and is more powerful to secure an holy Practice than any of those Resolutions of Obedience or resignating Acts that some would have to be the great conditions of our salvation which are indeed no better than hypocritical Acts if they be not produc'd by this Faith There is indeed a counterfeit dead Faith such as wicked men may have and if that tend to Licentiousness let not true Faith be blamed but rather mark the Description of it which I have given that you may not be deceived with a counterfeit Faith instead of it I shall add something concerning the efficient cause of this excellent Grace and of our Union with Christ by it whereby it may appear that it is not so slight and easie a way of Salvation as some may imagine The Author and Finisher of our Faith and of our Union and Fellowship with Christ by Faith is no less than the infinite Spirit of God and God and Christ himself by the Spirit for by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body of Christ and are all made to drink into one Spirit 1 Cor 12.12 13. God granteth us according to the Riches of his glory to be strengthened with all might by his spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in our hearts by Faith Ephes 3.16 17. If we do but consider the great effect of Faith that by it we are raised to live above our natural condition by Christ and his Spirit living in us we cannot rationally conceive that it should be within the power of Nature to do any thing that advanceth us so high If God had done no more for us in our Sanctification than to restore us to our first natural Holiness yet this could not have been done without putting forth his own Almighty Power to quicken those that are dead in Sin How much more is this Almighty Power needful to advance us to this wonderful new kind of Frame wherein we live and act above all the power of Nature by an higher Principle of Life than was given to Adam in Innocency even by Christ and his Spirit living and acting in us The natural man bringeth forth his Off-spring according to his Image by that natural Power of multiplying with which God blessed him at his first Creation but the second Adam bringeth forth his Off-spring new born according to his Image only by the Spirit Joh. 3.5 As many as receive him even those that believe on his name are born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God Joh. 1.12 13. Christ took his own Humane Nature into personal Union with himself in the Womb of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Ghost coming upon her and the power of the Highest overshadowing her the same Power whereby the World was created Luke 1.35 So He taketh us into mystical Union and Fellowship with himself by no less than an Infinite Creating Power For we are the workmanship of God created in Christ Jesus unto good works Ephes 2.10 And if any man be in Christ he is a new creature 2 Cor. 5.17 For the accomplishing of this great Work of our new Creation in Christ the Spirit of God doth first work upon our Hearts by and with the Gospel to produce in us the Grace of Faith for if the Gospel should come to us in Word only and not in Power and in the Holy Ghost Paul might labour to plant and Apollos to water without any success because we cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God yea we shall account them foolishness until the Spirit of God enable us to discern them 1 Thess 1.5 1 Cor. 3.6 2.14 We shall never come to Christ by any teaching of Man except we also hear and learn of the Father and be drawn to Christ by his spirit John 6.44 45. And when Saving Faith is wrought in us the same Spirit giveth us fast hold of Christ by it As he openeth the Mouth of Faith to receive Christ so he filleth it with Christ or else the acting of Faith would be like a Dream of one that thinketh that he eateth and drinketh and when he awaketh he findeth himself empty The same Spirit of God did both give that Faith whereby Miracles were wrought and did work also the Miracles by it So also the same Spirit of Christ doth work Saving Faith in us and doth answer the aim and end of that Faith by giving us Union and Fellowship with Christ by it So that none of the Glory of this Work belongeth to Faith but only to Christ and his Spirit And indeed Faith is of such an humble self-denying nature that it ascribeth nothing that it receiveth to itself but all to the Grace of God and therefore God saveth us by Faith that all the Glory may be ascribed to his Free-Grace Rom. 4.16 If Adam had Strength enough in Innocency to perform the Duty of Faith as well as we yet it will not follow that he had Strength enough to raise himself above his natural state into Union with Christ because Faith doth not unite us to Christ by its own Vertue but by the Power of the Spirit working by it and with it Thus we are first passive and then active in this great work of mystical Union we are first apprehended of Christ and then we apprehend Christ Christ entereth first into the Soul to joyn himself to it by giving it the Spirit of Faith and so the Soul receiveth Christ and his Spirit by their own Power As the Sun first enlighteneth our Eyes and then we can see it by its own light We may note further to the Glory of the Grace of God that this Union is fully accomplished by Christ giving the Spirit of Faith to us even before we act that Faith in the reception of him because by this Grace or Spirit of Faith the Soul is enclined and disposed to an active receiving of Christ And no doubt Christ is thus united to many Infants who have the Spirit of Faith and yet cannot act Faith because they are not come to the use of their Understandings but those of riper years that are joyned passively to Christ by the Spirit of Faith will also joyn themselves with him actively by the Act of Faith and until they act this Faith they cannot know or enjoy their Union with Christ and the Comfort of it or make use of it in acting any other Duties of Holiness acceptably in this Life DIRECT V. We cannot attain to the Practice of true Holiness by any of our Endeavours while we continue in our natural State and are not Partakers of a new State by Vnion and Fellowship with Christ through Faith EXPLICATION IT it evident all have not that precious Faith whereby Christ dwelleth in our Hearts yea the number of those that have it is small comparatively to the whole World that lieth in Wickedness 1 Joh. 5.19 20. and many of those that at length attain unto it do
they love darkness rather light They deserve to be Partakers with the Divels in Torments as they partake with them in evil Lusts and their Inability to do Good will no more excuse them than it excuseth the Divils Eighthly Neither will this Assertion make it a vain thing to preach the Gospel to natural People and to exhort them to true Repentance and Faith in Christ for their Conversion and Salvation For the Design of our Preaching is not to bring them to Holiness in their natural State but to raise them above it and to present them perfect in Christ in the Performance of those Duties Col. 1.28 And though they cannot perform those Duties by their natural Strength yet the Gospel is made effectual for their Conversion and Salvation by the Power of the Holy Ghost which accompanieth the Preaching of it to quicken those that are dead in Sin and to create them a new in Christ by giving to them Repentance unto Life and a lively Faith in Christ The Gospel cometh to the Elect of God not only in word but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in such Assurance that they receive it with joy of the Holy Ghost 1 Thess 5.6 The Gospel is the ministration of the Spirit that giveth life 2. Cor. 3.6 8. It is mighty through God 2 Cor. 10.4 It dependeth not at all upon the Power of our Free-will to make it successful for our Conversion but it conveyeth into the Soul that Life and Power whereby they receive and obey it Christ can make those that are dead in Sin to hear his voice and live John 5.25 Therefore he can speak to them by his Gospel and Command them to repent and believe with good Success as well as he could say to dead Carcases Tabitha cumi Mark 5.41 Lazarus come forth John 11 43 44. And to the Sick of the Palsie Arise take up thy bed and go unto thine house Matth. 9.6 Ninthly There is no reason that the Examples of Heathen Philosophers or any Jews or Christians by outward Profession that have lived without the saving Knowledge of God in Christ should move us by their wise Sayings and renouned Attainments in the Practice of Devotion and Morality to recede from this Truth that hath been so fully confirmed out of the holy Scriptures Have we not cause to judge that the Apostle Paul while he was a zealous Pharisee and at least some few of the great Multitude of the Jews in his time that were zealous of the Law and had the Instruction of the holy Scriptures attained as near to that true Holiness as the Heathen Philosophers or any others in their natural State Yet Paul after he was enlightned with the saving Knowledge of Christ judged himself the chief of sinners in his highest former Attainments though in the Judgment of others he was blameless touching the Righteousness which is in the Law and he found it necessary to begin to live to God in a new way by Faith in Christ and to suffer the loss of all his former Attainments and to count them but dung that he might win Christ 1 Tim. 1.15 Phil. 3.6 7 8. And none of the great Multitude of Jews that followed after the Law of Righteousness did ever attain unto it while they sought it not by faith in Christ Rom. 9.31 32. What Performances are greater in outward Appearance than for a Man to give all his goods to the poor and to give his body to be burnt and yet the Scripture alloweth us to suppose that this may be done without true Charity and therefore without any true holiness of the heart and life 1 Cor. 13.3 Men in a natural State may have strong Convictions of the infinite Power Wisdom Justice and Goodness of God and of the Judgment to come and the everlasting Happiness of the Godly and Torments of the Wicked and these Convictions may stir them up not only to make an high Profession and to utter rare Sayings concerning God and Godliness but also to labour with great earnestness to avoid all known Sin to subdue their Lusts to perform universal Obedience to God in all known Duties and to serve him with their Lives and Estates to the utmost and to extort out of their Hearts some kind of Love to God and Godliness that if possible they may escape the terrible Torments of Hell and procure everlasting Happiness by their Endeavours Yet all their Love to God is but forced and feigned they have no hearty liking to God or his Service they account him an hard Master and his Commandments grievous and they repine and fret inwardly at the burden of them and were it not for fear of everlasting Fire they would little regard the Enjoyment of God in Heaven and they would be glad if they might have the Liberty to enjoy their Lusts without danger of Damnation The highest Preferment of those that are born only after the Flesh in Abraham's Family is but to be children of the bond-woman Gal. 4.23 And though they do more in God's Service than many of his dear Children yet God accepteth not their Service because their best Performances are slavish without any Child-like Affections towards God and no better than glistering Sins and yet these natural Men are not at all beholden to the goodness of their Natures for these counterfeit Shews of Holiness or for the least abstaining from the grossest Sin If God should leave Men fully to their own natural Corruptions and to the Power of Satan as they deserve all Shew of Religion and Morality would be quickly banished out of the World and we should grow past feeling in Wickedness and like to the Canibals who are as good by Nature as our selves But God that can restrain the Burning of the siery Furnace without quenching it and the flowing of Water without changing its nature doth also restrain the working of natural Corruption without mortifying it and through the greatness of his Wisdom and Power he maketh his enemies to yield feigned obedience to him Psal 66.3 And to do many things good for the matter of them though they can do nothing in a right holy manner He hath appointed several means to restrain our Corruptions as the Law Terrors of Conscience terrible Judgments and Rewards in this Life Magistrates humane Laws Labour for Necessaries Food and Raiment and those Gospel means that are effectual for Sanctification serve also for Restraint of Sin God hath gracious ends in this Restraint of Sin that his Church may be preserved and his Gospel preached in the World and that these Natural Men may be in a better Capacity to receive the Instruction of the Gospel and that such of them that are chosen may in due time be converted and that those of them that are not truly converted may enjoy more of the Goodness of God here and suffer the less Torments hereafter As vile and wicked as the World is we have cause to praise and to magnifie the Free
State is that which we derive from the first Adam by natural Generation and it is called in the Scripture the Old Man and while we be in it we are said to be in the Flesh and our new State is that which we receive from the second Adam Jesus Christ being new born in Union and Fellowship with him through Faith And it is called in Scripture the New Man and when we are in it we are said to be in the Spirit The Principles and Means of Practice belonging to a Natural State are such as Persons do or may attain to and make use of before they are in Christ by Faith Such as belong properly to the New-State are the manifold holy Endowments Priviledges and Enjoyments which we partake of in Christ by Faith such as have already appeared to be the only effectual means of a Holy Life We are said to walk according to either of these States or to the Principles or Means that belong to either of them when we are moved and guided by Vertue of them to such actings as are agreeable to them Thus Kings act according to their State in commanding Authoritatively and in magnificicent Bounty poor Men in the way of Service and Obedience and Children indiscreetly Hester 1.7 Prov. 18.23 1 Cor. 13.11 So the Manner of Practice here directed to consists in moving and guiding our selves in the Performance of the Works of the Law by Gospel Principles and Means This is the rare and excellent Art of Godliness in which every Christian should strive to be skilful and expert The reason why many come off with shame and Confusion after they have a long time laboured with much Zeal and Industry for the Attainment of true Godliness is because they were never acquainted with this holy Art and never endeavoured to practise in a right Gospel way Some worldly Arts are called Mysteries but above all this Spiritual Art of Godliness is without Controversie a great Mystery 1 Tim. 3.16 because the Means that are to be made use of in it are deeply Mysterious as hath been shewed and you are not a skilful Artist till you know them and can reduce them to Practice It is a manner of Practice far above the Sphere of Natural Ability such as would never have entred into the Hearts of the Wisest in the World if it had not been Revealed to us in the Scriptures and when it is there most plainly Revealed continueth a dark Riddle to those that are not inwardly Inlightned and Taught by the Holy Spirit Such as many Godly Persons guided by the Spirit and do in some measure walk in yet do but obscurely discern that they can hardly perceive their own Knowledge of it and can hardly give any Account to others of the way wherein they walk As the Disciples that walked in Christ the way to the Father and yet perceived not that Knowledge in themselves Lord we know not whether thou goest and how can we know the way Joh. 14.5 This is the reason why many poor Believers are so weak in Christ and attain to so small a Degree of Holiness and Righteousness Therefore that you may the better be acquainted with a Mystery of so high Concernment I shall shew in the first place that the Holy Scriptures do direct you to this manner of Practice as only effectual for the Performance of Holy Duties and then I shall lay before you some necessary Instructions that you may understand how to walk aright in it and continue and go forward therein till you be made perfect in Christ For the first of these the Holy Scriptures are very large and clear in directing us to this manner of Practice and to Continuance and Growth therein And here it is useful for us to observe the great Variety of peculiar Words and Phraises whereby the Holy Ghost teacheth this Mystery which many that frequently read the Scriptures yea that pretend to be Preachers of the Gospel do little understand or regard shewing thereby that the things of the Spirit of God are Foolishness to them and that they are not yet acquainted with the form of sound Words and are strangers to the very Language of the Gospel which they profess and pretend to preach I shall therefore present to your View several of those particular Words and Phrases whereby this mysterious manner of Practice is express'd in the Holy Scriptures and commended to you as the only way for the sure Attainment of all Holiness in Heart and Life I shall rank such of them together as agree in Sense that the Multitude of them may not breed Confusion in your Thoughts 1. This is the manner of Practice in Scripture which is expressed by living by Faith Hab. 2.4 Gal. 2.20 Heb. 10.38 Walking by Faith 2 Cor. 5.7 Faith working by Love Gal. 5.6 Overcoming the World by Faith 1 Joh. 5.4 Quenching all the fiery Darts of the Wicked by the Shield of Faith Eph. 6.19 20. Some make no more of living and walking by Faith than meerly a stirring up and encouraging our selves to our Duty by such Principles as we believe Thus the Jews might account that they believed by Faith because they professed and assented unto the Doctrin of Moses and the Prophets and were moved thereby to a Zeal of God though they sought righteousness not by Faith but as it were by the Works of the Law Rom. 3.32 Thus Paul might think he lived by Faith while he was a zealous Pharisee but afterwards he knew that the life of Faith consisted in dying to the Law and living to God and that not himself but Chrish lived in him Gal. 2.19 as it is one and the same thing to be justifyed by Faith and Christ believed on Rom. 5.1 so to live walk and work by Faith is all one with living walking working by means of Christ and his saving Endowments which we receive and make use of by Faith to guide and move our selves to the Practice of Holiness 2. The same thing is commended to us by the Terms of walking rooted and built up in Christ Col. 2.6 living to God as not to live to our selves but to have Christ living in us Gal. 2.19 20. Good Conversation in Christ 1 Pet. 3.16 Putting on the Lord Jesus Christ that we may walk honestly as in the day Rom. 13.13 14. Being strong in the Lord and the power of his might Eph. 6.10.11 Doing all things in the name of Christ Col. 3.17 walking up and down in the name of the Lord Zech. 10.12 going in the strength of the Lord as to make mention of his Righteousness even of his only Psal 71.16 These phrases are frequent and do sufficiently explain one another and do shew that we are to practise Holiness not only by vertue of Christs Authority but also of his strengthning Endowments moving us and encouraging us thereunto 3. It is also signified by the phrases of being strong in the Grace that is in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 2.1 having your
Conversation in the World not with fleshly Wisdom but by the Grace of God 2 Cor. 1.12 having or holding fast Grace that we may serve God acceptably labouring abundantly in such a manner as that the whole work is not performed by us but by the Grace of God that is with us 1 Cor. 15.10 By Grace therefore we may well understand the priviledges of our new state given to us in Christ whereby we ought to be influenced and guided in the performance of holy Duties 4. It is also signified when we are to put off the old and put on the new Man yea to continue in so doing tho we have done it in a measure already and that we avoid our former sinful Conversation Ephes 4.21 22 24. and to avoid sin because we have put off the old and put on the new Man Col. 3.9 10 11. I have already shewed that by this twofold man is not meant merely sin and holiness but by the former meant our natural Estate with all its Endowments whereby we are furnished only to the practice of sin and by the later or new Estate in Christ that whereby we are furnished with all means necessary for the practice of Holiness 5. We are to understand the same thing when we are taught not to walk after the Flesh but after the Spirit that we may be free from the Law of sin and that the righteousness of the Law may be fulfilled in us Rom. 8.1 2 3. and through the Spirit to mortifie the deeds of the body and to be led by the Spirit because we live by the Spirit and have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts Gal. 5.24 The Apostle doth shew by these expressions not only that we are to practise holiness but also by what means we may do it effectually By the Flesh is meant our old Nature derived from the first Adam And by the Spirit is meant the Spirit of Christ and that new Nature which we have by him dwelling in us We are said to walk after either of these Natures when we make the Properties or Qualifications of either of them to be the principles of our Practice So when we are taught to serve in newness of the spirit and not in the oldness of the Letter that so we may bring forth fruits unto God The meaning is that we must endeavour to bring forth the fruits of holiness not by vertue of the Law that killing Letter to which the Flesh is married and by which the motions of sin are in us but by vertue of the Spirit and his manifold Riches which we partake of in our new state by a mystical marriage with Christ Rom. 7.4 5 6. and by vertue of such Principles as belong to the New State declared in the Gospel whereby the holy spirit is ministred to us 6. This is the manner of walking which the Apostle Paul directeth us unto when he teacheth us by his own Example That the continual work of our lives should be to know Christ and the power of his Resurrection and the fellowship of his Sufferings being made conformable to his Death if by any means we may attain to the Resurrection of the dead and to encrease and press forward in this kind of knowledge Phil. 3.10 11 12 15. Certainly he meaneth such an experimental knowledge of Christ and his Death and Resurrection as effectually makes us conformable thereunto in dying to sin and living to God And he would hereby guide us to make use of Christ and his Death and Resurrection by Faith as the powerful means of all Holiness in Heart and Life and to encrease in this manner of walking until we attain unto perfection in Christ 2. The second thing proposed was to lay before you some necessary Instructions that your steps may be guided aright to continue and go forward in this way of Holiness until you be made perfect in Christ And seeing we are naturally prone to mistake this way and are utterly unable to find it out or discern it by our own Reason and Understanding we should the more diligently attend to these Instructions taken out of the Holy Scriptures And we should pray earnestly that God would give unto us the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation that we may discern the way of Holiness thereby and walk aright in it according to that gracious promise The wayfaring men tho Fools shall not err therein Isa 35.8 1. Observe and consider diligently in our whole Conversation That tho you are partakers of a new holy state by Faith in Christ yet our natural state doth remain in a measure with all its corrupt Principles and Properties as long as we live in this present World our apprehension of Christ and his perfection in this Life is only by Faith whereas by Sense and Reason we may apprehend much in our selves contrary to Christ and this Faith is imperfect So that true Believers have cause to pray to God to help their Unbelief Mar. 9.24 Therefore tho we receive perfect Christ by Faith yet the measure and degree of enjoying him is imperfect and we hope still so long as we are in this World to enjoy him in a higher degree of perfection than we have done we are yet but weak in Christ 2 Cor. 13.4 Children in comparison to the perfection we expect in another World 1 Cor. 13.10 11. and we must grow still till we come to the perfect man Eph. 4.13 and some are less Babes than others and have received Christ in so small a measure that they may be accounted carnal rather than spiritual 1 Cor. 3.1 And because all the Blessings and Perfections of our new state as Justification the gift of the Spirit and of the holy Nature and the Adoption of Children are seated and treasured up in Christ and joyned with him inseparably we can receive them no further than we receive Christ himself by Faith which we do in an imperfect measure and degree in this Life The Apostle Paul proposeth himself as a pattern for all those that are perfect in the truth of Grace to imitate And yet he professeth That he was not yet made so perfect in the degree or measure of saving Endowments but that he did still press forward towards the mark of the prize of the high-calling of God in Christ Jesus labouring still to apprehend and win Christ more perfectly and to be found in him not having his own Righteousness but that which is of God by Faith and to gain more experimental knowledge of Christ and of the fellowship of his sufferings and the power of his Resurrection being made conformable thereunto Phil 3.8 10. Believers are Justified already yet wait for the hope of Righteousness by Faith i. e. for the full enjoyment of the Righteousness of Christ Gal. 5.5 They have received but the first-fruits of the spirit and must wait for a more full enjoyment of it The Spirit witnesseth now to them that they are the Children of God and yet they groan
slavish fear in the full assurance of Faith in this as well as in other holy Ordinances and we are to rejoyce in the Lord in this spiritual Feast as the Jews were bound to do in their solemn Feasts Deut. 16.14 15. There are other Abuses of this Ordinance like to those of Baptism forementioned whereby it is rendred opposite rather than subservient to the Life of Faith Some put it in the place of Christ by trusting on it as a work of Righteousness for the procuring of Gods Favour or an Ordinance sufficient to confer Grace to the Soul by the very work wrought Others make it so necessary that they account that Faith is not sufficient without it and therefore they will partake of it if they can possibly tho it be in a disorderly manner upon their sick-Beds when they are in fear of Death as their Viaticum The Papists do horribly Idolize it by their figment of Transubstantiation and the Adoration of their Breaden God and their Sacrifice of the Mass for the sins of the Quick and the Dead We ought warily to conceive that the true Body and Blood of Christ are given to us with the Bread and Wine in a spiritual mysterious manner by the unsearchable Operation of the Holy Spirit uniting Christ and us together by Faith without any Transubstantiation in the outward Elements 6. Prayer is to be made use of as a means of living by Faith in Christ according to the New Man And it is the making our Requests with Supplication and Thankfgiving That it is to be used so as an eminent Means appears because God requireth it 1 Thess 5.17 Rom. 12.12 It is our priestly Work 1 Pet. 2.5 compared with Psal 141.2 and the property of Saints 1 Cor. 1.2 and God is a God hearing Prayer Psal 65.2 God will be prayed to by his People for the benefit that he is minded to bestow upon them when once he hath enabled them to pray though at first he is found of them that seek him not Ezek. 36.27 37. Phil. 1.19 20. that he may prepare them for Thanksgiving and make Benefits double Benefits to them Psal 66.16 18 19. and 50.15 2 Cor. 1.10 11. Though his Will be not changed by this means yet it is accomplished ordinarily and his Purpose is to accomplish it this way And therefore trusting assuredly should not make us neglect but rather perform this Duty 2 Sam. 7.27 Christ the Mediator of the new Covenant by which Justification and Sanctification are promised is also the Mediator for Acceptance of our Prayers Heb. 4.15 16. The Spirit that sanctifieth us begetteâ—h us in Chist sheweth the things of Christ to us is a Spirit of Prayer Zech. 12.10 Gal. 4.6 He is as Fire inslaming the Soul and making it to mount upward in Prayer to God Prayerless People are dead to God If they are Children of Sion yet they are but still-born dead Children that cry not Acts 9.11 not written among the living in Jerusalem Heathens in Nature though Christians in Name Jer. 10.25 It is a Duty so great that it is put for all the Service of God as a fundamental Duty which if it be done the rest will be done well and not without it and other Ordinances of Worship are Helps to it Isa 56.7 It is the great means whereby Faith doth expert it self to perform its whole Work and poureth it self forth in all holy Desires and Affections Psal 62 8. and so yeilds a sweet savour as Mary's Box of precious Spicknard Mark 14.3 John 12.3 And so the same Promises are made to Faith and Prayer Rom. 10.11 12 13. It is our continual Incense and Sacrifice whereby we offer our selves Hearts Assections and Lives to God Psal 141.2 We act all Grace in it and must act it this way or else we are not likely to act it any other way And as we act Grace so we obtain Grace by it and all Holiness Psal 138.3 Luk. 11.13 Heb. 4.16 Psal 81.10 Our Riches come in by it Israel prevails while Moses holds up his Hands Exod. 17. By Prayer Hannah is strengthened against her Sorrows 1 Sam. 1.15 18. Peace is continued Phil. 4.6 7. the disordered Soul set in order by it as Hannah 1 Sam. 1. Psal 32.1 5. Incense was still burnt while the Lamps were dressed Exod. 30.7 8. It is added to the Spiritual Armoury not as a particular piece of it but as a means of putting on all and making use of all aright that we may stand in the evil Day Eph. 6.18 It is a means of transfiguring us into the likeness of Christ in Holiness and making our spiritual Faces to shine as Christ was transfigured bodily whilst he prayed Luk. 9.29 and Moses his Face shone whilst he talk'd with God Exod. 34.29 Hence the frequent use of this Duty is commended to us Eph. 6.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on all Seasons and Opportunities and by the example of the Saints in publick with the Congregation Acts 2.42 10.30 31. Solemn continued Acts of Prayer should be Mat. 6.1 Yea several times as Morning and Evening Sacrifice Dan. 6.10 Psal 92.2 or Thrice Psal 55.17 besides special Occasions Jam. 5.13 and brief Ejaculations that hinder not other business Psal 129.8 2 Sam. 15.31 Nch. 2.4 Prayers should be solemn in our Closets Mat. 6.6 in Families Acts 10.30 31. And as Sacrifices were multiplyed on the Sabbath-days and days of Atonement and at other appointed seasons Numb 〈…〉 the continual burnt-offering so ought 〈…〉 In a word a Christian ought to give up himself eminently to this Duty Psal 109.4 without limits Psal 119.164 But the great work is to practise this Duty rightly for Holiness only by Faith in Christ Here we had need say Lord teach us to pray Luke 11.1 and that not only as to the matter but as to the manner both which are taught by Christ in some measure in that brief patern of Prayer which he taught his Disciples But for the understanding of it we must consult the whole Word 2 Tim. 3.16 17. And we have need of the Spirit of Christ to guide us in the Duty and therefore we are taught to pray by the Spirit i. e. the Holy Ghost Jude 20. Eph. 2.18 the Spirit of God only guideth and enableth our Souls to Pray aright and that you may do so take these Rules 1. You must pray with your Hearts and Spirits Isa 26.9 Joh. 4.24 where the Spirit of Christ and of Prayer principally resides Gal. 4.6 Eph. 1.17 with Vnderstanding 1 Cor. 14.15 16. for we are renewed in Knowledg Col. 3.10 2 Pet. 1.3 so that praying in Ignorance cannot Sanctifie And it must be with sincere hearty desire of the good things we ask in Prayer For God seeth the Heart Psal 62.8 Prayer is chiefly a heart-work Psal 27.8 God heareth the Heart without the Mouth but never heareth the Mouth acceptably without the Heart 1 Sam. 1.13 Your Prayer is odious Hypocrisie mocking of God and taking his Name
in vain when you utter Petitions for the coming of his Kingdom and doing of his Will and yet hate Godliness in your Heart This is Lying to God and slattering with your Lips but no true Prayer and so God takes it Psal 78.36 and you must have a sense of your wants and necessities and that God only can supply 2 Chron. 20.12 And fervency in those desires is required Jam. 5.16 And you must pray with attention minding your selves what you pray or else you cannot expect that God should mind it 1 Pet. 4.7 Watch to it Dan. 9.3 Set your selves to this Duty intently God seeth where your Heart is wandring when you pray without attention Ezek. 33.31 When you say never so many prayers without Understanding Attention Affection it is not praying at all but sinning and playing the Hypocrite as Papists mumble over their Latin Prayers upon the Beads by Tale prating like Parrots what they cannot understand And thus ignorant People say over their Forms of English Prayers and account they have well-discharged their Duty tho their Heart prayed not at all and were minding other things This is a meer Lip-labour and bodily Exercise offering a dead Carcass to God plain deceit Mal. 1.13 14. a form of Godliness with denying the Power 2 Tim. 3.5 whereby Popery hath cheated the World of the Power of this and all other Holy Ordinances They say God minds and knows what they speak and approves it I answer He doth so as to Judg them for Hypocrites and profane persons for not knowing minding and approving what they utter themselves He hath no pleasure in Fools Eccles 5.1 2. They would not deal so with an Earthly Prince 2. You must pray in the Name of Christ for the Spirit glorifies Christ Joh. 16. and leadeth us to God through Christ Eph. 2.18 As I have shewed that walking in the Spirit and walking in Christ is all one so praying in the Spirit and by and through Christ And as we are to walk in the Name of the Lord and to do all things in his Name as is commanded Joh. 14.13 14. It is not enough to conclude our Prayers through Jesus Christ our Lord but we must come for Blessings in the Garments of our elder Brother and must depend upon his Worthyness and Strength for all So also we must praise God for all things in his Name as things received for his sake and by him Eph. 5.20 We must lay hold on his Strength only and plead nothing and own nothing for our Acceptance but him We must not plead our own works arrogantly like the proud Pharisee Luk. 18.11.12 except only as Fruits of Grace and Rewards of Grace Isa 38.1 2. Praying in the Spirit is upon Gospel not legal Principles Rom. 7.6 with 2 Cor. 6.3 with great Humiliation and sense of Unworthyness Psal 51. with a broken Spirit with Despair of Acceptance otherwise than upon Christ's Account Dan. 9.18 If your Enlargements Struglings Meltings have been never so great yet without this all is Abominable 3. Hence you must not think to be accepted for the Goodness of your Prayers and trust on them as works of Righteousness which is making Idols of your Prayers and putting them into the place of Christ quite contrary to praying in the Name of Christ Thus Papists hope to be sav'd by saying their Tale of Prayers upon their Bead-Rows and they have Indulgences granted upon their saying so many Prayers and of such a sort Yea some ignorant Protestants trust on their Prayer as Duties of Righteousness and they think one Prayer to be more acceptable than another by reason of the Holiness of the Form if it were made by Holy Men especially the Lords Prayer which they use to help them in any Exigence or Danger how little soever they can apply it to their own Case they make an Idol of it And some use it and other places of Scriptures as a Spell or Charm to drive away the Devil And others think their Prayers more acceptable in one place than in another by reason of the Holiness of the place Joh. 4.21 24.1 Tim. 2.8 Others trust on their much speaking Mat. 6. which they call the enlarging of their Hearts They think to put off God and stop the Mouth of Conscience with a few Prayers and so to live as they list 4. Pray to God as your Father through Christ as your Saviour in Faith of Remission of Sins and your acceptance with God and the obtaing of all other things which you desire of him as far as is necessary for your Salvation Jam. 1.5 6 7. ch 5.15 1 Joh. 5.14 15. Mar. 11.24 Heb. 10.24 and Psal 62.8 and 86.7 and 55.16 and 57.1 2. and 17.6 This is praying in Christ Eph. 3.12 and by the Holy Ghost the Spirit of Adoption Rom. 8.16 Gal. 4.6 Without this Prayer is Lifeless and Heartless and but a dead Carcass Rom. 10.14 Psal 77.4 By this you may judge whether you have prayed rightly more than by your melting Affection or largeness in Expression Though you be not assured that you shall have every thing that you ask yet every thing that is good This Faith you must endeavour to act and therefore if any Sin lye on Conscience you must strive first to get the Pardon of it Psal 32.1.5 and 51.14 15. and Purisication from it by Faith that you may lift up holy hands without wrath and doubting 1 Tim. 2.8 The sin of wrath there is especially mentioned because that is contrary to Love and forgiving others Here lyes the Strength Life and Powerfulness of Prayer Set Faith on work and you will be powerful and prevail 5. You must strive in Prayer to stir up and act every other sanctifying Grace through Faith moving you thereunto Thus your Spikenards will yield their Smell as godly sorrow Psal 38.18 peace Isa 27.8 joy Psal 105.3 hope Psal 71.5 desire and love to God Psal 4.6 and love to all his commands Psal 119.4 5. and to his people out of love to him Psal 122. you must seek the Spirit it self in the first place Luk. 11.13 Psal 37.5 and all spiritual things Mat. 6.33 Praying only for carnal things shews a carnal Heart and leaves it carnal Pray for faith Mar. 9.24 and for such things as may serve most for the glorifying God 2 Chron. 1.11 12. and for outward things you must act in submission to his Will and thus Prayer sets you in a holy frame Mat. 26.42 Luk. 22.42 43. Hallowing Gods Name must be your aim Mat. 6. not your Lusts Jam. 4.3 6. Strive to bring your Soul into order by this Duty however disordered by Guilt Anguish inordinate Cares or Fears Psal 32.1 5. and 55.16 17 20 22. and 69.32 Phil. 4.6 7.1 Sam. 1. A Watch must be often wound up you must wrestle in Prayer against your Unbelief Doubting Fears Cares Reluctancy of the Flesh to that which is good against all Evil Lusts and Desires Coldness of Affection Impatience trouble of Spirit every
Terms you are first to do the holy Duties commanded before you have any Interest in the Life promised or any Right to lay hold of it as yours by Faith and you must practice Holiness without the forementioned means or else you can never attain to them Thus the true means are turned out of their Office and instead of being Causes they are made to be Effects and Fruits of an holy Practice And it will be in vain ever to expect such Effects and Fruits for Holiness it self with all its Effects must needs be destroyed when its necessary Causes are taken away Therefore the Apostle Paul testifieth that the way of salvation by the works of the law maketh faith void and promises of none effect And frustrateth the grace of God as if Christ died in vain and maketh Christ to be of no profit and of none effect to us as those that are fallen from grace Rom. 4.14 Gal. 2.21 5.2 4. Let us now examine the modern Doctrine of Salvation by the Condition of sincere Obedience to all the Commands of Christ and we shall quickly find it to be a chip of the same block with the former legal way of Salvation in the same manner destructive to the means of Holiness and to Holiness it self It requireth of us the Performance of sincere Obedience before we have the means necessary to produce it by making it antecedent to our Justification and Perswasion of eternal Happiness and our actual Enjoyment of Union and Fellowship with Christ and of that new Nature which is to be had only in him by Faith It destroyeth the nature of that saving Faith whereby we actually receive and enjoy Christ and all his Benefits and knocketh off our Hands from laying hold of Christ and his Salvation by telling us still as Christ told the Legalworker after all his Labour that yet we lack something Mat. 10.21 That it is Presumption to take him as our own until we have performed the Condition for our Right and Title to him which is another kind of saving Faith otherwise called sincere Obedience By this devised conditional Faith Satan keepeth many poor Souls at a bay poreing upon their own Hearts for many years together to find whether they have performed the Condition and whether they have as yet any Right to Christ for their Salvation not daring to venture to take him as their own It is a strong Partition-wall that will certainly hinder the Soul from coming to Christ until it be thrown down by the Knowledge of Salvation by grace without any procuring Condition of Works And though it be accounted but as the Payment of a Pepper-corn for a great Estate yet it is enough to break the ablest Man in the World because it debarreth him from laying hold of the only effectual means of Holiness whereby that Pepper-corn may be obtained 2dly Those that seek Salvation by the Works of the Law do therein act according to their natural State they live and walk according to the Flesh or Old-man not according to the New-state by Christ living in them I doubt not but several of them that live under the light of the Gospel are Partakers of a new State in Christ and do walk holily in it but the best in this World have in them Flesh as well as Spirit and may act according to either State in some measure and in this matter they do act only according to their carnal natural State When the believing Galatians were seduced to a Legal way of Salvation the Apostle Paul chargeth it upon them as their Folly that having begun in the spirit they would now be made perfect in the flesh Gal. 3.3 And he resembleth those that desire to be under the Law to Abraham's Son born of Hagar the Bondwoman to shew that such do walk as those that are born after the flesh not after the spirit Gal. 4.19 23 29. The Law was first given to Adam in his pure natural State to prescribe Terms for his continuance in Happiness which he then enjoyed and ever since that time the Flesh or Natural-man is married to the Law and the Law hath Dominion over a Man as long as he liveth i. e. until he be dead to his fleshly State by the Body of Christ and married to him that is risen from the dead Rom. 7.1 4. We are not at all under the Law as a Covenant of Works according to our new State in Christ as the Apostle testifieth Rom. 6.14 Ye are not under the law but under grace And Gal. 3.18 If ye be led by the spirit ye are not under the law From hence we may firmly conclude that none can possibly attain to true Godliness by acting according to Legal-terms because I have fully proved already that it is impossible to be godly while we are in the flesh or in a natural State and that as far as we act according to it we can do nothing but sin The Law is weak through the Flesh that it cannot bring us to fulfil its own Righteousness Rom. 8.3 4. It is married to a cross piece of flesh that is Enmity to it and can never be subject to it Rom. 8.8 It sueth the Natural-man for an old Debt of Obedience that he is utterly unable to pay since the Fall and the Success is according to the Proverb Sue a beggar and catch a louse Neither do those take a better Course that would bring themselves to Holiness by making sincere Obedience to Christ's Commands the Condition of their Salvation Their way is the same for Substance with that of the Calatians before mentioned who would be made perfect in the Flesh not by perfect Obedience but sincere as hath been shewed before Their Eudeavours to procure an Interest in Christ by their sincere Obedience do testifie against themselves that they do not act as People that are in Christ but rather as People that judge themselves to be without an Interest in Christ and to be yet to seek for it And sincere Obedience is as impossible to be attained unto as perfect Obedience if we act according to our dead natural State 3dly As the Law bereaveth of all strengthning means that are to be had by Faith in Christ and findeth us without strength in our natural State so of it self it affordeth us no Strength to fulfil its own Commandments If there had been a law given that could have given life verily righteousness should have been by the law Gal. 3.21 It doth not so much as promise us life until we have performed the Obedience required by it The man that doth these things shall live by them Rom. 6.5 It is well called a voice of words Heb. 12.19 because its high and big words are not acompanied with any enlivening Power and the Doctrine of Life and Salvation by sincere Obedience is not better natur'd or more bountiful to us For it exacteth of us the Performance of the Condition before it alloweth us any Life or Salvation by Christ
hath been one occasion of the prevailing of Heathenish Jewish and Popish Superslitions in the World We find by experience how Popery fell in several Nations in late years when the great Pillar of it the Doctrine of Justification by Works was overthrown by the Protestant Doctrine of Justification by Faith alone If these Legal Zealots be forced by strong Conviction to endeavour the Practice of spiritual Duties for the quieting of their guilty Consciences they may be brought to strive and labour earnestly and even to macerate their Bodies with Fasting that they may kill their Lusts but still their Lusts are alive and as strong as ever they were and do shew forth their Enmity against the Law of God by inward fretting repining and grudging at it as a grievous Task-mastertho ' a slavish Fear restrain their gross outward actings And if once these Zealots be enlightned with the Knowledge of the Spiritual nature of the Law to discern that God rejecteth all their slavish Service and will not own it for sincere Obedience then they fall into Despair of their Salvation because they see they have failed in their highest attempts to perform the Condition and then they can easily discover themselves that their Hearts swell in Anger and manifest Hatred against the Law yea and against God and Christ for prescribing such hard Conditions of Salvation which they cannot keep and yet expect to be damned eternally for breaking of them This filleth them with blasphemous thoughts against God and Christ and they can hardly refrain from blaspheming with their tongues and when they are brought to this horrible Condition if God doth not in mercy discover to them the way of Salvation by Free-grace through Faith alone they will endeavour if they can to sear their Consciences past feeling of Sin and fully to abandon all Religion which have proved such an unsufferable Torment to them or if they cannot sear their Consciences some of them are easily prevailed over by Satan rather to murder themselves than to live longer in the Hatred of God the Spirit of Blasphemy and continual horror of Conscience This is the pestilent effect of Legal-Doctrine upon a carnal heart that doth but rouse up and terribly enrage the sleeping Lion our sinful Gorruption instead of killing of it as is too evident by the sad Experience of many that have endeavoured with all their might to practice it and by the Scripture that sheweth a sufficient cause why it cannot be otherwise Therefore the Doctrine of Salvation by sincere Obedience that was invented against Antinomianism may well be ranked amongst the worst Antinomian Errors For my part I hate it with perfect Hatred and count it mine Enemy as I have found it to be and I have found by some good Experience the Truth of the Lesson taught by the Apostle that the way to be freed from the Mastery and Dominion of Sin is not to be under the law but under grace Rom. 6.15 6thly The way of Salvation by works was blasted by the Curse denounced against the first Adam's Sin so that now it cannot work Life in us or Holiness but only Death For the Law which requireth both sincere and perfect Obedience to God in all things was made known to Adam at his first Creation as the means of continuing the happy Life that was then bestowed upon him and it would have been effectual for this end if he had not transgressed in the forbidden fruit but when he had once brought himself and his Posterity under the terrible Sentence Thou shalt surely die Gen. 2.17 all that Knowledge of God or his Law that before wrought for continuance of Life was turned by that cursing Sentence the contrary way to work for his death even for the death of his Soul in sin as well as for the death of his Body and therefore it quickly moved him to hide himself from God as an enemy It was as if God should say All the light and knowledge that thou hast shall not be able to continue thy life or restore it but it shall rather tend to thy death Therefore while we continue in our Natural state under the first Adam's Guilt and Curse the knowledge of the Law yea and all such knowledge of God and his Attributes as natural Men may attain to must needs be in like manner accursed to us and seeing Man did not use his natural Knowledge and Wisdom aright God is resolved to revenge the abuse of it by giving us Salvation in a way contrary to it that seemeth foolishness to the Natural man and wholly to abolish the way of living by any of our works or by any Wisdom or Knowledge that the Natural-man can attain unto for it is written I will destrey the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe 1 Cor. 1.19 20 21. Hence we may conclude that no Truth known by the light of Nature can be an effectual Principle or Motive to work Holiness in us and Gospel-principles and Motives are but abused when they are applied to a Legal-way of Salvation 7thly The end which God aimed at in giving the Law by Moses was not that any should ever attain to Holiness or Salvation by the condition of perfect or sincere Obedience to it tho' if there had been any such way of Salvation at that time it must have consisted in the Performance of that Law which was then given to the Church to be a Rule of Life as well as a Covenant There was another Covenant made before that time with Abraham Isaac and Jacob a Covenant of Grace promising all Blessings freely through Christ the promised Seed by which only they were to be saved and the Covenant of the Law was added that they might-see their sinfulness and subjection to death and wrath and the impossibility of attaining to life or holiness by their works and be forced to trust on the free Promise only for all their Salvation and that Sin might be restrained by the Spirit of Bondage until the coming of that promised Seed Jesus Christ and the more plentiful pouring out of the sanctifying Spirit by him This the Apostle Paul sheweth largely Gal. 3.15 to 24. Rom. 5.20 21. Rom. 10.3 4. None of the Israelites under the Old Testament were ever saved by the Sinai-Covenant neither did any of them ever attain to Holiness by the terms of it Some of them did indeed perform the Commandments of it sincerely tho' imperfectly but those were first justified and made Partakers of Life and Holiness by virtue of that better Covenant made with Abraham Isaac and Jacob which was the same in substance with the New-covenant or Testament establish'd by the Blood of Christ Had it not been for that better Covenant the
without any further ado and with Assurance that it is mine freely if I do it doubtingly I disparage the Honesty and Credit of the Donor as if he were not a Man of his Word In like manner if fearing to be too confident least we should believe a lie we should come to Christ doubtingly and in mere Suspense whether we shall be freely entertained after all Gods free Invitations and Promises should we not disparage the Faithfulness of God and should we not be guilty of making God a Liar as the Apostle John teacheth because of our not believing the Record which God gave of his Son and this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son 1 John 5.10 11. And what if the Salvation promised be not absolutely intended for all to whom the Gospel cometh it is enough that God giveth us his faithful Word that they that believe shall have it and none else and hath absolutely intended to fulfill his Word that none shall find it to be a lie to them and hath joyned Believing and Salvation together inseparably On this ground God may justly cause the Promise of this Salvation to be published to all and may justly require all to believe on him assuredly for their own Salvation that so it may appear whether they will give him the Glory of his Truth and if they will not he may justly reject them and punish them severely for dishonouring him by their Unbelief in this Case we must not look to the secret Decrees of God but to his revealed Promises and Command Thus God promised to the Israelites in the Wilderness that he would give them the Land of Canaan and would fight for them against their Enemies and required them not to fear or be discouraged that so the Promise might be fulfilled to them yet God never absolutely decreed or intended that those Israelites should enter in as the Event did quickly manifest Deut. 1.20 21 29.30 Yet were they not bound in this case to trust confidently in God to give them Victory over their Enemies and to give them the Possession of the Land had they not sufficient ground for such a Faith was it not just with God to consume them in the Wilderness for their Unbelief Let us therefore fear least a Promise being made of entring into this everlasting Rest through Christ we should come short of it and fall after the same Example of Unbelief Heb. 4.1 11. Fourthly The Professors of true Godliness that we read of through the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament did commonly profess their Assurance and Perswasion of their Interest in God and his Salvation and were directed by the word of God so to do and true Saints had still some true Assurance of it and we have no cause to judge that this Assurance was grounded on the certainty of their own good Qualifications but rather on the Promises of God by the direct Act of Faith We may judge of the ordinary Profession of the Frame of Spirit that was in Saints by some Instances I shall begin with the Profession that the Church made when it was very corrupt at its first coming out of Egypt when few of them could assure themselves by their own good Qualifications that they were in a state of Grace already which many now imagine to be the only way of Assurance Even in that corrupt Time the Children of Israel sung that triuphant Song of Moses The Lord is my strength and my song and he is become my salvation he is my God c. Exod. 15.2 Moses taught them in this Song to assure themselves of their own personal Interest in the Salvation and he guided them to the Practice of their Duty and they did not find fault with Moses as some do with Ministers in these Days for putting them to express more Confidence in their Song than they could find ground for in their Qualifications but they applied themselves to the exercise of their Faith agreeably to the Song and doubtless this Faith was unfeigned in some sew of them though but feigned in others for it is testified of them that then they believed his Words they sang his Praise Psal 106.12 Several other Psalms and Songs that were by divine Appointment in common Use under the Old Testament are as clear an Evidence as we can desire of that Assurance of Faith that was commonly professed and that People were generally bound to under the Old Testament as Psal 23. 27. 46. Many other Psalms or Expressions in Psalms might be alledged The Spirits of few in comparison could have throughly complyed with such Psalms though they were true Believers if all the Assurance of the Love of God must altogether depend upon the certain Knowledge of the sincerity of their own Hearts We have a great Cloud of Witnesses gathered out of the whole History of the Old Testament Heb. 11. who did and suffered and obtained great things by Faith whose Examples are produced on purpose that we may follow them in believing to the saving of our Souls Heb. 10.39 And if we consider these Examples particularly we shall find that many of them do evidently guide us to such a saving Faith as hath an Assurance of the Effect contained in the nature of it I confess we read several times of the Fears and Doubtings of the Saints under the Old Testament but we read also how their Faith opposed such Fears and Doubts and how they themselves condemned them as contrary to Faith as in the Psalms Psal 42.11 Psal 31.22 77.7 10. The most mournful Psalm in Scripture begins with an Expression of some Assurance Psal 88.1 And we may note that the Doubtings that we meet with of the Saints of old were commonly occasioned by some Extraordinary Affliction or some hainous Transgression not by common Failings or the common Original Depravation of Nature or the Uncertainty of their Election or any Thought that it is Humility to doubt and that they were not bound to be confident of Gods Salvation because then many might be bound to believe a Lie It is hard to find any of these Occasions of doubting under the Old Testament though they are grown so rise amongst us now under the New Testament In the time of the Apostles we may well expect that the Assurance of Faith grew higher because the Salvation of Christ was revealed and the Spirit of Adoption poured forth plentifully and the Church made free from its former Bondage under the terrifying Legal Covenant Paul could prove to primitive Christians by Appeals to their own Experience that they were the Children and Heirs of God because they had not received the Spirit of Bondage again to fear but the Spirit of Adoption whereby they cry Abba father the Spirit it self bearing witness with our spirits or beareth our spirits witness as the Syriaok and vulgar Latin render it and as the like Greek Phrase is rendred Rom. 9.1 That
the new State in Christ They trust on low carnal things for Holiness and upon the acts of their own Will their Purposes Resolutions and Endeavours instead of Christ and they trust to Christ to help them in this carnal way whereas true Faith would teach them that they are nothing and that they do but labour in vain They may as well wash a Blackamoor white as purge the Flesh or Natural Man from its evil Lusts and make it pure and holy It is desperately wicked past all cure It will unavoidably lust against the Spirit of God even in the best Saints on Earth Gal. 17. its mind is enmity to the Law of God and neither is nor can be subject to it Rom. 8.7 They that would cure it and make it holy by their own Resolutions and Endeavours do act quite contrary to the design of Christ's Death for he dyed not that the Flesh or Old Natural Man might be made holy but that it might be crucifyed and destroyed out of us Rom. 6.6 and that we might live to God not to our selves or by any natural power of our own Resolutions or Endeavours but by Christ living in us and by his Spirit bringing forth the fruits of Righteousness in us Gal. 2.20 and 5.24 25. Therefore we must be content to leave the Natural Man vile and wicked as we found it until it be utterly abolished by Death though we must not allow its Wickedness but rather groan to be delivered from the Body of this Death thanking God that there is a Deliverance through Jesus Christ our Lord. Our way to mortify sinful Affections and Lusts must be not by purging them out of the Flesh but by putting off the Flesh it self and geting above into Christ by Faith and walking in that new Nature that is by him thus the way of Life is above to the Wise that he may depart from Hell beneath Prov. 15.24 Our willing resolving and endeavouring must be to do the best not that lyeth in our selves or in our own power but that Christ and the power of his Spirit shall be pleased to work in us for in us i. e. in our Flesh there dwelleth no good thing Rom. 7.18 we have no ground to trust in God and Christ for help in such Resolutions and Endeavours as in things that are agreeable to the design of Christ in our Redemption as to the way of acting and living by Faith It is likely that Peter sincerely resolved to dye with Christ rather than to deny him and to do all that he could by his own power for that end but Christ made him quickly to see the Weakness and Vanity of such Resolutions and we see by Experience what many Resolutions made in Sickness and other Dangers mostly come to It is not enough for us to trust on Christ to help us to act and endeavour so far only as Creatures for so the worst of Men are helped he is the Jehovah in whom they Live Move and have their Being Act. 17.28 and it 's likely the Pharisee would trust on God to help him in Duty as he would thank God for the performance of Duty Luk. 18.11 and this is all the Faith that many make use of to a holy Practice But we must trust on Christ to enable us above the strength of our own natural power by vertue of the new Nature which we have in Christ and by his Spirit dwelling and working in us or else our best endeavours will be altogether sinful and meer Hypocrisie notwithstanding all the help for which we trust upon him We must also take heed of depending for Holiness upon any Resolutions to walk in Christ or on any written Covenants or any Holiness that we have already received for we must know that the Vertue of these things continue no longer than we continue walking in Christ and Christ in us They must be kept up by the continual Presence of Christ in us as Light is maintained by the presence of the Sun and cannot subsist without it 3. You must not seek to procure forgiveness of sins the favour of God a new holy Nature Life and Happiness by any works of the Moral Law or by any Rites and Ceremonies whatever but rather you must work as those that have all these things already according to your new state in Christ as such who are only to receive them more and more by Faith as they are ready prepared and treasured up for you and freely given to you by your spiritual head the Lord Jesus Christ If we walk as those that are yet wholly to seek for the procurement of such enjoyments as these it is a manifest sign that at present we judge our selves to be without them and without Christ himself in whose fulness they are all contained And therefore we walk according to our own Natural State as those that are yet in the Flesh and that would get Salvation in it and by our carnal Works and Observances instead of living altogether on Christ by Faith This practice is according to the tenour of the Covenant of Works as I have before shewed And we have no ground to trust on Christ and his Spirit to work Holiness in us this way for we are dead to the Legal Covenant by the Body of Christ Rom. 7. And if we be led by the Spirit we are not under the Law Gal. 5.18 When the Galatians were seduced by false Teachers to seek the procurement of Justification and Life by Circumcision and other works of the Mosaical Law the Apostle Paul rebuketh them for seeking to be made perfect in the flesh directly contrary to their good beginning in the Spirit for rendring Christ of none effect to them and for falling from Grace Gal. 3.3 and 5.4 And when some of the Colossians sought perfection in the like manner by observation of Circumcision holy-meats holy-times and other Rudiments of the World The same Apostle blameth them for not holding the Head Jesus Christ and as such as were not dead and risen with Christ but living merely in the World Col. 2.19 20. and 3.1 He clearly sheweth that those who seek any saving enjoyments in such a way do walk according to their own Natural State And that the true manner of living by Faith in Christ is to walk as those that have all fulness and perfection of Spiritual Blessings in Christ by Faith and need not seek for them any other way to procure them for themselves In this sense it is a true saying That Believers should not act for Life but from Life They must act as those that are not procuring Life by their Works but as such who have already received and derived Life from Christ and act from the Power and Vertue received from him And hereby it appears that the Papists and all others that think to Justifie Purisie Sanctifie and save themselves by any of their own Works Rites or Ceremonies whatever do walk in a carnal way as those that are without