Belief of the Forgiveness of a Man's own Sins in particular; but of Belief in Jefus Chrift, by whom only Remiffion of Sins is to be obtained. St. Paul faith in my Text, Belief in the Lord Jefus, and thou shalt be faved; But his Meaning is not, Believe that Chrift died for thee in particular, and thou shalt be faved; But this, Believe, that Jefus Christ was fent by God to be the Saviour of the World, and become a Difciple of his, and then thou shalt be faved. Again, our Saviour faith, Whoever believeth not, shall be damned. But far be it from us to conftrue his Words on this Manner, that whofoever believeth not that he is one of thofe to whom the Promifes of God do belong, fhall be damned But thus the Context will oblige us to expound them, that whofoever hath the Gofpel preached to him, and doth not believe it, and enter into the Poffeffion of it by Baptifm, with fincere Refolutions to live according to it, fuch an one fhall be damned.

Laftly; It is faid, that Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for Righteoufnefs: But this is not to be understood as if Abraham's Faith was nothing but his Affurance of God's Favour, and his applying the Promises to himfelf; and that this was counted to him for Righteousness. No, Abraham's Faith was quite a different Thing, as the Apoftle all along defcribes it. His Faith confifted in believing ftedfastly the Revelations of God to him to be true, how im

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probable foever the Matter of them feemed to Flesh and Blood: And, upon this Belief, quitting his Country, and Friends, and difpofing himself to pay intire Obedience to the Commands of God, tho' they were never fo feemingly fevere. This was that Faith of his that was counted to him for Righteoufnefs; that is, upon Account of which, God accepted him as a righteous Perfon. And this Faith of Abraham's is always, by the Apoftle, reprefented as a Pattern of our Faith: The Copy that we are to write after, if we expect Acceptance of God.

By thefe feveral Things that I have now represented, you may eafily perceive how different a Thing that, which many Persons among us call true Faith, and of the Want of which fome good People do complain, is from the Faith of the Gofpel, that Faith which Chrift hath propofed as a Condition of our Salvation.

If any Man be not fatisfied with all this, but will ftill contend that the principal Act of faving Faith, the very Life and Soul of it, doth confist in applying Christ's Merits to ourselves, in laying hold on his Righteoufnefs, and making it our own; all the Anfwer that I can farther make, is this, That these are Phrases of Man's making, and are not to be found in the Book of God: but, if those that use them will tell us what they mean by them, we fhall be able, from that Book, to give an Account how far they do be

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long to Faith, and how far they do not. If, by applying Chrift's Merits to ourselves, and making his Righteousness ours; if, by thefe Phrases, they mean no more than this, that we are to expect to be faved through the Merits of Chrift, by the Conformity of our Hearts and Lives to that Righteousness, which he prescribed to us, and of which, in his own Life, he gave us an Example; then, it is very certain, they give us a true Notion of Faith: And whofoever fo believes, and fo practifes, hath true Faith. But if, by the Phrafes of applying Chrift's Merits, and laying hold on his Righteousness, they mean, a perfuading ourselves that Chrift's Merits are actually imputed to us, and that we are actually accounted righteous before God, because he was fo; then we fay positively, that this is no Part, no Act, no Office of that Faith, which the holy Scripture requires of Mankind, in order to Salvation. We fay pofitively, that if this be Faith, very bad Men may be true Believers, and very good Men may be Infidels; and, confequently, that very bad Men may go to Heaven, and very good may be excluded out of it.

But what then is that true, lively, faving Faith, or Belief, which is fo often spoken of, as the great Condition of Salvation? This is my fecond Inquiry upon this Head, and which I fhall dispatch in a very few Words; because, indeed, I have much prevented myself in this Argument, by what has been faid already.

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I do not know how it comes to pass, that this Business of Faith in Jesus Christ, which is on all hands acknowledged fo neceffary, is, by many, made fo intricate a Bufinefs: Certain it is, to one that comes to the reading of the Scriptures with an unprejudiced Mind, there is nothing more eafy or more obvious than the Notion of it.

To believe in Jefus Chrift, or Faith in Jefus Chrift, is, according to the whole Tenor of the New Teftament, never more nor less, than to become his Difciples; to be fo convinced in our own Minds, that he was fent from God to be the Saviour of the World, as to yield Affent to all that he taught, and to give up ourselves to be obedient to all that he commanded.

This is the whole Business of that Faith, of which fome Men have made fo great a Mystery. This is the whole Meaning of coming to Chrift, of receiving Chrift, of putting on Chrift, of being in Jefus Chrift, which the Scripture fpeaks of. And this likewise ought to be the Meaning of all those Phrafes (if we will make Sense of them) which, tho' they be not Scripture Expreffions, yet are commonly applied to this Matter; that is, of refting and relying upon Jefus Chrift, of having an Intereft in him, of laying hold upon him, and his Righteoufnefs; and the like.

The whole of that, which we call faving or justifying faith, is comprized in these two Things: An hearty Affent of our Understanding to all that Jefus Chrift and his Apostles delivered to Mankind, as the Will of God; and an hearty Confent of our Wills, following thereupon, to be govern'd by those Laws and Rules that are prefcribed to us: Or (as others are pleased to word it) thus: To have a faving Faith in Jefus Chrift, is to own or accept of him in all his Offices: To receive him as the great Prophet,, that came to declare the Will of God to Mankind, and, under that Notion, to give a Belief to whatfoever he taught: To receive him as the great High-Prieft, that was to make an Atonement for the Sins of the World; and, under that Notion to depend upon the Merits of his Sacrifice and Interceffion for the Remiffion of our Sins, and all the other Benefits of his Paffion: And, laftly, to receive him as the great King that God hath fet over his Church; and, under that Notion, to refign up ourselves to be wholly difpofed of and govern'd by him.

In a Word; To believe in Chrift, is nothing else, but to believe the Gofpel, and to fet ourselves to live according to it: So to affent to the Truth of the Scriptures, as to be induced thereby seriously to apply our Minds to the denying Ungodlinefs, and worldly Lufts, and living righteously, foberly, and godlily in this prefent World. This, I fay,

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