13. that believe in the Name of the Son of God that you may know that ye have eternal life John wrote this Epistle purposely to satisfie weak Believers that whatsoever they thought of themselves they had Eternal Life and he would have them know as much Put then the Trial of your state upon this very point Whether you have Christ and in him Eternal Life Do you make good the former and we who are Ministers of the Gospel may by the Blessing of God undertake to prove the latter to your great Comfort and Satisfaction These things have I written to you that believe that you may know you have eternal life Then Believers themselves stand in need of such Writings and Sermons as may help to open the Mysteries of Christ to them and to this end is a Gospel-Ministry appointed to make manifest a savour of his knowledg in every place 2 Cor. 2. 14 15. We are a sweet savour of Christ unto God in them that perish under our ministry saith he We must seek to please God in our Preaching and not men whatever the issue be Men have no savour don't savour such Sermons and Gospel-Discourses that do lead them into the Mysteries of the Gospel they are for a more Rational way of Preaching they love Moral Preaching but this Mystical Mysterious Preaching of Christ and Faith in him and Union to him this they count foolishness they don't savour it but saith he we are a sweet savour of Christ to God even in them that perish 2. The Spirit doth not only teach us to know Christ in us but confirms us in that knowledge by an after-Testimony bearing witness with our spirits that so it is This fixes and settles our minds in a firm persuasion of the Truth Had we no other witness but our own Spirits we should vary and fluctuate in our minds about these great Points of the Gospel we should be of one mind to day and of another to morrow Reason is not always consistent with it self varies in its apprehensions of things argues pro and con according to the different appearance of things the different Impressions that contrary Reasonings make upon our unstable minds I say all these things make Reason very uncertain Fancy and Imagination are very uncertain and variable and do strongly influence mens understandings It is hard to know whether Sense or Reason do lead us but the Testimony of the Spirit of God is a more uniform Testimony doth never vary from it self always passes the same Judgment about the same point It is not yea and nay it doth not say and unsay but stands to the first judgment it is purposely given to testifie of Christ and of the infallible consequents of our Faith in him which must needs beget Hope The oftner we appeal to this witness and hear the Testimony of the Spirit in our hearts concerning Christ the more are we confirmed in our Faith and Hope They who are full of the Holy Ghost they are full of Faith and Hope When we have found out Christ within us we should appeal to the Spirit of God Whether it be not so indeed Whether Christ be not in us of a Truth None knows the Son but the Father and it is by his Spirit he reveals him in us Ask the Spirit then Whether this be the Christ of God which your Faith hath taken hold of and brought into your Soul to Live Rule and Reign there Did we live in more Communion with the Holy Ghost we could not be so much estranged from the Life of Christ we should not be so unacquainted with Christ. No man can say That Jesus is the Lord but by the Spirit Say what you will of Christ you understand not what you say till the Spirit reveal him in you There is no thinking talking no meditating on Christ in our own Light and Strength if the Holy Ghost doth not help us Believers have a sense of this that God hath taught them and shined into their hearts it is in his Light they see Light and have a true Spiritual Discerning of the Mystery of God in Christ. You know in the first days of the Gospel the Spirit bore witness unto the Divine Person of Christ That he came from God and was God for the world could believe neither John 15. 26 27. comp with Acts 5. 32. It was the great business of the Spirit I say to testifie to the world That Christ was sent of God and that he was very God This the Holy Ghost did by many signs and wonderful effects of the Divine Power of Christ wrought through Faith in his Name And so ever since the same Spirit breathing in the Consciences of Believers doth testifie of Christ in them with that Evidence and Power that they cannot withstand they are convinced and satisfied That Salvation is only by him and that relying upon him their Souls are secured to all Eternity This begets Peace in their before affrightned Consciences If you ask how doth the Holy Ghost bring over the Mind of a man to be so fully persuaded of the truth of that which Flesh and Blood cannot reveal unto him I Answer The Holy Ghost doth this as a Spirit of Power Luk. 24. 49. Christ is said to Teach us as one having Authority There is Power and Authority as well as Teaching Reasoning and Objective light I say the Spirit acts as a Spirit of Power impressing a sense of God's Love so upon our Hearts that we cannot but count upon it rejoyce in it feeling it shed abroad into our Hearts The Testimony of the Spirit is a convincing undeniable Evidence able to persuade of the truth of that he bears witness to against all surmises of Flesh and Blood Were not the Spirit of Christ a Spirit of Power it would be impossible he should ever establish such a a Doctrine so contrary to all the sentiments of Nature and to all rational Inferences men can make from any principles of Reason The Spirit comes as a Spirit of Power will have the Heart open will bring over Man to assent though it be to what his Understanding cannot reach and this the Spirit of God doth by particular Application of the Blood of Christ to us by Name so revealing Christ in us that we cannot but feel the Virtue of his Blood in our Conscience cannot but know him and own him as our Jesus In all Hope there is a peculiar Application of Promises to our selves He that believes hath eternal Life John 3. 36. Is not only persuaded there is such a thing but that he hath it already begun in him and shall be further let into it ere long We shall be like him 1 John 3. 2. We shall be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life Tit. 3. 7. For the hope which is laid up for you Col. 1. 5. There is a particular Application to our selves of those things we Hope for It is impossible for a man to Hope and be no
before Do you find Christ hath had a quickning influence upon your Hearts is indeed become your life He savingly knows Jesus Christ who doth act towards him according to what he believes of him Let men talk of this or that concerning Christ and pretend to understand all Mysteries to have all knowledge yet unless they can shew the work of the Gospel written in their hearts as the Apostle speaks of the work of the Law Rom. 2. 15. I say unless they can shew the work of the Gospel written in their hearts I am sure they are nothing For it is impossible to receive Christ by the saving knowledge of Faith and not to have his Image impressed upon all the faculties of the Soul by that Faith which first brought it in The very conceptions of Faith concerning Christ are the very thoughts of a mans own heart so he is so he thinks so he acts even as he believes Gospel truths cannot enter into our rational Nature at any other door than that of Faith When Faith comes there needs nothing else to turn that Soul unto God Every man is an his Faith is Faith contains the true inward sense of the Soul about Jesus Christ And God is the Author and Finisher of this Faith and understood to be so by all true Believers Pray let us close up all with this for I am only now labouring as well as I can to shew you in general how Faith lets Christ into the Soul The main thing in Conversion is Faith and the main thing in Faith is the Power of God in working it These two things are principally taken notice of by all Believers They observe them in others much more in themselves Acts 11. 17 18. compared with Acts 14. 23. What notice did they take there of the Faith God had wrought in those They perceived they had received the same Faith with themselves that God had granted unto the Gentiles Repentance unto life Faith is the main thing in Conversion Christ is the same in himself both before and after Conversion So are all Gospel-truths the same in themselves only then we did not believe them and now we do It is Faith makes all the difference and the principal thing in Faith is the power of God in working it How doth Paul admire the goodness of God to him that he should obtain Mercy and believe in Jesus Lord saith he What wilt thou have me to do He never called him Lord before The High Priest was his Lord and Master before from whom he received his orders what to do against the Saints Now he is Sick of that imployment he lays down his Commission at the feet of Christ and desires he would give him instructions what to do None should be his Lord None should now command him but Christ Lord what wilt thou have me to do The beginning of Faith and Conversion lyes in looking unto Christ for Power to believe And our first Faith usually breaks out in an Outcry to God to help our unbebelief All true Converts are sensible of this they in Acts 7. 47. How did they Praise God for their Conversion They ascribe it all to him I say our first Faith in the Lord Jesus comes in with a sense of God's Power in working it and Faith is known to be the gift of God by those who have it They who begin their Faith in the strength of their own Reason thinking to take in such considerations of God and Christ and to draw such arguments from Scripture as can induce them to believe will find themselves mistaken I am persuaded the doubts and fears of many Believers have their rise from hence That they did not begin their Faith in such an humble dependance upon God for strength to believe they did not I say do this as they should And it appears that that is the cause of their fears because nothing but such a dependance upon Christ for Grace does cure them When once they have learned the right way of believing and trusting in Christ they enter into rest there is an end of all their fears There are Promises in Scripture made unto Faith and there are Promises made of Faith These so far as we may be concerned in them seem to be made to Believers quite void of Faith Though to Unbelievers remaining in unbelief nothing is promised yet all things are promised to Unbelievers going out by Faith unto Jesus Christ Or if you will I had rather express it thus These promises of our first faith of the first Grace of giving the Spirit and the like they are made to Christ in the behalf of Unbelievers such who were from Eternity ordained unto Life so many of them whose Names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life The Covenant of Grace made between God and us doth respect the Covenant of Redemption between the Father and the Son This first Faith is wrought in us in such a manner that we are sensible of the Divine Power and Efficacy of God's Grace in working it Though God doth lead out our Souls into rational considerations of Himself and his Son yet we find that these considerations do flow into our Minds from an inward Revelation made of Christ. We do know that such thoughts of God and Christ could never have come into our minds if the Holy Ghost had not suggested them In his Light we see Light and our coming to Christ is always by the Father's drawing CHAP. II. More Particularly How Christ is in us by Faith How Faith brings Christ into the Soul Or how Christ conveys himself into our hearts through Faith And also How we may discern this in our selves THis is the Point and a Point of greatest concernment it is unto us all And therefore I beseech you follow me with your strictest Attention First That Christ may be in us it is necessary that he should be first outwardly proposed unto us There is an outward Light of the letter proposing Christ to us and there is an inward Light of the Spirit revealing Christ in us It is one thing to speak Notionally from the outward Light of the Letter another thing to speak Experimentally from an inward Light of the thing it self in our own Souls Besides the outward Light of the Word there is in every true Believer an inward Light flowing through the Word from the Object or thing spoken of The Spirit reveals Christ the Object and so making us Light in the Lord in his Light we see Light As we cannot see the Sun but by its own Light so neither can we see Christ but in his own Light By Faith we go unto Christ by Faith we go into Christ and we sit down in his Light entertaining our selves with Spiritual Contemplations of his Glory I say that Christ presents himself to us in a Gospel Promise as our God and Saviour He offers himself to us as such and by offering himself or under that proposal he doth act as a Gracious
stands for little with such men who resolve to believe themselves leaning in all things to their own understandings And under that Spiritual slumber I must leave them till it pleases God to awaken them As for those who make previous Conditions performed by themselves the ground of their Faith in Christ for Pardon not daring to trust in Christ for Salvation 'till they have first prepared themselves by such doings of their own as may give them a right and title to it and encourage them to trust in Christ for that Salvation whereas I conceive the bare offer and tender of Grace made to sinners in the Gospel is sufficient to give them a right and title to it who thankfully accept the offer though they come without Money have no Righteousness of their own to make way for them coming as they are in their nakedness and Poverty casting themselves upon Christ for all looking for acceptance only in the Beloved Besides to require such preparatory works before believing I mean before we close in with Christ by an act of justifying-Faith is to put natural men upon supernatural acts which they have no strength to perform and doth suppose that in their natural state they may be brought to true holiness may reform their lives and attain to some degree of Sanctification before their hearts are changed and purified by Faith There must be a change of state before there can be a change of life in a real turning to God by a sincere obedience In Preaching the Gospel we exhort and press our Hearers to holiness not as if we thought to bring them to it while in their natural state but because there is a converting Power in the Gospel to make them new Creatures that must be first done before any acceptable obedience can be performed 'T is Faith that unites us to Christ and being so united all principles and habits of holiness are infused which the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us draws into act upon all occasions Some carry it as if all holy dispositions and inclinations were acquired by our own endeavours But as original Corruption was propagated by our descent from the first Adam so the first seeds and principles of true holiness are propagated by our descent from the second Adam in our new birth Let us not think to become holy any other way than by Faith in Christ in whom we are sanctified and by whose Spirit the Saints are stirred up and quickned to all those duties that tend to the perfecting of holiness in them Christ is the root that bears us our fruit is found in him all our springs are in him without me says Christ you can do nothing we shall be sorry doers of Righteousness if we set about it in our own strength therefore I conclude we must begin our Religion with Faith in Christ and Pray that we may be led by his Spicit in all ways of holiness to our lives end I see no ground in all the new Testament to press and exhort Sinners to humiliation repentance and reformation of life from any other motive than that of Gospel Grace which must be received and taken in in some degree of Saving-faith before we can heartily set about the foresaid duties and this is all I contend for This reception of or faith in Christ must go before all things that are afterwards to be received from Christ That which leads many into a mistake in this matter it their putting too great a difference between saving Evangelical Conviction of sin and true saving-Faith as if such a Conviction of our lost undone state by nature were but a preparative to saving-Faith whereas it is an essential part of justifying-Faith to convince us of sin from which we are justified by Christ they are always concomitant and cannot be separated in any act of saving-Faith we put forth upon Christ What is Faith but a Conviction of sin and righteousness shewing us our sins that we may seek after righteousness in Christ As for legal Conviction and repentance that is but a common work As God pleases to awaken natural Conscience by setting home the threats and terrors of the Law this may or may not be previous to Conversion and is wrought in whom and in what degree God pleases Some lie in a spiritual slumber all their days without any legal touch upon their Consciences are fast asleep 'till they awake in Hell which is full of legal Convictions Sometimes God reserves the whole of Conviction for saving-Faith he lets in a sense of sin and of the remedy at once and this Faith may first shew it self in some more in an humbling Conviction of sin than in the comfortable application of Christ's righteousness that may come afterwards when Faith has done its humbling work under which there is a secret looking unto Christ tho not with that comfortable sense of our interest in him as we are made afterwards to understand What I urge is this We must begin our Religion with Faith in Christ which never fails to produce repentance and new obedience but how to attain to any degree of either before we are in Christ is to me unconceiveable They who so much contend for these Preparatives do run upon Rocks and will be forced to deny such fundamental Points of the Protestant Religion which I am persuaded they will be ashamed to disown when closely put to it many things are required of those who are in Covenant that are not required as Conditions of our first entring into Covenant We must not think to bring any Grace to the Covenant but must fetch all Grace from the Covenant even Faith it self a power to believe being the first thing promised in the Covenant and by our passive reception of this first Grace a spiritual Principle of life is let into the Soul from whence flow all holy and spiritual actions Qua facultates Animae in calescunt vivificantur potentes fiunt in ordine Spirituali Tho. Parker Thes. 43. as the fruits and effects of that habitual Faith infused at first by God This reception of Christ by Faith is our life 1 John 5. 12. John 6. 53. by which the faculties of our Souls are warmed and quickned and enabled unto all acts of spiritual life being now throughly furnished unto every good word and work Were Pride and Prejudice laid aside and did every one study his own Justification and mind that more some would find those very Arguments which they take up against their Antagonists whilst they are acting the part of Opponents contending more for Victory than Truth to make against the inward Judgment of their own Consciences when once it comes to be their own case I am persuaded many plead for those opinions and notions upon which they would be loth to venture their own Souls in a dying hour I value more the Judgment of a dying Saint about Justification than all the wrangling Disputes of Learned men who are under a great
strain we move it a little though ordinarily we cannot stir it So there are some certain strains of Faith that give us that discerning of Spiritual Things that we never had before lifting up our heads within the Vail Let us then wait upon God for such further manifestations of his Spirit and pray That he would shine in our hearts the Light of the Knowledge of his Glory What shall I say more Now we live upon Creatures and have but a remote View of God in them and through them and this is our Grace But when we come to Heaven God will be all in all We shall stand in no need of Creature-Comforts to Eternity but shall derive all our support satisfaction and joy immediately from God himself His Spirit will be instead of Meat Drink and Cloaths to our bodies and will to Eternity fill up the Capacity of our Souls with Ravishing Joys and Delights And this is our Glory The sum of all is That Christ received into the heart by Faith as our Jesus our Redeemer and Saviour doth beget in the Soul thus relying upon him an earnest Expectation and lively Hope of all that Good that may consummate and perfect mans Happiness to Eternity And this in the Text is called Glory Christ in us the Hope of Glory So much for that part of the Text. I come now to the First Part of the Text. What are we to understand by Christ in us And this is Mystery upon Mystery It is evident that in Scripture Christ is said to be in us and we in him he to abide in us and we to abide in him I shall now only give you a more general Exposition of these Words in the general sense of the Text. I say Christ is said to be in us and we in him To abide in us and we in him John 15. 4. And all this must be spiritually understood all this is by Believing by Faith we receive him and by continued Acts of Faith we do keep him dwelling in our hearts Eph. 3. 17. We abide in Christ and Christ in us we are in him and he in us when we do persevere in the Faith when we have in our hearts an inward belief and persuasion of all the Gospel saith concerning Christ as our Redeemer and Saviour He is in the thoughts and imaginations of our hearts continually and we do act towards him according to what we believe of him this is believing indeed And here comes in hope as most suitable to the apprehensions of our Faith concerning Christ as our Jesus Christ in you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some render the Greek thus Christ among you outwardly Preached to you is the hope of Glory This is Doctrinally true but this is not enough to beget Hope Many hear and don't believe they have much of Christ without them but nothing of Christ within them Hope arises from something within impressed upon the mind the Soul doth not stir till then doth not put forth any act of Hope till Faith comes That sets all the wheels in motion draws our affections after him such is the power of Faith that we cannot but love and desire what we believe to be so good and desirable Hope naturally springs out of Faith and in this Hope you have the comfort of your Faith you see the benefits of Faith rejoycing in what you believe Gospel truths are very advantageous to a believer when he sees the advantage that accrues to him by them and therefore is filled with joy unspeakable and full of Glory by believing We should be little concerned in our Faith were it not for the Hope it begets It is life Eternal to know Christ in the light of that knowledge you perceive how you live in him and by him As Faith carries up our Souls to Heaven so it brings down all the good things of Heaven to our Souls Faith is a very enriching Grace rich in Faith saith the Apostle when the Soul takes notice of this it cannot but Hope What Faith hath obtained of God through Christ Hope goes out after longs for and patiently waits for things unseen Faith hath ensured them and therefore Hope will expect them So that Christ outwardly Preached is the Hope of Glory that is Doctrinally so It is Doctrinally true but it is not experimentally true to you and me that Christ is our Hope of Glory till we do believe in him Christ must be ours before this Hope in the Text can be ours Christ is not ours till we receive him by Faith from an inward Revelation of him Gal. 1. 16. Till then he is a Christ without us not in us With the heart man believes It is an inward act of the mind to believe in Christ. The Soul doth converse with Christ about its own Salvation our Thoughts are much taken up in considering him applying to our selves the benefits of his Death If Christ be thus in you you cannot but have Hope I am upon the general Exposition and shall shew you more at large how Christ is in us by believing I say Faith lets Christ into the Understanding Will and Affections Naturally when the Vnderstanding acts upon any Object it draws the species and image of that Object into its self Hence they say Intellectus intelligendo fit omnia the Understanding is every thing it understands That is it takes in the Idea Shape Image of that thing which it knows under all its distinguishing Properties else there would be confusion in the Understanding we should not know one thing from another which is not to know at all So Faith brings in Christ into the Soul under a peculiar Character as the fairest of Ten thousand proposes him as the greatest truth to the Understanding as the greatest good to the Will and frames conceptions of him accordingly thus is Christ formed in us Faith doth not take in Christ notionally only to lye by as other notions do in which we are little concerned but it takes him in in reference to our selves as a new Mould into which the Soul is to be cast as a Spirit and Principle of new life He comes to rule and reign and to reduce man to a conformity to himself And here lies the difference between historical and saving Knowledg one is purely Speculative the other is Experimentally Practical that is there is always something done upon it in and by the Soul 2 Cor. 3. 18. We do behold as in a glass the glory of God and are changed Pray observe that Text There is a Beholding and there is a Transformation upon that beholding a being changed into the same Glory We do not know Christ savingly if every thing we know of him doth not help to change us more and more into his Image I say we do not know Christ savingly till then You must judge of your saving knowledge of Gospel Truths by the lively impressions they make upon your hearts Are you brought to act do think that which you never did
is really in us we must needs be in him there is a mutual in-being in each other John 17. 21. That they may be all one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they may be one in us This is meant not of a Personal but of a Mystical Union a Spiritual Union Christ letting in the Virtue the Power of his Resurrection upon us Tit. 2. 14. 1 Pet. 1. 18. so purging our hearts from corruption and redeeming us from our vain conversation Secondly Christ must be in us because Christ hath much to do within us He hath a kingdom to set up Luke 17. 21. Many strong holds of Satan to pull down the strong man to cast out many lusts and corruptions to mortifie many Graces to raise up and strengthen He sanctifies us throughout not only in Body but in Mind and Spirit and therefore he must deal inwardly with us He takes away an heart of stone and gives an heart of flesh and this is inward work The Spirit of Christ strives with our Spirits about this deals with the hearts of men to turn them unto himself Many Checks many Calls many Pangs many Throws before Christ be formed in us Gal. 2. 19. He is a Jew who is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter Rom. 2. 29. This inward man is renewed and strengthned day by day by Christ living in us Gal. 2. 20. comp with 2 Cor. 4. 16. Tho Christ hath done much without us in dying for us yet if he did not come into us by his Spirit we should be little the better for all he hath done without us Christ is a Saviour out of us by his Merit and in us by the Virtue and Efficacy of his Spirit He makes a powerful entrance at our first Conversion he creates new Principles by which he works further and further upon the heart till he hath reduced it to perfect conformity to himself Now here may come in a Query Possibly some may say Could not Christ have done all within us What need he do any thing without us Might he not come and live in us without dying for us Might he not enter in the Soul and sanctifie us though he had not first suffered outwardly for us I answer No 1. Because the Justice of God had been then unsatisfied God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost were all unsatisfied They could have nothing to do with fallen Man in a way of Mercy till Satisfaction was made to Divine Justice 2. Supposing such a Sanctification man must be damned notwithstanding for his former sins Now no man will be at the pains to wash and cleanse a Vessel that must presently be broken in pieces and thrown away What Christ did in Person in our Nature without us that he doth Spiritually in our Hearts As he suffered on the Cross for us truly so he suffers much in us and by us meets with much opposition from in-dwelling Corruption The Fight of Faith is great and long even to our lives end our Warfare is not accomplished till then Tho Christ hath satisfied the Law and Justice of God in dying for us yet the same power must be put forth to make us believe this as in raising up Christ from the dead Christ meets with a Legal Conscience in every man that will not readily admit of the Grace of God till it be over-powered by the Spirit of Christ and sprinkled with his Blood It is a mighty work of Divine Power to bring over a trembling convinced sinner to trust in Christ for the Pardon of all his Sins There are many carnal Reasonings against this many thoughts and imaginations that do with a great deal of confidence exalt themselves against the Mystery of God's Grace in Christ. Now all these Thoughts must be brought into Captivity to the Obedience of Christ And this is a mighty work of Divine Power like levelling of Mountains and breaking Rocks asunder giving hearts of Flesh that may take in Impressions of God's Love to us in Christ and thankfully accept of Eternal Life as the Free Gift of God When it pleases God to open the wonderful Mysteries of his Grace to us by shining into our hearts he doth at last fully convince us of that which we could never believe before Were there more of this inward Religion among us more of the Power and Efficacy of the Gospel experienced in the hearts of Professors the savour of it would be much stronger in our lives Christ within makes every thing in the Soul bow down before him Let us not then keep at a distance from Christ but gather up nearer and nearer to him by Faith till we are united and joined to the Lord in one Spirit and then the Power of Christ will rest upon us 2 Cor. 12. 11. We shall be strengthned with might in our inward man Eph. 3. 16 17. It must needs be so if Christ be in us How strong is the Devil in the hearts of Wicked Men How doth he rage and rule in the children of disobedience Eph. 2. 2. Let Satan enter into Iudas what bold Attempts doth he make upon his Master How ready to betray him Thus when the Devil is in men how mad are they How doth he hurry them on to all manner of Wickedness till Christ who is stronger than this strong man enters in and binds him casting him forth Matt. 12. 25. Unconverted men act like so many mad-men the Devil is in them Satan reigns in them and it will never be otherwise till Christ comes into them The Power of Satan's Kingdom is founded in the Darkness of our Minds and when one beam of Saving Gospel-Light shines in upon us we are turned from the Power of Satan unto God the whole Soul is subjected to him every rebellious Thought is captivated to the Obedience of Christ. Till we feel Christ thus living in us we know not where we are nor what our state is If Christ be not in you I am sure you are not in Christ and what the sad consequence of that is you may see Ephes. 2. 12. At that time ye were without Christ being aliens from the common-wealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise without God in the world having no Hope But Christ in us is our Hope of Glory CHAP. III. I Shall now draw both Parts of the Text into one Doctrinal Observation which is plainly this That Christ in us is our Hope of Glory or Christ dwelling in our hearts by Faith now is the only sure ground and foundation of our Hope of Glory hereafter And therefore 1 Tim. 1. 1. Christ is called our Hope Why he is so called and how our Hope is grounded upon him I am now to shew 1. From the Nature of Faith by which we receive Christ. And 2. From the Object of Faith Christ received or Christ in us I shall shew you How Faith by receiving
himself here under all our Infirmities And he sends his Spirit to put a Beauty and a Comeliness upon us to adorn the Bride to clothe her with beautiful garments against the day of his coming that she may be fit to stand in the Presence of the Bridegroom as the king's daughter all glorious within and without too then being perfectly sanctified both in Body Mind and Spirit The Spirit of Christ gives us access now into the Grace of God but nothing but the glorified Person of Christ can gives us access into the Glory of God Come ye blessed All are admitted into Heaven by the glorified Person of Jesus Christ. The Spirit of Christ acting now through the Word in the Absence of the Person of Christ prepares us for his coming keeps us waiting for that blessed day Rev. 22. 17. The spirit and the bride say Come The spirit saith so in the Word saith so in the hearts of the Saints that is makes them to say so The whole Church and every particular Member saith the same thing for himself Amen so come Lord Jesus come quickly If Believers were asked one by one Whether they desire the Coming of their Lord they would all agree with John and say Amen so come Lord Jesus they care not how soon Come quickly They are all of a mind in that thing The earnest longings of every gracious Soul after Christ are from the Spirit of Christ breathing in Believers kindling and keeping up strong desires in them after Christ They retain these desires in their Spirits after death The Souls under the Altar cry out How long Lord holy and true c. Rev. 6. 9 10. We are still to conceive of the Spirit as the Spirit of Christ. It is Christ in us shedding abroad his Love in our hearts uniting them to himself He will see we shall not forget him therefore he dwells in us by his Spirit to keep up love in our hearts to his Person And is not this a good ground of hope That Christ and Saints shall have a joyful meeting ere long who do thus continually remember each other The heart of Christ is towards them and their hearts are towards him They are joined together in one spirit now The Glory of the Saints lies in beholding the Glorified Person of Christ because in him they see the Human Nature so highly dignified and exalted in the Divine Person of Christ. They see the express Image of God in Christ shining out in the brightness of Glory They see the Image of Christ in themselves shining out in the Perfection of Grace When he shall appear they shall be like him which is their Glory Thus Christ dwelling in us now by his Spirit raises our Souls to the Hope of this Glory in the Text. The Application contains a Threefold Exhortation 1. That you would be persuaded to examine and prove your Hopes Whether they be well grounded yea or no. 2. If you find them otherwise not sufficiently grounded upon Christ that you would be persuaded to throw away those vain Hopes to lay them aside And 3. That you would earnestly labour every one of you to come under the Power of this true Christian Hope in the Text and then you will know where you are I begin with the First Let us examine and prove our Hope to be well-grounded upon Christ within us 2 Cor. 13. 5. Know ye not your own selves how that Christ is in you of a truth except ye be Reprobates that is such who dying in that state God will reject at the last day We should do all we can to secure our Hopes lest our Crown be taken from us Hope rises out of Faith yet we must not so take it upon trust as not to be able to give a Reason of it 1 Pet 3. 15. Hope without Faith is Presumption Hope without Faith is without a Reason a foolish Hope Till we are justified by Faith we can have no Hope but we lye under all the damning Circumstances of our sins exposed to the Wrath and Vengeance of God To be without Christ implies all misery Then we have no hope Eph. 2. 12. He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life nor shall ever see life 1 John 5. 12. We should not rest till we know this because it may be known The Spirit is given us to this very end 1 John 3 24. To shew us that we are in Christ and Christ in us John 14. 20 21. Such a manifestation of Christ to us is a great Argument of his love to us ver 21. The Spirit doth testifie of Christ John 15. 26. Besides it is a Glory to Christ to make him our Hope of Glory We render him great in the eyes of men when we look upon him as one who makes us great The generality of men know nothing of Christ but what the Faith and Hope of Christians speak him to be They understand the Language of your Hope who have none themselves How mean thoughts soever they have of Christ yet they cannot but look upon him as one greatly admired by others whose expectations from him are so high Ambition is natural to men all would have Glory tho few take the right way to obtain it The present satisfaction men take in sins may be great yet their Hopes of any future good from them are very small When they give themselves time to think they are usually surprized with some fear of the ill consequence of their sins they are under some secret bodings of some evil that will follow Let them ask their Consciences if it be not so Therefore that you may have more solid grounds of Future Blessedness search for Christ within you rest not till you feel the quicking Influences of his Divine Power and Spirit in your selves till you feel Christ living in you It is one thing to walk as men another thing to walk as Christians in the Spirit of Christ. Did we pray more to the Father to reveal his Son in us form Christ in us make us Partakers of the Divine Nature waiting for the coming down of the Spirit upon us we should be endued with Power from on High we should know what it is to do all things in the strength of Christ to have all our Works wrought in God What it is to act supernaturally which every Christian should aim at experimentally to know what it is to act supernaturally They who do so will know that they do so They cannot be well ignorant of that which is so new so much another thing from all that is Natural They are lifted up above themselves they are carried away by the Spirit of God and they may know that they are in that Spirit every such appearance of God in the Soul is a manifestation of the Spirit not only to others but more especially to our selves The Spirit bears Witness that the Spirit is truth The Spirit witnesseth with and to
all discouraging thoughts that may arise in thee Deut. 7. 17 18 19. If thou shalt say in thine heart these Nations are more than I how shall I dispossess them Thou shalt not be afraid of them but shall well remember what the Lord thy God did to Pharaoh and unto all Egypt Thou shalt not be afrighted at them for the Lord thy God is among you and he will put out these Nations by little and little v. 21 22 We complain things go on but slowly there is little done God chuses to do things by little and little consider what hath been done and don 't make it less than it is it may seem little in comparison of what shall be yet in it self as it is 't is very great And therefore let us argue as David did 1 Sam 17 37. Psal. 3. 7 8. Psal. 9. 10 11. Psal 143 5 6 7 8. so Jehosaphat 2 Chron. 20. 7 9 12. so Paul 2 Cor. 1. 10. God that hath delivered and doth deliver and we trust will yet deliver The remembrance of what God hath done and doth do will strengthen our Hope in him for the future 3. Converse much with the Scriptures especially with the Promises that through Patience and comfort of the Scriptures you may have hope Rom 15. 4. How did David raise his Hope from the Word of God Psal. 119. in many places v 42 72. and elsewhere in that Psalm When a man gives his word to us again and again we believe him and reckon our selves sure of what we ask having so many repeated promises that it shall be done The Word of God is a living Word in this respect because as often as we mingle it with Faith it represents God speaking afresh to us in particular Faith hearing this again and again is more confirmed Faith at first came by hearing and the oftner it hears God speaking in his Word the more it is strengthned in a lively Hope of all that God hath promised 4. Look upon it as your Duty to Hope in God He hath commanded us because he knows we are apt to doubt and question his Promises It is not presumption but Duty to Hope in God relying upon his free Grace and not upon our own deserts which never begets a true humble Christian Hope but a proud arrogant Confidence in a mans self Whereas the fiducial Confidence of Hope is always derived from Faith Eph. 3. 12. 5 thly and Lastly Look unto the God of Hope Live in a constant dependance upon his Spirit to work it in you It is through the Power of the Holy Ghost we abound in hope Rom. 15. 13. That we are brought under the Power of a Christian Hope which arises from such hidden causes such deep grounds not known to flesh and blood that none but God can demonstrate the reasonableness and certainty of our Hope He knows how to beget us again to a lively Hope by the Resurrection of Christ from the Dead which is more than a Promise It is the actual accomplishing of that in another that makes it credible to us that God can raise the Dead and that as he hath raised up Christ so he will also raise up us at the last Day To the former directions add these Two things following If you would ground your Hope aright upon Christ within you so as to come under the Power of it Then 1. Consider well whether Christ be indeed in you whether you have felt the quickning influences of his Spirit in your own Souls Christ is your life Col. 3. 4. comp with John 11. 25. Consider then whether he be indeed your Life use all your Spiritual senses about this it is no easy matter to understand this Mystery There are many who lead a Natural Rational Moral Life under a Christian Profession and may be estranged from the Life of God all their Days You see how Paul distinguishes in the case lest he should mistake himself or be mistaken by others Gal. 2. 20. I live saith he yet not I but Christ liveth in me And so may a Saint now say I understand Gospel Mysteries yet not I as a man by the Light of my own Reason but as a Man in Christ in the Light of Faith by which I know not only that such things are revealed in the Word but also that they shall be accomplished unto all those who rely upon Christ Neither can I give any other reason for their accomplishment but so it is Written and thus saith the Lord. This is to speak like a Christian when we resolve all into Christ becoming fools in our selves that we may be wise in him The Life I now live in the Flesh saith he I live by the Faith of the Son of God take away that Faith and all my Hope as a Christian vanishes away You had need have a true Spiritual Light rightly discerning of Spiritual things to know that Christ is in you as your Life It cannot be known but by Faith Though Faith be very rational in all its arguings from Gospel Principles yet Faith it self is not properly an act of Reason but rather an act above Reason it carries the Understanding above its Reason to act my Understanding so as to assent to that which I have no Natural Reason for This is the knowledge of Faith a strange way of knowing which the world counts Foolishness Supernatural truths don't rise up into our Minds as the product and consequent of our Reason this is humane knowledge according to our Logick But all supernatural truths are let down through the Word by the Spirit of God into our Understandings they are too deep too mysterious and profound to be conveyed to our Understandings by the ordinary course of Reason And therefore God opens another door and lets them into the Soul by Faith Thus he writes his Law in our Hearts puts his Truth into our inward parts Where is the Scribe Where is the Wise Where is the Disputer of this World How doth God confound the Wisdom of the Wise from whom he hides these things which he reveals to Babes and Sucklings Poor humble Souls they have the knowledge of the Heavenly Mysteries and the World knows not how they came by it Whence hath this man this wisdom and this knowledge having never learned say they of Christ Matth. 13. 54. comp with John 7. 15. They wonder'd that any not brought up in their Schools should be more knowing than themselves It is an astonishment to the World to consider what knowledge poor humble Saints have of things which they do in no wise understand 2. Have a care of too gross conceptions of Christ within you You must understand the Text Spiritually As Reason brings Natural things into your Minds and gives you an Intellectual Vision of them So Faith brings Heavenly things into your Minds and gives you a Spiritual Vision of them Christ is first known to us by Faith There is no knowing him but by Believing in him no coming to
Promise so he becomes our God he makes a Covenant with us in Christ to be our God that for his sake he will freely pardon our sins and receive us into a state of Grace and Favour again thus God offers himself in the Covenant to be our God But an outward tender of grace if not closed in with and accepted is but a bare offer not a gift till we receive it when God intends to give grace he secretly joyns with the outward call speaks himself to the heart and inclines us to receive it herein lyes the difference between an outward and an inward effectual Call An effectual Call is that which hath its effect upon the Soul makes us answer to the call and obey it we are called to come to Christ and when we actually come then is the Call effectual and not before when God offered himself to Abraham it was with a purpose not to be refused and therefore he inclined the heart of Abraham to believe You may live long under an outward Call and not be effectually called i. e. not called with such a Call as God gives his Elect at thir Conversion many are called but few chosen i. e. few called with such a Call as God gives his Elect. We cannot be sure of our Election till we are thus effectually called To be frequent Hearers of the word calling us to Christ and yet find no inclinations in our hearts to come to him is a sign that God hath not yet spoken to us himself Ministers have but God hath not yet by his Spirit set home his word upon our hearts The inclinations of the Soul towards Christ that arise from an effectually Call are very strong they put the Soul upon coming to Christ urge us to it every day there is something writ upon the heart whch he that runs may read Conscience is reading over that inward Writing every day to the Soul calls for a speedy answer why is not this done that God requires that God has left upon record in thy heart Why so backward why so slow of heart to believe Arise arise away to Christ as fast as you can run for your life to the City of refuge that God has appointed They who know what an inward Call is cannot resist it an awakened Conscience is in hast will have the business dispatched out of hand nothing can stop that man who is effectually called O that every one here present were under such a Call this day God is able to give it and I am sure none of you are able to resist it Christ is offered to us in the New Covenant as our Peace-maker and Mediator therefore called the covenant of the people Isa. 42. 6. the sure foundation of it Isa. 26. 16. The Covenant made with Abraham is said to be confirmed of God in Christ before his Incarnation Gal. 3. 17. This Covenant was made between the Father and the Son from Eternity Isa. 42. 6. Tit. 1. 2. 2 Tim. 1. 9. The first outward declaration or revelation of it was in time Gen. 3. 15. The actual application of this Grace to our selves is when we first Believe We enter into Covenant by Faith we set our seal to the truth of the Promise and receive that right that Christ Believed on gives to Eternal life Faith it self gives no right to Salvation unto us but what it first receives from Christ we have nothing to do with the promise till we are in Christ by Faith Eph. 2. 12. Rom. 8. 32. Faith discerns the Grace and Love of God to us in Christ and accepts of the offer of life upon Gospel terms which the Soul could never be brought to till Faith came Who has believed the report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been reveal'd i. e. to beget Faith which wins over a Sinner to Christ We should be much in the first direct acts of Faith coming to Christ casting our selves on Christ relying on Christ these direct acts of Faith often repeated will sooner clear up our Interest in Christ than our judging by marks signs effects and fruits which can give no clearer Evidence of their truth than Faith does of its truth in a real closing with Christ in an absolute Promise this is the first act of Saving Grace antecedent to all qualifications in us or conditions performed by us this alters our State They understand not the Gospel who keep off from Christ for want of such and such qualifications which Christ expects not we should bring to him but derive from him an humble sense of our vileness and unworthiness is qualification enough for a Sinner to come to Christ and cast himself upon him When God has once said he will be our God he is ever after minding us of that speaking it over again and again upon all occasions Isa. 43. 1 2 3. c. Isa. 41. 10. Heb. 8. 11 12. I will and they shall God undertakes both parts of the Covenant The Covenant in the first initial Grace of it must be first executed on God's part towards us before it can be executed on our part towards God God begins with us doth his part first and that enables us to do our part i. e. we cannot give up our selves to him to be his people till he has writ his Laws in our Hearts and put his Spirit within us thereby declaring himself to be our God and strongly inclining us to give up our selves to him as his People God first enters into Covenant with us brings us under the bond of it and then governs us ever after by the Grace of that Covenant freely conferred upon us There may be conditions in the Covenant that speak out the order of it what is first and what follows upon it according to the method of the All-wise God in bringing hom-Sinners to Christ But I do not conceive there are any conditions previously required in us in order to our first entring into Covenant God takes whom he will into Covenant and leaves out whom he will 't is not of him that wills nor of him that runs but of God that shews Mercy 't is a Covenant of Free Grace consisting of absolute Promises what God will do our doing comes afterwards as a fruit and effect of God's work in us That which is done by us in the virtue and power of that which is first done in us by God must be ascribed to him and not to our selves Turn thou me and I shall be turned God gives the first turn before we can perceive any such thing as Conversion in our selves God lays in the principle and then draws us in the Power of it after himself The Terms of the Covenant may be outwardly propounded to many who never enter into Covenant with God nor God with them the Covenant is never executed in them and towards them though it be often preacht to them How often would I have gathered you and you would not Mat. 23. 37. When the word of
Sin but the Scripture seems to make them the same Rom. 4. 5 6 7. I think they are so inseparably joined together that no man who has obtained the Pardon of all his Sins ever was or can be at a loss for a Righteousness to compleat his Justification and entitle him to the reward of Eternal Life promised in the Law I conceive the Pardon of all our Sins is a Righteousness we may boldly appear before God in because it lays before God that full satisfaction that Christ made for Sin by his active and passive Obedience which is not only satisfactory for Sin but also meritorious of Eternal Life so that all the ends of Justification are accomplished in the Remission of Sin What precise conceptions we may have of Remission of Sin and imputation of Righteousness as differing in the notion will not argue any real difference in the things themselves We must have a care we do not separate what God has so intimately joined together This hath occasioned all those unhappy Controversies about Justification as I shall shew anon They who want a sufficient Justifying Righteousness after the full Remission of all their Sins do not rightly resolve Remission of Sin into the proper procuring causes of it viz. the satisfaction that Christ made for Sin by what he did and suffered for us from his Birth to his Death so it became him to fulfil all Righteousness that he might be the end of the Law for Righteousness to them who Believe So that Christ himself is our Righteousness the Lord Jehovah our Righteousness the Law is as well satisfied with what Christ hath Done and Suffered for us as if we our selves and perfectly kept the Law or Died by it for our Sins 'T is dangerous separating Christ and his Righteousness as if we were to derive a justifying-Righteousness from Christ distinct from the Person of Christ This notion has insensibly led men to seek a Righteousness in themselves not wrought out for them but wrought in them by Christ this indeed is the right way of Sanctification but not of our Justification The Scripture directs us to seek our Justification in the Person of Christ only by Receiving him Believing in him to them is Remission of Sin Promised and everlasting life John 1. 12. John 3. 15 16. John 6. 40 47. Rom. 4. 5. Rom. 3. 26. Acts 10. 43. Acts 26. 18. Some do too nicely distinguish between freedom from Punishment and a right to eternal Life as if one could be obtained without the other which is impossible Certainly not to Die is to Live not to Die eternally is to Live eternally the expulsion of Darkness is the bringing in of Light He who is counted worthy to escape the Punishment threatned by Law is worthy to receive the Reward promised by Law I see not what should hinder it since no fault of Omission or Commission can be charged upon him whose Sins are Pardoned If after the full Remission of all our Sins we were to receive eternal Life from the Law then some Righteousness distinct from Pardon a Righteousness wrought by our selves after Pardon would be antecedently necessary to our justification unto life But that is not so for every Pardoned Sinner receives eternal Life from the hand of Free-Grace as the Gift of God freely given without any consideration of any works of Righteousness done by us Gal. 2. 6. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by the faith of Jesus Christ even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified If there had been law which could have given life verily righteousness should have been by the law Gal. 3. 21. But since the Law does not give Life therefore that Righteousness that lets us into eternal Life is not of the Law but that of Faith Phil. 3. 9. The Law admits of no Pardon allows of none is not at all concerned about that matter but seeks its own satisfaction in a way of strict justice the Law is all for Justice Mercy comes in by another Covenant 'T was never in the nature and constitution of the Law to give life to a Sinner the Law can't do that Rom. 8. 3. It can give life to a Righteous man but not to a Sinner The Law will prosecute him to death 't would act contrary to it self to its own eternal Sanction and declared judgment if it should do otherwise and therefore the Law as a Covenant of Life and Death is fully determined in the Death of Christ towards all Believers who are no longer under the Law but under Grace Yet I say the rigour of the Law in it self is not relaxed by the Pardon of Sin only it does not exert its condemning power upon the persons of Believers because Christ has already Suffered for their Sins but still the Law remains and ever will remain a Sin-condemning and Sin-avenging Law it has as much power as ever to stay the Sinner but it can slay him but once and the stroke of the Law is so heavy in that case that it need not smite him a second time Christ indeed being God as well as Man recovered from that deadly blow the Law gave him for our Sins and so saved himself and us Here is no relaxation of the Law but a full execution of it full satisfaction given to it the whole debt is paid to the utmost farthing by Christ our surety Now all the Life Glory and Happiness that follows upon this comes in by Grace Christ having Redeemed us from the Curse of the Law and the Law being fully satisfied cannot be against any thing that Christ shall do for his Redeemed ones he may freely bestow what he will upon them having brought them under a Covenant of Grace he may and he will pursue that Covenant to the utmost towards them for their good till he has made them as happy as infinite Love and Grace can make them Sin being taken away and expiated by the Death of Christ Believers do pass over of course into his Life they Rise with him he who has called us into a Communion with him in his Death will not deny us Communion with him in his Life and Resurrection otherwise the benefits accruing to us by his Death in a freedom from Punishment would never have made us happy had we been quite shut out from his Life 't was for that end he Died for us that we might Live for ever in him by him and with him The Law and the works of the Law contribute nothing to this Life and for our Evangelical Holiness that is but the fruit and effect of this eternal Life derived from Christ already begun in us and exerting it self gradually according to the measure of our imperfect Sanctification here All our Evangelical works are but so many expressions of that new Life
put no other sense upon any Scripture that is not consistent with and agreeable to this great fundamental Principle keeping close to the just analogy of Faith in all your tenents and opinions I know there are other things to be considered besides Remission of Sin but be sure you begin here don't suppose that some previous qualifications in your selves are required to incline God to pardon your sins for this will carry you unavoidably into a self-righteousness and then Christ will profit you nothing We are not pardon'd because we repent and lead holy lives but we repent and lead holy lives because we are fully Pardoned for Christ's sake Shut all self-righteousness out of your justification and take all that is Christ's into it both his active and passive Obedience though I had rather joyn them together as the Scriptures do and say That by the obedience of one man many are made righteous i. e. by the Obedience of Christ in Suffering and doing all that the Law required And in the Application of this Grace to us 't is clear to me that upon the Remission of all our Sins Righteousness is imputed to us and this is that which the Apostle calls Righteousness without works Rom. 4. 6 7 8. The Righteousness of works so far as it can be attained in this life is but an effect of the Righteousness of Faith You know not the right way of Salvation till you know how to obtain the Pardon of all your Sins then you will see how Christ is become your Righteousness Let us not be too curious in placing one part of our Justification upon his Passive and another part upon his Active Obedience Let us be sure to place all upon Christ and then we are right the Spirit does not reveal the whole Mystery of Christ at once to Believers there is a great deal of Christ to be learned by those who are Justified and Pardoned even after they are in a state of Grace Let us believe Christ to be our Righteousness and leave it to him to make out the way and manner of his being so Our terms and distinctions applied to the fundamental Points of Religion have occasioned many mistakes about them Let us therefore attend more strictly to the simplicity of our own Faith and not call in our Reason to prompt our Faith but rather submit our Reason to the instructions of Faith I would have all Christians study their own Faith more and dwell more in the light of it then they will be more familiarly acquainted with it and better understand themselves in every act of Faith they put forth Let us give our Faith time to act to open it self further to us and our selves time to take in the full sense of our Faith Generally our acts of Faith are too short sudden and transient We make a formal profession of Faith and say We believe in Christ for the Pardon of Sin but don't so well weigh and consider what we say or what we belâ—eve we turn off presently to something else as if we had done with our Faith when the Mystery of it is not half apprehended by us We should attend to it ponder it well in our minds look round it this is the way to keep up a presence of mind in us about what we Believe One act of Faith attended to will fill us with such thoughts and apprehensions of the Love of Christ that will furnish us with matter of discourse for many days But I don't find Professors so much concerned in their own Faith so much affected with it as they should they pass it over as a plain ordinary piece of Religion and having once declared they believe in Christ for the Pardon of Sin they have no more to do with him Whereas the Mystery of Faith should be studied all our lives long we should pray as Paul did Eph â— â—7 c. vide That we may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints Faith has more in it than most People are aware of 't is not so easy a matter to know comprehend and remember what is contained in an act of Saving-Faith we should discourse more with our own Faith look into all particulars search to the bottom by gathering up more and more of the unsearcheable riches of Christ. He that would judge of a curious piece of Workmanship brings it to the light views it round in every part till he has gathered up all the excellencies of it into his mind then he can speak knowingly in the praise and commendation of such a thing having made observations before of all that was admirable in it So you should sit down and consider the consequence of an act of Faith upon Christ for Justification and Pardon what depends upon it what you gain by it what you expect from it all is yours if Christ be yours therefore be persuaded to enter into your Chambers and Closets sit down with a Bible in your hands stir up your Faith consider the state of a Believer and then gather up what makes for your comfort out of the Word of God O how would your Faces shine you would be filled with joy unspeakable and full of Glory by Believing there is not that Joy among Believers because they don't think enough of what they Believe Do you Believe in Christ for the Remission of Sin Then there is a great deal in Christ a great deal in Sin a great deal in the actings of thy own Soul under this Faith to be considered of The knowledge experience and evidence of Faith are things that should be particularly examined and seriously thought of There is a full business in Faith enough to imploy a gracious Soul all his days Faith fills the mind with deep apprehensions of our own great concernments in Christ Jesus Were we wise indeed unto Salvation we should think of nothing oftner than of what we believe there may be Faith and there may be Truth in the heart and yet these Two may not be sufficiently mingled together therefore we should often apply our Faith to the Word that what it does not see at one time it may see at another what it does not reach by one act it may take in by the next The oftner Faith looks into the Word the more distinctly does it gather up the full sense of the Word it dwells in us in more Wisdom and Spiritual Understanding Did we take this course we should quickly find the benefit of it out of our Bellies would flow Rivers of living water we should be more skilful in the word of Righteousness more expert Believers ready to give a reason of the hope that is in us Believers have much to say in defence of Christ the Gospel and their own Profession and the more they study the point the more ready are they to give an answer to them who ask them any questions about their Religion they keep
c. In the day thou eatest thou shalt die Nothing does establish this Law and give it its full course towards Believers but faith in Christ Jesus who was made a curse and died according to Law for our sins and being risen again he brings those whom he freed from the curse of the Law under the blessing of the Gospel giving eternal Life as a free-gift to all who thankfully receive it from his hand by faith owning him as the Author and Donor of it 3. The nature of the Offence as committed against an infinite God requires a price equivalent to it of infinite value none but God could satisfie God the wrath of God is asswaged by the blood of God and that he might bleed he became Man the Second Person of the Trinity as incarnate died for man tasted death for us in our nature which he still kept hypostatically untied to his own Divine Person for Christ by dying did not lay down humane Nature but humane Life only which he took up again and now lives for ever as a quickning Spirit communicating eternal Life to Believers through his humane nature now glorified in Heaven Therefore Christ is said to be our life Col. 3. 4. And this life is in his son 1 John 5.11 Hid with Christ in God Col. 3. 3. The life which we derive from mere humane nature will quickly fail but the life which we derive by faith form the Divine Person of the Son of God is everlasting John 3. 16. As the father hath life in himself so hath he given to the son to have life in himself John 5. 26. i. e. He is life essentially the essence of the Deity is communicated by the Father to Christ incarnate and so he becomes the Fountain of life to us therefore let all those who hope to inherit eternal life join themselves by faith to Christ the only Fountain of life How little of this hidden life does appear in the effects of it among Professors We live more by sense than faith very solicitous about natural life but how few do carry it as those who have eternal life abiding in them 1 John 3. 15. Living in the flesh by the faith of the Son of God Gal. 2. 20. Who fell a Sacrifice for our sins but rose again and now lives for ever And gives eternal life to as many as the father hath given him John 17. 2. He has undertaken to the Father to draw all the Elect into a participation of that eternal life which he as man possess now in Heaven and because he lives we shall live for ever in him The Second person in the Trinity died as a man in our human nature to satisfie the Law and to evidence the reality of his death he lay buried three days in the Grave he was alive as God when dead as Man what a profound Mystery is this that the Deity of Christ should suffer his human Body to fall under the power of death for three days this shews the strength of sin the strength of the law and the strength of the wrath of God that so great a man as Christ was could not stand under and live die he must by the sanction of the law being found in the likeness of sinful flesh Rom. 8. 3. bearing our sins in his own Body on the Tree but the dignity of his person was such and the extremity of his sufferings so great that his three days death was equivalent to eternal death he did that in three days which a damned sinner in Hell cannot effect to eternity for that which is doing to eternity can never be actually done and compleated i. e. Christ gave full satisfaction to the Law in three days and therefore could not longer be detained in the Grave there was no Law nor Reason for it having paid the utmost farthing of our whole Debt the Prison-doors were opened and Christ let out That which keeps the Damned in Hell for ever is because they can never fully satisfie the law of God by all their sufferings therefore they must suffer on still to eternity but Christ by one offering hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 10. 14. Christ could have chose whether he would have died or no but for this end he came into the World and did voluntarily yield up himself to the Death of the Cross but rising the Third Day he lives for ever and has brought eternal life into human Nature to be communicated to all his Members who cannot forfeit that life which they derive from the second Adam as we all did that which we derived from the first Adam In Adam all die and in Christ all are made alive 1 Cor. 15. 22. CHAP. II. To whom was this PRICE paid FIfthly To whom was this Price paid viz. Into the hands of God the Father to appease his wrath under which we were Joh. 3. 36. God's justice requires this 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the judgment of God that sinners are worthy of death Rom. 1. 32. To this end Christ is our propitiation Rom. 3. 25. Reconciling God to us that we may be received into his favour again hence God declares in the new Covenant I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more Heb. 8. 12. Sing O ye heavens c. Isa. 44. 23. vide That satisfaction that Christ gave to the Justice of God lay in his bearing the Punishment of our sins which is the wrath of God in all the dreadful effects of it 2 Cor. 5. 21. 1 Pet. 2. 24. He was made a curse for us Gal. 3. 13. Died for us Mat. 20. 28. Isa. 53. 5. Was cut off for our sins Dan. 9. 26. Death was required to make satisfaction for sin In the day thou eatest c. The Wages of sin is death Rom. 6. 23. There is no escaping this death for us but by dealing with the Justice of God in some way that may satisfie Justice and save the sinner this Christ undertook and by his own Death effected for us He gave himself for our sins Gal. 1. 4. His Blood was the Price of our Redemption Price here is not taken as vulgarly for Money but whatever may satisfie him in whose hands the captive is that is the Price of Redemption God does not seek to make a gain of us that which he stand upon is the vindication of the honour of his Law and Justice the maintaining his Truth and Faithfulness To declare his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth ion Jesus Rom. 3. 26. Christ did not pay the Price of our Redemption to the Devil but to God the Father who had power to condemn us and as a Judge to detain us in prison till his Justice was satisfied therefore Christ deals with the Law-giver takes the penalty upon himself Whilst the condemning power of the Law is in force against us the Devil has a right in
17. The Law was given 430 Years after the promise made to Abraham threatning the sinner not with an intent that the Curse should be executed or the hand-writing against us fulfilled but rather blotted out Col. 2. 14. Is the law then against the promises Gal. 3. 21. 'T is certain the Law as threatning is against the Promises against us and contrary to us as Col. 2. 14. But not so against the Promises as to vacate and abolish them but is rather subservient to them stirring up the sinner to fly to the Promise for a Pardon When the people just after the giving of the Law had grievously sinned in making the Calf and God threatned to consume them Exod. 32. 9 10. Moses does not plead the Mount Sinai Covenant but the Covenant made with Abraham vers 13. So Deut. 9. 27. 2 Kings 13. 23. The condition of the Sinai-Covenant being performed by Christ the New Covenant becomes absolute to us nothing more can be demanded of us in a way of satisfaction for sin Heb. 10. 14. Christ as our Advocate pleads this and that we ought to be discharged from the Curse of the Law All doing for life is over in the New Covenant our Surety has done that and therefore is become the Mediator of a better Covenant Heb. 8. 6. Having made way for our receiving the Promise Heb. 9. 15. This full satisfaction is the main thing we are to believe in order to our Salvation this is the sense of every act of Justifying-Faith to which Salvation is annexed we must mean this in believing or we mean nothing neither do we understand those Scriptures Mark 6. 16. Joh. 3. 16 36. The Obedience of Christ comes instead of our doing for life he is the Lord our righteousness Jer. 23. 6. Christ being made of God our Righteousness for Justification it is the will of God that he should by his Spirit sanctifie us and make us inherently holy Our Mediator does not only take away the guilt of sin which legal Sacrifices could not do they only purified the Flesh Heb. 9. 13. but not the Conscience the Blood of Christ only does this v. 14. So the Spirit of Christ by Faith purifies the Heart sanctifies the whole person 1 Thes. 5. 23. since we are come to the Mediator of the New Covenant let us see we don't abuse the free Grace of God Heb. 12. 25. In the New Covenant great Grace is revealed to Believers and great wrath against all Unbelievers Mat. 3. 7 10 12. Isa. 61. 2. vide 3. The necessity of a Mediator between God and Fallen man If one man sin against another the judge shall judge him but if a man sin against the Lord who shall intreat for him 1 Sam. 2. 25. This necessity appears 1. From God's just anger against us 2. From our inability to appease his wrath I put them both together Adam was the Son of God by Creation Luk. 1. ult but soon alienated himself and all his Posterity from God his Father and Creator neither could we ever become the Children of God again but by Christ John 1. 12. Heb. 2. 10 c. Angels though they need no Redeemer yet they need a Mediator a Head in and through whom they have access to God and communion with him much more does fallen man need a Mediator by whom he may come unto the Father Joh. 14. 6. 'T is impossible to see God any otherwise than through Christ John 1. 18. if any man sin as every man does let him not despair for we have an Advocate with the Father 1 Joh. 2. 1 2. in whom God is well pleased Mat. 3. 17. We cannot have immediate access to God himself but through a Mediator we may 3. By those terrors of Conscience which we are under when our hearts smite us for any sin accusing us Rom. 2. 15. telling us that God knows all this evil and much more by us 1 John 3. 20. Then whither shall I go from thy spirit whither shall I flee from thy presence Psalm 139. 7. How terrible is God out of Christ to a convinced sinner 4. The dreadful Punishments that are inflicted upon sinners upon the fallen Angels upon the old word many particular instances in former and latter times do render it a very fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Heb. 10. 31. When a guilty sinner has none to speak for him what trembling must needs seize upon him lest God tear him in peices and there be none to deliver him Psal. 50. 22. 5. By the Sacrifices of the Old Testament and also of the Heathens which were designed to pacifie God some means was to be used all the Sacrifices of old appointed by God himself could never expiate sin nor pacifie God but as they pointed to the great Sacrifice in the New Testament Christ is the great Reconciler Col. 1. 20. We come to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant to be freed from the curse of the Old and invested in the priviledges of the New The Covenant of Works made at the Creation with Adam in Innocency being broken and the legal Administration of the Mount Sinai-Covenant being faulty and unprofitable Heb. 8. 7 13. Our Father 's not continuing in it God regarded them not Heb. 8. 9. And being thus alienated and enemies in their minds by wicked Works God thus provoked gave up man a child of wrath to be a slave to sin Satan and Death Rom. 1. 28. Heb. 2. 14 15. Yet God so loved the world John 3. 16. Whilst we were yet without strength Rom. 5. 6. when we were sinners v. 8. and enemies v. 10. Then did God reconcile us to himself by the death of his Son entring into a New Covenant with us by appointing Christ to be the Mediator 1 Tim. 2. 5. and Surety of a better Covenant Heb. 7. 22. Heb. 8. 6. so reconciling us to himself 2 Cor. 5. 18. God the Father provided this Mediator John 3. 16. Rom. 3. 25. Isa. 49. 1. 1 Cor. 1. 30. You may see the greatness of the sin and of the Punishment too in the greatness of the Mediator God himself in the person of his Son became our Mediator and Redeemer 6. The Law was ordained in the hand of a Mediator to shew that 't is not in the power of any man since the Fall to satisfie the Law Gal. 3. 19. By the hand of a Mediator we must understand not only Moses but the virtue and power of the great Mediator Christ of whom Moses was a Type Thus you see the necessity of a Mediator Fallen man himself could not deal with God because of sin Angels could not being not of Humane nature and since there is but one God then either the Majesty of Heaven must descend down to us immediately which could not be or else this one God must become our Mediator our Immanuel his Godhead and our humane Nature being joyned together in the Divine Person of the Son The low estate
imperfect Obedience pleases God 3. Whether God allows the free use of all indifferent things These are the puzzling points that are apt to disturb our Consciences till we rightly understand the nature of Christian Liberty which does not countenance that excess that too many of the Richer sort run into vying who shall be finest in their Apparel most sumptuous in their Entertainments these things are not forbidden say they 'T is true the things themselves are not forbidden but the immoderate use of them is forbidden Therefore let your moderation be seen in all things and know that your Christian Liberty lies as well in abstaining from indifferent things when inexpedient as in using them Christian Liberty relates to Conscience both thy own and thy Brothers So use your Estates that you may glorifie God and edifie your Brother and we shall not question your Liberty 't is not for nothing that so many woes are pronounced against the Rich Luke 6. 24 25 26. Read that place and also Amos 6. to v. 7. I don't quote these places that you should throw away your Riches and lay aside all Mirth no do but throw out the sin that is in all these and I have nothing to say against the lawful use of the things themselves but see you don't abuse them CHAP. V. The APPLICATION LET us labour to live in the comfortable sense of our Adoption as the only way to walk worthy of it Mal. 1. 6. 'T is a shame to do otherwise Deut. 32. 6. The best way to keep up a sense of our Adoption and of all the high priviledges belonging to it Is 1. To attend to the witness of the Spirit within us Our Adoption is a great mystery the grounds and reasons of it lie very deep quite out of the reach of a mere Humane understanding that cannot discern the deep things of God we shall certainly be at a loss in our own thoughts how to clear up our Adoption if the Spirit do not help us and make it out plainly to our Spirit from the word and when that is done we sit down astonished at the greatness of God's Love when the Spirit has satisfied us that it is so we can give no reason why it should be so but must resolve all into the Love of God in Christ that passes our knowledg Behold what manner of love is this 1 John 3. 1. That we should not only be called but really be the Children of God We must observe what inward evidence and demonstration the Spirit gives of our particular Adoption by name that is properly the work of the Spirit in witnessing to us the Spirit applies in particular the promises of Life and Pardon they are generally propounded by Ministers but there comes a word behind from the Spirit Isa. 30. 21. privily assuring a man of his Adoption You may know 't is not a delusion of your own Spirit nor of Satan Not of your own Spirit because this testimony to the truth of our interest in Christ is usually given in when we have no sensible apprehension or feeling of the Love of God to us as Mat. 27. 46. The Spirit comes in to comfort us when we are most cast down and overwhelmed in our own spirits and so not in a condition to speak comfort to our selves Not from Satan who at such a season seeks to drive you to utter despair but the Spirit strengthens our Faith at such a time sets it against all discouragement 't is not said he that feels but He that believes has everlasting life John 3. 36. And there is a feeling that belongs to Faith that none but the Spirit of God can give us the sense of hence it is that the Saints know more certainly that they are the children of God than the men of the World do that they are the Children of those whom they call their Fathers in the Flesh. The witness of the Spirit is a secret information of the Love of God and his Fatherly affection to us a still voice from Heaven that God is thy God which the heart rests in and is fully satisfied 't is more than if an Angel should come from Heaven and tell thee Thou art greatly beloved as Dan. 9. 23. The earnest of the Spirit in our hearts is more than all this 2 Cor. 1. 22. We may without this testimony of the Spirit know that there is such a thing as Adoption spoken of in Scripture but that we in particular are Adopted none can assure us of this but the Spirit by a particular application of this Grace to our selves The Spirit of God in us speaks particularly to us to our case to our state to our Souls I hope he is so speaking to you now so speaking in you at this time shewing you what interest you have in Christ and what follows upon it reasoning you into a belief of the thing in reference to your selves When the Spirit comes in as a witness 't will be believed the Spirit comes on purpose to answer all our doubts and objections to make the matter plain and evident to us else the Spirit could not be so effectual a Comforter if he did not bring convincing light along with him into our dark Souls You may put by all that we can say to you and remain unsatisfied after all the arguments that Ministers may use to convince you of your Adoption you may hang down your heads every one of you and say notwithstanding all this I fear I am not a Child of God But when the Spirit himself comes into that Soul there is no resisting the wisdom of the Holy Ghost Ministers have not wisdom enough to quiet a troubled Conscience We may set outward light before a dark Soul and yet that Soul be as dark as ever for want of inward light we may speak the truth as it is in Jesus but we cannot give you a discerning of that truth we may hold the object before you but cannot give you eyes to see it but the Spirit does both gives us a capacity to learn and take in what he teaches us I grant an enlightned mind may reason it self into some present sense of his Adoption but seeing so many things contrary to the Divine Nature in himself he doubts again and questions his Adoption and will be ever and anon at a loss wavering in this matter 'till the testimony of the Spirit confirm him which is distinct from all his own spiritual reasonings from all the right inferences that his Faith draws from the word I mean the testimony of the Spirit hath a greater cogency and force with him than all the apprehensions of his Faith can have though Faith and the Spirit both go upon the same grounds and quote the same Scriptures yet the testimony of the Spirit is stronger than the bare apprehensions of our Faith and makes deeper impression upon the mind of Believers than their Faith can which impressions are more easily retained and remembred than all the
with all manner of Salvation not only from Hell but from the power of sin that they may live no longer therein Paul knew no other way of Salvation according to his Gospel they that do must invent another Gospel to support their New Divinity I see no ground in Scripture for those preparatory Works that some urge as antecedently necessary to our first Faith in Christ because Faith brings all along with it viz. Conviction of Sin Humiliation Repentance c. Faith never comes to Christ but it shews us a reason why and that reason is drawn from our lost undone Condition by Nature which true Faith is never without some knowledge and sense of and therefore sends us to Christ for help By Nature all men are equally indisposed to Faith counting the Gospel foolishness when their time of their Coversion comes whether prepared or unprepared whatever their present practice or frame is whether legally Convinced or Unconvinced sitting in gross darkness and unbelief the Power of God by the Preaching of the Gospel works a convincing saving Faith in all those who are ordained unto life God calls one and not another of his meer good Pleasure being not moved thereunto by any thing in us that may render one man more capable of Conversion than another sometimes they who in an eye of reason seem furthest off from the Kingdom of God and are most unlikely to be Converted them doth God call by his Grace even Publicans and Harlots Before the stricter sort of formal Professors who notwithstanding their Preparations and seeming fitness for Conversion are left behind in their Natural State when others who sought not after God are found of him and brought into a state of Grace God doth this to shew that the Battel is not to the strong nor the Race to the swift not of him that runeth but of God that sheweth mercy to whom he will Rom. 9. 15 16. Many may outrun others in their acquired Qualifications and yet not so run as to obtain the prize 1 Cor. 9. 24. We are like to make but a sorry Market of it unless we come without Money many have been too rich too well qualified in their own opinion for Christ but none were ever too poor and wretched for Christ whose hearts were stirred up by the Preaching of the Word to come unto him and cast themselves upon him There is nothing required by way of Preparation as antecedently necessary to our first Faith in Christ but hearing the Word let the Hearer be who he will never so unprepared if he belong to God the Word will one time or other make it 's own way to the heart of that man and work Faith in him there is no resisting the Wisdom of the Holy-Ghost The Doctrine of Faith and the Doctrine of Good Works are both very sound Christian Doctrines agreeing very well in their proper place and order As no man can enter into a state of Grace by good Works so no man can conclude himself to be in a state of Grace without Good works 't is one thing to prove that I am already in a state of Grace another thing to shew how a Sinner may now enter into a state of Grace and what is first to be done in order thereunto 'T is not said he that worketh but he that believeth shall be saved and 't is the work of God that we believe and none but God can bring over the heart of a Sinner to trust in Christ and under such a Faith 't is impossible not to lead a holy life We had need be clear and distinct in our Conceptions of these things since our Salvation depends upon our right understanding this Point I say we had need consider what we mean and how we express our selves lest instead of trusting in Christ we trust in our selves and drop the Gospel whilst we seem to maintain it If any scoff at this Doctrine and count it foolishness I will only say that the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men FINIS BOOKS Printed and Sold by THOMAS COCKERIL at the Three Legs ever-against the Stocks-Market HIstorical Collections The Third Part in Two Volumes Never Printed before Containing the Principal Matters which happened from the Meeting of the Parliament November the 3 d. 1640. To the End of the Year 1644. Wherein is a particular account of the Rise and Progress of the Civil War to that Period Impartially Related Setting forth only Matter of Fact in Order of Time without Observation or Reflection With Alphabetical Tables By John Rushworth late of Lincolns-Inn Esq Fitted for the Press in his Life-time The Works of the late Learned Divine Stephen Charnock B. D. In 2 Vol. Fol. A Demonstration of the First Principles of the Protestant Applications of the Apocalipse Together with the Consent of the Ancients concerning the Fourth Beast in the 7 th of Daniel and the Beast in the Revelations By Drue Cressener D D. The Morning Exercises at Cripplegate of several Cases of Conscience practically resolved by sundry Ministers in 4 to A Supplement to the Morning Exercise at Cripplegate or several more Cases of Conscience practically resolved by sundry Ministers in 4 to Speculum Theologia in Christo or a view of some Divine Truths which are either practically exemplified in Jesus Christ set forth in the Gospel or may be reasonably deduced from thence by Edward Polhil of Burwash in Sussex Esquire in 4 to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Succinct and Seasonable Discourse of the Occasions Causes Nature Rise Growth and Remedies of Mental Errors Written some Months since and now made publick both for the healing and prevention of the Sins and Calamities which have broken in this way upon the Churches of Christ to the great scandal of Religion hardening of the Wicked and obstruction of Reformation Whereunto are subjoyned by way of Appendix I. Vindiciarum Vindex Being a Succinct but full Answer to Mr. Philip Cary's Weak Impertinent Exceptions to my Vindiciae Legis Faderis II. A Synopsis of Ancient and Modern Antinomian-Errors with Scriptural Arguments and Reasons against them III. A Sermon composed for the preventing and healing of Rents and Divisions of the Church by John Flavel Preacher of the Gospel at Dartmouth in Devon With an Epistle of several Divines relating to Dr. Crisp's Works A Discourse concerning Liturgys by the late Learned Divine Mr. David Clarkson Precious Faith considered in its nature working and growth by Edward Polhil Esq c. in 4 to Geography Rectified or a description of the World in all its Kingdoms Provinces Cities Towns Seas Rivers Bays Capes Forts their Ancient and Present Names Inhabitants Situations Histories Customs Governments c. And also their Commodities Coyns Weights and Measures compared with those of London Illustrated with above sixty new Maps The whole work performed according to the accurate Discoveries of Modern Authors The Third Edition Enlarged in 4 to The right use of an
you find yonr Hopes sinking then look to your Faith for the fault lies there raise that and Hope will quickly recover it self By often proving and examining our selves about our Interest in Christ we come to know it more perfectly to be assured of it Want of Assurance doth come from the want of Light in the Understanding hence that Phrase Col. 2. 2. The full assurance of understanding When we have intire satisfaction in our Judgment and Understandings that things are so and so we know that Christ is in us of a truth We had need make good proof of this for all depends upon it It is a Truth Saints are apt to question when a good Work is begun in them which they and others take to be Conversion and which indeed is so yet the Devil labours to persuade them otherwise puts in many Exceptions Tho he knows he cannot overthrow their state yet such is his Malice he would rob them of the comfort of it and hide it from them if he can He seeks to blind the minds of men to keep out the Light of the Gospel from shining in upon us and when it doth shine in he raises all the Mists and Fogs he can to obscure it he would fain turn day into night and draw a Cloud over that Day-star that is risen in our hearts and therefore we had need have recourse to Christ within us We should often have recourse to Christ within us look well upon him and consider him comparing Christ in our hearts with Christ in the Word for we may take a false Christ into our hearts an Idol instead of the true Christ as the Galatians chap. 1. 6. They had another Gospel quite different from what Paul preached to them There was no such Christ no such Gospel as they fancied to themselves They had a wrong notion of things thought they must join something to Christ did not stick to say Unless they were circumcised they could not be saved Christ himself could not save them without Circumcision We should examine our selves about this Whether our sole dependance be upon Christ or whether we join any thing with him in Justification piecing up a Righteousness partly from Christ and partly from our selves I am not against Works of Holiness and Gospel-Obedience but if we do not warily and wisely distinguish between Faith as Justifying and Faith as it orders and governs the Life according to the Rule of Gospel-Obedience we shall run into endless Disputes and never understand one another Therefore I say let us consider whether or no we rely upon Christ and his Righteousness for our Justification in the sight of God We should examine the Principle by which we are carried out to holiness of life afterward We may know this by searching our hearts and putting close Questions to our selves Whether our whole Trust and Confidence be reposed in him alone Whether we desire to be found in him not having on our own righteousness If we are clear in this and can say from the bottom of our hearts None but Christ None but Christ is the stay and prop of our Souls we have nothing else to trust in or rely upon then all our Hope of Eternal Life must needs flow from him and be grounded upon him only Here we fix and are immoveable from the Hope of the Gospel all our days Secondly By imploring the help of the Spirit to shew us those things of Christ which we read and hear from the Word Without this all our Reasonings and Considerations of Gospel Mysteries will come to little we shall not have one right thought of him We are not sufficient of our selves as of our selves to think a good thought 2 Cor. 3. 5. As of our selves i. e. not by our own Wit Parts and Learning He speaks this chiefly of Ministers And if They stand in need of help from God to guide their Thoughts and Meditations of Christ certainly private Christians do The Spirit shall teach you all things Joh. 14. 26. He will guide you into all truth John 16. 13. He shall receive of mine and shew it unto you v. 15. And therefore when you set your selves to think of any Gospel-Truth be sure you look up to God to enlighten you and to give you good Understanding of that Truth as it is in Jesus or else all your Reading Hearing Studying Discourse and Thinking will come to nothing The Help of the Spirit lies in Two Things 1. In Teaching 2. In Testifying 1. In Teaching The Teaching of the Spirit and the Testimony of the Spirit are Two Things We are Taught that we may Believe but we are sealed after we believe Ephes. 1. 13. For the Spirit bears witness not only to the Truth of the Word but to the Truth of a Work of Grace in our hearts and that must be wrought before the Spirit can witness to it and therefore Sealing comes after Anointing and is distinguished from it 2 Cor. 1. 21 22. He that anoints us is God who also hath sealed us and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts Who also hath sealed us he speaks of it as a distinct thing as a further work of God upon the Soul first Anointing then also Sealing giving us the Earnest There seems to be some difference between these Two Phrases Sealing and giving Earnest who also hath Sealed us and given us the Earnest of his Spirit in our hearts Sealing implies bare Assurance but the Earnest so assures us as to put part of the Inheritance into our hand An Earnest is something in hand but Sealing is a demonstrative Evidence of the Truth and Certainty of a Thing to the Understanding only 't is all Intellectual I shall first shew you How we are led to the Knowledge of Christ in us by the Teaching of the Spirit and then shew How we are confirmed in that Knowledg by the Testimony of the Spirit and both in order to the raising and strengthning our Hope 1. The Spirit shews us Christ within formed in our hearts then teaches us to argue from Christ within us Consider that Scripture Rom. 8. from 10. to 17. and see what work Paul makes of it how he argues from Christ within If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is life because of righteousness If the Spirit be in you then you are assured of the resurrection of the body If the Spirit of Christ be in you then you are led by the Spirit then you know that you are the children of God and if children then heirs joint-heirs with Christ that we may be glorified together So you see he argues up to a lively Hope of Glory as if he had said All this doth naturally follow from Christ being in you He that hath the Son hath life 1 Joh. 5. 12. Believers may have Christ and may have life in him and by him and yet not know that they have it These things have I written to you v.