which is said to contain better promises then the former hath this as the first I le write my law in their heart and put it in their mind that is in their inwards Hebr. 8. 9. 10. But instead of lighting a candle to the sunne I shall endeavor shortly to make a brief Anatomic of this Jew or Christian that is one inwardly and how he is distinguished from him that is so outwardly 1. There is in every true Christian an inward and spiritual man this is called The new man Ephes 4. 24. The inward Rom 7. 24. 2 Cor. 4. 16. A dead man may have inward parts but he hath not an inward man because there is no soul so an outward Christian may have inward parts a dead knowledge a dead heart dead affections but no inward man because there is no work of grace in him and this is called an inward man because as corruption spreading over the whole man is called the old man so this inward renewing grace spreading into and over the whole man the mind will affections is called an inner man and this inner man is that which knows God believes in Christ loves fears thirsts after grace delights in Gods Commandments and hath a continual opposition to the old man counter-lusting counter-desiring and counter-standing it Christ dwells in your hearts saith the Apostle The holy Spirit is within you saith Christ but as the soul never is in a dead body because where it dwells life is so Christ never is in a man that is dead where he is life is there is an inward man he that hath not in him this inward man cannot be a Christian inwardly Secondly There is an inward work of God that goes to the forming and begetting of this inward man Outward Ordinances may make a Christian in the Letter but an inward work makes a Christian in Spirit I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts Jer 31. 33. A new heart will I give you and a new spirit 〈◊〉 put into you Ezek. 36. 26. I will put my Law into their minds and write it in their hearts Heb. 8. 10. These are Covenant-promises performed to all that are Covenant people In this inward work we have but the Ministry but the writing is by the Spirit as it 's said 2 Cor. 3. 3. Ministred by us but written by the Spirit of the living God Thirdly In this inward man wrought by an inward work consists the being of a true Christian for without this he that is called a Christian is no more a Christian than he that acts the part of a King is a King the name of a Christian is given or may follow from the outward profession but the nature is in this inward man He that begets communicates his Nature to the begotten he that paints a man imploys Art only but communicates no Nature God in a Christians new birth communicates holiness which is the Divine Nature but in an Hypocrite there is nothing but Art as I may say or some outward work for the outward forms may be painted yet inward forms cannot the lineaments of a Christian may be drawn to the life upon the white wall of an Hypocrite but the inward man which is that quod dat esse gives being to a Christian that cannot be but in a true Christian Fourthly He that is inwardly a Christian hath some marks of difference and distinction from the outward Christian forma dat distingui this inward work diffâ—renceth him from all sorts of them that are nominates and Christians outwardly First He is distinguished from the carnal Jew or Christian that professes Christ but lives in sin for though the outward Jew or Christian may hate some sins Thou abhorrest Idols thou hatest Popery and dost many good works yet that is out of some peculiar and particular indisposition to a particular sin and some particular approbation or liking of some good works but this hate of any sin or this inclination to a performance of any good works ariseth not from an inward nature or gracious principle as it doth in him that is a Christian inwardly and the reason is that contrariety to sin which is in a true Christian arising from this inward gracious Nature is to the whole species or kind of sin and is irreconcileable to any sin whatsoever as contrarieties of Nature are to the whole kind as light is contrary to all darkness and fire to all water so that this contrariety to sin arising from the inward man is universal to all sin though not an universal victory yet there is an universal contrariety victory argues strength contrariety argues nature hence it is that an outward Christian may hate one sin and love another becsuse there is not a gracious Nature in him which would be contrary to all And so also he may do good works but not out of a Nature that is in him for if it were from an inward Nature there would be an universal sympathy with and inclination towards God and all that is of God his Children his Commandments 1 Joh. 5. 12 3. Therefore saith the Apostle I delight in the Law of God according to the inner man Rom. 7. 22. not a particular good inclination but the Law in the whole of it It 's the victory of a Christian over corruption may not be full the performance of good may not be perfect but the inward Nature of a Christian is to be judged by the universal contrariety of his inward man to all sin and his universal inclination to God and holiness and that universal contrariety will beget a combate against all sin and that universall inclination to God an endeavour to all good but whether that combat be victorious or that performance be perfect though it may be much to shew the strength of a Christian yet it shewes not his inward nature but the other this universal contrariety to sin can be in no man but him that hath an universal sympathy with God and his whole law and image in his children they are both in him that is a Christian inwardly and they argue an inward nature of grace in him in which nature he differs from the carnal Christian who may oppose some sins and do some good works out of other principles and reasons Secondly This inward Christian is distinguished from a moral man that to his dogmatical faith and profession of Christ addeth moral vertue for there is as great difference between grace and virtue as between the sweet flowers spread upon a dead carkass and inward life a man be full of virtue 〈◊〉 and emptie of grace as a room exquisitely painted without light moral virtue is like flowers of needle work that are made by art but never grow from any living root natural temper disposition education produce moral virtues but now this inward man of a Christian is as I may say made up of Christ the knowledge faith love the tastes and rellish of Christ are
GODS Drawing AND MANS Coming TO CHRIST Discovered in 32 SERMONS On John 6. 44. With the difference between a true inward Christian and the outward Formalist in three SERMONS On Rom. 2. 28 29. By Mr. RICHARD VINES late Minister of the Gospel at St. Laurence-Jury in London LONDON Printed for Abel Roper at the Sun against St. Dunstans Church in Fleet-street 1662. Good Reader THe great duty of Christianity is Coming to Christ and Christians are described to be those that come to God by him Heb. 7. 25. Now this work is not easily done Nature is averse from it Partly because Believing or Coming to Christ is a mystical duty not evident by natural light but instituted in the Gospel And we usually bid better welcome to our acquaintance than a meer stranger Moralities which are in part engraven upon mans heart go down sooner with us then matters of Faith Partly because Nature affecting a self-sufficiency is loth to be beholding to another and therefore doth not easily submit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 10. 3. to fetch all from Christ As a proud man will rather choose to wear a russet coat of his own than a silken garment of anothers Partly because it is a long time ere we can get men to be serious and to wind soul-affairs and if it be so hard a matter to bring them and themselves together What is it to bring them and Christ together Partly because Christ and the main of his Blessings lie in another in an invisible world and man that is so inchanted with the pleasures of sense and â—iassed with fleshly lusts which are importunate to be pleased with what is visible and present is not easily moved with unseen hopes and induced to deny himself and lay all his affections and interests at the feet of Christ and intirely to consecrate himself to the use and service of God For these and many other reasons man hangs off from Christ and nothing but a divine power can cure this aversness The work of reducing man from his strayings and bringing him to seek his happiness in God through Christ is carryed oâ— among the Divine Persons between the Father Son and Holy Ghost God the Father as a Judge by the spirit of bondage driveth us to Christ as Mediatour and Christ as Mediatour by the spirit of 〈◊〉 bringeth us back again to God as a Father Through him saith the Apostle Eph. 2. 13. we have access by one spirit unto the Father This mysterie is notably unfolded in the present Treatise and if either the weight and importance of the matter being one of the chiefest points in the Christian Religion or the known worth of the Author Mr. Richard Vines a man sufficiently eminent for the graces of the spirit for sound Learning and well-tempered moderation or the accuracy of discussion these Sermons being not the suddain issues of a light spirit but the fruit of grave and mature studies I say if these or any of these be any allective to thee thou wilt find them all in this Treatise that is now put into thy hands And because many pretend to Christ that are none of his there is added another Tract of the difference between a true inward Christian and an outward Formalist necessary to be subjoyned to the former that we may build surely on a sure foundation and not content our selves with a name that we live in Christ when indeed we are dead in sin I commend both to thy serious perusal and the Blessing of the Lords Grace in whom I am Thine in all Christian service Tho. Manton Errata PAge 6. line 22. for derisons read divisions p. 25. l. 10. for to r. no p. 4 â— 9. for as r. not p. 90. l. 28. for gripes r. gropes p. 138. l. 23. for Roâ— r. Luke p. 160. l. 30 blot out alwayes p. 214. l. 9. for mean r. meer p. 23â— l. 21. for volentem r. violentum p. 293. l. 22. r. While he is p. 313. l. 5. foâ— Sodom r. Scdem p. 320. l. 8. blot out to p. 326. l. 17. for is r. in p. 32â— l. 30. after Its add true p. 328. l. 22. r. a man may be full c. Reader THe Name and Memory of the judicious and Learned Author of these Sermons is so precious to me for his great worth and eminent abilities that I cannot but heartily rejoyce in the publication of any of his Labours that are proper and genuine And that these Sermons are such I am confidently assured If thou question the truth of this Come and see do but peruse them their features will shew who was their Father Sic oculos sic ille manus sic or a ferebat I commend them therefore to thy reading and thy self in all thy Christian endeavours to Gods blessing Tho. Jacomb D.D. Reader THough I may suppose that the precious name of Mr. R. Vines will do much in procuring thy estimation and acceptance of this Book yet if it had not a greater excellency I should not commend or tender it to thy perusal Though I have not so exactly read it as to give my judgement of every sentence yet by the general survey which I have made I am able to tell thee that the Doctrine of Conversion is plainly and judiciously here unfolded the necessity and victory of effectual Grace is solidly asserted and the opposition of corrupted nature discovered and in all thou art taught that greatest duty to know God as he is revealed in his infinite Goodness and incomprehensible Mercy to miserable man in and by his Blessed Son our Redeemer and to give him the Glory of his Love and Grace If thou have the Grace thou readest of it must needs be sweet to thee to read of so sweet a thing as the treasures of restoring saving Grace so copiously and clearly opened and to be employed in so high and sweet a work as to labour with all the Saints to comprehend what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the Love of Christ which passeth knowledge to be filled with all the fulness of God The happiness of those that study Christ by the conduct of Christ and are strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man that Christ may even dwell in their hearts by Faith and they may be rooted and grounded in Love Eph. 3. 16 17 18 19. But if thou read of Grace with a graceless heart the Learning of the Writer and the clear decision of the several controversies may possibly be acceptable to thee but as for the sweetness of the excellent subject no wonder if thou be a stranger to it It is a pittiful thing to hear some men Learnedly discourse of the Nature and Necessity of Grace and disputing of its Universality and Speciality its sufficiency and efficacy the way of its operations whether Moral or Physical c. that yet never felt the illuminating changing renewing resolving mortifying strengthening or elevating works of Grace
can maintain self And therefore it s said Rom. 3. 17. that glorying is not excluded by the Law of works not so it maintains some string uncut that upholds a man on his own bottom This for these reasons being mans darling is the cause that he is unwilling and averse to take the Gospel-way which sets up another righteousness that pulls down this and that makes him cry up his own Diana Fourthly when Christ is holden forth to a natural man that opposeth himself you must know that the offer is made to a man in his strong holds Every natural man is fortified beforehand against the knowledge of Christ Jesus and you know if men come to a strong hold and offer fair conditions while it is tenable and they within be able to hold it they are unwilling to yield man is unwilling being fortified to take in the Conquerour Now every natural man is fortified and till he be brought to exigents or dismantled he will stand it out for he is not willing to admit the contrary party every man by nature is self-content and self-sufficient no so poor creature that is without his den or hold now before that the thoughts be every of them brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ as Conversion is called 2 Cor. 10. 5. he will never come in until the Lord Jesus by the Word of the Gospel and the power of the Spirit hath pulld down and dismantled these strong holds reasoning high things For always when you are converted and Christ enters into the soul he enters like a Conquerour at a breach in the wall until this breach be made he that conquers cannot enter neither shall he prevail until then men will not admit him There is a refuge of lyes that men make to themselves an they hide themselves under falshood Isa 28. 15. Therefore saith God I will lay a Cornorstone a sure foundation ver 16. But this is not accepted by them that have other holds Fifthly man is unwilling to come to Christ because the receiving of his righteousness and of his yoke layes low both pride and self and abaseth these which are the two chief corruptions in the heart of man and therefore proud man most of all opposes and hates Gospel-Religion which of all Religions that ever were hath this glory That it most tramples upon proud self and calls for poverty of spirit self-denial and forsaking all dearest things And for this reason men aâ—e so unwilling to accept of this way of salvation and had rather suffer and bleed and lay out themselves wherein they may be somebody then only take such a profession upon them which makes them no body and leaves them neither merit nor glory How far will merit credit and glory carry the heart of man in any doing or suffering But the proposal of this free grace of God which draws all the water to another mill and must let Christ be my Wisdom my Righteousness my Sanctification and Redemption that is hard to digest because that crushes the head of our pride and of being something in our own eyes What poor draughts of men did Christ make by his preaching until he was lift up and by his Spirit drew men by conviction For first his usual doctrine of self-denial of forsaking all for Christ hath no shew to a natural eye Secondly the very way of Gospel-salvation is so ordered that it proclames the man that is saved a beggar a meer nothing for the richer he is the more he owes to the free grace of God and the more he receives the more he is in debt and the more duties he doth perform the less the merit because he hath received it from God and Faith which is his chief grace is a beggarly grace for the nature of it lies in meer receiving and taking to as many as received him John 1. 12. It is depending upon another for every drop of sap and life and hath it not from its own root but from another Rom. 11. 18. Thou bearest not the root but the root thee Thirdly this Gospel-way of Salvation leaves no power of your own to make any difference between your selves and them that perish Who made thee to differ from another and what hast thou that thou diddest not receive 1 Cor. 4. 7. Fourthly you are bound to acknowledge the acceptance and receiving of all unto another hand not your working but Christs giving hand And the reason is That he that glories may glory in the Lord leaving by this acknowledgement no manner of glorying to himself 1 Cor. 1. 30. And then Lastly that you may see the Lord will crush all pride he is obliged by his receits from Christ to live to Christ and not to live unto himself 2 Cor. 5. 14. He died for all that they that live should not henceforth live unto themselves but to him that died for them Enlarge these Meditations upon your own thoughts God hath crusht pride and self in this Gospel-way of Salvation and therefore it is so unacceptable to man until he be made willing to it by Grace And all this gives the first and general Reason of mans unwillingness to come in to Christ Serm. 9 Reas 2 SEcondly the heart is not willing to come unto and give it self up to Christ until the mind be fully convinced by such a conviction as brings every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ as the phrase is 2 Cor. 10. 5. which until it be done the man remains in his opposition and unwillingness And this I conceive to be the meaning of that in Job Job 21. 14. where having described a man at ease and peace and prosperity in himself that is not sick of self therefore they say unto God Depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy wayes What is the Almighty that we should serve him and what profit is it that we pray to him Doth any man say unto God Depart The Scripture brings in oftentimes what the heart saith within it self not that any man is so impudent and brazen-fac'd as to say to God Depart but this the proudest heart of all doth do And this Conviction is twofold First this Conviction is of our lost hopeless and helpless condition in our selves But let me tell you we are not presently fully and duly convinced when we see and own our sins the reason is because the sight of sin drives a man unto his shifts drives him to his harbour to his refuge of lyes his own works and righteousness and helps it doth but drive him from sin unto another thing that holds him as fast When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah saw his wound then went Ephraim to the Assyrian and sent to King Jarâ—b yet could he not heal you nor cure your wound Hosea 5. 13. Let that be an instance in the case When Ephraim and the ten Tâ—ibes saw that they were smitten and in miserâ— and like to be led into captivity the sight
the act of God To speak plainly there can be no coming to Christ except there be first a drawing of God For no man can come to me except my Father draw him They are both of them delivered in Jer. 31. 18. 19. Turn thou me and I shall be turned After I was turned I repented there is the act of Ephraim after I had received the passive Conversion that God had drawn and turned me There is no resurrection from the dead without first a resuscitation the word and power of Christ goes forth before the act of Lazarus the Sun shines upon the wall before the wall can re-shine any beams of the Sun from it so there must be the work of God upon the heart the grace of God must shine there before the heart can return take hold and carry the soul to Jesus Christ And there are two Premises two Propositions that do carry on this Conclusion in the generality of it That no man will or can be saved if left to his own disposal or sufficiency Propos 1 First That every man in the world must reckon of himself to be one that naturally and of himself is come short of the glory of God And oh that this Point had a sensible Impression upon us all Rom. 3. 23. All have sinned and are come short of the glory of God the Justification of a sinner is Gods glory all are not only in but under sin Rom. 3. 9. nay all are not only fallen under sin but all are shut up concluded under sin Galat. 3. 22. all are not only shut up under sin in their own thoughts but by the Scripture shut up under sin the Scripture is the key whereby man is shut up and what possibility of escaping is there when all the world are shut up and certain it is that a man departed from God and fallen into himself is in the Scripture account in a lost estate and dead condition for that time as the Prodigals Father said of his son This my son was lost and dead but now upon his return he saith He was lost but now is found he was dead but is now alive Luke 15. 32. From that time that a man comes into Christ Jesus he is alive a man may live and yet be dead there is no time wherein you are to be reckoned alive and found but only from the time that you believe and take hold of Christ Jesus and therefore in 2 Cor. 5. 15. That henceforth those that live should not live unto themselves but to him that dyed for them and rose again which argues that all the time before they lived to themselves that is were dead That 's the first Proposition Propos 2 Secondly That every man in the world ought to reckon himself to lye still in this state of coming short until he be drawn to come in savingly to receive Jesus Christ For he that hath not the Son hath not life 1 John 5. 11. For so I would preach those out of Christ all of them dead I would unchrist them of that vain opinion that they have of being in him The Scripture is plain he remains under wrath till he come to believe receive and lay hold on Christ John 3. 36. For this is the only and necessary Condition of being saved that God hath assigned and proclaimed to lost man this is the new door for man shut out of Paradise to return to the Tree of life this is the only passible this is the certain way of re-instating man fallen short into capacity of the glory of God the Justification of a sinner is the glory of God and there is no other way but this those that you harp upon are false ways and to be abhorred Psal 119. For there are these two Reasons of it Reason 1 First It would be a disparagement and diminution to Christ if there should be found a second Saviour a second Way Truth and Life and therefore in 2 Cor. 11. 4 the Apostle challenges the Corinthians to find out if they can another Gospel another Christ another Spirit that cannot be found there is no other saving way but this The first Adam was but one and he lost all the second Adam must be but one neither as able to save all that are saved as the other was to destroy all that are destroyed Not that there is an equalitie in the number that are saved by the one and the damned and destroyed by the other that needs not to be but that the one is as only in saying as the other was in sinning Reason 2 Secondly That Christ is the only Condition of salvation appears by this because this will not stand with other Conditions of being saved which Man harps upon as works repentance sorrow for sin But there is but one because Christ will not stand with these For if Christ would stand with or consist with them then he should not be the onely way and the saving Truth Christ is made voyd by them Christ is of no effect to you if you will be justified by the works of the Law but if Christ be taken hold of by you then they are made void by Christ then the Righteousness of God makes void your own righteousness Not having my own as the Apostle saith in the like case Rom. 11. Either grace makes works to be no works or works makes grace to be no grace signifying that it must be this and not that not this and that not this with that which is necessarie to bring you to salvation but that it is Christ and not your own performances and works for without coming to Christ no salvation and no man can come to me except he be drawn that makes Demonstration thus A man cannot be saved except he receive Christ he cannot receive Christ except God draw him in therefore man left to his own disposal and the sufficiency of his own power cannot be saved this sum stands in plain Scripture terms This is the doctrinal Inference the practicall Use which I told you I would intermix with this Doctrinal is as followes First That we carefully maintain the necessity and soveraigntie the freeness of Gods grace and the power of it in the conversion of man Practic Use This is one practical and excellent Use that you carefully maintain these as Advocates of the grace of God the grace of God must be maintained and defended in these properties of it there hath rarely been found in the whole world in this point any man no not Pelagius himself that hath universally excluded or exploded the concurrence of the grace of God in the Course of salvation but have allowed it either for the inchoation or beginning of conversion or in the augmentation and increase of Grace or else in the consummation and finishing of it either for the sole work or the social work of it in and with man even very shame and the evidence of the point together forbids man to exclude that to which he
though it be it self never so little a spark and unseen if you have such a kind of faith without all question you have been drawn of God for there is a double change that faith makes that shewes the truth of it First relative when mans relation to God is changed by it as having stood in the relation of a stranger unaquainted at a distance he is now made a son a friend as it s said of Abraham he believed and was called the friend of God James 2 23. And then Secondly There is a real change of heart of course of life as if the stream did run in a new channel with as great strength as before in the old heavenly things are set up Christ is prized and valued and this life and all the things of this life have an eclipse put upon them so that as he said I am not I that 's the fifth mark Sixtly God hath powerfully drawn thee to Christ if the knowledg of Christ do draw thee from all competitioning things besides Christ doth not woo in person but by his word his Spirit his virtue hast thou no favourite lust that can overdraw him that dares to stand in competition with thy service and the conduct of the Lord Jesus Is the promise of Christ more powerful with thy heart than the performance of the world his absent glory above the present inducements Art thou willing to be paid for thy service in spirituals and if God will to forbear temporals An admirable temper in a Christian The Apostle observes of Abraham and his seed that came out of their own country and found themselves not to be in the possession of the Land of Canaan saith he they might have returned if they would Heb. 11. 15. but that they would not do they embraced the promises that they saw afar off they took Gods pay as he would pay it though he would pay them nothing in this world they would take out the earthly Country in a heavenly and then it follows in ver 16. God was not ashamed to be called their God not ashamed of such a people as stick to him This is to live upon his word as Elshaddi though he be not known to them by his Name Jehovah I did not perform my promises in being to Abraham but he lived upon me as God Almighty as it 's explained in Rom 4. It 's never known what value and price a man sets upon Christ by saying nay to some slight lust or thing which he can easily part with but by that which is peccatum in deliciis our favourite sin our delight be it friend or worldly content or whatsoever else it 's known to be as the usual old saying is The Rabbits skin sticks at the head it cases off from the rest of the body easily but when it comes to the head there it sticks when God and his favour and our own sin stand in competition it sticks not till it is come to that to which he is married to his favourite When Christ tryed the young man that had spoken great things he doth not instance to bid him do this or that for these things saith he I have done but he demandeth the sale of his possessions Go sell all thou hast and come and follow me there his heart was sorrowful for the Text saith He had great possessions that was his master sin and from that I observe that God will try his people let us hang loose to that for in that we shall be soonest tryed Seventhly It seems to me that we are drawn when the withdrawments of Christ or of the Spirit or the light of Gods countenance do draw us more to seeking and pursuit this is a drawing by withdrawment it s the case of many a soul many times Christ withdraws stands behind the door Gods countenance is hidden well mark the effect and use of this withdrawing doth it draw you more eagerly out in pursuance doth this draw you to a more sharp and vehement seeking that shews some touch of the Load stone hath been that you have tasted some of this graciousness of God if so be that you have tasted that the Lord is gracious 1 Pet. 2 3. as an Angler will sometimes pull away the bait to quicken the fish to follow it such are these withdrawments of God from his own people you see an example of it verified in the Church Cant. 5. 6. My beloved had withdrawn himself I sought him She runs out presently after him 8. Lastly When the Name of Christ and the Grace from him and by him received is the strong Argument against sin the strongest motive of duty and obedience the Law of God is a strong obligation but the grace and Mercy of God is the sweetest obligation Stablish me saith David with thy free Spirit Psal 51. with the Spirit of a child so the Apostle gives a notable Argument against sin in 1 Cor. 6. 15. speaking about Fornication Shall I take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot God forbid What 's the genius and strength of the Apostles Argument that a man that is in Christ must consider that himself his body and all the members of his body are the members of Christ shall I prostitute the members of Christ to an harlot God forbid that I should do so so that the possession and title that Christ hath of us is the strongest Argument that can be against sin with a godlyman A Christian hath more Arguments against sin more Motives to obedience than any other man because he is all Christs and all his members as that Text saith are members of Christ he is not his own but the price of anothers blood and therefore let him carry the Name of Christ always in his mind as an excellent Argument against sin So much for the Point Whosoever comes to Christ believing in him doth come by the drawing of God which point would have some Use made of it though the matter all along be useful and practical And first Use 1 How certain those that are elected are of their believing and coming unto Christ by reason of this drawing of God this is a resurrection so it 's called and truly as certain as the resurrection of the body and ordinarily we hold it it certain that there shall be a resurrection of the body it 's as certain that there shall be a resurrection of those that God hath chosen unto Christ though they be for present dead and as the Apostle saith far off nay 't is as certain as the resurrection of Christ when he was dead in the grave and lay under the sins of mankind a terrible great stone to ly under yet he was certain to rise again the third day and the power toward the raising of those that believe is according to the working of the mighty power that wrought in Christ Ephes 1. 18 now it 's said that God loosed the cords of Christs death because it was
afforded that they may come but no marks that they shall be drawn Serm. 31 Use 3 Thirdly Consider what may be deduced from this point for the advancement of practical Godliness there is no point more copious in its use for the advancement of free grace then this doctrine of Gods powerful working and drawing men to Christ Jesus First It suggests matter of Humility grace is not loose though it be free there is no glorying at all left to us in the matter of our salvation all boasting is taken away by Gods drawing every point that 's profitable is so so far as it advances practical Religion and much of that consists in an humble frame of spirits for as lower grounds are richer and more fruitful then hill tops that see further but are more barren so a man that hath tasted of the tree of knowledge of good and evil may see further and discern more in matters of notion and speculation but the humble soul that hath seen the hand of God working its works in it is more fertile and fruitful to God Secondly It suggests matter of thankfulness for where humility goes before there thankfulness followes after and according to the proportion of the one is the other in 1 Pet. 2. 9. That you should shew forth the praise of him that hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light who were before no people when we come to consider and have these impressions set on our souls that he calls us out of our darkness for darkness is ours into his marvellous light thankfulness arises from this And as light came out of darkness so God hath shined into our hearts the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ Whence came the first light out of darkness where no man could have imagined the light to be so God hath called us out of darkness And Thirdly It calls for fruitfulness in requital of sogreat a grace fruitfulness is as we may say of varnish no colour of it self but sets off and puts a beauty upon other colours Fertillity is the nature of good soyl and men look for fruit from land or tree proportionable to the cost and labour bestowed so doth God expect fruitfulness according to the proportion of his goodness the meditation of this grace quickens the ingenuous heart to obedience when a man hath the sence of his justification that he is reconciled to God by the blood of Christ and that being reconciled we shall be saved by his life as 't is Rom. 5. 9. 10. this puts him on to a high degree of fruitfulness this manures the Tree and therefore in 1 John 4. 19. We love him because he first loved us and 5. chap. 3 vers It 's love that makes the Commandements not grievous Thus you see how it advances practical godliness And as it advances practick godliness so likewise it heightens all the obligations whereby a man can be obliged to God either to be humble thankful or fruitful they are advanced by the sence of the free grace of God Now for the advancement of obligations they are two-fold Such as have strength of Authority in them Or Such as have sweetness and constraint of love in them First obligations of authority are by the law of God For that doth not cease to oblige a believer being a perpetual law that God hath set on man in all states and conditions And then the Free grace of God is an obligation by a constraint of love the love of Christ constrains us in 2 Cor. 5. 14. Because we thus judg or have this sence that if one died for all then all are dead so that the obligation it puts upon you is of love and service above other men God may well expect some singular thing of you as namely first Because he hath drawn thee not others yea haply hath left many for one taken thou art one taken drawn out of the herd marked out for God as I said made to passe under the rod Vobis datum est non illis to you it is given c. not to others Secondly Because he hath drawn us when we withdrew for every man by nature doth withdraw even as a heifer withdrawes and will not be yoked so man withdrawes from the yoak of God from the doctrine from the faith the love and from the acquaintance of Christ Jesus and therefore it s said in Rom. 10. last vers I have stretched out my hands all the day long to a contradicting or withdrawing people Nay he not only draws us out of darkness and nothing but pursues and followes us when we run from him if the Lord should let men alone yea if the elect of God were let alone at first when God begins to draw they would be deserters forsakers and relinquish God you stiff necked people you do alwaies resist the Holy-Ghost but now God still knocks and if man comes not at first God knocks again and this bends mans heart to God that the Lord pursues him with mercy and followes him with loving kindness if God had let him alone he had perish'd but God would not let him have his will to perish Thirdly Because he hath drawn thee no better then others of the same clay saith the text the potter makes the difference not the clay are we better then they the Jew then the Gentile Romans 3. 9. No in no wise and therefore God to shew that there is no difference in man instances in twins that tumbled in a belly Rom. 9 10. Rebecca conceived by one even Isaac c. Nay it may be thou wast one of lower and meaner rank from whom God could not expect so much service so babes have it revealed not the wise Base things of the world are chosen not many noble and great Naaman the Syrian is cleansed and not many lepers in Israel who would think that Rahab the harlot should be named with Abraham in James 2. 25 Fourthly The Lord found thee when thou did'st not seek him he overcame thy opposition and resistance waiting that he might be gracious Isaiah 30. 18. if he had taken thy denyal and let thee alone if he had not overcome the evasions and Tergiversations of thy sturdy spirit by pursuing thee with fresh forces till he had brought every thought within thee into captivity unto the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10. 5. had he not stricken thee down as Paul was until he made thee say Lord what wilt thou have me to do what might have become of thee had he not hedged thee in with thorns and laid mustard on the breast to wean thee from thy sweet sins Lastly When God hath taken this course and won over and made the heart willing then a man accompts his own gain his arguments of confidence his own righteousness all dross and dung for the excellent knowledg of Christ Jesus in Phil. 3. 7 8. when the Lord hath given such a tast and sweetness then a man desires
the ingredients that make up this inward man â— all his graces are but extracts out of Christ It is the knowledge of Jesus Christ that alters the properties of moral virtues and turns them into Evangelical graces fruits of the Spirit as the reasonable soul makes the sensitive operations which otherwayes are in bruits to be the act of a man I know a Christian may have more roughness of nature and more sturdiness of passions then is in many a moral man he that hath more Christianity may have less morality as there is more perfection of animal and sensitive faculties in some bruits then in some men I had rather fight against sin by a little of Christ in me then beat lusts and passions quite out of the field by the strength meerly of moral virtue because fighting against passions by the faith and love of Christ argues a Gospel inward life which is better then a freedom from vice by a company of dead virtues Thirdly This inward man is distinguished from all those common gifts and workings which may be in an outward Christian for there may be a large knowledge a kind of dogmatical faith a mercenary love of God a worldly sorrow for sin a desire of salvation and grace as a bridge to heaven but there is great difference between gifts and grace there is no grace but hath a counterfeit that goes under that same name and that is it which deceives men for likeness is the mother of error and it 's that makes examination so hard knowledge faith love repentance are to be distinguished for there are that bear the name of these but are not therefore this light oare is to be distinguished from true metal the Spirit works many things in those whom it unites not to the head and many have large gifts by dispensation from Christ that have no grace by virtue of their union with him as heat from the body into the clothes one weares but they do not argue union with the head Now there is a peculiar knowledg of God which is by his teaching which a man may rather feel than discribe there is a love of Christ himself not only of his benefits there is a repentance that rises out of love and not out of slavish fear and there are desires of grace for service and not only for a bridg to heaven this is the mark of true grace as distinguished from common it casts out self-love and as it comes from union so it drawes the soul into union and acquaintance with Christ himself the most intimate corruptions of men are pâ—ide and self which are not mortified by outward and common graces nor doth common grace draw into union with Christ but is wholly upon benefits and reward to seek God for God or love Christ for himself is above the power of all common shining glorious parts or 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 proper and peculiar to this inward man Fourthly A Christian inwardly is distinguished from the outwardly formed who in the form of Godliness is as well drest as the true Christian frequents ordinances complies in ritual and formal duties hath greater parts and abilities than this Christian inwardly we speak of but yet the inner Christian differs from the outward 1. In the principle that carries him which is regenerating grace a well of waâ—er that springs up in him to everlasting life 2. In the motive that impels and constrains him the love of Christ the sweet peculiar relishes of that love 3. In the manner which is with delight in God in his law and the commandments are not grievous 4. In the ends he aimes at which are not the base respects of self-love but the walking with God in communion and the enjoyment of God his God but as for the Christian outwardly he hath no principle no root in himself Matth. 13. 21. his motives are forrain springs and plummets as your 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his manner of performance is but artificial and unsavoury his ends are like Jehu's that is his own and so his faith that he brags of is but want of temptation his assurance is but confidence in the flesh his quietness is but want of examination of his bottom his joy is the blaze of thorns his desiâ—es are but the eructations of self-love I have thus shewn you him that is a Christian inwardly and now for the use Use 1 First I would speak to the Jew but I can find neither Jew outwardly nor Jew inwardly as the text describes both for the Jew outwardly is not found because his outward ordinances which denominated him so are dead and gone the fall of the temple to which most of them was affixed broke most of them down and crusht them to death irrecoverably Those that now they hold as Circumcision sabbath difference of meats rules of marriage c. They are the ruines of the ruines of their state and though they were the ordinances of God are now become their own superstitions of no more use then heathen Ceremonies and observations unless to teach them that whiles they hold them Christ shall profit them nothing And for the Jew inwardly he is not nor can be for their Ordinances as now cannot work or convey renewing grace no more than heathen Rites Indeed salvation was of the Jews as Christ saith and there was a spirit sparingly conferred on some but now to expect any Regeneration any kernel in the husks now left any new creature should be in them that receive not but call Christ Anathema or consequently should have the spirit or any saving grace is as much as to say that a statue of stone may beget a living man And therefore that Doctrine of the Rabbins That one calls Pestilent whosoever professes Judaism howsoever he live shall have part in the world to come which Justin Martyr thus expresses that all Abrahams seed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Use 2 Christians be not you deceived with outwards and externals I mean deceived in your selves gross sins may be lest ways reformed Ordinances partaken in duties done and yet this inward work be wanting the heart enlightned broken quickned the will and affections sanctified are the things that must be sought after When a man white-washes or paints an old house it 's a sign he means not to pull it down You can conform to times and customs of Religion and begin to varnish over a rotten heart but that is a sign you mean not to pull all down and build new Is it some ends that you have set up that makes you cry up Religion This is but outward vvork this makes you but a Jew outwardly this is but to thaw on the sunnie side of the house and to freeze on the other Learn vvhat the inward part of godliness is A soul taken vvith Christ himself savouring the thingâ— of the Spirit his graces his vvays enquire after inward experiences and vvhat difference there is between the Word preached and the Word engroâ—â—ed between Baptism of