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
positive Discovery of Corruption in the actual Commission of Sin is not Apostacy A Man may halt and slip yea he may stumble and fall and yet not go back He that resolvedly holds on his way may notwithstanding oftentimes through Ignorance or Infirmity turn aside out of it before he finishes his Course A Believer may be led into Captivity to the Law of Sin and yet never properly is brought under the Reigning Power of Sin Rom. 6.14 compar'd with 7.23 To be violently seized by another as an Enemy is a very distinct thing from submitting to another's Dominion as a Lord. A Subject may continue Loyal to his Rightful Prince though the Arms of a wrongful Usurper may for a Time prevail against him A voluntary Transferring of my Allegiance is much more than to be taken Prisoner by force Rebellion is an aggravating Addition to Sin Job 34.37 Now Apostatizing in Scripture is very frequently exprest by Rebelling Josh 22.29 God forbid that we should Rebel against the Lord and turn this Day from following the Lord c. Dan. 9.5 We have done wickedly and rebelled by departing from thy Precepts c. Every Offence against a Law is not an Act of Treason or Renunciation of the Soveraign Authority All Sin is a Transgression but this Sin of backsliding is the great Transgression 3. Apostacy from God includes not only a Deviation in the Life but an Alienation of the Heart Not only a sinful wandering but a loving to wander Jer. 14.10 Thus have they loved to wander they have not refrained their Feet So long as the Heart is right with God it cannot be said that the Man goes back from him An unwilling Departure is not so much the Act of the regenerate Person as of the Sin that dwelleth in him Rom. 7.17 No outward Performance good or bad does denominate so much as the inward frame and working of the Spirit A great many miscarriages will be graciously overlookt in the visible Walk and Conversation when there is a cleaving to God with full Purpose of Soul The Errors of a Man's way are far more pardonable than erring in Heart The Generation whom God was so much griev'd with were a People that did err in their Hearts Psalm 95.10 Though there be no manifest or gross backsliding in the Life yet if there be a revolting and a rebellious Heart there is the poysonous Root of all Abomination Here is Apostacy in the sight of God though not in the sight of Men as the Israelites in their Hearts turned back again into Egypt when they were marching in the Wilderness Acts 3.39 According as the Mind is estrang'd from God or keeps close to him a Man is clear or guilty in this Case Our Heart is not turned back was the Church's Vindication Psalm 44.18 4. Apostacy from God is really an undoing of all the good which we have done 'T is a wicked Repentance quite contrary to the Grace of Repentance as that is a Repentance from dead Works so is this a Repentance from Works of a better sort Psalm 36.3 He hath left off to be wise and to do good 'T is a Perversion to Evil after a seeming Conversion from it The first Apostacy wherein all are involved supposes the Creation of Man in a State of Uprightness Every one is gone back Psalm 53.3 Therefore Adams Original Course was a walk with God So here the Apostacy whereof we speak is a miserable change for the worse after a plausible change at least for the better There can be no going back but where a Man hath once run well No looking back but where a Man hath first set his Hand to the Plaugh Luke 9. ult 'T is ending in the Flesh after we have begun in the Spirit when our Faces have been towards Sion and our doings framed to turn to God this is a revoking and disanulling of all and driving towards Hell 'T is a Declaration of War where we have pretended Friendship 't is a saying in Effect the Time past sufficeth us to have wrought the Will of God and therefore now we will Work our own In short 't is no less than our pulling down all that we have built up and a listing of our selves in the Service of Sin and Satan whom we have fought against II. Of what Concernment and Importance it is to Believers to be secur'd against such Apostacy This will appear from two Things their Danger of Apostacy and their Danger by it 1. How much they are in Danger of it viz. If left alone and abandon'd to themselves There are Three Considerations which will sufficiently shew the greatness of this hazard 1. Grace in us is very weak The Apostle does not say be strong in the Grace which is in thy self but in the Grace which is in Christ 2 Tim. 2.1 That fulness of Grace of which Christ is the subject can never be lessen'd but those measures of Grace which are communicated unto us and lodg'd in us might and would be lost if we were separated from him Borrowed Abilities will fail if not continually recruited and supplied All created inhaerent Holiness of it self is a perishable Thing 't is indeed made of God an abiding incorruptible Seed in Believers now but 't is not so in its own Nature If it were how could the Angels in Heaven or Adam in Paradice have ever fallen Grace is a good Treasure in the Heart but it wants Almightiness to guard it as there is no Worldling who thinks that his Bags or Coffers can defend themselves Gracious Habits are the true Riches but they lye open for Thieves to rob us of them except God keep our House after he hath furnisht it Poverty will come upon us like an armed Man 2. Corruption in us is very Active We are very apt and ready to be drawn away by our own Lust James 1.14 There is Folly enough remaining in the wisest and best of Men to pervert and mislead them He was no ordinary Saint who complain'd of his being so foolish and ignorant that he was as a Beast before God Psalm 73.22 There is still too much Brute in him that hath attain'd to be more than a Man None of us are so washed from our silthiness while we are in this World but that the Reliques of a swinish Principle in our Natures would make us return to wallow in the Mire if God did not keep us back If we consider how just Lot linger'd in going out of sinful Sodom we cannot but think that he would have lookt behind him as well as his Wife except those Inclinations had been restrain'd Though our Hearts be Circumcis'd to Love God predominantly there are vile Affections stirring in us still not very easie to be supprest The Law in our Members is not like a dead Letter but a lively Principle which Wars against the Laws of our Minds 3. The Temptations which come against us are very numerous Every Place every Condition every Employment every Relation is full
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
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