sanctification if they depend upon you you will find your hearts ever unsettled you may find comfort as under the Law you shall for if a man be married to the Law the Law will cast in comforts upon him because of his obedience but if you shall believe that Christ is yours and comfort your selves because you have been by the power of the Law constrained to duties and restrained from sin and thereupon build your conjugal communion with Jesus Christ you will find your souls full of sadness and fear ere long specially if you have true grace in your hearts and therefore it is the faithfulness and tenderness of the grace of God unto his people that when Christians come into this Country though they have been marvelous eminent in our native Country they cannot pray fervently nor hear the word with profit nor receive the seals with comfort they wonder what is become of their old prayers and hearings and Sacraments and of their lively spirits in holy duties truly the Lord hath disenabled them as it were from such things because they did build their union and fellowship with Jesus Christ upon them that so they might know the freedom of the grace of God that justifieth the ungodly then will the poor soul be glad to seek after the Lord Jesus Christ and say as the people of God sometimes did Hos 2.7 I will go and return to my first husband for then was it better with me then now now the soul will plainly see and discern that he closed not with his true husband when as he built so much hope and comfort upon his duties therefore he will find himself weak and dead as it were to all spiritual duties and can find no life in them no comfort from them and it is the marvelous goodness and free grace of God unto such a soul whom the Lord will not suffer to bless himself in his works for if a man should lay the foundation of his comfort in them and be ready as it were to take it ill if he should not find God accepting his works Wherefore have we fasted and thou regardest it not Isa 58.3 If a man rejoyce in the sparks which he hath kindled this shall he receive at the hands of God to lie down in sorrow Isa 50.11 whereas the light of God shall graciously break forth unto the servants of God though they wait upon him though they be for present in darkness and see no light Trust not therefore in any legal comforts but wait upon the free grace of God both to justifie sanctifie comfort and glorifie your souls and this is the way of constant peace and if the Lord do at any time check his servants when they walk in by-waies it is that he may build them upon a surer foundation So that their salvation will not lie upon their obedience nor damnation be procured by their disobedience this is the way of constant peace and safety unto all the Israel of God This Doctrine may serve in the next place Quest 7 to answer a seventh Question touching the necessity of Sanctification For it may be demanded If the Lord will give himself unto the soul in the Covenant of his Grace not only his attributes but his person all that is God is given by vertue of this Covenant If God will give himself not only to choose us to life and glory but his Son to redeem us and his holy Spirit to sanctifie us Ezek. 36.27 what need is there of Sanctification for if the Holy Ghost will dwell in us he can take our wits and understanding and understand all our Meditations for us without any such actual concurrence of ours as might be requisite for that end if the Lord giveth himself to be my righteousness and holiness what need I then these gifts of holiness So that this in sum is the Question If the Lord will give unto us himself what need we these gifts to work any thing which God is much more able to perform then we can be This springeth naturally from the Doctrine Though the Lord giveth us himself Answ and his holy Spirit to dwell in us yet is it needful that we should be indued with all the gifts of the Spirit of Grace that do accompany-salvation You will say What need is there then that the Holy Ghost should dwell in us or will not these carry an end our souls unto immortality Truly we have need that the Lord should give us his holy Spirit to dwell in us notwithstanding all the gifts of his grace though they indeed are necessary conditions to be found in the souls of all Gods servants Heb. 12.14 Follow peace and holyness without which no man shall see the Lord. As if he made it of absolute necessity to salvation not onely in another world but for a comfortable condition in this world follow Peace and Holiness as if so be that they were ready to fly away from a man and indeed the word doth imply no less for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signifie the pursuit of something that fleeth from a man as peace will many times flee from one and a man will have much ado to attain unto it Psal 120.6 7. My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace I am for peace but when I speak they are for war it is not easily attained unto therefore should not be suffered to depart but held fast when it is enjoyed And so for Holiness the Apostle would have us make an holy kind of pursuit after it as if it were still withdrawing from us which cometh through the corruptions of our heart for we are soon weary of holy Duties as Prayer or Conference or the like if Holiness be in any thing it soon groweth wearisome to flesh and blood but though our weak and feeble nature will be withdrawing us from Holiness yet the Lord would have us to follow it and pursue it and so shall a man be withdrawn from the world and from the temptations and bad examples thereof Do not say What shall we be wiser then our Fathers and Is not Moderation best in all things but consider what the Apostle saith Follow still after it even unto perfection and his words do intimate the reason of it without which no man shall see the Lord for what is Holiness in its own nature it is that which giveth God his due as Righteousness giveth man his due And this is a main ground why we are so slow in works of holiness for were they of another nature and did they serve our turns more as we think we should not then account them tedious If I were to sit and tell money all day long this is for my self saith a man and for my profit and if it were for another we should not think the time long it may be at that work neither but mind you when it cometh to any thing which doth concern the Lord then it 's so far above a mans reach
that 't is not safe to build upon Qualifications in our selves until Christ be first received in some Promise Pag. 150 Use 4. Of Consolation to such as rest upon the free grace of God in Christ Jesus revealed in some Promise Pag. 151 9. Quest How doth God the Son give himself to Abraham and his seed Pag. 152 Answ 1. By his taking our nature upon him and giving himself to redeem us by his obedience whether active or passive Pag. 153 2. By revealing the Father unto us and his free grace Pag. 158 Whence ariseth liberty From the burden of fears Pag. 160 Of hope through the filling of the Spirit Pag. 162 3. By keeping us in this state Pag. 163 Both by Praying for us Pag. 164 His ruling Providence ib. Use 1. Then our state before redemption is a state of Bondage Pag. 166 2. To teach such as are in bondage where their Redemption lieth Pag. 167 3. To teach Christians to hold on in this way Pag. 170 4. To wait on the Lord for this his Redemption ibid 5. To stand fast in our Christian liberties Pag. 171 Quest 10. How God the Holy Ghost doth give himself to Abraham and his seed ibid 1. For Inhabitation Pag. 172 Which is necessary 1. For Union with Jesus Christ Pag. 173 2. To keep possession against all adversary powers Pag. 174 2. For Sanctification opened at large Pag. 177 3. For Revelation and what things he doth reveal Pag. 185 How he doth reveal viz. by Witnessing to our spiritual state Pag. 188 Making known all necessary truth yea even our faith and justification Pag. 192 For Application 't is useful 1. To teach Christians not to be afraid of the word Revelation Pag. 199 2. Not to look for any Revelation without the Word Pag. 201 3. In Justification to look for no word but such as holds forth some absolute Promise of free grace ib. 4. The fourth work of the Holy Ghost is Consolation Pag. 203 Viz. by Bearing witness with an abundant measure of consolation Pag. 204 A more constant and abiding comfort Pag. 205 A powerful and strong consolation ibid Here two Queries 1. What is the Seal of the Spirit and how it doth seal Pag. 206 1. By confirming the Promises to the soul ib. 2. By engraving the likeness of Christ in the soul Pag. 210 3. By distinguishing the Saints from others Pag. 211 2. How is the Holy Ghost an earnest Pag. 212 Answ 1. As he bindeth the bargain between God and the soul ibid 2. As he is the first fruit of the payment ibid Use 1. To teach us how to speak of the Seal of the Spirit Pag. 213 2. To teach the danger of laying claim to a Promise by any work of grace before we have the Seal of the Spirit ib. Yet the Spirit doth not seal immediately but by and in some word of Promise Pag. 214 3. To teach such as have received the first fruits of the Spirit to know that they have received an earnest of an everlasting possession Pag. 215 4. To teach us that if we have received Christ never to rest till the Holy Ghost doth stampe more of the image of Christ in us Pag. 216 The second branch of the Doctrine That God received Abraham and his seed to be a peculiar people unto himself Pag. 217 For which three things are opened 1. That God did take Abraham and his seed to be a peculiar people to himself Pag. 218 2. How he did so take them to be his people ibid 3. Who are meant by Abraham and his seed Pag. 219 Quest Whether the carnal seed had any portion in the Covenant of grace Pag. 219 Answ 1. They were called to outward fellowship of the Covenant Pag. 220 2. They are not far from the kernel and blessing of the Covenant ibid 1. They have not only outward Ordinances and common gifts of the Spirit but a liberal use of the Creatures much patience of God ibid 2. They have the Offer of the sure mercies of David Pag. 222 Now the Causes of their being discovenanted are Either Mocking or persecuting of the Covenant ib. The love of worldly sensual blessings Pag. 223 A self-confident cleaving unto gifts received by the Covenant Pag. 224 The Vse 1. To justifie the righteousness of God in the confusion of the children of Christian Parents Pag. 227 What we may think of the Infants of Parents in Covenant if they die Pag. 229 2. To teach Parents that are in Covenant to bring up their children under the wing of the Covenant Pag. 230 3. To teach them that are in Covenant to be all themselves and theirs for God Pag. 231 Here is a ground 1. For Family-duties ibid 2. To improve all we have for the glory of Gods grace Pag. 232 4. To look to the Lord in all duties to receive us and ours Pag. 233 The third Branch of the Doctrine That the Lord took the chief of Abrahams seed the Lord Jesus Christ to be the Mediator and Surety of the Covenant between God and Abraham Pag. 234 Christ is a fit Mediator in respect Of his Person being God-man whereby he is Fit to be the ground of union with God Pag. 235 Able to maintain it ib. Offices by Removing offences ib. Communicating good things ib. 1. As a Priest offering Sacrifice making intercession c. Pag. 236 2. As a Prophet he teacheth us all things 3. As a King he applies all to us subdues Us to himself ibid The creature to us ibid In particular He is a Mediator of the Covenant in a threefold respect 1. In that he is the Messenger of it to publish it Pag. 237 2. In that he doth ratifie and confirm it by a threefold Seal 1. By his bloud ib. 2. By his Spirit ib. 3. By the Seals of the Covenant Pag. 238 3. In that he is the Prince and Head of it ibid Which implyeth three things 1. That all the Covenant is made first with him ibid 2. That he doth inherit the blessings of the Covenant Pag. 239 Therefore He Fulfilled all the conditions of the Covenant ib. Communicateth the blessings of the Covenant ib. 3. That he doth apply the comforts of the Promises to us ib. Use 1. For refutation of the Popish Doctrine that deviseth other Mediators Pag. 240 Object We pray the Saints to pray for us Resp 1. Christ bath bidden us to pray one for another but not to the Saints in Heaven ibid 2. We do not depend upon the merit of their Prayers 241 2. For Instruction how to make an holy use of all the gifts of Gods grace and duties of Gods worship Pag. 242 3. A ground to strengthen faith and for encouragement to the duties and fruits of it Pag. 246 THere seems to be a gross mistake or Errata through the leaving out of one word not in pag. 240. within 3 or 4. lines of the bottom 'T is said it were Idolatry I think it should be It were not Idolatry THE COVENANT OF GRACE
end what would the Lord shew his people hereby hereby he teacheth them to know by what ability and power to bring mighty things to pass they shall do duties as the Lord commandeth them but he himself will breath in them to make them effectual For though we do never so much yet we cannot reach unto the accomplishment of any good thing not by might nor by strength but by my Spirit the Lord therefore by his Spirit must work all our works for us Here is the freeness of Gods Covenant in that the Lord giveth himself first Jer. 32.40 I will make an everlasting Covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me You may speak of Conditions in this kinde but the Lord doth undertake both for his own part and for our parts also for as the Covenant is free so the Lord will freely maintain and preserve all his Elect and all from the immutable Nature of God it is not possible that God should lye I am Jehovah I change not Mal. 3.6 therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed Hence springeth our Eternity and perseverance unto it Rom. 11.29 for the gifts and callings of God are without repentance And I am perswaded saith the Apostle Paul that he that hath begun this work will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ Phil. 1.6 The Lord took your Father Abram and brought him from the other side of the floud Josh 24.3 and he being called obeyed Heb. 11.8 Thus mind ye the Lord dealeth in the Covenant of Grace he looketh towards those that look not towards him as is held forth Hos 3.3 where the Lord biddeth the Prophet love a woman that was an adulteress and say unto her Thou shalt be for me and I will be for thee this is a branch of the Covenant when the Lord doth undertake to receive Abraham and his seed unto himself his giving himself unto them doth breed a reciprocal returning of them unto him Now it may be demanded How the Lord did take Abraham and his seed to be his people Quest By a double Act As Answ 1. Of Preparation not on Abrahams part nor on his seeds part but on his own part the Lord prepared them 2. The Lord did invest him with the Blessings of this Covenant 1. For Preparation the Lord prepareth them by a double work of his Spirit which are manifest in all the seed of Abraham 1. By a spirit of bondage whereby he cutteth off the seed of Abraham from all worldly intanglements and delights thus God took Abraham and brought him from beyond the floud and so doth he take men off from their countreys and fathers houses he separates them from all such things that he might draw them unto himself thus he dealt with the children of Israel and called them to be a singular People unto himself Deut. 7.6 7 8. Thus doth the Lord deal with all those whom he receiveth to be a people unto himself by this spirit of Bondage he draweth them from all their sinful lusts and passions so as that they can finde no life in them nor any hope of mercy at all in any thing by this Bondage the Lord setteth home unto the consciences of men the weight and danof their sins and bindeth them under the sense of his wrath unto fear of Damnation The Romans first received the spirit of Bondage to fear before ever they came to receive the Spirit of Adoption Rom. 8.25 But thus the Lord doth even shut a Soul out of doors that he may open to him another and a better way 2. The Lord also prepareth his people by a Spirit of burning which upon a Spirit of Bondage he doth shed abroad into the hearts of men this we read of Mal. 4.1 Behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven and all the proud and all that do wickedly shall be as stubble and the day that cometh shall burn them up and it shall leave them neither root nor branch It is spoken of the Ministery of John Baptist which did burn like an oven against all the Scribes and Pharisees and left them neither the root of Abrahams Covenant nor the branch of their own good Works He cutteth them off from the Covenant of Abraham Mat. 3.9 Think not to say within your selves that you have Abraham to your Father for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham and so by cutting them off from the Root he leaveth them no ground to trust on From their good Works also the Lord Jesus Christ cutteth them off Mat. 6.2 When thou dost thine alms sound not a Trumpet before thee as the Hypocrites do that they may have the glory of men and vers 5. When thou prayest thou shalt not be as the Hypocrites are c. and vers 16. When ye Fast ye shall not be as the Hypocrites are of a sad countenance c. This was a Spirit of Burning which the Lord conveyed by the Ministry of Christ and of John Baptist to burn up all the Hypocrites like stubble and the beauty of their works were blasted by it and this is Gods usual manner of dealing Now there are many under a spirit of bondage that never came under a spirit of burning and they being convinced of sin and of the danger thereof yet hope to wrestle it out and work it out by their own performances till the spirit of Burning come and consume all that false confidence But when the spirit of Burning cometh he then blasteth all the fruits and branches of their righteousness and burns up all that a man hath wrought or can work And this is that which the Prophet Esay chap. 4.4 speaketh of that the Lord will purge away the filth of the Daughter of Zion with a Spirit of Judgment and of Burning the one is a spirit of Sanctification and the other is a consuming Fire which forceth them not to build any comfort upon any works that they have done this may Hypocrites reach unto in their judgments so as that they may be convinced that they have neither root within them nor branch growing upon them and yet in the mean while they may not come unto a Spirit of Adoption but hereby also the Lord useth to prepare his people Some bless themselves in worldly courses and never came unto a spirit of bondage Some do finde comfort in their performances and never saw the vanity of their own Righteousness But there are those whom the Lord doth carry further unto a spirit of burning even unto a sensible feeling of Gods wrath burning against whatsoever is as stubble and such is a mans own gifts and parts and worth so that now the poor soul findeth that he hath no Root not any sure mercy of the Covenant of Grace that he can rest upon no green branch of righteousness remaining but all
sandy foundation What say you then to works after conversion All works after conversion are fruits of Faith and if they proceed from Faith then faith went before then a mans faith was not built upon a conditional promise how is it possible that it should when as all works after conversion are either fruits of Faith or else they are no true sanctification then faith went before in order of Nature and so was not built upon works but works upon it Our Faith closeth with Christ upon a promise of Free-Grace Calvin Inst l. 3. c. 2. s 29. otherwise as saith Calvin my faith would alwaies be trembling and wavering as my works be Upon a promise of Free-Grace therefore my Faith is built as upon the promise of God in Christ reconciling the world unto himself 2 Cor. 5.18 19. The word is it may be spoken outwardly unto all Christians but if God do set it home particularly unto any Soul that man receiveth this Gift of God and it is made his own First he beleeveth the promise of Free-grace and then afterward come other promises that do bear witness unto the right application of that promise unto the soul but I am first built upon a promise of Free-grace or else there is no true closing with Jesus Christ well then being thus united unto Christ from this union with Christ do flow all other blessings and benefits of the Covenant of Grace for hence springeth communion with Christ in all spiritual blessings that the Lord hath wrought for us in him and they are two of them Relative blessings as they are called by Divines two of them positive blessings The two Former are laid up in Gods own Hand and are not created in us the other two positive Blessings are created in us 1. For the uncreated Blessings They are 1. Adoption 2. Justification And they spring immediately simul semel from the former union with Christ for as soon as ever the Spirit of God is in our hearts and hath wrought faith that we do not spurn against Jesus Christ but receive him now is the Divine Nature of Christ in us and we are now become the sons of God as Christ himself is Look as in a mans first natural conception as soon as ever one doth live there is an heir of Adam even so soon as the soul liveth so it is in the new spiritual Birth as soon as the Holy Ghost cometh and hath wrought this Faith now is the Seed of God in us the Life of Christ and the Spirit of God and now we are the Sons of God as we read Joh. c. 12. As many as received him to them he gave power to be the sons of God Immediately upon this union with Christ we are Sons by Adoption and as we are adopted so likewise our sins are now imputed unto Christ and his righteousness unto us and so our persons are justified For how and when was Adams sin imputed unto us Psal 51.5 Behold I was shapen in iniquity in sin did my mother conceive me So soon as over there was life it was the life of Adam and then the imputation of Adams sin falleth immediately upon the soul So when we do receive Christ by this living Faith having the Life of Christ in us we have the righteousness of Christ the second Adam imputed to us For what doth the childe in the womb though it doth neither good nor evil but is meerly passive yet sinful it is and a childe of Adam So also in this our Regeneration the soul receiveth Christ by that Faith which the Lord hath wrought in it whereby also it is made capable of the priviledg of Adoption and so the Lord accounteth us his children and imputeth the Righteousness of his Son unto us whereby we are Justified These things do dwell in Gods Bosome and the meaning of them is afterwards revealed unto the soul but communicated they are both that of Adoption and this of Justification by this gift of faith wrought in us But we are still upon the first work of conversion wherein a Christian is only passive and receptive and truly it must needs be so in the first work of God upon us 2. Now for the Positive Blessings that are wrought in us They are 1. Sanctification 2. Glorification 1. When we are called then are we Sanctified then are we Glorified 1 Cor. 1.2 as in our natural conception as soon as ever the childe liveth Adams sin is first imputed and then there is a proneness in it to carry it captive unto fin and to make it backward unto any goodness So when the Life of Christ is dispensed unto the soul now the Lord comes to convey with it Justification or pardon of sin and then there is a promise in a Justified person to walk in the spirit Gal. 5.25 If we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit By Faith our hearts come to be purified Acts 15.9 and the same Spirit quickneth us unto holy duties so that we live yet not we but Christ liveth in us neither are we only in his hand but the Spirit sanctifying draweth us into an holy confederacy to serve God in Family Church and Common-wealth and this Sanctification groweth and encreaseth more and more 2 Cor. 7.1 1 Thes 4.1 5.23 2. The other positive gift is Glorification which we read of Rom. 8.30 Whom he called them also he justified and whom he justified them also he glorified this the Apostle Peter mentioneth 1 Pet. 5.10 The God of all grace hath called us into his eternal glory it Christ Jesus And in truth he hath begun the work from the time that he first began to sanctifie us 2 Tim. 1.9 He hath saved us and called us from the very first time that God worketh upon the soul graciously there is a glorious work in that soul and others may see it though himself sometimes seeth nothing that he hath received Thus we see the second branch of the Doctrine opened How the Lord doth receive Abraham and his seed unto himself preparing them by a spirit of Bondage and of Burning and then taking possession of them savingly by the inhabitation of the blessed Spirit the same Spirit begetting Faith we are alive in Jesus Christ and so come to be Adopted and Justified in him the same Faith which receiveth Adoption and Justification doth begin to stir a little and to breath forth into gracious desires and some holy mourning and beginneth now to put forth such works as the holy Ghost carrieth the soul an end in working all our works in us and for us 3. Now for the third and last part of the Doctrine The Lord took the chiefest of Abrahams seed to be the Mediator of this Covenant unto whom all the Promises were made Gal. 3.16 How did the Lord constitute him so to be Quest 1. By a double Act first Answ by receiving Jesus Christ the Son of the Virgin Mary to be one Person with the
obedience unto it will supply comfort unto him but if we be dead unto the Law we have no life in it nor by it but only in Jesus Christ from whom we expect our comfort indeed we are troubled that we should sin against the grace of God otherwise we look not at our obedience or disobedience to make us accepted or rejected 4. And finally the soul doth not claim his right unto any conditional promise by his performance of the condition nor doth he deny himself the blessing that the promise may reach forth unto him though he be wanting in obedience to this or that Commandment pregnant for this purpose is the example of Jacob which we mentioned before Gen. 32.9 10. who though he had a plain and a full promise of God to do him good if he would return to his Country and to his kindred yet when he did return according to the word of God he claimed not his interest in that promise for that he had done as God commanded him but I am less then the least of thy mercies and yet he cometh unto the Lord for the performance of his promises but not upon this ground only for the sake of mercy and truth Deliver me I pray thee for thou saidest I will surely do thee good ver 11 12. so that mind you though the soul can make use of a conditional promise and come to God for the blessing of it yet not expecting it in the least manner by vertue of his obedience and truly this is the freedom of a Christian soul whereas another man if he have kept the Commandment and performed the condition he then looketh for acceptance from God as if the Lord make this promise that he that confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall find mercy this man confesseth his sin unto God and forsaketh it and therefore he looketh for mercy but this is not the manner of Gods people and yet if they look for any mercy it is in the way of God but not because of their own goodness their hope is in the faithfulness and free grace of God they may make mention to the praise of God how he hath guided them and carried them an end in his own waies yet they challenge nothing from any thing that they have done but put the Lord in mind of his free promise that as of his free grace he hath freely promised so from the same grace he may make good what he hath promised Vse 1 If any therefore shall accuse the Doctrine of the Covenant of free Grace of Antinomianism and say it teacheth men freedom from the Law of Moses and if they commit any sin they plead they are not bound unto the Law we see how false such an aspersion would be for all the people of God know that the Lord is an avenger of every such wickedness There is none under a Covenant of Grace that dare allow himself in any sin for if a man should negligently commit any sin the Lord will school him throughly and make him sadly to apprehend how he hath made bold with the treasures of the grace of God Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound God forbid none that have a portion in the grace of God dareth therefore allow himself in sin but if through strength of temptation he be at any time carried aside it is his greatest burthen 2 Sam. 12.8 9. compared 13. Hath not the Lord saith Nathan done these and these things for thee wherefore then hast thou despised the Commandment of the Lord then David confesseth I have sinned It pierced him to the heart to consider it that he should abuse his Neighbours wife and kill her husband and commit such wickedness against God that had dealt so graciously with him So that the children of the Covenant of grace will only tell you that they are free from the Covenant of the Law but not from the Commandment of it for as it is given by Jesus Christ and ratified in the Gospel and as Christ hath given us his Spirit enabling us to keep it we are under it so far as to take our selves bound by the authority of it and if we do transgress against it we know it is sin in the sight of God and therefore it is that the soul in such a case is sensible of the wrath and displeasure of God whether it be his own sin or the sin of his brethren therefore he runneth unto God for mercy which he would not do if he did not know that his desert according to the Law did utterly cut him off from mercy else would he never pray for pardon of sin nor rejoyce when the Lord helpeth him to do that which is right and just in his sight nor bless the Lord for strengthening him unto obedience unless he thought it to be his duty and therefore It is of use also to teach the servants of God how far they are freed from the Law Use 2 to wit from the Covenant of it so that they neither look for justification nor salvation from it And let it not be grievous to any soul that a Christian should say He doth not fear condemnation by his disobedience he will be apt to fear in this kind untill he be assured of the favour of God but when he knoweth his portion in the Covenant then indeed he doth not fear condemnation by his sin nor doth he think that the Lord will cleave unto him because of his fruitfulness he casteth not off his comfort nor looketh at himself as divorced from Christ because of his barrenness before the Lord nor doth he look for his daily bread from all his obedience but expecteth all goodness and blessing from the treasures of the free grace of God Use 3 This may also serve to teach men some kind of discernment of their own spirits and state if you look for justification no longer then you are obedient and fear eternal condemnation when you are disobedient if you be afraid of divorce from Christ because of your sins or if you look for any blessing and challenge right to any promise by vertue of any well-doing of your own in such a case either thou art under a Covenant of works or at the least thou art gone aside to a Covenant of works and if ever the Lord open your eyes and bestow his free grace upon you you will know your redemption from such dependances as these be I know a Christian man that hath not been clearly taught the distinct differences of the two Covenants may be misled into dangerous waies that might tend unto the utter undoing of his soul but it is a sin of ignorance and the Lord will not leave his servants but clear up his truth and grace unto them May serve to teach the servants of God Use 4 that desire to walk in a way of constant comfort how to build their faith and their hope truly if they be grounded upon your own obedience or righteousness or
whatsoever we have to do in the things of God that we should soon be weary of reaching forth our hands all the day long unto the Lord and to be constantly for God from God and with God in all our Actions our base spirits are soon ready to be withdrawing from the Lord therefore the Apostle biddeth us follow after Peace and Holiness without which no man shall see God so that great is the necessity of Holiness and worthy to be followed after for though a mans own heart and the world and men and Satan withdraw us from it yet follow after it for without it no man shall see God There is a kind of holiness which some men have attained unto many a fair day ago but 't is a thousand to one whether it be the holiness which doth accompany salvation for that Holiness is not easily attained unto but the other will easily cleave close unto a man Now if you shall ask me Quest 1 wherefore the Lord will have us pursue after Holiness and what needeth it if the Spirit of Holiness dwell in me by an everlasting Covenant if it did withdraw from us as it did from Adam it was another matter but though it may be quenched in us yet abideth it for ever what need then of gifts of Holiness That one word may be sufficient Answ which we find in 2 Tim. 2.21 If any man purge himself from these evils he shall be a vessel unto honour sanctified and meet for the Masters use and prepared unto every good work This sheweth us why gifts of Holiness are requisite to be in Gods people namely that they might become meet instruments in the hands of God and fitted unto every good word and work therefore it is that the Lord will have us to be filled with all the gifts of Righteousness and fruits of his Spirit that we might be more fit Temples for the Holy Ghost to dwell in and this is the principal Reason of the Point If then there be such gifts of holiness Quest 2 what need the Holy Ghost dwell in us is it not enough that he should shed abroad these things into our hearts cannot the Lord carry an end the work of our salvation by these gifts There is need that the Holy Ghost should dwell in us Answ notwithstanding 1. To keep these gifts in us 2. To act them in us 3. To witness these unto our souls for our comfort and the good one of another Some Scriptures for all these 1. That there is need of the Holy Ghost to keep these things in us 2 Tim. 1.14 That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us There is a very worthy thing committed to us how shall we keep it not by our own wit and wisdom careful watchfulness and faithfulness though such things ought not to be wanting but the charge is Keep those things by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us We stand in need of Gifts to be fit instruments in the hand of God we stand in need of the Spirit of God to maintain that which God giveth us and though Adams Gifts were in perfection yet not having the holy Ghost to keep them for him they all flie from him as soon as ever he had tasted of the forbidden fruit and left him naked and desperate Therefore in the Covenant of Grace the Lord giveth the Holy Ghost to keep strong possession in his servants against the strong man armed This is the first ground why the Holy Ghost dwelleth in us 2. It 's the Holy Ghost that acteth the gifts given to us and enableth them in us for the Holy Ghost who keepeth possession doth derive continued strength into our faith which putteth life into all the gifts of God And if you shall ask how love and patience and the rest of the gifts of God do work The Holy Ghost stirreth up faith to look unto Christ who returneth strength by his Spirit unto Faith and so faith worketh by love and by meekness and by all the rest of the fruits of the Spirit Thus the Spirit of God acteth according to what we read Rom. 8.14 As many as are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God come to any holy duty and it is the Holy Ghost that leadeth you along and atteth in you so Ezek. 36.27 I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my judgements and do them And holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost It is the Spirit of God that moveth us to any good work and that acteth the gifts of his grace in us 3. The Spirit of God doth not only keep these gifts for us and act them in us but it is the same Spirit of God that witnesseth to these gifts and sheweth what gifts he hath given us for such is the blindness of the nature of all the sons of men and it is a wonder to see that generally Christians when the Lord first worketh these gifts in them not one of a thousand but they think they are in a sad and fearful condition and so they are very uncomfortable but now left that we should alwayes mistake that which the Lord hath given us we have received the Spirit of God that we might know the things that are freely given unto us of God 1 Cor. 2.12 he indeed taketh his own time to discover it to some sooner to some later but this is his intendment that he might honor his grace unto us by all the rich and gracious gifts which he hath given us He doth also reveal unto us the duties which he helpeth us to do Rom. 9.1 I say the truth in Christ I lye not my conscience also bearing me witness in the holy Ghost That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in mine heart For I could wish that my self were accursed from Christ for my Brethren my Kinsmen according to the flesh The Holy Ghost that wrought in him this brotherly-love the same Holy Ghost beareth him witness that he doth not lie and that he had continual sorrow in his heart and that he could have wished to have been accursed from Christ that they might be saved it grieved him so much that the whole Nation should be destitute of the Lord Jesus Christ Thus wee see how great need there is of the Holy Ghost to dwell in us to keep all the gifts of his grace in us to act them according to his will and to discover to us what gracious gifts the Lord hath wrought in us and what duties he hath helped us to do that we may be able to give account of them by the Holy Ghost that dwelleth in us and beareth witness with us So there is necessity both of the gifts of grace that we may be fit Temples for the Holy Ghost to dwell in and fit instruments for him to work by there is need also the Holy Ghost
greatest falls have been in their most exemplary gifts If you shall mark the sins of all the servants of God they have been chiefly found in the very exercise of their best gifts Let us take a little taste of them that we may learn to use our gifts in the strength of Jesus Christ Abraham a man full of faith none went beyond him in Old nor New Testament yet if you read of any failing in him it is in want of the acting of faith What made him afraid not once but the second time that his wife would be taken away from him by Pharaoh Gen. 12. by Abimelech chap. 20. had not the Lord promised that he would bless him wheresoever he came Gen. 12.2 He had so much of the knowledge and grace of God shining in him that Sarah needed not have dissembled and Abimelech a poor Heathen could say as much chap. 20.16 Behold thy husband it a covering of the eyes to all that are with thee and with all other thus she was reproved as if he should say Thou needest no shifts and lies for thy protections and to be a vail unto thee this a poor Heathen can discern that such a man as hath God with him needeth no other shifts nor covering to defend and shelter him Thus we see that these great failings of Abraham were proper acts of unbelief Moses a meek man none like him for meekness on the face of the earth there is but one sin storied of him after he was called to the Government of that State and this was his failing Hear now you rebels Must we fetch you water out of this rock so he lift up his hand and with his rod he smote the rock twice Numb 20.10 11. they provoked Moses as meek as he was sometimes when Aaron and Miriam dealt as peremptorily with him he was not moved from the meekness of his spirit but now he falleth into Passion and this was the very sin for which the Lord excluded him out of Canaan Numb 27.12 13 14. It was the breach of this royal grace chap. 20.12 Because ye believed me not to sanctifie me in the eyes of the children of Israel therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the Land which I have given them which words shew us the reason of his failing in the grace wherein he so much abounded because ye believed me not The Lord will have him know that he must live by his fiath in his meekness If any man think himself to be a meek man and nothing shall over-wrastle him there if you believe not in God but in your meekness your confidence will soon fail you Peter a man full of courage and you read of two of his principal failings and both in point of courage he failed in the high Priests hall at the voice of a Damsel and in the porch at the speech of another Maid and the third time at the voice of one that stood by Mat. 26.69 c. whereas afterward when he lived by faith he became undaunted Another failing of his in point of courage we read of Gal. 2.12 He feared those of the circumcision and whereas before he did eat with the Gentiles when certain of the Circumcision came from James he withdrew and separated himself and so dissembled and others likewise with him insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulution Thus the Apostle Peter's most eminent gifts did not bring forth their fruits Know therefore that the best of all your gifts faith meekness courage wisdom love to your brethren will fail if you trust in them and you will be most apt to fail there wherein you do most excel If a man be wise he shall fail in that point and it may be in nothing so much as in that even in those things wherein he thinketh he walketh most wisely and such an one will find most trials in point of his wisdom and the like will be found in all other graces and all to this end to teach the Israel of God to know that no man liveth by his wisdom nor by any thing in himself but by faith in Jesus Christ whom God hath given unto his people and who is only able to give new supplies of his Spirit unto his servants to act every gift which he hath given them I might have mentioned the example of Sarab a meek and a quiet godly spirited woman subject and obedient to her husband and called him Lord whose daughters you are while you do well 1 Pet. 3.6 and yet you know one of her greatest failings was in point of Reverence to her husband Gen. 16.5 When she saw that she was despised in the eyes of her maid whom she had given unto her husband she said to Abraham My wrong be upon thee and the Lord judge between me and thee Where is the reverence of Sarah now Will you have the daughters of Sarah to imitate her herein What had her husband done There was no fault in him in this matter she had no reason to tax him upon this point it was her own counsel ver 2. that he should go in to her maid that I may obtain children by her therefore there was no colour of any just complaint on her part yet see this meek-spirited woman failed in the point of her meeknesse herein and did express no greater failing all her life long that we read of she was weak in faith once but there was great reason for that her womb was dead and her Lord as she called him was old also nor doth the Angel so much blame her about it but that action wherein she most failed was against that grace wherein she most abounded And though every grace of the Spirit be of great force when the Lord doth act and move it yet let a man go forth in the strength of his greatest gifts and if ever his heart fail him it will be in them Think not when you have done all you can that you are worthy of any thing but say that you are unprofitable servants for though Sanctification be the way wherein the Lord will pour out all his blessings upon his servants yet he doth require them to boast in none of their excellencies but look at them all as freely given them of God and consider that the right unto all springeth from fellowship with Jesus Christ that so not only the gift it self is grace but the blessing that followeth upon it is grace also And suppose that we have attained all that we pray for shall we then exalt our own gifts No but let us say with Jacob Gen. 32.10 I am less then the least of all the mercies and truth which thou hast shewed unto thy servant Do not trust upon gifts nor upon duties performed by those gifts to reach the blessing so look not for your justification from thence at all for the Apostle is plain that he looked not for any thing for his righteousness before his conversion and after his
conversion he counteth it all as dross and dung that he might win Christ Phil. 3.6 7 8. And for our faith they are not to be trusted upon as grounds of it for all the gifts of our sanctification are fruits of our faith and therefore faith is said to work by love Gal. 5.6 And so it doth by all other gifts of the Spirit and if they be fruits of faith then faith is not built upon them And thus much for the second Use which Christians are to make of their sanctification 3. There is in the next place a point of witness which this Sanctification doth yield and the Spirit of God by it The water beareth witness to the bloud and the bloud to the water and the Spirit unto both 1 Joh. 5.6 7 8. A mans own spirit beareth witness also Rom. 8.16 The Spirit of God beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of God and therefore as a witnesse of God unto our faith we may lawfully hear what it speaketh but this is the life of a true evidence that all these gifts of God do not bear witness any further then a man seeth the Lord Jesus working them in him and for him for it is faith that maketh all the graces of the Gospel active and it is a condition so requisite that unlesse our works be of faith and flow from it they are not acceptable before God Heb. 11.6 for without faith it 's impossible to please God therefore unless faith carry an end our works they are not works of holiness such as should bear witness to the soul Therefore the Apostle doth stir up the Corinthians unto this mainly Examine your selves whether you are in the faith 2 Cor. 13.5 if he do exhort them to examination it is in point of faith and therefore some of our Divines as Reverent Forbes of Middleburgh by name who hath written a Sermon upon it wherein he noteth this that unless men find faith in their holiness none of all their Sanctification will become a sound witness of the grace of God unto them but if faith be found then you shall see Jesus Christ accepting you and breathing in you except you be reprobates There is a marvelous gracious witness that sanctification giveth unto him that liveth by faith in Jesus Christ if it be in Christ and from Christ and for Christ This only is that sanctification which the Lord commendeth unto his children to seek after it 4. A fourth Use of our sanctification is that the Spirit of God helpeth us by it in point of rejoycing and therefore it is that you shall see the servants of God rejoycing in their holiness so doth the Apostle Paul 2 Cor. 1.12 This is our rejoycing the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world he rejoyceth at what the Lord doth by him and with him Let every man prove his own work and so shall he have rejoycing in himself and not in another Gal. 6.4 But what is it that maketh the Apostle to rejoyce before God When he rejoyceth in his work before the Lord you shall ever find him rejoycing at the Lords acting these gifts in him and blessing him in his work let us look upon two or three Scriptures for this end 1 Tim. 1.12 13. I thank Jesus Christ our Lord who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful putting me into the ministry who was before a blasphemer c. this he thanketh God for so that mind you as he seeth God giving him these gifts and enabling him unto the work so he blesseth God in that behalf You shall find him also blessing God that had prospered this work of the Ministry wheresoever he came 2 Cor. 2.14 Thanks be to God which alwaies causeth us to triumph in Christ and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place The Lord working in him and for him maketh him to triumph and to over-wrastle all the difficulties which he meeteth withal The Lord had given him gifts and taught him to exercise those gifts and doth accept him and therefore he expresseth himself in a marvelous strong speech Phil. 1.20 21. I am in nothing ashamed but that with all boldness as alwaies so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body whether it be by life or by death for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain to me to live is Christ as if he had said I have no life but from Christ I put forth no act of life but for Christ this is the sum of all his conversation and if Christ be his life then death will be his advantage and Christ will be magnified in either Thus we may see how the Saints of God have made use of their sanctification they are careful to see that it flow from Christ and yet when they have it they dare not trust in their best gifts for the least duty neither do they look for their faith from their best gifts but they expect their best gifts to flow from their faith they make use of the testimony of their holiness when they see Christ in it and faith in it and the Spirit of God carrying them along in the waies and duties thereof thus they see their holiness and take comfort in it and from the witness of it as that by which the Lord dispenseth comfort unto his people when they receive it from the hands of Christ and by faith in him by which they are taught of God to carry an end their whole conversation in his name 5. Furthermore as we receive it from Christ and trust not in it but in Christ and receive the witness of it in Christ and in the holy Spirit of Christ and as we receive Joy and Comfort also which the Lord doth minister unto us in a sanctified course by his holy Spirit so we grow up and perfect our Holiness which we have received in his Name there is growth in grace this sanctification is not bedrid Christians are not as weak now as they were seven years ago nor do they stand at a stay but go forward in Christianity and hereupon the Apostle exhorteth the Ephesians Ephes â— 6 to speak the truth in love that they may grow up into him in all things which is the head even Christ implying that men that enter into wayes of Holiness ought to grow on unto perfection in the fear of God The Righteous shall hold on his way and he that hath clean hands shall grow stronger and stronger Job 17.9 And many sweet means the Lord hath appointed for this end the communion of Gods people tendeth hereunto Prov. 13.20 He that walketh with the wise shall learn wisdom all the Ordinances of God are appointed for this end also to beget and encrease faith and holiness therefore a Christian in the use of all these Ordinances doth not stand at a
stay but is still thriving and growing and that not in his own strength but in the strength of Jesus Christ seeking for his acceptance and help in every duty he goeth about and this is that which the Apostle Paul doth exhort the Colossians unto chap. 2.6 7. As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him rooted and built up in him and stablished in the faith This ought Christians mainly to attend unto that as you see the branch the more juice it sucketh from the root the more fruitful it is so also it becometh the people of God to know that the more need we stand in to be fruitful the more need we have to derive a continual fresh supply from the Lord Jesus Christ that by his Spirit renewing grace in us we may be enlarged and carried an end in the waies of God whereas otherwise the hearts of Christians would soon fail to go on in those things wherein they desire to be growing up unto perfection What is the reason that so many servants of God are not so lively in their profession as they were wont to be many years ago Truly we attend upon Ordinances but it is only upon the outward act of them and not upon Jesus Christ in them This is many times wanting in the hearts of Gods people but truly if this be our constant frame and we do not recover our selves then is not our sanctification that which floweth from fellowship with Jesus Christ and the Spirit of his grace for you shall ever find this to be true that there is no gift of Jesus Christ nor sanctification accompanying salvation but it doth knit us neerer and neerer unto Christ for the more we are filled with true spiritual gifts the more empty we are of our own strength and of self-conceits and so we ought to be otherwise you shall constantly find this that if the Lord do not preserve this empty frame in us the more full we are of any gift the more full shall we be of our own strength and consequently we shall feel the less need of Jesus Christ and if this be our constant frame it will be a sad argument that our best sanctification will not endure but fall away unless we be knit unto Jesus Christ by the Spirit of his grace for by all true sanctification we are the more knit unto him so that if any man would know whether the superscription of Christ and his image be stamped upon his sanctification this you shall ever find to be the stamp of the grace of Jesus Christ That the more you receive from him the more need you stand in of him insomuch that notwithstanding all the gifts of the Spirit there is not the ablest Minister of the New Testament but if your gifts flow from the Spirit of Christ and knit you unto Christ you will find as great need to cleave unto Jesus Christ as ever you did the first day when you came trembling into the Pulpit If therefore we feel our selves full so that the more we have received the more sufficient we are and go not about the duties we have in hand in fear and trembling but in self confidence if this be our usual and constant practice it is but counterfeit Christianity I do not say That the gifts are counterfeit for they are from the Spirit of God and men may by them be very serviceable to Church Commonwealth but this is certain that the stronger and the more your gifts are if you sit loose from Christ the emptier your hearts are of him But you will say May not a Christian be sometimes full of himself and depend upon the strength of his own gifts Yes brethren God forbid I should deny that for the best Christians have gone astray in the exercise of their best gifts and hereupon Abraham hath been wanting in faith and Moses in meekness and Peter in courage and Sarah in her modesty they have been so apt to trust upon those graces of God wherein they have most abounded that they have principally failed therein but this you shall find that if they have been overtaken once or twice as the burnt child dreadeth the fire so they grow to be more sensible of their need of Jesus Christ more fearful of departing from him more careful to cleave unto him that they might grow up in his name to all well pleasing in his sight If therefore there be a sanctification that standeth at a stay in any man it is a great suspicion whether it flow from fellowship with Christ or no if gifts be truly spiritual a man shall ordinarily grow up in them Habenti dabitur Imploy them and multiply them but if you have received gifts in your own strength and you are now full of your own sanctification truly this is but froathy work and doth not convey true nor lively nourishment and comfort but to him that in his most spiritual gifts is empty of himself and only full of Jesus Christ to live or die is his advantage This is the Use which I would commend unto you touching your Christian Sanctification Thus we see sundry things have been clear'd from this Doctrine concerning the Covenant of Grace There remaineth another thing to be resolved and cleared from the Doctrine For if God in the Covenant of his Grace do give himself to be a God to Abraham and his seed It is then to be enquired 1. How God the Father giveth himself 2. How God the Son giveth himself 3. How God the Holy Ghost giveth himself For these are the Fundamentals of the Covenant of Grace and necessary to be opened for clearing the Doctrine of it 1. Quest 2 How God the Father doth give himself to be a God in Covenant to Abraham and to his seed that is to the faithful seed of Abraham By a threefold work doth God the Father give himself Answ in the Covenant of his Grace to be a God unto Abraham and to his elect seed 1. The first Act of God is by Giving his own Son out of his bosom for the redemption of Abraham and his seed That is the first and Fundamental of all the rest that God doth put forth or any other person in Trinity for the applying of the Covenant unto the hearts of his people And God in giving his Son doth give himself Joh. 9.14 and 10.30 He that hath seen me hath seen the Father and I and my Father are one if God giveth us his Son he giveth us himself also so saith the Apostle John 1 Joh. 2.23 He that hath the Son hath the Father and he that hath not the Son hath not the Father Herein hath God commended his love towards us that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Rom. 5.8 this is the love of God to send us his Son that whosoever believeth in him might not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3.16 As God giveth us his Son so he giveth us all things else
us therefore stand fast in our liberty We now come to the tenth Question Quest 10 How God the Holy Ghost gives himself to Abraham and his elect seed in the Covenant of Grace For if God give himself he doth not onely give his nature but his persons God the Father gives himself and God the Son gives himself and God the Holy Ghost gives himself unto the people of God Joh. 14.16 17. I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knows him but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you if then the Holy Ghost be given as well as the Father and the Son How is he given Or how doth he give himself unto the Church and unto all the Israel of God Answ There be four several Acts or works whereby the Holy Ghost is given to the Church and to his people for though the Lord Jesus pray the Father for him and the Father sendeth him and the Son also sendeth him Joh. 15.26 yet the Holy Ghost himself doth comes upon his people Act. 2.2 c. and He comes by a fourfold act 1. First by indwelling or inhabitation in the Church 2. Secondly by an act of Sanctification 3. Thirdly by an act of Revelation and therefore he is called a Spirit of Revelation and that is proper to the Holy Ghost 4. Fourthly by an act of Consolation and therefore he is called the Comforter 1. First for Inhabitation so saith the Apostle Ephes 2.22 You are builded together in Christ for an habitation of God through the Spirit in this respect also it is the Apostle demandeth of the Corinthians 1 Cor. 3.16 Know you not that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you so in the place fore-alledged Joh. 14.16 17. and when he saith dwell in you it noteth the constancy of his being in them he will abide in his dwelling place so 1 Joh. 2.27 the anointing there promised is the Spirit great is the necessity of his in-dwelling in us for two principal reasons The first is taken from the necessity of our union into one mystical spiritual body with the Lord Jesus Reas 1 which by this means is firmly and inviolably wrought 1 Cor. 6.17 He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit in as much as that one Spirit who dwelleth in Christ without measure dwelleth in us according to our measure and so we are all one mystical body and I cannot tell how better to compare it then to a musical Instrument wherein though there be many pipes yet one blast of the bellowes puts breath into them all so that all of them at once break forth into a kinde of melody and give a pleasant sound to the ears of those that stand by all of them do make but one Instrument and one sound and yet variety of musick So is this very case look at all the living members of Christ they are all compacted together and set into one stock and root by which means it comes to pass that though they be many thousands yet they all make a melodious harmony in the ears of the Lord of Hosts therefore for the combining of us into the unity of one Spirit necessary it is that the same Spirit that breathes in the humane nature of Christ should breath in us all and though the divine Nature of Christ be God the humane Nature is finite and yet hath the Spirit above the capacity of the creature and this same Spirit doth act and guide and move all our affairs in him and which is wonderful it comes to pass that the same Spirit breathing in Christ and in us we have not only a measure of the Spirit to do one duty but he doth concur with us in all spiritual duties which we undertake according to him for without him we can do nothing Joh. 15.5 This is the first reason of the inhabitation of the Spirit to keep alive spiritual union between Christ and us therefore is there one Spirit in us all Secondly Reas 2 another end of this inhabitation of the Spirit is to keep possession for the Lord in our hearts against all adversary power for if the Lord should leave his gifts only to keep possession there the devil would make very hard work with the best gifts that we have received he blasted all the precious gifts that Adam had received which were more perfect in degrees than any we receive and yet when all the powers of darkness and gates of hell are banded together against Jesus Christ and his servants there is not the least of the servants of God that falleth away finally and the Apostle John gives the reason of it 1 Joh. 4.4 Ye are of God little children and have overcome them because greater is he that is in you then he that is in the world Neither are we preserved by faith only but by the mighty power of God 1 Pet. 1.5 The Spirit it is that setteth Faith awork and Christ it is that setteth the Spirit awork to keep us unto his heavenly kingdom And from this possession of the Spirit there comes a garison as it were to be kept in our hearts whereby our souls are kept alive so that the Spirit doth not only shed abroad his gifts into our hearts but he keeps our hearts in a sweet frame of sanctification 2 Tim. 1.14 That good thing which was committed to thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us that goodly depositum his Evangelistical Gift that did accompany his own salvation and the salvation of the Church he must keep it by the Holy Ghost that dwelleth in us otherwise our gifts would soon vapour out into smoak and ashes whether it be faith hope zeal patience courage or whatsoever else is requisite for the salvation of Gods people the Spirit by his power dwelling in us acteth and preserveth them the sons of God are led by the Spirit Rom. 8.14 nor is this a confining of the Spirit of God unto poor houses of clay Solomons Temple could not contain him no not the heaven of heavens he dwelleth above all heavens unmeasurably yet he dwelleth also with him that is of an humble and contrite spirit Isa 57.15 though it were a poor kitchin-boy that hath such a spirit he dwelleth there to revive the spirit of the humble As those that dwell in earthly houses there they take up their rest and lay up their treasure and there they delight to converse even thus doth the Spirit of God and it is a wonderful Indulgence of the most High that dwels in temples made without hands so to be pleased to dwell in the sons and daughters of men to make good his own eternal counsel for their salvation There is I confess also some kinde of presence of the Spirit of God even in hypocrites that
unless the Lord come in with his immediate power above the power of any Ordinance all that you have received amounteth not to the faith of Gods elect and unless it be the Spirit of God that enlighteneth we have received no saving light and when he doth come to seal up Jesus Christ unto our souls he ever speaketh in some promise of the free grace of God for the Lord justifieth no man upon an imperfect righteousness but in that work doth ever declare himself to be just and a justifier of him that is of the faith of Jesus Rom. 3.26 therefore seeing in this work he sitteth upon a throne to declare his own righteousness there is no place now for our righteousness to appear hence it is that if he justifie it is freely by his grace Rom. 3.23 thus God dealt with Abraham when he shewed him the innumerable stars of heaven and told him So shall thy seed be He believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness Gen. 15.5 it was the free grace of God which he mentioneth unto him But suppose the Lord should reveal a work unto you as a work there is in every soul that is justified if you should see any work in your soul yet unless the Spirit of God should above the power of the work breathe in it it is not possible that it should beget a Divine Faith it is only the work of the Spirit of God it is he also that shews you your acceptance with God and that manifesteth your sanctification and makes it a sign unto you of your justification otherwise neither word nor work can set on a promise with power upon the soul until the Holy Ghost confirm it it is his immediate work What then Object doth the Spirit do this immediately without the word No Answ if he speak peace unto the soul he ever doth it in some word of promise and if he testifie our acceptance it is in some word and in that respect it is mediate but he doth set on a power above the word and in that respect I call it immediate and therefore if a man shall seek to hammer out any thing by his own knowledge though he may add to his knowledge yet he can do nothing to the begetting of faith unless the Lord come in by a power above the word and when he doth speak in any word of his grace he doth not in the first place speak to you of your own righteousness but first convinceth you that you are a chief sinner as when he said to Saul Why persecutest thou me when he sends his Spirit it is first to convince the world of sin Joh. 16.8 9 c. and what of your sanctification next no of your justification next he will convince the world of righteousness that is of his righteousness and afterward of judgement and that is sometimes put for sanctification Mat. 12.20 A bruised reed shall he not break and smoaking flax shall he not quench until he bring forth judgement into victory But it is the Spirit that doth all this and therefore let not men deceive themselves in any conclusions that they can make for their enlightened conscience is but a creature and unless the Lord come in with a greater light then your conscience will afford you all will be but lost work unto your souls you will build but castles in the air which in time of temptation will vanish away In the third place Use 3 this may teach all the servants of God that have received in any measure the first fruits of the Spirit to know that they have received an earnest of an everlasting possession that Spirit will never leave you till you become a full vessel and running over if he have given you one promise he will give you more and if he have given you Christ he will with him give you all things else In the fourth and last place Use 4 it may teach us That if we have received Christ and our hope be in him never to rest until we do more fully and clearly see that the Lord is our God until the Holy Ghost do fill your hearts with more power and stamp more of the image of Christ in you grow more and more sensible how dead and insufficient you are unto any thing that is good be meek and lowly in heart think meanly of your selves you cannot pray you cannot preach you cannot of your selves perform any Christian duty it is Christ that must work all our works for us know therefore that if you be lively and active it is because your life is hid with Christ in God he it is that stirreth up your faith to look up unto Christ to expect all help from his hand Sometimes you must look to be severed from the world and the more clear the truths of God are unto you the more they are hidden from the world for if a man cannot look upon a candle how shall he look upon a torch and much less upon the shining Sun Therefore it behoveth all the servants of God to grow up in the power of God and the strength of his might not holding forth insolency of Spirit nor uncharitable censoriousness such things are far off from expressing the Spirit of Christ but it is the part of the servants of Christ to be faithful meck lowly humble and couragious in the waies of the Lord and when you have done all be contented to be counted the off-scouring of the world as 1 Cor. 4.9 for it must be the part of all that fear God to take heed that you give none occasion to any to speak evil of us for if we do consider the great hope of our calling how should it cast holy shame upon our faces that we walk so unworthy of our calling for if there be any work of God upon our hearts it is no transient work if God begin He will perfect until the day of Christ the work of grace is an uncessant work but as in the first creation the Spirit of God hatched upon the face of the waters till the work of Creation was perfected so doth the Lord by his Spirit in his Saints he doth not leave hatching in their hearts till he hath separated light from darkness and made every thing fruitful in the soul We must not rest therefore in former weak beginnings but if we be born of God and under a Covenant of grace we must look to grow up in all well pleasing unto God that we may not be strangers to any of all the heavenly works of the grace of God but that we may grow up to abound in fruitfulness in them all Thus having explained Second Branch of the Doctrine how the Lord gives himself in a Covenant of grace unto Abraham and to his seed we now come unto the second part of the Doctrine which is that he received Abraham and his seed to be a peculiar people unto himself which although we have spoken somewhat unto in
of the Covenant he is the Prince of it and hath received all the promises from God they are accomplished in him he hath fulfilled all the conditions and received all the blessings and applyed them unto us and wrought all things in us and for us and still leadeth us on unto further and further fellowship with himself For the Use of this Point Use 1 in the first place it is of refutation unto the Popish Doctrine that hath devised other Mediatours besides Jesus Christ they come unto God in the mediation of Saints and Angels and pray to them to pray for them in Heaven and look that by the vertue of their prayers they shall be saved and whereas the Scripture is plain 1 Tim. 2.5 there is one mediatour between God and man the man Christ Jesus yea say they one Mediatour of Redemption but many of Intercession whereas mind you it is the work of a Mediatour not only to do that which may prevail for the obtaining of peace but he must apply it also or else he hath not brought us unto union and communion with the Father And when they make intercession unto Angels for the vertue and merit of their prayers it doth evacuate the mediation of Jesus Christ for bring in other Mediatours and you weaken him in his Office A sign they trust not in him and therefore are accursed when they put confidence in other things Jer. 17.5 But you will say Answ Do we not pray the Saints on earth to pray for us It is true we do so Object and Christ hath bidden us and given us paterns to pray one for another but if we in this Country should pray to a friend in England to pray for us it were Idolatry Paul indeed doth write unto the Churches to pray for him but not unto the Saints or Angels in heaven 2. We do not depend upon their prayers that by the merit of them they should prevail but we look at it only as a way wherein the Lord calleth us to wait upon him so as that when we have done desiring we look for all blessing from Jesus Christ even then when we beg the prayers of our friends When as God was angry with the friends of Job because they falsly accused Job chap. 42.7 8. he bids them take a sacrifice and go to Job and he shall pray for you for him will I accept but must they now trust upon Job or upon his acquaintance with God no verily but upon the Lord Jesus who was held forth by the Sacrifice So that though we crave the help of our brethrens prayers yet the Lord doth not allow us to make our friends Mediatours between Christ and us we look not for any thing from them but from the Lord Jesus Christ alone in that way Now they look at Mary as able to command the Lord Jesus Jube Mater Filium command thy Son and when they pray to this Saint and that Saint they look that the right and merit and efficacy of their prayers shall carry all an end whereas they need a Mediatour themselves and therefore they cannot by their own right be Mediatours unto us But that we might the better understand the mystery of iniquity do not they make the Saints and Angels the Mediatours of their Redemption also what is the ground of the Popish indulgences have not they a treasure of Church-merit which they boast of and therefore have they power as they say to grant pardons and to apply the merits of the Saints unto this and that soul now minde you he which is a Mediatour of the pardon of my sins is a Mediatour of redemption and justification and this is the dangerous gulfe into which the Popish Religion sinketh many millions of souls The second Use Use 2 Is of Instruction how to make an holy use of all the gifts of Gods grace and duties of Gods worship this Doctrine will properly hold it forth for here is as dangerous a rock for our souls to be split upon as is among them for we also may be subject to the like danger in making our own righteousness our mediatours as they be in making their prayers and merits of their Saints their Mediatours if we shall make any graces in our hearts the ground of our union with God we have forgotten that Jesus Christ became God and man and that he only is a fit person to remove all offence and to communicate all good things from God unto us if we shall say within our selves Were I but thus and thus humbled the Lord would accept me and all the blessed promises would be mine if I could but pray as such a Christian can then I know the Lord would accept me This may be a piece of refined Popery but it is Popery at the very bottom if we look unto our graces or duties to bring us unto union with Christ or if we think that by the right of them communion shall be maintained we have forgotten our Mediatour Jesus Christ God and man for if he be our Mediatour he doth work both these for us these things cannot bring us unto Christ for they all flow from him if therefore we have no other union with Christ then that which flows from them we are not united unto this very day But you will say Cannot our gifts and works maintain this union when it is true If they can uphold it they are in part Mediatours that they do uphold it by merit no Protestant will say neither is there any right or power in them to do this and therefore to trust in them is to put confidence in the arm of flesh and though it be not so gross as Popery yet it tends unto the like dishonour of Jesus Christ It was a faithful saying of the Apostle Peter and worthy of all acceptation when they saw the people ready to attribute much unto their holiness Acts 3.12 c. Ye men of Israel saith Peter why look ye so earnestly on us as if we by our power or holiness had made this man to walk the God of Abraham of Isaac and of Jacob the God of our fathers hath glorified his Son Jesus c. so it is not in the power of the best spiritual gifts or works to make a creeple go much less is it in their power to make a feeble soul stand upright but the God of our fathers glorifieth his Son Jesus in doing all this work for us for he is our only mediatour of reconciliation redemption and intercession and if we look for any such vertue power or right in any other means under heaven we deprive Christ of the Office of a Mediatour There is an Opinion as I hear stirring in our native Country that though none of our works give us merit right or power to reach the blessing yet they give us fitness Now truly this is but an English word in Latine we call it congruity and this the Papists come unto that when they be driven hard
unto it they will acknowledge that we have no merit of condignity but only merit of congruity therefore in truth it is plain Popery in English it is true indeed there is a fitness but it lies not in doing it is such a fitness as whereby the soul judgeth it self unworthy of any grace and now the creature being emptyed of it self is fit to receive mercy from God it is now fit to receive all from Christ Consider therefore I beseech you what kind of Use God calleth us to make of all gifts and works of grace do not think we cry down sanctification because we do not put it into Christs Mediatourship because we do not shut Christ out of heaven and out of his Office by it for we give it his honour if we give it this honour of mediation we cannot come to God but we must be united you will say We cannot be united till by faith we have uniting Is faith then a Mediatur between Christ and us can there be no union with Christ unless we bring faith and repentance with us truly then we must have Mediatours to bring us unto Christ but doth not the Gospel require faith and repentance in all that be in Christ true but how comes a man by the faith and repentance of the Gospel Zach. 12.10 I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem a Spirit of grace and supplication and they shall look on him whom they have pierced and mourn for him c. This looking is faith and this mourning is repentance thus Christ seeth us before we see him and because we are sons God hath shed abroad the spirit of sons into our hearts Gal. 4.6 7. and hereby we come to see him and more and more of him and this is the way of the Gospel of Jesus Christ First We have him and him drawing us and fitting us by his Spirit whereby we come to see him and then we mourn over him for all the wrong we have done him this is that faith and repentance that flows from Christ and then brings us unto him if it flow not from him but first brings us unto him it is not the faith and repentance of Gods elect nor that which the Gospel holds forth First take Christ and then you have all things in him Again As nothing can first bring us unto Christ so neither will it be able to maintain our communion with him for as he is the door so he is the Surety of the Covenant he is the Publisher and Confirmer and Prince of the Covenant and he receives and keeps all the blessings of the Covenant for us You will say What then would you have us to neglect repentance and faith no no brethren but exercise your selves in all godliness 1 Tim. 4.7 but let it be godliness then let it not be righteousness only but godliness even such as spring 〈…〉 from fellowship with God in Jesus Christ but when you have done all you can do not think that this will give you rest be not deceived you will not find that your souls are any thing neerer to God when you have prayed constantly morning and evening indeed if the Lord strengthen your faith and give you comfort this is effectual but it is because you did not rest in the Letter of the duty but you did exercise your self unto godliness in a way of faith and by faith the walls of Jericho fall down and the walls of Jerusalem are built up and so make account that your godliness must be exercised to fetch all from Christ otherwise that which you have will not uphold you when you have done all you can wait upon him to speak a word of comfort to you in his own way for his own names sake and so shall you indeed exercise the gifts of God as not abusing them and so exercise godliness as not to talk of it but to practise it and so use it as it ought to be used as fit to be an handmaid but not fit to be an husband fit to be serviceable unto Christ but not fit to justle him out of his Kingdome In the third place Use 3 this is a ground of much strength unto faith and encouragement unto all the duties and fruits of faith that the Lord hath made such a Covenant as this is an everlasting covenant stablished upon better grounds in the hands of a better mediatour that is so fit to bring us unto God and to maintain union and communion between God and us to remove all offences and quicken our spirits towards God it is our strength to rest upon this rock of Israel this is indeed eternal life Joh. 17.3 when we can say to Saints and Angels We know you not and to our own righteousness and all the duties of it We know you not in point of mediation but Jesus we know and his righteousness and mediation we know as for other things bring them in their places but if you bring them in point of mediation they will keep us from closing with Christ Therefore such as desire to maintain and to see maintained firm and full communion with Jesus Christ let the Lord Jesus only be their Advocate and Righteousness for it is he that worketh all our works for us and in special this main work of making and maintaining peace for us if then we rest not on what we are or do but look unto Christ for our acceptance and know that we are unprofitable without him then do we not abuse our gifts and duties but use them as fruits of Christs mediation if we look at them as causes of our mediation we do utterly evacuate the mediation of Jesus Christ neither can we continue in that state without the same hand of grace for even the Angels in heaven as is generally received stand confirmed in Jesus Christ if therefore they could not stand firm were it not for Jesus Christ much less shall the sinful sons of men come unto union or stand firm in communion with God by their best graces but when you have done all your union will be broken if the Lord doth not both begin and perfect it to immortality Yea even then when you are full of all the power of the most High and of all heavenly consolation it is Jesus Christ that maintaineth your union with himself therefore let creatures know that they are creatures and let them look at the gifts bestowed upon them and works done by them as the way which the Lord hath given them to walk in Say not We have all we look for nor think we our selves fit to be accepted of God it is a Popish delusion it is not all our endeavours or duties that will maintain us in communion with God one hour to an end Thus you see that all these things are as they are you have done but your duty in them all and but a piece of that neither and you have neither power nor right nor