Joh. 14. 23. If a man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come and make our abode with him Ver. 16. The Father shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever The Father dwells in us 2 Cor. 6. 16. I will dwell in them The Son dwells in us Ephes 3. 17. Christ dwells in your hearts by Faith The Spirit dwells in us Rom. 8. 11. Fourthly That all the people of God have the Spirit of God may plainly appear by the works â—f the Spirit which are to be found in every one of them 1. They are sanctified by the Spirit Ye are sanctified by the Spirit of our God 1 Cor. 6. 11. 2. They are led by the Spirit As many as are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God Rom. 8. 14. 3. They are upheld and strengthened by the Spirit Psal 51. 12. Vphold me with thy free Spirit Ephes 3. 16. To be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man 4. They are partakers of the first fruits of the Spirit Rom. 8. 23. Our selves have the first fruits of the Spirit 5. They are helped by the Spirit Rom. 8. 26 The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities and the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groans which cannot be uttered 6. They are taught by the Spirit Joh. 14. 26. The Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name he shall teach you all things 7. They are comforted by the Spirit Acts 9. 31. They walked in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost 8. They are sealed by the Spirit Ephes 1. 13. In whom after that ye believed ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise Quest 3. Why doth the Lord put his Spirit within every one of his Reasons of it people Sol. There may be assigned six Reasons for it viz. 1. Necessity 2ly Congruity 3ly Conformity 4ly Excellency 5ly The love of God 6ly The purchase of Christ First Necessity The presence and enjoyment of the Spirit is necessary for The necessity of it them in many respects 1. For applying of Christ unto them and for the applying of them unto Christ For applying Christ that there is a conjunction or union between Christ the Head and his Mystical body the Church is an unquestionable truth And how Christ who locally in heaven should be joyned or united to his Church here on earth this cannot be done but by the Spirit who doth knit or joyn Christ to us and us to Christ as really as the head is joyned to the body and as the body is joyned to the head But take the instance in any particular believer that Christ is his and he is Christs it is certain but how comes Christ to be his what is that on Christs part which makes this union it is the Spirit and none but the Spirit and what is it on our part which makes this union it is faith and it is caused by the Spirit So that the Spirit is necessary to this union on either part on Christs part to apply or unite him to us and on our part in causing faith which applyes and unites us to Christ And unto this reciprocal union the Spirit is such a necessary agent that without him there cannot possibly be any union at all No man can be united to Christ but by the Spirit neither can Christ I speak it with reverence unite himself to us but by his Spirit 2. For conveying of spiritual life into them or a new being into their souls For conveying of spiritual life Naturally all men are dead in trespasses and sins and every faculty in them is totally defiled and polluted and corrupted and is deprived of the glory of God nor can any man help himself in this case nor can any creature do it None can raise him from his death but that Spirit who raised Jesus Christ from the dead Therefore is the Spirit called the Spirit of life and the Spirit of grace forasmuch as he is the authour of both unto our souls it is the Spirit who quickens them by infusing the life of Christ into them and who renews them by changing of them into the image of Christ 3. For all the actings of grace Take me any Christian though endowed with For all the actings of grace all the principles of grace and great measures thereof now put him upon any particular acting put him upon believing put him upon repenting upon mourning upon any acts of obedience why looâ—â—s no member of the body can move or strive but from an influence from the head no more can we act any grace we have but by an influence from the Spirit of Christ our Head Joh. 15. 5. And we find it in experience that it is with our souls Simile as with a ship which stirs not if the wind stirs not and it stirs more or less as the wind is greater or lesser so if the Spirit of God stirs not in us our graces stir not c. For all our receptions 4. For all our Receptions Would you know any truth of God you cannot know it unless the Spirit of God give you his light to know it 1 Cor. 2. 10 11. would you be acquainted with the love of God you can never perceive it unless the Spirit shed abroad that love in your hearts Rom. 5. 5. would you be clear and satisfied in your relation of sonship unto God as your Father all the men in the world cannot perswade and satisfie as to that unlesse and untill the Sperit beareth witness with your Spirits that you are the children of God Rom. 8. 16. Secondly Congruity It is meet and fit that the people of God should have the Spirit of God For Congruity 1. They are his children and is it not meet that the children of God should have the Spirit of God should they not bear his image if they were led by the same spirit by which the children of this world are led had they not another Spirit they could not be his children 2. They are his servants and therefore they have much to do for him and they have much to suffer for him Is it not meet that the Lord should help his servants The services of the people of God which they are to do for him and to suffer for him are above all their own strength and therefore God will give them his Spirit to enable them for all their services whether active or passive the Spirit can supply them for every work 3. They are his Heirs and intended for eternal glory and is it not fit that they should have the Spirit of grace who must have the Spirit of glory Heirs of God Rom. 8. 17. Before a person comes to heaven it is fit that he should be fitted for heaven be made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1. 12. And who
righteousnesse of Christ by faith and you have the pardon of your sins by faith you are heirs of all by faith He that believeth on the Sâ—n hath everlasting life Joh. 3. 26. The promise that he should be the heir of the World was not to Abraham or to his seed through the Law but through the righteousness of Faith Rom. 4. 13. 4. All the dealings with God as a God in Covenant is by Faith you can have no communion with him at all without faith you cannot acknowledge him All our dealings with God is by Faith nor love him nor desire him nor delight in him nor call upon him nor trust him nor take any thing from him nor make any use of him or of his promises but by faith Heb. 11. 6. He that cometh to God must believe that God is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him James 1. 6. But let him ask in faith c. SECT II. Quest 1. BUt now come three Questions what Faith that is which is necessary and which must be put forth to bring us into the Covenant and without which we neither are nor can be in Covenant with God 2. Whether Faith only be the condition What faith it is that is the condition 3. Why Faith is the condition 1. What Faith it is that is the condition Sol. There are several distinctions of Faith considered in the kindes of it of which I shall not speak and there are several conditions of the same Faith in respect of the particular acts issuing or following from it 1. That Faith which brings us into the Covenant is a Faith which respects A faith which respects Christ Christ or which is conversant about Christ No other Faith but this Faith and of this Faith there are divers acts 1. One is an uniting act 2. And there is a justifying act 3. A third is a drawing act The faith which brings us into the Covenant is that faith which doth unite us unto A faith that doth unite us to Christ Christ which makes us one with him And we being thus united to Christ we are thereupon and therefore in the Covenant Faith considered as justifying doth not bring us into the Covenant for our justifying follows our being in the Covenant we must first be in the Covenant before we can have Righteousnesse and forgivenesse of sins Neither doth faith as drawing any grace from Christ bring us into the Covenant Forasmuch as all the fruits of communion are consequents unto us being first in the Covenant But it is faith considered only as uniting us unto Christ which brings us into the Covenant For the opening of this Point which is as difficult and weighty as any that I meet with give me favour to enlarge my self a little in shewing unto you 1. That there is an union twixt Christ and us 2. That faith is the means or instrument of that union 3. That our interest in the Covenant necessarily flows from this union with Christ 1. That there is an union twixt Christ and us not an imaginary union an union There is a union betwixt Christ and us only in the apprehension of the minde as an object apprehended is conveyed and united to the intellect but a very real union Hence it is that the Church is called the Body and Christ is called the Head Ephes 5. 23. Christ is the Head of the Church and he is the Saviour of the body And verse 30 Ye are members of his body and of his flesh and of his bonâ—s Now there is a real union 'twixt the body and the head and between every member of the body and of the head they are all joyned to the head by the Nerves and Ligatures from whence they receive their sensation and strength In like manner there is an union between us and Christ we are joyned to the Lord 1 Cor. 6. 17. and he is â—oyned unto us c. The Church is called a building and house and Christ is called the foundation and corner-stone Eph. 2. 20. We are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the Corner-stone 1 Pet. 2. 4. To whom coming as unto a living stone verse 5 ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house c. There is an union twixt the building and the foundation the building depends upon the foundation and the foundation bears up the building The Church is the Branches and Christ is the Vine Joh. 15. 5. I am the Vine and ye are the branches The living branches have their union with the roots there they grow and there they live and are nourished The Church is called the Spouse and Wife of Christ and Christ the Husband I will marry thee to my self Hosea 2. 19. I have espoused you unto one husband saith Paul 2 Cor. 11. 2. And twixt them the union is so near that they are called one flesh Gen. 2. 24. so likewise are Christ and they who are united to Christ called one Spirit 1 Cor. 6. 17. 2. That faith is the means and instrument of our union with Christ By which we Faith is the instrument of our union are near to him enjoy him are joyned unto him possesse him as ours And this the Scripture holds forth unto us abundantly in the several expressions of faith Our believing is sometimes stiled a coming to Christ Come unto me and No man comes to me except c. A receiving of Christ Joh. 1. 12. To as many as received him c. A livingly Christ and a living in Christ Because I live ye shall live also Joh. 14. 19. I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the son of God Gal. 2. 20. and a joyning to Christ 1 Cor. 6. 17. A being in Christ Ye are in Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 1. 30. and that is by faith A partaking of Christ a planting of us into Christ and Christ is said to dwell in us by faith and so do we dwell in him by faith and abide in him by faith A eating and drinking of Christ Joh. 6. 56. When the Spirit of God works faith in our hearts our hearts are now brought in to Christ they are subdued and captivated We embrace Christ and we come in to Christ and Christ is ours and we are his and the whole heart ir setled upon Christ and knit unto Christ and becomes one with Christ 3. Our interest in the Covenant necessarily follows from this union with Christ Our interest in the Covenant 〈◊〉 from 〈…〉 The â—â—â—enaÌ„t was 〈◊〉 â—ade with Christ and 〈◊〉 us in relation to Christ Being brought by faith into Christ you are now in the Covenant And that I shall clear unto you thus 1. The Covenant of God was made first with Christ as the head of the Church and with us in relation unto Christ and with Christ in
mercy grace joy peace salvation in him 7. This union 'twixt us and Christ by faith it is a firme and inseparable union A firm and inseparable union An union that can never be bâ—oken asunder and herein it goes beyond all other unions which are used to illustrate this union every one of them is soluble it may be broken off the Head and the body may be severed the Foundation and the House may be separated The Branches may be cut off â—rom the Vine The Husband may be taken away from the Wife and the Wife from the Husband Yea the soule and body may be disunited by death But the union 'twixt us and Christ remaines for ever There is not only a continuation of it all our life but also in death itself your very bodies sleeping in the the dust are even then in union with Christ I grant that the sense and apprehension of this union may in this life be much interrupted and many times be wholly darkned but the substance of the union still remaines and I grant that the substance or nature of this union may be exceedingly assaulted by Satan yet neverthelesse it continues and abides for ever For Christ will never part with the believer and the believer will never part with Christ And moreover as no power in the world is sufficient to over-power the Spirit of Christ which on Christs part makes union so no power whatsoever shall be able to conquer faith which on our part also makes the union This faith of union as it is produced by no lesse power than that of God so it is preserved and upheld by the same power to the end Neither God nor Christ nor the Holy Ghost nor the heart of a believer will break this union and neither Satan nor the world nor sin can do it 5. If your faith be indeed the faith of union this will appear by these influences The influences and effects which do attend this union and effects which do alwayes attend that union which faith works between us and Christ When we are by faith united to Christ then upon this union there follows a communion betwixt Christ and us in which Christ communicates or imparts somethings of his unto us And we likewise do communicate and impart some thing in us unto him Upon this union there follows such a communion twixt Christ and us as that we do partake of and have fellowship in the most excellent things of We have fellowship with Christ Christ We have fellowship with him 1. In the same Spirit Rom. 8. 9 11. and 1 Cor. 6. 17. And by the same Spirit are we reconciled and sanctified though not in the fulnesse and measure as In the same Spirit Christ himself was and changed by him into the same image of Christ 2 Cor. 3. 18. 2. In the same life As he that hath the Son hath life 1 Joh. 5. 10. so he that In the same Liâ—e hath the Son hath the same life which the Son hath I live yet not â— but Christ liveth in me Gal. 2. 20. The Head and the body the Tree and the branches partake of the same life 3. In the same Righteousness His Righteousnesse is our righteousnesse He is the Lord our righteousnesse Jer. 23. 6. and we are made the righteousnesse of God In the same Righteousness in him 2 Cor. 5. 21. 4. In the same Relation So that as he was the Son of God by eternal Generation In the same Relation in like manner are we the sons of God by adoption so that he is not ashamed to call us brethren Heb. 2. 11 12. 5 In his victories In all these things we are more than conquerors through In his victories Christ that loved us Rom. 8. 37. 6. In his glory The glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they In his glory may be one even as we are one All these things are most certainly imparted unto every believer upon his union with Christ Jesus Christ communicates unto him his own Spirit his own Holinesse his own Righteousnesse c. And hence it is apparent that they never were united by faith unto Christ in whom nothing of communion with Christ can be found Rom. 8. 9. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his 2 Cor. 5. 17. If any man be in Christ he is a new creature c. 2. Upon this union with Christ there is yet another part of communion in respect of us and there are two things especially which we do impart to Christ one We impart to Christ is love the other is subjection for by â—aith we are united to Christ as the Wife to the Husband which is an union of love and also to Christ as members of the body to the head which takes in an union of subjection 1. If saith hath united us to Christ then do we love Christ every Believer Love loves Christ Saw ye him whom my soule lâ—veth so the Church Cant. 3. 1. 2 3. Lord Thou knowest all things Thou knowest that I love thee So Peter Joh. 21. 17. Whom having not seen ye love so the Apostle 1 Pet. 1. 8. And how doth the true believer who is united to Christ love Christ How the believer loves Christ 1. He loves his Christ with the Love of friendship he loves Christ for Christ himself 2. He loves his Christ with a love of complacency O how sweet and lovely is this Christ 3. He loves his Christ with a love of satisfaction Christ is enough he is my center in whom I rest 4. He loves his Christ with a love of sincerity Christ and nothing that is contrary to Christ 5. He loves his Christ with a love of excellency nothing so much nothing so well as Christ 6. He loves Christ with a love of extremity he is sick of love for Christ he so loves Christ that he thinks he never loves Christ as Christ deserves to be loved 7. He loves Christ with a love of fidelity so as nothing can quench that love nor break off that love 8. He loves his Christ with a love of benevolence O how much prosperity doth he wish to Christ 9. He loves his Christ with a love of beneficency what would not he do for Christ what would he not suffer for Christ 10. He loves his Christ with a love of sympathy what Christ doth love he doth love and what doth please Christ that doth please him and what doth grieve and trouble Christ that doth grieve and trouble him O Sirs uniting faith sees so much in Christ and findes so much from Christ it makes us partakers of such a Christ and of such a love from Christ that it is impossible but that soule must love Christ which by Faith is united to Christ 2. If your faith be the faith of union with Christ then it will certainly cause in Sujection unto Christ you a subjection unto Christ
more righteous you have your sins so perfectly forgiven that they cannot as to Gods work of absolution be more exactly forgiven they are so forgiven that none can lay any thing to your charge so forgiven that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus His communications in Sanctification are not thus perfect and at once but His communications in sanctification imperfect they are successive and by degrees and by measures as the members of the body united to the Head or as the branches united to the Root have their strength and enlargements derived unto them in a succession of time and in a proportion so the Members of Christ and the Branches in him true Believers they do receive from him grace upon grace one degree and measure after another like a vessel in the Sea which is not filled according to the present fulnesse of the Sea but according to the present capacity of the vessell drop after drop it is filled by continued way of filling or like a Childe that is nourished by a dayly addition and reception of food and so creeps up into more strength in time Beloved you must not expect though you be united to Christ such an immediate and compleat supply of the Spirit of grace from Christ as at once to make you strong Christians and full Christians without any weaknesses and without any wants Indeed Christ hath promised to perfect his work which he hath begun and to strengthen what he hath wrought and he will do so but then it is in his own way and in his own time by degrees he will so follow the work of grace that you shall grow and increase more and more with the increasings of God he will water the Plants and blesse the Buds aand at length will bring forth Judgement into victory he will not communicate his Spirit unto any of us in this life so perfectly as to be be without combate in our selves nor without dependance upon himself 3. But lastly do you indeed finde weaknesses and wants still abiding with If you be full of weakness why do you not look out to Christs fulness you And why then did you complaine and sit stil why do you not rather look out to Christs fulnesse than thus discourage your hears at your own emptinesse Indeed it is the first work of faith to unite you to Christ to make you and Christ one to give you an interest in himself but then it is the next work of faith to live upon your Christ to depend upon Christ to draw out of his fulnesse to go to him and to trust on him for all the good which yet your soules do want to get further fellowship with him will he deny you help who hath not denyed you himself And is not he therefore your Christ that he may be your head and help and supply c. SECT VIII 4. Vse IS uniting Faith the condition of the Covenant of Grace so that all Believers Instructions in Christ are really in Covenant with God and God with them Then you who are believers who are by faith united unto Christ learn from hence the duties which do especially concern you as Believers interested in Christ and in the Covenant The duties which do much concern you are these 1. Improve your faith to a dependance on your God 2. Improve your faith to an observance or keeping Covenant with your God 3. Remember that it is Jesus Christ upon whose account you and God are in Covenant 1. Being united by faith unto Christ and so brought into Covenant now improve Improve your faith to a dependance upon God your faith to a dependance upon your God who is your God in Covenant Come unto him in the name of Christ as unto your God and rely on him and expect to receive from him all the good for which he hath engaged himself unto you in Covenant For the better mannaging of this instruction I wil briefly shew unto you 1. That it is an expresse and peremptory duty incumbent on you who are by Faith brought into Covenant to depend by faith on your God in Covenant 2. How farre you may by vertue of your union with Christ by faith depend upon your God 3. What encouragements there are for all who are by Faith united unto Christ to depend and rely on their God for whatsoever good themselves do need and God in his Covenant hath promised unto them I beseech you who are Believers diligently to regard and remember these things 1. It is an expresse and peremptory duty incumbent on you being brought This is a peremptory duty by faith on Christ into the Covenant to depend by Faith on God who is your God in Covenant Isa 8. 19. Should not a people seek unto their God Psal 20. 7. Some trust in Chariots and some in Horses but we will remember the Name of the Lord our God Psal 115. 9. O Israel trust thou in the Lord Psal 91. 2. I will say of the Lord He is my Refuge and my Fortresse my God in him will I trust Isa 50. 10. Who is he that sits in darknesse and sees no light Let him trust in the Name of the Lord and stay upon his God Isa 26. 4. Trust ye in the Lord for ever for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength See Psal 62. 8. Zeph. 3. 12. Isa 12. 2. Isa 14. 32. 2 Cor. 1. 9 10. 1 Pet. 3 5. Beloved This is the end of your union with Christ that you might have communion with God that you might have accesse unto him Ephes 2. 18. and that you might come boldly to the throne of Grace that you may obtain mercy and grace to help in time of need Heb. 4. 16. And this is the end for which this faith is given unto you not only for admission into the Covenant but for participation of all the good of the Covenant It is given unto you to make you children and it is given to you to make you heirs it is given unto you in a passive sense that you might be received into the Covenant and it is given unto you in an active sense that you may receive the good out of the Covenant It is given unto you to take off your hearts from all confidence but upon your God alone and to set all your hopes on him and expectations from him and it is given unto you that you might give glory to all the truths of God and what glory do you give to his pâ—omises if you think him a God not to be trusted c. 2. How far by vertue of union with Christ Believers may depend upon their How far Believers may depend on God in Covenant So far as Christ is made over to you by God God in Covenant I will describe those Bounds unto you in six Propositions 1. So far as Jesus Christ is made over unto you by God your dependance on God may and should extend Isa 9. 6.
ascribes justification only to Faith And verily thus it holds as to the present dispute Christ died for his sheep if for none but his sheep than for them only when Christ said I pray not for the world but for them whom thou hast given me Joh. 17. 9. This is as much as if he had said I pray only for them whom thou hast given me So when Christ saith I lay down my life for my sheep and afterwards so describes his sheep that all unbelievers are none of the sheep for whom he died now it will follow that he died only for his sheep And indeed I would fain know for whom Christ should die for besides his sheep should he die for them who were never given unto him of whom he never took care to whom he never was a Shepherd for them that were never a part of his flock and charge Is this the commendations of of a good Shepherd to lay down his life for such as have no Relation at all unto him nor he unto them Object But it is said that Christ died for the ungodly Rom. 5. 6. Sol. 'T is true yet not for all the ungodly for those who are made his sheep by grace were indeed in themselves ungodly sinners thâ—se ungodly spoken of there by the Apostle for whom Christ died verse 6. and 8. in verse 9. are said to be Justified by his blood and that they shall be saved from wrath through him and verse 10. are reconciled by his death and therefore much more being reconciled shall be saved by his life And truely such ungodly as these who in themselves were so and sinners and enemies but by the death of Christ were justified and reconciled and should undoudtedly be saved by him were no other then those whom he here calls his sheep not that his do continue ungodly but that the estate from which he justifies and saves them was so Object And for that conclusion from Paul saying Christ gave himself for me Hence it cannot be inferred therefore for none else but Paul I answer that speech is not alike with this I lay down my lifâ— for my sheep Here is the full number For as in a Testament where common Legacies or Estates are bequeathed unto all the Children and Kindred and Friends though this Child or Kinsman or Friend cannot say this is given to me Ergo there is nothing given to any other besides me yet all and every one of them can say This Estate is given unto us mentioned in the Will therefore it is not given to any other but our selves who only are mentioned therein So though no particular Believer can appropriate the death and vertues of the death of Christ unto himself in exclusion of any other Believer who are all mentioned in the Will and Testament of Christ yet all Believers who are the sheep of Christ can say that Christ hath died for us and hath purchased and left the inheritance to us only none other being mentioned in his Testament nay all unblâ—evers being expresly left out But I proceed unto another proof Acts 20. 28. Feed the Church of God which From Acts 20. 28. Eph. 5. 23 26 27. he hath purchased with his own blood Christ is the Head of the Church and the Saviour of the body Ephes 5. 23 25. Husbands love your Wives as Christ also loved his Church and gave himself for it verse 26. That he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word verse 27. That he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle but that it should be holy and without blemish In these places you see plainly five particulars 1. That the Church of God was purchased by the blood of Christ his blood was shed to Redeem and purchase it 2. That the love of Christ was to his Church and that from his love to his Church did flow the giving of himself for it 3. That the end why he gave himself for his Church was to make it holy and glorious 4. That of that Church for which he gave himself He is the Head 5. That the same Church is the body of Christ and that of that body he is the Saviour Whence I thus Argue Those whom Christ purchased by his blood were the Church of God those whom he loved were his Church those for whom Christ gave himself were his Church those to whom Christ is Head are the Church and those of whom he is a Saviour are his body the Church But all men whatsoever and every man whosoever are not the Church of God nor are Members of the Church of Christ nor is he the Head of them therefore he did not die or give himself for all and every man nor is he a Saviour to them The Major Proposition is the express Letter of these Scriptures the Minor Proposition is also most certaine viz. that all and every man is not the Church of God nor are they Members of the Church of Christ Consider the Church in any Scripture-acceptation this cannot be denied The Church is either 1. Invisibilis which is Coetus fidelium Or 2. Visibilis which is Coetus profitentium All and every man comes not within either of these they are neither believers on Christ nor professors of Christ Againe There is a Catholick Church of Christ viz. Believers in any time or part of the world and there is a particular Church of Christ which is a number of professing Believers joyned in the worship of Christ in this or that particular place Under neither of these Considerations are all and every Man Members of the Church of Christ Againe there is the Militant Church here on earth suffering for Christ and there is the Triumphing Church reigning in Heaven and glorified with Christ all and every man cannot fall in with either of these If all and every man cannot be found within the compass of the Church of Christ if this never was and is not and never will be then Christ did not die nor give himself for all and every man Object 'T is true that Christ gave himself for his Church but it is not said only for his Church and that he is the Saviour of the body but not only of the body Sol. 1. If one should thus argue from the precedent part of the Verse Verse 25. Husbands love your Wives as Christ loved the Church that they may love others besides their Wives because it is not said Love your own Wives only we should look on such a Gloss as somewhat Atheistical and Scoffing and Scurrilous so when we read that Christ loved his Church and gave himself for it c. Or Hosea 2. 19. I will Marry thee to my self it is not said Only yet Marriage is a particular and exclusive contract but let us review the place againe and try whether it will not yield us as much as Only for the Church Those for whom Christ here gave himself of them he is
passage in the life which denominatively declares the estate of the heart either way one particular good action may be done by him whose heart is naught and one particular ill action may be done by him whose heart is good and truly renewed by grace As the new heart brings forth new works so it doth act them after a new manner of working it is possible that an unregenerate man may do many works which are morally good but then he doth not perform those works in such a manner as that man doth whose heart is renewed by grace The qualification of works for the manner in a man renewed There are four qualifications as to the manner of working or performance of duties which are found in the renewed person and in no other man 1. He performs them in the strength of Christ by vertue of union and communion with him Simile as the members of the body do act by vertue of their union and communion with the head I can do all things said Paul through Christ that strengthens me Phil. 4. 13. And as the branch cannot bear fruit of it self except it abide in the Vine no more can ye except ye abide in me Joh. 15. 4. 2. He performs them as with love the love of Christ constraineth me said Paul 2 Cor. 5. 14. If a man love me he will keep my Word said Christ Joh. 14. 23. Now when a man doth works of obedience out of love he is ready and willing to do them the work is written in his heart he takes delight in the doing of them I delight to do thy Will O God Psal 40. 8. And make me to go in the paths of thy Commandments for therein do I delight Psal 119. 35. It is a mans meat and drink to do the will of God Joh. 4. 34. The yoke is easie and the Commandments are not grievous 1 Joh. 5. 3. He performs them with fervency of spirit not coldly and carelesly and indifferently but closely and seriously with a fervent spirit Rom. 12. 11. Fervent in Spirit serving the Lord he seeks the Lord with his whole heart an heavenly impetus aestus vigor c. 4. He performs them with integrity of intention looks not at himself but the glory of God in Christ c. Eighthly You may know that God hath given you a new heart if you find New delights and satisfactions new delights and satisfactions There is not a man in the world but the frame of his heart may be known by that which he takes delight and contentment and satisfaction in If one hath a proud heart the vanities and fashions and dresses and braveries of the world are his delight and satisfaction If one hath an ambitious heart the honours and applauses and dignities and preferments and powers of the world are his delight and satisfaction If one hath a covetous heart the riches and profits and treasures of the world are his delight and satisfaction If one hath a sensual and unclean heart the filthiness and actings of lusts are his delight and satisfaction And there is no unregenerate person but either some worldly object or some sinful object is his delight and satisfaction might he have wealth enough or honour enough or pleasure enough he would desire no more here he would rest and with this he would be contented and satisfied But now when the Lord changeth and reneweth the heart by grace that which delights and contents and satisfies other men will not delight and satisfie him nay those very objects which formerly satisfied himself will not now by any means satisfie him but he hath new objects and new ways of delight and satisfaction If the Lord should say unto a regenerate and renewed person I will give thee all the world this would not satisfie him or delight him though heretofore a little of it would have gone far and have done much The renewed person sees what a vanity of vanities the world is and what a hell of hells sin is and his delights and satisfactions are now in objects sutable to his new nature the highest and best objects these are sutable with the highest and best heart A God a reconciled God the favour of God the knowledge of him as so the fruition of him as so the meditations on him as so the communions with him as so the manifestations of him to the soul as so the hopes of the future and eternal enjoyment of him as so Psal 73. 25. These these are the delights the contentments and satisfactions of an heart indeed renewed by grace The excellent glories of Christ a near relation unto Christ the life of Christ the peace by Christ the comforts of Christ the enjoyments of and by Christ the love of Christ the powers of Christ the presence of Christ and fellowship with Christ these are the new delights the new contentments and the only satisfactions of a new heart these are food and rayment these are houses and lands these are parents and friends these are treasures and pleasures to a renewed heart these are the rest of it and the heaven to it one sight of God in Christ one smile of his love one word of peace and joy from Christ delights and satisfies a renewed heart more than all which the world can afford Ninthly Another sign of a new heart is new society when God gives a A new society man a new heart that man hath a new Master and new work and new friends and society Psal 119. 63. I am a companion of all them that fear thee and of them that keep thy precepts 1 Joh. 3. 14. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the Brethren 2 Cor. 6. 14. What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness Psal 139. 21. Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee O what a burden is it to a good heart to be in ungodly company Woe is me that I so journ in Mesech that I dwell in the Tents of Kedar Psal 120. 5. And what a delight is it to a renewed person to be in the company of renewed persons Psal 16. 3. To the Saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight Psal 42. 4. I went with them to the house of God with the voice of joy and praise Holy society is the only society for persons of holy hearts and in that society can no man take delight untill God renews his heart by grace Tenthly Lastly When God gives a man a new heart he doth presently A new rule set up a new rule of life to walk by and according to that is his course ordered all the days of his life and what is that rule not our own judgement not revelations not our own will not our own lusts not our own affections not the opinion of men not the customes of the world not the applauses of the world not the
that seek thee I believe all this Lord help my unbelief c. 3. Perseverance hold on this request and against all the rebellious workings of your old heart and against all the fears and disputes and discouragements of your old hearts yet lift up one Prayer more and one Prayer more you shall certainly prevail if you can persevere in Prayer There are three Requests which a poor broken-heart is sure to speed in if he will pray alwayes and not faint One is for a Christ and another is for pardoning mercy and a third is for a new heart Thirdly Diligently and patienly attend the Word by which God converts Attend the Word and changeth and renews the heart Psal 19. 7. The Law of the Lord is perfect converting souls Jam. 1. 18. Of his own Will begat he us with the Word of Truth Ephes 5. 26. That he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word How many old sinful hearts hath God convinced and converted by his Word that have come unto it with ignorance and been sent from it with knowledge that have come to it with hardness and have been sent from it with tenderness that have come to it with pride and have been sent from it with humility that have come to it with all manner of profaneness and have been sent from it with all manner of holiness with the Love of God and fear of God and hatred of sin and real purpose to walk with God in newness of obedience O therefore attend the Word of the Gospel which is the power of God unto salvation and therefore the power of God to Renovation c. Fourthly Lastly beseech the Lord to give you the uniting faith that faith which will unite your hearts to Jesus Christ which will effectually bring you into Begge uniting Faith relation with him as Members of the Body of which he is the head as Branches of himself the true Vine Object Why what will this do may some of you say Sol. I will tell you what it will do it will infallibly bring in renewing grace to your hearts You can never be changed and renewed Creatures unless you be in Christ 2 Cor 5. 17. For our spiritual life is in and from him he is the Authour of life unto us as Adam was the authour of death unto us And he was anointed with the Spirit that we from him might be Anointed with the Spirit And if once you be united by Faith unto him you partake of his Spirit to sanctifie and renew and conform you unto himself He that is joyned to the Lord is one spirit 1 Cor. 6. 17. EZEK 36. 26. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh THese words are yet a further Declaration of the gracious will and intention of God towards the people of his Covenant Two things already hath God promised unto them one was to justifie them to pardon all their sins another was to sanctifie them to renew all their hearts And there are two more choice mercies and blessings which he doth graciously undertake to bestow upon them First One is to take away the stony heart out of their flesh Secondly The other is to give them an heart of flesh O what a mercy is it to be rid of the stone in the body which puts us to such exquisite pain and torment your mercy is infinitely greater to be delivered from the stone in the heart which is the depth of sin and the height of judgement There are three Propositions which these words do hold forth unto us viz. First There is a stony heart or an heart of stone in every man Secondly That God will take away the stony heart from his people Thirdly He will not only take away from them the heart of stone but he will also give them an heart of flesh CHAP. IX A heart of stone in every man Doctr. 1. THat there is a stony heart in every man I will take away the There is a stony heart in every man stony heart out of your flesh there it was else it could not be taken away the natural heart is a stony heart not Physically so as if it were so indeed but Metaphoriaclly so it is like the stone it is a hard heart spiritually hard that is meant by the stony heart Zach. 7. 12. They have made their hearts as an Adamant stone Isa 48. 4. Thy neck is an iron sinew and thy brow brass q. d. Thy heart is exceeding hard like Iron which will not bow and like brass which will not change both which are explained in the first words of the verse Thou art obstinate For the opening of this Point I will shew unto you 1. Why the hard heart which is in every man is called a stony heart 2. What stonyness or hardness of heart is to be found in man 3. Several Demonstrations or Convictions that the heart of every man naturally is a hard or stony heart SECT I. Quest 1. VVHY is the hard heart called a stony heart Why called a stony heart It is so called for the resemblance which it hath with a stone and in five particulars 1. Unsensibleness 2. Unflexibleness 3. Resistingness 4. Heaviness 5. Unfruitfulness First Because it is an unsensible heart What sense is there in a Rock in a An unsensible heart Stone in the Adamant in Ephes 4. 18 19. hardened sinners are said to be past feeling and that expression past feeling seems to be taken from the hands of labouring men which are so thickned and hardned by pains that they can grasp nettles and thorns and yet not feel the sharpness nor sting the natural heart is in this respect a stony heart i. e. unsensible Though he hath as many sins upon the soul which makes the very Creation to groan and to travail in pain Rom. 8. 22. yet he neither complains nor feels he goes on fâ—om day to day and adds drunkenness to thirst and drinks up iniquity as water yet he saith What evil have I done and there is no iniquity in my doings though the judgements of God be very near him and the tokens do abundantly appear yet like Ephraim when gray hairs were here and there upon him he perceived them not Hosea 7. 9. Yea though the anger of the Lord be poured upon him and sets him on fire round about yet he knows it not nay though it burn him yet he lays it not to heart Isa 42. 25. Such a gross stupidity is there in the natural and stony heart What one spake of himself in an humble way Erubescenda video nec erubesco dolenda intueor nec doleo peccata inspicio Bern. in Med. cap. 12. p. 1200. nec geno This and much more may be said of him that hath the hard and stony heart he blushes not he grieves not he sighs not for his sins nay he rejoyceth and boasteth and makes
a happinesse is all this to know Jesus Christ and as present in my soul To know the love of God in mine heart To know the exceedingly exceeding weight of glory prepared and prepared for me and to know all that God hath freely given me in order unto that exceeding glory This c. 4. He fits us for that salvation which Christ hath purchased for us As the He fits us for that salvation which Christ hath purchased for us blood of Christ did purchase our salvation so the Spirit of Christ doth fit us for the enjoyment thereof He makes us meet to â—e partakers of the inheritance of thâ— Saints in light The Apostle speaking of this salvation under several expressions in 2 Cor. 5. 1 2 3 4. he addes in the fifth verse Now he which hath wâ—oughâ— us for the self-same thing is God who hath given unto us the earnest of his Spirit And this fitting work of his upon us for the salvation purchased by Christ he doth execute Partly by cleansing and purifying ouâ— sinful hearâ—s and mortifying those lusts which otherwise would render us unfit and uncapable of that glorious salvation Partly by endowing and beautifying the soul with Christ and his righteousnesse and his graces that thereby an enterance may be made for us into the everlasting Kingdome of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1. 11. Partly by leading and upholding us in all the wayes of Christ untill we come to receive the end of our faith even the salvation of our souls 5. I will adde but one work more of the Spirit on your behalf which is this He works all our works in us and for us He works all your works in you and for you Consider your works either of faith or obedience your works of faith in reference to the promises of God and your work of obedience in reference to the precepts of God although you are the persons who do believe the one and obey the other yet it is the Spirit of Christ which is the cause and the powerful principle of those in you He it is who doth make your hearts to believe and who doth cause you to walk in his Statutes and do them Ezek. 36. 27. 4. The Spirit is yours in respect of his help or vertue The Spirit helpeth our The Spirit is ours in respect of his help and vertue infirmities Rom. 8. 26. And there are six things wherein the Spirit is an help unto all the people of God 1. In all their Communions with God 2. In the weaknesses of all their graces 3. In the actings of every grace 4. In the conflicts of grace 5. In the darknesse upon their spirits 6. In the 〈◊〉 of their souls 1. The Spiri◠〈◊〉 them in in all their communions with God in their Meditations He help them in all their communions with God of God in their hearing of the Word of God in their addresses of prayer unto God and as to this the Apostle gives a special instance in that Rom. 8. 26. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered When we are to pray there is in us sometimes an infirmity of ignorance we know not what to pray for either for the matter or for the manner and there is in us sometimes an infirmity of deadnesse and dulnesse we cannot pray with that fervency as we should or as we would But now the Spirit helps these infirmities by way of instruction Teaching us what especially to pray for and by way of causation in making intercession for us that is in quickening and enabling us to pray with groanings that is with such full and strong affections of heart as cannot be uttered or expressed by words Our streightened and narrow and barren hearts are many times by the influence and assistance of Gods Spirit enlarged and opened and filled with a Spirit of supplication with such an ardency with such an earnestnesse with such a copiousnesse that after we have long insisted with God yet we have not opened half our minds and desires unto God it excites all our graces and sets them a work such an help is the Spirit unto us in praying unto God 2. The Spirit helps them in the weaknesse of their graces He waters the plants In the weakness of their graces and blows upon the buds and draws on his works of grace towards perfection He doth as it were Nurse them up and breed and brood them up He helps your â—imme knowledge by adding light unto light and opening more and more the eyes of your understanding to know the things of God in Christ He helps the weak and staggering faith by adding faith unto faith in answering your doubts and evidencing your grounds and interests in Jesus Christ He is the wind which blows upon your garden and makes the Spices there of to flow out Cant. 4. 16. 3. The Spirit helps them in the actings of every grace You know In the actings of every grace the distinction of gratia praeveniens gratia subsequens gratia operans gratia cooperans It is the Spirit which works grace in us and it is the Spirit which makes grace wrought in us to work You are not able of your selves to use the graces given unto you when you please without the influence and assistance of the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 15. 10. By the grace of God I am that I am and his grace bestowed upon me was not in vain I laboured yet not I but the grace of God in me Can you trust when you will and mourn when you will and fear when you will and command your thoughs and passions when you will and patiently bear the hand of God when you will The light if it were cut off from the influence and presence of the Sunne would not be light nor give light at all The arme if it were cut off from the body it could not stirre at all Though the arme be grafted into the body yet it stirres by influence from the head No grace that we have could move or act at all were it not acted and moved by the Spirit of Christ and therefore when you are to believe he helps you to believe and when you are to repent he helps you to repent and when you are to blesse he helps you to blesse and when you are to suffer c. His hand is upon your hand his strength is upon your strength his grace is upon his own grace As all your graces have their being from his power of life so they have their working from his power of influence too He it is who worketh in you to will and to do 4. The Spirit helps them in the conflicts of grace when inward temptations arise In the conflicts or grace out of your own hearts and when outward temptations 〈◊〉 in from
be Head and Mediatour For to make Christ to be a Mediatour it was not only necessary that there should be such a union but also that the person in whom that union is to be found should be God he that is a Mediatour betwixt God and Man as he must be man so also he must be God but though we be united to the Divine Nature in Christ as well as to his Humane Nature yet we are not God Whether we are united to the Divine or Humane Nature first 3. Quest Whether by faith we be first united unto and joyned with the Divine Nature or humane Nature of Christ with himself first considered as man or with him first considered as God Answered Sol. This Question although I finde it argued in the writings of very godly and learned men yet truely unto me it doth seem to savour of too much curiosity and for mine own part so far as I do yet apprehend I do think it but a Scholastical nicity for although you do finde Jesus Christ revealed and manifested in the Gospel sometimes as man and many acts ascribed unto his Humane Nature in reference to our redemption and somemes as God and severall acts of his Divine Nature yet with submission to better Judgements I do conceive that our union doth not begin first with one nature and after that with the other nature of Christ but our union is with the Person of Christ as consisting of both Natures at once And my reason is this because our union is with Christ as Mediatour with whole Christ at once I beseech you consider When the Gospel offers Christ to a poor and distressed sinner it doth not offer Christ in one Nature first and in his other Nature next but the Gospel offers whole Christ at once it offers at once Christ the Saviour and Christ the Head Christ the Redeemer that is the Person of Christ consisting of both Natures And when the Spirit of Christ comes into the heart to joyne Christ to us and when faith is formed in the heart to joyn us to Christ why the Spirit at once applies the whole Christ unto you and faith at once looks on Christ as Head and Mediatour and as so unites you unto Christ Faith looks on Christ not in one Nature only or in the other Nature only but as a Mediatour as a Head as a Saviour and under that notion unites you to Christ It is true that the great works of Redemption and satisfaction and reconciliation appeared in the humane Nature of Christ and are frequently ascribed to his blood and it is as true that the Divine Nature of Christ enabled the humane Nature of Christ unto those works and gave as it were life and vigour and efficacy unto them without which they could never have been done nor have beene such effectual workes And it is as true that not any of those workes were done in respect of any of the Natures alone which did redeem and satisfie c. But it was the person of Christ consisting of them both who did redeem and satisfie and reconcile and save and under this notion Christ offers himself and we by faith do receive him A neere union 4. The union between us and Christ by faith is a neer union And if I may so expresse my self an immediate union It is in Scripture set forth by the neerest of all unions here below There are three unions here below which are most remakable for their nearnesse 1. One is Artificial as is that of a Building with the foundation Our union with Christ is expressed by this in 1 Pet. 2. where Christ is called a lively stone verse 4. and a chief corner-stone verse 6. and our foundation 1 Cor. 3. 11. and we are called a spiritual house built upon him verse 5. 2. A second is Political as is that of the Wife with the Husband by marriage And our union with Christ is often expressed by this also In the Canticles and in Hosea 2. 19. and in Ephes 5. 31 32. 3. A third is Physical or Natural as is that of the Head with the Body and of the Vine with the Branches under these expressions also is our union with Christ expressed Ephes 5. 23. Christ is the Head of the Church Joh. 15. 5. I am the Vine ye are the Branches The union is so near 'twixt the Church and Christ that Christ compares it with the union of himself with the Father Joh. 17. 21. That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one with us verse 22. That they may be one even as we are one Not that there is absolutely and in all respects that very self same union of us with Christ as of Christ with the Father but that there is such a union according to proportion and to note also the marvellous neernesse of our union with Christ Which in this differs even from the natural union where every part of the body hath not an immediate contiguity with the Head And yet there is not the meanest member of Christ nor yet the choysest but they do all of them stand in the same equal nearnesse of union with Christ Now that which I aime at in the nearness of our union with Christ by faith is this That where faith makes the union the heart of a person doth so immediately an entirely close with Christ that there is nothing whatsoever which stands between it and Christ no love of sin no love of the world c. 5. The union 'twixt us and Christ which is made by faith it is a full and compleat A full and a compleat union union The whole man is joyned to Christ and so joyned to Christ that it is joyned to no other but Christ Faith doth so unite us to Christ that henceforth we are no more our own but his all that Christ hath is ours and all that we have is his our souls are his and our bodies are his Faith brings in our whole man to Christ when it unites us to Christ It doth not keep back any part of us from Christ It doth not bestow one part of us upon Christ and another part of us upon the world and another part of us upon sin no Christ hath all when faith unites us to Christ he hath all our mindes and all our affections he is our desire and our love and he is our delight and he is our hope 6. The union 'twixt us and Christ which is made by faith it is a satisfying A satisfying union union When a poor soule comes by faith to be one with Christ so that it can say Christ is mine and I am Christs now it is satisfied it hath enough it is replenished As this union in the kind of it is most excellent so in the sense of it it is most sweet Faith uniting us to Christ findes all suitabe good in Christ and all happinesse life love
assertion and I do not know any modest and understanding Writer who doth gainsay it Matth. 1. 21. Thou shalt call his Name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins His people are all the Elect given unto him and all Believers who receive him Ephes 5. 23. Christ is the Head of the Church and the Saviour of the body To whom he is a Head of them he is a Saviour but he is the Head of the Church and they are Believers Ergo. verse 25. Husbands love your Wives as Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it Matth. 26. 28. This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins It was shed for many which is the same with Which was given for you for you that believe on me for as Luther saith well Fides facit haeredes it is faith which makes us heirs of all the good in Christs Testament Joh. 17. 19 For their sakes I sanctifie my self that they also may be sanctified through the truth Joh. 10 15. I lay down my life for the sheep The sheep are believers verse 26. Ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep verse 27. My sheep hear my voice and they follow me verse 28. And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish Joh. 15. 13 14. Greater love hath no man than this that be lay down his life for his friend Ye are my friends c. Besides these general testimonies for the death of Christ in relation to the Elect and Believers you shall finde a particular application of the vertues of the death of Christ unto all believers 1 Cor. 1. 30. Of him are ye in Christ Jesus who is made unto us of God Wisdom Righteâ—usnesse Sanctification and Redemption Rom. 13. 22. The Righteousnesse of God is manifestea which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe This Justitia quâ Justi censemur ad universos per fidem pervenit fide Allata Justi omnes redduntur Juâ—aei simul Craeci Ephes 1. 7. In whom we have redemption through his Theophilact in loc blood the forgiveness of our sins Rom. 4. 25. Who was delivered for our offences and was raised again for our justification Acts 1â— 39. By him all that believe are justified Col. 1. 13. who hath delivered us from the power of darknesse and hath translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son Rom. 5. 1. We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the attonement Ephes 2. 14. He is our peace 1 Joh. 2. 1. We have an Advocate with the Father Heb. 5. 9. And being made perfect he became the Author of salvation unto all that obey him Joh. 3. 36. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life 1 Tim 4. 10 Who is the Saviour of all men especially of them that believe Other men enjoy a common salvation but Believers an eternal salvation by him Here are most of the chief benefits resulting from the death of Christ and all of them setled upon and enjoyed by all Believers And verily this must needs be so whether you consider 1. The intention of Gods love in giving of Christ which was this That whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3. 16. 2. The intention of Christ in his suretiship and deaâ—â— for whom he became bound and for what end viz. that he might see a 〈◊〉 and the travel of his soul and that they who were called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance Heb. 9 15. 3. The joynt application of all the good by Christ unto persons upon union with Christ for when persons are united unto Christ which certainly they are when they do believe then doth God apply all the benefits of Christ unto them justifies them imputes the righteousnesse of Christ unto them forgives their sins gives his Spirit to sanctifie them c. and then believers apply and lay hold on all the promises of God unto them in Christ 4. Iesus Christ is the mediatour of the New Covenant and therefore unquestionably all who are interested in that Covenant do and shall partake of the benefits inserted theâ—ein by promise and sealed therein by the blood of Christ and There is such a sufficiency in the death of Christ that if any will come â—n to Christ be shall partake of redemption by him such are all believers 2. That there is such a sufficiency and dignity and fulnesse in the death of Christ that if any sinner will come in unto him he shall partake of Redemption and salvation by him effectually I do purposely lay down these Conclusions for two Reasons One is to stop the clamours of evil-minded men who give out that if Redemption by Christ be not universal then we shut the door against sinners and discourage them from coming unto Christ Another is to encourage the hearts of all broken-hearted sinners to draw near to Christ though all men are not effectually redeemed by him I would concerning this Point clear unto you these two positions 1. That though effectual Redemption by Christ be not universal but particular yet this is not in the nature of it a Doctrine to discourage any sinner from coming unto Christ We have familiar Similies to illustrate this as that of a Race wherein though but one shall certainly enjoy the prize or Lawrel yet this doth not discourage any one from running the Race And as if any place be void in a Society though only a few can be chosen and possessed of those places yet this doth not discourage many from standing for those places So although effectual Redemption by the death of Christ be particular yet this discourageth none from looking after Christ or coming by faith unto him For 1. No sinner knows any particular exclusion of himself No sinner at least unto whom the Gospel comes can say I am sure that Christ never died for me and I am sure that though I should cometo Christ I shall never receive any good by him Though the effectuall Redemption be particular yet no sinner knowes that he is in particular excluded from the benefit of it 2. The Gospel gives encouragement unto every particular sinner to come to Christ Come for all things are ready Luke 14. It calls upon him Come and hearken and your soul shall live Isa 55. 2. And saith that whosoever believes shall be saved Mar. 16. 16. And him that comes to me I will in no wise reject Joh 6 37. 1. The Gospel puts no conditions of Ante-grace 2. Or worthinesse but offers freely 3. All former things passed by 4. Complaines of unbelief The way which the Gospel useth to bring men in to Christ is proper to work on any sinner though the benefit be peculiar to some though the Gospel doth not say that all shall be saved by Christ yet the Gospel saith that all who believe shall
for ye are bought with a price 1 Cor. 19. 20. 2. Of all the Services of the Elect He hath delivered us out of the hands of our enemies that we might serve him in holiness and righteousness Luk. 1. 74 75. He gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 2. 14. 3. Of all Graces for the Elect the donation of the Spirit as to all the effects of grace is the fruit of his death and purchase not only eternal glory but renewing grace is purchased by Jesus Christ Thirdly The Lord doth put several duties and services upon his people which God hath several services for his people are impossible for them to perform unless he did give them a new heart an heart changed and renewed by grace They must deny themselves they must love the Lord their God with all their soul and all their might They must hate every evil way They must walk uprightly They must be contented in all conditions They must resist temptations and wrestle against principalities and against Rulers of the darkness of this world and against spiritual wickedness in high places They must overcome evil with good They must love their enemies bless them that curse them and do good to them that hate them They must be ready to do every good work They must take up the Cross and suffer reproaches and losses they must persevere to the end It is impossible for a natural heart to perform these Is there not then a necessity of renewing grace to enable the heart for these Fourthly Again The people in Covenant they have a new and choice relation They have a new relation and must have natures sutable to it No people have such a relation as they and unless they were renewed by grace they could never hold that relation God is their God and their Father and they are his children they are his sons and daughters 2 Cor. 2. 18. I will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty and Ver. 16. Ye are the Temple of the living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people this is their relation but then mark what he infers from this in Ver. 17. Wherefore come from among them and be ye separate and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you q. d. Holiness is necessary for this relation you must be separate you must be renewed you must have no communion with sin you must be another kind of people you cannot hold communion with me nor will I own you for my people and children if you do so c. And Christ is their head and they are his body this is another relation Colos 1. 18. He is the head of the body the Church Now is Christ the head of profane and ungodly men Is he the head of the dead or of the living Do not the head and the body agree in the same kind of nature and life Are not they who are joyned to the Lord one spirit 1 Cor. 6. 17. Certainly as all who come from the first Adam do bear his image so all who are of the second Adam do bear his image Ergo. They must be a redeemed and sanctified people Fifthly I will adde one reason more why God will give unto all his people The congruity of it as to their Conversation a new heart and it is this The congruity of it for that conversation which they are to have amongst men both good and bad First For good men they are to have society and communion with them With good men in all holy things and in all holy duties their hearts should be knit unto them in love their delight should be in them as in the excellent of the earth and you know the mutual comfortings and edifyings and strengthnings and spiritual supportings which believers should be to one another But this requires a new heart untill that be given there can never be that love that delight c. Secondly For wicked men the people of God are to shine amongst them as With wicked men lights Phil. 2. 15. and to win them by their godly walking at least to stop their mouths and make them ashamed that falsly accuse their good Conversation in Christ they are to convince them and reprove them c. But all these things would fail they could not be if God did not renue and change the heart of his people by grace c. SECT II. Vse 1. Doth God promise to give unto all his people a new heart and a new Then many are not Gods people they have their old hearts still spirit here it follows that many people are not the people of God in Covenant because they have not a new heart given unto them but they have still their old hearts and old spirits their old corrupt lusts which they obey and serve and which they will hold fast and will not forsake For the managing of this Use I will briefly shew you two things 1. The infallible Characters of an old and unclean heart 2. The woful miseries of people still retaining those old hearts 1. The Characters of an old or unrenewed heart Characters of an old heart The Scripture gives us five Characters of an old heart i. e. of an heart never yet changed or renewed by grace First Ignorance generally the sinful estate is set out by ignorance 1 Pet. 1. 14. Not fashioning your selves according to the former lusts in your ignorance Ignorance Eph. 4. 18. Having the understanding darkned being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them Acts 17. 30. The times of this ignorance God winked at There are three things of which if a man be ignorant he is unquestionably in an old sinful estate 1. Himself if he knows not what a wicked wretched vile and miserable heart is within him and how accursed he is by reason of it 2. Jesus Christ and the mystery of salvation in and by Christ 3. The excellency and necessity of the new creature of Regeneration and renewing grace this man is still in his sins he is in the gall of bitterness he is dead c. The first work of the Spirit is to open the eyes and to turn men from darkness to light Acts 26. 18. And to give knowledge of salvation Luk. 1. 77. To enlighten the understanding Eph 1. 18. There begins the first change and dawning of Christ and grace therefore if that be not done the old heart remains Secondly Carnal security and quietness a perpetual silence and rest Luk. Carnal security 11. 21. When a strong man armed keepeth his Palace his goods are in peace where sin reigneth and still keeps possâ—ssion all is quâ—et the man feels not his burden nor wounds not wants nor
are out of Covenant God is not their God nor are they his people For God doth give unto all his people in Covenant an heart They are out of Covenant of flesh i. e. a soft and tender heart Now remember that as it is our only happiness to have God to be our God Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord so it is our greatest misery to be none of the people of God not to have the loving God to be our God not to have the merciful God the pardoning blessing comforting saving God to be our God Thirdly It cannot but be a most dreadful and reproachful frame of heart To be at an utter incompliance with God and contradiction unto his will his will They are at an uâ—â—er incompliance with God being a Holy Good Righteous Perfect Soveraign will unto which every creature should yield What would you think of that Child or of that Servant who casts off all acknowledgement of a Father or of a Master and will not own their commands but will set up their own wills against their wills Mal 1. 6. If I be a Father where is my honour And if I be a Master where is my fear So what should we think of those men but as of a company of Atheists who will not acknowledge the Lord God and will not obey his voice but reject his Word and despise his Counsels Fouthly It seems to be a very hopelesse and desperate condition and ripe for destruction when no word of God doth a man any good and no blessings do him It is a hopeless condition any good and no afflictions do him any good but still he goes on in his wickedness still he refuseth Christ still he is unmoved and unperswaded why what will the end of this man be at the last Fifthly Although nothing doth this sinner good yet he must be accountable to God He must be accountable to God for all means for all the means which have been used to do him good and he shall be judged of the Lord because his hard heart hath received no good by them God will call him to an account for every disobedience to every command of God and for his slighting of every request and warning and threatning of his Word and for neglecting and refusing every offer of Christ c. Sixthly A sinner that is destitute of all spiritual softness and tenderness he is He is in danger of every temptation in danger of the powerful efficacy of every great temptation which may easily prevail upon an heart void of Spiritual tenderness For as a man is preserved from lesser sins when there is tenderness in his heart so he is open and obnoxious to great sins where there is no tenderness of heart And verily that he doth not upon every temptation and occasion fall into great sins it is not because the sins are great and that God will be greatly dishonoured by them but only because of shame and trouble which may befall him Seventhly He can never be recovered out of his lost estate by repentance and faith till his heart be softned 4ly The Testimonies or Characters of a heart Spiritually Characters of a heart spiritually soft and tender soft and tender Now I come to the discovering evidences by which we may know whether we have indeed the hearts of flesh i. e. the soft and tender hearts which God hath promised to give unto his people in Covenant If there be such a soft and tender heart given unto us it will appear 1. By our behaviour toward sin 2. By the special activities in Conscience 3. By the respectiveness of our hearts to the Word of God 4. By the sense and expressions of our soules in the cases of Gods honour and dishonour 5. By the performance of our duties both for matter and manner 6. By the temper of our spirits in times of temptation First If you have hearts Spiritually soft and tender this will appear by the disposition and behaviour of your heart towards sin v. g. The disposition of our hearts towards sin Shame for sin First Shame for sin one of a soft heart is ashamed of sin and for sin as one who is ashamed of any deformity in his body or of any thing that is a reproach and dishonour unto his name Ezra 9. 6. O my God I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face unto thee my God for our iniquities are increased over our heads and our trespasses are grown up to the heavens Here are two expressions directly contrary to those in hardned sinners mentioned Jer. 6. 15. Were they ashamed when they had committed abominations Nay they were not at all ashamed neither could they blush But soft-hearted sinners are ashamed and they do blush for shame that they have offended their God Jer. 31. 10. Surely after I was turned I repented and after I was instructed I smote upon my thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the reproach of my youth In the former place there was shame and blushing in this place there is shame and confusion Ephraim was ashamed and confounded for the reproach of his youth Confounded i. e. amazed knew not what to say or do could not open his mouth O such a sinner hath sinned against God! Job 7. 20. I have sinned what shall I do unto thee O thou preserver of men Luke 18. 13. The Publican standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven but smote upon his brest saying God be merciful unto me a sinner One that is ashamed keeps a loof off looks with a dejected countenance and is angry and vexed with himself for doing what was unworthy and reproachful and would fain have his offence and reproach wiped away Thus was it with the Publican and thus is it with every soft-hearted person he doth by reason of his sinning judge himself unworthy unmeet to draw near to God or to look up unto him he is ashamed of what he hath done dejected vexed troubled at his sins which are appearing with him before God and earnestly begs the Lord to remove them out of his sight by a merciful forgiveness that his shame may appear no more Secondly Grief for sinning A soft and tender heart is a mournful and sorrowful Grief for sinning heart no heart so stout against sin as a soft heart and no heart so mournful for sin as a soft heart which is therefore called a broken heart and a grieved heart and an afflâ—cted heart and a weeping and lamenting heart A person of a soft heart mourns more for one sin than a hardened person doth for all his sins how bitterly did Peter weep for his one sin yet Pharaoh never mourned for his many sins a person of a soft heart mourns more for one sin than for all the afflictions that ever have or shall befall him dolore appreciationis dolore voluntatis dolore perennitatis
The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned Jer. 4. 22. Tbey are sottish children and they have no understanding they are wise to do evil but to do good they have no knowledge Hose 8. 12. I have written to him the great things of my Law but they were counted a strange thing Psal 14. 1. The fool hath said in his heart there is no God they are corrupt thy have done abominable works there is none that doth good Prov. 13. 19. It is abomination to fooles to depart from evil Levit. 26. 43. Because they despised my judgments and because their soul abhorred my Statutes Jer. 13. 23. Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil Tit. 1. 16. Being abominable and disobedient and unto every good work reprobate By all these places it doth appear that there is no power and sufficiency in any natural man to any spiritual good but a total want thereof and a total opposition unto it Secondly That then God is no hard cruel or rigorous master unto his servants but very kinde and gracious we have no reason to complain at all but rather to bless him and cheerfully to serve him There are seven things which do respect the people of God c. 1. Enterance which takes in 1. Union Of him are ye in Christ Jesus 1. Cor. 1. 3. 2. Regeneration 3. Repentance This God works in them of his own grace Jam. 1. 18. Of his own good will begat he us with the word of truth Phil. 1. 29. Unto you it is given to believe Acts 11. 18. Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life 2. Performances this likewise doth God work in his people Phil. 2. 13. It is God which worketh in you to will and to do of his good pleasure God is no hard master 3. Sufferance Phil. 1. 29. Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake 4. Resistance 1. Of sinful works 2 Tim. 4. 18. The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work 2. From sinful temptations 1 Cor. 10. 13. God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able 5. Perseverance Phil. 1. 6. Being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Christ 1 Pet. 1. 5. We are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation 6. Acceptance 7. Recompence Thirdly Then you see the same reason why when the same truths of God Why some receive the truth and others do not Why not all God leaves some to themselves and not others They which walk not in Gods wayes are none of his are preached and the same wayes of life are revealed some do receive those truths but others do not and some do walk in those wayes and some do not Quest Why do they not all do so The Reason is Sol. Because God leaves some unto themselves and others he doth not leave unto themselves they do both of them hear the way to heaven but they have not both the same grace and strength given to walk in the way to heaven Fourthly Then they are none of Gods people who never found any sufficiency any ability any actual strength to walk in the wayes which God hath Commanded why so because God promiseth to cause his people to walk in his Statutes and to do them I grant that all the people of God do not walk alike in his Statutes some are more lively some are more forward some are more high and full and vigorous and exact then others are nevertheless every one of them hath obtained grace and strength in his proportion to walk in Gods Statutes every one of them doth pray and every one of them doth repent and every one of them doth believe doth walk in newness of obedience and every one of them doth fear the Lord and makes conscience of his wayes and strives after perfection Simile You see that the least finger in the body receives an influence from the head by which it moves and stirs and performs the office of its place And so doth the meanest and weakest servant of Christ receive a virtue and power from Christ to act and walk in his proportion Therefore those men who still continue in their wayes and have no power to leave them and who are still charged to walk in Gods wayes and have no heart nor power to obey him no power or ability at all to bewaile their sins to forsake their sins to poure out their hearts in prayer to long after Christ to love the Lord Jesus Christ to prize and hold communion with God these persons are not as yet the people of Gods Covenant There is nothing in the world to evidence it to their souls that they are so nothing in practice for they â—eglect all holy walking with God and nothing in their natures and hearts for if they were renewed and changed by grace presently there would be an ability an inclination a desire an endeavour to walk with God according to his word Take it for a certain truth that all persons actually in Covenant with God have a power given them more or less to walk as God would have them walk and to do what God would have them to do therefore consider your selves and your conditions all of you who are still without strength to walk assuredly you are without life to quicken all the children of God are alive and are thus far enabled by his grace to chuse his way and to walk in his way with upright hearts Fifthly Then the wayes of God are possible and passable wayes why so Gods wayes are possible and passable because the promise of God is annexed unto them There are two errors opposite unto this truth 1. One is of the Papists who make the wayes of God concerning us so passable Papists confuted that a man may perfectly fulfil the Law of God nay as if this were a poor business they teach that a man may do yet more then God requires he may do works of supererogation by which he may merit for himself and for his friends this is a proud and false doctrine for no man except Christ ever did or could with a legal exactness fulfil the will of God In many things we offend all saith the Apostle Jam. 3. 2. And what man is he that liveth and sineth not there is no man that sinneth not 1 Kin. 8. 46. And who can say My heart is clean or I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin Prov. 20. 9. 2. The other is of carnal and lazy Protestants who when they are pressed to Carnal Protestants confuted leave their sinful wayes and to walk