Christ Here is one sort of spirituall life that Christ giveth and that in abundance I came that they might have life and have it more abundantly because where God is reconciled he beareth abundance of good-will to such a soul In thy favour is life and that favour aboundeth so much as that God loveth every reconciled soul with the same love wherewith he loveth Christ himself Joh. 17. 23. That the world may know that thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me faith Christ That sheweth abundant love All love falleth first upon Christ as the head Divine love doth and so descendeth to the skirts of his garments It falleth upon us from Christ and through Christ Secondly there is a life of Justification which standeth 2. A life of Justification in opposition to the guilt of sin and of this the Apostle speaketh Rom. 5. and telleth you what abundance of righteousnesse accompanyeth it Rom. 5. 15 17. If through the offence of one many be dead much more the grace of God and the gift by grace which is by one man Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many For if by one man's offence death reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousnesse shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ It is called Justification of life there vers 18. Even so by the righteousnesse of one the free gift came upon all men to Justification of life Thirdly There is a life of Sanctification that standeth 3. A life of Sanctification in opposition to the power of sin as that of Justification did to the guilt of sin This is likewise from Christ and of it Paul speaketh Gal. 2. latter end I through the Law am dead to the Law that I might live to the Lord. I am crucified to the world notwithstanding I live yet not I but Christ that liveth in me This commeth in from Christ in great abundance Hence are those expressions 2 Cor. 8. 17. Therefore as ye abound in every thing in faith and utterance and knowledge and all diligence and your love towards us see that ye abound in this grace also Rom. 9. 8. God is able to make all grace abound towards you This is that that Christ saith That he giveth life and more aboundantly Fourthly There is a life of Consolation which standeth in opposition to the discouragements that arise both from 4. A life of Consolation the power of sin and the guilt of sin that strike the soul dead And therefore a soul that is glad is said to live Psal 69. 32. The humble shall see this and be glad and your heart shall live So you see that to be glad and to live is all one This is founded in Christ and there is abundance of this communicated to believers See that 1 Cor. 2. 15. As the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ Here is consolation abundant consolation and both by Christ The last thing is a life of Glory which standeth in opposition 5. A life of Glory to that misery that ariseth from all the former from the wrath of God and the guilt and power of sin and the discouragements that arise from thence all these bring misery after the soul's death Now there is a life of Glory that freeth the soul from this that is hid in Christ You are dead but your life is hid with Christ in God When Christ who is our life shall appear then shall we also appear with him in glory There is a glorious life for believers but it is now hidden like the sap in the root in the winter-time It is hidden in Christ who is their glorifi'd Head already This they shall have and have it more abundantly because of that aboundant happinesse which accompanieth this life of Glory They shall be aboundantly satisfied with the fatnesse of thy house and made to drink of the rivers of thy pleasures For with thee is the fountain of life Psal 36. 8 9. When there is but a little small Brook and a whole Army commeth to drink at it they are ready to emulate one another because there is not enough to serve them all As he said Xerxes's Army drunk up whole Rivers But where there are Rivers of pleasure there is enough for all commers there needs be no emulation all shall be satisfied They shall be abundantly and Thou shalt cause them to drink of the Rivers of thy pleasures Thus ye see what strong Encouragement ariseth from hence that life is in Christ as in the Fountain So I have done with that Clause of the fourth Verse In him was life The next is And the Life was the Light of Men. Vers 5. And the Light shined in Darkness and the Darkness comprehended it not We proceed to that which concerneth the Creation of Light of Life Men in particular The life was the light of men That is as I take it The Life which was originally in the Eternall Word and conveyed to the creature according to their severall ranks and degrees was a life of Vegetation in Plants and a life of Sense in Brutes and a Life and Light of Men. It was so in the Angels as well as in Men. But the Evangelist because the Scripture was made for the use of Men and not of Angels contenteth himself onely to mention them The life was the light of men By Light I am soath to understand onely Knowledge as is Knowledge Grace and Joy some do or onely Grace as other some I rather take in both and add a third thing which is the result of both namely Joy For all these three come under the notion of Light Then make this our Observation That man was created by God at first in a state of light The life was the light of men Do but compare this place with that Joh. 8. 12. for the understanding of the phrase Then spake Jesus again to them saying I am the light of the world He that followeth me shall not walk in darknesse but shall have the light of life The light of life and the life of light is all one and both come from Christ without any great difficulty Next the life was the light of men And he shall have the life of light saith Christ here but that he speaketh of Conversion My Text confineth me to what was in the Creation Christ is presented to us as the Maker of all things So then Man was created by Christ at first in a state of light that is in a state of Knowledge of Holinesse and of Joy for these three things come under the notion of Light in the Scripture First Knowledge See in that 2 Cor. 4. 6. God who 1. Man created in the light of knowledge commanded the light to shine out of darknesse hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ This light of
I undertook for the explication of this point Come we now to apply it Vse First let us all learn from hence to extoll and magnifie 1. Learn to glorifie God for so great a gift as adoption is and adore the goodnesse and bounty of our Lord Jesus Christ in giving the poor sons of men so great so excellent a gift as this of adoption is To them that receive Him to them gave He power dignity priviledge prerogative to become the sons of God You see it is a free gift Look to all the progresse of salvation from first to last and you shall find free grace running through every passage of salvation even as blood runs through every vein in the body of a man Christ himselfe is the great gift of God and all other things are the gift of Christ God together with him giveth us all things else Have we any newnesse of heart in us It is He that giveth it He taketh away the heart of stone and giveth an heart of flesh Have we Ministers after Gods owne heart It is God that giveth the increase Have we any thing to suffer or to do To you it is given to believe and to suffer To the first This great priviledge of Adoption What but free and undeserved love could have moved Christ to bestow such a favour upon us He himselfe was the onely begotten Son of God and might have contented himselfe with this dignity for ever and yet He is pleased to become the first begotten of many Brethren The naturall Son of God made way for the poor sons of men that they might receive the adoption of sons It is a greater favour then any Adam had to thank God for this that we receive from Christ Adam was rather in the condition of a servant then of a Son He lived under the Covenant of works Do this and live And therefore it was that Adam was in a possibility of falling from his happy Condition as ye know he did and of being turned out of the house The servant abideth not in the house for ever but the son abideth for ever Joh. 8. 35. If ye will say he was a son as indeed he was it was but a son by Creation He bore the Image of God had the divine stamp upon him but here is a further sonship by adoption There is a mysticall union of believers to Christ as their head which Adam had not But if ye will distinctly see the heighth and excellency of this priviledge that so we might know what we have to blesse and magnifie Christ for so much the clearer Let us compare this Divine adoption with Civill adoptions which are in use amongst the sons of men And see how farre this Excellency reacheth in four or five particulars First in Civill adoption there is alwayes some need on 1. In civill adoption there is some need on the Adopter's part the Adopter's part No man will go and take a stranger's son and adopt him unlesse he want a son of his own or unlesse his owne son be so unworthy as he thinketh him not fit to be trusted with an estate But it is seldome done but in case of Orphany where there wanteth Children The law saith That adoption is Actus lega is naturam sequens c. A legall act Imitating nature Invented for the comfort of them that have no Children of their owne But now look to this spirituall adoption and ye shall find God had no need he had a son of his owne The Son of his bosome the Son of his love the Son of his delights in whom he did take pleasure from all Eternity and might have taken pleasure to all Eternity though there had been no such Creature as Man made in the World And yet He was pleased to adopt the sons of men not because He wanted a son but because we wanted a Father And therefore in this respect we have great cause to say as the Apostle doth Behold what manner of Love the Father hath shewed us that we should be called the sons of God 1 Joh. 3. 1. Secondly there is commonly on the Adopted his part 2. On the adopted his part there is expected some worth some worth As there is some need on the part of the Adopter so some worth in the Adopted When men make their choice either they have regard to some excellency or some relation or something that is a motive to their affections to pitch upon such a child rather than another to adopt for an heir When Pharaoh's daughter adopted Moses it is said Moses his beauty moved her the Text giveth you that hint Act. 7. 20. Moses was exceeding fair When he was cast out Pharaoh's daughter took him up and nourished him for her own son The very beauty of the Child had an operation upon the Lady's heart So Mordechai adopted Hester What was the reason First she was near akin to him then very beautifull Hest 2. 7. He brought up Haddassah which is Hester his uncle's daughter for she had neither father nor mother and the maid was fair and beautifull whom Mordechai when her father and mother were dead took for his own daughter So here is something in the Adopted that moveth the Adopter But what is in us to move God unlesse we speak of moving him to indignation Beauty we have none for we are defiled all over with sin over-spread with a leprosie all our faculties are in sin and all sin is in our faculties our very Righteousnesse is as a menstruous cloath What then are our Abhominations Our Civilities and Formalities are but as dung as the Apostle accounts of all for Christ If they are but as dung What then are our oaths and lies and prophanenings of the Lord's day The truth is we have nothing lovely in us and yet behold we are called the sons of God What love is here Thirdly The adopting father may leave an Estate but 3. The Adopter cannot convey a Disposition to inable to manage the Estate rightly he cannot convey a disposition to him whom he adopteth to inable to manage it aright therefore is there often mistakes they think they pitch well and it proveth ill Such as are adopted they come leightly by their estates and they set leightly by them But herein lyeth a further and higher excellency of this divine Adoption God together with an Inheritance conveyeth a Disposition that rendreth one fit for the managing of such an estate Ye have an expression that soundeth that way Col. 1. 12. Giving thanks to the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light He doth not onely give us an inheritance but maketh us meet to be partakers of that inheritance Our adopting Father stampeth his own Image upon every adopted son He maketh every believer Patrizare to imitate his Father which is in heaven which the other cannot do Fourthly In Civill Adoption the Adopted son cannot 4. The
We are all sick sick to death and the Lord Christ is offered to us in the Gospell Is it not madnesse to refuse him If a poor woman that were deep in debt should have a Serjeant come upon her and arrest her and be dragging of her to prison and at the same time should have a good march offered to her a rich husband that will pay all her debts Were not she an unwise woman if she would not take him for her husband It is our case We are all deep in God's debt ready to be dragged to the prison of hell there to lie and die and rot for ever Now the Lord Jesus offereth to take us and to be married to us And for us to refuse him who will pay all our debts and advance us to an high and glorious condition Is it not madnesse And yet there is no greater and more common and frequent sin To refuse Christ offered is the great damning sin in the world than this The not receiving Christ it is the great damning sin It is this that argueth the prophanenesse of man's heart as Esau is called prophane Why Because he sold his birth-right for a messe of pottage the brand of prophannesse is fastned upon him in this respect So prophanenesse is in the hearts of all the ungodly they sell their birth-right for some messe or other of the devill 's pottage for pleasures or profits They let Christ go Not him but Barabbas not Christ but credit not Christ but wealth and estate Therefore still the Lord hath occasion to complain of men that they would not receive him Ye would not come to me that ye might have life and sonship This is laid for the first ground Jesus Christ should be received If he be not it proceedeth from the folly of men Secondly To the true receiving of Christ there must be 2. A speciall Concurrence to the receiving of Christ a speciall Concurrence of Faith As many as received him Who are they Believers That believed in his Name In his Name Name in the Scripture is often put for Person as Rev. 3. 4. Thou hast a few names in Sardis which have not defiled their garments that is a few men and women a few persons The Receivers of Christ are said to believe in his name because the direct object of their faith is the Person of Christ for this or that purpose That Christ died for all or for me or for the elect onely It is not the believing of any of these Propositions that saveth but in Christ The Person of Christ his Name is the object of faith Believed in his Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is a known distinction amongst Divines that of Credere Deum Credere Deo Credere in Deum It is one thing to believe that there is a God that is Credere Deum so the devills believe and tremble And another thing Credere Deo to believe God that is what God saith to be true But that which saveth is Credere in Deum to believe in God That is Cedere credendo in Deum By believing to passe into God and cleave to him and close with him So the same may be said of Christ It is one thing credere Christum to believe that Christ is and another thing credere Christo to believe what Christ hath said in the word of truth but another thing credere in Christum to believe in Christ Joh. 14. 10 11 12. ye shall find all these Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me Here is credere Christum to believe that Christ is and what he is that he is in the Father and the Father in him Vers 11. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me That is credere Christo because he hath said it Vers 12. Verily verily I say unto you He that believeth on me the works that I do shall he do also Here is credere in Christum that is the faith in the Text that is required to the true receiving of Christ believed in his Name Believing on him that is relying upon him Faith lyeth in recumbency therefore faith the act of faith is often expressed in Scripture by acts of relying and staying our selves upon God 2 Chron. 16. 7. 8. because thou hast relyed on the King of Assyria and not on the Lord thy God therefore is the hoste of the King of Assyria escaped from thy hands Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a great host with very many chariots and horsemen Yet because thou didst rely on the Lord he delivered them into thy hands Here is believing exprest by relying on the Lord. That in case of a temporall deliverance faith exerciseth the same kind of act as towards God in spiritualls Isa 10. 20. It shall come to passe in that day that the remnant of Israel and such as have escaped of the house of Jacob shall no more again stay upon him that smote them but shall stay upon the Lord the holy one of Israel in truth Here is believing in his Name relying upon and staying on Christ And God hath been pleased to make faith the instrument of receiving Christ for two reasons intimated by the Apostle Rom. 4. 16. Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed 1. Faith the Instrument of receiving Christ both to justifie and to save First Faith is chosen out from all other graces to be the instrument of receiving Christ to Justification and to Salvation that it might be of grace that the free grace of God might more appear in this way of dispensation If God should have chosen Love or Zeal or Hope or any other Grace this would carry some shew of worth and merit in it and bring something to God with it Whereas Faith is an emptying Grace bringeth nothing but an empty hand that God might fill it And therefore it is of faith that it might be so much the more of grace because faith is a meer naked Receiver In point of Sanctification faith is a purger and worker but in point of Justification it is a meer receiver And that magnifieth the grace of God so much the more that it might be of grace Secondly That the Promise might be sure Should God 2. Salvation dependeth upon Faith that the Promise might be sure have hanged our Salvation upon any other Condition than of faith Believers could never have attained that assurance which they may now arive at by the help of the Spirit of grace Why Because God requireth nothing of us now but the taking of Christ as to point of Justification Should the Condition have been our Obedience as under the first Covenant of works Do this and live Though God had treated with us upon very low tearms Never be drunk in thy life and thou shalt be saved Forbear adultery and murder and thou shalt be saved the
Promise would not have been sure no man durst have trusted himself no not in this thing We know how David and other servants of God have been seduced and fallen But take and receive Christ and he will be thy Saviour here is the way for assurance As put case you come to a beggar and say Do such a piece of service for me and thou shalt have such a reward there ye put him upon a greater difficulty than to give him so much mony So God dealeth with us Believe and thou shalt be saved Receive and thou shalt be saved Thirdly All that truly receive Christ by faith are adopted 3. By Faith we are adopted to Christ ones To as many as received him gave he power to become the sons of God Not by Creation onely as all men are nor by Profession onely as all the Members of the visible Church are nor by Deputation onely as all Magistrates are I have said Ye are gods and the sons of the most high But by Adoption that ye might receive the adoption of sons All that receive Christ are thus adopted For which ye have a clear place Gal. 3. 26 27 28 29. For ye are all the sons of God in Christ Jesus For all ye that are baptized into Christ have put on Christ There is neither Jew nor Grecian there is neither bond nor free there is neither male nor female for ye are all one in Christ Jesus And if ye be Christs then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs by promise It is said by the Apostle Rom. 9. speaking of the Jews that to them belonged the adoption speaking there of a Nationall adoption that belonged to the Jews the onely peculiar Nation of the world that God had then pickt out to glorifie himself among But hereupon the Jews were apt to conceive that none had right to be the sons and daughters of God but those of their Nation What was true of Nationall adoption they used to apply it to Personall and called themselves the children of God because they had Abraham to their father Now saith the holy Ghost here All without any difference that have received Christ they are sons as well as the sons of Abraham by a naturall generation because they are all of Abraham's faith and so come to be heirs of Abraham's seed He telleth them here There is neither Jew nor Greek A believing Greek is as true a child of Abraham yea of God as a believing Jew and much more than an unbelieving Jew that braggeth so much of being Abraham's seed There is neither Jew nor Greek nor bond nor free Christ findeth men in a state of bondage and leaveth them so haply in worldly respects but he maketh them free in respect of God If the Son maketh you free then are ye free indeed There is neither male nor female In some Common-wealths Females are excluded from the chief Dignity as by the Salique Law in France no Woman can inherit a Crown In all Common-wealths they are secluded from many Offices which are proper onely to men But when you come to speak of the Dignity of Adoption Females come in as well as Males Every Believer is a partaker of this high priviledge of being the child of God That is the importance of this word in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As many as received him All and every one that receiveth him become the sons of God Fourthly The Adoption of sons is a free gift As many 4. It is the free gift of God that we are adopted sons as received him to them it is given to become the sons of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He gave them power to become It 's an Ingredient into the very essence of Adoption It must be free So the civill Law defineth Adoption Gratuita est assumptio non habentis jus It is a free Assumption of a person that hath no right to an Inheritance to the partaking of that Inheritance As what right had Moses a poor Hebrew child that was thrown out in an Ark of Bulrushes ready to perish what right had he to that Estate that belonged to Pharaoh's daughter till she adopted him and gave him that So Mordechai adopted Hester There are three things that go to make up a Civill Adoption Three things go to make up Adoption and you shall find them all in this Divine Adoption First There must be an Inheritance which the party is 1. An Inheritance adopted to It is a vain thing to adopt one to nothing To take one and leave him to the wide World when he hath done Adoption supposeth an inheritance That is here even the Kingdom of Glory an Inheritance with the Saints in light Hence it is that that blessednesse which the Saints shall injoy in the state of Glory is called by the Apostle The adoption because it is that which we are adopted to And so I understand that phrase Rom. 8. 23. where Adoption is taken in that sense waiting for the Adoption We which have the first fruits of the spirit we our selves groane within our selves waiting for the Adoption That is for that glory we are adopted to for that Inheritance which God hath promised us Otherwise men which receive the first fruits of the spirit they receive Adoption in this sense But here is a further thing which they have not yet but wait for which is called Adoption even the Consummation of all their hopes the Inheritance in glory Secondly As in every adoption there must be some Inheritance 2. It must be of a party that hath no right to the Inheritance so adoption must be of a party that hath no right to that Inheritance A man is not said to adopt his owne son because nature giveth him a right to his father's estate But if he adopteth it is a stranger Moses was a stranger to Pharoahs daughter Hester though she were akin to Mordecay yet was not his naturall daughter and therefore was adopted by him We are all by nature strangers and a great deal worse enemies to God as well as strangers we have no right no shew of right to the Inheritance for we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God Rom. 3. 23. Thirdly It must be Gratuita Assumptio A free assumption of a person that hath no right and the having no 3. It must be of a person that hath no right right sheweth it to be free And that we are sure is to be found in this Divine Inheritance It is an act of God's free grace nothing moved him but his owne free love God loveth because he loveth and hath mercy on whom he will have mercy See this proceeding from free grace Ephes 1. 5 6. Having predestinated us to the adoption of Children by Jesus Christ to himselfe according to the good pleasure of his Will Here is the good pleasure of God's will the onely ground of our adoption Thus I have run through the four things which
in me Duties say It is not in us Ordinances say We cannot give it Why It must come only from Jesus Christ Therefore the spirit of God usually letteth souls see an utter impossibility of salvation by any other than by Christ Fifthly It supposeth after all this a due apprehension 5. It supposeth pardon in and through Christ of a probability of obtaining pardon and grace in and through Christ And this setteth the soul a moving towards him and is an inducement as to the humble soul Lament 3. 29. To lay its mouth in the dust if so be there may be hope As to those Mourners in Joel Joel 2. 14. Who knoweth if God will return and repent and leave a blessing behind him Here is indeavour arising from probability So the Ninevites in the prophesie of Jonah Jonah 3. 9. Who can tell if God will turn and repent of his fierce wrath that we perish not Faith putteth it to the venture and putteth it selfe upon the free grace of God in Christ for Four grounds of probability to obtain pardon mercy as having a probability founded upon these four grounds of obtaining pardon First Upon the abundant goodnesse of God of which you 1. The aboundant goodness of God read Psal 130. 7. Let Israel hope in the Lord Why for with the Lord is mercy and with him is plenteous redemption There is abundant mercy and plenteous redemption with God therefore Israel may hope This appeareth to be the mercy of an Infinite God therefore he can pardon and take away the sins of a finite Creature here is one ground Secondly Probability of successe It is founded upon the 2. The powerfull Mediation of Jesus Christ powerfull Mediation of Jesus Christ Hebr. 7. 25. He is able to save to the uttermost those that come to God by Him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them His blood like a mighty Ocean is able to overflow as it were the mighty Rocks as well as the lowest Sand. The Sun of Righteousnesse is able to scatter the thickest Clouds as well as the slenderest mists Thirdly Upon the free and gratious breathings of the 3. The free breatheings of the holy Ghost Holy Ghost Joh. 3. 8. The wind bloweth where it listeth thou hearest the sound thereof and knowest not whence it cometh nor whither it goeth So it is with the Spirit It hath breathed in others and may breathe in thee when it pleaseth him And therefore the soul resolveth hopefully to wait on God till the Spirit shall be pleased to breathe upon him and to that end it seeketh him in all the means wherein he is wont to breathe because the soul knoweth it is just that the Spirit of God should not breathe in any if he be not sought in all If they neglect some one means the influence of Grace may be with-held If any one of the Pipes be cut the water cometh not home to the Cistern And God is wont to convey grace to us by so many Ordinances as by so many Pipes if one Ordinance be neglected it is just with God to withdraw his grace If a soul will hear but not pray if he neglecteth any one Ordinance God may refuse to breathe Therefore the soul groundeth probability upon the free breathings of the Spirit Fourthly Upon the example of many that have been 4. Upon the example of many converted before converted before It seeth the example of the perishing of a multitude of sinners in the story of the Ninivites and of a multitude of sins in the story of Mary Magdalen and knoweth the story of mercy Such were some of you but ye are washed and cleansed and sanctified by the Lord Jesus Christ in the Spirit of God These are the apprehensions which our Saviour Christ supposeth All these more or lesse in an ordinary course taken with limitation Secondly There are certain acts of the Will which the 2. It supposeth severall Acts of the Will receiving of grace includeth which are specially these two First a present chusing of Christ upon Conjugall tearms Secondly a trusting on him for ever after First Receiving of Christ includeth in it a present chusing 1. Receiving Christ includeth our chusing him for our Husband of Christ for our Husband upon Conjugall tearms I take that Metaphor as most easie to expresse it by because he is received under many notions and under this amongst others As a Wife receiveth the Man in marriage so the Soul receiveth Christ It is a Choice and present Choice and a present Choice upon Conjugall tearms This is an act of the Will Chusing belongeth to the Will When the Will is enabled by the Spirit of Christ to choose him for his All in all and to make a present choice of him they are tearms not of the Future but of the Present Tense that make a Marriage It is not I promise to make thee my Wife in time to come that maketh a Contract but I do take thee to my Wife this is to make a Marriage It is not to take Christ when I am rich or older but it must be a present chusing of him that maketh the Match And it must be upon honourable tearms such as a woman taketh the husband upon so as to forsake father and mother and cleave to the husband Christ did so for us and we must do so for Christ Christ forsook his Father in some sense and came and emptied himself forsook Heaven and came down to us The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us that so he might be wedded to his Church upon earth There is something like that we have to do for Christ the Soul must forsake all for Christ As it is said of the Spouse Psal 45. 10. Hearken O daughter and consider and encline thine ear forget also thine own people and thy father's house So shall the King desire thy beauty There must be a forsaking of our former lusts and former waies and former carelesnesse a leaving of all to cleave to Christ That you may understand it better allude to that of Hos 14. 3. Ashur shall not save us we will not ride upon horses neither will we say any more to the works of our hands Ye are our gods For in thee the fatherlesse findeth mercy Ephraim shall say What have I to do any more with Idolls So when the Soul cometh to close with Jesus Christ The Law shall not save us we will not rest upon our own Duties our services shall not be our Saviours the means of grace shall not be our Mediators What have we to do any more with Idells and the lusts of our former ignorance and intemperancy and wantonnesse c Here a choosing of Christ supposeth a separation from all things else and a cleaving to him Being joyned to the Lord we are one spirit as the Apostle's phrase is cleaving to him so as to be subject to him that is on conjugall tearms on which Christ is to
6. Now because they did not so much bear themselves upon their immediate Progenitors as upon their Fore-fathers farre remote Therefore the Apostle saith not of blood of immediate parents nor of parents long before born It came from neither of these It is an usuall manner of speech As he speaketh of a man that bragged of his birth Longo sanguine sincere To fetch Commendations from the blood of our Progenitors of the blood of many genetations together So that the meaning of this phrase is That the new birth cometh not by propagation Grace cometh not by descent Not of blood If it had gone along with the Kindred Certainly so holy a Virgin as Mary was yea the holy One himself Christ Jesus would not have had any unholy people of his Kindred And yet such there Three demonstrations that believers are not born of blood 1. Because good parents have bad as well as good Children 2. Because bad parents have good Children and good parents bad Children in a line 2 Chron. 28. 27. 2 Chron. 32. 33. 2 Chron. 32. 25. 2 Chron. 36. 1. 3. Because the younger many times hath the greatest share in spirituall things Gen. 4. 4. Gen. 21. 14. Rom. 9. 13. were John 11. 10. Neither did his Brethren believe in Him I shall give you three Demonstrations to make it appear That believers as such are not born of blood First Because many good parents have bad Children as well as good ones Adam had Cain as well as Abel And Abraham Ismael as well as Isaac And Isaac Esau as well as Jacob. And Jacob had Simeon and Levi as well as Joseph and Benjamin Secondly It appeareth because sometimes good parents have bad Children and bad parents have good Children in a line Look into the Chronicles ye shall find that bad Ahaz had good Hezechiah good Hezechiah had wicked Manasses so he was for a great part of his life And wicked Manasses had good Josiah and good Josiah had wicked Jehoaz Good parents bad Children and bad Children good parents Thirdly It appeareth because the younger many times hath the greater share in spirituall things whereas if grace were a naturall priviledge the greatest share would go to them first The first-born in all naturall priviledges hath a double portion But the Scriptures and many times our own experiences will shew that the first-born hath the least share here therefore this is not a naturall priviledge God accepted Abel the younger and not Cain Isaac findeth more acceptation then Ismael God loved Jacob the younger and hated Esau the elder and so in many other instances Grace doth not come by propagation Believers are not born of blood Whereas it may be objected that Parents beget Children Object after their own Image It is said of Adam Gen. 5. 3. He begot a son in his own Likenesse after his own Image Therefore it should seem that godly Parents must needs have godly Children otherwise how do they beget them after their own Image The answer is easie They beget Children as men not Answ as Saints It is a certain Rule Personalia non propagantur Things that are personall are not propagated Now grace is a personall thing not a naturall thing A learned and a godly man begetteth a son that is a man but neither learned nor godly because learning is an acquired habit and godlinesse is infused And a man conveyeth what is naturall not what is acquired He that is begotten of him is not a Scholler much lesse a Saint because holinesse is supernaturall beyond him As it is with the Corn it is threshed and severed from the Chaffe before it is sown but then it bringeth forth the blade and husk and afterward the eare of Corn. The Circumcised parent begetteth a Child that is born uncircumcised because his Circumcision is not propagated So it is here a father that is free from the power of sin and guilt of sin by the work of grace upon his heart yet begetteth a Child that is contrary to both these How then is it said That if the Root be holy the branches Object are holy That is a further Objection that ye have Rom. 11. 16. If the first-fruits be holy the lump is also holy If the root be holy so also is the branches This is to be understood not of a personall holinesse Answ which is an inherent quality But of a federall holinesse which is of Relation for that the root was holy The Jewish parents were in the outward Covenant of God being members of the visible Church therefore their Branches were partakers of a faederall holinesse but it doth not follow as to personall holinesse A man may at once be a child of wrath in regard of the common condition of man in Adam and yet be holy in regard of the Covenant made in Abraham That God would be his God and the God of his seed Well then if it be thus that believers as such as are not born of blood Let it serve to take men off from their boasting of their Ancestors and Descent of comming of this or that Family and Blood It were worth the bragging of if Grace came by Propagation But seeing it doth not Non sanguine sed virtute nitamur Let us not rely upon Blood but upon Virtue saith the Heathen Let me say Upon Christ and in that sense upon Blood There is one Blood we may rely upon but it is the Blood of Christ the Blood of the everlasting Covenant otherwise there is no great difference in point of Blood between men and men Act. 17. 26. God hath made of one blood all nations of men that dwell on all the face of the earth All men out of one blood The poorest Beggar commeth from Adam who was Lord of all the world as well as the greatest Potentate upon earth so as No glorying in any blood but the Blood of Christ there is no glorying in any blood but in the Blood of Christ he that hath a conscience sprinkled with that he hath cause of glorying He that glorieth let him glory in this that he knoweth me Saith Prudentius Sanguis Christi facit hominem esse nobilem That which maketh a man noble is to have Christ's Blood in him it is to be one of Christ's followers It was that that ennobled the Beroeans Act. 17. 11. These speaking of the Beroeans were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readinesse of mind and searched the Scriptures daily The word in the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These were better born than those of Thessalonica He is well born that is new born Here is a Blood to confide in This is a Blood that cannot be tainted The best blood may be tainted Great men may become Traitors and so taint their blood Here is a Blood without possibility of tainture that washeth white wheresoever it commeth Secondly Believers They are not born of the will of the 2. They are
not born of the will of the flesh flesh By the will of the flesh I understand the will of a man in the state of corruption as long as he is nothing but flesh That which is born of the flesh is flesh Joh. 3. And then the meaning is That no man can attain Grace or the New-birth by the utmost improvement of his own free-will while he is yet in the state of corruption No man by the utmost improvement of nature can raise himself to grace No man that is yet in the flesh by the improvement of the will of the flesh can become a spirituall man No creature can raise it self to an higher rank of creatures a Stone cannot make it self a Tree to have grouth and life nor can a Tree make it selfe a Beast to have Sense nor can a Beast make it self a Man to have Reason nor can a meer Rationall man make himself a Saint by the improvement of his own Free-will as the holy Ghost telleth us Rom. 9. 16. So then it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy Not of him that willeth by desiring nor of him that runneth by endeavouring but of God that sheweth mercy He will have mercy on whom he will have mercy Rom. 9. 15. He will have mercy on Sion therefore he putteth forth grace to make it free otherwise it would be in bondage for ever This is the great question between the Arminians at this day and us Protestants The will of man doth never attain grace by its own liberty but the will of man attaineth liberty by grace It is so far free that the grace of God will make it free otherwise it hath no freedom at all to God much lesse is it free to raise it self to a state of grace As we are not born of blood so not of the will of the flesh That man is not able to do any thing that is good by the power of his own free-will I shall demonstrate it by an Man cannot do good by the power of his own free-will argument taken from the impotency of the will of the flesh The Apostle saith expresly While we are without Christ we are without strength and so unable to do any spirituall good Rom. 5. 6. When we were yet without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly No supernaturall strength in a naturall man The will of the flesh can but follow the guidance of the wisdom of the flesh now the wisdom of the flesh saith Paul that is enmity against God Therefore the will of the flesh never riseth to friendship with him Rom. 8. 7 8. Because the carnall mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wisdom of the flesh is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God This is a deep mystery this of the free-will of man but I am not willing to wade into the depth of the Controversie onely I shall say something by the way to you Know therefore this that at the first the freedom of the Freedome of of will at first stood in indifferency to good and evill will in intelligent creatures Angels and Men stood in an Indifferency to good and evill yet so as look what way the will betaketh it self to that it shall be confined for time to come If it chuse good it shall be permanent in chusing good if evill it shall be able to chuse nothing else The good Angels chose that which was good and the bent of their hearts will continue the right way therefore now they are confirmed in goodnesse and are free to nothing else The bad Angels they chose what was evill therefore they are now left to the obduration of their own hearts and can do nothing nor will nothing but what is evill Man who though made in an holy state yet was mutable and having a will subject to change fell upon the worst part chose evill whereas he might have chosen good and ever since all his posterity by nature are able to do nothing else Radix peccati libertas this freedom of will was the very root from whence the first sin sprung Therefore ever since the first fall the will hath been deeper in evill than the understanding The will is more a verse from chusing good than the mind from defiring good as * Medaea she said video meliora proboque Deteriora sequor Many things which our judgments are against our affections are enclined to So that now no man hath farther freedom of will to do good than his will is made free by grace so much free-grace as is communicated so much free-will a man hath and not a whit more The flesh contributeth nothing to the free-will to do good Not of the will of the flesh True indeed in naturall things as eating and drinking Freedome of will in things Naturall and Civill and Outward acts of Religion and civill things as buying and selling and marrying and giving in marriage there is a freedom of will to do this or that It is true also that in the outward acts of Religion the free-will of man assisted by common-grace may chuse what is good A man may will to go to Church rather than stay at home and when he is there he may listen to what is said and meditate of what he hath heard and when he is come home repeat it A great deal of use men may have of this freedom as to the outward act of Religion It is for want of improving that power which God giveth to men in such acts that they perish But neither have men abilities by the improvement of them nor free-will to do any of those acts when a man by nature cannot turn himself to to any spirituall duty in a spirituall way That requireth an assistance of speciall grace Neither have they abilities to do those more supernaturall acts which immediately accompany salvation in any measure by the power of their own free-will they cannot do any outward act of Religion well The Bonum and Bene cannot be done without speciall grace As Take an Hatchet that is sharp this in the hand of a common man will cut because it hath a capacity that way but to make a Table or Stool or Statue that requireth influentiam Artificis it is not a common hand that can do that there must be the hand of an Artificer So though the free-will of man may do an outward act in the worship of God yet to do this act well requireth a further influence than the common providence of God assisting all his creatures So it will be found much more if we come to those acts upon which salvation dependeth Turning to Christ and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and loving God for himself these the will of man improved cannot rise to No man can repent till he be turned Jer. 39. 19. After
that I was turned I repented first turned and then repented not I turned my self first and repented afterwards As it was in the first Creation ye know what is said of Adam Gen. 2. 23. The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrills the breath of life and man became a living soul Here is a dust-heap Can that become a man No unlesse God breathe the breath of life Here is an unregenerate man Can that man become regenerate No unlesse the same power goeth forth to make a new creature here that went forth in the first Creation Ephes 2. 10. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works Creation was out of nothing nothing in corrupt nature will serve for the new building There are the faculties and substance of the soul that God makes use God makes use of the Faculties not of the Qualities of the Soul of but the qualities not one of them will serve Old things are done away all things are become new saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 5. 17. So as when God createth grace in the soul he doth something answerable to what he did when he breathed life into that dust Onely with this difference God made Adam at first in his full stature a perfect man whereas when the new creature is framed there must be a growing up to perfection There is a perfection of parts indeed in the first draught of the new creatures not onely a new heart but a new tongue a new hand and a new understanding and will but there wanteth a perfection of degrees which was in Adam Therefore the Apostle speaks of growing up to a full stature But as to the thing in hand There is an utter inability in nature to raise it selfe to grace as in that dust to make it selfe a man Many Intricacâ—es are in this point As I am loath to handle them so loath am I to wave them altogether Only because something haply may not be fit for this Auditory let us content our selves with this That the same power The same power that made the Creature must make the new-Creature which made man at first a Creature must go to make him a new-Creature There is none of that power in corrupt nature therefore men may not be born of the will of the flesh Ephes 1. 19. speaking of a mighty power working in them that believe What is the exceeding greatnesse of his power to us-ward who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised Him from the dead The same power that went to the Creation of man the same power that went to the Resurrection of Christ must go to man's Conversion Faith cannot be wrought without it Therefore it is called the faith of the operation of God Col. 2. 12. Ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God Faith can neither be begotten without much power nor continued without much power 1 Thes 1. 11. Fulfilling all the good pleasure of his goodnesse and the work of faith with power So then not to intangle our selves in this Controversie let us make use of what hath been said Learn from hence To detest all the dictates and Tenents Vse 1 of the Adversaries of the free grace of God all To detest the Tenents of the adversaries of Free-grace those Doctrines that ascribe our new birth either in whole or in part to the will of the flesh The first great Hereticks that were struck all at the disparagement of God and their Heresies were against the Trinity of Persons or against the Divinity of Christ or against the proceeding of the Holy Ghost something that concerned God And when the Divill was beaten from this Hold he betook himselfe to a new one He would not now disparage God but advance Man as the Pelagians do As if man by his own will and liberty might make choice of Christ Hence it is that the proud Dutch man when he was urged with that place of the Apostle Who hath made thee to differ dared to return this abominable speech for I can call it no other Who hath made me to differ Why Ego feci meipsum I have made my selfe to differ God gave me Blasphemy a power to will but my will determined it self to lay hold on Christ Thus to teach That God giveth a Posse velle to have power to do good but when grace hath done all it can a man is left to his own liberty to chuse or refuse What is this but to ascribe salvation to our selves more than to God Secondly The willing of good is good And a greater Vse 2 thing then having power to will what is good If I have The willing of good is good c. onely power to will from God and have the will of what is good my selfe I give more to Will than what is due to Grace God doth not onely inable us to will if we please but maketh us willing Phil. 2. 13. It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure Therefore while others do cry up the great Diana of the Pelagians and Arminians Great is the Free-will of Man inabling to do great things for us Let us that professe our selves Disciples of grace rather cry as the builders of the second Temple Zach. 4. Grace Grace Great is the Grace of God We are born not of the will of the flesh but of God Thirdly As not of blood nor of the will of the flesh 3. They are not born of the will of men so not of the will of man Some obscurity is in this phrase It is something hard to clear it if we look onely to our English expression But know that both in Hebrew and in Greek and Latin are two words for Man The one whereof is raised much higher in its signification than the other In the Hebrew Ish and Adam In Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Latin Vir and Homo Adam and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Homo These terms are put for man in his lowest condition when they are distinct one from another I will not deny but they may sometimes be used without that difference in Scripture But now Ish and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Vir import men of note Eminent men The word in the Text is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not of the will of man As before he had excluded our owne wills from being able to bring us to grace so here he excludeth the will of others be they never so eminent Ish is put for men of eminency Gen. 45. 11. saith Jacob to his Children Carry down the Man a present That is the Governour of the Land Joseph But above all an undeniable place is in the Prophe where ye have both Ish and Adam The mean man boweth down and the great man humbleth himselfe Adam is the mean
come to good inclinations in the Will they are received Phil. 2. 13. It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure Come from good inclinations of the Will to good words in the Mouth why God puts them in too or we cannot have them Isa 50. 4. The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned that I should know how to speak Come from good words to good works by which our words are made good we fulfill in our actions what we professe they are also received Without me ye can do nothing saith Joh. 15. 5. Christ He doth not say It is but little but Nothing just nothing without me These good works they have different successes every degree of success is received Paul plants and Apollos watereth but it is God that giveth the success 1 Cor. 3. 6. Nay to make it appear that the successe is given that increase is freely dispenced ye shaall often find God giving more success to meaner labours than to greater more success to men of weak abilities than to men of strong abilities because he will have success free as well as any thing else As it was between Rachel and Leah Rachel was the fairer but Leah the fruitfuller Rachel had more beauty but Leah more children Now to come to the Use which the Apostle hath made Use to my hands Whatsoever we have is received Away then Against boasting and proud Opinions with boasting 1 Cor. 4. 7. Who made thee to differ from another What hast thou that thou hast not received Now if thou didst receive it why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it Away with all proud opinions of men that ascribe something to the creature and something to themselves that they have not received of free grace There is a great deal of difference between habit acquired and habit infused Men speak of grace as if it were an acquired habit and so ascribe much to themselves and do not take all as received Indeed in acquired habits the actions well performed have a kind of casualty in them as if a man learneth to write his frequent habit bringeth him to write But it is otherwise in infused habits there we have first the habit then perform the act You have first the habit that we receive then the acts are produced and all is of God As they say of the soul Grace frames all of it self the free grace of God doth all in the soul plants the habit then draweth it forth into act and then blesseth those acts and then crowneth all And what is the Crown Why his own work in us God crowneth nothing in us but what he giveth us It is so from first to last All is grace Therefore there is no boasting Away then with proud opinions and glorying of our selves in our conversation The truth is this corruption of nature though it vent it self much in opinion yet more in practise It is too common a fault for men to play the Swan when they look into the whiteness of their own bosoms without considering the blackness of their feet Whence is that whiteness received if there be any whiteness It is from God therefore glory not as if thou hadst not received Yet glory in God but not in thy self There is that which will make us to play the Judas with Christ Christ giveth a bag to Judas and Judas will filch from Christ Christ giveth us grace and we are apt to pocket up all for our selves We derive all from Christ and yet many times we take upon us as if we had it out of our own Cisterns This I did and said and this was done by my endeavours Oh! What hast thou that thou hast not received The Moon receiveth all its light from the Sun and yet the Moon eclipseth the Sun as much as in her lyeth Seeing we receive all from Christ let him have thé praise of all we have and hope for Let this break the pride of our hearts Beggars must be no boasters Of his fulness have we all received even grace for grace Vers 17. For the Law was given by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ 18. No man hath seen God at any time The onely begotten Son which is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him In this 17th Verse are contained two Assertions First That the Law was given by Moses Secondly That Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ Of these I shall not here speak any thing nor of the opposition which is here made by some between these two Whereas Christ and Moses the Gospel and the Law are here opposed by way of Comparison the one as more excellent than the other Diverse mistake them as opposed by way of Controversie as the one excluding the other and so gather from hence That under the Gospel we have nothing to do with the Law That The grace and truth that came by Jesus Christ doth quite destroy and abolish the Law that came by Moses We might here distinguish of a four-fold estate of Man A state of Innocency A state of Corruption A state of Preparation A state of Grace And also of the severall uses of the Morall Law First To justifie Secondly To discover sin and guilt Thirdly To prouoke to sin Fourthly To condemn for sin Eifthly To lead to Christ 1. The Law of use to have justified Adam 2. To provoke and condemn in the state of Corruption 3. To lead Sixthly To direct in the waies of holiness First The Law was of use to have justified Adam in the state of Innocency but could never justifie any man since Secondly The Law is still of use to provoke and to condemn in the state of Corruption Thirdly In the state of Preparation the Law is still of use as a School-master to lead us to Christ us to Christ in the state of preparation 4. Of little use to condemn and of no force to provoke in the state of grace 5. Of use to correct in that state as a rule of life Fourthly It is of small use to Condemne and of no force to provoke in the state of grace But yet Fifthly even in the state of grace it is of use to correct and so it is a rule of Life All these I might discover to you by diverse arguments But my intension is to consider such places as are objected to the contrary and then to come to the Application Gal. 3. 19. seems to imply that the Law was to continue no longer then till the coming of Christ Wherefore then serveth the Law It was added because of transgression till the seed should come to whom the promise was made If by seed we understand Object Christ as is likely Then it doth rise higher the Law was added because of Transgression till the seed should come but then it was to continue no longer But the answer is not difficult First If ye understand Answ