Thomas Boston

1676-1732. Minister in Simprin and Ettrick, Scotland. Marrowman. All quotes are taken from the Complete Works of Thomas Boston (12 Vol.) Managed by @presbydog95

[Thomas Boston @Fourfold_State]

Come away to Christ freely from your sins, make your most beloved lusts stepping-stones, over the belly of which you will come to his table, putting a bill of divorce into the hand of them all, with a sincere resolution, through grace, never to entertain them willingly again.

[Thomas Boston @Fourfold_State]

Those of slavish fear eschew evil, not from love for virtue, but for fear of punishment.

[Thomas Boston @Fourfold_State]

The world hath all along been a stepmother to me; and wheresoever I would have attempted to nestle in it, there was a thorn of uneasiness laid for me.

[Thomas Boston @Fourfold_State]

Now, how faith can grow in any, to a full assurance, if there be no assurance in the nature of it, I cannot comprehend.

[Thomas Boston @Fourfold_State]

Look and see [the Marrow of Modern Divinity] with your own eyes—call things by their own names, and do not reckon Anti-Baxterianism or Anti-Neonomianism to be Antinomianism, and you shall find no Antinomianism taught here.

[Thomas Boston @Fourfold_State]

In all views which fallen man has toward the means of his own recovery, the natural bent is to the way of the covenant of works.

[Thomas Boston @Fourfold_State]

2/2 But it was added to the covenant of grace, that by looking at it men might see what kind of righteousness it is by which they can be justified in the sight of God.

[Thomas Boston @Fourfold_State]

1/2 The law was not set up by itself as an entire rule of righteousness, to which alone they were to look who desired righteousness and salvation, as it was in the cast of upright Adam...

[Thomas Boston @Fourfold_State]

4/4 And yet were they no more bound hereby to seek righteousness by the law than the young man was by our Savior's saying to him, 'If you will enter into life, keep the commandments' (Mt. 19:17-18).

[Thomas Boston @Fourfold_State]

1/4 I conceive the two covenants to have been both delivered on Mount Sinai to the Israelites. First, the covenant of grace made with Abraham, repeated and promulgated there unto Israel, to be believed and embraced by faith, that they might be saved...

[Thomas Boston @Fourfold_State]

3/4 the meaning of which was afterwards cleared by Moses, describing the righteousness of the law and sanction thereof, repeated and promulgated to the Israelites there, as the original perfect rule of righteousness, to be obeyed...

[Donald John MacLean @djmaclean1]

A significant reprint.

[Thomas Boston @Fourfold_State]

@djmaclean1 So ordered.

[Thomas Boston @Fourfold_State]

The unbelieving Israelites [in Moses' time] were under the covenant of grace made with their father Abraham externally and by profession, in respect of their visible church and state; but under the covenant of works made with their father Adam internally and really, in the soul.

[Thomas Boston @Fourfold_State]

Christ put His neck under the yoke of the law as a covenant of works, to redeem them who were under it as such... In respect of Christ, it was most properly and strictly a covenant of works, in that He made a proper, real, and full satisfaction on behalf of the elect.

[Thomas Boston @Fourfold_State]

Yet further, He undertook to bear the very same penalty that lay upon man, by virtue of the covenant of works, to have undergone; so making Himself a proper Surety for them, who must pay the sum of money that the debtor owes.

[Thomas Boston @Fourfold_State]

The Son of God consented to put Himself in man's stead, in obeying His Father, and so to do all for man that His Father should require, that satisfaction should be made: further, He consented, in man's nature, to satisfy and suffer the deserved punishment.

[Thomas Boston @Fourfold_State]

And man being as unable to sanctify himself, as to satisfy justice, the Savior behooved, not only to obey and suffer in his stead, but also to have a fullness of the Spirit of holiness in him to communicate to the sinner, that his nature might be repaired through sanctification.

[Thomas Boston @Fourfold_State]

It was necessary for provision to be made for the satisfaction of God's justice, by payment of the double debt; namely, the debt of punishment and perfect obedience. It was also necessary that provision should be made for the sanctification of the sinner.

[Thomas Boston @Fourfold_State]

Saving faith is a persuasion that we shall have life and salvation by Christ, or a receiving and resting on Him for salvation, included in it a knowledge of ourselves being beloved by God; the former cannot be without the latter.