scarce any thing that affects and melts the hearts of Christians more than this comparative consideration doth when they consider vessels of Gold cast away and leaden ones chosen for such noble uses So that it 's plain enough to all wise and humble souls that this new life is wholly of supernatural production Fifthly and lastly I shall briefly represent the necessary antecedency of this quickening work of the Spirit to our first closing with Christ by faith and this will easily let it self into your understandings if you but consider the nature of the vital act of faith which is the souls receiving of Christ and resting upon him for pardon and salvation in which two things are necessarily included viz. 1. The renouncing of all other hopes and dependencies 2. The opening the heart fully to Jesus Christ. First The renouncing of all other hopes and dependencies whatsoever Self in all its acceptations natural sinful and moral is now to be denyed and renounced for ever else Christ can never be received Rom. 10. 3. not only self in its vilest pollutions but self in its richest ornaments and endowments but this is as impossible to the unrenewed natural man as it is for rocks or mountains to start from their Centre and fly like wandering Atomes in the air nature will rather choose to run the hazard of everlasting damnation than escape it by a total renunciation of its beloved lusts or self-righteousness this supernatural work necessarily requires a supernatural principle Rom. 8. 2. Secondly The opening the heart fully to Jesus Christ without which Christ can never be received Rev. 3. 20. but 2. this also is the effect of the quickening Spirit the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus sooner may we expect to see the flowers and blossoms open without the influence of the Sun than the heart and will of a sinner open to receive Christ without a principle of spiritual life first derived from him and this will be past doubt to all that consider not only the impotence of nature but the ignorance prejudice and aversations of nature by which the door of the heart is barr'd and chain'd up against Christ Joh. 5. 40. so that nature hath neither ability nor will power or desire to come to Christ if any have an heart open'd to receive him 't is the Lord that opens it by his almighty power and that in the way of an infused principle of life supernatural But here it may be doubted and objected against this position Quest. If we cannot believe till we are quickened with spiritual life as you say and cannot be justified till we belive as all say then it will follow that a regenerate soul may be in the state of condemnation for a time and consequently perish if death should befall him in that juncture To this I return that when we speak of the priority of Sol. this quickening work of the Spirit to our actual believing we rather understand it of the priority of nature than of time the nature and order of the work requiring it to be so a vital principle must in order of nature be infused before a vital act can be exerted First make the tree good and then the fruit good and admit we should grant some priority in time also to this quickening principle before actual faith yet the absurdity mentioned would be no way consequent upon that concession for as the vital act of faith quickly follows the regenerating principle so the soul is abundantly secured against the danger objected God never beginning any special work of grace upon the soul and then leaving it and the soul with it in hazzard but preserves both to the finishing and compleating of his gracious design Phil. 1. 6. First Use of Information Infer 1. If such be the nature and necessity of this principle of divine Infer 1. life as you have heard it opened in the foregoing discourse then hence it follows That unregenerate men are no better than dead men So the Text represents them you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins i. e. spiritually dead though naturally alive yea and lively too as any other persons in the world There is a threefold consideration of objects Viz. 1. Naturally 2. Politically 3. Theologically First Naturally to all those things that are natural they are alive they can understand reason discourse preject and contrive as well as others they can eat drink build plant and suck out the natural comfort of these things as much as any others So their life is described Job 21. 12. They take the Timbrel and Harp and rejoyce at the sound of the Organ they spend their â—…ays in Wealth c. and James 5. 5. ye have lived in pleasure upon earth as the fish lives in the water its natural element and yet â—…is natural sensual life is not allowed the name of life 1 Tim. 5. 6. such persons are dead whilst they live 't is a base and ignoble life to have a soul only to salt the body or to enable a man for a few years to eat and drink and talk and laugh and then dye Secondly Objects may be considered Politically and with respect to such things they are alive also they can buy and sell and manage all their worldly affairs with as much dexterity skill and policy as other men yea the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light Luke 16. 8. The intire stream of their thoughts projects and studies running in that one Channel having but one Liberet me deus ab homine unius tantum negotii Bern. design to manage they must needs excel in worldly wisdom but then Thirdly Theologically considered they are dead without life sense or motion towards God and the things that are above their understandings are dead 1 Cor. 2. 14. and cannot receive the things that are of God their wills are dead and cannot move towards Jesus Christ Joh. 6. 65. their affections are dead even to the most excellent and spiritual objects and all their duties are dead duties without life or spirit This is the sad case of the unregenerate world Infer 2. This speaks encouragement to Ministers and parents to wait in hopes of success at last even upon those that yet give them Infer 2. little hope of conversion at the present the work you see is the Lords when the Spirit of life comes upon their dead souls they shall believe and be made willing till then we do but plough upon the rocks yet let not our hand slack in duty pray for them and plead with them you know not in which prayer or exhortation the Spirit of life may breathe upon them can these dry bones live yes if the Spirit of life from God breathe upon them they can and shall live what though their dispositions be averse to all things that are spiritual and serious yet even such have been regenerated when more sweet
formali intrinsecâ Justitiâ sed relativâ not with a formal inherent righteousness of our own but with a relative imputed righteousness from another I know this most excellent and most comfortable doctrine of imputed righteousness is not only denyed but derided by Papists Stapleton calls it spectrum Cerebri Lutherani the monstrous birth of Luthers brain but blessed be God this comfortable truth is well secured against all attempts of its adversaries Let their blasphemous mouths call it in derision as they do putative righteousness i. e. a meer fancied or conceited righteousness yet we know assuredly Christs righteousness is imputed to us and that in the way of faith If Adams sin became ours by Imputation then so doth Christs righteousness also become ours by Imputation Rom. 5. 17. If Christ were made a sinner by the imputation of our sins to him who had no sin of his own then we are made righteous by the imputation of Christs righteousness to us who have no righteousness of our own according to 1 Cor. 5. 21. This was the way in which Abraham the father of them that believe was justified and therefore this is the way in which all believers the children of Abraham must in like manner be justified Rom. 4. 22 23 24. Who can express the worth of faith in this one respect if this were all it did for our souls But Thirdly It is the spring of our spiritual peace and joy and that as it is the Instrument of our Justification If it be an instrument of our Justification it cannot but be the spring of our consolation Rom. 5. 1. Being justified by faith we have peace with God in uniting us with Christ and apprehending and applying his righteousness to us it becomes the seed or root of all the peace and joy of a Christians life Joy the child of faith therefore bears its name Phil. 1. 25. the joy of faith So 1 Pet. 1. 8 9. Believing we rejoyce with joy unspeakable we cannot forbear laughing when we are tickled nor can we forbear rejoycing while by faith we are brought to the sight and knowledge of such a priviledged state when faith hath first given and then cleared our title to Christ Joy is no more under the souls command we cannot but rejoyce and that with Joy unspeakable Fourthly It is the means of our spiritual livelihood and subsistance all other graces like birds in the nest depend upon what faith brings in to them take away faith and all the graces languish and dye joy peace hope patience and all the rest depend upon faith as the members of the natural body do upon the vessels by which blood and spirits are conveyed to them The life which I now live saith the Apostle is by the faith of the Son of God Gal. 2. 20. it provides our ordinary food and extraordinary Cordials Psal. 27. 13. I had fainted unless I had believed And seeing it is all this to our souls Fifthly In the last place it is no wonder that it is the main scope and drift of the Gospel to press and bring souls to believing 't is the Gospels grand design to bring up the hearts of men and women to faith The urgent commands of the Gospel aim at this 1 Joh. 3. 23. Mark 1. 14 15. Joh. 12. 36. hither also look the great promises and encouragements of the Gospel Joh. 6. 35 37. so Mark 16. 16. And the opposite sin of unbelief is every where fearfully aggravated and threatned Joh. 16. 8 9. Joh. 3. 18. 35. And this was the third thing premised namely a discovery of the transcendant worth and excellency of saving faith Fourthly But lest we commit a mistake here to the prejudice of Christs honour and glory which must not be 4. given to another no not to faith it self I promised you in the fourth place to snew you upon what account faith is thus dignified and honoured that so we may give unto faith the things that are faiths and to Christ the things that are Christs And I find four opinions about the interest of faith in our Justification some will have it to justifie us formally not relatively i. e. upon the account of its own intrinsecal value and worth and this is the Popish sense of Justification by faith Some affirm that though faith be not our perfect legal righteousness considered as a work of ours yet the act of believing is imputed to us for righteousness i. e. God graciously accepts it instead of perfect legal righteousness and so in his esteem it 's our evangelical righteousness And this is the Arminian sense of justification by faith Some there are also even among our reformed Divines that contend that faith justifies and saves us as it is the Condition of the new Covenant And Lastly others will have it to justifie us as an Instrument apprehending or receiving the righteousness of Christ with which opinion I must close when I consider my Text calls it a receiving of Christ most certain it is That First It doth not justifie in the Popish sense upon the account of its own proper worth and dignity for then First Justification should be of debt not of grace contrary to Rom. 3. 23 24. Secondly This would frustrate the very scope and end of the death of Christ for if righteousness come by the Law i. e. by the way of works and desert then is Christ dead in vain Gal. 2. 21. Thirdly Then the way of our justification by faith would be so sar from excluding that it would establish boasting expressly contrary to the Apostle Rom. 3. 26 27. Fourthly Then there should be no defects or imperfections in faith for a defective and imperfect thing can never be the matter of our Justification before God if it justifie upon the account of its own worth and proper dignity it can have no flaw nor imperfection in it contrary to the common sense of all believers Nay Fifthly Then it 's the same thing to be justified by faith and to be justified by works which the Apostle so carefully distinguisheth and opposeth Phil. 3. 9. and Rom. 4. 6. so that we conclude it doth not justifie in the Popish sense for any worth or proper excellency that is in it self Secondly And it is as evident it doth not justifie us in the Arminian sense viz. as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere the Act of believing is imputed or accepted by God as our Evangelical righteousness instead of perfect legal righteousness In the former opinion you have the dreggs of Popery and here you have refined Popery Let all Arminians know we have as high esteem for faith as any men in the world can have but yet we will not rob Christ to cloath faith we cannot embrace their opinion because First We must then dethrone Christ to exalt faith we are willing to give it all that is due to it but we dare not despoyl Christ of his glory for faiths sake he is the Lord
mercy God now beseeches you will you not yield to the intreaties of your God O then what wilt thou say for thy self when God will not hear thee when thou shalt intreat and cry for mercy Which brings us to the Motive 3. Consider the sin and danger that there is in refusing or Motive 3. neglecting the present offers of Christ in the Gospel and surely there is much sin in it the very malignity of sin and the summ of all misery lyes here for in refusing Christ First you put the greatest contempt and slight upon all the Attributes of God that it is possible for a creature to do God hath made his justice his mercy his wisdome and all his attributes to shine in their brightest glory in Christ never was there such a display of the glory of God made to the world in any other way O then what is it to reject and despise Jesus Christ but to offer the greatest affront to the glory of God that it is possible for men to put upon him Secondly you hereby frustrate and evacuate the very design and importance of the Gospel to your selves you receive the grace of God in vain 2 Cor. 6. 1. as good yea better had it been for you that Christ had never come into the world or if he had that your lot had fallen in the dark places of the earth where you had never heard his name yea good had it been for that man if he had never been born Thirdly hereby a man murthers his own soul. I said therefore unto you that you shall dye in your sins for if ye believe not that I am he ye shall dye in your sins Joh. 8. 24. unbelief is self-murther you are guilty of the blood of your own souls life and salvation was offered you and you rejected it yea Fourthly The refusing of Christ by unbelief will aggravate your damnation above all others that perish in ignorance of Christ. O 't will be more tolerable for heathens than for you the greatest measures of wrath are reserved to punish the worst of sinners and among sinners none will be found worse than unbelievers Secondly To Believers this point is very useful to perswade 2. them to divers excellent duties among which I shall single out two principal ones Viz. 1. To bring up their faith of acceptance to the faith of assurance 2. To bring up their conversations to the principles and rules of faith First You that have received Jesus Christ truly give your selves no rest till you are fully satisfied that you have done so acceptance brings you to heaven hereafter but assurance will bring heaven into your souls now O what a life of delight and pleasure doth the assured believer live what pleasure is it to him to look back and consider where once he was and where now he is to look forward and consider where he now is and where shortly he shall be I was in my sins I am now in Christ I am in Christ now I shall be with Christ and that for ever after a few days I was upon the very brink of hell I am now upon the very borders of heaven I shall be in a little while among the innumerable company of Angels and glorified Saints bearing part with them in the Song of Moses and of the Lamb for evermore And why may not you that have received Christ receive the comfort of your union with him there be all the grounds and helps to assurance furnisht to your hand there is a real union Viget apâ—…d nos spei immobilis virtus firmitas Cypr. Sermone de patientia betwixt Christ and your souls which is the very groundwork of assurance you have the Scriptures before you which contain the signs of faith and the very things within you that answer those signs in the word So you read and so just so you might feel it in your own hearts would you attend to your own experience The spirit of God is ready to seal you 't is his office and his delight so to do O therefore give diligence to this work attend the study of the Scriptures and of your own hearts more and grieve not the holy Spirit of God and you may arrive to the very desire of your hearts Secondly Bring up your conversations to the excellent principles and rules of faith As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him Col. 2. 6. live as you believe you received Christ sincerely in your first close with him O maintain the like seriousness and sincerity in all your ways to the end of your lives you received him intirely and undividedly at first let there be no exceptions against any of his commands afterward you received him exclusively to all others see that you watch against all self-righteousness and self-conceitedness now and mingle nothing of your own with his blood whatever gifts or enlargements in duty God shall give you afterwards You received him advisedly at first weighing and considering the self-denying terms upon which he was offered to you O shew that it was real and that you see no cause to repent the bargain whatever you shall meet with in the ways of Christ and duty afterwards Convince the world of your constancy and chearfulness in all your sufferings for Christ that you are still of the same mind you were and that Christ with his cross Christ with a prison Christ with the greatest afflictions is worthy of all acceptation as you have received him so walk ye in him let him be as sweet as lovely as precious to you now as he was the first moment you received him yea let your love to him delights in him and self-denyal for him increase with your acquaintance with him day by day 4 Use of Direction 4. Use. Lastly I will close all with a few words of direction to all that are made willing to receive the Lord Jesus Christ and sure it is but need that help were given to poor Christians in this matter it is a time of trouble fear and great temptation mistakes are easily made and of dangerous consequence attend heedfully therefore to a few directions Direction 1. First In your receiving Christ beware you do not mistake Direct 1. the means for the end many do so but see you do not Prayer Sermons Reformations are means to bring you to Christ but they are not Christ to close with those duties is one thing and to close with Christ is another thing if I go into a Boat my design is not to dwell there but to be carried to the place whereon I desire to be landed So it must be in this case all your Duties must land you upon Christ they are but means to bring you to Christ. Direction 2. Secondly See that you receive not Christ for a present shift Direct 2. but for your everlasting portion many do so they will enquire after Christ pray for Christ cast themselves in their
a member now of his own mystical body to purifie and cleanse it that at last he may present it perfect to the Father without spot or wrinkle or any such thing Eph. 5. 26. The reigning power of it is gone immediately upon believing and the very existence and being of it shall at last be destroyed O what rest must this give under those troubles for sin Thirdly It was an intolerable burthen to the soul to be under the continual fears aiarms and frights of death and 3. damnation It s life hath been a life of bondage upon this account ever since the Lord opened his eyes to see his condition Poor souls lye down with tremblings for fear what a night may bring forth 'T is a sad life indeed to live in continual bondage to such fears But faith sweetly relieves the trembling Conscience by removing the guilt which breeds it fears The sting of death is sin when guilt is removed fears vanish Smite Lord smite said Luther for my sins are forgiven Now if sickness come 't is another thing than it was Feri Domine feri nam à peccatis meis absolutus sum Luth. wont to be Isai. 33. 21. The Inhabitant shall not say I am sick the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquities a man scarce feels his sickness in comparison to what he did whilst he was without Christ and hope of pardon Fourthly A convinced sinner out of Christ sees every thing 4. against him nothing yields any comfort yea every thing increases and aggravates his burthen whether he look to things past present or to come If he reflect upon things past his soul is filled with anguish to remember the sins committed and the seasons neglected and the precious mercies that have been abused if he look upon things present the case is doleful and miserable nothing but trouble and danger Christless and comfortless and if he look forward to things to come that gives him a deeper cut to the heart than any thing else for though it be sad and miserable for the present yet he fears it will be much worse hereafter all these are but the beginning of sorrows and thus the poor awakened sinner becomes a Magor missabib fear round about But upon his coming to Christ all things are marvellously altered a quite contrary face of things appears to him every thing gives him hope and comfort which way soever he looks so speaks the Apostle 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. All things are yours saith he whether life or death or things present or things to come all is yours and ye are Christs and Christ is Gods they are ours i. e. for our advantage benefit and comfort more particularly upon our coming to Christ First Things past are ours they conduce to our advantage and comfort Now the soul can begin to read the gracious end and design of God in all its preservations and deliverances whereby it hath been reserved for such a day as this O! it melts his heart to consider his Companions in sin and Vanity are cut off and he spared and that for a day of such mercy as the day of his espousals with Christ is Now all his past sorrows and deep troubles of spirit which God hath exercised him with begin to appear the greatest mercies that ever he received being all necessary and introductive to this blessed union with Christ. Secondly Things present are ours though it be not yet with us as we would have it Christ is not sure enough the heart is not pure enough sin is too strong and grace is too weak many things are yet out of order yet can the soul bless God for this with tears of joy and praise him for this brimful of admiration and holy astonishment that it is as it is that he is where he is though he be not yet where he would be O 't is a blessed life to live as a poor recumbent by acts of trust and affiance though as yet it have but little evidence that it is resolved to trust all with Christ though it be not yet certain of the issue O this is a comfortable station a sweet condition to what it was either when it wallowed in sin in the days before conviction or was swallowed up in fears and troubles for sin after conviction now it hath hope though it want assurance and hope is sweet to a soul coming out of such deep distresses now it sees the remedy and is applying it whereas before the wound seemed desperate now all hesitations and debates are at an end in the Soul 't is no longer bivious and unresolved what to do all things have been deeply considered and after consideration issued into this resolve or decree of the will I will go to Christ I will venture all upon his Command and Call I will imbarque my eternal interests in that Bottom here I fix and upon this ground I resolve to live and dye O how much better is this than that floating life it lived before rolling upon the billows of inward fears and troubles not able to drop Anchor any where nor knowing where to find an Harbour Thirdly Things to come are ours and this is the best and sweetest of all man is a prospecting creature his eye is much upon things to come and it will not satisfie him that it is well at present except he have a prospect that it shall be so hereafter but now the soul hath committed it self and all its concernments to Christ for eternity and this being done it 's greatly relieved against evils to come I cannot saith the Believer think all my troubles over and that I shall never meet any more afflictions it were a fond vanity to dream of that but I leave all these things where I have left my soul he that hath supported me under inward will carry me through outward troubles also I cannot think all my temptations to sin past O I may yet meet with sore assaults from Satan yet it is infinitely better to be watching praying and striving against sin than it was when I was obeying it in the lusts of it God that hath delivered me from the love of sin will I trust preserve me from ruine by sin I know also death is to come I must feel the pangs and agonies of it but yet the aspect of death is much more pleasant than it was I come Lord Jesus to thee who art the death of death whose death hath disarmed death of its sting I fear not its dart if I feel not its sting And thus you see briefly how by faith Believers enter into rest How Christ gives rest even at present to them that come to him and all this but as a beginning of their everlasting rest Inference 1. Is there rest in Christ for weary souls that come unto him Then certainly it 's a design of Satan against the peace and welfare Inference 1. of mens souls to discourage them from coming to Christ in
they live so securely and pleasantly as they do in a state of so much danger and misery 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. The God of this world blinds the eyes of them that believe not Thirdly You have seen what the life of the unregenerate is and what maintains that life in the next place I shall 3. give you evidence that this is the life the generality of the world do live a life of carnal security vain hope and false joy this will evidently appear if we consider First The activity and liveliness of mens spirits in pursuit of the world O how lively and vigorous are their hearts in the management of earthly designs Psal. 6. 4. Who will shew us any good The world eats up their hearts time and strength Now this could never be if their eyes were but opened to see the danger and misery their souls be in how few designs for the world run in the thoughts of a condemned man O if God had ever made the light of conviction to shine into their Consciences certainly the temptations would lye the quite contrary way even in too great a neglect of things of this life but this briskness and liveliness plainly shews the great security which is upon most men Secondly The marvellous quietness and stillness that is in the thoughts and consciences of men about their everlasting concernments plainly shews this to be the life of the unregenerate how few scruples doubts or fears shall you hear from them how many years may a man live in carnal families before he shall hear such a question as this seriously propounded What shall I do to be saved There are no questions in their lips because no fear or sense of danger in their hearts Thirdly The general contentedness and profest willingness of carnal men to dye gives clear evidence that such a life of security and vain hope is the life they live Like sheep they are laid in the grave Psal. 49. 14. O how quiet and still are their Consciences when there are but a few breaths more between them and everlasting burnings Had God opened their eyes to apprehend the consequences of death and what follows the pale Horse Rev. 6. 8. it were impossible but that every unregenerate man should make that bed on which he dies shake and tremble under him Fourthly and Lastly The low esteem men have for Christ and the total neglect of at least the meer trifling with those duties in which he is to be found plainly discovers this stupid secure life to be the life that the generality of the world do live for were men sensible of the disease of sin there could be no quieting them without Christ the Physician Phil. 3. 8. All the business they have to do in this world could never keep them from their knees or make them strangers to their Closets all which and much more that might be said of like nature gives too full and clear proof to this sad assertion that this is the life the unregenerate world generally lives Fourthly In the last place I would speak a few words to 4. discover the danger of such a life as hath been described to which purpose let the following brief hints be minded seriously First By these things souls are inevitably betrayed into Hell and eternal ruine this blinding is in order to damning 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost whose eyes the god of this world hath blinded those that are turned over into eternal death are thus generally mop't and hoodwinkt in order thereunto Isai. 6. 9 10. And he said go and tell this people hear ye indeed but understand not and see ye indeed but perceive not make the heart of this people fat and make their ears heavy and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and convert and be healed Secondly As damning is the event of blinding so nothing makes Hell a more terrible surprise to the soul than this doth by this means the wrath of God is felt before its danger be apprehended a man is past all hope before he begins to have any fear his eternal ruine like a breach ready to fall swelling out in a high wall cometh suddenly at an instant Isa. 30. 13. And as it damns surely and surprizingly so Thirdly Nothing more aggravates a mans damnation than to sink suddenly into it from amidst so many hopes and high confidence of safety for a man to find himself in Hell when he thought and concluded himself within a step of Heaven O what a Hell will it be to such men the higher their vain hopes lifted them up the more dreadful must their fall be Mat. 7. 22. And as it damns surely surprizingly and with highest aggravations So Fourthly This life of security and vain hope frustrates all the means of recovery and salvation in the only season wherein they can be useful and beneficial to us by reason of these things the word hath no power to convince mens Consciences nothing can bring them to a sight and sense of their condition therefore Christ told the self-confident and blind Jews Mat. 21. 21. That the Publicans and Harlots go into the kingdom of God before them and the reason is because their hearts lye more open and fair to the strokes of conviction and compunction for sin than those do who are blinded by vain hopes and confidences Inference 1. Is this the life that the unregenerate world lives then it is not to be wondered at that the preaching of the Gospel hath so Inference 1. little success who hath believed our report saith the Prophet and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed Isai. 53. 1. Ministers study for truths apt to awaken and convince the Consciences of them that hear them but their words return again to them they turn to God and mourn over the matter we have laboured in vain and spent our strength for nought and this is the cause of all security and vain hopes bar fast the dores of mens hearts against all the convictions and perswasions of the word the greater cause have they to admire the grace of God who have or shall find the convictions of the word sharper than any two-edged Sword piercing to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit to whose hearts God brings home the Commandment by an effectual application Inference 2. If this be the life of the unregenerate world what deadly enemies Inference 2. are they that nourish and strengthen the groundless confidences and vain hopes of salvation in men This the Scripture calls the healing of the hurt of souls slightly by crying peace peace when there is no peace Jer. 6. 14. the sowing of Pillows under their arm holes Ezech. 13. 18. that they may lye soft and easie under the Ministry and this is the Doctrine which the people love but O what will the end of these things be
it appear that there is such a Union betwixt Christ and believers it is no Ens rationis 1. empty notion or cunningly devised fable but a most certain demonstrable truth which appears First From the Communion which is betwixt Christ and believers in this the Apostle is express 1 Joh. 1. 3. truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his son Jesus Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It signifies such fellowship or Copartnership as persons have by a joynt interest in one and the same enjoyment which is in common betwixt them So Heb. 3. 14. we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ipse venit in sortem nostrae mortalitatis ut in fortem nos adduceret suae immortalitatis clarum autem est hic agi de consortibus unctionis quales sunt omnes fideles qui unctionis participes fiunt Rivet partakers of Christ and Psal. 45. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here the Saints are called the companions consorts or fellows of Christ and that not only in respect of his assumption of our mortality and investing us with his immortality but it hath a special reference and respect to the Unction of the Holy Ghost or graces of the Spirit of which believers are partakers with him and through him Now this Communion of the Saints with Christ is entirely and necessarily dependant upon their Union with him even as much as the branches participation of the sap and juice depends upon its Union and coalition with the stock take away Union and there can be no communion or communications which is clear from 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. All is yours and ye are Christs and Christ is Gods where you see how all our participation of Christs benefits is built upon our Union with Christs person Secondly The reality of the believers Union with Christ is evident from the Imputation of Christs righteousness to him for his Justification That a believer is justified before God by a righteousness without himself is undeniable from Rom. 3. 24. being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus and that Christs righteousness becomes ours by Imputation is as clear from Rom. 4. 23 24. but it can never be imputed to us except we be united to him and become one with him which is also plainly asserted in 1 Con. 1. 30. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdome and righteousness sanctification and redemption he communicates his merits unto none but those that are in him hence all those vain cavils of the Papists disputing against our Justification by the righteousness of Christ and asserting it to be by inherent righteousness are solidly answered When they demand how can we be justified by the righteousness of another can I be rich with another mans money or preferr'd by anothers honours Our answer is Yes if that other be my surety or husband indeed Peter cannot be justified by the righteousness of Paul but both may be justified by the righteousness of Christ imputed to them they being members joyntly knit to one common head principal and surety are one in obligation and construction of Law head and members are one body branch and stock are one tree and it 's no strange thing to see a graff live by the sap of another stock when once it is ingraffed into it Thirdly The Sympathy that is betwixt Christ and believers proves a Union betwixt them Christ and the Saints smile and sigh together St. Paul in Colos. 1. 2 4. tells us that he did fill up that which is behind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the remainders of the sufferings of Christ in his Flesh not as if Christs sufferings were imperfect for by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 10. 14. but in these two Scriptures Christ is consider'd in a twofold capacity he suffered once in Corpore proprio in his own person as mediator these sufferings are compleat and full and in that sense he suffers no more he suffers also in Corpore mâ—…tico in his Church and members thus he still suffers in the sufferings of every Saint for his sake and though these sufferings in his Mystical body are not equal to the other either pondere mensura in their weight and value nor yet designed ex officio for the same use and purpose to satisfie by their proper merit offended Justice nevertheless they are truly reckoned the sufferings of Christ because the head suffers when the members do and without this supposition that place Acts 9. 5. is never to be understood when Christ the head in Heaven crys out Saul Saul why persecutest thou me when the toe was trod upon on earth how doth Christ sensibly feel our sufferings or we his if there be not a Mystical Union betwixt him and us Fourthly and Lastly The way and manner in which the Saints shall be raised at the last day proves this Mystical Union betwixt Christ and them for they are not to be raised as others by the naked power of God without them but by the vertue of Christs resurrection as their head sending forth vital quickening influences into their dead bodies which are united to him as well as their souls For so we find it Rom. 8. 11. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you even as it is in our awakening out of natural sleep first the animal spirits in the head begin to rouze and play there and then the senses and members are loosed throughout the whole body Now it 's impossible the Saints should be raised in the last resurrection by the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them if that Spirit did not knit and unite them to him as members to their head So then by all this it is proved that there is a real Union of the Saints with Christ. Next I shall endeavour to open the quality and nature of this Union and shew you what it is according to the weak 2. apprehensions we have of so sublime a Mystery and this I shall do in a General account of it and Particular First More generally it is an intimate conjunction of believers to Christ by the imparting of his Spirit to them whereby 1. they are enabled to believe and live in him All divine Spiritual life is originally in the Father and cometh not to us but by and through the son Joh. 5. 26. to him hath the Father given to have an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a quickening enlivening power in himself but the Son communicates this life which is in him to none but by and through the Spirit Rom. 8. 2. the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and death The Spirit must therefore first take hold of us before we can live in Christ and
Nobels in his Kingdome but the Saints as the dear Spouse and wife of his bosome this dignifies the believer above the greatest Angel And as the Nobles of the Kingdome think it a preferment and honour to serve the Queen so the glorious Angels think it no degradation or dishonour to them to serve the Saints for to this honourable office they are appointed Heb. 1. 14. to be ministring or serviceable spirits for the good of them that shall be heirs of salvation the chiefest servant disdains not to honour and serve the heir Some imperious Grandees would frown should some of these persons but presume to approach their presence but God sets them before his face with delight and Angels delight to serve them Infer 2. If there be such a strict and inseparable Union betwixt Christ Infer 2. and believers then the graces of believers can never totally fail immortality is the priviledge of grace because sanctified persons are inseparably united to Christ the fountain of life your life is bid with Christ in God Coloss. 3. 3. Whilst the sap of life is in the root the branches live by it thus it is betwixt Christ and believers Joh. 14. 19. because I live ye shall live also see how Christ binds up their life in one bundle with his own plainly intimating it is as impossible for them to dye as it is for himself he cannot live without them True it is the spiritual life of believers is encountred by many strong and fierce oppositions it is also brought to a low ebb in some but we are always to remember there are some things which pertain to the essence of that life in which the very being of it lyes and some things that pertain only to its well-being all those things which belong to the well-being of the new creature as manifestations joys spiritual comforts c. may for a time fail yea and grace it self may suffer great losses and remissions in its degrees notwithstanding our Union with Christ but still the essence of it is immortal which is no small relief to gracious souls when the means of grace fail as is threatned Amos 8. 11. whem temporary formal professors drop away from Christ like withered leaves from the trees in a windy day 2 Tim. 2. 18. and when the natural Union of their souls and bodies are suffering a dissolution from each other by death when that Silver cord is loosed this Golden chain holds firm 1 Cor. 3. 23. Infer 3. Is the Union so intimate betwixt Christ and believers how great Infer 3. and powerful a motive then is this to make us open-handed and liberal in relieving the necessities and wants of every gracious person for in relieving them we relieve Christ himself Christ personal is not the object of our pity and charity Qui respectu fratris in Ecclesia non movetur vel Christi contemplatione moveatur qui non cogitat in labore egestate conservum vel dominum cogitet in ipso illo quem despicit constitutum Cyprian de opere eleemosynis he is at the fountain head of all the riches in glory Eph. 4. v. 10. but Christ mystical is exposed to necessities and wants he feels hunger and thirst cold and pains in his body the Church and he is refreshed relieved and comforted in their refreshments and comforts Christ the Lord of heaven and earth in this consideration is sometimes in need of a penny he tells us his wants and poverty and how he is relieved Mat. 25. 35 40. A Text believed and understood by very few I was an hungred and ye gave me meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was a stranger and ye took me in Then shall the righteous answer Lord when saw we thee an hungred c. And the King shall answer and say unto them Verily I say unto you in as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren ye have done it to me It was the saying of a great Divine that he thought scarce any man on earth did fully understand and believe this truth and he conceives so much hinted in the very Text where the righteous themselves reply Lord when saw we thee sick c. intimating in the question that they did not throughly understand the nearness yea oneness of those persons with Christ for whom they did these things And indeed it is incredible that a Christian can be hard hearted and close handed to that necessitous Christian in refreshing and relieving of whom he verily believes that he ministers refreshment to Christ himself O think again and again upon this Scripture consider what forcible and mighty Arguments are here laid together to engage relief to the wants of Christians Here you see their near relation to Christ they are Mystically one person what you did to them you did to me Here you see also how kindly Christ takes it at our hands acknowledging all those kindnesses that were bestowed upon him even to a bit of bread he is you see content to take it as a courtesy who might demand it by authority and bereave you of all immediately upon refusal Yea here you see this one single branch or act of obedience our charity to the Saints is singled out from among all the duties of obedience and made the test and evidence of our sincerity in that great day and men blessed or cursed according to the love they have manifested this way to the Saints O then henceforth let none that understand the relation the Saints have to Christ as the members to the head or the relation they have to each other thereby as fellow members of the same body from henceforth suffer Christ to hunger if they have bread to relieve him or Christ to be thirsty if they have to refresh him this Union betwixt Christ and the Saints affords an Argument beyond all other arguments in the world to prevail with us methinks a little Rhetorick might perswade a Christian to part with any thing he hath to Christ who parted with the glory of heaven yea and his heart blood to boot for his sake Inference 4. Do Christ and believers make but one Mystical person how unnatural Infer 4. and absurd then are all those acts of unkindness whereby believers wound and grieve Jesus Christ this is as if the hand should wound its own head from which it receives life sense motion and strength When Satan smites Christ by a wicked man he then wounds him with the hand of an enemy but when his temptations prevail upon the Saints to sin he wounds him as it were with his own hand as the Eagle and Tree in the Fable complain'd the one that he was wounded by an Arrow winged with his own Feathers the other that it was rived asunder by a wedge hewen out of its own limbs Now the evil and disingenuity of such sins is to be measured not only by the near relation Christ sustains
is Nature set off in its sumptuous attire and rich embellishments and now to renounce it disclaim and contemn it as dross and dung in comparison of Christ as believers do Phil. 3. 8. this I say is against the grain of nature We reckon it the strange effect of self denyal in Mahomet the Great who being so enamoured with his beautiful Irene would be perswaded upon reasons of Knowles History of the Turks State with his own hand to strike off her head and that when she appeared in all her rich ornaments before him rather like such a Goddess as the Poets in their ecstasies use to feign than a mortal creature and yet certainly this nothing is to that self denyal which is exercised in our coming to Christ. Secondly And if we look to the other Term to which the soul moves we shall find it acting as much above the Sphere and ability of improved Nature as here it acts and moves against the stream and current of corrupted nature for how wonderful and supernatural an adventure is that which the soul makes in the day that it comes to Jesus Christ Surely for any poor soul to venture it self for ever upon Jesus Christ whom it never saw nay upon Christ whose very existence it s own unbelief calls into question whether he be or no and that when it 's even weighed down to the dust with the burdensome sense of its own vileness and total unworthiness feeling nothing in it self but sin and misery the workings of death and fears of wrath to go to Christ of whose pardoning grace and mercy it never had any the least experience nor can find any ground of hope in it self that it shall be accepted this is as much above the power of nature as it is for a stone to rise from the earth and fix it self among the Stars well might the Apostle ascribe it to that almighty power which raised up Christ from the dead Eph. 1. 19 20. if the Lord draw not the Soul and that with an omnipotent pull it can never come from it self to Christ. And yet farther Thirdly The Natural impossibility of coming to Christ will more clearly appear if we consider the enemies to faith or what blocks are roll'd by Satan and his instruments into the way to Christ to mention in this place no more but our own carnal reason as it 's armed and managed by the subtilty of Satan what a wonder is it that any soul should come to Christ These are the strong holds mentioned 2 Cor. 10. 4. out of which those objections fears and discouragements sally by which the soul is fiercely assaulted in the way to Christ. Wilt thou forsake all thy pleasures merry company and sensible comforts to live a sad retired pensive life wilt thou begger and undo thy self let go thy comforts in hand for an hope of that which thine eyes never saw nor hast thou any certainty that it 's any more than a fancy wilt thou that hast lived in reputation and credit all thy life now become the scorn and contempt of the world thinkest thou thy self able to live such a strict severe mortified and self-denying a life as the word of God requires and what if persecution should arise as thou must expect it will canst thou forsake father and mother wife and children yea and give up thine own life too to a cruel and bloody death be advised better before thou resolve in so important a matter what thinkest thou of thy fore-fathers that lived and dyed in that way thou art now leaving art thou wiser than they do not the generality of men walk in the same paths thou hast hitherto walked in if this way lead to hell as thou fearest it may think then how many millions of men must perish as well as thy self and is such a supposition consistent with the gracious and merciful nature of God Besides think what sort of people those are unto whom thou art about to joyn thy self in this new way are there not to be found among them many things to discourage thee and cool thy zeal they are generally of the lower and baser sort of men poor and despicable seest thou not though their profession be holy how earthly carnal proud factious and hypocritical many of them are found to be and doubtless the rest are like them though their hypocrisie be not yet discovered O what stands and demurrs what hesitations and doubts is the soul clog'd with in its way to Christ but yet none of these can with-hold and detain the soul when the Father draws greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world and thus you see the nature manner and efficacy of divine drawings and how impossible it is for any Soul to come to Christ without them The Inferences and Improvements of the point follow Infer 1. How deeply and throughly is the nature of man corrupted and Infer 1. what an enemy is every man to his own happiness that he must be drawn to it Joh. 5. 40. you will not come unto me that ye might have life Life is desirable in every mans eyes and eternal is the most excellent life yet in this the world is agreed rather to dye and perish for ever than come to Christ for life Had Christ told us of Fields and Vineyards Sheep and Oxen Gold and Silver honours and sensual pleasures who would not have come to him for these but to tell them of mortification self-denyal strictness of life and sufferings for his sake and all this for an happiness to be enjoyed in the world to come nature will never like such a proposition as this You see where it sticks not in a simple inability to believe but in an inability complicated with enmity they neither can come nor will come to Christ 't is true all that do come to Christ come willingly but thanks to the grace of God that hath freed and perswaded the will else they had never been willing to come who ever found his own heart first stir and move towards Christ how long may we wait and expect before we shall feel our hearts naturally burn with desires after and love to Jesus Christ This aversation of the will and affections from God is one of the master roots of original sin No argument can prevail to bring the soul to Christ till this be master'd and overpowred by the Fathers drawings In our motions to sin we need trigging but in all our motions to Christ we as much need drawing He that comes to heaven may say Lord if I had had my own way and will I had never come here if thou hadst not drawn me I should never have come to thee O the riches of the grace of God! oh unparallel'd mercy and goodness not only to prepare such a glory as this for an unworthy soul but to put forth the exceeding greatness of thy power afterwards to draw an unwilling soul to the enjoyment of it
have lived Vassals to your sins and dyed at last in your sins but the fruit efficacy and benefit of Christs death is yours for the killing those sins in you which else had been your ruine Fifthly Believers have Communion with Christ in his life and resurrection from the dead as he rose from the dead so do they and that by the power and influence of his vivification and resurrection 't is the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus that makes us free from the Law of sin and death Rom. 8. 2. our spiritual life is from Christ Eph. 2. 1. and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins and hence Christ is said to live in the believer Gal. 2. 20. Now I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and it is no small priviledge to partake of the very life of Christ which is the most excellent life that ever any creature can live yet such is the happiness of all the Saints the life of Christ is manifest in them and such a life as shall never see death Sixthly To conclude Believers have fellowship with Jesus Christ in his glory which they shall enjoy in heaven with him they shall be ever with the Lord 1 Thes. 4. 17. and that 's not all though as one saith it were a kind of heaven but to look through the keyhole and have but a glimpse of Christs blessed face but they shall partake of the glory which the father hath given him for so he speaks Joh. 17. 22 24. and more particularly they shall sit with him in his throne Rev. 3. 21. and when he comes to judge the world he will come to be glorified in the Saints 2 Thes. 1. 10. So that you see what glorious and inestimable things are and will be in common betwixt Christ and the Saints His Titles his righteousness his holiness his death his life his glory I do not say that Christ will make any Saint equal with him in glory that 's impossible he will be known from all the Saints in heaven as the Sun is distinguished from the Stars but they shall partake of his glory and be fill'd with his joy there and thus you see what those things are that the Saints have fellowship with Christ in Secondly Next I would open the way and means by which 2. we come to have fellowship with Jesus Christ in these excellent priviledges and this I shall do briefly in the following Positions Position 1. First No man hath fellowship with Christ in any special saving Position 1. Soli verè fideles sunt membra Christi idque non quatenus homines sed quatenus Christiani nec secundum primam generationem sed secundum reg nerationem Polanus Syntag. lib. 6. cap. 35. priviledge by nature howsoever it be cultivated or improved but only by faith uniting him to the Lord Jesus Christ 't is not the priviledge of our first but second birth This is plain from Joh. 1. 12 13. But to as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to as many as believed on his name who are born not of flesh nor of blood nor of the will of man but of God We are by nature children of wrath Eph. 2. 3. we have fellowship with Satan in sin and misery the wild branch hath no communication of the sweetness and fatness of a more noble and excellent root until it be ingraffed upon it and have immediate Union and coalition with it Joh. 15. 1 2. Position 2. Believers themselves have not an equal share one with another in all the benefits and priviledges of their Union with Christ but in Position 2. some there is an equality and in others an inequality according to the measure and gift of Christ to every one In Justification they are all equal the weak and the strong believer are alike justified because it is one and the same perfect righteousness of Christ which is applied to the one and to the other so that there are no different degrees of Justification but all that believe are justified from all things Acts 13. 39. and there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8. 1. be they never so weak in faith or defective in degrees of grace But there is apparent difference in the measures of their Sanctification some are strong men and others are babes in Christ 1 Cor. 3. 1. the faith of some flourishes and grows exceedingly 2 Thes. 1. 3. the things that are in others are ready to dye Rev. 3. 2. It 's a plain case that there is great variety sound in the degrees of grace and comfort among them that are joyntly interested in Christ and equally justified by him Position 3. The Saints have not fellowship and communion with Christ in the fore-mentioned benefits and priviledges by one and the same medium Position 3. but by various mediums and ways according to the nature of the benefits in which they participate For instance they have partnership and communion with Christ as hath been said in his righteousness holiness and glory but they receive these distinct blessings by divers mediums of communion we have communion with Christ in his righteousness by the way of Imputation we partake of his holiness by the way of infusion and of his glory in heaven by the beatifical Vision Our Justification is a relative change our sanctification a real change our glorification a perfect change by redemption from all the remains both of sin and misery Thus hath the Lord appointed several blessings for believers in Christ and several channels of conveying them from him to us by imputed righteousness we are freed from the guilt of sin by imparted holiness we are freed from the dominion of sin and by our glorification with Christ we are freed from all the reliques and remains both of sin and misery let in by sin upon our natures Position 4. That Jesus Christ imparts to all believers all the spiritual Position 4. blessings that he is filled with and with-holds none from any that have Union with him be these blessings never so great or they that receive them never so weak mean and contemptible in outward respects Gal. 3. 27. Ye are all the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. The salvation that comes by Christ is stiled the common salvation Jude 3. and heaven the inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1. 12. There is neither Greek nor Jew saith the Apostle Circumcision nor uncircumcision Barbarian Scythian bond or free but Christ is all and in all Col. 3. 11. he means there is no priviledge in the one to commend them to God and no want of any thing in the other to debarr them from God let men have or want outward excellencies as beauty honour riches nobility gifts of the mind sweetness of nature and all such like ornaments what is that to God he looks not at these things but respects
capistratus er at a mute muzzled as the word signifies by the clear testimony of his own conscience these accusations are the second work or office of conscience and they make way for the third namely Thirdly The sentence and condemnation of Conscience and truly this is an insupportable burthen the condemnation 3. of conscience is nothing else but its application of the condemning sentence of the Law to a mans person the Law curseth every one that transgresseth it Gal. 3. 10. conscience applys this curse to the guilty sinner So that it sentences the sinner in Gods name and authority from which there is no appeal the voice of conscience is the voice of God and what it pronounces in Gods name and authority he will confirm and ratifie 1 Joh. 3. 20. if our hearts i. e. our consciences condemn us God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things this is that torment which no man can endure See the effects of it in Cain in Judas and in Spira 't is a real foretast of hell torments this is that worm that never dyes Mark 9. 44. For look as a worm in the body is bred of the corruption that is there so the accusations and condemnations of conscience are bred in the soul by the corruption and guilt that is there as the worm in the body preys and bites upon the tender sensible inward parts so doth conscience touch the very quick This is its third effect or work to sentence and condemn and this also makes way for a fourth namely Fourthly To upbraid and reproach the sinner under his misery 4. and this makes a man a very terrour to himself to be pittied in misery is some relief but to be upbraided and reproached doubles our affliction you know it was one of the aggravations of Christs sufferings to be reproached by the tongue of his enemies whilest he hanged in torments upon the cursed tree but all the scoffs and reproaches the bitter jeers and Sarcasâ—…s in the world are nothing to these of a mans own conscience this will cut to the very bone O when a mans conscience shall say to him in a day of trouble as Reuben to his afflicted brethren Gen. 42. 22. Spake I not unto you saying do not sin against the child and ye would not hear therefore behold also his blood is required So conscience Did I not warn you threaten you perswade you in time against these evils but you would not hearken to me therefore behold now you must suffer to all eternity for it the wrath of God is kindled against thy soul for it this is the fruit of thy own wilful madness and obstinacy Now thou shalt know the price of sinning against God against light and conscience O this is terrible every bite of conscience makes a poor soul to startle and in a terrible fright to cry Oh the worm Oh the bitter foretast of Hell a wounded spirit who can bear This is a fourth wound of conscience and it makes way for a fifth for here it is as in the pouring out of the vials and the sounding of those woe-trumpets in the Revelation one woe is past and another cometh After all these deadly blows of conscience upon the very heart of a sinner comes another as dreadful as any that is yet named and that is Fifthly The fearful expectations of wrath to come which 5. it begets in the soul of a guilty sinner of this you read Heb. 10. 27. a fearful looking for of Judgement and fiery indignation and this makes the stoutest sinner quail and faint under the burthen of sin For the tongue of man cannot declare what it is to lye down and rise with those fearful expectations the case of such sinners is somewhat like that which is described in Deut. 28. 65 66 67. The Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart and failing of eyes and sorrow of mind and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee and thou shalt fear day and night and shalt have no assurance of thy life in the morning thou shalt say Would God it were evening and at even thou shalt say Would God it were morning for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear c. Only in this it differs in this Scripture you have the terrours of those described whose temporal life hangs in doubtful suspense but in the persons I am speaking of it is a trembling under the apprehensions and expectations of the vengeance of eternal fire Believe it Friends words cannot express what those poor creatures feel that lye down and rise under these fears and frights of conscience Lord what will become of me I am free among the dead yea among the damned I hang by the frail thred of a momentany life which will and must break shortly and may break the next moment over the everlasting burnings no pleasant bread is eaten in these days but what is like the bread of condemned men And thus you see what the burden of sin is when God makes it to bear upon the consciences of men no burden of affliction is like it losses of dearest relations sorrows for an only son are not so pungent and penetrating as these For First No creature enjoyment is pleasant under these inward troubles in other troubles they may signifie something to a mans relief but here they are nothing the wound is too deep to be healed by any thing but the blood of Jesus Christ Conscience requires as much to satisfie it as God requires to satisfie him When God is at peace with thee saith Conscience then will I be at peace with thee too but till then expect no rest nor peace from me all the pleasures and diversions in the world shall never stop my mouth go where thou wilt I will follow thee like thy shadow be thy portion in the world as sweet as it will I will drop in Gall and Wormwood into thy cup that thou shalt tast no sweetness in any thing till thou hast got thy pardon These inward troubles for sin alienate the mind from all former pleasures and delights there 's no more taste or savour in them than in the white of an Egg. Musick is out of tune all instruments jarr and groan Ornaments have no beauty what heart hath a poor creature to deck that body in which dwells such a miserable soul to feed and pamper that carcass that hath been the souls inducement to and instrument in sin and must be its companion in everlasting misery Secondly These inward troubles for sin put a dread into death beyond whatever the soul saw in it before Now it looks like the King of terrours indeed you read in Heb. 2. 15. of some that through fear of death are all their life long subject to bondage O what a lively comment is a soul in this case able to make upon such a Text they would not scare at the pale horse nor at him that sits on him though his name
design thus far And this actual application is the work of the Spirit by a singular appropriation Fourthly and Lastly This expression imports the suitableness of Christ to the necessities of Sinners What they want he is made to them and indeed as money answers all things and is convertible into meat drink rayment physick or what else our bodily necessities do require so Christ is virtually and eminently all that the necessities of our souls require bread to the hungry soul and cloathing to the naked soul. In a word God prepared and furnished him on purpose to answer all our wants which fully hits the Apostles sense when he saith Who of God is made unto us wisdome and righteousness sanctification and redemption The sum of all is Doct. Doct. That the Lord Jesus Christ with all his precious benefits becomes ours by Gods special and effectual Application There is a twofold Application of our redemption one Primary the other Secondary the former is the Act of God the Father applying it to Christ our Surety and virtually to us in him the later is the Act of the holy Spirit personally and actually applying it to us in the work of conversion the former hath the respect and relation of an example model or pattern to this and this is produced and wrought by the vertue of that What was done upon the person of Christ was not only virtually done upon us considered in him as a common publick representative person in which sense we are said to dye with him and live with him to be crucified with him and buryed with him but it was also intended for a platform or Idea of what is to be done by the Spirit actually upon our souls and bodies in our single persons As he dyed for sin so the Spirit applying his death to us in the work of mortification causes us to dye to sin by the vertue of his death and as he was quickned by the Spirit and raised unto life so the Spirit applying unto us the life of Christ causeth us to live by spiritual vivification Now this personal secondary and actual application of redemption to us by the Spirit in his sanctifying work is that which I am engaged here to discuss and open Which I shall do in these following Propositions Propos. 1. The Application of Christ to us is not only Comprehensive of our Justification but of all those works of the Spirit which are known Propos. 1. to us in Scripture by the names of regeneration vocation sanctification and conversion Though all these terms have some small respective differences among themselves yet they are all included in this general the applying and putting on of Christ Rom. 13. 14. Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. Regeneration expresses those supernatural divine new qualities infused by the Spirit into the Soul which are the principles of all holy actions Vocation expresseth the terms from which and to which the soul moves when the Spirit works savingly upon it under the Gospel call Sanctification notes that holy dedication of heart and life to God our becoming the Temples of the living God separate from all prophane sinful practices to the Lords only use and service Conversion denotes the great change it self which the Spirit causeth upon the soul turning it by a sweet irresistible efficacy from the power of Sin and Satan to God in Christ. Now all these are imported in and done by the Application of Christ to our souls for when once the efficacy of Christs death and the vertue of his resurrection come to take place upon the heart of any man he cannot but turn from Sin to God and become a new creature living and acting by new principles and rules So the Apostle observes 1 Thes. 1. 5 6. speaking of the effect of this work of the Spirit upon that people Our Gospel saith he came not to you in word only but in power and in the Holy Ghost there was the effectual application of Christ to them And you became followers of us and of the Lord ver 6. there was their effectual call And ye turned from dumb Idols to serve the living and true God ver 9. there was their conversion So that ye were ensamples to all that believe ver 7. there was their life of Sanctification or dedication to God So that all these are comprehended in effectual application Propos. 2. The Application of Christ to the souls of men is that great project Propos. 2. and design of God in this world for the accomplishment whereof all the Ordinances and all the officers of the Gospel are appointed and continued in the world This the Gospel expressly declared to be its direct and great end and the great business of all its officers Eph. 4. 11 12. And he gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some pastors and teachers till we all come in the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ i. e. the great aim and scope of all Christs Ordinances and officers is to bring men into Union with Christ and so build them up to perfection in him or to unite them to and confirm them in Christ and when it shall have finished this design then shall the whole frame of Gospel Ordinances be taken down and all its officers disbanded The Kingdom i. e. this present oeconomy manner and form of Government shall be delivered up 1 Cor. 15. 24. what are Ministers but the Bridegrooms friends Ambassadors for God to beseech men to be reconciled when therefore all the elect are brought home in a reconciled state to Christ when the marriage of the Lamb is come our work and office expire together Propos. 3. Such is the Importance and great concernment of the personal application of Christ to us by the Spirit that whatsoever the father hath Propos. 3. done in the contrivement or the Son hath done in the accomplishment of our Redemption is all inavailable and ineffectual to our Salvation without this It is confessedly true that Gods good pleasure appointing us from eternity to Salvation is in its kind a most full and sufficient Impulsive cause of our Salvation and every way able for so much as it is concerned to produce its effect And Christs humiliation and sufferings are a most compleat and sufficient meritorious cause of our Salvation to which nothing can be added to make it more apt and able to procure our Salvation than it already is yet neither the one or other can actually save any Soul without the Spirits application of Christ to it for where there are divers social causes or concauses necessary to produce one effect there the effect cannot be produced until the last cause have wrought thus it is here The Father hath elected and the Son hath redeemed but until the Spirit who is the last cause have wrought his part also we cannot be
head is above water therefore you cannot be lost nay he is not only risen from the dead himself but Templum Dei in quo spiritus inhabitat patris membrâ—… Christi non participare saâ—…utem sed in perditionem redigi dicere quomodo non maximae est blasphemiae Iren. lib. 5. is also become the first-fruits of them that sleep 1 Cor. 15. 20. Believers are his members his fulness he cannot therefore be compleat without you a part of Christ cannot perish in the grave much less burn in hell remember when you feel the Natural Union dissolving that this Mystical Union can never be dissolved the pangs of death cannot break this tye as there is a peculiar excellency in the believers life so there is a singular support and peculiar comfort in his death to me to live is Christ and to dye is gain Phil. 1. 21. Infer 8. If there be such a Union betwixt Christ and believers how doth it concern every man to try and examin his Estate Infer 8. whether he be really united with Christ or not by the natural and proper effects which alwayes flow from this Union As First The real Communication of Christs holiness to the soul we cannot be United with this root and not partake of the vital sap of sanctification from him all that are planted into him are planted into the likeness of his death and of his resurrection Rom. 6. 5 6. viz. by mortification and vivification Secondly They that are so nearly united to him as members to the head cannot but love him and value him above their own lives as we see in nature the hand and arm will interpose to save the head the nearer the Union the stronger always is the affection Thirdly The members are subject to the head Dominion in the head must needs infer subjection in the members Eph. 5. 24. in vain do we claim Union with Christ as our head whilst we are governed by our own wills and our Lusts give us law Fourthly All that are United to Christ do bear fruit to God Rom. 7. 4. fruitfulness is the next end of our Union there are no barren branches growing upon this fruitful root Infer 9. Lastly how much are believers engaged to walk as the members Infer 9. of Christ in the visible exercises of all those graces and duties which the consideration of their near relation to him exacts from them As First How contented and well pleased should we be with our outward lot however providence hath cast it for us in this world O do not repine God hath dealt bountifully with you upon others he hath bestowed the good things of this world upon you himself in Christ. Secondly How humble and lowly in spirit should you be under your great advancement It 's true God hath magnified you greatly by this Union but yet don't swell You bear not the root but the root you Rom. 11. 18. You shine but it is as the Stars with a borrowed light Thirdly How Zealous should you be to honour Christ who hath put so much honour upon you Be willing to give glory to Christ though his glory should rise out of your shame Never reckon that glory that goes to Christ to be lost to you when you lye at his feet in the most particular heart-breaking confessions ofsin yet let this please you that therein you have given him glory Fourthly how exact and circumspect should you be in all your wayes remembring whose you are and whom you represent Shall it be said that a member of Christ was convicted of unrighteous and unholy actions God forbid if we say we have fellowship with him and walkin darkness we lye 1 Joh. 1. 6. and he that saith he abideth in him ought also himself to walk even as he walked 1 Joh. 2. 6. Fifthly how studious should you be of peace among your selves who are all so nearly united to such a head and thereby are made fellow-members in the same body The heathen world was never acquainted with such an Argument as the Apostle urges for Unity in Eph. 4. 3 4. Sixthly and Lastly how joyful and comfortable should you be to whom Christ with all his treasures and benefits is effectually applyed in this blessed Union of your souls with him This brings him into your possession oh how great how glorious a person do the little weak arms of your faith embrace Thanks be to God for Jesus Christ. The Third SERMON Serm. 3. 2 Cor. 5. 20. Opening the nature and use of of the Gospel Ministry as an external means of applying Christ. Now then we are Ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God THe Effectual Application of Christ principally consists in our Union with him but ordinarily there can be no Union without a Gospel tender and overture of him to our souls for how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a Preacher and how shall he preach except he be sent Rom. 10. 14. IF God be upon a design of marrying poor sinners to his Son there must be a treaty in order to it that treaty requires interlocution betwixt both the parties concerned in it but such is our frailty that should God speak immediately to us himself it would confound and overwhelm us God therefore graciously condescends and accommodates himself to our infirmity in treating with us in order to our Union with Christ by his Ambassadors and these not Angels whose converses we cannot bear but men like our selves who are commissionated for the effecting of this great business betwixt Christ and us Now then we are Ambassadors for God c. In which words you have First Christs Ambassadors commissionated Secondly Their Commission opened First Christs Ambassadors commissionated Now then we are Ambassadors for Christ. The Lord Jesus thought it not sufficient to print the law of grace and blessed terms of our Union with him in the scriptures where men may read his willingness to receive them and see the just and gracious terms and conditions upon which he offers to become theirs but hath also set up and established a standing office in the Church to expound that Law inculcate the precepts and urge the promises thereof to wooe and espouse souls to Christ I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chast virgin to Christ 2 Cor. 11. 20. and this not simply from their own affections and compassions to miserable sinners but also by vertue of their office and Commission whereby they are authorized and appointed to that work We then are Ambassadors for Christ. Secondly Their Commission opened wherein we find 1. Their work appointed 2. Their Capacity described 3. And the manner of their acting in that Capacity prescribed First The work whereunto the Ministers of the Gospel are appointed is to reconcile the world to God to work these sinful vain rebellious
there are so many almost Christians in the world hence are all those vanishing imperfect works which come to nothing call'd in Scripture a morning cloud an early dew had this mighty power gone forth with the word they had never vanished or perished like Embryos as they do So then God draws not only in a moral way by proposing a suitable object to the will but also in a physical way or by immediate powerful influence upon the will not infringing the Liberty of it but yet infallibly and effectually perswading it to come to Christ. Secondly Next let us consider the marvellous way and 2. manner in which the Lord draws the souls of poor sinners to Jesus Christ and you will find he doth it 1. Gradually 2. Congruously 3. Powerfully 4. Effectually and 5. Finally First This blessed work is carried on by the Spirit gradually bringing the soul step by step in the due method and order of the Gospel to Christ illumination conviction compunction prepare the way to Christ and then faith unites the soul to him without humiliation there can be no faith Mat. 21. 32. ye repented not that ye might believe 't is the burdensome sense of sin that brings the soul to Christ for rest Mat. 11. 28. come unto me ye that are weary and heavy laden but without Conviction there can be no Compunction no humiliation he that is not convinced of his sin and misery never bewails it nor mourns for it never was there one tear of true repentance seen to drop from the eye of an unconvinced sinner And without illumination there can be no Conviction for what is Conviction but the application of the light which is in the understanding or mind of a man to his heart and Conscience Acts 2. 37. In this order therefore the Spirit ordinarily draws souls to Christ he shines into their minds by illumination applys that light to their Consciences by effectual Conviction breaks and wounds their hearts for sin in Compunction and then moves the will to embrace and close with Christ in the way of Faith for life and salvation These several steps are more distinctly discerned in some Christians than in others they are more clearly to be seen in the Adult Convert than those that were drawn to Christ in their youth in such as were drawn to him out of a state of prophaneness than those that had the advantage of a pious education but in this order the work is carried on ordinarily in all however it differ in point of clearness in the one and in the other Secondly He draws sinners to Christ Congruously and very agreeably to the nature and way of man So he speaks Hosea 11. 4. I drew them with the cords of a man with bands Fuâ—…ibus hominum i. e. humanis nâ—… quibus trahi ac deduci solent boves of love not as beasts are drawn but as men are inclined and wrought to complyance by rational Conviction of their Judgements and powerful perswasion of their wills the minds of sinners are naturally blinded by ignorance 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. and their affections bewitched to their Lusts Gal. 3. 4. and whilst it is thus no arguments of intreaties can possibly prevail to bring them off from the ways of sin to Christ. The way therefore which the Lord takes to win and draw them to Christ is by rectifying their false apprehensions and shewing them infinitely more good in Christ than in the Creature and in their Lusts yea by satisfying their understandings that there is goodness enough in Jesus Christ to whom he is drawing them First To outbid all temporal good which is to be denied for his sake Secondly To preponderate all temporal evils which are to be suffered for his sake First That there is more good in Christ than in all temporal good things which we are to deny or forsake upon his account this being once clearly and convincingly discovered to the understanding the will is thereby prepared to quit all that which entangles and with holds it from coming to Christ there is no man that loves money so much but he will willingly part with it for that which is more worth to him than the sum he parts with to purchase it Matth. 13. 45 46. The Kingdome of heaven is like to a Merchant man seeking goodly Pearls who when he hath found one Pearl of great price goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth it Such an invaluable Pearl is Jesus Christ infinitely more worth than all that a poor sinner hath to part with for him and is a more real good than the creature These are but vain shadows Prov. 23. 5. Christ is a solid substantial good yea he is and by Conviction appears to be a more suitable good than the creature the world cannot justifie and save but Christ can Christ is a more necessary good than the creature this is for our temporal Conveniency but he of eternal necessity He is a more Durable good than any creature comfort is or can be the fashion of this world passeth away 1 Cor. 7. 31. but durable riches and righteousness are in him Prov. 8. 17. Thus Christ appears in the day of conviction infinitely more excellent than the world he out-bids all the offers that the world can make and this gives the main stroke to this work of drawing a Soul to Jesus Christ. Secondly And then to remove every block out of the way to Christ God discovers to the Soul enough in him to preponderate and much more than recompence all the evils and sufferings it can endure for his sake 'T is true they that close with Christ close with his cross also they must expect to save no more but their souls by him he tells us what we must trust to Luke 14. 26 27. If any man come to me and hate not his Father and Mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters yea and his own life also he cannot be my disciple and whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple To read such a Text as this with such a Comment upon it as Satan and our own flesh can make is enough to scare a man from Christ for ever nor is it possible by all the arguments in the world to draw any soul to Christ upon such terms as these till the Lord convince it that there is enough and much more than enough in Jesus Christ to recompence all these sufferings and losses we endure for him But when the soul is satisfied that these sufferings are but external upon the vile body but the benefit that comes by Christ is internal in a mans-own soul These afflictions are but temporal Rom. 8. 18. but Christ and his benefits are eternal this must need prevail with the will to come over to Christ notwithstanding all the evils of suffering that accompany him when the reality of all this is discovered by the Lord and the power of God goes along with
is in the several parts of a Christians life is the effect of this infused principle of spiritual life Thirdly Another aim and design of God in the infusion of this principle of life is thereby to prepare and qualifie the soul for the enjoyment of himself in heaven except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God Joh. 3. 3. all that shall possess that inheritance must be begotten again to it as the Apostle speaks 1 Pet. 1. 3 4. this principle of grace is the very seed of that glory it 's eternal life in the root and principle Joh. 17. 3. by this the soul is attempered and qualified for that state and imployment what is the life of glory but the vision of God and the souls assimilation to God by that vision from both which results that unspeakable joy and delight which passeth understanding but what vision of God assimilation to God or delight in God can that soul have which was never quickened with the supernatural principle of grace The temper of such souls is expressed in that sad Character Zech. 11. 8. my soul loathed them and their soul also abhorred me for want of this vital principle it is that the very same duties and ordinances which are the delights and highest pleasures of the Saints are no better than a meer drudgery and bondage to others Maâ—… 1. 13. heaven would be no heaven to a dead soul this principle of life in its daily growth and improvement is our meetness as well as our evidence for heaven these are the main ends of its infusion Fourthly In the next place according to the method proposed I am obliged to shew you that this quickening work is 4. wholly supernatural it is the sole and proper work of the Spirit of God So Christ himself expressly asserts it in Joh. 3. 6 8. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit the wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit Believers are the birth or off-spring of the Spirit who produceth the new creature in them in an unintelligible manner even to themselves So far it is above their own ability to produce that it is above their capacity to understand the way of its production as if you should ask do you know from whence the wind comes no do you know whither it goes no but you hear and feel it when it blows yes why so is every one that is born of the Spirit he feels the efficacy and discerns the effects of the Spirit on his own soul but cannot understand or describe the manner of its production this is not only above the carnal but above the renewed mind to comprehend we can contribute nothing I mean actively to the production of this principle of life we may indeed be said to concur passively with the Spirit in it that is there is found in us a capacity aptness or receptiveness of this principle of life our nature is endowed with such faculties and powers as are meet subjects to receive and instruments to act this spiritual life God only quickens the rational nature with spiritual life It is true also that in the progress of Sanctification a man doth actively concurr with the Spirit but in the first production of this spiritual principle he can do nothing he can indeed perform those external duties that have a remote tendency to it but he cannot by the power of nature perform any saving act or contribute any thing more than a passive capacity to the implantation of a new principle as will appear by the following Arguments Argument 1. He that actively concurrs to his own regeneration makes himself to differ but this is denyed to all regenerate men 1 Cor. 4. 7. who maketh thee to differ from another and what hast thou that thou didst not receive Arg. 2. That to which the Scripture ascribes both impotency and enmity with respect to grace cannot actively and of it self concurr to the production of it But the Scripture ascribes both impotency and enmity to Nature with respect to grace It denyes to it a power to do anything of it self Joh. 15. 5. and which is less it denies to it power to speak a good word Matth. 12. 34. and which is least of all it denies it power to think a good thought 2 Cor. 3. 5. This impotency if there were no more cuts off all pretence of our active concurrence but then if we consider that it ascribes enmity to our natures as well as impotency how clear is the case see Rom. 8. 7. the carnal mind is enmity against God and Col. 1. 21. and you that were enemies in your minds by wicked works So then Nature is so far productive of this principle as impotency and enmity can enable it to be so Arg. 3. That which is of natural production must needs be subject to natural dissolution that which is born of the flesh is flesh a perishing thing sor everything is as its principle is and there can be no more in the effect than there is in the cause but this principle of spiritual life is not subject to dissolution it is the water that springs up into everlasting life Joh. 4. 14. the seed of God which remaineth in the regenerate soul 1 Joh. 3. 9. and all this because it 's born not of corruptible but of incorruptible seed 1 Pet. 1. 23. Arg. 4. If our new birth be our resurrection a new creation yea a victory over nature then we cannot actively contribute to its production but under all these notions it is represented to us in the Scriptures It 's our resurrection from the dead Eph. 5. 14. and you know the body is wholly passive in its resurrection but though it concurrs not yet it gives pre-existent matter therefore the metaphor is designedly varied Eph. 4. 24. where it 's call'd a creation in which there is neither active concurrence nor pre-existent matter but though Creation excludes pre-existent matter yet in proâ—…cing something out of nothing there is no reluctancy nor opposition therefore to shew how purely supernatural this principle of life is it is cloathed and presented to us in the notion of a victory 2 Cor. 10. 4. and so leaves all to grace Arg. 5. If nature could produce or but actively concurr to the production of this spiritual life then the best natures would be soonest quickened with it and the worst natures not at all or last and least of all but contrarily we find the worst natures often regenerated and the best left in the state of spiritual death with how many sweet homilitical vertues was the young man adorned Mark 10. 21. yet graceless and what a sink of sin was Mary Magdalen Luke 7. 37. yet sanctified thus beautiful Rachel is barren whilst blear-ey'd Leah bears children And there is
our righteousness Jer. 23. we dare not set the servant above the master we acknowledge no righteousness but what the obedience and satisfaction of Christ yields us his blood not our faith his satisfaction not our believing it is the matter of our justification before God Secondly We dare not yield this point lest we undermine all the comfort of Christians by bottoming their pardon and peace upon a weak imperfect work of their own Oh how tottering and unstable must their station be that stand upon such a bottom as this what ups and downs are there in our faith what mixtures of unbelief at all times and prevalency of unbelief at some times and is this a foundation to build our justification and hope upon debile fundamentum fallit opus if we lay the stress here we build upon very loose ground and must be at a continual loss both as to safety and comfort Thirdly We dare not wrong the justice and truth of God at that rate as to affirm that he esteems and imputes our poor weak faith for perfect legal righteousness we know that the judgement of God is always according to truth if Ergo quia fides Christum justitiam nostram recipit gratiae dei in Christo omnia tribuit ideo fidei tribuitur justificatio maxime propter Christum non ideo quia nostrum opus est Confess Helv. 〈◊〉 the justice of God requires full payment sure it will not say it 's fully satisfied by any act of ours when all that we can do amounts not to one mite of the vast summ we owe to God So that we deservedly reject this opinion also Thirdly And for the third opinion that it justifies as the Condition of the new Covenant though some of great name and worth among our Protestant Divines seem to go that way yet I cannot see according to this opinion any reason why repentance may not as properly be said to justifie us as faith for it is a condition of the new Covenant as much as faith and if faith justifie as a condition then every other grace that is a condition must justifie as well as faith I acknowledge faith to be a condition of the Covenant but cannot allow that it justifies as a condition And therefore must profess my self best satisfied in the last opinion which speaks it an instrument in our justification it is the hand which receives the righteousness of Christ that justifies us and that gives it its value above all other graces as when we say a Diamond Ring is worth one hundred pounds we mean not the Gold that receives but the stone that is set in it is worth so much faith consider'd as an habit is no more precious than other gracious habits are but consider'd as an instrument to receive Christ and his righteousness so it excels them all and this instrumentality of faith is noted in those phrases 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 3. 28. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 3. 22. by faith and through faith And thus much of the nature and excellency of saving faith The Seventh SERMON Serm. 7. JOH 1. 12. Text. But as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name THe Nature and Excellency of saving faith together with its relation to justification as an Instrument in receiving Christ and his righteousness having been discoursed doctrinally already I now come to make application of it according to the nature of this weighty and fruitful point And the Uses I shall make of it will be for our 1. Information 2. Examination 3. Exhortation And. 4. Direction First Use of Information And in the first place this point yields us many and great 1. Use. and useful truths for our Information as Infer 1. Is the receiving of Christ the vital and saving act of faith Infer 1. which gives the soul right to the person and priviledges of Christ Then it follows That the rejecting of Christ by unbelief must needs be the damning and soul-destroying sin which cuts a man off from Christ and all the benefits purchased by his blood If there be life in receiving there must needs be death in rejecting Christ. There is no grace more excellent than faith no sin more execrable and abominable than unbelief faith is the saving grace and unbelief is the damning sin Mark 16. 16. He that believeth not shall be damned See Joh. 3. 18 36. and Joh. 8. 24. And the reason why this sin of unbelief is the damning sin is this because in the justification of a sinner there must be a cooperation of all the Concauses that have a joint influence into that blessed effect As there must be free grace for an impulsive cause The blood of Christ as the meritorious cause so of necessity there must be faith the Instrumental cause to receive and apply what the free grace of God designed and the blood of Christ purchased for us For where there are many social causes or concauses to produce one effect there the effect is not produced till the last cause be in Act. To him give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remissions of sins Acts 10. 43. Faith in its place is as necessary as the blood of Christ in its place 't is Christ in you the hope of glory Col. 1. 27. not Christ in the womb nor Christ in the grave nor Christ in heaven except he be also Christ in you Though Christ be come in the flesh though he dyed and rose again from the dead yet if you believe not you must for all that dye in your sins Joh. 8. 24. and what a dreadful thing is this better dye the death of a dog better dye in a ditch than dye in your sins if you dye in your sins you will also rise in your sins and stand at the bar of Christ in your sins you can never receive remission till first you have received Christ. O cursed unbelief which damns the soul dishonours God 1 Joh. 5. 10. sleights Jesus Christ the wisdome of God as if that glorious design of redemption by his blood the triumph and master-piece of divine wisdome were meer foolishness 1 Cor. 1. 23 24. frustrates the great design of the Gospel Gal. 4. 11. and consequently it must be the sin of sins the worst and most dangerous of all sins leaving a man under the guilt of all his other sins Infer 2. If such a receiving of Christ as hath been described be saving and justifying faith Then faith is a work of greater difficulty Infer 2. than most men understand it to be and there are but few sound believers in the world Before Christ can be received the heart must be emptied and opened but most mens hearts are full of self righteousness and vain confidence this was the case of the Jews Rom. 10. 3. being ignorant of Gods righteousness and
going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God Mans righteousness was once in himself and what liquor is first put into the vessel it ever afterward savours of it 't is with Adams posterity as with Bees which have been accustomed to go their own hive and carry all thither if the hive be removed to another place they will still flye to the old place hover up and down about it and rather dye there than go to a new place So it is with most men God hath removed their righteousness from doing to believing from themselves to Christ but who shall prevail with them to forsake self nature will venture to be damned rather than do it there is much submission in believing and great self denyal a proud self-conceited heart will never stoop to live upon the stock of anothers righteousness Besides it is no easie thing to perswade men to receive Christ as their Lord in all things and submit their necks to his strict and holy precepts though it be a great truth that Christs yoak doth not gall but grace and adorn the neck that Jugum Christi non deterit sed honestat colla Bern. bears it that the truest and sweetest liberty is in our freedom from our lusts not in our fulfilling them yet who shall perswade the carnal heart to believe this and much less will men ever be prevailed withal to forsake father mother wife children inheritance and life it self to follow Christ and all this upon the account of spiritual and invisible things and yet this must be done by all that receive the Lord Jesus Christ upon Gospel terms yea and before the soul hath any encouraging experience of its own to balance the manifold discouragements of sense and carnal reason improved by the utmost craft of Satan to dismay it for experience is the fruit and consequent of believing So that it may well be placed among the great mysteries of godliliness that Christ is believed on in the world 1 Tim. 3. 16. Infer 3. And then Thirdly hence it will follow that there may be more true and sound believers in the world than know or dare conclude Infer 3. themselves to be such For as many ruine their own souls by placing the essence of saving faith in naked assent so some rob themselves of their own comfort by placing it in full assurance Faith and sense of faith are two distinct and separable mercies you may have truly received Christ and not receive the knowledge or assurance of it Isa. 50. 10. Some there be that say thou art our God of whom God never said you are my people these have no authority to be call'd the sons of God others there are of whom God saith these are my people yet dare not call God their God these have authority to be call'd the sons of God but know it not They have received Christ that 's their safety but they have not yet received the knowledge and assurance of it that 's their trouble the Father owns his child in the Cradle who yet knows him not to be his Father Now there are two reasons why many believers who might argue themselves into peace do yet live without the comforts of their faith and this may come to pass either from First The inevidence of the premises Secondly Or the weighty importance of the conclusion First It may come to pass from the inevidence of the premises Assurance is a practical Syllogism and it proceeds thus All that truly have received Christ Jesus they are the children of God I have truly received Jesus Christ Therefore I am the child of God The Major proposition is found in the Scripture and there can be no doubt of that the Assumption depends upon experience or internal sense I have truly received Jesus Christ here usually is the stumble many great objections lye against it which they cannot clearly answer as Light and knowledge are necessarily required to the right 1. Ob. receiving of Christ but I am dark and ignorant many carnal unregenerate persons know more than I do and are more able to discourse of the mysteries of Religion than I am But you ought to distinguish of the kinds and degrees of Sol. knowledge and then you would see that your bewailed ignorance is no bar to your interest in Christ. There are two kinds of knowledge 1. Natural 2. Spiritual There is a natural knowledge even of spiritual objects a spark of nature blown up by an advantagious education and though the objects of this knowledge be spiritual things yet the light in which they are discerned is but a meer natural light And there is a spiritual knowledge of spiritual things the teaching of the anointing as it 's call'd 1 Joh. 2. 27. i. e. the effect and fruit of the Spirits sanctifying work upon our souls when the experience of a mans own heart informs and teacheth his understanding when by feeling the workings of grace in our own souls we come to understand its nature this is spiritual knowledge Now a little of this knowledge is a better evidence of a mans interest in Christ than the most raised and excellent degree of natural knowledge as the Philosopher truly observes praestat paucula de meliori scientia degustasse quam de ignobiliori multa one drachm of knowledge of the best and most excellent things is better than much knowledge of common things So it is here a little spiritual knowledge of Jesus Christ that hath life and savour in it is more than all the natural sapless knowledge of the unregenerate which leaves the heart dead carnal and barren 't is not the quantity but the kind not the measure but the savour if you know so much of the evil of sin as renders it the most bitter and burdensome thing in the world to you and so much of the necessity and excellency of Christ as renders him the most sweet and desirable thing in the world to you though you may be defective in many degrees of knowledge yet this is enough to prove yours to be the fruit of the Spirit you may have a sanctified heart though you have an irregular or weak head many that knew more than you are in hell and some that once knew as little as you are now in heaven in absoluto facili stat aeternitas God hath not prepar'd heaven only for clear and subtil heads a little sanctifified and effectual knowledge of Christs person offices suitableness and necessity may bring thee thither when others with all their curious speculations and notions may perish for ever But you tell me that Assent to the truths of the Gospel is 2. Ob. necessarily included in saving faith which though it be not the justifying and saving act yet it is presupposed and required to it now I have many staggerings and doubtings about the certainty and reality of these things many horrid atheistical thoughts which shake the
the necessary consequent of that Union there is no condemnation Rom. 8. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not one condemnation how many soever our sins have been Thirdly The least measure or degree of saving faith is a greater mercy than God hath bestowed or ever will bestow upon many that are far above you in outward respects all men have not faith nay 't is but a remnant among men that believe Few of the Nobles and Potentates of the world have such a gift as this they have houses and lands yea Crowns and Scepters but no Faith no Christ no pardon they have authority to rule over men but no authority to become the sons of God 1 Cor. 1. 26 27. Say therefore in thy most debased straitned afflicted condition Return to thy rest O my soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee Fourthly The least degree of saving faith is more than all the power of nature can produce there must be a special revelation of the arm of the Lord in that work Isa. 53. 1. Believers are not born of flesh nor of blood nor of the will of man but of God Joh. 1. 12 13. all believing motions towards Christ are the effects of the Fathers drawing Joh. 6. 44. a glorious and irresistable power goes forth from God to produce it whence it 's call'd the faith of the operation of God Col. 2. 12. So then Let not believers depise the day of small things or overlook that great and infinite mercy which is wrapt up in the least degree of saving faith Inference 5. Learn hence the impossibility of their salvation who neither know the nature nor enjoy the means of saving faith Infer 5. My soul pities and mourns over the infidel world Ah what will become of the millions of poor unbelievers there is but one door of salvation viz. Christ and but one Key of faith to open that door and as that key was never given to the heathen world so it 's laid aside or taken away from the people by their cruel guides all over the Popish world were you among them you should hear nothing else prest as necessary to your salvation but a blind implicite faith to believe as the Church believes that is to believe they know not what To believe as the Pope believes that is as an Infidel believes for so they confess he may be * Non enim fides interior Romani Poâ—…tificis ecclesiae est necessaria Canus Loc. Theol. p. 344. and though there be such a thing as an explicite faith sometimes spoken of among them yet it is very sparingly discoursed very falsely described and exceedingly slighted by them as the veriest trifle in the world First It is but sparingly discoursed of they love not to accustome the peoples ears to such doctrine one of themselves confesses that there is so deep a silence of explicit particular faith in the Romish Church that you may find many every where that believe no more of these things than heathen Navarr cap. 11. p. 142. Philosophers Secondly When it is preacht or written of it is falsely described for they place the whole nature and essence of justifying and saving faith in a naked assent which the Devils have as well as men James 2. 19. no more than this is prest upon the people at any time as necessary to their salvation Thirdly And even this particular explicit faith when it is spoken or written of is exceedingly slighted I think if the Devil himself were in the Pulpit he could hardly tell how to bring men to a more low and slight esteem of faith to represent it as a verier trifle and needless thing than these his Agents have done Some a Petr. à S. Joseph sum Art 1. p. 6. say if a man believe with a particular explicit faith i. e. if he actually assent to Scripture truths once in a year it is enough Yea and others b Bonacina Tom. 2. in 1. praecept think it too much to oblige people to believe once in twelve months and for their ease tell them if they believe once in twelve years it is sufficient and lest this should be too great a task c Jo. Sanc. Disp. 41. n. 32. others affirm that if it be done but once in their whole life and that at the point of death too it is enough especially for the rude and common people Good God! what doctrine is here it was a saying long ago of Gregory as I remember malus minister est nisus diâ—…boli a wicked minister is the devils Gosshawk that goes a birding for hell and O what game have these hawks of hell among such numerous flocks of people O bless God while you live for your deliverance from Popery and see that you prize the Gospel and means of grace you enjoy at an higher rate lest God bring you once more under that yoak which neither you nor your Fathers could bear Second Use for Examination Doth saving faith consist in a due and right receiving of the Lord Jesus Christ then let me perswade you to examine 2. Use. your selves in this great point of faith Reflect solemnly upon the transactions that have been betwixt Christ and your souls think close on this subject of meditation If all you were worth in the world lay in one precious stone and that stone were to be tried by the skilful Lapidary whether it were true or false whether it would flye or endure under the smart stroke of his Hammer sure your thoughts could not be unconcerned about the issue why all that you are worth in both worlds depends upon the truth of your saith which is now to be tried O therefore read not these lines with a running careless eye but seriously ponder the matter before you you would be loth to put to Sea though it were but to cross the channel in a rotten leaky bottome and will you dare to venture into the ocean of eternity in a false rotten faith God forbid you know the Lord is coming to try every mans faith as by fire and that we must stand or fall for ever with the sincerity or hypocrisie of our faith Surely you can never be too exact and careful about that on which your whole estate depends and that for ever Now there are three things upon which we should have a very tender and watchful eye for the discovery of the sincerity of our faith and they are The Antecedents of Faith Concomitants Consequents As these are so we must judge and reckon our faith to be And accordingly they furnish us with three general Marks or tryals of faith First If you would discern the sincerity of your faith examine 1. Mark whether those Antecedents and preparative works of the Spirit were ever found in your souls which use to introduce and usher it into the souls of Gods Elect such are illumination conviction self-despair and earnest crys to God First Illumination is a necessary antecedent to faith you
way upon Christ and the satisfaction of his blood when the efficacy and terrour of conscience is upon them and they feel the sting of guilt within them but assoon as the storm is over and the rod that conscience shak't over them laid by there 's no more talk of Christ then alas it was not Christ but quietness that they sought beware of mistaking peace for Christ. Direction 3. Thirdly In receiving Christ come empty handed unto him believing in him that justifies the ungodly Rom. 4. 5. and Direct 3. know that the deepest sense of your own vileness emptiness and unworthiness is the best frame of heart that can accompany you to Christ many persons stand off from Christ for want of fit qualifications they are not prepared for Christ as they should be i. e. they would not come naked and empty but have something to commend them to the Lord Jesus for acceptance O this is the pride of mens hearts and the snare of the Devil let him that hath no money come you are not to come to Christ because you are qualified but that you may be qualified with whatever you want and the best qualification you can bring with you is a deep sense that you have no worth nor excellency at all in you Direction 4. Fourthly In receiving Christ beware of dangerous delays Direct 4. O follow on that work till it be finished you read of some that are almost perswaded and others not far from the kingdome of God O take heed of sticking in the birth Hosea 13. 13. delays here are full of danger life is uncertain so are means of grace too the man-slayer needed no motives to quicken his flight to the refuge City Direction 5. Fifthly See that you receive all Christ with all your heart to receive all Christ is to receive his person cloathed with all Direct 5. his offices and to receive him with all your heart is to receive him into your understanding will and all the affections Acts 8. 37. As there is nothing in Christ that may be refused so there is nothing in you from which he must be excluded Direction 6. Lastly Understand that the opening of your hearts to receive the Lord Jesus Christ is not a work done by Direct 6. any power of your own but the arm of the Lord is revealed therein Isa. 53. 1. It is therefore your duty and interest to be daily at the feet of God pouring out your souls to him in secret for abilities to believe And so much as to our actual reception of Christ. Thanks be to God for Jesus Christ. The Eighth SERMON Serm. 8. PSAL. 45. 7. Therefore God thy God hath anointed thee with Text. Setting forth the Believers fellowship with Christ the next end of his Application to them the oyl of gladness above thy fellows THe Method of grace in uniting souls with Jesus Christ hath been opened in the former discourses thus doth the Spirit whose office it is make application of Christ to Gods elect The result and next fruit whereof is Communion with Christ in his graces and benefits our Mystical union is the very ground-work and foundation of our sweet soul-enriching Communion and participation of spiritual priviledges we are first ingraffed into Christ and then suck the sap and fatness of that root first married to the person of Christ then endowed and enstated in the priviledges and benefits of Christ. This is my proper work to open at this time and from this Scripture The words read are a part of that excellent song of love that heavenly Epithalamium wherein the spiritual espousals of Christ and the Church are figuratively and very elegantly Hic Psalmus propheticus est continetque Epithalamium quo Christi cum ecclesia nuptiae celebrantur idemque habet argumentum quod canticum canticorum ejusque videtur esse Epitome Coc. in Loc. celebrated and shadowed The subject matter of this Psalm is the very same with the whole book of the Canticles and in this Psalm under the figure of King Solomon and the daughter of Aegypt whom he espoused the spiritual espousals of Christ and the Church are set forth and represented to us Among many rapturous and elegant expressions in praâ—…e of this glorious bridegroom Christ this is one which you have before you God thy God hath anointed thee with the oyl of gladness above thy fellows i. e. enriched and fill'd thee in a singular and peculiar manner with the fulness of the Spirit whereby thou art consecrated to thy office and by reason whereof thou out-shinest and excellest all the Saints who are thy fellows or Copartners in these graces So that in these words you have two parts Viz. First The Saints dignity and Secondly Christs preeminency First The Saints dignity which consists in this that they are Christs fellows the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is very full and 1. Consortes participes sodales socios copious and is translated consorts companions copartners partakers or as ours reads it fellows i. e. such as are partakers with him in the anointing of the Spirit who do Vox Hebrâ—… quodcunque societatis sive communionis genus significat Muis. in their measure receive the same Spirit every Christian being anointed modo sibi proportionato with the same grace and dignified with the same titles 1 Joh. 2. 27. Rev. 1. 6. Christ and the Saints are in common one with another doth the Spirit of holiness dwell in him so it doth in them too is Christ King and Priest why so are they too by the grace of Union with him He hath made us Kings and Priests to God and his Father This is the Saints dignity to be Christs fellows consorts or copartners So that look whatever grace or spiritual excellency is in Christ it is not impropriated to himself but they do share with him for indeed he was fill'd with the fulness of the Spirit for their sakes and use as the Sun is fill'd with light not to shine to it self but to others so is Christ with grace and therefore some translate the Text not prâ—… consortibus above thy fellows but propter consortes for thy 〈◊〉 fellows making Christ the first receptaâ—…le of all grace who first and immediately is fill'd from the fountain the Godhead but it is for his people who receive and derive from him according to their proportion This is a great truth and the dignity of the Saints lyes chiefly in their partnership with Christ though our translation above thy fellows suits best both with the importance of the word and scope of the place Secondly But then whatever dignity is ascribed herein to the Saints there is and still must be a preeminency acknowledged 2. in and ascribed to Christ if they are anointed with the Spirit of grace much more abundantly is Christ God thy God hath anointed thee with the oyl of gladness above thy fellows By the oyl of gladness understand the
they receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness Rom. 5. 17. of his fulness they all receive grace for grace Joh. 1. 16. all the fulness of Christ is made over to them for the supply of their wants my God shall supply all your need saith the Apostle according to his riches in glory by Jesus Christ Phil. 4. 19. If all the riches of God can supply your needs then they shall be supplyed Say not Christ is in the possession of consummate glory and I am a poor creature struggling with many difficulties and toyling in the midst of many cares and fears in the world for care is taken for all thy needs and orders given from heaven for their supply my God shall supply all your need O say with a melting heart I have a full Christ and he is fill'd for me His pure and perfect righteousness is to justifie me his holiness is to sanctifie me his wisdome is to guide me his comforts are to refresh me his power is to protect me his all-sufficiency is to supply me O be chearful be thankful you have all your hearts can wish and yet be humble it is all from free grace to empty and unworthy creatures Infer 3. How absurd disingenuous and unworthy of a Christian is it to deny or with-hold from Christ any thing he hath or by which he Infer 3. may be served or honoured Doth Christ communicate all he hath to you and can you with-hold any thing from Christ On Christs part it is not mine and thine but ours or mine and yours Joh. 20. 17. I ascend to my Father and your father to my God and your God But O this cursed Idol Self which impropriates all to its own designs and uses How liberal is Christ and how penurious are we to him Some will not part with their credit for Christ when yet Christ abased himself unspeakably for them Some will not part with a drop of blood for Christ when Christ spent the whole treasure of his blood freely for us yea how loth are we to part with a shilling for Christ to relieve him in his distressed members when as yet we know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for our sakes he became poor that we through his poverty might be rich O ungrateful return O base and disingenuous Spirits The things Christ gives us are great the things we deny to him are small he parts with the greatest and yet is denyed the least The things he communicates to us are none of ours we have no right nor title by nature or any desert of ours to them the things we deny or grudge to Christ are by all titles his own and he hath the fullest and most unquestionable title to them all what he gives to us he gives to them that never deserved it what we with-hold from him we with-hold from one that hath deserved that and infinitely more from us than we have or are He interested you freely in all his riches when you were enemies you stand upon trifles with him and yet call him your best and dearest friend he gave himself and all he hath to you when you could claim nothing from him you deny to part with these things to Christ who may not only claim them upon the highest title his own soveraignty and absolute property but by your own act who profess to have given all in Covenant to him what he gives you returns no profit to him but what you give or part with for him is your greatest advantage O that the consideration of these things might shame and humble our souls Infer 4. Then certainly no man is or can be supposed to be a loser by conversion seeing from that day whatever Christ is or hath becomes Infer 4. his O what an inheritance are men possessed of by their new birth Some men cry out Religion will undo you but with what eyes do these men see surely you could never so reckon except your souls were so incarnated as to reckon pardon peace adoption holiness and heaven for nothing that invisibles are non-entities and temporals the only realities 'T is true the converted soul may lose his estate his liberty yea his life for Christ but what then are they losers that exchange Brass for Gold or part with their present comforts for an hundredfold advantage Mark 10. 29. So that none need scare at religion for the losses that attend it whilest Christ and heaven is gain'd by it they that count religion their loss have their portion in this life Inference 5. How securely is the Saints inheritance settled upon them seeing they are in commons with Jesus Christ Christ and his Saints Infer 5. are joynt-heirs and the inheritance cannot be alienated but by his consent he must lose his interest if you lose yours indeed Adams inheritance was by a single title and moreover it was in his own hand and so he might as indeed he soon did devest himself and his posterity of it but it is not so betwixt Christ and believers we are secured in our inheritance by Christ our co-heir who will never alienate it and therefore it was truly observed by the Father Foelicior Job in sterquilinio quam Adamus in Paradiso Job was happier upon the Dunghil than Adam was in Paradise The covenant of grace is certainly the best tenure as it hath the best mercies so it gives the fullest security to enjoy them Infer 6. How rich and full is Jesus Christ who communicates abundantly to all the Saints and yet hath more still in himself than is Infer 6. communicated to them although all they receive were brought into one heap Take all the faith of Abraham all the meekness of Moses all the patience of Job all the wisdome of Solomon all the zeal of David all the industry of Paul and all the tender-heartedness of Josiah add to this all the grace that is poured though in lesser measure into all the elect vessels in the world yet still it is far short of that which remains in Christ he is anointed with the oyl of gladness above his fellows and in all things he hath and must ever have the preeminence there be many thousand Stars glittering above your heads and one star differs from another star in glory yet there is more light and glory in one Sun than in the many thousand Stars grace beautifies the children of men exceedingly but still that is true of Christ Psal. 45. 2. Thou art fairer than the children of men grace is poured into thy lips for all grace is secondarily and derivatively in the Saints but it is primitively and originally in Christ Joh. 5. 26. Grace is imperfect and defective in them but in him it is in its most absolute perfection and fulness Col. 1. 19. In the Saints it is mixed with abundance of corruption but in Christ it is altogether unmixed and exclusive of its opposite Heb. 7. 26. So
be called death if it were not for what follows him Rev. 6. 8. but when they consider that hell follows they tremble at the very name or thoughts of death Thirdly Such is the nature of these inward troubles of spirit that they swallow up the sense of all other outward troubles alas these are all lost in the deeps of soul sorrows as the little rivulets are in the vast Sea he that is wounded at the heart will not cry Oh at the bite of a Flea and surely no greater is the proportion betwixt outward and inward sorrows a small matter formerly would discompose a man and put him into a fret now ten thousand outward troubles are lighter than a feather For saith he why doth the living man complain am I yet on this side eternal burnings O let me not complain then whatever my condition be have I losses in the world or pains upon my body alas these are not to be named with the loss of God and the feeling of his wrath and indignation for evermore Thus you see what troubles inward troubles for sin be Secondly If you ask in the second place how it comes 2. How souls are supported under such troubles to pass that any soul is supported under such strong troubles of Spirit that all that feel them do not sink under them that all that go down into these deep waters of sorrow are not drowned in them The Answer is First Though this be a very sad time with the soul much like that of Adam betwixt the breach of the first Covenant and the first promise of Christ made to him yet the souls that are thus heavy laden do not sink because God hath a most tender care over them and regard to them underneath them are the everlasting arms and thence it is they sink not were they left to grapple with these troubles in their own strength they could never stand but God takes care of these mourners that their Spirits do not fail before him and the souls that he hath made I mean those of his Elect whom he is this way preparing for and bringing unto Christ. Secondly The Lord is pleased to nourish still some hope in the soul under the greatest fears and troubles of Spirit though it have no comfort or joy yet it hath some hope in the bottom and that keeps up the heart the afflicted soul doth in this case as the afflicted Church Lam. 3. 29. he putteth his mouth in the dust if yet there may be hope he saith its good for a man to hope and quietly to wait for the salvation of God there are usually some glimmerings or dawnings of mercy through Christ in the midnight darkness of inward troubles non dantur purae tenebrae in hell indeed there is no hope to enlighten the darkness but it is not so upon earth Thirdly The experiences of others who have been in the same deeps of trouble are also of great use to keep up the soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est primum picturae lineamentum sumitur hic pro exemplo ut viderent quid sibi spâ—…randum sit 〈◊〉 domino gratiam esse uberiorem ac potentiorem peccatoâ—… quis qui credit diffidereti sibi paratam esse veniam Poli Synops in Loc. above water The experience of another is of great use to prop up a desponding mind whilest as yet it hath none of its own and indeed for the support of souls in such cases they were recorded 1 Tim. 1. 16. For this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting for an encouraging pattern an eminent precedent to all poor sinners that were to come after him that none might absolutely despair of finding mercy through Christ. You know if a man be taken sick and none can tell what the disease is none can say that ever they heard of such a disease before it 's exceeding frightful but if one and another it may be twenty come to the sick mans bedside and tell him Sir be not afraid I have been in the very same case that you now are and so have many more and all did well at last why this is half a cure to the sick man So it is here a great support to hear the experiences of other Saints Fourthly As the experiences of others support the soul under these burdens so the riches of free grace through Jesus Christ uphold it 't is rich and abundant Psal. 130. ult plenteous redemption and 't is free and to the worst of sinners Isa. 1. 18. and under these troubles it finds it self in the way and proper method of mercy for so my Text a Text that hath upheld many thousand drooping hearts states it all this gives hope and encouragement under trouble Fifthly Lastly Though the state of the soul be sad and sinking yet Jesus Christ usually makes haste in the extremity of the trouble to relieve it by sweet and seasonable discoveries of his grace cum duplicantur lateres venit Moses in the Mount of the Lord it shall be seen It is with Christ as it was with Joseph whose bowels yearned towards his brethren and he was in pain till he had told them I am Joseph your brother This is sweetly exhibited to us in that excellent parable of the Prodigal Luke 15. when his Father saw him being yet a great way off he ran and fell upon his neck and kissed him mercy runs nimbly to help when souls are ready to fail under the pressure of sin And thus you see both how they are burthened and how upheld under the burthen Thirdly If it be enquired in the last place why God makes the burden of sin press so heavy upon the hearts of poor 3. Why doth God make the burden of sin lie so heavy upon the souls of some sinners sinners 't is answered First He doth it to divorce their hearts from sin by giving them an experimental taste of the bitterness and evil that is in sin mens hearts are naturally glewed with delight to their sinful courses all the perswasions and arguments in the world are too weak to separate them and their beloved lusts The morsels of sin go down smoothly and sweetly they roll them with much delectation under their tongues and it is but need that such bitter potions as these should be administred to make their stomachs rise against sin as that word used by the Apostle in 2 Cor. 7. 11. signifies in that ye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indignatio stomochatio Leigh's Critica in verb. sorrowed after a godly sort what indignation it wrought it notes the rising of the stomach with rage a being angry even unto sickness and this is the way the best and most effectual way to separate the soul of a sinner from his Lusts for in these troubles conscience saith as it is in
to perswade us to believe Joh. 15. 26. or external namely the preaching of the Gospel by Commissionated Embassadors who in Christ's stead beseech men to be reconciled to God i. e. to come to Christ by faith in order to their reconciliation and peace with God But all means and instruments employ'd in this work of bringing men to Christ entirely depend upon the blessing and concurrence of the Spirit of God without whom they signifie nothing how long may Ministers preach before one soul come to Christ except the Spirit co-operate in that work Now as to the manner in which men are perswaded and their wills wrought upon to come to Christ I will briefly note several acts of the Spirit in order thereunto First There is an illustrating work of the Spirit upon the minds of sinners opening their eyes to see their danger and misery Till this be discovered no man stirs from his place 't is sense of danger that rouzes the secure sinner that distresses him and makes him look about for deliverance crying What shall I do to be saved and 't is the discovery of Christs ability to save which is the ground and reason as was observed above of its motion to Christ. Hence seeing the Son is joyned with believing or coming to him in John 6. 40. Secondly There is the Authoritative call or commanding voice of the Spirit in the Word a voice that 's full of awful majesty and power 1 Joh. 3. 23. This is his Commandment that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ. This call of the Spirit to come to Christ rolls one great block namely the fear of presumption out of the souls way to Christ and instead of presumption in coming makes it rebellion and inexcusable obstinacy to refuse to come This answers all pleas against coming to Christ from our unworthiness and deep guilt and mightily encourages the soul to come to Christ whatever it hath been or done Thirdly There are soul-encouraging conditional promises to all that do come to Christ in obedience to the Command Such is that in my Text I will give you rest and that in John 6. 37. Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out and these breathe life and encouragement into poor souls that hang back and are daunted through their own unworthiness Fourthly There are dreadful threatnings denounced by the Spirit in the Word against all that refuse or neglect to come to Christ which are of great use to engage and quicken souls in their way to Christ Mark 16. 16. He that believes not shall be damned Dye in his sins John 8. 24. The wrath of God shall remain on him John 3. ult Which is as if the Lord had said Sinners don't dally with my Christ don 't be alwayes treating and never concluding or resolving for if there be Justice in heaven or Fire in hell every soul that comes not to Christ must and shall perish to all eternity upon your own heads let the blood and destruction of your own souls be for ever if you will not come unto him Fifthly There are moving and working examples set before souls in the Word to prevail with them to come alluring and encouraging Examples of such as have come to Christ under deepest guilt and discouragement and yet found mercy 1 Tim. 1. 15 16. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief howbeit or nevertheless for this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe in him to life everlasting Who would not come to Christ after such an example as this And if this will not prevail there are dreadful examples recorded in the Word setting before us the miserable condition of all such as refuse the calls of the Word to come to Christ 1 Pet. 3. 19 20. By which also he went and preached to the spirits which are in prison which sometime were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the dayes of Noah The meaning is the sinners that lived before the Flood but now are in hell clapt up into that prison had the offers of grace made them but despised them and now lye for their disobedience in prison under the wrath of God for it in the lowest hell Sixthly and Lastly There is an effectual perswading overcoming and victorious work of the Spirit upon the hearts and wills of sinners under which they come to Jesus Christ. Of this I have spoken at large before in the fourth Sermon and therefore shall not add any thing more here This is the way and manner in which souls are prevailed with to come to Jesus Christ. Thirdly In the last place if you enquire why Christ makes his invitations to weary and heavy laden souls and to 3. no other the answer is briefly this First Because in so doing he follows the Commission which he received from his Father for so you will find it runs in Isa. 61. 1. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tydings to the meek he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted to proclaim liberty to the Captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound You see here how Christs Commission binds him up his Father sent him to poor broken hearted sinners and he will keep close to his Commission He came not to call the righteous but sinners i. e. sensible burthened sinners to repentance Matth. 9. 13. I am not sent saith he but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel Thus his Instructions and Commission from the Father limit him only to sensible and burthened souls and he will be faithful to his Commission Secondly The very order of the Spirits work in bringing men to Christ shews us to whom the invitations and offers of grace in Christ are to be made For none are convinced of righteousness i. e. of the compleat and perfect righteousness which is in Christ for their Justification until first they be convinced of sin and consequently no man will or can come to Christ by faith till convictions of sin have awakened and distressed them John 16. 8 9. This being the due order of the Spirits operation the same order must be observed in Gospel offers and invitations Thirdly It behoves that Christ should provide for his own glory as well as for our safety and not expose that to secure this but save us in that way which will bring him most honour and praise And certainly such a way is this by first convincing humbling and burthening the souls of men and then bringing them to rest in himself Alas Let those that never saw or felt the evil of sin be told of rest peace and pardon in Christ they will but despise it as a thing of no value Luke 5. 31. The whole
the way of faith He is a restless spirit himself and would make us so too it is an excellent note of Minutius Foelix Those desperate Ad Solamen calamitatis suae non definunt per iâ—…i perdere Minut Felix and restless Spirits saith he have no other pleasure but in bringing us to the same misery themselves are in he goeth about as a roaring Lyon seeking whom he may devour It frets and grates his proud and envious mind to see others find rest when he can find none an effectual Plaister applied to heal our wound when his own must bleed to eternity and he obtains his end fully if he can but keep off souls from Christ look therefore upon all those objections and discouragements raised in your hearts against coming to Christ as so many Artifices and cunning Devices of the Devil to destroy and ruine your souls 'T is true they have a very specious and colourable appearance they are guilded over with pretences of the Justice of God the heinous nature of sin the want of due and befitting qualifications for so holy and pure a God the lapsing of the reason of mercy and an hundred other of like nature but I beseech you lay down this as a sure conclusion and hold it fast that whatever it be that discourages and hinders you from coming to Christ is directly against the interest of your souls and the hand of the Divil is certainly in it Inference 2. Hence also it follows That unbelief is the true reason of all that disquietness and trouble by which the minds of poor sinners are Inference 2. so rackt and tortured If you will not believe you cannot be established till you come to Christ peace cannot come to you Christ and peace are undivided Good souls consider this you have tryed all other ways you have tried duties and no rest comes you have tried reformation restitution and a stricter course of life yet your wounds are still open and fresh bleeding these things I grant are in their places both good and necessary but of themselves without Christ utterly insufficient to give what you expect from them why will you not try the way of faith why will you not carry your burthen to Christ O that you would be perswaded to it how soon would you find what so long you have been seeking in vain how long will you thus oppose your own good how long will you keep your selves upon the rack of Conscience is it easie to go under the throbs and wounds of an accusing and condemning Conscience You know it is not you look for peace but no good comes for a time of healing and behold trouble alas it must and will be so still untill you fall into the way of faith which is the true and only method to obtain rest Inference 3. What cause have we all to admire the goodness of God in providing for us a Christ in whom we may find rest to our Inference 3. souls How hath the Lord filled and furnished Jesus Christ with all that is suitable to a Believers wants Doth the guilt of sin terrifie his Conscience Lo in him is perfect righteousness to remove that guilt so that it shall neither be imputed to his person nor reflected by his Conscience in the way of condemnation as it was before In him also is a Fountain opened for washing and for cleansing the filth of sin from our souls in him is the fulness both of Merit and of Spirit two sweet Springs of Peace to the souls of men well might the Apostle say Christ the wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1. 30. and well might the Church say he is altogether lovely Cant 5. 16. Had not God provided Jesus Christ for us we had never known one hours rest to all eternity Inference 4. How unreasonable and wholly inexcusable in Believers is the sin of backsliding from Christ Have you found rest in him Inference 4. when you could not find it in any other Did he receive and ease your souls when all other persons and things were Physicians of no value and will you after this backslide from him again O what madness is this Will a man leave the Snow of Lebanon which cometh from the Rock of the Field or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken No man that is in his wits would leave the pure cold refreshing streams of a Crystal Fountain to go to a filthy pudled Lake or an empty Cistern as the best enjoyments of this world are in comparison with Jesus Christ. It was Christs melting expostulation with the Disciples Joh. 6. 67 68. when some had forsaken him will ye also go away and it was a very suitable return they made Lord whither away from thee should we go q. d. from thee Lord no no where can we mend our selves Be sure of it when ever you go from Christ ye go from rest to trouble Had Judas rest had Spira rest and do you think you shall have reâ—… no no The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways Prov. 14. 14. you shall have your bellies full of it Cursed be the man that departeth from him he shall be as the Heath in the Desart that seeth not when good cometh and shall inhabit the parched places of the wilderness Jer. 17. 5. If fear of sufferings and worldly temptations ever draw you off from Christ you may come to those straights and terrors of Conscience that will make you wish your selves back again with Christ in a Prison with Christ at a Stake Inference 5. Let all that come to Christ learn to improve him to the rest and peace of their own souls in the midst of all the troubles and Inference 5. outward distresses they meet with in the world Surely rest may be found in Christ in any condition he is able to give you peace in the midst of all your troubles here So he tells you in Joh. 16. ult These things have I spoken to you that in me you might have peace in the world you shall have tribulation by peace he means not a deliverance from troubles by taking off affliction from them or taking them away by death from all afflictions but it is something they enjoy from Christ in the very thick of troubles and amidst all their afflictions that quiets and gives them rest so that troubles cannot hurt them certainly Believers you have peace in Christ when there is little in your own hearts and your hearts might be filled with peace too if you would exercise faith upon Christ for that end 't is your own fault if you be without rest in any condition in this world Set your selves to study the fulness of Christ and to clear your interest in him believe what the Scriptures reveal of him and live as you believe and you will quickly find the peace of God filling your hearts and minds Blessed be God for Jesus Christ. The Tenth SERMON
call it fancies are as various as faces and confederacies presuppose mutual acquaintance and conference Fourthly Christ the desire of all Nations implies the vast extent his Kingdom hath and shall have in the world out of every Nation under Heaven some shall be brought to Christ and to Heaven by him And though the number of Gods elect compared with the multitudes of the ungodly in all Nations is but a remnant a little flock and in that comparative sense there are few that shall be saved yet considered absolutely and in themselves they are a vast number which no man can number Mat. 8. 11. Many shall come from the East and from the West and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven In order whereunto the Gospel like the Sun in the Heavens circuits the world it arose in the East and takes its course towards the western world rising by degrees upon the remote Idolatrous Nations of the earth out of all which a number is to be saved even Ethiopia shall stretch out her hands to God Pfal 68. 31. And this consideration should move us to pray carnestly for the poor Heathens who yet sit in darkness and the shadow of death there is yet hope for them Fifthly It holds forth this that when God opens the eyes of men to see their sin and danger by it nothing but Christ can give them satisfaction 't is not the amenity fertility riches and pleasures the Inhabitants of any Kingdom of the world do enjoy that can quench and satisfie the desires of their souls when once God touches their hearts with the sense of sin and misery Christ and none but Christ is desirable and necessary in the eyes of such persons Many Kingdoms of the world abound with riches and pleasures the providence of God hath carved liberal portions of the good things of this life to many of them and scarce left any thing to their desires that the world can afford Yet all this can give no satisfaction without Jesus Christ the desire of Nations the one thing necessary when once they come to see the necessity and excellency of him then take the world who will so they may have Christ the desire of their souls Thus we see upon what grounds and reasons Christ is stiled the desire of all Nations But there lies one great Objection against this truth Object which must be satisfied viz. if Christ be the desire of all Nations how comes it to pass that Jesus Christ finds no entertainment in so many Nations of the world among whom Christianity is hissed at and Christians not tolerated to live among them who see no beauty in him that they should dedesire him First We must remember the Nations of the World have their times and seasons of conversion Those that Sol. once embraced Christ have now lost him and Idols are now set up in the places where he once was sweetly worshipped The Sun of the Gospel is gone down upon them and now shines in another Hemisphere and so the Nations of the World are to have their distinct days and seasons of illumination The Gospel like the Sea gaineth in one place what it loseth in another and in the times and seasons appointed by the Father they come successively to be enlightned in the knowledge of Christ and then shall that promise be fulfilled Isai. 49. 7. Thus saith the Lord the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One to him whom the nation abhorreth to a servant of Rulers Kings shall see and arise Princes also shall worship because of the Lord that is faithful Secondly Let it also be remembered that although Christ be rejected by the Rulers and Body of many Nations yet he is the desire of all the Elect of God dispersed and scattered among those Nations Secondly In the next place we are to enquire upon what 2. account Christ becomes the desire of all Nations i. e. of all those in all the Nations of the world that belong to the election of grace And the true ground and reason thereof is because Christ only hath that in himself which relieves their wants and answers to all their needs As First They are all by nature under condemnation Rom. 5. 16 18. under the curse of the Law against which nothing is found in Heaven or earth able to relieve their Consciences but the blood of sprinkling the pure and perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus and hence it is that Christ becomes so desirable in the eyes of poor sinners all the world over If any thing in nature could be found to pacifie and purge the Consciences of men from guilt and fear Christ would never be desirable in their eyes but finding no other remedy but the blood of Jesus to him therefore shall all the ends of the earth look for righteousness and for peace Secondly All Nations of the world are polluted with the filth of sin both in nature and practice which they shall see and bitterly bewail when the light of the Gospel shall shine amongst them and the same light by which this shall be discovered will also discover the only remedy of this evil to I le in the spirit of Christ the only fountain opened to all Nations for sanctification and cleansing and this will make the Lord Jesus incomparably desirous in their eyes Oh how welcome will he be that cometh unto them not by blood only but by water also John 1. 5 6. Thirdly When the light of the Gospel shall shine upon the Nations they shall then see that by reason of the guilt and filth of sin they are all barr'd out of Heaven Those dores are chained up against them and that none but Christ can open an entrance for them into that Kingdom of God that no man cometh to the Father but by him John 14. 6. neither is there any name under Heaven given among men whereby they must be saved but the name of Christ Act. 4. 12. Hence the hearts of sinners shall pant after him as the Hart panteth for the water brooks And thus we see upon what grounds Christ becomes the desire of all Nations The improvement of all followeth in five several uses of the point viz. 1. For Information 2. For Examination 3. For Consolation 4. For Exhortation 5. For Direction Use for Information First Is Christ the desire of all Nations How vile a sin is Use 1. it then in any Nation upon whom the light of the Gospel hath shined to reject Jesus Christ and say as those in Job 21. 14. Depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy ways To thrust away his worship government and servants from amongst them and in effect to say as it is Luke 19. 14. we will not have this man to reign over us thus did the Jews Act. 13. 46. they put away Christ from among them and thereby judged themselves unworthy of eternal life This is at once a fearful sin and a dreadful
dishonour upon God for the greatest mercy that ever was given by God to the world there is mercy with thee saith the Psalmist that thou maist be feared not that thou maist be the more abused Psal. 130. 4. Nay let me say the Devils never sinned at this rate they cannot abuse the pardoning grace of God because such grace was never offered unto them And certainly if the abuse of the common mercies of God as meat and drink by gluttony and drunkenness be an hainous sin and highly provoking to God then the abuse of the riches of his grace and the precious blood of his Son must be out of measure sinful and the greatest affront we can put upon the God of mercy Inference 5. To Conclude If this be so as ever you expect pardon and Inference 5. mercy from God come to Christ in the way of faith receive and embrace him now in the tenders of the Gospel To drive home this great Exhortation I beseech you as in the bowels of Christ Jesus and by all the regard and value you have for your own souls let these following Considerations sink down into your hearts First That all Christless persons are actually under the condemnation of God John 3. 18. He that believeth not is condemned already and it must needs be so for every soul is concluded under the curse of the Law till Christ make him free John 8. 36. Till we are in Christ we are dead by Law and when we believe unto justification then we pass from death to life A blind mistaken Conscience may possibly acquit you but assure your selves God condemns you Secondly Consider what a terrible thing it is to lye under the condemnation of God the most terrible things in nature cannot shadow forth the misery of such a state Put all sicknesses all poverty all reproaches the torments invented by all Tyrants into one Scale and the condemnation of God into the other and they will be all found lighter than a Feather Condemnation is the sentence of God the great and terrible God 'T is a sentence shutting you up to everlasting wrath 't is a sentence never to be reversed but by the application of Christ in the season thereof O souls you cannot bear the wrath of God you do not understand it if you think it tolerable one drop of it upon your Consciences now is enough to distract you in the midst of all the pleasures and comforts of this world yet all that are out of Christ are sentenced to the fulness of Gods wrath for ever Thirdly There is yet a possibility of escaping the wrath to come a dore of hope opened to the worst of sinners a day of grace is afforded to the Children of men Heb. 3. 15. God declares himself unwilling that any should perish 2 Pet. 3. 9. O what a mercy is this Who that is on this side Heaven or Hell fully understands the worth of it Fourthly This dore of mercy will be shortly shut Luk. 12. 25. God hath many ways to shut it he sometimes shuts it by withdrawing the means of grace and removing the Candlesticks a judgement at this time to be greatly feared Sometimes shuts he it by withdrawing his Spirit and blessing from the means whereby all Ordinances lose their efficacy 1 Cor. 3. 7. But if he shut it not by removing the means of grace from you certain it is it will be shortly shut by your removal from all the means and opportunities by Salvation by death Fifthly When once the dore of mercy is shut you are gone beyond all the possibilities of pardon and salvation for evermore the night is then come in which no man can work John 9. 4. All the golden seasons you now enjoy will be irrecoverably gone out of your reach Sixthly Pardons are now daily granted to others some and they once as far from mercy as you now are are at this day reading their pardons with tears of joy dropping upon them The world is full of the examples and instances of the riches of pardoning grace And whatever is needful for you to do in the way of repentance and faith to obtain your pardon how easily shall it be done if once the day of Gods power come upon you Psal. 110. 3. Oh therefore lift up your cries to Heaven give the Lord no rest take no denial till he open the blind eye break the stony heart open and bow the stubborn will effectually draw thy soul to Christ and deliver thy pardon signed in his blood The Seventeenth SERMON Sermon 17. EPHES. 1. 6. Text. Opening the eighth motive to come to Christ drawn from the second benefit purchased by Christ for Believers To the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved IN our last discourse we opened to you the blessed priviledge of remission of sin from the following verse in this verse lies another glorious priviledge viz. the acceptation that Believers have with God through Jesus Christ both which comprise as the two main branches our justification before God In the words read to omit many things that might be profitably observed from the method and dependance of the Apostles discourse three particulars are observable viz. 1. The Priviledge it self 2. The Meritorous Cause 3. The ultimate end thereof First The priviledge it self which is exceeding rich and 1. sweet in its own nature he hath made us accepted the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he hath ingratiated us or brought us into the grace favour and acceptance of God the Father endeared us to him so that we find grace in his sight Secondly The meritorious cause purchasing and procuring this benefit for us noted in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 2. the beloved which words are a periphrasis of Christ who is here emphatically called the Beloved the great favorite of Heaven the delight of Gods soul the prime object of his love 't is he that obtaineth this benefit for Believers he is accepted for his own sake and we for his Thirdly The ultimate end and aim of conferring this benefit upon Believers to the praise of the glory of his grace or 3. to the end that his grace might be made glorious in praises there are riches of grace in this act of God and the work and business of Believers both in this world and in that to come is to search and admire aknowledge and magnifie God for his abundant grace herein Hence the note is DOCT. That Jesus Christ hath purchased and procured special favour Doct. and acceptation with God for all that are in him This point lies plain in Scripture Ephes. 2. 13. But now in Jesus Christ ye who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made nigh a term of endearedness nothing is taken into the very bosom and embraces but what is very dear precious and acceptable and in Rev. 1. 5 6.
from God Hab. 1. 13. Heb. 12. 14. The enmity of our nature perfectly stopped up our way to God Col. 1. 21. Rom. 8. 7. by reason hereof fallen man hath no desire to come unto God Job 21. 14. The Justice of God like a flaming Sword turning every way kept all men from access to God and lastly Satan that malicious and armed adversary lay as a Lyon in the way to God 2 Pet. 5. 8. Oh with what strong bars were the gates of Heaven shut against our souls The way to God was chained up with such difficulties as none but Christ was able to remove and he by death hath effectually removed them all the way is now open even the new and the living way consecrated for us by his blood The death of Christ effectually removes the guilt of sin 1 Pet. 2. 24. washes off the filth of sin 1 John 5. 6. takes away the enmity of nature Col. 1. 20 21. satisfied all the demands of justice Rom. 3. 25 26. hath broken all the power of Satan Col. 2. 15. Heb. 2. 14. and consequently the way to God is effectually and fully opened to Believers by the blood of Jesus Heb. 10. 20. Secondly The blood of Christ purchaseth for Believers their right and title to this priviledge Gal. 4. 4 5. But when the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of Sons i. e. both the relation and inheritance of sons There was value and worth enough in the precious blood of Christ not only to pay all our debts to justice but over and above the payment of our debts to purchase for us this invaluable priviledge We must put this unspeakable mercy of being brought to God as my Text puts it upon the account and score of the death of Christ. No Believer had ever tasted the sweetness of such a mercy if Christ had not tasted the bitterness of death for him The use of all you will have in the following Deductions of truth Deduction 1. Great is the preciousness and worth of souls that the life of Christ should be given to redeem and recover them to God As God laid out his thoughts and counsel from eternity upon them to project the way and method of their salvation so the Lord Jesus in pursuance of that blessed design came from the bosom of the Father and spilt his invaluable blood to bring them to God No wise man expends vast sums to bring home trifling commodities How cheap soever our souls are in our estimation 't is evident by this they are of precious esteem in the eyes of Christ. Deduction 2. Redeemed souls must expect no rest or satisfaction on this side Heaven and the full enjoyment of God the life of a Believer in this world is a life of motion and expectation they are now coming to God 1 Pet. 2. 4. God you see is the centre and rest of their souls Heb. 4. 9. As the Rivers cannot rest Feâ—…ti nos ad te inquietum est cor nostrum doâ—…ec requiescat in te Aug. Confess lib. 1. cap. 1. till they pour themselves into the bosom of the Sea so neither can renewed souls find rest till they come into the bosom of God There be four things which do and will break the rest and disturb the souls of Believers in this world afflictions temptations corruptions and absence from God if the three former causes of disquietness were totally removed so that a Believer were placed in such a condition upon earth where no affliction should disturb him no temptation trouble him no corruption defile or grieve him yet his very absence from God must still keep him restless and unsatisfied 2 Cor. 5. 6. Whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. Deduction 3. What sweet and pleasant thoughts should all Believers have of death When they dye and never till they dye shall they be fully brought home to God Death to the Saints is the dore by which they enter into the enjoyment of God the dying Christian is almost at home yet a few pangs and agonies more and then he is come to God in whose presence is the fulness of joy I desire saith Paul to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Phil. 1. 23. It should not scare us to be brought to death the King of terrors so long as it is the office of death to bring us to God That dreaming opinion of the soul sleeping after death is as ungrounded as it is uncomfortable the same day we loose from this shore we shall be landed upon the blessed shore where we shall see and enjoy God for ever O if the friends of dead Believers did but understand where and with whom their souls are whilst they are mourning over their bodies certainly a few believing thoughts of this would quickly dry up their tears and fill the house of mourning with voices of praise and thanksgiving Deduction 4. How comfortable and sweet should the converses and communication of Christians be with one another in this world Christ is bringing them all to God through this vale of tears they are now in the way to him all bound for Heaven going home to God to their everlasting rest in glory every day every hour every duty brings them nearer and nearer to their journeys end Rom. 13. 11. Now saith the Apostle is our salvation nearer than when we believed O what manner of heavenly communications and ravishing discourses should Believers have with each other as they walk by the way O what pleasant and delightful stories should they tell one another about the place and state whither Christ is bringing them and where they shall shortly be What ravishing transporting transforming visions they shall have that day they are brought home to God how surprizingly glorious the sight of Jesus Christ will be to them who died for them to bring them unto God How should such discourses as these shorten and sweeten their passage through this world strengthen and encourage the dejected and feeble minded and exceedingly honour and adorn their profession Thus lived the Believers of old Heb. 11. 9 10. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange Country dwelling in Tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob the heirs with him of the same promise for he looked for a City which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God But alas most Christians are either entangled in the cares and troubles or so ensnared by the delights and plasures which almost continually divert and take up their thoughts by the way that there is but little room for any discourses of Christ and Heaven among many of them but certainly this would be as much your interest as your duty When the Apostle had entertained the Thessalonians with a lovely discourse of their meeting the Lord in the air and
name is as an Oyntment poured forth Cant. 5. 16. his mouth is most sweet O how powerfully and how sweetly doth the voyce of God slide into the heart of a poor melting sinner how jejune dry and tastless are all the discourses of men compared with the teachings of the Father Thirdly God teacheth plainly and clearly he not only opens truths to the understanding but he openeth the understanding also to perceive them 2 Cor. 3. 16. In that day the vaile is taken away from the heart a light shineth into the soul a clear beam from heaven is darted into the mind Luk. 24. 45. Divine teachings are fully satisfying the soul doubts no more staggers and hesitates no more but acquiesces in that which God teaches 't is so satisfied that it can venture all upon the truth of what it hath learnt from God as that Martyr said I cannot dispute but I can dye for Christ. See Prov. 8. 8 9. Fourthly The teachings of God are infallible teachings the wisest and holiest of men may mistake and lead others into the same mistakes with themselves but it is not so in the teachings of God if we can be sure that God teacheth us we may be as sure of the truth of what he teacheth â—…r his spirit guideth us into all truth Joh. 16 〈◊〉 and into nothing but truth Fifthly The teachings of God are abiding teachings they make everlasting impressions upon the soul Psal. 119. 98. they are ever with it the words of men vanish from us but the words of God stick by us what God teacheth he writeth upon the heart Jer. 31. 33. and that will abide littera scripta manet 'T is usual with souls whose understandings have been opened by the Lord many years afterward to say I shall never forget such a scripture that once convinced me such a promise that once encouraged me Sixthly The teachings of God are saving teachings they make the soul wise unto Salvation 2 Tim. 3. 15. There is a great deal of other knowledge that goes to hell with men the pavement of hell as one speaks is pitched with the sculs of many great Scholars but eternal life is in the teachings of God Joh. 17. 3. This is eternal life to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent This is deservedly stiled the light of life Joh. 8. 12. in this light we shall see light Psal. 36. 9. Seventhly The teachings of God make their own way into the dullest and weakest capacities Isa. 32. 4. The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly upon this account Christ said Mat. 11. 25. I thank thee O father Lord of heaven and earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes 't is admirable to see what clear illumination some poor illiterate Christians have in the mysteries of Christ and Salvation which others of great abilities deep and searching heads can never discover with all their learning and study Eighthly To conclude the teachings of God are transforming teachings 2 Cor. 3. 18. they change the soul into the same image God casts them whom he teacheth into the very mould of those truths which they learn from him Rom. 6. 17. These are the teachings of God and thus he instructeth those that come to Christ. Secondly Next let us see what influences divine teachings have upon souls in bringing them to Christ and we shall find 2â—… a threefold influence in them 1. They have an influence upon the external means by which they come to Christ. 2. They have influence upon the mind to remove what hindered it from Christ. 3. They have influence upon the will to allure and draw it to Christ. First They have influence upon the means by which we come to Christ the best ordinances are but a dead letter except the spirit the teaching and quickening spirit of God work in fellowship with them 2 Cor. 3. 6. The best Ministers like the Disciples cast forth the Net but take nothing win not one soul to God till God teach as well as they Paul is nothing and Apollo nothing but God that giveth the increase 1 Cor. 3. 7. Let the most learned eloquent and powerful Orator be in the Pulpit yet no mans heart is perswaded till it hears the voice of God cathedram in coelis habet qui corda docet Secondly They have influence upon the mind to remove what hindered it from Christ except the minds of men be first untaught those errors by which they are prejudiced against Christ they will never be perswaded to come unto him and nothing but the Fathers teachings can unteach those errors and cure those evils of the mind the natural mind of man slights the truths of God untill God teach them and then they tremble with an awful reverence of them Sin is but a trifle till God shews us the face of it in the glass of the Law and then it appears exceeding sinful Rom. 7. 13. We think God to be such a one as our selves Psal. 50. 21. until he discover himself unto us in his infinite greatness awful holiness and severe Justice and then we cry who can stand before this great and dreadful God! We thought it was time enough hereafter to mind the concernments of another world untill the Lord open our eyes to see in what danger we stand upon the very brink of eternity and then nothing scares us more than the fears that our time will be finished before the great work of Salvation be finished We thought our selves in a converted State before till God make us to see the necessity of another manner of conversation upon pain of eternal damnation We readily caught hold upon the promises before when we had no right to them but the teachings of God make the presumptuous sinner let go his hold that he may take a better and surer hold of them in Christ. We once thought that the death of Christ in it self had been enough to secure our Salvation but under the teachings of God we discern plainly the necessity of a change of heart and state or else the blood of Christ can never profit us Thus the teachings of God remove the errors of the mind by which men are withheld from Christ. Thirdly The teachings of God powerfully attract and allure the will of a sinner to Christ Hos. 2. 14. But of these drawings of the father I have largely spoken before and therefore shall say no more of it in this place but hasten to the last thing propounded viz. Thirdly why it is impossible for any man to come to Christ without the Fathers teachings and the impossibilities hereof will appear three ways 1. From the power of sin 2. From the indisposition of man 3. From the nature of faith By all which the Last point designed to be spoken to from this Scripture will be fully cleared and the whole
and the soul in which it is may draw very sad conclusions about the issue and event concluding its life not only to be hazarded but quite extinguished Psal. 51. 10 11 12. but though it be ready to dye God wonderfully preserves it from death it hath as well its reviving as its fainting seasons and thus you see what are the lovely and eximious properties of the new creature In the next place Fourthly We will demonstrate the necessity of this new creation to all that are in Christ and by him expect to attain 4. salvation and the necessity of the new creature will appear divers ways First From the positive and express will of God revealed in Scripture touching this matter search the Scriptures and you shall find God hath laid the whole stress and weight of your eternal happiness by Jesus Christ upon this work of the spirit in your souls So our Saviour tells Nicodemus John 3. 5. Verily verily I say unto thee except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God agreeable whereunto are those words of the Apostle Heb. 12. 14. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord. And whereas some may think that their birth right priviledges injoyment of Ordinances and profession of Religion may commend them to Gods acceptance without this new creation he shews them how fond and ungrounded all such hopes are Gal. 6. 15. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature Christ and Heaven are the gifts of God and he is at liberty to bestow them upon what terms and conditions he pleaseth and this is the way the only way and stated method in which he will bring men by Christ unto glory men may raze out the impressions of these things from their own hearts but they can never alter the setled course and method of Salvation either we must be new creatures as the precepts of the word command us or lost and damned creatures as the threatnings of the word plainly tell us Secondly This new Creation is the inchoative part of that great Salvation which we expect through Christ and therefore without this all hopes and expectations of Salvation must vanish Salvation and renovation are inseparably connected Our glory in Heaven if we rightly understand its nature consisteth in two things namely our assimilation to God and our fruition of God and both these take their beginning and rise from our renovation in this world here we begin to be changed into his Image in some degree 2 Cor. 3. 18. for the new man is created after God as was opened above In the work of grace God is said to begin that good work which is to be finished or consummated in the day of Christ Phil. 1. 6. Now nothing can be more irrational than to imagine that ever that design or work should be finished and perfected which never had a beginning Thirdly So necessary is the new creation to all that expect salvation by Christ that without this Heaven would be no Heaven and the glory thereof no glory to us by reason of the unsuitableness and aversation of our carnal minds thereunto the carnal mind is enmity against God Rom. 8. 7. and enmity is exclusive of all complacency and delight there is a necessity of a suitable and agreeable frame of heart to God in order to that complacential rest of our souls in him and this agreeable temper is wrought by our new creation 2 Cor. 5. 5. He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God renovation you see is the working or moulding of a mans spirit into an agreeable temper or as it is in Col. 1. 12. the making of us meet for the inheritance of the Saints in light From all which it follows that seeing there can be no complacence or delight in God without suitableness and conformity to him as is plain from 1 Joh. 3. 2. as well as from the reason and nature of the thing it self either God must become like us suitable to our sinful corrupt and vain hearts which were but a rude blasphemy once to imagine or else we must be made agreeable and suitable to God which is the very thing I am now proving the necessity of Fourthly There is an absolute necessity of the new creature to all that expect interest in Christ and the glory to come since all the characters marks and signs of such an interest are constantly taken from the new creature wrought in us Look over all the marks and signs of interest in Christ or salvation by him which are dispersed through the Scriptures and you shall still find purity of heart Matth. 5. 8. holiness both in principle and practice Heb. 12. 14. mortification of sin Rom. 8. 13. longing for Christs appearance 2 Tim. 4. 8. with multitudes more of the same nature to be constantly made the marks and signs of our salvation by Christ. So that either we must have a new Bible or a new Heart for if these Scriptures be the true and faithful words of God no unrenewed creature can see his face which was the fourth thing to be opened Fifthly The last thing to be opened is how the new creation is an infallible proof and evidence of the souls interest 5. in Christ and this will appear divers ways First Where all the saving graces of the spirit are there interest in Christ must needs be certain and where the new creature is there all the saving graces of the spirit are for what is the new creature but the frame or Systeme of all special saving graces it is not this or that particular grace as faith or hope or love to God which constitutes the new creature for these are but as so many particular limbs or branches of it but the new creature is comprehensive of all the graces of the Spirit Gal. 5. 22 23. The fruit of the Spirit is love peace joy long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance c. any one of the saving special graces of the Spirit gives proof of our interest in Christ how much more then the new creature which is the complex frame or Systeme of all the graces together Secondly To conclude where all the causes of an interest in Christ are found and all the effects and fruits of an interest in Christ do appear there undoubtedly a real interest in Christ is found but where-ever you find a new creature you find all the causes and all the effects of an interest in Christ for there you shall find First The impulsive cause viz. the electing love of God from which the new creature is inseparable 1 Pet. 1. 2. with the new creature also the meritorious efficient and final causes of interest in Christ and union with him are ever found Eph. 2. 10. Eph. 1. 4 5 6. Secondly All the effects and fruits of interest in Christ are found with the new creature there are all the fruits
of obedience for we are created in Christ Jesus unto good works Eph. 2. 10. Rom. 7. 4. there is true spiritual opposition to sin 1 Joh. 5. 18. He that is begotten of God keepeth himself and that wicked one toucheth him not there is love to the people of God 1 Joh. 4. 7. every one that loveth is born of God there is a conscientious respect to the duties of both Tables for the new creature is created after God in righteousness and true holiness Eph. 4. 24. there is perseverance in the ways of God to the very end and victory over all temptations for whosoever is born of God overcometh the world 1 Joh. 5. 4. It were easie to run over all other particular fruits of our union with Christ and shew you every one of them in the new creature And thus much of the Doctrinal part of this point The Twenty sixth SERMON Sermon 26. 2 COR. 5. 17. Text. Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a New Creature old things are passed away behold all things are become new AFter the explication of the sense of this Scripture we observed DOCT. That Gods creating of a new supernatural work of grace in the soul of any man is that mans sure and infallible evidence of a Doct. saving interest in Jesus Christ. You have heard why the regenerating work of the Spirit is called a new creation in what respect every soul in Christ is renewed what the eximious properties of this new creature are the indispensibleness and necessity thereof hath been also proved and how it evidences our interest in Christ was cleared in the doctrinal part which we now come to improve in the several Uses serving for our 1. Information 2. Conviction 3. Examination 4. Exhortation 5. Consolation 1st Use for Information Is the new Creature the sure and infallible evidence of our Use 1. saving interest in Christ from hence then we are informed Inference 1. How miserable and deplorable an estate all unrenewed souls are in who can lay no claim to Christ during that state and Inference 1. therefore are under an impossibility of salvation O Reader if this be the state of thy soul better had it been for thee not to have been Gods natural workmanship as a man except thou be his spiritual workmanship also as a new man I know the Schoolmen determine otherwise and say that damnation is rather to be chosen than an annihilation a miserable being is better than no being and it is very true with respect to the glory of God whose justice shall triumph for ever in the damnation of the unregenerate but with respect to us 't is much better never to have been his creatures in the way of generation than not to be his new creatures in the way of regeneration So Christ speaks of Judas that Son of perdition Mark 14. 21. Good had it been for that man if he had never been born for what is a being without the comfort of it What is life without the joy and pleasure of life A damned being is a being without comfort no glimps of light shines into that darkness they shall indeed see and understand the felicity light and joy of the Saints in glory but not partake in the least measure of the comfort Lukâ—… 13. 28. They shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God but they themselves shut out such a sight is so far from giving any comfort that it will be the aggravation and increase of torment O 't is better to have no being at all than to have a being only to capacitate a man for misery to desire death while death flies from him Rev. 4. 6. The opinion of the Schoolmen will never pass for sound doctrine among the damned think on it Reader and lay it to thine heart better thou hadst dyed from the womb better the knees had prevented thee and the breasts which thou hast sucked than that thou shouldst live and dye a stranger to the new birth or that thy Mother should bring thee forth only to encrease and fill up the number of the damned Inference 2. And on the contrary we may hence learn what cause regenerate Inference 2. souls have to bless God for the day wherein they were born O what a priviledged state doth the new birth bring men into 'T is possible for the present they understand it not for many Believers are like a great Heir lying in the Cradle that knows not to what an estate and honour he is born Nevertheless on the same day wherein we become new creatures by regeneration we have a firm title and solid claim to all the priviledges of the Sons of God Joh. 1. 12 13. God becomes our Father by a treble title not only the Father of our beings by nature which was all the relation we had to him before but our Father by Adoption and by Regeneration which is a much sweeter and more comfortable relation In that day the Image of God is restored Eph. 4. 24. this is both the health and beauty of the soul. In that day we are begotten again to a lively hope 1 Pet. 1. 3. a hope more worth than ten thousand worlds in the troubles of life and in the straits of death this is a creature which lives for ever and will make thy life happy for ever Some have kept their birth-day as a festival a day of rejoycing but none have more cause to rejoice that ever they were born than those that are new born Inference 3. Learn from hence that the work of grace is wholly supernatural Inference 3. 't is a creation and creation work is above the power of the creature no power but that which gave being to the world can give a being to the new creature almighty power goes forth to give being to the new creature this creature is not born of flesh or of blood nor of the will of man but of God Joh. 1. 13. the nature of this new creature speaks its original to be above the power of nature the very notion of a new creation spoils the proud boasts of the great asserters of the power and ability of the will of man When God therefore puts the question who maketh thee to differ and what hast thou that thou hast not received Let thy soul Reader answer it with all humility and thankfulness 't is thou Lord thou only that madest me to differ from another and what I have received I have received from thy free grace Inference 4. If the work of grace be a new creation let not the parents and friends of the unregenerate utterly despair of the conversion of their Inference 4. relations how great soever their present discouragements are if it had been possible for a man to have seen the rude and indigested Chaos before the Spirit of God moved upon it would he not have said can such a beautiful order of beings such a pleasant variety
also hath loved us Christians saith Bernard receive this name from Christ and it is very meet that as they inherit his name so they should also imitate his holiness Now to state the method of this Discourse it will be needful to discuss and open three things in the doctrinal part 1. What the Saints imitation of Christ supposes and comprizes 2. In what particulars they are especially bound to imitate Christ. 3. Why no claim to Christ is valid without this imitation of him And then apply the whole in divers Uses First What the Saints imitation of Christ supposeth and comprizeth Now there are divers great and weighty truths 1. supposed and implyed in this imitation of Christ or walking as he walked viz. First It supposes that no Christian is or may pretend to be a rule to himself to act according to the dictates of his own will and pleasure for as no man hath wisdom enough to direct and govern himself so if his own will were made the rule of his own actions it would be the highest invasion of the divine prerogative that could be imagined I know O Lord saith Jeremy that the way of man is not in himself it is not in him that walketh to direct his own steps Jer. 10. 23. We may as well pretend to be our own makers as our own guides It is a pretty observation of Aquinas that if the workmans hand were the rule of his work it were impossible he should ever err in working and if the will of man were the only law and guide of his way we might then say no man would sin in his walking The Apostle indeed saith of the Heathens Rom. 2. 14. that they are a law to themselves but it is not his meaning that their will is their law but the law of God engraven upon their hearts the light and dictates of their own Consciences did oblige and bind them as a law Secondly This imitation of Christ implies that as no man is or may pretend to be his own guide so no meer man how wise or holy soever he be may pretend to be a rule to other men but Christ is the rule of every mans way and walking 'T is true indeed the Apostle saith We should be followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises Heb. 6. 12. And again James 5. 10. Take my Brethren the Prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering affliction and of patience but you must always remember that there is a twofold rule 1. Regula regulans the rule ruling 2. Regula regulata the rule ruled The wisest and holiest among men may pretend no higher than a ruled rule The great Apostle though filled with as great a measure of the spirit of wisdom and holiness as ever was possessed by any meer man yet goes no higher than this 1 Cor. 11. 1. Be ye followers of me as I also am of Christ. The best of men are but men at best they have their errors and defects which they freely acknowledge and where they differ from Christ 't is our duty to differ from them we may not pin our faith upon any mans sleeve for we know not where he will carry it It was the commendation which Paul gave of the Thessalonians 1 Thes. 1. 6. And ye became followers of us and of the Lord. The noble Bereans were also commended for searching the Scriptures and examining the Nec ego te nec tâ—… me sed amâ—…o audiemuâ—… Christum Aug. Apostles doctrine by it and it was a good reply of the Eather to a clamorous disputant crying hear me hear me I will neither hear thee nor do thou hear me but let us both hear Christ. Thirdly The imitation of Christ implies the necessity of sanctification in all his followers for as much as it is impossible there should be a practical conformity in point of obedience where there is not a conformity in spirit and principle all external conformity to Christs practice depends upon an internal conformity to Christ in the principle and spirit of holiness 'T is very plain from Ezek. 11. 19 20. that a new heart must be given us and a new spirit put into us before we can walk in Gods statutes we must first live in the spirit before we can walk in the spirit Gal. 5. 25. Fourthly The imitation of Christ plainly holds forth this that Christian religion is a very precise and strict religion no way countenancing licentiousness or indulging men in their lusts it allows no man to walk loosely and inordinately but rejects every mans claim to Christ who studies and labours not to tread exactly in the footsteps of his holy and heavenly example Prophaneness and licentiousness therefore can find no shelter or protection under the wing of the Gospel this is the universal rule laid upon all the professors of the Christian Religion Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity 2 Tim. 2. 19. i. e. let him either put on the life of Christ or put off the name of Christ let him shew the hand of a Christian in works of holiness and obedience or else the tongue and language of a Christian must gain no belief or credit Fifthly The imitation of Christ necessarily implies the defectiveness and imperfection of the best men in this life for if the life of Christ be our pattern the best and holiest of men must confess they come short in every thing of the rule of their duty Our pattern is still above us the best of men are ashamed when they compare their lives with the life of Christ. 'T is true a vain heart may swell with pride when a man compares himself with other men thus measuring our selves by our selves and comparing our selves among our selves we shew our folly and nourish our pride but if any man will compare his own life with Christs he will find abundant cause at every time and in every thing to be humbled Paul was a great proficient in holiness and obedience he had been long striving to come up to the top of holiness yet when he looks up and sees the life of Christ and rule of duty so far above him he reckons himself still but at the foot of the Hill Phil. 3. 12. Not as though I had already attained either were already perfect but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus q. d. Alas I am not come up to my duty I am a a great way behind but I am following after if at last I may attain it perfection is in my expectation and hope at last not in my attainment here Sixthly The imitation of Christ as our general rule and pattern necessarily implies the transcending holiness of Primum optimum in unoquoque genere est regula mensura caeterorum the Lord Jesus His holiness is greater than the holiness of all creatures for
place why all that profess Christ are bound to imitate his example and then apply the whole Now the necessity of this imitation of Christ will convincingly appear diverse ways First From the established order of salvation which is fixed and unalterable God that hath appointed the end hath also 1. established the means and order by which men shall attain the ultimate end Now Conformity to Christ is the established method in which God will bring souls to glory Rom. 8. 29. For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son that he might be the first-born among many brethren The same God who hath predestinated men to salvation hath in order thereunto predestinated them unto Conformity to Christ and this order of heaven is never to be reversed we may as well hope to be saved without Christ as to be saved without Conformity to Christ. Secondly The nature of Christ mystical requires this Conformity 2. and renders it indispensably necessary Otherwise the body of Christ must be heterogeneous of a nature different from the head and how monstrous and uncomely would this be This would represent Christ to the world in an image or Idea much like that Dan. 2. 32 33. The head of fine gold the breast and arms of silver the thighs of brass the legs of iron the feet part of iron part of clay Christ the head is pure and holy and therefore very unsuitable to sensual and earthly members And therefore the Apostle in his description of mystical Christ describes the members of Christ as they ought to be of the same nature and quality with the head 1 Cor. 15. 48. As is the heavenly such are they also that are heavenly and as we have born the image of the earthy so we shall also bear the image of the heavenly That image or resemblance of Christ which shall be compleat and perfect after the Resurrection must be begun in its first draught here by the work of regeneration Thirdly This resemblance and conformity to Christ appears 3. necessary from the communion which all believers have with Christ in the same Spirit of grace and holiness Believers are called Christs fellows or copartners Psal. 45. 7. from their participation with him of the same spirit as it is 1 Thes. 4. 8. God giveth the same spirit unto us which he more plentifully poured out upon Christ. Now where the same spirit and principle is there the same fruits and operations must be produced according to the proportions and measures of the spirit of grace communicated and this reason is farther enforced by the very design and end of God in the infusion of the spirit of grace for it is plain from Ezek. 36. 27. that practical holiness and obedience is the scope and design of that infusion of the spirit The very innaâ—… property of the spirit of God in men is to elevate their minds and set their affections upon heavenly things to purge their hearts from earthly dross and fit them for a life of holiness and obedience its nature also is assimilating and changeth them in whom it is into the same image with Jesus Christ their heavenly head 2 Cor. 3. 18. Fourthly The necessity of this imitation of Christ may be argued from the design and end of Christs exhibition to the 4. world in a body of flesh For though we detest that doctrine of the Socinians which makes the exemplary life of Christ to be upon the matter the whole end of his incarnation yet we must not run so far from an error as to lose a precious truth We say the satisfaction of his blood was a main and principal end of his Incarnation according to Mat. 20. 28. We affirm also that it was a great design and end of the Incarnation of Christ to set before us a pattern of holiness for our imitation For so speaks the Apostle 1 Pet. 2. 21. He hath left us an example that we should follow his steps And this example of Christ greatly obliges believers to his imitation Phil. 2. 5. Let this mind be in you which also was in Christ Jesus Fifthly our imitation of Christ is one of those great Articles which every man is to subscribe whom Christ will admit 5. into the number of his disciples Luke 14. 27. Whosoever doth not come after me cannot be my disciple And again John 12. 26. If any man serve me let him follow me To this condition we have submitted if we be sincere believers and therefore are strictly bound to the imitation of Christ not only by Gods command but by our own consent But if we profess interest in Christ when our hearts never consented to follow and imitate his example then are we self-deceiving hypocrites wholly disagreeing from the scripture character of believers Rom. 8. 1. They that are Christs being there described to be such as walk not after the flesh but after the spirit and Gal. 5. 25. If we live in the spirit let us walk in the spirit Sixthly The honour of Christ necessitates the conformity of Christians to his example else what way is there left 6. to stop detracting mouths and vindicate the name of Christ from the reproaches of the world how can wisdom be justified of her children except it be this way by what means shall we cut off occasion from such as desire occasion but by regulating our lives by Christs example The world hath eyes to see what we practise as well as ears to hear what we profess Therefore either shew the consistency betwixt your profession and practice or you can never hope to vindicate the name and honour of the Lord Jesus The uses follow For 1. Information 2. Exhortation 3. Consolation 1. Use for Information Use 1. Inference 1. If all that profess interest in Christ be strictly bound to imitate his holy example then it follows that Religion is very unjustly charged Inference 1. by the world with the scandals and evils of them that profess it Nothing can be more unjust and irrational if we consider First That Christian Religion severely censures loose and scandalous actions in all professors and therefore is not to be censured for them 'T is absurd to condemn Religion for what it self condemns Looseness no way flowes from the principles of Christianity but is most opposite and contrary to it Titus 2. 11 12. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Secondly It is an argument of the excellency of Christian Religion that even wicked men themselves covet the name and profession of it though they only cloak and cover their evils under it I confess it is a great abuse of such an excellent thing as Religion is but yet if it had not an awful reverence paid it by the consciences of all men it would
which there is no cure but Christ lifted up in the Gospel as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness ver 14. Neither doth Christ cure any but those that believingly apply him to their own souls The result and conclusion of all you have in my Text He that believeth in him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already c. In this clause which I have pitched upon we find these three parts 1. The sin threatned viz. unbelief 2. The punishment inflicted viz. Condemnation 3. The immediate relation of the one to the other he is condemned already First Let us take into consideration the sin which is here threatned viz. unbelief The neglecting or refusing of an 1. exalted and offered Jesus Unbelief is twofold viz. Negative or Positive Negative unbelief is the sin of the heathens who never had the Gospel among them nor the offers of Christ made to them these cannot believe on him of whom they have not heard Positive unbelief is the sin of men and women under the Gospel to whom Christ is actually opened and offered by the preaching of the Gospel but they make light of it neglect the great salvation receive not Christ into their hearts nor consent to the severe and self denying terms upon which he is offered This is the sin threatned Secondly The punishment inflicted and that is condemnation 2. a word of deep and dreadful signification appearing in this Text as the hand-writing upon the plaister of the wall unto Belteshazzar Dan. 5. 5. A word whose deep sense and Emphasis is fully understood in hell Condemnation is the Judgment or Sentence of God condemning a man to bear the punishment of his eternal wrath for sin the most terrible of all sentences Thirdly The immediate relation or respect this punishment 3. hath to that sin of unbelief The unbeliever is condemned already i. e. he is virtually condemned by the law of God His mittimus is already made for hell he is condemned as a sinner by the breach oâ—… the first Covenant but that condemnation had never â—…n his ruine except it had been ratified by the sentence of God condemning him as an unbeliever for slighting and rejecting the grace offered in the second Covenant So that the unbeliever is already virtually condemned by both as he is a sinner and as he is an unbeliever as he hath transgressed the law and as he hath refused the gospel as he hath contracted sin the mortal disease and refused Christ the only effectual remedy He is virtually condemned now and will be sententially condemned in the Judgment of the great day Unbelief is his great sin and condemnation is his great misery Hence the observation will be this DOCT. That all unbelievers are presently and immediately under the Doct. just and dreadful sentence of Gods Condemnation John 12. 48. He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him the word that I have spoken the same shall judge him in the last day John 3. 36. He that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Three things are to be opened in the Doctrinal part of this point 1. What unbelief or the not receiving of Jesus Christ is 2. What condemnation the punishment of this sin is 3. Why this punishment unavoidably follows that sin First What the sin of unbelief or not receiving Christ is By unbelief we are not here to understand the reliques or remains 1. of that sin in the people of God which is mixed with their imperfect faith for there is some unbelief still mingled with faith in the best hearts He that can say Lord I believe hath cause enough to cry out with tears help thou my unbelief However this doth not bring the soul under condemnation or into the state of wrath The word condemns this unbelief in them but doth not condemn their persons for this unbelief But the unbelief here spoken of is the neglecting or refusing to take Christ upon the terms of the Gospel and so is exclusive of the saving act or effects of faith First It is exclusive of the saving act of faith which as hath been already declared is the due receiving of Christ offered in the Gospel consenting to take him upon his own terms This the unbeliever will by no means be perswaded to do He will be perswaded to accept the promises of Christ but not to accept the person of Christ he is willing to accept Christ in part a divided Christ but not to accept Christ entirely in all his offices He will accept the righteousness of Christ in conjunction with his own righteousness but he will not accept the righteousness of Christ as the sole matter of his Justification exclusive of his own righteousness he is willing to wear the Crown of Christ but cannot be perswaded to bear the cross of Christ. Thus Christ and unbelievers part upon terms God will come down no lower and the unbeliever will come up no higher God will not alter his terms and the unbeliever will not alter his resolution and so Christ is refused Salvation neglected and in effect the unbeliever chooseth rather to be damned than to comply with the severe terms of self-denial mortification and bearing the cross of Christ. Thus it excludes the saving act of faith Secondly It is exclusive of the saving fruits and effects of faith Faith produces love to God but the unbeliever doth not truly love him But I know you saith Christ to unbelievers that the love of God is not in you John 5. 42. Faith purifies the heart of a believer but the hearts of unbelievers are full of all impurity The believer overcomes the world the world overcomes the unbeliever Faith makes the Cross of Christ sweet and easie to the believer Unbelief makes Christ because of the Cross bitter and distastful to the unbeliever Thus unbelief excludes both the saving act and fruits of faith and consequently bars the soul from the saving benefits and priviledges of faith viz. Justification and peace with God Secondly Next let us consider the punishment of this sin which is condemnation Condemnation in the general is the 2. sentence of a Judge awarding a mulct or penalty to be inflicted upon the guilty person There is a twofold Condemnation 1. Respectu culpâ—… in respect of the fault 2. Respectu poenae in respect of the punishment First Condemnation with respect to the fault is the casting of the person as guilty of the crime charged upon him Condemnation with respect to the punishment is the sentencing of the convicted offender to undergo such a punishment for such a fault to bear a penal for a moral evil This forensick word Condemnation is here applied unto the case of a guilty sinner cast at the bar of God where the fact is clearly proved and the punishment righteously awarded Thou art an unbeliever for this sin thou shalt die eternally
at the Judgement Seat of Christ in the great day and verily in this thing is the love of God perfected 1 John 4. 17. O 't is a priviledge in which the grace mercy and love of God do â—…ine forth as clearly as the sun when it shineth in its full strength And certainly you will find cause to lye at the feet of God astonished and overwhelmed with the sense of this mercy when you shall find your selves freed from the condemnation of God whilst many others as good as you were are still under condemnation Yea your selves freed and many of your Superiors in the world still under the curse 1 Cor. 1. 26. Yea your selves freed and others that sate under the same means of grace and had the same external advantages you had still in chains 2 Cor. 2. 16. O brethren this is a marvellous deliverance look on it which way you will your ransome is paid and not a peny of it by you it cost you nothing to procure your pardon Your pardon is full and not one sin excepted out of it that you ever committed Your are freed and Jesus Christ condemned in your stead to procure your discharge your pardon is sealed in his blood and is irrevocable for ever so that you shall never any more come into condemnation He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death to life John 5. 24. Let them that are so delivered spend their days on earth in praise and cheerful obedience and when they die let them not shrink away from death nor be afraid to take it by the cold hand it can do them no harm Yea let them close their dying lips with Thanks be to God for Jesus Christ. The Thirty third SERMON Sermon 33. JOHN 3. 19. Text. And this is the Condemnation that light is come into the Of the Aggravation of the sin and punishment of unbelief under the light of the Gospel world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil OUt of the fore-going Verse it was fully proved in our last Sermon that all Christless and unregenerate men are no better than dead men being Condemned already Our Saviour proceeds in this Verse to aggravate the misery of those that refuse and despise him yet farther and to let them know that those who remain in unbelief and the state of unregeneracy must expect some greater and sorer wrath than other men not only a simple Condemnation but an aggravated and peculiar Condemnation This is the Condemnation that light is come c. In the words we find these three parts 1. The aggravation of sin by the abuse of Gospel light Light is come c. 2. The aggravation of misery in proportion to that abuse of light this is the condemnation 3. The cause and occasion drawing men into this sin and misery because their deeds were evil First We have here the aggravation of sin by the abuse of Gospel Light Light is come By Light we are to understand 1. the knowledge discovery and manifestation of Christ and Redemption by him in the Gospel He is the Son of righteousness that arises in the Gospel upon the nations Mal. 4. 1. When he came in the flesh then did the day-spring from on high visit us Luke 1. 78. And the light may be said to come two ways either First In the means by which it is conveyed to us or Secondly in the efficacy of it upon our minds when it actually shines into our souls Light may come among a people in the means and yet they actually remain in darkness all the while As it is in nature The sun may be up and a very glorious morning far advanced whilst many thousands are drouzing upon their beds with their curtains drawn about them Light in the means we may call potential Light Light in the mind we may cali actual light It is but seldom that light comes in the means and continues long among men but some light must needs actually shine into their souls also but this actual light is twofold 1. Common and intellectual only to conviction or 2. Special and efficacious light bringing the foul to Christ by real conversion call'd in 1 Cor. 4. 6. Gods shining into the heart Where ever light comes in this last sense it is impossible that such men should prefer darkness before it but it may come in the means yea it may actually shine into the consciences of men by those means and convince them of their sins and yet men may hate it and choose darkness rather than light And this is the sense of this place Light was come in the Gospel dispensation among them yea it hath shined into many of their consciences gauled and reproved them for sin but they hated it and had rather be without such a troublesome inmate In a word by the coming of light we are here to understand a more clear and open manifestation of Christ by the Gospel than ever was made to the world before for we are not to think that there was no light in the world till Christ came and the Gospel was published in the world by the Apostles ministry For Abraham saw Christ's day John 8. 56. and all the faithful before Christ saw the promises i. e. their accomplishment in Christ afar off Heb. 11. 13. for it was with Christ the Son of righteousness as it is with the natural Sun which illuminates the hemisphere before it actually rises or shews its body above the Horizon but when it rises and shews it self the light is much Sol nonduâ—… conspectus illuminat orbem clearer so it was in this case The greater therefore was their sin that rebelled against it and preferred darkness to light this was their sin with its fearful aggravation Secondly In a most just proportion to this sin we have 2. here the aggravated condemnation of them who sinned against such clear Gospel-light This is the condemnation this is the judgement of all judgements the greatest and most intolerable judgement a severer sentence of condemnation than ever did pass against any others that sinned in the times of ignorance and darkness they that live and dye impenitent and unregenerate how few soever the means of salvation have been which they have enjoyed must be condemned yea the Pagan world who have no more but natural light to help them will be condemned by that light but this is the condemnation i. e. such sinning as this is the cause of the greatest condemnation and sorest punishment as it 's called Heb. 10. 19. Thirdly The cause and occasion drawing men into this sin and misery because their deeds were evil i. e. the convincing 3. light of truth put a great deal of vigour and activity into their Consciences which they could not endure The accusations and condemnations of Conscience are very irksome and troublesome things to