(97) ofthat aa,which is tke acceptance of Chrif l,ancl life freely Given, 3. And for Iuftificationat Judgement, and the non-amiflionof it here, faith bath Rill the principal! intereft. Repentance (as di- flind from faith) and a return to holy obedience, is a Condition upon a remote reafon, propter finem, but faith directly, propter me- alum Principale, which is Chrift as our Ranfom and Saviour : Re. pentance is prefuppofed as a Condition naturallyneceffary , even as Faith in God alone in oppofition to Atheifm, Polutheifm, and Idolatry, is prefiippofed as naturallyneceffary, whenwe are called to Faith in Chrift as the Redeemer : and as the moral Law re. mains naturallyneceffary, for all the command of fpecial Faith in Chrift by the Gofpel : But Faith in Chrift is an eleEted condition, elevated to this office above its own nature, by a fpecial Pofitive Inftitution and Promife, fitted to its objet the Lord Jefus, who is the fupernatural and higheft means (as Redeemer) , and it is re- vealed alfo in the Gofpel, which is a fupernatural Revelation. Ce- fides,as the natural neceffityof the moral Law , of lovingGod, and repenting, and returning to him, are fuppofed,but thefe could neither be of any fufficiency or efficacy without Chrift the fuper- natural way to the Father ; nor could the faid Love and Repen- tance have been wrought without Chrift, if they had been fuffici- ent : So though they are neceffary, yet are they infufficient with- out Faith inChrift, as well as impofsible ( or beyondour power) fo that Faith in Chrift is thar part of the Condition, which flancl, ing next thehead, gives lifeunto the reft 4 and though as fine qua non, they are of equal neceffity with Faith, yet as cum aims or as to the fufficiency of the conditionfine qua non, fo Faith bath not onlya precedency, but is as the mafter-pipe, which being next the ciftern,conveyethall the water into the more remote. This I adde towhat I faid before againft the charge of Levelling Faith and Repentance ; Though the Charge of equallingFaith and Obe- dience, is eafier avoided : For the Scripture cloth -t,iprelly make Repentance fome Condition, evenof our firft VAralfn-and Juftifi.. cation : but fo it Both not Atual Obedience to Chrift. (onclu. 30. If after all this I am not fo happy as tohit the true or full reafon of the difference between Faith, Repentance and Obedience, in the point ofConditionality, I folemnly profefi it is not out of any defire to equal them : Nay, that I have flretcht my brains to the utmoft that I was able, to difcover from 0 Gods
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