The same St, Peter preaches again to the jews, Acts as delivered in the Scriptures, 105 iii. 19, " Repent, and be converted, that your sins may " be blotted out."
What this repentance was which the new covenant required, as one of the conditions to be performed by all those who should receive the benefits of that cove nant; is plain in the scripture, to be not only a sorrow for sins past, but (what is a natural consequence of such sorrow, if it be real) a turning from them into a new and contrary life. And so they are joined together, Acts iii. 19, " Repent and turn about;" or, as we render it, " be converted." And Acts xxvi. 20, " Repent and " turn to God."
And sometimes " turning about " is put alone to sig nify repentance, Matt. xiii. 15, Luke xxii. 32, which in other words is well expressed by " newness of life." For it being certain that he, who is really sorry for his sins, and abhors them, will turn from them, and forsake them; either of these acts, which have so natural a connection one with the other, may be, and is often put for both together. Repentance is an hearty sorrow for our past misdeeds, and a sincere resolution and endea vour, to the utmost of our power, to conform all our actions to the law of God. So that repentance does not consist in one single act of sorrow, (though that being the first and leading act gives denomination to the whole,) but in " doing works meet for repentance;" in a sincere obedience to the law of Christ, the remainder of our lives. This was called for by John the Baptist, the preacher of repentance, Matt. iii. 8, " Bring forth " fruits meet for repentance." And by St. Paul here, Acts xxvi. 20, " Repent and turn to God, and do works " meet for repentance." There are works to follow belonging to repentance, as well as sorrow for what is past.
These two, faith and repentance, i. e. believing Jesus tol>e the Messiah, and a good life, are the indispensable conditions of the new covenant, to be performed by all those who would obtain eternal life. (The reasonable ness, or rather necessity of which, that we may the better comprehend, we must a little look back to what was said in the beginning.
106 The Reasonableness of Christianity, Adam being the Son of God, and so St. Luke calls him, chap. iii. 38, had this part also of the likeness and image of his father, viz. that he was immortal. But Adam, transgressing the command given him by his heavenly Father, incurred the penalty; forfeited that state of immortality, and became mortal. After this, Adam begot children: but they were " in his own " likeness, after his own image; " mortal, like their father.
God nevertheless, out of his infinite mercy, willing to bestow eternal life on mortal men, sends Jesus Christ into the world; who being conceived in the womb of a virgin (that had not known man) by the immediate power of God, was properly the Son of God; according to what the angel declared unto his mother, Luke i. 30 — 35, " The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and " the power of the Highest shall over-shadow thee: " therefore also that holy thing, which shall be born of " thee, shall be called the SON OF GOD." So that be ing the Son of God, he was like the Father, immortal; as he tells us, John v. 26, " As the Father hath life in " himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in " himself."
And that immortality is a part of that image, wherein those (who were the immediate sons of God, so as to have no other father) were made like their father, ap pears probable, not only from the places in Genesis concerning Adam, above taken notice of, but seems to me also to be intimated in some expressions, concerning Jesus the Son of God, in the New Testament. Col. i. 15, he is called " the image of the invisible God." In visible seems put in, to obviate any gross imagina tion, that he (as images used to do) represented God in any corporeal or visible resemblance. And there is far ther subjoined, to lead us into the meaning of it, " The " first-born of every creature; " which is farther ex plained, ver. 18, where he is termed " The first-born " from the dead; " thereby making out, and showing himself to be the image of the invisible; that death hath no power over him; but being the Son of God, and not having forfeited that sonship by any transgression; (is delivered in the Scriptures.
was the heir of eternal life, as Adam should have been, had he continued in his filial duty. In the same sense the apostle seems to use the word image in other places, viz. Rom. viii. 29, " Whom he did foreknow, he also " did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his >?r " Son, that he might be the first-born among many H3 " brethren." This image, to which they were con formed, seems to be immortality and eternal life: for it is remarkable, that in both these places, St. Paul speaks of the resurrection; and that Christ was " The first-born " among many brethren;" he being by birth the Son of God, and the others only by adoption, as we see in this same chapter ver. 15 — 17, " Ye have received the " Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father; " the Spirit itself bearing witness with our spirit, that " we are the children of God. And if children, then " heirs, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we " suffer with him, that we may also be glorified toge- " ther." And hence we see, that our Saviour vouch safes to call those, who at the day of judgment are, through him, entering into eternal life, his brethren; Matt. xxv. 40, " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one " of the least of these my brethren." May we not in this find a reason, why God so frequently in the New Testament, and so seldom, if at all, in the Old, is men tioned under the single title of THE FATHER? And there fore our Saviour says, Matt. xi. " No man knoweth the " Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son " will reveal him." God has now a son again in the world, the first-born of many brethren, who all now, by the Spirit of adoption, can say, Abba, Father. And we, by adoption, being for his sake made his brethren, and the sons of God, come to share in that inheritance, which was his natural right; he being by birth the Son of God: which inheritance is eternal life. And again, ver. 23, " We groan within ourselves, waiting for the " adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body; " whereby is plainly meant, the change of these frail mortal bodies, into the spiritual immortal bodies at the resurrection; " When this mortal shall have put on " immortality," 1 Cor. xv. 54; which in that chapter, 108 The Reasonableness of Christianity, ver. 42 — 44, he farther expresses thus; " So also is the " resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, " it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonour, " it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is " raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised " a spiritual body," &c. To which he subjoins, ver. 49, " As we have born the image of the earthly," (i. e. as we have been mortal, like earthy Adam, our father, from whom we are descended, when he was turned out of paradise,) " we shall also bear the image of the hea- " venly; " into whose sonship and inheritance being adopted, we shall, at the resurrection, receive that adoption we expect, " even the redemption of our bo- *•' dies; " and after his image, which is the image of the Father, become immortal. Hear what he says himself, Luke xx. 35, 36, " They who shall be ac- *e counted worthy to obtain that world, and the resur- " rection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given " in marriage. Neither can they die any more; for " they are equal to the angels, and are the SONS OF " GOD, being the sons of the resurrection." And he that shall read St. Paul's arguing, Acts xiii. 32, 33, will find that the great evidence that Jesus was the " Son of God," was his resurrection. Then the image of his Father appeared in him, when he visibly entered into the state of immortality. For thus the apostle rea sons, " We preach to you, how that the promise which " was made to our fathers, God hath fulfilled the same " unto us, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it " is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my " Son, this day have I begotten thee."
This may serve a little to explain the immortality of the sons of God, who are in this like their Father, made after his image and likeness. But that our Saviour was so, he himself farther declares, John x. 18, where speaking of his life, he says, " No one taketh it from " me, but I lay it down of myself; I have power to lay " it down, and I have power to take it up again." Which he could not have had, if he had been a mortal man, the son of a man, of the seed of Adam; or else had by any transgression forfeited his life. " For the wages as delivered in the Scriptures. 109 " of sin is death:" and he that hath incurred death for his own transgression, cannot lay down his life for an other, as our Saviour professes he did. For he was the just one, Acts vii. 52, and xxii. 14, " Who knew no " sin;" 2 Cor.v. 211, " Who did no sin, neither was guile " found in his mouth." And thus, " As by man came " death, so by man came the resurrection of the dead. " For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made " alive."
For this laying down his life for others, our Saviour tells us, John x. 17, " Therefore does my Father love " me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it " again." And this his obedience and suffering was re- warded with a kingdom: which he tells us, Luke xxii. " His Father had appointed unto him:" and which, it is evident out of the epistle to the Hebrews, chap. xii. 2, he had a regard to in his sufferings: " Who for the joy " that was set before him, endured the cross, despising " the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the " throne of God." Which kingdom, given him upon this account of his obedience, suffering, and death, he himself takes notice of in these words, John xvii. 1 — 4, " Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, " the hour is come: glorify thy Son, that thy Son also " may glorify thee: as thou hast given him power over " all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many " as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that " they may know thee the only true God, and Jesus, " the Messiah, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified " thee on earth: I have finished the work which thou " gavest me to do." And St. Paul, in his epistle to the Philippians, chap. ii. 8 — 11, " He humbled himself, " and became obedient unto death, even the death of " the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted " him, and given him a name that is above every name; " that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of " things in heaven, and things in earth, and things un- " der the earth; and that every tongue should confess, " that Jesus Christ is Lord."
Thus God, we see, designed his Son Jesus Christ a kingdom, an everlasting kingdom in heaven. But 110 The Reasonableness of Christianity, though, " as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be " made alive; " and all men shall return to life again at the last day; yet all men having sinned, and thereby " come short of the glory of God," as St. Paul assures us, Rom. iii. 23, i. e. not attaining to the heavenly kingdom of the Messiah, which is often called the glory of God; (as may be seen, Rom. v. 2, and xv. 7; and ii. 7; Matt. xvi. 27; Mark vii. 38. For no one who is unrighteous, i. e. comes short of perfect righteousness, shall be admitted into the eternal life of that kingdom; as is declared, 1 Cor. vi. 9, " The unrighteous shall not " inherit the kingdom of God; ") and death, the wages of sin, being the portion of all those who had trans gressed the righteous law of God; the son of God would in vain have come into the world to lay the founda tions of a kingdom, and gather together a select people out of the world, if, (they being found guilty at their appearance before the judgment-seat of the righteous Judge of all men at the last day,) instead of entrance into eternal life in the kingdom he had prepared for them, they should receive death, the just reward of sin which every one of them wras guilty of; this second death would have left him no subjects; and instead of those ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, there would not have been one left him to sing praises unto his name, saying, " Blessing, and ho- " nour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth " on the throne, and unto the lamb for ever and ever." God therefore, out of his mercy to mankind, and for the erecting of the kingdom of his Son, and furnishing it with subjects out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; proposed to the children of men, that as many of them as would believe Jesus his Son (whom he sent into the world) to be the Messiah, the promised Deliverer; and would receive him for their King and Ruler; should have all their past sins, disobe dience, and rebellion forgiven them: and if for the fu ture they lived in a sincere obedience to his law, to the utmost of their power; the sins of human frailty for the time to come, as well as all those of their past lives; should, for his Son's sake, because they gave as delivered in the Scriptures. Ill themselves up to him, to be his subjects, be forgiven them: and so their faith, which made them be bap tized into his name, (i. e. enrol themselves in the king dom of Jesus the Messiah, and profess themselves his subjects, and consequently live by the laws of his king dom,) should be accounted to them for righteousness; i. e. should supply the defects of a scanty obedience in the sight of God; who, counting faith to them for righ teousness, or complete obedience, did thus justify, or make them just, and thereby capable of eternal life.
Now, that this is the faith for which God of his free grace justifies smful man, (for "it is God alone that jus- " tifieth," Rom. viii. 33, Rom. iii. 26,) we have already showed, by observing through all the history of our Sa viour and the apostles, recorded in the evangelists, and in the Acts, what he and his apostles preached, and pro posed to be believed. We shall show now, that besides believing him to be the Messiah, their King, it was far ther required, that those who would have the privilege, advantage, and deliverance of his kingdom, should enter themselves into it; and by baptism being made deni zens, and solemnly incorporated into that kingdom, live as became subjects obedient to the laws of it. For if they believed him to be the Messiah, their King, but would not obey his laws, and would not have him to reign over them; they were but the greater rebels; and God would not justify them for a faith that did but in crease their guilt, and oppose diametrically the king dom and design of the Messiah; " Who gave himself " for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and " purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good " works," Titus ii. 14. An? therefore St. Paul tells the Galatians, That that which availeth is faith; but " faith " working by love." And that faith without works, i. e. the works of sincere obedience to the law and will of Christ, is not sufficient for our justification, St. James shows at large, chap. ii.
Neither, indeed, could it be otherwise; for life, eter nal life, being the reward of justice or righteousness only, appointed by the righteous God (who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity) to those who only had no 112 The Reasonableness of Christianity, taint or infection of sin upon them, it is impossible that he should justify those who had no regard to justice at all whatever they believed. This would have been to encourage iniquity, contrary to the purity of his na ture; and to have condemned that eternal law of right, which is holy, just, and good; of which no one precept or rule is abrogated or repealed; nor indeed can be, whilst God is an holy, just, and righteous God, and man a rational creature. The duties of that law, arising from the constitution of his very nature, are of eternal obliga tion; nor can it be taken away or dispensed with, without changing the nature of things, overturning the measures of right and wrong, and thereby introducing and authorizing irregularity, confusion, and disorder in the world. Christ's coming into the world was not for such an end as that; but, on the contrary, to reform the corrupt state of degenerate man; and out of those who would mend their lives, and bring forth fruit meet for repentance, erect a new kingdom.
This is the law of that kingdom, as well as of all mankind; and that law, by which all men shall be judged at the last day. Only those who have believed Jesus to be the Messiah, and have taken him to be their King, with a sincere endeavour after righteousness, in obeying his law; shall have their past sins not imputed to them; and shall have that faith taken instead of obedience, where frailty and weakness made them transgress, and sin prevailed after conversion; in those who hunger and thirst after righteousness,, (or perfect obedience,) and do not allow themselves in acts of dis obedience and rebellion, against the laws of that king dom they are entered into.
He did not expect, it is true, a perfect obedience, void of slips and falls: he knew our make, and the weakness of our constitution too well, and was sent with a supply for that defect. Besides, perfect obedience was the righ teousness of the law of works; and then the reward would be of debt, and not of grace; and to such there was no need of faith to be imputed to them for righ teousness. They stood upon their own legs, were just already, and needed no allowance to be made them for as delivered in the Scriptures. 113 believing Jesus to be the Messiah, taking him for their king, and becoming his subjects. But that Christ does require obedience, sincere obedience, is evident from the law he himself delivers (unless he can be supposed to give and inculcate laws, only to have them disobey ed) and from the sentence he will pass when he comes to judge.
The faith required was, to believe Jesus to be the Messiah, the Anointed: who had been promised by God to the world. Among the jews (to whom the pro mises and prophecies of the Messiah were more imme diately delivered) anointing was used to three sorts of persons, at their inauguration; whereby they were set apart to three great offices, viz. of priests, prophets, and kings. Though these three offices be in holy writ at tributed to our Saviour, yet I do not remember that he any-where assumes to himself the title of a priest, or mentions any thing relating to his priesthood; nor does he speak of his being a prophet but very sparingly, and only once or twice, as it were by the by: but the gos pel, or the good news of the kingdom of the Messiah, is what he preaches every-where, and makes it his great business to publish to the world. This he did not only as most agreeable to the expectation of the jews, who looked for the Messiah, chiefly as coming in power to be their king and deliverer: but as it best answered the chief end of his coming, which was to be a king, and, as such, to be received by those who would be his sub jects in the kingdom which he came to erect. And though he took not directly on himself the title of king, until he was in custody, and in the hands of Pilate; yet it is plain, " King" and " King of Israel," were the familiar and received titles of the Messiah. See John i. 50, Luke xix. 38, compared with Matt. xxi. 9; and Mark xi. 9, John xii. 13, Matt. xxi. 5, Luke xxiii. 2, compared with Matt, xxvii. 11; and John xviii. 33 — 37, Mark xv. 12, compared with Matt, xxvii. 22, 42.
What those were to do, who believed him to be the Messiah, and received him for their king, that they might be admitted to be partakers with him of his kingdom in glory, we shall best know by the laws he i 114 The Reasonableness of Christianity 9 gives them, and requires them to obey; and by the sen tence which he himself will give, when sitting on his throne they shall all appear at his tribunal, to receive every one his doom from the mouth of this righteous judge of all men.
What he proposed to his followers to be believed, we have already seen, by examining his and his apostles preaching, step by step, all through the history of the four evangelists, and the Acts of the Apostles. The same method will best arid plainest show us, whether he required of those who believed him to be the Messiah, any thing besides that faith, and what it was. For, he being a king, we shall see by his commands what he expects from his subjects: for, if he did not expect obedience to them, his commands would be but mere mockery; and if there were no punishment for the transgressors of them, his laws would not be the laws of a king, and that authority to command, and power to chastise the disobedient, but empty talk, without force, and without influence.
We shall therefore from his injunctions (if any such there be) see what he has made necessary to be per formed, by all those who shall be received into eternal life, in his kingdom prepared in the heavens. And in this we cannot be deceived. What we have from his own mouth, especially if repeated over and over again, in different places and expressions, will be past doubt and controversy. I shall pass by all that is said by St. John Baptist, or any other before our Saviour's entry upon his ministry, and public promulgation of the laws of his kingdom.
He began his preaching with a command to repent, as St. Matthew tells us, iv. 17. " From that time Jesus " began to preach, saying, Repent; for the kingdom " of heaven is at hand." And Luke v. 32, he tells the scribes and pharisees," I come not to call the righteous;" (those who were truly so, needed no help, they had a right to the tree of life), " but sinners, to repentance."
In his sermon, as it is called, in the mount, Luke vi. and Matt. v. &c. he commands they should be exem plary in good works: " Let your light so shine amongst as delivered in the Scriptures. 115 " men, that they may see your good works, and glorify " your Father which is in heaven," Matt. v. 15. And that they might know what he came for, and what he expected of them, he tells them, ver. 17 — 20, " Think " not that I am come to dissolve," or loosen, " the law, " or the prophets: I am not come to dissolve," or loosen, " but to make it full," or complete; by giving it you in its true and strict sense. Here we see he confirms, and at once re-in forces all the moral precepts in the Old Testa ment. " For verily I say to you, Till heaven and earth " pass, one jot or one tittle, shall in no wise pass from " the law, till all be done. Whosoever therefore shall " break one of these least commandments, and shall " teach men so, he shall be called the least (i, e. as it " is interpreted, shall not be at all) in the kingdom of " heaven." Ver. 21, " I say unto you, That except " your righteousness," i. e. your performance of the eternal law of right, " shall exceed the righteousness " of the scribes and pharisees, ye shall in no case enter " into the kingdom of heaven." And then he goes on to make good what he said, ver. 17, viz, " That he was " come to complete the law," viz. by giving its full and clear sense, free from the corrupt and loosening glosses of the scribes and pharisees, ver. 22 — 26. He tells them, That not only murder, but causeless anger, and so much as words of contempt, were forbidden. He commands them to be reconciled and kind towards their adversaries; and that upon pain of condemnation. In the following part of his sermon, which is to be read Luke vi. and more at large, Matt. v. vi. vii. he not only forbids actual uncleanness, but all irregular desires, upon pain of hell-fire; causeless divorces; swearing in conversation, as well as forswearing in judgment; re venge; retaliation; ostentation of charity, of devotion, £ and of fasting; repetitions in prayer, covetousness, worldly care, censoriousness: and on the other side commands loving our enemies, doing good to those that hate us, blessing those that curse us, praying for those that despitefuliy use us; patience and meekness under injuries, forgiveness, liberality, compassion: and closes all; his particular injunctions, with this general 116 The Reasonableness of Christianity, golden rule, Matt. vii. 12, " All things whatsoever ye ** would that men should do to you, do you even so to " them, for this is the law and the prophets." And to show how much he is in earnest, and expects obedience to these laws, he tells them, Luke vi. 35, That if they obey, " great shall be their REWARD;" they " shall be " called the sons of the Highest." And to all this, in the conclusion, he adds the solemn sanction; " Why " call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things that " I say?" It is in vain for you to take me for the Mes siah your King, unless you obey me. " Not every one " who calls me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the king- " dom of heaven/' or be the Sons of God; " but he " that doth the will of my father which is in heaven." To such disobedient subjects, though they have prophe sied and done miracles in my name, I shall say at the day of judgment, " Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity; " I know you not."