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to his righteousness, Rom. x. 3.* This receiving and resting upon Christ for falvation is in many places called believing in, or trusting on, Chrift as our Saviour †.

VI. I am to fhew, what is the end of these acts of faith.

* See the nature and acts of faith more largely opened and illuftrated in the author's View of the Covenant of Grace, head 6. The way of inflating finners perfonally and favingly in the Covenant of Grace.

† Now, in order to illuftrate the nature of faith, confidered as believing in or trufting on God, and the way of a finner's juftification in his fight, it may not be improper to infert here the two following notes on Gen. xv. 6. "And he believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness," taken from the author's manufcript work on the first twentythree chapters of Genefis, above referred to, p. 232.

"Now he trufted in Jehovah i. e. Now Abram trusted in Jehovah (who was the Lord promifing, as well as the Lord promifed), not only believing his word fpoken to him at this and other times, but also refting in him, and relying upon him, for all contained in the promise, and especially the falvation of the Meffias, which was the chief thing in it. The whole verfe is a parenthesis, in which Mofes occafionally fhews how Abram entertained the promise, from the firft time it was made to him, Now, faith he, Abram trusted in Jehovah, viz. all along, and fo at this time, Rom. iv. 3. Gr. For, what faith the fcripture? Now Abraham believed God. Jam. ii. 2. And the fcripture was fulfilled, which faith, Now Abraham believed God. Comp. the preceding and following verfe of this chapter. This is the firft place wherein faith is exprefsly spoken of. V'be' min, and he trusted. The formal fignification of H'min, is to truft : for fo it may be rendered every where; and fo our tranflators do render it, Judg. xi. 20. Job iv. 18. xv. 15. 31. & xxiv. 22 marg. Mic. vii. 5. All believing is trufting; but all trusting is not believing, as will appear anon. Accordingly H'min is more extenfive than believing; for the object of it is a thing; as well as a rational agent, the only proper object of believing. Thus, wonderful works, Pfal. lxxviii. 32. one's life, Deut. xxvii. 66. & Job xxiv. 32. and a beaft, Job xxxix. 12. are, by this word, faid to be ufted in, which cannot well be faid to be believed in. The construction of the word natively leads to this notion of it. It is ordinarily constructed with to, as Gen. xlv. 26. He trusted not to them, or in, as here, He trufted in Jehovah: fometimes with a noun fimply, and an infinitive, as Judg. xi. 20. Shion trufted not even Ifrael to pass in his bounds. And finally, as H'min, Emeth, Omnah, Emun &c. are akin, as branches of one root; so are the words, he trufted, truth, a truth, truenefs, &c.; anfwering unto them, in our language. The Greeek pifleuo, in the New-Teftament ufe of it, is of the fame import, fignifying to truft: for fo it may be rendered every where; and fo it must be rendered in feveral texts, as John ii. 24. Jefus did not trust himself to them. Rom. iii. 2. They were trufted the oracles of God, i. e. trufted with them. So 1 Cor. ix. 17. 1 Theff. ii. 4. 1 Tim. i. 11. How H'min, being in Hiphil, comes to fignify to trust, is best accounted for by allowing the phrafeology to be elliptical, the conjugate

It is for falvation, Chrift's whole falvation. (1.) Salvation from fin, Matth. i. 21. "He fhall fave his people from their fins." (2.) From wrath, 1 Theff. i. ult. "Which delivereth us from the wrath to come; from the guilt, defilement, dominion, and indwelling of fin, So it is for justification and

noun being understood. So it is q. d. H'min emunah, He trufted a truft, or trufting and the fenfe of that is, He exercifed truft or faith; as to plant forth plant, and to feed feed, Gen. i. 11. is to bring forth plant, and feed, or to yield them. The ellipfis of the conjugate noun is ufual, as in Hizriang, Hifkil, &c. chap. iii. 6. ; and of it there is a double indication in this text. One is the pointing of this word with a diftinctive. Comp. 1 Kings xxi, 14. They fent forth (fup. a meffenger) unto Jezebel. If. i. 17. Plead (fup, the plea) of the widow. The other is the prounoun it, in the latter hemiftich, which relates to truft or faith. Now, to truft to is to believe and accordingly the object of it is always a perfon, as chap. xlv. 26. forecited; or elfe a word, as 1 Kings x. 7. I trufted not to the Speeches. If, liii, 1. Who hath trufted to our hearing, i. e. word heard: the which comes all to one; the word or fpeech being always pronounced by a perfon, and the perfon believed in refpect of his word. To truft in, is not only to believe a competent object; but to rest in and rely upon, the perfon, word, or thing trufted, as firm and fure, for the effect for which he or it is trufted. Thus Achifh trufted in David, 1 Sam. xxvii. 12. (not only believing his word, ver. 10. but refting and relying on him, as one trufleth in a friend, (Mic. vii. 5.), faying, he hath made his people Ifrael utterly to abhor him, therefore he shall be my fervant for ever. So the people brought through the Red Sea, trufted in Mofes, Exod. xiv. ult. relying on, and committing themfelves to, his conduct: And on the fame occafion, they trufted in God's Speeches, Pfal. cvi. 12. relying on them with confidence. And thus the unicorn cannot be trufted in (i. e. relied upon) for bringing home one's feed, Job xxxix. 12. That the apoftles Paul and James, in the paffages above cited, retain the Seventy's reading of this text, Now Abraham trusted to God, will not evince a perfect identity of the phrafes trufting to, and trufting in God; fince it is undeniable, that the infpired penmen, in many paffages of the Old Teftament, adduced by them in the New, do not act the part of rigid tranflators: but it will evince them to be one in effect. From what is faid, it appears, that according to the fcripture-phrafeology, or language of the Holy Ghoft, (1.) The nature of faith in general lies, in trufling, trusting a perfon, word, or thing. (2.) The nature of faving faith, lies in trufting, that is, refting in, and relying upon, the perfon, word, and thing, (propofed to it in the promise), as firm and fure, for the effect for which it is trufted. (3.) Trusting in the Lord is by the appointment of God, and the nature of the thing, neceffarily conected with trufting to him; comp. If. liii. 1. John iii. ult. (4.) It is not by the habit, but by an act of faith, a finner is juftified.

And he reckoned it to him, righteousness, i. e. And God, even Jehovah the Son, (fee the note above, p. 183. fig. (1.), in whom Abram trusted, (hem. 1.), did treat that act of faith or truft in him, which Abram exerted, as if it had been fulfilling of the law, in which one could ftand righteous before him, reputing and counting it to him for that effect, and justifying

fanctification. And faith receives and refts on him alone for all these, Gal. ii. 16. Knowing that a man is not juftified, by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jefus Christ, even we have believed in Jefus Chrift; that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the

him, thereupon, in his fight. Vajjahh'sch'bheha, And he reckoned it. Of Hhafchab, to recokon. Accordingly Hhifchfcheb (Pih.) is fully to reckon, as Lev. xxv. 50. Pfal. cxliv. 3. Jon. i. 4. and Hithhhafchfcheb (Hithp.) only once occurring, doth manifeftly fignify to reckon one's felf, Num. xxiii. 9. Behold a people. . . . in (i. e. among) the nations, fhall not reckon itself; i. e. a people which, &c. This word is ufed, (1.) For counting and reckoning, as in matters of money, 2 Kings xxii. 7. It would not have been reckoned with them; the filver. Lev. xxv. 50. And he fhall fully reckon with his acquirer. (2.) For reputing or counting, as the Latin habeo, duco, as Neh. xiii. 13. They were reckoned faithful. (3.) For regarding, prizing, making a valuable account of a perfon or thing. So it is ufed, If. ii. 22. xiii. 17. xxxiii. 8. & liii. 3. Thus, reckoners of his name, Mal. iii. 16. are those who valued and made a becoming account of it. (4.) For judging, thinking, or accounting fo and fo of a thing, as If. x. 7. His heart will not fo reckon, viz. that he is the rod, staff, and fent, of God, ver. 5, 6. ; concluding concerning it, as Jon. i. 4. It fully reckoned; for to be broken, i. e. fully laid its account therewith. All these agree in the common notion of reckoning, which speaks a view of a thing in several particulars, and a practical judgment formed thereupon. And hence, I think, it is that the word is used, (5.) For contriving or devifing, as artifts do a piece of work, as Amos vi. 5. They have reckoned (i. e. devised) to them inftruments of fong. Tz'dakah, righteoufnefs. Tzedek and Tz'dakah are both immediately derived from Tzadak (Kal), of which fee the note above, p. 183. and accordingly fignify righteousness: but with this dif ference, that T'zdakah founds an acting, as if one might say, righteoufing; Tzedek, a quality, the principle or refult of the former. Hence expound, Deut. xxiv. 13. To thee it fhall be righteousness, (Tz'dakah), i. e. a doing or acting righteously, a righteous action, a good work, a conforming to the law. An evidence of this difference is, that Tz'dakah is often used in the plural number; but Tzedek is never. For the former points at a thing, under the notion of a righteous action, or good work, of which kind there are many; but the latter, at a thing, under the notion of a quality, viz. righteousness, which is but one, whatever be the number of the actions which it refults from, or is productive of. Thus Judg. v. 11. The righteoufnesses of Jehovah, are his righteous acts or works. If. Ixiv. 5. All our righteoufneffes are filthy rags, i. e. our good works have been as filthy rags. So If. xlv. 24. Only in Jehovah, to me he faid [are] righteoufneffes and firength; i. e. Only in Jefus Chrift are good works, that will anfwer the demands of the law. Howbeit, the word is thus taken objectively, acting for an action or work. On the other fide, balances of (Tzedek) righteoufnefs, ftones of righteousness, Lev. xix. 36. are balances and weights conform to the ftandard. Thus these two words, frequently occurring, howbeit their fignification may to come to one in effect, yet they do, in their formal notion, reprefent the thing.

law for by the works of the law fhall no flesh be justified." So it is a going out of one's self to Chrift for all.

VII. I come now to confider the ground and warrant of faith. This is the gospel-offer. (1.) The finner has his invitation, If. lv. 1. "Ho, every one that thirfteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and

under different fchefes. Accordingly the righteoufnefs of Christ imputed to believers, is expreffed by each of them. His righteousness (Tizidkatho) is declared and preached, Pfal. xxii. ult. : and he is Jehovah (Tzidkenu) our righteoufnefs, Jer. xxiii. 6.: the former propofing his righteousness, as the fulfilling of the law; the latter, as conformity to the law, arifing therefrom. As the word Hhafchabh is used for devifing, chap. vi. 5. it is fometimes conftructed, as here, with L' to or for, denoting the party for whom the thing is devised, as Amos vi. 5.; or the end for which, as Gen. 1. 20. But fince faith cannot be faid to be devifed righteousness, that sense of the word, which at beft is but fecondary, can have no place here. But for clearing the import of this weighty expreffion, used in the text, according to the fcripture-phrafeology, it will be worth the while to inquire into the several phrases, formed with the word Hhafchabh, in the notion of reckoning which is the formal notion of it. I. A perfon is faid to be reckoned WITH others, i. e. claffed with them, and the fame account made of him as of them. Thus, Pfal. lxxxviii. 5. the Pfalmift was reckoned with them that go down to the pit, his cafe accounted hopeless, even as theirs. II. To reckon one perfon or thing as another, is to make a like account of them as of the other, and fo to treat them after the like manner. Thus Job's friends thought they were reckoned as beafts, Job xviii. 3.; and he himself thought, he was reckoned as an enemy of God, chap. xix. 11. and darts are reckoned as ftubble by the leviathan, chap. xli. 21-29ths. So Num. xviii. 27. Pfal. xliv. 23. If. v. 28. & xl. 15. Hof. viii. 12. III. To reckon one thing FOR another, is to account it to be that thing: Job xxxv. 2. Haft thou reckoned this for judgment, i. e. reckoned this to be judgment. So Judah reckoned Tamar for an harlot,, Gen. xxxviii. 15. Eli, Hannah for a drunken woman, 1 Sam. i. 13. Job, according to Elihu, reckoned God for his enemy, i. e. to be his enemy, Job xxxiii. 10. Thus to be reckoned for righteousness, Pfal. cvi. 31. is to be reckoned to be righteoufnefs. So this third phrase falls in with, and is equivalent to the IV. here used by Mofes. That is, two terms being propofed, the one is faid to be reckoned THE OTHER, as faith reckoned righteousness. Concerning this phrafeology, Obf. 1. It is used of reckoning a thing, what in reality and in very deed it is, antecedently to the reckoning. Thus the treasurers were reckoned faithful, Neh. xiii: 13. as indeed they were; and for that caufe Nehemiah put them into that office: the houses in unwalled villages were to be reckoned upon the field of the land, Lev. xxv. 31. as they were indeed, not being feparated from the field by a town-wall: a fool holding his peace is reckoned wife, Prov. xvii. 28. and fo he is in that point; the fruitful field fhall be reckoned for a foreft, If. xxix. 17. and fo it really is now, and is truly fo reckoned; namely, the Jews, fometime God's people, but now rejected. The land of the Ammonites, faith the text, Deut. ii. 20. would have been reckoned a land of giants, i. e. formerly it used to be

eat, yea come, buy wine and milk without money, and without price." (2.) The declaration of God's good pleafure in their fo doing, John vi. 29. “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath fent." And, laftly, his peremptory command, 1 John iii. 23. "And this is his com

fo reckoned and juftly; for the giants, adds the text, dwelt therein in old time; however, it neither was fo, nor was it fo reckoned in Mofes' time. The Emims would have been reckoned giants, ver. 11. and justly fo; for they were tall as the Anakims, ver. 10. The scope of the two laft paffages is, to confirm the Ifraelites in the faith of their conqueft of Canaan, notwithstanding of the Anakims there. For this caufe Mofes fhews them, that the Zamzummims were driven out before the Ammonites, and the Emims before the Moabites, though both the one and the other were reckoned giants. Bnt if they were not really what they were reckoned to be, thefe inftances were nothing to the purpose they are adduced for. And thus the fact of Phinehas was reckoned for righteousness, Pfal. cvi. 31.; i. e. reckoned a righteous action, pleafing to God; which it really was, being done in faith: and hereby it is declared to be fo, for an obvious reason, viz. that otherwise men would have been apt to have condemned it. It is without cause alledged, that the text says, It was reckoned, righteousness for generation and generation; which it was not, being his own perfonal deed, and not the deed of any of his pofterity. For the text ftands thus: And it was reckoned to him for righteousness: for generation and generation; even to perpetuity; i. e. it was reckoned to him righteoufnefs: [it was reckoned fo] for generation and generation; even to perpetuity: A token of which was, the priesthood's being continued in his family, from generation to generation. Obf. 2. This phrase is used of reckoning a thing, what in very deed it is not, neither prior to the reckoning, nor pofterior to it. And in this case, it either, 1. Bears a mistake, which takes place only where the reckoner is capable to form a judgment, but withal is fallible. Thus did Judah's reckoning of Tamar bear a miflaken judgment, Gen. xxxviii. 15.; Eli's of Hannah, 1 Sam. i. 13.; the Jews of Christ, while they reckoned him ftricken, fmitten of God, If. liii. 4. ; i. e. an object of God's peculiar hatred, while he was indeed his beloved Son. fuch would be the judgment of one, who would reckon the deep hoar hairs, Job xli. 24-32ds. which without queftion it is not. Or elfe, 2. The meaning is no more, but that the reckoner treats the thing as if it were that other thing. And thus it is always in three cafes. (1.) In the cafe of agents incapable of forming a judgment. So the leviathan reckons iron for fraw, Job. xli. 19-27ths, which doubtless it is not; but he treats it as if it were ftraw. (2.) In the cafe of fallible judges, in points not liable to mistake. Thus Laban's own daughters were by him reckoned ftrangers, Gen. xxxi. 15.; and Job aftranger, by his own domeftics, Job xix. 15.; and Zion's fons, earthen pitchers, by the enemies, Lam. iv. 2.: in all which cafes, there could be no miflaking of the perfons reckoned for fuch perfons and things ; but thefe perfons were fo treated as if they had been taken for fuch perfons and things. (3.) In the cafe of the infallible Judge. So If. xl. 17. The nations are reckoned of him less than (Tohu, Gen. i. 2.) emptiness: not that they are fo in very deed; for they are creatures made the fixth day, after

And

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