imbolden the godly to be tampering with errors If a man will tread upon hot coals his feet may be burnt and scorched though withal his life may be preserved But this should make you the rather heedful to stick fast unto the truth that it may be evident you are such as they have no power over to lead aside into the error of the wicked It is the very particular consideration which the Apostle John presseth upon Believers why they should not hearken unto seducers when they teach for doctrines mens inventions and uncouth notions of their own Because they were sufficiently taught of Christ and his word was a plentiful directory unto them without the help of other additions and because they should abide in Christ therefore they were not to be followers of false teachers 1 Joh. 2.26 27. 5. Troubles and persecutions for the sake of Christ shall not be able to dissolve this union They may seem to be providences very likely to do it When Christians shall be dragged into prisons and abridged of their comforts and reduced into hardships and extremities when they shall have trial of cruel mockings and reproaches yea moreover of scourgings and torturings in the severest manner that the wicked heart of man can invent and when all these things might be avoided if they would but part with Christ Will not such sore persecutions from the world drive them back again for deliverance into the world out of which they were called Do but mark how confident the Apostle is of the contrary Rom. 8.35 36 37. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword As it is written for thy sake we are killed all the day long we are acounted as sheep for the slaughter Nay in all these things we are more than conquerours through him that loved us How more than conquerours Why q. d. We are so far from being foiled that we are brought off with advantage our faith is thereby fourbished and our patience strengthened our other graces are quickned and our experiences increased When conquerours get a victory over their enemies it is seldom or never but with some loss to themselves but we are gainers by our troubles Our spiritual strength is augmented and our vigour heightened to a more intense degree and we come purified as gold out of the fire of tribulation So that we can glory in it For tribulation worketh patience and patience brings experience and experience begetteth hope and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts As you have it in that climax or gradation Rom. 5.3 4 5. In the winter of adversity the leaves drop off and the withered boughs are pared away but the living branches abide And the reason of it is this Because when Christ bringeth his people into distress and trouble for his Name he hath promised to stand by them and to afford them strength sufficient for their support under those distresseâ— Isa 42.2 When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee When Christ reduceth them into such straits as they never had experience of he will then minister to them such strength and assistance as they never had before experience of As sure as he is a God of faithfulness he will do it according to that precious word 1 Cor. 10.13 God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it But may some poor disconsolate soul say I may quickly be called into temptations and troubles and I find no strength nor ability O what is like to become of me at such a season I am afraid I shall sink under the burden Why mind the promise he will do it with the temptation It is not said he will give ability before the trial but when you are called to use it you shall not fail of it You shall have it time enough against you have occasion to exercise it My brethren it is an excellent word of promise an establishing word if we had hearts to believe And indeed it is according to what the Saints of God have experimentally found How faint-hearted was Mr. Sanders in the dayes of Qu. Mary and very doubtful of himself till he was actually brought into sufferings How dead-spirited was Mr. Glover till he was reduced to the pinch and then he could cry out He is come He is come Nay how cowardly and full of fear was Moses himself till he was ingaged in his work as appeareth from the excuses he made to evade the imployment Exod. 4.1 10 13. 6. Death it self which is the great separating providence that parts between a man all his worldly accommodations that parts between friends and kinsfolks between brethren sisters the nearest and dearest relations shall not separate believers from Jesus Christ But still they are entirely in him even when they are dead As it was in the death of Christ himself though it made a separation between his body and soul yet it did not separate the humane nature from the divine So it is in the death of the Saints Though it rend the spirit from the flesh yet it can part neither from the Son of God The very bodies of Believers are still united unto Jesus even when they are dead and shall be raised up again as I will shew you afterwards by vertue of that conjunction Therefore they are said to sleep in Jesus 1 Thess 4.14 and Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord Rev. 14.13 It is not said only They that die for the Lord but in the Lord. A man may suffer death in some cases for the true Religion that never was sincere therein But if a person die in Jesus then he is blessed indeed Upon the upshot of all I may well conclude this point with that of the Apostle Paul in answer as it were to this question we are upon Rom. 8.35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ q. d. Is a Believers union with Christ a dissolveable union or not Can it be broken asunder Or if you will rather understand it by way of assertion though delivered interrogatively For nothing is more ordinary than for affirmative interrogations to denote a vehement denial of the matter questioned As if he had said This union is altogether inseparable nothing can part betwixt a Believer and Christ So fast are they glewed and linked together that they shall never be divided or broken asunder again For saith he v. 38 39. I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature
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
quodam modo conceditur non electis Ames When he doth take salvation in the offers of it and lay it before the conscience and doth press an acceptance of it upon the heart and doth strive with men and women in order to a closure with it upon Gospel-terms This is sometimes called a knocking at the door of the soul Rev. 3.20 Behold I stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me By the door understand the heart of a sinner whereby entrance is made into the whole person and possession took as a man entreth into an house by the door the heart which is naturally shut against Christ nay barred and bolted against him by vain thoughts and vile affections and carnal reasonings by pride and prejudice and love of sin and the world Now to this door Christ cometh by the Spirit who acteth in his name and knocketh at the door that is he doth argue and reason the case with mens souls by his internal motions that they would accept of salvation as it is offered He doth expostulate with them why they will be so foolish as to spend their time and strength in seeking after that which is not bread and cannot satisfie And in order to move them to turn to God he doth set salvation before them and assureth them of the enjoyment of it if they will submit to the government of Jesus Christ If any man open the door I will come in unto him c. This I call an internal-conditional application because it is an inward work of the Spirit treating with the heart of a sinner And pray mind it Sirs as it is a common thing so it is a very dangerous thing to stand out against this application of eternal life When the holy Ghost hath been dealing with a mans heart convincing him of the necessity of closing with Christ and he doth break through such convictions God doth many times withdraw the very strivings of his spirit from such a sinner and never dealeth with him further in order to his conversion Prov. 1.23 Turn you at my reproof behold I will pour out my spirit unto you I will make known my words unto you It is the speech of Christ the eternal Wisdom of God inviting sinners to repentance q.d. I do not only call upon you by my Word but I will send the holy Ghost to treat with you He shall speak over to your consciences what the Minister preacheth in your ears And what is the issue of rejecting this work of the holy Ghost See v. 24. and onward Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded But ye have set at nought all my counsels and would none of my reproof I also well laugh at your calamity and mock when your fear cometh When your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind That is when judgments which you were afraid of shall actually seize upon you and make you desolate when the wrath of God shall fall down upon you suddenly in a dreadful and terrible manner When distress and anguish cometh upon you Then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me How is this to be understood seeing God is alwayes found of such as seek him in sincerity Why the meaning seemeth to be this God will withdraw his spirit and deal with their hearts no further and then they will grow hard and impenitent and though they cry in their afflictions yet it will only be the cry of hypocrities such as the Lord will have no manner of regard unto O my brethren let this dreadful Scripture and these awakening expressions sink deep into your ears that you may not dare to resist the holy Ghost or to send him grieved away from you 3. There is an effectual saving application of the benefits of redemption when they are so applyed to us as to be made ours so that we may say this promise is a part of my heritage and the other mercy is that which I have an interest in And this is effected upon our union with Christ When the holy Ghost doth not only shew us his excellency and propound unto us salvation through his righteousness but doth also mightily prevail upon us to come unto Christ and we get into him then we have a right to all that he hath to bestow upon the sons and daughters of men First we must have the Son and so a right to the inheritance by the Son 1 Cor. 1.30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption Mark it Then he is made so to us when we are in him It is one thing for Christ to be made wisdom and righteousness c. i.e. to be set apart as the store-house of all these spiritual good things and it is another thing for him to be made so to us By vertue of God's commission and the qualifications poured out upon the Lord Jesus and that active and passive obedience undertaken and performed by him he is made wisdom and righteousness and fanctification and redemption he is delegated to be God's high-steward or Treasurer for the giving out of these mercies he is become the source and fountain of all saving grace But when we are in him he is made wisdom to us and righteousness to us and sanctification to us and redemption to us so that we are actually made partakers of them These four things seem to comprehend the whole of the provisions made to conduct a sinner to glory 1. Wisdom for the revelation of the mind of God to us 2. Righteousness for our acceptation with the Lord. 3. Sanctification for inabling us to walk as a peculiar people and for carrying on the work of holiness to perfection 4. Redemption for our full deliverance from misery and compleating our happiness And all these are made over to us by vertue of our union with him our mystical oneness with Christ So much for opening the several branches of the Description and for the second general Head concerning the nature of this Union wherein it doth consist CHAP. V. The manner how Christ and a Believer are united cleared up in eight gradual Propositions Six of them insisted on 3. COme we now to the third principal Head propounded to be handled touching the manner of this Union how it is brought about The question is Qu. How is this Vnion wrought and accomplished After what manner is this conjunction made up whereby Christ and his people become one Ans I shall return answer to this question by laying down and enlarging upon eight distinct and gradual Propositions To which I must intreat your heedful and diligent attendance 1. Propos 1. The first Proposition is this That all the children of men
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
Joh. 3.18 These adaequate properties are such as you should principally take notice of and select for your use in the trial of your union with Christ and for the clearing of it up to your selves whether you are ingraffed into him You will know them by these three conditions 1. There must be universality of the subject they must be found in all persons united to the Son 2. Peculiarity they must be such as belong only unto them 3. Indefiniteness of time such as appertain to the Saints at all seasons This is the fifth Conclusion I intended to open the nature of self-examination Concl. 6. The last assertion is this That such marks and signs of whatever sort they be whereupon a Christian may confidently rest in the examination of himself and according to the tenour of which he may pass a righteous sentence upon himself whether he be united to Christ must be clearly deduced from the Scriptures and plainly bottomed thereupon Mark it I say if you would not be deceived and proceed upon mistakes you must fetch your evidences from thence and see that they be such characters of union as are warranted thereby Else you may possibly get some presumptuous hopes but you can never attain unto a well-grounded assurance For the Word of God is the only sure foundation which you can build upon in this case of enquiry And the reason lieth herein because our Lord Jesus in his proceedings will judge us by the Scriptures and pass everlasting sentence upon us according to the tenour of the Scriptures And therefore by that rule we should judge our selves If a man have a trial at Law touching his estate or life and would know before-hand whether his cause be good he doth not depend upon what this neighbours thoughts are or the others opinion is But he searcheth the Law and addresseth himself to men skilful in the Law as knowing the judge will proceed according to that Rule Why Sirs At the great and general Assizes Christ will try all causes by the Word of God and pass judgment upon all sorts according to the Word so that by it we are to be guided in the trial of our selves Joh. 12.48 He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him the word that I have spoken the same shall judge him in the last day As Christ himself is ordained to be the judge of the quick and dead so the doctrines which he hath delivered will be the rule of all his judicial proceedings both in acquitting the righteous and condemning the wicked You read Dan. 7.10 that when judgment is set The books shall be opened And this is one of those books which shall be consulted with in the case The book of the Statutes and Ordinances of the King of heaven the Law which he appointed for a testimony in Jacob. As the book of every mans conscience shall be opened for their conviction wherein they shall read their guilt in legible characters For that is a book of record wherein mens actions are entred and although now it be shut and sinners will not look into it many of the lines and sentences are almost obliterated or blotted that they cannot be read Yet at the day of accounts God will refresh and recover the lustre of those ancient writtings And as the book of life shall be opened Rev. 20.12 that is to say the decrees of God will be then published and made known which now are sealed up in his breast and locked up in his Archives Then it will be seen who are appointed to life for the glorifying of the free grace of God and whom he purposed to leave in their sins and perish for the exaltation of his justice I say As these books shall be opened so there is another book to be made use of in that day to wit The great Statute-book of the Lord of Hosts the records of the Gospel of Jesus Christ Jam. 2.12 So speak ye and so do as they that shall be judged by the Law of liberty i. e. by the word of the truth of the Gospel of Christ the whole Word of God registred in the Scriptures Chap. 1.23 25. which if hearkened unto is the means to set men at liberty from their bondage to sin and Satan By the Gospel of Christ which though it give no manner of countenance unto licentiousness but is a strong argument against it yet proclaimeth liberty to penitent sinners and the opening of the prison to them that are bound upon a due submission to the government of Christ Besides it may be called a Law of liberty or freedom because it doth not flatter any man as to his spiritual condition but dealeth openly and freely with him and telleth him his own without tergiversation And this affords us another reason why we should fetch our marks of union from the Scripture because it will deal freely and plainty in the discovery of our spiritual estate without respect of persons For Sirs if you build your confidence upon the opinions of men or upon the bare dictates of your own hearts you may be deceived Men may sooth you up in your sins and your hearts will flatter you but the word of God will deal freely and impartially with you It will represent matters as they are in their own proper colours without favour or affection So that this is an excellent means to overthrow presumptuous hopes and to build aright in our expectations of eternal life when we fetch all our marks and signs of being in Christ from the Scriptures and bring our evidences unto the Scriptures Thou hopest to be saved through Christ because thou wast born in the Church and baptized and performest some outward duties of Christ's appointment Nay but Ovain man where doth the Scripture say these are tokens and evidences of union with Christ and salvation through him Thou hopest for admission into heaven upon the account of Christ because thou art free from such scandalous sins whereof others are guilty thou knowest such and such truths whereof many are ignorant or because such godly persons converse with thee and have a good opinion of thee But poor deluded wretch where doth the Scripture say that any or all of these are marks of having the Son or of coming to the kingdom of heaven by the mediation of the Son Remember my bres thren that the Word of God is appointed not only for the rule of faith and guide of our conversations but also for the trial of our spiritual estate whether we be interested in Christ and united unto him That we may have hopes indeed and not only a presumptuous confidence which will make us ashamed at the last Rom. 15.4 For whatsoâ—â—er things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Psal 130.5 I wait for the Lord my soul doth wait and in his word do I hope So much for the first thing I intended