stands for little with such men who resolve to believe themselves leaning in all things to their own understandings And under that Spiritual slumber I must leave them till it pleases God to awaken them As for those who make previous Conditions performed by themselves the ground of their Faith in Christ for Pardon not daring to trust in Christ for Salvation 'till they have first prepared themselves by such doings of their own as may give them a right and title to it and encourage them to trust in Christ for that Salvation whereas I conceive the bare offer and tender of Grace made to sinners in the Gospel is sufficient to give them a right and title to it who thankfully accept the offer though they come without Money have no Righteousness of their own to make way for them coming as they are in their nakedness and Poverty casting themselves upon Christ for all looking for acceptance only in the Beloved Besides to require such preparatory works before believing I mean before we close in with Christ by an act of justifying-Faith is to put natural men upon supernatural acts which they have no strength to perform and doth suppose that in their natural state they may be brought to true holiness may reform their lives and attain to some degree of Sanctification before their hearts are changed and purified by Faith There must be a change of state before there can be a change of life in a real turning to God by a sincere obedience In Preaching the Gospel we exhort and press our Hearers to holiness not as if we thought to bring them to it while in their natural state but because there is a converting Power in the Gospel to make them new Creatures that must be first done before any acceptable obedience can be performed 'T is Faith that unites us to Christ and being so united all principles and habits of holiness are infused which the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us draws into act upon all occasions Some carry it as if all holy dispositions and inclinations were acquired by our own endeavours But as original Corruption was propagated by our descent from the first Adam so the first seeds and principles of true holiness are propagated by our descent from the second Adam in our new birth Let us not think to become holy any other way than by Faith in Christ in whom we are sanctified and by whose Spirit the Saints are stirred up and quickned to all those duties that tend to the perfecting of holiness in them Christ is the root that bears us our fruit is found in him all our springs are in him without me says Christ you can do nothing we shall be sorry doers of Righteousness if we set about it in our own strength therefore I conclude we must begin our Religion with Faith in Christ and Pray that we may be led by his Spicit in all ways of holiness to our lives end I see no ground in all the new Testament to press and exhort Sinners to humiliation repentance and reformation of life from any other motive than that of Gospel Grace which must be received and taken in in some degree of Saving-faith before we can heartily set about the foresaid duties and this is all I contend for This reception of or faith in Christ must go before all things that are afterwards to be received from Christ That which leads many into a mistake in this matter it their putting too great a difference between saving Evangelical Conviction of sin and true saving-Faith as if such a Conviction of our lost undone state by nature were but a preparative to saving-Faith whereas it is an essential part of justifying-Faith to convince us of sin from which we are justified by Christ they are always concomitant and cannot be separated in any act of saving-Faith we put forth upon Christ What is Faith but a Conviction of sin and righteousness shewing us our sins that we may seek after righteousness in Christ As for legal Conviction and repentance that is but a common work As God pleases to awaken natural Conscience by setting home the threats and terrors of the Law this may or may not be previous to Conversion and is wrought in whom and in what degree God pleases Some lie in a spiritual slumber all their days without any legal touch upon their Consciences are fast asleep 'till they awake in Hell which is full of legal Convictions Sometimes God reserves the whole of Conviction for saving-Faith he lets in a sense of sin and of the remedy at once and this Faith may first shew it self in some more in an humbling Conviction of sin than in the comfortable application of Christ's righteousness that may come afterwards when Faith has done its humbling work under which there is a secret looking unto Christ tho not with that comfortable sense of our interest in him as we are made afterwards to understand What I urge is this We must begin our Religion with Faith in Christ which never fails to produce repentance and new obedience but how to attain to any degree of either before we are in Christ is to me unconceiveable They who so much contend for these Preparatives do run upon Rocks and will be forced to deny such fundamental Points of the Protestant Religion which I am persuaded they will be ashamed to disown when closely put to it many things are required of those who are in Covenant that are not required as Conditions of our first entring into Covenant We must not think to bring any Grace to the Covenant but must fetch all Grace from the Covenant even Faith it self a power to believe being the first thing promised in the Covenant and by our passive reception of this first Grace a spiritual Principle of life is let into the Soul from whence flow all holy and spiritual actions Qua facultates Animae in calescunt vivificantur potentes fiunt in ordine Spirituali Tho. Parker Thes. 43. as the fruits and effects of that habitual Faith infused at first by God This reception of Christ by Faith is our life 1 John 5. 12. John 6. 53. by which the faculties of our Souls are warmed and quickned and enabled unto all acts of spiritual life being now throughly furnished unto every good word and work Were Pride and Prejudice laid aside and did every one study his own Justification and mind that more some would find those very Arguments which they take up against their Antagonists whilst they are acting the part of Opponents contending more for Victory than Truth to make against the inward Judgment of their own Consciences when once it comes to be their own case I am persuaded many plead for those opinions and notions upon which they would be loth to venture their own Souls in a dying hour I value more the Judgment of a dying Saint about Justification than all the wrangling Disputes of Learned men who are under a great
our Spirits When the Spirit comes as a witness he stands forth distinct from our Spirit that the joynt Testimony of the Spirit of God with ours may be discerned from the single Testimony of our own Spirit which could not be if the Holy Ghost when giving in his Witness laying down his proposition did not stand forth by himself in distinction from the spirit of a man that the truth may be confirmed out of the mouth of two Witnesses at least in the Conscience of a Believer Some of the Heathen of old had their Extasies and Raptures were sensible they were acted by a spirit higher than their own and thought themselves Divinely Inspired when they were under the greatest Infatuation of Satan imaginable But it doth not hence follow that those who are truly inspired by God may not know it Were Christ in us of a truth we should find our selves strong in the power of his Might He that is in us is greater than he that is in the World could we take hold of this great one and go forth in his Name Spirit and Strength we should do great things I can do all things saith Paul through Christ that strengthneth me what do we then in the strength of Christ which we know we could not do of our selves I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me We should labour after some experience of this in our own selves not to rest satisfied till we can experimentally say it of our selves Without this experience we live but at a low rate do no more than others and sometimes not so much neither whereas we should hold forth Christ and walk in his Spirit having our conversation more in Heaven resisting the Devil overcoming the World denying our selves as those who are strengthned by Christ in our inward man so to do While I am putting you upon this search to feel for Christ within you as the Ground of your Hope I shall lay down Two Cautions 1. This Mystical Union between Christ and Believers this Spiritual In-being of Christ in our hearts is a great Mystery We cannot fully comprehend it in this world Some experience we now have of such a thing in our selves but a perfect distinct knowledge of these deep Mysteries is reserved for Heaven Then we shall have a clearer Revelation of the Mystery of the Trinity At that day saith Christ you shall know that I am in my Father and ye in me and I in you John 14. 20. At that day but not before In that day you shall know it perfectly now you know something you see something tho but darkly and we must be content 2. Never take that to be from the Spirit of Christ in you that leads you from the Scripture and would make you wise above what is written Some have run into strong delusions this way fancying every thing they do or say to be by Divine Inspiration What tho some are deceived in thinking they have the Spirit of Christ when they have him not It doth not therefore follow that those who have the Spirit indeed and in truth may not know that they have him One man's Error in this case cannot overthrow another man's Experience He that hath not the Spirit may think he hath him but he that hath the Spirit indeed may know he hath the Spirit Because some men mistake the Truth it doth not follow therefore it cannot be known by any When you seek for Christ in your selves and for further Teachings of his Spirit you should always pray over some Word have your eye upon some Scripture which you beg a right understanding of for no inward Revelation is now to be expected but only of things already revealed in the Word which the Spirit opens to us that is Christ in us doth this But in Heaven we have an Intuitive Knowledge of the things themselves in God who is the First Spring the First Cause the Fountain of all supernatural Truths contained in the Bible In Heaven we shall know the Truth only as it is in Jesus now we know it as it is in our Bibles we know it by the Word as a Sign and Symbol of the Will of God from whence we abstract all our knowledge of Divine things in a discoursive way But Intuitive Knowledge in Heaven is another thing there needs no written Word no other Bible in Heaven but Christ the Essential Word of God who will shew us all in himself all Gospel-Truths do center in him which shews that for us to be with Christ in Glory is more than for Christ to be in us by his Spirit here Secondly Let us lay aside all vain Hopes that confound and make us ashamed Job 6. 20. The Vanity of Hope lies not so much in the Object of Hope as in our Hope it self The Object may be real to wit Life and Eternal Glory They are gay things desirable things and they are real things too But we must see that our Hope be well-grounded If the Grounds be weak such as by no just Consequence of Reason will bear what we infer from them then our Hope is vain we must give a reason of the hope that is in us and such a reason as may answer all Objections against our Hope The Object of Hope is Bonum arduum futurum sed possibile If there be not a possibility of obtaining what we hope for upon the ground we go upon our Hope is vain and will certainly make us ashamed the issue not answering our expectation Job 11. 20. comp with Prov. 10. 28. There are Two Things which men ground their vain Hope of Salvation of Heaven and Glory upon in both which they overlook Christ and pass him by 1. Their own Righteousness so far as they can pretend to any they make the most of it grow proud of it look to be considered by God for it as if he was beholden to them for their good Lives and inoffensive Carriage that they run not into the same excess of Riot with others But alas what a sandy foundation is this to build our Hope of Heaven upon Be not offended at what I am saying but weigh it well in the Balance of the Sanctuary consider it strictly by Gospel-Light I say this We may as soon be saved in our Sins as by our own Righteousness It is as contrary to the Gospel to trust in our own Righteousness as to the Law not to do it Our Sins are not more opposite to the Holiness of the Law than trusting in our own Righteousness is to the Free Grace of the Gospel Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saveth us Tit. 3. 5. It is true a Holy Life becomes a Christian we cannot be Christians without it but it doth not make a Christian Nothing but Faith in Christ doth make a Christian from whence all true Holiness found in Believers doth spring I have sometimes told you That Preaching of Holiness pressing Holiness with little
13. that believe in the Name of the Son of God that you may know that ye have eternal life John wrote this Epistle purposely to satisfie weak Believers that whatsoever they thought of themselves they had Eternal Life and he would have them know as much Put then the Trial of your state upon this very point Whether you have Christ and in him Eternal Life Do you make good the former and we who are Ministers of the Gospel may by the Blessing of God undertake to prove the latter to your great Comfort and Satisfaction These things have I written to you that believe that you may know you have eternal life Then Believers themselves stand in need of such Writings and Sermons as may help to open the Mysteries of Christ to them and to this end is a Gospel-Ministry appointed to make manifest a savour of his knowledg in every place 2 Cor. 2. 14 15. We are a sweet savour of Christ unto God in them that perish under our ministry saith he We must seek to please God in our Preaching and not men whatever the issue be Men have no savour don't savour such Sermons and Gospel-Discourses that do lead them into the Mysteries of the Gospel they are for a more Rational way of Preaching they love Moral Preaching but this Mystical Mysterious Preaching of Christ and Faith in him and Union to him this they count foolishness they don't savour it but saith he we are a sweet savour of Christ to God even in them that perish 2. The Spirit doth not only teach us to know Christ in us but confirms us in that knowledge by an after-Testimony bearing witness with our spirits that so it is This fixes and settles our minds in a firm persuasion of the Truth Had we no other witness but our own Spirits we should vary and fluctuate in our minds about these great Points of the Gospel we should be of one mind to day and of another to morrow Reason is not always consistent with it self varies in its apprehensions of things argues pro and con according to the different appearance of things the different Impressions that contrary Reasonings make upon our unstable minds I say all these things make Reason very uncertain Fancy and Imagination are very uncertain and variable and do strongly influence mens understandings It is hard to know whether Sense or Reason do lead us but the Testimony of the Spirit of God is a more uniform Testimony doth never vary from it self always passes the same Judgment about the same point It is not yea and nay it doth not say and unsay but stands to the first judgment it is purposely given to testifie of Christ and of the infallible consequents of our Faith in him which must needs beget Hope The oftner we appeal to this witness and hear the Testimony of the Spirit in our hearts concerning Christ the more are we confirmed in our Faith and Hope They who are full of the Holy Ghost they are full of Faith and Hope When we have found out Christ within us we should appeal to the Spirit of God Whether it be not so indeed Whether Christ be not in us of a Truth None knows the Son but the Father and it is by his Spirit he reveals him in us Ask the Spirit then Whether this be the Christ of God which your Faith hath taken hold of and brought into your Soul to Live Rule and Reign there Did we live in more Communion with the Holy Ghost we could not be so much estranged from the Life of Christ we should not be so unacquainted with Christ. No man can say That Jesus is the Lord but by the Spirit Say what you will of Christ you understand not what you say till the Spirit reveal him in you There is no thinking talking no meditating on Christ in our own Light and Strength if the Holy Ghost doth not help us Believers have a sense of this that God hath taught them and shined into their hearts it is in his Light they see Light and have a true Spiritual Discerning of the Mystery of God in Christ. You know in the first days of the Gospel the Spirit bore witness unto the Divine Person of Christ That he came from God and was God for the world could believe neither John 15. 26 27. comp with Acts 5. 32. It was the great business of the Spirit I say to testifie to the world That Christ was sent of God and that he was very God This the Holy Ghost did by many signs and wonderful effects of the Divine Power of Christ wrought through Faith in his Name And so ever since the same Spirit breathing in the Consciences of Believers doth testifie of Christ in them with that Evidence and Power that they cannot withstand they are convinced and satisfied That Salvation is only by him and that relying upon him their Souls are secured to all Eternity This begets Peace in their before affrightned Consciences If you ask how doth the Holy Ghost bring over the Mind of a man to be so fully persuaded of the truth of that which Flesh and Blood cannot reveal unto him I Answer The Holy Ghost doth this as a Spirit of Power Luk. 24. 49. Christ is said to Teach us as one having Authority There is Power and Authority as well as Teaching Reasoning and Objective light I say the Spirit acts as a Spirit of Power impressing a sense of God's Love so upon our Hearts that we cannot but count upon it rejoyce in it feeling it shed abroad into our Hearts The Testimony of the Spirit is a convincing undeniable Evidence able to persuade of the truth of that he bears witness to against all surmises of Flesh and Blood Were not the Spirit of Christ a Spirit of Power it would be impossible he should ever establish such a a Doctrine so contrary to all the sentiments of Nature and to all rational Inferences men can make from any principles of Reason The Spirit comes as a Spirit of Power will have the Heart open will bring over Man to assent though it be to what his Understanding cannot reach and this the Spirit of God doth by particular Application of the Blood of Christ to us by Name so revealing Christ in us that we cannot but feel the Virtue of his Blood in our Conscience cannot but know him and own him as our Jesus In all Hope there is a peculiar Application of Promises to our selves He that believes hath eternal Life John 3. 36. Is not only persuaded there is such a thing but that he hath it already begun in him and shall be further let into it ere long We shall be like him 1 John 3. 2. We shall be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life Tit. 3. 7. For the hope which is laid up for you Col. 1. 5. There is a particular Application to our selves of those things we Hope for It is impossible for a man to Hope and be no
Promise so he becomes our God he makes a Covenant with us in Christ to be our God that for his sake he will freely pardon our sins and receive us into a state of Grace and Favour again thus God offers himself in the Covenant to be our God But an outward tender of grace if not closed in with and accepted is but a bare offer not a gift till we receive it when God intends to give grace he secretly joyns with the outward call speaks himself to the heart and inclines us to receive it herein lyes the difference between an outward and an inward effectual Call An effectual Call is that which hath its effect upon the Soul makes us answer to the call and obey it we are called to come to Christ and when we actually come then is the Call effectual and not before when God offered himself to Abraham it was with a purpose not to be refused and therefore he inclined the heart of Abraham to believe You may live long under an outward Call and not be effectually called i. e. not called with such a Call as God gives his Elect at thir Conversion many are called but few chosen i. e. few called with such a Call as God gives his Elect. We cannot be sure of our Election till we are thus effectually called To be frequent Hearers of the word calling us to Christ and yet find no inclinations in our hearts to come to him is a sign that God hath not yet spoken to us himself Ministers have but God hath not yet by his Spirit set home his word upon our hearts The inclinations of the Soul towards Christ that arise from an effectually Call are very strong they put the Soul upon coming to Christ urge us to it every day there is something writ upon the heart whch he that runs may read Conscience is reading over that inward Writing every day to the Soul calls for a speedy answer why is not this done that God requires that God has left upon record in thy heart Why so backward why so slow of heart to believe Arise arise away to Christ as fast as you can run for your life to the City of refuge that God has appointed They who know what an inward Call is cannot resist it an awakened Conscience is in hast will have the business dispatched out of hand nothing can stop that man who is effectually called O that every one here present were under such a Call this day God is able to give it and I am sure none of you are able to resist it Christ is offered to us in the New Covenant as our Peace-maker and Mediator therefore called the covenant of the people Isa. 42. 6. the sure foundation of it Isa. 26. 16. The Covenant made with Abraham is said to be confirmed of God in Christ before his Incarnation Gal. 3. 17. This Covenant was made between the Father and the Son from Eternity Isa. 42. 6. Tit. 1. 2. 2 Tim. 1. 9. The first outward declaration or revelation of it was in time Gen. 3. 15. The actual application of this Grace to our selves is when we first Believe We enter into Covenant by Faith we set our seal to the truth of the Promise and receive that right that Christ Believed on gives to Eternal life Faith it self gives no right to Salvation unto us but what it first receives from Christ we have nothing to do with the promise till we are in Christ by Faith Eph. 2. 12. Rom. 8. 32. Faith discerns the Grace and Love of God to us in Christ and accepts of the offer of life upon Gospel terms which the Soul could never be brought to till Faith came Who has believed the report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been reveal'd i. e. to beget Faith which wins over a Sinner to Christ We should be much in the first direct acts of Faith coming to Christ casting our selves on Christ relying on Christ these direct acts of Faith often repeated will sooner clear up our Interest in Christ than our judging by marks signs effects and fruits which can give no clearer Evidence of their truth than Faith does of its truth in a real closing with Christ in an absolute Promise this is the first act of Saving Grace antecedent to all qualifications in us or conditions performed by us this alters our State They understand not the Gospel who keep off from Christ for want of such and such qualifications which Christ expects not we should bring to him but derive from him an humble sense of our vileness and unworthiness is qualification enough for a Sinner to come to Christ and cast himself upon him When God has once said he will be our God he is ever after minding us of that speaking it over again and again upon all occasions Isa. 43. 1 2 3. c. Isa. 41. 10. Heb. 8. 11 12. I will and they shall God undertakes both parts of the Covenant The Covenant in the first initial Grace of it must be first executed on God's part towards us before it can be executed on our part towards God God begins with us doth his part first and that enables us to do our part i. e. we cannot give up our selves to him to be his people till he has writ his Laws in our Hearts and put his Spirit within us thereby declaring himself to be our God and strongly inclining us to give up our selves to him as his People God first enters into Covenant with us brings us under the bond of it and then governs us ever after by the Grace of that Covenant freely conferred upon us There may be conditions in the Covenant that speak out the order of it what is first and what follows upon it according to the method of the All-wise God in bringing hom-Sinners to Christ But I do not conceive there are any conditions previously required in us in order to our first entring into Covenant God takes whom he will into Covenant and leaves out whom he will 't is not of him that wills nor of him that runs but of God that shews Mercy 't is a Covenant of Free Grace consisting of absolute Promises what God will do our doing comes afterwards as a fruit and effect of God's work in us That which is done by us in the virtue and power of that which is first done in us by God must be ascribed to him and not to our selves Turn thou me and I shall be turned God gives the first turn before we can perceive any such thing as Conversion in our selves God lays in the principle and then draws us in the Power of it after himself The Terms of the Covenant may be outwardly propounded to many who never enter into Covenant with God nor God with them the Covenant is never executed in them and towards them though it be often preacht to them How often would I have gathered you and you would not Mat. 23. 37. When the word of
put no other sense upon any Scripture that is not consistent with and agreeable to this great fundamental Principle keeping close to the just analogy of Faith in all your tenents and opinions I know there are other things to be considered besides Remission of Sin but be sure you begin here don't suppose that some previous qualifications in your selves are required to incline God to pardon your sins for this will carry you unavoidably into a self-righteousness and then Christ will profit you nothing We are not pardon'd because we repent and lead holy lives but we repent and lead holy lives because we are fully Pardoned for Christ's sake Shut all self-righteousness out of your justification and take all that is Christ's into it both his active and passive Obedience though I had rather joyn them together as the Scriptures do and say That by the obedience of one man many are made righteous i. e. by the Obedience of Christ in Suffering and doing all that the Law required And in the Application of this Grace to us 't is clear to me that upon the Remission of all our Sins Righteousness is imputed to us and this is that which the Apostle calls Righteousness without works Rom. 4. 6 7 8. The Righteousness of works so far as it can be attained in this life is but an effect of the Righteousness of Faith You know not the right way of Salvation till you know how to obtain the Pardon of all your Sins then you will see how Christ is become your Righteousness Let us not be too curious in placing one part of our Justification upon his Passive and another part upon his Active Obedience Let us be sure to place all upon Christ and then we are right the Spirit does not reveal the whole Mystery of Christ at once to Believers there is a great deal of Christ to be learned by those who are Justified and Pardoned even after they are in a state of Grace Let us believe Christ to be our Righteousness and leave it to him to make out the way and manner of his being so Our terms and distinctions applied to the fundamental Points of Religion have occasioned many mistakes about them Let us therefore attend more strictly to the simplicity of our own Faith and not call in our Reason to prompt our Faith but rather submit our Reason to the instructions of Faith I would have all Christians study their own Faith more and dwell more in the light of it then they will be more familiarly acquainted with it and better understand themselves in every act of Faith they put forth Let us give our Faith time to act to open it self further to us and our selves time to take in the full sense of our Faith Generally our acts of Faith are too short sudden and transient We make a formal profession of Faith and say We believe in Christ for the Pardon of Sin but don't so well weigh and consider what we say or what we belâ—eve we turn off presently to something else as if we had done with our Faith when the Mystery of it is not half apprehended by us We should attend to it ponder it well in our minds look round it this is the way to keep up a presence of mind in us about what we Believe One act of Faith attended to will fill us with such thoughts and apprehensions of the Love of Christ that will furnish us with matter of discourse for many days But I don't find Professors so much concerned in their own Faith so much affected with it as they should they pass it over as a plain ordinary piece of Religion and having once declared they believe in Christ for the Pardon of Sin they have no more to do with him Whereas the Mystery of Faith should be studied all our lives long we should pray as Paul did Eph â— â—7 c. vide That we may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints Faith has more in it than most People are aware of 't is not so easy a matter to know comprehend and remember what is contained in an act of Saving-Faith we should discourse more with our own Faith look into all particulars search to the bottom by gathering up more and more of the unsearcheable riches of Christ. He that would judge of a curious piece of Workmanship brings it to the light views it round in every part till he has gathered up all the excellencies of it into his mind then he can speak knowingly in the praise and commendation of such a thing having made observations before of all that was admirable in it So you should sit down and consider the consequence of an act of Faith upon Christ for Justification and Pardon what depends upon it what you gain by it what you expect from it all is yours if Christ be yours therefore be persuaded to enter into your Chambers and Closets sit down with a Bible in your hands stir up your Faith consider the state of a Believer and then gather up what makes for your comfort out of the Word of God O how would your Faces shine you would be filled with joy unspeakable and full of Glory by Believing there is not that Joy among Believers because they don't think enough of what they Believe Do you Believe in Christ for the Remission of Sin Then there is a great deal in Christ a great deal in Sin a great deal in the actings of thy own Soul under this Faith to be considered of The knowledge experience and evidence of Faith are things that should be particularly examined and seriously thought of There is a full business in Faith enough to imploy a gracious Soul all his days Faith fills the mind with deep apprehensions of our own great concernments in Christ Jesus Were we wise indeed unto Salvation we should think of nothing oftner than of what we believe there may be Faith and there may be Truth in the heart and yet these Two may not be sufficiently mingled together therefore we should often apply our Faith to the Word that what it does not see at one time it may see at another what it does not reach by one act it may take in by the next The oftner Faith looks into the Word the more distinctly does it gather up the full sense of the Word it dwells in us in more Wisdom and Spiritual Understanding Did we take this course we should quickly find the benefit of it out of our Bellies would flow Rivers of living water we should be more skilful in the word of Righteousness more expert Believers ready to give a reason of the hope that is in us Believers have much to say in defence of Christ the Gospel and their own Profession and the more they study the point the more ready are they to give an answer to them who ask them any questions about their Religion they keep
God's Justice would not permit that man should be received into favour and freed from that misery he had brought upon himself 'till a sufficient Price was paid for his ransom nothing but the Blood of Christ could quench that flaming Sword of God's just Anger that kept man when cast out of Paradise from the Tree of Life So that the right that God recovered was for the good of man a right to shew Mercy to the worst of Penitent sinners without any reflection upon his Justice That he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus Rom. 3. 26. That a Holy God should justifie a sinful man is the greatest Mystery that ever the World heard of but God who works wonders hath in his infinite Wisdom Job 28. 23. glorified his Justice and Mercy both in our Salvation by Christ. God had a special right by Election in all his chosen Ones but foreseeing the fall of his Elect he provides for their Redemption in case of Transgression Election was unto Eternal Life but sin intervening between Election and Salvation threatens Eternal Death puts such a rub in the way which must be removed or else the Elect themselves could not be Saved therefore that Election might stand and obtain its end Rom. 11. 7. God provides for our Redemption laies help upon one that is Mighty we were chosen in him in whom we have redemption Eph. 1. 4 7. God had an Eye to Christ in our Election 't is that makes it sure What wonderful difficulties does Election meet with enough if it were possible to hinder the Salvation even of the Elect Mat. 24. 24. But Christ has secured them John 10. â—8 I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any pluck them out of my hand The end of our Redemption was not to rescue us quite out of the hand of God to take us out of his power for that cannot be but to let us into his Love to reconcile us to him to bring us to a nearer conjunction with him than ever John 17. 21. That which moved God to Redeem us was his Love and Pity Isa. 63. 9. CHAP. IV. Seventhly How by tbe Law of Redemption the Redeemed pass over Body and Soul into the possession of the Redeemer LAstly The relation that Christ hath to and the interest and propriety that he hath in all Believers as their Redeemer obliges them in Reason Justice Equity and Conscience to Dedicate and Devote themselves all that they are and have to his Service to Glorifie God in their Body and Spirit which are God's All the Persons of the Trinity have a special Interest in the Persons of all true Believers 1. God the Father Their Body and Spirit are God's says the Text they are Redeemed unto God Rev. 5 9. 2. God the Son as they are Members of Christ 1 Cor. 6. 15. 3. God the Holy Ghost as they are the Temples of the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6. 19. 1 Cor. 3. 6. Eph. 2. 21. 2 Cor. 6. 16. The Spiritual House of God 1 Pet. 2. 5. If any man defile the temple of God him shall God destroy 1 Cor. 3. 17. for the temple of God is holy which temple ye are Redemption fixing such a right and propriety in the Redeemer over the Redeemed must necessarily imply obedience and subjection on our part Ye are not your own How shall we live any longer in sin Rom. 6. 2. Being made free from sin we should become servants of righteousness v. 18. Believers are not sui juris to live as they list Rom. 14. 7 8 9. 1 Pet. 4. 2. For me to live is Christ Phil. 1. 21. My business is to serve him not to comply with the lusts of men 1 Cor. 7. 23. What to Glorifie God in our body viz. When in all our outward actions we govern our selves by the law of Christ following the rule of his word and the guidance of his Spirit The Body is for the Lord who is our Head to govern our bodies in all their motions Christ is the Saviviour of the body and will raise it up to eternal life Rom. 6. 5. and make it conformable to his glorious body Our Bodies are the Members of Christ and as such they ought to subject themselves to the command of the Soul under Christ mortifying the deeds of the Body through the Spirit Rom. 8. 13. The whole man is the temple of the Lord 1 Cor. 3. 16. Our Bodies are as it were the Porch of this temple therefore we should not touch any unclean thing 2 Cor. 6. 16 17. lest we grieve the Spirit of God who dwells in us The Sanctification and Holiness of the Body is opposed to any outward pollution of it by which we do defile and dishonour the Body 1 Thes. 4. 3 4 5. If Christ has such an undoubted right to your Bodies as they are his members and temples of the Holy-Ghost then be sure you keep them holy and undefiled I need not exhort you to flee Fornication you are all convinced of the evil of that but the outward Attire I will not say of whom Prov. 7. 10. lest I put some to the blush does not become serious Worshippers of the true God a more grave sober modest Apparel would convincingly testify to others the due respect and reverence you have for the holy Spirit dwelling in you your Bodies are the temples of the Holy-Ghost do not then prophane these temples by antick exotick dresses the sure emblems of a vain mind such plumes and wethercocks as some wear upon their heads become not the Pinacle of these Temples of the Holy-Ghost Therefore if there be any fellowship of the Spirit cloathe your selves as women professing Godliness and that I may apply this to both Sexes 1 Cor. 11. 14. I must tell you it argues a very Effeminate age to see so many men's head thatch'd with Womens hair what may be brought by some as an argument in point of health for the cutting of their own Hair will never justifie what is put on by most in the room of it When you have trickt up your selves according to the Mode and Fashion of the world before you go forth to be seen of others put this question to your selves Is this to Glorifie God in my body or will it not rather open the mouths of many to blaspheme that profession of Godliness that I have taken up Answer it to your Consciences if you can He that does not keep his body in a due subjection to the Spirit of Grace will never keep his heart long in a right frame What to Glorifie God in our Spirit To serve God only with our bodies is Hypocrisy it must be with Body and Spirit else our service is not reasonable service Rom. 12. 1. If our minds are not pure in the sight of God and our outward profession answerable thereunto in the sight of men Paul sets forth this inward service Rom. 1. 9. God is my
strain we move it a little though ordinarily we cannot stir it So there are some certain strains of Faith that give us that discerning of Spiritual Things that we never had before lifting up our heads within the Vail Let us then wait upon God for such further manifestations of his Spirit and pray That he would shine in our hearts the Light of the Knowledge of his Glory What shall I say more Now we live upon Creatures and have but a remote View of God in them and through them and this is our Grace But when we come to Heaven God will be all in all We shall stand in no need of Creature-Comforts to Eternity but shall derive all our support satisfaction and joy immediately from God himself His Spirit will be instead of Meat Drink and Cloaths to our bodies and will to Eternity fill up the Capacity of our Souls with Ravishing Joys and Delights And this is our Glory The sum of all is That Christ received into the heart by Faith as our Jesus our Redeemer and Saviour doth beget in the Soul thus relying upon him an earnest Expectation and lively Hope of all that Good that may consummate and perfect mans Happiness to Eternity And this in the Text is called Glory Christ in us the Hope of Glory So much for that part of the Text. I come now to the First Part of the Text. What are we to understand by Christ in us And this is Mystery upon Mystery It is evident that in Scripture Christ is said to be in us and we in him he to abide in us and we to abide in him I shall now only give you a more general Exposition of these Words in the general sense of the Text. I say Christ is said to be in us and we in him To abide in us and we in him John 15. 4. And all this must be spiritually understood all this is by Believing by Faith we receive him and by continued Acts of Faith we do keep him dwelling in our hearts Eph. 3. 17. We abide in Christ and Christ in us we are in him and he in us when we do persevere in the Faith when we have in our hearts an inward belief and persuasion of all the Gospel saith concerning Christ as our Redeemer and Saviour He is in the thoughts and imaginations of our hearts continually and we do act towards him according to what we believe of him this is believing indeed And here comes in hope as most suitable to the apprehensions of our Faith concerning Christ as our Jesus Christ in you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some render the Greek thus Christ among you outwardly Preached to you is the hope of Glory This is Doctrinally true but this is not enough to beget Hope Many hear and don't believe they have much of Christ without them but nothing of Christ within them Hope arises from something within impressed upon the mind the Soul doth not stir till then doth not put forth any act of Hope till Faith comes That sets all the wheels in motion draws our affections after him such is the power of Faith that we cannot but love and desire what we believe to be so good and desirable Hope naturally springs out of Faith and in this Hope you have the comfort of your Faith you see the benefits of Faith rejoycing in what you believe Gospel truths are very advantageous to a believer when he sees the advantage that accrues to him by them and therefore is filled with joy unspeakable and full of Glory by believing We should be little concerned in our Faith were it not for the Hope it begets It is life Eternal to know Christ in the light of that knowledge you perceive how you live in him and by him As Faith carries up our Souls to Heaven so it brings down all the good things of Heaven to our Souls Faith is a very enriching Grace rich in Faith saith the Apostle when the Soul takes notice of this it cannot but Hope What Faith hath obtained of God through Christ Hope goes out after longs for and patiently waits for things unseen Faith hath ensured them and therefore Hope will expect them So that Christ outwardly Preached is the Hope of Glory that is Doctrinally so It is Doctrinally true but it is not experimentally true to you and me that Christ is our Hope of Glory till we do believe in him Christ must be ours before this Hope in the Text can be ours Christ is not ours till we receive him by Faith from an inward Revelation of him Gal. 1. 16. Till then he is a Christ without us not in us With the heart man believes It is an inward act of the mind to believe in Christ. The Soul doth converse with Christ about its own Salvation our Thoughts are much taken up in considering him applying to our selves the benefits of his Death If Christ be thus in you you cannot but have Hope I am upon the general Exposition and shall shew you more at large how Christ is in us by believing I say Faith lets Christ into the Understanding Will and Affections Naturally when the Vnderstanding acts upon any Object it draws the species and image of that Object into its self Hence they say Intellectus intelligendo fit omnia the Understanding is every thing it understands That is it takes in the Idea Shape Image of that thing which it knows under all its distinguishing Properties else there would be confusion in the Understanding we should not know one thing from another which is not to know at all So Faith brings in Christ into the Soul under a peculiar Character as the fairest of Ten thousand proposes him as the greatest truth to the Understanding as the greatest good to the Will and frames conceptions of him accordingly thus is Christ formed in us Faith doth not take in Christ notionally only to lye by as other notions do in which we are little concerned but it takes him in in reference to our selves as a new Mould into which the Soul is to be cast as a Spirit and Principle of new life He comes to rule and reign and to reduce man to a conformity to himself And here lies the difference between historical and saving Knowledg one is purely Speculative the other is Experimentally Practical that is there is always something done upon it in and by the Soul 2 Cor. 3. 18. We do behold as in a glass the glory of God and are changed Pray observe that Text There is a Beholding and there is a Transformation upon that beholding a being changed into the same Glory We do not know Christ savingly if every thing we know of him doth not help to change us more and more into his Image I say we do not know Christ savingly till then You must judge of your saving knowledge of Gospel Truths by the lively impressions they make upon your hearts Are you brought to act do think that which you never did
is really in us we must needs be in him there is a mutual in-being in each other John 17. 21. That they may be all one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they may be one in us This is meant not of a Personal but of a Mystical Union a Spiritual Union Christ letting in the Virtue the Power of his Resurrection upon us Tit. 2. 14. 1 Pet. 1. 18. so purging our hearts from corruption and redeeming us from our vain conversation Secondly Christ must be in us because Christ hath much to do within us He hath a kingdom to set up Luke 17. 21. Many strong holds of Satan to pull down the strong man to cast out many lusts and corruptions to mortifie many Graces to raise up and strengthen He sanctifies us throughout not only in Body but in Mind and Spirit and therefore he must deal inwardly with us He takes away an heart of stone and gives an heart of flesh and this is inward work The Spirit of Christ strives with our Spirits about this deals with the hearts of men to turn them unto himself Many Checks many Calls many Pangs many Throws before Christ be formed in us Gal. 2. 19. He is a Jew who is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter Rom. 2. 29. This inward man is renewed and strengthned day by day by Christ living in us Gal. 2. 20. comp with 2 Cor. 4. 16. Tho Christ hath done much without us in dying for us yet if he did not come into us by his Spirit we should be little the better for all he hath done without us Christ is a Saviour out of us by his Merit and in us by the Virtue and Efficacy of his Spirit He makes a powerful entrance at our first Conversion he creates new Principles by which he works further and further upon the heart till he hath reduced it to perfect conformity to himself Now here may come in a Query Possibly some may say Could not Christ have done all within us What need he do any thing without us Might he not come and live in us without dying for us Might he not enter in the Soul and sanctifie us though he had not first suffered outwardly for us I answer No 1. Because the Justice of God had been then unsatisfied God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost were all unsatisfied They could have nothing to do with fallen Man in a way of Mercy till Satisfaction was made to Divine Justice 2. Supposing such a Sanctification man must be damned notwithstanding for his former sins Now no man will be at the pains to wash and cleanse a Vessel that must presently be broken in pieces and thrown away What Christ did in Person in our Nature without us that he doth Spiritually in our Hearts As he suffered on the Cross for us truly so he suffers much in us and by us meets with much opposition from in-dwelling Corruption The Fight of Faith is great and long even to our lives end our Warfare is not accomplished till then Tho Christ hath satisfied the Law and Justice of God in dying for us yet the same power must be put forth to make us believe this as in raising up Christ from the dead Christ meets with a Legal Conscience in every man that will not readily admit of the Grace of God till it be over-powered by the Spirit of Christ and sprinkled with his Blood It is a mighty work of Divine Power to bring over a trembling convinced sinner to trust in Christ for the Pardon of all his Sins There are many carnal Reasonings against this many thoughts and imaginations that do with a great deal of confidence exalt themselves against the Mystery of God's Grace in Christ. Now all these Thoughts must be brought into Captivity to the Obedience of Christ And this is a mighty work of Divine Power like levelling of Mountains and breaking Rocks asunder giving hearts of Flesh that may take in Impressions of God's Love to us in Christ and thankfully accept of Eternal Life as the Free Gift of God When it pleases God to open the wonderful Mysteries of his Grace to us by shining into our hearts he doth at last fully convince us of that which we could never believe before Were there more of this inward Religion among us more of the Power and Efficacy of the Gospel experienced in the hearts of Professors the savour of it would be much stronger in our lives Christ within makes every thing in the Soul bow down before him Let us not then keep at a distance from Christ but gather up nearer and nearer to him by Faith till we are united and joined to the Lord in one Spirit and then the Power of Christ will rest upon us 2 Cor. 12. 11. We shall be strengthned with might in our inward man Eph. 3. 16 17. It must needs be so if Christ be in us How strong is the Devil in the hearts of Wicked Men How doth he rage and rule in the children of disobedience Eph. 2. 2. Let Satan enter into Iudas what bold Attempts doth he make upon his Master How ready to betray him Thus when the Devil is in men how mad are they How doth he hurry them on to all manner of Wickedness till Christ who is stronger than this strong man enters in and binds him casting him forth Matt. 12. 25. Unconverted men act like so many mad-men the Devil is in them Satan reigns in them and it will never be otherwise till Christ comes into them The Power of Satan's Kingdom is founded in the Darkness of our Minds and when one beam of Saving Gospel-Light shines in upon us we are turned from the Power of Satan unto God the whole Soul is subjected to him every rebellious Thought is captivated to the Obedience of Christ. Till we feel Christ thus living in us we know not where we are nor what our state is If Christ be not in you I am sure you are not in Christ and what the sad consequence of that is you may see Ephes. 2. 12. At that time ye were without Christ being aliens from the common-wealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise without God in the world having no Hope But Christ in us is our Hope of Glory CHAP. III. I Shall now draw both Parts of the Text into one Doctrinal Observation which is plainly this That Christ in us is our Hope of Glory or Christ dwelling in our hearts by Faith now is the only sure ground and foundation of our Hope of Glory hereafter And therefore 1 Tim. 1. 1. Christ is called our Hope Why he is so called and how our Hope is grounded upon him I am now to shew 1. From the Nature of Faith by which we receive Christ. And 2. From the Object of Faith Christ received or Christ in us I shall shew you How Faith by receiving
See how the Psalmist Psal. 77. 7 8 9. under a fit of Unbelief doth not so much question himself as God's Faithfulness and Truth Is his Mercy clean gone doth his promise fail for evermore hath God forgotten to be gracious He had forgot himself and he thought that God had forgot himself But as I told you before Faith in the Power of Christ will carry it at last against all our fears At what time I am afraid I will trust in thee As there is something in Fear that makes us draw back from God so there is something in it that puts us forward The greater the extremity is the more apt we are to venture As a man pursued by an Enemy and running for his life tho he may boggle at some difficult pass he tries and tries again draws back his foot thinks he feels the ground sink under him but the Enemy being now at his heels he must through or Perish and so he ventures without any more ado and glad he is to find firm ground under his feet he did not think so till he was upon it And so it is with a weak Believer Faith doth not presently drop all its fears when it is coming to Christ. Act reliance upon Christ and you will find support which was the thing you doubted of by taking hold of Christ you will stay your selves and feel your selves upheld A Soul when actually come to Christ is rid of many fears it was under all the while it was coming and lives under a more comfortable Hope ever after Thus you see how Faith begets Hope how naturally it arises out of Faith In the Next place I shall shew you how Christ received or Christ in us doth cherish maintain and keep up this Hope in Believers Christ in us the hope of Glory saith the Text. Brethren Glory is a great thing and the Hope of Glory is a great Hope And great hopes must have a great foundation to support them There must be that in the ground of my Hope that will at least make it probable to me that the thing I Hope for is attainable that way else it is not a rational ground of Hope Now I will make it evident to you That a Believer is the most rational man in the world in all the actings of his Faith and Hope He goes upon sure ground he hath the clearest Evidence the fullest Conviction the most demonstrable Proof on his side that can be which heightens his Hope exceedingly Do you make good the foundation that Christ is in you of a truth and I will make good the Hope built upon it and prove it to be sufficiently grounded provided you are grounded and setled and stablished in the Faith Col. 1. 23. comp with Col. 2. 7. I am sure you will not be moved away from the Hope of the Gospel I shall shew you that Christ is the only foundation of a Christians Hope of Glory I prove it many ways First Christ removes all that may obstruct our Hope of Glory Secondly He hath done all that may raise and strengthen our Hope of Glory All that conduces to it that any ways tends to invest us in it and make it ours Thirdly Christ hath given us a famous instance of the full actual accomplishment of his whole Undertaking for us in himself Fourthly He hath given us some present earnest of all this in our selves Fifthly and Lastly Lest Death should dash all our Hopes he hath assured us of a Glorious Resurrection If I make out all this to you there will be no scruple left in the Case you must needs be convinced That Christ in you is your hope of Glory I begin with the First Christ hath removed all that may obstruct our Hope of Glory 1. He hath overcome the Devil that grand Adversary to our Souls The strong man is bound Matth. 12. 29. Captivity is led captive Ephes. 2. 4 8. Satan falls like lightning from heaven Luke 10. 18. He that had the power of death is destroyed Heb. 2. 14. The prince of this world is cast out Joh. 12. 37. Principalities and powers are spoyled triumphed over Col. 2. 15. And thus the head of the old serpent is bruised Gen. 3. 15. We are turned from the power of Satan unto God Acts 26. 18. And for this very purpose the Son of God was manifest that he might destroy the works of the Devil 1 Joh. 3. 8. You see how full how particular the Scripture is in setting forth the Victory that Christ gained over the Devil And all that he might secure unto us this Hope of Glory The devil was once in Hope to bring us all into the same place of Torment with himself but Christ hath appeared and hath destroyed and overcome that great destroyer of Souls 2. Christ hath freed us from the Curse of the Law and the Wrath of God Gal. 3. 13. comp with 1 Thess. 1. 10. He hath redeemed us from the curse being made a curse for us and hath delivered us from the wrath to come He was wounded for our transgressions He was made under the law Gal. 4. 4. He fulfilled all righteousness required in the law Matth. 3. 15. And 3. Christ hath taken away all Sin that causes shame and is therefore directly opposed to this Glory in the Text. Sin is a reproach to a man it fills him with shame and confusion of Face is a blot upon him leaves a note of infamy upon him Now Jesus Christ he bore our Sins in his own body on the tree 1 Pet. 2. 24. That we being dead to sin might live to righteousness While we live in Sin and live unto Sin we live to the dishonour of God to the reproach of our Profession and of all the pretended Hopes that we were under of our Eternal Salvation He was made sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5. 21. He gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity Tit. 2. 14. Thus you see how Christ hath removed all that may obstruct our Hope of Glory Secondly He hath done all that may raise and strengthen our Hope of Glory All that conduces to it that any way tends to invest us in it and make it ours 1. He satisfies the Justice of God in order to the free Remission of our Sins We are justified freely by his Grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Rom. 3. 24 25 26. 2. Christ doth not only justifie us procure Pardon of our Sins but he also reconciles us to the Holiness of God by his sanctifying Spirit Before we were Enemies to God in our minds by wicked works but being justified God doth immediately begin to sanctifie to reconcile us to himself to the Power Purity and Strictness of Gospel-Holiness he transforms us more and more into his own Image from Glory to Glory all this tends to Glory you see by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3. 8. God's
himself here under all our Infirmities And he sends his Spirit to put a Beauty and a Comeliness upon us to adorn the Bride to clothe her with beautiful garments against the day of his coming that she may be fit to stand in the Presence of the Bridegroom as the king's daughter all glorious within and without too then being perfectly sanctified both in Body Mind and Spirit The Spirit of Christ gives us access now into the Grace of God but nothing but the glorified Person of Christ can gives us access into the Glory of God Come ye blessed All are admitted into Heaven by the glorified Person of Jesus Christ. The Spirit of Christ acting now through the Word in the Absence of the Person of Christ prepares us for his coming keeps us waiting for that blessed day Rev. 22. 17. The spirit and the bride say Come The spirit saith so in the Word saith so in the hearts of the Saints that is makes them to say so The whole Church and every particular Member saith the same thing for himself Amen so come Lord Jesus come quickly If Believers were asked one by one Whether they desire the Coming of their Lord they would all agree with John and say Amen so come Lord Jesus they care not how soon Come quickly They are all of a mind in that thing The earnest longings of every gracious Soul after Christ are from the Spirit of Christ breathing in Believers kindling and keeping up strong desires in them after Christ They retain these desires in their Spirits after death The Souls under the Altar cry out How long Lord holy and true c. Rev. 6. 9 10. We are still to conceive of the Spirit as the Spirit of Christ. It is Christ in us shedding abroad his Love in our hearts uniting them to himself He will see we shall not forget him therefore he dwells in us by his Spirit to keep up love in our hearts to his Person And is not this a good ground of hope That Christ and Saints shall have a joyful meeting ere long who do thus continually remember each other The heart of Christ is towards them and their hearts are towards him They are joined together in one spirit now The Glory of the Saints lies in beholding the Glorified Person of Christ because in him they see the Human Nature so highly dignified and exalted in the Divine Person of Christ. They see the express Image of God in Christ shining out in the brightness of Glory They see the Image of Christ in themselves shining out in the Perfection of Grace When he shall appear they shall be like him which is their Glory Thus Christ dwelling in us now by his Spirit raises our Souls to the Hope of this Glory in the Text. The Application contains a Threefold Exhortation 1. That you would be persuaded to examine and prove your Hopes Whether they be well grounded yea or no. 2. If you find them otherwise not sufficiently grounded upon Christ that you would be persuaded to throw away those vain Hopes to lay them aside And 3. That you would earnestly labour every one of you to come under the Power of this true Christian Hope in the Text and then you will know where you are I begin with the First Let us examine and prove our Hope to be well-grounded upon Christ within us 2 Cor. 13. 5. Know ye not your own selves how that Christ is in you of a truth except ye be Reprobates that is such who dying in that state God will reject at the last day We should do all we can to secure our Hopes lest our Crown be taken from us Hope rises out of Faith yet we must not so take it upon trust as not to be able to give a Reason of it 1 Pet 3. 15. Hope without Faith is Presumption Hope without Faith is without a Reason a foolish Hope Till we are justified by Faith we can have no Hope but we lye under all the damning Circumstances of our sins exposed to the Wrath and Vengeance of God To be without Christ implies all misery Then we have no hope Eph. 2. 12. He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life nor shall ever see life 1 John 5. 12. We should not rest till we know this because it may be known The Spirit is given us to this very end 1 John 3 24. To shew us that we are in Christ and Christ in us John 14. 20 21. Such a manifestation of Christ to us is a great Argument of his love to us ver 21. The Spirit doth testifie of Christ John 15. 26. Besides it is a Glory to Christ to make him our Hope of Glory We render him great in the eyes of men when we look upon him as one who makes us great The generality of men know nothing of Christ but what the Faith and Hope of Christians speak him to be They understand the Language of your Hope who have none themselves How mean thoughts soever they have of Christ yet they cannot but look upon him as one greatly admired by others whose expectations from him are so high Ambition is natural to men all would have Glory tho few take the right way to obtain it The present satisfaction men take in sins may be great yet their Hopes of any future good from them are very small When they give themselves time to think they are usually surprized with some fear of the ill consequence of their sins they are under some secret bodings of some evil that will follow Let them ask their Consciences if it be not so Therefore that you may have more solid grounds of Future Blessedness search for Christ within you rest not till you feel the quicking Influences of his Divine Power and Spirit in your selves till you feel Christ living in you It is one thing to walk as men another thing to walk as Christians in the Spirit of Christ. Did we pray more to the Father to reveal his Son in us form Christ in us make us Partakers of the Divine Nature waiting for the coming down of the Spirit upon us we should be endued with Power from on High we should know what it is to do all things in the strength of Christ to have all our Works wrought in God What it is to act supernaturally which every Christian should aim at experimentally to know what it is to act supernaturally They who do so will know that they do so They cannot be well ignorant of that which is so new so much another thing from all that is Natural They are lifted up above themselves they are carried away by the Spirit of God and they may know that they are in that Spirit every such appearance of God in the Soul is a manifestation of the Spirit not only to others but more especially to our selves The Spirit bears Witness that the Spirit is truth The Spirit witnesseth with and to
all discouraging thoughts that may arise in thee Deut. 7. 17 18 19. If thou shalt say in thine heart these Nations are more than I how shall I dispossess them Thou shalt not be afraid of them but shall well remember what the Lord thy God did to Pharaoh and unto all Egypt Thou shalt not be afrighted at them for the Lord thy God is among you and he will put out these Nations by little and little v. 21 22 We complain things go on but slowly there is little done God chuses to do things by little and little consider what hath been done and don 't make it less than it is it may seem little in comparison of what shall be yet in it self as it is 't is very great And therefore let us argue as David did 1 Sam 17 37. Psal. 3. 7 8. Psal. 9. 10 11. Psal 143 5 6 7 8. so Jehosaphat 2 Chron. 20. 7 9 12. so Paul 2 Cor. 1. 10. God that hath delivered and doth deliver and we trust will yet deliver The remembrance of what God hath done and doth do will strengthen our Hope in him for the future 3. Converse much with the Scriptures especially with the Promises that through Patience and comfort of the Scriptures you may have hope Rom 15. 4. How did David raise his Hope from the Word of God Psal. 119. in many places v 42 72. and elsewhere in that Psalm When a man gives his word to us again and again we believe him and reckon our selves sure of what we ask having so many repeated promises that it shall be done The Word of God is a living Word in this respect because as often as we mingle it with Faith it represents God speaking afresh to us in particular Faith hearing this again and again is more confirmed Faith at first came by hearing and the oftner it hears God speaking in his Word the more it is strengthned in a lively Hope of all that God hath promised 4. Look upon it as your Duty to Hope in God He hath commanded us because he knows we are apt to doubt and question his Promises It is not presumption but Duty to Hope in God relying upon his free Grace and not upon our own deserts which never begets a true humble Christian Hope but a proud arrogant Confidence in a mans self Whereas the fiducial Confidence of Hope is always derived from Faith Eph. 3. 12. 5 thly and Lastly Look unto the God of Hope Live in a constant dependance upon his Spirit to work it in you It is through the Power of the Holy Ghost we abound in hope Rom. 15. 13. That we are brought under the Power of a Christian Hope which arises from such hidden causes such deep grounds not known to flesh and blood that none but God can demonstrate the reasonableness and certainty of our Hope He knows how to beget us again to a lively Hope by the Resurrection of Christ from the Dead which is more than a Promise It is the actual accomplishing of that in another that makes it credible to us that God can raise the Dead and that as he hath raised up Christ so he will also raise up us at the last Day To the former directions add these Two things following If you would ground your Hope aright upon Christ within you so as to come under the Power of it Then 1. Consider well whether Christ be indeed in you whether you have felt the quickning influences of his Spirit in your own Souls Christ is your life Col. 3. 4. comp with John 11. 25. Consider then whether he be indeed your Life use all your Spiritual senses about this it is no easy matter to understand this Mystery There are many who lead a Natural Rational Moral Life under a Christian Profession and may be estranged from the Life of God all their Days You see how Paul distinguishes in the case lest he should mistake himself or be mistaken by others Gal. 2. 20. I live saith he yet not I but Christ liveth in me And so may a Saint now say I understand Gospel Mysteries yet not I as a man by the Light of my own Reason but as a Man in Christ in the Light of Faith by which I know not only that such things are revealed in the Word but also that they shall be accomplished unto all those who rely upon Christ Neither can I give any other reason for their accomplishment but so it is Written and thus saith the Lord. This is to speak like a Christian when we resolve all into Christ becoming fools in our selves that we may be wise in him The Life I now live in the Flesh saith he I live by the Faith of the Son of God take away that Faith and all my Hope as a Christian vanishes away You had need have a true Spiritual Light rightly discerning of Spiritual things to know that Christ is in you as your Life It cannot be known but by Faith Though Faith be very rational in all its arguings from Gospel Principles yet Faith it self is not properly an act of Reason but rather an act above Reason it carries the Understanding above its Reason to act my Understanding so as to assent to that which I have no Natural Reason for This is the knowledge of Faith a strange way of knowing which the world counts Foolishness Supernatural truths don't rise up into our Minds as the product and consequent of our Reason this is humane knowledge according to our Logick But all supernatural truths are let down through the Word by the Spirit of God into our Understandings they are too deep too mysterious and profound to be conveyed to our Understandings by the ordinary course of Reason And therefore God opens another door and lets them into the Soul by Faith Thus he writes his Law in our Hearts puts his Truth into our inward parts Where is the Scribe Where is the Wise Where is the Disputer of this World How doth God confound the Wisdom of the Wise from whom he hides these things which he reveals to Babes and Sucklings Poor humble Souls they have the knowledge of the Heavenly Mysteries and the World knows not how they came by it Whence hath this man this wisdom and this knowledge having never learned say they of Christ Matth. 13. 54. comp with John 7. 15. They wonder'd that any not brought up in their Schools should be more knowing than themselves It is an astonishment to the World to consider what knowledge poor humble Saints have of things which they do in no wise understand 2. Have a care of too gross conceptions of Christ within you You must understand the Text Spiritually As Reason brings Natural things into your Minds and gives you an Intellectual Vision of them So Faith brings Heavenly things into your Minds and gives you a Spiritual Vision of them Christ is first known to us by Faith There is no knowing him but by Believing in him no coming to
him no seeing of him but as the Soul moves towards him in the Light of Faith God shines in our hearts saith the Scripture the Light of the knowledge of his Glory in the face of Jesus Christ and this Light of knowledge is Faith When we Believe we know Christ we See him we Come to him we Rely upon him Rejoyce in him we Love and Obey him all the actings of the Soul towards Christ they are from Faith representing him to us out of the Word And when we believe the Report of the Gospel concerning him we are persuaded and must be persuaded of the Truth of that which by a present Act of Faith we do Believe There goes no more to your knowledge persuasion and satisfaction than real Believing Faith in its own Nature is all Evidence though Flesh and Blood do contradict this Evidence seek to cast clouds over it yet those doubts that arise they come not from Faith but Unbelief that accompanies it more or less in every act we perform The more Faith the more Hope the more Unbelief the less Hope Hope will be in a proportion to the degree of our Faith The Spirit works Faith in us and then shews us Christ in the Light of it Christ is let into the Soul by Faith there he is and there he dwells transforming us into his own Image by our Faith in him As Faith works by Love so the Spirit works by Faith I mean by our Faith in him The Spirit knows how to improve our Faith in Christ to draw arguments from thence to bring us to any thing which the Gospel calls for I am persuaded I speak to many who have Christ within them who would not quit their Interest in him for Ten thousand Worlds if so you must fetch the reason of this from your Hope in Christ What! Not part with Christ upon any terms and yet Hope for nothing from him not part with Christ upon any terms and yet get nothing by him He doth not offer himself to you upon these terms but that ye may be enriched by him in all things You dishonour Christ and forget your Faith when you don 't Hope for great things from him I Beseech you Sirs Bethink your selves a little of your standing in Christ what hold you have taken of Eternal life in him and don't after all say I have no Hope Neither would I have you content your selves in bare saying you have Hope But stir it up act it shew it rejoyce in it daily Hope to the end that others may see how happy you count your selves in Jesus Christ tell every one you meet That Christ in you is your hope of Glory We often Preach and Hear of Faith and Hope but we practice those Graces at leasure Sermons of Faith and Hope don't beget these Graces in us nor draw them out into act Pray consider of this were our hearts changed under the Preaching of the Word into a frame suitable to it this would be a token for good unto us that the Lord is indeed among us If Sermons of Hope did end in lively actings of Hope we should all go home Rejoycing Blessing and Praising of God for his abundant Mercy towards us Great Hopes can't easily be forgotten we naturally run into our Hopes we are fond of them they present themselves to our Thoughts continually have easy access to us they take up our Minds daily making pleasing representations to us of the Good that is coming towards us I would leave you under the Contemplation of these things Did we converse more with our Hopes of Heaven and Glory this would keep sorrow from our hearts and cause us always to rejoyce in the Lord. Here is a present Cordial for the Poorest the most Afflicted and Disconsolate Soul How uncomfortable soever your present circumstances may be if you would get up into this Hope what happy Men and Women would you be you would count your selves happy and be filled with joy unspeakable and full of Glory None of your wants would pinch you you would be lifted up above the afflicting sense and smart of any outward Cross that may now lye heavy upon you All your Afflictions would be light if compared to this Eternal weight of Glory which weighs down all troubles and doth wonderfully alleviate and moderate all your Griefs You may be AS sorrowful in the Judgment of others and yet always rejoycing in your own Spirits from the Power of Hope It may be some will say How can this be Were we never so high in these Hopes yet we should grow weary and restless under them because all is put off to the Resurrection till the Coming of Christ and who can tell when that will be Hope deferred makes the heart sick we may faint under our desires before they come to pass Prov. 13. 10. I Answer In worldly hope it is so worldly hope is not so strengthned is not so established hath not that overcoming Power and Virtue in it as this Christian Hope hath for these Two Reasons 1. Because of the firm Assurance we have of the certain Accomplishment of our Hopes which cannot be said of any outward humane worldly hope As Christians we know our hope will not make us ashamed Rom. 5. 5. comp with Rom. 8. 38 39. A Christian knows his Hope is founded upon immutable Promises and this doth strangely animate the Power of a Christian Hope 2. We cannot flag in our Christian Hope because of the present satisfaction it gives us Wordly Hope is but a lank thing promises fair but hath little present influence upon the minds of men to give them any real satisfaction but a Christian Hope doth give present satisfaction There is always something in hand some pledges some earnest of all that is to follow and this is sufficient for our present occasions to serve the turn till we have finished our Pilgrimage here below They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up as with eagles wings they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint Isa. 40. 31. There is a strange Strength and Virtue in a Christian Hope The Hope of a Christian is a feeding Hope a Soul-satisfying Hope there is no languishing under it it feeds upon the present overflowings of the Promise Tho the thing it self is not yet brought forth out of the Promises yet the Actings of Faith and Hope do cause a strange present overflowing from the Promise that drops into the heart like Oil to refresh it I say the Promises are continually dropping in fresh Comforts giving us fresh Tastes of the Love and Goodness of God Now under this satisfaction our expectation is raised and this again heightens our present satisfaction we have enough now are full are rich have all our hearts can now hold and yet we do see more a coming with a further Capacity Skill and Wisdom to improve it I shall see him but not now Numb 24. 17.
to thrive under Ordinances In the Description of John Baptist's Office we may see the nature use and end of a Gospel Ministry all must be called to that Office who are imployed in it they must prepare the way and seek to lead their Hearers to Christ Preaching remission of sin through faith in him shewing how all flows from the tender Mercy of God setting forth Christ as the true light of them who sit in darkness c. Before Christ's time the Patriarchs Priests Levites and Prophets carried on this Ministry After Christ's Incarnation John the Baptist was the first Gospel-Minister after him the Apostles and Evangelists by an extraordinary Call then Pastors and Teachers as the ordinary Ministers of the Gospel who continue still in the Church and whose duty still it is to seek the Salvation of their Hearers and Hearers should come to learn the way of Salvation by Christ. To give knowledge of Salvation c. Not that Preachers can infuse knowledge into their Hearers none but God can do this as Dan. 1. 17. There the words have a greater Emphasis than here when applied to men who only prepare the way by Instruction afford some outward help to bring us to the knowledge of Salvation they do aditum patefacere they prepare the way make it plain lay it open setting before you the credenda what you are to believe and do they tell you what way and method what manner and means God has made choice of to bring about Salvation for they give us notice of all this speaking in a plain familiar manner that men may know what is contained in the Bible what the main drift and scope of the Gospel is which we cannot be ignorant of when it 's told us in such plain and intelligible terms which if we do not stop our ears will inform us whether we will or no of the History of the Bible we cannot but conceive something of the matter they are willingly ignorant who being so taught yet slight all they hear and won't regard it where there has been such an outward manifestation of the Truth we may say as 2 Cor. 4. 2 3. If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost Ministers should do what in them lies to help the understanding of their Hearers bringing down things to their Capacities giving the sense and causing the people to understand the reading Neh. 8. 8. This is the way for a Minister to save himself and them that hear him 1 Tim. 4. 16. Many common Hearers can't understand what they read and hear unless some man guide them as the Eunuch said of himself Act. 8. 30 31. When we have in handling the word commended our selves to every man's Conscience in the sight of God 2 Cor. 4. 2. we must leave the success of our Ministry to him whether the word be a savour of life or death to him Paul may Plant and Apollo may Water but it 's God who giveth all the encrease You see how Ministers give the Knowledge of Salvation by Publishing the Gospel i. e. by Preaching Christ Rom. 16. 25. They say to the People what the Angel did to the Shepherds Luk. 2. 10 11. Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people For unto you is born a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. A great multtitude of the Heavenly Host join with the Angel in praising God for his good will towards men v. 14. This is the Ministers work now to declare these glad Tidings this faithful saying so worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners 1 Tim. 1. 15. Christ commanded his Apostles to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature Mark 16. 15. To tell them plainly there is no other name under Heaven by which we can be saved but the name of Christ. One would think this were enough to set all the world upon enquiring after Christ. But who hath believed our report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed Men will not receive this Testimony that God hath given of his Son We who are Ministers cannot finish our course with joy and the ministry which we have received of the Lord Jesus if we do not testifie of the gospel of the grace of God Act. 20. 24. And as for me I would say with Samuel 1 Sam. 12. 23. God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you and to shew you the good and the right way He that hath ears to hear let him hear Having shewed what this knowledge or notice is which Ministers give to the People of the way of Salvation by Christ I shall now speak something of the notice the People take of this how they resent it how they receive it what impression it makes upon the generality of Professors They assent to it seem to be convinced of it and do profess to believe it but in such a cold careless manner that they are not at all concerned in the matter Putting the greatest cheat upon themselves that can be 't is below the reason of a man in all it 's other actings to counterfeit knowledge in things so nearly relating to himself and of so dreadful a consequence if neglected and not strictly attended to to profess to believe in Christ for Salvation and yet never come to him for that Salvation never deal with him about it is such a gross piece of Hypocrisy and self-deceit that one would wonder men should be guilty of Such a formal profession comes not from any true conviction or real belief of what they profess but from custom education and a desire to be like other men they walk in the shadow of other mens Religion who have none of their own they take up the name of Believers and say they have Faith when they know or may know they have none such a feigned Faith undoes Thousands Since they say they have Faith and profess it how does it appear they have it not Appear Ans. As plain as the Sun at Noon If a man say he is convinced there is but one remedy in the whole World that can cure that disease he is sick of and yet refuse it when it 's offered to him I am sure if he be in his right Wits he lyes in saying he is so convinc'd what convinced that his House is on fire and yet not call out for help and seek to quench it or that this is a Cup of Poyson in his hand and yet drink it off This is to take away the force and power of reason over man to make him unconcerned in and for himself even when he is under the greatest sense of imminent danger that such a through conviction must needs bring him to nothing brings things nearer to a man's reason then conviction does 't is an Act of the understanding by which he owns and acknowledges that for truth which he
Sin but the Scripture seems to make them the same Rom. 4. 5 6 7. I think they are so inseparably joined together that no man who has obtained the Pardon of all his Sins ever was or can be at a loss for a Righteousness to compleat his Justification and entitle him to the reward of Eternal Life promised in the Law I conceive the Pardon of all our Sins is a Righteousness we may boldly appear before God in because it lays before God that full satisfaction that Christ made for Sin by his active and passive Obedience which is not only satisfactory for Sin but also meritorious of Eternal Life so that all the ends of Justification are accomplished in the Remission of Sin What precise conceptions we may have of Remission of Sin and imputation of Righteousness as differing in the notion will not argue any real difference in the things themselves We must have a care we do not separate what God has so intimately joined together This hath occasioned all those unhappy Controversies about Justification as I shall shew anon They who want a sufficient Justifying Righteousness after the full Remission of all their Sins do not rightly resolve Remission of Sin into the proper procuring causes of it viz. the satisfaction that Christ made for Sin by what he did and suffered for us from his Birth to his Death so it became him to fulfil all Righteousness that he might be the end of the Law for Righteousness to them who Believe So that Christ himself is our Righteousness the Lord Jehovah our Righteousness the Law is as well satisfied with what Christ hath Done and Suffered for us as if we our selves and perfectly kept the Law or Died by it for our Sins 'T is dangerous separating Christ and his Righteousness as if we were to derive a justifying-Righteousness from Christ distinct from the Person of Christ This notion has insensibly led men to seek a Righteousness in themselves not wrought out for them but wrought in them by Christ this indeed is the right way of Sanctification but not of our Justification The Scripture directs us to seek our Justification in the Person of Christ only by Receiving him Believing in him to them is Remission of Sin Promised and everlasting life John 1. 12. John 3. 15 16. John 6. 40 47. Rom. 4. 5. Rom. 3. 26. Acts 10. 43. Acts 26. 18. Some do too nicely distinguish between freedom from Punishment and a right to eternal Life as if one could be obtained without the other which is impossible Certainly not to Die is to Live not to Die eternally is to Live eternally the expulsion of Darkness is the bringing in of Light He who is counted worthy to escape the Punishment threatned by Law is worthy to receive the Reward promised by Law I see not what should hinder it since no fault of Omission or Commission can be charged upon him whose Sins are Pardoned If after the full Remission of all our Sins we were to receive eternal Life from the Law then some Righteousness distinct from Pardon a Righteousness wrought by our selves after Pardon would be antecedently necessary to our justification unto life But that is not so for every Pardoned Sinner receives eternal Life from the hand of Free-Grace as the Gift of God freely given without any consideration of any works of Righteousness done by us Gal. 2. 6. 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 If there had been law which could have given life verily righteousness should have been by the law Gal. 3. 21. But since the Law does not give Life therefore that Righteousness that lets us into eternal Life is not of the Law but that of Faith Phil. 3. 9. The Law admits of no Pardon allows of none is not at all concerned about that matter but seeks its own satisfaction in a way of strict justice the Law is all for Justice Mercy comes in by another Covenant 'T was never in the nature and constitution of the Law to give life to a Sinner the Law can't do that Rom. 8. 3. It can give life to a Righteous man but not to a Sinner The Law will prosecute him to death 't would act contrary to it self to its own eternal Sanction and declared judgment if it should do otherwise and therefore the Law as a Covenant of Life and Death is fully determined in the Death of Christ towards all Believers who are no longer under the Law but under Grace Yet I say the rigour of the Law in it self is not relaxed by the Pardon of Sin only it does not exert its condemning power upon the persons of Believers because Christ has already Suffered for their Sins but still the Law remains and ever will remain a Sin-condemning and Sin-avenging Law it has as much power as ever to stay the Sinner but it can slay him but once and the stroke of the Law is so heavy in that case that it need not smite him a second time Christ indeed being God as well as Man recovered from that deadly blow the Law gave him for our Sins and so saved himself and us Here is no relaxation of the Law but a full execution of it full satisfaction given to it the whole debt is paid to the utmost farthing by Christ our surety Now all the Life Glory and Happiness that follows upon this comes in by Grace Christ having Redeemed us from the Curse of the Law and the Law being fully satisfied cannot be against any thing that Christ shall do for his Redeemed ones he may freely bestow what he will upon them having brought them under a Covenant of Grace he may and he will pursue that Covenant to the utmost towards them for their good till he has made them as happy as infinite Love and Grace can make them Sin being taken away and expiated by the Death of Christ Believers do pass over of course into his Life they Rise with him he who has called us into a Communion with him in his Death will not deny us Communion with him in his Life and Resurrection otherwise the benefits accruing to us by his Death in a freedom from Punishment would never have made us happy had we been quite shut out from his Life 't was for that end he Died for us that we might Live for ever in him by him and with him The Law and the works of the Law contribute nothing to this Life and for our Evangelical Holiness that is but the fruit and effect of this eternal Life derived from Christ already begun in us and exerting it self gradually according to the measure of our imperfect Sanctification here All our Evangelical works are but so many expressions of that new Life
not but there may be matter of doubt among the Saints in heaven it self whether they be real Saints or no. 'T is the weakness and imperfection of things that casts them under a suspicion but when they shine out in their full beauty and glory there is no room for any objection Does any man question whether the Sun be risen at Noon-day If perfect Day will not pass for Day then there is no difference between Day and Night Light and Darkness must be all one 'T is not a right way to a setled peace of Conscience that some take who instead of an humble application to free Grace for the Pardon of sin do apply themselves to their own goods works considering how holy they have been how holy they are how holy they intend to be and all this in order to their Justification at last 't is a hard matter to keep men humble under such thoughts they will be glorying in the flesh and think themselves something when they are nothing To look for Justification by our own Holiness will prove an ineffectual motive unto Holiness either they are discouraged from the visible imperfection of their Holiness or else they grow remiss in it thinking that any thing will serve to justifie them since perfect Righteousness is not required such as they have must serve the turn rather then fail of eternal life any thing will do under the umbrage of it may be but a pretended sincerity a good meaning must answer for a bad life and on they go in their wonted evil course all is but imperfection and weakness and the Covenant of Grace not requiring perfection will bear with that and pass it by I confess there is Grace enough in the Gospel to Pardon all your sins but whether the best of you have good works enough to justifie your Persons you had best see to that I dare appeal to all your Consciences in point of experience whether you do not find your selves growing more holy and conscientiously strict in your walking with God under an humble dependance upon the Free Grace of God in Christ Jesus for the Pardon of all your sins than ever you did under your greatest endeavours to save your selves by your own works The Grace of God teaches to deny all ungodliness and nothing will effectually do it but that The great question among us this day about Justification is Whether our Good Works and Evangelical Righteousness have not some place in our Justification as con-causes or social causes having some partial influence at least that way I would propound two Expedients for Peace 1. Since the main point of difference is about the use of our Good Works at the day of Judgment when we shall be sententially justified or pronounced just by God I would have the decision of this left to that day for I fear we are not likely to agree sooner Then 't will appear that evidences of Faith are no cause of the Justification of our persons in the sight of God That will be resolved into pure Faith resting upon Christ for Righteousness and life 2. Since we cannot agree in the nature use and proper ends of Evangelical Righteousness let us more strictly intend the thing it self and labour every one of us to be more Evangelically holy and righteous in our lives and conversations Did we live more by Faith in Christ Jesus we should quickly see how all good works rise out of that Faith by which all true Believers are already justified All that An inomianism that the Orthodox Preachers of Free Grace are falsly charged with lies here Because they maintain and I hope ever will maintain that the first thing a convinced sinner is to eye in his turning to God is the Free Grace and Mercy of God in Christ for the Pardon of Sin Evangelical Conviction leads him to a reliance upon Christ in some degree of Saving Faith for the pardon of all his Sins and this Faith begets in him a secret hope of Pardon and is the spring of all after Sanctification viz. of Mortification of Sin of Repentance of all new Obedience Let this be remembred as the main thing we contend about that we begin our Religion at the Grace of God and not think to ground our Faith in Christ upon any legal preparations or works of our own We ought not to hold a convinced sinner one moment under Legal Terrors without making an offer of Grace in Christ to him I see not what should hinder a sinner under the height of Legal Conviction from hanging himself as Judas did I am sure a thorough Legal Conviction of Sin will sink any man into utter despair if Faith in Christ come not in immediately to his relief Indeed those who are but half convinced by the Law and know not the strict Spiritual sense of it may betake themselves to their works and duties and think to save themselves that way but this is so vain a thought I will not spend time to confute it you who have lived so long under the Light of the Gospel can answer that your selves Besides Pure Legal Convictions have a greater tendency to Despair than to Faith they naturally work despair but 't is the work of God a supernatural work of his Spirit that any under such Convictions are made to believe in Christ. The Conviction becomes Evangelical in all who believe and it is Faith makes it so Evangelical Conviction includes Legal Faith indeed pointing to Christ abates something of the Terror of the Law and by a clearer Gospel-light expounds the law into its true sense and meaning which no natural man can gather from the bare Letter of the Law and thus Faith by the Law lets us further into the knowledge of sin than the Law alone without the Gospel could ever do And this is that Faith we preach as the beginning of all true Conversion and the only spring of all true Holiness We cannot begin to lead a holy life till we first look unto Christ by Faith for the pardon of sin CHRIST THE Great Redeemer of Body and Soul 1 COR. VI. 20. For ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are God's CHAP. I. FOR ye are bought with a price c. i. e. with the Price of the Blood of Christ who has redeemed us to himself and purchased an everlasting Right in and Dominion over our bodies and souls therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are God's Or thus Obs. The absolute Dominion that God has over us and the special right that he hath in us and to us not only as our Creator but as our Redeemer lays a strong Obligation upon us to glorifie God in our body and in our Spirit which are his 'T is fit that man should have the use of his own things what he has bought and paid for we stand much upon our Property would not have that invaded meum tuum
must be preserved inviolable to every one Pray see you don't invade God's property which you cannot do without manifest injustice to God and wrong to your selves we are depending Creatures because we are Creatures our being well-being our safety comfort and sufficiency lyes in another and not in our selves A Creature separated and cut off from all Divine influences must needs wither away and sink into nothing God hath bought you have a care of selling your selves away from him into other hands of alienating your selves from God as if you could shift well enough without him have a care of living to your selves of bringing forth fruit to your selves Hos. 10. 1. All that you are and have is God's and all that you do should be for God 'T is a rule in Civil Law quodcunque per servum adquiritur id Domino adquiri Whatever a Servant gets he gets to and for his Master and that a Servant running away from his Master does furtum sui facere he steals away himself he takes away that which is none of his own a Servant was reckoned among the Goods Utensils and Possessions of his Master he had nothing at his own disposal all was his Masters and for his use So are all Believers vessels of honour sanctified and meet for the master's use prepared unto every good work 2 Tim. 2. 21. Whos 's they are and whom they serve Acts 27. 23. Did we better consider whose we are we should quickly see whom we ought to serve They live without God indeed who cast him off will not be governed by him but resolve to live as they list to speak and act as they please our lips are our own Psal. 12. 4. Our hands our strength our estates are our own who is Lord over us I shall from this Text shew you whose you are to whom you belong who is your Lord and Master to whom you are accountable for every thing done in the Body even to him who hath bought you and hath the first right to every thing that is your his servants must serve him Rev. 22. 3. That I may the better clear up the interest and right that God hath in you and the Service and Duty you owe to him as your Lord and Master I shall cast all I have to say from this Text under these following heads viz. 1. Who are they who are said to be bought 2. Who was the Buyer 3. What was the price paid by Christ for our Redemption 4. Who set the price of our Redemption so high 5. To whom was the price paid 6. For whom and to what end was it paid 7. How by the Law of Redemption the Redeemed pass over Body and Soul into the possession of the Redeemer First Who are they who are said to be bought Ye are bought i. e. The believing Corinthians and all other Believers whose hearts God has drawn to close in with Christ by a true saving Faith as their only Redeemer and Saviour Till Faith be wrought in us we can have no sure evidence that we are among God's Redeemed ones 't is Faith only that tells us this from the word of God ye are bought this implies that we were sold under sin reduced to a miserable state of Bondage by our Apostacy from God which none could deliver us from but Jesus Christ our mighty Redeemer and Saviour Secondly Who was the Buyer Christ our Redeemer who was God and Man The right of Redemption among the Jews lay in the next Kinsman who was to purchase the Widow's land and to marry her person Deut. 25. 5. comp with Ruth 4. 3 4. That Christ might claim kindred with us in order to a Marriage afterwards to be compleated he took part of our flesh Heb. 2. 14. A body hast thou prepared me Heb. 10. 5. I am willing to take it up lo I come to dye in that Body for all the Elect that having overcome death I may be Married to them and become their Head and Husband had an Angel offered himself supposing him otherwise qualified he could not have been our Redeemer because he must be akin to us bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh who undertakes that Office therefore I say Christ took up that Body prepared of the Father died in it rose in it ascended into Heaven in it is now glorified in it to shew what he intended to bring fallen Man unto as many as should believe in him Thirdly What was the price paid by Christ for our Redemption Viz. His own Blood 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. Pretium pretiorum the greatest price that ever was paid for any thing that ever was bought all the Gold and Silver in the World heaped together is not to be compared to the value of the Blood of Christ by this you see the great love of Christ to the Souls of Men who in themselves were hopeless and helpless could do nothing towards the Redemption of their own Souls but Christ being God and Man pours out his Soul as man and takes it up again as God when he had done his work that we might have a sure ground for our Faith and Hope to rest upon not doubting but as Christ raised himself from the dead so he will also raise us at the last day who dye in him that we may live by him with him and upon him for ever who is the Resurrection and the life as his death is imputed to us and spiritually acted over upon us in the mortification of sin so is his life actually communicated in some degree to all Believers here by the same spirit that dwells in him and in them and this eternal spirit of life in Christ will never cease working higher and higher in the mystical Body of Christ diffusing it self more abundantly through all the Members till Mortallity be quite swallowed up of life this will be more manifest when Christ who is our life shall appear You see that God went not out of himself for a Mediator but appointed the Second person of the Trinity to that Office that the whole transaction between God and Man might go through his hands who is both God and Man Fourthly Who set he price of our Redemption so high 1. God the Father who also found out this Ransom he knew the whole world could not raise it it must come out of the Treasury of Heaven God himself was at the charge of our Redemption and whatever it cost him was resolved to effect it and therefore he spared not his own Son but parts with the greatest Jewel in the Crown of Heaven to buy off sinful man from that Thraldom and Bondage he was involved in and could never have extricated himself out of 2. The Law sets the price by consequence not that the Law provides a Mediator the Law seeks its own satisfaction in saving and damning men it promises Salvation upon our perfect Obedience and all who come short of that it threatens with eternal Damnation Cursed is every one
17. The Law was given 430 Years after the promise made to Abraham threatning the sinner not with an intent that the Curse should be executed or the hand-writing against us fulfilled but rather blotted out Col. 2. 14. Is the law then against the promises Gal. 3. 21. 'T is certain the Law as threatning is against the Promises against us and contrary to us as Col. 2. 14. But not so against the Promises as to vacate and abolish them but is rather subservient to them stirring up the sinner to fly to the Promise for a Pardon When the people just after the giving of the Law had grievously sinned in making the Calf and God threatned to consume them Exod. 32. 9 10. Moses does not plead the Mount Sinai Covenant but the Covenant made with Abraham vers 13. So Deut. 9. 27. 2 Kings 13. 23. The condition of the Sinai-Covenant being performed by Christ the New Covenant becomes absolute to us nothing more can be demanded of us in a way of satisfaction for sin Heb. 10. 14. Christ as our Advocate pleads this and that we ought to be discharged from the Curse of the Law All doing for life is over in the New Covenant our Surety has done that and therefore is become the Mediator of a better Covenant Heb. 8. 6. Having made way for our receiving the Promise Heb. 9. 15. This full satisfaction is the main thing we are to believe in order to our Salvation this is the sense of every act of Justifying-Faith to which Salvation is annexed we must mean this in believing or we mean nothing neither do we understand those Scriptures Mark 6. 16. Joh. 3. 16 36. The Obedience of Christ comes instead of our doing for life he is the Lord our righteousness Jer. 23. 6. Christ being made of God our Righteousness for Justification it is the will of God that he should by his Spirit sanctifie us and make us inherently holy Our Mediator does not only take away the guilt of sin which legal Sacrifices could not do they only purified the Flesh Heb. 9. 13. but not the Conscience the Blood of Christ only does this v. 14. So the Spirit of Christ by Faith purifies the Heart sanctifies the whole person 1 Thes. 5. 23. since we are come to the Mediator of the New Covenant let us see we don't abuse the free Grace of God Heb. 12. 25. In the New Covenant great Grace is revealed to Believers and great wrath against all Unbelievers Mat. 3. 7 10 12. Isa. 61. 2. vide 3. The necessity of a Mediator between God and Fallen man If one man sin against another the judge shall judge him but if a man sin against the Lord who shall intreat for him 1 Sam. 2. 25. This necessity appears 1. From God's just anger against us 2. From our inability to appease his wrath I put them both together Adam was the Son of God by Creation Luk. 1. ult but soon alienated himself and all his Posterity from God his Father and Creator neither could we ever become the Children of God again but by Christ John 1. 12. Heb. 2. 10 c. Angels though they need no Redeemer yet they need a Mediator a Head in and through whom they have access to God and communion with him much more does fallen man need a Mediator by whom he may come unto the Father Joh. 14. 6. 'T is impossible to see God any otherwise than through Christ John 1. 18. if any man sin as every man does let him not despair for we have an Advocate with the Father 1 Joh. 2. 1 2. in whom God is well pleased Mat. 3. 17. We cannot have immediate access to God himself but through a Mediator we may 3. By those terrors of Conscience which we are under when our hearts smite us for any sin accusing us Rom. 2. 15. telling us that God knows all this evil and much more by us 1 John 3. 20. Then whither shall I go from thy spirit whither shall I flee from thy presence Psalm 139. 7. How terrible is God out of Christ to a convinced sinner 4. The dreadful Punishments that are inflicted upon sinners upon the fallen Angels upon the old word many particular instances in former and latter times do render it a very fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Heb. 10. 31. When a guilty sinner has none to speak for him what trembling must needs seize upon him lest God tear him in peices and there be none to deliver him Psal. 50. 22. 5. By the Sacrifices of the Old Testament and also of the Heathens which were designed to pacifie God some means was to be used all the Sacrifices of old appointed by God himself could never expiate sin nor pacifie God but as they pointed to the great Sacrifice in the New Testament Christ is the great Reconciler Col. 1. 20. We come to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant to be freed from the curse of the Old and invested in the priviledges of the New The Covenant of Works made at the Creation with Adam in Innocency being broken and the legal Administration of the Mount Sinai-Covenant being faulty and unprofitable Heb. 8. 7 13. Our Father 's not continuing in it God regarded them not Heb. 8. 9. And being thus alienated and enemies in their minds by wicked Works God thus provoked gave up man a child of wrath to be a slave to sin Satan and Death Rom. 1. 28. Heb. 2. 14 15. Yet God so loved the world John 3. 16. Whilst we were yet without strength Rom. 5. 6. when we were sinners v. 8. and enemies v. 10. Then did God reconcile us to himself by the death of his Son entring into a New Covenant with us by appointing Christ to be the Mediator 1 Tim. 2. 5. and Surety of a better Covenant Heb. 7. 22. Heb. 8. 6. so reconciling us to himself 2 Cor. 5. 18. God the Father provided this Mediator John 3. 16. Rom. 3. 25. Isa. 49. 1. 1 Cor. 1. 30. You may see the greatness of the sin and of the Punishment too in the greatness of the Mediator God himself in the person of his Son became our Mediator and Redeemer 6. The Law was ordained in the hand of a Mediator to shew that 't is not in the power of any man since the Fall to satisfie the Law Gal. 3. 19. By the hand of a Mediator we must understand not only Moses but the virtue and power of the great Mediator Christ of whom Moses was a Type Thus you see the necessity of a Mediator Fallen man himself could not deal with God because of sin Angels could not being not of Humane nature and since there is but one God then either the Majesty of Heaven must descend down to us immediately which could not be or else this one God must become our Mediator our Immanuel his Godhead and our humane Nature being joyned together in the Divine Person of the Son The low estate
is God as well as Man The Hypostatical union of the two natures in Christ is the Foundation of our spiritual and mystical union to God God and his Creature Man meet in Christ the Mediator We must not understand our union to Christ so grosly as if we were Deified I abhor that blasphemous Famelistical Notion of our being Christed and Godded no the new Creature in its nearest union and highest communion with God is but a Creature and never will be more nothing that is infinite eternal and uncreated can in its immensity enter into us but we may enter into it hence the Saints are said to enter into life Mat. 18. 8. Mat. 19. 17. As a Barrel cast into the Sea is in the fulness of the Sea tho the fulness of the Sea be not in the Barrel 't is filled according to its Capacity and can hold no more So is the life of Christ derived to us by gradual Communications in a way of influence from Christ the Fountain of life we live because he lives who hath life in himself and is a quickning Spirit in us certainly great things are intended by and implied in our union to Christ I remember a late eminent Divine now in Glory expresses it thus That provided we keep below the Hypostatical union of the two natures in Christ we cannot ascend too high in our thoughts and conceptions of the mystical union between Christ and his Members all that is below the hypostatical union may be allowed to this So that I would not have any interpret our union to Christ and communion with him into so low a sense as not to apprehend how Believers by vertue of their union to Christ stand in a nearer relation to God than the Angels do whose Nature Christ took not I say Believers are under a more special immediate influence of the eternal Spirit their life is hid with Christ in God and will be better understood by us in Heaven than it is here on Earth though we should be studying it more and more I am sorry to see the most spiritual expressions of the Gospel sealed up as it were by a common short exposition of them that goes with most for the full sense of the Text it contains it may be truth but not all the truth or at least does not fully express all the truth 't is looked upon as very unsafe to put a further and higher construction upon the words than others has done before though they will bear it I think while we keep within the Analogy of Faith not wounding any vital part or fundamental Principle of Religion nor wresting the Scriptures to a forced sense we may admit any farther light that shines through the word unto us waiting upon God to lead us by his Spirit further and further into the knowledge of the truth as 't is in Jesus that our light may shine out into the perfect day Christ being thus qualified for his Office is 1. Called the Messenger or Angel of the Covenant Mal. 3. 1. Because he does declare and interpret the terms of the Covenant between God and Man as Moses did Exod. 20. 19. Deut. 5. 5 27. In this he was a type of Christ Deut. 18. 15 18 19. Therefore Christ as Mediator is referred to in the Old Testament Isa. 7. 14. Isa. 8. 8. 2. The Angel absolutely Exod. 23. 20. 3. The Angel of his Face or Presence Isa. 63. 9. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 John 2. 1. An advocate The Holy Ghost has the same name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 14. 16. 26. Because as Christ makes intercession for us above his Spirit makes intercession in us here Rom. 8. 26. God is in Christ reconciling the World unto himself if ever we meet with God in peace it must be in and through this great Mediator Jesus Christ. 5. What are those special Mediotory acts that Christ puts forth CHAP. V. Of Christ's Mediatory Acts. WHAT are those special Mediatory Acts that Christ puts forth Some proper to his Prophetical some to his Priestly and some to his Kingly Office To his Prophetical Office 1. To know and rightly to state the case between God and Man 2. To propose and declare the terms of the Agreement between God and Man contained in the New Covenant To his Priestly Office 1. To make satisfaction in order to our Redemption 2. To make intercession for us by Arguments drawn from that satisfaction To his Kingly Office 1. To Protect and Govern his Church defending it against all the sworn Enemies of it 2. To give Rules Laws and Ordinances to his Church for the avoiding of all Will-Worship But I shall not tye my self to this Method But speak of Christ's Mediatory Acts. First As Mediating with God for us Secondly As Mediating with us on God's behalf 1. As Mediating with God for us 1. By giving satisfaction to his Father's Justice He undertook this as our Surety Heb. 7. 22. Heb. 10. 7. And actually performed this Undertaking 1 Tim. 2. 6. Mat. 20. 28. John 10. 15. To give satisfaction is tantum facere quantum satis est Christ as a Priest offering himself up to death for us was one of the chiefest acts of his Mediation that he might take away the guilt of sin bur this was not all for as our Mediator he puts forth a further act viz. 2. By promising to sanctify us to free us from the filth of sin Eph. 5. 25 26 27. He shews there that Christ upon giving himself for the Church laid himself under Engagements to sanctifie and cleanse it here the law of the spirit of life in Christ makes us free from the law of sin and death Rom. 8. 2. Thus Christ by himself purges our sins Heb. 1. 3. 3. By making Intercession for us 1. On Earth John 17. 9. 20. I pray for them and for all that shall believe on me through their word 2. In Heaven Heb. 9. 24. Rom. 8. 34. 1 John 2. 1. Heb. 7. 25. He ever lives to make Intercession for us 't is continual Intercession should it cease but for a Moment we should be in great danger therefore Christ is continually representing in Heaven what he has done and suffered for us in the flesh 2. As Mediating with us on God's behalf Christ as Mediator came about the Father's business Luk. 2. 49. And deals with us Prodigals about our returning to our Heavenly Father 1. By declaring the Father's Will to us John 1. 18. John 6. 38 39 40. John 17. 8 14. 2. By applying his Merits in the efficacy of them unto us The son quickneth whom he will John 5. 21. If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the deatb of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life Rom. 5. 10. There is a mighty Power in the Death and Resurrection of Christ Phil. 3. 10. Rom. 6. 3 4 5. When we are planted in the likeness of both we shall then as Branches abiding in
imperfect Obedience pleases God 3. Whether God allows the free use of all indifferent things These are the puzzling points that are apt to disturb our Consciences till we rightly understand the nature of Christian Liberty which does not countenance that excess that too many of the Richer sort run into vying who shall be finest in their Apparel most sumptuous in their Entertainments these things are not forbidden say they 'T is true the things themselves are not forbidden but the immoderate use of them is forbidden Therefore let your moderation be seen in all things and know that your Christian Liberty lies as well in abstaining from indifferent things when inexpedient as in using them Christian Liberty relates to Conscience both thy own and thy Brothers So use your Estates that you may glorifie God and edifie your Brother and we shall not question your Liberty 't is not for nothing that so many woes are pronounced against the Rich Luke 6. 24 25 26. Read that place and also Amos 6. to v. 7. I don't quote these places that you should throw away your Riches and lay aside all Mirth no do but throw out the sin that is in all these and I have nothing to say against the lawful use of the things themselves but see you don't abuse them CHAP. V. The APPLICATION LET us labour to live in the comfortable sense of our Adoption as the only way to walk worthy of it Mal. 1. 6. 'T is a shame to do otherwise Deut. 32. 6. The best way to keep up a sense of our Adoption and of all the high priviledges belonging to it Is 1. To attend to the witness of the Spirit within us Our Adoption is a great mystery the grounds and reasons of it lie very deep quite out of the reach of a mere Humane understanding that cannot discern the deep things of God we shall certainly be at a loss in our own thoughts how to clear up our Adoption if the Spirit do not help us and make it out plainly to our Spirit from the word and when that is done we sit down astonished at the greatness of God's Love when the Spirit has satisfied us that it is so we can give no reason why it should be so but must resolve all into the Love of God in Christ that passes our knowledg Behold what manner of love is this 1 John 3. 1. That we should not only be called but really be the Children of God We must observe what inward evidence and demonstration the Spirit gives of our particular Adoption by name that is properly the work of the Spirit in witnessing to us the Spirit applies in particular the promises of Life and Pardon they are generally propounded by Ministers but there comes a word behind from the Spirit Isa. 30. 21. privily assuring a man of his Adoption You may know 't is not a delusion of your own Spirit nor of Satan Not of your own Spirit because this testimony to the truth of our interest in Christ is usually given in when we have no sensible apprehension or feeling of the Love of God to us as Mat. 27. 46. The Spirit comes in to comfort us when we are most cast down and overwhelmed in our own spirits and so not in a condition to speak comfort to our selves Not from Satan who at such a season seeks to drive you to utter despair but the Spirit strengthens our Faith at such a time sets it against all discouragement 't is not said he that feels but He that believes has everlasting life John 3. 36. And there is a feeling that belongs to Faith that none but the Spirit of God can give us the sense of hence it is that the Saints know more certainly that they are the children of God than the men of the World do that they are the Children of those whom they call their Fathers in the Flesh. The witness of the Spirit is a secret information of the Love of God and his Fatherly affection to us a still voice from Heaven that God is thy God which the heart rests in and is fully satisfied 't is more than if an Angel should come from Heaven and tell thee Thou art greatly beloved as Dan. 9. 23. The earnest of the Spirit in our hearts is more than all this 2 Cor. 1. 22. We may without this testimony of the Spirit know that there is such a thing as Adoption spoken of in Scripture but that we in particular are Adopted none can assure us of this but the Spirit by a particular application of this Grace to our selves The Spirit of God in us speaks particularly to us to our case to our state to our Souls I hope he is so speaking to you now so speaking in you at this time shewing you what interest you have in Christ and what follows upon it reasoning you into a belief of the thing in reference to your selves When the Spirit comes in as a witness 't will be believed the Spirit comes on purpose to answer all our doubts and objections to make the matter plain and evident to us else the Spirit could not be so effectual a Comforter if he did not bring convincing light along with him into our dark Souls You may put by all that we can say to you and remain unsatisfied after all the arguments that Ministers may use to convince you of your Adoption you may hang down your heads every one of you and say notwithstanding all this I fear I am not a Child of God But when the Spirit himself comes into that Soul there is no resisting the wisdom of the Holy Ghost Ministers have not wisdom enough to quiet a troubled Conscience We may set outward light before a dark Soul and yet that Soul be as dark as ever for want of inward light we may speak the truth as it is in Jesus but we cannot give you a discerning of that truth we may hold the object before you but cannot give you eyes to see it but the Spirit does both gives us a capacity to learn and take in what he teaches us I grant an enlightned mind may reason it self into some present sense of his Adoption but seeing so many things contrary to the Divine Nature in himself he doubts again and questions his Adoption and will be ever and anon at a loss wavering in this matter 'till the testimony of the Spirit confirm him which is distinct from all his own spiritual reasonings from all the right inferences that his Faith draws from the word I mean the testimony of the Spirit hath a greater cogency and force with him than all the apprehensions of his Faith can have though Faith and the Spirit both go upon the same grounds and quote the same Scriptures yet the testimony of the Spirit is stronger than the bare apprehensions of our Faith and makes deeper impression upon the mind of Believers than their Faith can which impressions are more easily retained and remembred than all the
a one Can any good thing come out of Nazareth When the Apostles Preached the Mystery of Christ's Incarnation how he was Born of a Virgin what Miracles he did how he was Crucified how he rose from the Dead ascended up to Heaven and should come again to judg the World the Jews were offended did not believe these things to be true Rom. 9. 33. Luke 2. 34. They saw nothing but weakness in the Doctrine of the Gospel therefore the Jews require a Sign v. 32. Signs and Wonders were to evidence the power of those who wrought them Moses confirmed his Doctrine by many Signs and Wonders so must you say the Jews to Christ and his Apostles if you would have us to follow you The Jews were used to Signs and Wonders from the beginning as appears in the Old Testament so they were instructed in the Wilderness Deut. 32. 10. and convinced of the power of God Psal. 77. 14. ad finem This made them so desirous of Signs under the New Testament Hence that Complaint Psal. 74. 9. We see not our Signs we would fain see Signs as Mat. 12. 38. Master we would see a Sign from thee So Mat. 16. 1. Luke 11. 16. Joh. 2. 18. Zacharias erred in this Luke 1. 18. The Jews are sharply reproved by Christ for this Mat. 16. 4. The Signs and Miracles by which the Gospel was already confirmed should have satisfied them the Jews did not require a Sign as Abraham Gideon and Hezekiah did for the strengthning of their Faith but out of Curiosity and contempt of Christ and the Gospel resolving never to be satisfied they must have Sign after Sign they thought it absurd to trust in a Crucified Christ to expect life from death that he who did not save himself should be able to save them Unbelief you see wants not its seeming reasons to fortify it self against the Gospel Besides they saw that such a Profession of Faith in Christ exposed them to Sufferings which made them the more against it Gal. 5. 11. And unto the Greeks foolishness By Greeks here we understand all Gentiles who received all their Wisdom and Learning from the Greeks or Jews and Gentiles are contradistinguished thus One had the Written Law the other had not Rom. 2. 12 13 14. The Greeks would have the Mysteries of the Gospel made out by Reason else they reject them as foolishness they count that foolishness which transcends their Wisdom they thought the Gospel an idle Fancy a very simple absurd Doctrine they required Philosophical reasons which as men they might comprehend proving Christ in a Logical way to be what the Scripture says he is Moses magna dicit sed nihil probat say Galen Pliny and Julian They wanted Logical Demonstrations of Scripture Mysteries from the true natural Causes of them which cannot be for then they would not be Mysteries if Flesh and Blood could understand them Mat. 16. 17. Thus you see both Jew and Gentile all sorts of men unregenerate have something to say against the Gospel they set themselves studiously to object against it All Unbelievers stand it out with God hence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendred both Disobedient and Unbelieving as Acts 26. 19. Acts 14. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Eph. 2. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But unto them that are called c. v. 24. i. e. Effectually called to believe 't is by our actual believing that we answer to an effectual Call by which we are called to the Obedience of Faith and when we believe we obey God's Call Rom. 1. 5 6. Such are called according to his purpose Rom. 8. 28. You see the different opinion the Converted and Unconverted have of Christ highly to prize Christ is a sign of true Conversion and to under-value him to speak slightly of him or his Doctrine is a sign of the contrary Paul here opposes the Judgment of those who are Called whether Jews or Greeks to the Judgment of the Uncalled concerning Christ Would you know what Christ is consult with Believers they know him he is precious to them never regard what the blind World says of him but hear what the Saints say what Believers say who know him best I confess 't is a shame and a reproach not to be excused that Christians do not magnifie Christ more I remember I have read of one who professed he knew not which was the greater wonder that Believers love Christ no more or that Unbelievers do hate him so much no doubt the former is far the greater wonder that they who know him so well should love him no better than that they who know him not at all should hate him so much their blindness and ignorance runs them into that gross mistake but what can cold lukewarm Believers plead who have so much light and yet so little love Both Jews and Greeks i. e. All sorts of Believers of what Countrey Condition or outward state soever they all agree in this viz. That Christ is the Power of God and the Wisdom of God 't is common to all Saints and proper to them only as Saints and Believers to have a high opinion of Christ. Christ the power of God God shewed his power in Creating the World by Christ as God John 1. 3. and by Redeeming it by Christ as God-man Christ in his Divine Nature is the God of Power a mighty one Isa. 9. 6. A rock Isa. 32. 2. A Lyon for his strength Rev. 5. 5. So Angels are called Principalities and Powers for their strength Col. 1. 16. As they are called Intelligences for their Wisdom which is very great a Sam. 14. 17. To discern good and bad They are continually prying into the Doctrine of the Gospel 1 Pet. 1. 12. Exod. 37. 9. They look to the Mercy-seat a Type of Christ. We are now shewing how Christ the Mediator is the power of God by whom great things have been done 1. God by Christ satisfies his Justice and yet saves the Sinner he reconciles Justice and Mercy together Psal. 85. 10 11. They both act to the height towards a Sinner The Salvation of a Sinner is the greatest instance of Justice and Mercy as ever was what is purchased is also freely given he is our righteousness giving us right to eternal Life as well as our ransom saving us from eternal Death Jer. 23. 6. 1 Cor. 1. 30. He is made unto us Righteousness as well as Redemption 2 Cor. 5. 21. 2. Christ bore the wrath of God without sinking or fainting under it Isa. 53. 4. 3. Christ hath overcome the devil death and the world Heb 2. 14. Hos. 13. 14. John 16. 33. He is stronger than the strong man Luke 11. 21. 22. 4. Christ preserves his Church against all the most potent Enemies thereof Mat. 16. 18. 5. Christ maintains a little Grace in his Children amidst many strong corruptions and lusts Grace is but a little grain and yet it lives and thrives 't is an abiding seed 1 John 3. 5.
with all manner of Salvation not only from Hell but from the power of sin that they may live no longer therein Paul knew no other way of Salvation according to his Gospel they that do must invent another Gospel to support their New Divinity I see no ground in Scripture for those preparatory Works that some urge as antecedently necessary to our first Faith in Christ because Faith brings all along with it viz. Conviction of Sin Humiliation Repentance c. Faith never comes to Christ but it shews us a reason why and that reason is drawn from our lost undone Condition by Nature which true Faith is never without some knowledge and sense of and therefore sends us to Christ for help By Nature all men are equally indisposed to Faith counting the Gospel foolishness when their time of their Coversion comes whether prepared or unprepared whatever their present practice or frame is whether legally Convinced or Unconvinced sitting in gross darkness and unbelief the Power of God by the Preaching of the Gospel works a convincing saving Faith in all those who are ordained unto life God calls one and not another of his meer good Pleasure being not moved thereunto by any thing in us that may render one man more capable of Conversion than another sometimes they who in an eye of reason seem furthest off from the Kingdom of God and are most unlikely to be Converted them doth God call by his Grace even Publicans and Harlots Before the stricter sort of formal Professors who notwithstanding their Preparations and seeming fitness for Conversion are left behind in their Natural State when others who sought not after God are found of him and brought into a state of Grace God doth this to shew that the Battel is not to the strong nor the Race to the swift not of him that runeth but of God that sheweth mercy to whom he will Rom. 9. 15 16. Many may outrun others in their acquired Qualifications and yet not so run as to obtain the prize 1 Cor. 9. 24. We are like to make but a sorry Market of it unless we come without Money many have been too rich too well qualified in their own opinion for Christ but none were ever too poor and wretched for Christ whose hearts were stirred up by the Preaching of the Word to come unto him and cast themselves upon him There is nothing required by way of Preparation as antecedently necessary to our first Faith in Christ but hearing the Word let the Hearer be who he will never so unprepared if he belong to God the Word will one time or other make it 's own way to the heart of that man and work Faith in him there is no resisting the Wisdom of the Holy-Ghost The Doctrine of Faith and the Doctrine of Good Works are both very sound Christian Doctrines agreeing very well in their proper place and order As no man can enter into a state of Grace by good Works so no man can conclude himself to be in a state of Grace without Good works 't is one thing to prove that I am already in a state of Grace another thing to shew how a Sinner may now enter into a state of Grace and what is first to be done in order thereunto 'T is not said he that worketh but he that believeth shall be saved and 't is the work of God that we believe and none but God can bring over the heart of a Sinner to trust in Christ and under such a Faith 't is impossible not to lead a holy life We had need be clear and distinct in our Conceptions of these things since our Salvation depends upon our right understanding this Point I say we had need consider what we mean and how we express our selves lest instead of trusting in Christ we trust in our selves and drop the Gospel whilst we seem to maintain it If any scoff at this Doctrine and count it foolishness I will only say that the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men FINIS BOOKS Printed and Sold by THOMAS COCKERIL at the Three Legs ever-against the Stocks-Market HIstorical Collections The Third Part in Two Volumes Never Printed before Containing the Principal Matters which happened from the Meeting of the Parliament November the 3 d. 1640. To the End of the Year 1644. Wherein is a particular account of the Rise and Progress of the Civil War to that Period Impartially Related Setting forth only Matter of Fact in Order of Time without Observation or Reflection With Alphabetical Tables By John Rushworth late of Lincolns-Inn Esq Fitted for the Press in his Life-time The Works of the late Learned Divine Stephen Charnock B. D. In 2 Vol. Fol. A Demonstration of the First Principles of the Protestant Applications of the Apocalipse Together with the Consent of the Ancients concerning the Fourth Beast in the 7 th of Daniel and the Beast in the Revelations By Drue Cressener D D. The Morning Exercises at Cripplegate of several Cases of Conscience practically resolved by sundry Ministers in 4 to A Supplement to the Morning Exercise at Cripplegate or several more Cases of Conscience practically resolved by sundry Ministers in 4 to Speculum Theologia in Christo or a view of some Divine Truths which are either practically exemplified in Jesus Christ set forth in the Gospel or may be reasonably deduced from thence by Edward Polhil of Burwash in Sussex Esquire in 4 to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Succinct and Seasonable Discourse of the Occasions Causes Nature Rise Growth and Remedies of Mental Errors Written some Months since and now made publick both for the healing and prevention of the Sins and Calamities which have broken in this way upon the Churches of Christ to the great scandal of Religion hardening of the Wicked and obstruction of Reformation Whereunto are subjoyned by way of Appendix I. Vindiciarum Vindex Being a Succinct but full Answer to Mr. Philip Cary's Weak Impertinent Exceptions to my Vindiciae Legis Faderis II. A Synopsis of Ancient and Modern Antinomian-Errors with Scriptural Arguments and Reasons against them III. A Sermon composed for the preventing and healing of Rents and Divisions of the Church by John Flavel Preacher of the Gospel at Dartmouth in Devon With an Epistle of several Divines relating to Dr. Crisp's Works A Discourse concerning Liturgys by the late Learned Divine Mr. David Clarkson Precious Faith considered in its nature working and growth by Edward Polhil Esq c. in 4 to Geography Rectified or a description of the World in all its Kingdoms Provinces Cities Towns Seas Rivers Bays Capes Forts their Ancient and Present Names Inhabitants Situations Histories Customs Governments c. And also their Commodities Coyns Weights and Measures compared with those of London Illustrated with above sixty new Maps The whole work performed according to the accurate Discoveries of Modern Authors The Third Edition Enlarged in 4 to The right use of an