to crediting what God propounds by these means 1. The spirits represents the expressions of the Lords love to the soul in the latitude and fulness of them It makes it appear to be so full so compleat and perfect a love as there is not the least imaginable cause of jealousie And surely this is the very intention of the Spirit of God in so often heaping up expressions upon expressions in setting out the love of God in Christ the Spirit of God doth even rise to the highest kind of expressions that is possible in this way for this end seldom names the grace of God that is to say the love of God but he calls it riches of grace nay abundant riches and the exceeding riches of his grace 2. The Spirit in this case reveals the Lords strong confirmation of all those expressions of his love The Spirit reveals how the Lord hath bound himself to the performance of all those expressions of love in the latitude and fulness of them to every Iota and point to the least tittle 1. The Spirit reveals the Lords promise of faithfulness in the expression of his love Then in Hos 2.19 God tells the Church I will betroth thee unto my self in righteousness and judgment and in loving kindness and in mercies 2. The Spirit reveals the Lords confirmation of it by his own hand writing All the Scriptures are given as the hand writing of himself only for the manifestation of the sincerity and integrity of the heart of God in the love he intends to Souls The very end of writing all the Scriptures is primarily to draw Souls to believe and secondarily to believe gradually more and more to perfection till they come to this full assurance of Faith The whole Scriptures of the Lord and New Testament are but one blessed letter of love sent from heaven by God written by the blessed Secretary of heaven the blessed Spirit of God The Inscription is nothing else but this My love to poor loveless rebellious souls through my dearly beloved Son the Lord Jesus The whole matter is nothing else but this Come in and embrace my love 3. The Spirit reaveals that the Lord hath added his oath to it Heb. 6.17 And this he doth that the soul may receive the strongest consolation from the Lords intentions in the reality of his love 4. The Spirit reveals the Lord hath confirmed it by Witnesses 1 John 5.7 8 9. The glorious Trinity the three persons in one Essence they are Witnesses to it Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are Witnesses in Heaven and the Water and Blood are Witnesses on Earth 5. The Spirit reveals that the Lord hath confirmed it by Seals The common broad Seals I mean the Sacraments that are outward Witnessing signs or Confirming signs of the Lords intentions of love to Souls in the Lord Jesus What is the Lords Supper but a meer confirming sign to confirm the Soul in believing the Faithfulness of God and his loving Souls in Jesus Christ To witness to the Soul thus much that as surely as he seeth the Bread broken as he seeth the Wine poured out so surely did the glorious God of Heaven and Earth send the Dearly Beloved of his own Soul cloathed with an humane nature to have his Body broken and his Blood poured out that thereby there might be an union with himself for such a rebellious Soul Nay the Lord hath given his privy Signet which is the Seal of his own Spirit that his Spirit should assuredly Witness and Seal up unto Souls his love in receiving them into Union with the Lord Jesus 3. The Spirit reveals the nature of God himself to the soul It is not the knowledge of what God hath said but the knowledge of what God is in himself that causeth the soul to trust in him Psal 9.10 They that know thy name will trust in thee That is they that know the Lord indeed while the nature of God is unknown unbelief of necessity bares rule in every Soul 4. The Spirit of God reveals the Lords removal of all causes of suspition or Jealousie whatever concerning the Lords faithfulness and love There are but two general grounds of Jealousie First Some experience of the unfaithfulness of God Now the Spirit hath prevented the least imaginary ground this way in regard the Lord hath never failed in performing to the uttermost all the love he expressed hitherto Secondly The second ground of Jealousie must be some fear of the Lords taking dislike of the Soul because of the Souls unfaithfulness to God Now the Spirit of God reveals to the Soul the Lords removal of all grounds of suspition by shewing the Lord intends not to take any mislike from loving of souls whatever imaginary wickedness the Soul should commit against him That is the Spirit reveals the Lords declaration of passing by the treachery and filthiness of the Soul or remembring its iniquity no more That is the Spirit reveals the Lords constant acceptance of Souls after treachery without respect to the treachery to diminish his love for it Jer. 3.1 5. And lastly The Spirit of God reveals the Lords pressing urgent perswasions invitations and commands to a fulness of confidence of all the love to poor Souls that he hath expressed to them Thereupon the Spirit comes to argue thus Wilt thou not trust the Lord that knows his own love and compassions best of all He alone knows himself and thou art not able to comprehend him The light that thou hast is but a small spark saith the Spirit of God to that great light that dwels in him and wilt thou trust to thine own spark of light rather then to the fountain of light Hereby in all these ways the Spirit of God removes this Jealous Distemper plucks out this Beam from the Souls Eyes and brings the Soul into a precious believing frame This is the First part of the Fourth Distemper that the Spirit of God must remove and that is the Jealousie of God There is a second Branch of this Jealousie or a second way how this Distemper of Jealousie works and that is as it works towards the Souls own heart The Devil endeavours to make the Soul Jealous of his own heart and would have him suspect that his own wicked heart cannot receive the will of God rightly and to make it fear it should close falsly if it should think of receiving the blessed will of God This Distemper of Jealousie is hardly healed because it hath so strong a hold it comes under the shape of Godliness It hath a pretence of the greatest sincerity and integrity that is possible it tells the Soul it is a sign of sincerity to be jealous of its own deceitfulness it tells the Soul it were a sign of presumption if it were not jealous This Distemper we shall endeavour to discover and for the clearing of it you must conceive that I do not condemn all jealousie in a Soul There are divers kindes of Jealousie that the
intendment of the death of Jesus Christ that any lust cometh to be crucified in any Soul He alone is the Spiritual Physician that heals all distempers He alone is the spiritual Conqueror to subdue all the powers that lift up their heads against the glorious Crown of Heaven Now there can be none of this vertue received from Jesus Christ but only by fleeing unto Christ and there is no fleeing unto Christ but by believing So that upon this consideration that must needs be a principle of darkness that should keep off from the only healer of all his rebellion conceiving he may not receive him while he is rebellious seeing he can never be otherwise but rebellious nor can ever have the actings of his rebellion abated in a right way but by receiving of Jesus Christ 2. The neglect of receiving the Lord Jesus revealed in the Gospel to the soul maketh the Rebellion to be of a more Scarlet Die The more gloriously the Lord reveals his mind to a soul the more dreadful is the Rebellion of that soul that neglects Obedience to that mind of God revealed Now before the tender of the Lord Jesus there was but a little Glory of the revelation of the mind of God in the Law that which is accounted no Glory in respect of the revelation of the mind of God in the Gospel 2 Cor. 3.10 There is such a transcendent glory in the revelation of the mind of God in the Gospel that every one that neglects that Glory so revealed proves a transcendent Rebel a Rebel of the highest kind Hebr. 2 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation 3. In regard the Lord Christ must be received by every soul to take away all the Rebellion and all the Degrees of Rebellion that every soul hath contracted the guilt of to himself Wo everlasting to that soul that commits but one act of Rebellion to cast it upon Jesus Christ The weight of that one Rebellion will sink the soul in hell for ever And therefore in regard every act of Rebellion must be cast upon the Lord Jesus the soul ought therefore upon the sight of his Rebellion to come to the Lord Jesus and receive him that he may free the soul by taking that Rebellion upon himself For seeing it is impossible but all those Rebellions must at last be cast upon the neck of Christ and Christ must bear them the argument would keep off the soul for ever from receiving the Lord Christ as well as keep off for a time in regard the principle of Rebellion cannot but be acting so long as the union is not made up between Christ and the soul Yet there are two things to be observed about this that are truths 1. That it is Presumption indeed for any soul to receive the Lord Jesus that he might have liberty to Rebel This indeed were to Sin that Grace might abound This were to take the Devil by the right hand and to make a League a Covenant of Death with him This were odious and abominable in the eye of the Lord Jesus 2. This is truth that it is Presumption for any soul to live or walk in any Wickedness in respect the Lord Jesus hath satisfied for his Rebellions In these two cases it were cursed desperate Presumption for a soul to have a thought of the Lord Christ belonging to him But to apply the Lord Christ to the poor Rebellious soul that hath nothing but rebellion working in his heart to God that there might be a Friendship between Christ and him that the Wall of Enmity might be broken down and that there might be a precious amity between God and him to come thus is no Presumption but the command of God to every soul Fourthly A fourth Principle of darkness is this Principle of darkness That the person of the Lord Christ considered as filled with all glorious excellency Grace Holiness and all compleat perfection is to be the object of the souls Faith That is thus that the soul is to receive the Lord Christ his own person and to receive him out of love to his person and that the soul comes but Hypocritically so long as he receives him by any other act of Faith that doth not work towards the excellencies that are in the person of Jesus Christ Saith the soul every one would be content to have Jesus Christ as a Saviour to save from Sin but this is but an Hypocritical coming to Jesus Christ This is another woful principle of darkness And this will appear by divers Considerations 1. The Lord Christ as a Saviour is propounded to the soul as the first proper object of his Faith That is as Jesus Christ was made Sin and made a Curse through Sin for poor despicable sinful souls that is to say Jesus Christ Crucified for Sin to save poor sinfull souls that must otherwise have sunk under the burden of Sin into the pit of everlasting Wo. This you shall see is the way in which Jesus Christ was represented to believing souls both in the time of the Law and in the time of the Gospel In the time of the Law it is apprehended the greatest representation of Jesus Christ was those typical Sacrifices the shedding of the blood of Bulls and Goats for the Remission of Sin as you may see Hebr. 9.22 Without shedding of blood there was no Remission Now this was to signify Jesus Christ Crucified as the object of those beleiving Jews Faith Look also into the times of the Gospel and you shall find Jesus Christ as a Saviour as Crucified for Sin to be looked at as the first object of every Beleivers Faith considering Faith as saving You shall see it in 1 Cor. 2.2 That Paul comprehends all his Preaching under this to manifest Jesus Christ Crucified to be the object of their Faith that is Jesus Christ as a Saviour as dying for Sin Therefore Faith is called Faith in the Blood of Christ Rom. 3.24 25. Also the Sacraments appointed for the Sealing of tâ—â— promise do hold forth Christ as a Saviour Look upon the Sacrament of the Lords Supper It holds forth the rending and breaking of the Body of Christ and the pouring out of his Blood and therefore it is called the Remembrance of his death Look upon the other Sacrament the Burying under Water and Rising from under the Water holds forth Jesus Christ Dying and Rising Thus primarily and properly they hold forth Jesus Christ as a Saviour And that the Lord Christ thus as he is a Saviour is the first object of Faith properly as saving will appear in two particulars 1. In regard the formal reason or the special respect and consideration of Jesus Christ as he is the object of Faith considered as saving must be something that is in Jesus Christ that doth procure that Salvation Jesus Christ considered as the object of uniting Faith must be considered under some notion whereby he doth procure this union and merit or purchase
to make his Love glorious in those objects Therefore the End must in order of Nature according to our conception be before the Means though all things are at once and by one Act done by God so that according to our conceptions the Love must be first fixed and setled upon Souls in order of nature I mean the intention of Love must be first unto Souls before the conveyance of that Gift of Love through Christ Thence 't is that the Scripture speaks of Christ not only as given but also called out to the work of Mediatorship Heb. 5.1 He was ordained to be the High Priest by God the Father to offer Sacrifice for Souls 3. There can be no End of the Lords being at that high charge for the effecting of the Love and Mercy that the Gospel discovers to Souls that will embrace him but his own praise and his peoples comfort Seeing there was no necessity I speak of absolute and indispensable necessity all this while I would not be mistaken in a thing of so high a nature I say seeing there was no absolute simple necessity for the Lord to be at such high cost in respect of himself and in respect of Souls to partake of this Mercy but it is done freely of God according to his own wisdom Thence it appears there can be no higher End than the Lords own praise the manifesting the Beams of the Lords transcendent Glory more abundantly in the Eyes of Saints and Angels And this you shall find to be the very End of it Eph. 1.4.6 Saith the Apostle He hath chosen us in Christ That is He hath chosen us as the Members of Christ the first Elect of God and that Head of the Mystical Body that God hath glorified himself in This he hath done saith he before the foundation of the world and therefore he destinated us to the adoption of Children by Jesus Christ Here is the Fathers Love in the Means and in the End v. 6. To the praise of the Glory of his Grace that is of his own Love wherein that is in which Love he hath made us acccepted in the Beloved that is in Christ Now this may be taken rwo wayes Either for his praise actively to be given to him by the Soul that partakes of that Love and Mercy that the Gospel discovers Or else passively to be manifested through this way unto those that partake of that Love and Mercy that the Gospel discovers In both ways the Lord intended to have his glorious Love admired and adored and himself sanctified in the beholding of it through the effecting and conveying of that his Love and Mercy unto Souls through such cost and charge in giving his dearly beloved Son Now observe it There are especially two wayes how the partaker of that Love and Mercy the Gospel discovers doth actively give the Lord the praise of the glory of his Love 1. In admiring the unmeasurable dimensions of his Love in gazing upon the height and depth and length and breadth of his Love so as to see it unmeasurable and bottomless and to adore God in beholding it 2. In their Souls relying with a fulness of confidence upon God for that his Love in Christ It is alwayes in the same degree wherein a Soul takes up its rest in God for any thing that a Soul sanctifies God in his heart therefore Is 8.13 when the Prophet exhorts them to sanctifie God he saith Fear not their fear but make him your fear and your dread as if he should say therein you shall sanctifie him when your spirits take up their rest in him alone Now as God is thus sanctified in the heart in general so he is sanctified in the heart in respect of every particular Attribute of his in this way only when a Souls confidence is in him alone And thus in particular in respect of his Love God hath the praise of the glory of his Love from the Soul when the Heart takes up its full rest in God with a fulness of confidence for all Love through Christ Now observe these being the two special wayes how the Lord hath the praise of his glorious Love from Souls that partake of the Love that the Gospel discovers and then both these proceeding from a Souls apprehension of the certainty and infallibility of the Lords Love in Christ thence it must needs appear that the Lords being at the high cost to effect all that Love and Mercy discovered in the Gospel for Souls through the death of that dearly beloved of his Soul that this must be on purpose done by God for the making that his Love and Mercy that the Gospel discovers more sure and certain unto Souls embracing it in their own apprehensions Thirdly The Spirit discovers the Lords own Bond given out to the persons themselves that shall embrace the Gospel for their assurance of all that the Gospel discovers All the Promises written in the Lords Blessed Book are but as so many Bonds of Gods own writing by the hand of the great Secretary of Heaven the blessed Spirit of God on purpose to confirm and assure Souls of all that the Gospel discovers The Spirit reveals Promise upon Promise to seal to and confirm the same thing as you may see Heb. 6.12 13 14 15. The Promise is said to be given there as a Discovery of the Immutability of the Lords Counsel that is of the infallible and unchangeable certainty of all that the Gospel discovers Fourthly The Spirit riseth higher he adds the confirmation of his own Oath the highest Oath that was possible for God to swear which was by himself that the Soul might have security upon security to his weak apprehension Fifthly The Spirit reveals the adding of the Blood of Christ as the Seal to the Bond. The Spirit manifests the Lord to have employed Jesus Christ to be the Testator to Souls that by the Death of the Testator the Testament or the Will of God revealed in the Gospel might be made unquestionably certain that the Soul might have fulness of security to his poor scrupulous Spirit now security comes in upon security to a superabuddance of it Sixthly The Spirit reveals the Lord to have engaged the Honour and Credit of his ever-blessed Name for the better securing Souls and fuller assuring them of all that the Gospel discovers to them This you shall see in Exod. 33.19 I will proclaim the Name of the Lord before thee saith God to Moses and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will shew mercy to whom I will shew mercy which doth both include a disposition to be gracious and a free disposition to be gracious and it includeth that Grace of his to be ordered only according to his own will Now did not the Lord freely love loveless sinners upon no other ground but his own will which is the very Sum of all that the Gospel saith then this Title of Gods Honour should be defaced and blemished But God saith
reveal'd a fulness of all goodnes and so strength it self to the Soul but he may behold the Lord to have called himself by that Name of Abundant in Goodness 2. The Soul is secured by the Credit of the Lords Name against all fears of his not prevailing with God in Christ to be partaker of that Mercy and Love and Goodness that the Gospel discovers He may behold the Lords Name to be Abundant in Goodness not only goodness but abounding having more than a fulness so that it should run over into empty Souls like Rivers abounding with water freely overflowing his Banks 5. The Credit of the Lords Name is engaged to a compleat perfect fulfilling of his revealing mercy and goodness towards loveless Sinners His Name you see is Abundant in Truth So that God must lose that Beam of the glory of his blessed Name which is Abundant in Truth should the least Tittle the least Iota of any word revealing Mercy and Love to loveless Sinners fall to the ground 6. The Credit of the Lords Name is engaged for the accepting every Soul into grace and favour discovered in the Gospel without making any exception against any one Soul whatever The Lords Name you see is the Lord keeping Mercy for thousands that is for infinite numbers That is to say his Name is he that is ready to shew mercy to every Soul without exception 7. The Credit of the Lords Name is engaged to secure Souls that no kind or degree of wickedness can be a prevention of his acceptance of a Soul into his favour and love His Name you see is the Lord forgiving iniquity transgression and sin that is forgiving all kinds and degrees of sin 8. The Credit and Honour of the Lords Name is engaged that the ground of his receiving Souls into love and favour shall be only his own precious will His Name is He will have mercy upon whom he will have mercy Exod. 33.9 So that when the Souls confidence begins to waver about the Lords willingness to accept him into love and favour because he beholds no ground or argument of love then the Soul may behold the blessed Name of God that hath mercy upon whom he will have mercy looking for no Arguments of his love and mercy but his own Will Thus you see that the Credit of the Lords blessed Name is engaged for assuring Souls of whatever the Gospel discovers And that 's the Sixth Particular Seventhly The Spirit reveals the Lord to have given in his blessed word Presidents Examples and Patterns sutable to the Case and State of every Soul upon whom the Lord hath already effected whatever mercy and love the Gospel discovers to forlorn despicable loveless Sinners The Lord hath so abounded and superabounded in the riches of his own love that out of the bowels of those his compassions towards loveless Sinners he hath condescended beneath himself and his own super-excellent Majesty to give all kind of securities whatever are possible to be given to poor doubting Spirits concerning his Gospel-love There are eight particular Cases wherein the Lord hath given Paterns and Examples unto Souls which Cases comprehend all kinds of Estates and Tempers that it is possible for any Soul to be under I. In the case of the superlative height of Souls wickedness the being plunged into a bottomless Ocean of all kind of abominations and pollutions that are imaginable In this case the Lord hath given eminent patterns First If you look into that place 1 Cor. 6.9 10. and read over the black bill of almost all kind of abominations that are there reckoned up Fornicatours Idolaters Adulterers Effeminate abusers of themselves with mankind Theeves Covetous Drunkards Revilers Extortioners And you shall see v. 11. that some that are contained in the black bill of all pollutions were Washed Sanctified Justified in the name of the Lord Jesus all Gospel mercy and love was discovered unto them for saith the Text Such were some of you Another pattern the Lord left 2 Chron. 33.11 12 13. of Manasseh who heaped up wickedness upon wickedness yet the Lord made him a pattern of Gospel-love and mercy Another you have in Paul in 1 Tim. 1.15 One drinking up the blood of Saints like water one blaspheming Jesus Christ offering all kind of injuries and indignities to the name of Christ and yet the Lord did shew forth all long-suffering that is all kind of love manifested in patience and forbearance and admitted him into union and communion with himself through Christ and this he did on purpose that he might leave it as an experiment of his Love and Mercy to them who should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting So Act. 2.30 those that had washed their malicious and envious Hands in the innocent blood of the Lord Jesus were not excluded from Gospel Mercy and Love So if you look into the doleful story of our first fall by Eve who did first provoke the anger and indignation of God yet she was made a pattern of Gospel Mercy and Love Gen. 3.15 II. The second case wherein God hath given patterns is in the case of unbelief the potency and prevalency of unbelieving dispositions I shall propound but two patterns to you in this case First of David who under the rage of unbelief Psal 116.11 said in his hast all men are liers that those Prophets that had revealed to him from the mouth of God that he should inherit the Kingdom were but dissemblers notwithstanding he had been satisfied of the truth of the message coming from God The second pattern is in unbelieving Thomas John 20.24 25 26. that would not believe the resurrection of Christ except he should see in his Hands the print of the nailes and thrust his Hands into his side yet Gospel Love and Mercy was discovered to him vers 27. under this case come in these two cases of Souls wherein they are much perplexed 1. In case of the Souls not feeling the Lord by his Almighty power drawing their Hearts to believe Saith the poor perplexed Soul surely the Lord draws all that he intends should come to Christ through believing but alas saith the Soul I do not see that God hath drawn my Heart therefore surely God hath not chosen me to be an object of Gospel Grace and Love now the Spirit may witness from hence that there hath been a Soul as much under the dominion of unbelieving dispositions as his unbelieving Spirit yet the bowels of Love and Mercy revealed in the Gospel were not restrained from them 2. Here comes in that case of the weakness of affections and desires towards believing and of the strong inclination of the Spirit to receive security of the Lords willingness to make him the object of Gospel Mercy and Love from something that should be visible and sensible to the Soul That 's also a common case of Souls that they cannot discern any disposition in their Hearts to believe the Lords willingness to receive them into the bosom
Ordinances beneath or without union with the Lord Christ As when the soul aims at no higher ends then sorrow for sin or some reformation of life or drawing the heart to the performance of some duties of worship as private prayer reading or the like then the heart walks contrary to God in Gospel Ordinances Here are two things to be considered First while thy soul satisfies it self in any of these thou dost remain a disobedient one to the Gospel of Christ Let thy sorrow for sin be what it will let thy reformation be outward and inward as thou conceivest the prayers thou performest be what they will so long as thou takest contentment without beholding the union compleated between Christ and thy soul thou art still a disobedient one to the Gospel of Christ There is not the least dram of spiritual obedience in all those duties but the great command being neglected thou art a rebel still to the Crown of heaven Secondly Thou art a stranger to all true Gospel worship Without me ye can do nothing John 15.5 Without me That is while your souls are disjoyned from me It is not only meant without my aid but without an union with me Thou art as far from right praying and hearing in a manner as ever while thou art void of this union 3. The third miscarriage is in the order of the workings of the affections towards God in Gospel Ordinances That is the fixing the intentions of the soul upon obtaining any other ends through Gospel Ordinances before obtaining union with the Lord Christ The soul once sensible of the want of union with Christ beholding his State a divided estate between Christ and his Soul many times longs after an union but propounds to himself a disorderly way of obtaining it he propounds the gaining of holiness and holy qualifications as the means to attain this union with Jesus Christ Saith the Soul while I remain thus it is impossible to gain union Is it possible such a filthy heart while it remains thus should be united to the Lord Christ Now here I meet with a question that will be propounded by the soul Quest Is union with Christ the first intent of God in revealing Gospel truths Does not the Lord require there should first be a mortifying of corruption a drawing the heart from Sin that there should be a cutting off from the old stock that it might be ingrafted into the new vine Jesus Christ Answ In answering this there are two things first to be premised Premise 1. First I must premise this That the revealed will of God is the onely proper object of the souls faith So that we are not to enquire whether the Lord may have any secret intent in his own bosom sometimes to lay a soul exceeding low and rent and tear the heart with sorrow first as intending to use these terrours in the soul instrumentally to draw it into union Premise 2. Secondly I must premise That I speak only of the proper union of the Soul with Christ when we ask whether it be the first effect the Lord intends the Gospel should have upon the heart Now these two things premised I shall answer the question affirmatively That the first effect that God intends the Gospel should have upon the heart is the union of the Soul with Jesus Christ The Lord intends that before he intends the drawing of the soul from any sin before he intends the drawing it to any holiness before he intends so much as to draw it to prayer There is nothing to be imagined that the Lord intends to be wrought in the heart by the Gospel of Christ before the union of the Soul with Christ and that will appear in four particulars 1. The Lord propounds the Lord Christ to the soul lying dead in sin immediately to be received The voice of the Lord is Thou poor lost soul that art now dead in sin that art utterly lost do thou hear and receive the Son of my bosom the Lord Christ to mediate between thee and me and to be a days man to lay his hand upon us both and whereas there is now a division between thee and me I will be reconciled to thee and will be thine and thou shalt be mine We have a notable place in Ezek. 16.6 8. Saith God Thy father was an Amorite and thy mother was an Hittite and when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood live And when I passed by thee and looked upon thee behold thy time was the time of love not only wherein he propounded his love but set his love then I entred into a Covenant with thee saith the Lord God and thou becamest mine If the Lord enter into Covenant with the soul while it lies in its bloud and as it is in its blood the Lord receives it into Covenant then the Covenant of marriage must needs be propounded to the soul while it lies thus dead in sin I might add Rom. 4.4 5 6. Rom. 5.10 Even when we were enemies he did reconcile us to himself There is the union of agreement held forth There is no middle state that God calls the soul unto between enmity and amity but there is an immediate passage from enmity into union into a state of agreement Therefore saith the Apostle Eph. 2.1 You hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins If Jesus Christ conveyed life into them when they were dead then he was propounded to them as life also even while they were dead 2. There lies an injunction upon the soul at the present to receive the Lord Christ into union while he lies dead in his sins This is the command of God that ye believe that is that you receive the Lord Jesus whom he hath sent and take him into union with your souls and saith he this is the work of God Now none deny but the command of receiving Christ into union lies upon souls dead in sins for the present And none dare affirm that God commands the soul to walk in disobedience to his great and highest command while he should walk in obedience to an inferiour command Now every moment the soul receives not Christ into union it continues in disobedience Now who can be so blockish as to conceive the Lord allow the soul to stay one moment in disobedience to any command And if so then the Lord requires that the soul should receive Jesus Christ into union that moment that he is propounded 3. It appears because there can no spiritual act proceed from the soul without union compleated Saith Christ John 15.5 Without me the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is separate from me ye can do nothing The least holy spiritual motion that can be imagined cannot be put forth by the soul while it remains without union The dead branches cannot bring forth fruit saith Christ Every branch that is not in me withereth A dead