But especially the truths of the gospel, and that good thing which is offered in those truths is that mainly which saving faith doth close with and rely upon, and is fully satisfied withal. This is that which is most mysterious in itself, and remote from vulgar knowledge : Mat. xvi. 17, 'Flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father which is in heaven ; ' most profitable to lost sinners : Tit. ii. 14, ' Who gave himself for us, that lie might redeem us from all iniquity,' &c. ; doth most set forth the praise of God : 2 Cor. i. 20, ' All the promises of God in him are Yea, and in him Ameu, unto the glory of God by us ; ' that to which all the rest tendeth : Rev xix. 10, ' The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy,' the life and heart of religion, the most blessed news that could come from heaven. Faith fiudeth death in the threatenings, a burden of work in the precepts ; but in Christ and the gospel it findeth the way to heaven laid open, a way how a sinner may be saved and divine justice not wronged. This is that which ' the angels desire to look into,' 1 Peter i. 12. So excellent and ravish- ing is the saving of lost sinners by Christ incarnate, they study it and pry into it.
Once more, the word is considered as dispensed in the ordinance of teaching and hearing — ' The ivord preached did not profit them! God doth not only work by the word, but by the word preached : 1 Cor. i. 21, ' It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.' To hope to gain the world by the preaching of a few con- temptible persons was looked upon as a ridiculous confidence ; but it pleased God to make use of that way, which pierced farther and conquered more than the Eoman armies ever could. Britannorum in- accessa Romanis loca, Ghristo tamen patuere. Eph. i. 13, 'In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.' The hearing of the word is the ordinary means whereby faith is wrought and exercised ; so 1 Peter i. 25, ' The word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word, which by the gospel is preached unto you.' That word is the seed of the spiritual life, that word endureth for ever in the effects of it, that word must be mingled with faith in the hearing ; not only the scripture in the general, but the particular messages that are brought to you, and delivered from and according to that word by the Lord's servants, whom he hath sent. Many men will not declaim against the written word, but they have a slender esteem of those portions of truth which God carveth out to them by the messengers whom he sendeth to them. God, that insti- tuted prophets and apostles to write scripture, did also institute pastors and teachers to explain and apply scripture: Eph. iv. 11, 'He gave
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some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers.' And when they go to work, clave non errante, their messages are the word of God,
Bnt you will say, Must we believe all the dictates of fallible men ?
Ans. Yes, in what accordeth with scripture, and is rightly deduced and inferred thence. Consequences are the word of God, and bind as well as the express scripture, Mat. xxii. 32. Jesus Christ proves the resurrection by this consequence, that ' God was the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob ; ' only we are to search : Acts xvii, 11, 12, ' They received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scripture daily whether those things were so ; ' there- fore many of them believed. The scriptures we receive upon their divine evidence, and other doctrines upon their consonancy to the scripture : Isa. viii. 20, ' To the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.' We must not be light of belief, but Aveigh things in the balance of the sanctuary ; nor yet obstinate and contemptuous of what is delivered in the way of an ordinance.
2. Faith. Nothing less will serve the turn. That whereby the soul receiveth the word is faith ; that whereby it receiveth it effectually is sincere faith. There ever have been and still are three sorts of men in the world.
[1.] Some that break out into open opposition of the gospel ; that are so far from being christians, that they are scarce men : 2 Thes. iii. 2, ' That we may be delivered from unreasonable, and wicked men, for all men have not faith.' Infidels are unreasonable and absurd, and never oppose the laws of Christ but they also violate the principles of nature.
[2.] There are some that are neither hot nor cold, that do not oppose the gospel nor yet accept it ; that assent which they seem to have, is not so much an actual assent as a non-refusal, or non-opposition, or rejection of the counsel of the word. Some indeed stand in full con- tradiction, and actually reject the counsels of God: Luke vii. 30, ' But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against them- selves ; ' and Ps. ii. 3, ' Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.' But these though they make some profes- sion of the gospel, yet they are careless, idle, and secure. These the apostle speaketh of, Heb. ii. 3, ' How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation,' compared with Mat. xxii. 5, ' And they made light of it.' They do not deny, but excuse themselves. Non vacat is the sin- ner's plea ; but no7i placet is the real disposition of his heart.