Practical Cbriftianity, not at all to in trench upon the Mediatory Office of ]efus Chrift, for fo his Office is not to work Grace, but to procure it; not to implant G:ace, Lut to purchJfe it. You cannot therefore fit down and fay, what need Is thereof n~y working ? Cbrift hath already done all my Work for Ill< to my Hands. No, Chnft hath done his own Work, he hath done the Work of a Saviour and a Surety, but he never did the Work of a Sinner. If Chrift by meriting Grace bad beftowed· it upon thee and wrought it in thee, then indeed there wa5 no more required of thee to be~ tome Holy, hut to caft back a lazy look to the purchafe of Jefus Chrift; then thy Sloth would h<1ve had fame pretence why thou daft not Labour. But this will not Mat.6.3 ~. do, our Saviour commands all Men, To [eek firjf the K_ingdom ofG'oJ d~d. the Righreou[w A8s 8,22.• ne{s thereof. And the Apo.ftl~ exhorts s~"!on Magus.htmfclf, though m thegall of lirtmufs and in the bond of Imqu1ty, yet Pray, fays he, if perhAps the thou,~ht of thine Heart m~y be forgiven t~tt; Do .not therefore cheat you.r own Souls. into Perdition by lazy :Notions of Chrtft s Ments. What though Chnft bath mented, yet God requires that you l'ho~ld work a~d labour ~o ch~nge your o.w.n Hearts, and reform your own Lives ; but 1f you fit fh~ expetl:1ng ttll the menttng Grace of Chrift drop down into your Souls, and of lts own accord, and change your ~earts ; truly it may be before that time you your felves may drop down into Hell Wlth your 'old unchang~ ed Hearts, And this is the firft thing Chrill: requires. 714 , , 1 ., (2.) Steondly, Chrift expech and requires that.thofe tha~ have Grace fhould put Ju.v~Grace forth the utmoft Strength and Power thereof, m labounne after that Salvation mu/f L.t- that he bath purchafed· for them : He bath merited Salvation for them, but it b~ur fo: is to be obtained by them through their own Labour and Induftry. Is not that Salvatzon, Which Chri!t bath already done, fufficient for them ? Is it not enough that he bath reconciled them to God by the Blood of the Covenant, that he hath made their Peace and procured their Pardon for them ; But muft Chrift Repent, and Believe and Obey for them? This is not to make him a Saviour, but a Drudgt. He bath done what was meet and fit for a Mtdiat~ur to do; He now requires of us what is meet for Sinners to do; namely, to Beheve, to Repent, to be Converted and to Obey: He now bids you Wafh and be clean, ~nd what would you have' Jrtofe? .Would you ljave the great Proph" come and ftnke off your L'projj, and you only mark the Cure, and do nothing thereunto? Or is it indeed enough that 'Salvation and Happinefs is purchafed, that the way to Heaven is made palfable, that the Bolts and Bars of the"'" 'Jtru[AI'm by Chrift are broken offl Alas, what of all this! Thou mayeft !\ill be as far fro'!'' Heaven and Glory as ever, if thou doft not walk in the way that leads to tt: Sttll tltou art as far from entnng Into Heaven as ever if thou doft not ftrive at the entrance into the ftrait Gate. It is therefore i~ v;in that Chrift died, it is in Yain that thou art Juftified, it is in vain that thou art Adopted, it is in vain that Heaven is prepared for thee: Chrift may keep Heaven and Glory, and his Crowns and Robes for ever for himfelf, unlefsas he bath purcbafed thefe great things for his People, fo alfo he hath purchafed to himfelf a peculiar People Zealous of good Works: A People who by patient continuance in well doing feek for Glory an~ Immortality, and by .that way obtain it. Thu1 we fee Chnft's domg all for us ts no excufe for our dotng nothing : He bath indeed done all for us that bclon&s to him as a Mtdi~ttour meriting and procuring Grace and Salvation ; but he never intended to do all for us, as to the conveying of them to us, and making of them ours. No, that is ftill to be done by us. And therefore though Chrift's Works alone were Meritorious, yet by the atl:ings of Faith we mull apply his Merit, and by th~ aCling of Obedience confirm them to our felves. I might add alfo, when Chri!l: is faid to obey the Law in our ftead, as well as to fuffer in our ftead : Though his bearing the PuniOtment of the Law by Death doth cxcufe and exempt us from Sufferiag: Yet his obeying of the Law cloth not excufc oUr Obedience unto the Law. Chrift obeyed the Law in a far different refpefr to the Obedience which is now required from us: He obeyed it as a Covenant of Works, we only as a Rule of Righteoufnefs: If he had failed in the leaft Tittl< he could not have purchafed. Life that was promifed ; but we, though we fall in· finitely fhort in our Obedience may yet inherit that Life that Chrift bath purcha(4 ed. Chrift's Obedience was fully perfett, yet ours is not derogatory thereunto, . becaufe it proceeds from other grounds than Chrift's did. But l will not proceed further
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