design thus far And this actual application is the work of the Spirit by a singular appropriation Fourthly and Lastly This expression imports the suitableness of Christ to the necessities of Sinners What they want he is made to them and indeed as money answers all things and is convertible into meat drink rayment physick or what else our bodily necessities do require so Christ is virtually and eminently all that the necessities of our souls require bread to the hungry soul and cloathing to the naked soul. In a word God prepared and furnished him on purpose to answer all our wants which fully hits the Apostles sense when he saith Who of God is made unto us wisdome and righteousness sanctification and redemption The sum of all is Doct. Doct. That the Lord Jesus Christ with all his precious benefits becomes ours by Gods special and effectual Application There is a twofold Application of our redemption one Primary the other Secondary the former is the Act of God the Father applying it to Christ our Surety and virtually to us in him the later is the Act of the holy Spirit personally and actually applying it to us in the work of conversion the former hath the respect and relation of an example model or pattern to this and this is produced and wrought by the vertue of that What was done upon the person of Christ was not only virtually done upon us considered in him as a common publick representative person in which sense we are said to dye with him and live with him to be crucified with him and buryed with him but it was also intended for a platform or Idea of what is to be done by the Spirit actually upon our souls and bodies in our single persons As he dyed for sin so the Spirit applying his death to us in the work of mortification causes us to dye to sin by the vertue of his death and as he was quickned by the Spirit and raised unto life so the Spirit applying unto us the life of Christ causeth us to live by spiritual vivification Now this personal secondary and actual application of redemption to us by the Spirit in his sanctifying work is that which I am engaged here to discuss and open Which I shall do in these following Propositions Propos. 1. The Application of Christ to us is not only Comprehensive of our Justification but of all those works of the Spirit which are known Propos. 1. to us in Scripture by the names of regeneration vocation sanctification and conversion Though all these terms have some small respective differences among themselves yet they are all included in this general the applying and putting on of Christ Rom. 13. 14. Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. Regeneration expresses those supernatural divine new qualities infused by the Spirit into the Soul which are the principles of all holy actions Vocation expresseth the terms from which and to which the soul moves when the Spirit works savingly upon it under the Gospel call Sanctification notes that holy dedication of heart and life to God our becoming the Temples of the living God separate from all prophane sinful practices to the Lords only use and service Conversion denotes the great change it self which the Spirit causeth upon the soul turning it by a sweet irresistible efficacy from the power of Sin and Satan to God in Christ. Now all these are imported in and done by the Application of Christ to our souls for when once the efficacy of Christs death and the vertue of his resurrection come to take place upon the heart of any man he cannot but turn from Sin to God and become a new creature living and acting by new principles and rules So the Apostle observes 1 Thes. 1. 5 6. speaking of the effect of this work of the Spirit upon that people Our Gospel saith he came not to you in word only but in power and in the Holy Ghost there was the effectual application of Christ to them And you became followers of us and of the Lord ver 6. there was their effectual call And ye turned from dumb Idols to serve the living and true God ver 9. there was their conversion So that ye were ensamples to all that believe ver 7. there was their life of Sanctification or dedication to God So that all these are comprehended in effectual application Propos. 2. The Application of Christ to the souls of men is that great project Propos. 2. and design of God in this world for the accomplishment whereof all the Ordinances and all the officers of the Gospel are appointed and continued in the world This the Gospel expressly declared to be its direct and great end and the great business of all its officers Eph. 4. 11 12. And he gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some pastors and teachers till we all come in the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ i. e. the great aim and scope of all Christs Ordinances and officers is to bring men into Union with Christ and so build them up to perfection in him or to unite them to and confirm them in Christ and when it shall have finished this design then shall the whole frame of Gospel Ordinances be taken down and all its officers disbanded The Kingdom i. e. this present oeconomy manner and form of Government shall be delivered up 1 Cor. 15. 24. what are Ministers but the Bridegrooms friends Ambassadors for God to beseech men to be reconciled when therefore all the elect are brought home in a reconciled state to Christ when the marriage of the Lamb is come our work and office expire together Propos. 3. Such is the Importance and great concernment of the personal application of Christ to us by the Spirit that whatsoever the father hath Propos. 3. done in the contrivement or the Son hath done in the accomplishment of our Redemption is all inavailable and ineffectual to our Salvation without this It is confessedly true that Gods good pleasure appointing us from eternity to Salvation is in its kind a most full and sufficient Impulsive cause of our Salvation and every way able for so much as it is concerned to produce its effect And Christs humiliation and sufferings are a most compleat and sufficient meritorious cause of our Salvation to which nothing can be added to make it more apt and able to procure our Salvation than it already is yet neither the one or other can actually save any Soul without the Spirits application of Christ to it for where there are divers social causes or concauses necessary to produce one effect there the effect cannot be produced until the last cause have wrought thus it is here The Father hath elected and the Son hath redeemed but until the Spirit who is the last cause have wrought his part also we cannot be
change from sin to grace is no way inferiour to it Nay in some respect beyond it for the change which glory makes upon the regenerate is but a gradual change but the change which regeneration makes upon the ungodly is a spiritual change Great and admirable is this work of God and let it for ever be marvellous in our eyes Inference 3. If unregenerate souls de dead souls what a fatal stroke doth death give to the bodies of all unregenerate men A soul dead in sin and Inference 3. a body dead by vertue of the curse for sin and both soul and body remaining for ever under the power of eternal death is so full and perfect a misery as that nothing can be added to make it more miserable 't is the comfort of a Christian that he can say when death comes non omnis moriar I shall not wholly die there is a life I live which death cannot touch Rom. 8. 13. The body is dead because of sin but the spirit is life because of righteousness Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first Resurrection on such the second death hath no power As death takes a believer from amidst many sorrows and troubles and brings him to the vision of God to the general assembly of all the perfected saints to a state of compleat freedom and full satisfaction so it drags the unregenerate from all his sensitive delights and comforts to the place of torments It buries the dead soul out of the presence of God for ever 'T is the king of terrours 't is a serpent with a deadly sting to every man that is out of Christ. Inference 4. If every unregenerate soul be a dead soul how sad is the case of Hypocrites Inference 4. and temporary believers who are twice dead These are those cursed trees of which the Apostle Jude speaks Jude v. 12. Trees whose fruit withereth without fruit twice dead plucked up by the roots The Apostle alludes unto dying trees Trees that are dying the first time in the spring they then fade decay and cast their leaves when other trees are fragrant and flourishing But from this first death they are sometimes recovered by pruning and dressing or watering the roots But if in Autumn they decay again which is the Critical and Climacterical time of trees to discover whether their disease be mortal or not if then they wither and decay the second time the fault is ab intra the root is rotten there is no hope of it The husbandman bestows no more labour about it except it be to root it up for fewel to the fire Just thus stands the case with false and hypocritical prosessours who though they were still under the power of spiritual death yet in the beginning of their profession they seemed to be alive They shewed the world the fragrant leaves of a fair profession many hopeful buddings of affection towards spiritual things were seen in them but wanting a root of regeneration they quickly began to wither and cast their untimely fruit However by the help of ordinances or some rouzing and awakening providences they seem to recover themselves again but all will not do the fault is ab intra from the want of a good root and therefore at last they who were always once dead for want of a principle of regeneration are now become twice dead by the withering and decay of their vain profession Such trees are prepared for the severest flames in hell Mat. 24. 51. Their portion is the saddest portion allotted for any of the sons of death Therefore the Apostle Peter tells us 2 Pet. 2. 20 21. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are again intangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the holy Commandment delivered unto them Double measures of wrath seem to be prepared for them that die this double death Inference 5. If this be so then unregenerate persons deserve the greatest lamentations Inference 5. And were this truth heartily believed we could not but mourn over them with the most tender compassion and hearty sorrow If our husbands wives or children be dying a natural death how are our hearts rent in pieces with pity and sorrow for them what cries tears and wringing of hands discover the deep sense we have of their misery O Christians is all the love you have for your relations spent upon their bodies Are their souls of no value in your eyes is spiritual death no misery Doth it not deserve a tear The Lord open our eyes and duly affect our hearts with spiritual death and soul miseries Consider my friends and let it move your bowels if there be bowels of affection in you whilst they remain spiritually dead they are useless and wholly unserviceable unto God in the world as to any special and acceptable service unto him 2 Tim. 2. 21. they are uncapable of all spiritual comforts from God they cannot taste the least sweetness in Christ in duties or in promises Rom. 8. 6. They have no beauty in their souls how comely soever their bodies be 't is grace and nothing but grace that beautifies the inner man Ezek. 16. 6 7. The dead have neither comfort nor beauty in them They have no hope to be with God in glory for the life of glory is begun in grace Phil. 1. 6. Their graves must shortly be made to be buried out of the sight of God for ever in the lowest hell the pit digged by justice for all that are spiritually dead The dead must be buried Can such considerations as these draw no pity from your souls nor excite your endeavours for their regeneration Then 't is to be feared your souls are dead as well as theirs O pity them pity them and pray for them in this case only prayers for the dead are our duty who knows but at the last God may hear your cries and you may say with comfort as he did This my son was dead but is alive was lost but is found and they began to be merry Luke 15. 24. The Thirty second SERMON Sermon 32. JOHN 3. 18. Text. But he that believeth not is condemned already The Condemnation of unbelievers opened and applied because he hath not believed in the Name of the only begotten Son of God CHrist having discoursed Nicodemus in the beginning of this Chapter about the necessity of regeneration proceeds to shew in this following discourse the reason and ground why regeneration and faith are so indispensably necessary viz. Because there is no other way to set men free from the curse and condemnation of the Law The curse of the Law like the fiery serpents in the wilderness hath smitten every sinner with a deadly stroke and sting for
name denoting the pleasant results and fruits of Justification and adoption no man knows but he that receives it Revel 2. 7. there are all those things wanting in the unsanctified though Elect soul that should capacitate and enable it to relish the sweetness of Christ and Religion namely propriety evidence and suitableness of Spirit Propriety is the sweetest part of any excellency therefore Luther was wont to say that the sweetness of the Gospel lay mostly in pronouns as me my thy c. who loved me and gave himself for me Gal. 2. 20. Christ Jesus my Lord Phil. 3. 18. so Matth. 9. 2. Son be of good cheâ—… thy sins are forgiven take away propriety and you deâ—…ower the very Gospel of its beauty and deliciousness and as propriety so Evidence is requisite to joy and comfort yea so necessary that even interest and propriety afford no sensible sweetness without it For as to comfort it 's all one not to appear and not to be If I am registred in the book of life and know it not what comfort can my name there afford me besides to capacitate a soul for the sweetness and comfort of Christ there is also an agreeable temper of Spirit required for how can Christ be sweet to that mans soul whose thoughts reluctate decline or nauseate so holy and pure an object Now all these requisites being the proper effects and fruits of the Spirits sanctifying operations upon us it is beyond controversie that the consolations of Christ cannot be tasted until the application of Christ be first made Propos. 7. The Application of Christ to the soul effectually though it be so far wrought in the first saving work of the Spirit as truly to entitle Propos. 7. the soul to Christ and save it from the danger of perishing yet is it a work gradually advancing in the believers soul whilst it abides on this side heaven and glory It 's true indeed that Christ is perfectly and compleatly apply'd Nullos propriè dictâ—…s gradus admittit sed unico actu simul ac semel existit perfecta quamvis quoad manifestationem sensum effecta varios habet gradus Ames to the soul in the first act for righteousness Justification being a relative change properly admits no degrees but is perfected together and at once in one only act though as to its manifestation and sense it hath various degrees but the application of Christ to us for wisdome and sanctification is not perfected in one single act but rises by many and slow degrees to its just perfection And though we are truly said to be come to Christ when we first believe Joh. 6. 35. yet the soul after that is still coming to him by farther acts of faith 1 Pâ—…t 2. 4. to whom coming as unto a living stone the participle notes a continued motion by which the soul gains ground and still gets nearer and nearer to Christ growing still more inwardly acquainted with him the knowledge of Christ grows upon the soul as the morning light from its first spring to the perfect day Prov. 4. 18. every grace of the Spirit grows if not sensibly yet really for it is in discerning the growth of Sanctification as it is in discerning the growth of plants which we perceive rather crevisse quam crescere to have grown than to grow And as it thrives in the soul by deeper radications of the habits and more promptitude and spirituality in the actings so Christ and the Soul proportionably close more and more inwardly and efficaciously till at last it be wholly swallow'd up in Christs full and perfect enjoyment Propos. 8. Lastly Although the several priviledges and benefits forementioned be all truly and really bestowed with Christ upon believers yet Propos. 8. they are not communicated to them in one and the same way and manner but differently and diversly as their particular and respective natures do require These four illustrious benefits are convey'd from Christ to us in three different ways and methods his righteousness is made ours by imputation his wisdome and sanctification by renovation his redemption by our glorification I know the Communication of Christs righteousness to us by imputation is not only denyed but * scoffed at by Papists who own no righteousness but what is at least confounded Spectrum â—…crebri Lutherani Stapleton with that which is inherent in us and for imputative blasphemously stiled by them putative righteousness they flatly deny it and look upon it as a most absurd doctrine every where endeavouring to load it with these and such like absurdities That if God impute Christs righteousness to the believer and accepts what Christ hath performed for him as if he had performed it himself then we may be accounted as righteous as Christ. Then we may be the Redeemers of the world False and groundless consequences as if a man should say my debt is paid by my surety therefore I am as rich as he when we say the righteousness of Christ is made ours by imputation we think not it's made ours according to its universal value but according to our particular necessity not to make others righteous but to make us so not that we have the formal intrinsecal righteousness of Christin us as it is in him but a relative righteousness which makes us righteous even as he is righteous not as to the quantity but as to the truth of it 1 Joh. 3. 7. nor is it imputed to us as though Christ designed to make us the causes of Salvation to others but the Subjects of Salvation Non formali intrinseca justitiâ sed relativâ non quoad quantitatem sed veritatem fit enim finita applicatio infinitae justitiae si aliter equè justi essemus ut Christus at non justitia Christi sit nostra non quoad universalem valorem sed particularem necessitatem imputatur nobis non â—…t causis salvationis sed ut subjectis salvandis Bradsh de Justificat our selves it is inhesively in him communicatively it becomes ours by imputation the sin of the first Adam became ours and the same way the righteousness of the second Adam becomes ours Rom. 5. 17. This way the Redeemer became sin for us and this way we are made the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5. 21. This way Abraham the Father of believers was justified therefore this way all believers the children of Abraham must be justified also Rom. 4. 22 23. And thus is Christs righteousness made ours But in conveying and communicating his wisdome and Sanctification he takes another method for this is not imputed but really imparted to us by the illuminating and regenerating work of the Spirit these are graces really inherent in us our righteousness comes from Christ as a Surety but our holiness comes from him as a quickening head sending vital influences into all his members Now these gracious habits being subjected and seated in the souls of poor imperfect creatures whose
when he doth so then we are enabled to exert that vital act of faith whereby we receive Christ all this lyes plain in that one Scripture Joh. 6. 57. As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father so he that cateth me that is by faith applys me even he shall live by me So that these two namely the Spirit on Christs part and Faith his work on our part are the two ligaments by which we are knit to Christ. So that the Spirits work in uniting or engrassing a soul into Christ is like the cutting off the graff from its native stock which he doth by his illuminations and convictions and closing it with the living stock when it is thus prepared and so enabling it by the infusion of faith to suck and draw the vital sap and thus it becomes one with it Or as the many members in the natural body being all quickened and animated by the same vital Spirit become one body with the head which is the principal member Eph. 4. 4. there is one body and one Spirit More particularly we shall consider the properties of this 2. Union that so we may the better understand the nature of it And here I shall open the nature of it both negatively and affirmatively First Negatively by removing all false notions and misapprehensions 1. Negatively of it And we say First The Saints Union with Christ is not a meer mental 1. Union only in conceit and notion but really exists extra mentem whether we conceit it or not I know the atheistical world censures all these things as fancies and idle imaginations but believers know the reality of them Joh. 14. 20. At that day you shall know that I am in my father and you in me and I in you This doctrine is not phantastical but scientifical Secondly The Saints Union with Christ is not a Physical Union such as is betwixt the members of a natural body and 2. the head our Nature indeed is assumed into Union with the person of Christ but it is the singular honour of that blessed and holy flesh of Christ to be so united as to make one person with him that Union is hypostatical this only Mystical Thirdly Nor is it an Essential Union or Union with the divine nature so as our beings are thereby swallowed up and 3. lost in the divine being Some there be indeed that talk at that wild rate of being Godded into God and Christed into Christ and those unwary expressions of Greg. Naz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do but too much countenance those daring Spirits but oh there is an infinite distance betwixt us and Christ in respect of nature and excellency notwithstanding this Union Fourthly The Union I here speak of is not a foederal Union or an Union by Covenant only such a Union indeed 4. there is betwixt Christ and believers but that is consequential to and wholly dependent upon this Fifthly and Lastly It is not a meer Moral Union by love and affection thus we say one soul is in two bodies a friend 5. is another self the lover is in the person beloved such a Union of hearts and affections there is also betwixt Christ and the Saints but this is of another nature that we call a Moral this a Mystical Union that only knits our affections but this knits our persons to Christ. Secondly Positively and First though this Union neither 2. Positively makes us one person or essence with Christ yet it knits our persons most intimately and nearly to the person of Christ 1. the Church is Christs body Coloss. 1. 24. not his Natural but his Mystical body that is to say his body in a Mystery because it is to him as his natural body the Saints stand to Christ in the same relation that the natural members of the body stand to the head and he stands in the same relation to them that the head stands in to the natural members and consequently they stand related to one another as the members of a natural body do to each other Christ and the Saints are not one as the Oak and the Ivy that clasps it are one but as the graff and stock are one it is not a Union by adhesion but incorporation Husband and Wife are not so near soul and body are not so near as Christ and the believing soul are near to each other Secondly The Mystical Union is wholly supernatural wrought by the alone power of God So it 's said 1 Cor. 1. 30. 2. but of him are ye in Christ Jesus we can no more unite our selves to Christ than a branch can incorporate it self into another stock it is of him i. e. of God his proper and alone work There are only two ligaments or bands of Union betwixt Christ and the Soul viz. the Spirit on his part and Faith on ours but when we say faith is the band of Union on our part the meaning is not that it 's so our own act as that it springs naturally from us or is educed from the power of our own wills no for the Apostle expressly contradicts it Eph. 2. 8. it is not of your selves it is the gift of God but we are the subjects of it and though the act on that account be ours yet the power enabling us to believe is God's Eph. 1. 19 20. Thirdly the Mystical Union is an immediate Union Immediate I say not as excluding means and instruments for 3. several means and many instruments are employ'd for the effecting of it but immediate as excluding degrees of nearness among the members of Christs mystical body Every member in the Natural body stands not as near to the head as another but so do all the mystical members of Christs body to him every member the smallest as well as the greatest hath an immediate coalition with Christ. 1 Cor. 1. 2. To the Church of God which is at Corinth to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be Saints with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours Among the factious in this Church at Corinth those that said I am of Christ as arrogating Christ to themselves were as much a faction as those that said I am of Paul 1 Cor. 1. 30. to cure this he tells them he is both theirs and ours Such inclosures are against law Fourthly The Saints Mystical Union with Christ is a 4. fundamental Union it 's fundamental by way of Sustentation all our fruits of obedience depend upon it John 15. 4. As the branch cannot bear fruit except it abide in the Vine no more can yeâ—… except ye abide in me It 's fundamental to all our priviledges and comfortable claims 1 Cor. 3. ult all is yours for ye are Christs And it is fundamental to all our hopes and expectations of glory for it is Christ in you the hope
regeneration and from hence is the first spiritual life of a Christian of this I am here to speak and that I may speak profitably to this point I will in the Doctrinal part labour to open these five particulars First What this spiritual life is in its nature and properties Secondly In what manner it is wrought or inspired into the Soul Thirdly For what end or with what design this life is so inspired Fourthly I shall shew this work to be wholly supernatural And then fifthly Why this quickening must be antecedent to our actual closing with Christ by Faith First We will enquire into the nature and properties of 1. this life and discover as we are able what it is And we find it to consist in that wonderful change which the Spirit of God makes upon the frame and temper of the soul by his infusing or implanting the principles of grace in all the powers and faculties thereof A change it makes upon the soul and that a marvellous one no less than from death to life for though a man be physically a living man i. e. his natural soul hath Union with his body yet his soul having no Union with Christ he is Theologically a dead man Luke 15. 24. and Col. 2. 13. alas it deserves not the name of life to have a soul serving only to season and preserve the body a little while from stinking to carry it up and down the world and only enable it to eat and drink and talk and laugh and then dye then do we begin to live when we begin to have Union with Christ the fountain of life by his Spirit communicated to us from this time we are to reckon our life * Hic jacet Similis cujus aetas multorum annorum fuit ipse septem dumtaxat annos vixit as some have done there be many changes made upon men besides this many are changed from prophaneness to Civility and from meer Civility to formality and a shadow of Religion who still remain in the state and power of spiritual death notwithstanding but when the Spirit of the Lord is poured out upon us to quicken us with the new spiritual life this is a wonderful change indeed it gives us an Esse supernaturale a new supernatural being which is therefore call'd a new creature the new man the hidden man of the heart the natural essence and faculties of the soul remain still but it is devested of the old qualities and endowed with new ones 2 Cor. 5. 17. old things are past away behold all things are become new And this change is not made by altering and rectifying the disorders of the life only leaving the temper and frame of the heart still carnal but by the infusion of a supernatural permanent principle into the soul Joh. 4. 14. it shall be in him a well of water principles are to a course of actions as fountains or springs are to the streams and rivers that flow from them and are maintain'd by them and hence is the evenness and constancy of renewed souls in the course of godliness Nor is this principle or habit acquired by accustoming our selves to holy actions as natural habits are acquired by frequent acts which beget a disposition and thence grow up to an habit or second nature but it is infused or implanted into the soul by the Spirit of God So we read Ezek. 36. 25 26. a new heart also will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you it grows not up out of our Natures but is put or infused into us as it 's said of the two witnesses Rev. 11. 11. who lay dead in a Civil sense three days and an half that the Spirit of life from God entered into them so it is here in a spiritual sense the spirit of life from God enters into the dead carnal heart it 's all by way of supernatural infusion Nor is it limited to this or that faculty of the soul but grace or life is poured into all the faculties behold all things are become new 2 Cor. 5. 17. The understanding will thoughts and affections are all renewed by it the whole inner man is changed yea the tongue and hand the discourses and actions even all the ways and courses of the outward man are renewed by it But more particularly we shall discern the nature of this spiritual life by considering the properties of it among which these are very remarkable First The soul that is joyned to Christ is quickened with a divine life so we read in 2 Pet. 1. 4. where believers are said to be partakers or consorts of the divine nature a very high expression and warily to be understood Partakers of the divine nature not essentially so it 's wholly incommunicable to the Creature nor yet Hypostatically and personally so Christ only was a partaker of it but our participation of the Divine nature must be understood in a way proper to believers that is to say we partake of it by the inhabitation of the Spirit of God in us according to 1 Cor. 3. 16 17. know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you the Spirit who is God by nature dwells in and actuates the soul whom he regenerates and by sanctifying causes it to live a divine life from this life of God the unsanctified are said to be alienated Eph. 4. 18. but believers are partakers of it Secondly And being divine it must needs be the most excellent and transcendent life that any creature doth or can live in this world it surmounts the natural rational and moral life of the unsanctified as much as the Angelical life excels the life that flyes and worms of the earth do live Some think it a rare life to live in sensual pleasures but the Scripture will not allow so much as the name of life to them but tells us they are dead whilest they live 1 Tim. 5. 6. certainly it is a wonderful elevation of the nature of man to be quickened with such a life as this There are two ways wherein the blessed God hath honoured poor man above the very Angels of heaven One was by the Hypostatical Union of our nature in Christ with the divine nature the other is by uniting our persons mystically to Christ and thereby communicating spiritual life to us this later is a most glorious priviledge and in one respect a more singular mercy than the former for that honour which is done to our Nature by the Hypostatical Union is common to all good and bad even they that perish have yet that honour but to be implanted into Christ by regeneration and live upon him as the branch doth upon the Vine this is a peculiar priviledge a mercy hedg'd in from the world that is to perish and only communicated to Gods elect who are to live eternally with him in heaven Thirdly This life infused by the regenerating Spirit is a most pleasant life
All delights all pleasures all joys which are not phantastick and delusive have their spring and origin here Rom. 8. 6. to be spiritually minded is life and peace i. e. a most serene placid life such a soul becomes so far as it is influenced and sanctified by the Spirit the very region of life and peace when one thing is thus predicated of another in casu recto saith a learned man it speaks their intimate Connexion peace is so connatural to this life that you may either call it a life that hath peace in it or a peace that hath life in it yea it hath its enclosed pleasures in it Such as a stranger intermeddles not with Prov. 14. 10. Regeneration is the term from which all true pleasure commences you never live a merry day till you begin to live to God therefore it 's said Luke 15. 24. when the prodigal son was returned to his Father and reconciled then they began to be merry None can make another by any words to understand what that pleasure is which the renewed soul feels diffused through all its faculties and affections in its communion with the Lord and in the sealings and witnessings of his Spirit That is a very apt and well known similitude which Peter Martyr used and the Lord blessed to the conversion of that Noble Marquess Galeacius If said he a man should see a company of people dancing upon the top of a remote hill he would be apt to conclude they were a company of wild distracted people but if he draw nearer and behold the excellent order and hear the ravishing sweet Musick that is among them he will quickly alter his opinion of them and fall a dancing himself with them All the delights in the sensual-life all the pleasure that ever your lusts gave you are but as the putrid stinking waters of a corrupt pond where Toads lye croaking and spawning to the Crystal streams of the most pure and pleasant fountain Fourthly This life of God with which the regenerate are quickened in their Union with Christ as it is a pleasant so it is also a growing increasing life Joh. 4. 14. It shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life It is not in our Sanctification as it is in our Justification our Justification is compleat and perfect no defect is found there but the new Creature labours under many defects all believers are equally Justified but not equally Sanctified therefore you read 2 Cor. 4. 16. that the inward man is renewed day by day and 2 Pet. 3. 18. Christians are exhorted to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour if this work were perfect and finished at once as Justification is there could be no renewing day by day nor growth in grace perfectum est cui nihil deest cui nihil addi potest the Apostle indeed prays for the Thessalonians that God would sanctifie them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wholly perfectly 1 Thes. 5. 23. and this is matter of prayer and hope for at last it will grow up to perfection but this perfect holiness is reserved for the perfect state in the world to come and none but * Perfectio Sanctificationis in isthaâ—… vil a non reperitur nisi in somniis quorundam sanaticorum 〈◊〉 deluded proud spirits boast of it here but when that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be done away 1 Cor. 13. 9 10. and upon the imperfection of the new Creature in every faculty that warfare and dayly conflict spoken of Gal. 5. 17. and experienced by every Christian is grounded grace rises gradually in the soul as the Sun doth in the heavens which shineth more and more unto a perfect day Prov. 4. 18. Fifthly To Conclude this life with which the regenerate are quickened is an everlasting life This is the record that God hath given us eternal life and this life is in his son 1 Joh. 5. 11. this principle of life is the seed of God and that remains in the soul for ever 1 Joh. 3. 9. it is no transient vanishing thing but a fixed permanent principle which abides in the soul for ever a man may lose his gifts but grace abides the soul may and must be separated from the body but grace cannot be separated from the soul when all forsake us this sticks by us This infused principle is therefore vastly different both from the extraordinary gifts of prophecie wherein the Spirit sometimes was said to come upon men under the old Testament 1 Sam. 10. 6 10. and from the common vanishing effects he sometimes produceth in the unregenerate of which we have frequent accounts in the new Testament Heb. 6. 4. and Joh. 5. 35. it 's one thing for the Spirit to come upon a man in the way of present influence and assistance and another thing to dwell in a man as his Temple And thus of the nature and quality of this blessed work of the Spirit in quickening us Secondly Having seen the nature and properties of the spiritual life we are concerned in the next place to enquire 2. into the way and manner in which it is wrought and infused by the Spirit and here we must say First of all That the work is wrought in the soul very mysteriously so Christ tells Nicodemus Joh. 3. 8. The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit there be many opinions among Philosophers about the original of winds but we have no certain knowledge of it we deseribe it by its effects and properties but know little of its original and if the works of God in nature be so abstruse and unsearchable how much more are these sublime and supernatural works of the Spirit so We are not able to solve the Phaenomena of nature we can give no account of our own formation in the womb Eccles. 11. 5. who can exactly describe how the parts of the body are formed and the soul infused it's curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth as the Psalmist speaks Psal. 139. 16. but how we know not Basil saith divers questions may be moved about a Fly which may pose the greatest Philosopher we know little of the forms and essences of natural things much less of these profound and abstruse spiritual things Secondly But though we cannot pry into these secrets by the eye of reason yet God hath revealed this to us in his word that it is wrought by his own almighty power Eph. 1. 19. The Apostle ascribes this work to the exceeding greatness of the power of God and this must needs be if we consider how the Spirit of God expresses it in Scripture by a new Creation i. e. a giving being to something out of nothing Eph. 2. 10. In this it differs from all the effects of humane power for man always
works upon some pre-existent matter but here is no such matter all that is in man the Ab uno desuper principio quod convenienter voluntati operatur dependent prima secunda tertia Quemadmodum minima pars ferri lapidis magnetis spiritu movetur per multos annulos ferreos extensi ita etiam qui sunt virtute praediti divino spiritu attracti cum prima mansione conjungantur deinceps autem alii usque ad postremam Glem Alexan. Strom. lib. 7. subject of this work is only a passive capacity or receptivity but nothing is found in him to contribute towards this work this supernatural life is not nor can it be educed out of natural principles this wholly transcends the Sphere of all natural power but of this more anon Thirdly This also we may affirm of it that this divine life is infused into all the natural faculties and powers of the soul not one exempted 1 Thes. 5. 23. The whole soul and spirit is the recipient subject of it and with respect to this general infusion into all the faculties and powers of the soul it 's call'd a new creature a new man having an integral perfection and fullness of all its parts and members it becomes light in the mind Joh. 17. 3. obedience in the will 1 Pet. 1. 2. in the affections an heavenly temper and tenderness Col. 3. 1 2. and so is variously denominated even as the Sea is from the several shores it washes though it be one and the same Sea And here we must observe lyes one main difference betwixt a regenerate soul and an hypocrite the one is all of a piece as I may say the principle of spiritual life runs into all and every faculty and affection and sanctifies or renews the whole man whereas the change upon hypocrites is but partial and particular he may have new light but no new love a new tongue but not a new heart this or that vice may be reformed but the whole course of his life is not altered Fourthly and lastly This infusion of spiritual life is done instantaneously as all Creation work is hence it is resembled to that plastick power which in a moment made the light to shine out of darkness just so doth God shine into our hearts 2 Cor. 4. 6. 'T is true a soul may be a long time under the preparatory works of the Spirit he may be under Convictions and humiliations purposes and resolutions a long time he may be waiting at the pool of Bethesda attending the means and ordinances but when the Spirit comes once to quicken the soul it 's done in a moment even as it is in the infusion of the rational soul the body is long ere it be prepared and moulded but when once the Embryo or matter is ready it 's quickned with the Spirit of life in an instant so it is here but O what a blessed moment is this upon which the whole weight of our eternal happiness depends for it is Christ in us i. e. Christ formed in us who is the hope of glory Col. 1. 27. and our Lord expressly tells us Joh. 3. 3. that except we be regenerate and born again we cannot see the Kingdome of God And thus of the way and manner of its infusion Thirdly Let the design and end of God in this his quickening work be next considered for what end and with what 3. design and aim this work is wrought And if we consult the Scriptures in this matter we shall find this principle of life is infused in order to our glorifying God in this world by a life of obedience and our enjoying of God in the world to come First Spiritual life is infused in Order to a course of obedience in this world whereby God is glorified so we read in Eph. 2. 10. Created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them habits are to actions as the root is to the fruit it is for fruit sake that we plant the roots and ingraff the branches So in Ezek. 36. 27. a new spirit also will I put within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgements and do them This is the next or immediate design and end not only of the first infusion of the principle of life into the Soul but of all the exciting actuating and assisting works of the Spirit afterwards Now this principle of spiritual life infused hath a twofold influence into obedience First This makes it sincere and true obedience when it flows from an inward vital principle of grace The Hypocrite is moved by something ab extra from without as the applause of men the accommodation of fleshly interests the force of education or if there be any thing from within that moves him it is but a self-interest to quiet a grumbling Conscience and support his vain hopes of heaven but he never acts from a new principle a new nature inclining him to holy actions Sincerity mainly lyes in the harmony and correspondency of actions to their principles from this infused principle it is that men hunger and thirst for God and go to their Duties as men do to their meals when they find an empty craving stomach O Reader pause a little upon this ere thou pass on ask thy heart whether it be so with thee are holy duties connatural to thee doth thy soul move and work after God by a kind of supernatural instinct this then will be to thee a good evidence of thy integrity Secondly From this infused principle of life results the Excellency of our obedience as well as the sincerity of it for by vertue and reason thereof it becomes free and voluntary not forced and constrained it drops like honey of its own accord out of the Comb Cant. 4. 11. without squeezing or as waters from the fountain without forcing Joh. 4. 14. An unprincipled professor must be squeez'd by some weight of affliction ere he will yield one tear or pour out a prayer Psal. 78. 34. when he slew them then they sought him Now the freedome of obedience is the excellency of it Gods eye is much upon that 1 Cor. 9. 17. yea and the uniformity of our obedience which is also a special part of the beauty of it results from hence he that acts from a principle acts â—…uently and uniformly there is a proportion betwixt the parts of his Conversation this is it which makes us holy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all manner of Conversation or in every creek and turning of our Conversations as that word imports 1 Pet. 1. 15. whereas he that is moved by this or that external-accidental motive must needs be up and down off and on very uneven like the legs of a lame man as the expression is Prov. 26. 7. which are not equal now a word of God and then the discourse runs muddy and prophane or carnal again all that evenness and uniformity that
contained in the sixth and last Titile of Christ. Waiting for the Consolation of Israel SEveral Glorious Titles of Christ have been already spoken to out of each of which much comfort flows to Believers 't is comfortable to a wounded soul to eye him as a Physician comfortable to a condemned and unworthy soul to look upon him under the notion of the Mercy The loveliness the desirableness and the glory of Christ are all so many springs of Consolation But now I am to shew you from this Scripture that the Saints have not only much consolation from Christ but that Christ himself is the very Consolation of Believers he is pure comfort wrapped up in flesh and blood In this Context you have an account of Simeons Prophecie concerning Christ and in this Text a description of the Person and quality of Simeon himself who is described two wayes 1. By his Practice 2. By his Principle His practice was heavenly and holy he was a just and devout man the principle from which his righteousness and holiness did flow was his faith in Christ he waited for the consolation of Israel In which words by way of Periphrasis we have 1. A description of Christ the Consolation of Israel 2. The description of a Believer one that waiteth for Christ. First That the Consolation of Israel is a phrase descriptive 1. of Jesus Christ is beyond all doubt if you consult vers 26. where he i. e. Simeon is satisfied by receiving Christ into his arms the Consolation for which he had so long waited Secondly And that waiting for Christ is a phrase describing 2. Phrasis est Judaeistum temporis familiaris notissima qua Messiae adventum significabatur Lodov Capell the Believers of those times that preceeded the incarnation of Christ is past doubt they all waited for that blessed day but it was Simeons lot to fall just upon that happy nick of time wherein the Prophecies and Promises of his incarnation were fulfilled Simeon and others that waited with him were sensible that the time of the Promise was come which could not but raise as indeed it did a general expectation of him John 9. 19. but Simeons faith was confirmed by a particular revelation vers 26. that he should see Christ before he saw death which could not but greatly encourage and raise his expectation to look out for him whose coming would be the greatest consolation to the whole Israel of God The Consolation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Spirit is frequently called in Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Comforter but Christ in this place is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comfort or consolation it self the reason of both is given in John 16. 14. He shall take of mine and shew it unto you where Christ is said to be the matter and the Spirit the applier of true comfort to the people of God Now this consolation is here expressed both with a singular Emphasis the Consolation intimating that there is nothing of consolation in any thing beside him all other comforts compared with this are not worth a naming And as it is emphatically expressed so it is also limited and bounded within the compass of Gods Israel i. e. true Believers stiled the Israel of God whether Jews or Gentiles Gal. 6. 16. From whence the point of Doctrine is DOCT. That Jesus Christ is the only Consolation of Believers and of none besides them Doct. So speaks the Apostle Phil. 3. 3. For we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh Those that worship God in the Spirit are sincere Believers to such sincere Believers Christ is consolation our rejoycing is in Christ Jesus and they have no consolation in any thing beside him nothing in the world can give them comfort without Christ we have no confidence in the flesh The Gospel is glad tidings of great joy but that which makes it to be so is Jesus Christ whom it imports and reveals to us Luke 2. 10 11. In the opening of this comfortable point four things must be spoken to for the right stating the method of our Discourse viz. 1. What is meant by Consolation 2. That Christ and he only is Consolation to Believers 3. That Believers only have Consolation in Christ. 4. How it comes to pass that any Believer should be dejected since Christ is Consolation to all Believers The first thing to be opened is the nature of Consolation 1. which is nothing else but the cheariness of a mans spirit whereby he is upheld and fortified against all evils felt or feared Consolation is to the soul what health is to the body after wasting sickness or the reviving Spring to the earth after a long and hard Winter and there are three sorts of consolation or comfort suitable to the disposition and temper of the mind viz. Natural Sinful and Spiritual Natural Comfort is the refreshment of our natural Spirits by the good Creatures of God Acts. 14. 17. Filling their hearts with food and gladness Sinful Comfort is the satisfaction and pleasure men take in the fulfilling of their lusts by the abuse of the creatures of God James 5. 5. Ye have lived in pleasure upon earth i. e. your life hath been a life of sensuality and sin Spiritual Comfort is the refreshment peace and joy gracious souls have in Christ by the exercise of faith hope and other graces Rom. 5. 2. and this only deserves the name of true solid Consolation to which four things are required First That the matter thereof be some spiritual eminent and durable good else our consolation in it will be but as the crackling of Thorns under a Pot a sudden blaze quickly extinct with the failing matter Christ only gives the matter of solid durable Consolation The righteousness of Christ the pardon of sin the favour of God the hopes of glory are the substantial materials of a Believers Consolation Rom. 5. 2. Mat. 9. 2. Psal. 4. 6 7. 2 Pet. 1. 8. Things are as their foundations be Secondly Interest and propriety in these comfortable things is requisite to our consolation by them Luke 1. 47. My Spirit rejoyceth in God my Saviour 'T is no consolation to him that is hungry to see a Feast to him that is poor to see a Treasure if the one may not taste or the other partake thereof Thirdly Knowledge and evidence of interest in some degree is requisite to actual consolation though without it a man may be in the state of consolation for that which appears not is in point of actual comfort as if it were not Fourthly In order hereunto the work of the Spirit upon our hearts is requisite both to give and clear our interest in Christ and the promises and both these ways he is the Comforter The fruit of the Spirit is joy Gal. 5. 22. And thus briefly of the nature of Consolation Secondly Next I will shew you that Christ and
he only 2. is matter of Consolation to Believers which will demonstratively appear by this Argument He that brings to their souls all that is comfortable and removes from their souls all that is uncomfortable must Argu. needs be the only consolation of Believers But Jesus Christ brings to their souls all that is comfortable and removes from their souls all that is uncomfortable Therefore Christ only is the Consolation of Believers First Jesus Christ brings whatsoever is comfortable to the souls of Believers Is pardon comfortable to a person condemned Nothing can be matter of greater comfort in this world Why this Christ brings to all Believers Jer. 23. 6. And this is the name whereby he shall be called The Lord our righteousness this cannot but give strong consolation righteousness is the foundation of peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14. 17. The work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever Isai. 32. 17. Come to a dejected soul labouring under the burthen of guilt and say Cheer up I bring you good tidings there is such an Estate befallen you or such a troublesom business comfortably ended for you alas this will not reach the heart If you can bring me saith he good news from Heaven that my sins are forgiven and God reconciled how soon should I be comforted And therefore as one well observes this was the usual receipt with which Christ cured the souls of men and women when he was here on earth Son or Daughter be of good cheer thy sins be forgiven thee and indeed it is as easie to separate light and warmth from the beams of the Sun as cheeriness and comfort from the voice of pardon Are the hopes and expectation of Heaven and glory comfortable Yes sure nothing is comfortable if this be not Rom. 5. 2. We rejoyce in hope of the glory of God Now Christ brings to the souls of men all the solid grounds and foundations upon which they build their expectations of glory Col. 1. 27. Which is Christ in you the hope of glory Name any thing else that is solid matter of comfort to the souls of men and the grounds thereof will be found in Christ and in none but Christ as might easily be demonstrated by the enumeration of multitudes of particular instances which I cannot now insist upon Secondly Jesus Christ removes fom Believers whatever is uncomfortable therein relieving them against all the matters of their affliction and sorrow As namely First Is sin a burthen and matter of trouble to Believers Christ and none but Christ removes that burthen Rom. 7. 24 25. O wretched man that I am saith sin burthened Paul who shall deliver me from the body of this death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. The satisfaction of his blood Eph. 5. 2. The sanctification of his Spirit John 1. 5 6. His perfect deliverance of his people from the very being of sin at last Eph. 5. 26 27. This relieves at present and removes at last the matter and ground of all their troubles and sorrows for sin Secondly Do the temptations of Satan burthen Believers O yes by reason of temptations they go in trouble and heaviness of spirit Temptation is an enemy under the walls temptation greatly endangers and therefore cannot but greatly afflict the souls of Believers but Christ brings the only matter of relief against temptations The intercession of Christ is a singular relief at present Luke 22. 32. But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not and the promises of Christ are a full relief for the future The God of peace shall shortly tread Satan under your feet Rom. 16. 20. Thirdly Is spiritual desertion and the hiding of Gods face matter of affliction and casting down to Believers Yes yes it quails their hearts nothing can comfort them Thou hidest thy face and I was troubled Psal. 30. 7. Outward afflictions do but break the skin this touches the quick they like rain fall only upon the Tiles this soaks into the House but Christ brings to Believers substantial matter of Consolation against the troubles of desertion he himself was deserted of God for a time that they might not be deserted for ever in him also the relieving promises are made to Believers that notwithstanding God may desert them for a time yet the union betwixt him and them shall never be dissolved Heb. 13. 5. Jer. 32. 40. Though he forsake them for a moment in respect of evidenced favour yet he will return again and comfort them Isai. 54. 7. Though Satan tug hard yet he shall never be able to pluck them out of his Fathers hand John 10. 20. Oh what relief is this What consolation is Christ to a deserted Believer Fourthly Are outward afflictions matter of dejection and trouble Alas who finds them not to be so How do our hearts fail and our spirits sink under the many smarting rods of God upon us but our relief and consolation under them all is in Christ Jesus for the rod that afflicts us is in the hand of Christ that loveth us Rev. 3. 19. Whom I love I rebuke and chasten his design in affliction is our profit Heb. 12. 10. That design of his for our good shall certainly be accomplished Rom. 8. 28. and after that no more afflictions for ever Rev. 21. 3 4. God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes So that upon the whole two things are most evident First Nothing can comfort the soul without Christ he is the soul that animates all Comforts they would be but dead things without him Temporal enjoyments riches honours health relations yield not a drop of true Comfort without Christ. Spiritual enjoyments Minister ordinances promises are fountains sealed and springs shut up till Christ open them a man may go comfortless in the midst of them all Secondly No troubles sorrows or afflictions can deject or sink the soul that Christ comforteth 2 Cor. 6. 10. As sorrowful yet always rejoycing A Believer may walk with a heart brim full of comfort amidst all the troubles of this world Christ makes the darkness of trouble to be light round about his people So that the conclusion stands firm and never to be shaken that Christ and Christ only is the Consolation of Believers which was the thing to be proved In the Third place I am to shew you that Believers and 3. none but Believers can have consolation in Christ which will convincingly appear from the consideration of those things which we laid down before as the requisites to all true Spiritual Coonsolation For First No unbeliever hath the materials out of which Spiritual Comfort is made which as I there told you must be some solid spiritual and eternal good as Christ and the Covenant are What do unregenerate men rejoyce in but trifles and meer vanities in a thing of nought Amos 6. 13. See how their mirth is described in Job 21. 12. They
for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God Better ten thousand worlds should perish for ever than God should lose the honour of his justice This great Obex or bar to our enjoyment of God is effectually removed by the death of Christ whereby it is not only fully satisfied but highly honoured and glorified Rom. 3. 24. and so the way by which we are brought to God is again opened to the wonder and joy of all Believers by the blood and sufferings of Christ. Fifthly and lastly It shews us the peculiar happiness and 5. priviledge of Believers above all people in the world These only are they which shall be brought to God by Jesus Christ in a reconciled state others indeed shall be brought to God as a Judge to be condemned by him Believers only are brought to God in the Mediators hand as a reconciled Father to be made blessed for ever in the injoyment of him every Believer is brought singly to God at his death Luke 16. 22. and all Believers shall be jointly and solemnly presented to God in the great day Col. 1. 22. Jude v. 24. They shall be all presented faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy Now the priviledge of Believers in that day will lie in diverse things First That they shall be all brought to God together this will be the general assembly mentioned Heb. 12. 22. there shall be a collection of all Believers in all ages of the world into one blessed assembly they shall come from the East and West and North and South and shall sit down in the Kingdom of God Luke 13. 29. O what a glorious train will be seen following the redeemer in that day Secondly As all the Saints shall be collected into one body so they shall be all brought or presented unto God faultless and without blemish Jude v. 24. A glorious Church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing Ephes. 5. 27. For this is the general assembly of the spirits of just men that are made perfect Heb. 12. 23. All sin was perfectly separated from them when death had separated their souls and bodies Thirdly In this lies the priviledge of Believers that as they shall be all brought together and that in a state of absolute purity and perfection so they shall be all brought to God they shall see his face in the vision whereof is fulness of joy and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore Psal. 16 11. The objective blessedness of the Saints consisteth in their fruition of God Psal. 73. 25. To see God in his word and works is the happiness of the Saints on earth but to see him face to face will be the fulness of their blessedness in Heaven 1 John 3. 2. This is that intuitive transforming and satisfying vision of which the Scripture frequently speaks Psal. 17. 15. 2 Cor. 15. 28. Rev. 7. 17. Fourthly to be brought unto God must needs imply a state of perfect joy and highest delight so speaks the Apostle Jude v. 14. Christ shall present or bring them to God with exceeding joy and more fully the joy of this day is expressed Psal. 45. 15. With joy and rejoycing shall they be brought they shall enter into the Kings Palace it will be a day of universal joy when all the Saints are brought home to God in a perfected state For 1. God the Father will rejoice when Christ brings home that precious number of his elect whom he redeemed by his blood he rejoyceth in them now though imperfect and under many distastful corruptions and weaknesses Zeph. 3. 17. How much more will he rejoyce in them when Christ presents them without spot or wrinkle to him Ephes. 5. 27. 2. Jesus Christ will exceedingly rejoyce 't will be the day of the gladness and satisfaction of his heart for now and not till now he receives his mystical fulness Col. 1. 24. beholds all the blessed issues of his death which cannot but give him unspeakable contentment Isai. 53. 11. He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied 3. The day in which Believers are brought home to God will be a day of unspeakable joy to the holy Spirit of God himself For unto this all his sanctifying designs in this world had respect to this day he sealed them after this day he stirred up desires and groanings that cannot be uttered in their hearts Ephes. 4. 30. Rom. 8. 26. Thus all the great and blessed persons Father Son and Spirit will rejoyce in the bringing home of the elect to God For as it is the greatest joy to a man to see the designs which his heart hath been long projecting and intently set upon by an orderly conduct at last brought to the happy issue he first aimed at much more will it be so here the counsel and hand of each person being deeply concerned in this blessed design 4. The Angels of God will rejoyce at the bringing home of Believers to him the spirits of just men made perfect will be united in one general assembly with an innumerable company of Angels Heb. 2. 22. Great is the affection and love of Angels to redeemed ones they greatly rejoyced at the incarnation of Christ for them Luke 2. 13. They greatly delighted to pry into the mysterie of their redemption 1 Pet. 1. 12. They were marvellously delighted at their conversion which was the day of their espousals to Christ Luke 15. 10. They have been tender and careful over them and very serviceable to them in this world Heb. 1. 14. and therefore cannot but rejoice exceedingly to see them all brought home in safety to their Fathers house 5. To Conclude Christs bringing home of all Believers unto God will be matter of unspeakable joy to themselves For whatever knowledge and acquaintance they had with God here whatever sights of faith they had of Heaven and the glory to come in this world yet the sight of God and Christ the Redeemer will be an unspeakable surprise to them in that day This will be the day of relieving all their wants the day of satisfaction to all their desires for now they are come where they would be arrived at the very desires of their souls Secondly In the last place let it be considered what influence the death of Christ hath upon this design and you 2. shall find it much every way In two things especially the death of Christ hath a blessed causality and influence in this matter viz. 1. It effectually removes all obstacles to it 2. It purchaseth as a price their title to it First The death of Christ removes all obstacles out of the way of this mercy such were the bars hindring our access to God as nothing but the death of Christ could remove and open a way for Believers to come to God The guilt of sin barred us from his gracious presence Rom. 5. 1 2 3. Hosea 14. 2. The filth of sin excluded us
to be led by the spirit ver 18. to be in the spirit and the spirit to dwell in them Rom. 8. 9. And so much of the first thing to be opened viz. what we are to understand by the giving of the spirit Secondly In the next place we are to enquire and satisfie 2. our selves how this giving of the spirit evidently proves and strongly concludes that souls interest in Christ unto whom he is given and this will evidently appear by the consideration of these five particulars First The spirit of God in believers is the very bond by which they are united unto Christ if therefore we find in our selves the bond of union we may warrantably conclude that we have union with Jesus Christ this is evidently held forth in those words of Christ Joh. 17. 22 23. The glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me 't is the glory of Christs humane nature to be united to the God-head this glory said Christ thou gavest me and the glory thou gavest me I have given them i. e. by me they are united unto thee and how this is done he sheweth us more particularly I in them there is Christ in us viz. mystically and thou in me there is God in Christ viz. Hypostatically so that in Christ God and believers meet in a blessed union 't is Christs glory to be one with God 't is our glory to be one with Christ and with God by him but how is this done certainly no other way but by the giving of his Spirit unto us for so much that phrase I in them must needs import Christ is in us by the sanctifying spirit which is the bond of our union with him Secondly The Scripture every where makes this giving or indwelling of the spirit the great mark and tryal of our interest in Christ concluding from the presence of it in us positively as in the Text and from the absence of it negatively as in Rom. 8. 9. now if any man have not the spirit of Christ the same is none of his Jude ver 19. sensual not having the spirit this mark therefore agreeing to all believers and to none but believers and that alwayes and at all times it must needs clearly inferr the souls union with Christ in whomsoever it is found Thirdly That which is a certain mark of our freedom from the Covenant of works and our title to the priviledges of the Covenant of grace must needs also inferr our Union with Christ and special interest in him but the giving or indwelling of the sanctifying spirit in us is a certain mark of our freedom from the first Covenant under which all Christless persons still stand and our title to the special priviledges of the second Covenant in which none but the members of Christ are interested and consequently it fully proves our Union with the Lord Jesus This is plain from the Apostles reasoning Gal. 4. 6 7. And because ye are sons God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba father wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son and if a son then an heir of God through Christ. The spirit of the first Covenant was a servile spirit a spirit of fear and bondage and they that were under that Covenant were not Sons but Servants but the Spirit of the New Covenant is a free ingenuous spirit acting in the strength of God and those that do so are the Children of God and Children inherit the blessed priviledges and royal immunities contained in that great Charter the Covenant of Grace they are heirs of God and the evidence of this their inheritance by vertue of the second Covenant and of their freedom from the servitude and bondage of the first Covenant is the spirit of Christ in their hearts crying Abba father So Gal. 5. 18. if ye be led by the spirit ye are not under the Law Fourthly If the eternal decree of Gods electing love be executed and the vertues and benefits of the death of Christ applyed by the spirit unto every soul in whom he dwelleth as a spirit of sanctification then such a giving of the spirit unto us must needs be a certain mark and proof of our special interest in Christ but the decree of Gods electing love is executed and the benefits of the blood of Christ are applyed unto every soul in whom he dwelleth as a spirit of sanctification This is plain from 1 Pet. 1. 2. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the father through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ where you see both Gods election executed and the blood of Jesus sprinkled or applyed unto us by the spirit which is given to us as a spirit of sanctification There is a blessed order of working observed as proper to each person in the Godhead the Father electeth the Son redeemeth the spirit sanctifieth The spirit is the last efficient in the work of our salvation what the Father decreed and the Son purchased that the Spirit applyeth and so puts the last hand to the compleat salvation of believers And this some Divines give as the reason why the sin against the spirit is unpardonable because he being the last agent in order of working if the heart of a man be filled with enmity against the spirit there can be no remedy for such a sin there is no looking back to the death of Christ or to the Love of God for remedy this sin against the spirit is that obex infernalis the deadly stop and bar to the whole work of salvation oppositely where the spirit is received obeyed and dwelleth in the way of sanctification into that soul the eternal love of God and inestimable benefits of the blood of Christ run freely without stop or interruption and consequently the interest of such a soul in Jesus Christ is beyond all dispute Fifthly The giving of the spirit to us or his residing in us as a sanctifying spirit is every where in Scripture made the pledge and earnest of eternal salvation and consequently must abundantly confirm and prove the souls interest in Christ Eph. 1. 13 14. In whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with that holy spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance c. So 2 Cor. 1. 22. who hath also sealed us and given the earnest of the spirit in our hearts And thus you have the point opened and confirmed The Use of all followeth Use. Use. Now the only Use I shall make of this point shall be that which lyeth directly both in the eye of the Text and of the design for which it was chosen namely by it to try and examine the truth of our interest
frame may by the assistance of the spirit of God for which therefore they are bound to pray discern his indwelling and working in themselves Evidence 1. In whomsoever the spirit of Christ is a spirit of sanctification to that man or woman he hath been more or less a spirit of conviction and humiliation this is the order which the spirit constantly observes in adult or grown converts Joh. 16. 8 9. and when he is come he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of Judgement of sin because they believed not on me This you see is the method he observes all the world over he shall reprove or convince the world of sin Conviction of sin hath the same respect unto sanctification as the blossoms of trees have to the fruits that follow them a blossom is but fructus imperfectus ordinabilis an imperfect fruit in it self and in order to a more perfect and noble fruit where there are no blossoms we can expect no fruit and where we see no convictions of sin we can expect no conversion to Christ. Hath then the spirit of God been a spirit of conviction to thee hath he more particularly convinced thee of sin because thou hast not believed on him i. e. hath he shewn thee thy sin and misery as an Unbeliever not only terrified and affrighted thy conscience with this or that more notorious act of sin but sully convinced thee of the state of sin that thou art in by reason of thy unbelief which holding thee from Christ must needs also hold thee under the guilt of all thy other sins This gives at least a strong probability that God hath given thee his spirit especially when this conviction remains day and night upon thy soul so that nothing but Christ can give it rest and consequently the great inquisition of thy soul is after Christ and none but Christ. Evidence 2. As the spirit of God hath been a convincing so he is a quickening spirit to all those to whom he is given Rom. 8. 2. The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and death he is the spirit of life i. e. the principle of spiritual life in the souls whom he inhabiteth for uniting them to Christ he unites them to the fountain of life and this spiritual life in believers manifests it self as the natural life doth in vital actions and operations When the spirit of God comes into the soul of a man that was dead and senseless under sin O saith he now I begin to feel the weight and load of sin Rom. 7. 24. now I begin to hunger and thirst after Christ and his Ordinances 1 Pet. 2. 2. now I begin to breath after God in spiritual prayer Acts 9. 11. Spiritual life hath its spiritual senses and suitable operations O think upon this you that cannot feel any burthen in sin you that have no hungerings or thirstings after Christ how can the spirit of God be in you I do not deny but there may at some times be much deadness and senselesness upon the hearts of Christians but this is their disease not their nature it is but at some times not alwayes and when it is so with them they are burthened with it and complain oâ—… it as their greatest affliction in this world their spirits are not easie and at rest in such a condition as yours are their spirit is as a bone out of joint an Arm dislocated which cannot move any way without pain Evidence 3. Those to whom God giveth his spirit have a tender sympathy with all the interest and concernments of Christ this must needs be so if the same spirit which is in Christ dwelleth also in thy heart if thou be a partaker of his spirit then what he loves thou lovest and what he hateth thou hatest this is a very plain case even in nature it self we find that the many members of the same natural body being animated by one and the same spirit of life whether one member suffer all the members suffer with it or one member be honoured all the members rejoice with it now ye are the body of Christ and members in particular 1 Cor. 12. 26 27. For look as Christ the head of that body is touched with a tender sense and feeling of the miseries and troubles of his people he is persecuted when they are persecuted Acts 9. 4. so they that have the spirit of Christ in them cannot be without a deep and tender sense of the reproach and dishonours that are done to Christ this is as it were a sword in their bones Psal. 42. 3. If his publick worship cease the assemblies of his people scattered it cannot but go to the hearts of all in whom the spirit of Christ is they will be sorrowful for the solemn assemblies the reproach of them will be a burthen Zeph. 3. 18. Those that have the spirit of Christ do not more earnestly long after any one thing in this world than the advancement of Christs interest by conversion and reformation in the Kingdoms of the earth Psal. 45. 3 4. Paul could rejoice that Christ was Preached though his own afflictions were increased Phil. 1. 16. 18. and John could rejoice that Christ encreased though he himself decreased yet therein was his joy fulfilled Joh. 3. 29. so certainly the concernments of Christ must and will touch that heart which is the habitation of his spirit I cannot deny but even a good Baruch may be under a temptation to seek great things for himself and be too much swallowed up in his own concernments when God is plucking up and breaking down Jer. 45. 4 5. but this is only the influence of a temptation the true temper and spirit of a believer inclines him to sorrow and mourning when things are in this sad posture Ezech. 9. 4. Go through the midst of the City through the midst of Jerusalem and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof O Reader lay thine hand upon thine heart is it thus with thee dost thou sympathize with the affairs and concernments of Christ in the world or carest thou not which way things go with the people of God and Gospel of Christ so long as thine own affairs prosper and all things are well with thee Evidence 4. Where ever the spirit of God dwelleth he doth in some degree mortifie and subdue the evils and corruptions of the soul in which he resides this spirit lusteth against the flesh Gal. 5. 17. and believers through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body Rom. 8. 13. this is one special part of his sanctifying work I do not say he so kills and subdues sin in believers as that it shall never trouble or defile them any more no no that freedom belongs to the perfect state in heaven but its dominion is taken away though its
life be prolonged for a season it lives in believers still but not upon the provision they willingly make to fulfil the Lust of it Rom. 13. ult The design of every true believer is co incident with the design of the spirit to destroy and mortifie corruption they long for the extirpation of it and are daily in the use of all sanctified means and instruments to subdue and destroy it the workings of their corruptions are the afflictions of their souls Rom. 7. 24. O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death and there is no one thing that sweetens the thoughts of death to believers except the sight and full enjoyment of God more than their expected deliverance from sin doth Evidence 5. Where ever the spirit of God dwelleth in the way of sanctification in all such he is the spirit of prayer and supplication Rom. 8. 26. Likewise the spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered where ever he is poured out as the spirit of grace he is also poured out as the spirit of supplication Zech. 12. 10. his praying and his sanctifying influences are undivided There is a threefold assistance that the spirit gives unto sanctified persons in prayer he helps them before they pray by setting an edge upon their defires and affections he helps them in prayer by supplying matters of request to them teaching them what they should ask of God he assisteth them in the manner of prayer supplying to them suitable affections and helping them to be sincere in all their desires to God 't is he that humbles the pride of their hearts dissolves and breaks the hardness of their hearts out of dcadness makes them lively out of weakness makes them strong he assisteth the spirits of believers after prayer helping them to faith and patience to believe and wait for the returns and answers of their prayers O Reader reflect upon thy duties consider what spirituality sincerity humility broken-heartedness and melting affections after God are to be found in thy duties is it so with thee or dost thou shuffle over thy duties as an interruption to thy business and pleasures are they an ungrateful task imposed upon thee by God and thy own conscience are there no hungerings and thirstings after God in thy soul or if there be any pleasure arising to thee out of prayer is it not from the ostentation of thy gifts if it be so reflect sadly upon the carnal state of thy heart these things do not speak the spirit of grace and supplication to be given thee Evidence 6. Where ever the spirit of Grace inhabits there is an heavenly spiritual frame of mind accompanying and evidencing the indwelling of the spirit Rom. 8. 5 6. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit for to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace by the mind understand the musings reasonings yea and the cares fears delights and pleasures of the soul which follow the workings and meditations of the mind as these are so are we if these be ordinarily and habitually taken up and exercised about earthly things then is the frame and state of the man carnal and earthly the workings of every creature follow the being and nature of it if God Christ Heaven and the world to come engage the thoughts and affections of the soul the temper of such a soul is spiritual and the spirit of God dwelleth there this is the life of the regenerate Phil. 3. 20. our conversation is in Heaven and such a frame of heart is life and peace a serene placid and most comfortable life no pleasure upon earth no gratifications of the senses do relish and savour as spiritual things do Consider therefore which way thy heart ordinarily works especially in thy Solitudes and hours of retirement these things will be a great evidence for or against thy soul. David could say how precious are thy thoughts unto me O God! how great is the summ of them if I should count them they are more in number than the sand when I awake I am still with thee Psal. 139. 17 18. Yet it must be acknowledged for the relief of weaker Christians that there is great odds and variety found in this matter among the people of God for the strength steadiness and constancy of a spiritual mind results from the depth and improvement of sanctification the more grace still the more evenness spirituality and constancy there is in the motions of the heart after God The minds of weak Christians are more easily entangled in earthly vanities and more frequently diverted by inward corruptions yet still there is a spiritual pondus inclination and bent of their hearts towards God and the vanity and corruption which hinders their communion with him is their greatest grief and burthen under which they groan in this world Evidence 7. Those to whom the spirit of grace is given they are led by the spirit Rom. 8. 14. As many as are led by the spirit of God they are the Sons of God sanctified souls give themselves up to the government and conduct of the spirit they obey his voice beg his direction follow his motions deny the solicitations of the flesh and blood in obedience to him Gal. 1. 16. and they that do so they are the sons of God 't is the office of the spirit to guide us into all truth and 't is our great duty to follow his guidance Hence it is that in all enterprizes and undertakements the people of God so earnestly beg direction and counsel from him Lead me O Lord in thy righteousness saith David make thy way straight before my face Psal. 8. 5. they dare not in doubtful cases lean to their own understandings yea in points of duty and in points of sin they dare not neglect the one or commit the other against the convictions and perswasions of their own consciences though troubles and sufferings be unavoidable in that path of duty when they have ballanced duties with sufferings in their most serious thoughts the conclusion and result will still be it is better to obey God than man the dictates of the spirit rather than the counsels of flesh and blood But before I leave this point I reckon my self a debtor unto weak Christians and shall endeavour to give satisfaction to some special doubts and fears with which their minds are ordinarily entangled in this matter for it is a very plain case that many souls have the presence and sanctification of the spirit without the evidence and comfort thereof Divers things are found in believers which are as so many fountains of fears and doubts to them And First I greatly doubt the spirit of God is not in me Obj. 1. saith
the world a wondring at them 1 Pet. 4. 4. Wherein they think it strange that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Obstupescent ut ad rei inusitatae spectaculum Beza Ils se trouvent tous nouveaux comme en 〈◊〉 autre monde you run not with them to the same excess of riot speaking evil of you they think it strange the word signifies to stand at gaze as the hen doth which hath brooded and hatched Partridge Eggs when she seeth the Chickens which she hath brought forth take the wing and fly away from her thus do the men of the world stand amazed to see their old companions in sin whose language once was vain and earthly it may be prophane and filthy now to be praying speaking of God Heaven and things spiritual having no more to do with them as to sin except by way of reprehension and admonition this amazes the world and makes them look with a strange admiring eye upon the people of God Thirdly In the next place let us enquire into the properties 3. and qualities of this new creature and shew you as we are able what they are yet Reader expect not here an exact and accurate account of that which is so great a mystery for if questions may be moved about a silly fly which may puzzle the greatest Philosopher to resolve them how much more may we conceive this great and marvellous work of God the most mysterious and admirable of all his works to surmount the understandings of the most illuminated Christians O how little do we know of the nature properties and operations of this new Creature so far as God hath revealed it to our weak understandings we may speak of it And First The Scripture speaks of it as a thing of great difficulty to be conceived by man Joh. 3. 8. The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the spirit The original of winds is a question of great difficulty in Philosophy we hear the voice of the wind feel its mighty force and behold its strange effects but neither know whence it comes or whither it goes ask a man Do you hear the wind blow yes do you feel it blow yes very sensibly do you see the effects of it rending and overturning the trees yes very plainly but can you describe its nature or declare its original no that is a mystery which I do not understand why fo Just so it is with him that is born of the spirit the holy spirit of God whose nature and operations we understand but little of comes from heaven quickens and influences our souls beats down and mortifies our lusts by his almighty power these effects of the spirit in us we experimentally feel and sensibly discern but how the spirit of God first entred into and quickned our souls and produced this new creature in them we understand little more of it than how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with Child Eccles. 11. 5. Therefore is the life of the new creature called a hidden life Col. 3. 3. the nature of that life is not only hidden totally from all carnal men but in a very great measure it is an hidden and unknown life unto spiritual men though themselves be the subjects of it Secondly But though this life of the new Creature be a great mystery and secret in some respects yet so far as it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…ppears unto us the new creature is the most 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lovely creature that ever God made for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 himself is upon it the new man is created 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 24. as the picture is drawn after the man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God himself delineated by the spirit that admirable Artist upon the soul of man holiness is the beauty and glory of God and in holiness the new creature is created after Gods own image Col. 3. 10. the regenerate soul hereby becomes holy 1 Joh. 3. 3. not essentially holy as God is nor yet efficiently holy for the regenerate soul can neither make it self nor others holy but the life of the new creature may be said to resemble the life of God in this that as God lives to himself so the new creature wholly lives to God as God loves holiness and hates the contrary so doth the new creature 't is in these things formed after the image of him that created it when God creates this creature in the soul of man we are said then to be partakers of the divine nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. so that there can be nothing communicated unto men which beautifies and adorns their souls as this new creation doth men do not resemble God as they are noble and as they are rich but as they are holy no gift no endowment of nature imbelishes the soul as this new creature doth an awful Majesty sits upon the brow of the new creature commanding the greatest and worst of men to do homage to it Mark 6. 20. yea such is the beauty of the new creature that Christ its Author is also its admirer Cant. 4. 9. Thou hast ravished mine heart with one of thine eyes Thirdly This New Creature is created in man upon the highest design that ever any work of God was wrought the end of its creation and infusion is high and noble Salvation to the soul in which it is wrought this is both the finis operis and the finis operantis it is the design both of the work and of the workman that wrought it when we receive the end of our faith we receive the salvation of our souls Salvation is the end faith as death is the end of sin so life eternal is the end of grace The new creature doth by the instinct and steady direction of its own nature take its course as directly to God and to heaven the place of his full enjoyment as the Rivers do to the Ocean it declares it self to be made for God by its restless workings after him and as salvation is the end of the new creature so it is the express design and end of him that created it 2 Cor. 5. 5. Now he that hath wrought us for the self same thing is God by this workmanship of his upon our souls he is now polishing preparing and making them meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1. 12. Fourthly The new Creation is the most necessary work that ever God wrought upon the soul of man the eternal well-being of his soul depends upon it and without it no man shall see God Heb. 12. 14. and Joh. 1. 3 5. Except ye be regenerate and born again ye cannot see the Kingdom of God can you be saved without Christ you know you cannot can you have interest in Christ without the new creature my Text expressly tells you it can never be for if any man
be in Christ he is a new creature O Reader what ever slight thoughts of this matter and with what a careless and unconcerned eye soever thou readest these lines yet know thou must either be a new creature or a miserable and damned creature for ever If civility without the new creature could save thee why are not the moral Heathens saved also if strictness of life without the new creature could save thee why did it not save the Scribes and Pharisees also if an high profession of Religion without the new creature can save thee why did it not save Judas Hymeneus and Philetus also Nothing is more evident than this that no repentance obedience self-denyal prayers tears reformations or ordinances without the new creation avail any thing to the salvation of thy soul the very blood of Christ himself without the new creature never did and never will save any man Oh how necessary a work is the new creation circumcision avails nothing and uncircumcision nothing but a new creature Fifthly The new Creature is a marvellous and wonderful creature there are many wonders in the first creation the works of the Lord are great sought out of all them that have pleasure therein Psal. 111. 2. but there are no wonders in nature like those in grace is it not the greatest wonder that ever was seen in the world except the incarnation of the Son of God to see the nature and temper of man so altered and changed as it is by grace to see Lascivious Corinthians and Idolatrous Ephesians become mortified and Heavenly Christians to see a fierce and cruel persecutor become a glorious confessor and sufferer for Christ Gal. 1. 23. to see the carnal-mind of man which was lately fully set in a strong bent to the world to be wholly taken off from its lusts and set upon things that are spiritual and heavenly certainly it was not a greater miracle to see dead Lazarus come out of his Sepulchre than it is to see the dead and carnal mind coming out of its Lusts to embrace Jesus Christ. It was not a greater wonder to see the dead dry bones in the vally to move and come together than it is to see a dead soul moving after God and moving to Christ in the way of faith Sixthly The new creature is an immortal creature a creature that shall never see death Joh. 4. 14. it is in the soul of man a well of water springing up into eternal life I will not adventure to say it is immortal in its own nature for it is but a creature as my Text calls it and we know that essential interminability is the incommunicable property of God the new creature hath both a beginning and succession and therefore might also have an end as to any thing in it self or its own nature experience also shews us that it is capable both of increasing and decreasing and may be brought nigh unto death Rev. 3. 2. the works of the spirit in believers may be ready to dye but though its perpetuity flow not out of its own nature it flows out of Gods Covenant and promises which make it an immortal Creature when all other excellencies in man go away as at death they will Job 4. 21. this excellency only remains our gifts may leave us our friends leave us our estates leave us but our graces will never leave us they ascend with the soul in which they inhere into glory when the stroke of death separates it from the body Seventhly The new Creature is an heavenly creature 't is not born of flesh nor of blood or of the will of man but of God Joh. 1. 13. its descent and original is heavenly it is spirit born of spirit Joh. 3. 6. its center is heaven and thither are all its tendencies Psal. 63. 8. its proper food on which it lives are heavenly things Psal. 4. 6 7. it cannot feed as other creatures do upon earthly things the object of all its delights and loves is in heaven Psal. 73. 26. Whom have I in heaven but thee the hopes and expectations of the new creature are all from heaven it looks for little in this world but waits for the coming of the Lord the life of the new creature upon earth is a life of patient waiting for Christ his desires and longings are after Heaven Phil. 1. 23. The flesh indeed lingers and would delay but the new creature hastens and would fain be gone 2 Cor. 5. 2. it is not at home while it is here it came from Heaven and cannot be quiet nor suffer the soul in which it dwells to be so until it comes thither again Eighthly The new creature is an active and laborious creature no sooner it is born but it is acting in the soul Acts 9. 6. behold he prayeth activity is its very nature Gal. 5. 25. If we live in the spirit let us walk in the spirit Nor is it to be admired that it should be always active and stirring in the soul seeing activity in obedience was the very end for which it was created for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works Eph. 2. 10. and he that is acted in the duties of Religion by this principle of the new creature or nature will so far as that principle acts him delight to do the will of God rejoice in the way of his Commandments and find the sweetest pleasure in the paths of duty Ninthly The new creature is a thriving creature growing from strength to strength 1 Pet. 2. 2. and changing the soul in which it is subjected from glory unto glory 2 Cor. 3. 18. The vigorous tendencies and constant strivings of this new creature is to attain its just perfection and maturity Phil. 3. 11. it can endure no stints and limits to its desires short of perfection every degree of strength it attains doth but whet and sharpen his desires after higher degrees upon this account it greatly delights in the Ordinances of God Duties of Religion and Society of the Saints as they are helps and improvements to it in order to its great design Tenthly The new creature is a creature of wonderful preservations there are many wonders of divine providences in Gratia nec totaliter intermittitur nec finaliter amittitur actus omittitur habitus non amittitur actio pervertitur fides noâ—… sâ—…bvertitur concutitur non excutitur deflâ—…it fructus latâ—… succus effectus justificationis suspenditur at â—…tus justificati non dissolvitur Suffrag Brit. the preservation of our natural lives but none like those whereby the life of the new creature is preserved in our souls there are critical times of temptation and desertion in which it is ready to dye Rev. 3. 2. the degrees of its strength and liveliness are sometimes sadly abated and 〈◊〉 sweet and comfortable workings intermitted Rev. 2. 4. the evidences by which its being in us was wont to be discovered may be and often are darkned 2 Pet. 1. 9.
heart Thirdly The crucifixion of the flesh doth not consist in the cessation of the external acts of sin for in that respect the lusts of men may dye of their own accord even a kind of natural death The members of the body are the weapons of unrighteousness as the Apostle calls them age or sickness may so blunt or break those weapons that the soul cannot use them to such sinful purposes and services as it was wont to do in the vigorous and healthful season of life not that there is less sin in the heart but because there is less strength and activity in the body Just as it is with an old Soldier who hath as much skill policy and delight as ever in military actions but age and hard services have so infeebled him that he can no longer follow the camp Fourthly The crucifixion of sin doth not consist in the fevere castigations of the body and penancing it by stripes fasting and tiresome pilgrimages This may pass for mortification among Papists but never was any lust of the flesh destroyed by this rigour Christians indeed are bound not to indulge and pamper the body which is the instrument of sin nor yet must we think that the spiritual corruptions of the soul â—…eel those stripes which are inflicted upon the body see Col. 2. 23. 't is not the vanity of superstition but the power of true religion which crucifies and destroys corruption 't is faith in Christs blood not the spilling of our own blood which gives sin the mortal wound Secondly But if you enquire what then is implied in the Posit 2. mortification or crucifixion of sin and wherein it doth consist I answer First It necessarily implies the souls implantation into Christ and union with him without which it is impossible Errant in ipsa natura mortificationis Christianae nam corporis afflictionem injuriam reputant pro vera mortificatione cum illa non ad carnem praecipue aut inferiorem animae partem sed ad mentem voluntatem maximè pertineat Davenant in Coloss. 256. that any one corruption should be mortified they that are Christs have crucified the flesh the attempts and endeavors of all others are vain and ineffectual when we were in the flesh saith the Apostle the motions of sin which were by the Law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death Rom. 5. 7. sin was then in its full dominion no abstinence rigour or outward severity no purposes promises or solemn vows could mortifie or destroy it there must be an implantation into Christ before there can be any effectual crucifixion of sin what Believer almost hath not in the days of his first convictions tryed all external methods and means of mortifying sin and found it in experience to be to as little purpose as the binding of Sampson with green Wit hs or Cords But when he hath once come to act faith upon the death of Christ then the design of mortification hath prospered and succeeded to good purpose Secondly Mortification of sin implies the agency of the spirit of God in that work without whose assistances and aids all our endeavours must needs be fruitless of this work we may say as it was said in another case Zech. 4. 6. not by might noâ—… by power but by my spirit saith the Lord. When the Apostle therefore would shew by what hand this work of mortification is performed he thus expresseth it Rom. 8. 13. if ye through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live the duty is ours but the power whereby we perform it is Gods the spirit is the only successful Combatant against the lusts that war in our members Gal. 5. 17. 't is true this excludes not but implies our endeavours for it is we through the spirit that mortifie the deeds of the body but yet all our endeavours without the Spirits aid and influence avail nothing Thirdly The crucifixion of sin necessarily implies the subversion of its dominion in the soul a mortified sin cannot be a reigning sin Rom. 6. 12 13 14. Two things constitute the dominion of sin viz. the fulness of its power and the souls subjection tâ—… it As to the fulness of its power that rises from the suitableness it hath and pleasure it gives to the corrupt heart of man it seems to be as necessary as the right hand as useful and pleasant as the right eye Mat. 5. 29. but the mortified heart is dead to all pleasures and profits of sin it hath no delight or pleasure in it it becomes its burthen and daily complaint Mortification presupposes the illumination of the mind and conviction of the conscience by reason whereof sin cannot deceive and blind the mind or bewitch and ensnare the will and affections as it was wont to do and consequently its dominion over the soul is destroyed and lost Fourthly The crucifying of the flesh implies a gradual weakning of the power of sin in the soul. The death of the Cross was a slow and lingering death and the crucified person grew weaker and weaker every hour so it is in the mortification of sin the soul is still cleansing it self from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit and perfecting holiness in the fear of God 2 Cor. 7. 1. And as the body of sin is weakned more and more so the inward man or the new creature is renewed day by day 2 Cor. 4. 16. for sanctification is a progressive work of the spirit and as holiness increases and roots it self deeper and deeper in the soul so the power and interest of sin proportionably abates and sinks lower and lower until at length it be swallowed up in victory Fifthly The crucifying of the flesh notes to us the Believers designed application of all spiritual means and sanctified instruments for the destruction of it there is nothing in this world which a gracious heart more vehemently desires and longs for than the death of sin and perfect deliverance from it Rom. 7. 2â—… the sincerity of which desires doth accordingly manifest it self in the daily application of all Gods remedies such are daily watching against the occasions of sin Job 31. 1. I have made a Covenant with mine eyes more than ordinary vigilancy over their special or proper sin Psal. 18. 23. I kept my self from mine iniquity earnest cries to Heaven for preventing grace Psal. 19. 13. keep back thy Servant also from presumptuous sins let them not have dominion over me deep humbling of soul for sins past which is an excellent preventive unto future sins 2 Cor. 2. 11. in that he sorrowed after a Godly sort what carefulness it wrought care to give no furtherance or advantage to the design of sin by making provision for the flesh to fulfill the Lusts thereof as others do Rom. 13. 13 14. willingness to bear the due reproofs of sin Psal. 141. 5. Let the righteous smite me it shall be a kindness these and such like means of
mortification regenerate souls are daily using and applying in order to the death of sin And so much of the first particular what the mortification of sin or Crucifying of the flesh implies Secondly In the next place we shall examine the reasons 2. why this work of the spirit is expressed under that Trope or figurative expression of Crucifying the flesh Now the ground and reason of the use of this expression is the resemblance which the mortification of sin bears unto the death of the cross and this appears in five particulars First The death of the cross was a painful death and the mortification of sin is very painful work Matth. 25. 29. 't is the cutting off our right hands and plucking out our right eyes it will cost many thousand tears and groans prayers and strong cries to heaven before one sin will be mortified Upon the account of the difficulty of this work and mainly upon this account the Scripture saith narrow is the way and strait is the gate that leadeth unto life and few there be that find it Matth. 7. 14. and that the righteous themselves are scarcely saved Secondly The death of the cross was universally painful every member every sense every sinew every nerve was the seat and subject of tormenting pain So is it in the mortification of sin 't is not this or that particular member or act but the whole body of sin that is to be destroyed Rom. 6. 6. and accordingly the conflict is in every faculty of the soul for the Spirit of God by whose hand sin is mortified doth not combat with this or that particular Lust only but with sin as sin and for that reason with every sin in every faculty of the soul. So that there are conflicts and anguish in every part Thirdly The death of the cross was a slow and lingering death denying unto them that suffered it the favour of a quick dispatch Just so it is in the death of sin though the Spirit of God be mortifying it day by day yet this is a truth Mortificatio peccati non fit uno momento sed opus est lucta assiduâ pâ—…ccatum languescit ab initio mortificationis nostrae in progressu tabescit ad extremum i. e. in ipsa morte nostra abolebitur Origen in Epist. ad Rom. sealed by the sad experience of all believers in the world that sin is long a dying and if we ask a reason of this dispensation of God among others this seems to be one corruptions in believers like the Canaanites in the Land of Israel are left to prove and to exercise the people of God to keep us watching and praying mourning and believing yea wondering and admiring at the riches of pardoning and preserving mercy all our dayes Fourthly The death of the Cross was a very opprobrious and shameful death they that dyed upon the cross were loaded with ignominy the crimes for which they dyed were exposed to the publick view after this manner dyeth sin a very shameful and ignominious death Every true believer draws up a charge against it in every prayer aggravates and condemns it in every confession bewailes the evil of it with multitudes of tears and groans making sin as vile and odious as they can find words to express it though not so vile as it is in its own nature O my God saith Ezra I am ashamed and even blush to look up unto thee Ezra 9. 6. So Daniel in his confession Dan. 9. 7. O Lord righteousness belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of faces as at this day Nor can it grieve any believer in the world to accuse condemn and shame himself for sin whilest he remembers and considers that all that shame and confusion of face which he takes to himself goes to the vindication glory and honour of his God as David was content to be more vile still for God so it pleaseth the heart of a Christian to magnifie and advance the name and glory of God by exposing his own shame in humble and broken hearted confessions of sin Fifthly In a word the death of the Cross was not a natural but a violent death such also is the death of sin sin dyes not of its own accord as nature dyeth in old men in whom the Balsamum radicale or radical moisture is consumed for if the Spirit of God did not kill it it would live to eternity in the souls of men 't is not the everlasting burnings and all the wrath of God which lies upon the damned for ever that can destroy sin Sin like a Salamander can live to eternity in the fire of Gods wrath so that either it must dye a violent death by the hand of the Spirit or never dyeth at all And thus you see why the mortification of sin is Tropically expressed by the crucifying of the flesh 3. Thirdly Why all that are in Christ must be so crucified or mortified unto sin and the necessity of this will appear divers ways First From the inconsistency and contrariety that there is betwixt Christ and unmortified lust Gal. 5. 17. these are contrary the one to the other There is a threefold inconsistency betwixt Christ and such corruptions they are not only contrary to the holiness of Christ 1 John 3. 6. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not whosoever sinneth hath not seen him neither known him i. e. whosoever is thus ingulphed and plunged into the lust of the flesh can have no communion with the pure and holy Christ but there is also an inconsistency betwixt such sin and the honour of Christ 2 Tim. 2. 19. Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity as Alexander said to a Soldier of his name recordare nominis Alexandri remember thy name is Alexander and do nothing unworthy of that name And unmortified lusts are also contrary to the Dominion and government of Christ Luke 9. 23. If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross daily and follow me these are the self-denying terms upon which all men are admitted into Christs service and without mortification and self-denial he allows no man to call him Lord and Master Secondly The necessity of mortification appears from the necessity of conformity betwixt Christ the head and all the members of his mystical body for how incongruous and uncomely would it be to see a holy heavenly Christ leading a company of unclean carnal and sensual members Mat. 11. 29. Take my yoak upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly q. d. it would be monstrous to the world to behold a company of Lions and Wolves following a meek and harmless Lamb men of raging and unmortified lusts professing and owning me for their head of government and again 1 John 2. 6. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even as he walked q. d. either imitate Christ in your practice or never make pretensions to Christ in your
grown and confirmed believers and such are these First The more submissive and quiet any man is under the will of God in smart and afflicting providences the more that mans heart is mortified unto sin Psal. 119. 67 71. Col. 1. 11. Secondly The more able any one is to bear the reproaches and rebukes of his sin the more Mortification there is in that man Psal. 141. 5. Thirdly The more easily any man can resign and give up his dearest earthly comforts at the call and command of God the more progress that man hath made in the work of Mortification Heb. 11. 17. 2 Sam. 15. 25. Fourthly The more power any man hath to resist sin in the first motions of it and stifle it in the birth the greater degree of Mortification that man hath attained Rom. 7. 23 24. Fifthly If great changes upon our outward condition make no change for the worse upon our spirits but we can bear prosperous and adverse providences with an equal mind then Mortification is advanced far in our souls Phil. 4. 11 12. Sixthly The more fixed and steady our hearts are with God in duty and the less they are infested with wandring thoughts and earthly interpositions the more Mortification there is in that soul. And so much briefly of the Evidences of Mortification 5. Use for Consolation It only remains that I shut up all with a few words of consolation unto all that are under the Mortifying influence of the Use 5. spirit Much might be said for the comfort of such In brief First Mortified sin shall never be your ruine 't is only raigning sin that is ruining sin Rom. 8. 13. Mortified sins and pardoned sins shall never lye down with us in the dust Secondly If sin be dying your souls are living for dying unto sin and living unto God are inseparably connected Rom. 6. 11. Thirdly If sin be dying in you it is certain that Christ died for you and you cannot desire a better Evidence of it Rom. 6. 5 6. Fourthly If sin be dying under the Mortifying influences of the spirit and it be your daily labour to resist and overcome it you are then in the direct way to heaven and eternal salvation which few very few in the world shall find Luke 13. 24. Fifthly To shut up all if you through the spirit be daily mortifying the deeds of the body then the death of Christ is effectually applied by the spirit unto your souls and your interest in him is unquestionable for they that are Christs have Crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts and they that have so Crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts are Christs Blessed be God for a Crucified Christ. The Twenty ninth SERMON Sermon 29. 1 JOHN 2. 6. Text. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so Of the Imitation of Christ in holiness of his life and the necessity of it in all believers to walk even as he walked THe express and principal design of the Apostle in this Chapter is to propound marks and signs both Negative and Positive for the trial and examination of mens claims to Christ amongst which not to spend time about the Coherence my Text is a principal one a trial of mens interest in Christ by their imitation of Christ. It is supposed by some Expositors that the Apostle in laying down this mark had a special design to overthrow the wicked Doctrine of the Carpocratians 〈◊〉 taught as Epiphanius relates it that men might have as much Communion with God in sin as in duty In full opposition to which the Apostle lays down this Proposition wherein he asserts the necessity of a Christ-like conversation in all that claim Union with him or interest in him The words resolve themselves into two parts Viz. 1. A Claim to Christ supposed 2. The only way to have our claim warranted First We have here a claim to Christ supposed if any 1. man say he abideth in him abiding in Christ is an expression denoting proper and real interest in Christ and communion with him for it is put in opposition to those temporary light and transient effects of the Gospel which are called a morning dew or an early cloud such a receiving of Christ as that Mat. 13. 21. which is but a present flash a sudden vanishing pang abiding in Christ notes a solid durable and effectual work of the Spirit throughly and everlastingly joyning the soul to Christ. Now if any man whosoever he be for this indefinite is equivalent to an universal term let him never think his claim to be good and valid except he take this course to adjust it Secondly The only way to have this claim warranted 2. and that must be by so walking even as he walked which words carry in them the necessity of our imitation of Christ. But it is not to be understood indifferently and universally of all the works or actions of Christ some of which were extraordinary and miraculous some purely mediatory and not imitable by us in these paths no Christian can follow Christ nor may so much as attempt to walk as he walked But the words point at the ordinary and imitable ways and works of Christ therein it must be the care of all to follow him that profess and claim interest in him they must so walk as he walked this so is a very bearing word in this place the emphasis of the Text seems to lie in it however certain it is that this so walking doth not imply an equality with Christ in holiness and obedience for as he was filled with the spirit without measure and anointed with that oyl of gladness above his fellows so the purity holiness and obedience of his life is never to be matched and equallized by any of the Saints But this so walking only notes a sincere intention design and endeavour to imitate and follow him in all the paths of holiness and obedience according to the different measures of grace received The life of Christ is the Believers copy and though the Believer cannot draw one line or letter exact as his copy is yet his eye is still upon it he is looking unto Jesus Heb. 12. 2. and labouring to draw all the lines of his life as agreeably as he is able unto Christ his pattern Hence the Observation is DOCT. That every man is bound to the imitation of Christ under penalty Doct. of forfeiting his claim to Christ. The Saints imitation of Christ is solemnly enjoined by many Christiani 〈◊〉 Christo nomen acceperunt operae pretium est ut sicut sunt â—…eraedes nominis ita sint imitatores sanctitatis Bern. sent lib. p. 436. great and express commands of the Gospel so you find it 1 Pet. 1. 15. But as he that hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation So Eph. 5. 1 2. Be ye therefore followers of God as dear Children and walk in love as Christ
the soul from the body James 2. 26. The body without the spirit is dead Spiritual death is the privation of the principle of spiritual life or the want and absence of the quickening spirit of God in the foul the soul is the life of the body and Christ is the life of the soul the absence of the foul is death to the body and the absence or want of Christ is death to the soul. Eternal death is the separation both of body and soul from God which is the misery of the damned Now Christless and unregenerate men are not dead in the first sense they are naturally alive though they are dead while they live Nor are they yet dead in the last sense eternally separated from God by an irrevocable sentence as the damned are but they are dead in the second sense they are spiritually dead whilst they are naturally alive and this spiritual death is the fore-runner of eternal death Now spiritual death is put in scripture in opposition to a two-fold spiritual life Viz. 1. The life of Justification 2. The life of Sanctification Spiritual death in opposition to the life of Justification is nothing else but the guilt of sin bringing us under the sentence of death Spiritual death in opposition to the life of sanctification is the pollution or dominion of sin In both these fen ses unregenerate men are dead men but it is the last which I am properly concerned to speak to in this place and therefore Secondly Let us briefly consider what this spiritual death is which as before was hinted is the absence of the quickening 2. spirit of Christ from the soul of any man That soul is a dead soul into which the spirit of Christ is not infused in the work of regeneration and all its works are dead works as they are called Heb. 9. 14. For look how it is with the damned they live they have sense and motion and an immortality in all these yet because they are eternally separated from God the life which they live deserves not the name of life but is every where in scripture stiled death So the unregenerate they are naturally alive they eat and drink they buy and sell they talk and laugh they rejoyce in the creatures and many of them spend their days in pleasures and then go down to the grave This is the life they live but yet the scripture rather calls it death than life because though they live yet it is without God in the world Eph. 2. 12. Though they live yet it is a life alienated from the life of God Eph. 4. 18. And therefore while they remain naturally alive they are in scripture said to remain in death 1 John 3. 14. and to be dead while they live 1 Tim. 5. 6. And there is great reason why a Christless and unregenerate state should be represented in scripture under the notion of death for there is nothing in nature which more aptly represents that miserable state of the soul than natural death doth The dead see and discern nothing and the natural man perceiveth not the things that are of God The dead have no beauty or desirableness in them Bury my dead said Abraham out of my sight neither is there any spiritual loveliness in the unregenerate True it is some of them have sweet natural qualities and moral excellencies which are taking things but these are as so many flowers decking and adorning a dead corpse The dead are Objects of pity and great lamentation men use to mourn for the dead Eccles. 12. 5. Man goeth to his long home and the mourners go about the streets But unregenerate and Christless souls are much more the Objects of pity and lamentation How are all the people of God especially those that are naturally related to them concerned to mourn over them and for them as Abraham did for Ishmael Gen. 17. 18. O that Ishmael might live before thee Upon these and many other accounts the state of unregeneracy is represented to us in the notion of death Thirdly And that this is the state of all Christless and unsanctified persons will undeniably appear two ways 3. 1. The causes of spiritual life have not wrought upon them 2. The effects and signs of spiritual life do not appear in them and therefore they are in the state and under the power of spiritual death First The causes of spiritual life have not wrought upon them There are two causes of spiritual life 1. Principal and internal 2. Subordinate and external The principal internal cause of spiritual life is the regenerating spirit of Christ Rom. 8. 2. The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death 'T is the spirit as a regenerating spirit that unites us with Christ in whom all spiritual life originally is John 5. 25 26. Verily I say unto you that the hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live for as the father hath life in himself so hath he given to the son to have life in himself As all the members of the natural body receive animation sense and motion by their Union with their natural head so all believers the members of Christ receive spiritual life and animation by their Union with Christ their mystical head Eph. 4. 15 16. Except we come to him and be united with him in the way of faith we can have no life in us John 5. 40. Ye will not come unto me that ye may have life Now the spirit of God hath yet exerted no regenerating quickening influences nor begotten any special saving faith in natural unsanctified men whatever he hath done for them in the way of natural or spiritual common gifts yet he hath not quickened them with the life of Christ. And as for the subordinate external means of life viz. the preaching of the Gospel which is the instrument of the spirit in this glorious work and is therefore called the word of life Phil. 2. 16. this word hath not yet been made a regenerating quickening word to their souls Possibly it hath enlightned them and convinced them it hath wrought upon their minds in the way of common illumination and upon their consciences in the way of conviction but not upon their hearts and wills by way of effectual conversion To this day the Lord hath not given them an heart opening it self in the way of faith to receive Jesus Christ. Secondly The effects and signs of spiritual life do not appear in them for First They have no feeling or sense of misery and danger I mean no such sense as throwly awakens them to apply Christ their remedy That spiritual judgment lies upon them Isa. 6. 9 10. And he said go and tell this people Hear ye indeed but understand not and see ye indeed but perceive not make the heart of this people fat and their ears heavy and
seasonably A sound of judgement is in our ears the Lords voice crieth unto the City and the man of wisdom shall see thy name hear ye the rod and who hath appointed it Mica 6. 9. All things round about us seem to posture themselves for trouble and distress Where is the man of wisdom that doth not foresee a shower of wrath and indignation coming We have heard a voice of trembling of fear and not of peace Ask ye now and see whether a man doth travel with child Wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins as a woman in travail and all faces are turned into paleness Alas for that day is great so that none is like it it is even the day of Jacobs trouble but he shall be delivered out of it Jer. 30. 5 6 7. Many eyes are now opened to see the common danger but some foresaw it long ago when they saw the general decay of godliness every where the notorious Prophanity and Atheism that overspread the Nations the spirit of enmity and bitterness against the power of godliness whereever it appeared and though there seemed to be a present calm and general quietness yet those that were wise in heart could not but discern distress of nations with great perplexity in these seeds of judgement and calamity but as the Epha fills more and more so the determined wrath grows more and more visible to every eye and 't is a fond thing to dream of tranquillity in the midâ—… of so much iniquity Indeed if these Nations were once swept with the besom of reformation we might hope God would not sweep them with the besome of destruction but what peace can be expected whilst the highest provocations are continued It is therefore the great and present concernment of all to provide themselves of a refuge before the storm overtake them for as Augustin well observes non facile inveniuntur praesidia in adversitate quae non fuerint in pace quaesita O take up your lodgings in the Attributes and Promises of God before the night overtake you view them often by faith and clear up your interest in them that you may be able to go to them in the dark when the Ministers and Ordinances of Christ have taken their leave of you and bid you good night Whilst many are hasting on the wrath of God by prophaneness and many by smiting their fellow Servants and multitudes resolve if trouble come to fish in the troubled waters for safety and preferment not doubting whensoever the overflowing flood comes but they shall stand dry O that you would be mourning for their sins and providing better for your own safety Reader it is thy one thing necessary to get a cleared interest in Jesus Christ which being once obtained thou maist face the storm with boldness and say Come troubles and distresses losses and tryals prisons and death I am provided for you do your worst you can do me no harm let the winds roar the lightnings flesh the rains and hail fall never so furiously I have a good roof over my head a comfortable lodging provided for me my place of defence is the munition of rocks where bread shall be given me and my waters shall be sure Isa. 33. 16. The design of the ensuing Treatise is to assist thee in this great work and though it was promised to the world many years past yet providence hath reserved it for the fittest season and brought it to thy hand in a time of need It contains the method of grace in the application of the great redemption to the souls of men as the former part contains the method of grace in the impetration thereof by Jesus Christ. The acceptation God hath given the former part signified by the desires of many for the publication of this hath at last prevailed with me notwithstanding the secret consciousness of my inequality to so great an undertakement to adventure this second part also upon the ingenuity and candour of the Reader And I consent the more willingly to the publication of this because the design I first aimed at could not be intire and compleat without it but especially the quality of the subject matter which through the blessing and concurrence of the spirit may be useful both to rouze the drousie Consciences of this sleepy generation and to assist the upright in clearing the work of the spirit upon their own souls These considerations have prevailed with me against all discouragements And now Reader it is impossible for me to speak particularly and distinctly to the case of thy soul which I am ignorant of except the Lord shall direct my discourse to it in some of the following suppositions If thou be one that hast sincerely applied and received Jesus Christ by faith this discourse through the blessing of the Spirit may be useful to thee to clear and confirm thy evidences to melt thy heart in the sense of thy mercies and to ingage and quicken thee in the way of thy duties Here thou wilt see what great things the Lord hath done for thy soul and how these dignities as thou art his Son or Daughter by the double title of regeneration and adoption do oblige thee to yield up thy self to God intirely and to say from thy heart Lord whatever I am I am for thee whatever I can do I will do for thee and whatever I can suffer I will suffer for thee and all that I am or have all that I can do or suffer is nothing to what thou hast done for my soul. If thou be a stranger to regeneration and faith a person that makest a powerless profession of Christ that hast a name to live but art dead here it 's possible thou maist meet something that will convince thee how dangerous a thing it is to be an old creature in the new creatures dress and habit and what it is that blinds thy judgement and is likeliest to prove thyruine a seasonable and full conviction whereof will be the greatest mercy that can befall thee in this world if thereby at last God may help thee-to put on Christ as well as the name-of Christ. If thow be in darkness about the state of thy own soul and willing to have it faithfully and impartially tried by the rule of the word which will not warp to any mans humour or interest here thou wilt find some weak assistance offered thee to clear and disintangle thy doubting thoughts which through thy prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ may lead thee to a comfortable settlement and inward peace If thou be a proud conceited presumptuous â—…oul who hast too little knowledge and too much pride and self-love to admit any doubts or scruples of thy state towards God there are many things in this Treatise proper for thy conviction and better information for woe to thee if thou shouldest not fear till thou begin to feel thy misery if thy troubles do not come on till
spiritualiter per ipsum regeneratos Sicut deâ—…ictum Ade non nocet nisi suis in eo quod sui sunt Sic nec gratia Christi prodest nisi suis in eo quod sui sunt as the Condemnation of the First Adam passeth not to us except as by generation we are his so grace and remission pass not from the Second Adam to us except as by regeneration we are his Adams Sin hurts none but those that are in him and Christs blood profits none but those that are in him how great a weight therefore doth there hang upon the effectual application of Christ to the Souls of men and what is there in the whole world so awfully solemn so greatly important as this is Such is the strong consolation resulting from it that the Apostle in this context offers it to the believing Corinthians as a superabundant recompence for the despicable meanness and baseness of their outward condition in this world of which he had just before spoken in ver 27 28. telling them though the world contemned them as vile foolish and weak yet of God Christ is made unto them wisdom and righteousness sanctification and redemption In which words we have an Enumeration of the chief priviledges of believers and an Account of the method whereby they come to be invested with them First Their priviledges are enumerated namely wisdome righteousness sanctification and redemption mercies of 1. Quatuor Christo â—…logia hic adscribit quae totam ejus virtutem quicquid ab ipso bonorum recipimus complectuntur Calv. in loc inestimable value in themselves and such as respect a fourfold misery lying upon sinful manâ—… viz. Ignorance guilt pollution and the whole 〈◊〉 of miserable consequences and effects let in upon the nature of men yea the best and holiest of men by sin Lapsed man is not only in deep misery but grossly ignorant both that he is so and how to recover himself from it Sin hath left him at once senseless of his state and at a perfect loss about the true remedy To cure this Christ is made to him Wisdome not only by improvement of those treasures of wisdome that are in himself for the benefit of such souls as are united to him as an head consulting the good of his own members but also by imparting his wisdome to them by the Spirit of illumination whereby they come to discern both their sin and danger as also the true way of their recovery from both through the application of Christ to their souls by faith But alas Simple illumination doth but increase our burden and exasperate our misery as long as sin in the guilt of it is either imputed to our persons unto condemnation or reflected by our consciences in a way of accusation With design therefore to remedy and heal this sore evil Christ is made of God unto us righteousness compleat and perfect righteousness whereby our obligation to punishment is dissolved and thereby a solid foundation for a well settled peace of conscience firmly established Yea but although the removing of guilt from our persons and consciences be an inestimable mercy yet alone it cannot make us compleatly happy for though a man should never be damned for sin yet what is it less than an hell upon earth to be under the dominion and pollution of every base lust it's misery enough to be daily defiled by sin though a man should never be damned for it To compleat therefore the happiness of the redeemed Christ is not only made of God unto them Wisdome and righteousness the one curing our ignorance the other our guilt but he is made Sanctification also to relieve us against the dominion and pollution of our corruptions he comes both by water and by blood not by blood only but by water also 1 Joh. 5. 6. purging as well as pardoning how compleat and perfect a cure is Christ But yet something is required beyond all this to make our happiness perfect and entire wanting nothing and that is the removal of those doleful effects and consequents of sin which notwithstanding all the forementioned priviledges and mercies still lye upon the souls and bodies of illuminated justified and sanctified persons For even upon the best and holiest of men what swarms of vanity loads of deadness and fits of unbelief do daily appear in and oppress their souls to the imbittering of all the comforts of life to them And how many diseases deformities pains oppress their bodies which daily moulders away by them till they fall into the grave by death even as the bodies of other men do who never received such priviledges from Christ as they do For if Christ be in us as the Apostle speaks Rom. 8. 10. the body is dead because of sin Sanctification exempts us not from mortality But from all these and whatsoever else the fruits and consequences of sin Christ is Redemption to his people also this seals up the sum of mercies this so compleats the happiness of the Saints that it leaves nothing to desire These four wisdome righteousness sanctification and redemption take up amongst them all that is necessary or desirable to make a soul truly and perfectly blessed Secondly we have here the method and way by which the Elect come to be invested with these excellent priviledges 2. the account whereof the Apostle gives us in these words Who of God is made unto us in which expression four things are remarkable First That Christ and his benefits go inseparably and undividedly together 't is Christ himself is made all this unto us we can have no saving benefit separate and apart from the person of Christ many would willingly receive his priviledges who will not receive his person but it cannot be if we will have one we must take the other too yea we must accept his person first and then his benefits as it is in the marriage Covenant so 't is here Secondly That Christ with his benefits must be personally and particularly applied to us before we can receive any actual saving priviledge by him he must be made unto us i. e. particularly applied to us as a sum of money becomes or is made the ransome and liberty of a Captive when it is not only promised but paid down in his name and legally applied for that use and end when Christ dyed the ransome was prepared the sum laid down but yet the elect continue still in sin and misery notwithstanding till by effectual calling it be actually applied to their persons and then they are made free Rom. 5. 10 11. reconciled by Christs death by whom we have now received the attonement Thirdly That this application of Christ is the work of God and not of man Of God he is made unto us the same hand that prepared it must also apply it or else we perish notwithstanding all that the father hath done in contriving and appointing and all that the son hath done in executing and accomplishing the
saved For he comes in the Fathers and in the Sons name and authority to put the last hand to our Salvation work by bringing all the fruits of election and redemption home to our souls in this work of effectual vocation hence the Apostle 1 Pet. 1. 2. noting the order of causes in their operations for the bringing about of our Salvation thus states it Elect according to the fore-knowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ here you find Gods election and Christs blood the two great causes of Salvation and yet neither of these alone nor both together can save us there must be added the Sanctification of the Spirit by which Gods decree is executed and the sprinkling i. e. the personal application of Christs blood as well as the shedding of it before we can have the saving benefit of either of the former causes Propos. 4. The application of Christ with his saving benefits is exactly of the same extent and latitude with the Fathers election and the Sons intention Propos. 4. in dying and cannot possibly be extended to one soul farther Whom he did predestinate them he also called Rom. 8. 30. And Acts 13. 48. as many as were ordained to eternal life believed 2 Tim. 1. 9. who hath saved and called us with an holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world The Father Son and Spirit betwixt whom was the council of peace work out their design in a perfect harmony and consent as there was no jarr in their council so there can be none in the execution of it those whom the Father before all time did chuse they and they only are the persons whom the Son when the fulness of time for the execution of that decree was come dyed for John 17. 6. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world thine they were and thou gavest them me and ver 19. for their sakes I sanctifie my self i. e. consecrate devote or set my self apart for a sacrifice for them And those for whom Christ died are the persons to whom the Spirit effectually applys the benefits and purchases of his blood 〈◊〉 comes in the name of the Father and Son but the world cannot receive him for it neither sees nor knows him Joh. 14. 17. they that are not of Christs sheep believe not Joh. 10. 26. Christ hath indeed a fulness of saving power but the dispensation thereof is limited by the Fathers will therefore he tells us Matth. 20. 23. it is not mine to give but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my father in which words he no way denies his authority to give glory as well as grace only shews that in the dispensation proper to him as mediator he was limited by his Fathers will and counsel And thus also are the dispensations of grace by the Spirit in like manner limited both by the counsel and will of the Father and Son For as he proceeds from them so he acts in the administration proper to him by commission from both Joh. 14. 26. The Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name and as he comes forth into the world by this joynt Commission so his dispensations are limited in his Commission for it 's said John 16. 13. he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak i. e. he shall in all things act according to his Commission which the Father and I have given him The Son can do nothing of himself but what he seeth the Father do Joh. 5. 19. And the Spirit can do nothing of himself but what he hears from the Father and Son and it 's impossible it should be otherwise considering not only the Unity of their Nature but also of their will and design So that you see the applications of Christ and benefits by the Spirit are commensurable with the Fathers secret counsel and the Sons design in dying which are the rule model and pattern of the Spirits working Propos. 5. The Application of Christ to Souls by the regenerating work of the Spirit is that which makes the first internal difference and distinction Propos. 5. among men It is very true that in respect of Gods fore-knowledge and purpose there was a distinction betwixt one man and another before any man had a being one was taken another left and with respect to the death of Christ there is a great difference betwixt one and another he laid down his life for the sheep he pray'd for them and not for the world but all this while as to any relative change of state or real change of temper they are upon a level with the rest of the miserable world The Elect themselves are by nature children of wrath even as others Eph. 2. 3. and to the same purpose the Apostle tells the Corinthians 1 Cor. 6. 11. when he had given in that black bill describing the most Iewd profligate abominable wretches in the world men whose practices did stink in the very nostrils of nature and were able to make the more sober Heathens blush after this he tells the Corinthians And such were some of you but ye are washed c. q. d. look these were your Companions once as they are you lately were The work of the Spirit doth not only evidence and manifest that difference which Gods Election hath made between man and man as the Apostle speaks 1 Thes. 1. 4 5. but it also makes a twofold difference it self namely in state and temper whereby they visibly differ not only from other men but also from themselves after this work though a man be the who yet not the what he was This work of the spirit makes us new creatures namely for quality and temper 2 Cor. 5. 17. If any man be in Christ he is a new creature old things are past away behold all things are become new Propos. 6. The Application of Christ by the work of regeneration is that which yields unto men all the sensible sweetness and refreshing comforts Propos. 6. that they have in Christ and in all that he hath done suffered or purchased for sinners An unsanctified person may relish the natural sweetness of the creature as well as he that is sanctified he may also seem to relish and tast some sweetness in the delicious promises and discoveries of the Gospel by a misapplication of them to himself but this is like the joy of a beggar dreaming he is a King but he awakes and finds himself a beggar still but for the rational solid and genuine delights and comforts of religion no man tasts it till this work of the Spirit have first past upon his soul it is an enclosed pleasure a stranger intermeddles not with it The white stone and the new
freely and everlastingly upon us as our portion No wonder Zacheus came down joyfully Luke 19. 6. That the Eunuch went home rejoicing Act. 8. 39. That the Jaylor rejoyced believing in God with all his houshold Act. 16. 34. That they that were converted did eat their meat with gladness praising God Act. 2. 41. 46. That there was great joy among them of Samaria when Christ came among them in the preaching of the Gospel Acts 8. 5. 8. I say it 's no wonder we read of such Joy accompanying Christ into the soul when we consider that in one day so many blessings meet together in it the least of which is not to be exchanged for all the Kingdoms of this world and the glory of them Eternity it self will but suffice to bless God for the mercies of this one day Infer 6. If Christ be made all this to every Soul unto whom he is effectually applyed what cause then have those souls that are under the Infer 6. preparatory work of the spirit and are come nigh to Christ and all his benefits to stretch out their hands with vehement desire to Christ and give him the most importunate invitation into their Souls The whole world is distinguishable into three classes or sorts of persons such as are far from Christ such as are not far from Christ and such as are in Christ they that are in Christ have heartily received him such as are far from Christ will not open to him their hearts are fast barred by ignorance prejudice and unbelief against him but those that arecome under the preparatory workings of the spirit nigh to Christ who see their own indispensable necessity of him and his suitableness to their necessities in whom also encouraging hopes begin to dawn and their souls are waiting at the foot of God for power to receive him for an heart to close sincerely and universally with him oh what vehement desires what strong pleas what moving arguments should such persons urge and plead to win Christ and get possession of him they are in sight of their only remedy Christ and Salvation are come to their very doors there wants but a few things to make them blessed for ever this is the day in which their souls are exercised greatly betwixt hopes and fears now they are much alone and deep in thoughtfulness they weep andmake supplication for an heart to believe and that against the great discouragements with which they encounter Reader if this be the case of thy soul it will not be the least piece of service I can do for thee to suggest such pleas as in this case are proper to be urged for the attainment of thy desires and the closing of the match betwixt Christ and thee First Plead the absolute necessity which now drives thee to Christ tell him thy hope is utterly perished in all other refuges thou art come like a starving beggar to the last door of hope tell him thou now beginnest to see the absolute necessity of Christ thy body hath not so much need of bread water or air as thy soul hath of Christ and that wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption that are in him Secondly Plead the Fathers gracious design in furnishing and sending him into the world and his own design in accepting the Fathers call Lord Jesus wast thou not anointed to preach good tydings to the meek to bind up the broken hearted to proclaim liberty to the Captives and the opening of the Isai. 16. 1 2. prison to them that are bound behold an Object suitable to thine Office whilest I was ignorant of my condition I had a proud rebellious heart but conviction and self-acquaintance have now meekned it my heart was harder than the nether milstone and it was as easie to dissolve the obdurate rocks into syrrup as to thaw and melt my heart for sin but now God hath made my heart soft I sensibly feel the misery of my condition I once thought my self at perfect liberty but now I see what I conceited to be perfect liberty is perfect bondage and never did a poor prisoner sigh for deliverance more than I. Since then thou hast given me a soul thus qualified though still unworthy for the exercise of thine office and execution of thy commission Lord Jesus be according to thy name a Jesus unto me Thirdly Plead the unlimited and general invitations made to such souls as you are to come to Christ freely Lord thou hast made open Proclamation Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters Isai. 55. 1. and Revel 22. 17. him that is athirst come in obedience to thy call Lo I come had I not been invited my coming to thee dear Lord Jesus had been an act of presumption but this makes it an act of duty and obedience Fourthly Plead the unprofitableness of thy blood to God Lord there is no profit in my blood it will turn to no more advantage to thee to destroy than it will to save me if thou send me to hell as the merit of my sin calls upon thy Justice to do I shall be there dishonouring thee to all eternity and the debt I owe thee never pay'd but if thou apply thy Christ to me for righteousness satisfaction for all that I have done will be laid down in one full round sum indeed if the honour of thy Justice lay as a bar to my pardon it would stop my mouth but when thy Justice as well as mercy shall both rejoyce together and be glorified and pleased in the same act what hinders but that Christ be apply'd to my soul since in so doing God can be no loser by it Fifthly Lastly Plead thy complyance with the terms of the Gospel tell him Lord my will complys fully and heartily to all thy gracious terms I can now subscribe a blank let God offer his Christ on what terms he will my heart is ready to comply I have no exception against any Article of the Gospel and now Lord I wholly refer my self to thy pleasure do with me what seemeth good in thine eyes only give me an interest in Jesus Christ as to all other concerns I lye at thy feet in full resignation of all to thy pleasure Never yet did any perish in that posture and frame and I hope I shall not be made the first instance and example Inference 7. Infer 7. Lastly If Christ with all his benefits be made ours by special application how contented thankful comfortable and hopeful should believers be in every condition which God casts them into in this world After such a mercy as this let them never open their mouths any more to repine and grudge at the outward inconveniencies of their condition in this world what are the things you want compared with the things you enjoy what is a little money health or liberty to wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption all the Crowns and Scepters in the world sold to their full value are no price for the
least of these mercies but I will not insist here your duty lyes much higher than contentment Be thankful as well as content in every state blessed be God saith the Apostle the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ O think what are men to Angels that Christ should pass by them to become a Saviour to men and what art thou among men that thou shouldst be taken and others left and among all the mercies of God what mercies are comparable to these confer'd upon thee O bless God in the lowest ebb of outward comforts for such priviledges as these And yet you will not come up to your Duty in all this except you be joyful in the Lord and rejoyce evermore after the receipt of such mercies as these Philip. 4. 4. Rejoyce in the Lord ye righteous and again I say rejoyce for hath not the poor Captive reason to rejoyce when he hath recovered his liberty the Debtor to rejoyce when all scores are cleared and he owes nothing the weary traveller to rejoyce though he be not owner of a shilling when he is come almost home where all his wants shall be supplied Why this is your case when Christ once becomes yours you are the Lords freemen your debts to Justice are all satisfied by Christ and you are within a little of compleat redemption from all the troubles and inconveniencies of your present state Thanks be to God for Jesus Christ. The Second SERMON Serm. 2. JOHN 17. 23. Wherein the believers Union with Christ is stated and opened as a principal part of Gospel Application I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one THE design and end of the Application of Christ to Sinners is the Communication of his benefits to them but seeing all Communications of benefits necessarily imply Communion and all Communion as necessarily presupposes Union with his person I shall therefore in this place and from this Scripture treat of the Mystical Union betwixt Christ and believers this Union being the principal act wherein the Spirits application of Christ consists of which I spake as to its general nature in the former Sermon In this Verse omitting the Contexture we find a threefold Union One betwixt the Father and Christ a second betwixt Christ and believers a third betwixt believers themselves First Thou in me this is a glorious ineffable Union and is fundamental to the other two the Father is not only in Christ in respect of dear affection as one friend is in another who is as his own soul nor only essentially in respect of the identity and sameness of nature and attributes in which respect Christ is the express Image of his person Heb. 1. 3. but he is in Christ also as Mediator by communicating the fulness of the godhead which dwells in him as God-man in a transcendant and singular manner so as it never dwelt nor can dwell in any other Col. 2. 9. Secondly I in them here is the Mystical Union betwixt Christ and the Saints q. d. thou and I are one essentially they and I are one mystically thou and I are one by the communication of the Godhead and singular fulness of the Spirit to me as Mediator and they and I are one by my communication of the Spirit to them in measure Thirdly From hence results a third Union betwixt believers themselves that they may be made perfect in one the same Spirit dwelling in them all and equally uniting them all to me as living members to their head of influence there must needs be a dear and intimate Union betwixt themselves as fellow members of the same body Now my business at this time lying in the second branch namely the Union betwixt Christ and believers I shall gather up the substance of it into this Doctrinal proposition to which I shall apply this discourse Doct. That there is a strict and dear Union betwixt Christ and all true believers The Scriptures have borrowed from the book of Nature four elegant and lively Metaphors to help the Nature of this Mystical Union with Christ into our understandings Namely that of two pieces of timber united by glew that of a graff taking hold of its stock and making one tree that of the husband and wife by the marriage Covenant becoming one flesh and that of the members and head animated by one soul and so becoming one Natural body Every one of these is more lively and full than the other and what is defective â—…in one is supplied in the other but yet neither any of these singly or all of them jointly can give us a full and compleat account of this Mystery Not that of two pieces united by glew 1 Cor. 6. 17. he that 1 Cor. 6. 17. is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 glewed to the Lord. For though this cementeth and strongly joyns them in one yet this is but a faint and imperfect shadow of our Union with Christ for though this Union by glew be intimate yet it is not vital but so is that of the soul with Christ. Nor that of the graff and stock mentioned Rom. 6. 5. for Rom. 6. 5. thought it be there said that believers are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implanted or ingraffed by way of incision and this Union betwixt it and the stock be vital for it partakes of the vital sap and juice of it yet here also is a remarkable defect for the graff is of a more excellent kind and nature than the stock and upon that account the tree receives its denomination from it as from the more noble and excellent part but Christ into whom believers are ingraffed is infinitely more excellent than they and they are denominated from him Nor yet that Conjugal Union by marriage Covenant betwixt Eph. 6. 32. a man and his wife for though this be exceeding dear and intimate so that a man leaves father and mother and cleaves to his wife and they two become one flesh yet this Union is not indissolvable but may and must be broken by death and then the relict lives alone without any Communion with or relation to the person that was once so dear but this betwixt Christ and the soul can never be dissolved by death it abides to eternity Nor Lastly That of the head and members united by one Eph. 4. 15 16. vital Spirit and so making one Physical body mentioned Eph. 4. 15 16. for though one soul actuates every member yet it doth not knit every member alike near to the head but some are nearer and others removed farther from it but here every member is alike nearly united with Christ the head the weak are as near to him as the strong Two things are necessary to be opened in the doctrinal part of this point 1. The reality of this Union 2. The quality First For the reality of it I shall make
it appear that there is such a Union betwixt Christ and believers it is no Ens rationis 1. empty notion or cunningly devised fable but a most certain demonstrable truth which appears First From the Communion which is betwixt Christ and believers in this the Apostle is express 1 Joh. 1. 3. truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his son Jesus Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It signifies such fellowship or Copartnership as persons have by a joynt interest in one and the same enjoyment which is in common betwixt them So Heb. 3. 14. we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ipse venit in sortem nostrae mortalitatis ut in fortem nos adduceret suae immortalitatis clarum autem est hic agi de consortibus unctionis quales sunt omnes fideles qui unctionis participes fiunt Rivet partakers of Christ and Psal. 45. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here the Saints are called the companions consorts or fellows of Christ and that not only in respect of his assumption of our mortality and investing us with his immortality but it hath a special reference and respect to the Unction of the Holy Ghost or graces of the Spirit of which believers are partakers with him and through him Now this Communion of the Saints with Christ is entirely and necessarily dependant upon their Union with him even as much as the branches participation of the sap and juice depends upon its Union and coalition with the stock take away Union and there can be no communion or communications which is clear from 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. All is yours and ye are Christs and Christ is Gods where you see how all our participation of Christs benefits is built upon our Union with Christs person Secondly The reality of the believers Union with Christ is evident from the Imputation of Christs righteousness to him for his Justification That a believer is justified before God by a righteousness without himself is undeniable from Rom. 3. 24. being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus and that Christs righteousness becomes ours by Imputation is as clear from Rom. 4. 23 24. but it can never be imputed to us except we be united to him and become one with him which is also plainly asserted in 1 Con. 1. 30. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdome and righteousness sanctification and redemption he communicates his merits unto none but those that are in him hence all those vain cavils of the Papists disputing against our Justification by the righteousness of Christ and asserting it to be by inherent righteousness are solidly answered When they demand how can we be justified by the righteousness of another can I be rich with another mans money or preferr'd by anothers honours Our answer is Yes if that other be my surety or husband indeed Peter cannot be justified by the righteousness of Paul but both may be justified by the righteousness of Christ imputed to them they being members joyntly knit to one common head principal and surety are one in obligation and construction of Law head and members are one body branch and stock are one tree and it 's no strange thing to see a graff live by the sap of another stock when once it is ingraffed into it Thirdly The Sympathy that is betwixt Christ and believers proves a Union betwixt them Christ and the Saints smile and sigh together St. Paul in Colos. 1. 2 4. tells us that he did fill up that which is behind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the remainders of the sufferings of Christ in his Flesh not as if Christs sufferings were imperfect for by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 10. 14. but in these two Scriptures Christ is consider'd in a twofold capacity he suffered once in Corpore proprio in his own person as mediator these sufferings are compleat and full and in that sense he suffers no more he suffers also in Corpore mâ—…tico in his Church and members thus he still suffers in the sufferings of every Saint for his sake and though these sufferings in his Mystical body are not equal to the other either pondere mensura in their weight and value nor yet designed ex officio for the same use and purpose to satisfie by their proper merit offended Justice nevertheless they are truly reckoned the sufferings of Christ because the head suffers when the members do and without this supposition that place Acts 9. 5. is never to be understood when Christ the head in Heaven crys out Saul Saul why persecutest thou me when the toe was trod upon on earth how doth Christ sensibly feel our sufferings or we his if there be not a Mystical Union betwixt him and us Fourthly and Lastly The way and manner in which the Saints shall be raised at the last day proves this Mystical Union betwixt Christ and them for they are not to be raised as others by the naked power of God without them but by the vertue of Christs resurrection as their head sending forth vital quickening influences into their dead bodies which are united to him as well as their souls For so we find it Rom. 8. 11. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you even as it is in our awakening out of natural sleep first the animal spirits in the head begin to rouze and play there and then the senses and members are loosed throughout the whole body Now it 's impossible the Saints should be raised in the last resurrection by the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them if that Spirit did not knit and unite them to him as members to their head So then by all this it is proved that there is a real Union of the Saints with Christ. Next I shall endeavour to open the quality and nature of this Union and shew you what it is according to the weak 2. apprehensions we have of so sublime a Mystery and this I shall do in a General account of it and Particular First More generally it is an intimate conjunction of believers to Christ by the imparting of his Spirit to them whereby 1. they are enabled to believe and live in him All divine Spiritual life is originally in the Father and cometh not to us but by and through the son Joh. 5. 26. to him hath the Father given to have an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a quickening enlivening power in himself but the Son communicates this life which is in him to none but by and through the Spirit Rom. 8. 2. the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and death The Spirit must therefore first take hold of us before we can live in Christ and
of glory Col. 1. 27. So then destroy this Union and with it you destroy all our fruits priviledges and eternal hopes at one stroke Fifthly The Mystical Union is a most Efficacious Union for through this Union the divine power flows into our 5. souls both to quicken us with the life of Christ and to conserve and secure that life in us after it is so infused Without the Unition of the soul to Christ which is to be conceived efficiently as the Spirits act there can be no Union formally considered and without these no communications of life from Christ to us Eph. 4. 16. And when there is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or effectual working of the spirit of life in every part which he there speaks of as who should say the first bublings up of the new life a spiritual vitality diffused through the soul which ere while was dead in sin yet still this Union with Christ is as necessary to the maintaining as before it was to the producing of it For why is it that this life is not again extinguished and wholly suffocated in us by so many deadly wounds as are given it by temptations and corruptions surely no reason can be assigned more satisfying than that which Christ himself gives us in John 14. 19. because I live ye shall live also q. d. whilst there is vital sap in me the root you that are branches in me cannot wither and dye Sixthly The Mystical Union is an indissoluble Union there is an everlasting tye betwixt Christ and the believer and herein also it is beyond all other Unions in the world death dissolves the dear Union betwixt the husband and wife friend and friend yea betwixt soul and body but not betwixt Christ and the soul the bands of this Union rot not in the grave what shall separate us from the love of Christ saith the Apostle Rom. 8. 35 38 39. he bids defiance to all enemies and triumphs in the firmness of this Union over all hazards that seem to threaten it It is with Christ and us in respect of the Mystical Union as it was with Christ himself in respect of the hypostatical Union that was not dissolved by his death when the Natural Union betwixt his soul and body was nor can this mystical Union of our souls and bodies with Christ be dissolved when the Unions betwixt us and our dearest relations yea betwixt the soul and body are dissolved by death God calls himself the God of Abraham long after his body was turned into dust Seventhly It is an honourable Union * Apex capâ—…t vertex â—…obilitatis est Christus sine quo nibil est iâ—… toto hoâ—… sublunari orbe terraruâ—… nobile cujus solium est coelum cujus scabelluâ—… est terra terra â—…nquam in qua hâ—…rum omnis cognatio nobilitas sita-est collocata divinis illius pedibus substernitur Laurent Humâ—…redus de noâ—…ilitate lib. 2. p. 176. yea the highest honour 7. that can be done unto men the greatest honour that was ever done to our common nature was by its assumption into Unity with the second person hypostatically and the highest honour that was ever done to our single persons was their Union with Christ mystically To be a servant of Christ is a dignity transcendent to the highest advancement among men but to be a member of Christ how matchless and singular is the glory thereof and yet such honour have all the Saints Eph. 5. 30. we are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones Eighthly It is a most Comfortable Union yea the ground 8. of all solid comfort both in life and death whatever troubles wants or distresses befal such in this is abundant relief and support Christ is mine and I am his what may not a soul make out of that If I am Christs then let him take care for me and indeed in so doing he doth but care for his own he is my head and to him it belongs to consult the safety and welfare of his own members Eph. 1. 22 23. he is not only an head to his own by way of Influence but to all things else by way of dominion for their good how comfortably may we repose our selves under that cheering consideration upon him at all times and in all difficult cases Ninthly It is a fruitful Union the immediate end of it is 9. fruit Rom. 7. 4. we are married to Christ that we should bring forth fruit to God all the fruit we bear before our ingrafture into Christ is worse than none till the person be in Christ the work cannot be Evangelically good and acceptable to God we are made accepted in the beloved Eph. 1. 6. Christ is a fruitful root and makes all the branches that live in him so too Joh. 15. 8. Tenthly and Lastly It is an enriching Union for by our 10. Union with his person we are immediately interessed in all his riches 1 Cor. 1. 30. how rich and great a person do the little arms of Faith clasp and embrace All is yours 1 Cor. 3. 22. all that Christ hath becomes ours either by communication to us or improvement for us his Father Joh. 20. 17. his promises 2 Cor. 1. 20. his providences Rom. 8. 28. his glory Joh. 17. 24. it's all ours by vertue of our Union with him Thus you see briefly what the Mystical Union is Next we shall improve it Inference 1. If there be such a Union betwixt Christ and believers oh then what transcendent dignity hath God put upon believers Infer 1. Si vis vir virtutis appellari indue te Christum qui est Dei virtus sapientia in omnibus adjungâ—… te domino ita ut 〈◊〉 câ—…â—…o spiritus fias tunc vir virtutis essicieris Orig. Hom. in Numb 31. Well might Constantine perfer the honour of being a member of the Church before that of being head of the Empire for it is not only above all earthly dignities and honours but in some respect above that honour which God hath put upon the Angels of glory Great is the dignity of the Angelical nature they are the highest and most honourable species of creatures they also have the honour continually to behold the face of God in Heaven and yet in this one respect the Saints are preferr'd to them they have a Mystical Union with Christ as their head of influence by whom they are quickned with spiritual life which the Angels have not It is true there is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or gathering together of all in heaven and earth under Christ as a common head Eph. 1. 10. he is the head of Angels as well as Saints but in different respects to Angels he is an head of dominion and government but to Saints he is both an head of dominion and vital influence too they are his chief and most honourable subjects but not his Mystical members they are as the Barons and
of the power is of God and not of us as it follows in the next words To the same purpose speaks the same Apostle 1 Cor. 3. 7. So then neither is he that planteth any thing neither he that watereth but God that giveth the increase Not any thing what can be more diminutively spoken of the Gospel preachers but we must not understand these words in a simple and absolute but in a comparative and relative sence not as if they were not necessary and useful in their place but that how necessary soever they be and what excellent gifts soever God hath furnished them with yet it is neither in their power nor choice to make the word they preach effectual to men if it were then the damnation of all that hear us must needs lye at our door then also many thousands would have been reconciled to God which are yet in the state of enmity but the effect of the Gospel is not in our power Thirdly But whatever efficacy it hath to reconcile men to God it derives from the spirit of God whose Cooperation 3. and blessing which is arbitrarily dispensed gives it all the fruit it hath Ministers saith one * Mr. Anthony Burges are like Trumpets which make no sound if breath be not breathed into them Or like Ezekiels wheels which move not unless the spirit move them or like Elisha's servant whose presence doth no good except Elisha's spirit be there also for want of the spirit of God how many thousands of souls do find the Ministry to be nothing to them If it be something to the purpose to any soul it is the Lord that makes it so This spirit is not limited by mens gifts or parts he concurrs not only with their labours who have excellent gifts but ostentimes blesses mean despicable gifts with far greater success beautiful Rachel is barren and blear-ey'd Leah bears children Ex duobus aetate jam grandibus impiis cur iste ita vocetuâ—… ut vocantem sequatur ille autem non nolito judicare si non vis errare inscrutabilia sunt judica dei cujus vult misâ—…retur Aug. de bono persec Cap. 8. Suppose saith Austin there be two Conduits in a Town one very plain and homely the other built of polished marble and adorned with excellent Images as Eagles Lions Angels the water refreshes as it is water and not as it comes from such or such a Conduit 'T is the spirit that gives the word all that vertue it hath he is the Lord of all saving influences he hath dominion over the word over our souls over the times and seasons of conversion and if any poor Creature attend the Ministry without benefit if he go away as he came without fruit surely we may say in this case as Martha said to Christ in reference to her brother Lazarus Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not dy'd so Lord if thou hadst been in this prayer in this Sermon this poor soul had not gone dead and carnal from under it And now what remains but that we apply this truth in those uses that it gives us First Use of Information Infer 1. Is the Preaching of the Gospel by Christs Ambassadors the way which God takes to reconcile sinners to himself Then how inexcusable are all those that continue in their state of enmity though the Ambassadors of peace have been with them all their lives long wooing and beseeching them to be reconciled to God O invincible obstinate incurable disease which is aggravated by the only proper remedy hath God been wooing and beseeching you by his Ambassadours so many years to be reconciled to him and will you not yield to any intreaties must he be made to speak in vain to charm the deaf Adder well when the milder Attributre hath done with you the seveer Attribute will take you in hand The Lord hath kept an account of every year and day of his patience towards you Luke 13. 7. These three years I came seeking fruit on this Fig-tree and finde none and Jer. 25. 3. These three and twenty years have I spoken unto you rising early and speaking but ye have not hearkened Well be you assured that God hath both the glass of your time and the vials of his wrath by him and so much of his abused patience as runs out of one so much of his incensed wrath runs into the other there is a time when this Treaty of peace will end when the Master of the house will rise up and the doors be shut Luke 13. 25. Then will you be left without hope and without Apology We read indeed of some poor and ineffectual pleas that will be made by some at the last day so Matth. 7. 22. We have Prophesied in thy name c. These pleas will not avail but as for you what will you plead possibly many thousand Ideots or poor weak-headed persons may perish many young ones that had little or no time in the world to acquaint themselves with matters of religion or understand the way of salvation many Millions of heathens that never heard the name of Christ nor came within the sound of Salvation who will yet perish and that justly Now whatsoever Apologies any of these will make for themselves in the last day to be sure you can make none God hath given you a Capacity and competent understanding many of you are wise and subtil in all your other concernments and only shew your folly in the great concernments of your Salvation you cannot plead want of time some of you are grown gray-headed under the Gospel you cannot plead want of means and opportunities the Ordinances and Ministers of Christ have been with you all your life long to this day sure if you be Christless now you must also be speechless then Infer 2. Hence it also follows That the world owes better entertainment Infer 2. than it gives to the Ministers of Christ. Christs Ambassadors deserve a better welcome than they find among men Your respects to them is founded upon their office and imployment for you Heb. 13. 17. and 1 Thes. 5. 12. They watch for your souls dare any of you watch for their ruine They bring glad tydings shall they return with sad tydings to him that sent them They publish peace shall they be rewarded with trouble O ungrateful world We read in Eph. 6. 20. of an Ambassador in bonds and he no ordinary one neither we read also a strange Challenge made by another at his own death Acts 7. 52. Which of all the prophets have not your fathers persecuted And they have slain them which shewed before the coming of the Just one Some that break the bread of life to you might want bread to eat for any regard you have to them The office of the Ministry speaks the abundant love of God to you your Contempt and abuse of it speaks the abundant stupidity or malignity of your hearts towards God what a
is one of the Articles or Conditions of our peace with God Isai. 55. 7. Let the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him turn to the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God and he will abundantly pardon But it 's manifest in many of us that we are no enemies to sin we secretly indulge it what bad names soever we call it by we will commit ten sins to cover one we cannot endure the most serious faithful seasonable private tender and necessary reproofs of Sin but our hearts swell and rise at it sure we are not reconciled to God whilest we embrace sin his enemy in our bofoms 5. Evidence We love not the Children of God nor are reconciled to them that bear his Image and how then can we be reconciled 5. Evid to God 1 Joh. 5. 1. He that loveth him that begat loveth them also that are begotten what at peace with the father and at War with the children It cannot be do not some that hope they have made their peace with God hate revile and persecute the Children of God Surely in that day we are reconciled to the Lord we are reconciled to all his people we shall then love a Christian as a Christan and by this we know we are passed from death to life 6. Evidence Lastly How can any man think himself to be reconciled to God who never closed heartily with Jesus Christ by 6. Evid faith who is the only dayes-man and peace-maker the alone mediator of reconciliation betwixt God and man This is a sure truth that all whom God accepts into favour are made accepted in the beloved Eph. 1. 6. If any man will make peace with God he must take hold of his strength accept and close with Christ who is the power of God or he can never make peace Isai. 27. He must be made nigh by the blood of Christ Eph. 2. 13. But alas both Christ and faith are strangers to many souls who yet perswade themselves to be at peace with God O fatal mistake 3. Use of Exhortation Lastly This point deserves a close vigorous application 3. Use. in a threefold exhortation First To Christs Ambassadors who treat with Souls in order to their reconciliation with God Secondly To those that are yet in their enmity and unreconciled state Thirdly to those that have embraced the terms of peace and submitted to the Gospel overtures First To the Ambassadors of reconciliation God hath put a 1. great deal of honour upon you in this high and noble imployment great is the dignity of your office to some you are the savour of death unto death and to others the savour of life unto life and who is sufficient for these things 2 Cor. 2. 16. But yet the Duty is no less than the dignity O what manner of men should we be for judgement seriousness affections patience and exemplary holiness to whom the management of so great a Concern betwixt God and man is committed First for Judgment and prudence how necessary is it in so weighty and difficult a business as this He had need be a man of wisdom that is to inform the ignorant of the nature and necessity of this great work and win over their hearts to consent to the Articles of peace propounded in the Gospel that hath so many subtil temptations to answer and so many intricate cases of conscience to resolve There are many strong holds of Satan to be battered and many stout and obstinate resistances made by the hearts of sinners which must be overcome and he had need be no Novice in religion to whom so difficult a province is committed Secondly Let us be Serious in our work as well as judicious Remember O ye Ambassadors of Christ you bring a message from the God of heaven of everlasting consequence to the souls of men The eternal decrees are executed upon them in your Ministry to some you are the savour of life unto life and to some the savour of death unto death 2 Cor. 2. 16. Heaven and hell are matters of most awful and solemn Consideration O what an account have we also shortly to give unto him that sent us These are matters of such deep Concernment as should swallow up our very spirits the least they can do is to compose our hearts unto seriousness in the management of them Thirdly Be filled with tender affections toward the souls Vide Bowles pastor Evang. p. 136. of men with whom you treat for reconciliation you had need be men of bowels as well as men of brains you see a multitude of poor souls upon the brink of eternal misery and they know it not but promise themselves peace and fill themselves with vain hopes of heaven and is there a more moving melting spectacle in the world than this O think with what bowels of Commiseration Moses and Paul were filled when the one desired rather to be blotted out of Gods Book and the other to be accursed from Christ than that Israel should not be saved Exod. 32. 33. and Rom. 9. 3. Think how the Bowels of Christ yearned over Jerusalem Matth. 23. 37. and over the multitude Matth. 9. 36. Let the same mind be in you which also was in Christ Jesus Fourthly Be patient and long-suffering towards sinners such is the value of one soul that it 's worth waiting all our days to save it at last the servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men apt to teach patient in meekness instructing them that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them repentance 2 Tim. 2. 24 25. The Lord waits with patience upon sinners and well may you Consider your selves how long was God treating with you ere you were won to him Be not discouraged if success presently answer not expectation Fifthly and Lastly be sure to back your Exhortations with drawing examples else you may preach out your last breath before you gain one soul to God The Devil and the Carnal hearts of your hearers will put hinderances enough in the way of your labours don't you put the greatest of all your selves O study not only to preach exactly but to live exactly let the misplacing of one action in your lives trouble you more than the misplacing of words in your discourses this is the way to succeed in your Embassy and give up your account with joy Secondly The exhortation speaks to all those that are 2. yet in a state of enmity and unreconciled to God unto this day O that may words might prevail and that you would now be intreated to be reconciled to God! The Ambassadors of peace are yet with you the treaty is not yet ended the Master of the house is not yet risen up nor the door of mercy and hope finally shut hitherto God hath waited to be gracious O that the long-suffering of God might be your salvation a day is hasting when God will treat
there are so many almost Christians in the world hence are all those vanishing imperfect works which come to nothing call'd in Scripture a morning cloud an early dew had this mighty power gone forth with the word they had never vanished or perished like Embryos as they do So then God draws not only in a moral way by proposing a suitable object to the will but also in a physical way or by immediate powerful influence upon the will not infringing the Liberty of it but yet infallibly and effectually perswading it to come to Christ. Secondly Next let us consider the marvellous way and 2. manner in which the Lord draws the souls of poor sinners to Jesus Christ and you will find he doth it 1. Gradually 2. Congruously 3. Powerfully 4. Effectually and 5. Finally First This blessed work is carried on by the Spirit gradually bringing the soul step by step in the due method and order of the Gospel to Christ illumination conviction compunction prepare the way to Christ and then faith unites the soul to him without humiliation there can be no faith Mat. 21. 32. ye repented not that ye might believe 't is the burdensome sense of sin that brings the soul to Christ for rest Mat. 11. 28. come unto me ye that are weary and heavy laden but without Conviction there can be no Compunction no humiliation he that is not convinced of his sin and misery never bewails it nor mourns for it never was there one tear of true repentance seen to drop from the eye of an unconvinced sinner And without illumination there can be no Conviction for what is Conviction but the application of the light which is in the understanding or mind of a man to his heart and Conscience Acts 2. 37. In this order therefore the Spirit ordinarily draws souls to Christ he shines into their minds by illumination applys that light to their Consciences by effectual Conviction breaks and wounds their hearts for sin in Compunction and then moves the will to embrace and close with Christ in the way of Faith for life and salvation These several steps are more distinctly discerned in some Christians than in others they are more clearly to be seen in the Adult Convert than those that were drawn to Christ in their youth in such as were drawn to him out of a state of prophaneness than those that had the advantage of a pious education but in this order the work is carried on ordinarily in all however it differ in point of clearness in the one and in the other Secondly He draws sinners to Christ Congruously and very agreeably to the nature and way of man So he speaks Hosea 11. 4. I drew them with the cords of a man with bands Fuâ—…ibus hominum i. e. humanis nâ—… quibus trahi ac deduci solent boves of love not as beasts are drawn but as men are inclined and wrought to complyance by rational Conviction of their Judgements and powerful perswasion of their wills the minds of sinners are naturally blinded by ignorance 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. and their affections bewitched to their Lusts Gal. 3. 4. and whilst it is thus no arguments of intreaties can possibly prevail to bring them off from the ways of sin to Christ. The way therefore which the Lord takes to win and draw them to Christ is by rectifying their false apprehensions and shewing them infinitely more good in Christ than in the Creature and in their Lusts yea by satisfying their understandings that there is goodness enough in Jesus Christ to whom he is drawing them First To outbid all temporal good which is to be denied for his sake Secondly To preponderate all temporal evils which are to be suffered for his sake First That there is more good in Christ than in all temporal good things which we are to deny or forsake upon his account this being once clearly and convincingly discovered to the understanding the will is thereby prepared to quit all that which entangles and with holds it from coming to Christ there is no man that loves money so much but he will willingly part with it for that which is more worth to him than the sum he parts with to purchase it Matth. 13. 45 46. The Kingdome of heaven is like to a Merchant man seeking goodly Pearls who when he hath found one Pearl of great price goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth it Such an invaluable Pearl is Jesus Christ infinitely more worth than all that a poor sinner hath to part with for him and is a more real good than the creature These are but vain shadows Prov. 23. 5. Christ is a solid substantial good yea he is and by Conviction appears to be a more suitable good than the creature the world cannot justifie and save but Christ can Christ is a more necessary good than the creature this is for our temporal Conveniency but he of eternal necessity He is a more Durable good than any creature comfort is or can be the fashion of this world passeth away 1 Cor. 7. 31. but durable riches and righteousness are in him Prov. 8. 17. Thus Christ appears in the day of conviction infinitely more excellent than the world he out-bids all the offers that the world can make and this gives the main stroke to this work of drawing a Soul to Jesus Christ. Secondly And then to remove every block out of the way to Christ God discovers to the Soul enough in him to preponderate and much more than recompence all the evils and sufferings it can endure for his sake 'T is true they that close with Christ close with his cross also they must expect to save no more but their souls by him he tells us what we must trust to Luke 14. 26 27. If any man come to me and hate not his Father and Mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters yea and his own life also he cannot be my disciple and whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple To read such a Text as this with such a Comment upon it as Satan and our own flesh can make is enough to scare a man from Christ for ever nor is it possible by all the arguments in the world to draw any soul to Christ upon such terms as these till the Lord convince it that there is enough and much more than enough in Jesus Christ to recompence all these sufferings and losses we endure for him But when the soul is satisfied that these sufferings are but external upon the vile body but the benefit that comes by Christ is internal in a mans-own soul These afflictions are but temporal Rom. 8. 18. but Christ and his benefits are eternal this must need prevail with the will to come over to Christ notwithstanding all the evils of suffering that accompany him when the reality of all this is discovered by the Lord and the power of God goes along with
Inference 2. What enemies are they to God and the souls of men that do all they can to discourage and hinder the Conversion of men to Christ Infer 2. God draws forward and these do all that in them lyes to draw backward i. e. to prejudice and discourage them from coming to Jesus Christ in the way of faith this is a direct opposition to God and a plain Confederacy with the Devil O how many have been thus discouraged in their way to Christ by their carnal relations I cannot say friends their greatest enemies have been the men of their own house these have pleaded as if the Devil had hired and fee'd them against the everlasting welfare of their own flesh O cruel parents brethren and sisters that jeer frown and threaten where they should encourage assist and rejoyce such parents are the Devils children Satan chuses such instruments as you are above all others for this work he knows that influence and authority you have upon them and over them and what fear love and dependance they have for you and upon you so that none in all the world are like to manage the design of their damnation so effectually as you are like to do it Will you neither come to Christ your selves nor suffer your dear relations that would had you rather find them in the Ale-house than in the Closet did you instrumentally give them their being and will you now be the instruments of ruining for ever those beings they had from you did you so earnestly desire children so tenderly nurse and provide for them take such delight in them and after all this do what in you lies to damn and destroy them if these lines shall fall into any such hands O that God would set home the conviction and sense of this horrid evil upon their hearts And no less guilty of this sin are scandalous and Ioose professors who serve to furnish the Devil with the greatest arguments he hath to dissuade men from coming to Christ 't is your looseness and hypocrisie by which he hopes to scare others from Christ. It 's said Cant. 2. 7. I charge you by the Roes and Hinds of the field that ye stir not up nor awake my beloved till he please Roes and Hinds like young Converts and comers towards Christ are shy and timerous Creatures that start at the least sound or yelp of a dog and flye away take heed what you do in this case lest you go down to hell under the guilt of damning more souls than your own Infer 3. Learn hence the true ground and reason of those strange amazing and supernatural effects that you behold and so admire in the Infer 3. world as often as you see sinners for saking their pleasant profitable corruptions and companions and embracing the ways of Christ godliness and mortification It is said 1 Pet. 4. 4. they think it strange that you run not with them into the same excess of riot the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they stand at a gaze as the hen that hath hatcht Patridge eggs doth when she sees them take the wing and flye away from her Beloved it is the worlds wonder to see their Companions in sin forsake them those that were once as prophane and vain as themselves it may be more to forsake their society retire into their Closets mourn for sin spend their time in meditation and prayer embrace the severest duties and content to run the greatest hazards in the world for Christ but they see not that almighty power that draws them which is too strong for all the sinful tyes and engagements in the world to with-hold and detain them A man would have wonder'd to see Elisha leave the Oxen and run after Elijah saying Let me go I pray thee and kiss my Father and my Mother and then I will follow thee when Elijah had said nothing to persuade him to follow him only as he past by him he cast his mantle on him 1 Kings 10. 19 20. Surely that soul whom God draws must needs leave all and follow Christ for the power of God resteth on it all carnal tyes and engagements to sin break and give way when the Father draws the soul to Christ in the day of his power Inference 4. Is this the first spring of spiritual motion after Christ learn then from hence how it comes to pass that so many excellent Sermons and Infer 4. powerful persuasions are ineffectual and cannot draw or win one soul to Christ. Surely it is because ministers draw alone and the special saving power of God goes not forth at all times alike with their endeavours Paul was a chosen Vessel fill'd with a greater measure of gifts and graces by the Spirit than any that went before him or followed after him and as his talents so his diligence in improving them was beyond any recorded example we read of amongst men he rather * flew like a Seraphim than travelled upon his masters errand about the world Apollo was an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost. eloquent preacher and mighty in the Scriptures yet Paul is nothing and Apollo nothing but God that gives the increase 1 Cor. 3. 7. We are too apt to admire men yea and the best men are but too apt to go forth in the strength of their own parts and preparations but God secures his own glory and magnifies his own power frequently in giving success to weaker endeavours and men of lower abilities when he withholds it from men of more raised refined and excellent gifts and abilities It is our great honour who are the ministers of the Gospel that we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 workers together with God 1 Cor. 3. 9. in his strength we can prevail the weapons of our warfare are mighty through God 2 Cor. 10. 4. but if his presence blessing and assistance be not with us we are nothing we can do nothing If we prepare diligently pray heartily preach zealously and our hearers go as they came without any spiritual effects and fruits of our labours what shall we say but as Martha said to Christ Lord if thou hadst been here my Brother had not dyed had the Spirit of God gone forth with his especial efficacy and blessing with this prayer or that Sermon these souls had not departed dead and senseless from under it Infer 5. Doth all success and efficacy depend upon the Fathers drawings Infer 5. Let none then despair of their unregenerate and carnal relations over whose obstinacy they do and have cause to mourn What if they have layen as many years under the preaching of the Gospel as that poor man did at the pool of Bethesda and hitherto to no purpose a time may come at last as it did for him when the Spirit of God may move upon the waters I mean put a quickening and converting power into the means and then the desire of your souls for them shall be fulfill'd It may be you have
poured out many prayers and tears to the Lord for them you have cryed for them as Abraham for his Son O that Ishmael might live before thee O that this poor husband wise child brother or sister might live in thy sight and still you see they contain at one rate carnal dead and senseless well but yet give not up your hopes nor cease your pious endeavours the time may come when the Father may draw as well as you and then you shall see them quit all and come to Christ and nothing shall hinder them They are now drawn away of their own lusts they are easily drawn away by their sinful Companions but when God draws none of these shall withdraw them from the Lord Jesus What is their ignorance obstinacy and hardness of heart before that mighty power that subdues all things to it self Go therefore to the Lord by prayer for them and say Lord I have laboured for my poor relations in vain I have spent my exhortations to little purpose the work is too difficult for me I can carry it no farther but thou canst O let thy power go forth they shall be willing in the day of thy power Infer 6. If none can come to Christ except the Father draw them then surely none can be drawn from Christ except the Father leave Infer 6. them that power which at first drew them to Christ can secure and establish them in Christ to the end Joh. 10. 29. my Father which gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my Fathers hand When the power of God at first draws us out of our natural state to Christ it sinds us not only impotent but obstinate not only unable but unwilling to come and yet this power of God prevails against all opposition how much more is it able to preserve and secure us when his fear is put into our inward parts so that we dare â—…t depart we have no will to depart from him Well then if the world say I will ensnare thee if the Devil say I will destroy thee if the flesh say I will betray thee yet thou art secure and safe as long as God hath said I will never leave thee nor for sake thee Heb. 13. 5. Infer 7. Let this engage you to a constant attendance upon the ordinances Infer 7. of God in which this drawing power of God is sometimes put forth upon the hearts of men Beloved there are certain seasons in which the Lord comes nigh to men in the Ordinances and Duties of his worship and we know not at what time the Lord cometh forth by his Spirit upon this design he many times comes in an hour when we look not for him when we think not of him I am found of them that sought me not Isa. 65. 1. it's good therefore to be found in the way of the Spirit had that poor man that lay so long at the pool of Bethesda reasoned thus with himself so long have I lain here in vain expecting a cure it 's to no purpose to wait longer and so had been absent at that very time when the Angel came down he had in all likelihood carryed his disease to the grave with him How dost thou know but this very Sabbath this Sermon this prayer which thou hast no heart to attend and art tempted to neglect may be the season and instrument wherein the Lord may do that for thy soul which was never yet done upon it Infer 8. To conclude how are all the Saints engaged to put forth all the Infer 8. power and ability they have for God who hath put forth his infinite almighty power to draw them to Christ God hath done great things for your souls he hath drawn you out of the miserable state of sin and wrath and that when he let others go by nature as good as you he hath drawn you into Union with Christ and Communion with his glorious priviledges O that you would henceforth imploy all the power you have for God in duties of obedience and in drawing others to Christ as much as in you lies and say continually with the Church Draw me we will run after thee Cant. 1. 4. Thanks be to God for Jesus Christ. The Fifth SERMON Serm. 5. EPHES. 2. 1. And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses Opening that work of the Spirit more particularly by which the soul is enabled to apply Christ. and sins IN the former Sermons we have seen our Union with Christ in the general nature of it and the means by which it is effected both external by the preaching of the Gospel and internal by the drawings of the Father We are now to bring our thoughts yet closer to this great mystery and consider the bonds or ligaments by which Christ and believers are knit together in a blessed oneness And if we heedfully observe the Scripture expressions and ponder the nature of this Union we shall find there are two bands which knit Christ and the soul together viz. 1. The Spirit on Christs part 2. Faith on our part The Spirit on Christs part quickening us with spiritual life whereby Christ first takes hold of us and faith on our part when thus quickened whereby we take hold of Christ accordingly this Union with the Lord Jesus is expressed in Scripture sometimes by one and sometimes by the other of these means or bonds by which it is effected Christ is sometimes said to be in us so Col. 1. 27. Christ in you the hope of glory and Rom. 8. 10. And if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin and other times it is expressed by the other bond on our part as 1 Joh. 5. 20. we are in him that is true even in his son Christ Jesus and 2 Cor. 5. 17. if â—…ny man be in Christ he is a new creature The difference betwixt both these is thus aptly expressed by a late Author Christ is in believers by his Spirit 1 Joh. 4. 13. the believer is in Christ by faith Joh. 1. 12. Christ Mount Pisgaâ—… p. 22 23. is in the believer by inhabitation Rom. 3. 17. the believer is in Christ by implantation Rom. 6. 35. Christ is in the believer as the head is in the body Col. 1. 18. as the root in the branches Joh. 15. 5. believers are in Christ as the members are in the head Eph. 1. 23. or as the branches are in the root Joh. 15. 1 7. Christ in the believer implyeth life and influence from Christ Col. 3. 4. the believer in Christ implyeth Communion and fellowship with Christ 1 Cor. 1. 30. when Christ is said to be in the believer we are to understand it in reference to Sanctification when the believer is said to be in Christ it is in order to Justification Thus we apprehend being our selves first apprehended by Jesus Christ Phil. 3. 12. we cannot take hold of Christ till first he take
hold of us no vital act of faith can be exercised till a vital principle be first inspired of both these bonds of Union we must speak distinctly and first of the first Christ quickening us by his Spirit in order to our Union with him of which we have an account in the Scripture before us You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins in which words we find these two things noted Viz. 1. The infusion of a vital principle of grace 2. The total indisposedness of the subject by nature First The infusion of a vital principle of grace you hath he quickened These words hath he quickened are a supplement 1. made to clear the sense of the Apostle which else would have been more obscure by reason of that long Parenthesis betwixt the first and the fifth verses for as the * Illud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 regitur à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 5. est igitur hoc loco hyperbaton synchysis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae est species 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cujus quidem anomaliae causa est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 interjectio sententiae prolixioris Piscator Pooles Synop. learned observe this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you is governed of the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath he quickened verse 5. so that here the words are transposed from the plain grammatical order by reason of the interjection of a long sentence therefore with good warrant our Translators have put the verb into this first verse which is repeated verse the fifth and so keeping faithfully to the scope have excellently cleared the Syntax and order of the words Now this verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath he quickened imports the first vital act of the spirit of God â—…or his first enlivening work upon the soul in order to its Union with Jesus Christ for look as the blood of Christ is the fountain of all merit so the Spirit of Christ is the fountain of all spiritual life and until he quicken us i. e. infuse the principle of the divine life into our souls we can put forth no hand or vital act of faith to lay hold upon Jesus Christ. This his quickening work is therefore the first in order of nature to our Union with Christ and fundamental to all other acts of grace done and performed by us from our first closing with Christ throughout the whole course of our obedience and this quickening act is said verse the fifth to be together Ex Christo conjuâ—…cto nobiscum ut capite cum membris profluunt in nos omnia beneficia in quorum numero est vivificatio Rolloc in Loco with Christ either noting as some expound it that it is the effect of the same power by which Christ was raised from the dead according to Eph. 1. 19. or rather to be quickened together with Christ notes that new spiritual life which is infused into our dead souls in the time of our Union with Christ for it is Christ to whom we are conjoyned and united in our regeneration out of whom as a fountain all spiritual benefits flow to us among which this vivification or quickening is one and a most sweet and precious one Zanchy Bodius and many others will have this quickening to comprize both our justification and regeneration and to stand opposed both to infernal and spiritual death and it may well be allowed but it most properly imports our regeneration wherein the Spirit in an ineffable and mysterious way makes the soul to live to God yea to live the life of God which was before dead in trespassis and sins in which words we have Secondly In the next place the total indisposedness of 2. the subjects by nature for as it is well noted by a * Non vocat hic semi mortuos aut aegrotos ac infirmos sed prorsus mortuos omni fa ultatebene cogitandi aut agendi destituti Rolloc in Loc. learned man The Apostle doth not say of these Ephesians that they were half dead or sick and infirm but dead wholly altogether dead destitute of any faculty or ability so much as to think one good thought or perform one good act you were dead in respect of condemnation being under the damning sentence of the Law and you were dead in respect of the privation of spiritual life dead in opposition to Justification and dead in opposition to regeneration and sanctification and the fatal instrument by which their Souls dyed is here shewed them you were dead in or by trespasses and sins this was the Sword that kill'd your souls and cut them off from God Some do curiously distinguish betwixt trespasses and sins as if one pointed at original the other at actual sins but I suppose they are promiscuously used here and serve to express the cause of their ruine or means of their spiritual death and destruction this was their case when Christ came to quicken them dead in sin and being so they could not move themselves towards Union with Christ but as they were moved by the quickening Spirit of God Hence the observation will be this Doct. That those Souls which have Union with Christ are quickened with a Supernatural principle of life by the Spirit of God in order Doct. thereunto The Spirit of God is not only a living Spirit formally considered but he is also the Spirit of life effectively or causally considered and without his breathing or infusing liâ—… into our souls our Union with Christ is impossible It is the observation of learned Camero that there must be Observandum est unionem unitionem inter se disserre unio est rerum actus qui formae rationem habet nempe actus rerum unitarum quâ unitae sunt unitio autem actus significat causâ—… efficientis c. Camero de Eccles p. 222. an Unition before there can be a Union with Christ. Unition is to be conceived efficiently as the work of Gods Spirit joyning the believer to Christ and Union is to be conceived formally the joyning it self of the persons together we close with Christ by faith but that faith being a vital act presupposes a principle of life communicated to us by the Spirit therefore it 's said Joh. 11. 26. whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never dye the vital act and operation of faith springs from this quickening Spirit so in Rom. 8 1 2. the Apostle having in the first verse opened the blessed estate of them that are in Christ shews us in the second verse how we come to be in him The Spirit of life saith he which is in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and death There is indeed a quickening work of the Spirit which is subsequent to regeneration consisting in his exciting recovering and actuating of his own graces in us and from hence is the liveliness of a Christian and there is a quickening act of the Spirit in our
is in the several parts of a Christians life is the effect of this infused principle of spiritual life Thirdly Another aim and design of God in the infusion of this principle of life is thereby to prepare and qualifie the soul for the enjoyment of himself in heaven except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God Joh. 3. 3. all that shall possess that inheritance must be begotten again to it as the Apostle speaks 1 Pet. 1. 3 4. this principle of grace is the very seed of that glory it 's eternal life in the root and principle Joh. 17. 3. by this the soul is attempered and qualified for that state and imployment what is the life of glory but the vision of God and the souls assimilation to God by that vision from both which results that unspeakable joy and delight which passeth understanding but what vision of God assimilation to God or delight in God can that soul have which was never quickened with the supernatural principle of grace The temper of such souls is expressed in that sad Character Zech. 11. 8. my soul loathed them and their soul also abhorred me for want of this vital principle it is that the very same duties and ordinances which are the delights and highest pleasures of the Saints are no better than a meer drudgery and bondage to others Maâ—… 1. 13. heaven would be no heaven to a dead soul this principle of life in its daily growth and improvement is our meetness as well as our evidence for heaven these are the main ends of its infusion Fourthly In the next place according to the method proposed I am obliged to shew you that this quickening work is 4. wholly supernatural it is the sole and proper work of the Spirit of God So Christ himself expressly asserts it in Joh. 3. 6 8. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit the wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit Believers are the birth or off-spring of the Spirit who produceth the new creature in them in an unintelligible manner even to themselves So far it is above their own ability to produce that it is above their capacity to understand the way of its production as if you should ask do you know from whence the wind comes no do you know whither it goes no but you hear and feel it when it blows yes why so is every one that is born of the Spirit he feels the efficacy and discerns the effects of the Spirit on his own soul but cannot understand or describe the manner of its production this is not only above the carnal but above the renewed mind to comprehend we can contribute nothing I mean actively to the production of this principle of life we may indeed be said to concur passively with the Spirit in it that is there is found in us a capacity aptness or receptiveness of this principle of life our nature is endowed with such faculties and powers as are meet subjects to receive and instruments to act this spiritual life God only quickens the rational nature with spiritual life It is true also that in the progress of Sanctification a man doth actively concurr with the Spirit but in the first production of this spiritual principle he can do nothing he can indeed perform those external duties that have a remote tendency to it but he cannot by the power of nature perform any saving act or contribute any thing more than a passive capacity to the implantation of a new principle as will appear by the following Arguments Argument 1. He that actively concurrs to his own regeneration makes himself to differ but this is denyed to all regenerate men 1 Cor. 4. 7. who maketh thee to differ from another and what hast thou that thou didst not receive Arg. 2. That to which the Scripture ascribes both impotency and enmity with respect to grace cannot actively and of it self concurr to the production of it But the Scripture ascribes both impotency and enmity to Nature with respect to grace It denyes to it a power to do anything of it self Joh. 15. 5. and which is less it denies to it power to speak a good word Matth. 12. 34. and which is least of all it denies it power to think a good thought 2 Cor. 3. 5. This impotency if there were no more cuts off all pretence of our active concurrence but then if we consider that it ascribes enmity to our natures as well as impotency how clear is the case see Rom. 8. 7. the carnal mind is enmity against God and Col. 1. 21. and you that were enemies in your minds by wicked works So then Nature is so far productive of this principle as impotency and enmity can enable it to be so Arg. 3. That which is of natural production must needs be subject to natural dissolution that which is born of the flesh is flesh a perishing thing sor everything is as its principle is and there can be no more in the effect than there is in the cause but this principle of spiritual life is not subject to dissolution it is the water that springs up into everlasting life Joh. 4. 14. the seed of God which remaineth in the regenerate soul 1 Joh. 3. 9. and all this because it 's born not of corruptible but of incorruptible seed 1 Pet. 1. 23. Arg. 4. If our new birth be our resurrection a new creation yea a victory over nature then we cannot actively contribute to its production but under all these notions it is represented to us in the Scriptures It 's our resurrection from the dead Eph. 5. 14. and you know the body is wholly passive in its resurrection but though it concurrs not yet it gives pre-existent matter therefore the metaphor is designedly varied Eph. 4. 24. where it 's call'd a creation in which there is neither active concurrence nor pre-existent matter but though Creation excludes pre-existent matter yet in proâ—…cing something out of nothing there is no reluctancy nor opposition therefore to shew how purely supernatural this principle of life is it is cloathed and presented to us in the notion of a victory 2 Cor. 10. 4. and so leaves all to grace Arg. 5. If nature could produce or but actively concurr to the production of this spiritual life then the best natures would be soonest quickened with it and the worst natures not at all or last and least of all but contrarily we find the worst natures often regenerated and the best left in the state of spiritual death with how many sweet homilitical vertues was the young man adorned Mark 10. 21. yet graceless and what a sink of sin was Mary Magdalen Luke 7. 37. yet sanctified thus beautiful Rachel is barren whilst blear-ey'd Leah bears children And there is
scarce any thing that affects and melts the hearts of Christians more than this comparative consideration doth when they consider vessels of Gold cast away and leaden ones chosen for such noble uses So that it 's plain enough to all wise and humble souls that this new life is wholly of supernatural production Fifthly and lastly I shall briefly represent the necessary antecedency of this quickening work of the Spirit to our first closing with Christ by faith and this will easily let it self into your understandings if you but consider the nature of the vital act of faith which is the souls receiving of Christ and resting upon him for pardon and salvation in which two things are necessarily included viz. 1. The renouncing of all other hopes and dependencies 2. The opening the heart fully to Jesus Christ. First The renouncing of all other hopes and dependencies whatsoever Self in all its acceptations natural sinful and moral is now to be denyed and renounced for ever else Christ can never be received Rom. 10. 3. not only self in its vilest pollutions but self in its richest ornaments and endowments but this is as impossible to the unrenewed natural man as it is for rocks or mountains to start from their Centre and fly like wandering Atomes in the air nature will rather choose to run the hazard of everlasting damnation than escape it by a total renunciation of its beloved lusts or self-righteousness this supernatural work necessarily requires a supernatural principle Rom. 8. 2. Secondly The opening the heart fully to Jesus Christ without which Christ can never be received Rev. 3. 20. but 2. this also is the effect of the quickening Spirit the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus sooner may we expect to see the flowers and blossoms open without the influence of the Sun than the heart and will of a sinner open to receive Christ without a principle of spiritual life first derived from him and this will be past doubt to all that consider not only the impotence of nature but the ignorance prejudice and aversations of nature by which the door of the heart is barr'd and chain'd up against Christ Joh. 5. 40. so that nature hath neither ability nor will power or desire to come to Christ if any have an heart open'd to receive him 't is the Lord that opens it by his almighty power and that in the way of an infused principle of life supernatural But here it may be doubted and objected against this position Quest. If we cannot believe till we are quickened with spiritual life as you say and cannot be justified till we belive as all say then it will follow that a regenerate soul may be in the state of condemnation for a time and consequently perish if death should befall him in that juncture To this I return that when we speak of the priority of Sol. this quickening work of the Spirit to our actual believing we rather understand it of the priority of nature than of time the nature and order of the work requiring it to be so a vital principle must in order of nature be infused before a vital act can be exerted First make the tree good and then the fruit good and admit we should grant some priority in time also to this quickening principle before actual faith yet the absurdity mentioned would be no way consequent upon that concession for as the vital act of faith quickly follows the regenerating principle so the soul is abundantly secured against the danger objected God never beginning any special work of grace upon the soul and then leaving it and the soul with it in hazzard but preserves both to the finishing and compleating of his gracious design Phil. 1. 6. First Use of Information Infer 1. If such be the nature and necessity of this principle of divine Infer 1. life as you have heard it opened in the foregoing discourse then hence it follows That unregenerate men are no better than dead men So the Text represents them you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins i. e. spiritually dead though naturally alive yea and lively too as any other persons in the world There is a threefold consideration of objects Viz. 1. Naturally 2. Politically 3. Theologically First Naturally to all those things that are natural they are alive they can understand reason discourse preject and contrive as well as others they can eat drink build plant and suck out the natural comfort of these things as much as any others So their life is described Job 21. 12. They take the Timbrel and Harp and rejoyce at the sound of the Organ they spend their â—…ays in Wealth c. and James 5. 5. ye have lived in pleasure upon earth as the fish lives in the water its natural element and yet â—…is natural sensual life is not allowed the name of life 1 Tim. 5. 6. such persons are dead whilst they live 't is a base and ignoble life to have a soul only to salt the body or to enable a man for a few years to eat and drink and talk and laugh and then dye Secondly Objects may be considered Politically and with respect to such things they are alive also they can buy and sell and manage all their worldly affairs with as much dexterity skill and policy as other men yea the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light Luke 16. 8. The intire stream of their thoughts projects and studies running in that one Channel having but one Liberet me deus ab homine unius tantum negotii Bern. design to manage they must needs excel in worldly wisdom but then Thirdly Theologically considered they are dead without life sense or motion towards God and the things that are above their understandings are dead 1 Cor. 2. 14. and cannot receive the things that are of God their wills are dead and cannot move towards Jesus Christ Joh. 6. 65. their affections are dead even to the most excellent and spiritual objects and all their duties are dead duties without life or spirit This is the sad case of the unregenerate world Infer 2. This speaks encouragement to Ministers and parents to wait in hopes of success at last even upon those that yet give them Infer 2. little hope of conversion at the present the work you see is the Lords when the Spirit of life comes upon their dead souls they shall believe and be made willing till then we do but plough upon the rocks yet let not our hand slack in duty pray for them and plead with them you know not in which prayer or exhortation the Spirit of life may breathe upon them can these dry bones live yes if the Spirit of life from God breathe upon them they can and shall live what though their dispositions be averse to all things that are spiritual and serious yet even such have been regenerated when more sweet
and promising natures have been passed by and left under spiritual death It was the observation of Mr. Ward upon his Brother Mr. Daniel Rogers who was a man of great gifts and eminent graces yet of a very bad temper and constitution Though my Brother Rogers said he have grace enough for two men yet not half enough for himself It may be you have pray'd and striven long with your relations and to little purpose yet be not discouraged How often was Mr. John Rogers that famous successful Divine a grief of heart to his relations in his younger years proving a wild and lewd young man to the great discouragement of his pious friends yet at last the Lord graciously changed him so that Mr. Richard Rogers would say when he would exercise the utmost degree of charity or hope for any that at present were vile and naught I will never despair of any man for John Rogers sake Infer 3. How honourable are Christians by their new birth they are born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of Infer 3. man but of God Joh. 1. 13. i. e. not in an impure or meer natural way but in a most spiritual and supernatural manner they are the off-spring of God the children of the most high as well by regeneration as by adoption which is the greatest advancement of the humane nature next to its hypostatical union with the second person Oh what honour is this for a poor sinful creature to have the very life of God breathed into his soul all other dignities of nature are trifles compar'd with this this makes a Christian a sacred hallowed thing the living temple of God 1 Cor. 6. 19. the special object of his delight Infer 4. How deplorable is the condition of the unregenerate world in no better case than dead men Now to affect our hearts with the Infer 4. misery of such a condition let ut consider and compare it in the following particulars First There is no beauty in the dead all their loveliness goes away at death there is no spiritual beauty or loveliness in any that are unregenerate 't is true many of them have excellent moral homilitical vertues which adorn their conversations in the eyes of men but what are all these but so many sweet flowers strewed over a dead Corpse Secondly The dead have no pleasure nor delight even so the unregenerate are incapable of the delights of the Christian life to be spiritually minded is life and peace Rom. 8. 6. i. e. this is the only serene placid and pleasant life when the prodigal who was once dead was alive then he began to be merry Luke 15. 24. they live in sensual pleasures but this is to be dead while alive in Scripture reckoning Thirdly The dead have no heat they are as cold as clay so are all the unregenerate towards God and things above their lusts are hot but their affections to God cold and frozen that which makes a gracious heart melt will not make an unregenerate heart move Fourthly The dead must be buried Gen. 23. 4. bury my dead out of my sight so must the unregenerate be buried out of Gods sight forever buried in the lowest hell in the place of darkness for ever Joh. 3. 3. Woe to the unregenerate good had it been sor them they had never been born Infer 5. How greatly are all men concerned to examine their condition Infer 5. with respect to spiritual life and death It 's very common for men to presume upon their Union with and interest in Christ this priviledge is by common mistake extended generally to all that profess Christian religion and practise the external duties of it when in truth no more are or can be united Praesumendo sperant sperando pereunt Ames to Christ than are quickened by the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus Rom. 8. 1 2. O try your interest in Christ by this rule if I am quickened by Christ I have Union with Christ. And First If there be spiritual sense in your souls there is spiritual life in them there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 senses belonging to the spiritual as well as to the animal life Heb. 5. 14. they can feel and sensibly groan under soul pressures and burdens of sin Rom. 7. 24. the dead feel not moan not under the burdens of sin but the living do they may be sensible indeed of the evil of sin with respect to themselves but not as against God damnation may scare them but pollution doth not hell may fright them but not the offence of God Secondly If there be spiritual hunger and thirst it 's a sweet sign of spiritual life this sign agrees to Christians of a day old 1 Pet. 2. 2. even new born babes desire the sincere milk of the word if spiritual life be in you you know how to expound that Scripture Psal. 42. 1. without any other interpreter than your own experience you will feel somewhat like the gâ—…awing of an empty stomach making you restless during the interruption of your daily communion with the Lord. Thirdly If there be spiritual conflicts with sin there is spiritual life in your soul Gal. 5. 17. not only a combat betwixt light in the higher and lust in the lower faculties nor only opposition to more gross external corruptions that carry more infamy and horror with them than other sins do but the same faculty will be the seat of War and the more inward secret and spiritual any lust is by so much the more will it be opposed and mourned over In a word the weakest Christian may upon impartial observation find such signs of spiritual life in himself if he will allow himself time to reflect upon the bent and frame of his own heart as desires after God conscience of duties fears cares and sorrows about sin delight in the society of heavenly and spiritual men a loathing and burden in the company of vain and carnal persons O but I have a very dead heart to spiritual things 'T is a sign of life that you feel and are sensible of that deadness Ob. and beside there 's a great deal of difference betwixt Sol. spiritual deadness and death the one is the state of the unregenerate the other is the disease of regenerate men Some signs of spiritual life are clear to me but I cannot close with others Ob. If you can really close with any it may satisfie you though you be dark in others if a child can't go yet if it can suck Sol. if it can't suck if it can cry if it can't cry yet if it breath it is alive The Sixth SERMON Serm. 6. JOH 1. 12. Describing that Act on our part by which we do actually and effectually apply Christ to our own souls But as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name NO
sooner is the soul quickened by the Spirit of God but it answers in some measure the end of God in that work by its active reception of Jesus Christ in the way of believing what this vital act of faith is upon which so great a weight depends as our Interest in Christ and everlasting blessedness this Scripture before us will give you the best account of it wherein omitting the Coherence and contexture of the words we have three things to ponder First The high and glorious priviledge conferr'd viz. power to become the sons of God Secondly The subject of this priviledge described As many as received him Thirdly The description explain'd by way of Apposition even as many as believed on his name First The priviledge conferr'd is a very high and glorious 1. one than which no created being is capable of greater power Beza hoc jus Piscator hanc dignitatem Lightfoote prarogativam Heinsius privilegium nec multo aliter vâ—…ce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hellenistae usâ—… videntur cum Câ—…aldeorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expresserunt Heins to become the sons of God this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of large extent and signification and is by some rendred this right by others this dignity by others this prerogative This priviledge or honour it implys a title or right to Adoption not only with respect to the present benefits of it in this life but also to that blessed inheritance which is laid up in heaven for the sons of God and so Grotius rightly expounds it of our consummate sonship consisting in the actual enjoyment of blessedness as well as that which is inchoate not only a right to pardon favour and acceptance now but to heaven and the full enjoyment of God hereafter O what an honour dignity and priviledge is this Secondly The Subjects of this priviledge are described as many as received him This Text describes them by that 2. very grace Faith which gives them their title and right to Christ and his benefits and by that very act of faith which primarily conferrs their right to his person and secondarily to his benefits viz. receiving him there be many graces besides faith but faith only is the grace that gives us right to Christ and there be many acts of faith besides receiving but this receiving or embracing of Christ is the justifying and saving act as many as received him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as many be they of any nation sex age or condition For there is neither Greek nor Jew Circumcision nor Uncircumcision Barbarian Scythian Bond or Free but Christ is all and in all Col. 3. 11. Nothing but unbelief barrs men from Christ and his benefits as many as received him the word signifies to accept take or as we fitly render to receive assume or take to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 idem est Grot. us a word most aptly expressing the nature and office of faith yea the very justifying and saving act and we are also heedfully to note its special object 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 him the Text saith not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 him i. e. his person as he is cloathed with his offices and not only his benefits and priviledges These are secondary and consequential things to our receiving him * Oblatio est actio Dei plerunque mediata facta in verbo receptio est actio hominis ita tamen ut simul quoque sit beneficium dâ—… nec enim homo posset recipere mediatorem nisi fides quae receptionis hujus est organon 〈◊〉 deo daretur Wendel So that it is a receiving assuming or accepting the Lord Jesus Christ which must have respect to the tenders and proposals of the gospel for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith Rom. 1. 17. therein is Jesus Christ revealed proposed and offered unto sinners as the only way of justification and salvation which Gospel offer as before was opened is therefore ordinarily necessary to believing Rom. 10. 11 12 13 c. Thirdly This description is yet further explained by this additional exegetical clause even to them that believe in his 3. name here the terms are varied though the thing exprest in both be the same what he call'd receiving there is call'd believing on his name here to shew us that the very essence of saving faith consists in our receiving of Christ by his name we are to understand Christ himself it is usual to take these two believing in him and believing in his name as terms convertible and of the same importance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ipse est nomen suum nomen ejus ipse est his name Drusius is himself and himself is his name So that here we have the true nature and precious benefits of saving faith excellently exprest in this Scripture the summ of which take in this proposition Doct. That the receiving of the Lord Jesus Christ is that saving and vital act of faith which gives the soul right both to his person and Doct. benefits We cannot act spiritually till we begin to live spiritually therefore the Spirit of life must first joyn himself to us in his quickening work as was shewn you in the last Sermon which being done we begin to act spiritually by taking hold upon or receiving Jesus Christ which is the thing designed to be opened in this Sermon The soul is the life of the body faith is the life of the soul and Christ is the life of faith There are several sorts of faith besides saving faith and in saving faith there are several acts besides the justifying or saving act but this receiving act which is to be our subject this day is that upon which both our righteousness and eternal happiness do depend This as a form differences saving faith from all other kinds or sorts of faith by this it is that we are justified and saved To as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God Forma vel aliquid formae analogum ponitur differentiae loco yet it doth not justifie and save us by reason of any proper dignity that is found in this Act but by reason of the object it receives and apprehends the same thing is often exprest in Scripture by other terms as coming to Christ Joh. 6. 35. rolling or staying upon Christ Isa. 50. 10. but whatever is found in those expressions it is all comprehended in this as will appear hereafter Now the method into which I shall cast the discourse of this subject that I may handle it with as much perspicuity and profit as I can shall be First To explain and open the nature of this receiving of Christ and shew you what it includes 1. Secondly To prove that this is the justifying and saving act of faith 2. Thirdly To shew you the excellency of this act of Faith 3.
infested to undermine and destroy the whole work of faith but God makes his people victorious over them yea and even at that time they do assent to the truths of the word when they think they do not as appears by their tenderness and fear of sin their diligence and care of duty If I discern these things in a Christians life he must excuse me if I believe him not when he saith he doth not assent to the truths of the Gospel Thirdly our receiving Christ necessarily implies our hearty approbation liking and estimation yea the acquiescence of our very souls in Jesus Christ as the most excellent suitable and compleat remedy for all our wants sins and dangers that ever could be prepared by the wisdome and love of God for them we must receive him with such a frame of heart as rests upon him trusts to and relys upon him if ever we receive him aright to them that believe he is precious 1 Pet. 2. 7. this is the only soveraign plaister in all the world that is large enough and efficacious enough to cure our wounds and therefore as Christ is most highly esteemed and heartily approved as the only remedy for our souls so the soveraign grace and wisdome of God are admired and the way and method he hath taken to save poor lost souls by Jesus Christ most heartily approved as the most apt and excellent method both for his glory and our good that ever could be taken for 't is a plain case that none will espouse themselves with conjugal affections to that person whom they esteem not as the best for them that can be chosen none will forsake and quit all for his sake except they account him as the spouse did the chiefest of ten thousand Cant. 5. 10. There are two things in Christ which must gain the greatest approbation in the soul of a poor convinced sinner and bring it to rest upon Jesus Christ. First That it can find nothing in Christ that is distastful or unsuitable to it as it doth experimentally find in the best creatures In him is no weakness but a fulness of all saving abilities able to save to the uttermost no Pride causing him to scorn and contemn the most wretched soul that comes to him no inconstancy or levity to cause him to cast off the soul whom he hath once received no passion but a Lamb for meekness and patience there is not a spot to be found in him but he is altogether lovely Cant. 5. 16. Secondly As the believer can find nothing in Christ that is distastful so it finds nothing wanting in Christ that is necessary or desirable such is the fulness of wisdome righteousness sanctification and redemption that is in Christ that nothing is left to desire but the full enjoyment of him O saith the soul how compleatly happy shall I be if I can but win Christ I would not envy the Nobles of the earth were I but in Christ. I am an hungry and a thirst and Christ is meat indeed and drink indeed this is the best thing in all the world for me because so necessary and so suitable to the needs of a soul ready to perish I am a law-condemned and a self-condemned sinner trembling for fear of the execution of the curse upon me every moment in Christ is compleat righteousness to justifie my soul O there is nothing better for me than Christ. I see my self plunged both in nature and practice into the odious pollutions of sin and in Christ is a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness his blood is a fountain of merit his spirit a fountain of holiness and purity none but Christ none but Christ. O the manifold wisdome and unsearchable love of God to prepare and furnish such a Christ so fully answering all the needs all the distresses all the fears and burdens of a poor sinner Thus the believing soul approves of Christ as best for it And thus in believing it gives glory to God Rom. 4. 20. Fourthly Receiving Christ consists in the consent and choice of the will and this is the opening of the heart the opening and stretching forth of the soul to receive him thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power Psal. 110. 3. 'T is the great design and main scope of the Gospel to work over the wills of poor sinners to this and this was the great complaint of Christ against the incredulous Jews Joh. 5. 40. ye will not come unto me that ye might have life It is disputed by some whether faith can be seated in two distinct faculties as we seem to place it when we say it involves both the approbation of the judgement and the consent of the will I will not here intangle my discourse with that fruitless dispute I am of the same judgement with those Divines that think Faith cannot be expressed fully by any one single habit or act of the mind or will distinctly for that as one well notes there are such descriptions given of it in Scripture Dr. Owen in his Doctrine of Justification p. 135. Consensus denotare videtur concursum voluntatis cum intellectu ad sentiendum idem quod intellectus sentit 12 Q. 15. a. 1. Fides non est virtus simplex sed diversis constat partibus notitia assensu fiducia quae ad eandem potentiam non pertinent Wendelini Theol. p. 450. such things are proposed as the object of it and such is the experience of all that sincerely believe as no one single act either of the mind or will can answer unto nor do I see any thing repugnant to Scripture or Philosophy if we place it in both faculties Consent saith Vasquez seems to denote the concourse of the will with the understanding but to leave that it is most certain the saving justifying act of faith lies principally in the consent of the will which consent is the effect of the almighty power of God Eph. 1. 19. he allures and draws the will to Christ and he draws with the cords of a man i. e. he prevails with it by rational Arguments for the soul being prepared by convictions of its lost and miserable estate by sin and that there is but one door of hope open to it for an escape from the wrath to come and that is Christ being also satisfied of the fulness and compleatness of his saving ability and of his willingness to make it over for our salvation upon such just and equal terms this cannot but prevail with the will of a poor distressed sinner to consent and chuse him Fifthly and Lastly The last and principal thing included in our receiving of Christ is the respect that this act of acceptance hath unto the terms upon which Christ is tendred to us in the Gospel to which it is most agreeable 1 Cor. 15. 11. so we preach and so ye believed faith answers the Gospel offer Rom. 6. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The will like melted
light Isa. 50. 10. nay a man must be a believer before he know himself to be so the direct act of faith is before the reflex act so that the justifying act of faith lies neither in Assent nor in Assurance Assent saith I believe that Christ is and that he is the Saviour of the elect Assurance saith I believe and am sure that Christ dyed for me and that I shall be saved through him So that Assent widens the nature of faith too much and Assurance upon the other hand straitens it too much but Acceptance which saith I take Christ in all his offices to be mine this fits it exactly and belongs to all true believers and to none but true believers and to all true believers at all times this therefore must be the justifying and saving act of faith Arg. 3. Thirdly That and no other is the justifying and saving act of faith to which the properties and effects of saving faith do Arg. 3. belong or in which they are only found But in the fiducial receiving of Christ are the properties and effects of saving faith only found This therefore must be the justifying and saving act of faith First By saving faith Christ is said to dwell in our hearts Eph. 3. 17. but it is neither by assent nor assurance but by acceptance and receiving him that he dwells in our hearts not by assent for then he would dwell in the unregenerate nor by assurance for he must dwell in our hearts before we can be assured of it Therefore it is by acceptance Secondly By faith we are justified Rom. 5. 1. but neither assent nor assurance for the reasons above do justifie therefore it must be by the receiving act and no other Thirdly The Scripture ascribes great difficulties to that faith by which we are saved as being most cross and opposite to the corrupt nature of man but of all the acts of faith none is clog'd with like difficulties or conflicts with greater oppositions than the receiving act doth about this act hang the greatest difficulties fears and deepest self-denyal In assent a mans reason is convinced and yields to the evidence of truth so that he can do no other but assent to the truth In assurance there is nothing against a mans will or comfort but much for it every one desires it but it is not so in acceptance of Christ upon the self-denying terms of the Gospel as will hereafter be evinced We conclude therefore that in this consists the nature and essence of saving faith Thirdly Having seen what the receiving of Jesus Christ 3. is and that it is the faith by which we are justified and saved I next come to open the Dignity and excellency of this faith whose praises and Encomiums are in all the Scriptures there you find it renowned by the title of precious faith 2 Pet. 1. 7. enriching faith Jam. 2. 5. the work of God Joh. 6. 29. the great mystery of Godliness 1 Tim. 3. 16. with many more rich Epithets throughout the Scriptures bestowed upon it Now faith may be considered two ways viz. either Qualitatively or Relatively Considered qualitatively as a saving grace it hath the same excellency that all other precious saving graces have as it is the fruit of the Spirit it is more precious than Gold Prov. 8. 11 19. and so are all other graces as well as faith in this sense they all shine with equal glory and that a glory transcending all the glory of this world but then consider faith Relatively as the instrument by which the righteousness of Christ is apprehended and made ours and in that consideration it excels all other graces This is the grace that is singled out from among all other graces to receive Christ by which office it is dignified above all its fellows as Moses was honoured above the many thousands of Israel when God took him up into the Mount admitted him nearer to himself than any other of all the Tribes might come for they stood without the Rail while Moses was received into the special presence of God and was admitted to such views as others must not have so faith is honoured above all its fellow graces in being singled out and solemnly anointed to this high office in our Justification this is that precious eye that looks unto Christ as the stung Israelites did to the brazen Serpent and derives healing vertue from him to the soul. It is the grace which instrumentally saves us Eph. 2. 8. as it's Christs glory to be the door of salvation so it 's Faiths glory to be the golden key that opens that door What shall I say of Faith 't is the bond of Union the instrument of justification the spring of spiritual peace and joy the means of spiritual livelihood and subsistence and therefore the great scope and drift of the Gospel which aims at and presseth nothing more than to bring men and women to believe First This is the bond of our Union with Christ that Union is begun in our vivification and compleated in our actual receiving of Christ the first is a bond of Union on the Spirits part the second a bond of Union on our part Christ dwelleth in our hearts by faith Eph. 3. 17. and herein it is a door opened to let in many rich blessings to the soul for by uniting us to Christ it brings us into special favour and acceptation with God Eph. 1. 6. makes us the special objects of Christs conjugal love and delight Eph. 5. 29. draws from his heart sympathy and tender sense of all our miseries and burdens Heb. 4. 15. Secondly 'T is the instrument of our justification Rom. 5. 1. till Christ be received thus received by us we are in our sins under guilt and condemnation but when faith comes then comes freedome by him all that believe are justified from all things Acts 13. 38. Rom. 8. 1. for it apprehends or receives the pure and perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus wherein the soul how guilty and sinful soever it be in it self stands faultless and spotless before the presence of God all Inveniri in Christo tacitam habet relationem ad dei judicium in iis nullam invenit condemnationem quia justitiâ qualem esse requirit i. e. perfectâ accumulatâ exornatos nos invenit nempe justitia Christi per fidem nobis imputata Bern. in Loc. obligations to punishment are upon believing immediately dissolved a full and final pardon sealed O precious faith who can sufficiently value it What respect Reader wouldst thou have to that hand that should bring thee a Pardon when on the Ladder or Block why that pardon which thou canst not read without tears of joy is brought thee by the hand of faith O inestimable grace that cloaths the pure righteousness of Jesus upon our defiled souls and so causes us to become the righteousness of God in him or as it is 1 Joh. 3. 7. righteous as he is righteous non
formali intrinsecâ Justitiâ sed relativâ not with a formal inherent righteousness of our own but with a relative imputed righteousness from another I know this most excellent and most comfortable doctrine of imputed righteousness is not only denyed but derided by Papists Stapleton calls it spectrum Cerebri Lutherani the monstrous birth of Luthers brain but blessed be God this comfortable truth is well secured against all attempts of its adversaries Let their blasphemous mouths call it in derision as they do putative righteousness i. e. a meer fancied or conceited righteousness yet we know assuredly Christs righteousness is imputed to us and that in the way of faith If Adams sin became ours by Imputation then so doth Christs righteousness also become ours by Imputation Rom. 5. 17. If Christ were made a sinner by the imputation of our sins to him who had no sin of his own then we are made righteous by the imputation of Christs righteousness to us who have no righteousness of our own according to 1 Cor. 5. 21. This was the way in which Abraham the father of them that believe was justified and therefore this is the way in which all believers the children of Abraham must in like manner be justified Rom. 4. 22 23 24. Who can express the worth of faith in this one respect if this were all it did for our souls But Thirdly It is the spring of our spiritual peace and joy and that as it is the Instrument of our Justification If it be an instrument of our Justification it cannot but be the spring of our consolation Rom. 5. 1. Being justified by faith we have peace with God in uniting us with Christ and apprehending and applying his righteousness to us it becomes the seed or root of all the peace and joy of a Christians life Joy the child of faith therefore bears its name Phil. 1. 25. the joy of faith So 1 Pet. 1. 8 9. Believing we rejoyce with joy unspeakable we cannot forbear laughing when we are tickled nor can we forbear rejoycing while by faith we are brought to the sight and knowledge of such a priviledged state when faith hath first given and then cleared our title to Christ Joy is no more under the souls command we cannot but rejoyce and that with Joy unspeakable Fourthly It is the means of our spiritual livelihood and subsistance all other graces like birds in the nest depend upon what faith brings in to them take away faith and all the graces languish and dye joy peace hope patience and all the rest depend upon faith as the members of the natural body do upon the vessels by which blood and spirits are conveyed to them The life which I now live saith the Apostle is by the faith of the Son of God Gal. 2. 20. it provides our ordinary food and extraordinary Cordials Psal. 27. 13. I had fainted unless I had believed And seeing it is all this to our souls Fifthly In the last place it is no wonder that it is the main scope and drift of the Gospel to press and bring souls to believing 't is the Gospels grand design to bring up the hearts of men and women to faith The urgent commands of the Gospel aim at this 1 Joh. 3. 23. Mark 1. 14 15. Joh. 12. 36. hither also look the great promises and encouragements of the Gospel Joh. 6. 35 37. so Mark 16. 16. And the opposite sin of unbelief is every where fearfully aggravated and threatned Joh. 16. 8 9. Joh. 3. 18. 35. And this was the third thing premised namely a discovery of the transcendant worth and excellency of saving faith Fourthly But lest we commit a mistake here to the prejudice of Christs honour and glory which must not be 4. given to another no not to faith it self I promised you in the fourth place to snew you upon what account faith is thus dignified and honoured that so we may give unto faith the things that are faiths and to Christ the things that are Christs And I find four opinions about the interest of faith in our Justification some will have it to justifie us formally not relatively i. e. upon the account of its own intrinsecal value and worth and this is the Popish sense of Justification by faith Some affirm that though faith be not our perfect legal righteousness considered as a work of ours yet the act of believing is imputed to us for righteousness i. e. God graciously accepts it instead of perfect legal righteousness and so in his esteem it 's our evangelical righteousness And this is the Arminian sense of justification by faith Some there are also even among our reformed Divines that contend that faith justifies and saves us as it is the Condition of the new Covenant And Lastly others will have it to justifie us as an Instrument apprehending or receiving the righteousness of Christ with which opinion I must close when I consider my Text calls it a receiving of Christ most certain it is That First It doth not justifie in the Popish sense upon the account of its own proper worth and dignity for then First Justification should be of debt not of grace contrary to Rom. 3. 23 24. Secondly This would frustrate the very scope and end of the death of Christ for if righteousness come by the Law i. e. by the way of works and desert then is Christ dead in vain Gal. 2. 21. Thirdly Then the way of our justification by faith would be so sar from excluding that it would establish boasting expressly contrary to the Apostle Rom. 3. 26 27. Fourthly Then there should be no defects or imperfections in faith for a defective and imperfect thing can never be the matter of our Justification before God if it justifie upon the account of its own worth and proper dignity it can have no flaw nor imperfection in it contrary to the common sense of all believers Nay Fifthly Then it 's the same thing to be justified by faith and to be justified by works which the Apostle so carefully distinguisheth and opposeth Phil. 3. 9. and Rom. 4. 6. so that we conclude it doth not justifie in the Popish sense for any worth or proper excellency that is in it self Secondly And it is as evident it doth not justifie us in the Arminian sense viz. as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere the Act of believing is imputed or accepted by God as our Evangelical righteousness instead of perfect legal righteousness In the former opinion you have the dreggs of Popery and here you have refined Popery Let all Arminians know we have as high esteem for faith as any men in the world can have but yet we will not rob Christ to cloath faith we cannot embrace their opinion because First We must then dethrone Christ to exalt faith we are willing to give it all that is due to it but we dare not despoyl Christ of his glory for faiths sake he is the Lord
going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God Mans righteousness was once in himself and what liquor is first put into the vessel it ever afterward savours of it 't is with Adams posterity as with Bees which have been accustomed to go their own hive and carry all thither if the hive be removed to another place they will still flye to the old place hover up and down about it and rather dye there than go to a new place So it is with most men God hath removed their righteousness from doing to believing from themselves to Christ but who shall prevail with them to forsake self nature will venture to be damned rather than do it there is much submission in believing and great self denyal a proud self-conceited heart will never stoop to live upon the stock of anothers righteousness Besides it is no easie thing to perswade men to receive Christ as their Lord in all things and submit their necks to his strict and holy precepts though it be a great truth that Christs yoak doth not gall but grace and adorn the neck that Jugum Christi non deterit sed honestat colla Bern. bears it that the truest and sweetest liberty is in our freedom from our lusts not in our fulfilling them yet who shall perswade the carnal heart to believe this and much less will men ever be prevailed withal to forsake father mother wife children inheritance and life it self to follow Christ and all this upon the account of spiritual and invisible things and yet this must be done by all that receive the Lord Jesus Christ upon Gospel terms yea and before the soul hath any encouraging experience of its own to balance the manifold discouragements of sense and carnal reason improved by the utmost craft of Satan to dismay it for experience is the fruit and consequent of believing So that it may well be placed among the great mysteries of godliliness that Christ is believed on in the world 1 Tim. 3. 16. Infer 3. And then Thirdly hence it will follow that there may be more true and sound believers in the world than know or dare conclude Infer 3. themselves to be such For as many ruine their own souls by placing the essence of saving faith in naked assent so some rob themselves of their own comfort by placing it in full assurance Faith and sense of faith are two distinct and separable mercies you may have truly received Christ and not receive the knowledge or assurance of it Isa. 50. 10. Some there be that say thou art our God of whom God never said you are my people these have no authority to be call'd the sons of God others there are of whom God saith these are my people yet dare not call God their God these have authority to be call'd the sons of God but know it not They have received Christ that 's their safety but they have not yet received the knowledge and assurance of it that 's their trouble the Father owns his child in the Cradle who yet knows him not to be his Father Now there are two reasons why many believers who might argue themselves into peace do yet live without the comforts of their faith and this may come to pass either from First The inevidence of the premises Secondly Or the weighty importance of the conclusion First It may come to pass from the inevidence of the premises Assurance is a practical Syllogism and it proceeds thus All that truly have received Christ Jesus they are the children of God I have truly received Jesus Christ Therefore I am the child of God The Major proposition is found in the Scripture and there can be no doubt of that the Assumption depends upon experience or internal sense I have truly received Jesus Christ here usually is the stumble many great objections lye against it which they cannot clearly answer as Light and knowledge are necessarily required to the right 1. Ob. receiving of Christ but I am dark and ignorant many carnal unregenerate persons know more than I do and are more able to discourse of the mysteries of Religion than I am But you ought to distinguish of the kinds and degrees of Sol. knowledge and then you would see that your bewailed ignorance is no bar to your interest in Christ. There are two kinds of knowledge 1. Natural 2. Spiritual There is a natural knowledge even of spiritual objects a spark of nature blown up by an advantagious education and though the objects of this knowledge be spiritual things yet the light in which they are discerned is but a meer natural light And there is a spiritual knowledge of spiritual things the teaching of the anointing as it 's call'd 1 Joh. 2. 27. i. e. the effect and fruit of the Spirits sanctifying work upon our souls when the experience of a mans own heart informs and teacheth his understanding when by feeling the workings of grace in our own souls we come to understand its nature this is spiritual knowledge Now a little of this knowledge is a better evidence of a mans interest in Christ than the most raised and excellent degree of natural knowledge as the Philosopher truly observes praestat paucula de meliori scientia degustasse quam de ignobiliori multa one drachm of knowledge of the best and most excellent things is better than much knowledge of common things So it is here a little spiritual knowledge of Jesus Christ that hath life and savour in it is more than all the natural sapless knowledge of the unregenerate which leaves the heart dead carnal and barren 't is not the quantity but the kind not the measure but the savour if you know so much of the evil of sin as renders it the most bitter and burdensome thing in the world to you and so much of the necessity and excellency of Christ as renders him the most sweet and desirable thing in the world to you though you may be defective in many degrees of knowledge yet this is enough to prove yours to be the fruit of the Spirit you may have a sanctified heart though you have an irregular or weak head many that knew more than you are in hell and some that once knew as little as you are now in heaven in absoluto facili stat aeternitas God hath not prepar'd heaven only for clear and subtil heads a little sanctifified and effectual knowledge of Christs person offices suitableness and necessity may bring thee thither when others with all their curious speculations and notions may perish for ever But you tell me that Assent to the truths of the Gospel is 2. Ob. necessarily included in saving faith which though it be not the justifying and saving act yet it is presupposed and required to it now I have many staggerings and doubtings about the certainty and reality of these things many horrid atheistical thoughts which shake the
the necessary consequent of that Union there is no condemnation Rom. 8. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not one condemnation how many soever our sins have been Thirdly The least measure or degree of saving faith is a greater mercy than God hath bestowed or ever will bestow upon many that are far above you in outward respects all men have not faith nay 't is but a remnant among men that believe Few of the Nobles and Potentates of the world have such a gift as this they have houses and lands yea Crowns and Scepters but no Faith no Christ no pardon they have authority to rule over men but no authority to become the sons of God 1 Cor. 1. 26 27. Say therefore in thy most debased straitned afflicted condition Return to thy rest O my soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee Fourthly The least degree of saving faith is more than all the power of nature can produce there must be a special revelation of the arm of the Lord in that work Isa. 53. 1. Believers are not born of flesh nor of blood nor of the will of man but of God Joh. 1. 12 13. all believing motions towards Christ are the effects of the Fathers drawing Joh. 6. 44. a glorious and irresistable power goes forth from God to produce it whence it 's call'd the faith of the operation of God Col. 2. 12. So then Let not believers depise the day of small things or overlook that great and infinite mercy which is wrapt up in the least degree of saving faith Inference 5. Learn hence the impossibility of their salvation who neither know the nature nor enjoy the means of saving faith Infer 5. My soul pities and mourns over the infidel world Ah what will become of the millions of poor unbelievers there is but one door of salvation viz. Christ and but one Key of faith to open that door and as that key was never given to the heathen world so it 's laid aside or taken away from the people by their cruel guides all over the Popish world were you among them you should hear nothing else prest as necessary to your salvation but a blind implicite faith to believe as the Church believes that is to believe they know not what To believe as the Pope believes that is as an Infidel believes for so they confess he may be * Non enim fides interior Romani Poâ—…tificis ecclesiae est necessaria Canus Loc. Theol. p. 344. and though there be such a thing as an explicite faith sometimes spoken of among them yet it is very sparingly discoursed very falsely described and exceedingly slighted by them as the veriest trifle in the world First It is but sparingly discoursed of they love not to accustome the peoples ears to such doctrine one of themselves confesses that there is so deep a silence of explicit particular faith in the Romish Church that you may find many every where that believe no more of these things than heathen Navarr cap. 11. p. 142. Philosophers Secondly When it is preacht or written of it is falsely described for they place the whole nature and essence of justifying and saving faith in a naked assent which the Devils have as well as men James 2. 19. no more than this is prest upon the people at any time as necessary to their salvation Thirdly And even this particular explicit faith when it is spoken or written of is exceedingly slighted I think if the Devil himself were in the Pulpit he could hardly tell how to bring men to a more low and slight esteem of faith to represent it as a verier trifle and needless thing than these his Agents have done Some a Petr. à S. Joseph sum Art 1. p. 6. say if a man believe with a particular explicit faith i. e. if he actually assent to Scripture truths once in a year it is enough Yea and others b Bonacina Tom. 2. in 1. praecept think it too much to oblige people to believe once in twelve months and for their ease tell them if they believe once in twelve years it is sufficient and lest this should be too great a task c Jo. Sanc. Disp. 41. n. 32. others affirm that if it be done but once in their whole life and that at the point of death too it is enough especially for the rude and common people Good God! what doctrine is here it was a saying long ago of Gregory as I remember malus minister est nisus diâ—…boli a wicked minister is the devils Gosshawk that goes a birding for hell and O what game have these hawks of hell among such numerous flocks of people O bless God while you live for your deliverance from Popery and see that you prize the Gospel and means of grace you enjoy at an higher rate lest God bring you once more under that yoak which neither you nor your Fathers could bear Second Use for Examination Doth saving faith consist in a due and right receiving of the Lord Jesus Christ then let me perswade you to examine 2. Use. your selves in this great point of faith Reflect solemnly upon the transactions that have been betwixt Christ and your souls think close on this subject of meditation If all you were worth in the world lay in one precious stone and that stone were to be tried by the skilful Lapidary whether it were true or false whether it would flye or endure under the smart stroke of his Hammer sure your thoughts could not be unconcerned about the issue why all that you are worth in both worlds depends upon the truth of your saith which is now to be tried O therefore read not these lines with a running careless eye but seriously ponder the matter before you you would be loth to put to Sea though it were but to cross the channel in a rotten leaky bottome and will you dare to venture into the ocean of eternity in a false rotten faith God forbid you know the Lord is coming to try every mans faith as by fire and that we must stand or fall for ever with the sincerity or hypocrisie of our faith Surely you can never be too exact and careful about that on which your whole estate depends and that for ever Now there are three things upon which we should have a very tender and watchful eye for the discovery of the sincerity of our faith and they are The Antecedents of Faith Concomitants Consequents As these are so we must judge and reckon our faith to be And accordingly they furnish us with three general Marks or tryals of faith First If you would discern the sincerity of your faith examine 1. Mark whether those Antecedents and preparative works of the Spirit were ever found in your souls which use to introduce and usher it into the souls of Gods Elect such are illumination conviction self-despair and earnest crys to God First Illumination is a necessary antecedent to faith you
be called death if it were not for what follows him Rev. 6. 8. but when they consider that hell follows they tremble at the very name or thoughts of death Thirdly Such is the nature of these inward troubles of spirit that they swallow up the sense of all other outward troubles alas these are all lost in the deeps of soul sorrows as the little rivulets are in the vast Sea he that is wounded at the heart will not cry Oh at the bite of a Flea and surely no greater is the proportion betwixt outward and inward sorrows a small matter formerly would discompose a man and put him into a fret now ten thousand outward troubles are lighter than a feather For saith he why doth the living man complain am I yet on this side eternal burnings O let me not complain then whatever my condition be have I losses in the world or pains upon my body alas these are not to be named with the loss of God and the feeling of his wrath and indignation for evermore Thus you see what troubles inward troubles for sin be Secondly If you ask in the second place how it comes 2. How souls are supported under such troubles to pass that any soul is supported under such strong troubles of Spirit that all that feel them do not sink under them that all that go down into these deep waters of sorrow are not drowned in them The Answer is First Though this be a very sad time with the soul much like that of Adam betwixt the breach of the first Covenant and the first promise of Christ made to him yet the souls that are thus heavy laden do not sink because God hath a most tender care over them and regard to them underneath them are the everlasting arms and thence it is they sink not were they left to grapple with these troubles in their own strength they could never stand but God takes care of these mourners that their Spirits do not fail before him and the souls that he hath made I mean those of his Elect whom he is this way preparing for and bringing unto Christ. Secondly The Lord is pleased to nourish still some hope in the soul under the greatest fears and troubles of Spirit though it have no comfort or joy yet it hath some hope in the bottom and that keeps up the heart the afflicted soul doth in this case as the afflicted Church Lam. 3. 29. he putteth his mouth in the dust if yet there may be hope he saith its good for a man to hope and quietly to wait for the salvation of God there are usually some glimmerings or dawnings of mercy through Christ in the midnight darkness of inward troubles non dantur purae tenebrae in hell indeed there is no hope to enlighten the darkness but it is not so upon earth Thirdly The experiences of others who have been in the same deeps of trouble are also of great use to keep up the soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est primum picturae lineamentum sumitur hic pro exemplo ut viderent quid sibi spâ—…randum sit 〈◊〉 domino gratiam esse uberiorem ac potentiorem peccatoâ—… quis qui credit diffidereti sibi paratam esse veniam Poli Synops in Loc. above water The experience of another is of great use to prop up a desponding mind whilest as yet it hath none of its own and indeed for the support of souls in such cases they were recorded 1 Tim. 1. 16. For this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting for an encouraging pattern an eminent precedent to all poor sinners that were to come after him that none might absolutely despair of finding mercy through Christ. You know if a man be taken sick and none can tell what the disease is none can say that ever they heard of such a disease before it 's exceeding frightful but if one and another it may be twenty come to the sick mans bedside and tell him Sir be not afraid I have been in the very same case that you now are and so have many more and all did well at last why this is half a cure to the sick man So it is here a great support to hear the experiences of other Saints Fourthly As the experiences of others support the soul under these burdens so the riches of free grace through Jesus Christ uphold it 't is rich and abundant Psal. 130. ult plenteous redemption and 't is free and to the worst of sinners Isa. 1. 18. and under these troubles it finds it self in the way and proper method of mercy for so my Text a Text that hath upheld many thousand drooping hearts states it all this gives hope and encouragement under trouble Fifthly Lastly Though the state of the soul be sad and sinking yet Jesus Christ usually makes haste in the extremity of the trouble to relieve it by sweet and seasonable discoveries of his grace cum duplicantur lateres venit Moses in the Mount of the Lord it shall be seen It is with Christ as it was with Joseph whose bowels yearned towards his brethren and he was in pain till he had told them I am Joseph your brother This is sweetly exhibited to us in that excellent parable of the Prodigal Luke 15. when his Father saw him being yet a great way off he ran and fell upon his neck and kissed him mercy runs nimbly to help when souls are ready to fail under the pressure of sin And thus you see both how they are burthened and how upheld under the burthen Thirdly If it be enquired in the last place why God makes the burden of sin press so heavy upon the hearts of poor 3. Why doth God make the burden of sin lie so heavy upon the souls of some sinners sinners 't is answered First He doth it to divorce their hearts from sin by giving them an experimental taste of the bitterness and evil that is in sin mens hearts are naturally glewed with delight to their sinful courses all the perswasions and arguments in the world are too weak to separate them and their beloved lusts The morsels of sin go down smoothly and sweetly they roll them with much delectation under their tongues and it is but need that such bitter potions as these should be administred to make their stomachs rise against sin as that word used by the Apostle in 2 Cor. 7. 11. signifies in that ye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indignatio stomochatio Leigh's Critica in verb. sorrowed after a godly sort what indignation it wrought it notes the rising of the stomach with rage a being angry even unto sickness and this is the way the best and most effectual way to separate the soul of a sinner from his Lusts for in these troubles conscience saith as it is in
Gal. 6. 1. You that are spiritually minded restore or set him in joint again in the spirit of meekness considering thy self Israel was commanded to be kind to strangers for saith God you know the heart of a stranger and surely if any case in the world require help pity and all compassionate tenderness this doth and yet how do some slight spiritual troubles upon others Parents slight them in their own children Masters in their servants the more bruitish and wicked they O had you but felt your selves what they feel you would never handle them as you do But let this comfort such poor creatures Christ hath felt them and will pity and help them yea he therefore would feel them himself that he might have compassion upon you If men will not God will pity you if men be so cruel to persecute him whom God hath smitten God will be so kind to pour balm into the wounds that sin hath made if they pull away the shoulder from you and will not be concerned about your troubles except it be to aggravate them God will not serve you so but certainly you that have past through the same difficulties you cannot be without compassion to them that are now grapling with them Inference 4. How unexpressibly dreadful is the state of the damned who must bear the burden of all their sins upon themselves without relief or Inference 4. hope of deliverance Mark 9. 44. where their worm dyeth not and the fire is not quenched O if sin upon the soul that 's coming to Christ for deliverance be so burdensome what is it upon the soul that is shut out from Christ and all hopes of deliverance for ever For do but ponder these differences betwixt these two burdens First No soul is so capacious now to take in the fulness of the evil and misery of sin as they are who are gone down to the place of torments Even as the joyes of Gods face above are much unknown to them that have the foretastes and first-fruits of them here by faith so the misery of the damned is much unknown even to them that have in their consciences now the bitterest taste and sense of sin in this world as we have the visions of heaven so we have the visions of hell also but darkly through a glass Secondly No burden of sin presseth so continually upon the soul here as it doth there afflicted souls on earth have intermissions and breathing times but in hell there are no Lucid intervals the wrath of God there is still flowing it is in fluxu continuâ—… Isa. 30. 33. a stream of brimstone Thirdly No burden of sin lyes upon any of Gods elect so long as the damned do and must bear it our troubles about sin are but short though they should run parallel with the line of life but the troubles of the damned are parallel with the endless line of eternity Fourthly Under these troubles the soul hath hope but there all hope is cut off all the Gospel is full of hope it breathes nothing but hope to sinners that are moving Christ-ward under their troubles but in hell the pangs of desperation rend their consciences for ever So that upon all accounts the state of the damned is inexpressibly dreadful Inference 5. If the burden os sin be so heavy how sweet then must the Inference 5. pardon of sin be to a sin-burdened soul Is it a refreshment to a prisoner to have his chains knockt off a comfort to a debtor to have his debts paid and obligations cancelled What joy must it then be to a sin-burthened soul to hear the voice of pardon and peace in his trembling conscience Is the light of the morning pleasant to a man after a weary tiresome night the Spring of the year pleasant after a hard and tedious Winter they are so indeed but nothing so sweet as the favour peace and pardon of God to a soul that hath been long restless and anxious under the terrors and fears of conscience for though after pardon and peace a man remembers sin still yet it is as one that remembers the dangerous pits and deep waters from which he hath been wonderfully delivered and had a narrow escape O the unconceivable sweetness of a pardon Who can read it and not wet it with tears of joy Are we glad when the grinding pain of the Stone or racking fits of the Colick are over and shall we not be transported when the accusations and condemnations of conscience are over Tongue cannot express what these things are this joy is something that no words can convey to the understanding of another that never felt the anguish of sin Inference 6. Lastly In how sad a case are those that never felt any burden in Inference 6. sin that never were kept waking and restless one night for sin There is a burthened conscience and there is a benummed conscience The first is more painful but the last more dangerous O 't is a fearful blow of God upon a mans soul to strike it senseless and stupid so that though mountains of guilt lye upon it it feels no pain or pressure and this is so much the more sad because it incapacitates the soul for Christ and is a presage and fore-runner of hell It would grieve the heart of a man to see a delirious person in the rage and height of a fevor to laugh at those that are weeping for him call them fools and telling them he is as well as any of them much so is the case of many thousand souls the God of mercy pity them Second Use for Counsel The only further Use I shall make of this Point here shall Use 2. be to direct and counsel souls that are weary and heavy laden with the burden of sin in order to their obtaining true rest and peace And first First Counsel Satisfie not your selves in fruitless complaints to men Many 1. Counsel do so but it 's never the near I grant it 's lawful in spiritual distresses to complain to men yea and it is a great mercy if we have any near us in times of trouble that are judicious tender and faithful into whose bosomes we may pour out our troubles but to rest in this short of Christ is no better than a snare of the Devil to destroy us Is there not a God to go to in trouble The best of men in the neglect of Christ are but Physicians of no value Be wise and wary in your choice of Christian friends to whom you open your complaints some are not clear themselves in the doctrine of Christ and faith others are of a dark and troubled spirit as you are and will but entangle you more As for me saith Job is my complaint to man and if it were so why should not my spirit be troubled Job 21. 4. One hour betwixt Christ and thy soul in secret will do more to thy true relief than all other counsellors and comforters in
to perswade us to believe Joh. 15. 26. or external namely the preaching of the Gospel by Commissionated Embassadors who in Christ's stead beseech men to be reconciled to God i. e. to come to Christ by faith in order to their reconciliation and peace with God But all means and instruments employ'd in this work of bringing men to Christ entirely depend upon the blessing and concurrence of the Spirit of God without whom they signifie nothing how long may Ministers preach before one soul come to Christ except the Spirit co-operate in that work Now as to the manner in which men are perswaded and their wills wrought upon to come to Christ I will briefly note several acts of the Spirit in order thereunto First There is an illustrating work of the Spirit upon the minds of sinners opening their eyes to see their danger and misery Till this be discovered no man stirs from his place 't is sense of danger that rouzes the secure sinner that distresses him and makes him look about for deliverance crying What shall I do to be saved and 't is the discovery of Christs ability to save which is the ground and reason as was observed above of its motion to Christ. Hence seeing the Son is joyned with believing or coming to him in John 6. 40. Secondly There is the Authoritative call or commanding voice of the Spirit in the Word a voice that 's full of awful majesty and power 1 Joh. 3. 23. This is his Commandment that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ. This call of the Spirit to come to Christ rolls one great block namely the fear of presumption out of the souls way to Christ and instead of presumption in coming makes it rebellion and inexcusable obstinacy to refuse to come This answers all pleas against coming to Christ from our unworthiness and deep guilt and mightily encourages the soul to come to Christ whatever it hath been or done Thirdly There are soul-encouraging conditional promises to all that do come to Christ in obedience to the Command Such is that in my Text I will give you rest and that in John 6. 37. Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out and these breathe life and encouragement into poor souls that hang back and are daunted through their own unworthiness Fourthly There are dreadful threatnings denounced by the Spirit in the Word against all that refuse or neglect to come to Christ which are of great use to engage and quicken souls in their way to Christ Mark 16. 16. He that believes not shall be damned Dye in his sins John 8. 24. The wrath of God shall remain on him John 3. ult Which is as if the Lord had said Sinners don't dally with my Christ don 't be alwayes treating and never concluding or resolving for if there be Justice in heaven or Fire in hell every soul that comes not to Christ must and shall perish to all eternity upon your own heads let the blood and destruction of your own souls be for ever if you will not come unto him Fifthly There are moving and working examples set before souls in the Word to prevail with them to come alluring and encouraging Examples of such as have come to Christ under deepest guilt and discouragement and yet found mercy 1 Tim. 1. 15 16. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief howbeit or nevertheless for this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe in him to life everlasting Who would not come to Christ after such an example as this And if this will not prevail there are dreadful examples recorded in the Word setting before us the miserable condition of all such as refuse the calls of the Word to come to Christ 1 Pet. 3. 19 20. By which also he went and preached to the spirits which are in prison which sometime were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the dayes of Noah The meaning is the sinners that lived before the Flood but now are in hell clapt up into that prison had the offers of grace made them but despised them and now lye for their disobedience in prison under the wrath of God for it in the lowest hell Sixthly and Lastly There is an effectual perswading overcoming and victorious work of the Spirit upon the hearts and wills of sinners under which they come to Jesus Christ. Of this I have spoken at large before in the fourth Sermon and therefore shall not add any thing more here This is the way and manner in which souls are prevailed with to come to Jesus Christ. Thirdly In the last place if you enquire why Christ makes his invitations to weary and heavy laden souls and to 3. no other the answer is briefly this First Because in so doing he follows the Commission which he received from his Father for so you will find it runs in Isa. 61. 1. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tydings to the meek he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted to proclaim liberty to the Captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound You see here how Christs Commission binds him up his Father sent him to poor broken hearted sinners and he will keep close to his Commission He came not to call the righteous but sinners i. e. sensible burthened sinners to repentance Matth. 9. 13. I am not sent saith he but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel Thus his Instructions and Commission from the Father limit him only to sensible and burthened souls and he will be faithful to his Commission Secondly The very order of the Spirits work in bringing men to Christ shews us to whom the invitations and offers of grace in Christ are to be made For none are convinced of righteousness i. e. of the compleat and perfect righteousness which is in Christ for their Justification until first they be convinced of sin and consequently no man will or can come to Christ by faith till convictions of sin have awakened and distressed them John 16. 8 9. This being the due order of the Spirits operation the same order must be observed in Gospel offers and invitations Thirdly It behoves that Christ should provide for his own glory as well as for our safety and not expose that to secure this but save us in that way which will bring him most honour and praise And certainly such a way is this by first convincing humbling and burthening the souls of men and then bringing them to rest in himself Alas Let those that never saw or felt the evil of sin be told of rest peace and pardon in Christ they will but despise it as a thing of no value Luke 5. 31. The whole
in heaven in the full enjoyment of God There is a sweet calm upon the troubled soul after believing an ease or rest of the mind which is an unspeakable mercy to a poor weary soul. Christ is to it as the Ark was to the Dove when she wandred over the watery World and found not a place to rest the soal of her foot Faith centres the unquiet spirit of man in Christ brings it to repose it self and its burden on him It is the souls dropping anchor in a storm which stayes and settles it The great debate which cost so many anxious thoughts is now issued into this resolution I will venture my all upon Christ let him do with me as seemeth him good It was impossible for the soul to find rest whilest it knew not where to bestow it self or how to be secured from the wrath to come but when all is embarqued in Christ for eternity and the soul fully resolved to lean upon him and trust to him now it feels the very initials of eternal rest in it self it finds an heavy burden unloaded from its shoulders it is come as it were into a new world the case is strangely altered The word rest in this place notes and is so rendered by some a recreation 't is restored renewed and recreated as it Recreabo vos nempe à lassitudine à molestia onere Vatab. Erasm. were by that sweet repose it hath upon Christ. Believers know that faith is the sweetest recreation you can take Others seek to divert and lose their troubles by sinful recreations vain company and the like but they little know what that recreation and sweet restoring rest that faith gives the soul is You find in Christ what they seek in vain among the creatures Believing is the highest recreation known in this world But to prevent mistakes three Cautions need to be premised lest we do in ipso limine impingere stumble at the threshold and so lose our way all along afterward Caution 1. You are not to conceive that all the souls fears troubles and sorrows are presently over and at an end as soon as it is come to Caution 1. Christ by faith They will have many troubles in the world after that it may be more than ever they had in their lives Luther upon his conversion was so buffeted by Satan ut nec calor nec sanguis nec sensus nec vox superesset Our flesh saith Paul had no rest 2 Cor. 7. 5. They will be infested with many temptations after that it may be the assaults of Satan may be more violent upon their souls than ever horribilia de deo terribilia de fide Injections that make the very bones to quake and the belly to tremble they will not be freed from sin that rest remains for the people of God nor from inward trouble and grief of soul about sin These things are not to be expected presently Caution 2. We may not think that all believers do immediately enter into Caution 2. the full actual sense of rest and comfort but they presently enter into the state of rest Being justified by faith we have peace with God Rom. 5. 1. i. e. we enter into the state of peace immediately Peace is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart Psal. 97. 11. And he is a rich man that hath a thousand acres of corn in the ground as well as he that hath so much in his barn or the money in his purse They have rest and peace in the seed of it when they have it not in the fruit they have rest in the promise when they have it not in possession and he is a rich man that hath good Bonds and Bills for a great summ of money if he have not twelve pence in his pocket All believers have the promise have rest and peace granted them under Gods own hand in many promises which faith brings them under and we know that the truth and faithfulness of God stands engaged to make good every line and word of the promise to them So that though they have not a full and clear actual sense and feeling of rest they are nevertheless by faith come into the state of rest Caution 3. We may not conceive that faith it self is the souls rest but Caution 3. the means and instrument of it only We cannot find rest in any work or duty of our own but we may find it in Christ whom faith apprehends for Justification and Salvation Having thus guarded the point against misapprehensions by these needful cautions I shall next shew you how our coming to Christ by faith brings us to rest in him And here let it be considered what those things are that burden grieve and disquiet the soul before its coming to Christ and how it is relieved and eased in all those respects by its coming to the Lord Jesus and you shall find First That one principal ground of trouble is the guilt 1. of sin upon the conscience of which I spake in the former point The curse of the Law lyes heavy upon the soul so heavy that nothing is found in all the world able to relieve it under that burthen as you see in a condemned man spread a Table in Prison with the greatest dainties and send for the rarest Musicians all will not charm his sorrow but if you can produce an authentick pardon you ease him presently just so it is here faith plucks the thorn out of the conscience which so grieved it unites the soul with Christ and then that ground of trouble is removed for there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Rom. 8. 11. The same moment the soul comes to Christ it is past from death to life is no more under the Law but Grace If a mans debt be paid by his surety he need not fear to shew his face boldly abroad he may freely meet the Sergeant at the prison door Secondly The soul of a convinced sinner is exceedingly 2. burdened with the uncleanness and filthiness wherewith sin hath defiled and polluted it Conviction discovers the universal pollution of heart and life so that a man loaths and abhorrs himself by reason thereof If he do not look into his own corruptions he cannot be safe and if he do he cannot bear the sight of it he hath no quiet Nothing can give rest but what gives relief against this evil And this only is done by faith uniting the soul with Jesus Christ. For though it be true that the pollution of sin be not presently and perfectly taken away by coming to Christ yet the burden thereof is exceedingly eased for upon our believing there is an heart-purifying principle planted into the soul which doth by degrees cleanse that fountain of corruption and will at last perfectly free the soul from it Acts 15. 9. Purifying their hearts by faith and being once in Christ he is concerned for the soul as
the way of faith He is a restless spirit himself and would make us so too it is an excellent note of Minutius Foelix Those desperate Ad Solamen calamitatis suae non definunt per iâ—…i perdere Minut Felix and restless Spirits saith he have no other pleasure but in bringing us to the same misery themselves are in he goeth about as a roaring Lyon seeking whom he may devour It frets and grates his proud and envious mind to see others find rest when he can find none an effectual Plaister applied to heal our wound when his own must bleed to eternity and he obtains his end fully if he can but keep off souls from Christ look therefore upon all those objections and discouragements raised in your hearts against coming to Christ as so many Artifices and cunning Devices of the Devil to destroy and ruine your souls 'T is true they have a very specious and colourable appearance they are guilded over with pretences of the Justice of God the heinous nature of sin the want of due and befitting qualifications for so holy and pure a God the lapsing of the reason of mercy and an hundred other of like nature but I beseech you lay down this as a sure conclusion and hold it fast that whatever it be that discourages and hinders you from coming to Christ is directly against the interest of your souls and the hand of the Divil is certainly in it Inference 2. Hence also it follows That unbelief is the true reason of all that disquietness and trouble by which the minds of poor sinners are Inference 2. so rackt and tortured If you will not believe you cannot be established till you come to Christ peace cannot come to you Christ and peace are undivided Good souls consider this you have tryed all other ways you have tried duties and no rest comes you have tried reformation restitution and a stricter course of life yet your wounds are still open and fresh bleeding these things I grant are in their places both good and necessary but of themselves without Christ utterly insufficient to give what you expect from them why will you not try the way of faith why will you not carry your burthen to Christ O that you would be perswaded to it how soon would you find what so long you have been seeking in vain how long will you thus oppose your own good how long will you keep your selves upon the rack of Conscience is it easie to go under the throbs and wounds of an accusing and condemning Conscience You know it is not you look for peace but no good comes for a time of healing and behold trouble alas it must and will be so still untill you fall into the way of faith which is the true and only method to obtain rest Inference 3. What cause have we all to admire the goodness of God in providing for us a Christ in whom we may find rest to our Inference 3. souls How hath the Lord filled and furnished Jesus Christ with all that is suitable to a Believers wants Doth the guilt of sin terrifie his Conscience Lo in him is perfect righteousness to remove that guilt so that it shall neither be imputed to his person nor reflected by his Conscience in the way of condemnation as it was before In him also is a Fountain opened for washing and for cleansing the filth of sin from our souls in him is the fulness both of Merit and of Spirit two sweet Springs of Peace to the souls of men well might the Apostle say Christ the wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1. 30. and well might the Church say he is altogether lovely Cant 5. 16. Had not God provided Jesus Christ for us we had never known one hours rest to all eternity Inference 4. How unreasonable and wholly inexcusable in Believers is the sin of backsliding from Christ Have you found rest in him Inference 4. when you could not find it in any other Did he receive and ease your souls when all other persons and things were Physicians of no value and will you after this backslide from him again O what madness is this Will a man leave the Snow of Lebanon which cometh from the Rock of the Field or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken No man that is in his wits would leave the pure cold refreshing streams of a Crystal Fountain to go to a filthy pudled Lake or an empty Cistern as the best enjoyments of this world are in comparison with Jesus Christ. It was Christs melting expostulation with the Disciples Joh. 6. 67 68. when some had forsaken him will ye also go away and it was a very suitable return they made Lord whither away from thee should we go q. d. from thee Lord no no where can we mend our selves Be sure of it when ever you go from Christ ye go from rest to trouble Had Judas rest had Spira rest and do you think you shall have reâ—… no no The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways Prov. 14. 14. you shall have your bellies full of it Cursed be the man that departeth from him he shall be as the Heath in the Desart that seeth not when good cometh and shall inhabit the parched places of the wilderness Jer. 17. 5. If fear of sufferings and worldly temptations ever draw you off from Christ you may come to those straights and terrors of Conscience that will make you wish your selves back again with Christ in a Prison with Christ at a Stake Inference 5. Let all that come to Christ learn to improve him to the rest and peace of their own souls in the midst of all the troubles and Inference 5. outward distresses they meet with in the world Surely rest may be found in Christ in any condition he is able to give you peace in the midst of all your troubles here So he tells you in Joh. 16. ult These things have I spoken to you that in me you might have peace in the world you shall have tribulation by peace he means not a deliverance from troubles by taking off affliction from them or taking them away by death from all afflictions but it is something they enjoy from Christ in the very thick of troubles and amidst all their afflictions that quiets and gives them rest so that troubles cannot hurt them certainly Believers you have peace in Christ when there is little in your own hearts and your hearts might be filled with peace too if you would exercise faith upon Christ for that end 't is your own fault if you be without rest in any condition in this world Set your selves to study the fulness of Christ and to clear your interest in him believe what the Scriptures reveal of him and live as you believe and you will quickly find the peace of God filling your hearts and minds Blessed be God for Jesus Christ. The Tenth SERMON
Christ he doth all gratis he sells not his medicines though they be of infinite value but freely gives them Isai. 55. 1. He that hath no money let him come if any be sent away 't is the rich Luk. 1. 53. not the poor and needy those that will not accept their remedy as a free gift but will needs purchase it at a price Ninthly and Lastly None rejoyces in the recovery of souls more than Christ doth O it is unspeakably delightful to him to see the efficacy of his blood upon our souls Isai. 53. 11. He shall see the travail of his soul i. e. the success of his death and sufferings and shall be satisfied when he foresaw the success of the Gospel upon the world it 's said Luk. 10. 21. In that hour Jesus rejoyced in spirit and thus you see there is no Physician like Christ for sick souls The Uses of this Point are For Information and Direction First From hence we are informed of many great and necessary truths deducible from this as Inference 1. How inexpressible is the grace of God in providing such a Physician Inference 1. as Christ for the sick and dying souls of Sinners O blessed be God that there is Balm in Gilead and a Physician there that your case is not as desperate forlorn and remediless as that of the Devils and damned is There is but one case excepted from cure and that such as is not incident to any sensible afflicted soul Mat. 12. 31. and this only excepted all manner of sins and diseases are capable of a cure Though there be such a disease as is incurable yet take this for thy comfort never any soul was sick i. e. sensibly burthened with it and willing to come to Jesus Christ for healing for under that sin the will is so wounded that they have no desire to Christ. O inestimable mercy that the sickest sinner is capable of a perfect cure There be thousands and ten thousands now in Heaven and earth who said once never was any case like theirs so dangerous so hopeless The greatest of sinners have been perfectly recovered by Christ 1 Tim. 1. 15. 1 Cor. 6. 11. O mercy never to be duly estimated Inference 2. What a powerful restraint from sin is the very method ordained Inference 2. by God for the cure of it Isai. 53. 5. by his stripes we are healed The Physician must dye that the Patient might live no other thing but the blood the precious blood of Christ is found in Heaven or earth able to heal us Heb. 9. 22. 26. This blood of Christ must be freshly applied to every new wound sin makes upon our souls 1 John 2. 1 2. every new sin wounds him afresh opens the wounds of Christ anew O think of this again and again you that so easily yield to the solicitations of Satan is it so cheap and easie to sin as you seem to make it Doth the cure of souls cost nothing True it is free to us but was it so to Christ No no it was not he knows the price of it though you do not hath Christ healed you by his stripes and can you put him under fresh sufferings for you so easily Have you forgot also your own sick days and nights for sin that you are careless in resisting and preventing it Sure 't is not easie for Saints to wound Christ and their own souls at one stroke if you renew your sins you must also renew your sorrows and repentance Psal. 51. Title 2 Sam. 12. 13. you must feel the throes and pains of a troubled Spirit again things with which the Saints are not unacquainted of which they may say as the Church Remembring my affliction the Wormwood and the Gall my soul hath them still in remembrance Lam. 3. 19. Yea and if you will yet be remiss in your watch and so easily incur new guilt though a pardon in the blood of Christ may heal your souls yet some Rod or other in the hand of a displeased Father shall afflict your bodies or smite you in your outward Comforts Psal. 89. 32. Inference 3. If Christ be the only Physician of sick souls what sin and folly is it for men to take Christs work out of his hands and attempt Inference 3. to be their own Physicians Thus do those that superstitiously endeavour to heal their souls by afflicting their bodies not Christs blood but their own must be the Plaister and as blind Papists â—…o many carnal and ignorant Protestants strive by confession restitution reformation and a stricter course of life to heal those wounds that sin hath made upon their souls without any respect to the blood of Christ but this course shall not profit them at all It may for a time divert but can never heal them the wounds so skinned over will open and bleed again God grant it be not when our souls shall be out of the reach of the true and only remedy Inference 4. How sad is the case of those souls to whom Christ hath not Inference 4. yet been a Physician They are mortally wounded by sin and are like to dye of their sickness no saving healing applications having hitherto been made unto their souls and this is the case of the greatest part of mankind yea of them that live under the discoveries of Christ in the Gospel which appears by these sad symptoms First In that their eyes have not yet been opened to see their sin and misery in which illumination the cure of souls begins Act. 26. 18. to this day he hath not given them Eyes to see Deut. 29. 4. but that terrible stroke of God which blinds and hardens them is too visibly upon them mentioned in Isai. 6. 9 10. no hope of healing till the sinners Eyes be opened to see his sin and misery Secondly In that nothing will divorce and separate them from their lusts a sure sign they are not under Christs cure nor were ever made sick of sin O if ever Christ be a Physician to thy soul he will make thee loath what now thou lovest and say to thy most pleasant and profitable lusts get ye hence Isai. 30. 22. till then there is no ground to think that Christ is a Physician to you Thirdly In that they have no sensible and pressing need of Christ nor make any earnest enquiry after him as most certainly you would do if you were in the way of healing and recovery These and many other sad symptoms do too plainly discover the disease of sin to be in its full strength upon your souls and if it so continue how dreadful will the issue be See Isai. 6. 9 10. Inference 5. What cause have they to be glad that are under the hand and Inference 5 care of Christ in order to a cure and who do find or may upon due examination find their souls are in a very hopeful way of recovery Can we rejoyce when the strength of a natural disease is broken and
proof than the following particulars First That he espouseth to himself in mercy and in loving kindness such deformed defiled and altogether unworthy souls as we are who have no beauty no excellency to make us desirable in his eyes all the springs of his love to us are in his own breast Deut. 7. 7. He chooseth us not because we were but that he might make us lovely Ephes. 5. 27. He passed by us when we lay in our blood and said unto us live and that was the time of love Ezec. 16. 5. Secondly He expects nothing with us and yet bestows himself and all he hath upon us our poverty cannot enrich him but he made himself poor to enrich us 2 Cor. 8 9. 1 Cor. 3. 22. Thirdly No Husband loves the Wife of his bosome at the rate Christ loved his people Eph. 5. 25. He loved the Church and gave himself for it Fourthly None bears with weaknesses and provocations as Christ doth the Church is stiled the Lambs Wife Rev. 21. 9. Fifthly No Husband is so immortal and everlasting a Husband as Christ is Death separates all other relations but the souls union with Christ is not dissolved in the Grave yea the day of a Believers death is his marriage-day the day of his fullest enjoyment of Christ no Husband can say to his Wife what Christ saith to the Believer I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Heb. 13. 5. Sixthly No Bridegroom advanceth his Bride to such honours by Marriage as Christ doth he relates them to God as their Father and from that day the mighty and glorious Angels think it no dishonour to be their servants Heb. 1. 14. They are brought in admiring the beauty and glory of the Spouse of Christ Rev. 21. 9. Seventhly and Lastly No marriage was ever consummated with that triumphal solemnity as the marriage of Christ and Believers shall be in Heaven Psal. 45. 14 15. She shall be brought to the King in rayment of needle work the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee with gladness and rejoycing shall they be brought they shall enter into the Kings Palace Among the Jews the marriage house was called Bethillula the house of praise there was joy upon all hands but not like the joy that will be in Heaven when Believers the Spouse of Christ shall be brought thither God the Father will rejoyce to behold the blessed accomplishment and consummation of that glorious design and project of his love Jesus Christ the Bridegroom will rejoyce to see the travail of his soul the blessed birth and issue of all his bitter pangs and agonies Isai. 53. 11. The holy Spirit will rejoyce to see the complement and perfection of that sanctifying design which was committed to his hand 2 Cor. 5. 5. To see those souls whom he once found as rough stones now to shine as the bright polished stones of the Spiritual Temple Angels will rejoyce great was the joy when the foundation of this design was laid in the incarnation of Christ Luk. 2. 13. Great therefore must their joy be when the top-stone is set up with shouting crying Grace grace The Saints themselves shall rejoyce unspeakably when they shall enter into the Kings Palace and be for ever with the Lord 1 Thess. 4. 17. Indeed there will be joy on all hands except among the Devils and damned who shall gnash their teeth with envy at the everlasting advancement and glory of Believers Thus Christ is altogether lovely in the relation of a Bridegroom Thirdly Christ is altogether lovely in the relation of an Advocate 1 Joh. 2. 1. If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation 't is he that pleads the cause of Believers in Heaven appears for them in the presence of God to prevent all new breaches and continue the state of friendship and peace betwixt God and us In this relation Christ is altogether lovely For First He makes our cause his own and acts for us in Heaven as for himself Heb. 4. 15. He is touched with the tender sense of our troubles and dangers and is not only one with us by way of representation but also one with us in respect of sympathy and affection Secondly Christ our Advocate follows our suit and business in Heaven as his great and main design and business therefore in Heb. 7. 25. he is said to live for ever to make intercession for us as if our concernments were so minded by him there as to give up himself wholly to that work as if all the glory and honour which is paid him in Heaven would not satisfie him or divert him one moment from our business Thirdly He pleads the cause of Believers by his blood it satisfies him not as other Advocates to be at the expence of words and oratory which is a cheaper way of pleading but he pleads for us by the voice of his own blood Heb. 12. 24. where we are said to be come to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel every wound he received for us on earth is a mouth opened to plead with God on our behalf in Heaven quot vulnera tot ora and hence it is that in Rev. 5. 6. he is represented standing before God as a Lamb that had been slain as it were exhibiting and opening in Heaven those deadly wounds received on earth from the justice of God upon our account other Advocates spend their breath Christ his blood Fourthly He pleads the cause of Believers freely other Advocates plead for reward and exhaust the Purses while they plead the causes of their Clients Fifthly In a word he obtaineth for us all the mercies for which he pleads no cause miscarries in his hand which he undertakes Rom. 8. 33 34. O what a lovely Advocate is Christ for Believers Fourthly Christ is altogether lovely in the relation of a Friend for in this relation he is pleased to own his people Luk. 12. 4 5. There are certain things in which one friend manifests his affection and friendship to another but none like Christ. For First No Friend is so open-hearted to his friend as Christ is to his people he reveals the very counsels and secrets of his heart to them Joh. 15. 15. Henceforth I call you not servants for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doth but I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you Secondly No Friend in the world is so expensive and bountiful to his friend as Jesus Christ is to Believers Joh. 15. 13. He parts with his very blood for them greater love saith he hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends he hath exhausted the precious treasures of this invaluable blood to pay our debts O what a lovely friend is Jesus Christ to Believers Thirdly No Friend sympathises so tenderly with his Friend in
being ever with the Lord he charges it upon them as their great duty to comfort one another with those words 1 Thes. 4. 17 18. Deduction 5. How unreasonable are the dejections of Believers upon the account of those troubles which they meet with in this world 'T is true afflictions of all kinds do attend Believers in their way to God through many tribulations we must enter into that Kingdom but what then Must we despond and droop under them as other men Surely no if afflictions be the way through which you must come to God then never be discouraged at affliction Troubles and afflictions are of excellent use under the blessing of the Spirit to further Christs great design of bringing you to God How often would you turn out of that way which leads to God if God did not hedge up your way with thorns Hosea 2. 6. Doubtless when you come home to God you shall find you have been as much beholding it may be a great deal more to your troubles than to your comforts for bringing you thither however the sweetness of the end will infinitely more than recompence the sorrows and troubles of the way nor are they worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in you Rom. 8. 18. Deduction 6. How much are all Believers obliged in point of interest to follow Jesus Christ whithersoever he goes Thus are the Saints described Rev. 14. 4. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth these were redeemed from among men being the first-fruits unto God and to the Lamb. If it be the design of Christ to bring us to God then certainly it is our duty to follow Christ in all the paths of active and passive obedience through which he now leads us as ever we expect to be brought home to God at last We are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end Heb. 3. 14. If we have followed him through many sufferings and troubles and shall turn away from him at last we lose all that we have wrought and suffered in Religion and shall never reach home to God at last the Crown of life belongs only to them who are faithful to the death Deduction 7. Let all that desire or expect to come unto God hereafter come to Christ by faith now There is no other way to the Father but by Christ no other way to Christ but faith how vain therefore are the hopes and expectations of all unbelievers Be assured of this great truth Death shall bring you to God as an avenging Judge if Christ do not bring you now to God as a reconciled Father without holiness no man shall see God the dore of hope is shut against all Christless persons John 14. 6. No man cometh unto the Father but by me Oh what a sweet voice cometh down from Heaven to your souls this day saying As ever you expect or hope to come to God and enjoy the blessedness that is here come unto Christ obey his calls give up your selves to his conduct and government and you shall certainly be brought to God as sure as you shall now be brought to Jesus Christ by spiritual union so sure shall you be brought to God in full fruition Blessed be God for Jesus Christ the new and living way to the Father ANd thus I have finished the Motives drawn from the titles and benefits of Christ serving to enforce and quicken the great Gospel-exhortation of coming to and effectually applying the Lord Jesus Christ in the way of faith O that the blessings of the Spirit might follow these Calls and fix these Considerations as Nailes in sure places But seeing the great hindrance and obstruction to faith is the false opinion and perswasion of most unregenerate men that they are already in Christ My next work therefore shall be in a second Use of Conviction to undeceive men in that matter and that by shewing them the undoubted certainty of these two things First That there is no coming ordinarily to Christ without the Applications of the Law to our Consciences in a way of effectual Conviction Secondly Nor by that neither without the teachings of God in the way of spiritual illumination The first of these will be fully confirmed and opened in The Twentieth SERMON Sermon 20. Rom. 7. 9. Text. The great usefulness of the Law or Word of God in order to the application of Christ. For I was alive without the Law once but when the Commandment came sin revived and I died THe scope of the Apostle in this Epistle and more particularly in this Chapter is to state the due use and excellency of the Law which he doth accordingly First By denying to it power to justifie us which is the peculiar honour of Christ. Secondly By ascribing to it a power to convince us and so prepare us for Christ. Neither attributing to it more honour than belongeth to it nor yet detracting from it that honour and usefulness which God hath given it It cannot make us righteous but it can convince us that we are unrighteous it cannot heal but it can open and discover the wounds that sin hath given us which he proves in this place by an argument drawn from his own experience confirmed also by the general experience of Believers in whose persons and names we must here understand him to speak For I was alive without the Law once but when the Commandment came sin revived and I died wherein three particulars are very observable First The opinion Paul had and all unregenerate men have of themselves before Conversion I was alive once by 1. life understand here liveliness chearfulness and confidence of his good estate and condition he was full of vain hope false joy and presumptuous confidence a very brisk and jovial man Secondly The sense and opinion he had and all others will have of themselves if ever they come under the regenerating 2. work of the Spirit in his ordinary method of working I died The death he here speaks of stands opposed to that life before mentioned and signifies the sorrows fears and tremblings that seized upon his soul when his state and temper were upon the change the apprehensions he then had of his condition struck him home to the heart and damped all his carnal mirth I died Thirdly The ground and reason of this wonderful alteration and change of his judgement and apprehension of 3. his own condition the Commandment came and sin revived the Commandment came i. e. it came home to my Conscience it was set on with a divine and mighty efficacy upon my heart the Commandment was come before by way of promulgation and the literal knowledge of it but it never came till now in the spiritual sense and convincing power to his soul though he had often read and heard the Law before yet he never clearly understood the meaning and extent he never felt the mighty
and what an account have those men to give to God for the blood of those souls by them betrayed to the everlasting burnings Such flattery is the greatest cruelty those whom you bless upon earth will curse you in Hell and the day in which they trusted their souls to your conduct Inference 3. How great a mercy is it to be awakened out of that general sleep and security which is fallen upon the world You cannot estimate Inference 3. the value of that mercy for it is a peculiar mercy O that ever the Spirit of the Lord should give thy soul a jog under the Ministry of the word startle and rouse thy Conscience whilst others are left snoring in the deep sleep of security round about thee when the Lord shall deal with thy soul much after that rate he did with Paul in the way to Damascus who not only saw a light shining from Heaven which those that travelled with him saw as well as he but heard that voice from Heaven which did the work upon his heart though his Companions heard it not Besides it is not only a peculiar mercy but it is a leading introductive mercy to all other spiritual mercies that follow it to all eternity if God had not done this for thee thou hadst never been brought to faith to Christ or Heaven for from this act of the Spirit all other saving acts take their rise so that you have cause for ever to admire the goodness of God in such a favour as this is Inference 4. Lastly Hence it follows that the generality of the world are in the direct way to eternal ruine and whatever their vain confidences Inference 4. are they cannot be saved Narrow is the way and strait is the gate that leadeth unto life and few there be that find it Hear me all you that live this dangerous life of carnal security and vain hope whatever your perswasions and confidences are except you give them up and get better grounds for your hope you cannot be saved For First Such hopes and confidences as yours are directly contradictory to the established order of the Gospel which requires repentance Acts 5. 31. faith Acts 13. 39. and regeneration John 3. 3. in all that shall be saved and this order shall never be altered for any mans sake Secondly If such as you be saved all the threatnings in Scripture must be reversed which lie in full opposition to your vain hopes Mark 16. 16. John 3. 16. Rom. 3. 8 9. either the truth of God in these threatnings must fail or your vain hopes must fail Thirdly If ever such as you be saved new conditions must be set to all the promises for there is no condition of any special promise found in any unregenerate person Compare your hearts with these Scriptures Mat. 5. 3 4 5 6. Psal. 24. 4. Psal. 84. 11. Gen. 17. 1 2. Fourthly If ever such a hope as yours bring you to Heaven then the saving hope of Gods elect is not rightly described to us in the Scriptures Scripture hope is the effect of regeneration 1 Pet. 1. 3. and purity of heart is the effect of that hope 1 John 3. 3. Nay Fifthly The very nature of Heaven is mistaken in Scripture if such as you be Subjects qualified for its enjoyment for assimilation or the conformity of the soul to God in holiness is in the Scripture account a principal ingredient of that blessedness by all which it manifestly appears that the hopes of most men are vain and will never bring them to Heaven The Twenty first SERMON Sermon 21. Doct. 2. That there is a mighty efficacy in the Word or Law Doct. 2. of God to kill vain Confidence and quench carnal Mirth in the hearts of men when God sets it home upon their Consciences THe weapons of the word are not carnal but mighty 2 Cor. 10. 4 5. through God to the pulling down of strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. In the opening of this point I shall 1. Demonstrate the efficacy of the word or Law of God 2. Shew wherein the efficacy thereof lies 3. From whence it hath all this mighty power and efficacy First I shall give you some demonstrations of the mighty power and efficacy that there is in the word or Law of God 1. which will appear with fullest evidence First From the various subjects upon whom it works the hearts and Consciences of men of all orders and qualities 1. have been reached and wounded to the quick by the two-edged sword of Gods Law Some among the great and honourable of the earth though indeed the fewest of that rank have been made to stoop and tremble under the word Act. 24. 16. Mark 6. 20. 1 Sam. 15. 24. the wise and learned of the world have felt its power and been brought over to imbrace the humbling and self-denying ways of Christ Acts 17. 34. Thus Origen Hierom Tertullian Bradwardine and many more came into Canaan laden with Egyptian Gold as one speaks i. e. they came into the Church of God abundantly enriched and furnished with the learned arts and sciences devoting them all to the service of Christ Yea and which is as strange the most simple weak and illiterate have been wonderfully changed and wrought upon by the power of the word the testimonies of the Lord make wise the simple Men of weak understandings in all other matters have been made wise to salvation by the power of the word Mat. 11. 25. 1 Cor. 1. 27. Nay the most malicious and obstinate enemies of Christ have been wounded and converted by the word 1 Tim. 1. 13. Act. 16. 24. Those that have been under the prejudice of the worst and most idolatrous education have been the subjects of its mighty power Act. 19. 26. To conclude men of the most profligate and debauched lives have been wonderfully changed and altered by the power of the word 1 Cor. 6. 10 11. Secondly The mighty efficacy of the Law of God appears in the manner of its operation which works suddenly strikes like a Dart through the hearts and Consciences of men Act. 2. 37. a wonderful change is made in a short time and as it works quickly and suddenly so it works irresistibly with an uncontrouled power upon the spirits of men 1 Thes. 1. 5. Rom. 1. 16. Let the soul be armed against conviction with the thickest ignorance strongest prejudice or most obstinate resolution the word of God will wound the breast even of such a man when God sends it forth in his authority and power Thirdly The wonderful power of the Law or word of God is evidently seen in the strange effects which are produced by it in the hearts and lives of men For First It changes and alters the frame and temper of the mind it moulds a man into a quite contrary
temper Gal. 〈◊〉 1. 23. He which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed thus a Tyger is transformed into a Lamb by the power of the word of God Secondly It makes the soul upon which it works to forgo and quit the dearest interest it hath in this world for Jesus Christ Phil. 3. 7 8 9. riches honours self righteousness dearest relations are denied and forsaken reproach poverty and death it self are willingly imbraced for Christs sake when once the efficacy of the word hath been upon the hearts of men 1 Thes. 1. 6. Those that were their companions in sin are declined renounced and cast off with abhorrence 1 Pet. 4. 3 4. In such things as these the mighty power of the word discovers it self Secondly Next let us see wherein the efficacy of the word upon the souls of men principally consisteth and we find 2. in Scripture it exerteth its power in five distinct acts upon the soul by all which it strikes at the life and kills the very heart of vain hopes For First It hath an awakening efficacy upon secure and sleepy sinners it rouzes the Conscience and brings a man to a sense and feeling apprehension Eph. 5. 13 14. the first effectual jog or touch of the word startles the drousie Conscience A poor sinner lies in his sins as Peter did in his Chains fast asleep though a Warrant were signed for his Execution the next day but the Spirit in the word awakens him as the Angel did Peter and this awakening power of the word is in order both of time and nature antecedent to all its other operations and effects Secondly The Law of God hath an enlightning efficacy upon the minds of men 't is eye-salve to the blinded eye Rev. 3. 18. a light shining in a dark place 2 Pet. 1. 19. a light shining into the very heart of man 2 Cor. 4. 6. When the word comes in power all things appear with another face the sins that were hid from our eyes and the danger which was concealed by the policy of Satan from our souls now lie clear and open before us Eph. 5. 8. Thirdly The word of God hath a convincing efficacy it sets sin in order before the soul Psal. 50. 21. as an Army is drawn up in exact order so are the sins of nature and practice the sins of youth and age even a great and terrible Army is drawn up before the eye of the Conscience the convictions of the word are clear and full 1 Cor. 14. 24 25. the very secrets of a sinners heart are made manifest his mouth is stopt his pleas are silenced his Conscience yields to the charge of guilt and equity of the sentence of the Law So that the soul stands mute and self-condemned at the Bar of Conscience it hath nothing to say why the wrath of God should not come upon it to the uttermost Rom. 3. 19. Fourthly The Law of God hath a soul-wounding an heart-cutting efficacy it pierces into the very soul and spirit of man Act. 2. 37. When they heard this they were pricked at their hearts and said unto Peter and to the rest of the Apostles Men and brethren what shall we do A dreadful sound is in the sinners ears his soul is in deep distress he knows not which way to turn for ease no Plaister but the blood of Christ can heal these wounds which the word makes no outward trouble affliction disgrace or loss ever touched the quick as the word of God doth Fifthly The word hath a heart-turning a soul converting efficacy in it 't is a regenerating as well as a convincing word 1 Pet. 1. 23. 1 Thes. 1. 9. The Law wounds the Gospel cures the Law discovers the evil that is in sin and the misery that follows sin and the Spirit of God working in fellowship with the word effectually turns the heart from sin And thus we see in what glorious acts the efficacy of the word discovers it self upon the hearts of men and all these acts lie in order to each other for until the soul be awakened it cannot be enlightned Eph. 5. 14. till it be enlightned it cannot be convinced Eph. 5. 13. Conviction being nothing else but the application of the light that shines in the mind to the Conscience of a sinner till it be convinced it cannot be wounded for sin Act. 2. 37. and until it be wounded for sin it will never be converted from sin and brought effectually to Jesus Christ and thus you see what the power of the word is Thirdly In the last place it will concern us to enquire whence the word of God hath all this power and it is 3. most certain that it is not a power inherent in it self nor derived from the instrument by which it is managed but from the Spirit of the Lord who communicates to it all that power and efficacy which it hath upon our souls First Its power is not in or from it self it works not in a Physical way as natural agents do for then the effect would alwayes follow except it were miraculously hindred but this spiritual efficacy is in the word as the healing vertue was in the waters of Bethesda John 5. 4. An Angel went down at a certain season into the Pool and troubled the water whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had It is not a power naturally inherent in it at all times but communicated to it at some special seasons how often is the word Preached and no man awaked or convinced by it Secondly The power of the word is not communicated to it by the instrument that manageth it 1 Cor. 3. 7. Neither is he that planteth any thing neither he that watereth Ministers are nothing to such an effect and purpose as this is he doth not mean that they are useless and altogether unnecessary but insufficient of themselves to produce such mighty effects it works not as it is the word of man 1 Thes. 2. 13. Ministers may say of the ordinary as Peter said of the extraordinary effects of the Spirit Acts 3. 12. Ye men of Israel why marvel ye at this or why look ye so earnestly on us as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk If the effects of the word were in the power and at the command of him that preacheth it then the blood of all the souls that perish under our Ministry must lye at our door as was formerly noted Thirdly If you say whence then hath the word all this power Our answer is it derives it all from the Spirit of God 1 Thes. 2. 13. For this cause thank we God without ceasing Literâ jubetur spiritu donaâ—…r Aug. Ep. 157. because when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us ye received it not as the word of men but as it is in truth the word of God
which effectually worketh also in you that believe 'T is a successful instrument only when it is in the hand of the Spirit without whose influence it never did nor can convince convert or save any soul. Now the Spirit of God hath a soveraignty over three things in order to the conversion of the sinner viz. 1. Over the word which works 2. Over the soul wrought upon 3. Over the time and season of working First The Spirit hath a glorious soveraignty over the word it self whose instrument it is to make it successful or not as it pleaseth him Isai. 55. 10 11. For as the rain cometh down and the snow from Heaven c. so shall my word be that goeth out of my mouth as the Clouds so the word is carried and directed by divine pleasure 't is the Lord that makes them both give down their blessings or to pass away fruitless and empty yea 't is from the Spirit that this part of the word works and not another those things upon which Ministers bestow greatest labour in their preparation and from which accordingly they have the greatest expectation these do nothing when mean time something that dropt occasionally from them like a chosen Shaft strikes the mark and doth the work Secondly The Spirit of the Lord hath a glorious soveraignty over the souls wrought upon 't is his peculiar work to take away the stony heart out of our flesh and to give us an heart of flesh Ezec. 36. 26. We may reason exhort and reprove but nothing will stick till the Lord set it on The Lord opened the heart of Lydia under Pauls ministry he opens every heart that is effectually opened to receive Christ in the word if the word can get no entrance if your hearts remain dead under it still we may say concerning such souls as Martha did concerning her Brother Lazarus Lord if thou hadst been here my Brother had not died So Lord if thou hadst been in this Sermon in this Prayer or in that counsel these souls had not remained dead under them Thirdly The Spirit hath dominion over the times and seasons of conviction and conversion therefore the day in which souls are wrought upon is called the day of his power Psal. 110. 3. that shall work at one time which had no efficacy at all at another time because this and not that was the time appointed and thus you see whence the word derives that mighty power it hath Now this word of God when it is set home by the Spirit is mighty to convince humble and break the hearts of sinners Joh. 16. 9. The Spirit when it cometh shall convince the world of sin the word signifies conviction by such clear demonstration as compelleth assent it not only convinces men in general that they are sinners but it convinceth men particularly of their own sins and the aggravations of them So in the Text sin revived that is the Lord revived his sins the very circumstances and aggravations with which they were committed and so it will be with us when the Commandment comes sins that we had forgotten committed so far back as our youth or childhood sins that lay slighted in our Consciences shall now be rouzed up as so many sleepy Lyons to affright and terrifie us for now the soul hears the voice of God in the word as Adam heard it in the cool of the day and was afraid and hides it self but all will not do for the Lord is come in the word sin is held up before the eyes of the Conscience in its dreadful aggravations and fearful consequences as committed against the holy Law clear light warnings of Conscience manifold mercies Gods long-suffering Christs precious blood many warnings of judgements the wages and demerit whereof by the verdict of a mans own Conscience is death eternal death Rom. 6. 23. Rom. 1. 32. Rom. 2. 9. thus the Commandment comes sin revives and vain hopes give up the Ghost Inference 1. Is there such a mighty power in the word then certainly the word is of divine authority there cannot be a more clear and Inference 1 satisfying proof that it is no humane invention than the common sense that all Believers have of the almighty power in which it works upon their hearts so speaks the Apostle 1. Thes. 2. 13. When ye received the word of God which ye heard of us ye received it not as the word of man but as it is in truth the word of God which effectually worketh also in you that believe Can the power of any creature the word of a meer man so convince the Conscience so terrifie the heart so discover the very secret thoughts of the soul put a man into such tremblings No no a greater than man must needs be here none but a God can so open the eyes of the blind so open the graves of the dead so quicken and enliven the Conscience that was seared so bind over the soul of a sinner to the judgement to come so change and alter the frame and temper of a mans spirit so powerfully raise refresh and comfort a drooping dying soul. Certainly the power of God is in all this and if there were no more yet this alone were sufficient to make full proof of the divine authority of the Scriptures Inference 2. Judge from hence what an invaluable mercy the preaching of Inference 2. the word is to the world 't is a blessing far above our estimation of it little do we know what a treasure God committeth to us in the Ordinances Acts 13. 25. To you is the word of this salvation sent 't is the very power of God to salvation Rom. 1. 16. and salvation is ordinarily denied to whom the preaching of the word is denied Rom. 10. 14. It 's called the word of life Phil. 2. 16. and deserves to be valued by every one of us as our life the eternal decree of Gods election is executed by it upon our souls as many as be ordained to eternal life shall believe by the preaching of it Great is the ingratitude of this generation which so slights and undervalues this invaluable treasure which is a sad presage of the most terrible judgement even the removing our Candlestick out of its place except we repent Inference 3. How sore and terrible a judgement lies upon the souls of those Inference 3. men to whom no word of God is made powerful enough to convince and awaken them Yet so stands the case with thousands who constantly sit under the preaching of the word many Arrows are shot at their Consciences but none goes home to the mark all fall short of the end the Commandment hath come unto them many thousand times by way of promulgation and ministerial inculcation but never yet came home to their souls by the spirits effectual application Oh friends you have often heard the voice of man but you never yet heard the voice of God your understandings have been instructed but your
abortions and miscarriages under the Word Luke 8. 12 13 14. there are hopeful and promising beginnings and budding of affections in some persons especially in their youth but when once they come to be engaged in the world how soon are they dampt and quenched as the cares of a Family grow on so do the cares of salvation wear off 't is not as it was wont to be what shall I do to be saved how shall I get interest in Christ but what shall I eat and drink and wherewithal shall I and mine be maintained Thus earth justles out heaven and the present world drowns all thoughts of that to come Good had it been for many men they had never been engaged so deep in the world as they are their life is but a constant hurry of business and a perpetual diversion from Christ and things that are eternal Thirdly Lastly The deceitfulness and treachery of the heart which too easily gives way to the designs of Satan and suffers it self to be imposed upon by him is not the least cause why so many hopeful beginnings come to nothing and the effects of the word vanish Pride and self-love are very apt to over-value every little good and slight or undervalue every evil that is in us and so quickly choaks those convictions that begin to work in our souls But oh that such men would consider that the dying away of their convictions is that which threatens the life of their souls for ever now is the bud withered the blossome blasted and what expectation is there of fruit after this except the Lord revive them again The Lord open mens eyes to discern the danger of such things as these are Jud. ver 12. Heb. 10. 38. Yet I deny not but there are many stands and pauses in the work of conversion it seems to dye away and then revives again and revive it must or we are lost but how many are there who never recover it more This is a sore Judgement of a most terrible consequence to the souls of men 3. Thirdly In the last place Let it be a word of counsel and advice to them upon whom the word works effectually 3. and powerfully to whose hearts the commandment is come home to revive sin and kill their vain hopes and these are of two sorts 1. Embryos under the first workings of the Spirit 2. Compleat births of the Spirit regenerated souls First Embryos that are under the first workings of the Spirit in the word O let it not seem a misery or unhappiness 1. to you that the Commandment is come and sin revived and your former hopes overthrown It must be thus if ever God intend mercy for you Had you gone on in that dangerous security you were in before you had certainly been lost for ever God hath stopt you in that path that leads down to hell and none that go in there do ever return again or take hold of the paths of life O 't is better to weep tremble and be distressed now than to mourn without hope for ever let it not trouble you that sin hath found you out you could never have found out the remedy in Christ if you had not found out the disease and danger by the coming of the commandment And I beseech you carefully to observe whether the effects and operations of the word upon your hearts be deeper and more powerful than they are found to be in such souls as miscarry under it the Commandment comes to them and shews them this or that more gross and startling sin doth it come to you and shew you not only this or that particular sin but all the evils of your heart and life the corruption of your natures as well as the transgressions of your lives if so it promises well and looks hopefully and comfortably to you The commandment comes to others and startles them with the fears of damnation for their sin it puts them into a grievous fright at hell and the everlasting burnings but doth it come to thee and discover the infinite evil that is in thy sin as it is committed against the great holy righteous and good God and so melts thy heart into tears for the wrong that thou hast done him as well as the danger into which thou hast brought thy self This is a hopeful work and may encourage thee It comes to others and greatly shakes but never destroyes and razes the foundation of their vain hopes if it so revive sin as to kill all vain hopes in thee and shut thee up to Christ as thy only door of hope fear not these troubles will prove the greatest mercies that ever befell thee in this world if thus they work and continue to work upon thy soul. Secondly Others there are upon whom the Word hath 2. had its full effect as to Conversion O bless God for ever for this mercy you cannot sufficiently value it God hath not only made it a convincing and wounding but a converting and healing word to your souls he hath not only revived your sins and killed your vain hopes but begotten you again to a lively hope see that you be thankful for this mercy How many have sate under the same word but never felt such effects of it As Christ said in another case There were many Widows in Israel in the time of Elijah but unto none of them was the Prophet sent save unto Sarepia a City of Sidon to a certain Widow there Luke 4. 46. So I may say in this case there were many souls in the same Congregation at the same time but unto none of them was the word sent with a Commission to convince and save but such a one as thy self one as improbable to be wrought upon as any soul there O let this beget thankfulness in your souls and let it make you love the word as long as you live I will never forget thy precepts for by them thou hast quickened me Psal. 119. 93. But above all I beseech you make it appear that the Commandment hath come home to your hearts with power to convince you of the evil of sin by your tenderness and care to shun it as long as you live If ever you have seen the face of sin in the glass of the Law of God if your hearts have been humbled and broken for it in the dayes of your trouble and distress certainly you will choose the worst affliction rather than sin it would be the greatest folly in the world to return again to iniquity Psal. 85. 8. you that have seen so much of the evil that is in it and the danger that follows it you that have had such inward terrours and fears of Spirit about it when that terrible representation was made you will be loth to feel those gripes and distresses of Conscience again for the best enjoyment in this world Blessed be God if any word have been brought home to our hearts which hath been instrumental to bring us
destroy the usefulness of humane teachings Subordinata non pugnant the teachings of men are made effectual by the teachings of the Spirit and the Spirit in his teachings will use and honour the Ministry of man Thirdly But to speak positively the teachings of God are nothing else but that spiritual and heavenly light by which the Spirit of God shineth into the hearts of men to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ as the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 4. 6. and though this be the proper work of the Spirit yet it is called the teachings of the Father because the Spirit who enlightens us is commissionated and sent by the Father so to do Joh. 14. 26. Now these teachings of the Spirit of God consist in two things viz. In his 1. Sanctifying impressions 2. Gracious assistances First In his Sanctifying impressions or regenerating works upon the soul by vertue whereof it receives marvellous light and insight in spiritual things and that not only as illumination is the first act of the spirit in our conversion Col. 3. 10. but as his whole work of sanctification is Illuminative and instructive to the converted soul 1 Joh. 2. 27. the anointing which you have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any man teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you the meaning is that Sanctification gives the soul experience of those Mysterious things which are contained in the Scriptures and that experienâ—… the most excellent key to unlock and open those deep Scripture Mysteries no knowledge is so distinct so clear so sweet as that which the heart communicates to the head Joh. 7. 17. if any man do his will he shall know the doctrine a man that never read the nature of love in books of Philosophy nor the transports and ecstasies thereof in History may yet truly describe and express it by the sensible motions of that passion in his own soul yea he that hath felt much better understands than he that hath only read or heard O what a light doth spiritual sense and experience cast upon a great part of the Scriptures for indeed sanctification is the very copy or transcript of the Word of God upon the heart of man Jer. 31. 33. I will write my Law in their heart so that the Scriptures and the experiences of believers by this means answer to each other as the lines and letters in the Press answer to the impressions made upon the paper or the figures in the wax to the engravings in the Seal When a Sanctified man reads David's Psalms or Pauls Epistles how is he surprised with wonder to find the very workings of his own heart so exactly decyphered and fully expressed there Oh saith he this is my very case these holy men speak what my very heart hath felt Secondly The Spirit of God teacheth us as by his sanctifying impressions so by his gracious assistances which he gives us pro re nata as our need requires Matth. 10. 19. it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak Joh. 14. 26. he shall bring all things to your remembrance he assisteth both the understanding in due apprehensions of truth and the heart in the spiritual improvements of truth and so much briefly of the first particular Secondly In the next place we are to enquire what those special truths are which believers hear and learn of the father 2. when they come to Christ. And there are divers great and necessary truths wherein the Spirit enlightens men in that day I cannot say they are all taught every believer in the same degree and order but it is certain they are taught of God such lessons as these are which they never so understood before Lesson 1. First They are taught of God that there is abundantly more evil in their sinful natures and actions than ever they discerned or understood before the Spirit when he cometh shall convince the world of sin John 16. 8 9. Men have a general notion of sin before so had Paul when a Pharisee but how vastly different were his apprehensions of sin from all that ever he had in his natural state when God brought home the Commandment to his very heart There is a threefold knowledge of Sin viz. Traditional discursive and intuitive The First is in the more rude and illiterate multitude The Second in more rational and knowing men The Third is only found in those that are enlightned and taught of God and there is as great a difference betwixt this intuitive knowledge of sin whereby God makes a soul to discern the nature and evil of it in a spiritual light and the two former as there is betwixt the sight of a painted Lyon upon the wall and the sight of a living Lyon that meets us roaring in the way The intuitive sight of sin is another thing than men imagine it to be 't is such a sight as wounds a man to the very heart Acts 2. 37. for God doth not only shew a man this or that particular sin but in the day of conviction he sets all his sins in order before him Psal. 50. 21. yea the Lord shews him the sinfulness of his nature as well as practice Conviction diggs to the root shews and layes open that original corruption from whence the innumerable evils of the life do spring Jam. 1. 14 15. and which is yet more the Lord shews the man whom he is bringing to Christ the sinful and miserable state which he is in by reason of both Joh. 16. 9. and now all excuses pleas and defences of sin are gone he shews them how their iniquities have exceeded Job 36. 8 9. exceeded in number and in aggravation of sinfulness exceeding many and exceeding vile no such sinner in the world as I can such sins as mine be pardoned the greatness of God greatens my sin the holiness of God makes it beyond measure vile the goodness of God puts unconceivable weight into my guilt O can there be mercy with God for such a wretch as I if there be then there will not be a greater example of the riches of free grace in all the world than I am thus God teacheth the evil of sin Lesson 2. Secondly God teacheth the soul whom he is bringing to Christ what that wrath and misery is which hangs over it in the threatnings because of sin Scripture threatnings were formerly slighted now the soul trembles at them they once apprehended themselves safe enough Isa. 28. 15. Psal. 50. 21. they thought because they heard no more of their sins after the Commission of them that therefore they should never hear more that the effect had been as transient a thing as the act of sin was or if trouble must follow sin they should speed no worse than others the generality of the world being in the same case and beside they hoped to find God more merciful than sowre and precise preachers
the way be never so great or many As he said necesse est ut eam non ut vivam 't is necessary that I go on 't is not necessary that I live so saith the soul that is taught of God 't is easier with me to dispense with ease honour relations yea with life it self than to part with Christ and the hopes of eternal life Lesson 12. Twelfthly They that come to Christ are taught of God that whatever guilt and unworthiness they discover in themselves and whatever fears and doubts hang upon their hearts as to pardon and acceptance yet as the case stands it is their wisdom and great interest to venture themselves in the way of faith upon Jesus Christ whatever the issue thereof be Three great discouragements are usually found upon the hearts of those that come to Christ in the way of faith First The sensible greatness of guilt and sin how can I go to Christ that am in such a case that have been so vile a wretch and here measuring the grace and mercy of Chris by what it finds in it self or in other creatures 1 Sam. 24. 19. the soul is ready to sink under the weight of its own discouraging and misgiving thoughts Secondly The sense they have of their own weakness and inability to do what God requires and must of necessity be done if ever they be saved my heart is harder than an Adamant how can I break it My will is stubborn and exceeding obstinate I am no way able to bow it the frame and temper of my spirit is altogether carnal and earthly and it is not in the power of my hand to alter and change it alas I cannot subdue any one corruption nor perform one spiritual duty nor bear one of those sufferings and burthens which religion lays upon all that follow Christ this also proves a great discouragement in the way of faith Thirdly And which is more than all the soul that is coming to Jesus Christ hath no assurance of acceptance with him if it should adventure himself upon him 't is a great hazard a great adventure 't is much more probable if I look to my self that Christ will shut the door of mercy against me But under all these discouragements the soul learns this Lesson from God that as ungodly as it is as weak and impotent as it is as full of fears and doubts as it is nevertheless it is every way its great duty and concernment to go on in the way of faith and make that great adventure of it self upon Jesus Christ and of this the Lord convinceth the soul by two things viz. 1. From the absolute necessity of coming 2. From the incouraging probabilities of speeding First The soul seeth an absolute necessity of coming necessity is laid upon it there is no other way Acts. 4. 12. God hath shut it up by a blessed necessity to this only dore of escape Gal. 3. 23. damnation lies in the neglect of Christ Heb. 2. 3. The soul hath no choice in this case Angels Ministers duties repentance reformation cannot save me Christ and none but Christ can deliver me from present guilt and the wrath to come why do I dispute demur delay when certain ruine must inevitably follow the neglect or refusal of Gospel offers Secondly The Lord sheweth those that are under his teaching the probabilities of mercy for their encouragement in the way of believing and these probabilities the soul is enabled to gather from the general and free invitations of the Gospel Isai. 55. 1 7. Rev. 22. 17. from the conditional promises of the Gospel Joh. 6. 37. Mat. 11. 28. Isai. 1. 18. from the vast extent of grace beyond all the thoughts and hopes of creatures Isai. 55. 8 9. Heb. 7. 25. from the incouraging examples of other sinners who have found mercy in as bad condition as they 1 Tim. 1. 13. 2 Chron. 33. 3. 1 Cor. 6. 10 11. from the Command of God which warrants the action and answers all the objections of unworthiness and presumption in them that come to Christ 1 John 3. 23. and lastly from the sensible changes already made upon the temper and frame of the heart Time was when I had no sense of sin nor sorrow for sin no desires after Christ nor heart to duties but it is not so with me now I now see the evil of sin so as I never saw it before my heart is now broken in the sense of that evil my desires begin to be enflamed after Jesus Christ. I am not at rest nor where I would be till I am in secret mourning after the Lord Jesus Surely these are the dawnings of the day of mercy let me go on in this way it saith as the Lepers at the siege of Samaria 2 King 7. 3 4. If I stay here I perish if I go to Christ I can but perish Hence Believers bear up against all objected discouragements certum exitium commutemus incerto 't is the dictate of wisdom the vote of reason to exchange a certain for an uncertain ruine And thus you have heard what those excellent Lessons are which all that come to Christ are taught by the Father The Twenty third SERMON Sermon 23. JOHN 6. 45. Text. It is written in the prophets And they shall be all taught of God every man therefore that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me IN the former Sermon you have been taught this great truth Doct. That the teachings of God are absolutely necessary to every soul that cometh unto Christ in the way of faith What the teachings of God import hath been formerly opened and what those special Lessons are which all believers hear and learn of the Father was the last thing discoursed that which remains to be further cleared about this subject before I come to the Application of the whole will be to shew you 1. What are the Properties of divine teachings 2. What influence they have in bringing souls to Christ. 3. Why it is impossible for any man to come to Christ without these teachings of the Father First what are the properties of divine teachings Concerning the teachings of God we affirm in general that though 1. they exclude not yet they vastly differ from all humane teachings as the power of God in effecting transcends all humane power so the wisdom of God in teaching transcends all humane wisdom For First God teacheth powerfully he speaketh to the soul with a strong hand when the word comes accompanied with the Spirit 't is mighty through God to cast down all imaginations 2 Cor. 10. 4. Now the Gospel comes not in word only as it was wont to do but in power 1 Thess. 1. 4 5. a power that makes the soul fall flat before it and acknowledge that God is in that word 1 Cor. 14. 25. Secondly the teachings of God are sweet teachings Men never relish the sweetness of a truth till they learn it from God Cant. 1. 3. His
name is as an Oyntment poured forth Cant. 5. 16. his mouth is most sweet O how powerfully and how sweetly doth the voyce of God slide into the heart of a poor melting sinner how jejune dry and tastless are all the discourses of men compared with the teachings of the Father Thirdly God teacheth plainly and clearly he not only opens truths to the understanding but he openeth the understanding also to perceive them 2 Cor. 3. 16. In that day the vaile is taken away from the heart a light shineth into the soul a clear beam from heaven is darted into the mind Luk. 24. 45. Divine teachings are fully satisfying the soul doubts no more staggers and hesitates no more but acquiesces in that which God teaches 't is so satisfied that it can venture all upon the truth of what it hath learnt from God as that Martyr said I cannot dispute but I can dye for Christ. See Prov. 8. 8 9. Fourthly The teachings of God are infallible teachings the wisest and holiest of men may mistake and lead others into the same mistakes with themselves but it is not so in the teachings of God if we can be sure that God teacheth us we may be as sure of the truth of what he teacheth â—…r his spirit guideth us into all truth Joh. 16 〈◊〉 and into nothing but truth Fifthly The teachings of God are abiding teachings they make everlasting impressions upon the soul Psal. 119. 98. they are ever with it the words of men vanish from us but the words of God stick by us what God teacheth he writeth upon the heart Jer. 31. 33. and that will abide littera scripta manet 'T is usual with souls whose understandings have been opened by the Lord many years afterward to say I shall never forget such a scripture that once convinced me such a promise that once encouraged me Sixthly The teachings of God are saving teachings they make the soul wise unto Salvation 2 Tim. 3. 15. There is a great deal of other knowledge that goes to hell with men the pavement of hell as one speaks is pitched with the sculs of many great Scholars but eternal life is in the teachings of God Joh. 17. 3. This is eternal life to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent This is deservedly stiled the light of life Joh. 8. 12. in this light we shall see light Psal. 36. 9. Seventhly The teachings of God make their own way into the dullest and weakest capacities Isa. 32. 4. The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly upon this account Christ said Mat. 11. 25. I thank thee O father Lord of heaven and earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes 't is admirable to see what clear illumination some poor illiterate Christians have in the mysteries of Christ and Salvation which others of great abilities deep and searching heads can never discover with all their learning and study Eighthly To conclude the teachings of God are transforming teachings 2 Cor. 3. 18. they change the soul into the same image God casts them whom he teacheth into the very mould of those truths which they learn from him Rom. 6. 17. These are the teachings of God and thus he instructeth those that come to Christ. Secondly Next let us see what influences divine teachings have upon souls in bringing them to Christ and we shall find 2â—… a threefold influence in them 1. They have an influence upon the external means by which they come to Christ. 2. They have influence upon the mind to remove what hindered it from Christ. 3. They have influence upon the will to allure and draw it to Christ. First They have influence upon the means by which we come to Christ the best ordinances are but a dead letter except the spirit the teaching and quickening spirit of God work in fellowship with them 2 Cor. 3. 6. The best Ministers like the Disciples cast forth the Net but take nothing win not one soul to God till God teach as well as they Paul is nothing and Apollo nothing but God that giveth the increase 1 Cor. 3. 7. Let the most learned eloquent and powerful Orator be in the Pulpit yet no mans heart is perswaded till it hears the voice of God cathedram in coelis habet qui corda docet Secondly They have influence upon the mind to remove what hindered it from Christ except the minds of men be first untaught those errors by which they are prejudiced against Christ they will never be perswaded to come unto him and nothing but the Fathers teachings can unteach those errors and cure those evils of the mind the natural mind of man slights the truths of God untill God teach them and then they tremble with an awful reverence of them Sin is but a trifle till God shews us the face of it in the glass of the Law and then it appears exceeding sinful Rom. 7. 13. We think God to be such a one as our selves Psal. 50. 21. until he discover himself unto us in his infinite greatness awful holiness and severe Justice and then we cry who can stand before this great and dreadful God! We thought it was time enough hereafter to mind the concernments of another world untill the Lord open our eyes to see in what danger we stand upon the very brink of eternity and then nothing scares us more than the fears that our time will be finished before the great work of Salvation be finished We thought our selves in a converted State before till God make us to see the necessity of another manner of conversation upon pain of eternal damnation We readily caught hold upon the promises before when we had no right to them but the teachings of God make the presumptuous sinner let go his hold that he may take a better and surer hold of them in Christ. We once thought that the death of Christ in it self had been enough to secure our Salvation but under the teachings of God we discern plainly the necessity of a change of heart and state or else the blood of Christ can never profit us Thus the teachings of God remove the errors of the mind by which men are withheld from Christ. Thirdly The teachings of God powerfully attract and allure the will of a sinner to Christ Hos. 2. 14. But of these drawings of the father I have largely spoken before and therefore shall say no more of it in this place but hasten to the last thing propounded viz. Thirdly why it is impossible for any man to come to Christ without the Fathers teachings and the impossibilities hereof will appear three ways 1. From the power of sin 2. From the indisposition of man 3. From the nature of faith By all which the Last point designed to be spoken to from this Scripture will be fully cleared and the whole
prepared for application First The impossibility of coming to Christ without the teachings of the Father will appear from the power of sin which hath so strong an holdfast upon the hearts and affections of all unregenerate men that no humane arguments or perswasions whatsoever can divorce or separate them for First sin is connatural with the soul 't is born and bred with a man Psal. 51. 5. Isa. 48. 8. It is as natural for fallen man to sin as it is to breath Secondly The power of sin hath been strengthening it self from the beginning by a long continued Custom which gives it the force of a second nature and makes regeneration and mortification naturally impossible Jer. 15. 23. Can the Aethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots Then may he also do good that is accustomed to do evil Thirdly Sin is the delight of the sinner it is a sport to a fool to do mischief Prov. 10. 23. Carnal men have no other pleasure in this world but what arises from their Lusts to cut off their corruptions by mortification were at once to deprive them of all the pleasure of their lives Fourthly sin being connatural customary and delightful doth therefore bewitch their affections and inchant their hearts to that degree of madness and fascination that they rather choose damnation by God than separation from sin their hearts are fully set in them to do evil Eccles. 8. 11. they rush into sin as the horse rusheth into the battle Jer. 8. 6. And now what think you can separate a man from his beloved Lust except the powerful and effectual teachings of God Nothing but a light from heaven can rectifie and reduce the inchanted mind no power but that of God can change and alter the sinful bent and inclination of the will 't is a task above all Creature power Secondly The impossibility of coming to Christ without the Fathers teachings evidently appears from the indisposedness of man the subject of this change the natural man receives not the things which are of God 1 Cor. 2. 14. Three things must be wrought upon man before ever he can come to Christ his blind understanding must be enlightned his hard and rocky heart must be broken and melted his stiff fixed and obstinate will must be conquered and subdued but all these are the effects of a supernatural power The illumination of the mind is the peculiar work of God 2. Cor. 4. 6. Rev. 3. 17. Eph. 5. 8. The breaking and melting of the heart is the Lords own work 't is he that giveth repentance Acts 5. 31. 'T is the Lord that takes away the heart of stone and giveth an heart of flesh Ezek. 36. 26. 't is he that poureth out the spirit of contrition upon man Zech. 12. 10. The changing of the natural bent and inclination of the will is the Lords sole prerogative Phil. 2. 13. all these things are effectually done in the soul of man when God teacheth it and never till then Thirdly The nature of faith by which we come to Christ plainly shows the impossibility of coming without the Fathers teaching Everything in faith is supernatural the implantation of the habit of faith is so Eph. 2. 8. 't is not of our selves but the gift of God 't is not an habit acquired by industry but infused by grace Phil. 1. 29. The light of faith by which spiritual things are discerned is supernatural Heb. 11. 1. 27. It seeth things that are invisible The adventures of faith are supernatural for against hope a man believeth in hope giving glory to God Rom. 4. 18. By faith a man goeth unto Christ against all the dictates and discouragements of natural sense and reason The self-denyal of faith is supernatural the cutting off of the right hand and plucking out of right eye sins must needs be so Matth. 5. 29. The Victories and conquests of faith do all speak it to be supernatural it overcomes the strongest oppositions from without Heb. 11. 33 34. it subdueth and purgeth the most obstinate and deep rooted corruptions within Acts 15. 9. it overcometh all the blandishments and charming allurements of the bewitching world 1 Joh. 5. 4. all which considered how evident is the conclusion that none can come to Christ without the Fathers teachings The uses follow 1. Use for Information Use 1. Inference 1. How notoriously false and absurdis that doctrin which asserteth the possibility of believing without the efficacy of supernatural grace Inference 1. The desire of self-sufficiency was the ruin of Adam and the conceit of self-sufficiency is the ruin of multitudes of his posterity This doctrine is not only contradictory to the current stream of Scripture Phil. 2. 13. 1 Joh. 1. 13. with many other Scriptures but it is also contradictory to the common sense and experience of believers yet the pride of nature will strive to maintain what Scripture and experience plainly contradict and overthrow Infer 2. Hence we may also inform our selves how it cometh to pass that many rational wise and learned men miss Christ whilst Inference 2. mean time the simple and illiterate even babes in natural knowledge obtain interest in him and salvation by him The reason hereof is plainly given us by Christ in Mat. 13. 11. To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven but to them it is not given 't is the droppings and dews of divine teaching upon one and not upon another that dryeth up the green tree and maketh the dry tree to flourish Many natural men have very fine brains searching wits solid judgements nimble fancies tenacious memories they can search out the mysteries of nature solve the Phaenomena satisfie the enquiries of the most curious they can measure the earth discover the motions of the heavens but after all take up their place in Hell When in the mean time the Statutes of the Lord by the help of his teachings make wise the simple Psal. 19. 17. 'T is no matter how dull and incapable the Scholar be if God undertake to be the teacher I remember Austin speaks of one who was commonly reputed a fool and yet he could not but judge him to be truly godly and that by two signs of grace which appeared in him one was his seriousness when he heard any discourses of Christ the other was his indignation manifested against sin it was truly said by those two Cardinals who riding to the Council of Constance overheard a poor shepherd in the fields with tears bewailing his sin surgunt indocti rapient coelum the unlearned will rise and take heaven whilest we with all our learning shall descend into Hell Infer 3. This also informs us of the true reason of the strange and various successes of the Gospel upon the souls of men here we see why Inference 3. the ministry of one man becomes fruitful and anothers barren Yea why the labours of the same man prosper exceedingly at one time and not at
from all other teachings 3d Use of Exhortation The last use I shall make of this point shall be a word of exhortation both to them that never were yet effectually Use 3. taught of God and to them also that have heard his voice and are come to Christ. First To those that never yet heard the voice of God speaking to their hearts and truly this is the general case of most men and women in the professing world they have heard the sound of the Gospel but it hath been a confused empty and ineffectual sound in their ears we have heard the voice of man but have never yet heard the voice of God the gifts and abilities of Preachers have in a notional and meer humane way improved their understandings and sometimes slightly touched their affections all this is but the effect of man upon man O that you would look for something which is beyond all this satisfie not your selves with what is meerly natural and humane in ordinances come to the word with higher ends and more spiritual designs than to get some notions of truth which you had not before or to judge the gifts and abilities of the speaker if God speak not to your hearts all the Ordinances in the world can do you no good 1 Cor. 3. 7. O remember what a solemn and awful thing it is to come to those Ordinances and attend upon that Ministration in and by which the eternal decrees of Heaven are to be executed upon your souls which must be to you the savour of life unto life or of death unto death wrastle with God by prayer for a blessing upon the Ordinances Say Lord speak thy self to my heart let me hear thy voice and feel thy power in this Prayer or in this Sermon others have heard thy voice cause me to hear it it had been much better for me if I had never heard the voice of Preachers except I hear thy voice in them Secondly Let all those that have heard the voice of God and are come to Christ in the vertue of his teachings admire the wonderful condescension of God to them O that God should speak to thy soul and be silent to others there be many thousands living at this day under Ordinances to whom the Lord hath not given an ear to hear or an heart to obey Deut. 29. 4. To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but to them it is not given Mat. 13. 11. and I beseech you walk as men and women that have been taught of God When Satan and your corruptions tempt you to sin and to walk in the wayes of the carnal and careless world remember then that Scripture Eph. 4. 20 21. But ye have not so learned Christ if so be that you have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus To conclude see that you be exceeding humble and lowly in Spirit humility qualifies you for divine teachings Psal. 25. 9. The humble he will teach and the more ye are taught of God the more humble you will still be And thus you see that no man can come to Christ without the application of the Law and the teachings of the Father which being considered may be very useful to convince us which indeed is the design of it that among the multitudes of men and women living under the Ordinances of God and the general profession of Religion there are but few very few to be found who have effectually received the Lord Jesus Christ by saving faith And now Reader I suppose by this time thou art desirous to know by what signs and evidences thy union with Christ by faith may be cleared up and made evident to thee and how that great question whether thou hast yet effectually applied Christ to thy soul or no may be clearly decided which brings me to the third general Use of the whole viz. The Examination of our Interest in Christ. By 1. The donation of the Spirit from 1 Joh. 3. 24. 2. The new Creation from 2 Cor. 5. 17. 3. The mortification of sin from Gal. 5. 24. 4. The imitation of Christ from 1 Joh. 2. 6. Of each of these Trials of our interest in Christ I shall speak in their order and first of the donation of the Spirit The Twenty fourth SERMON Sermon 24. 1 JOHN 3. 24. Text. And hereby we know that be abideth in us Of the manner and importance of the Spirits indwelling by the Spirit which he hath given us THe Apostle in this Chapter is engaged in a very trying Discourse his scope is to discriminate the spirits and states of sincere Believers from meerly nominal and pretended Christians which he attempts not to do by any thing that is external but by the internal effects and operations of the Spirit of God upon their hearts His enquiry is not into those things which men profess or about the duties which they perform but about the frames and tempers of their hearts and the principles by which they are acted in religion According to this Test he puts Believers upon the search and study of their own hearts calls them to reflect upon the effects and operations of the Spirit of God wrought within their own souls assuring them that those gracious effects and fruits of the Spirit in their hearts will be a solid evidence unto them of their union with Jesus Christ amounting to much more than a general conjectural ground of hope under which it is possible there may subesse falsum lurk a dangerous and fatal mistake but the gracious effects of the Spirit of God within them are a foundation upon which they may build the certainty and assurance of their union with Christ hereby we know that he abideth in us by the spirit which he hath given us In which words we have three things to consider viz. 1. The thing to be tried our Union with Christ. 2. The trial of it by the giving of his Spirit to us 3. The certainty of the trial this way hereby we know First The thing to be tried which indeed is the greatest 1. and weightiest matter that can be brought to tryal in this world or in that to come namely our union with Christ expressed here by his abiding in us a phrase clearly expressing the difference betwixt those that by profession and common estimation pass for Christians among men though they have no other union with Christ but by an external adhesion to him in the outside duties of Religion and those whose union with Christ is real vital and permanent by the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ in their souls Joh. 15. 5 6. opens the force and importance of this phrase I am the vine ye are the branches he that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit if a man abide not in me he is cast forth as a branch and is withered the thing then to be tried is whether
we stand in Christ as dead branches in a living stock which are only bound to it by external ligatures or bonds that hold them for a while together or whether our souls have a vital union and coalition with Christ by the participation of the living sap of that blessed root Secondly The trial of this union which is by the giving of the Spirit to us the Spirit of Christ is the very bond of Union betwixt him and our souls I mean not that the very person of the Spirit dwelleth in us imparting his essential properties to us it were a rude blasphemy so to speak but his saving influences are communicated to us in the way of sanctifying operations as the Sun is said to come into the House when his beams and comforting influences come there Nor yet must we think that the graces or influences of the Spirit abide in us in the self same measure and manner as they do in Christ for God giveth not the spirit to him by measure in him all fullness dwells he is anointed with the Spirit above his fellows but there are measures and proportions of grace differently communicated to Believers by the same Spirit and these communicated graces and real operations of the Spirit of grace in our hearts do undoubtedly prove the reality of our union with Christ as the communication of the self-same vital juice or sap of the stock to the branch whereby it lives and brings forth fruit of the same kind certainly proves it to be a real part or member of the same tree Thirdly Which brings us to the third thing namely the certainty of the trial this way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this or by this we know we so know that we cannot be deceived To clear this let us consider two things in grace viz. 1. Somewhat Constitutive of its being 2. Somewhat Manifestative There is something in grace which is essential and constitutive of its being and somewhat that flows from grace and is manifestative of such a being we cannot immediately and intuitively discern the essence of grace as it is in its simple nature So God only discerns it who is the author of it but we may discern it mediately and secondarily by the effects and operations of it Could we see the simple essence of grace or intuitively discern our union with Christ our knowledge would be demonstrative à priori ad posterius by seeing the effects as they are lodged in their cause but we come to know the being of grace and the reality of our union with Christ à posteriori by ascending in our knowledge from the effects and operations to their true cause and being And accordingly God hath furnished us with a power of self-intuition and reflection whereby we are able to turn in upon our own hearts and make a judgement upon our selves and upon our own acts The soul hath not only a power to project but a power also to reflect upon its own actions not only to put forth a direct act of faith upon Jesus Christ but to judge and discern that act also 2 Tim. 1. 12. I know whom I have believed and this is the way in which believers attain their certainty and knowledge of their Union with Christ from hence the Observation will be DOCT. Doct. That interest in Christ may be certainly gathered and concluded from the gift of the spirit to us no man saith the Apostle hath seen God at any time if we love one another God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit 1 Joh. 4. 12 13. The being of God is invisible but the operations of his Spirit in believers are sensible and discernable The souls union with Christ is a supernatural mystery yet is it discoverable by the effects thereof which are very perceptible in and by believers Two things require Explication and Confirmation in the Doctrinal part of this point 1. What the giving of the Spirit imports and signifies 2. How it evidences the souls interest in Jesus Christ. First As to the importance of this phrase we are to enquire 1. what is meant by the Spirit and what by the giving of the Spirit Now the Spirit is taken in Scripture two wayes viz. Essentially or Personally In the first sence it is put for the God-head 1 Tim. 3. 16. Justified in the Spirit i. e. by the power of his Divine Nature which raised him from the dead In the second sense it denotes the third person or subsistence in the glorious and blessed Trinity and to him this word Spirit is attributed sometimes properly in the sence before mentioned as denoting his personality at other times metonymically and then it is put for the effects fruits graces and gifts of the Spirit communicated by him unto men Eph. 5. 11. be ye filled with the Spirit Now the fruits or gifts of the Spirit are either 1. Common and assisting gifts or 2. Special and sanctifying gifts In the last sence and signification it must be taken in this place for as to the common assisting and ministring gifts of the Spirit they are bestowed promiscuously upon one as well as another Such gifts in an excellent degree and large measure are found in the unregenerate and therefore can never amount to a solid evidence of the souls union with Christ but his special sanctifying gifts being the proper effect and consequenâ—… of that Union must needs strongly prove and confirm it In this sense therefore we are to understand the Spirit in this place and by giving the spirit to us we are to understand more than the coming of the spirit upon us the spirit of God is said to come upon men in a transient way for their present assistance in some particular service though in themselves they be unsanctified persons thus the spirit of God came upon Balaam Numb 24. 2. enabling him to prophesie of things to come and although those extraordinary gifts of the spirit be now ceased yet the spirit ceaseth not to give his ordinary assistances unto men both regenerate and unregenerate 1 Cor. 12. 8 9 10 31. compared but whatever gifts he gives to others he is said to be given to dwell and to abide only in believers 1 Cor. 3. 16. know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you an expression denoting both his special propriety in them and gracious familiarity with them there is a great difference betwixt the assisting and the indwelling of the spirit the one is transient the other permanent That is a good rule the Schoolmen give us illa tantum dicuntur inesse quae insunt per modum quietis those things are only said to be in a man which are in him by way of rest and permanency and so the spirit is in believers therefore they are said to live in the spirit Gal. 5. 25.
and the validity of our claim to Jesus Christ. In pursuance of which design I shall first lay down some general rules and then propose some particular tryals First I shall lay down some general rules for the due information of our minds in this point upon which so great a weight hangs Rule 1. Though the Spirit of God be given to us and worketh in us yet he worketh not as a natural and necessary but as a free and arbitrary agent he neither assists nor sanctifies as the fire burneth ad ultimum sui posse as much as he can assist or sanctifie but as much as he pleaseth Dividing to every man severally as he will 1 Cor. 12. 11. bestowing greater measures of gifts and graces upon some than upon others and assisting the same person more at one season than another and all this variety of operation floweth from his own good pleasure his grace is his own he may give it as he pleaseth Rule 2. There is a great difference in the manner of the spirits working before and after the work of regeneration whilest we are unregenerate he works upon us as upon dead Creatures that work not at all with him and what motion there is in our souls is a counter-motion to the spirit but after regeneration it is not so he then works upon a complying and willing mind we work and he assists Rom. 8. 26. our conscience witnesseth and he beareth witness with it Rom. 8. 16. It is therefore an Errour of dangerous consequence to think that sanctified persons are not bound to stir or strive in the way of duty without a sensible impulse or preventing motion of the spirit Isa. 64. 7. Rule 3. Though the Spirit of God be given to believers and workâ—…th in them yet believers themselves may do or omit such things as may obsâ—…ruct the working and obscure the very being of the spirit of God in them ita nos tractat ut à nobis tractatur he dealeth with us in his evidencing and comforting work as we deal with him in point of tenderness and obedience to his dictates there is a grieving yea there is a quenching of the Spirit by the lusts and corruptions of those hearts in which he dwelleth and though he will not forsake his habitation as a spirit of sanctification yet he may for a time desert it as a spirit of consolation Psal. 51. 11. Rule 4. Those things which discover the indwelling of the Spirit in believers are not so much the matter of their duties or substance of their actions as the more secret springs holy aims and spiritual manner of their doing or performing of them 't is not so much the matter of a prayer the neat and orderly expressions in which it is uttered as the inward sense and spiritual design of the soul 't is not the choice of elegant words whereby our conceptions are cloathed or the copiousness of the matter with which we are furnished for even a poor stammering tongue and broken language may have more of the spirit of God in it This made Luther say he saw more excellency in the duty of a plain rustick Christian than in all the Triumphs of Casar and Alexander the beauty and excellency of spiritual duties is an inward hidden thing Rule 5. All the motions and operations of the spirit are alwayes harmonical and suitable to the written word Isa. 8. 20. To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them The Scriptures are by the inspiration of the spirit therefore his inspirations into the hearts of believers must either substantially agree with the Scriptures or the inspirations of the spirit be self-repugnant and contradictory to one another It is very observable that the works of grace wrought by the spirit in the hearts of believers are represented to us in Scripture as a transcript or copy of the written word Jer. 31. 33. I will write my Law in their hearts Now as a true copy answers the original word for word letter for letter point for point so do the works of the spirit in our souls harmonize with the dictates of the spirit in the Scriptures whatsoever motion therefore shall be found repugnant thereunto must not be fathered upon the spirit of God but laid at the door of its proper parents the spirit of errour and corrupt nature Rule 6. Although the works of the spirit in all sanctified persons do substantially agree both with the written word and with one another as ten thousand copies penned from one original must needs agree within themselves yet as to the manner of infusion and operation there are found many circumstantial differences the spirit of God doth not hold one and the same method of working upon all hearts the work of grace is introduced into some souls with more terrour and trouble for sin than it is in others he wrought upon Paul one way upon Lydia in another way he holds some much longer under terrours and troubles than he doth others inveterate and more prophane sinners find stronger troubles for sin and are held longer under them than those are into whose hearts grace is more early and insensibly infused by the spirits blessing upon religious education but as these have less trouble than the others at first so commonly they have less clearness and more doubts and fears about the work of the spirit afterwards Rule 7. There is a great difference found betwixt the sanctifying and the comforting influences of the spirit upon believers in respect of constancy and permanency his sanctifying influences abide for ever in the soul they never depart but his comforting influences come and go and abide not long upon the hearts of believers Sanctification belongs to the being of a Christian Consolation only to his well being the first therefore is fixed and abiding the later various and inconstant Sanctification brings us to Heaven hereafter consolation brings Heaven into us here our safety lyes in the former our cheerfulness only in the latter There are times and seasons in the lives of believers wherein the spirit of God doth more signally and eminently seal their spirits and ravish their hearts with Joy Rara hora brevis mora sapit quidem suavissime sed gustatur rarissime Bern. unspeakable but what Bernard speaketh is certainly true in the experience of Christians It is a sweet hour and it is but an hour a thing of short continuance the relish of it is exceeding sweet but it is not often that Christians taste it And so much may suffice for the general rules about the in-being and workings of the spirit in believers for the better information of our understandings and prevention of mistakes in this matter I shall next according to promise lay down the particular marks and tryals by which we may discern whether God hath given us his spirit or no by which grown Christians when they are in a due composed
a poor Christian because of the great darkness and ignorance which clouds my soul for I read 1 Joh. 2. 27. that he enlightneth the soul which he inhabiteth the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any man teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things c. but alas my understanding is weak and cloudy I have need to learn of the meanest of Gods people this only I know that I know nothing as I ought to know Two things are to be respected in spiritual knowledge Sol. viz. the quantity and the efficacy thereof your condition doth not so much depend upon the measures of knowledge for haply you are under many natural disadvantages and want those helps and means of increasing knowledge which others plentifully enjoy it may be you have wanted the helps of education or have been incumbred by the necessities and cares of the world which have allowed you but little leasure for the improvement of your minds but if that which you do know be turned into practice and obedience Col. 1. 9 10. if it have influence upon your hearts and transform your affections into a spiritual frame and temper 2 Cor. 3. 17 18. if your ignorance humble you and drive you to God daily for the increase of knowledge one drop of such knowledge of Christ and your selves as this is more worth than a Sea of humane moral unsanctified and speculative knowledge though you know but little yet that little being sanctified is of great value though you know but little time was when ye knew nothing of Jesus Christ or the state of your own souls In a word though you know but little that little you do know will be still encreasing like the morning light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day Prov. 4. 18. If thou knowest so much as brings thee to Christ thou shalt shortly be where thy knowledge shall be as the light at noon day I sometime find my heart raised and my affections melted Obj. 2. in duties but I doubt it is but in a natural way and not from the spirit of God could I be assured those motions of my heart were from the spirit of grace and not meerly a natural thing it would be singular comfort and satisfaction to me First Consider whether this be not the ground of your Sol. fear and doubting because you are fain to take pains in the way of meditation prayer and other duties to bring your hearts to sense and savour the things of God whereas it may be you expect your spiritual enlargements and comforts should flow in upon you spontaneously and drop from heaven immediately of their own accord without any pains or industry of yours here may be and probably is a great mistake in this matter for the spirit of God works in the natural method wherein affections use to be raised and makes use of such duties as meditation and prayer as instruments to do that work by Ezech. 36. 37. So David was forced to reason with and chide his own heart Psal. 42. 5. thy comfort and enlargement may nevertheless be the fruit of the spirit because God makes it spring up and grow upon thy duties Secondly Take this as a sure rule whatsoever rises from self alwayes aimes at and terminates in self this stream cannot be carryed higher than the fountain if therefore thy aim and end in striving for affections and enlargements in duty be only to win applause from men and appear to be what in reality thou art not this indeed is the fruit of nature and a very corrupt and hypocritical nature too but if thy heart be not melted or desire to be melted in the sense of the evil of sin in order to the farther mortification of it and under the apprehensions of the free grace and mercy of God in the pardon of sin in order to the engaging of thy soul more firmly to him if these or such like be thy ends and designs or be promoted and furthered by thine enlargements and spiritual comforts never reject them as the meer fruits of nature a carnal root cannot bring forth such fruits as these Upon the Contrary Spiritual deadness and indisposedness Obj. 3. to duties and to those especially which are more secret spiritual and self-denying than others is the ground upon which many thousand souls who are yet truly gracious do doubt the indwelling of the spirit in them O saith such a soul if the spirit of God be in me Why is it thus Could my heart be so dead so backward and averse to spiritual duties no no these things would be my meat and my drink the delights and pleasures of my life First These things indeed are very sad and argue thy Sol. heart to be out of frame as the body is when it cannot relish the most desireable meats or drinks but the question will be how thy soul behaves it self in such a condition Qui bonâ—…m vult malum non vult is studium retinet plaâ—…di deo quamvis illectus concupiscentiâ malâ nonnunquam ex infirmitate illud committat quod deo displicet Davenant as this is whether this be easie or burthensome to be born by thee and if thou complain under it as a burthen then what pains thou takest to ease thy self and get rid of it Secondly Know also that there is a great difference betwixt spiritual death and spiritual deadness the former is the state of the unregenerate the latter is the disease and complaint of many thousand regenerate souls If David had not felt it as well as thee he would never have cryed out nine times in the compass of one Psalm Quicken me quicken me Besides Thirdly Though it be often it is not alwayes so with thee there are seasons wherein the Lord breaks in upon thy heart enlarges thy affections and sets thy soul at liberty to which times thou wilt do well to have an eye in these dark and cloudy dayes But the Spirit of God is a comforter as well as a sanctifier Obj. 4. he doth not only enable men to believe but after they believe he also seals them Eph. 1. 13. but I walk in darkness and am a stranger to the sealing and comforting work of the spirit how therefore can I imagine the spirit of God should dwell in me who go from day to day in the bitterness of my soul mourning as without the Sun There is a twofold sealing and a twofold comfort the Sol. spirit sealeth both objectively in the work of sanctification and formally in giving clear evidence of that work thou mayest be sealed in the first whilest thou art not yet sealed in the second sense if so thy condition is safe although it be at present uncomfortable And as to comfort that also is of two sorts viz. seminal or actual in the root or in the fruit light is sown for the righteous Psal.
97. 11. though the harvest to reap and gather in that Joy and Comfort be not yet come and there are many other wayes beside that of joy and comfort whereby the indwelling of the spirit may evidence it self in thy soul if he do not enable thee to rejoyce yet if he enable thee sincerely to mourn for sin if he do not enlarge thy heart in Comfort yet if he humble and purge thy heart by sorrows if he deny thee the assurance of faith and yet give thee the dependance of faith thou hast no reason to call in question or deny the indwelling of the spirit in thee for that cause But the Apostle saith they that walk in the spirit do not fulfil Obj. 5. the Lusts of the flesh Gal. 5. 16. but I find my self entangled and frequently overcome by them therefore I doubt the spirit of God is not in me 'T is possible the ground of your doubting may be your Sol. mistake of the true sense and meaning of that Scripture it is not the Apostles meaning in that place that sin in believers doth not work tempt and oftentimes overcome and captivate them for then he would contradict himself in Rom. 7. 23. where he thus complains but I see another Law in my members warring against the Law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the Law of sin which is in my members but two things are meant by that expression you shall not fulfil the Lusts of the flesh First That the principle of grace will give cheque to sin in its first motions and cause it to miscarry in the womb like an untimely birth before it comes to its full maturity it shall never be able to gain the full consent of the will as it doth in the unregenerate Secondly if notwithstanding all the opposition grace makes to hinder the birth or commission of it it do yet prevail and break forth into act yet such acts of sin as they are not committed without regret so they are followed with shame sorrow and true repentance and those very surprizals and captivities of sin at one time are made cautions and warnings to prevent it at another time if it be so with thee thou dost not fulfill the Lusts of the flesh And now Reader upon the whole if upon examination of thy heart by these rules the Lord shall help thee to discern the saving work of his spirit upon thy soul and thereby thine interest in Christ what a happy man or woman art thou what pleasure will arise to thy soul from such a discovery Look upon the frame of thine heart absolutely as it is in it self at present or comparatively with what once it was and others still are and thou wilt find enough to transport and melt thy heart within thee certainly this is the most glorious piece of Workmanship that ever God wrought in the world upon any man Eph. 2. 10. the spirit of God is come down from heaven and hath hallowed thy soul to be a Temple for himself to dwell in as he hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people 2 Cor. 7. 16. Moreover this gift of the spirit is a sure pledge and earnest of thy future glory time was when there was no such work upon thy soul and considering the frame and temper of it the total aversation strong opposition and rooted enmity that was in it it is the wonder of wonders that ever such a work as this should be wrought upon such an heart as thine that ever the spirit of God whose nature is pure and perfect holiness should choose such an unclean polluted abominable heart to frame an habitation for himself there to dwell in to say of thy soul now his spiritual Temple as he once said of the material Temple at Jerusalem Psal. 132. 13 14. The Lord hath chosen it he hath desired it for his habitation this is my rest for ever here will I dwell for I have desired it O what hath God done for thy soul Think Reader and think again are there not many thousands in the world of more ingenuous sweet and amiable disposition than thy self whom yet the spirit of God passeth by and leaveth them as Tabernacles for Satâ—… to dwell in such a one thou lately wast and hadst still remained if God had not wrought for thee beyond all the expectation and desires of thine own heart O bless God that you have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God that ye might know the things which are freely given unto you of God The Twenty fifth SERMON Sermon 25. 2 COR. 5. 17. Text. Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a New Creature Of the nature and necessity of the New Creature old things are passed away behold all things are become new YOU have seen one tryal of an interest in Christ in our last discourse namely by the donation of the Spirit we have here another Tryal of the same matter from one of the greatest and most noble effects of the Spirit upon our souls namely his work of renovation or new creation if any man be in Christ he is a new Creature The Apostles scope in the immediate context is to disswade Christians from a carnal sinful partiality in their respects to men not to dispense them after the manner of the world according to the external differences but the real internal worth and excellency that is in men This the Apostle presses by two arguments one drawn from the end of Christs death verse 15. which was to take us off from those selfish designs and carnal ends by which the world is swayed Secondly from the new spirit by which believers are acted they that are in Christ are to judge and measure all things by a new rule if any man be in Christ he is a new Creature old things are passed away q. d. we have done with that low selfish spirit of the world which was wholly governed by Carnal interest we are now to judge by a new rule to be acted from a new principle aim at a new and more noble end behold all things are become new In these words we have three general parts to be distinctly considered viz. 1. The great question to be determined if any man be in Christ. 2. The Rule by which it may be determined viz. he is a new Creature 3. This general rule more particularly explained old things are passed away behold all things are become new First We have here the great question to be determined Whether a man be in Christ a question upon the determination 1. whereof we must stand or fall for ever by being in Christ the Apostle doth not here mean the general profession of Christianity which gives a man the reputation of an interest in him but by being in Christ he means an interest in him by vital union with his
person and real participation of his benefits now this is the question to be determined the matter to be tryed than which nothing can be more solemn and important in the whole world Secondly The rule by which this great question may be 2. determined viz. The new Creation if any man be in Christ he is a new Creature by this rule all the titles and claims made to Christ in the professing world are to be examined if any man be he what he will high or low great or small learned or illiterate young or old if he pretend interest in Christ this is the standard by which he must be tryed if he be in Christ he is a new Creature and if he be not a new Creature he is not in Christ let his endowments gifts confidence and reputation be what it will be a new Creature not new Physically he is the same person he was but a new Creature that is a creature renewed by gracious principles newly infused into him from above which sway him and guide him in another manner and to another end than ever he acted before and these gracious principles not being educed out of any thing which was preexistent in man but infused de novo from above are therefore called in this place a new Creature this is the rule by which our claim to Christ must be determined Thirdly This general rule is here more particularly explained 3. old things are passed away behold all things are become new he satisfies not himself to lay down this rule concisely or express it in general terms by telling us the man in Christ must be a new Creature but more particularly he shews us what this new creature is and what the parts thereof are viz. Both the 1. Privative part old things are passed away 2. Positive part thereof all things are become new By old things he means all those carnal principles self ends fleshly lusts belonging to the carnal state or the old man all these are passed away not simply and perfectly but only in Non simpliciter perfectè sed partim re partim spe Estius in loc part at present and wholly in hope and expectation hereafter So much briefly of the privative part of the new Creature old things are passed away a word or two must be spoken of the positive part all things are become new He means not that the old faculties of the soul are abolished and new ones created in their room but as our bodies may be said to be new bodies by reason of their new endowments and qualities super-induced and bestowed upon them in their resurrection so our souls are now renewed by the infusion of new gracious principles into them in the work of regeneration These two parts viz. the privative part the passing away of old things and the positive part the renewing of all things do betwixt them comprize the whole nature of sanctification which in other Scriptures is expressed by equivalent phrases sometimes by putting off the old and putting on the new man Eph. 4. 24. sometimes by dying unto sin and living unto righteousness Rom. 6. 11. which is the self-same thing the Apostle here intends by the passing away of old things and making all things new and because this is the most excellent glorious and admirable work of the spirit which is or can be wrought upon man in this world therefore the Apostle asserts it with an Ecce a note of special remarque and observation behold all things are become new q. d. behold and admire this surprizing marvellous change which God hath made upon men they are come out of darkness into his marvellous light 1 Pet. 2. 9. out of the old as it were into a new world behold all things are become new Hence Note DOCT. That Gods creating of a new supernatural work of grace in the Doct. soul of any man is that mans sure and infallible evidence of a saving interest in Jesus Christ. Suitable hereunto are those words of the Apostle Eph. 4. 20 21 22 23 24. But ye have not so learned Christ if so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that ye put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness where we have in other words of the same importance the very self-same description of the man that is in Christ which the Aposte gives us in this Text. Now for the opening and stating of this point it will be necessary that I shew you 1. Why the regenerating work of the Spirit is called a new Creation 2. In what respects every soul that is in Christ is renewed or made a new Creature 3. What are the remarkable properties and qualities of this new Creature 4. The necessity of this new Creation to all that are in Christ. 5. How this new Creation evidences our interest in Christ. 6. And then Apply the whole in the proper uses of it First Why the regenerating work of the spirit is called a 1. new Creation this must be our first enquiry and doubtless the reason of this appellation is the Analogy proportion and similitude which is found betwixt the work of regeneration and Gods work in the first Creation and their agreement and proportion will be found in the following particulars First The same Almighty Author who created the world createth also this work of grace in the soul of man 2 Cor. 4. 6. God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ the same powerful word which created the natural createth also the spiritual light it is equally absurd for any man to say I make my self Minus el te fecisse hominem quam sanctum to repent or to believe as it is to say I made my self to exist and be Secondly The first thing that God created in the natural world was light Gen. 1. 3. and the first thing which God createth in the new Creation is the light of spiritual knowledge Col. 3. 10. And have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that Created him Thirdly Creation is out of nothing it requires no pre-existent matter it doth not bring one thing out of another but something out of nothing it gives a being to that which before had no being So it is also in the new Creation 1 Pet. 2. 9 10. who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light which in time past were not a people but are now the people of God which had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy the work of grace is not educed out of the power and principles of
and the soul in which it is may draw very sad conclusions about the issue and event concluding its life not only to be hazarded but quite extinguished Psal. 51. 10 11 12. but though it be ready to dye God wonderfully preserves it from death it hath as well its reviving as its fainting seasons and thus you see what are the lovely and eximious properties of the new creature In the next place Fourthly We will demonstrate the necessity of this new creation to all that are in Christ and by him expect to attain 4. salvation and the necessity of the new creature will appear divers ways First From the positive and express will of God revealed in Scripture touching this matter search the Scriptures and you shall find God hath laid the whole stress and weight of your eternal happiness by Jesus Christ upon this work of the spirit in your souls So our Saviour tells Nicodemus John 3. 5. Verily verily I say unto thee except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God agreeable whereunto are those words of the Apostle Heb. 12. 14. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord. And whereas some may think that their birth right priviledges injoyment of Ordinances and profession of Religion may commend them to Gods acceptance without this new creation he shews them how fond and ungrounded all such hopes are Gal. 6. 15. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature Christ and Heaven are the gifts of God and he is at liberty to bestow them upon what terms and conditions he pleaseth and this is the way the only way and stated method in which he will bring men by Christ unto glory men may raze out the impressions of these things from their own hearts but they can never alter the setled course and method of Salvation either we must be new creatures as the precepts of the word command us or lost and damned creatures as the threatnings of the word plainly tell us Secondly This new Creation is the inchoative part of that great Salvation which we expect through Christ and therefore without this all hopes and expectations of Salvation must vanish Salvation and renovation are inseparably connected Our glory in Heaven if we rightly understand its nature consisteth in two things namely our assimilation to God and our fruition of God and both these take their beginning and rise from our renovation in this world here we begin to be changed into his Image in some degree 2 Cor. 3. 18. for the new man is created after God as was opened above In the work of grace God is said to begin that good work which is to be finished or consummated in the day of Christ Phil. 1. 6. Now nothing can be more irrational than to imagine that ever that design or work should be finished and perfected which never had a beginning Thirdly So necessary is the new creation to all that expect salvation by Christ that without this Heaven would be no Heaven and the glory thereof no glory to us by reason of the unsuitableness and aversation of our carnal minds thereunto the carnal mind is enmity against God Rom. 8. 7. and enmity is exclusive of all complacency and delight there is a necessity of a suitable and agreeable frame of heart to God in order to that complacential rest of our souls in him and this agreeable temper is wrought by our new creation 2 Cor. 5. 5. He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God renovation you see is the working or moulding of a mans spirit into an agreeable temper or as it is in Col. 1. 12. the making of us meet for the inheritance of the Saints in light From all which it follows that seeing there can be no complacence or delight in God without suitableness and conformity to him as is plain from 1 Joh. 3. 2. as well as from the reason and nature of the thing it self either God must become like us suitable to our sinful corrupt and vain hearts which were but a rude blasphemy once to imagine or else we must be made agreeable and suitable to God which is the very thing I am now proving the necessity of Fourthly There is an absolute necessity of the new creature to all that expect interest in Christ and the glory to come since all the characters marks and signs of such an interest are constantly taken from the new creature wrought in us Look over all the marks and signs of interest in Christ or salvation by him which are dispersed through the Scriptures and you shall still find purity of heart Matth. 5. 8. holiness both in principle and practice Heb. 12. 14. mortification of sin Rom. 8. 13. longing for Christs appearance 2 Tim. 4. 8. with multitudes more of the same nature to be constantly made the marks and signs of our salvation by Christ. So that either we must have a new Bible or a new Heart for if these Scriptures be the true and faithful words of God no unrenewed creature can see his face which was the fourth thing to be opened Fifthly The last thing to be opened is how the new creation is an infallible proof and evidence of the souls interest 5. in Christ and this will appear divers ways First Where all the saving graces of the spirit are there interest in Christ must needs be certain and where the new creature is there all the saving graces of the spirit are for what is the new creature but the frame or Systeme of all special saving graces it is not this or that particular grace as faith or hope or love to God which constitutes the new creature for these are but as so many particular limbs or branches of it but the new creature is comprehensive of all the graces of the Spirit Gal. 5. 22 23. The fruit of the Spirit is love peace joy long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance c. any one of the saving special graces of the Spirit gives proof of our interest in Christ how much more then the new creature which is the complex frame or Systeme of all the graces together Secondly To conclude where all the causes of an interest in Christ are found and all the effects and fruits of an interest in Christ do appear there undoubtedly a real interest in Christ is found but where-ever you find a new creature you find all the causes and all the effects of an interest in Christ for there you shall find First The impulsive cause viz. the electing love of God from which the new creature is inseparable 1 Pet. 1. 2. with the new creature also the meritorious efficient and final causes of interest in Christ and union with him are ever found Eph. 2. 10. Eph. 1. 4 5 6. Secondly All the effects and fruits of interest in Christ are found with the new creature there are all the fruits
of obedience for we are created in Christ Jesus unto good works Eph. 2. 10. Rom. 7. 4. there is true spiritual opposition to sin 1 Joh. 5. 18. He that is begotten of God keepeth himself and that wicked one toucheth him not there is love to the people of God 1 Joh. 4. 7. every one that loveth is born of God there is a conscientious respect to the duties of both Tables for the new creature is created after God in righteousness and true holiness Eph. 4. 24. there is perseverance in the ways of God to the very end and victory over all temptations for whosoever is born of God overcometh the world 1 Joh. 5. 4. It were easie to run over all other particular fruits of our union with Christ and shew you every one of them in the new creature And thus much of the Doctrinal part of this point The Twenty sixth SERMON Sermon 26. 2 COR. 5. 17. Text. Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a New Creature old things are passed away behold all things are become new AFter the explication of the sense of this Scripture we observed DOCT. That Gods creating of a new supernatural work of grace in the soul of any man is that mans sure and infallible evidence of a Doct. saving interest in Jesus Christ. You have heard why the regenerating work of the Spirit is called a new creation in what respect every soul in Christ is renewed what the eximious properties of this new creature are the indispensibleness and necessity thereof hath been also proved and how it evidences our interest in Christ was cleared in the doctrinal part which we now come to improve in the several Uses serving for our 1. Information 2. Conviction 3. Examination 4. Exhortation 5. Consolation 1st Use for Information Is the new Creature the sure and infallible evidence of our Use 1. saving interest in Christ from hence then we are informed Inference 1. How miserable and deplorable an estate all unrenewed souls are in who can lay no claim to Christ during that state and Inference 1. therefore are under an impossibility of salvation O Reader if this be the state of thy soul better had it been for thee not to have been Gods natural workmanship as a man except thou be his spiritual workmanship also as a new man I know the Schoolmen determine otherwise and say that damnation is rather to be chosen than an annihilation a miserable being is better than no being and it is very true with respect to the glory of God whose justice shall triumph for ever in the damnation of the unregenerate but with respect to us 't is much better never to have been his creatures in the way of generation than not to be his new creatures in the way of regeneration So Christ speaks of Judas that Son of perdition Mark 14. 21. Good had it been for that man if he had never been born for what is a being without the comfort of it What is life without the joy and pleasure of life A damned being is a being without comfort no glimps of light shines into that darkness they shall indeed see and understand the felicity light and joy of the Saints in glory but not partake in the least measure of the comfort Lukâ—… 13. 28. They shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God but they themselves shut out such a sight is so far from giving any comfort that it will be the aggravation and increase of torment O 't is better to have no being at all than to have a being only to capacitate a man for misery to desire death while death flies from him Rev. 4. 6. The opinion of the Schoolmen will never pass for sound doctrine among the damned think on it Reader and lay it to thine heart better thou hadst dyed from the womb better the knees had prevented thee and the breasts which thou hast sucked than that thou shouldst live and dye a stranger to the new birth or that thy Mother should bring thee forth only to encrease and fill up the number of the damned Inference 2. And on the contrary we may hence learn what cause regenerate Inference 2. souls have to bless God for the day wherein they were born O what a priviledged state doth the new birth bring men into 'T is possible for the present they understand it not for many Believers are like a great Heir lying in the Cradle that knows not to what an estate and honour he is born Nevertheless on the same day wherein we become new creatures by regeneration we have a firm title and solid claim to all the priviledges of the Sons of God Joh. 1. 12 13. God becomes our Father by a treble title not only the Father of our beings by nature which was all the relation we had to him before but our Father by Adoption and by Regeneration which is a much sweeter and more comfortable relation In that day the Image of God is restored Eph. 4. 24. this is both the health and beauty of the soul. In that day we are begotten again to a lively hope 1 Pet. 1. 3. a hope more worth than ten thousand worlds in the troubles of life and in the straits of death this is a creature which lives for ever and will make thy life happy for ever Some have kept their birth-day as a festival a day of rejoycing but none have more cause to rejoice that ever they were born than those that are new born Inference 3. Learn from hence that the work of grace is wholly supernatural Inference 3. 't is a creation and creation work is above the power of the creature no power but that which gave being to the world can give a being to the new creature almighty power goes forth to give being to the new creature this creature is not born of flesh or of blood nor of the will of man but of God Joh. 1. 13. the nature of this new creature speaks its original to be above the power of nature the very notion of a new creation spoils the proud boasts of the great asserters of the power and ability of the will of man When God therefore puts the question who maketh thee to differ and what hast thou that thou hast not received Let thy soul Reader answer it with all humility and thankfulness 't is thou Lord thou only that madest me to differ from another and what I have received I have received from thy free grace Inference 4. If the work of grace be a new creation let not the parents and friends of the unregenerate utterly despair of the conversion of their Inference 4. relations how great soever their present discouragements are if it had been possible for a man to have seen the rude and indigested Chaos before the Spirit of God moved upon it would he not have said can such a beautiful order of beings such a pleasant variety
stranger to regeneration all the while John 3. 10. Secondly That many strong convictions and troubles for 2. sin may be found where the new creature is never formed Conviction indeed is an antecedent unto and preparative for the new creature as the blossomes of the tree are to the fruit that follows them but as fruit doth not always follow where those blossoms and flowers appear so neither doth the new creature follow all convictions and troubles for sin Conviction is a common work of the Spirit both upon the elect and reprobates but the new creature is formed only in Gods elect Convictions may be blasted and vanish away and the man that was under troubles for sin may return again with the dog to his vomit and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire 2 Pet. 2. 22. but the new creature never perishes nor can consist with such a return unto sin Thirdly That excellent gifts and abilities fitting men for service in the Church of God may be where the new creature 3. is not for these are promiscuously despensed by the Spirit both to the regenerate and ungenerate Mat. 7. 22. Many will say unto me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name Gifts are attainable by study prayer and preaching are reduced to an art but regeneration is wholly supernatural Sin in dominion is consistent with excellent gifts but wholly incompatible with the new creature In a word these things are so different in nature from the new creature that they oft times prove the greatest barrs and obstacles in the world to the regenerating work of the spirit Let no man therefore trust to things whereby multitudes deceive and destroy their own souls Reader it may cost thee many an aking head to obtain gifts but thou wilt finde an aking heart for sin if ever God make thee a new creature Fourthly Be convinced that multitudes of religious duties may be performed by men in whom the new creature was never formed Though all new creatures perform the duties of religion yet all that perform the duties of religion are not new creatures regeneration is not the only root from which the duties of religion spring Isa. 58. 2. Yet they seek me dayly and delight to know my ways as a nation that did righteousness and forsook not the ordinance of their God they ask of me the ordinances of justice they take delight in approaching to God These are but weak and slippery foundations for men to build their confidence and hopes upon 3d. Use for Examination Next therefore let me perswade every man to try the state of his own heart in this matter and closely consider and weigh Use 3. this great question Am I really and indeed a new creature or am I an old creature still in the new creatures dress and habit Some light may be given for the discovery hereof from the considerations of The 1. Antecedents of the new Creation 2. Concomitants 3. Consequents First weigh and consider well the Antecedents of the new creature have those things past upon your souls which ordinarily make way for the new creature in whomsoever the Lord forms it First hath the Lord opened the eyes of your understanding in the knowledge of sin and of Christ hath he shewed you both your disease and remedy by a new light shining from heaven into your souls Thus the Lord doth whereever he forms the new creature Acts 26. 18. Secondly hath he brought home the word with mighty power and efficacy upon your hearts to convince and humble them this is the method in which the new creature is produced Rom. 7. 9. 1 Thes. 1. 5. Thirdly have these convictions overturned your vain confidences and brought you to a great pinch and inward distress of soul making you to cry what shall we doe to be saved These are the ways of the spirit in the formation of the new creature Acts 16. 29. Acts 2. 37. If no such antecedent works of the spirit have passed upon your hearts you have no ground for your confidence that the new creature is formed in you Secondly Consider the concomitant frames and workings of spirit which ordinarily attend the production of the new creature and judge impartially betwixt God and your own souls whether they have been the very frames and workings of your hearts First have your vain spirits been composed to the greatest seriousness and most solemn consideration of things eternal as the hearts of all those are whom God regenerates When the Lord is about this great work upon the soul of man whatever vanity levity and sinful jollity was there before it is banished from the heart at this time for now heaven and hell life and death are before a mans eyes and these are the most awful and solemn things that ever our thoughts conversed with in this world now a man of the most airy and pleasant constitution when brought to the sight and sense of those things saith of laughter it is mad and of mirth what doth it Eccles. 2. 2. Secondly A lowly meek and humble frame of heart accompanies the new Creation the soul is weary and heavy laden Matth. 11. 28. convictions of sin have plucked down the pride and loftiness of the spirit of man emptied him of his vain conceits those that were of lofty proud and blustring humours before are meekened and brought down to the very dust now it is with them to speak allusively as it was with Jerusalem that lofty City Isa. 29. 1. 4. Wo to Ariel to Ariel the City where David dwelt thou shalt be brought down and shalt speak out of the ground and thy speech shall be low out of the dust Ariel signifies the Lyon of God so Jerusalem in her prosperity was other Cities trembled at her voice but when God brought her down by humbling Judgements then she whispered out of the dust so it is in this case Thirdly Alonging thirsting frame of spirit accompanies the new creation the desires of the soul are ardent after Christ never did the hireling long for the shadow as the weary soul doth for Christ and rest in him if no such frames have accompanied that which you take for your new birth you have the greatest reason in the world to suspect your selves under a cheat Thirdly Weigh well the effects and consequents of the new creature and consider whether such fruits as these are found in your hearts and lives First Whereever the new creature is formed there a mans course and conversation is changed Eph. 4. 22. That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind the new creature cannot but blush and be ashamed of the old Creatures conversation Rom. 6. 21. Secondly The new Creature continually opposes and conflicts with the motions of sin in the heart Gal. 5. 17. The spirit lusteth against the flesh grace can no more
furious beasts of prey Tantaene animis coelestibus ira O how repugnant are these practices non secus ac Cum duo conversis inimica in praelia tauri Frontibus 〈◊〉 with the study of mortification which is the great study and endeavour of all that be in Christ They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts So much for the order of the words the words themselves are a proposition wherein we have to consider both The 1. Subject 2. Predicate First The Subject of the proposition they that are Christs 1. viz. true Christians real members of Christ such as truly Vere Christiani qui ad Christum pertinent qui se ei dedâ—… regendâ—…s Pol. Synopsis belong to Christ such as have given themselves up to be governed by him and are indeed acted by his Spirit such all such persons for the indefinite is equipollent to a universal all such and none but such Secondly The predicate theâ—…â—…ve crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts by flesh 〈◊〉 are here to understand carnal 2. concupiscence the workings and motions of corrupt nature and by the affections we are to understand not the natural but the inordinate affections for Christ doth not abolish and destroy but correct and regulate the affections of those that are in him and by crucifying the flesh we are not to understand the total extinction or perfect subduing of corrupt nature but only the deposing of corruption from its regency and dominion in the soul its dominion is taken away though its life be prolonged for a season but yet as death surely though slowly follows crucifixion the life of crucified persons gradually departing from them with their blood so it is just so in the mortification of sin and therefore what the Apostle in this place calls crucifying he calls in Rom. 8. 13. mortifying if ye through the Spirit do mortifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if ye put to death the deeds of the body but he chooses in this place to call it crucifying to shew not only the conformity there is betwixt the death of Christ and the death of sin in respect of shame pain and lingring slowness but to denote also the principle means and instrument of mortification viz. the death or cross of Jesus Christ in the vertue whereof believers do mortifie the corruptions of their flesh the great arguments and perswasives to mortification being drawn from the sufferings of Christ for sin In a word he doth not say they that believe Christ was crucified for sin are Christs but they and they only are his who feel as well as profess the power and efficacie of the sufferings of Christ in the mortification and subduing of their lusts and sinful affections And so much briefly of the parts and sense of the words The Observation followeth DOCT. That a saving interest in Christ may be regularly and strongly inferred and concluded from the mortification of the flesh with Doct. its affections and lusts This point is fully confirmed by those words of the Apostle Rom. 6. 5 6 7 8. 〈◊〉 if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin for he that is dead is freed from sin now if we be dead with Christ we believe that we shall also live with him Mark the force of the Apostles reasoning if we have been planted into the likeness of his death viz. by the mortification of sin which resembles or hath a likeness to the kind and manner of Christs death as was noted above then we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection and why so but because this mortification of sin is an undoubted evidence of the union of such a soul with Christ which is the very ground-work and principle of that blessed and glorious resurrection and therefore he saith vers 11. Reckon ye also your selves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord q. d. reason thus with your selves these mortifying influences of the death of Christ are unquestionable presages of your future blessedness God never taking this course with any but those who are in Christ and are designed to be glorified with him the death of your sin is as evidential as any thing in the world can be of your spiritual life for the present and of your eternal life with God hereafter Mortification is the fruit and evidence of your union and that union is the firm ground-work and certain pledge of your glorification and so you ought to reckon or reason the case with your selves as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there signifies Now for the stating and explicating of this point I shall in the doctrinal part labour to open and confirm these five things 1. What the mortification or crucifixion of sin imports 2. Why this work of the Spirit is expressed by crucifying 3. Why all that are in Christ must be so crucified or mortified unto sin 4. What is the true evangelical principle of mortification 5. How the mortification of sin evinces our interest in Christ. And then apply the whole First What the mortification or crucifixion of sin imports 1. And for clearness sake I shall speak to it both negatively and positively shewing you what is not intended and what is principally aimed at by the Spirit of God in this expression First The crucifying of the flesh doth not imply the total abolition of sin in Believers or the destruction of its very Neg. 1. Mortificari carnem non est eam ita perimi ut aut prorsus non sit aut nulla prava in homine desideria commoveat quod in corpore mortis bujus non contingit c. Estius in loc being and existence in them for the present sanctified souls so put off their corruptions with their bodies at death this will be the effect of our future glorification not of our present sanctification it doth exist in the most mortified Believer in the world Rom. 7. 17. it still acteth and lusteth in the regenerate soul Gal. 5. 17. yea notwithstanding its crucifixion in Believers it still may in respect of single acts surprize and captivate them Psal. 65. 3. Rom. 7. 23. This therefore is not the intention of the spirit of God in this expression Secondly Nor doth the crucifixion of sin consist in the suppression of the external acts of sin only for sin may reign over the souls of men whilst it doth not break forth into their lives in gross and open actions 2 Pet. 2. 20. Mat. 12. 43. Morality in the Heathens as Tertullian well observes did abscondere sed non abscindere vitia hide them when it could not kill them many a man shews a white and fair hand who yet hath a very foul and black
profession this was what the Apostle complained of Phil. 3. 18. for many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the Cross of Christ men cannot study to put a greater dishonour and reproach upon Christ than by making his name and profession a cloak and cover to their filthy lusts Thirdly The necessity of crucifying the flesh appears from the method of Salvation as it is stated in the Gospel God every where requires the practice of mortification under pain of damnation Mat. 18. 8. Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee cut them off and cast them from thee it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire the Gospel legitimates no hopes of salvation but such as are accompanied with serious endeavours of mortification 1 John 3. 3. Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure 't was one special end of Christs coming into the world to save his people from their sins Mat. 1. 21. nor will he be a Saviour unto any who remain under the dominion of their own lusts Fourthly The whole stream and current of the Gospel put us under the necessity of mortification Gospel precepts have respect unto this Col. 3. 5. mortifie your members therefore which are upon the earth 1 Pet. 1. 15. be ye holy for I am holy Gospel presidents have respect unto this Heb. 12. 1. wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us c. Gospel threatnings are written for this end and do all press mortification in a thundring dialect Rom. 8. 13. If ye live after the flesh ye shall dye Rom. 1. 18. The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men the promises of the Gospel are written designedly to promote it 2 Cor. 7. 1. Having therefore these promises dearly beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God but in vain are all these precepts presidents threatnings and promises written in the Scripture except mortification be the daily study and practice of professors Fifthly Mortification is the very scope and aim of our regeneration and the infusion of the principles of grace if we live in the Spirit let us walk in the Spirit Gal. 5. 25. in vain were the habits of grace planted if the fruits of holiness and mortification be not produced yea mortification is not only the design and aim but it is a special part even the one half of our sanctification Sixthly If mortification be not the daily practice and endeavour of Believers then the way to Heaven no way answers to Christs description of it in the Gospel he tells us Mat. 7. 13 14. Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be that go in thereat because strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it well then either Christ must be mistaken in the account he gave of the way to glory or else all unmortified persons are out of the way for what makes the way of salvation narrow but the difficulties and severities of mortification Seventhly In a word he that denies the necessity of mortification confounds all discriminating marks betwixt Saints and Sinners pulls down the Pale of distinction and lets the world into the Church and the Church into the World 't is a great design of the Gospel to preserve the boundaries betwixt the one and the other Rom. 2. 7 8. Rom. 8. 1 4 5 6 13. but if men may be Christians without mortification we may as well go into the Taverns Ale-houses or Brothel-houses among the roaring or sottish crew of sinners and say here be those that are redeemed by the blood of Christ here be his Disciples and Followers as go to seek them in the purest Churches or most strictly religious families by all which the necessity of mortification unto all that are in Christ is abundantly evidenced Fourthly In the next place we are to enquire into the true principle of mortification 't is true there are many ways attempted 4. by men for the mortification of sin and many rules laid down to guide men in that great work some of which are very tristing and impertinent things such are those prescribed by popish votaries but I shall lay down this as a sure conclusion that the sanctifying spirit is the only effectual principle of mortification and without him no resolutions vows abstinencies castigations of the body or any other external endeavours can ever avail to the mortification of one sin the moral Heathens have prescribed may pretty rules and helps for the suppression of vice Aristides Seneca and Cato were renowned among them upon this account but yet as Lactantius well observes moral Philosophie did rather abscondere vitia quam abscindere hide it rather than kill it formal Christians have also gone far in the reformation of their lives but could never attain true mortification formality pares off the excrescences of vice but never kills the root of it it usually recovers it self again and their souls like a body not well purged relapse into a worse condition than before Mat. 12. 43 44. 2 Pet. 2. 20. This work of mortification is peculiar to the spirit of God Rom. 8. 13. Gal. 5. 17. and the spirit becomes a principle of mortification in Believers two ways namely 1. By the implantation of contrary habits 2. By assisting those implanted habits in all the times of need First The spirit of God implants habits of a contrary nature which are destructive to sin and are purgative of corruption 1. 1 John 5. 4. Acts 15. 9. Grace is to corruption what water is to fire betwixt which there is both a formal and effective opposition a contrariety both in nature and operation Gal. 5. 17. There is a threefold remarkable advantage given us by grace for the destruction and mortification of sin For First Grace gives the mind and heart of man a contrary bent and inclination by reason whereof spiritual and heavenly things become connatural to the regenerate soul Rom. 7. 22. For I delight in the Law of God after the inner man sanctification is in the soul as a living spring running with a kind of central force Heaven-ward John 4. 14. Secondly Holy principles destroy the interest that sin once had in the love and delight of the soul the sanctified soul cannot take pleasure in sin or find delight in that which grieves God as it was wont to do but that which was the object of delight hereby becomes the object of grief and hatred Rom. 7. 15. What I hate that I do Thirdly From both these follow a third
advantage for the mortification of sin in as much as sin being contrary to the new nature and the object of grief and hatred cannot possibly be committed without reluctancy and very sensible regret of mind and actions done with regret are neither done frequently nor easily The case of a regenerate soul under the surprizals and particular victories of temptation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cùm ita quis capitur ut nequeat luctari nec se capienti obsistere Sclat being like that of a captive in war who marches not with delight but by constraint among his enemies So the Apostle expresseth himself Rom. 7. 23. But I see another law in my members warring against the Law of my mind and bringing me into captivity unto the law of sin which is in my members thus the spirit of God promotes the design of mortification by the implantation of contrary habits Secondly By assisting those gracious habits in all the times 2. of need which he doth many ways sometimes notably awakening and rouzing grace out of the dull and sleepy habit and drawing forth the activity and power of it into actual and successful resistances of temptations as Gen. 39. 9. How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God Holy fear awakens first and raises all the powers of grace in the soul to make a vigorous resistance of temptation the spirit also strengthens weak grace in the soul 2 Cor. 12. 9. My grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness and by reason of grace thus implanted and thus assisted he that is born of God keepeth himself and the wicked one toucheth him not Fifthly The last query to be satisfied is how mortification of sin solidly evinceth the souls interest in Christ and this it 5. doth divers ways affording the mortified soul many sound evidences thereof As Evidence 1. Whatsoever evidences the indwelling of the holy spirit of God in us must needs be evidential of a saving interest in Christ as hath been fully proved before but the mortification of sin doth plainly evidence the indwelling of the spirit of God for as we proved but now it can proceed from no other principle there is as strong and inseparable a connection betwixt mortification and the spirit as betwixt the effect and its proper cause and the self-same connection betwixt the inbeing of the spirit and union with Christ. So that to reason from mortification to the inhabitation of the spirit and from the inhabitation of the spirit to our union with Christ is a strong scriptural way of reasoning Evidence 2. That which proves a soul to be under the Covenant of Grace evidently proves its interest in Christ for Christ is the head of that Covenant and none but sound Believers are under the blessings and promises of it but mortification of sin is a sound evidence of the souls being under the Covenant of Grace as is plain from those words of the Apostle Rom. 6. 12 13 14. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lust thereof neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin but yield your selves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God sor sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under Grace where the Apostle presseth Believers unto mortification by this incouragement that it will be a good evidence unto them of a new Covenant interest for all legal duties and endeavours can never mortifie sin 't is the spirit in the new Covenant which produces this whoever therefore hath his corruptions mortified hath his interest in the Covenant and consequently in Christ so far cleared unto him Evidence 3. That which is the fruit and evidence of saving faith must needs be a good evidence of our interest in Christ but mortifiâ—… 〈◊〉 sin is the fruit and evidence of saving faith Acts 15. 9. Purifying their hearts by faith 1 John 5. 4. This is the victory whereby we overcome the world even our faith faith overcomes both the allurements of the world upon one hand and the terrors of the world upon the other hand by mortifying the heart and affections to all earthly things a mortified heart is not easily taken with the ensnaring pleasures of the world or much moved with the disgraces losses and sufferings it meets with from the world and so the strength and force of its temptations is broken and the mortified soul becomes victorious over it and all this by the instrumentality of faith Evidence 4. In a word there is an intimate and indissoluble connection betwixt the mortification of sin and the life of grace Rom. 6. 11. Reckon your selves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ and the life of Christ must needs involve a saving interest in Christ by all which is fully proved what was asserted in the observation from this Text. The Application follows in the next Sermon The Twenty eighth SERMON Sermon 28. GAL. 5. 24. And they that are Christs have crucified the flesh Text. with the affections and lusts From hence our Observation was DOCT. THat a saving interest in Christ may be regularly and Doct. strongly inferred and concluded from the mortification of the flesh with its affections and lusts Having opened the nature and necessity of mortification in the former Sermon and shewn how regularly a 〈◊〉 â—…interest in Christ may be concluded from it we now proceed to apply the whole By way of 1. Information 2. Exhortation 3. Direction 4. Examination 5. Consolation 1st Use for Information Use 1. Inference 1. If they that be Christs have crucified the flesh then the life Inference 1. of Christians is no idle or easie life the corruptions of his heart continually fill his hands with work with work of the most difficult nature sin-crucifying work which the Scripture calls the cutting off the right hand and plucking out of the right eye sin-crucifying work is hard work and it is constant work throughout the life of a Christian there is no time or place freed from this conflict every occasion stirs corruption and every stirring of corruption calls for mortification corruptions work in our very best duties Rom. 7. 23. and put the Christian upon mortifying labours The world and the Devil are great enemies and fountains of many temptations to Believers but not like the corruptions of our own hearts they only tempt objectively and externally but this tempts internally and therefore much more dangerous they only tempt at times and seasons this continually at all times and seasons beside what ever Satan or the world attempts upon us would be altogether ineffectual were it not for our own corruptions John 14. 30. So that the corruptions of our own hearts as they give us most danger so they must give us more labour our life
Philosopher desired for himself an easie death without pain or terrour then get a mortified heart the Chirurgeons knife is scarce felt when it cuts off a mortified member 3d. Use for Direction Are you convinced and fully satisfied of the excellency and Use 3. necessity of mortification and inquisitive after the means in the use whereof it may be attained then for your help and encouragement I will in the next place offer my best assistance in laying down the rules for this work 1. Rule If ever you will succeed and prospâ—… in the work of mortification Rule 1. then get and daily exercise more faith Faith is the great instrument of mortification This is the victory or sword by which the victory is won the instrument by which you overcome the world even your faith 1 John 5. 4. By faith alone eternal things are discovered to our souls in their reality and excelling glory and these are the preponderating things for the sake whereof self-denial and mortification becomes easie to believers by opposing things eternal to things temporal we resist Satan 1 Pet. 5. 8. This is the shield by which we quench the fiery darts of the wicked one Eph. 6. 16. 2. Rule Walk in daily communion with God if ever you will mortifie the corruptions of nature that is the Apostles own prescription Rule 2. Gal. 1. 16. This I say then walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh Spiritual and frequent communion with God gives manifold advantages for the mortification of sin as it is a bright glass wherein the holiness of God and the exceeding sinfulness of sin as it is opposite thereunto are most clearly and sensibly discovered than which scarce any thing can set a keener edge of indignation upon the spirit of a man against fin Besides all communion with God is assimilating and transformative of the soul into his image it leaves also a heavenly relish and savour upon the soul it darkens the luster and glory of all earthly things by presenting to the soul a Glory which excelleth It marvelously improves and more deeply radicates sanctification in the soul by all which means it becomes singularly useful and successful in the work of mortification 3. Rule Keep your Consciences under the awe and in the fear of Rule 3. God continually as ever you hope to be successful in the Mortification of sin The fear of God is the great preservative from sin without which all the external rules and helps in the world signifie nothing By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil Prov. 16. 6. Not only from external and more open evils which the fear of men as well as the fear of God may prevent but from the most secret and inward evils which is a special part of Mortification Levit. 19. 14. It keeps men from those evils which no eye nor ear of man can possibly discover The fear of the Lord breaks Temptations baited with pleasure with profit and with secresie In a word if ever you be cleansed from all filthiness of flesh and spirit it must be by the fear of God 2 Cor. 7. 1. 4. Rule Study the vanity of the creature and labour to get true Rule 4. notions of the emptiness and transitoriness thereof if ever you will attain to the Mortification of your affections towards Readers if ever you would have a true sight of the emptiness and vanity of the creature and get a mortified heart to the world now is the time for at this day the providence of God hath withered all the fading flowers of earthly delights and shewed you the worlds back parts as it is departing from you it 'T is the false picture and image of the world in our fancy that crucifies us with so many cares fears and solicitudes about it and it is the true picture and image of the world represented to us in the glass of the word which greatly helps to crucifie our affections to the world O if we did but know and believe three things about the world we would never be so fond of it as we are viz. the fading defiling and destroying nature of it the best and sweetest enjoyments of the world are but fading flowers and withering grass Isa. 14. 6. James 1. 10 11. Yea it is of a defiling as well as a fading nature 1 John 5. 19. It lies in wickedness it spreads universal infection umong all mankind 2 Pet. 1. 4. Yea it destroyes as well as defiles multitudes of souls drowning men in perdition 1 Tim. 6. 9. Millions of souls will wish to eternity they had never known the riches pleasures or honours of it were this believed how would men slack their pace and cool themselves in the violent and eager pursuit of the world This greatly tends to promote Mortification 5. Rule Be careful to cut off all the occasions of sin and keep at the greatest distance from temptations if ever you will mortifie Rule 5. the deeds of the body The success and prevalency of sin mainly depends upon the wiles and stratagems it makes use of to ensnare the incautelous soul therefore the Apostle bids us keep off at the greatest distance 1 Thes. 5. 22. Abstain from all appearance of evil Prov. 8. 8. Come not nigh unto the door of her house He that dares venture to the very brink of sin discovers but little light in his understanding and less tenderness in his conscience he neither knows sin nor fears it as he ought to do and 't is usual with God to chastise self-confidence by shameful lapses into sin 6. Rule If you will successfully mortific the corruptions of your nature never engage against them in your own single strength Rule 6. Eph. 6. 10. When the Apostle draws forth Christians into the field against sin he bids them be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might O remember what a meer feather thou art in the gusts of Temptation Call to mind the height of Peters confidence though all men forsake thee yet will not I and the depth of his fall shame and sorrow A weak Christian trembling in himself depending by faith upon God and graciously assisted by him shall be able to stand against the shock of temptation when the bold and confident resolutions of others like Pendleton in our English story shall melt away as wax before the flames 7. Rule Set in with the mortifying design of God in the day of thine affliction Sanctified afflictions are ordered and prescribed in Rule 7. heaven for the purging of our corruptions Isa. 27. 9. By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away his sin 'T is a fair glass to represent the evil of sin and the vanity of the creature to imbitter the world and disgust thy affections towards it fall in therefore with the gracious design of God follow home every affliction with prayer
his Tribunal to be solemnly sentenced They are as my Text speaks condemned already but then that dreadful sentence will be solemnly pronounced by Jesus Christ whom they have despised and rejected then shall that scripture be fulfilled Luke 19. 27. These mine enemies that would not that I should reign over them bring them hither and slay them before me Inference 2. Hence be informed how great a mercy the least measure Inference 2. of saving faith is for the least measure of true faith unites the soul to Jesus Christ and then there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8. 1. Not one sentence of God against them So Acts 13. 39. By him all that believe are justified from all things The weakest believer is as free from condemnation as the strongest the righteousness of Christ comes upon all believers without any difference Rom. 3. 22. Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Christ Jesus unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference 'T is not in imputed as it is in inherent righteousness one man hath more holiness than another The faith that receives the righteousness of Christ may be very different in degrees of strength but the received righteousness is equal upon all believers A piece of gold is as much worth in the hand of a child as it is in the hand of a man O the exceeding preciousness of saving faith Inference 3. How dreadful a sin is the sin of unbelief which brings Inference 3. men under the condemnation of the great God! no sin startles less or damns surer 'T is a sin that doth not affright the conscience as some other sins do but it kills the soul more certainly than any of those sins could do for indeed other sins could not damn us were it not for unbelief which fixes the guilt of them all upon our persons This is the condemnation Unbelief is the sin of sins and when the spirit comes to convince men of sin he begins with this as the capital sin John 16. 9. But more particularly First Estimate the evil of unbelief from its Object It is the slighting and refusing of the most excellent and wonderful person in heaven or earth The fiducial vision of Christ is the joy of Saints on earth the facial vision of Christ is the happiness of Saints in heaven 'T is a despising of him who is altogether lovely in himself who hath loved us and given himself for us 'T is the rejecting of the only Mediator betwixt God and man after the rejecting of whom there remains no sacrifice for sin Secondly Let the evil of unbelief be valued by the offer of Christ to our souls in the Gospel 't is one part of the great mystery of godliness that Christ should be preached to the Gentiles 1 Tim. 3. 16. That the word of this salvation should be sent to us Acts 13. 26. A mercy denied to the fallen angels and the greatest part of mankind which aggravates the evil of this sin beyond all imagination So that in refusing or neglecting Jesus Christ is found vile ingratitude highest contempt of the grace and wisdom of God and in the event the loss of the only season and opportunity of salvation which is never more to be recovered to all eternity Inference 4. If this be the case of all unbelievers it is not to be admired Inference 4. that souls under the first convictions of their miserable condition are plunged into such deep distresses of Spirit It 's said of them Acts 2. 37. That they were pricked at the heart and cried out Men and brethren what shall we do And so the Jayler He came in trembling and astonished and said Sirs what must I do to be saved Certainly if souls apprehend themselves under the condemnation and sentence of the great God all their tears and tremblings their weary days and restless nights are not without just cause and reason Those that never saw their own miserable condition by the light of a clear and full conviction may wonder to see others so deeply distressed in Spirit They may misjudge the case and call it melancholy or madness but spiritual troubles do not exceed the cause and ground of them let them be as deep and great as they will and indeed it is one of the great mysteries of grace and providence a thing much unknown to men how such poor souls are supported from day to day under such fears and sorrows as are able in a few hours to break the stoutest Spirit in the world Luther was a man of great natural courage and yet when God let in spiritual troubles upon his soul it is noted of him ut nec vox nec calor nec sanguis superesset He had neither voyce nor heat nor blood appearing in him Inference 5. How groundless and irrational is the mirth and jollity of all carnal and unregenerate men they feast in their prison Inference 5. and dance in their fetters O the madness that is in the hearts of men If men did but see their mittimus made for hell or believe they are condemned already it were impossible for them to live at that rate of vanity they do and is their condition less dangerous because it is not understood Surely no but much more dangerous for that O poor sinners you have found out an effectual way to prevent your present troubles it were well if you could find out a way to prevent your eternal misery but 't is easier for a man to stifle conviction than prevent damnation Your mirth hath a twofold mischief in it it prevents repentance and encreaseth your future torment O what an hell will your hell be who drop into it out of all the sensitive and sinful pleasures of this world If ever a man may say of mirth that it is mad and of laughter what doth it he may say so in this case Inference 6. Lastly what cause have they to rejoyce admire and praise the Lord to Eternity who have a well grounded Inference 6. confidence that they are freed from Gods condemnation O give thanks to the Father who hath delivered you from the power of darkness and translated you into the Kingdom of his dear Son Col. 1. 13. Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for if you be freed from condemnation you are out of Satans power he hath no more any dominion over you The power of Satan over men comes in by vertue of their condemnation as the power of the Jayler or Executioner over the bodies of condemned prisoners doth Heb. 2. 14. If you be freed from condemnation the sting of death shall never touch you For the sting of death smites the souls of men with a deadly stroak only by vertue of Gods condemnatory sentence 1 Cor. 15. 55 56. The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law If you be freed from condemnation now you shall stand with comfort and boldness
Bradwardine the profound Doctor who was learned usque ad stuporem even to a wonder professed that when he first read Pauls Epistles he despised them because he found not in them Metaphysicum ingenium those Metaphysical Notions which he expected Upon this account it was that Christ brake forth into that Pathetical gratulation of his fathers love to the elect Mat. 11. 25. At that time Jesus answered and said I thank thee O Father Lord of heaven and earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes Secondly It is not opposed to all light and knowledge in Spiritual truths A man may have a true understanding of the Scriptures give an Orthodox exposition of them and enlighten the minds of others by them and yet the Gospel may be hidden from himself Mat. 7. 22. Many will say unto me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy Name So Rom. 2. 19. Aid art confident that thou thy self art a guide of the blind a light to them that sit in darkness c. A man may shew others the way to Christ and Salvation whilst both are hid from himself Thirdly It is not opposed to all kind of influences upon the affections for it is possible the Gospel may touch the affections themselves and cause some sweet Motions and Raptures in them and yet be an hidden Gospel to the soul Heb. 6. 5 9. Secondly But if these three things may consist with spiritual blindness unto what then is it opposed To which I answer that Spiritual blindness stands only opposed unto that saving Manifestation of Jesus Christ in the Gospel by the Spirit whereby the soul is regenerated and effectually changed by a real conversion unto God Where-ever the Gospel thus comes in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power producing such an effect as this in the soul it is no longer an hidden Gospel to that soul though such persons do not see clearly all that glory which is revealed by the Gospel though they know but in part and see darkly as through a glass yet the eyes of their understandings are opened and the things which belong to their peace are not hidden from them Secondly But though this be the happiness of some men 2. yet it is demonstrable that the eyes of many are blinded by the God of this world and the Gospel is an hidden Gospel from them for First Many that live under the Gospel are so entirely swallowed up in the affairs of this world that they allow themselves no time to ponder the great concernments of their souls in the world to come and judge you whatever the gifts and knowledge of these men are whether the God of this world hath not blinded their eyes If it were not so it were impossible that ever they should thus wast the most precious opportunities of salvation upon which their everlasting well-being depends and spend time at the door of eternity about trifles which so little concern them Yet this is the case of the greatest number that go under the Christian name The earth hath opened her mouth and swallowed up their time thoughts studies and strength as it did the bodies of Corah and his accomplices The first the freest and upon the matter the whole of their time is devoted to the service of the world for even at that very time when they present their bodies before the Lord in the duties of his worship their hearts are wandering after vanities and going after their covetousness Ezek. 33. 31. Judge whether the God of this world hath blinded these men or no who can see so much beauty in the world but none in Christ and put such an absolute necessity upon the vanities of this world but none upon their own salvation If this be not spiritual blindness what is Secondly The great stilness and quietness of mens consciences under the most rouzing and awakening truths of the Gospel plainly proves that the God of this world hath blinded their eyes For did men see and apprehend the dangerous condition they are in as the word represents it nothing in the world could quiet them but Christ. As soon as mens eyes come to be opened the next enquiry they make is What shall we do to be saved It is not possible that a man should hang over hell see Christ and the hopes of salvation going and the day of patience ending and yet be quiet O it cannot be that conscience should let them be quiet in such a case if it were not blinded and stupified but whilst the God of this world that strong man armed keepeth the house all his goods are in peace Luke 11. 21. If once your eyes were opened by conviction a man may then say Be quiet if you can sit still and let the hopes and seasons of salvation pass quietly away if you can Suppose one should come into the Congregation and whisper but such a word as this in your ear your child is fallen into the fire and is dying since you came from home would it be in the power of all the friends you have to quiet you and make you sit still after such an information much less when a man apprehends his own soul in immediate danger of the everlasting burnings Thirdly The strong confidences and presumptuous hopes men have of salvation whilst they remain in the state of nature and unregeneracy plainly shews their minds to be blinded by the policy of Satan This presumption is one of those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 false reasonings by which Satan deludes the understanding as the Apostle calls them Jam. 1. 22. 'T is the cunning Sophistry of the Devil farthered by self-love Prov. 21. 2. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes and partly by self-ignorance Rev. 3. 17. Thou saidst I am rich and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art poor You have no fears no doubts no case to propound that concerns your future state and why so but because you have no sight your consciences are quieted because your eyes are blinded Fourthly The trifling of men with the duties of Religion plainly discovers the blinding power of Satan upon their minds and understandings else they would never play and dally with the serious and solemn ordinances of God at that rate they do if their eyes were once opened they would be in earnest in prayer and apply themselves with the closest attention of mind in hearing the Gospel There are two sorts of thoughts about any subject of meditation Some think at a distance and others think close to the subject Never do the thoughts of men come so close to Christ to heaven and to hell as they do immediately upon their illumination When Johns Ministry enlightned the peoples minds it is said Mat. 11. 12. From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force Surely these men were more
Lord hath not given unto this day eyes to see their misery in themselves or their remedy in Christ so as to make an effectual Application of him to their own souls To all such my counsel is 1. To get a sense of your own blindness 2. To seek out for a cure whilst yet it may be had First Labour to get a deep sense of the misery of such a condition for till you be awakened by conviction you can never be healed O that you did but know the true difference betwixt common and saving light the want of this keeps you in darkness you think because you know the same things that the most sanctified man doth that therefore there is no difference betwixt his knowledge and yours and are therefore ready to say to them as Job to his friends Lo mine eye hath seen all this mine ear hath heard and understood it What ye know the same do I know also I am not inferiour unto you Job 13. 1 2. But O that you would be convinced that your knowledge vastly differs from the knowledge of believers Though you know the same things that they do it is a knowledge of another kind and nature You know spiritual things in another way meerly by the light of reason assisted and improved by the common light of the Gospel they know the same things by spiritual illumination and in an experimental way 1 John 2. 20. Ye have an unction from the holy one and ye know all things Their knowledge is practical yours is idle They are working out their salvation by that light which God hath given them Psal. 111. 10. Their knowledge of God and Christ produces the fruits of faith obedience mortification and heavenly mindedness in them It hath no such fruits in you whatever light there be in your understandings it makes no alteration at all upon your hearts Their light brings them to heaven John 17. 3. Yours shall be blown out by death 1 Cor. 13. 8. and your selves left in the mists of eternal darkness except your eyes be opened seasonably by the anointing of the holy Ghost Conviction is a great part of your cure Secondly Labour to get a remedy for this dangerous disease of your minds Awake to righteousness and sin not for some have not the knowledge of God I speak this to your shame 1 Cor. 15. 34. These things speak incouragement to you though it be a sore Judgement that lies upon you and very difficult to be removed yet remember Jesus Christ is put into Commission by God the Father to open the blind eyes Isa. 42. 6 7. and this excellent Physician bespeaks you for his patients Rev. 3. 18. Anoint thine eyes saith he with eye-salve that thou mayest see Yea the most enlightned Christians were once as dark and blind in spiritual things as you are and Christ hath cured them Eph. 5. 8. Once were you darkness now are ye light in the Lord. Attend therefore upon the Ordinances of the Gospel diligently that 's Gods enlightning instrument by which he couches those Cataracts which blind the eyes of mens understandings Acts 26. 18. And if ever you will have your eyes opened allow your selves time to ponder and consider what you hear The duty of Meditation is a very enlightning duty Above all cry to the Lord Jesus Christ as that poor man did Lord that mine eyes may be opened that I may receive my sight Say Lord this is my disease and danger that in seeing I see not others see natural things in a spiritual way whilst I see spiritual things only in a natural way their light is operative upon their hearts mine is but an idle impractical notion of Religion which brings forth â—…no fruit of holiness Their knowledge sets their hands a work in duties of obedience mine only sets my tongue a work in discourses of those things which my heart never felt Lord open mine eyes and make me to see out of this obscurity All the light that is in me is but darkness O Lord enlighten my darkness enlighten mine eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death Secondly Let it be a word of counsel and exhortation to such as once were blind but do now see First I beseech you bless God for the least degree of spiritual illumination Truly light is sweet and 't is a pleasant thing for the eyes to behold the sun Eccles. 11. 7. But Oh how sweet is spiritual light and what a pleasant thing to behold the Son of Righteousness Blessed are your eyes for they see God hath brought you out of darkness into marvellous light And marvellous indeed it must needs be when you consider how many wise and prudent men are under the power of spiritual darkness whilst such babes as you are enlightened Mat. 11. 25. It greatly affected the heart of Christ O let it affect yours also Secondly Labour to get a clearer sight of spiritual things every day For all spiritual light is encreasing light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day Prov. 4. 18. O if a little spiritual light be so comfortable what would more be The wisdom of God is a manifold wisdom Eph. 3. 16. The best of us see but little of it Labour therefore to know spiritual things more extensively and more experimentally Phil. 3. 8 9. be still encreasing in the knowledge of God Thirdly Walk as men whose eyes are opened Once ye were darkness now are ye light in the Lord walk as children of the light Eph. 5. 8. Else your light will but aggravate your sin Remember how it displeased God that Solomons heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel which had appeared to him twice 1 Kings 11. 9. Remember how angry God was with the Heathens for abusing the dim common light of nature Rom. 1. 21. how much more evil is it in you to abuse the most precious light that shineth in this world and what mischievous effects the abuse of your light will have upon this blind world It was a smart rebuke given once by an Atheist to a good man who being asked by him how he could satisfie his conscience to live as he did nay rather said the Atheist I wonder how you can satisfie your self to live as you do for did I believe as you do that there is such a Christ and such a glory as you believe there is I would pray and live at another rate than you do The Conclusion And now Reader after all my discourses of the method of Christ in purchasing the great Salvation for us and the way of the Spirit in applying it and making it effectual to Gods Elect thou hast two wonders before thine eyes either of which may astonish thy soul in the consideration of them Viz. 1. The admirable Grace of God in preparing this great salvation 2. The desperate wickedness of man in rejecting First Behold the riches of the goodness and mercy of God 1. in preparing such a remedy as this for lost
boundaries must be preserved p. 467 Grace the riches of it in remission p. 302 Grace the vile abuse of it taxed p. 306 Grieving the Spirit the sin of Believers p. 411 Guilt incurred in times of tentation p. 560 Guilt only relieved by blood of Christ. p. 208 H. HAbits of Grace inspired not acquired p. 96 Habitude of faith to Gospel terms p. 121 Happy estate of pardoned souls p. 303 Happiness of Saints above all men p. 338 Harmony of the Spirits motions p. 412 Habits of grace how assisted p. 469 Hell torments how aggravated p. 187 Heart its deceitfulness opened p. 369 Heavenly mindedness what it infers p. 418 Heaven no Heaven to the unregenerate p. 440 Heavenly mindedness connotes grace p. 453 Honour of religion on what it depends p. 482 Hour of death by what sweetned p. 483 Holiness of Christ our pattern p. 501 Holiness of Christ sixfold p. 502 Humility of Christ exemplary p. 512 Hypocrisie wherein it lies p. 490 Hypocrites are twice dead p. 536 Husband none like Christ. p. 255 I. IGnorance the cause of security p. 351 Ignorance twofold p. 420 Immortality the priviledge of grace p. 37 Impossibility of coming without drawing p. 70 Imputed righteousness vindicated p. 130 Illumination antecedent to faith p. 147 Implantation into Christ necessary p. 461 Impossibility of salvation to some p. 395 Inoffensive life of Christ. p. 511 Joy of Saints a rational joy p. 331 Inexcusableness of Christ-despisers p. 19 Infusion of spiritual life instantaneous p. 101 Inability of nature to produce grace p. 105 Inheritance of Saints how secured p. 178 Interest in Christ how evinced p. 180 Invitations of Christ to weary souls p. 198 Inherence of sin when and how cured p. 220 Inferiour things should not satisfie Saints p. 243 Interest in Christ the ground of peace p. 204 Inward troubles infest the best hearts p. 325 Inability to return to God discovered p. 337 Influence of Christs death into our glory p. 340 Ineffectualness of the word a sore judgement p. 365 Indisposedness of man to come to Christ. p. 394 Incongruity of carnal ways to Saints p. 448 Instrumentality for service whence p. 480 Insupportableness of affliction to some p. 482 Imitation of Christ how necessary p. 497 Imitation of Christ what it compriseth ibid. Improve Christ to your own rest p. 214 Justification evidenced by sanctification p. 500 Justice unsatisfied bars Heaven p. 337 K. KEep the evil of sin in your eye p. 488 Keep the sufferings of Christ before you ibid. Keep the sufferings of the damned before you p. 490 Knowledge of spiritual things twofold p. 139 Knowledge of interest a ground of peace p. 289 Knowledge spiritual excellent p. 397 Knowledge of the creatures vanity p. 485 Knowledge aggravates sin three ways p. 557 Knowledge secures none from Hell p. 559 Knowledge improved against Knowledge p. 579 L. LAw its efficacy on the Conscience p. 185 Lamentations for the unregenerate p. 537 Learned men why Christless p. 395 Leadings of the Spirit what p. 419 Lessons twelve taught by God p. 378 Life spiritual what it is p. 95 Life spiritual its excellency p. 96 Life spiritual still growing p. 98 Life spiritual in all the faculties p. 100 Life Natural Political Theological p. 108 Life of Believers how comfortable p. 296 Liberty purchased by Christ p. 323 Liberty of six sorts p. 328 Liberty of Believers wonderful p. 329 Liberty of Believers its properties p. 330 Liberty must be maintained p. 333 Liberty a motive to come to Christ p. 334 Loveliness of Christ in all respects p. 255 Longing to be with Christ its ground p. 285 Love of Christ wonderful p. 280 Loveliness of creatures derivative p. 250 Lovely nothing is so in opposition to Christ p. 251 M. MAnner of the Spirits work various p. 413 Marks of right inward troubles p. 191 Marks of saving faith p. 149 Marks of the new creature p. 451 Matter of duty no evidence of grace p. 412 Means of mortification p. 462 Mediums of communion with Christ p. 172 Mediocrity in outwards eligible p. 477 Meeting of Saints in Heaven joyful p. 339 Meltings in duty twofold p. 421 Memory of sins past how revived p. 185 Method of cure a restraint from sin p. 225 Mercy to be under Christs cure p. 227 Mercies of two sorts p. 233 Mercy Christ is the mercy of mercy evidenced in twelve respects p. 23â—… Mercies derive their sweetness 〈◊〉 and durableness from Christ p. 215 Mercy not to be expected out of Christ p. 241 Ministry removed a sore judgement p. 49 Ministers obliged to faithfulness ibid. Ministers unduely treated p. 58 Ministers must mind their own estates p. 59 Mirth of unregenerate groundless p. 548 Mind influenced by God p. 392 Mortification painful work p. 463 Motions of sin in the best Saints p. 325 Motives to faith p. 153 Motives ten to inflame desires p. 272 Motives six to come to Christ p. 307 Mortification proves interest in Christ p. 458 Mortification what it imports p. 459 Mortification why called crucifying p. 463 Mortification the method of salvation p. 466 Mortification requires affliction p. 474 Motives to imitate Christ p. 521 Mysterious way of regeneration p. 99 N. NAtures pride in what discovered p. 81 Natures current cross to Christ p. 80 Natural and spiritual affections hâ—… they may be distinguished p. 421 National rejection of Christ dangerâ—… p. 268 Necessity of divine teachings p. 390 Necessity of mortification p. 465 Necessity of the new Creature p. 439 New creature consists in two things p. 405 New creature proves interest in Christ p. 429 New creature why grace is so called ibid. New creation in what it resembles the old opened in many respects p. 430 New Christians are so in three respects p. 432 New creature exceeding beautiful p. 434 New creature its designation p. 4â—…5 New creature immortal and how so p. 497 New creature its heavenly tendency p. 437 New creature its activity p. 438 New creature in whom undiscernible p. 447 Number of real Christians small p. 475 O. OBedience the end of spiritual life p. 101 Obedience whence its excellency p. 102 Obedience of Christ our pattern p. 504 Obedience to the law as our rule p. 324 Object formal of faith what it is p. 118 Obstacles to glory how removed p. 340 Object of faith must be determinate p. 194 Objections against believing answered p. 200 Occasions not to be given to corruption p. 474 Occasions of sin must be cut off p. 485 Offers of Christ what they include p. 155 Offer of Christ intire and compleat p. 122 Offer of Christ in what manner p. 123 Offices of Christ how suitable p. 253 Opinions about faith divers p. 132 Opposition of Satan to the Gospel why p. 333 Operations of the Gospel various p. 360 Opposition of flesh and spirit what p. 424 Opposition to sin twofold p. 468 Opinions justly rejected p. 477 Ornaments of nature what and how to be denied for Christ p. 81 Ordinances why to
be attended p. 89 Outward troubles how cured p. 222 Oyl of gladness what it notes p. 164 P. PArdon of sin how sweet p. 188 Papists how they still Conscience p. 203 Pauses made in Conversion p. 77 Penance no act of mortification p. 460 Peace two sorts worse than trouble p. 190 Pleas for converting souls p. 21 22 Pleasures of the spiritual life p. 97 Pleasure of sin cost dear p. 186 Physitian noue like Christ p. 223 Pledge of glory what is so p. 410 Pleasure none in carnal men p. 534 Policy of Satan in what discovered p. 283 Powers of the soul twofold p. 405 Power of sin gradually weakened p. 462 Propositions about applying Christ p. 6 7 8 Persecutors warned of danger p. 42 Presumption falsely pretended p. 200 Presumption a general sin p. 350 Prayer how prevalent p. 314 Prayers of Saints desirable p. 316 Prayer evidential of the Spirit p. 417 Prayerless persons unregenerate p. 453 Probabilities of mercy incourage p. 388 Proper sins to be especially eyed p. 487 Principles of mortification what p. 467 Promises of temporals how secured p. 246 Practical nature of Gods teaching p. 399 Purity of Conscience how needful p. 484 Purposes accepted by God p. 315 Q. QUalifications of Ministers p. 63 Qualities of the new creature p. 434 Quickning of two sorts p. 94 Quickning the Spirits work in order to union with Christ p. 93 Quickning a supernatural work p. 103 Quietness of men what it argues p. 353 R. REconciliation with God what p. 51 Reconciliation wonderful p. 52 Readiness in God to grant prayer p. 313 Receiving Christ the vital act p. 115 Receiving Christ what it improts p. 116 Remission the Saints priviledge p. 299 Remission what it is p. 300 Remission none without Christ p. 305 Reconciled persons their duties p. 66 Renovation of nature p. 430 Regenerate their duties p. 445 Religion precise and strict p. 499 Religion falâ—…y charged p. 518 Represent Christ as he is p. 260 Respect due to Ministers and why p. 48 Reluctance of nature how cured p. 76 Rest coming by faith sweet p. 203 Rest of Believers present and how p. 207 Righteousness connected with holiness p. 16 Riches of Christ how great p. 178 Right to glory Christs purchase p. 341 Rome shall feel the force of prayer p. 317 Rods of affliction the Saints lot p. 325 Rules of two sorts p. 498 Rules to discern the spirit in us p. 411 Rule no man a rule to others p. 498 S. SAints have real communion with Christ p. 165 Saints honourable on what account p. 175 Satans great design opened p. 211 Satisfaction none short of glory p. 342 Satans power destroyed and how p. 327 Satans policy wherein seen p. 368 Selfishness an odious sin p. 176 Secrets of God opened to Saints p. 314 Skill bred by experience what p. 193 Signs of divine teaching p. 398 Sins evil not seen at first p. 378 Sin is long a dying in the best p. 464 Sin yields neither profit nor pleasure p. 489 Sin against the Spirit mistaken p. 200 Sins of Believers most piercing p. 319 Sound of the Gospel sweet p. 202 Sorrows of the soul not quickly over p. 206 Souls of great value p. 341 Small things accepted by God p. 314 Small remnant in Christ p. 447 Spiritual sickness a mercy p. 201 Spirits threefold power in conversion p. 363 Spirit taken two ways p. 406 Spirit the bond of union p. 408 Spirit works arbitrarily in us p. 411 Spirit works variously in men ibid. Sting of death pluckt out by Christ p. 328 Striving ineffectual when so p. 381 Stability the result of mortification p. 481 Success of the word to be waited for p. 110 Supports under defects of obedience p. 524 Supports under spiritual troubles what and whence they are p. 189 190 Sufferings for Christ honourable p. 281 Sweetness of Religion in application p. 11 Sympathy a mark of the Spirit p. 41â—… Symptoms of a desperate state p. 227 T. TEmptations not removed here p. 325 Terms on which Christ is offered p. 122 Teachings of God twofold p. 377 Teachings of God necessary p. 375 Teaching of God not opposed to mans p. 376 Teachings of God infallible p. 390 Teaching of God clear ibid. Teachings of God permanent p. 391 Teachings of God harmonical p. 399 Tenderness of Conscience p. 492 Time of conversion in the hand of the Spirit p. 364 Time of Christs incarnation exactly agreeable to the promises p. 240 Things past present and to come ours p. 209 Thoughts of death how sweetned p. 342 Troubles of Conscience great p. 188 Troubles for sin wean the heart p. 191 Troubles for sin prevent falls p. 192 Troubles for sin make Christ sweet ibid. Troubles for sin tryed p. 191 Trials of our union with Christ. p. 43 Trials of spiritual life p. 111 V. VExing the Spirit p. 489 Visions not to be expected p. 376 Unition supposed to union p. 94 Union with Christ how illustrated p. 26 Union with Christ no fancy p. 28 Union with Christ what it is not p. 30 Union mystical what it is p. 32 Union ingages to godliness p. 44 Union the ground of acceptation p. 315 Union fundamental to benefits p. 383 Unregenerate in a sad state p. 〈◊〉 110 Unbelief unreasonable p. 17 Unreconciled exhorted p. 65 Unbelief the damning sin p. 136 Unbelief the root of ingratitude p. 212 Unworthiness no bar to faith p. 245 Unbelievers their sad estate p. 294 Unbelievers under condemnation p. 541 Unbelief the evil thereof p. 543 Voluntary motions of souls to Christ p. 194 Voyce of God never heard by some p. 400 Upbraidings of Conscience what p. 187 Usefulness of the Law is great p. 204 W. WAnts relieved by union with Christ p. 40 Wants of Saints provided for p. 176 Want of outwards quietly born p. 244 Wants not to be feared p. 318 Willingness to dye what it signifies in carnal men p. 353 Will how allured by God p. 393 Workings of the word when slight p. 368 World its damping efficacy p. 369 Work of grace supernatural p. 445 Work of new creatures what p. 4â—…4 Wonderful preservation of grace p. 438 Wrath due to sin how great p. 379 Z. ZEal in wicked men dangerous Zeal improved against Zeal p. 580 FINIS This Author hath writ the several Books following A Saint indeed the great work of a Christian opened and pressed from Prov. 4. 23. a seasonable Discourse for recovery of decayed godliness A Touch-stone of Sincerity or signs of Grace and symptoms of Hypocrisie being the Second Part of the Saint Indeed Husbandry Spiritualized or the Heavenly use of Earthly things The Seamans Compass spiritually improved The Seamans Companion wherein the mysteries of Divine Providence relating to Seamen are opened the sins and dangers discovered their duties pressed their several troubles and burdens opened and profitably applied Divine Conduct or the Mystery of Providence its Being and Efficacy asserted and vindicated all the methods of Providence in our course of life opened with directions how to apply and improve them A Token for Mourners or Boundaries for Sorrow on death of Friends The Fountain of life opened or a display of Christ in his Essential and Mediatorial Glory wherein the impetration of our redemption by Christ is unfolded as it was begun carried on and finished These following Books lately Printed HEavenly and Earthly mindedness in two Parts with an Appendix about laying hold on Eternal Life The Life and Death of Mr. John Row of Credditon in Devon Emanuel or the love of Christ explicated and applied in his incarnation being made under the Law and his satisfaction in 31 Sermons all three by Mr. John Row Minister of Gods word Christs power over bodily diseases by Edward Lawrance now Minister of the Gospel in London The Saints nearness to God by Richard Vines Minister of the Gospel Of Idolatry a Discourse in which is endeavoured a declaration of its distinction from superstition by Tho. Tenison Dr. in Divinity and Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty FINIS
incorporate with sin than oyle with water contraries cannot consist in the same subject longer than they are fighting with each other if there be no conflict with sin in thy soul or if that conflict be only betwixt the conscience and affections light in the one strugling with lust in the other thou wantest that fruit which should evidence thee to be a new creature Thirdly The mind and affections of the new Creature are set upon heavenly and spiritual things Col. 3. 1 2. Ephes. 4. 23. Rom. 8. 5. if therefore thy heart and affections be habitually earthly and wholly intent upon things below driving eagerly after the world as the great business and end of thy life deceive not thy self this is not the fruit of the New Creature nor consistent with it Fourthly The new Creature is a praying Creature living by its daily Communion with God which is its livelyhood and subsistence Zech. 12. 10. Acts 9. 11. If therefore thou be a prayerless soul or if in all thy prayers thou art a stranger to Communion with God if there be no brokenness of heart for sin in thy confessions no melting affections for Christ and holiness in thy supplications surely Satan doth but baffle and delude thy over-credulous soul in perswading thee that thou art a new Creature Fifthly The new Creature is restless after falls into sin until it have recovered peace and pardon it cannot endure it self in a state of defilement and pollution Psal. 51. 8 9 10 11 12. It is with the conscience of a new Creature under sin as it is with the eye when any thing offends it it cannot leave twinkling and watering till it have wept it out and in the very same restless state it is under the hiding of Gods face and divine withdrawments Cant. 5. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. If therefore thou canst sin and sin again without such a burthensome sense of sin or restlesness or solicitude how to recover purity and peace with the light of Gods countenance shining as in dayes past upon thy soul delude not thy self thou hast not the signs of a new Creature in thee 4th Use for Exhortation If the new Creation be a sound evidence of our interest in Christ then hence let me perswade all that are in Christ to Use 4. evidence themselves to be so by walking as it becomes new Creatures The new Creature is born from above all its tendencies are Heaven-ward accordingly â—…et your affections on things that are above and let your conversation be in Heaven if you live earthly and sensual lives as others do you must cross your new Creature therein and can those acts be pleasant unto you which are done with so much regret wherein you must put a force upon your own spirits and offer a kind of violence to your own hearts Earthly delights and sorrows are suitable enough to the unregenerate and sensual men of the world but exceedingly contrary unto that spirit by which you are renovated If ever you will act becoming the principles and nature of new Creatures then seek earthly things with submission enjoy them with fear and caution resign them with cheerfulness and readiness and thus let your moderation be known unto all men Phil. 4. 5. Let your hearts daily meditate and your tongues discourse about heavenly things be exceeding tender of sin strict and punctual in every duty and hereby convince the world that you are men and women of another spirit 5th Use for Consolation Let every new creature be chearful and thankful if God have renewed your natures and thus altered the frame and Use 5. temper of your hearts he hath bestowed the richest mercy upon you that Heaven or Earth affords this is a work of greatest rarity a new creature may be called one among a thousand 't is also an everlasting work never to be destroyed as all other natural works of God how excellent soever must be 't is a work carried on by almighty power through unspeakable difficulties and mighty oppositions Eph. 1. 12. the exceeding greatness of Gods power goes forth to produce it and indeed no less is required to enlighten the blind mind break the rocky heart and bow the stubborn will of man and the same almighty power which at first created it is necessary to be continued every moment to preserve and continue it 1 Pet. 1. 5. the new creature is a mercy which draws a train of innumerable and invaluable mercies after it Eph. 2. 13 14. 1 Cor. 3. 22. when God hath given us a new nature then he dignifies us with a new name Rev. 2. 17. brings us into a new Covenant Jer. 31. 33. begets us again to a new hope 1 Pet. 1. 3. intitles us to a new inheritance Joh. 1. 12 13. 't is the new creature which through Christ makes our persons and duties acceptable with God Gal. 6. 15. In a word it is the wonderful work of God of which we may say this is the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our eyes there are unsearchable wonders in its generation in its operation and in its preservation Let all therefore whom the Lord hath thus renewed fall down at the feet of God in an humble admiration of the unsearchable riches of free grace and never open their mouths to complain under any adverse or bitter providences of God The Twenty seventh SERMON Sermon 27. GAL. 5. 24. Text. And they that are Christs have crucified the flesh Of the nature principle and necessity of Mortification with the affections and lusts TWo great Tryals of our interest in Christ are finished we now proceed to a third namely the mortification of sin they that are Christs have crucified the flesh The scope of the Apostle in this context is to heal the unchristian breaches among the Galatians prevailing by the instigation of Satan to the breach of brotherly love to cure this he urges four weighty arguments First From the great Commandment to love one another upon which the whole Law i. e. all the duties of the second Table do depend vers 14. Secondly He powerfully disswades them from the consideration of the sad events of their bitter contests calumnies and detractions viz. mutual ruine and destruction vers 15. Thirdly He disswades them from the consideration of the contrariety of these practices unto the Spirit of God by whom they all profess themselves to be governed from vers 17 to the 23. Fourthly He powerfully disswades them from these animosities from the inconsistency of these or any other lusts of the flesh with an interest in Christ they that be Christs have crucified the flesh c. q. d. you all profess your selves to be members of Christ to be followers of him but how incongruous are these practices to such a profession Is this the fruit of the Dove-like-spirit of Christ Are these the fruits of your faith and professed mortification Shall the sheep of Christ â—…narl and fight like rabid and