reward of the Inheritance commonly set forth by this expression eternal Life Rom. 6.22 Galat. 6.8 2. Virtually and secondarily all sorts of spiritual blessings that have a tendency to glory and are required to fit us for the possession thereof that is to say grace and holiness pardon of sin and reconciliation with the Almighty the supplies of the Spirit for doing the will of God and ability to persevere in that way unto the end These are all included in this expression of eternal Life for they are the first fruits and beginnings of it As glory is but grace in its ripeness and perfection so grace is glory in the bud and blossom And therefore our Saviour calleth the knowledge of God eternal Life Joh. 17.2 3. This is life eternal to know thee the only trus God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent that is This is the foretast of eternal Life the way to it an earnest peny in order to the full possession it is none other than the gate of heaven Thus you are to understand it here in the full extent and latitude of the expression as it comprehends the saving mercies conferred upon the Saints on the earth as well as the crown of Righteousness to be enjoyed in heaven For in the covenant of Peace whereof the Text is an abbreviation God hath made provision for the one as well as the other He hath not only given Salvation if men are sanctified and repent but hath provided for the sanctification and repentance of his Elect that they may be saved Psal 73.24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterwards receive me to glory And accordingly Christ the Mediator hath made his purchase he hath not only bought an inheritance to be given to the Saints but for the Elect of God he hath procured Saintship and all the appendices thereof that they may be partakers of that inheritance Tit. 3.5 6 7. That 's the first thing in the Text The mercy provided or the blessing conveyed 2. You have the Original or Well-spring of this mercy the fountain of this Blessing whence it is derived why from the free grace and pleasure of the Lord it is his gift It is not merited and deserved by us but freely and graciously bestowed upon us This is the record that God hath given us eternal Life Herein it differs from the reward of ungodliness that is the natural product of our sins but this is not the purchase of our boliness that is justly merited but this mercifully given as the Apostle observeth Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Wherein the holy Ghost speaketh as if he did plainly intend to obviate and prevent the corrupt reasonings of men Will some be apt to argue If the wicked by their transgressions deserve eternal destruction then a Believer by his holiness doth merit eternal Salvation Nay saith S. Paul here I must have leave to deny the consequence the one indeed is a wages but the other is a gift We may take a view of the blessedness or salvation of the Saints in a fourfold period and in each of them in respect to us it is of grace God hath given us eternal Life In the 1. Purpose of the Father 2. Promise of the Gospel 3. Purchase of the death of Christ 4. Respect of our interest therein 1. In the eternal counsel and purpose of the Father As he determined and fore-ordained to bring sons to glory so it must of necessity be of grace and love Who hath first given to him and it shall be recompensed What could move the Lord to design compassion for some and to pass by others of the same nature with them of greater parts and dignity and in higher place as to worldly honours and accomplishments To appoint an handful in comparison unto bliss and glory to set them apart for himself and to leave the rest of mankind in their undone condition Surely it was only because it seemed good in his sight and therefore it is called election of grace Rom. 11.5 6. There is a remnant according to the election of grace and if by grace then it is no more of works It is ascribed to pure mercy nothing but mercy Rom. 9.15 16. For he saith to Moses I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion So then it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy 2. In the Covenant and Promise which God hath made of eternal Life and whereby it is made over to Believers Pray whence was the Lord induced to make such a gracious Covenant but from his own good pleasure It is given to us 2 Pet. 1.4 It is true the faithfulness and in some sense the righteousness and justice of God oblige him to fulfil the Covenant when it is made Nehem. 9.8 but it was only free love that could incline him to make it or to enter into this Covenant and to make publication thereof to some and not to others Deut. 7.6 7 8. Psal 147.19 20. 3. In the purchase of it by the blood of Christ God sent his Son into the world upon that errand by his obedience and sufferings to become the Author of Salvation And what was the motive that prevailed with the Lord to send him what provocative stirred him up to make this Mission Why God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3.16 He shut up the fallen Angels irrecoverably in the chains of darkness he gave not Christ to take their nature upon him but for us men and for our Salvation he came down from heaven and herein God commendeth his love to us Rom. 5.8 4. Lastly eternal Life may be considered in respect of our Title to it and interest therein together with the possession thereof which is accomplished in the work of Regeneration And whence doth this proceed Why it is a gift 2 Cor. 5.5 He that hath wrought us for the self same thing is God who hath also given unto us the earnest of his Spirit 2 Tim. 1.9 Who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace It is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure That 's the second branch of the Text. The original of this mercy whence it doth proceed 3. We have the great dispenser of this mercy or blessing into whose hands it is put to be dealt forth unto Believers This is Jesus Christ the Son of God And this life is in his Son It is put into the hands of a Mediator and that Mediator is none else but the eternally and only begotten Son of God It is in him upon a threefold account 1. As in the meritorious
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
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
is gracious and merciful and full of compassion and therefore they hope he will spare them notwithstanding Nay but O vain man If thine heart still goeth after thy detestable things the God of incomprehensible mercy will not shew thee one drop of mercy He that is unspeakable in his compassions will not have one dram of pity or compassion upon thy soul It is true He is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you if ye return unto him 2 Chron. 30.9 But God shall wound the head of his enemies and the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on still in his trespasses Psal 68.21 The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting unto everlasting upon them that fear him and unto such as keep his Covenant Psal 103.17 18. But he will not be merciful to any wicked transgressor Psal 59.5 Why Sirs do not you know that he is a God abundant in truth as well as rich in mercy And he will shew no mercy to sinners in a way derogating from his truth Exod. 34.6 It is he that hath said The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the Nations that forget God Psal 9.17 and the Word of the Lord will certainly have its accomplishment When thou presumest of mercy Remember withal that he is a God of truth and as sure as God is true if thou goest on in sin and remainest ununited unto Christ thou wilt perish for ever notwithstanding that God is merciful For all the wayes of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies Psal 25.10 Alas poor deluded wretch dost thou hope for mercy to keep thee from hell whilst thou art in a course of ungodliness Why man The mercy of God will come up in judgment against thee and sink thee deeper into hell * Quos diu ut convertantur tolerat non conversos durius damnat Hier. Tarditatem vindictae compensat gravitate supplicii for by despising the goodness of God thou art treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath Rom 2.4 5. Dost thou presume of mercy in thy state of impenitence Why man This very presumption will add load upon thy back and degrees unto thy torments Read over that Text deliberately and the Lord awaken thy conscience in the perusal of it Deut. 29.19 20 21. And it come to pass that when he heareth the words of this curse he bless himself in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walk in the imagination of mine heart to add drunkenness to thirst It is to this effect as if the carnal wretch had said God is gracious and merciful and though I have no interest in Christ but take my pleasure in sin and am not so forward in godliness as these precise Ministers would perswade me yet I trust in God that he will shew pity upon me he will not be so severe as these hot-spirited men would bear us in hand God is a God of mercy and delighteth in it and I hope to taste of his compassion and that he will not send me to hell whatever he hath said Well But will such a person find mercy because he hopeth for it Will he meet with peace because he saith in his heart He shall have peace Nothing less This very presumption of mercy whilst in his sins will be a means to bar and bolt the door of mercy against him * Quo diutius expectat eo districtius judicabit For mark what followeth v. 20 21. The Lord will not spare him but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoke against that man and all the curses that are written in this book shall lye upon him and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven And the Lord shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel according to all the curses of the Covenant that are written in this book of the Law c. This is the fourth respect in which a Christless estate is a state of death viz. In point of condemnation or obnoxiousness to eternal death 5. Lastly Unconverted sinners are in a state of death in respect of the abundant evils incident to that condition They are in a perfectly wretched and miserable estate For death comprizeth all sorts of evils As when life is promised to the godly it is a comprehensive term that containeth all sorts of blessings and mercies whatsoever Psal 30.5 Prov. 3.18 So when the wicked on the other hand are said to be dead that is a big-bellyed word that carrieth all kinds of evils in the bowels of it troubles and vexations and perplexities here and at last eternal ruine and desolation Deut. 30.15 19. Now in this sense they are all dead who are not in Christ Destruction and misery is in their wayes and the way of peace they have not known Rom. 3.16 17. To work this upon your hearts study seriously these three Texts of Scripture Job 15. from v. 20. to the 30. Job 18. from v. 5. to the 21. Job 20. from v. 5. to the end of the Chapter And withal observe these four subsequent notes 1. Christless persons are under the guilt of all the sins and transgressions that ever were committed by them since they had a being And God will one day reckon them up in order and lay them in full load upon their shoulders Possibly sinners themselves have forgotten multitudes of them but the God of infinite knowledge hath written them down exactly in his book and at length he will bring them forth into judgment And truly Sirs One would think there needed no more to make them miserable enough One sin if laid to our charge would sink us irrecoverably into perdition Alas How will the sinner stand when all his iniquities shall meet together and be sealed up as in a bag and bound fast upon him If a wicked man should sit down and make a catalogue of the sins of one month or week what a vast heap would they amount to Vain thoughts proud and earthly and unbelieving thoughts inordinate passions and affections unsavoury and rotten communication evil actions done and duties left undone and slightness and superficialness in the discharge of duty and the like Yea but when all the sins of his whole life and the native pravity and wickedness of his heart shall be gathered together into one bundle what a numberless number would they amount to What unconceivable torments would be the wages of them if considered as clothed with all the aggravating circumstances thereof Why Sirs when God enters into judgment with the unregenerate he will not abate them one sin Psal 10.15 Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man Seek out his wickedness till thou find none That is set them down in order till they are all set down Let not one of them remain untaken-notice of Let them be searched out so exactly till there be no more to be found We are
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
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
murderer much more if he express that anger or hatred in any contemptuous and provokin words The like you have in the case of adultery Mat. 5.27 28. Now if this spiritualness of the Law were but throughly studied it would take off mens hearts from resting thereupon For it condemneth us for the first rising or ebullition of sin within us as well as for the gross outward acts of impiety It speaketh a man accursed for the defects and imperfections in his obedience as well as for the neglect and omission of his obedience It leaveth him under the wrath of God for the original corruption of his heart For as the Apostle speaketh Rom. 7.7 I had not known sin but by the Law for I had not known lust or concupiscence except the Law had said thou shalt not covet And therefore by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in his God 's sight for by the Law is the knowledge of sin as the argument is pressed Rom. 3.20 3. A third ground of a mans trusting in his legal righteousness is ignorance of the rigour and severity of the Law It requireth exact conformity the precepts thereof but administers no strength or assistance to help us in the observation of those precepts * Lex jubet gratia juvat It calleth for exact performance of what is required and leaveth no room for repentance pardon upon any failings whatsoever nor doth it promise acceptance upon our repentance The Law Sirs or Covenant of works doth not know what a pardon meaneth Inceed upon supposal of sin it injoyneth repentance but doth not accept repentance in any case The Law is such a severe task-master that when it hath appointed our work there is no relaxation to be expected it will not make any abatement in the least Rom. 10.5 For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the Law that the man which doth those things shall live by them Mark it not he that repenteth for his neglect of what is not done but he that doth them not he that is humbled for his imperfections and failings but who so never faileth in the least particular And if this were well considered the Law it self would knock us off from dependance on the Law and would thereby prove as a Schoolmaster to drive us unto Christ You have many carnal people when conscience galleth them for sin and their hearts smite them for their abominations they will mourn and lament a little under the sense of it they are filled with trouble and perplexity and a great deal of legal sorrow upon that account and here they take up their rest Surely think they God will pardon and accept of us for we have grieved and repent of what we have done Why mind it Sirs As this doth proceed from ignorance of the nature of repentance the repentance of Judas carried him thus far True Evangelical repentance doth doth not only humble a man for sin but turneth him from it even unto God and is mingled with faith in the blood of Christ so it proceedeth from ignorance of the law If thou art not in Christ but standest on the old bottom of legal righteousness there is not one word in that Covenant for admission of repentance that is a priviledge brought to light by the Gospel a part of the purchase of the death of the Mediator of the Covenant of grace who can have compassion on the ignorant and such as are turned out of the way The Covenant of works knoweth nothing of forgiveness of sin upon our repentance it speaketh not a syllable of comfort unless we had kept undefiled in the way without the least aberration or wandring out of it Christ Jesus is the Author of repentance and of acceptance therein Acts 5.30 31. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom ye slew and hanged on a tree Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance unto Israel and forgiveness of sins This is the first instrument that God maketh use of to take off mens hearts from seeking justification by the law that they may be united unto Christ viz. the Law it self And indeed it is delivered to that end not that persons might rest upon it but might see the utter impossibility of being saved by it that it may shew us the necessity of Christs righteousness and lead us unto him It was published as a Covenant of works upon this very design that it might lock men up under guilt and bind them over to the wrath of God and make them to see their miserable and remediless condition in themselves that so they might be necessitated to run for refuge unto Christ Rom. 3.19 What things soever the Law saith it saith to them that are under the Law To what end Why that every month may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God Rom. 10.4 Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth The end of the law that is say some of all the shadows and ceremonies of the law they had a reference to Christ and did typifie and prefigure the Lord Jesus I would not exclude this sense but I think it may be meant of the publication of the law as a Covenant it was to this end that sinners might see more clearly into the weakness of the law to justifie them and so might have recourse â—nto Christ and be justified by faith The law it self doth bear testimony of itself how unable it is being become weak through the flesh and therefore Christ is the end of it to bring in everlasting righteousness such a glorious righteousness as abideth for ever 2. The second special means to divorce men from the law or to deaden them unto the law that they may be married or united to the Son of God is the body of Christ the sufferings of Christ in his body the cursed death which he underwent for the sake of sinners The death of Christ doth not enervate or exauctorate the law of God as it is a commandment for guidance of our wayes or as it is a rule of life * Christus est legis finis perficiens non interficiens Aug. so the sufferings of Christ are the great Evangelical argument to quicken us unto the conscientious observance of it shall we not obey his voice that died for us shall we sin against him who shed his precious blood for our sakes shall we think any thing too hard to be done at his injunction who thought it not much to humble himself unto the death even the cursed death of the Cross that our souls might live * Rom. 6.10 11. In that he died he died unto sin once c. Likewise reckon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reason or argue your selves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God Why the love of Christ doth constrain us not to live unto our selves but to serve him to
the uttermost 2 Cor. 5.14 Do we make void the law through faith God forbid yea we establish the law Rom. 3.31 But now as it is a Covenant of life and doth promise justification unto the observers of it so the death of Christ doth deaden us unto the law it is of notable force and efficacy to take off a man from building and bottoming upon his own legal performances For this very topick the Apostle argueth with the Galatians cap. 3.1 O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified among you Mark it the great matter wherein the Galatians fell from the truth of the Gospel was by adhaering to the law and seeking righteousness therein Now saith the Apostle a man would have thought the doctrine of Christ's death and crucifixion might have been a strong fence against that error unless you had been under a kind of fascination and witchcraft upon your spirits Hath the great fundamental principle of the death of Christ been so plainly and faithfully preached unto you and set forth amongst you in such lively colours as if he had been crucified before your eyes and are you still so foolish as to rest upon the law Certainly this is an argument of abundant sottishness and madness or else you have quite forgotten the doctrine of Christ's death and neglect to make a due improvement thereof The death of Christ will be of notable use to deaden a man to the law by making a threefold discovery 1. By discovering the sinfulness and damnableness of the evil of sin or transgressionof the law of God in that it could be expiated at no lesser rate than by the crucifying of the Son of God It is not any corruptible thing as silver and gold could make satisfaction for sin but the precious blood of the Son of God and therefore certainly it is an evil of a very heinous nature Thus my brethren a real sight of the greatness of the evil of sin would sooner convince a man of the insufficiency of all his legal righteousness to satisfie for the wrong that is done unto God by it If men think to recompence the Lord by any obedience of their own for the sins whereof they are guilty it is because they have low and slight thoughts of the evil of their sins Now the death of Christ may serve to rectifie such thoughts and to set forth the damnableness of the nature of sin And indeed it was one of the ends which God aimed at in the death of Christ as to save the sinners so to damn the sin Rom. 8.3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh He condemned it that is he made it thereby to appear what a deadly destructive and damnable nature it is of how odious and abominable a thing it is in his sight * He condemned it of that capital crime that it was the meritorious cause of the death of Christ who was most innocent Engl. Annot. By what way was this made to appear Why because nothing could appease his wrath but the crucifying of the Lord Jesus Undoubtedly it must needs be a very accursed thing for which Christ himself was made a curse 2. The death of Christ is of use to deaden a sinner to the law by making discovery of the inexorableness of the justice of God of his severity and strictness in requiring the utmost farthing that is due for satisfaction He did not spare his own Son when he had iniquity laid upon him but he was put to a painful cursed ignominious and reproachful death so that let not the children of men ever expect to be spared if they lie under the guilt of the least ungodliness God the Father did not abate his own beloved Son any part of the punishment surely he will never make abatement unto his adversaries And this was another end of Christ's death to set forth the exactness and inexorableness of the justice of God that he will by no means clear the guilty Rom. 3.25 26. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God To declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus * Deus justitiam suam dicitur oftendisse quia non aliter remisit peccata hominum quam pretio iusto redemptionis accepto non ab ipsis hominibus sed a Christo pro nobis satisfaciente Justum ergo se Deus exhibuit in nostro justificatione liberalem seu gratiosum Justitia fuit relatione ad Christum gratia vero relatione ad nos Tolet in Rom. 3. Lastly the death of Christ will serve to take off a man from seeking justification by the law by making a full discovery that there is no other way imaginable to make reconciliation for sin and to deliver sinners from the wrath to come but the death of Christ only For Sirs if there had been any other way could have been found out undoubtedly God would have spared the dearly beloved of his soul he would never have striken and bruised his only begotten Son For as the Apostle argueth If there had been a law given which could have given life verily righteousness should have been by the law Gal. 3.21 q. d. Had that way been sufficient to save men and women from everlasting destruction God would have taken that way and prevented the sorrows and sufferings of his Son He would never have sent him into the world in such a low and despicable condition nor have brought him into such strairs and agonies as made him sweat drops of blood not would he have poured out upon him the vials of his wrath for the accomplishment of that which might have been otherwise accomplished So that to test for justification upon the law is in effect to frustrate and make void the grace of God in the death of the Mediator For if righteousness come by the law then Christ is dead in vain Gal. 2.21 Thus much for the fifth Proposition touching the way of a sinners union or conjunction with the Lord Jesus 6. Propos 6. The way of the actual conjunction between Christ and his people when they are thus divorced from sin and deadned to the Law may be conceived thus The Lord Christ by his Spirit taketh possession of them and dwelleth in them and Believers through faith of the operation of the Spirit take hold of Christ and get into him and so they are knit together and become one For this conjunction you must understand is a mutual conjunction * Abide in me and I in you And again He that abideth in me and I in him By which
I opened to my beloved but he had withdrawn himself and was gone my soul failed when he spake that is when he gave forth his parting words The Spouse at first was not ready to open to Christ and to give him entertainment v. 3. Why then farewel saith Jesus I will wait no longer seeing you so little regard me I will be gone immediately O then the soul raileth this striketh the spirit dead and there is no quietness to be had till Christ be found again and intreated to return It is love to Christ that maketh it so pleasant a thing to a Believer to recount his perfections and to reckon up the glorious things that he hath done See what delight the Spouse taketh in the enumeration of them Cant. 5.10 11 12 13 14 15. So much for the seventh Proposition 8. Propos 8. The eighth and last Proposition is this The mystical union of Believers with Christ and all the priviledges and blessings which are the consequents thereof do originally flow from the merit of the death of the Lord Jesus which in pursuance of the eternal Covenant between the Father and himself he suffered in their stead and whereby he gave satisfaction to the justice of God in their behalf To this end he undertook to be a Mediator and to die an accursed death in their room and in the fulness of time he actually performed it that they in whose stead he stood might be gathered unto him and by the Spirit and faith might be made one with him Upon the account of this his standing in their stead and transacting matters with the Father for their good and benefit some speak of an eternal Vnion betwixt them Say they In the eternal counsel of God for reconciling sinners unto himself Christ ingaged to suffer as representing their persons and so they are considered as one This we may call a judicial Union as some or a transcendental Vnion But I will not stand upon an enquiry into the fitness of these expressions This I take to be clear from the Scriptures of truth That the mystical Union of Believers with Christ wrought by the Spirit and faith which is the matter we are treating of and until which they are dead in sins and trespasses and under the wrath of God as well as others is a fruit of Christ's undertaking to die for them and actual performance of that undertaking * Haec transactio inter Deum Christum fuit praevia quaedam applicatio redemptionis liberationis nostrae ad sponsorem nostrum ad nos in ipso Quae ad secundariam istam in nobis peragendam rationem habet cfficacis cajusdam exemplaris ita ut illa fit hujus repraesentatio haec illius virtute producatur Ames med That which I drive at is this That the Lord Jesus did not enter himself into an obligation to undergo the cursed death of the Cross and in due time actually undergo it only that the elect of God might be saved if they should get into him but that they might be brought unto Christ and ingraffed into him and so made partakers of salvation You shall find that their gathering unto Christ and being implanted into him is mentioned as an effect of his undertaking and suffering for them This is notably set forth in that Anti-Socinian Chapter as I may call it which hath broken the teeth of such as have been nibling at it and out of which it is impossible for them with all their subtle devices to extricate themselves I mean Isa 53. v. 10 11 12. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed he shall prolong his dayes and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand He shall see of the travel of his soul and be satisfied by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many for he shall bear their iniquities Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he hath poured out his soul unto death and he was numbred with the transgressors and he bare the sins of many and made intercession for transgressors Mark but how abundantly this point is confirmed Therefore shall Christ have a people gathered unto him and a seed to serve him because he made his soul an offering for their sins Upon that very account many shall be united to him so as to be justified by him because he bare their iniquities Therefore he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out his soul unto death How doth Christ divide the spoil with the strong Why when in the day of conversion he knittetn sinners unto himself As Satan the strong man armed hath his company that continue finally impenitent in their wickedness So Christ by his Spirit doth gather a company unto himself And whence doth this proceed Why it is the product of the satisfaction which he made for them Thus it shall be because he bare the sins of many These are the trophies of the victory that Christ got by dying the death of the cross They are ingraffed into him because he suffered for them Hence the grace of faith which is the uniting grace is said to be attained through the righteousness of Christ As it is acted upon Christ's righteousness so it was purchased thereby and is given forth upon the account thereof 2 Pet. 1.1 To them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ This is the last Proposition For the clearing whereof and the point asserted I will take it asunder into five heads of observation 1. Observe That the eternal transactions of matters between God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ in order to the redemption and deliverance of the elect are set forth in the Scriptures under the notion of a Covenant that passed betwixt them for the accomplishment of that redemption As there is a Covenant made with the souls of Believers in Christ so there was a Covenant from everlasting made with Christ a kind of compact and agreement between the Father and the Son for the restauration of fallen sinners This is acknowledged by most as to the matter and substance of the thing and I think we have it plainly enoâ—gh under that notion and expression of a Covenaut Zech. 6.12 13. Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts saying Behold the man whose name is the Branch and he shall grow up out of his place and he shall build the temple of the Lord. Even he shall build the temple of the Lord and he shall bear the glory and shall sit and rule upon his throne and he shall be a Priest upon his throne and the counsel of peace shall be between them both The counsel of peace that is the transactions in order to making peace betwixt an incensed God and sinful men and
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
knit and united unto him and so partake of the salvation which he purchased for them So that the mystical Vnion of Believers with Christ is a fruit of the fatisfaction and merit of his death for them 2 Cor. 5.21 He was made to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him Therefore he died for us that we might be implanted into him and so made righteous on his account And therefore mark it Sirs Though the elect of God have no right or title to any laving mercy till they are one with Christ yet he hath a right to this Union for them and to all other blessings which are the concomitants or consequents thereof He prayeth for it on their behalf and upon his account it is given forth unto them Joh. 17.20 21. This is the fourth particular to â—â—e observed and it leadeth me to the last 5. This satisfaction and merit of the death of Christ although it was laid down for the benefit of such as the Father had given him and he suffered in their stead yet doth make no change upon them till they are drawn unto Christ and by the Spirit and faith made one with him Until this grace be wrought in them or conferred upon them they are still children of the wrath of God as well as others Eph. 2.3 The wrath of God abideth on them Joh. 3.36 They are amongst the unrighteous which remaining in that condition shall not inherit the kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 10 11. And if we could suppose them to die before conversion although indeed it is not to be supposed they would perish unavoidably even as others And the reason is this Although Christ died in their stead and laid down a price for purchase of their pardon and salvation and God the Father accepted thereof yet it was agreed between them in that everlasting Covenant that an order should be observed in conveying those mercies and making them actually partakers of the benefit thereof Which order is this First they must be sanctified by the Spirit of Christ and brought by faith unto him and made one with him and so receive salvation through his blood For till they have the Son they can have no life by the Son Thus I close my answer to the third general question propounded concerning the manner how this conjunction is made up or the way wherein this Union is wrought tual and their hearts are carnal * Ad claram rei intellectionem requiritur proportio inter potentiam apprehendentem rem apprehensam Intellectus assequitur scientiam secundum modum sui non secundum modum objecti Quia receptum est in recipiente per modum recipientis And as the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 2.14 The natural maureceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned And of this sort is the grace of Union with Christ and all the transactions hereabouts are spiritual transactions And therefore when Christ preached this doctrine unto the people that if they would be blessed by him they must feed upon him and become one with him * Qualis est fames quâ cibum appetimus qualis cibus quem appetimus qualis vita ad quam pascimur talis quoque est manducatio cibi in nobis mansie Atqui fames ista est spiritualis c. his carnal Disciples knew not what to make of it This is an hard saying who can hear it and from that time many of his Disciples went away back and walked no more with him Joh. 6.60 66. That 's the second property It is a spiritual Union 3. And principally It is an inseparable and indissoluble Union such as shall never be broken asunder When Christ and a Believer are once knit together they shall never be parted any more When the Lord Jesus cometh by his Spirit and taketh up his abode in a mans soul he maketh that soul his eternal mansion and doth not at any time withdraw himself from it And when the sinner is by a living faith gotten into Christ he shall in no case be broken off from him A dead branch may fall off from the tree but the living branches will abide there for ever 1 Joh. 2.27 28. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any man teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things and is truth and is no lye and even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him And now little children abide in him c. As here is an exhortation pressing Believers to abide in Christ so here is a word of promise that they shall abide in him and that as to both the branches of this conjunction 1. The anointing which ye have received abideth in you that is The principle of grace infused into you which was typified by the unctions or anointings in the ceremonial Law which was signified by the precious ointment poured upon the head of Aaron that ran down to the skirts of his garments this principle will prove indefectible 2. On the other hand ye shall abide in him Your faith is a grace that shall not fail nor decay This is clear from the reason that is given of the apostacy of some That therefore they are separated from Christ because they were never spiritually ingraffed into Christ * Triticum non vapit vontus nec arborem solida radice fundatam procella subvertit Inant's paleae tempestate jactantur invalide arbores turbinis inoursione evertuntur Cypr. 1 John 2.19 They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us Had they been quickned by Christ's Spirit they would never have departed from him It is a matter q. d. without controversie no doubt of it This is usually called The Saints perseverance All natural unions must be dissolved the husband must be separated from the wife and children from the patents and one dear friend from another but here is a relation that will be everlasting This is a point of great concernment to the comfort of a child of God without which he could in no wise be assured of his safe arrival at the kingdom of heaven And therefore I will a little longer dwell upon this doctrine 1. By shewing you the principal fouâ—dations on which this inseparableness of union with Christ is bottomed 2. By propounding a consideration further to strengthen and confirm the truth of this point 3. By vindication of this doctrine of perseverance from the two grand exceptions that are made against it 1. For the foundations upon which this perseverance is built Whence doth it come to pass that a Believers union with Christ is of such duration and continuance that when a man is gotten into Christ he shall abide in him and persevere in that
darkness what an eternal prison must I be sent amongst devils and damned spirits But a sincere Christian can cheerfully welcom it under this consideration also He knoweth it is but a messenger sent from his heavenly Father to conduct him home to his mansion place and to bring him into neerer fellowship with his Redeemer It puts an end to all sin and temptations and troubles of every sort and opens a door of entrance into unspeakable joyes that shall never end O Sirs what a priviledge is this to be able to triumph over death It is that unto which we are subject every moment * Quotidie morimur quotidie enim demitur aliqua pars vitae Et tunc quoque cum crescimus vita decrescit hunc ipsum quem agimus diem cum morte dividimus Sen. Epist 24. and what is that which will sweeten the passage and remove the fears which are usually attendant upon the contemplation of it Why It is our interest in Christ and union with him He drank that bitter cup yea the very dregs of it that he might sweeten it unto such as are in him 1 Cor. 15.53 54 55. O death where iâ— thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin and the strength â—f sin is the Law But thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Christ tasted an accursed death that it might be made a blessing to his members Rev. 14.13 And I heard a voâ—ce from heaven saying unto me write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. It is not a being called Christians which will render the day of death a blessed day nor an outward attendance upon Christ but getting into him Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. 9. A believers union with Jesus Christ is a sure inlet unto a glorious resurrection out of the dust of the earth when this corruptible shall put on incorruption and this mortal shall put on immortality And therefore observe it Sirs Although the wicked shall be raised at the last day as well as the godly yet not by the same means through which the godly are raised The wicked shall be raised by the power of Christ as a Judge but Believers shall rise again by vertue of their oneness with Christ and neer relation unto him 1 Cor. 15.22 23. For as in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive But every man in his own order Christ the first fruits afterwards they that are Christ's at his coming Such as sleep in Jesus shall awake by vertue of their being in him and thereupon their vile bodies shall be changed and fashioned like to his glorious body * Rom. 8.11 He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by or because his Spirit that dwelleth in you Vivificari in hac sententia significat resurrectionem gloriosam quae similis est Christi resurrectioni propria bonis in quibus inhabitat spiritus Illud autem Propter inhabitantem spiritum ejus ad Christum refertur non ad Deum Et in hoc est argumenti efficacia quia enim spiritus hic Dei qui in nobis habitat etiam Christi est Sicus Christum ut homo à Patre suscitatus est ita nos suscitabimur qui eundem cum Christo spiritum habemus Tolet. in loc To which that passage of the Prophet Isaiah may be fitly referred which though it primarily be intended of outward deliverance and the wonderful restauration of the Church out of such a forlorn desperate estate as that they were as dead yet it may extend also to the last resurrection of which that eminent deliverance was but a shadow and resemblance Isa 26.19 Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust for thy dew is as the dew of herbs and the earth shall give up her dead This is another blessing which floweth from this fountain 10. Our union with Christ Jesus will minisâ—er boldness at the bar of Judgment and cause us to lift up our faces without spot or confusion at that great and notable day of the Lord. How will the wicked be ashamed to look Christ in the face at that day seeing that now they despise him and trample his blood under their feet seeing that now they slight his word and contemn his Ordinances and his people Then the Kings and the chief Captains and the great men and the mighty men and every bondman and freeman I mean all impenitent sinners of what rank or quality soever Will be ready to call upon the rocks to fall upon them and the mountains to cover them from the presence of him that sitteth upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. Then what would not a man give to be able to assure his heart before Christ at his appearance and to be of the number of Christ's followers that shall stand at his right hand when the ungodly are trembling at the left Why It is not all the substance of a mans house can purchâ—se this priviledge It is not all your prayers and tears at that day that can do it though you should cry out your heart blood if you are unconverted sinners But it depends wholly upon your union with Christ 1 Joh 2.28 And noor little children abide in him that when he shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming 1 Thess 4.14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him Mark it He will summon the wicked before him but such as are members of his body he will bring with him i. e. in his train and company under his own shelter and protection Christ himself will undertake the patronage of their cause and to silence all the accusations of Satan which are brought in against them Well may they exult and be glad for it will be the day of the consummation of their marriage with their Redeemer If now they are espoused and contracted then they shall be married with the greatest solemnity in the presence of God and of his holy Angels Then will that vision be most notably fulfilled Rev. 21.2 3 4. I John saw the holy City new Jerusalem coming downfrom God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband This is the tenth mercy which depends upon our union with Christ 11. Lastly It is our having the Son or being united unto the Son which will give us actual admission into the kingdom of glory and possession of the inheritance prepared for the Saints When the wicked are sent into everlasting punishment then shall the righteous inherit eternal life When the ungodly are thrust together into hell then shall believers dwell in the presence of God for ever and drink of the rivers of pleasures which are at his right
Christ's mind is placed and act in the like manner as his acteth Their hearts must be moulded into the same frame with his heart and so I might instance throughout the whole man Christ must be formed in them Gal. 4.19 And Phil. 2.5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus They must be so clothed with his divine qualities that it may be said they have put on the Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 13.14 2. There must be conformity to the sufferings of his death in a spiritual sense As Christ died for sin so Believers must die unto sin As our Lord Jesus was put to a painful lingring and ignominious death in like sort must their corruptions be mortified and killed For Mark it Sirs The death and crucifixion of our Lord Jesus is not only the meritorious cause through which sin is mortified and a strong evangelical reason why it should be mortified but it is also the pattern and exemplar according to which it is done In the very same way and manner as Christ was put to death for us so are our lusts and corruptions to be crucified within us Hereby we are rendred conformable unto his death Phil. 3.9 and planted together into the â—â—keness of his death Rom. 6.5 3. There must be conformâ—y to the Lord Jesus in his resurrection and ascension into heaven As he rose again from the dead and went up into heaven never to return to corruption any more so must the hearts of believers be raised unto spiritual objects and their affections set upon things that are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God Col. 3.1 Their hearts must be withdrawn from sin and the world never to be ingaged upon them any more but they must live as persons that are revived and made partakers of a new life Rom. 6.4 As he was raised from the dead by the glory of the father even so must we also walk in newness of life 4. Believers must be made conformable unto Christ in the holiness of his conversation They must tread in his steps doing the same work as he did and acting upon the same principles and motives as he acted upon and carrying on the same designs as Christ carried on and serving the Lord in the like manner with cheerfulness delight and alacrity as he served him Eph. 5.2 Walk in love as Christ also loved us And Rom. 15.1 2 3. We ought not to please our selves but every one his neighbour for his good to edification for Christ also pleased not himself c. 5. They must expect to be made conformable to Christ in the troubles and persecutions that befel him upon the earth Therefore it is called a suffering with him that is the same things and in like manner as he suffered Rom. 8.17 If we will be faithful unto Christ we must look to meet with the like usage as he met with and to go through many tribulations into the Kingdom of God This is the second thing to be noted under this comparison 3. According to the purport and tenour of this similitude taken from the foundation and the building Our faith which is the uniting grace is a resting upon Christ and his righteousness The stones are joyned to the foundation by being laid upon it and there resting So when we lay the stress of our salvation upon Christ and cast our burden upon him and there stay our selves as upon a rock thereby we are united unto Jesus and made one with him By nature we are as rough unpolished stones in a quarry without any relation to Christ Now the work of conviction may be compared to the unsettling of these stones and humiliation and legal terrors upon the heart are the hewing of these stones By the first they are removed out of the Quarry and by the other their ruggedness is pared away The grace of conversion is as the fitting and polishing the stones for the building and faith is a putting them upon the foundation and their resting upon it As by the cement of love the stones are coupled one to another so by faith they are knit unto the foundation By the Spirit they are brought unto Christ and so stay upon him Isa 50.10 Who is among you that feareth the Lord and obeyeth the voice of his servant and walketh in darkness and hath no light Let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God Rom. 9.33 Behold I lay in Sion stumbling stone and rock of offence and whosoever believeth on him shall not be confounded Mark it As Christ is a foundation to his people so he is a rock of offence to them that are disobedient they split themselves against this rock they stumble and fall and are broken in pieces If you would be saved by him you must by faith rest upon this foundation For whosoever believeth in him shall not be confounded 1 Pet. 2.4 5. To whom coming as unto a living stone disallowed indeed of men but chosen of God and precious Ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house c. See likewise Eph. 2.21 22. This is all that I shall speak under the sixth general Head for the illustration of this Mystery of Union with Christ by those similitudes which the holy Ghost hath made choice of to this purpose That which remains further is the Application of the Point CHAP. X. Inferences drawn from the Doctrine of Union with Christ The excellency and dignity of Believers The peculiarity of the providence of God towards them The miserable estate of Christless sinners FOr Application or practical improvement of this Doctrine I will manage it under these three Heads By way of 1. Information 2. Examination 3. Exhortation 1. By way of Information What are the practical Inferences which may be deduced from this Point of a Believers union with the Son of God and the necessity thereof I will not aim at the ingrossing of all that might be taken in upon this fruitful and spiritual subject Only I shall select these three Inferences which naturally arise from what hath been delivered 1. If believers are united unto Christ and made one with him in order to their salvation then hence I gather That they are the most honourable and most excellent persons upon the face of the earth Why Because they are united unto the Son of God and accordingly they should have the greatest esteem of us and be most precious and lovely in our eyes It is the character of a man that shall see the Lord in Sion that he contemneth a vile person but he honoureth them that fear the Lord Psal 15.1 4. Now here is that which maketh them right honourable above all their fellow-creatures they are intimately joyned unto Christ So that the Saints which are in the earth are the excellent of the earht Psal 16.3 more excellent than their neighbours than all that dwell round about them Prov. 12.26 You know the excellency or worthlessness of any
till you have secured your deliverance 4. An unregenerate sinner must needs be in a state of death because out of Christ who is the fountain of life and that in respect of condemnation or liableness to eternal death As we say of a malefactor when verdict is brought in against him and sentence is passed upon him to be executed He is a dead man dead in law and assoon as a writ for execution cometh forth to the Sheriff he will be actually put to death In this sense every unconverted sinner is dead legally dead that is He is condemned to be sent into everlasting burnings So that as the Egyptians said of themselves when their first-born were slain We be all dead men Exod. 12.23 The like sad message may I bring to every impenitent person amongst you Thou art a dead man or woman Verdict is past upon thee as guilty and sentence is gone forth against thee to be sent into the chains of darkness only thou art reprieved for a few moments and hitherto there hath been a respite of execution But let me tell thee if God should send a providence to take thee hence in this condition as for ought thou knowest he may do this night thou wouldest as certainly drop into hell and there lye for ever as now thou art upon the land of the living See a full proof of it Joh. 3.18 He that believeth not is condemned already Mark it although he be not actually damned yet he is already condemned and if he go on in his way it is impossible he should escape the damnation of hell How is he condemned already Why the Law of God hath pronounced sentence against him to be cast into prison till he have paid the uttermost farthing which will never be paid The sinner hath wronged and rebelled against an infinite Being and the Law doth sentence him to make a proportionable satisfaction Now seeing he cannot render a satisfaction infinite in worth and valuation he is condemned to torments infinite in duration This is the sentence passed upon the wicked and by reason of their unbelief this sentence stands unrepealed It remaineth in its full force and vigour against them they cannot plead the Gospel pardon for their discharge because that pardon is procured through the blood of Christ and given forth to none but such as are united to him If men were duly sensible hereof how would it disturb their carnal peace and cause their hearts to tremble They would not enjoy a quiet hour till they had made sure their acquital from this dreadful sentence They would not eat in quiet lest the next bit of bread they swallow down should stop their breath and prove as God's executioner to drag them into prison They could not sleep in quiet lest before the light of the morning their souls should be required and sent into the bottomless pit of destruction If this point were believed and laid to heart surely it would fill many closets and families full of complaints and cryings out more than if they were under the sorest temporal scourge How would mens retired chambers be filled with prayer and earnest desires after God to pluck them as fire-brands out of the burning What pains would they take to sue out their pardon in the blood of Christ What welcom entertainment would they give unto the Son of God when he cometh to offer life and salvation to them Exod. 12.30 There was a great cry in the land of Egypt for there was not an house where there was not one dead O my brethren If this doctrine were throughly weighed what a great cry would be heard in many places and Parishes where perhaps there are few houses wherein there are not several persons dead sentenced to be sent into the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death How would mens bowels earn with pity towards their carnal relations who spend their dayes in rejoycings and are every moment in danger of dropping into hell What mad men should we reckon ungodly persons to be that go on in mirth and jollity or spend their time in heaping up the dross and rubbish of the earth when in the mean time they are persons dead in Law condemned to hell How many do hardly think a serious thought of eternity from one end of the week to the other when yet there is but a step between them and everlasting burnings But if this were considered how would they run from one Minister to another and from one Christian to another with that question What must I do to be saved I am a condemned person can you give me directions how to get the sentence repealed The Lord cause these things to sink deep into your hearts And a little to drive home this nail of doctrine I will mind you further of these two things 1. As Christless sinners are already condemned so the very glory of God is concerned in their damnation or in the execution of the sentence past upon them if they abide in that condition And that is a matter very dear unto him whereof he is exceeding tender and wherewith he will never part Isa 42.8 God made all creatures for his own glory and he will have it from them one way or other If you do not glorifie his free grace by closing with Christ and submitting unto him he will glorifie his justice and severity upon you in your everlasting banishment out of the presence of Christ It is observeable what is said in the case of Nadab and Abihu when they offered up strange fire which God commanded not and they were consumed in a dreadful manner with fire from heaven Lev. 10.3 Then Moses said unto Aaron this is that the Lord said I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me and before all the people I will be glorified It is as much as if he had said This I am resolved upon that I will have glory from you one way or other If you do not honour me by a due observance of my word I will vindicate mine honour upon you by pouring down the vials of mine indignation So may I say in this case If you do not glorifie God actively in your conversations he will be glorified upon you in your confusion for this is that which he hath determined to have one way or other If you do not give glory to God by submitting to the terms on which salvation is offered you must of necessity be cast into outer darkness and God will glorifie his righteousness and truth and power and holiness in your utter destruction for by one means or other he will be glorified Rom. 9.22 23. 2. As impenitent sinners are dead in Law sentenced to hell and eternal death so if they go on still in their sins the infinite mercy of God will never save them from that sore ruine and desolation This is the constant refuge unto which they have recourse Be it that the Law condemneth them yet God
under this use of Trial viz. to shew you what this self-examination is and wherein consisteth your work in the performance of it 2. By way of motive and proveâ—ative to quicken and stir you up to the discharge of it It is a duty whereunto the heart of a man is hardly brought as indeed all spiritual work is untastful and unpleasing to flesh and bloud So that as we need line upon line and precept upon pracept to dispel the mists of ignorance whereby our minds are blinded and to prevent the mistakes whereupon we are apt to proceed in this work so we need motive upon motive and one spiritual argument upon the neck of another to cure the backwardness of our hearts whereby we are commonly averse to the performance of this work I will not be large under this head but only press upon you these four moving considerations or incentives Mot. 1. If you be loath to enter throughly into the disquisition of this matter and to debate the case with your selves whether you are one with Christ or not That very thing will be a shrewd argument against you that you are utter strangers unto Christ and in no wise partakers of salvation through him It will be a sign that your profession is unsound and your hearts rotten when you are unwilling to search into your spiritual condition As when a Tradesman will not suffer his wares to be throughly viewed it ministers ground of suspition that they are not right and good So it is in these spiritual affairs If you are hardly brought to make enquiry into your selves it will yield matter of suspition that you are conscious of some wickedness allowed in your selves and that your hearts are not right in the sight of the Lord. For my brethren It is not truth but falshood that hateth the light and will not come to the light lest it should be discovered A person that is indeed in Covenant with God and dealeth faithfully with him in living up to the terms of that Covenant is willing to be searched to the uttermost Psal 26.2 3. Examine me O Lord and prove me trie me and know my heart For thy loving kindness is before mine eyes and I have walked in thy truth I have not sate with vain persons c. Mot. 2. It concerns you to examine diligently whether you be united unto Christ Because it is an ordinary thing for men and women to be mistaken in this respect to think that they have the Son and are in a state of salvation when as in truth they lie still in the gall of bitterness And this mistake is the cause of their eternal ruine From hence it is that they neglect to seek after a remedy because in their own apprehensions they are safe already For as our Saviour saith They that be whole need not a Physician but they that are sick Mat. 9.12 Whilst men have good conceits of their own condition they rest secure therein and are not sensible of the need of having it changed * Immittit Diabolus securitatem ut inferat perditionem Neque dinumerari possunt quantos hac inanis spei umbra deceperit Aug. And there are multitudes of this sort who say they are Jews when they are the Synagogue of Satan as it is expressed Rev. 3.9 That is they imagine themselves to be and would have others esteem them as living members of the body of Christ when as in reality they are nothing else but the children of the devil You find it was the house of Jacob that is the generality of the people who were thus deceived Isa 48.1 2 3 4. They were obstinate and obdurate sinners their neck was an iron sinew and their brow as brass and yet they called themselves of the holy City and stayed themselves upon the God of Israel And Rev. 3.1 it is mentioned of the Church of Sardis that is the body of the people for unto them Christ speaketh by his Spirit Although the Epistle was directed to the Angel yet it was to be communicated to the Church v. 6. That they had a name to live whereas indeed they were dead Mot. 3. If upon the examination of your selves you shall find that through grace you are indeed united to Christ and make it sure to your selves that you have the Son the sweetness of that knowledge or assurance will abundantly recompense you for all the pains you were at in the search of it and the travel you took in pursuance after it O what an excellent priviledge will this be to be able to say that Christ is yours that his death is a satisfaction for your sins and the salvation he purchased is your inheritance and that he is now at the right hand of the Father interceding on your behalf With what inexpressible joy will this fill your spirits How will it sweeten your enjoyments and ease your burdens and bring a vein of consolation and gladness into every condition that you are in and under every providence that befalleth you Yoâ— will then be able to read the Scriptures with delight when you can say This promise conveyeth mercy to my soul and this is a blessing wherein I am a sharter And as for the threatnings of judgment they speak not a word of terror to my soul for I am not under the Law but under grace being united unto Jesus the head of the Covenant oâ— grace This will inable you to walk cheerfully throughout your pilgrimage and to meditate up on the excellencies of God with an holy exultation when you can say This God is my God upon the account of Christ unto whom I am knit in separably This infinite power is ingaged for mâ— protection and safeguard this incomprehensibâ— wisdom is at work for my direction and guidancâ— this alsufficiency is for my satisfaction and blessedness and the like Then you may say with thâ— Prophet Hab. 3.19 The Lord God is my strengâ— and he will make my feet like Hinds feet and he will make me to walk upon my high places Then you may appropriate the Lord and his attributes unto your selâ—es and be assured he will make haste for your preservation and deliverance as speedily and swiftly as the Hind runneth into her covert and that he will set you on high in the munitions of rocks I might thus expatiate abundantly in setting forth the sweetness of this knowledge of your union with Christ Then you would taste real comfort in the accomodations of this life and be no way terrified or dismayed at the apprehensions of death for it will but translate you hence into a paradise of bliss and glory Mot. 4. Consider seriously in the last place That although upon the examination of your selves it should appear that you are still in the state of wrath â—nd condemnation without a saving interest in â—he Son of God yet the finding it to be so would â—e one good step towards your restauration and reâ—overy out of that estate and make
That he will have a cooler place in hell than some others who have ran beyond him in the perpetration of horrid abominations 5. A meer civil conversation and inoffensive câ—â—riage towards men is a poor foundation of a mans hopeâ— You have some will lean upon this prop and be very confident of their salvation upon this ground because they pay all men their due and walk honestly towards their neighbours and defie all the world to bring in a bill of accusation against them But this will prove as a rotten pillar that cannot support the Fabrick For observe what our Saviour saith to the Pharisees Luke 16.15 Ye are they which justifie your selves before men but God knoweth your hearts for that which is highly esteemed amongst men is abomination to God Mark it here is the question Is thy heart washed and sanctified Art thou regenerated by the Spirit of Christ and so knit unto him The God before whom thou must appear is the searcher of the hearts and will bring to light the hidden things * Deest aliquid intus Said one of a picture when he tried to make it stand and vvalk of it self There wants something within So it may be said of the unregenerate moralist There vvants a Principle of spiritual life vvithin of darkness He seeth those secret and spiritual wickednesses that lodge within thee which the world cannot discern He taketh a view of those inward pollutions and filthinesses which pass the eye of the most curious inquisitor amongst the children of men Civility is a mercy for which thou art bound to bless the name of God but it will not entitle thee to the Kingdom of God * Va etiam vitae laudabili Aug. For the obtaining of that thou must be united to Christ Unconverted Paul was of a blameless conversation and yet a child of the wrath of God And therefore when he had a right knowledge of matters he did not rest herein but earnestly breathed after Christ and rejected all things that he might be found in him Phil. 3.6 8. 6. Legal sorrow for sin and a kind of reformation thereupon will not serve to beget a well-grounded hope of eternal life When sinners are under some pangs of conviction that damps their mirth for a while and their consciences are troubled for some ungodliness which they have committed and this trouble prevaileth so far as to make them leave the practise of that ungodliness for the present Hence they are apt to cherish strong confidence of their salvation Surely think they it cannot go amiss with us who have felt such disquietness in our spirits and begin to lead a new life What will bring a man to heaven if this will not But man one thing thou lackest yet and that is union with Christ the Son of God Unless thy sorrow for sin prove efficacious to drive thee quite out of thy self and to cause thee to give up thy soul into the hands of the Mediator whom God hath appointed it will in no wise conduct thee to everlasting glory Judaâ— was troubled for sin and restored the pieces of silver which he had gotten as the wages of unrighteousness and yet he went unto his own place Mat. 27.4 5. Act. 1.25 He had deep gashes of conviction cut in his conscience whereby he was wounded sorely and yet perished for ever for want of getting into Christ and application thereby of the healing balsom of his righteousness There may be much torture and vexation in the heart for sin and such as may carry a man to some amendment of life and yet not a drop of that godly sorrow that worketh repentance unto salvation not the least degree of that evangelical brokenness and contrition of spirit which driveth the sinner unto Christ that he may find rest for his soul 7. The meer external performance of spiritual daties is no sufficient ground whereupon to bottom our hopes of eternal life Such as prayer and reading the Scriptures and frequenting religious exercises and the like These are good means if rightly managed to bring a sinner unto Christ but in themselves they are no evidence of a good estate The Pharisee was much in outward duties and yet he was not justified Luke 18.12 A person may make many prayers and play the counterfeit in all that he doth many confess sin and plead against it with their mouths and in the mean while hug it in their bosoms they pretend to earnest desires of grace and holiness in their expressions but hate it in their affections with a perfect hatted they read the Scriptures to find out the will of God and yet retain a secret resolvedness of spirit to follow the dictates of their own wills they attâ—nd with their bodies on the Ordinances of Christ whilst their hearts go after covetousness and other base corruptions Ezek. 33.31 32. Many labour only to stop the mouth of conscience with outward performances who are utterly strangers to the workings of a renewed principle Besides What are the Institutions and Ordinances of Christ except they lead the soul unto Christ That is the very end of their appointment to bring us unto him and to build us up in him without an interest in whom by way of union with him there is no right to the kingdom of heaven attainable by any 8. The good opinions of the godly are but a sandy foundation of hope It is a great mercy to converse with such as are spiritually wise and to have a place and seat in their affections who are favourites in the court of heaven But it is no sure evidence of our title to heaven And the reason is this Because their estimation of others may arise from a mistake of their persons judging them only by what is visible and apparent in open view but God is a discerner of the secret recesses of the heart The Lord seeth not as man seeth 1 Sam. 16.7 How was David mistaken in Achitophel They took sweet counsel together and walked unto the house of God in company and yet he was an accursed person and wickedness was in his dwelling Psal 55.14 They may be much in the affections of the godly who are an abomination unto the Lord. So that trust not in this as a sign of a good estate Thon mayest be of great repute amongst Christians and yet alienated from Jesus Christ whereas it is only union with the Son and ingrafture into him which will give thee a right to salvation 9. Lastly that I may hasten to a conclusion A being joyned in fellowship with this or the other party who make a stricter profession of godliness than others is an insufficient ground whereupon to build our hopes of eternal life This is all the proof that some can make of their fincerity Because they are of such a perswasion and settled in a Church way with such eminent professors they are of the same judgment and hold the same opinions with them this is made the foundation of great
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