Lord Jesus is for the intimacy and closeness of it one of the deep things of God p. 20 This needful to be premised on a fourfold account p. 21 Concl. 2. Although the Vnion of a Believer with the Lord Jesus is in it self a Mystery not easie to be attained as to right apprehensions of it yet it is a point of great concernment to be studied p. 24 And that for three Reasons p. 25 Concl. 3. Instead of curiously prying into this Mystery and the manner of this Vnion further than is revealed in the Scriptures our principal design should be to secure it to our selves that we are sharers therein p. 28 This Conclusion backt with three Arguments p. 29 CHAP. III. Vnion with Christ distinguished into that which is By way of 1. External Adherence only 2. Spiritual Implantation p. 31 The first member of this Distinction opened in four Positions p. 32 Pos 1. The principal Bonds or Ligaments whereby this Union with Christ by way of outward Adhaesion is wrought are four 1. An approbation and acknowledgment of the doctrines of Christianity p. 34 2. A professed subjection to the Ordinances of Christ p. 35 3. Some common workings on the heart p. 36 4. A measure of reformation in the Life p. 37 Pos 2. It is a great priviledge and mercy considered in it self for a man or woman to be taken thus neer unto Christ and in this sense to be in him by way of external adhaerence p. 38 The advantage of it discovered in four things p. 39 Pos 3. When persons are thus only in Christ by external adhaerence though they may abide with him for a time yet at last there will be made a separation betwixt them and this Union will be dissolved p. 42 Three special wayes how this sort of Union is dissolved p. 43 Pos 4. The state and condition of such as are thus only in Christ by outward adhaesion and do not improve this priviledge that they may be indeed what they profess to be is a wretched and miserable estate p. 46 The misery of their estate set forth in four things p. 47 CHAP. IV. Vnion with Christ by way of spiritual ingrafture described and the branches of the description explained p. 55 1. Branch The general nature of the grace of Union it is a persons relation to Jesus Christ p. 56 Under this head three things to be observed p. 57 2. Br. A note of difference whereby it is distinguished from other relations It is the special relation which Christians have to the Son as Mediator of the Covenant of Reconciliation p. 61 A threefold Relation betwixt Christ and the children of men p. 62 3. Br. The Subâ—ects of this Union to whom it doth appertain viz. Believers And that on a fourfold account p. 66 4. Br. The foundation of this Vnion on which it is bottomed On a Believers intimate conjunction with Christ p. 69 5. Bâ— The blessed effects or consequents that flow from this Union 1. Hereupon they are accounted as one with Christ p. 70 This appeareth in four respects p. 71 2. Hereby their spiritual estate is fundamentally changed p. 73 This doctrine of the change of a mans spiritual state of great concernment to be studied For three Reasons p. 74 This point opened under six Heads p. 78 3. The third consequent of Union is An effectual application of all the Benefits of Redemption p. 87 A threefold Application of those benefits 1. External p. 89 2. Internal but conditional p. 90 3. Effectual and saving p. 92 CHAP. V. The manner how Christ and a Believer are united in eight gradual Propositions Prop. 1. The children of men by nature are separated from Christ and strangers unto him p. 94 Prop. 2. Over and above their separation from Christ they are actually joyned to such objects as are utterly inconsistent with their Union with the Son of God p. 95 They are 1. In convenant with sin p. 96 2. Contracted to the Law as a covenant of life p. 98 Prop. 3. The first work that is wrought upon the soul of a man in order to his conjunction and oneness with Jesus Christ is the withdrawment of the soul from those objects to which it hath been joyned in opposition to Christ p. 99 Prop. 4. The divorce and separation of a person from sin that he may be united to Christ is principally accomplished by a fourfold work p. 101 1. Conviction p. 102 2. Consideration p. 105 3. Compunction p. 106 4. The grace of Repentance p. 108 Prop. 5. To deaden a sinner to the Law and to take him off from seeking justification thereby that he may be united to Christ God is pleased to make use of a twofold special means 1. The Law it self 2. The body of Christ p. 109 1. The Law it self doth deaden a sinner to the Law by ministring knowledge p. 110 Of 1. The terms of justification by the Law p. 111 2. The spiritualness of the Law p. 112 3. The rigour and severity of the Law p. 114 2. The sufferings of Christ in his body deaden a sinner to the Law by making a threefold discovery p. 117 1. Of the sinfulness and damnableness of sin p. 118 2. Of the inexorableness of Gods justice p. 119 3. That there is no other way to make reconciliation p. 120 Prop. 6. The way of actual conjunction betwixt Christ and his people when they are thus divorced from sin and deadned to the Law is to be conceived thus 1. The Lord Christ by his Spirit taketh possession of them and dwelleth in them 2. Believers through faith take hold of Christ and get into him And so they are knit together and become one p. 121 From hence ariseth a twofold union 1. Natural 2. Legal CHAP. VI. 1. The Natural Union betwixt Christ and Believers The bond whereof is the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them p. 123 This Natural Vnion opened in five particulars p. 124 Four Reasons why the Spirit of Regeneration is called Christ in us p. 132 2. A legal conjunction and oneness thereupon whereof justifying faith is the bond Opened in four particulars p. 134 1. The Scripture mentions a fourfold faith 1. Historical p. 136 2. Temporary p. 138 3. Of miracles p. 140 4. Justâ—fying p. 141 2. Justifying faith hath Christ himself for the special Object upon which it is exercised p. 142 3. The ultimate compleating act of justifying faith is a fiducial reliance upon Christ p. 143 4. Wheresoever there is this fiducial reliance upon Christ in a saving way there is also as a necessary concomitant thereof an universal subjection to the will of Christ p. 146 Pâ—op 7. From the Mystical Union of a Believer with Christ doth flow another sert of Vnion betwixt them whereof love is the Bond and is commonly called A Moral Union p. 148. That this Moral Union may be improved as an evidence of the former our love to Christ must have four properties It must be 1. Sincere p. 153 2.
reward of the Inheritance commonly set forth by this expression eternal Life Rom. 6.22 Galat. 6.8 2. Virtually and secondarily all sorts of spiritual blessings that have a tendency to glory and are required to fit us for the possession thereof that is to say grace and holiness pardon of sin and reconciliation with the Almighty the supplies of the Spirit for doing the will of God and ability to persevere in that way unto the end These are all included in this expression of eternal Life for they are the first fruits and beginnings of it As glory is but grace in its ripeness and perfection so grace is glory in the bud and blossom And therefore our Saviour calleth the knowledge of God eternal Life Joh. 17.2 3. This is life eternal to know thee the only trus God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent that is This is the foretast of eternal Life the way to it an earnest peny in order to the full possession it is none other than the gate of heaven Thus you are to understand it here in the full extent and latitude of the expression as it comprehends the saving mercies conferred upon the Saints on the earth as well as the crown of Righteousness to be enjoyed in heaven For in the covenant of Peace whereof the Text is an abbreviation God hath made provision for the one as well as the other He hath not only given Salvation if men are sanctified and repent but hath provided for the sanctification and repentance of his Elect that they may be saved Psal 73.24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterwards receive me to glory And accordingly Christ the Mediator hath made his purchase he hath not only bought an inheritance to be given to the Saints but for the Elect of God he hath procured Saintship and all the appendices thereof that they may be partakers of that inheritance Tit. 3.5 6 7. That 's the first thing in the Text The mercy provided or the blessing conveyed 2. You have the Original or Well-spring of this mercy the fountain of this Blessing whence it is derived why from the free grace and pleasure of the Lord it is his gift It is not merited and deserved by us but freely and graciously bestowed upon us This is the record that God hath given us eternal Life Herein it differs from the reward of ungodliness that is the natural product of our sins but this is not the purchase of our boliness that is justly merited but this mercifully given as the Apostle observeth Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Wherein the holy Ghost speaketh as if he did plainly intend to obviate and prevent the corrupt reasonings of men Will some be apt to argue If the wicked by their transgressions deserve eternal destruction then a Believer by his holiness doth merit eternal Salvation Nay saith S. Paul here I must have leave to deny the consequence the one indeed is a wages but the other is a gift We may take a view of the blessedness or salvation of the Saints in a fourfold period and in each of them in respect to us it is of grace God hath given us eternal Life In the 1. Purpose of the Father 2. Promise of the Gospel 3. Purchase of the death of Christ 4. Respect of our interest therein 1. In the eternal counsel and purpose of the Father As he determined and fore-ordained to bring sons to glory so it must of necessity be of grace and love Who hath first given to him and it shall be recompensed What could move the Lord to design compassion for some and to pass by others of the same nature with them of greater parts and dignity and in higher place as to worldly honours and accomplishments To appoint an handful in comparison unto bliss and glory to set them apart for himself and to leave the rest of mankind in their undone condition Surely it was only because it seemed good in his sight and therefore it is called election of grace Rom. 11.5 6. There is a remnant according to the election of grace and if by grace then it is no more of works It is ascribed to pure mercy nothing but mercy Rom. 9.15 16. For he saith to Moses I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion So then it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy 2. In the Covenant and Promise which God hath made of eternal Life and whereby it is made over to Believers Pray whence was the Lord induced to make such a gracious Covenant but from his own good pleasure It is given to us 2 Pet. 1.4 It is true the faithfulness and in some sense the righteousness and justice of God oblige him to fulfil the Covenant when it is made Nehem. 9.8 but it was only free love that could incline him to make it or to enter into this Covenant and to make publication thereof to some and not to others Deut. 7.6 7 8. Psal 147.19 20. 3. In the purchase of it by the blood of Christ God sent his Son into the world upon that errand by his obedience and sufferings to become the Author of Salvation And what was the motive that prevailed with the Lord to send him what provocative stirred him up to make this Mission Why God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3.16 He shut up the fallen Angels irrecoverably in the chains of darkness he gave not Christ to take their nature upon him but for us men and for our Salvation he came down from heaven and herein God commendeth his love to us Rom. 5.8 4. Lastly eternal Life may be considered in respect of our Title to it and interest therein together with the possession thereof which is accomplished in the work of Regeneration And whence doth this proceed Why it is a gift 2 Cor. 5.5 He that hath wrought us for the self same thing is God who hath also given unto us the earnest of his Spirit 2 Tim. 1.9 Who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace It is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure That 's the second branch of the Text. The original of this mercy whence it doth proceed 3. We have the great dispenser of this mercy or blessing into whose hands it is put to be dealt forth unto Believers This is Jesus Christ the Son of God And this life is in his Son It is put into the hands of a Mediator and that Mediator is none else but the eternally and only begotten Son of God It is in him upon a threefold account 1. As in the meritorious
is the Creator God blessed for ever It is God whose wayes are perfect that is not wont to carry on his designs by halfs and to leave them in the mid-way unfinished and that cannot be disappointed in the fulfilling his counsels 2. It is the God of grace the Author and giver of grace and who aimeth at the magnifying of the riches of his grace in the salvation of his people and therefore will certainly accomplish it and not suffer them to fall back and perish from the right way 3. He is the God of all grace of strengthening and persevering as well as of the first converting and sanctifying grace 4. It is that God who hath called us and therefore will not forsake us utterly now we are called To what end do you think did he bring you into fellowship with himself if he purposed afterwards to reject you and let you perish for ever certainly he that hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Christ If whilst you were enemies he reconciled you unto himself and took you into the bond of the Covenant with himself it cannot be imagined that he will now cast you out of his favour If when ye were dead in sins and trespasses he quickned you much more being quickned ye shall be saved through his grace 5. It is he that called you by Christ Jesus who will undoubtedly carry on the work which he hath undertaken Indeed if God had put your happiness into your own keeping again you might have lost it as Adam did at the first But he hath put it into the hands of his own Son who is a faithful Trustee And he hath done it to this end that the promise might be sure to all the seed Wherefore do ye think did God lay such a sure foundation and build his people upon the rock but that the wind and stormes might not overturn the building 6. It is that God who hath called us unto glory unto eternal glory by Christ Jesus not only to have fellowship with him for a time here but to sit down with him in his kingdom for ever And how should that be attained if he should suffer you to be separated from his Son and to draw back unto perdition Undoubtedly you may go to this God with a full assurance of faith to make you perfect to stablish strengthen and settle you That is the third foundation on which the inseparableness of this Union is built 4. It is built upon the Advocateship and intercession of our Lord Jesus which he is making for believers at the right hand of the Father For as he came into the world to give satisfaction for them unto the justice of God so he entred into heaven by vertue of that satisfaction to plead for mercy in their behalf And this is one of the mercies which he pleadeth for That they may abide in him for ever and may not at any time be parted from him God the Father heareth his Son alwayes and granteth him whatever petition he maketh for his people And this is one of the great petitions which he presenteth that whilst his servants are in the world they may be kept from the evil of the world that as they are knit to him so they may never be divided from him till they arrive with safety where he is Joh. 17.15 24. And it is noted as one of the foundations whereupon the indefectibility of a Christians faith is bottomed and consequently of their Union with Christ which is made up thereby Luk. 22.31 32. And the Lord said Simon Simon behold Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not q. d. The great design of the devil is to root out your faith He knoweth if that grace fail other graces will fail with it if your faith be gone your union with me is dissolved and broken asunder But for thy comfort I assure thee of the contrary Thought it be strongly assaulted yet it shall never be utterly vanquished though it may be battered yet it shall not be wholly overcome though it may be kept under a little yet it shall in no wise be rooted up Whence doth this proceed Why from Christ's intercession it shall not fail for I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not 5. The inseparableness of a believers union with Christ is built upon the mighty power by which they are upheld and whereby they are preserved in Christ and that is the infinite unlimited and almighty power of God All the power in heaven is ingaged in their defence This the Apostle Peter urgeth for our incouragement 1 Pet. 1.5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation As the inheritance is reserved in heaven for you so ye are kept and preserved for it Yea but Satan our adversary is a roaring Lion that seeketh to devour us and what if he should pluck us out of the hands of our keeper Why saith the Apostle Your keeper is God the Lord of Hosts who hath ingaged his strength for your preservation He is able to bruise Satan under your feet Is not he that delivered you at first out of the paw of that Lion of strength sufficient to keep you The work is easier in it self to keep Satan out when he is dispossessed than at first to cast him out of his possession to keep sin under when it is subdued than at first to subdue it Besides God is omnipotent there is nothing too hard for him you have his power for your defence who is greater than all and none can pluck you out of his hands Joh. 10.29 6. Lastly it is built upon the durable nature of the new creature or the graces of the Spirit whereby Christ is formed in the souls of believers and they are fashioned after his likeness It is a seed which is of a permanent nature 1 Joh. 3.9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him neither can he sin because he is born of God i. e. He doth not sin allowedly and customarily as the wicked do he doth not give up himself to serve his lusts for he hath a seed within him another principle which is contrary to sin and warreth against it and hath the supremacy in the Spirit But what if that seed should be lost would he not then return with the dog to his vomit yea but saith the holy Ghost It shall not be lost for the principle of grace is a divine principle not only infused and put into the soul but fast riveted into the soul Herein it differs from the habits put into the nature of man at first They were of divine original but they were loseable but when grace is restored under the second Covenant it shall never be lost It is an indefectible principle an everlasting seed If not in it self yet in respect of the fountain whence it is
may be ready at hand upon all occasions for your guidance and direction in the way to heaven If Truth as * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. one saith is of the number of the greatest gifts which the God of heaven could confer on the children of men or they are capable of receiving from the Lord of glory And if those Truths are most worthy of all acceptation which are in their own nature and tendency of the greatest weight and importance Then I hope I may justly expect your loving Reception and diligent Perusal of these Divine Instructions Especially when I call to remembrance your fervent mind and more than usual respect which many of you have formerly expressed towards me If I detain you longer than is customable by way of Preface impute it wholly to the earnestness of my desires of being useful to the promoting your everlasting salvation For I can truly say that since my removal from amongst you I have had you frequently in my thoughts much in my affections and fervently in my Prayers Give me leave to be your Remembrancer That you are a people under manifold Obligations and Ingagements to serve the Lord and to stick fast unto his testimonies 1. You have some of you for a long time made a Profession of Godliness and openly avowed your selves to be the servants of the most High And will you not labour to walk answerably to that Vocation wherewith ye are called If the Principles you own be good they ought to be practised And if they be evil why are they professed When King Alexander had a cowardly Souldier of his own name he is reported to have called him aside and thus to have spoken to him Friend either change thy name or leave thy cowardise The like may be fitly said to Professors of Religion Either sh w forth the power of godliness in your lives or do not take upon you the profession of Godliness Why call ye me Lord Lord if ye do not the things which I say Luk. 6.46 2. You are many of you I am apt to think a people under convictions The clear light of the Gospel which hath shined amongst you hath left at least such impressions on your spirits That you cannot but approve the things that are excellent You cannot but acknowledge the wayes of God to be right and the service of sin to be abominable Ask your consciences to whom I appeal in this case if it be not thus So that I may speak to you as the Apostle Paul to the King Act. 26.27 King Agrippa Believest thou the Prophets I know that thou believest My brethren Do you believe the absolute necessity and incomparable worth of Holiness Do you believe That the fear of the Lord is the best wisdom and the favour of God the chiefest portion That Godliness is great gain and ought to have the supremacy and preheminence above all worldly enjoyments Do you believe that the pleasures of sin are folly and madness and will end at length in everlasting destruction I am perswaded many of you believe it Now Sirs it is a dreadful thing to sin against convictions to disown that in your conversations which you subscribe to in your consciences Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth Rom. 14.22 To him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is sin Jam. 4.17 3. You are most of you a people of low estate and poor in the world And will you not secure an interest in the true riches If you have little or no treasures upon earth should it not quicken you to be the more industrious to lay up treasures in heaven that you may not be poor in every respect When Bishop Hooper as I remember was led to his Martyrdom there came to meet him a poor boy that was blind but had received the knowledge of the truth To whom the Martyr spake to this effect See to it that you continue to serve the Lord and that you lose not the knowledge of God for then thou wouldest be blinde both in soul and body So let me say to those of this rank amongst you Well is it if you have chosen the good part which cannot be taken away if you have in heaven an enduring substance else you are poor both in this world and in relation to that which is to come Study to shew your selves men and women approved of God that it may appear you are of the number of those whom the Apostle James makes mention of Chap. 2.5 Whom God hath chosen the poor of this world but rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him 4. You are all of you a people of signal and eminent mercies And if the mercy of God rise up in judgment against you what will be able to plead for you If mercy condemn you how sore will be your condemnation Will ye trample upon the bowels of the compassion of God And tread under foot his loving kindness Deut. 32.6 Do you thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise Is he not thy father that hath bought thee Hath he not made thee and established thee I will not multiply the mention of Particulars only there are two mercies principally come at present into my thoughts which I would have you never to forget 1. Remember the dayes of old consider the years of some generations at the least Ask your Fathers and they will tell it your Elders and they will shew it That you have been remarkably blessed with Gospel-priviledges and advantages for attendance upon God and communion with him You have had for some good while together a succession of faithful and painful Ministers who rightly divided the word of Truth When some other places were comparatively in darkness you dwelt in Goshen a place of light Keep therefore an holy suspicion and jealousie over your hearts and lives lest you be found guilty of receiving the grace of God in vain 2 Cor. 6.1 And to that end let me beseech you often to read and meditate with seriousness and self-application upon these awakening Texts Mat. 11.20 21 22 23 24. 2 Cor. 4.3 4 5 6. 2. Consult your late experiences of the goodness of God That was a special preservation which I would have you to keep fresh in your Memories and constantly to retain the sense of it upon your hearts When it pleased the Lord in the late dreadful year to contend with the Nation by the destroying Pestilence you were as a fire-brand pluckt out of the burning You were exposed to the contagion as well as other places where it violently raged Nay more upon several accounts than some other Towns which it laid almost desolate And the Lord was pleased only to give you thereby an awakening call to Repentance and to suffer the destroying Angel to proceed no further One house amongst you was infected and it swept away all that dwelt therein
faculties depend in all their regular operations upon the guidance of the understanding So that if the light that is within you be darkness how great is that darkness If it be dim and cloudy how easily will you be carried into innumerable mistakes Let the word of Christ therefore dwell in you richly in all wisdom Col. 3.16 And whatever truths you learn let it ever be with a personal appropriation unto your own hearts and consciences One plain truth closely * In absoluto facili stat aeternitas applyed to the heart will be of more advantage to help you forward in your journey towards Canaan than multitudes of notions that lie only floating in the head and do not descend with energy upon the conscience Job 5.27 Lo this We have searched it so it is hear it and know thou it for thy self 4. Labour what in you lieth to edulce and sweeten the way of God to your selves Be not alwaies poring upon the black and dark side of Religion but take a frequent view of it in its beauty and pleasantness When people fancy Religion to be a sad and melancholy way and think of nothing but the sorrows and severities of it their spirits are apt to hang off and are hardly wrought to any cordial compliance So that study much the loveliness and amiableness◠of it and take a daily prospect of the bright side of godliness Prov. 3.13 14 15 16 17 18. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom and the man that getteth understanding For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver and the gain thereof than fine gold She is more precious than rubies and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her Length of dayes is in her right hand and in her left hand riches and honour Her wayes are wayes of pleasantness and all her paths are peace She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her and happy is every one that retaineth her This was the very course that David took which made his soul to follow hard after God and even to break with longings for the enjoyment of him Psal 63.1 3 5 8. And to this purpose observe these ensuing Directions 1. Look upon the word of precept in a continual conjunction with the word of promise If sinners did not separate between the Prohibition and the Commination If they did joyn the sin forbidden with the judgment threatned it would help to imbitter the waies of sin And if the people of God did contemplate the command as it is linkt with the Promise it would notably sweeten the course of obedience Heb. 10.23 2 Cor. 6.17 18. 2 Cor. 7.1 2. Be much looking within the vail Live in a constant meditation upon the crown of Righteousness And have a due respect to the recompence of reward Are there difficulties in the way The kingdom of heaven * Optanda est jactura quae lucro majore compensatur will make amends for all If the wicked did live in the apprehensions of Hell it would make the path of ungodliness as bitter as gall and wormwood And therefore that they may take their swinge they cast off these thoughts Prov. 9.17 18. Psal 10.4 5. So if the righteous did live in the meditation of Heaven it would put sweetness into the way of righteousness Heb. 10.34 35. Heb. 11.26 2 Cor. 4.16 17 18. 3. Often bethink your selves what comfortable lives you might lead during your pilgrimage upon earth if you had good assurance of the love of God towards you and did study to * Hilaritatis nostrae omnis rivulus de fonte ducendus pietatis approve your selves in sincerity unto him With what sweet serenity and peace of spirit might you enjoy your comforts and perform all your undertakings as knowing your selves to be under the blessing and protection of the Lord of hosts who dwelleth between the Cherubims i. e of that infinite Being whose power and mercy are united * 2 Sam. 6.2 The mercy-seat was placed between the Cherubims for the defence of his children How cheerful might you be in times of affliction and trouble as knowing that all things should conspire to the advancement of your welfare You need not then be afraid of any terror or amazement Prov. 3.21 22 23 24 25 26. My Son let them not depart from thine eyes keep sound wisdom and discretion So shall they be life to thy soul and grace to thy neck Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely and thy foot shall not stumble When thou liest down thou shalt not be afraid yea thou shalt lie down and thy steep shall be sweet Be not afraid i. e. Thou needest not be afraid * Vtuntur Hebraei imperativo in promissionibus ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 custodi praecepta mea vive i. e. vives Sic Ne timeto i. e non timebis there is no cause to be afraid of sudden fear neither of the desolation of the wicked when it cometh For the Lord shall be thy confidence and shall keep thy foot from being taken Read Job 11. from v. 13. to v. 19. And Psal 34.12 15. But I must contract my thoughts lest I should far exceed the intended bounds 5. Endeavour to be best in the worst times And think not the worse of Religion because it is despised and set against It is condemned indeed of pride and humour of faction sedition and turbulency But who are the persons by whom it is evil spoken of but men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth who have deeply wounded their consciences by sins against light and knowledge and given the victory to their fleshly lusts Therefore they condemn the fear of the Lord and the strict waies of holiness lest otherwise they should accuse and condemn themselves And will a Traveller be turned out of his road because of some Dogs and Curs that bark at him If you believe the Scriptures it is an excellent branch of humility to be subject unto the Lord and the greatest pride imaginable for poor Earth-worms to rise up against the most High Jer. 43.2 Neh. 9.16 1 Tim. 6.3 The Saints of God are the best subjects in a state who yield obedience in things agreeable to the will of God not only for wrath but also for conscience sake And pray for Kings and for all that are in authority that they may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty 1 Tim. 2.2 Religion otherwhile is condemned of folly But it will shortly be found to be a point of the highest wisdom Eph. 5.15 16. Job 28.28 Psal 111.10 That is a considerable passage in the Apocryphal writings Wisd 5.4 Then shall the righteous man stand with great boldness before the face of such as have afflicted him and made no account of his labours When they see it they shall be troubled with terrible fear and shall be amazed at the strangeness of his
pressed the necessity of Union with Christ in order to the partaking of the benefits of Redemption I was a while since intreated by letter from some that I would further instruct them in the nature of that Mystery of Union with the Son of God With the proposal of this spiritual and useful enquiry and the sundry particulars relating thereunto wherein they desired information I was not a little well pleased knowing how usual it is with many Professors of Godliness to leave the kernel and marrow of Christianity wherein the life and sweetness of it lieth and to exercise themselves about the shell and bones only of contention As if they had been brought up at the feet of those Schoolmen who turn Religion into Quodlibets and make it little else but a well-digested heap of intricate * Statum lacessunt omnipotentis Dei Calumniosis litibus Fidem minutis dissecant ambagibus Vt quisque est linguâ nequior Solvunt ligantque quaestionem vincula Per syllogismos plectiles and doubtful disputations To those savoury questions I returned answer as he that ministers seed to the sower was pleased to give ability and as might be contained within the compass of one sheet at the most Which answer I intended but as a compounding for forbearance till I should be ready to give fuller satisfaction For I found within my self a strong propension of spirit upon the first motion of it to me to wait upon God in the deligent search of the Scriptures for a more thorow insight into that great Gospel-doctrine When my Meditations were digested into this method and frame according to the following Treatise I was perswaded to believe That I could not be better serviceable to the souls of many of my dear friends from whom the Lord hath suffered me to be rent then by commending these plain Truths to their most serious study And I think I may be assured That many amongst them who have loved the Author for the Truths sake will be no whit the more averse from a sedulous enquiry into these Truths for the Authors sake For the Subject matter it needs no Apology being one of the highest and yet most necessary Points of Christian instruction unless it be for this That so mean a person as my self hath attempted the handling of it To which I shall say with Minutius Felix Nihil indignandum vel dolendum si quicunque de divinis quaerat sentiat proferat Cum non disputantis Authoritas sed disputationis ipsius veritas requiratur Atque etiam quo imperitior sermo hoc illustrior ratio est Quoniam non fucatur pompa facundiae gratiae sed ut est recti regula sustinetur All the perversion in humane affairs and disorders in the spirits of the children of men do arise according to the observation of Augustine from a twofold Original * Cum fruimur utendis utimur fruendis 1. The enjoying of what should only be used And 2. The using of that which ought to be enjoyed By giving that place to the creatures which is only due to the God of heaven and making use of the Lord and his service in a subordination and subserviency to other ends Our great work therefore consists in referring all things to their proper places and restoring them to their appointed stations according to the eternal Law To use the things of this world as not abusing them and to make God alone the object of our enjoyment This enjoyment of God since the fall of man is only attainable through Jesus Christ the Mediator And there is no fellowship to be maintained with God through Christ but only by such as are in Christ And this is the scope and drift of the Tract ensuing so to manuduct and lead sinners unto the Son That being knit unto him they may thence be conducted into the bosom of the Father And I suppose If a just reckoning be made of such as have designedly dealt upon this Subject of a Believers Union with Christ considering how many have wrote upon some others this Book need not be accounted as supernumerary If any be offended with the meaness of the stile and for want of such embellishments of Rhetorick and History wherewith it might have been adorned or that I have sometimes descended too low in the explication and proof of such matters as seem not to require it Let such please to take notice That my intent was if possible to speak to the capacity of the meanest I have often thought of Mr. Dod 's observation That most Ministers in England are wont to shoot over the peoples heads Rather would I utter the plainest Truths to the understanding and edification of the weakest Christians than study to feed more curious fancies with sublimer notions and niceties * Dissoluti est pectoris sonos auribus infundere dulciores non medicinam vulneribus adhibere Arnob. And as for ringing changes upon words and the counter-marching of sentences as one speaketh they may pass for wit and elegancy with some but contribute nothing to the nourishment of the vitals of Christianity I have purposely declined all controversal points for that I would not scratch the * Disputandi pruritus est Ecclesiarum scabies Wotton Plaus Vot Itch of any in this litigious generation Let us follow after the things which make for peace and things wherewith one may edifie another What is found to be agreeable to the mind of God and the tenour of the everlasting Gospel let it be received and embraced in the love of it And pardon the defectiveness of the Author in the management of the whole I dare not say as Cicero who was confident Se nuâ—lum verbum quod revocare vellet emisisse Yet I may truly speak as another Ego omnia quae dixi bona fide sine ullo studio contentionis sine aliqua dubitatione veritatis sine aliquo praejudicio diligentioris Tractatus exposui R. S. A Table of the Contents of the Book CHAP. I. The Context opened Believing 1. That Jesus is the Christ page 3 2. Jesus Christ p. 4 3. On the Lord Jesus Christ p. 5 What it is for a Believer to have the witness within himself In three things p. 6 How unbelief makes God a lyar 1. Negatively 2. Positively p. 8 The Text explained What is meant by eternal life p. 10 Eternal life the gift of God in a fourfold respect p. 12 Eternal life is in the Son on a threefold account p. 14 The manner of the conveyance of Eternal life p. 15 Qu. What is meant by having the Son Answ In three things p. 16 Doct. In order to an interest in Eternal life and participation of the blessings which are given forth by the Son in a tendency thereunto it is of indispensable necessity That we be united to Christ p. 18 CHAP. II. Conclusions introductory to the handling this Mystery of Union Concl. 1. The grace of a Christians Oneness with the
Cause by whom it is procured by whose death it was purchased As Christ bought the Elect of God to be his people and servants so he bought eternal Life to be their inheritance Hence the Kingdom of Heaven is called the purchased Possession Eph. 1.14 2. It is in Christ as in the Representative by whom possession is taken in the name of Believers and to their use For when our Saviour entred into heaven he was not only admitted thither upon his own account but he took livery and seizin thereof in the behalf of his people He entered as the fore-runner and not for himself only but for us Heb. 6.20 3. It is in Christ as in the hands of a publike Officer or Trustee whom God the Father hath appointed to this very purpose to dispense forth eternal Life unto those for whom it is prepared For as the souls of men and women are blessed upon the account of Christ's righteousness so that blessing is communicated through the hands of the Lord Jesus He is God the Fathers high Steward whom he imployeth in the distribution of his grace He sends him to bless his children Act. 3.26 And what the Spirit doth it is in Christ's name Joh. 14.26 There 's the third particular to be observed The great dispenser of this mercy God hath given us eternal life and this life is in his Son 4. Here is the manner of the conveyance of this mercy how it is made over to us and becometh ours Why by vertue of our union with Christ It is given forth by the Son to them that have the Son and to none besides He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life So that it is laid down or expressed 1. Positively 2. Exclusively 1. Positively He that hath the Son hath life He hath it 1. in respect of right and title thereto he hath a good interest therein Praesentia gratiae atlestatur faelicitatem futurae gloriae sine dubio sequuturam it is his portion and his inheritance to which he may warrantably lay claim and for which he may plead as his own 2. He hath life in the beginning and entrance thereof he hath those mercies which are certain harbingers of glory and will end in glory Or 3. He hath eternal life that is he shall as undoubtedly enjoy it as if he were already in possession it being an usual form of speaking in the writings of the holy Ghost to mention things future in the present tense to note the certainty and undoubtedness of their futurity 2. It is delivered Exclusively He that hath not the Son hath not life that is 1. He hath not life in reality whatever he may have in his own conceit and apprehension he may think himself to be something when indeed and in truth he is nothing 2. He hath not life that is he is stark dead in sins and trespasses he is under the wrath of God he is still an accursed wretch So it may be meant by an usual Meiwsis whereby less is mentioned than is intended 3. He hath not life i. e. if he die in that estate it will be evident that he hath it not he will perish surely eternally and unavoidably I mainly intend to handle this last branch of the Text. For the further clearing of which there is one previous enquiry to be made Q. The Question is this What is meant by a persons having the Son Or How may a man or woman be said to have the Son that he may have life A. For answ you must note these three things 1. The way whereby the holy Ghost in the Scripture doth most commonly set forth our having the Son it is by our union with the Son or being in him We are said to have him by being made one with him This is evident at the first to any one that is verst in the books of the Old and New Testament that having the Son is the same thing for substance with that which is frequently called our union with Christ or being in Christ Rom. 8.1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus i. e. to them that have him by vertue of their union with him Joh. 6.54 Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day And if you would see how this feeding on Christ doth contribute to a sinners having eternal Life you will find it to be because thereby he hath the Son which is expressed by union with the Son v. 56. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him And thus having the Son seemeth to be explained in the following part of this Chap. 1 Joh. 5.20 And we are in him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ This is the true God and eternal life q. d. this is the way to eternal life hereby alone you will come to the enjoyment of it you must have the Son that is you must be in him or united to him 2. By our union with Christ which is the way whereby we are said to have the Son I understand all along to speak distinctly the Oneness of a Believer with the Lord Jesus You may observe a difference between these two things viz. 1. The making of Christ and a Believer one And 2. Their being one when they are so knit together 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Unitio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Unitas There is the bringing of a soul unto Christ and ingraffing into Christ And 2. There is the being or standing of that soul in Christ when it is so brought and ingraffed 2 Cor. 5.17 If any man be in Christ Now it is this latter I mean all along by union The term is indeed of a latitude that may comprize both of them but I shall use it principally to denote the latter 3. Although in the writings of the Scripture you do not meet with this numerical word of Union with Christ in the very letters and syllables of it yet you have plentiful mention made of the thing signified thereby How often do you read of the Saints being in Christ and being put into Christ and expresly in one place you have mention of their Oneness with him and with the Father Joh. 17.21 That they may be one in us The words of the Text being thus unfolded and opened will afford us this doctrinal Point That in order to an interest in eternal life and partaking of those blessings which are given forth by Christ in a tendency thereunto it is of absolute necessity that we be united unto Christ If we will have life from the Son we must have the Son that is we must be made one with him No union with Jesus and no communication of life and salvation from Jesus For he that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life And therefore you shall find
that this is the method and order wherein the Lord is pleased to conduct sinners to happiness First he doth plant them into Christ and then doth bless them in him and through him Christus habet quod omnibus prosit sed si non bibitur non medetur Eph. 1.3 So that this is a point of a very momentous nature which I would press on my own heart and yours that we may perish everlastingly notwithstanding what christ hath done and suffered except we be ingraffed into Christ As life is in him so our selves must be in him that we may partake of that life This is the priviledge which Paul did thirst after and for which he willingly suffered the loss of all things accounting them but dung that he might win Christ and be united unto him or found in him as it is Phil. 3.8 9. In the prosecution and management of this practical note and for the opening of this Mystery and priviledge of union with the Lord Jesus I will cast the matter I have to speak under seven general heads 1. By way of Introduction premising some things that may be of use to lead us into the study of this Mystery 2. For Explication of the nature of this Union wherein it doth consist 3. For unfolding of the way and manner how how it is wrought and accomplished 4. By way of Enquiry into the signal and most remarkable properties of this union 5. For Demonstration of the indispensable necessity of it in order to the attainment of eternal Life 6. I shall briefly touch upon the special similitudes or resemblances which the holy Ghost maketh use of for illustration of this Union 7. Lastly we will close up all in a particular Application for the practical improvement of this Doctrine CHAP. II. Introductory Conclusions premised to direct us in the studying of this Doctrine 1. TO premise a little by way of Introduction There are three preliminary conclusions useful to be pondered and settled in our thoughts by way of entrance to the study of this great truth and getting an insight into this subject of a believers Union or Oneness with the Lord Jesus Concl. 1. That this grace of a Christians union with the Son is for the intimacy and closness of it one of the deep things of God one of the great mysteries held forth in the Gospel The Doctrines of the Bible are well compared by one to the holy waters in Ezek. cap. 47 3 4 5. In some places they were no higher than the ankles of a man but in other places up to the loyns nay a great River that could not be passed over In some places so shallow that a Lamb might wade but in others deep that an Elephant might swim So in the truths of God you have many things easie and obvious that he that runs may read them the meanest Christian may apprehend them But then other passages are so deep that they may exercise the strongest capacities You meet with this distinction of divine truths Heb. 5.12 There is milk for Babes and strong meat for such as are more experienced and have made some considerable progress in the School of Christ There are plain truths to feed the weakest constitution and higher mysteries to exercise the greatest parts and indowments And this point of Union with Christ is one of those mysteries Mark I say for the intimacy of it and a through insight thereinto As to the matter or quod sit it is one of the first principles but in respect of a full comprehension thereof it is an unsearchable depth It is called a mystery a great mystery Eph. 5.32 It is one of the things which God hath prepared for them that love him such as never entred into the heart of man to conceive 1 Cor. 2.9 where the Apostle primarily speaketh of these spiritual blessings though that passage is usually applyed to the kingdom of glory This Union is set forth for mysteriousness of it by that Oneness which is between the Father and the Son Joh. 17.21 sufficiently importing that it is an unfathomable depth This is needful to be premised on a fourfold account 1. That we may begin the study of this point and you may be careful to manage your attendance upon this doctrine with an holy and humble adoration and admiration of the wisdom of God in this glorious contrivance That God should not only redeem lost sinners by the death of his Son but make them one with his Son How should it fill us with astonishment in the contemplation hereof That is a posture of spirit very suitable to an enquiry into the nature of this transcendent priviledge Well may a person cry out as S. Paul on a like occasion O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God Rom. 11.33 2. That we may the rather be induced in our meditations on this Doctrine as to search diligently into the Scriptures so to confine our thoughts and speculations thereupon to the plain revelations and discoveries made in the Scriptures Not to launch forth by our inquisitiveness beyond what is contained therein and made known to us thereby For Fides in regulâ posita est Cedat curiositas fidei cedat gloria saluti Nihil ultra regulam scire omnia scire est Tert. should we set reason on work and give up our selves to the guidance thereof and labour to make this Doctrine compare with Philosophical notions or the like we should soon be lost or be wildred in the contemplation of this thing Or perhaps which is worse split our selves on the rock of some uncouth opinion bordering upon blasphemy instead of embracing the truth as some persons have done when they sought to be wise herein above what is written As far as we have the light of the Word to go before us we may proceed with safety in our enquities of this nature Quae abstrusiora sunt in arcanis divinorum judiciorum perrecondita illa neque investigare tutum est neque reperire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thes Sam. de Langle de â—aedobapt and we should be very careful to venture no further For it is a great mystery a matter of pure revelation the full manifestation whereof is reserved for heaven and it requireth a special illumination of the Spirit to give us any competent insight into it So much is evident from the words of our Saviour to his Disciples Joh. 14.20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you At that day that is when the Spirit is poured out from on high Qui enim ausu temerario mortalitatis parum memores per excelsae naturae Philosophiae fastigia tanquam arbore conscensà ad mysteria divina aspirant his poena proposita est perpetuae inconstantiae judicii vacillanâ—is perplexi Cum enim aliud sit lumen naturae aliud Divinum ita cum illis fit ac si duos
soles viderent Bacon de sap veter when the Comforter is come to guide you into all truth then you shall know this mystery q. d. Now it is as the lines of a book that is sealed up a matter beyond your reach but then you shall read and understand 3. That hereupon you may be quickned to set upon this study with prayer with the earnest and fervent lifting up your hearts to heaven that God would anoint your eyes with ey-salve for the perception of this truth That he would open your minds and judgments to understand the Scripture in this particular and lead you into the knowledge and acknowledgment of this mystery For it is an Vnction from the holy One must teach us these lessons 1 Joh. 2.20 27. And therefore that prayer of the Psalmist is an excellent pattern 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato for the outgoings of our hearts at such a season Psal 119.18 Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy Law 4. That in order to the getting acquaintance with this Doctrine you may be convinced of the necessity of putting your selves under the promise which God hath made to reveal the secrets of his Covenant to his servants For this is one of those secrets a great mystery and upon that account mostly stiled a mystical Union And you know the way to get under the verge of that promise Nulla in discendo mora est ubi spiritus sanctus Doctor adest Beda is by indeavouring to maintain an holy dread and fear of the Majesty of heaven upon your hearts not daring knowingly to sin against him Psal 25.14 The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his Covenant This is the very reason why many poor Christians of low parts in comparison with others can speak more clearly and savourily of these things than some profound Doctors who are strangers to the power of godliness because the promise is not made to great parts and learning Ille qui cum puritate animae legit Scripturas plus proficiet quam si enodare tentaret mysteria multis commentariis Acost Jes but to such as have a reverential awe and regard of the Majesty of God upon their spirits The Lord doth often hide these things from the wise and prudent and reveal them unto babes Why because it so pleased him and because he hath promised to instruct them in these lessons Psal 25.9 The meek he will guide in judgment and the meek he will teach his way Again v. 12. What man is he that feareth the Lord him he shall teach in the way that he shall chuse And therefore mark what I say Humility self-emptiness and poverty of spirit together with a due dependance on the teachings of God will strike a greater stroke in acquiring the knowledge of these Lessons than the choicest accomplishments of parts and learning without them A conscientious respect to plain truths and precepts is the way to learn hidden mysteries John 7.17 If any man will do his will he shall know of the Doctrine That 's the first Conclusion to be premised 2. Concl. 2. Although the Union of a Christian with the Lord Jesus is in it self a mystery not easie to be attained as to right apprehensions thereof yet it is a point of very great concernment to be studied and a clear insight thereinto will abundantly recompense all the pains you can take in the search of it So that the difficulty of attainment shuld not deter us from a diligent enquiry into it but rather stir us up to pursue it with all our might and industry It is a point wherein a man cannot with safety be ignorant It is incumbent upon us as we tender our everlasting welfare to get right apprehensions of the substance of this thing A mistake herein may occasion our eternal undoing And therefore when Christ had treated Mat. 13. of the mixture there is in the visible Church in many parables together How that some are in the Church who are not of the Church that there are many seem to be members of the body who are not spiritually united to Christ the head of the body for that is the drift of the parables though delivered in other words how doth he close his Sermon upon that subject See v. 51. Jesus saith unto them have ye understood all these things As if he had said It doth infinitely concern you to get a good understanding in this matter you cannot safely be in the dark as to this Doctrine Let these things sink deep into your hearts and be much pondered in your thoughts Hence the holy Ghost is so much upon it and doth frequently mention not only the excellency and need of Jesus Christ but likewise the necessity of our Oneness with Christ or being in him It is a dangerous thing to have false conceptions in our minds concerning this union or to be ignorant of it for three Reasons especially 1. Because it is the want of a right knowledge and due consideration of this very thing which is the cause of the ruine of many thousand souls Amongst those that live within the pale of the Church and have heard the joyful sound of the Gospel a great number perish by splitting upon this rock They apply the vertue of the death of Christ to themselves without ever minding whether they are in Christ They hope to be saved upon his account and so go on securely to hell under the shelter of those hopes because they never considered the nature and necessity of being united to his person See the very rise of their destruction how they plead themselves into a fools paradise in expectation of being pardoned and saved through Christs blood because they never minded if they had the Son or not if they were in Christ or no Luk. 13.26 27. Then shall ye begin to say We have eatten and drunk in thy presence and thou hust taught in our streets But he shall say I tell you I know you not whence you are depart from me all ye workers of iniquity Observe their mistake from the answer that is returned them I know you not whence you are as if he had said You are utter aliens and strangers unto me persons with whom I never was acquainted Though you heard my Word yet you were never ingraffed into my body though you were never ingraffed into my body though you have eaten and drunk in my presence yet you were not implanted into me nor ever had any fellowship with me And who are those which thus deceive themselves why many very many as in that parallel Text Mat. 7.22 23. I think experience may give us cause to suspect they are the most 2. It is a dangerous thing to have false apprehensions of Union with Christ because this is the great fundamental blessing upon which all our comfort is built and other spiritual blessings have a dependance hereupon So that see
rest contented therewith without getting higher I say better for them they had never known the way of righteousness then to take up their rest in this common union and not to improve it to a pursuance after a more inward conjunction with Christ 2 Pet. 2.21 The sadness and deplorableness of their condition will appear in these four particulars 1. Because they do thereby put themselves into the greatest unlikelihood and incapacity of being ever savingly wrought upon of any that live where the word of Christ is published and the glad tidings of Salvation are made known to the children of men There is more hopes of the conversion of the most debauched wretches that live in a professed subjection to the devil than of those who have long continued only carnal Professors As when they apostatize they do usually become the most bitter enemies of Christ so it is the hardest thing to draw them effectually unto Christ This is none other doctrine than our Saviour hath taught Mat. 21.31 Verily I say unto you that the publicans and barlots go into the kingdom of God before you They go into the Kingdom of God that is they are easier prevailed upon to subject themselves to Christ's government it is a harder thing to work upon your souls than upon theirs there is more probability of their being converted than of yours Who were these to whom Christ speaks Why they were the chief Priests and Scribes and Elders men that were thought to be some bodies in the Church that were had in great estimation of the Church that seemed to be pillars in comparison that made a fair shew but rested therein as being strangers to the life and power of godliness Mind it saith Christ I say unto you verily I say unto you q. d. It is an undoubted truth let it sink deep into your hearts that publicans and the harlots the vilest of people go into the Kingdom of God before you It will seem no wonder that such are in the greatest unlikelihood of being savingly wrought upon if you mind these three Considerations 1. Consider That these dead branches in Christ or carnal Professors do commonly thereupon maintain a good opinion of themselves and get a strong confidence thereby that their estate is good They think themselves well enough already and therefore will not easily be perswaded to look after a saving interest in the Redeemer because they suppose their interest is already secured Initium est salutis notitia peccati Egregiè hoc mihi videtur dixisse Epicurus Nam qui peccare se nescit corrigi non vult Deprehendas te oportet antequam emendes Sen. Epist 28. And be sure of this that nothing is a greater hindrance of a sinners deliverance out of an estate of wrath than a strong confidence that he is in a good estate Prov. 26.12 Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit there is more hope of a fool than of him It may well bear this interpretation Seest thou an unregenerate person that is righteous in his own eyes for by wisdom all along is meant righteousness and holiness that is true wisdom the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom There is more hope of a fool that is of one that is plainly and openly a wicked person for he is the fool in Solomons account Kings are wont to have their fools and Solomon was a great King and his fool is the ungodly that provoketh the Lord to wrath and neglects to provide for eternity and selleth his soul for a trifle So Mat. 9.12 They that be whole need not the Physitian that is Such as have a good opinion of themselves do not see their need of Christ's righteousness they will not hunger and thirst after it as being full already * Quid nos decipimus Non est extainsecus malum nostrum intra nos est in visceribus ipsis sedet Et ideo difficulter ad sanitatem pervenimus quia nos agrotare nescimus Son Epist 50. There is a double work required to the conversion of such first to empty them of self and then to drive them unto the Saviour first to make them sensible of their sickness and then to quicken them to seek a remedy first to convince them of their damnable estate and then to cause them to flee from the wrath to come And the first is a matter of very great difficulty 2. Consider That such as are in Christ by visible profession only are most likely to have their consciences seared as with an hot iron so that those awakening truths which serve to rouse up other sinners produce little or no effect upon their souls By continuance in sin under the preaching of the World and constant attendance upon Ordinances men become Sermon-proof and Prayer-proof Sacrament-proof and Affliction-proof Scarcely the hottest fire will melt such obdurate spirits As it is reported of them that live neer the Cataracts of Nilus by continual hearing those dreadful sounds they become deaf and stupid Primo importabile processu temporis grave paulo post leve postea placet suave est ad extremum quod erat importabile ad faciendum est impossibile ad continendum Bern. so it befalleth these hypocrites by constant hearing of Gospel-truths and not regarding them their spirits at length become dead stark dead twice dead as it is expressed Jude 12. Before they were dead in sin and now they are dead in security likewise To their natural hardness is added a contracted hardness And who are they of whom the Apostle speaketh why such as are clouds without water that is who make a shew of Godliness but have nothing of the substance who have the form without the power of it To them the word of the Lord proveth an obdurating word that maketh their hearts fat and their ears heavy and shutteth their eyes lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and convert and be healed Isa 6.9 10. 3. Consider withal That God is usually provoked by such mens barrenness and unproficiency utterly to depart away from them and so to bind them over unavoidably to condemnation to swear in his wrath that they shall never enter into rest Heb. 3.10 11. So that he will deal with them no further in order to their repentance and salvation For this is the very method of Gods dispensations of this nature first men resist the Spirit which he sent to knock at the door of their hearts and then he calleth away his Spirit from them Gen. 6.3 First they neglect to hearken to the grace of God that should lead them to repentance and so he will wait to be gracious no further but sealeth them up in a state of impenitence First they will not believe and God sweareth they shall never believe Joh. 12.39 40. 2. The condition of these unfruitful branches in Christ is miserable above that of others in respect of the intolerableness of the
damnation that will befal and the sore torments that will be inflicted upon such All ungodly sinners will be punished everlastingly but such as seemed to cleave unto Christ but yet served the devil will be punished most severely and made to drink of the dregs of the cup of God's indignation as sinning against most light Gospel-light and under means of grace denied to others which are the main aggravations of sin To them is reserved the myst of darkness for ever Genitivus reflexus super nominativum singularem importat eminentiam Ut coeli coelorum i.e. Altissimi Et sic in Synenimis ut iniquitas peccati i. e. maxime peccaminosa Sic caligo tenebrarum i. e. densissima that is the grossest darkness and sorest destruction 2 Pet. 2.17 You know our Lord Christ pronounceth the most terrible woes on this account Mat. 11.21 22 23. Wo to thee Chorazin wo to thee Bethsaida for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes But I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you And thou Capernaum which art exalted to heaven shalt be brought down to hell c. that is because thou art highly advanced in spiritual priviledges and hast not improved them thou shalt be destroyed with double destruction and made utterly desolate For as our Lord Jesus elsewhere concludes This is the condemnation that men live in sin under Gospel-light light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light Joh. 3.19 And besides I might have added that the torments of such will be the greater because of the reproach and scandal which they bring upon Christ and his ways As they dishonour him actively by their own transgressions so they give occasion to others to speak evil of him and his service For will wicked profane wretches be ready to say when they see the haltings and hypocrisie of these carnal Professors Lo these are your Saints that would be accounted more precise than others Here is their Religion and such they are all of them and the like It is because of the blots and blemishes of these counterfeit Christians that the name of Christ is blasphemed Rom. 2.24 compared with Ezek. 36.20 23. 3. Their condition is sad because of their more than ordinary inexcusableness in their eternal damnation They will have no manner of Apology or defence to make for themselves their mouths will be stopped to purpose for indeed they are condemned of themselves May Christ say unto them if my service were evil why did you call your selves may servants and go under my name and list your selves into my family and if it be excellent indeed why did not you serve me in truth and in sincerity Mat. 22.12 When the King came in to see the guests he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment And he saith unto him Friend how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment and he was speechless q. d. Why didst thou associate thy self with such company if thou wert resolved to continue in thy filthiness what an impudent wretch art thou to enter thy self into my houshold and family unless thou wert purposed to subject to the Laws and Discipline thereof How couldest thou for shame rank thy selfe amongst believers whilst thou liest polluted in thine impurity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi capistro injecto obmutuit And he was speechless he was muzzled as the word signifieth he had not a word to say in his own defence his own conscience silenced him For as the Apostle argueth If the light of nature will render the Heathen inexcusable and leave them without apology in the day of judgment how much more inexcusable are those who are brought within the pale of the visible Church of Christ and yet will not have that man to reign over them that call themselves Christians and partake of the priviledges of Christianity and yet serve the devil and are of his Synagogue Rom. 1.20 compared with Chap. 2.1 4. Their estate is sad bedanse of that vexation and horror which the very reflection up on this thing will bring to their spirits everlastingly How will the worm of conscience gnaw upon their hearts from this very consideration and the hypocritical wretches be ready to fear out their own bowels When they shall bethink themselves they were so neer to Christ and yet fell short of salvation by him that then took possibly a great deal of pains in the outward part of Religion to go on in a round of duties yet for want of truth and integrity in the inward parts must lose the benefit of all that ever they did that they were not far off from the kingdom of God and for want of going further must perish amongst the devils and damned for ever and make their bed in hell According to that in Luk. 13.28 There shall be weaping and gnashing of teeth when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and you your selves thrust out So much more will it bring vexation and anguish upon a mans spirit when he shall see such an acquaintance of his got to heaven that perhaps fate in the same seat with him who was wont to meet at the same religious exercises with him and himself excluded When he shall find such an one received into Abrahams bosom that possibly she fat outstript in commons gifts and qualifications a poor broken-hearted sinner whom he was aâ—â— to despise and himself tâ—rust into the chains of â—arkness amongst dogs and forcerâ—rs and whoremongers amongst professed Atheists and the profanest of men What bitterness will this bring to a mans thoughts O my friends think of this betimes ere it be too late and the Lord a waken your hearts that you may not rest on this side of a saving Vnion with the Lord Jesus So much for the first branch of the distinction viz. An Union with Christ by way of commoâ— profession or exceâ—nal adhâ—sion only 2. There is an Union or Onchess with Jesuâ— Christ my spiritual implantation and ingrature When a person is in him so as to receive life and nourishment from him as a quick fruit-bearing graff is in the stock as a living member is in the body and united unto the head When a soul is not only set upon the foundation but is also cemented to it by the cement of special grace the peculiar work of the spirit of holiness When he is a lively stone built upon the living foundation as the holy Ghost expresseth it 1 Pet. 2.4 5. To whom coming as unto a living stone disallowed indeed of men but chosen of God and precious ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house It is this sort of union which the Scripture mentioneth as so great a mystery and to which eternal life
and salvation is annexed He that thus hath the Son hath life And peace be to all them that are thus in Christ Jesus 1 Pet. 5.14 This is it which we are enquiring into wherein the nature of it consisteth which I shall now enter upon the unfolding of in the second answer to the question propounded By way of description CHAP. IV. Union with Christ described and the parts of the Description opened 2. HAving thus cleared our passage by the aforementioned distinction come we now to lay down a brief description of this great priviledge or grace of Union with the Son or having the Son which I shall endeavour to explicate in the several branches of it Take the description thus Union with Christ is that special relation which believers have to the Lord Jesus as Mediator of the Covenant of Grace arising from their closs and intimate conjunction with him whereupon they are accounted as one with Christ their spiritual state is fundamentally changed and the benefits of redemption are effectually applyed unto their souls In which Description that we may handle it methodically and so the more understandingly you have these five branches into which it may be divided that need each of them a little explanation 1. The general nature of this grace or priviledge It is a persons relation to the Lord Jesus 2. A note of difference whereby it is distinguished from other relations It is that special relation which they have to Christ as Mediator 3. The subjects of this Union unto whom it doth appertain and they are believers It is the special relation of Believers to the Lord Jesus 4. The foundation of this Union whereupon it is bottomed and whence it doth arise Why it ariseth from their intimate conjunction with Christ 5. The blessed consequents that flow from it or the great effects which are produced by it And they are three 1. Hereupon they are reckoned as one with Christ 2. Their spiritual state is fundamentally changed 3. The benefits of redemption are effectually applyed 1. The general nature of this grace or priviledge of Union with Christ It is a persons relation to the Lord Jesus So as I conceive it may be most properly stiled that mutual habitude or reference which is between them or which Christ and his people have one to the other Vnio hat est spiritualis illa relatio hominum ad Christum quâ jus acquirunt ad omnâ—s illas benedictiones qua in ipso praparantur Ames med It is called in the Text an having the Son and it is frequently set forth by a being espoused or married to the Son 2 Cor. 11.2 For I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chast virgin to Christ. Rom. 7.4 That ye should be married to another even to him who is raised from the dead Elsewhere it is called A belonging to Christ Mar. 9.41 And a being his Gal. 5.24 You know though there is a very neer conjunction and oneness thereupon between the Husband and Wife that are married together yet it is but a relative oneness their individual properties remain distinct notwithstanding Such is this Union of a sincere Christian with the Lord Jesus they are contracted and married together and so become united For by such umbrages taken from external things God is pleased to set forth this high mystery that it may be better apprehended by us that it may be easier let into our understandings Under this Head I shall intreat you heedfully to mind and observe three things 1. That this Union of the Saints with Christ is not a transformation of either into the essence or substance of the other Nostra ipsius Christi conjunctio nec miscet personas nee confundit substantias Sed affectus consociat confoederat voluntates either of Christ into theirs or of Believers into his essence They are not so made one as as if there were a substantial alteration or commixtion therein as if their persons or natures were so contempered together as to be made up into one A sincere convert is one with the person of the Mediator but they are not thereby made one person as some have vented their blasphemies that they are Christed with Christ and Godded with God and such like expressions that would make the heart of a sober Christian to tremble and his ears to tingle at the mention of them This oneness is not to be understood grosly and carnally as the Capernaites mistook it but in a spiritual sense as Christ himself doth interpret it Joh. 6.56 63. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him How is this to be understood Mark v. 63. Loquituâ— non de externo ac â—ranseunte verborum istorum sonitu sed de sensu illorum Ac significat se non carnaliter de carnall carnis suae esu in quo vita non est sed spiritualiter de spiritus vivificatoris virtute in qua vita est loquutum esse Muscul in loc It is the spirit that quickneth the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak they are spirit and life As if he had said these things are to be taken in a spiritual sense and not after a carnal manner Indeed it is so undeniably evident that it is not to be meant of a corporal union that I shall not need to insist upon arguments for the confutation of such uncouth notions Christ and a believer are not so made one but that they retain their natures distinct and their personal properties distinct notwithstanding that union they have different places properties and employments Christ is corporally in heaven the heavens must contain him till the time of the restitutions of all things and many of the members of his mystical body are still militant upon the face of the earth He is the Redeemer and they are the redeemed Act. 3.21 To the Lord Christ doth justly and deservedly appertain all worship and homage All ye Angels of God worship him Heb. 1.6 But it were monstrous and hateful idolatry to give it unto the Saints who are our fellow-creatures Rev. 22.9 Acts 14 13 14 15. The Lord Jesus is ordained and constituted to be the Judge and Believers are a part of the persons to be judged It is true they shall fit as Assessors with Christ in passing sentence upon the wicked but first they must stand themselves before the Judgment-seat and receive their acquittal Act. 17.31 Rom. 14.10 I might multiply passages of this sort if it were needful So that this Union is not a perfonal or corporal oneness with Christ but it consisteth in the neer relation which they have unto him 2. Hence it followeth plainly by way of consectary that it is a gross mistake of such persons who would gather from a Believers oneness with Christ that they are perfectly freed from all remainders of sin Sirs Christ is holy and pure a Lamb without spot and blemish he never
never so zealous and forward in his worship Such actions may less displease the Lord than some others but at the best he cannot take pleasure in them And therefore the whole stress of the matter is laid upon the state of a man Prov. 21.27 The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination how much more when he brings it with a wicked mind Mark it though he come with a good intent and mean well as there is a kind of natural integrity yet it is an abomination This is plainly intimated if he come with a wicked mind making the duties of religion a cloak to cover his other horrid impieties then his sacrifice is most odious and abominable but however he cometh it is an abomination Why because the person sacrificing is a wicked ungodly sinner and the Lord judgeth mens actions by their state 2. This is a matter seriously to be weighâ—d because the greatest number of persons who call themselves Christians do seldom or never think of it They go on in sin and perish eternally for want of laying to heart this very thing And therefore we should give diligence the rather to study it because it is neglected by the most You may observe it as an ordinary thing with carnal people when conscience is a little awakened when they are brought into distress by sickness or some other sore affliction they will cry out with a kind of bitterness for their evil wayes and seemingly melt with sorrow for some actual miscarriages but not one of many will mind his spiritual state Thus it was with Micah the Idolater when he heard his mother curse and ban for the mony that was stollen from her these curses startled his conscience and made him to vomit up the sweet morsel wch he had swallowed down he minds that wicked action but never once considers his spiritual condition and so goeth on in other sins notwithstanding Judg. 17.2 3 5. Thus Saul was troubled in a reflection upon some of his evil ways and profane Esau grieved because he had displeased his Father by his sinful actions but scarce one of an hundred crieth out of his sad condition Nay commonly they are so far from it that they will be ready to fly in a mans face that doth but make mention thereof When you have convinced a wicked man of his evil life and brought him to an acknowledgment of a course of sin wherein he walketh if thence you begin to speak of his estate in sin of his being an enemy to God a child of his wrath and a wicked person he will defie the words No will he say I love the Lord and God knows my heart is good and the like See how fowl they fell upon Christ for touching upon this string When he told them of their wretched condition that they were not of God but of their father the devilâ— Thou art a Samaritan say they and hast a devil Joh. 8.44 47 48. They could not endure he should meddle with that matter 3. It concerneth you to be well instructed and settled in this particular of your spiritual state God-ward because when the spirit of conviction doth powerfully prevail upon a mans heart so as to turn him effectually from sin and to bring him to a sound and sincere conversion it doth ever end in conviction of the state of sin As conviction usually beginneth in some particular actual wickedness so it alwaies endeth in a discovery of that wicked and damnable condition into which the sinner is brought Thus it was with Paul Rom. 7.9 For I was alive without the Law once but when the commandment came sin revived and I died that is * Absentia legis faciebat ut viveyet hoc est inflatus justitiae suae fiducidâ vitam sibi arrogabat quum tamen esset mortuus c. Calv. I saw my self dead and undone I found that I was in a perishing conditione that unless the wonderful grace of God stept in for my deliverance I must perish and be lost irrecoverably Before I had a good conceit of my self as to my state and condition however conscience might now and then check me for some failings and actual miscarriages yet I was alive without the Law i.e. before I had a clear understanding of the Law in my own apprehension I was a child of life I thought my self sure of salvation but when the commandment came in the life and power and vigorous workings of it I found I was stark dead So in the return of the Prodigal mark how far the conviction proceedeth Luk. 15.17 I perish Not only I am a disobedient Son that have ran away from my father and wasted my Patrimony But if I continue in this condition I am undone for ever This is the spirit of bondage which the Apostle mentioneâ—â— as the fore runner of the spirit of adoption Rom. 8.15 You have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear Mark it not again intimating that once they had received it that all who are savingly converted must first be under it When is the holy Ghost a spirit of bondage Why when he doth discover to a mans soul his wretched and miserable condition when he doth not only shew him his work wherein he hath exceeded but doth also make him sensible of the lost estate wherein he is involved when he causeth a sinner to see that he is a child of the wrath of God bound over to answer to the demands of the justice of God obnoxious to the everlasting and insupportable vengeance of the most high and raiseth fears and terrors in the soul in apprehension thereof so that he sees it necessary that his state be altered The holy Ghost Sirs may be a spirit of conviction as to sundry acts of sin when he is not a spirit of bondage for this relates to the state of sin which is alwayes an antecedent to sound a conversion And therefore as I said I will open this point of the change of a mans spiritual state in six particulars 1. There is a twofold state or condition of mens souls in reference to spiritual and eternal concernments The state of nature and the state of grace as they are usually called The state of condemnation and exposedness to the wrath of God and the state of favour and reconciliation with the Lord. That of alienation from God and that of friendship and fellowship with him A state of service to the Lord and of slavery to the devil Of liableness and obnoxiousness to everlasting death and the state of heirship and title to the kingdom of heaven You read often of them in the Scripture Joh. 3.18 He that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already So Rom. 6.17 18. But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin There 's the state of nature And v. 18. Being then made free from sin ye became servants of righteousness There 's the state of grace Eph. 2.19 Now therefore ye
sloth and carelessne's of men For though we are not active in the planting grace into our souls yet there is something expected at our hands in order to the a tainment thereof Although we cannot convert our selves yet we are to wait upon God that we may be converted by him and are to attend upon the means which he hath appointed and wherein he is wont to meet the souls that seek him Although we cannot cleanse and sanctifie our own spirits yet we are diligently to search the Scriptures and to press arguments upon our selves from the Scriptures and to give constant attendance upon God in his Ordinances which are the special instruments he is wont to make use of whereby to convey the spirit of sanctification * Sâ—bordinata non sunt opponenda sed componenda Auditio hominis irregeniti etsi conversionem non inchoat Est camen ordmarium requisitum quod conversionem ordinariam aâ—tecedit tanquam quaedam ad eam nondum existentem praeparatio Wendel Syst majus And this is none other then what God looketh for at our hands Ezek. 36. v. 26. compared with v. 37. A new heart also I will give you and a new spirit I will put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh But then v. 37. Thus saith the Lord God I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel that I may do it for them Though we cannot mortifie and subdue our own corruptions yet we should reason the case with our selves and be much in expostulation with our own hearts why we should be so vile and foolish as to serve base lusts and corruptions and to turn our backs upon the Lord and though we cannot put the principles of holiness into our own souls yet we must follow after God by prayer and supplication that he may graciously send forth the holy Ghost to plant them in us And this seemeth to be one of the great ends of God in laying his commandments upon us though we have no strength or ability to the performance of them that we might turn the commandment into prayer and be earnest with him to work in us what he requireth to be within us Jer. 31.18 Turn thou me and I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God Psal 51.6 7 10. Behold thou defirest truth in the inward parts and in the hidden parts thou shalt make me to know wisdom Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me It is just for all the world in the case of a private man or woman as it is in the work of a Minister It is not within the power of the most excellent Preacher in the earth to convert one soul but it should be his care to preach such heart-searching truths and to press upon sinners such awakening considerations in season and out of season as may have a tendency towards conversion to instruct in meekness them that oppose themselves not as it he could give them repentance but if peradventure in the use of the means God may give them repentance 2 Tim. 2.25 26. So it is with sinners themselves they cannot bring spiritual life into their own souls yet they may wait upon God in the duties which he hath required and be earnest with the Lord to speak the word that their souls may live in his sight As we are to serve God with grace or in the exercise of grace when it is bestowed so we are to seek unto him for grace that it may be conferred And pray mind it Christians this will be enough to stop the mouths of impenitent sinners and render their plea of inability to convert themselves invalid Why thou sinful wretch who thus cavillest against the Lord hast thou duly and diligently set upon the discharge of that work which God calleth for in order to conversion That is a notable acknowledgment Dan. 9.13 We made not our prayer before the Lord our God that we might turn from our iniquity and understand thy truth If Daniel had onely confessed that they had not turned from iniquity might some captious sinner have been apt to say alas we had no power we were not able to turn of our selves yea but saith that holy man we have neglected the means which God hath appointed to turn us so put it home to thy conscience hast thou not resisted the Spirit whereby God hath many times striven with thee Hast thou not neglected to study the word or restrained prayer before the Lord wherein peradventure he might have been found by thee Thus I might instance in other particulars but I proceed 5. These principles of grace infused into the soul in the work of Regeneration or this image of God restored upon the soul by the Spirit in the day of conversion may be called Christ in us and the Lord Jesus may be said thereby to dwell with us and that upon a fourfold account especially Because 1. This grace is derived upon the soul out of the fulness of Christ 2. Hereby we are made conformable unto Christ 3. The Holy Ghost implanting it doth act in Christs name 4. Hereby we become his servants and possession is taken of us to his use 1. It may be called Christ in us because the habits of grace infused into the soul are derived upon us out of Christs fulness The whole stock of grace was put into the hands of the Mediator and from thence it is communicated unto Gods chosen people When the Lord Jesus was anointed with the Spirit without measure it was put into his hands as into a common Store-house or Magazine that from thence the Elect of God might be furnished It was put into him as into a fountain that out of that fountain our vessels might be filled It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell Col. â— 19 And out of his fulness we all receive and that grace for grace John 1.16 And therefore it is called The Law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.2 It is in him originally in us derivatively being imparted to us from him 2. Hereby Christ may be said to dwell in us because grace doth render a man conformable to Christ In the work of Regeneration our natures are fashioned according to his nature As there is an answerableness between a Copy and the Orignal from whence it is transcribed there is line for line and sentence for sentence word for word and letter for letter so take the humane nature of Jesus Christ as he was anointed by the Holy Ghost and the nature of a Person sanctified and there is a suitableness between them there is love for love and joy for joy and hatred for hatred they have the minde of Christ and the meekness of Christ and the long-suffering and compassion and gentleness of Christ and the like Therefore they are said to purifie themselves
humanam divinam prout nititur testimonio vel humano vel divino Ames de fid divin verit If it be built upon Education or Custom the Opinions of Learned men or the Traditions of our Fathers and of the Church and the like humane evidence then it cannot amount no higher than to an humane faith And it is to befeared that the faith of the generality of people called Christians is of this sort onely They believe the Christian Religion to be the true Religion and the Bible to contain the word of God Why Because all their forefathers were of that Religion and they were bred and brought up in that way such Ministers have told them so and they see many wise men are of that minde They have the same grounds for their belief as Mahometans and other Idolaters have for theirs And as one well observeth these are Christians rather by chance than by choice If their lot had fallen amongst Heathens and worshippers of stocks and stones for the same reasons they would have been of their Religion they would have opposed the Gospel upon the very same grounds that now they embrace it Divine truths may be believed by a meer humane faith if the testimony be humane upon which they are believed * It being an impossibility that the assent to the matters of faith should rise higher or stand firmer than the assent to the testimony upon which those things are believed My assent to the object believed is according to my assent to the medium on which I believe it Stillingf Rational account p. 112. A divine faith must be built upon a divinetestimony when a man doth believe the word of God from those divine Marks and Characters which are stamped upon it from that mighty and supernatural efficacy which it hath whereby God doth bear witness unto his word Thus the Apostle observeth touching the Thessalonians that they received divine truths upon divine testimony they received it as the â—ord of God for it came to them not in word onely but in power and in the holy Ghost and in much assurance 1 Thes 1.5 i. e. It had such a powerful influence upon their hearts and consciences that thereby they were assured it was of God 2. There is a Temporary faith which goeth a step further than the former When the judgement is not onely convinced of the divine original and authority of the Scriptures but those convictions work in some measure upon the affections that they are taken with the goodness and excellency of them When the heart is carryed out in a kinde of love and liking to the Person revealing and the Doctrines revealed and there are some degrees of inclination towards a closure with those Doctrines onely they are raised in them but for a fit whist they are in a good mood as we say and it endureth but for a time it cannot abide the trial when any great difficulties attend their obedience unto the word then they cast it off And for this reason it is called a temporary faith Such a faith you meet with in some of the followers of Christ whom yet he durst not trust for he knew they were but hypocrites though now they followed him yet shortly they would set against him when the Scene was altered they would betray him and of false friends become his professed enemies John 2.23 24. Many believed in his name when they saw the Miracles which he did Jesus did not commit himself unto them because he knew all men Such was the faith of those others mentioned as his Disciples John 6.66 From that time many of his Disciples went back and walked no more with him And therefore it is observable what our Saviour spake to the Jews that believed on him John 8.31 If ye continue in my word then are ye â—â—y Disciples indeed Then are ye my Disciples that is then it will be evident that you are then you will give undeniable proof * â—es tum demum dicuntâ—â— fieri cum inci piunt patefieri that your faith is of the right kind else you may gracious habits the Lord Jesus taketh hold on their souls and by putting forth this habit into act and exercise they receive and take hold of the Lord Jesus Col. 2.6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him i. e. as you have believed on him and imbraced or received him by believing That is the first thing I would commend unto you viz. this Scripture distinction of the sorts of faith 2. This justifying faith hath the Lord Jesut Christ himself for the special immediate object with whom it closeth and upon whom it is exercised It is Christ himself who is primarily tendered in the offers of the Gospel and therefore true faith of this fort goeth forth unto him The special consideration under which a Believer goeth forth to Christ in the actings of faith for justification it is as dying and satisfying the justice of God and therefore usually called faith in his blood and the great incouragement whereupon a Believer is emboldened to act his faith is the tender of the Gospel and the promises thereof but it is Christ himself which is the special immediate object upon which faith as justifying is acted and with whom it closeth The sinner being incouraged by the promise doth embrace Christ in the promise Hence it is commonly stiled faith in Christ and a believing on the Lord Jesus Christ Acts 20.21 I have kept back nothing that was profitable unto you c. testifying both to the Jews and also the Greeks repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. Mark it as repentance hath God for its ultimate object it is a turning from sin and returning unto God even unto him so faith hath Christ for its special object The great fundamental act of faith whereupon finners are justified is conversant about Christ Act. 26.18 That they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance amongst them that are sanctified by faith that is in me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by faith that is acted upon me upon Jesus for they are his words It is by faith exerted and acted upon him that forgiveness of sins is conveyed Unto that it seemeth to relate and the other words to come in as a parenthesis as if it had been that they may receive forgiveness of sins by faith that is in me and also an inheritance amongst them that are sanctified It hath sometimes appeared as strange to me to meet with descriptions of the nature of justifying faith without so much as the mention of Jesus Christ the object upon whom it is acted See the process of the workings of the heart of S. Paul in believing and how he taught in the Churches of Christ First he was deadned as to expectation of life from the Law the first Covenant and then he addresseth himself for justification unto Christ by believing on him who is the only Mediator of
I opened to my beloved but he had withdrawn himself and was gone my soul failed when he spake that is when he gave forth his parting words The Spouse at first was not ready to open to Christ and to give him entertainment v. 3. Why then farewel saith Jesus I will wait no longer seeing you so little regard me I will be gone immediately O then the soul raileth this striketh the spirit dead and there is no quietness to be had till Christ be found again and intreated to return It is love to Christ that maketh it so pleasant a thing to a Believer to recount his perfections and to reckon up the glorious things that he hath done See what delight the Spouse taketh in the enumeration of them Cant. 5.10 11 12 13 14 15. So much for the seventh Proposition 8. Propos 8. The eighth and last Proposition is this The mystical union of Believers with Christ and all the priviledges and blessings which are the consequents thereof do originally flow from the merit of the death of the Lord Jesus which in pursuance of the eternal Covenant between the Father and himself he suffered in their stead and whereby he gave satisfaction to the justice of God in their behalf To this end he undertook to be a Mediator and to die an accursed death in their room and in the fulness of time he actually performed it that they in whose stead he stood might be gathered unto him and by the Spirit and faith might be made one with him Upon the account of this his standing in their stead and transacting matters with the Father for their good and benefit some speak of an eternal Vnion betwixt them Say they In the eternal counsel of God for reconciling sinners unto himself Christ ingaged to suffer as representing their persons and so they are considered as one This we may call a judicial Union as some or a transcendental Vnion But I will not stand upon an enquiry into the fitness of these expressions This I take to be clear from the Scriptures of truth That the mystical Union of Believers with Christ wrought by the Spirit and faith which is the matter we are treating of and until which they are dead in sins and trespasses and under the wrath of God as well as others is a fruit of Christ's undertaking to die for them and actual performance of that undertaking * Haec transactio inter Deum Christum fuit praevia quaedam applicatio redemptionis liberationis nostrae ad sponsorem nostrum ad nos in ipso Quae ad secundariam istam in nobis peragendam rationem habet cfficacis cajusdam exemplaris ita ut illa fit hujus repraesentatio haec illius virtute producatur Ames med That which I drive at is this That the Lord Jesus did not enter himself into an obligation to undergo the cursed death of the Cross and in due time actually undergo it only that the elect of God might be saved if they should get into him but that they might be brought unto Christ and ingraffed into him and so made partakers of salvation You shall find that their gathering unto Christ and being implanted into him is mentioned as an effect of his undertaking and suffering for them This is notably set forth in that Anti-Socinian Chapter as I may call it which hath broken the teeth of such as have been nibling at it and out of which it is impossible for them with all their subtle devices to extricate themselves I mean Isa 53. v. 10 11 12. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed he shall prolong his dayes and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand He shall see of the travel of his soul and be satisfied by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many for he shall bear their iniquities Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he hath poured out his soul unto death and he was numbred with the transgressors and he bare the sins of many and made intercession for transgressors Mark but how abundantly this point is confirmed Therefore shall Christ have a people gathered unto him and a seed to serve him because he made his soul an offering for their sins Upon that very account many shall be united to him so as to be justified by him because he bare their iniquities Therefore he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out his soul unto death How doth Christ divide the spoil with the strong Why when in the day of conversion he knittetn sinners unto himself As Satan the strong man armed hath his company that continue finally impenitent in their wickedness So Christ by his Spirit doth gather a company unto himself And whence doth this proceed Why it is the product of the satisfaction which he made for them Thus it shall be because he bare the sins of many These are the trophies of the victory that Christ got by dying the death of the cross They are ingraffed into him because he suffered for them Hence the grace of faith which is the uniting grace is said to be attained through the righteousness of Christ As it is acted upon Christ's righteousness so it was purchased thereby and is given forth upon the account thereof 2 Pet. 1.1 To them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ This is the last Proposition For the clearing whereof and the point asserted I will take it asunder into five heads of observation 1. Observe That the eternal transactions of matters between God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ in order to the redemption and deliverance of the elect are set forth in the Scriptures under the notion of a Covenant that passed betwixt them for the accomplishment of that redemption As there is a Covenant made with the souls of Believers in Christ so there was a Covenant from everlasting made with Christ a kind of compact and agreement between the Father and the Son for the restauration of fallen sinners This is acknowledged by most as to the matter and substance of the thing and I think we have it plainly enoâ—gh under that notion and expression of a Covenaut Zech. 6.12 13. Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts saying Behold the man whose name is the Branch and he shall grow up out of his place and he shall build the temple of the Lord. Even he shall build the temple of the Lord and he shall bear the glory and shall sit and rule upon his throne and he shall be a Priest upon his throne and the counsel of peace shall be between them both The counsel of peace that is the transactions in order to making peace betwixt an incensed God and sinful men and
this powerful assailant But mind it Christians Although this should much excite you to watchfulfulness yet here is no cause of discouragement Is Satan a potent enemy yet he is a conquered enemy That Christ who dwelleth in you hath broken the power of hell and brought under the prince of darkness His temptations should quicken you to run to Christ for succour and to clasp the faster about him and in no wise to cast off your confidence A sincere believer in this case should recollect himself with David Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me Is not my Saviour stronger than the strong man armed Can it be imagined that he delivered me out of the snare of the devil that he might give me up again unto his will Did he break in with a mighty force upon my soul and eject the devil out of his habitation and come and dwell in me that afterwards he might surrender up his dwelling place to his greatest adversary Why Satan by being mine enemy is Christ's enemy thereby in whom I am and unto whom I am closely united and he wil never suffer him to get the victory Although he may permit him to vex and disquiet me for a time that my faith may be exercised * Deus bonos non negligit cum negligit nec obliviscitur sed quasi obliviscitur Ideo videtur deferere quia non vult deseri yet he will bruise him under my feet shortly Rom. 16.20 Mark how he rebuketh the devil in the case of Joshua Zech. 3.2 And the Lord said unto Satan The Lord rebuke thee O Satan even the Lord who hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee is not this a brand pluckt out of the fire q.d. Have I preserved him to this time by a special preservation that now I might deliver him into thy merciless hands So doth Christ pluck poor souls as firebrands out of the fire of the wrath of God and gather them into his own kingdom that afterwards he may give them up to the prince of darkness Mat 16.18 Vpon this rock will I build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it The gates of bell that is all the power and policy all the might and craft of the devil and his adhaerents The gates of Cities were the places where their arms and ammunition were laid up and there their Judges and Counsellors were wont to meet and advise for the good of the place So that by the gates of hell is meant the strength and crafty machinations and devices of Satan and his instruments they may trouble and vex the Saints of the most High but they shall not prevail against them not against the meanest faithful member of the Church because they are built upon the rock For it is not only the Church in general that is built upon that rock but every particular Saint Behold I lay in Sion a chief corner stone elect precious and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded 1 Pet. 2.6 3. A third particular that is most likely to disunite a Believer and the Lord Jesus is The allurements of the world Temptations objected * Temptations are 1. Injected such as the tempter darts immediately into the soul 2. Ascendent which arise from some stirred humour or inferior faculty 3. Objected which proceed from external objects baited and suited to the inclination of the Spirit as the Schools distinguish the lusts of the flesh the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life as the Apostle giveth us an inventory of all the worlds goods and accommodations 1 Joh. 2.16 These were the very engines whereby our first parents were seduced and commonly they have a great influence on the souls of their posterity To follow after which some have made shipwrack of faith and put a good conscience far away from them For the pleasures of sin they have forsaken Christ and for earthly profit and advantage have let go the pursuit of heavenly blessings and to get honour of men have neglected that honour that cometh of God only See Luk. 8.14 2 Tim. 4.10 John 12.42 43. But these are outside Christians who thus forsake their station and run away from their Master * Charitas quae descri potest nunquam vera fuit Aug. Such as are indeed ingraffed into Christ will never let him go For they have renounced these things already for his sake when they first gave themselves unto the Lord it was upon these terms That they should be ready to suffer the loss of all things at his command They find in the enjoyment of Christ more solid and substantial pleasure than sin can minister unto its followers and greater riches than the whole earth can afford They account it their highest dignity and preferment to be in him and of the number of his attendants They see that in the Covenant which doth infinitely out-bid the world in all that it can promise unto them that serve it Besides Through the Cross of Christ the world is crucified unto Believers and they are crucified unto it and redeemed from it So that it cannot have that power and prevalency over them as upon others Gal. 1.4 Gal. 6.14 4. False teachers and seducers may be thought likely to dissolve this union They have oftentimes cunning artifices to deceive and are of unwearied diligence to gain Proselytes and to make them the children of hell They are wont to come as messengers of righteousness and transform themselves into the Apostles of Christ They pretend to high attainments and plead the Spirit and new light for introducing their abominations And may not these subtle emissaries of the devil overturn the faith of God's people May not they so prevail as to make a separation between Believers and Christ Why Sirs the holy Ghost hath given sufficient warrant to assure us it shall not be They may lead captive silly unsettled persons who are laden with sins and led away with divers lusts They may beguil unstable souls who though they have been in the School of Christ were never taught the truth as it is in Jesus Nay they may possibly fly blow the souls of Christs peculiar servants with wretched errors and taint their faith but they shall not be able to overturn their faith For the foundation of God stands sure as the Apostle asserteth expressly in this respect 2 Tim. 2.18 19. And therefore their seductions are mentioned as to deceiving the elect with an if it were possible Mat. 24.24 For there shall arise false Christs and false Prophets and shall shew great signs and wonders insomuch that if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect Intimating that eventually it is impossible they are placed out of harms way they are put through grace without the reach of their gunshot as to a total seduction from the faith as having an unction from the holy One whereby they know all things 1 Joh. 2.20 Not that this should
contemplatiâ—n of this mercy and seriously pondering it in the heart by Believers that God hath so knit them unto his Son that they shall be still growing up into him and never be separated from him will be of notable efficacy to draw forth their love back again to the Lord and to kindle is their breasts a fervent affection towards him Which love so kindled is a mighty quickner to obedience Love is a commanding passion that will set all the powers of a mans soul on work to please the party that is beloved It will level mountains and make rough wayes smooth and no difficulties will deter it What will not a man do for one whom he dearly loveth You know what is said of Jacob Gen. 29 20. Although he served seven years hard service for Rachel the drought consumed him by day and the frost by night and his sleep departed from his eyes yet it was as nothing to him because he loved her Why Sirs a pure entire and affectionate love to God would cause men willingly to spend themselves in his service it would make them very cautious and fearful lest they should dishonour him or sin against him Now this great priviledge of an indissoluble union with Christ will mightily inflame the heart with affection and stir up a person to thankfulness Will the soul of a Believer be thus arguing with himself hath the Lord Christ been pleased not only to give me a transitory glimps of his favour which yet was more than ever I deserved but taken me into everlasting fellowship with him O what shall I render to the Lord How shall I sufficiently express my readiness to serve him Wherein may I be instrumental to shew forth his praise Surely I will cleave to this God as long as I live and call upon him whilst I have a being I will never more rebel against him Psal 31.23 O love the Lord all ye his Saints for the Lord preserveth the faithful If it be meant of temporal preservation of how much greater force will the argument be upon the account of spiritual grace and establishment How should a Believer say with David Psal 116.1 2. I love the Lord because he hath heard the voice of my supplications Because he hath inclined his ear to me I will call upon him as long as I live Surely it is ignorance and unacquaintedness with the workings of the Spirit in a sanctified heart that makes men think doctrines of free grace are incouragements to sin 3. The consideration of the inseparableness of a Believers union with Christ should cause a Christian to entertain a holy jealousie and suspition over his own soul lest at any time he should draw back from the faith That by his fixedness in the wayes of God it may more abundantly appear that his profession of godliness was a sincere profession For if persons are unstedfast in the Covenant of God it will be a shrewd evidence that their hearts were not right with him If they do not hold on their way in the practise of godliness it will be manifest that they went no further than the form of godliness carried them So that the doctrine of perseverance is an awakening doctrine It should awaken us to be watchful over our selves and to work out our salvation with fear and trembling For then we are made partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end Heb. 3.14 That is then it will evidently appear that we are partakers of him and have a share in his death If we sall away from Christ it will be an undeniable token that we were never spiritually ingraffed into him 4. A due meditating upon the inseparableness of a Believers union with the Lord Jesus will incourage the soul of that believer in resisting and repelling the instigations of the devil and standing fast against all sollicitations to sin Through grace thinks a godly man I shall get the victory and therefore I will stir up my strength to the fight I see it is not in vain to strive against the wicked one If God should leave his children in their own hands to stand or fall according to the exercise of their own power then indeed their hearts might sink and their courage might flag But seeing God hath ingaged for my perseverance in the faith I will wrestle with all my might and use the utmost diligence for it will not be in vain so to do Psal 27.14 Wait on the Lord and be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart wait I say on the Lord. Hath God promised to preserve you then be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might follow hard after him and urge him with his promise and in his way you may expect the accomplishment of it This is the first rule for vindication of that property Rule 2. The many counsels and warnings which Christ hath given to his people to look well to themselves lest they should lose their hold of him and be separated from him are no proof at all that they may be separated or that their union with him may be dissolved God's injunctions upon them to keep themselves and his ingagement to be their keeper do not interfere one with the other but may well consist and stand together And the reason is evident Because these cautions anâ— commandments are the very means which God is pleased to make use of for their establishment in the faith whereby he doth fulfil his promise for their safeguard and together with which he doth convey his Spirit into their hearts for prevention of their apostacy This is according to that Statute Law of the Lord of hosts That his Spirit shall go forth in his word and with his word Isa 59.21 Will some say To what end doth God so often warn Believers that they draw not back to destruction if they are not liable thereunto True it doth suppose that they are liable to apostacy in themselves * Verè dicitur fidelem posse à fide suâ deficere quum scilicet in se principiis suis intrinsecis consideratur solis sic enim defectui subjicitur mutabilis existit Deas tamen immutabili faedere spospondit se conservaturum in sais faederatis principium illud vitale Hanc autem promissionem non solet exequi nisi verbi ministerio similibus auxilils adhibitis Ames Coron and without divine assistance would totally backslide and perish from the right way But God hath graciously undertaken for their preservation and abidance in Christ and these cautions are the means for the acomplishment of that undertaking and wherewith he sends forth the holy Ghost to strengthen them that they may abide in his Son Joh. 17.17 Thus I have finished my answer to the fourth head of enquiry touching the most signal properties of a Believers union with Jesus Christ CHAP. VIII The indispensable necessity of Union with Christ Proved by enumeration of the
filthy rag and as a menstrous cloth The very imperfections and sinfull mixtures of our most spiritual duties were enough to condemn us It is by Christ alone that they who believe are justified from all things from which they cannot be justified by the Law of Moses Act. 13.39 I will add two considerations further to strengthen this particular besides what hath been delivered when we were speaking of the divorce of a sinner from the Law and to take us off from resting upon a legal righteousness 1. The most eminent and choicest servants of God that ever lived upon earth have utterly disclaimed and disowned their own personal obedience in the point of justification They durst not at any hand put their trust in it but knew it would be too short and that they should miscarry for ever if they relyed thereupon Thus my brethren If any persons under heaven could be justified by the Law and pronounced righteous upon legal terms that is upon the account of their own holiness and good works it would be such as have been most active for God and most useful and upright in their generations and that lived in the neerest conformity unto the Law But even they durst not place their confidence therein but have utterly renounced it Take the instance of Job a man who had not his fellow upon earth as we have assurance of it by the letters testimonial of the God of the spirits of all flesh Job 1.8 Durst he depend on his own righteousness See how he disclaimeth it Job 9.20 If I justifie my self my own mouth shall condemn me if I say I am perfect it shall also prove me perverse And cap. 42.6 I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes Take the example of David a man after God's own heart who fulfilled all his wills Act. 13.22 What saith he in this case See Psal 130.3 4. If thou Lord shouldst mark iniquities who O Lord could stand But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared * Meum meritum est miseratio Domini Bern. Justitia nostra est indulgentia tua Domine Let us descend to Daniel a man greatly beloved and of singular integrity insomuch that when the Lord doth reckon up the most noted examples of piety he is singled out as one Ezek. 14.14 And mark how he renounceth all confidence in the flesh and resteth only upon Christ Dan. 9.17 18. Cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary which is desolate for the Lords sake And v. 18. We do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses but for thy great mercies For he had before acknowledged that unto them belonged confusion of face It is true that believers have sometimes pleaded their holiness as an evidence of the sincerity and uprightness of their hearts with God and of their interest in the promises of mercy But they durst not appear in it before the justice of God That is a notable passage of Nehemiah Cap. 13.22 Remember me O my God concerning this and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy q.d. Through grace I have been serviceable to the Lord and expect a blessing thereupon but withal I stand in need of great mercies to cover the defects of those services 2. Such persons as have gone about to establish their own righteousness and attempted to be justified thereby have everlastingly miscarried in that attempt and fell short of heaven and found it to be but a broken reed that could never bear them up before the justice of God You read of some persons that seek to come to heaven and are not able Luk. 13.24 And these are one sort of those persons As such who seek it slothfully and negligently without striving to enter in at the strait gate so they that seek it by their own personal righteousness and expect to be justified thereupon And therefore observe what the Apostle saith to the Galatians whose hearts bankered after that way of justification Gal. 3.4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain if yet it be in vain q. d. If you go on to lean upon your own righteousness and rely not upon Christ all your Religion is in vain Whatever you have done or suffered will never save you from the wrath to come This is the third thing to be observed That it is only the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ by which a sinner can be justified in the sight of God 4. We can receive no benefit by the righteousness of Christ for justification in the sight of God nor can we be pardoned and accepted thereupon until that righteousness become ours and be made over unto us This is evident at the first view How can we plead it with God except we have an interest therein What advantage can it be to us unless it be ours Here is the mistake of many carnal people they hope to have their sins forgiven upon the account of Christ's righteousness and never enquire if that righteousness be theirs Mark it Sirs It must be yours and made over to you or else it will never stand you in stead They shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ who receive the gift of righteousness by him Rom. 5.17 Except they receive it it is nothing unto them It is in it self white raiment and beautiful and glorious apparel but it will never cover our nakedness except it be put on and we are cloathed there with Rev. 3. v. 18. It must be made over to us that we may be justified thereby 5. Observe in the next place That the way wherein or whereby this righteousness of Gods providing is conveyed and made over to us that we may receive the benefit thereof and be justified thereby it is by way of imputation That is the usual expression made use of in this business and the meaning is this God doth reckon the righteousness of Christ unto his people as if it were their own He doth count unto them Christ's sufferings and satisfaction and make them partakers of the vertue thereof as if themselves had suffered and satisfied This is the genuine and proper import of the word imputation when that which is personally done by one is accounted and reckoned unto another and laid upon his score as if he had done it * Imputari dicitur illud alicui quod in aliquo non inhaeret seu existit realiter sed tamen ei adscribitur ac si in ipso realiter inhaereret existeret atque adeo quod in ipsum transfertur Pet. Ravan Thus it is in this very case We sinned and fell short of the glory of God and became obnoxious to the vindictive justice of God and the Lord Jesus Christ by his obedience and death hath given content and satisfaction unto divine justice in our behalf Now when God doth pardon and accept us hereupon he doth put it upon our account he doth reckon it or impute it unto us as fully in respect of the benefit thereof as
darkness what an eternal prison must I be sent amongst devils and damned spirits But a sincere Christian can cheerfully welcom it under this consideration also He knoweth it is but a messenger sent from his heavenly Father to conduct him home to his mansion place and to bring him into neerer fellowship with his Redeemer It puts an end to all sin and temptations and troubles of every sort and opens a door of entrance into unspeakable joyes that shall never end O Sirs what a priviledge is this to be able to triumph over death It is that unto which we are subject every moment * Quotidie morimur quotidie enim demitur aliqua pars vitae Et tunc quoque cum crescimus vita decrescit hunc ipsum quem agimus diem cum morte dividimus Sen. Epist 24. and what is that which will sweeten the passage and remove the fears which are usually attendant upon the contemplation of it Why It is our interest in Christ and union with him He drank that bitter cup yea the very dregs of it that he might sweeten it unto such as are in him 1 Cor. 15.53 54 55. O death where iâ— thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin and the strength â—f sin is the Law But thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Christ tasted an accursed death that it might be made a blessing to his members Rev. 14.13 And I heard a voâ—ce from heaven saying unto me write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. It is not a being called Christians which will render the day of death a blessed day nor an outward attendance upon Christ but getting into him Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. 9. A believers union with Jesus Christ is a sure inlet unto a glorious resurrection out of the dust of the earth when this corruptible shall put on incorruption and this mortal shall put on immortality And therefore observe it Sirs Although the wicked shall be raised at the last day as well as the godly yet not by the same means through which the godly are raised The wicked shall be raised by the power of Christ as a Judge but Believers shall rise again by vertue of their oneness with Christ and neer relation unto him 1 Cor. 15.22 23. For as in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive But every man in his own order Christ the first fruits afterwards they that are Christ's at his coming Such as sleep in Jesus shall awake by vertue of their being in him and thereupon their vile bodies shall be changed and fashioned like to his glorious body * Rom. 8.11 He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by or because his Spirit that dwelleth in you Vivificari in hac sententia significat resurrectionem gloriosam quae similis est Christi resurrectioni propria bonis in quibus inhabitat spiritus Illud autem Propter inhabitantem spiritum ejus ad Christum refertur non ad Deum Et in hoc est argumenti efficacia quia enim spiritus hic Dei qui in nobis habitat etiam Christi est Sicus Christum ut homo à Patre suscitatus est ita nos suscitabimur qui eundem cum Christo spiritum habemus Tolet. in loc To which that passage of the Prophet Isaiah may be fitly referred which though it primarily be intended of outward deliverance and the wonderful restauration of the Church out of such a forlorn desperate estate as that they were as dead yet it may extend also to the last resurrection of which that eminent deliverance was but a shadow and resemblance Isa 26.19 Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust for thy dew is as the dew of herbs and the earth shall give up her dead This is another blessing which floweth from this fountain 10. Our union with Christ Jesus will minisâ—er boldness at the bar of Judgment and cause us to lift up our faces without spot or confusion at that great and notable day of the Lord. How will the wicked be ashamed to look Christ in the face at that day seeing that now they despise him and trample his blood under their feet seeing that now they slight his word and contemn his Ordinances and his people Then the Kings and the chief Captains and the great men and the mighty men and every bondman and freeman I mean all impenitent sinners of what rank or quality soever Will be ready to call upon the rocks to fall upon them and the mountains to cover them from the presence of him that sitteth upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. Then what would not a man give to be able to assure his heart before Christ at his appearance and to be of the number of Christ's followers that shall stand at his right hand when the ungodly are trembling at the left Why It is not all the substance of a mans house can purchâ—se this priviledge It is not all your prayers and tears at that day that can do it though you should cry out your heart blood if you are unconverted sinners But it depends wholly upon your union with Christ 1 Joh 2.28 And noor little children abide in him that when he shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming 1 Thess 4.14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him Mark it He will summon the wicked before him but such as are members of his body he will bring with him i. e. in his train and company under his own shelter and protection Christ himself will undertake the patronage of their cause and to silence all the accusations of Satan which are brought in against them Well may they exult and be glad for it will be the day of the consummation of their marriage with their Redeemer If now they are espoused and contracted then they shall be married with the greatest solemnity in the presence of God and of his holy Angels Then will that vision be most notably fulfilled Rev. 21.2 3 4. I John saw the holy City new Jerusalem coming downfrom God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband This is the tenth mercy which depends upon our union with Christ 11. Lastly It is our having the Son or being united unto the Son which will give us actual admission into the kingdom of glory and possession of the inheritance prepared for the Saints When the wicked are sent into everlasting punishment then shall the righteous inherit eternal life When the ungodly are thrust together into hell then shall believers dwell in the presence of God for ever and drink of the rivers of pleasures which are at his right
him glory in the Lord for all the sap and juice cometh from the root The branch hath nothing of its own but what is received from thence All your support is by vertue of the root so that walk humbly with God in the sense of your own emptiness and utter insufficiency And if you would live the life of God indeed have your constant recourse unto the Lord Jesus and be drawing nourishment from him for thou standest by faith Rom. 11.20 2. The similitude imports That the union of a Believer with the Lord Jesus is a very closly compacted and intimate union that they are very firmly and entirely knit together The branch when it is graffed becometh thereby incorporated into the vine so in a spiritual sense there is a kind of concorporation of Christ and his people together and therefore it is represented under the notion of being graffed into him There is a deep and inward connexion between them so deep and intimate that they are called by his Name 1 Cor. 12.12 As the body is one and hath many members and all the members of that one body being many are one body so also is Christ i. e. so is the company of Believers Christ mystical who are so knit closs unto Christ as if they were the same as if they were consolidated into one 3. From this resemblance we may observe That a person cannot possibly be united unto Jesus till he be taken off from all other dependances whatsoever First there must be a cutting on the 〈…〉 stock in which it naturally groweth before it can be graffed into another First there must be an abscission before there can be an insition A branch may grow neer to the vine without being cut off from its old root but it must be wholly cut off ere it can be graffed into the vine Sirs By nature we grow in the wild olive tree we are rooted in the old Adam sin and self for when men are convinced of sin presently they have recourse unto self as a Saviour to deliver them from their sins But if you would get into Christ you must be taken off from these As you have it in the continued metaphor or allegory Rom. 11.25 For if thou wert cut off out of the olive tree which is wild by nature and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree Mark it first cut off from the one before capable of being graffed into the other 4. Learn in the last place from this similitude That the glory and excellency of a Christian doth lie in practical holiness or in being fruitful and abundant in the work of the Lord. You know The worth and excellency of a branch doth not consist in its beautiful outside or in the fair leaves and blossoms which it may bear but in bringing forth much fruit When there are fair clusters of grapes hanging upon it this doth content the Husbandman and prevents the pruning-hooks cutting off such a branch for the fire So herein is the excellency of a Believer when he is active for God in his place and calling and filled with the fruits of righteousness This is acceptable unto God and well pleasing in his sight This commends the root as a juicy sappy root when the branches are fruitful Joh. 15.8 Herein is my Fathor glorified that ye bear 〈…〉 fruitful you will be taken away and burnt the unprofitable servant shall be cast into outer darkness But then you will honour me indeed and be like to enjoy the comfort of your relation towards me when you express the power of godliness in your conversations This is the second resemblance 3. The third similitude setting forth the relation of a Believer to Christ is drawn from the â—uptial conjunction which is betwixt the husband and wife Christ and his people are joyned together in a conjugal union He is married unto them and they are his Spouse whom he hath betrothed unto himself When a man and woman are joyned in marriage according to the Institution and Ordinance of God they become one flesh so the Lord Christ and true Believers are one spirit Eph. 5.31 32. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall be joyned to his wife and they two shall be one flesh This is a great mystery but I speak concerning Christ and the Church It is as much as if the Apostle had said If the husband and wife are one by vertue of their marriage-covenant or nuptial contract much more intimately are Christ and his people one by their spiritual marriage the other is but a shadow of this Union Here is a mystery indeed for of this spiritual union you must understand me I speak concerning Christ and the Church Cant. 5.1 I am come into my garden my sister my spouse And throughout that book of the 〈…〉 1. When the 〈…〉 together into one It is according to the will and pleasure of the Father and a matter very pleasing and acceptable in his sight When marriages are regularly made it is with consent and approbation of parents on either side Now God is the parent on both hands in this spiritual conjunction and they have his consent to their espousals 1. He giveth his Son to the Church to be an husband Isa 49.6 I will give thee to be a light unto the Gentiles that thou mayest be my salvation to the end of the earth Gal. 4.4 When the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son c. Joh. 3.16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son 2. Upon the other hand he taketh the Church to be a Wife or Spouse unto his Son and giveth Believers unto him Joh. 17.6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world thine they were and thou gavest them me Heb. 2.13 Behold I and the children whom thou hast given me So that this is the Father's will that sinners should come unto Christ and be united unto him And pray observe it the rather because there is a proneness in the heart of man to question the Fathers good will Sometimes sinners have good thoughts of Jesus Christ as one that minds their salvation and came down from heaven to accomplish it but they are full of doubts and jealousies touching the Father they question whether he be willing to accept them Why mind it Sirs What the Lord Jesus 〈…〉 〈◊〉 doth is by God the Fathers appointment and approbation It was he that sent him about his work and giveth lost sinners into his hands to be saved This is mentioned as an incouragement to believe in Jesus for if you do so the Father will receive you graciously and you shall in no wise be rejected See the words of our Saviour Joh. 6.37 38 39. Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise east out For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me And this is the
Fathers will which hath sent me that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day This is the first thing to be noted 2. For the winning over a sinner to become the Lord Christ's and to surrender up himself into his hands He doth first treat with the sinner to that purpose and doth intreat and perswade him to accept of the grace of the Gospel Just for all the world as it is in order to marriage first the party is wooed before the contract is made so Christ doth woo the soul to become his Spouse and to accept him for an husband To this end he imployeth his Ministers to intreat sinners in his name and sends his Spirit to deal with their hearts and to propound the match unto them Such is his gracious condescension towards fallen man that although the whole benefit of this union redound unto us yet he is pleased to beseech us to close with him 2 Cor. 5.19 20. Now then we are Embassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is not only free grace and abundant grace but 〈…〉 〈…〉 with salvation unto the children of men so he doth seek unto them and earnestly beseech and intreat them to accept the offers of salvation Gen. 9.27 God shall perswade Japhet * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alliciet scilicet ut suo tompore ad cultum Dei tentoria Shem i. e. Ecclesiam accedat Fut. per Apoc. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hiph pellexit allexit c. Buxtorf so the word signifieth and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem. Mark it The Church of Christ for some ages was well neer confined to the posterity of Shem Abraham and his seed came out of the loyns of Shem. And by Japhet understand the Gentiles who were his off-spring for by them were the Islands of the Gentiles possessed Now saith the Spirit of God the time will come that the Gentiles shall be gathered unto Christ they shall be brought into the Church How or by what means will this be so brought to pass why Christ will woo them and treat with them he will perswade them effectually and prevail by his perswasions 3. In pursuance of this comparison note further That our faith in Christ which is the uniting grace whereby we are joyned to him and made one with him is The consenting of our hearts to take Christ for our Redeemer as he doth tender himself to us and the resignation or giving up our selves into his hands As in the business of marriage it is the consent of parties that makes it The proposal being made the woman accepteth of such a man to be her Husband and accordingly giveth up her self unto him 〈…〉 gether Thus it is in the transactions of matters between Christ and the Church we are contracted to him by our consent to be his and taking him to be our Lord and husband Cant. 2.16 My beloved is mine and I am his Wilt thou have me for thy Husband and Saviour upon the terms of the Gospel saith Christ by his Spirit unto the sinner O Lord answereth the sinner through grace I will I give my full consent and surrender up my self unto thee and thus they are united Therefore it is the great complaint of Christ that he cometh to sinners and they will not accept him Joh. 1.11 He came unto his own and his own received him not Joh. 5.40 And ye will not come unto me that ye might have life And it is said of the Christians of Macedonia when they believed in Jesus they gave themselves unto the Lord 2 Cor. 8.5 4. This consent of the heart to be the Lord Christ's and acceptance of him for our Redeemer if it be such as uniteth us to him and maketh us one with him must be a marriage-consent and acceptance My meaning is It must be so qualified and circumstantiated as is required in the consent of persons when they are married togeâ—her That is to say It must have these three properties It must be 1. A present consent and acceprance 2. A full and hearty consent and acceptance 3. An entrie and indefinite consent and acceptance 1. It must be a present acceptance of Christ and closure with him and not only a promise for the future to take him hereafter and to submit to him in time to come For as Casuists and Civilians observe though promises for the future leave an obligation upon the parties promising yet they do not make up a marriag-contract that must be in words de praesenti So when sinners ingage hereafter to give up themselves to the Lord Jesus although it will add to their sin and condemnation to live in the neglect of performing such ingagements yet they are not thereby united unto Christ but still abide under the wrath of God If we would be made one with him we must immediately give up our selves unto him and take him to be our Lord and Saviour Psal 16.1 2. Preserve me O God for in thee do I put my trust O my soul thou hast said to the Lord thou art my Lord. Psal 116.16 O Lord truly I am thy servant I am thy servant It is not said I will become thy servant hereafter when I have a convenient season and then I will obey thee and put my trust in thee but I thy servant I thy servant q. d. Here am I ready to set upon any service I enter my self now into thy service to abide with thee henceforward even for ever 1 Cor. 7.22 He that is called being free is the servant of Christ If he be effectually called if he answer the invitation of the Gospel he must ingage without delay in Christ's work For it is the present time which is the time of acceptance and the present day which is the day of salvation 2 Cor. 6.2 And the truth is Sirs that bare promises for the future are so far from uniting us to the Son that they are nothing else but the sly endeavours of the heart to put a cheat upon Christ It is by such hypocritical promises that when sinners are convinced of the necessity of closing with Christ they do break through such convictions and get from under the power of them When conscience presseth them hard this is the answer whereby they stop the mouth of conscience hereafter they will become obedient to the Gospel But be not deceived Christ will not be dallyed with but all persons shall know that he searcheth the hearts and the reins and is able to see through their dissimulation and hypocrisie and he will give to every one according to their works Rev. 2.23 2. It must be a full and hearty consent and acceptance with the whole soul of a man It is not a faint wishing and woulding after Christ that will give us an interest in him but
when the whole heart goeth out unto him * Quod cor non facit id non fit As it is in marriage A woman may have a months mind as we are wont to express it to have such a man for her Husband and yet remain a stranger to him When they are married indeed there must be a rejecting all other Suitors and a full consent to be his So it is in these spiritual affairs there may be a slothful velleity and luke-warm inclinations in the spirit of a wicked man towards Christ he may have an heart for his lusts and an heart for a Saviour but this cold and sluggish desire will never make up the match betwixt them If a man will be knit unto Jesus he must abandon all things for him and give him reception with the whole spirit Psal 110.3 Thy people shall be willingnesses in the day of thy power * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Populus tuus erit spoutaneitatum i. e. summè spontaneus So the word imports that is they shall so heartily consent to take Christ for their Lord and Husband as if all the faculties of the soul were turned into will they shall so fully embrace him as if there were a concentring together of many wills to make one violent current to go forth unto him as if all the doors of the soul were set wide open for his entertainment They shall be willingnesses abundantly willing as if the whole man were nothing but will See it in the case of Zacheus how heartily he consents to take Christ upon his terms and salvation by him Luk. 19.6 He made haste and came down and received him joyfully 3. It must be an unlimited and indefinite acceptance without any secret reservations or exceptions Poor carnal people are apt to deceive themselves in this respect They will have Christ for their Saviour and Master but it is alwayes upon some proviso or other that they may keep such a beloved lust that they may have liberty to fulfil this carnal pleasure or to live in the practise of the other profitable sin they will give up themselves to the Lord Jesus provided alwayes they may comply with the times and save their estates and humour such a great man on whom they depend provided they be required to serve him only in the Sunshine of the Gospel and be not bound to follow him through tribulations Such caveats and proviso's they enter into but this leaveth them still in subjection to the devil For that acceptance and consent which uniteth a sinner unto Christ must be a marriage-consent when we take him wholly and entirely without any acceptions to submit to him in all his institutions and commandments and to cleave to him in all estates and conditions When we take Christ for our Lord and Husband to have and to hold for better and for worse for richer and for poorer in sickness and in health to go with him through fire and water resolving through grace that nothing shall divide betwixt us and that we will never joyn with any other in confederacy against him We must come to him as Paul upon his conversion Act. 9.6 Lord what wilt thou have mâ— to do q. d. Here I am in a readiness and resolvedness for any manner of service Let me but know thy will and through divine assistance I will stick at nothing He doth not say thus far I could be contented to follow after thee upon conciâ—ion I be not put upon difficult service and that I be not forced to forsake such a lust or to break off my intimacy and familiarity with this or the other sinful companion No but here I bring my soul as a blank paper write what terms and conditions thou pleasest and I am ready to subscribe to them Do but shew me thy way and cut out the work which I am to do and whatever it is I am resolved to set upon the performance This is the fourth thing to be noted our consent to take the Lord Christ must be a marriage-consent and upon marriage terms and articles 5. Note from this comparison in the next place That a believers obedience and service which he tenders unto Christ throughout the whole course of his life must be an affectionate obedience or a service mingled with love and proceeding from love We must not serve him as slaves meerly out of fear and no further than we are forced by outward respects or by the clamours of conscience but as a Spouse is obedient to her husband and careful to please him because of her affection towards him Matrimonial subjection is a loving subjection and such must â—e ours to the Lord our Saviour This is to to serve him evangelically answerable to the dispensation of the Gospel which proclaimeth and promalgateth the love of Christ unto sinners When our obedience doth spring from a principle of love to Jesus and is intermingled therewith and is promoted by the sense of his love to sinners thâ—n it is Gospel-obedience and new Covenant-service Not but that the fear of wrath and heâ—l may have its due place and efficacy to quicken a Believer unto the works of holiness but love is the most evangelical motive most proper and suitable to the dispensation of the Gospel And therefore the Apostle prayeth in behalf of the Ephesians in order to their more abundant fruitfulness in the wayes of God their being filled with all the fulness of God that they might be rooted and grounded in love that is love towards Christ and that they might be able to know the love of Christ his love towards them which passeth knowledge i. e. that they might have some clear and competent apprehensions of it though in its full extent and greatness it can never be comprehended Eph. 3.17 18 19. 6. Lastly note That this similitude taken from the relation betwixt the husband and wife besides its holding forth the union of a Believer with Christ doth import also that mutual complacency and satisfaction which they take in converse one with the other How doth Christ delight in maintaining fellowship with the Saints And how do their spirits exult in the enjoyment of Christ See the mutual dearness that is betwixt them Cant. 7.10 11 12. I am my beloveds and his desire is towards me Come my beloved let us go forth into the field let us lodge in the villages let us go early to the vineyards let us see whether the vine flourish whether the tender grapes appear and the pomegranates bud forth there will I give thee my loves The meaning is this The heart of the Church was so set upon Chriâ— that it was her chiefest delight to be in communion with him as the wise taketh pleasure in the society of her husband and he in hers So much for the third special resemblance for illustration of this mystery drawn from the conjunction which is betwixt the husband and wife 4. The fourth and last similitude which I shall
called upon the God of Israel saying O that thou wouldest bless me indeed c. q.d. Here is a man of renown we must not pass him by without a note of memorial stamped upon him He hath outstript all the rest of his brethren for he is acquainted with God and in communion with him This is the first Inference 2. If Believers are united to the Son of God and made one with him then hence it will follow That the people of God may comfortably expect that God will take a special care of them and their concernments and have a peculiar regard unto them in the exercise of his providence For they are one with Christ and God loveth them with the same love for kind and substance though not for measure and degree wherewith he loveth the Lord Jesus and therefore certainly he will take a special care of them When the Lord is pleased at some times to appear gloriously in the preservation or deliverance of his Church and people it maketh the by-standers amazed and often filleth the wicked themselves with astonishment What are these people above others that God should bear such a gracious respect unto them You read the very Heathen could not but take notice of Gods handy-work in this particular Psal 126.2 Then they said amongst the Heathen the Lord hath done great things for them And Psal 48.5 They saw it and so they marvelled It was a matter of astonishment in their eyes that the Lord should be so mindful of them above others * Viderunt senserunt occultam vim numinis pro Israelitis propugnantem Et commoti sunt ipsâre Sim. de Muis in loc Why Sirs Here is the reason of it they are in Christ brought nigh unto God through Christ and no marvel that he hath a principle regard unto such You know That is a common distinction and it is a very comfortable distinction whereby the providence of God is branched forth 1. Into his general providence over all creatures So he feedeth the young ravens when they cry and provideth meat for the beasts of the field he disposeth and ordereth whatsoever doth concern any of the work of his hands 2. His special providence towards his own people he hath a special eye upon them and respect unto them As it is with a Magistrate of the City or Countrey If he be faithful in his place he hath a regard to the affairs and government of all that are under his jurisdiction but he hath a more than ordinary regard unto his own family and houshold So the Lord is especially mindful of the godly and here is the ground of it They are his family united to his Son and so his children by vertue of that union We have this distinction and the reason of it Mat. 6.26 30. Behold the fowls of the air for they sow not neither do they reap nor gather into barns and yet your heavenly father feedeth them Are not ye much better than they Wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field which to day is and to morrow is cast into the oven shall he not much more clothe you O ye of little faith Mark it If he mind other creatures he will much more regard his people How doth that appear Why because they are his children married to his Son He is a Creator unto others but he is a Father to them He that feedeth the fowls of the Air saith Christ is your heavenly father And therefore doubt not but he will exercise a peculiar providence over you Wherein doth this peculiarity of the providence of God manifest it self towards them For answer I will take notice of it in four things besides what hath been spoken of the peculiar Covenant-blessings which are conferred upon such 1. It doth appear in the special cognizance he taketh of their condition and concernments When the Lord looketh down from heaven upon all the inhabitants of the earth and taketh a view of the transactions in the world he doth it to this purpose that he may manage them in a compliance with the welfare of his children and make them subservient to their good He maketh an exact enquiry into the state of his Saints and observeth other things to this very end that they may be disposed of to their advantage and benefit That is a precious Text 2 Chron. 16.9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him He maketh an inspection into all the world that he may not miss any occasion of doing good to his little flock but may take all manner of advantages to shew kindness to them 2. This peculiarity of providence doth appear in the special support which he ministers unto the spirits of his people to bear up their hearts under such pressures wherewith others are over whelmed For although there is no visible difference alwayes made in the acts of providence towards the righteous but it happens unto them according to the works of the wicked Yet there is a remarkable difference to be observed by a discerning spirit in the support which is ministred unto their hearts When the wicked are at their wits end and filled with terror on every side then Believers can lift up their heads with confidence and not be troubled at any amazement God is graciously pleased to send them love-tokens at every turn to be a relief unto them which the world knoweth not of So that they can sing with joy of heart under those very dispensations when the wicked cry for forrow of heart and howl for vexation of spirit Isa 65.13 14. Do but observe their confidence in the midst of troubles Psal 46.2 We will not fear though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the Sea that is though all things be in commotion and combustion on every side Our hearts are settled under the most shaking providences 3. It doth eminently appear in Gods overthrowing all things that stand in the way of the welfare of his people and prove hindrances to the advancement thereof Sirs The Lord will have no regard to thousands of others that stand in the way of the good of one of his chosen He will overturn the thrones of the greatest Emperors if they are impediments to the good of the meanest of his Saints So that it is a dangerous thing to resist the proceedings of the most high when he awaketh to the deliverance of them that are upright in heart Isa 43.3 4. I gave Egypt for thy ransom Ethiopia and Seba for thee Since thou wast precious in my sight thou hast been honourable and I have loved thee therefore will I give men for thee and people for thy life * Hinc generalis doctrina colligenda est Sic Domino curae esse pios omnes ut pluris ipsos quam universum orbem faciat Et nullum fore
hominem quem non tellat atque perimat Dominus ut suos conservet Calv. in loc Rather than lose but one of those who are in Christ he will destroy and pluck up whole nations before him He will strike through kings in the day of his wrath and wound the heads over many Countreys Psal 110.5 6. 4. The peculiarity of providence doth appear in this That many outward enjoyments are given to the ungodly and they are set on high for Believers sakes Not that God hath delight in the wicked or is a countenancer of their evil wayes but therefore he doth prosper and advance them because he intends to use them for the good of his Servants Either to exercise their faith and patience and to purge away their dross or sometimes to shelter them from the rage of others It was for Jacob's sake that corn was laid up in Egypt Gen. 45.7 It was for Israel's sake that Cyrus was advanced to the Empire and the treasures of darkness given to him Isa 45.3 4. Your great Statesmen little think of this Their design is by the advancement of persons to make their party strong or to please a friend or to carry on their secular interest one way or other But God over-ruleth all for his peoples sake Unto whom he hath a peculiar regard in all things that are brought to pass under the Sun And no marvel for they are in Christ married unto him and acaccordingly God hath a respect unto them This is the second Inference 3. The last Inference which I mainly intended to inlarge upon is this If there be an indispensable necessity of Union with the Son in order to the partaking of life through him Then the state of all unconverted sinners whatsoever before they are knit unto Christ by the spirit of regeneration taking hold on their persons and working faith in them to take hold on the Lord Jesus is a dead estate For till they are ingraffed into the Son they can have no life from him He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life i. e. he is stark dead utterly dead This is one of the expressions which the holy Ghost hath singled out to set forth the wretchedness and misery of a person in the state of unregeneracy before he is brought unto Christ He is not only defiled with sin but dead in sin Not only in a condition like that of the man that fell amongst thieves in his journey from Jerusalem to Jericho Luk. 10.30 as some would bear us in hand who wounded him and left him half dead But he is quite dead without any spark of spiritual life remaining in him By our Apostacy we brought our selves into a dead condition * Propheta dicit Anima quae peccat ipsa morietur Quamvis mortem ejus non ad interitum substantiae sentiamus Sed hoc ipsum quia aliena extorris sit à Deo qui vera vita est mors ei esse credenda est Orig. and till we are united to Christ we are unavoidably shut up in that condition The Son is the fountain of life unto lost sinners and there is no reception of life from the Son without having the Son And therefore the conversion of a sinner is not as the recovery of a sick man out of his distemper but as the raising of a dead man out of the grave Joh. 5.24 25. It is a passing from death to life For as it is v. 25. The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live It is meant of a spiritual resurrection of the first resurrection and the raising of the body is afterwards produced as an evidence of the mighty power of God whereby he is able to work this wonderful change upon the soul v. 28 29. My brethren When a godly man dieth he shall live that is when his body is dead his soul shall live in the presence of Christ and see the face of God in glory but an unregenerate person whilst he liveth is dead that is whilst he liveth the life of nature and the life of sense and the life of reason he is dead spiritually And it must needs be so because he is separated from Christ who is the fountain of life What is said of the widow that liveth in pleasures is true of every impenitent sinner He is dead whilst he liveth 1 Tim. 5.6 How or in what respect you will say are unconverted sinners dead I answer In a fivefold respect viz. In respect of 1. Abomination in the sight of God 2. The putrefaction and rottenness of that condition 3. Utter impotency and inability to what is spiritually good 4. Damnation or liableness to eternal death 5. The abundant evils incident to or the perfect wretchedness of that condition 1. The state of all Christless unconverted sinners is a state of death in point of loathsomness and abomination in the sight of God You know that dead carkasses are loathsom unto the living though a person hath been never so neer and dear to us yet when they are dead we cannot endure their presence Let me bury my dead saith Abraham out of my sight Thus the unregenerate are dead God loaths and abhorreth them and all that is done by them They are as smoak in his nostrils as dead stinking carrion in his sight Prov. 3.32 For the froward is an abomination to the Lord but his secret is with the righteous By the froward understand the wicked of all sorts for they are opposed to the righteous And indeed every ungodly man is perverse and froward in his wayes He riseth up against the light of his own conscience and resisteth the workings of the Spirit and is ready to rebel against the plain counsels of the word He is a prating fool as he is elswhere called his heart is finding fault with this command and cavilling at the other duty in all things he walketh cross to God and holiness and delighteth in crooked paths Let the Lord say what he will he hath some objections against it and is resolved to hold on his own course and therefore is justly called froward And what is the condition of such why they are an abomination to the Lord. I pray think of this you that live in any way of sin you that harbour any secret lust in your bosoms and hide it as a sweet morsel under your tongues and thereby evidence that you are not in Christ Remember I say though you may be rich and great and men may flatter you yet God abhorreth and detesteth you You may have high conceits of your selves but you are a burden to the Spirit of the living God and if you go on in those wayes he will quickly ease himself of you For he hateth all the workers of iniquity Psal 5.5 O Sirs How should men hasten their escape out of this sad estate and adore the patience
this or the other stone be a true diamond or a counterfeit whether this or the other piece of money be pure gold or adulterate metal I must consider whether it have the properties of pure gold and whether the stone have the properties of a right diamond or not So upon a spiritual account If I would know whether I am one with Christ and in the state of grace I must enquire whether I be made partaker of such things as are the properties and concomitants of that estate and peculiar thereunto These we call marks and signs because they denote and signifie what spiritual condition a person is in * Signum est quod seipsum aliquid praeter se potentiae cognoscenti repraesentat I know there are some who have spoken very slightly and contemptibly of this way of procedure They would have us only depend upon the immediate witness of the Spirit without making use of these marks and signs But my Brethren this is the way which the servants of God have taken in passing a judgment upon themselves who are left upon record in the Scripture as patterns for our imitation And if you would not be deluded you must take this course likewise For else how shall we know that such an immediate testimony as they speak of is from the Spirit of God and not a delusion of Satan or a fond perswasion of our own deceitful spirits but by bringing it to the touchstone of these marks and signs See 1 Joh. 2.3 And hereby we know that we know him if we keep his commandments Mind it saith the Apostle we are acquainted with Christ and interested in him and through grace we may come to the knowledge of it How or by what means Why by this mark or character if we keep his commandments that will be a certain sign or evidence of it 1 Joh 3.14 We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren As if he had said By this mark or character we discern our translation into the state of grace Psal 119.94 I am thine save me for I have sought thy precepts Mark it David had not only a title to the favour of God but he was able to plead that title I am thine How do you prove it Why by this mark or evidence Because I have sought thy precepts My brethren the soul of a man is not acted in this work by way of Enthusiasme nor are we to depend upon a special revelation but the work is to be carried on by way of spiritual reasoning or argumentation Thus he who hath respect to all the commandments of God hath the Son and is united unto the Son Now saith the soul through grace I find upon a diligent search of my self that I bear a respect to all Gods commmandments and from thence I conclude that I have the Son of God and am ingraffed into him Again He that loveth the Brethren is in the state of grace translated from death to life And through mercy saith the soul I find this property in my self So that hence I gather that I am in the state of grace Take an instance on the other hand Whosoever walketh in darkness hath no fellowship with Christ My conscience tells me saith the sinner that I walk in darkness Hence it evidently followeth that whilst I remain in this condition I have no fellowship with Christ So that the convictions of conscience on the one hand as to the sad estate of a sinner are rational convictions and the witness of conscience on the other hand in behalf of the Saints that they are in Christ is a rational witness and the Spirit of God doth joyn in a concurrent testimony therewith Rom. 8.16 The Spirit it self beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God Mark it not only to our spirits but with our spirit They joyn together in giving evidence of a Believers union with Christ This is the fourth conclusion That the way of procedure in this business of self-examination is by marks and signs For my part I do not question but the holy Ghost may please at some peculiar seasons to dart comfort as it were into the heart of a Believer and in a kind of immediate way to signifie to him that he is in favour with God and in a state of reconciliation without any express or sensible reflection at that instant of time upon the gracious qualifications which are the marks of that estate But then remember that in the conclusion it must be reduced to marks and signs For else how shall a Christian be satisfied that it was indeed from the Spirit of God unless he prove it by such evidencing properties as are given to that end Concl. 5. The special marks and signs or evidential properties and characters by which we should examine our selves touching our union with Christ and from which we may be able to judge most clearly whether we are in him are such as are adaequate and proportionate to that estate Such marks of union as are appropriate thereunto and run exactly parallel therewith that are of the same exâ—ent and latitude as union with Christ is and in no wise appertain or belong to any other whomsoever Such marks as these Logicians call properties in the strictest acception that belong only to such as are in Christ and are to be found in all that are in him at all times and seasons * Proprium quarto modo quod omni soli semper convenit speciei cum eâ reciprocatur This will be cleared up to the apprehensions of the meanest capacity by giving you a distinction of three sorts of marks and signes as to a mans spiritual state or relation to Christ and by shewing you the several use that is to be made of each of them in the business of self-examination or trial of our union with Christ There are 1. Exclusive or Negative markes and properties 2. Inclusive or Accumulative markes and properties 3. Adaequate and proportionate markes and properties 1. There are exclusive or negative marks and signs as to union with Christ Properties of the first rank as they are commonly stiled that is such as belong to all who are ingraffed into the Lord Jesus but do not solely or peculiarly appertain to them They are of a greater extent and latitude than union with Christ is To make it plain by instances These are properties of the first rank viz. To have an enlightened understanding and competent knowledge of the mysteries of godliness To be convinced of the evil of sin and to have the conscience awakened in the sense of it To believe the word of God to be true To perform external duties and to carry on a reformation in the life and practise and the like These are properties to be found in all who are knit unto Christ but not in them only An unregenerate person may partake of them likewise And what is the use
perfected hereby we know that we are in him Direct 4. In the examination of your wayes and works as a proof of your conversion and union with Christ thereupon this must be carefully minded That it is not the external discharge of some particular duties will evidence a sincere conversion unto God but a diligent search must be made into the main bent of your spirits as to the wayes of holiness and the whole tenour of your conversations must be considered upon that account It must be observed whether you make religion your business and if it be the great design you drive on to study to please the Lord and to be accepted of him It is not the workings of your spirits in a fit of affection when your hearts are warmed by the word or you are under the call of some awakening providence that will prove you to be converts indeed but the general scope and tendency of your lives when godliness is the trade that you follow and holiness the high way wherein you travel As the expression is Isa 35.8 9. And a high way shall be there and a way and it shall be called the way of holiness the unclean shall not pass over it but it shall be for those the way-faring men though fools shall not erre therein No Lion shall be there nor shall any ravenous beast go up thereupon it shall not be found there but the redeemed shall walk there Mark it Sirs Holiness is the high way where the servants of Christ take their journey They do not only now and then make an excursion into some acts of piety and godliness when they are under convictions and the like But they spend their very life time in walking with God As holiness is a plain way wherein the meanest Christian may go on directly to heaven without danger of miscarrying Though he be of never so low parts and endowments yet if his design be to fear the Lord and to be blessed in the enjoyment of him God hath chalked out the way so clearly that he that runs may observe it And as it is a safe way wherein the Lord hath undertaken for the protection of travellers against all dangers and evil occurrents So it is the great road wherein all the redeemed ones travel from one end of the week to the other My brethren such as are Christians in good earnest do not take up a garb of Religion for the Sabbath and then lay it aside the six dayes following as men put on and off their best apparel They do not put on a kind of seriousness in spiritual exercises and live as Atheists and worldlings in their secular negotiations and affairs They do not enter upon the performance of some particular duduties only to stop the clamours of an awakened conscience and when that turn is served return to their vanity and wickedness But they make the Lord their constant companion and take holiness as a clew of thread that runs through all their undertakings and concernments Zech. 14.20 21. In that day there shall be upon the bells of their horses Holiness to the Lord and the pots in the Lords house shall be like the bowls before the Altar yea every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holiness to the Lord of hosts In that day that is when God doth pour out plentifully of the spirit of grace and wash sinners in the fountain set open for sin and uncleanness then they shall endeavour to be spiritual in the very common and ordinary actions of their lives and to be holy in all manner of conversation As it is not some particular acts of sin into which a man falleth through weakness and the violence of temptations that will prove the person offending to be wicked and unconverted but when he liveth in a course of sin and any ungodliness is the way wherein he goeth So it is not the performance of some particular duties of Religion unto which a man is carried by the force of a natural conscience will prove his conversion but when holiness is the high way wherein he travelleth and the very business which he prosecuteth This was Noah's evidence that he was righteous and perfect in his generation He did not only obey the voice of the Lord in some particulats but he walked with God Gen. 6.9 And Enoch had this testimony that he pleased God for he walked with him for hundreds of years together from one end of the year to the other Compare Heb. 11.5 with Gen. 5.22 Direct 5. That obedience which will evidence that you are regenerated and converted by the Spirit of Christ and so knit unto him must not only be right for the matter wherein it doth consist but rightly qualified also for the manner how it is discharged and tendered unto the Lord. It is not barely the work done opus operatum but principally modus operationis * Bonum oritur ex causis integris malum ex quolibet defectu the manner of the performance that will prove a principle of grace to reside in the heart of that man or woman by whom it is done As the sinfulness of sin doth lie chiefly in the manner how it is committed as when men sin wickedly and presumptuously against light and knowledge and break through convictions to the perpetration of evil So doth the excellency and evidencing vertue of the acts of obedience lie especially in the manner how it is performed An hypocrite may do the same external work which a believer doth and which for the matter of it is good Therefore the Lord doth expostulate with that sinful people who trusted in their outward duties concerning their defectiveness in the manner of the performance of them Isa 58.3 5. They had fasted and sought unto God but Is it such a fast as I have chosen saith the Lord v. 5. Mark it Sirs In the trial of your obedience to prove that you are sanctified you must not only mind the substance of the work what is done but likewise examine the suchness of it how it is done Possibly thou prayest often and readest the Scriptures frequently and givest alms to the poor and the like and from thence art confident of thy being in the state of grace But man is it so praying as God requireth And such a studying of the word to which the blessing is annexed Is it such a giving of alms as hath the promise of acceptance It is a good thing to run in the way of God's precepts But do you so run that ye may obtain 1 Cor. 9.24 This is the fifth Rule of Direction That in the examination of your obedience for the clearing up your conversion and union with Christ you must not only look into the matter what is done but strictly enquire into the manner how it is done and whether it be rightly qualified according to the purport and tenour of the Covenant of grace Direct 6. For the right qualifying and modification of our obedience to
God that it may prove a certain evidence of conversion and consequently of our union with Christ Jesus It must of necessity have these six properties and each of them must be enquired after in the business of self-examination It must be 1. Spiritual 2. Vniversal 3. Evangelical 4. Sincere 5. Thriving 6. Stedfast obedience 1. It must be spiritual obedience answerable to the nature of that God whom we wait upon and whose servants we are His essence is spiritual and such must our obedience to him be if we will serve the Lord acceptably and make it appear that we are of the number of his peculiar people Bodily exercise and a meer external devotion will strike a great stroke in making up the form of godliness but the power of it consisteth in that which is spiritual Joh. 4.23 The true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him These are the true worshippers that is such as are so in Gods account whom he will graciously receive and own in their performances When people serve him in a bare external bodily manner he reckoneth them as his greatest enemies their service is but a piece of dissimulation which hath only the shadow of worship For the substance lieth in what is spiritual And such the Father seeketh to worship him i.e. such worship he commandeth and his soul is well pleased with Although it seemeth to be spoken here with a peculiar reference to instituted worship yet it holds strongly as to natural worship also even of all the parts and particulars of his service For the reason which is rendred v. 24. is comprehensive of all Because God is a Spirit So that our obedience if it prove us a chosen generation whom God hath set apart for himself must be spiritual And that in a threefold respect In respect of the 1. Principle from whence it floweth 2. Extent how far it reacheth 3. Subject whereon it is terminated 1. In respect of the principle from whence it proceedeth It must be such obedience as cometh from the heart and wherein the soul and spirit is ingaged Not an honouring him with the lips and drawing neer to him with the mouth when the heart is removed far from him Not a serving him only by a kind of compulsion under some terrible apprehensions of the judgments of God not in a slothful careless and lukewarm manner as if Religion were a weariness to us and we had no mind to our work But when we serve him aright our hearts must be ingaged to approach unto him Jer. 30.21 22. we must be fervent in spirit serving the Lord Rom. 12.11 And our inward parts must be employed in the works of holiness When a mans tongue doth speak forth the praises of God and his heart joyneth with him in the business when his hands do act in the works of piety and his spirit concurreth in the action and carry him on thereunto this is to serve the Lord with the Spirit Although he calleth for the body also to be imployed in his service as indeed he deserveth the whole man yet not as a picture or image without life and soul but as animated by the heart Prov. 23.26 My son give me thine heart and let thine eyes observe my wayes q.d. A slave will give me his hands and feet and the strength of his body an hypocrite will offer up the outward man but if thou be a son I must have the heart and spirit 2. It must be spiritual obedience in respect of the extent of it how far it reacheth Such as sets us in opposition against spiritual sins as well as fleshly such as causeth us to fight against secret pride and envy and earthliness and unbelief and malice and double-mindedness and the like as well as to obstain from rotten communication and gross outward pollutions It must be such obedience as is exercised in spiritual duties as meditation on the word of the Lord and frequent contemplation of the excellencies of God adoring his Majesty and admiring his works and setting the affections on things above as well as in pleading the cause of holiness and openly walking in the profession of it It must carry us to such works as are performed in the secret recesses of the Spirit and sets us a striving against such corruptions as are forged and fabricated in the spirit which no eye can observe but God and our own consciences 2 Cor. 7.1 Let us cleanse our selves from all the filthiness both of the flesh and spirit Rom. 8.5 They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit Psal 73.1 Truly God is good to Israel even to such as are clean of heart See further Psal 24.3 4. Mat. 6.21 3. In respect of the subject whereon it is terminated It endeth in the further renewing and purifying the spirit and getting more degrees of habitual grace into the heart When we are not only contented to be kept free from the acts of sin but do mourn and lament under the principle of sin and labour to deaden that principle When we do not think it enough to do much for God but fain would have our spirits transformed every day more and more into the image of God Thus it will be if you are converted If a carnal person resist the temptation he thinks his work is done and is apt to glory in himself as if the whole business were dispatched But a convert layeth the ax to the root of the tree he followeth the corrupt stream to the poysonous fountain whence it is derived and nothing will satisfie him but cleansing the fountain and taking revenge upon his lusts that lodge within him Rom. 7.23 24. Paul's actual sins cause him to have an eye upon his heart by which he was turned aside I see saith he another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity unto the law of sin which is in my members O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death This is the first qualification It must be spiritual obedience 2. If you would prove your conversion and consequentially your union with Christ by your obedience It must be universal obedience Not a partial and restrictive serving of God but a following him fully as far as the whole circuit of holiness reacheth As it is said of Caleh Num. 14.24 He followed the Lord fully and that proved him to be a man of another spirit and of a gracious temper indeed sanctified by the holy Ghost because his obedience was universal There is a threefold universality must go to the right qualifying our obedience that it may be evidential of a converted estate It must be universal in relation to the 1. Agent or person obeying 2. Rule of obedience 3. Times and seasons of the performance 1. In relation to the agent or person
obeying that is when a man doth consecrate and devote his whole self both soul and body to the keeping of Gods commandments and doth his will not only from the heart but with the whole heart and spirit When there is a concentrication and conjunction of all the powers and faculties of the whole person in the service of the Lord the understanding is apprehensive of the mind of God and the judgment approveth the way of his precepts the affections run out in earnest desires to do and delight in doing the will of God the will is in a posture of ready compliance therewith the conscience stirreth up unto obedience and the members of the body are instruments in the execution of what is enjoyned Contrary to that dividing heart which the Scripture condemneth when the several faculties of the soul draw several wayes The understanding and judgment and conscience are for God and his wayes but the will and the affections for sin and the world and such lying vanities When persons have an heart and an heart an heart for God and an heart for Belial they are not come to any setled determination but their spirits halt between two opinions My brethren If you would prove that you are converted unto God your hearts must be united to fear his name and all that is within you must be gathered together to the observing of his Statutes Jer. 29.13 Ye shall seek me and find me when you search for me with all your hearts And mark the words of Samuel to the men of Israel when they lamented after the Lord 1 Sam. 7.2 3. And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel saying If ye do return to the Lord with all your hearts then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you and prepare your hearts unto the Lord and serve him only and he will deliver you out of the hands of the Philistines As if he had said Be not deceived it is not some faint inclinations unto godliness and a little lamentation after the Lord that will give you an interest in his mercy But if you would be accepted of him you must espouse none other interest but his you must carry on none other design co-ordinate with that of pleasing the Lord and walking with him if you are his servants at all you must be his altogether and give him your whole heart and mind and soul and strength And the reason is apparent because in sanctification grace is pouted out into the whole man and the change wrought is an universal change And it is not the actings of a part which will evidence a change in the whole But when the whole man is set upon the wayes of God This is the perfect heart which was a comfort to Hezekiah when all the soul goeth together in the way to heaven and there is no part lacking Isa 38.3 Remember O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart 2. It must be universal in relation to the rule or the particulars of obedience When there is an equal and uniform respect unto all the commandments of the Lord and a readiness to be pressed upon any service whether greater or lesser with whatsoever difficulty it is attended and whatsoever self-denial is required in the discharge of it When a man's soul is drawn out in a detestation of every sin and doth not live in the allowed omission or neglect of any known duty whether secret or publike whether generally practised or despised by the generality You read of Herod that he heard John Baptist and did many things but this was no proof of a sound conversion because in other things he fell short * Qui facit solummodo ea quae vult facere non Dominicam voluntatem implet sed suam Salvian In some cases he did what was commanded and in others he took liberty to trample upon the commandment Mark 6.20 And this is the furthest that carnal Professors go They are as Cakes not turned half-bak'd Christians as it is said of Ephraim Hos 7.8 As to the abandoning of some sins and discharge of some duties they bid fair for heaven But as for other corruptions by which they think they have their livelyhood and that have a more than ordinary share in their affections they will hold them fast and shake hands with Religion when they come to difficult points of obedience and so discover their rottenness Thus Jehu bade fair for salvation and yet fell short 2 King 10.30 31. He destroyed Baal out of Israel and did to the house of Ahab according to all that was in God's heart Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam he departed not he thought those sins were so interwoven with his secular interest that he could not keep the Kingdom without them That no calves at Dan and Bethel and no king in Israel But now when a person can say in uprightness that his heart standeth in awe of the whole Word of God and whatever he findeth with the stamp of a divine precept upon it he is willing to submit to and through the assistance of the Spirit will close with it be it never so contrary to flesh and bloud though it run directly cross to his worldly interest and cost him never so much ignominy and reproach from the wicked though it expose him to never so many troubles and hardships here is that obedience in the life which will evidence grace in the heart Psal 119.6 Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect to all thy commandments i. e. Then it will appear that my profession is sound and my hopes well bottomed and such as will not deceive me then I shall not be put to confusion at the day of accounts nor be frustrated and disappointed in my expectations of glory when I have this testimony to produce that I am a servant of God because I esteem all his precepts in every thing to be right and have a conscientious regard unto them all 3. It must be universal obedience in relation to the times and seasons of the performance of it Psal 106.3 Blessed are they that keep judgment and he that doth righteousness at all times Not as some Professors whose Religion is modelled according to the providences they are under and the company which they meet and converse with When godliness is in esteem and credit in the world they will be clothed in that dress and none shall be more forward in religious duties and exercises But when it is discountenanced and under a cloud then their course is changed They row their boat as the tide runneth backward or forward and hoise up their sails according as the wind bloweth If they fall into a religious family and amongst godly company there they will approve and commend the wayes of God and if their lot fall amongst vain and profane persons they will be wanton and vain and profane and scurrilous as the rest They will do
In studying to approve our selves in the sight of God So the Apostle seemeth to explain it 2 Cor. 2.17 As of sincerity as of God in the sight of God speak we in Christ 2. In serving the Lord for himself My meaning is this Then is a Christian sincere in his obedience when he is not acted therein by fleshly wisdom nor doth make Religion subservient to any carnal ends But he hath a single eye of regard to the glory of God the maintaining fellowship with him and the secuting his own interest in the Lord as a portion for his soul When he is carried on to the works of holiness by spiritual arguments he doth that which is commanded out of respect to the commandment or eo nomine for that very reason because it is the commandment of the Lord and his heart stands in awe of it This alone is to serve the Lord in obedience to his will Else if you set upon a course of Religion for any secular advantage that cometh by it you do but serve your selves by Religion As it is said of the Schismaticks Rom. 16.18 They that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly They pretended Christ but designed themselves And so do hypocrites of all sorts they serve not God by their works of piety but their own profit and advancement in the word * These are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ-merchants and Christ-hucksters as one calls them they serve their own credit and reputation and the furtherance of some carnal interest or perhaps they may serve their very lusts and make provision for them by the duties of Religion So the whore in the Proverbs Chap. 7.14 15. She paid her vows and offered peace-offerings that she might purchase a license to sin more freely Thus multitudes of people debase Religion They go on in a constant road of outward performances that at other times they may take the greater liberty and sin with lesser disturbance in their spirits But now a sincere Christian serves the Lord himself in all the parts of his obedience As he is spiritual in the discharge of his work so the reasons and motives are spiritual whereby he is stirred up unto the discharge of it And here is a main ground of the universality of a believers obedience because spiritual reasons are comprehensive of the whole will of God whereas carnal motives and arguments have but a partial influence A little to clear it by instances If you avoid sin because of the shame of the world that will only help to preserve you from open wickedness but will have no influence against secret pollutions which the world cannot observe If you perform duty to please a party or to get some temporal benefit that will only ingage you in the practise of such duties as are countenanced by them and are pleasing in their eye but will no way prevail as to the practise of such as are contemned and despised But now if you obey the will of God because it is his will That will enforce an obedience to all * A quatenus ad de omni valet consequentia that he hath injoyned Psal 119.101 If you abstain from sin because God observeth it this consideration will fence against all sin whatsoever Job 31.1 4. If you walk in wayes of holiness that you may have fellowship with God and glorifie his name and be inabled to give up a comfortable account unto him these inducements will have an influence into the right ordering of all the particulars of your demeanour Eccl. 12. v. 14. And here is the conversation that will prove the work of regeneration and minister joy thereupon When in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world 2 Cor. 1.12 When we do not truck with Religion nor make it a stalking-horse in subordination to any base or corrupt ends But what we do is done in a measure in a singleness of spirit and in the integrity of our hearts as mainly indeavouring therein to to be accepted of God This is the fourth property of evidential obedience It must be sincere 5. It must be thriving obedience and of an increasing nature for sanctifying grace is of a thriving nature So that such as are holy indeed will be still pressing after further degrees of holiness and they that live through the Spirit will endeavour to have life more abundantly they will be going forwards unto perfection at least in vehement desires and sollicitous and earnest indeavours after it Besides there is such sweetness and excellency in communion with God that whosoever tasteth it cannot but be longing and reaching after more and more till he come to full fruition and enjoyment 1 Pet. 2.2 3. As new born babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby As new born babes q. d. This is the property of all that are regenerate the picture of an infant doth not grow but a living child doth and there is as natural and direct a tendancy in a child of God towards increase in holiness as there is in a new born child to the breast that he may grow in strength and stature And this you will labour after if so be that you have tasted that the Lord is gratious That taste will set an edge upon your desires and cause you to hunger and thirst with greater eagerness after more * Sitis duplex est 1. Vna totalis indigentiae Isa 6.5 13. 2. Altera fruitionis complacentiae partialis Illa tollitur per gratiae participationem haec crescit indies dum sumus in via per fidem ambulantes non per aspectum Ames Coron When persons can sit down contented with the least measures of holiness and think If they have but grace in the smallest degree so much as will give them an interest in God and bring them safely to heaven they will not care for more but there they will take up their rest and live at ease without troubling themselves to aspire after further degrees It is a shrewd sign that they are utterly strangers to the workings of grace in the heart For did they but once taste the spiritual deliciousness of fellowship with the most High it would fill them with an insatiable appetite after greater attainments they would be ever pressing towards the mark and labouring to proceed from strength to strength til they should appear in Sion before the Lord They would study to augment their faith till it came to sight and to promote their hopes till they were turned into fruition and to blow up the smoaking flax of their love till it were kindled in a pure spiritual unmixed flame They would think they never had grace enough till it were swallowed up in glory nor that they were sufficiently holy till made perfect in holiness Job 17.9 He that hath clean hands
person upon the most serious and deliberate examination of himself be still left in the dark as to his union with Christ for want of clear evidences of his conversion The way to make sure work in this behalf and to put the matter out of question is to put forth immediately fresh acts of faith upon the righteousness of Christ for salvation to renew his repentance as to the evil of sin to make a fresh surrender of himself into the hands of God upon the terms of the Covenant of grace and to enter presently upon the course of new obedience * Conscientiae meritò perturbatae haec unica est ratio pacanda Si qui sic afficicur adduci possit in illum statum per veram fidem resipiscentiam ut assumptio syllogismi illius quo turbatus fait merito incipiat esse falsa jure negetur Ames Thes de consc These Sirs are those acts which the principle of regeneration doth first exert and put forth when it is planted into the soul and these spiritual acts are often reiterated and repeated by the souls of such as are converted So that if you were before effectually called these will be the renewings of your conversion and if you were formerly unconverted yet hereby it will be evident that you continue such no longer But that through grace now the work is wrought These being the immediate products of the grace of conversion I will a little open this word of Advice in relation to each of the particulars asunder 1. Act your faith afresh upon the Lord Christ and his righteousness Endeavour in the sense of the greatness of the evil of your sins and apprehension of the insupportableness of the wrath of God deserved by sin in the due acknowledgment of the justice of God that must be satisfied and the insufficiency of all your personal qualifications and obedience to give satisfaction thereunto to cast your selves upon Christ's righteousness to put your selves for redemption into his hands and to accept him for your Saviour upon the terms of the Gospel This is to believe in Jesus and if it be done now in sincerity and truth it will be a comfortable evidence that either you were formerly united unto Christ or else that at the present the knot is tyed betwixt him and your souls See the words of our Saviour Joh. 12.46 I am come as a light into the world that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness Only take the advice with this provise See to it that you do not mistake in the nature of faith that you do not take a dead faith for a living nor an hypocritical counterfeit faith for the faith of God's elect And then if you believe indeed the putting forth that principle into exercise will be as a present evidence that you are gotten into Christ and have a right to the favour of God through his bloud 2. To put the matter out of question touching your conversion and union with Jesus Christ Renew your repentance as to the evil of sin Labour to get such a sight of your transgressions committed against the Lord as may fill you with godly sorrow for them and to be so deeply affected with your own filthiness and pollutions that you may loath your selves and lie down in your shame upon the account of that filthiness Upon taste of the bitterness of your departings from God and the destructive nature of your iniquities let your hearts be set in hatred of them and cast them away from you with utter detestation and abhorrence never to come neer you again as to any reconcilement with them Especially abhor those iniquities which have mostly prevailed over you say unto your lusts get ye hence what have I to do any more with you You have ruined my soul and I will never yield subjection to you further If I have served you hitherto through Gods assistance I will do it no longer This my brethren is repentance according to the Scriptures And if your hearts speak these things in uprightness it will help to demonstrate that you have the grace of repentance and so shall never come into condemnation Only take heed that your hearts do not dissemble and flatter in this work Jer. 31.19 After I was turned I repented and after I was instructed I smote upon my thigh First Ephraim was made partaker of the grace of conversion and then he doth exercise that grace in a sincere repentance Indeed a legal repentance may be without grace in the heart but this evangelical repentance is the product of grace and an evidence thereof See 2 Pet. 3.9 Luke 15.7 10. 3. To prove that you are converted Make a fresh surrender of your selves into the hands of God upon the articles of the Covenant of grace Resign up your selves anew unto the most High make choice of him for your only portion set your affections upon him as the chiefest good and give up your selves unreservedly to be his servants and to be wholly at his disposal That is another spiritual act which the principle of regeneration doth immediately put forth when it is infused into the soul and if you perform it in the integrity of your hearts it will be an evidence that you are partakers of that principle Isa 44.3 5. I will pour out water upon him that is thirsty and flouds upon the dry ground I will pour out my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine off-spring And then it followeth v. 5. One shall say I am the Lords and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord and firname himself by the name of Israel Mark it Assoon as the Spirit of God is put into the soul that soul doth give up himself unto God and list himself amongst his followers So that as a present proof of your having the spirit of conversion take your hearts along with you and go to the Lord and make a full and fresh refignation of them and of your whole selves into his hands Take with you words and go unto the Lord as it is elsewhere expressed My meaning is this 1. Take with you words of election and choice say unto him O Lord I now take thee to be my God and my Master I will henceforward make thee my refuge and fortress I will set my heart upon thee as my only happiness and exceeding great reward If I have stood it out formerly against the tenders of grace I will stand out no more If I have followed after lying vanities I will follow them no longer Now I make choice of the Lord Behold I come unto thee for thou art my God and I abandon all things that stand in competition with thee This sort of words you shall meet with Jer. 3.22 23. 2. Take with you words of surrender and say unto God O Lord here I am to dedicate my self and my strength and my time and my
That he will have a cooler place in hell than some others who have ran beyond him in the perpetration of horrid abominations 5. A meer civil conversation and inoffensive câ—â—riage towards men is a poor foundation of a mans hopeâ— You have some will lean upon this prop and be very confident of their salvation upon this ground because they pay all men their due and walk honestly towards their neighbours and defie all the world to bring in a bill of accusation against them But this will prove as a rotten pillar that cannot support the Fabrick For observe what our Saviour saith to the Pharisees Luke 16.15 Ye are they which justifie your selves before men but God knoweth your hearts for that which is highly esteemed amongst men is abomination to God Mark it here is the question Is thy heart washed and sanctified Art thou regenerated by the Spirit of Christ and so knit unto him The God before whom thou must appear is the searcher of the hearts and will bring to light the hidden things * Deest aliquid intus Said one of a picture when he tried to make it stand and vvalk of it self There wants something within So it may be said of the unregenerate moralist There vvants a Principle of spiritual life vvithin of darkness He seeth those secret and spiritual wickednesses that lodge within thee which the world cannot discern He taketh a view of those inward pollutions and filthinesses which pass the eye of the most curious inquisitor amongst the children of men Civility is a mercy for which thou art bound to bless the name of God but it will not entitle thee to the Kingdom of God * Va etiam vitae laudabili Aug. For the obtaining of that thou must be united to Christ Unconverted Paul was of a blameless conversation and yet a child of the wrath of God And therefore when he had a right knowledge of matters he did not rest herein but earnestly breathed after Christ and rejected all things that he might be found in him Phil. 3.6 8. 6. Legal sorrow for sin and a kind of reformation thereupon will not serve to beget a well-grounded hope of eternal life When sinners are under some pangs of conviction that damps their mirth for a while and their consciences are troubled for some ungodliness which they have committed and this trouble prevaileth so far as to make them leave the practise of that ungodliness for the present Hence they are apt to cherish strong confidence of their salvation Surely think they it cannot go amiss with us who have felt such disquietness in our spirits and begin to lead a new life What will bring a man to heaven if this will not But man one thing thou lackest yet and that is union with Christ the Son of God Unless thy sorrow for sin prove efficacious to drive thee quite out of thy self and to cause thee to give up thy soul into the hands of the Mediator whom God hath appointed it will in no wise conduct thee to everlasting glory Judaâ— was troubled for sin and restored the pieces of silver which he had gotten as the wages of unrighteousness and yet he went unto his own place Mat. 27.4 5. Act. 1.25 He had deep gashes of conviction cut in his conscience whereby he was wounded sorely and yet perished for ever for want of getting into Christ and application thereby of the healing balsom of his righteousness There may be much torture and vexation in the heart for sin and such as may carry a man to some amendment of life and yet not a drop of that godly sorrow that worketh repentance unto salvation not the least degree of that evangelical brokenness and contrition of spirit which driveth the sinner unto Christ that he may find rest for his soul 7. The meer external performance of spiritual daties is no sufficient ground whereupon to bottom our hopes of eternal life Such as prayer and reading the Scriptures and frequenting religious exercises and the like These are good means if rightly managed to bring a sinner unto Christ but in themselves they are no evidence of a good estate The Pharisee was much in outward duties and yet he was not justified Luke 18.12 A person may make many prayers and play the counterfeit in all that he doth many confess sin and plead against it with their mouths and in the mean while hug it in their bosoms they pretend to earnest desires of grace and holiness in their expressions but hate it in their affections with a perfect hatted they read the Scriptures to find out the will of God and yet retain a secret resolvedness of spirit to follow the dictates of their own wills they attâ—nd with their bodies on the Ordinances of Christ whilst their hearts go after covetousness and other base corruptions Ezek. 33.31 32. Many labour only to stop the mouth of conscience with outward performances who are utterly strangers to the workings of a renewed principle Besides What are the Institutions and Ordinances of Christ except they lead the soul unto Christ That is the very end of their appointment to bring us unto him and to build us up in him without an interest in whom by way of union with him there is no right to the kingdom of heaven attainable by any 8. The good opinions of the godly are but a sandy foundation of hope It is a great mercy to converse with such as are spiritually wise and to have a place and seat in their affections who are favourites in the court of heaven But it is no sure evidence of our title to heaven And the reason is this Because their estimation of others may arise from a mistake of their persons judging them only by what is visible and apparent in open view but God is a discerner of the secret recesses of the heart The Lord seeth not as man seeth 1 Sam. 16.7 How was David mistaken in Achitophel They took sweet counsel together and walked unto the house of God in company and yet he was an accursed person and wickedness was in his dwelling Psal 55.14 They may be much in the affections of the godly who are an abomination unto the Lord. So that trust not in this as a sign of a good estate Thon mayest be of great repute amongst Christians and yet alienated from Jesus Christ whereas it is only union with the Son and ingrafture into him which will give thee a right to salvation 9. Lastly that I may hasten to a conclusion A being joyned in fellowship with this or the other party who make a stricter profession of godliness than others is an insufficient ground whereupon to build our hopes of eternal life This is all the proof that some can make of their fincerity Because they are of such a perswasion and settled in a Church way with such eminent professors they are of the same judgment and hold the same opinions with them this is made the foundation of great
measures of confidence But mark it Sirs It is not external communion and brotherhood with the highest rank of Christians that will conduct a sinner to the kingdom of heaven without a spiritual conjunction with Christ himself Many unbelievers went with the children of Israel out of the Land of Egypt even a mixt multitude that imbarkt in the same bottom with them and yet never arrived at the Land of promise Judas was in external fellowship with the Apostles and yet the son of perdition The five foolish virgins held society with the wise and were accounted as members of their association and yet the door of heaven was shut against them Mat. 25.1 2 12. If you would have good hopes through grace of your eternal salvation you must be knit to the Captain of salvation If you would enjoy the inheritance you must be espoused to Christ the heir of all things for he that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life 2. Affirmatively If union with Christ be of such absolute necessity in order to salvation by Christ Then be exhorted with unwearied endeavours to labour after this grace of union Give all diligence to get into Christ Dost thou not perceive there is no salvation without it This is the standing Law of the God of heaven which cannot be reversed or altered That such as will be made partakers of eternal life must be intimately joyned unto the Son of God So that think seriously with thy self what is like to be thy case if thou shouldest depart hence without being ingraffed into Christ Why man It is not all the world can preserve thee from eternal destruction Be not deceived either thou must have the Son of God or pâ—rish irrecoverably for ever under the wrath of God To what purpose is all your knowledge of Christ and the way of salvation through him except you be in him This is the end of the Ministry of the Gospel that you may have an interest in him and grow up into him in all things which is the head even Christ Eph. 4.15 In order to the attainment of this foundationmercy let me beseech you to observe and follow these ensuing directions Direct 1. If you would be knit to Christ that you may be saved upon his account labour to work up your hearts unto an utter despair of having salvation upon any lower terms or in any other way whatsoever Press such considerations powerfully upon your spirits as may have a tendency to drive you from taking sanctuary in any other refuge Study to overturn your hopes of getting deliverance by any other means For my Brethren one of the first steps in our motion towards Christ and getting into him is the casting away all hopes of being saved otherwise The holy Ghost doth observe it as the great obstacle and impediment in the way of salvation that sinners do not cast off their presumptuous hopes they see their misery by sin but have secret thoughts in their hearts that they shall have peace notwithstanding Isa 57.10 Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way yet thou saidst not there is no hope thou hast found out the life of thine hand therefore thou wast not grieved Mark it here was the reason of their continuance in sin because they retained their presumptuous hopes They did bolster up themselves in some groundless confidence of escaping notwithstanding their impenitence They were not humbled for their transgressions because they found out the life of their hand i. e. they still imagined to find some comfort and support ready at hand upon all occasions or sufficient means to strengthen their hand and to yield them succour or they relied upon their own righteousness their legal performances the work of their hands they expected life and salvation from thence But these are vain thoughts and expectations such as must be rejected in order to salvation Jer. 4.14 O Jerusalem wash thine heart from wickedness that thou mayest be saved how long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee i. e. thy vain thoughts of being saved at a cheaper rate without being washed * Ego igitur non dubito quin Propheta hic fallaces illas spes designet quibus Judaei obsâ—inatiores erant adversus Deum ut sibi à nullâ poenâ metuerent Calv. in loc and sanctified Many carnal people are offended with us when we preach doctrines of terror and set forth the severity of God towards Christless sinners because as they object this is the way to drive them to despair and to overthrow all their hopes Why man It is the design of our Ministry to drive thee to utter despair of ever being saved without the righteousness of Jesus Christ and of being saved by Christ except you are united to him and made spiritually one with him We would not have you despair of finding mercy with the Lord if you repent and be converted and give up your selves to the Son of God upon the terms of the Gospel But it is that which we drive at to cause you wholly to despair and to cast off all hopes of being saved by the Son except you have the Son This despair will awaken you out of your security and make you restless in spirit till you have gotten into the City of refuge It will make you earnest in prayer unto God and to follow hard after him with a vigorous and unwearied importunity till he hath brought you unto Christ and ingraffed you into him And because I am fallen upon this argument wherein many poor souls are deluded who live in the common practise of sin but will thank God they do not despair not considering that a despair of being saved in an unconverted estate is one of the first steps leading to conversion I will therefore take the liberty to enlarge a little upon this head by shewing you wherein the rock of despair is indeed dangerous and to be avoided and wherein on the other hand we are bound to despair and to cast off all hope that we may diligently prosecute the things that concern our peace And this I will do by giving you five Scripture Theses or Assertions touching this matter 1. Observe That the mercy of God for the acceptance of humble penitent and believing sinners is infinitely great even as his nature and essence and it is an attribute which he taketh special delight in the exercise of So that there is no cause of despair for the most heinous offendors of finding grace and compassion with the Lord if they return unto him in sincerity Though their sins be as scarlet they shall be made white as snow and though they be red like crimson of the deepest colour and aggravated with the most greatning circumstances they shall be as wool Isa 1.18 Hast thou played the harlot with many lovers yet return unto me saith the Lord Jer. 3.1 Have thy sins reached unto the Heavens yea but the mercy of God is above the heavens
of the Gospel Receive him for your Redeemer as he is tendred therein Believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Joh. 6.29 This is the work of God that you should believe on him whom he hath sent i. e. It is a work exceedingly acceptable unto God it is the great work that he requires to bring you unto his Son that you may have life through his bloud It is that work that makes up the conjunction betwixt him and your souls And therefore what is attributed in one place unto union with Christ is in another place ascribed unto faith Rom. 8.1 There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Joh. 3.18 He that believeth on him is not condemned Why Because it is faith which makes up the union by believing on Christ we are implanted into him And therefore take the word of direction Jo. 12.36 Believe in the light that you may be the children of light betake your selves by faith unto Christ that you may be found in him And to that purpose be frequent in meditation upon those incouragements which God hath given unto sinners to quicken them to believe on the name of his Son and to help against the misgivings of their own hearts I will instance only in five 1. It is the command of God that which he hath left in special charge upon mens souls to come unto Christ that they may be saved And therefore it evidently followeth that he is willing you should believe for it is that which he mainly desireth that his will be done that his precepts be observed Can you imagine that God should give you a strict commandment backt with many arguments and motives to the observance of it and yet be loath you should obey that commandment This is his commandment that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 3.23 2. God sent his Son into the world upon this very errand and business that he might draw sinners unto him in order to their salvation And the Lord Jesus took our nature upon him and was obedient unto the death the accursed death of the cross to this very end and purpose that sinners might come unto him and obtain eternal redemption through his bloud And can it ever enter into your hearts to think that God is not willing to accomplish what he hath designed to bring about or that Christ is not willing to attain the end of his sufferings What was the Fathers design in sending Christ into the world Why that we might live through him and that he might be a propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 4.9 10. Wherefore hath he published the Gospel of Christ and revealed the glad tydings of salvation through him Why These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his name Joh. 20.31 To what end did our Saviour leave the bosom of his Father and sojourn amongst us and bear the weight of his fathers indignation Mark what account himself giveth of it Jo. 12.46 I am come a light into the world that whosoever believeth in me should not abide in darkness And v 47. I came not to judge the world but to save the world And speaking of his death under the fimilitude of lifting up the brazen serpent in the wilderness v. 32. And I if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto me 3. God hath left upon record many precious promises on purpose to invite sinners unto Christâ— from which none are excluded but such as shut out themselves by refusal of the grace which is tendered in them And they are promises of such extent and comprehensiveness as may be sufficient to answer all the objections of a mans spirit against believing in Jesus Joh. 3.15 Whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life Act. 13.39 By him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses But will the sinner object I am altogether unworthy to come unto the Son of God Why Sirs It is the due sense of our unworthiness that doth fit us for the ready reception of him and addressing our selves unto him that we may by his righteousness be made worthy Art thou apprehensive of the necessity of being partaker of his death and the merit thereof Dost thou hunger and thirst after the enjoyment of him See then the promise or invitation Isa 55.1 2 3. Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no money that hath no desert or worthiness of his own to commend him unto God or whereby to purchase the least dram of favour come ye buy and eat yea come and buy wine and milk without money and without price c. O but will the sinner reply I have long stood out against the calls of Christ and will he now receive me graciously if I come unto him Why Hear what he saith Isa 57.17 18 19. For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth and smote him I hid me and was wroth and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart i. e. He withstood chastizement which is one of the loudest and most awakening calls in the time of his distress he sinned yet more against the Lord Instead of returning he held fast deceit and refused to return He went on frowardly that is perversly and stubbornly against all the dealings of God And yet what followeth v. 18 I have seen his wayes and will heal him I will lead him also and restore comfort to him and to his mourners One would have expected it thus rather I have seen his wayes and I will confound him I will never more have any pity or compassion upon him Nay but faith the gracious God at length he mourns for sin and is humbled for his iniquity and my bowels are turned within me my repentings are kindled together He is coming towards me and I will go forth to meet him I will surely have mercy upon him I will pardon him and guide him in the way of consolation and salvation But what doth this concern me will the heart of a sinner be apt to suggest Am I comprized in this word of comfort Yes if thou mournest for sin and desirest to give up thy self unto Christ and to God by him For it is a promise made without limitation these words are intended for the henefit both of Jews and Gentiles v. 19. I create the fruit of the lips peace peace i. e. My word shall be the means to convey great peace spiritual peace perfect peace lasting yea everlasting peace to him that is afar off and to him that is neer i. e. to the Jews who were a people nigh unto God and to the Gentiles when they shall be gathered to the Church though at that time they were afar off and I will heal him saith the Lord. But will the sinner
the God of heaven Their tongues will make mention of the praises of his name and sing aloud of his righteousness Psal 149.6 Their hearts will be filled with an holy admiration of his greatness and majesty and wonderful goodness in their redemption 2 Thes 1.10 He will be glorified in his Saints and admired in them that do believe Their lives also will be filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God Phil. 1.11 2. God is glorified upon believers in more of his attributes and excellencies Peculiarly in his free grace and tender mercy which is the attribute that he delighteth to magnifie and taketh singular pleasure in the exercise of Mic. 7.18 God doth shew forth his truth and justice and declare his power and holiness in the ruine of the ungodly but there are no prints or footsteps of his free grace and compassion Their portion is wrath without mixture Rev. 14.10 But what saith the Prophet of them that are saved Mark that notable Text Isa 63.7 8. I will mention the loving kindnesses of the Lord and the praises of the Lord according to all that the Lord hath bestowed upon us and the great goodness towards the house of Israel which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies and according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses For he said surely they are my people children that will not lye So he was their Saviour Here is a discovery of grace rich inexpressible grace herein is manifest the goodness of God nay the great goodnesses of the Lord here is mercy and loving-kindness yea a multitude of mercies loving-kindnesses 3. In some of his attributes God is more transcendently glorified viz. in his wisdom and power It was a work of infinite skill and wisdom to find out a way to redeem lost sinners from the jaws of eternal death to execute vengeance upon the transgression and yet to save the transgressors O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! Rom. 11.33 It is a work of greater power to pull a soul out of the hands of the Devil than to give him over to the will of Satan Eph. 1.19 20. Nay the very justice of God is better satisfied by believers through their surety than in the damnation of such as perish in their unbelief Here the price paid is the death of a creature but there the precious bloud of the Son of God as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot 1 Pet. 1.18 The wicked that perish are ever satisfying and have never given full satisfaction for the wrong which they have done their debt is paying as it were by driblets But in the behalf of believers the work is compleated and finished the utmost farthing was paid together upon the nail and there is nothing further to be demanded For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 10.14 Now if God be more glorified in the salvation of such as are in Christ undoubtedly he is willing that you should come unto Christ and is ready to receive you when ye come So much for the third direction Direct 4. To stir you up to a closure with this advice and diligent prosecution of this work of getting into Christ Often revolve in your thoughts and lay seriously to heart this following consideration viz. That if you perish for ever in a separation from the Lord Jesus and for want of being in him that you may partake of his righteousness it will wholly proceed from your own default and your bloud will be upon your own heads And what anguish and horror will this bring to thy conscience in the day of accounts to bethink thy self thus I might have been saved by the bloud of the covenant but I would not and now I must lie bound for ever in the chains of darkness For it is a sinners willful rejecting of the tenders of mercy upon the terms of the Gospel which is the cause of his falling short of the mercy tendred Although it is Gods free grace and not mans free will that doth conduct believers un o the kingdom of heaven yet it is the perverseness and obstinacy of the will of unbelievers which hindereth their deliverance from the damnation of hell Jo. 5.40 Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life Hos 5.4 They will not frame their doings to turn unto the Lord Ezek. 18.31 Why will ye die O house of Israel q. d. If you are destroyed for ever you may thank your selves you are the blame-worthy cause of your own eternal ruine by refusing the terms on which salvation is offered And I pray think of it often what an unspeakable torment it will be to thy spirit for ever to reflect upon this very thing I have been wooed and intreated to lay down the arms of my rebellion and to submit to the government of Christ that I might be saved and I would not How often hath the spirit of God strived with me and I still resisted the Holy Ghost The word of God hath called upon me and I have broken through the convictions of the word With what confusion wilt thou be filled when the Lord Jesus shall say unto thee how often would I have gathered thee into the number of my servants and thou wouldest not be gathered and now depart from me thou accursed wretch into everlasting fire Mat. 23 37. Thus I have ended the first head of exhortations directed unto the wicked who are yet strangers unto Christ 2. Let me speak unto the godly who are through rich mercy and grace ingraffed into Christ and made partakers of this priviledge of union with the Son Be exhorted 1. To be much in blessing the name of God for his signal saving and differencing mercy Adore him for advancing you to this high dignity Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon you that you should be called the sons of God! Nay that he should take you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ and intimately knit you unto him 1 Jo. 3.1 Will you bless God for temporal mercies and not be ravished with the contemplation of this super-eminent blessing Certainly my brethren eternity itself will be little enough to admire the wonderful and unsearchable grace of the Lord. 2. Be exhorted moreover rightly to improve the consideration of this unspeakable gift And that especially in these six cases 1. Improve it in case of transgressions to humble you and to fill you with an holy shame and self-abhorrence in the sense of your miscarriages Not only to fill you with hatred against sin but with a loathing and detestation of your selves because of sin Let your thoughts be set on work in this Evangelical manner Hath God advanced me to this high dignity and shall I be so unworthy as to rise up against him Am I a person closely joyned unto Christ and in covenant with God through Christ
and shall I walk contrary to his commandments O the vileness and baseness of this heart of mine which hath thus drawn me to sin against such a gracious Lord and Redeemer This is the great aggravation of sin and thus will the kindness of God work upon you if you have any principles of ingenuity As Lemuel's Mother pleads with him Prov. 31.2 What my Son and what the son of my womb and what the son of my vows Give not thy strength unto women c. So may the Lord plead with his own people when they turn aside unto folly What you my children whom I have taken so near unto my self You that I have called out of the world and marryed to my only begotten Son What you that are in Christ the men of my covenant and my intimate acquaintance will you thus rebel against me Is this a good requital of all the love that I have shewed you and the great things which I have done for you See how this consideration melts the hearts of believers into Evangelical sorrow and causeth them to lie down in their shame Ezek. 16.62 63. And I will establish my covenant with thee and thou shalt know that I am the Lord That thou mayest remember and be confounded and never open thy mouth more because of thy shame when I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done saith the Lord God 2. In case of temptations Improve it to strengthen you and to make you resolute in opposing all sollicitations unto sin Say within thy self Am not I knit unto Jesus Christ and shall I follow the guidance of the prince of darkness Shall I defile my soul with the pollutions of sin who am taken into oneness and fellowship with my Lord and Savior Far be it from me to close with this motion to commit any of these abominations * Sicut exultatis de nobilitatis vestrae titulo ita discere debetis quid agendo unusquisque vestrum fiat Rex Quod vobis ita breviter definiam Regem te omnium esse facit si Christus regnet in te Rex namque regende dictus est Si ergo in te animus regnat corpus obtemperat Si concupiscentias carnis sub jugum imperii tui mittas si vitiorum gentes sobrietatis tuae fraenis arctioribus premas merito Rex diceris qui te recte regere noveris Orig. hom 6. in cap. 5. Jedic Let the swine wallow in the mire and the dogs return to their vomit shall I stain my garments which have been washed in the bloud of the Lamb Should such a man as I flee said Nehemiah cap. 6.11 So shouldest thou argue the case with thine own heart Shall such a one as I turn aside unto sin and follow after lying vanities I am dead to sin and marryed to my Redeemer and how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein Romans 6.2 3. In case of wants and necessities Improve this consideration to support you Surely you shall not fail of every thing that is for your good if you are knit to Christ for thereby you have a right to all things And will the just God with-hold from you that which is your right Take therefore no thought and be not of a doubtful mind Is not the Lord Jesus a greater gift than food and raiment and other outward conveniencies Hath God knit you to his Son and thereby secured your everlasting welfare and will he deny you the necessaries for your present subsistence Hath he united you to the Captain of your salvation to guide you to heaven and will not he give you enough to bear the charges of your journey thither Let no such distrustful thoughts enter into your hearts for if he hath given Christ for you and implanted you into him certainly he will with-hold no good thing from you See but with what confidence the Apostle teacheth us to reason Rom. 8.32 He that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all How shall he not with him also freely give us all things q.d. It cannot be otherwise If you have a right to Christ God will deny you nothing that is beneficial for you How can you imagine the contrary Do you think he will suffer them that are members of his dearly beloved Son to lack any thing which he knoweth to be fit for them Why your heavenly Father knoweth what you have need of So that be careful for nothing with an anxious heart-dividing * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a dividendâ distrahendâ mente Animum nunc huc nunc dividit illuc rapit in partes varias Virgil. or distrustful care but i◠every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God Phil. 4.6 Trust in the Lord and do good So shalt thou dwell in the land and verily thou shalt be fed Psal 37.3 4. In case of sore afflictions Improve it to comfort you Make use of it as a cordial against fainting fits in the day of tribulation and adversity For if you are knit to Christ be sure that the Lord will lay upon you no more than you shall be inabled to bear Christ himself will see to it that you be not hurt by your distresses for you are his members And do you think he will suffer any thing that is evil to befall the members of his own body further than he knoweth it will conduce to their greater advantage Why In all your afflictions he himself is afflicted and he tenders your concernments as his own for you are one with him Isa 63.8 9. 5. In case of doubts of Christs forsaking you Improve it to keep under and silence your unbelieving surmises Did the Lord Jesus take you into such nearness unto himself and will he now you are near unto him leave you destitute of his loving kindness Will he suffer his members to be torn from him It is a matter cannot be supposed So that see to it that thou be indeed in Christ and then fear not for thou shalt not be ashamed neither be thou confounded for thou shalt not be put to shame c. For thy maker is thine husband the Lord of hosts is his name and thy redeemer the holy one of Israel the God of the whole earth shall he be called Isa 54.4 5. 6. Improve it to quicken you to holiness of conversation Make use of it as an argument to inlarge your hearts in running the steps of Gods commandments and to make you strict and diligent in your obedience unto him Live above the world walk not as the generality of people walk Put on the Lord Jesus Labour to be like unto him for you are one with him Let no difficulties move you from your course of godliness Say often within your selves Hath God vouchsafed to give his Son to me and shall I think any thing too dear to part * Qui gratus futurus est statim
non omnibus sed iis qui in illum aspiciebant Non quod aspectus medicamentum esset sed quod virtus serpentis per aspectum in iis sanitatem operaretur Ita Christas in cruce exaltatus virtutem passionis suae in iis exercet qui credunt in ipsum Tolet. in Rom. 3. Rom. 3.24 25. Faith doth not justifie a sinner as the hand of a labourer doth enrich him but as the hand of a beggar * Non ut manus laborantis sed ut manus mendicantis Fidem dicimus justificare correlativè hoc est per modum instrumenti quod justitiam evangelicam extra nos in Christo constitutam apprehendit nobis applicat Wendel system majus who is enriched by a free gift which he receiveth with his hand We are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by virtue of the satisfaction which he hath made faith only doth knit us legally unto Christ and implant us into him that we may receive the benefit of that satisfaction 1 Cor. 6.11 Act. 13.39 Rom. 5.1 9 10. 2. Set upon the discharge of those duties which are upon this account to be discharged That is to say 1. Bless the Lord for the manifestation of this great mystery and that your lot is fallen in such times and places when and where it is discovered and set open before your eyes For as the Apostle speaketh It is a mystery which hath been kept hid from ages and generations but is now made manifest unto his Saints To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you the hope of glory Whom we preach warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus Col. 1.26 27 28. 2. Adore the condescention and grace of our Lord Jesus who was pleased to humble himself to come down to us that we might be exalted unto a state of oneness with him Especially if thou art partaker of this grace how should thy heart be ravished in the contemplation of it Thou shouldst be ready to cry out with an holy astonishment of Spirit as David in another case 2 Sam. 7.18 Who am I O Lord God my Redeemer and my Saviour Where is any loveliness in my person or what have I deserved at thy hands that thou hast brought me hitherto 3. Take heed to your selves that you do not fall short of this grace and priviledge Labour every day more and more to clear it up to the consolation of your hearts that you have the Son by being united unto the Son And to that purpose besides what hath been mentioned already seriously weigh and ponder these three further evidential properties of such as are in Jesus 1. If you be knit unto Christ you will be sharers with him in all his concernments You will be affected with his interest and affairs as if it were your own If Christ be advanced it will rejoyce your hearts and if his name be dishonoured or his glory be ecclipsed it will bring trouble and sadness upon your spirits If you are in Christ you will joyn interests with him and you will have * Amici sunt qui simul laetantur commodis contristantur adversis quibus eadem bona malae sunt qui sunt iisdem amici inimici common friends and enemies with the Lord Jesus You will be able to say in a measure with Paul it matters not what becomes of my secular concernments so that Christ be magnified Phil. 1.20 And with David The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me And in another place Do not I hate them that hate thee O Lord Am not I grieved with them that rise up against thee I hate them with a perfect hatred I count them mine enemies Psal 139.21 22. 2. If you are ingraffed into Christ you will not walk in any way of ungodliness whatsoever For whosoever abideth in him sinneth not i.e. he doth not sin allowedly and presumptuously at the rate as wicked men sin Compare 1 Joh. 3.6 with 2 Sam. 22.22 23. 3. Lastly If you are united to the Son of God you will not only readily close with his word but continue stedfast and unmoveable therein unto the end Joh. 15.7 If you abide in me and my words abide in you 1 Joh. 2.5 Whoso keepeth his word in him verily is the love of God perfected Hereby we know that we are in him Whoso keepeth his word that is he that hideth it as a treasure in his heart and walketh by the guidance of it in his wayes and will not part with the word nor with the way of holiness therein prescribed notwithstanding all assaults and opp sitions of men and devils In him verily is the love of God perfected i.e. then it doth appear to be love of the right kind and then it hath attained its end which is the perfection of it For to this end is the grace of love planted in the hearts of Christs seed that they may cheerfully obey his word and precepts and stick close thereunto at all times and seasons Hereby we know that we are in him that is If we keep his word and stedfastly cleave unto Christ and to the doctrines which he hath taught For as it is in the second Epistle of John v. 9. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ he both hath the Father and the Son Orig. hom in Gen. cap. 19. Si vis amplecti amplectere sapientiam dic sapientiam sororem tuam esse ut sapientia dicat de te Qui fecerit voluntatem Patris mei qui est in coelis hic meus frater soror mater est Quae sapientia Jesus Christus Dominus noster est cui est gloria imperium in secula seculorum Amen FINIS Courteous Reader By reason of the Authors absence from the Press many literal mistakes and some errors in pointing have happened for which a pardon of course is expected Such Errata as most disturb or alter the sense are here noted Errata PAge 2. The quotation is by the Printer misplaced p 6. l 6. for either r. one p. 22. l. 10 for compare r. comport p. 36. l. 27. r. are p. 37. l. 25. and in some other places for closs r. close p. 40. l. 22. dele un p. 61. l. 17. r. distinguished p. 85. l. 26. r. into p. 94. l. 29. r. him p. 106. in the quotation r. tentat p. 118 l. 2. r. from p. 135. l. 27. dele q.d. p. 136. l. 23. r. Temporary p. 137. l. 10. dele who in the quotation r. testes p. 149. l. 8. r. in both l. 26. r. hungring in the quotation r. unimur p. 212. l. 31. r. naturally p. 219. l. 2. l. 6 for might r. may p. 239. l. 17. r. the p. 253. In the quotation