Serin. CLXXIII. Of lu/tifying Faith. 4 the Conditions the Gofpel requires on our part in order to Pardon, may be reauced to thefe Four Heads. (1.) An Afîent to the Truth of the Gofpel. (z.) A Truft and Confidence in Chrift as our onlySaviour. (3.) Repentance from Dead Works. (4 ) Sincere Obedience and I1olinefs of Life. But i have already proved at large, that all thefe are comprehended in the New- Teflament- Notion of Faith, which fig - nifies the whole of Chriflian Religion. And that Repentance and Obedience are Conditions of our Pardon, and confequently of our Jollification, appears from thefe Texts, Alts 3. 19. Repent therefore and be converted, thatyour Sins may be blottedout. Doth not this imply that upon conditionwe do Repent and be Con- verted, God will Pardon our Sins ? r john t. 9. If we confefs our Sias, (that is, with a Refolution ro leave them 5 as it is faid elfewhere, he that confefeth, andfor- faketh his Sins ; ) be is faithful and jufl to forgive us our Sins, and to cleanfe us from all unrighteoufnefs. Matt, 6. 14, 15. For ifye forgive Men their trefpaJJés, your heavenly Father will alfo forgiveyou: but ifye forgive not Men their trefNes,neither will your Father forgive your trefpafes. And to the fame purpofe, Matt. 18. 35. So likewife fall my heavenly Father do unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every oue his Brother their trefpa(fes. Luke 6. 37. lodge not, arylye (hail not be- judged : condemn not, and ye fhall not be condemned : forgive, and ye (hall be for- given. Luke r 1, 4. And forgive as our Sins : for we afo forgive every one that is indebted to us. Where Both the Scripture make any thing more plainly a Condi- tion of Pardon, than it here does our forgiving of others ? upon condition of the performance whereof he promifes to forgive us 5 and without which he threatens not to forgive us. I know not what a Condition is, if it be not that which if we perform we (hall receive the Benefit promiled 5 if we do not, we drat( fail fhort of it. 4. That the Scripture where it fpeaks of Juflification by Faith, fpeaks of this Faith, and no other, of fuch a Faith as takes in the whole of Chriftian Religion: The principal Places where theScripture defignedly treats of Juflification by Faith, are the 3d. and 4th. Chapters of the Epiftles to the Romans; the sd. and 3d. to the Galatians; and the ad. of St. James. In the Romans and Galatians, St, Paul Both plainly oppofe Faith to the Law, and the Righteoufnefs of it to the Works of the Law ; and it will clearly appear to any one that will carefully read over thefe Dïfcourfes of Sr. Paul's, that by Faith is meant the Difpenfation of the Gofpel, and by the Law the Mofàical Adminillration : and the refult of all thofeDifcour.. fes is, that Men are not juflified by performing the works which the legal Dif- penfttion required 5 but by afienting and fubmitring to the Revelation of the Gofpel. And _this is agreeable to what he fays, Ails i3. 38, 39. Through this Man is preached untoyou forgiveneJs of fins ; and by him, all that believe, arejufli fed from all things, from which ye could not be jullifted by the Lam of Mofes. It is true likewifer that the Apoflle, in the Epiflle to the Romans, doth not only difpute againft thofe who imply contended for Juflification by the legal Difpenla. tion ; but were fall') alto into the grofs Error and Miftake, that they did merit Juflification and Pardon at God's hand 5 which is impofiible : for Pardon is free, and of Grace, or elfe ir is not Pardon. Therefore the Apoftle affects, that we are fo julli led by Faith, that neither our Affent to the Gofpel, nor our Obedience to the Commands of ir, do merit this at God's Hands; for this would dircótly coo: tradift Taflification by the Faith of the Gofpel. For how can any Man poflibly think, that he merits Pardon by his believing and obeying the Gofpel, when this is parr of the Gofpel which we believe, that Chrift died for our Sins, and purcha- fed our Pardon at fo dear a rate; which had been very unjuft, if we our felves could have done any thing to have merited it. And that Faith is taken for the Revelation of the Gofpel, in oppofition to the le. gal Adminiftrations, will appear by confidering thefe Texts. Gal. 3. 23. But before' Faith came, we were kept under the Law ; by which the Apoftle plainly means this, that before the Revelation of the Gofpel to the World, we were under the Legal Adminiftration : for he adds afterwards, we were ¡hut up ¡onto the Faith that Jhould (q q Aftetwaro!
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