I answer —
[1.] It doth not merit this reward, for it is not a reward of due debt by virtue of any intrinsic righteousness in us, or any- thing that we can do and suffer, but of mere grace and favour : Eph. ii. 8, ' For by grace ye are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.' The apostle is very tender of the honour of grace, and the interest of grace in our salva- tion. From the first step to the last period, all is of grace ; and this glory of his free grace God must not be robbed of, neither in whole nor in part. We have all from his elective love, we have all from the merit and righteousness of Christ, and all from the almighty operation of the sanctifying Spirit. Faith itself is a gift and fruit of God's grace in us : ' To you it is given to believe,' Piiil. i. 29. There- fore surely it is God's free grace, favour, and good-will which doth freely bestow that salvation on the elect, which Christ by his merit hath purchased ; and that very faith by which we apply and make out our actual claim and title is wrought in us by the Spirit ; so that there is nothing in the persons to whom all this is given to induce God to confer so great benefit on us.
[2.] Though it be an undeserved favour, upon which our works have no meritorious influence, yet believers have an undoubted right by the grant and promise of God, wherein they may comfort themselves, and which they may plead before God: John iii. 16, ' God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever belie veth in him should not perish, but have life everlastingly ; ' and John v. 24-, ' Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my words, and be- lievetli in him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death to life.' And in many places where the believer is qualified as the heir of glory. He that en- tertaineth Christ's doctrine, and receiveth and owneth him as the true Messiah and Saviour of the world, and dependeth upon him, and obeyeth him, this man hath a full right and new-covenant title to eternal life.
[3.] He hath not only a new-covenant right, but a begun possession. We have some small beginnings, earnests, and foretastes of it in this life ; partly in the graces, partly in the comforts of the Spirit.
(1.) In the graces of the Holy Spirit. For salvation is begun in our
ir)4 THE EXCELLENCY OF SAVING FAITH. [1 PeT. I. 9.
new birth, Titus iii. 5 ; and therefore sanctifying grace is called ' im- mortal/ or ' incorruj)tible seed,' 1 Peter i. 23. There is an eternal principle put into them which carrieth them to eternal ends. The life is begun in all that shall be saved, and it is still working towards its final perfection. The apostle telleth us, that ' he that hateth his brotlier liath not eternal life abiding in him,' 1 John iii. 15 ; whereby he implieth that he that loveth his brother, or hath any saving grace, he halh eternal life begun in him.
(2.) As to comforts, so they have some foretastes of that sweetness which is in heaven by the life and exercise of faith, which is followed with peace and joy, Piom. xv. 13 ; or in their approaches to God in the word and prayer, where God most familiarly manifests himself unto his people, 1 Peter i. 3 ; or upon some apprehensions of his favour, or the exercise of hope and love, 2 Peter i. 8. By these or the like ways, the S[)irit of God givcth us the foretaste. Surely such an author, such an object, must needs put ravishing and heavenly joy into the heart of a believer.
(3.) They are also made meet to partake of the heavenly inheritance, Col. i. 12. There is jus hceredikirium, and Jus aptitudinale. The difference is as between an heir grown and in his nonage, when a child in the cradle. As their natures are more renewed and purified, and their souls weaned from the delights of sense, they are changed into the divine nature.
3. What is that saving faith which glveth us a title to it ? This de- serveth to be cleared, that we maynot deceive ourselveswith afalse claim.
Saving faith is such a believing in Christ, for reconciliation with God, and the everlasting fruition of him in glory, as maketh us to forsake all things in the world, and give up ourselves to the conduct of the word and Spirit for the obtaining of it.
[1.] The general nature of it I express by believing. There is in it assent, consent, and affiance.
(1.) Assent. That leadeth on the rest, when we believe the truth of Cod's word. Acts xxiv. 14, 15, especially those practical truths wdiich do most nearly concern our recovery to God ; as concerning man's sin and misery, that we have broken his laws, and are obnox- ious to his justice, and have deserved punishment for our sins, Rom. iii. 23. And concerning Christ, his person and office, that he is the Son of God, and that he came from God, to bring home sinners to God, and what he hath done to reconcile us to him : 1 Peter iii. 18, ' For Christ also hath once suffered for our sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quick- ened by the S[)irit.' And also concerning your duty and hnpi)iness, the end and the way. There is no other end and happiness but (?od, no other way but the Mediator, and the means appointed by him, John xiv. 6. Now these and such like truths must be believed — that is, in the sense we are now upon, assented unto as faithful sayings, and worthy of all acceptation and regard.