natural and hereditary; and so that his nature cannot be mended,

but must be renewed. And so he believes, not only that he does no good, but that he can do no good. And in all these respects he sees and believes himself to be an object loathsome in the sight of a holy God, loathsome in respect of his life, heart, and nature too.

2. By the law man believes, that he is a lost and undone sinner, under the curse of the law for his sin, Gal. iii. 10. He no more looks on the curse of the law as some strange thing, belonging only to some monsters of wickedness, and far from him. But the Spirit of God brings home the dreadful sentence of that broken law, and applies it close to him, as if he had said, thou art the man. And he groans out his belief thereof under the felt weight thereof, like a man under the sentence of death, Rom. vii. 9.

3. By it a man believes, that he is utterly incapable to help himself, and so that he must inevitably perish for ever if he get not help. He believes, that he cannot, by all his doings and sufferings, remove the curse of the law from off him, according to the divine testimony, as being without strength,' Rom. v. 6. nor change his own nature, heart, and life, in a right manner, according to that infallible testimony, Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil,' Jer. xiii. 23. He believes himself to be a dead man spiritually; legally dead, and morally dead, as the apostle testifies of himself in that case, Rom. vii. 9.

This is the faith of the law: and the effect of it is a legal repentance, whereby the soul is broken and bruised with fear and terror of the wrath of God, grieves and sorrows for sin as a ruining and destructive evil, seriously desires therefore to be freed from it, despairs of salvation by itself, and seriously looks out for relief another way, Acts ii. 37. and xvi. 29, 30. Thus the law is a schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ; and the faith of the law makes way for the faith of the gospel. Not that this legal faith or legal repentance is the condition of the soul's welcome to Christ and the covenant of grace; our access to Christ and the covenant is proclaimed free, without any conditions or qualifications required in as to warrant us sinners of mankind to believe in Jesus Christ. But they are necessary to move and excite us to make use of our privilege of free access to Christ and the covenant: so that the sinner will never come to Christ nor embrace the covenant without them.

In calling you then to embrace the covenant, ye are called indirectly, and by consequence to this faith of the law, to believe that ye are sinners in life, heart, and nature; lost and undone, under the

curse; and utterly unable to help yourselves. Yet this is not saving faith.

Saving faith, which unites to Christ, is the faith of the gospel : for the gospel only is the ministration of righteousness, 2 Cor. iii. 9. It is in it that the righteousness of faith is revealed unto faith, to be believed, Rom. i. 1?. That is the word which gives the sinner the only notice of a Saviour, of the atoning blood, and the new covenant in that blood. And hence it is that it is the only word by which saving faith is begotten in the hearts of lost sinners, Gal. iii. 2. In this word of the gospel the Lord Jesus, with all his benefits and covenant, is to be believed on and embraced by faith, Rom. x. 8. And the word of the gospel being received by believing, wo have Christ and his covenant, with all the benefits of it; faith being indeed the echo of the quickened soul to the word of grace that bringeth salvation, Mark i. 15. Isa. liii. 1. Gal. iii. 2. a trusting of the word of the gospel, the person, viz. the Saviour, and the thing therein held forth to us to be believed on for salvation.

This is that believing by which we are united to Christ, and entered into the covenant of grace. So the question being put, how shall I personally enter into the covenant of grace in a saving manner? I answer in the following particulars.

First, You must believe that there is a fulness of salvation in Christ for poor sinners. This is the constant report of the gospel concerning him, Eph. iii. 8. Heb. vii. 25. He is therein held forth, as an able Saviour, able to save men from their sins, and from the wrath of God. His merit is a sufficient defence against the tempest of fiery wrath that incensed justice is ready to cause to fly forth against transgressors, Isa. xxxii. 2. His spirit is sufficient to sanctify the most unholy, 1 Cor. vi. 11. The righteousness he fulfilled as the condition of the covenant is so valuable in itself, and in the eyes of his Father, that it is sufficient to procure justification, sanctification, and all other saving benefits to sinners, who in themselves deserve death and damnation. So that they are happy who are in him, and they shall never perish, but have everlasting life; and they shall be eternally secure under the covert of his righteousness, as a sufficient defence. Believest thou this?

This is the general faith of the gospel, which, being without particular application, doth not unite the sinner to Christ, nor enter him into the covenant; and may be found in reprobates and fallen angels, as being only an assent in general to the truth of the doctrine of the gospel, Matth. xiii. 20, 21. and viii. 29. But it is necessarily pre-requisite to a faith of particular application, by the nature of the thing; for I must first believe a saying to be true in

itself, before I can trust to it for my part; and I must first believe a thing to be good in itself, before I can believe it is good for me. But where this faith is carried forward to uniting with Christ, it issues in an ardent desire of union and communion with Christ, an high esteem of him and his covenant, and a longing for his righteousness, as a hungry man for meat, or a thirsty man for drink.

Secondly, Ye must believe that Jesus Christ, with his righteousness and all his salvation, is by himself offered to sinners, and to you in particular. This is the plain voice of the gospel, Isa. lv. 1. Rev. xxii. 17. Prov. viii. 4. But, alas! few believe it; yea, none will believe it to purpose, till the Spirit of the Lord make it plain to them, and persuade them by an inward illumination. Many secure sinners hear the gospel, and are glad of the offer; but they discern not Christ's voice in it; they hear it not as the voice of Christ himself to them, but as tho word of men; hence it hath no duo authority upon their consciences, and so they pass it over lightly.

But where true faith is a-working, the word of the gospel-offer is by the Holy Spirit inwardly brought home and applied to the soul in particular, with power, as the word of the Lord himself, and not of men, whereby the man is assured that it is the voice of Christ, and to him in particular, 1 Thess. i. 5. and ii. 13. And so the man applies it to himself by believing. This is necessary; for without it there can be no receiving of Christ, and tho soul can see no solid ground of faith: For it is evident, that there can be no receiving aright, where the sinner does not believe the offer to be made to him in particular. And here begins the application of faith, an application tending to union with Christ.

Wherefore, if ye would unite with Christ, and so enter into the covenant of grace, sist yourselves before the Lord as condemned sinners under the curse of the law; and hoar and believe the word of tho gospel as made to you condemned and cursed sinners in particular. And so it will come to you as the offer of a pardon to one under sentence of death, as the rising sun to one sitting in darkness, and the shadow of death. And let not your heart misgive by unbelief, but believe the offer, to be made to you, as it is indeed, (Isa. lv. 3.) by Christ himself.

Thirdly, Ye must believe that Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the world, and your Saviour in particular, by the Father's appointment and his own offer; and that, by the same appointment and offer, his righteousness the condition of the covenant, and eternal life the promise of tho covenant, are yours: Yours, I mean not in possession, but in right thereto, so far as ye may lawfully and warrantably take possession of, and use them as your own to all intents and

purposes of salvation. Think not this too much for you: it is no more than what is necessary to saving faith in Christ. If you believe only in the general that Christ is the Saviour of the world, and don't believe that he is your Saviour in particular, what do ye believe more than devils do? They believe that he is Jesus a Saviour, Mark i. 24. Ye must needs believe that he is your Saviour, if ye would go beyond them, and consequently that his righteousness and salvation is yours, in the sense before opened; for where Christ is given, all is given with him, Rom. viii. 32. How can you take or receive him as your Saviour, if he is not yours indeed? A man may take possession fraudulently indeed of what he does not believe to be his by right: but no man can fairly and honestly claim and take possession of what he does not believe to be his own. Certainly God must first give Christ to us, before we can receive him, John iii. 27. Giving on God's part, and receiving on ours, are corelates, and the former must needs go before the latter. Therefore believe firmly, that Christ is your Saviour in particular, his righteousness is yours, and eternal life is yours.

Fourthly, Ye must wholly trust in him as your own Saviour, and in his righteousness as made over to you, for his whole salvation to you in particular, upon the ground of God's faithfulness in his word. This is that saving faith, or believing on Christ Jesus, by which a sinner is united unto Christ, and personally entered within the covenant of grace, Acts xvi. 31. Isa. xxvi. 3, 4. Rom. i. 17. Phil. iii. 9. Gal. ii. 16. Acts xv. 11. 1 Thess. ii. 13. 1 Cor. ii. 5. This, according to the scripture, is a sinner's receiving and resting upon Christ for salvation, as saving faith is defined in our Catechism. And this is indeed believing and nothing but believing, according to the scriptural use of that word.

1. I say, this is plainly believing in the scriptural use of that word. It is a trusting of or in a person, viz. Jesus Christ, and God in him, the personal object of saving faith, Acts xvi. 31;—a trusting in a thing, viz, the righteousness of Christ, the ultimate real object of faith, Rom. i. 17. therefore called faith in his blood, Rom. iii. 25. and a trusting in a word, viz. in the record and testimony of God, the word of the promise of the gospel, John iii. 16. the proximate or nearest real object of faith. And all this for the great purpose and end of salvation.

2. This is the receiving of Christ alone for salvation, John i. 12. God has appointed Christ Saviour of the world, and your Saviour: you hear that published in the gospel, and you believe accordingly, that he is your Saviour, by his Father's appointment and his own offer thereupon you trust on him, and on him alone, for salvation,

:

and all you need for salvation. Is not this a receiving of him for your part in the character of a Saviour, wherein his Father sent him to you? a taking of him to yourself as he is offered to you? an using of him as your own Saviour by the divine appointment and offer, as trusting him for the ends for which that offer and appointment was made? Thus your whole case is put in his hand, with heart and good-will; and you truly receive him as appointed for and offered to you.

3. This is resting on Christ alone for salvation, according to the scripture, Isa. xxvi. 3. Neither can one imagine what way a person can rest on a word, or a soul can rest upon a person, but by trusting them, or trusting in them. See 2 Chron. xxxii. 8. and xiv. 11. So I conclude, that this trust in Christ is that believing on him, by which the soul is united to Christ, and brought into the covenant in a saving manner. And for opening of it, consider the import of this

trust.

(1.) It imports not only a willingness, but a sincere and earnest desire to be delivered from sin and wrath; a desire to be sanctified as well as to be justified; to be delivered from the reigning power, pollution, practice, and inbeing of sin, as well as from the guilt of it, Rom. vii. 24, 25. For it is trusting on Christ, not for the half of his salvation, viz. salvation from wrath only, as many do who are by no means desirous to part with sin; but for the whole of it, even salvation from sin too, the principal part thereof, Matth. i. 21. Faith is a believing with the heart and affection of the soul. The whole salvation of Christ is the believer's choice: it is the end he desires to compass, and the trust of faith is exerted as the means to compass that end.

(2.) A renouncing of all confidence in all that is not Christ or in Christ, as to that matter particularly. Faith overturns self-confidence, law-confidence, and creature-confidence, to build on a quite new ground, Phil. iii. 3. and Jer. xvi. 19. For it is a trusting in Christ and his righteousness wholly, a trusting or believing with all the heart, Prov. iii. 5. and Acts viii. 37. The believer is carried off the works of the law, to the blood of Jesus, for his justification; and out of himself too, unto the Spirit of holiness, for sanctification; being persuaded that no doing or suffering of his own can procure to him the pardon of, or atone for the least transgression; and that he is not able truly to mortify one lust, more than to purge away the guilt of one sin, Matth. v. 3. and Isa. xlv. 24. Thus is the sandy foundation overturned, that the soul may build on Christ the Rock.

(3.) A hearty approbation of the plan of salvation according to