any thing that hath a loving and tender nature in the world and doth act suitably thereunto which God hath not compared himselfe unto Separate all weaknesse and impefection which is in them yet great impressions of love must abide He is as a Father a Mother a Sheaphard an Hen over Chickins and the like Psal. 103. 13. Isa. 63. 16. Math 6. 6. Isa 66. 13. Psal 23. 1. Isa. 40. 11. Math 23. 37. I shall not need to adde any more proofes This is that which is demónstrated There is love in the person of the Father peculiarly held out untô the Saints as wherein he will and doth hold Communion with them Now to compleat Communion with the Father in love two § 13 things are required of Believers 1. That they receive it of him 2. That they make suitable returnes unto him 1. That they doe receive it Communion consists in giving and receiving Untill the Love of the Father be received we have no Communion with him therein How then is this Love of the Father to be received so as to hold fellowship with him I answer by Faith The receiving of it is the believing of it God hath so fully so eminently revealed his Love that it may be received by Faith You believe in God John chap. 14. 1. that is the Father and what is to be believed in him His love for he is love 1 John 8. 8. It is true there is not an immediate acting of Faith upon the § 14 Father but by the Son He is the Way the Truth and the Life no man cometh unto the Father but by him John chap. 14. v. 6. He is the mercifull high Priest over the House of God by whom we have Accesse to the throne of Grace by him is our manuduction unto the Father By him we believe in God 1 Pet. 1. 21. But this is that I say When by and through Christ we have an Accesse unto the Father we then behold his Glory also and see his Love that he peculiarly beares unto us and act faith thereon We are then I say to Eye it to believe it to receive it as in him the Issues and fruits thereof being made out unto us through Christ alone Though there be no Light for us but in the Beames yet we may by the Beames see the sunne which is the Fountaine of it Though all our Refreshment actually lye in the streames yet by them we are led up unto the fountaine Jesus Christ in respect of the love of the Father is but the Beame the Streame wherein though actually all our Light our Refreshment lyes yet by him we are lead to the Fountaine the Sunne of Eternall Love it selfe Would Believers exercise themselves herein they would find it a matter of no small Spirituall improovement in their walking with God This is that which is aymed at Many darke and disturbing thoughts are apt to arise in this thing Few can carry up their hearts and minds to this height by faith as to rest their soules in the Love of the Father they live below it in the troublesome Region of hopes and feares stormes and clouds All here is serene and quiet But how to attain to this pitch they know not This is the will of God that He may always be eyed as Benigne Kind Tender Loving and unchangeable therein and that peculiarly as the Father as the great fountaine and spring of all gracious Communications and fruits of Love This is that which Christ came to reveale God as a Father John 1. 18. That name which he declares to those who are given him out of the world John 17. 6. And this is that which he effectually leads us to by himselfe as he is the only way of going to God as a Father John 14. 5 6. that is as Love And by doing so gives us the rest which he promiseth for the Love of the Father is the only rest of the soule It is true as was said we doe not this formally in the first instant of Believing We believe in God through Christ. 1 Pet. 1. 21. Faith seeks out rest for the soule This is presented to it by Christ the Mediator as the only procuring cause Here it abides not but by Christ it hath an accesse to the Father Ephes. 2. 18. into his Love finds out that he is Love as having a designe a purpose of Love a good pleasure towards us from eternity A delight a complacency a good will in Christ all cause of Anger and Aversation being taken away The soule being thus by Faith through Christ by him brought into the bosome of God into a comfortable perswasion and spirituall perception and sense of his love there reposes and rests it selfe And this is the first thing the Saints doe in their Communion with the Father of the due improovement whereof more afterwards 2. For that suitable returne which is required this also in a § 15 maine part of it beyond which I shall not now extend it consisteth in Love God Loves that he may be beloved When he comes to command the Returne of his Received Love to compleat Communion with him he says My son give me thy Heart Prov. chap. 23. v. 26. thy Affections thy Love Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy soule and with all thy strength and with all thy mind Luk. chap. 10. v. 27. this is the returne that he demandeth When the Soule sees God in his dispensation of Love to be Love to be infinitely lovely and loving rests upon and delights in him as such then hath it Communion with him in Love This is Love that God Loves us first and then we love him again I shall not now goe forth into a discription of divine Love Generally Love is an Affection of union and nerenesse with Complacency therein So long as the Father is looked on under any other Apprehension but only as acting love upon the Soule it breeds in the soule a dread and Aversation Hence the flying and hiding of sinners in the Scriptures But when he who is the Father is considered as a Father acting Love on the Soule this raises it to love againe This is in Faith the ground of all acceptable obedience Deut. 5. 10. Exod. 20. 6. Deut. 10. 12. 11. 1. 13. 13. 3. Thus is this whole businesse stated by the Apostle Ephes. 1. 4. according as hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love It begins in the love of God and ends in our love to him That is it which the Eternall Love of God aymes at in us and workes us up unto It is true our universall obedience falls within the Compasse of our Communion with God but that is with him as God our blessed Soveraigne Lawgiver and Rewarder As he is the Father our Father in Christ as revealed unto us to be Love above and
for the Glory of the Sonne we are actually interested according to the tenour of the Covenant at the same instant of time in the blood of Christ as to the Benefits which he hath procured for us thereby Yea this very work of the Spirit it selfe is a fruit and part of the purchase of Christ but we speak of our sense of this thing whereunto the communication of the spirit is antecedent And 3. To the Glory of the Father we are accepted with him justified freed from guilt pardoned and have peace with God Rom. 5. 1. Thus through Christ we have Accesse by one spirit unto the Father 2 Ephes. 2. 18. And thus are both Father and Sonne and the Holy Spirit Glorified in our justification and acceptation with God the Father in his Free Love the Sonne in his Full purchase and the Holy Spirit in his effectuall working 10. All this in all the parts of it is no lesse fully procured for us nor lesse freely bestowed on us for Christs sake and on his § 22 account as part of his purchase and merits then if all of us immediatly upon his death had been translated into Heaven only this way of our deliverance and freedome is fixed on that the whole Trinity may be glorified thereby And this may suffice in answer to the first Objection Though our Reconciliation with God be fully and compleatly procured by the death of Christ and all the ways and meanes whereby it is accomplished yet we are brought unto an Actuall enjoyment thereof by the way and in the order mentioned for the praise of the Glorious Grace of God The second Objection is that if the Righteousnesse and Obedience of Christ to the Law be imputed unto us then what need we yeild Obedience § 23 our selves To this also I shall returne answer as briefely as I can in the ensuing Observations Then 1. The placeing of our Gospell Obedience on the right foot of account that it may neither be exalted into a state condition Use nor End not given it of God nor any Reason Cause Motive end necessity of it on the other hand taken away weakned or impaired is a matter of Great importance Some make our Obedience the workes of Faith our workes the matter or cause of our Justification Some the condition of the Imputation of the Righteousnesse of Christ some the qualification of the Person justifyed on the one hand some exclude all the necessity of them and turne the Grace of God into lasciviousnesse on the other To debate these differences is not my present businesse only I say on this and other accounts the right stating of our Obedience is of great importance as to our walking with God 2. We doe by no meanes assigne the same place condition state and use to the Obedience of Christ imputed to us and § 24 our Obedience performed to God If we did they were really inconsistent And therefore those who affirme that our Obedience is the Condition or Cause of our Justification doe all of them deny the Imputation of the Obedience of Christ unto us The Righteousnesse of Christ is imputed to us as that on the account whereof we are accepted and esteemed Righteous before God and are really so though not inherently We are as truly Righteous with the Obedience of Christ imputed to us as Adam was or could have been by a compleat Righteousnesse of his own performance So Rom. 5. 18. by his Obedience we are made Righteous made so truely and so accepted as by the disobedience of Adam we are truely made Trespassours and so accounted And this is that which the Apostle desires to be found in in opposition to his Own Righteousnesse Phil. 3 9. But our own Obedience is not the Righteousnesse whereupon we are accepted and justifyed before God although it be acceptable to God that we should abound therein And this distinction the Apostle doth evidently deliver and confirme so as nothing can be more cleerly revealed Eph. 2. 8 9 10. For by Grace we are Saved through Faith and this not of our selves It is the guift of God Not of workes least any man should boast For we are his workes manship created in Christ Jesus unto good workes which God hath prepared that we should walke in them We are saved or justifyed for that it is whereof the Apostle treats by Grace through Faith which receives Jesus Christ and his Obedience not of workes least any man should boast but what workes are they that the Apostle intends The workes of Believers as in the very beginning of the next words is manifest for we are we Believers with our Obedience and our workes of whom I speake yea but what need then of workes need still there is we are the workmanship c. Two things the Apostle intimates in these words 1. A Reason why we cannot be saved by workes namely because we doe them not in or by our own strength which is necessary we should doe if we will be saved by them or justifyed by them but this is not so saith the Apostle for we are the workemanship of God c. all our workes are wrought in us by full and Effectuall undeserved Grace 2. An Assertion of the necessity of good workes notwithstanding that we are not saved by them and that is that God has ordained that we shall walke in them which is a sufficient ground of our Obedience what ever be the use of it If you will say then what are the true and proper Gospell § 25 Grounds Reasons Uses and Motives of our Obedience whence the necessity thereof may be demonstrated and our soules be stirred up to abound and be fruitfull therein I say they are so many lye so deep in the Mystery of the Gospell and Dispensation of Grace spread themselves so throughout the whole Revelation of the will of God unto us that to handle them fully and distinctly and to give them their due weight is a thing that I cannot engage in least I should be turned aside from what I principally intend I shall only give you some briefe heads of what might at large be insisted on 1. Our universall Obedience and good workes are indispensably necessary from the soveraigne appointment and will § 26 of God Father Son and Holy Ghost 1. In Generall this is the will of God even our Sanctification or Holinesse 1 Thess. 4. 3. this is that which God wills which he requires of us that we be holy that we be obedient That we do his will as the Angells doe in Heaven The Equity necessity profit and advantage of this ground of our Obedience might at large be insisted on And were there no more this might suffice alone If it be the will of God it is our duty 1. The Father hath ordeined or appointed it it is the will of the Father Ephes. 2. 10. the Father is spoken of personally Christ being mentioned as Mediator 2. The Sonne hath ordained and appointed it as Mediator Joh.
to all the three Persons and is proper to each of them not formally as a Person but as God blessed for ever All adoration respects that which is common to all so that in each Act of Adoration and worship all are adored and worshipped The Creatures worship their Creator and a man him in whose image he was created viz. him from whom descendeth every good and perfect gift all this describing God as God Hence Secondly when we begin our Prayers to God the Father and § 2 end them in the name of Jesus Christ yet the Sonne is no lesse invocated and worshipped in the beginning then the Father though he be peculiarly mentioned as mediator in the close not as Sonne to himselfe but as Mediator to the whole Trinity or God in Trinity But in the invocation of God the Father we invocate every Person because we Invocate the Father as God every Person being so Thirdly In that heavenly Directory which we have Eph. 2. § 3 18. this whole businesse is declared our accesse in our worship is said to be to the Father and this through Christ or his mediation by the Spirit or his assistance Here is a distinction of the Persons as to their operations but not at all as to their being the object of our Worship For the Sonne and the Holy Ghost are no lesse worshipped in our accesse to God then the Father himselfe Only the Grace of the Father which we obtain by the mediation of the Sonne and the assistance of the spirit is that which we draw nigh to God for So that when by the distinct dispensation of the Trinity and every Person we are lead to worship that is to act Faith on or invocate any Person we doe herein worship the whole Trinity and every Person by what name soever of Father Sonne or Holy Ghost we invocate him So that this is to be observed in this whole matter That when any work of the Holy Ghost or any other Person which is appropriated to him we never exclude the concurrence of other Persons draws us to the worship of him yet he is not worshipped exclusively but the whole Godhead is worshipped Fourthly These Cautions being premised I say that we § 4 are distinctly to worship the Holy Ghost As it is in the case of Faith in respect of the Father and the Sonne Joh. 14 1. Believe in God believe also in me This extends it selfe no lesse to the Holy Ghost Christ called the Disciples for the acting of Faith on him he being upon the accomplishment of the great worke of his Mediation and the Holy Ghost now carrying on the work of his delegation requireth the same And to the same purpose are their distinct operations mentioned My Father worketh hitherto and I worke Now as the formall Reason of the worship of the Sonne is not his mediation but his being God his mediation being a powerfull motive thereto so the formall Reason of our worshipping the Holy Ghost is not his being our comforter but his being God yet his being our comforter is a powerfull motive thereunto This is the summe of the first Direction The Grace actings Love effects of the Holy Ghost as he is our Comforter ought to § 5 stir us up and provoke us to Love worship believe in and invocate him though all this being directed to him as God is no lesse directed on that account to the other Persons then to him only by the fruits of his Love towards us are we stirred up unto it These things being presupposed let the Saints learne to act § 6 faith distinctly on the Holy Ghost as the immediate efficient cause of all the good things mentioned Faith I say to believe in him and Faith in all things to believe him and to yeeld obedience to him Faith not imagination The distinction of the Persons in the Trinity is not to be fancyed but believed So then the Scripture so fully frequently clearly distinctly ascribing the things we have been speaking of to the immediate efficiency of the Holy Ghost Faith closeth with him in the truth revealed and peculiarly regards him worships him serves him waits for him prayeth to him prayseth him All these things I say the Saints doe in Faith The person of the Holy Ghost revealing its selfe in these operations and effects is the peculiar object of our Worship Therefore when he ought to be peculiarly honoured and is not he is peculiarly sinned against Acts 5. 2 Ananias is said to lye to the Holy Ghost not to God which being taken essentially would denote the whole Trinity but peculiarly to the Holy Ghost Him he was to have honoured peculiarly in that especiall gift of his which he made profession of not doing it he sinned peculiarly against him But this must be a little farther branched into particulars Let us then say weight on every Effect of the Holy Ghost in any of the Particulars before mentioned on this account that § 7 they are acts of his Love and power towards us This faith will doe that takes notice of his kindnesie in all things Frequently he performes in sundry particulars the office of a Comforter towards us and we are not throughly comforted we take no notice at all of what he doth Then is he grieved Of those who doe receive and own the Consolation he tenders and administers how few are there that consider him as the comforter and rejoyce in him as they ought Upon every work of consolation that the Believer receives this ought his Faith to resolve upon This is from the Holy Ghost He is the comforter the God of all Consolation I know there is no joy peace hope nor comfort but what he workes gives and bestowes and that he might give me this Consolation he hath willingly condescended to this office of a Comforter his Love was in it and on that account doth he continue it Also he is sent by the Father and Sonne for that end and purpose By this meanes come I to be partaker of my joy it is in the Holy Ghost of consolation he is the comforter What price now shall I set upon his Love How shall I value the mercy that I have received This I say is applicable to every particular effect of the Holy Ghost towards us herein have we communion and fellowship with § 8 him as was in part discovered in our handling the particulars Doth he shed abroad the Love of God in our hearts doth he witnesse unto our Adoption the soule considers his presence ponders his Love his condescension goodnesse and kindnesse is filled with reverence of him and care not to grieve him and labours to preserve his Temple his Habitation pure and holy Againe our communion with him causeth in us Returning praise and thanks and honour and glory and blessing to him § 9 on the account of the mercies and priviledges which we receive from him which are many Herein consists our next direction So do we with the Sonne
can take up the Soule with such thoughts of God he hath enough all that he doth desire This hath been his designe and way from the beginning The first blood that Murderer shed was by this meanes He leades our first Parents into hard thoughts of God hath God said so hath he threatned you with death he knows well enough it will be better with you with this Engine did he batter and overthrow all mankind in one and being mindfull of his ancient conquest he readily useth the same weapons wherewith then he so succesfully contended Now it is exceeding Grievous to the Spirit of God to be so slandered in the hearts of those whom he dearely loves How doth he expostulate this with Syon What iniquity g have you seen in me saith he have I been a Wildernesse unto you or a Land of darknesse Syon hath said the Lord hath forgotten me and my God hath forsaken me but can a mother c. The Lord takes nothing worse at the hands of his then such hard thoughts of him knowing full well what fruit this bitter Root is like to beare what Alienation of Heart what drawings back what unbeliefe and Tergiversations in our walking with him How unwilling is a Child to come into the presence of an angry Father Consider then this in the first place Receiving of the Father as he holds out Love to the soule gives him the Honour he aimes at and is exceeding acceptable unto him He often sets it out in an eminent manner that it may be so received He commendeth his Love unto us Rom 5. 8. Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed on us Joh. ch 3. v. 1. Whence then is this folly men are afraid to have good thoughts of God They think it a boldnesse to Eye God as good gracious tender kind loving I speak of Saints but for the other side they can judge him hard austere severe almost implacable and fierce the very worst Affections of the very worst of men and most hated of him Rom. ch 1. v. 31. 2 Tim 3. 3. and think herein they doe well Is not this Soule-deceit from Sathan was it not his designe from the beginning to inject such thoughts of God Assure thy selfe then there is nothing more acceptable unto the Father then for us to keep up our hearts unto him as the eternall fountaine of all that rich Grace which flowes out to sinners in the blood of Jesus and 2. This will be exceeding effectuall to endeare thy soule unto God to cause thee to delight in him and to make thy abode with him Many Saints have no greater burthen in their Lives then that their Hearts do not come clearely and fully up constantly to delight and rejoyce in God that there is still an indisposednesse of Spirit unto close walking with him What is at the bottome of this distemper Is it not their unskilfulnesse in or neglect of this Duty even of holding Communion with the Father in Love So much as we see of the Love of God so much shall we delight in him and no more Every other discovery of God without this will but make the Soule fly from him But if the heart be once much taken up with this the Eminency of the Fathers Love it cannot chuse but be overpowred conquered and endeared unto him This if any thing will worke upon us to make our abode with him If the Love of a Father will not make a child delight in him what will put then this to the venture excercise your thoughts upon this very thing the Eternall Free and Fruitfull Love of the Father and see if your Hearts be not wrought upon to delight in him I dare boldly say believers will find it as thriving a course as ever they pitched on in their lives Sit downe a little at the Fountaine and you will quickly have a farther discovery of the sweetnesse of the streames You who have run from him will not be able after a while to keep at a distance for a moment Ob. But some may say Alasse how shall I hold communion with § 13 the Father in Love I know not at all whether be Loves me or no and shall I venture to cast my selfe upon it How if I should not be accepted should I not rather perish for my presumption then find sweetnesse in his Bosome God seems to me only as a consuming fire and everlasting burnings so that I dread to look up unto him Ans. I know not what may be understood by knowing of the Love of God though it be carried on by Spirituall sense and Experience yet it is received purely by believing Our knowing of it is our believing of it as revealed We have known and believed the Love that God hath to us God is Love 1 Joh. ch 4. v. 16. This is the Assurance which at the very Entrance of walking with God thou maist have of this Love He who is Truth hath said it and what-ever thy Heart saies or Sathan saies unlesse thou wilt take it up on this account thou doest thy endeavour to make him a lyar who hath spoken it 1 Joh. 5. 10. Ob. 2. I can believe that God is Love to others for he hath said he § 14 is Love but that he will be so to me I see no ground of perswasion there is no cause no Reason in the world why he should turne one thought of love or kindnesse towards me and therefore I dare not cast my selfe upon it to hold communion with him in his speciall love Ans. He hath spoken it as particularly to thee as to any one in the world And for cause of love he hath as much to fixe it on thee as on any of the Children of men that is none at all without himselfe So that I shall make speedy work with this objection Never any one from the foundation of the World who believed such Love in the Father and made returnes of Love to him againe was deceived neither shall ever any to the Worlds end be so in so doing Thou art then in this upon a most sure bottome If thou believest and receivest the Father as Love he will infallibly be so to thee though others may fall under his severity but Ob 3. I cannot find my heart making Returnes of Love unto God Could I find my Soule set upon him I could then believe his Soule delighted § 15 in me Answ. This is the most preposterous course that possibly thy thoughts can pitch upon a most ready way to rob God of his glory Herein is Love saith the Holy Ghost not that we loved God but that he loved us first 1 Joh. 4. 10 19. Now thou wouldest invert this Order and say herein is Love not that God loved me but that I love him first This is to take the Glory of God from him that whereas he loves us without a cause that is in our selves and we have all cause in the World to love him
the Obedience of Christ which was the first thing § 11 proposed to be considered The next is that it hath an influence into the Grace of which we speake wherein we hold communion with him namely our free Acceptation with God what that influence is must also follow in its order 1. For his habituall Righteousnesse I shall only propose it under these two considerations 1. That upon this supposition that it was needfull that we should have a Mediator that was God and Man in one person as it could not otherwise be it must needs be that He must be so holy For all though there be but one primary necessary effect of the Hypostaticall union which is the subsistence of the humane nature in the person of the Sonne of God yet that He that was so united to him should be an holy thing compleatly holy was necessary also of which before 2. That the Relation which this Righteousnesse of Christ hath to the Grace we receive from him is only this that thereby he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fit to doe all that He had to doe for us This is the intendment of the Apostle Heb. 7. 26. such an one became us it was needfull He should be such an one that he might doe what he had to doe And the Reasons hereof are two 1. Had he not been compleatly furnished with habituall Grace He could never have actually fullfilled the Righteousnesse which was required at his hands It was therein that he was able to doe all that he did So himselfe lays down the presence of the Spirit with him as the bottome and foundation of his going foth to his worke Isa. 61 1. 2. He could not have been a compleat and perfect Sacrifice nor have answered all the ' types figures of him that were compleat and without blemish but now Christ having this Habituall Righteousnesse if he had never yeilded any continued obedience to the Law actively but had suffered as soon after his Incarnation as Adam sinned after his Creation He had been a fit Sacrifice and Offering and therefore doubtlesse his following Obedience hath another use besides to fit him for an Oblation for which he was most fit without it 2. For Christs obedience to the Law of Mediation wherein it is not coincident with his passive obedience as they speake for I § 12 know that expression is improper it was that which was requisite for the discharging of his Office and is not imputed unto us as though we had done it though the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and fruits of it are but is of the nature of his Intercession whereby He provides the good things we stand in need of at least subserviently to his Oblation and Intercession of which more afterwards 3. About his Actuall fulfilling of the Law or doing all things that of us are required there is some doubt and question and § 13 about it there are three severall opinions 1. That this Active Obedience of Christ hath no farther influence into our Justification and Acceptation with God but as it was preparatory to his blood shedding and oblation which is the sole cause of our Justification the whole Righteousnesse which is imputed to us arising from thence 2. That it may be considered two waies 1. As it is purely obedience so it hath no other state but that before mentioned 2. As it was accomplished with suffering and joyn'd with it as it was part of his humiliation so it is imputed to us or is part of that upon the account whereof we are justified 3. That this obedience of Christ being done for us is reckoned graciously of God unto us and upon the account thereof are we accepted as Righteous before him My intendment is not to handle this difference in the way of a controversy but to give such an understanding of the whole as may speedily be reduced to the practice of Godlinesse and consolation and this I shall doe in the ensuing Observations 1. That the Obedience that Christ yeelded to the Law in § 14 generall is not only to the peculiar law of the Mediator though he yeilded it as Mediator He was incarnate as Mediator Heb. 2. 14. Gal. 4. 4. And all He afterwards did it was as our Mediator for that cause came he into the World and did and suffered what ever He did or suffered in this world So that of this expression as Mediator there is a twofold sence for it may be taken strictly as relating solely to the Law of the Mediator and so Christ may be said to do as Mediator only what he did in obedience to that â—â—w but in the sense now insisted on what ever Christ did as a man subject to any Law he did it as Mediator because he did it as part of the duty incumbent on him who undertook so to be 2. That what ever Christ did as Mediator He did it for them § 15 whose Mediator He was or in whose stead and for whose good He executed the Office of a Mediator before God This the Holy Ghost witnesseth Rom. 8. 3. What the Law could not doe in that it was weake through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likenesse of sinfull flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousnesse of the Law might be fulfilled in us because that we could not in that condition of weaknesse whereinto we are cast by sinne come to God and be freed from condemnation by the Law God sent Christ as a Mediator to doc and suffer whatever the Law required at our hands for that end and purpose that we might not be condemned but accepted of God It was all to this end that the Righteousnesse of the Law might be fulfilled in us that is which the Law required of us consisting in duties of obedience this Christ performed for us This expression of the Apostle God sending his own Sonne in the likenesse of sinfull flesh and for sinne condemning sinne in the flesh if you will adde to it that of Gal 4. 4. that he was so sent forth as that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made under the Law that is obnoxious to it to yeeld all the obedience that it doth require comprizes the whole of what Christ did or suffered and all this the Holy Ghost tells us was for us v. 4. 3. That the end of this Active Obedience of Christ cannot be assigned to be that He might be fitted for his death and Oblation § 16 For He answered all types and was every way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fit to be made an offering for sinne by his vnion and Habituall Grace so that if the obedience Christ performed be not reckoned to us and done upon our account there is no just cause to be assigned why He should live here in the world so long as He did in perfect obedience to all the Lawes of God Had He dyed before there had been perfect Innocence and perfect Holinesse by his habituall
soules In the light of his Countenance is life peace Now if we walk in the light as He is light we have fellowship one with another 1 Ioh 1. 7. and verily our fellowship is with the Father and with the Sonne Jesus Christ v. 3. He that walkes in the light of new obedience he hath Communion with God and in his presence is fullnesse of joy for ever without it there is nothing but darknesse and wandring and confusion 3. Usefullnesse A man without Holinesse is good for nothing Ephraim saies the Prophet is an empty vine that brings forth fruit to it selfe And what is such a vine good for nothing saith another Prophet a man cannot make a pin of it so much as to hang a vessell on A barren tree is good for nothing but to be cut downe for the fire Notwithstanding the seeming usefullnesse of men who serve the providence of God in their Generations I could easily manifest that the World and the Church might want them and that indeed in themselves they are good for nothing only the holy man is commune bonum 3. The end of it in respect of others in the world is manifold 1. It serves to the Conviction and stopping the mouthes of § 32 some of the Enemies of God both here and hereafter Here 1 Pet. 3. 16. Keeping a good Conscience that wherein they speak against you as evill doers they may be ashamed beholding your good conversation in Christ. By our keeping of a good Conscience men will be made ashamed of their false accusations That whereas their malice and hatred of the wayes of God hath provoked them to speake all manner of evill of the profession of them by the Holinesse and Righteousnesse of the Saints they are convinced and made ashamed as a Thiefe is when he is taken and be driven to acknowledge that God is amongst them and that they are wicked themselves Ioh. 17. 23. 2. Hereafter It is said that the Saints shall judge the World It is on this as well as upon other considerations Their good workes their Righteousnesse their Holinesse shall be brought forth and manifested to all the world and the Righteousnesse of Gods judgements against wicked men be thence evinced See saies Christ these are they that I own whom you so despised and abhorred and see their workes following them this and that they have done when you wallowed in your Abominations Math. 25. 42 43. 2. The Conversion of others 1 Pet. 2. 12. Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles that wherein they spake against you as evill doers beholding your good works they may glorify God in the day of visitation Math. 5 17. Even Revilers Persecutors Evill speakers have been overcome by the constant holy walking of Professours and when their day of visitation hath come have Glorified God on that account 1 Pet. 3. 1 2. 3. The Benefit of all partly in keeping of Judgments from the residue of men as ten good men would have preserved Sodome partly by their reall communication of good to them with whom they have to doe in their Generation Holinesse makes a man a good man usefull to all and others eat of the fruits of the Spirit that he brings forth continually 4. It is necessary in respect of the state and condition of Justified Persons and that whether you consider their Relative state § 33 of Acceptation or their state of Sanctification 1. They are Accepted and received into friendship with an Holy God a God of purer eyes then to behold iniquity who hates every uncleane thing And is it not necessary that they should be Holy who are admitted into his presence walke in his sight yea lay in his bosome Should they not with all diligence cleanse themselves from all pollution of Flesh and Spirit and perfect Holinesse in the feare of the Lord 2. In respect of Sanctification we have in us a new creature 2 Cor. 5. 17. this new Creature is fed cherished nourished kept alive by the fruits of Holinesse to what end hath God given us new Hearts and new natures Is it that we should kill them stifle the creature that is found in us in the wombe that we should give him to the old man to be devoured 5. It is necessary in respect of the proper place of Holinesse in the new Covenant and that is twofold § 34 1. Of the Meanes unto the end God hath appointed that Holinesse shall be the meanes the way to that eternall life which as in it selfe and originally is his gift by Jesus Christ so with regard to his constitution of our obedience as the means of attaining it is a reward and God in bestowing of it a Rewarder Though it be neither the Cause Matter nor condition of our Justification yet it is the way appointed of God for us to walke in for the obtaining of Salvation And therefore he that hath hope of Eternall life purifies himselfe as He is pure and none shall ever come to that End who walketh not in that way for without Holinesse it is impossible to see God 2. It is a Testimony and pledge of Adoption a signe and evidence of Grace that is of Acceptation with God And 3 ly the whole expression of our thankfulnesse Now there is not one of all these Causes and Reasons of the necessity the indispensible necessity of our Obedience good workes and personall Righteousnesse but would require a more large discourse to unfold and explain then I have allotted to the proposall of them all And innumerable others there are of the same import that I cannot name He that upon these Accounts doth not think universall Holinesse and Obedience to be of indispensible necessity un lesse also it be exalted into the roome of the Obedience and Righteousnesse of Christ let him be filthy still These Objections being Removed and having at the entrance of this Chapter declared what is done on the part of Christ as § 35 to our fellowship with him in this purchased Grace as to our Acceptation with God It remaines that I now shew what also is required and performed on our part for the compleating thereof this then consists in the ensuing particulars 1. The Saints cordially approve of this Righteousnesse as that alone which is absolutely compleat and able to make them acceptable § 36 before God And this supposeth Five things 1. Their cleare and full conviction of the necessity of a Righteousnesse wherewith to appeare before God This is alwaies in their thoughts This in their whole lives they take for granted Many men spend their daies in obstinacy and hardnesse adding drunkennesse unto thirst never once enquiring what their condition shall be when they enter into Eternity Others trifle away their times and their soules sowing the wind of empty hopes and preparing to reap a whirlewind of wrath But this lies at the bottome of all the Saints communion with Christ. A deep fixed resolved perswasion of an absolute and indispensable
Spirit which is all that is of use for the bringing his many Sonnes to Glory It pleased the Father that in him all fullnesse should dwell Col. 1. 17. That he should be invested with a Fullnesse of that grace which is needfull for his People This himselfe calls the Power of giving Eternall Life to his Elect John 17. 2. Which power is not only his Abilitie to doe it but also his Right to doe it Hence this Delivering of all things unto him by his Father he lays as the bottome of his inviting sinners unto him for Refreshment All things are delivered unto me of my Father Math. 11. 37. Come unto me all that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you Rest v. 28. This being the Covenant of the Father with him and his promise unto him that upon the making his soule an Offering for sinne He should see his seed and the pleasure of the Lord should prosper in his hand Isa. 53. 10. and in the verses following the powring out of his soul vnto death and bearing the sinnes of many is laid as the bottome and procuring cause of these things 1. of Justification by his knowledge he shall justify many 2. Of Sanctification in destroying the workes of the Divell v. 11. 12. Thus comes our mercifull High Priest to be the great possessor of all Grace that he may give out to us according to his own pleasure quickning whom he will He hath it in him really as our Head in that he received not that spirit by measure Joh. 3. 34. which is the bond of Union between him and us 1 Cor. 6. 17. whereby holding him the Head we are filled with his fullnesse Ephes. 1. 22 23. Col. 2. 19. He hath it as a Common person intrusted with it on our behalfe Rom. 5. 14 15 16 17. The last Adam is made unto us a quickning spirit 1 Cor. 15. 45. He is also a Treasury of this Grace in a morall and law sense not only as it pleased the Father that all fullnesse should dwell in him Col. 1. 19. but also because in his mediation as hath been declared is founded the whole dispensation of Grace 2. Being thus actually vested with this power and priviledge and fullnesse He designes the spirit to take of this fullnesse and to give it unto us He shall take of mine and shew it unto you Joh. 16. 15. The Spirit takes of that Fullnesse that is in Christ and in the Name of the Lord Jesus bestows it actually on them for whose Sanctification He is sent Concerning the manner and Allmighty efficacy of the Spirit of Grace whereby this is done I meane this actuall Collation of Grace upon his peculiar ones more will be spoken afterwards 3. § 9 For Actuall Grace or that Influence of power whereby the Saints are enabled to performe particular Duties according to the mind of God there is not any need of further Enlargement about it What concernes our Communion with the Lord Christ therein holds proportion with what was spoken before There remaineth only one thing more to be observed concerning those things whereof mention hath been made and I proceed to the way whereby we carry on communion with the Lord Jesus in all these And that is that these things may be considered two ways 1. In respect of their First Collation or bestowing on the Soul 2. In respect of their Continuance and Increase as unto the Degrees of them In the First sence as to the reall Communicating of the Spirit of Grace unto the Soul so raising it from Death unto Life the Saints have no kind of Communion with Christ therein but only what consists in a passive Reception of that life-giving quickening Spirit and power They are but as the dead bones in the Prophet the wind blows on them and they live as Lazarus in the Grave Christ calls and they come forth the call being accompained with life and power This then is not that whereof particularly I speake But it is the second in respect of further Efficacy of the Spirit and Increase of Grace both Habituall and Actuall whereby we become more holy and to be more powerfull in walking with God have more fruite in Obedience and successe against Temptations And in this they hold Communion with the Lord Christ And wherein and how they do it shall now be declared 1. They continually eye the Lord Jesus as the Great Joseph § 10 that hath the disposall of all the Granarys of the Kingdom of Heaven committed unto him as one in whom it hath pleased the Father to gather All things unto an Head Ephes. 1. 10. that from him all things might be dispensed unto them All Treasures all fullnesse the Spirit not by measure are in him And this Fullnesse in this Joseph in reference to their condition they Eye in these Thee Particulars 1. In the preparation unto the dispensation mentioned in the Expiating Parging Purifying Efficacy of his Blood It was a Sacrifice not only of Attonement as offered but also of purification as powred out This the Apostle eminently sets forth Heb. 9. 13. 14. For if the blood of Bulls and Goats and the Ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the uncleane sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternall Spirit offered himselfe without spot unto God purge your Consciences from dead works that you may serve the Living God This blood of his is that which answers all Typicall institutions for carnall purification and therefore hath a spiritually purifying cleansing sanctifying vertue in it selfe as offered and powred out Hence it is called a fountain for sinne and for uncleannesse Zech. 13. 1. that is for their washing and taking away A fountaine opened ready prepared vertuous efficacious in its selfe before any be put into it because poured out instituted appointed to that purpose The Saints see that in thēselves they are still exceedingly defiled and indeed to have a sight of the Defilements of sinne is a more spirituall discovery then to have only a sence of the guilt of sinne This follows every conviction is commensurate unto it that usually only such as reveale the Purity and Holinesse of God and all his ways Hereupon they cry with shame within themselves Uncleane Uncleane Uncleane in their Natures Uncleane in their Persons Uncleane in their Conversations All rolled in the blood of their defilements their Hearts being by nature a very sinke and their Lives a Dunghill They know also that no unclean thing shall enter into the Kingdome of God or have place in the new Jerusalem that God is of purer eys then to behold iniquity They cannot endure to look on themselves how shall they dare to appeare in his presence What Remedies shall they now use Though they wash themselves with Nitre and take them much sope yet their iniquity will continue marked Jerem. 2. 22. Wherewith then shall they come before the Lord For the removall of this