And this answereth the experience of all that do truly believe.
88 ON JUSTIFICATION.
For these things being united and made inseparable in the constitu- tion of God, all of them are virtually included in every one of them. (1.) Some fix their faith and trust, principally on the grace, love, and mercy of God; especially they did so under the Old Testament, before the clear revelation of Christ and his mediation. So did the jDsalmist, Ps. exxx. 8, 4, xxxiii. 18, 19; and the publican, Luke xviii. ] 3. And these are, in places of the Scripture innumerable, pro- posed as the causes of our justification. See Rom. iii. 24; Eph. ii. 4-8; Tit. iii. 5-7. But this they do not absolutely, but with respect unto the " redemption that is in the blood of Christ,'' Dan. ix. 17. Nor doth the Scripture anywhere propose them unto us but under that consideration. See Rom. iii. 24, 25 ; Ej^h. i. 6-8. For this is the cause, way, and means of the communication of that grace, love, and mercy unto us. (2.) Some place and fix them jjrincipally on the Lord Christ, his mediation, and the benefits thereof. This the apostle Paul proposeth frequently unto us in his own example. See Gal. ii. 20; Phil. iii. 8-10. But this they do not absolutely, but with respect unto the grace and love of God, whence it is that they are given and communicated unto us, Rom. viii. 32; John iii. 16; Eph. i. 6-8. Nor are they otherwise anywhere proposed unto us in the Scripture as the object of our faith unto justification. (3.) Some in a peculiar manner fix their souls, in believing, on the promises. And this is exemplified in the instance of Abraham, Gen. xv. 6; Rom. iv. 20. And so are they proposed in the Scripture as the object of our faith. Acts ii. 39; Rom. iv. 16; Heb. iv. 1, 2, vi. 12, 13. But this they do not merely as they are divine revelations, but as they contain and propose unto us the Lord Christ and the benefits of his mediation, from the grace, love, and mercy of God. Hence the apostle disputes at large, in his Epistle unto the Galatians, that if justification be any way but by the promise, both the gi-ace of God and the death of Christ are evacuated and made of none effect. And the reason is, because the promise is nothing but the way and means of the communication of thein unto us. (4.) Some fix their faith on the things themselves which they aim at, — namely, the pardon of sin and eternal life. And these also in the Scripture are proposed unto us as the object of our faith, or that which we are to believe unto justification, Ps. cxxx. 4; Acts xxvi. 18; Tit. i. 2, But this is to be done in its proper order, especially as unto the application of them unto our o^vn souls. For we are nowhere required to believe them, or our own interest in them, but as they are eflfects of the grace and love of God, through Christ and his mediation, proposed in the promises of the gospel. Wherefore the belief of them is included in the belief of these, and is in order of nature antecedent there- unto. And the belief of the forgiveness of sins, and eternal life,
CAUSES AND OBJECT OF FAITH. 89
■without the due exercise of faith in those causes of them, is but pre- sumption.
I have, therefore, given the entire object of faith as justifying, or in its work and duty with respect unto our justification, in comphance with the testimonies of the Scripture, and the experience of them that believe.
Allowing, therefore, their proper place unto the promises, and unto -n the effect of all in the pardon of sins and eternal life, that which I shall farther confirm is, that the Lord Christ, in the luork of his mediation, as the ordinance of God for the recovery and salvation of lost sinners, is the proper adequate object of justifying faitli. And the true nature of evangelical faith consisteth in the respect of the heart (which we shall immediately describe) unto the love, grace, and wisdom of God ; with the mediation of Christ, in his obedience; with the sacrifice, satisfaction, and atonement for sin which he made by his blood. These things are impiously opposed by some as incon- sistent; for the second head of the Socinian impiety is, that the grace of God and satisfaction of Christ are opj^osite and inconsistent, so as that if we allow of the one we must deny the other. But as these things are so proposed in the Scripture, as that without granting them both neither can be believed; so faith, which I'espects them as subordinate, — namely, the mediation of Christ unto the grace of God, that fixeth itself on the Lord Christ and that redemption which is in his blood, — as the ordinance of God, the effect of his wisdom, grace, and love, finds rest in both, and in nothing else.
For the proof of the assertion, I need not labour in it, it being not only abundantly declared in the Scripture, but that which contains in it a principal part of the design and substance of the gospel. I shall, therefore, only refer unto some of the places wherein it is taught, or the testimonies that are given unto it,