abolishing of the former as the expiring of the latter He is an eternal Saviour as well as Eternal God Thus he saves to the utternmost VSE 1. Let us settle our hearts in the faith of this grand Point against the assaults of Infidelity in general Whatever vile blasphemous and dishonourable Thoughts of Jesus Christ other persons in the World have to them that are saved he is and ought to be esteemed as the power of God 1 Cor. 1.24 There are Children of Belial now as there were in the days of Saul and worse than they who cry How shall this man save us 1 Sam. 10.27 Making little more of him than a common ordinary Son of Man but to us he should be no less than the Mighty God we should respect and honour him as such and thereby do what we can to ballance the contempt which is thrown upon him by a wretched Generation that know him not 2. Let us improve this for the strengthening of our adherence to Christ and dependance on him notwithstanding all that tends to deter and beat us off Never give up this Cause never cast away thy Confidence but hold fast the beginnings of it steady to the end seeing that Jesus Christ can save to the uttermost There can be no Lion in any part of the way between thee and Heaven but what he hath a sufficiency of Power to deliver and rescue thee from Look as far as thou canst says one well take the largest prospect that 's possible of all thy Sins Miseries and Difficulties of Salvation still the Power of Christ does extend infinitely beyond all these We may safely say If Christ be not able to succour and help us we are content to perish if we rest there we are out of danger 3. Let us oppose the saving strength of Christ to all the united force of Hell The Persecutors of our Souls are indeed stronger than we but they are weaker than he We have a Friend in Heaven that can do more for us than all our enemies from beneath can do against us Those Horns are not so able to scatter God's Israel as this Horn of Salvation is to defend them If evil Angels be greater in power than the best of Men left to themselves they are not so great in power as our great High-Priest Jesus the Son of God When they have done their utmost to separate a Believer from the love of God 't is not so much as our blessed Lord hath done to keep us in it Behold I give unto you power to tread on Serpents and Scorpions and over all the power of the enemy c. Luke 10.19 4. Let this comfort us under the sense of our own impotency When we consider how weak and feeble we are it is cause of deep abasement when we consider how powerful Christ is it is on the other hand matter of strong consolation There is a kind of Omnipotency communicated from Christ to those that are in him I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me Phil. 4.13 Though we are but as reeds shaken with the wind he can make us Pillars in the Temple of his God Rev. 3.12 All that are built upon this sure Foundation receive stability from it Therefore as Abraham considered not the deadness of his own Body or Sarah's Womb being fully perswaded of God's being able to perform his Promise Rom. 4.19 21. So the belief of Christ's Almightiness should be mixt with the thoughts of our own infirmities 5. Let this relieve and fortifie our spirits against the dejecting fears of our future Apostacy How little Grace soever we yet have we shall have as much as we need if we belong to Christ for he is able to make all Grace abound towards us nd in us How defective soever our Sanctification yet be Christ hath a Stock enough in his own hands to fill up what is behind that there shall be nothing lacking at the last We stagger and reel and stumble so often that we are afraid perhaps we shall never hold on and hold out till we come to our Journeys end But ought not this to bear up our hopes that we are interested in one who is able to keep us from falling Jude 24. able to prevent every Fall or able to recover and raise us up when fallen 6. When we come to the Throne of Grace this Doctrine will furnish us with a good plea to urge to God viz. That the Glory of Christ's Power is embarqu'd with our Salvation It was such a sort of Argument which Moses went to God with when God threatned to destroy Israel he tells him what the Nations would be apt to say Numb 14.16 Because the Lord was not able to bring this People into the Land which he sware unto them therefore he hath slain them in the Wilderness So may we say Lord it will teach the Devil to blaspheme thy Son if we should come short of the Rest which thou hast promised us the Powers of Darkness which have heard his Fame and felt his hand will be ready to vilifie him and cry Because he was not able to save them he hath suffer'd them to perish 7. This may encourage those that are yet without Christ to come to him You are not you cannot be so great Sinners but that he is still a greater Saviour Do not mistake it for your Duty to aggravate your own Sin to the lessening of Christ Objection Though Christ is able to save me he may not be willing and then what am I the better He is certainly able to do many things which he never does and so I may be lost notwithstanding his saving Power Answer 1. It will do well if thou art throughly got over this Block of suspecting and distrusting the Power of Christ We are naturally prone to stick here as the Father of the Child Mark 9.22 If thou canst do any thing have compassion on us and help us Therefore our Lord was wont to put the Question as to the Blind Man Mat. 9.21 Believe you that I am able to do this 2. There is no more doubt of the willingness of Christ to save than of his power where he makes the Soul willing to accept of Salvation by him When such a consenting Will is wrought in us 't is an infallible evidence of his saving Good Will towards us What was he given of God for what did he give himself for but that whosoever believeth on him should not perish How then canst thou think that Salvation is his strange work or that he is unwilling to it 3. Thou canst not die in thy Sins if thou wilt come to Christ to save thee from them 'T is impossible that any thing should hinder him from doing this mighty Work upon thee if thy unbelief do not nothing will tie his Hands but only that He never is as a mighty Man that cannot save but where his mighty Salvation is call'd in Question Therefore imitate their Faith who were
seek Psalm 27.8 God does not only expect such an Answer but expects it immediately upon his Call When ever he blows with his Wind he looks that we should spread our Sails If we refuse his offer'd help we may deservedly want it when desir'd As Christ withdrew himself from the Spouse because she let him stand knocking so long at the Door of her Heart and she still deferr'd to open and tir'd out his loving Forbearance with vain and frivolous Excuses Song 5.2 c. But as we must not omit the present Performance of any Duty which he excites unto we must not check his Influences by being weary of the Duties which he assists us in If we do not improve extraordinary Aids by holding out the longer we provoke him to depart 11. Dallying with Satan's Temptations This was Sampson's Case he went on Mocking Dalilah three Times one after another till at last he told her all his Heart So Eve's parleying with the Serpent instead of giving a resolute Repulse was the introduction to all that Sin and Misery which hath since fill'd the World There can be no Conversation had with the Vnclean Spirit but that the Holy Spirit will be offended by it An intimate Friend would take it ill and would have Reason to keep at a more than usual distance from us if he saw us maintaining any familiar Correspondence with his avowed Enemy If we grow bold and presumptuous in playing with the Devils baits the Spirit of God will be more shy of having Fellowship with us If we do not vigorously oppose the first Suggestions and Assaults we can have little Hope of being assisted in the progress of Temptation and much less of comeing off with Victory at the End of it He that will tread upon the Edge of a known Snare which he should fly from is generally left to be caught and taken in it 12. Carelessness and Negligence in our daily Walk This may be and is too often the fault of those whose Hearts nevertheless in the main are upright with God The Fear of God is in them but 't is not constantly before them as it ought to be Though they be not habitual Customary Sinners yet for want of taking that heed to their Ways which they should do they may fall into scandalous and hainous Sins and what less can we suppose that this should issue in than a Departure of the Spirit of God from them And therefore when David came to himself after his foul Miscarriage and reflected upon what he had done he might well put up such a Prayer Psalm 51.11 Cast me not away from thy Presence take not thy Holy Spirit from me This was what he dreaded and deprecated as the just and natural Consequent of his Sin He that would not expose himself to such a Judgment as this is needs to be very watchful and Circumspect for if we do not ponder the Path of our Feet and look well to our goings we shall slip into the Mire before we are aware III. What are the Effects which follow upon these Departures 1. A manifest deadness both in Private Duties and Publick Ordinances 'T is said of the slain Witnesses that when the Spirit of Life from God enter'd into them They stood upon their Feet Rev. 11.11 When the Spirit withdraws we can by no means lift up our selves but only creep as it were and grovel on the ground 'T is so 1. In Private Duties the Ebbings and Flowings which we often find in the Exercise of Grace the various and unequal Motions of our Souls towards God when we are alone in our Retirements plainly prove that the Spirit of God is not always alike present and that according as he is more or less so we are either lively or drooping When the Spirit is in the Wheels we are able to run but if not we tire When we have him with us we go on swiftly when we are without him we draw very heavily When God pours out his Spirit upon us how fervently can we pour out our Souls to him When he is departed how strangely are we bound up The Influence of the Spirit sets us on Fire and in his Absence we can get no warmth 2. 'T is the same in Publick Ordinances When God fills them with his own Presence there is a mighty Power a glorious Majesty a charming Beauty a satisfying Sweetness in them but when God withholds himself they are empty of all this When the Spirit of God moves upon the Waters of the Sanctuary they are a Stream that make glad the City of God but else even the Children of Sion have no Refreshment by them Hence it is that the very same Persons are so differently affected with and wrought upon by the same Administrations at several Seasons sometimes it may be we meet with that ravishing Pleasure and Joy in Worshipping Assemblies that we are ready to cry it is good to be here at other Times we feel no such Thing When we are in the Spirit on the Lord's-Day the Sabbath is our Delight the Word is savoury Meat the Supper is a Feast of Fat Things but without the Spirit these Days of Heaven are lost to us and the Wells of Salvation like dry Pits 2. A wretched indifferency towards the Service of God As this is an Effect of God's departing so it naturally follows upon the former for where Men are not quicken'd in God's way they will certainly need to be quicken'd to it When the vigorous Relish of the Soul is gone the Appetite will be gone proportionably Our desiring of the Word depends very much upon our Tasting of it 1 Pet. 2.2 3. The better Meals we make in God's House the more we hunger and the more we drink of the River of his Pleasure the greater is our Thirst Here lies our Misery therefore when through the Absence of the Spirit God's Service is become undelightful to us 't is also too much undesir'd by us Some desire to his Name is still remaining in every gracious Soul but 't is marvelously cooled and abated and the edge of it taken off there is not that vehement Desire which the Scripture speaks of 2 Cor. 7.11 There is not a desiring with Desire as Luke 22.15 There is not that Panting after God nor that earnest longing to come and appear before him which David professes Psalm 42.1 2. They can pass over Seasons of conversing with God or be hinder'd of them more easily than when the Spirit is present 3. The Revival of secret Corruptions whereby Satan gets great Advantages The Evil present with us is never so prevalent as when the Lord is departed from us Then those Lusts which seem'd to be pretty well mortified and subdued before start up again and recover their Strength and the Devil falling in with them does abundance of mischief Believers are hereupon sometimes overcome by Temptations which they Thought themselves most secure against and furthest off from a Compliance with they are led
when it is so plainly confirmed by the Word of God as I have elsewhere shewed If we receive the Witness of Men the Witness of God is greater And there needs no greater Vindication of any Doctrine than the Testimony of God to the truth of it The Author of these Discourses was a Person whose Worth was well known in this City he was a Person of a sound Mind and Judgment in the great Doctrines of the Gospel and held fast the Form of sound Words carefully shunning the Paths of those By-way Men who please themselves with the fond Thoughts of such Opinions wherein they chuse to walk by themselves apart from the Community of the Saints and Churches of God None who knew him and love the Interest of Christ and the Souls of Men but must bewail the loss of such an Eminent Servant in the Lord's Work especially in such a day as this is wherein the Harvest is so great and Faithful Labourers so few But why stand I in the Door-way which leads to the Discourse it self I shall therefore no longer hinder thy Entrance than by begging a Blessing upon the Work that it may be sanctified to thy Vnderstanding for Knowledge to thy Judgment for Establishment to thy Conscience for Peace and for Joy and Gladness to thy whole Soul So Prays Thy Servant in the Lord's Work And for his Sake Matth. Mead. Febr. 2d 1699. ERRATA PAge 18. Line 9. read Duties P. 25. l. 21. r. it 's P. 28. l. 27. r. not P. 31. l. 28. r. askt P. 51. l. 15. r. Fortifies P. 52. l. 15. r. the P. 77. l. 16. r. knew P. 79. l. 21. r. of P. 104. l. 11. r. Law P. 144 l. 1. dele that l. 27. r. hardened P. 193. l. 12. dele when we are so P. 213. l. 17. r. but P. 256. l. 4. r. are P. 257. l. 12. r. Comparison P. 274. l. 13. dele and P. 315. l. 25. r. bounds P. 330. l. 6. r. Thyatira's P. 335. l. 11. r. Equivalent P. 362. l. 26. r. Scope THE TEXTS Matth. XVI 17. AND Jesus answered and said unto him Blessed art thou Simon Bar-jona for Flesh and Blood hath not revealed it to thee but my Father which is in Heaven Page 1 Psalm XXVI 3. For thy loving kindness is before mine eyes and I have walked in thy Truth p. 36 2 Corinth I. 20. For all the Promises of God in him are yea and in him Amen unto the Glory of God by us p. 67 Psalm LXXX 17. and 18. former part Let thy hand be upon the Man of thy right hand upon the Son of Man whom thou madest strong for thy self 18. So will not we go back from thee p. 95 Judges XVI 20. last Clause And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him p. 125 Acts V. 32. latter part And so is also the Holy Ghost whom God has given to them that obey him p. 156 Mark X. 26 27. And they were astonished out of measure saying among themselves Who then can be saved And Jesus looking upon them saith With Men it 's impossible but not with God for with God all things are possible p. 186 Psalm LXIX 4. last Clause Then I restored that which I took not away p. 217 Gallat IV. 6. And because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your Hearts crying Abba Father p. 247 Ephes IV. 7. But unto every one of us is given Grace according to the measure of the Gift of Christ p. 279 Deuteronomy XXXIV 5. So Moses the Servant of the Lord died there in the Land of Moab according to the word of the Lord p. 311 Hebr. VII 25. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them p. 340. SERMON I. April 23. 1695. MATTHEW XVI xvii And Jesus answered and said unto him Blessed art thou Simon Bar-jona For Flesh and Blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my Father which is in Heaven TO understand the occasion of these Words we must look back as far as ver 13. of this Chapter where our Lord having a mind to clear and confirm his Disciples in the Knowledge of himself makes way for it by the proposing of such Questions as would draw forth suitable Answers Accordingly 1. He asks them what was the Opinion of others concerning him Whom do Men say that I the Son of Man am Christ usually stiled himself thus Son of Man not only as an Expression of his Humility but to shew that he was the promised Seed the Person foretold under that Character in the Old Testament Psal 8.4.80.17 Dan. 7.13 And perhaps also to try the Faith of his Hearers whether they had an Eye to any more than his Humanity therefore says he here what does that World which you Converse with think of me what kind of Person do they take me to be The Answer is ver 14. Some say that thou art John the Baptist some Elias and others Jeremias or one of the Prophets Here was a diversity of Opinions about Christ and none of them right but all false and fabulous the Products of vain Imagination That Christ was John the Baptist risen from the Dead was Herods Opinion Chap. 14.2 That he was Elias was the Opinion of many among the Jews who had a mistaken Notion that Elias must first come before the Appearance of Christ Chap. 17.10 And again another sort of them thought that he was the Soul of some eminent Deceased Prophet in a new Body which was one of the wild Conceits of that dark erroneous Age. But 2. Christ asks them what was their own Opinion ver 15. Whom say ye that I am Do you concur with this blind and ignorant World or have you any better Apprehensions of me different from theirs 'T is meet that you who are my little Flock should give me some account of your particular Belief and 't is also meet that seeing you are to Preach me unto others you should first make some Confession of me your selves The Answer to this and the Person answering we have ver 16. Which because it hath an immediate Coherence with the Words now before us ought to be distinctly consider'd And 1. We may begin with the less considerable Part the Person speaking Simon Peter answered and said 'T is probable that he spake as the Mouth of the Apostles in the Name of all and that the rest agreed to this Testimony and believ'd as he said Not that he had any real Precedency or Superiority above the rest for then why should they enquire who was the greatest c. Chap. 18.1 but because he was one of the first call'd to the Apostleship and of the more esteem among them as he was of so long a standing and because he was of a very warm and forward Spirit as is evident by many other Passages 2. Here is the Thing spoken which is the main Subject of our
Consideration Thou art Christ the Son of the Living God The same good Confession was made once before by Peter John 6.69 And now repeated to evidence his firm Establishment in this grand Article of Faith In which our Lord is describ'd two Ways both by his Office and his Essence 1. Christ is a Name of Office of the same Signification with the Messiah as the Holy Ghost himself Interprets it John 1.41 The anointed of the Lord he to whom the Prophets witness't he that should come into the World as John 11.27 He whose Work and Business was to be a Saviour not a Temporal but an Eternal one a Saviour from Sin and Wrath from the drudgery of the Devil and the Prison of Hell 2. The Son of God is a Name which respects his Essence and Being a Son not by Adoption and Grace as the Baptist and Elias and Jeremy and the other Prophets were but a Son by Nature a Son whose Generation is ineffable for he is infinitely Equal with the Father for he is true God as well as Son of God the Father hath that Title of the Living God in Opposition to false Gods Jer. 10.10 Acts 14.15 And the very same Title is likewise given to the Son Heb. 3.12 Jesus is true Jehovah and according to the true Import of that Word he hath Life in himself as the Father hath John 5.26 Well Christ's Commendation of this Confession is set down in the Text Jesus answered and said unto him c. Where we may take Notice of three Things 1. The Name which Christ calls this Apostle by Simon Bar-jonai or Simon Son of Jona as the Word signifies Peter was the Name that Christ gave to him ver 18. As God gave the Name of Israel to Jacob Gen. 32.28 But here Christ puts him in Mind of the meanness of his Extraction and of what he was originally as he does again after his fall no less than three Times over John 21.15 16 17 What change soever is made upon us by the Favour and Mercy of God 't is good to reflect sometimes upon our Primitive Vileness and Wretchedness to look to the Rock whence we are hewen and the hole of the Pit whence we are digged 2. The Happy State which Christ pronounc't him to be in Blessed art thou Christ had Authority to pronounce Persons blessed for he had Power to make them so Acts 3.26 God having raised up his Son Jesus sent him to bless you He can really and effectually do it what Palak said falsly of Balaam is true of Christ The Man whom he blesses is blessed Numb 22.6 If he blesses we shall be blessed for ever as David said to God 1 Chron. 17.27 Such is the Blessedness which Christ speaks of here both Perfect and Perpetual without Defect and without Decay 3. The Reason assign'd to back this comfortable Sentence which refers to the Way and Means of the discovery of that Truth which Peter had now confest and this is laid down both Negatively and Affirmatively 1. Negatively For Flesh and Blood hath not revealed it unto Thee Flesh and Blood are variously taken in Scripture 1. Sometimes for the humane Nature consisting of Soul and Body so Heb. 2.14 2. Sometimes for the natural Body accompanied with its present Infirmities in Opposition to a spiritual glorified Body So 1 Cor. 15.50 3. Sometimes for humane Instruction so Gal. 1.16 Paul says that he conferred not with Flesh and Blood which is the same Thing with not receiving the Gospel which he Preacht of Man ver 12. 4. Sometimes for humane Opposition so Eph. 6.12 We wrestle not with Flesh and Blood c. i. e. we have not only to do with persecuting Men but raging Devils 5. Sometimes for natural Reason our own Judgments and Understanding And this I take to be the principal Sense of the Phrase here q. d. Thou dost not owe this Revelation to thy self or to any discerning Faculty in thee above other Men. 2. Affirmatively But my Father which is in Heaven Four Things seem to be intimated by this 1. That there is a mysterious Order in all Divine Operations according to which God the Father is to be lookt upon as the Fountain The Father Works and the Son and Spirit Works conjunctly there is no Inequality or Subordination among the Persons and yet we are led by the Gospel to Eye the first Person as the spring of all When our Lord speaks of sending the Comforter 't is from the Father John 15.26 And when the Spirit of the Son is sent forth into our Hearts God is said to do it which is plainly meant of God the Father Gal. 4.6 2. That in all the Works of Grace towards lost Creatures God acts as the Father of Christ Eph. 1.3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual Blessings in him Out of Christ we can expect only the Curse of God as a revenging Judge but we can expect nothing from him as a Father in a way of Love and Mercy 3. Acquaintance with the only begotten Son of God must flow from him that begat him No Man knoweth the Son but the Father as no Man knoweth the Father but the Son Mat. 11.27 Therefore they mutually manifest and declare each other which none else is capable of doing Who should lay open the Secrets of one Man to another but himself And who should reveal the glorious Persons in the Godhead but themselves See 1 Cor. 2.11 4. If therefore we look for Light we must look upwards As the Sun over our Heads is the visible Cause of natural Illumination so spiritual Illumination is from an Infinite Being above the Sun 'T is one of the gracious Issues which belong to our Father in Heaven The dark Places of the Earth unanimously say it is not in us Every good and perfect Gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of Lights James 1.17 The Words thus open'd come to this Point Obs There is a certain Blessedness annext to the Knowledge of those Truths which humane Reason does not discover but God himself Here 1. Shew That there are some Truths necessary to be believ'd which humane Reason neither does nor can discover 2. How such Truths are discovered by God 3. What kind of Knowledge is the Effect of this discovery 4. Wherein lyes the Blessedness annext to that Knowledge 5. Why it is so 6. Use 1. To shew That there are some Truths necessary to be believ'd which humane Reason cannot discover The peculiar Doctrines of the Gospel are as deep as the Commands of the Law are broad But I will confine my self to the instance mention'd in the Context the Godhead of Jesus Christ Every one is bound to believe this and every Man that calls himself a Christian professes the Belief of it without such a Profession his Christianity is void and without such a Belief his Profession is vain To take upon us the Christian Name and
deny the Deity of Christ is a lying to Men and an outward acknowledgment of this where there is not an Hearty Consent is lying to God Now that this is not discoverable by humane Reason is no difficult Matter to prove Let us consider a little these two Things 1. Reason could never have found out this Truth of the Godhead of Christ The Existence of a God is a natural Impression upon the Minds of Men and therefore almost universally own'd but a Trinity of Persons in Unity of Essence and such an Order among the Persons as makes Jesus Christ the Second determinately not the First or Third is one of the great Mysteries of Faith By those common remainders of Light which every Man hath that comes into the World every Age hath brought forth some new Inventions and Discoveries of Things that have been truly ingenious and useful in their kind but still they have been Things within the proper Compass and sphaere of Nature Jesus Christ would have been for ever the unknown God if Reason had been left to make the search For 1. How many parts of the World are there utterly destitute of the Knowledge of this Truth Though the Nations of them that are saved walk in the Light of it yet there are several other Nations of Men that have natural Sagacity enough who sit in gross Darkness as to these Things Multitudes Multitudes in the Wilderness of the Heathen whom God hath not yet brought into the Valley of Vision that never heard whether there be a Christ or no. He that should tell the uncalled Gentiles of such a Person would be a Barbarian to them though he had learnt to speak in their own Tongue 2. The Notions of some of the Learned Heathens which look a little this way were both borrow'd and deprav'd What was true in them was not their own but learnt by Tradition from the Jews who were instructed out of the Law all the rest was wretchedly corrupt and dishonourable to Christ and injurious to Religion Therefore the Apostle gives that Caution Col. 2.8 Beware lest any Man spoil you through Philosophy and vain Deceit c. And therefore he passes that Censure Rom. 1.22 Professing themselves to be wise they become Fools 3. Those Signatures and Prints of this Truth which some fancy to be upon the visible Creation are too obscure to Collect so great a Doctrine from There may be some little dim resemblances of a Trinity in some of the Works of God but as they are too weak to confirm our Faith of it by so we may safely conclude that no Man in the World would ever have spelt a Trinity out of them if he had not heard of it before But as Knowledge is easie to him that understandeth Prov. 14 6. So we fancy many Evidences of those Things of which we are convinc'd already 2. Reason cannot find out this Truth to Perfection though the Scripture hath brought it to Light now it is reveal'd to us another Way Reason is puzzled with it For 1. Things of an Infinite Nature must needs be Eternal Riddles to Finites Minds God would not be God if Men or Angels could comprehend him he must cease to be what he is if we could fully know what he is Uncreated Excellency and Glory cannot be taken in to such shallow and scanty Thoughts We can understand the Relation which is between Creatures like our selves we can explain it and give a satisfactory Account of it one to another but how the Divine Persons our Everlasting Creators as the Spirit sometimes expresses it are mutually related is not to be perfectly unfolded How the same Person should be Man and yet God how the same God should be a Son and yet never begin to be will be matter of endless Admiration 2. Reason Objects so many Difficulties against this Truth of the Sonship of Jesus Christ as make us very slow in receiving it The manner of it is so inexplicable that therefore the thing it self seems to be incredible for naturally we affect to be satisfied how every thing is which we allow to be The carnal Mind is Enmity in this Case and instead of promoting opposes therefore the Apostle speaks of casting down Imaginations or Reasonings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Ministry of the Gospel 2 Cor. 10.5 As there is a natural Popery so a natural Socinianism which exalts it self against the Knowledge of God and Christ 3. The Faith of these Things which is wrought in us is not built upon the Evidence of Reason but the Authority of God There is indeed a Reason of Faith it is reasonable that we should believe whatsoever God reveals and 't is reasonable we should be assur'd that this or that is his Revelation so far Reason is subservient to Faith in the general but to believe a particular Truth because it may be retionally demonstrated is not the Faith of the Gospel we are to believe because it is Divinely Revealed this is Faith Otherwise in believing we do not set our Seal to the Truth of God but the Reason of the Thing So that if it were possible to bring other Proofs as well as Scriptural of the Deity of our Lord Jesus which it is not for it is a Matter of pure Revelation yet the Faith of a Christian as such could not rest upon them 2. How are such Truths as these discovered to us by God In short it is the special Work of the Spirit to reveal Christ to us to direct our Minds into the Knowledge of his Person and to take of his Things and to spread them before us with convincing Light Eye hath not seen c. The Things which God hath prepared c. But God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all Things c. 1 Cor. 2.9 10. But as to the Way and Manner of this Revelation of Divine Things by the Spirit of God I would offer these Particulars 1. It is not in the neglect and disuse of outward Means God will not countenance our Contempt of what is required and appointed by himself He hath commanded us privately to search the Scriptures which testifie of Christ and to attend the Publick Preaching of Christ in Worshipping Assemblies and so in and by the Word as a fit vehicle of spiritual Light he is pleas'd to convey the Knowledge of himself and of his Son The Scriptures and Ordinances cannot enlighten us without the Spirit and ordinarily the Spirit does it not without them Ministers are stiled Instructors in Christ 1 Cor. 4.15 And they are so by Vertue of the Institution of Christ and the Spirit of Christ imploys and make use of them to serve the Purposes and Ends of his own Grace Obj. Does not the Holy Ghost say They shall not teach every Man his Neighbour and his Brother saying Know the Lord c. Heb. 8.11 And you need not that any Man teach you 1 John 2.27 Ans 1. 'T is most evident
that these Places do not intend the advancing of immediate Illumination in defiance to instituted Means the teaching of God are not to be oppos'd to the teachings of Men for even in the New Testament the teachings of Men are often mention'd as subordinate to the teachings of God He that heareth you says Christ to his Apostles heareth me Luke 10.16 And though Men are Ambassadors for Christ it is as though God did beseech you by them 2 Cor. 5.20 2. The sence of these Places therefore must be that the Effusion of the Spirit under the Gospel would be so plentiful not as to exclude humane Teaching or render it unnecessary but so as vastly to exceed and out-do it that in comparison it should be as no Teaching for Believers that are taught of God though they despise not external Ministrations yet may say to their Ministers as the Samaritans to the Woman John 4.42 Now we believe not because of thy saying for we have heard him our selves and know that this is indeed the Christ c. 2. Though it be in the use of outward Means yet 't is an internal discovery there is an Application not only of Words to the Eye or Ear but of Conviction to the Mind God who commanded the Light to shine out of Darkness hath shined in our Hearts c. 2 Cor. 4.6 So Paul says of himself with respect to the Time of his Conversion When it pleased God to reveal his Son in me Gal. 1.15 16. This inward Revelation is of a perfectly different kind from the bare revealing of Christ to us in the Letter of the Gospel though it be the same Christ who is reveal'd both to us and in us for in the Work of Faith God inspires the Soul with new Perceptions of Divine Objects so that there is communicated and imprinted another Sense and sight of those very Things of which we had formerly heard The Spirit secretly suggests that which we never knew concerning that which we did sleightly and superficially know All the great Transactions of God which accompany Salvation are within us unseen and unknown to any but our selves 'T is the inward Man which is transform'd and renewed in Knowledge and the Spirit who does all this for us is said to be dwelling in us 3. The Spirit Works freely in making this discovery Though we are tyed to use the Means he is not oblig'd to work by them always upon every one that does enjoy them He divides his Gifts and Graces to this and that Person severally as he will 1 Cor. 12.11 He is compar'd to the Wind which bloweth where it listeth John 3.8 'T is not in vain that the Spirit and the Wind have the same Name in the Original Languages of the Scriptures and in that extraordinary pouring out of the Spirit Acts 2.2 There came a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty Wind which fill'd the House because as the Wind is not at the command of any Creature with reference to its moving or ceasing blowing one way or another so the Spirit of God is a free Agent in all his Operations he is under no necessity of enlightning those whom he does enlighten he does it for one and not for another in the hearing of the same Word to shew that he Acts with the highest Liberty Mat. 13.11 It is given to you to know the Mysteries c. but to them it is not given 4. The Spirit Works effectually in these Discoveries He makes dead Letters to become lively Oracles There is an Excellency of Power which goes along with the Word when he causes it to be receiv'd According to his working which worketh in me mightily Col. 1.29 The thick scales of Ignorance and Infidelity like those of the Leviathan Job 41.17 stick so close that it must be a strong Hand which removes and separates them from our Understandings There never was any saving Revelation of Gospel-Truths to any Sinner in the World from the very beginning of it without a Revelation of the Arm of the Lord Isa 53.1 But wheresoever this Arm of God is revealed the Report of the Gospel is both understood and believ'd This Omnipotent cause never fails of producing its intended Effect So Christ expresly says John 6.45 Every Man that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me Every Man without one Exception 5. The Spirit Works in this Case suitably to the Nature of our Faculties he does not destroy or force them but enlarge and improve them He does not put out the Eye of our Minds but open it Our foolish Hearts are naturally darkned and he does not impose upon them but clear them Every Believer can testifie this to the Honour of Christ that his sight hath not been taken away but restor'd as he boldly said to the Pharisees John 9.25 One thing I know that whereas I was blind now I see We were blind before and thought that we saw now we really see and know that we were blind The Understanding of a Man is the workmanship of God and he does not overthrow that when he makes us new Creatures The Demonstration of the Spirit is such as we cannot resist and yet it offers no Violence to us The Judgment is truly convinc't and we can say We know whom we have believed 2 Tim. 1.12 6. The Spirit in discovering of such Truths Works alone and by himself There is no Conjunction or proper Co-operation of second Causes with him It is here as it was with those in Mat 20.34 Jesus touched their Eyes and immediately they receiv'd sight 'T is the touch of Christs Hand only which recovers us from spiritual blindness Nature contributes nothing to the efficacious workings of Grace and therefore 't is observ'd that many of the Holy Women whom our Lord descended from were barren to shew that they Conceiv'd not by the strength of their own Womb but by vertue of the Promise As Sarah Rebeckah Rachel c. So we are Light in the Lord Eph. 5.8 But we do not help towards the creating of it in our selves We are meerly Passive in the first Reception of Divine Light as the Eye of the Body is truly Passive in the taking in of natural Light All Light is brought into the Eye so it springs in from Heaven into the Mind which is no better than a very Dungeon of it self 3. What kind of Knowledge is that which is the Effect and Fruit of this discovery of saving Truth by God to the Soul This is the rather to be insisted on a little because it may be of great Advantage to us in the Trial of our State that we may make a right Judgment of our selves whether under the Conduct of Flesh and Blood or of the Father 1. That Knowledge which proceeds from the special inward Revelation of Divine Things is a more assuring Knowledge than any other The end of Luke's Writing his Gospel to Theophilus was That he might know the certainty of those things wherein
Endearments in one Breath and also in the right Order Song 2.16 My Beloved is mine and I am his God is the Ocean from which Love first flows out and to which it always streams back Love when it hath descended from Heaven to Earth hath finished but half its Course but when it ascends from Earth to Heaven the Circle is compleated 2. This Love which is the Product of God's is virtually all Obedience both as it inclines and disposes unto all and as it comprehends all in it 1. It disposes and inclines to all Obedience When the Heart is melted by his Fire within 't is easily cast into the mould of any Precept whatsoever As it puts us upon keeping the Commandments of God so it keeps them from being grievous 1 John 5.3 Obedience can neither be partial nor burdensome where-ever this Love of God dwells but it fulsils the Charge which David gave to Solomon of serving God with a perfect Heart and a willing Mind 1 Chron. 28.9 2. It comprehends all Obedience in it self The end of the Commandment is Charity c. 1 Tim. 1.5 Both Tables are reduc'd by Christ to two Commandments and Love is the grand Inscription of them both Therefore Love is styled the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 13.10 All the Duty which we owe to God and to our Neighbour is included in Love to each And indeed we cannot walk in God's Truth unless we walk in Love to one another as well as to him Our Alienations from our Brethren speak our distance from Christ the Center of our Union The nearer any Lines in a Circle come to the Center the nearer they are one to another but the further they go from the Center the more they run out one from another III. To Apply this What are we to be inform'd of and exhorted to I. Vse Information 1. If our Obedience be excited by the Love of God then the Love of God prevents our Obedinence If we did first give to God he is able infinitely to recompence it again above what we can think but who is it that hath first given unto him Rom. 11.35 There is not one whose Heart God hath touched that will dare to pretend it We do not commend our selves to God but God manifests himself to us The Love of God was not purchas'd even by the Obedience of Christ much less by ours 1 John 4.10 Herein is Love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the Propitiation for our Sins The sending of the Son was the Effect of the Father's Love and therefore the Son 's coming could not be the Cause of it How then can we procure what Christ did not His Love is not bestow'd upon us for our Service but is the incentive to it 2. 'T is blasphemy against the Love of God to reproach is with being the Parent or Nurse of carnal Security They that have the Kingdness of God in their Eye can take no Encouragement from thence to set any wicked Thing before them for Sin tends to Cloud that Light wherein we rejoyce If God be well pleased with us it lays the greater Engagement upon us to walk worthy of him How absurd is it to say that when God communicates his Thoughts of Peace the Soul is embolden'd to new Acts of Treason As if Men should lay aside the Fear of God because the Secret of the Lord is with them that fear him Psalm 25.14 Or as if the Spirit of Adoption took Men off from Obedience to God when they are call'd to be Followers of him as dear Children Eph. 5.1 3. They that by loose and disorderly Practices give any occasion to such Blasphemers have a great deal of Sin to answer for besides their own If any of us Cause this way of Truth to be evil spoken of we bring the guilt of those Calumnies upon our selves It will be an heavy load to a tender Conscience if sound Doctrine is arraign'd through our unmortified Corruption How do we wrong the Purity of the Gospel when we turn the Grace of our God into lasciviousness For the Grace of God which bringeth Salvation teacheth us the contrary Tis. 2.11 12. What is this but to change the Glory of God into an Image made like to unclean Spirits Wo to those Libertines by whom this offence cometh What Jealousie and Rage does that Adulteress deserve who impudently abuses her Husband's Love 4. The Grace of God in us is a comforting Evidence of his Love to us Though Holy Walking is no Foundation for Trust we may reflect upon it as a Token for good 'T is said of the way of Holiness that the redeemed shall walk there Isa 35.8 9. as Mary Magdalen's Pardon is concluded from her Affection so if God enables us to make straight Paths for our Feet 't is a sign that he hath set his Heart upon us As all Obedience issues from the Spirit so the Gift of that Spirit is a Testimony of peculiar Favour Ezek. 39.29 Neither will I hide my Face any more from them for I have poured out my Spirit c. 5. A denial of the possibility of Assurance is injurious to Holiness The first and best Christians were such as could say we have known and believed the Love which God hath to us 1 John 4.16 And they that have had the same Spirit of Faith have always approved themselves the greatest Saints in all succeeding Times but to say that this their belief was a Delusion is in effect to say that all their Religion was a Cheat too which in this more degenerate Age is hardly to be matcht To stake Men down to uncertain suspended waverings about their Interest in the Love of God is to destroy the most quickening Motive to Obedience 6. The Christian Life is as far from being uncomfortable as from being irregular What greater Pleasure can there be than to be constantly influenc'd by the Love of God to the Service of God A dull and sowre Complexion does not belong to real Christianity Psalm 97.11 Light is sown for the Righteous and Gladness for the upright in Heart Though Cain's Countenance fall Abel's Race may lift up their Heads If there be any Consolation in Christ they that are his have reason to rejoyce and what more sure than that there is all in him and none out of him He hath a Chariet of Gold paved with Love for the Daughters of Jerusalem Song 3.10 What so delightful as to go up and fit with him in that Chariot II. Exhortation 1. Think not only on the Love of God in general but on the most affecting Properties of it in Particular Such as 1. It s Antiquity God loved us from Eternity before we were and before the World was and there have been Early discoveries of it there is the Love of God to us in our Childhood Hos 11.1 And his Kindness in our Youth Jer. 2.2 Which are both Seasons of Vanity The Loving Kindnesses of God
This Doctrine may be improv'd by way of Information and Exhortation 1. Information 1. All that 's enjoyed out of Christ is only in a Course of common Providence not by Vertue of any Promise because all the Promises are Yea and Amen in Christ They that are without Christ are strangers from the Covenant of Promise Eph. 2.12 In a Christless State they have no more to do with them nor can receive any more Benefit by them than the Devils themselves who are not only reserv'd to Judgment but are partly under Execution Carnal Men have very often a large Portion of this World God brings into their Hands abundantly Job 12.6 He fills their Houses with good Things Chap. 22.18 But as the Holy Ghost says of the Hearts of such Men so it may be said of the best of their Enjoyments they are little worth They are but miserable Comforts because they are not given on the account of Promise therefore given in Wrath and not in Mercy with a Curse and not with a Blessing 2. Legal Promises are out of Date and quite Excluded There are no Promises in force buâ— what are in Christ And therefore no Promises but what are Evangelical for though Christ came to fulfil the Precepts of the Law he came to establish the Promises of the Gospel Do and Live is the Promise of the Old Covenant but this is destroy'd and taken away in Christ and he that attempts to live by doing builds up what Christ destroy'd The Law was indeed Publisht in its full Perfection to the Jews but it was with a gracious Design of subserviency to the Gospel by leading them to Christ that being sensible of their own inability to keep the Law they might fly to him and take Sanctuary in his unspotted Righteousness and compleat Obedience The Law is abus'd when set up to the vacating or weakening of the Covenant of Grace Paul rejects this with abhorrence Gal. 3.21 Is the Law then against the Promises of God God forbid 3. The Promises of God are not founded upon the Performances of the Creature for then they would not be to his Glory by us so much as to our Glory by him The Ancient Believers obtained Promises through Faith Heb. 11.33 And so must we And indeed this is the customary Scripture-way of expressing this Matter Gal. 3.14 That we might receive the Promise of the Spirit through Faith ver 22. That the Promise by Faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe Now whatsoever is by Faith must needs be purely of Grace without the least respect to any worthiness in the Object God does not suppose Qualifications in us but work them and those very Promises which are conditionally propounded as to the Manner of delivering them are absolutely perform'd to those that are interested in them for the same God gives both Repentance and Pardon Grace and Glory 4. The Happy State of a Believer is unalterably sure Psalm 125.1 They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion which cannot be removed but abideth for ever The Reason is plain because the Covenant and Promise of God which is all their Salvation and all their Support can never be removed Isa 54.10 Notwithstanding all our own Threatening Infirmities here is Matter of strong Confidence Grace in us is weak Corruption oftentimes gets the upper hand our Hearts are deceitful the Tempter is very busie but none of these Things shake the Perseverance of the Saints though they should awaken our Caution and persuade our Diligence they should not move us from our Hope because that Word of God is settled in Heaven which concerns our Settlement and Security here on Earth He who requires us to stand fast hath promised that we shall do so and his Promises are not suspended upon uncertain Conditions which may fail but they have their full Ratification in Christ who is always the same A Sun of Righteousness without any Shadow of turning 5. Though a Believer may be stript naked and bare of all his outward Things he cannot be robb'd of his truest Riches he still really abounds when he suffers the greatest need For his most substantial Wealth as well as Life is hid with Christ in God the Promises of God being all confirm'd to him in Christ Upon this account though he be utterly emptied of every Thing in this World that properly belongs to the World he may justly say nevertheless I have all and am full The Testimonies of God are a goodly Heritage and the rejoycing of the Heart in the Total Deprivation of External Comforts This will explain that Paradox of the Apostle 2 Cor. 8.10 As having nothing and yet possessing all Things though we have nothing in Hand yet we have all Things in hope what we want in Possession is infinitely made up by Promise To have our Portion of Goods in our own Hands as the Prodigal had is dangerous we may spend it or lose it but to have a Stock in God's Hands is safe 't is a Treasure which faileth not The Poor of this World have a blessed Recompence if Rich in Faith James 2.5 In this Case good Bills and Bonds which will all be paid whenever there is occasion are a far better Estate than ready Money which Private or Publick Thieves may break through and Steal from us 6. Special Ordinances are special Priviledges The Preaching of the Word is an Ordinance that lies open and common to all and this is a considerable Priviledge for how should Men be brought to believe without the Word of Faith But Sacraments which are limited and confin'd in their Administration to select peculiar Persons are much more considerable being sensible Signs for the Confirmation of our Faith when it is wrought in us Among the many Advantages which the Israelites of Old had above all other People the Apostle reckons up the Covenants and the Promises Rom. 9.4 I do not know any Thing to the contrary but that the Covenants there may be meant of the two Seals of the Covenant under the Old Testament Circumcision and the Passover to which we have our correspondent Seals under the New Testament for Circumcision particularly is called not only a Token of the Covenant but the Covenant in their Flesh who were Circumcised Gen. 17.13 Now all Sacraments are visible Promises God holds forth to our very sight what may serve for the Encouragement of our Faith and the directing of our Hearts to Christ on whom we Believe II. Exhortation 1. Come to God in Christ for the Performance of his Promises to you Two Things lye in this one 1. Plead the Promises with God lay hold of them and humbly challenge your share in them Put him in remembrance of what he hath said Psalm 119.49 Remember thy Word unto thy Servant c. 1 Chron. 17.26 27. Thou art God and hast promised this goodness to thy Servant now therefore let it please thee to bless c. Do not say what have I a
not foil'd him first now we may despise his Our Triumphant Friend hath left us a Conquer'd Enemy to deal with so that through him strengthening us we may tread down Strength 4. Christ by the matchless Efficacy and Merit of his Blood hath purchas'd for us Confirming Grace and the perpetual Presence of the Spirit with us Not only our access into that Grace wherein we stand but our standing in that Grace whereinto we have Access is by Jesus Christ Rom. 5.2 He hath engag'd positively that the Spirit shall not only be given to us but abide and dwell with us John 14.16 17. And he hath engag'd for nothing but what he hath effectually procur'd The Sufferings of the best of Creatures are weak and worthless but the Death of Christ is of such Infinite force as to make it impossible for any one whose Sins he hath dyed for to dye in Sin By one Offering he hath perfected for ever them c. Heb. 10.14 We have deserv'd to fail of the Grace of God he hath deserv'd the Continuance of it we deserve to be as Chaff which the Wind drives away Christ hath deserved that we should be as Mount Sion which cannot be removed His Blood is that which Answers all Things 5. Christs prevailing Intercession secures to us the needful actual succours of Grace while we are here in this World There is a great deal which depends upon this Heb. 7.25 He is able to save to the uttermost such as come to God by him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them Christs Everlasting Intercession is mention'd as the Reason of Christs Ability to save to the uttermost Indeed all Christs Pleadings are irresistible God can deny him nothing which he asks therefore he is called by the Name of Israel Isa 49.3 A Name which was given to the Patriarch Jacob upon the success of his wrestling with the Angel for it may be more eminently applied to Christ what was said of him That by his Strength he hath Power with God Hos 12.3 Christ produces his strong Reasons which the Father cannot but hearken to So that if he Pray for Peter that his Faith may not fail it is impossible that it should If he Pray for our being kept we cannot be lost SERMON VIII January 14. 1695. PSALM LXXX xvii xviii former Part. Let thy Hand be upon the Man of thy right Hand upon the Son of Man whom thou madest strong for thy self 18. So will not we go back from Thee IV. WHy hath God order'd it so that Believers should be secur'd against Apostacy by the Strength of Christ The Reasons of the Divine Will in this Case may be such as these Six following 1. This agrees with God's general Design of heaping all the Glory possible upon Jesus Christ. Never was such Honour and Majesty laid upon any Creature nor was indeed fit to be laid upon any as was laid upon Jesus Christ This was a Part of the Message which the Angel brought to his Virgin-Mother concerning the Son whom she was to conceive and bear He shall be great Luke 1.32 He was that Son of Man whom God resolv'd peculiarly to magnifie and advance above all That all should be beholden to him and have their Dependance on him I will set him on high says God Psalm 91.14 He shall be the Head of my Family in Heaven and Earth he shall be as the firt-born among many Brethren I will give him an universal Preheminence and put all Things in a State of necessary subjection He shall be the Joseph to whom every one's Sheaf shall bow down and whom all in my House shall be nourish'd by and receive their subsistence from This was the Glory which the Father determined from Everlasting to give to Christ to make him the unmovable Center of the whole Creation of God Eph. 1.10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ c. that nothing should be firm or steady but what is brought into him The Tenure of all the Good that we enjoy is therefore in Christ In the Lord have Irighteousness and Strength Isa 45.24 What we have in Him we hold by Him alone What is given for his sake is secur'd by his means that he may be every way glorious 2. This suits with God's Design of Grace in our eternal Election for we are chosen in Christ Eph. 1.4 Therefore 't is sit that we should be also preserv'd in Christ Jude 1. God's chusing of us is a giving of us to Christ 't is often exprest so in Scripture and therefore who so fit to be their Security as he to whom they are given Christ hath the Christ hath the Care of all whom the Father chuses and he is to give account of them at last They are committed to him and will be demanded from him and therefore where should stength be lodg'd for their support and establishment so properly as with him John 6.39 This is the Father's Will who hath sent me that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again c. to prevent their being finally lost God gives 'em to Christ this is God's End and Aim but how shall the Loss be prevented except we have Strength and Stability from Christ whose Charge and Trust we are That God's Foundation might stand sure he lays his own Son for a Foundation Every Stone in the Building rests upon Him or else there would be no difference between them and those that are out of the Building for he must keep those that are in it from dropping out It would have been a vain thing to constitute Christ the Head of God's Elect if God had not also appointed that the Elect by his Influence should be inviolably maintained to the very last 3. 'T is necessary that we should be sccur'd against Apostacy by the strength of Christ because he is the First and the Last in our Sanctification He stiles himself the Beginning and the End Rev. 21.6 So he is not only in himself but with respect to the Work of Grace in us He begins it and compleats it the Author and Finisher of our faith Heb. 12.2 i.e. The Firist Author and Finisher of it Now 't is impossible that he should be so without being our Establisher and Preserver all the time between From the First to the Last we must be upheld by him or else all that is wrought in us will quickly come to nothing If he do not strengthen his own work it will be soon destroy'd tho' it be his own Psal 68.28 Stengthen O God that which thou bast wrought for us Another Hand is not able to preserve what his Hand produces The best Beginnings will have the worst Endings if any thing less than the Power of Christ have the Management of them So that Christ will lose the Glory of our begun Sanctification unless he undertakes for our setled Confirmation and
One while David is got up so much above carnal fear that nothing can shake him he encourages himself in God and concludes that he shall not be greatly moved Psalm 62.2 Yea not moved at all ver 6. At another Time he is so overwhelm'd with horror so sunk and dispirited as if there were no Providence to shield him and therefore cries out for the Wings of a Dove that he might fly away from the reach of his Enemies Psalm 55.5 6. The same Soul follows hard after God when his right Hand upholds it Psalm 63.8 Which afterwards flags and is almost ready to give over following when that right Hand is withdrawn 4. This lays open the ground of the Devils Enmity against Christ which hath been always most extream and implacable He knows that he should easily compass his Ends upon Belivers if Jesus Christ did not stand in the Way All the Powers of Darkness were furiously bent against the Person of Christ because the great Strength of all that belong to him lies in him If they could have conquer'd him no Member of his could ever have stood against them The Destruction of the Head would have been the Destruction of the whole Body as when the Philistines saw that their Champion was dead they all fled immediately 1 Sam. 17.15 All God's Jewels and peculiar Treasure are laid up and kept in the Hands of Christ so that the subduing of him if it had been possible would have been the seizing of all at once What an Exedrcise hath Christ undergone for our sakes in bearing both the Wrath of God and the Rage of Hell when he might have avoided both if he had not design'd to be a Refuge and Covert from both to us 5. The State of those that are in Christ is greatly amended and improved since the Fall beyond what it was before Never was better Tidings brought to the World than that behold I make all Things new Men are given to change and often change for the worse but God's Alterations are always to Advantage The New Testament Dispensation mightily excels the Old the latter Days will out-shine and out-do the former Times Isa 60.17 For Brass I will bring Gold and for Iron I will bring Silver and for Wood Brass and for Stones Iron That which comes in the room of what is done away is still of a more valuable Kind The second Covenant is better than the first the second Adam more glorious than the first Sinful Man restor'd is in a better Condition than innocent Man as he was Created A poor Believer is stronger in Christ than the holiest Angels without Christ for without Christ no Promises of Perseverance but in him there are and such as cannot be broken He will not turn away from us we shall not depart from him Jer. 32.40 6. 'T is inexcusable Folly for any one in the World to lean to his own Arm. As the Holy Ghost says that Vain Man would be wise i.e. 't is an instance of his Vanity that he will not be persuaded to cease from his own Wisdom so the Pride of our Hearts makes us very unwilling to suspect our own Strength or to cast away all Confidence in it This Pride does not only go before Destruction but is the Cause of it Man would be a God to himself his own Saviour and Defender and in thinking himself so he is his own Destroyer Nothing does more effectually Ruine us than the Conceit that we can recover or preserve our selves from Ruine It is such kind of Presumption which slaies its Ten Thousands if Men were more sensible of their own Infirmities and distrustful of their own Abilities the Devils Kingdom would be empty in Comparison of what it is To imagine that we can do any Thing without Christ is the way to undo the Work of God already done If Adams perfect Holiness was not permanent while he was left alone how should ours be so which is imperfect 7. Everlasting Strength must fail before any true Believers can Everlastingly Miscarry I say before any can for if any one may perish all may because it is the same Strength which secures all Unless the Lord's Hand be shortened no Soul can ever be pluckt out of it The Honour of Christ is concern'd and indeed engag'd to see every Child of God brought safe to Heaven and therefore they may do well to consider what Reproach they cast upon Christ who by their Doctrines of Apostacy make believers walk with him as one said like sorry Dancers on a Rope that are every Moment in danger of breaking their Necks Is Jesus Christ such a strong Helper and yet may the Gates of Hell prevail against those that are joyned to him Hath he pawn'd his unchangeable Word that the good Part shall not be taken away from those that have once chosen it Luke 10.42 And shall Men that turn the Gospel upside down represent it as a doubtful uncertain Portion Is Grace no better than common Gifts and outward Blessings That we may be totally disposlest of the one as well as the other Nothing can more derogate from our Blessed Lord or expose him worse than this scandalous Opinion does as a feeble incompetent Undertaker II. Exhortation 1. Beware of falling from your own stedfastness 2 Pet. 3.17 This is proper and pertinent Advice to those whose Strength is in Christ Gospel-Principles breed an Holy not a Carnal Security Watchfulness and Diligence Circumspection and Caution are necessary in our daily Walk for they that lay these Things aside do thereby Declare that they have nothing to do with Christ nor any Interest in the Priviledge I have been speaking of They are wofully mistaken who think that infallible Promises render all Exhortations fruitles The Spirit of God teaches otherwise 1 John 2.27 28. Ye shall abide in him and now little Children abide in him How absurd is it to suppose that certainty of Perseverance in Grace should make Men do such Acts as are contrary to Grace and destructive of it Or that we should therefore live in the neglect of Means because we are sure to persevere in the use of them This is such kind of Divinity as the Devil 's was Mat. 4.6 He shall keep thee therefore hazard thy his Angels shall bear thee up therefore cast thy self down 2. Be not utterly dismayed when Satan hath gotten any Advantage of you through your sinful Weakness Be duely affected with and suitably abased for the least Departure from God but do not let go your hold of Christ as if you were irrecoverable Say not as the Church in Captivity did Lam. 3.18 My Strength and my Hope is perished from the Lerd This is a very false and unjust Conclusion not warranted by the Word of Grace but a meer Artifice of the Devil When he tempted you to Revolt he would also urge you to despair of a return but though you have complyed with him in the one stand it out against him in the other Psalm
145.14 The Lord upholdeth all that fall c This seems a Paradox indeed for how should they fall if he upholds them Ans He upholds them so far that they shall not utterly sink and he will take Care to raise them up again do not reckon your selves destroy'd tho' cast down The ransomed of the Lord may be carried Captive into a Land of Enemies but they shall return and come to Sion with Songs and Everlasting Joy upon their Heads Isa 35.10 3. Take heed of scornful or censorious despising of weaker Brethren If he that deals to every Man his measure of spiritual Strength hath afforded more to you and less to some others in the World do not lift up your selves above them Boast not against the Branches those that are inferiour to thy self for thou bearest not the Root but the Root thee Rom. 11.18 If Jesus Christ were not more liberal to you than to them your Soul would be in their Soul's Case Judge not those who are upright in their Hearts though they do err in lesser Points the Holy Ghost says they shall be holden up for God is able to make them stand Chap. 14.4 Trample not upon them that are most bowed down with a Spirit of Infirmity There is a respect to be paid to God's halting Jacob's and his Lame Mephibosheths The greatest and the least of Saints are both depending Creatures and therefore should carry themselves with all Modesty and Meekness one towards another He who establisheth us with you in Christ is God 2 Cor. 1.21 4. Make no Promises of Perseverance in your own Strength Learn the contrary of the Psalmist in the Text who first makes his Request Let thy Hand be c. Then expresses his Resolution So will not we c. If we Vow continuance with Christ in all Temptations and intend to pay what we Vow we must not Account our selves capable of Payment without Assistance from Christ No Man hath Grace enough to be his own Keeper or to execute any Purpose of that sort unless he be still receiving more Grace from Christ's Fulness A Thing well resolv'd is half done but we can never resolve well unless we do it in the Strength of Christ Mic. 4.5 We will walk in the Name of the Lord our God for ever and ever A Phrase which does at once import two Things that should go together attendance on God's Service and reliance on his Power 5. Look to your Faith as the principal Grace which contributes to your Establishment Isa 7.9 If you will not believe surely you shall not be established The contrary is implyed If you do believe you surely shall be The Scripture says more than once That by Faith we stand Rom. 11.20 2 Cor. 1.24 Which is more than is any where said of any other Grace and the Reason is evident 1. Because Faith is the uniting Grace and 't is Vnion with Christ which is the ground of our Safety 2. 'T is the receiving Grace that whereby we do not only receive Christ himself but all from Christ and 't is by Vertue of Strength receiv'd that we are able to stand This is the Grace whereby we do not only receive from Christ at first but whereby we must be receiving from him all along for we renew our Strength by waiting upon God Isa 40. ult Which is a Scripture-Phrase for Faith and Patience together It is the blessedness of those whose Strength is in God that their Strength is still increasing they go from Strength to Strength Psalm 84.5 7. But without Faith there 's no such Blessedness to be had the Unbeliever hath no Strength but what is in himself a meer seeming Strength and therefore a perishing declining Strength for from him that hath not what he seems to have shall be taken away 6. Exercise Faith upon Christ especially in Times of great Temptation and general Defection Never think to stand long if you stand loose from Christ but keep your hold of him and stick close to him and then you will be able to stand fast and having done all to stand whatever assaults are made upon you whatever Apostacies are committed by others continue touching him and Vertue will still come out of him Make your Nest in this Rock when the Devil blows with his Wind when Paul was buffeted with the Messenger of Satan he besought the Lord that it might depart and though that was not immediately granted yet he had a very satisfactory Answer My Grace is sufficient for thee my Strength c. 2 Cor. 12.7 8 9. If it be a Time wherein the Faith of many is Shipwrackt and overthrown Holy Trust in Christ will be an Anchor to the Soul sure and stedfast When many of Christs Disciples went back and he put the Question to them Will you also go away Peter cryes Lord to whom shall we go to whom besides thee John 6.66 67 68. 7. Do not arrogate the Honour of your standing in Christ and abiding with Christ in the least measure to your selves Let Christ have all the Glory of your setting out and holding out let him have it now and let him have it at the Last Ascribe all to him who is able to keep you from falling who alone could do it and hath done it Jude 24.25 Christ is the Person there meant for the Presentation of Believers faultless in the great Day belongs to him Say to him Lord by thy Favour thou hast made my Mountain to stand strong which else had been remov'd and carried away long since thou hast made me a Pillar in thy Temple else I had waver'd and gone out again as well as others When you Live and when you Dye acknowledge this to your Redeemers Praise SERMON IX March 24. 1696. JUDGES XVI xx last Clause And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him THE Person whom these Words concern was the Twelfth of those Judges from whom this Book receives its Name as being the History of the Common-wealth of Israel during their successive Administrations He was one that had an extraordinary Presence of God with him which stirr'd him up to and made him successful in very great and wonderful Undertakings So we read That the Spirit of the Lord began to move him Chap. 13.25 And came mightily upon him Chap. 14.6 And again Chap. 15.14 The first Miscarriage whereby he forfeited his Priviledge was his Conversation with the Harlot at Gaza and yet God was pleas'd by his special Assistance to let him escape the Danger which that Sin brought him into ver 1 2 3. of this Chapter The second Debauchery prov'd more fatal viz. the letting out of lustful Affections to Dalilah a Woman in the Valley of Sorek ver 4. This Sin was followed with others as the telling of three deliberate repeated lies ver 7 11 13. And at last consenting to the Violation of his solemn Vow as a Nazarite by the shaving of his Head ver 17. One would think from the discovery of such
an important Secret that he had been bereaved of common Prudence when there were such plain Reasons to suspect a persidious Design but so God rightly order'd that the Folly should be a Punishment of the Sin and that both should make way for his further Suffering For assoon as this was done his Strength went from him ver 19. His Strength seems to be a peculiar Gift to him which was to be continued upon the Condition of keeping his Hair uncut and so that Condition being broken this Gift was recall'd Yet the strange Presumption and Stupidity of Smpson after all this may be Matter of Astonishment to us of which we have an Account in this 20th ver When Dalilah comes to rouse him with the usual Cry The Philisines are upon Thee See 1. His Presumption He awoke out of his Sleep and said I will go out as at other Times before and shake my Self How could he imagine this when he himself had said that if he were shaven he should become Weak and like another Man How could he expect to do as he had done when he had so positively foretold his own Fate Therefore 2. See his Stupidity And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him He said what he did upon a sudden at his first awaking before he found how he was betray'd besore he perceiv'd that his Locks were cut off and before he consider'd what the Consequents of that would be He was not instantly apprehensive of the Misery of his Case through God's just abandoning of him but depended on the same Assistance which he had formerly receiv'd till he felt the contrry by woful Desertion It is a lamentble Truth which these Whords do teach us but yet a Truth which is prositable to be known Obs There may be sad Departures of God from Believers themselves of which for a while they may remain insensible Sampson was not only an eminent Type of Christ in whom the Power of God was gloriously displayed 1 Cor. 1.24 But is also reckon'd among those Old Testament worthies Heb. 11.32 Of whom 't is said notwithstanding their various sinful Infirmities That these all obtained a good Report through Faith ver 39. And therefore this general Doctrine may be built on this Particular Example In handling of it I. What are those Departures of God which even Belivers are incident to II. What are the Causes and Occasions of them III. What are the Essects which sollow thereupon IV. How far may Believers be insensible hereof V. HOw comes it to pass that they are so Vi. Use I. What are those Departures of God from Believers which they are lyable to and sometimes exercis'd with There are Three Things which must be distinctly enquir'd into with Respect to this Point 1. What are they as to the Kind 1. Not a Loss of the Favour of God Psalm 89.33 My Loving Kindness will I not utterly take from him c. 'T is brought in with a nevertheless after he had spoken of the visiting of Transgression with the Rod ver 32. God's sharpest Corrections for Sin are no Arguments of his Alienation from the Person when his Hand goes forth with most Severity against us his Heart may be still towards us as much as ever So Isa 54.10 The Mountains shall depart c. but my Kindaess shall not depart from thee The Mountains are the most solid and lasting Parts of this lower Creation yet they may and shall be remov'd they may by violent Eruptions be carried into the midst of the Sea they shall be overturn'd at the End of the World but the Love of God is Everlasting and Vnmoveable Where 't is once fixt 't is never to be taken away neither Things present not to come shall be able to separate us from it If the foresight of our Sins did not prevent it Sins actually committed shall not displace it If God bear such a good-will to unbelieving Sinners for the first fulsilling of the Work of Faith in us is a Fruit and Evidence of his Love to us we cannot reasonably suppose that it should afterwards cease to sinning Believers 2. 'T is a withdrawing of the Spirit of God not in Regard of real Fresence but manifest Influence 1. The real Presence of the Spirit is not withdrawn for this is constant and perpetual Both its Constancy and Perpetuity I conceive to be intimated John 14.17 He dwelleth with you and shall be in you Where he once makes his abode he always settles it he is not an uncertain Guest but a resolv'd In habitant Believers have the Spirit when they cannot discern that they have him for they would be no longer Believers if they were without the Spirit We must be cut off from Christ if the Spirit should be taken from us for our Union with Christ is maintain'd and secur'd by the indwelling of the Spirit 1 John 3.24 Hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us This is a continued Priviledge upon which others depend for we are no louger the Members of the Lord Jesus than we are the Temples of the Holy Ghost 2. The manifest Inftuence of the Spirit may be withdrawn though his Residence be not alter'd his Operations may be interrupted in Three Respects as to Gifts Graces and Comforts 1. In Respect of Gifts These receive the Name of spiritual Gists not only from their Nature but from the Spirit as the Author for how various soeverthey be they all flow from him as their common Fountain There are diversities of Gifts but the same Spirit 1 Cor. 12.4 Now they that are possest of these Gifts will fsind them withering and decaying and be as though they had none when the Spirit of God withholds that actual Influence which gives Life and Vigour to them With what stammering Lips do we speak when he is not with our Mouths What poor ignorant Babblers are we when he does not enrich us in Utterance and Knowledge 2. In respect of Graces As the Habits of Grace are infused so the Actings of Grace are assisted by the Spirit and the most strong and lively Christians are very feeble and languid when he keeps back his quickening Helps The being of Grace is the Effect of the Spirits planting the springing of Grace is the Effect of his Watering The choicest Vine will yield but sorry Grapes like the shrivell'd Fruits of a dry Tree when God Commands the Clouds that they do not Rain upon it In such a Case though the Seed of God remain in a Believer 1 John 3.9 Yet what he bring forth is always ready to Dye 3. In respect of Comforts All Consolation is the Work of the Spirit which is certainly more or less according as he affords or abates his Testimony When he sheds abroad the Love of God in the Heart there is abounding Hope and a full Tide of spiritual Joy Rom. 5.5 When he refuses or forbears to do this there 's a black Cloud upon all our Evidences
and we find nothing but Trouble and Sorrow Many Holy Souls have been thus dealt with The Comforter that should releive them hath been far from them Lam. 1.16 And Faith hath with difficulty subsisted in the midst of perplexing Doubts and restless Fears 2. What are those Departures of God as to the Degree 1. The exact Measure or Distance cannot be stated We cannot say that thus far God may go and no further for his Dispensations of this sort are very different with one and with another yea with the same Believer at several Seasons Sometimes though he let us go out of his Hand and do not actually uphold us yet he is so near to us as to be ready to catch us when we are falling sometimes he stands so far off that he first lets us fall and then raises us again Sometimes he is within our reach when we feel after him sometimes he is gone a greatlength and we cannot take hold of him God sets bounds to us which we cannot pass but we can prescribe no Limits to him The best are beholden to Soveraign Mercy when they are at the worst 2. God does never totally depart from those whom he hath once vouchsaft his gracious Presence to His immutable Promise is the Believers Security against any such Desertion Heb. 13.5 He hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee The Truth of this Word would be not only shaken but overturn'd if the forsakings of God were total at any Time He never leaves us but in Part he never leaves us so but that at the same Time he is still present with us if he leave us in one respect he is present in another When he is with-drawn from us as to Revival he is yet with us in a way of Support when he does not Work in us to Do he continues working in us to Will Though the Spirit may retire as one that is griev'd yet he is not absolutely quencht there is the Fire when there is no Flame 3. What are they as to the Duration 1. There is great variety in the dealings of God as to this also The Intervals of his Absence from us are longer or shorter as he sees good He changeth Times and Seasons not only in a Political Dan. 2.21 But in a spiritual Sense as it pleaseth him Our dead Calms have doubtful Periods for his Wind bloweth when it listeth Sometimes Christ's renewed Visits are more quick and speedy and sometimes more slow and lingring Song 3.4 It was but a little that I passed from them and I found him whom my Soul loveth She had just begun her Enquiries after him when she met with him So God sometimes comes back at the first call but Saints do not always fare so at other Times when they cry and shout he shutteth out their Prayer Lam. 3.8 2. The Departures of God from true Believers are never final they may be tedious but they are Temporary As the Evil Spirit is said to depart from Christ for a season Luke 4.13 Tho' he quitted that Temptation he did not quit his Design so as to Tempt no more so the good Spirit withdraws from those that are Christ's for a Season only 't is with a Purpose of comeing again When he hath most evidently forsaken 't is as unquestionable that sooner or later he will return And the Happiness of his return will richly recompence for the sadness of his Desertion Isa 54.7 For a small Moment have I forsaken thee but with great Mercies will I gather thee Here is not only a gathering after a forsaking but great Mercies to make amends for a small Moment He who hath engag'd to be our God for ever cannot depart for ever II. What are the Causes and Occasions of these sad Departures Among others these are the Chief 1. The seeking of our own Credit and Glory or any other selfish Ends in our serving of God Where Pride is at the beginning of a Duty shame will be as one says the Conclusion God will make the Body of those Actions to stink which are corrupted with an evil Eye by the withholding of his Spirit he will disparage those who under a pretence of honoring him do really aim to lift up and magnifie themselves When Men disire to be extoll'd as Herod once was This is the Voice of God and not of Man he makes it appear that it is the Voice of a forsaken Man without any thing of God A plain Sign of this evil is when the Spirit that dwelleth in us Lusteth to Envy when we are afraid that our Reputations should be diminisht and our Names darken'd by another's shining Brighter In that Case we should indeed be troubled that Gos is no better serv'd by us but we should rejoyce that he is better serv'd by others it should humble us that we are less useful than others it should not disturb us that we are less esteem'd this is the way to drive the Spirit of God from us 2. Self-Confidence in the Performance of Religious Duties The Spirit of God frequently and justly denies his Aid and Help in the carrying on of that Work which we venture to Undertake without him We should never seek the Face of God without seeking his Strength Psalm 105.4 Divine Power is communicated to us in a way of believing Expectation Zech. 10.12 I will strengthen them in the Lord and they shall walk up and down in his Name We are likely to succeed best in Holy Services when we go about them in a distrust of our own Abilities and Sence of our own weakness The greatest Gifts and Graces will fail by relying on them and in those very Things wherein Men most abound in their own Apprehensions they usually fall most short If we do not look up to God to prepare our Hearts he will convince us how insignificant our Personal Preparations are If we Fancy that our own Enlargements will be sufficient 't is no wonder if we find ourselves more straiten'd and indisposed then than at any other Times 3. Self-Applause after the Performance of Religious Duties When we Sacrifice to our own Net the Spirit leaves us to Toyl in casting it to no Purpose The spiritual Man shall be cast from his Excellency if he ascribe that to himself which belongs to God When Grace hath been exercis'd in the highest Measure the Heart ought to lye lowest under the Consideration of its own nothingness When Paul speaks of his labouring more abundantly than they all he corrects himself presently yet not I but the Grace of God which was with me 1 Cor. 15.10 He was afraid of that little boasting Pronoun I and therefore retracts it and strikes Sail to the Grace of Christ God will resist instead of helping us if we steal his Crown and put it on our own Heads The Spirit will never agree to walk with us if we take the uppermost Hand and we shall lose the Benefit of his Holy Breathings if we be puffd up in our
own Conceits God will disable those from doing any thing praise-worthy that give not him the Praise 4. The setting up of Duties in the room of Christ This we are exceeding apt to do Disciples need to Learn that Lesson of being Converted and becoming as little Children Mat. 18.3 It was very truly said by Mr. Rutherford that Deadness to good and gracious Works and lively Activity in the Performance of them seldom meet together high Degrees of inherent Holiness and a full devolving of the Soul upon Christ's imputed Righteousness rarely Kiss each other 'T is well where they do but 't is a Provocation to God to abandon us where they do not If we would run in the way of God's Commandments we must remember that it is not of him that runneth if we would be assisted in the Duties of Obedience we must bear it upon our Hearts that we can never be entitled to Heaven by them We forfeit the Spirit of Faith if we imagine that Faith it self the noblest of all Graces does enrich us any otherwise than as a Vessel which holds the Treasure Sicut olla paecuniis referta hominem locupletat Calv. 5. Spiritual Sloth is another Cause in the disuse of Gifts not exercising of Grace and neglect of Duty This is the contrary extream to that Self-Confidence mention'd before as that was a Conceit that we could do all Things in our own Strength this is to sit still and do nothing We must stir up the Gift which is in us if we would preserve it God uses to help the Industrious but he abhors the Sluggard Seneca a sober Heathen calls Idleness the Grave of a Living Man Dr. Arrowsmith an Holy Divine stiles it the Hell of a Living Christian We hazard the taking away of our Talents when we do not employ them To let our Graces lye asleep is not the way to nourish but to starve them Many have almost lost the Spirit of Prayer by the restraining of Prayer Arise and be doing and the Lord will be with thee 1 Chron. 22.16 If we leave God to do all God will leave us to our selves if we fold our Hands together we cannot expect that his should be stretcht out for our Assistance 6. Sleightness and Formality A sincere Believer who is so in the Main and Acts as such for the most Part may yet sometimes imitate the Hypocrite too much i.e. his Heart may be too little engag'd in approaching unto God We too often pour out Words in Prayer without suitable Affections too often attend on God's Word without bending our Minds to it or taking heed how we hear Now by our resting so much in the outward Forms of Religion we lose the Spirit of Power by going in a Road of Duty and performing this or that Act of Worship because we are accustomed to do it we put our selves out of the Way of Divine Influences When we do not serve God with our Spirits we may well expect to be depriv'd of his Spirit when we do not seriously and earnestly pursue Communion with God in Duties how can we expect to enjoy any We put off God with a little bodily Exercise God puts off us with a visible Church-Priviledge we lift up our Hands in the Sanctuary without our Souls he lets us see nothing of his Power and Glory there 7. Worldliness and Carnality The minding of Earthly Things clips the Wings wherewith we should mount up towards Heaven So far as we are joyned to such Idols we may look to be separated from God we open our Bosoms to them and he hides his Face from us Hence it is that that Condition of Life which does most please and gratifie the Flesh does most expose to the withdrawings of the Spirit because when our Portion of good Things in this Life is very large we are very prone to rejoyce inordinately in it and when the World smiles much upon us we commonly grow fond of the World Therefore a low or afflicted State hath been oftner bless't with sweet incomes from Heaven than the height of Prosperity 2 Cor. 1.5 As the Sufferings of Christ abound in us so our Consolation also aboundeth by Christ some have enjoy'd so much of God in Prisons as that Martyr in Bonner's Coal-hole that they have been unwilling to receive their Liberty But 't is very usual that according to what Men gain in Temporals they lose in Spirituals 8. Base and sinful Compliances for the avoiding of outward inconveniencie This is as great an Offence to the Spirit of Christ as Peter once was to Christ himself in a like Case The affording of a Man's Presence at false Worship may justly provoke God to deny his wonted Communications to us when we are joyning in the true If a Man partake of the Table of Devils what Divine Fellowship can he look for at the Table of the Lord The woful declinings of many Persons who have been meerly led by Fear to Build up what they formerly destroy'd have been too plain a Testimony to this Truth Sulpitius the Historian who liv'd with St. Martin tells us that after he had joyn'd in Communion with Ithacius the persecuting Bishop through the Threatenings of the Emperor Maximus there was a remarkable Suspension of those Influences and Graces for which he was eminent before Dr. B. Answer to Letter of the Ass Gen. p. 29. The best Way to retain the Spirit is to retain our Integrity whatever we hazard by it 9. Vnbelieving Dejection wilfully indulg'd There is a saying of the Hebrew Doctors mentioned by Drusius Spiritus Sanctus non residet super hominem moestum the Holy Spirit does not delight to dwell with one of a Sorrowful Spirit and 't is in great measure true The Spirit of God is not a Spirit of heaviness 't is no Pleasure to him to see any of his Saints go mourning and bowed down when their Hearts should rather be lifted up in the ways of God Nehemiah was sore afraid when the King took Notice of the sadness of his Countenance Chap. 2.2 And Mordecai would not enter the Court-gates with his Sackcloath on Esth 4.2 An Holy Joyful Frame and Garments of Praise are always comely for Upright ones and most acceptable unto God As David's Musick drove away the Evil Spirit that troubled Saul so Christian Alacrity not vain and foolish Levity is a means of having the good Spirit to abide with us Hardening our selves in Sorrow is giving Way to Unbelief the Sin of which he especially reproves SERMON X. April 7. 1696. JUDGES XVI xx last Clause And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him 10. REjecting the Present Motions of the Spirit which ought to be instantly embrac'd and followed All the Spirits Motions are seasonable and therefore not to be put off for Delay is a kind of denial and savours of such ungrateful Contempt as must needs be very displeasing to him When thou saidst Seek ye my Face my Heart said unto thee thy Face will I
would omit to mediate for them or that his Mediation was not to be eyed by them but the meaning is that the Father's Love does prevent as it were this Act of Christ and is the very ground which 't is built upon for Christ had never been appointed to this work if God had not lov'd us 2. That the Communication of the Spirit is altogether free and undeserved He is truly given and whatsoever is proper Gift is not bestowed as a recompence to any previous Endeavours but in a way of most gracious voluntary Disposal it might be withheld denied and kept back without the least shadow of unrighteousness or wrong to the Creature God is under no Obligation to give the Spirit to any but what by his own Promise he hath laid upon himself and there is no Promise but what Mercy is as much concern'd in the making as Truth in the keeping of God hath practised to give the Spirit to them that ask him and for our our Encouragement he is describ'd as more willing to give the Spirit upon our asking than the tenderest Parents are to give necessary Sustenance to their own Children Luke 11.13 But is this ever the less an Act of Grace because we are put to beg it And is not our very begging an effect of Grace receiv'd For we cannot ask the Spirit without the Spirit the Spirit of Supplication is poured out where Pleaded for 3. That when the Spirit of God is once communicated he is never totally recall'd God does not take away what he gives of this sort His saving Gists as the Gift of the Holy Ghost most certainly is are without Repentance Rom. 11.29 In them is Continuance as the Prophet speaks Isa 64.5 Their Duration runs Parallel with the being of the Giver They that are really made partakers of the Holy Ghost in his special sanctifying Operations cannot lose him He is given to abide with them for ever they are his Living Temples which shall be at no Time forsaken or left desolate There may be transient workings and long strivings of the Spirit with carnal Hypocrites but they are not indeed possest of him and therefore are sinally without him There was a notable Difference between the Anointing of Saul and David the former with a Vial 1 Sam. 10.1 The latter with an Horn of Oil Chap. 16.1 God's Ceremonies are very signisicant the Horn was a more solid the Glass a more brittle Substance to intimate the permanency of the Divine Presence with David and its sudden removal from Saul 4. That the Communication of the Spirit is an exceeding valuable Blessing When God is said to give the Holy Ghost it implies the Priviledge of those that receive him 'T is an instance of singular Favour on God's Part and a Matter of unspeakable Advantage on their Part both to themselves and others 1. 'T is the greatest Advantage to themselves There are many good and perfect Gifts of God but this Gift excells The Promise of Christ in the Old Testament and of the Spirit in the New contain all the Promises in Eminency There are some Things which God gives in Anger but he never gives the Spirit so There are some Things which God distributes promiscuously and some times to those whom he hates most plentifully but the Spirit is a Gift which the World cannot receive John 14.17 Other Things may be the lot of such as are reserved to the Day of Destruction but they that have the Spirit are sealed to the Day of Redemption 2. T is a great Advantage to others also 1 Cor. 12.7 The Manifestation of the Spirit is given to every Man to profit withal No Persons in the World so useful in their Places as they that partake of this blessed Gift It was this which recommended Joseph to the Egyptians Gen. 41.38 Pharaoh said unto his Servants can we find such an one as this a Man in whom the Spirit of God is One fill'd with the Holy Ghost is worth a Thousand of common Men he is a capable Instrument of much more good in his Generation than all the Philosophers Criticks and Disputers of his World with their vast stores of unsanctified Learning II. Whom is this Spirit given to The Answer is in the Text to them that obey him For the clearing of this there are Three Things which should be a little enquir'd into Who is the Person here said to be obey'd What is meant by our obeying him And how we are to understand the Spirits being given unto such 1. Who is the Person here said to be obey'd To them that obey him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 'T is indeed applicable to all the Three Persons Father Son and Spirit as they are all the just Objects of our Obedience God the Father is to be obey'd in the Commands which he gives forth God the Holy Ghost is to be obey'd in his inward Motions upon our own Hearts but I incline rather to their Judgment who Interpret this especially of God the Son Jesus Christ This seems the fairest Construction if we view the Words in the Original we are his Witnesses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. Christ's Witnesses Christ is the Person spoken of first and last the Verse begins and closes with him Now that Christ hath a right to our Obedience is undeniable 1. Because we were made by him and as his Creatures we are bound to be his Servants He that brought us into Being may upon that Account require the utmost Performance of Duty from us 2. As he is our Redeemer he is entitled to be our Ruler He may very well give Laws to us that hath restor'd our Lives to us as the impotent Man urg'd to the Jews when they censur'd him for carrying his Bed on the Sabbath-day John 5.11 He that made me whole the same said unto me take up thy Bed and Walk q.d. it becomes me to follow his Orders to whom I owe my Recovery Christ is Saviour and Lord to the same Persons and all that are ransom'd by him are thereby engag'd to be subject to him 2. What is meant by obeying him here Some render it by Believing and that this must be included if it be not principally intended I would offer these few Argumeuts to prove 1. Faith it self is the highest Act of Obedience We read of the Obedience of Faith Rom. 16.26 As the great End of the Gospels Publication and the very same Words are render'd Obedience to the Faith Chap. 1.5 If we should take Faith here for the Doctrine of Faith 't is evident that the receiving of this Doctrine is set forth by Obedience In believing we obey for this is his Commandment that we should Believe c. 1 John 3.23 Indeed 't is the most difficult Duty as they that are found in the Performance of it are able to declare from their own Experience Presumption is easie but the true Exercise of Faith is hard Work 2. Faith is the Foundation of all Evangelical Obedience Obedience
Beggars to live upon God's Free Gift and with holy Self-denial to return that Answer to Christ Lord when saw we thee an hungry and fed thee The remanants of Spiritual Pride in every one of us makes this very hard the greatest in Christ's Kingdom should be the least in their own Eyes but 't is not very easie for them so to be SERMON XIV September 22. 1696. MARK X. xxvi xxvii And they were astonished out of measure saying among themselves Who then can be saved And Jesus looking upon them saith With Men it is impossible but not with God For with God all Things are possible II. HOW must the overcoming of all these Difficulties be resolv'd into the Power of the Grace of God This may be open'd under two distinct Heads 1. There is a gracious supernatural Power communicated to Believers and inherent in them Two Things here should be a little clear'd that Believers have such a Power inherent in them and that 't is communicated to them 1. That Believers have such a Power inherent in them This is evident and beyond all Dispute For 1. Hence they are denominated strong 1 John 2.14 To be strong and yet utterly destitute and void of Power is a perfect contradiction Abraham was particularly commended for Strength of Faith Rom. 4.20 And who knows not that Faith is a Work fulfilled in us 2. If the Children of God have no inhaerent Power then the New-birth makes no Difference between them and others or between them and themselves before they were Born again An unregenerate State is describ'd by being without Strength Rom. 5.6 And is a regenerate State so too Is a Man as weak when he is made alive to God as when he was dead in Sin 5. If Believers have no Power then they are not chargeable with the Sin of spiritual Sloth which they are so often incident to and in Scripture accused of Isa 64.7 There is none that stirreth up himself c. Wherein does slothfulness consist but in not exerting and employing the Abilities given us And yet how can this be if we have none to use or to put forth 4. What is any Grace indeed but a Power gain'd over the contrary Corruption The Spirit lusting against the Flesh and the Law of the Mind warring at least and for the most Part prevailing also against the Law of the Members Rom. 6.14 is verified in Believers Sin shall not have Dominion over you Now where Sin loses the Dominion Grace assumes it and all Dominion supposes Power 2. That this Power is communicated to Believers though inhaerent in them They cannot vaunt themselves upon this account because the Spring and Original of it is not in themselves They could have no more Power against Sin and Satan except it were given them from above then Pilate had against Christ The God of Israel is he that giveth Strength and Power unto his People Psalm 68.35 He is the Fountain that dispenses it they are but as the Cisterns that receive it 'T is ingratitude not to acknowledge the Gift 't is abominable Pride to deny the Giver Believers have such a Principle within them but 't is infused not acquired their Strength is in Part recovered not by their own Means or Praevious endeavours but by a Divine Vertue and Influence let out upon their Souls The Spirit that dwelleth in us as Men is a Spirit of Infirmity the New Spirit which is given us as Believers is a Spirit of Power This we are neither to disown nor to arrogate the Holy Ghost lays down this Truth with Caution against both Extreams 2 Cor. 3.5 Not that we arer sufficient of our selves as of our selves but all our sufficiency is of God He does not say we have no sufficiency absolutely but we have none of our selves God is the Author of it 2. There is an unexhausted Power to which Believers may and must have recourse for further Assistance This is that which besides the Grace already given the Scripture calls Grace to help in Time of Need upon every particular Emergent Occasions Heb. 4.16 There is no Time wherein we do not need more Grace from God to draw out the Grace we have into Exercise and to maintain it in Exercise also 2 Tim. 2.1 Be strong in the Grace which is in Christ Jesus The fulness of Grace which is treasur'd up in our Blessed Lord must Relieve and Supply the defects of that Grace which is in us Therefore Paul ascribes his more abundant Labours Not to the Grace in him but to the Grace of God which was with him 1 Cor. 15.10 As we have necessity enough for all the Strength receiv'd so our Case and Condition in this World requires a greater Strength to accompany and concur with us This the Apostle stiles in another Place The Power of Christ resting upon him 2 Cor. 12.9 The Word signifies Dwelling as in a Tent over him as David speaks of God's hiding him in his Pavilion Psalm 27.5 Such a Screen and Defence was the Power of Christ to Paul Christ was the Subject of this Power Paul the Object Christ possest it Paul had the benefit of it And in a sober Sence that which is for our Advantage may be called ours because it is enjoyed by us though not lodg'd in us As when God had assured Gideon of his Presence The Lord is with thee Judg. 6.12 He is bidden to go in this his might ver 14. Gideon's main Strength lay not in his being a mighty Man but in his being assisted by the mighty God Quest To what End should they that are actually furnisht with an Holy Gracious Power for spiritual Services have recourse notwithstanding to this Infinite Power of God Answ There is a Threefold End to be regarded herein 1. To secure the being of Grace for Grace is the Workmanship of God and not God and therefore cannot support it self nor stand without leaning upon him The innate Strength of the New Creature is not the Foundation of a Saints Perseverance for if he were not kept by the Power of God he would be lost at last 1 Pet. 1.5 He is kept by it from his Conversion to his Salvation from the first beginning of his Confidence till he hath receiv'd the End of his Faith or else the strongest Grace in the World would fail 2. To carry on the Improvement of Grace A Believers Diligence will never add to his Stature if God do not lift up his Head Instead of getting more Strength which he should daily do he will rather lessen what he hath and grow weaker than he was But when God comes in with his Auxiliary Force they that were ready to halt and go back make the greatest Progress Isa 40.49 He giveth Power to the faint and to them that have no might he increaseth Strength 3. In order to the vigorous Employment of Grace As Christ said of the Damsel She is not dead but sleepeth so it may be said of many Christians they are
laid as a Foundation and some things proposed as the Effects and Consequences of it 1. Something premised and laid as a Foundation Because you are Sons Here the Adoption of Believers is positively asserted as a thing in present possession There are indeed some further Fruits of our Adoption yet future and expected so the Redemption of our Bodies from the Grave at the end of the World is stiled the Adoption which we wait for Rom 8.23 because the Resurrection to Glory will be an eminent declaration of our Adoption as Christ was declared to be the son of God with power by his rising from the dead chap. 1.4 but still our Adoption it self is not deferr'd till then the Scripture affirms the contrary 1 John 3.2 Beloved now we are the sons of God So in this Epistle chap. 3.26 You are all the Children of God by Faith in Christ Jesus As soon as we come home to God by believing we are taken into this Relation for the Houshold of Faith is his select peculiar Family 2. Some things proposed as the Effects and Consequences of this partly with reference to the Act of God the Father and partly with reference to the Act of the Spirit 1. As to what concerns the Act of the Father who is plainly meant in that Clause God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts Here we may consider the Person spoken of the act respecting this Person and the Objects that have the benefit of this Act. 1. The Person spoken of The Spirit of his Son i. e. the Spirit of Christ So he is call'd Rom. 8.9 1 Pet. 1.11 This Character is given him on this occasion for various reasons 1st Because 't is the same Spirit which was in Christ and which is in all Believers That one Spirit which abode upon him resteth upon them also Though he had a greater Fullness of the Spirit yet they in their measure are filled with him too 2dly By the effectual Operation of this Spirit Christ is formed in us and we conformed to him He fashions the whole Church of the First-born into the lively Similitude of God's only begotten 3dly To intimate Christ's procurement of this Blessing for us We were predestinated to the Adoption of Children by Christ Ephes 1.5 Election is attributed to the Father but the Son is the Purchaser of what we are elected to Hence he is said to give power or right to become the Sons of God to them that receive him John 1.12 and 't is by virtue of our union to him that we recover our lost relation to God all the Children of God are given to Christ written in his Book and ransom'd by his Blood for he redeem'd us that we might receive the Adoption of Sons ver 5. of this Chapter 4thly To teach us that the Spirit it self is procured for us by Christ. They that have not the Spirit are such as have not the Son for an Interest in the one does infallibly carry along with it a participation of the other Those Rivers of living Water by which the effusion of the Spirit is express'd flow out of his pierc'd side The Holy Ghost had never been sent down from Heaven if the Son of God had not desecended first to prepare his way 2. The Act respecting this Person God hath sent forth The same word is used with respect to the Son ver 4. this act is ascribed to God several times in Scripture Psal 104.30 John 14.26 and it imports not any change of place as if he were more distant from the Father when he is thus sent than he was before for he is Omnipresent Psalm 139.7 and of the same undivided Essence with the Father but it notes only his Commission for some special Work in and upon the Creature 3. The Objects that have the Benefit of this Act Into your Hearts i. e. into the Hearts of them that believe Two things are signified by this 1. That the Work here intended is an inward Work Ezek. 36.27 I will put my Spirit within them And therefore 't is secret and does not minister to Vain-glory or carnal Boasting The Testimony of the Spirit is privately given between him and us and the new Name is that which no Man knows but the receiver himself 2. 'T is a saving Work The Residence of the Spirit is appointed not in the Brain by common unsanctified Gifts such as Hypocrites may be endowed with but in the Heart where all the Habits of Grace are planted and from whence all the Issues of Life proceed 2dly As to what concerns the Act of the Spirit Crying Abba Father Here we may examine how the Spirit is said to cry in our Hearts and what it is which he does cry 1. How is the Spirit said to cry in our Hearts when he is sent forth into them Ans Even as God is said to know when he makes others know Deut. 13.3 So the Spirit maketh intercession for us Rom. 8.26 in helping us to Pray for our selves and therefore 't is a vain and feeble Argument which some Socinians would bring from this and the like Texts against the Deity of the Holy Ghost Matth. 10.20 It is not you that speak but the spirit of the Father that speaketh in you i. e. Though your Tongues utter words yet they could not do it without his assistance and direction as the principal necessary Cause As in this Epistle chap. 2.20 I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me The Apostle corrects himself not as if he were not the true and proper Subject of spiritual Life but to shew that Jesus Christ was the Spring and Fountain of it So here the Spirit sent forth into our Hearts is said to Cry because they cry through his gracious Influence The Holy Ghost teaches us to pray but strictly it is we that pray in the Holy Ghost Jude 20. 2. What is it which the Spirit does cry Abba Father i. e. Father Father This Repetition may be upon two accounts 1. To intimate that both Jews and Gentiles are equal sharers in this Blessing of Adoption Therefore the Apostle makes use of two Words in two different Tongues to express the same thing Abba being a Syriack word which was a Language then commonly known among the Jews and that which we render Father beinga Greek word which was a Language then commonly used among the Gentiles Though a Learned Critick Capellus Spicileg hath taken much pains to prove that Abba is a Greek word also and so applied by the Apostle in this place alluding to the manner of little Children when they first begin to speak and call after their Parents which in all Languages as well as the English isn earest to the same sound with this word Abba 2. To note the strength and vehemency of desire The doubling of words does frequently signify this in Scripture Our Lord in the Garden when he offered up prayers and supplications with strong crys and tears as the Apostle
degrees and measures of its working is very different and uncertain Some know more of the Terrors of the Lord than others and some are held longer in Prison before they are brought out though no Soul knows more or is held longer than God sees needful to its thorough Humiliation We must be laid low and yet we shall not be quite sunk God's wounding and healing of our Spirits is not always performed with the same speed as all Convictions are not alike sharp God does not limit himself in this case to any stated Rules which are known to us but acts as he thinks fit towards various Persons He hath said he will not contend for ever but yet we cannot punctually tell how long he will contend His dealing with one Soul must not be alledged as the exact Pattern of his Dealing with another Some Dispositions are more rough and stubborn some sins have been more hainously aggravated perhaps their Chains may be the heavier and not so soon taken off Common Parents consider the Tempers and Crimes of their several Children and proportion their Rebukes accordingly SERMON XVIII March 9. 1697. GAL. IV. vi And because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your Hearts crying Abba Father 3. THE Spirits usual way of evidencing our Sonship to us is nbot by any vocal Testimony or immediate Revelation Every Servant must not look to be as his Lord in this respect who had the Spirit of God visibly descending upon him at his Baptism with a voice from Heaven saying This is my beloved Son c. Matth. 3.16 17. What sudden Divine Suggestions to this purpose filling the Soul in a moment with extraordinary Joy may be sometimes afforded to some peculiar Persons at peculiar seasons I will not dispute it may be when a Soul is under strong and violent Temptations from Satan to throw up all its hopes or after long Attendance upon God in some soleme secret Duties or before our Entrance upon some very difficult and hazardous publick Services but such things are not commonly to be expected God does not tie or confine himself to ordinary means but yet he generally makes use of them and works by them 'T is possible some may be wone without the Word 1 Pet. 3.1 but yet the most are born again by the Word chap. 1.23 so 't is possible that the Spirit may in some cases reveal himself to our Comfort without the Word though never against it but this is not the Method which he commonly takes 4. The usual way of the Spirit in the declaring and confirming of our Sonship to us is by a particular powerful Application of Gospel Promises to us and an illustration of his own Fruits in us 1. By an Application of Gospel Promises There are many Promises to the same Effect with that 2 Cor. 6.18 I will be a Father to you and you shall be my Sons and Daughters c. This avails but little to us till by a Spirit of Faith we are enabled to take hold of it 't is great and precious in it self but we are not at all the richer till it is applied and set home with a mighty power upon the Soul then 't is an inestimable Treasure a Mine a Spring of everlasting Consolation The Spirit takes of Christ's and shews them unto us not only Christ's things but Christ's words too and that word among the rest John 14.8 I will not leave you comfortless Gr. Orphans Such a word as this is enough if he do but imprint it 2. By an illustration of his own Fruits These are the Marks of our Adoption which the Word refers us to and so the Spirit speaks according to the Word in helping us to argue from them As the Grace of God in Truth is by his Operation so the discovery of the Truth of Grace is by his Light reflected upon it that Christ formed in the Soul may be even felt as when the Babe leaped in Elizabeth's Womb at Mary's Salutation Luke 1.44 The Spirit of God submits his witnessing Act to be tried by what he hath wrought in us which is no more dishonour to him than it was to Christ who requir'd the Jews to believe him for his Works sakes John 14.11 As Jacob's Sons pointed him to the Waggons which Joseph sent for a proof that he was alive Gen. 45.27 5. The Spirit of God is very Arbitrary both in the giving and continuing of his Divine Testimony He is an infinitely free Agent as to both He shines as well as breaths upon whom he pleases and when he pleases 1. The Spirit acts Arbitrarily after a Sovereign way in the giving of this Testimony concerning our Adoption The Liberty of the Divine Will appears in the Communication of Grace and yet more in the dispensing of Comfort The Spirit of God is not at our command any more than the Wind which Christ compaes him to and which God is said to gather in his Fists Prov. 33.4 and to bring forth out of his Treasure Jer. 10.13 He is not such a Witness as Men may summon and produce to clear and strengthen their Cause in Humane Courts who sometimes are oblig'd under certain Penalties to appear and give in their Evidence There can be no necessity laid upon him as God sometimes holdsl his peace and is still when he might answer by terrible things so the Spirit of God might be silent in our Hearts when he cryes Abba Father 2. The Spirit Acts after the same Arbitrary manner in the continuing of this Testimony after 't is once given He can weaken and abate it he can suspend and with-draw it at his own Pleasure He that bears Witness at one Time may not do it at another Evidences may be darken'd and obscur'd which were very bright and plain hidden Manna like that in the Wilderness is not constantly gather'd every Day but very often is like that Vessel in Peter's Vision which was let down thrice to the Earth And then received up again into Heaven Acts 10.16 This makes the Ebbings and Flowings in our Hopes and Joys 6. The Spirits testifying of our Adoption is therefore distinct from our Adoption it self and not indispensibly Essential to it The Truth of the Relation does neither include nor depend upon our Knowledge of that Relation A Man may be really a Child of God and not know himself to be so by the infallible Declaration of the Spirit of God he may have as Job had Chap. 16.19 A Witness in Heaven and a Record on high and yet want a legible Copy of it in his own Bosom for his present Satisfaction The Spirits witnessing is not that which makes us the Children of God but supposes us to be so before he Witnesses that we are Children and therefore we are not the less Children though he should not Witness it We should lose the Comfort of our Sonship very much indeed but the fundamental Priviledge it self would remain however Things which for a
Superiour and honour'd accordingly and the more Kind and Indulgent he is the more Honour is due Any behaviour that betrays a slight esteem or a presumptuous Contempt of God is offensive to him and they that carry themselves so have Reason to try and condemn the Spirit which they are acted by He is our Father in Heaven and we his Children on Earth Eccles 5.2 He sits upon a Throne and we must remember that we Worship at his Footstool 7. The Spirit stirs up filial Affection to God in Prayer This makes it a delightful Exercise as indeed it should be Do Children count it a burdensome Task to go to a Father or are they not rather glad of the Opportunity of Converse with those that are so dear to them A Slave indeed hath an Aversion to the Presence of his Lord as the Bond-woman When Sarah dealt hardly with her fled from her Face Gen. 16.6 But when a Child hath to do with a tender Parent 't is quite contrary 't is sweet Employment to pour out the Soul into a Father's Bosom We set about it with Pleasure and a Pleasure which exceeds the Fruition of any Creatures whatsoever The Spirit of Adoption is a Spirit of Love and this Love breaths out it self in Holy Desires to him The Soul loves to commune with him for his own sake even though we could suppose that there were no pressing occasion for it it loves to visit him not only in Trouble when Necessity drives but at all other Times being drawn by internal Motives 8. The Spirit helps us to Pray with unwearied Fervency It behoves us so to do when we are dealing with a Father who will certainly be won and prevail'd upon how deaf or regardless soever he may seem to be for a Time Dull and stupid formality does not suit with the Relation wherein we stand where we look for cold Entertainment 't is apt to cool our Requests but Esau's Opinion of his Fathers Favour made him the more earnest for his Blessing Gen. 27.34 38. The Children of God are baptized with Fire their Hearts burn within them and it would be strange if their Words should freeze Theirs is not an Artificial Zeal which is quickly spent but a Zeal which holds out till the desire comes and by this means they are always Conquerors and as 't is said of I uther Iste vir potuit apud Deum quicquid voluit they can do what they will with God they will take no denial but wrestle and strive till they have obtain'd All this is done by the Assistance of the Spirit of our Father V. Vse I Information 1. The Love of God is to be seen and admir'd in our Adoption as much as in any Thing besides The Love of the Father in predestinating us to it the Love of the Son in procuring it for us and the Love of the Spirit in testifying it to us 'T is God's loving us as Children which is the Foundation and Root of all our Love to him as a Father for his Love descends before ours ascends 'T is marvellous that God should answer to any such Name when we call him by it and that he should give us any such Name himself the Apostle breaks forth into a kind of Ecstasie and Ravishment of Spirit when he consider'd it 1 John 3.1 Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God That in the Place where it was said to us Gentiles Ye are not my People it should be now said You are the Sons of the Living God Hos 1.10 Rom. 9.26 Are such vile Prodigals as we Worthy to be call'd his Sons Luke 15.21 That cannot be suppos'd nor is it for want of other Objects that he bestows this Favour upon us He hath an Eternal Son in whom his Soul delighteth whom he possest with Infinite Joy before all his Works of Old or this Favour might have been directed to fallen Angels but God hath preferr'd us Inferiour Creatures to that which they are excluded from 2. The Dignity of Believers excels all the Titles of Honour in the World 't is of a more glorious Nature and confirm'd by a greater Testimony By Faith Moses refused to be call'd the Son of Pharaoh's Daughter though Pharaoh was a mighty Prince Heb. 11.24 It pleased David to be Son-in-law to the King before he was so but he found little Comfort in it afterwards 1 Sam. 18.26 These Relations to the greatest of Men are poor trifling mean and empty Things in Comparison of Believer's Relation to God Magistrates are called Children of the most High because they bear some little faint Representation of God's Authority Psalm 82.6 But the least of Christ's little ones are God's Children in a sublimer Sense 'T is Ten Thousand Times more honourable to be a Child of God then Lord of the whole Earth 3. Walking after the Commandments of Men is a very ungrateful requital of God Certainly we owe most Duty where we receive the greatest Priviledge and what can Men do for us to be compar'd with what God hath done that we should pay any Homage to them in Opposition to him 'T is basely disingenuous for Children to regard what others say more than the Injunctions of their own Parents The Sense of this unspeakable Benefit of God's adopting us to himself is enough to restrain us from yielding Obedience to Men that is inconsistent with our Obedience to God This is the meaning and scope of that Caution given by Christ Mat. 23.9 Call no Man your Father upon Earth for one is your Father which is in Heaven That one God whose Children we are hath the only Supream Title to our Allegiance 4. The possibility of Assurance one would think should be without all Controversie To call it in Question is to give the lye to this very Text and to cast a blasphemous Reproach upon the Witness of the Spirit 'T is matter of rejoicing to have the single Testimony of our own Conscience for us 2 Cor. 1.12 For Conscience as one says is like a kind of Eccho which makes our spiritual Actions resound after they are past and gone from us but when we have the concurrent Testimony of the Spirit of God this makes our Joy a great deal more full Rom. 8.16 The Spirit it self beareth Witness with our Spirit that we are the Children of God The Spirit is more present and conversant with the Soul than the Soul with it self and is better acquainted with its State He knows every Child of God by Name and therefore is best able to make us know if we are such if an Angel from Heaven were sent to tell us it would not be so sure The Spirit that beareth Witness of those things is Truth in the abstract 1 John 5.6 Some may be deluded by a lying Spirit instead of him but does it follow that there must be no Persuasion which comes of him that call us Because there are Counterfeits in
of Unity and Peace To enforce this he makes use of two sorts of Motives 1st He argues from several things which are one and the same in the Church of God which do all tend to fasten and engage us to one another ver 4 5 6. There is one Body and one Spirit c. 2dly He argues from those things in which there is a diversity viz. The Graces of Believers for their Diversity is also an Argument to Love and Concord This is the Subject of the Text But unto every one c. The manner of proposing this Argument with the Particle But plainly shews that the Apostle here designs to prevent an Objection from God's unequal Distribution of Grace which corrupt Nature is very apt to make an occasion of Division whereas indeed if well considered 't is rather a strong and powerful Bond of Union for seeing every one hath his several Graces from God and no one hath all it follows that we are mutually indigent of each others Assistance and ought to be mutually Useful in affording it if one hath that Grace which another wants and if one wants what another hath they should therefore agree to be helpers of their Brethren in Christ all Grace being dispensed by the same Benefactor proceeding from the same Author and referring to one general End In the Words we have Four Particulars 1st The thing spoken of Grace This is a word which hath various Significations in the Scripture Sometimes 't is put for Grace in God his Mercy and Kindness Favour and good Will in opposition to our own Works or any thing in the Creature so Eph. 2.8 We are saved by Grace c. So we read of the Election of Grace Rom. 11.5 and Justification by Grace chap. 3.24 For this is the Foundation and Principle of all that God doth for us we must still cry Grace Grace to it Sometimes 't is put for the Doctrine of Grace i.e. The Gospel which is truly and strictly so Gal. 5.4 You are fallen from Grace 1 Pet. 5.12 This is the true Grace of God wherein you stand Sometimes 't is put for the Fruits and Effects of the Grace of God in us and they are twofold Common Gifts or special Graces 1. Common Gifts which Salvation may be separated from Thus Paul expresses his Call to the Apostleship often by the Grace given to him Rom. 1.5 Chap. 15.15 1 Cor. 3.10 Gal. 2.9 Ephes 3.7 8. 2. Special Graces such as always accompany Salvation or carry Salvation in them Thus a charitable Disposition to relieve the Needy hath the Title and Character of Grace 2 Cor. 8.6 7. 'T is probable that Grace may include both Senses but I shall chuse to speak chiefly of the latter 2dly The way of Communication Is given 'T is not due or owing to us God is not oblig'd to impart any thing to us but he freely promises and freely bestows it He freely gives us all things Rom. 8.32 1 Cor. 2.12 't is all voluntary that which he might have righteously refused to do Of his own Will he first dispenses the Grace of Conversion and afterwards for our progressive Sanctification His Justice does not bind but his Goodness moves him to it If he had left all Mankind lying in Wickedness as well as those whom he passed by he had been a God without Iniquity There was no reason why he should Restore what we had lost and Repair what we had defac'd but because he would 3dly The Persons that are the Receivers To every one of us i. e. Either 1. To all actual Believers that are or have been since the beginning of the World To every one that now hath Grace or that ever had it it was and is given So some interpret John 1.9 Every Man that cometh into the World and is enlightned is enlightned by him Or 2. To all his chosen Ones even to the end of the World All that are given to Christ shall receive Grace from him Whom he did predestinate he also will call Rom. 8.30 They to whom Grace was given in the Eternal Purpose of God before the World shall be most certainly partakers of it in time 4thly The original Spring or Pattern of it According to the measure of the Gift of Christ. This may be taken either way 1. As denoting the Spring of this Grace i. e. according to the Liberality and Munificence of Christ and in the measure which it pleases him to give This Construction is favoured by the next words which are a Citation of Psal 68.18 He gave Gifts unto Men. 2. As intimating the Pattern of this Grace Christ is not only the Giver but the Exemplar of it There is some Correspondence between the Grace in Christ and in us So some understand that John 1.16 Grace for Grace As there is a Shadow and Reflection in the Glass which answers to the real Face as in a well drawn Copy there is a resemblance of that which 't is drawn from and as the printed paper contains the Stamp and Signature of those Letters which are set in the Press so there is some kind of analogy and likeness betwixt Christ's Grace and ours Observ There is a Grace given by Christ to every one that belongs to him bearing some proportion and similitude to that which was conferr'd upon himself Here I. Shew what Purposes this Grace serves for II. Wherein it appears to be given III. How given by Christ IV. After what Manner given to every one that belongs to Christ V. What Proportion and Similitude does it bear to his Grace VI. Use I. What Purposes does this Grace serve for Ans All is included in these two Things 1. For the fixing of Holy Principles This is what the Apostle calls the establishing of the Heart with Grace Heb. 13.9 There can be no steady walk with God till this is done If we be not transformed by Grace in the renewing of our Minds all other Changes and Alterations signifie nothing and will come to nothing This only infers a real change of the Man for the Man is according as his Principles are and sooner or later they will be Operative and discover themselves A gracious Person is one endowed with gracious Habits and settled in a gracious State It is the Seed abiding in us which denominates us truly alive to God or else we are no better than Carkasses at the best that are cover'd with Flowers or embalm'd with Spices to keep them from being noisome and offensive to others 2. The producing of Holy Actions Where Principles are first fixed these Actions flow as a pure stream from a clear Fountain When the Sinner is turn'd into another Man he naturally steers another Course And when he is under the Dominion of Grace he is not so apt to be drawn aside by contrary Temptations as one that is got no further than the external Rules and Precepts of Morality 'T is only the Grace of God which effectually teaches to deny ungodliness and worldly Lusts
Tit. 2.11 12. This is the prevailing Antidote against practical Atheism and all manner of licentiousness and sensuality Hereby we serve God acceptably Heb. 12.28 And hereby we have our Conversation in the World towards other Men so as to gain the rejoycing Testimony of a good Conscience 2 Cor. 1.12 Such Fruits of Righteousness does the Root of the Righteous always yield II. Wherein does this Grace appear to he given Ans Two ways 1. If we consider the Matter in general it must needs be given because the Creature is in no Capacity to claim it as a debt For 1. The Man that hath no Grace can do nothing to deserve it Nothing that 's done by the strength of Nature can Merit the infusing of a supernatural Power Nature and Grace differ in kind and Grace is of a kind more Superiour to Nature than Heaven is to Earth There is no Affinity or Comparison between Flesh and Spirit and consequently none between that which is born of the Flesh and that which is born of the Spirit John 3.6 What we bring forth in a State of Sin is all after our own likeness and can this qualifie us for being Created again after the likeness of God All antecedent Dispositions and Preparations rise no higher than the carnal Standard they are still but dead Works which fall infinitely short of a Divine quickening If Glory is not to be procur'd by the most vigorous Exercises of Grace much less Grace by the utmost endeavours of Nature 2. We are so far from deserving Grace that naturally we do not desire it Wheresoever Grace is sincerely desir'd the good Work is begun To will is not present with us till God hath wrought it Whoever covets to partake of God's Holiness does in some Degree partake of it already There is an Enmity and Opposition in corrupt Nature to the Work of saving Grace instead of asking and seeking after it we refuse and reject the offers of it and rise up in Arms against it before God hath subdued us to himself How can we suppose that the Old Man should ever crave to be crucifi'd and reigning Sin affect to be depos'd We may as well think that the Devil should wish the Subversion of his own Kingdom as that unrenewed Nature and sinful Flesh should desire the Destruction of it self 3. We are so far from naturally desiring Grace that we are not deeply sensible of our want of it till God hath made us so By a deep Sense I mean a feeling Apprehension both of our being destitute of Grace and being undone without it Now this is imprest by the Spirit of God where-ever it is Graceless Persons either do not know their Condition to be so sinful or not so miserable as it is they think themselves to have what they have not or else they are Content to want it as if there were no need of having it How then can he deserve a Cure who fancies himself so whole that he hath no occasion for a Physician Or who thinks himself bound to bestow an Alms upon one that is too Proud to beg and will not own his Necessity but says he is Rich enough This is our Case with Respect to God 2. If we examine the Matter more particularly there are several express Instances in Scripture which make it out to us As 1. The Spirit of God who is the immediate Operator of all Grace in us and therefore call'd the Spirit of Grace Zech. 12.10 Is said to be given us Rom. 5.5 1 John 3.24 Or else 't is impossible that ever we should receive him Receiving implies a giving A Man can receive nothing unless it be given him from Heaven John 3.27 And therefore the World cannot receive the Spirit because he was never promised nor is he given to the World Chap. 14.17 Jesus Christ is not more the Gift of God to poor Sinners than the Spirit is they are both equally glorious Persons and unspeakable inestimable Gifts The Communication of the Holy Ghost is as great an Act of Bounty in God as the Exhibition of his Son 2. The New Nature which is inclusive of all Grace is represented in Scripture as a Gift Ezek. 36.26 A new Heart will I give you c. I will give you an Heart of Flesh This new Heart and Heart of Flesh does vertually comprehend in it every Grace for all the habits of Grace are infus'd at once not successively one after another they are all really inherent when we are first made new Creatures though not all on a sudden eminently visible Now this new Heart which constitutes a new Creature is absolutely given so the Covenant runs God does not say I will give it you upon such and such Terms if you do thus and thus but I will give you c. If it were a suspended conditional Promise it might never be performed 3. Saving Knowledge which is coupled with Grace 2 Pet. 3.18 And is indeed it self a Grace is given So God says I will give them an Heart to know me Jer. 24.7 And Christ tells his Disciples Vnto you ic is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom c. Mat. 13.11 'T is rich Love and Mercy which makes the difference in this Case between some and others between those who remain blind as they are Born and those whose Eyes are open'd and that have the Veil upon their Hearts taken away They to whom this Knowledge is given and they to whom it is not given are alike unworthy of it and alike uncapable of attaining it themselves He that gives us natural Light for the guidance of our Bodies does as truly give spiritual Light for the Conduct of our Souls 4. Faith is the Gift of God Eph. 2.8 As 't is stiled his Work to intimate that his Power is the Cause so 't is call'd his Gift to intimate that his goodness is the Motive Vnto you it is given to believe Phil. 1.29 The Grace of Faith is communicated to us with the same freeness as the Object of it is and if it were not so we should live and dye in our Infidelity Our Lord positively says John 6.65 No Man can come to me except it be given to him of my Father We may as well undertake a perfect fulfilling of the whole Covenant of Works as pretend to an Ability of receiving Christ as tender'd in the Gospel He is set up as the brazen Serpent in the Wilderness and God gives us an Eye to look to him or else we should be nothing the better 5. Repentance is God's Gift also There is no Repentance to Salvation but what is wrought by the God of Salvation We may as well imagine that Light should of it self Spring out of Darkness and sweet Waters issue from a bitter Fountain as that any such Grace should be the natural Product of our Impenitent Hearts There is no hope of an Heart desperately Wicked as the Heart of every Man by Nature is Jer. 17.9 unless God is
pleased by his Almighty Vertue to Work the Cure and with an irresistible Hand to turn it to himself 2 Tim. 2.25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if peradventure God will give them Repentance c. No Instruction will do if he against whom they Sin do not give them to repent III. How is this Grace the Gift of Christ as the Text affirms it to be Ans In six Things 1. All Things are deliver'd unto him by the Father to him as Mediator Mat. 11.27 All things are given into his Hand John 3.35 And he hath the disposal of them according to his own Pleasure he may with-hold or dispense every Thing as he sees good The Son quickeneth whom he will Chap. 5.21 He is empower'd to give Eternal Life Chap. 10.28 Chap. 17.2 And this Eternal Life is founded in spiritual Now the ground-work is his as well as the Head-stone the first-fruits of Grace as well as the Harvest of Glory the Gift of Righteousness it self as well as the Crown of Righteousness Chap. 4.14 The Water which I shall give him shall be in him a Well springing up into Everlasting Life Christ hath so large a Trust and Commission from the Father that nothing is excepted out of it 2. The giving of Grace is one of his essential Royalties as a King To give only corruptible Things is to give as the World giveth the Men of high Degree scatter their Favours of that kind among those that are below them but it agrees with the Majesty of Jesus Christ to bestow that which is of an incorruptible Nature a Principle of Grace and Holiness in the Hearts of his People Acts 5.31 Him hath God exalted to be a Prince and Saviour to give Repentance c. He would be a Prince without Subjects a meer Titular Prince if he did not by his own Grace bring them into Subjection and keep them in it He never ruled in any Heart which he did not first Conquer rebellious Sinners would never submit and yield themselves to his Authority if he did not make them willing in the day of his Power Psalm 110.3 3. Christ is given to be an Head of Influence as well as of Government to his Church Therefore said to be the Head of the Body Col. 1.18 Now as every Part of the natural Body derives Spirits from the Head so every Part of the mystical Body gracious Influences from Christ There is an effectual working from him throughout the whole Eph. 4.16 And how is this effectual working but by the Communication of his Grace to the various Members This 〈◊〉 what Paul experienc'd and gives an account of with Reference to his own first Conversion 1 Tim. 1.14 The Grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with Faith and Love which is in Christ Jesus Paul's Heart was full of unbelief and hatred before but the prevailing Grace of Christ in whom he was chosen before the World planted Faith and Love in the room of them 4. 'T is the Work of Christ to furnish those whom be unites and espouses to himself with Beauty and Ornaments fit for his Embraces and wherein does this Beauty consist and what are these Ornaments but a Participation of his Grace Some are ready to cry is a deformed filthy Sinner meet to lye in Christ's Bosom But I would Reply who makes the Sinner meet besides Christ himself He can have no complacency or delight in such an one continuing as he is but his Manner is to impart a commending loveliness where he loves As Rebeckah was adorned with Jewel's of Isaac's giving Gen. 24.53 So it was granted to the Lambs Wife that she should be arrayed in fine Linne c. of his preparing Rev. 19.8 For as the imputed Righteousness of Christ so the inherent Righteousness of Saints is his Gift whom they are married to 5. Christ hath the right of distributing Grace as the Effect of his Purchase He hath bought it with his Blood and therefore may confer it on whom he pleases as we know that every one may do what he Will with his own and what we buy at a valuable Price is undoubedtly our own Upon this score all Grace is the Grace of Christ 't is his just Propriety and he hath â—â—â—ain'd it at the dearest Rate which could be demanded He gave himself for the Church that he might sanctifie and cleanse it c. Eph. 5.25 26. Our Sanctification was one end of his Sufferings and as it was he that suffer'd so 't is he that sanctifies Christ merited Grace for us by his Death and therefore the dispensing of it is his due 6. The Spirit of Grace is sent by Christ and supplies his Place John 16.7 If I depart I will send him to you So that he Acts as in Christ's Name and on his behalf and consequently what the Spirit does may be attributed unto Christ and what he divides to every Man may be very well look't upon as allotted by Christ whose Spirit he is for so he is called the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.17 18. There is the very Heart of Christ in all the Spirits saving Operations they are directed by his Infinite Wisdom and Care to all those whom he laid down his Life for As he shed forth the Holy Ghost at Pentecost Acts 2.33 So the pouring of him out at all Times is his continual Providence still IV. After what manner is this Grace given to every one that belongs to Christ Answ Negatively and Positively I. Negatively I. This Grace is not given to all by the same Instruments and Means 'T is most usually by the Word of Grace but sometimes by the Rod of sanctified Affliction 't is oftnest by the Sword in Christ's Mouth but it may be by the Fan in his Hand Ordinarily 't is by the Preaching of Christ's Embassadors but sometimes the edifying Discourses of Private Christians may Minister Grace to the Hearers Eph. 4.29 Again though it be by the same Gospel yet God makes use of several Publishers They whom he sanctifies through the Truth are Converted by several Persons There are many spiritual Fathers some are begotten in Christ by the Ministry of one and some by another 2. It is not given to all at the same Age or Period of Life As in that Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard some were called at the third Hour some at the sixth some at the ninth some at the eleventh Some are sanctified from the Womb filled with the Spirit like John from their very Birth Luke 1.15 Others it may be wear out almost all their Lives and are even dropping into the Grave before they are brought home to God Some are planted into Christ in their tender Years like Paul when a Young Man others not born again till they are Old when the evil Days come And therefore it is not so material or requisite for us to know when we felt the first workings of Grace as to be sure that we feel it 's real workings
now 3. It is not given to all in her same remarkable Circumstances The Kingdom of God comes with more Observation into some Souls than into others Some are more gently others more sharply dealt with the Travel of the Soul at the New-birth is not with the same sensible Difficulty and Anguish in all Persons Some pass from Death to Life with greater Convulsions Like that noise and shaking when the dry Bones came together Ezek. 37.7 Others are call'd with a more still Voice and drawn to Christ in a more soft and silent way Grace is sometimes introduc'd by deep Humiliations great brokenness extraordinary disquiet at others Times it insinuates it self into the Soul with less of those Preparatives and therefore less discernably 4. It is not given to all in the same Measure To some more Grace to others less Justifying Righteousness is bestow'd alike upon every one no one is made more righteous by the Obedience of Christ than another but as to the Gift of sanctifying Righteousness there are vastly different Degrees Some in God's Israel like Saul higher from the Shoulders and upwards others like Zacchens little of Stature Some Weak others Strong in Faith some eminent for spiritual Understanding But there is not in every one that Knowledge 1 Cor. 8.7 Some are even consum'd by their Zeal for God but all are not such lively Stones Song 1.17 The Beams of our House are Caedar and our Rafters of Firr As Beams in God's building bear greatest weight so Caedar is of greatest worth SERMON XX. June 1. 1697. EPHES IV. vii But unto every one of us is given Grace according to the measure of the Gift of Christ 2. POsitively 1. There is some Grace given to every one which shall never be lost even to the least Babe in Christ the poorest and meanest Believer whatsoever Also upon the Servants and the Handmaids in those Days will I pour out my Spirit Joel 2.29 Every Member of Christ even such as we think to be least honourable hath this Honour bestowed upon it to be made a partaker of the Holy Ghost and partaker of him so as never to fall away For this is a Gift which is without Repentance Rom. 11.29 As to those that are God's workmanship in Christ it never Repents him that he hath new made them Whom he once effectually draws he never suffers absolutely to draw back ' The Devil may steal the Word out of Men's Hearts before 't is engraffed there by the Spirit but afterwards he cannot 2. There is Grace given to every one which is of the same kind in every one All God's Children the little ones as well as those that are more advanc't to greater ripeness and maturity have the same Divine Nature infus'd into them 2 Pet. 1.4 They are all Created again after the Image of God which as to the Substance of it is the same in all though there be some difference in lesser Features They all obtain like precious Faith 2 Pet. 1.1 The Faith of God's Elect is all alike in regard of its main and principal Fruits In every one it purifies the Heart overcomes the present World realizes unseen Things though it does not work and act in every one with equal Vigour 3. There are supplies of Grace given to every one for as all Creatures do necessarily depend upon God for their natural Beings so God's new Creatures especially for the continuance and increase of their spiritual Life From the Day that they first know the Grace of God in Truth there are further Communications every Day of more Grace both in order to Establishment and Growth How much soever God hath already vouchsaf'd it would be of fatal Consequence if he should stop his Hand God is always giving that we may retain and improve what we have receiv'd before Hos 6.3 He shall come unto us as the Rain as the latter and former Rain unto the Earth As the former Rain which opens the Womb of the Earth to take in the Seed and as the latter which serves to plump and swell the Fruit. 4. There is Grace given to every one suitable to their Condition 1 Cor 7.7 Every Man hath his proper Gift of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Gift peculiar to himself one after this manner and another after that As Christ speaks of a saying Which all Men cannot receive save they to whom 't is given Mat. 19.11 Some Men have less mastery over their Affections and God by his wise Providence casts their Lot accordingly Some are exercis'd with more Temptations and such God furnishes with more Strength to resist and stand against them Some are call'd to more eminent Services and then God enlarges their Capacity of performing them It is still so manag'd by him who knows our Necessity that they whose Condition requires most Grace have most V. What Proportion and Similitude does the Grace given to us bear to the Grace which was in Christ Here Premise a few Things to prevent misunderstanding and then State the Truth it self 1. To Premise a few Things to prevent misunderstanding As 1. That Grace in Christ to which the Grace in Believers bears any Proportion is to be understood of his Grace as Man the Grace which was communicated to his Humane Nature Psalm 45.2 Thou art fairer than the Children of Men Grace is poured into thy Lips His gracious Words which often struck the Hearers with wonder and amazement flowed from this Spring and therefore in that Character which the Spouse gives of him His Lips are describ'd like Lilies dropping sweet smelling myrrh Song 5.13 Jesus Christ as God was the God of all Grace the Original Fountain of it in himself and Author of it to us as Man he was a Vessel that receiv'd it by Derivation it was truly given to him as it was given to the first Man Adam When God created him And this is that Grace of Christ which our Grace does especially resemble 2. The Grace which is given by Christ to every one of his Members is not the same individual Grace which was given to him by the Father We are not endowed with that very same particular inherent Holiness which he was for then we must suppose him to be divested of it at the same Time Those gracious Qualities which were lodg'd in Christ cannot be transferr'd to us for Qualities cannot pass from one Subject to another or belong to more than one at once The same Righteousness which Christ fulfill'd is imputed and reckon'd to us for our Justification as the same Money which the Surety lays down is judicially and legally accounted to be paid by the Debtor but the same righteous Habits cannot be infus'd into Christ and Believers not the same in number though the same in Kind The Case is plain because the Person of Christ and the Persons of Believers are really distinct they are united indeed but not by a personal Union for then there would be as many Christs as there are Believers
whereas there is but one Lord Jesus Christ they make up one Mystical Body but not one natural Person therefore his Grace and theirs must numerically differ 3. The Grace given to Christ was to serve some special Purposes and Ends which the Grace given to us is not adapted for He was not only made under the Ceremonial Law and under the Moral as others were but under a peculiar Law which concern'd himself only Gal. 4.4 There is a vast Difference between the Work of Christ as Mediator and the Work of an ordinary Christian and therefore besides the stock of habitual Grace of which his Manhood was possest he had the Godhead also to support him and there was absolute need of it There was more Service and Duty incumbent upon Jesus Christ than ever was upon any meer Creature before or since The Active and Passive Obedience of Christ exceeds all that any Man was ever called to do or suffer Our work under the Influence of his Grace hath a subordinate Respect to our own Salvation he was to work out the Salvation of all his Elect in a way of proper Merit and Satisfaction 4. The Grace in him and in us are not equally perfect they are not like Parallel Lines which run the same length No Believer can pretend to be so full of Grace as he was our receivings are far from coming up to the same measure with his Christ had an extraordinary anointing in a larger Quantity we have it drop't in Comparison upon us He as the Sun of Righteousness Mal. 4.2 We as twinkling Stars He as the King of Righteousness Heb. 7.2 We as Inferiour Subjects Grace is Christ was like Water in a wide Sea which hath no visible Bounds Grace in us is like Water in a little Brook or a narrow River Grace in him was in sinless Perfection at the first in us it is never so while we are in this World there are mixtures of sinful Infirmity with all the Grace which we have or Exercise He had abundance of Grace clouded with no Corruption we compar'd with him have a great deal of Corruption besetting a little Grace 2. To State the Truth it self as it is in this Case 1. The Grace which is in Believers bears some Proportion and Similitude to the Grace which is in Christ as it proceeds from one and the same Spirit The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him and make him of quick Vnderstanding in the Fear of the Lord Isa 11.2 3. All Holy Communications to Christ and us are the immediate Effects of this Blessed Spirit the Third Person in the Godhead He was sanctified by the Holy Ghost when he was sent into the World so are we when called out of the World and translated into his invisible Kingdom As Christ gives us the same Glory Which the Father gave to him John 17.22 So he fills us with the same Divine Spirit which he had himself 2. Christ's Grace and ours have one general Scope and Aim viz. The glorifying of God No Grace can be of the right Seed but what is levell'd at the Honour of the Giver As it is God's Design in giving it so it will be our Design in acting it if it be acted with Integrity Christ who had so rich a Furniture of Grace sought not his own Glory nor the exalting of himself But he glorified God on the Earth John 17.4 This is what he had an Eye to in all he did so every Believer intends and pursues the same Thing 'T is as much his business to glorifie God as it is his Pleasure to enjoy him Grace consecrates even his natural Actions to serve and promote this noble End the Actions of Eating and Drinking which in others are only perform'd for Necessity or else for Lust 1 Cor. 10.31 3. As Christ had every Grace so hath the Believer though none in the highst Degree Our Lord Jesus was a compleat Copy of universal Righteousness none could say to him as he said to the Young Man One Thing thou lackest So as to the kinds of Grace they that belong to Christ are likewise perfect and entire wanting nothing James 1.4 And they stand compleat in all the Will of God Col. 4.12 they are not endued with some Graces and destitute of others but where one is there is all If a a Liar c. 1 John 4.20 These Things are not separable any more than you can divide Christ from himself Wheresoever Faith is there is Repentance and new Obedience that 's a Counterfeit Faith which is alone 't is Dead and therefore cannot be true James 2.17 Saving Graces are always in Connection They make up the one Chain on the Spouses Neck which ravishes the Heart of Christ Song 4.9 4. The Matter of his Grace and ours is the same The new Creature is therefore set forth by Christ formed in us Gal. 4.19 Because of the Agreement and Conformity betwixt the stamp of God's Holiness upon the Humane Soul of Christ and the Souls of them that believe Hence the same Mind is said to be in us as was in him Phil. 2.5 The same humble meek self-denying self-resigning Temper So he that doth Righteousness is Righteous even as he is Righteous 1 John 3.7 'T is the same Rule of Righteousness observ'd by both and so the same specifical Work of Righteousness perform'd by both That Law which was perfectly obey'd by Christ is sincerely obey'd by all that are Christ's A new Commandment write I unto you which Thing is true in him and in you 1 John 2.8 That Law which was in his Heart is in ours if we be Partakers of Christ and that which govern'd his exemplary Life will govern ours also Vse Many Things follow from hence both for our Learning and Practise 1. For our Learning As 1. If Grace it self be given then nothing done by the help of Grace can be meritorious of Glory If our first stock and all our Improvements are from God and vouchsafed freely What Reward can we challenge for any thing we do God is so much before-hand with us that he can never be oblig'd or indebted to us if we were capable of first giving to him we might expect a recompence and requital but says God Who hath prevented me that I should repay him Job 41.11 We do not prevent God with Duty but he prevents us with Grace and therefore we owe all that we can do to God and a great deal more we can never answer the Engagements which we are under nor discharge the thousandth part of what he might require from us so that 't is impossible for the least or lowest Degree of Favour to be due from him All our returns of Service and Obedience to God are built upon the Foundation of Grace receiv'd we do but give him of his own as David said 1 Chron. 29.14 And therefore the Gift of Eternal Life cannot flow from distributive Justice but must be a further Act of undeserved Bounty 2. If Grace
those that are most abased in their own Minds 3. Go to God in Christ by Prayer for this blessed Gift It was never denied to any one that sincerely sought it in this Way Direct your Prayers particularly to Christ himself to whom the Dispensation of Grace is committed Remember his Words to the Woman of Samaria John 4.10 If thou knewest the Gift of God and who it is c. thou wouldst have asked of him and he would have given c. He is as willing to bestow it as he is able believe this and apply to him accordingly We may err in the restraining of all our Worship to the Father as if none were due to the Son Why should not we address as well to our Lord Jesus to renew our Spirits as Stephen to receive his Spirit 4. Resolve not to be satisfi'd or dismiss'd without this Gift This may be safely resolv'd and 't is a Resolution very pleasing to God If you do but say with full Purpose of Heart as Jacob did I will not let thee go c. He cannot wrest himself out of your Hands but you must assuredly prevail If you give God any rest you may look for a Refusal if you can be Content without Grace you will never receive it The Rich who feel not the Extremity of Want are but indifferent Beggars and therefore God sends them empty away Luke 1.53 Take hold of God's Feet and go not from his Throne of Grace till you have obtain'd what you go for 5. Be found in the ordinary Road of receiving as the People that brought their Sick into the Streets and laid them on Beds and Conches in the way where Peter was to pass Acts 5.15 They that are desirous of the Alms of spiritual Wisdom must attend at Wisdoms-gates where the Alms are generally given out 'T is wicked Presumption to expect Grace from God in a careless neglect of the Means of Grace They that trust in them and they that forbear to use them are both far from the Kingdom of God If Faith comes by hearing 't is our Duty to wait for it in Hearing and not to think that it should be wrought by Miracle 6. Put away as much as lies in your Power all that tends to hinder this Gift of Grace Though you are unable to qualifie your selves for it unable to prepare the way of the Lord in your own Hearts yet to do what you are able to do is certainly such Advice as you ought to take You cannot mortifie the inward Love of Sin but you can keep your selves from many outward Acts of Sin You cannot it may be overcome some Temptations when you are in them but you can chuse whether you'will run designedly into them Now he that pretends to look up to God for Grace and at the same time wilfully obstructs it by his own contrary Practise is a gross and shameful Hypocrite 2. To those that are truly gracious What shall they do 1. Do not disown this Gift This is mistaken Modesty and real unthankfulness We ought not to make our selves Poor when we have great Riches as if we were hir'd by the Accuser of the Brethren to bear false Witness against our selves The Saints that are in Christ Jesus gratifie the Father of lies as much by saying they have no Grace as by saying they have no Sin For a Man to proclaim his own goodness is a fault on one Hand to deny it is an extream on the other Hand The Apostle hath directed us to the true medium Rom. 12.3 I say through the Grace given unto me to every Man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly c. 2. Be sure to acknowledge it as a Gift Be not pufft up with that which comes down from above If thou didst receive it why dost thou Glory as if thou hadst not received it 1 Cor. 4.7 As we are not to boast of things without our measure so things within our measure are no just ground or matter of boasting If God hath given that to us which he hath not to others what Reason have we to be proud of it If we had earned it by our own Industry and Labour Activity and Diligence we might have some Cloak for spiritual Pride but as it is we have none at all 3. Take heed of lusting to Envy against those that go beyond you There is a sifnul Emulation in holy things a repining at that wherein we should Rejoyce a secret Grief that others do so well instead of an hearty shame that we do no better For the Cure of this remember all is given and if your Gift be less than another Man's you must not murmur and complain as if God had done you any wrong Bless God that some have the Grace which you want and by that means are more serviceable than you 4. Do not think however that a little of this Grace is enough or any measure short of Perfection Be still crying Give give continue still sucking at the same 〈◊〉 till you are fill'd with all the fulness of 〈◊〉 This is no evil Covetousness but that which is requisite and laudable We are not only oblig'd to endeavour the preserving and cherishing of the Grace we have but to look after increase and the getting of more And we are encourag'd to this because the first Grace is a Gift which makes way for more Mat. 25.29 To every one that hath shall be given c. 5. Exercise Faith upon Jesus Christ for constant Succour and Assistance in all your Times of Need. Whatsoever Service or Suffering you are called to you cannot have occasion for more Grace than he hath to impart He is able to make all-Grace abound towards you 2 Cor. 9.8 And let the difficulty be what it will his Grace is as sufficient for you as it was for Paul under his sore and grievous Bussetings Chap. 12.9 How low soever your Stock be his is not to be exhausted and that which is most impossible to your weakness is most easie in his Strength 6. Lay out faithfully all that you receive for the Good and Benefit of others as well as your own It would be better not to be entrusted with any Talent than not to employ it to the utmost Advantage God gives us nothing but what we are to Profit withal and it would be sad if we should give the worst Account of the best Gifts Whatsoever is bestow'd upon any Member in Particular should be so manag'd as that it may be some way useful to the Body in general 1 Pet. 4.10 As every Man hath received the Gift even so Minister the same one to another as good Stewar◠〈◊〉 c. The Grace of God is manifold and 〈…〉 are differing but all is to be ministred by us to others and by others to us we are Stewards of his Grace and if we be not good Stewards we shall never be Heirs of his Glory SERMON XXI
the World before he hath answer'd the End and dispatch'd the Business for which he was born into it A comfortable Death does not suit with a slothful and careless an useless and unprofitable Life He that hath neglected his Duty to himself or to others in his place may very well b backward and unwilling to die Job begs that it would please God to destroy him and crys Let him not spare for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One chap. 6.9 10. 5. Clear and State your Accounts every day set them in Order for their Confusion will cause your Distraction when you come to die Seriously examine and reflect upon your daily Walk and Course and do not leave those Miscarriages to be budled up in a general Repentance when they are forgotten which when they are fresh you may and ought to be particularly humbled for The more diligent and exact we are in this case the less Advantage will Satan have against us A Man can but scarcely die well as the Apostle speaks of being scarcely saved 1 Pet. 4.18 who hath any thing else to do when his hour comes 6. Beware of grieving the Spirit and clouding your own Comforts Though full Assurance be not absolutely necessary to the yielding of this Obedience in Death yet our Obedience must needs be very defective where some degrees of Assurance or good hope through Grace are not gotten and maintain'd 'T is very hard to resign without some Evidence that God will receive us very hard to let go our Temporal Life when we can lay no hold upon Eternal therefore the Advice is needful Jude 21. Keep your selves in the Love of God do nothing that may tend to prejudice or weaken your sense of it 7. Live upon the Death of Christ as the only Foundation of your warrantable Trust Though you do walk before God in Truth you will find the need of something else to depend on for your Title to Glory Some think that there is a Gospel Mystery in Moses's dying short of Canaan and Joshua's leading the People into it viz. to intimate to us That the Works of the Law will bring none to Heaven but Christ by his Blood hath open'd our way to it He that builds his Hope of Salvation upon any thing which he hath done must either perish or pull down all again 8. Look up to Heaven for Divine Instruction in this great Point It was Moses's Prayer to God so teach us to number our days that we may apply our Hearts c. Psalm 90.12 The numbering of our Days aright is no Vulgar Arithmetick nor can we learn it without a more than ordinary Tutor No Man ever died like Moses here according to the Word of the Lord but what was taught of God to do it He that gives out the Command must guide our Spirits to obey it If we can do nothing for God of our selves least of all can we die to him without him SERMON XXIII October 1. 1697. HEBREWS VII xxv Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them THE Glorious Office of the Priesthood of Jesus Christ is the Subject of great part of this Epistle and the Apostle's main Scope and Design is to shew the superlative Excellency thereof beyond the Legal Priesthood which he does at large in various respects In the two immediate foregoing Verses he compares Christ with the Priests under the Law in reference to their Mortality Verse 23. They truly were many Priests many one after another because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death they were dying Men and how well soever they discharged the Duty of their Places yet in a few Years they left it to those that survived them and knew it no more themselves the Ministers of the Old Testament had their appointed time when their Breath went forth and returned not again as you find that the Ministers of the New Testament have now in their Generation But ver 24. this man or this Christ the Anointed of the Lord whom the Apostle here speaks of for the word Man is not in the Original but supplied by our Translators because he continueth ever hath an unchangable Priesthood his Office does not pass from him to another he hath no Successors in it whom the Exercise of it is committed to but he still manages it in his own Person and will perpetually do it Hereupon that comfortable and encouraging Inference and Conclusion is drawn up in the words of the Text Wherefore he is able c. Whcih words if they were to be cast into our usual Forms of Argument would run thus He who ever lives to make Intercession is able to save to the uttermost But Jesus Christ ever lives c. Therefore he is able c. There are many important Truths lying in this Text but all may be brought within the compass of this one Observ Christ's eternal Life and Intercession in Heaven in an infallible Proof of his Infinite saving Power Here I. I shall enquire into the Thing which the Apostle undertakes to prove The infinite-saving-Power of Jesus Christ II. Into the Evidence which he proves it by The Eternal Life and Intercession of Christ in Heaven With the distinct Uses which may be made of both these I. As to the thing which the Apostle here sets himself to prove viz. The infinite-saving Power of our Lord Jesus The Text it self will lead us to the opening of two Things under this Head The nature of this Power and the extent of it How he is able to save and how far even to the uttermost First With reference to the nature of this Power How is Christ able to save This may may be stated in the following Propositions 1. There is a Power which belongs to Christ as he is God In this as in all other Divine Perfections the Second Person is equal with the First Rev. 1.8 I am the Almighty The very same unlimited boundless Power appertains both to the Father and the Son Therefore when Christ had asserted That none should pluck his sheep out of his hand John 10.28 he confirms it by this That his Father is greater than all and none is able to pluck them out of the Father's hand ver 29. Now if any should go about to deny the Consequence the next words will clear it I and my Father are one ver 30. If my Father is greater than all so am I if he be able to secure and preserve the Sheep so am I for he and I are one we are one in Essence and Nature and so all the same glorious Perfections which are inherent in him are in me likewise But this though it be a great Article of Faith and a great support to Believers does not seem to be that which the Apostle hath so much an Eye to in this place for he is now speaking of his Ability to save
saved our first Parents from their first Sin which being a leading Act of Rebellion was a very great one He sav'd several of his Murderers and they that shed his Blood were wash'd in it He saves from the Sin of Unbelief which is the worst of Sins and in those that are guilty of it now is really greater than the Sin of the Jews in putting him to death 2. He saves from all that is in Sin from the guilt and filth of it He takes out every spot from the Soul and wipes out every Line from the Score He pays the uttermost Farthing and therefore saves to the uttermost he discharges all and leaves nothing to stand in God's Book against us His whole Church shall be presented Holy and without blemish Ephess 5.27 No Corruption is suffer'd to domineer where he comes to save as Job enters his solemn Protestation That no blot cleaves to his hands chap. 31.7 Blots may be and unavoidably will be contracted while we are in such a polluting World but they with whom Christ hath any thing to do soon shake them off again as Paul did the Viper which fastned on his hand and felt no barm Acts 28.5 Yea at length Christ will save from the in being of Sin too when we quit our earthly Houses Sin shall be quite turn'd out of Doors 3. He saves from all that 's due to Sin and from all the effects of it from Wrath present and to come not meerly from Hell but from all purely Judicial Strokes upon Earth too He does not save from God's loving Rebukes for that would be to our prejudice and therefore it would be no proper desirable Salvation but from God's furious Rebukes he does He hath Redeemed us from the Curse of the Law c. Gal. 3.13 from the whole Curse and every part of it There is not the least Grain of the Legal Curse in all the afflictions which Christ's saved ones do at any time undergo There are chastened as Children not persecuted as common Malefactors They are sav'd from every thing that would make them truly miserable they are exercis'd with nothing but what shall do them good those very Calamities of which Sin is the occasion shall be the means to advance their Blessedness 2. His being able to save to the uttermost notes duration As 1. The saving Power of Christ stretches it self to the final Accomplishment of his own Work Whatever He puts his hand unto he will give it his last hand the Author and Finisher of our Faith Heb. 12.2 Wheresoever he Designs to build it shall not be said that he is not able to finish he will give no occasion for any such Reproach to be cast upon his Eternal Power He is as able to bring forth the Head-Stone as to lay the first Foundation He carries on his Designs of Grace through all Hindrances and Oppositions till he hath conquer'd and surmounted all he never leaves off what he undertakes and is engag'd in before the thoughts of his heart are finally perform'd and all fulfilled which he had contriv'd and purposed to do He is the Omega as well as the Alpha he shuts up as well as opens the great work of a Sinners Salvation and Recovery 2. Christ's saving Power will not be exhausted or diminished to the end of the World He will be as able to save then as he was at the beginning for if he was invested with such a Power before he had actually paid the Price of our Redemption we have no reason to doubt the continuation of that Power afterwards If he had sav'd so many for about Four Thousand Years before he came and offer'd up himself 't is impossible that since this Sacrifice any should be born into the World too late for him to save Every successive Generation yet to come may have the same benefit as all that are past have had So long as the World stands the Elect of God that are in it shall receive as freely from Christ's Fulness as ever any did His Power is the same without any Change or Variation in all Ages Yesterday to day and to Morrow Is my band shortned at all that it cannot redeem Isa 50.2 3. His Power is sufficient for us in our greatest Extremities while we live in this World In our sorest Temptations and longest Desertions when like Peter we are ready to sink he is mighty to save still We cannot be brought so low by Hellish Rage and spiritual Darkness by the Buffetings of Satan and the Hidings of God but that he can lift us up As the Apostle speaks of the Jews who have been broken off by unbelief and abode in that unbelief so many Hundred Years God is able to graft them in again Rom. 11.23 When we are apt to think that there is no way to escape that we must and shall without remedy perish at the last he hath his Almighty Succors at hand and can in a moment rescue and deliver us from all our fears When the Waters are come into the Soul he hath power to save from Drowning or else that Prayer was vain Psalm 69.1 4. His saving Power is our present help when we come to die and stand in Judgment When we have past through the Changes Hazards and Tryals of this Life the chiefest of all is that which puts a period to Life and then Jesus Christ is able to save us in Death tho he do not save us from it able not only to carry us to our hoary hairs but to go with us farther when these hoary hairs are brought down to the grave able to support us when flesh and heart when strength and spirits fail able to receive and defend our Spirits at their Departure out of the Body and give them immediate possession of the place prepared for them able to answer for us before the Bar of God and shield us under the covering of his perfect Righteousness from all the Accusations that can be brought against us in short he is so well able to justifie us that even in that day we may boldly say Who is he that condemneth 5. The Salvation which Christ works and displays his power in endures in its full force and vertue to Eternity it self Isa 45.17 Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation You shall not be ashamed nor confounded World without end Again chap. 57.6 The Heavens shall vanish away like smoak and the Farth wax old like a garment and they that dwell therein die in like manner but my salvation shall be for ever c. As our Confidence is not in a God who cannot save or who can save only in part so not in a God who can save only for a limited time or restrained season Our God's Salvation lasts as long as himself it runs parallel with his very Being Titus 2.13 The great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Those Two Glorious Titles are chained together in Christ and you may as well suppose the
the World are there no Realities So the Assurance of the strongest Believer's may not be compleat perhaps but is it therefore not true Our Graces the Fruits of the Spirit are all imperfect but that does not make them false and feigned and Perfection in Comfort is above the standard of this Life as well as in Holiness II. Exhortation 1. Enquire into your own Adoption 'T is not a Priviledge common to all see whether you have just Cause to apprehend that 't is yours The World hath a mixt Multitude in it there are Sons of Belial and Children of the Devil as well as of God 1 John 3.10 There are Strangers and Dogs as well as Children And there be many who are called the Children of God and are not so indeed being such only by visible external Profession as they were Gen. 6.2 We deceive our selves if we are satisfied with this for this will be of no more Advantage to us than the National Adoption which once belong'd to the Jews is useful to them with Respect to which the Apostle positively says They which are the Children of the Flesh are not the Children of God Rom. 9.8 Think not that 't is enough to be Christians outwardly any more than to be Jews outwardly but look after a real Change of State 2. Apply your selves to God for this Benefit if yet destitute of it Consider what miserable helpless Creatures you are in your present Case like a wretched Infant that is cast out into the open Field in the Day that it is born Ezek. 16.5 Go and bemoan your Case at the Foot of God And as Abraham said to him Lord God what wilt thou give me seeing I go Childless Gen. 15.2 You may much better say what wilt thou give me seeing I go Fatherless What canst thou give that I can receive any Comfort in Tell him that you can never call your selves Happy till you can call him Father and that you desire nothing besides this in Comparison of it The Chief of Sinners may take Encouragement from that blessed Text Jer. 3.19 Justice seems to argue against it in the former Part of the verse and Mercy concludes for it in the latter 3. Take heed of grieving the Spirit you who have this Benefit that you may not lose the comfortable Sense of it This depends upon his sealing Work and therefore provoke and offend him not if you would keep the Impression clear Eph. 4.30 Two Things are especially grievous to the Spirit which we should beware of neglecting his Motions and opposing his Testimony 1. Neglecting his Motions When he stirs us up to seeking of God and any Act of Communion with him we should stir up our selves It is a part of the Character of God's Children to regard the Spirit 's Conduct Rom. 8.14 As many as are led by the Spirit of God c. 2. Opposing his Testimony The indulging of unbelief in our own Hearts is a Contradiction to the Spirit 's Witness He is sent forth to cry Abba Father unbelief says nay God is not so unto me It will be helpful to Souls in such Temptations to look to God as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for this will bring them to Eye him as theirs also See John 20.17 Eph. 1.2 3. That Promise seems to concern both Christ and the Believer too Psalm 89.26 He shall cry unto me thou art my Father c. You may venture to say that after Christ which otherwise you could not 4. Evidence the Truth of your Sonship unto others Make it appear that there is indeed a substantial Difference between you and the Children of this World in every Thing that hath a respect to Sin and Duty If you do as others do they will have Reason to suspect that you are not what you pretend to be The Jews were not to disfigure themselves like other People because they were the Children of the Lord their God Deut. 14.1 Let your spot therefore be the spot of his Children let his Image be seen upon you as well as his Name that you may like them Judg. 8.18 Resemble the Children of such a King You must be Followers and Imitators of God Eph. 5.1 Or else you will give occasion to Men to think you a spurious Brood You must be blameless and harmless and without rebuke exemplary and inoffensive in the midst of a perverse Nation for so are the Sons of God Phil. 2.15 Disorderly Children are a shame and scandal to their Parents therefore Credit the Relation wherein you stand by a strict and regular Deportment Particularly 1. By a sober and thankful use of every Mercy Wanton Prodigals that wast their Substance and mispend their Portion are a dishonour to God's Family and deserve to be renounc't Your Father expects that all which is given by him should be improved for him Men reckon it barbarous and unnatural if their Children turn Rebels against them with the Estates which they bestow upon them 2. By a patient and humble bearing of every Affliction Not that a Fathers Anger is a Light thing and to be despis'd they must be very profligate that think so but all his Rebukes should be receiv'd with great Submission Nor must they drive us from him but make us come the nearer and cling the faster to him considering that God's Corrections endur'd in a right Manner are Proofs of our Legitimacy Heb. 12.6 7 8. 3. By a reconcileable and forgiving temper towards the worst of Men. Mat. 5.9 Blessed are the Peace-makers for they shall be called the Children of God So ver 44 45. Love your Enemies bless them that Curse you do good to them that Hate you c. That you may be the Children of your Father which is in Heaven c. For this is to transcribe his Pattern and do as he does 4. By living in Love with all our Holy Brethren They do not walk worthy of such a Relation as this is that shew any Unchristian bitterness or unreasonable strangeness towards those that are of the same stock with themselves Let us check our selves in this Case with those Words of the Prophet Mal. 2.10 Have we not all one Father Why do we then deal treacherously every Man against his Brother To Conclude Brotherly Kindness is the necessary Duty of all God's Children and a necessary Token to convince all others that we are so SERMON XIX May 18. 1697. EPHES IV. vii But unto every one of us is given Grace according to the measure of the Gift of Christ AS it is the Apostle's manner in his other Epistles to mingle Exhortations to Holiness with Explications of Faith so here having in the three former Chapters of this Epistle given some account of the Gospel Doctrine he does in the three latter stir up to suitable Practice In the beginning of this Chapter he presses worthy Walking with respect to those Instances of Humility Meekness and Christian Forbearance as things which have a special Influence in the furthering