had a Son from eternity yet he had none of humane race none of our kind all being fallen in Adam 4. Our spiritual Sonship runs thus If children then heirs 't is not so among men all Sons are not Heirs but only the eldest but we shall every one possess the whole Inheritance Come ye blessed of my father inherit the kingdom c. Mat. 25. 34. 5. Adoption among men implies a succession into the inheritance after the death of the Adopter Haereditas est successio in universum jus defuncti Civil A Testament is of force after men are dead Heb. 9. 17. The Heir whether Natural or Adopted has nothing to do with the Estate till then But our Heavenly Father never dies our Elder brother never dies and yet we enter into possession have a present Copartnership with the Father and the Son Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ 1 John 1. 3. Nay we actually enjoy the whole inheritance with the Father and the Son indeed they are our inheritance the only portion of our Souls Had God left us never so much to be enjoyed by it self apart from God 't would be as nothing to us Heaven would not be Heaven if God were not there therefore we are said to be glorified together Rom. 8. 17. Christ will be always among his Brethren John 17. 24. Their Glory lies in beholding his the Father and the Son will have all things to be in common between them and the Saints and that to all Eternity Here is a Glorious Adoption indeed the world never knew the like What manner of love is this that we we should be called the children of God Tho our Heavenly Father never die nor our Elder Brother never die yet we must die before we can have full possession of the whole inheritance so did the Man Christ and so must we If we suffer with him we shall reign with him 2 Tim. 2. 12. CHAP. III. Fourthly The signs of Adoption 1. A Loving peaceable disposition Blessed are the peace-makers for they shall be called the children of God Mat. 5. 9. Who is the God of peace and hath commanded us with great earnestness if it be possible and as much as lies in us to live peaceably with all men Rom. 12. 18. So far as may be without wrong to the truth and our own Consciences we must so follow Peace as not to quit Holiness Heb. 12. 14. A zealous contending for the Truth is very consistent with the peaceable Temper of a true Christian We may have salt in our selves and yet have peace one with another Mark 9. 50. Adoption is an uniting principle the Saints should live together in Love as the Children of one Father as joined in the same interest Behold how good and how pleasant is it for brethren to dwell together in unity Psal. 133. 1. What Abraham said unto Lot Gen. 13. 8. we should say to each other Let there be no strife I pray thee between me and thee for we be brethren I wish there were more of this sign of Adoption among the Children of God this day We have reason all of us to pray for more of that Wisdom that is from above Which is first pure then peaceable gentle and easy to be intreated James 3. 17. 2. A spiritual and holy Conversation Abraham's children do the works of Abraham Joh. 8. 39. Walk in the steps of his faith Rom. 4. 12. Who is the father of us all V. 16. The Children of God should not debase themselves to the sordid practices of the men of the World they should shine out as lights in the midst of a crooked Generation making streight paths for their feet walking evenly and uprightly as those who are led by the Spirit of God and thereby do approve themselves to be the Children of God Rom. 8. 14 3. A reverential Fear of God in all our ways 1 Pet. 1. 17. Mal. 1. 6. joined with filial Obedience 1 Pet. 1. 14. which they are led to not from a mercenary hope of reward but from an innate Principle of Love to God as their Heavenly Father they cannot but take after that will of God of which they were begotten 4. A restless breathing and panting after God when he hides his face from us in any displeasure A child of God can't bear the least distance between God and his soul Psa. 42. 1 2. There is nothing that a gracious Soul more desires than the presence of God Psal. 84 10. Psal. 65. 4. He is carried out by a Divine instinct after God his joy is full when he is in communion with God and he is presently troubled when his face is hid The more God sheds abroad his Love in our hearts the more are our hearts captivated to him made more willing in the day of his power to serve him The Love of God is a conquering Love a heart-subduing Love it has a mighty constraining power over us drawing the will after it The Law presses duty but gives us no strength to perform it it pricks us forward as with the point of a Sword but does not bear us up in doing it The Law commands Holiness but under the Gospel Holiness commands us the Principles of it being inlaid in our renewed Natures We consent unto the law that it is good we delight in it after the inward man Rom. 7. 16. 22. 'T is written in our hearts we are a Law to our selves and therefore not without Law to God but under the Law to Christ 1 Cor. 9. 21. The Grace of the Gospel suits our wills to the will of God the free Spirit of Christ inclines us to new Obedience God knows how to commend his Love to us how to ingratiate himself with us till he has so taken our hearts that we begin to be sick of love towards him Cant. 5. 9. Full of vehement desires and longings after him David's heart was ready to break under this most holy frame Psalm 119. 20. Till we are Adopted children we are as to our state under the Law To be under the Law is to be without a Spirit of Grace to be a debtor to the Law when we have nothing to pay to be under the curse and servitude of the Law acting out of Fear not Love We can't Love God or Godliness till we Believe God loves us in Christ this molifies and changes the heart we are holy by choice now are a Law to our selves ergo the Doctrine of Free-Grace is no licentious Doctrine as some would make us believe 'T is not wrangling about Faith and Works but living by Faith that gives us an experimental knowledge of the truth and power of the Doctrine of Free-grace which makes us own God as our God We must break the First Commandment before we can break any of the other Nine In a dying hour Bellarmine's Tutissimum est will be good Doctrine When we bring things to an issue between God and our own
him no seeing of him but as the Soul moves towards him in the Light of Faith God shines in our hearts saith the Scripture the Light of the knowledge of his Glory in the face of Jesus Christ and this Light of knowledge is Faith When we Believe we know Christ we See him we Come to him we Rely upon him Rejoyce in him we Love and Obey him all the actings of the Soul towards Christ they are from Faith representing him to us out of the Word And when we believe the Report of the Gospel concerning him we are persuaded and must be persuaded of the Truth of that which by a present Act of Faith we do Believe There goes no more to your knowledge persuasion and satisfaction than real Believing Faith in its own Nature is all Evidence though Flesh and Blood do contradict this Evidence seek to cast clouds over it yet those doubts that arise they come not from Faith but Unbelief that accompanies it more or less in every act we perform The more Faith the more Hope the more Unbelief the less Hope Hope will be in a proportion to the degree of our Faith The Spirit works Faith in us and then shews us Christ in the Light of it Christ is let into the Soul by Faith there he is and there he dwells transforming us into his own Image by our Faith in him As Faith works by Love so the Spirit works by Faith I mean by our Faith in him The Spirit knows how to improve our Faith in Christ to draw arguments from thence to bring us to any thing which the Gospel calls for I am persuaded I speak to many who have Christ within them who would not quit their Interest in him for Ten thousand Worlds if so you must fetch the reason of this from your Hope in Christ What! Not part with Christ upon any terms and yet Hope for nothing from him not part with Christ upon any terms and yet get nothing by him He doth not offer himself to you upon these terms but that ye may be enriched by him in all things You dishonour Christ and forget your Faith when you don 't Hope for great things from him I Beseech you Sirs Bethink your selves a little of your standing in Christ what hold you have taken of Eternal life in him and don't after all say I have no Hope Neither would I have you content your selves in bare saying you have Hope But stir it up act it shew it rejoyce in it daily Hope to the end that others may see how happy you count your selves in Jesus Christ tell every one you meet That Christ in you is your hope of Glory We often Preach and Hear of Faith and Hope but we practice those Graces at leasure Sermons of Faith and Hope don't beget these Graces in us nor draw them out into act Pray consider of this were our hearts changed under the Preaching of the Word into a frame suitable to it this would be a token for good unto us that the Lord is indeed among us If Sermons of Hope did end in lively actings of Hope we should all go home Rejoycing Blessing and Praising of God for his abundant Mercy towards us Great Hopes can't easily be forgotten we naturally run into our Hopes we are fond of them they present themselves to our Thoughts continually have easy access to us they take up our Minds daily making pleasing representations to us of the Good that is coming towards us I would leave you under the Contemplation of these things Did we converse more with our Hopes of Heaven and Glory this would keep sorrow from our hearts and cause us always to rejoyce in the Lord. Here is a present Cordial for the Poorest the most Afflicted and Disconsolate Soul How uncomfortable soever your present circumstances may be if you would get up into this Hope what happy Men and Women would you be you would count your selves happy and be filled with joy unspeakable and full of Glory None of your wants would pinch you you would be lifted up above the afflicting sense and smart of any outward Cross that may now lye heavy upon you All your Afflictions would be light if compared to this Eternal weight of Glory which weighs down all troubles and doth wonderfully alleviate and moderate all your Griefs You may be AS sorrowful in the Judgment of others and yet always rejoycing in your own Spirits from the Power of Hope It may be some will say How can this be Were we never so high in these Hopes yet we should grow weary and restless under them because all is put off to the Resurrection till the Coming of Christ and who can tell when that will be Hope deferred makes the heart sick we may faint under our desires before they come to pass Prov. 13. 10. I Answer In worldly hope it is so worldly hope is not so strengthned is not so established hath not that overcoming Power and Virtue in it as this Christian Hope hath for these Two Reasons 1. Because of the firm Assurance we have of the certain Accomplishment of our Hopes which cannot be said of any outward humane worldly hope As Christians we know our hope will not make us ashamed Rom. 5. 5. comp with Rom. 8. 38 39. A Christian knows his Hope is founded upon immutable Promises and this doth strangely animate the Power of a Christian Hope 2. We cannot flag in our Christian Hope because of the present satisfaction it gives us Wordly Hope is but a lank thing promises fair but hath little present influence upon the minds of men to give them any real satisfaction but a Christian Hope doth give present satisfaction There is always something in hand some pledges some earnest of all that is to follow and this is sufficient for our present occasions to serve the turn till we have finished our Pilgrimage here below They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up as with eagles wings they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint Isa. 40. 31. There is a strange Strength and Virtue in a Christian Hope The Hope of a Christian is a feeding Hope a Soul-satisfying Hope there is no languishing under it it feeds upon the present overflowings of the Promise Tho the thing it self is not yet brought forth out of the Promises yet the Actings of Faith and Hope do cause a strange present overflowing from the Promise that drops into the heart like Oil to refresh it I say the Promises are continually dropping in fresh Comforts giving us fresh Tastes of the Love and Goodness of God Now under this satisfaction our expectation is raised and this again heightens our present satisfaction we have enough now are full are rich have all our hearts can now hold and yet we do see more a coming with a further Capacity Skill and Wisdom to improve it I shall see him but not now Numb 24. 17.
God's grace comes to us we either receive it or put it from us and 't will be no joy of heart to us in a dying Hour to think how often we have refused our own Mercies offered to us which nothing but our final unbelief can hinder us of you who do not now believe know assuredly that you will never believe 'till God turn your hearts and he then begins to turn them when he puts you upon seeking earnestly to him for it as that which none can do besides I wish this sign of Conversion were more apparent in us all how diligently should we wait upon God for converting Grace in the use of means the reason why many receive so little benefit from the word is because they expect so little from it they do not come with raised expectations of a powerful Revelation of the Arm of God upon their hearts you that do have I doubt not seen and felt the mighty works of God upon your Souls Faith begins at the promises is raised from thence and ever after waits for the performance of them it shall be done according to your Faith Some think they must bring Faith to the Covenant as a preparatory Qualification for all the Grace that is there promised whereas we must come to the Covenant for our first Faith and fetch it thence the Spirit by the outward proposal of the Covenant kindles Faith in us by which we cast our selves upon the free Grace of God in Christ We have nothing to believe till then Do this and then look for the Law written in your hearts for the Spirit of God and all the fruits of the Spirit in your repentance Love Obedience and holy walking with God all Graces flow from the Covenant of Grace Pray that God will give you a heart to assent to and close with Christ upon the terms of the Covenant and then see if all be not made good to you God will do much for the Glory of his Grace but he will do nothing to nourish your Pride and Conceitedness of your selves and your own righteousness seek all from Grace and you have all but if you go about to establish your own righteousness you will never attain unto righteousness if you seek it not by Faith Rom. 9. 32. 3. How come we to discern God to be our God in Christ or what is there in Christ that makes out this unto us 1. Christ as Man does own God to be his God and the God of all who are in him My Father and your Father my God and your God John 20. 17. God is not only the God of Christ Personal but of Christ Mystical his Head both ways 1 Cor. 11. 3. When we are one in Christ then the God of Christ is our God we cannot since the fall have an Interest in God but through a Mediator he is the great Peace maker 't is Christ makes God to be ours who otherwise would be against us not for us God is in Christ reconciling the World unto himself As Christ owns God to be his God so God the Father owns Christ incarnate as his wellbelovedSon and the same love he beareth to him he beareth to all his Members John 17. 23 26. We can have no immediate Knowledg of God in his own Divine Essence So he is perfectly known only to himself all that concerns us to know of him he has revealed in Christ Without a personal knowledge of God in Christ we cannot act our Faith upon him nor have any real Communion with him Notions are not Persons or Subsistencies but Mental Conceptions neither can we apply our selves to those Speculations if we know not the Person to whom they belong all Divine Attributes relate to their proper Subject nay more all Divine Attributes are of the essence of God they are God himself neither do our thoughts of Omnipotency Allsufficiency c. signify any thing to our relief unless we know him who is all this we cannot know Omnipotency to be God himself unless we see it acted and expressed by him who is God 't is a hard matter to prove the reality of that which was never acted and 't is impossible to know that such Attributes have been exerted unless we know by whom None of the idol gods were ever able to act over any one of the essential Attributes of God by the help of the Devil they pretended something that way but it was a mere pretence easily disproved by any considering man strictly examining either their Predictions of future Events or their feigned Miracles which were all mere Delusions false and groundless Christ out-did them all he did the works of God indeed and for his work-sake ought to be believed to be God indeed 2. In Christ we see God's Wrath appeased his Justice satisfied for all our Offences all causes of Enmity between God and us are taken away by Christ Eph. 2. 13 14. The body of sin destroyed Rom. 6. 6. We Crucified to the World Gal. 6. 14. The Image of God restored his Law writ in our hearts 3. The Spirit of Christ dwelling in us tells us so teaches us to cry Abba Father As no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 12. 3. So none can say that God is their God but by the Holy Ghost By the Spirit of Christ which is the Spirit of God Rom. 8. 9. When God himself tells you by his own Spirit that he is your God he makes you to understand what he says and to see how happy you are in having God for your God Till we come to some sense of this we lose the comfort of our Religion it has little Influence upon us whence does the power of godliness arise but from the power of God who is the Author of true Religion and puts that power into it that belongs to true godliness take away the relation that is between Godliness and God and you quite destroy the power of godliness Religion is a weak thing if it be not maintained and supported by the authority and power of God himself 4. We see that of God in Jesus Christ that makes us fall down and Worship him as our God crying out with Thomas John 20. 28. My Lord and my God When we look upon Christ with an eye of Faith we do with open face behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord 2 Cor. 3. 18. God causes his glory to pass before us le ts out some beams of his Divine Majesty that we may know him to be the Lord such Manifestations of God to the Soul through Christ have I hope fallen under your own experience many a time and that you are not now without such a sight of God in Christ as does create in you a holy Reverence towards him a holy trembling at his word if you receive it as the word of God of your God it must have this effect upon you any thing from our God that bears his
just consequences of our Faith we have not always that presence of mind cannot so soon recollect our selves as to be always under the light of that demonstration that Faith well studied and acted can and does sometimes make of our Adoption and then the Spirit comes in and helps us under our present Temptations gives such an unquestionable Testimony of the truth of that which we were in some suspence about that we can doubt no more but are setled and established in our belief of it so that when the Soul is clouded when Faith is not so ready and prompt as formerly to make clear aud evident proof of our Adoption cannot set before us so plainly the reasons and grounds of it the Spirit 's Testimony puts the matter out of doubt and makes us not only to know but to feel that we are the true Children of God by that Childlike disposition towards God and our Heavenly Father which we find in our selves If you observe how the Children of God come out of their doubts about their Adoption you 'll find it to be this way the same Scriptures and spiritual reasons that Faith alone cannot set home at one time do suddainly enter and prevail at another time we see that in them now that convinces us which we could not see before and this is from the testimony of the Spirit witnessing with our Spirit our Spirit was alone before labouring to perswade and convince but could not then in comes the Spirit and gives such a corroborating Testimony with our Spirit that in the mouth of these two Witnesses the truth is confirmed and cleared up to our full satisfaction Worldly men boast of their being the Children of God tho they do the works of the Devil this is from their own Spirit not from God's As we are to attend to the witness of the Spirit so we should 2. Apply our selves often to God as our Father say Our father which art in heaven from the instinct of the Divine Nature in us we cannot be beaten out of it but that God is our Father Doubtless thou art our father tho Abraham be ignorant of us Isa. 63. 16. We don't doubt of that we will lie at thy feet and commit our selves to thy care not questioning thy love to us A woman may forget her sucking child and not have compassion on the son of her womb yet thou wilt not forget us Isa. 49. 15 16. Therefore cry Abba Father he is not the God of the Jews only but of the Gentiles also the believing Gentiles may in their several Languages cry Father with as much confidence as the Jews cryed Abba if you from your hearts own God as your Father he will answer to that name and call you his Children make the Tryal when you will in uprightness of heart you will find his Fatherly Bowels will earn towards you he has stiled himself your Heavenly Father and your naming that word in Faith will have a secret influence upon your Souls and let in a sense of his Fatherly love to you and make you pray like his Children the more you do express a willingness to have God for your Father counting your selves happy in that relation the more willing is God to own you for his Children here is a poor Soul says God who counts himself utterly undone if I do not become a Father to him he has cast himself down at my Feet I cannot contain my self any longer from owning him as my dear Child I must tell him so Son Daughter be of good cheer I am thy Father and will be a Father to thee for ever all that I have is thine This is the highest degree of comfort we are capable of in this World to live under a clear manifestation of the love of God to us in Christ Jesus Obj. I can sometimes call God Father and do think my self to be his Child yet I am afraid he won't own me because I have been a rebellious Child I have sinned greatly against him and am afraid to come into his presence Ans. So it was with the Prodigal Luk. 15. 21. But his Father instead of taking notice of his former Miscarriages sets himself to give him all the demonstrations of his love immaginable in the highest expressions of his kindness to him v. 22 23 24. And so does God carry it towards a returning Sinner But if after all doubts still remain you are still under a secret Trepidation in your own mind that you shall not be accepted of the Father that he will not own you for his Child Then 3. Consider your alliance to Christ apply to him as your elder Brother A brother is born for the day of adversity Prov. 17. 17. Never was there such a Brother as Christ he is not ashamed to call us Brethren Heb. 2. 11. Tho he be so infinitely above us being the only Natural Son of God his first-born yet Believers by the Grace of Adoption are called his first-born too Heb. 12. 23. Being mystically joyned to Christ the natural Son of God Adam in his innocency was never so joyned in that nearness to God the priviledge of the first-born under the Law belongs to Believers now who are therefore made Priests unto God The Foundation of our Adoption lies in our Alliance to Christ our elder Brother who is able to bring us into and to fix us in that relation to God Because 1. He hath a great interest with the Father as his well-beloved Son you may think your selves not beloved but you cannot think so of Christ who is the express Image of the Father if Christ be so like the Father and the Saints so like Christ then stand before God in the Image of Christ and you will find every cast of God's Eye upon his Son Christ will reach your hearts Christ in you draws the eye and the heart of God towards you for all the acts of love and complacency that God puts forth towards the Person of the Son do extend themselves to all the operations of the Spirit of the Son in the hearts of Believers let me tell you God cannot disown you but he must disown Christ in whom you are and who is in you let God look either upon Christ or upon Believers he still sees them both together one in another John 17. 21 22 23. Then keep close to Christ go to the Father in his name to his Father and your Father if not to your Father yet go as to his Father when Faith cannot act one way yet it may do the same thing another way when it cannot enter in at one door it may enter in at the other door of the same House what can't be proved by one medium may be proved by another the Devil can never so block up all ways of access to God but Faith will break through somewhere 't will either find a way or make a way 2. Because he is a merciful and faithful High Priest Heb. 2. 5. Every
in you i. e. the Spirit of him that Rose from the Dead and is now Alive in Heaven When we speak of Christ being in us we do not mean his Corporal Personal Presence but his Spiritual Presence If any man hath not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his so saith the Apostle Rom. 8. 9 10. Though his Person be taken away from us Acts 1. 11. and is contained in Heaven till his second Coming Yet the Life Power and Spirit of Christ doth dwell in us now and this is the Spiritual Presence of Christ in the hearts of Believers now this is a good proof of Christ being in us of a truth in power and spirit 2 Cor. 13. 3 4 5. Fourthly Christ appears to be in Believers by the inward Communion they have with him by the daily moving of their hearts towards him the Soul gathering up it self more and more into Christ often revolving what Christ hath done for them Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. We have frequent serious Thoughts of Christ That which is in you is in your Thoughts must be in your Thoughts you are full of him Some can think of nothing but the world and the things of the world and it is a sign Christ is not in them That 's the Fourth Fifthly By the suitable actings of the Soul towards Christ in the most proper and seasonable Exercise of those Graces that such or such a Manifestation of Christ unto us may call for A Soul in communion with Christ is very observant of him very attentive to him eyes him strictly As the eye of the servant looks unto the hand of his master and the eye of the maiden to the hand of her mistress so do our eyes wait upon thee O God Psal. 123. 9. You would take it ill and count it a great neglect in a servant if while you are speaking to him he should look another way not minding what you say And so doth Christ If you will not keep him company when he comes to visit you if you will not sit with him and converse with him and perform your part of Communion with him readily answering to his Call making suitable Returns to all the Motions of his Holy Spirit you offend the Holy Ghost and give him just occasion to leave you to your worldly sullen frame of Spirit See what the Spouse in the Canticles lost by such a carriage chap. 5. 2. She was in a sleepy frame when Christ came to visit her not at all disposed to entertain him He calls and knocks at the door uses many loving compellations to allure her to open to him Open to me my love my dove my sister my undefiled What kind soft words are here Christ would fain have had Admittance tells her how long he had waited that he was now benighted and suffered the injury of the weather was wringing wet Nothing would do she is loth to rise I have put off my coat how shall I put it on I have washed my feet and how shall I defile them What! set her naked feet upon the bare ground not she tho but a step or two to the door After she had paused a while she bethought her self and arose I rose up to open to my beloved and my beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone And well he might after such ill usage If Christ be in you be sure you use him well lest he withdraw from you They who know what it is to have Christ within them unless it be under some such Temptations as the Spouse was assaulted with they will do all they can to keep him dwelling in their hearts They study to please him their Carriage towards him is suitable to the Apprehensions their Fath hath of him There are many things in Christ that fall under the consideration of a Believer some at one time and some at another some upon one occasion and some upon another as the matter they come to Christ about may require and as he is pleased to let out himself more or less to us This must be attended to We must answer the Call of Christ by stirring up that Grace by which we may best experience the sense of what Christ is to us doth for us requires of us at such or such a season under such or such circumstances in reference to this or that particular discovery Christ makes of himself unto us Sometimes our duty lies in acting this Grace sometimes in acting that Grace whether it be Faith Love Fear Joy c. Tho we cannot act one Grace aright but we must in some degree act every Grace for all Graces run into that one which bears the name for the time as most suited to the present occasion we have for the Exercise of our Grace Hence the Saints sometimes speak of one Grace and sometimes of another Grace Sometimes it is Faith sometimes it is Love Zeal Joy I protest by our rejoicing in Christ Jesus Sometimes it is this sometimes it is that Grace that their Souls are most taken up with There is that in Christ that will draw out every Grace in its season and we should at all times be in the actual exercise of some Grace If you ask Which I say That which best suits the present occasion that is given for the exercise of your Grace We should labour to pitch our Thoughts upon that in Christ that doth most directly relate to our present case and many are the cases of our Souls God hath ordered it so that we might have recourse to all his Attributes sometimes to one sometimes to another God hath suited our dependance upon him to his several Attributes and to the several Properties of his Name and of his Son's Name He expects our Faith in him should be always grounded upon that in Christ which we see makes most for our present Relief Whether we want Wisdom Righteousness Strength Patience Pardon Comfort we must eye that in Christ that is the next immediate Encouragement to our Faith for that thing In the next place I shall shew you the necessity of Christ being in us and that upon a double ground First Because otherwise there can be no Vital Union between Christ and us no real Communion with him no saving Application of him to our Souls no Communication of Life and Grace to us A Branch can't bear fruit unless it abide in the Vine no more can ye except ye abide in me John 15. 4. He saith further Every branch that brings not forth fruit v. 2. A dreadful Text it should make Professors tremble at the reading of it every branch in me that brings not fruit No wonder to hear of fruitless Professors out of Christ but to hear how fruitless many are who are in Christ that is outwardly by Profession We may seem to be in Christ when Christ is not really in us The unfruitfulness of many Professors gives sad Demonstration of this Truth When Christ
Christ into the Soul begets Hope And also How Christ received doth feed nourish and maintain this Hope keep it up I begin with the First To consider the Nature of Faith as it is a Cause of Hope When the Apostle saith Christ in us is the Hope of Glory he means Christ received by us or Christ believed on For nothing but Faith can raise up Hope no not from Christ himself Faith is before all other Graces is the Mother of them all Hope Love Fear Joy Zeal and the like are but the several Motions of the Heart towards Christ as he is represented to us by Faith Faith raises and sanctifies our Affections lets them out upon Christ so leading out our Souls towards him by all those holy Passions that may be any way expressive of the high Veneration we have for him Our Affections do express the sense of our Souls whether we like or dislike how we stand affected towards any thing proposed to us My business is To shew how Faith begets Hope how naturally Hope rises out of Faith and is founded upon it And I shall argue from the Nature of Faith as it stands in relation to Hope so it is spoken of Heb. 11. 1. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen It is the Substance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quasi fulcrum rerum sperendarum It is Calvin's Notation upon the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Institut lib. 3. c. 2. Sect. 41. Faith is that which under-props Hope and therefore rendred the substance of things hoped for à substando denoting not only the subsistance of the things hoped for in the Understanding of a Believer but also the help that Faith gives our Minds to conceive of things to come as if they were now before our eyes and in our hands Faith is Hypostasis that which under-props our Hope that which Hope stands upon Faith bears up Hope Hope stands upon the shoulders of Faith and looks over into Eternity upon things to come which are lifted up as it were by Faith out of their Futurity and rendred as present to us in their very substance that is The Objects of a lively Hope do affect the Mind of a Believer as much as present Objects do our Senses Hence Faith is also called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Index Ostension Probation or Conviction of things hoped for that is it is the evidence of things not appearing the sight or intellectual Vision of things not seen it is the Perspicuity or plain Appearance of things obscure it is the presence of things absent the demonstration of things occult and hidden and all this because Faith doth secure to us what is hoped for from the Promise of God Evidence is a rational intellectual thing the demonstration of something to our Understandings But the Substance of a Thing is the Thing it self it is as if it were so to a Lively Hope thus raised and influenced by Faith Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen Besides Faith sees that in Christ that answers all Objections against our Hope His Power and Ability to save is unquestionable to every true Believer whether he will save such vile sinners as we are many doubts may come in at this door but it is of the Essence of Saving Faith to believe the Power and Ability of Christ to save to the uttermost there can be no Faith till then neither weak nor strong Where there is nothing to relye upon there can be no reliance That which we rely upon must be sure and certain in it self Hence Christ is compared to a Rock to a Foundation to a Corner-Stone that bears up the Weight of the whole Building He is one mighty to save and must be looked upon as such before a poor trembling Sinner will venture to trust in him I grant they who don't question his Power may doubt of his Will as that Leper Matth. 18. 2. If thou wilt thou canst make me whole Yet when things come to extremity between God and a Sinner Faith in the Power and Ability in Christ to save us will carry it against all surmizes of any unwillingness in him to save us When we are put to it indeed Faith will make the venture the Consideration whether he will or will not save thee is out of doors then you 'll cast your selves upon him at all adventure if I perish I perish tho thou killest me I will trust in thee To whom should we go with thee only are the words of eternal life There is no other name under heaven salvation is in no other Acts 4. 12. There is many a soul goes o Christ for Salvation who at the same time may fear and think and it may be say That Christ will not save them will not own them nor look upon them but having none else to flye unto to him they must and to him they will go at last if they belong to God Lord save us we perish say they They come to Christ under fears of perishing as appears by their Outcries and yet not without some hope of Deliverance as appears by their Coming I am persuaded many a dear Child of God goes out of the world under such a trembling Act of Faith and blessed are they that do so for certainly that is dying in the Lord. It may not be so comfortable yet it is a safe state And this may be not only the concluding Act of Faith in a dying hour but Faith may and doth so act in weak Christians at other seasons it brings them to the feet of Christ full of Fears and Doubts and there they lye and there they will lye till help comes from the Lord. They are long a coming to Christ but come they will first or last It shews they have some hope more it may be than they themselves take notice of They express it rather by their Actions than by their Words They act like those who have hope tho they speak like those who have none Master save us we perish I must allow something for these doubts and fears of our Acceptance with God upon the account of our own unworthiness as consistent with the Nature of Saving Faith in the main Yet whatever shew of Humility they have they are but a proud piece of Unbelief And I will further say That these distrustful Thoughts of Christ's Willingness to save us are most directly opposite to the Hope in the Text and do arise I am persuaded from a secret Distrust of his All-sufficiency and Power tho we may not discern this in our selves That act of Unbelief that is uppermost and most palpable goes for all the Unbelief that is in our heart when it is quite otherwise if they were searched to the bottom Unbelief hath many Strings and Fibres it is a complicated thing all evil is in it even Atheism it self let us carry it how we will it is a denial of God
way concerned in his Hope it is impossible to leave himself quite out of his Hope If Christ in you be your hope of Glory Then look upon him as the only sure bottom and foundation of all your Hopes you will prize him the more We naturally love and esteem that which gives us hope of any goood coming towards us The Reason why Christ is so little regarded so lightly set by is because men are afraid they shall be losers by him Go and sell all and follow me this is an hard saying to such as understand not the gain of Godliness the excellency of Christ that he is able to do more for them than all the World can Paul was so persuaded Rom. 8. 37. Nothing could separate him from the Love of God in Christ Jesus Neither life nor death nor all evils that it was possible for men and devils to bring upon him In all these things saith he we are more than conquerors As if he had said we are so far from being losers that we are great gainers come off with advantage Thanks be to God who hath given us the victory 1 Cor. 15. 57. Thanks be to God who also causes us to triumph in Christ 2 Cor. 2. 14. Thus he overcomes the world who believes Jesus is the Son of God 1 John 5. 4 5. Quenches all the fiery darts of the wicked one Eph. 6. 16. Overcomes by the blood of the Lamb Rev. 12. 11. But after all this If any should Object and say We cannot rejoyce in this Hope of Glory by Christ we cannot bring our hearts under the Power of this Hope as you have been persuading us to do I Answer You cannot but God can God by his Spirit of Power can do this in you and upon you We have a cloud of Witnesses to this in all those Saints in former Ages who have gone Triumphing to Heaven in a Joyful Hope and Expectation of Eternal Glory and you will find it so in your selves when the Spirit of God comes upon you as a Spirit of Power Let me tell you The impressions of the Spirit are strange things till you come under them then you feel the powerful effects of them in your own Souls will see that done which you thought could never have been done find that made easy to you which you thought was impossible And thus it will be when you are begotten again to a lively Hope Many Professors have a dead Hope of Eternal Life and Glory which make no impression upon them but a lively Hope hath lively Effects that will be felt It may be you will further Object and say It is true there are some who have this Hope and this Joy But may not all this be a Delusion upon false Grounds All I shall say in Answer is this I wish you would make the same Objections against your Worldly Hopes as you do against this Christian Hope I am sure you have more cause How prone are men to Object against the Hope of the Gospel And how willing are men to be flattering themselves with all Worldly Hopes they follow them are mightily pleased with them they all run well and are well founded But this Hope of Glory by Jesus Christ that is an ignote thing they know not what to make of it Look to it Those who are willing to nourish vain Hopes now will have Hope little enough ere long they will be Punished with Everlasting Despair in Hell But alas with what confidence and security do Men Hope in the Creature but with what trepidation and doubtfulness do some Trembling Souls Hope in Christ Methinks their Reason might instruct their Faith to argue otherwise from Gospel Principles the consequence of which Sanctifi'd Reason may discern and ought to attend unto You find a Thousand Instances in every Age of such whose Worldly Hopes have disappointed them and made them ashamed But never since the World began could there be one Instance produced of any Believer whose Hope in Christ hath made him ashamed It is strange that we should rejoyce so much under that Hope which seldom or never answers our expectation and be so much cast down and dispirited under those Hopes of Glory that never fail I wish you would but ask your selves the Reason of this It is a sign we are rather Carnal than Spiritual and savour more the things of this Earth than the things of Heaven It is a shame to think how little Influence this Hope of Glory hath upon us We usually count our selves the better for our Hopes but it seems the Hope of Glory adds little to us we lay it by as that which speaks of something to come a great while hence in another world we know not when we cannot get our minds to attend to it and look for the accomplishment of it And thus we bereave our selves of much good by suffering our Hope to languish as it will do if we don't take comfort in it and daily solace our selves with the thoughts of it To think of our Hopes is enough to revive us at any time especially when we count them sure and certain I know not whence it is but you may observe many Christians to be more in the Exercise of Faith and Love than of Hope We reverence the Word and dare not disbelieve that when we are under little or no Hope of what is promised to us in the Word A little Fear drowns our Hope We believe the Truth of the Promises but in modesty suspend the application of them to our selves as if it were a piece of Humility to Believe much and Hope but little God is good and gracious and faithful saith the drooping Soul here is Faith But I am unworthy I am less than the least of all his mercies unfit to receive any thing at his hand Thus by sinking our Hope we do insensibly weaken our Faith for a weak Faith doth always follow a languid Hope the Promises will grow out of credit with us when in an affected Despondency we humour our selves too much in refusing our own Mercies It would make our hearts ake if God should take us at our word and say Because you will not have this or that Mercy you shall not have it because you will not have life by applying this and that Promise to your selves I reverse it call it in declare you shall never have that Mercy I say it would make our hearts ake if God should take us at our word when in a froward sullen fit of Despondency It is a slight to his rich Grace to be so shy of it to take but little when much is offered Express then the greatness of your Faith by the greatness of your Hope As God hath abounded yea superabounded in his Grace towards you so do you abound more and more in your Hope in him Faith is but a Notion a mere empty Speculation when the good things of the Promise are not brought down to our selves by a lively Hope that
to manifest the Name of God to his Elect Joh. 17. 6. to tell us all things relating to our salvation Joh. 4. 25. Therefore let us hear him Mat. 17. 5. by Christ Angels have a clearer knowledge of God Eph. 3. 1. He is seen of Angels as the Redeemer of the World and he only gives us understanding of those truths that lead unto Eternal Life 1 Joh. 5. 20. He is the way the truth and the life no man comes unto the Father but by him Joh. 14. 6. 4. What it is to know God in Christ Of this only in general to make way to the last Head which I shall more enlarge upon He that knows Christ to be God knows God in Christ this needs no proof But what is it know Christ to be God Answer To own him to be the Eternal Son of God When do we own him as such Ans. when we acknowledge him to be indeed the Christ the Saviour of the world Joh. 4. 42. Trusting in him for the Pardon of Sin Jer. 31. 34. They shall all know me from the least to the greatest saith the Lord for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more Till we know God to be a God of Forgiveness casting our selves by Faith upon Christ for the pardon of our Sins we do not savingly know the Lord. To know in the sense of the Text includes in it Faith Love and Approbation Faith in the Truth Love to the Truth and a hearty Approbation of the Truth which we profess to know testifying all this by our ready subjection and obedience to it As to know is to love and approve Psal. 1. 6. So not to know is to disallow to disown to disapprove to hate that which I do I allow not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 7. 15. I know not and therefore know not because I allow not I hate it So the Lord said to the foolish Virgins Mat. 25. 12. I know you not i. e. I do refuse reject and condemn you So Joh. 17 25. The World is said not to know the Father because they rejected that Revelation which he made of himself in Christ The Galatians in their Pagan state are said not to know God Gal 4. 8. some knowledge of God they had by the creatures but none in Christ and therefore are said not to know God This saving-knowledge of God in Christ is altogether Spiritual and lies in the spâ—cial light of Faith discerning the God-head of Christ and therefore inclining us to trust in the Merits of his Precious Blood for the Pardon of all our Sins 'T is a very gross corrupt Interpretation of that Text 2 Cor. 5 16. that the Lutheran Divines give Tho we have known Christ after the flesh yet now henceforth know we him no more i. e. say they in favour of their Ubiquity Tho we have known him as a Body circumscribed and limited to a certain place while on earth yet since his Ascention we know him so no more but suppose a Corporeal Ubiquity by virtue of his Divine Glorified Person which is in effect to deny the Truth of his Human Nature by ascribing that to it which is altogether inconsistent with it The Apostle's meaning is plainly this Henceforth know we no man after the flesh i. e. I and all true Believers since our Conversion bear no affection no carnal worldly respect to any man living Tho once we knew Christ after the flesh i. e. as the world knew him by his outward appearance only slighting and condemning that in him in his state of Humiliation which the world so much despised Then we looked upon him as a mere Man as an Impostor worthy of death therefore we blasphemed him and persecuted all his Followers This was the sense of the flesh But now we look upon him in the Light of the Spirit as the Son of God who died to save us from our sins They counted Paul's Ministry inferior to that of the other Apostles because he had not conversed with Christ on earth What tho says Paul I have not known him after the flesh as you have who boast much of this That you knew his Parents his Brethren and Sisters where he was born and bred c. Yet I spiritually know him by Faith as the Redeemer of the world tho I have not known him after the flesh as you have neither do I desire henceforth so to know him i. e. to account of him according to any mere human Endowments or outward worldly Circumstances but I judge of him according to his Divine Supernatural Excellencies and so I admire and magnifie him When Paul says We know Christ no more after the flesh flesh here is not taken for the substance of the flesh but for the quality or natural Passions of his Human body being liable to all those natural yet sin-less Infirmities of Human Flesh He was hungry athirst weary a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs 'T is not said we know no more the flesh of Christ but we know no more Christ after the flesh i. e. according to that mean outward appearance he made in the world in his state of Humiliation Our thoughts run higher now to Christ glorified in Heaven in our Nature These words Not to know Christ any more after the flesh must not be taken in Servetus's sense as if the Human Nature of Christ were now quite swallowed up by the Divine as if Christ had now put off his Human Body and was turned into a Spirit This overthrows the whole Foundation of Christian Religion Tho the Papists many of 'em seem to be against the Lutheran Ubiquity yet 't is evident That neither the Doctrine of Consubstantiation nor Transubstantiation can possibly stand without a Corporal Ubiquity and therefore both must fall to the ground as having no foundation in Scripture The Apostle's meaning is That we don't know Christ now according to the sense of the flesh but by a Divine Spiritual Knowledge as New Creatures Vers. 17. Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature CHAP. III. What a true saving Knowledge of God implies Being the Fifth and last Head WHat that Saving Knowledge of God in Christ that every new Creature hath does imply I shall more particularly shew some things first premised viz. 1. True Religion flows from and is grounded upon a right Knowledge of the True God 2. A Religion without a God is a very strange unaccountable thing no reason can be given for it 3. A man without a God is a very lonely solitary Creature he would not know what to do with himself under extraordinary difficulties and distresses if he had not a God to go unto and to rely upon 4. Man by Nature is a devout Creature he will have a God and a Religion he hath a Conscience and therefore he must have a God and a Religion of some sort or other 5. Man by Nature is prone to Idolatry grossly mistaken in the
Promise so he becomes our God he makes a Covenant with us in Christ to be our God that for his sake he will freely pardon our sins and receive us into a state of Grace and Favour again thus God offers himself in the Covenant to be our God But an outward tender of grace if not closed in with and accepted is but a bare offer not a gift till we receive it when God intends to give grace he secretly joyns with the outward call speaks himself to the heart and inclines us to receive it herein lyes the difference between an outward and an inward effectual Call An effectual Call is that which hath its effect upon the Soul makes us answer to the call and obey it we are called to come to Christ and when we actually come then is the Call effectual and not before when God offered himself to Abraham it was with a purpose not to be refused and therefore he inclined the heart of Abraham to believe You may live long under an outward Call and not be effectually called i. e. not called with such a Call as God gives his Elect at thir Conversion many are called but few chosen i. e. few called with such a Call as God gives his Elect. We cannot be sure of our Election till we are thus effectually called To be frequent Hearers of the word calling us to Christ and yet find no inclinations in our hearts to come to him is a sign that God hath not yet spoken to us himself Ministers have but God hath not yet by his Spirit set home his word upon our hearts The inclinations of the Soul towards Christ that arise from an effectually Call are very strong they put the Soul upon coming to Christ urge us to it every day there is something writ upon the heart whch he that runs may read Conscience is reading over that inward Writing every day to the Soul calls for a speedy answer why is not this done that God requires that God has left upon record in thy heart Why so backward why so slow of heart to believe Arise arise away to Christ as fast as you can run for your life to the City of refuge that God has appointed They who know what an inward Call is cannot resist it an awakened Conscience is in hast will have the business dispatched out of hand nothing can stop that man who is effectually called O that every one here present were under such a Call this day God is able to give it and I am sure none of you are able to resist it Christ is offered to us in the New Covenant as our Peace-maker and Mediator therefore called the covenant of the people Isa. 42. 6. the sure foundation of it Isa. 26. 16. The Covenant made with Abraham is said to be confirmed of God in Christ before his Incarnation Gal. 3. 17. This Covenant was made between the Father and the Son from Eternity Isa. 42. 6. Tit. 1. 2. 2 Tim. 1. 9. The first outward declaration or revelation of it was in time Gen. 3. 15. The actual application of this Grace to our selves is when we first Believe We enter into Covenant by Faith we set our seal to the truth of the Promise and receive that right that Christ Believed on gives to Eternal life Faith it self gives no right to Salvation unto us but what it first receives from Christ we have nothing to do with the promise till we are in Christ by Faith Eph. 2. 12. Rom. 8. 32. Faith discerns the Grace and Love of God to us in Christ and accepts of the offer of life upon Gospel terms which the Soul could never be brought to till Faith came Who has believed the report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been reveal'd i. e. to beget Faith which wins over a Sinner to Christ We should be much in the first direct acts of Faith coming to Christ casting our selves on Christ relying on Christ these direct acts of Faith often repeated will sooner clear up our Interest in Christ than our judging by marks signs effects and fruits which can give no clearer Evidence of their truth than Faith does of its truth in a real closing with Christ in an absolute Promise this is the first act of Saving Grace antecedent to all qualifications in us or conditions performed by us this alters our State They understand not the Gospel who keep off from Christ for want of such and such qualifications which Christ expects not we should bring to him but derive from him an humble sense of our vileness and unworthiness is qualification enough for a Sinner to come to Christ and cast himself upon him When God has once said he will be our God he is ever after minding us of that speaking it over again and again upon all occasions Isa. 43. 1 2 3. c. Isa. 41. 10. Heb. 8. 11 12. I will and they shall God undertakes both parts of the Covenant The Covenant in the first initial Grace of it must be first executed on God's part towards us before it can be executed on our part towards God God begins with us doth his part first and that enables us to do our part i. e. we cannot give up our selves to him to be his people till he has writ his Laws in our Hearts and put his Spirit within us thereby declaring himself to be our God and strongly inclining us to give up our selves to him as his People God first enters into Covenant with us brings us under the bond of it and then governs us ever after by the Grace of that Covenant freely conferred upon us There may be conditions in the Covenant that speak out the order of it what is first and what follows upon it according to the method of the All-wise God in bringing hom-Sinners to Christ But I do not conceive there are any conditions previously required in us in order to our first entring into Covenant God takes whom he will into Covenant and leaves out whom he will 't is not of him that wills nor of him that runs but of God that shews Mercy 't is a Covenant of Free Grace consisting of absolute Promises what God will do our doing comes afterwards as a fruit and effect of God's work in us That which is done by us in the virtue and power of that which is first done in us by God must be ascribed to him and not to our selves Turn thou me and I shall be turned God gives the first turn before we can perceive any such thing as Conversion in our selves God lays in the principle and then draws us in the Power of it after himself The Terms of the Covenant may be outwardly propounded to many who never enter into Covenant with God nor God with them the Covenant is never executed in them and towards them though it be often preacht to them How often would I have gathered you and you would not Mat. 23. 37. When the word of
put no other sense upon any Scripture that is not consistent with and agreeable to this great fundamental Principle keeping close to the just analogy of Faith in all your tenents and opinions I know there are other things to be considered besides Remission of Sin but be sure you begin here don't suppose that some previous qualifications in your selves are required to incline God to pardon your sins for this will carry you unavoidably into a self-righteousness and then Christ will profit you nothing We are not pardon'd because we repent and lead holy lives but we repent and lead holy lives because we are fully Pardoned for Christ's sake Shut all self-righteousness out of your justification and take all that is Christ's into it both his active and passive Obedience though I had rather joyn them together as the Scriptures do and say That by the obedience of one man many are made righteous i. e. by the Obedience of Christ in Suffering and doing all that the Law required And in the Application of this Grace to us 't is clear to me that upon the Remission of all our Sins Righteousness is imputed to us and this is that which the Apostle calls Righteousness without works Rom. 4. 6 7 8. The Righteousness of works so far as it can be attained in this life is but an effect of the Righteousness of Faith You know not the right way of Salvation till you know how to obtain the Pardon of all your Sins then you will see how Christ is become your Righteousness Let us not be too curious in placing one part of our Justification upon his Passive and another part upon his Active Obedience Let us be sure to place all upon Christ and then we are right the Spirit does not reveal the whole Mystery of Christ at once to Believers there is a great deal of Christ to be learned by those who are Justified and Pardoned even after they are in a state of Grace Let us believe Christ to be our Righteousness and leave it to him to make out the way and manner of his being so Our terms and distinctions applied to the fundamental Points of Religion have occasioned many mistakes about them Let us therefore attend more strictly to the simplicity of our own Faith and not call in our Reason to prompt our Faith but rather submit our Reason to the instructions of Faith I would have all Christians study their own Faith more and dwell more in the light of it then they will be more familiarly acquainted with it and better understand themselves in every act of Faith they put forth Let us give our Faith time to act to open it self further to us and our selves time to take in the full sense of our Faith Generally our acts of Faith are too short sudden and transient We make a formal profession of Faith and say We believe in Christ for the Pardon of Sin but don't so well weigh and consider what we say or what we belâ—eve we turn off presently to something else as if we had done with our Faith when the Mystery of it is not half apprehended by us We should attend to it ponder it well in our minds look round it this is the way to keep up a presence of mind in us about what we Believe One act of Faith attended to will fill us with such thoughts and apprehensions of the Love of Christ that will furnish us with matter of discourse for many days But I don't find Professors so much concerned in their own Faith so much affected with it as they should they pass it over as a plain ordinary piece of Religion and having once declared they believe in Christ for the Pardon of Sin they have no more to do with him Whereas the Mystery of Faith should be studied all our lives long we should pray as Paul did Eph â— â—7 c. vide That we may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints Faith has more in it than most People are aware of 't is not so easy a matter to know comprehend and remember what is contained in an act of Saving-Faith we should discourse more with our own Faith look into all particulars search to the bottom by gathering up more and more of the unsearcheable riches of Christ. He that would judge of a curious piece of Workmanship brings it to the light views it round in every part till he has gathered up all the excellencies of it into his mind then he can speak knowingly in the praise and commendation of such a thing having made observations before of all that was admirable in it So you should sit down and consider the consequence of an act of Faith upon Christ for Justification and Pardon what depends upon it what you gain by it what you expect from it all is yours if Christ be yours therefore be persuaded to enter into your Chambers and Closets sit down with a Bible in your hands stir up your Faith consider the state of a Believer and then gather up what makes for your comfort out of the Word of God O how would your Faces shine you would be filled with joy unspeakable and full of Glory by Believing there is not that Joy among Believers because they don't think enough of what they Believe Do you Believe in Christ for the Remission of Sin Then there is a great deal in Christ a great deal in Sin a great deal in the actings of thy own Soul under this Faith to be considered of The knowledge experience and evidence of Faith are things that should be particularly examined and seriously thought of There is a full business in Faith enough to imploy a gracious Soul all his days Faith fills the mind with deep apprehensions of our own great concernments in Christ Jesus Were we wise indeed unto Salvation we should think of nothing oftner than of what we believe there may be Faith and there may be Truth in the heart and yet these Two may not be sufficiently mingled together therefore we should often apply our Faith to the Word that what it does not see at one time it may see at another what it does not reach by one act it may take in by the next The oftner Faith looks into the Word the more distinctly does it gather up the full sense of the Word it dwells in us in more Wisdom and Spiritual Understanding Did we take this course we should quickly find the benefit of it out of our Bellies would flow Rivers of living water we should be more skilful in the word of Righteousness more expert Believers ready to give a reason of the hope that is in us Believers have much to say in defence of Christ the Gospel and their own Profession and the more they study the point the more ready are they to give an answer to them who ask them any questions about their Religion they keep
for the sake of Repentance but because by Repentance a man becomes willing to receive Christ 't is a vain thing to pretend to Faith in Christ for Pardon unless we see the Fruits of Faith in our selves in the exercise of all other Graces and in those good works of Holiness that always accompany Saving-Faith Faith never speaks but in some act it never gives a comfortable sense of it self but in some present act now 't is impossible truly to act Faith without an universal consent of the Soul to this act it diffuses its influence all over the Soul touches the Soul in every part strikes upon every string puts the whole Soul in tune every thing in a man does answer and correspond to such an act of Faith you may see your Faith in your Hope Love fear Zeal Repentance c. All Graces rise or fall as Faith does 't is like the spring of a Watch it sets all the Wheels in motion We may have a clearer discerning of Faith by a reflex act whence all assurance springs then we can by a direct act though you cannot see your selves closing in with Christ for Pardon whilst you only intend that thing and would fain prove Faith by it self and by its own justfying act yet if you look through your Love your Repentance through all the fruits of Faith in your Lives you will more clearly discern it in its Saving Justifying Act that you do really and sincerely take Christ as your only Righteousness and to shew that you do so you produce those things as proofs of your sincerity which this Faith hath put you upon and which you could never bring your selves to till Faith came drawing the whole Soul after Christ and strongly inclining you to a holy life this is God's way of teaching his Children by putting Principles of Faith and Holiness into their Hearts powerfully inclining them to live to God this is set forth by God's teaching the Ants to provide their Meat in the Summer Prov. 6. 8. i. e. God inclines them naturally to do this so does God Spiritually incline his Children by his Spirit dwelling in them to act as Christians ought to do The sum of all is this The Justifying-Righteousness of a Believing sinner before God lies in the Remission of sin and God's Gracious acceptation of sinful man upon the sole account of the Obedience of Christ our Mediator apprehended by Faith and imputed to him for Righteousness thus the Righteousness of God without the Law is manifest In humane Judicatories Forgiveness implies a meer non-imputation of the fault only but no imputation of Righteousness because in our Courts a man is Tried for some particular Offence and if he be found Guilty and through the Favour of the Prince obtain his Pardon that Pardon looks no further than that time for the after-course of his life he is accountable to the Law and must be Judged by it he stands upon his good Behaviour and must be a doer of Righteousness to avoid the Condemnation of the Law if not he must answer for his misdoing and be judged according to Law But 't is not so in Divinity for when we obtain the Pardon of sin by Faith that Pardon is general and universal to a man's life's end 't is not only a Pardon of this or that sin to such a time but a Pardon of all sins for ever such a Pardon does necessarily imply in it an imputation of Righteousness because no sin can ever be imputed to him his Pardon is valid in all times to come though the Law be still a rule of Obedience yet he is no longer under the Law as a Covenant of life but under Grace and for all his miscarriages under the New Covenant he must apply himself to the Grace of that Covenant for Mercy and Pardon but he shall never be judged by the Law more the satisfaction of Christ is instead of all legal Righteousness to him and to that he stands the Law having accepted of it delivers him up to Christ untouched by the hand of Vengeance to be governed ever after by the Law of Grace which establishes the holiness of the Law though it shuts it out of our Justification yet not out of our lives but strictly enjoins it CHAP. VI. The APPLICATION SINCE God hath given us the knowledge of Salvation by the Remission of sin let us act according to that knowledge and begin our Religion with Remission of sin I mean let us first study that point well when we are over that are got into the Mystery of that great Gospel-Truth we shall more clearly see upon what account it is we are dealt with looked upon and accepted as Righteous in Christ unto Eternal Life Faith ought to have both the active and passive Obedience of Christ in its eye but I would not too nicely distinguish between them abstracting the active from the Passive ascribing the Remission of sin to one and our title to life to the other because I find some who do so apt to drop the Righteousness of Christ that will not serve the turn they must have a Righteousness of their own an Evangelical righteousness to strengthen their title to Life thus while they set up a Law of Grace requiring such and such things to be done by us in order to our Justification they turn Grace into Works set up a New Covenant of Works differing from the first only in this that whereas the first Covenant in Innocency justified upon the account of perfect Obedience this upon the account of our imperfect Obedience We know but in part there will be some difference among us in our Notions and Conceptions of these things and more in our Words and Expressions the same thoughts in one and another seldom come forth in the same words I have offered you what I take to be most agreeable to the Mind of God Do you search the Scriptures and judge I do conceive that the New Covenant of Grace requires as compleat and perfect a Righteousness nay a higher Righteousness for the Justification of a Sinner than the Law of Innocency did for the Justification of a sinless man That was but the Righteousness of man this must be the Righteousness of God reckoned or imputed to us not his essential Righteousness but that which is wrought out for us by him who is God and which God approves of and being thus justified God does graciously accept of our sincere imperfect Obedience together with our persons Let us not puzzle our selves about a second Justification get the Pardon of all your sins sealed to you in the Blood of Christ and fear no after-charge at the last day that will answer all I see no room for a Second Justification Can it be imagined that defects of our Grace here in this imperfect state should be brought in as proofs against the truth of Grace in our perfect state hereafter If Grace in its perfection cannot sufficiently evidence its Truth I see
verse is called God And he blessed Joseph and said God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk the God which fed me all my life long unto this day the angel which redeemed me from all evil bless the lads Hence Christ is called our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isa. 43. 14. Thus saith the Lord your redeemer the holy One of Israel Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel and his redeemer the Lord of hosts Isa. 44. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Redemptor ejus This word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a near kinsman as well as a Redeemer Ruth 4. 4. Blessed be the Lord which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Redeemer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Redemptor propinquus Ruth 3. 12. a near kinsman Christ was both Heb. 2. 14. ad finem vide So in the New Testamen the word used for Redemption or to redeem is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 forum to buy as in a market with ready money as in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ye are bought with a price So Rev. 5. 9. Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood And Rev. 14. 3 4. The Hundred forty four thousand were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 redeemed or bought from the earth and from among men Hence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 3. 13. Christ hath Redeemed us from the Curse of the Law emercatus as Merchants who give a valuable consideration for the Commodities they buy so Christ emendo exemit has redeemed us by buying us off The same word you have Gal. 4. 5. God sent forth his Son to redeem them that were under the Law by laying down a sufficient price Hence Christ is said to give his life a ransom for many Mat. 20. 28. He gave himself a ransom for all 1 Tim. 2. 6. The words used in those places are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 solvo to loose one from his bands as Paul was Acts 22. 30. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he loosed him from his bands It signifies also to loose from sin by the Free Pardon of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven Mat. 16. 19. The same word is applied to Christ 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ye are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ or with the honourable invaluable Blood of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As Servants under the Law were redeemed by Price or Compensation Lev. 25. 52. so are we under the Gospel we are Servi emptitii bought Servants By all this it appears That our Redemption by Christ is not a bare simple deliverance and freedom from Misery by a meer act of Power only but a real Price was paid It pleased God to redeem man in a way of Justice as most agreeable to his holy Nature who as a Righteous God punishes sinners Psal. 11. 5 6 7. Rev. 16. 15 16. Rom. 3. 26. Natural Conscience is convinced of the equity of this that a sinner is worthy of death Rom. 1. 32. Justice cannot be taken off from inflicting this Punishment but by Satisfaction given by Christ If sin could have been forgiven without it Christ would never have undergone such Sufferings as he did A Believer may plead both Mercy and Justice for the Pardon of Sin Art thou afraid Grace will not reach thee then know that Justice it self will discharge thee Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died Rom. 8. 33 34. CHAP. III. SIxthly For whom and to what end was this Price paid For all the Elect that not one of them might be lost John 6. 39. 'T was the love of God that procured this Ransom God so loved the world c. John 3. 16. Rom. 3. 24 25. We are brought nigh to God by the blood of Christ Eph. 2. 13. Justice being satisfied nothing can now obstruct the free course of his mercy towards us Christ knew he was able to rescue us out of the power of Sin and Satan undertook this when he laid down the ransom but the actual accomplishment of this in us is a work of time many for whom Christ shed his Blood are not presently freed from Sin and Satan they both have power over them till Christ by his Word and Spirit hath subdued them and set his Elect at perfect liberty some degrees of this liberty they attain in this World but not their full and perfect liberty till the Resurrection then the strong man shall be quite cast out by one stronger than himself then will those Scriptures Heb. 2. 14. Col. 2. 14 15. be fulfilled in us Our Redemption by Christ is the greatest expression of God's love to us that ever was Rom. 5. 8. Rom. 8. 32. Joh. 15. 13. Seventhly By the law of Redemption the Redeemed pass over Body and Soul into the possession of the Redeemer they become his Isa. 43. 1. vide His peculiar people the lot of his Inheritance Deut 4. 20. Deut. 32. 9. God calls them so from their Redemption out of Egypt which was a Type of our Redemption by Christ therefore Believers are called in the New Testament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a peculiar people or a purchased people 1 Pet. 2. 9. To buy is to acquire or procure unto ones self a special right in any thing so bought thus the Church is purchased by the Blood of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 20. 28. Possession follows Purchase the Purchased Possession Eph. 1. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to do something about us God does clasp us round as it were and incircle us he draws us to himself separating us from the rest of Mankind These are mine says Christ I am the sole Proprietor I have purchased an everlasting right in them and dominion over them they are my own I am their Lord and King they are at my disposal 1 Cor. 7 23. I am their father and redeemer Isa. 63. 16. A dwelling-house in a walled city if it were not redeemed within a whole year after 't was sold it was established for ever to him that bought it Levit. 25. 30. But the Saints are Christ's own for ever as soon as he has bought them he will never sell them never part with them What right did God recover in and to us by Redeeming us 1. God has an original right to and dominion over all Creatures by the Law of Creation Hath not the Potter power over the clay of the same lump to make what vessels he pleases unto honour or dishonour Rom. 9. 21. 2. God as a Creator and Judge hath a right to man fallen to dispose of him according to justice to execute his vengeance upon him To make his power known upon vessels of wrath fitted to destruction Rom. 9. 22. But 3.
way fitted for the Office of a Mediator touched with the feeling of our Infirmities in all points tempted as we are Heb. 4. 15. A body hast thou prepared me Heb. 10. 5. i. e. Framed to such a temper that Christ through our nature might best express God's love to man Christ acted over the life of God in man's nature therefore it was necessary that the humane Nature of Christ should be adapted and suited to the Divine Nature which was done three ways viz. First By the perfection of it being free from all contagion of sin by a miraculous conception the Holy Ghost over-shadowing the Virgin Mary and separating humane Nature in the first conception of Christ from original sin that descends down upon it in all who come into the World by natural Generation Secondly By the Hypostatical union of the humane Nature to the Divine in the second Person of the Trinity which eternally secures our humane Nature in Christ from all possibility of the least defection puts it quite out of the power of the Devil any way to corrupt or vitiate it by all his subtil contrivances and temptations by which he did vainly attempt such a thing perfect Nature in the first Adam I don't say could not but did not preserve it self Adam did not fall for want of light and knowledge no he could never have fallen unless he would 't was from the mutability of his Will that he fell but the humane Nature of Christ the second Adam being under the Government of a Divine immutable Will can never fall hence it is that our standing in Christ is secured to eternity Thirdly By the pouring out of the Spirit without measure upon him that so strengthned all his humane Faculties that 't was impossible the Devil should ever impose upon him such an overflowing fulness of the Spirit leaves no room for any carnal impression to be made upon him his humane Nature received such a Divine tincture from the essence of the Godhead so powerfully influencing his Manhood that the Devil found nothing in him to work upon he met with God in every thought in every word in every Action of Christ in every motion and affection of his heart and finding one so much greater than himself continually aiding and strengthning the Man Christ he despairs of Victory and leaves him The Devil was not mistaken in the Nature of the Man Christ which was really humane but he was mistaken in the Person of Christ which was solely Divine such a Person in such a Nature he never thought to meet with that which posed the Devil was the Person of Christ he might know him to be God and yet apply himself to him as Man that he is sure he was he could not conceive how humane Nature could subsist but in a humane Person and as such a Person he set upon him but found it hard to kick against the pricks such a mighty Man he never grapled with before he was so shamefully foyled in this encounter that he never durst look Christ in the face afterwards he came behind him often like a Coward in disguise and by his wicked Instruments annoyed him all he could but durst not send him a second Challenge to fight it out with him once more hand to hand no he had enough of that already now he foams and rages at a distance throws his fiery darts here and there strikes at the Image of Christ in the Saints where ever he sees it but dares not come up to his Person face to face the great thing that the Devil dreads in the second coming of Christ he knows that is the time of his torment Therefore having such a high priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens Heb. 8. 1. who is not ashamed to call us Brethren let us not be ashamed to call God Father Christ will bear us out in it the Children of God as such are not known to the World 1 John 3. 1. Have hard usage from the World 2 Cor. 48. 9 10. Yet God knows them is kind to them and tender of them Isa. 54. 11. Behold now we are the sons of God 1 John 3. 2. Now under all our infirmities and afflictions God is with us in the fire and in the water he has a great love to and very high esteem of all his Children since thou wast precious in my sight thou hast been honourable and I have loved thee Isa. 43. 2 3 4. He will by no means take away his loving kindness utterly from them Psal. 89 32 33. Deut. 8. 5. We are apt to think otherwise Isa. 49. 14. Zion said the Lord hath forsaken me my Lord hath forgotten me We shall be apt to entertain hard thoughts of God upon all occasions if we live not under the daily sense of our Adoption in which we see the Fatherly love of God flowing down so strongly towards us through Christ that we cannot but greatly rejoyce in it THE NECESSITY OF Preaching CHRIST I COR. I. 23 24. But we preach Christ crucified c. THE design of the Apostle here is to vindicate the Doctrine of our Salvation by Christ from all those Aspersions that were cast upon it both by the Jews and Gentiles the Gospel then was as much cry'd down by some as it was cry'd up by others The Apostle tells you who were for it and who were against it he divides all men into two ranks viz. The Called and Uncalled the Converted and Unconverted he tells you that they who were effectually Called and Converted were for the Gospel but the Uncalled and Unconverted were against it and as it was then so it is now Hence note Obs. That all unregenerate Persons whether Jews or Gentiles will have a fling at the Gospel 't is contrary to them and they are as contrary to it they can't reach the Mystery of it and therefore do slight and contemn it but all who are effectually called and savingly enlightned do highly prize it they see much of the Power and Wisdom of God in that excellent contrivance of Man's Salvation by Christ they desire to know nothing but Christ and him Crucified Let us have a care we do not darken the evidence of our Conversion by a Spirit of opposition to the Gospel in the main fundamental points of it I shall do little else in this Exercise but open the terms of the text observing some things by the way But we preach Christ crucified c. He shews the matter and manner of his Preaching in this Chapter what he Preached and how 1. The matter of his Preaching or what he Preached viz. The Gospel v. 17. The Cross v. 18. Or Christ Crucified v. 23. 2. The manner of his Preaching v. 17. Not with Wisdom of words So 1 Cor. 2. 4. vide Vnto the Jews a stumbling-block they were offended at Christ's low mean humble state in the flesh they did not look for any great matter from such