnation before believing. Hence, to sup- pose a priority either in the one way or in the other, not only goes beyond the simple statements of the Bible, but tends to produce confusion of idea. Believing, being acquitted on the ground of Christ's righteousness, and becoming a new creature, occur as one event ; and believing and being acquitted are exhibited prominently and constantly as related in inseparable and essential connex- ion, because faith looks at that truth which both discloses the redemptional work of the Saviour on the ground of which the sinner is made alive, and is the instrument of the divine Spirit in oper- ating upon the soul. The gospel unfolded by the Holy Spirit is 'the power of God unto salvation ;' it comes in demonstration and in power and in much assurance; it carries with it its own evidence, and cannot be seen without being believed. In the very act, therefore, of the Holy Spirit's unfold- ing it, he works faith in the soul. But, in the same instant that the sinner believes he lives, — lives as to both the imputation to bim of the righteousness of Christ, and the commencement of personal holiness in his own heart. ' Faith is the assured expectation 1-xo«til*k of things hoped for, the conviction iXty^'f of things not seen.' It is the act of a living soul, while the act in which the soul begins to live ; it realizes, both in conviction as to what he has accomplished, and in confident expectation of glorious and eternal results, the redemptional work of the Saviour ; and, if an order of priority could be contended for, it might be viewed both as actually laying hold of Christ's right- eousness, and as exulting or even as existing in a sense of that righteousness being already imputed. So close, so essential, so unique is its connexion with the soul's acquittal from condemnation, its union to Christ, its resting on his righteousness, its being an object of sovereign favour, that the two cannot be viewed apart in their occurrence or existence. How forcible, then, the apostle's declaration : ' Do we then make void the law through faith ? God forbid : yea, we establish the law.' The believing soul is necessarily, from the essential connexion of faith, a soul spiritually alive, — alive in union to Christ, in position toward the divine law, in enjoyment of the divine favour, in experience of the gracious operations of the Holy Spirit, and in the commencement of personal and persevering holiness ; it is alive in the begun enjoyment of ' life with Christ in God,' having its fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. How, then, could the apostles, by preaching faith do otherwise than establish the law ? How forcible, too, is the metonymy em- ployed in describing the case of Abraham, — ' his faith was counted to him lor righteousness !' Whether that righteousness be viewed as the righteousness of Christ imputed in justification or as the commencement of personal holiness in regeneration, faith has so essential a connexion with the former, and is so identified with the perception of the truth which the Holy Spirit employs as the instrument of the latter, that wherever it exists, and in the very act of its existing, the one right- eousness is imputed and the other righteousness is experienced. A believer is both a justified and a regenerated man : be who has faith in the record which God has given concerning his Son, has eternal life, — he lives both by the imputation to him of the righteousness of his great Surety, and the working of personal righteousness in his heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. The metonyme is hence peculiarly emphatic : ' Abraham believed in God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.' Before concluding this note, I may remark how very different the idea of instrumentality is p* 124 THE CONNECTION OF FAITH applied to the connexion which faith has with justification, and as applied to the relation which the divine word has to regeneration. An instrument, as was already observed, is that which an agent employs in producing an effect, or that in the use of which an agent does or acts. Now the person who is justified is he who believes : he it is who has faith, and who, in popular language on the sub- ject of justification, is said to lay hold by faith on Christ's righteousness, or to receive by faith his acquittal from condemnation, or the pardon of his sins and the acceptance of his person. But this receiving, this laying hold of, this believing, is not the act of justifying. ' It is God that justifieth.' Justification is directly, altogether, and in every sense, God's act. The sinner himself, then, being in no respect the agent in justification, and yet being the party who exercises faith, faith cannot be the instrument in justification. But in regeneration, on the contrary, the Holy Spirit is both the agent who regenerates, and he who employs the word in connexion with regenerating. The word regenerates, not as used by man, but as used by the Holy Spirit : it is employed directly and alto- gether by the Holy Spirit in making man a new creature ; and, wielded by ban in his own personal agency, it is with propriety regarded as his instrument. Accordingly, the two passages which con- nect the word with regeneration, (1 Peter i. 23; James i. 18.) represent the relation of the former to the latter to be that of instrumentality. In the one the preposition ?<« with a possessive case is used ; and in the other the dative case is used without any preposition. Now iia, when governing in the possessive a noun which does not designate a cause or an agent, peculiarly denotes instrumen- tality ; and the dative case in construction with a prior clause designating causation or agency, con- veys, without a preposition, emphatically the idea of an instrument. The two passages read, 1 Avayiyivvtlf*""! * * iiaXe-you ^tayrof &it>u xai fumret- 'B*»>fl9liJ avrixwrifi* hftas Kiyaj aXnQuat ;' and are translated in the authorized version, ' Being born again by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever,' ' Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth.' — Ed.] [Note K. What is Faith ? — Faith is exhibited by Dr. Ridgeley under two phases, — as assent to what is true and good, and as an act of trust or dependence on him who is its object. Both these views of faith appear to be entertained with special reference to the faith of the gospel, but at the same time with comprehensive reference to faith in general. Dr. Ridgeley talks of the influences which affect faith, — the kinds and degrees of evidence by which the quality or strength of it is determined ; and, while settling what faith is as resting on divine testimony, he glances at its nature as exercised about matters of abstract science or merely human. Now faith or belief, understand it as we may and apply it as we will, seems to be just assent to evidence, — counting true propositions or statements submitted to the judgment. But though in matters of revelation it is necessarily an assent to what is true and good, — every portion of divine testimony being essentially in the highest sense both good and true ; it may, in other matters, par- ticularly in those of human testimony or of flippant report, be an assent to what is both false and mischievous. Men often believe a lie, a malign and insidious falsehood, as really as they believe a truth ; and they are affected in their heart and conduct by what they believe, as sensibly for evil if they believe a pestiferous error, as for good if they believe an infallible moral doctrine. Faith, in its own proper nature, is simply assent, opening up the avenues of the soul to have all its affections acted upon, and all its faculties propelled by the moral influences, be they evil or good, human or divine, of the statements believed. Every statement, be it what it may, has power to affect either the intellect or the heart, to modify the ideas, to act upon the faculties, to touch the intellectual or moral habits ; and it wields this power immediately over the heart and will, and propels to practical results in the conduct, just in the proportion of its being of a moral nature, addressing itself to the conscience, and unfolding motives to deter from one action and incite to another. Whatever is be- lieved affects man according to the nature of the proposition or statement, — intellectually if it be purely intellectual, morally if it be purely moral, moving the particular power or inciting the parti- cular affection to which it specially appeals. Faith or belief lays hold upon the statement as a mat- ter hitherto extraneous to the man, and brings it to bear upon his intellectual or moral nature as a matter internal to him, or a matter in contact with his mind. So long as any statement is not believed, it is as if it did not exist ; but whenever it is assented to, or counted true, or made a mat- ter of faith, it ceases to be a matter of indifference, and operates in a way suited to its own nature, and with a force proportioned to the amount of evidence which sustains it or the degree of faith with which it is received. The distinction, then, between faith in a statement as simply true, and faith in a statement as both true and good, — a distinction followed out to the result of a speculative assent, in the former case, and a practical assent seated partly in the understanding and partly in the will, in the latter, — seems to be without foundation. Some statements, such as the axioms and elements of mathema- tical science, contain in themselves nothing which appeals to the moral feelings, and of course do not excite them ; yet, whenever they are believed, they affect the mind to the whole amount of their influence, and, so far as they bear upon practice either in thinking or in conduct — in imparting ideas of mental calculation, or furnishing materials and motives for mathematical experiment— even they are really practical. Absolutely speculative believing, or believing which does not modify the thoughts and propel and influence mental or concrete action, seems, in a being constituted like man, an utter impossibility. One statement, indeed, has a practical influence, especially in reference to the will and affections, tenfold, or an hundredfold, or a thousandfold, more than another ; but the statement of higher influence differs from the statement of lower influence, not on account of the manner in which it is believed, or on account of its being both true and good while the other is merely true, but on account of its moral nature, or of its containing matter which directly appeals to the conscience or to the fears or desires of the heart. In proportion to the magnitude of moral import in a statement, or to the amount of motive and consideration affecting personal interest which it discloses, combined with the degree of evidence in which it is seen, or the strength of faith with which it is received, will be the energy with which it moves and incites and propels the affec- tions and will. But with regard to even a statement in the highest degree good and true, or dis- WITH JUSTIFICATION. 125 closing the loftiest considerations to affect the heart and the conduct, assent to the truth of it or the act of believing it, is immediately the affair, not of the will, but altogether of the understanding. The act of assent is the act of counting true — it is an intellectual act ; and simply brings the state- ment believed into contact with the affections and will, there to incite the one, and influence the decisions of the other. Except as the statement is counted true, or is brought by belief to disclose its moral influence, it exists entirely apart from the mind, and, as regards the individual, is a mere abstraction. But the counting of it true is not an act of volition, nor an act of desire, nor an act of any affection, but an act of the same intellectual kind as that in which a judgment is formed, or a relation discerned between one object and another. The understanding, discerning something to be affirmed, and perceiving the evidence on which it rests, counts the affirmation to be true ; just as the judgment, discerning a substance to exhibit a given quality, affirms the quality and the sub- stance to be related. While the act of judging concerns the relation of ideas in an affirmation or a proposition ; the act of believing quite as intellectually concerns the relation of evidence and affir- mation in a statement. But an act of the will, on the contrary, has reference only to conduct. A man believes, not because he wills a statement to be true, but because he discerns evidence of its being true. His will may act negatively in effectually indisposing him either to examine the state- ment or to consider the evidence which supports it ; but it does not act posit ively in reference to the relation between them when they come to be examined. A statement is understood, not by an act of volition, but by being made plain to the understanding ; and it is believed or counted true, not because a man wills its truth, but because he discerns evidence which convinces his judg- ment. ' With the heart,' indeed, we are told, ' man believeth unto righteousness.' But the cor- relative phrases 'heart' and 'bowels' had the same force in Hebrew idiom, which the correlative phrases 'head' and 'heart' have among us, — the former, in many connexions, designating the un- derstanding, and the latter the will and affections. Among other passages, in which ' the heart ' has the sense of ' the understanding,' see Matt. xiii. 15; Luke xxiv. 25 ; 1 Cor. ii. 9 ; Isaiah x. 7. and xliv. 19 ; Matt. xiii. 19; Eccl. i. 17; Luke ix. 47; John xii. 40; 2 Cor. iii. 15; Eph. iv. 18; Prov. ii. 2, 10; Dan. x. 12. I may perhaps be reminded, that to regard the belief of divine truth as distinct from any act of the will, is to exhibit faith as prior in occurrence to any renovating influence on the moral powers, and, in consequence, to speak inconsistently with the doctrine maintained in a former note, that faith and regeneration, and whatever things constitute the commencement of spiritual or eternal life ;n the soul, are of simultaneous origin. But if the view I have now given of faith may, in one re- spect, be construed to exhibit the exercise or first act of it as prior, it may, in another respect, be construed to exhibit it as posterior, to the influencing of the moral powers. Man's will, while he is in an unrenewed state, is utterly averse — indeed, without the operation of divine grace upon him, is unconquerably averse — to contemplate the truths of the gospel in their spiritual or only true light ; nor is it less averse to let his understanding glance at those high and demonstrative, but spiritual, evidences by which they are evinced to be infallibly free from error and truly divine. ' The carnal mind is enmity against God :' it performs volitions or acts of the will all in opposition both to the glorious gospel and its claims. Hence, a person who should construe distinctness of ideas into priority of occurrence, might allege just as reasonably that the removal of man's aversion to contemplate the gospel and its intrinsic evidences must go before faith. a« that faith must go be- fore the removal of his aversion to holiness. All which fairly follows from regarding faith as an act of the understanding apart from the will, is the distinctness merely, and not the consecutiveness, of the idea of believing the truth' and the idea of the moral influence of the truth affecting the heart. In any case, perhaps, a truth, correspondingly to its nature, affects the moral powers in the very act of its commending itself by its evidence to the assent of the understanding ; or, while it dis- closes its claims in such a manner as to drive unbelief or doubt from the mind, it at the same time puts forth its moral influence to make its appropriate impressions on the will and the heart. But, at all events, the distinctness of assent to truth from the effect of truth on the moral powers, affords no reason for conceiving of any priority of one thing to another in the commencement of spiritual life in the soul — in that wondrous work of the divine grace and power upon man in which a crea- ture who was dead in trespasses and sins becomes alive unto God. As to faith being " an act of trust or dependence on him who is its object," Dr. Ridgeley uses language inconsistent with himself. The object of faith is not a person but a proposition or a state- ment ; nor is it necessarily or always such a statement or proposition as has a person for its subject. The faith of the gospel, indeed, has for its object statements which all reveal the character of God, and the person respectively of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in the economy of redemp- tion. But faith in its own nature — and it is of this Dr. Ridgeley speaks — may deal with statements respecting things as well as with statements respecting persons. A man may believe what is both true and good in science, in human laws, in measures for working out practical results, without reference to any persons by whom the science is elucidated, the laws framed, or the measures con- structed. In some instances he is not able, even if he tried, to institute a connexion between what he believes and such views of any person as should modify and still less constitute his faith. Trust, on the other hand, has reference entirely to a person. The difference between it arid faith, in fact, is just that the one has a person and the other has a statement for its object. The two are quite distinct in their nature, — faith being an act of the understanding, and trust an act of the heart ; and they exist together, and become inseparably connected, only when the statement believed ex- hibits a person in the relation of a superior, a protector, a benefactor, or a deliverer. A man may believe that certain principles of nursery discipline will tend to form good habits in his children, or he may believe that some neighbour with whom he has dealings possesses inclination and power to thwart him in his well-being; but, in the former case, he has no person brought before the view of his mind by his belief who can be the object of either trust or any other moral affection, and, in the latter case, he regards the person whom his belief exhibits to his view, not with trust, but with dis- 126 THE CONNECTION OF FAITH trust and aversion. When, however, the statement which we helieve places ourselves in the atti- tude of inferiors, sufferers, or needy, helpless, guilty, or ruined individuals, and exhibits to us a Being who has inclination and power to protect, deliver, succour, pardon, or bless us, our faith be- comes necessarily associated with trust, — faith in the statement, with trust in the person. A belief of the gospel, in particular, is essentially and inseparably accompanied with trust in God. We can- not, on the one hand, know the truth of the gospel, in its genuine light or heavenly evidence, with- out believing it ; nor can we know God in his true character, or as the gospel reveals him, without confiding in his love and depending on his sovereign favour. Yet faith in the divine testimony and trust in the divine character, though inseparable, are perfectly distinct. Dr. Ridgeley himself says, " Though faith," as an act of trust or dependence on him who is its object, " supposes, indeed, an assent of the understanding to some truth proposed ; yet this truth is of such a nature that it pro- duces in us a resting or reliance on one who is able, and has expressed a willingness, to do us good, and whose promise is such as we have ground to depend on." He thus, very justly, connects trust, not like faith with the force of the evidence by which a statement is supported, but with the quality of the truth to which the understanding assents — not with its being a truth which dissipates doubt and produces conviction, but with its being a truth which addresses the moral powers, ex- hibits us in the condition of dependent beings, and displays to us a Being who has power, inclina- tion, and faithfulness, to do us good. While faith reposes on the gospel as evinced by divine evi- dence of its truth, trust reposes on God as revealed in that gospel, our gracious benefactor, our deliverer from all evil, and the author of eternal salvation. We trust when we believe, and we be- lieve when we trust ; yet, in the one case, we exercise our understanding, and, in the other case, we exercise our will and affections. Hence, faith in the gospel, though always and inseparably ac- companied with trust, is no more to be viewed as identical with it, than it is to be viewed as iden- tical with love to God, adoration of his perfections, gratitude for the wondrous displays of his grace, hope of beholding his glory, peace or satisfaction in a sense of his complacency, and desire to be conformed to his image and to act obediently to his holy will. These are as truly elements of spiritual life, and as really inseparable from faith in the gospel, as trust or dependence ; and they are also as emphatically exhibited in the divine word as possessed or exercised by every regenerated, every savingly enlightened soul ; yet they are not faith itself, but, like trust or dependence, are separately inculcated, and exhibited as matters of distinct conception. Whatever may be said re- specting the inculcation of trust, and its existing inseparably with faith, may also be said respecting the inculcation and inseparableness of love or of any other element of renovated character. To speak of trust, therefore, as identical with faith, is to confound distinctions which are at once taught in the Bible, based on correct analyses, and conducive to clearness of conception. An objection may possibly be stated against the simple view which I have given of the faith of the gospel, that, by exhibiting faith as an act simply of the understanding, and as necessarily con- nected with the perception of the truth and its evidence, it would seem to make believing altogether human, and not the result of divine operation on the mind. The objection, however, is unfounded. For if man has, without divine influence, an unconquerable aversion to examine the gospel in its spirituality, Qr to look upon its intrinsic and divine evidences of being true, and if, in connexion with this aversion, he, as a natural man, ' receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and cannot know them, because they are spiritually discerned ;' it clearly follows that, how purely intellectual soever the act of believing may be, he can perform it only by having the aversion of his will subdued and the darkness of his mind illuminated by the power of the Holy Spirit. The act of believing is indeed his own — it is not the Holy Spirit but the man himself who believes ; yet his faith — as springing from a spiritual exhibition of truth and a convincing display of intrinsic evidence which only God can make to a mind deterred by a perverse will and a depraved heart from contemplating what is spiritual — is truly and emphatically ' the faith of the operation of God.*— Ed.] [Note L. Are there several kinds of Faith ? — The varieties of character described by Dr. Ridge- ley, in his discussion of the various kinds of faith, unquestionably exist, and differ from one another by very obvious, and, in some instances, opposite peculiarities. But what saith the scripture as to the origin and nature of the varieties which respectively distinguish them ? Do these varieties con- sist in the kinds of their faith, or in the kinds of their knowledge, their notions, and their moral feelings ? Do the various classes believe in different ways the same thing, or believe in the same way different things or things differently modified and understood ? This question — if we consider how grievously perplexed many a religious inquirer has been, and how agitated with suspense and anxiety many a sincere Christian, by discussions respecting different kinds of faith — is well worthy of investigation, and ought to be examined with care. The faith of miracles, even according to Dr. Ridgeley 's own showing, was a variety, not in the way of believing, but in the thing believed. All his illustrations of it have reference, not to the faith itself, but to the kind of truths with which it was conversant. Without attempting, then, to disturb or dispute any part of the account which he gives of it, — an account which, though ques- tionable perhaps in some subordinate particulars, seems in the main inexpugnable ; we may firmly ask on what pretence it is exhibited as a peculiar hind of faith ? If variety in the nature or classi- fication of truths believed constitutes variety in the species or modes of believing, there must, in reference to the doctrines of the Bible, be a doctrinal faith, — in reference to its precepts, a precep- tive faith, — in reference to its promises, a promissory faith, — in reference to its prophecies, a pro- phetic faith — in reference to its histories, a historiographical faith, — in reference to its mysteries, a mysterious faith ; and there must also, in reference to the respective sciences and avocational pur- suits of ordinary life, be a geographical, a geological, a mathematical, an astronomical, a chemical, a botanical, a mineralogical, a conchological, a mercantile, a commercial, an agricultural, a mechanical, and a political faith. But every one sees that these instances, and in a multitude of others, the varieties which exist, are varieties, not in the mode of believing, or in the nature, sDecies, or kind of WITH JUSTIFICATION. 127 faith, but simply and entirely in the things believed, — the classes of truths or principles to which assent is given. Why, then, should a variety in one set of truths only — in those which were con- cerned with the working of miracles — be regarded as belonging, not to the peculiarity of the truths, but to the peculiar way of believing them ? If the account which Dr. Ridgeley gives of what he calls historical faith, or of what some writers call speculative faith, were true, it would certainly present us with a variety in the mode of be- lieving. " An historical faith is that," he says, " whereby persons are convinced of the truth of what is revealed in the gospel, though it has very little influence on their conduct. Such have right notions of divine things, but do not entertain a suitable regard to them. Religion with them is little more than a matter of speculation. They do not doubt concerning any of the important doctrines of the gospel, but are able and ready to defend them by proper arguments ; yet though, in words, they profess their faith in Christ, in works they deny him." How remarkably does this short description differ in tone- at the commencement and at the close ! The persons described are said at the outset to be 'convinced of the truth of what is revealed in the gospel,' — to have 'no doubt concerning any of the important doctrines of the gospel ;' and yet, before the description closes, they come down from their soarings of ' right notions ' and assured faith of divine things, and are believers only in words and in profession, — ' in words they profess their faith in Christ, but in works they deny him.' So palpable an inconsistency in statement may surely suggest that the entire idea of the persons, or at least of their faith, is erroneous. To profess faith, — to ' profess faith in words,' is as different as can be from ' having no doubt of doctrines,' and being ' convinced of the truth.' But as, in the latter expressions, Dr. Ridgeley entirely over-estimates what he calls historical faith, and seems almost, if not altogether, to identify it with what he calls saving faith ; so, in the former expression, he quite as much under-estimates it, and seems to represent it as no faith whatever. The persons whom he describes, or rather means to describe, do much more than ' pro- fess' faith or believe merely 'in words :' they unquestionably believe something respecting revealed truth, and believe it just as really and intellectually as any other matter to which they yield their assent. But what do they believe ? This is the question of true importance, and the only one of real meaning, respecting them. Do they, as Dr. Ridgeley represents them, believe ' the truth of what is revealed in the scripture ?' Have they ' no doubt concerning any of the important doctrines of the gospel ?' Do they possess ' right notions of divine things ?' Far otherwise ; for, in this case, they must have been taught of God, and cannot fail to be genuine believers in the Saviour. Wrong notions of divine things, crude and carnal conceptions of the truth revealed in the scripture, posi- tive ignorance and unbelief as to the important doctrines, the true spiritual saving doctrines of the gospel, are what constitute the very peculiarity of their character. If they knew and thought aright respecting the truths of Christianity ; if they had right notions, spiritual, genuine, realizing con- ceptions of divine things ; if they saw the great doctrines of the gospel in their true light, and un- derstood them in their momentous and awfully impressive connexion with their own highest inter- ests for time and eternity ; they would cease to be spoken of as historical or speculative believers, and be certainly regarded as undoubted Christians. Their conceptions, their notions, their know- ledge of the gospel, and not their mode of believing it, is the source of their religious indifference, and the reason of their cold formality. They are to be set right by questioning them, not how they believe, but what they believe, — not whether they believe in the right way, but whether they believe the right thing. ' This is eternal life, to know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.' Let those who in words acknowledge Christ but in works deny him, come to the hnowledye of the truth, let them obtain correct views of the great salvation, let them under- stand the things of the Spirit of God, and see in the light of heaven — the only light which can dis- close it to them in its true colours — the glorious gospel of Christ ; and, simply in the correcting of their notions and the enlightening of their understanding, they will possess faith to the saving of the soul. Any man who was once a formal professor, but now, through divine grace, is a sincere and devoted follower of Christ, may most distinctly trace in his own experience a change, a glorious, gorgeous, wondrous change of views, in the transition he made from formality to spiritual life ; but he will search long and vainly to trace any difference which occurred in his mode of believing, or in the nature of his intellectual act of faith. Either totally new ideas were presented to his mind, or old ideas were presented in connexions so novel and so solemnly impressive, that a stream of ani- mating, strange, engrossive emotions burst upon his heart and deposited in his affections the germs of all holy thinking and acting. But beyond the reception of new and heavenly light, — a light which shone in upon his mind, and showed all its former notions to be darkness, — and a light which exhibited the gospel as he now saw it in such intrinsic and commanding evidence as to constrain his belief of all its disclosures ; — beyond the breaking in of this light, and the glow of abiding emotion which it kindled in his heart, he has no recollection, no consciousness of any change affecting his intellect, — still less of such a change as made him believe in a different manner, or with a different sort of intellectual act, from what he did before. Some writers regard what they call ' the faith of devils ' as another and distinct kind of faith. Dr. Ridgeley, however, views the possessors of ' historical faith ' and devils as believing in the same way. " Such as these," says he, referring to the former, " the apostle intends when he says, ' Thou believest that there is one God ; thou dost well : the devils also believe, and tremble.' He charges them with a vain presumption, in expecting to be justified by their faith; it being with- out works, or those fruits which were necessary to justify or evince its sincerity, or to prove that it was such a grace as accompanies salvation ; and, therefore, he gives it no better a character than that of a dead faith." Now, a man's believing that there is one God, if he at the same time believe that he himself is a transgressor, obnoxious to the divine anger, and without any means of escape or hope of obtaining pardon, will, like the belief of any other moral statement, work its appropriate effect, and produce in him terror and dismay. ' The devils also believe, and tremble.' On their mind as well as on man's, a moral statement, when believed, makes impressions corresponding to 128 THE CONNECTION OF FAITH its nature. They believe that there is one God, but they know, at the same time, that they have incurred his wrath by their wickedness, that they cannot make amends for their iniquities, that they have no refuge from his righteous indignation ; and- well may they tremble. But here is no idle, speculative, uninfluential, believing; here is no distinctiveness or peculiarity in the kind of in- tellectual act performed , here simply is believing accompanied with the common phenomena of all faith, — that the mind which believes is affected in a manner corresponding to the nature of the thing believed Let a man, while he believes that there is one God, believe at the same time that there is ' one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus ;' let him have distinct conceptions and corresponding belief, on the one hand, of his own ruined and helpless state as a sinner, and, on the other hand, of the fulness, freeness, and glorious adaptation of the divine plan of mercy to save him with an everlasting salvation ; and, while pangs of sorrow will rend his heart on account of the number and foulness and aggravations of his sins, he will experience hope toward God, and joy and peace in believing, — he will ' rejoice in Christ Jesus, and serve God in the spirit, and have no con- fidence in the flesh.' Let another man, on the contrary, believe that the Creator of the universe and the Judge of all the earth is not God infinite, — that he takes very slender notice of human con- duct, and has promulged over his creatures a law of not very rigid holiness, — that his claims upon the religious homage of men do not amount to more than the exaction of attendance on public or- dinances on Sabbath, or at most a routine observance of formal worship in the family, — that Chris- tian discipleship includes nothing higher than scientific or didactic acquaintance with the narratives and doctrines of the Bible, — and that the work of redemption secures salvation to all who come up to this standard of discipleship, and are free from offensive wickedness ; and this man, correspond- ingly to the nature of the principles which he believes, will be a formalist, a merely nominal Chris- tian, ' having the form of godliness and denying its power.' But the difference between him and the former character, is a difference, not in the manner of believing, but in the things believed ; it is not that the one has a historical faith or a faith of devils, while the other has a faith of totally another kind, but that the one believes principles which his depraved mind has transmuted and falsified from the statements of the Bible, while the other believes the very doctrines of the gospel, made plain to his understanding by light from heaven, and unfolded to him in their evidence and impressed upon him in their power by the operation of the Holy Spirit ; and both persons, while believing widely different things, exemplify in their respective experience that every man, believe what he may, is affected in his heart and conduct according, not to the manner of his believing, but to the nature and moral influence of the principles which he believes. The apostle James' distinction, then, between dead faith and living faith, has reference entirely to the nature of the results which follow, or to the kind and amount of moral influence exerted on the heart. A man who calls himself a believer in the gospel, but does not feel and act like a converted man, has a faith which, as to all the activities of Christian character, is ' dead,' and which, therefore, falls far short of resting on those words which are ' spirit and life,' — ' the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.' Such a man may ' say' that he believes the testimony which God has given concerning his Son ; but he no more really believes it, than a man who says to a brother or sister who is naked and destitute of daily food, ' Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled, yet gives them not those things which are needful to the body,' is really possessed of Chris- tian benevolence. As, in the latter case, there is an utter destitution of the fraternal sympathy pretended ; so, in the former, there is an utter destitution of the faith professed. The character described is not one who believes the gospel, but believes it in a wrong way ; but he is one who does not believe it at all, or who believes only such caricatures and falsifications of it as make it quite ' another gospel,' and not the gospel of the grace of God,— not ' the truth as it is in Jesus.' In addition to the faith of miracles and historical faith — with the appendages which some writers make to the latter, of the faith of devils and dead faith — Dr. Ridgeley speaks also of temporary faith. This, he says, " differs from historical faith, only in being of short and uncertain duration, and in having a tendency, in some measure, to excite the affections, and so far to regulate the con- duct as to produce in those who have it a form of godliness." He quotes, however, only one text in which he alleges it to be mentioned, and not one in which it is called faith or believing the gos- pel. Our blessed Lord speaks of a class of persons who ' hear the word, and anon with joy receive it, yet who have not root in themselves, but endure for a while : for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by they are offended.' 'i hese are the persons who, it is alleged, have temporary faith, or believe the gospel in a different manner or by a different sort of act from both historical and saved believers. But is it not apparent, at a glance, that they actually do not believe the gospel, — that ' they have no root in themselves,' — that, strangers to divine grace, they want that spiritual illumination, those correct notions of divine things, which are essential to a belief of ' the truth as it is in Jesus,' — that, while they ' receive the word,' and receive it ' with joy,' they have mistaken views of its import, and cherish very different hopes, or hopes based on very uifferent foundations, from those which it sanctions, — that, therefore, like all formal or hypocritical professors of Christian discipleship, they are distinguished, not by believing right principles in a wrong way, but by believing principles which come far short of those spiritual, realizing views which are in- cluded in a real knowledge of the gospel ? A conception that the doctrine of Christ's substitutionary atonement opens a more luxurious way to heaven, than the doctrine of penance and self-mortifica- tion ; a notion that the gospel relaxes the severity of the law, and substitutes a sincere or a well- intended for a perfect obedience; an idea that Christianity conceals every awful manifestation of the divine character, and reveals God in an aspect of general or indiscriminate mercy ; even the low and grovelling fancy so powerful over many pretended followers of Christ in the days of his personal ministry, and so powerful still over multitudes living in circumstances where Christianity is fashionable or a matter of conventional propriety, that important temporal benefits, a good name in the world, social advantage, prosperity in temporal interests, may be attained by professing Christian discipleship ; — any of these may, and all of them often have been, quite sufficient to WITH JUSTIFICATION. 129 stamp upon men the character of the persons described in our Lord's parable, — to make them men wbo 'hear the word and anon with joy receive it,' but who have no root in themselves, and who, ' when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by are offended.' But do I need to point out that what ruins them is not wrong faith, but wrong principles, — that they err, not by believing the truth in a wrong way, but by transmuting the truth into error, and resting their faith upoti the latter ? The last kind of faith of which Dr. Ridgeley speaks is what he calls ' saving faith,' and what some writers call ' evangelical faith.' "What is thus denominated is the faith of a true disciple, — a subject of divine grace, or of the operations of the Holy Spirit, — a believer of the gospel rightly understood, and experienced in its power. Now the faith of such a man is unquestionably a grace ; it springs from the special work of the Divine Spirit on the soul, and cannot be produced or attained by man's own efforts. But is it therefore different as to the mode in which it is performed, or as to the kind of intellectual act in which it is exercised, from faith as directed to other statements than those of the gospel ? A natural man cannot of himself believe, just because he cannot of him- self knout, the things of the Spirit of God. He is unable to attain faith in spiritual, correct, realiz- ing views of the gospel, not because they must be believed by a mode of intellectual acting to which he is a stranger, but because ' they are foolishness to him, and are spiritually discerned.' He cannot of himself see either the reality or the intrinsic evidence of the gospel ; and, hence, must owe the faith which he may afterwards possess in it to the grace of God, to the gracious work of the Holy Spirit, who" alone can disclose it in that reality and evidence to his mind. He, accordingly, differs from a merely nominal or hypocritical professor of Christianity, not by the peculiar manner in which his mind operates or acts when believing, but by the divine illumination which he enjoys, — . by his perception, in heavenly light, of the doctrines of salvation, and the evidences which demon- strate them to be true. The apostles, when contrasting the natural and the spiritual state of true Christians, or when speaking of' the transition in which they became believers in Christ, make no allusion to the commencement in them of a new and peculiar way of believing, but describe them as having been formerly in darkness, but now light in the Lord, —as having received the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus, — as having had the eyes of their understanding enlightened, — as having been called into God's marvellous light. Whatever change is effected by grace on the intellect or understanding, they describe, not once as consisting in any new capacity imparted to it, or in its commencing to believe in a different manner or with a different sort of acting from before, but always as consisting in its being enlightened by heavenly teaching and convinced by heavenly evidence, — in its acquiring spiritual knowledge or correct ideas of the glorious gospel of the blessed God. Nor, when they addressed the ungodly and called on them to believe in Christ, do they ever seem to have entertained their hearers with discussions respecting kiwis of faith, or to have once hinted that believing the gospel was a different sort of intellectual act from believing ordinary statements. They appear, on the contrary, to have expended their whole concern in getting men to believe the right thing, — in placing luminously and impressively before them the great truths which were requisite to be believed ; and whether preaching these truths to Jews or to Gentiles, whether calling upon Greeks or barbarians, upon bond or free, upon the philosophers of Athens or the savages of the wilderness to believe them as the truths of salvation, they seem to have always taken for granted that their hearers knew well what believing of faith was. When men were duly instructed as to the doctrines they should believe, and as to the abso- lute necessity of looking to the Holy Spirit to explain and enforce them, their apostolic instructors, without adding a word respecting the nature of believing, seem to have declared to them what they esteemed 'the whole counsel of God.' One text, indeed, though only one, has the appearance of defining faith : ' Now faith is the confident expectation of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,' Heb. xi. 1. These words, however, are not a definition of faith, but a description ; and they describe it, not in itself, but in its results. By a metonymy — one of the most common rhe- torical figures either in ordinary language or in the sacred scriptures — they speak of faith, not in the act of performance, but in the habit of mind and state of moral feeling which that act induces, and represent it as a settled conviction of unseen realities and a confident hope of blessings hereafter to be enjoyed. They thus exhibit faith in the divine and life-giving and saving doctrines of the gospel, like faith in all the variety of sphere in which it is exercised, as affecting the heart and all the powers of the soul in exact accordance with the nature of the statements believed. Dr. Ridgeley makes still another distinction as to kinds of faith — he distinguishes between ' saving faith ' and 'justifying faith.' " There is this difference," says he, (last sentence of the sec- tion, " Inferences from the doctrine of Justification,") " between saving faith, as we generally call it, and justifying faith, — the former respects Christ in all his offices, the latter considers him only in his priestly office, or as set forth to be a propitiation for sin." Now, the real distinction in this case is, that justification is correlative with our Lord's work of atonement, while salvation is correlative with his whole work as mediator. But if, for this reason, faith in connexion with entire salvation is to be distinguished from faith in connexion with justification, it must also, for reasons exactly similar and of equal strength, be distinguished from faith in connexion with sanctification, with prayer, with con- solation, with hope, with resistance of temptation, and with triumph over the last enemy ; or if belief of the doctrines which have reference to our Lord's entire mediatorial work must be distinguished from belief of the doctrines which have reference to his work of atonement, it must also be distinguished from belief of those doctrines which have reference to his intercessory work, to his character as the head of the church, to his kingly government, to his second advent and judging the world, to the vari- ous works of the Holy Spirit, to the characters in which the Father is revealed in the economy of re- demption, and to all the various manifestations of Deity, by prophecy, promise, teaching, or miracle, made or narrated in the divine word. The varieties, kinds, or subdivisions of saving faith, would, in consequence, be unmanageable in their number and perfectly bewildering in their afflr-itie*. But the oracles of truth, — 'majestic in their own simplicity,' and gloriously alien in their manner II. ft # 130 THE CONNECTION OF FAITH from the ' complex' and mystifying conceptions of human reason — speak of the faith of the gosptk/ i;i all its parts, in all its offices, from its commencement in justification till its being matured into vision in the perfecting of the soul at death, in uniform phraseology, and under the one unqualified epithet of faith. They represent the sinner, when made alive to God, as justified by faith, — when conflicting with the world, as overcoming it by faith, — when sanctified by the Divine Spirit, as having their hearts purified by faith, — when approaching the throne of God in prayer, as drawing nigh in the full assurance of faith, — when standing in the grace of God, and rejoicing in the hope of his glory, as having access to it by faith, — when experiencing communion with Christ, as having him dwelling in their hearts by faith, — when walking with God, and living in union with the Saviour, as walking and living in faith, — when working righteousness, obtaining promises, stopping the mouths of lions, quenching the violence of fire, becoming strong out of weakness, waxing valiant in fight, turning to flight the armies of the aliens, seeing the promises afar off and being persuaded of them and embracing them, as doing all and embracing all through faith. In every part of salva- tion, whether justification or whatever else, they are simply said to believe. Though the particular truths on which their minds rest are different in different epochs, emergencies, relations, or works, their faith, as regards both its intrinsic nature and the divine illumination which exhibits to it the truth and its evidence, is strictly one. — Ed.] [Note M. Acts of Faith, Direct and Reflex."] — What is the impression which Dr. Ridgeley's ac- count of the various acts of saving faith would have upon the mind of a perplexed religious enquirer, or a young and feeble believer ? Would he not conclude that all the acts, in the distinctness with which they are described, are performed in the instant of the commencement of spiritual life, that receiving Christ as a Prophet, Priest, and King, a persuasion and an acknowledgment of his right to us by his purchase as Mediator, a surrender of ourselves to him in the way of solemn dedication to his service and animated hope of his working out our entire well-being, a soul-emptying sense of our own nothingness, a dependence on the all-sufficiency and faithfulness of God, and an assured re- liance or confidence in him for perfecting all which concerns us, are consciously experienced in the first moment of believing, or are all ingredients in the faith of a Christian in what circumstances or degree soever it is exercised? He would next think of his own experience; and, though for a while he might feel merely bewildered, agitated, or alarmed, he would be in hazard of sooner or later settling down into despondency, and writing bitter things respecting his soul. " If faith," he would be apt to say, " has so many acts, and these so distinct, so comprehensive, and involving such enlarged views of the divine character, and such emotions and purposes of self-emptying, hope, and holy confidence, I cannot, no, I cannot think otherwise than that I am an unbeliever, — just as much a stranger to faith as the most ungodly man who lives." How reviving to such a smitten soul would be the somewhat startling question, " Then, since you are an unbeliever, it is a matter of perfect indifference to you whether Christ is God or a mere man, or whether he died for you on the cross and intercedes for you in heaven, or not ?" " O, no 1" he might exclaim ; " any thing is indifferent rather than the glorious truths of the gospel. But for Christ's being just what the Bible represents him, the Great God our Saviour who died for our sins and rose again for our justification, I am certainly and eternally ruined. No, no ; the truth respecting Christ is not and cannot be a matter of indifference." The man would thus evince that he really believes, that Christ is precious to him, that he rejoices in Christ Jesus, serves God in the spirit and has no confidence in the flesh. Yet he is thrown into bewilderment and despondency by a systematic exhibition to him of ' the various acts of faith.' Talk to him of the ingredients, and acts, and exercises, and excursions of believing — telling him that faith is identical with all — and he sits down in darkness and sorrow ; but talk to him of the life-giving doctrines of the gospel, the exhibitions they give of the divine character and the statements they make of the grace and love and mediatorial work of the Redeemer, and he walks abroad in the light of heaven, and goes on his way rejoicing. What Dr. Ridgeley writes respecting the various acts of faith — apart from his identifying it with faith itself, or with faith in its own nature as distinguished from other graces — is clearly unobjec- tionable. Another man, entertaining simple views on the subject of faith, and throwing away the distinctions and refinements of the scholastic theology, would, in most instances, have said the same things in the same words, and in other instances similar things in somewhat different language, in describing the internal or experimental character of a Christian. A believer, even at the com- mencement of his spiritual life, and much more in the course of its progress, has substantially all the experiences which Dr. Ridgeley describes. Some of them, however, he possesses so slenderly that he cannot see a portraiture of them in a full-tinted description ; and most of them he is unable to identify with his act of believing, or with the exercise of the specific grace of faith. If believing alone include all the hope, confidence, self-renunciation, and various emotions, and holy habits re- presented, he must be utterly in a difficulty to discover how he is to add to his faith the numerous graces enjoined in the divine word, all as inherent as faith itself in the character of genuine disciple- ship. Let us be told simply that a man who believes the gospel receives Christ, renounces self- dependence, trusts in God, and hopes to become matured in every good word and work, and we feel no perplexity ; but,let us be told that self-renunciation, confidence in God, living hope and other emotions, and habits of the spiritual life are faith itself — faith regarded apart from every other Christian grace, or viewed in its own peculiar and distinguishing nature — and we either lie stunned from the infliction of a blow, or dash aside the uplifted wand, and request to have the texts of scrip- ture pointed out which warrant the representation we have heard. But if we are liable to be perplexed by what is said respecting 'the direct acts of faith,' we may po-sibly — if our minds should happen to be untainted with scholasticism — regard with unmixed wonder the account which is given of ' the reflex act of faith.' This act, as Dr. Ridgeley defines it, consists in " the soul's being persuaded that it believes, or that those acts of faith which have God or Christ for their object, are true and genuine." He, in other words, who performs the reflex act *f faith believes that he believes, or he has faith in his faith. Now, Dr. Ridgeley himself very WITH JUSTIFICATION. 13! justly remarks, " that as all scripture is the rule of faith, the matter which it contains is the object of faith." [See First subdivision of the section, " The Objects and Acts of Saving Faith."] But where does scripture say, respecting any living man whatever, that he believes or is a believer ? Such a proposition as " I, A. B., believe in Christ," or " Those acts of faith which 1, A. D., perform, and which have God or Christ for their object, are true and genuine," is entirely beyond the record ; and cannot, tnerefore, be a legitimate or a real object of a faith which rests entirely on the divine word. A man may believe that the blessings of redemption are divinely sufficient for him, divinely free for his acceptance, and divinely adapted to every need and capacity of his soul, — he may believe thart he is in exactly the predicament to need such a Saviour as the gospel reveals, and that Christ is exactly such a Saviour as will deliver him from all his evils, — he may believe that his heart and mind and body are in just the condition to require the manifestations of the gracious character of Deity and the internal operations of the Holy Spirit described in the scriptures, and that those manifestations and operations are divinely competent to work in him both to will and to do of God's good pleasure, — and he may even believe so firmly as to be assured of these truths, or to enjoy as really 'the assurance of faith,' as ' the assurance of understanding,' or ' the assurance of hope,' — he may do all this, while he looks simply on the Bible, seeing there, on the one hand, direct state- ments as to every matter relating to the divine character and the work of redemption, and, on the other, descriptions of the conduct, moral affections, ignorance and helplessness, of those whom Christ died to save, which hold up such a mirror to his mind that he sees the reflection of his like- ness, just as ' a natural man beholdeth his face in a glass ;' but if he believe more, — if he so in- dividualize his feelings and condition as to make them, distinctively and characteristically of him- self, a matter of revelation, — if he set up, not the truths respecting the gracious character of God and the mediatorial work of Christ and the peculiar offices of the Holy Spirit, but a proposition respecting the genuineness of his own believing, as the object of his faith, — if he fix his belief, not on statements of the divine word respecting the class or character of beings whom Christ died to save, but on a statement of his own making respecting himself as an individual, — he goes entirely beyond the limits of what God has commanded us to believe, and runs no small hazard of losing the true comfort of an assured or strong and unwavering faith in the Redeemer, of deluding himself with the false comfort derived from resting on his own experience, and even of substituting his own acts of believing for the work of the Saviour, and building his hopes of eternal well-being, not solely and immediately upon Christ, but chiefly or altogether upon his own faith. These conse- quences are far, very far, from having been intended or glanced at by Dr. Ridgeley ; yet they appear fairly to follow from the account he gives of the reflex act of believing — Ed.] ADOPTION. Question LXXIV. What is Adoption f Answer. Adoption is an act of the free grace of God, in and for his only Son Jesus Christ ; 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, are under his fatherly care and dispensations, ad- mitted to all the liberties and privileges of the sons of God, made heirs of all the promises, and fellow-heirs with Christ in glory. In discussing this Answer, we shall observe the following method. First, we shall consider the various senses in which persons are the sons of God ; and particularly, how they are so called bj adoption. Secondly, we shall show the difference be- tween adoption as understood by men, and as it is applied in this Answer to God's taking persons into the relation of being his children ; whence it will appear to be an act of his free grace. Thirdly, we shall consider the reference the sonship of be- lievers has to the superior and more glorious Sonship of Jesus Christ, and how it is said to be for his sake. Lastly, we shall consider the privileges conferred on or reserved for those, who are the sons of God by adoption. The Various Senses of the name ' Sons of God.1 We shall here consider, then, the various senses in which persons are called the sons of God. 1. Some are called the sons of God, as they are invested with many honours or prerogatives from God as a part of his image. Thus magistrates are called 'the children of the Most High.'b 2. Others are called God's children, by an external federal relation, as members of the visible church. In this sense we are to understand the scripture in which b Psal. lxxxii. 6. 132 ADOPTION. it i> said, ' the sons of God saw the daughters of men,'c &c. When Moses went in to Pharaoh to demand liberty for the Israelites, he was ordered to say, ' Israel is my son, even my first-born.'d Though this privilege, by which the church is dis- tinguished from the world, is high and honourable ; yet it is not inseparably con- nected with salvation. For God says concerning Israel, when revolting and back- Blidiug from him, ' I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against nil'.'" Many of those also who are called ' the children of the kingdom, shall be cast into outer darkness, where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 'f 3. The name ' sons of God ' is sometimes taken in a more large sense, as appli- cable to all mankind. Thus the prophet says, * Have we not all one father ? hath not one God created us?'s And the apostle Paul, when disputing with the Athe- nians, speaks in their own language, and quotes a saying taken from one of their poets, which lie applies to the great God, as 'giving to all life and breath, and all things;' on which account men are called ' his offspring.'11 4. Those are called the sons of God who are endowed with his supernatural image, and admitted to the highest honours and privileges conferred upon creatures. Thus the angels are called ' the sons of God.'1 5. Our Lord Jesus Christ is called the Son of God, in a sense not applicable to any other. His Sonship includes his deity, and his having, in his human nature, received a commission from the Father, to engage in the great work of our redemp- tion, as becoming surety for us ; which is the foundation of all those saving bless- ings which we enjoy or hope for. 6. Believers are called the sons of God, by a special adoption. This is to be particularly considered, as it is the subject of the present Answer. Adoption is a word taken from the civil law. The practice which it denotes was much in use among the Romans in the apostles' time ; in which it was a custom for persons who had no children of their own, and were possessed of an estate, to prevent its being divided, or descending to strangers, to make choice of such as were agreeable to them and beloved by them, whom they took into the political relation of chil- dren, obliging them to take their name upon them and to pay respect to them as if they had been their natural parents, engaging to deal with them as if they had been so, and accordingly giving them a right to their estates as an inheritance. This new relation, founded in mutual consent, is a bond of affection ; and the privilege arising from it is, that he who is in this sense a father, takes care of and provides for the person whom he adopts, as if he were his son by nature. Hence, civilians call adoption an act of legitimation, imitating nature, or supplying the place of it. The Difference between Divine and Human Adoption. We are now led to consider the difference between adoption as understood by men, and as it is applied in this Answer to God's taking persons into the relation of being his children. 1. When men adopt persons, or take them into the relation of children, they do it because they are destitute of children of their own to possess their estates, and so fix their love on strangers. But God was under no obligation to do this ; for if he designed to manifest his glory to any creatures, the holy angels were subjects capable of receiving the displays of it ; and his own Son, who had all the perfec- tions of the divine nature, was infinitely the object of -his delight, and in all re- spects fitted to be as he is styled, ' the heir of all things. 'k 2. When men adopt, they are generally inclined to do it by seeing some excel- lency or amiableness in the persons whom they fix their love upon. Thus Pharaoh's daughter took up Moses, and nourished him as her own son, because he was ' ex- ceediug fair.'1 Or it may be, she was moved by a natural compassion she had for him, besides the motive of his beauty ; as it is said, ' the babe wept, and she had compassion on him.'m Mordecai also adopted Esther, or took her as his own e Gen. vi. 2. d Exod. iv. 22. e Isa. i. 2. f Matt. viii. 12. g Mai. ii. 10. h Acts xvii. 25; compared with 28. i Job xxxviii. 7. k Heb. i. 2. 1 Acts vii. 20, 21. m Exod. ii. 6. ADOPTION. 133 daughter, 'for she was his uncle's daughter, and was fair and beautiful,' and an orphan, ' having neither father nor mother.'11 But when God takes any into the rela- tion of children, they have no beauty or comeliness, and might justly have been for ever the object of his abhorrence. Thus he says concerning the church of Israel, when he first took them into this relation, ' None eye pitied thee ; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the loathing of thy person. 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,'0 &c. It might indeed be said concerning man, when admitted to this favour and privilege, that he was miserable ; but misery, how much soever it may render the soul an object of pity, cannot, properly speaking, be said to be a motive or inducement whence the divine compassion took its rise. This appears from the account we have of the mercy of God, as founded only on his sovereign will or pleasure, as he says, ' I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion ;'p and also from the con- sideration of man's being exposed to misery by sin, which rendered him an object rather of vindictive justice than of mercy. His misery, therefore, cannot be the ground of God's giving him a right to an inheritance. Hence, adoption is truly said, in this Answer, to be an act of the free grace of God. 3. When men adopt, their taking persons into the relation of children, is not necessarily attended with any change of disposition or temper in the persons adopted. A person may be admitted to this privilege, and yet remain the same, in that re- spect, as he was before. But when God takes his people into the relation of chil- dren, he gives them not only those other privileges which arise thence, but also that temper and disposition which becomes those who are thus related to him. The Reference of the Sonship of Believers to the Sonship of Christ. We are next to consider the reference which the sonship of believers has to the superior and more glorious Sonship of Jesus Christ ; and how it is said to be for his sake. Here we must suppose that there is a sense in which Christ is said to be the Son of God, as the result of the divine decree. This contains an idea very dis- tinct from his being a divine person. For that was not the result of the will of the Father ; whereas it is said concerning him, ' I will declare the decree ; the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.'i Else- where, also, it is said, ' He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than ' the angels ; and this is represented as the consequence of God's saying to him, ' Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee,' and ' I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son ;'r which plainly refers to Christ as Media- tor.8 Now, when we consider this mediatorial Sonship of Christ, if I may so ex- press it, we are far from asserting that Christ's Sonship and that of believers is of the same kind ; for, as much as he exceeds them as Mediator, as to the glory of his person and office, so much is his Sonship superior to theirs. This being premised, we may now better understand the reference which the sonship of believers has to Christ's being the Son of God as Mediator. Let it be considered, then, that it is a prerogative and glory of Christ as the Son of God, that he has all things which relate to the salvation of his elect put into his hand. Hence, whatever the saints enjoy or hope for, which is sometimes called in scrip- ture their inheritance, agreeably to their character as the children of God by adop- tion, is considered as first purchased by Christ and then put into his hand. Ou this account it is styled his inheritance ; he being, pursuant to his having accom- plished the work of redemption, constituted heir of all things ; and' as such, not only having a right to his people, but being put in possession of all those spiritual blessings in heavenly places, wherewith they are 'blessed in him.'* It hence fol- lows that the sonship of believers, and their right to that inheritance which God has reserved for them, depends upon the sonship of Christ, which is infinitely more ii Esther ii. 7. o Ezek. xvi. 5. p Rom. ix. 15.. q Psal. ii. 7. r Heb. i. 4, 5. s [For an examination of the views which Dr. Ridgeley here ami elsewhere expresses of our Lord's Sonship, See Note ' The Sonship of Christ,' under Quest, ix, x, xi. — Ed.] t Euh. i. 3. 134 ADOPTION. glorious and excellent. As God's adopted sons, they have the honour conferred upon them of being ' made kings and priests ' to him.u These honours are conferred by Christ; and, in order to their being so, they are first given to him to bestow upon them. Thus lie says, ' 1 appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me.'1 Christ is first appointed heir of all things as Mediator; and then his people, or his children, are considered as 'heirs of God,' as the apos- tle expresses it, 'and joint-heirs with Christ.' * Not that they have any share in his personal or mediatorial glory ; but when they are styled 'joint-heirs ' with him, we must consider them as having a right to that inheritance which he is possessed of in their name as Mediator. In this' sense we are to understand those scriptures which speak of God being first the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and then, in him, our Father. Thus Christ says, ' I ascend unto my Father, and your Father ; and to my God, and your God.'z Elsewhere God is styled 'the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,' and then ' the Father of mercies,' or our merciful Father.8 Again, the apostle says, ' 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 predestinated us unto the adoption of children, by Jesus Christ, to himself.'b And inasmuch as he designed to ' bring many sons to glory, ' they being ' made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light,' he first ' made the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.'0 In this respect, our right to the inheri- tance of children is founded in the eternal purpose of God relating to that right, and in the purchase of Christ as having obtained this inheritance for us. The Privileges of Adoption. We are now to consider the privileges conferred on or reserved for those who are the sons of God by adoption. These are summed up in a very comprehensive ex- pression which contains an amazing display of divine grace : ' He that overcometh, shall inherit all things ; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.'d It is a very large grant which God is pleased to make to them : ' they shall inherit all things.' God is not ashamed to be called their God ; and in having him, they are said to possess all things, which are eminently and transcendently in him. They have a right to all the blessings which he had designed for them, and which have a tendency to make them completely happy. In this sense we are to understand our Saviour's words in the parable: ' Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.' e Nothing greater than this can be desired or enjoyed by creatures whom the Lord delights to honour. Let us, however, be a little more particular in con- sidering the privileges which God confers on or has reserved for his children. 1. They are all emancipated, or freed from the slavery which they were before under either to sin or Satan. They who were once ' the servants of sin,' are, by adoption, 'made free from sin, and become the. servants of righteousness,' or be- come ' servants to God, have their fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.'f ' The Son makes them free ;' and therefore, ' they are free indeed. * They are described as having formerly 'served divers lusts and pleasures ;'h and are said to have been ' of their father, the devil,' and to ' have done his works,' or followed his suggestions,1 ensnared and ' taken captive by him at his will ;'k and, in conse- quence, they were in perpetual bondage, arising from a dread of the wrath of God, and from a ' fear of death ' impressed on their spirits by him who is said to have 'the power of death.'1 But they have now deliverance from these evils ; which cannot but be reckoned a glorious privilege. 2. They have God's name put upon them, and accordingly are described as ' his people, called by his name.'™ This is an high and honourable character, denoting their relation to him as a peculiar people ; and it belongs to them alone. Thus the church says, ' We are thine ; thou never bearest rule over them,'n namely, u Rev. i. 6. x Luke xxii. 29. y Rom. viii. 17. z John xx. 17. a 2 Cor. i. 3. b Eph. i. 3. compared with 5. c Heb. ii. 10. compared with Col. i. 12. d Rev. xxi. 7. e Luke xv. 31. f Rom. vi. 17. 18, 22. g John viii. 36. h Tit. iii. 3. i John vim. 44. k 2 Tim. ii. 26. 1 Heb. ii. 14, 15. m.2 Chron. vii. 14. n Isa. lxiiv. 19. ADOPTION. 135 thine adversaries ; ' they were not called by thy name.' God's adopted children have also Christ's name put on them. ' Of him the whole family in heaven and earth is named.'0 This signifies not only that propriety which he has in them as Mediator, but their relation to him as the ransomed of the Lord, — his sheep, whom he leads and feeds like a shepherd. They are also styled his children, when he says, • Behold I and the children which God hath given me.'P Indeed, when he is called a surety, or an advocate, or is said to execute certain offices as a Saviour or Redeemer, these are all relative terms ; and whatever he does in the capacities which they denote is in the name of his people, and for their advantage. Accord- ingly, it is said, ' Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wis- dom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.' i 3. They arc taken into God's family, and dealt with as members of it ; and ac- cordingly are styled 'fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.'r As the consequence of this, they have protection, provision, and communion with him. First, they have safe protection. As the master of a family thinks himself obliged to secure and defend from danger all who are under his roof, whose house is, as it were, their castle ; so Christ is his people's defence. Accordingly, it is said concerning him, ' A man shall be as an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest ; as rivers of water in a dry place, and as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.'8 As the consequence of this, it is added, ' My peo- ple shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet rest- ing-places.'* ' They dwell on high ; their place of defence is the munition of rocks.'" He who has subdued their enemies, and will, in his own time, bruise them under their feet, will take care that they shall not meet with that disturbance from them which may hinder their repose or rest in him, or render their state unsafe, so as to endanger their perishing or falling from it.— Again, they enjoy the plentiful provisions of God's house. Hence, Christ is called their 'shepherd,'1 not only as leading and defending them, but as providing for them. ' He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. 'J As all grace is treasured up in him, and there is a fulness of it which he has to impart to the heirs of salvation which is sufficient to supply all their wants ; so they shall never have reason to complain that they are straitened in him. The blessings of his house are not only exhilarating but satisfying, and such as have a tendency to make them completely happy. — Further, they are ad- mitted to the greatest intimacy with Christ, and have sweet communion with him : ' The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him.'z He deals with them as with 4 friends :' particularly, as he tells his disciples, in that ' all that he has heard of the Father,'3 that is, whatever he had a commission to impart for their direction or comfort, he 'makes known unto them;' which must needs be reckoned a very great privilege. If the queen of Sheba, when beholding the advantages which they who were in Solomon's presence enjoyed, could not but with an ecstasy of admira- tion say, ' Happy are thy men ; happy are thy servants, which stand continually before thee, that hear thy wisdom ;'b much more may they be said to be happy who are admitted into his presence in whom 'are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.'0 4. Another privilege which they enjoy, is access to God, as a reconciled Father, through Christ. They have liberty to ' come boldly to the throne of grace, that they may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.'d Whatever their straits and difficulties are, God holds forth his golden sceptre, invites them to come to him, asks, ' What is thy petition ?' and gives them ground to hope that it shall be granted, so far as it may redound to his glory and their good. And inasmuch as they are often straitened in their spirits, and unprepared to draw nigh to him, they have the promise of the Spirit to assist them; on which account he is called 'the Spirit of adoption, whereby they cry, Abba, Father.' e This privilege is said to be a consequence of their being sons : ' Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 'f By this means they have o Eph. iii. 15. p Heb. ii. 13. q 1 Cor. i. 31 r Eph. ii. 19. s Ish. xxxii. 2. t Ver. 18. U Chap, xxxiii. 16. x Psal. xxiii. 1. y Isa. xl. 11. z Psal. xxv. 14. a John xv. 15. It 1 Kings x. 8. c Col. ii. 3. <1 Heb. iv. 16. e Hum, viii. .15. f Gal. iv. 6. 136 ADOPTION. becoming conceptions of the Divine Majesty, a reverential fear of him, a love to liini, earnest desires of communion with him, and of being made partakers of what be ha- to impart. They have a right to plead the promises; and in so doing, are encouraged to hope for the blessings they contain. 5. As God's children are prone to backslide from him, and so have need of re- storing grace, he will recover and humble them, and thereby prevent their total apostasy, This he sometimes does by afflictions, which the apostle calls fatherly chastisements, and which he reckons not only consistent with his love, but evi- dences of it. ' Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth ;' and ' if ye be without chas- tisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and notsons.'s The apostle speaks here, of afflictions, not as considered absolutely m themselves, but as proceeding from the love of God, as designed to do them good, and as adapted to the present state, in which they are training up for the glorious inheritance reserved for them in heaven, and need some trying dispensations which may put them in mind of that state oi" perfect blessedness which is laid up for them. These afflic- tions are rendered subservient to their present and future advantage. In the pre- sent life, they ' bring forth the peaceful fruits of righteousness ' to them ; and when they are in the end perfectly freed from them, they will tend to enhance their joy and praise. This leads us to consider another privilege, which is so great that it crowns all those they are now possessed of. 6. They shall, at last, be brought into God's immediate presence, and satisfied with his likeness. The apostle, speaking of the perfect blessedness of the saints, when raised from the dead, and delivered from the bondage of corruption, and made partakers of the glorious liberty of the sons of God, calls it by way of eminence, 'the adoption, to wit, the redemption of their bodies.' This signifies, not only the full manifestation of their adoption, but their taking possession of their inheritance, which they are now waiting and hoping for, and which is too great for the heart of man to conceive of in this present state. ' Now,' says the apostle, ' 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.'h Hence, all the blessings which we have either in hand or in hope, the blessings of both worlds, the blessings which are conferred upon us from our conversion to our glori- fication, are the privileges which God bestows on those who are his adopted children. The Connection between Adoption and Justification. * From what has been said concerning adoption, we may take occasion to observe how, in some respects, it agrees with justification, or may indeed be reckoned a branch of it, and, in other respects, includes something which is an ingredient in sanctifi- cation. We formerly observed, when treating of justification, that, when God for- gives sin, he confers on his people a right to life, or to all the blessings of the cove- nant of grace, in which are contained the promises which belong to the life that now is, and that which is to come. These are the privileges which God's adopted children are made partakers of ; and in this respect some divines suppose that adoption is included in our justification.1 If justification be explained as denoting an immanent act in God, whereby the elect are considered, in the covenant between the Father and the Son, as in Christ their federal head ; they are then considered as the adopted children of God in Christ. Accordingly, when described as chosen in Christ unto eternal life, they are said to be 'predestinated unto the adoption of children ;'k which is a privilege to be obtained by Jesus Christ. In this respect all the elect are called Christ's 'seed that shall serve him,'1 whom he had a special regard to, when he made his soul an offering for sin, and concerning whom he had the promise made to him in the covenant which passed between the Father and him, that ' he should see them, and the pleasure of the Lord,' with respect to their everlasting salvation, 'should prosper in his hand.'m Now, when Christ is considered as the head of the elect, who g Htb. xii. 6, 8, 11. hi John iii. 2. i Vid. Turret. Theol. Elenct. Tom. 2. Loc. 16. § 7. k Luh- '• 5- 1 Psal. x.xii. 30. m Isa. liii. 10. SANCTIFICATION. 137 are in this sense called his sons whom he has engaged to bring to glory, faith is the fruit and consequence of adoption. Accordingly, the apostle says, ' Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.'11 But as justification is a declared act, and is said to be by faith ; so adoption, agreeing with it, is of the same nature. Accordingly we are said to be the ' chil- dren of God by faith ;'° that is, it is by faith that we have a right to claim the relation of children, together with the privileges which are the result of it. Moreover, as adoption includes a person's being made meet for the inheritance which God has reserved for him, and his being endowed with the temper and dis- position of his children, consisting in humility, heavenly-mindedness, love to him, dependence upon him, a zeal for his glory, a likeness to Christ, a having in some measure the same mind in us which was in him, it in this respect agrees with sanc- tification, — which is what we are next to consider. SANCTIFICATION. Question LXXV. What is sanctification f Answer. Sanctification is a work of God's grace, whereby they whom God hath, before the foundation of the world, chosen to be holy, are in time, through the powerful operation of his Spirit, applying the death and resurrection of Christ unto them, renewed in their whole man, after the image of God. having the seeds of repentance unto life, and of all other saving graces, put into their hearts; and those graces so stirred up, increased, and strengthened, as that they more and more die unto sin, and rise unto newness of life. The meaning of the word ' Sanctify.' We shall show what we are to understand by the word ' sanctify.' Sanctifying is sometimes considered as what has God for its object. Thus he is said to ' sanctify himself,' when he appears in the glory of his holiness, and gives occasion to the world to adore that perfection. This he is sometimes represented as doing, when he punishes sin in a visible and exemplary manner. Thus, when God threat- ens to call for 'a sword,' and to 'plead against' a rebellious people 'with pestilence and with blood,' he is said, by this means, to 'magnify and sanctify himself,' so as to be ' known,' that is, as a holy God, ' in the eyes of many nations.' Likewise, when he fulfils his promises, and thereby advances his holiness, as when he brought his people out of captivity, and gathered them out of the countries in which they had been scattered, he is said to be 'sanctified in them.'P And he is sanctified by his people, when they give him the glory which is due to his holiness, as thus dis- placed and magnified by him. Thus, God's people are said to ' sanctify the Lord of hosts,' when they make him the object of their ' fear and of their dread. 'i This, however, is not the sense in which we are here to understand the word ' sanctify.' But we are to consider it as applied to men. In this respect it is taken in various senses. Sometimes it is used to denote their consecration or separation to God. Thus, our Saviour says, when devoting and applying himself to the work for which he came into the world, 'For their sakes I sanctify myself. * But this is not the sense in which it is to be understood in this Answer. More- over, it is often taken in scripture for persons being devoted to God to minister in holy things. Thus, Aaron and his sons were ' sanctified, that they might minister unto him in the priest's office.'3 It is sometimes taken also for an external federal dedication to God, to walk before him as a peculiar people in observance of his holy institutions. Thus, when Israel consented to be God's people, they are styled, 'holiness unto the Lord,'' 'the holy seed,'u and 'a holy nation.'1 And the church under the gospel-dispensation, as consecrated and professing subjection to Christ, n Gal. iv. 6. o Chap. iii. 26. p Ezek. xxxviii. 21—23. q Isa. viii. 13. r John xvii. 19. s Exod. xxviii. 41. t Jer. ii. 3. u Ezra ix. 2. x 1 Pet. ii. 9. II. S 138 SANCTIFICATION. or as separated to his service and waiting for his presence while engaged in all those ordinances which he has appointed in the gospel, is described as ' called to be saints ;'y and, as thus sanctified, they are related to him in an external and visible way. Neither is this, however, the sense in which the word is understood in this Answer. We are here to understand sanctification as a special discriminating grace, whereby persons are, not externally only, but really devoted to Christ by faith. It is the internal beauty of the soul ; whereby all the faculties being renewed, and a powerful effectual change wrought in them, they are enabled to turn from sin unto God, and exercise all those graces by which they ' walk in holiness and righ- teousness before him all the days of their lives,'2 till this work, which is gradually carried on here, shall be brought to perfection hereafter. What Sanctification includes. Sanctification, as described in this Answer, may be considered as including several graces which have been already insisted on, namely, regeneration, effectual calling, and faith. There is also another grace connected with it, which will be particularly insisted on under the next Answer, namely, repentance unto life. All these graces are said to be wrought by the powerful operation of the Spirit in those who were, before the foundation of the world, chosen to be holy. Regeneration is styled by some 'initial sanctification,' as all graces take their rise from the principle which is therein implanted. Effectual calling, or conversion, is that whereby we are brougfit into the way of holiness, and internally disposed to walk in it. Faith is that grace whereby this work is promoted ; as all holy actions proceed from it, as deriving strength from Christ to perform them. Repentance is that whereby the work of sanctification discovers itself in the soul's abhorring and fleeing from everything which tends to defile it, and approves itself to God as one who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity without the greatest detestation. But as these graces either have been or will be particularly insisted on in their proper place, we shall more especially consider sanctification as a progressive work. As such it is distinguished from them ; and, as the subject of it, we daily consecrate or de- vote ourselves to God, our actions have all a tendency to advance his glory, and, by the Spirit, we are enabled more and more to die unto sin and to live unto righ- teousness. It is therefore not merely one act of grace, but includes the whole pro- gress of the work of grace, as gradually carried on till perfected in glory. This is what we are particularly to consider. I. Sanctification includes a continual devotedness to God. As the first act of faith consists in making a surrender of ourselves to Christ, depending on his assist- ance in beginning the work of obedience in the exercise of all Christian graces ; so sanctification is the continuance of this surrender and dependence. When we are converted, we receive Christ Jesus the Lord ; and in sanctification we walk in him, exercise a daily dependence on him in the execution of all his offices, make his word our rule, and delight in it after the inward man. How difficult soever the duties are which he commands, we take pleasure in the performance of them, make religion our great business, and, in order to this, conclude that every thing we receive from him is to be improved to his glory. And as every duty is to be performed by faith ; so what was formerly observed concerning the life of faith, is to be considered as an expedient to promote the work of sanctification. II. In the carrying on of the work of sanctification, we are to endeavour, to our utmost, to guard against the prevailing power of sin, by all those methods which are prescribed in the gospel ; that so it may not have dominion over us. This is gen- erally styled the work of mortification. The apostle speaks of ' our old man being crucified with Christ, and the body of sin destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin;'a of our ' crucifying the flesh with the affections and lusts ;' and of our 'mortifying the deeds of the body through the Spirit,' b— that is, by his assistance and grace, which is necessary to our success.0 This is a very difficult work, espe- f Rom, i. 7- z Luke i. 75. a Rom. v'u (J. b Gal. v. 24. c Rom. viii. 13. SANCT1FICATION. 139 cially considering the prevalence of corruption, — the multitude of temptations to which we are exposed, — the subtilty and watchfulness of Satan, who walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, — the treachery of our own hearts, which are so prone to depart from God, — the fickleness and instability of our reso- lutions,—the irregularity of our affections, and the constant efforts made by cor- rupt nature to gain the ascendency over them, and turn them aside from God. Cor- rupt nature sometimes gains the ascendency by presenting things in a false view, calling evil good, and good evil ; representing some things as harmless and not dis- pleasing to God, which are most pernicious and offensive ; endeavouring to lead us into mistakes as to the matter of sin or duty, and to persuade us that those things will issue well which are likely to prove bitterness in the end ; and attempting to make us believe that we are in a right and safe way, when in reality we are walking contrary to God, and corrupt nature is gaining strength. This, however, will be farther considered, when we speak concerning the imperfection of sanctification in believers.*1 Now, the difficulties which we have stated render it necessary for us to make use of those methods which God has prescribed for the mortification of sin. 1. We must endeavour to maintain a constant sense of the heinous nature of sin, as it is contrary to the holiness of God, a stain which cannot be washed away but by the blood of Jesus, the highest display of ingratitude for all the benefits which we have received, a bitter and an only evil, the abominable thing that God hates. It is to be considered not only as condemning, but as defiling ; that, by so con- sidering it, we may maintain a constant abhorrence of it, — and that not only of those sins which expose us to scorn and reproach in the eye of the world, but of every thing which is in itself sinful, as contrary to the law of God. 2. We must be watchful against the breakings forth of corrupt nature ; observe the frame and disposition of our spirits, and the deceitfulness of sin, which has a tendency to harden us ; and avoid all occasions of or incentives to it, ' hating even the garment spotted by the flesh, 'e ' abstaining from all appearance of evil.'f We may add, that we are frequently to examine ourselves with respect to our behaviour in every state of life ; whether sin be gaining or losing ground in us ; whether we make conscience of performing every duty, both personal and relative ; what guilt we contract by sins of omission, or the want of that fervency of spirit which has a tendency to beget a formal, dead, and stupid frame and temper of mind, and there- by hinder the progress of the work of sanctification. But that which is the prin- cipal if not the only expedient which will prove effectual for the mortifying of sin, is our seeking help against it from him who is able to give us the victory over it. 3. Whatever attempts we use against the prevailing power of sin, in order to the mortifying of it, must be performed by faith ; seeking and deriving that help from Christ which is necessary to our success. Hence, as the dominion of sin consists in its rendering us guilty in the sight of God, so that the conscience is burdened by reason of the dread which it has of the punishment which is due to us, and of the condemning sentence of the law to which we are liable ; and as its mortification, in this respect, consists in our deliverance from that which makes us so uneasy ; no expedient can be used to mortify it, but our looking by faith to Christ as a propi- tiation for sin, whereby we are enabled to behold the debt which we had contracted cancelled, the indictment superseded, and the condemning sentence repealed, whence the soul concludes that iniquity shall not be its ruin. This is the only me- thod we are to take when oppressed with a sense of the guilt of sin, which is daily committed by us. It was shadowed forth by the Israelites looking to the brazen serpent, a type of Christ crucified, when they were stung with fiery serpents, which occasioned exquisite pain, and would, without this expedient, have brought imme- diate death. Thus the deadly wound of sin is healed by the sovereign balm of Christ's blood applied by faith ; and we, by his having fulfilled the law, may be said to be dead to it, as freed from its curse and from all the sad consequences which would follow. Again, sin is said to have dominion over us, in all the powers and faculties of d See Quest, lxxviii. e Jude 23. f 2 Thess. v. 22. 140 SANCTIFICATION. our souls being enslaved by it, whereby, as the apostle expresses it, | we are carnal, sold under sin ;'* m our being weak and unable to perform what is good ; and in the corruption of nature being so predominant, that we are, as it were, carried down the stream, which we strive against, but in vain. Now, in this respect, sin is to be mortified by a fiducial application to Christ for help against it. We are to consider him as having undertaken to deliver not only from the condemning, but from the prevailing power of sin. His delivering us from this is a part of the work which he is now engaged in ; wherein he applies the redemption he purchased, by the powerful influences of the Holy Spirit, and the soul seeks to him for them. x\.s it is natural for us, when we are in imminent danger of present ruin, or are assaulted by an enemy whose superior force we are not able to withstand, to cry out to some kind friend for help; or when we are in danger of death, by some disease which nature is ready to sink under, to apply ourselves to the physician for relief ; so the believer is to apply to Christ for strength against the prevailing power of indwell- ing sin, and for grace to make him more than a conqueror over it ; and Christ, by his Spirit, enables us, as the apostle says, 'to mortify the deeds of the body.'h In order to our thus applying to Christ, we take encouragement from the promises of God, and from the connection which there is between Christ's having made satisfaction for sin, and his delivering his redeemed people from the power of it. The apostle says, ' Sin shall not have dominion over you ; for ye are not under the law,' that is, under the condemning sentence of it, 'but under grace,' ' as having an interest in that grace which has engaged to deliver from sin. In both these re- spects, we consider Christ, not only as able, but as having undertaken, to deliver his people from all their spiritual enemies, to relieve them in all their straits and exigencies, and to bring them off safe and victorious. This is the method which we are to take to mortify sin ; and it is a never-failing remedy. What was ob- served under the foregoing Heads, concerning our endeavouring to see the evil of sin, and exercising watchfulness against the occasions of it, are necessary duties, without which sin will gain strength. The victory over it, however, is principally owing to our deriving righteousness and strength, by faith, from Christ ; whereby he has the glory of a conqueror over it, and we have the advantage of receiving this privilege as applying ourselves to him, and relying upon him, for it. Having considered the way in which sin is to be mortified agreeably to the gos- pel-rule, we shall, before we close this Head, take notice of some other methods which many rest in, thinking thereby to free themselves from the dominion of sin, which will not answer that end. Some, who do not duly consider the spirituality of the law of God, have no other notion of sin than as it discovers itself in those gross enormities which are matter of public scandal or reproach in the eye of the world. Such sentiments of moral evil the apostle Paul had before his conversion ; he says, ' I was alive without the law once ;'k and, ' I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.' ' Sin' did not ' appear to be sin ;' l that is, nothing was thought sin by him but that which was openly scandalous, and deemed so by universal consent. He hence says elsewhere, that ' touching the righteous- ness which is in the law, he was blameless. 'm Ephraim also is represented as say- ing, ' In all my labour they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin.'n Per- sons of the class to which we refer think they shall come off well, if they can say that they are not guilty of some enormous crimes ; so that none can charge them with those open debaucheries or other sins which are not to be mentioned among Christians. Or if, through any change in their condition of life, or by being deliv- ered from those temptations which gave occasion to them, or by their natural temper being less inclined to them than before, they abstain from such crimes, they call their abstinence a mortifying of sin ; though the most that can be said of it is, that sin is only curbed or confined, and their natural inclinations to it abated, while it is far from being dead. Others who will allow that sin is of a far larger extent, and in- cludes that which prevails in the heart, as well as that which renders itself visible in the life, and contains the omission of duties, as well as the actual commission g Rom. vii. 14. h Chap. viii. 13. i Chap. vi. 14. k Chap. vii. 9. comparetl with 7. 1 Verse 13. m Phil. iii. 6. n Hos. xii. 8. SANCTIFICATION. 141 of known sins, often take a preposterous method to mortify it. If they are sensi- ble of the guilt which is contracted, they use no other method to be discharged irom it, but to pretend to make atonement, either by confessing their sins, by using endeavours to abstain from them, or by the performance of some duties of religion by which they think to make God amends for the injuries they have offered to him. This, however, is so far from mortifying sin, that it increases its guilt, and causes it to take deeper root, and afterwards to break forth in a greater 'degree ; or it tends to stupify the conscience, so that they afterwards go on in the way of sin, with carnal security, and without remorse. Others think, that to mortify sin, is nothing else but to subdue and keep under their passions, at least to such a degree that they may not, through the irregularity and impetuous violence of them, com- mit those sins which they cannot but reflect upon with shame when brought into a more calm and considerate temper of mind. In order to this, they subject them- selves to certain rules, which the light of nature will suggest, and the wiser heathen have laid down, to induce persons to lead a virtuous life. They argue with them- selves, that it is below the dignity of human nature for men to suffer their passions to lead their reason captive, or to do that which betrays a want of wisdom as well as temper. If by this means the exorbitancy of their passions is abated, and many sins which it occasions are prevented, they conclude their lives to be unblemished, and sin subdued. Yet all they do is nothing but a restraining of the fury of their temper, or the giving of a check to some sins, while sin in general remains unmortified. ' As to the methods prescribed by some Popish casuists, of emaciating the body, or keeping it under by physic or a sparing diet, and submitting to hard penances, not only to atone for past sins, but to prevent them for the future ; these have not a tendency to strike at the root of sin, and therefore are unjustly called a mortifying of it. For though an abstemious regular way of living is conducive to some valu- able ends, and though without it, men are led to the commission of many sins ; yet it is no expedient to take away guilt, nor does it sufficiently subdue the enslaving, captivating, and prevailing power of indwelling sin, which discovers itself in various shapes, and attends every condition and circumstance of life. Equally useless are those common methods which many others take, and which are of a different nature. When persons resolve, though in their own strength, to break off their sins by re- pentance, or when they endeavour to strengthen their resolutions to lead a virtuous life, when these are weak and not much regarded by them, their efforts will not answer the designed end. Sin will be too strong for all their resolutions ; and the engagements with which they bind themselves will be but like the cords with which Sampson was bound, which were broken by him like threads. If we rely on our own strength, how much soever we may be resolved to abstain from sin at present, God will make us sensible of our weakness by leaving us to ourselves ; and then how much soever we resolve to abstain from sin, it will appear that it is far irom being mortified or subdued by us. We conclude, therefore, that mortification of sin cannot be performed, but by going forth in the name and strength of Christ, who is able to keep us from falling, or, when fallen, to recover us. This will be found in the end to be the best expedient for promoting this branch of our sanctification. III. In carrying on the work of sanctification, we are enabled to walk with God, or before him, in holiness and righteousness. We are first made alive in regener- ation ; and then we put forth living actions. The experience of this some call vivification, as distinguished from that part of sanctification which has been already considered, namely, mortification of sin. This is what we may call leading an holy life ; and we are to understand by it much more than many do. They suppose that it consists only in the performance of some moral duties which contain the external part of religion, without which there would not be the least shadow of holiness ; in performing those duties which we owe to men in the various relations, which we stand in to them ; or, at least, in keeping ourselves clear of those ' pollu- tions which are in the world through lust.'0 The Pharisee, in the gospel, thought himself an extraordinarily holy person, because he was no extortioner, nor unjust, nor adulterer, but fasted, paid tithes, and performed several works of charity. o 2 Pet. i. 4. 142 SANCTIFICATION. Many also are great pretenders to holiness, who have no other than a form of god- liness without the power of it, or who are more than ordinarily diligent in their attendance on the ordinances of God's appointment, though they are far from giving that attendance in a right way, and are like those whom the prophet speaks of, who are said to ' seek God daily, and to delight to know his ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God,' though at the same time, they are said to ' fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the list of wickedness. 'p That we may consider several other things which are contained in a person's leading an holy life, let it be observed that our natures must be changed. Sanc- tification always supposes and flows from regeneration. There must be grace in the heart, else it can never discover itself in the life. The root must be good, else the tree cannot bring forth good fruit. The spring of action must be cleansed, otherwise the actions themselves will be impure. Some persons, who are generally strangers to the internal work of grace, are very apt to insist much on the good- ness of their hearts ; and they sometimes plead this in excuse for the badness of their lives ; while, in reality, they never had a due sense of the plague and perverse- ness of their own hearts. Good actions must proceed from a good principle, otherwise persons are in an unsanctified state. And, as these actions must be conformable to the rule laid down in the word of God, and performed in a right manner, and to the glory of God as the end designed by them ; so they must be performed by faith, whereby we, being sensible of our own weakness and unworthiness, depend on Christ for assistance and acceptance. This exercise of faith and dependence must be our constant work and business ; whereby we are said to walk with God, as well as to live to him. Again, in order to our leading a holy life, we must make use of those motives and inducements which are contained in the gospel. In particular, we are to have in our view that perfect pattern of holiness which Christ has given us. He has 'left us an example that we should follow his steps. '^ Whatever we find in the life of Christ, prescribed for our imitation, should be improved to promote the work of sanctification. His humility, meekness, patience, submission to the divine will, his zeal for the glory of God and the good of mankind, and his unfainting perse- verance in pursuing the end for which he came into the world, are all mentioned in scripture, not merely that we should yield an assent to the account we have of them in the gospel-history, but that ' the same mind should be in us, which was also in him.'r • He,' says the apostle, ' that saith he abideth in him, ought him- self also to walk even as he walked.'8 We may add, that we ought to set before us the example of others, and be followers of them so far as they followed him. Their example, indeed, is as much inferior to Christ's, as imperfect holiness is to that which is perfect ; yet it is an encouragement to us, that, in following the foot- steps of the flock, we have many bright examples of those who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises. — Another motive to holiness is the love of Christ, expressed in the great work of our redemption, and in that care and compassion which he has extended towards us in the application of it, in all the methods he has used in beginning and carrying on the work of grace ; in regard to which we may say, ' Hitherto the Lord hath helped us.' The love of Christ ought to be im- proved so as to ' constrain us, ' * as he has hereby laid us under the highest obliga- tion to live to him. And as love to Christ is the main ingredient in sanctification ; so when by faith we behold him as the most engaging and desirable object, it will afford a constant inducement to holiness. — Another motive to holiness, is our rela- tion to God as his children, and our professed subjection to him. As we gave up ourselves to him when first we believed, avouched him to be our God, and, since then, have experienced many instances of his condescending goodness and faithful- ness ; as he has been pleased to grant us some degrees of communion with him, through Christ ; as he has given us many great and precious promises, and, in various instances, made them good to us ; and as he has reserved an inheritance for all that are sanctified, in that better world to which they shall at last be brought ; so, on all these grounds, we should be induced to lead a life of holiness. ' Having p ha. lviii. 2. q 1 Pet. ii. 21. r Phil. ii. 5 si John ii. 6. t 2 Cor. v. 14. SANCTIFICATION. 143 these promises,' says the apostle, 'let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.'u Practical Inferences from the Doctrine of Sanctification. 1. From what has been said in explaining the doctrine of sanctification, we may infer the difference that there is between moral virtue, so far as it may be attained by the light of nature and the improvement of human reason, and that holiness of heart and life which includes all Christian virtues, and is inseparably connected with salvation. All who are conversant with the writings of the heathen moralists will find in some of them a great many things which tend to regulate the conduct of life, and precepts laid down which, if followed, bear a great resemblance to the grace of sanctification. In this matter, some who have been destitute of the light of the gospel have very much excelled many who bear the Christian name. When we find a lively representation of the universal corruption and degeneracy of human nature, the disorder and irregularity of the affections, and man's natural propensity to vice ; rules laid down for the attaining of virtue, by means of which men are directed how to free themselves from that slavery which they are under to their lusts ; and advice given to press after a resemblance and conformity to God ; these things carry in them a great show of holiness. A late writer x has collected several passages out of their writings with a design to prove that, though they were destitute of gospel-light, yet they might attain salvation ; inasmuch as they use many expressions which very much resemble the grace of sanctification. One of them, for example, speaking concerning contentment in the station of life in which providence had fixed him, says, "A servant of God should not be solicitous for the morrow. Can any good man fear that he should want food ? Doth God so neglect his servants, and his witnesses, as that they should be destitute of his care and providence?" And he adds, " Did I ever, Lord, accuse thee, or complain of thy government ? Was I not always willing to be sick when it was thy pleasure that I should be so ? Did I ever desire to be what thou wouldst not have me to be ? Am I not always ready to do what thou commandest ? Wilt thou have me to con- tinue here ? I will freely do as thou wiliest. Or, wouldst thou have me depart hence ? I will freely do it at thy command. I have always had my will subject to that of God. Deal with me according to thy pleasure. I am always of the same mind with thee. I refuse nothing which thou art pleased to lay upon me. Lead me whither thou wilt ; clothe me as thou pleasest. I will be a magistrate, or private person ; continue me in my country, or in exile ; I will not only submit to but defend thy proceedings in all things." We might also produce quotations out of other writings, whereby it appears that some of the heathen excelled many Chris- tians in the consistency of their sentiments about religious matters with the divine perfections ; as when they say, " Whatever endowment of the mind has a tendency to make a man truly great and excellent, is owing to an internal divine influence. "* Others, speaking of the natural propensity which there is in mankind to vice, maintained that, to guard against it, there is a necessity of their having assistance from God in order to their leading a virtuous life ; and that virtue is not attained by instruction, that is, not only by that means, but that it is from God, and is to be sought for at his hands by faith and prayer. Much to this purpose may be seen in the writings of Plato, Maximus Tyrius, Hierocles, and several others.z The principal use which I would make of the fact I have been illustrating, is to observe that it should humble many Christians, who are far from coming up to the Heathen in the practice of moral virtue. As for the sentiments of those who deny the necessity of our having divine influence in order to our performing in a right manner the duties Which God requires of us, they fall very short of what the light u 2 Cor. vii. 1. x See Whitby's Dis. &c, page 541, in which he quotes Arrian, as giving the sense of Epictetus, lib. i. cap. 9. lib. iii. cap. 5, 24, 26, 36, &c. y Vid. Cic. de natura Deorum, lib. ii. ' Nullus unquam vir magnus fuit, sine aliquo afflatu divine' z See Gale's Court of the Gentiles, book iii. chap. i. and chap. x. and Wits, de QScon. Feed, pages 4G 1—463. 144 i SANCTIF1CATI0N. of nature has suggested to those who have duly attended to it, though destitute of divine revelation. When I meet with such expressions as I have quoted, and many other divine things, in the writings of Plato, and what he says of the conversation of his master Socrates, both in his life and at his death, I cannot but apply in this case what our Saviour says to the Scribe in the gospel who answered him discreetly, ' Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.' a These things, it is true, very much resemble the grace of sanctification ; yet, in many respects, they fall short of it ; inasmuch as those who maintained them had no acts of faith in a Mediator, whom they were altogether strangers to, being destitute of divine revelation. It is not my design, at present, to inquire whether they had any hope of salvation, this sub- ject having been considered under a former Answer.b All that I shall here observe is, that some of the best of them were charged with notorious crimes, which a Chris- tian would hardly reckon consistent with the truth of grace. Plato was charged with flattering tyrants, and too much indulging pride and luxury ;c Socrates, with pleading for fornication and incest, and practising sodomy ; if what some have reported concerning them be true.d But, without laying any stress on the char- acter of particular persons, who, in other respects, have said and done many excel- lent things ; it is evident, that whatever appearance of holiness there may be in the writings or conversation of those who are strangers to Christ and his gospel, falls • short of the grace of sanctification. There is a vast difference between recommend- ing or practising moral virtues, as agreeable to the nature of man, and the dictates of reason ; and a person's being led in that way of holiness which our Saviour has prescribed in the gospel. This takes its rise from a change of nature wrought in regeneration, is excited by gospel-motives, is encouraged by promises of holy attain- ments, and proceeds from the grace of faith, without which all pretensions to holi- ness are vain and defective. What advances soever the heathen moralists may have made, in endeavouring to free themselves from the slavery of sin, they were very deficient as to its mortification. Being ignorant of that great atonement which is made by Christ, as the only expedient to take away the guilt of sin, they could not by any method attain a conscience void of offence, or any degree of hope concerning the forgiveness of sin, and the way of acceptance in the sight of God. Moreover, their using endeavours to stop the current of vice, and to subdue their inordinate affections, could not be effectual to answer that end, inasmuch as they were destitute of the Spirit of God, who affords his divine assistance in order to the attainment of it, in no other way than what is prescribed in the gospel. Hence, as 'without holiness no man shall see the Lord,' this grace is to be expected in that way which God has prescribed ; and every one who is holy is made so by the Spirit, who glorifies himself in rendering men fruitful in every good work, they being raised by him from the death of sin to the life of faith in Christ ; which is a blessing peculiar to the gospel. 2. Since holiness is required of all persons, as what is absolutely necessary to sal- vation, and is also recommended as that which God works in those in whom the gospel is made effectual to salvation ; we may infer that no gospel doctrine has the least tendency to lead to licentiousness. The grace of God may indeed be abused ; and men who are strangers to it may take occasion, from ' the abounding' of that grace, to ' continue in sin,' as some did in the apostle's days ; e but this is not the genuine tendency of the gospel, which is to lead men to holiness. Whatever duties it engages to, are all designed to answer this end ; and whatever privileges a Mark xii. 34. b See Quest. lx. c Vid. G. J. Voss. de Hist. Graec. page 22. d See Gale's Court of the Gentiles, part iii. book i. chap. 1, 2. This learned writer having, in some other parts of that work, mentioned several things which were praiseworthy in some of the philosophers, here takes occasion to speak of some other things w hich were great blemishes in them. Ill other parts of this elahorate work, he proves that those who lived in the first ages of the church, aiul were attached to their philosophy, were by this means, as he supposes, led aside from many Hi eat aud important truths of the gospel. Of this number were Origen, Justin Martyr, and several others. He farther supposes that what many of them advanced concerning the liberty of man's will as to what r.spects spiritual things, gave occasion to the Pelagians to propagate thos-e doctrines which were subversive of the grace of God; and that the Arian and Samosatian heresies took their ri-e rom the fame source. See part iii. book ii. chap. i. e ]{oin. vi. 1. SANCTIFICATION. 145 are offered in it, are all inducements to holiness. Are we ' delivered out of the hands of our' spiritual ' enemies ? ' It is ' that we should serve him in holiness and righteousness before him, all 4he days of our lives.,f As for the promises, they are an inducement to us, as the apostle expresses it, to ' cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.'s And every ordinance and providence should be improved by us, to promote the work of sanctification. 3. Let us examine ourselves whether this work be begun and the grace of God wrought in us in truth, and, if so, whether it be increasing or declining in our souls. As to the truth of grace, let us take heed that we do not think we are something when we are nothing, deceiving our own souls ; or rest in a form of godliness, while denying the power of it, or in a name to live, while we are dead. Let us think that it is not enough to abstain from grosser enormities, or engage in some exter- nal duties of religion, with wrong ends. If, upon inquiry into ourselves, we find that we are destitute of a principle of spiritual life and grace, let us not think that, because we have escaped some of the pollutions which are in the world, or do not run with others in all excess of riot, we therefore lead holy lives. But rather let us inquire whether the life we live in the flesh be by the faith of the Son of God, under the influence of his Spirit, with great diffidence of our own righteousness and strength, and firm dependence upon Christ ; and whether, as the result of this, we are found in the practice of universal holiness, and hate and avoid all appearance of evil, using all those endeavours which are prescribed in the gospel, to glorify him in our spirits, souls, and bodies, which are his. If we have ground to hope that the work of sanctification is begun, let us inquire whether it be advancing or declining ; whether we go from strength to strength, or make improvements in pro- portion to the privileges we enjoy. Many have reason to complain that it is not with them as in months past ; that grace is languishing, the frame of their spirits in holy duties stupid, and they destitute of that communion with God which they once enjoyed. Such ought to remember whence they are fallen, and repent, and do their first works ; and beg of God, from whom alone our fruit is derived, that he would revive the work of grace in them, and cause their souls to flourish in the courts of his house, and to bring forth much fruit unto holiness, to the glory of his own name and their spiritual peace and comfort. As for those who are frequently complaining of and bewailing their declensions in grace, who seem to others to be making a very considerable progress in it, let them not give way to unbelief, so far as to deny or set aside the experiences which they have had of God's presence with them ; for sometimes grace grows, though without our own observation. If they are destitute of the comforts of it or of the fruits of righteousness, which are peace, assurance, and joy in the Holy Ghost, let them consider that the work of sanctifica- tion, in the present state, is, at best, but growing up towards that perfection to which it has not yet arrived. If it does not spring up and flourish, as to those fruits and effects of it which they are pressing after but have not attained, let them bless God if grace is taking root downward, and is attended with an humble sense of their own weakness and imperfection, and an earnest desire for those spiritual blessings which they are labouring after. This ought to afford matter of thankful- ness, rather than have a tendency to weaken their hands, or induce them to con- clude that they are in an unsanctified state because of the many hinderances and discouragements which attend their progress in holiness. f Luke i. 74, 75. g 2 Cor. vii. 1. II, 146 REPENTANCE. REPENTANCE. Question LXXVI. What is Bepentance unto life? Answer. Repentance unto life is a saving grace, wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Spirit and Word of God ; wherebv, out of the sight and sense, not only of the danger, but also of the filthini'ss and odiousness of "his sins, and upon the apprehension of God's mercy in Christ to such as are penitent, he so grieves for, and hates his sins, as that he turns from them all to God, purpos- ing and endeavouring constantly to walk with him in all the ways of new obedience. In discussing this Answer we shall consider that the subject of repentance is a sinful fallen creature ; that, though this is his condition, he is naturally averse to the ex- ercise of repentance, till God is pleased to bring him to it ; that the Spirit of God brings him to repent ; and what are the various acts and effects of repentance. The Subjects of Bepentance. No one can be said to repent but a sinner. Whatever other graces might be exercised by man in a state of innocency, or shall be exercised by him when brought to a state of perfection ; there cannot, properly speaking, be any room for repentance. Some, indeed, have queried whether there shall be repentance in heaven. But it may easily be determined, that, though that hatred of sin in general and opposition to it which is contained in true repentance, is not inconsis- tent with a state of perfect blessedness, as it is inseparably connected with perfec- tion of holiness ; yet a sense of sin, which is afflictive, and is attended with grief and sorrow of heart for the guilt and consequences of sin, is altogether inconsistent with a state of perfection ; and these are some ingredients in that repentance which comes under our present consideration. We must conclude, therefore, that the subject of repentance is a sinner. Man's Natural Aversion to Bepentance. Though all sinners contract guilt, expose themselves to misery, and will sooner or later be filled with distress and sorrow for what they have done against God ; yet many have no sense of it at present, nor repentance or remorse for it. These are described as 'past feeling, 'h as 'hardened through the deceitfulness of sin,'1 as obstinate, and having 'their neck as an iron sinew, and their brow as brass. 'k There are several methods which they take to ward off the force of convictions. Sometimes they are stupid, and hardly give themselves the liberty to consider the difference which there is between moral good and evil, or the natural obligation we are under to pursue the one and avoid the other. They consider not the all- seeing eye of God, which observes all their actions, nor the power of his anger, who will take vengeance on impenitent sinners. They regard not the various aggra- vations of sin, nor consider that God will, for those things, bring them to judg- ment. Hence, impenitency is generally attended with presumption ; whereby the person concludes, though without ground, that it shall go well with him in the end. Such an one is represented as blessing himself in his heart, saying, ' I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination,' or as it is in the margin, in the stubborn- ness ' of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst.'1 Or if, on the other hand, he cannot but conclude that with God is terrible majesty, that he is a consuming fire, and that none ever hardened themselves against him and prospered, and if he does not fall down before him with humble confession of sin and repentance for it, he will certainly be broken with his rod of iron and dashed in pieces like a potter's vessel, — broken with a tempest, and utterly destroyed, when his wrath is kindled. Then he resolves that some time or other he will repent, but still delays and puts off repentance for a more convenient season ; and though God gives him space to do it, h E*h. iv. 19. i Heb. iii. 13. k Isa. xlviii. 4. 1 Deut. xxix. 19. REPENTANCE. 147 he repenteth not.m Thus he goes on in the greatness of his way, till God visits him with the blessings of his goodness, and brings him to repentance. Repentance wrought by the Divine Spirit. We are thus led to consider that repentance is God's work ; or, as is observed in this Answer, that it is wrought by the Spirit of God. Whether we consider it as a common or as a saving grace, it is the Spirit that convinces or reproves the world of sin. If it be of the same kind as that which Pharaoh, Ahab, or Judas had, it is excited by a dread of God's judgments, and his wrath breaking in upon conscience, when he reproves for sin, and sets it in order before their eyes. If they are touched with a sense of guilt, and, in consequence, stopped for the present, or obliged to make a retreat, and desist from pursuing their former methods, it is God, in the course of his providence, that gives a check to them. But this comes short of that repentance which is said to be unto life, or which is styled a saving grace ; which is wrought by the Spirit of God, as the beginning of that saving work which is a branch of sanctification, and shall end in complete salvation. This is expressly styled, in scripture, ' repentance unto life, 'D inasmuch as every one who is favoured with it shall obtain eternal life ; and it is connected with con- version and remission of sins, which will certainly end in eternal salvation. Thus it is said, ' Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. '° For this reason it is called a saving grace, or a grace which accompanies salvation ; on which account it is distinguished from that repentance which some have who yet remain in a state of unregeneracy. It is also called ' repentance to salvation, not to be repented of ;'p that is, it shall issue well ; and he who thus repents, shall, in the end, have reason to bless God, and rejoice in his grace, who has made him partaker of it. The Means of Repentance. We shall now consider the instrument or means whereby the Spirit works this grace. It is said to be ' wrought in the heart of a sinner, by the word of God,' as all other graces are, except regeneration, as was formerly observed. We must first suppose the principle of grace implanted, and the word presenting mo- tives and arguments leading to repentance ; and then the understanding is enlight- ened and disposed to receive what is imparted. The word ' calls sinners to repent- ance.'i Hence, when this grace is wrought, we are not only turned by the power of God, but ' instructed 'r by the Spirit's setting home what is contained in the word, whereby we are led into the knowledge of those things which are necessary to repentance. The word contains a display of the holiness of the divine nature and law, and of our obligation, in conformity to it, to exercise holiness of heart and life ; as God says, ' Be ye holy, for I am holy.'8 It contains also a display of the holiness of God in his threatenings, which he has Renounced against every transgression and disobedience, which shall receive a just recompence of reward ; and in all the instances of his punishing sin in those who have exposed themselves to its penalty, that hereby he might deter men from it, and lead them to repent- ance. Accordingly, the apostle speaks of the law of God as ' holy, and the com- mandment holy, just, and good ;'1 and of its leading him into the knowledge of sin, by which means it appeared to be sin, that is, opposite to an holy God, and, as he expresses it, 'became exceeding sinful.' — Moreover, by the word of God persons are led into themselves ; and by comparing their hearts and lives with it, are en- abled to see their own vileness and want of conformity to the rule which he has given them, the deceitfulness and desperate wickedness of their hearts, and what occasion there is to abhor themselves, and repent in dust and ashes. Thus the apostle, in the place just mentioned, speaks of himself as 'once alive without the law ; but when the commandment came, sin revived and he died, ' and he concluded himself to be ' carnal, m Rev. ii. 21. n Acts xi. 18. o Chap. iii. 19. p 2 Cor. vii. 10. q Matt. ix. 13. r Jer. xxxi. 19. s Lev. xi. 44. t Rom. vii. 12, 13. 148 REPENTANCE. sold under sin.*11 This is a necessary means leading to repentance. — We may add that God makes use, not only of the word, but of his providences to answer this end. Hence, he speaks of a sinning people, when ' carried away captive into the land of the enemy,' as 'bethinking' themselves, and afterwards ' repenting and making sup- plication to him.'x We read also of sickness and bodily diseases as ordained by God to bring persons to repentance. Thus Elihu speaks of a person being ' chastened with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain ; his soul drawing nigh to the grave, and his life to the destroyers ;'* and then represents the person thus chastened, and afterwards recovered from his sickness, as acknow- ledging that he had ' sinned and perverted that which is right, and that it profited him not.' The apostle likewise speaks of ' the goodness of God' in the various dispensations of his providence, as ' leading to repentance. 'z But these dispensa- tions are always to be considered in conjunction with the word, and as impressed on the consciences of men by the Spirit, in order to their attaining this desir- able end. — In order, however, that we may insist on this matter more particularly, we must take an estimate of repentance, either as it is a common or a special grace. In both these respects it is from the Spirit, and wrought by the instrumentality of the word, applied to the consciences of men ; but there is a vast difference between the one and the other in the application of the word, as well as in the effects and consequences. 1. As to those who are brought under convictions, but not made partakers of the saving grace of repentance, the Holy Spirit awakens them, and fills them with the terrors of God, and the dread of his vengeance, 'by the law,' by which ' is the know- ledge of sin,' and ' all the world becomes guilty before God.'a These are what we call legal convictions ; whereby the wound is opened, but no healing medicine ap- plied. The sinner apprehends himself under a sentence of condemnation, but at the same time cannot apply any promise which may afford hope and relief to him ; groans under his burden, and knows not where to find ease or comfort, and dreads the consequences as what would sink him into hell. God appears to him as a consum- ing fire ; his arrows stick fast in his soul ; the poison of them drinketh up his spirits. If he endeavour to shake off his fears, and to relieve himself against his despairing thoughts, he is, notwithstanding, described as being like ' the troubled sea,' when it 'cannot rest,' which 'casts forth mire and dirt.'b This is a most afflictive case ; concerning which it is said, that though ' the spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, a wounded spirit who can bear?'c [See Note N, page 152.] Thus it is with some when convinced of sin by the law. But there are others who endeavour to quiet their consciences by using indirect methods, thinking to make atonement for their sin, and by some instances of external reformation to make God amends, and thereby procure his favour, but to no purpose ; for ' sin taking occasion by the commandment, works in them all manner of concupiscence. 'd And if they grow stupid, which is often the consequence, their sense of sin is entirely lost, and their repentance ends in presumption, and a great degree of boldness in the commission of all manner of wickedness. 2. We shall now consider how the Spirit works repentance unto life, which is principally insisted on in this Answer. This is said to be done by the word of God ; not by the law without the gospel, but by them both, the one being made subser- vient to the other. The law shows the sinner his sin, and the gospel directs him where he may find a remedy. The one wounds and the other heals. ' The law enters,' as the apostle expresses it, ' that the offence might abound ;'e but the gospel shows him how 'grace does much more abound,' and where he may obtain forgiveness. By this means he is kept from sinking under the weight of guilt which lies on his conscience. The gospel also leads him, from motives which are truly excellent, to hate and abstain from sin ; for which reason his repentance is called evangelical. u Rom. vii. 9, 14. x 1 Kings viii. 46, 47. y Job xxxiii. 19, 27. z Rom. u. 4. a Rom. iii. 20. compared with 19. b Isa. lvii. 20. c Prov. xviii. 14. d Rom. vii. 8. e Rom. v. 20. REPENTANCE. 149 The Difference between Legal and Evangelical Repentance. That we may better understand the nature of this repentance, we shall consider how it differs from that which we before described, which arises only from convic- tion of sin by the law, which a person may have who is destitute of this grace of repentance which we are speaking of. Repentance, of what kind soever it be, in- cludes a sense of sin. But if the sense of sin be such as an unregenerate person may have, it includes little more than a sense of the danger and misery which he has exposed himself to by sins committed. The principal motives leading to it are the threatenings which the law of God denounces against those who violate it. De- struction from God is a terror to him who has such a sense of sin ; and if this were not the consequence of sin, he would be so far from repenting of it, that it would be the object of his chief delight. Besides, that guilt which he charges himself with is principally such as arises from the commission of the most notorious crimes, which expose him to the greatest degree of punishment. Repentance unto life, on the contrary, brings a soul under a sense of the guilt of sin, as it is contrary to the holy nature and law of God, which the least, as well as the greatest sins, are opposed to, and contain a violation of. He, therefore, who has this repentance, charges himself not only with open sins which are detestable in the eyes of men, but with secret sins which others have little or no sense of, — sins of omission as well as sins of commission ; and he is particularly affected with the sin of unbelief, inasmuch as it contains a contempt of Christ and of the grace of the gospel. He is sensible not only of those sins which break forth in his life, but of that propen- sity of nature whereby he is inclined to rebel against God. Hence, the sense of guilt which he entertains differs, in some respects, from that which those are brought under who are destitute of saving repentance. But that in which they more especially differ is, that saving repentance includes a sense of the filth and odious nature of sin, and so considers it as defiling, or contrary to the holiness of God, and rendering the soul worthy to be abhorred by him. Hence, as the sense of guilt excites fear, and a dread of the wrath of God ; so this sense of the odious nature of sin fills him with shame, confusion of face, and self-abhorrence. These are inseparably connected with the grace of repentance. Accordingly, they are joined together, as Job says, ' I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes ;'f or as God describes his people when he promises that he will bestow this blessing on them, ' Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities, and for your abominations. '& Before this they set too high a value upon themselves, and were ready to palliate and excuse their crimes, or insist on their innocence, though their iniquity was written in legible characters, as with a pen of iron and the point of a diamond, and to say with Ephraim, ' In all my labour they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin, 'h and resembled the rebellious people con- cerning whom the prophet Jeremiah says, that ' though in their skirts were found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents,' they had the front to say, ' Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me.'1 When, however, God brings them to repentance, and heals their backslidings, they express themselves in a very different way : ' We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covers us ; for we have sinned against the Lord our God.'k Now, this is such an ingredient in true repentance as is not be found in that which falls short of being a saving grace. In the latter case, the sinner is afraid of punishment indeed, or perhaps he may be filled with shame because of the reproach which attends his vile and notorious crimes in the eyes of the world ; yet he is not ashamed or confounded, as consider- ing how vile he has rendered himself in the eye of a holy God. There is another thing observed in this Answer which is an ingredient in repent- ance unto life. This repentance is connected with faith, inasmuch as he who is the subject of it apprehends the mercy of God in Christ to such as are penitent ; and this effectually secures him from that despair which sometimes, as was before f Job xlii. 6. g Ezek. xxxvi.^1. h Hos. xii. 8. i Jer. ii. 34, 35. k Chap. iii. 25. 150 REPENTANCE. observed, attends a legal repentance, as well as affords him relief against the sense of guilt with which this grace is attended. The difference between legal and evan- gelical repentance does not so much consist in the former representing sin as more aggravated, or in inducing him who is the subject of it to think himself a greater sinner than the other ; for the true penitent is ready to confess himself the chief of sinners. He is far from extenuating his sin ; being ready on all occasions to charge himself with more guilt than others are generally sensible of. But that which he depends upon as his only comfort and support is the mercy of God in Christ, or the consideration that there is forgiveness with him that he may be feared. This is what affords the principal motive and encouragement to repent- ance, and has a tendency to excite the various acts of it. The Various Acts of Evangelical Repentance. We are thus led to consider what are the various acts of repentance unto life, or what are the fruits and effects produced by it. 1. The soul is filled with hatred of sin. When he who truly repents looks back on his past life, he bewails what cannot now be avoided, charges himself with folly and madness, and wishes, though to no purpose, that he had done many things which he has omitted, and avoided those sins, together with the occasions of them, which he has committed, the guilt of which lies with great weight upon him. How glad would he be if lost seasons and opportunities of grace might be recalled, and the talents which were once put into his hand, though misimproved, regained ! But all these wishes are in vain. These, how- ever, are the after-thoughts which will arise in the minds of those who are brought under a sense of sin. Sin wounds the soul. The Spirit of God, when convincing of it, opens the wound, and causes a person to feel the smart of it, and gives him to know that ' it is an evil thing, and bitter, that he has forsaken the Lord his God.'1 This sometimes depresses the spirits, and causes him to walk softly, to • sit alone and keep silence, 'm being filled with an uneasiness which is very afflictive to him. At other times it gives vent to itself in tears, ' I am weary, ' says the psalmist, ' with my groaning ; all the night make I my bed to swim ; I water my couch with my tears.'11 In this case, the only thing which gives the penitent relief or comfort is, that the guilt of sin is removed by the blood of Christ, which tends to quiet his spirit, which would otherwise be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. We may add that sin is always the object of his detestation, even when there is an abatement of that grief which, by the divine supports and comforts, he is protected against. He hates sin, not merely because of the sad consequences of it, but as it is in itself the object of abhorrence. His heart is hence set against all sin ; as the psalmist says, ' I hate every false way.'0 This hatred discovers itself by putting him upon fleeing from it, together with all the occasions of it, or incentives to it. He not only abstains from those sins which they who have little more than the remains of moral virtue are ashamed of and afraid to commit, but hates every thing which has the appearance of sin ; and this hatred is irreconcilable. As for- giveness does not make sin less odious in its own nature ; so whatever experience he has of the grace of God in forgiveness, or whatever measure of peace he enjoys, whereby his grief and sorrow are assuaged, his hatred of sin not only remains but increases. 2. He, therefore, turns from sin unto God. He first hates sin, and then flees from it ; seeing it to be the spring of all his grief and fears,— that which separates between him and his God. Thus Ephraim, when brought to repentance, and re- flecting with a kind of indignation on his past conduct, when addicted to idols, is represented as saying, • What have I to do any more with idols ?'c So the true penitent, who has hitherto been walking in those paths which lead to death and de- struction, now inquires after the way of holiness, and the paths of peace. As he has hitherto walked contrary to God, now he desires to walk with him ; and having wearied himself in the greatness of his way, and seeing no fruit in those things 1 Jer. ii. 19. m Lam. iii. 28. n Psal. vi. 6. o Jsal. cxix 104. p Hos. xiv. & REPENTANCE. 151 whereof he is now ashamed, and being brought into the utmost straits, he deter- mines to return to his God and Father. In doing this he purposes and endeavours to walk with him in all the ways of new obedience. Accordingly, the apostle exhorts those who had received good by his ministry that, ' with purpose of heart, they would cleave unto the Lord.'i This purpose is not like those hasty resolutions which unconverted sinners make, when God is hedging up their way with thorns, and they are under the most distressing apprehensions of his wrath. Then they say as the people did to Joshua, ' We will serve the Lord ;'r though they are not sensible how difficult it is to fulfil the engagements which they lay themselves un- der, or of the deceitfulness of their own hearts, and the need they stand in of grace from God to enable them so to do. This purpose to walk with God does not so much respect what a person will do hereafter ; but it contains a resolution which is immediately put in execution ; and so is opposed to the penitent's former obsti nacy, when determining to go on in the way of his own heart. Thus the prodigal son, in the parable, no sooner resolved that he would ' arise and go to his Father,'* than he arose and went. True repentance is always attended with endeavours after new obedience ; so that a person lays aside that sloth and indolence which was inconsistent with his setting a due value on or improving the means of grace. As the result of this, he now exerts himself, with all his might, in pursuing after those things by which he may approve himself God's faithful servant. And hereby he discovers the sincerity of his repentance. This he does, or rather is enabled to do, by that grace which at first began and then carries on this work in the soul, and by which he ' has his fruit unto holiness, and the end' thereof 'everlasting life.'* Practical Inferences from the Doctrine of Repentance. 1. From what has been said we may infer that, since repentance is a grace which accompanies salvation, and consequently is absolutely necessary to it, it is an in- stance of unwarrantable and bold presumption, for impenitent sinners to expect that they shall be made partakers of the benefits which Christ has purchased, while they continue in a state of enmity, opposition, and rebellion against him, or that they shall be saved by him in their sins, without being saved .from them. For ' he that covereth his sins, shall not prosper ; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them, , shall have mercy. 'u 2. Since repentance is the work of the Spirit, and his gift, we infer that what- ever endeavours we are obliged to use, or whatever motives or inducements are given to lead us to it, we must not conclude that it is in our own power to repent when we please. It should, therefore, be the matter of our earnest and constant prayer to God, that he would turn our hearts, give us a true sight and sense of sin, accompanied with faith in Christ ; as Ephraim is represented, saying, ' Turn thou me, and I shall be turned.'1 3. Let not those who have a distressing sense of their former sins, how great so- ever they have been, give way to despairing thoughts ; but let them lay hold on the mercy of God in Christ, extended to the chief of sinners, and improve it to encour- age them, from evangelical motives, to hate sin, and forsake it. There will be a tendency to remove their fears while they look on God, not as a sin-revenging judge, but a reconciled Father, ready and willing to receive those who return to him with unfeigned repentance. 4. Since we daily commit sin, it follows that we stand in need of daily repent- ance. Moreover, repentance being a branch of sanctification, as the latter is a progressive work, so is the former. We are not to expect that sin should be wholly extirpated while we are in this imperfect state ; and therefore it is constantly to be bewailed, and by the grace of God working effectually in us. avoided ; that, in con- sequence, we may have a comfortable hope that the promise shall be fulfilled, ' They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.'* q Acts xi. 23. r Josh. xxiv. 21. s Luke xv. 18, comp. with 20. t Rom. vi. 22. u Prov. xxviii. 13. x Jer. xxxi. 18. y pga]. exxvi. 5.' 152 THE CONNECTION AND THE DIFFERENCE [Note N. Legal Convictions of Sin. — That there are " persons brought under convictions of sin, but not made partakers of the saving grace of repentance," is beyond doubt. But are we to believe that their convictions result from the work of the Holy Spirit on their soul, or, in other words, that, like all convictions which the Divine Spirit produces, they spring up in connexion with an exhibition to the mind of the work of Christ and the plan of mercy ? To discuss this question here would only be to repeat in substance what was said in a former note, under the title " Common Grace." But I may remark that when the Saviour spake of the Comforter coming to reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, he added, ' He will guide you into all truth ; * * * he shall glorify me ; for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you,' — that when, through the prophet Zechariah, he promised to pour out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplications, he said, * They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him,' — that the inspired comment upon the declaration, ' I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,' points us to the scenes of the day of Pentecost when ' all were rilled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance,' and when, in connexion with the exhibition of Christ as the Saviour, men not only were ■ goaded in their heart,' but ' received the word gladly,' — and that, in general throughout the scrip- tures, the economical work of the Divine Spirit is represented as a work of grace and a work con- nected with salvation, while such conviction of sin as he produces is exhibited as resulting by means of a disclosure to the mind, not only of the claims of the divine law, but of the mediatorial work of the Redeemer. Convictions of sin, therefore, which are not attended with the saving grace of re- pentance, would seem to arise wholly from the effects of God's general moral administration, making impression upon man's natural conscience. They are, accordingly, found to be experienced by men in all varieties of circumstances, — not only as enjoying the ministration of the gospel and its or- dinances, but as living amidst the ignorance and stupidities of heathenism. Mere conscience, when roused by peculiar occurrences, has proverbially an agitating and even terrific power ; and it pro- duces or entertains convictions of sin, self-accusations of guilt, which, whether weak or strong, are distinguished from the hallowing convictions produced by the operation of the Holy Spirit, just by their being unaccompanied with ' the saving grace of repentance.' While conviction accompanied with grace is just repentance, or a part of it, conviction unaccompanied with grace is unmingled self-accusation or remorse. Hence, persons who experience the latter may be to the full^as miser- able as Dr. Ridgeley describes. It is doubtful, however, whether the passage which he quotes has reference to the misery arising from their convictions : ' The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.' The words would rather seem to describe the wretchedness arising from the depravity of their nature, — the turbulence and tempestuousness of their unholy passions, — the tumult and agitation of proud and angry tempers, and of ungovernable and rabid lusts, which continually cast up, in the thoughts and conduct, pollution and vfleness and every thing at war with tranquillity or repose Ed.] THE CONNECTION AND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JUSTI- FICATION AND SANCTIFICATION. Question LXXV1I. Wherein do Justification and Sanctification differ f Answer. Although Sanctification be inseparably joined with Justification ; yet they differ, in that God, in Justification, imputeth the righteousness of Christ; in Sanctification, his Spirit infuseth grace, and enableth to the exercise thereof; in the former sin is pardoned, in the other it is sub- dued ; the one doth equally free all believers from the revenging wrath of God, and that perfectly in this life, that they never fall into condemnation, the other is neither equal in all, nor in this life perfect in any, but growing up to perfection. Tms Answer being principally a recapitulation of what is contained in those which have been already insisted on, wherein the doctrine of justification and sanctifica- tion are particularly explained, we shall not much enlarge on it. But as there are some who suppose that one of these graces may be attained without the other ; and as others confound them, as though to be justified and to be sanctified implied the same thing ; we shall briefly consider, first, what is supposed in this Answer, namely, that justification and sanctification are inseparably joinod together, and next, what is directly contained in the Answer, namely, somo things in which justi- fication and sanctification differ. The Connection between Justification and Sanctification. Sanctification and justification are inseparably joined together ; so that no one has a warrant to claim the one without the other. This appears from the fact that they are graces which accompany salvation. When the apostle connects justilica- BETWEEN JUSTIFICATION AND SANCTIFICATION. 153 tion and effectual calling together in the golden chain of our salvation,2 he includes sanctification in this calling. Elsewhere, when Christ is said to be ' made righte- ousness and redemption' to us for our justification, he is, at the same time, said to be made 'wisdom and sanctification. 'a We are also said to be 'saved by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, ' b which is the beginning of the work of sanctification, 'that, being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.' Speaking of some who were once great sinners, and afterwards made true believers, the apostle says, that they were 'washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.'c And when God promises to pardon and ' pass by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage,' d he also gives them ground to expect that he would ' subdue their iniquities.' The former of these he does in justification ; the latter, in sanctification. From the connection which there is between justification and sanctification, we infer that no one has ground to conclude that his sins are pardoned, and that he shall be saved, while he is in an unsanctified state. For as such a supposition tends to turn the grace of God into wantonness ; so it separates what he has joined together, and, in those who entertain it, is a certain evidence that they are neither justified nor sanctified. Let us therefore give diligence to evince the truth of our justification, by our sanctification ; or that we have a right and title to Christ's righteousness, by the life of faith, and the exercise of all those other graces which accompany or flow from it. The Difference between Justification and Sanctification. We have, in this Answer, an account of some things in which justification and sanctification differ. 1. ' In justification God imputes the righteousness of Christ to us ; whereas, in sanctification the Spirit inmseth grace and enableth to the exercise thereof.' What it is for God to impute Christ's righteousness has been already considered. We shall at present, therefore, make only one additional remark. The righteousness whereby we are justified is, without us, wrought out by Christ for us, — so that it is 'by his obedience,' as the apostle expresses it, that 'we are made righteous ;'e and that which Christ did as our surety, is placed to our account and accepted by the justice of God as if it had been done by us. In sanctification, on the other hand, the graces of the Spirit are wrought and excited in us ; and we are denomi- nated holy, and our right to eternal life is evinced, though not procured. 2. In justification sin is pardoned ; in sanctification it is subdued. The former takes away its guilt ; the latter its reigning power. When sin is pardoned, it shall not be our ruin ; yet it gives us daily disturbance and uneasiness, makes work for repentance, and is to be opposed by our dying to it, and living to righteousness. This is, therefore, sufficiently distinguished from justification ; which is also to be considered as a motive or inducement leading to it. 3. Justification equally frees all believers from the avenging wrath of God, in which respect it is perfect in this life, so that a justified person shall never fall into condemnation ; whereas, the work of sanctification is not equal in all, not perfect in this life, but growing up to perfection. For understanding this, let us consider that when we speak of justification as perfect in this life, or say that all are equally justified, we mean that when God forgives one sin, he forgives all ; so that, as the apostle says, ' there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. 'f And he adds, ' 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.'s Were it not so, a person might be said to be justified, and not have a right to eternal life, which implies a contradiction ; for though he might be acquitted, as to the guilt charged upon him by one indictment, he would be condemned by that which is contained in another. We may hence infer, that all justified persons have an equal right to z Rom. viii. 30. a 1 Cor. i. 31. b Tit. iii. 5. c 1 Cor. vi. 11. d Micah vii. 18, 19. e Rom. v. 19. f Chap. viii. 1. g Verses 33, 34. II. U 154 THE IMPERFECTION OF SANCT1FICAT10N. conclude themselves discharged from guilt, and the condemning sentence of the law of God ; though all cannot see their right to claim this privilege by reason of the weakness of their faith. Sanctihcation, on the other hand, is far from being equal in all ; for the best of believers have reason to complain of the weakness of their faith, and the imperfection of all other graces which are wrought in them by the Spirit. If it be inquired whence this imperfection of sanctification arises, a reply will be given under the following Answer. THE IMPERFECTION OF SANCTIFICATION. QUESTION LXXVIII. Whence ariseth the imperfection of sanctification in believers? Answer. The imperfection of sanctification in believers ariseth from the remnants of sin abiding in everv part of them, and the perpetual 1 listings of the flesh against the spirit, whereby they are often foiled with temptations, and fall into many sins, are hindered in all their spiritual services, and their best works are imperfect and defiled in the sight of God. In this Answer, we may consider, first, that there is something supposed, namely, that the work of sanctification is imperfect in this life, or that there are the rem- nants of sin still abiding in the best of men ; secondly, in what the imperfection of sanctification more especially discovers itself, and in particular, what we are to understand by the lusting of the flesh against the spirit ; and thirdly, the conse- quences of this, namely, their being foiled with temptations, falling into many sins, and being hindered in their spiritual services. The Imperfection of Believers. The thing supposed in this Answer, that the work of sanctification is imperfect in this life, must be allowed by all who are not strangers to themselves. It is said, ' There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.'h Fine gold is not without a mixture of some baser metal or alloy ; even so, our best frames of spirit, when we think ourselves nearest heaven, or when we have most communion with God, are not without a tincture of indwelling sin, which is easy to be discerned in us. Whatever grace we exercise, there are some defects attending it, with re- spect either to the manner of its exerting itself, or to the degree of it. Perfection, therefore, how desirable soever it be, is a blessing which we cannot at present attain to. And if it be thus with us when at the best, we shall find that, at other times, corrupt nature not only discovers itself, but gives us great interruption and disturb- ance ; so that the work of sanctification seems to be, as it were, at a stand, and we are induced to question the truth and sincerity of our graces. If, notwithstanding this, we have sufficient ground to conclude that our hearts are right with God ; we are still obliged to say with the apostle, that we are ' carnal, sold under sin, ' and that, 'when we would do good, evil is present with us.'' This is an undeniable proof of the imperfection ot the work of sanctification. The contrary opinion is maintained by many ; who pretend that perfection is attainable in this life. To gain countenance to their opinion, they refer to some scriptures in which persons are characterized as 4 perfect ' men, and to others in which perfection is represented as a duty incumbent on us. Thus our Saviour says, ' Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect ;'k and the apos- tle, in his valedictory exhortation to the church, advises them to ' be perfect,' as well as ' of one mind,' as they expected that the God of love and peace should be with them.1 These scriptures, however, speak not of a sinless perfection, but of such a pertection as is opposed to hypocrisy ; as Hezekiah says concerning himself, that he had ' walked before the Lord in truth, and with a perfect heart. 'm The perfection of those who are thus described in scripture, is explained as denoting their uprightness. h Eccl. vii. 20. i Rom. vii. 14, compared with 21. k Matt. v. 48. 1 2 Cor. xiii. II. m isa. xxxviii. 3. THE IMPERFECTION OF SANCTIFICATION. 155 Thus Job is described as ' a perfect and upright man, one that feared God and eschew- ed evil ;'n though he elsewhere disclaims anj pretensions to a sinless perfection, and says, ' If I say I am perfect, mine own mouth shall prove me perverse.' ° So when Noah is said to have been ' perfect in his generations, ' the statement is explained as denoting that he was a 'just ' or an ' holy man,' and one that ' walked with God.'? As for scriptures which speak of perfection as a duty incumbent on us, they are to be understood, not concerning a perfection of degrees, but concerning the perfection of grace, as to those essential parts of it without which it could not be denominated true and genuine. True grace is perfect indeed, as it contains those necessary in- gredients whereby an action is denominated good in all its circumstances, in opposi- tion to that which is so only in some respects ; and therefore it must proceed from a good principle, a heart renewed by regenerating grace ; it must be agreeable to the rule which God has prescribed in the gospel, and be performed in a right man- ner and for right ends. Thus a person may be said to be a perfect man, just as a new-born infant is denominated a man, as having all the essential perfections of the human nature, though not arrived at that perfection, in other respects, to which it shall afterwards attain. Accordingly, grace, when described in scripture as perfect, is sometimes explained by a metaphorical allusion to a state of perfect manhood, in opposition to that of children. In this manner the apostle speaks of some, whom he represents as ' being of full age,' — where the same word is used ' which is else- where rendered ' perfect ;' and these he opposes to others whom he had been speak- ing of as weak believers, or 'babes ' in Christ.1" Elsewhere also he speaks of the church, which he styles ' the body of Christ,' as arrived at a state of manhood, and so calls it ' a perfect man,' which had attained ' the measure of the stature of the ful- ness of Christ ' — still alluding to that stature at which persons arrive when they are adult ; and these he opposes in the following words, to children, who, through the weakness of their faith, were liable to be ' tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine.'3 Moreover, in other places where Christians are described as perfect, there is a word used which signifies their having that internal furniture whereby they are prepared or disposed to do what is good. Thus the apostle speaks of 'the man of God ' being ' perfect,' * that is, ' throughly furnished unto all good works.'" Elsewhere also he prays for those to whom he writes, that God would 'make them perfect in,' or for, ' every good work,' to the end 'that they may do his will.'1 This is such a perfection as is necessary to our putting forth any act of grace ; and therefore does not in the least infer that perfection which they plead for whom we are now opposing. Indeed, they take occasion to defend their doctrine, not merely from the sense they give of those scriptures which speak of persons being perfect, — which they can- not but suppose may be otherwise understood ; but the main thing from which they defend it is the opinion that God does not require sinless perfection of fallen man, inasmuch as that is impossible, — and that therefore he calls that perfection which includes our using those endeavours to lead a good life which are in our own power. This opinion is agreeable to the Pelagian scheme, and to that which the Papists maintain ; who make farther advances on the Pelagian hypothesis, and assert, not only that men may attain perfection in this life, but that they may arrive at such a degree of it as exceeds the demands of the law, and perform works of supereroga- tion. This doctrine is calculated to establish that of justification by works. What may be alleged in opposition to it is, that it is disagreeable to the divine perfections, and a notorious making void of the law of God, to assert that our obligation to yield perfect obedience ceases, because we have lost our power to perform it ; as though a person's being insolvent, were a sufficient excuse for his not paying a just debt. We must distinguish between God's demanding perfect obedience as an outstanding debt, which is consistent with the glory of his holiness and sovereignty as a law- giver ; and his determining that we shall not be saved, unless we perform it in our ii Job i. 1, compared with 8. o Cliap. ix. 20. p Gen. vi. 9. q TtXuei. r l!< t>. v. 13, i4. s Eph. iv. 13, 14. t Ajt/«,-. u 2 Tim. iii. 17. x The word is xarafrirai; which signifies to give them an internal disposition or fitness for the performance oi the duties which they were to engage in. lleb. xiii. 21. 156 THE IMPERFECTION OF SANCTIFICATION. own persons. Wo also distinguish between his connecting a right to eternal life with our performing perfect obedience, as what he might justly insist on according to the tenor of the first covenant, as our Saviour tells the young man in the gospel, ' If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments ;'? and his resolving that we shall not be saved, unless we are able to perform it. The gospel proposes another expedient, namely, that they who were obliged to yield perfect obedience, and ought to be humbled for their inability to perform it, should depend on Christ's righteous- ness, which is the foundation of their right to eternal life ; in which respect they are said to be perfect or 4 complete in him.'z This is the only just notion of per- fection, as attainable in this life. To conclude this Head, it is very unreasonable for a person to suppose that God will abate some part of the debt of perfect obe- dience, and so to call our performing those works which have many imperfections adhering to them, a state of perfection. To do this, is to make it an easier matter to be a Christian than God has made it. Thus concerning the thing supposed in this Answer, namely, that the work of sanctification is imperfect in this life. Why Believers are allowed to be Imperfect. But before we pass to another subject, we shall inquire why God does not bring this work to perfection at once ; which he could easily have done, and, as is cer- tain, will do when he brings the soul to heaven. Now, let it be considered in gen- eral, that it is not meet for us to say unto God, Why dost thou thus ? especially considering that this, as well as many of his other works, is designed to display the glory of his sovereignty ; which very eminently appears in the beginning, carrying on, and perfecting the work of grace. We may as well ask the reason, why he did not begin the work of sanctification sooner, or why he makes use of this or that instrument or means rather than another to effect it. These things are to be resolved into his own pleasure. But as it is evident that he does not bring this work to perfection in this world, we may adore his wisdom in this arrangement, as well as his sovereignty. 1. Hereby he gives his people occasion to exercise repentance and godly sorrow for their former sins committed before they were converted. Perfect holiness would admit of no occasion to bring past sins to remembrance ; but when we sin daily, and have daily need of the exercise of repentance and godly sorrow, we have occasion to entertain a more sensible view of past sins. When corrupt nature dis- covers itself in those who are converted, they take occasion to consider how they have been transgressors from the womb. Thus David, when he repented of his sin in the matter of Uriah, at the same time that he aggravated the guilt of this crime as it justly deserved, he called to mind his former sins from his very infancy, and charged that guilt upon himself which he brought into the world : ' Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.'a And when Job considers God's afflictive providences towards him, as designed to bring sin to remembrance, and desires that he would 'make him to know his transgression and his sin ;' he adds, ' Thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniqui- ties of my youth. 'b Sins committed after conversion were brought to mind, and ordered as a means to humble him for those which were committed before it. As for sius committed before conversion, they cannot, till he who has committed them be converted, be said to be truly repented of ; for to say that they can would be to suppose the grace of repentance antecedent to conversion. Hence, if the work of sanctification were to be immediately brought to perfection, perfect holiness would here be as much attended with perfect happiness as it is in heaven, and consequently godly sorrow would be no more exercised on earth than it is there. But God, in or- dering the gradual progress of the work of sanctification, attended with the remains of sin, gives occasion to many humbling reflections, tending to excite unfeigned repentance, not only for sins committed after they had experienced the grace of God, but for those great lengths they ran in sin before they tasted that the Lord was gracious. On this account, he does not bring the work of sanctification to perfection in this present world. y Matt xix. 16. z Col. ii. 10. a Psal. li. 5. b Job xiii. 23, 26. THE IMPERFECTION OF SANCTIFICATION. 157 2. Another reason of this dispensation of providence is, that believers, from their own experience of the breakings forth of corruption, together with the guilt they contract thereby, and the advantage they receive in gaining any victory over it, may be qualified to administer suitable advice and warning to those who are in a state of unregeneracy, that they may be persuaded to see the evil of sin, which at present they do not. 3. God farther orders this, that he may give occasion to his people to exercise a daily conflict with indwelling sin. He suffers it to give them great disturbance and uneasiness, that they may be induced to endeavour to mortify it, and be found in the exercise of such graces as are adapted to an imperfect state. These graces cannot be exercised in heaven ; nor could they be exercised on earth, were believers to be brought into a sinless state and remain in it while here ; particularly there could not be any acts of faith, in managing that conflict whereby they endeavour to stand their ground while exposed to the difficulties which arise from the per- petual lustings of the flesh against the spirit. How the Imperfection of Sanctification is displayed. We are now led to inquire in what the imperfection of sanctification more especially discovers itself. This it does in the weakness of every grace which we are at any time enabled to act, and in the many failures we are chargeable with in the perfor- mance of every duty incumbent upon us ; so that, as appears from what was said under a former Head concerning perfection as not attainable in this life, if an exact scrutiny were made into our best actions, and they weighed in the balance, they would be found very defective. But the imperfection of sanctification more parti- cularly appears, as is observed in this Answer, from the perpetual lustings of the flesh against the spirit. Thus the apostle speaks of ' the flesh lusting against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh,'0 and of the contrariety of the one to the other, ' so that we cannot do the things that we would ;' and he points himself out as an instance when he says, ' 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. The good that I would, I do not ; but the evil which I would not, that I do. 'd This reluctance and opposition to what is good, he lays to the charge of sin which dwelt in him, which he considers as having, as it were, the force of a law. In par- ticular, he styles it 'the law of his members warring against the law of his mind ;' which is the same thing as the lusting of the flesh against the spirit. It hence appears that, when God implants a principle of grace in regeneration, and carries on the work of sanctification in believers, he does not wholly destroy or root out those habits of sin which were formerly in the soul, but enables us to militate against and overcome them by his implanting and exciting a principle of grace. Hence arises this conflict which we are to consider. Indwelling sin is constantly opposing the principle of grace ; but it does not always prevail against it. The event or success of this combat is various, at dif- ferent times. When corrupt nature prevails, the principle of grace, -though not wholly extinguished, remains inactive, or does not exert itself as at other times. All grace becomes languid, and there appears but little difference between the be- liever and an unbeliever. He falls into very great sins, whereby he wounds his own conscience, grieves the Holy Spirit, and makes sad work for a bitter repent- ance, which will afterwards follow. But as the principle of spiritual life and grace is not wholly lost, it will some time or other be excited, and then will oppose the flesh or the corruption of nature, and maintain its ground against it ; and, as the result, those acts of grace will be again put forth which were before suspended. Having thus given an account of the conflict between indwelling sin and grace, we shall now more particularly show how the habits of sin exert themselves in those who are unregenerate, where there is no principle of grace to oppose them, and then how they exert themselves in believers, what opposition is made to them by the c Gal. v. 19. d Rom. vii. 18—23. 158 THE IMPERFECTION OF SANCTIFICATION. principle of grace in them, and how it comes to pass that sometimes the one prevails, and sometimes the other. 1. We shall consider those violent efforts which are made by corrupt nature, in those who are unregenerate. Though there is no principle of grace in such per- sons to enable them to withstand these ; yet they have a conflict in their own spirits. There is something in nature which, for a time, keeps them from comply- ing with temptations to the greatest sins ; though the flesh, or that propensity which is in them to sin, will prevail at last, and lead them from one degree of im- piety to another, unless prevented by the grace of God. Here the conflict is be- tween corrupt nature and an enlightened conscience. This is the case more especially in those who have had the advantage of a religious education, and the good example of some whom they have conversed with, whereby they have con- tracted some habits of moral virtue which are not immediately extinguished. It is not an easy matter to persuade them to commit those gross and scandalous sins which others, whose minds are blinded, and whose hearts are hardened to a greater degree by the deceitfulness of sin, commit with greediness and without remorse. The principles of education are not immediately broken through ; for in this case men meet with a great struggle in their own breasts, before they entirely lose them ; and they proceed, by various steps, from one degree of wickedness to an- other.6 A breach is first made in the fence, and afterwards widened by a continu- ance in the same sins, or by committing new ones, especially such as have in them a greater degree of presumption. The individual is hence 'disposed to comply with temptations to greater sins ; though it would be to no purpose to tempt him to be openly profane, blaspheme the name of God, or cast off all external forms of reli- gion, and abandon himself to those immoralities which the most notoriously wicked and profligate sinners commit without shame, till he has paved the way to them by the commission of other sins which lead to them. That which at first prevents or restrains him from the commission of them, is something short of a principle of grace : we call it the dictates of natural conscience, which often checks and reproves him. His natural temper or disposition is not at present so far vitiated as to allow of anything which is openly vile and scandalous, or to incline him to pursue it. He abhors it, and, as it were, trembles at the thought of it. Thus, when Hazael was told by the prophet Elisha of all the evil which he would do to the children of Israel, that he would ' set their strongholds on fire, slay their young men with the sword, dash their children, and rip up their women with child,' he entertained the thought with a kind of abhorrence, and said, ' But what! is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing ?'f Yet afterwards, when king of Syria, we find him of another mind ; for he was a greater scourge to the people of God than any of the neighbouring princes, and ' smote them in all the coasts of Israel.'? Now, that which prevents these greater sins is generally fear or shame. Men's consciences terrify them with the thoughts of the wrath of God to which they would expose themselves by committing them ; or they are apprehensive that such a course of life would blast their reputation amongst men, and be altogether inconsistent with that form of godliness which they have had a liking to from their childhood. But as these restraints do not proceed from the internal and powerful influence of regenerating grace, being excited by lower motives than those which the Spirit of God suggests in those who are converted, ■ — as natural conscience is the main restraint, corrupt nature first endeavours to counteract its dictates, ami by degrees gets the mastery over them. When con- science reproves the transgressors, they first offer a bribe to it by performing some moral duties to silence its accusations for presumptuous sins, and pretend that their crime falls short of those committed by many others. At other times, they com- plain of its being too strict in its demands of duty, or severe in its reproofs for sin. If all this will not prevail against it, and if it still perform the office of a faithful reprover, the sinner resolves to stop his ears against convictions. If even this will e It is a true observation which some have laid down in this known aphorism, ■ Nemo repente fit turpissimus.' f 2 Kings viii. 12, 13. U Chap. x. 32. THE IMPERFECTION OF SANCTIFICATION. 159 not altogether prevent his being made uneasy, he betakes himself to those diversions which may give another turn to his thoughts ; he will not allow himself time for serious reflection ; he associates with those whose conversation will effectually tend to extinguish all his former impressions of moral virtue. By this means ho at last stupifies his conscience, so that it becomes, as the apostle expresses it, 'seared with a hot iron ;'h and so he gets, as I may express it, a fatal victory over himself, and henceforth meets with no reluctance or opposition in his own breast, while, ' being past feeling, he gives himself over unto lasciviousness, to work uncleanness ' and all manner of ' iniquity with greediness.'1 2. We are now led to consider the conflict which is between the flesh and the spirit in those in whom the work of sanctification is begun. Here we shall first observe the lustings of the flesh ; and then the opposition it meets with from the principle of grace implanted and excited in them, which is called the lusting of the spirit against it. Now, as to corrupt nature exerting itself in believers to prevent the actings of grace, what gives occasion to it is the Spirit's withdrawing his powerful influences ; which, when the soul is favoured with them, have a tendency to prevent those pernicious conse- quences which otherwise ensue. God withdraws these powerful influences some- times in a way of sovereignty, to show the believer that it is not in his own power to avoid sin when he will, or that he cannot, without the aids of divine grace, with- stand those temptations which are offered to him to commit it. Or God withdraws these influences with a design to let him know what is in his heart, to give him occasion to humble him for past sins or present miscarriages, and to make him more watchful for the future. — Again, there are some things which present them- selves in an objective way, which are as so many snares laid to entangle him. Cor- rupt nature makes a bad improvement of these ; so that his natural constitution is more and more vitiated by giving way to sin, and defiled by the remains of sin which dwelleth in him. The temptation is generally adapted to the corrupt inclination of his nature, and Satan has a hand in it. Thus, if his natural temper incline him to be proud or ambitious, immediately the honours and applause of the world are presented to him ; and he never wants examples of those who, in an unlawful way, have gained a great measure of esteem in the world, and made themselves consi- derable in the stations in which they have been placed. If he is naturally addicted to pleasures, of what kind soever they be, something is offered which is agreeable to corrupt nature, and which seems delightful to it, though it is in itself sinful. If he is more than ordinarily addicted to covetousness, the profits and advantages of the world are presented as a bait to corrupt nature, and groundless fears are raised in him of being reduced to poverty, which, by an immoderate pursuit after the world, he is tempted to guard against. If his natural constitution inclines him to resent injuries, Satan has always his instruments ready at hand to stir up his corruption and provoke him to wrath, by offering either real or supposed injuries; magnifying the former beyond their due bounds, or inferring the latter without duly consider- ing the design of those whose innocent behaviour sometimes gives occasion to them, and, at the same time, overcharging his thoughts with them as though no expedient could be found to atone for them. If his natural constitution inclines him to sloth and inactivity, the difficulties of religion are set before him to discourage him from the exercise of that diligence which is necessary to surmount them. If, on the other hand, his natural temper leads him to be courageous and resolute, corrupt nature endeavours to make him self-confident, and thereby to weaken his trust in God. Or if he is naturally inclined to fear, something is offered to him which may tend to his discouragement, and to sink him into despair. These are the methods used by the flesh, when lusting against the spirit. Let us next consider the opposition of the spirit to the flesh, or how the principle of grace in believers inclines them to make a stand against indwelling sin, which is called the lusting of the spirit against the flesh. The grace of God, when wrought in the heart in regeneration, is not an inactive principle ; for it soon exerts itself, being excited by the power of the Spirit, who implanted it. There henceforth is, or ought to be, a constant opposition made by it to corrupt nature. This is the h 1 Tim. iv. 2. i Eph. iv. 19. 160 THE IMPERFECTION OF SANCT1FICATION. case, not only as the believer, with unfeigned repentance, mourns on account of corrupt nature, and exercises that self-abhorrence which the too great prevalence of it calls for ; but as it leads him to implore help from God against it, by whose assistance he endeavours to subdue the corrupt motions of the flesh, or, as the apostle expresses it, to ' mortify the deeds of the body, 'k that, in consequence, they may not be entertained, or prove injurious and destructive to him. Moreover, as there is something objective, as well as subjective, in this work, since the power of God never excites the principle of grace without presenting objects for it to be con- versant about ; so there are several things suggested to the soul which, if duly weighed and improved, are a means conducive to its being preserved from a com- pliance with the corrupt motions of indwelling sin. These are of a superior nature to those made use of by an enlightened conscience, in unregenerate persons, to prevent their committing the vilest abominations. Indeed, they are such — espe- cially some of them — as, from the nature of the thing, can be used by none but those in whom the work of grace is begun. Accordingly, a believer considers not onlv the glorious excellencies and perfections of Christ, which he is now duly sen- sible of, as he is said to be precious to them that believe ; but he is also affected with the manifold engagements which he has been laid under to love him, and to hate and oppose every thing which is contrary to his glory and interest. The love of Christ constraineth him ; and therefore he abhors the thoughts of being so un- grateful and disingenuous as he would appear to be, should he fulfil the lusts of the flesh. The sense of redeeming love and grace is deeply impressed on his soul. He calls to mind how he has been quickened, effectually called, and brought into the way of peace and holiness ; and therefore cannot entertain any thoughts of relaps- ing or returning again to folly. Here he considers the great advantage which he has received ; which he would not lose on any terms. The delight which he has had in the ways of God and godliness, has been so great, that corrupt nature can- not produce any thing which may be an equivalent for the loss of it. He is very sensible that the more closely he has walked with God, the more comfortably he has walked. Besides, he looks forward, and, by faith, takes a view of the blessed issue of the life of grace, or of those reserves of glory which are laid up for him in another world ; and he is, in consequence, inclined to cast the utmost contempt on every thing which has the least tendency to induce him to relinquish or abandon his interest in them. — Again, he considers and improves the bright examples which are set before him to encourage him to go on in the way of holiness ; takes Christ himself for a pattern, endeavouring, so far as he is able, to follow him ; walks as they have done who have not only stood their ground, but come off victorious in the conflict, and are reaping the blessed fruits and effects of victory. He also con- siders as an inducement to him to oppose the corrupt motions of the flesh, that he has by faith, as his own act and deed, in the most solemn manner, given up himself to Christ entirely, and without reserve, and professed his obligation to obey him in all things, and to avoid whatever has a tendency to displease him. He hence reckons that he is not his own, or at his own disposal, but Christ's, whose he is, by a double right, not only as purchased by him, but as devoted and consecrated to him. He therefore says with the apostle, ' How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?'1 He communes with himself to this effect: ' I have given up my name to Christ ; and I have not, since doing so, seen the least reason to repent of what I did. I have not found the least iniquity in him, neither has he been a hard master ; but, on the other hand, he has expressed the greatest tenderness and compassion to me ; and to his grace alone it is owing that I am what I am. Shall I, then, abandon his interest, or prove a deserter at last, and turn aside into the enemy's camp? Is there any thing which can be proposed as a sufficient motive for my doing so ?' Such thoughts as these, through the prevail- ing influence of the principle of grace implanted and excited by the Spirit, are an effectual means to keep him from a sinful compliance with the motions of the flesh, and to excite him to make the greatest resistance against them. We have thus considered the opposition which there is between the flesh and the k Rom. viii. 13. 1 Chap. vi. 2. THE IMPERFECTION OF SANCTIFICATION. 161 spirit, and how each of these prevails bj turns. We might now observe the con- sequence of the victory obtained on either side. When grace prevails, all things tend to promote our spiritual peace and joy ; and we are fortified against tempta- tions, and not only enabled to stand our ground, but made more than conquerors through him that loved us. But it is not always so with a believer. He some- times finds that corrupt nature prevails ; and then many sad consequences follow, which not only occasion the loss of the peace and joy which he had before, but ex- pose him to many troubles which render his life very uncomfortable. The Consequences of the Prevailing Power of Indwelling Sin. We are thus led to consider what are the consequences of the prevailing power of indwelling sin. When the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and God is pleased to withhold his grace, the soul is subjected to many evils. These are mentioned in the remaining part of this Answer. 1. A believer is foiled with temptation. Satan, by this means, gains ground against him, and pursues the victory which the flesh has obtained against the spirit. His conflicts are now doubled, arising, as the apostle expresses it, not only from ' flesh and blood, ' but from ' the rulers of the darkness of this world. 'm His difficulties increase upon him ; his enemies are more insulting, and he less able to stand his ground against them ; his faith is weakened, and his fears are increasing, so that he is perpetually subject to bondage. Sometimes he is inclined to think that he shall one day fall, and that whatever he formerly thought he had gained will be lost by the assaults of his spiritual enemies. At other times he is disposed to question whether ever he had the truth of grace or not. In this case his spirit must needs be filled with the greatest perplexity, and almost overwhelmed within him. He is destitute of that boldness or liberty of access to the throne of grace, and that comfortable sense of his interest in Christ, which once he had ; and he finds it very difficult to recover those lively frames which he has lost, or to stand his ground against the great opposition made by corrupt nature, which still in- creases as faith grows weaker. 2. Another consequence of the power of indwelling sin, is the believer's fall- ing into many sins. We are not to suppose, indeed, that he shall be so far left as to fall into a state ol unregeneracy, or lose the principle of grace which was implanted in regeneration. Yet when this principle does not exert itself, and cor- rupt nature, on the other hand, is prevalent, it is hard to say how far he will run into the commission of known and wilful sins. As for sins of infirmity, they can- not be avoided, when we are in the best frame. But in this case we shall find a person committing presumptuous sins, so that if we were to judge of his state by his present frames, without considering the former experiences which he had of the grace of God, we should be ready to question whether his heart were right with God. Sins of omission generally follow. He cannot draw nigh to God with that frame of spirit which he once had, and therefore is ready to say, ' What profit should I have if I pray unto him?'n and sometimes concludes that he contracts guilt by attempting to engage in holy duties. We may add, as is farther observed in this Answer, that he is hindered in all his spiritual services. Thus the apostle says, ' When I would do good, evil is present with me.'0 He finds his heart disposed to wander from God, and his thoughts taken up with vanity. On this account it may be truly said, that his best works are not only imperfect, but defiled in the sight of God, who searcheth the heart, and observes the various steps by which it treach- erously departs from him. Nor can the believer find any way to recover himself till God is pleased to revive his work, take away the guilt which he has contracted, recover him out of the snare into which he has fallen, and so cause the work oi grace again to flourish in the soul as it once did. Practical Inferences from the Imperfect State of Believers. We shall conclude with some inferences from what has been said concerning the m Epb. vi. 12. n Job xxi. 15. o Rom. vii. 21. II. X 162 THE IMPERFECTION OF SANCTIFICATION. imperfection of sanctification in believers, together with the reasons and conse- quences of it. 1. Since sinless perfection is not attainable in this life, we should take occasion to give a check to our censorious thoughts concerning persons or things, so as not to determine persons to be in an unconverted state, because they are chargeable with many sinful infirmities, which are not inconsistent with the truth of grace. Some abatements are to be made for their being sanctified but in part, and having the remnants of sin in them. Indeed, the greatest degree of grace which can be attained here, comes far short of that which the saints have arrived at in heaven. Accordingly, the difference between a believer and an unregenerate sinner does not consist in the one being perfect and the other imperfect ; for when we consider the brightest characters given of any in scripture, their blemishes as well as their graces are recorded, so that none but our Saviour could challenge the world to convict or reprove them of sin. The apostle speaks of Elias, as ' a man subject to like passions as we are ;'p and he might have spoken similarly of many others. Hence, when we are sensible of our own imperfections, we ought to inquire whether the spots we find in ourselves are like the spots of God's children ? or whether our infirmities may be reckoned consistent with the truth of grace ? Should we be able to draw a favour- able conclusion, then, though it affords matter for humiliation that we are liable to any sinful failures or defects, it will be some encouragement to us, and matter of thanksgiving to God, that notwithstanding this our hearts are right with him. That we may be, in some measure, satisfied as to this matter, we must distin- guish between a person's being tempted to the greatest sins which are inconsistent with the truth of grace, and his complying with the temptation. A temptation of this kind may offer itself ; and, at the same time, grace may exert itself in an eminent degree, by the opposition which it makes to it, whether it arises from indwelling sin or from Satan. — Again, when we read of some sins which are incon- sistent with the truth of grace, such as those which the apostle speaks of, when he says that ' neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God, '•* and elsewhere, that ' the fearful and unbelieving,' as well as those who are guilty of other notorious crimes, shall 'have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone,'1, we must distinguish between those who are guilty of these sins in a less degree than what is intended, when they are said to exclude from the kingdom of heaven ; and others who are guilty of them, in a notorious degree, with greater aggravations. Thus unbeliev- ing fears in those who are called to suffer for Christ's sake, if they do not issue in a denial of him, are not altogether inconsistent with the truth of grace, though they render a person guilty before God. The least degree of covetousness, in the same way, though it is not to be excused, does not exclude from the kingdom of hea- ven ; but the prevailing love of the world, or the immoderate pursuit of it in those who use unlawful means to attain it, or have a rooted habitual desire after it more than after Christ, or put it in his room, is to be reckoned a mark of unregen- eracy. — Further, we must distinguish between sinful infirmities, and allowed in- firmities, or those who sin through surprise, being assaulted by an unforeseen tempta- tion, when not on their guard, and those who commit the same sin with deliberation. The latter gives greater ground to fear that a person is in a state of unregeneracy than the former. — We must also distinguish between sins committed and repented of, with that degree of godly sorrow which is proportioned to their respective aggra- vations ; and the same sins committed and continued in with impenitency. The latter gives ground to conclude that a person is in an unconverted state, though not the former. The difference arises not merely from the nature of the crimes, for we suppose the sins in themselves to be the same ; but from other evidences which a person has or has not of his being in a state of grace. 2. From what has been said concerning the opposition which there is between natural conscience and corrupt nature in the unregenerate, we may infer that it is a great blessing to have a religious education, as it has a tendency to prevent many p James v. 17. q 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10. r Rev. xxi. 8. THE IMPERFECTION OF SANCTIFICATION. 163 enormities which others who are destitute of it run into. They who have had this privilege ought to bless God for it, and make a right improvement of it. But as those principles which take their rise from it are liable, unless the grace of God prevent, to be overcome and lost ; let us press after something more than this, and be importunate with God, whose providence has favoured us thus far, that he would give us a better preservative against sin, or that its prevailing power may be pre- vented by converting grace. 3. From the opposition which corrupt nature makes in believers to the work of grace, we may infer that the standing of the best of men, or their not being charge- able with the greatest sins, is owing not so much to themselves as to the grace of God, by which we are what we are ; that therefore the glory of our being pre- served from such sins belongs entirely to him ; that we have reason, when we are praying against our spiritual enemies, to beg that God would deliver us from the greatest of them, namely, ourselves ; and that he who has a sovereignty over the hearts of all men, and can govern and sanctify their natural tempers and disposi- tions, would keep us from being drawn away by these ; and that we ought to walk watchfully, and be always on our guard, depending on the grace of God for help, that indwelling sin may not so far prevail as to turn aside and alienate our affections from him. 4. From what has been said concerning the flesh and the spirit prevailing by turns, we infer the uncertainty of the frame of our spirits, and what changes we are liable to, with respect to the actings of grace or the comforts which result from it. This somewhat resembles the state of man as subject to various changes with respect to the dispensations of providence ; sometimes lifted up, at other times cast down, and not abiding long in the same condition. Thus we are enabled at some times to gain advantage over indwelling sin, and enjoy the comforts which arise thence ; at other times, when the flesh prevails, the acts of grace are interrupted, and its comforts almost, if not entirely, lost. What reason have we, therefore, to bless God that, though our graces are far from being brought to perfection, and our frames so various, yet he has given us ground to conclude that grace shall not whollj he lost, and that our state, as we are justified, is not liable to the same uncertainty, so that that which interrupts the progress of sanctification does not bring us into an unjustified state, or render us liable to condemnation ? 5. From the inconveniences we sustain by the flesh prevailing against the spirit, as we are foiled by temptation, fall into sins, and are hindered in spiritual services, we infer the great hurt which sin does to those who are in a justified and sanctified state, as well as to those who are under the dominion of it. It is hence a vile and unwarrantable way of speaking to say, as some do, that because nothing shall sepa- rate them from the love of Christ, or bring those who are justified back again into an unjustified state, therefore sin can do them no hurt; as though all the consequences of the prevalency of corrupt nature, and the dishonour we bring to God, and the guilt we contract, could hardly be reckoned prejudicial. This is such a way of speaking as confutes itself in the opinion of all judicious and sober Christians. — Again, we might infer from the consequences of the prevalence of corruption, as we are liable hereby to be discouraged from duty or hindered in the performance of it, that we ought, if we find it thus with us, to take occasion to inquire whether some secret sin be not indulged and entertained by us, which gives occasion to the prevalence of corrupt nature, and for which we ought to be humbled. Or if we have lived in the omission of those duties which are incumbent on us, or have pro- voked God to leave us to ourselves, and so have had a hand in our present evils, we have occasion for great humiliation. And we ought to be very importunate with God for restoring grace, not only that our faith may not fail, but that we may be recovered out of the snare in which we are entangled, and may be brought off victorious over all our spiritual enemies. 164 PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. Question I, XXIX. May not true believers, by reason of their imperfections, and the many tempta- tions and sins they are overtaken with, fall away from the state ofgrac: ? Answer. True believers, by reason of the unchangeable love of God, and his decree and cove- nant to give them perseverance, their inseparable union with Christ, his continual intercession for them, ami the Spirit and seed of God abiding in them, can neither totally nor finally fall from the state of grace, but are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. General View of the Doctrine of Perseverance. It is natural for persons, when they enjoy any blessing, to be solicitous about their retaining it ; otherwise the pleasure which arises from it, if it is likely to be short and transitory, is rather an amusement than a solid and substantial happiness. The same may be said of those graces and privileges which believers are made par- takers of, as the fruits and effects of the death of Christ, These are undoubtedly the most valuable blessings. It hence highly concerns us to inquire whether we may assuredly conclude that we shall not lose them, and so fail of that future bless- edness which we have had so delightful a prospect of. The saints' perseverance has been denied not only by many since the Reformation, and, in particular, by Papists, Socinians, and Remonstrants, but also by the Pela- gians of old, and by all those whose sentiments bear some affinity to their scheme, or are derived from it. Indeed, when persons endeavour to establish the doctrines of conditional election, universal redemption, &c. ; or when they explain the na- ture of human liberty so as to make the grace of God to be dependent on it for its efficacy in the beginning and carrying on of the work of conversion and sanctification ; and accordingly assert, that the will has an equal power to determine itself to good or evil, — that the grace of God affords no other assistance to promote the one or guard against the other than what is objective, or, at least, than by supporting our na- tural faculties, — and, if there be any divine concourse, that it consists only in what respects the external dispensations of providence, as a remote means conducive to the end, the event depending on our own conduct or disposition to improve these means ; I say, when persons maintain these and similar doctrines, it is not to be wondered if we find them pleading for the possibility of a believer's falling totally and finally from the grace of God. They who have brought themselves into a state of grace, may apostatize or fall from it. If a man's free-will first inclined itself to exercise those graces which we call special, such as faith, repentance, love to God, &c, it follows that he may lose them and relapse to the contrary vices, and may plunge himself into the same depths of sin and misery whence he had escaped. Accord- ing to this scheme, there may be, in the course of our lives, a great many instances of defection irom the grace of God, and recovery to it, and finally, a drawing back unto perdition. Or if a person be so happy as to recover himself out of his last apostacy before he leaves the world, he is saved ; otherwise, he finally perishes. This is a doctrine which some defend ; but the contrary to it we shall endeavour to maintain, as being the subject insisted on in this Answer. But before we proceed to the defence of it, it may not be amiss to premise some- thing which may have, at least, a remote tendency to dispose us to receive convic- tion from the arguments which may be brought to prove it. We may consider that the contrary side of the question is in itself less desirable, if it could be de- fended. It is certain that the doctrine of the possibility of the saints falling from grace, tends very much to abate that delight and comfort which the believer has in the fore-views of the issue and event of his present state. It is a very melan- choly thought to consider that he who has now advanced to the very borders of heaven, may be cast down into hell ; that though he has at present an interest in the special and discriminating love of God, he may afterwards become the object of his hatred, so as never to behold his face with joy in a future world ; that, though his feet are set upon a rock, his goings are not established ; that, though he is walk- ing in a plain and safe path, he may be ensnared, entangled, and fall, so as never to rise again ; that though God is his friend, he may suffer him to fall into the PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. 165 hands of his enemies, and be in consequence ruined and undone, as though his own glory were not concerned in his coming off victorious over them, or connected with the salvation of his people. Hence, as this doctrine renders the state of believ- ers very precarious and uncertain, it tends effectually to damp their joys, and blast their expectations,' and subject them to perpetual bondage ; and it is a great hin- derance to their offering praise and thanksgiving to God, whose grace is not so much magnified towards them as it would be, had they ground to conclude that the work which is now begun should certainly be brought to perfection. On the other hand, the doctrine which we are to maintain is in itself so very comfortable that, if we were at present in suspense concerning its truth, we cannot but desire that it may appear to be agreeable to the mind of God. It is certainly a very delightful thing for us to be assured, that what is at present well, shall end well ; that they who are brought to believe in Christ, shall for ever abide with him ; and that the work of grace which, at present, affords so fair and . pleasing a prospect of its being at last perfected in glory, shall not miscarry. This will have a tendency to enhance our joy in proportion to the ground we have to conclude that the work is true and gen- uine ; and it will excite our thankfulness to God, when we consider that he who is the author will also be the finisher of faith. It is certain, therefore, that this doc- trine deserves confirmation. We shall endeavour to establish our faith in it according to the following method : — First, we shall consider what we are to understand by persevering in grace, or falling from it. Secondly, we shall prove that the best believers would certainly fall from grace, were they left to themselves ; so that their perseverance in grace is principally to be ascribed to the power of God, which keeps them through faith unto salvation. Thirdly, we shall consider what ground we have to conclude that the saints shall persevere in grace ; and so explain and illustrate the several argu- ments insisted on in this Answer, and add some others taken from several scrip- tures by which this doctrine may be defended. Lastly, we shall endeavour to an- swer some objections which are generally brought against it. Explanation of the Doctrine of Perseverance. We shall consider what we are to understand by persevering in grace, or falling from it. 1. When we speak of a person as persevering in grace, we suppose that he has the truth of grace. We do not mean that a person may not fall away from a pro- fession of faith ; or that no one can lose that which we generally call common grace, which, in many things, bears a resemblance to that which is saving. We have already shown that there is a temporary faith whereby persons appear religious while their doing so comports with their secular interests ; but when they are called by reason of persecution or tribulation, which may arise for the sake of the gospel, to forego their worldly interests, or quit their pretensions to religion, they fall away, or lose that grace which, as the evangelist says,8 they * seemed to have.' We read of some whose hope of salvation is like the spider's web, or the giving up of the ghost ; but these are described not as true believers, but as hypocrites. It is beyond dispute that such may apostatize, and not only lay aside the external practice of some religious duties, but deny and oppose the doctrines of the gospel, which they once assented to the truth of. 2. It is certain that true believers may fall into very great sins ; but yet they *hall be recovered and brought again to repentance. We must distinguish, there- fore, between their dishonouring Christ, disobeying his commands, and thereby provoking him to be angry with them ; and their falling away totally from him. We formerly considered, when we proved that perfection is not attainable in this life, that the best men are sometimes chargeable with great failings and defects. Indeed, sometimes their sins are very heinously aggravated, their conversation in the mean while discovering that they are destitute of the actings of grace, and that to such a degree that they can hardly be distinguished from those who are in s Luke viii. 18. ICC) PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. an unregenerate state. It is hence one thing for a believer not to be able to put forth those acts of grace which he once did ; and another thing for him to lose the principle of grace. It would be a very preposterous thing to say, that, when David sinned in the matter of Uriah, the principle of grace exerted itself ; yet it was not wholly lost. It is not the same in this case as in the more common instances of the saints' in- firmities, which they are daily chargeable with, and in which the conflict which there is between the flesh and the spirit appears ; for when corrupt nature exerts itself to such a degree as to lead persons to the commission of deliberate and pre- sumptuous sins, they hardly appear at the time to be believers. Yet if we com- pare what they were before they fell, with what they shall be when brought to re- pentance, we may conclude that they did not, by their fall, bring themselves alto- gether into a state of unregeneracy. 3. It is beyond dispute that, as a believer may be destitute of the acts of grace, so he may lose the comforts of it, and sink into the depths of despair. Of this we have several instances recorded in scripture, which correspond with the experiences of many in our day. Thus the psalmist at one time says, that he was ' cast down,' and 'his soul disquieted within him.'1 At another time he says, ' The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me.' Elsewhere also he complains, ' Will the Lord cast off for ever ? will he be favourable no more ? is his mercy clean gone for ever ? doth his promise fail for evermore ? ha,th God forgotten to be gracious ? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies ?'u Again, a believer is represented as being altogether destitute of a comfortable sense of the divine love, when complaining, ' Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Wilt thou show wonders to the dead ? Shall the dead arise and praise thee ? Shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave, or thy faithfulness in destruction? Thy fierce wrath goeth over me, thy terrors have cut me off.'x It is certain, too, that when at any time he falls into very great sins, which seem in- consistent with a state of grace, he has no present evidence that he is a believer, and is never favoured with a comfortable sense of his interest in Christ. Nor is the joy of God's salvation restored to him, till he is brought unfeignedly to repent of his sin. Former experiences will not evince the truth of grace, while he remains impenitent. It is a bad sign when any one, who formerly appeared to have the truth of grace, but is now fallen into great sins, thinks himself to be in a state of grace, without the exercise of true repentance ; for his thinking so can be deemed little better than presumption. Yet God, whose mercy is infinitely above our deserts, will, in the end, recover him ; though, at present, he does not look like one of his children. 4. There are some who suppose that a believer may totally, though not finally, fall from grace. They hold this opinion because they conclude, as they have suffi- cient warrant to do from scripture, that believers shall not fall finally, inasmuch as the purpose of God concerning election must stand ; and that if they had not been chosen to salvation they would never have been brought into a state of grace. They suppose that persons, before they fell, were in a state of sanctification, and thus were partakers of a blessing which is inseparably connected with salvation. Hence, though they consider them, in their present state, as having lost the grace of sanc- tification, and so to have fallen totally ; yet they believe that they shall be re- covered, and therefore not fall finally. Sanctification is Christ's purchase ; and where grace is purchased for any one, a price of redemption is paid for his deliver- ance from condemnation ; and consequently he shall be recovered and saved at last, though, at present, he is, according to their opinion, totally fallen. These suppose that, not only the acts of grace, but the very principle and the reason of it may be lost, because they cannot see how great and notorious sins, such as those committed by David, Peter, Solomon, and some others, can consist with a principle of grace. This opinion indeed cuts the knot of some difficulties which seem to attend the doctrine of the saints' perseverance, though falling into great sins. I think it may easily be proved, however, and we shall endeavour to do so, that be- t Psal. xlii. 5. and cxvi. 3 u psal. lxxvii. 7—9. x Psal. lxxxviii. 6, &c PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. 167 lievers shall be preserved from a total as well as from a final apostasy ; or that, when they fall into great sins, they do not lose the principle of grace, though it be at the time inactive. This we shall take occasion to insist on more particularly under a following Head, when we consider the argument mentioned in this Answer for the proof of the doctrine of perseverance taken from the Spirit and seed of God abiding in a believer, as that which preserves him from a total as well as a final apostasy. Perseverance the result of the Divine Power and Will. We shall now consider that the best believers would certainly fall from grace, were they left to themselves ; so that their perseverance in grace is principally to be ascribed to the power of God, which keeps them through faith unto salvation. This is particularly observed in this Answer ; which lays down several arguments to prove the doctrine of the saints' perseverance in grace, and supposes that perse- verance to be founded on God's power and will to maintain it. God is styled ' the preserver of men,'? inasmuch as he upholds all things by the word of his power", so that independency on him is inconsistent with the idea of our being creatures ; and we have no less ground to conclude that his power maintains the new creature, or that grace which took its rise from him. ' Should he fail or forsake us, we could not put forth the least act of grace, much less persevere in grace. When man at first came out of the hands of God, he was endowed with a greater ability to stand than any one, excepting our Saviour, has been favoured with since sin entered into the world ; yet he apostatized, not from any necessity of nature, but by adhering to that temptation which he might have withstood. Then how unable is he to stand in his present state, having become weak, and, though brought into a state of grace, having been renewed and sanctified only in part, and having still the re- mains of corruption, which maintain a constant opposition to the principle of grace? Our perseverance in grace, therefore, cannot be owing to ourselves. Accordingly, the apostle ascribes it to a divine hand, when he says, ' we are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.'2 A late celebrated writer, on the other side of the question, a attempts to evade the force of this argument to prove the doctrine of perseverance, though, I think, without much strength of reasoning. He says that all who are preserved to salva- tion are kept by the power of God, but not that all believers are so kept. We re- ply, that all believers whose character answers that of the church to which the apos- tle writes, shall be saved, namely, all who are ' begotten again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for them;' whose ' faith,' after it has been tried, shall be ' found unto praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ. 'b I say, these shall certainly be saved ; and if all who are thus pre- served to salvation are kept by the power of God, every thing is conceded which we contend for. But the writer referred to adds, that when they are said to be kept through faith, the meaning is, they are kept if they continue in the faith. Now, their continuance in the faith was put out of all dispute, by what is said con- cerning them in the words going before and following, as now referred to. Besides, the writer's argument amounts to no more than this ; they shall be kept by the power of God, if they keep themselves ; or they shall persevere if they persevere. To this argument I need make no reply. But as our main design in this Head is not to prove that believers shall perse- vere, a point which we reserve to our next, but to show that whatever we assert concerning their perseverance takes its rise from God ; we shall consider this as plainly contained in scripture. Thus the apostle Paul speaks of the Lord's 'deliv- ering him from every evil work, and preserving him to his heavenly kingdom.'0 The apostle Jude speaks of believers as ' sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called,' or as being first called, and then preserved by God the y Job vii. 20. z 1 Pet. i. 5. a See Whitby's discourse, &c. p. 463. b 1 Pet. i. 3, 4, 7. c 2 Tim. iv. 18. Jude verse 1, 1G8 PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. Father, through the intervention of Christ, our great Mediator, till they are brought to glory. And our Saviour, in his affectionate prayer for his church, a little before he left the world, says, ' Holy Father, keep, through thine own name, those whom thou hast given me.'d These words not only prove that the perseverance of the saints is owing to God, but that the glory of his own name is concerned in it ; so that it is not from ourselves, but from him. There is also a scripture in which our Saviour speaks of the perseverance of his ' sheep ' in grace, and of his giving them eternal life ; and he adds, • They shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand.'e It is owing, therefore, to his care, as the great Shepherd of the sheep, and to his power, which is superior to that of all those who attempt to destroy them, that they shall persevere in grace. Proofs of the Doctrine of Perseverance. We shall now consider what ground we have to conclude that the saints shall persevere in grace, and so explain and illustrate the arguments insisted on in this Answer, together with some others which may be taken from the sense of several scriptures, by which this doctrine may be defended. 1. The saints' perseverance in grace may be proved from the unchangeable love of God, and his decree and purpose, relating to their salvation, in which it is dis- covered and executed. That God loved them with a love of good-will, before they were inclined to express any love to him, is evident ; because their love to him is assigned as the effect and consequence of his love to them, as the apostle says, 'We love him because he first loved us.'f The love of God to his people, there- fore, must be considered as an immanent act ; whence it follows, that it was from eternity, since all God's immanent acts are eternal. This is particularly expressed by the prophet when he says, ' The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love.'s Were this language meant of a love that shall never have an end, it would plainly prove the doctrine we are defend- ing ; but as the words which immediately follow, ' Therefore, with loving-kindness have I drawn thee, ' seem to intimate that the love is that which was from everlasting, his drawing them or bringing them into a converted state being the result of it, it fol- lows that this everlasting love is the same as his eternal purpose or design to save them. Now, if there be such an eternal purpose relating to their salvation, it neces- sarily infers their perseverance ; and that there was such a design in God was proved under a former Answer.h Besides, they who are the objects of this eternal purpose of grace are frequently described in scripture as believers, inasmuch as faith and salvation are inseparably connected together. Hence, the execution of God's purpose in giving faith, necessarily infers the execution of it in saving those who believe. That the purpose of grace is unchangeable, was formerly proved ; ' and may be farther argued from what the apostle says concerning ' the immutability of his counsel,' shown to ' the heirs of promise,', as the ground of that 'strong consola- tion ' which they have ' who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before them. 'k Now, if God cannot change his purpose relating to the salvation of believers, it necessarily follows that they shall certainly attain salvation, and conse- quently shall persevere in grace. It will be objected that, though God may be said to love his people while they retain their integrity, yet they may provoke him by their sins to cast them off ; so that the present exercise of divine love to them is no certain argument that it shall be extended to the end, or that, by virtue of it, he will enable them to persevere, and then bring them to glory. Now, we do not deny that believers, by their sins, may so far provoke God, that, if he should mark their iniquities, or deal with them according to the demerit of them, he would cast them off for ever. Still he will not do this, because his doing it would be inconsistent with his purpose to recover them from their backslidings, and forgive their iniquities. Moreover, it cannot be denied d John xvii. 11. e Chap# x 28. f 1 John iv. 19. g Jer. xxxi. 3. Tri "eSt* *"' xiii' * See Sect- ' The Etern>ty» Wisdom, Unchangeableness of the Pur- pos.-s <,' Unction, under Quest, xii, xiii. and Sect. * The immutability of God,' under Quest, ix, x,xi. k ik-u. vi 1 j, 18. PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. 169 that, notwithstanding God's eternal love to them, there are many instances of his hatred. and displeasure expressed in the external dispensations of his providence, which are as often changed as their conduct towards him is changed. But this fact does not infer a change in God's purpose. He may testify his displeasure against them, or, as the psalmist expresses it, ' visit their transgressions with the rod, and their iniquities with stripes j'1 and yet he cannot change his resolution to save them, but will, by some methods of grace, recover them from their backslidings, and enable them to persevere in grace, since ' his counsel shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure.' 2. Another argument to prove the saints' perseverance, may be taken from the covenant of grace, and the many promises respecting their salvation which are con- tained in it. That this may appear, let it be considered that, as was observed un- der a former Answer,"1 Christ was appointed to be the head of this covenant. Accordingly, there was an eternal transaction between the Father and him, in which all things relating to the everlasting salvation of the elect, whom he therein represented, were stipulated, in their behalf. In this covenant, God the Father pro- mised, not only that Christ should 'have a seed to serve him,'n but that he 'should see his seed,' that ' the pleasure of the Lord,' with relation to them, ' should pros- per in his hand,' and that he should 'see of the travail of his soul, and be satis- fied,'0 which implies that he should see the fruits and effects of all that he had done and suffered for them in order to their salvation. Nor is this said respecting some of them, but respecting all ; and it could not have had its accomplishment, were it possible for them not to persevere in grace. Again, in this covenant Christ has undertaken to keep them, as the result of his becoming a surety for them ; in doing which, he not only engaged to pay the debt of obedience and sufferings which was due from them, which he has already done, but that he would work all that grace in them which he purchased by his blood. Now, he has already begun this work in them ; though it is not yet ac- complished. Can we suppose, then, that he will not bring it to perfection, or that he will not enable them to endure to the end, that they may be saved ? This would argue the greatest unfaithfulness in him, who is styled 'faithful and true.' Moreover, as there are engagements on Christ's part relating to this matter, and as, in pursuance of these, they are said to be in his hand ; so the Father has given them an additional security, that they shall be preserved from apostacy. They are hence said to be also 'in his hand,' whence 'none can pluck them out ;' and it is thence argued that ' they shall never perish.'? We may observe, too, that the life which Christ is said to give them is not only the beginning of life, in the first grace which they are made partakers of in conversion, but is called ' eternal life,' which certainly denotes the completing of the work of grace in their everlasting salvation. Further, the promises contained in the covenant of grace, relate not only to their sanctification here, but to their salvation hereafter. On this account it is called 'an everlasting covenant,' and the mercies of it, 'the sure mercies of David j'0- that is, either those mercies which David, who had an interest in this covenant, was given to expect, or mercies which Christ had engaged to purchase and bestow, who is here, as elsewhere, r called David, inasmuch as David was an eminent type of him, as well as because he was his seed according to the flesh. That the latter is the more probable sense of the two, appears from the following words, in which he is said to be 'given for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.' Now, if these mercies are in Christ's hand to be applied, it is no wonder that they are styled ' sure mercies.' We might here consider the covenant of grace as contain- ing all the promises which respect the beginning, carrying on, or completing of the salvation of his people. These relate, not only to what God will do for them, but to what he will enable them to be and do, in those things which concern their faithfulness to him ; whereby they have the highest security that they shall be- have themselves as becomes a covenant-people. Thus he assures them that he will be to them a God, that is, that he will glorify his divine perfections in bestowing 1 Psal. lxxxix. 32. m See Quest, xxxi. n Pial. xxii. 30. o Isa. liii. 10, 11. p John x. 28, 29. q Isa. lv. 3 4. r Hos. iii. 5. II. Y 170 PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. on them the special and. distinguishing blessings of the covenant; and that they shall be to him a people, that is, shall so behave themselves that they shall not, by apostacy from him, oblige him to disown his relation to them or exclude them from his covenant. He has encouraged them to expect, not only those great things which he would do for them provided they yielded obedience to his law, but also that he would 'put his law into their inward parts, and write it in their hearts,' whereby they might be disposed to obey him. And when he says that they • shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord,' he gives them to understand that they should not only teach or instruct one another in the knowledge of God, which respects their being favoured with the external means of grace, but that they ' should all know him, from the least of them unto the greatest.' This denotes that they should have, not only a speculative knowledge of divine truth, but a saving knowledge of it, such as is in- separably connected with 'life eternal.'8 That this knowledge is intended appears from its being accompanied with or flowing from forgiveness of sin ; for it is immediately added, ' I will forgive their iniquity,' and this is expressed with a peculiar emphasis. Now, their enjoying forgiveness of sins, connected with a saving knowledge of divine truth, is certainly inconsistent with their falling from a justified state, especially as it is said, ' I will remember their sin no more.'* Elsewhere, also, when God speaks of his 'making an everlasting covenant' with his people,11 he promises that 'he will not turn away from them to do them good ;' and, inasmuch as they are prone, by reason of the deceitfulness of their hearts, to turn aside from him, he adds, ' I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.' Here it is not only said that he will not turn from them, if they fear him ; but he gives them se- curity in this covenant, that they shall fear him. Can we conclude, then, that they, in whom this covenant is so far made good that God has put his fear in their hearts, which is supposed in their being believers, shall not attain the other blessing pro- mised, namely, that of their not departing from him ? Moreover, the stability of this covenant, as a foundation of the saints' perseverance, is set forth by a meta- phor, taken from the most fixed and stable parts of nature ; and it is said to exceed these in stability, ' The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed ; but my kindness shall not depart from thee ; neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee.'x The principal objection which is brought to enervate the force of the argument taken from those promises of the covenant which respect the saints' perseverance, is, that either these promises are to be considered as conditional, and the conditions of them as not fulfilled, in which case they are not obligatory, so that God is not bound to give salvation to those to whom he has promised it on these conditions ; or else they are to be considered as made to a political body, namely, the Jewish nation, in which case they respect, not their eternal salvation, but only some temporal deliverances of which they were to be made partakers, and which belonged to them generally as a church, — everlasting salvation never being con- sidered as a blessing which shall be applied to whole nations, how much soever a whole nation may partake of the common gifts of divine bounty which are be- stowed in this world. — In answer to this objection, in both its branches, I need only refer to what has been said elsewhere. As to the former branch of it, we have endeavoured to show how those scriptures are to be understood which are laid down in a conditional form, without supposing that they militate against the ab- soluteness of God's purpose, or its unchangeableness, and independency on the conduct of men.? As to the latter branch of it, what has been said in answer to an objection of a similar nature, brought against the doctrine of election by Dr. Whitby, and others, who suppose that the blessings which the elect are said in scripture to be made partakers of respect the nation of the Jews or the church in general, and not a particular number chosen out of them to salvation, and that the promises which are directed to them are only such as they were given to ex- pect as a church or political body of men, may well be applied to our present pur- « John xvii. 3. t Jer. xxxi. 33, 34. u Chap, xxxii. 40. x l»a. liv. 10. y See vol i. pages 289—292. et alibi passim. PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. 171 pose, and serve as an answer to this objection.2 In this place, therefore, I shall add but a few remarks bj way of reply. If any expressions are annexed to the promises of the covenant which give occa- sion to some to conclude that they are conditional, we must take heed that we do not understand them as denoting the dependence of God's determinations on the arbitrary will of man ; as though his purpose relating to the salvation of his people were indeterminate, and it were a matter of doubt with him, as well as with us, whether he should fulfil it or not, because it is uncertain whether the conditions of it shall be performed. To suppose this is inconsistent with the divine perfections. But if, on the other hand, we suppose that the grace or duty annexed to the pro- mise must have some idea of a condition contained in it, this may be understood according to the tenor of God's revealed will, as denoting nothing else but a condi- tion of our expectation, or of our claim to the blessing promised ; and then nothing can be inferred from it, but that some who lay claim to or expect salvation, without performing the condition of it, may apostatize, and miss it ; which does not in the least militate against the doctrine we are defending. We may add that, when such a condition is annexed to a promise, (for I will not decline to call it so in the sense just stated,) and there is another promise added, in which God engages that he will enable his people to perform it, the condition is then equivalent to an abso- lute promise. Of this kind are those conditions which are mentioned in the scrip- tures formerly referred to. When God promises that he will be a God to his people, that he will forgive their iniquities, and never reverse the sentence of forgiveness, or remember their sins any more, and that he will never turn away from them to do them good, he, at the same time, promises that he will put his law in their in- ward parts, and write it in their hearts, and put his fear in their hearts, and so enable them to behave themselves as his people, or to be to him a people. When, again, God sets forth the stability of his covenant, and intimates that it should not be removed, he adds that his kindness shall not depart from them. Nor does this kindness respect merely some temporal blessings which he would bestow upon them, but his extending that grace to them which should keep them faithful to him. Hence, he says that ' in righteousness they should be established ;' words which contain a promise that he would maintain grace in them, without which they could hardly be said to be established in righteousness, as well as that he would perform the other things promised to them in this covenant. The other branch of the objection we are examining, considers that the promises are given to the church in general, or to the Jews as a political body of men ; and that they cannot be supposed to respect their everlasting salvation, but only some temporal blessings which they should enjoy. Now, this point is to be determined by the express words contained in the promise. If God tells those to whom the promises are made that he will do that for them which includes more than the blessings which they are supposed to enjoy of a temporal nature, we are not to con- clude that there is nothing of salvation referred to in them, when the words thus seem to imply the contrary. Besides, though these promises are said to be given to the Jews as a political body of men, and there are some circumstances in them which have an immediate and particular relation to that people ; yet the promises of special grace and salvation were to be applied only by those among them who believed. Moreover, the same promises are to be applied by believers in all ages ; else we must understand the texts which contain them as only an historical relation of things which do not belong to us, — an interpretation which would tend very much to detract from the spirituality and usefulness of many parts of scripture. To make this appear, we might consider some promises which, when first made, had a particular relation to God's dealings with his people in the circumstances in which they were then placed, but which are, notwithstanding, applied in a more extensive manner to New Testament believers in all ages. Thus, when God says to his people, in the scripture formerly referred to, ■ All thy children shall be taught of the Lord,'a whatever respect the promise may have to the church of. the Jews, our Saviour applies it in a more extensive way, as belonging to believers in all z See Sect. ' The Meaning of Election,' under Quest, xii, xiii. a Isa. liv. 13. 172 PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. ajes, when he says, « Every man, therefore, that hath heard and learned of the l-'ather, cometh unto me.'b Again, God promises Joshua that ' he would not fail nor forsake him,' and encourages him thereby 'not to fear nor be dismayed,'0 when he was to pass over Jordan into the land of Canaan, and afterwards to engage in a work which was attended with many difficulties. Now, this promise is applied by the apostle as an inducement to believers in his day to be ' content with such things as they have ;' for after exhorting them to be so, he adds, that what God told Joshua of old was written for their encouragement, namely, that ' he would never leave them, nor forsake them.'d We cannot therefore but conclude, that the objection we have been considering is of no force in either of its branches to overthrow the doctrine of the saints' perseverance, as founded on the stability of the promises of the covenant of grace. 3. The saints' perseverance in grace may be farther proved from their insepar- able union with Christ. Not only is this union federal, as he is the head of the covenant of grace, and they his members, whose salvation, as was observed under the last Head, he has engaged to bring about ; but he may be considered also as their vital head, from whom they receive spiritual life and influence ; so that as long as they abide in him, their spiritual life is maintained as derived from him. If we consider the church, or the whole election of grace as united to him, it is called ' his body,'e 'the fulness of him that filleth all in all;'f and every believer being a member of this body, or a part, if I may so express it, of this fulness, if it should perish and be separated from him, his body would be defective, and he would sustain a loss of that which is an ingredient in his fulness. Moreover, as this union includes that relation between Christ and his people which is," by a metaphorical way of speaking, styled conjugal,^ and accordingly is mutual, as the result of his becoming theirs by an act of grace, and they his by an act of self-dedication ; so it is the foundation of mutual love, which is abiding. The love is certainly abiding on his part ; because it is unchangeable, as founded on a covenant engagement which he cannot violate ; and though their love to him is in itself subject to change through the prevalency of corrupt nature, which too much inclines them to be un- steadfast in this marriage covenant, yet he will recover and bring them back to him. He will not deal with them as persons do with strangers, whom they exclude from their presence or favour, if they render themselves unworthy of it ; but as persons who stand in a nearer relation to him, and accordingly are the objects of his special love, and shall not be cast off for ever, how much soever he may resent their unworthy behaviour to him. Not to be separate from Christ, is, according to the apostle's expression, not to ' be separated from his love ;' and this, he says, he was ' persuaded ' he should not be. ' I am persuaded, ' says he, ' that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.'h Accordingly it is said, that Christ 'having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.'1 Here I cannot but take notice of a very jejune and empty sense which some give of this text, to evade the force of the argument taken from it to prove the doctrine we are maintaining. By ' his own ' they mean no other than Christ's disciples, whom he was at the time conversant with. Indeed, they apply whatever Christ says, in some following chapters, to them, exclusive of all others. When, for exam- ple, he says, * Ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world ;'k and ' Because I live, ye shall live also;'1 they suppose that he speaks of them in particular. So, in interpreting the text before us, they understand the clause, 'having loved his own which were in the world,' to mean his own disciples, as though he had a propriety in none but them ; and the clause ' he loved them to the end,' to mean, not to the end of their lives, for that would prove the doctrine we arc maintaining, but to the end of his life, which was now at hand ; and his love to them, they suppose to be expressed in his condescending to wash their feet. But b John vi. 45. c Josh. i. 5, 6. d Heb. xiii. 5. e Col. i. 24. f Eph. i. 28. g See pagea 3, 4. h Rom. viii. 35, 38, 39. i John xiii. i. k Chap. xv. 19 1 Chap. xiv. 19. PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. 173 if this were the sense of the words, his love to them would not be so extraordinary a privilege as it really is ; for it would be only an instance of human and not divine love. Indeed, our happiness consists, not only in Christ's loving us to the end of his life, but in his continuing to express his love in his going into heaven to prepare a place for us, in his there making continual intercession on our behalf, and in his coming again in the end, to receive us to himself, that where he is we may be also. 4. The saints' perseverance farther appears from Christ's continual intercession for them. This was particularly explained under a foregoing Answer.m The apos- tle, speaking of his ' ever living to make intercession ' for his people, infers that ' he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him.'n But this Christ could not be said to do, should he leave the work which he has begun in them imperfect, and suffer those who come to him by faith, to apostatize from him. We formerly considered Christ's intercession as including his appearing in the pre- sence of God, in behalf of those for whom he offered himself a sacrifice while on earth. We considered also that what he intercedes for shall certainly be granted him, not only because he is the Son of God in whom he is well-pleased, but because he pleads his own merits, and because to deny him what he merited, would be, in effect, to deny the sufficiency of his sacrifice, as though the purchase had not been fully satisfactory. We must conclude, therefore, as he himself said on earth, that 'the Father heareth him always.' It is also evident that he prays for the perse- verance of his people. He says to Peter, ' I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.'0 And there are many things in the affectionate prayer, mentioned in John xvii., which he put up to God immediately before his last sufferings, which respect his people's perseverance in grace. Thus he says, • Holy Father, keep, through thine own name, those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are ;'p and, ' I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil ;'q that is, either that he would keep them from the evil which often attends the condition in which they are in the world, that so the work of grace may not suffer, at least not miscarry thereby ; or that he would keep them from the evil one, that so they may not be brought again under his dominion. He also prays • that they may be made perfect in one ;'r that is, not only that they may be perfectly joined together in the same design, but that their unanimity may continue till they are brought to a state of perfection, and ' that the world may know that God has loved them, even as he has loved Christ.' Moreover, he declares his will ; which shows that his intercession is founded on justice, and accordingly is of the nature of a demand, rather than of a supplication for what might be given or denied, and his ' will ' is, ' that they whom the Father has given him may be with him where he is, that they may behold his glory.'8 Now, all these expressions are very inconsistent with the supposition, that it is possi- ble that they whom he thus intercedes for may apostatize, or fall short of salvation. It is objected by some, that this prayer respects none but his disciples, who were his immediate friends and followers, and not believers in all ages and places in the world. But the contrary is evident from several things which are mentioned in it. For instance, he says, that ' the Father hath given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as he hath given him.'4 The sense of these words will sink too low, if we suppose that he intends, ■ Thou hast given me power to dispose of all persons and things in this world, that I may give eternal life to that small number which thou hast given me, namely, my disciples.' He obviously speaks of that universal dominion which he has over all persons and things, which were committed to him with the view that all those who were put into his hand to be redeemed and saved, should attain eternal life. Again, he says, * I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world, thine they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word.'u Did Christ manifest the divine name and glory to none but those who were his disciples ; and were there none but they who had kept his word ? Moreover, when he says that they whom he prayed for are the Father's, and adds, ' All mine are thine, and m See vol. i. Quest, lv. ti Heb. vii. 25. o Luke xxii. 32. p John xvii. 11. «l John xvii. 15. r Verse 23. 3 Verse 24. t Verse 2. u Verse 6. 174 PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. thine are mine, and I am glorified in them,'x is the number of those whom Christ has a right to, and the Father has set apart for himself, in whom he would show forth his glory as the objects of his love, and in whom Christ as Mediator was to be glorified, so small that it included only the eleven disciples ? Or, does it not rather respect all who have believed, or shall believe, from the beginning to the end of time ? And again, when he speaks of ' the world hating them, because they are not of the world,'-v and of their being exposed to the evils which are in the world, or the assaults of Satan who is their avowed ftnemy ; is this applicable only to the disciples ? And when he says, 'Neither pray I for these alone,' that is, for those who now believe, 'but for them also which shall believe ;'z does it not plainly intimate that he had others in view besides his disciples ? These, and several other passages in this prayer, are a sufficient evidence that there is no weight in the objection, to overthrow the argument we are maintaining. 5. Believers' perseverance in grace may be proved from the Spirit and seed of God abiding in them. When they were regenerated, it was by the power of the Holy Ghost, as condescending to come and take up his abode in them. Thus we often read of their being acted by, and under the influence of the Holy Ghost, who is said to dwell where he is pleased to display his divine power and glory ; and if these displays are internal, then he dwells in the heart. Our Saviour speaks of him as ' another Comforter ' given, ' that he may abide ' with his peo- ple 'for ever.'a This indwelling of the Spirit is very distinct from that extra- ordinary dispensation which the church had, when they were favoured with in- spiration ; for the apostle speaks of it as a privilege peculiar to believers as such : ' Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.'b The meaning of these words cannot be that those have no interest in Christ who have not the extraordinary afflatus of the Spirit, such as the prophets had. We must suppose, therefore, that the privilege spoken of is one which believers have in all ages. Now, if the Spirit is pleased to condescend thus to take up his abode in the soul, and that for ever, he will certainly preserve it from apostasy. We may add, that there are several fruits and effects of the Spirit's dwelling in the soul, which afford an additional proof of this doctrine. Thus believers are said to have ' the first-fruits of the Spirit ;'c that is, they have those graces wrought in them which are the beginning of salvation ; and as the first-fruits are a part of the harvest which will follow, these are the foretastes of the heavenly blessedness which God would never have bestowed upon them had he not designed to preserve them from apostasy. Moreover, believers are said to be ' sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of their inheritance. 'd The earnest, as given by men, is generally deemed a part of payment ; and upon any receiving it, they are satisfied that they shall, at last, receive the full reward. And shall believers miss of the heavenly blessedness, who have such a glorious pledge and earnest of it ? Again, if we consider ' the Spirit ' as ' bearing witness with their spirits, that they are the children of God ; and if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint- heirs with Christ;' and that 'they shall be glorified together' with him;e is this testimony invalid, or not to be depended on ? Yet it could not be depended on were it possible for them to fall from a state of grace. This testimony, as will be observed under the next Answer, is what we de- pend very much upon, in order to our attaining assurance that we are in a state of grace, and that we shall persevere in it. At present, we shall take it for grant- ed that there is such a thing as assurance, or that this blessing is attainable. The use which I would make of this supposition to maintain our present argu- ment, is, that the Spirit's having any hand in working or encouraging this hope that we have of the truth of grace, and consequently that we shall persevere in it to salvation, argues that the hope is warrantable, and not delusive ; for he who is the author or giver of it cannot deceive our expectation, or put us upon looking for that which is not a reality. It hence follows that it is impossible x John xyii. 9, 10. y Verses 14, 15. z Verse 20. a Chap. xiv. 16. o Kom. vin. 9. c Verse 23. d Eph. i. 13 14. e Rom. vi.i. 16, 17- PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. 175 that they should apostatize to whom ' God has given ' this ' good hope through grace,' so that they should fail of that 'everlasting consolation,' which is connected with it.f This consequence will hardly he denied by those who are on the other side of the question ; and we may observe, that they who oppose the doctrine of perseverance, always deny that of assurance, especially as proceeding from the testimony of the Spirit. Yet that we may not be misunderstood, we do not say, that every one who has a strong persuasion that he shall be saved, shall be saved ; for such a persuasion is no other than enthusiasm. But our argument, in short, is, that if there is a witness of the Spirit to the truth of grace which cannot be charged with enthusiasm, then the doctrine we are maintaining is undeniably true. This will more evidently appear from what will be said in defence of the doctrine of assurance under our next Answer. We proceed, therefore, to the other branch of the argument we have mentioned to prove this doctrine, namely, that believers have the seed, of God abiding in them. This is founded on what the apostle says in 1 John iii. 9, ' Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin ; for his seed abideth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God.' For understanding this, let us consider that, by the words 'he cannot commit sin,' the apostle does not intend that such a one is not a sinner, or that there is such a thing as sinless perfection attainable in this life ; for that is contrary, not only to the whole tenor of scripture and daily experience of man- kind, but to what he had expressly said, ' If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.'s In this text he is doubtless speaking of persons committing sins which are inconsistent with the truth of grace ; as he says, in a foregoing verse, ' Whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.'h The sin he speaks of is such as argues a person to be in a state of unregeneracy. .Accordingly, when he says, ' He that committeth sin is of the devil,'1 he certainly speaks of such a commission of sin as argues us to be under the reigning power of the devil. That this may plainly appear to be his meaning, we may observe that he elsewhere distinguishes between 'a sin that is unto death,' and a sin that is 'not unto death. 'k Here he does not mean, as the Papists suppose, that some sins de- serve eternal death, and others not ; the former oi which they call mortal sins, the latter venial. But he is speaking of a sin which is inconsistent with the principle of grace, and the sin which is consistent with it. The former is sometimes called ' the pollution that is in the world through lust ;n the latter, ' the spot of God's children.'111 The least sin deserves death, though they who commit it shall not perish, but be brought to repentance ; but the ' sin unto death ' is wilful sin, com- mitted and continued in with impenitency ; and with this limitation we are to un- derstand the apostle's words, ' He who is born of God doth not commit sin.' We shall now consider the reason assigned why the person he speaks of cannot in this sense commit sin, namely, he is ' born of God,' and ' the seed of God abid- eth in him.' To be born of God is what is elsewhere styled regeneration, or being born of the Spirit ; in which there is a principle of grace implanted, which is here called ' the seed of God.' Indeed, this metaphorical way of speaking is very ex- pressive of the thing intended. For as in nature the seed produces fruit, and in things moral the principle of action produces action, as the principle of reason pro- duces acts of reason ; so in things spiritual, the principle of grace produces acts of grace ; and this principle being from God, which has been largely proved under a foregoing Answer,n it is here called ' the seed of God.' Now, this seed of God, or this principle, is not merely said to be in the believer, as that which for the present is the ground of spiritual actions ; but it is said to 'remain in him.' As, elsewhere, Christ speaks of the Spirit as ' abiding' with his people ' for ever ;'° so here the apostle speaks of the principle of grace wrought by the Spirit as abiding, that is, continuing for ever. He hence infers that a believer 'cannot sin.' If he had been speaking only of its being implanted, but not abiding, all that could be inferred would be that he does not sin. But as he argues that he cannot sin, that is, apos- tatize, we must understand that the principle abides in him continually. Now, this f 2 Thess. ii. 16. g 1 John i. 8. h Chap. iii. 6. i Ver. 8. k Chap. v. 16, 17. 1 2 Pet. i. 4. m Deut. xxxii. 5. a See Sect. ' Effectual Calling a Divine Work,' under Quest, lxrii, lxviii. o John xir. 16. PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. plainly amounts to the argument we are maintaining, namely, that because the seed of God abides in a believer, he cannot apostatize or fall short of salvation. They who are on the other side of the question seem to find it very difficult to evade the force of this argument. Some suppose that the apostle intends no more than that he who is born of God should not commit sin. But this interpretation is not only remote from the sense of the words t cannot sin,'P but does not sufficiently distin- guish one who is born of God from another who is not so ; for it is as much a truth that an unregenerate person ought not to sin, as that a regenerate person ought not to do so. Others suppose the apostle to mean that believers sin with difficulty, or are hardly brought to commit sin. But as this also does not answer to the sense of the words ' cannot sin, ' so it is inconsistent with that beautiful gradation which we may observe in the words. To say that the believer does not sin, and then if he commits sin it is with some difficulty, does not correspond with the climax which the apostle makes use of when he says he does not commit sin, yea, he cannot. Others suppose the apostle's meaning is, that he who is born of God cannot sin unto death, or apostatize so as to fall short of salvation, so long as he makes a right use of the principle of grace which is implanted in him ; but that, by oppos- ing and afterwards extinguishing it, he may become an apostate. But we may observe that the apostle attributes his perseverance in grace, not to his making use of the principle, but to his having it, or to its abiding in him. And he sufficiently guards against the supposition of its being possible that the principle of grace may be wholly lost ; for then this seed could not be said to abide in him, nor would the inference deduced from its abiding in him, namely, that he cannot sin, be just. We have thus considered the latter branch of the present argument to prove the saints' perseverance in grace, taken from the seed of God abiding in believers. But there is one thing which must be observed before I dismiss this Head, namely, that the principle of grace, which is signified by this metaphor, though it exists and abides in a believer, does not always exert itself so as to produce those acts of grace which would otherwise proceed from it. This cannot be better illustrated than by a similitude taken from the soul, which is the principle of reason in man. Though it is as much the principle of reason in an infant in the womb as it is in any, yet it is altogether inactive ; for most allow that infants have not the exercise of thought or acts of reason. And when a person is newly born, it hardly appears that this principle is deduced into act ; and in those in whom it has been deduced into act, it may, through the influence of some bodily disease with which it is affected, be rendered stupid and almost inactive, or at least so disordered that the actions which proceed from it cannot be styled rational. Yet still it remains a principle of reason. The same may be said concerning the principle of grace. It is certainly an inactive principle in those who are regenerate from the womb ; and it may cease to exert itself, and be with equal reason styled an inactive principle in believers, when they fall into very great sins to which it offers no resistance. This we shall take occasion to apply under a following Head, when we shall consider some objections which are brought against this doctrine by those who suppose that believers, when sinning presumptuously, as David, Peter, and others, are said to have done, fell totally, though not finally. There was indeed a total suspension of the activity of this principle, but yet the principle itself was not wholly lost. But more of this in its proper place. We are bound to conclude, therefore, that because this principle abides in believers, they can neither totally nor finally apostatize, — that they can neither fall from a state of grace, nor fail at last of salvation. We have thus endeavoured to explain and show the force of those arguments which are contained in this Answer, to prove the doctrine of the saints' persever- ance. There are several others which might have been insisted on. In particular, the doctrine may be proved from the end and design of Christ's death ; which was, not only that he might purchase to himself a peculiar people, but that he might purchase eternal life for them. We cannot think that this invaluable price would have been given for the procuring of that which should not be applied ; for