Sevin. LVI. in order tofuliii cation and Salvation. Renovation of our Hearts and Lives is the great Condition ofour juftification and acceptance with God; and that this in fenfe and fubftance is the fame with Faith made perfet by Charity, and keeping the Commandments ofGod. The Third and !aft Particular remains tobe fpoken to, namely, That it is high- ly reafonable that this fhould be the Condition of our Juftification, and accep- tance to the favour of Gad ; and that upon thefe two accounts. Firl, For the honour ofGod'sHolinefs. Secondly, .In order to thequalifying ofus for thefavour of God, and the enjoy- ment ofchim, for the pardonOf -our Sins, and the Reward of Eternal Life. Firfi, For the honour of God's Holinefs. For fnouldGod have received Men to his favour, . ,and rewarded themwith Eternal Glory and Happinefs, for the weer belief of the Golpe!, or a confident perfwafion that Chrift would fave them without any change of their Hearts and Lives, without Repentance from deadworks, and fruits meetfor Repentance, and amendment of Life; he had not given fufficient teftimony to the. World of his Love toHolinefs and Righteouf- nefs, and of his hatted of Sin and Iniquity. The Apoftle tells us, that God in the Juftification of a Sinner declares his Righteoufnefs ; but fhould he juftifie Menuponother terms, this would not declare his Righteoufnefs and love of Ho- linefs, but rather an indifferency; whether Men were good and Righteous or not..; For .a bare aft[,X,to the truth of the Gofpel, without the fruits of Holinefs and Obedience, is not living, but á dead Faith, and fo far from being accepta- ble to God, that it is an affront to him i and a confident reliance upon Chrift for Salvation, while we continue in our Sins, is not a juftifying Faith, but a bold and impudent prefumption upon the Mercy ofGod, and the Merits of our Savi- our ; "who indeed:ft.:Maes the ungodly, that is, . thofe that have been fo, but not thofe that continue fo. And if God thould pardonSinners, and reward themwith Eternal Life, upon any other terms than uponour becoming New Creatures, than upon filch. a Faith as is made perfeíl by Charity, that is, by keeping the Commands of God ; this would be fo far fromdeclaring his Righteoufnefs, and being a teftimony of his hatred and difp!eafure againft Sin, that it would give the greateft counte- nance and encouragement to it imaginable. Secondly; It is likewife very Reafonable, that fuch a Faith, that makes us New Creatures, and is perfeïted by Charity, and keeping the Commandments ofGod, fhould be the Condition of .Juftification, in order to the qualifying of us for the Par- don ofOur Sins, and the,Reward of Eternal Life that is . for the favour of God, and for . the enjoyment of him. To forgiveMen upon other terms, were to give countenance and encouragement to perpetual Rebellion and Difobedii- ence, That Man is-trot l t to be forgiven, who is fo far from being forry for his fault, that he goes on-to offend-,, he is utterly incapable of Mercy, who is not fen(ible that he hath done amifs, and refolved to amend. No Prince ever thought a Rebellious Subject capable of Pardon upon lower Terms than thefe. It is in the natureof the thingunfit that an obflinate Offender fhould have any Mercy or Favour Ihewn to him. Andas without Repentance and ReColution of better Obedience, we are unfit for Forgivenefs, fo much more for a,Reward ; as we cannot expeCt God's Fa- vour, fo we are incapable of the enjoyment of himwithout Holinefs. Holi- nefs is the Image of God, and makes us like to him ; and 'tillwe be:. like him, we cannotfee him, we can have no enjoyment of him. All delightful Commu- nion and agreeable Society is founded in a fimilitude of Difpofition and Man- ners, and therefore fo long as we are unlike to God in the temper and difpofi- tion of our Minds, and in the Actions and Courfe of our Lives, neither can God take pleafure inus, nor we in him, but there will be a perpetual jarring and difcord between him and us; and tho' we were in Heaven, and feared in the placeof the Bleffed, yet we fhould not, nay we could not be Happy ; becaufe we (hlct, want the neceffary Materials and Ingredients of Happinefs. For it is with the Soul in this refpe&, as it is with the Body ; tho' all things be ea- fie without us ; and no Cruelty be exercis'd upon us, to give torment and E e e vexation 393
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