Here is the decifion of the cafe, Mark xvi. 16. "He that believeth fhall be faved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." Unbelief will undoubtedly ruin you, Pfal. ii. ult. "Kifs ye the Son, left he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little." Unbelief is a rejecting of Chrift; and they cannot escape who refuse the remedy of fin, Luke xix. 27. "Thofe mine enemies that would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and flay them before me."

II. I proceed to fhew the neceffity of repentance, in order to one's escaping this wrath and curse. No adult person can be faved without it. As for infants dying in their tender years, and fuch others who are not capable of actual faith and repentance, in fo far as the Spirit dwells in them, they have the feed of those graces, and shall undoubtedly be faved.

1. The word of God certifies us, that whofoever does not repent shall perish, Luke xiii. 5. Your fouls, then, lie at ftake. The finner is gone away from God, and fo is come under the curse. His foul is left in pawn that he shall return; fo if he do not return, the pawn is loft, and loft for

ever.

2. Heaven's door is bolted against all impenitent finners; it is not fo wide as to let in a finner with a burden of unrepented-of guilt upon his back, Rev. xxi. 27. "There shall in nowise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither what soever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie." So heaven ye cannot fee, and hell ye cannot escape, if ye repent not. It is the call of the gofpel to you; which, if it be not obeyed, fee the effect, 2 Theff. i. 7, 8. "The Lord Jefus fhall be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gofpel of our Lord Jefus Chrift." To this narrow point the matter is brought, Repent or perish, Ezek. xviii. 30, 31. " Repent, and turn yourselves from all your tranfgreffions; fo iniquity fhall not be your ruin. Caft away from you all your tranfgreffions, whereby ye have tranfgreffed, and make ye a new heart, and a new fpirit; for why will ye die, O house of Ifrael ?"

3. Repentance is the other duty of the gofpel; thereby fignifying, that without repentance there is no poffibility but we must perish under God's wrath and curfe. John the

Baptist preached repentance, fo did Chrift himself, the apoftles, &c. How can one think then to escape without it?

4. True faith does always bring along with it true repentance, Zech. xii. 10. "I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerufalem, the fpirit of grace and of fupplications, and they fhall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they fhall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only fon, and fhall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born." It is the great gift which Chrift is exalted to give, Acts v. 31. as he is a Saviour. So impenitent finners have no part in Chrift, nor in his falvation, Matth. i. 21. and therefore they must perish.

III. I proceed to confider the question, Are faith and repentance in men's power, fince God requires them of them? Anf. They are not. For God's demands of us are the meafure of our duty, but not of our strength, which reaches not to thefe. For,

1. They are the gifts of God, and the operations of his special grace, Eph. i. 19. Acts v. 31. And where fovereign pleasure does not determine to give and work them, the party lies under the power of unbelief and impenitency. Hence it is God's grace and good-will which makes one differ from another; not man's free-will. Hence fays our Lord, "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou haft hid these things from the wife and prudent, and haft revealed them unto babes. Even fo, Father, for so it seemed good in thy fight," Matth. xi. 25, 26.

2. Sinners by nature, and in themselves, can do nothing which is good, and therefore cannot believe nor repent, John xv. 5. "Without me ye can do nothing." 2 Cor. iii. 5. "Not that we are fufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves: but our fufficiency is of God." In particular they cannot believe, John vi. 44. "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath fent me, draw him." They cannot repent, Jer. xiii. 23. "Can the Ethiopian change his fkin, or the leopard his fpots? then may ye alfo do good, that are accustomed to do evil." They are dead in fin, and must be quickened, yea, created in Chrift Jefus to good works. They are in bondage to fin and Satan, 2 Tim. ii. 26.; therefore cannot come to Christ, nor turn to God, till effectual grace bring them forward, Acts xxvi.

18. Open their eyes, and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God."

Object. How then can God require them of us?

Anf. 1. God gave man this power, and he has loft it by his own fault, Eccl. vii. 29. "God hath made man upright, but they have fought out many inventions." If a debtor fquander away his fubftance, the creditor has still a right to require what he owes him: fo, though man has loft his power to perform, God has not loft his right to require the duty.

2. Men will not believe their own impotency. They will promise, resolve, and delay to believe and repent, as if these duties were in their own power; they will flight the motions of God's Spirit; ye, they are throwing away the remains of natural light and strength, that have escaped out of the ruins of the fall. So that God may very jufty require these of them, to convince them, and stir them up to feek grace.

IV. I proceed to fhew the connection betwixt faith and repentance, and escaping the wrath and curfe of God due to us for fin. Those who believe and repent fhall certainly escape. God has faid it, that they fhall, John v. 24. "He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that fent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is paffed from death unto life." Ezek. xviii. 30. “Re pent, and turn yourselves from all your tranfgreffions; fo iniquity fhall not be your ruin." Nay, they are got beyond it already, Rom. viii. 1. "There is therefore now no con demnation to them that are in Christ Jefus." In the moment the finner comes into Chrift, he is no more liable to eternal wrath, nor to the curfe; for he is not under the law, but under grace and the utmost he is liable to, is fatherly chaftisements, Pfal. lxxxix. 30.-33. Thus faith and repentance have the connection of appointed means prescribed by himself, which, by his bleffing, are rendered fubfervient to great end, of obtaining falvation. Faith is the hand that receives Christ and his righteousness, as the all of falvation, John i. 12.; and repentance unto life confifts in that godly forrow for fin, flowing from faith, which is the exercife of all who are concerned about the falvation of their fouls, Jer. 1. 4. 2 Cor. vii. 11.

this

God

V. I shall now shew the neceffity of ufing all the outward

means whereby Christ communicateth to his people the benefits of redemption.

1. God has peremptorily required this, Luke xiii. 24. "Strive to enter in at the strait gate," namely, that we strive in the appointed means of grace and falvation. And fo he has particularly enjoined us the confciencious performance of each of them.

2. We have no ground to expect grace or falvation but in the use of the means, Prov. viii. 34. "Bleffed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors." Prov. ii. 3.-5. "If thou crieft after knowledge, and lifteft up thy voice for understanding: if thou seekest her as filver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures: then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God." "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God," Rom. x. 17.

3. The neglect of the means is a contempt of the thing. If we would be healed, we would lie at the pool. If not, we fay we care not for cure.

And there is required here, not a careless or merely superficial use of the outward means, but a diligent one; that is, an embracing of every opportunity that God in his providence gives us for attending upon them, a careful improvement of them, and a looking earnestly to him for his bleffing upon them, without which they will not contribute to our fpiritual advantage, 1 Cor. iii. 6, 7.

Queft. What is our ability in this point? Ans. The use of outward means is not beyond our reach. One may without faving grace, read, hear, pray, and confider his cafe. And by these one may attain the highest pitch of preparation for grace of God, in legal convictions, fears, forrows for fin, and natural (though not faving) defires of grace. Therefore, do what ye can; it may be, while ye are doing what ye can, God will do for you what ye cannot do for yourselves, Acts viii. 22.

the

Queft. Has God promifed to fave and convert those who do what is in their power in the ufe of means? Anf. We dare not fay it. But, 1. It is poffible. 2. It is probable *. I fhall conclude with two inferences.

* See all this illuftrated in Human Nature in its Fourfold State, State ii. bead 3, under the title, Objections anfwered,

Inf. 1. Then, as ever ye would efcape God's wrath and curfe due to you for fin, repent and believe. Come to Chrift; turn from your fins unto God. There is no fafety otherwise, but this way ye fhall be fafe. No fin of will ruin you, yours you believe and repent; and nothing will fave you,

if

do not.

if

you.

2. Be diligent in the use of the means of falvation. They are laid before you, while they are by the fovereign disposal of Providence, kept up from others. Neglect them not, as ye would not be found to reject the counfel of God against yourselves. And fatisfy not yourselves in the bare use of them, but feek grace and falvation in them from Jefus Chrift, they being the appointed means of grace.

OF FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST.

JOHN i. 12.-But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the fons of God, even to them that believe on his

name.

FAITH in Jefus Chrift being the main thing required for

one's escaping the wrath and curfe of God, we come now to fpeak of it particularly, from these words. In which we have, (1.) The nature, (2.) The fruit of faith, viz. the privilege and dignity of adoption into God's family. Paffing the latter, [See vol. ii.]

As

We may take notice of the former, viz. the nature of faith, many as received, &c. Wherein confider,

1. What it is in the general. It is a faving grace, for by it one becomes a child of God, and fo an heir of heaven.

2. What it is in particular. (1.) The object of it is Christ, he, his name, his perfon, with his benefits. The acts of it, faving the finner, are, [1.] Receiving him; this is explained to be believing. Now, receiving implies an offer of him made to the receiver, which is done in the gofpel. [2.] Refting on him; for it is not a mere believing him, by an historical af fent to his word, but a believing on his name, which imports a fiducial recumbency or relying on him, as one who believes