A true believer may " walk in darkness, and see no light," Isa. 1. 10. Nay a man must be a believer before he know himself to be so ; the direct act ofjaith is before the reflex act : so that the justi- fying act of faith lies neither in assent nor in assurance. Assent saith, I believe that Christ is, and that he is the Saviour of the elect.
* The act of faith consists in assent, by which one assents to any proposition reveal- ed by God on the authority of the revealer. Becan. TheoU Sc/iol. Tom. 3. cap. 8. Q.4.
f Many new born Christians live like the new bom babe, Vivit, et est vitas nescius ipse sua ■ The whole stock of many a believer consists in the bare direct acts of faith.
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Assurance saith, I believe and am sure that Christ died for me, and that I shall be saved through him. So that assent widens the nature of faith too much, and assurance upon the other hand straitens it too much ; but acceptance, which saith, I take Christ in all his offices to be mine, this fits it exactly, and belongs to all true believers, and to none but true believers ; and to all true believers at all times. This therefore must be the justifying and saving act of faith.
Arg. 3. Thirdly, That and no other is the justifying and saving act of faith, to which the properties and effects of saving faith do belong, or in which they are only found.
But in the fiducial receiving of Christ are the properties and effects of saving faith only found.
This therefore must be the justifying and saving act of faith.
First, By saving faith, Christ is said to " dv/ell in our hearts," Eph. iii. 17. but it is neither by assent, nor assurance, but by ac- ceptance, and receiving him that he dwells in our hearts ; not by assent, for then he would dwell in the unregenerate ; nor by assurance, for he must dwell in our hearts before we can be assured of it : therefore it is by acceptance.
Secondly, By faith we are justified, Rom. v. 1. But neither assent nor assurance, for the reasons above, do justify; therefore it must be by the receiving act, and no other.
Thirdly, The scripture ascribes great difficulties to that faith by which we are saved, as being most cross and opposite to the corrupt nature of man ; but of all the acts of faith, none is clogged with like difficulties, or conflicts with greater oppositions than the re- ceiving act doth ; this act is attended with the greatest difficulties, fears, and deepest self-denial. In assent, a man's reason is con- vinced, and yields to the evidence of truth, so that he can do no other but assent to the truth. In assurance there is nothing against a man's will or comfort, but much for it ; every one desires it : but it is not so in the acceptance of Christ, upon the self-denying terms of the gospel, as will hereafter be evinced. We conclude there- fore, that in this consists the nature and essence of saving faith.
Thirdly, Having seen what the receiving of Jesus Christ is, and that it is the faith by which we are justified and saved, I next come to open the dignity and excellency of this faith, whose praises and encommms are in all the scriptures ; there you find it renowned by the title of precious faith, 2 Pet. i. 7. enriching faith, Jam. ii. 5. the work of God, John vi. 29. the great mystery of godliness, 1 Tim. iii. 16. With many more rich epithets throughout the scrip- tures bestowed upon it.
Now faith may be considered two ways, viz. either qualitatively or relativelv.
THE METHOD OF GRACE. SEItM. VI,
Considered qualitatively, as a saving grace, it hath the same ex- cellency that all other precious saving graces have; as it is the fruit of the Spirit, it is more precious than gold, Prov. viii. 11, 19. And so are all other graces as well as faith ; in this sense they all shine with equal glory, and that a glory transcending all the glory of this world : but then consider faith relatively, as the instrument by which the righteousness of Christ is apprehended and made ours, and in that consideration it excels all other graces.
This is the grace that is singled out from among all other graces, to receive Christ, by which office it is dignified above all its fellows : as Moses was honoured above the many thousands of Israel, when God took him up into the mount, admitted him nearer to himself than any other of all the tribes might come ; for they stood with- out the rail, while Moses was received into the special presence of God, and was admitted to such views as others must not have : so faith is honoured above all its fellow-graces, in being singled out, and solemnly anointed to this high office in our justification : this is that precious eye that looks unto Christ as the stung Israelites did to the brazen serpent, and derives healing virtue from him to the soul. It is the grace which instrumentally saves us, Eph. ii. 8. As it is Christ's glory to be the door of salvation, so it is faith's glory to be the golden key that opens that door.
What shall I say of faith ? It is the bond of union ; the instrument of justification ; the spring of spiritual peace and joy ; the means of spiritual life and subsistence ; and therefore the great scope and drift of the gospel ; which aims at and presseth nothing more than to bring men and women to believe.
First, This is the bond of our union with Christ; that union is begun in our viviflcation, and completed in our actual receiving of Christ ; the first is the bond of union on the Spirit's part, the second a bond of union on our part. " Christ dwelleth in our hearts by " faith,1* Eph. hi. IT. And therein it is a door opened to let in many rich blessings to the soul ; for, by uniting us to Christ, it brings us into special favour and acceptation with God, Eph. i. 6. Makes us the special objects of Christ's conjugal love and delight, Eph. v. 29. Draws from his heart sympathy and a tender sense of all our miseries and burdens, Heb. iv. 15.
Secondly, It is the instrument of our justification, Rom. v. 1. Till Christ be received (thus received by us) we are in our sins ; under guilt and condemnation ; but when faith comes, then comes freedom : " By him all that believe are justified from all things *."
* The being found in Christ has a tacit reference to the judgment of God ; to us there is no condemnation, because he finds us clothed with a righteousness, such as he requires, i. e. completely perfect, even the righteousness of Christ by faith, imputed to us. Bern, m Ike jdace.
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Acts xiii. 38. Rom. viii. 1. For it apprehends or receives the pure and perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus, wherein the soul, how guilty and sinful soever it be in itself, stands faultless and spotless before the presence of God ; all obligations to punishment are, upon believing, immediately dissolved ; a full and final pardon sealed. O precious faith ! Who can sufficiently value it !