Chapter IX
Directions unto the faith of such as want assurance: how to take in and make
use of God s eternal, electing love in believing with comfort.
The applying acts of faith (as I have shewed) are two, the one of assur ance, the other of recumbency, for in both I apply justification and Christ to myself; only the one is an application axiomatical, that he is mine, the other real. Now, to direct a soul that hath triumphing assurance added to his faith, and a right persuasion of his justification, overbalancing all doubts to the contrary, there is no great difficulty, for his thoughts may in the particular application of all these to himself follow God s ways in justifying him in particular, step by step, without any error (as Paul here doth), and take God s proceedings directly as they lie, to mould his thoughts of appli-
404 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [PART II. BOOK II.
cation thereby ; his thoughts may climb up to eternity, and from thence with comfort view himself written in God s heart, and in the book of life, and then given unto and made one with Christ, and in him discharged from
all his sins, justified by an eternal and unchangeable covenant made by Christ undertaking for him, and he may drink in all these with comfort, and utter this with triumph,
* Who shall condemn ? God hath justified ; and then he may come down from thence and see Christ s day, as Abraham
did, and rejoice with Abraham, knowing as assuredly that Christ did repre sent his person, as that he took our nature. He may behold the Lamb
of God, as the Baptist says, carrying and bearing his sins all the while he was on the earth, and on his body upon the tree, aud he may see himself then representatively in Christ fulfilling the law, undergoing the curse,
dying on the cross, as truly as we all believe that we sinned in Adam, and were in the garden with him. And he may say, to the comforting of his own soul, I was justified in Christ when he arose, and discharged of all my
sins, as truly as Christ was dead and is alive ; and as Christ died unto sin
once, and dieth now no more, so likewise he may reckon himself, as the
apostle says, to live unto God for ever ; he may look back upon himself when enwrapped in his blood, and in the pursuit of his bold and bloody trans
gressions in his former estate, that though his estate was then accursed,
yet that his person in Christ considered, was really beloved of God ; and, though he was not under the communication and dispensation of love and
mercy, God being debarred by his rule from shewing it, yet he was under the affection of love and good will. But now, the partition wall being beaten down, and that which did let being removed, and his estate by faith
altered, he finds God s favour flowing in amain upon him, and when he looks into the written revealed word, he may write his own name into every
particular promise, and read in them all the sentence of his own justifica tion pronounced.
But all the difficulty lies in directing the other sort of believers, or begin ners to believe, how they should take in, or make use of a right application of Christ s dying for us, and of God s thus justifying us, as hath been
spoken. The difficulty lies in this, that they must have recourse to Christ s
dying, because from thence their faith must fetch justification for them
selves ; who, yet in dying, they believe, aimed but at some particular
persons, who were then also justified by God, as also from all eternity, and
they alone. Now, so to have recourse to this death of Christ, as with assurance to apply it, and so as to apprehend that their names then were
in that bill, this is it they want, and such an act of application they cannot
put forth ; and what other act of application is there to be put forth towards
Christ dying, or God justifying, to cast themselves upon Christ and God ? To what end should they do it ? What ! to trust to Christ to die for their
sins ! that is done already. What occasion then is there, or what suitable
object is there, for such an act towards Christ as dying, or God as justifying, for both is done already, or not at all, and therefore to what end should
they cast themselves on either ? To assoil this difficulty, there have been many ways thought of by some of late.
Some make the sole and proper act of justifying faith to be an evidence and overpowering persuasion of our eternal justification, and of Christ s
having borne all our sins, as one with us, and that this persuasion is wrought by an immediate revelation of the Spirit ; and therefore seem to exclude all
acts of bare recumbency, and casting a man s self on Christ, from the canon of faith as unuseful ; yea, condemn the exercise of such acts, teaching men
so to wait for such a revelation, as till then not to entertain & thought that
CHAP. IX.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 405
they have faith : which is an error against the generation of many believers,
against Scripture and experience.
Secondly, Others assert that men are not to look at all to God s ways of
justification from eternity, but only to the indefinite promise, when they exercise an act of taking Christ, and casting themselves on him ; even as when a sinner is yet to be humbled for sin, the promise is not to be consi dered by him till he be humbled by the law ; and so they judge men are not to trouble themselves with the thoughts of the other, supposing them
to be an hindrance and a discouragement ; but when men, after believing, have also assurance given them, that they have now obtained that justifi cation which the promise holds forth, then indeed the consideration of God s ancient justification from eternity, and of Christ s dying for particular men, will come comfortably and seasonably in; and only then, and until ;>then, they are not to look to it at all ; so as the indefinite promises are given to
recumbents, and the revelation of the other is for them that have assurance
only.
Thirdly, Others say, that though there be but a special intention for
some, yet it is so as to make allsalvable, if they would believe ; which error makes a supposal of another justification promised than what is the fruit of an eternal love, and satisfies not souls, which will rest in nothing but
eternal love, and effectual intention of God and Christ, and prize it more than his death.
A fourth opinion asserts, that seeing there is wrought a condition of humiliation particular to God s elect, they seeing it to be wrought, under
it cast themselves upon a promise, which intimates something in us as the
ground of faith ; and of all the former this is the most false. That which I shall say will both confute these and open a
Fifth way. And for our proceeding herein we resolve this difficulty into
these questions
Quest. 1. The first is more general, viz., What should be the occasion and object of the aim of a believer s faith in an act of recumbency ? The answer is made by these several propositions.
Ans. 1. Let him consider, that howsoever those who shall be saved were
justified from eternity in God s secret will (and therefore it were in vain to
have that in their eye, so as to cast themselves upon God for the begin ning of such a justification, as if it were now to be begun, which is already
past), yet there is a true and real act of justification which is begun to be
performed when a man first believes, and which is an act to be passed
according to the rules of God s revealed will, and which, in relation to God s
proceedings thereby, is an act now begun to be performed when a man shall
believe, and not before. This is the justification which the promises of the
gospel holds forth, as an act for time to come, that God is yet to do ; and
the performance hereof may be the object and aim of such an act of faith. Thus (Gal. ii. 16) the apostles at first believed that they might be justi fied ; and so (Rom. ix. 30) the believing Gentiles are said to have
4 attained to righteousness, having sought it by faith ; so as justification may be, and is to be, looked upon and entertained not only by assurance
that it is already past, but also, and that first, by seeking and believing for
the attaining of it for time to come, and by having it in our eye as a thing to be actually given and bestowed. So as they are in a great mistake who would have faith to be a particular evidence and apprehension of God s
having already justified us, both from eternity, and in Christ s bearing our
sins. And the foundation of their error lies in this, that they imagine that
there are no other acts of God s justifying us but those two, and that be-
406 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [PART II. BOOK II.
fore God we were as actually justified afore faith as after. And also their error lies in imagining that all the use and end of faith is but to clear up this to us, and to cause us to apprehend it ; whereas there is a true, real, new act of justification begun upon a sinner, which doth not only alter the apprehension of his estate, but also his estate itself, from a state of sin and wrath to a state of righteousness and favour, and this according to the rules of God s revealed will. So as faith serves not only to give men the knowledge of their eternal justification, but actually to possess them of that in themselves personally which they had before only representatively in another ; and this by a further act of God upon the sinner ; which act being to be performed, since it is for the future promised, a sinner that either begins to believe, or that cannot put forth an act of assurance, may and ought to exercise an act of casting himself upon Christ to be justified, and thereby seek to attain the righteousness that is of faith. And to this end,
2. Because all acts of God s justifying us depend upon union with
Christ, we having him, and being in him first, and then thereby having right to his righteousness, therefore, as the aim of a soul casting itself on Christ is to have justification from him, so to have union with him also ; and thus it may and ought to cast itself upon God and Christ, to be made one with him. And there is the like reason and occasion for such an act as for the former, it being a privilege now to be anew obtained as well as the other. For though we were one in Christ before God in representation from all eternity, and when he was upon the cross, and by a covenant
secretly made between God and him, yet there is an actual implanting and
engrafting us into Christ, upon believing to be obtained, and not till then, which the apostle calls baptizing, and planting into Christ, and being in
Christ, Rom. vi., 2 Cor. v. 17, Gal. iii. 27, until which time even those who were elect afore are said to be
< without Christ in the world, Eph. ii. 12. So as he may and ought at first to look at Christ as yet to be ob
tained, and so to seek after that union with him which is yet to be wrought, upon which this justification yet to be attained depends ; so Paul, Phil. iii.
8, says, We accounted all loss, that we might win Christ, and obtain an interest and a share in him ; so as if there be both an union with Christ, and a justification depending thereupon yet to be obtained, there is a just ground and occasion given for the casting a man s self upon Christ to ob tain this ; yea, and this very casting a man s self upon Christ, out of
spiritual apprehensions and affections, is the very act which both makes this union, and estates us into justification ; and therefore the seeing of
Christ, and coming to him, are made the acts of justifying faith, John vi. 35 and 40. And further, to this end, 3. Though those acts of justifying us from eternity in his secret will were distinctly fixed, and set upon such and such particular persons by name, and not left at random, as that thus he would justify some, yet God in his revealed will (out of which our faith is to expect that our justi fication now in time is to be applied, and according to which God proceeds to the last act of justification) hath folded and summed up those fore-passed ways and passages of justifying such and such particular distinct persons there named, in his secret will, and hath gathered and expressed them in indefinite promises to some sinners indefinitely, and believers generally ; which promises are the abstract, contents, and argument, as I may so call them, of the book of life, and of his secret and distinct purpose concerning
some particular persons. And thus he hath done, both to fit the faith of poor souls with objects proportional, and suitable to such an act of recum-
CHAP. IX.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 407
bency ; as also that he might have these to come between their faith and his
decrees, and that they might take in those his eternal transactions first, as
represented through the indefiniteness of these promises, and so cast them
selves upon such promises for that their particular justification, which is
promised, now to be performed. Therefore one that would believe, is bound
first to have in his eye that last way of justification, that is to be performed
as" it is held forth and promised in the re
the last of the three, according
vealed will of God, and from thence to ascend up to the other. His faith
is not to climb up to the top of the ladder at the first ; he is not to make
it his first business to be assured whether he in particular were intended,
ere ever he will exercise any act of recumbency, or look after any promise,
or seek out for the justification that is to come. This proves a real hin
drance to many, for it is to inquire into God s secret will to me, as the sole
ground of my faith, whereas I am to learn it out of his revealed will ; and
I am to begin at the last step, and from thence to ascend to the other. And in relation to that third act of justification, which the indefinite pro mises hold forth, and presents the person with, and which a believer sees
is yet to be performed, it is that a believer doth exercise an act of recum
bency, and comes to Christ, and trusts in Christ to be justified de futuro,
for the future. And the promises of that justification which is upon faith
to be performed upon the sinner being thus indefinite, they do suitably re
quire, and are fitted to draw forth an act of recumbency, to cast myself upon God and Christ for justification, seeing those his promises run indefinitely,
that he will save some sinners, and justify all believers. And accordingly,
as the promises thus framed out of those his particular transactions are in
definite, so the first acts of faith which he requires are but such acts as are
suitable to their indefiniteness ; namely, to cast a man s self upon them,
that Christ and justification may be his ; not at first to believe they are his,
or that Christ hath done this for him: thus David did, Ps. cxxx., and thus
the apostle would draw in the Hebrews to such an act of faith, and endea
vours by faith to enter into his rest (Heb. iv. 11) upon this ground, be
cause the promise is, that some must enter in. And again, as he hath
fitted the promises of that justification which is upon believing to be per
formed, to such an act of faith, so also, he hath represented and offered
Christ also, who is to be made one with us for our justification, as a
Saviour for sinners indefinitely, as one that came into the world to save
sinners indefinitely, that did bear the sins of the world indefinitely for all
sorts of sinners, that so this representation of his Son might draw on the
heart of a poor believer to take him, and come to him, and cast himself
upon him, that he might be his, and one with him, by that union which is
yet to be accomplished upon believing. Now the indefiniteness of the pro
mise, which fits it thus for faith, and in which the secret transactions of God are included, consists but in three things, which make them to
differ from the other, i.e., there are three things in the promise which make
it indefinite.
(1.) There is the concealing of the persons, that whereas in God s de
cree and transaction with Christ the persons are named, here in the promise
they are concealed ; and it is said indefinitely to be for some, to that end
that none might say he is excluded, and that is one thing makes the pro mises indefinite.
^ some
(2.) Whereas men might notwithstanding think, that yet those
might be limited to some certain conditions of men, or but to some kind of
sinners, as not to great sinners, &c. ; and so men might think, that for
their condition and sins they might be excluded ; therefore secondly, the
OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [PART II. BOOK II.
indefiniteness of the promise lies in this, that it speaks indefinitely of all kind of sinners and conditions, be the case what it will, and the sin what it will, for to some in those conditions, and guilty of those sins, the pro mise is made.
(8.) The indefiniteness of the promise lies in this, that it names a quali fication of faith, and so makes it general, that whosoever believeth shall be saved/ so as a sinner may further see, that there is but a want of a true act of faith between him and justification. And these indefinite promises do yet fully agree with those particular intentions of God, and not cross them at all: for, first, although God s jus tifying from eternity was fixed only on particular persons whom he looked on in Christ, and also that Christ in his death represented only their per sons, and did bear their particular sins, yet the promise of that justification to come, which is the fruit of those transactions, might thus indefinitely be propounded, and say it may, that salvation is for some, and name none ; and God might so express his purpose, as might put all men that hear it in expectation and dependence, concealing the particulars ; for there is an in definite truth, which results out of those particulars put together, and is the abstract of them. For if God in his secret will hath justified such and such particulars, and there is yet a justification to be performed upon be lievers, the promise, which is the contents of those particulars, maybe pre sented indefinitely, that there is a justification for some, and this may be declared and propounded to all. Again, secondly, if Christ died for such and such particulars, whose par ticular sins he did bear ; and it be true withal, that amongst their particu lar sins, all kind of sins but that against the Holy Ghost were to be found, and that all cases of sins imaginable, and all circumstances and aggrava tions of sinning whatsoever, are found in one or other, whose sins Christ bore ; then it may be propounded to a man s faith, that Christ died for all
such^ sins as he is guilty of ; neither is there any circumstance or case he can instance in, but it may be said Christ did bear it. And so, thirdly, if God hath purposed to bless all those particular men with faith, and a serious will to receive Christ, from eternity, and if Christ also did die that he might purchase them faith, then God might further express this promise of Christ and justification freely and generally, that * he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth should not perish ; for so it will prove in the event.
Only, in the fourth place, I will add to these three former propositions this caution^ that believers, when they are exhorted to look to the pro mises thus indefinitely made and propounded, they must take heed of imagining Christ s death for sins and sinners, to have been performed by him indefinitely, or at random, as if it were not then intended for such and
such particular persons, and for the expiation of their particular sins. The indefiniteness of the promise ought not to breed any such opinion, which yet is the conceit that usually is taken up as the meaning of the indefiniteness of the promise ; men looking at Christ s death but as an individuum vagum, and the benefits of it as an office, into which some one must be chosen, but that it was not intended and particularly resolved who they are. They think it is like a jewel of value, sufficient to pay all men s debts that shall obtain it, but intended for none in particular when it was first pur chased ; and they look at faith as that which first determines whose it shall be, because the Scripture says, Whosoever believes, &c. These con ceits you ought not to entertain, and take up as the meaning of God in the indefinite promises, for this is to make God to elect upon faith fore-
CHAP. IX.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 409
seen, and to make Christ die for propositions only, and qualifications, and
not for names and persons ; whenas Christ says, before he laid down his
life, John x. 14-16, that he knew his sheep, and that by name, ver. 3,
< and laid down his life for them ; and these are those who were yet
uncalled, sheep of another fold, not yet brought home. As the high priest went into the holiest, with the names of the tribes on his breast, so Christ
to the cross, with our names in his heart, and also died that men might have faith. And as he died for particular persons, so he did bear particu
lar sins, and it was just with God, who professed to deal with him in jus
tice, that Christ should know what he paid for, as it is requisite we should know what God pardons, to magnify his grace. And if he had laid down
his life thus at random, without such a reference to persons and sins, his
love to one in dying had not been more than to another of those he died
for, nor the greatest sinners more beholding to Christ dying than the
lesser. And that Christ did not make his payment at adventures, as we
say, and that God would not have the promise so understood, appears by
this, that in his revealed will, in which he hath set forth these promises, he hath withal revealed that Christ did die for particular persons, and did
justify particular persons; but because in that his revealed will he hath
utterly concealed those particulars, therefore the promises are propounded
indefinitely. And thus you have an answer to the first question, namely, what a believer should cast himself upon God and Christ for? The sum
of which answer is this, that he may, and must do it, to obtain that justifi cation held forth in the promise, and that union with Christ which are to come ; which promise is therefore propounded indefinitely, that Christ died
for some, and that God will justify some sinners, and all believers; which
indefiniteness is not yet so to be understood as if who those particulars are
were yet unresolved of, and that upon believing it were only determined.
Quest. 2. But these answers do solve the difficulty but in part, and do
leave still occasion for further queries. For although there is a justification to be obtained indefinitely propounded in the promise, which may be the aim of faith of recumbency, yet it being withal revealed what act of justifi cation fixed and determined upon particular persons have been passed
already, the question is, whether a believer in casting himself, for the ob
taining of what is to come, should at all as yet take into consideration those
fore-passed acts and intentions of God and Christ, or wholly lay aside the
thoughts of them till he hath attained to assurance of faith, and in the mean while wholly and only eye that justification through Christ s death
which is to come, as it is indefinitely held forth in the promise? For it
may seem one thing to imagine, by reason of the indefiniteness of the
promise, that God and Christ were unresolved of particulars, which conceit we gave that last caution against, and another thing to forbear such
thoughts for the present, and to confine our thoughts in believing merely to that justification yet to be performed, as it is indefinitely offered in the
promise, which occasioneth this question.
Ans. To this question I answer, that a believer may not only take into
his consideration the justification which is to come, as that God hath pro mised to justify some sinners through Christ, but likewise he may consider
in the like indefinite manner that God hath justified those whom he means to perform this promise unto, from all eternity, for whom also
Christ died as one with him. And the grounds which sway me unto
this are,
1. Because I find that the aposle doth set forth these eternal transactions
of God with Christ about the justifying of sinners as the main and sum of
410 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [PART II. BOOK II.
our ministry, to be declared to the sons of men in an indefinite manner, to draw men on to faith :
* The ministry of reconciliation, says Paul, is this 2 Cor. v. 19, 20,
* to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world
(he speaks of those eternal passages), not imputing their trespasses unto them. God was, that is, from eternity, reconciling, and not imputing the
sins of the world, i.e., of the world of elect, unto them ; for none will say that any other were then justified but those that are predestinated; and this he would have all men to consider, to draw them in to be reconciled to God, as it follows. And the reason of it is, fast, because those eternal transactions are revealed as well as promises, and whatsoever is revealed is for all believers to make use of. And, secondly, they are so revealed as that if indefinitely considered, there is no difference between the declaration of God s eternal
decrees, and Christ s special intention in dying, whilst indefinitely pro pounded, and the indefinite promises of that justification which is to come. They come all to one in a manner, the indefinite promises being but the abstract of the other, they being but the extracts and copies of the former
transactions, made up, and expressed in a promise of that justification which is the fruit of them. And therefore, thirdly, though they, speak expressly only of that justification yet to be performed, yet they do neces
sarily, virtually include and presuppose that which is past, as that which
is the cause of what is promised, and is to come. Yea, and fourthly, that justification which is in the promise is no other than such as is the
sole and proper fruit and effect of the former, and therefore is to be con ceived and looked at by a believer, as that which hath an inseparable dependence and communion with tfiat forepast by God and Christ. So that whilst the soul aims at that which is to come, as the effect, it may look
at the other as that which is and must be the sole cause of it, if ever he attaineth it. For the justification in the promise is such as can be from no other cause than those former special transactions in God and Christ towards him. For as the justification promised is promised to be unchange able, such a justification as is true, stedfast, unalterable, so the promise which is made to every one that thirsteth runs in these terms : I will make an everlasting covenant with you, and establish the sure mercies of
David, Isa. Iv. 1-3. Such a justification as was performed to David was
sure, that though his children sin, yet my mercy, says God, I will not take from him. And such a covenant promised to be made to everlasting cannot but be presupposed as the proper fruit of that justification which hath been from everlasting, and is no other, and therefore may be looked at as the ground of it. If indeed there were any other justification in any of the
promises besides that, which is the proper effect of that as the cause, then
all those former intentions of God to sinners might be laid aside, and needed not to be considered, but there is not any such. For the blessings held
forth in the promise are but the former blessings bestowed upon particular persons in Christ, folded up and made up in an indefinite promise ; and
therefore the one doth mutually argue the other. For if a soul can challenge an interest in the justification promised, he may comfort himself with his
interest in the former, and that he was one with Christ, dying and rising. And again, when it is said that Christ died, it must be thought he had
either an unresolved aim, or a resolved. An unresolved aim would be
unbecoming of him, and if it was resolved, then he died designing the par ticular persons for whom his death was meant. And again, all the know
ledge hereof a recumbent in the way of his faith may make use of, as well as one that hath assurance, it is but turning the key another way, as the
(CHAP. IX.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 411
same arguments are used in logic and rhetoric ; so Eph. i. 9, 10, that
which brought in the Ephesians to trust in Christ, ver. 12, was the
opening of the mystery of God s will and purpose together in his elect in
Christ, according to the good pleasure which he purposed in himself.
Quest. 3. But still all this doth but in general shew that these fore-passed
ways of election and Christ s death may be taken in. A third question
therefore will be, How, and in what manner, and what order, and to what
end and purpose, a recumbent believer is to take into his thoughts these
fore-passed passages, so as to make it a help to such an act, when as yet
his faith can perform no other ? How he is to draw them in, and make
them ingredients, and how they are to have an influence into his faith, to
be helpful to him ? For this, I say, take these directions out of the for mer grounds laid. But before I give them I premise a caution, which also
makes way for a right understanding of what follows.
The caution is, that the believer is not to take into his thoughts these
fore-passed fixed acts of justification, to that end as to make it his only and
first work and business, to inquire whether he was thus justified or no,j30 as until he is resolved thereof, he will sit still, and exercise no act of faith
at all, nor look after any promise ; for it doth prove a real hindrance to
many, when that is the fruit of this their knowledge. Though indeed we
are not to rest or quiet ourselves in any acts of faith till such an assurance
is obtained, but to wait for it in all, yet we are not to do it so as to cast
off the exercise of this other act of faith, and seeking justification to come,
till we have particular evidence of that which is past. This is a wrong use made of God s ways, so to inquire after his secret will, concerning our par
ticular, as to neglect his revealed ; whereas we are so to look to what is
past, as to quicken us unto, and not to keep us from, seeking that justifi cation to come. So as we say that the knowledge of this fixed and eternal
justification is then a help to an act of recumbency, when the believing
indefinitely and in general that thus God did towards some, doth quicken our faith of recumbency. Which that it may do, take these directions.
1. The believer may take in the consideration of these ways of God s
justifying, and Christ s dying for certain men, who were one with him.
This in the general he may do, to the end to pitch and point the aim and
scope of his faith aright, so as to aim at his casting himself upon God in
Christ for such a justification as only is the proper effect of the former, so
as distinctly he may make it the desire and aim of his faith, that he may obtain such a justification as doth only proceed from an eternal love, and
as is the sole fruit of a former eternal justification, and of Christ s par
ticularly dying for his sins. And the reason why in this way he may take
it in is, because though he looks upon that of God s love which is passed as not now anew to be obtained, yet as to that part of it which is to come
and to be manifested now in the actual bestowing of all the blessings of it, he may cast himself upon God now to obtain it (it being yet to come), and
to have it performed to him in the strength and virtue of the former; appre
hending and knowing that no other but such a justification is meant in the
promise by God, nor can be obtained by any, but so that still the aim of
his faith and prayers may be to be justified with the justification of God s
chosen, and to be justified out of that love with which he justifies those
whose sins Christ bore upon the tree. Thus David often in many particular
blessings frames his prayers, which are but the aims and meaning of faith
expressed and folded up into desires : Ps. cvi. 4, Remember me with that
: and oh visit me with thy salvation ;
favour thou bearest to thy people
that is, that salvation which proceeds from such a special favour ; Ps.
412 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [PART II. BOOK II.
cxix. 132, Look upon me, and be merciful to me, as thou usest to do to those that love thy name. Thus he dealt also in matter of justification when he came to die and to express his faith at last : This is all my desire, says he, and all the salvation I look for. What kind of salvation was in his desire and expectation ? That which proceeded from the sure
covenant, ordered and sure. And thus God s Spirit doth point the aim of the poorest believer s faith, so that the meaning of his faith, if he could
express it, is, that he might be justified with the justification of God s chosen ; with that justification which is the sole fruit of Christ s having borne his sins in particular.
2. He may consider what is already done by God and Christ towards the justification of some sinners thus indefinitely, as the cause of that
justification which is promised. He may consider this, to that end, to
quicken him to seek such a justification, as that must needs be, which is the fruit and effect of such transactions and intentions in God justifying, and Christ dying thus for particular men and sins ; and he will thereby both strengthen and quicken the act of his faith, of casting himself upon God for the obtaining of it. For as one that hath assurance by his faith receives and turns all such considerations into comforts, believing they are true concerning him, so the other that wants assurance may turn them all into motives to quicken and to strengthen his heart the more eagerly to seek it, and cast himself with the stronger and faster act of dependency and cleaving to God to obtain it ; there is all the difference, and these considerations will further the one as well as the other. And the con
sideration thereof may serve and be turned into a double motive to quicken and set an edge upon their faith.
First, By considering these proceedings of God in justifying thus from
everlasting, &c., to be the cause of the justification which is in the promise, and which he is seeking, his heart will be the more inflamed to seek such a justification as that must needs be, which is the effect and stream of such
special love both in God and Christ. And the more spiritual insight into, and conviction of, those proceedings a soul hath, the more he will come to see the freeness, the fulness, the absoluteness, the unchangeableness, the
greatness of that justification which he is putting in for, and so his heart
will be fired with it. For when a man shall hear and consider that God
hath, out of an infinite unchangeable love, been a-justifying some men from eternity, and hath done it so resolvedly, as though knowing and making account what their sins would be before, yet he resolved they should be no bar nor no hindrance, and that no estate, no condition, should alter or interrupt his purpose towards such ; and when he shall also consider that further, God hath took such special order concerning them, that he hath given them to his Son, and reckoned to him their sins, and looked at them as one in him ; and withal considers, that the justification which is
offered in the promise, is such as is the fruit, and proceeds from these ; why, thinks he, this is such a justification as, if I obtain, it will fully answer all my fears, and wants, and doubts, and scruples ; and it is such as none can be like to it, such as my heart may securely rest in ; such as,
if a poor sinner would himself have drawn his own pardon, he could not have drawn it more fully, nor can desire a better. And by these considera tions will his heart be taken with a longing after such a justification as
this ; Lord, will the soul say, justify me with the justification of thy chosen ones ! And oh that it may be, that I might be the subject of it ! And it may prove so, thinks he ; and if I were to choose, I had rather be one of a thousand of those who are in possibility of being justified out of
"J OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 413
CHAP. IX.
such a love, than any other. And why ? Because this is such as if I
obtain it, and it prove mine, a sea of eternal love will come with it and fill my heart, and I shall be out of the gun-shot of all cases that can fall out,
it being such a justification as shall have all the unchangeable love of the
great God, and the efficacy of Christ s death to feed it, and maintain it, and us in the state of it. And thus he may consider all those passages,
to inflame his heart toward this love, and to draw it in, and this ere he
can say it is his. The souls of believers are usually taken with this way and proceedings of God and Christ in justifying, and it so likes them, and
takes hold of their hearts, that they can never let go seeking of it. Thus God propounds the consideration of the unchangeableness and of the ever-
lastingness of the covenant, to allure the hearts of believers, Tsa. lv., for
the consideration hereof doth quicken the heart to come in: says God,
* Incline your ear and come to me, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you ; even the sure mercies of David ; that is, I will justify
ver. 3,
you out of the same love I justified David with, yea, the mercies of Christ,
who is that spiritual David, shall be yours.
Secondly, By the consideration thereof he may strengthen his faith in
the persuasion of the certainty that such a justification shall be settled and
estated assuredly upon some, and that therefore it is to be obtained ; which,
if believed, will exceedingly help a man s faith to cast himself with the more boldness and confidence on Christ to obtain it. When men look
upon God as one. that contents himself with this, that he hath done his
part to save them, and that however it falls out, yet he contents himself,
for he shall have glory out of them, this will and doth work a carelessness
in men ; but when men shall be possessed with this thought, that God is
resolved upon it, to save some, and that Christ hath took sure order for
them, and that therefore there is a certainty in the thing, so as it is to be
had and worn by some, and that God is most serious in it, for he hath
been a-justifying from eternity, and Christ hath died for particular sinners ; when this persuasion of the certainty of the thing itself is fixed upon men s
hearts, so that together with the greatness of it, they are also persuaded that such a thing there is resolved on in God s breast to bestow, it will
draw men s hearts into a dependence upon God for it. When men believe
that Christ shall undoubtedly justify many, because he hath borne their
sins, Isa. liii., and that there is a rest into which some must enter in, Heb. iv. 6, this will quicken them to labour to obtain it, as knowing it
is to be had. For to that end those considerations are there brought in, and the chief hindrance of faith lies in not believing the thing, and the
certainty of God s purpose in it, that there is mercy with him, and plen teous redemption. The assurance of this, though but towards an Israel,
yet the certainty that Israel should be redeemed, caused him to wait,
Ps. cxxx. If men have no heart to the thing, though God meant to
save never so many, they would never be saved ; and if they have, they
shall be saved, though never so few are intended. Now there is no
thing more effectual to persuade the heart of the certainty of the thing, than the consideration of God s eternal justification and Christ s special
intention.
Thirdly. In the third place, These eternal ways of justification may be
considered as the cause of that justification in the promise, to that end, to
quiet and settle most of all those carnal objections, fears, and scruples in men s hearts, which are most dangerous, and the greatest hindrances of
faith. And indeed the consideration of it will serve to quell all of them, but only one, which of all the rest is least dangerous. For when a man
414 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [PAET II. BOOK II.
shall consider that the justification which only is to be obtained, is such as is the fruit of an eternal, unchangeable love, &c., all the objections taken from the greatness of his sins will be scattered ; for God s eternal thoughts in pardoning are beyond all imaginations ; and that love also regarded neither sins nor goodness, but pitched upon persons freely, and that when he knew what their sins would be when he chose them ; and also, all fears of being rejected for often backslidings will vanish, because the justification to be obtained is to be the fruit of a love that is unchangeable ; and all his fears likewise of provoking God to cast him off, and of falling away, and that he may one day fall by the hand of Saul, will dissolve, when he con siders the blessings of eternal love to be the sure mercies of David, out of which God justifies. And though he hears and reads, that after such a sin, God took advantage of Saul, Esau, &c., and swore in his wrath against those in the wilderness, yet the justification he is seeking of, and hath in his eye, is such as, if obtained, he may be assured of it never failing, as flowing out of an ancient, peculiar love, and therefore proceeds not in shew
ing mercy by rules, or examples of dealing of others, and which knows no bounds nor bottom ; but God excepts, and says,
< Though I make a full end of them, yet not of thee ; and he says also, I will have mercy because I will, and where I will, though I harden others. Now the believer, know ing the justification, which he now seeks, by reason of these former trans actions, to be thus full, it quiets all such fears, and resolves all into one, whether he shall obtain it [or] no ? That is all his care, his heart is eased of all other ; and this is a good care, unless in case of utter despair, for this quickens him the more to seek at God s hands to reveal himself to him, and it keeps him in dependence. And when once his spirit is truly won and taken with the way of salvation, he will never let go his dependence, but like a burr, the more he is shook off, the more he will cleave on. Yea, and against that one scruple, whether it be for him, he hath, in such a way of dependence, many things to uphold him, that his soul can quietly wait, and by reason of a hint given, doth secretly more incline in his constant thoughts towards hopes than otherwise. Now take all other ways of justi fication, which are not conceived to be backed thus with an eternal justifi cation and an eternal love, but wherein God proceeds as he sees cause, and let a man bo supposed, in his own apprehension, to be estated into it, and that cloud cleared, yet if he knows his own heart, he must needs be filled with sad, and dark, and dangerous fears. Sometimes the greatness of his sins past must needs amaze him, and his often backslidings and falls after
enlightening, if none of these damp his hopes, or if none of these disquiet him, yet, having no security of his own heart, he fears for time to come ; and the doubts which arise about the thing itself, and the way of salvation he depends upon, will be greater, and of worse consequence, and make his heart sit more loose towards God, than when, on the contrary, his heart is resolved that the justification itself, which he depends on, doth answer all fears and scruples about his whole estate and condition, and all the query is only about his person, and this is a doubt which, when all others are resolved into it, God can easily answer when he will ; and if at any time the spirit be ready to fail, he breaks in, and resolves it. It is a doubt which the security his heart hath from the way itself, about all other things that can be objected, doth countervail.
Quest. 4. As there yet remains in his heart that one scruple unresolved, whether his person shall obtain that justification to come, he knowing that
it depends upon what is past already, the question is, What acts of faith, and of the applications of faith, he should put forth towards both the justi-
I CHAP. IX. J OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 415
fication that is to come, and likewise towards that which is past, for his
. own particular ?
Ans. 1. It is true there are two acts of faith which he cannot put forth :
1. He cannot exert an act of application with assurance : he cannot put that forth towards either ; and indeed, if he could do it towards either, he
might towards both. If, then, the sole application of faith that justifies,
lay in assurance, he would have no faith, and therefore it is well for him
that it doth not. 2. To cast himself to obtain justification past, is a con
tradiction and absurdity ; therefore that is not the act of application in his
faith neither, though it may well be exercised towards what is to come. Ans. 2. This I must suppose as a foundation for all, that there is yet an
impression and hint wrought in the heart of the poorest believer, of special mercy towards him, which is it that hangs his heart upon what is past, and causeth him to depend upon what is to come. This I mention first, because
this is the principle of all those acts that I shall after mention, and this is
like the first principles which are indemonstrable, but the conclusions from thence are and may be demonstrated. So about this I cannot give you any
direction, for that Spirit that works the mind, and searcheth the deep things of God, must work it in you. It is the principle of faith, and is indernon-
: strable ; only what acts of faith this principle may be drawn forth into, as
| conclusions from that principle, this I will direct you unto.
This, therefore, being given by God to the heart, and supposed by us, such an one may be directed and enabled, before he hath assurance, to put forth these acts of application for his particular.
(1.) He may put forth an act of renunciation of salvation by all other
ways of justification supposable, than such as is by Christ s special inten
tion in dying, and justification from eternity. And this he is to do, not in
his opinion only, when the query is about truth or falsehood, but he may
and can, and is to be directed to do this for his own particular salvation, when he is consulting on what way to pitch as for his own salvation ; and
that not of necessity only, because there is no other way, but out of choice. For when once in general he hath viewed the certainty, the stability of this
way of salvation, in the whole progress of it, and how, when obtained and
declared, it secures the heart ; and so his heart fully approves it, and sees
also how it magnifies God s love and the riches of his grace, and Christ s
love also ; and withal his heart hath had that undiscerned hint of intention
towards him, he so approves it, not only as best and truest in itself, but as
best for him also ; and doth constantly venture, and resolves constantly to
venture, his particular interest upon this way of salvation alone ; and betakes
himself to it, to deal and trade in his thoughts with it for his own salvation. He ventures not only his own interest upon the truth of it, but upon the
performance of it to him, and all other ways that can be supposed or pre sented to him as possible, he utterly renounceth. He betakes himself to
this rather, and chooseth to venture to be saved by virtue of these eternal
past transactions of God and Christ, than any other. And though this hint
is not boiled and raised up unto assurance, and he cannot yet say that he was justified from eternity, and that Christ had a special eye to him, yet he
is content fully to hang expectation upon it, for his own particular ; and as David said of the law,
* I hate all false ways, but thy law do I love, so says he of this way of the gospel, of these ways of God, which are yet past find
ing out, that this way of salvation he loves. And though, for aught he
knows, there may prove a venture in it to him, yet he had rather venture
to be saved this way, than saved the other way ; and had rather be one of
a hundred that should have a draw for this, than one of two for another.
416 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [PART II. BOOK II.
(2.) He may put forth an act of dependence upon God for the obtaining that justification to come, with submission to, and with reference, and by virtue of that which is past.
[1.] It is an error that men imagine that there can be no room for
dependence, but only when all is yet to be resolved on by him on whom we depend. For though I suppose the foundation of all their salvation that shall be saved laid in God s heart, and in Christ s heart, and the
thing resolved on, yet if the actual performance and execution be yet to be accomplished, as it is, there is room for a dependence. As if it were known that a prince had resolved to bestow an office on some particular man, but not declared who it is, every man capable might live in depend ence for the actual bestowing it upon himself in particular, as well as if
they knew he were not resolved, but might dispose of it this way or that
way. Men therefore falsely conceive that if God and Christ were yet to make their will, then they would seek to them with dependence, because
they hope that they might gain their hearts towards them, by obedience and dependence, to dispose of Christ s death and the riches of it towards them ; but when their will is made and sealed up from eternity, they think there is no room for dependence, when yet there is the greatest of all
other.
[2.] For there may be a dependence with submission, which Jeremiah
calls waiting quietly, and putting the mouth in the dust, Lam. iii. 26, 29. The top and flower of God s glory in the ways of justification is his freedom
therein; and therefore, as it is called grace, a being justified freely by his
grace, so free grace too ; which freedom is shewn most in justifying some and condemning others, and in directing the course and progress of these his ways as he pleaseth. Now faith is appointed the instrument in us that should glorify God s grace in all the prerogatives of it, to glorify it as God
glorifies it ; and therefore, among other things, faith ought to glorify the freedom of it as well as the riches of it in pardoning ; and this it cannot do more than by submitting its own salvation to this free, disposing, ordering grace of God, and to let God have his liberty in it. Faith frames the
heart, and turns and applies it to the freedom of God, and glorifies him
according to all the advantages his grace hath over men, whereof this is one
of the greatest, viz., his freedom. It casts away itself in the glorifying of
it, it ventures upon it with submission, because it is free ; and if it falls out that the soul attains it, he glorifies that freedom, acknowledging that it was God s free mercy which saved him. If he thinks it may be otherwise
(though in this case it cannot, however he may think so), yet withal he thinks that there is an instance of God s freedom that will be glorified, and he commits and submits himself, not to the sufficiency of God s and Christ s grace, but to the freedom of it, and launcheth himself into it with out either oar or stern,* and commits himself to those vast waves, and the current and stream of God s mind towards him, to save or drown him. Thus David in a particular case exerciseth his faith, and if he had no other
acts in matter of his salvation, this act of faith would have saved him.
"What says he ? He submits himself to God s own thoughts towards them : 2 Sam. xv. 25, 26,
* If I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord, he will
bring me again, and shew me his habitation. But if he say, I have no
delight in thee ; behold, here I am, let him do to me as seemeth good to him. He refers himself to God s thoughts wholly, with an holy depend ence and submission. And thus faith may exercise acts of submission and
dependence towards what is past, as well as for the obtaining of what is to * That is, rudder. ED.
CHAP. IX.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 417
come ; or rather faith may act for the obtaining of what is to come, by virtue of what is past already, and so it honours God in both.
[3.] And faith may act, not with a bare and naked submission only, but with a reference also to be justified by virtue of what was done then, which
I may do, though I cannot tell whether I was then justified or no. This I know, that some men were justified then, and that what is to come hath an
inseparable connection thereupon ; therefore in casting myself upon what
is to come, I may refer to what was done then, and I may have recourse
to be justified now by virtue of that justification then performed by virtue of Christ s intention towards me. For as a man may refer to that he knows not the event and purpose of, so I may hang all my expectation upon what was done then, and I may refer to God s heart and Christ s heart towards me then, not only with a bare act of submission, but with
hopeful expectation, which is the greatest trust in the world. For if the matter were now to be^begun to be cast, the support of a man s depen dence might be a confidence in himself, that he might do something which in the end might incline God, and then a man s trust were in his own heart ; but when I refer to what was past before I was, I refer merely to God s heart towards me ; I then refer with dependence on the bare free
thoughts of God arid Christ, which is the most naked, purest trust in the world. Now this is not only nakedly to submit, but it is to exercise faith in this manner ; as if the soul should say, Lord, by virtue of what Christ
did, and thou didst from all eternity towards me, now justify HIR. As a man may and ought to exercise the thoughts of faith which God works in him, though he thinks they are but his own thoughts ; as a man is to pray, though when he prays he knows not whether he prays aright, so a believer
is to refer to God s thoughts towards him, although he know them not, and to cast anchor in the dark ; he ought to make trial what God s heart is to him, and to cast anchor upon it, though he cannot fathom it. And whilst his faith appeals thus to God s heart and Christ s heart towards him, God doth the thing, he hitting right. And again, men may and ought to take in thus by way of reference what is past, because they must be justified, if ever they be so, by virtue of what is past, and therefore their casting them selves upon God for justification may be with this reference, that it should now be performed to them by virtue of what is past. God and Christ did
mutually trust each other about our salvation. God trusted Christ, ere he
died, for saving many thousands, upon Christ s bare word, and Christ trusted God to see the fruit of his death in many thousands yet to come, and he sees his seed and is satisfied ; and if they trust one another, shall not we ?
(3.) A soul thus referring to what is past by God and Christ, for him to obtain justification by virtue thereof now, may yet be bolder in the exercise of his faith. For all these thoughts of what God and Christ hath
done, he may turn into pleas to God, and plead before God the ancient
passages of that his transaction with Christ about him, and try how they will take upon his heart, and see what God says to them. Thus Habakkuk, in the name and person of poor believers, puts God to it, to draw out his
thoughts towards them in his prayer which he makes, Hab. i. 12 : Lord, says he,
* art not thou from everlasting, my God, and mine Holy One ? He puts him to it, and reminds him of his ancient thoughts ; and he puts the question to God, to see what he would say to it ; and what doth God answer again ? Ere he goes any further, he hath a gracious persuasion, an echo of God s heart towards them, we shall not die. So do thou, go and turn all that thou knowest about God s eternal transactions
VOL. VIII. D d
418 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [PART II. BOOK II.
with Christ towards sinners, and Christ s undertakings and undergoings for sinners, go and turn them all into holy pleas and queries with God
daily in thy prayers, as touching thine own particular. Ask him, Art thou not mine, Holy One, from everlasting? Lord, look on me again; dost thou not know me ? Desire him to look into his own heart, and view the idea he had of thee, and the thoughts he had towards thee from
everlasting ; boldly ask him, if he did not then commend thee to his Son, and write thy name in his heart himself? Mind him of all those secret
passages, go over them all, and turn them into queries, which another soul which hath assurance would do into comfort and thanksgiving. Go down from thence, arid spread all that Christ hath done before the face of God,
tell over all the story of his being in the garden, on the cross, and say, Lord, did not Christ do all this for me, a vile wretch, by thine own appoint ment ? Had not Christ me in his heart, when he hung on the cross ? and hadst thou not me in thine eye, as one with him, when he suffered ? and didst not thou then, unbeknown to me, charge these and these particular sins upon him ? &c. I say, turn all into such queries about thyself, put God to it, see what he says to these things. How often is God so put to
it that he cannot deny it, but plainly confesseth all this was true while the
soul is a-speaking ? However, whilst the soul is thus pleading, he finds
thereby his load taken off, his mind eased ; and why ? Because he hits God s very mind, speaks the bottom of Christ s heart, and so finds the blood of Christ speaking better things than the blood of Abel. He shall
find in these pleadings God s eternal love, and Christ s death, to be as a
plank to a man a-sinking, to have a reality in them, to bear his heart aloft. He shall find, whilst he is pleading thus blindfold, as I may so say, and
casting anchor in the dark, that his pleas take hold, and established, and settleth his heart in the midst of all tossings. Thus as a bold man
will by putting questions draw out another s secrets, so by such pleas and
queries doth the heart often in a holy cunning draw out God s mind. However, thereby doth the soul find a support, and he shall find them to
take with his heart, and to take with God ; that as in preaching God s
mind, if a son of peace be present, it takes with him, and his heart closeth with it, and is won ; so in pleading over God s mind, and questioning thus with him, a man being a son of peace, and hitting right, God owns
him, and all he says, to be true.
(4.) Under such an act of referring himself to God s heart and former
proceedings, and in such a way of pleading, he may improve every promise, and all the fulness that is in Christ. Is there any benefit that God s love ever intended to bestow, or that the merits of Christ s death purchased, or can help a man unto ? In the same way he refers to and pleads Christ s death for his justification, he may refer to it for all blessings else, for that way of salvation he depends upon will help him, and be improvable for all.
If a man be sick, he can plead, Lord, did not Christ bear our sicknesses and infirmities ? Was not his soul made a curse to redeem me from all
miseries ? Lord, I refer to his death for my recovery, as well as for my
salvation, by virtue of it heal me ! And he may have upon these plead
ings of his, all things done for him, and by virtue of Christ s death ; and
his faith may make use of it, and have recourse to it for all, and receive
all from it, as well as he that hath assurance. Indeed, happily he may want the discerning of seeing all done by virtue of Christ s death, as he
that hath assurance hath, but it may be as truly done upon these acts of
faith for him, as upon acts of assurance.
(5.) Since God, when he justifies now, doth it out of the same frame of
CHAP. IX. J OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 419
heart and free love renewed, or rather continued, out of which he chose
and elected, I may, without looking back to that love as electing, cast my
self upon him, to bear such a love now to me as he did bear to his elect, and
out of it to justify me, and so contract all that is said of eternal love in
electing, down to a present love to be set on me, to justify me.
^ For, as
out of that love he elected, so out of such a love afresh taken up he justifies ;
and that is yet to come, and so I rest not on love or free grace as electing,
but on such a grace or love as out of which he elected me, to justify me ;
a love that shall have all the attributes of God freely, unchangeably exer
cised in it, all but * from eternity that electing love had, and is differing
but in order to a different act of election, than of justification now,f and
so free grace and electing love are for substance the same ; and in so do
ing I do draw but a model, map, or description of what a love I desire God may bear to me, alluding to the pattern of that love I hear he bare
men, in electing them in the mount of eternity.
* Qu. that ? ED. t Qu - of election then, of justification now ? ED.
420 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [PART II. BOOK III.