3. That these graces having their peculiar reference, are required in order to pardon, for distinct reasons and ends.
First, Repentance is required for these reasons : —
[L] Because otherwise God cannot have his end in pardon, which is to recover the lost creation, that we may again live in his love and obedience. Surely Christ came to seek and save that which was lost. Now, to be lost, in the first and primitive sense, was to be lost to God. Take the lost sheep or groat, it was lost to the owner, the son to the father ; and so, if Christ came to save that which was lost, he came to recover us to God, therefore said to redeem us to God.
[2.] Neither can the Redeemer do his work for which God hath ap])ointed him : 1 Peter iii, 18, ' He died, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.' We accept him in all his offices for this end : ' I am the way, truth, and life ; no man comes to the Father but by me.' Therefore, whole Christianity, from the beginning to the end, a short description of it is this, — a coming to God by Christ : Heb. vii. 25, ' He is able to save to the uttermost ' Whom ? — ' all those that come to God by him.'
[3.] Without it we should not have our happiness. It is our hap- piness to please and enjoy God. We are not in a capacity to please and enjoy God till we are i-eturned to him : ' They that are in the flesh cannot please the Lord ; ' nor to enjoy him here, for here ' we see his face in righteousness ,' nor hereafter, for ' without holiness no man shall see God.'
Secondly, But why is faith in our Lord Jesus Christ required, and so much spoken of in scripture ? I will content myself but with two reasons at this time : —
[1.] Faith in Christ is most fitted for the acceptance of God's free gift. Faith and grace do always go together, and are put as opposite to law and works : Rom. iv. 16, 'It is of faith that it may be of grace:' Eph. ii. 8, ' For by grace ye are saved through faith, and not of your- selves, it is the gift of God ; not of works, lest any man should boast.' Faith establishes and keei)s up the interest and honour of grace ; for it is the free grace and favour of God to condescend to the rebel world, so far as he hath done in the new covenant. We present ourselves before him as those that stand wholly to his mercy, have nothing to plead for ourselves but the righteousness and merit of our Re-
Ps. XXXII. 1,, 2.] THE SECOND SERMON. 197
deemer, by virtue of which we humbly beg pardon and life to be begun in us by his Spirit, and perfected in glory.
[2.] Why faith in Christ ? Because the way of our recovery is so strange and wonderful. It can only be received by faith ; sense can- not convey it to us, reason will not, and nothing is reserved for the entertainment of this glorious mystery, pardon, and salvation by our Kedeemer, but faith alone. If I should deduce this argument at large, I would show you nothing but faith, or the belief of God's testi- mony concerning his Son, can support us in these transactions with God. The comfort of the promise is so rich and glorious, sense and reason cannot inform us of it : ' Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor can it enter into the heart of man to conceive, the things God hath prepared for them that love him,' 1 Cor. ii. 9. ^ It is not meant only of heaven, but of the whole preparations and rich provisions God hath made for us in the gospel. It is not a thing can come to us by eye or ear, or the conceiving of man's heart ; we only believe and entertain it by faith. And then, the persons upon whom it is bestowed are so unworthy, that certainly it cannot enter into the heart of man that God will be so good, and do so much good to such. Adam, when he had sinned, grew shy of God, and ran away from him. Besides, the way God hath taken for our deliverance is so supernatural : ' God so loved the world, that he sent his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' That God should become man, that he should submit to such an accursed death for our sakes, is so high and glorious, it can only be entertained by faith. Besides, our chief blessedness lies in another world : ' He that lacketh faith is blind, and cannot see afar off.' Here in this lower world, where our God is unseen, and our great hopes are to come, where the flesh is so importunate to be pleased, where our temptations and trials are so many, and difficulties so great, we are apt to question all, and we can never keep waiting upon God, were it not for faith, and a steady belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. For these reasons (if you look into the scriptures), it is why faith is so much insisted upon, that we may keep up the honour of God's grace, and because this grace of the Redeemer is so mysterious and wonderful.