A discourse of the saving grace of God

(2.) The subsequent Blessings of the Covenant, those that follow the first, are in some sense Conditional, and so Offered and Promised in a Conditional Form, and yet are never the less Gracious. There are Terms and Conditions, taking the word Conditions in a latitude, as comprising Qualifications, Adjuncts, and necessary Antecedents, which do no way derogate from Grace; neither detract from its Freeness, nor obscure, but rather illustrate it, Rom. 10. 8, 9, 10. Rev. 3. Upon such Terms are Justification, Adoption, Salvation offered, and not Offered but upon Terms, and yet most Freely and Graciously, Rom. 3. Freely by his Grace, and yet through Faith, no otherwise but upon such Terms, Joh. 3. 18. Upon the same Terms we are Adopted, Joh. 1. 12. We are saved by Grace, but through Faith, Eph. 2. And not only Faith, but Holiness of Heart and Life, and Perseverance therein, are the Terms upon which Salvation is Promised, Mat. 5. Heb. 12. 14. Rev. 2. 10. Mark 13. 13. It is all one as if they were expressed Conditionally. ⟨p. 135⟩This is not because the Lord makes a Conditional Bargain with us, leaving the Condition to our own Wills, being uncertain whether it will be made good or no: But the reason is, because Divine Wisdom has made a Connection betwixt these Blessings, so that they shall never be separated; one of them shall not be had without the other: No Justification without Faith, no Salvation without Holiness, no Glory without Perseverance: And has Constituted an Order amongst them, so that one of them must go before the other: We must Believe before we be Justified, and be Holy before we can see God. And has appointed one of them to be the Means or way to obtain the other: We are Justified by Faith, we are Created unto good Works, that we should walk in them. Acts of Holy Obedience are the way wherein we must walk to Salvation: So that here is an Antecedence of some Duty, and that necessary by Divine Appointment and Command, and this tending to obtain a Favour freely offered.