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mandment, that we fhould believe on the name of his Son Jefus Chrift."

I fhall conclude with a very few inferences.
Inf. 1. Faith is a precious thing, 2 Pet. i. 1.

Not to be

(Tohu) emptiness was no more: but that he can fo treat them, and annihilate them as eafily. Thus Job fays, God reckoned him for his enemy, Job xiii. 24. not that he thought God judged him to be his enemy indeed; on the contrary, he was refolved to maintain his way, as to the main of it, before the Lord. ver. 15.; and fays exprefsly, chap. x. 7. Thou knoweft that I am not wicked: but his meaning is, that God treated him as if he had been an enemy; and Elihu found fault with him, even for that, chap. xxxiii. 10. Obf. 3. This phrafe is used of reckoning a thing what it is not indeed confidered in its own nature, but yet in effect is; which laft bears the ground of the reckoning. Thus he who gives a flattering blessing to his neighbour, hath a curfe reckoned to him, Prov. xxvii. 14. The bleffing is not in itself a curfe; yet it is a curfe in effect, as having the fame effect as if he had cursed his neighbour: and fo, on that ground it is reckoned to the flatterer a curfe. V. and laftly, To reckon a thing to a perfon, is to fet it down on his score, to put it on his account, as really his, antecedent to the reckoning; if ill, to answer for it; if good, that he may claim, or have the benefit of it. Examples of the former: Lev. xvii. 4. Blood fhall be reckoned to that man; i. e.: the guilt of blood fhall be put on that man's account, as really his, and he shall answer for it: he hath fhed blood, faith the text, and that man fhall be cut off. Pfal. xli. 8-7ths. Upon me they would reckon, evil to me, i. e. charge it on me as my fact and deed, and make me anfwer for it. So a curfe is reckoned to the flatterer, Prov. xxvii. 14. Thus Shimei fays to David, Let not my lord reckon iniquity to me, 2 Sam. xix. 20-19ths; he owns his crime, and do not remember that which thy fervant did perverfely, ibid. ; but he begs that the king would not put it on his account, and make him anfwer for it. And thus David describes the blessedness of the justified man, that the Lord will not reckon iniquity to him, Píal. xxxii. 2.; i. e. that he will not put his iniquity on his own account, and make him answer for it ; the putting it on the Surety, and his answering already for it, being already fuftained at God's bar. Examples of the latter: 2 Sam. iv. 2. Beeroth; it would have been reckoned upon Benjamin; viz. as truly theirs, to have the benefit of it, for indeed did belong to Benjamin, Josh. xviii. 25.; though the Philistines violently poffeffed it, I Sam. xxxi. 7. So it is faid of another plot of ground, It would have been reckoned to the Canaanites, Jofh. xiii. 3. namely, as really theirs; and therefore it remained to be poffeffed by Ifrael, ver. 1. And thus, Num. xviii. 27. Your heave offerings fhall be reckoned to you ; i. e. put on your account, as your own offerings, and you to receive the be nefit of the fame. On the other hand, He that offereth a peace-offering, and eateth of it on the third day, it was not to be reckoned to him, Lev. vii. 18.; i. e. put on the account of his fervice to God. Pfal. xl. 18-17ths. I [am] poor and needy, my LORD will reckon to me ; i. e. The Father would put the poverty of the Mediator on his account, and reward him for it. And thus the deed of Phinehas was reckoned to him, put on his account of acceptable fervice, and graciously rewarded, for the fake of the Mediator. VOL. III. No. 26. F f

fworn by, but fought of the Lord. It faves the precious foul, and wraps it up in precious promises.

2. It is a most neceffary grace; for it is that which brings Christ and the foul together. And without it, it is impoffible to please God, Heb. xi. 6.

Thus far of the phrafes formed with Hhafchabh to reckon. Now, the SCOPE and defign of Mofes in the text, is to fhew to all, and particularly to the Jews, the way how a finner is justified before the Lord, namely, by faith in the Meffias, without the works of the law. Having given an account, how Abram entertained the promise, viz. that he trusted in Jehovah, he discovers on that occafion, how he became righteous before God, namely, by that truft: that every one may fee in him, as in an exampler, how a finner is juftified in God's fight. That this is the scope of the words, is put beyond queftion by the apoftle, Rom. iv. FROM what is faid, it appears, that, according to the phrafeology of the Holy Ghost, and the fcope of this paffage, the following pofitions are established. Pof. I. The only righteousness, wherein a man can stand before the Lord, is the fulfilling of the law, or a conformity to the law, refuging therefrom. For fuch is the fcripture-notion of righteoufness in the cafe of men. Pof. II. The fenfe of this paffage is not, That God reckoned Abram's trufting, or believing, for a righteous and worthy action, as he did the fact of Phinehas, Pfal. cvi. 31. For it is the righteousness of Abram's perfon, not the righteoufnefs of an action, of his, that is here aimed at. The deed of Phinehas was what could not have miffed, by fome at least, to have been reckoned a rash and finful action, if God himself had not declared his approbation of it: but Abram's trufting in Jehovah, was what could never be liable to any fuch mifconftruction, among those who believe Jehovah to be GOD. But the fenfe is, His faith was accounted righteoufnefs for his perfon in the fight of God. Pof. III. Faith's being reckoned or accounted for righteoufnefs, which is the phrase of the Septuagint, retained by the apoftle Paul, Rom. iv. 3. is equivalent to, and of the fame fenfe with, Mofes' phrafe in the text, viz. faith's being reckoned righteousness. This is clear from what is faid on the third and fourth phrafes compared. Pof. IV. The righteoufnefs of Chrift, though righteoufness in the ftriceft propriety, greatest reality and perfection, antecedently to the imputation or reckoning of it, may, according to the fcripture, be imputed for righteousness to us: for, in the phraseology of the Holy Ghoft, a thing is faid to be reckoned or imputed for what it is really, as well as for what it is not; as appears from the instances adduced, obf. 1. on the fourth phrafe. Pof. V. Since faith, or the act of believing, is not in itself righteousness for a perfon, before God, antecedently to the imputation of it, for that righteoufnefs; which is manifest from that it doth not, in itself, exactly anfwer or fulfil the law, the eternal rule of righteoufnefs: and fince God, the infallible Judge, whofe judgment is always according to truth, is the party imputing it for righteoufnefs: therefore faith, or the act of believing, imputed to finners for righteoufnefs, neither is at any time, nor is made by the impu tation, nor by any gratuitous acceptation, the very formal righteousness for which a finner is juftified in the fight of GOD. It is no more fo than Laban's daughters were really frangers to him, Gen. xxxi. 15.;

3. It is of perpetual use while here; it is an eye, hand, and foot to the foul, Pfal. xxvii. 3.; and at death it does the laft office to the man, fupports him when all other comforts fail, Heb. xi. 13.

4. Laftly, Seek faith, to have it wrought, actuated, and strengthened in you; and for that caufe, diligently attend ordinances, the preaching of the word particularly; for "faith cometh by hearing," Rom. x. 17.

or Zion's fons earthen pitchers, Lam. iv. 2.; or the nations really lefs than emptiness, If. xl. 17.; though they were so reckoned. Pof. VI. Upon the fame grounds, faith is therefore faid to be imputed for righteoufnefs; not that God judgeth it to be the righteousness of a perfon before him, but because he treats faith as if it were that righteoufnefs; namely, justifying the person who hath it, pardoning all his fins, and accepting him as righteous in his fight, immediately upon his act of believing. Even as the leviathan treats iron as ftraw, Job xli. 24. though he does not judge it to be, ftraw; and Laban treated his own daughters, Gen. xxxi. 15.; and Job's fervants their master, Job xix. 15. as if they had been ftrangers; and Zion's enemies, her fons as earthen pitchers, Lam. iv. 2. though furely they did not judge them to be so. And even as God treats the nations as if they were lefs than emptiness, If. xl. 17. though he infallibly knows they are more than emptiness: and as Job thought himself treated of God, as if he had been his enemy, Job xiii. 24.; while in the mean time he knew, that God did not judge him to be an enemy to him. Pof. VII. Though faith is not really and in itself the righteousness of a guilty man before the Lord: yet being fo in effect, to wit, relatively and inftrumentally; for as much as it lays hold on, prefents, and pleads the righteousness of Christ, it is, on good grounds, faid to be imputed for righteousness even as the flatterer's bleffing is reckoned a curfe, Prov. xxvii. 14. as being fo in effect. Pof. VIII. and laft. The righteousness which is the relative and object of faith, viz. the righteoufnefs of Chrift, is reckoned or imputed to believers, as really theirs, as well as their faith; theirs, I fay, antecedently to the imputation of it at God's bar; though the former is not indeed inherent in them, as the latter is. This is evident from the true sense of the fifth phrase, reckoning a thing to a person, established by the inftances of it above adduced. Chrift's righteoufnefs becomes ours, by faith uniting us to him: from which union immediately refults a communion with him in his righteousness; which being legally found at the bar of heaven, that perfect righteoufnefs is reckoned or imputed to us, fet down on our score, put on our account, as really ours: even as the guilt of blood is reckoned to the man, Lev. xvii. 4. as really his guilt; and as the plot of ground, Josh. xiii. 3. was reckoned to the Canaanites, as really theirs, or belonging to them, &c. And thereupon we are justified on the account of that righteousness truly being and reckoned to be ours.

Ff2

OF REPENTANCE UNTO LIFE.

ACTS xi. 18.-Then hath God alfo to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life,

REPENTANCE is an infeparable companion of faith, so

that the foul bleffed with faith in Chrift will be also endowed with repentance towards God.

This is a conclufion drawn by the believing Jews from the account Peter had given them of what paffed with refpect to his receiving the Gentiles into Christian fellowship, with which they rest satisfied, namely, That God had given repentance to the Gentiles. Where confider,

1. A bleffing granted; repentance unto life; fo called, to diftinguish it from legal repentance, and the forrow that is unto death. This true repentance is unto life; for, by God's appointment, it must go before eternal life; and whofo have it fhall be fure of that.

2. The parties to whom it was granted; the Gentiles, those who were once without hope and without God in the world.

3. The author of it, God. It is his gift, as well as faith is. He works it in the heart.

The doctrine of the text is,

DOCT. "To those whom God defigns for life, he gives repentance unto life. They come all through this ftrait gate who enter into life." Or, "Repentance unto life is a faving grace, whereby a finner, out of a true sense of his fin, and apprehenfion of the mercy of God in Chrift, doth, with grief and hatred of his fin, turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavour after, new obedience."

Here I fhall fhew,

I. What are the kinds of repentance.

II. The general nature of repentance unto life,

III. Who is the author of this

repentance.

IV. The fprings of it.

V. The parts thereof.

VI. Deduce an inference or two for application.

I. I am to fhew, what are the kinds of repentance. They

are two.

1. Legal repentance, fuch as was in Judas, and may be in other reprobates, and fo is not faving, Matth. xxvii. 3.; being produced by law terrors, without gofpel-grace changing

the heart.

2. Evangelical repentance, peculiar to the elect, which is that in the text, and is the only true and faving repentance, of which we speak. The general difference betwixt them lies here, that in this laft, one repents of his fin as it is fin, or offenfive to God, as David did, Pfal. li. 4. faying, “ Against thee, thee only have I finned, and done this evil in thy fight;" in the other, only as it brings wrath on him, Gen. iv. 13.

II. I proceed to fhew, the general nature of repentance unto life. It is a faving grace, 2 Tim. iii. 25. difpofing the foul unto all the acts of turning from fin unto God.

1. It is not a tranfient action, a figh for fin, a pang of forrow for it, which goes away again; but it is an abiding grace, a new frame and difpofition, fixed in the heart, dif pofing one to turn from fin to God on all occafions, 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 shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitternefs for his first-born."

2. Nor yet a paffing work of the first days of one's religion; but a grace in the heart, setting one to an answerable working all their days. The heart being fmitten with repentance at converfion, the wound is never bound up to bleed no more, till the band of glory be put about it.

3. It is not a common grace, as legal repentance is, but a faving one; distinguishing one from a hypocrite, and having à neceffary connection with eternal life.

III. I fhall fhew, who is the author of this repentance.

1. Not men themselves; it is not owing to one's natural

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