Ends and Effects for which he is promised And these are those which are before expressed with all those particular Instances which may be reduced unto them We might therefore hence give Direction in some Enquiries which indeed deserve a larger Discussion if our present Design would admit of it one only I shall instance in May a Person who is yet Vnregenerate pray for the Spirit of Regeneration to effect that Work in him For whereas as such he is promised onely unto the Elect such a Person not knowing his Election seems to have no foundation to make such a Request upon Ans. 1. Election is no Qualification on our part which we may consider or plead in our Supplications but only the secret Purpose on the part of God of what himself will doe and is known unto us only by its Effects 2 Persons convinced of sin and a state of sin may and ought to pray that God by the Effectual Communications of his Spirit unto them would deliver them from that Condition This is one way whereby we flee from the wrath to come 3 The especial Object of their Supplications herein is Sovereign Grace Goodness and Mercy as declared in and by Jesus Christ. Such Persons cannot indeed plead any especial Promise as made unto them But they may plead for the Grace and Mercy declared in the Promises as indefinitely proposed unto sinners It may be they can proceed no further in their Expectations but unto that of the Prophet who knoweth if God will come and give a Blessing Joel 2. 14. yet is this a sufficient ground and encouragement to keep them waiting at the Throne of Grace So Paul after he had received his Vision from Heaven continued in great distress of mind praying until he received the Holy Ghost Acts 9. 11 17. 4 Persons under such Convictions have really sometimes the seeds of Regeneration communicated unto them and then as they ought so they will continue in their Supplications for the Encrease and Manifestation of it It is evident that by these Observations the foregoing Objection is utterly removed out of the way and there is no disadvantage ariseth unto the Doctrine of the Free and Effectual Grace of God by confining this Work of Sanctification and Holiness unto Believers only None are sanctified none are made Holy but those who truely and savingly Believe in God through Jesus Christ which I shall now further confirm Sect. 5 1 Without Faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11. 6. The Faith discoursed of by the Apostle is that whereby the Fathers received the Promises walked with God and obtained the Inheritance the Faith of Abraham that is true saying justifying Faith This Faith constitutes all them in whom it is true Believers and without it it is impossible to please God Now Holiness wherever it is pleaseth God and therefore without Faith it is impossible we should have any interest in it This is the Will of God even our Sanctification 1 Thess. 4. 3. and walking therein we please God v. 7. All that pleaseth God in us is our Holiness or some part of it and it principally consists in an Opposition unto all that displeaseth him That which he commands pleaseth him and that which he forbids displeaseth him and our Holiness consists in a Complyance with the one and an Opposition unto the other Wherefore that any others but Believers should have any thing which really belongs unto this Holiness the Apostle declares it to be impossible Some would except against this sense of the words from the ensuing Reason which the Apostle gives of his Assertion which contains the nature of the Faith intended For he that cometh unto God must believe that he is and that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him For this is that they say which the Light of Nature directs unto and therefore there is no other Faith necessarily required that a man may please God but only that which is included in the right use and exercise of Natural Reason But this Exception will no way evade the Force of this Testimony For the Apostle discourseth concerning such a Coming unto God and such a Belief in him as is guided directed and ingenerated in us by the Promises which it rests upon and is resolved into Now these Promises all and every one of them include Jesus Christ with a respect unto him and his Grace And therefore the Faith intended is that which is in God through Christ as revealed and exhibited in the Promises and this Coming unto God is a Fruit and Effect thereof 2 Our Lord Jesus Christ affirms that men are sanctified by the Faith that is in him Acts 26. 18. That they may receive Forgiveness of sins and an Inheritance among them that are sanctified by the Faith that is in me If there were any other way or means whereby men might be sanctified or made Holy he would not have confined it unto the Faith that is in him At least there is no other way to attain that Holiness which may bring them unto the Heavenly Inheritance or make them meet for it Col. 1. 11. which alone we enquire after And indeed there can be no greater Contempt cast on the Lord Jesus and on the Duty of Believing in him whereunto he makes this one of his principal Motives than to Imagine that without Faith in him any one can be made Holy 3. Faith is the Instrumental Cause of our Sanctification so that where it is not no Holiness can be wrought in us God purifyeth our hearts by Faith Acts 15. 9. and not otherwise And where the Heart is not purifyed there is no Holiness All the Dutyes in the world will not denominate him Holy whose Heart is not purified nor will any such Dutyes be holy themselves seeing unto the unclean all things are unclean All the Obedience that is accepted with God is the Obedience of Faith Rom. 1. 7. thence it springs and therewith is it animated So is it expressed 1 Pet. 1. 21 22. You who by Christ do believe in God and have purifyed your Souls in obeying the Truth through the Spirit It is from Faith in God through Jesus Christ acting it self in Obedience unto the Gospel that we purifie or cleanse our Souls which is our Sanctification See Col. 2. 12 13 14. Chap. 3. 7 8 9 10 11. 4 All Grace is Originally entrusted in and with Jesus Christ. The Image of God being lost in Adam whatever was prepared or is used for the Renovation of it in our Natures and Persons wherein Gospel Holiness doth consist was to be treasured up in him as the second Adam by whom many are to be made alive who dyed in the first It pleased the Father that in him all Fulness should dwell as the Fullness of the Godhead in and for his own Divine Personal Subsistence so the Fulness of all Grace for Supplyes unto us that of his Fulness we might receive Grace for Grace He is made the Head
day the Greatness of his Mercy towards all sorts of Sinners his Readiness to receive them his Willingness to pardon them and that freely in Christ without the Consideration of any Worth Merit or Righteousness of their own And do you not herein invite all sorts of Sinners the worst and the greatest to come unto him by Christ that they may be pardoned and accepted Whence then can arise any Argument for the Necessity of Holiness from the Consideration of the Nature of this God whose Inestimable Treasures of Grace and the freedom of whose Love and Mercy towards Sinners no Tongue as you say can express Sect. 33 An. 1 This Objection is very natural unto carnal and unbelieving Minds and therefore we shall meet with it at every turn There is nothing seems more reasonable unto them than that we may live in sin because Grace hath abounded If men must yet be Holy they can see no need nor use of Grace And they cannot see that God is Gracious to any Purpose if notwithstanding men may perish because they are not Holy But this Objection is raised rejected and condemned by our Apostle in whose Judgement we may acquiesce Rom. 6. 1. And in the same place he subjoyns the Reasons why notwithstanding the superabounding Grace of God in Christ there is an indispensible Necessity that all Believers should be Holy 2 God himself hath obviated this Objection He proclaims his Name Exod. 34. 6 7. The Lord the Lord God gracious and mercifull abundant in Goodness and Truth keeping Mercy for thousands forgiving Iniquity Transgressions and Sin Had he stood here and neither in this nor in any other place of Scripture further declared his Nature and unchangeable Purposes concerning Sinners some Colour might have been laid on this Objection But he addes immediately and that will by no means clear the Guilty that is as it is explained in places of Scripture innumerable such as go on in their Sins without regard unto Obedience and Holiness springing from the Attonement made for their guilty Souls in the Blood of Christ. 3 We doe we ought to declare the rich and free Love Grace Mercy and Bounty of God unto Sinners in and by Jesus Christ and Woe unto us if we should not be found in that Work all our Dayes and thereby Encourage all sorts of Sinners to come unto him for the free Pardon of their Sins without Money or Price without Merit or Desert on their part For this is the Gospel But notwithstanding all this Grace and Condescension we declare that he doth not dethrone himself nor deny himself nor change his Nature nor become unholy that we may be saved He is God still Naturally and Essentially holy Holy as he is in Christ reconciling the sinfull World unto himself and therefore indispensibly requires that those whom he pardons receives accepts into his Love and Communion with himself should be Holy also And these things are not only consistent but inseperable Without the Consideration of this Grace in God we can have no Encouragement to be Holy and without the Necessity of Holiness in us that Grace can neither be glorified nor usefull CHAP. II. Eternal Election a Cause of and Motive unto Holinesse Other Arguments for the Necessity of Holiness from Gods Eternal Election The Argument from thence explained improved vindicated Sect. 1 WE have seen upon the whole Matter what Conclusions as unto our own Duty we ought to draw from that Revelation of the Nature of God in Christ which is made unto us and our Relation unto him If we are not thereby prevailed on alwayes in all Instances of Obedience to endeavour to be Holy universally in all manner of Holy Conversation we neither can enjoy his Favour here nor be brought unto the Enjoyment of him in Glory hereafter Sect. 2 That Consideration which usually we take of God next after his Nature and the Properties of it is of the Eternal free Acts of his Will or his Decrees and Purposes And we shall now enquire what Respect they have unto Holiness in us what Arguments and Motives may be taken from them to evince the Necessity of it unto us and to press us thereunto especially from the Decree of Election which in an especial Manner is by some traduced as no Friend to this Design I say then that Sect. 3 It is the Eternal and Immutable Purpose of God that all who are his in a peculiar manner all whom he designs to bring unto Blessedness in the Everlasting Enjoyment of himself shall antecedently thereunto be made Holy This Purpose of his God hath declared unto us that we may take no wrong Measures of our Estate and Condition nor build Hopes or Expectations of future Glory on sandy Foundations that will fail us Whatever we are else in Parts Abilities Profession Moral Honesty Usefulness unto others Reputation in the Church if we are not personally spiritually Evangelically Holy we have no Interest in that Purpose or Decree of God whereby any Persons are designed unto Salvation and Glory And this we shall briefly confirm Ephes. 1. 4. He hath chosen us in Christ before the Foundation of the World that we should be holy and unblameable before him in Love But is this that which firstly and principally we are ordained unto and that for its own sake namely Holiness and Unblameableness in the Obedience of Love No we are firstly Ordained unto eternal life Acts 13. 48. we are chosen from the Beginning unto Salvation 2 Thess. 2. 13. That which God in the first place intends as his End in the Decree of Election is our Eternal Salvation to the prayse of the Glory of his Grace Ephes. 1. 5 6 11. How then is he said to Choose us that we should be Holy in what sence is our Holiness proposed as the Design of God in Election It is as the indispensible Means for the attaining of the End of Salvation and Glory I doe saith God choose these poor lost Sinners to be mine in an especial manner to save them by my Son and bring them through his Mediation unto Eternal Glory But in order hereunto I do purpose and decree that they shall be holy and unblameable in the Obedience of Love without which as a Means none shall ever attain that End Wherefore the Expectation and Hope of any man for Life and Immortality and Glory without previous Holiness can be built on no other Foundation but this that God will Rescind his Eternal Decrees and change his Purposes that is cease to be God meerly to comply with them in ther Sins And who knowes not what will be the End of such a cursed Hope and Expectation The contrary is seconded by that of the Apostle Rom. 8. 36. Whom he did Predestinate them he also Called Wherever Predestination unto Glory goes before concerning any Person there Effectual Vocation unto Faith and Holiness infallibly ensues And where these never were the other never was So 2 Thess. 2. 13. God hath chosen
of Applause Self-Righteousness or Superstition may make a great Appearance of Holiness But if the Principle of what they doe be onely the Commands of the Law they never tread one true step in the Paths of it Sect. 5 2 The End why these Commands require all the Duties of Holiness of us is that they may be our Righteousness before God or that we may be Justified thereby For Moses describeth the Righteousness which is of the Law that the Man which doth those things shall live by them Rom. 10. 5. that is it requires of us all Duties of Obedience unto this End that we may have Justification and Eternal Life by them But neither on this Account can any such Argument be taken as those we enquire into For the deeds of the Law no man can be justified If thou Lord shouldest mark Iniquities O Lord who shall stand Psal. 130. 3. So prayes David Enter not into Judgment with thy Servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified Psal. 143. 2. Rom. 3. 20. Gal. 2. 16. And if none can attain the End of the Command as in this sense they cannot what Argument can we take from thence to prevail with them unto Obedience Whoever therefore presseth men unto Holiness meerly on the Commands of the Law and for the Ends of it doth but put them upon tormenting Disquietments and deceive their Souls However men are indispensibly obliged hereby and must Eternally perish for want of what the Law so requires who do not or will not by Faith comply with the only Remedy and Provision that God hath made in this Case And for this Reason are we necessitated to deny a Possibility of Salvation unto all to whom the Gospel is not preached as well as unto those by whom it is refused For they are left unto this Law whose Precepts they cannot answer and whose End they cannot attain Sect. 6 It is otherwise on both these Accounts with the Commands of God for Holiness under the New Covenant or in the Gospel For 1 Although God in them requireth universal Holiness of us yet he doth not do it in that strict and rigorous way as by the Law so as that if we fail in any thing either as to the Matter or Manner of its performance in the Substance of it or as to the Degrees of its Perfection that thereon both that and all we doe besides should be rejected But he doth it with a Contemperation of Grace and Mercy so as that if there be an universal sincerity in a Respect unto all his Commands he both pardoneth many sins and accepts of what we doe though it come short of Legal Perfection both on the Account of the Mediation of Christ. Yet this hindreth not but that the Law or Command of the Gospel doth still require universal Holiness of us and a Perfection therein which we are to do our utmost Endeavour to comply withall though we have a Relief provided in sincerity on the one hand and Mercy on the other For the Commands of the Gospel doe still declare what God approves and what he doth condemn which is no less than all Holiness on the one hand and all Sin on the other as exactly and extensively as under the Law For this the very Nature of God requireth and the Gospel is not the Ministry of Sin so as to give an Allowance or Indulgence unto the least although in it Pardon be provided for a multitude of sins by Jesus Christ. The Obligation on us unto Holiness is Equal as unto what it was under the Law though a Relief be provided where unavoidably we come short of it There is therefore nothing more certain than that there is no Relaxation given us as unto any Duty of Holiness by the Gospel nor any Indulgence unto the least sin But yet upon the Supposition of the Acceptance of Sincerity and a perfection of Parts instead of Degrees with the Mercy provided for our Failings and Sins there is an Argument to be taken from the Command of it unto an indispensible Necessity of Holiness including in it the highest Encouragement to endeavour after it For together with the Command there is also Grace administred enabling us unto that Obedience which God will accept Nothing therefore can avoid or evacuate the Power of this Command and Argument from it but a stubborn Contempt of God arising from the Love of Sin Sect. 7 2 The Commands of the Gospel do not require Holiness and the Duties of Righteousness of us to the same End as the Commands of the Law did namely that thereby we might be Justified in the sight of God For whereas God now accepts from us an Holiness short of that which the Law required if he did it still for the same End it would reflect Dishonour upon his own Righteousness and the Holiness of the Gospel For First if God can accept of a Righteousness unto Justification inferiour unto or short of what he required by the Law how great severity must it be thought in him to bind his Creatures unto such an exact Obedience and Righteousness at first as he could and might have dispensed withall If he doth accept of sincere Obedience now unto our Justification why did he not do so before but obliged Mankind unto absolute Perfection according to the Law for coming short wherein they all perished Or shall we say that God hath changed his Mind in this matter and that he doth not stand so much now on rigid and Perfect Obedience for our Justification as he did formerly Where then is the Glory of his Immutability of his Essential Holiness of the absolute Rectitude of his Nature and Will Sect. 8 Besides Secondly what shall become of the Honour and Holiness of the Gospel on this Supposition Must it not be looked on as a Doctrine less Holy than that of the Law For whereas the Law required absolute perfect sinless Holiness unto our Justification the Gospel admits of that to the same End on this Supposition which is every way imperfect and consistent with a multitude of Sins and Failings What can be spoken more to the Derogation of it Nay would not this indeed make Christ the Minister of Sin which our Apostle rejects with so much Detestation Gal. 2. 17. For to say that he hath merited that our imperfect Obedience attended with many and great sins for there is no man that liveth and sinneth not should be accepted unto our Justification instead of perfect and sinless Obedience required under the Law is plainly to make him the Minister of Sin or one that hath acquired some Liberty for sin beyond whatever the Law allowed And thus upon the whole matter both Christ and the Gospel in whom and whereby God unquestionably designed to declare the Holiness and Righteousness of his own Nature much more Gloriously than ever he had done any other way should be the great means to darken and obscure them For in and by them on this Supposition
properly expressed so as they ought to be and so as they are capable to be expressed The Difficulties which seem to be in them arising from the Mysterious Nature of the things themselves contained in them and the weakness of our Minds in apprehending such things and not from any obscurity or intricacy in the Declaration of them And herein indeed consists the main Contest whereunto things with the most are reduced Some judg that all things are so expressed in the Scripture with a condesension unto our Capacity so as that there is still to be conceived an inexpressible Grandure in many of them beyond our Comprehension Others judg on the other hand That under a Grandure of Words and Hyperbolical Expressions things of a meaner and a lower sense are intended and to be understood Some judg the Things of the Gospel to be deep and mysterious the Words and Expressions of it to be plain and proper Others think the Words and Expressions of it to be Mystical and Figurative but the Things intended to be ordinary and obvious to the Natural Reason of every Man But to return Sect. 8 Both Regeneration and the Doctrine of it were under the Old Testament All the Elect of God in their several Generations were all Regenerate by the Spirit of God But in that Ampliation and Enlargement of Truth and Grace under the Gospel which came by Jesus Christ who brought Life and Immortality to light as more Persons than of old were to be made Partakers of the Mercy of it so the Nature of the Work it self is far more clearly evidently and distinctly revealed and declared And because this is the principal and internal Remedy of that Disease which the Lord Christ came to cure and take away one of the first things that he Preached was the Doctrine of it All things of this Nature before even from the beginning of the World lay hid in God Ephes. 3. 9. Some intimations were given of them in Parables and dark Sayings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal. 78. 2. in Types Shadows and Ceremonies so as the Nature of the Grace in them was not clearly to be discerned But now when the great Physician of our Souls came who was to heal the Wound of our Natures whence we were dead in Trespasses and Sins he layes naked the Disease it self declares the Greatness of it the Ruine we were under from it that we might know and be thankful for its Reparation Hence no Doctrine is more fully and plainly declared in the Gospel than this of our Regeneration by the effectual and ineffable Operation of the Holy Spirit And it is a Consequent and Fruit of the Depravation of our Nature that against the full Light and Evidence of Truth now clearly manifested this Great and Holy Work is opposed and despised Sect. 9 Few indeed have yet the confidence in plain and intelligible words to deny it absolutely But many tread in the steps of him who first in the Church of God undertook to undermine it This was Pelagius whose principal Artifice which he used in the Introduction of his Heresie was in the clouding of his Intentions with general and ambiguous Expressions as some would be making use of his very Words and Phrases Hence for a long time when he was justly charged with his Sacrilegious Errors he made no defence of them but reviled his Adversaries as corrupting his Mind and not understanding his Expressions And by this means as he got himself acquitted in the Judgments of some less experienced in the sleights and cunning craftiness of them who lie in wait to deceive and juridically freed in an Assembly of Bishops so in all probability he had suddenly infected the whole Church with the poison of those Opinions which the proud and corrupted Nature of Man is so apt to receive and embrace if God had not stirred up some few Holy and Learned Persons Austin especially to discover his Frauds to refel his Calumnies and confute his Sophisms which they did with indefatigable industry and good success But yet these Tares being once sown by the envious one found such a suitable and fruitful Soil in the darkned Minds and proud Hearts of Men that from that day to this they could never be fully extirpated but the same bitter Root hath still sprung up unto the defiling of many though various new Colours have been put upon its Leaves and Fruit. And although those who at present amongst us have undertaken the same Cause with Pelagius do not equal him either in Learning or Diligence or an Appearance of Piety and Devotion yet do they exactly imitate him in declaring their minds in cloudy ambiguous Expressions capable of various Constructions until they are fully examined and thereon reproaching as he did those that oppose them as not aright representing their Sentiments when they judg it their Advantage so to do as the scurrilous clamorous Writings of S. P. do sufficiently manifest Sect. 10 Secondly Regeneration by the Holy Spirit is the same Work for the kind of it and wrought by the same Power of the Spirit in all that are Regenerate or ever were or shall be so from the beginning of the World unto the end thereof Great variety there is in the Application of the outward means which the Holy Spirit is pleased to use and make effectual towards the Accomplishment of this great Work Nor can the Wayes and Manner hereof be reduced unto any certain order For the Spirit worketh how and when he pleaseth following the sole Rule of his own Will and Wisdom Mostly God makes use of the Preaching of the Word thence called an Engrafted Word which is able to save our Souls James 1. 21. and the incorruptible Seed by which we are born again 1 Pet. 1. 21. Sometimes 't is wrought without it as in all those who are Regenerate before they come to the use of Reason or in their Infancy Sometimes Men are called and so regenerate in an extraordinary manner as was Paul but mostly they are so in and by the use of ordinary Means instituted blessed and sanctified of God to that end and purpose And great variety there is also in the perception and understanding of the Work it self in them in whom it is wrought For in it self it is secret and hidden and is no other wayes discoverable but in its Causes and Effects For as the Wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit John 3. 8. Sect. 11 In the Minds and Consciences of some this is made known by infallible Signs and Tokens Paul knew that Christ was formed and revealed in himself Gal. 1. 16. So he declared that who-ever is in Christ Jesus is a New Creature 2 Cor. 5. 17. that is is born again whether they know themselves so to be or no. And many are in the dark as to their own condition in
indulged unto vitiates the whole Spiritual Health and weakens the Soul in all Duties of Obedience 2 There are some things required of us to this End that Holiness may thrive and be carryed on in us Such are the constant use of all Ordinances and Means appointed unto that End a due Observance of Commanded Duties in their Season with a Readiness for the Exercise of every especial Grace in its proper circumstances Now if we neglect these things if we walk at all peradventures with God attending neither to Means nor Dutyes nor the Exercise of Grace as we should we are not to wonder if we find our selves Decaying yea ready to dye Doth any man wonder to see a person formerly of a sound Constitution grown weak and sickly if he openly neglect all Means of health and contract all sorts of Diseases by his Intemperance Is it strange that a Nation should be sick and faint at heart that Grey-hairs should be sprinkled upon it that it should be poor and decaying whilest Consuming Lusts with a strange Neglect of all envigorating Means do prevail in it No more is it that a Professing people should decay in Holy Obedience whilest they abide in the Neglects expressed Having vindicated this Assertion I shall yet adde a little further Improvement of it And 1. If the Work of Holiness be such a Progressive thriving Work in its own nature if the Design of the Holy Ghost in the use of Means be to carry it on in us and encrease it more and more unto a perfect Measure then is our Diligence still to be continued to the same End and Purpose For hereon depends our growth and thriving It is required of us that we give all Diligence unto the Encrease of Grace 2 Pet. 1. and that we abound therein 2 Cor. 8. 7. abounding in all Diligence and not only so but that we shew the same Diligence unto the End Heb. 6. 11. Whetever Diligence you have used in the attaining or improving of Holiness abide in it unto the End or we cast our selves under Decayes and endanger our Souls If we slack or give over as to our Duty the Work of Sanctification will not be carryed on in a way of Grace And this is required of us this is expected from us that our whole Lives be spent in a Course of diligent Complyance with the Progressive Work of Grace in us There are three Grounds on which men doe or may neglect this Duty whereon the Life of their Obedience and all their Comforts do depend 1 A Presumption or Groundless Perswasion that they are already perfect This some pretend unto in a proud and foolish Conceit destructive of the whole Nature and Duty of Evangelical Holiness or Obedience For this on our parts consists in our willing Complyance with the Work of Grace gradually carryed on unto the measure appointed unto us If this be already attained there is an End of all Evangelical Obedience and men return again to the Law unto their Ruine See Phil. 3. 12 13 14. It is an excellent Description of the Nature of our Obedience which the Apostle gives us in that place All Absolute Perfection in this Life is rejected as unattainable The End proposed is Blessedness and Glory with the Eternal Enjoyment of God and the Way whereby we press towards it which comprizeth the whole of our Obedience is by continual uninterrupted following after pressing reaching out a constant Progress in and by our utmost Diligence 2 A foolish Supposition that being interested in a state of Grace we need not now be so solicitous about exact Holiness and Obedience in all things as we were formerly whilest our minds hung in suspense about our Condition But so much as any one hath this Apprehension or Perswasion prevailing in him or influencing of him so much hath he cause deeply to question whether he have yet any thing of Grace or Holiness or no. For this Perswasion is not of him who hath called us There is not a more effectual Engine in the hand of Sathan either to keep us off from Holiness or to stifle it when it is attained nor can any thoughts arise in the Hearts of men more opposite to the nature of Grace For which cause the Apostle rejects it with Detestation Rom. 6. 1 2. 3 Weariness and Despondencies arising from Oppositions Some find so much difficulty in and Opposition to the Work of Holiness and its Progress from the Power of Corruptions Temptations and the Occasions of Life in this World that they are ready to faint and give over this Diligence in Dutyes and Contending against Sin But the Scripture doth so abound with Encouragements unto this sort of Persons as we need not to insist thereon CHAP. III. Believers the only Object of Sanctification and Subject of Gospel Holiness 1 Believers the only Subject of the Work of Sanctification 2 How men come to believe if Believers alone receive the Spirit of Sanctification 3 The principal Ends for which the Spirit is promised with their Order in their Accomplishment 4 Rules to be observed in praying for the Spirit of God and his Operations therein 5 That Believers only are Sanctified or Holy proved and confirmed 6 Mistakes about Holiness both Notional and Practical discovered 7 The Proper Subject of Holiness in Believers Sect. 1 THat which we are next to enquire into is the personal Subject of this Work of Sanctification or who and of what sort those Persons are that are made Holy Now these are All and Only Believers All who unseignedly believe in God through Jesus Christ are sanctified and no other Unto them is Evangelical Holiness confined It is for them and them only that our Saviour prayes for this Mercy Grace or Priviledge Joh. 17. 17. Sanctifie them by thy Truth And concerning them he affirms for their sakes I sanctifie my self that they also may be sanctified through the Truth v. 19. And whereas in the Verses foregoing he had immediate Respect unto his Apostles and present Disciples that we may know that neither his Prayer nor this Grace are confined or limited unto them he addes Neither pray I for these alone that is in this Manner and for these Ends but for them also which shall believe on me through their World v. 20. It was therefore the Prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ that all Believers should be sanctified and so also was it his Promise John 7. 38 39. He that believeth on me as the Scripture hath said out of his belly shall slow rivers of living water But this he spake of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive And it is with respect principally unto this Work of Sanctification that he is compared unto flowing and living Water as hath been declared before It is for Believers the Church that was in God the Father and in Jesus Christ that is by Faith 1 Thess. 1. 1. that our Apostle prayes that the God of Peace would sanctifie them throughout chap. 5.