felves: So that, we are indeed so far from being able to do All for Ourfelves, that we have not fo much as a Power of Knowing and Judging what we have to do; or by what Way and Means that which is Fit or Neceffary for us to do, may be done. For, if we know not what to Ask in Prayer, plain it is, we underftand not even what we Want. And, Revelation informs us, this is our very Cafe: When left to Ourselves, We are All, as was above obferved from the Prophet, Brutih in our Knowledge. For, either the Outrage of our Paffions, or the Bias of our Prejudices runs us out of our Reafon; Or Pride and Vain-Glory do Intoxicate and Debauch it; So that, Howfoever (as Zophar in Job obferves) Vain Man would be Wife, will be Conceited of His own poor Abilities and Powers, does imagine His Own Reafon to be the Measure of all Science, yet Man is born but like the Wild Affes Colt. He has in Nature nothing but what is common to Brutes; or rather, what He boafts to have beyond them, even His Princely Reason, Corrupted as now it is, carries Him oftentimes to more Wild and Irregular, to more Tumultuous and Outragious Acts, than the Simple Instincts of Brutes do Them. Job. 11. 12. It is only

that Divine Anointing by the Holy Ghost, which we have received of our Lord, the Anointing which abideth in us, that can give us an Understanding and Knowledge truly to our Purpose, that can fo Inftruit us, as that we shall not need any Man (with His vain Reasonings and Imaginations) fhould teach us. But, as the fame

Anoint

Anointing teacheth us of all Things Neceffary for us to know, and is Truth, and is no Lie, no Deception; and even as it hath taught us, fo fhall we abide in Him. 1 John 2. 17, 18, The Meaning is, that, pretending to Go by the Light of our own mere Reafonings, we cut Ourfelves off from Him who is the only Foun tain of True Light and Wifdom, and fo muft be left to Grope by Ourfelves in the Dark, and can know Nothing as we ought to know, And, if in this State we do, of Ourfelves, Know Nothing; much lefs can we think to Perform any thing Available in the least to render us Acceptable to God: And, confequently, we cannot by our fimple Repentances (after Sins committed) recover His Forgiveness, and Re-inftate Ourselves in His Favour.

Secondly, If we are naturally in fuch a State, are fo far Criminals Convict, that we have no Room to put in any Sort of Plea for Ourselves, but do want to be fuftified by a Saviour performing all Righteoufnefs for us; And, if that Righteoufnefs of our Saviour is no otherwife to be Applied to any one of us, than by Faith on our Part, with the Co-operation of the Holy Ghoft; then our Repentance, to make it Available for us, Is not, as they Talk, merely what it is in Itself, nor Acceptable on Account only of Itfelf, but is what it is Made by Faith in that faftification. And, This is from the one End to the other the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures, viz. That our Whole Juftification is by Faith, Why fo? Why, that it might be by Grace; Not of our Merits, but of God's

pure

pure Mercy. Rom. 4. 16. That God is fuft, How? In being the Fuftifier of every One that Believeth in Fefus. This Way an Expedient is found to fave the Divine Attribute of Justice, I mean, by fuftifying us for the Satisfaction of Chrift: Whereas, if He Juftified us for that Nullity of our own Righteoufnefs or Repentance, He fhould not be Fuft. Because He fhould Allow fomewhat in us to be Right and Good which in no Respect can be either. Moreover, God hath Declared our fuftification to be, as aforefaid, by Chrift; that there might be no Handle given to Man for Presumptuous Boaftings, which are but Self-Delufions, and muft terminate even in a fecond Fall. Rom. 3. 26, 27. To this may be added other like Testimonies; as that,---No Man can deliver, or reftore from Bondage, His own Soul, but that God only Can, and Will, Redeem our Soul from the Power of the Grave. Pfalm 49. 9. 15. And, 89. 48. That,---Through Chrift Jefus is Preached unto us the Forgiveness of Sins, and by Him all that Believe, are fuftified, (as was before observed) from all Things, from which we could not be Fuftified by the Law of Mofes: That is, by the Performances whether Moral or Ceremonial of that Law: And, This includes All; For that, there is no Other Law that does Teach or Appoint any Other Sort of Performances, or Works, than One or Other of Thofe:---Neither is there Salvation in any Other than Jefus Chrift of Nazareth; For, there is none Other Name under Heaven given among Men, whereby we must be Saved. Acts 4. 12. Indeed,

The

The Places to this Purpose are so numerous, fo exprefs and full, to fhew, that our Works and Repentances, without Faith in that Redemption and fuftification by Chrift, cannot be, (as Adverfaries would have them) What They are in Themfelves, that is, All-fufficient in Themselves; but must be mere Nullities, or rather much worse than Nothing and Sinful; that one would wonder, How it could ever enter into any Man's Head or Heart, to teach the Sufficiency of our Simple Repentance to Obtain the Divine Favour and Pardon of our Sins, without Chrift; and to tell us, This is Scripture Doctrine, or, The Doctrine of the Gospel; When you can scarce turn over a Page in the Bible, in the Doctrinal Parts of the Old Teftament or the New, that does not abundantly Contradict this Affertion; Nay, when all the Sacred Things and Actions, all the Ceremonies and Services in all the Sacrifices and Sacraments Recorded in thofe Sacred Books, are, if rightly Understood, fo many plain Indications and Evidences of the Contrary; The Design of all the faid Sacred Books being but this one, to Teach and Inforce the right Apprehenfion of this one Neceffary Point, of Juftification through Faith in the Atonement by Chrift.

Thirdly, If the Deity be Propitiated or rendered Merciful to Sinners, but not without Satisfaction for Sins made to His Justice; Then is not the Divine Propitioufnefs or Difpofition to fhew Mercy to Sinners, what it is merely in ItSelf; but Is what it Is together with that Satisfaction

tisfaction made to His Juftice, taken into the Account. And fo that Divine Perfon that was to be in Chrift, fpeaks of the Man Chrift Jefus, by the Prophet Ifaiah 53. 11.---By His Knowledge fhall He give abundant Reft: My Fuft Servant fhall fuftify Many, for, He fall bear their Iniquities. And fo the Apoftle tells us,---Fefus our Lord was delivered to Death for our Offences, and raised again for our Fuftification. Rom. 4. 25. The Meaning is, that He was raised from the Dead, Effectually to apply to us the Merits of the Sacrifice of His Death, by Communicating to Us of His Living Spirit: And,---In Him we have an Advocate with the Father, Fefus Chrift the Righteous, who is able Powerfully to Plead our Debt paid for us by Himself, How? In that He is the very Propitiation for our Sins. 1 Joh. 2. 1. Which Propitiation alfo elsewhere is Expreffed to be of Force, to take off both the Original Attainder paffed upon us All by the Sin of our First Parents, and also the Condemnation due to every one of us for our own Many Actual Offences and Tranfgreffions. See Rom. 5. 16, 17, 18, 19. So that,

God's Propitiousness, or Difpofition to fhen Mercy, follows not our Act, but our Saviour's Merit; Neither is it by any Means in Us to Obtain for Our felves the Benefit of that Divine Propitiousness; But, to procure this for us, is properly the Part of that Divine Perfon, who hath freely and fully Difcharged our Debt. Thus the Apostle fays exprefsly,Herein is Love, (that Propitioufnefs, or Difpofition of

the