designed unto no other End but to make his Grace effectual Hence is he said to send and give his Son also And the whole Work of the Holy Ghost as our Sanctifier Guide Comforter and Advocate is to make the Love of the Father effectual unto us Joh. 10. 13 14. As this out of his own Love and Care he hath Condescended unto so the Fountain of it being in the Love and Purpose of the Father and that also or the making them effectual being their End he is rightly said to be Given of him 3. In the whole Communication of the Spirit respect is had unto his Effects or the Ends for which he is given What they are shall be afterwards declared Now the Authority of this Giving respects principally his Gifts and Graces which depend on the Authority of the Father 2. This Expression denotes Freedom What is given might be withheld This is the Gift of God as he is called Joh. 4. 10 not the Purchase of our Indeavours nor the Reward of our Desert Some men delight to talk of their Purchasing Grace and Glory But the one and the other are to be bought without Money and without Price Even Eternal Life it self the End of all our Obedience is the Gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6. 23. The Scripture knows of no earnings that Men can make of themselves but Death For as Austin says Quicquid tuum est peccatum est and the Wages of Sin is death To what End or Purpose soever the Spirit is bestowed upon us whether it be for the Communication of Grace or the Distribution of Gifts or for Consolation and Refreshment it is of the Meer Gift of God from his absolute and Sovereign Freedom Sect. 5 Secondly In Answer hereunto they are said to Receive him on whom as a Gift he is bestowed as in the Testimonies before mentioned And in Receiving two things are implyed 1. That we contribute nothing thereunto which should take off from the thing Received as a Gift Receiving answers Giving and that implys freedom in the Giver 2. That it is their Priviledg and Advantage For what a Man Receives he doth it for his own Good First then we have him freely as a Gift of God For to Receive him in general is to be made Partaker of him as unto those Ends for which he is given of God Be those Ends what they will in respect of them they are said to Receive him who are made Partakers of him Two things may be pleaded to take off the Freedom of this Gift and of our Reception and to cast it on something necessary and required on our part For 1. our Saviour tells us that the World cannot Receive him because it seeth him not neither knoweth him Joh. 14. 17. Now if the World cannot Receive him there is required an Ability and Preparation in them that do so that are not in the World and so the Gift and Communication of the Spirit depends on that Qualification in us But all Men are Naturally alike the World and of it No One Man by Nature hath more Ability or strength in Spiritual things than another For all are equally dead in Trespasses and Sins all equally Children of Wrath. It must therefore be enquired how some come to have this Ability and Power to Receive the Spirit of God which others have not Now this as I shall fully manifest afterwards is merely from the Holy Ghost himself and his Grace respect being had herein only unto the Order of his Operations in us some being Preparatory for and dispositive unto other One being instituted as the means of obtaining another the whole being the Effect of the free Gift of God For we do not make our selves to differ from others nor have we any thing that we have not Received 1 Cor. 4. 7. Wherefore the Receiving of the Holy Ghost intended in that Expression of our Saviour with respect whereunto some are able to receive him some are not is not absolute but with respect unto some certain Work and End And this as is plain in the Context is the receiving of him as a Comforter and a Guide in Spiritual Truth Here-unto Faith in Christ Jesus which also is an effect and fruit of the same Spirit is antecedently required In this sense therefore Beleivers alone can receive him and are enabled so to do by the Grace which they have received from him in their first Conversion unto God But 2dly it will be said that we are bound to pray for him before we receive him and therefore the bestowing of him depends on a Condition to be by us fulfilled For the Promise is that our Heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit unto them that ask him Luke 11. 13. But this doth not prove the bestowing and receiving of him not to be absolutely free Nay it proves the Contrary It is Gratia indebita undeserved Grace that is the proper object of Prayer And God by these encouraging Promises doth not abridge the Liberty of his own Will nor derogate from the Freedom of his Gifts and Grace but only directs us into the way whereby we may be made Partakers of them unto his Glory and our own Advantage And this also belongs unto the Order of the Communication of the Grace of the Spirit unto us This very Praying for the Spirit is a Duty which we cannot perform without his Assistance For no man can call Jesus Lord but by the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 12. 3. He helps us as a Spirit of Grace and Supplication to pray for him as a Spirit of Joy and Consolation Sect. 6 3. This is such a Gift as in God proceeds from Bounty For God is said to give him unto us richly Tit. 3. 6. This will be spoken unto in the fourth Way of his Communication Onely I say at present the greatness of a Gift the free Mind of the Giver and want of desert or merit in the Receiver are that which declare Bounty to be the spring and fountain of it And all these concur to the height in God's Giving of the Holy Ghost Sect. 7 Again on the part of them who receive this Gift Priviledg and Advantage are intimated They receive a Gift and that from God and that a great and singular Gift from Divine Bounty Some indeed receive him in a sort as to some Ends and Purposes without any advantage finally unto their own Souls So do they who prophesie and cast out Devils by his Power in the Name of Christ and yet continuing workers of Iniquity are rejected at the last day Matth. 7. 22 23. Thus it is with all who receive his Gifts only without his Grace to sanctifie their Persons and their Gifts and this whether they be ordinary or extraordinary But this is only by accident There is no Gift of the Holy Ghost but is good in its own Nature tending to a good End and is proper for the Good and Advantage of them by whom it is
that is intended Sect. 9 And because this is a Matter of great Importance namely how the Lord Christ offered up himself unto God as a Sacrifice by the Eternal Spirit I shall farther explain it though but briefly Those who look only on the outward part of the Death of Christ can see nothing but suffering in it The Jews took him and they with the Souldiers both scourged and slew him hanging him on the Tree But the principal Consideration of it is his own offering himself a Sacrifice unto God as the great High Priest of the Church to make Atonement and Reconciliation for Sinners which was hid from the World by those outward Acts of Violence which were upon him And this he did by the Eternal Spirit wherein we may take notice of the ensuing Instances 1. He Sanctified Consecrated or Dedicated himself unto God for to be an Offering or Sacrifice John 17. 19. For their sakes that is the Elect I sanctifie my self The Lord Christ was before this perfectly sanctified as to all Inherent Holiness so that he could not speak of sanctifying himself afresh in that sense Neither was it the Consecration of himself unto his Office of a Priest For this was the Act of him who called him He glorified not himself to be made an High Priest but he that said unto Him Thou art my Son Heb. 5. 6. He made him a Priest by his Death after the Power of an Endless Life Chap. 7. 16 20 21. Wherefore he consecrated himself to be a Sacrifice as the Beast to be Sacrificed of old was first devoted unto that purpose Therefore it is said that he thus Sanctified or Consecrated himself that we might be Sanctified Now we are Sanctified by the Offering of the Body of Christ once for all Heb. 10. 10. This was his first Sacerdotal Acts. He dedicated himself to be an Offering to God And this he did through the Effectual Operation of the Eternal Spirit in him 2. He went voluntarily and of his own accord to the Garden which answered the Adduction or bringing of the Beast to be Sacrificed unto the Door of the Tabernacle according to the Law for there he did not only give up himself into the hands of those who were to shed his Blood but also actually entred upon the offering up of himself unto God in his Agony when he offered up Prayers and Supplications with strong Crying and Tears Heb. 5. 7. which declares not the Matter but the Manner of his Offering 3. In all that ensued all that followed hereon unto his giving up the Ghost he offered himself to God in and by those Actings of the Grace of the Holy Spirit in him which accompanied him to the last And these are diligently to be considered because on them depends the Efficacy of the Death of Christ as to Atonement and Merit as they were enhanced and rendred excellent by the Worth and Dignity of his Person For it is not the Death of Christ meerly as it was penal and undergone by the way of Suffering that is the Means of our Deliverance but the Obedience of Christ therein which consisted in his offering of himself through the Eternal Spirit unto God that gave efficacy and success unto it We may therefore enquire what were those Principal Graces of the Spirit which he acted in this offering of himself unto God And they were 1. Love to Man-kind and Compassion towards Sinners This the Holy Soul of the Lord Jesus was then in the highest and most inconceivable Exercise of This therefore is frequently expressed where mention is made of this Offering of Christ Gal. 2. 20. Who loved me and gave himself for me Rev. 1. 5. Who loved us and washed us in his own Blood And Compassion is the first Grace required in an High Priest or Sacrificer Heb. 5. 2. God being now upon a Design of Love for it was in the pursuit of Eternal Love that Christ was sent into the World John 3. 16. Tit. 3. 4 5 6. This Love that was now in its most inconceivable Advancement in the Heart of Christ was most grateful and acceptable unto him And this Intenseness of Love did also support the Mind of Christ under all his Sufferings as Jacob through the greatness of his Love unto Rachel made light of the seven years Service that he endured for her Gen. 29. 20. And so did the Lord Christ endure the Cross and despise the shame for the Joy of saving his Elect which was set before him Heb. 12. 2. And this was one Grace of the Eternal Spirit whereby he offered himself unto God 2. That which principally acted him in the Whole was his unspeakable Zeal for and Ardency of Affection unto the Glory of God These were the Coals which with a Vehement Flame as it were consumed the Sacrifice And there were two things that he aimed at with respect unto the Glory of God 1. The manifestation of his Righteousness Holiness and Severity against Sin His Design was to repair the Glory of God wherein it had seemed to suffer by sin Psal. 40. 6 7 8. and Heb. 10. 5 6 7. He came to do that with full desire of Soul expressed in those words Lo I come which Legal Sacrifices could not do namely to make satisfaction to the Justice of God for sin to be a propitiation to declare his Righteousness Rom. 3. 25. And this he doth as to the manner of it with inexpressible Ardency of Zeal and Affections v. 8. I delight to do thy Will O my God yea thy Law is in the midst of my Bowels he doubles the Expression of the Intenseness of his Mind hereon And therefore when he was to prepare himself in his last Passeover for his Suffering he expresseth the highest ingagement of Heart and Affections unto it Luke 22. 15. With desire have I desired to eat this Passeover with you before I suffer As with respect unto the same Work he had before exprest it I have a Baptism to be Baptized withal and how am I straitned or pained till it be accomplished Luke 12. 50. His Zeal to advance the Glory of God in the manifestation of his Righteousness and Holiness by the offering up himself as a Sin-Offering to make Atonement gave him no Rest and Ease until he was engaged in it whence it wrought unto the utmost 2. The Exercise of his Grace and Love This he knew was the way to open the Treasures of Grace and Love that they might be poured out on Sinners to the Everlasting Glory of God For this was the Design of God in the whole Rom. 3. 24 25 26. This Zeal and Affection unto the Glory of God's Righteousness Faithfulness and Grace which was wrought in the Heart of Christ by the Eternal Spirit was that wherein principally he offered up himself unto God 3. His Holy Submission and Obedience unto the Will of God which were now in the height of their Exercise and Grace advanced unto the utmost in them was another
especial part of this his Offering up himself That this was wrought in him by the Holy or Eternal Spirit was before declared And it is frequently expressed as that which had an especial Influence into the Efficacy and Merit of his Sacrifice Psal. 2. 8. He humbled himself and became Obedient unto Death the Death of the Cross. And when he offered up Prayers and Supplications though he were a Son yet learned he obedience by the things that he suffered Heb. 5. 8. That is he experienced Obedience in Suffering It is true that the Lord Christ in the whole course of his Life yeelded Obedience unto God as he was made of a Woman made under the Law Gal. 4. 4. But now he came to the great Tryal of it with respect unto the especial command of the Father to lay down his Life and to make his Soul an Offering for sin Isa. 53. 10. This was the highest Act of Obedience unto God that ever was or ever shall be to all Eternity And therefore doth God so express his satisfaction therein and acceptance of it Isa. 53. 11 12. Phil. 2. 9 10. This was wrought in him this he was wrought unto by the Holy Spirit and therefore by him offered himself unto God 4. There belongs also hereunto that Faith and Trust in God which with fervent Prayers Cries Supplications he now acted on God and his Promises both with respect unto himself and to the Covenant which he was sealing with his Blood This our Apostle represents as an especial Work of his testified unto in the Old Testament Heb. 2. 13. I will put my trust in him And this 1. respected himself namely that he should be supported assisted and carried through the Work he had undertaken unto a blessed Issue Herein I confess he was horribly assaulted until he cryed out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Psal. 22. 1. But yet after and through all his dreadful Tryal his Faith and Trust in God were Victorious This he expressed in the Depth and Extremity of his Tryals Psal. 22. 9 10 11. and made such an open Profession of it that his Enemies when they supposed him lost and defeated reproached him with it v. 8. Matth. 27. 43. To this purpose be declared himself at large Isa. 50. 7 8 9. So his Faith and Trust in God as to his own supportment and deliverance with the accomplishment of all the Promises that were made unto him upon his ingagement into the Work of Mediation were victorious 2. They respected the Covenant and all the Benefits that the Church of the Elect was to be made Partaker of thereby The Blood that he now shed was the Blood of the Covenant and it was shed for his Church namely that the Blessings of the Covenant might be communicated unto them Gal. 3. 13 14. With respect hereunto did he also exercise Faith in God as appears fully in his Prayer which he made when he entred on his Oblation John 17. Now concerning these Instances we may observe three Things to our present purpose 1. These and the like gracious Actings of the Soul of Christ were the Wayes and Means whereby in his Death and Bloodshedding which was violent and by force inflicted on him as to the outward Instruments and was penal as to the Sentence of the Law he voluntarily and freely offered up himself a Sacrifice unto God for to make Atonement And these were the things which from the dignity of his Person became Efficacious and Victorious Without these his Death and Bloodshedding had been no Oblation 2. These were the things which rendred his Offering of himself to be a Sacrifice of a sweet smâ—lling Savour unto God Ephes. 5. 2. God was so absolutely delighted and pleased with these high and glorious Acts of Grace and Obedience in Jesus Christ that he smelt as it were a Savour of Rest towards Mankind or those for whom he offered himself so that he would be angry with them no more curse them no more As it is said of the Type of it in the Sacrifice of Noah Gen. 8. 20 21. God was more pleased with the Obedience of Christ than he was displeased with the Sin and Disobedience of Adam Rom. 5. 17 18 19. It was not then the outward suffering of a violent and bloody Death which was inflicted on him by the most horrible wickedness that ever Humane Nature brake forth into that God was atoned Acts 2. 23. Nor yet was it meerly his enduring the Penalty of the Law that was the means of our Deliverance But the voluntary giving up of himself to be a Sacrifice in these Holy Acts of Obedience was that upon which in an especial manner God was reconciled unto us All these things being wrought in the Humane Nature by the Holy Ghost who in the time of his Offering acted all his Graces unto the utmost He is said thereon to offer himself unto God through the Eternal Spirit by whom as our High Priest he was Consecrated Spirited and Acted thereunto Sect. 10 Eighthly There was a peculiar Work of the Holy Spirit towards the Lord Christ whilst he was in the State of the Dead For here our precedeing Rule must be remembred namely that notwithstanding the Union of the Humane Nature of Christ with the Divine in the Person of the Son yet the Communications of God unto it beyond Subsistence were voluntary Thus in his Death the Union of his Natures in his Person was not in the least impeached but yet for his Soul or Spirit he recommends that in an especial manner into the Hands of God his Father Psal. 31. 5. Luke 23. 46. Father into thy Hands I commend my Spirit for the Father had ingaged himself in an Eternal Covenant to take care of him to preserve and protect him even in Death and to shew him again the Way and Path of Life Psal. 16. 11. Notwithstanding then the Union of his Person his Soul in its separate State was in an especial manner under the care protection and power of the Father preserved in his Love until the Hour came wherein he shewed him again the Path of Life His Holy Body in the Grave continued under the especial care of the Spirit of God and hereby was accomplished that great Promise That his Soul should not be left in Hell nor the Holy One see Corruption Psal. 16. 10. Acts 2. 31. It is the Body of Christ which is here called the Holy One as it was made an holy Thing by the Conception of it in the Womb by the Power of the Holy Ghost And it is here spoken of in contradistinction unto his Soul and opposed by Peter unto the Body of David which when it died saw Corruption Acts 2. 29. This Pure and Holy Substance was preserved in its Integrity by the overshadowing Power of the Holy Spirit without any of those Accidents of change which attend the dead Bodies of others I deny not but there was use made of the Ministry of
now seeth in secret will one day reward openly And the more we abound in these things the more will God be glorified in the Recompence of Reward But this is not all nor that which I intend It abides 2 for ever and passeth over into Glory in its Principle or Nature The Love wherewith we now adhere to God and by which we act the Obedience of Faith towards the Saints faileth not it ends not when Glory comes on but is a part of it 1 Cor. 13. 8. It is true some Gifts shall be done away as useless in a state of Perfection and Glory as the Apostle there discourseth and some Graces shall cease as to some especial Acts and peculiar Exercise as Faith and Hope so far as they respect things unseen and future But all those Graces whereby Holiness is constituted and wherein it doth consist for the substance of them as they contain the Image of God as by them we are united and do adhere unto God in Christ shall in their present nature improved into perfection abide for ever In our knowledge of them therefore have we our principal insight into our Eternal Condition in Glory And this is as a firm foundation of Consolation so a part of our chiefest Joy in this World Is it not a matter of unspeakable Joy and Refreshment that these poor Bodyes we carry about us after they have been made a prey unto death dust worms and corruption shall be raised and restored to Life and Immortality freed from pains sickness weakness weariness and vested with those Qualities in conformity to Christs glorious Body which yet we understand not It is so also that these Souls which now animate and rule in us shall be delivered from all their Darkness Ignorance Vanity Instability and Alienation from things Spiritual and Heavenly But this is not all These poor low Graces which no live and are acting in us shall be continued preserved purified and perfected but in their nature be the same as now they are as our Souls and Bodies shall be That Love whereby we now adhere to God as our chiefest Good that Faith whereby we are united to Christ our everlasting Head that Delight in any of the Wayes or Ordinances of God wherein he is enjoyed according as he hath promised his presence in them that Love and Good-will which we have for all those in whom is the Spirit and on whom is the Image of Christ with the entire Principle of spiritual Life and Holiness which is now begun in any of us shall be all purified enhanced perfected and pass into Glory That very Holiness which we here attain those Inclinations and Dispositions those Frames of Mind those Powers and Abilities in Obedience and Adherence unto God which here contend with the weight of their own weakness and imperfections with the Opposition that is continually made against them by the Body of Death that is utterly to be abolished shall be gloriously perfected into immutable Habits unchangeably acting our Souls in the enjoyment of God And this also manifesteth of how much concernment it is unto us to be acquainted with the Doctrine of it and of how much more to be really interested in it Yea Sect. 12 5 There is Spiritual and Heavenly Glory in it in this World From hence is the Church the Kings Daughter said to be all Glorious within Psal. 45. 13. Her inward adorning with the Graces of the Spirit making her beautifull in Holiness is called Glory and is so so also the progress and increase of Believers herein is called by our Apostle their being changed from Glory to Glory 2 Cor. 3. 18. from one degree of glorious Grace unto another As this next unto the Comeliness of the Righteousness of Christ put upon us by the free Grace of God is our only beauty in his sight so it is such as hath a real Spiritual Glory in it It is the First-fruits of Heaven and as the Apostle argueth concerning the Jews that if the first-fruits were holy then is the whole lump holy so may we on the other side if the whole weight as he calls it and fulness of our future Enjoyments be Glory then are the First-fruits in their Measure so also There is in this Holiness as we shall see further afterwards a Ray of Eternal Light a Principle of Eternal Life and the entire nature of that Love whereby we shall eternally adhere unto God The Divine Nature the new immortal Creature the Life of God the Life of Christ are all comprized in it It represents unto God the Glory of his own Image renewed in us and unto the Lord Christ the fruits of his Spirit and Effect of his Mediation wherein he sees of the travail of his Soul and is satisfied There is therefore no-nothing more to be abhorred than those carnal low and unworthy thoughts which some men vent of this glorious Work of the Holy Spirit who would have it wholly to consist in a Legal Righteousness or Moral Vertue Sect. 13 6 This is that which God indispensibly requireth of us The full prosecution of this Consideration we must put off unto our Arguments for the Necessity of it which will ensue in their proper place At present I shall shew that not only God requireth Holiness indispensibly in all Believers but also that this is All which he requireth of them or expecteth from them For it comprizeth the whole Duty of man And this surely rendreth it needfull for us both to know what it is and diligently to apply our selves unto the obtaining an assured participation of it For what Servant who hath any sense of his Relation and Duty if he be satisfied that his Master requireth but one thing of him will not endeavour an Acquaintance with it and the Performance of it Some indeed say that their Holiness such as it is is the Chief or only Design of the Gospel If they intend that it is the first principal Design of God in and by the Gospel and that not only as to the Preceptive part of it but also as unto its Doctrinal and Promissory parts whence it is principally and emphatically denominated it is a fond Imagination Gods great and first design in and by the Gospel is eternally to Glorifie himself his Wisdom Goodness Love Grace Righteousness and Holiness by Jesus Christ Eph. 1. 5 6. And in order to this his great and supreme end he hath designed the Gospel and designs by the Gospel which gives the Gospel its Design 1 To reveal that Love and Grace of his unto lost sinners with the way of its Communication through the Mediation of his Son Incarnate as the only means whereby he will be glorified and whereby they may be saved Acts 26. 18. 2 To prevail with men in and by the Dispensation of its Truth and Encouragement of its Promises to renounce their sins and all other Expectations of Relief or Satisfaction and to betake themselves by Faith unto that way of Life and
means is dispossessed of a Sence of the Soveraign Authority of God in his Commands nor can any thing secure such a Soul from being pierced and entred into by various Temptations This therefore are we to carry about with us where-ever we goe and whatever we doe to keep our Souls and Consciences under the power of it in all Opportunities of Duties and on all Occasions of Sin Had men alwayes in their Wayes Trades Shops Affairs Families Studyes Closets this written on their Hearts they would have Holiness to the Lord on their Breasts and Foreheads also Sect. 13 2. The Apostle tells us that as God in his Commands is a Soveraign Law-giver so he is able to kill and keep alive That is his Commanding Authority is accompanyed with such a Power as that whereby he is able absolutely and Eternally to Reward the Obedient and to return unto the Disobedient a meet Recompense of Punishment For although I would not exclude other Considerations yet I think this of Eternal Rewards and Punishments to be principally here intended But 1 supposing it to have Respect unto things Temporal also it carryes along with it the greater Enforcement God commands us to be holy Things are in that State and Condition in the World as that if we endeavour to answer his Will in a due Manner designing to perfect Holiness in the fâ—ar of the Lord we shall meet with much Opposition many Difficulties and at length perhaps it may cost us our Lives multitudes have made Profession of it at no cheaper Rate But let us not mistake in this matter He who commands us to be Holy is the only Soveraign Lord of Life and Death that hath alone the Disposal of them both and consequently of all things that are subservient and conducing unto the one or other It is he alone who can kill in a way of Punishment and he alone can keep alive in a way of Mercifull Preservation This Power of our Law-giver the holy Companions of Daniel committed themselves unto and preserved themselves by the Consideration of when with the Terror of Death they were commanded to forsake the Way of Holiness Dan. 3. 17 18. And with respect unto it our Lord Jesus Christ tells us that he who would save his Life namely by a sinfull Neglect of the Command shall lose it This therefore is also to be considered the Power of him who commands us to be Holy is such as that he is able to carry us through all Difficulties and Dangers which we may incurre upon the Account of our being so Now whereas the Fear of Man is one principal Cause or Means of our failing in Holiness and Obedience either by sudden Surprizals or violent Temptations and the next hereunto is the Consideration of other things esteemed Good or Evil in this World the Faith and Sence hereof will bear us up above them deliver us from them and carry us through them Sect. 14 Be of good Courage all ye that trust in the Lord you may you ought without Fear or Dauntedness of spirit to engage into the Pursuit of universal Holiness He who hath commanded it who hath required if of you will bear you out in it nothing that is truely evil or finally disadvantageous shall befall you on that Account For let the World rage whilest it pleaseth and threaten to fill all things with Blood and Confusion to God the Lord belong the Issues from Death he alone can kill and make alive There is therefore no small Enforcement unto Holiness from the Consideration of the Command with respect unto the Power of the Commander relating unto things in this World But 2 I suppose it is a Power of Eternal Rewards and Punishments that is principally here intended The Killing here is that mentioned by our Saviour and opposed to all Temporal Evil and Death it self Matth. 10. 28. Fear not them who can kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul but rather fear him who is able to destroy both Soul and Body in Hell And this keeping alive is a Deliverance from the Wrath to come in Everlasting Life And this is that which gives an unavoidable Efficacy to the Command Every Command of a Superiour doth tacitly include a Reward and Punishment to be intended For a Declaration is made of what is pleasing and what is displeasing unto him that gives the Command and therein is there a virtual Promise and Threatning But unto all Solemn Laws Rewards and Punishments are expressely annexed Sect. 15 But there are two Reasons why for for the most part they do but little influence the Minds of Men who are inclined unto their Transgression 1 The first is that the Rewards and Punishments declared are such as men think they do justly preferre their own satisfaction in the Transgression of the Lawes before them It is so will all Good men with respect unto Lawes made contrary to the Lawes of God and Wise men also may do so with respect unto useless Lawes with trifling Penalties and Evil men will do so with respect unto the highest Temporal Punishments when they are greedily set on the satisfaction of their Lusts. Hence I say it is in the first place that the Minds of men are so little influenced with those Rewards and Punishments that are annexed unto Humane Lawes And 2 dly a secret Apprehension that the Commanders or Makers of the Lawes neither will nor are able to execute those Penalties in the case of their Transgression evacuates all the Force of them Much they ascribe to their Negligence that they will not take Care to see the Sanction of their Lawes executed more to their Ignorance that they shall not be able to find out their Transgressions and somewhat in sundry Cases to their Power that they cannot Punish nor Reward though they would And for these Reasons are the Minds of men little influenced by Humane Lawes beyond their own honest Inclinations and Interest But things are quite otherwise with respect unto the Law and Commands of God that we should be Holy The Rewards and Punishments called by the Apostle Killing and Keeping alive being Eternal in the highest Capacities of Blessedness or Misery cannot be Ballanced by any Consideration of this present World without the highest Folly and Villany unto our selves Nor can there be any Reserve on the Account of Mutability Indifferency Ignorance Impotency or any other Pretence that they shall not be Executed Wherefore the Commands of God which we are in the Consideration of are accompanyed with Promises and Threatnings of Eternal Blessedness on the one hand or of Misery on the other And these will certainly befall us according as we shall be found Holy or Vnholy All the Properties of the Nature of God are immutably engaged in this matter and hence ensues an indispensible Necessity of our being Holy God commands that we should be so but what if we are not so Why as sure as God is Holy and Powerfull we shall Eternally
which no Man shall see God if the Scripture be a faithful Testimony And some have taken pains to prove That sundry things which are expresly assigned unto him in the Gospel as Effects of his Power and Grace are only filthy Enthusiasms or at least weak Imaginations of Distempered Minds Neither is there any end of Calumnious Imputations on them by whom his Work is avowed and his Grace professed Yea the department of many herein is such as that if it were not known how effectual the Efforts of Profaneness are upon the corrupted Minds of Men it would rather seem ridiculous and be despised than to deserve any serious notice For lâ—t any avow or plead for the known Work of the Spirit of God and it is immediately apprehended a sufficient Ground to charge them with leaving the Rule of the Word to attend unto Revelations and Inspirations as also to forgo all thoughts of the necessity of the Duties of Obedience whereas no other Work of his is pleaded for but that only which no Man can either attend unto the Rule of the Scripture as he ought or perform any one Duty of Obedience unto God in a due manner And there are none of this Conspiracy so weak or unlearned but are able to scoff at the mention of him and to cast the very naming of him on others as a Reproach Yea it is well if some begin not to deal in like manner with the Person of Christ himself For Error and Profaneness if once countenanced are at all times fruitful and progressive and will be so whilst Darkness and Corruption abiding on the Minds of Men the great Adversary is able by his subtile malice to make impressions on them But in these things not a few do please themselves despise others and would count themselves injured if their Christianity should be called in question But what value is there in that Name or Title where the whole Mystery of the Gospel is excluded out of our Religion Take away the Dispensation of the Spirit and his effectual Operations in all the Entercourse that is between God and Man be ashamed to avow or profess the Work attributed unto him in the Gospel and Christianity is plucked up by the Roots Yea this practical contempt of the Work of the Holy Spirit being grown the only plausible Defiance of Religion is so also to be the most pernicious beyond all national Mistakes and Errors about the same things being constantly accompanied with profaneness and commonly issuing in Atheism The sense I intend is fully expressed in the ensuing complaint of a Learned Person published many years ago In seculo hodie tam perverso prorsus immersi vivimus miseri in quo Spiritus Sanctus omnino ferme pro ludibrio habetur imo in quo etiam sunt qui non tantum corde toto eum repudient ut factis negent sed quoque adeo blasphemi in eum exurgant ut penitas eundem ex orbe expulsum aut exulatum cupiant quum illi nullam in operationibus suis relinquant efficaciam ac propriis vanorum habituum suorum viribus ac rationis profanae liberrati carnalitatique suae omnem ascribant sapientiam fortitudinem in rebus agendis Unde tanta malignitas externae proterviae apud mortales cernitur Ideoque pernicies nostra nos jam ante fores expecta c. Herein lies the Rise and Spring of that stated Apostacy from the Power of Evangelical Truth wherein the World takes its liberty to immerge it self in all licentiousness of Life and Conversation the end whereof many cannot but expect with Dread and Terror To obviate these Evils in any measure to vindicate the Truth and Reality of Divine Spiritual Operations in the Church to avow what is believed and taught by them concerning the Holy Spirit and his Work who are most charged and reslected on for their Profession thereof and thereby to evince the Iniquity of those Calumnies under the darkness and shades whereof some seek to countenance themselves in their profane scoffing at his whole Dispensation to manifest in all Instances that what is ascribed unto him is not onely consistent with Religion but also that without which Religion cannot consist nor the Power of it be preserved is the principal Design of the ensuing Discoursâ—s Now whereas the Effectual Operation of the Blessed Spirit in the Regeneration or Conversion of Sinners is of all other parts of his Work most vielently by opposed and hath of late been virulently traduced I have the more largely insisted thereon And because it can neither be well understood nor duly explained without the Consideration of the State of Lapsed or Corrupted Nature I have taken in that also at large as judging it necessary so to do For whereas the knowledg of it lies at the bottom of all our Obedience unto God by Christ it hath alwayes been the Design of some and yet continueth so to be either wholly to deny it or to extenuate it unto the depression and almost annihilation of the Grace of the Gospel whereby alone our Nature can be repaired Designing therefore to treat expresly of the Reparation of our Nature by Grace it was all accounts necessary that we should treat of its Depravation by Sin also Moreover what is Discoursed on these things is suited unto the Edification of them that do believe and directed unto their furtherance in true Spiritual Obedience and Holiness or the Obedience of Faith Hence it may be some will judg that our Discourses on these Subjects are drawn out into a greater length than was needful â—â—nvenient by that continual intermixture of Practical Applications which runs along in them all But if they shall be pleased to consider that my Design was not to handle thesâ— things in a way of Controversie but declaring and confirming the truth concerning them to accommodate the Doctrines 〈◊〉 â—nto Practice and that I dare not treat of things of this Nature any other way but such as may promote the Edification of the generality of Believers they will either be of my mind or it may be without much difficulty admit of my Excuse How-ever if these things are neglected or despised by some yea be they never so many there are yet others 〈◊〉 will judg their principal Concernment to lie in such Discourses as may direct and encourage them in the Holy Practice of their Duty And whereas tâ—e Way Manner and Method of the Holy Spirit in his Operations as to this Work of translating Sinners from Death unto Life from a State of Nature unto that of Grace have been variously handled by some and severely reslecled on with scorn by others I have endeavourered so to declare and assert what the Scripture manifestly teacheth concerning them confirming it with the Testimonies of some of the Ancient Writers of the Church as I no way doubt but it is suited unto the Experience of who have in their own Souls been made Partakers of that Blessed Work of the Holy
their Duties even bodily strength When that also was needful for the Work whereunto he called them Such was his Gift unto Sampson His bodily strength was supernatural a meer effect of the Power of the Spirit of God and therefore when he put it forth in his Calling it is said that the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him Judg. 14. 6. Chap. 15. 14. or wrought powerfully in him And he gave him this strength in the way of an Ordinance appointing the growing of his Hair to be the Sign and Pledg of it the Care whereof being violated by him he lost for a season the Gift it self Sect. 25 Fourthly He also communicated Gifts intellectual to be exercised in and about things Natural and Artificial So he endowed Bezaliel and Aholiab with Wisdom and Skill in all manner of curious Workmanship about all sorts of things for the building and beautifying of the Tabernacle Exod. 31. 2 3. Whether Bezaliel were a Man that had before given himself unto the Acquisition of those Arts and Sciences is altogether uncertain But certain it is that his present Endowments were extraordinary The Spirit of God heightned improved and strengthned the Natural Faculties of his Mind to a Perception and Understanding of all the curious Works mentioned in that place and unto a skill how to contrive and dispose of them into their Order deigned by God himself And therefore although the skill and wisdom mentioned differed not in the kind of it from that which others attained by industry yet he received it by an immediate Afflatus or Inspiration of the Holy Ghost as to that degree at least which he was made Partaker of Sect. 27 Lastly The Assistance given unto Holy Men for the Publishing and Preaching of the Word of God to others as to Noah who was a Preacher of Righteousness 2 Pet. 2. 5. for the Conviction of the Word and Conversion of the Elect wherein the Spirit of God strove with Men Gen. 6. 3. and preached unto them that were Disobedient 1 Pet. 3. 19 20. might here also be considered but that the Explanation of his whole Work in the Particular will occur unto us in a more proper place Sect. 28 And thus I have briefly passed through the Dispensation of the Spirit of God under the Old Testament Nor have I aimed therein to gather up his whole Work and all his Actings for then every thing that is praise-worthy in the Church must have been enquired into For all without him is Death and Darkness and Sin All Life Light and Power are from him alone And the instances of things expresly assigned unto him which we have insisted on are sufficient to manifest that the whole Being and Welfare of the Church depended solely on his Will and his Operation And this will yet be more evident when we have also considered those other Effects and Operations of his which being common to both States of the Church under the Old Testament and the New are purposely here omitted because the Nature of them is more fully cleared in the Gospel wherein also their Exemplifications are more illustrious From him therefore was the Word of Promise and the Gift of Prophesie whereon the Church was founded and whereby it was built From him was the Revelation and Institution of all the Ordinances of Religious Whorship from him was that Communication of Gifts and Gracious Abilities which any Persons received for the Edification Rule Protection and Deliverance of the Church All these things were wrought by that one and self-same Spirit which divideth to every Man severally as he will And if this were the state of things under the Old Testament a Judgment may thence be made how it is under the New The principal Advantage of the present State above that which is past next unto the coming of Christ in the Flesh consists in the pouring out of the Holy upon the Disciples of Christ in a larger manner than formerly And yet I know not how it is come to pass that some Men think that neither He nor his Work are of any great use unto us And whereas we find every thing that is good even under the Old Testament assigned unto him as the sole immediate Author of it it is hard to perswade with many that he continues now to do almost any good at all And what he is allowed to have any hand in it is sure to be so stated as that the principal praise of it may redound unto our selves So diverse yea so adverse are the thoughts of God and Men in these things where our Thoughts are not captivated unto the Obedience of Faith But we must shut up this Discourse It is a common saying among the Jewish Masters That the Gift of the Holy Ghost ceased under the second Temple or after the finishing of it Their meaning must be that it did so as to the Gifts of Ministerial Prophesie of Miracles and of Writing the Mind of God by Inspiration for the Use of the Church Otherwise there is no Truth in their Observation For there were afterwards especial Revelations of the Holy Ghost granted unto many as unto Simeon and Anna Luke 1. And others constantly received of his Gifts and Graces to enable them unto Obedience and fit them for their Employments For without a continuance of these supplies the Church it self must absolutely cease General Dispensation of the HOLY SPIRIT with respect unto the New Creation CHAP. II. 1. The Work of the Spirit of God in the New Creation proposed to Consideration The Importance of the Doctrine hereof 2. The plentiful Effusion of the Spirit the great Promise respecting the Times of the New Testament 3. Ministry of Gospel founded in the Promise of the Spirit 4. How this Promise is made unto all Believers 5. Injunction to all to pray for the Spirit of God 6. The solemn Promise of Christ to send his Spirit when he left the Word 7. The ends for which he promised him 8. The Work of the New Creation the principal means of the Revelation of God and his Glory 9. How this Revelation is made in particular herein Sect. 1 VVE are now arrived at that part of our Work which was principally intended in the Whole and that because our Faith and Obedience is principally therein concerned This is the Dispensation and Work of the Holy Ghost with respect to the Gospel or the New Creation of all things in and by Jesus Christ. And this if any thing in the Scripture is worthy of our most diligent Enquiry and Meditation nor is there any more important Principle and Head of that Religion which we do profess The Doctrine of Being and Unity of the Divine Nature is common to us with the rest of Mankind and hath been so from the Foundation of the World however some like bruit Beasts have herein also corrupted themselves The Doctrine of the Trinity or the Subsistence of three Persons in the one Divine Nature or Being was known to
execution of his Office as the King and Head of the Church is included in these words But his first Sanctifying Work in the Womb is principally intended For those Expressions a Rod out of the Stem of Jesse and a Branch out of his Roots with respect whereunto the Spirit is said to be communicated unto him do plainly regard his Incarnation And the Soul of Christ from the first moment of its Infusion was a Subject capable of a Fulness of Grace as unto its habitual Residence and Inbeing though the actual exercise of it was suspended for a while until the Organs of the Body were fitted for it This therefore it received by this first Unction of the Spirit Hence from his Conception he was Holy as well as harmless and undefiled Heb. 7. 26. An Holy Thing Luke 1. 35. radically filled with a Perfection of Grace and Wisdom Inasmuch as the Father gave him not the Spirit by Measure John 3. 34. See to this purpose Our Commentary on Heb. 1. v. 1. p. 17. see John 1. 14 15 16. Sect. 2 Thirdly The Spirit carried on that Work whose Foundation it had thus laid And Two Things are to be here diligently observed 1. That the Lord Christ as Man did and was to exercise all Grace by the Rational Faculties and Powers of his Soul his Understanding Will and Affections For he acted Grace as a Man made of a Woman made under the Law His Divine Nature was not unto him in the place of a Soul nor did immediately operate the things which he performed as some of old vainly imagined But being a perfect Man his Rational Soul was in him the immediate principle of all his Moral Operations even as ours are in us Now in the Improvement and Exercise of these Faculties and Powers of his Soul he had and made a Progress after the manner of other Men. For he was made like unto us in all things yet without sin In their Encrease Enlargement and Exercise there was required a Progression in Grace also And this he had continually by the Holy Ghost Luke 2. 40. The Child grew and waxed strong in Spirit The first Clause refers to his Body which grew and increased after the manner of other Men as v. 52. He increased in Stature The other respects the confirmation of the Faculties of his Mind he waxed strong in Spirit So v. 47. he is said to increase in Wisdom as in Stature He was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 continually filling and filled with new Degrees of Wisdom as to its Exercise according as the Rational Faculties of his Mind were capable thereof an increase in these things accompanied his years v. 52. And what is here recorded by the Evangelist contains a Description of the Accomplishments of the Prophesie before mentioned Isa. 11. 1 2 3. And this Growth in Grace and Wisdom was the peculiar Work of the Holy Spirit For as the Faculties of his Mind were enlarged by Degrees and strengthened so the Holy Spirit filled them up with Grace for Actual Obedience Sect. 3 2. The Humane Nature of Christ was capable of having New Objects proposed to its Mind and Understanding whereof before it had a simple Nescience And this is an inseparable adjunct of Humane Nature as such as it is to be weary or hungry and no vice or blameable defect Some have made a great outcry about the ascribing of Ignorance by some Protestant Divines unto the Humane Soul of Christ Bellarm. de Anim. Christi Take Ignorance for that which is a moral Defect in any kind or an unacquaintedness with that which any one ought to know or is necessary unto him as to the Perfection of his Condition or his Duty and it is false that ever any of them ascribed it unto him Take it meerly for a nescience of some things and there is no more in it but a denial of Infinite Omniscience nothing inconsistent with the highest Holiness and Purity of Humane Nature So the Lord Christ sayes of himself that he knew not the Day and Hour of the End of all things and our Apostle of him that he learned Obedience by the things that he suffered Heb. 5. 8. In the representation then of things anew to the Humane Nature of Christ the Wisdom and Knowledg of it was objectively increased and in new Tryals and Temptations he experimentally learned the new Exercise of Grace And this was the constant Work of the Holy Spirit in the Humane Nature of Christ. He dwelt in him in fulness for he received him not by measure And continually upon all occasions he gave out of his unsearchable Treasures Grace for Exercise in all Duties and Instances of it From hence was he habitually Holy and from hence did he exercise Holiness entirely and universally in all things Sect. 4 Fourthly The Holy Spirit in a peculiar manner anointed him with all those extraordinary Powers and Gifts which were necessary for the Exercise and Discharging of his Office on the Earth Isa. 61. 1. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me because the Lord hath anointed me to Preach good Tydings unto the Meek he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted to proclaim Liberty to the Captives and the opening of the Prison unto them that are bound It is the Prophetical Office of Christ and his discharge thereof in his Ministry on the Earth which is intended And he applies these words unto himself with respect unto his Preaching of the Gospel Luke 4. 18. For this was that Office which he principally attended unto here in the World as that whereby he instructed Men in the Nature and Use of his other Offices For his Kingly Power in his Humane Nature on the Earth he exercised but sparingly Thereunto indeed belonged his sending forth of Apostles and Evangelists to preach with Authority And towards the End of his Ministry he instituted Ordinances of Gospel-Worship and appointed the Order of his Church in the Foundation and Building of it up which were Acts of Kingly Power Nor did he perform any Act of his Sacerdotal Office but only at his Death when he gave himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling Savour Ephes. 5. 2. wherein God smelt a Savour of Rest and was appeased towards us But the whole course of his Life and Ministry was the Discharge of his Prophetical Office unto the Jews Rom. 15. 8. Which he was to do according to the great Promise Deut. 18. 18 19. And on the Acceptance or Refusal of him herein depended the Life and Death of the Church of Israel v. 19. Acts 3. 23. Heb. 1. 1. John 8. 44. Hereunto was he fitted by this Unction of the Spirit And here also is a distinction between the Spirit that was upon him and his being anointed to Preach which contains the Communication of the Gifts of that Spirit unto him As it is said Chap. 11. 3. The Spirit rested on him as a Spirit of Wisdom to make
Angels about the dead Body of Christ whilst it was in the Grave even those which were seen sitting afterwards in the place where he lay John 20. 12. by these was it preserved from all outward Force and Violation But this also was under the peculiar care of the Spirit of God who how he worketh by Angels hath been before declared Sect. 11 Ninthly There was a peculiar Work of the Holy Spirit in his Resurrection this being the compleating Act in laying the Foundation of the Church whereby Christ entred into his Rest the great Testimony given unto the finishing of the Work of Redemption with the satisfaction of God therein and his acceptation of the Person of the Redeemer It is on various accounts assigned distinctly to each Person in the Trinity And this not only as all the external Works of God are individed each Person being equally concerned in their Operation but also upon the account of their especial respect unto and interest in the Work of Redemption in the manner before declared Unto the Father it is ascribed on the account of his Authority and the declaration therein of Christ's perfect accomplishment of the Work committed unto him Acts 2. 24. Him hath God raised up having loosed the Pains of Death because it was not possible that he should be holden of it it is the Father who is spoken of And he is said as in other places to raise Christ from the Dead but this he doth with respect unto his loosing the Pains of Death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These are the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which with a little alteration of one Vowel signifie the Sorrows of Death or the Cords of Death For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are the Sorrow of Death and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are the Cords of Death see Psal. 18. 4. Psal. 116. 3. And these Sorrows of Death here intended were the Cords of it that is the Power it had to bind the Lord Christ for a season under it For the Pains of Death that is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tormenting Pains ended in his death it self But the Consequents of them are here reckoned unto them or the continuance under the Power of Death according unto the Sentence of the Law These God loosed when the Law being fully satisfied the Sentence of it was taken off and the Lord Christ was acquitted from its whole Charge This was the Act of God the Father as the Supream Rector and Judg of all Hence he is said to raise him from the Dead as the Judg by his Order delivereth an acquitted Prisoner or one who hath answered the Law The same Work he also takes unto himself John 10. 17 18. I lay down my Life that I may take it again no Man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again For although Men by violence took away his Life when with wicked hands they crucified and slew him Acts 2. 23. Chap. 3. 15 Yet because they had neither Authority nor Ability so to do without his own consent he saith No Man could or did take away his Life that is against his Will by Power over him as the lives of other Men are taken away for this neither Angels nor Men could do So also although the Father is said to raise him from the Dead by taking off the Sentence of the Law which he had answered yet he himself also took his Life again by an Act of the Love Care and Power of his Divine Nature his living again being an Act of his Person although the Humane Nature only died But the peculiar efficiency in the reuniting of his most Holy Soul and Body was an Effect of the Power of the Holy Spirit 1 Pet. 3. 18. He was put to death in the Flesh but quickned in the Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was restored to Life by the Spirit and this was that Spirit whereby he preached unto them that were disobedient in the dayes of Noah v. 19 20. or that Spirit of Christ which was in the Prophets from the Foundation of the World 1 Pet. 1. 11 12. by which he preached in Noah unto that disobedient Generation 2 Pet. 2. 5. whereby the Spirit of God strove for a season with those Inhabitants of the Old World Gen. 6. 3. that is the Holy Spirit of God To the same purpose we are instructed by our Apostle Rom. 8. 11. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the Dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the Dead shall also quicken your Mortal Bodies by his Spirit which dwelleth in you God shall quicken our Mortal Bodies also by the same Spirit whereby he raised Christ from the Dead For so the Relation of the one Work to the other requires the words to be understood And he asserts again the same expresly Ephes. 1. 17 18 19 20. he prayes that God would give his Holy Spirit unto them as a Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation v. 17. The Effects thereof in them and upon them are described v. 18. and this he desires that they may so be made Partakers of that by the Work of the Spirit of God in themselves renewing and quickning of them they might have an experience of that exceeding greatness of his Power which he put forth in the Lord Christ when he raised him from the Dead And the Evidence or Testimony given unto his being the Son of God by his Resurrection from the Dead is said to be according to the Spirit of Holiness or the Holy Spirit Rom. 1. 4. He was positively declared to be the Son of God by his Resurrection from the Dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is by the powerful working of the Holy Spirit This also is the intendment of that Expression 1 Tim. 3. 16. Justified in the Spirit God was manifest in the Flesh by his Incarnation and Passion therein and justified in the Spirit by a Declaration of his acquitment from the Sentence of Death and all the Evils which he underwent with the Reproaches wherewith he was contemptuously used by his Quickning and Resurrection from the Dead through the mighty and effectual working of the Spirit of God Sect. 12 Tenthly It was the Holy Spirit that glorified the Humane Nature and made it every way meet for its Eternal Residence at the Right Hand of God and a Pattern of the Glorification of the Bodies of them that believe on him He who first made his Nature Holy now made it Glorious And as we are made conformable unto him in our Souls here his Image being renewed in us by the Spirit so he is in his Body now glorified by the Effectual Operation of the same Spirit the Exemplar and Pattern of that Glory which in our Mortal Bodies we shall receive by the same Spirit For when he appears we shall be like him 1 John 3. 2. seeing he will change our vile Bodies that they
Church They praying by his especial Guidance and Assistance say Come or Preachers say unto others Come and the Bride or the Body of the Church acted by the same Spirit joyn with them in this great Request and Supplication and thereunto all Believers are invited in the following words and let him that heareth say Come Sect. 10 All these things were necessary to be premised in general as giving some insight into the Nature of the Operations of the Holy Spirit in us and towards us And hereby we have made our Way plain to the consideration of his especial Works in the Calling Building and Carrying on the Church unto Perfection Now all his Works of this kind may be reduced unto three Heads 1. Of Sanctifying Grace 2. Of Especial Gifts 3. Of peculiar Evangelical Priviledges Only we must observe that these things are not so distinguished as to be negatively contradistinct to each other for the same thing under several Considerations may be all these a Grace a Gift and a Priviledg All that I intend is to reduce the Operations of the Holy Spirit unto these Heads casting each of them under that which it is most eminent in and as which it is most directly proposed unto us And I shall begin with his Work of Grace BOOK III. VVORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE New Creation BY REGENERATION CHAP. I. 1. The New Creation Compleated 2. Regeneration the especial Work of the Holy Spirit 3 4 5 6 7 8 9. Wrought under the Old Testament but clearly revealed in the New And 10 11 12. is of the same kind in all that are Regenerate 13 14. The Causes and Way of it being the same in all 15 16. It consisteth not in Baptism alone Nor 17 18. in a Moral Reformation of Life But 19 20. a New Creature is Formed in it whose 21 22. Nature is declared and 23. farther explained 24. Denial of the Original Depravation of Nature the Cause of many Noxious Opinions 25 26. Regeneration consisteth not in Enthusiaslick Raptures their Nature and Danger 27. The whole Doctrine necessary dâ—spised corrupted vindicated Sect. 1 WE have formerly declared the Work of the Holy Spirit in Preparing and Forming the Natural Body of Christ. This was the beginning of the New Creation the Foundation of the Gospel-State and Church But this was not the whole of the Work he had to do As he had provided and prepared the Natural Body of Christ so he was to prepare his Mystical Body also And hereby the Work of the New Creation was to be compleated and perfected And as it was with respect unto him and his Work in the Old Creation so was it also in the New All things in their first production had Darkness and Death upon them For the Earth was Void and without Form and Darkness was upon the Face of the Deep Gen. 1. 2. Neither was there any thing that had either Life in it or Principle of Life or any Disposition thereunto In this condition he moved on the prepared Matter preserving and cherishing of it and communicating unto all things a Principle of Life whereby they were animated as we have declared It was no otherwise in the New Creation There was a Spiritual Darkness and Death came by sin on all Mankind Neither was there in any Man living the least Principle of Spiritual Life or any Disposition thereunto In this State of things the Holy Spirit undertaketh to create a New World New Heavens and a New Earth wherein Righteousness should dwell And this in the first place was by his Effectual Communication of a New Principle of Spiritual Life unto the Souls of God's Elect who were the Matter designed of God for this Work to be wrought upon This he doth in their Regeneration as we shall now manifest Sect. 2 1. Regeneration in Scripture is every-where assigned to be the proper and peculiar Work of the Holy Spirit John 3. 3 4 5 6. Jesus answered and said unto Nicodemus Verily verily I say unto thee Except a Man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God Nicodemus saith unto him How can a Man be born when he is old can he enter the second time into his Mothers Womb and be born Jesus answered Verily verily I say unto thee Except a Man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit It was an ancient knowing Teacher of the Church of the Jews a Master in Israel whom our Blessed Saviour here discourseth withal and instructs For on the consideration of his Miracles he concluded that God was with him and came to enquire of him about the Kingdom of God Our Saviour knowing how all our Faith and Obedience to God and all our Acceptance with him depended on our Regeneration or being born again acquaints him with the necessity of it wherewith he is at first surprized Wherefore he proceeds to instruct him in the Nature of the Work whose necessity he had declared And this he describes both by the Cause and the Effect of it For the Cause of it he tells him it is wrought by Water and the Spirit By the Spirit as the Principal Efficient Cause and by Water as the Pledg Sign and Token of it in the initial Seal of the Covenant the Doctrine whereof was then preached amongst them by John the Baptist or the same thing is intended in a redoubâ—ed Expression the Spirit being signified by the Water also under which Notion he is often promised Sect. 3 Hereof then or of this Work the Holy Spirit is the Principal Efficient Cause whence he in whom it is wrought is said to be born of the Spirit v. 8. so is every one that is born of the Spirit And this is the same with what is delivered Chap. 1. v. 13. Who are born not of Blood nor of the Will of the Flesh nor of the Will of Man but of God The Natural and Carnal Means of Blood Flesh and the Will of Man are rejected wholly in this Matter and the whole Efficiency of the New Birth is ascribed unto God alone His Work answers what-ever Contribution there is unto Natural Generation from the Will and Nature of Man For these things are here compared and from its Analogie unto Natural Generation is this Work of the pirit called Regeneration so in this place is the Allusion and Opposition between these things expressed by our Saviour That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit v. 6. And herein also we have a farther Description of this Work of the Holy Spirit by its Effect or the Product of it It is Spirit a new Spiritual Being Creature Nature Life as shall be declared And because there is in it a Communication of a new Spiritual Life it is called a Vivification or quickning with respect unto the State wherein all Men
this Matter all their dayes For they fear the Lord and obey the Voice of his Servant Christ Jesus and yet walk in Darkness and have no Light Isa. 50. 10. They are Children of Light Luk. 16. 8. John 12. 36. Ephes. 5. 8. 1 Thess. 5. 5. and yet walk in darkness and have no Light which Expressions have been well used and improved by some and by others of late derided and blasphemed Sect. 12 And there is great variety in the carrying on of this Work towards Perfection in the Growth of the New Creature or the Increase of Grace implanted in our Natures by it For some through the supplies of the Spirit make a great and speedy progress towards Perfection others thrive slowly and bring forth little Fruit the Causes and Occasions whereof are not here to be enumerated But notwithstanding all Differences in previous Dispositions in the Application of outward Means in the manner of it ordinary or extraordinary in the Consequenâ—s of much or less Fruit the Work it self in its own Nature is of the same kind one and the same The Elect of God were not regenerate one way by one kind of Operation of the Holy Spirit under the Old Testament and those under the New Testament another They who were miraculously Converted as Paul or who upon their Conversion had miraculous Gifts bestowed on them as had multitudes of the Primitive Christians were no otherwise regenerate nor by any other internal Efficiency of the Holy Spirit then every one is at this day who is really made Partaker of this Grace and Priviledg Neither were those Miraculous Operations of the Holy Spirit which were visible unto others any part of the Work of Regeneration nor did they belong necessarily unto it For many were the Subjects of them and received miraculous Gifts by them who were never Regenerate and many were Regenerate who were never Partakers of them And it is a Fruit of the highest Ignorance and Unacquaintedness imaginable with these things to affirm that in the Work of Regeneration the Holy Spirit wrought of old miraculously in and by outwardly visible Operations but now only in an humane and rational way leading our Understanding by the Rules of Reason unless the more external Mode and Sign of his Operation be intended For all ever were and ever shall be Regenerate by the same kind of Operation and the same Effect of the Holy Spirit on the Faculties of their Souls Which will be farther manifest if we consider 1. That the Condition of all Men as Unregenerate is absolutely the same One is not by Nature more unregenerate than another All Men since the Fall and the corruption of our Nature by sin are in the same State and Condition towards God They are all alike alienated from him and all alike under his Curse Psal. 51. 5. John 3. 5 36. Rom. 3. 19. Chap. 5. 15 16 17 18. Ephes. 2. 3. Tit. 3 3. 4. There are Degrees of Wickedness in them that are Unregenerate but there is no difference as to State and Condition between them all are Unregenerate alike As amongst those who are Regenerate there are different Degrees of Holiness and Righteousness one it may be far exceeding another yet there is between them no difference of State and Condition they are all equally Regenerate Yea some may be in a greater forwardness and preparation for the Work it self and thereby in a greater nearness to the State of it than others but the State it self is incapable of such Degrees Now it must be the same Work for the Kind and Nature of it which relieves and translates Men out of the same State and Condition That which gives the formal Reason of the change of their State of their Translation from Death to Life is and must be the same in all If you can fix on any Man from the Foundation of the World who was not equally born in sin and by Nature dead in Trespasses and Sins with all other Men the Man Christ Jesus only excepted I would grant that he might have another kind of Regeneration than others have but that I know he would stand in need of none at all Sect. 14 2. The State whereinto Men are brought by Regeneration is the same Nor is it in its Essence or Nature capable of Degrees so that one should be more Regenerate than another Every one that is born of God is equally so though one may be more beautiful than another as having the Image of his Heavenly Father more evidently impressed on him though not more truly Men may be more or less Holy more or less Sanctified but they cannot be more or less Regenerate All Children that are born into the World are equally born though some quickly outstrip others in the Perfections and Accomplishments of Nature And all born of God are equally so though some speedily out-go others in the Accomplishments and Perfections of Grace There was then never but one kind of Regeneration in this World the Essential Form of it being specifically the same in all 3. That the Efficient Cause of this Work the Grace and Power whereby it is wrought with the internal manner of the Communication of that Grace are the same shall be afterwards declared To this Standard then all must come Men may bear themselves high and despise this whole Work of the Spirit of God or set up an Imagination of their own in the room thereof but whether they will or no they must be tryed by it and no less depends on their interest in it than their Admission into the Kingdom of God And let them pretend what they please the true Reason why any despise the New Birth is because they hate a New Life He that cannot endure to live to God will as little endure to hear of being born of God But we shall by the Scripture enquire what we are taught concerning iâ— and declare both what it is not of things which falsly pretend thereunto and then what it is indeed Sect. 15 First Regeneration doth not consist in a participation of the Ordinance of Baptism and a profession of the Doctrine of Repentance This is all that some will allow unto it to the utter rejection and overthrow of the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the dispute in this Matter is not whether the Ordinances of the Gospel as Baptism do really communicate internal Grace unto them that are as to their outward manner of their Administration duly made Partakers of them whether ex opere operato as the Papists speak or as a â—aederal means of the Conveyance and Communication of that Grace which they betoken and are the Pledges of but whether the outward susception of the Ordinance joyned with a profession of Repentance in them that are adult be not the whole of what is called Regeneration The vanity of this presumptuous folly destructive of all the Grace of the Gospel invented to countenance Men in their Sins and to hide from them the
1. as to its Dispositions and Inclinations 2. As to its Power and Actings with respect unto Spiritual Supernatural Things 1. As to its Dispositions it is from the Darkness described perverse and depraved whereby Men are alienated from the Life of God Ephes. 4. 18. for this Alienation of Men from the Divine Life is from the depravation of their Minds Hence are they said to be Alienated and Enemies in their Minds by wicked Works or by their Minds in wicked Works being fixed on them and under the Power of them Col. 1. 21. And that we may the better understand what is intended hereby we may consider both what is this Life of God and how the unregenerate Mind is alienated from it Sect. 21 1. All Life is from God The Life which we have in common with all other living Creatures is from him Acts 17. 28. Psal. 104. 30. And 2. that peculiar vital Life which we have by the union of the rational Soul with the Body is from God also and that in an especial manner Gen. 2. 7. Job 10. 12. But neither of these are any-where called the Life of God But it is an especial Life unto God which is intended and sundry things belong thereunto or sundry things are applyed unto the Description of it 1. It is the Life which God requireth of us that we may please him here and come to the enjoyment of him hereafter The Life of Faith and Spiritual Obedience by Jesus Christ Rom. 1. 17. Gal. 2. 20. I live by the Faith of the Son of God Rom. 6. 7. 2. It is that Life which God worketh in us not Naturally by his Power but Spiritually by his Grace And that both as to the Principle and all the Vital Acts of it Ephes. 2. 1 5. Phil. 2. 13. 3. It is that Life whereby God liveth in us that is in and by his Spirit through Jesus Christ. Gal. 2. 20. Christ liveth in me and where the Son is there is the Father whence also this Life is said to be hid with him in God Col. 3. 3. 4. It is the Life whereby we live to God Rom. 6. 7. whereof God is the Supream and Absolute End as he is the principal efficient Cause of it And two things are contained herein 1. That we do all things to his Glory This is the proper End of all the Acts and Actings of this Life Rom. 14. 7 8. 2. That we design in and by it to come unto the eternal enjoyment of him as our Blessedness and Reward Gen. 15. 1. 5. It is the Life whereof the Gospel is the Law and Rule John 6. 68. Acts 5. 20. 6. A Life all whose Fruits are Holiness and Spiritual Evangelical Obedience Rom. 6. 22. Phil. 1. 11. Lastly It is a Life that dieth not that is not obnoxious unto Death Eternal Life John 17. 3. These things contain the chief concerns of that peculiar Spiritual Heavenly Life which is called the Life of God Sect. 22 2. The Carnal Mind is alienated from this Life it hath no liking of it no inclination to it but carrieth away the whole Soul with an aversation from it And this Alienation or Aversation appears in two things 1. In its unreadiness and unaptness to receive Instructions in and about the Concernments of it Hence are Men dull and flow of heart to believe Luke 24. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 5. 11 12. Heavy in Hearing and flow in the Apprehension of what they hear So are all Men towards what they do not like but have an aversation from This God complains of in the People of old My People are foolish they have not known me they are sottish Children and have none understanding they are wise to do evil but to do good they have no knowledg Jer. 4. 22. 2. In the Choice and preferring of any other Life before it The first Choice a Natural Mind makes is of a Life in Sin and Pleasure which is but a Death a Death to God 1 Tim. 5. 6. James 5. 5. a Life without the Law and before it comes Rom. 7. 9. This is the Life which is suited to the Carnal Mind which it desires delights in and which willingly it would never depart from Again if by Afflictions or Convictions it be in part or wholly forced to forsake and give up this Life it will chuse magnifie and extol a moral Life a Life in by and under the Law though at the last it will stand it in no more stead than the Life of Sin and Pleasure which it hath been forced to forgo Rom. 9. 32. Chap. 10. 3. The thoughts of this Spiritual Life this Life of God it cannot away with the Notions of it are Uncouth the Description of it is Unintelligible and the Practice of it either odious Folly or needless Superstition This is the Disposition and Inclination of the Mind towards Spiritual Things as it is corrupt and depraved Sect. 23 2. The Power also of the Mind with respect unto its actings toward Spiritual Things may be considered And this in short is none at all in the sense which shall be explained immediately Rom. 5. 6. for this is that which we shall prove concerning the Mind of a Natural Man or of a Man in the State of Nature how-ever it may be excited and improved under those Advantages of Education and Parts which it may have received yet is not able hath not a power of its own Spiritually and Savingly or in a due manner to receive embrace and assent unto Spiritual Things when proposed unto it in the Dispensation and Preaching of the Gospel unless it be renewed enlightned and acted by the Holy Ghost Sect. 24 This the Apostle plainly asserts 1 Cor. 2. 14. The Natural Man receiveth not the Things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned 1. The Subject spoke of is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 animalis homo the natural Man he who is a natural Man This Epithete is in the Scripture opposed unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spiritual 1 Cor. 15. 44. Jud. 15. where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are described by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as have not the Spirit of God The foundation of this distinction and the distribution of Men into these two sorts thereby is laid in that of our Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 45. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The first Adam was made a living Soul Hence every Man who hath no more but what is traduced from him is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is a living Soul as was the first Adam And the last Adam is made a quickning Spirit Hence he that is of him Partaker of his Nature that derives from him is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Spiritual Man The Person therefore here spoken of or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is one that hath all that is or can be derived from the first Adam one endowed with a rational Soul and who hath
and Preaching of the Gospel to understand receive and embrace them in a spiritual and saving manner so as to have the sactifying Power of them thereby brought into and fixed in the Soul without an internal especial immediate supernatural effectual enlightning Act of the Holy Ghost which what it is and wherein it doth consist shall be declared Life and Death Natural and Spiritual Compared CHAP. IV. 1. Of Death in Sin All Unregenerate Men Spiritually Dead 2. Spiritual Death two-fold Moral 3. Metaphorical 4. Life Natural what it is and wherein it consists 5. Death Natural with its necessary Consequents 6 7 8. The Supernatural Life of Adam in Innocency in its Principle Acts and Power 9 10. Differences between it and our Spiritual Life in Christ. 11 12. Death Spiritual a Privation of the Life we had in Adam a Negation of the Life of Christ. 13. Privation of a Principle of all Life to God Spiritual Impotency therein 14. Differences between Death Natural and Spiritual 15 16 17. The Use of Precepts Promises and Threatnings 18 19 20 21. No Man perisheth meerly for want of Power 22 23 24. No Vital Acts in an estate of Death the Way of the Communication of Spiritual Life 25 26 27 28. Of what Nature are the best Works of Persons Unregenerate 29. No Disposition unto Spiritual Life under the Power of Spiritual Death Sect. 1 ANother Description that the Scripture gives of Unregenerate Men as to their State and Condition is That they are Spiritually Dead And hence in like manner it follows that there is a necessity of an internal powerful effectual Work of the Holy Ghost on the Souls of Men to deliver them out of this State and Condition by Regeneration And this principally respects their Wills and Affections as the Darkness and Blindness before described doth their Minds and Understandings There is a Spiritual Life whereby Men live unto God This they being Strangers unto and Alienate from are spiritually dead And this the Scripture declares concerning all Unregenerate Persons partly in direct words and partly in other Assertions of the same importance Of the first sort the Testimonies are many and express Ephes. 2. 1. You were dead in Trespasses and Sins v. 5. When you were dead in sins Col. 2. 13. And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh 2 Cor. 5. 14. If one died for all then were all dead Rom. 5. 15. Through the offence of one many are dead v. 12. Death passed on all Men for that all have sinned And the same is asserted in the second Way where the Recovery and Restauration of Men by the Grace of Christ is called their Quickning or the bestowing of a New Life upon them For this supposeth that they were dead or destitute of that Life which in this Revivification is communicated unto them For that alone can be said to be quickened which was dead before See Ephes. 2. 5. Joh. 5. 21. Joh. 6. 63. Sect. 2 This Death that Unregenerate Persons are under is two-fold 1. Legal with reference unto the sentence of the Law The Sanction of the Law was that upon Sin Man should dye In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye the death Gen. 2. 17. Upon this sentence Adam and all his Posterity became dead in Law morally dead or obnoxious unto death penally and adjudged unto it This Death is intended in some of the Places before mentioned as Rom. 5. 12. and it may be also 2 Cor. 5. 14. For as Christ dyed so were all dead He dyed penally under the sentence of the Law and all were obnoxious unto death or dead on that Account But this is not the Death which I intend neither are we delivered from it by Regeneration but by Justification Rom. 8. 1. Sect. 3 2. There is in them a Spiritual Death called so Metaphorically from the Analogie and Proportion that it bears unto death Natural Of great Importance it is to know the true nature hereof and how by Reason thereof Unregenerate Men are utterly disabled from doing any thing that is spiritually Good until they are quickened by the Almighty Power and irresistible Efficacy of the Holy Ghost Wherefore to declare this aright we must consider the nature of Life and Death natural in Allusion whereunto the Spiritual estate of Unregenerate Men is thus described Life in general or the Life of a Living Creature is Actus Vivificantis in Vivificatum per unionem utriusque The Act of a quickning Principle on a Subject to be quickened by Virtue of their Union And three things are to be considered in it 1 The Principle of Life it self And this in man is the Rational living Soul called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 2. 7. God breathed into his nostrils the breath of Life and Man became a living Soul Having formed the Body of man of the Dust of the Earth he designed him a Principle of Life Superior unto that of bruit Creatures which is but the Exurgency and Spirit of their Temperature and Composition though peculiarly educed by the formative Vertue and Power of the Holy Ghost as hath been before declared He creates for him therefore a separate distinct animating soul and infuseth it into the matter prepared for its Reception And as he did thus in the Beginning of the Creation of the Species or Kind of humane Race in its first Individuals so he continueth to do the same in the ordinary course of the Works of his Providence for the continuation of it For having ordained the Preparation of the Body by Generation he immediately infuseth into it the Living Soul the Breath of Life 2 There is the Actus primus or the quickning act of this Principle on the Principle quickned in and by Vertue of Union Hereby the whole man becomes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Living Soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a person quickned by a Vital Principle and enabled for all naturally Vital Actions 3. There are the Acts of this Life it self And they are of two sorts 1 Such as flow from Life as Life 2 Such as proceed from it as such a Life from the Principle of a Rational Soul Those of the first sort are natural and necessary as are all the Actings and Energies of the Senses of the locomotive Faculty as also what belongs unto the receiving and improving of Nutriment These are Acts of Life whence the Psalmist proves Idols to be dead things from the want of them so far are they from having a Divine Life as that they have no Life at all Psal. 115. 4 5 6 7. These are Acts of Life as Life inseparable from it and their End is to preserve the Union of the whole between the quickning and quickned Principles 2 There are such Acts of Life as proceed from the especial nature of this quickning Principle Such are all the elicit and imperate Acts of our Understandings and Wills all Actions that are voluntary rational and peculiarly humane These proceed from
that special kind of Life which is given by the especial quickning Principle of a rational Soul Sect. 5 Hence it is evident wherein Death natural doth consist And three things may be considered in it 1 The Separation of the Soul from the Body Hereby the Act of infusing the living Soul ceaseth unto all its Ends. For as a Principle of Life unto the whole it operates only by Vertue of its Union with the subject to be quickned by it 2 A Cessation of all Vital Actings in the quickned Subject For that Union from whence they should proceed is dissolved 3 As a Consequent of these there is in the Body an Impotency for and an Ineptitude unto all Vital Operations Not only do all Operations of Life actually cease but the Body is no more able to effect them There remains in it indeed Potentia obedientialis a passive power to receive Life again if communicated unto it by an external efficient Cause So the body of Lazarus being dead had a receptive Power of a living Soul But an active Power to dispose it self unto Life or Vital Actions it hath not Sect. 6 From these things we may be a just Analogie collect wherein Life and Death Spiritual do consist And to that End some things must be previously observed As 1 That Adam in the state of Innocency besides his Natural life whereby he was a Living Soul had likewise a Supernatural Life with respect unto its end whereby he lived unto God This is called the Life of God Ephes. 4. 18. which Men now in the state of nature are alienated from The Life which God requires and which hath God for its Object and End And this Life was in him Supernatural for although it was concreated in and with the rational Soul as a perfection due unto it in the state wherein and with respect unto the End for which it was made yet it did not naturally flow from the Principles of the rational Soul nor were the Principles Faculties or Abilities of it inseparable from those of the Soul it self being only accidental Perfections of them inlaid in them by especial Grace This Life was necessary unto him with respect unto the state wherein and the End for which he was made He was made to live unto the living God and that in a peculiar manner to live unto his glory in this World by the discharge of the rational and moral Obedience required of him and to live afterward in his Glory and the eternal Enjoyment of him as his Cheifest Good and Highest Reward That whereby he was enabled hereunto was that Life of God which we are alienated from in the state of Nature 2. In this Life as in Life in General three things are to be considered 1 Its Principle 2 Its Operation 3 Its Vertue or Habit Act and Power Sect. 7 1. There was a Quickning Principle belonging unto it For every Life is an Act of a Quïckning Principle This in Adam was the Image of God or an habitual Conformity unto God his Mind and Will wherein the Holiness and Righteousness of God himself was represented Gen. 1. 26 27. In this Image he was created or it was concreated with him as a Perfection due to his Nature in the Condition wherein he was made This gave him an habitual disposition unto all duties of that Obedience that was required of him It was the Rectitude of all the faculties of his Soul with respect unto his Supernatural End Eccles. 7. 20. 2 There belonged unto it continual Actings from or by Vertue of and suitable unto this Principle All the Acts of Adam's Life should have been subordinate unto his great moral End In all that he did he should have lived unto God according unto the Law of that Covenant wherein he walked before him And an Acting in all things suitable unto the Light in his Mind unto the Righteousness and Holiness in his Will and Affection that Uprightness or Integrity or Order that was in his Soul was his Living unto God Sect. 8 3 He had here-withal Power or Ability to continue the Principle of Life in suitable Acts of it with respect unto the whole Obedience required of him that is he had a sufficiency of Ability for the Performance of any Duty or of all that the Covenant required And in these three did the Supernatural Life of Adam in Innocency consist And it is that which the Life whereunto we are restored by Christ doth answer It answers unto it I say and supplies its absence with respect unto the End of living unto God according unto the New Covenant that we are taken into For neither would the Life of Adam be sufficient for us to live unto God according to the terms of the New Covenant nor is the Life of Grace we now enjoy suited to the Covenant wherein Adam stood before God Wherefore some Differences there are between them the Principal whereof may be reduced into two Heads Sect. 9 1. That Principle of this Life was wholly and intirely in Man himself It was the Effect of another Cause of that which was without him namely the Good Will and Power of God but it was left to grow on no other Root but what was in Man himself It was wholly implanted in his Nature and therein did its Springs lye Actual Excitations by Influence of Power from God it should have had For no Principle of Operation can subsist in an Independence of God nor apply it self unto Operation without his Concurence But in the Life whereunto we are renewed by Jesus Christ the Fountain and Principle of it is not in our selves but in him as One common Head unto all that are made Partakers of him He is our Life Col. 1. 3. and our Life as to the Spring and Fountain of it is hid with him in God For he quickneth us by his Spirit Rom. 8. 10. And our Spiritual Life as in us consists in the Vital Actings of this Spirit of his in Us for without him we can do nothing John 15. 3. By Vertue hereof we walk in newness of Life Rom. 6. 4. We live therefore hereby yet not so much we as Christ liveth in us Gal. 2. 20. Sect. 10 2. There is a Difference between these Lives with respect unto the Object of their Vital Acts. For the Life which we now lead by the faith of the Son of God hath sundry Objects of its Actings which the other had not For whereas all the Actings of our Faith and Love that is all our Obedience doth respect the Revelation that God makes of himself and his Will unto us there are now New Revelations of God in Christ and consequently new Duties of Obedience required of us as will afterwards appear And other such differences there are between them The Life which we had in Adam and that which we are renewed unto in Christ Jesus are so far of the same Nature and kind as our Apostle manifests in sundry Places Ephes. 4. 23 24.
Col. 3. 10. as that they serve to the same End and Purpose Sect. 11 There being therefore this two-fold Spiritual Life or Ability of Living unto God that which we had in Adam and that which we have in Christ we must enquire with reference unto which of these it is that Unregenerate Men are said to be Spiritually dead or dead in Trespasses and Sins Now this in the first Place hath respect unto the Life we had in Adam For the Deprivation of that Life was in the Sanction of the Law Thou shalt die the Death This Spiritual Death is comprized therein and that in the Privation of that Spiritual Life or Life unto God which Unregenerate Men never had neither de facto nor de jure in any state or condition Wherefore with respect hereunto they are dead only negatively they have it not but with respect unto the Life we had in Adam they are dead privatively they have lost that Power of Living unto God which they had Sect. 12 From what hath been discoursed we may discover the Nature of this Spiritual Death under the Power whereof all Unregenerate Persons do abide For there are three things in it 1 A Privation of a Principle of Spiritual Life enabling us to live unto God 2 A Negation of all Spiritual Vital Acts that is of all Acts and Duties of holy Obedience acceptable unto God and tending to the Enjoyment of him 3 A total Defect and want of Power for any such Acts whatever All these are in that Death which is a Privation of Life such as this is First there is in it a Privation of a Principle of Spiritual Life namely of that which we had before the Entrance of sin or a Power of living unto God according to the Covenant of Works and a Negation of that which we have by Christ or a Power of Living unto God according to the Tenor of the Covenant of Grace Those therefore who are thus dead have no Principle or First Power of Living unto God or the Performance of any Duty to be accepted with him in order to the Enjoyment of him according to either Covenant It is with them as to all the Acts and Ends of Life Spiritual as it is with the Body as to the Acts and Ends of Life Natural when the Soul is departed from it Why else are they said to be dead Sect. 13 It is objected that there is a wide difference between Death Natural and Spiritual In Death Natural the soul it self is utterly removed and taken from the Body but in Death Spiritual it continues A man is still notwithstanding this Spiritual Death endowed with an Understanding Will and Affections And by these are Men enabled to perform their Duty unto God and yield the Obedience required of them Answ. 1 In Life Spiritual the Soul is unto the Principle of it as the Body is unto the Soul in Life Natural For in Life Natural the Soul is the quickning Principle and the Body is the Principle quickned When the Soul departs it leaves the Body with all its own Natural Properties but utterly deprived of them which it had by Vertue of its Union with the Soul So in Life Spiritual the Soul is not in and by its Essential Properties the quickning Principle of it but it is the Principle that is quickned And when the quickning Principle of Spiritual Life departs it leaves the Soul with all its Natural Properties entire as to their Essence though morally corrupted But of all the Power and Abilities which it had by Virtue of its Union with a quickning Principle of Spiritual Life it is deprived And to deny such a quickning Principle of Spiritual Life superadded unto us by the Grace of Christ distinct and separate from the Natural Faculties of the Soul is upon the matter to renounce the whole Gospel It is all one as to deny that Adam was created in the Image of God which he lost and that we are renewed unto the Image of God by Jesus Christ. Hence 2ly Whatever the Soul acts in Spiritual things by its Understanding Will and Affections as deprived of or not quickned by this Principle of Spiritual Life it doth it Naturally not Spiritually as shall be instantly made to appear There is therefore in the first Place a Disability or Impotency unto all Spiritual things to be performed in a Spiritual manner in all Persons not born again by the Spirit because they are Spiritually dead Whatever they can do or however Men may call what they do unless they are endowed with a quickning Principle of Grace they can perform no Act Spiritually vital no Act of Life whereby we live to God or that is absolutely accepted with him Hence it is said the Carnal Mind is enmity against God it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can it be Rom. 8. 7. so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God v. 8. Men may cavil whilst they please about this carnal Mind and contend that it is only the sensitive part of the Soul or the Affections as corrupted by Prejudices and depraved habits of Vice Two things are plain in the Text. First that this Carnal Mind is in all mankind whoever they be who are not partakers of the Spirit of God and his Quickning Power Secondly that where it is there is a Disability of doing any thing that should please God which is the Sum of what we contend for and which Men may with as little a disparagement of their Modesty deny as reject the Authority of the Apostle So our Saviour as to one Instance tells us that no Man can come unto him unless the Father draw him Joh. 6. 4. 4. And so is it figuratively expressed where all Men being by Nature compared unto evil Trees it is affirmed of them that they cannot bring forth Good fruit unless their Nature be changed Mat. 7. 18. Chap. 12. 33. And this Disability as to Good is also compared by the Prophet unto such Effects as lye under a Natural Impossibility of Accomplishment Jerem. 13. 24. We contend not about Expressions This is that which the Scripture abundantly instructeth us in There is no Power in Men by Nature whereby they are of themselves upon the mere proposal of their Duty in Spiritual Obedience and Exhortations from the Word of God unto the Performance of it accompanied with all the Motives which are meet and suited to prevail with them thereunto to perceive know will or do any thing in such a Way or Manner as that it should be accepted with God with respect unto our Spiritual Life unto him according to his Will and future Enjoyment of him without the Efficacious Infusion into them or Creation in them of a new gracious Principle or Habit enabling them thereunto and that this is accordingly wrought in all that believe by the Holy Ghost we shall afterwards declare But it will be Objected and hath against this Doctrine been ever so since the days
of Pelagius that a supposition hereof renders all Exhortations Commands Promises and Threatnings which comprize the whole Way of the external communication of the Will of God unto us vain and useless For to what purpose is it to exhort Blind Men to see or Dead Men to live or to promise Rewards unto them upon their so doing Should Men thus deal with stones would it not be vain and ludicrous and that because of their Impotency to comply with any such proposals of our Mind unto them And the same is here supposed in Men as to any Ability in Spiritual things Answ. 1 There is nothing in the highest Wisdom required in the Application of any Means to the producing of an Effect but that in their own Nature they are suited thereunto and that the Subject to be wrought upon by them is capable of being affected according as their Nature requires And thus Exhortations with Promises and Threatnings are in their kind as Moral Instruments suited and proper to produce the Effects of Faith and Obedience in the Minds of Men. And the Faculties of their Souls their Understandings Wills and Affections are meet to be wrought upon by them unto that End For by Mens rational Abilies they are able to discern their Nature and judge of their Tendency And because these Faculties are the Principle and Subject of all actual Obedience it is granted that there is in Man a Natural remote Passive Power to yield Obedience unto God which yet can never actually put forth it self without the effectual working of the Grace of God not only enabling but working in them to will and to do Exhortations Promises and Threatnings respect not primarily our present Ability but our Duty Their End is to declare unto us not what we can do but what we ought to do And this is done fully in them On the other hand make a general Rule that what God commands or Exhorts us unto with Promises made unto our Obedience and Threatnings annexed unto a supposition of Disobedience that we have power in and of our selves to do or that we are of our selves able to do and you quite evacuate the Grace of God or at least make it only useful for the more easie discharge of our Duty not necessary unto the very being of Duty it self which is the Pelagianism Anathematized by so many Councils of old But in the Church it hath hitherto been believed that the Command directs our Duty but the Promise gives strength for the performance of it Sect. 18 3. God is pleased to make these Exhortations and Promises to be Vehicula Gratiae the means of communicating Spiritual Life and Strength unto Men. And he hath appointed them unto this end because considering the Moral and Intellectual Faculties of the Minds of Men they are suited thereunto Hence these Effects are ascribed unto the Word which really are wrought by the Grace communicated thereby Jam. 1. 18. 1 Pet. 1. 23. And this in their Dispensation under the Covenant of Grace is their proper end God may therefore wisely make use of them and command them to be used towards Men notwithstanding all their own disability savingly to comply with them seeing he can will and doth himself make them effectual unto the end aimed at Sect. 19 But it will be further objected That if Men are thus utterly devoid of a Principle of Spiritual Life of all Power to live unto God that is to repent believe and yeeld obedience is it righteous that they should perish eternally meerly for their disability or their not doing that which they are not able to do This would be to require Brick and to give no Straw yea to require much where nothing is given But the Scripture every-where chargeth the Destruction of Men upon their wilful sin not their weakness or disability Answ. 1. Mens Disability to live to God is their sin What-ever therefore ensues thereon may be justly charged on them It is that which came on us by the Sin of our Nature in our first Parents all whose Consequents are our sin and our misery Rom. 5. 12. Had it befallen us without a guilt truly our own according to the Law of our Creation and Covenant of our Obedience the Case would have been otherwise But on this Supposition sufficiently confirmed else-where those who perish do but feed on the Fruit of their own Wayes Sect. 20 2. In the Transactions between God and the Souls of Men with respect unto their Obedience and Salvation there is none of them but hath a Power in sundry things as to some degrees and measures of them to comply with his Mind and Will which they voluntarily neglect And this of it self is sufficient to bear the Charge of their eternal ruine But 3. No Man is so unable to live unto God to do any thing for him but that withal he is able to do any thing against him There is in all Men by Nature a depraved vitious habit of Mind wherein they are alienated from the Life of God And there is no command given unto Men for Evangelical Faith or Obedience but they can and do put forth a free positive Act of their Wills in the rejection of it either directly or interpretatively in preferring somewhat else before it As they cannot come to Christ unless the Father draw them so they will not come that they may have Life wherefore their Destruction is just and of themselves This is the Description which the Scripture giveth us concerning the Power Ability or Disability of Men in the State of Nature as unto the Performance of Spiritual Things By some it is traduced as Fanatical and senseless which the Lord Christ must answer for not we For we do nothing but plainly represent what he hath expressed in his Word and if it be foolishness unto any the Day will determine where the blame must lie Sect. 21 Secondly There is in this Death an actual cessation of all Vital Acts. From this defect of Power or the want of a Principle of Spiritual Life it is that Men in the state of Nature can perform no Vital Act of Spiritual Obedience nothing that is spiritually Good or Saving or Accepted with God according to the Tenor of the New Covenant which we shall in the second place a little explain The whole course of our Obedience to God in Christ is the Life of God Ephes. 4. 18. That Life which is from him in a peculiar manner whereof he is the especial Author and whereby we live unto him which is our End And the Gospel which is the Rule of our Obedience is called the words of this Life Acts 5. 20. That which guides and directs us how to live to God Hence all the Duties of this Life are Vital Acts spiritually Vital Acts Acts of that Life whereby we live to God Sect. 22 Where therefore this Life is not all the Works of Men are Dead Works Where Persons are dead in sin their Works are dead
Works They are so all of them either in their own Nature or with respect unto them by whom they are performed Heb. 9. 14. They are dead Works because they proceed not from a Principle of Life are unprofitable as dead things Ephes. 5. 11. and end in death eternal Jam. 1. 15. We may then consider how this Spiritual Life which enableth us unto these Vital Acts is derived and communicated unto us 1. The original Spring and Fountain of this Life is with God Psal. 36. 9. With thee is the Fountain of Life The sole Spring of our Spiritual Life is in an especial way and manner in God And hence our Life is said to be hid with Christ in God Col. 3. 3. that is as in its Eternal producing and preserving Cause But it is thus also with respect unto all Life whatever God is the living God all other things are in themselves but dead Things their Life what-ever it be is in him efficiently and eminently and in them is purely derivative Wherefore Sect. 23 2. Our Spiritual Life as unto the especial Nature of it is specificated and discerned from a Life of any other kind in that the fulness of it is communicated unto the Lord Christ as Mediator Col. 1. 19. And from his fulness we do receive it John 1. 16. There is a Principle of Spiritual Life communicated unto us from his fulness thereof whence he quickneth whom he pleaseth Hence he is said to be our Life Col. 3. 4. And in our Life it is not so much we who live as Christ that liveth in us Gal. 2. 20. because we act nothing but as we are acted by Vertue and Power from him 1 Cor. 15. 10. Sect. 24 3ly The Fountain of this Life being in God and the fulness of it being laid up in Christ for us He communicates the Power and Principle of it unto us by the Holy Ghost Rom. 8. 11. That he is the immediate efficient Cause hereof we shall afterwards fully evince and declare But yet he doth it so as to derive it unto us from Jesus Christ Ephes. 4. 15 16. For he is the Life and without him or Power communicated from him we can do nothing John 15. 5. 4ly This Spiritual Life is communicated unto us by the Holy Ghost according unto and in order for the Ends of that New Covenant For this is the Promise of it That God will first write his Law in our Hearts and then we shall walk in his Statutes that is the Principle of Life must precede all vital Acts. From this Principle of Life thus derived and conveyed unto us are all those vital Acts whereby we live to God Where this is not as it is not in any that are dead in sin for from the want hereof are they denominated dead no Act of Obedience unto God can so be performed as that it should be an Act of the Life of God and this is the way whereby the Scripture doth express it The same thing is intended when we say in other words that without an infused habit of internal inherent Grace received from Christ by an efficacious Work of the Spirit no Man can believe or obey God or perform any Duty in a saving manner so as it should be accepted with Him And if we abide not in this Principle we let in the whole poysonous Flood of Pelagianism into the Church To say that we have a sufficiency in our selves so much as to think a good thought to do any thing as we ought any Power any Ability that is our own or in us by Nature however externally excited and guided by Motives Directions Reasons Encouragements of what sort soever to believe or obey the Gospel savingly in any one Instance is to overthrow the Gospel and the Faith of the Catholick Church in all Ages Sect. 25 But it may be Objected That whereas many unregenerate Persons may and do perform many duties of Religious Obedience if there be nothing of Spiritual Life in them then are they all sins and so differ not from the worst things they do in this World which are but Sins And if so unto what end should they take pains about them Were it not as good for them to indulge unto their Lusts and Pleasures seeing all comes to one end It is all sin and nothing else why do the Dispensers of the Gospel press any Duties on such as they know to be in that estate What advantage shall they have by a complyance with them Were it not better to leave them to themselves and wait for their Conversion than to spend time and labour about them to no purpose Answ. 1. It must be granted That all the Duties of such Persons are in some sense sins It was the saying of Austin That the Vertues of Unbelievers are splendida peccata This some are now displeased with but it is easier to censure him than to confute him Two things attend in every Duty that is properly so 1. That it is accepted with God And 2. that it is sanctified in them that do it but neither of these are in the Duties of Unregenerate Men. For they have not Faith And without Faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11. 6. And the Apostle also assures us That unto the defiled and unbelieving that is all unsanctified Persons not purified by the Spirit of Grace All things are unclean because their Consciences and Minds are defiled Tit. 1. 15. So their Praying is said to be an abomination and their Plowing sin It doth not therefore appear what is otherwise in them or to them But as there are Good Duties which have sin adhering to them Isa. 64. 6. so there are sins which have good in them For bonum oritur ex integris malum ex quocunque defectu Such are the Duties of Men unregenerate Formally and unto them they are sin materially and in themselves they are good This gives them a difference from and a preference above such sins as are every way sinful As they are Duties they are good as they are the Duties of such Persons they are evil because necessarily defective in what should preserve them from being so And on this ground they ought to attend unto them and may be pressed thereunto Sect. 26 2ly That which is good materially and in it self though vitiated from the Relation which it hath to the Person by whom it is performed is approved and hath its Acceptation in its proper place For Duties may be performed two wayes 1. In hypocrisie and pretence so they are utterly abhorred of God in matter and manner that is such a poisonous Ingredient as vitiates the whole Isa. 1. 11 12 13 14. Hos. 1. 4. 2. In Integrity according unto present Light and Conviction which for the substance of them are approved And no Man is to be exhorted to do any thing in Hypocrisie see Matth. 10. 21. And on this account also that the Duties themselves are acceptable Men may be pressed to
them But 3ly it must be granted that the same Duty for the substance of it in general and performed according to the same Rule as to the outward manner of it may be accepted in or from one and rejected in or from another So was it with the Sacrifices of Cain and Abel And not only so but the same rejected Duty may have Degrees of evil for which it is rejected and be more sinful in and unto one than unto another But we must observe that the difference doth not relate meerly unto the different States of the Persons by whom such are performed as because one is in the state of Grace whose Duties are accepted and another in the state of Nature whose Duties are rejected as their Persons are For although the Acceptation of our Persons be a necessary condition for the Acceptation of our Duties as God first had respect unto Abel and then unto his Offerings yet there is alwayes a real specifical diference between the Duties themselves whereof one is accepted and the other rejected although it may be unto us it be every way imperceptible As in the Offerings of Cain and Abel that of Abel was offered in Faith the defect whereof in the other caused it to be refused Suppose Duties therefore to be every way the same as to the Principles Rule and Ends or what-ever is necessary to render them good in their kind and they would be all equally accepted with God by whomsoever they are performed for he is no accepter of Persons But this cannot be but where those that perform them are partakers of the same Grace It is therefore the Wills of Men only that vitiate their Duties which are required of them as good and if so they may justly be required of them The defect is not immediately in their State but in their Wills and their Perversity Sect. 27 4ly The Will of God is the Rule of all Mens Obedience This they are all bound to attend unto and if what they do through their own defect prove eventually sin unto them yet the Commandment is just and holy and the observance of it justly prescribed unto them The Law is the moral cause of the performance of the Duties it requires but not of the sinful manner of their performance And God hath not lost his right of commanding Men because they by their sin have lost their Power to fulfil his Commands And if they equity of the Command doth arise from the proportioning of strength that Men have to answer it He that by contracting the highest moral Disability that depraved habits of Mind can introduce or a course of sinning produce in him is freed from owning obedience unto any of God's Commands seeing all confess that such an habit of sin may be contracted as will deprive them in whom it is of all Power of Obedience Wherefore Sect. 28 4. Preachers of the Gospel and others have sufficient warrant to press upon all Men the Duties of Faith Repentance and Obedience although they know that in themselves they have not a sufficiency of Ability for their due performance For 1. it is the Will and Command of God that so they should do and that is the Rule of all our Duties They are not to consider what Man can do or will do but what God requires To make a judgment of Mens Ability and to accommodate the Commands of God unto them accordingly is not committed unto any of the Sons of Men. 2. They have a double End in pressing on Men the observance of Duties with a supposition of the State of Impotency described 1. To prevent them from such courses of sin as would harden them and so render their Conversion more difficult if not desperate 2. To exercise a means appointed of God for their Conversion or the Communication of Saving-Grace unto them Such are God's Commands and such are the Duties required in them In and by them God doth use to communicate of his Grace unto the Souls of Men not with respect unto them as their Duties but as they are wayes appointed and sanctified by him unto such ends And hence it follows that even such Duties as are vitiated in their performance yet are of advantage unto them by whom they are performed For 1. by attendance unto them they are preserved from many sins 2. In an especial manner from the great sin of despising God which ends commonly in that which is unpardonable 3. They are hereby made useful unto others and many ends of God's Glory in the World 4. They are kept in God's Way wherein they may gradually be brought over unto a real Conversion unto him Sect. 29 Thirdly In this State of Spiritual Death there is not in them who are under the Power of it any Disposition active and inclining unto Life Spiritual There is not so in a dead Carcass unto Life Natural It is a Subject meet for an External Power to introduce a Living Principle into so the dead Body of Lazarus was quickned and animated again by the introduction of his Soul But in it self it had not the least active Disposition nor Inclination thereunto And no otherwise is it with a Soul dead in Trespasses and Sins There is in it Potentia Obedientialis a Power rendring it meet to receive the Communications of Grace and Spiritual Life But a Disposition thereunto of its own it hath not There is in it a remote Power in the nature of its Faculties meet to be wrought upon by the Spirit and Grace of God But an immediate Power disposing and enabling it unto Spiritual Acts it hath not And the reason is because Natural Corruption cleaves unto it as an invincible unmoveable Habit constantly inducing unto evil wherewith the least Disposition unto Spiritual Good is not inconsistent There is in the Soul in the Scripture-Language which some call Canting the Body of the Sins of the Flesh 2 Col. 11. which unless it be taken away by Spiritual Circumcision through the vertue of the Death of Christ it will lie dead in to Eternity There is therefore in us that which may be quickned and saved And this is all we have to boast of by Nature Though Man by Sin be made like the Beasts that perish being bruitish and foolish in his Mind and Affections yet he is not so absolutely he retains that living Soul those intellectual Faculties which were the Subject of Original Righteousness and are meet to receive again the Renovation of the Image of God by Jesus Christ. Sect. 30 But this also seems obnoxious to an Objection from the Instances that are given in the Scripture and whereof we have experience concerning sundry good Duties performed by Men Unregenerate and that in a tendency unto living unto God which argues a Disposition to Spiritual Good So Balaam desired to die the Death of the Righteous and Herod heard John Baptist gladly doing many things willingly And great Endeavours after Conversion unto God we find in many who never attain
it is proposed unto us For God sets him forth as to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood as offered Rom. 3. 25. so to be our Sanctification through Faith in his Blood as sprinkled And the Establishing of this especial Faith in our Souls is that which the Apostle aims at in his excellent Reasoning Heb. 9. 13 14. And his Conclusion unto that Purpose is so evident that he encourageth us thereon to draw nigh in the full Assurance of Faith Heb. 10. 22. 3 Faith worketh herein by Fervent Prayer as it doth in its whole Address unto God with Respect unto his Promises because for all these things God will be sought unto by the House of Israel By this Means the Soul brings it self nigh unto its own Mercy And this we are directed unto Heb. 4. 15 16. 4 An Acquiescency in the Truth and Faithfulness of God for Cleansing by the Blood of Christ whence we are freed from discouraging perplexing shame and have Boldness in the Presence of God 4. The Holy Ghost actually Communicates the cleansing Purifying Vertue of the Blood of Christ unto our Souls and Consciences whereby we are freed from shame and have Boldness towards God For the whole work of the Application of the Benefits of the Mediation of Christ unto Believers is his properly And these are the things which Believers aim at and intend in all their servent Supplications for the Purifying and Cleansing of their Souls by the sprinkling and washing of the Blood of Christ the Faith and Perswasion whereof give them Peace and Holy Boldness in the presence of God without which they can have nothing but shame and Confusion of Face in a sence of their own Pollutions Sect. 7 How the Blood of Christ was the Meritorious Cause of our Purification as it was offered in that thereby he procured for us Eternal Redemption with all that was conducing or needfull thereunto and how thereby he Expiated our sins belongs not unto this place to declare Nor shall I insist upon the more mysterious Way of Communicating cleansing Vertue unto us from the Blood of Christ by Vertue of our Vnion with him What hath been spoken may suffice to give a little insight into that Influence which the Blood of Christ hath into this first part of our Sanctification and Holiness And as for those who affirm that it no otherwise cleanseth us from our sins but only because we Believing his Doctrine confirmed by his Death and Resurrection do amend our Lives turning from Sin unto Righteousness and Holiness they renounce the Mystery of the Gospel and all the proper Efficacy of the Blood of Christ. Sect. 8 3 Faith is the Instrumental Cause of our Purification Purifying their Hearts by Faith Acts 15. 9. The two unfailing Evidences of sincere Faith are that within it purifyeth the Heart and without it worketh by Love These are the Touch-stone whereon Faith may yea ought to be tryed We purifie our Souls in obeying the Truth through the Spirit 1 Pet. 1. 20. That is by Believing which is our Original Obedience unto the Truth And hereby are our Souls purified Unbelievers and Unclean are the same Tit. 1. 15. For they have nothing in them whereby they might be Instrumentally cleansed And we are Purified by Faith Because 1 Faith it self is the principal Grace whereby our Nature is restored unto the Image of God and so freed from our Original Defilement Col. 3. 10. Joh. 17. 3. 2 It is by Faith on our part whereby we receive the Purifying Vertue and Influences of the Blood of Christ whereof we have before Discoursed Faith is the Grace whereby we constantly adhere and cleave unto Christ. Deut. 4. 4. Josh. 23. 8. Acts 11. 10. And if the Woman who touched his Garment in Faith obtained Vertue from him to heal her Issue of Blood shall not those who cleave unto him continually derive Vertue from him for the healing of their spiritual Defilements 3 It is by the Working of Faith principally whereby those Lusts and Corruptions which are Defiling are mortified subdued and gradually wrought out of our Minds All actual Defilements spring from the Remainders of defiling Lusts and their depraved Workings in us Heb. 12. 15. Jam. 1. 14. How Faith worketh to the correcting and subduing of them by deriving supplyes of the Spirit and Grace to that End from Jesus Christ as being the Means of our abiding in him whereon alone those supplyes do depend Joh. 15. 3 4 5. as also by the Acting of all other Graces which are contrary to the Polluting Lusts of the Flesh and destructive of them is usually declared and we must not too far enlarge on these things 4 Faith takes in all the Motives which are proposed unto us to stir us up unto our utmost Endeavours and Diligence in the use of all Means and Wayes for the preventing of the Defilements of sin and for the Cleansing our Minds and Consciences from the Relicts of Dead Works And these Motives which are great and many may be reduced unto Two Heads 1 A Participation of the Excellent Promises of God at the Present the Consideration hereof brings a singular Enforcement on the Souls of Believers to endeavour after universal Purity and Holiness 2 Cor. 7. 1. And 2 the future Enjoyment of God in Glory whereunto we cannot attain without being purifyed from sin 1 Joh. 3. 1. Now these Motives which are the Springs of our Duty in this Matter are received and made Efficacious by Faith only Sect. 9 4 Purging from sin is likewise in the Scripture ascribed unto Afflictions of all sorts Hence they are called Gods Furnace and his Fining-Pot Isa. 31. 9. Chap. 48. 10. whereby he taketh away the Dross and Filth of the Vessels of his House They are called Fire that trieth the Wayes and Works of Men consuming their Hay and Stubble and purifying their Gold and Silver 1 Cor. 3. 13. And this they do through an Efficacy unto the Ends communicated unto them in the design and by the Spirit of God For by and in the Cross of Christ they were cut off from the Curse of the First Covenant whereunto all Evil and Trouble did belong and implanted into the Covenant of Grace The Tree of the Cross being cast into the Waters of Affliction hath rendred them Wholsom and Medicinal And as the Lord Christ being the Head of the Covenant all the Afflictions and Persecutions that befall his Members are Originally his Isa. 63. 9. Acts 9. 5. Col. 1. 24. so they all tend to work us unto a Conformity unto him in Purity and Holiness And they work towards this Blessed End of purifying the Soul several wayes For 1 They have in them some Tokens of Gods Displeasure against sin which those who are Exercised by them are led by the Consideration of unto a fresh View of the Vileness of it For although Afflictions are an Effect of Love yet it is of Love mixed with Care to obviate and prevent Distempers Whatever
15 Secondly As This Principle of Inherent Grace or Holiness hath the Nature of an Habit so also hath it the Properties thereof And the first Property of an Habit is that it inclines and disposeth the Subject wherein it is unto Acts of its own kind or suitable unto it It is directed unto a certain End and enclines unto Acts or Actions which tend thereunto and that with evenness and Constancy Yea Moral Habits are nothing but strong and firm Dispositions and Inclinations uuto Moral Acts and Duties of their own kind as Righteousness or Temperance or Meekness Such a Disposition and Inclination therefore there must be in this new spiritual Nature or Principle of Holiness which we have described wherewith the Souls of Believers are in-laid and furnished by the Holy Ghost in their Sanctification For Sect. 16 1. It hath a certain End to enable us whereunto it is bestowed on us Although it be a great Work in it self that wherein the Renovation of the Image of God in us doth consist yet is it not wrought in any but with respect unto a further End in this World And this end is that we may Live to God We are made like unto God that we may live unto God By the Depravation of our Natures we are alienated from this Life of God this Divine spiritual Life Ephes. 4. 18. we like it not but have an Aversation unto it Yea we are under the Power of a Death that is universally opposed unto that Life For to be carnally minded is death Rom. 8. 6. that is it is so with respect unto the Life of God and all the Acts that belong thereunto And this Life of God hath two parts 1 The outward Duties of it 2 The inward Frame and Actings of it For the First Persons under the Power of Corrupted Nature may perform them and doe so but without Delight Constancy or Permanency The Language of that Principle whereby they are Acted is Behold what a Wearyness it is Mal. 1. 13. and such Hypocrites will not pray alwayes But as to the Second for the internal actings of Faith and Love whereby all outward Duties should be quickened and animated they are utter strangers unto them utterly alienated from them With respect unto this Life of God a Life of spiritual Obedience unto God are our Natures thus spiritually renewed or furnished with this spiritual Habit and Principle of Grace It is wrought in us that by vertue thereof we may live to God without which we cannot do so in any one single Act or Duty whatever For they that are in the flesh cannot please God Rom. 8. 8. Wherefore the first Property and inseparable Adjunct of it is that it enclineth and disposeth the Soul wherein it is unto all Acts and Duties that belong to the Life of God or unto all the Duties of holy Obedience so that it shall attend unto them not from Conviction or external Impression only but from an internal genuine Principle so inclining and disposing them thereunto And these things may be illustrated by what is contrary unto them There is in the state of Nature a Carnal Mind which is the Principle of all Morall and Spiritual Operations in them in whom it is And this Carnal Mind hath an Enmity or is Enmity against God it is not subject unto the Law of God neither indeed can be Rom. 8. 7. that is the Bent and Inclination of it lyes directly against spiritual things or the Mind and Will of God in all things which concern a Life of Obedience unto himself Now as this Principle of Holiness is that which is introduced into our Souls in Opposition unto and to the Exclusion of the Carnal Mind so this Disposition and Inclination of it is opposite and contrary unto the Enmity of the Carnal Mind as tending alwayes unto Actions spiritually good according to the Mind of God Sect. 17 2. This Disposition of Heart and Soul which I place as the first Property or Effect of the Principle of Holiness before declared and explained is in the Scripture called Fear Love Delight and by the names of such other Affections as express a constant regard and inclination unto their Objects For these things do not denote the Principle of Holiness it self which is seated in the Mind or Understanding and Will whereas they are the names of Affections only but they signifie the first Way whereby that Principle doth act it self in an holy Inclination of the Heart unto Spiritual Obedience So when the People of Israel had engaged themselves by solemn Covenant to hear and do whatsoever God commanded God addes concerning it Oh that there were such an Heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my Commandements alwayes Deut. 5. 29. that is that the Bent and Inclinations of their Hearts were alwayes unto Obedience It is that which is intended in the Promise of the Covenant Jerem. 32. 39. I will give them one Heart that they may fear me which is the same with the new Spirit Ezek. 11. 19. The new Heart as hath been declared is the new Nature the new Creature the new spiritual supernatural Principle of Holiness The first Effect the first Fruit hereof is the Fear of God alwayes or a New spiritual Bent and Inclination of Soul unto all the Will and Commands of God And this new Spirit this Fear of God is still expressed as the inseparable Consequent of the new Heart or the writing of the Law of God in our Hearts which are the same So it is called Fearing the Lord and his goodness Hos. 3. 5. In like manner it is expressed by Love which is the Inclination of the Soul unto all Acts of Obedience unto God and Communion with him with Delight and Complacency It is a Regard unto God and his Will with a Reverence due unto his Nature and a Delight in him suited unto that Covenant-Relation wherein he stands unto us Sect. 18 3. It is moreover expressed by being spiritually minded To be Spiritually minded is Life and Peace Rom. 8. 6. that is the bent and inclination of the Mind unto spiritual things is that whereby we Live to God and enjoy Peace with him it is Life and Peace By Nature we savour only the things of the flesh and mind Earthly things Phil. 3. 19. our Minds or Hearts are set upon them disposed towards them ready for all things that lead us to the Enjoyment of them and Satisfaction in them But hereby we mind the things that are above or set our Affections on them Coloss. 3. 3. By vertue hereof David professeth that his Soul followed hard after God Psal. 63. 8. or inclined earnestly unto all those Wayes whereby he might live unto him and come unto the Enjoyment of him Like the Earnestness which is in him who is in the pursuit of something continually in his Eye as our Apostle expresseth it Phil. 3. 13 14. By the Apostle Peter it is compared unto that natural inclination which
are not all equally vitious and sinfull But after the flesh goes the bent of the Soul and the generality of its Actings To walk after the Spirit consists in our being given up to Rule and Conduct or walking according to the Dispositions and Inclinations of the Spirit that which is born of the Spirit Namely a Principle of Grace implanted in us by the Holy Ghost which hath at large insisted on before And 3 The External Fruits and Effects of these two Principles are contrary also as our Apostle expressely and at large declares Gal. 5. 19 20 21 22 23 24. For whereas in the Enumeration of the Works of the Flesh he reckons up Actual sins as Adultery Fornication and the like in the Account he gives of the Fruits of the Spirit he insists on Habitual Graces as Love Joy Peace he expresseth them both Metaphorically In the former he hath repect unto the vitious Habits of those Actual Sins and in the latter unto the Actual Effects and Duties of those Habitual Graces Sect. 8 5. There being this universal Contrariety Opposition contending and warfare between Grace and Sin the Spirit and the Flesh in their inward Principles Powers Operations and outward Effects the Work and Duty of Mortification consists in a constant taking part with Grace in its Principle Actings and Fruits against the Principle Acts and Fruits of Sin For the Residence of these contrary Principles being in and their Actings being by the same Faculties of the Soul as the one is increased strengthened and improved the other must of necessity be weakened and decay Wherefore the Mortification of Sin must consist in these three things 1 The cherishing and improving of the Principle of Grace and Holiness which is implanted in us by the Holy Ghost by all the wayes and means which God hath appointed thereunto which we have spoken unto before This is that which alone can undermine and ruine the power of Sin without which all Attempts to weaken it are vain and fruitless Let men take never so much pains to Mortifie Crucifie or Subdue their sins unless they endeavour in the first place to weaken and impair its strength by the increase of Grace and growing therein they will labour in the fire where this work will be consumed 2 In frequent actings of the Principles of Grace in all Duties Internal and External For where the Inclinations Motions and Actings of the Spirit in all Acts Duties and Fruits of Holy Obedience are vigorous and kept in constant Exercise the contrary Motions and Actings of the Flesh are defeated 3 In a due Application of the Principle Power and Actings of Grace by way of opposition unto the Principle Power and Actings of Sin As the whole of Grace is opposed unto the whole of Sin so there is no particular Lust whereby Sin can act its power but there is a particular Grace ready to make effectual Opposition unto it whereby it is mortified And in this Application of Grace in its Actings in Opposition unto all the Actings of sin consists the Mystery of this great Duty of Mortification And where men being ignorant hereof have yet fallen under a Conviction of the Power of Sin and been perplexed therewith they have found out foolish wayes innumerable for its Mortification wickedly opposing External Natural bodily Force and Exercise unto an Internal Moral Depraved Principle which is no way concerned therein But hereof we must treat more afterwards under the third Head concerning the Manner how this work is to be carried on or this Duty performed Sect. 9 6. This Duty of weakening Sin by the Growth and improvement of Grace and the Opposition which is made unto sin in all its Actings thereby is called Mortification Killing or putting to Death on sundry accounts First and principally from that Life which because of its Power Efficacy and Operation is ascribed unto Indwelling Sin The state of the Soul by reason of it is a state of Death But whereas Power and Operations are the proper Adjuncts or Effects of Life for their sakes life is ascribed unto sin on whose account sinners are dead Wherefore this corrupt Principle of Sin in our depraved Nature having a constant powerful inclination and working Actually â—â—wards all evil it is said Metaphorically to Live or to have a Life of its own Therefore is the Opposition that is made unto it for its ruine and Destruction called Mortification or Killing being its Deprivation of that strength and efficacy whereby and wherein it is said to live Secondly It may be so called because of the Violence of that contest which the Soul is put unto in this Duty All other Duties that we are called unto in the course of our Obedience may be performed in a more easie gentle and plain manner Though it is our Work and Duty to conflict with all sorts of Temptations yea to wrestle with Principalities and Powers and spiritual wickednesses in high places yet in this which we have with our selves which is wholly within us and from us there is more of Warring Fighting Captivating Wounding Crying out for Help and Assistance a deep sense of such a violence as is used in taking away the Life of a mortal Enemy than in any thing else we are called unto And Thirdly the end aymed at in this Duty is Destruction as it is of all killing Sin as was said hath a Life and that such a Life as whereby it not onely Lives but Rules and Reigns in all that are not born of God By the entrance of Grace into the Soul it looseth its Dominion but not its Being its Rule but not its Life The utter Ruine Destruction and gradual Annihilation of all the Remainders of this cursed Life of Sin is our Design and Aym in this Work and Duty which is therefore called Mortification The design of this Duty wherever it is in sincerity is to leave sin neither Being nor Life nor Operation Sect. 10 And some Directions as our manner is may be taken from what we have discoursed concerning the Nature of this Duty Directive of our own Practices And 1 It is evident from what hath been discoursed that it is a Work which hath a Gradual Progress in the proceed whereof we must continually be Exercised And this respects in the first place the Principle of sin it self Every day and in every Duty an especial eye is to be had unto the Abolition and Destruction of this Principle It will no otherwise dye but by being Gradually and constantly weakened spare it and it heals its wounds and recovers strength Hence many who have attained to a great Degree in the Mortification of sin doe by their negligence suffer it in some Instances or other so to take head again that they never recover their former state whilst they live Sect. 11 And this is the Reason why we have so many Withering Professors among us decayed in their Graces fruitless in their lives and every way conformed to the world There are
some indeed who being under the Power of that Blindnesse and Darknesse which is a Principal part of the Depravation of our Nature doe neither see nor discern the Inward secret Actings and Motions of sin its Deceit and Restlesness its mixing its self one way or other in all our Dutyes with the Defilement and Guilt wherewith these things are accompanied who judge that God scarce takes notice of any thing but outward Actions and it may be not much of them neither so as to be displeased with them unlesse they are very foul indeed which yet he is easily intreated to passe by and excuse who judge this Duty superfluous despising both the Confession and Mortification of Sin in this Root and Principle of it But those who have received most Grace and Power from above against it are of all others the most sensible of its Power and Guilt and of the Necessity of Applying themselves continually unto its Destruction 2 With respect unto its Inclinations and Operations wherein it variously exerts its Power in all particular instances we are continually to watch against it and to subdue it And this concerns us in all that we are and doe in our Duties in our Calling in our Conversation with others in our Retirements in the frames of our Spirits in our Streights in our Mercies in the use of our Enjoyments in our Temptations If we are negligent unto any Occasion we shall suffer by it This is our Enemy and this is the Warre we are ingaged in Every mistake every neglect is perillous Sect. 12 And 3 The End of this Duty with respect unto us expressed by the Apostle is that henceforth we should not serve sin which referres unto the Perpetration of Actual Sins the bringing forth of the Actual Fruits of the Flesh internal or external also In whosoever the Old man is not crucisied with Christ let him think what he will of himself he is a servant of Sin If he have not received Vertue from the Death of Christ if he be not wrought unto a Conformity to him therein whatever else he may do or attain however he may in any thing in many things change his Course and reform his Life he serves sin and not God Our great Design ought to be that we should no longer serve sin which the Apostle in the ensuing Verses gives us many Reasons for It is indeed the worst service that a Rational Creature is capable of and will have the most dolefull End What therefore is the only Way and Means whereby we may attain this End namely that although Sin will abide in us yet that we may not serve it which will secure us from its Danger This is that Mortification of it which we insist upon and no other If we expect to be freed from the service of Sin by its own giving over to press its Dominions upon us or by any Composition with it or any other way but by being alwayes killing or destroying of it we do but deceive our own Souls Sect. 13 And indeed it is to be feared that the Nature of this Duty is not sufficiently understood or not sufficiently considered Men look upon it as an easie Task and that which will be carried on with a little Diligence and ordinary Attendance But do we think it is for nothing that the Holy Ghost expresseth the Duty of opposing Sin and weakening its Power by Mortification killing or putting to death Is there not somewhat peculiar herein beyond any other Act or Duty of our Lives Certainly there is intimated a great Contest of Sin for the preservation of its Life Every thing will do its utmost to preserve its Life and Being So will Sin do also and if it be not constantly pursued with Diligence and Holy Violence it will escape our Assaults Let no man think to kill sin with few easie or gentle strokes He who hath once smitten a Serpent if he follow not on his blow untill it be slain may repent that ever he begun the quarrel And so will he who undertakes to deal with Sin and pursues it not constantly to death Sin will after a while revive and the Man must dye It is a great and fatal Mistake if we suppose this Work will admit of any remisseness or intermission Again the Principle to be slain is in our selves and so possessed of our Faculties as that it is called our selves It cannot be killed without a sense of pain and trouble Hence it is compared to the cutting off of Right Hands and the plucking out of Right Eyes Lusts that pretend to be usefull to the State and Condition of men that are pleasant and satisfactory to the Flesh will not be mortified without such a Violence as the whole Soul shall be deeply sensible of And sundry other things might be insisted on to manifest how men deceive themselves if they suppose this Duty of Mortification is that which they may carry on in a negligent careless Course and Manner Is there no Danger in this Warfare no Watchfulness no Diligence required of us Is it so easie a thing to kill an Enemy who hath so many Advantages of force and fraud Wherefore if we take care of our Souls we are to attend unto this Duty with that Care Diligence Watchfulness and earnest Contention of spirit which the Nature of it doth require Sect. 14 And moreover there is no less fatal Mistake where we make the Object of this Duty to be only some particular Lusts or the Fruits of them in Actual sins as was before observed This is the way with many They will make Head against some Sins which on one Account or other they find themselves most concerned in but if they will observe their Course they shall find with how little success they do it For the most part Sin gets ground upon them and they continually groan under the Power of its Victories And the Reason is because they mistake their Business Contests against particular sins are only to comply with Light and Convictions Mortification with a Design for Holiness respects the Body of Sin the Root and all its Branches The first will miscarry and the latter will be successefull And herein consists the Difference between that Mortification which men are put upon by Convictions from the Law which alwayes proves fruitless and that wherein we are acted by the Spirit of the Gospel The first respects only particular sins as the Guilt of them reflects upon Conscience the latter the whole Interest of Sin as opposed to the Renovation of the Image of God in us Sect. 15 Thirdly That which remains further to be demonstrated is That the Holy Spirit is the Author of this Work in us so that although it is our Duty it is his Grace and Strength whereby it is performed as also the Manner how it is wrought by him which is principally intended For the first we have the truth of it asserted Rom. 8. 13. If ye through the Spirit do mortifie
the Deeds of the Flesh. It is we that are to mortifie the Deeds of the Flesh it is our Duty but of our selves we cannot do it it must be done in or by the Spirit Whether we take the Spirit here for the Person of the Holy Ghost as the Context seems to require or take it for the gracious Principle of spiritual Life in the Renovation of our Nature not the Spirit himself but that which is born of the Spirit it is all one as to our purpose the Work is taken from our own Natural Power or Ability and resolved into the Grace of the Spirit Sect. 16 And that we go no further for the proof of our Assertion it may suffice to observe That the Confirmation of it is the principal Design of the Apostle from the second Verse of that Chapter unto the end of the 13 th That the Power and Reign of Sin its Interest and Prevalency in the Minds of Believers are weakened impaired and finally destroyed so as that all the pernicious Consequences of it shall be avoyded by the Holy Ghost and that these things could no otherwise be effected he both affirms and proves at large In the foregoing Chapter from the 7 th Verse unto the end he declares the Nature Properties and Efficacy of In-dwelling sin as the Remainders of it do still abide in Believers And whereas a two-fold Conclusion might be made from the Description he gives of the Power and Actings of this sin or a double Question arise unto the great Disconsolation of Believers he doth in this Chapter remove them both manifesting that there was no cause for such Conclusions or Exceptions from any thing by him delivered The first of these is that if such if this be the Power and Prevalency of In-dwelling sin if it so obstruct us in our doing that which is good and impetuously incline unto evil what will become of us in the End how shall we answer for all the Sin and Guilt which we have contracted thereby We must we shall therefore perish under the Guilt of it And the second Conclusion which is apt to arise from the same Consideration is that seeing the Power and Prevalency of Sin is so great and that we in our selves are no way able to make Resistance unto it much less to overcome it it cannot be but that at length it will absolutely prevail against us and bring us under its Dominion unto our everlasting Ruine Both these Conclusions the Apostle obviates in this Chapter or removes them if laid as Objections against what he had delivered And this he doth Sect. 17 1 By a Tacit Concession that they will both of them be found true towards all who live and dye under the Law without an Interest in Jesus Christ. For affirming that there is no condemnation unto them that are in Christ Jesus he grants that those who are not so cannot avoyd it Such is the Guilt of this sin and such are the Fruits of it in all in whomsoever it abides that it makes them obnoxious unto Condemnation But 2 There is a Deliverance from this Condemnation and from all liableness thereunto by free Justification in the Blood of Christ v. 1. For those who have an Interest in him and are made partakers thereof although sin may grieve them trouble and perplex them and by its Deceit and Violence cause them to contract much Guilt in their surprizals yet they need not despond or be utterly cast down there is a stable ground of Consolation provided for them in that there is no Condemnation unto them that are in Christ Jesus 3 That none may abuse this Consolation of the Gospel to countenance themselves unto a Continuance in the service of sin he gives a Limitation of the Subjects unto whom it doth belong namely all them and only them who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit v. 1. As for those who give up themselves unto the Conduct of this Principle of In-dwelling sin who comply with its Motions and Inclinations being acted wholly by its Power let them neither flatter nor deceive themselves there is nothing in Christ nor the Gospel to free them from Condemnation It is they only who give up themselves to the Conduct of the Spirit of Sanctification and Holiness that have an interest in this Priviledge 4 As to the other Conclusion taken from the Consideration of the Power and Prevalency of this Principle of sin he prevents or removes it by a full Discovery how and by what means that Power of it shall be so broken its strength abated its prevalency disappointed and its self destroyed as that we need not fear the Consequents of it before mentioned but rather may secure our selves that we shall be the death thereof and not that the death of our Souls Now this is saith he by the Law or Power of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus v. 2. And thereon he proceeds to declare that it is by the effectual working of this Spirit in us alone that we are enabled to overcome this spiritual Adversary This being sufficiently evident it remaineth only that we declare the Way and Manner how he produceth this Effect of his Grace Sect. 18 1 The Foundation of all Mortification of Sin is from the Inhabitation of the Spirit in us He dwells in the Persons of Believers as in his Temple and so he prepares it for himself Those Defilements or Pollutions which render the Souls of men unmeet Habitations for the Spirit of God do all of them consist in sin inherent and its Effects These therefore he will remove and subdue that he may dwell in us suitably unto his Holiness Rom. 8. 11. If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the Dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the Dead shall also quicken your mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you Our mortal Bodyes are our Bodies as obnoxious unto Death by reason of sin as v. 10. And the Quickening of these mortal Bodyes is their being freed from the Principle of Sin or Death and its Power by a contrary Principle of Life and Righteousness It is the freeing of us from being in the Flesh that we may be in the Spirit v. 9. And by what Means is this effected It is by the Spirit of him that raised Jesus from the Dead that is of the Father which also is called the Spirit of God the Spirit of Christ v. 9. For he is equally the Spirit of the Father and the Son And he is described by this Periphrasis both because there is a similitude between that Work as to its Greatness and Power which God wrought in Christ when he raised him from the Dead and what he worketh in Believers in their Sanctification Ephes. 1. 19 20. and because this Work is wrought in us by vertue of the Resurrection of Christ. But under what especial Consideration doth he effect this Work of mortifying sin in us It is as
Prayes as he ought no man joyns in Prayer with another who prayes as he ought but these Petitions are a part of his Prayer Especially will they be so and ought they so to be when the Mind is peculiarly engaged in the Design of destroying sin And these Petitions or Requests are as far as they are gracious and effectual wrought in us by the Holy Ghost who therein maketh intercession for us according to the Will of God And hereby doth he carry on this work of the Mortification of sin for his Work it is He makes us to put up prevalent Requests unto God for such continual supplyes of Grace whereby it may be constantly kept under and at length destroyed And this is the first way whereby this Duty hath an Influence into Mortification namely Morally and by way of Impetration Sect. 32 Secondly This Duty hath a real Efficiency unto the same End It doth its self when rightly performed and duly attended unto mightily prevail unto the weakning and Destruction of sin For in and by fervent Prayer especially when it is designed unto this End the Habit Frame and Inclinations of the Soul unto universal Holiness with a Detestation of all sin are increased cherished and strengthened The soul of a Believer is never raised unto a higher Intension of spirit in the pursuit of love unto and delight in Holiness nor is more conformed unto it or cast into the mould of it than it is in Prayer And frequency in this Duty is a principal means to fix and consolidate the mind in the form and likeness of it And hence doe Believers oft-times continue in and come off from Prayer above all Impressions from sin as to Inclinations and Complyances Would such a frame alwayes continue how happy were we But abiding in the Duty is the best way of reaching out after it I say therefore that this Duty is really Efficient of the Mortification of sin because therein all the Graces whereby it is opposed and weakened are excited exercised and improved unto that End as also the Detestation and Abhorency of sin is increased in us And where this is not so there are some secret flaws in the Prayers of men which it will be their wisdom to find out and heal Sect. 33 Fourthly The Holy Spirit carrieth on this work by applying in an especial manner the death of Christ unto us for that end And this is another thing which because the World understandeth not it doth despise But yet in whomsoever the Death of Christ is not the death of sin he shall dye in his sins To evidence this Truth we may observe 1 in general That the Death of Christ hath an especial influence into the Mortification of sin without which it will not be Mortified This is plainly enough testified unto in the Scripture By his Cross that is his Death on the Cross We are crucified unto the world Gal. 6. 14. Our old man is crucified with him that the Body of sin might be destroyed Rom. 6. 6. That is sin is Mortified in us by vertue of the Death of Christ 2 In the Death of Christ with respect unto sin there may be considedered 1. His Oblation of himself and 2. The Application thereof unto us By the first it is that our sins are expiated as unto their Guilt but from the latter it is that they are actually subdued as to their Power For it is by an Interest in and a participation of the Benefits of his Death which we call the Application of it unto us Hereon are we said to be buried with him and to rise with him whereof our Baptism is a pledge Rom. 6. 3 4. not in an outward Representation as some imagine of being dipped under the water and taken up again which were to make one sign the sign of another but in a powerful Participation of the vertue of the Death and Life of Christ in a death unto sin and newness of life in Holy Obedience which Baptisme is a pledge of as it is a token of our initiation and implanting into him So are we said to be baptized into his death or into the likeness of it that is into its power ver 3. 3 The old man is said to be crucified with Christ or sin to be Mortified by the Death of Christ as was in part before observed on two Accounts 1 Of Conformity Christ is the Head the Beginning or Idea of the New Creation The first born of every Creature Whatever God designeth unto us therein he first exemplified in Jesus Christ And we are predestinated to be conformed to the Image of his Son Rom. 8. 29. Hereof the Apostle gives us an express instance in the Resurrection Christ the first Fruits afterwards they that are Christs at his coming 1 Cor. 15. 23. It is so in all things all that is wrought in us it is in resemblance and conformity unto Christ. Particularly we are by Grace planted into the likeness of his Death Rom. 6. 5. being made conformable unto his Death Phil. 3. 10. and so to be dead with Christ Col. 2. 20. Now this conformity is not in our Natural Death nor in our being put to death as he was for it is that which we are made partakers of in this Life and that in a way of Grace and Mercy But Christ died for sin for our sin which was the meritorious procuring cause thereof And he lived again by the Power of God A likeness and conformity hereunto God will work in all Believers There is by nature a Life of sin in them as hath been declared This Life must be destroyed sin must dye in us and we thereby become dead unto sin And as he rose again So are we to be quickened in and unto newness of life In this death of sin consists that Mortification which we treat about and without which we cannot be conformed unto Christ in his Death which we are designed unto And the same Spirit which wrought these things in Christ will in the pursuit of his Design work that which answers unto them in all his Members Sect. 34 2 In respect of Efficacy vertue goeth forth from the Death of Christ for the subduing and Destruction of sin It was not designed to be a dead unactive passive Example but it is accompanied with a Power conforming and changing us into its own likeness It is the Ordinance of God unto that End which he therefore gives efficacy unto It is by a fellowship or participation in his sufferings that we are made conformable to his Death Phil. 3. 10. this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is an interest in the Benefit of his suffering we also are made partakers thereof This makes us conformable to his Death in the Death of sin in us The Death of Christ is designed to be the Death of sin let them who are dead in sin deride it whilest they please If Christ had not dyed sin had never dyed in any sinner unto Eternity Wherefore that
there is a vertue and Efficacy in the Death of Christ unto this purpose cannot be denyed without a Renuntiation of all the Benefits thereof On the one hand the Scripture tells us that he is our Life our Spiritual Life the Spring Fountain and Cause of it we have nothing therefore that belongs thereunto but what is derived from him They cast themselves out of the verge of Christianity who suppose that the Lord Christ is no otherwise our Life or the Authour of Life unto us but as he hath revealed and taught the way of Life unto us He is our Life as he is our Head And it would be a sorry Head that should onely teach the feet to go and not communicate strength to the whole Body so to doe And that we have real influences of Life from Christ I have sufficiently proved before Unto our spiritual Life doth ensue the Death of sin for this on the other hand is peculiarly assigned unto his Death in the Testimonies before produced This therefore is by vertue derived from Christ That is in an especial manner from his Death as the Scripture testifies Sect. 35 All the Enquiry is How the Death of Christ is applyed unto us or which is the same How we apply our selves to the Death of Christ for this purpose And I answer We do it two wayes 1 By Faith The way to derive Vertue from Christ is by touching of him So the diseased Woman in the Gospel touched but the Hemme of his Garment and Vertue went forth from him to stay her Bloody Issue Math. 9. 22. It was not her Touching him outwardly but her Faith which she acted then and thereby that derived Vertue from him For so our Saviour tells her in his Answer Daughter be of good Comfort thy Faith hath made thee whole But unto what End was this touching of his Garment It was only a Pledge and Token of the particular Application of the healing Power of Christ unto her Soul or her Faith in him in particular for that End For at the same time many thronged upon him in a presse so as his Disciples marvelled he should ask who touched his Cloaths Mark 5. 30 31. yet was not any of them advantaged but the poor sick Woman A great Emblem it is of common Profession on the one hand and especial Faith on the other Multitudes presse and throng about Christ in a Profession of Faith and Obedience and in the real performance of many Duties but no Vertue goeth forth from Christ to heal them But when any one though poor though seemingly at a distance gets but the least touch of him by especial Faith this Soul is healed This is our Way with respect unto the Mortification of Sin The Scripture assures us that there is Vertue and Efficacy in the Death of Christ unto that End The Means whereby we derive this Vertue from him is by Touching of him that is by Acting Faith on him in his Death for the Death of Sin Sect. 36 But how will this effect it how will sin be mortified hereby I say how by what Power and Vertue were they healed in the Wilderness who looked unto the Brazen Serpent was it not because that was an Ordinance of God which by his Almighty Power he made effectual unto that purpose The Death of Christ being so as to the Crucifying of sin when it is looked on or applyed unto by Faith shall not Divine Vertue and Power go forth unto that End The Scripture and Experience of all Believers give Testimony unto the Truth and Reality thereof Besides Faith it self as acted on the Death of Christ hath a peculiar Efficacy unto the subduing of sin for beholding him thereby as in a Glass we are changed into the same Image 1 Cor. 3. 18. And that which we peculiarly behold we are peculiarly transformed into the Likeness of And moreover it is the only Means whereby we Actually derive from Christ the Benefits of our Vnion with him from thence we have all Grace or there is no such thing in the World And the Communication of it unto us is in and by the Actual Exercise of Faith principally So it being acted with respect unto his Death we have Grace for the Killing of sin and thereby become dead with him Crucified with him Buryed with him as in the Testimonies before produced This is that which we call the Application of the Death of Christ unto us or our Application of our selves to the Death of Christ for the Mortification of sin And they by whom this Means thereof is despised or neglected who are ignorant of it or do Blaspheme it must live under the Power of sin unto what Inventions soever they turn themselves for Deliverance According as we abide and abound herein will be our success Those who are careless and remiss in the Exercise of Faith by Prayer and Meditation in the Way described will find that Sin will keep its ground and maintain so much Power in them as shall issue in their perpetual Trouble And men who are much conversant with the Death of Christ not in Notions and Lifeless Speculations not in Natural or Carnal Affections like those which are raised in weak Persons by Images and Crucifixes but by holy Actings of Faith with respect unto what is declared in the Scripture as to its Power and Efficacy will be implanted into the Likeness of it and experience the Death of sin in them continually Sect. 37 2 We do it by Love Christ as Crucified is the great Object of our Love or should so be For he is therein unto sinners altogether Lovely Hence one of the Ancients cryed out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My Love is crucified and why doe I stay behind In the Death of Christ do his Love his Grace his Condescension most gloriously shine forth We may therefore consider three things with respect unto this Love 1 The Object of it 2 The Means of the Representation of that Object unto our Minds and Affections 3 The Effects of it as to the Case in hand The Object of it is Christ himself in his unsearchable Grace his unspeakable Love his infinite Condescension his patient Suffering and victorious Power in his Death or dying for us It is not his Death absolutely but himself as all these Graces conspicuously shine forth in his Death which is intended And there are various Wayes whereby this may be represented unto our Minds Sect. 38 1 Men may doe it unto themselves by their own Imaginations They may frame and fancy dolorous things unto themselves about it which is the way of Persons under deep and devout Superstitions But no Love in sincerity will ever be ingenerated towards Jesus Christ hereby 2 It may be done by others in pathetical and tragical Declarations of the Outward part of Christs sufferings Herein some have a great faculty to work upon the Natural Affections of their Auditors And great Passions accompanyed with Tears and Vows may be so excited
his Sacerdotal Hath his Blood purged your Consciences from dead works that you should serve the living God Are you cleansed and sanctified and made Holy thereby Are you redeemed out of the World by it and from your vain Conversation therein after the Customs and Traditions of men Are you by it dedicated unto God and made his peculiar Ones If you find not these Effects of the Blood-shedding of Christ in and upon your Souls and Consciences in vain will you expect those other of Attonement Peace and Reconciliation with God of Mercy Pardon Justification and Salvation which you look for The Priestly Office of Christ hath its whole Effect towards all on whom it hath any Effects Despisers of its Fruits in Holiness shall never have the least Interest in its Fruits in Righteousness Sect. 22 Is it from his Actings as the great Prophet of the Church that you expect Help and Relief Have you effectually learned of him to deny all Vngodliness and worldly Lusts to live Righteously and Soberly and Godly in this present World Hath he taught you to be humble to be meek to be patient to hate the Garment spotted with the flesh Hath he instructed you unto sincerity in all your Wayes Dealings and whole Conversations among men Above all hath he taught you have you learned of him to purifie and cleanse your Hearts by Faith to subdue your inward spiritual and fleshly Lusts to endeavour after an universal Conformity unto his Image and Likeness Do you find his Doctrine Effectual unto these Ends and are your Hearts and Minds cast into the Mould of it If it be so your Interest in him by his Prophetical Office is secured unto you But if you say you hear his Voyce in his Word Read and Preached that you have Learned many Mysteries and have attained much Light or Knowledge thereby at least you know the substance of the Doctrine he hath taught so as that you can discourse of it yea and that you doe many Things or perform many Duties according unto it but cannot say that the Effects before enqured after are wrought in you by his Word and Spirit you lose the second Expectation of an Interest in Christ as Mediator or any Advantage thereby Sect. 23 Will you betake your selves to the Kingly Office of Christ and have you Expectations on him by vertue thereof You may do well to Examine how he Ruleth in you and over you Hath he subdued your Lusts those Enemies of his Kingdom which fight against your Souls Hath he strengthened aided supported assisted you by his Grace unto all Holy Obedience And have you given up your selves to be Ruled by his Word and Spirit to obey him in all things and to entrust all your Temporal and Eternal Concernments unto his Care Faithfulness and Power If it be so you have Cause to Rejoyce as those who have an Assured Concern in the blessed Things of his Kingdom But if your proud rebellious Lusts do yet bear sway in you if Sin have dominion over you if you continue to fulfill the Lusts of the Mind and of the Flesh if you walk after the Fashions of this World and not as Obedient Subjects of that Kingdom of his which is not of this World Deceive not your selves any longer Christ will be of no Advantage unto you In these things lye the summe of our present Argument If the Lord Christ act no otherwise for our Good but in and by his Blessed Offices of Priest Prophet and King and if the immediate Effect of the Grace of Christ acting in all these Offices towards us be our Holiness and Sanctification those in whom that Effect is not wrought and produced have neither Ground nor Reason to Promise themselves an Interest in Christ or any Advantage by his Mediation For men to name the Name of Christ to profess themselves Christians or his Disciples to avow an Expectation of Mercy Pardon Life and Salvation by him and in the mean time to be in themselves Worldly Proud Ambitious Envious Revengefull Haters of Good Men Covetous living in divers Lusts and Pleasures is a Scandal and Shame unto Christian Religion and unavoidably Destructive to their own Souls CHAP. V. Necessity of Holiness from our Condition in this World Necessity of Holiness further Argued from our own State and Condition in this World with what is required of us with respect unto our giving Glory to Jesus Christ. Sect. 1 ANother Argument for the Necessity of Holiness may be taken from the Consideration of our selves and our present State and Condition For it is hereby alone that the Vicious Distemper of our Natures is or can be cured That our Nature is fearfully and universally depraved by the Entrance of Sin I have before declared and sufficiently confirmed And I do not now consider it as to the Disability of Living unto God or Enmity unto him which is come upon us thereby nor yet as to the future Punishment which it renders us obnoxious unto But it is the present misery that is upon us by it unless it be cured which I intend For the Mind of man being possessed with Darkness Vanity Folly and Instability the Will under the Power of spiritual Death Stubborn and Obstinate and all the Affections Carnal Sensual and Selfish the whole Soul being hurried off from God and so out of its Way is perpetually filled with Confusion and perplexing Disorder It is not unlike that Description which Job gives of the Grave A Land of Darkness and of the shadow of Death without any Order and where the Light is as Darkness Chap. 10. 21 22. When Solomon set himself to search out the Causes of all the Vanity and Vexation that is in the World of all the Troubles that the Life of Man is filled withall he affirms that this was the summe of his Discovery God made men upright but they have found out many Inventions Eccles. 7. 29. that is cast themselves into endless Entanglements and Confusions What is Sin in its Guilt is Punishment in its Power yea the greatest that men are liable unto in this World Hence God for the Guilt of some Sins poenally gives many up to the Power of others Rom. 1. 24 26 28. 2 Thess. 2. 11. And this he doth not only to secure and aggravate their Condemnation at the last Day but to give them in this World a Recompence of their Folly in themselves For there is no greater Misery nor Slavery than to be under the Power of Sin Sect. 2 This proves the Original Depravation of our Nature the whole Soul filled with Darkness Disorder and Confusion being brought under the Power of various Lusts and Passions captivating the Mind and Will unto their Interests in the vilest Drudgeries of Servitude and Bondage No sooner doth the Mind begin to Act any thing suitably unto the small Remainders of Light in it but it is immediately controlled by impetuous Lusts and Affections which darken its Directions and silence its Commands Hence
in the Apprehension of them with whom they have to doe which was Actually the Case of David all his Dayes and of Hannah 1 Sam. 1. 6 7. I would be far from giving Countenance unto thâ— sinfull Distempers of any but yet I doubt not but that the Infirmities of many are represented by Envy and Hatred of Profession unto an undeserved Disadvantage 3 Where-ever there is the seed of Grace and Holiness there an Entrance is made on the Cure of all these sinfull Distempers yea not only of the corrupt Lusts of the Flesh that are absolutely evil and Vitious in their whole Nature but even of those natural Infirmities and Distempers of peevishness moroseness inclination to Anger and Passion Vnsteadiness in Resolution which Lusts is apt to possess and use unto evil and disorderly Ends. And I am pressing the Necessity of Holiness that is of the Encrease and Growth of it that this Work may be carried on to perfection and that so through the Power of the Grace of the Gospel that great Promise may be accomplished which is recorded Isa. 11. 6 7 8 9. And as when a wandring jugling Impostor who pretended to judge of mens Lives and Manners by their Physiognomy beholding Socrates pronounced him from his Countenance a Person of a flagitious sensual Life the People derided his Folly who knew his sober vertuous Conversation but Socrates excused him affirming that such he had been had he not bridled his Nature by Philosophy how much more truely may it be said of Multitudes that they had been eminent in nothing but untoward Distempers of Mind had not their Souls been rectified and cured by the Power of Grace and Holiness Sect. 14 I find there is no End of Arguments that offer their service to the Purpose in hand I shall therefore wave many and those of great importance attended with an unavoidable Cogency and shut up this Discourse with one which must not be omitted In our Holiness consists the principal part of that Revenue of Glory and Honour which the Lord Christ requireth and expecteth from his Disciples in this World That he doth require this indispensibly of us is I suppose out of Question amongst us although the most who are called Christians live as if they had no other Design but to cast all Obloquies Reproach and Shame on him and his Doctrine But if we are indeed his Disciples he hath bought us with a Price and we are not our own but his and that to glorifie him in Soul and Body becuase they are his 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. He dyed for us that we should not live unto our selves but unto him that so dyed for us and by vertue of whose Death we live Rom. 14. 7 8 9. He gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works Tit. 2. 14. But we need not to insist hereon To deny that we ought to glorifie and honour Christ in the World is to renounce him and the Gospel The sole Enquiry is How we may do so and what he requireth of us to that purpose Sect. 15 Now the summe of all that the Lord Christ expects from us in this World may be reduced unto two Heads 1 That we should live holily to him 2 That we should suffer patiently for him And in these things alone is he glorified by us The first he expecteth at all times and in all things the latter on particular Occasions as we are called by him thereunto Where these things are where this Revenue of Glory is payd in and returned unto him he repents not of his Purchase nor of the unvaluable Price he hath payd for us yea sayes The Lines are fallen to me in pleasant places I have a goodly Heritage which are the words of Christ concerning the Church which is his Lot and the Portion of his Inheritance Psal. 16. 6. Now amongst many others we shall consider but one way whereby we glorifie the Lord Christ by our Holy Obedience and whence also it will appear how much we dishonour and reproach him when we come short thereof Sect. 16 The Lord Christ coming into the World as the Mediator between God and Man wrought and accomplished a mighty Work amongst us And what he did may be referred to three Heads 1 The Life which he lead 2 The Doctrine which he taught and 3 The Death which he underwent Concerning all these there ever was a great Contest in the World and it is yet continued And on the part of the World it is managed under a double Appearance For some openly have traduced his Life as unholy his Doctrine as foolish and his Death as justly deserved which was the sence of the Pagan World and the Apostate Judaical Church of Old as it is of many at this Day Others allow them to pass with some Approbation pretending to own what is taught in the Gospel concerning them but in fact and practice deny any such Power and Efficacy in them as is pretended and without which they are of no Vertue which is the way of Carnal Gospellers and all Idolatrous Superstitious Worshippers among Christians And of late there is risen up amongst us a Generation who esteem all that is spoken concerning him to be a meer Fable In opposition hereunto the Lord Christ calls all his true Disciples to bear Witness and Testimony unto the Holiness of his Life the Wisdom and Purity of his Doctrine the Efficacy of his Death to Expiate Sin to make Attonement and Peace with God with the Power of his whole Mediation to Renew the Image of God in us to restore us into his Favour and to bring us unto the Enjoyment of him This he calls all his Disciples to avow unto and express in the World and by their so doing is he glorified and no otherwise in a peculiar manner A Testimony is to be given unto and against the World that his Life was most Holy his Doctrine most heavenly and pure his Death most precious and Efficacious and consequently that he was sent of God unto his great Work and was accepted of him therein Now all this is no otherwise done but by Obedience unto him in Holiness as it is visible and fruitfull For Sect. 17 1 We are Obliged to profess that the Life of Christ is our Example This in the first place are we called unto and every Christian doth virtually make that profession No man takes that holy Name upon him but the first thing he signifies thereby is that he makes the Life of Christ his Pattern which it is his Duty to express in his own And he who takes up Christianity on any other Terms doth wofully deceive his own Soul How is it then that we may yield a Revenue of Glory herein How may we bear Testimony unto the Holiness of his Life against the Blasphemies of the World and the Vnbelief of the most who have no Regard thereunto Can this be any
otherwise done but by Holiness of Heart and Life by Conformity to God in our Souls and living unto God in fruitfull Obedience Can men devise a more effectual Expedient to cast Reproach upon him than to live in Sin to follow divers lusts and pleasures to preferre the World and present things before Eternity and in the mean time to Profess That the Life of Christ is their Example as all unholy Professors and Christians doe Is not this to bear witness with the World against him that indeed his Life was unholy Surely it is high time for such Persons to leave the Name of Christians or the Life of Sin It is therefore alone in Conformity to him in the Holiness we are pressing after that we can give him any Glory on the Account of his Life being our Example Sect. 18 2 We can give him no Glory unless we bear Testimony unto his Doctrine that it is Holy Heavenly filled with Divine Wisdom and Grace as we make it our Rule And there is no other way whereby this may be done but by holy Obedience expressing the Nature End and Vsefulness of it Titus 2. 11 12. And indeed the Holy Obedience of Believers as hath been declared at large before is a thing quite of another Kind than any thing in the World which by the Rules Principles and Light of Nature we are directed unto or instructed in It is Spiritual Heavenly Mysterious filled with Principles and Actings of the same Kind with those whereby our Communion with God in Glory unto Eternity shall be maintained Now although the Life of Evangelical Holiness be in its Principle Form and chief Actings secret and hidden hid with Christ in God from the Eyes of the World so that the Men thereof neither see nor know nor discern the spiritual Life of a Believer in its Being Form and Power yet there are alwayes such evident appearing fruits of it as are sufficient for their Conviction that the Rule of it which is the Doctrine of Christ alone is Holy Wise and Heavenly And Multitudes in all Ages have been won over unto the Obedience of the Gospel and Faith in Christ Jesus by the Holy Fruitfull Usefull Conversation of such as have expressed the Power and Purity of his Doctrine in this Kind Sect. 19 3 The Power and Efficacy of the Death of Christ as for other Ends so to purifie us from all Iniquity and to purge our Consciences from dead Works that we may serve the living God is herein also required The World indeed sometimes riseth unto that height of Pride and contemptuous Atheisme as to despise all Appearance and Profession of Purity But the Truth is if we are not cleansed from our Sins in the Blood of Christ if we are not thereby purified from Iniquity we are an Abomination unto God and shall be Objects of his Wrath for ever However the Lord Christ requireth no more of his Disciples in this matter unto his Glory but that they Profess that his Blood cleanseth them from their sins and evidence the Truth of it by such Wayes and Means as the Gospel hath appointed unto that End If their Testimony herein unto the Efficacy of his Death be not received be despised by the World and so at present no apparent Glory redound unto him thereby he is satisfied with it as knowing that the Day is coming wherein he will call over these things again when the Rejecting of this Testimony shall be an Aggravation of Condemnation unto the unbelieving World Sect. 20 I suppose the Evidence of this last Argument is plain and exposed unto all it is briefly this Without the Holiness prescribed in the Gospel we give nothing of that Glory unto Jesus Christ which he indispensibly requireth And if men will be so sottishly foolish as to expect the greatest Benefits and Advantages by the Mediation of Christ namely Pardon of Sin Salvation Life and Immortality whilest they neglect and refuse to give him any Revenue of Glory for all he hath done for them we may bewail their Folly but cannot prevent their Ruine He saves us freely by his Grace but he requires that we should express a sense of it in ascribing unto him the Glory that is his due And let no man think this is done in Wordy Expressions it is no otherwise effected but by the Power of an Holy Conversation shewing forth the Prayses of him who hath called us out of Darkness into his marvellous Light Nay there is more in it also if any one profess himself to be a Christian that is a Disciple of Jesus Christ to follow the Example of his Life to Obey his Doctrine to express the Efficacy of his Death and continue in an unholy Life he is a false Traytor to him and gives in his Testimony on the side of the World against Him and all that he hath done for us And it is indeed the flagitious Lives of professed Christians that have brought the Life Doctrine and Person of our Lord Jesus Christ into Contempt in the World And I advise all that read or hear of these things diligently and carefully to study the Gospel that they may receive thence an Evidence of the Power Truth Glory and Beauty of Christ and his Wayes for he that should consider the Conversation of men for his Guide will be hardly able to determine which he should choose whether to be a Pagan a Mahumetan or a Christian. And shall such Persons by reason of whom the Name of Christ is dishonoured and blasphemed continually expect Advantage by him or Mercy from him Will men yet think to live in Sensuality Pride Ambition Covetousness Malice Revenge Hatred of all Good men and Contempt of Purity and to enjoy Life Immortality and Glory by Christ Who can sufficiently bewayl the dreadfull Effects of such an horrid Infatuation God teach us all duely to consider that all the Glory and Honour of Jesus Christ in the World with respect unto us depends on our Holiness and not on any other thing either that we are have or may doe If therefore we have any Love unto him any spark of Gratitude for his unspeakable Love Grace Condescension Sufferings with the Eternal Fruits of them any Care about or Desire of his Glory and Honour in the World if we would not be found the most hatefull Traytors at the last Day unto his Crown Honour and Dignity if we have any Expectation of Grace from him or Advantage by him here or hereafter let us labour to be Holy in all manner of Conversation that we may thereby adorn his Doctrine express his Vertues and Prayses and grow up into Conformity and Likeness unto him who is the First-born and Image of the Invisible God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 FINIS AN Alphabetical TABLE of some Especial Matters contained in this Book A. Page Section ABasement in the Remembrance of the Defilement of Sin a necessary Duty 401 14 No Ability in Sinners to purge themselves from their Natural Pollution 379
Mistakes about Ability to comply with Gods Commands 544 20 Abuse of the best Duties Possible 398 13 Abuse of spiritual Gifts 1 1 Abuse of Eternal Love devilish 525 14 Acquaintance with the Pollution of Sin necessary 394 11 Every Gracious Act of the Will wrought by the Holy Spirit 470 10 Difference between the Act of the Spirit in forming the Humane Nature of Christ and the Act of the Son in assuming it 133 12 To be acted by the Spirit what it is 468 11 How the Holy Prophets were Acted by the Spirit 104 10 All Actings of the Person of the Son of God towards the Humane Nature voluntary 129 6 Actings of the Holy Spirit not ascribed unto him exclusively 130 9 Internal Actings of the blessed Trinity where one Person is the Object of the Love of another natural and necessary to the Being of God 45 5 External Actings of one Divine Person towards another of what sort 46 5 All Actions internal and external to be tryed by the Word 412 3 Internal Acts of the Holy Trinity how undivided 131 9 All Acts of Natural Life from God 465 6 No Vital Acts under the Power of Death Spiritual 246 21 Act of the Holy Ghost in forming the Body of Christ a Creating Act. 132 Two-fold Event of Mens falls into Actual Sins 291 292 7 8 Actual Sins how they spring from Original Sins 289 5 Actual supplyes of Grace necessary to the Mortification of Sin 486 23 Actual assistance of Grace necessary unto Obedience 548 27 Adam how he had the Spirit of God in the state of Innocency 76 14 Adam had many things revealed unto him 100 6 Adherence and Assimulation Effects of of Love 496 Adjuncts of Divine Inspiration 103 9 Admiration an effect of love 514 26 Administration of Grace not equal at all times 547 24 Advantage and Priviledge in the Participation of the Gifts of the Spirit 83 7 Advantage of the New Testament in our Access to God 155 2 Advantage of Duties vitiated in their Performance 249 28 Great Advantage of spiritual Experience 342 Affections wrought upon and excited by Convictions 200 18 Affections fixed by Grace on spiritual things 201 18 Affections when renewed work sensibly 353 Affections how depraved how sanctified 285 57 Affections the Means of Convictions 294 13 Afflictions how they purge away sin 391 9 Afflictions how sanctified and made usefull ibid. Various Aggravations of the Defilement of Sin 379 Aggravations of sin in them who have received a Principle of Grace 549 29 All personal Properties assigned unto the Holy Spirit in the Scripture 48 8 Alienation from the Life of God what it is 216 22 Alienation of the Minds of men from the Gospel on what Ground 233 54 Allusion unto Local Motion in sending of the Spirit whence taken 84 8 Angels Gods Host. 70 6 Ministry of Angels about the Body of Christ when dead 147 10 Anointing at the Inauguration of Governours what it signified 117 The Spirit of Antichrist what it is 41 17 An Anti-Spirit set up in Opposition to the Spirit of God 19 23 Apostasie of the Church in several Ages with respect unto the Persons of the Holy Trinity 24 27 Apostasie of Christian Churches in the Rejection of the Holy Spirit and his Work 25 27 Apostasie from beginnings of Conversion how brought on 300 24 Appellations or Titles of the Holy Spirit in the Scripture 34 9 Appearances of the Holy Spirit under visible Signs 52 15 Appearances of Persons in Divine Visions 108 14 All Apprehensions of Divine Operations to be tryed by the Rule of the Word 187 Apprehension of Eternal danger from the Law before Conversion 308 31 Application of the Blood of Christ for the Cleansing of Sin 371 1 Application to the Blood of Christ for the Cleansing of Sin and the Nature of it 387 388 389 s. 5. 400 405 Applications of the Death of Christ unto the subduing of Sin wherein it consists 494 495 36 Arguments in Prayer for the further Communications of the Spirit 359 4 Weak Arguments for Holiness prejudicial to it 498 2 Arguments to prove the Divine Personality of the Holy Ghost 47 48 c. 8 Articulate Voyces in Divine Revelations how formed 106 12 Internal Assistance of the Spirit of God necessary to every Act of Obedience 465 5 Assumption the only immediate Act of the Person of the Son towards the Humane Nature 129 4 Assurance accompanying Divine Revelations 104 10 Assurance of Success and final preservation an Encouragement to Duties of Holiness 529 21 Assurance of the End an Encouragement unto the use of the Means 530 23 Attonement or Satisfaction not required of Sinners 331 13 False Wayes of making Attonement the Ground of all Superstition ibid. Vain Attempts for the Mortification of Sin 478 8 Auricular Confession an Invention to accommodate the Inclinations of all Flesh 380 Authority in giving the Spirit respects his Gifts and Grace 81 4 Authority of God gives Efficacy to the Word 259 13 Authority of God to be alwayes considered in his Commands 537 10 Sense of the Authority of God to be carried into all our Occasions 542 17 B. Baalam how a Prophet and how a Sorcerer 110 17 Baptized into the Name of the Holy Spirit as into the Father and Son 51 14 Baptisme of Christ the time of his being anointed unto his Prophetical Office 139 140 5 Baptism is not Regeneration 179 15 All that are duely Baptized are not Regenerate 180 16 Baptism how it expresseth our Sanctification 371 2 Baptism washeth not away Sin virtute Operis operati 380 Beauty of the Soul in its Conformity unto God 376 5 Beginning and Ending of the Gift of Prophesie 100 6 Beginnings of Holiness small like seed 340 4 Beginning of Good from our selves a Pelagian Fiction 467 9 Believers alone receive the Spirit in what sense 82 5 Believers much unacquainted with the Nature of Holiness and their own interest therein 327 10 Believers the only Subject of Sanctification 356 6 Benefit and use of the Word Preached 341 5 Benignity and Charity the great Resemblances of God 515 28 Blasphemy of the Jewes against the Name of Jesus 3 3 Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost 64 29 Blindness of may about the Nature of Sin 479 11 The Blood of Christ how it cleanseth from sin 384 3 The Blood of Christ that purgeth sin is the Blood of his sacrifice 385 4 Blood in Sacrifice both Offered and Sprinkled 385 4 The Blood of Christs Sacrifice alwayes in the same condition as to Efficacy 386 Boasting and Despondency prevented by the same Means 345 6 Bodily strength given by the Spirit of God 118 24 Bodily Absence of Christ how supplyed by the Holy Spirit 161 6 Body of Christ formed of the substance of the Blessed Virgin Reasons thereof 132 The Body how depraved by Sin 366 The Body how sanctified 368 Bounty expressed in pouring forth the Spirit 87 13 The Spirit how called the Breath of Gods Mouth 39 13 How God Breathed into
whence voluntary and meritorious 146 9 Obligation unto Holiness no less under the Gospel than under the Law 535 6 All Obstacles removed by effectual Grace 270 30 Obstinacy and Stubbornness of the Heart by Nature 277 45 Obstructions of the Growth of Holiness 350 10 Occasions of spiritual decays in Grace 354 How Christ Offered himself to God through the Eternal Spirit 143 8 Office of Witness-bearing unto the Lord Christ discharged by the Holy Spirit 149 13 One singular Spirit of God declared in the Scripture 33 8 The Holy Spirit One dividing as he pleaseth to others 94 21 Operations of the Spirit called the Spirit by a Metonymy 33 8 Divine Operations of all sorts ascribed to the Holy Spirit 59 24 All Divine Operations ascribed unto God absolutely 68 1 Operations of the Holy Spirit on the Humane Nature of Christ of two sorts 128 2 Operations of the Holy Spirit on the Humane Nature of Christ notwithstanding its personal Vnion with the Son 129 3 Operations of the Holy Spirit in Conversion suited unto the Powers of our Souls 270 31 Two-fold Operation of Christ as Three in One 162 Opening of the Heavens what it signifies 52 15 Opinions in the Primitive Church falsly fathered on spiritual Revelations 15 19 Opposition to the Spirit of God and his Works with the Grounds of it 21 25 Pretences of Opposition unto the Spirit of God examined 21 25 Oppositions against the Church suppressed by the Spirit of God 78 16 No Opposition between Gods Commands and his Grace 167 Vniversal Opposition between Sin and Grace 477 7 Order of Divine Dispensations dependeth on the Order of the subsistence of the Divine Persons 39 14 Order of subsistence of the Holy Spirit in the Blessed Trinity 66 33 Order of Operation depending on the Order of Subsistence not the Order of Promination ibid. Outward Order in the Church of no use without the Presence and Work of the Spirit 158 4 Order in Subsistence gives Order in Operation 162 Order of the Mind in its first Creation 212 15 Order of the Gospel inverted by Prejudices 235 58 Order of Precedency in the Acts of Sanctification 410 1 Skill in the Original Text necessary to the Exposition of the Scripture 30 4 Original of all things in their several kinds 73 9 Original of the Spirits Acting in all his Works towards the Church 89 15 Where Original Sin is denyed Regeneration cannot be effected 186 24 Original Order of our Souls wherein it consisted 568 6 Outward Manner and wayes of Divine Revelations 106 11 P. Pains of Death how loosed towards Christ. 147 11 Vanity of Papal Inventions for the Purification of Sin 379 380 Partial departure of the Spirit from any 91 19 Partial Works deceitfull 369 Two Parts of the Life of God 423 16 Particular good End not sufficient to render a Duty Good or Holy 441 44 Peace with God preserved by Sanctification 323 3 How God sanctifieth us as the God of Peace ibid. Pelagius his Artifices 177 9 Doctrine of Pelagius 183 20 Pelagianism renewed 255 5 Pelagianisme reduced unto its Head 256 7 Difference between Pelagians and Semi-Pelagians 262 19 Pelagian Grace inconsistent with Prayer 265 24 Pelagius his Prayer 266 25 Pelagian Grace rejected 458 73 Pen-men of the Scripture whether all holy 111 18 Pen-men of the Scripture not left unto the use of their own Natural Abilities 114 20 Sinless Perfection not attainable in this Life 547 25 Persecution of Erring Persons vain and fruitless 19 20 23 Person of the Spirit and his Operations distinguished 33 8 Third Person in the Trinity whence called the Spirit 34 9 Person of the Father the Fountain of the Trinity 38 13 Some things not proper to a Person assigned to the Holy Ghost in what sence 48 9 The Person of the Holy Spirit not poured out but his Gifts and Graces 87 13 Every Divine Person Author of the same Work 68 1 The Person of Christ how the Fountain of all Grace 455 The whole Person of a Believer the subject of Sanctification 365 Divine Persons succeeded not to each other in their Operations 70 3 Manifestation of the distinction of Persons in the Divine Nature a great End in the Work of the New Creation 155 2 All Personal Properties assigned unto the Holy Spirit in the Scripture 48 8 Personal Vnion or the Subsistence of both the Natures of Christ in one Person the necessary Consequent of Assumption 129 5 Personality of the Holy Spirit from John 14. 15 16. 60 61 25 Perswasive Efficacy of the Word Preached 258 12 Perswasion conferres no Strength 262 21 Perswasions enable not men to convert themselves 266 25 Perswasions of Perfection ruinous to Holiness 355 Pharisaical Confidence 397 12 Wise Philosophers of Old the greatest Despisers of the Gospel 221 222 Physical Operations of Grace proved 269 29 Pleas for Balaam answered 111 112 19 Pleas of Pelagians 263 21 Vain Pleas for the Power of Free-will in Opposition to the Aids of the Spirit 471 15 Pleas for Holiness by unholy persons uncomely and dangerous 498 2 Pleas for Moral Vertue examined 506 15 Pollution or spiritual Defilement in Sin 372 3 Pollution of Sin that property of it whereby it is opposed to the Holiness of God 374 4 Habitual Pollution inconsistent with any Holiness 378 Pouring forth of the Spirit 86 11 Pouring forth of the Spirit alwayes respects the times of the Gospel 87 12 Power ascribed unto the Holy Spirit 58 22 Powers and Operations of Secondary Causes to be owned 77 15 Power of the Mind with respect unto spiritual things examined 216 23 Power in the Mind by Nature to discern spiritual things 221 30 Power of spiritual Darkness 227 43 Power of Darkness in the Devil 228 45 Powers and Duties of the Mind 236 60 Power unto Obedience in the State of Innocency 241 8 Power in Natural men beyond what they do or will use 245 20 Power in the Faculties of Nature as Corrupted 250 29 Power of the Word to prevail on the Souls of Men whereon it depends 258 13 Spiritual Power in the Habit of Holiness 432 31 Commands of the Covenant respect the Power administred in the Covenant 432 30 Spiritual Power wherein it consists 432 31 No Power in Believers unto Duties of Holy Obedience without assistance of the Spirit 465 c. Power administred by Christ enabling us to be Holy 502 8 No Power given by one Covenant to fulfill the Commands of the other 544 20 All power unto Obedience from Grace 546 22 Two-fold power necessary unto Obedience 547 26 Practice of Moral Vertue not Gospel Holiness 459 77 Pravity of Sin with respect unto the Holiness of God Two-fold 377 6 Praying for the Spirit prescribed as our Duty 123 124 5 Difference between the Prayers of Wicked men and of Believers 164 6 Prayers of the Church prove Effectual Grace 265 24 Prayers for Grace and Holiness of what Nature 348 349 9 Prayer for the Holy Spirit in what sence 357 2
thereunto So that to say there is no Disposition unto Spiritual Life in any Unregenerate Person is to make them all equal which is contrary to Experience Answ. 1. There is no doubt but that Unregenerate Men may perform many external Duties which are good in themselves and lie in the order of the outward Disposal of the means of Conversion Nor is it questioned but they may have real Designs Desires and Endeavours after that which is presented unto them as their chiefest Good But so far as these Desires or Actings are meerly Natural there is no Disposition in them unto Spiritual Life or that which is Spiritually Good So far as they are Supernatural they are not of themselves For 2. Although there are no preparatory Inclinations in Men yet there are preparatory Works upon them Those who have not the Word yet may have Convictions of Good and Evil from the Authority of God in their Consciences Rom. 2. 14 15. And the Law in the Dispensation of it may work Men unto many Duties of Obedience much more may the Gospel so do But what-ever Effects are hereby produced they are wrought by the Power of God exerted in the Dispensation of the Word They are not educed out of the natural Faculties of the Minds of Men but are Effects of the Power of God in them and upon them For we know that in the flesh there dwelleth no good thing And all Unregenerate Men are no more for that which is born of the flesh is flesh 3. The Actings thus effected and produced in Men Unregenerate are neither Fruits of nor Dispositions unto Spiritual Life Men that are spiritually dead may have Designs and Desires to free themselves from dying Eternally but such a desire to be saved is no saving Disposition unto Life The Nature Causes and Means of Regeneration CHAP. V. 1. Description of the State of Nature necessary unto a right understanding of the Work of the Spirit in Regeneration 2. No possibility of Salvation unto Persons living and dying in a state of Sin 3. Deliverance from it by Regeneration only 4. The Holy Ghost the peculiar Author of this Work 5. Differences about the Manner and Nature of it 6. Way of the Ancients in explaining the Doctrine of Grace the present Method proposed 7. Conversion not wrought by Moral Swasion only 8 9 10. The Nature and Efficacy of Moral Swasion wherein they consist 11. Illumination preparatory unto Conversion 12 13 14 15 16 17 18. The Nature of Grace morally effective only opened not sufficient of Conversion 19 20. The first Argument disproving the working of Grace in Conversion to be by Moral Swasion only 21 22. The Second 23 24. The Third 25. The Fourth 26 27 28. Wherein the Work of the Spirit in Regeneration positively doth consist the use and end of outward means 29. Real internal efficiency of the Spirit in this Work 30 31 32 33 34 35. Grace victorious and irresistible the Nature of it explained 36. Proved 37 38 39 40. The manner of God's working by Grace on our Wills further explained Testimonies concerning the Actual Collation of Faith by the Power of God 41 42 43 44. Victorious efficacy of internal Grace proved by sundry Testimonies of Scripture 45 46 47 48 49. From the nature of the Work wrought by it in Vivification and Regeneration 50 51 52 53 54. Regeneration considered with respect unto the distinct Faculties of the Soul The Mind 55. The Will 56 57. The Affections Sect. 1 UNto The Description we are to give of the Work of Regeneration the precedent account of the Subject of it or the State and Condition of them that are to be Regenerated was necessarily to be premised For upon the knowledg thereof doth a due Apprehension of the Nature of that Work depend And the occasion of all the Mistakes and Errors that have been about it eiâ—her of old or of late hath been a misunderstanding of the true state of Men in their lapsed condition or of Nature as depraved Yea and those by whom this whole Work is derided do now countenance themselves therein by their Ignorance of that state which they will not learn either from the Scripture or Experience For Natura sic apparet vitiata ut hoc majoris vitii sit non videre as Austin speaks It is an Evidence of the Corruption of Nature that it disenables the Minds of Men to discern their own Corruption We have previously discharged this work so far as it is necessary unto our present purpose Many other things might be added in the Explication of it were that our direct Design Particularly having confined my self to treat only concerning the Depravation of the Mind and Will I have not insisted on that of the Affections which yet is effectual to retain unregenerate Men under the Power of sin though it be far enough from Truth that the whole Corruption of Nature consists therein as some weakly and Athologically have Imagined Much less have I treated concerning that encrease and heightning of the Depravation of Nature which is attracted by a Custom of sinning as unto all the perverse Ends of it Yet this also the Scripture much insists upon as that which naturally and necessarily ensues in all in whom it is not prevented by the effectual transforming Grace of the Spirit of God And it is that which seals up the Impossibility of their turning themselves to God Jerom. 13. 23. Rom. 3. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19. But that the whole Difficulty of Conversion should arise from Mens contracting an Habit or Custom of sinning is false and openly contradictory to the Scripture These things are Personal Evils and befal Individuals through their own default in various Degrees And we see that amongst Men under the same use of means some are converted unto God who have been deeply immersed in an habitual course of open sins whilst others kept from them by the Influence of their Education upon their Inclinations and Affections remain uncoverted So was it of old between the Publicans and Harlots on the one hand and the Pharisees on the other But my design was only to mention that which is common unto all Or wherein all Men Universally are equally concerned who are partakers of the same Humane Nature in its lapsed Condition And what we have herein declared from the Scriptures will guide us in our Enquiry after the work of the Holy Spirit of Grace in our Deliverance from it Sect. 2 It is evident and needs no further confirmation that persons Living and Dying in this Estate cannot be saved This hitherto hath been allowed by all that are called Christians nor are we to be moved that some who call themselves so do begin to laugh at the disease and Despise the Remedy of our Nature Among those who lay any serious and real claim unto Christianity there is nothing more certain nor more acknowledged than that there is no Deliverance from a state of misery for those who
Salvation which is therein declared unto them 2 Cor. 5. 18 19 20 21. Col. 1. 25 26 27 28. 3 To be the means and Instrument of conveying over unto them and giving them a Title unto and a Right in that Grace and Mercy that Life and Righteousness which is revealed and tendred unto them thereby Mark 16. 16. 4 To be the way and means of communicating the Spirit of Christ with Grace and Strength unto the Elect enabling of them to believe and receive the Attonement Gal. 3. 2. 5 Hereby to give them Vnion with Christ as their Spiritual and Mystical Head us also to fix their Hearts and Souls in their choycest Actings in their Faith Trust Confidence and Love immediately on the Son of God as Incarnate and their Mediator Joh. 14. 1. Wherefore the first and principal End of the Gospel towards us is to invite and encourage lost sinners unto the Faith and Approbation of the Way of Grace Life and Salvation by Jesus Christ without a Complyance wherewith in the first place the Gospel hath no more to do with sinners but leaves them to Justice the Law and themselves But now upon a supposition of these things and of our giving Glory to God by Faith in them the whole that God requireth of us in the Gospel in a way of Duty is that we should be Holy and abide in the use of those means whereby Holiness may be attained and improved in us For if he requires any other thing of us it must be on one of these four Accounts 1. To make Attonement for our sins or 2. To be our Righteousness before him or 3. To merit Life and Salvation by or 4. To supererogate in the behalf of others No other end can be thought of besides what are the true ends of Holiness whereon God should require any thing of us And all the false Religion that is in the world leans on a supposition that God doth require somewhat of us with respect unto these ends But 1 He requires nothing of us which we had all the Reason in the world to expect that he would to make Attonement or satisfaction for our sins that might compensate the injuries we had done him by our Apostasie and Rebellion For whereas we had multiplyed sins against him lived in an Enmity and Opposition to him and had contracted insupportable and immeasurable Debts upon our own Souls Terms of peace being now proposed who could think but that the first thing required of us would be that we should make some kind of satisfaction to Divine Justice for all our enormous and heynous provocations Yea who is there that indeed doth naturally think otherwise so he apprehended who was contriving a way in his own mind how he might come to an Agreement with God Micah 6. 6 7. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the High God shall I come before him with Burnt-Offerings with Calves of a year old Will the Lord be pleased with Thousands of Rams or with ten Thousands of Rivers of Oyl Shall I give my first-born for my Transgression the fruit of my Body for the sin of my Soul This or something of this nature seems to be but a very reasonable Enquiry for a Guilty self-condemned sinner when first he entertains thoughts of an Agreement with the Holy sin-avenging God And this was the foundation of all that cruel and expensive Superstition that the World was in bondage unto for so many Ages Mankind generally thought that the principal thing which was required of them in Religion was to attone and pacifie the wrath of the Divine Power and to make a Compensation for what had been done against him Hence were their Sacrifices of Hecatombs of Beasts of Mankind of their Children and of themselves as I have elsewhere declared And the same principle is still deep rooted in the minds of convinced sinners and many an Abby Monastery Colledge and Almes-house hath it founded For in the fruits of this Superstition the Priests which set it on work alwayes shared deeply But quite otherwise in the Gospel there is declared and tendred unto sinners an absolute free pardon of all their sins without any satisfaction or Compensation made or to be made on their part that is by themselves namely on the Account of the Attonement made for them by Jesus Christ. And all Attempts or Endeavours after Works or Duties of Obedience in any respect satisfactory to God for sin or meritorious of pardon do subvert and overthrow the whole Gospel See 2 Cor. 5. 18 19 20 21. Wherefore in Answer to the Enquiry before mentioned the Reply in the Prophet is that God looks for none of these things and that all such Contrivances were wholly vain He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God v. 8. which last Expression comprizeth the whole of our Covenant-Obedience Gen. 17. 1. as the two former are eminent Instances of it in particular 2 He requireth nothing of us in a way of Righteousness for our Justification for the future that this also he would have done we might have justly expected For a Righteousness we must have or we cannot be accepted with him And here also many are at a loss and resolve that it is a thing fond and inconvenient to think of peace with God without some Righteousness of their own on the Account whereof they may be Justified before him and rather than they will forgoe that apprehension they will let goe all other thoughts of Peace and Acceptance Being ignorant of the Righteousness of God they go about to establish their own Righteousness and do not submit themselves unto the Righteousness of God nor will they acquiesâ—e in it that Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believeth as Rom. 10. 3 4. But so it is that God requireth not this of us in the Gospel for we are Justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus Rom. 3. 24. And we do therefore conclude that a man is justified by Faith without the works of the Law v. 28. so Rom. 8. 3 4. Neither is there any mention in the whole Gospel of God's requiring a Righteousness in us upon the Account whereof we should be justified before him or in his sight For the Justification by works mentioned in James consists in the evidencing and Declaration of our Faith by them 3 God requireth not any thing of us whereby we should purchase or Merit for our selves Life and Salvation For we are saved by Grace through Faith not of works lest any man should boast Ephes. 2. 8 9. God doth save us neither by nor for the works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his own Mercy Titus 3. 5. so that although on the one side the wages of sin is Death there being a proportion in
Justice between sin and punishment yet there is none between our Obedience and our Salvation and therefore Eternal life is the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6. 23. God therefore requires nothing at our hands under this Notion or Consideration nor is it possible that in our Condition any such thing should be required of us For whatever we can do is due before-hand on other Accounts and so can have no prospect to merit what is to come Who can merit by doing his duty our Saviour doth so plainly prove the contrary as none can further doubt of it than of his Truth and Authority Luke 17. 10. Nor can we do any thing that is acceptable to him but what is wrought in us by his Grace And this overthrowes the whole Nature of merit which requires that that be every way our own whereby we would deserve somewhat else at the hands of another and not his more than ours Neither is there any proportion between our Duties and the Reward of the eternal Enjoyment of God For besides that they are all weak imperfect and tainted with sin so that no one of them is able to make good its own station for any End or Purpose in the strictness of Divine Justice they altogether come infifinitely short of the desert of an Eternal Reward by any Rule of Divine Justice And if any say that this merit of our works depends not on nor is measured by strict Justice but wholly by the Gracious Condescension of God who hath appointed and promised so to reward them I answer in the first place that this perfectly overthrowes the whole Nature of Merit For the Nature of Merit consists entirely and absolutely in this that to him that worketh the Reward is reckoned of Debt and not of Grace Rom. 4. 4. And these two are contrary and inconsistent for what is by Grace is no more of Works otherwise Grace is no more Grace and what is of Works is no more of Grace otherwise Work is no more Work Rom. 11. 6. And those who go about to found a Merit of ours in the Grace of God do endeavour to unite and reconcile those things which God hath everlastingly separated and opposed And I say secondly that although God doth freely graciously and bountifully reward our Dutyes of Obedience and upon the Account of his Covenant and Promise he is said to be and he is Righteous in his so doing yet he every where declares that what he so doth is an Act of meer Grace in himself that hath not respect unto any thing but only the Interposition and Mediation of Jesus Christ. In this sense God in the Gospel requireth of us nothing at all 4. Much less doth he require of any that they should do such things as being no way necessary unto that Obedience which themselves personally owe unto him may yet by their supererogation therein redound to the Advantage and benefit of others This monstrous fiction which hath out-done all the Pharisaisme of the Jewes we are engaged for to the Church of Rome as a pretence given to the piety or rather covering of the impiety of their Votaries But seeing on the one hand that they are themselves who pretend to these Works but flesh and so cannot on their own Account be Justified in the sight of God so it is extreme pride and cursed self-confidence for them to undertake to help others by the merit of those works whose worth they stand not in need of concerning which it will be one day said unto them Who hath required these things at your hands But now whereas God requireth none of these things of us nothing with respect unto any of these Ends such is the perversness of our Minds by Nature that many think that God requireth nothing else of us or nothing of us but with respect unto one or other of these Ends nor can they in their Hearts conceive why they should perform any one Duty towards God unless it be with some kind of regard unto these things If they may do any thing whereby they may make some Recompense for their sins that are past at least in their own Minds and Consciences if any thing whereby they may procure an Acceptance with God and the Approbation of their state and Condition they have something which as they suppose may quicken and animate their Endeavours Without these Considerations Holy Obedience is unto them a thing Lifeless and useless Others will labour and take pains both in wayes of outward Mortification and profuse Munificence in any way of Superstitious Charity whilest they are perswaded or can perswade themselves that they shall merit Eternal Life and Salvation thereby without much being beholding to the Grace of God in Christ Jesus Yea all that hath the Face or pretence of Religion in the Papacy consists in a supposition that all which God requireth of us he doth it with respect unto these ends of Attonement Justification Merit and Supererrogation Hereunto do they apply all that remains of the Ordinances of God amongst them and all their own Inventions are managed with the same Design But by these things is the Gospel and the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ made of none effect Herein then I say lies the express Opposition that is between the Wisdom of God in the mystery of the Gospel and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Wisdom of the Flesh or our Carnal Reason God in his dealing with us by the Gospel takes upon his own Grace and Wisdom the providing of an Attonement for our sins a Righteousness whereby we may be Justified before him and the Collation of Eternal Life upon us all in and by him who of God is made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption But withall he indispensibly requires of us Holiness and universal Obedience for the ends that shall be declared afterwards This way thinks the Wisdom of the Flesh or Carnal Reason is meer foolishness as our Apostle testifies 1 Cor. 1. 18 23. But such a foolishness it is that is wiser than men v. 25. that is a way so excellent and full of Divine Wisdom that men are not able to comprehend it Wherefore in Opposition hereunto Carnal Reason concludes that either what God requires of us is to be done with respect unto the ends mentioned some or other or all of them or that it is no great matter whether it be done or no. Neither can it discern of what use our Holiness or Obedience unto God should be if it serve not unto some of these purposes For the necessity of Conformity to God of the Renovation of his Image in us before we are brought unto the enjoyment of him in Glory the Authority of his Commands the Reverence of his Wisdom appointing the way of Holiness and Obedience as the means of expressing our Thankfulness glorifying him in the World and of coming to Eternal Life it hath no regard unto But the first true saving