imbolden the godly to be tampering with errors If a man will tread upon hot coals his feet may be burnt and scorched though withal his life may be preserved But this should make you the rather heedful to stick fast unto the truth that it may be evident you are such as they have no power over to lead aside into the error of the wicked It is the very particular consideration which the Apostle John presseth upon Believers why they should not hearken unto seducers when they teach for doctrines mens inventions and uncouth notions of their own Because they were sufficiently taught of Christ and his word was a plentiful directory unto them without the help of other additions and because they should abide in Christ therefore they were not to be followers of false teachers 1 Joh. 2.26 27. 5. Troubles and persecutions for the sake of Christ shall not be able to dissolve this union They may seem to be providences very likely to do it When Christians shall be dragged into prisons and abridged of their comforts and reduced into hardships and extremities when they shall have trial of cruel mockings and reproaches yea moreover of scourgings and torturings in the severest manner that the wicked heart of man can invent and when all these things might be avoided if they would but part with Christ Will not such sore persecutions from the world drive them back again for deliverance into the world out of which they were called Do but mark how confident the Apostle is of the contrary Rom. 8.35 36 37. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword As it is written for thy sake we are killed all the day long we are acounted as sheep for the slaughter Nay in all these things we are more than conquerours through him that loved us How more than conquerours Why q. d. We are so far from being foiled that we are brought off with advantage our faith is thereby fourbished and our patience strengthened our other graces are quickned and our experiences increased When conquerours get a victory over their enemies it is seldom or never but with some loss to themselves but we are gainers by our troubles Our spiritual strength is augmented and our vigour heightened to a more intense degree and we come purified as gold out of the fire of tribulation So that we can glory in it For tribulation worketh patience and patience brings experience and experience begetteth hope and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts As you have it in that climax or gradation Rom. 5.3 4 5. In the winter of adversity the leaves drop off and the withered boughs are pared away but the living branches abide And the reason of it is this Because when Christ bringeth his people into distress and trouble for his Name he hath promised to stand by them and to afford them strength sufficient for their support under those distresseâ— Isa 42.2 When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee When Christ reduceth them into such straits as they never had experience of he will then minister to them such strength and assistance as they never had before experience of As sure as he is a God of faithfulness he will do it according to that precious word 1 Cor. 10.13 God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it But may some poor disconsolate soul say I may quickly be called into temptations and troubles and I find no strength nor ability O what is like to become of me at such a season I am afraid I shall sink under the burden Why mind the promise he will do it with the temptation It is not said he will give ability before the trial but when you are called to use it you shall not fail of it You shall have it time enough against you have occasion to exercise it My brethren it is an excellent word of promise an establishing word if we had hearts to believe And indeed it is according to what the Saints of God have experimentally found How faint-hearted was Mr. Sanders in the dayes of Qu. Mary and very doubtful of himself till he was actually brought into sufferings How dead-spirited was Mr. Glover till he was reduced to the pinch and then he could cry out He is come He is come Nay how cowardly and full of fear was Moses himself till he was ingaged in his work as appeareth from the excuses he made to evade the imployment Exod. 4.1 10 13. 6. Death it self which is the great separating providence that parts between a man all his worldly accommodations that parts between friends and kinsfolks between brethren sisters the nearest and dearest relations shall not separate believers from Jesus Christ But still they are entirely in him even when they are dead As it was in the death of Christ himself though it made a separation between his body and soul yet it did not separate the humane nature from the divine So it is in the death of the Saints Though it rend the spirit from the flesh yet it can part neither from the Son of God The very bodies of Believers are still united unto Jesus even when they are dead and shall be raised up again as I will shew you afterwards by vertue of that conjunction Therefore they are said to sleep in Jesus 1 Thess 4.14 and Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord Rev. 14.13 It is not said only They that die for the Lord but in the Lord. A man may suffer death in some cases for the true Religion that never was sincere therein But if a person die in Jesus then he is blessed indeed Upon the upshot of all I may well conclude this point with that of the Apostle Paul in answer as it were to this question we are upon Rom. 8.35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ q. d. Is a Believers union with Christ a dissolveable union or not Can it be broken asunder Or if you will rather understand it by way of assertion though delivered interrogatively For nothing is more ordinary than for affirmative interrogations to denote a vehement denial of the matter questioned As if he had said This union is altogether inseparable nothing can part betwixt a Believer and Christ So fast are they glewed and linked together that they shall never be divided or broken asunder again For saith he v. 38 39. I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature
unto the world Joh. 14.22 and mark our Saviours answer v. 23. Jesus answered and said unto him if a man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him q.d. We will be united and knit to such a one and thereupon maintain a constant communion and intercourse with him which is a way of the manifestation of our selves which the world knoweth not of The world is shut out of Christ's prayer for this mercy and it is confined to believers Joh. 17. v. 9. compared with v. 21. 2. It belongeth to believers Universally and comprehensively that is to all of that sort and number whether they are weak Christians or strong whether they are more eminent in the Church or of a lower esteem My brethren this grace of Oneness with Christ is not a dignity conferred upon some eminent Saints whereby they are advanced above their fellows but this honour have all the Saints If there be true justifying faith but as a grain of mustard-seed as our Saviour speaketh in another case it putteth a man into the possession of this priviledge It may be the comfort of the meanest and poorest of the people of God upon earth that however men despise them yet they are married to the King of Kings to the only begotten Son of God You read of babes in Christ who are the lowest rank of Believers 1 Cor. 3.1 It may be improved as a point of wonderful consolation by poor drooping souls that love the Lord Jesus in sincerity When your corruptions struggle within you and you are violently assaulted by temptations from without and thereupon are afraid how you shall be able to hold out and to keep on in the way of godliness when your spirits are ready to sink under your burdens indeavour to raise them up again with this meditation The Lord Christ is my Husband why should I fear He is ingaged to preserve me for I belong to him nay I am in him See and study Isa 40.27 28 29 30. 3. This Union appertaineth to Believers entirely and undividedly My meaning is this the whole persons are the subjects of this Union and every part of them not only their souls the spiritual and immortal part but their very bodies which are made of the dust of the earth For as the grace of Vnction or sanctification where it is poured out upon a person it maketh an entire change both in body and soul so doth the grace of Vnion reach to the whole man to the body as well as to the soul 1 Cor. 6.15 What know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ q. d. This is a known truth a foundation principle you must not be ignorant of it you should be well instructed in this Point that you may be careful not to defile your bodies that it may quicken you to glorifie Christ with your bodies as well as with your spirits 1 Cor. 6.20 At the resurrection the bodies of the Saints shall be fashioned and made like to Christ's glorious body and here upon earth they are knit to his person 4. Believers are the subjects of this Union formally that is under that very consideration as such quatenus Believers For the grace of saith is the principle which God doth peculiarly honour in this very business to make up our union with Christ or to knit a person and the Lord Jesus together Whom he hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 And therefore our Apostle applyeth the doctrine of my Text unto them that believe in the words immediately following v. 12. He that hath the Son hath life c. And v. 13. These things have I written to you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that ye have eternal life How should Believers know it hereby Why because Believers have the Son by believing they are in the Son eo nomine because they believe That 's the third Branch of the description the proper subjects of this Union viz. Believers 4. Here is the foundation of this Union on which it is bottomed and from whence it doth arise namely from their intimate conjunction with Christ It is that special relation which Believers have to the Lord Jesus arising from their intimate conjunction with him Or from the closness of their being joyned together This is well to be observed as a material point for first there must be unition as one noteth before there can be Vnion First they must be brought together and must be linked and fastened one to the other before they can become one together At least in order of nature conjunction must precede for Union doth result or flow from it and hath a necessary dependance thereupon As it is in marriage the great resemblance for illustration of this mystery First the man and woman are brought together and married one to the other and thence their union doth arise they become one flesh So it is in this spiritual grace first Christ and a Believer are joyned together and then they become one This conjunction is so closs and in imate that it is called a being glewed unto Christ so the word signifieth 1 Cor. 6.17 He that is joyned * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Qui Domino agâ—utinatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gluten or glewed to the Lord is one spirit First they are joyned and so become one spiritually How this conjunction is wrought I shall open at large in answer to the next question This is the fourth branch of the Description 5. Lastly You have the blessed consequents which flow from hence or the glorious effects produced hereby and they are especially three 1. Hereupon they are accounted as one with Christ 2. Their spiritual state is fundamentally changed 3. The benefits of redemption are effectually applyed 1. Hereupon they are accounted as one with Christ Being made so they are reckoned and esteemed as such and accordingly made partakers of whatsoever advantage doth accrew thereby and doth grow upon this root of Oneness with the Mediator It is not an empty name and an airy appellation which is hereby attained but believers are answerably esteemed and dealt with in all sorts of dispensations Therefore they are said to be found in him Philip. 3.9 That I may win Christ and be found in him that is in all the dealings of God towards them they are looked upon as one with his Son so their concernments are regarded and blessings are dispensed unto them evils are averted and kept from falling upon them and spiritual good things are given forth When God doth go forth in his providence twoards the children of men he findeth the wicked in their sins polluted in their blood under the curse of the Law and so there is a curse interwoven with his proceedings with them but when he looketh down upon Believers they are found in Christ They are reckoned as one
the uttermost 2 Cor. 5.14 Do we make void the law through faith God forbid yea we establish the law Rom. 3.31 But now as it is a Covenant of life and doth promise justification unto the observers of it so the death of Christ doth deaden us unto the law it is of notable force and efficacy to take off a man from building and bottoming upon his own legal performances For this very topick the Apostle argueth with the Galatians cap. 3.1 O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified among you Mark it the great matter wherein the Galatians fell from the truth of the Gospel was by adhaering to the law and seeking righteousness therein Now saith the Apostle a man would have thought the doctrine of Christ's death and crucifixion might have been a strong fence against that error unless you had been under a kind of fascination and witchcraft upon your spirits Hath the great fundamental principle of the death of Christ been so plainly and faithfully preached unto you and set forth amongst you in such lively colours as if he had been crucified before your eyes and are you still so foolish as to rest upon the law Certainly this is an argument of abundant sottishness and madness or else you have quite forgotten the doctrine of Christ's death and neglect to make a due improvement thereof The death of Christ will be of notable use to deaden a man to the law by making a threefold discovery 1. By discovering the sinfulness and damnableness of the evil of sin or transgressionof the law of God in that it could be expiated at no lesser rate than by the crucifying of the Son of God It is not any corruptible thing as silver and gold could make satisfaction for sin but the precious blood of the Son of God and therefore certainly it is an evil of a very heinous nature Thus my brethren a real sight of the greatness of the evil of sin would sooner convince a man of the insufficiency of all his legal righteousness to satisfie for the wrong that is done unto God by it If men think to recompence the Lord by any obedience of their own for the sins whereof they are guilty it is because they have low and slight thoughts of the evil of their sins Now the death of Christ may serve to rectifie such thoughts and to set forth the damnableness of the nature of sin And indeed it was one of the ends which God aimed at in the death of Christ as to save the sinners so to damn the sin Rom. 8.3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh He condemned it that is he made it thereby to appear what a deadly destructive and damnable nature it is of how odious and abominable a thing it is in his sight * He condemned it of that capital crime that it was the meritorious cause of the death of Christ who was most innocent Engl. Annot. By what way was this made to appear Why because nothing could appease his wrath but the crucifying of the Lord Jesus Undoubtedly it must needs be a very accursed thing for which Christ himself was made a curse 2. The death of Christ is of use to deaden a sinner to the law by making discovery of the inexorableness of the justice of God of his severity and strictness in requiring the utmost farthing that is due for satisfaction He did not spare his own Son when he had iniquity laid upon him but he was put to a painful cursed ignominious and reproachful death so that let not the children of men ever expect to be spared if they lie under the guilt of the least ungodliness God the Father did not abate his own beloved Son any part of the punishment surely he will never make abatement unto his adversaries And this was another end of Christ's death to set forth the exactness and inexorableness of the justice of God that he will by no means clear the guilty Rom. 3.25 26. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God To declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus * Deus justitiam suam dicitur oftendisse quia non aliter remisit peccata hominum quam pretio iusto redemptionis accepto non ab ipsis hominibus sed a Christo pro nobis satisfaciente Justum ergo se Deus exhibuit in nostro justificatione liberalem seu gratiosum Justitia fuit relatione ad Christum gratia vero relatione ad nos Tolet in Rom. 3. Lastly the death of Christ will serve to take off a man from seeking justification by the law by making a full discovery that there is no other way imaginable to make reconciliation for sin and to deliver sinners from the wrath to come but the death of Christ only For Sirs if there had been any other way could have been found out undoubtedly God would have spared the dearly beloved of his soul he would never have striken and bruised his only begotten Son For as the Apostle argueth If there had been a law given which could have given life verily righteousness should have been by the law Gal. 3.21 q. d. Had that way been sufficient to save men and women from everlasting destruction God would have taken that way and prevented the sorrows and sufferings of his Son He would never have sent him into the world in such a low and despicable condition nor have brought him into such strairs and agonies as made him sweat drops of blood not would he have poured out upon him the vials of his wrath for the accomplishment of that which might have been otherwise accomplished So that to test for justification upon the law is in effect to frustrate and make void the grace of God in the death of the Mediator For if righteousness come by the law then Christ is dead in vain Gal. 2.21 Thus much for the fifth Proposition touching the way of a sinners union or conjunction with the Lord Jesus 6. Propos 6. The way of the actual conjunction between Christ and his people when they are thus divorced from sin and deadned to the Law may be conceived thus The Lord Christ by his Spirit taketh possession of them and dwelleth in them and Believers through faith of the operation of the Spirit take hold of Christ and get into him and so they are knit together and become one For this conjunction you must understand is a mutual conjunction * Abide in me and I in you And again He that abideth in me and I in him By which
mention upon this account is taken from the union between the foundation and the building erected thereupon They are coupled together and knit into one so as to make up one house So the servants of Christ are knit unto him being built upon him 1 Cor. 3.9 11. Ye are God's building Upon what foundation are they built See v. 11. Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ Believers then are as a fabrique erected upon Christ and cemented unto him A little to unfold this resemblance I will only mind you of three things 1. The holy Ghost doth make mention in the records of the Scripture of a twofold foundation with reference to the Church 1. A doctrinal foundation 2. A personal foundation 1. A doctrinal foundation whereupon our faith is to be bottomed as upon an infallible and unmoveable ground This foundation is the Scriptures the doctrines contained in the Bible the Word of God therein revealed and in that way made known unto the children of men Eph. 2.20 Ye are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets that is Upon the doctrines contained in the Old and New Testament whereof the Prophets and Apostles were the publishers and the penmen by whom as instruments the mind of God was transmitted to succeeding generations * Gubernabit te verbum Dei ad portum coelorum te adducet spiritus sanctus Our faith Sirs is not to be bottomed on the dictates of men or the traditions of our fathers for then it would be a fickle unstable uncertain faith But it is to be built on the sure word of Prophecy The doctrines of the Bible are to be the foundation of it In this respect our Lord Jesus Christ is compared to the chief corner stone He is the principal subject whereof the Scripture treats and whereunto the doctrines tend they are appointed to discover Christ unto us and to bring us unto him and to build us up in him He is the person in whom the strength of the building lieth and through whom the two walls of the building are joyned together Jews and Gentiles are made up into one house and Church as the sides of a building are coupled together by the corner stone 2. There is a personal or essential foundation upon whom a Believer depends for life and salvation by whom the Church subsisteth and through whom it is constituted as a temple for God Thus Christ is the foundation and every Saint is a stone in the building founded upon him Isa 28.16 Behold I lay in Sion for a foundation a stone a tryed stone a precious corner stone a sure foundation Which the holy Ghost expoundeth once and again as meant of Jesus Christ And it is an excellent passage containing abundant matter of incouragement for humbled sinners to come unto Christ and to rest upon him 1. He is a Saviour of Gods appointment sufficiently authorized to be the Mediator so that if you come to God by him he will not reject you for it is the Lord 's doing to constitute him to be our Redeemer it is the way which God himself hath set open to bring sinners to salvation He is the foundation which the Lord hath laid I lay in Sion for a foundation 2. For the qualification of his person he is mighty to save able to deliver to the uttermost He is not as sand or gravel by which the building cannot be supported but a stone or rock which noteth the stability and strength of Jesus Christ he is able to bear whatever weight is laid upon him No winds or storms from earth or hell can prevail to overturn what is built upon him And this ariseth from the constitution of his person being very God as well as man 3. He is a tryed stone Do you yet question his sufficiency to save you Are you still in doubt whether you may trust in him Why do but mind the experience which he hath given of his ability he is a tryed stone Eve hath tryed him and Enoch tryed him and Noah and Abraham and David and Solomon and all the people of God in former ages have made the experiment and their expectations were not frustrated they found him such a one as he is discovered to be He is a stone of trial a foundation of proof a sure foundation 4. This is that which God would have sinners to take notice of Behold I lay in Sion for a foundation a stone c. q. d. Hear O people and give ear all ye inhabitants of the earth mind what I have done to carry on the salvation of sinners And to what end is this publication made but that we might come unto Christ and unto God by him with full assurance of faith This is the first particular I would observe under this similitude 2. This resemblance doth import That all such persons whatsoever who are knit unto Christ and built up to salvation upon his righteousness must of necessity be made conformable unto him There must be an answerableness betwixt them As the foundation is the supporter of the building so it is a rule and measure unto the building The stones which are set upon it must be proportioned thereunto the superstructure must be of length and breadth according to the foundation So it is in the spiritual building The souls of Believers who are joyned to Christ must bear a proportion to him with whom they are joyned This is the Statute-Law of the God of heaven and it is more unalterable and irrevocable than the Laws of the Medes and Persians That there is no saving interest in Christ without conformity to him Rom. 8.29 Whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son Mark It is the unchangable decree of the Lord of Hosts If you are saved in any other way or at a cheaper rate it must be by the alteration of God's decrees which are unchangeable as his nature and essence without any variableness or shadow of turning As Christ could never have been our Redeemer but he must be made like unto us so we shall never taste of the Redemption purchased by him unless â—e be made like unto him This conformity of a Believer to the Lord Jesus Christ doth mainly lie in five things viz. 1. The qualifications of his â—erson 2. The sufferings of his death 3. His resurrection and ascension into heaven 4. The holiness of his conversation 5. The troubles and persecutions which he underwent upon the earth 1. Believers must be made like unto Chist in the qualifications of his person Their judgments must concenter with Christ's judgment in the approbation of such things as he approveth and disapproving those things which he disliketh Their affections must run in the same chanel wherein Christ's affections run loving what he loveth and hating what he hateth and delighting in that wherein he taketh delight Their minds must be placed on the same objects on which
you bring forth the fruits of righteousness here and endeavour to be holy in all manner of conversation If you live in any course of sin or in the neglect of observing any of God's commandments it is not possible you should come to the enjoyment of God whilst you abide in that estate Never dream of being saved without holiness for such imaginations are but dreams and fancies Heb. 12.14 Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. 1 Cor. 6.9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived c. q. d. It is a plain case that the unrighteous will perish unavoidably it is a token of gross ignorance to think otherwise Do not hope for or expect salvation without righteousness for by such hopes and expectations you will but cheat your own souls Gal. 5.19 20 21. Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness idolatry witchcraft hatred variance emulation wrath strife seditions heresies envyings murders drunkenness revellings and such like Of the which I tell you before as I have told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Mark it if a man live in any of these sins or in any other sin like unto these whether it be filthiness of the flesh or of the spirit open or secret though not here particularly enumerated he cannot enter into eternal life It is a matter as if the Apostle had said which I have studied and the more I think of it the more I am confirmed in it I have preached this doctrine to you formerly and I am still of the same mind and therefore warn you of it again that if you be such persons you cannot be saved 2. Although I counsel you to be much in the works of righteousness yet you must despair of ever being justified or saved upon the account of your righteousness For alas what are the best of our righteousnesses to give satisfaction to the justice of God for the wrong that we have done him If you be pardoned and accepted of the Lord it must be for the sake of the righteousness of Jesus Christ and not by virtue of any thing of your own For the Seripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe Gal. 3.22 3. Although you must be active and diligent in the service of God and labour to walk in uprightness before him yet you are utterly to despair of doing this in your own strength It is only strength and aflistance from Jesus Christ that will inable you to be faithful unto Christ If you trust in your own hearts they will deceive you 2 Cor. 3.5 Psal 71.15 16. * Ad evulsionem hominis à statu peccati requiritur 3. ut ex evictione conscientiae desperatiosalutis consequatur respectu nostrarum virium omnis etiam auxilii quod à creaturis haberi potest Ames de cons 4. I would counsel you to work up your hearts to an utter despair of receiving either righteousness or strength from Christ except you get into him Sit down and rest in this conclusion that unless you be united to the Son of God you cannot dwell in the presence of God There is no salvation to be had upon other terms And thus to despair of deliverance in a state of separation from Christ is an excellent means or inducement to drive you unto him Thus the Law is our School-master to lead us unto Christ i. e. by convincing us of our undone condition without him * Lex in vero suo officio est ad gratiam ministra praeparatrix prodest ad justificationem non quod justificat sed quia urgeat ad promissionem gratiae cam facit dulcem desiderabilem Luth. It pursueth us with wrath as the avenger of bloud that we may be forced to hasten into the City of refuge Gal. 3.24 This is the first Direction I intended in order to the attainment of this grace of union Direct 2. If you would be united unto the Son Get the Spirit of the Lord Jesus into your hearts It is only the holy Ghost who is sent in his name that can lead you unto him and ingraff you in him and form Christ within you And if you have not the Spirit of Christ you cannot be his Rom. 8.9 And therefore to this end 1. Be much in prayer to God for this very mercy that he would graciously send the Spirit of his Son into your souls There is an encouraging word to draw forth your fervent supplications in this behalf Luke 11.13 If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more shall your heavenly father give the holy Spirit to them that ask him It is the mercy which he delights to be sought unto for and to be dealing forth in return to the prayers of his Servants 2. Be much conversant with the word of Christ and constant in your attendance upon the Ordinances of the Gospel Be frequent in reading and studying the Scriptures make them the matter of your daily meditations lose no opportunity to acquaint your selves therewith or to wait upon Christ in the wayes of his appointment Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom Col. 3.16 For it is the word and institutions of Jesus Christ which are designed as conduit-pipes to convey the spirit of sanctification into mens hearts And therefore the word hath the promise of conversion annexed unto it because the spirit of conversion worketh in and with and by the word Psal 19.7 The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul Jam. 1.18 Of his own will he begat us with the word of truth As the word cannot work savingly without the concurrent operation of the holy Ghost So the holy Ghost doth not ordinarily work without the word For the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth Rom. 1.16 And when our Saviour prayeth for them that should be gathered unto him it is under this expression For them that shall believe on me through their word Joh. 17.20.3 Take heed that you resist not the Spirit by quenching his motions or rising up in contradiction against the convictions that he is pleased to work upon your hearts Readily hearken to his call and comply with him in the tenders of grace If you repel him by the frowardness and perverseness of your spâ—rits you know not when he will return Joh. 3.8 Take therefore the Apostles advice Eph. 4.30 Grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption Direct 3. If you would be knit unto Jesus and so have an interest in him endeavour after the uniting grace of faith in his bloud cast your selves upon his righteousness for salvation according to the proposals