like travellers as the rest of the company doth But Sirs If a man be gracious indeed it will settle his spirit upon godliness at all seasons and in whatsoever society If he live in Sodom he will be so far from saying a confederacy with them in their wickedness that in seeing and hearing he will vex his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds 2 Pet. 2.8 Though he dwell in Ahabs family yet he will fear the Lord greatly 1 Kings 18.3 He will own the Lord Christ for his Master in the face of all the world and speak of his testimonies even before Kings and not be ashamed Psal 119.46 This is the second qualification It must be universal obedience 3. That obedience which will evidence your conversion and consequently your union with Christ must be evangelical obedience Such as is suitable to the Covenant of grace into which believers are entred 2 conversation answerable to the dispensation of the Gospel Phil. 1.27 For as there is a slavish fear of God in the heart so there is a legal serving of God in the practise which will no way contribute to the proof of your being ingraffed into Christ That which is evidential thereof must be such obedience as becometh the Gospel of Christ when you serve the Lord evangelically in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter as the distinction is given us Rom. 7.6 Qu. But when is our obedience evangelical I answer It mainly consists in four things 1. When we are active and vigorous in doing all that we can for God and then account it as nothing to gain us acceptation with the Lord. When we are serviceable in our places and duties to advance the honour of Jesus Christ indeavouring to the uttermost the promotion of his interest and then lay all that we have done at his feet expecting our acceptance reward purely upon the account of his bloud When we labour to be intent upon the works of personal righteousness and then underwrite with our hearts That we are unprofitable servants and lay the whole stress of our salvation upon the righteousness of the Lord Jesus This is Gospel-service when we lay all our sacrifices upon the Gospel-altar that they may be sanctified thereby and place no manner of confidence in what is done by us but in the obedience and sufferings of Christ for us Phil. 3.3 For we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh As if he had said We labour to serve God in the purest manner and offer up unto him the best that we have but then we dare not put the least stress upon it but all our confidence is in Christ it is of him we boast and not of our holiness We give all diligence in point of performance but are nothing in our selves in point of dependance And we are the circumcision we are Israelites indeed who have our hearts circumcised A legal frame of spirit goeth to God in duty and then expects a blessing for his duties sake and thus a sinner may toyl all his life time in a round of duty and be very far from the kingdom of God Then we obey evangelically when we do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Col. 3.17 2. Then is our obedience Gospel-service indeed when it is performed in Gospel strength i. e. not by our own abilities but by vertue derived from Christ and in an humble dependance upon the assistance of his Spirit That is a legal way of obedience when a person brings forth fruit unto himself and when he acts therein from himself When he goeth in his own might and power to grapple with sin and strive against temptations and to keep the Law of God But a Believer is strong in the Lord and in the power of his might and here is the evidence of a sincere convert Rom. 8.13 If ye live after the flesh you shall die but if ye through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Mark it It is not said if you make resolutions against sin and set against the workings of corruption But if you mortifie them through the spirit then it is a sign you are quickned and made alive by the holy Ghost and that you shall live for ever in the presence of God 3. Evangelical obedience is that which is according to the evangelical pattern viz. the life of Christ When a Christian doth study to be a follower of him and to tread in his steps and to imitate the Lord Jesus by endeavouring to write after the copy which he hath set before us in doing and suffering the will of God This is the obedience which will evidence our union with him and interest in him 1 Joh. 2.6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even as he walked He that saith he is in him that is He that saith so truly and as the matter is in reality He that would not appear to be a lyar in what he pretendeth to and to boast of what he hath no saving interest in must walk according to our Saviour's example 4. Evangelical obedience is that which is tendered upon evangelical motives and considerations When we are diligent and industrious in the service of God because our hearts are drawn forth in love towards him and we are sensible of his goodness in sending his only begotten Son to die in the behalf of lost sinners and in making known the mystery of Christ unto us and giving us promises of salvation through him * Amor meus est pondus meum Eoâ—feror quocunque feror Aug. For although it is not only permissively lawful for a believer but also a duty incumbent upon him to make use of the consideration of the wrath of God to quicken him in the wayes of holiness Luke 12.5 Yet he doth not serve the Lord meerly out of fear of his wrath But the love of God doth constrain him and his affections towards God are a forcible restraint to keep him from displeasing the Lord who hath been so gracious unto him Hos 3.5 They shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter dayes i.e. Upon this very account they shall be cautious not to sin against him because he hath dealt so bountifully with them This is the third qualification it must be evangelical obedience 4. If you would prove your conversion and union with Christ by the holiness of your conversation and new obedience you must look to it that it be sincere obedience done in the singleness and godly simplicity of your hearts You must serve the Lord as in the sight of the Lord and with a pure eye of respect unto the advancement of his glory and in order to your blessedness in the enjoyment of him and communion with him For in those two things doth consist much of the nature of sincerity 1.
of my fathers have bread enough and to spare and I perish with hunger I will arise and go to my father When he came to himself that is when he entered into debate with his own spirit * Ut nemo tenat in se descendere Per. sat when he communed with his own heart touching his deplorable condition then he quickly resolveth to abide amongst the swine no longer he will feed no more upon husks he will rather be as the meanest servant in his fathers house a door-keeper in the house of God than dwell in the tents of wickedness Before that time he gave up himself in subjection to his lusts and did not consider what he was doing he did not bethink himself as the expression is 1 Kings 8.47 If they shall bethink themselves and repent This is the second act in order to a divorce from sin An act of Consideration 3. There is a work of Humiliation and Compunction whereby the spirit is made to mourn and â—ament in the sense of sin and withal to tremble in apprehension of the danger of it This is that pricking to the heart which is the usual forerunner of conversion Acts 2.37 Now when they heard this they were pricked to the heart and they said unto Peter and the rest of the Apostles men and brethren what shall we do Now their consciences are wounded and they mourn in reflection upon their evil wayes They are as an heavy load and burden uptheir spirits What shall we do q.d. We are utterly ruined and undone except the grace of God step in for our recovery Can you shew us any way to escape we are ready to close with any directions prescribed When God doth bless mens souls in turning them from their iniquities he doth first cause them to grieve and be in bitterness for those iniquities and stirreth up in them a dread and fear of his judgments * Quos non expugnat ratio eos mansuefacit motui For mark it Sirs although it be love unto God and sense of the love of God which have a mighty influence to cause a converted person to cleave unto the Lord yet it is a dread and fear of wrath and judgment which bringeth a sinner in the first conversion unto God Thus you know the Jaylor came in trembing Acts 16.29 30. And when Christ doth shoot out his sharp arrows into mens hearts then the people fall down under him Psal 45.5 It may well be understood of these arrows of compunction and terror * Haec dicuntur typicè de evangelicâ administratione Christi Malv in Psal 45. Cordaque vulâ—ificis figens inimica sagittis Sponte sibi cogis valides precumbere gentes Buchan The Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendred shall fall down may well be be meant of an act of adoration So it is used in Deut. 9.25 in Chald. Dan. 2.46 Dan. 3.7 whereby the perversness of mens hearts is overcome and subdued of enemies they are made friends and brought into to a ready subjection unto his government That 's the third work 4. The grace of Repentance is poured out upon the soul whereby the heart is crucified unto sin and the reigning power of sin is removed and a standing aversness and antipathy put into the spirit against it When this is done then the divorce is compleated and the sinner is set at liberty from his corruptions that he may be joyned unto Christ For it is not all the arguments and perswasions in the world that can effectually prevail upon a man to cast off his iniquities and bring him from under the power of sin until the Spirit of God doth set home those arguments and doth deaden sin in the heart * Alii partes formales regenerationis duas constituunt mortificationem veteris vivificationem novi hominis Et haec illam necessario praesupponit à qua non re sed ratione tantum distincta est Wend. Syst majus Restraints of providence may keep a man from the outward acts of sin but still the heart is glewed to it As Balaam durst not comply with Balaack actually to curse the Israelites but fain he would have done it his heart followed the wages of unrighteousness 2 Pet. 2.15 But now the spirit of Repentance taketh down the dominion of sin and breaketh * I distinguish between the grace of Repentance in the first workings of it upon the heart and the exercise of Repentance in the further mortifying and subduing of sin the bonds of the Covenant whereby the sinner was held fast in subjection to it and then he doth say What have I to do any more with my idols Therefore believers are said to be dead to sin Rom. 6.1 2. and to have their old man crucified with Christ that they may no longer serve sin Rom. 6.6 Thus they are set free from sin that they may be united to Christ and become the servants of God through Christ Rom. 6.22 This may serve for opening the fourth Proposition 5. Propos 5. To deaden a person unto the Law and to take him off from seeking justification by the Law that he may be united or married to the Lord Jesus God doth especially make use of two means 1. The Law it self 2. The body of Christ that is the sufferings which he underwent in his body For this you have the Scripture express Gal. 2.19 For I through the Law am dead to the Law q. d. by studying the Law it self I see it can never avail to give me acceptation with the most high Whatever expectations I have formerly had that way I now utterly renounce them and the Law it self hath sufficiently instructed me in this Lesson 2. For the sufferings of Christ that place is obvious Rom. 7.4 Wherefore my brethren ye are also become dead to the Law * Mori legi est illi renuntiare ab ejus imperio manumitti ita ut nihil habeamus in eâ fiduciae Ne offenderet Judaeos verbi asperitate si dixisset legem esse mortuam deflexione usus est dicens nos legi esse mortuos Non ergo bene vivendi regula quam lex praescribit abrogata est sed qualitas illa quae libertati per Christum parta opponitur Nempe dum summam perfectionem requirit quia non praestamus constringit nos sub aternae mortis reatu Calv. by the body of Christ that ye should be married to anther even to him that is raised from the dead q.d. This instruction God hath given us from Golgotha that by the works of the Law no flesh can be justified indeed our hearts have been hankering after that way of life and acceptance nay we have ben closely linked thereunto but the body of Christ hath made a separation between them The body of Christ i. e. the passion of Christ in his body The doctrine of Christ's death and crucifixion if rightly improved will shew a man the Law 's utter insufficiency to give a
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That 's the second thing I intended for the confirmation of this property of a Believers union with Christ viz. the inseparableness of it 3. A little to vindicate this point from the grand exceptions thas are made against it I will lay down only two rules Rule 1. This doctrine of the perseverance of a sincere Believer in the faith or the inseparableness of his union with Christ is so far in it self from being as enemy to practical holiness and new obedience that if rightly improved it will be a mighty incentive and provocative thereunto It will have a powerful influence to inlarge a mans heart to run the steps of God's commandments and to cause him to take heed unto himself to continue upright and undefiled in the way of the Lord. This assertion I maintain to obviate the main cavil and objection that is made against this comfortable truth For there is an aspersion cast upon it as if it were not a doctrine according to godliness as if it did minister occasion to slothfulness and carelessness and carnal security They will be ready to say who are the opposers of this truth if a person be in Christ so as to be sure he shall in no case be separated from him then they will be apt to think they may live as they list that they may take what liberty they please to indulge the flesh and satisfie their lusts and walk in a way of licentiousness seeing whatever they do they shall abide in a state of grace and come safe to heaven at the last Thus a door say they would be opened to all manner of wickedness But mind it Sirs It is a calumny falsely laid to the charge of this doctrine For in it self it is a strong argument and motive unto holiness It is a consideration that may have a tendency to the mortifying sin and awakening the Spirit if rightly pressed on the soul and thus it will be improved by a gracious heart * Hac igitur certitudo perseverantiae non potest consistere cum deliberate proposito peccandi nedum tale quid causari Piis exercitiis procreatur conservatur eadem etiam invicem procreat conservat auget Ames Coron 'T is true there is not the most wholsom herb but a toad or spider may suck poyson from it there is not the most heavenly doctrine but a carnal heart will pervert it unto evil especially such truths as are purely evangelical that hold forth the free grace of God Jude 4. They turn the grace of God into lasciviousness that is not only the experience which they have of the grace of God in the exercise of it in their preservation and affording to them means and seasons for working out their salvation but it seemeth principally to be meant of the doctrine of the grace of God There is no doctrine more influential in its native tendency to the subduing of sin and crucifying the flesh and quickning to a closs walking with God But ungodly men wrest it and writhe it to countenance their filthiness So hath it befallen this particular point of the Saints perseverance though in its proper causality it will help to cleanse a man from all the filthiness of the flesh and spirit and make him vigorously to pursue the designes of holiness See what use the Apostle Peter makes of it 1 Pet. 1.5 13. He had before told them that they were elect according to the foreknowledge of God v. 2. and that this grace of election had broken forth in their regeneration from whence they had a lively hope of enjoying the inheritance prepared for the Saints v. 3 4. And then he doth assure them that they were kept by the power of God is the state of grace that they might not fall short of actually possessing what they hoped for v. y. c. And in the close of all he subjoyneth this exhortation v. 13. Wherefore gird up the loyns of your minds be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ As obedient children not fashioning your selves according to the former lusts in your ignorance but as he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation q. d. If God hath graciously taken care of the concernment of your souls will not you be diligent to advance the glory of his grace Will not you be ashamed to sin against him who hath in every respect dealt so bountifully with you If the Lord has not been unmindful of securing your salvation will not you mind his honour and follow his conduct Should not this mightily prevail upon you never to cast off this God but to cleave unto him unto the end O set diligently and industriously about your work be ready and prepared for all the wayes of holiness and to continue stedfast and unmoveable therein Do not walk as the generality of people walk nor as your selves have formerly walked for God hath called you out of the world and prepared for you a kingdom and taketh care of your preservation that you may come to the enjoyment of it This is the proper use of this doctrine which will plainly appear if you seriously weigh these four things 1. That God hath not promised to preserve his people in the state of grace and union with Jesus Christ whether they be holy or no or however they walk But the promise is to keep them in the exercise of grace in the ways of holiness that so they may not be separated from him If any represent it in another dress it is not the Scripture doctrine of perseverance but they endeavour to cast a slurre upon it We do not teach that God hath ingaged to bring his people safely to heaven let them live as they list or that he will keep them from falling away from Christ though they cast off the fear of the Lord and run to all excess of riot But God hath ingaged to inable them to live the life of the just and to cause them to fear his Name and through the Spirit to mortifie the deeds of the body that so they may never draw back to perdition 1 Pet. 1.5 Ye are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation It is not said God will keep them by his almighty power whether they believe or no but he will suodue their unbelief and set their faith on work in order to their being secured Jer. 32.40 I will put my fear into their hearts that they shall not depart from me Mark it is not said They shall never depart from Gâ—d though they slight his word and despise his Majesty and reject the fear of his Name But he will maintain in their hearts an holy aw and dread of him that so they may never be cast out of his favour 2. Consider That the
apt to think that God will not be so strict as some would press us to believe But if you are wicked sinners he will not abate you one transgression The very sins of thy youth which are slipt out of thy memory God will fill thy bones with them and make them lie down with thee in the dust Job 20.11 And as for thy secret sins which the world could not observe he will bring them to light and set them in order before thine eyes Eccl. 12.14 Psal 50.21 2. Persons out of Christ are in a wretched condition because they have God for their adversary who is the mighty possessor of heaven and earth in whose hands are all the corners of the world and at whose command and beck is every creature in being to fulfil his pleasure Against whom never did person rise up and prosper For he is wise in heart and mighty in strength Job 9.4 This all-powerful God is their enemy that setteth against them the living and eternal God who is able to pursue them that oppose him with fiery indignation for ever Into whose hands therefore it is a fearful thing to fall Heb. 10 31. Job 9.4 My brethren a few right and serious apprehensions of the nature and attributes of God would make a mans heart shiver and tremble at the very thoughts of having him for an adversary For as Moses saith Who knoweth the power of his anger Psal 90.11 No secure sinner knoweth it for if they did it would rouse them out of their security and cause them to flie for refuge unto the city of refuge * Omnis peccans est ignorans No unregenerate person knoweth it Had they but a glimps of the discovery of it their ears would tingle at the mention of his being against them It would be a vexation by day and by night only to understand the report of God's being their enemy who in a moment can break them in pieces like a potters vessel Who knoweth the power of his anger The meaning is It is unsearchably dreadful and past finding out So that this alone were sufficient to bespeak them throughly miserable For may a man say to the unregenerate as the King did to the woman that cried unto him for help 2 King 6.27 If the Lord do not help thee whence shall I help thee If God do not comfort thee what enjoyments can do it for they are all at his disposal and can minister no further assistance than he is pleased to put into them If the Lord of Hosts be set against thee who can deliver out of his hands 3. Vnconverted sinners are under a curse in all that doth concern them And how can they expect to succeed in any of their affairs when there is a curse from heaven intermingled therewith This is the condition of every person out of Christ to be an accursed person And that curse is of an extensive nature It rideth a large circuit it spreadeth it self upon and insinuateth it self into every mercy which they receive and every work they perform and every place and relation they are in and every providence they are under Prov. 3.3 The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked But what if he go out of his house may he not escape it No The curse will follow him whithersoever he goeth and suck out the sweetness of whatsoever he doth possess Deut. 28.15 16 17 18 19 20. It shall come to pass if thou wilt not hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee Cursed shalt thou be in the City and cursed shalt thou be in the field cursed shall be thy basket and thy store cursed shall be the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy land the increase of thy kine and the flocks of thy sheep Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out The Lord shall send upon thee cursing and vexation and rebuke in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do until thou be destroyed and until thou perish quickly because of the wickedness of thy doings whereby thou hast forsaken me Mark how the curse pursueth the ungodly and although he stave it off with all his strength and skill yet it will come upon him And if he flee from it it will follow after him And if he run never so fast it will overtake and seize upon him and all that he hath and will never be removed till he leave his sins and get into Christ or else be made eternally accursed This is the third particular to set forth the misery of a Christless condition It is an accursed condition And it must needs be so for Christ alone can deliver us from the curse of the Law and you can have no redemption through Christ except you are ingraffed into him 4. Persons unconverted and ununited to Christ must of necessity be in a perfectly wretched condition because all the comminations and threatnings in God's word belong unto them and hang over their heads and unless prevented by a speedy return unto God will actually fall down upon them As a Believer cannot but be blessed because he hath a right to all the exceeding great and precious promises of the Gospel so an unregenerate person cannot but be miserable because all the dreadful and direful threatnings of the word are his share and portion And this in very deed is the reason why sinners for the most part cannot endure to be conversant in the word and it is a trouble and vexation unto them when passages of the Scripture are darted into their Spirits Because as Ahab said of Micaiah it never prophecieth good concerning them it denounceth nothing but wrath against them All that is written in the Law is set against them and if there be not enough written God will bring upon them more evils than are expresly mentioned in the threatnings of the Law Their inward thought is that God will not deal so severely with them as is contained in the word But mind it Sirs if you continue in sin he will fulfil his word with advantage He will bring upon such all the plagues that are written Also every sickness and every plague that is not written in the book of the Law them will the Lord bring upon such persons till they be destroyed Deut. 28.61 So much for the third Inference That persons out of Christ must of necessity be dead for he that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life There is one main objection should have been answered under this head which relateth especially to the third way of their being dead viz. in respect of impotency and inability to that which is spiritually good I will briefly touch upon it in this place though it cometh in a little out of order
and treachery in the conscience For as that is the faculty which doth eye and observe a man in his wayes so whereby he is impowred to take an account of those wayes and to acquit or condemn himself according to the merits of the cause and as the matter doth require You read of the Apostle Paul that he had a witness on his side that he was a servant of God and walked in sincerity before the Lord whereupon his heart was filled with joy and gladness And what was that witness Why his conscience had examined and found it to be so 2 Cor. 1.12 For our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world And both the business of accusing and absolving a sinner is attributed thereunto namely to the workings of conscience Rom. 2.15 Their conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another Joh. 8.9 They went out one by one being convicted by their own consciences This you are sometimes to understand by the heart and spirit of a man when it is said to take cognizance of the things which are within him The heart knoweth its own bitterness Prov. 14.10 What man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him 1 Cor. 2.11 Again Eccl. 7.21 22. Also take no heed to all words that are spoken lest thou hear thy servant curse thee For oftentimes also thine own heart knoweth that thou thy self likewise hast cursed others That is If you would set your consciences awork they would declare plainly what is the filthiness that cleaveth to you and the abominations that have been committed by you So that your care must be to keep life and vigour and activity in your consciences and you must take heed to your selves that no mistakes or falshoods or practical errors settle within your consciences Concl. 3. Although it be the conscience of a man by which he doth examine himself touching his union with Christ and passeth judgment upon himself in that case yet this work can never be performed effectually and to purpose without the concurrent assistance of the Spirit of God and the powerful inflâ—ence of the holy Ghost It is the Spirit of God by whom the conscience of a sinner is excited and stired up unto this work and directed and guided therein that it may see clearly into matters and may pass a right and convincing sentence thereupon It is the same Spirit alone which converteth a sinner from his natural estate that can convincingly shew him his sad estate in order to conversion And the same Spirit alone which planteth grace into the soul can discover that grace where it is planted that so a Believer may take comfort therein and conclude from thence that he is ingraffed into Christ And therefore when we attain any comfortable evidences of our estate Godward we are said to be sealed by the Spirit because it depends upon his assistance and testimony Eph. 1.13 14. In whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance It is a manner of speech taken from the practise of men who for confirmation and assurance of a deed or grant give writings under seal so hath the Lord been pleased saith the Apostle to deal with you you have not only the promises of acceptance and pardon and eternal life made unto you but these promises are sealed How Why by the testimony of the Spirit Again in making of a bargain men are wont to give earnest to confirm it which is not only a part of payment but for assurance of the whole This earnest saith he you have received which is the witness of the holy Ghost It is not the testimony of conscience alone can make a man effectually to know his relation to Christ or separation from Christ without the concurrent operation of the Spirit There is a famous Text in reference to both Rom. 8.15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba father Mark it If a man be brought into bondage by the knowledge of his undone condition by seeing himself to lie under the guilt of his sins and obnoxious to the insupportable wrath of God it is through the operation of the Spirit And if he be able to plead his adoption and to look up unto God as his Father in Christ it is by the efficacious workings of the same Spirit So that for the examination of your selves concerning your union with Christ and finding out whether you are knit unto him your work in this respect lieth in two things 1 In being earnest petitioners and supplicants at the throne of grace for the special assistance of the holy Ghost to make this discovery to you to strike in with your consciences in bearing witness unto your spiritual estate That the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him that the eyes of your understandings being enlightned ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints Eph. 1.17 18. 2 Your business lieth in a careful attendance upon the dictates of the Spirit and taking heed that you resist not the holy Ghost in these actings For it is an ordinary thing in many of the people of God to be accessary to the disconsolateness of their own souls by opposing the spirit of consolation They go on without that comfort which they might have in the knowledge of their union with Christ because they refuse to be comforted as the Psalmist speaketh of himself Psal 77.2 This is a common distemper in times of strong temptations As the ungodly resist the spirit of conviction and conversion so believers themselves are apt to withstand and strive against the spirit of consolation And therefore your work is to give diligent attendance upon the Spirit and to hear attentively what he shall speak unto you Concl. 4. The way of procedure in this business of self-examination or the means whereby it must be found out whether we are united to Christ is By consulting and enquiring into those marks and signs which are the evidencing characters and properties of that union For Sirs the change wrought upon a Believer by his oneness with Christ is a relative change and cannot be seen immediately in it self and of it self But it is discerned and discovered unto the spirit of a man by its properties and concomitants which are as certain characteristical marks and tokens whereby the state of union with Christ is differenced and distinguished from that of being strangers unto him As it is in natural things If I would know whether
way for your â—ture getting into Christ It is less dangerous for a â—an to be a stranger unto Christ and know that he is so â—an to be in that condition and not to know it This I â—dd to remove the main impediment that hindreth â—ens setting about the work of self-examination â—or I am verily perswaded herein lâ—eth a principal â—stacle They are loath to search themselves lest â—ey should find the worst by themselvs Just as some â—reless Shop-keepers that are run much behind â—nd they cannot endure to look into their books 〈◊〉 to cast up their accounts lest they should be â—quainted with their own poverty and see in â—â—at a low condition they are But mind it Sirs it â—better to trie and know that you are under the guilt of your sins and children of the wrath of God then to continue such and not to know it It is the knowledge of a sinners perishing condition will cause him to hunger and thirst after the righteousness of Christ and make him restless in his spirit till he get into Christ These are the people to whom Christ is sent to bring deliverance such as find they are sinners and are heavy laden under the burden of sin Isa 61.1 2 3. They are such lost sheep which the great Shepherd of souls will seek after that is such as are sensible of their lost condition Ezek. 34.16 I will seek that which is lost and bring again that which was driven away and will bind up that which was broken and will strengthen that which was sick But I will destroy the fat and the strong and feed them with judgment And it is ignorance of mens misery and wretchedness which is the devils great engine whereby he carrieth sinners blindfold and headlong into the pit of destruction As the knowledge of the disease is the first part of the cure so it is the knowledge of a mans damnable condition which is one of the first steps unto his conversion and salvation This is all I shall speak to the second head under the Use of Trial By way of motive and provocative thereunto 3. Let me close this Use with some special directions to guide you in the discharge of this work of self-examination That you may come to a right conclusion and resolution of the case Whether you are spiritually ingraffed into Christ and be such as have the Son and life through him or not And here I might give you a catalogue of Scripture-marks and evidences for trial upon this account But I shall not multiply particulars we will only insist upon the principal matter to be enquired into for proof of your union with the Son of God And a little to direct you in the method of your proceeding herein that it may be done effectually and successfully you must diligently heed and observe these following Rules of advice wherein I will proceed by way of gradation the better to help both your understandings and memories Direct 1. For the examination and trial of your selves and in order to the passing a righteous sentence upon your selves whether you are united to Christ You must firstly and fundamentally enquire if the grace of regeneration hath been poured out upon you and a sound conversion wrought within you This is the foundation evidence of a mans having the Son and other marks are made use of for discovery of this and in a subserviency to the manifestation hereof And the reason of it is obvious Because in the day of conversion this union is made up By the spirit of regeneration Christ doth take possession of sinners for himself and by a living faith which is one of the graces then planted in their souls they do receive Christ and embrace him as theirs and so are knit unto him as hath been largely opened By a through conversion the Lord Jesus doth cull out a people from the world and gather them unto himself So that this is primarily and chiefly to be sought into whether you are truly converted and made partakers of the renewing grace of the holy Ghost For if any man be in Christ he is a new creature 2 Cor. 5.17 Here is the grand question Are we new creatures Is there a through change wrought upon our spirits Is corruption mortified in us and the power of it subdued and a new principle of holiness put into and ingraven upon our hearts Thus it will be if you are one with Christ Except you are converted you are strangers to him and have no saving interest in him Rom. 8.10 If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is life because of righteousness The body is dead that is the body of corruption is mortified and the force of it is taken away whereby it exercised dominion over you As before you were dead in sin so now you are dead unto sin and quickned and made alive unto righteousness Here is the failure of many and the occasion of their being deceived in this point of their belonging to Christ They sometimes look into the actions of their lives but never seriously consider whether the grace of conversion be shed abroad into their hearts They rest in a civil moral conversation and do not throughly weigh whether they are made partakers of the spirit of regeneration Whereas this is the fundamental evidence of our union with Christ 1 Joh. 4.13 Hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit And Rom. 8.9 If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his That is If he have not those gracious qualifications which are infused into the soul by the spirit in the work of conversion If he have not his heart moulded anew and fashioned aright by the holy Ghost If he have not the spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of counsel and might the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord which was the spirit that rested upon Christ he is none of his Isa 11.2 This is firstly and fundamentally to be enquired after whether the work of conversion be wrought upon us and the grace of regeneration be formed in us Direct 2. If a person would be inabled to take cognizance of himself and to pass a right judgment upon himself whether he be converted and so knit to Jesus He must of necessity in order thereunto be well instructed in the nature and quality of conversion My meaning is this He must rightly understand wherein a sound and sincere conversion lieth and what a change it maketh upon the soul and what effects it produceth that so he may not mistake a feigned conversion for a true and a slight work upon the spirit which is common to the wicked for the grace of regeneration which is peculiar to the people of God For mark it Sirs There is a false conversion as well as a true and counterfeit grace as well as that which is grace indeed and in