to take hold of hsi gracious Covenant and thereby fortifie us against turning from the Holy Commandment This is plainly set forth as the Way and Method in which he first Works upon us and enables us to Work 2 Cor. 7.1 Having therefore these Promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit c. The Promise of God's being a Father to us which is mention'd in the last verse of the foregoing Chapter is a stronger Inducement to purifie our selves and be Followers of him than any threatening of God's being a Revenger So 2 Pet. 1.4 Exceeding great and precious Promises are given unto us that by these you might be Partakers of the Dikvine Nature c. As the chief Thing communicated from God is the Divine Nature whereby we are made to resemble him so the Promises of God set home upon the Soul are the means of Communication they are to Milk and Honey of the Scripture which do not cherish the Old Man but support the New they are not Pillows for sinful Sloth but spurs to Holy Diligence The Promises of Grace animate the Soul to Duty and when we thus see the goodness of the Lord it encourages our Subjection to his Government 4. A Sense of the Love of God will create in us a more perfect hatred of Sin Divine Reconciliation to our Persons breeds the most implacable Enmity against our Lusts when we know that God is pacified towards us it makes us loath and abhor our selves the more in remembrance of the Evils we have done If he passes by Transgression the pardoned Transgressor sixes his Eye upon it with greater Indignation as David's Sin was ever before him though Nathan had told him from God that his Sin was put away Psalm 51.3 compar'd with 2 Sam. 12.13 For the Title of that Psalm informs us that it was penn'd after Nathan the Prophet had come to David A Sinner is never so odious in his own sight as when he is persuaded of his being precious in the sight of God How does Paul repeat and aggravate the foul Abominations of his natural Pharisaical State when he knew himself to be belov'd of God and establi shed in Christ he speaks of his persecuting and wasting the Church of God beyond measure Gal. 1.13 So with Holy Confusikon he bewails what he once was after he had obtained Mercy and after the Grace of our Lord Jesus had exceedingly abounded towards him 1 Tim. 1.13 14. Though God had made him whiter than Snow in the Lamb's Blood yet he still sets out himself in his own black and filthy Colours We do not lose the Prospect of our own vileness by having the Kindness and Love of God before our Fyes but we see it the better His gracious Absolution kindles the most flaming Zeal and Revenge in us against the Sins from which we are absolved consequently is a mighty furtherance of our Obedience 5. A Sense of the Love of God is most apt to beget an awful fear of Falling under his displeasure That I may not be mistaken let it be consider'd 1. That this awful Fear is not only distinct from dreadful Horrour but opposite unto it The trembling of a Devil and the trembling of a Child are real Contraries Godly jealousie of our selves and sinful Distrust of God are two things of most different Kinds The fear of Caution which I would recommend keeps us walking closely with God the fear of Desperation which I would warn against hurries us violently away from God 2. That this displeasure of God which Believers are lyable to fall under is exercis'd only in this World and not in the next That Wrath which God occasionally lets out against his own is not the same with that which comes upon the Children of disobedience Eph. 5.6 We must not confound the temporary hidings of God's Face with Everlasting Destruction from God's Presence He that believes is secur'd from sinal Condemnation but nevertheless he is still incident to sad Desertion Now for the Soul to be kept under the awe of this is a great help to our Obedience and where the Love of God is perceived by the Soul this awe will certainly prevail God's sanctified ones can say it from Experience Psalm 130.4 There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayst be feared Not only a readiness to forgive but actual forgiveness is with God and as our Fear of God is the end of his granting it so 't is the effect and issue of our receiving it Two Things will make this more evident 1. This joyful Sense of the Love of God supposes a sorrowful Sense of his displeasure going before it Ordinarily God does not thus set Men up on high till he hath first brought them into the Depths the does not make them glad with his Countenance till he had laid them more or less in the lowest Pit Psalm 88.6 How few are admitted to take the Cup of Salvation without Drinking for some time of the Cup of God's Fury How few are call'd into this pleasant Light without passing through a scorching Fire Sore Conflicts prepare the way for the most part to ravishing Comforts and the Heart knows a great deal of bitterness before it comes to taste how good the Lord is 2. They that have been sensible of God's displeasure and are sensible of his Love will take Care to avoid the one and continue in the other Who so likely to be afraid of receiving a Spirit of Bondage again as they that have felt it Who so far from provoking God to carry them back into an howling Wilderness as they who have been there before Who so cautious of interrupting their sweet Communion with God as they that have enjoy'd it Who so capable of rightly valuing that Priviledge as they that are possest of it and therefore who so ready to endeavour the preserving of it by a circumspect Walk Souls that are thus favoured of God are most seriously convinc't That in his Favour is Life Psalm 30.5 Therefore when the Spirit of God hath carried them up to this Pinnacle this heighth of Consolation they are the more afraid of doing any Thing to occasion their casting down 6. The commonest and strongest Temptations to departing from God are best overcome by a Sense of his Love viz. The Temptations which arise both from the flatteries and frowns of the World the Love of Life and Fears of Death He that hath the Loving Kindness of God before his Eyes is most able to make a resolute and successful Resistance to all these As particularly 1. The Flatteries of the World do too often allure Men from their Obedience to God but they that have a Sense of God's Love upon their Hearts are best armed against this Temptation Hereby the World with all its gaudy Vanities is Crucified to us and we unto the World hereby all these Things are stript of their seeming Glory as the Sun puts out the lesser Lights and as the Works of
preserved blameless and kept to Salvation and never pluck'd out of the Hand of Christ when we find our selves many times loose and wavering and incident to numberless Miscarriages Is it very easie to believe that our Justification is perfect when our Sanctification is so defective That we are compleat in Christ when we are so 〈◊〉 so meanly furnish'd in our selves that upon a review we might say with Paul In us there dwells no good thing Is it easie to look upon God as our Saviour and wait for him when he hides himself Is it easie to stick close to him when he seemingly forsakes us and to believe his Love when we feel his Anger and to trust his naked Word when we see no appearances or likelihoods of Performances but the contrary They are insensible in Spiritual Affairs that will not acknowledge a Difficulty in these things 3. Dying in Faith This last Act of a Believer is as requisite as all the rest 'T is said of the Antient Patriarchs Heb. 11.13 That they all died in Faith For to cast away our Considence then is to cast away our Souls And yet to maintain and keep up lively hopes in the Agonies of Death to depart like old Simeon in the joyful sight of God's Salvation to cleave firmly to Christ when Flesh and Heart fail to close our own Eyes and commit our selves boldly to Divine Guidance through the Valley of the Shadow of Death when we are stepping out of the World is certainly hard work to such as we are That Faith must not be weak nor little which makes a Man content to be strip'd of the Body as Aaron of his Garments on the Mount Num. 20.28 to quit such a well-built commodious Tabernacle and lie down in the Dust This seems unnatural after we have dwelt in this House so many Years and therefore scarcely to be perform'd without some more than ordinary violence The love of Life will probably hold out as long as Life it self and the fear of Death in some measure till we have tasted Death and a World that we never saw cannot be very alluring except the Eye of Faith be very clear and strong If believing under such Disadvantages when we come to die be not difficult nothing is so 2. There is the difficulty of getting the Victory over Sin Such a Victory must be gotten by every one that is saved for where Sin is in Dominion there can be no Reigning in Life thro' Christ 'T is plain That the Motions of Sins do work in our Members to bring forth Fruit unto Death Rom. 7.5 These Motions therefore tho' they cannot be prevented must be repelled Now an Enemy that is got within us hath mighty Advantage against us and it requires a great deal of strength to be delivered from him we cannot dispossess him and yet we must overcome him we cannot drive him out and yet we must keep him under Sin will have a being in us and be giving continual disturbance to us and yet it must be so far destroyed as not to have command over us This is a very difficult Atchievement and every one engaged in the holy Warfare sinds it so but particularly 1. The entire abandoning of customary Sins is hard work Sins that have been made familiar to us by long practice and frequent repetition insomuch that perhaps we fall into them before we are aware and scarcely know when we have committed them are difficult to be forsaken The Holy Ghost expresses this by a direct impossibility Jer. 13.23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye do good that are c. q. d. one is as casie as the other The cure of inveterate Distempers that have rooted themselves in our Bodies and prevailed along time together is no slight business Remedies of small force will avail nothing in such cases 2. The absolute renouncing of Constitution Sins is still harder That there are some sins peculiarly suited to our several Tempers is undeniable and to reliquish these is a work of special difficulty A Man cannot guess at the subduing of his own Iniquity by his mastery of some other less pleasing Lusts 'T is easier to conquer all the rest than this one A Man that 's almost perswaded to give up all stops when it comes to his darling Sin This Image of Jealousie must be spared though his other Idols be thrown down and broken in pieces This above all is the sin that easily besets us Hebr. 12.1 and the sin which is hardly to be resisted and vanquish'd by us 3. The weaning of the Heart from the Love of every sin We are not true Conquerors till this be done So long as any sin hath any room or interest in our Affections 't is really predominant and we are properly its Servants though we may be restrain'd from outwardly and openly obeying it Now this is a case that too often happens sin retires out of the visible Conversation into its strong Hold the Bosom of the Sinner and there it remains invincible Many times there are are few of its Acts to be discovered in the Life and yet there are secret strong desires and inclinations to it in the Soul Balaam did not curse Israel but his mind was set that way to the very last Josh 24.10 'T is a thousand times harder to hate one sin than to leave many 3. There is difficulty of standing against the wiles of the Devil Ephes 6.11 The strength of this Adversary is not contemptible but his cunning is more formidable we need to be very vigilant against him as a roaring Lion but much more as he is a winding Serpent we are in greater danger of his stealing us to Hell by Subtilty than of his haling us thither by meer armed Fury We that are so prone to be carried about by the Craftiness of Men who lie in wait to deceive have much greater cause to be afraid of the Arts and Impostures of Satan but particularly in many things 't is difficult to discern him and when we do to avoid him 1. 'T is difficult many times to discern the wiles of the Devil as 't is said of the ways of the strange Woman they are moveable that thou canst not know them Prov. 5.6 So may we say of the Paths of the Destroyer they are intricate and disguised that we cannot find them out He does not dig many open Pits but Graves which appear not which while we think to walk over we fall into The Holy Ghost says indeed We are not ignorant of Satan's devices 2 Cor. 2.11 but I conceive that must be comparatively understood the Saints of God are much more acquainted with them than other Men though they know them less in respect of concernment in them Rev. 2.24 they know them better so as to beware of them We are not universally ignorant though we know but in part neither our Knowledge nor Ignorance is total some of his Devices are known to us
Nature spoil the Reputation of the Works of Art Psalm 4.7 Thou hast put gladness in my Heart more than in the Time when their Corn and Wine increased If we had more spiritual Delight in God carnal Fruitions must needs be a less powerful bait 'T is in vain for the Devil to entice that Soul with a few drops of Pleasure that run through broken Cisterns which partakes of satisfying Refreshments from the Fountain of Life these Things are only suited to the Palates of those that never know the Joy of the Lord. Heaven's Favourites cannot fall in Love with Earths 't is natural for a Believer that 's cloathed with the Sun to have the Moon under his Feet Rev. 12.1 2. The Frowns of the World too often scare Men from their Obedience but a due Apprehension of the Love of God is a good Security against this Temptation also The belief of God's reconciled Heart and view of his pleased Countenance is enough to make us Triumph over the fiercest malignity of Men and Devils It Matters not who they be that are against us nor what they can do against us so long as we know that God is for us This will make us Glory in Infirmities Necessities Distresses and Afflictions of all sorts For he that can encourage himself with David 1 Sam. 30.6 In the Lord his God will not be dismayed by any of these Things Bitter Herbs will go down very well when a Man hath such delicious Meats which the World knows not of The Sense of our Father's Love is like Honey at the end of every Rod it turns Stones into bread and Water into Wine and the Valley 〈◊〉 Trouble into a Door of Hope it makes the biggest Evils seem as if they were none or better than none for it makes our Desarts like the Garden of the Lord and when we are upon the Cross for Christ as if we were in Paradice with Christ Who would quit his Duty for the sake of Suffering that hath such relief under it Who would not rather walk in Truth when he hath such a Cordial to support him than by the Conduct of fleshly Wisdom to take any indirect or irregular Methods for his own Deliverance 3. The Love of Life is a very frequent and pernicious Snare which a Sense of God's Love must deliver us from being entangled by What so desirable as Life if a Man have no Place in the Heart of God This is the greatest Temporal Blessing and nothing can out do it but the Favour of the God of our Life And this excels indeed Psalm 63.3 Thy Loving Kindness is better than Life What Comparison is there between the Breath in our Nostrils and the Favour of an Eternal God Any more than there is between an Everlasting Light and a poor vanishing Vapour compare Isa 60.19 with Jam. 4.14 Who would not therefore hate his own Life which hangs in doubt continually before him and of which he can have no Assurance when he knows that the Living God is his certain Portion Who would not freely yield up and part with Ten Thousand such Lives one after another if he had so many rather than the Wrath of God should be kindled but a little 4. The Fear of Death is a very usual and hurtful Snare too which can hardly be broken without a Sense of the Love of God Death which will rend and tear the Soul from the Body is the Lion in the way which discourages and affrights many from hazardous Duties thousands through sinful Cowardize have rather chosen to shipwrack their Faith and prostitute their Conscience then mingle their Blood with their Sacrifices But now they that have the Comforts of God to delight their Souls are more willingly brought to this King of Terrors if God cause his Face to shine what should hinder our chearful descent into the Valley of the shadow of Death Love is strong as Death and a great deal stronger one would dare to Dye for a good Man whose Love and Friendship hath endear'd him to us how much more for a God whose kindness hath been so exceeding This hath made so many Martyrs glorifie God in the midst of the Fires when they have been kill'd for Christ's sake all the day long and counted as Sheep for the slaughter they have been more than Conquerours through him that lov'd them and through the lively Impression of that Love upon them Rom. 8.36 37. 7. The New Nature is ingenuous and therefore will be wrought up to Obedience by the Love of God After we have tasted that the Lord is gracious we readily savour all the Things of God Humaue Nature indeed in our lapsed depraved State may Reward Evil for Good and Hatred for Love as David's Enemies did to him Psalm 109.5 before a saving Change is accomplish'd on the Soul but it neither is nor can be so when God gives Men another Heart as he does at their New-birth Then nothing eies us so fast to our Duty as those bands of Love nothing is so sweetly and yet so strongly attractive Jer. 31.3 With Loving Kindness have I drawn thee they that are only haled and drag'd by legal Terror will be striving to break away again and loose themselves from the Yoke of Christ but Love subdues all Things to it self it constrains to such Acts of Duty as make the mad World think us beside our selves 2 Cor. 5.13 14. The Soul is compell'd to come in to Christ and yet it walks at Liberty 't is so swayed by a Principle of Holy Gratitude as that it is always studying that Point What shall I render For this is a Principle that never fails to operate where the Root of thankfulness is the Fruit of Service cannot be wanting Therefore the Apostle beseeches by the Mercies of God that we present our Bodies c. Rom. 12.1 Love hath a mighty prevalency in the obtaining of all that is desir'd Herod would do any Thing at the Request of his beloved Herodias Esther chose that Time to perfer her Petition when she was expressing her Love to the King in a Banquet so when Christ is feasting a Believer with his Fat Things with his Love which is better than Wine the ravisht Believer can deny or grudge him nothing 8. That Love to God which a due Sense of the Love of God does produce in us is virtually all Obedience This Consideration consists of two Branches which to give it the greater Evidence and Force may be distincty open'd 1. A due Sense of the Love of God to us produces Love in us to God 1 John 4.19 We Love him because he first loved us Sic res accendunt lumina rebus Sanctified Affections are blown up in us by the believing Persuasions of Divine good Will towards us As there is something like an exchange of Souls between Bosom Friends so there are returns and reboundings of Love betwixt God and those whose Hearts are knit to him The Spouse of Christ proclaims their mutural
Endearments in one Breath and also in the right Order Song 2.16 My Beloved is mine and I am his God is the Ocean from which Love first flows out and to which it always streams back Love when it hath descended from Heaven to Earth hath finished but half its Course but when it ascends from Earth to Heaven the Circle is compleated 2. This Love which is the Product of God's is virtually all Obedience both as it inclines and disposes unto all and as it comprehends all in it 1. It disposes and inclines to all Obedience When the Heart is melted by his Fire within 't is easily cast into the mould of any Precept whatsoever As it puts us upon keeping the Commandments of God so it keeps them from being grievous 1 John 5.3 Obedience can neither be partial nor burdensome where-ever this Love of God dwells but it fulsils the Charge which David gave to Solomon of serving God with a perfect Heart and a willing Mind 1 Chron. 28.9 2. It comprehends all Obedience in it self The end of the Commandment is Charity c. 1 Tim. 1.5 Both Tables are reduc'd by Christ to two Commandments and Love is the grand Inscription of them both Therefore Love is styled the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 13.10 All the Duty which we owe to God and to our Neighbour is included in Love to each And indeed we cannot walk in God's Truth unless we walk in Love to one another as well as to him Our Alienations from our Brethren speak our distance from Christ the Center of our Union The nearer any Lines in a Circle come to the Center the nearer they are one to another but the further they go from the Center the more they run out one from another III. To Apply this What are we to be inform'd of and exhorted to I. Vse Information 1. If our Obedience be excited by the Love of God then the Love of God prevents our Obedinence If we did first give to God he is able infinitely to recompence it again above what we can think but who is it that hath first given unto him Rom. 11.35 There is not one whose Heart God hath touched that will dare to pretend it We do not commend our selves to God but God manifests himself to us The Love of God was not purchas'd even by the Obedience of Christ much less by ours 1 John 4.10 Herein is Love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the Propitiation for our Sins The sending of the Son was the Effect of the Father's Love and therefore the Son 's coming could not be the Cause of it How then can we procure what Christ did not His Love is not bestow'd upon us for our Service but is the incentive to it 2. 'T is blasphemy against the Love of God to reproach is with being the Parent or Nurse of carnal Security They that have the Kingdness of God in their Eye can take no Encouragement from thence to set any wicked Thing before them for Sin tends to Cloud that Light wherein we rejoyce If God be well pleased with us it lays the greater Engagement upon us to walk worthy of him How absurd is it to say that when God communicates his Thoughts of Peace the Soul is embolden'd to new Acts of Treason As if Men should lay aside the Fear of God because the Secret of the Lord is with them that fear him Psalm 25.14 Or as if the Spirit of Adoption took Men off from Obedience to God when they are call'd to be Followers of him as dear Children Eph. 5.1 3. They that by loose and disorderly Practices give any occasion to such Blasphemers have a great deal of Sin to answer for besides their own If any of us Cause this way of Truth to be evil spoken of we bring the guilt of those Calumnies upon our selves It will be an heavy load to a tender Conscience if sound Doctrine is arraign'd through our unmortified Corruption How do we wrong the Purity of the Gospel when we turn the Grace of our God into lasciviousness For the Grace of God which bringeth Salvation teacheth us the contrary Tis. 2.11 12. What is this but to change the Glory of God into an Image made like to unclean Spirits Wo to those Libertines by whom this offence cometh What Jealousie and Rage does that Adulteress deserve who impudently abuses her Husband's Love 4. The Grace of God in us is a comforting Evidence of his Love to us Though Holy Walking is no Foundation for Trust we may reflect upon it as a Token for good 'T is said of the way of Holiness that the redeemed shall walk there Isa 35.8 9. as Mary Magdalen's Pardon is concluded from her Affection so if God enables us to make straight Paths for our Feet 't is a sign that he hath set his Heart upon us As all Obedience issues from the Spirit so the Gift of that Spirit is a Testimony of peculiar Favour Ezek. 39.29 Neither will I hide my Face any more from them for I have poured out my Spirit c. 5. A denial of the possibility of Assurance is injurious to Holiness The first and best Christians were such as could say we have known and believed the Love which God hath to us 1 John 4.16 And they that have had the same Spirit of Faith have always approved themselves the greatest Saints in all succeeding Times but to say that this their belief was a Delusion is in effect to say that all their Religion was a Cheat too which in this more degenerate Age is hardly to be matcht To stake Men down to uncertain suspended waverings about their Interest in the Love of God is to destroy the most quickening Motive to Obedience 6. The Christian Life is as far from being uncomfortable as from being irregular What greater Pleasure can there be than to be constantly influenc'd by the Love of God to the Service of God A dull and sowre Complexion does not belong to real Christianity Psalm 97.11 Light is sown for the Righteous and Gladness for the upright in Heart Though Cain's Countenance fall Abel's Race may lift up their Heads If there be any Consolation in Christ they that are his have reason to rejoyce and what more sure than that there is all in him and none out of him He hath a Chariet of Gold paved with Love for the Daughters of Jerusalem Song 3.10 What so delightful as to go up and fit with him in that Chariot II. Exhortation 1. Think not only on the Love of God in general but on the most affecting Properties of it in Particular Such as 1. It s Antiquity God loved us from Eternity before we were and before the World was and there have been Early discoveries of it there is the Love of God to us in our Childhood Hos 11.1 And his Kindness in our Youth Jer. 2.2 Which are both Seasons of Vanity The Loving Kindnesses of God
1.8 And no Prohibitions or Threatenings must stop their Mouths or tempt them to neglect their Duty But this is not all that which follows in the last Clause of the Verse is yet more considerable And so is also the Holy Ghost whom God hath given to them that obey him q.d. Though you quarrel with us and oppose our Testimony there is a witness above all Exception who may not only silence but Cure your lnfidelity we are not alone in this Work we have one to back us who is greater than all even the Spirit of God himself This agrees with what Christ had said John 15.26 27. When the Comforter is come he shall testifie of me and ye also shall bear witness The Words are the Conclusion of Peter's Reply to the Jewish Sanhedrim in which we have a brief Abridgement of his Sermon or larger Discourse upon the Day of Pentecost though that and this had very different Effects they who heard that were pricked to the Heart and it issued in their saving Conversion Chap. 2.37 They who heard this were cut to the Heart and consulted about slaving the Apostles ver 33. of this Chapter The same Expression is us'd concerning Stephen's Murderers Chap. 7.54 And signifies the galling of their Consciences Which provoke them to a more furious Resistance of the Truth when they have been persuaded to embrace it Thus that very Word in substance the same which is the savour of Life unto one becomes the savour of Death unto another Obs The Holy Spirit whom God hath given to them that obey him is a Witness to Jesus Christ The Text is not a direct Assertion of the Doctrine of the Trinity but we have here all the Three Divine Persons brought in and mentioned together Our Lord Christ is the Person witness'd to the Holy Ghost is the Person witnesssin and God the Father is the Person whom this Witness proceeds from and is sent by These are the Three that are siad to bear Record or witness in Heaven 1 John 5.7 And indeed they all Testifie to each other The Father bore Witness of Christ John 5.37 Christ also was given to be a Witness to him Isa 55.4 And in this Place the Holy Ghost is named as a Witness to Christ In handling this I. Shew in what Sense the Holy Spirit is given II. Whom he is given to III. How he performs the Work and Office of a Witness to our Lord Jesus IV. Use I. In what Sense is the Holy Spirit given by God In many Places which 't is needless to repeat the same Phrase occurs to us especially in the New Testament To prevent misunderstanding in so fuudamental a Point I shall endeavour with an humble regard to the greatness of the Mystery to open it Negatively and Positiverly 1. Negatively The giving of the Spirit by God the Father does not import the Spirits being Inferiour to the Father nor does it exclude the Purchase and Gift of Christ 1. This does not import the Spirit 's being Inferiour to the Father How difficult soever it be to conceive the Order which is among the Persons in the Godhead we are sure 't is impossible that there should be any inequality The Blessed Spirit is one with the Father and to him belong all the glorious Perfections of the Supream Being he is the most High God as the Father is All the Three Persons have the same Infinite Essence and Nature the same Understanding Will and boundless Power If any one Person be put beneath another his Deity is thereby destroy'd and therefore we must take heed of any such unscriptural Imagination concerning the Spirit of God The Holy Ghost is given indeed but not as by a Superiour who hath a command over another whether he will or not for he is given with his own Consent and one equal may give another if they agreee to do so as in like manner Jesus Christ whom the Scripture calls God's Fellow is also said to be given of God 2. This does not exclude either the Purchase or the Gift of Christ The Holy Spirit is given by the Father and yet Purchased and given by the Son too 1. Purchased by Christ the Son of God He hath obtained the Spirit for us or else we should never have partaken of him Hence it is that he is said to be shed on us through Jesus Christ our Saviour Tit. 3.5 6. His Bloud was the Price of this Priviledge his Intercession procures our actual Enjoyment of it John 14.16 I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforther c. After the finishing of his Work on Earth and Exaltation to Glory the Apostle tells us That he receiv'd of the Father the Promise of the Holy Ghost Acts 2.33 The Promise of the Holy Ghost here is put for the Holy Ghost promised to speak strictly Christ receiv'd the Promise of the Holy Ghost in the Everlasting Covenant of Redemption upon such and such Conditions which he was to perform in the fulness of Time but now those Conditions being perform'd he receiv'd an abundant Accomplishment of this Promise not for himself but for those that belong to him 2. The Spirit is given by Christ He is said to shed him forth in the last cited Place So he engag'd to send him John 15.26 Chap. 16.7 The same Act may very well be attributed both to the Father and Son as concurring in external Operations My Father worketh hitherto and I work Chap. 5.17 The Father is represented as the Maker of all Things very frequently and so is the Son In the Beginning God Created the Heaven and the Earth and in that beginning Jesus Christ was with God not as an unactive Spectator but as a Co-worker Believers are sanctified by God the Father Jude 1. And they are also sanctified in or by Christ Jessu 1 Cor. 1.2 The Greek Particle is the same in both Places 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore 't is manifest that the giving of the Holy Ghost by God the Father is not at all inconsistent with the dispensing of the same Gife by our Lord Christ 2. Positively There are Four Things which seem to be signified to us by the Father's giving of the Holy Ghost 1. That the Grace and Love of the Father is the spring of all Divine Communications Here is the first Rise and Original of all the good that we receive 't is all resolv'd into the Father's good Pleasure as the Primary moving Cause John 3.16 God so laved the World that he gave his only begotten Son c. 'T is from the same Fountain of Eternal Love in the Bosom of God the Father that this Gift of the Holy Ghost does issue also 'T is very remarkable therefore that our Lord directs the Faith of his Disciples to fasten chiefly hereupon Chap. 15.26 27. I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you for the Father himself loveth you The meaning is not that Christ
pleased by his Almighty Vertue to Work the Cure and with an irresistible Hand to turn it to himself 2 Tim. 2.25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if peradventure God will give them Repentance c. No Instruction will do if he against whom they Sin do not give them to repent III. How is this Grace the Gift of Christ as the Text affirms it to be Ans In six Things 1. All Things are deliver'd unto him by the Father to him as Mediator Mat. 11.27 All things are given into his Hand John 3.35 And he hath the disposal of them according to his own Pleasure he may with-hold or dispense every Thing as he sees good The Son quickeneth whom he will Chap. 5.21 He is empower'd to give Eternal Life Chap. 10.28 Chap. 17.2 And this Eternal Life is founded in spiritual Now the ground-work is his as well as the Head-stone the first-fruits of Grace as well as the Harvest of Glory the Gift of Righteousness it self as well as the Crown of Righteousness Chap. 4.14 The Water which I shall give him shall be in him a Well springing up into Everlasting Life Christ hath so large a Trust and Commission from the Father that nothing is excepted out of it 2. The giving of Grace is one of his essential Royalties as a King To give only corruptible Things is to give as the World giveth the Men of high Degree scatter their Favours of that kind among those that are below them but it agrees with the Majesty of Jesus Christ to bestow that which is of an incorruptible Nature a Principle of Grace and Holiness in the Hearts of his People Acts 5.31 Him hath God exalted to be a Prince and Saviour to give Repentance c. He would be a Prince without Subjects a meer Titular Prince if he did not by his own Grace bring them into Subjection and keep them in it He never ruled in any Heart which he did not first Conquer rebellious Sinners would never submit and yield themselves to his Authority if he did not make them willing in the day of his Power Psalm 110.3 3. Christ is given to be an Head of Influence as well as of Government to his Church Therefore said to be the Head of the Body Col. 1.18 Now as every Part of the natural Body derives Spirits from the Head so every Part of the mystical Body gracious Influences from Christ There is an effectual working from him throughout the whole Eph. 4.16 And how is this effectual working but by the Communication of his Grace to the various Members This 〈◊〉 what Paul experienc'd and gives an account of with Reference to his own first Conversion 1 Tim. 1.14 The Grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with Faith and Love which is in Christ Jesus Paul's Heart was full of unbelief and hatred before but the prevailing Grace of Christ in whom he was chosen before the World planted Faith and Love in the room of them 4. 'T is the Work of Christ to furnish those whom be unites and espouses to himself with Beauty and Ornaments fit for his Embraces and wherein does this Beauty consist and what are these Ornaments but a Participation of his Grace Some are ready to cry is a deformed filthy Sinner meet to lye in Christ's Bosom But I would Reply who makes the Sinner meet besides Christ himself He can have no complacency or delight in such an one continuing as he is but his Manner is to impart a commending loveliness where he loves As Rebeckah was adorned with Jewel's of Isaac's giving Gen. 24.53 So it was granted to the Lambs Wife that she should be arrayed in fine Linne c. of his preparing Rev. 19.8 For as the imputed Righteousness of Christ so the inherent Righteousness of Saints is his Gift whom they are married to 5. Christ hath the right of distributing Grace as the Effect of his Purchase He hath bought it with his Blood and therefore may confer it on whom he pleases as we know that every one may do what he Will with his own and what we buy at a valuable Price is undoubedtly our own Upon this score all Grace is the Grace of Christ 't is his just Propriety and he hath â—â—â—ain'd it at the dearest Rate which could be demanded He gave himself for the Church that he might sanctifie and cleanse it c. Eph. 5.25 26. Our Sanctification was one end of his Sufferings and as it was he that suffer'd so 't is he that sanctifies Christ merited Grace for us by his Death and therefore the dispensing of it is his due 6. The Spirit of Grace is sent by Christ and supplies his Place John 16.7 If I depart I will send him to you So that he Acts as in Christ's Name and on his behalf and consequently what the Spirit does may be attributed unto Christ and what he divides to every Man may be very well look't upon as allotted by Christ whose Spirit he is for so he is called the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.17 18. There is the very Heart of Christ in all the Spirits saving Operations they are directed by his Infinite Wisdom and Care to all those whom he laid down his Life for As he shed forth the Holy Ghost at Pentecost Acts 2.33 So the pouring of him out at all Times is his continual Providence still IV. After what manner is this Grace given to every one that belongs to Christ Answ Negatively and Positively I. Negatively I. This Grace is not given to all by the same Instruments and Means 'T is most usually by the Word of Grace but sometimes by the Rod of sanctified Affliction 't is oftnest by the Sword in Christ's Mouth but it may be by the Fan in his Hand Ordinarily 't is by the Preaching of Christ's Embassadors but sometimes the edifying Discourses of Private Christians may Minister Grace to the Hearers Eph. 4.29 Again though it be by the same Gospel yet God makes use of several Publishers They whom he sanctifies through the Truth are Converted by several Persons There are many spiritual Fathers some are begotten in Christ by the Ministry of one and some by another 2. It is not given to all at the same Age or Period of Life As in that Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard some were called at the third Hour some at the sixth some at the ninth some at the eleventh Some are sanctified from the Womb filled with the Spirit like John from their very Birth Luke 1.15 Others it may be wear out almost all their Lives and are even dropping into the Grave before they are brought home to God Some are planted into Christ in their tender Years like Paul when a Young Man others not born again till they are Old when the evil Days come And therefore it is not so material or requisite for us to know when we felt the first workings of Grace as to be sure that we feel it 's real workings
be given Glory cannot be denied for though Glory is not merited by Grace yet always entailed upon it because the same Mercy is the constant never failing Spring of both The Lord will give Grace and Glory Psalm 84.11 These Things are continually coupled like the Creatures which enter'd into Noah's Ark two by two of every Kind Gen. 7.15 as God never gives Glory where he with-holds his Grace so on the other side where Grace is dispensed Glory is never kept back Indeed Glory is but the perfecting of the Gift of Grace the Difference betwixt them is only gradual Grace is Glory in the Bud and Glory is Grace full blown Therefore the Names of Grace and Glory are promiscuously given to one another sometimes Grace is stiled Glory 2 Cor. 3. ult And sometimes Glory called Grace 1 Pet. 1.13 3. If Grace be given to every one that is in Christ then every such one is worthy of our Affection and Esteem Wheresoever the Truth of Grace is it calls for more of our Love and inward Respect than all the Wealth and Power and Greatness in the World The smallest grain of saving Faith is more precious than thousands of Gold and Silver and 't is so precious in all that have it that one should not be set up in Competition with another Every gracious Person is really amiable and valuable and therefore a partial Regard to such or such only is sinful and groundless No one is to be preferr'd so as that another should be undervalued one is not to be had in Admiration and another in Contempt but all are to be lookt upon as Heirs together of the Grace of Life He that sincerely Loves any one for the sake of Holiness without little by Respects will love all Saints on the same account 4. If Grace be given to every one according to a particular measure it must needs be dangerous to attempt more than this measure will extend to 'T is unwarrantable Presumption to undertake what is above our Reach and beyond our Strength Therefore David says That he did not exercise himself in great Matters nor in Things too high for him Psalm 131.1 He that desires the Office of a Gospel-Bishop desires a good work and yet Novices are forbidden it 1 Tim. 3.1 with 6. Our sanctified Abilities are only in Part and design'd of God to fit us for that Place and Calling in which we are Over-bold adventuring where we are uncall'd may expose us to Temptations unassisted Peter's rash Zeal in the Garden was a means of betraying him to sinful Cowardise in the Palace of the High-Priest The Evangelist therefore takes notice of his being question'd by a Kinsman of Malchus whose Ear he had cut off John 18.26 5. If Grace be given from Christ to every one 't is the great concern of every one to know him and the main Work of those whom be sends to make him known If he be all and in all Col. 3.11 If he be the common Publick Treasury out of which every Soul is spiritually enricht and we have nothing but what comes through his Hands first we have nothing if we are ignorant of him And they do little Service to the Churches who only bow at his Name and make no mention of his Righteousness or Grace they that pretend to come from him and are silent concerning him seem like to Messengers that have forgot their Errand and tell a formal Story which hath no Relation to it and signifies nothing to them that hear it Such as expect any share of his saving Benefits should seek to be led into Acquaintance with his Person 6. If there be such a Likeness and Affinity between the Grace which was in Christ and which is in those that belong to him they are no Christians that do not Resemble Christ and that are not Imitators of him This is that which makes all real Christians truly glorious and the Glory of Christ as the Woman is said to be the Glory of the Man 1 Cor. 11.7 She reflects the excellencies of the Man so do they the Excellencies of Jesus Christ As Face answers to Face in the Glass so do they to him They are planted in the similitude of his Death and Resurrection i. e. made conformable to both Rom. 6.5 Phil. 3.10 As they are Created in Christ so they are Created after his Model They are his Brethren and he the first-born among them and as the first in every Kind uses to be a standard and president to the rest so is he Consequently they do not abide in Christ nor are they related to him that do not imitate his walk and follow his steps We shall never have Bodies like unto his glorious Body except we have Souls like his if we do not bear his heavenly Image now we shall not at the last We deceive our selves with vain Hopes and others with a vain Profession 2. For Practise To those that are yet graceless and to them that are truly gracious 1. What should they do that are yet gracless For some of that sort may without breach of Charity be suppos'd in every Assembly we never read but of one so pure as to be without such a mixture and that was when Christ Preacht his Farewel Sermon to his Disciples John 14.15 16. Chapters after Judas was gone out Chap. 13.30 31 c. 1. Labour to be sensible of your wretchedness while entirely under the Power of Sin and the Servants of Coruption If so great and good a Man as Paul cried out of himself as wretched because deliver'd only in part from the Body of Death Rom. 7.24 How much more miserable must you be that are not at all deliver'd from it When the second Temple was building which was greatly Inferiour to the former God puts it to the People Who is left among you that saw this House in her first Glory And how do you see it now Is it not in your Eyes in Comparison thereof as nothing Hag. 2.3 So if any of us had ever seen the Humane Nature cloathed with Original Righteousness before the entrance of Sin which was our House in its Primitive Glory what a woful ruinous heap should we discern it now to be 2. Improve this Conviction to the deepest Humiliation The most prostrate Frame of Soul is always the Foundation which God laies and builds upon He giveth Grace to the lowly and humble Prov. 3.34 James 4.6 1 Pet. 5.5 The Spirit of God which descends like a Dove does usually light upon the Ground not upon high and lofty Trees The first step of Paul's Conversion who had been an haughty Supercilious Pharisce before lifting up himself as the rest of that Sect did was his falling to the Earth Acts 9.4 Fountains are not wont to break out in the Tops of Hills but it is the Method of God in Nature to send the Springs into the Valleys Psalm 104.10 And all Waters run into the lowest Places so do the Influences of Grace fall upon
done Can we think that our Services would be so well recompenc'd by a perpetual stay here 't is impossible to think so When the Master is come and calleth for us as John 11.28 we cannot but know it is in order to our unspeakable Promotion and Advancement The Arrows which Death shoots though they kill yet they are directed and design'd in greater Love than Jonathan's to David which were to prevent him from being killed Death may seem formidable at a distance as one says like Esau to Jacob but is very friendly when it comes nigher to us and does us the kindest Office which to have undone would be our greatest loss Though it did no more than case us of the grievous weight of indwelling Sin that 's a matchless Benefit for if we had not mortal Bodies we must have immortal Corruptions 6. This is the concluding and crowning Act of our Obedience to God in this World 'T is the compleat finishing of our whole Work here when we have done this we have no more to do on Earth Now how incongruous and unseemly how reproachful and dishonourable would it be for a Man to live many Years in a course of Duty and then spoil all by Disobedience in the last Act Undoubtedly the Man whose Heart is perfect and upright with God shall never be left to do so If we have been truly Faithful to the Death we shall not be Rebellious in it But however Exhortations and Arguments are of use to the best through the efficacious Concurrence of the Spirit with them He that lives to the Will of God cannot be said to persevere finally unless he dies according to that Will also We do not follow God fully if we start and fly back just at the end of our Race when we should lay hold upon the Prize I know thy works and the last to be more than the first was Thyatiras's Commendation Rev. 2.19 God expects that at the last we should outdo all which we have done before If we have run well 't is pity that the last step should be the slowest 7. This being the last Act of our Obedience here in this World will have the greatest Influence on those whom we leave behind us As the last words of dying Persons are apt to make the deepest Impression upon surviving Friends so their last Acts are most likely to encourage Imitation When we forget most of the Passages of their Lives we remember their Deaths and are ready to take our measures from thence And indeed the Holy Ghost calls upon us especially to mark the End of the perfect and upright Man Psalm 37.37 and to consider the End of their Conversation whose Faith we are to follow Hebr. 13.7 The End here signifies the close the issue of their Conversation Now where this is unimitable it will obstruct our following of all that went before how good soever it were This will still stick most upon their Minds that should take Pattern from our Faith and Obedience and tend to dishearten them from walking with God if after a Life of service we should flinch and faulter in the last Extremity it may tempt some to believe that God is an hard Master and that we too late begin to think him so Whereas an holy submissive Death will have all the contrary Effects 8. This is an Act of Obedience from which God 's chiefest Favourites on Earth are not exempted If this were a Cup which passed from every one else and were only filled out to us it might be more bitter to drink of it and sinful Flesh might have the more to say against it but God lays no other Burden upon us herein than what all his Saints excepting two have born from the beginning of the World yea even those two underwent a Change in their Translation in some respects we are sure equivolent to Death Are we so much better than our Fathers than the many Thousands which have gone to Heaven the same way that we should expect any peculiar Privilege Are we greater than Abraham who is dead and the Prophets who are dead whom do we make our selves as the Jews said to Christ John 8.53 Does God deal worse with us or require more from us than from all the Excellent of the Earth Why must not we give place to others when God thinks meet as others have made way for us that successive Generations may still go and come That Life which we are prone to complain of as too short 't is probable hath been longer than many and the shortest is certainly longer than we deserve that it should be 9. 'T is an Act wherein God's Saints on Earth out-do the Obedience of Angels in Heaven This is a mighty Honour to us that we are capable of honouring God by dying according to his will which is out of their Power for they die not 'T is their bright and glorious Character that they do his Commandments Psalm 103.20 but this is a command which they cannot do and which they were never tried with They have no such Bodies as we have to be separated from and by the Settlement which God hath made meer spiritual Beings cannot taste of Death Now this is a thing worthy of our Ambition to bring more Glory to God than the highest Angel can for a Saint of God would seek to excel all Creatures 'T is no Tryal to Angels to execute the orders which they receive in comparison of what Moses did here in the Text and yet 't is astonishing to read how familiarly he hears of his own Departure there was no noise no striving no trouble in the case God only says to him Go up and die and he does it as when the Prophet Elijah had Food set before him and was invited to arise and eat to which an hungry Man in a barren Wilderness would need very little perswasion To which of the Angels did God say thus at any time Our Mortality gives us an opportunity of obeying which they want 10. All the Obedience which we have to yield after this to God in Heaven will be like that of the Angels most easie and delightful Glorified Saints are doing endless Service but there is nothing of Labour or Difficulty in it nor can there be the least degree of aversion or unwillingness to perform it When we have once poured out our Souls into the Bosom of God we shall launch into the pleasant Enjoyment of Eternal Praise and so far as we understand the Worship of the Church above this will be the whole business that we shall be exercised in A business which will contribute greatly to our Blessedness There is a great deal of weight and force in this Argument if we think seriously upon it how hard and painful soever the work of dying be all our work afterwards will be entire and perfect like crowding through a strait Gate into a spacious Mansion where we are to walk at Liberty for ever How desirous soever the Flesh