From whence this Doctrine floweth That now there is no corporal or visible improvement of Christ but spiritual only We are apt now with Thomas to ask for the wounds and prints of the nails We are not now to expect any visible or corporal refreshments by him but what we have must be in a way of faith Heb. 11.1 Faith is the Evidence of things not not seen This the Apostle presseth 2 Cor. 5.16 Though we have known Christ after the flesh yet henceforth know we him no more Whatsoever corporal helps and comforts whatsoever visible supports once they had yet now they attend not to any such things any more Christ himself is not now known after the flesh but after the spirit To open this Consider 1. That there was a time when the Apostles and Beleevers had not only a spiritual enjoyment of Christ by Faith but also a visible and corporal one viz. in that time when Christ was familiarly conversant with them in the flesh Then they saw Christ face to face and rejoyced in him as one friend with another Now this in it self could not be but unspeakable comfort with our own eyes to see Christ with our own ears to hear him speak and with our own handâ— to handle that Word of Life as 1 Joh. 1.1 Luk. 10 24. Our Saviour himself cals them blessed even because they lived in that age wherein they might corporally see him Many Kings and Prophets have desired to see and hear the things you do Prophets though they had immediate Revelations and Visions from God and so were called Seers yet they desired to see Christ in his bodily presence And Kings though they had the temporal glory of the world to behold yet they desired to see Christ in the flesh No wonder then if it were one of the three things Austin so desired that he might have lived in those times when Christ was here upon the Earth Do but judge within your selves Would you not go many miles if it were certain Christ were in such a place teaching and working Miracles Now the Disciples by Christs visible presence had many advantages when they were in any outward streights he provided for them though he sent them without any money upon his work yet they confessed they lacked nothing all that while When they were discouraged with their wicked Adversaries he comforted their hearts When they were in any temporal danger as when the Ship was tossed with Tempests he saved them and which is above all he was a visible Doctor and Teacher unto them so that there was nothing in Religion they doubted of but he could infallibly direct them in It 's that which the Papists so much pleade for that there must be a visible infallible Head in the Church who is to decide matter of faith otherwise there cannot be any certainty but one will pretend to the Truth as well as another Now the Apostles had such a visible Head of the Church to direct them though we have none now but the Spirit of God by the Word doth direct and guide such as walk humbly Oh what a Treasure was this That an Apostle could not have one doubt upon his heart any scruple in his Conscience any doubt about any Text in the Old Testament but he had an infallible Prophet to go to who could teach him all things Thus there was a time of outward visible enjoying of Christ But 2. This outward visible enjoying of Christ was not of any advantage at all if there had not been also a spiritual beleeving on him It was not the seeing the hearing the living with him made a man happy but the spiritual receiving of him as a Mediatour Did not Iudas live with him in this kinde was not he as a familiar Friend with him yet for all that he was a Sonne of Perdition Hence our Saviour upon all occasions took them off from attending to such visible advantages as Luke 11.27 when they cried out Blessed is the womb that bare Christ and the paps that gave him suck He corrected this and said Blessed are they that hear the Word of God and do it So that the very Mother of Christ was more blessed in conceiving Christ in her heart by Faith then conceiving him in her womb So Mar. 3.35 when they told him his Mother and Brethren were to seek him he answered Whosoever doth the will of God the same is my Mother and Brother So that now all such corporall considerations are to vanish and spirituall Arguments are to take place Even as when Christ left his Disciples bodily then the Spirit of God came powerfully upon them If then we would duely improve Christ as a Mediatour we are to be a spirituall people our hearts desires and aims must be wholly spirituall But this is too great a lesson for any natural man he cannot make any use of Christ but after a fleshly carnal manner one way or other The life of Faith is as much above them as reason is above a Beast The natural man cannot receive them because spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2.14 Therefore wicked men are called sensuall and are compared to brute beasts which are wholly carried out by sence We will instance in some particulars by which it's apparent that we are prone to know Christ after a corporal manner As 1. All those doctrinal Opinions in Popery about visible Images and Crucifixes to represent God and Christ what are these but even to desire Christ to be here bodily with us still And because this cannot be therefore we have a Crucifix we keep some bodily representation of him This the Papists commend as of special use to stir up devotion Hence some of them make the same kinde of worship to be given to a Crucifix as to Christ himself Thus Christ is wholly neglected spiritually he is not propounded as a Mediatour to Faith but as a pleasing picture to the sence And thus also though God be a Spirit and he would not appear to the Israelites in any similitude that they might not make any Image of him yet how prone were they to make similitudes of God and is this only among Papists Are not the common people so ignorant and superstitious as to be doting upon such visible Objects Even as little Children love to play with Babies 2. Our pronenesse to know Christ after a corporal manner is seen in the Doctrine of Transubstantiation where the Papists hold the Bread and Wine to be really turned into the body and bloud of Christ that it 's no longer bread or Wine but Christs body and bloud Therefore they look not up to Christ in heaven by Faith but to Christ in the Sacrament as if his corporal being there were all in all Insomuch that all the affection and devotion they put forth in a Sacrament is wholly visible and carnal They worship it as if the body of Christ were there They set it up to be seen that all may bodily fall down and
he plainly feeleth God working in him The wicked man knoweth God by the creatures and his works abroad but the godly knoweth him by the new creature and works of grace upon his heart and this is the most excellent knowledge when he knoweth God by the regeneration and sanctification of his nature by his heavenly and gracious quicknings to holy duties and against sinne If in regard of out naturall life we live and move and have our being in God how much more in our supernatural life Those know God indeed that feel those divine workings upon their souls As Job before when God had humbled him said I have heard of thee by the ear but now my eye seeth thee Job 42.5 So saith the godly I have heard many Sermons of God but I never felt him till now or as the Queen of Sheba who had heard much of the fame of Solomon but when she came to be an eye-witnesse of it then she was astonished and judged all her former apprehensions nothing Thus it is with the truly sanctified though you tell him what good parts what Scripture understanding what abilities in duties he had Oh saith he all that time I did not know God I never knew him till these inward workings were upon me I spoke of him as a man will do of some strange Countrey he had often heard of but never saw Argum. 5 5. The true godly man only knoweth God because he only hath communion and fellowship with him he only is admitted into Gods presence All wicked men though never so knowing are at a great distance from God They know not the light of his countenance what it is to have the assurance of his favour what to have those experimental sweetnesses of heart which flow from the enjoying of him Therefore it s added in that of Joh. 18. I will manifest my self to him and come and sup with him that is God will give us a joyfull chearfull familiar fellowship with himself he will make known himself as Joseph did at last to his brethren God draweth nigh to them and they to God and this indeed is a choice way of knowing of God when we know what it is to have his love shed in our hearts when we hear God speaking peace to us when it 's not duties nor any religious performance but God himself that the heart partakes of Thus the Psalmist inviteth to taste and see how good God is Psa 34.8 Oh hast thou ever had this tasting and seeing then thou knowest God comfortably Now the ground of all this is because obedience love and fear are the end of all knowledge therefore that knowledge which doth not obtain its end is no knowledge and hence the Scripture saith If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them Joh. 13.17 and generally the Scripture describeth wicked men by this that they know not God as Paul said of the Jews If they had known Christ to be the God of glory they would never have crucified him 1 Cor. 2.5 Thus did men know God as they ought they could not think and speak or live as they do Vse Rest not in any kinde of knowledge about God till it hath these effects on thee Never judge thy self to know any thing of Religion till it hath thus transformed thee till it be the acknowledgement of truth after godlinesse but alas where are the persons where is the Family where are the people that know God The ungodliness they live in proclaim they know no such divine Majesty Oh consider that God knoweth not thee likewise with a knowledge of approbation of omniscience he doth and that will be thy confusion but not of complacency at the day of judgement he will say Depart I know you not Oh that we were such of whom it may be said Their obedience their pure and holy life their delight and acquaintance with God manifests they know God and then you will not die with such terrour with such fear I go to him I have known I go not to an unknown God SERMON XXX The Great End of the Ministery And what should be the end of both Ministers and people in their Preaching and hearing JOH 17.6 I have manifested thy Name to as many as thou hast given me out of the world WE have considered the action or efficacy of the person or efficient spoken of in the Text We now come to consider the person himself and that is Christ who saith of himself I have manifested thy Name Christ speaks in this as he is the great Prophet and chief Shepherd of our souls for being intrusted with this office he did faithfully discharge it whoever reads over Christs life and seeth how laborious and diligent he was to bring men to the knowledge of God and to save their souls must needs say The Lion of the Tribe of Judah went up and down more earnestly to save then the roaring Lion of hell is busie to destroy Hence Joh. 4. while he is emploied to bring home but one poor Sheep that was gone astray the Woman of Samaria he is so earnest in it that he forgets to eat his bread and tels them his meat and drink was to do his Fathers will which was to declare the truth of God and invite sinners to come in unto him so then we see here an excellent President for all the Ministers of the Gospel to follow As Christ was wholly in this to make people know God so ought they to be In Christs works of his Mediatorship and of his Miracles we may not imitate him we cannot but in this of his labour and tender love to mens souls we are bound to follow him Obs That the end of the Ministry and Ministers should be to bring people to the knowledge of God to the saving knowledge of Christ Thus Paul exceeded the Heathen Hercules in his manifold labours to this purpose especially see what a divine profession he makes to them of Ephisus Act. 20.26 27. I take you to record this day that I am pure from the bloud of all men Here we see there is a soul-murder as well as a body and the Ministers of the Gospel are to keep themselves pure from that for if the bloud of Abels body crieth aloud what outcries will the bloud of peoples souls make Now Paul kept himself thus pure by declaring unto them all the Counsell of God so that if we would doe our duty we must be Lights shining upon the understandings of men that they may know beleeve in and obey God And so Paul again at large 1 The. 2. There his very heart flameth out into affectionate words for their salvation The end then of our Preaching and of your hearing should be to have God manifested to your souls how apt are both Ministers and people to fail of this great and necessary end To open the doctrine you may take notice that as the Logicians speak of a twofold end Finis operis and
flying Roll that had curses written on it within and without This is proved by the Parable of the Talents where he that had but one was not pardoned but must give an account and for his negligence be condemned Now by a Talent is meant every thing that a man is betrusted with thereby to glorifie God and it 's called a Talent because of the high price and worth that is in every the least opportunity we have to serve God Oh then let all Superiors tremble at this how great and unexpected will thy account be If thou hast endeavoured to be good thy self and holy yet if thou hast not attended to have holy Children and an holy Family thy Condemnation will be exceeding great Think not to say with Cain Am I my Brethrens Keeper What have I to do with others I am no Preacher or Minister for in that thou hast a trust thou shalt give an account of thy godly improving of it 3. All those sinnes that Inferiors do commit for want of thy care and instruction will be thy sinnes and thou wilt be the cause of their damnation That Rule in morality is also true in Divinity qui non dat vitam aufert Ezechiel must be judged guilty of the Israelites sinnes and God will require their bloud at his hands if he do not his duty to them Eze. 3.18 And therefore Paul protested he was free from their bloud because he had made known all the Counsell of God Act. 20.26 Who then will be able to stand under this burthen Hast thou not sinnes of thy own but thou must have thy Childrens sinnes thy Servants sins also to lie upon thy back as an heavy burthen Will Christ at the day of Judgement condemn men because his poor Members were sick and they visited them not They were hungry and they fed them not And will he not much rather be provoked because there have been sick sinful wicked persons under thy care drunkards and thou didst not admonish Swearers and thou didst not frown on them Shall God make Inquisition for the bloud of the body upon Murderers And will he not for the bloud of Souls Shall Abel though dead speak and cry Vengeance and shall not Children Servants Inferiours damned in hell cry out saying It was the negligence the prophanesse of my Superiors that hath brought me hither Were not men stones and Rocks these Considerations would make them melt and tremble Vse of Exhortation to Governours especially Parents and Masters Take our Saviours example here and follow it see his care was that his Disciples might not sinne that they might be kept in all holinesse Oh then blame and condemn thy self saying my thoughts My cares have been to make them rich to provide for them in the world but not at all have I looked to their Souls Do they not lye swear drink Do they not prophane the Sabbath and live dissolutely yet these things are no trouble to thy heart Canst thou say of thy Children as was said of Austin to his Mother Monica It was impossible that a Childe of so many Teares should perish Are thine Children of praiers and tears and careful instruction How many are too like that Woman of Zebedee she comes to Christ with this Petition That her Sons might sit with Christ in his Kingdom one on the right hand and another on the left dreaming of some earthly temporal greatnesse Thus we are apt to think we will provide so much leave such Estates and in the mean while their miserable Souls are undone to all Eternity Be moved hereunto because 1. This is the greatest love and charity to them You cannot discover greater compassion then by taking care of their Souls Their Souls are more worth then all the world how highly did Christ esteem of Souls when he came into the world and endured all that misery for Souls only He died only to make them blessed 2. Consider that thy evil example who art a Governour doth encourage and embolden Inferiours in their wickednesse They are the more obstinate because thou shewest no dislike no frowns on them they think they have cause to sinne then It 's well observed by Lactantius speaking of this particular about Example The nature of man is proclive to all vice and would seem not only cum veniâ but ratione peccare and this they never do more pleade then when their Superiours are such as act Wickednesse or else doe countenance it 3. Be moved hereunto from the Certainty of the Souls good and uncertainty of all worldly things When thou hast consumed thy self in thoughts and cares about thy Children Solomons Observation will hold true Who knoweth whether he will be a wise man or a Fool thou hast laboured for Eccl. 2.19 But now if he hath been instructed in the fear of God This will abide to all Eternity In the next place we come to the Compellation Holy Father From that attribute given to God he is an holy Father and so being a Fountain of all holinesse may easily communicate it to others Obs That God is an holy God and so able to make others holy For we are not to consider of this Attribute meerly as a glorious property in God but to improve it for our good that we also might be made holy This glorious Attribute Isa 6. the Angels of all others do single out and with great â—cclamation praise God saying Holy Holy Holy Yea this is the only Attribute we are to imitate Be ye holy as I am holy not be omnipotent as I am Now God is holy several waies And first He is essentially holy his holinesse and his nature are not two things as it is in Angels and men In this sense Christ said None is good but God God is a pure act and so whatsoever is in God is God His holinesse therefore is not only in that he worketh all things holily but his very nature is holy Hence God is called Jehovah and I AM Exod. 3.14 because what he is he is essentially and therefore seeing his nature is incomprehensible so is his holinesse Seeing we are never able to define what he is so neither can we what his holinesse is Quicquid de Deo dici potest eo ipso indignum est quia dici potest Our dwarfish Nature cannot measure these Pyramides Our shell cannot contain this Ocean Though Astronomers by their Instruments guesse at the magnitude of the Sun yet we cannot reach unto the greatnesse either of Gods Nature or his Attributes Secondly He is not onely essentially holy but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and oppositely holy to those false Gods mans corruption hath set up and in opposition to the Devils who are called unclean spirits Hence he is often stiled the Holy One of Israel because they only worshiped the true God Those ancient Christian Writers Arnobius Austin and others who wrote in defence of the Christian Religion did convince Heathens of their Impiety by worshiping such for gods
upon it that it is sure to have Oh that Unbelief and distrust should ever overwhelm any Godly soul Doth not the Apostle triumph and say Who can lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect Rom. 2. It 's Christ that died Though the divine nature could not suffer yet he that suffered was God as well as man and so it is to be accounted of infinite worth This is more then the Obedience of Men and Angels put together 2. It is of infinite worth in respect of the gracious readinesse and willingnesse of him who did utter it Christ received grace into his humane nature without measure and so this being the gracious offering of him who was God and man it must have necessary acceptance 3. It had infinite worth in respect of the thing uttered which was no lesse then the precious body and bloud of Christ himself he thought not those preparatory sufferings and agonies enough but he consummates all by his Death Oh then let not the trembling sinner fear the insufficiency of the ransome doubt not whether every farthing be paid Say not though such sins may be discharged yet can this that I have committed Can the bloud of Christ cover this sinne as well as others Secondly Consider that though Christ offered up himself as a Sacrifice yet the application of it must be in such a way that God hath appointed It 's not enough that there is a potion which will cure all diseases but it must be taken in that way which the Physician doth prescribe and thus though Christ offered up himself to reconcile God to man yet this is not done till by faith it be received As the bloud of thâ— Sacrifice was to be sprinkled with hysop Thus the bloud of Christ ere it doth wash away our sins must by Faith be sprinkled upon the soul and therefore it 's not altogether here as it is when a man is indebted and lying in prison one comes and paieth the debt for him This man is released without any more a do There is no further thing required but the setting of him at lâ—berty for though Christ hath thus offerrd up himself for the pardon of sinnes yet the Father hath made such an appointment that this price should reach to none but those that beleeve and therefore this Doctrine doth not give the least security to any man to sinne for though Christ died yet his bloud may do thee no good Thou maist lie roaring in hell to all Eternity for all this because thou art not one who doth partake of this death Know the godly themselves while unconverted and abiding in their sinnes have not that actuall benefit of Justification which cometh effectually by Christs Death Thirdly Hence Christs bloud is not only cleansing and washing away the guilt of sinne but the filth of it The Apostle Tit. 3. said that he died to redeem us a peculiar people to himself zealous of good works So that there is none can pleade the justifying efficacy of Christs Death that have not also the sanctifying efficacy of it as it followeth in the Text That they might be sanctified and this will pull up by the very roots all that carnal confidence that most have That come to Christs Death as unto a common Sanctuary It 's true I am a grievous sinner but Christ died Christ was made a Sacrifice but what is this to thee who wallowest in thy filthy lusts Thou art full of thy noisome sinnes and if Christs Death did belong to thee it would wash thee it would purifie thee Do not think Christs bloud can be sprinkled on thee for the pardon of sinne and not for the washing away the filth of it This is the ruine of thousands they divide Christ and separate one effect of his death from another Fourthly Though Christ did but once offer up himself yet the vertue and power of it doth abide for ever It 's not necessary that Christ should be alwaies dying therefore he is said to be a Priest for ever yea this Death of Christ did extend to all the Godly that lived before his Sufferings Abel Abraham and all in the Old Testament had no other Sacrifice to please God with but this It is noted by a Learned man that therefore Cains Sacrifice was not accepted because he did not as Abel offer such a propitiatory Sacrifice as was a Type of Christ but rested in his own duties and works yea it 's thought God by covering Adams nakednesse with skins of Beasts did thereby teach Christs Righteousnesse Look then upon the bloud of Christ as powerfully working as if to day he had been crucified It works as a morall Cause by Covenant and agreement with the Father and therefore it doth as strongly work as ever Fifthly It 's continually useful and necessary seeing we renew sinnes daily and therefore run into new infirmities constantly therefore it behoveth us to apply this medicine continually If a man had been a hundred times stung by Serpents he was as often to look upon the exalted Serpent to be healed if therefore we fall into the mire daily we need washing as often if we get noisomenesse upon us this bloud must daily clense us and certainly we may all say with Peter Not my feet but my whole body also Let that be washed Doth not every part of us get some new pollution Are not hearts affections and mindes constantly polluted If so we cannot be a moment without the application of it as often as we breathe we need the Sprinkling of Christs bloud Sixthly We are to Consider the certain successe and prevalency of it No sooner did the Messengers say Vriah was dead but Davids anger was removed When the destroying Angel seeth this bloud he will passe by if Moses his praier could so much prevail with God that he saith Let me alone and Lot was so accepted that the Angel cannot destroy Sodom till he be removed Then how powerful and prevalent must Christs bloud be Seventhly This Sacrifice is that which Christ presents to his Father The Socinians wold have Christ performing his Priestly Office only in Heaven but it 's plain he did it on earth only what he once did he constantly presents to his Father and the minding of God with this is a farre more efficacious thing then that of the Rainbow God when he beholds this will not again drown the world and when he looketh on Christ will not condemn the humbled sinner Therefore Christ is described Rev. 10. with a Rainbow upon his head to signifie as some think the pacificatory vertue that is in Christ Eighthly The purity of the Sacrifice is not to be forgotten He is called the pure and spotlesse Lamb 1 Pet. 1.19 As it behoved us to have a Priest without sinne So a Sacrifice without any defect otherwise that Sacrifice would have needed another and so there would have been no end Therefore though all we can offer which is ours
be full of blemishes yet when we present Christ by Faith then there is no fault to be found Lastly The vertue of this Sacrifice is to make us like Christ himself he thinketh it not enough to be King and Priest himself but he maketh us also Kings and Priests for ever We offer up Praiers and Praises to him and by him we conquer all our spiritual Enemies The devil and our lusts are subdued Such glory have all they that are partakers of this Sacrifice Vse of Terrour to all wicked and ungodly men who by their Unbelief and Prophanesse reject this Sacrifice The Apostle Heb. 10. cals it trampling upon the bloud of Christ and accounting it a prophane thing Oh how many thousand live that have no esteem and make no account of this Sacrifice Oh remember that this is the last and ultimate Sacrifice He that rejects this hath no more hope There remaineth no more oblation for sinne There is not another Christ or another Sacrifice if thou refuse this Vse 2. Of Encouragement to the Godly Come to this Fountain that is set open for Judah and Jerusalem to cleanse in Doe not say because Christ crucified is a stumbling block and foolishnesse to wicked men that therefore thou wilt disesteem him also There is no sore but this blood will heal and cure Oh let the blood of thy soul be stanched with this blood of Christ This blood speaks good and comfortable things better then that of Abel SERMON CI. Of Sanctification as the Effect of Christs Death Shewing That no man truly believeth in Christ for Justification that doth not also for Sanctification JOH 17.19 And for their sakes I sanctifie my self that they also may be sanctified through the Truth WE are now come to the end of Christs Sanctification which is two-fold the finis cui and cujus We shall put them both together for so they are conjoyned in the following clause That they might be sanctified through the Truth Wherein you have 1. The final Cause 2. The Manner of accomplishing it The final Cause That they might be sanctified and from this the Socinian would argue That Sanctification in the former clause was not meant of an oblation by way of Sacrifice because the same word is applied to the Apostles in the Text and they were not to be sacrificed for us To answer this First Some Expositours do expound it of their offering up of themselves by Martyrdom to confirm the truth for Paul professeth his willingnesse herein using the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 2.15 which was used of some kinde of their Sacrifices but we need not runne to that it 's no new thing in Scripture to use the same word in one verse in different significations and it 's a Rule Talia sunt praedicata qualia permittuntur à subjectis The Apostles then needing not such a Sanctification as Christ applied to himself but that for which he prayed in the former verse We must understand it in the same sense as there It 's true by Sanctification some also will have Justification comprehended and so speak of an imputed Sanctification but we need not stretch the word violently but understand it first Of making inwardly holy and then consequently A setting apart and dedicating our selves wholly unto God by living unto him and thence observe That Christ died not only for our Justification but Sanctification also He made himself a Sacrifice not onely to remove the guilt of sinne but to remove and subdue the power of it not onely to make us happy but also holy Let us consider What is implied in this That Sanctification comes by Christs death And First We are to know that Christ is the Cause of our Sanctification several wayes partly efficiently for not only the Father and the Spirit but Christ himself also is the cause of all the holinesse we have and therefore he is called the life because he gives all supernatural life unto his and is compared to the vine Joh. 15. because as the branch separated from the Vine can bring forth no fruit so neither is a man able without Christ to do the least holy action he is also called the Head and John 1. Of his fulnesse we are all said to receive Thus as God in the course of nature is the authour of every natural gift therefore it 's said In him we live and move and have our being Act. 17.28 So in the way of grace Christ is the authour and finisher as of our faith so of every holy work in us The Author Heb. 12.2 and therefore we cannot so much as begin or meet Christ he must prevent us and the finisher for although we have begun yet we have not the same manutenency and powerfull preservation what we have begun to build would immediately fall to the ground Thus Christ is the Alpha and Omega of our spiritual life 2. Christ is the meritorious cause of our Sanctification and therefore not only remission of sin but holinesse and zeal is made the consequent of Christs death And the Apostle doth not only Rom. 7.8 shew that we are justified by Christ but also that the body of sinne is mortified thereby Thus Heb. 10. what Sanctification that Apostate had is attributed to the blood of Christ Christ then hath as efficaciously merited holinesse as happinesse He died to destroy the workes of the devil now our captivity to him was not onely in respect of guilt but that bondage and slavery we were in to all lusts and therefore those two benefits are like Castor and Pollux one cannot be without the other 3. Christ is in some large and improper sense called the formal cause of the good in us an assistant form not informing that is Christ received and applied by faith doth in a most inward and intimate manner live in us and thereby strengtheneth us so the Apostle Gal. 2.20 I no longer live but Christ in me Here you see Christ liveth in a godly man for by faith we are united unto him and thus Christ becomes our Head from whom we have all spiritual influx Now an head is a conjoyned and united cause made one with the body and thus is Christ and his Church and therefore is that similitude of an Head and the Body so often used 4 Christ is the final cause of our Sanctification that is we are made holy to this end both that we might shew forth the praises and glory of Christ as our Redeemer as also that we should live to him and set all our affections and desires upon him desiring with Paul To know nothing but Christ crucified 1 Cor. 2.1 Secondly In that by Christs death we are sanctified there is implied That we of our selves are very impure and unclean that we are like so many noisome dunghils For our being unsanctified doth imply 1. Our filthiness or uncleanness this is the state of every man till sanctified by Christ he is like an unclean leper his
riches his honours his greatness his parts his morality doth not free him from this impurity so that he ought to abhor himself as a monster as a toad This is the foundation of all our misery that we doe not look upon our selves as so many vile carkasses as so many dead dogs Till this be laid as the first principle Christ is not prized Sanctification is not sought after Oh therefore stand like the leprous person afarre off and cry out I am unclean unclean Thou wouldst be ashamed as Adam was to come with this nakednesse and filthinesse upon thee into Gods presence 2. Being unsanctified doth imply That even the holy things we are imployed about do not sanctifie us but we rather pollute them Hag. 2. He that was unclean though he touched the holy things though he ranne to the Temple and the Altar yet he was not thereby sanctified but he rather polluted them and thus while a man is unsanctified those very duties prayers and ordinances he doth runne unto will condemn him as appeareth Isa 1. by that severe expostulation with them that abounded in their Sacrifices yet did not wash them or make them clean 3. There is implied an utter unfitnesse and indisposition to any good work as on the other side a vessel sanctified was meet for his masters use So that till we be sanctified by Christs blood we have no fitnesse for any holy duty iron can as well swim and logs flie as a natural man be prepared to do that which is holy and supernatural Thirdly That our Sanctification is here attributed to Christs Sanctification of himself we see 1. That the initials and beginnings of Sanctification are wholly from him Some have endeavoured to make the very Heathens partakers of some kinde of sanctification making a pietas pagana as well as Christiana but they are to fear lest that might be applied to them which Bernard did to Abailardus Dum sudat Platonem facere Christianum scriptum facit Ethnicum There is no sanctification but where Christ is and Christ and his body cannot be separated as the gold onely in the Temple was sanctified and this is good to lay us low and to make us admiring of the grace of Christ How is it thou art sanctified and others remain prophane polluted like bruit beasts who hath made this difference Who infused this holy nature into thee Wast thou not as loathsom as wallowing in the filth of thy lusts as others till Christs blood did cleanse thee 2. Not only the initials but progressives and consummatives in Sanctification are to be attributed to his Sanctification Therefore you heard him called the finisher as well as the authour of our faith and the Disciples though already sanctified yet are still more and more to be sanctified It 's true here is a difference between our first Sanctification and the increase of it at first we were wholly passive Christ found us dead in our sinnes and wallowing in our blood but afterwards he findes us alive onely needing his continual exciting and quickening grace Therefore Paul though converted yet still lives a life of faith in Christ we need Christ all the day long How unholy earthly dull and lumpish is thy heart if Christ did not constantly sanctifie it Fourthly This Sanctification purchased by Christ must be in truth and integrity so Christ addeth sanctified in the truth that is truly in opposition to those legal and ceremonial sanctifications which did only cleanse the body but not reach to the soul Although in the New Testament we have no such external bodily Sanctification yet still there is an outward Sanctification and an inward both coming by Christ and one separable from the other Thus you heard the apostate is said to be sanctified by the blood of Christ which was not indeed and truly so for then he would not have totally fallen off but in respect of the external administration Hence 1 Cor. 1.2 the whole Church of Corinth though afterwards reproved for many sinfull practices yet are called sanctified and that partly because of the external dispensation of the Ordinances which they enjoyed So that there is a Sanctification external and a Sanctification internall External is when by our Baptisme and Christian profession We acknowledge our selves separated from the world to live unto God but internal is when we are so indeed How shall we call the prophane ungodly person a sanctified one Look to the truth of Sanctification here mentioned in the Text. Now the truth of it lieth 1. In the manner of working of it The Spirit of God by the Word doth thus sanctifie therefore some understand this in the Text by the truth as formerly our Saviour prayed God himself is the onely Authour of Sanctification We cannot make our selves holy no more then we can make our selves men yet God works not in the order of grace immediately no more then in the order of nature where he makes use of second causes Thus in the working of grace he appointeth second means as the Ministry and Ordinances and therefore Paul 1 Cor. 3. saith They were Ministers by whom the Corinthians did beleeve and there is no better discovery of true Sanctification then to examine the manner and way how thou hast received it for if the Spirit of God by the Word hath wrought it in thee then fear not this is of a more noble and supernatural being then what morality or principles of civility can incline unto thee As Christ himself was in his bodily nature conceived by the holy Ghost in an extraordinary manner Thus is every one sanctified in an higher and more sublime way then all the moral and prudential dictates of nature can carry us unto Oh then prove thy self what hath the Spirit of God and his Word done unto thee That was not more wonderfull in those who had a prophetical Spirit then in such who are sanctified To enable men to speak with strange Tongues is not more admirable then to give a man a strange heart to what he had once and strange in respect of others 2. It 's true Sanctification when it hath the universality and integrity of all parts which is the whole Image of God as Paul prayeth 1 Thess 5. I pray God ye be sanctified throughout in spirit soul and body This work of Sanctification it 's an entire compleat harmonical compages of all holinesse take any part of it away and you dissolve the whole fabrick It 's true Sanctification though it have not perfect and compleat degrees but not true if it want any essential parts and therefore called the Image of God which cannot be one grace no more then a man can be a man in one part and a beast in another but the Systeme of all 3. It 's true Sanctification in the permanency and continuance of it Perseverance doth not make Sanctification to be true but the truth of Sanctification makes it persevere Perseverance is an effect not a cause of
resplendent beams thereof proclaim its presence This is excellently set down Joh. 14.20 21. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you And ver 21. I will love him and manifest my self to him In the second place Though Christ be in us invisibly and spiritually yet he is truly and really and operatively in us So that we are not to look upon this as a fancy or delusion as some non-entity or meer notions of melancholy men No as Christ is a reall Christ so he doth really live and dwell in us if nothing were reall but what is corporeall then our souls should be no reall substances Then the soul of a man would be thought to be a meer fancy and notion likewise But as Christ is reall and the soul is reall so is Christs dwelling and living in it reall yea it is so reall that corporal things are said to have no reality at all comparatively Thus Christ Joh. 15.1 I am the true Vine and Joh. 6.55 56. My flesh is meat indeed and my bloud is drink indeed He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud dwelleth in me and I in him Now why doth Christ say his body is meat indeed he doth not mean corporally but oppositely to corporall food The very food we eat is not meat comparatively to Christ for our bodies feed on that and yet perish they have not life alwaies abiding in them but who so hath Christ in him he can no more perish then Christ himself Christ is meat indeed and life indeed The godly then finde and know this life and dwelling of Christ to be a reall solid thing and therefore do though not corporally yet spiritually perceive it and know it to be more reall then their bodily life and actions It 's not lesse reall and true because spirituall and mystical Therefore that which on Christs part maketh him to be in us viz. his spirit that is reall and that which on our part receiveth Christ and whereby he dwelleth in us viz. faith that is also a lively grace Therefore though we walk not by bodily sence but by faith yet the things of Faith have as reall and lively subsistence in the soul as bodily objects can affect the body 3. Consider how Christ is to be conceived in his people and that the Scripture represents several waies 1. Christ is in us by way of Vnion so as to be made one mystical person with us I shall not be large in discovering this because I have touched on it heretofore only the first step of Christs being in us is by uniting of himself to us for we are by nature estranged from him and lie as so many lumps of earth devoid and destitute of all spirituall life and motion till Christ unite himself to us so that as it was Gods wonderfull power to call those dry bones and unite them together Thus it is also his admirable power to unite himself to a Beleever Christ doth not stay till we first unite our selves to him but he joyneth himself first to us and this is the first step of Christs saving grace in us 2. Christ is in us so that thereby we are made partakers of his person not only the gifts of Christ and the graces of Christ but Christ himself is in us as Gal. 2.20 Christ liveth in me and so Eph. 3.17 Christ dwels in our hearts so that this King of glory doth not only bring his rich Ornaments and Hangings to beautifie the soul but he himself also in his own person resides there Not indeed corporally as you heard but spiritually for though Christ be in heaven yet that is no hindrance to Faith It 's not distance of place that takes away from Faith no more then of time but as future things are present to heaven so are remote things locally present to it Even as to the eye some Objects though many miles distant are present Faith therefore receiveth the person of Christ and it 's not only the graces of Christ but Christ himself that dwels in the soul but yet by faith it is true many Divines affirm the graces of Gods Spirit to be in us but the Scripture doth expresly relate even to the person of Christ and the Spirit as well as the graces flowing from them 3. Christ is in his people by way of gracious operation as a powerfull efficient which enableth to all those holy and divine actions the godly perform Joh. 15. Without me you can do nothing As the branch without the Vine cannot bring forth any fruit Did not Christ daily move and breathe upon the soul it would alwaies work in a carnal and humane manner Paul saith He no longer liveth but Christ in him Gal. 2.20 For Paul of himself and in his own corruption would follow the boasts of the flesh persevere the desires thereof did not Christ quicken and sanctifie him 4. Christ is in us sacramentally that is in and by the right use of that Ordinance he is in a peculiar manner present to the beleever Therefore it 's called the Communion of the body of Christ 1 Cor. 10. and although Joh 6. the eating and drinking of Christs body and bloud be not there meant of the Sacrament but of Faith in the general for it 's made necessary to every man that would have Eternal life yet by that expression is seen the intimate incorporation of the godly with Christ and in the right use of the Sacrament there is a more sensible visible assurance of such a presence whether Christs presence Sacramentally be other then his presence by a promise is not here to be disputed Certainly if the presence differ not yet the manner of confirming and assuring of it doth otherwise Sacraments would be Seals of the promise in vain and the promise it self would be enough and the enjoying of Christ in a promise would be enough without making use of the Sacrament and so that be wholly needlesse I shall not enlarge on this Point further But come we to the fruits and effects of Christs being in us This is the great necessary thing to finde that Christ is in us for either the devil and sin live in us we no longer live but sin and Satan or else Christ and his Spirit are in us and it 's good to observe what are the Evidences and demonstrations of Christs being in us 1. In whomsoever Christ is he is made a New Creature old things are past away It 's high blasphemy to say Christ is in constant habitual wicked men no 2 Cor. 5.17 If any be in Christ he is a new Creature Now whosoever is in Christ Christ is also in him for they are mutual and reciprocall if therefore thou livest in ignorance and prophanesse conclude assuredly that Christ is not in thee It was the devil that entred into the Swine and hurried them headlong into the Sea Thus still the devil doth hurry many wicked men violently