sandy foundation What say you then to works after conversion All works after conversion are fruits of Faith and if they proceed from Faith then faith went before then a mans faith was not built upon a conditional promise how is it possible that it should when as all works after conversion are either fruits of Faith or else they are no true sanctification then faith went before in order of Nature and so was not built upon works but works upon it Our Faith closeth with Christ upon a promise of Free-Grace Calvin Inst l. 3. c. 2. s 29. otherwise as saith Calvin my faith would alwaies be trembling and wavering as my works be Upon a promise of Free-Grace therefore my Faith is built as upon the promise of God in Christ reconciling the world unto himself 2 Cor. 5.18 19. The word is it may be spoken outwardly unto all Christians but if God do set it home particularly unto any Soul that man receiveth this Gift of God and it is made his own First he beleeveth the promise of Free-grace and then afterward come other promises that do bear witness unto the right application of that promise unto the soul but I am first built upon a promise of Free-grace or else there is no true closing with Jesus Christ well then being thus united unto Christ from this union with Christ do flow all other blessings and benefits of the Covenant of Grace for hence springeth communion with Christ in all spiritual blessings that the Lord hath wrought for us in him and they are two of them Relative blessings as they are called by Divines two of them positive blessings The two Former are laid up in Gods own Hand and are not created in us the other two positive Blessings are created in us 1. For the uncreated Blessings They are 1. Adoption 2. Justification And they spring immediately simul semel from the former union with Christ for as soon as ever the Spirit of God is in our hearts and hath wrought faith that we do not spurn against Jesus Christ but receive him now is the Divine Nature of Christ in us and we are now become the sons of God as Christ himself is Look as in a mans first natural conception as soon as ever one doth live there is an heir of Adam even so soon as the soul liveth so it is in the new spiritual Birth as soon as the Holy Ghost cometh and hath wrought this Faith now is the Seed of God in us the Life of Christ and the Spirit of God and now we are the Sons of God as we read Joh. c. 12. As many as received him to them he gave power to be the sons of God Immediately upon this union with Christ we are Sons by Adoption and as we are adopted so likewise our sins are now imputed unto Christ and his righteousness unto us and so our persons are justified For how and when was Adams sin imputed unto us Psal 51.5 Behold I was shapen in iniquity in sin did my mother conceive me So soon as over there was life it was the life of Adam and then the imputation of Adams sin falleth immediately upon the soul So when we do receive Christ by this living Faith having the Life of Christ in us we have the righteousness of Christ the second Adam imputed to us For what doth the childe in the womb though it doth neither good nor evil but is meerly passive yet sinful it is and a childe of Adam So also in this our Regeneration the soul receiveth Christ by that Faith which the Lord hath wrought in it whereby also it is made capable of the priviledg of Adoption and so the Lord accounteth us his children and imputeth the Righteousness of his Son unto us whereby we are Justified These things do dwell in Gods Bosome and the meaning of them is afterwards revealed unto the soul but communicated they are both that of Adoption and this of Justification by this gift of faith wrought in us But we are still upon the first work of conversion wherein a Christian is only passive and receptive and truly it must needs be so in the first work of God upon us 2. Now for the Positive Blessings that are wrought in us They are 1. Sanctification 2. Glorification 1. When we are called then are we Sanctified then are we Glorified 1 Cor. 1.2 as in our natural conception as soon as ever the childe liveth Adams sin is first imputed and then there is a proneness in it to carry it captive unto fin and to make it backward unto any goodness So when the Life of Christ is dispensed unto the soul now the Lord comes to convey with it Justification or pardon of sin and then there is a promise in a Justified person to walk in the spirit Gal. 5.25 If we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit By Faith our hearts come to be purified Acts 15.9 and the same Spirit quickneth us unto holy duties so that we live yet not we but Christ liveth in us neither are we only in his hand but the Spirit sanctifying draweth us into an holy confederacy to serve God in Family Church and Common-wealth and this Sanctification groweth and encreaseth more and more 2 Cor. 7.1 1 Thes 4.1 5.23 2. The other positive gift is Glorification which we read of Rom. 8.30 Whom he called them also he justified and whom he justified them also he glorified this the Apostle Peter mentioneth 1 Pet. 5.10 The God of all grace hath called us into his eternal glory it Christ Jesus And in truth he hath begun the work from the time that he first began to sanctifie us 2 Tim. 1.9 He hath saved us and called us from the very first time that God worketh upon the soul graciously there is a glorious work in that soul and others may see it though himself sometimes seeth nothing that he hath received Thus we see the second branch of the Doctrine opened How the Lord doth receive Abraham and his seed unto himself preparing them by a spirit of Bondage and of Burning and then taking possession of them savingly by the inhabitation of the blessed Spirit the same Spirit begetting Faith we are alive in Jesus Christ and so come to be Adopted and Justified in him the same Faith which receiveth Adoption and Justification doth begin to stir a little and to breath forth into gracious desires and some holy mourning and beginneth now to put forth such works as the holy Ghost carrieth the soul an end in working all our works in us and for us 3. Now for the third and last part of the Doctrine The Lord took the chiefest of Abrahams seed to be the Mediator of this Covenant unto whom all the Promises were made Gal. 3.16 How did the Lord constitute him so to be Quest 1. By a double Act first Answ by receiving Jesus Christ the Son of the Virgin Mary to be one Person with the
whatsoever we have to do in the things of God that we should soon be weary of reaching forth our hands all the day long unto the Lord and to be constantly for God from God and with God in all our Actions our base spirits are soon ready to be withdrawing from the Lord therefore the Apostle biddeth us follow after Peace and Holiness without which no man shall see God so that great is the necessity of Holiness and worthy to be followed after for though a mans own heart and the world and men and Satan withdraw us from it yet follow after it for without it no man shall see God There is a kind of holiness which some men have attained unto many a fair day ago but 't is a thousand to one whether it be the holiness which doth accompany salvation for that Holiness is not easily attained unto but the other will easily cleave close unto a man Now if you shall ask me Quest 1 wherefore the Lord will have us pursue after Holiness and what needeth it if the Spirit of Holiness dwell in me by an everlasting Covenant if it did withdraw from us as it did from Adam it was another matter but though it may be quenched in us yet abideth it for ever what need then of gifts of Holiness That one word may be sufficient Answ which we find in 2 Tim. 2.21 If any man purge himself from these evils he shall be a vessel unto honour sanctified and meet for the Masters use and prepared unto every good work This sheweth us why gifts of Holiness are requisite to be in Gods people namely that they might become meet instruments in the hands of God and fitted unto every good word and work therefore it is that the Lord will have us to be filled with all the gifts of Righteousness and fruits of his Spirit that we might be more fit Temples for the Holy Ghost to dwell in and this is the principal Reason of the Point If then there be such gifts of holiness Quest 2 what need the Holy Ghost dwell in us is it not enough that he should shed abroad these things into our hearts cannot the Lord carry an end the work of our salvation by these gifts There is need that the Holy Ghost should dwell in us Answ notwithstanding 1. To keep these gifts in us 2. To act them in us 3. To witness these unto our souls for our comfort and the good one of another Some Scriptures for all these 1. That there is need of the Holy Ghost to keep these things in us 2 Tim. 1.14 That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us There is a very worthy thing committed to us how shall we keep it not by our own wit and wisdom careful watchfulness and faithfulness though such things ought not to be wanting but the charge is Keep those things by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us We stand in need of Gifts to be fit instruments in the hand of God we stand in need of the Spirit of God to maintain that which God giveth us and though Adams Gifts were in perfection yet not having the holy Ghost to keep them for him they all flie from him as soon as ever he had tasted of the forbidden fruit and left him naked and desperate Therefore in the Covenant of Grace the Lord giveth the Holy Ghost to keep strong possession in his servants against the strong man armed This is the first ground why the Holy Ghost dwelleth in us 2. It 's the Holy Ghost that acteth the gifts given to us and enableth them in us for the Holy Ghost who keepeth possession doth derive continued strength into our faith which putteth life into all the gifts of God And if you shall ask how love and patience and the rest of the gifts of God do work The Holy Ghost stirreth up faith to look unto Christ who returneth strength by his Spirit unto Faith and so faith worketh by love and by meekness and by all the rest of the fruits of the Spirit Thus the Spirit of God acteth according to what we read Rom. 8.14 As many as are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God come to any holy duty and it is the Holy Ghost that leadeth you along and atteth in you so Ezek. 36.27 I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my judgements and do them And holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost It is the Spirit of God that moveth us to any good work and that acteth the gifts of his grace in us 3. The Spirit of God doth not only keep these gifts for us and act them in us but it is the same Spirit of God that witnesseth to these gifts and sheweth what gifts he hath given us for such is the blindness of the nature of all the sons of men and it is a wonder to see that generally Christians when the Lord first worketh these gifts in them not one of a thousand but they think they are in a sad and fearful condition and so they are very uncomfortable but now left that we should alwayes mistake that which the Lord hath given us we have received the Spirit of God that we might know the things that are freely given unto us of God 1 Cor. 2.12 he indeed taketh his own time to discover it to some sooner to some later but this is his intendment that he might honor his grace unto us by all the rich and gracious gifts which he hath given us He doth also reveal unto us the duties which he helpeth us to do Rom. 9.1 I say the truth in Christ I lye not my conscience also bearing me witness in the holy Ghost That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in mine heart For I could wish that my self were accursed from Christ for my Brethren my Kinsmen according to the flesh The Holy Ghost that wrought in him this brotherly-love the same Holy Ghost beareth him witness that he doth not lie and that he had continual sorrow in his heart and that he could have wished to have been accursed from Christ that they might be saved it grieved him so much that the whole Nation should be destitute of the Lord Jesus Christ Thus wee see how great need there is of the Holy Ghost to dwell in us to keep all the gifts of his grace in us to act them according to his will and to discover to us what gracious gifts the Lord hath wrought in us and what duties he hath helped us to do that we may be able to give account of them by the Holy Ghost that dwelleth in us and beareth witness with us So there is necessity both of the gifts of grace that we may be fit Temples for the Holy Ghost to dwell in and fit instruments for him to work by there is need also the Holy Ghost
end what would the Lord shew his people hereby hereby he teacheth them to know by what ability and power to bring mighty things to pass they shall do duties as the Lord commandeth them but he himself will breath in them to make them effectual For though we do never so much yet we cannot reach unto the accomplishment of any good thing not by might nor by strength but by my Spirit the Lord therefore by his Spirit must work all our works for us Here is the freeness of Gods Covenant in that the Lord giveth himself first Jer. 32.40 I will make an everlasting Covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me You may speak of Conditions in this kinde but the Lord doth undertake both for his own part and for our parts also for as the Covenant is free so the Lord will freely maintain and preserve all his Elect and all from the immutable Nature of God it is not possible that God should lye I am Jehovah I change not Mal. 3.6 therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed Hence springeth our Eternity and perseverance unto it Rom. 11.29 for the gifts and callings of God are without repentance And I am perswaded saith the Apostle Paul that he that hath begun this work will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ Phil. 1.6 The Lord took your Father Abram and brought him from the other side of the floud Josh 24.3 and he being called obeyed Heb. 11.8 Thus mind ye the Lord dealeth in the Covenant of Grace he looketh towards those that look not towards him as is held forth Hos 3.3 where the Lord biddeth the Prophet love a woman that was an adulteress and say unto her Thou shalt be for me and I will be for thee this is a branch of the Covenant when the Lord doth undertake to receive Abraham and his seed unto himself his giving himself unto them doth breed a reciprocal returning of them unto him Now it may be demanded How the Lord did take Abraham and his seed to be his people Quest By a double Act As Answ 1. Of Preparation not on Abrahams part nor on his seeds part but on his own part the Lord prepared them 2. The Lord did invest him with the Blessings of this Covenant 1. For Preparation the Lord prepareth them by a double work of his Spirit which are manifest in all the seed of Abraham 1. By a spirit of bondage whereby he cutteth off the seed of Abraham from all worldly intanglements and delights thus God took Abraham and brought him from beyond the floud and so doth he take men off from their countreys and fathers houses he separates them from all such things that he might draw them unto himself thus he dealt with the children of Israel and called them to be a singular People unto himself Deut. 7.6 7 8. Thus doth the Lord deal with all those whom he receiveth to be a people unto himself by this spirit of Bondage he draweth them from all their sinful lusts and passions so as that they can finde no life in them nor any hope of mercy at all in any thing by this Bondage the Lord setteth home unto the consciences of men the weight and danof their sins and bindeth them under the sense of his wrath unto fear of Damnation The Romans first received the spirit of Bondage to fear before ever they came to receive the Spirit of Adoption Rom. 8.25 But thus the Lord doth even shut a Soul out of doors that he may open to him another and a better way 2. The Lord also prepareth his people by a Spirit of burning which upon a Spirit of Bondage he doth shed abroad into the hearts of men this we read of Mal. 4.1 Behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven and all the proud and all that do wickedly shall be as stubble and the day that cometh shall burn them up and it shall leave them neither root nor branch It is spoken of the Ministery of John Baptist which did burn like an oven against all the Scribes and Pharisees and left them neither the root of Abrahams Covenant nor the branch of their own good Works He cutteth them off from the Covenant of Abraham Mat. 3.9 Think not to say within your selves that you have Abraham to your Father for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham and so by cutting them off from the Root he leaveth them no ground to trust on From their good Works also the Lord Jesus Christ cutteth them off Mat. 6.2 When thou dost thine alms sound not a Trumpet before thee as the Hypocrites do that they may have the glory of men and vers 5. When thou prayest thou shalt not be as the Hypocrites are c. and vers 16. When ye Fast ye shall not be as the Hypocrites are of a sad countenance c. This was a Spirit of Burning which the Lord conveyed by the Ministry of Christ and of John Baptist to burn up all the Hypocrites like stubble and the beauty of their works were blasted by it and this is Gods usual manner of dealing Now there are many under a spirit of bondage that never came under a spirit of burning and they being convinced of sin and of the danger thereof yet hope to wrestle it out and work it out by their own performances till the spirit of Burning come and consume all that false confidence But when the spirit of Burning cometh he then blasteth all the fruits and branches of their righteousness and burns up all that a man hath wrought or can work And this is that which the Prophet Esay chap. 4.4 speaketh of that the Lord will purge away the filth of the Daughter of Zion with a Spirit of Judgment and of Burning the one is a spirit of Sanctification and the other is a consuming Fire which forceth them not to build any comfort upon any works that they have done this may Hypocrites reach unto in their judgments so as that they may be convinced that they have neither root within them nor branch growing upon them and yet in the mean while they may not come unto a Spirit of Adoption but hereby also the Lord useth to prepare his people Some bless themselves in worldly courses and never came unto a spirit of bondage Some do finde comfort in their performances and never saw the vanity of their own Righteousness But there are those whom the Lord doth carry further unto a spirit of burning even unto a sensible feeling of Gods wrath burning against whatsoever is as stubble and such is a mans own gifts and parts and worth so that now the poor soul findeth that he hath no Root not any sure mercy of the Covenant of Grace that he can rest upon no green branch of righteousness remaining but all
God and they go so close together that you will say it is not an easie matter to discern Justification by Sanctification 1. For the Root of it The soul having fellowship with Christ by the Holy Ghost coming into the soul and working Faith in Jesus Christ This is the Root of all Christian Sanctification Ezek. 36.27 I will put my Spirit within you c. And he that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit 1 Cor. 6.17 and for Faith it is Faith that purifieth the heart Act. 15.9 and without Faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11.6 So that Faith must concurre unto the rootedness of our Sanctification in Christ But the Apostle doth attribute both these Roots unto those Christians that shall afterwards fall away to sin the sin against the Holy Ghost Heb. 6. They have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost that heavenly gift was Faith which the Apostle reckoneth chiefly among the Principles of our Christian Religion vers 1. A taste they had of it yet from both these they fall away you know what was said of Saul 1 Sam. 10.10 The Spirit of God came upon him And so did it likewise upon Judas and Demas acting them mightily in their administrations and as they were thus carried along by the Spirit So likewise the Spirit of Bondage will marvellously prevail with the sons of men to draw them on to strong works of Reformation from whence they reap no small consolation but think and say as Abisah did that the Lord is with them whilest they are with him And as sometimes David said of himself I beleeved therefore I spake So the Israelites also Psal 106.12 beleeved and sang the praises of God upon the Red-sea-shore and yet were they but an hypocritical generation And if Hypocrites may work miracles in the Name of Christ as they did and expostulate with Christ about it Mat. 7.22 Have we not prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name cast out devils and in thy Name done many wondersul works then may a temporary Faith work ordinary works in Christianity also and therefore you shall read Mat. 13.22 that there is no fault found in the thorny soyl for their want of root or for their want of depth of earth for the want of both which the stony soyl was taxed but look as it is with the branâ—hes of a Vine what depth of earth the root hath they have it being graffed into the Vine though they be but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 branches of the wilde Olive and will bring forth but wilde Fruit for though the branch of the wilde Olive be graffed into the fat Olive and may flourish there yet will it bring forth its own fruit but in the root you will not finde a difference yet there is a difference but it is very hard to be discerned Yes Object will you say there is a plain difference for an Hypocrite is ever full of himself but a true Christian doth all in Faith he seeketh God daily and waiteth upon God daily and these are not the waies of Hypocrites Consider I pray you what the Word of the Lord holdeth forth as the Root of this Sanctification Answ and I will go no further then express Scriptures Isa 58.2 They seek me daily and this is spoken of hypocritical Israelites and for waiting we often hear it spoken of the five foolish Virgins they all went out to meet the Bridegroom Mat. 25.1 though whilest he tarried long they all fell asleep and so did the wise Virgins also And for more particular application of God unto themselves we finde that also Hos 8.2 Israel shall cry unto me My God we know thee and yet in the same Scripture this Israel had transgressed the Covenant and cast off the thing that is good And for a further act of Faith which is a staying a mans self upon God what saith the Text Isa 48.2 They stay themselves upon the God of Israel and yet these are obstinate their neck as an iron sinew and their brow as brass but it was not in truth and uprightness True it was not But how shall we know the difference Truly it is hard to perceive when men differ and therefore it is not an easie matter to make such use of Sanctification as by it to bear witness unto Justification and it will be a very hard case yea much more difficult when men cannot feel the presence of spiritual gifts but want spiritual light and when they do finde Faith in themselves they will finde it in Hypocrites also even Faith to seek the Lord and Faith to wait upon him and Faith to apply him saying My God and Faith to stay upon the God of Israel and yet these men do vanish away in hypocrisie This Hypocrites may do seeing therefore what easiness of error may befal Christians whether this or that Grace may be of the right stamp or no it will behoove Christians to be wary for even Eagle-eyed Christians will have much adoe so to discern of Sanctification in themselves before they see their Justification as to cut off all Hypocrites from having the like in them For the sanctified frame of life in Gods children and that which seemeth to be like it in Hypocrites both of them spring from the Holy Ghost and both from Faith but now the Spirit of God hath this farther work in his own people beyond what he worketh upon others though he melteth both yet Hypocrites are melted as iron which will return again to his hardness but his own people are melted into flesh which will never return to his hardness more neither can they rest in any measure of softness unto which they have attained but still are carried towards Jesus Christ So that the one is a Temporary Faith and the other Persevereth though both work in the Name of Jesus Christ yet this difference will be found between them not only when Hypocrites come to be blasted but even in the midst of their profession As for the Faith of the Gospel of Jesus Christ it is not president of his own power but his strength lieth out of himself in Jesus Christ whereas hypocrites and legal Christians are confident of their Faith that they can make use of it unto such and such ends they think they need no more but look up to Jesus Christ their work is at an end and such strength they finde in themselves that they do not fear but that they shall carry an end all their work in a safe course to Gods glory and their own where as the strongest Faith even of the Thessalonians whose Faith was such as that none of all the Churches went before them if it be not supplied and strengthned they know and the Apostle Paul knoweth that it will warp this may we see by comparing 1 Thes 1.3 with chap. 3.2 10. and the Faithful people of God Isa 26.12 acknowledge him to work all their works for them and therefore
should dwell in us for the causes we have spoken unto And I might add this to comfort us in all the changes that may come upon us it is a strong Scripture which we read in Joh. 15.26 When the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father he shall testifie of me our Divines have no place of more clear evidence to prove the procession of the Spirit from the Father both of what mighty redemption he hath wrought for us and what grace he hath wrought in us This the Holy Ghost shall testifie even he that proceedeth from the Father this is the comfort of Gods people Thus we see both these points opened to us How may we then imploy and improve this Sanctification which the Lord hath given us Quest 3 and which he keepeth and acteth in us by his Spirit and whereunto he beareth witness How or to what end shall we imploy it seeing the Lord undertaketh to do these things for us If so be it Answ that the Lord Jesus Christ by his Spirit giveth us these gifts it is our part then first to see that we do not rest in any sanctification which doth spring from Christ conveyed unto us by his blessed Spirit The Spirit knitteth us unto Christ and Christ unto us he worketh faith in us to receive whatsoever the Lord giveth unto us and by the same faith worketh all our holiness for us 1 Cor. 1.30 Christ is made unto us of God wis dom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption therefore we are to see him principal author of all these things in us and for us This is the principal comfort of all and the glory of all our safety and so far as any of these lieth in our Sanctification we ought to see that it be sanctification in Jesus Christ and then it is sanctification in Jesus Christ when the Lord giveth us to look unto the Lord Jesus in it and to it in him and as we look for our holiness to be perfect in Jesus Christ so we look for continual supply of it from him and this it is to make Christ our sanctification when as whatsoever gift the Lord giveth us we go not forth in the strength of it but in the strength of Jesus Christ There may be a change in the soul which may spring from a spirit of Bondage and may captivate our consciences unto the Law that may restrain us from sin and constrain us unto duties but such holiness springeth not from union with Jesus Christ for there may be a conscience of duty without sence of our need of Jesus Christ as it was with the Israelites at Mount Sinai Deut. 5.27 Go thou neer say they to Moses and hear all that the Lord our God shall say and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee and we will hear it and do it they have well said all that they have spoken saith the Lord O that there were an heart in them that they would fear me and so forth This I say therefore is the first thing to be attended unto as ever you would make a right use of your holiness see that it be such as floweth from Jesus Christ that there be not only an heart awed with the Law but waiting upon Jesus Christ to be all in all in us and to us so shall we neither neglect the gifts of God in us nor Christ and his Spirit but shall give their due honour unto all of them together 2. This may also teach all Christians not to trust upon the gifts of their Holiness though they do spring from the Holy Gbost himself though they be such as are unchangeable though they spring from Jesus Christ and knit your souls in Union with him yet trust not in the gifts themselves the Lord layeth it down as the Apostacy of Israel Ezek. 16.14 15. Thy renown went forth among the Heathen for thy beauty for it was perfect through my comeliness which I had put upon thee saith the Lord God But thou didst trust in thine own beauty and playedst the Harlot c. Trust not therefore in any of these but let all our confidence be in Jesus Christ not in any of the gifts of his Spirit whatsoever For a little further opening of it 1. Trust not in any gifts that you have received for the performance of any duty for it is not the strongest Christian that is able to put forth a good thought 2 Cor. 3.5 But our sufficiency is of God He that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me ye can do nothing Joh. 15.5 And the Apostle Paul cannot onely not do any great matter by his own strength and grace but nothing at all without Jesus Christ and therefore he giveth us to understand that it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do Phil. 2.12 if therefore we have any new work to do look to the Lord Jesus Christ afresh by Faith that he may carry an end our works in us and for us otherwise it is not any strength or grace in us that can produce any good work word or thought And therefore mind you the Apostle maketh it a Principle of Christian Religion that The just man liveth by his Faith and he often mentioneth it Gal. 2.20 The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God where he putteth it into his own experience why did he not live by Love and Patience and Zeal c. yes truly they were lively in him if ever in any man besides our blessed Saviour and yet notwithstanding he never attributed life to any of these gifts of his but if he speak of his Life he maketh this his Universal Life I live by the Faith of the Son of God and I am I am able to do all things through Christ which strengthneth me Phil. 4.13 This is the true savour of a Christian spirit that when gifts are at the highest the heart is then at the lowest 1 Cor. 15.9 10. The Apostle Paul there acknowledgeth himself to be as one born out of due time for saith he I am less then the least of the Apostles not meet to be called an Apostle because I persecuted the Church of God I but by the grace of God I am what I am and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain but I laboured more abundantly then they all yet not I but the grace of God in me This is truly spiritual sanctification that when the soul is full of the Holy Ghost and gifts of the Holy Ghost yet he is like a man in great penury as having nothing of himself This is a marvelous spiritual poverty and you shall ever find and I desire the Lord would open the hearts of his people to know what I speak that if Christians have fallen their
us therefore stand fast in our liberty We now come to the tenth Question Quest 10 How God the Holy Ghost gives himself to Abraham and his elect seed in the Covenant of Grace For if God give himself he doth not onely give his nature but his persons God the Father gives himself and God the Son gives himself and God the Holy Ghost gives himself unto the people of God Joh. 14.16 17. I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knows him but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you if then the Holy Ghost be given as well as the Father and the Son How is he given Or how doth he give himself unto the Church and unto all the Israel of God Answ There be four several Acts or works whereby the Holy Ghost is given to the Church and to his people for though the Lord Jesus pray the Father for him and the Father sendeth him and the Son also sendeth him Joh. 15.26 yet the Holy Ghost himself doth comes upon his people Act. 2.2 c. and He comes by a fourfold act 1. First by indwelling or inhabitation in the Church 2. Secondly by an act of Sanctification 3. Thirdly by an act of Revelation and therefore he is called a Spirit of Revelation and that is proper to the Holy Ghost 4. Fourthly by an act of Consolation and therefore he is called the Comforter 1. First for Inhabitation so saith the Apostle Ephes 2.22 You are builded together in Christ for an habitation of God through the Spirit in this respect also it is the Apostle demandeth of the Corinthians 1 Cor. 3.16 Know you not that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you so in the place fore-alledged Joh. 14.16 17. and when he saith dwell in you it noteth the constancy of his being in them he will abide in his dwelling place so 1 Joh. 2.27 the anointing there promised is the Spirit great is the necessity of his in-dwelling in us for two principal reasons The first is taken from the necessity of our union into one mystical spiritual body with the Lord Jesus Reas 1 which by this means is firmly and inviolably wrought 1 Cor. 6.17 He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit in as much as that one Spirit who dwelleth in Christ without measure dwelleth in us according to our measure and so we are all one mystical body and I cannot tell how better to compare it then to a musical Instrument wherein though there be many pipes yet one blast of the bellowes puts breath into them all so that all of them at once break forth into a kinde of melody and give a pleasant sound to the ears of those that stand by all of them do make but one Instrument and one sound and yet variety of musick So is this very case look at all the living members of Christ they are all compacted together and set into one stock and root by which means it comes to pass that though they be many thousands yet they all make a melodious harmony in the ears of the Lord of Hosts therefore for the combining of us into the unity of one Spirit necessary it is that the same Spirit that breathes in the humane nature of Christ should breath in us all and though the divine Nature of Christ be God the humane Nature is finite and yet hath the Spirit above the capacity of the creature and this same Spirit doth act and guide and move all our affairs in him and which is wonderful it comes to pass that the same Spirit breathing in Christ and in us we have not only a measure of the Spirit to do one duty but he doth concur with us in all spiritual duties which we undertake according to him for without him we can do nothing Joh. 15.5 This is the first reason of the inhabitation of the Spirit to keep alive spiritual union between Christ and us therefore is there one Spirit in us all Secondly Reas 2 another end of this inhabitation of the Spirit is to keep possession for the Lord in our hearts against all adversary power for if the Lord should leave his gifts only to keep possession there the devil would make very hard work with the best gifts that we have received he blasted all the precious gifts that Adam had received which were more perfect in degrees than any we receive and yet when all the powers of darkness and gates of hell are banded together against Jesus Christ and his servants there is not the least of the servants of God that falleth away finally and the Apostle John gives the reason of it 1 Joh. 4.4 Ye are of God little children and have overcome them because greater is he that is in you then he that is in the world Neither are we preserved by faith only but by the mighty power of God 1 Pet. 1.5 The Spirit it is that setteth Faith awork and Christ it is that setteth the Spirit awork to keep us unto his heavenly kingdom And from this possession of the Spirit there comes a garison as it were to be kept in our hearts whereby our souls are kept alive so that the Spirit doth not only shed abroad his gifts into our hearts but he keeps our hearts in a sweet frame of sanctification 2 Tim. 1.14 That good thing which was committed to thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us that goodly depositum his Evangelistical Gift that did accompany his own salvation and the salvation of the Church he must keep it by the Holy Ghost that dwelleth in us otherwise our gifts would soon vapour out into smoak and ashes whether it be faith hope zeal patience courage or whatsoever else is requisite for the salvation of Gods people the Spirit by his power dwelling in us acteth and preserveth them the sons of God are led by the Spirit Rom. 8.14 nor is this a confining of the Spirit of God unto poor houses of clay Solomons Temple could not contain him no not the heaven of heavens he dwelleth above all heavens unmeasurably yet he dwelleth also with him that is of an humble and contrite spirit Isa 57.15 though it were a poor kitchin-boy that hath such a spirit he dwelleth there to revive the spirit of the humble As those that dwell in earthly houses there they take up their rest and lay up their treasure and there they delight to converse even thus doth the Spirit of God and it is a wonderful Indulgence of the most High that dwels in temples made without hands so to be pleased to dwell in the sons and daughters of men to make good his own eternal counsel for their salvation There is I confess also some kinde of presence of the Spirit of God even in hypocrites that