â—and and be made perfectly blessed in the fuil enjoyment of him unto all eternity And this by vertue of their union with the Son of God and because they are so neerly related unto him Joh. 17.22 The glory which thou gavest me I have given them Who are these of whom our Saviour speaketh Why such as are in Christ and in God the Father through Christ v. 21. And again v. 24. Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me So that all sorts of blessings are conveyed in this way from the leading mercy of forgiveness of sin to the very consummation of a believers happiness First God doth unite his people unto Christ and then he doth bless them with all subsequent blessings in Christ from the acceptance of their persons to the very crown of righteousness So much shall suffice to be spoken unto the fifth general head of enquiry touching the signal benefits that flow from our union with Christ and for evincing the necessity thereof CHAP. IX The special similitudes made use of in the Scriptures for illustration of this Mystery of Union with Christ. 6. THere is yet one question more to be answered before I come to the Application and practical improvement of the Point The question is this Qu. What are the special similitudes or resemblances which the holy Ghost is pleased to make use of for illustration of this mystery of a believers union with the Lord Jesus Christ Answ I answer There are principally four Which I shall not handle at large as if I designed to shew you in all particulars that might be reckoned up wherein the proportion holds Only I will select a few things under each of those similitudes which will be most obvious and apposite to our purpose and of greatest use for giving us light into this mystery and priviledge A Believers union with Christ is illustrated by comparisons taken from the 1. Natural 2. Corporal 3. Conjugal 4. Artificial Union that there is between the 1. Head and members of the natural body 2. Vine and branches graffed into the vine 3. Husband and Wife married together 4. Foundation and building erected thereupon 1. The first similitude which I shall open for the further illustration of the grace of union with Christ is taken from the head and members of the natural body The Lord Jesus the Mediator is the head of the Church and his people are his body and every individual Saint is a member of that body so they are compacted and knit together Thus the holy Ghost doth condescend in compliance with our weakness to shadow forth heavenly things under the figure of earthly Col. 1.18 And he is the head of the body the Church who is the beginning the first born from the dead that in all things he might have the preheminence The Church here is compared to a vineyard that bringeth forth fruit unto God and the Lord himself hath undertaken the charge and custody of it So that if you get into Christ you need not be troubled at events what may befal you you may cast your care upon him who is the keeper of Israel and will take the care of you He will destroy the little foxes that spoil the vines as his care is set forth Cant. 2.15 He will root up the errors that endanger the faith of his people and pluck up the Schisms that tend to the destruction of their peace further than may be fit to exercise them for their good and to make manifest such as are approved He will weed up the corruptions out of the hearts of his people and in due time put a stop to the rage of persecutors and whatever is noxious and prejudicial shall be averted and taken out of the way 3. He is the head of the Church In respect of influence and vertue derived from him upon it As from the head are derived the animal spirits for motion and sensation in the body and by it vigour and activity is put into the body So Christ doth minister unto the supply of his Church and people on all occasions By him the Spirit is sent down from above and all their vacuities are filled up Phil. 4.19 My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus That 's the third respect of his headship 4. In respect of his completion and perfecting by the Church The head is not compleat without the body Every part and member thereof doth help to the perfection of the whole Thus doth the Lord 〈…〉 himself imperfect till his body be filled up And therefore the Church which is his body is called The fulness of him that filleth all in all Eph. 1.23 In his person he is compleat without the least taint of an imperfection As to his Godhead he is infinite he filleth all in all But as he is the head of his Church he accounts himself to be defective till all his people are gathered unto him 5. Christ is the Head of the Church upon the account of their neer relation to him and intimate union with him They are as clesly knit together as the body is to the head And this is true not only of the Church in general but every particular Christian is united unto the head and partaketh of the influence of it 1 Cor. 12.27 Now ye are the body of Christ and members in particular That 's the first thing to be noted under this similitude 2. In pursuance of this comparison observe further That the way wherein a Believer is knit unto Christ it is by being quickned through the Spirit of Jesus Christ For wherein lieth the conjunction between the head the body Why principally in this that they are both animated with the same soul There is nothing properly and strictly a part of the body unless it partake of life with it So the Saints are quickned by the Spirit of the Son thereby he joyneth them to himself and inableth them to take hold of him and cleave unto him * Ut Christus similitudinem capitis naturalis gerit Ecclesia coporis naturalis ita elect orum tantum Rex caput Christus est quia in â—os tantum vi 〈…〉 electi seli sunt quia soli Christo tanquam à capite naturali spiritualiter vegetantur Parâ— de Pol. Eccles Christus non aliter caput est quam ut Ecclesiae vitam praebet Whitak Eph. 2.5 Even when we were dead in sins and trespasses he hath quickned us together with Christ with the same Spiâ—it wherewith 〈…〉 Ghost which is poured forth upon him And if we are alive unto God it is through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6.11 3. According to the tenour of this resemblance If we are made one with our Lord Jesus we must of necessity give up our selves in subjection to him and be ready to follow his conduct The members of
way for your â—ture getting into Christ It is less dangerous for a â—an to be a stranger unto Christ and know that he is so â—an to be in that condition and not to know it This I â—dd to remove the main impediment that hindreth â—ens setting about the work of self-examination â—or I am verily perswaded herein lâ—eth a principal â—stacle They are loath to search themselves lest â—ey should find the worst by themselvs Just as some â—reless Shop-keepers that are run much behind â—nd they cannot endure to look into their books 〈◊〉 to cast up their accounts lest they should be â—quainted with their own poverty and see in â—â—at a low condition they are But mind it Sirs it â—better to trie and know that you are under the guilt of your sins and children of the wrath of God then to continue such and not to know it It is the knowledge of a sinners perishing condition will cause him to hunger and thirst after the righteousness of Christ and make him restless in his spirit till he get into Christ These are the people to whom Christ is sent to bring deliverance such as find they are sinners and are heavy laden under the burden of sin Isa 61.1 2 3. They are such lost sheep which the great Shepherd of souls will seek after that is such as are sensible of their lost condition Ezek. 34.16 I will seek that which is lost and bring again that which was driven away and will bind up that which was broken and will strengthen that which was sick But I will destroy the fat and the strong and feed them with judgment And it is ignorance of mens misery and wretchedness which is the devils great engine whereby he carrieth sinners blindfold and headlong into the pit of destruction As the knowledge of the disease is the first part of the cure so it is the knowledge of a mans damnable condition which is one of the first steps unto his conversion and salvation This is all I shall speak to the second head under the Use of Trial By way of motive and provocative thereunto 3. Let me close this Use with some special directions to guide you in the discharge of this work of self-examination That you may come to a right conclusion and resolution of the case Whether you are spiritually ingraffed into Christ and be such as have the Son and life through him or not And here I might give you a catalogue of Scripture-marks and evidences for trial upon this account But I shall not multiply particulars we will only insist upon the principal matter to be enquired into for proof of your union with the Son of God And a little to direct you in the method of your proceeding herein that it may be done effectually and successfully you must diligently heed and observe these following Rules of advice wherein I will proceed by way of gradation the better to help both your understandings and memories Direct 1. For the examination and trial of your selves and in order to the passing a righteous sentence upon your selves whether you are united to Christ You must firstly and fundamentally enquire if the grace of regeneration hath been poured out upon you and a sound conversion wrought within you This is the foundation evidence of a mans having the Son and other marks are made use of for discovery of this and in a subserviency to the manifestation hereof And the reason of it is obvious Because in the day of conversion this union is made up By the spirit of regeneration Christ doth take possession of sinners for himself and by a living faith which is one of the graces then planted in their souls they do receive Christ and embrace him as theirs and so are knit unto him as hath been largely opened By a through conversion the Lord Jesus doth cull out a people from the world and gather them unto himself So that this is primarily and chiefly to be sought into whether you are truly converted and made partakers of the renewing grace of the holy Ghost For if any man be in Christ he is a new creature 2 Cor. 5.17 Here is the grand question Are we new creatures Is there a through change wrought upon our spirits Is corruption mortified in us and the power of it subdued and a new principle of holiness put into and ingraven upon our hearts Thus it will be if you are one with Christ Except you are converted you are strangers to him and have no saving interest in him Rom. 8.10 If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is life because of righteousness The body is dead that is the body of corruption is mortified and the force of it is taken away whereby it exercised dominion over you As before you were dead in sin so now you are dead unto sin and quickned and made alive unto righteousness Here is the failure of many and the occasion of their being deceived in this point of their belonging to Christ They sometimes look into the actions of their lives but never seriously consider whether the grace of conversion be shed abroad into their hearts They rest in a civil moral conversation and do not throughly weigh whether they are made partakers of the spirit of regeneration Whereas this is the fundamental evidence of our union with Christ 1 Joh. 4.13 Hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit And Rom. 8.9 If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his That is If he have not those gracious qualifications which are infused into the soul by the spirit in the work of conversion If he have not his heart moulded anew and fashioned aright by the holy Ghost If he have not the spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of counsel and might the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord which was the spirit that rested upon Christ he is none of his Isa 11.2 This is firstly and fundamentally to be enquired after whether the work of conversion be wrought upon us and the grace of regeneration be formed in us Direct 2. If a person would be inabled to take cognizance of himself and to pass a right judgment upon himself whether he be converted and so knit to Jesus He must of necessity in order thereunto be well instructed in the nature and quality of conversion My meaning is this He must rightly understand wherein a sound and sincere conversion lieth and what a change it maketh upon the soul and what effects it produceth that so he may not mistake a feigned conversion for a true and a slight work upon the spirit which is common to the wicked for the grace of regeneration which is peculiar to the people of God For mark it Sirs There is a false conversion as well as a true and counterfeit grace as well as that which is grace indeed and in
and salvation is annexed He that thus hath the Son hath life And peace be to all them that are thus in Christ Jesus 1 Pet. 5.14 This is it which we are enquiring into wherein the nature of it consisteth which I shall now enter upon the unfolding of in the second answer to the question propounded By way of description CHAP. IV. Union with Christ described and the parts of the Description opened 2. HAving thus cleared our passage by the aforementioned distinction come we now to lay down a brief description of this great priviledge or grace of Union with the Son or having the Son which I shall endeavour to explicate in the several branches of it Take the description thus Union with Christ is that special relation which believers have to the Lord Jesus as Mediator of the Covenant of Grace arising from their closs and intimate conjunction with him whereupon they are accounted as one with Christ their spiritual state is fundamentally changed and the benefits of redemption are effectually applyed unto their souls In which Description that we may handle it methodically and so the more understandingly you have these five branches into which it may be divided that need each of them a little explanation 1. The general nature of this grace or priviledge It is a persons relation to the Lord Jesus 2. A note of difference whereby it is distinguished from other relations It is that special relation which they have to Christ as Mediator 3. The subjects of this Union unto whom it doth appertain and they are believers It is the special relation of Believers to the Lord Jesus 4. The foundation of this Union whereupon it is bottomed and whence it doth arise Why it ariseth from their intimate conjunction with Christ 5. The blessed consequents that flow from it or the great effects which are produced by it And they are three 1. Hereupon they are reckoned as one with Christ 2. Their spiritual state is fundamentally changed 3. The benefits of redemption are effectually applyed 1. The general nature of this grace or priviledge of Union with Christ It is a persons relation to the Lord Jesus So as I conceive it may be most properly stiled that mutual habitude or reference which is between them or which Christ and his people have one to the other Vnio hat est spiritualis illa relatio hominum ad Christum quâ jus acquirunt ad omnâ—s illas benedictiones qua in ipso praparantur Ames med It is called in the Text an having the Son and it is frequently set forth by a being espoused or married to the Son 2 Cor. 11.2 For I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chast virgin to Christ. Rom. 7.4 That ye should be married to another even to him who is raised from the dead Elsewhere it is called A belonging to Christ Mar. 9.41 And a being his Gal. 5.24 You know though there is a very neer conjunction and oneness thereupon between the Husband and Wife that are married together yet it is but a relative oneness their individual properties remain distinct notwithstanding Such is this Union of a sincere Christian with the Lord Jesus they are contracted and married together and so become united For by such umbrages taken from external things God is pleased to set forth this high mystery that it may be better apprehended by us that it may be easier let into our understandings Under this Head I shall intreat you heedfully to mind and observe three things 1. That this Union of the Saints with Christ is not a transformation of either into the essence or substance of the other Nostra ipsius Christi conjunctio nec miscet personas nee confundit substantias Sed affectus consociat confoederat voluntates either of Christ into theirs or of Believers into his essence They are not so made one as as if there were a substantial alteration or commixtion therein as if their persons or natures were so contempered together as to be made up into one A sincere convert is one with the person of the Mediator but they are not thereby made one person as some have vented their blasphemies that they are Christed with Christ and Godded with God and such like expressions that would make the heart of a sober Christian to tremble and his ears to tingle at the mention of them This oneness is not to be understood grosly and carnally as the Capernaites mistook it but in a spiritual sense as Christ himself doth interpret it Joh. 6.56 63. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him How is this to be understood Mark v. 63. Loquituâ— non de externo ac â—ranseunte verborum istorum sonitu sed de sensu illorum Ac significat se non carnaliter de carnall carnis suae esu in quo vita non est sed spiritualiter de spiritus vivificatoris virtute in qua vita est loquutum esse Muscul in loc It is the spirit that quickneth the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak they are spirit and life As if he had said these things are to be taken in a spiritual sense and not after a carnal manner Indeed it is so undeniably evident that it is not to be meant of a corporal union that I shall not need to insist upon arguments for the confutation of such uncouth notions Christ and a believer are not so made one but that they retain their natures distinct and their personal properties distinct notwithstanding that union they have different places properties and employments Christ is corporally in heaven the heavens must contain him till the time of the restitutions of all things and many of the members of his mystical body are still militant upon the face of the earth He is the Redeemer and they are the redeemed Act. 3.21 To the Lord Christ doth justly and deservedly appertain all worship and homage All ye Angels of God worship him Heb. 1.6 But it were monstrous and hateful idolatry to give it unto the Saints who are our fellow-creatures Rev. 22.9 Acts 14 13 14 15. The Lord Jesus is ordained and constituted to be the Judge and Believers are a part of the persons to be judged It is true they shall fit as Assessors with Christ in passing sentence upon the wicked but first they must stand themselves before the Judgment-seat and receive their acquittal Act. 17.31 Rom. 14.10 I might multiply passages of this sort if it were needful So that this Union is not a perfonal or corporal oneness with Christ but it consisteth in the neer relation which they have unto him 2. Hence it followeth plainly by way of consectary that it is a gross mistake of such persons who would gather from a Believers oneness with Christ that they are perfectly freed from all remainders of sin Sirs Christ is holy and pure a Lamb without spot and blemish he never
like travellers as the rest of the company doth But Sirs If a man be gracious indeed it will settle his spirit upon godliness at all seasons and in whatsoever society If he live in Sodom he will be so far from saying a confederacy with them in their wickedness that in seeing and hearing he will vex his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds 2 Pet. 2.8 Though he dwell in Ahabs family yet he will fear the Lord greatly 1 Kings 18.3 He will own the Lord Christ for his Master in the face of all the world and speak of his testimonies even before Kings and not be ashamed Psal 119.46 This is the second qualification It must be universal obedience 3. That obedience which will evidence your conversion and consequently your union with Christ must be evangelical obedience Such as is suitable to the Covenant of grace into which believers are entred 2 conversation answerable to the dispensation of the Gospel Phil. 1.27 For as there is a slavish fear of God in the heart so there is a legal serving of God in the practise which will no way contribute to the proof of your being ingraffed into Christ That which is evidential thereof must be such obedience as becometh the Gospel of Christ when you serve the Lord evangelically in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter as the distinction is given us Rom. 7.6 Qu. But when is our obedience evangelical I answer It mainly consists in four things 1. When we are active and vigorous in doing all that we can for God and then account it as nothing to gain us acceptation with the Lord. When we are serviceable in our places and duties to advance the honour of Jesus Christ indeavouring to the uttermost the promotion of his interest and then lay all that we have done at his feet expecting our acceptance reward purely upon the account of his bloud When we labour to be intent upon the works of personal righteousness and then underwrite with our hearts That we are unprofitable servants and lay the whole stress of our salvation upon the righteousness of the Lord Jesus This is Gospel-service when we lay all our sacrifices upon the Gospel-altar that they may be sanctified thereby and place no manner of confidence in what is done by us but in the obedience and sufferings of Christ for us 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 As if he had said We labour to serve God in the purest manner and offer up unto him the best that we have but then we dare not put the least stress upon it but all our confidence is in Christ it is of him we boast and not of our holiness We give all diligence in point of performance but are nothing in our selves in point of dependance And we are the circumcision we are Israelites indeed who have our hearts circumcised A legal frame of spirit goeth to God in duty and then expects a blessing for his duties sake and thus a sinner may toyl all his life time in a round of duty and be very far from the kingdom of God Then we obey evangelically when we do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Col. 3.17 2. Then is our obedience Gospel-service indeed when it is performed in Gospel strength i. e. not by our own abilities but by vertue derived from Christ and in an humble dependance upon the assistance of his Spirit That is a legal way of obedience when a person brings forth fruit unto himself and when he acts therein from himself When he goeth in his own might and power to grapple with sin and strive against temptations and to keep the Law of God But a Believer is strong in the Lord and in the power of his might and here is the evidence of a sincere convert Rom. 8.13 If ye live after the flesh you shall die but if ye through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Mark it It is not said if you make resolutions against sin and set against the workings of corruption But if you mortifie them through the spirit then it is a sign you are quickned and made alive by the holy Ghost and that you shall live for ever in the presence of God 3. Evangelical obedience is that which is according to the evangelical pattern viz. the life of Christ When a Christian doth study to be a follower of him and to tread in his steps and to imitate the Lord Jesus by endeavouring to write after the copy which he hath set before us in doing and suffering the will of God This is the obedience which will evidence our union with him and interest in him 1 Joh. 2.6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even as he walked He that saith he is in him that is He that saith so truly and as the matter is in reality He that would not appear to be a lyar in what he pretendeth to and to boast of what he hath no saving interest in must walk according to our Saviour's example 4. Evangelical obedience is that which is tendered upon evangelical motives and considerations When we are diligent and industrious in the service of God because our hearts are drawn forth in love towards him and we are sensible of his goodness in sending his only begotten Son to die in the behalf of lost sinners and in making known the mystery of Christ unto us and giving us promises of salvation through him * Amor meus est pondus meum Eoâ—feror quocunque feror Aug. For although it is not only permissively lawful for a believer but also a duty incumbent upon him to make use of the consideration of the wrath of God to quicken him in the wayes of holiness Luke 12.5 Yet he doth not serve the Lord meerly out of fear of his wrath But the love of God doth constrain him and his affections towards God are a forcible restraint to keep him from displeasing the Lord who hath been so gracious unto him Hos 3.5 They shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter dayes i.e. Upon this very account they shall be cautious not to sin against him because he hath dealt so bountifully with them This is the third qualification it must be evangelical obedience 4. If you would prove your conversion and union with Christ by the holiness of your conversation and new obedience you must look to it that it be sincere obedience done in the singleness and godly simplicity of your hearts You must serve the Lord as in the sight of the Lord and with a pure eye of respect unto the advancement of his glory and in order to your blessedness in the enjoyment of him and communion with him For in those two things doth consist much of the nature of sincerity 1.
never so zealous and forward in his worship Such actions may less displease the Lord than some others but at the best he cannot take pleasure in them And therefore the whole stress of the matter is laid upon the state of a man Prov. 21.27 The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination how much more when he brings it with a wicked mind Mark it though he come with a good intent and mean well as there is a kind of natural integrity yet it is an abomination This is plainly intimated if he come with a wicked mind making the duties of religion a cloak to cover his other horrid impieties then his sacrifice is most odious and abominable but however he cometh it is an abomination Why because the person sacrificing is a wicked ungodly sinner and the Lord judgeth mens actions by their state 2. This is a matter seriously to be weighâ—d because the greatest number of persons who call themselves Christians do seldom or never think of it They go on in sin and perish eternally for want of laying to heart this very thing And therefore we should give diligence the rather to study it because it is neglected by the most You may observe it as an ordinary thing with carnal people when conscience is a little awakened when they are brought into distress by sickness or some other sore affliction they will cry out with a kind of bitterness for their evil wayes and seemingly melt with sorrow for some actual miscarriages but not one of many will mind his spiritual state Thus it was with Micah the Idolater when he heard his mother curse and ban for the mony that was stollen from her these curses startled his conscience and made him to vomit up the sweet morsel wch he had swallowed down he minds that wicked action but never once considers his spiritual condition and so goeth on in other sins notwithstanding Judg. 17.2 3 5. Thus Saul was troubled in a reflection upon some of his evil ways and profane Esau grieved because he had displeased his Father by his sinful actions but scarce one of an hundred crieth out of his sad condition Nay commonly they are so far from it that they will be ready to fly in a mans face that doth but make mention thereof When you have convinced a wicked man of his evil life and brought him to an acknowledgment of a course of sin wherein he walketh if thence you begin to speak of his estate in sin of his being an enemy to God a child of his wrath and a wicked person he will defie the words No will he say I love the Lord and God knows my heart is good and the like See how fowl they fell upon Christ for touching upon this string When he told them of their wretched condition that they were not of God but of their father the devilâ— Thou art a Samaritan say they and hast a devil Joh. 8.44 47 48. They could not endure he should meddle with that matter 3. It concerneth you to be well instructed and settled in this particular of your spiritual state God-ward because when the spirit of conviction doth powerfully prevail upon a mans heart so as to turn him effectually from sin and to bring him to a sound and sincere conversion it doth ever end in conviction of the state of sin As conviction usually beginneth in some particular actual wickedness so it alwaies endeth in a discovery of that wicked and damnable condition into which the sinner is brought Thus it was with Paul Rom. 7.9 For I was alive without the Law once but when the commandment came sin revived and I died that is * Absentia legis faciebat ut viveyet hoc est inflatus justitiae suae fiducidâ vitam sibi arrogabat quum tamen esset mortuus c. Calv. I saw my self dead and undone I found that I was in a perishing conditione that unless the wonderful grace of God stept in for my deliverance I must perish and be lost irrecoverably Before I had a good conceit of my self as to my state and condition however conscience might now and then check me for some failings and actual miscarriages yet I was alive without the Law i.e. before I had a clear understanding of the Law in my own apprehension I was a child of life I thought my self sure of salvation but when the commandment came in the life and power and vigorous workings of it I found I was stark dead So in the return of the Prodigal mark how far the conviction proceedeth Luk. 15.17 I perish Not only I am a disobedient Son that have ran away from my father and wasted my Patrimony But if I continue in this condition I am undone for ever This is the spirit of bondage which the Apostle mentioneâ—â— as the fore runner of the spirit of adoption Rom. 8.15 You have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear Mark it not again intimating that once they had received it that all who are savingly converted must first be under it When is the holy Ghost a spirit of bondage Why when he doth discover to a mans soul his wretched and miserable condition when he doth not only shew him his work wherein he hath exceeded but doth also make him sensible of the lost estate wherein he is involved when he causeth a sinner to see that he is a child of the wrath of God bound over to answer to the demands of the justice of God obnoxious to the everlasting and insupportable vengeance of the most high and raiseth fears and terrors in the soul in apprehension thereof so that he sees it necessary that his state be altered The holy Ghost Sirs may be a spirit of conviction as to sundry acts of sin when he is not a spirit of bondage for this relates to the state of sin which is alwayes an antecedent to sound a conversion And therefore as I said I will open this point of the change of a mans spiritual state in six particulars 1. There is a twofold state or condition of mens souls in reference to spiritual and eternal concernments The state of nature and the state of grace as they are usually called The state of condemnation and exposedness to the wrath of God and the state of favour and reconciliation with the Lord. That of alienation from God and that of friendship and fellowship with him A state of service to the Lord and of slavery to the devil Of liableness and obnoxiousness to everlasting death and the state of heirship and title to the kingdom of heaven You read often of them in the Scripture Joh. 3.18 He that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already So Rom. 6.17 18. But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin There 's the state of nature And v. 18. Being then made free from sin ye became servants of righteousness There 's the state of grace Eph. 2.19 Now therefore ye
expressions it appeareth that these are two 〈◊〉 things Our being in Christ and Christ's being in us Burgess on Job 17. Serm. 126. the Lord Jesus cometh and taketh up his residence in them and they are inabled to go forth unto Christ and receive him as he is offered in the Gospel whereby they are in him and thus this Union is established These are matters distinct and accordingly the holy Ghost speaketh distinctly of them Joh. 14.20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my father and you in me and I in you See also Joh. 6.56 He that eateh my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him So that there are two great bonds or ligaments of this conjunction and of the union which followeth thereupon 1. The bond on Christ's part is the Spirit whereby the people of God are apprehended of him and he taketh up his abode in them For he dwelleth in them by his Spirit Rom. 8.9 10. But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his And if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin c. Observe that what is called the Spirit dwelling in us in one verse is stiled Christ in us in the other because Christ seizeth on us by his Spirit and abideth in us through the Spirit 2. The bond of this Union on the Believers part is Faith whereby they do apprehend the Lord Jesus Christ and take him home as it were unto themselves Being apprehended by him they take hold of him and so they are knit together Eph. 3.16 17. That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith First Christ cometh by the holy Ghost and entereth into them and then they are inabled by faith to receive him unto themselves and to apply themselves unto him and so they are conjoyned and made one together From this mutual conjunction doth arise or spring a twofold Union or Oneness between Christ and Believers There is a 1. Natural 2. Legal Union the bond whereof is The Spirit dwelling in them Faith of the operation of the Spirit I will treat of each of them severally with as much clearness and succinctness as I can CHAP. VI. A natural and a legal Union with Christ Wherein they severally consist A moral Union proceeding from the former The last Proposition explained 1. THere is a natural Union or Oneness betwixt Believers and the Lord Jesus arising from the possession which he taketh of them and his residence in them whereupon they are partakers of the same heavenly and spiritual nature with him having Christ formed in them and dwelling with them Therefore I call it for distinctions sake a natural Union because herein they agree in the same divine and spiritual nature else for the manner of its effecting it is supernatural This you have mentioned abundantly in the Scriptures 2 Cor. 13.5 Christ is in you except ye be râ—â—probates that is If you are Christians in good earnest such as are sound in the faith unless you are persons unapproved * Si quid habent Christi sincerae pietatis Calv. Nisi forte reprobi estis i. e. improbi Marian. such as upon trial are found to deal falsely and unfaithfully in the Covenant of God except you are rotten at the heart gilded metal that will not abide the test and touchstone you must have Christ within you It is not enough that Christ be preached unto you but he must be revealed in you As the Apostle speaketh of his conversion and mission to preach the Gospel Gal. 1.16 When it pleased God who spearated me from my mothers womb and called me by his grace to reveal his Son in me Not only called me to be an Apostle and made known Christ unto me but also called me to the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ revealing him in me The bond of this Union is the Spirit of Christ which is shed abroad in to the hearts of God's peculiar people and whereby the Lord Jesus taketh up his habitation in them For it is the Spirit that treateth with them in Christ's name and takes possession of them to his use and service For hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which be hath given us 1 Joh. 3.24 This is the first sort of Union betwixt Christ and Believers which we call a natural union and it is wrought by the Spirit of Christ that dwelleth in them Concerning which I will enlarge a little for the better clearing it to your understandings under five Heads 1. This dwelling of Christ in the souls of his people by his Spirit whereupon doth arise a natural union with him is the same thing for substance with the positive part of the grace of regeneration whereby the principles of holiness and new obedience are introduced into them and the image of God is restored upon their natures For it is hereby that the holy Ghost maketh his entrance into them and fixeth his settlement with him You know that regeneration or sanctification take it for the first saving change or distinguishing work upon the soul consisteth of two parts 1. There is a privative part or the mortification and subduing the principles and habits of sin 2. There is a positive part or the introduction of new principles of grace and holiness There is 1. A blotting out the image of the devil 2. Stamping upon a mans heart the divine nature again You read of them distinctly A taking away the heart of a stone and giving an heart of flesh Ezek. 11.19 There is a removing of the old man and a bringing in of the new man which is created after God Now Christ's being in his people by his Spirit is the same thing for substance with this positive part of regeneration By the mortification of sin Satan is outed of his possession of the soul and by the implantation of spiritual grace Christ enters and taketh possession of the soul by the renewing of the holy Ghost Thus you have it explained for one expression there seemeth to be exegetical of the other Ezek. 36.26 27. A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh and I will put my Spirit within you Mark it by the renovation of the heart God's Spirit is said to be within us And by the washing of regeneration the holy Ghost is said to be shed upon us abundantly Tit. 3.5 6. In the new birth Christ is formed in the soul by the working of the Spirit 2. Where Christ doth come by the operations of his Spirit to dwell in the hearts of his people he doth
as he is pure 1 John 3.3 3. By the grace of Regeneration the Lord Christ is said to take up his abode in us because the Holy Ghost in that work doth act in his name as purchased by Christ and receiving commission from him and being sent by vertue of his Prayer and Intercession John 16.16 I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive In the transactions of the everlasting Covenant our Lord Jesus undertook to sanctifie and comfort and to quicken and stablish his people and by the Spirit of truth he doth accomplish that undertaking By his death the Spirit was purchased and in his name he is sent 4. The grace of Regeneration may be stiled Christ dwelling in us from the tendency of it which is to bring sinners in subjection to the Government of Christ and to make them ready to obey the Laws of Christ Hereby we become his Servants and possession is taken of us to his use and behoof that we may cleave unto him and be followers of him Col. 3.24 For ye serve the Lord Christ Mat. 19.28 Ye that have followed me in the Regeneration c. that is in your regenerate condition in the exercise of that grace which was bestowed upon you in your New-birth for so it may be well understood The grace of Regeneration plucketh sinners out of the Kingdom of Satan and seizeth on them for the service of Christ carryeth us out to him and maketh us obedient to his Laws and Dominion This may suffice to be spoken to the first branch of that Vnion which is between Christ and Believers or the first sort of Conjunction betwixt them 2. There is a legal Conjunction and oneness thereupon arising from a Believers reception of Christ closing with him and getting into him Such an Union as there is between the principal Debtor and the Surety who hath paid the debt for him and made over that payment unto him The Law reckoneth them as one what payment the Surety hath made for the Debtor in his name and firmly made over unto him the Law accounts it as if the Debtor himself had paid it and dischargeth him thereupon as if it had been his own personal Act and Deed because of that intimate relation or oneness that is betwixt them in the estimation of the Law Such an union there is between Christ and his people and therefore we call it a legal union because it hath a special reference unto the Law of God which acquitteth the person thus united to Christ by vertue of the sufferings and satisfaction of Jesus Christ as fully and firmly as if the party himself had suffered and satisfied And likewise we call it a legal union because of the analogy it beareth unto the proceedings of Law in Courts of Judicature amongst men The bond of this union is a saving faith whereby Believers receive Christ and take hold on him As by the Spirit of Regeneration Christ doth take hold of their souls so by a living faith of the operation of the Spirit they are inabled to take hold of the Lord Jesus and so they are compacted and knit together You know faith is set forth by such expressions a receiving of Christ and taking hold of him John 1.12 But to as many as received him to them he gave power to be the sons of God even to them that believe on his name Mark it we receive Jesus Christ and take him home to our selves by believing on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ As under the Law when a man q. d. ran for refuge and protection to the Altar he was wont to lay hold upon the horns of the Altar so by faith a sinner betaketh himself for shelter and security unto Christ and layeth hold upon Christ Heb. 6.18 That we might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us * We who to flee from deserved wrath have taken our course towards Jesus in hope to get the Salvation offered to us in him Dicks in loc that is upon Jesus Christ the object of our hope and confidence who is set before us in the Gospel as the person in whom we are to trust and upon whom to rely and place our hope By faith we lay hold upon him and by this laying hold on Christ a Believer is joyned unto Christ and made one with him By faith we are in him and put on his righteousness Phil. 3.9 That I may be found in him not having mine own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith It is of God he provided it for us and it is made over to us and becometh ours by faith in the Mediator This is the Second Branch of the mutual conjunction between Christ and a Believer and the union thereupon the bond whereof is faith in Christ Concerning which I will propose onely these four things to your serious perusal and meditations 1. That the Holy Ghost in the writings of the Scriptures doth distinctly speak of a fourfold faith There is 1. An Historical Faith 2. A Temporal Faith 3. A Faith of Miracles 4. A saving and justifying faith in Christ which is the bond of our union with the Lord Jesus As this is an ordinary School-distinction so it is a Scripture-distinction which hath its warrant from the word and its foundation in the word of God 1. There is an Historical Faith whereby we believe the Scriptures and the matters therein contained to be Divine Truths and to have proceeded from God * This is by some called a dogmatical faith such a faith the Apostle supposed to have been in Agrippa in respect to the writings of the Old Testament Acts 26.27 King Agrippa believest thou the Prophets I know that thou believest q.d. I am confident thou art perswaded of the truth of those things Agrippa being a Jew and always conversant in Judea could not be ignorant of the Scriptures and Paul takes it for granted that he who owned their Original to be of God and that in them was discovered nothing but the truths of God I know that thou believest I am well assured thou darest not deny their Divine Authority This we call an Historical Faith because it assenteth to the truth of the History of the Bible as it is a Narrative of things done and containeth Predictions of things to be done as it comprehends matters of fact mentioned to be performed Doctrines asserted Prophesies and Promises to be fulfilled and the like And pray mark it Sirs this faith is diversifyed according to the different testimony on which it is bottomed * Quia testes quibus fidem adhibemus ex lege ordine communi sunt homines vel Deus idcirco sicut testimonium sic etiam fides distinguitur in
imbolden the godly to be tampering with errors If a man will tread upon hot coals his feet may be burnt and scorched though withal his life may be preserved But this should make you the rather heedful to stick fast unto the truth that it may be evident you are such as they have no power over to lead aside into the error of the wicked It is the very particular consideration which the Apostle John presseth upon Believers why they should not hearken unto seducers when they teach for doctrines mens inventions and uncouth notions of their own Because they were sufficiently taught of Christ and his word was a plentiful directory unto them without the help of other additions and because they should abide in Christ therefore they were not to be followers of false teachers 1 Joh. 2.26 27. 5. Troubles and persecutions for the sake of Christ shall not be able to dissolve this union They may seem to be providences very likely to do it When Christians shall be dragged into prisons and abridged of their comforts and reduced into hardships and extremities when they shall have trial of cruel mockings and reproaches yea moreover of scourgings and torturings in the severest manner that the wicked heart of man can invent and when all these things might be avoided if they would but part with Christ Will not such sore persecutions from the world drive them back again for deliverance into the world out of which they were called Do but mark how confident the Apostle is of the contrary Rom. 8.35 36 37. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword As it is written for thy sake we are killed all the day long we are acounted as sheep for the slaughter Nay in all these things we are more than conquerours through him that loved us How more than conquerours Why q. d. We are so far from being foiled that we are brought off with advantage our faith is thereby fourbished and our patience strengthened our other graces are quickned and our experiences increased When conquerours get a victory over their enemies it is seldom or never but with some loss to themselves but we are gainers by our troubles Our spiritual strength is augmented and our vigour heightened to a more intense degree and we come purified as gold out of the fire of tribulation So that we can glory in it For tribulation worketh patience and patience brings experience and experience begetteth hope and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts As you have it in that climax or gradation Rom. 5.3 4 5. In the winter of adversity the leaves drop off and the withered boughs are pared away but the living branches abide And the reason of it is this Because when Christ bringeth his people into distress and trouble for his Name he hath promised to stand by them and to afford them strength sufficient for their support under those distresseâ— Isa 42.2 When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee When Christ reduceth them into such straits as they never had experience of he will then minister to them such strength and assistance as they never had before experience of As sure as he is a God of faithfulness he will do it according to that precious word 1 Cor. 10.13 God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it But may some poor disconsolate soul say I may quickly be called into temptations and troubles and I find no strength nor ability O what is like to become of me at such a season I am afraid I shall sink under the burden Why mind the promise he will do it with the temptation It is not said he will give ability before the trial but when you are called to use it you shall not fail of it You shall have it time enough against you have occasion to exercise it My brethren it is an excellent word of promise an establishing word if we had hearts to believe And indeed it is according to what the Saints of God have experimentally found How faint-hearted was Mr. Sanders in the dayes of Qu. Mary and very doubtful of himself till he was actually brought into sufferings How dead-spirited was Mr. Glover till he was reduced to the pinch and then he could cry out He is come He is come Nay how cowardly and full of fear was Moses himself till he was ingaged in his work as appeareth from the excuses he made to evade the imployment Exod. 4.1 10 13. 6. Death it self which is the great separating providence that parts between a man all his worldly accommodations that parts between friends and kinsfolks between brethren sisters the nearest and dearest relations shall not separate believers from Jesus Christ But still they are entirely in him even when they are dead As it was in the death of Christ himself though it made a separation between his body and soul yet it did not separate the humane nature from the divine So it is in the death of the Saints Though it rend the spirit from the flesh yet it can part neither from the Son of God The very bodies of Believers are still united unto Jesus even when they are dead and shall be raised up again as I will shew you afterwards by vertue of that conjunction Therefore they are said to sleep in Jesus 1 Thess 4.14 and Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord Rev. 14.13 It is not said only They that die for the Lord but in the Lord. A man may suffer death in some cases for the true Religion that never was sincere therein But if a person die in Jesus then he is blessed indeed Upon the upshot of all I may well conclude this point with that of the Apostle Paul in answer as it were to this question we are upon Rom. 8.35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ q. d. Is a Believers union with Christ a dissolveable union or not Can it be broken asunder Or if you will rather understand it by way of assertion though delivered interrogatively For nothing is more ordinary than for affirmative interrogations to denote a vehement denial of the matter questioned As if he had said This union is altogether inseparable nothing can part betwixt a Believer and Christ So fast are they glewed and linked together that they shall never be divided or broken asunder again For saith he v. 38 39. I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature
darkness what an eternal prison must I be sent amongst devils and damned spirits But a sincere Christian can cheerfully welcom it under this consideration also He knoweth it is but a messenger sent from his heavenly Father to conduct him home to his mansion place and to bring him into neerer fellowship with his Redeemer It puts an end to all sin and temptations and troubles of every sort and opens a door of entrance into unspeakable joyes that shall never end O Sirs what a priviledge is this to be able to triumph over death It is that unto which we are subject every moment * Quotidie morimur quotidie enim demitur aliqua pars vitae Et tunc quoque cum crescimus vita decrescit hunc ipsum quem agimus diem cum morte dividimus Sen. Epist 24. and what is that which will sweeten the passage and remove the fears which are usually attendant upon the contemplation of it Why It is our interest in Christ and union with him He drank that bitter cup yea the very dregs of it that he might sweeten it unto such as are in him 1 Cor. 15.53 54 55. O death where iâ— thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin and the strength â—f sin is the Law But thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Christ tasted an accursed death that it might be made a blessing to his members Rev. 14.13 And I heard a voâ—ce from heaven saying unto me write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. It is not a being called Christians which will render the day of death a blessed day nor an outward attendance upon Christ but getting into him Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. 9. A believers union with Jesus Christ is a sure inlet unto a glorious resurrection out of the dust of the earth when this corruptible shall put on incorruption and this mortal shall put on immortality And therefore observe it Sirs Although the wicked shall be raised at the last day as well as the godly yet not by the same means through which the godly are raised The wicked shall be raised by the power of Christ as a Judge but Believers shall rise again by vertue of their oneness with Christ and neer relation unto him 1 Cor. 15.22 23. For as in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive But every man in his own order Christ the first fruits afterwards they that are Christ's at his coming Such as sleep in Jesus shall awake by vertue of their being in him and thereupon their vile bodies shall be changed and fashioned like to his glorious body * Rom. 8.11 He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by or because his Spirit that dwelleth in you Vivificari in hac sententia significat resurrectionem gloriosam quae similis est Christi resurrectioni propria bonis in quibus inhabitat spiritus Illud autem Propter inhabitantem spiritum ejus ad Christum refertur non ad Deum Et in hoc est argumenti efficacia quia enim spiritus hic Dei qui in nobis habitat etiam Christi est Sicus Christum ut homo à Patre suscitatus est ita nos suscitabimur qui eundem cum Christo spiritum habemus Tolet. in loc To which that passage of the Prophet Isaiah may be fitly referred which though it primarily be intended of outward deliverance and the wonderful restauration of the Church out of such a forlorn desperate estate as that they were as dead yet it may extend also to the last resurrection of which that eminent deliverance was but a shadow and resemblance Isa 26.19 Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust for thy dew is as the dew of herbs and the earth shall give up her dead This is another blessing which floweth from this fountain 10. Our union with Christ Jesus will minisâ—er boldness at the bar of Judgment and cause us to lift up our faces without spot or confusion at that great and notable day of the Lord. How will the wicked be ashamed to look Christ in the face at that day seeing that now they despise him and trample his blood under their feet seeing that now they slight his word and contemn his Ordinances and his people Then the Kings and the chief Captains and the great men and the mighty men and every bondman and freeman I mean all impenitent sinners of what rank or quality soever Will be ready to call upon the rocks to fall upon them and the mountains to cover them from the presence of him that sitteth upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. Then what would not a man give to be able to assure his heart before Christ at his appearance and to be of the number of Christ's followers that shall stand at his right hand when the ungodly are trembling at the left Why It is not all the substance of a mans house can purchâ—se this priviledge It is not all your prayers and tears at that day that can do it though you should cry out your heart blood if you are unconverted sinners But it depends wholly upon your union with Christ 1 Joh 2.28 And noor little children abide in him that when he shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming 1 Thess 4.14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him Mark it He will summon the wicked before him but such as are members of his body he will bring with him i. e. in his train and company under his own shelter and protection Christ himself will undertake the patronage of their cause and to silence all the accusations of Satan which are brought in against them Well may they exult and be glad for it will be the day of the consummation of their marriage with their Redeemer If now they are espoused and contracted then they shall be married with the greatest solemnity in the presence of God and of his holy Angels Then will that vision be most notably fulfilled Rev. 21.2 3 4. I John saw the holy City new Jerusalem coming downfrom God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband This is the tenth mercy which depends upon our union with Christ 11. Lastly It is our having the Son or being united unto the Son which will give us actual admission into the kingdom of glory and possession of the inheritance prepared for the Saints When the wicked are sent into everlasting punishment then shall the righteous inherit eternal life When the ungodly are thrust together into hell then shall believers dwell in the presence of God for ever and drink of the rivers of pleasures which are at his right
that hath hitherto spared them and the infinite goodness of that God who still waiteth that he may shew mercy unto them Certainly it is wonderful long-suffering and powerful patience whereby the wrath of God is restrained from taking vengeance upon such Numb 14. v. 17 18. 2. Persons unregenerate and out of Christ are dead in respect of the putrefaction and rottenness of their condition A dead carkass the longer it lieth the more it putrefies and is corrupted so it is with impenitent sinners The longer they lye in their unconverted estate the worse they grow the more their spirits are setled in hatred against God and the greater is their forwardness and proneness to all sorts of abominations And therefore none are so hard to be wrought upon as old sinners that have spent the most part of their time in the service of the devil 2 Tim. 3.13 Evil men and seducers wax worse and worse For custom in sin doth naturally tend to strengthen the habits of sin * Suffocat hominem à veritate avertit abducit à vita est laqueus est barathrum est malum ventilabrum mala consuetudo As it is in any secular trade or imployment the more time a man spendeth in his Trade the more skill he getteth and the more handy he is at his work till he come to perfection in such an Art or Mystery So the more time a sinner spendeth upon his lusts the more cursed skill and wisdom he getteth to make provision for the flesh and to find out wayes to satisfie his lusts and evasions to break through convictions upon his conscience the more handy he groweth to commit any sort of wickedness so that in process of time he will turn a deaf ear unto counsel * Ex voluntate perversâ facta est consuetudo dum consuetudint non resistitur facta est necessitas Aug. conf You read of sinners compared to wild asses used to the wilderness And who can turn them away saith the holy ghost Jer. 2.24 q. d. They are grown obstinate in their rebellions formerly perhaps a reproof would have taken with them but now you had as good speak to a stock or a stone Continuance in sin taketh away the conscience of sin Formerly some workings of a natural conscience might put a stop to mens running to all excess of riot but when the bridle is broken whither will not a wicked man run So that my brethren it is a point of wisdom to seek unto God betimes and for persons that are in their youth to remember their Creator in the morning of their lives We are apt to cozen our selves by promises to repent hereafter when I have a convenient season saith the sinner I will make my peace with God and when I am in a better temper Nay but O vain man * Qui promittit poenitenti remissionem non promittit peccanti poenitentiam now is the most convenient season For besides the slipperiness and uncertainty of a mans dayes upon earth the longer thou liest in a course of sin the harder thine heart will grow and the faster hold will the devil get of thy soul So that deliver thy self as a roe from the hand of the hunter and as a bird from the snare of the fowler Give not sleep to thine eyes nor stumber to thine eye-lids Prov. 6.4 5. 3. Persons out of Christ are in a dead condition in respect of their impotency and inability to that which is spiritually good A dead person hath no power to perform the works of nature as eating and drinking and walking and discoursing and the like because he is dead Thus impenitent sinners are without strength unto the things of God Rom. 5.6 A sincere Christian is dead to sin and the unconverted are dead in sin they have no power of themselves to the works of holiness and righteousness In this sense I principally understand that place Eph. 2.5 Even when we were dead in sins and trespasses he hath quickned us that is When all our spiritual abilities were gone If we had been left to our selves we should never have recovered out of our bondage and slavery but must have lain in it eternally without hopes of being delivered and then God came and breathed the Spirit of life into us And Sirs this should awaken us to cry mightily unto the Lord and never to give him rest till he steppeth in for our recovery This should cause us to take diligent heed that we quench not the motions of the Spirit nor provoke him to withdraw his workings from us for if he wholly depart we are undone irremediably I might under this head descend unto particulars by shewing you 1. That unconverted sinners have no power to turn their souls unto God nor to make a saving change upon their own spirits but this I have touched upon before 2. That they are without power to walk in the wayes of holiness or to perform one good action in an acceptable manner When the Lord himself took a view of all mankind in their apostatized condition he found not one that did good no not one Psal 14.2 3. And 3. That they are without strength to resist the temptations of the devil further than they are kept in by the restraining grace of God Satan leadeth them captive as he will 2 Tim. 2.26 As the heart of man is tainted with the principles of the most horrid abominations that ever were forbidden in the Scriptures so if God did not set bounds to the lusts that are within us we should quickly rush into the practise of them Sirs were it not for the restraining grace of the Almighty you would have been murderers as Cain and guilty of witchcraft as Manasses and have been as gross Idolaters as any of the Heathen Nay you would have sinned your selves before this time into hell or without the compass of the promise of mercy and forgiveness Surely this is not a condition wherein a person should quietly rest one moment for if God should pluck up the flood-gates whither would not the violent torrent of a mans corruptions carry him Deut. 18.10 11 12 13 14. I might have shewed you 4. That the unregenerate are so far from having any power by nature to turn themselves unto God or to serve him in truth and sincerity that their hearts are filled with enmity and hatred against God and his wayes and ready to fight against the means appointed to draw them heaven-ward Nay the carnal mind is enmity it self so it is expressed in the abstract Rom. 8.7 As if they were made up of nothing but venom and poyson and wrath and bitterness against God But I must not dwell upon these things The Lord press them upon your hearts and awaken you to follow hard after him and to take fast hold of him and never to let him go till he hath given you clear evidence of your freedom from this sad condition The Lord make you restless in your spirits
Lord himself in some other place hath undertaken to perform that we might be quickned to seek unto him for it In Jer. 4.4 you have it as a precept Circumcise your selves to the Lord and take away the foreskins of your hearts But in Dent. 30.6 it is a word of promise And the Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul Ezek. 18.31 God hath laid it as a commandment upon us Make you a new heart and a new spirit But Ezek. 36.26 The Lord himself hath undertaken it for us A new heart also I will give you and a new spirit I will put within you 4. God doth command the unconverted to turn themselves though they are dead in sins and trespasses because he doth employ his word of precept as the means whereby effectually to turn them Together with his commandment To cleanse themselves he doth send forth his Spirit to make them clean * Utitur Deus praeceptis ut corda nostra ad obsequium trahat Sic mortuos quoque non frustra Deus alloquitur quando per ipsum illud alloquium vitam mortuis infundit quod efficere vult declarat Wendel It is just for all the world in this case as in Christ's calling upon Lazarus Joh. 11.43 He cried with a loud voice Lazarus come forth This did not import any power in Lazarus to raise up himself for he had been four dayes dead But together with the word of Christ there went forth a secret energy and vertue from him whereby he was raised So when Christ's call goeth forth unto the wicked to turn and repent it doth not suppose any power in them but together with his word he sends forth the efficacious operation of his Spirit whereby they are turned and repentance is wrought within them And this is according to one of the Statute-Laws of the great God of heaven that his Word and Spirit shall go forth together The holy Ghost worketh in the word and by the word The commandment is the vehiculum or conduit-pipe by which the Spirit is conveyed to plant grace in mens hearts Isa 59.21 Prov. 1.23 Jam. 1.18 And this should incourage the unconverted to be much inreading the word and in meditation upon the word and to give their constant attendance upon it when it is preached and to be often pressing it upon their hearts and personally applying it to their own cases and consciences 5. I might shew you That although it is God alone by his Almighty power who is able to convert a sinner unto himself yet he is pleased to lay his commands upon them and to reason and expostulate the case with them that so they may be wrought upon in a rational way For God doth not work upon men as upon stocks and stones but dealeth with them as creatures indued with reason and understanding He draweth them powerfully to Christ yet he doth it sweetly without offering violence to the will of man And therefore he maketh use of commandments to press them thereunto and of arguments and spiritual reasonings to inforce those commandments and so doth overcome their stubbornness by making those means to prevail Joh. 6.44 45. No man can come unto me except the father which hath sent me draw him and I will raise him up at the last day It is written in the Prophets And they shall be all taught of God Mark it The Lord draweth men by teaching them and making those teachings efficacious He acteth with a strong hand and an outstretched arm but that arm conquereth them in a way of instruction And thus I have done with the first Vse viz. that of Information CHAP. XI The Use of Trial. Self-examination the way to attain the knowledge of our Union with Christ Wherein the work of Self-examination consisteth Motives to quicken thereunto Directions for the right managing of that work 2. THe principal use I drive at for the improvement of this point is by way of examination and Trial. If union with Christ or having the Son be of such absolute necessity in order to salvation by him Then it concerneth us to take this doctrine home to our selves and to enter upon a serious debate wich and examination of our selves whether we be in Christ whether we have the Son by being united unto him Else we have no right to eternal life but are still in our sins and under the wrath of God So that as you tender your everlasting well-being and the welfare of your immortal souls put this question closly to your hearts and follow it earnestly till you get a determinate answer thereunto Am I united unto the Son of God Doth Christ dwell in me and am I ingraffed into him It is a matter of infinite weight and moment for if you fall short of this priviledge you are ruined everlastingly A mistake herein may undo you utterly without recovery This is the foundation of all true peace and comfort so that make a strict enquiry into it It is a matter which may be known for the Apostle John telleth us of Believers that they knew they were in Christ 1 Joh. 2.5 and Self-examination is the way to know it And therefore take my counsel in the words of S. Paul 2 Cor. 13.5 Examine your selves whether you be in the faith prove your own selves Know you not your own selves how that Christ is in you except ye be reprobates Examine and prove that is make a curious and narrow search into it be very inquisitive concerning it ransack your whole souls that ye may find it out pierce your selves through leave no stone unturned no corner of your hearts unript up What! know ye not your own selves q. d. Is it not a shame to be ignorant of your own spiritual estate whether you be in Christ and Christ be formed in you Can you rest contentedly without the knowledge of it Why if you do not know it the fault is probably in your selves because you do not set upon the work of Self-examination or you are slight and superficial in that work so that enter upon it throughly and in good earnest My brethren If you knew that you were united to the Son of God your hearts would be able to make their boast of God continually you might rejoyce in him all the day long you might be assured of access unto him and a gracious acceptance with him upon all occasions you needed not be afraid in times of evil though one evil rumour come upon the neck of another and one sore calamity usher in another When others walk droopingly and disconsolately you might serve the Lord with alacrity and gladness of heart and this joy of the Lord would be your strength And if you continue out of Christ better were it for you that you had never been born So that it much lieth upon you to get the knowledge of it and therefore call
himself But let every man prove his own work and then he shall have rejoycing in himself alone and not in another As if he had said It is no marvel if your hearts beguile you if you do not make a narrow scrutiny into your selves Your spirits are treacherous apt to put light for darkness and darkness for light You will be apt to entertain good thoughts and opinions of your selves when perhaps you have nothing of the life and substance of godliness and your deceitful hearts take hold of every advantage to strengthen those opinions But if you would avoid this cheat you must examine your selves Let every man prove his own work that is every one that would not be thus deceived and in order to the prevention of this self-flattery and cozenage If you were much in self-examination you would not rest in the good opinions of others nor conclude you were holy because they thought well of you or you would not determine of your spiritual estate from the lives of others that therefore you are the children of God because you are not so bad as they or that you were in Covenant with the Lord because others run faster than you in the devils service But upon the through trial of your selves it would be seen whether you have any substantial ground of rejoycing So that let me tell you again If you love your souls if you would be assured to escape everlasting vengeance that you are persons in favour with God and shall arrive with sasety at the kingdom of heaven when all impenitent sinners are bound up in bundles together and cast into hell fire make it appear that you are united to Christ Get knowledge and assurance that you have the Son and to that end be diligent in the search of your selves for self-examination is the way to know it You will say What course shall we take in the search of this matter or in what method shall we proceed in this examination of our selves that thereupon we may know whether we be ingraffed into Christ This is a work and duty in the discharge whereof eternal life it self lieth at the stake if it be not managed aright it may prove the occasion of a mans utter ruine and destruction And therefore I will insist upon it somewhat largely by passing over these three heads of particulars By 1. By shewing you the nature of this duty That you may know wherein your work lieth in this business or what this self-examination is in order to finding out whether you be knit to Christ 2. Pressing upon your spirits some of the principle motives or provocatives to quicken you to set speedily and vigorously upon the discharge of this work 3. Subjoyning in the close some special directions to guide you in the discharge of this work that you may come to a right conclusion whether you have the Son and not be deceived therein 1. To begin with the first of shewing you wherein your work lieth in this business of examining whether you be one with Christ and have the Son or what this duty of self-examination is Which is a mater needful to be a little explained Because it is to be feared that multitudes who are called Christians are much in the dark as to any distinct knowledge of the nature of this work that they are not only strangers to the practise of it but in a great measure as to any clear apprehensions concerning it But I shall not handle it by way of description at large only I will give you some hints of the most material points which have a reference to this work and that will be needful to open our way for the directions I would give you for the right management thereof All that shall be delivered under this head I have gathered into six plain conclusions Concl. 1. The first conclusion is this That self-examination as to our union with Christ is for the matter of it a compounded duty made up of a threefold spiritual and reflexive action in relation to a mans self There is 1. A search or enquiry made into a mans self 2. The probation and trial of a mans self 3. The passing sentence or judgment upon a mans self a mans self Mark it Sirs It doth not lie in one only single act of the spirit but it doth consist of several acts For as there are some complicated sins which carry many transgressions together in the bowels of them So there are some duties which we may call complicated or compounded duties And such is this of self-examination wherein there are many actions folded up together For it comprehends a threefold reflexive act 1. There is an act of inspection or retrospection into a mans self A search or enquiry made into our persons and wayes our inward qualifications and all our performances He that examineth himself must curiously pry and look into his own heart and practise into his principles and conversation and into all the workings of those principles and the manner of them He must descend into and take a narrow view of every corner of his spirit and the several parts of his demeanour As a man would look with a candle into every room and cast his eye into every hole and crany of an house for the finding out any thing which is lost You have it under this very similitude Prov. 20.27 The spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord searching all the inward parts of the belly It is the candle of the Lord that is there is a special faculty put into a mans soul by God himself whereby he is enabled to make enquiry into his innermost thoughts and and the secret operations of his own heart in the exercise whereof he may make a narrow scrutiny into himself and look wistly into what is within him or hath been done by him as a man doth that taketh a torch or candle to see that which could not otherwise be perceived * In mente hominis quasi in tabulis obsignatis conscriptum relinquitur quid fecit quo animo quod etiam tandem 〈◊〉 conscientia legitur pronunciatur Ames de consc It is sometimes stiled in respect to a mans wayes which as I shall shew you by and by are a main evidence of our union with Christ or estrangedness from him a thinking upon them Psal 119.59 I thought upon my wayes and turned my feet unto thy testimonies So that then doth a person examine himself when he sits down and looketh into his own soul what graces are there and how they are exercised what corruptions abide within him and how much force and power they have had over him and the like When he doth bethink himself as to his wayes with what care and conscience he hath sanctified the Sabbath how instant and fervent he is on the one hand or cold and careless on the other hand in the duty of prayer how often he doth read the Word and meditate thereupon
dum recipit de reddendo cogitat Sen de Benef. with for his sake Hath the Lord Jesus taken me into such a neer relation unto himself and shall not I love him and serve him with all my strength Surely to this precious Saviour I will cleave and his pleasure I will do and nothing shall separate betwixt my soul and him Take the exhortation in the words of S. Paul Col. 2.6 7. As ye have therefore received Jesus Christ the Lord so walk ye in him rooted and built up in him and stablished in the faith as ye have been taught abounding therein with thanksgiving 3. Let me add but a few particulars by way of advice and exhortation to all and so we will conclude our discourse upon this subject If in order to the salvation of sinners by Christ they must be united to him and ingraffed in Christ Then be exhorted all of you 1. To learn the spiritual lessons which are from this point to be learned 2. To practise the duties that are hereupon to be practised 1. Learn the lessons which are from this doctrine to be learned And they are principally two which I shall commend unto you besides what I gave you under the use of information 1. Learn from hence The necessity of regeneration in order to eternal life Except you are persons born again of the Spirit you cannot enter into the kingdom of God Except you be quickned by the holy Ghost it is impossible you should be blessed in the presence of the Lord. Why Because you must have the Son you must be knit unto Christ and it is in the day of regeneration that the knot is tyed whereby the Lord Jesus and a Christian are joyned together It is the grace of regeneration and conversion that removeth a sinner from his own bottom and buildeth him upon the Mediator as upon a sure foundation as hath been largely opened So that believe this point and work it powerfully by meditation and prayer upon your own hearts That no regeneration no salvation It was the doctrine wherewith our Saviour began his Sermon to Nicodemus and he speaketh of it as a matter of great concernment to be studied Joh. 3.3 Verily verily I say unto thee except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God Mark how the assertion is strengthned with a double asseveration to note how hard a thing it is to convince a sinner effectually of this matter and how neerly it doth concern us to be thus convinced It is as if Christ had said The children of men are apt to think otherwise they hope to get into heaven upon the account of their notional knowledge and common priviledges and moral righteousness and the like But it cannot be I tell thee it cannot be take it upon my word Do your hearts question it Verily it cannot be verily it is impossible that any man should be saved except he be sanctified Whence you will say doth arise this absolute necessity of a man's being born again I answer It doth arise from these four things 1. From the stedfastness and unalterableness of the purpose of God Whom he hath predestinated unto life he hath determined to lead thither through the gate of regeneration So that if ever you get to heaven without partaking of this grace it must be by the change of the decree and purpose of God which is in its own nature unchangeable for the counsel of the Lord standeth fast for ever And observe the tenour of his purpose touching the way of life 2 Thes 2.13 God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit Although God doth not elect or save any of the children of men for their holiness yet he doth elect them unto holiness that they may be saved 2. The absolute necessity of regeneration doth appear from the infinite holiness and purity of the God of heaven who will never maintain any converse or fellowship with such as lie dead in their sins nor indeed is it possible they should have communion with God till they are washed and sanctified An unsanctified mind cannot behold him an unholy will cannot enjoy him and unholy affections can take no delight or complacency in him My brethren when persons are called into the state of the favour of God they are called also unto fellowship with him Now what communion hath light with darkness What friendly intercourse can there be betwixt a God of incomprehensible purity and such whose spirits are nothing but sinks of filthiness First you must be made again after the image of God and so fitted for acquaintance with the most high for God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity and he hateth all the workers of it Hab. 1.13 Psal 5.4 5. 3. Without a principle of grace planted in the heart there can be no fruits of new obedience brought forth in the life which are of indispensable necessity to our getting safe to heaven Such as are saved by the Lord must be serviceable unto him for Christ will judge us hereafter according to our conversations here As a man soweth that he shall also reap Rev. 2.23 Gal. 6.7 8. Now except you be regenerate you cannot walk in a course of new obedience First there must be a good treasure in the heart before it can be productive of what is good in the life As the principles are so the practise will be Mat. 12.33 34 35. Besides God doith judge of mens works and deeds by the frame of their hearts in the doing of them He doth search the heart and try the reins that he may give to every man according to his wayes and according to the fruit of his doings Jer. 17.10 4. The indispensable necessity of regeneration doth arise from the influence it hath to unite a sinner unto Christ without having of whom there is no partaking of life through his bloud The day of regeneration is the day of espousals between the Lord Jesus and his people It is that which helpeth to make the marriage betwixt them For if any man be in Christ he is a new creature 2 Cor. 5.17 This is the first Lesson I would from hence commend to your study and meditation 2. Learn from this point of a Believers union with Christ What is the influence of faith in the justification of a sinner or in what sense it is said to justifie us in the sight of God Not by any inherent worth and vertue in it self but because it is the bond that knitteth a sinner to Christ by the imputation of whose righteousness we are made righteous If we are justified it is freely by the grace of God through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus Only the grace of faith is the instrument to bring us unto Christ and the bond of our union with him that so we may partake of that redemption * Sicut olim in deserto serpens aeneus in ligno punctis à serpentibus medebatur