That grace and glory in this agree I know will be easily granted but how heavenly peace and joy should depend upon perfect sanctification as I conceive it doth may be more doubted For the clearing of this therefore I shall speak of these two later the more largely Peace which is the second part of glory is three-fold 1. with God 2. with our own Consciences 3. with Saints and Angels 1. Peace with God is two-fold 1. Procured 2. Continued 1. Peace with God procured is I confesse from a work wrought without us to wit the satisfaction of Christ on our behalfe according to what the Law required and depends upon Gods gracious acceptation of us in Christ yet is holinesse a necessary condition or qualification of the person that shall enter into peace as the Prophet phraseth it Isa 57.2 The righteous is taken away from the evil to come he shall enter into peace 1 Cor. 6.9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdome of God 2. Peace with God continued depends upon a work of Christ within us to wit the work of Sanctification for being perfectly Sanctified in Heaven we do the will of God perfectly and displease him no more so that the peace formerly made is no more broken 2. Peace of Conscience must needs be perfect when a man comes to be perfectly holy and to enjoy perfect peace with God yea it were a contradiction to think otherwise For to have Conscience accusing for doing well were a sinfull error of Conscience and contrary to perfect holinesse Conscience is a Judge and to clear the guilty and condemn the innocent is an abomination to the Lord Prov. 17.15 and how can holinesse be perfect unlesse Conscience be perfect also Doth not Conscience belong to the practicall understanding and if this be perfected is not the perfection of Conscience included in it Or if you will make Conscience to be a distinct faculty of the Soul it matters not in this case so that we make it any thing belonging to the Soul for if the Soul in Heaven be perfectly good every power and faculty of it must be perfectly sanctified amongst which Conscience will finde a place m Conscientia humana est judiciū hominis de semetipso prout subjicitur judicio Dei Ames de Cons p. 1. Conscience as Doctor Ames defines it is Mans judgement concerning himselfe as it is subject to the judgement of God Therefore when God speaks peace perfected Conscience as it is in Heaven must needs speak so too and that Conscience cannot be perfectly good which is not quietly good Some distinguish of foure sorts of Consciences 1. A Conscience good but not quiet Such is the Conscience of a child of Light walking in Darknesse Such was the Conscience sometime of David and other of Gods Children Secondly A Conscience quiet but not good Such a Conscience as cryes peace peace to the sinner while he goes on in the stubbornesse of his own heart 3. A Conscience quiet and good Such is the Conscience of a Child of God when he walkes in Gods wayes and in the light of his Countenance 4. A Conscience neither good nor quiet Such is the accusing gnawing Conscience of a wicked Man such was the Conscience of Iudas after he had betrayed Christ But after this life the two first of these will be taken away 1. For when a man is perfectly sanctified as he shall be in Heaven there will be no room for Conscience to be unquiet because it will have no matter for which to accuse but will be perfectly quiet as the state of the Soule is perfectly good 2. The Conscience of the damned in Hell as it is perfectly evill so it is as restlesse and unquiet the worm as it never dyeth so it alwayes worketh 3. Perfect peace with Saints and Angels is but the perfection of the grace of love mutually exercised The third part of Heavens happinesse is perfect joy now joy is an affection of the Soule and the Soule being perfectly sanctified in glory this affection must be perfected as well as Love and the rest of the Affections which must all be taken in to make up the perfect sanctification of the Soule Perfect joy requires two things to its morall as well as its naturall perfection 1. That it be fixed upon God the chiefest good which is the onely satisfactory object And our joy here is therefore sinfully imperfect because we fixe it upon creature-comforts which are not perfect But God who is perfectly good is to be the onely object of our joy and other things are to be rejoyced in onely in subordination to him 2. Perfect joy requires a perfect rejoycing in this perfect object and in this life the joy of the Saints is therefore imperfect because though it be fixed upon God yet it is but imperfectly exercised Thus in both these respects our joy here is sinfully as well as naturally defective But in Heaven we shall perfectly rejoyce in God our perfect good and I hope none will deny but it is our duty to rejoyce in God forever with the most intense degree of joy and it were our sinne to doe any lesse What is this part of our happinesse then but a most necessary part of our perfect holinesse And in all these we see that perfect Holinesse is Heavens happinesse Another argument proving the great work of Christ our Saviour to be the saving of his people from their sins Arg. 4 may be drawn from the main scope and current of Scripture That must needs be the great work of Christ our Saviour which Scripture that is the word of salvation chiefly points out unto us But it is our salvation from sin or sanctification that Scripture chiefly points out unto us Eph. 1.13 Col. 3.16 Therefore this is the great work of Christ c. The Gospel is called the Gospel of our salvation because it shews us the way of salvation And it is called the Word of Christ not onely because it was endited by the Spirit of Christ but also because Christ is the subject whereof Scripture chiefly treats Joh. 5.39 Search the Scriptures for in them ye think to have eternall life and they are they that testifie of me saith Christ Christ is the subject of Moses writings and of all the Prophesies of the holy Prophets and the New Testament is called the Gospel or joyfull message of Jesus Christ because therein is brought unto us news of our salvation by Christ yea the will of Christ revealed in his Word being the instrument or means of our salvation must needs concur with Christ the principall Efficient of our Salvation Now Scripture mainly insists upon the doctrine of Sanctification which is our salvation from sin which will easily appeare if we take a generall view of Scriture thus Scripture contains 1. Precepts or Commands 2. Threatnings 3. Promises 4. Examples First The Precepts of Scripture command Holinesse and teach us how to eschew evill and
Christum omnia Christi membra continuitas quaedam ratione Spiritus Sancti qui plenâ—ssime residens in Christo capite imus idem numero ad omnia etiam ejus membra diffunditur vivificans ca singula uniens universa Dav. in Col. c. 1. v. 18. of the body Col. 1.18 He is the head of the body the Church As then in the naturall body the members have their life preserved by being united to the head being compact together by certain bonds and ligaments and if any be cut off and severed it becomes void of all life and motion So is it in the mysticall body if a soul should be dismembred from Christ it would as a hand cut off immediately become livelesse and uselesse If man at his first Creation so soon lost the life of perfect grace having the custody thereof committed to himselfe much more would he lose it now the degree thereof being so imperfect as it is were not this life originally in Christ Were it in us alone it would be but as water in a broken cisterne that would presently leake all out But Christ is an ever-over-flowing fountain continually streaming forth into the souls of his people yea as a spring arising within them as his words to the woman of Samaria import John 4.10.14 Jesus answered and said unto her if thou hadst known the gift of God and who it is that saith unto thee Give me to drink thou wouldest have asked of him and he would have given thee living water Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life Undoubtedly Christ himself is this Fountaine of grace and well doth Paul call it the grace which is in Christ Jesus 2. Tim. 2.1 God hath not then given unto his Saints as Abraham gave to Hagar water in a bottle to be soon exhausted that they should hopelessely bewaile the childe of grace as in a starving and perishing condition But hath sent the Angell of his Covenant who hath cheered their hearts by opening their eyes and shewing them a well of water whereby they may have assured hope that the babe shall be preserved and nourished till it come to perfect stature And this directs me to the next head As Christ is the Conserving so he is also the Perfecting cause of sanctifying grace in his people Christ the perfecting cause of sanctifying grace He is the Alpha and Omega in the work of grace He layes both the foundation and the top-stone in the spirituall building He is the Finisher as well as the Authour of our Faith Hebrews Chap. 12. ver 22. and we are said to be compleat in him Col. 2.10 In the work of Sanctification as well as Justification * Ph. 2.12 Not as though we were already perfect or could attain it in this life as the perfectists fondly argue from thence x Quae itaque in sanctis reperitur est imperfecta quaedam perfectio tum scientiae tum obedientiae De bac Aug Cont. duas Ep. Pelag. l 3 c. 5 Secundum istius vitae modum est quaedam perfectio cique per fectioni hoc deputaetur ut se quisque noverit nondum esse perfectum Dav. in Col. cap. 4. v. 13. In this life this work of Christ is but opus in fieri not in facto esse A work in doing not done Yet is grace perfect in its kinde from the first instant of it in the soul There is a twofold perfection 1. Of parts 2. Of degrees Or there is a Perfection 1. Of truth 2 Of Growth 1. That is perfect in Parts to which no parts are wanting and is opposed to maimed Thus a child is said to be perfect in the day of his birth that hath all parts that a child should have That is perfect with a perfection of Truth which is not Adulterate or counterfeit thus that is said to be perfect gold which is true and not counterfeit In this sense the work of Sanctification is Perfect at the first the soul is Sanctified throughout and in every part though it be but partly Sanctified The new man at first forming hath all its parts and members and the child of grace hath no part wanting in the day of his birth y Animalia nascuntur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Hist anim l. 7 c. 8. 1 Tim. 1.5 2 Tim. 1.5 2 Cor. 6.6 Ro. 12.9 Then also is it perfect in respect of Truth there is Faith unfained Love without dissimulation and every other grace in sincerity It will abide the touch-stone although it be not full weight 2. There is a Perfection of Degrees and of Grouth this is twofold 1. Comparative compared with that which is very weak little and much beneath it 2. Absolute as having nothing to be superadded Thus in a Comparative sense he is said to be Perfect that is a strong man in Christ an able Christian in Comparison of those that are as babes and but weak in the faith Thus saith Paul Phil. 3.15 Let us therefore as many as be Perfect be thus minded And Heb. 5.14 Strong meat belongs to them that are of full age 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 5.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 3.15 the Greek word here used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Perfect and is the same that is used in the foregoing proof This perfection also doth Christ give unto the soule that is his he brings it in and leads it on in the wayes of grace He who is called the Everlasting Father who hath begotten us againe is not contented meerely to preserve the children of Grace that they die not but doth tenderly nurse and cherish them and cause them to grow to greater strength and stature Eph. 4.15 16. But speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things which is the head even Christ from whom the whole body fitly joyned together and compacted by that which every joynt supplyeth according to the effectuall working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of it selfe in love But alas how imperfect is the greatest perfection that is attainable in this life how many are the sinfull weaknesses of the best of Gods servants and what little dwarfs are they here in comparison of their heavenly stature Christ doth not therefore set up Hercules Pillars with a Nil ultra to what he doth for his people here but he writes a Plus ultra there is something more that he doth for them yea that he works in them which exceeds this as far as heaven is higher than the earth There is therefore in the last place Perfection of dâ—greeâ— absolute an absolute perfection of Degrees which he bestows upon the Souls of his people at the houre of death z Tunc enim erit perfectum illud de quo loquens Apostolus Ex parte
meanes of pleasing God and saying It is not This but That when it is indeed both This and That and both are links of the same Golden chaine inseparably conjunct 3. By pretending an humble abasing of man as if we must disesteem Sanctification because it is in our selves and the works of it done by our selves But indeed it is our selves that Christ meaneth to cure in our selves he dwelleth by faith our selves are the habitation and temples of his Spirit and it is our selves whom he will perfect in Glory for ever and our selves by whom he will be praysed and honoured Is grace the lesse grace because it is in or upon our selves If God had thought that all the goodnesse that is in any besides himself or all the good that is done by any other had been derogatory to his glory he would never have made any creature nor made use of any or else he would not have made them good Is the goodnesse of a Watch a dishonour to the Watchmaker or the beauty of a House dishonourable to the Builder Will God bring men to Heaven and to perfection of Holinesse at so deare a rate that we may then dishonour him by being personally perfect They that digest this unhappy doctrine are unlikely to give God the glory of his works and particularly of this excellent part of his grace 4. Another engine to destroy Sanctification concurrent with the former is the pretended advancing of Christ and Free-grace as if Christ within us were no Christ and Sanctfication were no part of Free-grace Or as if to deny Christ our love and obedience were to advance and honour him Or to Love and Prayse and obey him were to dishonour him The vanity of these delusory conceits is by Reverend and deare Brother plainly judieiously and solidly discovered in this following Treatise neither clouding the free Remission of sins by extolling mortification and holy living as the Papists nor laying our recovery wholly in relative changes and all our righteousnesse in meer reputation as the Libertines doe seeing it is by the right apprehensions and considerations of the Understanding that the Will must be rectified and the Affections elevated and sound Doctrine is the meanes to sound Apprehensions I may groundedly perswade thee Reader that by a diligent and faithfull perusall of this Treatise thou art likely to receive an addition to thy Sanctification while thou shalt read and consider of its Excellency and Necessity and to be more freed from sin while thou considerest the Desirablenesse and the way of that Freedome Read therefore and consider and the Lord give his blessing So prayes London Decemb. 21. 1654. An unworthy Servant of Christ for the promoting of the Faith and Holinesse of his Chosen Rich Baxter The AUTHOR to the READER Christian Reader IT is generally and truly observed That Civil warres are far worse than with a Forraigne nation for they are more violent and more destructive which party soever prevailes the Publique is a loser and such victories leave small cause for triumph Sad experience in this nation tells us that there have been more desperate military ingagements in those few yeares of our late warres than have been in twice the time between other warring nations And how destructive they have been both to persons and estates the sensible Countrey will pathetically tell any man if he need information Oh how many gallant English Champions slain how many fair Buildings burnt pulled downe and vast Estates ruined And where is the man almost if he had an estate before that is not a great loser But there is another Civil Warre that is yet remaining of more dangerous consequence although the multitude are not as sensible of it as of the former and that is the discord that is even among brethren in spirituall matters who yet agree in the fundamentals of the Faith This Warre as it hath the like violence so is it more destructive in the Church than that hath been in the Common-wealth How many poore soules have been destroyed and Churches ruined and what Christian almost if he will but faithfully cast up his account but hath been a great loser by it in his spirituall estate How sad is it to see Protestants not onely of the same Nation but of former intimate and indeared acquaintance write more bitterly one against another than an ingenious Protestant would doe against a Papist He that doth but read our modern English controversies will finde among many of them I dare not say all such personall aspersions and reflexions criminations and recriminations false charges and foule mis-interpreting of one anothers writings that a third person who expects to read somewhat of the Question controverted findes so much written adhominem that there is but little ad rem I am sorry to see how much gall many godly men put in their ink A man would be also ashamed to see how some that oppose other mens writings do so farre wrest their words from their meanings yea go so far wide both of words and meanings that it must be either through notorious wilfulnesse or ignorance that they so misreport them if through wilfulnesse how great is their sin if through ignorance how unfit are they to write Controversies How sad is it that some of good abilities spend most of their time they can well spare and more too from their necessary work of the Ministry in studying and writing some small Controversie in comparison of many more weighty Truths and thus imploy their talents for many yeares in the best of their age in which time they might have done the Church of God good service by some more profitable Tractates Had they bent that force against the Kingdome of Satan and Antichrist which they have done against their Brethren to the rending of the Church their labour had been worth the owning which now grieves them because they see it so much slighted Well may I say in this what was ill spoken in another case Quorsum perditio haec Why is this wast Wast of time wast of taelent to the wasting of each others reputations yea to the wasting I fear of most preious grace in the Antagonists themselves which is worst of all to the wasting of the Church Our Saviour tells us A Kingdome divided cannot stand And had not our late Wars through Gods mercy soon ended we should have seen those of us that had survived the saying sadly fulfilled in our selves But how dolefull a sight is it to see the Visible Kingdome of Christ himself in this Nation so miserably divided and though the war of Field and Garrison be ended yet the war of Presse and Pulpit is as hot as ever Alas that in this sense we so truly deserve to be called the Church Militant And I have little hopes to see it ended whilst I live And if it proceed as hotly and destructively as it hath done hitherto which we have reason to feare judge what Church-desolation is like to be before
spirit c. Here the water of Baptism signifies Regeneration by the spirit of Christ Tit. 3.5 1 Pet. 3.21 The Lords Supper is for the strengthening of Faith and the several graces of the spirit in the Soule and Food is for the maintaining and increasing of naturall strength John 6.55 My flesh is meat indeed my blood is drinke indeed 5. Let us take a view of some of the principal Gospel inviations Isa 55.1 Ho Gospel-invitations every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters c. Joh. 7.37 In the last day that great day of the feast Jesus stood and cried saying If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink Rev. 22.17 And the spirit and the bride say Come and let him that heareth say Come and let him that is athirst come and whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely In these texts we see free and gracious offers made to the thirsty and accordingly our Saviour Christ pronounceth them blessed which do hunger and thirst after righteousnesse Mat. 5.6 Hungring and thirsting are metaphoricall expressions and signifie the earnest and importunate desire of the soule for as the hungring and thirsting appetite is not satisfied but with meat and drink which it earnestly craveth so the soul that is truly sensible of its wants is restlesse unlesse it obtain a supply Now let it be considered whether the offers before mentioned be onely of pardoning grace and the blessednesse Christ speaketh of be to such as hunger and thrist after his justifying righteousnesse onely or whether sanctifying grace is not here principally I do not say only intended Should we understand these of pardoning and justifying grace alone who would not desire such grace that ever heard of it Should the blessedness here spoken of belong to all that earnestly desire Christs justifying righteousnesse who among us would fall short of the blessing that ever heard the Gospel preached The most wicked among us desire to be pardoned for the sake of Christ and justified by his righteousnesse and if in their health and prosperity they little regard it yet when sicknesse arresteth them and death looks them in the face they unfeignedly desire it which is to hunger and thirst after it and so the multitude of wicked and ungodly men that live and die in their sinnes would be pronounced blessed by Christ himself it here were no more intended When a wicked impenitent sinner lies upon his death-bed and expresseth his desire that God would pardon his sin for the sake of Christ and justifie him through his righteousness we have no reason to think that he dissembles not meaning what he speaks for who would be willing to be condemned But those gracious offers hold forth to us both pardoning and sanctifying grace and sanctifying grace more especially Hear John explaining the invitation of Christ forementioned John 7.37 38 39. But this he spake of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive And what Spirit is this but the holy Ghost which is our Sanctifier Here let me ask the sound Believer What hast thou hungred and thirsted after what hath been thy desire didst thou never earnestly desire sanctifying grace dost thou not still finde it to be thy greatest want dost thou not daily beg it at the hand of God would the assurance of a pardon content thy soule if it were possible to obtain it without sanctifying grace I know it cannot be Thus likewise saith Christ Mat. 11.28 Come unto me all that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest These expressions are also metaphoricall and reteining the Metaphor what is the burden here spoken of If it were onely the burden of wrath due for sin Cain and Judas groaned under the burden and would have been glad of ease and so would the most desperate sinner◠in the world If you say they did not come to Christ for ease I answer that coming is also a metaphorical expression and we cannot understand it of a locall motion To come to Christ for ease is but to be willing to be eased by him and to accept of his help And what reason have we to think that Cain or Judas were unwilling that Christ should ease them of that horrour and judgement their souls lay under Yea let me adde I doubt not but all the Devils in Hell would be willingly eased of the intolerable burden of Gods eternal vengeance If you say But there is no promise made to Devils but to Men I answer it is true but sure the men to whom this rest belongs have other kind of desires than what the Devils have And in this as James compares the faith that is not saving with the faith of Devils Jam. 2.19 so may I compare the desire that is not saving with the desire of Devils The burden then here spoken of is the burden of sin it selfe with the wrath of God as the fruit of it and those that have found or shall find ease by Christ are such as groan under the intolerable burden of sin it self and not meerly under the burden of wrath And here I might also appeal to the sincere Christian Wouldst thou think thy self sufficiently eased of thy burden if Christ should onely deliver thee from eternall torments would the body of sin be no burden to thee would it be a pleasure to bear it about thee It was Paul's greatest burden it made him groaning and panting after ease cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death His complaint in this expression is the voice of one tired out with a wearisom burden and neere spent with sorrow We shall now consider some other texts of Scripture When Paul states the doctrine of salvation by free grace he magnifies free grace mainly in the sanctification and not meerely in the justification of the sinner Ephes 2.8 By grace ye are saved through faith and not of your selves it is the gift of God What this salvation here spoken of is let the Apostle himselfe declare in the foregoing verses Ver. 1 2 3 4 5. And you hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world but God who is rich in mercy for his great mercy wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickned us together with Christ by grace ye are saved In which verses you plainly see that Grace is magnified up in the quickning from death in trespasses and sins to live the life of grace So likewise saith Paul to Tit. c. 33. to 7. For we our selves also were sometimes foolish disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures living in malice and envy hatefull and hating one another But after that the kindnesse and love of God our Saviour towards man appeared not by works of righteousnesse which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by
returned was the immediate principle of life Now when Christ had given life unto him and called Lazarus come forth would Lazarus have done well to answer Lord if I come forth and walk upon my own legs thy power will not be manifested in my resurrection the work will not appeare to be a reall miracle Would it not have been a dishonour to Christ for Lazarus to have laine still in the grave when Christ had thus called him forth to manifest his gracious power Certainly the more readily he came forth and the more he walked worked or performed any actions of life the more fully was the miracle and therein the glory of Christ manifest to the world And thus it is in our spirituall resurrection from death in sin To return again to the exhortation consider I beseech you what is the great work you have to mind as long as you live that which is the great work of Christ must be your great work also wherein you must diligently labour in subordination to him to wit in the saving of your souls from sin But I will not detain you in the generall exhortation but descend to particulars where I shall speak 1. To such as are in the state of nature Art thou yet poor soul in thy naturall condition under the power of Sin and Satan O consider thou art in a sad condition thou art lying under the greatest misery and thy great work is all yet to do wait upon God diligently in the use of his means for the saving of thy soul Obj. But thou wilt presently say Is it in the power of a naturall man to convert himself Am I able to deliver my owne soul Answ If thou art willing to be saved from the bondage of corruption know that the Lord is willing to afford thee help but if thou art not willing to leave thy sin why dost thou complaine for want of power Doubtless the same that Christ charged upon the Jewes Iohn 5.40 Ye will not come to me that ye might have life may be charged upon thee and the multitude of carnall persons that live under the meanes of grace When Christ bewailed Ierusalem's sad condition being ready to be destroyed he complaines How often would I have gathered thy children together and ye would not Mat. 23.37 So may I say how often hath the Lord tendred unto thee saving grace and thou wouldst not accept it Were thy defect a meere simple impotency thy condition were the more excusable but thy defect is mainly in thy will thou art in love with the sensuall pleasures of sin thou delightest in them and art not willing to exchange them for the precious graces that Christ offers thee Christ invites thee and thy excuse is I cannot when the truth is thou wilt not accept of grace offered Say not I cannot save my selfe when thou art not willing that Christ should save thee And to the end thou maist be left without excuse Consider 1. God is willing to save thee yea he would delight in thy salvation more than in thy destruction yea he hath bound it with an oath Ezek 33.11 As I live saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turne from his way and live Turne ye turne ye from your evill waies for why will ye die O ye house of Israel Hath not God also abundantly declared his willingnesse in the giving of his Son Iohn 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life 2. Christ is willing had he not been so he would never have laid down his life to open a way for thy salvation Were he unwilling he would not send his Ambassadours to pray and beseech thee to accept of his help Had he been willing of Ierusalem's destruction he would not have wept over it for refusing the message of Salvation Hath God declared his willingness by his word and oath and the death of his Son And hath Christ declared his willingnesse by giving himself a ransome sufficient for thy soul Doth he offer to cleanse and purify thee with his dearest bloud Doe the Gospell-invitations Come come come often sound in thine eares Doth he stretch forth his hand all the day long for thy help and blame thee for thy backwardnesse to thy own good Where is now the fault but onely in thy selfe How doth the Lord still exercise patience and long-suffering wooing waiting for thy accepting of his gracious offers but yet thou turnest the deaf eare and hardnest thy heart against the salvation of thy own soul Suppose a man sick of some desperate disease and an eminent Physitian sends to him telling him Thy disease is very dangerous and there is no hope of thy life unlesse thou accept of my help if thou art but willing I will come and heale thee I have healed thousands of the same disease and can as easily heal thee if thou art but willing I should do it But he answers If God hath appointed I shall recover I shall and if not there is no help for me and so refuseth the Physitians offer slights the Messenger and dieth of the Disease Is not this man guilty of his own death and will not all that hear it say He might have been a living man would he but have taken the Physitians counsell Is not this the very condition of thy soule poore carnal wretch Thy disease is mortal and how often hath the Lord the spiritual Physitian sent his Messengers declaring to thee the pernicious danger of thy sinne that it will be thy eternal ruine unlesse thou accept of his help and how many hundred messages hath he sent unto thee telling thee if thou art but willing he will come down and heale thee And the more to convince thee of his skill he hath given thee examples of many that he hath cured that were as desperately sinful as thy self But thou sayest If it be Gods will I shall be saved I shall or else all meanes and endeavours are in vaine and slightest the offers of Christ by his Messengers Is not the fault now plainly in thy self and is it not manifest wilfulnesse if thou perish without help Say not as many doe in their hearts I know Christ can save me if he will Let me tell thee againe Christ is willing as well as able to save thee if thou art but truly willing of his help and if thou art not willing thy perdition will be of thy self the blood of thy soule will be upon thy owne head And let this be engraven for thy Epitaph that all may read it when thou art dead and gone Lo here he lies who perished in his sinnes because he would not be saved But yet my heart is very unwilling to part with thee thus yea methinks the Lord himselfe is unwilling thus to let thee go notwithstanding thy former wilfulnesse When the Lord had
into hell under the eternall wrath of God Sure thou sayest in thy heart I will hereafter return to God sometime or other before I die I intend to repent and lay fast hold upon Christ at the last and I hope I may be saved then as well as if I do it now Hast thou not some such reasonings in thy heart as these To which I answer thou art ready to plead thy own inability now and say I cannot repent believe and turn to God it is not in the power of a naturall man to do it Why then dost thou promise what thou wilt do at the last will it be any more in thy power then than now is it out of the power of a strong and healthy man to repent and lay hold upon mercy offered and is an aged sick or crasie person able to perform it Consider well of it and give me a reason why thou shouldst be better able to doe this great work when thy body is decaying and thy memory and understanding declining and thou unable to frequent the publick Ordinances than now while strength of body and mind and means of grace do all concurre together Obj. But thou wilt say I hope God will give me grace then and enable me to do it Answ 1. God offers thee his help now yea his saving grace why wilt thou not accept of it 2. What reason hast thou to think that Christ will bestow upon thee that grace at the point of death that thou hast wilfully refused all the dayes of thy life Nay hast thou not reason to expect that before that time thou shalt be judicially sealed up to blindnesse of minde and hardnesse of heart for refusing so many of the Lords gracious offers of mercy Thus it befell the Jewes in the like case Isa 6.9 10. And the Lord said go and tell this people hear ye indeed but understand not and see indeed but perceive not Make the heart of this people fat and make their eares heavy and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes and heare with their eares and understand with their heart and convert and be healed When the terrours of hell and death take hold on thee and thou criest to God maist thou not justly expect that the Lord will be as peremptory in refusing to hear thy cries and complaints as thou hast been in refusing to obey his voice in the daies of thy prosperity Read and consider well Prov. 1.20 to 31. Zech. 7.13 Therefore it is come to passe that as he cried and they would not heare so they cried and I would not hear saith the Lord of hosts Read the foregoing verses 3. Let me ask thee how many thou hast seen converted to Christ in their old age that lived constantly under the means of grace in their younger yeares The work of grace is wrought most commonly upon those that are in the prime of their age gray-headed sinners seldome repent Why wilt thou then promise thy selfe so much in old age 4. Tell me plainly and deceive not thy own soule while thou shiftest thus Is not pardon of sin and justification that thou maist be delivered from a place of torment the great mercy thou hopest for and is not this the end thou proposest while thou promisest thy self future repentance If so thou dost but deceive thy own soule Christ came to save thee from thy sinnes and not meerly from the tormenting wrath of God Christ will be a whole Saviour or no Saviour he will deliver thee from the power of thy sin here or he will never deliver thee from hell hereafter Think not that a little counterfeit sorrow at the last will prevaile with the Lord to pardon thy sin O study well the offers promises and threatnings of the Gospel now for I feare thou art as yet ignorant of the nature of saving grace I believe thou dost much cheer up thy selfe with the consideration of Gods goodnesse riches of grace mercy and long-suffering and think thy selfe by these sufficiently secured 'T is true indeed the consideration of these may comfort the humble selfe-denying converting sinner and are well made use of to lead us to repentance But thou that continuest in sinne upon this score after thy hardnesse and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thy selfe wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God Rom. 2.4 5. Obj. But what kinde of legal preaching is this Is this to preach salvation by Christ This is more like the voice of the Law than of the Gospel more like the thundring and lightning from mount Sinai than the voice of Christ from mount Sion Ans 1. I well remember ever since I knew what a Sermon meant till these late years that the most thundring rouzing sin discovering heart-searching Preachers were most highly prized and followed by all that were esteemed godly and the wicked and profane were wont to call them damnation preachers and desired to heare such as would preach them a Sermon of mercy I wonder now how it comes to passe that so many professors in these times are fallen in with the profane multitude to revile such messengers of Christ Sure there is a harmony between the theory at least of the one and practice of the other The Antinomian Professors plead grace is free and God hath so revealed himself that we need not doubt of his love it doth not become a Gospel-spirit to repent of sin or grieve for any miscarriages their sins were all long since done away in Christ neither ought they so much as once question their spiritual state neither should Ministers preach any thing but Free-grace and mercy in Jesus Christ And the wicked and profane say God is mercifull and Christ died to save sinners and hereupon take liberty to go on in sin impenitently never questioning their spiritual condition but hope to be saved by Christ as well as the best And the Antinomian sort of teachers will fit them for preaching according to their own hearts desire Either all our old Professors or these new ones are much mistaken But you will say These are times of greater light and many of our young Professors now see that that our ancient Professours understood not in former times Answ These are times wherein Professors are more light than formerly but whether they have more light I much question Some men have or at leastwise think they have much light in their heads but little in their hearts and their Religion is much in controversies but little in the life and power of godlinesse 2. Light is of two sorts First the light of bare knowledge and if this be the light so much boasted of the Devils and damned in hell may boast more for they know more than all the Saints upon earth Secondly there is the light of grace seated chiefly in the heart and shining forth in the life and conversation and this if I mistake not yea if Christ mistake not is the true light of
of the happiness we shall enjoy hereafter the spirit of sanctification is therefore called the earnest of our inheritance Ephes 1.14 Now the earnest is not a meere signe of a bargain but a part of the summe and what a man receives in earnest so much he hath toward the summe he is to receive So much then as thou hast of sanctifying grace so much thou hast of thy heaven upon earth Thus when Peter exhorts us to adde grace unto grace and one degree of grace unto another he useth this among many other motives 2 Pet. 1.11 For so an entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdome of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ The more holinesse we obtaine the further we get into heavens happinesse while we are here upon earth Thus I conceive we may understand the exhortation of Paul Phil. 2.12 Work out your salvation with feare and trembling Consider the foregoing words As ye have alwaies obeyed not as in my presence onely but now much more in my absence Work out your salvation c. As if he should say as he hath begun in the assistance of his grace who worketh in you both to will and to do so go on to work out your salvation to wit in obeying to the end O consider what motives here are to holinesse 1. It is your salvation By the habits of grace you are delivered from the state of sin and by every act of obedience you are saved from the contrary evil of disobedience I beseech you consider it well there is something of salvation in every act of obedience to God Mistake me not I do not say that any or all our obedience deserves ought from God but in every duty the Lord inables you to perform you are saved from the contrary neglect In every temptation you resist you are saved from that evil of sin you were tempted to and sin is the worst of evils Thus Joseph by withstanding the temptations of his Mistress was saved from the sin of uncleannesse and this was a farre greater deliverance than his enlargement from the dungeon he was afterward cast into And in this sense well sayes Solomon Prov. 19.16 He that keepeth the commandement keepeth his own soule And Christ is called Heb. 5.9 the author of eternall salvation unto all them that obey him For he saves his people by ruling them and making them obedient to his will The second motive here used by the Apostle ver 13. is this For it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure Ye have the assurance of Gods special grace which is sufficient for you strive therefore in the strength of grace I might here use divers arguments to presse you on to holy obedience but I shall onely desire at this time that this one may be well considered and you will finde it weighty to wit that sanctification is salvation Consider the reasons of the Doctrine and let thy soule be convinced of this that sin is the worst of evils that God is most honoured and thy self most happy in thy being saved from sin according to the Doctrine That the great work of Christ our Saviour is the saving of his people from their sins And then methinks I need say no more to perswade you to hate sinne and fall in love with the wayes of holinesse And here before I passe let it be considered that properly and immediately we cannot either principally or instrumentally pardon our sins or justifie our soules that belongs wholly to God It is God that pardoneth and justifieth it is Man that is pardoned and justified yet is it our duty to beg and sue for pardon but in the sanctification of our soules 1 Pet. 1.22 1 Joh. 3.3 we after the first grace received are immediately instrumentall in our own salvation as you have already heard we are never commanded to pardon or justifie our selves Jam. 4 8. 1 Pet. 1.15 Tit. 3.8 Heb. 12.4 Col. 3.5 Phil. 2 12. but to purge our hearts and cleanse our hands to walk in holinesse to maintain good works to strive against sin to mortifie our earthly members and therein to work out our salvation And what have we else to do while we are here but to glorifie God in seeking the salvation of our souls from sin And here let me tell you also there is something of destruction x Omnes â—â—im quoties peccamus totâ—es peâ—imus quantum ad nos attineâ— Deus forsitan meliora salubriora nobis providet at quoties peccamus per nos non fiat quin pereamus Quod à peâ—ditione vindicamur ex me a est Dei misericordia peccata etiam multo graviora prepter Châ—istum condonantis nosque ad resipiscentiam perducentis Interea pâ—râ—nâ—s non fiat quin pereamus quoties peccamus Twis vind gra l. 2. crim 4. Sect. 2. in every sin you do commit every sinne is as a wound to the soul And although the Lord will perfectly cure it in those that are his yet methinks a sober man should carefully keep himselfe from wounds notwithstanding he hath a skilfull Chirurgeon at hand that is able to heale him When the Apostle saith Rom. 14.15 Destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ died He did not mean that it was in the power of any man finally to destroy him whom Christ hath effectually redeemed but destroy not that is mischief not him by causing him to commit sin which is in its own nature destructive to the soul That saying of Philosophers vehemens sensibile destruit sensum A violent object destroyeth the sense is true although every loud sound doth not make a man stark deaf nor every dazling light quite put out a mans eys the senses are impaired by violent objects though not immediately destroyed by one such object As Solomon saith of one sinner so we may truly say one sin destroyeth much good Eccles 9.18 Thus the soul though not utterly destroied is very much damnified by sinful practises yea every sin is in its own nature a mortall wound and although the Lord doth not suffer his people to die yet when they have sinned greatly he hath caused them to feel so much tormenting pain of such wounds that they have roared out and groaned long sometimes in the bitternesse of their soules before they have felt the cure wrought Psal 32.3 4 5. When I kept silence my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me my moisture is turned into the drought of summer I aknowledged my sin unto thee and my iniquity have I not hid I said I will confesse my transgressions unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin Consider therefore how much thou art concerned to look to thy heart and waies to mortifie sin and perfect holinesse in the feare of God I shall now proceed to give some directions for the saving
to be received and evill to be removed Leigh on the Promises p. 5. Promissio Dei est denunoratio futurorum bonorum nobis dandorum c. Polan Syntag. l. 6. c. 31. not of such as had an eternall Being A Promise of what is already done or past is a contradiction in termes Prop. 2. When Christ undertook the work of the Salvation of his people he did at once undertake both their Justification and Sanctification Heb. 10. to v. 19. Prop. 3. I take Sanctification here in the sense as our Divines usually do to wit for the whole work of grace upon the soul after its first closing with Christ Christ did make one intire purchase of his peoples Salvation meriting both Sanctifying and pardoning grace for sinfull and guilty men who upon the purchase made had as much right to the one as to the other and no more Isa 53.5 Gal. 3.10 Tit. 2.14 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Hebr. 10. to v. 19. Therefore we can no more conclude Corol. that we were actually pardoned and justified immediately upon the price that Christ paid then that we were actually Sanctified Christ in his Gospell-offer tendereth himself both for our Justification and Sanctification Prop. 4. and commandeth us so to accept of him requiring Faith repentance and sincere obedience of all those that will be his And he that will not imbrace him for Sanctification shall not have him for Justification he that is not willing to have his sins mortified shall not have them pardoned Christ will be a whole Saviour or no Saviour Acts. 3.19 Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out c. Luke 13.3 5.19.27 Hence that offer Acts 3.19 of Remission of sins upon condition of repentance and conversion to God and all others in Scripture of the like nature are not the lesse but the more free because conditionall For the condition that is required is our priviledge Our turning from God by sin is our greatest misery and our conversion or turning to God in holinesse is our greatest happinesse as you have formerly heard 2. what the Lord requireth of his people he communicateth to them his grace for the performance of according to the tenour of the New-Covenant as in the next proposition So that the condition required doth but injoyne us to accept of a double blessing and oblige us to minde our whole Salvation to wit from sin as well as suffering that God may be the more glorified in the riches of his grace They are therefore utterly mistaken yea they much eclipse and lessen Gospell grace and turne most part of the Gospell into Law who call all conditionall promises the voice of the Law and not of the Gospell Suppose a King should offer to a poor unworthy subject two most precious Jewels joyned together in a golden link tendring them to him freely tels him withall Thou shalt not have the one without the other but take them both together as they are tendred Would it be wel for this poor man to say The gift would be more free of greater bounty if I might break that golden link and take one of the jewels without the other it is a diminishing of the freenesse of the gift that you injoyne me to take them both This is plainely the case The Lord hath in the Gospell individually linked together both his pardoning and Sanctifying grace but flesh and blood would fain break this golden link We are naturally willing to have our sins pardoned that we may be freed from suffering but nature is an enemy to Sanctifying grace Christ as the efficient cause 5. Prop. pardons the sins that are past and Sanctifies the sinner when he doth actually convert or bring him home from Satan to God so that those that come unto Christ or believe in him are then made actuall partakers both of Iustifying and Sanctifying grace of Iustifying grace by the imputation of Christs righteousnesse of Sanctifying grace by the reall communication of his grace unto them That as all the children of the first Adam are subject to sin and misery in the day of their generation and birth so all the children of the second Adam Jesus Christ are delivered from a state both of sin and condemnation in the day of their regeneration and new-birth Thus Paul as Christs instrument was sent to the Gentiles To open their eyes to turn them from darknesse to light and from the power of Satan to God that they might receive forgivenesse of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified Acts 26.18 See also 1 Cor. 6.11 And such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Here the Apostle maketh a plain Antithesis between what they then were what they had been formerly Ye are washed that is cleansed by the blood of Christ which was signified by the water of your Baptisme both from the guilt and state of sin ye are sanctified ye are justified Now make up the other part of the Antithesis and it must be this Ye were unsanctified ye were unjustified And when was that before they were converted when they lived in such sins as are mentioned ver 9. and 10. they were committers of them and guilty before God excluded from an actuall title to the Kingdome of God Such were some of you but ye are washed c. Eph. 2. to ver 10. Rom. 4.28 ch 5.1 Act. 15.9 Those then Corol. 1. that say Faith doth but manifest our Justification may as well say it doth but manifest our Sanctification for they were both proposed purchased and wrought together Hence Sanctifying grace is the necessary qualification of a justified person because Christ doth not bestow these saving mercies severally but jointly and individually where his sanctifying grace is not communicated his righteousnesse is not imputed and hereby even by sanctifying grace wrought in us we are to try our actuall interest in Jesus Christ Hence those that are perplexed with the sense of Gods displeasure pinched with the want of grace are to come to Christ for help in both kinds Those that say they dare not believe nor lay hold upon the Promises for the remission of sins because they are of unhumbled and impenitent hearts must learn to come to Christ that their hearts may be broken and humbled It is he that gives repentance unto Israel as well as remission of sins The believing sinner Prop. 6. being justified from all the sins that are past and sanctified inchoately The pardon continueth good in Law and the sanctifying grace bestowed is conserved by the same Jesus Corol. Hence the Elect of God though they many times fall to their sore wounding from the lively actings of grace and under Gods just paternal displeasure yet they never fall from a state of grace and their heavenly Fathers affectionate love Psal 89 28. to 34. with Isa 55.3 Prop. 7. Those that are regenerate being but partly renewed although in every part are subject to many infirmities and many back-slidings n Novis peccatis quantum in nobis est abdicamus no à gratia Dei Ita fit ut quotidiana peccatorum remissione upus habeant Sancti omne quia baec sola in Dei familia nos retiret Bulling in 1 Joh. 1.7 and the same Jesus who was the giver and preserver of the forementioned favours multiplieth pardons with renewing grace Hos 14.4 I will heale their back slidings I will love them freely for mine anger is turned away from him Thus in the salutation of both Peters Epistles he prayeth grace and peace be multiplied 1 Pet. 1.2 2 Pet. 1.2 And this renewing grace maketh the soul importunate for pardon of sin and power against sin Thus David when he was restored from his great fall prayed Psal 51.9 10 11. Hide thy face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy holy spirit from me Hence the godly are to pray daily for pardon of sin and power against it Corol. Thus Christ taught his Disciples to pray Forgive us our trespasses and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil And here note that as in the fourth Petition he teacheth them and us daily to pray for our daily sustenance so in these Petitions which are adjoyned with a conjunction copulative he teacheth daily to pray for daily forgiveness and for daily preservation against tentations And it were far better for us to be a day without our daily Bread than without our daily Pardoning supporting and renewing grace It is true the Lord hath promised both and will perform what he hath promised yet thus saith the Lord I will for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them Ezek. 36.37 And because the Lord hath thus promised his people have the more incouragement and ground to pray Forgive us c. At the hour of death Prop. 8 the souls of the Saints are perfectly freed both from sin and guilt and so translated to heaven Heb. 12.23 Rev. 21.27 Prop. 9. Gloria ista inchâ—atur in hâc vita post mortem corporis fit auctior tandem à resurrectione perficitur Alst Qu. Theo. c. 41. At the general Resurrection and great day of Judgement the redeemed of the Lord shall be sententially justified before Angels and Men and perfectly sanctified in the whole man consisting of soul and body united to become meet instruments for the everlasting praises of God their Saviour To whom be glory for ever AMEN FINIS