special and peculiar way and is that very Power whereby their Acts and Motions to eternity are acted and was not communicated in that perfection till after Christ's Ascension John 16.7 If I go not away the Comforter will not come This Spirit of Christ is a Spirit of Illumination and Instruction John 14.26 The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name he shall teach you all things 1 Joh. 2.27 The anointing which is from above teacheth you all things a Spirit of Conviction and Redargution John 16.8 a Spirit of Renovation and Cleansing Tit. 3.5 a Spirit of Strength Ephes 3.16 Strengthned with his might by his Spirit a Spirit of Assurance Ephes 1.13 Sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise a Spirit of quickening Rom. 8.11 quickned by his Spirit that dwelleth in you a Spirit of Adoption and Attestation Rom. 18.15 16. We nave received the Spirit of Adoption a Spirit of Supplication and Intercession Rom. 8.26 27. The Spirit it self maketh Intercession for us The Spirit of defence against Temptation Ephes 6.17 The Sword of the Spirit which is the word of God A Spirit of Union There is a double and reciprocal means of Union between Christ and his people 1. By Faith whereby Christ is united unto them Ephes 3.17 That Christ might dwell in your Hearts by Faith. 2. By the Spirit whereby we are united unto him Rom. 8.9 If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Ephes 2.20 In whom also ye are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit 1 John 4.13 Hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit 1 Cor. 6.17 He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit And this Union with Christ was that which he so much desired of his Father for his Church John 17.22 23. And as by Faith all that Satisfaction and Righteousness which was in him was made ours so all our Actions proceeding from this Spirit are in truth his both in virtue and acception with the Father Ephes 2.18 Through him we have access by one Spirit to the Father Gal. 2.20 I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me And by reason of this Union with Christ as he is a Son so are we Sons Rom. 8.17 Joynt Heirs with him and Galat. 4.7 an Heir of God through Christ thus we apprehend Christ and are apprehended of him Phil. 3.12 3. The third effect and end of Christ's Ascension is his perpetual Intercession in the Presence of the Glory of God for his People Christ in his humane Nature was our Sacrifice and that was but one Sacrifice and but once offered Heb. 9.28.10.14 And Christ who in both Natures was the Priest that offered that Sacrifice Heb. 9 14 25. Who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without Spot to God though he finished that part of his Priestly Office while he was with us yet as the Priesthood of Christ was for ever according to the order of Melchisedec so the exercise of that Priesthood still continues Heb. 9.24 Christ is entred into Heaven it self now to appear in the Presence of God for us And as by his Spirit which he hath given to his people he makes Intercession in them for we have Access to the Father by his Spirit so by himself he makes Intercession for us Heb. ◠25 Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them 1 John 2.1 And if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous And it is the strength of this Intercession of Christ that makes the Prayers of his People effectual John 16.23 Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name he will grant it That Incense that was mingled with the Prayers of the Saints Revel 8.3 And here let 〈◊〉 ever admire the endless goodness of God Man is dead in trespasses and sins God sends his Son into the World with a Ransom and with Life John 1.4 In him was life and the life was the light of men But for all this the World still continues in death and darkness John 1.10 The world knew him not He therefore by his Providence conveys Truth to their Ears and by his Spirit carries Life and Light into their Souls and conquers the darkness and death that is in us And when he hath rescued us from ruine he still leaves that Spirit of his to contest with our Corruptions to discover his Mind to form us every day more and more to our lost Image to supplicate and communicate our wants and fears and though those supplications of ours are mingled with imperfections distrusts doubtings and distractions yet he that knows the mind of his own Spirit takes these Prayers of ours and cleanseth them from the dross that hangs about them mingles his own Merit with them presents them to his Father in the strength of his own Intercession and so bears the iniquity of their holy things Nay when we vex and grieve that Agent of his that he hath left in us to perfect our Blessedness and oftentimes stifle his motions and have scarce the sign of Life left in us he nevertheless makes Intercession for us Isa 53.12 He made intercession for the transgressours 3. The next inquiry is for whom the Satisfaction of Christ was 1. Christ did Intentionally lay down his Life for the sins of the Elect of God John 10.15 I lay down my life for my sheep And these Sheep of Christ as they were not confined to one time or age of the World so neither to one Nation or company of People John 10.16 Other sheep I have which are not of this fold viz. of the Nation of the Jews And thus some understand 1 John 22. And not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world using us the world as a contradistinction of the Gentiles from the Jews to whom it seems he wrote 2. As Christ died Intentionally for the Redemption of the Elect so he died Effectually for them and God hath so ordered his Counsels that those that he hath appointed to eternal Life shall use that means which he hath appointed to be instrumental for the partaking of the Efficacy of his Death John 6.37 All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me and him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out 3. Whatsoever were the Intention or Efficacy of the Death of Christ yet we are sure that all Men shall not partake of the full and compleat Effect of Christ's Satisfaction viz. Eternal Life This is a clear Truth yet all the lost Sons of Adam shall be left wholly unexcusable and condemned by the most Righteous and Natural Justice that is imaginable There have been three great Promulgations of Laws in the World. 1. The Law written in the Hearts of Men Rom 1.19 That which may be
were a Miracle of Mercy if such a God so offended and by his Creature should have accepted a Reconciliation upon the highest importunity of his Creature But for him thus injured that could not receive a grain of advantage by our Conversion unto him to change as it were conditions with his Creature and to importune a Reconciliation from it There wants conception in us to understand it it is a Love passing knowledge But yet like the waters of the Sanctuary still riseth higher It is true we made our selves miserable and if thou O Lord hadst never looked after us nor pitied us we could never have complained of thy Justice But if thou hadst pitied and done no more or if thy pity had gone so far as to have given us a deliverance if we could have found it we must for ever in our misery have magnified thy Mercy though we had been Non-plus'd in the inquiry But here is Love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the Propitiation for our Sins a Propitiation and a Propitiation prepared by our offended injured Maker and such a Propitiation But it rests not here We had incurred Guilt enough to make us wretched and a delivery from wretchedness by such a means had been an unspeakable Mercy But this mercy rested not there he doth not only of miserable Men make us not miserable by pardoning our Guilt but of Enemies makes us Children by a Righteousness that he himself had prepared 1 John 1.3 Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God. 4. Now a Man would think that ordinary Prudence and Ingenuity would engage the heart to entertain this Message of Happiness and Peace with Love and Acceptation and that a greater approach from God to his Creature as it could not be expected so it need not be required The Chiefest Good commands our Entertainment how much more when it offers it self with such a condescension as well to our Necessities as to our conditions Moral perswasions have wrought upon the Tempers of wise Men without any propositions of any thing beyond this Life how much more perswasions bottomed upon such sound Reason and propounding an end sutable to the highest Comprehension of our Souls But all this will not serve the turn unless the Mercy of God had gone farther We are dead in Trespasses and Sins and we can no more receive these Truths and this Love of God than a dead Man can receive a rational Impression Now Christ is our Life Colos 3.4 When Christ who is our Life shall appear 1 John 5.12 He that hath the Son hath Life he that hath not the Son hath not Life Now this Life is wrought in us and conveyed unto us by the very work of the Spirit of God and Christ in and upon our Souls John 6.63 It is the Spirit that quickens the same Spirit that raised up Christ from the Dead Rom. 8.11 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 Body by his Spirit that dwelleth in you Ephes 2.5 Even when we were dead in Sins he hath quickned us together with Christ Therefore he is called the Spirit of Life Rom. 8.2 This Life called the renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. 2.5 a Birth of the Spirit John 3.5 Except a Man be born of Water and the Spirit Verse 6. that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit The first Resurrection Ephes 5.14 Awake thou that sleepest stand up from the Dead and Christ shall give thee Life And though it may seem a vain Command to a dead Man to stand up from the Dead yet we must remember whose Command it was even his that spake to dead Lazarus Come forth and he arose because a Spirit of Life and a word of Power went along with the Command John 6.63 The words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life They have not only Life in them for him that receives them but I can send a Spirit with them to enable him to receive them And now the Soul is put into a condition to entertain his Happiness It was the Happiness of Adam's Soul and it is the Happiness of Angelical Natures to be receptive of the knowledge and Love of God And here was Mans misery by his Sin that as he lost the actual Enjoyment of God so he had made his Soul as it were irreceptive of it again and as God hath offered himself to us again in Christ so by his Spirit he enables us to receive him by Faith which is the first motion of the Creature to Union with God. So then the work of the Spirit upon the Soul comes under a threefold Consideration though the same act produceth all three and therefore they are three put together 2 Tim. 1.7 The Spirit of Power of Love and of a sound Mind 1. Of Power or Life whereby Life is conveyed into the Soul which like the dry bones in Ezekiel was void of Life till this Spirit comes into them de quae supra and the two following are but the manifestation of this Life according to the Faculties wherein it appears 2. Of a sound Mind Light not only in the Medium but in the Organ John 1.4 In him was Life and the Life was the light of Men. Hence it is called a convincing Spirit John 16.8 a Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of Christ Ephes 1.17 a Spirit of understanding He hath given us understanding that we may know him that is true 1 John 5.20 a Spirit of Demonstration and of Power 1 Cor. 2.4 a Spirit of discerning and Judication 1 Cor. 2.15 16. Man's Understanding by his Fall lost his Object and lost his Sight Ephes 5.8 ye were sometimes darkness And this was not only a darkness by the Absence but by the exclusion of light the Understanding was sealed against it so that though light did shine in the darkness yet the darkness comprehended it not John 1.5 Now here was the work of the Spirit of God in opening the heart Acts 16.14 enabling our understanding to receive and subduing of it to believe the truth of God. And this is certain not only in those truths which are farthest removed from our Reason and so most properly the Object of our Faith John 6.65 No man can come unto me except the Father draw him 1 Cor. 12.3 No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost But even in those points of truth wherein even natural reason may guide us Even the belief of the Creation though it is deducible by natural reason to know it yet it is the work of Faith to believe it Heb. 11.3 By Faith we understand that the Worlds were framed c. The conviction of the same truth by the work of the Spirit of God creating Faith and the
even seeming Disappointments and Frustrations of the Love of God to Man and the glory of God in him improved to the higher manifestation both of his Love and Glory This is the Lord 's doing and let it ever be marvellous in our Eyes 4. The Congruity of it even to that nature that is in Man. The great God could have over-ruled his Creature to his own Will by his own Power but he rather chuseth to bring him up unto him by such means as are congruous to the nature of his Creature and let in a supernatural Light and Life by natural means and instruments The Son of God takes upon him Flesh and in his Flesh reveals the way and means of Life 1 John 1.1 That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon c. In this Flesh he evidenceth his Love to Mankind suffers dies for them As the Discovery of the Truth by him was most proportionable to our manner of Understanding so was that Love which he shewed to us most winning upon our Wills In this is the love of God made manifest that when we were enemies Christ died for us Greater love than this sheweth no Man. Thus he winneth us with the cords of Love and maketh us willing in the day of his Power especially when this Light and Love is carried home to the Heart with the strength of his own powerful Spirit Man is a compounded Creature of Senses Passions and Spirit and though his Excellence consist in the latter and to the higher Perfection he attains the more spiritual he is yet as he owes even the service of his more inferiour Faculties to his Lord so they were not uselesly placed in him even in reference to his supreme End there is the Excess usually Man is inordinate in the former especially his Senses and that is much evidenced by the proneness of Man to Idolatry and sensual Worship Exod. 32.1 Make us gods that may go before us this Malady the Wise God that knows our frame doth not only cure with severe Comminations and Prohibitions but diverts it he gave the Jews outward Sacrifices and Observations he hath given us Christians his Image in his Son to divert us from Idolatry his Love and Compassion revealed even in our own flesh to take up our Affections and yet by these leads us up to a higher pitch John 6.63 Even by sensual Objects and Expressions he leads up to spiritual It is the Spirit that quickens the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life And this is most evident in the whole Life of Christ for though he still winds up his Auditors to the high and spiritual conceptions yet he is contented to use those motives that work upon the Senses and Passions Miracles Tears Parables Importunities Signs diversity of Tongues Visions of Angels sensual Convictions to Thomas John 20.27 Reach hither thy finger and behold my hands and to all his Disciples Luke 24.39 Behold my hands and my feet that it is I my self Thus although the Power of God could have wrought his Work in his by an immediate hand he rather chuseth such Means as may bear Congruity with the humane and reasonable Nature of his reasonable Creatures CHAP. VIII Of the great Work of our Redemption What it is How effected and for whom NOW we come to consider the great Work it self of our Redemption by Christ 1. What it is 2. How effected 3. For whom 4. How applyed 5. The Effects wrought by it 1. For the first Man by his Sin incurred a Guilt which bound him over 1. To a necessity of losing the Favour and Presence of God which was to be attained and kept only by Obedience 2. To a necessity of undergoing the wrath of God as the just reward of his Disobedience That Redemption that we now consider must supply both these 1. There must be a deliverance from that Wrath which was justly sentenced upon Man for his Disobedience And because it is impossible that the Punishment could be removed unless the Guilt were likewise removed some course must be taken to remove that Guilt And because the Guilt of any one Offence doth everlastingly disable that person that hath contracted it to avoid or expiate it and puts it wholly and everlastingly in the power of that Person that is offended to be judge of his own Satisfaction for if it were imaginable that an offender could for the future as far out act his Duty as in his Offence he came short of it it is not conceptible to be satisfactory without the acceptation of him that is offended hence it is that unless our offended Creator to whom we owe our Obedience to the utmost extent of our Beings accept a Satisfaction for our Guilt it is not possible nor imaginable that the Guilt of any one Sin can receive any Expiation It is true he might have released it of his absolute Power without any Satisfaction but that he would not do as is before shewen then that he accepted any Satisfaction it is a wonder of Mercy but that he should propound it himself and such a Satisfaction as Christ and to accept it it is a Wonder of Wonders And for this reason the foundation of our Redemption is ever attributed to the Love of God 1 John 3.1 Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us 1 John 4.9 In this was manifested the love of God towards us because God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses to them The very foundation of Man's Redemption from his Guilt and Punishment by Christ was the Love of God in sending and accepting his Son's Satisfaction 2. But if we had only a Remission of our Guilt though that might have removed our Punishment it had not cured our Loss therefore to set Man right there must not only be the removal of the Wrath of God which made us miserable but his Favour and Reconciliation without which we could not be happy And because though our Debt were paid yet we could never come to the Favour and Acceptance of God unless his Image the Rule which he planted in Man to attain Happiness were again restored to Man and because that is impossible for us to do we by our Sin contracted Blindness as well as Guilt and Weakness as well as Blindness and therefore as we must up to our Creator for Acceptation of Satisfaction for our Guilt so we must to him to provide our Righteousness Though we had found Christ Sin for us 2 Cor. 5.21 and Christ a Curse for us Gal. 3.13 before we could be delivered from our Curse so had we found that we had been still short of our Happiness unless we had also found him as well our Righteousness as our Redemption 1 Cor. 1.30
4.19 We love him because he first loved us this even natural ingenuity would challenge of us 2. A Love of Prudence as I may call it which is the only tolerable Self-Love in the World to love God because the fruition of his Favour and his Presence is our best Advantage as a most suitable Good. By this thou mayest easily find what should be the Object of thy intensest Grief Sin in others Psal 119.136 Rivers of waters run down mine eyes because they keep not thy Law But especially Sin in our selves that and only that can deserve our intensest Sorrow as the only thing that is contrary 1. To the Purity the Glory the Will of him that is the chiefest Good. Is he the chiefest Good then certainly whatsoever is contrary to his Purity Glory or Will cannot chuse but be the chiefest Evil and consequently the object of thy Hatred and of thy Grief Is thy Conformity to his Nature and Will the necessary consequence of thy Love unto him that then that spoils that Conformity to him cannot chuse but be thy Sorrow thou lovest him because he is Good and that Goodness in him which is the cause of thy Love must of necessity imprint upon thee a desire to have the like ground of Loveliness in thy self and this thy sin disappoints thee of 2. Contrary to that Gratitude that even natural ingenuity teacheth thee to return to an ordinary Benefactor Consider that great God whom thou hast offended hath freely given thee thy Being the greatest Gift that is possibly conceiveable and with thy Being hath given thee the Copy of his Mind and Will a most Reasonable and Just Command in the Obedience whereof consists thy Perfection and Happiness If he had given thee a rigorous and severe Law taking in the whole compass of thy Being or such a Law wherein thou couldst bave seen nothing but the Absolute Will of thy Creator yet the Debt thou owest thy Creator could not be satisfied with such a performance And now for thee to offend such a Law of such a God that hath given thee thy Being Again consider that when thy Maker could not by any imaginable Rule of Justice owe any thing to the exactest Obedience of his Creature yet such was his Goodness that he made himself a Debtor even to his own Creature entring into a Covenant of Life with him thereby to encourage his Obedience and this for no other cause but because his Mercy endureth for ever For can a man be profitable to God Job 22.2 And for a Man to sin against so much Condescension of an Infinite God to his own Creature Again consider when against so much Mercy and Love thou hast offended thy Maker and even by thy own Contract as well as by the Just and Universal Right that God had over his Creature hast forfeited thy Being to thy Creator yet he took not the advantage of it remitted thy Forfeiture and sent a Sacrifice in thy stead of his own providing with a message of a fulness of Love with a new Covenant of more easiness to perform and of more comfort in the performance with a Pardon for thy Sin and with a Reward for anothers Righteousness and when thou wert an enemy and dead in sins and trespasses sent his Son to his Creature to beseech Reconciliation and his Spirit to give thee Life to accept it and to seal thy acceptation of it with an earnest and an assurance of Life and Glory that by that Spirit and through that Son of his hath given thee Access unto his own Majesty a discovery of that Glory to the which thou art called Certainly these are the highest ingagements of Gratitude that are possible to be put upon a Creature and do therefore challenge even from natural ingenuity the highest Return thou canst make though it be infinitely short of what thou doest owe And yet after all this cross the Will of thy Creator that hath done so much for thee to forget the Love of thy Saviour and to crucifie him again to grieve that Spirit of Love and Purity that comes to cleanse thee and fit thee for thy Masters use and to seal thee to Life and Immortality to dishonour that Name by which thou art called to pollute that Conscience which thy Saviour hath washed with his Bloud to deface that Image and Superscription of thy Creator which he was imprinting upon thy Soul to prefer a base unworthy perishing unprofitable Lust or Vanity before the Honour of such a God the Love of such a Saviour the perswasion and importunities of such a Spirit before thy own Peace Perfection and Happiness to vex and oppress and despise the Patience and Bounty of him that hath done all this for thee and gives thee yet an hour of Life to consider of it and a Promise of Grace and Pardon after all this if thou canst but mourn over thy Sins thy unthankfulness thy unworthy and disingenuous dealing with thy God. Lay the weight of these and the like aggravations upon thy hard and stony Heart and bruise it into Tears of Blood for thy unkindness to so merciful a God. Thou canst not exceed in this Sorrow it is a Sorrow that springs from the Love of God in the Soul a Sorrow that will cleanse thy Soul a Sorrow that will bring thee to thy Maker a Sorrow that hath a Promise of Acceptation goes along with it a Sorrow that is mingled with Comfort even the presence of a Saviour and a Sorrow that shall end in a fulness of Joy. Sorrow for sin as for a necessary cause of misery may end in desperation because it ariseth from love of our selves but sorrow for sin as for an ununthankful return of so much Love from God cannot because the Love of God is under that Sorrow and the spring of those Tears is a spring of Life and Comfort 3. Contrary to that Good which we lose by it 1. Our Conformity to the Mind and Will of God is our Perfection and the nearer our Conformity comes to his Will the more perfect is our Being Sin which is a violation of that Will of his spoils and disorders this Conformity and so it interrupts that inherent Good which otherwise would be in us 2. As it destroys our Conformity to the Will of God and so spoils us of our inherent Good so it interrupts that â—ommunicative Good that Influence of Life and Comfort which we have from God It removes us to a greater distance from him it displaceth us from that Position in which and by which the Goodness of God should be derived and conveyed to us we are by it out of that Covenant that Promise which God hath made with his Creature we are by it without the comfortable Presence of God without that Confidence that we might otherwise have in him out of the Assurance of his Providence and Protection It makes our Souls in the midst of all Fruition of outward Blessings full of doubtful Anxieties Fears and
which was lost in Adam is re-imprinted by him that was the express Image of his Father by the secret transmission of his own pure and operative Spirit into all those that are united unto him and thereby the Will of God is fulfilled Be ye holy for I am holy 1 Pet. 1.16 4. It is necessary as a Preparation or Pre-disposition of the Soul to that everlasting condition of Blessedness which it expects in Heaven the place a holy place Heb. 10.19 an immortal and undefiled Inheritance 1 Pet. 1.4 where nothing that defileth can enter Rev. 21.27 The company an holy company the company of pure Angels and the Spirits of just Men made perfect Heb. 12.22 23. The Business a pure and holy Employment Rev. 19.2 c. The Presence a glorious and holy Presence the Presence of that God that cannot behold any unclean thing whose Name is Holy the Presence of our Mediator who is holy harmless separate from sinners Heb. 7.26 And what congruity can such a Soul have to such a Hope who spends his whole Life in a way quite contrary unto it He therefore that hath this Hope purifieth himself even as he is pure 1 John 3.3 And since all these tâ—ings shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holiness and godly conversation Couldest thou carry thy sinful and impure Heart into Heaven with thee yet thou couldest not see God which is the Heaven of Heaven Matth. 5. the pure in Heart shall see God Heb. 12.14 Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. CHAP. XXV Of the Means of Sanctification and 1. On God's part his Word and his Spirit 2. THE Means whereby this is effected are either properly on God's part or on ours On God's part his Word and his Spirit 1. The Word of God He having to deal with Creatures which he hath endued with Sense and understanding hath been pleased in his Wisdom and Providence to preserve and deliver unto us his written Word whereby the Truths therein contained may be united to our Understanding And this Word as it contains the holy Counsels of the holy God so the Truths therein contained do naturally tend to our Sanctification though of it self as a bare Moral Cause it be not sufficient to effect it in respect of our indisposition and deadness which must have a Spirit of Life to quicken us and make that Word operative upon us Now in respect of the tendency of this Word to our Sanctification and in as much as God is pleased by it to work this work in us therefore often our Sanctification is attributed at least instrumentally to it John 17.17 Sanctifie them through thy truth thy word is truth Psal 19.7 the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul John 15.3 Now are ye clean through the word that I have spoken All which tend to no more than this that this Word of God contains those Truths in it which being truly known and believed do conform the Soul to the Will of God that Image which he first cast consisting in Righteousness and true Holiness Now the general Truths which this Book Exhibits to us tending to this end are principally two 1. It discovers what that will of God concerning Man is and this it doth two ways 1. By Precepts of most excellent and sound Justice and Reason which are nothing else but the Repetitions of that Law which was at first in our Nature 2. By Examples especially that Example of our Saviour's who was the Image of the invisible God Colos 1.15 and therefore in our imitation of him we re-assume that impression of God's Image which we once lost Now Christ's Life as it was a Meritorious Righteousness so it was an Exemplary Righteousness Matth. 11.29 Learn of me for I am meek John 13.15 For I have given you an Example that ye should do as I have done Ephes 4.13 the measure of his statuâ—e Philip. 2.5 the mind of Christ 2. It discovers a great deal of convincing Reason why we should conform to this Will of God 1. In respect of the Commands themselves it shews their Righteousness Justice and Perfection and that in our conformity to them consists our Perfection 2. In respect of God that commands them 1. It is he requires it that is the Author and Lord of thy Being and thou canst not chuse but infinitely owe what he requires 2. It is he requires it that will not cannot be mocked he is infinitely able to avenge the rebellion of his Creature 3. It is he commands it that hath been a Bountiful Merciful God unto thee that when thou hast incurred his Curse hath provided a Sacrifice to expiate it when thou hast disabled thy self to obey provides a Spirit of his own to assist thee that when thou fallest pities pardons and restores thee and though he owes it not to thee rewards his own Grace and work in thee with an immortal Glory to thee And what natural ingenuity can chuse but ingage to the uttermost expression of his thankfulness to such a God by a most advantageous Obedience 3. In respect of thy self if thou disobey the loss is thy own if thou obey the benefit is thine Deut. 30.15 For I have set before thee Life and Good and Death and Evil. And herein among divers others is the Excellency of the Word of God as it contains Precepts of most singular Purity and evidencing their own Perfection so it inforceth the Obedience upon Reasons of greater strength and more powerful Perswasions than all the Writings of Men ever did or could by annexing Rewards and Punishments of a higher constitution than the divinest Philosophers ever thought of 2. The Spirit of God Hence this work is attributed to the Spirit of God 1 Pet. 1.2 Through Sanctification of the Spirit unto Obedience and this principally these three ways 1. In preparing and disposing the Heart 2. In accompanying and coming in with the Word 3. In following that Work with a continual assistance of direction and strength 1. As to the first viz. the Preparation of the Heart Since the defacing of the Image of God in the Soul our Hearts like the first Creation are without form and void and darkness is upon the face of it till the Spirit of God move upon the face of these Waters Gen. 1.2 a Heart filled with evil thoughts and that continually Gen. 6.5 till this Spirit strive with it Gen. 6.3 a Heart dammed and blocked up with Lusts and Earth and Disorders so that there is no â—ss for Christ till the Spirit of God open it Acts 〈◊〉 â—n obstinate and a hard Heart an iron sinew 〈…〉 of brass Isa 48.4 till the Spirit of the 〈…〉 and a Heart full of madness Eccles 9. 〈…〉 Spirit be chased away and the Heart 〈…〉 Spirit of God. There oftentimes goes a secret disposition and calming of Heart before whereby some external act of the Providence of God which is prepared and
fitted for that occasion strikes effectually upon the Heart and works upon it whether it be an Affliction or a Blessing or a Deliverance or a Word of God. Thus when Nathaniel was under the Fig tree Christ saw him and prepared his Heart to entertain the call of Philip John 1.48 2. The concomitant act of the Spirit of God especially with the Word of God and some other extraordinary acts of his Providence And herein it hath a double work 1. Of Strength to drive on this Word and hence it is called the Sword of the Spirit The Spirit of God is that Arm that manageth this Sword Ephes 6.17 To the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit Heb. 4.12 When thou seest therefore a tumultuous disorderly Heart filled with Pride and obstinacy yet brought upon his Knees by a seemingly weak Admonition Reproof or other passage of the Word of God wonder not at the change for the powerful and mighty Arm of the Spirit of God hath shaken this little dart between the joynts of his harness even into the midst of his Soul. What ailed thee O thou Sea that thou fleddest c. Tremble thou Earth at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the God of Jacob Psal 114.5.2 Of Life to go along with it into the Spirit of a Man John 6.63 The words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life The passage between the Sense and the Spirit of a Man is of a great distance and full of many turnings and hence the words of Men for the most part die and lose their efficacy before they come at the Spirit of a Man sometimes they die in the Ear sometimes they get into the Brain and die there in a Speculation sometimes they strike a little but yet live not long there for the words have no Life in them But with this Word there goes a Life which goes along with it even to the uttermost corner of thy Soul even thy Spirit and there it continues alive 1 John 3.9 His seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin and hence it is that the Commands of God even to us that are dead are not incongruous when God pleaseth that his Work shall be wrought in the Heart for a Spirit of Life goes along with the Command even to the penetralia animae John 5.25 The time is that the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live And as thus the Spirit of God carries the Word of God with Life and Vigour into the choicest parts of the Soul so doth it with all other Dispensations of Divine Providence If thou hast an outward Blessing given thee it will along with the Sense of thy Blessing carry in the Sense of the Goodness of God and teach thee Thankfulness and Moderation If an Affliction it will get along into thy Soul with that Affliction and teach thee to examine thy self and to search and try thy ways and having discovered thy sin it will teach thee Humiliation and Repentance and if upon thy search thou find thine Integrity yet it will teach thee Humility Thankfulness Contentedness Dependance upon God it will with every Dispensation of Providence go along with it into thy Soul and carry that message with it that God by this his Dispensation intends to send thee And thus it is a Sanctifying Spirit by way of concomitance with the Word and Providence 3. The Spirit of God sanctifies the Heart by its own immediate and Continual Assistance It contests with thy daily Temptations that are from without and conquers them and with thy hourly Corruptions that are within thee and wasts and subdues them In the midst of thy Difficulties it will be thy Counsellor a secret voice behind thee saying This is the way walk in it In the midst of thy Temptations it will be thy Strength and a Grace sufficient for thee In the midst of thy Troubles it will be thy Light and thy Comfort In the midst of thy Corruptions it will be thy Cleanser a Spirit of burning to consume those swarms of Lusts that cover and fill thy Heart In thy Failings and Falls it will be thy Remembrancer and teach thee to repent and humble thy self This was that Monitor that furnished Joseph with an answer to a most importunate and advantageous Temptation How shall I do this great wickedness and sin against God Gen. 39.9 that furnished Job with silencing Answers to all those temptations to Insolence Pride Self-confidence and Injustice Job 9.1 that after David's Sin smote David's Heart before David's Heart smote him and taught him Confession and Sorrow and to beg a Pardon 2 Sam. 24.10 Only beware thou neglect not the Voice of this Spirit of God It may be thy neglect may quench it and thou mayest never hear that Voice more or at least it will certainly grieve it and canst thou think of grieving that Spirit without a Tear which is content to descend into thy impure polluted Heart to make it a Heart fitted for Glory Thy folly is great and thy ingratitude greater When God speaks once and twice and Man perceives him not Job 33.14 it sometimes falls out that he never speaks to that Man more Ephraim is set upon Idols let him alone Hos 4.17 and that is the saddest Condition in the World but if he do his Mercy will be a severe Mercy he will speak louder Job 33.22 when the still Voice is not heard his Soul draweth near to the grave and his Life to the destroyers The observation of the secret Admonition and Reasonings of the Spirit of God in the Heart as it is an effectual means so it is a calm and a comfortable means to cleanse and sanctifie thy Heart and the â—oâ—eâ—itâ—i attended unto the more it will be conversant with thy Soul for thy Instruction Strength and Comfort Prov. 6.22 When thou goest it shall lead thee when thou sleepest it shall keep thee and when thou awakest it shall talk with thee CHAP. XXVI Of the Means of Sanctification 2. On Man's part viz. Faith Love Fear Hope ON our part the Instruments of our Sanctification are those supernatural acts or habits of the Soul wrought by the finger of God Faith Hope and Love. 1. Faith Acts 15.9 God also purifying their Hearts by Faith. And this it doth as it is an Act receiving into the Soul the Word of God and subscribing to the Truth and Goodness of it receving it not as the word of Man but as the Word of the just and true God. 1. It therein finds and believes the great Debt of Duty that the Creature owes to his Creator What can be unjust for God to require of that Being which he gave and made As the Gift of a Being is an infinite Gift because it is an infinite Motion there being no greater disproportion imaginable than between not being and being so the engagement of Obedience and Conformity from that Creature to the Will and good Pleasure of
its Author is infinite and boundless by all the Justice that can be 2. Faith doth find in that Word a farther ingagement of Conformity and Obedience if a farther may be in that it finds the immense overflowing Love of God to Man It is that Love that did at first furnish him with those Excellencies of his Nature with that greater excellency his image and Superscription It is that Love that upholds his temporal Being and blesseth it It is that love that when he was lost sent a Sacrifice and a Righteousness for him whereby he is not only pardoned from his Guilt and Curse but restored to Glory and immortality And this it doth truly and really believe and is thereby convinced that there is a greater obligation than that of his Nature to live conformable to the Will and Mind of so unspeakable a Benefactor 3. Faith doth find in this Word of God his Mind and Will and believes it to be that very Rule the conformity whereunto is well pleasing and acceptable to God. Mic. 6.8 and what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God It looks upon every Admonition Exhortation Reprehension and Direction as the very immediate Message of God unto the Soul and entertains it with the same awe and reverence as if it were audibly delivered in Thunder and trembles at it and therefore it receives it in the power and Life of it and in the uttermost compass and extent of it it will not take this part as most consonant to thy Temper Condition Designs Constitution or Ends and reject another part where it crosseth them because it is equally the Will and Command of the great God and so received 4. Faith finds in this Word the Rectitude Justice and Regularity of the Will of God concerning Man they are not only just as proceeding from him to whom his Creature owes an infinite Obedience as was the Command to Adam for forbearing the forbidden Fruit or to Abraham to sacrifice his Son but Faith finds in these Commands a natural Justice and Reasonableness and Perfection and concludes with David Psal 19. That his Statutes are right and his Commands pure such as include in themselves a natural and absolute Beauty and such as confer upon the Creature a Perfection and Happiness such as are exactly conformable to thy Nature were thy Nature conformable to it self for as the Rule or Law that God hath given to every Creature is that wherein consists its Beauty Preservation and Perfection according to the degree wherein it is placed and therefore every Creature labours according to its own Nature to continue in that Rule and when it misseth it it contracts Deformity and Corruption so the Divine Law or Command of God given to Man is that wherein consists his Perfection as being a Rule most exactly conformable to the reasonable Nature of Man sin hath deformed and blinded us that we cannot now see that Perfection and Excellency that is in our Conformity to his Will and hath perverted and corrupted us that as we are in this corrupted condition we cannot desire it but when God is pleased to anoint our eyes with the Eye-salve of Faith and presents this Glass this image of his mind in his Word unto that Eve Faith again discerns and discerning cannot chuse but desire that Beauty Perfection and Rectitude which is there discovered in the Commands of God and the conformity of the Soul to the â—ame 5. Faith doth find in that Word and finding it doth most assuredly believe the Presence of the Glorious and infinite God in every place even in the darkest and most remote Corners and Chambers of the Heart searching weighing and discerning the Spirit every thought of the Heart every word of the Tongue every action of the Life and measuring them exactly with the Rule that he hath given and this keeps the Heart in a continual awe of the Presence of God purgeth out all Hypocrisie sets a continual Watch upon the whole Man lays a Bridle upon the very thoughts and brings them into subjection to this Rule because that clear and pure and severe eye of the Great and Infinite God searcheth the most retired thoughts of the Heart and observes what conformity they hold with his most Just and Reasonable Command 6. Faith finds in this Word of God and doth more really and practically believe that that great God which hath given us his Will and is a witness to the Obedience and Disobedience of it hath most certainly annexed an everlasting Curse to the Disobedience of it so it hath most certainly annexed an everlasting Glory to the Obedience thereunto not as the merit of it but as the free and bountiful gift of his Goodness and Mercy in Jesus Christ And it finds and believes the Truth and Faithfulness and Glory and Power of the Infinite God there engaged for the performance of it and therefore it binds the Heart to the Obedience of this Will of God and Conformity unto it which is our Sanctification Thus the word mingled with Faith cleanseth and sanctifieth and perfecteth and purifieth the Heart and Life And as thus in Man God useth this instrument on Mans part to sanctifie his Creature and make him conformable to himself so Secondarily upon this Act of Faith upon the Word of God as its Object the Heart is likewise cleansed by Fear Hope and Love by way of emanation from this Act of Faith. Love Fear and Hope are those several Motions or Affections of the Soul that arise from the same Act of Faith only as Faith is diversified according to those different Objects apprehended by Faith or according to the different Notions Relations or Actions of the same Object as for instance God apprehended in his Goodness Love and Bounty moves our Love towards him as apprehended in his Glory Majesty Power and Justice excites Fear as apprehended in his Faithfulness Truth and Promises begets Hope and each of these Affections thus directed do habituate and dispose the Soul and Life to a religious frame and Constitution which is our Sanctification as will appear in these particulars 1. The Love of God this is that true Principle of all true Obedience where it is not the Obedience is a dead and unacceptable Obedience for God that is a Spirit and will be worshipped in Spirit and Truth will be obeyed likewise in Spirit and Truth and the outward Conformity without this is but a dead Obedience and Hypocrisie and where it is it will work a Conformity of the Heart and Life to the mind of God upon which it is pitched and therefore it is called the First and Great Commandment Matth. 22.51 the fulfilling of the Law because when it is once wrought in the Heart whatsoever it can discover to be agreeable to the Will of him that she loves it will most sincerely and intirely obey John 14.15.24 If ye love me keep my Commandments he that loveth
Divine Nature of Christ and his Father So in his suffering his humane Nature only suffered 4. Although the sufferings and actions of his humane Nature were not to be attributed to his Divine Nature yet they are to be attributed to the whole Person of Christ for the Union of both Natures in one Person added that invaluable value even to the sufferings and actions properly attributable to his humane Nature the man Christ was the offering but the God Christ was the Altar that sanctified that offering for had not the Divine Nature added that value to his Righteousness and Death it had been impossible that it could be meritorious the Death of a most innocent Person may bring a Guilt upon them that inflict it not a merit for another unless cloathed with a higher worth than Innocence 4. That there was a Necessity that Christ should have both Natures and both Natures thus united in one Person This includes three Necessities 1. The necessity of an Humane Nature It is true that God could of his absolute power have restored man without the intervention of any thing but his own Will but as in all his works he holds such a course as his Wisdom Goodness and Justice are conspicuous and legible so especially in this excellent work of our Redemption there is an admirable order and congruity in all the passages of it The Children of Adam had a threefold Union in him a Specifical Union as being of the same specifical Nature with him a Virtual Union being all included in him and a Representative Union in that great Covenant of Nature which Adam made with his Creator and so all partaked of the consequences of his Disobedience Death went over all 1 Cor. 15.4 22. As in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive There was therefore an Union of Natures between the Redeemer and Redeemed Heb. 2.16 17. For verily he took not on him the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham wherefore it behâ—ved him to be in all things like unto his Brethren c. There is likewise a Virtual and Representative Union between the Redeemer and Redeemed and this could not have been without that Natural Union which was between them though not merely by it as shall appear hereafter hence Christ and his Church one Body Rom. 12.5 1 Cor. 12.12 27. Ephes 1.23 Colos 2.19 they grow up into him in all things Ephes 4.13 By Virtue of this Union it is that when Christ being made sin for us was crucified our Old man was crucified with him Rom. 6.6 the same Spirit that quickened Christ quickeneth us to the first Resurrection Rom. 8.11 and to the second Resurrection 1 Cor. 15.20 they are Sons and Heirs of God by Virtue of this Union Rom. 8.17 Gal. 4.7 their Afflictions fill up the measure of Christ's Afflictions Colos 1.24 and he reckons their sufferings his and Compassions to them esteemed as done to to him Matth. 25.44 their Union to the Father is through their Union to him which is one with the Father John 17.22 23. That they may be one as we are one I in them and they in me Now though it is certain that this Union groweth by another means than the bare conjunction of our Nature yet here is the congruity Christ is united unto us by our Nature we to him by his Spirit so that the Unity of Nature with us holds a congruity with that Union which was between the first Adam and us Again such was the Will of God that the Expiation of our Sins should not be without a Sacrifice Heb. 9.22 Without shedding of Blood no remission It was necessary therefore that he should have a Body prepared him which might be a Sacrifice for sin Again we see in all the works of God though he was at his Pleasure to interpose his own immediate Power yet he useth means con natural to the Subject upon which he works And hence it is that our Redeemer works upon all that is Rational in man In his Teaching he taught convincingly with sound Reason in his Perswasions with Tears with Miracles with Promises with Threatnings with a free laying down of his Life for us when we were Enemies These could not be communicated in a way proportionable to our Nature but from him that bore our Nature 2. The necessity of the Divine Nature Questionless the humane Nature of Christ had as exact a regularity and innocence as in the Creation was placed in Adam but that could not be capable alone of a Merit beyond it self there was a necessity of a personal Dignity in Christ more than could be found in the created Nature of man to make his Righteousness and Sufferings meritorious for others for it must be a Righteousness more than commensurate to all the unrighteousness of Men and a Satisfaction more than commensurate to all the Demerit of men This had been impossible if that Righteousness and that Satisfaction had received their value from any thing below the Divine Nature hence is that Expression Acts 20.28 Take heed c. to feed the Church if God which he hath purchased with his own Blood. And as it was necessary in respect of his Righteousness and Satisfaction so in respect of the continued Exigences of his people Ephes 2.18 through him we have access by one Spirit unto the Father He could not be a perfect Mediator unless he had a clear Acquaintance with all the Exigences of his people unless he could be present with them in all their Fears despondences Temptations and Necessities which requires the co-existence of the Divine Nature 5. We say that the Eternal word did in the appointed time take flesh of the Virgin into the Unity of one Person This was that infinite Motion of the Love of God viz. First to become Man for us and then to become Sin for us The manner of the Incarnation of Christ we cannot discover every work of God is past our discovery much more this admirable work And by this Birth of Christ he took upon him the Nature of man but not any Original or inherent Sin or Guilt because by a miraculous Generation the very substance was purified Luk. 1.35 that holy thing which shall be born of thee c. and this very Birth of Christ was part of his Satisfaction because part of his Humiliation Phil. 2.5 He made himself of no Reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant and was made in the likeness of Men Heb. 2.9 was made lower than the Angels So that in his Conception and Birth we find 1. His Satisfaction 2. His Righteousness 6. We say The whole Life of Christ till his Passion had these three parts in it viz. Satisfaction by way of Suffering 2. Satisfaction by way of Righteousness and 3. Instruction and these three were the great Ends of his Life 1. â—or his Suffering part Christ being born without Sin and perfectly framed to the image of God could not in Justice be
declared to be the Son of God with Power Rom. 1.4 And this Resurrection of Christ must of necessity follow his Satisfaction he had taken upon him our Sin and therefore must undergo the Wages due unto it viz. Death in the very instant of his Death he had compleated his Sacrifice and Satisfaction when he said upon the Cross It is finished John 19.30 Yet as it was necessary for him to lie under Death so long as might convince the Reality of it so it was impossible for him to lie longer the Debt was paid and he could be no longer detained Prisoner Acts 2.24 Whom God hath raised up having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible he should be holden of it And this Resurrection of Christ as it was by the Power of God 2 Cor. 13.4 He liveth by the Power of God Ephes 1.19 The working of his mighty Power or by the Eternal Spirit Rom. 8.11 The Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead so it was the effect of his Justice the Price of Man's Redemption being paid he was now by the Eternal Covenant of God to prolong his days And hence he is said to be justified in the Spirit 1 Tim. 3.16 Even that Spirit that raised him up from the dead did at the same time proclaim the compleatness of his Satisfaction and justifie the fulfilling of his Undertaking If Christ had not risen there had of necessity followed these two Consequences either of which had left us in as bad case as he found us 1. It had been then impossible that his Death had been a sufficient Sacrifice If he had been detained under Death the Guilt had still continued undischarged And hence 1 Cor. 15.17 If Christ be not raised your faith is vain ye are yet in your sins As if he should have said If there be no Satisfaction made for your Sins ye are still in them If Christ be detained under Death it is evident the Satisfaction is not made for the Curse of the Law continues undischarged and consequently the Guilt continues unacquitted and hence Christ's Sacrifice was justified by his Resurrection so are we Rom. 4.25 Who was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification And this Resurrection of Christ was his Victory over Guilt and Death and Hell. 1 Cor. 15.57 The Victory given through Christ Colos 2.15 Having spoiled Principalities and Powers he then made a shew of them openly 2. It had been impossible that the Members of Christ could have the benefit either of the first or second Resurrection for by reason of that Union with their Head they partake of all those conditions whereof their head participates Crucified with him Gal. 2.20 Dead to sin and buried with him Rom. 6.3 6 8. Live with him Galat. 2.20 Rise together with him to newness of Life Rom. 6.4 Rom. 8.11 12. Planted unto the likeness of his Resurrection Rom. 6.5 Ascended with him Ephes 2.6 and shall rise again to eternal Happiness by virtue only of his Resurrection 1 Cor. 15. 1 Thes 4.14 9. That Christ after his Resurrection did Ascend up into Heaven where his humane Nature is cloathed with Power and Glory and Immortality The Death of our Saviour was attested by his three days keeping his Grave and the Resurrection was attested by all the Evidences that incredulity it self could require for satisfaction because the matter of the greatest difficulty to believe and which being admitted made the whole truth concerning him easily credible Therefore for the clearing of this truth as he spent forty days to conquer the Temptations of the Devil in the Wilderness so he spent forty days after his Resurrection to subdue the infidelity of mankind to the belief thereof And during that time used all the sensible Convictions that might be for the confirming of their belief that the very Body of Christ re-assumed his Soul and Life 1. The Body removed out of the Sepulchre Luke 24.5 Why seek ye the Living among the Dead 2. He appeared unto them and because those appearances were accompanied with some Circumstances that might breed jealousie that it was a finer substance than a Body as his sudden vanishing out of their sight Luke 24 3â— His sudden presenting of himself among them when the Doors were shut Luke 24.36 John 20.19 Yet to convince that suspicion he exhibits his hands and his side eats with them converses with them about forty days Acts. 1.3 The Body of Christ being by the power of God made of an Angelical though not spiritual substance is taken up into Heaven Mark 16.19 Luke 24.57 Acts 16.9 where he sits at the right hand of Glory Acts 3.21 Heb. 10.12 Heb. 12.2 This was that which was figured by the High Priest's entring into the Holy of Holies Heb. 9.24 and extended to the very whole humane Nature of Christ the same that ascended is he that descended Ephes 4.9 This was the saying of Christ himself John 20.17 I am not yet ascended to my Father but go tell my Brethren I ascend unto my Father and your Father c. And this is that that our Saviour so often inculcates That the Son of Man shall come in his Glory c. Matth. 25.31 Matth. 26.64 To insinuate that that very humane Nature by which he is denominated Man should continue in immortality and appear the last day for the judgment of the World. And as by the power of God Man in his purity had been perpetuated to immortality and so he shall be in his Resurrection so by the power of God the Life of Christ's humane Nature shall be perpetuated to everlasting 2 Cor. 13.4 He liveth by the power of God. And this Body of Christ as it is filled with immortality so it is filled with Glory we shall be made like unto his glorious Body Phil. 3.21 10. That Christ having perfected the work of Man's redemption and ascended into Heaven exerciseth a threefold Office for the benefit of his Church and People 1. Of Power of Dominion This was that Inauguration of Christ in his Kingdom Psal 110.1 Sit thou at my right Hand Isaiah 53.10 Therefore will I divide him a Portion with the great c. because he hath poured out his Soul unto Death And therefore after his Resurrection he tells his Disciples Matth. 28.18 That all power is given him both in Heaven and in Earth and is that which is so often called his sitting at the right hand of his Father Ephs 1.20 and his making both Lord and Christ Acts 2.36 And this Kingdom Dominion and Power of Christ shall continue until the end when he shall deliver up the Kingdom to his Father that God may be all in all 1 Cor. 15.24 27. 2. The Communication of his Spirit The Power of the Spirit of God is in all his Creatures and especially in Men and all Creatures in their actings are but instrumental to the Spirit of God But by Christ the Power of that Spirit is communicated in a more
may be taken these ways 1. The immediate Communication of the Holy Spirit wherewith Christ himself was indued for as in respect of the Union of the Divine Nature there was an Essential Union between the Son and the Spirit so by that Union of both Natures in one Person there was a Communion of the same Spirit unto Christ The Spirit descended upon him like a Dove Matth. 3.16 God gave him not the Spirit by measure John 3.34 Now as Aaron's Ointment that was poured first upon his Head descended upon the Hem of his Garment so by virtue of our Union with him that Spirit that was without measure poured upon our Head was in some measure diffused upon all that are united to him and as the same Soul that actuates the Heart and the Head in a more plentiful and eminent manner doth inactuate the most inconsiderable part of the same Body so the same Spirit that is in Christ is in every one that is united unto him though in a different degree of operation Rom. 8.9 If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his 2 Cor. 6.17 He that is joyned unto the Lord is one Spirit And by this Spirit of Christ which he giveth and communicateth unto those that are united unto him they are said to be sealed by the Spirit of Promise Ephes 1.13 2 Cor. 1.22 viz. It is by this Spirit of Christ that we have access unto God Ephes 2.18 We have access by one Spirit unto the Father and it is this Spirit that forms our Desires in us and by this means our Desires are not only discovered unto God that knows the mind of his own Spirit but they are also conformable unto the Will of God Rom. 8.27 He that searcheth the heart knoweth what is in the mind of the Spirit because be maketh intercession for the Saints according to the will of God. And as the Father did hear the Son always because his Desires were conformable to the Will of his Father John 11.42 I know that thou hearest me always so John 16.23 Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name he shall give it you for it is a Petition framed by that Spirit which is the Spirit of Christ and of God and what his own Spirit desires it is his own Will to grant And for this cause it is called the Spirit of Adoption Rom. 8.15 God is pleased to accept the Prayers and Services of the Members of Christ in him even as the obedience of his own Sons because they are moved and actuated by the very same Spirit which is the Spirit of his Son. And as the intrinsecal form of things is that which instrumentally conforms the qualities and proportions of the thing which it informs unto that intrinsecal form and suits it with Qualities and Conditions suitable to its Operations so this Spirit of Christ doth by degrees conform the Soul the Affections the whole Man unto the Image of Christ changing it into the same Image 2 Cor. 3.18 And this Spirit of Christ doth lead them into all Truth John 16.13 And from hence it is that he that is the true Member of Christ cannot continue in a constant course of sin 1 John 3.9 For his seed remaineth in him viz. That Spirit of Christ by which he is actuated and by which he is born of God John 3.6 That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit That abideth in him and will be degrees like a living Spring work out that mudd that our own flesh and corruption cast into us 2. Which is a fruit of the former The mind of Christ For this Spirit of God works a Conformity in the Heart and Life to Christ whose Spirit it is This Spirit of Christ makes an impression of the Image of Christ upon the Soul and Life The like Effect with this we find in all things In matters Natural the vicinity of two things together works a Conformity of the weaker to the stronger either Element or Form In matters Moral Conversation between two breed a Conformity in Manners even different from their otherwise natural Constitution much more where the Spirit of Christ lays hold on the Soul and unites a Man unto Christ there is not only new Company but a new Form and consequently of necessity a new frame and temper of Heart and Life conformable to such Company and to such a Form. And in order to this Conformity unto Christ the Old Conversation the Old Man which is corrupt according to the deceitful Lusts Ephes 4.22 must be put off the Affections and Lusts must be crucified Galat. 5.25 the Body will be dead because of sin Rom. 8.10 Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts will be denied Tit. 2.12 For these make a deformity from Christ such a Spirit as the Spirit of Christ cannot long endure to inform or inhabit such a Soul but if it come into him it will change him And in stead thereof the Man shall be born again by the Spirit John 3.5 the Spirit will be Life Rom. 8.10 Christ will be new formed in them Galat. 4.19 the walking will be in the Spirit Galat. 5.25 the New Man will be put on even the Image of Christ Righteousness and true Holiness Ephes 4.24 Christ will be put on Galat. 3.27 Rom. 13.14 the Life will be the Life of Christ Galat. 2.20 the Heart will be the Habitation of Christ Ephes 3.17 of God Ephes 2.22 of the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6.19 the mind the mind of Christ 1 Cor. 2.16 the temper of the Soul the same with his humble as he was humble Phil. 2.5 holy as he is holy 1 Pet. 1.16 long-suffering and indulgent as he was John 13.15 Behold have I not given you an example Patient under the Will of God c. And by Conformity unto Christ Man is put into a right state and in that order towards God himself and others as he was in his creation and thereby in some measure restored to that Happiness which he had by reason of that order The Happiness and Peace of every thing consisting in the due observance of that station and Rule which God hath given it And this Conformity unto Christ is our Sanctification which is nothing else but a restoring of Man in some measure to that Conformity unto the Will of God in which he was created Man by sin lost that impression of God's Image God was pleased to give us his Son who is the express Image of his Father and by this Spirit of his to re-imprint that Image again upon as many as behold him and come unto him by Faith 1. Thes 4.3 This is the will of God even your Sanctification so that the Sanctification or Obedience which is wrought in us and required of us is the Conformity of the Will of Man to the Will of God. The Obedience performed unto God by the Faithful ariseth from a double Principle 1. This whereof we now speak an intrinsecal Change of the Nature Conforming the Heart
is bitterness in the end fit to implore a Pardon and fit to receive it because it now knows how truly to value it And though thy greater sin deserve thy greater Sorrow yet thy very failings sins of daily incursion Erroâ— in Circumstances of Actions defects and wants of intention in Duties do all deserve as true Sorrow though not so great and therefore cherish and encourage thy Conscience to be vigilant in this by observing her rebukes even concerning these and let not the reflection of these pass without as particular an Humiliation of thy Soul before God for them for they are sins against the Duty and Gratitude thou owest to thy Creator and it will make thy future Conversation more exact and more comfortable sorrow of Heart for those smaller offences as it will make presumptuous sins the more hideous and the more abhorred so it will waste the number and measure of those smaller offences which like swarms of flyes cover our daily Actions of all kinds 3. To seek out for that which can only pacifie thy Conscience and remove thy Sorrow which cannot be but by removing the Guilt And now let thy Soul search the whole Compass of Heaven and Earth and where canst thou find any thing that can remove thy Guilt of the smallest sin imaginable but him alone against whom thou hast committed it and where canst thou find any means for obtaining remission from sins but by that means which he himself hath prescribed and where hath he prescribed any such means but in his Word and where in his Word but in his Son Matth. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest If then I stay at home I find nothing within me but a troubled and chiding Conscience and it will be impossible for me to remove this Guilt I will therefore venture my Soul upon the free Promise of God in Christ and with the Lepers in the Famine conclude If he save me I shall live and if he kill me I can but die 4. To fall upon thy knees before the great God and to beg for thy Life and for thy Peace O Lord my sin hath brought a Guilt upon my Soul and that Guilt hath raised a Storm in my Conscience but if thou who art only offended and therefore canst only forgive speak the Word to thy Servant Be thou clean and to my Conscience Peace be still my Guilt and with it that Tempest that is within me will be removed Do it I beseech thee for thy Truth and Promise sake thou canst not owe Remission to thy Creature but thou hast been pleased to ingage thy self to thy Creature upon Repentance to have mercy and forgive and upon that Promise of thine will I hang though thou seem to reject me Do it for thy Mercy sake thou that hast commanded me to forgive my Brother till seventy times seven times if as often he turn and repent hast infinitely more Mercy towards thy Creature than thou requirest from it Do it for thy Glories sake thou hast said it is the Glory of a Man to pass by a Transgression and what can be glorious in thy Creature that hath not a resemblance of thy own mind and Image nay do it for thy Justice sake thou hast been pleased to give a publick Sacrifice for all our sins against thee even thy Son by an eternal Covenant with a Proclamation That whosoever will may come and take of the water of Life freely and thou hast been pleased as it were to deposite a Pardon in thy Sons hand for as many as come unto thee by him and to lay upon him that Chastisement of our Peace and though I like a Man have gone aside yet thy Gifts are without Repentance That satisfaction therefore which thou out of thy abundant Love wert pleased to give unto thy self I beseech thee accept and as it will be the Glory of thy Mercy so it will be the Honour of thine own Justice for if we confess our sins thou art Just as well as Faithful to forgive us our sins in him that was the price of our Peace Set a Watch upon thy Spirit As the Soul is the Life of the Body so the Spirit is the Life of the Soul that active Principle which works by the Will the Affections and Conscience This appears by the frequent Denomination of the Spirit and by its contradistinction to the very Soul Ephes 4.23 Spirit of the mind Prov. 18.14 The Spirit of a Man will sustain his infirmities but a wounded Spirit who can bear Prov. 20.27 The Spirit of a Man is the Candle of the Lord. Prov. 16.2 The Lord weigheth the Spirits Eccl. 7.8 The patient in Spirit is better than the proud in Spirit Isaiah 57.15 to revive the Spirit of the humble 16. The Spirit should fall before me and the Souls which I have made James 4.5 The Spirit that is in us luâ—â—eth to liuâ—â—y Heb. 12 23. The Spirits of Just men made perfect 1 Thes â— 23 I pray God your whole Spirit and Soul and Body c. Heb. 4.12 dividing between the Soul and the Spirit Rom. 8.16 The Spirit beareth witness with our Spirit And here we take not Spirit physically for those Instruments whereby the Soul works but for that Principle of activity which works in the Soul these Disorders that sit upon the Spirit principally are two 1. In the Defect Deadness and Depression in the Spirit The Spirit is that which only can hold Communion with God he that will worship him as he must worship him in Spirit and Truth so with his Spirit and without that mingled with thy Prayers they are dead and cannot come at him and without thy Spirit brought to his Word and to his Ordinances they cannot come at thy Soul. As the Spirits of thy Blood are those that unite sensible Objects to thy Soul so the Spirit of thy Soul is that which can only bring home Divine impressions from God to thy Soul or expressions from thy Soul acceptably to God. Upon such occasions awake thy Spirit and mingle it with thy Services and shake off that Dulness and Heaviness of Spirit it will make thy Prayers uneffectual and thy Services unprofitable 2. In the Excess Elation and Pride of Spirit And from this Capital disease in the Spirit proceed those others of Envy the Spirit that is in us lusteth after eâ—y The Spirit of Revenge Luke 9.55 Ye 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 what Spirit you are The Spirit of Murmuring and Discontent These are but the productions of the Spirit of Pride when it meets with any thing that crosseth it If it meet with any Person that sensibly exceedeth the Person in whom it is in worth esteem or other Accessions then it is turned into Envy and that Envy into Revenge And this was the very Original of the Devils immediate action upon our first Parents his Pride though it made him lower by his fall it made him not more humble And from hence
were presently under the Sentence of Everlasting Death though delivered from it by the Messiah that promised seed 2. They lost the estate of Immortality of their Bodies though they lost not the state of Immortality of their Souls which were essensentially Immortal 3. They lost their Innocence their Happy Estate in Paradise the clear and supernatural Light of their Understanding the Rectitude of their Wills the right Order of their Affections and their Souls lost much of its Perfection though not its essential Spirituality and Immortality 4. All that were after derived from them by ordinary Generation though they had immortal Souls yet their Faculties were imbased and corrupted and greatly disordered and without the extraordinary Grace of God preventing and assisting them prone to all kind of evil and sin and thereby obnoxious to the wrath of God and to everlasting Death And this is the Condition of all the Posterity of Adam by Nature except Jesus Christ 10. God Almighty in his eternal wisdom and foreknowledge of the fall of Man in his infinite Wisdom and Goodness purposed to send forth his Son to take the Humane Nature and to become a King a Priest and a Prophet and also a Sacrifice to expiate the Sins of Mankind and to make them again partakers of the great and essential part of that Happiness which the first Man lost by his Fall and so to recover unto himself a Creature that might actually glorifie and serve him 11. And to make this Purpose effectual to our first Parents and to those that succeeded them before the coming of Christ the purposed Redeemer Almighty God was pleased to use two Expedients 1. He gave out the Promise of the Messiah or the Seed of the Woman the seed in whom all Nations should be blessed and the Belief of this though darkly revealed became an Instrument or Means to render the promised Messiah effectual to them to partake of the Benefits of his Redemption when it was joyned with the Obedience to the revealed Will of God in Sincerity 2. He gave out Precepts directing Men to their Duty and to the sincere Endeavour of Obedience to those Precepts he annexed the Benefit of Remission of Sins and Acceptance of their Persons and Duties through the Messiah or Christ that was to come 12. In the fulness or appointment of time namely about four thousand years after the Creation of Mankind the Son of God by a miraculous Conception of the Virgin Mary without the conjunction of Man assumed the Humane Nature became Man lived about three and thirty years discovered the Mind and Will of God touching Mankind confirmed his Doctrine with unquestionable Miracles and Evidences from Heaven and lived a most Holy and Spotless Life and then was without cause crucified by the Jews was buried the third day he rose from the dead lived again according as he promised and conversed with his Disciples forty days then ascended into the glorious Heavens where he is in a state of Glory and Power 13. And after his Ascension he sent upon his Apostles as he promised the Power of the Holy Spirit whereby they did many Miracles in witness of the truth of the Doctrine and History of Christ 14 The Reasons and Ends why the Son of God thus took our Nature became Man and died for us were these 1. That the Eternal Counsel and Purpose of God for the Recovering and Redemption of Mankind out of their lost Condition and all those Predictions and Prophecies touching the same might be fulfilled and thereby the great God to have the Glory of his Wisdom Mercy Power and Truth 2. That there might be a common Remedy for the Recovery of Mankind to their duty and subjection to Almighty God that they might actively glorifie their Creator according to the End of their Creation 3. That there might be a common Remedy afforded to Mankind to obtain in substance that Happiness which they lost in their first Parents and by their own renewed Transgressions and a Means provided for the pardon of their Sins and saving of their immortal Souls and yet without derogation of the Divine Justice and the Honour of his Government 15. In order to these great Ends the Son of God was thus sent from Heaven and Commissionated as it were by the Father principally to do these Great Businesses in this World first to acquaint the World with the whole Will of God concerning Mankind 2. To lay down a full and sufficient Sacrifice for the Sins of the World by his own Death and Passion 3. To give the World all possible Assurance both of the Truth of his Doctrine and the Sufficiency of his Satisfaction by his wonderful Miracles by his Resurrection and Ascension and by the Diffusion of the Gifts of the Spirit upon his Apostles and Believers after his Ascension 16. Touching the first of these namely the manifestation of the Divine Will touching Mankind this contains the Doctrine of the Gospel the Message sent from Heaven by the Son of God touching all things to be believed and to be done by the Children of Men in order to their Redemption and attaining of everlasting Happiness And this was necessary because the World was full of Darkness and Ignorance And many things that were now necessary for Men to know were but darkly revealed unto the former Ages of the World. The Son of God therefore came to bring Life and Immortality to light by the Gospel 17. The Doctrines of the Gospel which Christ brought with him into the World were principally these 1. That all Men have Immortal Souls which must live to all Eternity notwithstanding the death of their Bodies 2. That there should come a Dissolution of this present World and at that time there shall be a Resurrection of all that had been dead and a change of all that should be then living into an Immortal Estate 3. That there should at that day be a Final Judgment where all Men should be doomed some to everlasting Life and Happiness some to everlasting Misery 4. That in the strict Rule of Divine Justice the Wages of every Sin is everlasting Death and Misery which is fully described in the Gospel 5. That all Mankind is obnoxious to everlasting Death and Misery because all Mankind have sinned and are born in Sin. So that without the help of Mercy from God all Mankind are in a lost and desperate Condition 6. That yet for all this Almighty God is willing that his Creature should be reconciled to him is desirous to pardon his Sins to be at peace with him and everlastingly to save him and to restore unto him that everlasting Happiness that he had lost by his own sin and the sin of our first Parents 7. But yet that all this should be done in such a way as might be consistent with the Honour of his Justice and of his Government as well as of his Mercy and of his Bounty and therefore that he will have a Sacrifice and a Price