. An Expojition of the epijUe -'-------- s"xX'!There was the Juftice of God? whereofheha~ ~e !~age in his own Bofom,that ~might a!Ture him. But to be!teve that G~ w1Jl JU!hfy ~he.Ungodly, and to ap– prehend my felfUngodly, and yet to beheve that he w!ll JUftify me: To hfllieve that God will accoun~an Ungodly Perfon ~s G~dly, and Righteous, as all tho Angels in Heaven, thiS would have pof€d htsFanh. Further, wh€1l that Ungodly Perfon Ju!hfied !hall conunue Holy, and yet not have a Dcam of PaweD in him– fdf, bnt he muft go and fetch it from anothen: without me you ea~> do nothing : All thefe would have been Paradoxes, and thofe too great even for Ada.m to believe. Therefore well may it be faid, Faith isnot ofonrftlves, it is the Gift ofGoJ. But befides, A fecond Confideration may be this, That in the beginning if A– dant had Power to do all thefe things, yet now it is above our felves for ~e all have loft it, and have fo loft it, that ofall things elle, we are weaken in the point of Believing. Befide theg~neral Reafon whi_ch is common to all Grace, there is 1a fpectal Reafon, why that 10 lofing that wh1ch he had, we are utterly dif~nabled for ever, ofour k:lves, as to ony Power of Believing. For confider where was ic that the T emptation entered in? It was certainly in a way ofUnbelie£ The De– vil firft deftroyed .Adam's Faith,and through that Breach wounded him tll Death bath God (Jid,Tbou fbalt 110t eat, &c. Ifa Man be kill'd with a Shot in his Eye, th~ that Shot piercing the Eye, it kills the whole Man, it muft be Almighry Power to raife that Man to Life ; yet there is a further Power required to raife that Eye than to raife the Man; fo it is with us, Rom. 11. We arc laid there to bef/mt up i~ Vnbeliej, that he may have ./11erry 11pon aU. God bath conclud.ecl, or hath !hut them up altogether, (that I may fit it to that thing I have in Hand) namely, that wear~ clilenabled to Faith ofall things elfe. He compares unbelief to a fpecial Prifon; fuppofe this Man had Life, that he could help himfelf, yet if he be !hut up, he is utterly difenabled. It imports in the firft place,That God bath in a fpecial manner !hut up all in Unbclief; other Sins are the Sins for which God imprifons us, bu~ that we may be furely imprifoned,he makes Unbeliefthe Goal,we are !hut up with a Door ofUnbeliefon us, and therefore he makes the greatnefs of the Mercy of God to lie in giving Faith; God hathfhNt up aU in V11belief, that fo he may have Mercy: he bath !hut them up in Unbeliefover and above all other Sins. Ga/.3.22, he faith there, that the Scripture bath (011cluded all 11nder Sin, that he might have ;ilfercy upon aU; there are outward Prifons of all Mens other Sins, but here he makes Unbeliefthe Inner Prifon ; fo God !hews a further Mercy in giving Faith, than any other Grace. So that I may exprefs it thus to you ; the Scripture bath concluded all under Sin, that the PromiCes by Chrift might come ; the Promifes may come,and knock at the Prifon Doors,andfay, we have come to all otherSins, and may come and fay to a poor Sinner,believe, and tell him thus; Ifyou wiUcome a11d b11t believe, do h11t come out oj;•01tr D11ngeon you are tn, •nd )'Oil /ball be fit atfree– dom and beJoved. Now faith the poor Soul,ifall otherPrifons be open, tho there be free accefs to God from all other my Sins, yet faith the poor Soul, I cannot come out ofthis Prifon~ I am fimt up, I cannot believe. The Promife ofFaith in Chrift is given to them that believe, and as the Promife is given to them that be· lieve; fo the Text faith here, Faithi,the GiftofGod; allthePromiCes may knock at the Prifon Door,but in vain, unlefs God open the Door, as there the Expreilion is, in .Atis 4· 17. we are in a fpecial manner !hut up in this E(late ofUnbelief, it is not therefore ofour felves to beheve. Now the courfe I !hall take to demonftrate it !hall be this, to go through fame ofthe Particulars. I might manifeft this to you, by going through all the pieces in you ; take your Underftanding, Will, and AffeCtions, you !hall find all thefe cannot help your Faith in the Truth_, all that is in us, is againft this, all tha~ is ~n us will ftill under-work allns Workmgs; unlefs the Power of Clod come wnhtt, there is nothing in the Heart that is conducing to it; and _all that is in_ a Mas, _or comes from him ofDuties, Endeavours, &c. cannot attam to true Fauh. faith is not of our [elves. I might I fay, go through all the Faculties of a Man's Soul, and difcover how little they can contribute to Faith ; but at prefent I !hall only inftance in his Underftanding. Fir!l,
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=