p. 321 Concl. 4. The way of procedure in the business of self-examination is by consulting those marks and signs which are the evidencing properties of union with Christ p. 323 Concl. 5. The marks and signs to be consulted are of three sorts p. 326 1. Exclusive or Negative p. 327 2. Inclusive or Accumulative p. 329 3. Adaequate and proportionate These principally to be minded p. 330 Concl. 6. Such marks and signs of whatever sort whereupon a person may confidently rest in passing judgment upon himself must be clearly deduced from Scripture and bottomed thereon p. 332 Motives to quicken to self-examination as to our union with Christ p. 335 Eight Rules of direction by way of gradation for guidance in this work of self-examination p. 340 Dir. 1. The first and fundamental evidence of union with Christ to be enquired after is whether a sound conversion have been wrought upon us or the grace of regeneration poured forth into our hearts p. 341 Dir. 2. In order hereunto we must be sure to be rightly instructed in the nature of conversion and what a change it makes upon the soul p. 343 Several sorts of counterfeit feigned conversions p. 344 Dir. 3. The grace of conversion is not ever discerned in the first planting of it in the soul and when it is discerned at first it may afterwards be questioned as to the soundness and sincerity of it And therefore enquiry ought to be made into the fruits and effects produced thereby p. 348 Dir. 4. The fruits that will evidence a sound conversion are not some particular duties of Christianity discharged But the main bent of the spirit as to the things of God and the whole tenour of the conversation must be considered on that account p. 351 Dir. 5. That obedience which will prove a sincere conversion must not only be right for the matter what is done But rightly qualified also in respect of the manner how it is done p. 353 Dir. 6. For the right qualifying our obedience that it may be evidential of conversion and union with Christ it must be 1. Spiritual And that in a three fold respect p. 355 2. Universal A threefold universality of obedience p. 358 3. Evangelical Which consists in 4 things p. 363 4. Sincere Wherein sincerity lieth p. 367 5. Of an increasing nature p. 369 6. Stedfast p. 371 Dir. 7. Self-examination if performed successfully must be solemnly undertook with the best intention of the mind and spirit p. 373 Dir. 8. If a person upon most the serious and deliberate examination of himself be still in the dark as to his union with Christ four things to be done in that case p. 374 CHAP. XII Exhortations grounded upon the doctrine of union with Christ 1. To the unregenerate 1. Dare not in any sort to oppose the Saints p. 381 This Exhortation branched into 4 particulars p. 382 Motives to press on this Exhortation p. 388 2. Do not build your hopes of eternal life upon any priviledge or attainment which falleth short of union with the Son p. 393 Exemplified in nine sandy foundations whereupon sinners are apt to build their hopes p. 395 3. With unwearied endeavours labour after this grace of union p. 403 Directions 1. Despair of being saved upon lower terms p. 404 Three cases wherein we must not despair p. 406 Four cases wherein despair is the way to salvation p. 410 Dir. 2. Get the Spirit of Christ What must be done in order to it p. 413 Dir. 3. Endeavor after the uniting grace of faith p. 414 Five encouragements to believing or coming to Christ p. 415 Dir. 4. Lay it seriously to heart That if you perish in a state of separation from Christ you are in the fault and guilty of your own destruction p. 424 2. Exhortations to believers 1. Bless God for this signal grace of your union with Christ p. 425 2. Improve it Six cases wherein it should be improved p. 426 Exhortations to all 1. Learn the Lessons which are from this point to be learnt p. 430 Two spiritual Lessons of a momentous nature instanced in p. 431 2. Discharge the duties that are on this account to be discharged p. 434 1. Bless God for the manifestation of this mystery id 2. Adore the condescension and grace of our Lord Josus Christ p. 435 3. Labour every day more and more to clear it up to your selves that you have the Son by being united to him id Three further evidential properties of this union p. 435 436 437 1 John 5. ver 11 12. And this is the Record that God hath given us eternal Life and this Life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son hath not Life CHAP. 1. The Context opened the Text explained and the Point of Doctrine deduced IT hath been well observed in the case of Moral Prudence that many never attained to be wise indeed because hindred in the pursuit by an over-weaning conceit of their own Wisdom Multi ad sapientiam pervenissent nisi putâssent se pirvenisse Sen. The like may be truly said of the favor of God and the Kingdom of Heaven Multitudes have fallen short of eternal Life by an over-confident opinion of their interest in it Presumption of finding Mercy with the Lord is one of the principal snares of the. Devil Qui jugum suscipiunt Diaboli Diabolus eos delectat dâ—ipit ne discedant à malo impii usque ad mortem suam whereby sinners are held fast in their impenitence This presumption for the most part is wont to spring from a twofold Fountain 1. Ignorance and misapprehension of the mercy of God 2. Misapplication of the death and righteousness of Christ. I shall endeavor through Divine assistance to contribute a little help against the spreading of this evil and towards the drying up of these poysonous Fountains which have caused the death and ruine of many thousand Souls This I shall do 1. By Shewing the necessity of the Mediation and Righteousness of Christ Satan is not willing to deal roughly with the unregenerate if he could chuse for he stands ever in most danger of losing them when he carrieth himself towards them in so hard a fashion Wherefore he rather flatters and fawns endeavoring to rock them asleep still if he can in the Cradle of security and presumption Whately's New Birth to procure saving Grace for lost sinners 2. By discovering the like absolute necessity of our Union with Christ in order to partaking of that righteousness and receiving the grace which he hath purchased thereby Both these are fully comprised in the Text. I shall only touch occasionally upon the first as it will fall in the way of my insisting designedly upon the latter This portion of Scripture which I have chosen as the basis or subject of the following Meditations may not unfitly be stiled An Abstractor Epitome of the Gospel of Christ whereby life and immortality is
brought to light wherein the way is revealed for restoring fallen sinners to their primitive happiness or conducting souls to everlasting bliss God hath graciously pleased to declare this way by the Scriptures and to leave it upon record in the Word of the Gospel and here we have the substance or summary of that Record viz. That God is the giver of eternal Life and that this life is in his Son c. If you examine the connexion or dependance which the words of the Text have with and upon the foregoing passages of the Chapter You will evidently find our Apostle is herein giving a succinct account of the great foundation-truths which are proposed to be the object of a Christians Faith by closing with which we do eminently and signaly advance the glory of God and by disbelieving whereof we are said to make him a lyar Our faith is to be built upon the word of the Lord to be bottomed upon the Record which God hath given concerning his Son And this saith the Apostle is the Record That God hath given us eternal Life c. The better to clear this coherence and so the genuine import and scope of these words let us a little cast our eyes back upon the context or the verse immediately preceding the Text wherein we may note two things 1. The nature and excellency of the grace of faith or believing on Christ ver 10. former part He that believeth on the Son hath the witness in himself 1. For the nature of Faith it is a believing on the Son so it is usually set forth in the dialect of the Holy Ghost Act. 16.31 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thine house Joh. 3.36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life This is the saving act of Faith which will bring a soul to Heaven a believing on the Son And therefore I might touch by the way on that common distinction as useful to be considered that there is a threefold act of Faith or three waies of Believing in reference unto Christ There is a believing 1. That Jesus is the Christ Credere Christum Christo. In Christum 2. Jesus Christ 3. On the Lord Jesus Christ 1. There is a believing that Jesus is the Christ an assent unto the truth of this principle that he who was born of the Virgin Mary is the true Messiah and Mediator sent of God to be the Saviour of Mankind So the very Devils believe As they know there is one God so they acknowledg this principle that Jesus is the Son of God and the only Redeemer of lost sinners Hence it is that they are so unwearied in their endeavors to hinder poor souls in closing with Christ and that they labour by all manner of false suggestions to draw their affections from the Lord Jesus Mark 1.24 The unclean spirit cried out Let us alone thou Jesus of Nazareth I know thee who thou art the Holy one of God And that herein the Father of lies spake the very truth you will find by the testimony of the Spirit of God himself v. 34. He cast out many Devils and suffered not the Devils to speak because they knew him 2. There is a Believing Jesus Christ i.e. a subscribing to the truth of the Doctrines that he delivered which are contained in the Scriptures the Word of Christ and Preached by Ministers of the Gospel in his name Thus a Simon Magus may believe he may own the verity of Christs Word though in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity Acts 8.12 13. When they believed Philip Preaching the things concerning the Kingdom of God and the Name of Jesus Christ then Simon himself believed also Thus Nicodemus believed before he was instructed in the necessity or acquainted with the grace of regeneration he was convinced by the Miracles wrought by Christ that he was a teacher sent of God and consequently that the Doctrines which he taught were the truths of God Joh. 3.2 As a carnal person who never tasted of saving grace may have much knowledg in his understanding of the will of Christ so he may be under such convictions upon his judgment as in a sort to approve the Word of Christ Rom 2.17.18 3. But lastly there is a believing on the Lord Jesus When a man is so powerfully convinced of the evil of sin and his own obnoxiousness to the wrath of God and the heart so fully perswaded of the excellency of Christ and the sufficiency of his Righteousness together with the utter insufficiency of all other wayes of deliverance that thereupon he doth actually close with Christ upon Gospel terms and make application to him casting himself upon the Son of God for Salvation and renouncing all things for the enjoyment of him Although believing on Christ doth not alwayes signify a saving faith as see Joh. 2.23 yet for the most part it doth and so may fitly be made use of by way of distinction It being observed by some that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a phrase peculiar to the Holy Ghost and not used by prophane Authors This is the saving act of Faith A believing on or in the Son Joh. 11.25 26. He that believeth in me though he were dead yet he shall live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never dye For mark it Sirs that assent of the Judgment unto the great truths of the Gospel which is required of the Lord and is well pleasing in his sight is not a bare naked lifeless assent but a compounded and operative assent such as doth ingage the heart to comply with those truths and brings the whole Soul in subjection unto them Rom. 10.10 With the heart man believeth unto righteousness That 's for the nature of Faith It is a believing on the Son 2. For the excellency and preciousness of thus believing He that doth so hath the witness in himself i.e. in his own Soul and Spirit and Conscience He hath it graven upon the very tables of his heart But what is this witness which a Believer hath in himself Answ You may understand it either of these three waies 1. In relation to his spiritual state He hath a fundamental evidence that he is a child of God and in covenant with him here is sufficient matter if rightly improved whereupon to raise a testimony of this thing It is faith which brings a man under the favor of God and the act of believing is a sure token that the person is endowed with the grace or habit of Faith Spiritual actions as they must proceed from a Divine principle so they are evidences of that principle from whence they do proceed 1 Joh. 5.1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ not with a bare assent of the Judgment but he that believeth it with the heart as before * When a particular duty is produced as an evidence of a state of Salvation or hath a promise of grace and
mercy annexed to it it ought alwayes to be understood of a sincere spiritual and Evangelical discharge of that duty Compare Matt 7.7 Hos 5.6 with Jer. 29.12 13. So Joel 2.32 Prov. 1.28 with Psal 145.18 is born of God That is an undoubted evidence of his regeneration for how could the heart of a sinn r bring forth such fruit unless there were the â—oot of grace planted in the heart 2. It may be meant in reference to the Doctrines of the Gospel He hath the Witness himself that is he is able to seal to those t uths experimentally from the work they have had upon his own Conscience and the effects wrought by them in his own soul He hath not only heard by report of the awakening convincing and converting power of the Gospel which are a strong witness of its divine original and authority but this witness he hath within himself as having felt that efficacy So that he can say to the Ministers as the men of Sychar to the woman Joh. 4.42 Now we believe not because of your reports for we have found it our selves to be a divine doctrine because it hath subdued our hearts and wrought mightily upon our spirits Or as the stranger that commeth into the Church Assembly upon whom the Word is quick and powerful and sharp as a two edged sword piercing into his bosom and discovering the secrets of his heart O saith he God is in you of a truth surely this is none other than the Word of the Lord of Hosts 1 Cor. 14.24 25. The Arguments produced by the Minister are a witness without him and the energy of the Word upon his heart is a witness within him 3. Or thirdly You may understand it metonymically the witness for the person witnessing q.d. He that believeth hath the Spirit of grace and holiness conferred upon him He is made partaker of the Holy Ghost whose work it is to bear witness unto Jesus No man out of sincere aff ction and true faith can profess that Christ is the Lord but by the instinct of the Holy Ghost Engl. Annot. in loc and without whom they could never believe in Jesus 1 Cor. 12 3. No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost that is no man can speak it spiritually from the heart as he ought to speak it so as to subscribe to this principle that Jesus is the Lord and to submit to his Lordship and Government but by the Holy Ghost That 's the first thing I would note in the context The nature and excellency of believing 2. We have the sinfulness of the sin of unbelief the horrid and heinous nature thereof It doth implicitely charge the God of truth with falshood and virtually impeach him as a lyar v. 10. latter part He that believeth not God hath made him a lyar because he believeth not the Record that God hath given of his Son How doth unbelief make God a lyar Answ 1. Not by the contamination or pollution of the divine nature as if the Lord contracted any defilement thereby He cannot be tempted to sin nor tainted with sin Jam. 1.13 The blessed Angels are not tainted with pollution but the nature of God cannot be tainted he is infinitely out of the reach of it Unbelief doth not take from the truth of Gods promise but puts a bar in the Way of our receiving the mercy promised 2 Tim. 2.13 If we believe not yet he abideth faithful he cannot deny himself And mark what the same Apostle saith Rom. 3.3 4. What if some do not believe shall their unbelief make the faith of God of none effect God forbid q. d. Let not such a cursed thought enter into your hearts it cannot be but the faith of God that is the faithfulness of God as to his word and promise must abide firm and immutable to such as have an interest therein We make our fellow servants oftentimes sinners by real infection when the guilt is spread into their souls being seduced by us and made partakers with us but God is holy holy holy Isa 6.3 infinitely holy unchangeably holy capable of nothing but holiness Our unbelief doth not hurt him but our selves Job 35.6 2. But it makes God a lyar in a way of calumniation or detraction Unbelievers do really and consequentially though unjustly charge God with this imperfection They say in their hearts the Lord is not a God of truth For did they own the truth of God they would undoubtedly subscribe to his word By questioning the matter witnessed we impute falshood to the person witnessing Tantum valet testimonium quantum auctoritas testantis and this is the very nature of unbelief As it is the damning sin that locketh up a man under the guilt of all his transgressions so it is an exceeding heinous and sinful sin it carrieth a kind of blasphemy in the bowels of it it maketh as if God were a lyar As by believing we seal to the truth of God Joh. 3.33 Non quod dei fidem labefactet corum impietas sed quod per eos non stat quin issum arguant vanitatis Calv. So by unbelief we do in effect lay falshood to his charge O the desperate wickedness of mans heart O the horrid abomination of this great ungodliness and the wonderful patience of God towards unbelieving sinners That 's the second thing to be noted The sinfulness of the sin of unbelief 3. Now the Text is brought in as a Specification of that Record which is propounded as the object matter of our faith and in reference to which unbelievers do asperse and calumniate the God of Heaven as a lyar They will not acquiess in the dictates of the Scripture they call in question the record that God hath left concerning his Son And if it be demanded what this record is or what special matter it doth contain The Apostle informeth you in the subsequent verses This is the record that God hath given us eternal Life and this life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life Which words are a Compendium of the Christians Charter An abbreviature of the great deed of gift or conveyance which God hath made of eternal glory and blessedness unto the children of men the record which he hath left touching the way of salvation Wherein you have observable for the distribution of the words these four parts 1. The mercy provided or the blessing conveyed that is eternal life What are we to understand by eternal Life in this place Vita aeterna sumitur 1. Propriè pro beato electorum statu post hanc vitam 2. Impropriè seu Metonymicè pro viâ seu medio perveniendi ad vitam aeternam Ravan I answer 1. Expresly and primarily the enjoyment of God in heaven the blessed Vision and fruition of the Lord in glory the Rivers of pleasures that are at his right hand for ever the
the second Covenant That Text is very full and worthy to be wrot on our hearts in letters of gold and as with the pen of a diamond Gal. 2.16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by the faith of Jesus Christ even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the Law for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified 3. The ultimate or compleating act of this justifying faith whereby it becometh such is a fiducial resting or relying upon Christ for righteousness and acceptation with the Lord and for all the spiritual benefits that follow thereupon That which I aim at is this That justifying faith is not absolved and compleated by a bare assent of the understanding but it doth evidently include an act of the heart With the heart man believeth unto righteousness Rom. 10.10 If thou believest with all thine heart Acts 8.37 And the special act of the heart is a reliance upon Christ leaving a mans soul in his hands upon the articles of the Covenant of grace leaning upon his merits for acceptance with God receiving him as he is offered to sinners in the Gospel and trusting in him for acceptance and salvation Thus we have it explained Eph. 1.12 13. That we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ In whom also ye trusted after that ye heard the word of truth the Gospel of your salvation in whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with that holy spirit of promise This is the faith both of Jew and Gentiles We first believed unto whom the word of salvation was first spoken and afterwards ye also believed in Christ What is this believing Why it is a trusting in Christ First the soul heareth the word of salvation promised in Christ and assenteth to the truth of that word and thereupon is perswaded to make his actual application unto Christ and trusteth in him for salvation Psal 2.12 Kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little blessed are all they that put their trust in him q. d. There is no way of avoiding destruction from Christ but by believing in him resting upon him they are the blessed of the Lord that put their trust in him * Sed multum inter est utruns â—â—isque credat ipsum esse Christum utrum credat in Christum Nam ipsum esse Christum daemones crediderunt Ille enim credit in Christum qui sperat in Christum diligit Christum Aug. Indeed there are many acts of the soul required unto this faith and comprized therein If a man believe in Christ he must have some competent knowledge of the nature of Christ and his mediatory office and satisfaction there must be a firm and lively assent to the truth of the Gospel a sense of the evil of sin and the inability of all other means besides the righteousness of Christ to recover the sinner out of his lost condition But now a fiducial reliance upon Christ for salvation is the last compleating act For when the sinner being driven from all other refuges whatsoever doth not only hunger and thirst after the righteousness of Christ but actually renounceth every thing for him and embraceth him as his Saviour casting his soul and all his spiritual concernments into Christ's hands and resting upon him alone for salvation as he is offered in the Gospel this is a justifying and saving faith As a self-justiciary relieth upon his own righteousness so a true believer râ—steth upon Christ's righteousness This is set forth by coming unto Christ Mat. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Come unto me that is believe in me place your hope and confidence in my righteousness The Lord Jesus in the Gospel is set forth as a propitiation he was sent to be the Redeemer of lost sinners Now when a person being affected with his lost estate sensible of the wrath of God and the insupportableness of it and labouring under the burden of sin doth come unto Christ as such and make use of him to that end namely to be his Redeemer and doth rest upon him to make atonement for his soul this is to believe with a justifying faith Joh. 6.35 He that cometh unto me shall never hunger and he that believeth in me shall never thirst It is a looking unto Christ alone for redemption and deliverance upon his account As the brazen Serpent was an eminent type of the Lord Jesus Num. 21.8 9. so the Israelites looking up thereunto did signifie our faith in Jesus by whom our diseases are healed When a poor sinner is stung in his conscience with the fiery Serpent of the guilt of sin and being filled with dread in apprehension of the sad consequents of it doth look up unto Christ as held forth upon the pole of the Gospel to be a Saviour and doth rest upon him expecting redemption only through his blood here are the workings of a justifying faith Joh. 3.14 15. As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of man be lifted up by dying on the Cross or by the publication and tender of his death and righteousness in the Gospel That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life This is the third particular which I intended to commend to you for opening the nature of faith which is the bond of our union with Jesus Christ 4. Wherever and in what soul soever there is this fiducial reliance upon Christ and his righteousness in a saving way there is also as a necessary companion thereof an universal subjection to the will of Christ and a ready submission to his government This I add in the last place to prevent if it be possible the abuse of this doctrine by carnal hearts and to stop the mouth of those clamours which are raised by some against it and the aspersions which they cast upon this evangelical truth as if it were not a doctrine according to godliness Will such be ready to say This doctrine will imbolden sinners in their presumption and vain confidence If to believe savingly on Christ be to rest on him for salvation who will not think that be doth believe What carnal wretch will not say that he doth rely upon Christ But mind it Sirs it is not a thinking or saying he doth rely upon Christ will give a man an interest in him but when he doth rest upon him indeed as he is propounded for a Saviour in the Gospel And such a faith will purifie the heart and cause the person believing to bring forth fruits of holiness in the conversation Else it will be an evidence that he doth but pretend thereunto and doth not rest upon Christ in truth For although it be not the work
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That 's the second thing I intended for the confirmation of this property of a Believers union with Christ viz. the inseparableness of it 3. A little to vindicate this point from the grand exceptions thas are made against it I will lay down only two rules Rule 1. This doctrine of the perseverance of a sincere Believer in the faith or the inseparableness of his union with Christ is so far in it self from being as enemy to practical holiness and new obedience that if rightly improved it will be a mighty incentive and provocative thereunto It will have a powerful influence to inlarge a mans heart to run the steps of God's commandments and to cause him to take heed unto himself to continue upright and undefiled in the way of the Lord. This assertion I maintain to obviate the main cavil and objection that is made against this comfortable truth For there is an aspersion cast upon it as if it were not a doctrine according to godliness as if it did minister occasion to slothfulness and carelessness and carnal security They will be ready to say who are the opposers of this truth if a person be in Christ so as to be sure he shall in no case be separated from him then they will be apt to think they may live as they list that they may take what liberty they please to indulge the flesh and satisfie their lusts and walk in a way of licentiousness seeing whatever they do they shall abide in a state of grace and come safe to heaven at the last Thus a door say they would be opened to all manner of wickedness But mind it Sirs It is a calumny falsely laid to the charge of this doctrine For in it self it is a strong argument and motive unto holiness It is a consideration that may have a tendency to the mortifying sin and awakening the Spirit if rightly pressed on the soul and thus it will be improved by a gracious heart * Hac igitur certitudo perseverantiae non potest consistere cum deliberate proposito peccandi nedum tale quid causari Piis exercitiis procreatur conservatur eadem etiam invicem procreat conservat auget Ames Coron 'T is true there is not the most wholsom herb but a toad or spider may suck poyson from it there is not the most heavenly doctrine but a carnal heart will pervert it unto evil especially such truths as are purely evangelical that hold forth the free grace of God Jude 4. They turn the grace of God into lasciviousness that is not only the experience which they have of the grace of God in the exercise of it in their preservation and affording to them means and seasons for working out their salvation but it seemeth principally to be meant of the doctrine of the grace of God There is no doctrine more influential in its native tendency to the subduing of sin and crucifying the flesh and quickning to a closs walking with God But ungodly men wrest it and writhe it to countenance their filthiness So hath it befallen this particular point of the Saints perseverance though in its proper causality it will help to cleanse a man from all the filthiness of the flesh and spirit and make him vigorously to pursue the designes of holiness See what use the Apostle Peter makes of it 1 Pet. 1.5 13. He had before told them that they were elect according to the foreknowledge of God v. 2. and that this grace of election had broken forth in their regeneration from whence they had a lively hope of enjoying the inheritance prepared for the Saints v. 3 4. And then he doth assure them that they were kept by the power of God is the state of grace that they might not fall short of actually possessing what they hoped for v. y. c. And in the close of all he subjoyneth this exhortation v. 13. Wherefore gird up the loyns of your minds be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ As obedient children not fashioning your selves according to the former lusts in your ignorance but as he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation q. d. If God hath graciously taken care of the concernment of your souls will not you be diligent to advance the glory of his grace Will not you be ashamed to sin against him who hath in every respect dealt so bountifully with you If the Lord has not been unmindful of securing your salvation will not you mind his honour and follow his conduct Should not this mightily prevail upon you never to cast off this God but to cleave unto him unto the end O set diligently and industriously about your work be ready and prepared for all the wayes of holiness and to continue stedfast and unmoveable therein Do not walk as the generality of people walk nor as your selves have formerly walked for God hath called you out of the world and prepared for you a kingdom and taketh care of your preservation that you may come to the enjoyment of it This is the proper use of this doctrine which will plainly appear if you seriously weigh these four things 1. That God hath not promised to preserve his people in the state of grace and union with Jesus Christ whether they be holy or no or however they walk But the promise is to keep them in the exercise of grace in the ways of holiness that so they may not be separated from him If any represent it in another dress it is not the Scripture doctrine of perseverance but they endeavour to cast a slurre upon it We do not teach that God hath ingaged to bring his people safely to heaven let them live as they list or that he will keep them from falling away from Christ though they cast off the fear of the Lord and run to all excess of riot But God hath ingaged to inable them to live the life of the just and to cause them to fear his Name and through the Spirit to mortifie the deeds of the body that so they may never draw back to perdition 1 Pet. 1.5 Ye are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation It is not said God will keep them by his almighty power whether they believe or no but he will suodue their unbelief and set their faith on work in order to their being secured Jer. 32.40 I will put my fear into their hearts that they shall not depart from me Mark it is not said They shall never depart from Gâ—d though they slight his word and despise his Majesty and reject the fear of his Name But he will maintain in their hearts an holy aw and dread of him that so they may never be cast out of his favour 2. Consider That the
of the Gospel Receive him for your Redeemer as he is tendred therein Believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Joh. 6.29 This is the work of God that you should believe on him whom he hath sent i. e. It is a work exceedingly acceptable unto God it is the great work that he requires to bring you unto his Son that you may have life through his bloud It is that work that makes up the conjunction betwixt him and your souls And therefore what is attributed in one place unto union with Christ is in another place ascribed unto faith Rom. 8.1 There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Joh. 3.18 He that believeth on him is not condemned Why Because it is faith which makes up the union by believing on Christ we are implanted into him And therefore take the word of direction Jo. 12.36 Believe in the light that you may be the children of light betake your selves by faith unto Christ that you may be found in him And to that purpose be frequent in meditation upon those incouragements which God hath given unto sinners to quicken them to believe on the name of his Son and to help against the misgivings of their own hearts I will instance only in five 1. It is the command of God that which he hath left in special charge upon mens souls to come unto Christ that they may be saved And therefore it evidently followeth that he is willing you should believe for it is that which he mainly desireth that his will be done that his precepts be observed Can you imagine that God should give you a strict commandment backt with many arguments and motives to the observance of it and yet be loath you should obey that commandment This is his commandment that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 3.23 2. God sent his Son into the world upon this very errand and business that he might draw sinners unto him in order to their salvation And the Lord Jesus took our nature upon him and was obedient unto the death the accursed death of the cross to this very end and purpose that sinners might come unto him and obtain eternal redemption through his bloud And can it ever enter into your hearts to think that God is not willing to accomplish what he hath designed to bring about or that Christ is not willing to attain the end of his sufferings What was the Fathers design in sending Christ into the world Why that we might live through him and that he might be a propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 4.9 10. Wherefore hath he published the Gospel of Christ and revealed the glad tydings of salvation through him Why These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his name Joh. 20.31 To what end did our Saviour leave the bosom of his Father and sojourn amongst us and bear the weight of his fathers indignation Mark what account himself giveth of it Jo. 12.46 I am come a light into the world that whosoever believeth in me should not abide in darkness And v 47. I came not to judge the world but to save the world And speaking of his death under the fimilitude of lifting up the brazen serpent in the wilderness v. 32. And I if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto me 3. God hath left upon record many precious promises on purpose to invite sinners unto Christâ— from which none are excluded but such as shut out themselves by refusal of the grace which is tendered in them And they are promises of such extent and comprehensiveness as may be sufficient to answer all the objections of a mans spirit against believing in Jesus Joh. 3.15 Whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life Act. 13.39 By him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses But will the sinner object I am altogether unworthy to come unto the Son of God Why Sirs It is the due sense of our unworthiness that doth fit us for the ready reception of him and addressing our selves unto him that we may by his righteousness be made worthy Art thou apprehensive of the necessity of being partaker of his death and the merit thereof Dost thou hunger and thirst after the enjoyment of him See then the promise or invitation Isa 55.1 2 3. Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no money that hath no desert or worthiness of his own to commend him unto God or whereby to purchase the least dram of favour come ye buy and eat yea come and buy wine and milk without money and without price c. O but will the sinner reply I have long stood out against the calls of Christ and will he now receive me graciously if I come unto him Why Hear what he saith Isa 57.17 18 19. For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth and smote him I hid me and was wroth and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart i. e. He withstood chastizement which is one of the loudest and most awakening calls in the time of his distress he sinned yet more against the Lord Instead of returning he held fast deceit and refused to return He went on frowardly that is perversly and stubbornly against all the dealings of God And yet what followeth v. 18 I have seen his wayes and will heal him I will lead him also and restore comfort to him and to his mourners One would have expected it thus rather I have seen his wayes and I will confound him I will never more have any pity or compassion upon him Nay but faith the gracious God at length he mourns for sin and is humbled for his iniquity and my bowels are turned within me my repentings are kindled together He is coming towards me and I will go forth to meet him I will surely have mercy upon him I will pardon him and guide him in the way of consolation and salvation But what doth this concern me will the heart of a sinner be apt to suggest Am I comprized in this word of comfort Yes if thou mournest for sin and desirest to give up thy self unto Christ and to God by him For it is a promise made without limitation these words are intended for the henefit both of Jews and Gentiles v. 19. I create the fruit of the lips peace peace i. e. My word shall be the means to convey great peace spiritual peace perfect peace lasting yea everlasting peace to him that is afar off and to him that is neer i. e. to the Jews who were a people nigh unto God and to the Gentiles when they shall be gathered to the Church though at that time they were afar off and I will heal him saith the Lord. But will the sinner
faculties depend in all their regular operations upon the guidance of the understanding So that if the light that is within you be darkness how great is that darkness If it be dim and cloudy how easily will you be carried into innumerable mistakes Let the word of Christ therefore dwell in you richly in all wisdom Col. 3.16 And whatever truths you learn let it ever be with a personal appropriation unto your own hearts and consciences One plain truth closely * In absoluto facili stat aeternitas applyed to the heart will be of more advantage to help you forward in your journey towards Canaan than multitudes of notions that lie only floating in the head and do not descend with energy upon the conscience Job 5.27 Lo this We have searched it so it is hear it and know thou it for thy self 4. Labour what in you lieth to edulce and sweeten the way of God to your selves Be not alwaies poring upon the black and dark side of Religion but take a frequent view of it in its beauty and pleasantness When people fancy Religion to be a sad and melancholy way and think of nothing but the sorrows and severities of it their spirits are apt to hang off and are hardly wrought to any cordial compliance So that study much the loveliness and amiableness◠of it and take a daily prospect of the bright side of godliness Prov. 3.13 14 15 16 17 18. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom and the man that getteth understanding For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver and the gain thereof than fine gold She is more precious than rubies and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her Length of dayes is in her right hand and in her left hand riches and honour Her wayes are wayes of pleasantness and all her paths are peace She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her and happy is every one that retaineth her This was the very course that David took which made his soul to follow hard after God and even to break with longings for the enjoyment of him Psal 63.1 3 5 8. And to this purpose observe these ensuing Directions 1. Look upon the word of precept in a continual conjunction with the word of promise If sinners did not separate between the Prohibition and the Commination If they did joyn the sin forbidden with the judgment threatned it would help to imbitter the waies of sin And if the people of God did contemplate the command as it is linkt with the Promise it would notably sweeten the course of obedience Heb. 10.23 2 Cor. 6.17 18. 2 Cor. 7.1 2. Be much looking within the vail Live in a constant meditation upon the crown of Righteousness And have a due respect to the recompence of reward Are there difficulties in the way The kingdom of heaven * Optanda est jactura quae lucro majore compensatur will make amends for all If the wicked did live in the apprehensions of Hell it would make the path of ungodliness as bitter as gall and wormwood And therefore that they may take their swinge they cast off these thoughts Prov. 9.17 18. Psal 10.4 5. So if the righteous did live in the meditation of Heaven it would put sweetness into the way of righteousness Heb. 10.34 35. Heb. 11.26 2 Cor. 4.16 17 18. 3. Often bethink your selves what comfortable lives you might lead during your pilgrimage upon earth if you had good assurance of the love of God towards you and did study to * Hilaritatis nostrae omnis rivulus de fonte ducendus pietatis approve your selves in sincerity unto him With what sweet serenity and peace of spirit might you enjoy your comforts and perform all your undertakings as knowing your selves to be under the blessing and protection of the Lord of hosts who dwelleth between the Cherubims i. e of that infinite Being whose power and mercy are united * 2 Sam. 6.2 The mercy-seat was placed between the Cherubims for the defence of his children How cheerful might you be in times of affliction and trouble as knowing that all things should conspire to the advancement of your welfare You need not then be afraid of any terror or amazement Prov. 3.21 22 23 24 25 26. My Son let them not depart from thine eyes keep sound wisdom and discretion So shall they be life to thy soul and grace to thy neck Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely and thy foot shall not stumble When thou liest down thou shalt not be afraid yea thou shalt lie down and thy steep shall be sweet Be not afraid i. e. Thou needest not be afraid * Vtuntur Hebraei imperativo in promissionibus ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 custodi praecepta mea vive i. e. vives Sic Ne timeto i. e non timebis there is no cause to be afraid of sudden fear neither of the desolation of the wicked when it cometh For the Lord shall be thy confidence and shall keep thy foot from being taken Read Job 11. from v. 13. to v. 19. And Psal 34.12 15. But I must contract my thoughts lest I should far exceed the intended bounds 5. Endeavour to be best in the worst times And think not the worse of Religion because it is despised and set against It is condemned indeed of pride and humour of faction sedition and turbulency But who are the persons by whom it is evil spoken of but men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth who have deeply wounded their consciences by sins against light and knowledge and given the victory to their fleshly lusts Therefore they condemn the fear of the Lord and the strict waies of holiness lest otherwise they should accuse and condemn themselves And will a Traveller be turned out of his road because of some Dogs and Curs that bark at him If you believe the Scriptures it is an excellent branch of humility to be subject unto the Lord and the greatest pride imaginable for poor Earth-worms to rise up against the most High Jer. 43.2 Neh. 9.16 1 Tim. 6.3 The Saints of God are the best subjects in a state who yield obedience in things agreeable to the will of God not only for wrath but also for conscience sake And pray for Kings and for all that are in authority that they may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty 1 Tim. 2.2 Religion otherwhile is condemned of folly But it will shortly be found to be a point of the highest wisdom Eph. 5.15 16. Job 28.28 Psal 111.10 That is a considerable passage in the Apocryphal writings Wisd 5.4 Then shall the righteous man stand with great boldness before the face of such as have afflicted him and made no account of his labours When they see it they shall be troubled with terrible fear and shall be amazed at the strangeness of his
rest contented therewith without getting higher I say better for them they had never known the way of righteousness then to take up their rest in this common union and not to improve it to a pursuance after a more inward conjunction with Christ 2 Pet. 2.21 The sadness and deplorableness of their condition will appear in these four particulars 1. Because they do thereby put themselves into the greatest unlikelihood and incapacity of being ever savingly wrought upon of any that live where the word of Christ is published and the glad tidings of Salvation are made known to the children of men There is more hopes of the conversion of the most debauched wretches that live in a professed subjection to the devil than of those who have long continued only carnal Professors As when they apostatize they do usually become the most bitter enemies of Christ so it is the hardest thing to draw them effectually unto Christ This is none other doctrine than our Saviour hath taught Mat. 21.31 Verily I say unto you that the publicans and barlots go into the kingdom of God before you They go into the Kingdom of God that is they are easier prevailed upon to subject themselves to Christ's government it is a harder thing to work upon your souls than upon theirs there is more probability of their being converted than of yours Who were these to whom Christ speaks Why they were the chief Priests and Scribes and Elders men that were thought to be some bodies in the Church that were had in great estimation of the Church that seemed to be pillars in comparison that made a fair shew but rested therein as being strangers to the life and power of godliness Mind it saith Christ I say unto you verily I say unto you q. d. It is an undoubted truth let it sink deep into your hearts that publicans and the harlots the vilest of people go into the Kingdom of God before you It will seem no wonder that such are in the greatest unlikelihood of being savingly wrought upon if you mind these three Considerations 1. Consider That these dead branches in Christ or carnal Professors do commonly thereupon maintain a good opinion of themselves and get a strong confidence thereby that their estate is good They think themselves well enough already and therefore will not easily be perswaded to look after a saving interest in the Redeemer because they suppose their interest is already secured Initium est salutis notitia peccati Egregiè hoc mihi videtur dixisse Epicurus Nam qui peccare se nescit corrigi non vult Deprehendas te oportet antequam emendes Sen. Epist 28. And be sure of this that nothing is a greater hindrance of a sinners deliverance out of an estate of wrath than a strong confidence that he is in a good estate Prov. 26.12 Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit there is more hope of a fool than of him It may well bear this interpretation Seest thou an unregenerate person that is righteous in his own eyes for by wisdom all along is meant righteousness and holiness that is true wisdom the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom There is more hope of a fool that is of one that is plainly and openly a wicked person for he is the fool in Solomons account Kings are wont to have their fools and Solomon was a great King and his fool is the ungodly that provoketh the Lord to wrath and neglects to provide for eternity and selleth his soul for a trifle So Mat. 9.12 They that be whole need not the Physitian that is Such as have a good opinion of themselves do not see their need of Christ's righteousness they will not hunger and thirst after it as being full already * Quid nos decipimus Non est extainsecus malum nostrum intra nos est in visceribus ipsis sedet Et ideo difficulter ad sanitatem pervenimus quia nos agrotare nescimus Son Epist 50. There is a double work required to the conversion of such first to empty them of self and then to drive them unto the Saviour first to make them sensible of their sickness and then to quicken them to seek a remedy first to convince them of their damnable estate and then to cause them to flee from the wrath to come And the first is a matter of very great difficulty 2. Consider That such as are in Christ by visible profession only are most likely to have their consciences seared as with an hot iron so that those awakening truths which serve to rouse up other sinners produce little or no effect upon their souls By continuance in sin under the preaching of the World and constant attendance upon Ordinances men become Sermon-proof and Prayer-proof Sacrament-proof and Affliction-proof Scarcely the hottest fire will melt such obdurate spirits As it is reported of them that live neer the Cataracts of Nilus by continual hearing those dreadful sounds they become deaf and stupid Primo importabile processu temporis grave paulo post leve postea placet suave est ad extremum quod erat importabile ad faciendum est impossibile ad continendum Bern. so it befalleth these hypocrites by constant hearing of Gospel-truths and not regarding them their spirits at length become dead stark dead twice dead as it is expressed Jude 12. Before they were dead in sin and now they are dead in security likewise To their natural hardness is added a contracted hardness And who are they of whom the Apostle speaketh why such as are clouds without water that is who make a shew of Godliness but have nothing of the substance who have the form without the power of it To them the word of the Lord proveth an obdurating word that maketh their hearts fat and their ears heavy and shutteth their eyes lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and convert and be healed Isa 6.9 10. 3. Consider withal That God is usually provoked by such mens barrenness and unproficiency utterly to depart away from them and so to bind them over unavoidably to condemnation to swear in his wrath that they shall never enter into rest Heb. 3.10 11. So that he will deal with them no further in order to their repentance and salvation For this is the very method of Gods dispensations of this nature first men resist the Spirit which he sent to knock at the door of their hearts and then he calleth away his Spirit from them Gen. 6.3 First they neglect to hearken to the grace of God that should lead them to repentance and so he will wait to be gracious no further but sealeth them up in a state of impenitence First they will not believe and God sweareth they shall never believe Joh. 12.39 40. 2. The condition of these unfruitful branches in Christ is miserable above that of others in respect of the intolerableness of the
quodam modo conceditur non electis Ames When he doth take salvation in the offers of it and lay it before the conscience and doth press an acceptance of it upon the heart and doth strive with men and women in order to a closure with it upon Gospel-terms This is sometimes called a knocking at the door of the soul Rev. 3.20 Behold I stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me By the door understand the heart of a sinner whereby entrance is made into the whole person and possession took as a man entreth into an house by the door the heart which is naturally shut against Christ nay barred and bolted against him by vain thoughts and vile affections and carnal reasonings by pride and prejudice and love of sin and the world Now to this door Christ cometh by the Spirit who acteth in his name and knocketh at the door that is he doth argue and reason the case with mens souls by his internal motions that they would accept of salvation as it is offered He doth expostulate with them why they will be so foolish as to spend their time and strength in seeking after that which is not bread and cannot satisfie And in order to move them to turn to God he doth set salvation before them and assureth them of the enjoyment of it if they will submit to the government of Jesus Christ If any man open the door I will come in unto him c. This I call an internal-conditional application because it is an inward work of the Spirit treating with the heart of a sinner And pray mind it Sirs as it is a common thing so it is a very dangerous thing to stand out against this application of eternal life When the holy Ghost hath been dealing with a mans heart convincing him of the necessity of closing with Christ and he doth break through such convictions God doth many times withdraw the very strivings of his spirit from such a sinner and never dealeth with him further in order to his conversion Prov. 1.23 Turn you at my reproof behold I will pour out my spirit unto you I will make known my words unto you It is the speech of Christ the eternal Wisdom of God inviting sinners to repentance q.d. I do not only call upon you by my Word but I will send the holy Ghost to treat with you He shall speak over to your consciences what the Minister preacheth in your ears And what is the issue of rejecting this work of the holy Ghost See v. 24. and onward Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded But ye have set at nought all my counsels and would none of my reproof I also well laugh at your calamity and mock when your fear cometh When your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind That is when judgments which you were afraid of shall actually seize upon you and make you desolate when the wrath of God shall fall down upon you suddenly in a dreadful and terrible manner When distress and anguish cometh upon you Then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me How is this to be understood seeing God is alwayes found of such as seek him in sincerity Why the meaning seemeth to be this God will withdraw his spirit and deal with their hearts no further and then they will grow hard and impenitent and though they cry in their afflictions yet it will only be the cry of hypocrities such as the Lord will have no manner of regard unto O my brethren let this dreadful Scripture and these awakening expressions sink deep into your ears that you may not dare to resist the holy Ghost or to send him grieved away from you 3. There is an effectual saving application of the benefits of redemption when they are so applyed to us as to be made ours so that we may say this promise is a part of my heritage and the other mercy is that which I have an interest in And this is effected upon our union with Christ When the holy Ghost doth not only shew us his excellency and propound unto us salvation through his righteousness but doth also mightily prevail upon us to come unto Christ and we get into him then we have a right to all that he hath to bestow upon the sons and daughters of men First we must have the Son and so a right to the inheritance by the Son 1 Cor. 1.30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption Mark it Then he is made so to us when we are in him It is one thing for Christ to be made wisdom and righteousness c. i.e. to be set apart as the store-house of all these spiritual good things and it is another thing for him to be made so to us By vertue of God's commission and the qualifications poured out upon the Lord Jesus and that active and passive obedience undertaken and performed by him he is made wisdom and righteousness and fanctification and redemption he is delegated to be God's high-steward or Treasurer for the giving out of these mercies he is become the source and fountain of all saving grace But when we are in him he is made wisdom to us and righteousness to us and sanctification to us and redemption to us so that we are actually made partakers of them These four things seem to comprehend the whole of the provisions made to conduct a sinner to glory 1. Wisdom for the revelation of the mind of God to us 2. Righteousness for our acceptation with the Lord. 3. Sanctification for inabling us to walk as a peculiar people and for carrying on the work of holiness to perfection 4. Redemption for our full deliverance from misery and compleating our happiness And all these are made over to us by vertue of our union with him our mystical oneness with Christ So much for opening the several branches of the Description and for the second general Head concerning the nature of this Union wherein it doth consist CHAP. V. The manner how Christ and a Believer are united cleared up in eight gradual Propositions Six of them insisted on 3. COme we now to the third principal Head propounded to be handled touching the manner of this Union how it is brought about The question is Qu. How is this Vnion wrought and accomplished After what manner is this conjunction made up whereby Christ and his people become one Ans I shall return answer to this question by laying down and enlarging upon eight distinct and gradual Propositions To which I must intreat your heedful and diligent attendance 1. Propos 1. The first Proposition is this That all the children of men
of my fathers have bread enough and to spare and I perish with hunger I will arise and go to my father When he came to himself that is when he entered into debate with his own spirit * Ut nemo tenat in se descendere Per. sat when he communed with his own heart touching his deplorable condition then he quickly resolveth to abide amongst the swine no longer he will feed no more upon husks he will rather be as the meanest servant in his fathers house a door-keeper in the house of God than dwell in the tents of wickedness Before that time he gave up himself in subjection to his lusts and did not consider what he was doing he did not bethink himself as the expression is 1 Kings 8.47 If they shall bethink themselves and repent This is the second act in order to a divorce from sin An act of Consideration 3. There is a work of Humiliation and Compunction whereby the spirit is made to mourn and â—ament in the sense of sin and withal to tremble in apprehension of the danger of it This is that pricking to the heart which is the usual forerunner of conversion Acts 2.37 Now when they heard this they were pricked to the heart and they said unto Peter and the rest of the Apostles men and brethren what shall we do Now their consciences are wounded and they mourn in reflection upon their evil wayes They are as an heavy load and burden uptheir spirits What shall we do q.d. We are utterly ruined and undone except the grace of God step in for our recovery Can you shew us any way to escape we are ready to close with any directions prescribed When God doth bless mens souls in turning them from their iniquities he doth first cause them to grieve and be in bitterness for those iniquities and stirreth up in them a dread and fear of his judgments * Quos non expugnat ratio eos mansuefacit motui For mark it Sirs although it be love unto God and sense of the love of God which have a mighty influence to cause a converted person to cleave unto the Lord yet it is a dread and fear of wrath and judgment which bringeth a sinner in the first conversion unto God Thus you know the Jaylor came in trembing Acts 16.29 30. And when Christ doth shoot out his sharp arrows into mens hearts then the people fall down under him Psal 45.5 It may well be understood of these arrows of compunction and terror * Haec dicuntur typicè de evangelicâ administratione Christi Malv in Psal 45. Cordaque vulâ—ificis figens inimica sagittis Sponte sibi cogis valides precumbere gentes Buchan The Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendred shall fall down may well be be meant of an act of adoration So it is used in Deut. 9.25 in Chald. Dan. 2.46 Dan. 3.7 whereby the perversness of mens hearts is overcome and subdued of enemies they are made friends and brought into to a ready subjection unto his government That 's the third work 4. The grace of Repentance is poured out upon the soul whereby the heart is crucified unto sin and the reigning power of sin is removed and a standing aversness and antipathy put into the spirit against it When this is done then the divorce is compleated and the sinner is set at liberty from his corruptions that he may be joyned unto Christ For it is not all the arguments and perswasions in the world that can effectually prevail upon a man to cast off his iniquities and bring him from under the power of sin until the Spirit of God doth set home those arguments and doth deaden sin in the heart * Alii partes formales regenerationis duas constituunt mortificationem veteris vivificationem novi hominis Et haec illam necessario praesupponit à qua non re sed ratione tantum distincta est Wend. Syst majus Restraints of providence may keep a man from the outward acts of sin but still the heart is glewed to it As Balaam durst not comply with Balaack actually to curse the Israelites but fain he would have done it his heart followed the wages of unrighteousness 2 Pet. 2.15 But now the spirit of Repentance taketh down the dominion of sin and breaketh * I distinguish between the grace of Repentance in the first workings of it upon the heart and the exercise of Repentance in the further mortifying and subduing of sin the bonds of the Covenant whereby the sinner was held fast in subjection to it and then he doth say What have I to do any more with my idols Therefore believers are said to be dead to sin Rom. 6.1 2. and to have their old man crucified with Christ that they may no longer serve sin Rom. 6.6 Thus they are set free from sin that they may be united to Christ and become the servants of God through Christ Rom. 6.22 This may serve for opening the fourth Proposition 5. Propos 5. To deaden a person unto the Law and to take him off from seeking justification by the Law that he may be united or married to the Lord Jesus God doth especially make use of two means 1. The Law it self 2. The body of Christ that is the sufferings which he underwent in his body For this you have the Scripture express Gal. 2.19 For I through the Law am dead to the Law q. d. by studying the Law it self I see it can never avail to give me acceptation with the most high Whatever expectations I have formerly had that way I now utterly renounce them and the Law it self hath sufficiently instructed me in this Lesson 2. For the sufferings of Christ that place is obvious Rom. 7.4 Wherefore my brethren ye are also become dead to the Law * Mori legi est illi renuntiare ab ejus imperio manumitti ita ut nihil habeamus in eâ fiduciae Ne offenderet Judaeos verbi asperitate si dixisset legem esse mortuam deflexione usus est dicens nos legi esse mortuos Non ergo bene vivendi regula quam lex praescribit abrogata est sed qualitas illa quae libertati per Christum parta opponitur Nempe dum summam perfectionem requirit quia non praestamus constringit nos sub aternae mortis reatu Calv. by the body of Christ that ye should be married to anther even to him that is raised from the dead q.d. This instruction God hath given us from Golgotha that by the works of the Law no flesh can be justified indeed our hearts have been hankering after that way of life and acceptance nay we have ben closely linked thereunto but the body of Christ hath made a separation between them The body of Christ i. e. the passion of Christ in his body The doctrine of Christ's death and crucifixion if rightly improved will shew a man the Law 's utter insufficiency to give a
righteousness wherein we may appear before the God of heaven I know many understand it of the Law of sin to which the death of Christ doth deaden us but the Apostle speaketh evidently in the former verses of the cap. of the Law of God See v. 1. I speak to them that know the Law that the Law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth And so in the subsequent verses v. 5. The motions of sin that were by the Law that corruption which took occasion from the commandment to carry us into sin with the greater violence Parallel to v. 8. And v. 6. Is the Law sin God forbid that is Can we justly charge the Law of God with our transgressions far be it from you to imagin such a thing only our hearts pervert it and suck poyson from that which in it self is excellent And why may we not understand it in the same acception in v. 4 I will open this Proposition by shewing you the influence of each of these means or instruments apart to take off a mans heart from seeking justification by the Law 1. The first special means is the Law it self That if we hearken diligently to the voice of it will loudly proclaim its own insufficiency to save us If the question be put where is righteousness to be had As the light of nature will say it is not in me so the Law will answer it is not in me And therefore saith the Apostle Gal. 4.21 Tell me ye that desire to be under the Law do not you hear the Law If you did but hearken to it it would speak enough in this case of it self there would need no further testimony to be produced * Lex verè percepta nos sibi mori cogit Id. Do but carefully and strictly examine it and you will quickly find even from it self that there is no standing before the Lord in the righteousness which is of the Law For mark it Sirs the reason why sinners seek justification by the Law is their ignorance of and unversedness in the Law A little serious study of it would soon dispel those mists of ignorance There is a threefold ignorance of the Law which is the occasion of mens resting upon it for acceptance and seeking justification thereby 1. Ignorance of the terms of the Law upon which life is promised therein and eternal happiness made over thereby unacquaintedness with the conditions that are required to put us under the verge and compass of justification by it Men think to come up to the terms of the Law because they do not mind and consider wherein those terms do consist upon which it promiseth justification nor of what extent and latitude they are A little search into the Law would rectifie this error If a man will answer the demands of the Law he must be able to produce a personal perfect and everlasting obedience Mark it I say 1. It must be personal obedience that is produced the Law doth not admit of a surety to supply our defects and to do that fo◠us which we cannot do of our selves 2. There must be perfect exact and spotless obedience not only sincere and upright but in every particular the command must be filled up If there be a failure in the least action or in the minutest circumstance of an action the Law still not acquit us 3. It must be perpetual and everlasting obedience to the very end and period of our course This is an argument of its inability to justifie drawn from the Law it self Gal. 3.10 As many as are of the works of the Law are under the curse How prove you that why it will undeniably appear if you mark the terms of the Law For it is written Cursed is every is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of Law to do them * Vis argumenti Maledictus est qui non servat totam legem at nemo id facit nec potest Ergo Marian in loc 2. The hankering of a mans heart after justification by the Law doth proceed from ignorance of the spiritualness of it If it were studied in this property it would sufficiently manifest its own inability to save us for the Law requireth holiness in our persons as well as rectitude in our lives it is the rule of mans nature what he should be as well as the rule of his practise what he should do The Law condemneth us for the native pravity and pollution of our hearts and spirits within us and not only for the actual miscarriages in our demeanour so that which of the posterity of fallen man can stand before it The Law injoyneth an absolute rectitude and purity in the thoughts and affections and first motions of the soul as well as integrity in the outward carriage so that it is not a civil conversation which will bring you off from the curse denounced by it If you could suppose a man that had walked all his life-time blameless that no man could charge him with guilt upon any account that no one could say black was his eye as the self-justiciaries boast is yet the Law will pronounce him accursed and send him to hell for the least vain imagination for the least rising of a proud thought or an envious thought or an unbelieving thought or the like for the smallest inordanateness in the affections nay for the corruption brought with us into the world as well as for the grosser pollutions perpetrated and committed in the world And the reason is because the Law is spiritual it is exceeding broad as the Psalmist expresseth it Psal 119.96 I have seen an end of all perfections but thy commandment is exceeding broad It is as extensive as the workings of the whole soul of a man in any part or faculty of the same it is as broad as the person it reacheth to the nature it is a discerner of and giveth prescriptions unto the very thoughts and intents of the heart Thus our Saviour doth vindicate it from the false glosses of the Scribes and Pharisees whereby they did narrow the commandment and enervate the force of it Mat. 5.21 22. Ye have heard it was said by them of old time thou shalt not kill and whosoever shall kill shall be indanger of the judgment But I say unto you that whosoever is engry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment and whosoever shall say unto his brother Racha shall be in danger of the council but whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hell fire It is as much as if our Saviour had said Your teachers of old in their interpretations of the Law confined the prohibition to the external act but I tell you the Law is spiritual the least groundless anger is murder in Gods account and deserveth the wrath of God as well as actual killing if there be hatred of his brother in a mans heart he is a
touching the way to Christ and I go to that Minister to direct me in following after him I leave no stone unturned no means unassayed And if I get but a glimpse of his favour I think all my endeavours well bestowed O how welcome is he to my soul With what unspeakable rejoycing doth it fill me So that I can boast of Christ all the day long How careful am I to preserve my fellowship with him that no clouds for the future may interpose betwixt me and the beams of that Sun of righteousness I might dwell upon the passages of this nature in that book I will but point you to them See the Churches as earnest pantings after Christ as the Hart panteth after the water-brooks cap. 8.1 2 3 4. And her description of him and holy exultation upon the account of her interest in such a Lord and Husband cap. 5.9 10 11 15 Wherein the close of all is observable v. 16. His mouth is most sweet yea he is altogether lovely This is my beloved and this is my friend O ye Daughters of Jerusalem q. d. He is the object matter of my whole affections there is none in heaven but Christ nor any thing upon the earth to be loved and desired in comparison with him He is most worthy to be beloved who cannot but admire such a gracious Redeemer Do not wonder that my heart is so set upon him for he is altogether lovely If you knew but Christ as well as I it would inflame your hearts in desires after him it would even ravish your Spirits in the contemplation of his beauty Never is it possible for any to be so blessed as those who have him for their friend So upon the other hand for the affection of Christ to believers he hath them graven upon the palms of his hands upon the very Tables of his heart Cant. 2.14 O my dove that art in the clefts of the rocks in the secret places of the stairs let me see thy countenance let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comely q. d. Thou that art despised amongst men but highly regarded in my sight preserved by my power and righteousness which is stable as the rock that can never be removed I have provided secure fortifications to preserve thee when thou art hunted and persecuted on every hand Come now and let us converse together for therein I take pleasure Mark it nothing is so welcome to Jesus Christ as the voice and countenance of his Saints If they do but chatter as a Crane or Swallow * Isa 38.14 it is as lovely Songs unto him If they send but a sigh or a groan up to heaven it is a refreshment to his Spirit * Jer. 31.18 20. If they offer but a mite it is a sweet oblation before him because of the love which he beareth unto them Whereas the incense of the wicked is but as dung in his sight and the best of their sacrifices but as the cutting off a dogs neck or the offering of swines bloud that is odious and abominable such as his soul hateth See another place to this purpose Cap. 4.9 and so forward Thou hast ravished my heart my Sister my Spouse Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes with one chain of thy neck How fair is thy love my Sister my Spouse How much better is thy love than wine and the smell of thine ointments than all spices Thy lips O my Spouse drop as the honey-comb honey and milk are under thy tongue and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon But I must forbear only remember what was hinted in the proposition that this intimate love between believers and Christ may be well improved as an evidence of their ingrafture into Christ This moral union may be produced as a proof of the mystical union For he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him 1 John 4.16 And that it may be of use to this end our love to Christ whereby we are knit to him morally must have these four properties It must be 1. A sincere love 2. A serviceable active love 3. A superlative love 4. A love of complacency and satisfaction 1. It must be a sincere and single hearted affection without dissimulation and hypocrisie when the heart of a Christian goeth out after Christ himself and for himself when our love to him is kindled by the contemplation of his own innate worth and excellencies and the spiritual blessings which he hath purchased There may be a kinde of love to Christ for the leaves sake a following after him for some outward advantage When Religion is countenanced to be amongst the servants of Christ is a matter of honour and repute in the eyes of men it may help to advance a mans secular interest and many come after him moved by such considerations But now the heart of a believer is fixed upon Christ for himself though nothing but frowns from men should follow their cleaving unto him although it were likely to bring disgrace and reproach along with it and to expose them to sorrows and sufferings upon every side yet their souls are resolved to have Christ * Id propter se expeti dicitur quod quamvis habeat extra se commoda sepositie quoque ill is ac remot is placet Sen de Benefic with all the incumbrances that attend the possession of him Hereunto the promise is made Eph. 6.24 Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity i.e. in simplicity and incorruptness having a single aim at the enjoyment of himself 2. It must be a serviceable and active love such as sets a man a doing to advance the glory of Christ by a chearful obedience to his Commandments that maketh him study and contrive how to please the Lord Jesus Such a love as restraineth from the evil of sin whereby Christ is grieved and dishonored Such as constraineth unto holiness and causeth a man to take delight and pleasure in doing the will of Christ from the heart The passion of love Sirs is an active passion that will set the whole man a work to please the party beloved it will make him indefinite to all intents and purposes to all sorts of services and nothing will seem burdensome upon that account John 14.21 He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them saith our Saviour he it is that loveth me 1 John 5.3 For this is the love of God that we keep his Commandments and his Commandments are not grievous The grace of love hath a facilitating vertue it maketh difficult things easie and sweetens the whole course of obedience When a man hath a dear affection for Christ he will do any thing and suffer any thing for his sake he will not be afraid to own him in the face of the world though it may cost him all that is dear to him besides 1 John 4.17 18. Herein is
Fathers will which hath sent me that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day This is the first thing to be noted 2. For the winning over a sinner to become the Lord Christ's and to surrender up himself into his hands He doth first treat with the sinner to that purpose and doth intreat and perswade him to accept of the grace of the Gospel Just for all the world as it is in order to marriage first the party is wooed before the contract is made so Christ doth woo the soul to become his Spouse and to accept him for an husband To this end he imployeth his Ministers to intreat sinners in his name and sends his Spirit to deal with their hearts and to propound the match unto them Such is his gracious condescension towards fallen man that although the whole benefit of this union redound unto us yet he is pleased to beseech us to close with him 2 Cor. 5.19 20. Now then we are Embassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is not only free grace and abundant grace but 〈…〉 〈…〉 with salvation unto the children of men so he doth seek unto them and earnestly beseech and intreat them to accept the offers of salvation Gen. 9.27 God shall perswade Japhet * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alliciet scilicet ut suo tompore ad cultum Dei tentoria Shem i. e. Ecclesiam accedat Fut. per Apoc. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hiph pellexit allexit c. Buxtorf so the word signifieth and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem. Mark it The Church of Christ for some ages was well neer confined to the posterity of Shem Abraham and his seed came out of the loyns of Shem. And by Japhet understand the Gentiles who were his off-spring for by them were the Islands of the Gentiles possessed Now saith the Spirit of God the time will come that the Gentiles shall be gathered unto Christ they shall be brought into the Church How or by what means will this be so brought to pass why Christ will woo them and treat with them he will perswade them effectually and prevail by his perswasions 3. In pursuance of this comparison note further That our faith in Christ which is the uniting grace whereby we are joyned to him and made one with him is The consenting of our hearts to take Christ for our Redeemer as he doth tender himself to us and the resignation or giving up our selves into his hands As in the business of marriage it is the consent of parties that makes it The proposal being made the woman accepteth of such a man to be her Husband and accordingly giveth up her self unto him 〈…〉 gether Thus it is in the transactions of matters between Christ and the Church we are contracted to him by our consent to be his and taking him to be our Lord and husband Cant. 2.16 My beloved is mine and I am his Wilt thou have me for thy Husband and Saviour upon the terms of the Gospel saith Christ by his Spirit unto the sinner O Lord answereth the sinner through grace I will I give my full consent and surrender up my self unto thee and thus they are united Therefore it is the great complaint of Christ that he cometh to sinners and they will not accept him Joh. 1.11 He came unto his own and his own received him not Joh. 5.40 And ye will not come unto me that ye might have life And it is said of the Christians of Macedonia when they believed in Jesus they gave themselves unto the Lord 2 Cor. 8.5 4. This consent of the heart to be the Lord Christ's and acceptance of him for our Redeemer if it be such as uniteth us to him and maketh us one with him must be a marriage-consent and acceptance My meaning is It must be so qualified and circumstantiated as is required in the consent of persons when they are married togeâ—her That is to say It must have these three properties It must be 1. A present consent and acceprance 2. A full and hearty consent and acceptance 3. An entrie and indefinite consent and acceptance 1. It must be a present acceptance of Christ and closure with him and not only a promise for the future to take him hereafter and to submit to him in time to come For as Casuists and Civilians observe though promises for the future leave an obligation upon the parties promising yet they do not make up a marriag-contract that must be in words de praesenti So when sinners ingage hereafter to give up themselves to the Lord Jesus although it will add to their sin and condemnation to live in the neglect of performing such ingagements yet they are not thereby united unto Christ but still abide under the wrath of God If we would be made one with him we must immediately give up our selves unto him and take him to be our Lord and Saviour Psal 16.1 2. Preserve me O God for in thee do I put my trust O my soul thou hast said to the Lord thou art my Lord. Psal 116.16 O Lord truly I am thy servant I am thy servant It is not said I will become thy servant hereafter when I have a convenient season and then I will obey thee and put my trust in thee but I thy servant I thy servant q. d. Here am I ready to set upon any service I enter my self now into thy service to abide with thee henceforward even for ever 1 Cor. 7.22 He that is called being free is the servant of Christ If he be effectually called if he answer the invitation of the Gospel he must ingage without delay in Christ's work For it is the present time which is the time of acceptance and the present day which is the day of salvation 2 Cor. 6.2 And the truth is Sirs that bare promises for the future are so far from uniting us to the Son that they are nothing else but the sly endeavours of the heart to put a cheat upon Christ It is by such hypocritical promises that when sinners are convinced of the necessity of closing with Christ they do break through such convictions and get from under the power of them When conscience presseth them hard this is the answer whereby they stop the mouth of conscience hereafter they will become obedient to the Gospel But be not deceived Christ will not be dallyed with but all persons shall know that he searcheth the hearts and the reins and is able to see through their dissimulation and hypocrisie and he will give to every one according to their works Rev. 2.23 2. It must be a full and hearty consent and acceptance with the whole soul of a man It is not a faint wishing and woulding after Christ that will give us an interest in him but
till you have secured your deliverance 4. An unregenerate sinner must needs be in a state of death because out of Christ who is the fountain of life and that in respect of condemnation or liableness to eternal death As we say of a malefactor when verdict is brought in against him and sentence is passed upon him to be executed He is a dead man dead in law and assoon as a writ for execution cometh forth to the Sheriff he will be actually put to death In this sense every unconverted sinner is dead legally dead that is He is condemned to be sent into everlasting burnings So that as the Egyptians said of themselves when their first-born were slain We be all dead men Exod. 12.23 The like sad message may I bring to every impenitent person amongst you Thou art a dead man or woman Verdict is past upon thee as guilty and sentence is gone forth against thee to be sent into the chains of darkness only thou art reprieved for a few moments and hitherto there hath been a respite of execution But let me tell thee if God should send a providence to take thee hence in this condition as for ought thou knowest he may do this night thou wouldest as certainly drop into hell and there lye for ever as now thou art upon the land of the living See a full proof of it Joh. 3.18 He that believeth not is condemned already Mark it although he be not actually damned yet he is already condemned and if he go on in his way it is impossible he should escape the damnation of hell How is he condemned already Why the Law of God hath pronounced sentence against him to be cast into prison till he have paid the uttermost farthing which will never be paid The sinner hath wronged and rebelled against an infinite Being and the Law doth sentence him to make a proportionable satisfaction Now seeing he cannot render a satisfaction infinite in worth and valuation he is condemned to torments infinite in duration This is the sentence passed upon the wicked and by reason of their unbelief this sentence stands unrepealed It remaineth in its full force and vigour against them they cannot plead the Gospel pardon for their discharge because that pardon is procured through the blood of Christ and given forth to none but such as are united to him If men were duly sensible hereof how would it disturb their carnal peace and cause their hearts to tremble They would not enjoy a quiet hour till they had made sure their acquital from this dreadful sentence They would not eat in quiet lest the next bit of bread they swallow down should stop their breath and prove as God's executioner to drag them into prison They could not sleep in quiet lest before the light of the morning their souls should be required and sent into the bottomless pit of destruction If this point were believed and laid to heart surely it would fill many closets and families full of complaints and cryings out more than if they were under the sorest temporal scourge How would mens retired chambers be filled with prayer and earnest desires after God to pluck them as fire-brands out of the burning What pains would they take to sue out their pardon in the blood of Christ What welcom entertainment would they give unto the Son of God when he cometh to offer life and salvation to them Exod. 12.30 There was a great cry in the land of Egypt for there was not an house where there was not one dead O my brethren If this doctrine were throughly weighed what a great cry would be heard in many places and Parishes where perhaps there are few houses wherein there are not several persons dead sentenced to be sent into the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death How would mens bowels earn with pity towards their carnal relations who spend their dayes in rejoycings and are every moment in danger of dropping into hell What mad men should we reckon ungodly persons to be that go on in mirth and jollity or spend their time in heaping up the dross and rubbish of the earth when in the mean time they are persons dead in Law condemned to hell How many do hardly think a serious thought of eternity from one end of the week to the other when yet there is but a step between them and everlasting burnings But if this were considered how would they run from one Minister to another and from one Christian to another with that question What must I do to be saved I am a condemned person can you give me directions how to get the sentence repealed The Lord cause these things to sink deep into your hearts And a little to drive home this nail of doctrine I will mind you further of these two things 1. As Christless sinners are already condemned so the very glory of God is concerned in their damnation or in the execution of the sentence past upon them if they abide in that condition And that is a matter very dear unto him whereof he is exceeding tender and wherewith he will never part Isa 42.8 God made all creatures for his own glory and he will have it from them one way or other If you do not glorifie his free grace by closing with Christ and submitting unto him he will glorifie his justice and severity upon you in your everlasting banishment out of the presence of Christ It is observeable what is said in the case of Nadab and Abihu when they offered up strange fire which God commanded not and they were consumed in a dreadful manner with fire from heaven Lev. 10.3 Then Moses said unto Aaron this is that the Lord said I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me and before all the people I will be glorified It is as much as if he had said This I am resolved upon that I will have glory from you one way or other If you do not honour me by a due observance of my word I will vindicate mine honour upon you by pouring down the vials of mine indignation So may I say in this case If you do not glorifie God actively in your conversations he will be glorified upon you in your confusion for this is that which he hath determined to have one way or other If you do not give glory to God by submitting to the terms on which salvation is offered you must of necessity be cast into outer darkness and God will glorifie his righteousness and truth and power and holiness in your utter destruction for by one means or other he will be glorified Rom. 9.22 23. 2. As impenitent sinners are dead in Law sentenced to hell and eternal death so if they go on still in their sins the infinite mercy of God will never save them from that sore ruine and desolation This is the constant refuge unto which they have recourse Be it that the Law condemneth them yet God
and treachery in the conscience For as that is the faculty which doth eye and observe a man in his wayes so whereby he is impowred to take an account of those wayes and to acquit or condemn himself according to the merits of the cause and as the matter doth require You read of the Apostle Paul that he had a witness on his side that he was a servant of God and walked in sincerity before the Lord whereupon his heart was filled with joy and gladness And what was that witness Why his conscience had examined and found it to be so 2 Cor. 1.12 For our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world And both the business of accusing and absolving a sinner is attributed thereunto namely to the workings of conscience Rom. 2.15 Their conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another Joh. 8.9 They went out one by one being convicted by their own consciences This you are sometimes to understand by the heart and spirit of a man when it is said to take cognizance of the things which are within him The heart knoweth its own bitterness Prov. 14.10 What man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him 1 Cor. 2.11 Again Eccl. 7.21 22. Also take no heed to all words that are spoken lest thou hear thy servant curse thee For oftentimes also thine own heart knoweth that thou thy self likewise hast cursed others That is If you would set your consciences awork they would declare plainly what is the filthiness that cleaveth to you and the abominations that have been committed by you So that your care must be to keep life and vigour and activity in your consciences and you must take heed to your selves that no mistakes or falshoods or practical errors settle within your consciences Concl. 3. Although it be the conscience of a man by which he doth examine himself touching his union with Christ and passeth judgment upon himself in that case yet this work can never be performed effectually and to purpose without the concurrent assistance of the Spirit of God and the powerful inflâ—ence of the holy Ghost It is the Spirit of God by whom the conscience of a sinner is excited and stired up unto this work and directed and guided therein that it may see clearly into matters and may pass a right and convincing sentence thereupon It is the same Spirit alone which converteth a sinner from his natural estate that can convincingly shew him his sad estate in order to conversion And the same Spirit alone which planteth grace into the soul can discover that grace where it is planted that so a Believer may take comfort therein and conclude from thence that he is ingraffed into Christ And therefore when we attain any comfortable evidences of our estate Godward we are said to be sealed by the Spirit because it depends upon his assistance and testimony Eph. 1.13 14. In whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance It is a manner of speech taken from the practise of men who for confirmation and assurance of a deed or grant give writings under seal so hath the Lord been pleased saith the Apostle to deal with you you have not only the promises of acceptance and pardon and eternal life made unto you but these promises are sealed How Why by the testimony of the Spirit Again in making of a bargain men are wont to give earnest to confirm it which is not only a part of payment but for assurance of the whole This earnest saith he you have received which is the witness of the holy Ghost It is not the testimony of conscience alone can make a man effectually to know his relation to Christ or separation from Christ without the concurrent operation of the Spirit There is a famous Text in reference to both Rom. 8.15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba father Mark it If a man be brought into bondage by the knowledge of his undone condition by seeing himself to lie under the guilt of his sins and obnoxious to the insupportable wrath of God it is through the operation of the Spirit And if he be able to plead his adoption and to look up unto God as his Father in Christ it is by the efficacious workings of the same Spirit So that for the examination of your selves concerning your union with Christ and finding out whether you are knit unto him your work in this respect lieth in two things 1 In being earnest petitioners and supplicants at the throne of grace for the special assistance of the holy Ghost to make this discovery to you to strike in with your consciences in bearing witness unto your spiritual estate That the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him that the eyes of your understandings being enlightned ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints Eph. 1.17 18. 2 Your business lieth in a careful attendance upon the dictates of the Spirit and taking heed that you resist not the holy Ghost in these actings For it is an ordinary thing in many of the people of God to be accessary to the disconsolateness of their own souls by opposing the spirit of consolation They go on without that comfort which they might have in the knowledge of their union with Christ because they refuse to be comforted as the Psalmist speaketh of himself Psal 77.2 This is a common distemper in times of strong temptations As the ungodly resist the spirit of conviction and conversion so believers themselves are apt to withstand and strive against the spirit of consolation And therefore your work is to give diligent attendance upon the Spirit and to hear attentively what he shall speak unto you Concl. 4. The way of procedure in this business of self-examination or the means whereby it must be found out whether we are united to Christ is By consulting and enquiring into those marks and signs which are the evidencing characters and properties of that union For Sirs the change wrought upon a Believer by his oneness with Christ is a relative change and cannot be seen immediately in it self and of it self But it is discerned and discovered unto the spirit of a man by its properties and concomitants which are as certain characteristical marks and tokens whereby the state of union with Christ is differenced and distinguished from that of being strangers unto him As it is in natural things If I would know whether
reality As there is a feigned faith and formal worship and hypocritical obedience so there is a counterfeit conversion Jer. 3.10 Her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart but feignedly saith the Lord. There is much deceit and treachery in this work there may be a turning from sin when it is done in falshood there may be an inward work upon the heart that doth not amount to a saving change or sanctifying of the heart As for instance 1. There may be a kind of abhorrence and forsaking of some wicked wayes to cleave the faster unto others A sinner may shake off some kind of pride to feed his covetousness and in compliance therewith He may leave his profaneness and become an Idolater or superstitious As it was in the case of Micha Judg. 17.2 5. When his mother cursed and bann'd for her money that was stollen this startled his conscience and made him vomit up the sweet morsel which he had swallowed down But the man Micah had an house of Gods an made an Ephod and a Teraphim A sinner may leave his worldliness and become loose and wanton He may cast off his open debauchery and become a secret opposer of the power of godliness For as sin is contrary to grace and striveth against it so there are corruptions which are contrary to one another and fight one against the other Jam. 4.1 2. There is a kind of conversion from sin to civility When a person leaveth his swearing and drunkenness and revelling and the like and becometh a civil man and of an ordinary external demeanour but proceedeth no further Mat. 23.27 28. 3 There may be an abandoning and casting away many miscarriages in the practise when yet the heart still hankereth after them and were it not for some restraints of providence would quickly rush into the actual commission of them What could have been spoken more like to a convert than that of Balaam Numb 24.13 If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold I cannot go beyond the commandment of the Lord to do either good or bad of mine own mind but what the Lord saith that will I speak When yet he loved the wages of unrighteousness and fain would have cursed Israel 2 Pet. 2.15 4. There may be a kind of conversion from sin for the present with a secret purpose of the heart to return to it again in convenient season A sinner may fall out with his lusts and be filled with dislike of them for some present mischief they have done him when he is corrected for them with an outward judgment and yet the heart intend no total divorce or separation Just as friends may fall out in a fit of passion but when they are come to themselves they are easily reconciled again As it was in the case of the Jews Jer. 34.9 10 11 15 16 17. When the King of Babylons army fought against Jerusalem and the Princes and people were in great distress they turned and did that which was right in the sight of the Lord But when the distress was over they returned back again to their sins as fast as ever So it is with many carnal people when they are on their sick beds O how hot are they then against their sins and what a cry will they make as if none were more filled with hatred against sin But when once the sickness is over they quickly repent of their repentance See how far the people went in time of a destroying plague when they were every hour in jeopardy of their lives Psal 78.34 35 36. When he slew them then they sought him that is they prayed to him and they lamented after the Lord they poured out their supplications in the time of chastisement And they returned that is they left their sins and promised amendment and possibly made solemn vows Covenants never to return to them again if God would deliver them but this once they would serve him for ever And they enquired early after God that is earnestly and affectionately as if they were eagerly set upon regaining his favour and nothing would satisfie them without it They enquired after him as if they had been ready to do whatsoever he should command them And they remembred that God was their rock and the high God their redeemer So that this was not only a sudden flash of their spirits but a matter done upon some kind of deliberation they were convinced that it was best for them to serve the Lord and they cast off their sins upon that conviction And yet all was done but in hypocrisie as it followeth v. 36. Nevertheless they did flatter him with their lips and they lied unto him with their tongues For their heart was not right with him neither were they stedfast in his Covenant Now if persons be not rightly instructed in the nature of a true conversion and where the difference is betwixt it and this counterfeit work it is impossible they should rightly judge if themselves are truly converted If they be not rightly informed of the nature of saving grace they cannot rightly determine whether they are partakers of it I am perswaded that this is the original of the presumption and self-deceit of many They presently conclude themselves to be godly because they are not well instructed in the nature of godliness They think that they have repented unto salvation because they know not wherein such repentance doth consist they take the form of godliness for the power of it and a legal repentance for evangelical If they find some convictions and trouble in their spirits for sin they are presently willing to believe it is a conversion from sin If there be found in their hearts some slight affections to the word they apprehend themselves to be savingly wrought upon by the word If in their conversations they leave some old sins and turn over a new leaf they imagine themselves to be new creatures Whereas a saving conversion is another kind of matter it maketh a change in the whole nature of the sinner It is not limited and confined to any particular faculties of the soul but extendeth it self to the renovation of the whole man Jer. 24.7 It doth not only set a man free from some grosser acts of iniquity which a natural conscience will startle at but setteth up a standing enmity in the soul against every false way whether greater or lesser whether they be sins of the flesh or of the spirit Psal 119.104 And this enmity is a lasting irreconcileable enmity such as shall never be rooted out again It is not as the damming up of a stream with mounds and banks which when they are broken it runneth the same way with as great a violence as ever but it is as the cleansing of the fountain and turning the water into another channel Jer. 3.19 A sound conversion doth not only turn the soul from sin but causeth him to return unto the Lord even unto
being unsearchable as himself for his compassions are himself He is a God of mercy his nature and essence is made up of it Psal 62.12 Hast thou multiplyed thine abominations above what can be reckoned Why his compassions are more than can be numbred Let the wicked for sake his wayes and the man of iniquity his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will multiply to pardon Isa 55.7 But can it ever enter into the heart of a man to think that God will ever pardon such a wretch as I have been may the sinner say Mind what followeth v. 8. He is God and not man his mercies are not to be measured by our scantling For my thoughts are not your thoughts nor your wayes my wayes saith the Lord For as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my wayes higher than your wayes and my thoughts than your thoughts 2. The death and sufferings of Jesus Christ which he underwent for satisfaction of the justice of God are of infinite value and have given plenary content and satisfaction and he is at the right hand of the Father to plead that satisfaction in the behalf of lost sinners So that there is no ground of despair in this respect as if they might be greater offenders than the blood of Jesus could purchase acceptance for He is able to save to the uttermost Heb. 7.25 and there is nothing beyond the uttermost If you perish for ever it is not for want of merit in the death of Christ for it was the death of that person who is the eternal God Act. 20.28 It was the death of the man who was God's fellow Zech. 13.7 The Father hath accepted of the price that he paid In him he is well pleased fully contented as to all the demands of his justice Mat. 3.17 Eph. 5.2 So that if you address your selves unto Christ and to God by him you may come with a full assurance of faith without doubting of acceptance though your sins have been never so great and your condition never so deplorable Heb. 10.19 22. That 's the second thing to be observed 3. As our Lord Jesus is able to save the most heinous sinners that come unto him in sincerity so he is as willing to receive them when they come and he will in no wise cast them out As he is mighty in strength so he is tender of heart his arms are open for the entertainment of such as come to him upon Gospel terms and will subject themselves unto his government So that there is no reason to despair of Christ's willingness to become thy Redeemer Here is that at which poor sinners are apt to stick Alas will they say We question not the sufficiency of his merit but will he ever vouchsafe to undertake the patronage and salvation of such a rebel as I have been Nay but O man art thou willing to accept him for thy Saviour and Master and to follow his conduct and to become his Disciple indeed Why he is abundantly more willing to receive thee into his protection He beseecheth sinners to come unto him and therefore surely he will not reject them when they do come 2 Co◠5.20 Yea but I have been a very rebel against heaven will the sinner say for many years together will not this hinder my acceptance Why mark that precious Text Psal 68.18 He hath received gifts for the rebellious also that the Lord God may dwell amongst them Oh but never was there a sinner in such a case as I am will the soul be apt to urge against himself Yet if thou comest unto Christ he will in no case cast thee on t Put the case that thou hast been guilty of the most horrid transgressions put the case that thou hast ran to all excess of riot yet mind that comprehensive word of promise which proceeded out of Christ's own mouth who is the Amen the faithful and true witness Joh. 6.37 All that the father giveth me shall come unto me and him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out It is an asseveration strengthned with a double negative in the original * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As if our aviour had said I will not cast him out whosoever he be that cometh unto me Do you question it I tell you I will not You may build upon it with the greatest confidence As he hath elsewhere confirmed the promise of not forsaking those that are in him I will never never never never leave thee nor forsake thee * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 13.5 So here he hath strengthened the promise of not refusing such as come unto him I will not reject them I assure you saith Christ I will not So that nothing can stand in the way of mans salvation to hinder the accomplishment of it but his own wilful impenitence and unbelief These are the cases wherein there is not the least ground of desperation in any broken-hearted sinner whomsoever the Gospel hath provided plentiful remedy against it 4. Note in the fourth place That the high-way which leadeth the children of men to this damnable despair and so to give up themselves to commit iniquity with greediness is not doctrines of terror to the impenitent but presumptuously sinning against the Lord. When persons will walk contrary to the light of their own consciences and the clear dictates of the word of God and suffer their vile affections to suppress and stifle the convictions wrought upon their hearts this is the direct path that tends to desperation I pray mind it Sirs Poor ignorant people are very much deluded in this particular When they hear doctrines of wrath and judgment to come and everlasting destruction prepared for the workers of iniquity they presently cry out against the Ministers These are Preachers of damnation they would drive us to despair Nay but O vain man those doctrines tend to shew you the necessity of Christ and getting an interest in him and to cause you to despair in your selves which is a good step to salvation It is rebelling against the light and sinning against knowledge which make way for damnable despair What made Cain despair but because he had wickedly and wilfully departed from the Lord and trampled the commandment under his feet What brought Judas to despair but forcing down the dictates of his own light and conscience And you read of the people in Isaiah They roared like Bears in the agony of their Ipirits because they had gone on to sin against knowledge Isa 59.10 11 12. 5. But then in the last place There are four cases wherein I would quicken you to despair and to press such arguments upon your hearts as may be influential to incline you thereunto And without such kind of despairing you will never effectually mind the working out your salvation 1. You must despair of ever coming to the kingdom of heaven hereafter unless
you bring forth the fruits of righteousness here and endeavour to be holy in all manner of conversation If you live in any course of sin or in the neglect of observing any of God's commandments it is not possible you should come to the enjoyment of God whilst you abide in that estate Never dream of being saved without holiness for such imaginations are but dreams and fancies Heb. 12.14 Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. 1 Cor. 6.9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived c. q. d. It is a plain case that the unrighteous will perish unavoidably it is a token of gross ignorance to think otherwise Do not hope for or expect salvation without righteousness for by such hopes and expectations you will but cheat your own souls Gal. 5.19 20 21. Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness idolatry witchcraft hatred variance emulation wrath strife seditions heresies envyings murders drunkenness revellings and such like Of the which I tell you before as I have told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Mark it if a man live in any of these sins or in any other sin like unto these whether it be filthiness of the flesh or of the spirit open or secret though not here particularly enumerated he cannot enter into eternal life It is a matter as if the Apostle had said which I have studied and the more I think of it the more I am confirmed in it I have preached this doctrine to you formerly and I am still of the same mind and therefore warn you of it again that if you be such persons you cannot be saved 2. Although I counsel you to be much in the works of righteousness yet you must despair of ever being justified or saved upon the account of your righteousness For alas what are the best of our righteousnesses to give satisfaction to the justice of God for the wrong that we have done him If you be pardoned and accepted of the Lord it must be for the sake of the righteousness of Jesus Christ and not by virtue of any thing of your own For the Seripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe Gal. 3.22 3. Although you must be active and diligent in the service of God and labour to walk in uprightness before him yet you are utterly to despair of doing this in your own strength It is only strength and aflistance from Jesus Christ that will inable you to be faithful unto Christ If you trust in your own hearts they will deceive you 2 Cor. 3.5 Psal 71.15 16. * Ad evulsionem hominis à statu peccati requiritur 3. ut ex evictione conscientiae desperatiosalutis consequatur respectu nostrarum virium omnis etiam auxilii quod à creaturis haberi potest Ames de cons 4. I would counsel you to work up your hearts to an utter despair of receiving either righteousness or strength from Christ except you get into him Sit down and rest in this conclusion that unless you be united to the Son of God you cannot dwell in the presence of God There is no salvation to be had upon other terms And thus to despair of deliverance in a state of separation from Christ is an excellent means or inducement to drive you unto him Thus the Law is our School-master to lead us unto Christ i. e. by convincing us of our undone condition without him * Lex in vero suo officio est ad gratiam ministra praeparatrix prodest ad justificationem non quod justificat sed quia urgeat ad promissionem gratiae cam facit dulcem desiderabilem Luth. It pursueth us with wrath as the avenger of bloud that we may be forced to hasten into the City of refuge Gal. 3.24 This is the first Direction I intended in order to the attainment of this grace of union Direct 2. If you would be united unto the Son Get the Spirit of the Lord Jesus into your hearts It is only the holy Ghost who is sent in his name that can lead you unto him and ingraff you in him and form Christ within you And if you have not the Spirit of Christ you cannot be his Rom. 8.9 And therefore to this end 1. Be much in prayer to God for this very mercy that he would graciously send the Spirit of his Son into your souls There is an encouraging word to draw forth your fervent supplications in this behalf Luke 11.13 If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more shall your heavenly father give the holy Spirit to them that ask him It is the mercy which he delights to be sought unto for and to be dealing forth in return to the prayers of his Servants 2. Be much conversant with the word of Christ and constant in your attendance upon the Ordinances of the Gospel Be frequent in reading and studying the Scriptures make them the matter of your daily meditations lose no opportunity to acquaint your selves therewith or to wait upon Christ in the wayes of his appointment Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom Col. 3.16 For it is the word and institutions of Jesus Christ which are designed as conduit-pipes to convey the spirit of sanctification into mens hearts And therefore the word hath the promise of conversion annexed unto it because the spirit of conversion worketh in and with and by the word Psal 19.7 The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul Jam. 1.18 Of his own will he begat us with the word of truth As the word cannot work savingly without the concurrent operation of the holy Ghost So the holy Ghost doth not ordinarily work without the word For the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth Rom. 1.16 And when our Saviour prayeth for them that should be gathered unto him it is under this expression For them that shall believe on me through their word Joh. 17.20.3 Take heed that you resist not the Spirit by quenching his motions or rising up in contradiction against the convictions that he is pleased to work upon your hearts Readily hearken to his call and comply with him in the tenders of grace If you repel him by the frowardness and perverseness of your spâ—rits you know not when he will return Joh. 3.8 Take therefore the Apostles advice Eph. 4.30 Grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption Direct 3. If you would be knit unto Jesus and so have an interest in him endeavour after the uniting grace of faith in his bloud cast your selves upon his righteousness for salvation according to the proposals
dum recipit de reddendo cogitat Sen de Benef. with for his sake Hath the Lord Jesus taken me into such a neer relation unto himself and shall not I love him and serve him with all my strength Surely to this precious Saviour I will cleave and his pleasure I will do and nothing shall separate betwixt my soul and him Take the exhortation in the words of S. Paul Col. 2.6 7. As ye have therefore received Jesus Christ the Lord so walk ye in him rooted and built up in him and stablished in the faith as ye have been taught abounding therein with thanksgiving 3. Let me add but a few particulars by way of advice and exhortation to all and so we will conclude our discourse upon this subject If in order to the salvation of sinners by Christ they must be united to him and ingraffed in Christ Then be exhorted all of you 1. To learn the spiritual lessons which are from this point to be learned 2. To practise the duties that are hereupon to be practised 1. Learn the lessons which are from this doctrine to be learned And they are principally two which I shall commend unto you besides what I gave you under the use of information 1. Learn from hence The necessity of regeneration in order to eternal life Except you are persons born again of the Spirit you cannot enter into the kingdom of God Except you be quickned by the holy Ghost it is impossible you should be blessed in the presence of the Lord. Why Because you must have the Son you must be knit unto Christ and it is in the day of regeneration that the knot is tyed whereby the Lord Jesus and a Christian are joyned together It is the grace of regeneration and conversion that removeth a sinner from his own bottom and buildeth him upon the Mediator as upon a sure foundation as hath been largely opened So that believe this point and work it powerfully by meditation and prayer upon your own hearts That no regeneration no salvation It was the doctrine wherewith our Saviour began his Sermon to Nicodemus and he speaketh of it as a matter of great concernment to be studied Joh. 3.3 Verily verily I say unto thee except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God Mark how the assertion is strengthned with a double asseveration to note how hard a thing it is to convince a sinner effectually of this matter and how neerly it doth concern us to be thus convinced It is as if Christ had said The children of men are apt to think otherwise they hope to get into heaven upon the account of their notional knowledge and common priviledges and moral righteousness and the like But it cannot be I tell thee it cannot be take it upon my word Do your hearts question it Verily it cannot be verily it is impossible that any man should be saved except he be sanctified Whence you will say doth arise this absolute necessity of a man's being born again I answer It doth arise from these four things 1. From the stedfastness and unalterableness of the purpose of God Whom he hath predestinated unto life he hath determined to lead thither through the gate of regeneration So that if ever you get to heaven without partaking of this grace it must be by the change of the decree and purpose of God which is in its own nature unchangeable for the counsel of the Lord standeth fast for ever And observe the tenour of his purpose touching the way of life 2 Thes 2.13 God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit Although God doth not elect or save any of the children of men for their holiness yet he doth elect them unto holiness that they may be saved 2. The absolute necessity of regeneration doth appear from the infinite holiness and purity of the God of heaven who will never maintain any converse or fellowship with such as lie dead in their sins nor indeed is it possible they should have communion with God till they are washed and sanctified An unsanctified mind cannot behold him an unholy will cannot enjoy him and unholy affections can take no delight or complacency in him My brethren when persons are called into the state of the favour of God they are called also unto fellowship with him Now what communion hath light with darkness What friendly intercourse can there be betwixt a God of incomprehensible purity and such whose spirits are nothing but sinks of filthiness First you must be made again after the image of God and so fitted for acquaintance with the most high for God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity and he hateth all the workers of it Hab. 1.13 Psal 5.4 5. 3. Without a principle of grace planted in the heart there can be no fruits of new obedience brought forth in the life which are of indispensable necessity to our getting safe to heaven Such as are saved by the Lord must be serviceable unto him for Christ will judge us hereafter according to our conversations here As a man soweth that he shall also reap Rev. 2.23 Gal. 6.7 8. Now except you be regenerate you cannot walk in a course of new obedience First there must be a good treasure in the heart before it can be productive of what is good in the life As the principles are so the practise will be Mat. 12.33 34 35. Besides God doith judge of mens works and deeds by the frame of their hearts in the doing of them He doth search the heart and try the reins that he may give to every man according to his wayes and according to the fruit of his doings Jer. 17.10 4. The indispensable necessity of regeneration doth arise from the influence it hath to unite a sinner unto Christ without having of whom there is no partaking of life through his bloud The day of regeneration is the day of espousals between the Lord Jesus and his people It is that which helpeth to make the marriage betwixt them For if any man be in Christ he is a new creature 2 Cor. 5.17 This is the first Lesson I would from hence commend to your study and meditation 2. Learn from this point of a Believers union with Christ What is the influence of faith in the justification of a sinner or in what sense it is said to justifie us in the sight of God Not by any inherent worth and vertue in it self but because it is the bond that knitteth a sinner to Christ by the imputation of whose righteousness we are made righteous If we are justified it is freely by the grace of God through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus Only the grace of faith is the instrument to bring us unto Christ and the bond of our union with him that so we may partake of that redemption * Sicut olim in deserto serpens aeneus in ligno punctis à serpentibus medebatur
humanam divinam prout nititur testimonio vel humano vel divino Ames de fid divin verit If it be built upon Education or Custom the Opinions of Learned men or the Traditions of our Fathers and of the Church and the like humane evidence then it cannot amount no higher than to an humane faith And it is to befeared that the faith of the generality of people called Christians is of this sort onely They believe the Christian Religion to be the true Religion and the Bible to contain the word of God Why Because all their forefathers were of that Religion and they were bred and brought up in that way such Ministers have told them so and they see many wise men are of that minde They have the same grounds for their belief as Mahometans and other Idolaters have for theirs And as one well observeth these are Christians rather by chance than by choice If their lot had fallen amongst Heathens and worshippers of stocks and stones for the same reasons they would have been of their Religion they would have opposed the Gospel upon the very same grounds that now they embrace it Divine truths may be believed by a meer humane faith if the testimony be humane upon which they are believed * It being an impossibility that the assent to the matters of faith should rise higher or stand firmer than the assent to the testimony upon which those things are believed My assent to the object believed is according to my assent to the medium on which I believe it Stillingf Rational account p. 112. A divine faith must be built upon a divinetestimony when a man doth believe the word of God from those divine Marks and Characters which are stamped upon it from that mighty and supernatural efficacy which it hath whereby God doth bear witness unto his word Thus the Apostle observeth touching the Thessalonians that they received divine truths upon divine testimony they received it as the â—ord of God for it came to them not in word onely but in power and in the holy Ghost and in much assurance 1 Thes 1.5 i. e. It had such a powerful influence upon their hearts and consciences that thereby they were assured it was of God 2. There is a Temporary faith which goeth a step further than the former When the judgement is not onely convinced of the divine original and authority of the Scriptures but those convictions work in some measure upon the affections that they are taken with the goodness and excellency of them When the heart is carryed out in a kinde of love and liking to the Person revealing and the Doctrines revealed and there are some degrees of inclination towards a closure with those Doctrines onely they are raised in them but for a fit whist they are in a good mood as we say and it endureth but for a time it cannot abide the trial when any great difficulties attend their obedience unto the word then they cast it off And for this reason it is called a temporary faith Such a faith you meet with in some of the followers of Christ whom yet he durst not trust for he knew they were but hypocrites though now they followed him yet shortly they would set against him when the Scene was altered they would betray him and of false friends become his professed enemies John 2.23 24. Many believed in his name when they saw the Miracles which he did Jesus did not commit himself unto them because he knew all men Such was the faith of those others mentioned as his Disciples John 6.66 From that time many of his Disciples went back and walked no more with him And therefore it is observable what our Saviour spake to the Jews that believed on him John 8.31 If ye continue in my word then are ye â—â—y Disciples indeed Then are ye my Disciples that is then it will be evident that you are then you will give undeniable proof * â—es tum demum dicuntâ—â— fieri cum inci piunt patefieri that your faith is of the right kind else you may gracious habits the Lord Jesus taketh hold on their souls and by putting forth this habit into act and exercise they receive and take hold of the Lord Jesus Col. 2.6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him i. e. as you have believed on him and imbraced or received him by believing That is the first thing I would commend unto you viz. this Scripture distinction of the sorts of faith 2. This justifying faith hath the Lord Jesut Christ himself for the special immediate object with whom it closeth and upon whom it is exercised It is Christ himself who is primarily tendered in the offers of the Gospel and therefore true faith of this fort goeth forth unto him The special consideration under which a Believer goeth forth to Christ in the actings of faith for justification it is as dying and satisfying the justice of God and therefore usually called faith in his blood and the great incouragement whereupon a Believer is emboldened to act his faith is the tender of the Gospel and the promises thereof but it is Christ himself which is the special immediate object upon which faith as justifying is acted and with whom it closeth The sinner being incouraged by the promise doth embrace Christ in the promise Hence it is commonly stiled faith in Christ and a believing on the Lord Jesus Christ Acts 20.21 I have kept back nothing that was profitable unto you c. testifying both to the Jews and also the Greeks repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. Mark it as repentance hath God for its ultimate object it is a turning from sin and returning unto God even unto him so faith hath Christ for its special object The great fundamental act of faith whereupon finners are justified is conversant about Christ Act. 26.18 That they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance amongst them that are sanctified by faith that is in me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by faith that is acted upon me upon Jesus for they are his words It is by faith exerted and acted upon him that forgiveness of sins is conveyed Unto that it seemeth to relate and the other words to come in as a parenthesis as if it had been that they may receive forgiveness of sins by faith that is in me and also an inheritance amongst them that are sanctified It hath sometimes appeared as strange to me to meet with descriptions of the nature of justifying faith without so much as the mention of Jesus Christ the object upon whom it is acted See the process of the workings of the heart of S. Paul in believing and how he taught in the Churches of Christ First he was deadned as to expectation of life from the Law the first Covenant and then he addresseth himself for justification unto Christ by believing on him who is the only Mediator of
faith or faith as it is a spiritual act and work not the works of faith that justifie a sinner in the sight of God yet that faith which giveth him a title to the righteousness of the Mediator by whom alone he can be justified must be an operative and working faith such as purgeth the conscience from dead works and bringeth the soul into subjection unto Christ's Laws and Government To this purpose the words of the Apostle James are observable Cap. 2.14 What doth it profit my brethren if a man say he hath faith and have not works can faith save him It is not said though he have faith and have not works for where there is faith in the heart there will be new obedience in the life but if he say that he hath it if he be a pretender to it can such a dead lifeless pretended faith save him Christ is held forth in the Gospel not only as a Redeemer but as a Lord and a Law-giver and these are inseparably connected and knit together He that presumeth to divide between what God hath joyned together that will accept of Jesus as a Saviour but not as a Soveraign doth not indeed receive the Christ of God but an idol stamed by his own heart Whom he doth save he will rule and govern Heb. 5.9 He became the Anthor of eternal salvation unto all them that obeyed him I shall not need to trouble you with controversal points as whether faith quà justifying under that very notion or consideration doth receive Christ as a Lord This is acknowledged on both hands that the faith which justifieth doth receive Christ in al his offices as a Prophet to instruct and guide us in the ways of God as a King to exercise rule and dominion over us and as a Priest to reconciâ—e and make intercession for us If we come to Christ for salvation we must take his yoke upon us Mat. 11.28 29. For a dividing faith is a false hypocritical faith to whom Christ giveth remission of sins he giveth repentance also He saveth us by the washing of Regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost So that if we receive him as a Saviour we must have him as a Sanctifier for he saveth by sanctifying and conducteth sinners to eternal peace by guiding their feet in the ways of peace Thus I have ended together the mystical union betwixt believers and the Lord Jesus which I mainly drove at and intend when I shall speak of it afterwards as the foundation of our communion with Christ and receivings from him as also the sixth Proposition laid down to open the manner of the Conjunction between Christ and his people and their oneness thereupon There are two Propositions more yet behinde which I come now to insist upon that I may finish my answer to the third General Head 7. Propos 7. From this mystical union of a Believer with Christ or being ingraffed into Christ there doth flow another sort of union between them whereof love is the bond which may be well improved as an evidence of the former and it is usually called a moral union Such an oneness as there is between the dearest friends whose hearts are linked together in the bond of amity and mutual affection We say sometimes of intimate friends they are so nearly conjoyned as if they were but one as if the same soul did animate both in their bodies * Amor non est desiderium aut appetitus ut ab omnibus bactenus traditum Nam cum potimur amatâ re non manet appetitus Est igitur affectus quo cum re amatá aut animur aut unionem perpetuamus Scalig. Exerc. 301. Anima est ubi amat potiùs quam ubi animat Deut. 13.6 Thy friend which is as thine own soul So are the Lord Jesus and his peculiar people knit together He hath a very dear and inflamed affection to them He loves them that love him Prov. 8.17 His delights are with the sons of men Prov. 8.31 And on the other hand he is in their hearts so as to live and die together It is the greatest pleasure believers have in the world to be contemplating the excellencies of Christ and conversing with him it is that which doth yield them the most solid content and satisfaction and they are still hungry and thirsting after the further enjoyment of him as if they could never have enough of fellowship and society with him John 21.17 Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time lovest thou me And he said unto him Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee He could hardly bear it to have his love to Christ called in question This union is notably set forth in the Song of Solomon You have many passages for it I will transcribe a few of them See the workings of their hearts towards Christ Cap. 2.3 4 5.6 7. As the apple-tree amongst the trees of the Wood so is my belâ—ved amongst the sons I sate under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to my taste He brought me to the banquetting house and his banner over me was love Stay me with flagons comfort me with apples for I am sick of love His left hand is under my head and his right hand doth embrace me I charge you O ye Daughters of Jerusalem by the Roes and by the Hinds of the field that ye stir not up nor awake my love till he please as if the Church had said O take heed of displeasing the Lord Jesus there is nothing will cut me so deeply to the heart as if you despise him and sin against him He is the life of my life and the strength of my soul it is acquaintance with him that putteth sweetness into all my accommodations they would be comfortless comforts were it not for Christ I am never better then when I am in communion with him Again cap. 3.1 2 3 4. By night on my bed I sought him when my soul loveth I sought him but I found him not I will rise now and go about the City in the streets and in the broad wayes I will seek him whom my soul loveth I sought him but I found him not The watchmen that go about the City found me to whom I said saw ye him whom my soul loveth It was but a little that I passed from them but I found him whom my soul loveth I held him and would not let him go till I had brought him into my Mothers house and into the Chamber of her that conceived me as if the soul of a believer should say how much doth my Spirit long after Christ My thoughts are not onely upon him by day but my meditation is concerning him in the night season And if he doth hide his face I have no rest in my Spirit I make use of all means to recover the light of his countenance I pray and seek and cry and watch I converse with this Christian