you will undoubtedly fall short of the righteousness of Jesus Christ you do quite put your selves from under his shadow If you rest upon the works of the Law never think to receive benefit by the death of the Mediator of the covenant of peace and reconciliation Christ is become of none effect unto you Now Sirs justification by works is mans natural element upon which his soul is fixed and where he delights to dwell Although the Law is disabled to minister relief unto fallen sinners yet there is a proness in them to follow after it still and to rest their souls upon that foundation This is plain from the pains the Apostle Paul taketh in his Epistles to unsettle men from this bottom to take them off from leaning upon this broken reed especially in his Epistles to Rom. and Gal. Besides you read expresly of mens desires to be under the Law Gal. 4.21 Tell me ye that desire to be under the Law q. d. I perceive that hitherward your spirits have a tendency there is a natural inclination in you to split your selves upon this rock as there is in a stone to deseend downwards towards its center As the Law is a rule of life so it is written upon the heart of a Believer but unregenerate persons cleave to it as it is a covenant of works they make use of it so as to seek justification from thence And this mostly ariseth from that monstrous pride which is fast rooted and rivered in mens hearts they would fain advance something of themselves and are loath to give the glory of their salvation to another It is an harder thing to close with the grace of God and to glorifie free grace in salvation than most persons imagine This is the second Proposition That unconverted sinners are not only separated from Christ but actually joyned unto such objects as are utterly incompatible with their being in Christ 3. Propos 3. Hence it clearly followeth as a third Proposition That the first work which is wrought upon the spirit of a man in order to his conjunction and oneness with the Lord Jesus it is the separation or withdrawment of his soul from these objects unto which he is joyned in opposition unto Christ Till this work be done the finner is not in a neer capacity of having the Son of God of being joyned to the Redeemer First a bill of divorcement must be written and the former husbands put away before the soul can be married to another husband to him that is raised from the dead For Sirs Christ will not be a sharer with another if he have the soul at all he will have it altogether if persons have the Son really they must have him only So that first the soul must be wrought upon to renounce those things which stand in competition with the Lord Jesus that they may be in a preparedness to be knit unto him Psal 45.10 11. Hearken O daughter and consider and incline thine car forget also thine own people and thy fathers house so shall the King greatly desire thy beauty They are words spoken of the mystical marriage betwixt Christ and his Church * Hoc de Ecclesiâ quam ut Christi regis uxorem depingit Vides de Christo esse sermonem qui enim de Solomone diceret Quoniam ipse est Dominus Deus cuus Marian. in loc and they amount to thus much q. d. If you will have Christ you must forsake all things for Christ if you will be joyned unto him you must be parted from all besides him as a virgin that will be espoused to an husband must forsake father and mother and cleave to her husband First you must be broken off from the old stock if you will be ingraffed in the true vine This is a special part of that self denial which is required in the followers of Jesus Mar. 8.34 Whosoever will come after me let him deny himself He must den◠his carnal self and say to his corruptions get ye hence he must deny his legal self by renouncing all confidence in the flesh in his own righteousness as to justification in the sight of God he must be dead to sin and the Law if he will be married to the Son of God See the proof of each 1. He must be dead to sin Gal. 5.24 They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts * Carnens pro radice posuit concupiscentias pro fructibus Caro enim est ipsa naturae corruptae vitiositas unde mala omnia prodeunt Calv. in loc Such as are united to his person must be planted together into the likeness of his death as he died for sin so must they be dead unto sin as Christ was crucified in the flesh so must their corruptions be crucified in them The principle or body of sin must be subdued and the lustings and workings of it must be set against else it will be in vain to pretend that they are knit unto Christ 2. He must be dead to the Law because it is impossible for a man to be coupled to both together It was a defectiveness herein which was the cause of the utter undoing of the carnal Israelites they were fast joyned unto the Law and they could not be taken off from seeking life upon those terms and therefore though they followed after righteousness yet they did not attain it they fell short of righteousness How came it to pass that they fell short of what they sought after Why Because they sought it not by faith but as it were by the works of the Law Rom. 9.31 32. That 's the third Proposition The first work that is wrought upon the spirit of a man in a tendency to his conjunction and oneness with Christ is the separation of his soul from sin and the Law to which he is naturally joyned in opposition to Christ 4. Propos 4. The divorce and separation of a sinner from his iniquity which is of indispensable necessity to the reception of Christ and union with him is principally accomplished by a fourfold act 1. The eyes of the understanding are opened to see the evil of sin 2. The heart is awakened to consider the consequents of that evil 3. The spirit is made to tremble in apprehension of the danger of continuing in sin 4. The grace of mortification is poured out for the subduing of corruption and a secret antipathy put into the soul against it When this work is wrought then the sinner is set free from bondage unto his lusts and is at liberty to be married to another I will briefly touch upon these four steps or acts of the holy Ghost whereby tho divorce is made 1. There is an act of Conviction whereby the eyes of the understanding are enlightened to see the evil of sin and that with application to a mans self and his own transgressions and iniquities For indeed general notions of the evil of sin will never have a
women Between whom shall this counsel be why between them both Jehovah the Lord of Hosts and the man whose name is the Branch Jesus Christ who is to build the Church and who is appointed to be the Ruler and Governour of it So I conceive it may be understood Or if you will have it rather to relate to the Kingly and Priestly Offices of Christ yet it will hold nevertheless that there was a consultation in heaven for reconciling of the world which Christ as King and Priest was to bâ—ing into execution As there was a counsel taken touching the creation of man between the persons in the blessed Trinity Let us make man after our image so there was a consultation held concerning the restauration of mankind out of their lapsed condition Upon this account as some observe Christ is called The Covenant Isa 49.8 9. I will give thee for a Covenant of the people to establish the earth to cause to inherit the desolate heritages That thou mayest say to the prisoners Go forth to them that are in darkness shew your selves Why for a Covenant Because God's Covenant with Believers is established in Christ and there was a Covenant of Redemption made with Christ upon the terms whereof he is constituted to be a Redeemer To say to the prisoners Go forth to bring deliverance to the captives and to proclaim the year of release or Jubilee the acceptable year of the Lord as it is Isa 61.1 2. See another Text to this purpose Psal 89.28 My mercy will I keep for him for evermore and my Covenant shall stand fast with him With whom Why with the Lord Jesus Christ of whom David was an eminent type for so I apprehend it must be interpreted as of whom many passages in the Psalm are most clearly verified and to whom they may very pertinently and appositely be referred And some passages there are which caunot well be referred to any other See v. 19. I have laid help upon one that is mighty Agreeable to that of the Apostle He is able to save unto the uttermost Heb. 7.25 I have exalted one chosen out of the people Which is the very title that is given to the Son of God Behold my servant whom I uphold mine elect or chosen one in whom my soul delighteth Isa 42.1 Again v. 20. I have found David my servant Christ is oâ—en called by that name as being the most dearly beloved of God * A 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dilectus fit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qu. Amabilis proceeding from the loins of David according to the flesh and in a special manner typified by David both as King and Prophet of his Church Jer. 30.9 Hos 3.5 Ezek. 34.23 It followeth there With my holy oyl have I anointed him Answerable to that of Christ Luk. 4 18. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor Again v. 27. I will make him my first born higher than the Kings of the earth Compare it with Heb. 1.6 Col. 1.15 And that I may not make too long a stay upon this matter see v. 29. His seed will I make to endure for ever and his throne as the dayes of heaven * Quis non videt porrô illud quod dicitur in hoc versu viz. v. 29. non posse esse verum nisi ad spirituale Christi regnum referatur Corporalis enim successio in stirpe Davidis jamdudum cum regno desecit Simeon de Muis. in loc Compared with Dan. 7.13 14. Now saith God I have made a Covenant with him not only a Covenant of grace with the Saints in him but a Covenant of redemption as we call it for distinctions sake with him and it shall be an everlasting Covenant wch shal not be cancelled or disanulled it shall stand fast with him That 's the first thing to be observed 2. In this Covenant and compact between the Father and Christ for the redemption of sinners the Lord Jesus undertook to put himself under the Law and to bear the curse of the Law to give up himself unto death and so to carry on their salvation In the consultation between them it was found that nothing else could satisfie for the wrong done by sin and therefore there was no other way to deliver the sinners but by the death of Christ God the Father promised unto the Son That if by his death satisfaction were made then the sinners should be delivered they should be put into Christ's hands to be saved upon those terms And our Lord Jesus closed with this proposal he accepted the offer and undertook to make satisfaction by dying and suffering We have both the branches of that everlasting Covenant in the Scriptures 1. God's promise of salvation made to Christ in the behalf of his children Tit. 1.2 In hope of eternal life which God that cannot lye promised before the world began Mark it All the promises made to Believers are made in time but here is a promise of salvation from eternity And unto whom could that be made but unto Christ for such as should believe in him 2. Christ's undertaking to satisfie divine justice by humbling himself unto the death in that famous place Heb. 10.5 6 7. quoted out of Psal 40. Wherefore when he cometh into the world he saith sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not but a body thou hast prepared me In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure Then I said Lo I come in the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will O God This was the way wherein the Father would have salvation wrought out for lost sinners and Christ taketh it upon himself to accomplish the will of God in that behalf This is the second Observation 3. Observe in the next place That our Lord Jesus in dying and satisfying the justice of God for the sins of Believers according to what he had undertaken did not only die and suffer for their good and benefit but he died in their stead and suffered in their room that is he underwent that punishment which by the rigour of the Law they should have undergone and took upon himself that curse which in the strictness of justice would have fallen down upon their heads Therefore it is said The Lord laid their iniquities upon him Isa 53.6 All the sins of God's elect were made to meet together and laid upon his shoulders to bear Rom. 5.6 8. In due time Christ died for the ungodly And whilst we were sinners Christ died for us that is in our stead and room We deserved to die and God graciously spared us and put his own Son to death in our stead Gal. 2.20 He loved me and gave himself for me 4. To bring this home to our purpose observe That the end of Christ's undertaking thus to die and of his actual dying in the stead and behalf of lost sinners was that in due time they might be
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.
by way of Introduction let us now proceed to the Explication of the matter it self The question is this Qu. What are we to understand by a persons Vnion with the Lord Jesus Or How may a man be said to be united unto the Son and so to have the Son Ans To this Question I shall answer two ways by 1. Distinction 2. Description 1. By way of Distinction Our Lord Jesus himfelf in the Sermons which he preached hath made mention of a twofold union with him or of two ways how men and women may be in him 1. By way of visible Profession or external adbaesion only as a dead branch or sprig is in the Tree though it nothing partake of the sap derived from the root as a glass eye or wooden leg is in the body though they do not partake of life with the body in any degree whatsoever 2. By way of spiritual ingrafture and implantation when they are in Christ so as to be quickned by Christ and receive nourishment from him as a living fruit-bearing slip or sience is ingraffed into the stock This distinction you have John 15.1 2. I am the true vine and my father is the husbandman Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away and every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit Which words are a parable wherein 1. Christ compareth himself to a Vine and it is a very pat comparison both in regard of the mear â—â—ness and lowness of his outward appearance having no form and comeliness that he should be desired in that respect as the vine is the most desplicable in outward view among st the Trees of the garden And in regard of his real worth and excellency although the vine hath no beautiful shape yet it is a very useful and excellent plant so the Lord Jesus is the chiefest of ten thousands he is indeed a plant of renown But principally Christ is here resembled to a vine in regard of the sustentation of the branches and the juicy influence that from him is imparted unto the branches it is by Christ they are upheld and by communications from him they are maintained 2. God the father is likened to the Husbandman by whom the vine is planted and dressed by commission from whom Christ was sent upon his work and furnished with all things requisite thereunto and by whom persons are graffed into him 3. And persons in the visible Churches are signified by the branches in the Vine Of which saith our Saviour there are two sorts some that are dead and withered and others which are living and bring forth fruit And both of them may be said to be in him the one sort by way of profession the other by way of spiritual implantation Every branch in me that beareth not fruit c. I will open this distinction in each of the members of it 1. There is Union with Christ or a being in Christ by way of common Profession or outward adhaerence only when yet they have no saving interest in him or benefit by him Thus all that own the Christian Religion and have a shew of godliness are in him though perhaps they have nothing of the life and substance of godliness They are said to be in his Kingdom in the Church which is his Body and out of that Kingdom they shall be gathered and cast into Hell Mat. 13.41 The Son of man shall send forth his Angels and they shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend Regnum Christi 1. Oecumenieum Oeconomicuin and them which do iniquity not only out of the world in general but out of the visible Church the Mediators Kingdom and shall cast them into a furnace of fire there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Statim parebunt Christo summo Judici messores Ecclesiae purgatores tollent enim è regno Christi omnia offendicula Marl. in loc As carnal Professors are said to be sanctified through Christ so in a like sence it may be said they are in Christ You read expresly of their being sanctified by the blood of the Covenant who yet drew back unto perdition and trampled that blood under their feet Heb. 10.29 Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy of who hath troden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing i.e. There is a sanctification to the purifying of the flesh and a sanctification to the purifying of the conscience from dead works to serve the living God Heb. 9.13 14. The sanctification external to the purifying of the flesh consisteth in the mans separation from the world and dedication unto God's service by calling and Covenant common to all the members of the visible Church c. Dicks whereby he was separated and set apart from the Heathen and worshippers of false gods and taken amongst the professed people and servants of Christ this I take to be the genuine import of the place for it is an evident allusion to the blood of the Sacrifice sprinkled on the whole body of the Israelites whereby they were sanctified and set apart unto the Lord or as a token of their covenanting with the Lord although with many of them God was not well-pleased they continued weltring in their sins under the power of their unbelief and other wickednesses notwithstanding Now as they are sanctified by Christ so in a like sence it may be said they are in him they belong to him as his disciples and followers by way of profession See Joh. 6.66 Concerning which Union with Christ by way of common profession or external adhaesion only I will intreat you to mind these four Positions 1. Position 1. The principal bonds or ligaments whereby this union is made up by which persons are thus knit unto Christ do mainly consist of four things 1. An approbation or acknowledgment of the doctrines of Christianity 2. An external subjection to the Ordinances of Christ 3. Some common workings upon their hearts and spirits 4. A measure of reformation in their lives and conversations Let us a little touch upon them severally 1. The first bond of this Union by way of external adhaesion is an approbation and acknowledgment of the doctrines of Christianity so as to assent unto the truth and confess at least the goodness and excellency of them so as to close with them in opposition to all contrary ways of Religion It is not enough to the establishment of this Union that a man doth hear the word of Christ so may a Heathen do out of curiosity so may a Jew or Mahometan to blaspheme and cavil but at least there must be some kind of reception and approbation of the word Thus the carnal Professors of whom the Apostle maketh mention for of such he speaketh under the name of Jew's Rom. 2.17 18 21. It was this which made them Jews outwardly
in their unregeneracy before they are partakers of the differencing or special grace of God are wholly separated from Christ and meer strangers unto him As they are afar off from God by reason of their apostacy and declension from so they are without Christ by whom alone they can be brought back again unto the Lord. They can plead no share in his death and sufferings or if they do plead it they will be found guilty of usurpation for they are without him in the world This is clearly the doctrine of the Scripture Eph. 2.12 At that time ye were without Christ being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the Covenants of promise At that time that is whilst you were dead in sins and trespasses before you were quickned by grace according to the riches of the mercy and love of God v. 4,5 then ye were without Christ not only destitute of the knowledge of Christ as Gentiles though that seems to be the primary intent of the words but without an interest in him because unconverted sinners For what the Apostle speaketh of the Gentiles is true in that sense of all wicked ungodly persons whomsoever There is no difference in that respect between Jews and Heathens carnal Professors and open Infidels S. Paul plainly doth include himself and such as he was before his conversion And therefore in the day of grace when the eternal love of God doth break forth towards his chosen people they are said to be brought to Christ and espoused unto him 2 Cor. 11.2 When they are taught of God they are drawn to the Son of God when they have heard and learnt of the Father then they come unto Jesus Joh. 6.44 45. evidently implying that before they had so learned they were without Christ and at a distance from him That is the first Proposition 2. Propos 2. The sons and daughters of men in their carnal unconverted estate over and above their distance and separation from Christ are actually knit and joyned unto such objects as are wholly inconsistent with their Union with Christ I will instance especially in two things They are 1. In Covenant with sin 2. Contracted to the Law 1. They are in covenant with sin and at league of peace with their corruptions their spirits are glewed and fastened unto base lusts and pollutions Though some remainders of sin abide in the hearts of the godly whilst on this side of heaven yet they are hated and abhorred they are ever pursuing them unto death and executing a kind of holy revenge upon them and never satisfied till they are utterly vanquished and rooted up But now an unregenerate person is under the dominion of sin as an hired servant is under the command of his master Pride bids him go and he goeth flattery biddeth him run and he runneth covetousness injoyneth him to do this and he doth it carnal fear requireth him to wound his conscience in this particular and he woundeth it uncleanness commandeth him to venture upon that provocation of the wrath of God and he ventureth as having given up himself to the obedience of sin As the Lord saith of the Israelites of old it is true in its kind and measure of all impenitent sinners They are joyned to their idols Hos 4.17 Sin hath a being and residence in the hearts of the dearest of God's servants but the spirits of the wicked are fast linked together with it Such a one as Paul may be sold under sin but Ahab sells himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord Rom. 7.14 1 King 21.20 Unconverted sinners yield up themselves to be the servants of unrighteousness You shall find that sin is as dear to a natural man as the most useful members of the body Hence it is that Christ compareth a mans beloved lusts to the right hand and the right eye Mat. 5.29 30. And hereupon it is that their hearts are so ready to rise up with indignation and hatred against the means which are made use of to rid them of their sins and that sometimes they will not stick to be at a great deal of cost and pains to retain their abomiminations See what an offer they make Mic. 6.7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or with ten thousands of rivers of oyl Shall I give my first-born for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul q.d. Let us keep our lusts and we will stick at nothing we will part with our Estates and sacrifice our children rather than abandon our bosom corruptions Nay how do many venture their lives not to speak of their souls which all of them willingly run the hazard of losing for satisfaction of their lusts Now Sirs this can never consist with our being joyned to Christ * In omnibus nobis regnavit peccatum Unusquisque tamen habuit in se aliquem specialem regem qui in eo regnabat dominabatur ei Verbi causa in alio regnum tenebat avaritia in alio superbia in alio mendacium regnabat in alio libido dâ—minabatur alius regem patiebatur furorem Postea vere quam venit Jesus occidit omnes reges qui in nobis tenebant regna peccati praecepit nobis interficere omnes istos reges nullum ex iis relinquere Si quis enim aliquem horum in semet-ipso servaverit vivum in exercitu Jesu esse non poterit Si ergo regnat in te avaritia si jactantia si superbia si libido non eris Israeliticus miles c. Orig. hom 15. in Jos He will have no manner of fellowship with the workers of iniquity The design of his coming was to destroy the works of the devil and therefore he will not dwell with such as give up themselves to serve the devil that make it their trade to promote his interest these are the persons whom his soul abhorreth What communion hath Christ with Belial 2 Cor. 6.14 Thou lovest righteousness and hatest iniquity Psal 45.7 Into a polluted soul Christ the wisdom of God will not enter nor will he take up his habitation with those that are in confederacy with sin That 's the first object to which sinners are joyned in opposition unto Christ 2. They are contracted unto the Law as it is a covenant of life and are ready to seek for justification and acceptance upon legal terms which is a strong bar in the way of union with Christ For where the Lord Jesus is a Saviour indeed he will be acknowledged as a perfect Saviour he will have the whole glory of our redemption redound unto himself See what the Apostle speaketh to this purpose Gal. 5.4 Christ is become of none effect unto you whosoever of you are justified by the Law that is if you seek to be justified by it none are or can be justified by it in reality but if you rely thereupon and expect and look for acceptation with God upon those terms
of my fathers have bread enough and to spare and I perish with hunger I will arise and go to my father When he came to himself that is when he entered into debate with his own spirit * Ut nemo tenat in se descendere Per. sat when he communed with his own heart touching his deplorable condition then he quickly resolveth to abide amongst the swine no longer he will feed no more upon husks he will rather be as the meanest servant in his fathers house a door-keeper in the house of God than dwell in the tents of wickedness Before that time he gave up himself in subjection to his lusts and did not consider what he was doing he did not bethink himself as the expression is 1 Kings 8.47 If they shall bethink themselves and repent This is the second act in order to a divorce from sin An act of Consideration 3. There is a work of Humiliation and Compunction whereby the spirit is made to mourn and â—ament in the sense of sin and withal to tremble in apprehension of the danger of it This is that pricking to the heart which is the usual forerunner of conversion Acts 2.37 Now when they heard this they were pricked to the heart and they said unto Peter and the rest of the Apostles men and brethren what shall we do Now their consciences are wounded and they mourn in reflection upon their evil wayes They are as an heavy load and burden uptheir spirits What shall we do q.d. We are utterly ruined and undone except the grace of God step in for our recovery Can you shew us any way to escape we are ready to close with any directions prescribed When God doth bless mens souls in turning them from their iniquities he doth first cause them to grieve and be in bitterness for those iniquities and stirreth up in them a dread and fear of his judgments * Quos non expugnat ratio eos mansuefacit motui For mark it Sirs although it be love unto God and sense of the love of God which have a mighty influence to cause a converted person to cleave unto the Lord yet it is a dread and fear of wrath and judgment which bringeth a sinner in the first conversion unto God Thus you know the Jaylor came in trembing Acts 16.29 30. And when Christ doth shoot out his sharp arrows into mens hearts then the people fall down under him Psal 45.5 It may well be understood of these arrows of compunction and terror * Haec dicuntur typicè de evangelicâ administratione Christi Malv in Psal 45. Cordaque vulâ—ificis figens inimica sagittis Sponte sibi cogis valides precumbere gentes Buchan The Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendred shall fall down may well be be meant of an act of adoration So it is used in Deut. 9.25 in Chald. Dan. 2.46 Dan. 3.7 whereby the perversness of mens hearts is overcome and subdued of enemies they are made friends and brought into to a ready subjection unto his government That 's the third work 4. The grace of Repentance is poured out upon the soul whereby the heart is crucified unto sin and the reigning power of sin is removed and a standing aversness and antipathy put into the spirit against it When this is done then the divorce is compleated and the sinner is set at liberty from his corruptions that he may be joyned unto Christ For it is not all the arguments and perswasions in the world that can effectually prevail upon a man to cast off his iniquities and bring him from under the power of sin until the Spirit of God doth set home those arguments and doth deaden sin in the heart * Alii partes formales regenerationis duas constituunt mortificationem veteris vivificationem novi hominis Et haec illam necessario praesupponit à qua non re sed ratione tantum distincta est Wend. Syst majus Restraints of providence may keep a man from the outward acts of sin but still the heart is glewed to it As Balaam durst not comply with Balaack actually to curse the Israelites but fain he would have done it his heart followed the wages of unrighteousness 2 Pet. 2.15 But now the spirit of Repentance taketh down the dominion of sin and breaketh * I distinguish between the grace of Repentance in the first workings of it upon the heart and the exercise of Repentance in the further mortifying and subduing of sin the bonds of the Covenant whereby the sinner was held fast in subjection to it and then he doth say What have I to do any more with my idols Therefore believers are said to be dead to sin Rom. 6.1 2. and to have their old man crucified with Christ that they may no longer serve sin Rom. 6.6 Thus they are set free from sin that they may be united to Christ and become the servants of God through Christ Rom. 6.22 This may serve for opening the fourth Proposition 5. Propos 5. To deaden a person unto the Law and to take him off from seeking justification by the Law that he may be united or married to the Lord Jesus God doth especially make use of two means 1. The Law it self 2. The body of Christ that is the sufferings which he underwent in his body For this you have the Scripture express Gal. 2.19 For I through the Law am dead to the Law q. d. by studying the Law it self I see it can never avail to give me acceptation with the most high Whatever expectations I have formerly had that way I now utterly renounce them and the Law it self hath sufficiently instructed me in this Lesson 2. For the sufferings of Christ that place is obvious Rom. 7.4 Wherefore my brethren ye are also become dead to the Law * Mori legi est illi renuntiare ab ejus imperio manumitti ita ut nihil habeamus in eâ fiduciae Ne offenderet Judaeos verbi asperitate si dixisset legem esse mortuam deflexione usus est dicens nos legi esse mortuos Non ergo bene vivendi regula quam lex praescribit abrogata est sed qualitas illa quae libertati per Christum parta opponitur Nempe dum summam perfectionem requirit quia non praestamus constringit nos sub aternae mortis reatu Calv. by the body of Christ that ye should be married to anther even to him that is raised from the dead q.d. This instruction God hath given us from Golgotha that by the works of the Law no flesh can be justified indeed our hearts have been hankering after that way of life and acceptance nay we have ben closely linked thereunto but the body of Christ hath made a separation between them The body of Christ i. e. the passion of Christ in his body The doctrine of Christ's death and crucifixion if rightly improved will shew a man the Law 's utter insufficiency to give a
righteousness wherein we may appear before the God of heaven I know many understand it of the Law of sin to which the death of Christ doth deaden us but the Apostle speaketh evidently in the former verses of the cap. of the Law of God See v. 1. I speak to them that know the Law that the Law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth And so in the subsequent verses v. 5. The motions of sin that were by the Law that corruption which took occasion from the commandment to carry us into sin with the greater violence Parallel to v. 8. And v. 6. Is the Law sin God forbid that is Can we justly charge the Law of God with our transgressions far be it from you to imagin such a thing only our hearts pervert it and suck poyson from that which in it self is excellent And why may we not understand it in the same acception in v. 4 I will open this Proposition by shewing you the influence of each of these means or instruments apart to take off a mans heart from seeking justification by the Law 1. The first special means is the Law it self That if we hearken diligently to the voice of it will loudly proclaim its own insufficiency to save us If the question be put where is righteousness to be had As the light of nature will say it is not in me so the Law will answer it is not in me And therefore saith the Apostle Gal. 4.21 Tell me ye that desire to be under the Law do not you hear the Law If you did but hearken to it it would speak enough in this case of it self there would need no further testimony to be produced * Lex verè percepta nos sibi mori cogit Id. Do but carefully and strictly examine it and you will quickly find even from it self that there is no standing before the Lord in the righteousness which is of the Law For mark it Sirs the reason why sinners seek justification by the Law is their ignorance of and unversedness in the Law A little serious study of it would soon dispel those mists of ignorance There is a threefold ignorance of the Law which is the occasion of mens resting upon it for acceptance and seeking justification thereby 1. Ignorance of the terms of the Law upon which life is promised therein and eternal happiness made over thereby unacquaintedness with the conditions that are required to put us under the verge and compass of justification by it Men think to come up to the terms of the Law because they do not mind and consider wherein those terms do consist upon which it promiseth justification nor of what extent and latitude they are A little search into the Law would rectifie this error If a man will answer the demands of the Law he must be able to produce a personal perfect and everlasting obedience Mark it I say 1. It must be personal obedience that is produced the Law doth not admit of a surety to supply our defects and to do that fo◠us which we cannot do of our selves 2. There must be perfect exact and spotless obedience not only sincere and upright but in every particular the command must be filled up If there be a failure in the least action or in the minutest circumstance of an action the Law still not acquit us 3. It must be perpetual and everlasting obedience to the very end and period of our course This is an argument of its inability to justifie drawn from the Law it self Gal. 3.10 As many as are of the works of the Law are under the curse How prove you that why it will undeniably appear if you mark the terms of the Law For it is written Cursed is every is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of Law to do them * Vis argumenti Maledictus est qui non servat totam legem at nemo id facit nec potest Ergo Marian in loc 2. The hankering of a mans heart after justification by the Law doth proceed from ignorance of the spiritualness of it If it were studied in this property it would sufficiently manifest its own inability to save us for the Law requireth holiness in our persons as well as rectitude in our lives it is the rule of mans nature what he should be as well as the rule of his practise what he should do The Law condemneth us for the native pravity and pollution of our hearts and spirits within us and not only for the actual miscarriages in our demeanour so that which of the posterity of fallen man can stand before it The Law injoyneth an absolute rectitude and purity in the thoughts and affections and first motions of the soul as well as integrity in the outward carriage so that it is not a civil conversation which will bring you off from the curse denounced by it If you could suppose a man that had walked all his life-time blameless that no man could charge him with guilt upon any account that no one could say black was his eye as the self-justiciaries boast is yet the Law will pronounce him accursed and send him to hell for the least vain imagination for the least rising of a proud thought or an envious thought or an unbelieving thought or the like for the smallest inordanateness in the affections nay for the corruption brought with us into the world as well as for the grosser pollutions perpetrated and committed in the world And the reason is because the Law is spiritual it is exceeding broad as the Psalmist expresseth it Psal 119.96 I have seen an end of all perfections but thy commandment is exceeding broad It is as extensive as the workings of the whole soul of a man in any part or faculty of the same it is as broad as the person it reacheth to the nature it is a discerner of and giveth prescriptions unto the very thoughts and intents of the heart Thus our Saviour doth vindicate it from the false glosses of the Scribes and Pharisees whereby they did narrow the commandment and enervate the force of it Mat. 5.21 22. Ye have heard it was said by them of old time thou shalt not kill and whosoever shall kill shall be indanger of the judgment But I say unto you that whosoever is engry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment and whosoever shall say unto his brother Racha shall be in danger of the council but whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hell fire It is as much as if our Saviour had said Your teachers of old in their interpretations of the Law confined the prohibition to the external act but I tell you the Law is spiritual the least groundless anger is murder in Gods account and deserveth the wrath of God as well as actual killing if there be hatred of his brother in a mans heart he is a
expressions it appeareth that these are two 〈◊〉 things Our being in Christ and Christ's being in us Burgess on Job 17. Serm. 126. the Lord Jesus cometh and taketh up his residence in them and they are inabled to go forth unto Christ and receive him as he is offered in the Gospel whereby they are in him and thus this Union is established These are matters distinct and accordingly the holy Ghost speaketh distinctly of them Joh. 14.20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my father and you in me and I in you See also Joh. 6.56 He that eateh my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him So that there are two great bonds or ligaments of this conjunction and of the union which followeth thereupon 1. The bond on Christ's part is the Spirit whereby the people of God are apprehended of him and he taketh up his abode in them For he dwelleth in them by his Spirit Rom. 8.9 10. But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his And if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin c. Observe that what is called the Spirit dwelling in us in one verse is stiled Christ in us in the other because Christ seizeth on us by his Spirit and abideth in us through the Spirit 2. The bond of this Union on the Believers part is Faith whereby they do apprehend the Lord Jesus Christ and take him home as it were unto themselves Being apprehended by him they take hold of him and so they are knit together Eph. 3.16 17. That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith First Christ cometh by the holy Ghost and entereth into them and then they are inabled by faith to receive him unto themselves and to apply themselves unto him and so they are conjoyned and made one together From this mutual conjunction doth arise or spring a twofold Union or Oneness between Christ and Believers There is a 1. Natural 2. Legal Union the bond whereof is The Spirit dwelling in them Faith of the operation of the Spirit I will treat of each of them severally with as much clearness and succinctness as I can CHAP. VI. A natural and a legal Union with Christ Wherein they severally consist A moral Union proceeding from the former The last Proposition explained 1. THere is a natural Union or Oneness betwixt Believers and the Lord Jesus arising from the possession which he taketh of them and his residence in them whereupon they are partakers of the same heavenly and spiritual nature with him having Christ formed in them and dwelling with them Therefore I call it for distinctions sake a natural Union because herein they agree in the same divine and spiritual nature else for the manner of its effecting it is supernatural This you have mentioned abundantly in the Scriptures 2 Cor. 13.5 Christ is in you except ye be râ—â—probates that is If you are Christians in good earnest such as are sound in the faith unless you are persons unapproved * Si quid habent Christi sincerae pietatis Calv. Nisi forte reprobi estis i. e. improbi Marian. such as upon trial are found to deal falsely and unfaithfully in the Covenant of God except you are rotten at the heart gilded metal that will not abide the test and touchstone you must have Christ within you It is not enough that Christ be preached unto you but he must be revealed in you As the Apostle speaketh of his conversion and mission to preach the Gospel Gal. 1.16 When it pleased God who spearated me from my mothers womb and called me by his grace to reveal his Son in me Not only called me to be an Apostle and made known Christ unto me but also called me to the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ revealing him in me The bond of this Union is the Spirit of Christ which is shed abroad in to the hearts of God's peculiar people and whereby the Lord Jesus taketh up his habitation in them For it is the Spirit that treateth with them in Christ's name and takes possession of them to his use and service For hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which be hath given us 1 Joh. 3.24 This is the first sort of Union betwixt Christ and Believers which we call a natural union and it is wrought by the Spirit of Christ that dwelleth in them Concerning which I will enlarge a little for the better clearing it to your understandings under five Heads 1. This dwelling of Christ in the souls of his people by his Spirit whereupon doth arise a natural union with him is the same thing for substance with the positive part of the grace of regeneration whereby the principles of holiness and new obedience are introduced into them and the image of God is restored upon their natures For it is hereby that the holy Ghost maketh his entrance into them and fixeth his settlement with him You know that regeneration or sanctification take it for the first saving change or distinguishing work upon the soul consisteth of two parts 1. There is a privative part or the mortification and subduing the principles and habits of sin 2. There is a positive part or the introduction of new principles of grace and holiness There is 1. A blotting out the image of the devil 2. Stamping upon a mans heart the divine nature again You read of them distinctly A taking away the heart of a stone and giving an heart of flesh Ezek. 11.19 There is a removing of the old man and a bringing in of the new man which is created after God Now Christ's being in his people by his Spirit is the same thing for substance with this positive part of regeneration By the mortification of sin Satan is outed of his possession of the soul and by the implantation of spiritual grace Christ enters and taketh possession of the soul by the renewing of the holy Ghost Thus you have it explained for one expression there seemeth to be exegetical of the other Ezek. 36.26 27. A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh and I will put my Spirit within you Mark it by the renovation of the heart God's Spirit is said to be within us And by the washing of regeneration the holy Ghost is said to be shed upon us abundantly Tit. 3.5 6. In the new birth Christ is formed in the soul by the working of the Spirit 2. Where Christ doth come by the operations of his Spirit to dwell in the hearts of his people he doth
at the same time make his entrance in their whole persons and take seizin and possession of all their powers and faculties unto his use and service The plian meaning is this that the work of sanctification is a through-work wrought upon the whole man there is grace infused into every part and faculty As in the work of mortification all the habits of corruption are subdued so in the work of renovation or vivification all the seeds of holiness are introduced the whole man is purified as Christ is pure The common gifts of the Spirit are bestowed many times singly and apart one from the other but special sanctifying graces are planted together This I lay down that you may not deceive yourselves in this matter by thinking Christ is in you when you are strangers unto him There is great proness in us to mistake upon this account and to flatter our selves in this case for some common workings upon the heart to conclude that saving grace is planted in the heart And therefore mind what I say to prevent this self-cozenage that where a person is cleansed savingly and effectually there is an universal purification of the whole man and all the graces in the seed of them are infused together As all old things pass away so every thing is made new 2 Cor. 5.17 The understanding is renewed with saving knowledge of the mind of God and the will is brought into a blessed subjection to the will of God the conscience is furnished anew with tenderness and faithfulness the affections are renewed by being turned into their right channel and pointed upon their right objects love and delight upon God and hatred and sorrow towards sin and what is displeasing unto the Lord the heart is principled anew with sincerity and singleness and truth put into the inward parts the memory is made a treasury and store-house of good things and the body is fitted to be subservient unto the soul in wayes of holiness Thus I might run over the several branches of this work There is vigour and activity put into the soul to do the will of God commanding and patience to suffer and be contented under the will of God disposing there is the grace of moderation to guide in prosperity and the grace of faith to support under affliction and trouble and the man is prepared and fitted unto every good word and work 1 Thes 5.23 And the very God of peace sanctifie you wholly and I pray God your whole soul and spirit and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Mark it Sirs the work of sanctification is a very extensive and diffusive work it leaveneth the whole man both the inserior and superior faculties of the soul the animal and the rational powers and the body likewise So that it is not some slight trouble upon the conscience for sin or a little touch upon the affections or inclinations towards the Kingdom of God that will evidence you to be sanctified for sanctification ingageth the whole man in an holy compliance with the wayes of holiness and the interest of Jesus As a partial repentance in the exercise of it which striketh at some sins only and leaveth a man in the allowance of others is but a feigned repentance so partial workings upon the heart are but common workings they will not amount to saving grace Jer. 3.10 When Christ entereth by his Spirit into any of the children of men he doth take possession of them wholly and set up his residence in every part and faculty 3. In this work of the entrance of the Spirit into to a mans soul whereupon Christ is said to be in him and to dwell with him and possession is taken for his use and service the soul of that man is altogether passive My meaning is this It is not in the power of any person upon the earth to plant grace in his own soul or to confer the habits of holiness upon himself nor doth he contribute any active assistance in the performance of it but is wholly wrought upon by the mighty power of God and the effectual operation of the holy Ghost We are apt to imagine that it is in our own power to make a saving change within our selves that we can convert and turn to God at any time and repent when we please As Luther said in point of merit there is a Pope in every mans belly so may I say in this case there is a tang of Pelagianism in every mans heart and hence it is they take incouragement to procrastinate and delay in the matters of salvation they think they can repent when they will if it be but upon their death-bed But Sirs it must be a day of power that maketh you willing A as if God should give you up unto your selves you would perish for ever in your unregeneracy The planting grace in the heart is a turning the course of corrupted nature it is as a quickning the dead it is a creating and infusing of how principles into a man * Opus hoc conversionis sive duobus effici non potest Uno a quo fit altero in quo fit Deus est â—â—tor salâ—â—is liberum arbitrium tantum capax Bern. Observetur in primo actu veluntatis qui procedit à gratia praeveniente voluntatem esse motam non moventem Aquin. prima secundae q. 111. of which there is nothing in us by nature but a contrariety and repugnancy thereunto Eph. 2.5 Even when we were dead in sins he hath quickned us together with Christ And v. 10. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works So that it is not mans free will but God's free grace and his infinite power by which it is wholly wrought and to him alone doth belong the glory of it 4. Although we are wholly passive in this work of regeneration or planting grace into our hearts whereby Christ entereth into and taketh possession of us and we contribute no manner of active affistance therein yet there is something required at our hands in order to the attainment of this grace and that we may be made partakers thereof This is well to be noted that it may prevent our abuse of this doctrine and that we may not turn the grace of God into negligence and slothfulness For will sinners be apt to argue thus if it be God alone by his infinite power who can imprint grace upon our hearts and this he doth without our concurrent assâ—stance then we may fit still and let the Lord perform his own work if he please to convert and sanctifie us we shall be converted and if not all our indeavours are to no purpose But Sirs this is to pervert the grace of the covenant God forbid there should be such cursed inferences drawn from this excellent doctrine although it tendeth to advance and magnifie the free grace and power of God yet it gives no manner of incouragement to the
derived namely from the Lord Jesus Christ who hath the fulness of the Spirit and is still following his people with fresh influences thereof Grace was poured forth into Adam as water into a cistern or vessel which being not carefully lookt to was by the heat of temptation dried away but it is issued forth into the hearts of Believers as a stream that cometh from a living fountain and is fed continually thereby as a spring from the Ocean whose current is never stopped and therefore cannot be drawn dry Joh. 7.38 He that believeth on me as the Scripture hath said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water But this he spake of the spirit which they that believe on him should receive Joh. 4.14 Whosoever shall drink of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst that is Not with a thirst of emptiness and indigence He shall thirst the more with a thirst of desire * Satietas ista non desiderio sed tantâ—m siccitati opponitur and earnest breathings after further communications thereof but he shall never thirst as a person deprived of it he shall have constant daily and continued supplies until his desires be swallowed up in full fruition and satisfaction For as it followeth The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into ever lasting life This is the first thing for the clearing of this property of our union with Christ to wit the inseparableness of it By shewing you the firm foundations whereupon it is built 2. For the further confirmation and strengthning of this point consider That as for those things which are most likely in the apprehensions of man to make a separation and disjunction between Christ and a Believer the holy Ghost hath expresly intimated concerning them that they shall in no case be able to do it And therefore certainly it is an indissoluble union * Si quod magis videtur posse nou potest tum quod minus videtur posse non poterit For if any thing could disunite them a man would think it should be one of these six things Either 1. The remainders of sin 2. The violent assaults of the devil 3. The allurements of the world 4. False teachers the devils instruments 5. Troubles and persecutions for the sake of Christ 6. Death which is the great separating providence 1. The first thing that is most likely to disunite a Believer from the Lord Jesus is the remainders of sin and that by way of provocation There are many corruptions left in the hearts of the children of God and thereupon frequent infirmities and failings in the course of their obedience sometimes foul miscarriages committed in their lives For although grace doth ever act like it self sin cannot grow upon that root yet a gracious man doth not alwayes act like himself Now the question may be Will not these pollutions provoke the Lord Christ to abandon their society Will he hold any intercourse and fellowship with them that are thus defiled May not they justly expect that this should separate between them Why mark it Sirs sin in the godly shall never come so high as to make a separation between them and their Redeemer It may somewhat interrupt their communion and hinder them from tasting that usual sweetness that is to be tasted in fellowship with Christ but it shall never break asunder their union with him For the power and dominion of sin over them when they lay we tring in their blood would rather have hindred the making them one at first than the presence of sin shall dissolve that union when it is made If Christ sent forth his Spirit to sanctifie them when they were slaves of the devil that he might dwell in them certainly he will not utterly reject them because of their infirmities when they are sanctified and become the children of God If he had mercy upon them when they were in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity and knit them unto himself surely he will not cast them off now they are members of his body The Apostle presseth it as a forcible argument Rom. 5.8 9 10. God commendeth his love to us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Much more then being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life As if he had said Undoubtedly our state of enmity against God would rather have prevented our reconciliation than the remainders of sin can now prevent our salvation There is nothing can be imagined to come in now as an obstacle in the way of our salvation but would have much more proved an obstacle to impede our conversion If we were ingraffed into Christ through the superabundant love of God notwithstanding our former walking in a course of sin without controversie we shall abide in Christ he will never withdraw from us because of some unallowed failings And besides remember that when Christ married believers unto himself and gave up himself unto them he did it in judgment He did not act rashly and in considerately but he knew well enough their frame what creatures they were to what failings they were subject and what remainders of corruption would still abide in them Hos 2.19 I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness and in judgment and in loving kindness and in mercies And that promise is observable Psal 89.30 31 32. If his children forsake my law and walk not in my judgments if they break my statutes and keep not my commandments then will I visit their transgressions with the rod and their iniquity with stripes nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take away from them nor suffer my faithfulness to fail Mark it God doth own them as the children of Christ notwithstanding their manifold infirmities Though he may correct them in his fatherly displeasure for their sins yet he will never wholly forsake them The continuance of his love being not bottomed on their absolute perfection in the faith but upon his own faithfulness 2. A second thing which is most likely but shall not be able to prevail to dissolve this union is The violent assaults of the devil by way of temptation He is a potent and cunning adversary and will be ready to put forth all his strength and subtlety against the children of God to make them lose their hold of Christ and if it were possible to separate betwixt them and the Lord Jesus And this is the very ground of the despondency of poor afflicted spirits When they are strongly buffetted by Satan from without and find their lusts stirring within they are apt to yield up the cause and to say in their hearts We shall one day perish by the hands of Saul we shall never be able to hold out against
way for your â—ture getting into Christ It is less dangerous for a â—an to be a stranger unto Christ and know that he is so â—an to be in that condition and not to know it This I â—dd to remove the main impediment that hindreth â—ens setting about the work of self-examination â—or I am verily perswaded herein lâ—eth a principal â—stacle They are loath to search themselves lest â—ey should find the worst by themselvs Just as some â—reless Shop-keepers that are run much behind â—nd they cannot endure to look into their books 〈◊〉 to cast up their accounts lest they should be â—quainted with their own poverty and see in â—â—at a low condition they are But mind it Sirs it â—better to trie and know that you are under the guilt of your sins and children of the wrath of God then to continue such and not to know it It is the knowledge of a sinners perishing condition will cause him to hunger and thirst after the righteousness of Christ and make him restless in his spirit till he get into Christ These are the people to whom Christ is sent to bring deliverance such as find they are sinners and are heavy laden under the burden of sin Isa 61.1 2 3. They are such lost sheep which the great Shepherd of souls will seek after that is such as are sensible of their lost condition Ezek. 34.16 I will seek that which is lost and bring again that which was driven away and will bind up that which was broken and will strengthen that which was sick But I will destroy the fat and the strong and feed them with judgment And it is ignorance of mens misery and wretchedness which is the devils great engine whereby he carrieth sinners blindfold and headlong into the pit of destruction As the knowledge of the disease is the first part of the cure so it is the knowledge of a mans damnable condition which is one of the first steps unto his conversion and salvation This is all I shall speak to the second head under the Use of Trial By way of motive and provocative thereunto 3. Let me close this Use with some special directions to guide you in the discharge of this work of self-examination That you may come to a right conclusion and resolution of the case Whether you are spiritually ingraffed into Christ and be such as have the Son and life through him or not And here I might give you a catalogue of Scripture-marks and evidences for trial upon this account But I shall not multiply particulars we will only insist upon the principal matter to be enquired into for proof of your union with the Son of God And a little to direct you in the method of your proceeding herein that it may be done effectually and successfully you must diligently heed and observe these following Rules of advice wherein I will proceed by way of gradation the better to help both your understandings and memories Direct 1. For the examination and trial of your selves and in order to the passing a righteous sentence upon your selves whether you are united to Christ You must firstly and fundamentally enquire if the grace of regeneration hath been poured out upon you and a sound conversion wrought within you This is the foundation evidence of a mans having the Son and other marks are made use of for discovery of this and in a subserviency to the manifestation hereof And the reason of it is obvious Because in the day of conversion this union is made up By the spirit of regeneration Christ doth take possession of sinners for himself and by a living faith which is one of the graces then planted in their souls they do receive Christ and embrace him as theirs and so are knit unto him as hath been largely opened By a through conversion the Lord Jesus doth cull out a people from the world and gather them unto himself So that this is primarily and chiefly to be sought into whether you are truly converted and made partakers of the renewing grace of the holy Ghost For if any man be in Christ he is a new creature 2 Cor. 5.17 Here is the grand question Are we new creatures Is there a through change wrought upon our spirits Is corruption mortified in us and the power of it subdued and a new principle of holiness put into and ingraven upon our hearts Thus it will be if you are one with Christ Except you are converted you are strangers to him and have no saving interest in him Rom. 8.10 If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is life because of righteousness The body is dead that is the body of corruption is mortified and the force of it is taken away whereby it exercised dominion over you As before you were dead in sin so now you are dead unto sin and quickned and made alive unto righteousness Here is the failure of many and the occasion of their being deceived in this point of their belonging to Christ They sometimes look into the actions of their lives but never seriously consider whether the grace of conversion be shed abroad into their hearts They rest in a civil moral conversation and do not throughly weigh whether they are made partakers of the spirit of regeneration Whereas this is the fundamental evidence of our union with Christ 1 Joh. 4.13 Hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit And Rom. 8.9 If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his That is If he have not those gracious qualifications which are infused into the soul by the spirit in the work of conversion If he have not his heart moulded anew and fashioned aright by the holy Ghost If he have not the spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of counsel and might the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord which was the spirit that rested upon Christ he is none of his Isa 11.2 This is firstly and fundamentally to be enquired after whether the work of conversion be wrought upon us and the grace of regeneration be formed in us Direct 2. If a person would be inabled to take cognizance of himself and to pass a right judgment upon himself whether he be converted and so knit to Jesus He must of necessity in order thereunto be well instructed in the nature and quality of conversion My meaning is this He must rightly understand wherein a sound and sincere conversion lieth and what a change it maketh upon the soul and what effects it produceth that so he may not mistake a feigned conversion for a true and a slight work upon the spirit which is common to the wicked for the grace of regeneration which is peculiar to the people of God For mark it Sirs There is a false conversion as well as a true and counterfeit grace as well as that which is grace indeed and in
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
like travellers as the rest of the company doth But Sirs If a man be gracious indeed it will settle his spirit upon godliness at all seasons and in whatsoever society If he live in Sodom he will be so far from saying a confederacy with them in their wickedness that in seeing and hearing he will vex his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds 2 Pet. 2.8 Though he dwell in Ahabs family yet he will fear the Lord greatly 1 Kings 18.3 He will own the Lord Christ for his Master in the face of all the world and speak of his testimonies even before Kings and not be ashamed Psal 119.46 This is the second qualification It must be universal obedience 3. That obedience which will evidence your conversion and consequently your union with Christ must be evangelical obedience Such as is suitable to the Covenant of grace into which believers are entred 2 conversation answerable to the dispensation of the Gospel Phil. 1.27 For as there is a slavish fear of God in the heart so there is a legal serving of God in the practise which will no way contribute to the proof of your being ingraffed into Christ That which is evidential thereof must be such obedience as becometh the Gospel of Christ when you serve the Lord evangelically in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter as the distinction is given us Rom. 7.6 Qu. But when is our obedience evangelical I answer It mainly consists in four things 1. When we are active and vigorous in doing all that we can for God and then account it as nothing to gain us acceptation with the Lord. When we are serviceable in our places and duties to advance the honour of Jesus Christ indeavouring to the uttermost the promotion of his interest and then lay all that we have done at his feet expecting our acceptance reward purely upon the account of his bloud When we labour to be intent upon the works of personal righteousness and then underwrite with our hearts That we are unprofitable servants and lay the whole stress of our salvation upon the righteousness of the Lord Jesus This is Gospel-service when we lay all our sacrifices upon the Gospel-altar that they may be sanctified thereby and place no manner of confidence in what is done by us but in the obedience and sufferings of Christ for us Phil. 3.3 For we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh As if he had said We labour to serve God in the purest manner and offer up unto him the best that we have but then we dare not put the least stress upon it but all our confidence is in Christ it is of him we boast and not of our holiness We give all diligence in point of performance but are nothing in our selves in point of dependance And we are the circumcision we are Israelites indeed who have our hearts circumcised A legal frame of spirit goeth to God in duty and then expects a blessing for his duties sake and thus a sinner may toyl all his life time in a round of duty and be very far from the kingdom of God Then we obey evangelically when we do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Col. 3.17 2. Then is our obedience Gospel-service indeed when it is performed in Gospel strength i. e. not by our own abilities but by vertue derived from Christ and in an humble dependance upon the assistance of his Spirit That is a legal way of obedience when a person brings forth fruit unto himself and when he acts therein from himself When he goeth in his own might and power to grapple with sin and strive against temptations and to keep the Law of God But a Believer is strong in the Lord and in the power of his might and here is the evidence of a sincere convert Rom. 8.13 If ye live after the flesh you shall die but if ye through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Mark it It is not said if you make resolutions against sin and set against the workings of corruption But if you mortifie them through the spirit then it is a sign you are quickned and made alive by the holy Ghost and that you shall live for ever in the presence of God 3. Evangelical obedience is that which is according to the evangelical pattern viz. the life of Christ When a Christian doth study to be a follower of him and to tread in his steps and to imitate the Lord Jesus by endeavouring to write after the copy which he hath set before us in doing and suffering the will of God This is the obedience which will evidence our union with him and interest in him 1 Joh. 2.6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even as he walked He that saith he is in him that is He that saith so truly and as the matter is in reality He that would not appear to be a lyar in what he pretendeth to and to boast of what he hath no saving interest in must walk according to our Saviour's example 4. Evangelical obedience is that which is tendered upon evangelical motives and considerations When we are diligent and industrious in the service of God because our hearts are drawn forth in love towards him and we are sensible of his goodness in sending his only begotten Son to die in the behalf of lost sinners and in making known the mystery of Christ unto us and giving us promises of salvation through him * Amor meus est pondus meum Eoâ—feror quocunque feror Aug. For although it is not only permissively lawful for a believer but also a duty incumbent upon him to make use of the consideration of the wrath of God to quicken him in the wayes of holiness Luke 12.5 Yet he doth not serve the Lord meerly out of fear of his wrath But the love of God doth constrain him and his affections towards God are a forcible restraint to keep him from displeasing the Lord who hath been so gracious unto him Hos 3.5 They shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter dayes i.e. Upon this very account they shall be cautious not to sin against him because he hath dealt so bountifully with them This is the third qualification it must be evangelical obedience 4. If you would prove your conversion and union with Christ by the holiness of your conversation and new obedience you must look to it that it be sincere obedience done in the singleness and godly simplicity of your hearts You must serve the Lord as in the sight of the Lord and with a pure eye of respect unto the advancement of his glory and in order to your blessedness in the enjoyment of him and communion with him For in those two things doth consist much of the nature of sincerity 1.