---- CHAPTER III: What the nature is of this special faith of application.
we apprehend good, and shoot our souls into them. But if that which united on our parts were such apprehensions whereby we perceive we are made one with Christ, it should be in the understanding most, and so that which makes the union should be assensus de Deo, a believing something of God, not a cleaving to God, and that which I am united to should mainly be a proposition. Indeed, when I apprehend myself united unto Christ, then my will cleaves more to him, is drawn out more to him, as those that are new married, when a man can say, 'I am my beloved's, and he is mine;' but he must be my beloved afore. As he that lusts after a woman commits adultery, and so is made before God one flesh with her, though not afore men, so he whose heart is taken with the beauty of Christ, and cleaves to him, hangs on him, is united to him, for a marriage-glance makes afore God a union with Christ. Such acts of faith make the union, and therefore upon such acts of recumbency Christ sheds grace and life into the soul, having recourse to him as the only fountain of life; but when assurance comes, then a man can plead this union, to fetch strength from Christ by virtue of it, and so then a man discerns the connection between Christ and his grace, how it flows from him; but it flowed before.
CHAPTER III
What the nature is of this special faith of application.
That besides a spiritual faith or wisdom to know all other divine truths savingly, there is a special faith on Christ and God's free grace for justification; or, that God in Christ, as a saviour and justifier, is the object of that special faith which is justifying.
That from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus.—2 TIM. 3:15.
It is of justifying or saving faith that I profess to discourse. It consisteth of two words: 1, justifying, or saving; 2, faith. And so it calls for two things to be handled by him that will handle it thoroughly, as distinct commonplace heads. The first is the doctrine of justification through faith, as it is an act of God upon us, upon or through our believing. And, secondly, there is the doctrine of the nature of that faith itself; and which of these two a man begins to handle first (we living under the sunshine of the gospel), it is not much material.
Under that head of the doctrine of justification itself by faith, there are those things:
1. Whether, upon a man's believing, there is an act of justification passeth from God, so as in a true sense a man may be said to be then justified, so as not before? And how that this may stand with God's justifying of us with Christ when he rose, and with God's justifying of us in Christ from everlasting? Or if you will, whether that faith be only for the manifestation of a man's justification to himself, or it be not also for the alteration of a man's condition before God?
2. That nothing but faith in man is that principle which God hath ordained to receive this blessing, and faith only, and faith without works.
3. Under this head of justification comes the treating also of this, how it is that faith is said to justify, or how God looks at it, whether as an habit, or an act, or an instrument, or a condition, or what.
4. There are the objects of this faith, both Jesus Christ as the matter of justification (which I have at large discoursed of in those treatises long since published to the world). And, secondly, there is God as justifying, for the soul 'believes on him that justifieth the ungodly.' So that as Jesus Christ is the author, and cause, and matter of justification in his death, and resurrection, and ascension, and intercession, &c., so God in his grace and mercy, and in all his acts
therein, is also the object of faith; and a glorious justification it is, wherewith God justifies us. How great, how free, how unlimited is it, and such as no sins can hinder! A justification total at once, and eternal for ever. These things I have discoursed of before in the first part.
Now concerning faith itself, by which we are justified (I taking it at present for granted that we are justified through faith, which is the language of the Scripture), that which now we are to do, it is to make the inquiry, what this faith is.
The first thing in the general which I pitch upon towards the inquiry after the true nature and notion of faith, is this, that the faith by which we are saved and justified is a special faith, pitched upon God's free-grace, and Christ as matter of justification to us, as its special object; as you shall see out of this scripture, and many others also, in the proof of it.
The proof of this great truth I might have founded upon many scriptures, as you shall see anon; but I did choose out this, because it clearly distinguisheth a special faith from a general faith, and distinctly puts the business of salvation upon that special faith. If you mark it here, he tells us, verse 16, that 'all Scripture is given by inspiration, and is profitable for doctrine,' &c. And that all the things revealed in the Scripture, be they what they will, are all of them able to make a man wise unto salvation, and so to beget in him a 'wisdom,' which indeed is nothing else but 'faith.' Take it in the general notion of assent, what prudence is to all virtues, that faith is to all graces, it is 'wisdom to salvation.' But yet there is in it a special faith, without which all the knowledge a man hath, yea, all the knowledge that is unto salvation, would not be unto salvation, were it not for this; and that is (as the text hath it), 'faith in Jesus
Christ,'—'which is able to make thee wise unto salvation,' saith he, 'through faith which is in Jesus Christ.' So that these words which I have now read, they hold forth to us a twofold faith or wisdom, as
you may call it, for the Scripture calls faith wisdom sometimes, and wisdom faith.
There is first of all a general faith, respecting all divine objects, which is here called wisdom, and wisdom unto salvation (in that sense unto salvation as repentance is unto salvation, and as other graces are said to be unto salvation), which is a belief and knowledge of the Scriptures, and all things revealed in them, and a having a man's heart suitably affected with the things according to the nature of them; as to believe a God, and all the attributes of God, all the promises, and all the threatenings, or whatsoever else is contained in the book of God, which being taken by faith into the soul and heart of a believer, makes him wise unto salvation; this, I say, is properly called general faith. Faith (as I said before) is often called by the name of wisdom in the Scripture; as in Luke 1:17 it is said, that John
Baptist should 'go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just;' that is, he should bring them to the faith of their fathers, and to the same knowledge, joined with wisdom; to the same creed (for the materials of it) which the prophets and fathers held, and were saved by, and the doctrine of which the Jews in those times had generally corrupted. All these spiritual things are taken into the soul, and apprehended by such a principle of wisdom in heavenly affairs as human wisdom serves to in earthly affairs. Faith is therefore rightly called wisdom, because it superadds unto notional knowledge in things spiritual, as wisdom in men superadds unto knowledge notional in worldly businesses. That knowledge which constitutes a man a wise man, as such, in worldly matters, beyond a man simply knowing, is such a degree or kind of knowledge as over and above the notion affects and strikes the spirit of a man to act accordingly, and puts him on to practise; whereas the like knowledge in others, though it may be more clear and distinct for the notion, is overly, and affects not the man, nor is strong enough to overcome his affections to the contrary. Now, look what difference there is in this twofold knowledge about temporal things, the like there is as to spiritual; there is an enlightening of the Holy Ghost, which clears up
the notion of all things spiritual to be known, unto which faith is a farther special gift superadded, to affect and strike the heart with them, as the gift of wisdom added to knowledge useth to affect in outward affairs. Take then faith as it hath thus all the Scriptures, and all in them, for its object, and as it thus strongly makes an impression on the heart to act accordingly, and it is a wisdom unto salvation.
But yet, secondly, there is a peculiar or a special faith, without which the other is not, nor would be, of itself alone effectual unto salvation, and that, you see, is faith in Jesus Christ,—a faith of the promise of grace and salvation in and through Jesus Christ, as it is several ways expressed in the New Testament.
Now, you see, the apostle doth not only hold forth this distinction, but he doth withal shew that all the faith, and knowledge, and wisdom we have, though never so spiritual (for even of such he speaks), will not make us wise unto salvation, but only through faith in Jesus Christ.
So that the observation to the scope in hand, which I raise out of these words, and purpose to discourse of, is this, that that faith which doth save—the other may be unto salvation, as all graces are— that which truly saveth and putteth me into the state of salvation, or upon which I am put into that state, is a special faith, which here is said to have Jesus Christ for its object, or (which is all one) that hath the grace of God in Christ to rely upon. Faith on the promises of salvation and justification through Christ, and through the free grace of God in him, is that special faith without which all the true wisdom, the spiritual wisdom, spiritual faith, believing all things else whatsoever, would not otherwise be unto salvation. This, I say, is clearly the scope of the words, that besides that faith whereby we believe, and believe spiritually (yea, and unto salvation too), all the things revealed in the word of God, there is a special faith by which we are saved, and by means of which all the rest of our faith in all
other things is wisdom unto salvation: 'is able to make thee wise unto salvation,' saith he, 'through the faith which is in Jesus Christ.'
Now, in the opening and treating of this point, I shall do these things:
1. Give you some explication of it.
2. I shall deliver some concessions, some things that may and must be yielded unto and granted, concerning this general faith, and the difference between it and special faith.
3. I shall offer some proofs of Scripture for to make the point good.
4. I shall urge some reasons why that God hath not ordained to save any man by the most spiritual faith of all things in the world, if a man could be supposed to have it, without this other special faith of application. If a man, I say, did believe all the Scriptures, and all things in them, and that with an affection answerable and suitable to such objects themselves therein revealed, yet that man would never be saved without a special faith, which hath Jesus Christ and the grace of God in him for its object.
You shall find in your protestant writers a great deal of do about this faith; I would open to you that which I conceive to be the nature of it, and the sense wherein I would press it upon you. And,
1. To begin with the explication of it. I do not call it a special faith because it hath a special root and principle created on purpose in the hearts of men to be the root of it, so as that that general faith we speak of should have one root, and this special faith another. No; but the same faith, for the root and principle of it, in the spirits of men, whereby I believe all things else in the word of God, the power of God, the justice of God, or whatever else, that wisdom whereby a man knows savingly all things in the Scripture, all truths whatsoever, and the goodness of them, that faith whereby I truly and spiritually believe that there is a God, is also the root of that faith whereby I am
possessed of salvation, or whereby I am justified, with the same principle of faith whereby I believe all things else unto salvation, with the same principle also I believe on Jesus Christ, and on God as justifying. It is clearly the scope of Heb. 11; I will not stand now to open it. You know the ordinary similitude that is given: it was the same eye by which the Israelites beheld all the things in the wilderness, and wherewith they did behold also the brazen serpent; and yet notwithstanding they were cured by beholding the brazen serpent, and by nothing else. I confess this similitude will not in all things hold, but yet it is that by which it is illustrated; I only speak now by way of clearing of this term, special faith, and not by way of confirmation. Abraham, by the same faith whereby he did believe in the promised Messias, in the seed in whom all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, Rom. 4:21, by the same faith he is said to have believed the power of God, that he was able to give him a child.
Secondly, It is not called special in this sense, that only a faith on Christ, and on God's free grace, is proper to the elect, but that wicked men and devils, and men that shall be damned, may have a true general faith upon all objects else whatsoever; it is not, I say, meant in that sense neither, it is not meant subjectively special. There are they who say that as for the belief of all things in the general in the word of God, that is common to devils, because in James it is said,
'They believe there is a God, and tremble,' James 2:19; but, say they, to have a special faith to believe in Jesus Christ, this is proper to the elect. But it is evident that in every man that shall be saved the faith whereby he believeth all things in the word of God is a new kind of faith, and all things become new to him. The spiritual man judgeth all things spiritually, knoweth them spiritually, and so believeth them spiritually, as you have it in 1 Cor. 2:14, 15. And as the devils know there is a God, and believe that, so they know and believe that Jesus Christ is a Saviour: Mark 1:24, 'I know who thou art,' saith the devil, even 'the Holy One of God;' yet he did not know this spiritually as a true believer.
Thirdly, It is not called special in respect of any special act that is proper to it, and it alone; that is not the specialness neither which I intend. Some by special faith mean that special act of assurance of a man's salvation, and make that to justify. The truth is, there are many protestant writers, and holy and godly men, that have in all their oppositions against the papists urged a special faith in this sense. But not to insist on a long confutation, the faith of the apostles at first was not a faith of assurance; they 'believed, that they might be justified,' Gal. 2:16. Others by special faith understand that other act of trust or confidence, and going out of a man's self, and they say that therein lies this same specialness of faith. Now, I grant indeed that an act of trust, and confidence, and reliance is required to faith, it is that which I would rather call the act of particular application, as hereafter may be shewn. And they contend for this as that special faith, in opposition to those which hold that the general faith, the belief of the things themselves, as that Christ is the Son of God, and the Saviour of the world, and that God justifies the ungodly, being spiritually believed, is that act upon which God justifies us. But I would not make the specialness of faith to lie in respect of any act which this faith hath proper to it, since there are none such but what we find common to our faith on other objects. For if it be said that the act of saving faith is a trusting upon this object, viz., the grace of God for salvation, why, this act of trusting is not proper and peculiar only to faith justifying, nor hath only the grace of God justifying for its object, but it is common to this faith to pitch upon other attributes of God. I rely upon God for all spiritual things else besides salvation and justification; I rely upon him for his Spirit; I go out unto Christ for holiness, and strength against sin, and for duty; I rely on him, and trust on him, and come unto him for temporal things; I trust him for to sanctify me; in a word, all the promises of good things are the object of that act of trust on God. The like may be said of assurance. I may have assurance from God of other things as well as of my justification; so as special faith, whereby we are saved or justified, which the apostle here speaks of, is not so called, because is hath a peculiar act appropriated to it.
Fourthly, and lastly, Therefore, that I call (and I think it ought to be called, and only ought to be called so) a special faith, whereby we are justified, which hath, 1, an eminent special object, proper and peculiar, appropriated to it; which hath, 2, a special aim; and, 3, which hath a special effect, or a special consequent rather, or, if you will, concomitant, or that which doth accompany it.
First, I say it is to be called special faith, in respect that God hath framed on purpose a peculiar and special object for it. Whether the act be believing the thing or object itself, in the truth and goodness of it, or relying upon it, or call it what you will for the act of it, now that is clear in the text to be faith in Jesus Christ. Look over all the Scriptures, and all the divine and spiritual truths in them, the belief of those things is not special faith, though they may sanctify the heart, though the heart may be answerably affected thereto, till it come to faith in Jesus Christ, or to trust in the special mercy and grace in God for pardon and justification. I will put both these together; it is either, I say, the free grace of God, who is our justifier
(for God as justifying is as much the object of faith as Christ himself, and more), which is the object of this special faith, or else Jesus
Christ and his righteousness, as the matter of our justification and salvation, and faith as it respects these two as they are objects, and that for justification, that I call, I say, special faith. I will not stand much to shew you, as I might do, that what in the Old Testament is called trusting in the mercy of God, and believing on the mercy of God, that in the New is called believing on Christ, and how that both come to one. If therefore you will have the language of the New
Testament, the special act of justifying faith is to believe upon God as justifying: 'To believe on him that justifieth the ungodly,' so Rom.
4:14, and to believe on the righteousness, or on the blood and sanctification of Christ, or on Jesus Christ as for righteousness; so the text speaks here, 'Through faith in Jesus Christ.' These two make up the special object of faith.
And, secondly, the believing these, and on these, as for salvation, and having that special aim and intent so considered also, is called, and
ought to be called, special faith. It is not coming unto God or to Christ for anything else temporal and spiritual, but as coming for salvation and pardon of sin, believing that a man may be justified, as it is expressed, Gal. 2:16. This, I say, is the peculiar aim of special faith, and in that respect it ought to be called special, as it comes to God for justification.
And therefore, thirdly, there is a special consequent or concomitant, which doth accompany and follow upon it, and that is, it doth in a special manner justify and save a man, which no faith else, though never so spiritual, upon any other object, is said to do. In Rom. 3 and in Rom. 4 this is clearly made out; the apostle speaks there, as you all know, of faith as it doth justify, and that faith alone justifies without works; and as faith doth thus justify, what doth he make there to be the object of it? First, Jesus; so chap. 3:22, 'The righteousness of God,' saith he, 'which is by the faith of Jesus unto all and upon all them that do believe,' namely, on Jesus; and ver. 26, he is said to be
'the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus;' and ver. 28, he concludeth, that by such a faith, and no other, a man is justified. And as he makes Jesus thus to be the object of it, so God as justifying too; so chap. 4:5, 'To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly;' namely, on God, who is the justifier, whose righteousness it is, and so called, because he is the bestower, the imputer of that righteousness, as you may read in the 21st and 22d verses of the 3d chapter: 'The righteousness of God which is by the faith of Jesus,' saith he, 'whom God hath set forth (ver. 25) to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness,'
&c.
And therefore this denomination of special faith (say I) it ought to have from these three things: 1, because it hath a special object made and appointed for it, viz., the grace of God justifying and saving, and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and his righteousness the matter of our salvation and justification; and, 2, in respect of the aim the heart hath in believing, that it comes to these as for salvation and justification; and, 3, that upon thus coming God is said to justify, as
faith genuinely and spiritually pitcheth on these objects; you have all these in that one place, Gal. 2:16, 'Knowing this, that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.' Here is, first, you see, faith described by a special object, and therefore called 'the faith of Jesus
Christ,' the faith in Jesus Christ, and again, the faith of Christ; it is three times so mentioned in relation to this special peculiar object, so that the faith which justifies us is a special faith in respect of the object; secondly, it is a faith which hath a peculiar aim, which believeth in Jesus that the soul might be justified: 'We believed in Jesus, that we might be justified,' saith he. To come to Jesus Christ for anything else than for salvation, and for justification, is not a special faith; and then, thirdly, there is a special concomitant, or that which doth accompany it, a special effect, or call it what you will, and that is, that we are justified, though not by the act of believing, yet upon believing, which is evident by this, for how else did they believe
'that they might be justified'? And it follows after, 'By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified;' but oppositely by and upon believing a man is. And it is this special relation to its object which makes this faith (to speak in the Scripture language, and if you will you may call it by that name instead of special faith) to be called
'precious faith.' What is it that makes it so more precious than the belief of all things else whatsoever? either of the truth, or power, or faithfulness of God; or be the thing what it will be, what is it that makes it excel all such faith of any kind? It is the object of it; so you have it in 2 Peter 1:1: he writes 'to them' (because none else are true
Christians) 'that have obtained like precious faith with us;' we translate it 'through the righteousness,' it is ἐν, in, or on the righteousness of God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ. Faith, as it is pitched upon this as its special object, hath a special excellency, and is precious faith, and in this respect every man's faith is as precious as that of the apostles themselves was, though they might excel in degree, yet its preciousness is not from its own degree of acting, but
from the object that it is pitched upon, even because it is faith in God, and in our Saviour Jesus Christ.
And let me add this too, it is not only special, as we say of remedies of a disease, that there are many remedies for such a disease, Oh, but this is a special one, not only a sovereign one above all the rest, but it is the only special remedy; for faith only as it is pitched upon the righteousness of Christ, and the free grace of God in him, so it only justifieth.
So now I have expressed to you by way of explication what I mean by special faith in that sense wherein it doth differ from some who would have it called special in other respects. Now the consideration of this point is of exceeding great moment, both to direct your hearts what faith especially continually to exercise, as will appear in the use of it, and also especially to clear the doctrine of saving justifying faith. The papists and popish spirits, what have they done? They say that there is a general faith; that is, that faith which a man hath of all the Scriptures, and the things revealed in them, which they call fides catholica, catholic faith, and this they affirm to be the faith that justifies. They say, that faith saveth and justifieth, or God doth save and justify me upon my believing that he is true, that he is omniscient, that he is all-powerful, as well as upon believing on his grace and mercy, and upon God as justifying. They say, that faith doth justify and save as well when it looks to the law, when it believes that God created the world, when it doth believe the first Adam, as well as when it believes the second Adam. They say, that to believe truly the justice of God condemning, is saving and justifying faith, as well as to believe the mercy and grace of God pardoning and saving.
The truth is, according to their doctrine, to believe the devil to be an accuser, is a part of justifying faith, as truly as to believe that Christ is an intercessor and a Saviour; to believe that of Moses, that 'Cursed is every one that continueth not in all that is written in the book of the law to do it,' is part of justifying faith, as truly as to believe that Jesus
Christ was made a curse; and indeed to hold this, is consonant to all their principles. For how do they assert that faith justifies? Say they,
faith doth not justify us in relation to its object, but either as it is a disposition, and so to believe the threatenings of the law, disposeth, say they, to faith, or else it justifies as all other graces do. Now, love to man they say justifieth, as well as love to God. So the belief of all the stories in the Bible, they say, that justifies a man, as well as to believe in God that justifies, or in Jesus Christ that died. It agrees, I say, with the principles of their doctrine, they make all to be parts of righteousness alike; the whole wisdom whereby Timothy did know the scriptures (as they say) saved him, as well as faith in Jesus
Christ; whereas here the text is clear, that all the other were made wisdom to him unto salvation, but through faith which is in Christ
Jesus; that had he known all the rest never so much, or never so spiritually, they would not have saved him, had he not had special faith in Jesus Christ. In a word, that faith that sanctifies also justifies with them. Now the belief of all things in the Scripture is a means of sanctifying (as must be acknowledged), but that which doth justify us is a special faith, pitched upon the grace of God justifying, and upon our Lord Jesus Christ. So much now for the explication of this thing.
2. I come next, for the further explication of it, to some concessions, as I call them, or grants, some things that may and must be yielded to, as concerning faith upon these objects.
(1.) That all other spiritual faith pitched upon any other object besides God as justifying, and Christ as for righteousness and salvation, is a saving faith in a large sense. I say that spiritual faith which hath all the Scriptures, and all things in the Scriptures for its object, may be called a saving faith in this sense, that it is unto salvation; so the text is clear, 'The Scriptures, they are able to make thee wise unto salvation.' All things delivered in the Scriptures being believed, the faith and the belief of them is unto salvation, it tends unto salvation; but how? As all things else are said to be unto salvation that are true graces in a man, so it is called 'repentance unto salvation,' 'repentance unto life.' Unto life it is true, without which God saveth no man, and which are in order to it; but special faith pitched upon Jesus Christ, and upon the grace of God, is saving
in a higher sense than so; for if you mark it, those other are said to be unto salvation only because and by reason of special faith; they would not be unto salvation, but only because joined with, or subservient to, or springing from faith in Jesus Christ: 'They are able to make thee wise unto salvation,' saith he, 'through faith which is in Jesus Christ.' It is called wisdom unto salvation, but yet in a more peculiar manner this special faith is the faith which saveth us; for the other is called only wisdom unto salvation, even through this faith.
Now if that the other be unto salvation, as through the faith in Jesus Christ, then the faith in Jesus Christ must be in a special manner saving. Now how is that in a special manner saving, but because there is nothing else in man that doth receive salvation, and the right to salvation, as I have shewn elsewhere?* All other general faith, that is, faith upon all other things else spiritually and truly apprehended, is a wisdom unto salvation; but it is not peculiarly said to be saving, or to be that which saveth us: we are only saved through faith on Christ and his righteousness. To clear by the way likewise another thing, you shall find that the apostle doth apply that place, Hab 2:4,
'The just shall live by faith,' both unto that special faith in man which lays hold on the righteousness of Christ for justification and salvation, and likewise to that general faith, whereby we believe all things else in the word of God. He applies it first unto justifying faith clearly in Rom: 1:17, where, speaking of the gospel, he saith, 'It is the power of God unto salvation, to every one that believeth, for,' saith he, 'therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.' Now, in Heb. 10:38, he likewise saith, 'The just shall live by faith;' but the faith he there means is a general faith, as believing that there is a God, and all spiritual objects else, as he opens it throughout that chapter, which, in the general notion of it, he calls, 'the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen,' in the following chapter,
Heb. 11:1. So that I say, in a large sense, it may be said that all graces as well as this are unto salvation. In a large sense we may be said to live by that general faith (as I may so call it) to live by the belief of anything else in the word of God, with affections suited to that knowledge and that faith. It helps us to mortify lusts, it helps us to
quicken many graces in us: whatsoever God sanctifies us by, that faith takes it in, and so in a sense it may be called a life of faith; in temporal temptations it upholds us by many temporal promises, a thousand considerations there are in the word which are not the objects of special faith; but now the faith by which we live the life of justification and of salvation, the faith by which we live in God's sight
(as the Scripture's expression is), is only a special faith, which, in Rom. 5:18, is called, 'justification of life;' and indeed this very distinction and difference doth salve a great objection of the papists, and doth reconcile those two places, Rom. 1:17, and the whole eleventh chapter of the Hebrews.
(2.) The second concession, or grant, or caution (call it what you will), which also is a great truth, is this, that it is the same principle of faith by which we believe all things in the Scripture thus savingly and unto salvation, and by which we believe on Jesus Christ too; it is the same principle, or seed, or habit of faith by which we believe that Christ is the Son of God, and by which we believe on him for righteousness; it is the same principle of faith by which we believe that God is (as the apostle saith, Heb. 11:6), and by which we believe on him for justification. You have an instance in Abraham; by the same faith whereby he believed, and looked at the promised Messiah, in whom all the nations of the earth should be blessed, whereby he was justified, and which was accounted unto him for righteousness, by the same faith he believed the power of God, 'that God was able,' as the expression is in Rom. 4:21. And this answers another objection also, a great one, which is used to be made; for, say they, saving faith is commended to us in the Scripture by other acts than by the act of justifying; it is said to overcome kingdoms in Heb. 11:33, and to have done all those great acts which were done in the Old Testament, which yet were not acts of justifying faith; and the apostle doth make justifying faith, and the faith that did all those great acts, to proceed from one and the same root. We answer, indeed it is true that justifying faith is commended to us by other acts which it hath done besides that of saving men; and the apostle's scope in Heb. 11 is to set out that faith whereby we are justified, by all things else which it
doth, thereby to commend it the more as justifying us, as indeed it must needs do. Just as the Scripture doth, it sets out Jesus Christ not only as a Saviour, but it sets him out also in a world of excellencies else, as that in him and by him all things were created also, and that he is the judge of all the world and of all mankind, that he is the head of all principalities and powers, of all the angels, and by a thousand excellencies besides, and all these are to commend him so much the more to us as a Saviour; so the apostle sets out faith in this Heb 11
(and you shall find it likewise in other scriptures), that the faith that justifies us is said to do a world of exploits for us besides justifying.
But yet it doth not justify us as doing any of those things; as Christ he doth not save us as he is a head of all principalities and powers, or as all things were created in him and by him, but he saves us as dying upon the cross; only it is the same Saviour that doth the one and the other, and therein lies his excellency. So it is here as to faith, and that answers what the apostle's scope is in that Heb. 11. It is not so much to treat of faith as justifying, as to shew forth the excellency of that faith which doth justify in other things, which it continually doth for them it justifies.
(3.) There is this also to be granted, that special faith it is not true in any man, and therefore saveth no man if joined with unbelief and denial of many other things besides believing on Christ for righteousness. There are, I say, many things which, if a man should deny and not believe, besides believing on Christ and on God that justifieth, he would not be saved, nor could he believe savingly with this special faith I now mention unless he believed them. In 2 Tim.
2:18, the apostle saith that denying of the resurrection did 'overthrow the faith of some;' for, saith he in 1 Cor. 15:13, 'If there be no resurrection, then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain, and ye are yet in your sins,' and so you overturn the faith in Christ for the pardon of sin; so that now a man cannot have a right saving, justifying faith upon God as justifying, or upon the righteousness of Christ, if he deny many other things. There are those that say they believe on Christ as a Saviour, believe on him as an intercessor and mediator,
and yet, notwithstanding, deny him to be God. Now, although we are not saved by believing that Jesus Christ is God, but by believing on his righteousness, and on his satisfaction and obedience, as the scripture expresseth it, yet, notwithstanding, we cannot savingly believe the one if we deny the other. And the truth is, those that deny
Jesus Christ to be God, they do clearly, be they who they will be, take away the gospel and the foundation thereof, and the satisfaction of the wrath of God for sin made by Jesus Christ, which the gospel holds forth, and which is the object of our faith. That place in 2 Peter
1:1, which I quoted before to another purpose, is a place that affordeth abundance in it to the present purpose: 'To them,' saith he,
'that have obtained like precious faith with us, in (or on) the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.' Here you see he describeth the faith of the primitive Christians, that special peculiar faith, which yet was common to all them that were true believers; it was upon the righteousness of our God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Now, here is the question, Whether that our God and our Saviour be two distinct persons, or whether it be meant only of Jesus Christ? for in the original it is, and so Beza reads it, our God, and our Saviour
Jesus Christ. To decide this, it is clearly meant one person, viz., Christ. For, first, the article τοῦ clearly carries it; it is not said twice, as it would have been if two persons had been intended; it is not said,
'of our God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ,' but 'of our God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.' And then, secondly, you shall find that this is the style of the New Testament, that when it speaks of God the Father, he is called God and the Father, and when it speaks of Christ, he is called God and our Saviour; as, for example, speaking of God the Father in Eph. 1:3, saith he, 'the God and Father;' God and Father there are one person, and he speaks not of two, but of one; for (which also confirms the first reason) the article ὁ it is put before God, but not before Father, it is not the God and the Father, but the God and Father, speaking of one; the like you have in 1 Cor. 15:24, and in Col.
2:2. This, I say, is the proper style of the New Testament concerning God the Father. Answerably, when the Scripture speaks of Jesus
Christ, he is called God and our Saviour; so you have it expressly in Titus 2:13, 'Looking for the appearing of the great God and our
Saviour Jesus Christ.' As by God and the Father is meant God the Father, so by God and our Saviour is meant Jesus Christ. Here now is the faith, the common faith of the primitive Christians; it is faith on the righteousness of him who is our God and our Saviour, and men can never truly believe upon his righteousness unto salvation unless they believe that he is a God as well as a Saviour, for he had never else been a Saviour had he not been God, and his righteousness had never been the righteousness of a Saviour had it not been the righteousness of God; and therefore to deny him to be God is to deny his satisfaction, and he that denies the one denies the other; 'denying the Lord that bought them,' saith he in 2 Peter 2:1. Now then, though special faith hath for its object Jesus Christ as a Saviour, and his righteousness as that of a Saviour, yet a man must believe other things too concerning Jesus Christ, as here he must believe that he is
God also. There are many other things a man must believe, and believe them strongly too, which fall under the nature of general faith, which yet are necessary to special faith, so that he who denies them cannot have true special faith. Take away Christ as being God, and you even take away the Saviour too, for they go both together; and accordingly it was the general faith of all those primitive
Christians to believe in the righteousness of Jesus Christ as God and as our Saviour.
(4.) The fourth concession or grant which I shall mention, which, though it seems to be all one with the other before, yet hath a difference, is this, that to this special faith on Christ and on the grace of God, there is the faith of other things requisite, either implicitly or explicitly. It is not only that he who denies some things, which are believed with a general faith, cannot have a true special faith, since the denial of the one cannot stand with the truth of the other, which was the meaning of the foregoing concession; but that unless a man believe many things, which yet are but the objects of a general faith, either implicitly or explicitly, he can never come to have true special faith. We may see this in the instance of the eunuch in the confession of his faith, Acts 8:37. He says no more but that he believed 'Jesus to be the Son of God,' but yet withal, his faith was pitched upon Christ
as a Saviour dying for sinners, for the occasion of his believing was Philip's interpreting to him the 53d chapter of Isaiah, which openly mentions Christ's being wounded for our sins; and the eunuch adds in his confession, that he believed Jesus to be that person who was intended, and he believed too that this person was the Son of God, as that which alone made his death and offering himself for sinners satisfactory unto God, for he accordingly desires to be baptized for remission of sins as obtained by Christ. His believing him to be the Son of God is indeed only mentioned, because this was the great thing necessary in order to his believing on him as a Saviour, but yet this last is as strongly implied and intended. To the same purpose we have another scripture, Heb. 11:6, 'He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.' He that cometh to God is he that cometh to believe on him, cometh to him for salvation, for faith is often so expressed, though special faith lies in coming to God for mercy, believing upon his grace, believing on him that justifieth the ungodly; yet a man must believe first that God is, and that spiritually, and he must be wise in that point savingly too. A man must believe also that God is just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus, that he is true and faithful in his promises; therefore a man is said, when he believeth, to 'set to his seal that God is true.' Yet, to believe the truth of God, to believe the justice of God, to believe that God is, all these belong to general faith, to the same faith wherewith I believe a thousand things else in the Scripture. Only let me say this, it is not necessary that a man should believe all these explicitly, that is, in distinct propositions, especially not in a method and order, first this and then that; as to say, First I came to believe that God was, and then I came to believe that God was true. But when God comes to reveal himself as a justifier, then, as when the sun in one beam sheweth the whole sun to the eye, so it is here, that often at once when God reveals himself as a justifier of the ungodly, to be believed on, he also with that beam enlightens the soul with the knowledge of what other perfections are in him, which may conduce to represent him to us as a justifier of the ungodly. To illustrate this by the instance of Adam's first sin; as in that there were many sins
concurred, but that one sin which the Scripture reckoneth, that one disobedience by which we all fell, was eating the forbidden fruit, so it is here: though there are many acts of believing, yet the one act which justifies is that which regards Christ, and his blood and righteousness. When Abraham was to believe in the promised
Messiah, in the promised seed, 'in whom all the nations of the earth should be blessed,' he believed in the power of God too, as I said even now out of Rom. 4:21; and it was absolutely necessary for him so to do, for he knew, according to the promise, that the Messiah could not come unless he had Isaac. Now, though his faith looked at Christ especially, yet to support this faith that the Messiah should come, he believed in the power of God to give him Isaac; his special faith was supported by his belief on the power of God; and yet his belief on the power of God, that God was able to do thus and thus, was not that which justified him, for it was but a general faith, and yet I say it supported his special faith. You have the like in Heb. 11:19, when he thought to offer up Isaac: his eye was then upon Christ, whom God would raise from the dead, but yet he believed that God was able to raise up Isaac, without which he should never have Christ, nor Christ should never have come. Abraham's faith was twice put to it, in believing on the power of God concerning Isaac: the one was for his being conceived and born, and the other was when he offered him up; you have the one in Rom. 4:19, and the other in Heb. 11:18.
So that now faith in the general of these truths, that the word of God, or the promises of God, are true, that God is faithful, that he is just, that he is powerful, all these they are the supports of special faith; but yet still that special faith which I am justified by, is only that whereby I believe upon the grace of Christ, and upon the grace of God as justifying. Therefore that which divines do say to clear the point of faith justifying alone, may be applied here. Faith, say they, doth not justify alone, as if it were unaccompanied with other graces; as the eye though it sees alone, yet if it were alone, if it were out of the head, it would not see. Now the same do I say of this special faith, it would never come to justify us, if it were not supported with acts of general faith. A great many of such nerves meet in this eye of special