the God of heaven Their tongues will make mention of the praises of his name and sing aloud of his righteousness Psal 149.6 Their hearts will be filled with an holy admiration of his greatness and majesty and wonderful goodness in their redemption 2 Thes 1.10 He will be glorified in his Saints and admired in them that do believe Their lives also will be filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God Phil. 1.11 2. God is glorified upon believers in more of his attributes and excellencies Peculiarly in his free grace and tender mercy which is the attribute that he delighteth to magnifie and taketh singular pleasure in the exercise of Mic. 7.18 God doth shew forth his truth and justice and declare his power and holiness in the ruine of the ungodly but there are no prints or footsteps of his free grace and compassion Their portion is wrath without mixture Rev. 14.10 But what saith the Prophet of them that are saved Mark that notable Text Isa 63.7 8. I will mention the loving kindnesses of the Lord and the praises of the Lord according to all that the Lord hath bestowed upon us and the great goodness towards the house of Israel which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies and according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses For he said surely they are my people children that will not lye So he was their Saviour Here is a discovery of grace rich inexpressible grace herein is manifest the goodness of God nay the great goodnesses of the Lord here is mercy and loving-kindness yea a multitude of mercies loving-kindnesses 3. In some of his attributes God is more transcendently glorified viz. in his wisdom and power It was a work of infinite skill and wisdom to find out a way to redeem lost sinners from the jaws of eternal death to execute vengeance upon the transgression and yet to save the transgressors O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! Rom. 11.33 It is a work of greater power to pull a soul out of the hands of the Devil than to give him over to the will of Satan Eph. 1.19 20. Nay the very justice of God is better satisfied by believers through their surety than in the damnation of such as perish in their unbelief Here the price paid is the death of a creature but there the precious bloud of the Son of God as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot 1 Pet. 1.18 The wicked that perish are ever satisfying and have never given full satisfaction for the wrong which they have done their debt is paying as it were by driblets But in the behalf of believers the work is compleated and finished the utmost farthing was paid together upon the nail and there is nothing further to be demanded For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 10.14 Now if God be more glorified in the salvation of such as are in Christ undoubtedly he is willing that you should come unto Christ and is ready to receive you when ye come So much for the third direction Direct 4. To stir you up to a closure with this advice and diligent prosecution of this work of getting into Christ Often revolve in your thoughts and lay seriously to heart this following consideration viz. That if you perish for ever in a separation from the Lord Jesus and for want of being in him that you may partake of his righteousness it will wholly proceed from your own default and your bloud will be upon your own heads And what anguish and horror will this bring to thy conscience in the day of accounts to bethink thy self thus I might have been saved by the bloud of the covenant but I would not and now I must lie bound for ever in the chains of darkness For it is a sinners willful rejecting of the tenders of mercy upon the terms of the Gospel which is the cause of his falling short of the mercy tendred Although it is Gods free grace and not mans free will that doth conduct believers un o the kingdom of heaven yet it is the perverseness and obstinacy of the will of unbelievers which hindereth their deliverance from the damnation of hell Jo. 5.40 Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life Hos 5.4 They will not frame their doings to turn unto the Lord Ezek. 18.31 Why will ye die O house of Israel q. d. If you are destroyed for ever you may thank your selves you are the blame-worthy cause of your own eternal ruine by refusing the terms on which salvation is offered And I pray think of it often what an unspeakable torment it will be to thy spirit for ever to reflect upon this very thing I have been wooed and intreated to lay down the arms of my rebellion and to submit to the government of Christ that I might be saved and I would not How often hath the spirit of God strived with me and I still resisted the Holy Ghost The word of God hath called upon me and I have broken through the convictions of the word With what confusion wilt thou be filled when the Lord Jesus shall say unto thee how often would I have gathered thee into the number of my servants and thou wouldest not be gathered and now depart from me thou accursed wretch into everlasting fire Mat. 23 37. Thus I have ended the first head of exhortations directed unto the wicked who are yet strangers unto Christ 2. Let me speak unto the godly who are through rich mercy and grace ingraffed into Christ and made partakers of this priviledge of union with the Son Be exhorted 1. To be much in blessing the name of God for his signal saving and differencing mercy Adore him for advancing you to this high dignity Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon you that you should be called the sons of God! Nay that he should take you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ and intimately knit you unto him 1 Jo. 3.1 Will you bless God for temporal mercies and not be ravished with the contemplation of this super-eminent blessing Certainly my brethren eternity itself will be little enough to admire the wonderful and unsearchable grace of the Lord. 2. Be exhorted moreover rightly to improve the consideration of this unspeakable gift And that especially in these six cases 1. Improve it in case of transgressions to humble you and to fill you with an holy shame and self-abhorrence in the sense of your miscarriages Not only to fill you with hatred against sin but with a loathing and detestation of your selves because of sin Let your thoughts be set on work in this Evangelical manner Hath God advanced me to this high dignity and shall I be so unworthy as to rise up against him Am I a person closely joyned unto Christ and in covenant with God through Christ
faith Col. 2.7 So much for the third signal mercy or blessing which floweth from ingrafture into Christ and hath dependance thereupon namely The communication of the supplies of the Spirit 4. A fourth mercy that depends upon having the Son or union with the Son is The gracious acceptation of all our service and duties Take an unconverted sinner and he may do many things in Religion he may suffer much upon a religious account and be at much cost and expence in his profession and practise And the God of heaven hath no regard unto it Herein lieth the misery of a man out of Christ that whatsoever he doth for God is not accepted of the Lord. He may make many prayers and lose all his labour therein For the cars of the God of heaven are shut against them Isa 1.15 When you spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you yea when you make many prayers I will not hear When you spread forth your hands that is Although you call upon me with never so much seeming earnestness although you seek after me in a solemn seemingly affectionate maner with your hands stretched out towards heaven I will hide mine eyes from you i. e. I will 〈…〉 in a way cannot endure the sight of them And when you multiply to pray I will be so far from granting your requests that I will turn away my self in disdain from you I will not so much as give you the hearing O what a sad word is this to the ungodly They trust in their duties when the Lord abhorreth them See another Text setting forth their deplorable condition in this respect Jer. 7.21 Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices and eat flesh It is unto the wicked he is speaking and it amounts to this As if he had said Keep your duties to your selves I will have nothing to do with them make your best of your offerings and never bring them unto me as long as you live in your iniquities Their burnt offerings or Holocausts were wholly to be burnt but as for their sacrifices the offerers themselves might eat some part of them Now saith God to those impenitent sinners Take them and and eat them both put them together and use them your selves make your best advantage of them for I regard them not Mark it These were costly duties and in respect to their signification they were Evangelical duties but whilst they were still in their sins God hath no delight in them What course then shall a man take that his sacrifices may be accepted Why he must get into Christ and be knit to him for this is a mercy which floweth from union with him Then if he offer up his duties in the Name of Christ the work is owned and the concomitant infirmities will be passed over Particularly then his supplications and prayers shall be graciously answered which is 〈…〉 given The Lord will with-hold no good thing from him Joh. 15.7 If ye abide in me and my words abide in you ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you O what a mercy is this to have the King 's eat the ear of the King of kings Your heavenly Father will deny you nothing And for the general acceptance of all their duties of God's appointment consult the Text 1 Pet. 2.5 Ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house an holy Priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifice acceptable to God by Jesus Christ q. d. Then your performances will be accepted through him when ye your selves are built upon him and cemented unto him Here is another proof of the indispensable necessity of this Union No having the Son and no acceptation of any duties whatsoever 5. Another blessing which floweth from union with Christ and is attainable only thereby is A title to the promises of the Gospel which concern this life or that which is to come And this is a matter of unspeakable concernment for if you would enjoy the mercies conveyed by the promises you must have an interest in the promises You must secure a title to them as your heritage and portion and then they will prove a rich treasury or magazine to furnish you with every thing needful for life comfort and happiness There can be nothing desired for the advancement of a mans welfare which is not contained therein The promises are the foundation on which our hope is bottomed Indeed herein it differs from presumption which expects mercy from God without a word of promise to warrant the expectation thereof But good hope through grace is built upon the word Psal 119.49 Remember the word unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope If a person entertain strong hopes of mercy and salvation without a word for it or against the word that is hope of the devils causing or such as proceedeth from the delusion and cozenage of his own Spirit it will prove such an hope as will make him ashamed at length and will be like the giving up the Ghost When God causeth a man to hope it is built upon the word that is the word of promise whereby mercy is entailed upon the servants of the Lord. And pray mark it Sirs you can have no title to the promises so as to rest upon them and to be able to plead them with God and to lay hold upon them as your heritage till you have the Son and are knit unto Jesus For in him they are established They are part of the inheritance prepared for the Saints and unless a person be married to the heir he can lay no just claim to the inheritance 2 Cor. 1.20 For in him all the promises of God are yea and in him Amen unto the glory of God by us And therefore the promise is said to be given through faith in Christ Gal. 3.22 that is A title to the promise or the enjoyment of the mercy promised is made over to a sinner by faith in Christ by that uniting grace which joyneth us unto Christ This is the fifth special mercy depending upon union with the Son Except you have the Son the Mediator of the Covenant you can have no right to the promises contained in the Covenant Your title to them doth result and flow from your oneness with him 6. There is Union with God the Father and an intimate acquaintance with him Whilst out of Christ we are at a distance from the Father yea at an enmity with him He is a consuming fire and we are as so much bryars and thornes and it were a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God But by having the Son that distance is removed and the enmity taken away and we are knit unto God so as to have fellowship and communion with him As Christ is in the Father and the Father in him so Believers by being in Christ are in the Father also Joh. 17.21 That
being unsearchable as himself for his compassions are himself He is a God of mercy his nature and essence is made up of it Psal 62.12 Hast thou multiplyed thine abominations above what can be reckoned Why his compassions are more than can be numbred Let the wicked for sake his wayes and the man of iniquity his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will multiply to pardon Isa 55.7 But can it ever enter into the heart of a man to think that God will ever pardon such a wretch as I have been may the sinner say Mind what followeth v. 8. He is God and not man his mercies are not to be measured by our scantling For my thoughts are not your thoughts nor your wayes my wayes saith the Lord For as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my wayes higher than your wayes and my thoughts than your thoughts 2. The death and sufferings of Jesus Christ which he underwent for satisfaction of the justice of God are of infinite value and have given plenary content and satisfaction and he is at the right hand of the Father to plead that satisfaction in the behalf of lost sinners So that there is no ground of despair in this respect as if they might be greater offenders than the blood of Jesus could purchase acceptance for He is able to save to the uttermost Heb. 7.25 and there is nothing beyond the uttermost If you perish for ever it is not for want of merit in the death of Christ for it was the death of that person who is the eternal God Act. 20.28 It was the death of the man who was God's fellow Zech. 13.7 The Father hath accepted of the price that he paid In him he is well pleased fully contented as to all the demands of his justice Mat. 3.17 Eph. 5.2 So that if you address your selves unto Christ and to God by him you may come with a full assurance of faith without doubting of acceptance though your sins have been never so great and your condition never so deplorable Heb. 10.19 22. That 's the second thing to be observed 3. As our Lord Jesus is able to save the most heinous sinners that come unto him in sincerity so he is as willing to receive them when they come and he will in no wise cast them out As he is mighty in strength so he is tender of heart his arms are open for the entertainment of such as come to him upon Gospel terms and will subject themselves unto his government So that there is no reason to despair of Christ's willingness to become thy Redeemer Here is that at which poor sinners are apt to stick Alas will they say We question not the sufficiency of his merit but will he ever vouchsafe to undertake the patronage and salvation of such a rebel as I have been Nay but O man art thou willing to accept him for thy Saviour and Master and to follow his conduct and to become his Disciple indeed Why he is abundantly more willing to receive thee into his protection He beseecheth sinners to come unto him and therefore surely he will not reject them when they do come 2 Co◠5.20 Yea but I have been a very rebel against heaven will the sinner say for many years together will not this hinder my acceptance Why mark that precious Text Psal 68.18 He hath received gifts for the rebellious also that the Lord God may dwell amongst them Oh but never was there a sinner in such a case as I am will the soul be apt to urge against himself Yet if thou comest unto Christ he will in no case cast thee on t Put the case that thou hast been guilty of the most horrid transgressions put the case that thou hast ran to all excess of riot yet mind that comprehensive word of promise which proceeded out of Christ's own mouth who is the Amen the faithful and true witness Joh. 6.37 All that the father giveth me shall come unto me and him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out It is an asseveration strengthned with a double negative in the original * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As if our aviour had said I will not cast him out whosoever he be that cometh unto me Do you question it I tell you I will not You may build upon it with the greatest confidence As he hath elsewhere confirmed the promise of not forsaking those that are in him I will never never never never leave thee nor forsake thee * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 13.5 So here he hath strengthened the promise of not refusing such as come unto him I will not reject them I assure you saith Christ I will not So that nothing can stand in the way of mans salvation to hinder the accomplishment of it but his own wilful impenitence and unbelief These are the cases wherein there is not the least ground of desperation in any broken-hearted sinner whomsoever the Gospel hath provided plentiful remedy against it 4. Note in the fourth place That the high-way which leadeth the children of men to this damnable despair and so to give up themselves to commit iniquity with greediness is not doctrines of terror to the impenitent but presumptuously sinning against the Lord. When persons will walk contrary to the light of their own consciences and the clear dictates of the word of God and suffer their vile affections to suppress and stifle the convictions wrought upon their hearts this is the direct path that tends to desperation I pray mind it Sirs Poor ignorant people are very much deluded in this particular When they hear doctrines of wrath and judgment to come and everlasting destruction prepared for the workers of iniquity they presently cry out against the Ministers These are Preachers of damnation they would drive us to despair Nay but O vain man those doctrines tend to shew you the necessity of Christ and getting an interest in him and to cause you to despair in your selves which is a good step to salvation It is rebelling against the light and sinning against knowledge which make way for damnable despair What made Cain despair but because he had wickedly and wilfully departed from the Lord and trampled the commandment under his feet What brought Judas to despair but forcing down the dictates of his own light and conscience And you read of the people in Isaiah They roared like Bears in the agony of their Ipirits because they had gone on to sin against knowledge Isa 59.10 11 12. 5. But then in the last place There are four cases wherein I would quicken you to despair and to press such arguments upon your hearts as may be influential to incline you thereunto And without such kind of despairing you will never effectually mind the working out your salvation 1. You must despair of ever coming to the kingdom of heaven hereafter unless
to it that you study this Doctrine and judge aright concerning it for if the foundation fail upon which our comfort is bottomed all the superstructure must of necessity vanish that is erected upon that foundation All other attainments are as nothing without this If the leading mercy fail upon which others depend we must undoubtedly fall short of those other mercies which have their dependance hereon Why sirs Union with Christ is the very Basis of consolation and the leading mercy Joh. 15.6 If a man abide not in me he is cast forth as a branch and is withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned The meaning is this A mans profession is nothing and all his common indowments and priviledges are nothing they will not signifie a jot as to save him from destruction he cannot escape the damnation of hell except he get into Christ and abide in him 3. It is dangerous to be ignorant of this mystery and it much concerneth us to get a sound knowledge hereof because this Doctrine of late hath been notably corrupted and perverted It hath been abused to the countenancing of some mens even blasphemous assertions which they have vented under the notion of high attainments They have endeavoured to break down that distinction which is between Christ and his people and to turn the whole substance of the Gospel into Allegories upon pretence of opening this Union And it concerneth us to be well instructed and established in present truths as the Apostle Peter phraseth it in 2 Pet. 1.12 truths which are mostly perverted in the present time or that need special vindication in the present age wherein we live in the defence whereof God calleth us to stand up against the adversaries If we would not be led aside by the error of the wicked and fall from our own stedfastness as we must labour to grow in grace so to increase in the knowledge of Christ 2 Pet. 3.17 18. So much for the second Conclusion to be premised 3. Concl. 3. Instead of curiously prying into and over-much inquisitiveness after this Mystery and the manner of this Union further than is revealed in the Scriptures of truth it should be the great design of mens souls to secure it unto themselves and to make it evident that they are sharers therein Herein lieth the marrow and fatness of this glorious priviledge when we can personally appropriate it to our own souls and say This is a mercy whereof we are partakers Else what sweetness can we tast in the contemplation thereof whilst our selves are strangers thereunto This is the very counsel of the Apostle in another case to his Corinthians 2 Cor. 13.3 4 5. They were enquiring after a proof of Christ speaking in him Why saith he your business lieth in reflection upon your selves to prove that Christ is formed in you The like advice I would give in this present affair And we should the rather give diligence herein upon a threefold account 1. Because hereby we shall be the better inabled to perceive the real meaning of what is delivered in the unfolding of this Mystery We shall easier discern the import of all the particulars mentioned in the opening of it when we have found it made good upon our own souls and feel somewhat wrought within us answerable to the doctrines which are taught concerning it For Sirs Postquam coelitus spiritu houste in novum me hominem nativitas secunda reparavit mirum in modum protinus confirmare se dubia patere clausa lucere tenebrosa c. Cyp. Ep. 2. ad Donat. a little experience of the power of godliness will notably help a man to discern clearly into the mysteries of godliness it will serve instead of many Commentators for the unfolding of divine truths If a Scholar should make a large and eloquent Oration to set forth the sweetness of honey a little taste of it would contribute more to a right understanding thereof than many learned Lectures without it So when persons have tasted the grace of God in this Union matters will be plain and easie unto them that seem dark and intricate and full of obscurity unto others In what a puzzle was Nicodemus as to the Doctrine of Regeneration in his understanding for want of feeling the work of Regeneration upon his heart So that he cried out How can these things be Joh. 3.4 9. And therefore David exhorteth us to tast and see Psal 34.8 that is endeavour to taste that you may the better know and understand the goodness of the Lord. 2. This is to employ these excellent truths which God hath graciously revealed to the end for which they are revealed to us The Lord hath not opened the treasures of his Wisdom in declaring these mysteries only to feed mens fancies and to fill their heads with speculations but to excite and extimulate us to get an interest in these mercies that we should personally apply them to our selves and make sure our claim and title thereto You will find this apparently to be the end of the promulgation of this very Doctrine 1 Joh. 5.13 These things have I written to you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life These things that is these high mysteries of salvation afore-mentioned that it is in the Son and to be enjoyed by vertue of our union with the Son I have written them that you may take them home to your own consciences and pass judgment upon your selves according to the tenour of these words 3. If we learn the nature of this priviledge and do not secure it to our selves it will but tend to the heightning of our condemnation So that better for us we had never known it or heard a word concerning it for this very thing will aggravate our contempt of the grace of God and the reflection upon it will be a continual torment upon our spirits What a cut will this be to a mans conscience when he cometh to die to bethink himself I knew that there was such a glorious priviledge prepared for the children of men and yet would never press after the enjoyment of it I preferred the pleasures of sin and satisfaction of some base lusts before it I was offered the Son and life and redemption through his blood and would not labour to secure it unto my self so that now I am undone eternally and irrecoverably See how Christ sets forth mens wickedness on this account Prov. 1.24 25 26. And it is evident conscience will take advantage from hence to be a tormentor to be a worm gnawing upon the very entrals of a mans spirit How have I hated instruction and my heart despised reproof O what madness have I been guilty of to know these things and not to make them sure unto my self Prov. 5.11 12 13. CHAP. III. Union with Christ distinguished and the branches of the distinction explicated HAving laid down these things
That he will have a cooler place in hell than some others who have ran beyond him in the perpetration of horrid abominations 5. A meer civil conversation and inoffensive câ—â—riage towards men is a poor foundation of a mans hopeâ— You have some will lean upon this prop and be very confident of their salvation upon this ground because they pay all men their due and walk honestly towards their neighbours and defie all the world to bring in a bill of accusation against them But this will prove as a rotten pillar that cannot support the Fabrick For observe what our Saviour saith to the Pharisees Luke 16.15 Ye are they which justifie your selves before men but God knoweth your hearts for that which is highly esteemed amongst men is abomination to God Mark it here is the question Is thy heart washed and sanctified Art thou regenerated by the Spirit of Christ and so knit unto him The God before whom thou must appear is the searcher of the hearts and will bring to light the hidden things * Deest aliquid intus Said one of a picture when he tried to make it stand and vvalk of it self There wants something within So it may be said of the unregenerate moralist There vvants a Principle of spiritual life vvithin of darkness He seeth those secret and spiritual wickednesses that lodge within thee which the world cannot discern He taketh a view of those inward pollutions and filthinesses which pass the eye of the most curious inquisitor amongst the children of men Civility is a mercy for which thou art bound to bless the name of God but it will not entitle thee to the Kingdom of God * Va etiam vitae laudabili Aug. For the obtaining of that thou must be united to Christ Unconverted Paul was of a blameless conversation and yet a child of the wrath of God And therefore when he had a right knowledge of matters he did not rest herein but earnestly breathed after Christ and rejected all things that he might be found in him Phil. 3.6 8. 6. Legal sorrow for sin and a kind of reformation thereupon will not serve to beget a well-grounded hope of eternal life When sinners are under some pangs of conviction that damps their mirth for a while and their consciences are troubled for some ungodliness which they have committed and this trouble prevaileth so far as to make them leave the practise of that ungodliness for the present Hence they are apt to cherish strong confidence of their salvation Surely think they it cannot go amiss with us who have felt such disquietness in our spirits and begin to lead a new life What will bring a man to heaven if this will not But man one thing thou lackest yet and that is union with Christ the Son of God Unless thy sorrow for sin prove efficacious to drive thee quite out of thy self and to cause thee to give up thy soul into the hands of the Mediator whom God hath appointed it will in no wise conduct thee to everlasting glory Judaâ— was troubled for sin and restored the pieces of silver which he had gotten as the wages of unrighteousness and yet he went unto his own place Mat. 27.4 5. Act. 1.25 He had deep gashes of conviction cut in his conscience whereby he was wounded sorely and yet perished for ever for want of getting into Christ and application thereby of the healing balsom of his righteousness There may be much torture and vexation in the heart for sin and such as may carry a man to some amendment of life and yet not a drop of that godly sorrow that worketh repentance unto salvation not the least degree of that evangelical brokenness and contrition of spirit which driveth the sinner unto Christ that he may find rest for his soul 7. The meer external performance of spiritual daties is no sufficient ground whereupon to bottom our hopes of eternal life Such as prayer and reading the Scriptures and frequenting religious exercises and the like These are good means if rightly managed to bring a sinner unto Christ but in themselves they are no evidence of a good estate The Pharisee was much in outward duties and yet he was not justified Luke 18.12 A person may make many prayers and play the counterfeit in all that he doth many confess sin and plead against it with their mouths and in the mean while hug it in their bosoms they pretend to earnest desires of grace and holiness in their expressions but hate it in their affections with a perfect hatted they read the Scriptures to find out the will of God and yet retain a secret resolvedness of spirit to follow the dictates of their own wills they attâ—nd with their bodies on the Ordinances of Christ whilst their hearts go after covetousness and other base corruptions Ezek. 33.31 32. Many labour only to stop the mouth of conscience with outward performances who are utterly strangers to the workings of a renewed principle Besides What are the Institutions and Ordinances of Christ except they lead the soul unto Christ That is the very end of their appointment to bring us unto him and to build us up in him without an interest in whom by way of union with him there is no right to the kingdom of heaven attainable by any 8. The good opinions of the godly are but a sandy foundation of hope It is a great mercy to converse with such as are spiritually wise and to have a place and seat in their affections who are favourites in the court of heaven But it is no sure evidence of our title to heaven And the reason is this Because their estimation of others may arise from a mistake of their persons judging them only by what is visible and apparent in open view but God is a discerner of the secret recesses of the heart The Lord seeth not as man seeth 1 Sam. 16.7 How was David mistaken in Achitophel They took sweet counsel together and walked unto the house of God in company and yet he was an accursed person and wickedness was in his dwelling Psal 55.14 They may be much in the affections of the godly who are an abomination unto the Lord. So that trust not in this as a sign of a good estate Thon mayest be of great repute amongst Christians and yet alienated from Jesus Christ whereas it is only union with the Son and ingrafture into him which will give thee a right to salvation 9. Lastly that I may hasten to a conclusion A being joyned in fellowship with this or the other party who make a stricter profession of godliness than others is an insufficient ground whereupon to build our hopes of eternal life This is all the proof that some can make of their fincerity Because they are of such a perswasion and settled in a Church way with such eminent professors they are of the same judgment and hold the same opinions with them this is made the foundation of great