Brown - BS2685 B86 1695

C H A P, 29. . :3.6 'Repentance no Condition of 7uffi fic4tion. Faith bath will prove , I judge , tiangernus doétrine to many poor wake- ned finners ; & prove a meane to keep them off the Rock of ages , and'at leaf , a rneane to hinder or retard their motion Chrift-ward , in order to Peace & Reconciliation with God : for experience teacheth fuch , as deale with wakened Confciences , that the moil of their work oft times is to keep them from re fling on fometing within themfelves , in order to Peace , and particularly from relying & telling upon Tome fort of Griefe, Sorrow,or Re- pentance , which they conceive to be in themfelves & tó being them unto a cleanly refting upon Chrift & his Righteoufnefs, forfaking all other things : And_when now they hear , that Repentance path the fame interef in juiti. fication that Faith hath , how will they be fortified in theirRefolutions , fo that all the labour & paines of Miniflers, or other Chriftians may prove much fruitlefs } unlefs the Lord comeina wonderful manner, .& many o- thers may perish in their prefumptuous thoughts, 'founded on their inward Sorrow & Repentance , as they fuppofed , becaufe they would never go out of themfelves to leave to Chriil & his Righteoufnefs. It is true , Thefe of the contrary minde, preffenotRepentancealone, but Faith & Repen tance together. Yet by their way , I finde not the right Gofpel - exercife of Faith- preffed , that is, faith bringing in an imputed Righteoufnefs, or laying hold on Chrif for Righteoufnefs , & refuging the Soul in Him , & reíling upon that, as the only & abfolutly fureft ground of Confident appearing be- fore God , and of expecting Pardon & Peace ; but only fuch or fitch anaEt of faith preffed , as being now under the New Covenant in the fame place, that Perfect Obedience had in the Old , whereby , as the Old Covenant is but renewed, fo the wakened or alarmed firmer is but taught to look after & lean ,to fomething within himfelf, as his immediata.Righteou1nefs, upon which he muff be juftified. io. If the Surety Righteoufnefs of Chrift imputed by God, & received by Faith , be only that Righteoufnefs, upon the account of which , the poor (inner is to be accepted of God as Righteous , & to be abfolved from the Curie of the Law ; As we have above proved it to be; then Repentance :cannot have the fame intereft in jufification, that Faith hath ; becaufe it neither doth , nor can fo lay hold upon this Cautionary- Righteoufnefs , as .Faith doth. Or we might frame the argument thus. If Repentance have the fame intereft in jufifieation, that Faith bath, Chri(t's Cautionary, -Righ- teoufnefs shall not be the only Righteoufnefs, with which , the foul that is to be juftified,muf be clothed; becaufe Repentancecannor put t>n Chi if & ;his Righteoufnefs ,as faith Both. But this laft can not be Paid, for reafons gi- ven already. it. If Repentance bath the fame intéref in jufification `, that faith bath, then even by Gofpel jufification, there should be ground left to man, to boa(, & to glory before men ; & the reward should not be of grace , but of debt; contrary to RZgm. 3. &.4.. The Confequence is clear , becaufe Re- pentance adeth not on a Righteoufnefs without us; and can be confidered no other way, then as an aft of Obedience in man., and fo as a work: and ,Faith by this way goeth under the fame Confideration ; & is,t+ot confidered, as bringing -in the Surety - Righteoufnefs of Chrift, and laying hold onit alone;

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