his mercy is free, and his promise is free; his mercy is sure, and his promise is sure. (2.) The (2.) The mercy of God which is built up for ever in his promises, is not to be separated from the promises themselves. God hath joined them together,, and no man must presume to put them asunder. The promises are a revelation of divine mercy, and the mercies of the Lord can only be embraced in his promises. The attempts of mankind to separate the mercy and salvation of God from his promises, have contributed, perhaps more than any one cause, to enthusiasm, implicit faith, and presumption: for whereby shall it appear, that our souls are really comforted by the mercy of God, or that our hope is established on his mercy, except by this, that our souls are comforted with his word, and our hope built upon his promise? (3.) It is therefore evident, that the mercy of God is to be received and enjoyed, by receiving and enjoying the promises wherein it is conveyed. Now, to receive and enjoy a promise, is the same thing with believing it. Hence those that remain in unbelief, under the clear revelation of divine grace, remain in a state of sin and death. While they do not believe, they continue under all the guilt and misery of their natural state. While they despise the word of salvation sent among them, they despise the riches of divine mercy, and have neither part nor lot in the actual enjoyment of the sure mercies of David." But, on the other hand, as many as believe the word of truth, the gospel of their salvation, do immediately enter into the begun possession of eternal life. The promises of God are only effectual to the salvation and comfort of them that believe, Yet, say If (4.) Believing is not the condition of salvation, nor of the promises wherein it is presented to us. 'faith were the condition of our receiving the promises, it must exist before we receive them: but it has been observed, that receiving a promise is nothing else but believing it; and therefore, to say that faith is the condition of receiving the promises, is to that faith is the condition of believing them, or that faith is the condition of itself, or that a person must believe before he doth believe-which is the grossest absurdity. Two things seem to have produced misapprehensions on this point with many excellent divines. The first cause of their misapprehensions, seems to be their conceiving faith to be a virtue, that has an abstracted existence in the mind, and may be considered as a habit or power of action. Metaphysical speculation has done much to cherish this mistake, contrary to all the remonstrances of experience and common "The Popish school-divines do dream that faith is a quality cleaving in the heart, without Christ," said Luther. "This is a devilish error. Faith is a certain steadfast beholding, which looketh upon nothing else but Christ the conqueror of sin and death, and the giver of righteousness, salvation, and eternal life. This was nobly and lively represented by the brazen serpent, which is a figure of Christ. Moses commanded the sense. Jews which were stung of serpents in the desert, to do nothing else but steadfastly behold the brazen serpent, and not to turn away their eyes. They that did so were healed only by that steadfast and constant beholding of the serpent. they died who obeyed not the But, contrariwise, commandment of Moses, but looked upon their wounds, and not upon the serpent. So if I would find comfort when my conscience is afflicted, or when I am at the point of death, I must do nothing but apprehend Christ by faith, and say, I believe in Christ Jesus the Son of God, who suffered, was crucified, and died for me; in whose wounds, and in whose death, I see my sin; and in his resurrection, victory over sin, death, and the devil, also righteousness and eternal life: besides him, I see nothing, I hear nothing. This is true faith concerning Christ, and in Christ. Christ and our faith must be thoroughly joined together." The other cause of misconceiving this matter, is the want of attention to the wide difference there is between the condition upon which a benefit is given, and the means by which a benefit is received. vation is not given upon any condition to be performed by us: for "the gift of God is eternal life." Faith is not the condition upon which a gracious God confers salvation; but it is the means by which the soul receives into its possession the salvation God holds forth in the promises of the gospel. (5.) The contents of the promises show manifestly to what sort of persons they are made. The promise of pardon Sal can only benefit the guilty; the promise of sanctification can only relieve the sinful; the promise of salvation is only suitable to the lost; and the promise of redemption can only comfort the wretched sinner. These glorious blessings are only desirable and necessary unto persons of such execrable characters, and in such deplorable circumstances; and therefore, • Luther's Commentary on Gal. iii. 28. to them are such blessings freely presented in the promises of God. (6.) When God promises pardon of sin, he promises it to the guilty, as such; when he promises sanctification, he promises it to the polluted and sinful, as such; and when he promises salvation, he promises it to the lost and perishing, as such. He sets no limitations upon his revealed grace; but makes it the duty of all that hear his promise to believe it. And, (7.) Those blessings which God hath promised, are actually received and possessed by the hearing of faith. He that believeth the promise, immediately takes possession of what he believes; and he that believeth not, makes God a liar, and forsakes his own mercy. - SECT. IV. The tendency of Believing is, to dispose and enable the soul to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever. Man's chief and highest end is to glorify God, and enjoy him for ever. This was the great end of man's creation, and this is the principal end of our redemption by the blood of Jesus. "They that are. in the flesh, cannot please God;" and they cannot enjoy him, while they are "without Christ and without God." All mankind may be divided into two classes: they are either unbelievers, or believers of the truth of the gospel. If they are unbelievers, they are "in the flesh," in a state of condemnation, and dead in trespasses and sins: they are neither capable of glorifying God, nor of enjoying him, while they continue in that estate. But as many as God hath effectually called by his grace, are made partakers of a new state by their union to Christ: 66 They put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." The new man signifies that state of salvation into which sinners are brought by their effectual calling. The new man "is created;" to intimate, that it is altogether new, and that it is throughout the workmanship of God, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working. This happy state consists in righteousness and true holiness: in righteousness, to cover our heinous and manifold sins, and to render us accepted in the sight of God; and in true holiness, to enstamp the image of God upon our hearts, and to produce holy obedience in our lives. The obedience unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ, imputed to the guilty sinner, is the righteousness that justifies him; and the sanctification of the Spirit, is the true holiness that makes him meet to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light. A believer's new state consists in this righteousness and true holiness joined together, as the grand constituent branches of God's salvation. This new man, or this state of salvation, must be put on by believing on Christ, as made of God unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. new man is said to be "after God," in opposition to the old man, which is said to be "concerning the former conversation." The state of salvation a believer has in Christ, is "after God;" both as it inclines and strengthens the soul to live to the glory of God, and as it makes the soul happy in communion with God. This 1. The state of salvation a believer has in Christ, |