promises made to them, till they see that there were promises made concerning them to Christ before the world began. For none can know whether there were promises made concerning them, but by embracing the promises made to them. We are not called at first hand to look back to what passed betwixt the Father and the Son, but only to embrace what is held forth to us in the gospel-offer. Having done this, then and then only, can we know that there was a promise concerning us from eternity: being certain that it is in virtue of it, that we have believed the promise made to us. For had not God fulfilled the one in us, the other had not been accepted by us. The one is, If ye be willing; If ye believe: but the other runs in a very different tenour, Thy people shall be willing; they shall believe. In testimony of this distinction respecting the promises, we see the apostles speak nothing to the jailor concerning the one class; they insist only on the other: "Believe, and thou shalt be saved." Here was a promise made to him, this was his warrant; and nothing else was. The one kind of promises belong to the making of the covenant, the other to its administration. And therefore those are not so extensive as these. It is promised to all, If ye believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, ye shall be saved. But it is promised concerning some only, That they shall believe, Acts xiii. 48. Rom. xi. 7. Nor can the justice of the Holy One be taxed in this manner of procedure. What? though many will not believe, their unbelief, and therefore their destruction, is of themselves. And while some do believe, herein they are debtors to free, free grace. It is owing to one promise that they believe another. Even so, O Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight, Matt. xi. 26. 5thly. Faith as terminating in Jesus Christ is but one simple act. We grant, indeed, that faith" acteth dif ferently upon that which each particular passage of the word containeth, yielding obedience to the commands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God for this life and that which is ta come *. It exerciseth various acts according to the variety of objects. But not all its acts on any one of these objects. Not on the threatenings considered in themselves: because they do not propose a good to be received by us. Not on the precepts simply considered: because they shew a good to be done, not to be received. Not on mere predictions: because, unless they have promises joined with them, they do not promise a good to us. It is perfected in the promises only, because in them a good is proposed to be embraced t. What we think is, that believing in Christ Jesus for salvation is one act, a simple act, not a compound of many: that that act of faith, whereby we are united unto Christ, is one only. It is true that he is held forth in the word under a variety of metaphors, corresponding to which, faith is variously described. Thus if he be lifted up as on the gospelpole, faith is called looking unto him. If he be a hid ing place, faith runs to him. If a gift, it receives him. If a foundation, a rock, it rests upon him. If white raiment, it puts him on. If living bread, it eats. If living water, it drinks. But as the object, a crucified Christ, is still one and the same, though represented under various views; so the act, terminating on that object, must be one and the same too. This must be acknowledged, otherwise we should make looking to Christ one act; running to him, another; entering in, a third; receiving, a fourth; resting, a fifth; putting him on, a sixth; eating his flesh, and drinking his blood, a seventh: and so on, which would be strange divinity. Therefore I cannot think, with some, that receiving Christ, and resting upon him alone for salvation, (the description of faith in the Shorter Catechism,) are two distinct acts: that receiv ing Christ is one, and resting upon him another. To admit this, would lead to the absurdity just now mentioned. I rather think that the compilers of the Cate. • Westminster Confession, ch. xiv. 11, chism, singled out these two expressions, receiving and resting, as among the plainest. According to the Catechism, we receive Christ alone for salvation, and what is that, but to rest upon him alone for salvation? We receive him, and we rest upon him, as he is offered to us in the gospel. Now, for what end is he offered unto us? for no other than salvation, surely. So a shining light defined faith, "The hearty receiving of Christ offered for the remission of sins *." To receive a word, is to rest upon it as true, Matt. xi. 14. Thess. ii. 13. And therefore to receive a person for any thing, is the same with resting upon him for that thing. He who would go to distinguish between re. ceiving Christ for salvation, and resting upon him for it, would soon find himself greatly entangled. He behoved to prove that in receiving we do not rest: that this is something more than that, though necessarily following it. 6thly. From what was said we may see that faith in Jesus Christ is the condition to interest us in him. Our text is a compend of duty and privilege. Of duty, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ." Of privilege, "And thou shalt be saved." As faith is that whereby we are united to him, so also that whereby we are interested in him. Prior to faith there is no vital union to his person, and therefore no saving interest in his benefits. Unless we believe, we perish, we unavoidably perish. I am not ignorant that to speak of faith as a condition, is displeasing to many, who raise no disputes as to its necessity. But I know too, that almost all the best divines of the last age made no scruple to call it a condition: witness the famous Assembly at Westminster. Pity it is that there should be different views of the truth among its fastest friends. I shall give you my thoughts of the matter as clearly and shortly as I can. We grant, 1st. That faith is not the condition of the promises made concerning the elect from eternity; so far from John, Davidson's Cat. Marrow, p. 168. that, it itself is one, and the principal of them. Thy people, says the Father to Christ, shall be willing in the day of thy power. Here he makes a promise to him concerning them. But if promised, it cannot be the condition of that promise. That would be to make it the condition of itself, which is absurd: Being to say in effect, They shall be willing, upon condition that they be willing; they shall believe, if they believe. Faith being the subject matter of a promise, cannot therefore be the condition of that promise too. 2dly. Faith being promised primarily to Christ, to be given his people; it must be promised on condition of something to be done by him, viz. that he should make his soul an offering for sin. It was on this condition only that he was to see his seed, Isa. liii. 10. see them come bending unto him. As faith is given for Christ's sake, Phil. i. 29. so was it also promised. It is given no other ways than as promised, and therefore being given us in his behalf, it was promised to us in the same manner. In this sense faith is as much promised as justification, adoption, or any privilege following faith. 3dly. Though faith be promised, and that on condition of Christ's righteousness, yet it may be, and it is, the condition to interest us in Christ, and in the promises made to us in the gospel-offer. Though not the condition of the promises made concerning us, it is the condition of these made to us. Not the condition of our common right to them, but of our pecu. liar and saving interest in them. The gospel gives us that; faith this. The gospel makes it warrantable for us to take; and by faith, and no otherwise, we do také and possess. That brings salvation as to our hand; by this we stretch out the hand and take the salvation offered. If we do not thus stretch out the hand, we must perish, though as within arm's length of a Saviour: and if we do, we shall not perish. Thus faith is in this sense a condition, has something conditional in it, inasmuch as our interest in, or possession of, the promised benefits, turn upon it as the hinge. If we believe, we shall be saved; if not, we shall not: according to our faith, so shall we receive. The promise to us is not, ye shall be saved: but, if ye believe, ye shall be saved. Or as in our text, "believe and thou shalt be saved." If faith be not a condition here, I know not what to call it. But, 4thly To drive this nail of the sanctuary as to the head, to put the matter out of doubt, that the promis es directed to us in the gospel-offer, are conditional; let us look to the threatenings which accompany that offer, though they make no part it. Are these threatenings absolute or conditional? No man will say they are absolute. No man is threatened with damnation whether he believe or not. The threatening runs," He that believeth not shall be damned," Mark xvi. 16. Thus it is truly conditional. Now if the threatening be conditional on the one hand, so is the promise on the other: "He that believeth, shall be saved." For these are nothing else but the administration of the two covenants. The one threatens death, not abso lutely, but if ye continue within its burning boundaries. The other promiseth life, not absolutely, but if ye come over to it. The covenant of works threatens none that go to the covenant of grace; and this promiseth nothing to such as continue under that. The one says, If ye stay here, ye shall perish. The other says, If ye come over hither, ye shall live. See the substance of both, together with the conditional ifs, Rom. viii. 12. "If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: But if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body ye shall live." Though it be certain that some will believe by virtue of the spirit of faith communicated unto them. this does not take away the conditionality of the promise: no more than the certainty that others will not believe, takes away the conditionality of the threatening. It is as certain that the non-elect will not believe, as that the elect will. Now, if the corruption of human nature does not affect the conditionality of the threatening, on the one side; how comes |