Chapter III
That absolute declarations about God and Christ, and absolute promises of
salvation, are the most proper and only objects of that act of application of
faith we call faith of recumbency or adherence.
By absolute declarations, &c., I mean such as are not made unto condi
tions or qualifications, which first should be viewed by the soul to be in
itself as a ground to believe upon God and Christ for justification.
Gerard, in his controversy* with Bellarmine, puts this meaning upon the terms absolute promises and conditional. The promises (says he,
speaking of the gospel-promises) may be called absolute as in opposition unto our works and merit, and yet conditional in that God requireth faith, and so no works being required to justification, they are in that respect not
conditional. But granting, as well as he, that faith is requisite, and faith
alone, I do withal affirm that there are promises that are absolute, holding forth no condition, as they are the object of faith. And faith, viewing merely what is in those promises, which specify no condition of faith itself,
lays hold on God s grace, and Christ as therein manifested. And thus
absolute promises stand in a full opposition unto all conditional promises, as those absolute promises may be supposed, and objected first unto faith s
view, and as they are the raisers up of it thereupon, so as upon the sight thereof the soul is brought to apply the salvation made known in such pro mises. Now the promises are such as these : Jer. xxxi. 83, This shall be
the covenant that I will make with the housej of Israel ; after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and I will write it
in their hearts ; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. * Ger. de Justif., sect. 134.
206 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [BOOK III.
Which being immediately made to the elect, and being an absolute under
taking on God s part, to perform the conditions themselves, I therefore call them most absolute. That declaration also is absolute in John vi. 37,
* All that the Father hath given me shall come to me. Likewise, Heb. iv. 6, some must enter in, whereunto God hath bound himself with an oath
(as there) to perform it. Now as for the persons concerning whom these promises are made, they are only known to God : The Lord knoweth who are his, 2 Tim. ii. 19. Some detract from the absoluteness of these pro mises, in saying they are made upon other fore-supposed lower and subordi nate prerequisite conditions to be performed first by men, as to improve natural helps well, &c. But this were to embase the covenant of grace by subjecting it to the covenant of works, as that which must take its rise from former actings of ours, predisposing to the gifts of grace. From all which works in that very place in Jeremiah, the prophet distinguisheth those promises of that covenant of grace.
Thus absolute promises in the controversies with the remonstrants are on all sides understood ; Qua non habent annexam conditionem, which have not a condition annexed, as upon the sight of which our faith on those conditional promises should any way depend.
I join unto promises of salvation the absolute declarations in the word, because there are many such manifestations of God and Christ delivered in the word, as they are the objects of our faith, which yet we do not ordi
narily term promises, though they are tantamount thereunto, as they are
objected to our faith. And indeed all such truths and declarations may be taken for and turned into absolute promises, and absolute promises into such naked declarations ; such declarations, I mean, as these, that Christ came into the world to save sinners, &c., which is delivered in way of a
saying: This is a faithful saying, or grand assertion of the gospel, rather than in a direct promissory way. And in terming these declarations rather, I conform to the language of the Holy Ghost, who, when he most setly proposed God and Christ as the objects of our faith, useth that expression to do it by, Rom. iii. 25, Whom (i. e., Christ) God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness, &c. Then again, ver. 26, To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness, that he might be just, and a justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. It
is used, you see, both of God and Christ as in relation to our faith. You have the like also 1 Tim. ii. 5, 6, For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. And 2 Tim. i. 9, 10, the like, Who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the
appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and
brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Where not only God and Christ as Saviour, &c., but the very eternal purposes and grace of God and Christ of saving, as they are properly and only to be limited to the elect, are said to be the matter of the gospel. And the manifestation and naked declaration of this, according to its plain intent and purpose, is the gospel in its height and eminency, and the seed and head of all the
promises of salvation, from which they are all derived and flow, and into which they all do again run, as rivers into the sea. And therefore by ab solute declarations I intend all in the word wherein those purposes of grace are indefinitely revealed ; I say indefinitely, because there is no naming the
CHAP. III.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 207
persons of the sons of men to whom they are intended, and yet they are
in that manner revealed, and with that intent, to draw men in to believe for
their particular salvation, as well as any other promises whatever. And
this I hope will appear plainly in this discourse, but especially in that which follows it, unto which this is but introductory, the professed subject thereof being to shew how faith of adherence may make use of the absolute
revelation of electing grace, though wanting assurance thereof; which I
have long since in print promised to publish.*
Mr Bulkely, in that New-England controversy, seems to be an opposer of this opinion, that absolute promises are the means and primary object of
full assurance of faith, through an immediate testimony of the Spirit, with
out conditional promises ; by which only, says he,t in the ordinary course,
if we will have any trial of our estates by the word, we must have it by the
conditional promises ; yet would I not, says he further, make the absolute
promises useless. I acknowledge they are of singular use ; 1st, In that
they shew us the only cause of our salvation, even free grace, and no other ;
2dly, They are a foundation for the faith of adherence or dependence to
stay upon. There be two acts of faith, saith he, one of adherence or de
pendence, another of assurance. There be also two kinds of promises, absolute and conditional. Mark now how these do fit and answer one
another, the absolute promises to the faith of adherence, the conditional to
the faith of assurance. For example, God comes and says, For mine own sake will I do thus and thus unto you, in an absolute promise. Here is a
ground for the faith of adherence to cleave unto ; though I be most un
worthy, yet will I hang upon this promise, because it is for his own sake that the Lord will perform this mercy, that he may be glorified. There be
* He that believeth shall be saved, by means
also conditional promises,
of which (we have the experience and feeling of such grace in ourselves) we
grow to an assurance that we are of those that he will shew the free grace upon. And thus the absolute promises are laid before us as the foundation
of our salvation, which is wrought in the adhering to the promise, and the
conditional as the foundation of our assurance. And though I do not
wholly fall in with this latter part of his conclusion, as if conditional pro mises served only for a foundation of assurance, yet with the former part, that absolute promises are suited and fitted unto faith of adherence, or of
the act of justifying faith, properly and truly such, I fully close with, and do add, that it is they that are the most proper objects for such a faith, and not conditional promises. And I shall endeavour to demonstrate this, in the case of one who is now a-beginning first to believe ; for as everything must have a beginning, so must a man s believing ; and of that case it is I now specially treat, though I do withal judge that the true act of faith as
justifying doth, throughout the whole of a man s life, even of him that hath
assurance, lie not in an assurance I am justified, but in that of adherence
only, as I have elsewhere | shewn.
It is not unknown that besides those believers who have, through grace, attained unto a full assurance of faith, there are two ranks of other true
believers whose faith doth fall short of assurance: 1, such as are now
a-beginning to believe, as the jailor, Acts xvi. ; and, 2, such as have had
for some long time true faith already wrought, and many fruits thereof in the course of their lives, and yet walk in darkness, and have no light, * In my preface unto Christ set forth, in 4to.
t Discourse of the Covenant, p. 149.
i Part II., Book II., Chap. I
, of this discourse.
OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [BOOK III.
and are fain to betake themselves to live by a pure and bare faith of recum bency, or of mere casting themselves on God and Christ, renewed afresh (even as they did at first) for their salvation. And so they do as good as continually begin to believe, as if they had never believed before ; and this they do, although they have some glimpses of good hope at times, which yet not rising up to overpower and silence doubts, they return to make that kind of faith their sole life. And although there may be found some difference between these two, yet I put them both into one bag, as we say, and range them together in my ensuing discourse, which I shall prosecute in the person of one who is now but a-beginning to believe ; concerning whose case there is the most difficulty, how to instruct such an one to make use of such absolute promises and declarations, and how he should come to close with them, and with what faith. And so, whilst I shall speak to this case of the one, I shall but speak to the case of the other. That which we inquire after is, what object he that is first to believe may find to set his foot first upon, and which may become a ground to him of that special act of faith whereby he lays hold on Christ for his own salvation.
I suppose him humbled for sin, and convinced that unless he have a ground for his being saved, from something else than what is in or from himself, he must perish. I suppose him looking about him into the world, and crying out thereupon, as they in Acts ii. and the jailor, What shall I do to be saved ? I suppose him, also, to see and apprehend his way to be to believe, and cast himself on God and Christ, looking about him for a ground or foundation in the word, unto that his faith.
Now then I shall proceed. And here I shall proceed both negatively and positively. 1. Negatively, I shall shew, that no qualification in a man already wrought can be a ground and object for his first act of faith, so that in the sight of
it he should be certainly and personally persuaded to act that faith on God and Christ.
1st, It is not his humiliation or sight of his sin, or of his being in a lost condition, wherein if he remains he must perish. For the sight of that but leaves him where he was, and it is faith by which his condition must be altered. The sight of sin and misery may and doth indeed put a neces
sity upon his soul to look out for salvation, and that is it which makes him cry put,
< What shall I do to be saved ? And it is such a work, as with out it he would never seek out for Christ, nor go to him to save him. But for him to build on that sight as that which he, having had wrought in him, he may with confidence believe in Christ, is all one as to say that a male factor s being convicted, and cast, and condemned at the bar by a judge and his own conscience, should be a ground for his hopes of pardon and salvation ; whereas the procedure so far with him is clean contrary, though it be indeed a preparation to quicken him to seek for a pardon/yea, and makes him capable of it in this respect, that as by our law none is capable of a legal pardon, until he be legally condemned, so nor is such a man of a gospel-pardon till he is thus convicted. The proper work or effect of such a humiliation, is wholly and altogether to possess the soul with the appre hensions of no other objects than what belonged to his unregenerate and
unjustified estate, and which would argue him still to be in that estate ; and the prospect of this fills his mind, having nothing else in his eye ; and though there is and may be somewhat of what is spiritual in that sight of
his, yet as Christ said to him, John xiii. 7, What I do (to thee) thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter ; so we may say of the
ClIAP. III.J OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 209
present work that is upon such a man, that after some light and dawn of
faith is broken in upon his spirit, he may afterwards come to see what God was then adoing with him, but not at that present when nothing but darkness is upon the face of that earth.
It is true also that those words of Christ s, Come unto me, all ye that
are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest, do contain a particular invitement to such, rather than any other sinners, who also doth invite all
others ; and it is a special condescension in Christ to speak thus particularly to those that are heavy laden, because of all others they are apt to be dis
couraged ; yet still that wearisomeness is not a ground or foundation for
that act of his first believing, to build itself upon it for his being saved. He that will rest in the sight of that, and not come to Christ, will sit down
short of salvation, nor is this a ground of his faith, or of his coming to
Christ. But when such do come to Christ out of a sight and sense of their
burden, yet it is not upon the sight thereof as a spiritual qualification which should render them more acceptable, but it is the sight of their sins with which they are burdened, and the sense of the load thereof, and
thereupon of their need of ease, that drives them to come upon Christ s
so gracious invitation. They poor creatures look at nothing but them
selves, and their sins and loads, and are taken up wholly therewith, and with desire of ease.
* But to him that worketh
That great maxim of the apostle (Eom. iv. 5,
not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness ) doth confirm all this, and withal doth exclude the sight of any other work wrought, or qualification whatsoever that may put in to be a ground to any man s faith. Under these words,
* to him that worketh
not, I understand all qualifications, and holy dispositions, and actions, for
they are included under the name of works, as in opposition to faith, and so
in Scripture language inward works as well as outward. And the root or
principle inherent in the soul of either, are accordingly here excluded from having to do either as ingredients into justification itself, or into a man s faith or believing for justification.
* him that worketh not is there meant, not he that worketh not at all really, but who when he comes to be justified looks at no work of
Also, 2dly, by
his, or anything in or from himself, but singly believes on him that justifies the ungodly.
And so, 3dly, instead of looking to any good in himself, he views nothing but the contrary, ungodliness, as in himself considered at that time, and
the present business he is taken up about namely, to be justified, and to
believe that he may be so. And although this is spoken of them that are
in their state godly and holy, for this is a maxim fetched from Abraham s
example after he was converted many years, even Abraham when he came
to be justified in that point looked upon himself as ungodly, and viewed no works at all in himself, and was in his own eyes as if he had had none ;
yet this maxim doth much more punctually suit one that is now coming forth of his natural state, and hath nothing but ungodliness to view. And unto the sense of those things a man s humiliation brings such a man, and
therein doth the proper work of it lie ; and our supposition being of one that
begins to believe, it cannot be otherwise with him.
2. We are now to consider what positive grounds, or motivafidei, what
motives of faith, or what drawings forth of faith are here ; or wherein doth
the hope concerning this thing, as the Scripture speaks, lie ? My asser
tion is this, that it must be some absolute declaration or promise (which are tantamount) about what is simply in God and Christ as touching our
VOL. VIII. O
210 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [BOOK III.
salvation, the light of which coming into the soul is and must be the objectum motivum, the moving object, the persuader (as Heb. xi. speaks) of a man s faith, to draw in his soul thus at first to cleave to God and Christ
for a man s personal salvation in particular, and hereon his faith is built. And the reason is evident from what is foregone ; for if no present or pre cedent qualification in such a soul can prove an effectual persuasive or
encourager in part or whole, as a condition or qualification in the person, then it must remain that what is absolutely declared to be in God and
Christ, without respect to such conditions as first wrought, must be the
ground and objectum motivum of his faith.
Obj. But some will here say, A promise that mentions the condition of
faith itself is a sufficient and obvious ground to draw on faith at first, which
: Whosoever believeth on him (meaning
is usually set forth in this syllogism
Christ), shall never perish ; but I believe, saith the soul, therefore I shall not perish. And is not this a conditional promise (will they say) which a man may at first close with ? and thus to close with such a promise in the former way of such a syllogism men usually are taught.
Am. An answer unto this I return, first in general, that when I exclude
conditional promises from having an influence into our first act of believing, my intention is not, nor can it so be understood as, to exclude our believing
itself from being a necessary requisite qualification, condition (call it what
you will), for I have already supposed it absolutely necessary to our being estated into the actual and personal possession of those good things in those
promises or declarations which I call absolute. Yea, my very question, and the state thereof, as I have proposed it, presupposes so much, and
takes it for granted, for it is queried with what faith a soul is to close with such a promise ? So as my inquisition runs after this, whether such
absolute promises be not a proper object of faith, which indeed is required
necessarily to our instating into salvation ? and whether those promises be not proposed with an intention in the Scriptures as such ? My search
is after an object of faith, what it is, and on what inducement a man doth
so believe, or what is the object of that faith. Every act must have an
object, and so justifying faith must have so too ; and what that must be is my inquest. And my affirmation is, that absolute declarations of God and
Christ (in the promises and otherwise), as Saviour and justifier, are the
proper object of such a faith. And therefore when I exclude all conditional
promises, my exclusion in this argument only is of a conditional promise that should be the object of that first faith, as that which the soul first
viewing to be in itself already wrought, should thereby be heartened and
persuaded to begin to believe on God and Christ for its personal salvation.
The meaning of that promise, whoever believeth on him shall be saved, is
but to shew that an act of believing is absolutely and necessarily required to be put forth by him that will come to be partaker of that salvation. But
still this will remain firm and indubitate, that it is those absolute promises or declarations that are the objects or foundation and sole ground of that
act of believing ; and so absolute promises are the objects of faith as the
conditional act whereby we are to be estated into the possession of those
promises ; so as this objection is no prejudice to my assertion, it touches
it not. More summarily take my assertion, thus it is : not that those
absolute promises (objectively such) require not faith in us ere we be par takers of the salvation in them, for that were to say that God saves his
elect absolutely, without requiring anything to be wrought in them, which
sense we have before abhorred; but the meaning is, that they require not
any intervening condition unto faith itself, upon the sight of which as a
CHAP. III.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 211
groundwork faith should come to lay hold upon them ; but they are exposed barely and nakedly unto faith as objects to be laid hold upon (that is, God and Christ in them) for our salvation, so as though those promises (who ever believes, &c., and the like) in which faith is mentioned, are but con
ditionally in this sense, that they hold forth an act on our part to put forth
as that without which no man shall obtain salvation, yea, by which he is
instated into it ; yet let the whole Scripture be searched, and there is not, nor can there be, any instance brought of promises that do mention the condition of believing, wherein a preceding condition is first mentioned as
that which must first be seen and viewed by the person who is to believe, to be in himself, and which he should build his first act of believing upon. And in the argument we have in hand, as hath been stated, that only can be called a condition which is a condition to believing itself, and which is
supposed to be propounded to that end, that faith seeing such and such
qualifications wrought in the soul, should thereupon be induced to believe, so as that condition should be an evidence to him to take or challenge that
promise as his own, and thereby belonging to him as if he had been per
sonally named. Such qualifications I find set out indeed in promises for the faith of assurance after a soul s first having believed, as being signs of a man s being in the faith, and of his being justified by his faith foregone. But no such qualifications can be or ought to be built upon by one that comes first to Christ, or ought to be ingredients to his first act of justifying
faith, nor indeed to any act of true, pure justifying faith as such ; for that were to make what is in ourselves after faith to be the foundation of it, and to mingle with it, and to make the first act of faith to be assurance
that I am in the state of grace already, and thereupon I do believe that I am saved and justified.
This assertion our later and more knowing divines have more generally declined, which yet the papists would impose upon us protestants, as an
absurdity generally maintained by us, whenas it is the Lutherans only that do at this day affirm the act of justifying faith to be an assured persuasion that our sins are pardoned.
I have often, therefore, reflected upon the application of such like pro mises,
* Whosoever believes shall be saved, as it is ordinarily formed up into this syllogism, Whoever believeth hath, &c. ; but I believe, therefore
I have eternal life. I have often reflected upon it, as fearing lest that this
assumption, but I believe, out of which they fetch a conclusion of assur
* therefore I have eternal life, be not so well understood, but mis taken by many to be the first act of justifying faith.
ance,
I would therefore, in the second place, examine into what act of faith or
* but I
belief that application of faith in the assumption, in the syllogism,
believe, is to be resolved into.
1. First, The most judicious do take the meaning of that but I believe
to be only this : I seeing and finding by experience with myself, that I have a true faith wrought in me, and such a faith as the Scripture describes to be true and unfeigned, therefore I apply that promise,
* whoever believes,
&c., with an assurance to myself, which is the conclusion. And this indeed I take to be the most proper sense and mind hereof, as it comes in that
syllogism, that can be given of it, and, so understood, it is not to be dis
allowed. And I find it in that sense to be interpreted by our greatest divines ; but then let me give this animadversion upon it, that so under
stood, it cannot be that first act of justifying which an humbled sinner doth
put forth, which is the point we seek for ; nor can this be the genuine act
whereby the sinner is justified, and so not the act of justifying faith itself ;
212 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [BOOK III.
and the reason is undeniable, because this believing is indeed but the sight and experience of a former, foregone, or forepassed act of faith, which the
soul must have first put forth. It is that which, in this sense given, is the
* but I believe, and so we are still to seek as much
object of his assumption,
as at first, and put to a new inquiry what that first formal act of believing was, and what it should be ; for to be sure this but I believe is, and must needs be, another act than that first was, yea, and of another kind.
First, it is another act, for it is an act of faith after another, namely, a former ; nor is it a mere repeating or renewal of the first act, but a sight of that other which was the first act thereby expressed, yea, and is founded
upon the intuition of the first, in the strength of which intuition the soul
* but I believe. It is a secondary and after act arising upon a first.
says,
Secondly, it is another kind of act, for it is a reflex act of the mind upon
its own act ; but justifying faith is a direct act on Christ. And again, it
is an act of another kind, for my seeing I believe is an act of experience, which hath sight and sense in it of what is in a man s self ; whereas the
first act of faith must be a mere pure act of faith, and not of sight. And
so, thirdly, they differ in their objects ; for the object of my seeing I believe
is my own believing, but the object of my faith at first, when I began to
believe, was and must be God and Christ as the objects
: John iii. 16, Whoever believes on him hath everlasting life.
* I believe, to be a
2. Others have apprehended the meaning of this
present act of assurance that I am justified (as supposing that faith of assur ance hath for its object, I am justified ), and so that very first act to be
the condition of the covenant. This opinion differs from the former, for
in the syllogism before, it is the act of assurance that I am saved, which made the conclusion; and the sense that I believe is seeing and finding I
put forth such an act. But this second sense cannot stand.
For, 1st, in such a syllogism, Whoever believes shall be saved ; but I
believe, therefore I shall be saved, this but I believe, if it be understood
of assurance, doth make the minor proposition all one with the conclusion itself.
2dly, That actual justification which a sinner hath on God s part, through
justifying faith, is a consequence of that faith, or follows or ensues upon that special act of faith, which is properly styled justifying faith, put forth on our part. And that God endows a soul with his justification upon that
act, and not after this, the Scriptures do expressly affirm : Acts x. 43, To him gave all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth
in him shall receive remission of sins. This receiving remission of sin is made the end or issue of our believing. Thus also, Acts xvi. 30, 31, What
shall we do to be saved ? or, put into a state of salvation ? Believe on
* and thou shalt be saved, which at
the Lord Jesus, says the apostle,
present thou art not, until thou dost believe, nor until thou believest shalt be ; but on the contrary, without believing, a man remains in a state of
* He that be
condemnation, according to what our Saviour had declared,
lieveth not is condemned already. The like you have in John viii. 24.
All which places, and many other, might be alleged to, speak, that as an
actual justification there is obtained and received, so to be bestowed upon
believing with such a faith, which the Scripture therefore calls justifying ; and a man is therefore required thus to believe, to that end that he may obtain and receive it. This being an assured truth, it will then follow, that not only faith of assurance that my sins are forgiven, is not an essential
specifical act of justifying faith as such, but that it is impossible it should be such ; yea, and that it is a contradiction, that that act of faith whereby we believe ourselves justified, should be one and the same individual act
CHAP. III.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 213
with that which is called justifying faith ; but especially it is a contradiction
that this should be one and the same faith with the first act of faith. And,
first, the impossibility of it appears in this, that that faith whereby a man
is really and actually justified is, in order of nature, first, and must be sup posed first before a man be justified, because, thereupon or therewith, it is that God doth justify him, and endow him with that benefit, Rom. v. And
this is our justification, which is according to the rule of the word which we have by faith, and which God will proceed by at the last day, and with out which he will not own any man to be justified and saved. But that other act, of faith of assurance, whereby I believe or apprehend that I am
justified, must necessarily first suppose this act of justification on God s
part, according to the rules of his word, to have been first passed upon a man, and therefore, must suppose also that he hath believed already ; and by a former act of faith hath obtained justification, which till then he had
not, but remained in a state of condemnation. Which first act of believing must therefore be such a believing with an aim and end that I may be saved and justified, and that my sins may be remitted in such a manner as hitherto
they have not been remitted, and without which faith I must die in my sins,
perish eternally ; for so the word of God, which God will proceed by, every where tells me. And therefore it is that a sinner that first believes, as ever
after also, doth apprehend such a necessity of believing, as was said, and doth at first, therefore, necessarily look on, and hath in his eye, that justi fication that is according to the rules of his word, and which he aims at as upon a thing to be obtained, and which he is to receive, and so to be a
thing to come upon his believing, which was evidently the case of the jailor, and upon those terms required of him by the apostle. Whereas in the other
act, of faith of assurance, whereby a man believes and apprehends that his
sins are forgiven, he within that act doth suppose and look upon his justi fication as a thing obtained, and therefore it is impossible that the first act of believing, whereby a man is justified, and whereof justification is a con
sequence, and that / am justified, should be one and the same individual
act, but they are necessarily two, not only in order of nature, but in time, one before the other. Yea, it would be a vain confidence, nay, a falsehood, for any man to believe with his first act of faith that he puts forth, that he
is justified ; for he cannot truly and justly believe it until he be justified. A thing must first be and actually exist ere it can be apprehended, or else
it is but fancy to him that believes it, unless by way of prophecy. 2. Upon the same or the like ground it is no less than an apparent contradiction, that I should, by my first act of faith, believe that I may be
justified, and withal to be first justified thereby, and by the same individual
act believe I am justified from the same sins, for that would make one and the same act, and one and the same object of that act, to be at once an antecedent and a consequent of itself, to go before itself, and to follow after
itself, which to me are a contradiction.
(1.) The object, namely, justification, should according to this opinion be bestowed upon a man before he can believe he hath it, and must actually
exist, when yet justifying faith is declared to be that act upon which, and by which, justification is bestowed upon us, and first comes to be existent, which is a contradiction in one and the same object.
(2.) The act of faith, if it should be exercised and have a tendency upon both these objects at once, must be before and also after itself ; for all acts
are diversified by their objects and their tendency thereunto. Now, then, to
affirm the first (or indeed any) act of faith justifying, to be a belief that a man is justified, is to make justification the antecedent to such a faith, for
214 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [BOOK III.
a thing must be before we believe it to be. And then on the other hand, that the first act should be the act whereby a man is justified, necessarily makes justification the consequent of its faith, and therefore these two would be a contradiction, and cannot consist together.
Obj. But it may be objected, that there is a justification in God s heart and intention from all eternity, and in Christ representatively dying and
rising as a common person before a man believes ; and so faith is but to
believe that which is already extant, and a man s justification by faith is but
a justification in foro comcienti.
Am. It is sufficient to say, let that justification or salvation after a man
believes be what it will, yet to be sure it benefits no man without that jus tification of application to his person, as I may call it: for that which
brings a person into a state of justification, according to the rules of the
word, is done by God upon believing, and until then a man remains under
condemnation, and may truly say, God will not, nor cannot own him to be
a justified person, no, not in his court, the open court which he will keep and proceed by at latter day, according to the rules of which he will then reckon a man to be under condemnation whilst he was an unbeliever ; and,
if a man had died in that unbelief, he must have condemned him, as he doth all other unbelievers that shall then appear before him : For
* shall not the judge of all the world do right? Gen. xviii. God will not look
upon him as justified from all eternity, but as one that remains under unbe
lief, as the apostle speaks. He will not allege of any that he had justified him from eternity, and therefore save him, for his own declared word, which is the rule he judges by, would interpose and cause him so to pro nounce and condemn that person that is under unbelief. And Christ hath
* The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge you at latter day. And he speaks it
sufficiently informed us in what he says, John xii. 48,
* Whosoever believes in
upon occasion of the very thing in hand : ver. 46,
: And he
me, shall not abide in darkness. Thus he speaks affirmatively
that believes not on me, there is one that judgeth him, ver. 47, 48. Thus he speaks negatively. And who is that that will judge him ? God. And by what will he judge him ? Even by this very word that Christ had spoken, ver. 48. And indeed that justification, according to the rules of God s
word, is that which is the aim and drift of a humbled sinner, which he makes after, for it is that which he hears and understands, God calling upon him in his word for to seek it : Believe, and thou shalt be saved. In answer hereunto the soul says, Lord, I believe that I may be saved ; and
it is God according to his word that he hath to deal withal herein.
It is in vain to say, I am justified by faith only in respect to the court of mine own conscience. It is in vain to say that a man s apprehension and
faith that he was justified from eternity, is all that justification which the
Scripture so constantly speaks of to be by and upon believing ; for, according to that opinion, a man was as much justified before he believed as after, and his faith would add nothing new to his state, but only his own appre hension of it ; whereas the Scripture speaks of a man s justification by faith
as of a real thing, and as a thing done anew ; for being justified by faith
first, we have then peace with God, and peace with God is that justifica tion which is in a man s own conscience, which there is made a fruit of
justification by faith first, and whereof faith is also first the instrument ; and we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, so that we
are actually put into the state of grace before God, considered as he is the
judge of all men, and thereupon we come to rejoice in hope of the glory of God. But yet how far a believer wanting assurance, or one that begins
CHAP. III.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 215
to believe, may make use of God s eternal purposes as they are declared in
the word, that" he will justify sinners of the sons of men ; and how far such
a one may urge and plead this as a motive which God hath declared to have
been in his own heart, upon which he is moved to justify us in time ; and how far a soul may plead, that therefore God would be pleased accordingly thereunto to exert and put forth this justification of application, or indeed now actually to give it, which such a soul seeks for as yet to come, and cometh unto God for to obtain it ;.^how far I say the consideration of these
decrees or purposes indefinitely made will promote and help forward such
a one s faith, this is matter of another discussion ; but, in the meanwhile, what hath been at the present said may serve for an answer to the aforesaid
objection.
These things having been thus on the negative cleared, both in shewing that no prerequisite condition in us is the object or ground for the first act
of faith, as also that that act is not, nor cannot be, an assurance of our being
justified, it comes next to be treated of affirmatively, what that first act
of faith justifying should then be, both as to the object of it, as also for the
kind of the act, &c. ; and then, after that, I shall shew that this act of faith
is, and may be suited to the first sort of promises of salvation, which I have termed absolute, and how it may and is to apply itself unto them, which is the designed issue I drive all unto.
I shall therefore propose and pursue the sense which may rightly be,
arid is the mind of one that doth now first set himself to believe ; but I must
give this caution concerning it, that it is not to be understood as any part of that fore-mentioned syllogism, nor to be made the minor of it in those
terms, but I believe, and yet is a true application of those promises fore-
mentioned, Whoever believes shall be saved ; for there is this difference between this sense and the two former, and the drift of the fore-mentioned
syllogism formed up by divines on the behalf of Christians that have already
believed, which is made for, and serves to express their assurance in which
it ends, for the soul thereupon infers, Therefore I shall be saved. But
. this expression, I believe, expresses what he doth, and what he attempts to do, and doth not at last terminate itself upon its own act of believing, as
the other did, but spends its intention wholly upon God and Christ, who
are to be the justifiers of him, to whom he therefore hath recourse for his
justification. This first act of believing, then, is not a studying of, or reflec
tion upon, its own act, as seeing that he believes ; but it is a doing the
thing in a direct manner ; he believes he doth the thing* by a direct act, and carries the soul forth of itself unto those who are his judges, and to be
the justifiers of him, and doth this in a correspondency and an immediate answer or obedience unto that faith the promises call for, which directs him
to, and requires of him to believe. Now then, affirmatively to set forth
this direct act of justifying faith as properly such, in order to clear how
absolute declarations or promises about salvation do suit it, and it recipro
cally suiteth them, let us fully examine and consider these three things about it.
1. What is the proper object of such an act.
2. What kind of act it is that he then may put forth.
3. What is the aim and drift of him in his faith s acting upon that or
these objects.
Which three do comprehend, as I take it, all that belongs to the^ sub
stance of that act of believing ; for, as to the adjuncts of it, that it be
unfeigned faith, spiritual faith, and that all these are in a spiritual manner * Qu. He believes : he doth, &c. ? ED.
OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [BOOK III.
to be put forth, all these are supposed in all true faith ; but it is the sub-
stantialnese of the act which we now inquire into.
1. The object of such a faith is God and Christ, according to what they have declared themselves to be, considered as in relation to their saving and justifying of the sons of men ; God considered as declared to be a
justifier of sinners, and Christ as a saviour ; these two, or either of them believed as such, come all to one as to our obtaining of salvation on either, which I observe, as from many other instances, so in that of the jailor, Acts xvi., which I have had and shall have occasion often to have recourse unto ; for here, as the apostle had at first propounded Jesus Christ to him as a Saviour Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved, ver, 34, yet when actual believing unto salvation comes to be spoken of, ver. 36,
it is only mentioned that he believed in God ; for whilst we believe on the one in a more distinct manner, we know the interest that either have in our salvation, and it is interpreted that we believe in both ; and the believ
ing on the one in so explicit a manner is so far from excluding the other
implied by it, as in concesso it involves both, and the soul knowing the interest of both, his faith may be really resolved into a faith of both or either of them.
I shall therefore give instances of God and Christ apart being set forth in the promises to our faith.
(1.) Christ, under the simple and absolute consideration of being a
Saviour, is represented to us in the promises as the object of our faith : Isa. xlv. 22, Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth ; for I am God, and there is none else. Christ is there spoken of, as
appears from what follows in ver. 23. He is set forth as the only Saviour.
1 There is no God else besides me, says he ; a just God and a Saviour. And we see him as such nakedly proposed to our faith, as these words
shew, Look unto me, &c. We have a place parallel to this in the New Testament : John vi/40, And this is the will of him that sent me, that
every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlast
ing life : and I will raise him up at the last day. He that seeth the Son,
i.e., with a spiritual light, so as to believe on him. These are acts purely acting upon him as he is the Christ and a Saviour; and the believing on that object requires no conditions first to be looked at by him that is to
believe. And Christ had proposed himself before in like manner, as lift
up on the cross and crucified (and thereby being become a Saviour), as the naked object for faith to look at : John iii. 14, 15, And as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up ; that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. We have another instance of his being declared and set forth as a Saviour: 1 Tim. i. 15,
* This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners ; of whom I am chief. The words are a bare proposal of him, wherein he is set forth as the immediate object to a sinner s faith. His being a Saviour, and his intent
to save sinners of this world (not devils), is nakedly declared, simply so considered. He terms the manifestation of Christ 6 Kitros Xoyog, a faithful
saying, speaking of that faithfulness upon which faith may build ; for unto faith doth faithfulness relate as an object fitted for it, holding on this Christ as a sure foundation for faith : 1 Peter ii. 6, Wherefore also it is contained in the Scriptures, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone,
elect, precious ; and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. And the apostle Paul in that text, 1 Tim. i. 15, asserts this faithful say ing to be worthy of all acceptation. He means that it deserves hearty
CHAP. III.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 217
entertainment and receiving by faith. And of this faith on Christ the
apostle had proposed himself an example in the preceding ver. 14, so that
this faithful saying had been the ground of his own faith.
(2.) God the Father, as a justifier of men ungodly, is declared and set
forth as the object of a sinner s faith : Eom. iv. 5, But to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is
counted for righteousness. It is a bare and absolute declaration of him, what a God he is in and of himself in justifying, and he is proposed as
all or any prerequisite
absolute as absolute can be, in opposition unto
qualification which the person to be justified should view in himself, col
laterally, to induce him to believe.
1st, The justified person, or the subject, is the ungodly ; and God is set
forth by this attribution, that he is a God that justifies the ungodly.
2dly, Therefore the man is ungodly in the person s eye who justifies. God looks on him as ungodly, as one without any work, or disposition, or
qualification which he respects in justifying.
3dly, The person who comes to be justified is ungodly in his own
thoughts and apprehensions of himself, as the foregoing words, viz., He
that worketh not, but believeth, &c., do shew. The meaning is, he is
such an one who looks at no work in himself on the account of which he
should be justified, or for which, and upon which, he might believe that he
shall be justified. Yea, he is one who views nothing but the contrary,
viz., mere ungodliness in himself, for which he should be condemned. It
is true, indeed, that an act of believing is required of him ; but jthat is but now a-putting forth by him, and therefore he builds not upon any former
act of faith, for all in himself is in view nothing but ungodliness, and so
there is an utter want even of faith itself, as any way seen by him, to
induce him to believe on God. Hence then it is that he believes on God
nakedly, as viewed to be a justifier of men ungodly ; and it is under that
consideration he believes on him. And this is the faith which is imputed
for righteousness, that noble and heroic pure faith which gives glory to
God. And herein his heart in believing answers unto God s heart in sav
ing. For look, as God doth not choose him unto salvation upon faith
foreseen, or good works foreseen, so nor doth the soul believe in God upon works foreseen, or faith foreseen. Such a first choice of us by God upon the foresight of our faith and working, would derogate from the freeness of
that grace which is in his heart : Kom. xi. 6, And if by grace, then it is
no more of works ; otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of
works, then it is no more grace ; otherwise work is no more work. That
it is spoken of election appears by ver. 5, Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. God then
looks into his own heart only for that which should move him to do this. And yet withal, it must be said that he actually saves no man without faith. As God thus looks in election at no faith or works in us, so the soul s first
act of believing knows not, nor looks at any in his own heart to move or
induce him to believe on God ; but the soul only looks at what is in God s
heart, as declared in the promises, and at his sole free grace in justifying ; and yet he knows withal that faith is requisite that he may;be justified, and that without it all the grace which is in God s heart would never
justify nor save him, whilst yet he had nothing in his eye viewed in him
self either directly or collaterally to move him to believe. He hath nothing which either with a direct or squint eye he should consider, but only and
merely God as justifying. We have in the Old Testament a parallel to this Eom. iv. 5, of God s
OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [BOOK III.
being a justifier of the ungodly purely considered : Isa. xliii. 25, 26, I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. Put me in remembrance ; let us plead together : declare thou, that thou mayest be justified. This promise Mr Bulkely acknowledged to be an absolute promise, as such are those wherein God says, I will do thus or thus for mine own sake. And that it is
parallel to this text, Rom. iv. 5, is evident,
[1.] Because it is spoken of God as a justifier both in ver. 25, where he says, I am he who blotteth out transgressions, and in ver. 26, where
justification is expressly mentioned.
[2.] He instructs the persons who are to be justified to apprehend their own utter ungodliness : ver. 22-24, But thou hast not called upon me, Jacob ; but thou hast been weary of me, Israel. Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burntofferings, neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices : I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense. Thou hast brought me no sweet cane"
3 with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices ; but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine
iniquities.
[3.] Which, when God had said, he sets forth himself barely, nakedly, and absolutely, and as alona considered in what is in himself, as the
justifier of them. For this is imported by those words, ver. 25, I, even
I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions ; whereby he emphatically calls in all the thoughts and intentions of their minds to be first on him
self, as he is in himself and of himself a God pardoning sins and justifying their persons, as the apostle with the like emphasis expresseth it when he speaks of him as justifying the ungodly.
[4.] God tells us that he blots out transgressions for his own name s sake, and for that alone ; and that he doth it upon no other motives or ground but only what is in his own heart. That he cloth it only for the sake of that great name of his, uttered and proclaimed on purpose (Exod. xxxiv.) to shew what inwardly moves him to be a God pardoning iniquity, transgression, and sin. I, even I (says God), who am Jehovah^ gracious, merciful, abundant in kindness and truth, pardoning iniquity, &c., do blot out your transgressions, for this mine own name s sake.
I remember that Zanchy says that that text, Exod. xxxiv. 7, is also spoken of Christ, who is God with God, and the justifier of us also for his own sake, and righteousness sake. However, according to my former rule given, that God in Christ is always to be understood, Christ must be taken in, as the person in whom and in whose righteousness God justifies. So that, when I say that God, and what is in God alone represented in the promises, is the object of faith, it is to be understood only in opposi tion unto what is in us, and not as opposed to Christ, who is co-partner with God in this his glory, and who also was his counsellor; and in like manner God is not excluded when we speak of faith in Christ alone.
[5.] Lastly, To fix their hearts on himself alone when they would seek to be justified, he adds in that Isaiah xliii. 26, Put me in remembrance ; let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified. As if he should say, If you can think of any other way of being justified than only me, tell it of me; but indeed there is none. And these and such I call, 1, declarations and promises; for these two in this matter come all to one as to our purpose. And we use that ex pression of God and Christ s being declared and set forth as the objects of
faith, because it agrees with those phrases used by the apostle to the same
ClIAP. III.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 219
: Rom. iii. 24, Being justified freely by his
purpose (as was observed)
grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. Here both God
and Christ are mentioned as the causes of our justification. He first
speaks of Christ: ver. 25, Whom God hath set forth, says he, viz., ^as an
object of our faith, as justifying, to be a propitiation through faith in his
blood. And then he speaks of God the Father in those words, To
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through
the forbearance of God. He means the righteousness of God justifying, which he again repeats
: ver. 26, To declare, I say, at this time his right
eousness; that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in
Jesus.
(2.) I call them absolute declarations and promises, because as they are
the propounded objects of faith in this matter of justification, so they are
simply and absolutely to be viewed by us ; and no conditions or qualifica
tions are to be considered in us, as upon the intuition of which we should
come to believe in them.
And now give me leave to cast in my thoughts concerning that great convert Saul ; for which if you will not take what follows as proofs, yet admit them as conjectures.
[1.] His first saving faith on Christ was but a bare act of recumbency at
his first conversion ; so that though he saw Christ in heaven appearing to
him, yet this sight at that instant wrought not a saving act of faith ; but
Christ left that for his Spirit to work. The vision stunned him indeed, and put a stop to his career, and convinced him, as great miracles did
others, that he was the Messiah whom he had persecuted. But the true
and thorough work was done within his own soul, when he was retired
alone with God and Christ. And my reason why ho had not by that
vision a true saving faith is, because he makes his having known Christ
! visibly with his bodily eyes to be a not knowing him, if compared with
{ the knowledge which is the effect of the new creature: 2 Cor. v. 16, 17,
1 Wherefore, henceforth know we no man after the flesh ; yea, though we
i have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no
| more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature : old
I things are passed away ; behold, all things are become new ; which scrip-
1 ture some interpreters have applied to this very thing. And the same is
evident also by this chief reason, inasmuch as he had that conviction, which first astonished him, by the law, which was preparative to an act of
, saving faith wrought in him after; for so himself gives the account, Rom.
vii. 7, where he says that he had not known sin but by the law. The
Pharisees principle was that lust was no sin; and therefore he says,
verse 9, I was alive without the law once, viz., before my conversion,
while a Pharisee; but when the commandment came, in the true light of
it, sin revived in my conscience, says he, and I died. He then saw
himself in a state of death, which wrought a death in the apprehension of
his soul: Rom. vii. 10, And the commandment, which was ordained to
life, I found to be unto death. His meaning is, that that law, which he
verily thought he should live by, was found by him, unto his utter con
fusion, to be unto death. And this apostle then in the beginnings of his
conversion, lying under such apprehensions, with that great account of
sins coming in withal, may very well be thought to have no mind to eat or
drink, but to spend his time in humbling himself under the mighty hand
of God. And then if we bring it to that account which he gives of the
j work of faith in him, Gal. ii. 15, 16, he there including himself with the
i rest of the Christian Jews, yea, and with his fellow-apostles, it shews that
220 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [BOOK III.
they altogether with him had come in but with such a faith. And it is certain that those converts during John the Baptist s and our Saviour s time had but a faith of recumbence, for they received not the Holy Ghost as a Comforter and as an assurer till after the ascension. And it was they who were the poor, the meek, the captives, &c., to whom Christ at first preached, Mat. v. 1-4; and who were the weary and heavy laden, Mat.
xi. 28, 29 ; and who were wrought upon by John the Baptist s ministry, ver. 12; and then they cleaved to Christ: Whither shall we go? said they ; with thee are the words of eternal life, John vi. 68. They had assurance that he was the Messiah. And the faith that Paul and the other apostles were justified by, was their believing on Christ that they might be justified (the words in Gal. ii. 15, 16 are express), and not a
believing that they were justified already, and therefore it was not an act of assurance.
[2.] My second reason is from the narrative of his conversion, Acts ix. It is first said that he did not eat nor drink for three days, ver. 9. Now, that he was fasting all that while, and neither ate nor drank, shews his humbled condition, and that his sins came in upon him all that time. And that conviction you read him mention of himself, Gal. ii., that by the works of the law he could not be justified ; which conviction in him was, as
it is in us now, preparatory to faith in Christ.
[3.J And yet that Christ should say of him, Behold, he prayeth, verse
11, doth as clearly argue that he had true justifying faith begun, such,
viz., as, Gal. ii. 16, he mentions. The first part exactly agrees with his
relation, Rom. vii. And withal the proofs that he had saving faith then
is, that he prayed, and so prayed, as Christ gives an eminent signal approbation, and so an acceptation of it, with a behold to it : Behold, he
prayeth. And how shall they call on him on whom they have not believed ? says himself afterward, Rom. x. 14; and yet both his faith and
prayer in faith seems not to have been an assurance, for it had not risen up unto that yet. And my reasons for it are :
] st, That he had not received the Spirit as a comforter till Ananias was sent to him to put his hands upon him, and to tell him he was a chosen vessel unto Christ, ver. 15; and therefore Ananias, as it would seem, breaking in upon him, calls him brother at first dash, ver. 17.
2dly, Had he had assurance of faith before the coming of Ananias, he would not have continued without eating and drinking so long, but would have received food to strengthen him, as he did upon his receiving the Holy Ghost, ver. 19.
[4.] A distinction of this double work of faith of recumbency first, and of personal assurance after, you may observe in Gal. ii., and that both were in our apostle, that of recumbency first, and then that of assurance
expressed afterward, will appear by comparing verses 16 and 20 together.
First, He had a faith that he might be justified, and a faith it was upon a work of conviction in the first place ; for it was wrought first, and was common to them all.
Secondly, There was faith of assurance : ver. 20, I am crucified with Christ : nevertheless I live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me : and the
life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
The last observation is, that it was the indefinite declaration, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, and so was the Messiah, which was revealed to him as the ground of that his first faith of recumbency, that he might be justified, and it was that drew him in. And my conjecture for
CHAP. IV. J OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 221
it is (if you will not allow it to be proof), that after he had proposed his
example, 1 Tim. i. 15, he commends that faithful saying, that Christ came
to save sinners, after the story of his conversion that went before, in which he at once propounds his own example or pattern of obtaining mercy, and
also the very ground of that his faith, to all that should afterwards believe,
as it follows, ver. 16.
Obj. But you may say that his expression, whereof I am chief, argues his faith to have been assurance.
Ans. 1. I answer, it is true that he had now assurance, and so could add
it, that Christ came actually and personally to save him.
Ans. 2. Yet his end in doing it was not so much to express his faith as his
sinfulness, and thereby to prevent and remove a great discouragement that
keeps souls off from believing, viz., the greatness of sins, which in my example you may see, says he, is taken away, and so is no hindrance at all
to believing. For that the scope of that addition centres in that scripture, 1 Tim. i. 16, shews : Howbeit, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. And
therefore still it may remain firm that the object of his and all believers
faith at first is this saying, or the substance of it, as worthy of all accep
tation, that Christ came into the world to save sinners; which, say I, is
clearly an absolute indefinite declaration in the very sound of it.
The corollaries from this instance of Paul are these :
(1.) That both the work of humiliation and of faith wrought in him, were for the acts and objects conformable to the work of faith in all other
believers, though the outward means and other circumstances were ex
traordinary.
(2.) By a faith of bare recumbency that we might be justified, founded
upon an indefinite promise or declaration, we may likewise pray in faith
for pardon acceptably before assurance obtained. Our faith and prayer both may be grounded upon no other than an indefinite promise, declara
tion, and example ; yea, and we may from thence be able to plead for the
pardon of the greatest sins.