Spirituall and Heâ—â—â—â—â—â— Bl 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So much we may learn from the Apostle Eph. 1.3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with al spiritual and Heavenly blessings in heavenly places or things in Christ Being in Christ they are blessed with all spirituall blessings in him and through him God giving them unto his Son and his Son unto them he giveth all things that are in him He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shal he not with him freely give us all things Rom. 8.32 All things necessary convenient More particularly The fatness of this Olive the Excellencies of Jesus Christ Particularly in his Merit his Spirit which here he communicateth to beleevers may be reduced to two heads His Merit and his Spirit both these Christ is full of Full of Merit and full of Spirit And both these he imparts and communicates unto beleevers His Merit unto their Justification Adoption His Spirit unto their sanctification Of each briefly 1. The first thing Christ communicates unto the beleever is his Merit And that 1. unto Justification 1. Merit Unto justification This Benefit the Gentiles receive from their ingrafting into the stock and Covenant of Abraham Thereby it cometh to passe that Righteousness is imputed unto them So the Apostle layeth it down Rom. 4.11 Abraham received the sign of Circumcision c. that he might be the father all them that beleeve though they be not Circumcised that Righteousnesse might be imputed to them also This saith Grotius Idem hic figuratè indicat Paulus quod aperâ—iùs dixerat cap. 4. ver 11. Grotius in â—om 11.17 is the fatnesse of the Olive which the same Apostle speaketh of cap. 11. The one a covert and figurative the other a plain expression of the same thing And this benefit are all true believers made partakers of being made one with Christ now Christ is made unto them Righteousnesse So saith this Apostle 1 Cor. 1.30 Of him are ye in Christ Jesus who is made unto us of God Wisdome Righteousnesse And how is Christ made Righteousnesse to the believer not by way of Infusion but Imputation not by putting a Righteousnesse into him but by putting a Righteousness upon him even his own Righteousness By the imputing his merit his Satisfaction his Obedience unto them thorow which they are accepted as righteous unto eternall life Thus is the Righteousnesse of Christ communicated unto all believers He is to them The Lord their Righteousnesse Jer. 23.6 2. The second Benefit issuing from hence is Adoption Thus in Ingrafting there is a kind of Adoption Ramum ramus adoptat 2. Adoption Venerit Insitio fac Ramum Ramus adoptet Ovid. as the Poet elegantly describeth Grafting The Stock as it were adopteth the Branch that is put into it For what is Adoption but the taking of anothers child and bringing it up as a mans own Thus ingrafting the Stock receiveth the branch of another tree and nourisheth it as its own And the like benefit are believers made partakers of by their engrafting into Christ Christ being the Son of God by nature he maketh them the Sons of God by grace the grace of Adoption To as many as received him he gave power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Right Priviledge to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his Name John 1.12 This benefit Christ came to procure and purchase for his Elect. When the fulnesse of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Sons Gal. 4.5 And this benefit upon their believing their receiving of Christ they are made actuall partakers of Being thereupon made Heirs of God and co-heirs with Jesus Christ Rom. 8.17 These benefits believers have from the merit of Christ Secondly As they are made partakers of his Merit so of his Spirit 2. Spirit He that is joyned to the Lord to Christ is one Spirit 1 Cor. 6.17 i. e. like minded with Christ in as much as he is made partaker of the same spirit Because ye are Sonnes saith the Aposte God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts Gal. 4.6 And by this means Christ is made unto believers Sanctification Unto Sanctification So the Apostle goeth on in the place fore-named 1 Cor. 1.30 Who is made unto us of God Wisdome Righteousnesse Sanctification So he is viz. by the communicating of his Spirit unto them which is a Spirit of Sanctification So called by the Apostle Rom. 1.4 where speaking of Christ he saith He was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holinesse or sanctification 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meaning the Divine Nature dwelling in Christ which being holy in it selfe sanctifieth others by the merit and vertue thereof according to that of the Authour to the Hebrews Heb. 2.11 where speaking of Christ he saith That both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all one Christ and believers are one And being one with Christ they are sanctified through the Merit Mat. 23. â—â— 19. and Spirit of Christ Through the Merit of Christ imputed unto them Luke 1.35 as the Gold was sanctified by the Temple and the Gift by the Altar Through the Spirit of Christ dwelling and working in them after a sort as it did in Christ in his Conception sanctifying and purifying their natures Of Sanctification there are two parts Mortification the one Vivification Of Sanctification Two parts Mortification Vivification the other the one a dying unto sin the other a rising to newnesse of life and of both these Christ is the cause and that not only the Exemplary Cause the Pattern Sampler of both Christ the cause of both of which God willing I shall speak in the Sequel of the Text which tels us that believers are ingrafted with Christ in the likenesse of his Death and Resurrection the one in their Mortification the other in their Vivification but also the Meritorious Cause having merited and procured these benefits for them by his Death Resurrection And withall the Efficient Cause working both these in them which he doth by the communication of his Spirit in them By this Spirit he worketh the mortification of sin in them If ye through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Rom. 8.13 And by the same spirit he quickeneth them up to newnesse of life This the Apostle calleth the power and vertue of Christ's Resurrection Phil. 3.10 That I may know him and the power of his Resurrection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. that power whereby Christ himselfe was raised from the dead which was the power of his eternall Spirit dwelling in him Of this power the work of this spirit the Apostle desireth a further experimentall knowledge in himselfe in raising him
glorified Glorifieth here in this life in Sanctification begun in the life to come in Sanctification perfect Grace is Glory inchoated Glory is Grace consummated And thus not unfitly may we understand the language of the Text as intending this twofold Resurrection the first Resurrection whereof Christians in measure already are and shall be made partakers in this life the second Resurrection whereof they shall be made partakers in the life to come And of each of these we shall find it true which the Apostle here insinuates in the Text that they carry with them a Resemblance of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ Each carrying a Resemblance of Christ's Resurrection Each of them is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Representation of his Resurrection The truth hereof I shall shew you by comparing the one with the other And this I shall do severally beginning first with the first 1. The first Resurrection 1. The spiritual Resurrection carrieth a resemblance the raising up of the soul from the death of sin to the life of righteousnesse this is a work which carrieth with it a resemblance of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ A resemblance of a Resurrection and of his Resurrection Of a Resurrection in generall of his Resurrection in particular Touch upon each distinctly 1. In the generall 1. In generall of a corporall Resurrection This spirituall Resurrection carrieth with it a resemblance of a corporall Resurrection It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And hence it is that we find it so familiarly set forth under this expression If you be risen with Christ Col. 3 1. He hath raised us up together Ephes 2.6 Bring them together we shall find the one answering to the other See it in five or six particulars 1. They are alike in the Order of the work 1. Resemb In the Order of the work Resurrection presupposeth a Death going before it A man must first die before he can be capable of a Resurrection Herein lieth the difference betwixt Resurrection and Resuscitation the raising a man from his bed and from his grave In the one he is raised onely from sleep in the other from death This is peculiarly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 resurrection Which word however it may be sometimes used for any kind of raising again As Luke 2.34 it is opposed to falling Behold this Child meaning Jesus is set for the falling and rising again of many in Israel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 opposed to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet most commonly in Scripture phrase it imports a raising from the dead And such is this spirituall Resurrection It is such a Resurrection as presupposeth a Death So much the Text giveth us clearly to understand If we have been engrafted in the likenesse of his death we shall be also in the likenesse of his resurrection Such was the Resurrection of Christ He first died before he rose again And such is the Resurrection of the Christian a resurrection which in order followeeh a death The Christian must first die to sin before he can be raised up to this new life this life of Righteousnesse This is the order which the Spirit of God in Scripture every where prescribeth and layeth down Psal 34.14 Depart from evill and do good Isai 1.16 17. Cease to do evill learn to do well 1 Pet. 3.11 If any man will love life and see good dayes let him eschew evill and do good As in naturall works Privation goeth before Generation so in this spirituall work Privation must go before Regeneration A thing must put off its old form and cease to be what it was before it can put on another form and become what it was not Thus must a Christian first put off the old man before he can put on the new Ephes 4.22 24. He must cease to live the life of sin before he can live the life of grace True in time these two go together but in order the one goeth before the other as Death doth before Resurrection A man is not capable of a corporall Resurrection untill he be dead There must first be a separation of the soul from the body And so must it be here Before man can be made partaker of this spirituall Resurrection he must die to sin There must be a separation of his soul from the body of sin otherwise he can never live unto God Mortification in order goeth before Vivification Applic. Some convinced to be strangers to this Resurrection Which by the way may convince many to be as yet strangers unto this blessed life However happily they may perform many duties and services unto God yet they do not live unto God How should they they never yet knew what it was to die to die unto sin Their souls are not yet separated from the body of sin they are not turned from and against all sin Some sins there are which their soules do yet cleave unto are wedded to they like them love them and live in them Against such the evidence is too clear they are strangers unto this Resurrection which in order followeth after death Here is a first resemblance 2. 2. Resemb In the Nature of the work This spirituall resembles a corporall Resurrection as in the Order so in the Nature of the work What is the Resurrection of the body but a motion from death to life a raising of a dead body from the grave of the earth to a new life and that by the return of the soul unto it which was for a time separated from it inabling it to exercise the operations of a naturall life And such is the spirituall Resurrection a motion from death to life from the death of sin to the life of righteousnesse caused by the return of the Spirit of God unto the soul inabling it to exercise the operations of a spirituall life Mark it Such is this spirituall Resurrection Spirituall Resurrection what The quickning and raising up of a dead soul Such are all men by nature dead men The hour cometh and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God c. John 5.25 The dead men dead while they live living corporally but dead spiritually Dead in trespasses and sins as Paul hath it Ephes 2.1 having no more power to do any work of the spirituall life then a dead man of the naturall And as dead so buried Their souls daily as it were putrifying and rotting in the grave of sinfull corruption Such is the state of all men in their naturall condition before the grace of God meet with them Now this grace meeting with them it quickens and raiseth them Even when we were dead in sins he hath quickned us together with Christ and raised us up together Ephes 2.5 6. Thus in the work of Regeneration there is a new life put into the soul And that by the return of the Spirit of God into it At the first Creation of man man himself being made after the Image of
suppose it be directed to others men dead in trespasses and sins Such exhortations not uselesse to others yet such Exhortations are not uselesse unto them In as much as through those channels God is pleased to convey his grace and spirit wherby he enables them to do what hee requireth from them Thus in raising Jairus his daughter from the death-Bed our Saviour cals to her Talitha Cumi Damosell arise Mark 5.41 And in raising Lazarus from the grave he cries unto him Lazarus come forth Joh. 11.43 not that either the one or the other had power of themselves to do what was commanded but there was a power went forth together with the word like that which went forth with that Creating word at the first God said Let there be light and there was light Gen. 1. There was a power went forth with the word giving a being to that which was not Thus doth God cal things which are not as if they were Rom. 4.17 By his word making things to be what they were not And thus doth be call upon dead souls to awake and arise by and through his word conveying that spirit and power unto his Elect wherby they are inabled to do what of themselves they cannot The first Resurrection is a work of no lesse power no lesse difficulty then the second 5. To these adde in the fifth place Resemb 5. This spirituall resembles the corporall Resurrection in the Indisposition of the Subject In the indisposition of the Subject A dead Corps lying in the grave it hath no disposition no aptitude no inclination to rise again As it cannot raise it selfe so neither can it do any thing in a way of tendency towards its own resurrection It can no wayes fit or prepare it self for it Nay it cannot so much as will or desire it Even such an indisposition is there in a dead soul to this first Resurrection A soul dead in sin as it cannot raise it selfe to the life of grace so neither can it do any thing which tendeth that way Such an Impotency is there in man since the fall All are now by nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without power When we were yet without strength Christ died for us Rom. 5.6 Not able to contribute ought towards this blessed change Not able to do any thing by way of preparation to fit themselves for the receiving of the grace of God no nor yet so much as will and desire it when the grace of God first meeteth with man it findeth him a meer patient like a dead body lying in the grave having only a passive capacity rendring him a subject capable of receiving the impressions of grace and so of having a new life put into him Man hath not only an outward but an inward Impediment to this Resurrection So indisposed is man naturally to the work of God's grace not only having an outward Impediment as Papists and Arminians would have it like a Prisoner as some of them frame the similitude who having fetters upon his legs cannot walk but yet he hath an inward power in himselfe so to do if that outward impediment were removed Not onely so but man hath also an inward impediment Being like a dead carkass lying in the grave which though all the grave-clothes be taken from it yet it cannot move nor stir untill a new life be put into it Until God doth breathe the breath of a new life into the soul the man is whole indisposed unto this blessed change I might go a step further Man not only indisposed but averse to this Resurrection and shew you how he is not onely indisposed to this life but averse to it In which respect the first Resurrection goeth beyond the second The second Resurrection meeteth with a Body which though of it selfe it be indisposed to live again yet it maketh no resistance no opposition against its own resurrection But in the first Resurrection when God cometh to raise up a dead soul from the grave of sin he findeth it not only indisposed but opposite to it making resistance against the work of his grace Ye stiffe-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears ye do alwayes resist the Holy Ghost As your fathers did so do ye saith Saint Stephen to the Jewes Acts 7.51 To these I might yet add one more 6. This spirituall resembles the corporall Resurrection in the efficient causes of it Resemb 6. The Efficient Causes of it and that both Principall and Ministeriall and Instrumentall In the second Resurrection the Resurrection of the body the Principall Efficient is God himselfe the Ministeriall the Angels the Instrumentall the sound of a Trumpet You have them all together 1 Thes 4.16 The Lord himselfe shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of an Archangel and with the Trumpet of God and the dead in Christ shall arise Now see a resemblance of all these in the first Resurrection The same Principall Efficient God God quickneth the dead Rom. 4.17 as dead bodies so dead souls The like Ministeriall and Instrumentall Cause Herein God maketh use of his Angels Revel 2. 3. and of his Trumpet His Angels the Angels of the Churches the Ministers of the Gospell whom he now sendeth forth to gather together his Elect from the four winds from one end of Heaven to the other Mat. 24.31 His Trumpet is his word in the mouth of his Ministers A spirituall Trumpet shadowed out by those silver Trumpets under the Law by the sounding whereof the Priests called the people to the publick Assemblies on earth Numb 10.2 Thus do the Ministers of the Gospel by lifting up their voice like a Trumpet as it is given in charge to the Prophet Isaiah Isai 58.1 by preaching and publishing the Gospell they call men to the Kingdom of God Hereby awakening and raising them up The hour is coming and now is saith our Saviour when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they which hear it shall live John 5.25 Men dead in sin hear the voice of Christ in the Ministery of his Word and thereby the Spirit concurring with the Ordinance and giving efficacy to it they are quickned and raised up to a new spirituall and heavenly life Even as dead bodies shall be at the last day raised from their graves by the voice of an Arch-angel and sound of a Trumpet Thus then you see this Generall made out How that the first resurrection the resurrection of the soul from the death of sin to the life of righteousnesse carries with it the resemblance of a Resurrection resembling it in the Order in the Nature in the Integrity in the Difficulty of the work in the Indisposition of the Subject in the Efficient Causes of it both Principall Ministeriall and Instrumentall Now come we in the second place to see how it resembleth the Resurrection of Christ 2. The spirituall Resurrection resembles the Resurrection of Christ So it doth
part to make use of in the working of this first Resurrection Not that hee is tyed to an uniformity in his way of working alwaies to work after the same manner No his dispensations as in other of his works so in this are various But ordinarily so it is Before dead soules arise and come out of the grave of sin there is a shaking and an Earthquake and a rending of the Rocks God prepares the hearts of his people for this blessed work by some degree of a Legall contrition and compunction giving the soul to feel somewhat of the spirit of Bondage letting into it some sense and apprehension of sin and the wrath of God due unto sin After this cometh the still voice In the Gospel As it was in Eliahs vision at Mount Horeb 1 Kin. 19.11 12. After the whirlewind and the Earthquake and the fire came the still small voyce Thus fareth it ordinarily in the work of Conversion After the Whirlewind and the Earthquake and the fire of the Law cometh the still voyce of the Gospell quieting the soul with the offers of grace and mercy letting into it some comfortable apprehension of Reconciliation with God through Christ withall exciting it to lay hold upon that mercy and to indeavour to walk answerably to it in newnesse of life Now have we heard this voice of the Son of God Have we heard Christ thus speaking to our souls making his word effectuall unto us in this way If so here is an hopefull evidence that this blessed change is begun and that we have a part in this first Resurrection Whereas otherwise are we strangers to this voice never felt any such power in the word We may justly conclude our selves strangers to this blessed work surely we are as yet in our graves under the power of a spirituall death Enquiry 2. Have we received the spirit of Christ 2. Let a second enquiry be Have we received the spirit of Christ we know by what meanes it is that the dead body is raised by putting a spirit into it Thus we read of Jairus his daughter Luk. 8.55 After that Christ had called upon her saying Maid arise her spirit came again saith the Text and shee arose straightway By a like meanes doth Jeses Christ effect this Resurrection of the soule by putting his spirit into it By this meanes was his own Body raised Hee was put to death in the flesh but quickned by the spirit 1 Pet. 3.18 viz. that divine and eternall spirit which dwelt in his humane nature And by the same meanes are dead soules quickned By this means were those dry bones made to live again Ezek. 37.5 Behold saith the Lord I will cause breath to enter into you and you shall live Now what were those dry bones and what was this Breath you may see the Interpretation of both in the sequels These bones are the whole house of Israel ver 11. And yee shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves O my people and brought you up out of your graves and shall put my spirit in you and yee shall live ver 13 14. This is the Breath put into these dry bones even the spirit of God put upon his people being then in Babylon causing them to live again restoring them to a flourishing condition By the same meanes doth Christ cause dead soules being Captives unto sin to live by putting his Spirit into them Hence is it that he is called a Quickning spirit 1 Corin. 15.45 Because by this meanes hee shal quicken the dead Bodies of his Saints at the last day Hee shall quicken your mortall Bodies by his spirit which dwelleth in you Rom. 8.11 And by the same meanes hee now quickneth dead soules by communicating his Spirit unto them Which in this respect the Apostle calleth The Spirit of life Rom. 8.2 Now then have we received this Spirit It was Pauls question to those new Converts Act. 19.2 Have ye received the Holy Ghost This he spake concerning the Extraordinary gifts of the Spirit which flourished in the Church at that time Let me propound the same question in a more ordinary sense Have we received the Holy Ghost Have we received the Spirit of Christ As it was Pauls question to his Galatians Gal. 3.2 Received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of faith Taking it for granted that they had received the Spirit And so have all those who have any true union with Jesus Christ If any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his Rom. 8.9 Now have wee received this spirit by the hearing of faith Have we so heard the voice of Christ in the doctrine of faith the Gospell as that wee have received the spirit of Christ If so questionlesse this Spirit will have the same operation and effect in our soules that it had in the Body of Christ As it raised up the one so it will raise up the other Whereas otherwise being voyd and destitute of this Spirit of Christ we may like dreaming men fancy and imagine our selves to be risen but we are yet in the grave This Quickning spirit how discerned Question But the Question here will run on How shall we know whether we have received this Quickning Spirit or no. A Question that will be very usefull in the resolution of it The rather because there are so many who pretend to this spirit never more then at this day who yet are meere strangers to it By the fruits and effects of it Answer For your satisfaction know that this Quickning spirit where it is discovers it selfe by the fruits and effects of it Of these fruits and effects I might name many I shall only single out three of the Principall which will be properly usefull to our present purpose This Quickning Spirit where it dwelleth in the soul Which in working this Resurrection are three it is to it a Spirit of Illumination a Spirit of Faith a Spirit of sanctification A threefold work whereby the Spirit effecteth this first Resurrection in the soul being to it first a Spirit of Illumination secondly of Faith thirdly Of Holinesse 1. A Spirit of Illumination 1. It is a Spirit of Illumination Here is the beginning of this work it beginneth in Light Even as in the first Creation the first born of Gods works was Light God said Let there be Light Gen. 1.3 So is it in this new Creation the first work is Light The Light shineth in darknesse John 1.4 a new light shining into the soul of man which since the fall is become a dungeon of darkenesse As it was with Peter when God sent his Angell to fetch him out of Prison Acts 12.7 he caused a light to shine in the prison So is it with dead souls when God sendeth his Angells his Ministers to fetch them out of the prison the dungeon of the grave he causeth a light to shine forth unto them
God his soul was then a Temple an habitation for the Spirit which was to the soul as the soul to the body the very life of it But upon man's fall this Spirit forsook that habitation and thereupon followed a spirituall death the soul of man died And in that state it continueth under the power of this spirituall death until that Spirit return again which it doth in the work of Regeneration And so returning now it restoreth it to life again enabling it to live unto God and to exercise the operations of a spirituall life to live in the Spirit and to walke in the Spirit as the Apostle phraseth it Gal. 5.16 25. to live no longer to the lusts of men but to the will of God as St Peter hath it 1 Pet. 4.2 Such is this work of Renovation and in this respect not unlike a Resurrection 3. In the third place Resemb 3. In the Integrity of the work This Spirituall resembles the Corporall Resurrection as in the Order and Nature so in the Integrity of the work Such is the Corporall Resurrection a raising up not of some one or more members onely but of the whole body And such is this Spirituall Resurrection It is a raising up of the whole man Even as I said before of Mortification It is an entire work running thorow the whole man and thorow the whole body of sin A separating of the soul not onely from some one sin or many sins but all sins Even so is Vivification a through work going through the whole man Hence is it that we finde it called a Putting on the New man Eph. 4.24 intimating that this work of Renovation it is an entire work passing through the whole man through all the faculties of the soul all the members of the Body It is Pauls prayer for his Thessalonians 1 Thes 5.23 Now the very God of peace sanctifie you wholly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the whole man in every part and I pray God that your whole Spirit Soul and Body be preserved blamelesse unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Where truth of Sanctification is vouchsafed the whole man partakes of it No part of soul or body in a Regenerate person but feeles the vertue of the spirit of Grace purging out old corruption infusing new qualities In the Soul the understanding that is renewed Be ye renewed in the spirit of your minde Eph. 4.23 and that by putting a new light into it Ye were sometimes darkenesse but now yee are light in the Lord Ephes 5.8 The Will and Affections they are renewed having new Motions new Inclinations new Dispositions put into them new desires new feares new loves new joyes new sorrows new hopes new confidences In the Body all the members are renewed in respect of their Obedientiall faculty being no longer what they were Instruments of unrighteousnesse unto sin but Instruments of Righteousnesse unto Holinesse Rom. 6.13 Thus the beleever being in Christ he is made a New Creature Old things are past away All things are become new 2 Corinthians 5.17 Thus doth the Grace of Christ equalize the sin of Adam Adams sin like a desperate poyson it spread it selfe through the whole man infecting all bringing death upon all So doth the Grace of Christ like a Soveraigne antidote it diffuseth it self through the whole man healing restoring renewing all The salve is as large as the soare Here is a third Resemblance in the Integrity of the work 4. See a fourth Resemb 4. The difficulty of the work in the Difficulty of the work Resurrection is a work of difficulty To raise up a dead body from the Grave is a work that transcends the power of nature In no one thing did Christ more manifestly and mightily declare himself to be the Son of God then in this in raising up others and himselfe from death to life Declared to be the Son of God with power by the Resurrection from the dead Romans 1.4 And such is this spirituall Resurrection the raising up of a dead soul from the grave of sin to an heavenly life It is a work which men or Angels cannot do In respect of difficulty no ways inferiour to a Resurrection A work of a mighty almighty power So the Apostle setteth it forth Ephesians 1.19 20. Where he prayeth for his Ephesians that amongst other things they might know know by experience what is the exceeding greatnesse of his power towards them which beleeve According to the working of his mighty power which hee wrought in Christ when hee raised him from the dead Such is that power which God manifests in raising up dead souls from the death of sin to the life of Righteousnesse it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exceeding greatnesse of power no less then that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that effectuall working of the power of his might which hee put forth in raising Christ from the grave Applic. Much then are they mistaken who conceive the work of the holy Ghost Conversion more then a Morall swasion in producing and breeding faith and Holinesse in the soul to be no more but a morall swasion to which it is in the power choice of man himself to yeeld or not to yeild Surely such a swasion cannot be said to be the working of Gods mighty power like that wherby he raised Christ from the dead Resurrection imports more then a swasion They are not all the Arguments and perswasions that can be used that will raise a dead man from his grave There must be a new principle of life put into that liveless carkass to give motion to it So is it here They are not all the most perswasive Arguments that can be suggested to and pressed upon a dead soul that can cause it to arise from the dead There must be a principle of a spirituall life breathed in the face of it by the Spirit of God before it can awake and arise Why men are called upon to arise which of themselves they are not able to do Obj. But why then are men themselves called upon so to do Awake thou that sleepest and stand up from the dead c. So the Apostle exhorts Eph 5.14 speaking from the prophet Isa cap. 60.1 as it is commonly taken or rather as Beza notes it cap. 26.19 It should seem then that man hath some power in himself to perform what here he is put upon The Exhortation Eph. 5.14 directed to Beleevers A. To this it is answered As for that exhortation it may be conceived to be directed to beleevers Even they somtimes sleep So did the five wise Virgins as well as the foolish All slumbred and slept Mat. 25.5 And they may seem somtimes to fall into a dead sleep through the surprizall of carnall security Now as for them the Exhortation is not vain to call upon them to awake and arise in as much as they are able to do this by the power of that spirit which they have already received But
This it is which our Saviour meaneth in Joh. 4.14 Whosoever shall drink of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst So again Joh. 6.35 He that cometh unto me shall never hunger and he that believeth in me shal never thirst that is he shal find a full satisfaction in me as that he shal not hunger and thirst after other things as somtimes he did his soul shal not run out inordinately after creature-comforts to seek for happinesse and contentment in them Thus doth the life of this new-creature carry with it in measure a conformity to the life of Jesus Christ after his Resurrection being as his was a spirituall life 2. An immortall life 2. And secondly an immortall life Thus was Christ raised never to die again And so is the Christian raised So the Apostle himselfe maketh out this Resemblance ver 9 10 11 12. of this Chapter Christ being raised from the dead dyeth no more death hath no more dominion over him c Likewise reckon ye your selves also dead unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortall bodies c. Christ being raised from the grave he returns no more to his old lodging to his former state He never came under the power and dominion of death again Even so the Believer being once raised up from the grave of sin he dieth no more Expresse to this purpose is that of our Saviour John 11.25 26. He that believeth on me though he were dead yet shall he live And whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die This are we to understand not only of the second Resurrection as Arminians would have it who that they might decline the evidence of this Text make use of that subterfuge but also and most properly of the first Resurrection the raising up of the soul to a spirituall life Of such a life speaketh our Saviour in Joh. 5.25 The hour cometh and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they which hear it shall live Understand it not only of a corporall Resurrection as Grotius would have it in which sense yet it is true which is there said but of a spiritual Resurrection The Dead such as are spiritually dead dead in sin They shall hear the voice of the Son of God They shall hear Christ speaking to them in the Ministery of his word And they which hear this word hear it with faith They shall live live a spirituall life the life of grace here and glory hereafter And in a like sense are we to understand this passage in this 11th Chapter wherein our Saviour as Diodate observeth upon it according to his usuall custome taketh occasion from the corporall Resurrection before spoken of to instruct Martha in the doctrine of the spirituall Resurrection And speaking of this Resurrection he saith He that believeth on me though he were dead dead in trespasses and sins yet shall he live live a spirituall life And whosoever so liveth and believeth on me shall never die never die a spirituall death again never come under the power and dominion of sin again never totally fall from the grace which he hath received That incorruptible seed by which he is regenerated shal abide in him that Spirit of grace which he hath received shall maintain this spirituall life in him True indeed the body is still subject unto death but not so the soul If Christ be in you saith the Apostle the body is dead because of sin but the spirit is life because of righteousnesse Rom. 8.10 that is as Diodate and Beza and others expound it the body is yet subject to corporall death through the remainders of sin that are in all regenerate persons but The spirit is life even that little spark of the Spirit o grace that is still life unto the soul here and shall be both to soul and body hereafter through the most perfect righteousnesse of Christ imputed unto them Their bodies they are daily decaying daily dying as Paul saith of himselfe 1 Cor. 15.31 but not so their souls Though our outward man perish yet our inward man is renewed day by day 2 Cor. 4.16 And as for the second death that shall have no power over them Blessed and holy is he that hath his part in the first Resurrection on such the second death shal have no power Rev. 20.6 The second death is eternall death so expounded chap. 2. ver 8. And from this death are they freed who have their part in this first Resurrection The Believer an immortall creature O the blessed condition of a Believer The very day that he is raised up from the death of sin to the life of grace he is made an immortall creature That grace of God which bringeth this life bringeth immortality with it as the Apostle puts them together 2 Tim. 2.10 The believer dieth no more As for the death of nature it is not worth the name of death to him being only an entrance and passage into life and the poison and bitternesse of it being taken away As for those true and terrible deaths spirituall death the death of the soule eternall death the death both of soul and body these the believer is no more subject to Or though subject to them as in himself he is yet he shall be so kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation as he shall never actually come under the power of them He that will make a believer being once risen with Christ raised from the grave of sin subject to die again subject to fall away from the grace of God totally and finally and so to be brought under the power of the second death may as well make Christ subject to death after his Resurrection Christ being risen from the dead he dieth no more All the men and divels in the world could not drag him to the grave again being once risen from it The soul that is once risen with Christ quickned by his Spirit it is not all the power of hell that can bring it to the grave of sin again that can bring it under the power of a spirituall and eternall death Herein the Christian 's first Resurrection his soul-Resurrection answers the bodily Resurrection of Jesus Christ He is raised as Christ was in the generall to a new life in the particular to a spirituall to an immortall life Generall 2. The believer raised to the glory of God his Father And thus also is he raised as Christ was To the Glory of God the Fahter There is the second Generall Thus was Christ raised To the Glory of his Father and that both actively and passively Actively to the glorifying of him Thus was Christ raised 1. Actively to glorifie him Passively to be glorified with him 1. To glorifie him Father glorifie thy Son that thy Son also may glorifie thee So our Saviour begins his prayer John 17.1 This Jesus
him to all his Elect quickning whom he pleaseth As the Father raiseth up the dead and quickneth them even so the Son quickneth whom hee will so you have it ver 21. of that 5th chap. And hence is it that he is called a quickning spirit 1 Cor. 15.45 The first man Adam was made a living soul the last Adam was made a quickning spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jesus Christ being the Head and Stock of all his Elect is appointed by God to be the author and procurer and conveyer of spirituall and eternall life to all his off-spring by the communication of his spirit to them which both restoreth life unto the dead and preserveth it in them perpetually Neither of which the first Adam could do He indeed lived a naturall life himself and did in a naturall way by way of propagation convey a naturall life to his Posterity but he could not preserve that life much lesse restore it to himself or them He was onely a living soul But Christ is a quickning spirit quickning dead souls and quickning dead bodies the Author both of the first and second resurrection Christ the author of the first Resurrection 1. Of the first resurrection the resurrection of the Soul This beleevers obtain from by and through Jesus Christ So much our Apostle willeth them to take notice of and acknowledg ver 11 of this Rom. 6. Likewise reckon ye your selves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. That beleevers are alive unto God that they live a spirituall life this they owe unto Jesus Christ and are to attribute to him as being the root of their life So much the phrase in the Originall there imports which is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Jesus Christ Even as the Graft liveth in the Stock so is the beleever alive unto God in Jesus Christ receiving from him that vertue whereby this life is begun maintained perfected in him This it is to be quickned with Christ Col. 2.13 and to be risen with Christ Col. 3.1 viz. not onely to be quickned and raised as Christ was but to be quickned and raised by a power and vertue flowing from him and his resurrection This is that vertue which Paul so earnestly desired to be made partaker of Phil. 3.10 That I may know him and the vertue of his resurrection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is that power and vertue whereby Christ himself was raised from the dead or a power and vertue flowing from his resurrection working the like effect in himself in raising him to the life of grace here and glory hereafter This spiritual life is the fruit of Christs resurrection so may we understand that place of the Apostle Saint Peter 1 Pet. 1.4 where he saith of beleevers that They are begotten again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ So they are not onely in respect of assurance of their Resurrection unto eternal life whereof the Resurrection of Christ is the pledge but also in regard of their New-birth it self which is a fruit of Christ's Resurrection wrought in them by a vertue flowing from Christ being risen from the dead Of the second Resurrection 2. And as their first so their second Resurrection Hereof the Resurrection of Christ is not only the Pattern and Pledge but also the Cause So the Apostle sets it forth 1 Cor. 15.21 Since by man came death by man also came the Resurrection of the dead Adam being the Head and Root of all mankind he transmitted his sin and death unto all his Off-spring all that were in him when he so sinned and died Even so Christ the Head and Root of all his Elect he communicates his righteousnesse and life to all that are in him This he merited for them by his death and this he applieth and conveyeth to them through his Resurrection As in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive so the Apostle goeth on ver 22. All viz. that are in Christ As for others it is true they shall be raised again and that by Christ viz. by the power of Christ as a Judge The hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shal hear his voice and shal come forth John 5.28 29. But those which are Christs shall all be raised up in him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Being in him they shall be raised up in him by a vertue flowing from him as from the Head to the members as from the root to the branches Hereby shall their dead bodies be quickned raised changed He shal change our vile body saith the Apostle Phil. 3. last This is the work of Jesus Christ which he shall effect According to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himselfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to that efficacious working of a mighty power A power not unlike that which the story tells us went forth from him upon the womans touching his garment Mark 5.30 Jesus knowing that vertue had gone out of him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not an Adventitious vertue such as God was pleased to put forth at the request of his Prophets but it was a power residing in Christ and so issuing from him in an efficacious way for the healing of her infirmity Even such a power such a vertue shall go forth from Jesus Christ at the last day for the quickning and raising up all those who have here touched him by a true and lively faith Such as are buried with him shall be raised up by him Even as the story tels us of that dead man who was cast into the Prophet Elisha's Sepulchre 2 King 13.21 upon the touch of his bones he revived and stood upon his feet Even so shall all those who are here buried with Christ by mortification they shall be raised up unto a spiritual life here and to an eternal life hereafter and all this by a vertue flowing from him Being engrafted in the likenesse of his death they shal be also in the likenesse of his resurrection And thus I passed through the Doctrinal Part of these two Propositions or Conclusions The Practical Part is yet behind wherein I shall desire you to go along with me with your best attentions lending me not onely your ears but your hearts Applic. Enquire whether we be made partakers of this Resurrection Vse 1. What hath been spoken in the first place I shall bring it home by way of Enquiry We have heard what ones all true believers all that have union with Jesus Christ all that are truely engrafted into him are How they are made conformable to him as in his death so in his resurrection As in the one by mortification dying unto sin so in the other by vivification rising to newnesse of life Now every of us put the question to our selves Numnam ego talis Am I such a one Am I thus engrafted with Christ in the
A supernaturall light the light of divine and heavenly knowledg to shine forth into their Hearts God who commanded the light to shine out of darknes hath shined into our hearts saith the Apostle to give the light of the knowledg of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ 2. Cor. 4.6 Gods Ministers being his Instruments in the work of Conversion they communicate that light of knowledg unto others which themselves have received making known the glorious grace of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ revealed and manifested in and by him without which Illumination there is no Regeneration Baptisme anciently called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Illumination and why Hence was it that the Greek Fathers anciently called Baptisme which is the Sacrament of Regeneration by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Illumination taking the ground of it as is conceived from that of the Apostle Leigh Critic sacra Heb. 6.4 where he speaks of those that were once enlightned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Syriack renders Grotius Beza ad loc qui ad baptismum descenderunt such as had been baptized And not unfitly may it be so called in as much as all those who are baptized with the Holy Ghost they have their minds illustrated with the beams of this divine and heavenly light Without such illumination no regeneration Hence is it that the twofold state of man the state of nature and the state of grace are called the one darknesse and the other light Ye were sometimes darknesse but now ye are light in the Lord Ephes 5.8 And the work of Conversion is described to be a turning from darknesse to light Acts 26.18 and a calling out of darknesse into a marvellous light 1 Pet. 2.9 Now have we received this Spirit of Illumination Hath this light shined forth unto us shined into our minds and shined into our hearts Into our minds enlightning our understandings with some measure of speculative knowledge in spiritual heavenly mysteries Certainly without this there can be no true work of Conversion no spirituall Resurrection God doth not bring men out of their graves blindfold He first openeth their eyes Paul was sent to the Gentiles to open their eyes Acts 26.18 to turn them from darknesse to light from the darknesse of ignorance to the light of knowledge which shineth into the mind And into the heart He hath shined in our hearts saith the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so he doth in the hearts of his people giving them not onely a speculative but an affective knowledge not onely to know the truth but to be affected with it to love it believe it embrace it to receive a love of the truth for the want of which those Apostates fell away 2 Thes 2.10 Now hath this light thus shined not onely into our minds but into our hearts then may we conclude that we have received the Spirit of Christ even this quickning spirit beginning this work of a spirituall resurrection in our souls Whereas otherwise Do we stil sit in darknesse surely we are as yet in the shadow of death 2. This Quickning Spirit 2. A Spirit of Faith is a Spirit of Faith So it is to all who have any part in this first Resurrection We having the spirit of faith saith Paul to his Corinthians 2 Cor. 4.13 that is the Spirit of God working faith in the soul This it doth in all whom it quickneth first revealing Christ unto them then it inclineth their hearts to close with him upon those Gospel terms upon which he is offered to receive him as a Saviour and as a Lord. And so it uniteth them unto him ingrafting them into this Stock from whence they receive this quickning vertue and are made conformable to Christ in his resurrection This is conveyed unto believers through faith That we might receive the promise of the spirit through faith saith the Apostle Gal. 3.14 The Promise he there speaketh of is the promise of the Spirit of Regeneration as Diodate expounds it This is the promise which the Prophets make such frequent mention of Isai 44.3 Jer. 31.33 c. Now this promise of the spirit is received by faith faith on Jesus Christ which is the purifying grace Putrifying their hearts by faith Acts 15.9 The sanctifying grace Them which are sanctified by faith in me Acts 26.18 and the quickning grace by and through which this spirituall life is conveyed from Christ into the soul Expresse is that of our Saviour John 11.25 I am the resurrection and the life He that believeth on me though he were dead yet shall he live Though he be dead in sin yet shall he live a spirituall life upon his believing Which life is therefore called the life of faith because faith is both the beginning and the principall Act of this life The just shal live by his faith Rom. 3.11 The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God Gal. 2.20 He that liveth and believeth on me saith our Saviour ver 26. of that 11th of John speaking of this spirituall life whereof saith is both the first and principall Act. Now have we received this Spirit of Faith Have we felt this work of the spirit upon our hearts drawing and inclining them thus to receive Jesus Christ thus to close with him thus to rest upon him thus to give up our selves unto him If so surely we are in the number of those that have part in this first Resurrection Otherwise being yet in a state of unbeliefe we are also in a state of death 3. 3. A Spirit of Holinesse This Quickning Spirit is also a sanctifying spirit a spirit of sanctification Such was the spirit whereby Jesus Cbrist was raised He was declared mightily to be the Son of God according to the spirit of sanctification by the resurrection from the dead Rom. 1.4 That Spirit which raised up Jesus Christ was the same divine spirit which sanctified his humane nature wherein it dwelt And such is this quickning Spirit to all in whom it dwelleth Being to them a Spirit of Faith it is also to them a Spirit of Sanctification purifying their hearts through faith Hence is it that the Apostle puts these two together Sanctification of the spirit and beliefe of the truth 2 Thes 2.13 Faith and Holinesse never go asunder Where the Spirit of Christ is a Spirit of faith it is also a Spirit of holinesse changing the heart putting into it a new quality of holinesse turning the bent of it from and against all sin unto holinesse and righteousnesse working in it an unfeigned hatred of the one and love to the other Now have we received this Spirit also Do we find such an inward change wrought in our hearts Do we find the Law of God a Law of Holinesse written upon them A law contrary to the law of sin so the Apostle calleth that sinfull corruption which dwelleth and reigneth
main work is to close with Jesus Christ And therefore let your first and main work be thus to close with Jesus Christ thus to let him into your souls thus to receive him that so you may come to have union with him From that union wil flow this blessed Communion Having union with his Person you shall have Communion in his Resurrection So hath the Graft with the Stock Having union with it it hath also communion with it in the springs Resurrection and that by participating in that sap and juice which is in it Thus being made one with Christ by faith ye shall be made partakers of that same spirit whereby Christ himself was raised from the dead which wil have the same effect in you that it had in him And therefore again and again be perswaded to close with the Lord Jesus Not thinking it enough that you are put into him by a Sacramentall Insition as all persons Baptized are or that you cleave unto him by an outward visible profession as all Hypocrites and carnal Gospellers do but that you may have a true spirituall coalition a reall Mysticall union with him Being thus ingrafted into him you shall be made conformable to him in his Resurrection you shall bee raised from this death of sinne to this Life of grace as he was from the death of nature to the life of Glory But all this while I must remember I have been speaking to dead men Without his concurrence all motions or endeavours this way are in vain and consequently that unlesse Jesus Christ himselfe shall please to second this word with his own spirit all that I have said or can say in this case will prove but lost labour As it was in the raising of the Shunamites son 2 Kings 4.31 Gehezi Elisha's servant hee cometh first and layeth his Masters staffe upon the face of the Child and this he did by his Masters direction and appointment verse 29. but all in vain Til Elisha himself come and stretch himselfe upon the child putting his face to his face c. there was no awakening no reviving verse 31. Thus have I as a poore servant a Minister of Jesus Christ laid a Gospell command upon you requiring you in his name to awake and arise but unlesse my Master himselfe the Lord Jesus the true Elisha 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Salus the Health of God as the word signifieth unlesse hee come and make an effectuall Application of himselfe unto your souls breathing into the face of them the breath of a new life all my endeavours will be to no purpose And therefore let me in the close of this Point direct and desire you to look up unto him who is the Resurrection and life earnestly imploring this grace and favour from him that he himselfe would be pleased to undertake this work communicating unto you that Quickning spirit whereby your hearts may be inclined and your selves inabled to arise and stand up from the dead to awake and arise from sin unto Righteousness which of your selves you are not able to do I have done with the former sort such as are as yet strangers to this first Resurrection Application to such as are thus risen with Christ Come we now to the later Such as are in their measure made partakers of it As for Exhort 1 you Let me in the first place excite you to a thankefull acknowledgment of this so great a mercy Bee thankfull for this Mercy This is the end of all that Grace which God is pleased to exercise upon his people viz. that They should be to the praise of his Glory Eph. 1.12 14. That they should shew forth the praises of him who hath called them out of darknes into a marvellous light So our new Translation readeth that of St Peter 1 Pet. 2.9 And the Originall wil bear it The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying both vertues and Praises And this be you excited to do you that are made partakers of this so peculiar a favour Which whether it be a mercy worth the acknowledgment The first Resurrection a mercy worth the acknowledging do but consider the greatness of the work the Freeness of the Agent and the Indisposition of the subject and then give sentence For the greatnesse of the work it is a Resurrection For the freenesse of the Agent it is a Resurrection For the Indisposition of the subject stil I say no more it is a Resurrection Resurrection is a great work It is so to raise up a dead body It is no lesse to raise up a dead soul A work of a mighty almighty power even of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that exceeding greatness of power as the Apostle calleth it Eph. 1.19 No lesse then that effectuall working of that mighty power of God which hee wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead And what is it that should move God to exercise this power upon you rather then upon others surely not any thing in your selves Dead bodies are all alike indisposed to a Resurrection And so are dead souls That God hath made you the objects of this power it is only his free grace that moved him to it All the sons of Adam by nature are like so many carcasses buried together in the same Church-yard or lying together in the same Golgotha or Calvery the same Charnell-house You that are now made alive unto God time was when you were in the same condition with the rest of the world Dead in trespasses and sins even as others Eph. 2.1 3. Now how is it that Christ hath been pleased to sound the Trumpet as it were upon your graves to pick and single you out from the common heap to make you the objects of his power and mercy whilest in the mean time he hath suffered so many millions of souls on each side of you to sleep in eternall death Surely this is no other but that which the same Apostle calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes 2.7 the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindnesse towards you in Christ Jesus Who but will acknowledge it a speciall favour a singular kindnesse which Christ shewed unto Lazarus in coming unto him and that before he was sent for to raise him up from the dead He might have had far more noble Patients to have done so miraculous a cure upon He might have manifested this his power upon the Kings and Princes and Potentates of the earth from whom he might have expected a better recompence then he could from Lazarus yet he neglects them and singles out him Here you will say as the Jews did when they saw Christ weeping for this his deceased friend Behold how he loved him John 11.36 This was a declaration of singular affection unto Lazarus no lesse is that affection which he hath manifested unto you you were as truely dead as ever Lazarus was you in
and were made partakers of the holy Ghost the common gifts and graces of the Spirit and have tasted the good word of God have found some relish in the sweet and saving promises of the Gospel and the powers of the world to come have had some ravishing apprehensions of the joyes and glory of heaven yet they fall away by a total apostacie returning to their former condition being brought wholly under the power of sin again so you have it Hebr. 6.4 5 6. Now in the fear of God take heed this prove not your condition The conditions of Apostates most desperate Which if it do mark what follows Your later end will be worse then your beginning and it would have been better for you never to have known the way of righteousnesse them having known it to turn from the holy Commandement so you shall finde it 2 Pet. 2.20 This will put you into a desperate state under an impossibilitie in an ordinary way of ever being renewed again unto repentance so you have it Heb. 6.4 6. If yee shall thus sin wilfully after that ye have received the knowledg of the truth there remaineth for you no more sacrifice for sins but a certain fearfull looking for of judgment and firy indignation so you may read it Hebr. 10.26 27. Trees which are twice dead what can they look for but to be plucked up by the roots cut off from all union and communion with Jesus Christ Jude 12. So desperate is the condition of wilful Apostates such as having been in measure wrought upon by the grace and spirit of Christ illuminating convincing and in measure changing and reforming though not regenerating them If they shall willingly and wilfully return to their former state it puts them into a most dangerous and desperate condition Being raised come not nigh the Brink of the grave again And therefore Is it so that God hath begun this work this change in any of you Take heed of looking back Come not nigh the verge the brink of the grave again do not henceforth give way to any one sinne so as to live in it to continue in it This the Apostle here in the former part of this chapter presseth upon these his Romans How shall we that are dead unto sin live any longer therein ver 2. Beleevers are dead to sin nay risen from sin how shall they live or ly in it we would account it a madnesse in a man that is raised from the grave to return thither again and to make his abode there It is no lesse for Christians that are risen from the grave of sin to returne to it to live and continue in it In this imitate your heavenly pattern who being raised from the dead dyed no more 2. Being raised from the dead evidence Exhort 2 your Resurrection Evidence this Resurrections by the action of a spirituall life So did your Saviour Being raised from the grave he evidenced the truth of his Corporall Resurrection shewing himself alive after his Passion by many infallible proofs as the Evangelist hath it Act. 1.3 specially by doing the actions of a naturall life speaking to his Disciples and eating with them Thus do you evidence the truth of your spirituall Resurrection Evidence it both to your selves and others and that by doing the Actions of a spirituall life approving your selves unto God and man in all duties of Piety charity Being delivered out of the hands of these your enemies Sin Satan Hell Death now serve God in Holiness and Righteousness all the days of your life Thus yeeld up your selves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of Righteousnesse unto God as the Apostle presseth ver 13. of this Chapter Thus being now brought into a new state walk answerable to it and that by living a new life so did our blessed Saviour after his Resurrection as I have shewed you Hee lived after another manner then before he did Do you the like Hic dies aliam vitam adfert alios mores postulat This new state calls for a new life and conversation Herein lieth the principall part of a Christians conformitie to Christ in his Resurrection That like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father so he also should walk in newnesse of life so you have it in the words before the Text. And therefore As concerning your former conversation put off the old man and put on the new so you have the Exhortation Ephes 4.22 24. You were sometimes darkness you were so during your abode in the grave of sin but now being risen yee are light in the Lord walk therefore as children of light so it follows Ephes 5.8 In times past ye walked according to the course of this world c. so the Apostle describeth your former state Eph. 2.3 but now being brought into a new state henceforth be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed c. so the same Apostle presseth it Rom. 12.2 Be ye metamorphosed so living now as becometh men of another world So did your Saviour after his Resurrection as I shewed you and so do you As for the comforts of this present world use them but not abusing them so use them as not using them Seeking after spirituall things spirituall Meates and Drinks spiritual riches spiritual pleasures and delights These are sutable to your new state If ye be risen with Christ seek the things which are above Col. 3.1 Hereby evidence that you have your part in this first resurrection by walking answerably to this new condition With all living to the Glory of God So did your Saviour as I have showen you in opening of the former verse he was raised from the dead as by so to the Glory of God his Father that he might glorifie him Herein be you conforme to your pattern Being raised from the dead by the glory of God now be you to his glory making this the end of your life to glorifie God Glorifie him both with your spirits and with your Bodies both which are his by more then a single right 3. Are you thus risen then waite for the Exhort 3 day of your change the day of your Translation Wait for the day of Translation So did your blessed Saviour after his Resurrection he made his abode here upon earth for forty dayes waiting for his Ascension Do you the like who are made partakers of this first Resurrection The day of your Translation is not farr off Forty dayes At most a few yeares In the meane time waite for it So do all they who have received the first fruits of the Spirit They wait for the Adoption viz. the Redemption of their Bodies Romans 8.23 There is a twofold Adoption and a twofold Redemption Duplex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 duplex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A twofold Adoption the former inchoate which gives a Jus ad rem a right unto the Inheritance The
up to the life of grace here and glory hereafter And this power this spirit all true believers in their measure are and shal be made partakers of even as the members of the naturall body participate in those animall spirits which are in the Head And hereby they shall be inabled as to mortifie sin so to live unto God And thus you see the communion which is betwixt Christ the Believer as betwixt the Stock the Graft implanted in it Applic. Which is a ground of everlasting consolation to all those that are truely baptized into Christ A ground of everlasting Consolation mystically ingrafted into him by faith Being thus made one with him now let them know that all that is Christs is and shal be theirs The sap that is in the Stock is for the use and benefit of the Graft And thus whatever is in Jesus Christ it is for the Benefit and advantage of those that are in him So as All that is in Christ is the Believers what is it that they can want Is it pardon of sin is it Grace and favour with God Lo here is merit enough for both He hath by his obedience active and passive made an abundant satisfaction to the Justice of God He hath done and suffered enough to finish the Transgression and to make an end of or seal up sins and to make Reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting Righteousnesse Dan. 9.24 Here is nothing wanting to the Justification of a Believer before God Nor yet to his Sanctification As there is a fulnesse of merit so there is a fulnesse of spirit in Christ It pleased the Father that in him should all fulnesse dwell Col. 1.19 So it did during his abode here upon earth The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us full of grace and truth John 1.14 Upon his change of State he received an addition to that fulnesse When he ascended up on high he received gifts for men Psal 68.18 Gifts which he might distribute and give unto men as the Apostle renders that of the Psalmist Eph. 4.8 He ascended far above all heavens that he might fill all things So it followeth ver 10. All things that is all his Elect and faithfull people all which do and shall in their measure receive of that his fulnesse Of his fulnesse we have all received grace for grace saith Saint John John 1.16 We all all believers have received grace for grace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 grace upon grace say some one grace after another abundance of grace or grace for grace graces answering to those graces which are in Christ as the characters in the wax answer those in the seal or grace for grace The grace of Sanctification following upon the grace of Justification both flowing from the free-grace and good will of God in Christ And this believers receive from the fulnesse which is in Christ which is not only a repletive but a diffusive fulnesse Plenitudo non vasis sed fontis Not like the fulnesse of a vessel which if a drop be taken from it it suffers a diminution by it but of a fountain which runneth over for the benefit of all that will come unto it Such a fulnesse of Spirit such a fulnesse of Grace is there in Jesus Christ who is in that respect compared to a Fountain Zach. 13.1 In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David for sin and for uncleannesse That Fountain is Christ himselfe whose merit and spirit represented by the water and blood issuing out of his side in his Passion are as streams ever running from a living Spring sufficient to wash and cleanse all believing sinners from the guilt and pollution of sin Here is merit enough for their Justification and here is spirit enough for their Sanctification And in both these Believers being united unto Christ have and shall have communion with him A four-fold Benefit flowing from this Union and Communion Out of which Generall still to follow the Metaphor bud forth divers other particulars The Graft being thus put into the Stock made one with it and partaking in the sap and juice that is in it it now receiveth from it a four-fold benefit viz. Nutrition Augmentation Fructification Sustentation Nourishment Growth Fruitfulnesse Establishment And the like four-fold benefit we shall find accrewing unto the Believer from this his union and communion with Jesus Christ Each of which will yeild us a severall Resemblance A first of these Benefits is Nutrition 6. Resembl 1. Benefit Nutrition nourishment This the Graft receiveth from the Stock And this the Believer receiveth from Christ So the Apostle holdeth it forth though under a different Metaphor Col. 2.19 where comparing Christ to the Head and the Church to the Body he sheweth how the one receiveth nourishment from the other Not holding the Head from which all the Body having nourishment ministred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Graeci 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appellant illum qui omnia ornamenta suppeditat sacras Choreas agentibus Abbis ducta Motaphora 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicitur quicunque aliis suppeditat res ad quemcunque finem necessarias Et 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est hoc facere abundè copiosè in Davenant in Col. 2.19 The word there used signifieth generally a Supply of all things requisite and convenient and that in an abundant manner Such a supply doth the Head make unto the naturall Body It giveth to every part sense and motion and particular abilities for the discharge of their severall offices and functions as to the eye to see to the ear to hear c. And such a supply doth Jesus Christ make unto his mysticall Body giving spirituall sense and motion to every member with abilities and graces sutable to their severall offices and conditions furnishing them with whatever is requisite for their Personall Salvation and the Churches Edification In this place the word more particularly imports a supply of such things as are necessary for the nourishing of the Body Est autem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accipere ea quae alendo corpori sunt necessaria Grotius ad loc These the Head supplyeth to the members of the naturall body And these Jesus Christ supplyeth to the members of the mystical Body even to all that are in him Such a supply the Stock maketh to the ingrafted Branches And such a supply Christ yeildeth to all those living spirituall Branches that are ingrafted into him ministring to them spirituall Aliment for the nourishing up of their souls unto eternal life To the nourishment of the naturall Body there are but two things requisite Christ is perfect nourishment to the Believer viz. Meat and Drink and both these is Christ unto the believer My flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed saith he to the Jews John 6.55 Meat indeed and drink indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verè eminentissimè Truely and really though
of the duties of Piety towards God Justice Charity Mercy towards men Tit. 2.12 Not unfitly called Fruits being in walking righteously soberly godly These are Gospel-fruits and not unfitly so called Fruits being 1. Delectable So are fruits unto man delectable to the eye to the palate 1. Delectable Gen. 3.6 And so are good works unto God Fruits of holinesse and righteousnesse brought forth by a Tree of righteousnesse good works performed by a justified person they are gratefull they are acceptable to God by Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 2.5 With such sacrifice God is well pleased Heb. 13.16 And 2. Profitable So are good fruits 2. Profitable and so are good works As delectable to God so profitable to man Godlinesse is profitable for all things 1 Tim. 4.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nusquam non nunquam non utilis Grotius ad loc Profitable at all times in all places in all occasions The tree bringeth forth fruit upwards but it is for the benefit of those which are below A Christian bringeth forth fruit unto God Rom. 7.4 but the comfort and benefit thereof extendeth to himselfe and others My goodnesse extendeth not unto thee but unto the Saints which are upon earth Psal 16.2 3. Again 3. Giving evidence to the Tree Fruits give evidence to the Tree which beareth them shewing it to be a living tree and of what kind it is The tree is known by its fruits Mat. 12.33 And of such use are good works to the Christian They are evidences discovering a man to himselfe and others shewing him to be a living tree and a good tree a Tree of Righteousnesse a branch of that generous Vine one truly engrafted into Jesus Christ Such fruits do all these engrafted branches bring forth This Benefit Beleevers have from their engrafting into Christ And this benefit they have from their engrafting into Christ Fructification is a consequent of Insition That Christians are thus fruitfull it floweth from that communion which they have with Jesus Christ Two things there are as I shewed you wherein the Christian hath communion with Christ viz. in his Merit and Spirit His Merit unto Justification his Spirit unto Sanctification And from hence is it they bring forth such fruits fruits acceptable to God 1. Through his Merit 1. This they have from the Merit of Christ Thereby their persons are justified and themselves made good trees which they must be before their fruits can be good Make the tree good and his fruit good Mat. 12.33 Hereby their persons come to be accepted and consequently their Works God had a respect unto Abel and to his offering Gen. 4.8 First the Person then the Sacrifice Works performed by an unjustified person whatever they be materially in themselves yet formally they cannot be good so good as to find acceptance with God 2. By his Spirit 2. And secondly This they have from the Spirit of Christ This it is that worketh all these works in and for the beleever who is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a reasonable Instrument acted by the Spirit of God in supernaturall performances So as these fruits are more properly the fruits of the Spirit then of the Beleever Col. 5.22 The fruits of the Spirit are love and peace c. This benefit the Graft receiveth from the Stock communicating sap and moisture unto it And this benefit doth the believer receive from Jesus Christ communicating his Spirit unto him Applic. By this try our mysticall Implantation By this then to make some Application of this Resemblance trie we our selves whether we be truely engrafted into Jesus Christ or no. Do we bring forth fruit and such fruit If not feed not our selves with a fancy of Faith or Justification by faith Saint James hath put it beyond all controversie in his second Chapter of his Epistle were he tels us ver 17. That Faith if it have not works is dead being alone Again Faith without works Dead ver 26. As the body without the spirit is dead so faith without works is dead also Dead viz. as to Justification and Salvation As Abraham and Sarah's bodies were said to be dead in that they were unapt for generation Rom. 4.19 Even so faith without works is said to be dead in as much as it is unapt and unable to produce those desired and intended effects to justifie to save True it is works are not properly a Cause of Justification as faith is commonly said to be viz. an instrumentall cause yet they are a necessary concomitant of that faith which justifieth requisite qualifications in the person justified That trite distinction of fides sola solitaria clears this point well Though faith alone justifie yet not that faith which is alone If faith justifie the person it is works that must justifie that faith Shew me thy faith without works saith Saint James And I will shew thee my faith by my works ver 18. The former impossible the later infallible An Evangelicall Obedience that is an uniform impartiall universall obedience such in desire and indeavour though not in performance is an undoubted evidence of a true saving justifying faith Such an one may conclude to the comfort of his own soul that he is truely engrafted into Christ Barren Christians no true ingrafted Branches But so cannot others Barren Christians such as have nothing to speak for them but the leaves of an outward profession if that onely the Name of Christ called upon them In the mean time expressing nothing of the power and life of Christ in the course of their lives and conversations All they can say for themselves is no more then the proud Pharisee's boast Luke 18.11 They are not as others are They are free from grosse open and scandalous evils no Drunkards no Sweaters no Adulterers I wish all that hear me this day could but say so much Negative Christians But as for positive acts of Holinesse and Righteousnesse works of Piety Charity Mercy they have no acquaintance with them Let not such deceive themselves certainly they are yet strangers unto this Mysticall Implantation they have no part nor portion in this blessed Priviledge Much lesse such as are fruitfull in evill works But what then shall we say to those who are fruitfull in evill works whose fruit tendeth all to sin as Solomon speaketh Pro. 10.16 Fruitfull in the works of the flesh such as those reckoned up by the Apostle in that black list Gal. 5.19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these Adultery Fornication Vncleannesse Lasciviousnesse Idolatry Witch-craft Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Strife Seditions Heresies Envyings Murder Drunkennesse Revellings and such like Where these any of these raigning evils are to be found there shall need no other evidence to discover what Stock a man belongeth to viz. the Old Stock the Old Adam the Stock of corrupted nature Were a man engrafted into Jesus Christ that grace of God which hath
They that are Christs have crucified the flesh Now crucifying as I shewed you is a painfull death Elsewhere we finde it compared to a Plucking out the right eye a Cutting off the right hand Matth. 29.30 Such is the mortifying of the members of the Body of sin inordinate lusts some of which may be as near and dear to a man as his right eye or hand A painfull work Thus doth this death unto sin carry with it a likenesse to the death of Christ Attended with Agonies it is attended with agonies and soul-conflicts Agonies before conversion and after Before it Before Conversion Ordinarily this work is not wrought without some compunction of spirit some pricking of the heart so were the Jews affected at the hearing of Peter's Sermon Acts 2.37 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They were pricked at their hearts They were inwardly touched and deeply affected with the apprehension of the hainousnesse of that sin of theirs in crucifying the Lord of life and of the wrath of God hanging over their heads for it In like manner the Jaylor in that known place Acts 16.30 What an agonie do we there find him in when he came trembling and fell down at the Apostles feet crying out Sirs what shall I do to be saved Such agonies the beginning of Conversion is ordinarily attended with True indeed it must be acknowledged Which are not alike in all that these Agonies are not alike in all whether for degree and measure or continuance of them yet in an ordinary way true and sound conversion is not without some of them As in the naturall birth so in this new birth all have not the like pains and throws yet none but are in some degree sensible of some of them some soul-conflicts some remorse of conscience for sin whereby the heart is pricked nay rent and broken So it is in true Repentance Rent your hearts and not your garments Joel 2.13 A broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Psal 51.17 viz. a heart broken and rent with a kindly apprehension of sin and of Gods just displeasure against it such agonies is the soul subject to in the beginning of Conversion And the like afterwards As in the naturall Agonies after Conversion so in this new birth there are after-pains after-throws The Christian though the main work be done though he be delivered of sin in respect of the guilt and reigning power of it yet he hath still some remainders of sinfull corruption left in him which draw many a groane many a sigh from his heart Wee also which have the first fruits of the Spirit saith the Apostle Rom. 8.23 even wee our selves groan within our selves waiting for the adoption c. We we beleevers which have the first fruits of the Spirit the first degree of Regeneration conferred upon us here as a pledg and assurance of the full crop of perfect Glorification hereafter even wee our selves groane within our selves That which the frame of heaven and earth do by a kind of secret sympathy and instinct we do out of a certain knowledge and well grounded judgement sighing and groaning under the burden of sin which lieth upon us earnestly desiring a full and finall deliverance with a fruition of that glorious inheritance which is entailed upon us in and by our Adoption Such are the groans of mortified Saints Saints dying unto sin like the groans of dying men whose souls being weary of their bodies earnestly desire a dissolution Thus do God's Saints groan within themselves or rather his Spirit within them earnestly desiring to be freed from the body of sin O wretched man that I am saith the Apostle who shall deliver me from the body of this death Rom. 7.24 Thus doth he crie out being wearied by continuall conflicts with the remainders of sinfull corruption that body of sin Rom. 6.6 as he calleth it ver 6. of the Chapter foregoing This he there calleth the body of death Corpus mortis i.e. Corpus mortiferum because it was as a death to him to be so infested with it like a living man tied to a dead threatning him with spirituall and eternall death And therefore he earnestly desireth to be freed from it accounting himselfe a wretched and unhappy man so long as he was in any degree so molested by it Thus doth this death unto sin carry with it a conformity to the death of Jesus Christ being as his was a dolorous and painfull death Applic. Which may serve us yet as another touch-stone to discover a great deal of counterfeit Mortification by Counterfeit Mortification discovered Many think they are dead unto sin who are in truth nothinglesse It may be sin is asleep in them It may be it is dead to them but they are not dead to it So much appeareth in that there were no pangs in this death It is a difference betwixt death and sleep There are pangs in the one not so in the other And the like difference there is betwixt a naturall and a violent death In the former when a man dieth according to the course of nature the light of life going out like a lamp when the oile is spent there is no great pain As David speaking of wicked men who sometimes live in pleasure and die with ease he saith they have no bands in their death Psal 73.4 But violent Deaths they have their bands and their pangs And so hath this spirituall death this death unto sin being as I showed you in the last resemblance a violent death it will not be without some pangs or other Sin hath a strong heart and so there will be pangs in this death Examine what Agonies we have felt for or about sin I beseech you bring it home to your selves you that suppose your selves to be thus dead unto sin Examine your own hearts what pangs were there in this death what agonies what soul-conflicts have you at any time felt what compunction of heart what affliction of spirit have you suffered for sin And that not only for the guilt of it That may and often is to be found in a Reprobate we see it in Judas When he had betrayed his Lord and Master what a compunction of spirit did the apprehension of the guilt of that sin work in him But for the power of it This it was that troubled Paul to find the body of sin so vigorous and active in him to find such a law in his members rebelling against the law of his mind and bringing him into captivity to the law of sin Rom. 7 23. And this it is that troubles the Christian Though the guilt of sin be taken away yet is he not wholly freed from the power of it Though it do not rule in him as a Prince yet it tyrannizeth over him oft-times carrying him contrary to the bent of his regenerate mind to the omitting of what he would do the committing of what he would not And this to him is
sin using all means for the through mortification of it breaking the bones the power and strength of sin and peircing the heart of it by renewed contrition and repentance letting out the vitall blood of it never resting till we have let sin wholly out of our heart till the heart be brought to an inward loathing and detestation of all sin and so to feel the whole body of sin daily decaying languishing dying Such is the Christians death a copy and counterpane of the death of Jesus Christ resembling it in the properties thereof a True voluntary violent painfull lingring death And thus have I done with the former of these conclusions which informs us that The Christians death unto sin carries with it a resemblance of the death of Christ for sin It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the likenesse or Representation of his death The second and third follow All true Beleevers are partners in this death and that by a vertue flowing from Jesus Christ Upon these two I shall insist severally by way of Doctrinall Explication and Illustration jointly by way of practicall Application Begin with the former All true beleevers are partners in this death Doctrine 2. All beleevers are dead unto sin All that are in Jesus Christ are thus conformable to him in his death This the Apostle here layeth down by way of supposition If we have been planted together in the likenesse of his death Taking it for granted that all who are ingrafted into Christ have a mysticall union with him they have also a communion with him and that first in his Death This is that which he hath told us in the two verses foregoing Know ye not saith the 3d verse that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death Again ver 4. Therefore wee are buried with him by baptism into death And thus he here inculcates again the same thing under a different expression If we have been planted together in the likeness of his death So are all true beleevers Being in Christ they die with him being dead to sin as he died for sin That they are so Confirmat we find it often asserted by this Apostle as in this chapter ver 2. How shall wee that are dead to sin saith he live any longer therein and again ver 11. Likewise reckon ye your selves to be dead indeed unto sin So elswhere This is that he tels his Colossians Colos 3.3 For ye are dead dead to the world to the flesh to sin This he saith of himselfe Gal. 6.14 The world is crucified to me and I unto the world And the like of all others Gal. 5.24 They that are Christs have crucified the flesh All in effect speaking one and the same thing with this in the Text that all which are in Christ are ingrafted with him in the likenesse of his death being dead to sin as he died for sin Explication Quest But what is this death unto sin Or how are Christians said to be dead unto sin What this death unto sin is Ans It is not my purpose here largely to insist upon the Doctrine of Mortification which as I have touched upon already in handling of the verses fore-going so I shall meet with again and again in the verses following Briefly To be dead unto sin is not to be wholly freed from the Inhabitation and molestation of it to be delivered from the body of sin to have it eradicated plucked up by the roots No that is contrary to universall experience None but find and feel that fomes peccati corruption of nature the body of sin still dwelling and living and working in them But to be freed from the dominion the reigning power of sin To have the vigour and strength of sin which is the life of sin so broken so enervated and weakned by the work of the Spirit of grace dwelling in the soul as that it doth not rule and reign and bear sway as it did before regeneration This it is to be dead to sin So much we may learn from this Apostle who explains his own meaning in the 12th verse of this Chapter Having in the former verse bid his Romans Reckon themselves dead unto sin he adds in this verse Let not therefore sin reign in your mortall bodies that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof This reigning power of sin when it hath the upper hand of the motions of the Spirit of God in the soul beareth such a sovereign incontroulable sway in it so over-powring the faculties of it as that the man is wholly overcome by it made a servant yeilding a willing and spontaneous obedience to it making either none or at best a weak and vain resistance against it this is the life of sin Now when this power is broken when it is conquered by a superiour power the power of the Spirit of grace so as the believer is freed from the dominion of sin now though sin do still live in him yet he is said to be dead to it And he may be said so to be The regenerate person dead unto sin three wayes 1. In regard of God's acceptation and that in a threefold respect In regard of Acceptation Inchoation Assurance 1. In regard of Acceptation God beholding the believer in and through Christ he beholdeth him not as he is in himselfe but as he is in Christ and so he beholdeth him as crucified as dead with Christ Besides where there is a willing and ready mind God accepteth a man according to what he hath and not according to what he hath not So the Apostle informeth us 2 Cor. 8.12 God measures men's bounty and liberality for of that the Apostle there speaketh not by their hands or purses but by their hearts And so is it in all other duties and services Desires and indeavours where they are reall with God go for actuall performances Now this is the Christian's desire He desireth nothing more then to be freed from the body of sin O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death And this he seriously indeavours he doth what in him lieth to kill and destroy it Now this in God's gracious acceptation is death unto sin As it is in the committing of sin Intentions in God's account go for actions Wanton looks are Adultery Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart Mat. 5.28 Murdering intentions are murder Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer 1 John 3.15 He is so though not before man yet before God who judgeth men by their hearts Even so is it in the killing mortifying of sin He that hath designed the death of it desiring and indeavouring it he is in God's gracious acceptation looked upon as dead to sin 2. In regard of Inchoation 2. In regard of Inchoation The work of Mortification is begun In a regenerate person sin hath received a
Christ's death The death of Christ being applied unto the soul by faith there issueth a vertue from him a mortifying vertue causing such a death unto sin in the believer Thus are they ingrafted in the likenesse of his death Q. but how then is this work attributed unto them How believers are said themselves to mortifie sin If it be wrought in them by a forreign power by a vertue flowing from Christ's death how then are they said to mortifie and crucifie sin Mortifie yee your members which are on the earth Col. 3.5 If ye mortifie the deeds of the flesh ye shall live Rom. 8.13 They which are Christ's have crucified the flesh Gal. 5.24 So that it seemeth there is some power in a man's self to effect this work Answ For answer hereunto They co-operate with grace received the Solution will be easie if we do but take notice who and what manner of persons they are of whom and to whom the Apostle there speaketh They were not meer carnall men men dead in sins but they were Christians such as he presumed to be already dead to sin as he saith of his Colossians Col. 3 3. such as were already made partakers of the grace and spirit of God now being such he speaketh of them and to them as men who through the assistance and inablement of the Spirit that grace received were inabled to do what he there speaketh of But so are not others Meer carnall men being destitute of the Spirit of Christ however they may out of morall Principles do somwhat to the restraining of sin yet to the mortifying of it they can do nothing No this is the work of that Spirit which worketh all the works of regenerate persons in them and for them Not that we are sufficient of our selves saith the Apostle to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God 2 Cor. 3.5 Without mee or severed from mee yee can do nothing saith our Saviour to his Apostles John 15.5 nothing which belongeth to true Piety It is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure Phil. 2.13 Mortification is a supernaturall work the work of an almighty Power wherein men are but Instruments the Spirit of Christ the principall Agent If ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the flesh ye shall live Rom. 8.13 A twofold Mortification 1 Habitual 2 Actuall For further Resolution I might yet minde you of an usefull Distinction There is a two-fold Mortification the one Habituall the other Practical The former habituall and inward consisting in a change of the heart turning the bent and inclination of it from and against all sin Now this is the immediate and onely work of the Spirit of grace breathing and working where it will The later is practicall or outward or rather actual mortification viz. the exercise or putting forth of that inward grace the acting of that principle in resisting of Temptations in suppressing and subduing bringing under and keeping under inordinate lusts watching against sinfull and inordinate acts Now this is the work of a regenerate person himself co-operating working together with the Spirit of God as a Rational Instrument with the principal Agent acting out of that supernaturall principle of grace which he hath received so shewing forth the vertue of Christ even that vertue which is derived from the death of Christ So as still this Truth remaineth unshaken that Mortificatoin or this death unto sin is wrought in the Beleever by a vertue flowing from Christ and his Death as from the stock to the graft implanted in it And thus have I with as much brevity as might be passed thorow the Doctrinall part of these two Propositions That which remains is the Application wherein I will not be long Examine whether we be dead unto sin Applic. In the first place Every of us bring it home to our selves enquiring concerning this Conformity whether we be thus planted together with Christ in his death made thus conformable to him in his death or no Are we thus dead to sin or no It is a Question of high concernment Great are the things which depend upon this Qualification no less then life it self If we be dead with Christ wee shall also live with him so you have it in the 8th verse of this Chapt. This our dying to sin insures our resurrection to life eternall life For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death we shal be also in the likness of his resurrection Every of us then enquire as concerning this Death whether we be made partakers of it whether we be thus dead unto sin or no Qu. But how shall we know it Answ Evidence of it A freedome from the service of it Here I shall not trouble you with many Evidences In the verse next but one after the Text ver 7. you shall meet with one which may serve in stead of many He that is dead saith the Apostle is freed from sin Rom. 6.7 Mark it He that is dead to sin is freed from sin How freed from it Why not onely in respect of guilt justified from it as the Margin in our Translation readeth it according to the proper signification of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but also in respect of service This it is which the Apostle there principally aims at as appeareth from the words foregoing where he tels us that our old man is crucified with Christ that the body of sin might be destroyed Ver. 6. that henceforth we should not serve sin For he that is dead is freed from sin viz. from the service of it He ceaseth from sin so S. Peter hath it 1 Pet. 4.1 He that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin that is he which is crucified with Christ dead with him for that is there meant by suffering in the flesh he hath ceased from sin How ceased from it What wholly from the committing of it Not so through infirmitie he falls into sin now and then aye but he doth not make a practice of it he doth not live in it as the verse following explains it He that is dead is freed from sin that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh in this mortal life to the lusts of men Thus the mortified person ceaseth from sin though through the infirmity of the flesh he may fall into it yet he doth not live in it make a practice of it devote himself to the service of it so as to make it his businesse Now do we find such a cessation from sin in our selves Q. But may there not be a Cessation where there is no Mortification True cessation from sin is may there not be a cessation from sin where there is no mortification of sin A. Yes there may Let me therfore in a few words shew you what kind of cessation that must be which giveth evidence to the
of spiritual union or Communion with Jesus Christ under an impossibility of ever being renewed of ever partaking in a second spiritual Resurrection Answ Answ Still this makes the case more difficult yet despaire not Surely Lazarus died again after his first resurrection yet shall his body be raised again at the last day Believe it Christ is able to do as much for thy Soul as he will do for his Body And this if thou beest not stil wanting to his grace he will do Restore thee from thine Apostacy Quest Quest But what then shall I do that I may be made partaker of this grace that I may have my part in this first resurrection What to be done to attain this Resurrection nay being a dead man what can I do A dead man is a meer patient in the work of his own resurrection Ans Answ True and so is a sinner in the first act of his own Conversion as I have before shewed you In thine own strength without Christ thou canst do nothing in this way as our Saviour tels his Disciples John 15.5 what Paul saith of a dead Body 1 Cor. 15.43 we may say of a dead Soul It is sown in weaknesse Being dead in sin it is in a state of impotency not able to raise it self or to contribute ought toward it own resurrection But yet this thou mayst doe and this be thou directed to do 1. Wait and attend upon God in the use of Direct 1 those means whereby he ordinarily effecteth this Resurrection This could that poor Waite upon God in the use of means impotent bed-rid man in the Gospel do John 5. Though he could not put himselfe into the waters yet he could lye at the pool And the like maist thou doe Though thou canst not quicken and raise up thy self yet thou maist attend upon those means whereby God is wont to convey that grace whereby he effecteth this work which is the Ministry of the word By this means it was that those dead bones were quickned Ezek. 37. viz. by the Prophets prophecying upon them verse 4. Hee said unto mee Prophecie upon those bones and say unto them O ye dry bones hear the word of the Lord. And by this means it is that dead souls are quickned by the Ministry of the word This is the Trumpet of Jesus Christ Here is the voyce of Christ to be heard whereby he quickneth the dead And therefore with care diligence conscience attend upon this Ordinance hearkning and listning to hear the voyce of Jesus Christ 2. Direct 2 Not hardening our hearts Not hardening the heart Let that be a second direction To day if you will hear his voyce harden not your hearts Heb. 3.7 This men of themselves can do Though they cannot soften their own hearts yet they can harden them and that by resisting the motions of the spirit of grace Now would you have your part in this first Resurrection take heed of thus hardning your hearts take heed of resisting quenching the first Motions of this spirit but give way to them let in the voyce of Christ into your soules Let in the voyce both of the Law and Gospel Let in the voice of the Law The voyce of the Law for the awakening of you This is the first use of the Law to rouse and awaken dead souls to convince poor sinners of the sinfulnesse and misery of their Naturall Condition Let it bee usefull to you in this way Give way to the spirit of conviction for the awakening of you Were it possible that a dead man could be awakened and made apprehensive and sensible of that state wherein he is being under the power of death to see how he hath the grave for his house and maketh his Bed in the darkness where corruption and the worme claime kindred of him being his onely Companions as Job describeth that state Job 17.14 he should not need to be perswaded to arise and come forth and to accept of a Resurrection being tendred to him Surely so would it bee with poor sinners Were their consciences but once thoroughly awakened and themselves made apprehensive of the misery of their naturall condition how their soules ly putrifying and stinking in the grave of sin they should need no other argument to induce them to come out from thence and to accept of this new life offered and tendred unto them Suffer your selves therefore to be thus awakened Give way to the discoveries of the Law bringing them home to your selves in your own particular that so you may see and feel your selves in a state of sin and death under the power of a spirituall death bound over unto Eternall death Let in the voice of the Gospel Answering it Being thus awakened by the Law now hearken to the sweet voice of Christ in the Gospel calling upon you and commanding you to arise and stand up from the dead Lending not only your ears but your hearts to this call closing with it returning answer to it as old Elie adviseth young Samuel to do in a like case 1 Sam. 3.9 speak Lord for thy servant heareth Thus when Christ shall be pleased to call upon you outwardly in the Ministry of his word inwardly by the motions of his spirit inviting perswading requiring you to arise from sin to Righteousnesse give entertainment to this call of his accepting this offer of grace by faith receiving Christ himselfe into your hearts yeelding up your selves unto him to be framed and fashioned according to his will So doing he wil communicate himself unto you in this blessed way being unto you Resurrection and life For this you have his expresse promise with an Ecce a Behold before it that you may take the better notice of it Revelation 3.20 Behold I stand at the door and knock If any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in and sup with him and he with me The Doore there spoken of is the doore of mens Consciences At this door Jesus Christ standeth attending and waiting with much patience upon poor sinners Thus standing at this Doore he knocketh this hee doth by outward means and inward Motions as one desirous of admittance Now saith he If any one hear my voyce not only giveth me the bare hearing but hearkneth attendeth to what I say And openeth the door thereupon letting me into his heart receiving me by faith accepting me as a Saviour and a Lord I will come and sup with him c. I wil now communicate my self unto him in the most intimate way letting into his soul the sweetest and most efficacious influences of my grace and spirit for the carrying on and perfecting that blessed work which is there begun This will Jesus Christ doe to the soul that thus hearkneth to his voyce to his Admonitions Exhortations Offers Promises receiving him by faith cleaving to him by Love submitting to him by Obedience he will be to it Resurrection and Life The