to the E P HE S I AN S. Then again, Whether through Faith as a Condition, cir not? I would have this Word laid a!ide, I fee both Parties fpeak faintly about it; 'Perkjns upon the Galatians, he will hardly acknowledg it a Condition; another in a Book called, The Triumph of Faith, taith, it is improperly a Condition. If it be not, why do they ufe the word? There is a Danger in it. Firfl:, A Condition may be pleaded : I may go and plead this, I have be– lieved, &c. Will any Man make this a Condition between the Giver and Re– ceiver, I will give you an Alms, if you will receive it ? It is not a Condition. Secondly, All thofe Expreffions, If a Man believeth, he j/Ja/1 be faved, &c. im– port, that he that cloth fo !hall be faved in the event, which the Eletl: only are, to whom he giveth Faith. And it is a Phrafe that imports a Pleading. A Pri– foner is not pardoned, unlefs he plead his Pardon, or bath his Pardon read at the Bar ; will you tay, this Atl: of his is the Condition of his being pardoned ? It is that without which he is not legally pardoned, he cloth not fl:and abfolved elfe. Wajh, and he clean : He could never have lieen cleanfed, if he had not wafhed; was his wafhing a Condition? No, he did riot fland upon a Condition with him in it: It was indeed a Duty, it was likewife a Meahs or a Manner, by which God did cleanfe him. . My Brethren, the Nature of Faith, it is modefl:, it never makes a Plea for it felf, it wholly pleadeth Grace, andnothingelfe. The truth is, ifitwereaCon– dition, a Man might plead it before God, as the Apofl:le C1ith, Rom. 4· That it is called the Law of Faith, and therefore this mull: be the Condition, it follows not: It is the Duty, and it is the Command ofthe Gofpel, without which God taveth no Man; and is not that enough ? It feems to me to import, as if there were an univerlal Grace, and that it is the Condition termitlatcth it to this Man, and not to that; Th~n again, ~hether it be the Acr of Faith that jurli!ies, or that is accounted a Man's Righteoufnefs, when we are faid to be faved through Faith? Surely no, for God migqt have took Works as well ; if he would have took ii a~ an Atl:, he might have took any Atl:, Love it fel£ . , There is this Reafon liesin t!ie bottom of my Spirit againfl: it, bdides all that elfe the Scripture taitb againfl: it: ~hat if when I gci to God to be jurlified, I mufl prefent to him my Believing, as the-Matter of my Righteoufnefs, and only Chrifl:'s Death as the Merit of it, what will fol1ow? Two things clearly to me 5 Firfl, that the Heart is taken off. fi·om looking upon the Righteoufnefs of Chrifl wholly, and diverteth to its own Righteoufnefs in the very Atl: of Believing, for Righteoufnefs, and prefenteth that to God, which the 'Scripture is clear ~gainfl. I tay, it doth take the Heart off from the Rigliteoufnefs of the Lord Jefus, or the eying of that, and eaufeth it to divert into it felf, and pref'ent its .own Faith.to God. Secondly, Every Man that will believe tci be Jurlified, and go to God, and fay, Lord jufl:ify me i he mull: have an evidence that he bath Faith, for how elfe can he prefent that as the Matter of his own RighteouhJels ? Now Millions of Souls cannot do this, they were in a poor cafe if they fhould be put to it. . . The Apofrle faith, It WIH of Faith, that it 1Jtight be Jitre. If Jufl:iflcation had been founded on the Atl: of Faith, it qad been as fure on Works as faith; for that Faith that draws oui an Act of Love, is as apt to fail, as that Atl: of Love. But here is no uncertainty, while I believe to be jurlified by the Righteoufnefs of Chrifl, but my Faith is fwal1owed up there; tho I may doubt of my Faith re– lying on him, yet I have a Cure Objetl:, I have a fi~re Matter to reprefent to God for me: whereas if Believing was that I had to reprefent ro God to be jufiified by, fuppofe my faith fail me, I have riot a Cure Matter of Righteoufnefs to repre~ fent to God. · ·. The very Object Faith believes on is a eonrraditl:ion to ibis, that the All: of Faith fhould be the Matte.r of my Jurlilication. I yield this, When God doth juflify, he takes notice of the Atl: in its kind, ofthe degree of it: AJ,;·ab11JJt was fltong 301 ~ Ser. X.XJJ. ~~
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