brought to light wherein the way is revealed for restoring fallen sinners to their primitive happiness or conducting souls to everlasting bliss God hath graciously pleased to declare this way by the Scriptures and to leave it upon record in the Word of the Gospel and here we have the substance or summary of that Record viz. That God is the giver of eternal Life and that this life is in his Son c. If you examine the connexion or dependance which the words of the Text have with and upon the foregoing passages of the Chapter You will evidently find our Apostle is herein giving a succinct account of the great foundation-truths which are proposed to be the object of a Christians Faith by closing with which we do eminently and signaly advance the glory of God and by disbelieving whereof we are said to make him a lyar Our faith is to be built upon the word of the Lord to be bottomed upon the Record which God hath given concerning his Son And this saith the Apostle is the Record That God hath given us eternal Life c. The better to clear this coherence and so the genuine import and scope of these words let us a little cast our eyes back upon the context or the verse immediately preceding the Text wherein we may note two things 1. The nature and excellency of the grace of faith or believing on Christ ver 10. former part He that believeth on the Son hath the witness in himself 1. For the nature of Faith it is a believing on the Son so it is usually set forth in the dialect of the Holy Ghost Act. 16.31 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thine house Joh. 3.36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life This is the saving act of Faith which will bring a soul to Heaven a believing on the Son And therefore I might touch by the way on that common distinction as useful to be considered that there is a threefold act of Faith or three waies of Believing in reference unto Christ There is a believing 1. That Jesus is the Christ Credere Christum Christo. In Christum 2. Jesus Christ 3. On the Lord Jesus Christ 1. There is a believing that Jesus is the Christ an assent unto the truth of this principle that he who was born of the Virgin Mary is the true Messiah and Mediator sent of God to be the Saviour of Mankind So the very Devils believe As they know there is one God so they acknowledg this principle that Jesus is the Son of God and the only Redeemer of lost sinners Hence it is that they are so unwearied in their endeavors to hinder poor souls in closing with Christ and that they labour by all manner of false suggestions to draw their affections from the Lord Jesus Mark 1.24 The unclean spirit cried out Let us alone thou Jesus of Nazareth I know thee who thou art the Holy one of God And that herein the Father of lies spake the very truth you will find by the testimony of the Spirit of God himself v. 34. He cast out many Devils and suffered not the Devils to speak because they knew him 2. There is a Believing Jesus Christ i.e. a subscribing to the truth of the Doctrines that he delivered which are contained in the Scriptures the Word of Christ and Preached by Ministers of the Gospel in his name Thus a Simon Magus may believe he may own the verity of Christs Word though in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity Acts 8.12 13. When they believed Philip Preaching the things concerning the Kingdom of God and the Name of Jesus Christ then Simon himself believed also Thus Nicodemus believed before he was instructed in the necessity or acquainted with the grace of regeneration he was convinced by the Miracles wrought by Christ that he was a teacher sent of God and consequently that the Doctrines which he taught were the truths of God Joh. 3.2 As a carnal person who never tasted of saving grace may have much knowledg in his understanding of the will of Christ so he may be under such convictions upon his judgment as in a sort to approve the Word of Christ Rom 2.17.18 3. But lastly there is a believing on the Lord Jesus When a man is so powerfully convinced of the evil of sin and his own obnoxiousness to the wrath of God and the heart so fully perswaded of the excellency of Christ and the sufficiency of his Righteousness together with the utter insufficiency of all other wayes of deliverance that thereupon he doth actually close with Christ upon Gospel terms and make application to him casting himself upon the Son of God for Salvation and renouncing all things for the enjoyment of him Although believing on Christ doth not alwayes signify a saving faith as see Joh. 2.23 yet for the most part it doth and so may fitly be made use of by way of distinction It being observed by some that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a phrase peculiar to the Holy Ghost and not used by prophane Authors This is the saving act of Faith A believing on or in the Son Joh. 11.25 26. He that believeth in me though he were dead yet he shall live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never dye For mark it Sirs that assent of the Judgment unto the great truths of the Gospel which is required of the Lord and is well pleasing in his sight is not a bare naked lifeless assent but a compounded and operative assent such as doth ingage the heart to comply with those truths and brings the whole Soul in subjection unto them Rom. 10.10 With the heart man believeth unto righteousness That 's for the nature of Faith It is a believing on the Son 2. For the excellency and preciousness of thus believing He that doth so hath the witness in himself i.e. in his own Soul and Spirit and Conscience He hath it graven upon the very tables of his heart But what is this witness which a Believer hath in himself Answ You may understand it either of these three waies 1. In relation to his spiritual state He hath a fundamental evidence that he is a child of God and in covenant with him here is sufficient matter if rightly improved whereupon to raise a testimony of this thing It is faith which brings a man under the favor of God and the act of believing is a sure token that the person is endowed with the grace or habit of Faith Spiritual actions as they must proceed from a Divine principle so they are evidences of that principle from whence they do proceed 1 Joh. 5.1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ not with a bare assent of the Judgment but he that believeth it with the heart as before * When a particular duty is produced as an evidence of a state of Salvation or hath a promise of grace and
the second Covenant That Text is very full and worthy to be wrot on our hearts in letters of gold and as with the pen of a diamond Gal. 2.16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by the faith of Jesus Christ even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the Law for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified 3. The ultimate or compleating act of this justifying faith whereby it becometh such is a fiducial resting or relying upon Christ for righteousness and acceptation with the Lord and for all the spiritual benefits that follow thereupon That which I aim at is this That justifying faith is not absolved and compleated by a bare assent of the understanding but it doth evidently include an act of the heart With the heart man believeth unto righteousness Rom. 10.10 If thou believest with all thine heart Acts 8.37 And the special act of the heart is a reliance upon Christ leaving a mans soul in his hands upon the articles of the Covenant of grace leaning upon his merits for acceptance with God receiving him as he is offered to sinners in the Gospel and trusting in him for acceptance and salvation Thus we have it explained Eph. 1.12 13. That we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ In whom also ye trusted after that ye heard the word of truth the Gospel of your salvation in whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with that holy spirit of promise This is the faith both of Jew and Gentiles We first believed unto whom the word of salvation was first spoken and afterwards ye also believed in Christ What is this believing Why it is a trusting in Christ First the soul heareth the word of salvation promised in Christ and assenteth to the truth of that word and thereupon is perswaded to make his actual application unto Christ and trusteth in him for salvation Psal 2.12 Kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little blessed are all they that put their trust in him q. d. There is no way of avoiding destruction from Christ but by believing in him resting upon him they are the blessed of the Lord that put their trust in him * Sed multum inter est utruns â—â—isque credat ipsum esse Christum utrum credat in Christum Nam ipsum esse Christum daemones crediderunt Ille enim credit in Christum qui sperat in Christum diligit Christum Aug. Indeed there are many acts of the soul required unto this faith and comprized therein If a man believe in Christ he must have some competent knowledge of the nature of Christ and his mediatory office and satisfaction there must be a firm and lively assent to the truth of the Gospel a sense of the evil of sin and the inability of all other means besides the righteousness of Christ to recover the sinner out of his lost condition But now a fiducial reliance upon Christ for salvation is the last compleating act For when the sinner being driven from all other refuges whatsoever doth not only hunger and thirst after the righteousness of Christ but actually renounceth every thing for him and embraceth him as his Saviour casting his soul and all his spiritual concernments into Christ's hands and resting upon him alone for salvation as he is offered in the Gospel this is a justifying and saving faith As a self-justiciary relieth upon his own righteousness so a true believer râ—steth upon Christ's righteousness This is set forth by coming unto Christ Mat. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Come unto me that is believe in me place your hope and confidence in my righteousness The Lord Jesus in the Gospel is set forth as a propitiation he was sent to be the Redeemer of lost sinners Now when a person being affected with his lost estate sensible of the wrath of God and the insupportableness of it and labouring under the burden of sin doth come unto Christ as such and make use of him to that end namely to be his Redeemer and doth rest upon him to make atonement for his soul this is to believe with a justifying faith Joh. 6.35 He that cometh unto me shall never hunger and he that believeth in me shall never thirst It is a looking unto Christ alone for redemption and deliverance upon his account As the brazen Serpent was an eminent type of the Lord Jesus Num. 21.8 9. so the Israelites looking up thereunto did signifie our faith in Jesus by whom our diseases are healed When a poor sinner is stung in his conscience with the fiery Serpent of the guilt of sin and being filled with dread in apprehension of the sad consequents of it doth look up unto Christ as held forth upon the pole of the Gospel to be a Saviour and doth rest upon him expecting redemption only through his blood here are the workings of a justifying faith Joh. 3.14 15. As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of man be lifted up by dying on the Cross or by the publication and tender of his death and righteousness in the Gospel That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life This is the third particular which I intended to commend to you for opening the nature of faith which is the bond of our union with Jesus Christ 4. Wherever and in what soul soever there is this fiducial reliance upon Christ and his righteousness in a saving way there is also as a necessary companion thereof an universal subjection to the will of Christ and a ready submission to his government This I add in the last place to prevent if it be possible the abuse of this doctrine by carnal hearts and to stop the mouth of those clamours which are raised by some against it and the aspersions which they cast upon this evangelical truth as if it were not a doctrine according to godliness Will such be ready to say This doctrine will imbolden sinners in their presumption and vain confidence If to believe savingly on Christ be to rest on him for salvation who will not think that be doth believe What carnal wretch will not say that he doth rely upon Christ But mind it Sirs it is not a thinking or saying he doth rely upon Christ will give a man an interest in him but when he doth rest upon him indeed as he is propounded for a Saviour in the Gospel And such a faith will purifie the heart and cause the person believing to bring forth fruits of holiness in the conversation Else it will be an evidence that he doth but pretend thereunto and doth not rest upon Christ in truth For although it be not the work
this powerful assailant But mind it Christians Although this should much excite you to watchfulfulness yet here is no cause of discouragement Is Satan a potent enemy yet he is a conquered enemy That Christ who dwelleth in you hath broken the power of hell and brought under the prince of darkness His temptations should quicken you to run to Christ for succour and to clasp the faster about him and in no wise to cast off your confidence A sincere believer in this case should recollect himself with David Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me Is not my Saviour stronger than the strong man armed Can it be imagined that he delivered me out of the snare of the devil that he might give me up again unto his will Did he break in with a mighty force upon my soul and eject the devil out of his habitation and come and dwell in me that afterwards he might surrender up his dwelling place to his greatest adversary Why Satan by being mine enemy is Christ's enemy thereby in whom I am and unto whom I am closely united and he wil never suffer him to get the victory Although he may permit him to vex and disquiet me for a time that my faith may be exercised * Deus bonos non negligit cum negligit nec obliviscitur sed quasi obliviscitur Ideo videtur deferere quia non vult deseri yet he will bruise him under my feet shortly Rom. 16.20 Mark how he rebuketh the devil in the case of Joshua Zech. 3.2 And the Lord said unto Satan The Lord rebuke thee O Satan even the Lord who hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee is not this a brand pluckt out of the fire q.d. Have I preserved him to this time by a special preservation that now I might deliver him into thy merciless hands So doth Christ pluck poor souls as firebrands out of the fire of the wrath of God and gather them into his own kingdom that afterwards he may give them up to the prince of darkness Mat 16.18 Vpon this rock will I build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it The gates of bell that is all the power and policy all the might and craft of the devil and his adhaerents The gates of Cities were the places where their arms and ammunition were laid up and there their Judges and Counsellors were wont to meet and advise for the good of the place So that by the gates of hell is meant the strength and crafty machinations and devices of Satan and his instruments they may trouble and vex the Saints of the most High but they shall not prevail against them not against the meanest faithful member of the Church because they are built upon the rock For it is not only the Church in general that is built upon that rock but every particular Saint Behold I lay in Sion a chief corner stone elect precious and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded 1 Pet. 2.6 3. A third particular that is most likely to disunite a Believer and the Lord Jesus is The allurements of the world Temptations objected * Temptations are 1. Injected such as the tempter darts immediately into the soul 2. Ascendent which arise from some stirred humour or inferior faculty 3. Objected which proceed from external objects baited and suited to the inclination of the Spirit as the Schools distinguish the lusts of the flesh the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life as the Apostle giveth us an inventory of all the worlds goods and accommodations 1 Joh. 2.16 These were the very engines whereby our first parents were seduced and commonly they have a great influence on the souls of their posterity To follow after which some have made shipwrack of faith and put a good conscience far away from them For the pleasures of sin they have forsaken Christ and for earthly profit and advantage have let go the pursuit of heavenly blessings and to get honour of men have neglected that honour that cometh of God only See Luk. 8.14 2 Tim. 4.10 John 12.42 43. But these are outside Christians who thus forsake their station and run away from their Master * Charitas quae descri potest nunquam vera fuit Aug. Such as are indeed ingraffed into Christ will never let him go For they have renounced these things already for his sake when they first gave themselves unto the Lord it was upon these terms That they should be ready to suffer the loss of all things at his command They find in the enjoyment of Christ more solid and substantial pleasure than sin can minister unto its followers and greater riches than the whole earth can afford They account it their highest dignity and preferment to be in him and of the number of his attendants They see that in the Covenant which doth infinitely out-bid the world in all that it can promise unto them that serve it Besides Through the Cross of Christ the world is crucified unto Believers and they are crucified unto it and redeemed from it So that it cannot have that power and prevalency over them as upon others Gal. 1.4 Gal. 6.14 4. False teachers and seducers may be thought likely to dissolve this union They have oftentimes cunning artifices to deceive and are of unwearied diligence to gain Proselytes and to make them the children of hell They are wont to come as messengers of righteousness and transform themselves into the Apostles of Christ They pretend to high attainments and plead the Spirit and new light for introducing their abominations And may not these subtle emissaries of the devil overturn the faith of God's people May not they so prevail as to make a separation between Believers and Christ Why Sirs the holy Ghost hath given sufficient warrant to assure us it shall not be They may lead captive silly unsettled persons who are laden with sins and led away with divers lusts They may beguil unstable souls who though they have been in the School of Christ were never taught the truth as it is in Jesus Nay they may possibly fly blow the souls of Christs peculiar servants with wretched errors and taint their faith but they shall not be able to overturn their faith For the foundation of God stands sure as the Apostle asserteth expressly in this respect 2 Tim. 2.18 19. And therefore their seductions are mentioned as to deceiving the elect with an if it were possible Mat. 24.24 For there shall arise false Christs and false Prophets and shall shew great signs and wonders insomuch that if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect Intimating that eventually it is impossible they are placed out of harms way they are put through grace without the reach of their gunshot as to a total seduction from the faith as having an unction from the holy One whereby they know all things 1 Joh. 2.20 Not that this should
of the Gospel Receive him for your Redeemer as he is tendred therein Believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Joh. 6.29 This is the work of God that you should believe on him whom he hath sent i. e. It is a work exceedingly acceptable unto God it is the great work that he requires to bring you unto his Son that you may have life through his bloud It is that work that makes up the conjunction betwixt him and your souls And therefore what is attributed in one place unto union with Christ is in another place ascribed unto faith Rom. 8.1 There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Joh. 3.18 He that believeth on him is not condemned Why Because it is faith which makes up the union by believing on Christ we are implanted into him And therefore take the word of direction Jo. 12.36 Believe in the light that you may be the children of light betake your selves by faith unto Christ that you may be found in him And to that purpose be frequent in meditation upon those incouragements which God hath given unto sinners to quicken them to believe on the name of his Son and to help against the misgivings of their own hearts I will instance only in five 1. It is the command of God that which he hath left in special charge upon mens souls to come unto Christ that they may be saved And therefore it evidently followeth that he is willing you should believe for it is that which he mainly desireth that his will be done that his precepts be observed Can you imagine that God should give you a strict commandment backt with many arguments and motives to the observance of it and yet be loath you should obey that commandment This is his commandment that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 3.23 2. God sent his Son into the world upon this very errand and business that he might draw sinners unto him in order to their salvation And the Lord Jesus took our nature upon him and was obedient unto the death the accursed death of the cross to this very end and purpose that sinners might come unto him and obtain eternal redemption through his bloud And can it ever enter into your hearts to think that God is not willing to accomplish what he hath designed to bring about or that Christ is not willing to attain the end of his sufferings What was the Fathers design in sending Christ into the world Why that we might live through him and that he might be a propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 4.9 10. Wherefore hath he published the Gospel of Christ and revealed the glad tydings of salvation through him Why These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his name Joh. 20.31 To what end did our Saviour leave the bosom of his Father and sojourn amongst us and bear the weight of his fathers indignation Mark what account himself giveth of it Jo. 12.46 I am come a light into the world that whosoever believeth in me should not abide in darkness And v 47. I came not to judge the world but to save the world And speaking of his death under the fimilitude of lifting up the brazen serpent in the wilderness v. 32. And I if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto me 3. God hath left upon record many precious promises on purpose to invite sinners unto Christâ— from which none are excluded but such as shut out themselves by refusal of the grace which is tendered in them And they are promises of such extent and comprehensiveness as may be sufficient to answer all the objections of a mans spirit against believing in Jesus Joh. 3.15 Whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life Act. 13.39 By him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses But will the sinner object I am altogether unworthy to come unto the Son of God Why Sirs It is the due sense of our unworthiness that doth fit us for the ready reception of him and addressing our selves unto him that we may by his righteousness be made worthy Art thou apprehensive of the necessity of being partaker of his death and the merit thereof Dost thou hunger and thirst after the enjoyment of him See then the promise or invitation Isa 55.1 2 3. Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no money that hath no desert or worthiness of his own to commend him unto God or whereby to purchase the least dram of favour come ye buy and eat yea come and buy wine and milk without money and without price c. O but will the sinner reply I have long stood out against the calls of Christ and will he now receive me graciously if I come unto him Why Hear what he saith Isa 57.17 18 19. For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth and smote him I hid me and was wroth and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart i. e. He withstood chastizement which is one of the loudest and most awakening calls in the time of his distress he sinned yet more against the Lord Instead of returning he held fast deceit and refused to return He went on frowardly that is perversly and stubbornly against all the dealings of God And yet what followeth v. 18 I have seen his wayes and will heal him I will lead him also and restore comfort to him and to his mourners One would have expected it thus rather I have seen his wayes and I will confound him I will never more have any pity or compassion upon him Nay but faith the gracious God at length he mourns for sin and is humbled for his iniquity and my bowels are turned within me my repentings are kindled together He is coming towards me and I will go forth to meet him I will surely have mercy upon him I will pardon him and guide him in the way of consolation and salvation But what doth this concern me will the heart of a sinner be apt to suggest Am I comprized in this word of comfort Yes if thou mournest for sin and desirest to give up thy self unto Christ and to God by him For it is a promise made without limitation these words are intended for the henefit both of Jews and Gentiles v. 19. I create the fruit of the lips peace peace i. e. My word shall be the means to convey great peace spiritual peace perfect peace lasting yea everlasting peace to him that is afar off and to him that is neer i. e. to the Jews who were a people nigh unto God and to the Gentiles when they shall be gathered to the Church though at that time they were afar off and I will heal him saith the Lord. But will the sinner
as he is pure 1 John 3.3 3. By the grace of Regeneration the Lord Christ is said to take up his abode in us because the Holy Ghost in that work doth act in his name as purchased by Christ and receiving commission from him and being sent by vertue of his Prayer and Intercession John 16.16 I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive In the transactions of the everlasting Covenant our Lord Jesus undertook to sanctifie and comfort and to quicken and stablish his people and by the Spirit of truth he doth accomplish that undertaking By his death the Spirit was purchased and in his name he is sent 4. The grace of Regeneration may be stiled Christ dwelling in us from the tendency of it which is to bring sinners in subjection to the Government of Christ and to make them ready to obey the Laws of Christ Hereby we become his Servants and possession is taken of us to his use and behoof that we may cleave unto him and be followers of him Col. 3.24 For ye serve the Lord Christ Mat. 19.28 Ye that have followed me in the Regeneration c. that is in your regenerate condition in the exercise of that grace which was bestowed upon you in your New-birth for so it may be well understood The grace of Regeneration plucketh sinners out of the Kingdom of Satan and seizeth on them for the service of Christ carryeth us out to him and maketh us obedient to his Laws and Dominion This may suffice to be spoken to the first branch of that Vnion which is between Christ and Believers or the first sort of Conjunction betwixt them 2. There is a legal Conjunction and oneness thereupon arising from a Believers reception of Christ closing with him and getting into him Such an Union as there is between the principal Debtor and the Surety who hath paid the debt for him and made over that payment unto him The Law reckoneth them as one what payment the Surety hath made for the Debtor in his name and firmly made over unto him the Law accounts it as if the Debtor himself had paid it and dischargeth him thereupon as if it had been his own personal Act and Deed because of that intimate relation or oneness that is betwixt them in the estimation of the Law Such an union there is between Christ and his people and therefore we call it a legal union because it hath a special reference unto the Law of God which acquitteth the person thus united to Christ by vertue of the sufferings and satisfaction of Jesus Christ as fully and firmly as if the party himself had suffered and satisfied And likewise we call it a legal union because of the analogy it beareth unto the proceedings of Law in Courts of Judicature amongst men The bond of this union is a saving faith whereby Believers receive Christ and take hold on him As by the Spirit of Regeneration Christ doth take hold of their souls so by a living faith of the operation of the Spirit they are inabled to take hold of the Lord Jesus and so they are compacted and knit together You know faith is set forth by such expressions a receiving of Christ and taking hold of him John 1.12 But to as many as received him to them he gave power to be the sons of God even to them that believe on his name Mark it we receive Jesus Christ and take him home to our selves by believing on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ As under the Law when a man q. d. ran for refuge and protection to the Altar he was wont to lay hold upon the horns of the Altar so by faith a sinner betaketh himself for shelter and security unto Christ and layeth hold upon Christ Heb. 6.18 That we might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us * We who to flee from deserved wrath have taken our course towards Jesus in hope to get the Salvation offered to us in him Dicks in loc that is upon Jesus Christ the object of our hope and confidence who is set before us in the Gospel as the person in whom we are to trust and upon whom to rely and place our hope By faith we lay hold upon him and by this laying hold on Christ a Believer is joyned unto Christ and made one with him By faith we are in him and put on his righteousness Phil. 3.9 That I may be found in him not having mine own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith It is of God he provided it for us and it is made over to us and becometh ours by faith in the Mediator This is the Second Branch of the mutual conjunction between Christ and a Believer and the union thereupon the bond whereof is faith in Christ Concerning which I will propose onely these four things to your serious perusal and meditations 1. That the Holy Ghost in the writings of the Scriptures doth distinctly speak of a fourfold faith There is 1. An Historical Faith 2. A Temporal Faith 3. A Faith of Miracles 4. A saving and justifying faith in Christ which is the bond of our union with the Lord Jesus As this is an ordinary School-distinction so it is a Scripture-distinction which hath its warrant from the word and its foundation in the word of God 1. There is an Historical Faith whereby we believe the Scriptures and the matters therein contained to be Divine Truths and to have proceeded from God * This is by some called a dogmatical faith such a faith the Apostle supposed to have been in Agrippa in respect to the writings of the Old Testament Acts 26.27 King Agrippa believest thou the Prophets I know that thou believest q.d. I am confident thou art perswaded of the truth of those things Agrippa being a Jew and always conversant in Judea could not be ignorant of the Scriptures and Paul takes it for granted that he who owned their Original to be of God and that in them was discovered nothing but the truths of God I know that thou believest I am well assured thou darest not deny their Divine Authority This we call an Historical Faith because it assenteth to the truth of the History of the Bible as it is a Narrative of things done and containeth Predictions of things to be done as it comprehends matters of fact mentioned to be performed Doctrines asserted Prophesies and Promises to be fulfilled and the like And pray mark it Sirs this faith is diversifyed according to the different testimony on which it is bottomed * Quia testes quibus fidem adhibemus ex lege ordine communi sunt homines vel Deus idcirco sicut testimonium sic etiam fides distinguitur in
dum recipit de reddendo cogitat Sen de Benef. with for his sake Hath the Lord Jesus taken me into such a neer relation unto himself and shall not I love him and serve him with all my strength Surely to this precious Saviour I will cleave and his pleasure I will do and nothing shall separate betwixt my soul and him Take the exhortation in the words of S. Paul Col. 2.6 7. As ye have therefore received Jesus Christ the Lord so walk ye in him rooted and built up in him and stablished in the faith as ye have been taught abounding therein with thanksgiving 3. Let me add but a few particulars by way of advice and exhortation to all and so we will conclude our discourse upon this subject If in order to the salvation of sinners by Christ they must be united to him and ingraffed in Christ Then be exhorted all of you 1. To learn the spiritual lessons which are from this point to be learned 2. To practise the duties that are hereupon to be practised 1. Learn the lessons which are from this doctrine to be learned And they are principally two which I shall commend unto you besides what I gave you under the use of information 1. Learn from hence The necessity of regeneration in order to eternal life Except you are persons born again of the Spirit you cannot enter into the kingdom of God Except you be quickned by the holy Ghost it is impossible you should be blessed in the presence of the Lord. Why Because you must have the Son you must be knit unto Christ and it is in the day of regeneration that the knot is tyed whereby the Lord Jesus and a Christian are joyned together It is the grace of regeneration and conversion that removeth a sinner from his own bottom and buildeth him upon the Mediator as upon a sure foundation as hath been largely opened So that believe this point and work it powerfully by meditation and prayer upon your own hearts That no regeneration no salvation It was the doctrine wherewith our Saviour began his Sermon to Nicodemus and he speaketh of it as a matter of great concernment to be studied Joh. 3.3 Verily verily I say unto thee except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God Mark how the assertion is strengthned with a double asseveration to note how hard a thing it is to convince a sinner effectually of this matter and how neerly it doth concern us to be thus convinced It is as if Christ had said The children of men are apt to think otherwise they hope to get into heaven upon the account of their notional knowledge and common priviledges and moral righteousness and the like But it cannot be I tell thee it cannot be take it upon my word Do your hearts question it Verily it cannot be verily it is impossible that any man should be saved except he be sanctified Whence you will say doth arise this absolute necessity of a man's being born again I answer It doth arise from these four things 1. From the stedfastness and unalterableness of the purpose of God Whom he hath predestinated unto life he hath determined to lead thither through the gate of regeneration So that if ever you get to heaven without partaking of this grace it must be by the change of the decree and purpose of God which is in its own nature unchangeable for the counsel of the Lord standeth fast for ever And observe the tenour of his purpose touching the way of life 2 Thes 2.13 God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit Although God doth not elect or save any of the children of men for their holiness yet he doth elect them unto holiness that they may be saved 2. The absolute necessity of regeneration doth appear from the infinite holiness and purity of the God of heaven who will never maintain any converse or fellowship with such as lie dead in their sins nor indeed is it possible they should have communion with God till they are washed and sanctified An unsanctified mind cannot behold him an unholy will cannot enjoy him and unholy affections can take no delight or complacency in him My brethren when persons are called into the state of the favour of God they are called also unto fellowship with him Now what communion hath light with darkness What friendly intercourse can there be betwixt a God of incomprehensible purity and such whose spirits are nothing but sinks of filthiness First you must be made again after the image of God and so fitted for acquaintance with the most high for God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity and he hateth all the workers of it Hab. 1.13 Psal 5.4 5. 3. Without a principle of grace planted in the heart there can be no fruits of new obedience brought forth in the life which are of indispensable necessity to our getting safe to heaven Such as are saved by the Lord must be serviceable unto him for Christ will judge us hereafter according to our conversations here As a man soweth that he shall also reap Rev. 2.23 Gal. 6.7 8. Now except you be regenerate you cannot walk in a course of new obedience First there must be a good treasure in the heart before it can be productive of what is good in the life As the principles are so the practise will be Mat. 12.33 34 35. Besides God doith judge of mens works and deeds by the frame of their hearts in the doing of them He doth search the heart and try the reins that he may give to every man according to his wayes and according to the fruit of his doings Jer. 17.10 4. The indispensable necessity of regeneration doth arise from the influence it hath to unite a sinner unto Christ without having of whom there is no partaking of life through his bloud The day of regeneration is the day of espousals between the Lord Jesus and his people It is that which helpeth to make the marriage betwixt them For if any man be in Christ he is a new creature 2 Cor. 5.17 This is the first Lesson I would from hence commend to your study and meditation 2. Learn from this point of a Believers union with Christ What is the influence of faith in the justification of a sinner or in what sense it is said to justifie us in the sight of God Not by any inherent worth and vertue in it self but because it is the bond that knitteth a sinner to Christ by the imputation of whose righteousness we are made righteous If we are justified it is freely by the grace of God through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus Only the grace of faith is the instrument to bring us unto Christ and the bond of our union with him that so we may partake of that redemption * Sicut olim in deserto serpens aeneus in ligno punctis à serpentibus medebatur
pressed the necessity of Union with Christ in order to the partaking of the benefits of Redemption I was a while since intreated by letter from some that I would further instruct them in the nature of that Mystery of Union with the Son of God With the proposal of this spiritual and useful enquiry and the sundry particulars relating thereunto wherein they desired information I was not a little well pleased knowing how usual it is with many Professors of Godliness to leave the kernel and marrow of Christianity wherein the life and sweetness of it lieth and to exercise themselves about the shell and bones only of contention As if they had been brought up at the feet of those Schoolmen who turn Religion into Quodlibets and make it little else but a well-digested heap of intricate * Statum lacessunt omnipotentis Dei Calumniosis litibus Fidem minutis dissecant ambagibus Vt quisque est linguâ nequior Solvunt ligantque quaestionem vincula Per syllogismos plectiles and doubtful disputations To those savoury questions I returned answer as he that ministers seed to the sower was pleased to give ability and as might be contained within the compass of one sheet at the most Which answer I intended but as a compounding for forbearance till I should be ready to give fuller satisfaction For I found within my self a strong propension of spirit upon the first motion of it to me to wait upon God in the deligent search of the Scriptures for a more thorow insight into that great Gospel-doctrine When my Meditations were digested into this method and frame according to the following Treatise I was perswaded to believe That I could not be better serviceable to the souls of many of my dear friends from whom the Lord hath suffered me to be rent then by commending these plain Truths to their most serious study And I think I may be assured That many amongst them who have loved the Author for the Truths sake will be no whit the more averse from a sedulous enquiry into these Truths for the Authors sake For the Subject matter it needs no Apology being one of the highest and yet most necessary Points of Christian instruction unless it be for this That so mean a person as my self hath attempted the handling of it To which I shall say with Minutius Felix Nihil indignandum vel dolendum si quicunque de divinis quaerat sentiat proferat Cum non disputantis Authoritas sed disputationis ipsius veritas requiratur Atque etiam quo imperitior sermo hoc illustrior ratio est Quoniam non fucatur pompa facundiae gratiae sed ut est recti regula sustinetur All the perversion in humane affairs and disorders in the spirits of the children of men do arise according to the observation of Augustine from a twofold Original * Cum fruimur utendis utimur fruendis 1. The enjoying of what should only be used And 2. The using of that which ought to be enjoyed By giving that place to the creatures which is only due to the God of heaven and making use of the Lord and his service in a subordination and subserviency to other ends Our great work therefore consists in referring all things to their proper places and restoring them to their appointed stations according to the eternal Law To use the things of this world as not abusing them and to make God alone the object of our enjoyment This enjoyment of God since the fall of man is only attainable through Jesus Christ the Mediator And there is no fellowship to be maintained with God through Christ but only by such as are in Christ And this is the scope and drift of the Tract ensuing so to manuduct and lead sinners unto the Son That being knit unto him they may thence be conducted into the bosom of the Father And I suppose If a just reckoning be made of such as have designedly dealt upon this Subject of a Believers Union with Christ considering how many have wrote upon some others this Book need not be accounted as supernumerary If any be offended with the meaness of the stile and for want of such embellishments of Rhetorick and History wherewith it might have been adorned or that I have sometimes descended too low in the explication and proof of such matters as seem not to require it Let such please to take notice That my intent was if possible to speak to the capacity of the meanest I have often thought of Mr. Dod 's observation That most Ministers in England are wont to shoot over the peoples heads Rather would I utter the plainest Truths to the understanding and edification of the weakest Christians than study to feed more curious fancies with sublimer notions and niceties * Dissoluti est pectoris sonos auribus infundere dulciores non medicinam vulneribus adhibere Arnob. And as for ringing changes upon words and the counter-marching of sentences as one speaketh they may pass for wit and elegancy with some but contribute nothing to the nourishment of the vitals of Christianity I have purposely declined all controversal points for that I would not scratch the * Disputandi pruritus est Ecclesiarum scabies Wotton Plaus Vot Itch of any in this litigious generation Let us follow after the things which make for peace and things wherewith one may edifie another What is found to be agreeable to the mind of God and the tenour of the everlasting Gospel let it be received and embraced in the love of it And pardon the defectiveness of the Author in the management of the whole I dare not say as Cicero who was confident Se nuâ—lum verbum quod revocare vellet emisisse Yet I may truly speak as another Ego omnia quae dixi bona fide sine ullo studio contentionis sine aliqua dubitatione veritatis sine aliquo praejudicio diligentioris Tractatus exposui R. S. A Table of the Contents of the Book CHAP. I. The Context opened Believing 1. That Jesus is the Christ page 3 2. Jesus Christ p. 4 3. On the Lord Jesus Christ p. 5 What it is for a Believer to have the witness within himself In three things p. 6 How unbelief makes God a lyar 1. Negatively 2. Positively p. 8 The Text explained What is meant by eternal life p. 10 Eternal life the gift of God in a fourfold respect p. 12 Eternal life is in the Son on a threefold account p. 14 The manner of the conveyance of Eternal life p. 15 Qu. What is meant by having the Son Answ In three things p. 16 Doct. In order to an interest in Eternal life and participation of the blessings which are given forth by the Son in a tendency thereunto it is of indispensable necessity That we be united to Christ p. 18 CHAP. II. Conclusions introductory to the handling this Mystery of Union Concl. 1. The grace of a Christians Oneness with the
Lord Jesus is for the intimacy and closeness of it one of the deep things of God p. 20 This needful to be premised on a fourfold account p. 21 Concl. 2. Although the Vnion of a Believer with the Lord Jesus is in it self a Mystery not easie to be attained as to right apprehensions of it yet it is a point of great concernment to be studied p. 24 And that for three Reasons p. 25 Concl. 3. Instead of curiously prying into this Mystery and the manner of this Vnion further than is revealed in the Scriptures our principal design should be to secure it to our selves that we are sharers therein p. 28 This Conclusion backt with three Arguments p. 29 CHAP. III. Vnion with Christ distinguished into that which is By way of 1. External Adherence only 2. Spiritual Implantation p. 31 The first member of this Distinction opened in four Positions p. 32 Pos 1. The principal Bonds or Ligaments whereby this Union with Christ by way of outward Adhaesion is wrought are four 1. An approbation and acknowledgment of the doctrines of Christianity p. 34 2. A professed subjection to the Ordinances of Christ p. 35 3. Some common workings on the heart p. 36 4. A measure of reformation in the Life p. 37 Pos 2. It is a great priviledge and mercy considered in it self for a man or woman to be taken thus neer unto Christ and in this sense to be in him by way of external adhaerence p. 38 The advantage of it discovered in four things p. 39 Pos 3. When persons are thus only in Christ by external adhaerence though they may abide with him for a time yet at last there will be made a separation betwixt them and this Union will be dissolved p. 42 Three special wayes how this sort of Union is dissolved p. 43 Pos 4. The state and condition of such as are thus only in Christ by outward adhaesion and do not improve this priviledge that they may be indeed what they profess to be is a wretched and miserable estate p. 46 The misery of their estate set forth in four things p. 47 CHAP. IV. Vnion with Christ by way of spiritual ingrafture described and the branches of the description explained p. 55 1. Branch The general nature of the grace of Union it is a persons relation to Jesus Christ p. 56 Under this head three things to be observed p. 57 2. Br. A note of difference whereby it is distinguished from other relations It is the special relation which Christians have to the Son as Mediator of the Covenant of Reconciliation p. 61 A threefold Relation betwixt Christ and the children of men p. 62 3. Br. The Subâ—ects of this Union to whom it doth appertain viz. Believers And that on a fourfold account p. 66 4. Br. The foundation of this Vnion on which it is bottomed On a Believers intimate conjunction with Christ p. 69 5. Bâ— The blessed effects or consequents that flow from this Union 1. Hereupon they are accounted as one with Christ p. 70 This appeareth in four respects p. 71 2. Hereby their spiritual estate is fundamentally changed p. 73 This doctrine of the change of a mans spiritual state of great concernment to be studied For three Reasons p. 74 This point opened under six Heads p. 78 3. The third consequent of Union is An effectual application of all the Benefits of Redemption p. 87 A threefold Application of those benefits 1. External p. 89 2. Internal but conditional p. 90 3. Effectual and saving p. 92 CHAP. V. The manner how Christ and a Believer are united in eight gradual Propositions Prop. 1. The children of men by nature are separated from Christ and strangers unto him p. 94 Prop. 2. Over and above their separation from Christ they are actually joyned to such objects as are utterly inconsistent with their Union with the Son of God p. 95 They are 1. In convenant with sin p. 96 2. Contracted to the Law as a covenant of life p. 98 Prop. 3. The first work that is wrought upon the soul of a man in order to his conjunction and oneness with Jesus Christ is the withdrawment of the soul from those objects to which it hath been joyned in opposition to Christ p. 99 Prop. 4. The divorce and separation of a person from sin that he may be united to Christ is principally accomplished by a fourfold work p. 101 1. Conviction p. 102 2. Consideration p. 105 3. Compunction p. 106 4. The grace of Repentance p. 108 Prop. 5. To deaden a sinner to the Law and to take him off from seeking justification thereby that he may be united to Christ God is pleased to make use of a twofold special means 1. The Law it self 2. The body of Christ p. 109 1. The Law it self doth deaden a sinner to the Law by ministring knowledge p. 110 Of 1. The terms of justification by the Law p. 111 2. The spiritualness of the Law p. 112 3. The rigour and severity of the Law p. 114 2. The sufferings of Christ in his body deaden a sinner to the Law by making a threefold discovery p. 117 1. Of the sinfulness and damnableness of sin p. 118 2. Of the inexorableness of Gods justice p. 119 3. That there is no other way to make reconciliation p. 120 Prop. 6. The way of actual conjunction betwixt Christ and his people when they are thus divorced from sin and deadned to the Law is to be conceived thus 1. The Lord Christ by his Spirit taketh possession of them and dwelleth in them 2. Believers through faith take hold of Christ and get into him And so they are knit together and become one p. 121 From hence ariseth a twofold union 1. Natural 2. Legal CHAP. VI. 1. The Natural Union betwixt Christ and Believers The bond whereof is the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them p. 123 This Natural Vnion opened in five particulars p. 124 Four Reasons why the Spirit of Regeneration is called Christ in us p. 132 2. A legal conjunction and oneness thereupon whereof justifying faith is the bond Opened in four particulars p. 134 1. The Scripture mentions a fourfold faith 1. Historical p. 136 2. Temporary p. 138 3. Of miracles p. 140 4. Justâ—fying p. 141 2. Justifying faith hath Christ himself for the special Object upon which it is exercised p. 142 3. The ultimate compleating act of justifying faith is a fiducial reliance upon Christ p. 143 4. Wheresoever there is this fiducial reliance upon Christ in a saving way there is also as a necessary concomitant thereof an universal subjection to the will of Christ p. 146 Pâ—op 7. From the Mystical Union of a Believer with Christ doth flow another sert of Vnion betwixt them whereof love is the Bond and is commonly called A Moral Union p. 148. That this Moral Union may be improved as an evidence of the former our love to Christ must have four properties It must be 1. Sincere p. 153 2.
Cause by whom it is procured by whose death it was purchased As Christ bought the Elect of God to be his people and servants so he bought eternal Life to be their inheritance Hence the Kingdom of Heaven is called the purchased Possession Eph. 1.14 2. It is in Christ as in the Representative by whom possession is taken in the name of Believers and to their use For when our Saviour entred into heaven he was not only admitted thither upon his own account but he took livery and seizin thereof in the behalf of his people He entered as the fore-runner and not for himself only but for us Heb. 6.20 3. It is in Christ as in the hands of a publike Officer or Trustee whom God the Father hath appointed to this very purpose to dispense forth eternal Life unto those for whom it is prepared For as the souls of men and women are blessed upon the account of Christ's righteousness so that blessing is communicated through the hands of the Lord Jesus He is God the Fathers high Steward whom he imployeth in the distribution of his grace He sends him to bless his children Act. 3.26 And what the Spirit doth it is in Christ's name Joh. 14.26 There 's the third particular to be observed The great dispenser of this mercy God hath given us eternal life and this life is in his Son 4. Here is the manner of the conveyance of this mercy how it is made over to us and becometh ours Why by vertue of our union with Christ It is given forth by the Son to them that have the Son and to none besides He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life So that it is laid down or expressed 1. Positively 2. Exclusively 1. Positively He that hath the Son hath life He hath it 1. in respect of right and title thereto he hath a good interest therein Praesentia gratiae atlestatur faelicitatem futurae gloriae sine dubio sequuturam it is his portion and his inheritance to which he may warrantably lay claim and for which he may plead as his own 2. He hath life in the beginning and entrance thereof he hath those mercies which are certain harbingers of glory and will end in glory Or 3. He hath eternal life that is he shall as undoubtedly enjoy it as if he were already in possession it being an usual form of speaking in the writings of the holy Ghost to mention things future in the present tense to note the certainty and undoubtedness of their futurity 2. It is delivered Exclusively He that hath not the Son hath not life that is 1. He hath not life in reality whatever he may have in his own conceit and apprehension he may think himself to be something when indeed and in truth he is nothing 2. He hath not life that is he is stark dead in sins and trespasses he is under the wrath of God he is still an accursed wretch So it may be meant by an usual Meiwsis whereby less is mentioned than is intended 3. He hath not life i. e. if he die in that estate it will be evident that he hath it not he will perish surely eternally and unavoidably I mainly intend to handle this last branch of the Text. For the further clearing of which there is one previous enquiry to be made Q. The Question is this What is meant by a persons having the Son Or How may a man or woman be said to have the Son that he may have life A. For answ you must note these three things 1. The way whereby the holy Ghost in the Scripture doth most commonly set forth our having the Son it is by our union with the Son or being in him We are said to have him by being made one with him This is evident at the first to any one that is verst in the books of the Old and New Testament that having the Son is the same thing for substance with that which is frequently called our union with Christ or being in Christ Rom. 8.1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus i. e. to them that have him by vertue of their union with him Joh. 6.54 Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day And if you would see how this feeding on Christ doth contribute to a sinners having eternal Life you will find it to be because thereby he hath the Son which is expressed by union with the Son v. 56. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him And thus having the Son seemeth to be explained in the following part of this Chap. 1 Joh. 5.20 And we are in him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ This is the true God and eternal life q. d. this is the way to eternal life hereby alone you will come to the enjoyment of it you must have the Son that is you must be in him or united to him 2. By our union with Christ which is the way whereby we are said to have the Son I understand all along to speak distinctly the Oneness of a Believer with the Lord Jesus You may observe a difference between these two things viz. 1. The making of Christ and a Believer one And 2. Their being one when they are so knit together 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Unitio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Unitas There is the bringing of a soul unto Christ and ingraffing into Christ And 2. There is the being or standing of that soul in Christ when it is so brought and ingraffed 2 Cor. 5.17 If any man be in Christ Now it is this latter I mean all along by union The term is indeed of a latitude that may comprize both of them but I shall use it principally to denote the latter 3. Although in the writings of the Scripture you do not meet with this numerical word of Union with Christ in the very letters and syllables of it yet you have plentiful mention made of the thing signified thereby How often do you read of the Saints being in Christ and being put into Christ and expresly in one place you have mention of their Oneness with him and with the Father Joh. 17.21 That they may be one in us The words of the Text being thus unfolded and opened will afford us this doctrinal Point That in order to an interest in eternal life and partaking of those blessings which are given forth by Christ in a tendency thereunto it is of absolute necessity that we be united unto Christ If we will have life from the Son we must have the Son that is we must be made one with him No union with Jesus and no communication of life and salvation from Jesus For he that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life And therefore you shall find
See Rev. 2. â— The Christians were at first reckoned by the Heathen as Jews vid. Suet. in vita Claud. Judaeos imgulsore Christo assidue tumultuantes Roma expulic So that the Christians seem to have goâ—e under that name and to haâ—â— been banished with them by the decree mentioned Act. 18.2 though they were no savingly instructed nor taught the truth as it is in Jesus yet they had some knowledge of the mind of God and were convinced of the truth and excellency of the Law of the Lord so as to subscribe to it and to own and approve it as such This made them Christ's people at large by way of profession And this must needs be one of the ligatures of that Union for such as avowedly reject the fundamental doctrines of Christianity are not so much as Christ's seeming friends but open enemies to his crown and dignity 2. There must be an external subjection to the Ordinances of Christ so as to afford their presence at them and outward compliance with them and attendance upon them For Sirs Gospel Ordinances are the badges of Christ's followers Sacramenta ut alia insti uta divina sunt figna piotestativa fidei as well as means to convey his grace into their souls And if a people belong to him at all they must at least wear his livery So that when persons live in the open neglect or contempt of the Ordinances and Institutions of the Lord Jesus or think they are arrived at so high a pitch as to be above Ordinances they do thereby declare themselves to be so far from the truth of grace that they are not arrived to a serious prosession Above Ordinances and below Christianity Such have not so much as Christ's livery upon them for this is one of the bonds of a common union Thus Simon Magus was baptized into Christ and for a while held fellowship with the Disciples and so in a sort did belong to Christ till afterwards he apostatized and discovered his rottenness Act. 8.13 So far the lowest rank of hypocrites ordinarily go It is true they have no spiritual communion or fellowship with Christ in his Ordinances but they are many times pretty-constant in attendance upon Ordinances So those carnal Israelites whom God owneth in this respect to be his people Isa 58 1.2 And therefore the Apostle calls men off from trusting in this to mind the grace of Regeneration and Conversion upon their hearts for these priviledges avail not to a saving union with Christ but a new creature Gal. 6.15 3. There is usually some common workings upon their hearts and spirits as now convictions in the conscience of the evil of sin sometimes an inclination upon their souls to give up themselves to be the Lords only a beloved lust hindereth the performance of it Possibly many common graces of the Spirit are conferred upon them in which respect they are said to be made partakers of the holy Ghost for so far a carnal Professor may arrive Heb. 6.4 5. The holy Ghost may strive with a professed enemy to the Kingdom of Christ There are some Converts external from the world to the Church who yet stick in their naturals and are not in the sense of sin fled unto Christ for refuge nor converted from nature to saving grace Dicâ—â—s but when he shall moreover work some remarkable effects upon a sinner as terrors in apprehension of the wrath of God desires to be sheltered under the wings of Christ that he may escape that wrath so that he joyneth himself outwardly to his people then he becometh a seeming friend though he proceed no further 4. The last bond which I shall mention of this common union with Christ is some degrees of reformation in the life and practise When persons live and lie weltering in gross pollutions of the world they do apparently belong unto the world they do openly proclaim themselves to be the very children of the devil If a man belong to Christ but by profession there must be some measure of reformation wrought there must be an actual abstaining from those wickednesses whereby the name of Christian is openly contradicted As real holiness and closs walking with God is essential to the being of a Disciple indeed so a cleansing of the outside of the cup and platter as our Saviour calleth it is required to make a man a Disciple but in appearance And thus far they commonly go 2 Pet. 2.20 21 22. They retained their doggish and swinish nature still as is evident from their Apostacy v. 12. The dog is turned to his vomit again and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire and yet they escaped the pollutions of the world and that through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ v. 20. Although the doctrines of the Gospel had not a saving effect upon their souls yet they had a real effect though their natures were not transformed yet their lives in some particulars were reformed their conversations were cleansed from gross and scandalous abominations That 's the first Position touching this matter 2. Pos 2. It is a very great priviledge and mercy considered in it self for a man or woman to be taken thus neer unto Jesus Christ and in this sense to be united to him namely by way of external adhaesion To be separated from the Heathen to be his people and to be made to differ from the profane world and the notoriously wicked who do avow their sins openly in the face of men and declare themselves subjects unto the prince of darkness Though it be not the best of priviledges yet it is a great priviledge though it be not a mercy to be rested in yet it is a mercy thankfully to be acknowledged it is no way to be slighted and undervalued The Apostle speaketh of it as such Rom. 3.1 2. What advantage hath the Jew or what profit is there of circumcision that is what benefit doth arise by being a member of the Church of Christ what profit is it to be a Jew outwardly a Disciple by profession into which relation circumcision did give them solemn entrance it was the Ordinance for initiation Is this nothing or is it a priviledge of a low nature No in no wise saith the Apostle do not thus esteem it It is an eminent mercy there is much advantage by it every way You will say wherein lieth the advantage of being thus in Christ Answ In four things especially 1. Chiefly and primarily because hereupon they are set under the means of grace and tenders of salvation They have eternal life set before their souls and upon the terms of the Gospel offered unto them Hereby they do enjoy the word of Christ the Oracles of God and the Ordinances which are the places wherein the Lord Jesus himself is to be found of them that seek him and which are the conduit-pipes through which he doth use to convey spiritual grace and blessings to such
and salvation is annexed He that thus hath the Son hath life And peace be to all them that are thus in Christ Jesus 1 Pet. 5.14 This is it which we are enquiring into wherein the nature of it consisteth which I shall now enter upon the unfolding of in the second answer to the question propounded By way of description CHAP. IV. Union with Christ described and the parts of the Description opened 2. HAving thus cleared our passage by the aforementioned distinction come we now to lay down a brief description of this great priviledge or grace of Union with the Son or having the Son which I shall endeavour to explicate in the several branches of it Take the description thus Union with Christ is that special relation which believers have to the Lord Jesus as Mediator of the Covenant of Grace arising from their closs and intimate conjunction with him whereupon they are accounted as one with Christ their spiritual state is fundamentally changed and the benefits of redemption are effectually applyed unto their souls In which Description that we may handle it methodically and so the more understandingly you have these five branches into which it may be divided that need each of them a little explanation 1. The general nature of this grace or priviledge It is a persons relation to the Lord Jesus 2. A note of difference whereby it is distinguished from other relations It is that special relation which they have to Christ as Mediator 3. The subjects of this Union unto whom it doth appertain and they are believers It is the special relation of Believers to the Lord Jesus 4. The foundation of this Union whereupon it is bottomed and whence it doth arise Why it ariseth from their intimate conjunction with Christ 5. The blessed consequents that flow from it or the great effects which are produced by it And they are three 1. Hereupon they are reckoned as one with Christ 2. Their spiritual state is fundamentally changed 3. The benefits of redemption are effectually applyed 1. The general nature of this grace or priviledge of Union with Christ It is a persons relation to the Lord Jesus So as I conceive it may be most properly stiled that mutual habitude or reference which is between them or which Christ and his people have one to the other Vnio hat est spiritualis illa relatio hominum ad Christum quâ jus acquirunt ad omnâ—s illas benedictiones qua in ipso praparantur Ames med It is called in the Text an having the Son and it is frequently set forth by a being espoused or married to the Son 2 Cor. 11.2 For I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chast virgin to Christ. Rom. 7.4 That ye should be married to another even to him who is raised from the dead Elsewhere it is called A belonging to Christ Mar. 9.41 And a being his Gal. 5.24 You know though there is a very neer conjunction and oneness thereupon between the Husband and Wife that are married together yet it is but a relative oneness their individual properties remain distinct notwithstanding Such is this Union of a sincere Christian with the Lord Jesus they are contracted and married together and so become united For by such umbrages taken from external things God is pleased to set forth this high mystery that it may be better apprehended by us that it may be easier let into our understandings Under this Head I shall intreat you heedfully to mind and observe three things 1. That this Union of the Saints with Christ is not a transformation of either into the essence or substance of the other Nostra ipsius Christi conjunctio nec miscet personas nee confundit substantias Sed affectus consociat confoederat voluntates either of Christ into theirs or of Believers into his essence They are not so made one as as if there were a substantial alteration or commixtion therein as if their persons or natures were so contempered together as to be made up into one A sincere convert is one with the person of the Mediator but they are not thereby made one person as some have vented their blasphemies that they are Christed with Christ and Godded with God and such like expressions that would make the heart of a sober Christian to tremble and his ears to tingle at the mention of them This oneness is not to be understood grosly and carnally as the Capernaites mistook it but in a spiritual sense as Christ himself doth interpret it Joh. 6.56 63. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him How is this to be understood Mark v. 63. Loquituâ— non de externo ac â—ranseunte verborum istorum sonitu sed de sensu illorum Ac significat se non carnaliter de carnall carnis suae esu in quo vita non est sed spiritualiter de spiritus vivificatoris virtute in qua vita est loquutum esse Muscul in loc It is the spirit that quickneth the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak they are spirit and life As if he had said these things are to be taken in a spiritual sense and not after a carnal manner Indeed it is so undeniably evident that it is not to be meant of a corporal union that I shall not need to insist upon arguments for the confutation of such uncouth notions Christ and a believer are not so made one but that they retain their natures distinct and their personal properties distinct notwithstanding that union they have different places properties and employments Christ is corporally in heaven the heavens must contain him till the time of the restitutions of all things and many of the members of his mystical body are still militant upon the face of the earth He is the Redeemer and they are the redeemed Act. 3.21 To the Lord Christ doth justly and deservedly appertain all worship and homage All ye Angels of God worship him Heb. 1.6 But it were monstrous and hateful idolatry to give it unto the Saints who are our fellow-creatures Rev. 22.9 Acts 14 13 14 15. The Lord Jesus is ordained and constituted to be the Judge and Believers are a part of the persons to be judged It is true they shall fit as Assessors with Christ in passing sentence upon the wicked but first they must stand themselves before the Judgment-seat and receive their acquittal Act. 17.31 Rom. 14.10 I might multiply passages of this sort if it were needful So that this Union is not a perfonal or corporal oneness with Christ but it consisteth in the neer relation which they have unto him 2. Hence it followeth plainly by way of consectary that it is a gross mistake of such persons who would gather from a Believers oneness with Christ that they are perfectly freed from all remainders of sin Sirs Christ is holy and pure a Lamb without spot and blemish he never
unto the world Joh. 14.22 and mark our Saviours answer v. 23. Jesus answered and said unto him if a man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him q.d. We will be united and knit to such a one and thereupon maintain a constant communion and intercourse with him which is a way of the manifestation of our selves which the world knoweth not of The world is shut out of Christ's prayer for this mercy and it is confined to believers Joh. 17. v. 9. compared with v. 21. 2. It belongeth to believers Universally and comprehensively that is to all of that sort and number whether they are weak Christians or strong whether they are more eminent in the Church or of a lower esteem My brethren this grace of Oneness with Christ is not a dignity conferred upon some eminent Saints whereby they are advanced above their fellows but this honour have all the Saints If there be true justifying faith but as a grain of mustard-seed as our Saviour speaketh in another case it putteth a man into the possession of this priviledge It may be the comfort of the meanest and poorest of the people of God upon earth that however men despise them yet they are married to the King of Kings to the only begotten Son of God You read of babes in Christ who are the lowest rank of Believers 1 Cor. 3.1 It may be improved as a point of wonderful consolation by poor drooping souls that love the Lord Jesus in sincerity When your corruptions struggle within you and you are violently assaulted by temptations from without and thereupon are afraid how you shall be able to hold out and to keep on in the way of godliness when your spirits are ready to sink under your burdens indeavour to raise them up again with this meditation The Lord Christ is my Husband why should I fear He is ingaged to preserve me for I belong to him nay I am in him See and study Isa 40.27 28 29 30. 3. This Union appertaineth to Believers entirely and undividedly My meaning is this the whole persons are the subjects of this Union and every part of them not only their souls the spiritual and immortal part but their very bodies which are made of the dust of the earth For as the grace of Vnction or sanctification where it is poured out upon a person it maketh an entire change both in body and soul so doth the grace of Vnion reach to the whole man to the body as well as to the soul 1 Cor. 6.15 What know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ q. d. This is a known truth a foundation principle you must not be ignorant of it you should be well instructed in this Point that you may be careful not to defile your bodies that it may quicken you to glorifie Christ with your bodies as well as with your spirits 1 Cor. 6.20 At the resurrection the bodies of the Saints shall be fashioned and made like to Christ's glorious body and here upon earth they are knit to his person 4. Believers are the subjects of this Union formally that is under that very consideration as such quatenus Believers For the grace of saith is the principle which God doth peculiarly honour in this very business to make up our union with Christ or to knit a person and the Lord Jesus together Whom he hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 And therefore our Apostle applyeth the doctrine of my Text unto them that believe in the words immediately following v. 12. He that hath the Son hath life c. And v. 13. These things have I written to you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that ye have eternal life How should Believers know it hereby Why because Believers have the Son by believing they are in the Son eo nomine because they believe That 's the third Branch of the description the proper subjects of this Union viz. Believers 4. Here is the foundation of this Union on which it is bottomed and from whence it doth arise namely from their intimate conjunction with Christ It is that special relation which Believers have to the Lord Jesus arising from their intimate conjunction with him Or from the closness of their being joyned together This is well to be observed as a material point for first there must be unition as one noteth before there can be Vnion First they must be brought together and must be linked and fastened one to the other before they can become one together At least in order of nature conjunction must precede for Union doth result or flow from it and hath a necessary dependance thereupon As it is in marriage the great resemblance for illustration of this mystery First the man and woman are brought together and married one to the other and thence their union doth arise they become one flesh So it is in this spiritual grace first Christ and a Believer are joyned together and then they become one This conjunction is so closs and in imate that it is called a being glewed unto Christ so the word signifieth 1 Cor. 6.17 He that is joyned * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Qui Domino agâ—utinatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gluten or glewed to the Lord is one spirit First they are joyned and so become one spiritually How this conjunction is wrought I shall open at large in answer to the next question This is the fourth branch of the Description 5. Lastly You have the blessed consequents which flow from hence or the glorious effects produced hereby and they are especially three 1. Hereupon they are accounted as one with Christ 2. Their spiritual state is fundamentally changed 3. The benefits of redemption are effectually applyed 1. Hereupon they are accounted as one with Christ Being made so they are reckoned and esteemed as such and accordingly made partakers of whatsoever advantage doth accrew thereby and doth grow upon this root of Oneness with the Mediator It is not an empty name and an airy appellation which is hereby attained but believers are answerably esteemed and dealt with in all sorts of dispensations Therefore they are said to be found in him Philip. 3.9 That I may win Christ and be found in him that is in all the dealings of God towards them they are looked upon as one with his Son so their concernments are regarded and blessings are dispensed unto them evils are averted and kept from falling upon them and spiritual good things are given forth When God doth go forth in his providence twoards the children of men he findeth the wicked in their sins polluted in their blood under the curse of the Law and so there is a curse interwoven with his proceedings with them but when he looketh down upon Believers they are found in Christ They are reckoned as one
with the Redeemer and that in a fourfold respect 1. God the father doth so account of them in his estimation He putteth an high price and value upon their souls he loveth them with a superlative love as being one with his Son they are sharers in the same love wherewith Jesus Christ is beloved It is true in themselves they are despicable creatures of a mean extraction and original and God might refuse to have any regard to them in respect of their Apostacy they are polluted creatures and so the Lord might abhor them but he takes a view of them in his Son and so his affections run out towards them Joh. 17.23 I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know Deinâ—e coelestis Pater eodem quo Ecclesiae caput amore complexâ—s est membra quoque omnia prosequitur ut neminem diligat nisi in Christo Marl. that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me Not in point of equality but similitude with the same love with a real love pure love eternal love unchangeable love And he will glorifie them with the same glory where with Christ is glorified 2. The Lord Jesus himself doth so account of them in the care which he taketh of their persons and affairs He hath a tenderness for them and a watchful regard unto them as parts and portions of himself Whoso roucheth them toucheth the apple of his eye Zech. 2.8 In all their afflictions he is afflicted Isa 63.8 9. And whatever kindness is shewed unto them is a refreshment to his spirit Mind how he speaks to Peter Joh. 21.15 16. Simon son of Jonas lovest thou me more than these He saith unto him yea Lord thou knowest that I love shee He saith unto him feed my lambs And v. 16. Feed my sheep And again v. 17. Feed my sheep as if he had said Thou canst no way better express thy love towards me than by being tender of those that are my servants Whatever thou dost for them for the least of them I will put it upon mine account I reckon it as done unto my self 3. The holy Ghost the spirit of grace and consolation doth so demean himself towards Believers in his operations and workings upon their hearts As he cometh to them in Christ's name so he dealeth with them as Christ's members He taketh of his and doth show it or communicate it unto them because they are parts of him Joh. 16.14 15. 4. Their fellow-servants all the sons and daughters of Adam are warned of God thus to judge concerning them and accordingly to suit their carriage and actions towards Believers They are apt to reckon them as the dung of the earth as the off scouring of all things as the most contemptible persons under the Sun but God will have them to know that they are one with Jesus Joh. 17.23 That the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me The world that is the inhabitants of the world or principally in this place the wicked of the earth it is a lesson wherein it concerneth them to be instructed That 's the first general consequent of this Union Being one with the Son of God they are to all intents and purposes so accounted of 2. The second general effect of this Union with Christ is the change of a mans state and condition Hereby their spiritual state is fundamentally changed so that of children of the wrath of God they are made objects of his favour and delight and complacency in whom he takes pleasures Instead of the curse of the Law under which they lay they are put within the verge of the Covenant of peace and reconciliation instead of fire-brands of hell they are made heirs of a crown of righteousness You know there is a threefold change wrought upon a person in order to conduct him to everlasting bliss 1. There is a change of the nature and qualifications of the person the frame and temper of the heart must be altered and turned from sin to holiness from the power of Satan to the living God 2. There is a practical change in the conversation from living after the flesh to a walking in the Spirit and minding the things of the Spirit 3. A change of the state and condition which we are now treating of and this is fundamentally wrought by a mans union with Christ This change of the state is stilled in the Scriptures A translation of a sinner out of the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of Christ Col. 1.13 And by the grace of union this translation is originally made and brought about Mark I say originally and fundamentally for although justification and adoption are a change likewise in the state of a sinner yet I ascribe it originally to union with Christ because those mercies are rivolets which flow from this fountain And you will find the holy Ghost attributing it hereunto Eph. 2.13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ The state of nature is a state of alienation and estrangedness from God then sinners are afar off from his favour and the light of his countenance but when they are implanted into Christ this alienation is removed and they are brought nigh unto God This is a point of very great weight and moment and therefore diligently to be heeded and studied So that I will open it somewhat largely for these three reasons 1. Because upon the change of the spiritual state of our persons doth depend the gracious acceptation of all our duties and performances This being the constant method of God's acceptance of them first he hath respect unto the person and then to the spiritual work and obedience which is tendered by that person Deus non habet gratum offereutem propter munera sed munera propter offerentem Gregor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 4.4 The Lord had respect to Abel and to his offering First to himself and then to his sacrifice Ezek. 20.40 41. I will accept you with your sweet savour First you and then your sweet savour thereupon It is not all the care and pains a natural man can take in some of the duties of the worship and service of God though he mean never so well as some persons will boast they mean well and have good intentions and therefore hope the Lord will not reject them that will render his duties pleasing unto God except he first give up himself to be the Lords and be in covenant with him and his spiritual state be changed Rom. 8.8 They that are in the flesh cannot please God * Qui in carne sunt i. e. per spiritum renati non sunt Buling Not only they will not but cannot it is a thing utterly impossible that God should take delight in the works of the wicked who are his enemies let them be
the state of the person acting * Itaque non quid fiat aut quid detur refert sed qua mente Quia beneficium non in eo quod fit dut datur consistit sed in ipso dantis aut benefacientis animo Sen. de Benefic So that if we would assure our hearts before Christ at his appearance and comfortably expect to receive the reward of the inheritance we must not think it sufficient to make a little reformation in our lives but our spiritual state must be changed Instead of strangers and enemies we must be made the friends of the Lord we must be taken out of Satans family and put into the houshold of faith 6. In the sixth and last place to bring it home to our purpose observe that this change in a mans spiritual state is fundamentally brought to pass by his union with Christ it is wrought by vertue of being ingraffed into Christ Then is a sinner put into another state and condition when he is broken off from the old stock and put into the true vine when he is taken out of the wild Olive and inserted into the good Olive-tree For Sirs Christ is the head and master of the whole party of God's peculiar people as Satan is the prince of the children of disobedience so the Lord Jesus is the king of Saints the Prince and Captain of their salvation to whom they belong and when they are in him then they belong to him Gal. 3.28 29. There is neither Jew nor Greek there is neither bond nor free there is neither male nor female that is such things as these Country Sex and Nation or outward condition of life make no difference on a spiritual account but union with Christ as it followeth but you are all one in Christ Jesus one mystical body by vertue of conjunction with him And if ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise then is your state changed from children of wrath to be inheritors of a kingdom That 's the second general product or consequent of union with Christ Thereby a mans spiritual state is fundamentally changed 3. From hence doth redound a right to all the blessings of the Covenant Hereby the benefits of redemption are effectually applyed to their souls So applyed that believers have a title thereto and may plead their interest therein they may come unto the Lord with an holy boldness and challenge those blessings as their own They have not only liberty to pray for them as mercies which they want but with an holy reverence and humility they may put in their claim to them when they are united unto Christ the Son of God The very justice of God is ingaged to answer their suit as well as his compassion For Sirs when a man is knit unto Christ all things that are Christs do of right belong unto that man 1 Cor. 3.21 22 23. All things are yours whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come All are yours and ye are Christ's and Christ is God's Mark it all things are yours that is in respect of title to them and the benefit of them Upon what ground is that title bottomed why upon your oneness with Christ therefore all are yours because ye are Christs As the interest which a woman hath in the goods and possessions of her husband doth arise from her being united to the person of her husband so the right which any have to the possessions of Christ and the mercies which he hath purchased doth flow from their oneness with the person of Christ First we must be his before we have a right to any thing that is his This is a known principle That if we would receive any benefit by the redemption which Christ hath purchased it must be applyed unto us Now this application is made effectually by our oneness with Christ It is the Spirit by whom the application is made and union with Christ is the way wherein or whereby that application is made effectually And therefore you must observe there are three wayes how the benefits of redemption are applyed to the souls of men and women There is an 1. External and doctrinal application 2. Internal but conditional application 3. Effectual and saving application 1. There is an external or doctrinal application by the Ministers of the Gospel When the general promise of salvation is particularly manifested unto us and the tenders of life and happiness are made to our souls by the Embassadors whom Christ employeth to that end This is the great priviledge of such as have their standing in the visible Church As there is eternal life procured through the blood of the Lord Jesus so it is offered unto them Christ doth beseech them by his Ministers to accept of it The general promise of blessedness to all that believe is brought home to them and personally applyed unto them This I call a doctrinal Application Thus Peter applyed the grace of God unto the people Act. 2.38 Then Peter said unto them Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the holy Ghost Again Acts 3. v. 19. Repent ye therefore and be convâ—rted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Mark it There is a general promise of pardon to such as repent of sin and turn from it unto God that iniquity shall never prove their ruine Now this very thing the Apostle applyeth unto them Repent ye and you shall be pardoned your sins shall be forgiven you and when Christ shall come at the day of judgment which will be a day of gladness and refreshment to believers then you shall be openly acquitted from your guilt it shall be proclaimed in the face of all the world that you are pardoned and accepted Thus Paul and Silas apply salvation to the Jaylor Act. 16.31 Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved and thine house There is an universal promise that whosoever believeth shall be saved Now say Paul and Silas to the keeper of the prison Thou art not excluded out of this promise by vertue of our commission from Christ and in his name we tender salvation to thee and to thine house This application doth oftentimes leave men as it found them life and happiness is tendered and they put it far from them Act. 13.46 Mat. 22.2 3. 2. There is an internal but conditional application of the benefits of redemption and this is wrought by the Spirit of God dealing with a mans spirit When the holy Ghost doth present unto the soul what in the Ministery of the Word was sounded in the ear * Interna oblatio est spiritualis quadam illuminatio qua cordibus hominum proponuntur illae promissiones quasi per verbum internum Haec etiam aliquando
you will undoubtedly fall short of the righteousness of Jesus Christ you do quite put your selves from under his shadow If you rest upon the works of the Law never think to receive benefit by the death of the Mediator of the covenant of peace and reconciliation Christ is become of none effect unto you Now Sirs justification by works is mans natural element upon which his soul is fixed and where he delights to dwell Although the Law is disabled to minister relief unto fallen sinners yet there is a proness in them to follow after it still and to rest their souls upon that foundation This is plain from the pains the Apostle Paul taketh in his Epistles to unsettle men from this bottom to take them off from leaning upon this broken reed especially in his Epistles to Rom. and Gal. Besides you read expresly of mens desires to be under the Law Gal. 4.21 Tell me ye that desire to be under the Law q. d. I perceive that hitherward your spirits have a tendency there is a natural inclination in you to split your selves upon this rock as there is in a stone to deseend downwards towards its center As the Law is a rule of life so it is written upon the heart of a Believer but unregenerate persons cleave to it as it is a covenant of works they make use of it so as to seek justification from thence And this mostly ariseth from that monstrous pride which is fast rooted and rivered in mens hearts they would fain advance something of themselves and are loath to give the glory of their salvation to another It is an harder thing to close with the grace of God and to glorifie free grace in salvation than most persons imagine This is the second Proposition That unconverted sinners are not only separated from Christ but actually joyned unto such objects as are utterly incompatible with their being in Christ 3. Propos 3. Hence it clearly followeth as a third Proposition That the first work which is wrought upon the spirit of a man in order to his conjunction and oneness with the Lord Jesus it is the separation or withdrawment of his soul from these objects unto which he is joyned in opposition unto Christ Till this work be done the finner is not in a neer capacity of having the Son of God of being joyned to the Redeemer First a bill of divorcement must be written and the former husbands put away before the soul can be married to another husband to him that is raised from the dead For Sirs Christ will not be a sharer with another if he have the soul at all he will have it altogether if persons have the Son really they must have him only So that first the soul must be wrought upon to renounce those things which stand in competition with the Lord Jesus that they may be in a preparedness to be knit unto him Psal 45.10 11. Hearken O daughter and consider and incline thine car forget also thine own people and thy fathers house so shall the King greatly desire thy beauty They are words spoken of the mystical marriage betwixt Christ and his Church * Hoc de Ecclesiâ quam ut Christi regis uxorem depingit Vides de Christo esse sermonem qui enim de Solomone diceret Quoniam ipse est Dominus Deus cuus Marian. in loc and they amount to thus much q. d. If you will have Christ you must forsake all things for Christ if you will be joyned unto him you must be parted from all besides him as a virgin that will be espoused to an husband must forsake father and mother and cleave to her husband First you must be broken off from the old stock if you will be ingraffed in the true vine This is a special part of that self denial which is required in the followers of Jesus Mar. 8.34 Whosoever will come after me let him deny himself He must den◠his carnal self and say to his corruptions get ye hence he must deny his legal self by renouncing all confidence in the flesh in his own righteousness as to justification in the sight of God he must be dead to sin and the Law if he will be married to the Son of God See the proof of each 1. He must be dead to sin Gal. 5.24 They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts * Carnens pro radice posuit concupiscentias pro fructibus Caro enim est ipsa naturae corruptae vitiositas unde mala omnia prodeunt Calv. in loc Such as are united to his person must be planted together into the likeness of his death as he died for sin so must they be dead unto sin as Christ was crucified in the flesh so must their corruptions be crucified in them The principle or body of sin must be subdued and the lustings and workings of it must be set against else it will be in vain to pretend that they are knit unto Christ 2. He must be dead to the Law because it is impossible for a man to be coupled to both together It was a defectiveness herein which was the cause of the utter undoing of the carnal Israelites they were fast joyned unto the Law and they could not be taken off from seeking life upon those terms and therefore though they followed after righteousness yet they did not attain it they fell short of righteousness How came it to pass that they fell short of what they sought after Why Because they sought it not by faith but as it were by the works of the Law Rom. 9.31 32. That 's the third Proposition The first work that is wrought upon the spirit of a man in a tendency to his conjunction and oneness with Christ is the separation of his soul from sin and the Law to which he is naturally joyned in opposition to Christ 4. Propos 4. The divorce and separation of a sinner from his iniquity which is of indispensable necessity to the reception of Christ and union with him is principally accomplished by a fourfold act 1. The eyes of the understanding are opened to see the evil of sin 2. The heart is awakened to consider the consequents of that evil 3. The spirit is made to tremble in apprehension of the danger of continuing in sin 4. The grace of mortification is poured out for the subduing of corruption and a secret antipathy put into the soul against it When this work is wrought then the sinner is set free from bondage unto his lusts and is at liberty to be married to another I will briefly touch upon these four steps or acts of the holy Ghost whereby tho divorce is made 1. There is an act of Conviction whereby the eyes of the understanding are enlightened to see the evil of sin and that with application to a mans self and his own transgressions and iniquities For indeed general notions of the evil of sin will never have a
at the same time make his entrance in their whole persons and take seizin and possession of all their powers and faculties unto his use and service The plian meaning is this that the work of sanctification is a through-work wrought upon the whole man there is grace infused into every part and faculty As in the work of mortification all the habits of corruption are subdued so in the work of renovation or vivification all the seeds of holiness are introduced the whole man is purified as Christ is pure The common gifts of the Spirit are bestowed many times singly and apart one from the other but special sanctifying graces are planted together This I lay down that you may not deceive yourselves in this matter by thinking Christ is in you when you are strangers unto him There is great proness in us to mistake upon this account and to flatter our selves in this case for some common workings upon the heart to conclude that saving grace is planted in the heart And therefore mind what I say to prevent this self-cozenage that where a person is cleansed savingly and effectually there is an universal purification of the whole man and all the graces in the seed of them are infused together As all old things pass away so every thing is made new 2 Cor. 5.17 The understanding is renewed with saving knowledge of the mind of God and the will is brought into a blessed subjection to the will of God the conscience is furnished anew with tenderness and faithfulness the affections are renewed by being turned into their right channel and pointed upon their right objects love and delight upon God and hatred and sorrow towards sin and what is displeasing unto the Lord the heart is principled anew with sincerity and singleness and truth put into the inward parts the memory is made a treasury and store-house of good things and the body is fitted to be subservient unto the soul in wayes of holiness Thus I might run over the several branches of this work There is vigour and activity put into the soul to do the will of God commanding and patience to suffer and be contented under the will of God disposing there is the grace of moderation to guide in prosperity and the grace of faith to support under affliction and trouble and the man is prepared and fitted unto every good word and work 1 Thes 5.23 And the very God of peace sanctifie you wholly and I pray God your whole soul and spirit and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Mark it Sirs the work of sanctification is a very extensive and diffusive work it leaveneth the whole man both the inserior and superior faculties of the soul the animal and the rational powers and the body likewise So that it is not some slight trouble upon the conscience for sin or a little touch upon the affections or inclinations towards the Kingdom of God that will evidence you to be sanctified for sanctification ingageth the whole man in an holy compliance with the wayes of holiness and the interest of Jesus As a partial repentance in the exercise of it which striketh at some sins only and leaveth a man in the allowance of others is but a feigned repentance so partial workings upon the heart are but common workings they will not amount to saving grace Jer. 3.10 When Christ entereth by his Spirit into any of the children of men he doth take possession of them wholly and set up his residence in every part and faculty 3. In this work of the entrance of the Spirit into to a mans soul whereupon Christ is said to be in him and to dwell with him and possession is taken for his use and service the soul of that man is altogether passive My meaning is this It is not in the power of any person upon the earth to plant grace in his own soul or to confer the habits of holiness upon himself nor doth he contribute any active assistance in the performance of it but is wholly wrought upon by the mighty power of God and the effectual operation of the holy Ghost We are apt to imagine that it is in our own power to make a saving change within our selves that we can convert and turn to God at any time and repent when we please As Luther said in point of merit there is a Pope in every mans belly so may I say in this case there is a tang of Pelagianism in every mans heart and hence it is they take incouragement to procrastinate and delay in the matters of salvation they think they can repent when they will if it be but upon their death-bed But Sirs it must be a day of power that maketh you willing A as if God should give you up unto your selves you would perish for ever in your unregeneracy The planting grace in the heart is a turning the course of corrupted nature it is as a quickning the dead it is a creating and infusing of how principles into a man * Opus hoc conversionis sive duobus effici non potest Uno a quo fit altero in quo fit Deus est â—â—tor salâ—â—is liberum arbitrium tantum capax Bern. Observetur in primo actu veluntatis qui procedit à gratia praeveniente voluntatem esse motam non moventem Aquin. prima secundae q. 111. of which there is nothing in us by nature but a contrariety and repugnancy thereunto Eph. 2.5 Even when we were dead in sins he hath quickned us together with Christ And v. 10. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works So that it is not mans free will but God's free grace and his infinite power by which it is wholly wrought and to him alone doth belong the glory of it 4. Although we are wholly passive in this work of regeneration or planting grace into our hearts whereby Christ entereth into and taketh possession of us and we contribute no manner of active affistance therein yet there is something required at our hands in order to the attainment of this grace and that we may be made partakers thereof This is well to be noted that it may prevent our abuse of this doctrine and that we may not turn the grace of God into negligence and slothfulness For will sinners be apt to argue thus if it be God alone by his infinite power who can imprint grace upon our hearts and this he doth without our concurrent assâ—stance then we may fit still and let the Lord perform his own work if he please to convert and sanctifie us we shall be converted and if not all our indeavours are to no purpose But Sirs this is to pervert the grace of the covenant God forbid there should be such cursed inferences drawn from this excellent doctrine although it tendeth to advance and magnifie the free grace and power of God yet it gives no manner of incouragement to the
sloth and carelessne's of men For though we are not active in the planting grace into our souls yet there is something expected at our hands in order to the a tainment thereof Although we cannot convert our selves yet we are to wait upon God that we may be converted by him and are to attend upon the means which he hath appointed and wherein he is wont to meet the souls that seek him Although we cannot cleanse and sanctifie our own spirits yet we are diligently to search the Scriptures and to press arguments upon our selves from the Scriptures and to give constant attendance upon God in his Ordinances which are the special instruments he is wont to make use of whereby to convey the spirit of sanctification * Sâ—bordinata non sunt opponenda sed componenda Auditio hominis irregeniti etsi conversionem non inchoat Est camen ordmarium requisitum quod conversionem ordinariam aâ—tecedit tanquam quaedam ad eam nondum existentem praeparatio Wendel Syst majus And this is none other then what God looketh for at our hands Ezek. 36. v. 26. compared with v. 37. A new heart also I will give you and a new spirit I will put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh But then v. 37. Thus saith the Lord God I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel that I may do it for them Though we cannot mortifie and subdue our own corruptions yet we should reason the case with our selves and be much in expostulation with our own hearts why we should be so vile and foolish as to serve base lusts and corruptions and to turn our backs upon the Lord and though we cannot put the principles of holiness into our own souls yet we must follow after God by prayer and supplication that he may graciously send forth the holy Ghost to plant them in us And this seemeth to be one of the great ends of God in laying his commandments upon us though we have no strength or ability to the performance of them that we might turn the commandment into prayer and be earnest with him to work in us what he requireth to be within us Jer. 31.18 Turn thou me and I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God Psal 51.6 7 10. Behold thou defirest truth in the inward parts and in the hidden parts thou shalt make me to know wisdom Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me It is just for all the world in the case of a private man or woman as it is in the work of a Minister It is not within the power of the most excellent Preacher in the earth to convert one soul but it should be his care to preach such heart-searching truths and to press upon sinners such awakening considerations in season and out of season as may have a tendency towards conversion to instruct in meekness them that oppose themselves not as it he could give them repentance but if peradventure in the use of the means God may give them repentance 2 Tim. 2.25 26. So it is with sinners themselves they cannot bring spiritual life into their own souls yet they may wait upon God in the duties which he hath required and be earnest with the Lord to speak the word that their souls may live in his sight As we are to serve God with grace or in the exercise of grace when it is bestowed so we are to seek unto him for grace that it may be conferred And pray mind it Christians this will be enough to stop the mouths of impenitent sinners and render their plea of inability to convert themselves invalid Why thou sinful wretch who thus cavillest against the Lord hast thou duly and diligently set upon the discharge of that work which God calleth for in order to conversion That is a notable acknowledgment Dan. 9.13 We made not our prayer before the Lord our God that we might turn from our iniquity and understand thy truth If Daniel had onely confessed that they had not turned from iniquity might some captious sinner have been apt to say alas we had no power we were not able to turn of our selves yea but saith that holy man we have neglected the means which God hath appointed to turn us so put it home to thy conscience hast thou not resisted the Spirit whereby God hath many times striven with thee Hast thou not neglected to study the word or restrained prayer before the Lord wherein peradventure he might have been found by thee Thus I might instance in other particulars but I proceed 5. These principles of grace infused into the soul in the work of Regeneration or this image of God restored upon the soul by the Spirit in the day of conversion may be called Christ in us and the Lord Jesus may be said thereby to dwell with us and that upon a fourfold account especially Because 1. This grace is derived upon the soul out of the fulness of Christ 2. Hereby we are made conformable unto Christ 3. The Holy Ghost implanting it doth act in Christs name 4. Hereby we become his servants and possession is taken of us to his use 1. It may be called Christ in us because the habits of grace infused into the soul are derived upon us out of Christs fulness The whole stock of grace was put into the hands of the Mediator and from thence it is communicated unto Gods chosen people When the Lord Jesus was anointed with the Spirit without measure it was put into his hands as into a common Store-house or Magazine that from thence the Elect of God might be furnished It was put into him as into a fountain that out of that fountain our vessels might be filled It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell Col. â— 19 And out of his fulness we all receive and that grace for grace John 1.16 And therefore it is called The Law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.2 It is in him originally in us derivatively being imparted to us from him 2. Hereby Christ may be said to dwell in us because grace doth render a man conformable to Christ In the work of Regeneration our natures are fashioned according to his nature As there is an answerableness between a Copy and the Orignal from whence it is transcribed there is line for line and sentence for sentence word for word and letter for letter so take the humane nature of Jesus Christ as he was anointed by the Holy Ghost and the nature of a Person sanctified and there is a suitableness between them there is love for love and joy for joy and hatred for hatred they have the minde of Christ and the meekness of Christ and the long-suffering and compassion and gentleness of Christ and the like Therefore they are said to purifie themselves
humanam divinam prout nititur testimonio vel humano vel divino Ames de fid divin verit If it be built upon Education or Custom the Opinions of Learned men or the Traditions of our Fathers and of the Church and the like humane evidence then it cannot amount no higher than to an humane faith And it is to befeared that the faith of the generality of people called Christians is of this sort onely They believe the Christian Religion to be the true Religion and the Bible to contain the word of God Why Because all their forefathers were of that Religion and they were bred and brought up in that way such Ministers have told them so and they see many wise men are of that minde They have the same grounds for their belief as Mahometans and other Idolaters have for theirs And as one well observeth these are Christians rather by chance than by choice If their lot had fallen amongst Heathens and worshippers of stocks and stones for the same reasons they would have been of their Religion they would have opposed the Gospel upon the very same grounds that now they embrace it Divine truths may be believed by a meer humane faith if the testimony be humane upon which they are believed * It being an impossibility that the assent to the matters of faith should rise higher or stand firmer than the assent to the testimony upon which those things are believed My assent to the object believed is according to my assent to the medium on which I believe it Stillingf Rational account p. 112. A divine faith must be built upon a divinetestimony when a man doth believe the word of God from those divine Marks and Characters which are stamped upon it from that mighty and supernatural efficacy which it hath whereby God doth bear witness unto his word Thus the Apostle observeth touching the Thessalonians that they received divine truths upon divine testimony they received it as the â—ord of God for it came to them not in word onely but in power and in the holy Ghost and in much assurance 1 Thes 1.5 i. e. It had such a powerful influence upon their hearts and consciences that thereby they were assured it was of God 2. There is a Temporary faith which goeth a step further than the former When the judgement is not onely convinced of the divine original and authority of the Scriptures but those convictions work in some measure upon the affections that they are taken with the goodness and excellency of them When the heart is carryed out in a kinde of love and liking to the Person revealing and the Doctrines revealed and there are some degrees of inclination towards a closure with those Doctrines onely they are raised in them but for a fit whist they are in a good mood as we say and it endureth but for a time it cannot abide the trial when any great difficulties attend their obedience unto the word then they cast it off And for this reason it is called a temporary faith Such a faith you meet with in some of the followers of Christ whom yet he durst not trust for he knew they were but hypocrites though now they followed him yet shortly they would set against him when the Scene was altered they would betray him and of false friends become his professed enemies John 2.23 24. Many believed in his name when they saw the Miracles which he did Jesus did not commit himself unto them because he knew all men Such was the faith of those others mentioned as his Disciples John 6.66 From that time many of his Disciples went back and walked no more with him And therefore it is observable what our Saviour spake to the Jews that believed on him John 8.31 If ye continue in my word then are ye â—â—y Disciples indeed Then are ye my Disciples that is then it will be evident that you are then you will give undeniable proof * â—es tum demum dicuntâ—â— fieri cum inci piunt patefieri that your faith is of the right kind else you may gracious habits the Lord Jesus taketh hold on their souls and by putting forth this habit into act and exercise they receive and take hold of the Lord Jesus Col. 2.6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him i. e. as you have believed on him and imbraced or received him by believing That is the first thing I would commend unto you viz. this Scripture distinction of the sorts of faith 2. This justifying faith hath the Lord Jesut Christ himself for the special immediate object with whom it closeth and upon whom it is exercised It is Christ himself who is primarily tendered in the offers of the Gospel and therefore true faith of this fort goeth forth unto him The special consideration under which a Believer goeth forth to Christ in the actings of faith for justification it is as dying and satisfying the justice of God and therefore usually called faith in his blood and the great incouragement whereupon a Believer is emboldened to act his faith is the tender of the Gospel and the promises thereof but it is Christ himself which is the special immediate object upon which faith as justifying is acted and with whom it closeth The sinner being incouraged by the promise doth embrace Christ in the promise Hence it is commonly stiled faith in Christ and a believing on the Lord Jesus Christ Acts 20.21 I have kept back nothing that was profitable unto you c. testifying both to the Jews and also the Greeks repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. Mark it as repentance hath God for its ultimate object it is a turning from sin and returning unto God even unto him so faith hath Christ for its special object The great fundamental act of faith whereupon finners are justified is conversant about Christ Act. 26.18 That they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance amongst them that are sanctified by faith that is in me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by faith that is acted upon me upon Jesus for they are his words It is by faith exerted and acted upon him that forgiveness of sins is conveyed Unto that it seemeth to relate and the other words to come in as a parenthesis as if it had been that they may receive forgiveness of sins by faith that is in me and also an inheritance amongst them that are sanctified It hath sometimes appeared as strange to me to meet with descriptions of the nature of justifying faith without so much as the mention of Jesus Christ the object upon whom it is acted See the process of the workings of the heart of S. Paul in believing and how he taught in the Churches of Christ First he was deadned as to expectation of life from the Law the first Covenant and then he addresseth himself for justification unto Christ by believing on him who is the only Mediator of
faith or faith as it is a spiritual act and work not the works of faith that justifie a sinner in the sight of God yet that faith which giveth him a title to the righteousness of the Mediator by whom alone he can be justified must be an operative and working faith such as purgeth the conscience from dead works and bringeth the soul into subjection unto Christ's Laws and Government To this purpose the words of the Apostle James are observable Cap. 2.14 What doth it profit my brethren if a man say he hath faith and have not works can faith save him It is not said though he have faith and have not works for where there is faith in the heart there will be new obedience in the life but if he say that he hath it if he be a pretender to it can such a dead lifeless pretended faith save him Christ is held forth in the Gospel not only as a Redeemer but as a Lord and a Law-giver and these are inseparably connected and knit together He that presumeth to divide between what God hath joyned together that will accept of Jesus as a Saviour but not as a Soveraign doth not indeed receive the Christ of God but an idol stamed by his own heart Whom he doth save he will rule and govern Heb. 5.9 He became the Anthor of eternal salvation unto all them that obeyed him I shall not need to trouble you with controversal points as whether faith quà justifying under that very notion or consideration doth receive Christ as a Lord This is acknowledged on both hands that the faith which justifieth doth receive Christ in al his offices as a Prophet to instruct and guide us in the ways of God as a King to exercise rule and dominion over us and as a Priest to reconciâ—e and make intercession for us If we come to Christ for salvation we must take his yoke upon us Mat. 11.28 29. For a dividing faith is a false hypocritical faith to whom Christ giveth remission of sins he giveth repentance also He saveth us by the washing of Regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost So that if we receive him as a Saviour we must have him as a Sanctifier for he saveth by sanctifying and conducteth sinners to eternal peace by guiding their feet in the ways of peace Thus I have ended together the mystical union betwixt believers and the Lord Jesus which I mainly drove at and intend when I shall speak of it afterwards as the foundation of our communion with Christ and receivings from him as also the sixth Proposition laid down to open the manner of the Conjunction between Christ and his people and their oneness thereupon There are two Propositions more yet behinde which I come now to insist upon that I may finish my answer to the third General Head 7. Propos 7. From this mystical union of a Believer with Christ or being ingraffed into Christ there doth flow another sort of union between them whereof love is the bond which may be well improved as an evidence of the former and it is usually called a moral union Such an oneness as there is between the dearest friends whose hearts are linked together in the bond of amity and mutual affection We say sometimes of intimate friends they are so nearly conjoyned as if they were but one as if the same soul did animate both in their bodies * Amor non est desiderium aut appetitus ut ab omnibus bactenus traditum Nam cum potimur amatâ re non manet appetitus Est igitur affectus quo cum re amatá aut animur aut unionem perpetuamus Scalig. Exerc. 301. Anima est ubi amat potiùs quam ubi animat Deut. 13.6 Thy friend which is as thine own soul So are the Lord Jesus and his peculiar people knit together He hath a very dear and inflamed affection to them He loves them that love him Prov. 8.17 His delights are with the sons of men Prov. 8.31 And on the other hand he is in their hearts so as to live and die together It is the greatest pleasure believers have in the world to be contemplating the excellencies of Christ and conversing with him it is that which doth yield them the most solid content and satisfaction and they are still hungry and thirsting after the further enjoyment of him as if they could never have enough of fellowship and society with him John 21.17 Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time lovest thou me And he said unto him Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee He could hardly bear it to have his love to Christ called in question This union is notably set forth in the Song of Solomon You have many passages for it I will transcribe a few of them See the workings of their hearts towards Christ Cap. 2.3 4 5.6 7. As the apple-tree amongst the trees of the Wood so is my belâ—ved amongst the sons I sate under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to my taste He brought me to the banquetting house and his banner over me was love Stay me with flagons comfort me with apples for I am sick of love His left hand is under my head and his right hand doth embrace me I charge you O ye Daughters of Jerusalem by the Roes and by the Hinds of the field that ye stir not up nor awake my love till he please as if the Church had said O take heed of displeasing the Lord Jesus there is nothing will cut me so deeply to the heart as if you despise him and sin against him He is the life of my life and the strength of my soul it is acquaintance with him that putteth sweetness into all my accommodations they would be comfortless comforts were it not for Christ I am never better then when I am in communion with him Again cap. 3.1 2 3 4. By night on my bed I sought him when my soul loveth I sought him but I found him not I will rise now and go about the City in the streets and in the broad wayes I will seek him whom my soul loveth I sought him but I found him not The watchmen that go about the City found me to whom I said saw ye him whom my soul loveth It was but a little that I passed from them but I found him whom my soul loveth I held him and would not let him go till I had brought him into my Mothers house and into the Chamber of her that conceived me as if the soul of a believer should say how much doth my Spirit long after Christ My thoughts are not onely upon him by day but my meditation is concerning him in the night season And if he doth hide his face I have no rest in my Spirit I make use of all means to recover the light of his countenance I pray and seek and cry and watch I converse with this Christian
I opened to my beloved but he had withdrawn himself and was gone my soul failed when he spake that is when he gave forth his parting words The Spouse at first was not ready to open to Christ and to give him entertainment v. 3. Why then farewel saith Jesus I will wait no longer seeing you so little regard me I will be gone immediately O then the soul raileth this striketh the spirit dead and there is no quietness to be had till Christ be found again and intreated to return It is love to Christ that maketh it so pleasant a thing to a Believer to recount his perfections and to reckon up the glorious things that he hath done See what delight the Spouse taketh in the enumeration of them Cant. 5.10 11 12 13 14 15. So much for the seventh Proposition 8. Propos 8. The eighth and last Proposition is this The mystical union of Believers with Christ and all the priviledges and blessings which are the consequents thereof do originally flow from the merit of the death of the Lord Jesus which in pursuance of the eternal Covenant between the Father and himself he suffered in their stead and whereby he gave satisfaction to the justice of God in their behalf To this end he undertook to be a Mediator and to die an accursed death in their room and in the fulness of time he actually performed it that they in whose stead he stood might be gathered unto him and by the Spirit and faith might be made one with him Upon the account of this his standing in their stead and transacting matters with the Father for their good and benefit some speak of an eternal Vnion betwixt them Say they In the eternal counsel of God for reconciling sinners unto himself Christ ingaged to suffer as representing their persons and so they are considered as one This we may call a judicial Union as some or a transcendental Vnion But I will not stand upon an enquiry into the fitness of these expressions This I take to be clear from the Scriptures of truth That the mystical Union of Believers with Christ wrought by the Spirit and faith which is the matter we are treating of and until which they are dead in sins and trespasses and under the wrath of God as well as others is a fruit of Christ's undertaking to die for them and actual performance of that undertaking * Haec transactio inter Deum Christum fuit praevia quaedam applicatio redemptionis liberationis nostrae ad sponsorem nostrum ad nos in ipso Quae ad secundariam istam in nobis peragendam rationem habet cfficacis cajusdam exemplaris ita ut illa fit hujus repraesentatio haec illius virtute producatur Ames med That which I drive at is this That the Lord Jesus did not enter himself into an obligation to undergo the cursed death of the Cross and in due time actually undergo it only that the elect of God might be saved if they should get into him but that they might be brought unto Christ and ingraffed into him and so made partakers of salvation You shall find that their gathering unto Christ and being implanted into him is mentioned as an effect of his undertaking and suffering for them This is notably set forth in that Anti-Socinian Chapter as I may call it which hath broken the teeth of such as have been nibling at it and out of which it is impossible for them with all their subtle devices to extricate themselves I mean Isa 53. v. 10 11 12. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed he shall prolong his dayes and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand He shall see of the travel of his soul and be satisfied by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many for he shall bear their iniquities Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he hath poured out his soul unto death and he was numbred with the transgressors and he bare the sins of many and made intercession for transgressors Mark but how abundantly this point is confirmed Therefore shall Christ have a people gathered unto him and a seed to serve him because he made his soul an offering for their sins Upon that very account many shall be united to him so as to be justified by him because he bare their iniquities Therefore he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out his soul unto death How doth Christ divide the spoil with the strong Why when in the day of conversion he knittetn sinners unto himself As Satan the strong man armed hath his company that continue finally impenitent in their wickedness So Christ by his Spirit doth gather a company unto himself And whence doth this proceed Why it is the product of the satisfaction which he made for them Thus it shall be because he bare the sins of many These are the trophies of the victory that Christ got by dying the death of the cross They are ingraffed into him because he suffered for them Hence the grace of faith which is the uniting grace is said to be attained through the righteousness of Christ As it is acted upon Christ's righteousness so it was purchased thereby and is given forth upon the account thereof 2 Pet. 1.1 To them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ This is the last Proposition For the clearing whereof and the point asserted I will take it asunder into five heads of observation 1. Observe That the eternal transactions of matters between God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ in order to the redemption and deliverance of the elect are set forth in the Scriptures under the notion of a Covenant that passed betwixt them for the accomplishment of that redemption As there is a Covenant made with the souls of Believers in Christ so there was a Covenant from everlasting made with Christ a kind of compact and agreement between the Father and the Son for the restauration of fallen sinners This is acknowledged by most as to the matter and substance of the thing and I think we have it plainly enoâ—gh under that notion and expression of a Covenaut Zech. 6.12 13. Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts saying Behold the man whose name is the Branch and he shall grow up out of his place and he shall build the temple of the Lord. Even he shall build the temple of the Lord and he shall bear the glory and shall sit and rule upon his throne and he shall be a Priest upon his throne and the counsel of peace shall be between them both The counsel of peace that is the transactions in order to making peace betwixt an incensed God and sinful men and
imbolden the godly to be tampering with errors If a man will tread upon hot coals his feet may be burnt and scorched though withal his life may be preserved But this should make you the rather heedful to stick fast unto the truth that it may be evident you are such as they have no power over to lead aside into the error of the wicked It is the very particular consideration which the Apostle John presseth upon Believers why they should not hearken unto seducers when they teach for doctrines mens inventions and uncouth notions of their own Because they were sufficiently taught of Christ and his word was a plentiful directory unto them without the help of other additions and because they should abide in Christ therefore they were not to be followers of false teachers 1 Joh. 2.26 27. 5. Troubles and persecutions for the sake of Christ shall not be able to dissolve this union They may seem to be providences very likely to do it When Christians shall be dragged into prisons and abridged of their comforts and reduced into hardships and extremities when they shall have trial of cruel mockings and reproaches yea moreover of scourgings and torturings in the severest manner that the wicked heart of man can invent and when all these things might be avoided if they would but part with Christ Will not such sore persecutions from the world drive them back again for deliverance into the world out of which they were called Do but mark how confident the Apostle is of the contrary Rom. 8.35 36 37. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword As it is written for thy sake we are killed all the day long we are acounted as sheep for the slaughter Nay in all these things we are more than conquerours through him that loved us How more than conquerours Why q. d. We are so far from being foiled that we are brought off with advantage our faith is thereby fourbished and our patience strengthened our other graces are quickned and our experiences increased When conquerours get a victory over their enemies it is seldom or never but with some loss to themselves but we are gainers by our troubles Our spiritual strength is augmented and our vigour heightened to a more intense degree and we come purified as gold out of the fire of tribulation So that we can glory in it For tribulation worketh patience and patience brings experience and experience begetteth hope and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts As you have it in that climax or gradation Rom. 5.3 4 5. In the winter of adversity the leaves drop off and the withered boughs are pared away but the living branches abide And the reason of it is this Because when Christ bringeth his people into distress and trouble for his Name he hath promised to stand by them and to afford them strength sufficient for their support under those distresseâ— Isa 42.2 When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee When Christ reduceth them into such straits as they never had experience of he will then minister to them such strength and assistance as they never had before experience of As sure as he is a God of faithfulness he will do it according to that precious word 1 Cor. 10.13 God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it But may some poor disconsolate soul say I may quickly be called into temptations and troubles and I find no strength nor ability O what is like to become of me at such a season I am afraid I shall sink under the burden Why mind the promise he will do it with the temptation It is not said he will give ability before the trial but when you are called to use it you shall not fail of it You shall have it time enough against you have occasion to exercise it My brethren it is an excellent word of promise an establishing word if we had hearts to believe And indeed it is according to what the Saints of God have experimentally found How faint-hearted was Mr. Sanders in the dayes of Qu. Mary and very doubtful of himself till he was actually brought into sufferings How dead-spirited was Mr. Glover till he was reduced to the pinch and then he could cry out He is come He is come Nay how cowardly and full of fear was Moses himself till he was ingaged in his work as appeareth from the excuses he made to evade the imployment Exod. 4.1 10 13. 6. Death it self which is the great separating providence that parts between a man all his worldly accommodations that parts between friends and kinsfolks between brethren sisters the nearest and dearest relations shall not separate believers from Jesus Christ But still they are entirely in him even when they are dead As it was in the death of Christ himself though it made a separation between his body and soul yet it did not separate the humane nature from the divine So it is in the death of the Saints Though it rend the spirit from the flesh yet it can part neither from the Son of God The very bodies of Believers are still united unto Jesus even when they are dead and shall be raised up again as I will shew you afterwards by vertue of that conjunction Therefore they are said to sleep in Jesus 1 Thess 4.14 and Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord Rev. 14.13 It is not said only They that die for the Lord but in the Lord. A man may suffer death in some cases for the true Religion that never was sincere therein But if a person die in Jesus then he is blessed indeed Upon the upshot of all I may well conclude this point with that of the Apostle Paul in answer as it were to this question we are upon Rom. 8.35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ q. d. Is a Believers union with Christ a dissolveable union or not Can it be broken asunder Or if you will rather understand it by way of assertion though delivered interrogatively For nothing is more ordinary than for affirmative interrogations to denote a vehement denial of the matter questioned As if he had said This union is altogether inseparable nothing can part betwixt a Believer and Christ So fast are they glewed and linked together that they shall never be divided or broken asunder again For saith he v. 38 39. I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature
they also may be one in us Not only in Jesus the Mediator but in the Father likewise by means of their being in Jesus So 1 Thess 1.1 Unto the Church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ It was the end of Christ's sufferings in the flesh that he might bring sinners unto God and by vertue of their union with the Son they are actually brought unto him and knit unto the Father also O what a wonderful advancement is this to sinful dust and ashes To poor despicable creatures that dwell in houses of clay With what astonishment should it fill us What a spring-head of all manner of consolation is here Who would not be a Christian not only almost but altogether Who would not have fellowship and hold a correspondency with the Saints For truly their fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ as the Apostle mentioneth it by way of gloriation and boasting 1 Joh. 1.3 This is the sixth fundamental blessing By having the Son they have the Father also 7. A Believers union with Christ is the ground of all that peace and joy in the holy Ghost which putteth true gladness into the heart and life and sweetness into every condition and providence The joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment and the pleasures of sin are poor empty external pleasures In the midst of laughter the heart is in bitterness they have many a secret griping of conscience that spoileth their mirth and many a fearful surprizal upon their spirits that marreth all their jollity Let them be set in the midst of their riotings and revellings their banquettings and carowsings amidst all the content and pleasure that sin and the world can afford and one serious thought of judgment to come will overturn it wholly one flash of hell in the conscience will put an end to their rejoycings It will quickly befal them as it befel Belshazzar The appearance but of the likeness of a mans fingers upon the wall made his countenance change and his thoughts trouble him and the joints of his loyns to be loosed and his knees to smite one against another and that when he was in the top of his gallantry and in the height of his merriment Dan. 5.5 6. O thinks the poor carnal wretch what will become of my precious and immortal soul Can all these enjoyments deliver me from the pit of destruction Who can dwell with everlasting burnings Isa 33.14 But the people of God have such peace as passeth understanding such a sweet calm and tranquillity in their spirits that they can rejoyce with joy unspeakable even in the midst of afflictions The joy of the ungodly is worse than sorrow It is but a fit of madness proceeding from ignorance of the state they are in If they knew but their own condition it would fill them with vexation and horror and anguish of heart But great peace have they that fear the Lord and are in Covenant with him * Meditationes rerum divinarum voluptates sensus non tantum potestate sed etiam suavitate superant Bacon de sap Veter nothing shall offend them Psal 119.165 Their portion is peace peace that is perfect peace nothing but peace and serenity which will put gladness into the heart greater than the joy of harvest Isa 26.3 And pray whence doth this peace arise Why originally from their union with Christ All peace out of him will end in sadness it is but as the crackling of thornes under a pot In him our consolation is stored up and given forth by vertue of our conjunction with him Joh. 16.33 These things have I spoken to you that in me ye might have peace If any of the children of God are under disquietness and perplexities upon their spirits it is for want of the evidences of their union with Christ or through their neglect of the right improvement thereof For here is a fountain to fill up a Believers joy Joh. 15.11 These things have I spoken to you that my joy might remain with you and that your joy might be full What were those things which Christ had spoken to them It was the doctrine of a Believers ingrafture into him and abiding in him and the consequents and concomitants thereof in the sormer part of that Chap. So that no union with Christ no solid peace or satisfaction in the soul no true joy in the Spirit For all manner of consolation and revivings from him depend upon our oneness with him 8. It is a believers union with the Lord Jesus which giveth him deliverance from the sting and curse of death and consequentially from the fear of that king of terrors It is this conjunction with the Son which maketh the last change to be a comfortable and happy exchange that altereth the nature of death from a curse into a blessing So that a Christian is able to bid it welcome and to look it in the face with boldness it being disarmed as far as it is an enemy and having the venom and malignity taken out of it This is a very precious and unvaluable mercy For it is the fear of death which keepeth sinners all their life time in bondage and puts a kind of Coloquintida into every enjoyment O death how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that is at ease to every impenitent sinner There is a terribleness to the unregenerate in the apprehensions of death upon every account But as it is the passage unto eternity it is the greatest of terrors Job 18.14 Mark it I say there is a dread in the thoughts of it every way Death may be considered in a threefold respect 1. As it is a dissolution between the soul and the body as it parts and separates those ancient friends which have long conversed intimately together And thus it startleth a sinner to think of leaving his old habitation having no better provided in the stead of it But a Believer can triumph in this respect and say with the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.1 If our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens 2. If you consider it as it is a period and puts an end to all worldly accommodations so it cannot but perplex a sinner The place of his habitation shall know him no more he shall be then stripped and divested of whatever earthly comforts have been dear unto him His heart is glewed unto the world and what anguish and bitterness must it needs create to think of being taken from all But now a child of God hath something to counterballance this loss even a better and far more enduring substance Heb. 10.34 3. As death is a passage unto eternity so it is dreadful indeed O thinks the sinner what will become of my soul for ever When I go hence and be no more upon the Land of the living into what chains of
under this use of Trial viz. to shew you what this self-examination is and wherein consisteth your work in the performance of it 2. By way of motive and proveâ—ative to quicken and stir you up to the discharge of it It is a duty whereunto the heart of a man is hardly brought as indeed all spiritual work is untastful and unpleasing to flesh and bloud So that as we need line upon line and precept upon pracept to dispel the mists of ignorance whereby our minds are blinded and to prevent the mistakes whereupon we are apt to proceed in this work so we need motive upon motive and one spiritual argument upon the neck of another to cure the backwardness of our hearts whereby we are commonly averse to the performance of this work I will not be large under this head but only press upon you these four moving considerations or incentives Mot. 1. If you be loath to enter throughly into the disquisition of this matter and to debate the case with your selves whether you are one with Christ or not That very thing will be a shrewd argument against you that you are utter strangers unto Christ and in no wise partakers of salvation through him It will be a sign that your profession is unsound and your hearts rotten when you are unwilling to search into your spiritual condition As when a Tradesman will not suffer his wares to be throughly viewed it ministers ground of suspition that they are not right and good So it is in these spiritual affairs If you are hardly brought to make enquiry into your selves it will yield matter of suspition that you are conscious of some wickedness allowed in your selves and that your hearts are not right in the sight of the Lord. For my brethren It is not truth but falshood that hateth the light and will not come to the light lest it should be discovered A person that is indeed in Covenant with God and dealeth faithfully with him in living up to the terms of that Covenant is willing to be searched to the uttermost Psal 26.2 3. Examine me O Lord and prove me trie me and know my heart For thy loving kindness is before mine eyes and I have walked in thy truth I have not sate with vain persons c. Mot. 2. It concerns you to examine diligently whether you be united unto Christ Because it is an ordinary thing for men and women to be mistaken in this respect to think that they have the Son and are in a state of salvation when as in truth they lie still in the gall of bitterness And this mistake is the cause of their eternal ruine From hence it is that they neglect to seek after a remedy because in their own apprehensions they are safe already For as our Saviour saith They that be whole need not a Physician but they that are sick Mat. 9.12 Whilst men have good conceits of their own condition they rest secure therein and are not sensible of the need of having it changed * Immittit Diabolus securitatem ut inferat perditionem Neque dinumerari possunt quantos hac inanis spei umbra deceperit Aug. And there are multitudes of this sort who say they are Jews when they are the Synagogue of Satan as it is expressed Rev. 3.9 That is they imagine themselves to be and would have others esteem them as living members of the body of Christ when as in reality they are nothing else but the children of the devil You find it was the house of Jacob that is the generality of the people who were thus deceived Isa 48.1 2 3 4. They were obstinate and obdurate sinners their neck was an iron sinew and their brow as brass and yet they called themselves of the holy City and stayed themselves upon the God of Israel And Rev. 3.1 it is mentioned of the Church of Sardis that is the body of the people for unto them Christ speaketh by his Spirit Although the Epistle was directed to the Angel yet it was to be communicated to the Church v. 6. That they had a name to live whereas indeed they were dead Mot. 3. If upon the examination of your selves you shall find that through grace you are indeed united to Christ and make it sure to your selves that you have the Son the sweetness of that knowledge or assurance will abundantly recompense you for all the pains you were at in the search of it and the travel you took in pursuance after it O what an excellent priviledge will this be to be able to say that Christ is yours that his death is a satisfaction for your sins and the salvation he purchased is your inheritance and that he is now at the right hand of the Father interceding on your behalf With what inexpressible joy will this fill your spirits How will it sweeten your enjoyments and ease your burdens and bring a vein of consolation and gladness into every condition that you are in and under every providence that befalleth you Yoâ— will then be able to read the Scriptures with delight when you can say This promise conveyeth mercy to my soul and this is a blessing wherein I am a sharter And as for the threatnings of judgment they speak not a word of terror to my soul for I am not under the Law but under grace being united unto Jesus the head of the Covenant oâ— grace This will inable you to walk cheerfully throughout your pilgrimage and to meditate up on the excellencies of God with an holy exultation when you can say This God is my God upon the account of Christ unto whom I am knit in separably This infinite power is ingaged for mâ— protection and safeguard this incomprehensibâ— wisdom is at work for my direction and guidancâ— this alsufficiency is for my satisfaction and blessedness and the like Then you may say with thâ— Prophet Hab. 3.19 The Lord God is my strengâ— and he will make my feet like Hinds feet and he will make me to walk upon my high places Then you may appropriate the Lord and his attributes unto your selâ—es and be assured he will make haste for your preservation and deliverance as speedily and swiftly as the Hind runneth into her covert and that he will set you on high in the munitions of rocks I might thus expatiate abundantly in setting forth the sweetness of this knowledge of your union with Christ Then you would taste real comfort in the accomodations of this life and be no way terrified or dismayed at the apprehensions of death for it will but translate you hence into a paradise of bliss and glory Mot. 4. Consider seriously in the last place That although upon the examination of your selves it should appear that you are still in the state of wrath â—nd condemnation without a saving interest in â—he Son of God yet the finding it to be so would â—e one good step towards your restauration and reâ—overy out of that estate and make
way for your â—ture getting into Christ It is less dangerous for a â—an to be a stranger unto Christ and know that he is so â—an to be in that condition and not to know it This I â—dd to remove the main impediment that hindreth â—ens setting about the work of self-examination â—or I am verily perswaded herein lâ—eth a principal â—stacle They are loath to search themselves lest â—ey should find the worst by themselvs Just as some â—reless Shop-keepers that are run much behind â—nd they cannot endure to look into their books 〈◊〉 to cast up their accounts lest they should be â—quainted with their own poverty and see in â—â—at a low condition they are But mind it Sirs it â—better to trie and know that you are under the guilt of your sins and children of the wrath of God then to continue such and not to know it It is the knowledge of a sinners perishing condition will cause him to hunger and thirst after the righteousness of Christ and make him restless in his spirit till he get into Christ These are the people to whom Christ is sent to bring deliverance such as find they are sinners and are heavy laden under the burden of sin Isa 61.1 2 3. They are such lost sheep which the great Shepherd of souls will seek after that is such as are sensible of their lost condition Ezek. 34.16 I will seek that which is lost and bring again that which was driven away and will bind up that which was broken and will strengthen that which was sick But I will destroy the fat and the strong and feed them with judgment And it is ignorance of mens misery and wretchedness which is the devils great engine whereby he carrieth sinners blindfold and headlong into the pit of destruction As the knowledge of the disease is the first part of the cure so it is the knowledge of a mans damnable condition which is one of the first steps unto his conversion and salvation This is all I shall speak to the second head under the Use of Trial By way of motive and provocative thereunto 3. Let me close this Use with some special directions to guide you in the discharge of this work of self-examination That you may come to a right conclusion and resolution of the case Whether you are spiritually ingraffed into Christ and be such as have the Son and life through him or not And here I might give you a catalogue of Scripture-marks and evidences for trial upon this account But I shall not multiply particulars we will only insist upon the principal matter to be enquired into for proof of your union with the Son of God And a little to direct you in the method of your proceeding herein that it may be done effectually and successfully you must diligently heed and observe these following Rules of advice wherein I will proceed by way of gradation the better to help both your understandings and memories Direct 1. For the examination and trial of your selves and in order to the passing a righteous sentence upon your selves whether you are united to Christ You must firstly and fundamentally enquire if the grace of regeneration hath been poured out upon you and a sound conversion wrought within you This is the foundation evidence of a mans having the Son and other marks are made use of for discovery of this and in a subserviency to the manifestation hereof And the reason of it is obvious Because in the day of conversion this union is made up By the spirit of regeneration Christ doth take possession of sinners for himself and by a living faith which is one of the graces then planted in their souls they do receive Christ and embrace him as theirs and so are knit unto him as hath been largely opened By a through conversion the Lord Jesus doth cull out a people from the world and gather them unto himself So that this is primarily and chiefly to be sought into whether you are truly converted and made partakers of the renewing grace of the holy Ghost For if any man be in Christ he is a new creature 2 Cor. 5.17 Here is the grand question Are we new creatures Is there a through change wrought upon our spirits Is corruption mortified in us and the power of it subdued and a new principle of holiness put into and ingraven upon our hearts Thus it will be if you are one with Christ Except you are converted you are strangers to him and have no saving interest in him Rom. 8.10 If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is life because of righteousness The body is dead that is the body of corruption is mortified and the force of it is taken away whereby it exercised dominion over you As before you were dead in sin so now you are dead unto sin and quickned and made alive unto righteousness Here is the failure of many and the occasion of their being deceived in this point of their belonging to Christ They sometimes look into the actions of their lives but never seriously consider whether the grace of conversion be shed abroad into their hearts They rest in a civil moral conversation and do not throughly weigh whether they are made partakers of the spirit of regeneration Whereas this is the fundamental evidence of our union with Christ 1 Joh. 4.13 Hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit And Rom. 8.9 If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his That is If he have not those gracious qualifications which are infused into the soul by the spirit in the work of conversion If he have not his heart moulded anew and fashioned aright by the holy Ghost If he have not the spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of counsel and might the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord which was the spirit that rested upon Christ he is none of his Isa 11.2 This is firstly and fundamentally to be enquired after whether the work of conversion be wrought upon us and the grace of regeneration be formed in us Direct 2. If a person would be inabled to take cognizance of himself and to pass a right judgment upon himself whether he be converted and so knit to Jesus He must of necessity in order thereunto be well instructed in the nature and quality of conversion My meaning is this He must rightly understand wherein a sound and sincere conversion lieth and what a change it maketh upon the soul and what effects it produceth that so he may not mistake a feigned conversion for a true and a slight work upon the spirit which is common to the wicked for the grace of regeneration which is peculiar to the people of God For mark it Sirs There is a false conversion as well as a true and counterfeit grace as well as that which is grace indeed and in
shall be stronger and stronger Prov. 4.18 The path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day Here is that sort of obedience which will evidence your ingrafture into Christ When you are freed from sin so as to be daily striving after greater freedom and getting more ground upon your corruptions When you are not only active for God but still aspiring after further activity and delight in doing the will of God and the rendring your selves more serviceable unto him For although a true Believer doth not alwayes thrive sensibly and perceptibly but may rather seem in his own apprehensions to decay and go backward nor doth he at all times thrive really yet it is the main bent of his spirit and the earnest breathings of his soul are that he may make a continued progress in the course of godliness He never resteth satisfied with any measures attained but is still endeavouring after more As he blesseth God for the least dram of grace conferred upon him so he is ambitious to get into the uppermost form of Christs Scholars And here is the note of oneness with Christ For Joh 15.2 Every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit 6. It must be stedfast obedience and continued unto the end When a soul doth give up himself to the Lord to be his servant perpetually and everlastingly without limitation of time When he is fully determined through the assistance of the Spirit that whatever comes of it this God he will serve and the advancement of his glory he will carry on and the way of holiness he will travel in and through grace nothing shall divert him from his course When a mans ear is bored so as to serve the Lord for ever as the expression of Christ is Psal 40.6 Mine ear hast thou opened or mine ear hast thou bored It is in allusion as some think to the ceremonial Law in the case of servants * Non alienum omnino quod quidam è nostris putant videri respexesse Davidem ad consuetudinem olim usitatam in populo Hebraeo ut servo sponte permanenti in servitute nec admittere volenti libertatem quae septimo quoque anno servis offerebatur auris subula perforaretur Ac dicere voluisse habebis me perpetuum tibi addictum servum c. Sim. de Muis in loc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Si dicendo dixerit Exod. 21.5 6. If the servant shall say plainly I love my Master my wife and my children I will not go out free Then his Master shall bring him unto the Judges he shall also bring him to the door or to the door post and his Master shall bore his ear through with an awl and he shall serve him for ever So Christ gave up himself to serve the Lord for ever He was not rebellious neither did he turn back And thus must a Believer do if he will prove that he is in Christ He must have his ear bored to serve the Lord for ever If saying he shall say as the Hebrew phrase is * Non alienum omnino quod quidam è nostris putant videri respexesse Davidem ad consuetudinem olim usitatam in populo Hebraeo ut servo sponte permanenti in servitute nec admittere volenti libertatem quae septimo quoque anno servis offerebatur auris subula perforaretur Ac dicere voluisse habebis me perpetuum tibi addictum servum c. Sim. de Muis in loc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Si dicendo dixerit If he shall speak it truly and unfeignedly in the very inwards of his soul If his heart shall suâ—scribe unto it I love my Master I will not go free I love the Lord and the desire of my soul is towards him I will serve him perpetually and abide in his family for ever and accordingly doth perform it Here is such obedience and service as will evidence union with Jesus Christ Heb. 3.6 Whose house are we i.e. then it is clear and evident that we are Christs house and temple that he dwelleth in us and we have fellowship with him if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoycing of the hope firm unto the end So much for the sixth Rule of direction To shew you how your obedience must be qualified that it may be produced as a proof of your conversion and consequentially of your union with Jesus Christ Direct 7. This examination of your selves touching your holiness and new obedience as the evidence of your regeneration and union with Christ thereupon if it be done successfully and effectually must be set upon solemnly with the best intention of spirit It is not enough to take a transient view of our selves and to pass over cursorily in an observation of our own souls But if we would perform this work to purpose we must sit down and consider how the case stands with us We must set a covenient time apart particularly to this end of entring into a serious debate with our selves and making a narrow scrutinity into the frame of our hearts and the tenour of our conversations As one that would buy an house or a tenement doth not only cast a glance upon it as he rideth by the way that is not enough to give him a full knowledge of it But he will take a day on purpose to view it and openeth the doors and entereth into the house and passeth from one room to another and from one corner to another So if we would get a clear knowledg of our spiritual estate we must not think it enough to take a general view of our selves obiter and by the by but we must set time apart and gather our spirits together to look wistly into every corner we must take particulars asunder and search heedfully and intentively into each of them And the reason of it is very apparent Because the heart of man is deep and except it be searched throughly we shall never dive into the bottom or entrals of it Psal 64.6 The spirit of fallen man is exceedingly treacherous and deceitful Jer. 17.9 So that unless we trace it narrowly in all its steps and follow after it in to all its subterfuges and hiding places it will escape our cognizance and be apt to impose upon us in the business of salvation It is to be feared that many enter slightly upon the work of self-examination and quickly slubber it over in a carless and superficial manner and that is the very reason why they never bring matters to an issue or determinate conclusion in this case For it is a work to be performed with the greatest cautelousness diligence and deliberation and with earnest prayer to the Lord that he may discover to us those intricacies and labyrinths wherein our guilful spirits are apt to hide themselves This is the seventh Rule of Advice Direct 8. Mind this word of counsel in the last place That if a
person upon the most serious and deliberate examination of himself be still left in the dark as to his union with Christ for want of clear evidences of his conversion The way to make sure work in this behalf and to put the matter out of question is to put forth immediately fresh acts of faith upon the righteousness of Christ for salvation to renew his repentance as to the evil of sin to make a fresh surrender of himself into the hands of God upon the terms of the Covenant of grace and to enter presently upon the course of new obedience * Conscientiae meritò perturbatae haec unica est ratio pacanda Si qui sic afficicur adduci possit in illum statum per veram fidem resipiscentiam ut assumptio syllogismi illius quo turbatus fait merito incipiat esse falsa jure negetur Ames Thes de consc These Sirs are those acts which the principle of regeneration doth first exert and put forth when it is planted into the soul and these spiritual acts are often reiterated and repeated by the souls of such as are converted So that if you were before effectually called these will be the renewings of your conversion and if you were formerly unconverted yet hereby it will be evident that you continue such no longer But that through grace now the work is wrought These being the immediate products of the grace of conversion I will a little open this word of Advice in relation to each of the particulars asunder 1. Act your faith afresh upon the Lord Christ and his righteousness Endeavour in the sense of the greatness of the evil of your sins and apprehension of the insupportableness of the wrath of God deserved by sin in the due acknowledgment of the justice of God that must be satisfied and the insufficiency of all your personal qualifications and obedience to give satisfaction thereunto to cast your selves upon Christ's righteousness to put your selves for redemption into his hands and to accept him for your Saviour upon the terms of the Gospel This is to believe in Jesus and if it be done now in sincerity and truth it will be a comfortable evidence that either you were formerly united unto Christ or else that at the present the knot is tyed betwixt him and your souls See the words of our Saviour Joh. 12.46 I am come as a light into the world that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness Only take the advice with this provise See to it that you do not mistake in the nature of faith that you do not take a dead faith for a living nor an hypocritical counterfeit faith for the faith of God's elect And then if you believe indeed the putting forth that principle into exercise will be as a present evidence that you are gotten into Christ and have a right to the favour of God through his bloud 2. To put the matter out of question touching your conversion and union with Jesus Christ Renew your repentance as to the evil of sin Labour to get such a sight of your transgressions committed against the Lord as may fill you with godly sorrow for them and to be so deeply affected with your own filthiness and pollutions that you may loath your selves and lie down in your shame upon the account of that filthiness Upon taste of the bitterness of your departings from God and the destructive nature of your iniquities let your hearts be set in hatred of them and cast them away from you with utter detestation and abhorrence never to come neer you again as to any reconcilement with them Especially abhor those iniquities which have mostly prevailed over you say unto your lusts get ye hence what have I to do any more with you You have ruined my soul and I will never yield subjection to you further If I have served you hitherto through Gods assistance I will do it no longer This my brethren is repentance according to the Scriptures And if your hearts speak these things in uprightness it will help to demonstrate that you have the grace of repentance and so shall never come into condemnation Only take heed that your hearts do not dissemble and flatter in this work Jer. 31.19 After I was turned I repented and after I was instructed I smote upon my thigh First Ephraim was made partaker of the grace of conversion and then he doth exercise that grace in a sincere repentance Indeed a legal repentance may be without grace in the heart but this evangelical repentance is the product of grace and an evidence thereof See 2 Pet. 3.9 Luke 15.7 10. 3. To prove that you are converted Make a fresh surrender of your selves into the hands of God upon the articles of the Covenant of grace Resign up your selves anew unto the most High make choice of him for your only portion set your affections upon him as the chiefest good and give up your selves unreservedly to be his servants and to be wholly at his disposal That is another spiritual act which the principle of regeneration doth immediately put forth when it is infused into the soul and if you perform it in the integrity of your hearts it will be an evidence that you are partakers of that principle Isa 44.3 5. I will pour out water upon him that is thirsty and flouds upon the dry ground I will pour out my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine off-spring And then it followeth v. 5. One shall say I am the Lords and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord and firname himself by the name of Israel Mark it Assoon as the Spirit of God is put into the soul that soul doth give up himself unto God and list himself amongst his followers So that as a present proof of your having the spirit of conversion take your hearts along with you and go to the Lord and make a full and fresh refignation of them and of your whole selves into his hands Take with you words and go unto the Lord as it is elsewhere expressed My meaning is this 1. Take with you words of election and choice say unto him O Lord I now take thee to be my God and my Master I will henceforward make thee my refuge and fortress I will set my heart upon thee as my only happiness and exceeding great reward If I have stood it out formerly against the tenders of grace I will stand out no more If I have followed after lying vanities I will follow them no longer Now I make choice of the Lord Behold I come unto thee for thou art my God and I abandon all things that stand in competition with thee This sort of words you shall meet with Jer. 3.22 23. 2. Take with you words of surrender and say unto God O Lord here I am to dedicate my self and my strength and my time and my
talents to the doing of thy will and the advancement of thy glory If hitherto I have served divers lusts and pleasures now I will serve my God even him only If I have for the former part of my life trampled upon thy commandments now I will devote my self wholly to thy fear and to the keeping thy statutes Psal 119.38 Psal 116.16 And 3. Take with you words of prayer and supplication and say unto him Lord Receive me graciously and love me freely and admit me again into thy service It is true that I am altogether unworthy to have the least regard from the God of heaven but I come unto thee through Christ who is worthy I beseech thee mercifully to inrol me amongst the number of thy peculiar people Hos 14.1 2. And my brethren if you do thus unfeignedly give up your selves unto God it will be a present testimony that you are alive from the dead that you are quickned by the holy Ghost Rom. 6.13 4. To put this matter of your conversion out of question Make an immediate entrance upon a course of new obedience Set now upon cleansing your selves further from all sorts of filthiness and actually perform those duties which in your places and stations are to be performed and therein study to approve your selves unto God If thine heart be privy to any corruption that hath been countenanced let it be wholly forsaken and the occasions of sin avoided If any wicked companion hath had too much of thy converse and intimacy now break off society with him If any duty hath been omitted let it be henceforward discharged if slightly performed let it be done in an humble serious and spiritual manner Hereby it will appear that you gave up your selves to be the Lord 's in sincerity that you do not complement only with him as many Professors do who are often professing and protesting to the Lord that they are his servants but still they follow the imaginations of their own hearts Then is the resignment of our selves unto the Almighty done in truth when it doth ingage us presently to walk in the truth I have sworn saith David and I will perform it that I will keep thy righteous judgments Psal 119.106 And such is the language of a true Convert I am the Lord 's and now I will demean my self as being his I have given my self to the most High and now I will be no more at my own disposal I have subscribed unto the Lord and accordingly I am doing his work So that here is the last word of advice for the present proof of your conversion and union with Christ thereupon Yield up your selves unto the Lord and serve the Lord your God 2 Chron. 30.8 Make a present entrance in the strength of the Spirit upon all the wayes of holiness and let that be your constant exercise from henceforth unto the end Thus I have finished the second use of the point by way of examination and trial CHAP. XII Exhortations grounded upon the doctrine of Union with Christ. To the unregenerate and Christless To Believers To all 3. THe last Use of this doctrine is for Exhortation wherein I will study to be more succinct and concise addressing my self in what I have to deliver under this head unto you my brethren under a threefold consideration I shall speak unto 1. The unregenerate who are strangers to Christ 2. Believers who are through grace ingraffed into Christ 3. All of you both of the one sort and of the other 1. To the wicked and unregenerate who are strangers unto Christ and that in a twofold respect In respect to 1. Believers 2. The wicked themselves 1. To the unregenerate and ungodly in reference to Believers Take heed that you be not found opposers of them in any regard whatsoever Remember they are knit to the Son of God and what you do against them he takes it as done against himself whose members they are And how will you stand before Christ at his tribunal if now you despise and set against his servants who are not only dear to him but are in him As Abner said to Assahel 2 Sam. 2.22 Turn thee aside from following me wherefore should I smite thee to the ground How then should I hold up my face to Joab thy brother So should you bethink your selves How shall I lift up my face to Christ if I wrong his followers How will the Lord Jesus take it at my hands May not I certainly expect that he will avenge their quarrel upon me in my destruction For they are one with him so that he that toucheth them toucheth the apple of his eye Zech. 2.8 Christ hath a tender regard unto them and is sensible of the smallest injury that is done unto them as we are of the least blow or prick upon the apple of the eye Sirs It is the sorriest office imaginable to be a Persecutor of the Saints it is the worst imployment upon earth to set against believers for they are one with Christ and so in effect it is to fight against him * Doleamus necesse est quod nulla civitas impune latura sit sanguinis nostri effusionem Possumus aequè exitus quorundam praesidum tibi proponere qui in fine vitae suae recordati sunt deliquisse quod vexassent Christianos Sed qui videntur sibi impunè intulisse venient in diem divini judicii Non te terremus qui nec timemus sed velim ut omnes salves facere possmus monendo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fert ad scap And therefore let my counsel be acceptable in the words of Gamaliel Act. 5.38 39. Refrain from these men and let them alone if you love your souls do not meddle with them to their hurt do not harbour so much as an hard thought against them for therein you will be found fighters against God you will be found enemies to the Son of God for they are one with him And is it not a dangerous thing to set against Christ If he plead against you who shall maintain your cause before the Lord If thou make him thine adversary who shall be thy friend If Christ sentence thee to hell for opposing his members who shall be able to save thee from thence If you do but touch the Saints to their hurt you will burn your fingers by it nay you will ruine your souls for ever without a speedy repentance for they are one with Jesus This Exhortation may fitly be branched forth into four particulars 1. Do not scandalize or offend the servants of God See to it that you be not guilty of laying stumbling blocks in their way Be careful what in you lieth that you do not grieve their spirits nor sadden their hearts by your disorderly walking But especially take heed that you lay none occasions of falling in their way which is the offence that the holy Ghost * Illud scandalum dicitur ubi recto itinere ambulanti deceptie aliqua