sweetly reposeth it self in the â—osome of God by love 1 John 4 7 8. Beloved let us love one another for love is of God and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God he that loveth not knoweth not God for God is Love You see love to God and to the Brethren is both a sure sign and a genuine effect of Regeneration which is synomminous with Sanctification This grace of Love is the very soul of all Religion the very life of the new Creature the closure of the soul with God in the sweetest manner he that hath most of this grace hath most of all graces This is one of the precious things promised in the new Covenant Deut. 30. 6. viz. An heart to love the Lord the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul This is made a special effect and evidence of thy spiritual Circumcision or Sanctification In Sanctification as the understanding is enlightned to know God so the will and affections are renewed changed rightly ordered and enclined to love God as his chiefest good and as his utmost End Corn and Wine and Oyl and all the world is then counted nothing to the light of Gods countenance All other Beloveds are no body to Jesus Psalm 4. 6 7. Cant. 5. 10. Christ the chiefest of ten thousands A sanctified soul exactly viewing and well weighing the glittering pomp and splendor of this world all natural and moral excellencies on the one hand and Jesus Christ on the other cryes out with the Martyr Lambert None Foxes Acts and Monuments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 propter eminentiam cognitionis Christi Iesu Moâ—â— but Christ none but Christ Counts all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dogs-meat garbage to the excellency of the Knowledge of Jesus Christ Phil. 3. 8. A Christian loves himself his Relations and worldly comforts with a common love but God and Jesus Christ with a special love He loves his temporal Enjoiments secondarily and subordinately but he loves God and Christ primarily intensively and superlatively yea so highly intensive is his love to God his Father to Christ his Saviour to the holy Spirit his souls Comforter to Heaven and heavenly things his only Treasure that his love to other things comparatively may be called an Hatred i. e. a much inferiour a far more remiss love See Luke 14. 26. more distinctly First A sanctified heart loves God with a Amore desideriâ— love of desire The strength of the heart goeth out in love this is called the breathing thirsting and panting of the heart after God Psalm 42. 1 2. The soul that loves God above all things desires God above all things both intensivè with the greatest vigor and Adequatè as its Adequate and compleat Object Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee 2. A sanctified heart loves God with a love of Union as the heart of Shechem Amore unionis clave to Dinah Gen. 34. 3. So an holy soul cleaves unto God in Christ Barnabas exhorted the Disciples that with purpose of heart they would cleave to the Lord Acts 11. 23. As the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David 1 Sam. 1. 18. So this Love is as it were a knitting of the soul with God Faith makes a mystical union of Persons Love makes a moral union of affections This is the very essence of Gospel-love God bestows himself Aâ—or â—oâ— est nisi dâ—num amantis in amatum on us and we freely surrender our selves to God Thirdly A sanctified heart loves God with a love of good will or Benevolence we wish and will give and ascribe all honour and 〈◊〉 Benevolentia praise all glory and dominion unto him This is the genuine product of his love in Christ to us as Revel 1. 5 6. Vnto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen Lord saith an holy soul let all thine be mine and let all mine be thine and let thine be for thy glory let every person Cant â— 16 and creature and thing in Heaven above and in earth beneath be a shril Trumpet a loud Cymbal to sound forth thy praises Fourthly A sanctified heart loves God with Amore complacentiae acquiescentiae a love of Complacence and Rest Where we love the eye of the soul the mind is fixed with a delightful stay ubi amor ibi oculus the Object dwels in the 〈◊〉 we are still looking where we love When I awake saith the Psalmist Anima plus est ubi amat quà m ubi animat I am still with thee in my contemplations and affections My meditation of him shall be sweet I will be glad in the Lord Psalm 104. 34. Love goeth forth upon the feet of Desire and rests in the bosome of Delight There is an holy acquiescence of the heart in God God saith of his Saints This is my Rest for ever Psal 132. 14. Psal 116. 7. Psal 91. 9. Ephes 3. ult here will I dwell the Saint saith of God Return to thy rest O my soul A Saintt makes God the most High his Habitation and a Saints heart is the Habitation of God through the Spirit Here lyes the sweetness of holiness the marrow and fatness of Religion This World would be a Dungeon and Heaven it self a melancholly shade without the love of God 't is this that makes Heaven and Earth sweet unto the sanctified Heaven would be no Heaven God could not be the joy if he were not the love of Saints but there both love and Psal 16. ult joy shall be full But whilst the Saints are solacing themselves with Heaven and delighting themselves in God other men are following after other Lovers The covetous man makes Mammon his God the voluptuous man makes Pleasure his God the Ambitious man makes Honour his God the Formalist and Hypocrite makes Common grace self-righteousness a bare profession or the meer externals of Devotion his God and Saviour because every one of these make some of these their only Treasure and Happiness They dote upon them addict themselves to them trust to them and in them and love them more than God But a Saint that knows God makes Jehovah his God he hath but one the living and true God to honour love and serve who is the fountain of his life and blessedness Psal 36. 9. Psal 87. 7. Col. 3. 3. in whom all his springs are in whom with Jesus Christ all his Comforts live and from whom by Jesus Christ all his felicity is conveyed to make him happy in both worlds The new creature hath a new heart according to that full and free Promise Ezek. 36. 26. A new heart will
I give you and a new spirit will I put within you which new heart I take to bee the Genus of all the following graces And where there is this new heart there will bee new Affections new longings and earnest breathings of foul after God Christ Heaven and Immortality for behold saith Christ I make all things new Rev. 21. 5. Secondly As a sanctified person loves his God so also he loves his Brother this is made Love of the Brethren an evidence of Regeneration one great evidence of our happy and new Translation 1 John 3. 14. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the Brethren he that loveth not his Brother abideth in death Many a be-nighted soul I have â—ad Qui diligit fratrem magis novit dilectionem quá diligit quam fratrem quem diligit Aug de Trinit and heard upon the plank of this evidence have been kept from sinking down into the Whirl pool of despair it hath been a refreshing Cordial to many a doubting Christian upon their Death-beds 1 Joh. 4. 7. Every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God and in v. 20. the Apostle draws down a negative inference from the Premises If a man say I love God and hateth his brother he is a lyar for he that loveth not his brother whom he bath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen That interrogation is a plain Negation if the amiable and visible workmanship of God be not loved 't is impossible the invisible Author of that workmanship should Query Who are the Brethren intended in this Epistle Answ 1. There are Brethren by Nation Acts 7. 23. 25. Rom. 9 3. 2. Brethren by Nature descended of the same Parents Matth. 1. 2. 3. Brethren by Office 2 Pet. 3. 15. 2 Cor. 1. 1 c. 4. Brethren by Grace and super-natural Relation and so understand the Term here Query How shall we know whether we truly love the Brethren which is so great a sign of our new birth Answ I answer Affirmatively 1. When we love them as such The Brethren for their spiritual brotherhood Christians for their Christianity the Saints for their Sanctification 1 John 5. 1. He that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him he that loves the Father loves the Image of the Father in the Childe Hee that loves the Person loves the picture for the Persons sake Grace must be the principal Load-stone of our affection not Beauty birth sweetness of disposition Breeding Learning Wealth Honour or any outward or carnal accomplishments whatsoever Secondly When we love and delight in them above all other people Psalm 16. 2 3. David a King cals them the Excellent in whom was all his delight and Christ prefers his spiritual before his own natural Relations Mat. 12. 47 48 49 50. 3. When wee love those of the Brotherhood most that are most gracious if grace allures Love Caeteris paribus the more of the former the more of the latter Christ loved all his Disciples John 13. 1. but John eminently gracious was eminently beloved wherefore called the beloved Disciple John 21. 20. 4. When we singularly and peculiarly love their society above all other I am said David Noscitur ex Comâ—te qui non dignoscitur ex se a Companion to all them that fear thee The sanctified can have no intimate contenting fellowship with the unholy Psalm 26. 4 5. I have not sate with vain persons c. I have hated the Congregation of evil doers â— and will not sit with the wicked Again Psalm 15. 4. In whose eyes a vile person is contemned but he honoureth them that fear the Lord. This is one Character of an Inhabitant in Gods holy Hill 5. When we are willing in some cases to lay down our lives for the Brethren A Christian is bound not only to lay down his life for Christ and for his Gospel when God cals him to it but also in some special Cases for the Brother-hood * Significat in eo probari nostram charitatem si amorem nostri in fratres transferimus ita ut sui quisque quodammodo oblitus aliis Consulat Calv. in loc 1 John 3. 16. Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us and wee ought to lay down our lives for the Brethren If our love to the Brethren be singular and to the life as Christs was to us we shal lay down our lives for them 't is not a common or cold love of the Brethren that evinceth your Regeneration every new born babe doth with John desire to decrease so that Christ Mystical may encrease that the Kingdome of Christ be enlarged the generation of the Righteous multiplied amplified and preserved though it be that in the promoting of it he himself his Honour his Name his Life must lie in the dust of Death To these things I have spoken more fully from another Subject I pass on to the fifth particular 5. A sanctified or regenerate person overcomes the world 1 John 5. 4. Hee that is born of God overcometh the world 1. Here we have two Adversaries the Regenerate and the World Secondly the Victor 1. The regenerate who are chiefly defensive as the whole Armor of God is chiefly defensive Ephes 6. 14. to 19. verses 2. The world on the other part principally offensive John 15. 18 19 20. Now what is the world 1. Partly the men of the world these lie in wickedness 1 Joh. 5. 19. these hate the Saints because they are not of the world but chosen out of the world by Christ John 19. 19. 1. By the world understand wicked worldlings with their persecutions of the Saints 2. Partly the lusts of the world in Charms So Calv. Zanch. in loc and Allurements 1 John 2. 16. the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life i. e all the delights pleasures and Contentments which the flesh or body desires Thus the world with all its oppositions and insinuations frowns and flatteries sets upon the Saints Secondly The Victor he that is born of God overcometh the world he carrieth away the Conquest Whilst the Saints are in the world â—â—ey are in an estate militant there is carried on a spiritual War between two Antagonists viz the Spirit of Regeneration in the Saints and the Spirit of the World with all his worldly lusts and allurements which Syren songs do draw in and drown which Cups of fornication do choak and poyson millions in the world Now hee that is born of God by the spirit of faith dwelling in him both as the Forma informans forma Assistens is empowred to subdue corruptions within and to vanquish temptations from without so that by partaking of the divine Nature he escapes the pollutions that is in the world through lust 2 Pet. 1. 4. as the Apostle speaks A sanctifâ—â—d man hath in him the spirit of
the world to seem and not to be just he converseth more with men than with God Yet the godly can appeal to God for their sincerity though they tremble at their defects and impurity like Peter John 20. 17. He appeals to Christs Omnisciency Lord thou knowest all things and thou knowest that I love thee So holy Job expostulates the case thus Let me be weighed in an even ballance that God may know mine integrity Job 31. 6. He could appeal to God the un-erring Rule of Righteousness in this matter he knew his integrity would hold weight And at another time he hath this self-abasing expression Mine eye seeth thee therefore I abhor my self in dust and ashes Job 42. 5. 6. As he could hold fast his integâ—ity so he could also loath and abhor himself in dust and ashes at the sight of Gods glorious Majesty and purity and in the sense of his own defects and failings Mark 3 3. False grace grows not better and better but rather worse and worse pretences wither rather than thrive an hypocrite goes backward rather than forward every day Jer. 7. 24. The Lord by the Prophet complains there that his people hearkned not nor enclined their ear but walked in the counsels and in the imaginations of their evil hearts and went backward and not forward False grace like bad salt grows worse and worse til it be cast out into the Dunghil but true grace from a grain groweth unto a Tree from a morning glympse to a perfect Noon Prov. 4. 18. The path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect Day from smoaking flaxe it is blown up to fragrant flame Nicodemnus that came to Christ at first by night for fear of the Jews afterwards openly declareth for him and bestowed much cost upon the dead body of our Lord. Grace gets John 19. 39. ground upon the flesh and by degrees advanceth to a Victory Now examine your hearts whether ye encrease or decrease whether ye go forward or backward whether your faith love zeal patience heavenly-mindedness Rev. 2. 4. c. thrive or not If ye have left your first Love if ye have lost your care of Duty sense of sin and hungring and thirsting appetite after Christ and his Righteousness 't is a sad sign Remember therefore from whence ye are fallen and repent and do your first works be also watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to dye 'T is Christs Blessed Counsel Revel 2. 5. Revel 3. 2. Mark 4 4. False grace is not humble Formalists are commonly proud and self-conceited persons with true Grace there goeth alwayes Notare verò operae pretium est neminem spiritu esse pauperem nisi qui in nihilum apud se redactus in Dei misericordiam recumbit Calv. in Matth. 5. 3. a spiritual poverty or a sense of spiritual wants the poor in spirit are first in order of the Beatitudes Matth. 5. 3. The more knowledge the Saints have the more they discern their ignorance the more faith the more they bewail their unbelief Lord I believe help thou mine unbelief Mark 9. 24. The more they love him the more they blame their hearts for loving hâ—m no more they call upon their souls to love him most intensively Grace grows most and thrives best in a low and humble soyl the lowest Valleys are far more fruitful than the highest Mountains 't is a good sign when the soul is kept hungry and humble in the sense of its wants amidst the height of its enjoyments 3. The next is Restraining Grace which What restraining Grace is is nothing else but an awe put by God upon the Conscience constraining a man to forbear sin though he doth not hate it You may discern it by these signs Sign 1 1. Love is of little use and force with such spirits They are under a spirit of bondage chained up by their own fears not moved by the great Gospel Motive viz. Mercy 'T is our Rom. 12. 1. Duty to serve God with Reverence and filial fear but not with a servile and distrustful fear a servile fear hath little of Grace in it Heb. 12. 28. much of Torment We ought to fear God much but to love him more Love is the very life and soul of all Gospel-obedience Sign 2 2. Restraining Grace doth not destroy sin but only prohibit the acts of it Abimelechs lust was not mortified when God with-held him from Sarah Gen. 20. 6. 't was only suspended not subdued the heart was not renewed though the action was curbed as Israel had an adulterous heart towards other Lovers when their way was hedged up with Hos 2. 6. thorns But when the Spirit of holinesse in power comes he comes as a Spirit of Liberty 2 Cor. 3. 17. He frees the soul from the servitude of base lusts and mortifies them and both strongly and sweetly turns and enclines the heart to hate every false way and to run the wayes of Gods Commandments with an enlarged Psal 119. 32. heart 4. The fourth thing that looks like Sanctification and yet is not is common or temporary grace This is a distinct thing from all the rest 't is higher than all the former it differs from Civility because 't is more Christian and Evangelical it differs from Formality because that is in shew only but this is a real work on the soul 'T is better than restraining grace because that avoids sin and performs Duties out of slavish fear but this seemeth to have some affection for Christ his Word and Kingdom 't is good in it self but not the best not throughly sanctifying and saving this a man may have and yet fall away and depart from God so it was with the stony and thorny ground Matth. 13. This is the nearest to true Grace of all the former of this the Apostle speaks Heb. 6. 4 5. which is called an enlightning a taste of Christ and of the powers of the world to come and a partaking of the Holy Ghost i. e. of the common gifts of the Spirit abilities for holy duties great parts c. from whence I shall briefly note these three things 1. That the Light here spoken of is not Quam perniciosum sit inflari notitiâ— sine charitate in sacris legitur Prov. 26. 12. P. M. humbling 2. The taste is not ravishing 3. Their gifts are not renewing 1. Their light is not humbling Knowledge puffeth up love edifieth 1 Cor. 8. 1. Foundations sink that are not laid deep enough you can never magnifie Christ enough nor abase self enough Christ is most magnified when self is most abased This Dagon Isa 2. 19. must fall down before the Ark sound humiliation brings sure and solid Consolation we must not rashly close with Christ in the pride of our hearts as they did but be sure we have depth of earth broken and contrite spirits 2. Their tast was not ravishing nor
above they have heavenly affections and heavenly conversations and shall have heavenly Mansions The Saints of Joh. 14 2. God among other Titles are called an holy Nation a Royal Priesthood and a Peculiar People 1 Pet. 2. 9. The Priests of old were men consecrated to Minister in Gods presence Now 1. This Consecration infers an holy preciseness and peculiar singularity in the Saints to keep themselves unspotted from the world Jam. 1. 28. 2. As God doth consecrate the Saints so they themselves having received grace from above do willingly dedicate and consecrate themselves to God They present their bodies i. e. their persons the body being put Synechdochically for the whole man as an holy and living sacrifice Rom. 12. 1. And for this dedication the Lord calls when he saith My Son give me thine heart c. he is pleased to call it by the name of a gift when 't is his due debt and because our free consent is a necessary fruit of his free grace every gracious soul doth voluntarily surrender or give up it self to God as the Macedonians did 2 Cor. 8. 5. Thus in the first place to sanctifie is to set apart and dedicate to an holy use 2. To sanctifie is to cleanse together with its positive act to renew endow or adorn with grace The privative part is cleansing the positive part is adorning First I shall consider the privative part of Sanctification as it is a cleansing work As the word Sanctifie signifies to separate so there is a difference between the Saints and others but as it signifies to cleanse so there is a difference between the Saints and themselves 1. They differ from others because they are a people set apart to live and act for God whether they eat or drink buy or sell they do all for God that is with respect to his glory 1 Cor. 10. 31. and so they are distinct from the men of the world who are meerly by assed by their own principles swayed by their own interests and act for Carnal Self in all they do 2. Sanctification makes a difference between them and themselves inter them unregenerate and themselves regenerate they were filthy before but washen now impure before but holy now Lyons before Lambs now Swine before but Doves now May not we say to and of the best of Saints that are extant as the Apostle speaks of the converted Corinthians 1 Cor. 6. 11. Such were some of you i. e. some of you had been Idolaters Adulterers Drunkards Covetous c. but now ye are washed justified and sanctified in the Name and by the Spirit of our Lord Jesus that is ye are not the same men and women that ye were before the grace of God having changed both their relations and their qualities As a man lately converted answered his old Companions when sollicited to excess of Riot Now I am not I As sin Ego non sam Ego Eras makes a wonderful cursed change in and upon the soul from good to bad yea to stark naught so grace makes a wonderful blessed change in and upon the soul from the worst to the best relation and condition that the rational creature can attain unto The deep and ingrained pollution of our nature is purged and done away 1. Inchoatively and generally at our grand bathing in Regeneration or first conversion Tit. 3. 5. when the soul doth begin at first to wash it self in the Fountain of Christs blood that Fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness Zech 13. 1. that is the first cleansing then the Leprosie begins to be abated and the soul to be made white in the blood of the Lamb then sin hath its mortal blow 2. Gradually and progressively by degrees the Image of Christ is drawn brighter and brighter goes on from glory to glory in the soul of man by the Pourtraicture of the spirit 2 Cor. 3. 18. and as the righteousness of Justification so the righteousness of Sanctification also is revealed and carried on from faith to faith The path of the just is a shining light Pro. 4. 18. that shineth more and more unto the perfect day As Naaman by the Prophets order went 2 Kin. 5. 10. 14. down and washt himself seven times in the streams of Jordan so the sinful soul of man must go down believingly and wash it self in the blood of Christ and in the water of the spirit in the stream of this Jordan if ever it will be clean Christ washt his Disciples feet Joh. 13. 11 12. alluding to the custome of the Jews who wearing Sandals and dirtying their feet daily were wont to wash their feet daily So every day while we converse in and with the world we contract dirt and filth daily we must be therefore washing off the dirt by the renewed acts of faith and repentance daily we ought to make recourse daily to the blood spirit word and promises of Christ for our Justification and thereby cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit 2 Cor. 7. 1. 3. Totally or wholly that is at our dissolution when we shall be glorified when the body of flesh shall lie in the dust of death then the body of sin shall lie down with it then the souls of the Saints shall be presented glorious without spot or wrinkle be pure from sin and perfect in holiness Now through grace the Saints are freed from the guilt and dominion of sin but at death they are perfectly free from the being of it As a worthy man well observes That as sin brought death into the world D. Manton in M. Loves Funeral Sermon with it so death by way of revenge carries out sin 'T is probable the time will be in the very moment of expiring saith the same Author As the soul in the moment of its conjunction with the body became sinful so the soul in the moment of its disjunction from the body becomes perfectly sanctified and is presented perfect by Christ to God for no unclean thing shall enter into the New Jerusalem Rev. 21. 27. Thus much for the privative part of Sanctification as it is a cleansing work 2. Something very briefly of the positive work of Sanctification as it is a decking or adorning the soul with grace under the Law as there was an Altar for Oblation so there was a Laver for Ablution and the Priests were commanded to wash in the great Laver before they came to minister at the Altar Exod. 30. 18 19 20. As the Oblation or Offering did note Justification so the ablution or washing did note our Sanctification And moreover the legal Priests were to be adorned with gorgeous attire with glorious garments when they appeared before the Lord which garments of glory and beauty without controversie did Exod. 28. figure out the glorious graces of Christ and all true Christians for as Christ is their King and Priest so they through the riches of grace have Communion with him in his Offices and therefore
Heb. 5. 2. or Standard-bearer among Ten thousand as the most mighty merciful and every way glorious and compleat Saviour God hath made him your All in All He is of God made unto us wisdome righteousnesse c. Now God requires you should honour the Son as he hath honoured him for in honouring the Son you honour the Father and that in the highest manner God expects you should receive him as he hath offered him Oh then give glory to him by receiving him * Justifying faith is defined in short to bee a Cordial accepting of Christ as Lord Saviour in all his Offices c. So Dr. Preston Mr. Wil. Strong Mr. Baxter c. by accepting of him for your Lord and Saviour Embrace your blessed Saviour in the armes of Faith vail your souls to him close with him cling and cleave to him glory and rejoice in him draw down vertue daily from him lay all your wants upon him the oftner you come to him the more welcome and the fuller and richer you shal go from him As God hath made him your All in All so believe Joh. 1. 16. in him and make use of him as your All iâ— All. Now is this precious faith this faith unfeigned this faith of Gods Elect wrought in your souls yea or not Know assuredly if you are sanctified in Christ Jâ—sus if you are Godâ— workmanship created in Christ Jesus c. Ephes 2. 10. This precious grace is wrought in yoâ— called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the work of God * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 6 29. This is the work of God that you believe in him whom he hath sent Where this precious Faith is 't is alwayes found with these precious principal properties or vital operations 1. It Animates 2. It Purifies 3. It Fructifies 4. It Pacifies 5. It Operates 6. Amplifies 7. It Corroborates 8. It Exhilarates 1. Faith Animates enlivens and quickens the soul of man it is such a principle of spititual Life that a Believer doth not so much live as Christ by faith lives in him The spirit of Faith I am certain if not faith it self which of all graces leads the Chorum is the forma informans whereby a man before both legally and morally dead is now enlivened and lives to God Gal. 2. 20. Hab. 2. 4. Rom. 1. 17. Heb. 10. 38. Our whole life here is a life of Faith our life hereafter is a life of Vision or Sight here we walk by faith and not by sight 2 Cor. 5. 7. How sweet and heavenly is that Life which is derived from and maintained by the life of Christ himself 2. Faith purifies where there is life there is motion where faith is there is purification A Believer having a vital principle like a living Fountain labours to work out the mud of sin to cleanse and purge it self from inward filthinesse so as not to approve it allow it or mingle with it Acts 15. 9. having purified their hearts by faith as sicknesse is poyson to the blood and spirits so is sin to the soul now as all the spirits in their natural motions tend to self-preservation so the spirit of faith or the spirit by faith musters together and stirs up all the powers of the Inner-man for self-purification without purification there can be no preservation and Faith is the principal grace that purifies 3. Faith fructifies a living faith is a working a fructifying or a fruit-bearing faith as the Apostle James demonstrates James 2. 14 to the end They that are purified by faith in the blood of Christ are zealous of good works Tit. 2. 14. How many Believers at large are there that look green and fair and make a brave flourish afar off but come near them and well observe them view their hearts and their lives or their hearts by their lives and works and you shall finde them like the barren Fig-tree which Jesus saw full of leaves but without fruit to relieve him in his hunger the Curse of barrenness will strike to the hearts of such Professors as it did to the heart of that Fig-tree By Faith we have Union with Psal 36. 9. Jer. 2. 13. Joh. 15. 1. Rev. 22. 2. Christ the fountain of Life the fountain of living waters the True Vine and Tree of Life that grows in the midst of the Paradise of God All these Metaphors bespeak abundant fruitfulness and that of the choicest fruit The grapes of Canaan the graces of the Spirit the works of Righteousness and Acts of charity and mercy to the praise and glory of God by Jesus Christ In a word have you faith in Christ Jesus and hope in Heaven why then yee bring forth fruit as they do all the world over that have recieved the grace of God in truth Consider well 1 Col. 4. 5 6. 4. Faith pacifies as well as fructifies as it fructifies a barren Desart and makes the wilderness and solitary place to blossom as the Rose as Lebanon Sharon and Carmel so it pacifies Isa 35. 1 2 a troubled Conscience it stils the rage and surges of this Sea As once Christ said to the Winds and Waves so faith in the name and power of Christ speaks to the perplexed soul peace and bee still and there is a great calm Christians would live more the life of peace if they lived more the life of Faith the more of faith the less of servile fear being justified by faith we have peace with God c. Rom. 5. 1. Phil. 4. 7. And this peace of God passeth all understanding When the Clouds of Temptation Dr. Tho. Goodwin in his Vanity of Thoughts and the winds and waves of passion are up a few thoughts of Faith will quiet all as * a worthy Man observes There is no peace saith my God to the wicked Isa 57. 21. but a true Believer hath peace with God through Jesus Christ the Prince of peace he hath peace in Heaven and peace on Earth peace with God and peace with his own conscience for the Kingdome of God is righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14. 17. 5. Faith operates it acts and works by love Gal. 5. 6. for in Jesus Christ neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but Magnes amoris amor faith which worketh by love Faith worketh love wee love God when by faith wee apprehend that God loveth us first 1 John 4. 19. we love him because hee first loved us and as faith works love so it works by love Faith is the great Wheel the principal Grace that animates actuates moves influences love patience zeal and every other grace that sets all other wheels a going that quickens and strengthens all other graces in their proper respective motions and operations In the 11 Chapter to the Hebrews Faith is represented as the principle of Obedience The words of Dr. Bates in his Sermon upon Heb. 11. 6. conveying vigor and strength to other graces whereby they
Sanctification and give distinct glory to each Person 1. Consider the love of the Father in Election 'T is from the love of the Father that we are blessed with all Spiritual blessings c. that Eph. 1. 3 4. we are chosen in Christ that we might be holy c. Christ himself was a gift of the Fathers love for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son c. this was unutterable John 3. 16 and unconceivable love indeed wherefore give due praise to the Father 2. Consider the wonderful love and merit of the Son his love was transcendent his merit was Infinite wherefore to him that hath loved Rev. 1. 5 6 us and washed us from our sins in his own blood â—nd hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen It was superlative love in Christ to lay down his precious life to spill his precious blood for you Gal. 2. 20. Christ by the merit of his blood the price of your Sanctification hath impetrated and obtained of the Father the holy Spirit with all the gifts and graces of the same for your sanctification and salvation see John 16. 7 13. John 14. 16 17. 3. Consider the infinite power and efficacy of the Spirit The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead called the Spirit of Holiness Rom. 1. 4. quickens the Saints to a new life and dwelleth in them Rom. 8. 11. This new life of holiness which is in Christ Jesus is by the Spirit of life imparted to you Rom. 8. 2. For the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus Rom. 8. 2 hath made me free from the law of sin and death Holiness in us is the fruit of Christs Purchase the product of his merit the sprinkling of his Unction a parcel of his Fulness and a measure of his Spirit we have as great need of his Spirit to sanctifie us as of his blood to â—â—stifie us yea the Eternal Spirit was indispensibly needful to sanctifie and dignifie the blessed Sacrifice of Christs Humane Nature upon the Cross or else I must profess my Ignorance of that Text Heb. 9. 14. 'T is not only the power but the exceeding greatness of the Spirits power to raise up a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Supoâ—eminens magnitudo virtutis ejus So Montanus person morally dead to an estate of newness of life 't is a work proportionate to that power God wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the Heavenly places Eph. 1. 19 20. Notwithstanding the Fathers Election and the Sons Redemption yet without the Spirits Efficacy we had all at this day lain rotting like stinking Carrion in the Grave of sin and death Gods Mercy Christs Merit and the Spirits efficacy must have their distinct glory The Father is said to sanctifie the Son to Sanctifie It is very oâ—servable that all the three Persons challenge an equal share in the working of holiness in the creature it being such a part of Gods Gâ—orie Mr. Burroughs Saints Treasury p. 16. the Spirit to sanctifie but with their distinct Idioms or Characters our sanctification is from the Father in the Son and by the Spirit the Inchoation is from the Father he is the prime original the Dispensation is by the Son he is the way of Communication the Application and Consummation is by the Spirit he receives of the Father and the Son and shows it unto us that is he works grace or holiness in us Thus all the persons work jointly and yet distinctly the love of the Father makes way for the Mediatorship of the Son and the Mediatorship of the Son for the Officâ— of the Spirit The Sanctification of the Spirâ—t is as necessary as the blood of Jesus you may see 1 Pet. 1. 2. how all the persons have their distinct operations Communion with the Spirit is as sweet and choice a priviledge as the Grace of our Lord Jesus or the Love of God the Father 2 Cor. 13. 14. Thus sanctifie the Name of God give Glory to the Father Son and Spirit to the Triuni Deo the three one God three in Persons one in Essence and Nature for your Sanctification Use 2 It Jesus Christ be made of God Sanctification to us the Procuring Meritorious and Moral cause of our Sanctification then primarily and principally let your thoughts ascend to God the Father as the supreme original of your Sanctification let not your thoughts stop or stay till they center in him 'T is the Father who of his own will hath begotten us by the Word of Truth 't is God the Father of Jam. 1. 18. our Lord Jesus who of his aboundant Mercy hath 1 Pet. 1. 3 begotten us again c. Therefore we ought to bless and exalt his aboundant Mercy as the Apostle doth 'T is the Father the Heavenly John 15. 1 2. Husbandman that purgeth the Branches that they might bring forth fruit As we ought to believe in Christ the Mediatour so in God as the first Fountain and Authour of Grace and as the ultimate end of our happiness 1. As the Fountain of all Grace John 3. 16. God so loved the world that he gave c. Ephes 2. 4 5. God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us when we were dead in sins hath quickened us together with Ephes 2. 4 5. Rom. 4. 24 Christ We must believe in him that raised our Lord Jesus from the dead He that believeth in me believeth not in me but in him that sent me there not is not negative but corrective not So Dr. Manton Expounds it in his Commentary on Jude only in me but his thoughts must ascend to the Father also who manifests himself in me for God was in Christ reconcâ—ling the World to himself c. 2 Cor. 5. 19. 2. You must believe in God as the ultimate end of your happiness Christ suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us Pet. 3. 18 to God When the Mediatour brings the Soul into peace with God by Justification and into the likeness and fellowship of God by Sanctification he hath attained he utmost end of his Mediatourship and the Soul hath attained its chiefest good and utmost hâ—pâ—iness therefore is it said that the Saints by Christ do believe in God c. Pet. 1. 21 I would not wittingly or willingly speak a word for a world to detract any thing from the honour of my blessed Saviour or from the glory of the sacred Comforter but to rectifie your understandings and to heighten your apprehensions of the Fathers love because many Christians carry all things in the Name of Christ and of the Spirit being more apprehensive of the Sons love and of the Spirit 's grace than of the Fathers aboundant mercy Give me therefore leave to subjoin these
piaculum suum extenuat neque innocentiae suae vocationem tribuit sed aequitatem misericordiam praedicat quae miserta incredulitatis inscitiae peccantem sed errore potius quam mâ—levolentia revocavit Bulinger 1 Tim. 1. 13. Repentance there is mercy for such Paul was a blasphemer a persecutor and injurious and he obtained mercy because he did it ignorantly through unbelief but a knowing persecutor convinc'd of the Truth he persecutes and totally falling from it and maliciously hating the truth and persecuting the professors of it unto the death This mans Crime is I think unpardonable Satan hath set the seal of Hell upon him or else I know not what to make of that Text Heb. 10 26 27. For if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the Truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the Adversaries 3. This Point serves to convict and condemn the Scorner that scoffs at holinesse Prov 14. 9. Fools make a mock at sin and as the wise man speaks that is as Expositors upon the place make a laughing-stock or a may-game at it they slight Holinesse the highest Excellency and make nothing of it But 't is bad jesting with edg-tools Scoffing is the over-flowing Non tutum est ludere cum sanctu of Gall and malice and a black mark let it be found where it will especially when Religion or holiness is made a by-word or Reproach to fit in the seat of the Scorner is an high degree of wickedness and utterly inconsistent with a godly state and bespeak a man at present to be in a cursed state To fit in the Throne of the persecutor and in the Psal 1. 1. Chair of the Scorner are Diabolical preferments equally dreadful and damnable Indeed scorning seems to have some precedency for it makes way for persecuting First men hate and scorn the wayes of God which is the scum of Rancor and malice and then they persecute them Scorners do a sad work and they will have sad wages 1. They do a sad work when they deride men for their Holiness they deride men for that which is the express Image and Glory of God for God is Glorious in Holinesse Exod. 15. 11. yea in so doing they deride God in his highest Excellency and consequently sin against him with an high hand Holy Brethren as the Saints are called Heb. 3. 1. should be no more a disgrace than Holy Father as God himself iâ—stiled John 17. 11. You hate God more than his Saints if you hate them for their holiness for holiness in the Saints shineth but with a saint and weak lustre but God Qui facit tale magis est ille tale being the fountain of Holiness it must needs shine in him with infinite lustre splendour Holy and reverend is thy Name Psalm 111. 9. Gods Name is Reverend because holy so holiness ought to be matter of our greatest respect and reverence and not of reproach and scorn A word to Scorners Let all scorners return speedily yet there may be mercy for them The Spirit of God bewails your condition and calls upon ye to return You that are the worst sort of Sinners hear what the Spirit saith Prov. 1. 22 23. How long will scorners delight in scorning and fools hate knowledge turn ye at my reproof c. Now when God calls if you refuse and * Cum Deus loquitur cum risu lâ—gas cum luctu will not regard his Counsel he will laugh at your calamity and mock when your fear cometh See Prov. 1. 24 25 26 27. You that make a mock at holiness God will make a mock of you if ye turn not 2. Scorners will have sad wages if they turn not Prov. 3. 34. Behold he scorneth the scorners but giveth grace to the lowly as they scorn God maliciously so behold a note of Attention God will scorn them with perfect detestation and abhorrency As 't is the greatest mercy for God to accept a mans person to receive him into Grace and Favour so 't is the greatest misery for God to refuse and scorn a mans person with indignation 3. As a Consequent of the former the scoffing Ishmaels must be cast out as scorners cast themselves out of Gods love so God will cast them out of his presence and Kingdomt Without are dogs Revel 22. 15. the dogs not only that tear in pieces the Sainâ—s persons but the dogs that bark at the shining splendo of the Saints holiness these are without and shall without repentance be without for ever These dogs bark not at the Moon so much as against the Sun of Righteousness The son of the Bond-woman was cast out Gen. 21. 9 10. he must not be an Heir with the son Ejice Ancillam c. of Sarah the marrow of that Ejection Typical was spiritual and Eternal no more must scorners that live and die so have any co-partnership with the Saints in their inheritance So much is more than intimated in that Allegory Gal. 4. 30. Oh then let none that ever intend to be sanctified or saved presume to deride the Name of Holinesse but let them honour and reverence it as the most honourable Title under Heaven yea as a Divine thing for 't is the sparkling forth of 2 Pet. 1. 4. the Divine Nature Thus much for Conviction Now we are come to the last Use Lastly in the ninth and last place This Doctrine of Sanctification serveth for Caution 9th Use to prevent mistakes I shall lay it thus If Jesus Câ—rist be given of God for our sanctification then it concerns us all to look into our sanctification let us all be sure that we are sanctified if we miscarry here we miscarry irrecoverably we miscarry everlastingly and to use the Apostles words Let us therefore fear least a Promise being left us of entring into his Rest any of us should seem to come short of it Heb. 4. 1. Let us all concern our selves to know this that God hath set apart him that is godly for himself as the Psalmist speaks Psalm 4. 3. he is eternally set apart in Election and actually set apart for God in Vocation As the Beast worshippers have the Beasts mark so Gods Children have Gods seal and impress 2 Tim. 2. 19. The foundation of God standeth sure having this Seal the Lord knoweth who are his and let every one that nameth the Name of the Lord depart from iniquity Gods Seal hath a double Motto and noting his peoples preservation the Lord knoweth who are his the other noting their sanctification they depart from iniquity There are many wild flowers in the Field gay and beautiful that look like right flowers in the Garden but are not the same Some Mettals as Copper and Brass burnisht look like Gold at a distance but though all Gold glisters yet all is not Gold that glisters so many things at a
an odium and shame upon the Christian Religion and made that pure and peaceable profession to stink in the Nostrils of the Heathen There were indeed at Corinth many Merchants who are as one observes * Hominum genus delicatum quaestuosum habendi cupidissimum injuria impatientissimum c. a delicate kind of men very desirous of gain most greedy of having and most impatient of injury and loosing This scandal he reproves and labours to remove 3. He reprehends them for that they took fornication for an indifferent thing or for a matter of no great moment against which filthy sin as well dishonourable to their bodies which ought to be the Members of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Ghost as damnable to their souls he inveighs severely and presseth them by many cogent reasons to Chastity and Sanctimony 3. In the seventh Chap. he comes to answer their Epistle and delivers many Apostolical Precepts as to divers Matrimonial cases and as to the private condition of every individual The Questions which the Corinthians by their Corinthiorum dubia de Matrimonialibus Letter desired a Solution of seem to me to be these 1. Whether a Christian might marry 2. Whether Christian yoke-fellows ought to render to one another due benevolence 3. Whether it be lawful for a married person to leave or withdraw from his yoke-fellow 4. Whether a single life be not better than a married state 5. Whether Divorces are lawful 6. Whether it be lawful for a believer to dwell with an unbeliever 7. Whether a Believer being forsaken by the unbeliever may be held in bondage 8. Whether it were the best or wisest course for Virgins to marry Lastly whether second Marriages are lawful for Widdows 4. In the eighth ninth and tenth Chapters he reprehends those who by pretence of Christian liberty did very scandalously and to the offence of others communicate with the Gentiles in things offered up to Idols from which unlawful and unchristian communion he doth strongly dehort them and that he doth two wayes 1. By his own example shewing that sometimes we ought to abstain from things that are in themselves lawful in case of scandal much more from things unlawful as he himself forbore to receive any stipend salary or wages for preaching to them to avoid thereby the least colour of calumny for he knew the false Teachers were ready to catch at any thing that might defame his Person or traduce his Doctrine being filled with rancour and emulation 2. He dehorts them from communion with the Idols and meats offered to them by a most convincing Argument that they could not nor should not be partakers of the Lords Table and of the Table of Devils for to have fellowship with Idols was to have fellowship with Devils for the things the Gentiles sacrificed were sacrificed to Devils and not to God 1 Cor. 10. 19. 20 21. 5. In the eleventh Chapter he reproves and corrects two abuses 1. One about seemly behaviour in the Church which both women and men did violate Circa decorum Ecclesiasticum and thereby both created scandals The women praying and prophecying with their heads uncovered in the Congregation acted against modesty and became allurements to the men And the men praying and prophecying in the Church with their heads covered acted against Reverence and against the Light of Nature both was uncomely 2. The other was about the Supper of the Circa coenam Dominicam Lord which the richer sort did mingle with prophane feasts eating and drinking even to excess and luxury the poorer sort in the mean time being shamed despised and left hungry 6. In the twelfth thirteenth and fourteenth Chapters the Apostle layes down several Precepts both concerning the difference and use of Spiritual Gifts and declares by the Allegory of the members of a natural body that all things are to be referr'd to unity and edification of the whole Having spoken much of the variety and excellency of gifts he concludes that all gifts are nothing without the Grace of Love in the praises whereof he makes a pathetical and sweet digression of all gifts he seems both to commend and exhort unto the gift of Prophecy as also that a convenient and due order should be kept in Prophecying Mulieres à Muniis Ecclesiasticis arcet Lastly he bars women from medling with Ecclesiastical Offices or Functions 7. In the fifteenth Chapter he corrects the prophane error of some in denying the Resurrection Resurrectio carnis spes nostra Tertul. of the flesh and confirms and fortifies the contrary truth an Article of our Faith with most weighty and grave Arguments and excellently shews in many things the specifical differences between the body now vile and the body glorious then and how this Doctrine of the Resurrection may very profitably and practically be accommodated to the Consolation of the Saints 8. In the sixteenth Chapter he minds them of a contribution for the poor Saints and Brethren at Jerusalem which he enforceth by the example of the Churches of Galatia and after several godly Exhortations he closeth the Epistle with Salutations and with a Benediction 5. At what time and where or at what place was this Epistle written Although by reason of the defect of History it cannot be positively known at what time or in what order the Epistles of Paul were written yet relation being had unto Epistolarum Paulinarum ordo and collation of them being made with the Apostles Race or Circuit described in the Acts affords some probable guesses or conjectures First and foremost The first of all the Epistles written by Paul seems to be the first Epistle to the Thessalonians The next the second Epistle to the Thessalonians sent from Athens The third in order is reputed the first Epistle to Timothy sent from Laodicea The fourth is deemed to be this first Epistle to the Corinthians before his passage through Macedonia 1 Cor. 16. 5. The Greek Copies relate it to be written from Philippi but many hold it was written at Ephesus before Pentecost For he saith 1 Cor. 16. 8. I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost which happened in the year of Christ 64. and of Nero 9. in which year coming to Jerusalem he was cast into prison Of this Opinion of the Ancient is Athanasius and Chrysostome of the Modern Dionysius Sixtus Senensis Martyr Illyricus Stapleton c. Thus much if not too much for the Prolegomena Palliate good Reader my imbecillity and prolixity with thy Humanity and Christian candor though the Porch of Entrance may seem too large yet I trust thy passage may be more lightsome into the body of this choice Epistle and more facile into the bowels of the discourse at hand The first Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians may be divided into three Parts The first is the Proem containing the inscription 1 Proâ—mium subscription and salutation as also a Gratulation or Thanksgiving to God on
of Christ is God so the Head of the Church is Christ The Father in an ineffable manner communicated as of old the Divine Essence and Nature so at his Incarnation an unmeasurable measure an overflowing fulness of the Spirit and Grace to the Son yea it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell even as Mediator Col. 1. 19. And the Son by the Ordination and appointment of the Father communicates derives and by his Spirit imparts unto his Saints all those spiritual Eph. 1. 3. Eph. 3. 8. blessings all those unsearchable riches all those riches of glory or glorious riches Ephes 3. 16. which he hath received of his Father for them Some of which heavenly and choicest treasures we find lying in the field or rather Mine of this Text viz. Wisdome Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption I shall now Deo juvante consider the Text it self open the sense of the words and draw some practical conclusions from the whole The Apostle having humbled and dejected the Corinthians ver 26 27. of this Chap. in calling upon them to see or consider their calling for ye see your calling Brethren c. where calling is put metonymically for the persons called that is what manner of men they themselves were and generally are which God calls by the Gospel not the wise after the flesh not the Mighty not the Noble but commonly the foolish weak and base for the poor receive the Gospel Now in this verse the Apostle comforts and cheers them and lifts up their heads Quos antea dejecerat nunc supra omnes mortales evehit sed ita ut omnem ipsorum dignitatem doceat non ab ipsis sed à Christo emanare idque à Deo id est Dei unius vi ac beneficio Beza in loc above all other mortals by informing them of their Origination from God their Vnion with Christ their spiritual descent from him in Christ Jesus But of him are ye in Christ Jesus Here the Apostle shews them the true rise of true honour and of divine dignity Corinthiorum animos dejecerat revoâ—ando eos ad intuendam suam ipsorum vocationem quod fuit propemodum acsi dixisset eos insipientes ignobiles infirmos omnes fuisse quasi non essent quum ad Christum vocarentur Quare nunc illos erigit pulchrè consolatur dicens licèt ex vobis ipsis tales fueritis ut modò estis à me descripti Attamen jam ex Deo estis P. Martyr in loc not springing from noble birth or liberal breeding not from any natural moral or secular accomplishments or considerations whatsoever But from the special grace of God the Father in Christ Jesus manifested and put forth in a double act of divine love 1. In Election 2. In Regeneration 1. In Election God the Father did chuse all believers in Christ before the foundation of the world Ephes 1. 4. in that eternal compact or Foederal transactions between the Father and the Son commonly called the Covenant of Redemption Ye are of God in Christ Jesus viz. Emphasis est in verbo estis q. d. à Deo vobis est principium qui ea quae non sunt voâ—at in Christo verò subsistentia c. Calvin by vertue of the Eternal Purpose and Decree of God The gracious purpose of God the Father in Christ is the beginning of the wayes of God the Original and highest Well-head of all our holiness and happiness as appears 2 Tim. 1. 9. where ye shall find that both our Salvation and Calling are no other than the genuine efflux and products of Gods purpose and grace given us in Christ Jesus before the world began So Tit. 1. 2. In hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began D. Jacomb in his Sermon upon Isa 55. 10. How was this life promised before the world began but in this everlasting Covenant wherein the Father promised unto Christ eternal life for all his Seed Though the Decrees of God are immanent Decreta Dei nihil ponunt in Actu and not transient acts abiding with reverence in the Mind or Breast of God and not actually passing upon the creature yet Gods eternal purpose in electing us in Christ is the primum mobile the great wheel that sets all the other inferiour wheels at work that animates quickens and actually moves and influenceth and constantly carries on and perfects all other intermediate acts of grace in order to our Salvation Gods blessing us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things and places is said to be in relation unto in correspondence with in pursuance of his electing us in Christ according as he hath chosen us in Christ Ephes 1. 3 4. They are all Emanations from this Fountain Thus in the first place and I think not improperly we may be said to be of God in Christ Neque hoc intelligit quoad creationem sed ait de eo quod per gratiam Regenerationem consequuti erant P. Martyr Jesus viz. of God originally and primarily in Christ Jesus vertually and radically by vertue of Gods electing love to us in Christ before the world began 2. More principally according to the purport of this place we are of God in Christ Jesus by the grace of Regeneration we are Gods workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works Ephes 2. 10. Believers are of God i. e. born of God in Christ Jesus for the Father of our Lord Jesus as our Spiritual Father is said to have begotten us again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead 1 Pet. 1. 3. Eadem sententia est cum illa qui non ex sanguinibus neque ex voluntate carnis c. Pomeran By vertue of his Will we are elected and by the Power of the same Will we are called and regenerated Jam. 1. 18. Of his own will begat he us by the word of truth c. One saith This sentence is the same with that Joh. 1. 13. which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God Let it not grieve the Saints in that they are not born of Nobles nor descended of the blood of Princes but rather rejoyce and raise up their spirits in the midst of all reproaches and sufferings in that they are the Sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus a Divine Off-spring of an heavenly Extraction rejoyce in this that your names are written in heaven Ye are wise noble honourable every way glorious creatures in Christ Jesus in Christ Jesus that is by Eph 1. 6. In Christo Jesu id est per Christum Jesum propter Christum Jesum nam per Christum propter Christum accepti grati sumus Patri Christ Jesus and for Christ Jesus for indeed we can be no way amiable or acceptable to the Father but in the beloved We are said not only to be Elect
Christ hath given the hand of Faith doth put it forth make application of the Merits and mediation of Jesus Christ for his Purification and doth in truth draw in vertue by that application 1 Joh. 3. 3. He that hath this hope doth purifie himself even as he is pure Faith exerts the office of all the senses and of all the members 't is the eye the hand the mouth the foot of the Soul c. as might be proved easily if I should exspatiate As Christ is all in all to the soul in the sanctification of it so Faith of all graces is all in all in the out-going of the soul to Christ and in the Incomes of grace from him 2. As Faith is the Instrumental so the Causa Administra Evangelium est medium ceu instrumentum quo Spiritus sanâ—tus efficaciam suam exerit sidem conversionem operatâ—r Syntag Polan Word is the ministring cause or medium of sanctification Psa 19. 7. The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the Soul the Law in all its Exhortations Commands Consolations Prohibitions Comminations and Promises is a perfect Law serving as a perfect means for conversion But the Promissory and Consolatory part thereof is principally more purifying Having these promises let us cleanse our selves c. 2 Cor. 7. 1. 2 Pet. 1. 4. The Goâ—pel or Law of Faith is vehiculum spiritus the Chariot in which the spirit rides to give your souls a gracious visit Gal. 3. 2. Received ye the spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of faith Fides quae creditur He that makes the Clouds his Chariots makes also his Word his Ordinances and his Ministers his Chariots wherein he â—ides down into these lower parts to give the world a meeting Mr. Allens Heaven Opened p. 172. i. e. by the hearing of the Gospel which is the doctrine of faith The sanctifying spirit accompanying the holy Word then the Word is sanctifying Joh. 17. 17. Sanctifie them by thy truth thy Word is truth When the Gospel is spoken and heard in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit and of Power then is the Arm of the Lord revealed Isa 53. 1. then the Word of God works and grows mightily for sanctification and salvation then the blind eyes are opened then are the captives released then are the dead raised then are the lepers cleansed then are the devils dispossessed then are filthy souls washed unholy souls sanctified 7. Causa Exemplaris The Exemplar or Pattern to which our Sanctification in the two parts of it viz. our mortification and vivification is conformable is the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ by vertue of the force and energy whereof through the operation and application of the spirit of faith our sanctification is effected The Apostle Paul holds forth a clear Analogy or proportion between our dying to sin and Christs dying for sin and between our newness of life or vivification and Christs Resurrection Rom. 6. 4. 5. 6 7 8. where ye may see at large the parallel between them And the Apostle Peter tells us We are begotten again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 8â—y and lastly The glory of Gods Grace in the Conservation and Salvation of a sinful creature is the supreme end or final cause of our Sanctification there is a mutual intimate coherence and relation of these three to oâ—e another 1. The glory of Gods Grace is the Supreme end as of our Election in Christ so of our Sanctification by him All the Acts of Gods love in Christ whether immanent or transient they are all for the praise of the glory of his grace both in this and in the other world Eph. 1. 4. 6. And specifically Sanctification hath a direct tendency unto and termination in the glory of God When we keep our bodies and spirits chaste and holy we are then said to glorifie God 1 Cor. 6. 20. Glorifie God in your bodies and in your spirits which are Gods 2. Consecration This is finis qui the end for which quoad nos we are sanctified and necessary necessitate medii to our Salvaâ—ion Jam. 1. 18. We are begotten by the Will of God â—hat we might be a kind of the first fruits of his creatures that is as Beza Polanus and others observe that we might be consecrated and devoted to the Lord separated from the common lump of mankind as an holy offering as the first fruits under the Law were presented to the Lord as an holy Offering as the Lords own portion 3. Salvation This is our ultimate end the Apostle Peter acquaints us 1 Pet. 1. 3. We are begotten again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ c. What is that lively hâ—pe we are begotten and born to in Regeneration he tells ye in ver 4. Even to an inheritance incorruptible undâ—filed that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you This incomparable Inheritance dignified with all these transcendent Epithets See Dr. Owens Death of Death p. 119 120 121 122 c. is comprehended in one word Salvation 2 Thes 2. 13 14. God hath from the beginning chosen us to Salvation that is the end through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth that is the way and means Thus having cleared our way now we come to the plain and full definition of Sanctification Sanctification in the sense of the Text and of this Tract is a new inward habitual frame of grace infused by the power of the Eternal Spirit into the heart of a justified person united to Christ whereby he is renewed after the Image of Christ in knowledge righteousness and true holiness and thereby enabled to die to sin and to live to God for the praise of Gods glorious grace in his Consecration and Salvation This definition is the sum of the former discourse every part and branch of this description hath been already proved in the aforegoing particulars therefore I shall not actum agere do over the same things again only give me leave to acquaint you our Sanctification Holiness is not any single grace alone but a Constellation â— conjunction of all graces together in the Soul or Inherent Holiness consists in these two things 1. In the infusing of holy principles divine qualities or supernatural graces into the soul such as the Apostle mentions in Gal. 5. 22 23. But the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance against such there is no Law These habits of grace which are severally distinguished by the names of faith love hope meekness patience temperance c. are nothing else but the new nature the new creature the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Ephes 4. 24. These seeds 1 Joh. 3. 9 2 Cor. 1. 21. 1 Joh. 2. 27. of holiness these habits of grace are those sweet oyntments where with all must be
become operative to several ends and Objects Hence those Acts which immediately spring from other graces as their proper stock are attributed to faith that being the principle of their heavenly working in this respect as the success of an Army redounds to the Generals Honor so the victory which is effected by other Christian qualities is here ascribed to Faith which animates them and leads them forth as their chief Captain 6. Faith Amplifies dilates enlargeth the heart to run the wayes of Gods Commandments 1 John 5. 1. and 3. verses compared together whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God c. vers 1. For this is the love of God that we keep his Commandments c. verse 3. Faith is the ground of Love and Love the Author of Obedience holy obedience is the daughter of a lively Faith when and where Christ dwels in the heart by faith that soul being rooted and grounded in love comprehends with all Saints secundum quid what is the breadth and length and depth and heighth of the love of Christ Ephes 3. 17 18 19. Which love like a fire in his bones like a flame in his bowels enflames his soul with love to God and Christ opens and enlargeth his heart to duties of obedience to serve the Lord with a most free and Princely spirit The soul of an affectionate Believer runs swiftly chearfully nobly in the wayes of God like the Chariots of Aminnadib Cant. 6. 12. Faith thus argues Amminadib i. e. my voluntary free bounteous or noble people Ainsworth in Cant. 6. 12. Psal 103. 3 4. Ephe. 1. 3. Hath God loved me in his Son from everlasting and will hee love me to everlasting Hath God in Christ forgiven such a wretch as I all mine iniquities redeemed my life from destruction and crowned me even me with loving-kindness and tender mercies yea with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus Then what shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits Nothing I can do nothing I can suffer too much for him I am and will be his for ever at his Command and for his service Thus the faith of a sanctified Person reasons 7. Faith Corroborates it strengthens the weak it revives the faint it supports the desponding and sinking spirit The Psalmist in great tryals and troubles had great experience of the supports of faith Psalm 27. 13. I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the Living Love keeps you from dissembling Hope keeps you from desponding Patience keeps you from tyring but 't is Faith that keeps you from fainting When a * 2 Chron. 2. 20. Psal 57. 7. My heart is fixed in some translations 't is suffultum est cormeum my heart is underpropt great multitude from beyond the Sea on this side Syria came up against Judah and the people were in sore distress Jehosaphat their good King encouraged the people saying believe in the Lord your God so shall ye be established believe his Prophets so shall ye prosper 2 Chron. 20. 20. Faith in God is the souls establishment wherefore a Believer shall not be affraid of evil tydings his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord his heart is established he shall not be affraid until he see his desire upon his enemies Thus the Psalmist sweetly sings Psalm 112. 7 8. The fixation of the soul by faith on God on Christ on his Attributes on his Promises yields the surest strength the speediest and sweetest relief and succour in the Crisis of any Exigence When David for fear of Saul was got into a Wood Jonathan leaves his Father and privately came to David 1 Sam. 23. 16. into the Wood and strengthened his hand in God So when a Believer is in a wood of fears and dangers he strengthens his hand the hand of his faith in God and the more his faith is up the more his fears are down Divines use to compare the base fears of men and the embondaging fears of Death to the Lead that weighs the Net under water and faith to the Cork that keeps up the Net from sinking Hope the eldest daughter of Faith is an Anchor sure and stedfast Heb. 6. 19. but Faith is the Rock which this Anchor rests on according to the Proverb were it not for Hope heart would break and the Scripture tels us Rom. 8. 24. We are saved by hope but Hope receives all its subsistence strength Faith is both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 substantia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 argumentum Heb. 11. 1. from Faith Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen Heb. 11. 1. 8. Faith exhilarates comforts cheers the soul fils it with joy and peace in believing Rom. 15. 13. The God of hope fils the soul with joy and peace in believing Faith is as a twinkling star in a dark Night as a shining Sun in a cloudy Day as Rivers of water in a dry place as the shadow of a great Rock in a weary Land The Apostle Peter elegantly expresseth the soul-exulting operation of saving faith 1 Pet. 1. 8. Whom that is Christ having not seen ye love in whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory Faith opens a crevis of light and springs a Mine of * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exultatis gaudio ineffabili gloriosa Beza exulting joy in the most insulting danger When once a Believer is justified by faith and hath peace with God hee then rejoiceth in the most glorious Hope viz. in the hope of the glory of God and not only so but he glories also in tribulations hee glories in them and he glories over them because the love of God is shed abroad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 effusa est is poured forth into his heart by the Holy Ghost Rom. 5. 1 2 and 5. verses by faith in Christ and by communion with Christ in his Conquests hee knows he shal be more than a Conqueror over all his Enemies Rom. 8. 37. * Neque enim simpliciter dixit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 idest ut vertit Cyprianus Epist 26. supervincimus Amplius quam victores sumus Beza 't is not only said Conquerours but more than Conquerors as Cyprian and Beza on the place Thus I have endeavoured to present you with some of the precious properties and vital operations of precious Faith which every one that is born of God or sanctified doth enjoy to his inestimable benefit Faith is an inseparable Concomitant with and an infallible evidence of our Sanctification for whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God 1 John 5. 1. This is the third Adjunct and evidence of our Regeneration 4th Effect and evidence of our sanctification is love to God and to the Brethren As Christ dwels in the heart by faith Ephes 3. 17. so the soul
sanctified is now made Membra sunt Arma ready for every good work to which before sanctification it was altogether reprobate Beloved Friends are your souls thus well and healthy are they recovered to their right temper are ye sound in the faith are ye sincere at heart is the habitual frame of your hearts right with God and for God or not deal impartially with your own souls 'T is true a man that is generally lively and healthy may now and then by accident get colds and surfets have fits of weakness and for some time labour under some infirmities but a strong Constitution will â—ub along wear off and cast out the disease at last so an holy a spiritually healthy man through humane frailty and strong temptation may for a time decay in grace yea languish very much hee may get cold his love to God his zeal for God may chil and cool his faith may weaken his hope may almost fail his patience may tire c. And through the immoderate cares of this life and inordinate affection to the Creature he may get a Surfet he may fall into sin yea fowly fall into great sins and labour Nemo esse sine delicto potest quamdiù indumento carni oneratus est Lactant. de vero cultu under the sense of a wounded spirit a long time Notwithstanding all this the immortal seed of God in him of which he is begotten by the supplyes of the Spirit of Life will revive and conoborate the man again The divine Nature in him will get head exert its influence and repair the man again Grace like Leaven will ferment the whole lump the whole soul and work out the disease of sin in a word the withering stock of Grace within like a Psalm 1. 3. Rev. 22. 1. Tree planted by the River of Life will spring and flourish scent and bud again 8. Blessed effect or Priviledge If thou art sanctified or regenerated thou hast a true and undoubted Title to the Kingdome 3 Joh. 3. 5. Except ye are born again ye cannot see ye cannot enter into the Kingdome of God This Negative is inclusive of the Affirmative If ye are born again ye shall both see and enter into Gods Kingdome This Kingdome of God if born again is thy Inheritance If thou hast the sanctification of the Spirit thou art begotten again unto a lively hope this lively is also a most glorious hope here hope is put for the object hoped for and what is that the 3d. v. informs ye an inheritance incorruptible undefiled which fadeth not away reserved in hea-for ye The children of Regeneration are most certainly and unquestionably the children of the Kingdome Sanctification is the Genuine and Evangelical Title to salvation see 2 Thes 2. 14. When ye are born from above ye are at that instant born for above ye are born children of God brethren of Christ Companions with Angels and heirs of Glory Nay let me tell ye more Sanctification is the very entrance into the Kingdome Sanctificatio est Ingreslus in Regnum Dei Caâ—v Phil 3. 20. of God Holinesse is not only the way to Heaven but it is Heaven it self A sanctified person lives the life of Heaven * his conversation is in Heaven he lives the Life of God whilst his body is here on earth it is life eternal in the present tense in specie and in primitiis in the kind and first-fruits of it to know God in Christ John 17. 3. When ye begin to be holy ye then begin to enter into the white cloud of Glory Ah then seeing every one would be happy who would not be holy Holinesse becometh thine House O Lord for ever Without holinesse no man shall see the Lord that is with joy hereâ—ftâ—r Heb. 12. 14. No nor any enjoyment of the favour and fellowship with God here An unsanctified person is very miserable he misseth heaven in both Worlds he hath nether holiness nor happiness he hath neither the seed nor the flower neither the first-fruits nor the Vintage he hath not a grain of saving Grace no sweet dews falling from heaven on him not a drop of the water of Life to comfort him But his soul is like the Heath in the Desart and shall not see when good cometh but shall inhabit the dry and parched places in the wildernesse in a salt land and not inhabited Jer. 17. 6. A most dismal state saltness and barrenness is his doom here fire and brimstone is his portion for ever Certainly an unholy man must needs be very miserable Lastly True sanctification is an abiding flourishing progressive Principle 1. It is an abiding Principle it lives and abides in it self and it also quickens the soul Semen manenâ— in the life and keeps the soul in the love of God for ever 1 Pet. 1. 23. A man externally sanctified may fall away and come to nothing like a barren Tree he may lose in time both leaves and fruit but a man internally sanctified can never fall away neither totally nor finally for the Name and Nature of God the Mark and Seal of God the Image and Seed of God is in him And this is incorruptible and immortal * 1 Pet 4. 14. the spirit of Glory and of God rests upon him the spâ—rit of Holiness dwels and abides in his soul for ever the Father Son and Spirit according to their omnipotency faithfulness and immutability will never suffer their seed seal nature image to be lost Though Hymenâ—â—â— and Philetus hypocrites and hereticks may err concerning the truth overthrow the faith of some and throw themselves and others down to Hell Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure having this seal the Lord knoweth who are his 2 Tim. 2. 17 18 19. The love of God in Election and in Vocation or Sanctification is like himself unchangeable The Gifts and Calling of God are without Repentance Joh. 13. 1. Rom. 11. 29. There may be partial and gradual Apostacy in some of the Saints of God they may backslide in their apprehensions in their affections and in their conversations as is too too manifest by the Scripture-evidence and by sad experience but to backslide totally from all the truths of God and from all the profession of the Gospel and with the mind and will with the consent of the whole soul and finally to fall away bid an eternal farewell or depart from God for ever This cannot shall not be Among others consult these Texts Heb. 12. 6 2. He that is the Author will also be the Finisher of our faith 1 Phil. 6. Hee that hath begun the good work in ye will also perfect it And Jer. 32. 40. And I will make saith God an everlasting Covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts and they shall not depart from me Here God in the Riches of his Grace through Christ undertakes both for himself and his
four weighty Reasons Reas 1. Because all grace begins with the Father he is the first in order of Being and the first in order of Working the Fountain of the Trinity as we may conceive 't is the Father that floweth out to us in Christ by the Spirit he is the Father of lights Jam. 1. 17. And the Text tells ye we are of God in Christ Jesus 't is true Christ as the second Person is coequal with the Father in power and glory but Christ as Mediatour must be considered as the Fathers Servant as his elect or Isa 42. 1. chosen Instrument Reas 2. Glorifie the Father for whatsoever good Christ hath done for you or in you all is done with respect to the Fathers love and grant God hath saved us according to his own Purpose and Grace given us in Christ Jesus God 2 Tim. 1. 9. Joh. 17. 2. gave Christ power over all Flesh that he should give eternal life to those God had given him Righteousness Holiness Heaven and Happiness is the Fathers free Grant or Donatâ—ve To her it was granted to be covered with fine Linnen the Rev. 19. 18. Rithteousness of the Saints and fear not little Flock 't is your Fathers good pleasure to give you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Kingdome Luke 12. 32. or that Kingdome 'T is very observable that in all Christs expressions of love to us he still expresseth obedience to his Fathers Will there is a double ground of hope as Stella speaks the Son loveth See Stella at large de amore Dei cap. 18. us because the Father requireth it and the Father loveth us because the Son asketh it Reas 3. It is a great support and comfort to a Believer in the act of believing to consider the Love of the Father as well as the Merit of the Son Two are better than one 't is 1 Joh. 2. 23 24. 2 Ep. Joh. 9. often made a great priviledge to have both the Father and the Son The Fathers love the Sons Merit severally and apart considered will not yeild that full joy and peace in believing as both conjoyned There 's no coming to God but by Christ for God out of Christ is consuming fire Again Christ separated from the Father doth not yeild so firm a ground of confidence The Fathers Act with the Sons Merit gives us full security Christ and the Father also are a Believers Guardians John 10. 28 29 30. a double cord is not broken easily this two-fold custody is the best security The Father is represented as the offended Party by mans sin Conscience quakes and trembles now for a soul to know that God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself and that Christ came from Heaven to do his Fathers Will and that the Father hath made him over to us in all his fulness as wisdome righteousness sanctification and redemption This settles the soul in peace Thou wilt keep him in peace peace so it is in the Hebrew whose minde is stayed on thee Isa 26. 3. It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell peace in perfect peace Isa 26. 3. Reas 4. Because in the Fathers love there are many engaging Circumstances not to be found in the other Persons 1. In the Fathers Love and Acts of Grace there is an Original fulness Christs fulness as Mediatour is but drawn out of the Fathers plenty Col. 1. 19. 2. The fulness of the Son in the dispensing of it is limited by the Fathers will all that Christ dispensed was according to the charge and commandment of the Father Mat. 20. 23. To sit on my right-hand and left is not mine to give saith Christ save to those for whom it is prepared of my Father Christ as Mediatour was limited by the Fathers Will To what end did God give Christ power over all Flesh but to give eternal life to as many a God had given him to none other Now it is sweet to Joh. 17. 2. think that the Father himself loveth us who is first in Order and whose Will is absolute and that he hath laid up an inexhaustible treasure in his Son for us 3. In the Fathers Acts you have the purest and freest apprehensions of love 'T was the Father that began and as we conceive broke the business of our Redemption and that sent his Son into the world to accomplish it The Son as Mediatour can have an higher motive than his own love viz. the Fathers Will but the Father can have no higher motive than his own Love After the Apostle had treated of Election Predestination to Adoption Remission of sins c. he concludes all under the Will of God The Eph. 1. 11 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the good pleasure of the Fathers Will was the Well-head or Fountain Cause of all those acts of Grace that passed out unto the creature by the personal operations of the Son and Spirit The love of the Father was antecedent to the merit of Christ and to the operation of the Spirit therefore in the Fathers Acts of Grace ye have the apprehensions of the first and freest love you have great reason therefore from Spiritual Scriptural Considerations to glorifie and praise the Father as the original Authour of all your holiness and happiness Thus much for the second Use Use 3 If Jesus be given of God for our Sanctification then we may safely infer that Sanctification is neither an easie nor a common work 1. Sanctification is no easie work God takes it to be his prerogative I am the Lord that sanctifies you Levit. 21. 8. Grace is his own proper immediate creature mans Will contributeth nothing to the worke but resistance and rebellion wherefore God makes the Domine errare per me potui redire non potui Aust Meditat. soul willing in the day of his power Psal 110. 3. and outward means work not unless the mighty power of the Spirit works with them or else why should the same Word Preached by the same Minister mollifie some and harden others Christ must come from Heaven and open a Fountain in his own side and heart Zech. 13. 1. for our purification Nothing but the blood of Christ can purge your Consciences from Heb. 9. 14 dead works If any other means had been effectual Christ had never been made of God Sanctification to us 'T is observable Sanctification is not onely expressed by a Creation i. e. a making of things out of nothing but Luke 11. 21 22. 1 Joh. 4. 4 also by a victory or a powerful overcoming of opposition In Creation as there was nothing to help so there was nothing to resist or hinder but when God comes to sanctifie or convert a soul besides a Death in sin God finds a strength of resistance against Grace Therefore Sanctification is wrought by the power of the Almighty We deserve it not it comes from the Fathers Good-will and Christs Merit and we work it