Chapter VI
Christ our Saviour typified by Noatis ark. As Noah was instructed by God
to enter into the ark for his safety, so God in the covenant of grace teacheth us to know Christ, and to come to him for salvation. That our faith looks both to the free grace of God bringing us to Christ, as well as to Christ. Without Christ the grace of God doth not, nor can, save us; and therefore
it is necessary that we explicitly act faith on him for salvation.
For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters
of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebttke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not departfrom thee, neither
CHAP. VI. j OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 165
shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on tliee. thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted! behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thyfoundations with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all
thy borders of pleasant stones. And all thy children shall be taught of the
Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children. ISAIAH LIV. 913.
I have, in a discourse* on this scripture, shewed the parallel betwixt Noah s covenant, about his entrance into the ark to be saved from the flood, and the covenant of grace. I came to an use, which hath been this, that
the example of Noah in his entrance into the ark, and making of the ark, and the like, was a figure of the saving work that God effects upon the
hearts of his people, in bringing them under the covenant of grace, and
within the safe bounds of it. I shall accordingly consider the work of
faith wrought in Noah, he being made heir of the righteousness of faith. Noah was instructed by God in two things as objects of his faith. The
< Thou hast found grace in my sight. The other was the necessity of his entrance into the ark, which was to him the type of Christ; hence correspondently to answer the type we have what is said
first was the grace of God :
in verse 13, They shall be all taught of God. The covenant of grace did
undertake, Jer. xxxi. 34, that God would teach them to know him, and
that they should not need any other to teach them. The grace under the
covenant of the gospel teaches us to know two things. The first is, to know God in his grace
: Jer. ix. 24, Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me. As to what ? It follows, That
I am the Lord that exerciseth loving-kindness, judgment, and righteous
ness, in the earth : for in these things do I delight. To know God in his
loving-kindness, this is what God doth instruct his people in, and teacheth them to exercise faith about it. The second thing which the covenant of
grace teaches us is, to know Christ who is our ark: John vi. 45, It is
written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man
therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. So then these two things before me are naturally deduced from the
text, and example of Noah. God teaches his people to know him in his
free grace, and he teaches them to know him in his Christ, and instructs them in the nature of faith in him. From God s instructing Noah to
enter into the ark, we may infer that God doth also, in the covenant of
grace, which this is a prophecy of, instruct us to know his Son Christ, and to come unto him. When the ark was prepared, God invites Noah
into the ark: Gen. vii. 1, And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou, and
all thy house, into the ark ; which words I shall by and by translate into
pure gospel, and I will shew you that the very same language is used con
cerning our believing in Christ only. I must first shew you this thing, that the ark was the type of Christ, for that is the first thing I must turn
into gospel, the ark into Christ. The ancient writers of the church, the
fathers (as they call them), say, that by ark is meant the church. Now, it
is true that one and the same type often signifieth two or three things ; as, for example, the temple signified the body of Christ Destroy this temple, saith Christ it signified the church universal, the body of Christ mystical ;
it signifieth every particular soul: Ye are the temple of the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. vi. 19. But this let me say, when you shall find a parallel made between the thing and the thing signified, and in particular applied to one * In vol. ii. of his works.
166 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [BOOK II.
thing, you must only understand it so, and there you must not understand it as a type of the other. In 1 Peter i. 21 you have Noah s ark made a type of Christ, as he is administered to us in baptism: The like figure whereunto (having spoken of the ark) wherein few, that is, eight persons were saved through water. The like figure is baptism, whereby we are saved ; but here baptism, signified by the ark, bears not the figure of the church, and that plainly for this reason, because the ark is the figure of that wherein we are saved ( wherein few were saved, eight persons ). Now, the eight were the persons saved, and saved in the ark, and they bare the resemblance of the church in being saved ; but it is the ark that bears the resemblance of that wherein we are saved, who is Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, signified and applied to us in baptism. You will say it is baptism that saves us ; but how doth it so ? Because we are bap tized into Christ, Rom. vi. 3 ; and it is said to be therefore by the resur rection of Christ that he saves ; although he mentions the resurrection as
signified ^in baptism, he means his death too, for he puts that part, the resurrection, for the whole. Baptism unto the person baptized under the water (whether by pouring it upon it, or dipping under it, it is all one, for baptism is called sprinkling) implies a covering under the water and rising again. ^How doth Christ save ? He died for our sins, and rose again for our justification, Rom. iv. 25; and we are said to be baptized into his death as well as into Christ and his resurrection, Rom. vi. 3. It is the most lively example that ever was ; we are baptized into Christ, and into his death, and into his resurrection, as ye have it there expressed.
This^ baptism thus representing Christ is said to be figured out by the ark. As for the ark, Ainsworth, that holy man, well observes concerning it: Every Christian (saith he) is baptized with Christ; and as Noah was in the ark, so we were all in Christ representatively, when he hung on the cross, a-nd when he rose. And so we were in the ark: when that was under water, we were under water; when the ark got up, we rose up upon the water. It was impossible for the ark to be overwhelmed, because (rod took care of it ; so it was with Christ, God upheld him ; and death, although he was laid in the grave, could not have dominion over him. It was impossible for death to hold him. The ark too kept Noah and the church, the ark bare off all (I need not stand to enlarge upon it) ; there is no example or figure (as I know) so lively. Moses being baptized in the cloud and the Red Sea of baptism (because it was the figure of it), is no thing so lively as this. Now, the ark being thus proved to be a type of Christ, wherein we are saved, we shall next consider God s invitation of Noah to come into^the ark: Gen. vii. 1, Come thou, enter into the ark. I shall decipher this ouc into gospel language, and give you plain words for every tittle of it: Come thou, and thy house, and enter into the ark. Here is, 1. An invitation to come into the ark, like to Christ s inviting sinners to come to him: Mat. xi. 28, 29, Come to me, saith Christ, all ye that :ire weary and heavy laden; and Rev. xxii. 17, The bride saith, Come, and the Spirit saith, Come, and take of the water of life freely,
^ 2. What is this coming? It is that which is applied to "Christ: John vi. 33, He that comes to me shall never thirst. Coming is believing, for to believe is to come to Christ to be saved: You will not come to me, saith Christ, that you may have life, John v. 40. 3. The words of God s invitation to Noah are, Come, and enter. The expression is answerable concerning faith : Heb. xi. 3, Through faith we
CHAP. VI.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH.
understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God; so that things
which are seen were not made of things which do appear. This it is like
wise expressed, Mat. xi. 28, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest. By coming to Christ, and believing
on him, we enter both into him and also into rest.
4. We are said to enter into Christ only by coming and believing,
whereas we were out of Christ before : He was, saith the apostle, Rom.
< in Christ before me. When he did believe, he entered into
xvi. 7,
Christ, he came to be in Christ, as Noah was in the ark, and so was saved.
Suitable hereunto is also that text in Rom. viii. 1, There is no condemna
tion to them that are in Christ, no more than there was destruction unto
them that were in the ark, for they were brought safe to land. As we thus
enter into Christ by faith, so we dwell in Christ, and continue in Christ,
1 John ii. 23, 24.
5. Yet it falls well, as God invited Noah to come into the ark, so he
invited his family too : Come thou and thy house. The gospel invitation
runs thus in these very words, Acts xvi. 11, when the poor jailor came,
< Believe thou on the Lord Jesus,
and knows not what to do to be saved ;
says the apostle. Do but come into the ark, and thou shalt be saved,
and thy house. Thus the gospel was preached, as might apparently be
shewed at large ; so that I have demonstrated unto you that Gen. vn. 1 is
plain ffospel, and the word about believing answers it. Christ is your are,
and faith is your coming, and by faith you enter into Christ, and continue
in him (answerably as Noah did in the ark), till thou arrivest safe to land,
thou and thy house. Thus you see that still the parallel holds on about
Noah in his covenant and the work of faith. I shall now proceed to shew
in some proportion that God teaches us to believe upon Christ as he taught Noah to enter into the ark.
1st. I shall first answer a case or two. I told you that Christ is the
object of your faith, distinct from free grace, or that we are to believe on
Christ, and treat with him, as well as with God s free grace. Now tl
case to be resolved is this : Many souls (some such souls I am sure I have
known) have been mightily carried out to treat with God the Father and
his free grace, and they have found an open door, if they will go in at that
room. If they will go to the Father, they find all the love m his heart in
givin^ men to Christ, and commanding him to die for them ; and they find
all this love to be free and unchangeable, and they find the thoughts of it
to be a support of faith ; and although they have not found assurance, yet
they are so much assured of the will of God, as to know that he is resolved
to save sinners, and they know that salvation must flow from it, and that
makes them seek God, and apply themselves to free grace ; and they can
turn all other considerations of Christ into motives and pleas, and so lay
themselves at the feet of God. Yet, while they do this, they take it for
granted that all God s love is through Christ, and that he was God in
Christ reconciling the world to himself, or that he had never done it else.
And so, though Jesus Christ is implicitly honoured by them apart and
distinctly, yet they do not explicitly apply themselves in a distinct manner
to the Lord Jesus. They do not make use of Christ so distinctly, although
they go to God through Christ. The answer to this case is useful and
profitable.
1. I say that here are two objects of faith, and they are equal objects ot
faith at least, and equally necessary ; but I say, too, that where the Father
is, there is the Son : John xiv. 10, 11, I am in the Father, and the Father
OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [BOOK II.
in me, and I in you ; and you shall know this one day ; and my Father and I are one, and we agree in one, John x. 30. Their hearts are not divided ; so that if thou canst find the heart of God open to thee, and that there is a full door open, and that thy heart is strengthened to go in at it, then for certain thou hast also a sense of the love of Christ, and thou takest
it for granted that all that thou hast is through Christ, and is from the heart of Christ ; and so far thou givest him the honour of it. Thou mayest be sure of it by this token, that Christ himself hath to do with his Father in saving us, more than with himself. He eyes his will, and regards what he hath said to him about our salvation, and the undertaking of it, and the carrying of it through
: John vi. 87, I came down from above, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me ; thus saith Jesus Christ himself;
< And this is my Father s will, that he hath sent me, and that of all that he hath given me I should lose none. Now, canst thou go unto the heart of the Father, and regard him as the fountain of all that Christ hath done, and look on him as giving to Christ them that he would have saved ? Dost thou see that Christ hath undertaken to him for thee, and that he hath such and such a love in his heart to save thee, and that thou hast a declaration of it, and the indefinite promise of it in the gospel ? And do these thoughts take thy heart, and dost thou thus treat with the Father, and his will, and free grace for salvation ? Thou herein honourest Christ, for it is no question but Christ, that came to do his Father s will, agrees to it, and hath it always in his view. He tells us that he doth his Father s will as to the persons who are to be saved : John vi. 37, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me ; and him that cometh to me I will not cast out, for I came not to do my will, but the will of him that sent me, i. e., to save the persons that God the Father gave me. Dost thou go to God, although he doth not tell thee immediately that he loves thee ? This is the will of the Father, and Christ came to do the will of the Father unto persons, and therefore to those persons whose hearts are taken with his grace. And this is a sign Jesus Christ hath satisfied for thee, and makes application to the Father for thee : John v. 24, Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation ; but is passed from death to life. You must know this, that one great end of Christ s preaching was to discover the Father, and to shew how much the Father s heart was engaged in saving man by him, and in sending him into the world. Now suppose that in his preaching a good soul had been taken with this love of God the Father that gave his Son, and that this soul was drawn out upon that to apply itself to the Father, it herein heard Christ, and applied itself to him also.
< He that heareth my words, saith Christ, while he is magnifying God the Father, John v. 24, and understandeth, 1 and believeth on him that sent me (i.e., believes upon him as having sent me), that man, saith he, hath everlasting life ; although eminently thus his heart is carried unto the Father that sent him.
2. The soul of man is apt to be intent upon one object, and so to be more flat in another : this is undeniable matter of experience. Oh that I were humbled ! says the soul sometimes, when the heart goes out to be abased for sin. At another time the heart is as much drawn out for Christ and for his grace ; and while it is drawn out that way, a zealous love for holiness comes in, and then it runs out to that. We cannot be intent upon many objects with intenseness of thought, through a narrowness of mind. Sometimes all about the Father and his free grace takes up our
CHAP. VI.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH.
thoughts, and the soul runs out that way ; and sometimes the Son, and
sometimes the Spirit, employ all our thoughts, as indeed we must adore
every person in his office. Sometimes we are carried to communion with
the Father, and sometimes to enjoy it with the Son, and sometimes to have
it with the Holy Ghost. Now all this ariseth from the narrowness of our
minds, and therefore Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are fain to take their
turns, and to be entertained by vicissitudes.
3. Is the Father discovered to thee in his free grace to draw thy heart
into communion, while Christ is not so free to thee when thou attemptest
to go to him ? Know this for a truth, that whatever is discovered of the
Father s heart, it is done by Christ ; and whatever is discovered of the
Son s heart in dying and rising, it is done by the Father ; therefore thou
mayest be sure that the Father is with thee when thy heart is drawn to
Christ, for that drawing is from the Father ; and if thou hast thy heart
drawn to the Father, it is effected by Christ, Mat. xi. 27. How is it that
thy heart is drawn unto the Son, and thy heart is all set upon Christ? It
is the Father that doth it, and he doth it secretly in the word he doth
teach thee ; yet no man hath seen him ; he doth it, and doth it secretly ; and so likewise no man cometh to the Father but by Christ. Thou art no
sooner with Christ, and hath put forth a few acts of faith, but he sends
thee to the Father, or thou couldst not come to him, as thou couldst not
come to Christ but by the Father, and as the Father discovers him. And
therefore be assured that he who hath the Father hath the Son, and he
that hath the Son hath him by the Father.
4. It is best to have the heart both drawn out to the free grace that is
in the Father s heart, and to have the heart drawn out to Jesus Christ and
his fulness. It is best for thee to have thy heart from the beginning (as some have had) to know both the Father and the Son, and to continue thy
addresses to either. Oh that is best ! I will give you a great many scrip
tures for it. Thus it was with Paul from his first conversion: 1 Tim. i. 14,
* The grace of our Lord was abundant, with faith, and love, which is in
Jesus Christ. By our Lord there is meant the Father, for he is made
distinct from Jesus Christ in the next words. Paul had an abundant
entrance both to God the Father in his free grace at his conversion, and
he had abundant entrance unto Jesus Christ with faith and love drawn out
unto him. To the same purpose is 1 John ii. 13, I write unto you,
fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write
unto you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. I write
^ Let that
unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.
therefore abide in you which you have heard from the beginning, let it
remain in you, and you shall continue in the Son and in the Father. You knew the Father at first, and believed on him and Christ, and if you will
cleave unto your first works, to what you have heard and had from the
beginning, to what you have known of God the Father, and of the Son,
you will continue in both, and there lies your comfort ; and if you cast it
off, as those heretics did (who knew the Father, but not the Son), thou
hast not the Father nor the Son. Thy case, indeed, may be such, that
though thou knowest both, yet thy heart is not so token with the one as
the other ; but yet, while thou goest unto Christ, it is because the Father
hath sent him, and it is his will that thou believe on him. If thou dost go unto the Father, it is because Jesus Christ hath died, and they both agree
< Being justified freely by his
in one. It is best to join both : Rom. iii. 24,
grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ It is best to join
170 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [BOOK II.
the grace of God, and faith on the blood of Christ, and to have our hearts
equally carried to the one and the other, although the Father must have the pre-eminence. This is the truest and rightest frame of a Christian. But you will say, Is not the knowledge of the Father and his grace alone
sufficient, although I have not the other ? Is not the saving knowledge of the mercy and grace of God sufficient, although I do not know Christ nor believe on him ? And so on the contrary. 1. I answer, No; grace alone would not save you without a Christ, for he is to satisfy the justice of God, that so grace may save thee, and that God might be just, and the justifier of those that believe. I will not enter into that discourse, that through the whole Old Testament there was a glimmering of Christ, that it began in Adam (that Christ should destroy the works of the devil), and in Enoch s ministry, and in Noah s ministry, who as he was heir of righteousness by faith, so he was the preacher of
it, and is said to preach Jesus Christ in his day. Peter, speaking of the Jews, how they were saved, saith, Acts xv. 11, There was a yoke that neither we nor our fathers could bear; yet if we believe on the Lord Jesus, we shall be saved, as they were ; and how ? By the grace of Christ, and by believing on him, and having an eye to Christ. They knew not the way how Christ would save them ; they did not dream it should be by dying, but they had an eye to him, as shewed in the type. There was the temple, and they looked towards it and the mercyseat, &c. The ark was Christ, and the mercy-seat was the favour of God, and the mercy-seat and the ark were
equal. Thus look what purpose of grace he hath to save, the ark, which is Jesus Christ, is as large. You have the mercy-seat, the favour of God ; and the purchase of Christ, who is the ark, is equal to it. 2. ^The necessity of coming to Christ was more clearly insisted on after the time of Christ s ascension, and the publication of the gospel to all nations. They are required to believe on Christ distinctly, and to treat with him distinctly, as well as with the Father ; and sooner or later the elect shall do it, and have some glances to Christ. Christ answerably prays, John xvii.,
* I pray not for these only, but for all that shall believe on ine through their word; we all believe through their word to this day. How doth Jesus Christ characterise his church that was to come ? He doth it by this mark, that they should believe on him, and (saith he) I pray not for the world. Can you think then that any man since should have knowledge to grow up to salvation, from a principle of nature, without Jesus Christ ? No ; they are left out in Jesus Christ s prayer. Thus like wise Christ saith, John viii. 24,
< If you do not believe that I am he ; if you do not come to me that ye may have life, that ye may be saved, you will die in your sins. There must be an absolute treating with Jesus
Christ, a flashy faith is not sufficient ; nor is it enough that you have pur posed such an act, but you must come to Christ, and treat with him, and continue to do so to the end. In Noah s covenant (for I follow the figure, and I have shewed in another discourse how it was a type of the covenant of grace unto the church in the New Testament) it was necessary for Noah and his family to come and enter into the ark if he would be saved ; and so it is as necessary for us to come and enter into Christ by faith to be saved
:^ as Noah entered into that ark to be saved from the waters, so we into this ark to be saved from the wrath of God. All that grace which Noah found in God would not have saved him by way of his ordination, but in and by the ark. I have saved you and you. Though he was acknow
ledged by God to be a righteous man, and though he had been a preacher
CHAP. VI. ] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH.
of righteousness, yet all this righteousness, and all the good sermons which
he had made, would not save him from these waters, but he must have
drowned with the rest had he not entered into the ark. Thus though thou
wert as righteous as Noah, yet if thou art saved, it must be by coming into the
ark. Say what you will of yourselves, being puffed up with vain hopes,
you must be saved by Jesus Christ alone. And therefore it is said that
Noah and his house entered into the ark. If you take the church in general,
there is no salvation out of the church (so some have applied this figure of
the ark) ; ay, but I say, there is no other name by which we can be
saved, but that of Jesus, and no other benefit but faith, nulla salus extra
Christum., no salvation out of Christ. If thou art without God and without
Christ, thou art in a desperate case.
_ over the
My design is to shew the necessity of faith on Christ, by going
story of the progress of the gospel from the first and earliest beginning of
it, when the gospel began. When John the Baptist began it before Christ
preached, his point was to point and direct men to believe on Christ. You
find that the gospel began with John : Luke xvi. 16, The law and the
prophets were until John ; when he baptized men, he said to the people,
I baptize you, but, saith he, believe on Christ. John verily baptized men
with the baptism of repentance and humiliation ; though he taught them
repentance, he yet enjoins them to believe on Christ, Acts xix. 4, he did
: he pointed men to Christ, and told the Pha
join faith with repentance
risees there was such a one among them, whose shoe-latchet he was not
worthy to unloose, and sets forth the fame of Christ s ministry. He bap
tized, to make Christ manifest unto the people of Israel, John i. 38-
and his disciples, Simon and Andrew, fell to Christ. It is also set down
in the very beginning of the gospel, that faith on Christ is the only way of
life : John iii. 36, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life :
and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life ; but the wrath of God
abideth on him. When the gospel began, this was still put into it, that
we must believe on Christ. It is evidenced also by the care that our Lord
and Saviour is at to make himself known to poor souls, that they may
believe on him, although he preach the Father s love too. The poor blind man had his eyesight given him, but he knew not who did it, yet there
was something "within him that did defend Christ against the Pharisees;
and Jesus Christ takes occasion to meet him again, and though even then
he did not know him, yet afterwards he did make himself manifest.
5< but they _ did not
There were some that did know him, as Nathanael
believe distinctly on him ; but Christ takes care that this poor blind man
should. There is a poor woman also, John iv. 26, to whom Christ reveals
himself: I am he, I am the Christ that speaks to thee, saith he. And
then there were others too who did believe on him, as ye read there. He
would go out of the nation of the Jews, to a place where an elect woman
was, on purpose to reveal himself to her. When the time was come for
the Canaanitish woman to believe on him, he went out to the coasts of
Tyre and Sidon ; and so he never went out but once to the coasts of the
Gadarenes. And then he came to that poor woman* to discover himself
to her; and yet how averse was she at first, but at last she followed him,
and found that he was the Messiah, and Christ did approve and own her
faith. The eunuch, Acts viii. 37, came to Jerusalem to worship, and
* The author seems here to go back to the case of the woman of Samaria. There
is no woman mentioned as having been brought to follow him while he was in the
country of the Gadarenes ED.
172 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [BOOK II.
believed on Christ to come, but did not know that he was come ; yet what care doth Christ take that he should know him ! He was devoutly read ing in the Scriptures in his chariot (he employs his time well), and he reads that full text of the Old Testament concerning Christ. Providence so orders it that Philip is going the same way, and is commanded to join himself to him to do that work of instructing him, and he preacheth Christ to him, and the eunuch s heart is taken, and straightway he believeth. As Christ calls poor ^fishermen, and they straightway left their nets and fol lowed him, so this man straightway believed on Jesus Christ, and goes home, and rejoiceth.
What is the reason that after Christ s suffering, and after the gospel was thus preached, God would have us, in order to salvation, to know Christ and come to him ?
1. It is that all may honour the Son, as they honour the Father, John v. 23. In honouring Christ, they honour the Father and his grace. In looking to the grace of God that was in his heart to save, they honoured the Father, they believed on him, and so honoured him ; but you must believe also on the Son and honour him, and how is that but by believing ? John v. 23. Christ having spoken of believing, brings the other in ; God will have all men to honour the Son, by believing on him, as well as on the Father. Salvation runs on in the knowledge of God the Father and the Son, John xvii. 2, 3 ; 2 Pet. i. 2. 2. Another reason is, because now God had fully manifested his Son unto the apostles who preached him ; whoever therefore upon their preach ing did not believe on Christ, it was a sign that the god of this world had blinded their minds. For God had now sent his Son :
< He hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son, Heb. i. 1, immediately after his tak ing flesh, and therefore he would have the knowledge of his Son to take place. John vi. 37, Christ speaks to the same purpose,
< Him that comes to me, I will not cast out ; and all that the Father hath given me shall comedo me, for my Father sent me. And he sent Christ on purpose that he might be known and manifest unto all the world. He therefore that doth not now believe on the Son, doth frustrate the end of God s sending him, for he did it with an intention that those souls that are saved should believe on him.
3. It is the ordination cf God, it is the will of God that it should be so, John vi. 3G-38, our Saviour Christ doth use a very sweet argument and parallel. The reason (saith he) that I must receive all that come unto me
is, because the Father sent me, and gave me them before I came into the world, and I was sent to do his will answerably. That you should come to me, this is the Father s will, because he hath sent me on purpose to be made known to all that shall be saved : John vi. 40,
< All that the Father hath given me shall come to me. The text doth plainly shew this, that God himself, that gave his Son, doth not save men unless they come to his Son ; and therefore if he will have them, whom he did give unto Christ to be saved, he is fain to draw them to come to him. In marriage you have the father usually to give the daughter unto the husband ; but if she doth not give her consent, it is not the father s giving that makes it a marriage. Thus it is not our Father s gift, but our consent unto Christ, that makes a match with our souls. All the Scriptures, and all in the Scriptures, will not save you, if you have not faith in Jesus Christ. If you should suppose that you had all the Scripture in your mind and heart, it would not save you, 2 Tim. iii. 15. Though thou art a Timothy, brought up from a child
CHAP. VI. J OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 173
to read the Scriptures as he did, and knowest them, yet they are able to
make thee wise unto salvation only through faith which is in Jesus Christ.
If thou hast not faith in Jesus Christ, all that wisdom in the Scriptures
will not save thee, nor have power to save thee. If they save thee, it is
< Search the Scriptures (says
through faith on Christ revealed in them.
Christ, John v. 39), for ye think therein ye have salvation ; but search
them, for they speak of me more than of anything else, and ye ought to
know me, or ye shall die in your sins. But you will say, May not a man
have love to God the Father upon the thoughts of his free grace alone, and
may he* not then repent for sin ? I say, no ; you cannot repent unless
you believe on his Son Christ, Kom. i. 5. Love to God, and turning to
God, will not save you, if you swerve from the means of grace and the way
of faith. What says Christ ? John v. 42, 43, But I know you, that ye
have not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father s name, and
ye receive me not : if another shall come in his own name, him ye will
receive. I know that you have not the love of God in you ; why ? Be
cause you want faith in me. Love to God springs from faith in Christ,
and therefore never talk of love to God, if you have not treated concerning
salvation by faith in Jesus Christ. Acts xxvi. 17-19, what saith Christ
himself from heaven, when he gave Paul his commission ? I send thee,
saith he, to open the eyes of the Gentiles, to turn them from darkness to
light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may^ receive for
giveness of sin, and an inheritance among them that are sanctified. Will
not all this do ? Will not turning unto God from self-love, and loving
God, and being sanctified, serve to save us under the gospel ? No ; read
^in me.
the next words : it must all be, says Christ, through faith that is
Christ saith it from heaven, this is his commission, and he declares it, that,
under the gospel, remission of sins and turning to God, forgiveness of sin
and sanctification, were all through faith in him. Be convinced then, that
if ever you be saved, there is a necessity that God teach you to come to the
Son. You think it is an easy thing to come to Christ, and to look to him^ and
to his name for pardon, and to go to him for forgiveness and sanctification :
but let this be preached to you, and inculcated to you, to go to Christ : let
it all be urged upon you, yet you will not come to Christ that you may have
life, and you will die in your sins, unless God the Father draws you to him.
Our Lord Jesus Christ gives a great instance of this : John vi. 63, 64,
: the words
< It is the Spirit that quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing
that I speak unto you, they are spirit, they are life. But there are some
of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were
that believed not, and who should betray him. He doth give the greatest
instance in the world, that let men live under the highest preaching of the
gospel, and the powerfullest ministry that ever spake, even the preaching
of Christ himself, yet a man will not come to Christ. Whom doth Christ
pitch upon for an instance but upon Judas, that had been with him from
the beginning, and had heard him preach all his sermons, and heard his
parables ? and yet he is a devil for all this. For he knew from the begin
ning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. There
fore I said, says he, that no man can come to me, except it were given
unto him of the Father, ver. 65. Therefore there must be a teaching from God, and none but those that are taught by a secret work, beyond what any powerful minister in the world can make, will believe. A man
otherwise will never do it, he will never give up himself to God and Christ,
but there will be a heart departing from the living God, Heb. iii. 12,
OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [BOOK II.
that is, from Christ, as the coherence of the words shew. So that it is a plain case, that those whe live in gospel-times, must all of them be taught of God, if they ever come to Christ. They that live under never so power ful means, if God doth not touch their heart*
1 ., they will never come. Oh bless the Lord, that hath taught you to know his free grace, and to believe on his Son, which is the great work of God, as Christ calls it, John vi. 29. It is instead of all else to believe on God, and him whom he hath sent. To him to whom the gathering must be, to him you must come, as mem bers to a head, and as lost creatures to a Saviour. Do not come to this and that sign, and think you have none of Christ, because you cannot find them ; but come to him, and dwell with him, and remain with him, day and night.