but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

This, then we may consider as a fixed and absolute certainty; that the soul may endure the want of every thing but the Word of God. Deprived of this, it cannot receive benefit from any one thing; but having this, it is rich, wanting nothing: for it is the Word of life, of truth, of light, of peace, of righteousness, of salvation, of joy, of liberty, of wisdom, of strength, of grace, of glory, of all good that passeth understanding! And this is the reason why the prophet, throughout the whole of his Octonary, and in many other places, sighs out so many prayers, cries, and groans, concerning the Word of God!

And hence, as, on the one hand, no greater plague can be inflicted by the anger of God than when he sends a famine of hearing the Word, as in Amos viii.; so, on the other, there can be no greater token of his favour than when he sends his Word: as in Psalm cvii., "He sent his Word and healed them, and delivered them out of their destructions." Nor was Christ sent unto any other office, than that of the Word. Nor was the apostolical, episcopal, nor the whole ministerial order, called and ordained to any other purpose, than the ministry of the Word.

But you will ask which Word of God is this? and how must it be made use of? for there are so many words of God.-I answer, the apostle Paul, Rom. i., explains which it is. The gospel of God concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was incarnate, and crucified; and who is risen again, and glorified by the Holy Ghost the sanctifier. For, the preaching of Christ, feeds, justifies, sets free, and saves the soul that believeth what is preached. For faith alone is the saving and effectual use of the Word of God: as in Romans x., "If 'thou shalt confess with thy mouth that Jesus is the Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Again, "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." And again, Romans i., "The just shall live

by his faith." Nor can the word of God be received and embraced by any works whatever, but by faith only. And therefore it is clear, that as the soul needs nothing but the Word unto life and righteousness, it is justified, without any works, by faith only. For if it could be justified by any thing else, it would have no need of the Word; and consequently no need of faith.

And moreover, this faith can by no means consist together with any works: that is, if thou presume to be justified by any works, of any kind or denomination whatever, together with faith. For this would be, to "halt between two opinions:" to "worship Baal," and to "kiss the hand:" which, as Job saith, is the greatest of all iniquity. Therefore, when thou beginnest to believe, thou at the same time beginnest to learn, that all things in thyself are unrighteous, sinful, and damnable: according to that passage, Romans iii., "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, there is none that doeth good, no not one: they are all gone out of the way, they are all together become unprofitable." When thou hast known this in thyself, thou wilt feel the necessity of Christ as having suffered and risen again for thee, and of believing in him: that thou mightest, by this faith, become another man, in finding all thy sins forgiven thee, and thyself justified by the merits of another, even of Christ only.

Since, therefore, this faith can have dominion no where but in the inner man, as Paul saith, Rom. x., "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness:" it is evident, that the inner man can be made righteous, set free, and saved, by no external work or circumstance whatever, and that no work whatever can have any thing at all to do with it: even as on the other hand, it is by no external sin or work whatever, but solely by the internal iniquity and unbelief of the heart, that man becomes the guilty and damnable bond-slave of sin. And therefore, it should be the first great aim of every Christian, laying aside all idea of works, to strengthen more and more his faith only, that through the same he might

1

increase in the knowledge, not of works, but of Christ Jesus, as having suffered and risen again for him, (as Peter, in his First Epistle, last chapter, teaches:) for it is no other work but this that makes the Christian. So Christ, John vi., when the Jews asked him what they should do that they might "work the works of God, utterly rejecting all that multitude of works with which he beheld them to be so puffed up, commanded them this one thing, saying, "This is the work of God, that believe on him whom he hath sent; for him hath God the Father sealed."

ye

Thus faith alone in Christ, is a treasure that passeth all understanding; bringing with itself full salvation, and delivering from every destruction: as it is written in the last chapter of Mark, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned." This treasure Isaiah beholding, prophesied thus, chap. x., "A short and consummate work hath God decreed to make upon the earth, and the consummate work shall overflow with righteousness." As though he had said, Faith, which is a short and consummate fulfilment of the law, shall so overflow with righteousness unto them that believe, that they shall have need of nothing else unto righteousness. The same also saith Paul, Rom. x., "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness."

But you will ask, how can it be that faith alone justifies, and, without any works, brings in such an abundant treasure of all good, when so many works, ceremonies, and laws, are enjoined us in the scriptures? I answerbefore all things hold that in mind which I have just shewn; that faith alone, without any works, justifies, sets free, and saves: as shall be more plainly shewn hereafter.

In the meantime, I should set things distinctly before thee thus:-The whole scriptures of God are divided into two parts, precepts and promises. The precepts do indeed teach good things, but those good things which they teach are not at once performed: for though they

shew us what we ought to do, they give us no power to perform the same. Therefore, they were expressly ordained to this end, that they might shew man to himself; that by them he might be brought to know his utter inability to do that which is good, and to despair of all strength in himself and therefore it is that they are called the Old Testament, which indeed they are.- For example, "Thou shalt not covet" is a precept: by which, we are all brought in guilty as sinners: for there is no one that can be free from coveting, how much soever he may strive against it. And therefore, in order that he may be brought not to covet, and to fulfil the law, he is driven to despair in himself, and to seek that help elsewhere, and in another, which he finds not in himself: as it is said in Hosea xiii., "O Israel, thy destruction is from thyself, and thy only help is in me." And the effect produced by this one commandment, is produced by all the rest, for they are all alike impossible unto us.

When the man has been taught by the precepts his utter inability, and has become anxious to know in what way he can possibly satisfy the law, (for the law must be satisfied so that not one jot or tittle thereof fail, or he must be damned without hope,) being then truly humbled and brought to nothing in his own eyes, he finds nothing in himself whereby he can become righteous in order to be saved. Then-here comes in to his help the other part of the scripture, the promises of God, which bring the glad tidings of the glory of God; and say, if thou wouldst fulfil the law, and not covet, as the law requires, then hearken!-Believe in Christ, in whom are promised unto thee grace, righteousness, peace, liberty, and all things. If thou believe, thou shalt have all things; if thou believe not, thou shalt have nothing. For all the commanded works of the law, (which are impossible with thee, and which are innumerable, and after all of no avail unto salvation,) thou shalt fulfil by this "short consummate work"-by believing! For God the Father hath included all things in faith. So that he who hath this hath all things; and he who hath not this, hath nothing.

Because, God hath included all things in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all, Rom. xi. Thus, the promises of God give freely all that the precepts exact, and fulfil all that the law commands, that all may be of God only, both the precepts and their fulfilment. God alone commands, and God alone fulfils. Therefore, the promises belong to the New Testament; and the New Testament indeed they are.

And moreover, as these promises are the words of God; holy, true, righteous, free, peaceable, and full of all good; it comes to pass, that the soul which cleaves to them with a steady faith, is so united to them, yea wholly absorbed in them, that it not only partakes of, but is saturated and intoxicated with, all their unctuous virtue. For if the touch of Christ healed, how much more shall the very absorbing of the unctuous spirit of the word, into the tender soil of the soul, communicate to the soul all the nature of that word! And it is in this manner that the soul, by faith alone, without any external works, is, through the operation of the word of God, justified, sanctified, made true, settled in peace, set free, filled with all good, and made in reality the daughter of God: according to that saying, John i., "To them gave he power to become the sons of God, even unto them that believe on his name."

From these things it may be plainly understood, how it is that faith is of so much efficacy, and why no works, nor all good works together, are equal unto it. The reason is no work can cleave to the word of God, nor have any indwelling in the soul. Faith and the word of God alone can have dominion there. And such as the word is in nature, into the same is the soul changed: as iron put into the fire becomes like fire, through the nature of the fire to which it is united.

It is clear, therefore, that the faith of a Christian man sufficeth for all things: and that he has no need of any works whatever unto justification. And then, if he have no need of works, he has no need of the law: and if he have no need of the law, he is certainly freed from the