God that it may prove a certain evidence of conversion and consequently of our union with Christ Jesus It must of necessity have these six properties and each of them must be enquired after in the business of self-examination It must be 1. Spiritual 2. Vniversal 3. Evangelical 4. Sincere 5. Thriving 6. Stedfast obedience 1. It must be spiritual obedience answerable to the nature of that God whom we wait upon and whose servants we are His essence is spiritual and such must our obedience to him be if we will serve the Lord acceptably and make it appear that we are of the number of his peculiar people Bodily exercise and a meer external devotion will strike a great stroke in making up the form of godliness but the power of it consisteth in that which is spiritual Joh. 4.23 The true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him These are the true worshippers that is such as are so in Gods account whom he will graciously receive and own in their performances When people serve him in a bare external bodily manner he reckoneth them as his greatest enemies their service is but a piece of dissimulation which hath only the shadow of worship For the substance lieth in what is spiritual And such the Father seeketh to worship him i.e. such worship he commandeth and his soul is well pleased with Although it seemeth to be spoken here with a peculiar reference to instituted worship yet it holds strongly as to natural worship also even of all the parts and particulars of his service For the reason which is rendred v. 24. is comprehensive of all Because God is a Spirit So that our obedience if it prove us a chosen generation whom God hath set apart for himself must be spiritual And that in a threefold respect In respect of the 1. Principle from whence it floweth 2. Extent how far it reacheth 3. Subject whereon it is terminated 1. In respect of the principle from whence it proceedeth It must be such obedience as cometh from the heart and wherein the soul and spirit is ingaged Not an honouring him with the lips and drawing neer to him with the mouth when the heart is removed far from him Not a serving him only by a kind of compulsion under some terrible apprehensions of the judgments of God not in a slothful careless and lukewarm manner as if Religion were a weariness to us and we had no mind to our work But when we serve him aright our hearts must be ingaged to approach unto him Jer. 30.21 22. we must be fervent in spirit serving the Lord Rom. 12.11 And our inward parts must be employed in the works of holiness When a mans tongue doth speak forth the praises of God and his heart joyneth with him in the business when his hands do act in the works of piety and his spirit concurreth in the action and carry him on thereunto this is to serve the Lord with the Spirit Although he calleth for the body also to be imployed in his service as indeed he deserveth the whole man yet not as a picture or image without life and soul but as animated by the heart Prov. 23.26 My son give me thine heart and let thine eyes observe my wayes q.d. A slave will give me his hands and feet and the strength of his body an hypocrite will offer up the outward man but if thou be a son I must have the heart and spirit 2. It must be spiritual obedience in respect of the extent of it how far it reacheth Such as sets us in opposition against spiritual sins as well as fleshly such as causeth us to fight against secret pride and envy and earthliness and unbelief and malice and double-mindedness and the like as well as to obstain from rotten communication and gross outward pollutions It must be such obedience as is exercised in spiritual duties as meditation on the word of the Lord and frequent contemplation of the excellencies of God adoring his Majesty and admiring his works and setting the affections on things above as well as in pleading the cause of holiness and openly walking in the profession of it It must carry us to such works as are performed in the secret recesses of the Spirit and sets us a striving against such corruptions as are forged and fabricated in the spirit which no eye can observe but God and our own consciences 2 Cor. 7.1 Let us cleanse our selves from all the filthiness both of the flesh and spirit Rom. 8.5 They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit Psal 73.1 Truly God is good to Israel even to such as are clean of heart See further Psal 24.3 4. Mat. 6.21 3. In respect of the subject whereon it is terminated It endeth in the further renewing and purifying the spirit and getting more degrees of habitual grace into the heart When we are not only contented to be kept free from the acts of sin but do mourn and lament under the principle of sin and labour to deaden that principle When we do not think it enough to do much for God but fain would have our spirits transformed every day more and more into the image of God Thus it will be if you are converted If a carnal person resist the temptation he thinks his work is done and is apt to glory in himself as if the whole business were dispatched But a convert layeth the ax to the root of the tree he followeth the corrupt stream to the poysonous fountain whence it is derived and nothing will satisfie him but cleansing the fountain and taking revenge upon his lusts that lodge within him Rom. 7.23 24. Paul's actual sins cause him to have an eye upon his heart by which he was turned aside I see saith he another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity unto the law of sin which is in my members O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death This is the first qualification It must be spiritual obedience 2. If you would prove your conversion and consequentially your union with Christ by your obedience It must be universal obedience Not a partial and restrictive serving of God but a following him fully as far as the whole circuit of holiness reacheth As it is said of Caleh Num. 14.24 He followed the Lord fully and that proved him to be a man of another spirit and of a gracious temper indeed sanctified by the holy Ghost because his obedience was universal There is a threefold universality must go to the right qualifying our obedience that it may be evidential of a converted estate It must be universal in relation to the 1. Agent or person obeying 2. Rule of obedience 3. Times and seasons of the performance 1. In relation to the agent or person
salvation so far beyond all they looked for And they repenting and groaning for anguish of spirit shall say within themselves This is he whom we had sometimes in derision and a proverb of reproach We fools accounted his life madness and his end to be without honour How is he numbred amongst the children of God and his lot is amongst the Saints As for the oppositions you meet with the word of God is evidently fulfilled in them before your faces And they are none other than you were warned to expect Act. 14.22 2 Tim. 3.12 Besides It is but yet a little while * Nubecula est cito pertransibit and he that shall come will come and will not tarry Heb. 10.37 6. According to your several abilities set up the worship of God in your families And be conscientious and strict in sanctification of the Sabbath the Lords day It is a matter of easie observation That where these two are neglected or slightly managed the fairest profession of godliness is quickly shriveled and withereth away Never plead that you have no parts or ability for these things If you will set upon the discharge of your duty in the integrity of your hearts God will meet you therein and graciously assist you unto the performance Psal 27.14 And if there be indeed first a willing mind which willingness is manifested by vigorous and earnest indeavours it is accepted according to what a man hath and not according to what he hath not 2 Cor. 8.12 See Gen. 35.2 3. Josh 24.15 Psal 101. Jer. 10.25 Isa 56.2 4 5. Isa 58.13 14. 7. Be constant and diligent in the duty of prayer That is one of the special waies whereby a fellowship and correspondency is maintained between God and his people In taking counsel of the word we hear what the Lord is pleased to speak unto us And by the exercise of the grace of supplications we have the liberty given us to speak unto the Lord. And remember what hath often been inculcated upon you That as all sorts of blessings are stored up in the promises so Faith and Prayer are the special means which God hath appointed for the fulfilling and accomplishment of all his promises Jer. 29.11 12 13. Psal 10.14 As you cannot comfortably expect that God should preserve and keep you from the pollution of sin unless you be careful to avoid the occasions of sin So on the other hand You cannot rationally expect to receive mercies from the Lord unless you seek unto him by prayer for the obtaining of mercy Ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you Mat. 7.7 Philip. 4.6 7. Eph. 6.18 19. 8. Live in the daily contemplations of eternity and of the uncertainty of the time of your continuance here Study how you may subordinate all your affairs and concernments in this world unto the matters of another world Put an estimate upon all things as they have reference thereunto Often say within your selves What evidence have I to prove my interest in God What are the grounds whereupon I look for eternal life What thoughts am I likely to entertain of sin and the world on the one hand and of conformity to Christ on the other hand when I am to depart hence and shall be seen no more How precious will that time and space of repentance then be which now I am ready to squander away upon trifles What answer shall I be able to make when God visiteth for the filling up of my Relations for the management of the Talents wherewith I have been intrusted for the right improvement of the means of grace which I have enjoyed for all the particulars of my conversation in the world Did you frequently press these and such like considerations home upon your spirits and keep them closs and warm by meditation upon your hearts what manner of persons would you be in all sobriety holiness and righteousness My brethren You know not how soon how unexpectedly you may be summoned to the giving up your accounts And it infinitely concerns you to be in a readiness That you may be found of God in peace Boast not thy self of To morrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth Prov. 27.1 9. Beware therefore of procrastinating in the business of providing for your immortal souls It is one of the principal snares of the devil whereby he holds sinners fast in their spiritual bondage and captivity unto their final destruction If therefore you would set effectually upon working out your salvation ingage speedily presently in the work without further delay Give not place to the devil Deliver thy self as a Roe from the hand of the hunter and as a bird from the snare of the fowler Give not sleep to thine eyes nor slumber to thine eye lids Psal 119.6 Heb. 3.7 2 Cor. 6.1 2. And now I shall trouble you no further with this preliminary discourse But conclude with my unfeigned Prayers for you all That the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords the Infinite Eternal and Almighty God and the only Redeemer of lost sinners The love of God our Father in him who spared not his own Son but delivered him up unto death And the sweet and comfortable Presence Guidance and Communion of the holy Ghost the same Infinite Incomprehensible and Immortal God the Spirit of Grace and Truth The Sanctifying Assisting Quickning Comforting and preserving presence of that Spirit may be with you and amongst you To inable you unto your duties To keep you against Temptations To support you under Burdens To carry you through difficulties To strengthen your weaknesses and plentifully to supply all your wants That you may walk wisely in your Families spiritually in your Closets soberly in your companies and Christianly in all your conversations So as to write Holiness to the Lord upon every of your undertakings That upon all occasions you may be effectually instructed in the will of the Lord and bring forth his word into practise That you may thereby witness your Union with Christ and be rooted and built up in him and stablished in the faith And so the Blessing of God may be your constant portion here and you may be everlastingly blessed in the glorious presence of God hereafter Amen 23. July 1668. Written by one who truly and affectionately desireth your Edification and Salvation ROWLAND STEDMAN To the READER IT may be interpreted by some to whom I am best known not only as a defect in prudence but a doing violence and treading counter to my personal inclination who have alwayes affected the privacy of Retirement thus to appear in publike and consequently to expose my Sentiments in the matters of Religion to the censure of all sorts of persons who may light upon this Book To whom therefore I owe this account of my Studies and the publication thereof Having often in the course of my Ministery
brought to light wherein the way is revealed for restoring fallen sinners to their primitive happiness or conducting souls to everlasting bliss God hath graciously pleased to declare this way by the Scriptures and to leave it upon record in the Word of the Gospel and here we have the substance or summary of that Record viz. That God is the giver of eternal Life and that this life is in his Son c. If you examine the connexion or dependance which the words of the Text have with and upon the foregoing passages of the Chapter You will evidently find our Apostle is herein giving a succinct account of the great foundation-truths which are proposed to be the object of a Christians Faith by closing with which we do eminently and signaly advance the glory of God and by disbelieving whereof we are said to make him a lyar Our faith is to be built upon the word of the Lord to be bottomed upon the Record which God hath given concerning his Son And this saith the Apostle is the Record That God hath given us eternal Life c. The better to clear this coherence and so the genuine import and scope of these words let us a little cast our eyes back upon the context or the verse immediately preceding the Text wherein we may note two things 1. The nature and excellency of the grace of faith or believing on Christ ver 10. former part He that believeth on the Son hath the witness in himself 1. For the nature of Faith it is a believing on the Son so it is usually set forth in the dialect of the Holy Ghost Act. 16.31 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thine house Joh. 3.36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life This is the saving act of Faith which will bring a soul to Heaven a believing on the Son And therefore I might touch by the way on that common distinction as useful to be considered that there is a threefold act of Faith or three waies of Believing in reference unto Christ There is a believing 1. That Jesus is the Christ Credere Christum Christo. In Christum 2. Jesus Christ 3. On the Lord Jesus Christ 1. There is a believing that Jesus is the Christ an assent unto the truth of this principle that he who was born of the Virgin Mary is the true Messiah and Mediator sent of God to be the Saviour of Mankind So the very Devils believe As they know there is one God so they acknowledg this principle that Jesus is the Son of God and the only Redeemer of lost sinners Hence it is that they are so unwearied in their endeavors to hinder poor souls in closing with Christ and that they labour by all manner of false suggestions to draw their affections from the Lord Jesus Mark 1.24 The unclean spirit cried out Let us alone thou Jesus of Nazareth I know thee who thou art the Holy one of God And that herein the Father of lies spake the very truth you will find by the testimony of the Spirit of God himself v. 34. He cast out many Devils and suffered not the Devils to speak because they knew him 2. There is a Believing Jesus Christ i.e. a subscribing to the truth of the Doctrines that he delivered which are contained in the Scriptures the Word of Christ and Preached by Ministers of the Gospel in his name Thus a Simon Magus may believe he may own the verity of Christs Word though in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity Acts 8.12 13. When they believed Philip Preaching the things concerning the Kingdom of God and the Name of Jesus Christ then Simon himself believed also Thus Nicodemus believed before he was instructed in the necessity or acquainted with the grace of regeneration he was convinced by the Miracles wrought by Christ that he was a teacher sent of God and consequently that the Doctrines which he taught were the truths of God Joh. 3.2 As a carnal person who never tasted of saving grace may have much knowledg in his understanding of the will of Christ so he may be under such convictions upon his judgment as in a sort to approve the Word of Christ Rom 2.17.18 3. But lastly there is a believing on the Lord Jesus When a man is so powerfully convinced of the evil of sin and his own obnoxiousness to the wrath of God and the heart so fully perswaded of the excellency of Christ and the sufficiency of his Righteousness together with the utter insufficiency of all other wayes of deliverance that thereupon he doth actually close with Christ upon Gospel terms and make application to him casting himself upon the Son of God for Salvation and renouncing all things for the enjoyment of him Although believing on Christ doth not alwayes signify a saving faith as see Joh. 2.23 yet for the most part it doth and so may fitly be made use of by way of distinction It being observed by some that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a phrase peculiar to the Holy Ghost and not used by prophane Authors This is the saving act of Faith A believing on or in the Son Joh. 11.25 26. He that believeth in me though he were dead yet he shall live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never dye For mark it Sirs that assent of the Judgment unto the great truths of the Gospel which is required of the Lord and is well pleasing in his sight is not a bare naked lifeless assent but a compounded and operative assent such as doth ingage the heart to comply with those truths and brings the whole Soul in subjection unto them Rom. 10.10 With the heart man believeth unto righteousness That 's for the nature of Faith It is a believing on the Son 2. For the excellency and preciousness of thus believing He that doth so hath the witness in himself i.e. in his own Soul and Spirit and Conscience He hath it graven upon the very tables of his heart But what is this witness which a Believer hath in himself Answ You may understand it either of these three waies 1. In relation to his spiritual state He hath a fundamental evidence that he is a child of God and in covenant with him here is sufficient matter if rightly improved whereupon to raise a testimony of this thing It is faith which brings a man under the favor of God and the act of believing is a sure token that the person is endowed with the grace or habit of Faith Spiritual actions as they must proceed from a Divine principle so they are evidences of that principle from whence they do proceed 1 Joh. 5.1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ not with a bare assent of the Judgment but he that believeth it with the heart as before * When a particular duty is produced as an evidence of a state of Salvation or hath a promise of grace and
Cause by whom it is procured by whose death it was purchased As Christ bought the Elect of God to be his people and servants so he bought eternal Life to be their inheritance Hence the Kingdom of Heaven is called the purchased Possession Eph. 1.14 2. It is in Christ as in the Representative by whom possession is taken in the name of Believers and to their use For when our Saviour entred into heaven he was not only admitted thither upon his own account but he took livery and seizin thereof in the behalf of his people He entered as the fore-runner and not for himself only but for us Heb. 6.20 3. It is in Christ as in the hands of a publike Officer or Trustee whom God the Father hath appointed to this very purpose to dispense forth eternal Life unto those for whom it is prepared For as the souls of men and women are blessed upon the account of Christ's righteousness so that blessing is communicated through the hands of the Lord Jesus He is God the Fathers high Steward whom he imployeth in the distribution of his grace He sends him to bless his children Act. 3.26 And what the Spirit doth it is in Christ's name Joh. 14.26 There 's the third particular to be observed The great dispenser of this mercy God hath given us eternal life and this life is in his Son 4. Here is the manner of the conveyance of this mercy how it is made over to us and becometh ours Why by vertue of our union with Christ It is given forth by the Son to them that have the Son and to none besides He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life So that it is laid down or expressed 1. Positively 2. Exclusively 1. Positively He that hath the Son hath life He hath it 1. in respect of right and title thereto he hath a good interest therein Praesentia gratiae atlestatur faelicitatem futurae gloriae sine dubio sequuturam it is his portion and his inheritance to which he may warrantably lay claim and for which he may plead as his own 2. He hath life in the beginning and entrance thereof he hath those mercies which are certain harbingers of glory and will end in glory Or 3. He hath eternal life that is he shall as undoubtedly enjoy it as if he were already in possession it being an usual form of speaking in the writings of the holy Ghost to mention things future in the present tense to note the certainty and undoubtedness of their futurity 2. It is delivered Exclusively He that hath not the Son hath not life that is 1. He hath not life in reality whatever he may have in his own conceit and apprehension he may think himself to be something when indeed and in truth he is nothing 2. He hath not life that is he is stark dead in sins and trespasses he is under the wrath of God he is still an accursed wretch So it may be meant by an usual Meiwsis whereby less is mentioned than is intended 3. He hath not life i. e. if he die in that estate it will be evident that he hath it not he will perish surely eternally and unavoidably I mainly intend to handle this last branch of the Text. For the further clearing of which there is one previous enquiry to be made Q. The Question is this What is meant by a persons having the Son Or How may a man or woman be said to have the Son that he may have life A. For answ you must note these three things 1. The way whereby the holy Ghost in the Scripture doth most commonly set forth our having the Son it is by our union with the Son or being in him We are said to have him by being made one with him This is evident at the first to any one that is verst in the books of the Old and New Testament that having the Son is the same thing for substance with that which is frequently called our union with Christ or being in Christ Rom. 8.1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus i. e. to them that have him by vertue of their union with him Joh. 6.54 Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day And if you would see how this feeding on Christ doth contribute to a sinners having eternal Life you will find it to be because thereby he hath the Son which is expressed by union with the Son v. 56. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him And thus having the Son seemeth to be explained in the following part of this Chap. 1 Joh. 5.20 And we are in him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ This is the true God and eternal life q. d. this is the way to eternal life hereby alone you will come to the enjoyment of it you must have the Son that is you must be in him or united to him 2. By our union with Christ which is the way whereby we are said to have the Son I understand all along to speak distinctly the Oneness of a Believer with the Lord Jesus You may observe a difference between these two things viz. 1. The making of Christ and a Believer one And 2. Their being one when they are so knit together 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Unitio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Unitas There is the bringing of a soul unto Christ and ingraffing into Christ And 2. There is the being or standing of that soul in Christ when it is so brought and ingraffed 2 Cor. 5.17 If any man be in Christ Now it is this latter I mean all along by union The term is indeed of a latitude that may comprize both of them but I shall use it principally to denote the latter 3. Although in the writings of the Scripture you do not meet with this numerical word of Union with Christ in the very letters and syllables of it yet you have plentiful mention made of the thing signified thereby How often do you read of the Saints being in Christ and being put into Christ and expresly in one place you have mention of their Oneness with him and with the Father Joh. 17.21 That they may be one in us The words of the Text being thus unfolded and opened will afford us this doctrinal Point That in order to an interest in eternal life and partaking of those blessings which are given forth by Christ in a tendency thereunto it is of absolute necessity that we be united unto Christ If we will have life from the Son we must have the Son that is we must be made one with him No union with Jesus and no communication of life and salvation from Jesus For he that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life And therefore you shall find
that this is the method and order wherein the Lord is pleased to conduct sinners to happiness First he doth plant them into Christ and then doth bless them in him and through him Christus habet quod omnibus prosit sed si non bibitur non medetur Eph. 1.3 So that this is a point of a very momentous nature which I would press on my own heart and yours that we may perish everlastingly notwithstanding what christ hath done and suffered except we be ingraffed into Christ As life is in him so our selves must be in him that we may partake of that life This is the priviledge which Paul did thirst after and for which he willingly suffered the loss of all things accounting them but dung that he might win Christ and be united unto him or found in him as it is Phil. 3.8 9. In the prosecution and management of this practical note and for the opening of this Mystery and priviledge of union with the Lord Jesus I will cast the matter I have to speak under seven general heads 1. By way of Introduction premising some things that may be of use to lead us into the study of this Mystery 2. For Explication of the nature of this Union wherein it doth consist 3. For unfolding of the way and manner how how it is wrought and accomplished 4. By way of Enquiry into the signal and most remarkable properties of this union 5. For Demonstration of the indispensable necessity of it in order to the attainment of eternal Life 6. I shall briefly touch upon the special similitudes or resemblances which the holy Ghost maketh use of for illustration of this Union 7. Lastly we will close up all in a particular Application for the practical improvement of this Doctrine CHAP. II. Introductory Conclusions premised to direct us in the studying of this Doctrine 1. TO premise a little by way of Introduction There are three preliminary conclusions useful to be pondered and settled in our thoughts by way of entrance to the study of this great truth and getting an insight into this subject of a believers Union or Oneness with the Lord Jesus Concl. 1. That this grace of a Christians union with the Son is for the intimacy and closness of it one of the deep things of God one of the great mysteries held forth in the Gospel The Doctrines of the Bible are well compared by one to the holy waters in Ezek. cap. 47 3 4 5. In some places they were no higher than the ankles of a man but in other places up to the loyns nay a great River that could not be passed over In some places so shallow that a Lamb might wade but in others deep that an Elephant might swim So in the truths of God you have many things easie and obvious that he that runs may read them the meanest Christian may apprehend them But then other passages are so deep that they may exercise the strongest capacities You meet with this distinction of divine truths Heb. 5.12 There is milk for Babes and strong meat for such as are more experienced and have made some considerable progress in the School of Christ There are plain truths to feed the weakest constitution and higher mysteries to exercise the greatest parts and indowments And this point of Union with Christ is one of those mysteries Mark I say for the intimacy of it and a through insight thereinto As to the matter or quod sit it is one of the first principles but in respect of a full comprehension thereof it is an unsearchable depth It is called a mystery a great mystery Eph. 5.32 It is one of the things which God hath prepared for them that love him such as never entred into the heart of man to conceive 1 Cor. 2.9 where the Apostle primarily speaketh of these spiritual blessings though that passage is usually applyed to the kingdom of glory This Union is set forth for mysteriousness of it by that Oneness which is between the Father and the Son Joh. 17.21 sufficiently importing that it is an unfathomable depth This is needful to be premised on a fourfold account 1. That we may begin the study of this point and you may be careful to manage your attendance upon this doctrine with an holy and humble adoration and admiration of the wisdom of God in this glorious contrivance That God should not only redeem lost sinners by the death of his Son but make them one with his Son How should it fill us with astonishment in the contemplation hereof That is a posture of spirit very suitable to an enquiry into the nature of this transcendent priviledge Well may a person cry out as S. Paul on a like occasion O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God Rom. 11.33 2. That we may the rather be induced in our meditations on this Doctrine as to search diligently into the Scriptures so to confine our thoughts and speculations thereupon to the plain revelations and discoveries made in the Scriptures Not to launch forth by our inquisitiveness beyond what is contained therein and made known to us thereby For Fides in regulâ posita est Cedat curiositas fidei cedat gloria saluti Nihil ultra regulam scire omnia scire est Tert. should we set reason on work and give up our selves to the guidance thereof and labour to make this Doctrine compare with Philosophical notions or the like we should soon be lost or be wildred in the contemplation of this thing Or perhaps which is worse split our selves on the rock of some uncouth opinion bordering upon blasphemy instead of embracing the truth as some persons have done when they sought to be wise herein above what is written As far as we have the light of the Word to go before us we may proceed with safety in our enquities of this nature Quae abstrusiora sunt in arcanis divinorum judiciorum perrecondita illa neque investigare tutum est neque reperire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thes Sam. de Langle de â—aedobapt and we should be very careful to venture no further For it is a great mystery a matter of pure revelation the full manifestation whereof is reserved for heaven and it requireth a special illumination of the Spirit to give us any competent insight into it So much is evident from the words of our Saviour to his Disciples Joh. 14.20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you At that day that is when the Spirit is poured out from on high Qui enim ausu temerario mortalitatis parum memores per excelsae naturae Philosophiae fastigia tanquam arbore conscensà ad mysteria divina aspirant his poena proposita est perpetuae inconstantiae judicii vacillanâ—is perplexi Cum enim aliud sit lumen naturae aliud Divinum ita cum illis fit ac si duos
never so zealous and forward in his worship Such actions may less displease the Lord than some others but at the best he cannot take pleasure in them And therefore the whole stress of the matter is laid upon the state of a man Prov. 21.27 The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination how much more when he brings it with a wicked mind Mark it though he come with a good intent and mean well as there is a kind of natural integrity yet it is an abomination This is plainly intimated if he come with a wicked mind making the duties of religion a cloak to cover his other horrid impieties then his sacrifice is most odious and abominable but however he cometh it is an abomination Why because the person sacrificing is a wicked ungodly sinner and the Lord judgeth mens actions by their state 2. This is a matter seriously to be weighâ—d because the greatest number of persons who call themselves Christians do seldom or never think of it They go on in sin and perish eternally for want of laying to heart this very thing And therefore we should give diligence the rather to study it because it is neglected by the most You may observe it as an ordinary thing with carnal people when conscience is a little awakened when they are brought into distress by sickness or some other sore affliction they will cry out with a kind of bitterness for their evil wayes and seemingly melt with sorrow for some actual miscarriages but not one of many will mind his spiritual state Thus it was with Micah the Idolater when he heard his mother curse and ban for the mony that was stollen from her these curses startled his conscience and made him to vomit up the sweet morsel wch he had swallowed down he minds that wicked action but never once considers his spiritual condition and so goeth on in other sins notwithstanding Judg. 17.2 3 5. Thus Saul was troubled in a reflection upon some of his evil ways and profane Esau grieved because he had displeased his Father by his sinful actions but scarce one of an hundred crieth out of his sad condition Nay commonly they are so far from it that they will be ready to fly in a mans face that doth but make mention thereof When you have convinced a wicked man of his evil life and brought him to an acknowledgment of a course of sin wherein he walketh if thence you begin to speak of his estate in sin of his being an enemy to God a child of his wrath and a wicked person he will defie the words No will he say I love the Lord and God knows my heart is good and the like See how fowl they fell upon Christ for touching upon this string When he told them of their wretched condition that they were not of God but of their father the devilâ— Thou art a Samaritan say they and hast a devil Joh. 8.44 47 48. They could not endure he should meddle with that matter 3. It concerneth you to be well instructed and settled in this particular of your spiritual state God-ward because when the spirit of conviction doth powerfully prevail upon a mans heart so as to turn him effectually from sin and to bring him to a sound and sincere conversion it doth ever end in conviction of the state of sin As conviction usually beginneth in some particular actual wickedness so it alwaies endeth in a discovery of that wicked and damnable condition into which the sinner is brought Thus it was with Paul Rom. 7.9 For I was alive without the Law once but when the commandment came sin revived and I died that is * Absentia legis faciebat ut viveyet hoc est inflatus justitiae suae fiducidâ vitam sibi arrogabat quum tamen esset mortuus c. Calv. I saw my self dead and undone I found that I was in a perishing conditione that unless the wonderful grace of God stept in for my deliverance I must perish and be lost irrecoverably Before I had a good conceit of my self as to my state and condition however conscience might now and then check me for some failings and actual miscarriages yet I was alive without the Law i.e. before I had a clear understanding of the Law in my own apprehension I was a child of life I thought my self sure of salvation but when the commandment came in the life and power and vigorous workings of it I found I was stark dead So in the return of the Prodigal mark how far the conviction proceedeth Luk. 15.17 I perish Not only I am a disobedient Son that have ran away from my father and wasted my Patrimony But if I continue in this condition I am undone for ever This is the spirit of bondage which the Apostle mentioneâ—â— as the fore runner of the spirit of adoption Rom. 8.15 You have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear Mark it not again intimating that once they had received it that all who are savingly converted must first be under it When is the holy Ghost a spirit of bondage Why when he doth discover to a mans soul his wretched and miserable condition when he doth not only shew him his work wherein he hath exceeded but doth also make him sensible of the lost estate wherein he is involved when he causeth a sinner to see that he is a child of the wrath of God bound over to answer to the demands of the justice of God obnoxious to the everlasting and insupportable vengeance of the most high and raiseth fears and terrors in the soul in apprehension thereof so that he sees it necessary that his state be altered The holy Ghost Sirs may be a spirit of conviction as to sundry acts of sin when he is not a spirit of bondage for this relates to the state of sin which is alwayes an antecedent to sound a conversion And therefore as I said I will open this point of the change of a mans spiritual state in six particulars 1. There is a twofold state or condition of mens souls in reference to spiritual and eternal concernments The state of nature and the state of grace as they are usually called The state of condemnation and exposedness to the wrath of God and the state of favour and reconciliation with the Lord. That of alienation from God and that of friendship and fellowship with him A state of service to the Lord and of slavery to the devil Of liableness and obnoxiousness to everlasting death and the state of heirship and title to the kingdom of heaven You read often of them in the Scripture Joh. 3.18 He that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already So Rom. 6.17 18. But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin There 's the state of nature And v. 18. Being then made free from sin ye became servants of righteousness There 's the state of grace Eph. 2.19 Now therefore ye
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
sloth and carelessne's of men For though we are not active in the planting grace into our souls yet there is something expected at our hands in order to the a tainment thereof Although we cannot convert our selves yet we are to wait upon God that we may be converted by him and are to attend upon the means which he hath appointed and wherein he is wont to meet the souls that seek him Although we cannot cleanse and sanctifie our own spirits yet we are diligently to search the Scriptures and to press arguments upon our selves from the Scriptures and to give constant attendance upon God in his Ordinances which are the special instruments he is wont to make use of whereby to convey the spirit of sanctification * Sâ—bordinata non sunt opponenda sed componenda Auditio hominis irregeniti etsi conversionem non inchoat Est camen ordmarium requisitum quod conversionem ordinariam aâ—tecedit tanquam quaedam ad eam nondum existentem praeparatio Wendel Syst majus And this is none other then what God looketh for at our hands Ezek. 36. v. 26. compared with v. 37. A new heart also I will give you and a new spirit I will put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh But then v. 37. Thus saith the Lord God I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel that I may do it for them Though we cannot mortifie and subdue our own corruptions yet we should reason the case with our selves and be much in expostulation with our own hearts why we should be so vile and foolish as to serve base lusts and corruptions and to turn our backs upon the Lord and though we cannot put the principles of holiness into our own souls yet we must follow after God by prayer and supplication that he may graciously send forth the holy Ghost to plant them in us And this seemeth to be one of the great ends of God in laying his commandments upon us though we have no strength or ability to the performance of them that we might turn the commandment into prayer and be earnest with him to work in us what he requireth to be within us Jer. 31.18 Turn thou me and I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God Psal 51.6 7 10. Behold thou defirest truth in the inward parts and in the hidden parts thou shalt make me to know wisdom Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me It is just for all the world in the case of a private man or woman as it is in the work of a Minister It is not within the power of the most excellent Preacher in the earth to convert one soul but it should be his care to preach such heart-searching truths and to press upon sinners such awakening considerations in season and out of season as may have a tendency towards conversion to instruct in meekness them that oppose themselves not as it he could give them repentance but if peradventure in the use of the means God may give them repentance 2 Tim. 2.25 26. So it is with sinners themselves they cannot bring spiritual life into their own souls yet they may wait upon God in the duties which he hath required and be earnest with the Lord to speak the word that their souls may live in his sight As we are to serve God with grace or in the exercise of grace when it is bestowed so we are to seek unto him for grace that it may be conferred And pray mind it Christians this will be enough to stop the mouths of impenitent sinners and render their plea of inability to convert themselves invalid Why thou sinful wretch who thus cavillest against the Lord hast thou duly and diligently set upon the discharge of that work which God calleth for in order to conversion That is a notable acknowledgment Dan. 9.13 We made not our prayer before the Lord our God that we might turn from our iniquity and understand thy truth If Daniel had onely confessed that they had not turned from iniquity might some captious sinner have been apt to say alas we had no power we were not able to turn of our selves yea but saith that holy man we have neglected the means which God hath appointed to turn us so put it home to thy conscience hast thou not resisted the Spirit whereby God hath many times striven with thee Hast thou not neglected to study the word or restrained prayer before the Lord wherein peradventure he might have been found by thee Thus I might instance in other particulars but I proceed 5. These principles of grace infused into the soul in the work of Regeneration or this image of God restored upon the soul by the Spirit in the day of conversion may be called Christ in us and the Lord Jesus may be said thereby to dwell with us and that upon a fourfold account especially Because 1. This grace is derived upon the soul out of the fulness of Christ 2. Hereby we are made conformable unto Christ 3. The Holy Ghost implanting it doth act in Christs name 4. Hereby we become his servants and possession is taken of us to his use 1. It may be called Christ in us because the habits of grace infused into the soul are derived upon us out of Christs fulness The whole stock of grace was put into the hands of the Mediator and from thence it is communicated unto Gods chosen people When the Lord Jesus was anointed with the Spirit without measure it was put into his hands as into a common Store-house or Magazine that from thence the Elect of God might be furnished It was put into him as into a fountain that out of that fountain our vessels might be filled It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell Col. â— 19 And out of his fulness we all receive and that grace for grace John 1.16 And therefore it is called The Law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.2 It is in him originally in us derivatively being imparted to us from him 2. Hereby Christ may be said to dwell in us because grace doth render a man conformable to Christ In the work of Regeneration our natures are fashioned according to his nature As there is an answerableness between a Copy and the Orignal from whence it is transcribed there is line for line and sentence for sentence word for word and letter for letter so take the humane nature of Jesus Christ as he was anointed by the Holy Ghost and the nature of a Person sanctified and there is a suitableness between them there is love for love and joy for joy and hatred for hatred they have the minde of Christ and the meekness of Christ and the long-suffering and compassion and gentleness of Christ and the like Therefore they are said to purifie themselves
as he is pure 1 John 3.3 3. By the grace of Regeneration the Lord Christ is said to take up his abode in us because the Holy Ghost in that work doth act in his name as purchased by Christ and receiving commission from him and being sent by vertue of his Prayer and Intercession John 16.16 I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive In the transactions of the everlasting Covenant our Lord Jesus undertook to sanctifie and comfort and to quicken and stablish his people and by the Spirit of truth he doth accomplish that undertaking By his death the Spirit was purchased and in his name he is sent 4. The grace of Regeneration may be stiled Christ dwelling in us from the tendency of it which is to bring sinners in subjection to the Government of Christ and to make them ready to obey the Laws of Christ Hereby we become his Servants and possession is taken of us to his use and behoof that we may cleave unto him and be followers of him Col. 3.24 For ye serve the Lord Christ Mat. 19.28 Ye that have followed me in the Regeneration c. that is in your regenerate condition in the exercise of that grace which was bestowed upon you in your New-birth for so it may be well understood The grace of Regeneration plucketh sinners out of the Kingdom of Satan and seizeth on them for the service of Christ carryeth us out to him and maketh us obedient to his Laws and Dominion This may suffice to be spoken to the first branch of that Vnion which is between Christ and Believers or the first sort of Conjunction betwixt them 2. There is a legal Conjunction and oneness thereupon arising from a Believers reception of Christ closing with him and getting into him Such an Union as there is between the principal Debtor and the Surety who hath paid the debt for him and made over that payment unto him The Law reckoneth them as one what payment the Surety hath made for the Debtor in his name and firmly made over unto him the Law accounts it as if the Debtor himself had paid it and dischargeth him thereupon as if it had been his own personal Act and Deed because of that intimate relation or oneness that is betwixt them in the estimation of the Law Such an union there is between Christ and his people and therefore we call it a legal union because it hath a special reference unto the Law of God which acquitteth the person thus united to Christ by vertue of the sufferings and satisfaction of Jesus Christ as fully and firmly as if the party himself had suffered and satisfied And likewise we call it a legal union because of the analogy it beareth unto the proceedings of Law in Courts of Judicature amongst men The bond of this union is a saving faith whereby Believers receive Christ and take hold on him As by the Spirit of Regeneration Christ doth take hold of their souls so by a living faith of the operation of the Spirit they are inabled to take hold of the Lord Jesus and so they are compacted and knit together You know faith is set forth by such expressions a receiving of Christ and taking hold of him John 1.12 But to as many as received him to them he gave power to be the sons of God even to them that believe on his name Mark it we receive Jesus Christ and take him home to our selves by believing on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ As under the Law when a man q. d. ran for refuge and protection to the Altar he was wont to lay hold upon the horns of the Altar so by faith a sinner betaketh himself for shelter and security unto Christ and layeth hold upon Christ Heb. 6.18 That we might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us * We who to flee from deserved wrath have taken our course towards Jesus in hope to get the Salvation offered to us in him Dicks in loc that is upon Jesus Christ the object of our hope and confidence who is set before us in the Gospel as the person in whom we are to trust and upon whom to rely and place our hope By faith we lay hold upon him and by this laying hold on Christ a Believer is joyned unto Christ and made one with him By faith we are in him and put on his righteousness Phil. 3.9 That I may be found in him not having mine own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith It is of God he provided it for us and it is made over to us and becometh ours by faith in the Mediator This is the Second Branch of the mutual conjunction between Christ and a Believer and the union thereupon the bond whereof is faith in Christ Concerning which I will propose onely these four things to your serious perusal and meditations 1. That the Holy Ghost in the writings of the Scriptures doth distinctly speak of a fourfold faith There is 1. An Historical Faith 2. A Temporal Faith 3. A Faith of Miracles 4. A saving and justifying faith in Christ which is the bond of our union with the Lord Jesus As this is an ordinary School-distinction so it is a Scripture-distinction which hath its warrant from the word and its foundation in the word of God 1. There is an Historical Faith whereby we believe the Scriptures and the matters therein contained to be Divine Truths and to have proceeded from God * This is by some called a dogmatical faith such a faith the Apostle supposed to have been in Agrippa in respect to the writings of the Old Testament Acts 26.27 King Agrippa believest thou the Prophets I know that thou believest q.d. I am confident thou art perswaded of the truth of those things Agrippa being a Jew and always conversant in Judea could not be ignorant of the Scriptures and Paul takes it for granted that he who owned their Original to be of God and that in them was discovered nothing but the truths of God I know that thou believest I am well assured thou darest not deny their Divine Authority This we call an Historical Faith because it assenteth to the truth of the History of the Bible as it is a Narrative of things done and containeth Predictions of things to be done as it comprehends matters of fact mentioned to be performed Doctrines asserted Prophesies and Promises to be fulfilled and the like And pray mark it Sirs this faith is diversifyed according to the different testimony on which it is bottomed * Quia testes quibus fidem adhibemus ex lege ordine communi sunt homines vel Deus idcirco sicut testimonium sic etiam fides distinguitur in
knit and united unto him and so partake of the salvation which he purchased for them So that the mystical Vnion of Believers with Christ is a fruit of the fatisfaction and merit of his death for them 2 Cor. 5.21 He was made to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him Therefore he died for us that we might be implanted into him and so made righteous on his account And therefore mark it Sirs Though the elect of God have no right or title to any laving mercy till they are one with Christ yet he hath a right to this Union for them and to all other blessings which are the concomitants or consequents thereof He prayeth for it on their behalf and upon his account it is given forth unto them Joh. 17.20 21. This is the fourth particular to â—â—e observed and it leadeth me to the last 5. This satisfaction and merit of the death of Christ although it was laid down for the benefit of such as the Father had given him and he suffered in their stead yet doth make no change upon them till they are drawn unto Christ and by the Spirit and faith made one with him Until this grace be wrought in them or conferred upon them they are still children of the wrath of God as well as others Eph. 2.3 The wrath of God abideth on them Joh. 3.36 They are amongst the unrighteous which remaining in that condition shall not inherit the kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 10 11. And if we could suppose them to die before conversion although indeed it is not to be supposed they would perish unavoidably even as others And the reason is this Although Christ died in their stead and laid down a price for purchase of their pardon and salvation and God the Father accepted thereof yet it was agreed between them in that everlasting Covenant that an order should be observed in conveying those mercies and making them actually partakers of the benefit thereof Which order is this First they must be sanctified by the Spirit of Christ and brought by faith unto him and made one with him and so receive salvation through his blood For till they have the Son they can have no life by the Son Thus I close my answer to the third general question propounded concerning the manner how this conjunction is made up or the way wherein this Union is wrought tual and their hearts are carnal * Ad claram rei intellectionem requiritur proportio inter potentiam apprehendentem rem apprehensam Intellectus assequitur scientiam secundum modum sui non secundum modum objecti Quia receptum est in recipiente per modum recipientis And as the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 2.14 The natural maureceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned And of this sort is the grace of Union with Christ and all the transactions hereabouts are spiritual transactions And therefore when Christ preached this doctrine unto the people that if they would be blessed by him they must feed upon him and become one with him * Qualis est fames quâ cibum appetimus qualis cibus quem appetimus qualis vita ad quam pascimur talis quoque est manducatio cibi in nobis mansie Atqui fames ista est spiritualis c. his carnal Disciples knew not what to make of it This is an hard saying who can hear it and from that time many of his Disciples went away back and walked no more with him Joh. 6.60 66. That 's the second property It is a spiritual Union 3. And principally It is an inseparable and indissoluble Union such as shall never be broken asunder When Christ and a Believer are once knit together they shall never be parted any more When the Lord Jesus cometh by his Spirit and taketh up his abode in a mans soul he maketh that soul his eternal mansion and doth not at any time withdraw himself from it And when the sinner is by a living faith gotten into Christ he shall in no case be broken off from him A dead branch may fall off from the tree but the living branches will abide there for ever 1 Joh. 2.27 28. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any man teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things and is truth and is no lye and even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him And now little children abide in him c. As here is an exhortation pressing Believers to abide in Christ so here is a word of promise that they shall abide in him and that as to both the branches of this conjunction 1. The anointing which ye have received abideth in you that is The principle of grace infused into you which was typified by the unctions or anointings in the ceremonial Law which was signified by the precious ointment poured upon the head of Aaron that ran down to the skirts of his garments this principle will prove indefectible 2. On the other hand ye shall abide in him Your faith is a grace that shall not fail nor decay This is clear from the reason that is given of the apostacy of some That therefore they are separated from Christ because they were never spiritually ingraffed into Christ * Triticum non vapit vontus nec arborem solida radice fundatam procella subvertit Inant's paleae tempestate jactantur invalide arbores turbinis inoursione evertuntur Cypr. 1 John 2.19 They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us Had they been quickned by Christ's Spirit they would never have departed from him It is a matter q. d. without controversie no doubt of it This is usually called The Saints perseverance All natural unions must be dissolved the husband must be separated from the wife and children from the patents and one dear friend from another but here is a relation that will be everlasting This is a point of great concernment to the comfort of a child of God without which he could in no wise be assured of his safe arrival at the kingdom of heaven And therefore I will a little longer dwell upon this doctrine 1. By shewing you the principal fouâ—dations on which this inseparableness of union with Christ is bottomed 2. By propounding a consideration further to strengthen and confirm the truth of this point 3. By vindication of this doctrine of perseverance from the two grand exceptions that are made against it 1. For the foundations upon which this perseverance is built Whence doth it come to pass that a Believers union with Christ is of such duration and continuance that when a man is gotten into Christ he shall abide in him and persevere in that
if we our selves had performed it in our own persons This is not a notion only invented by men but it is the way wherein the holy Ghost expresseth it Rom. 4.6 Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works And v. 11. That righteousness might be imputed unto them also And therefore let me intreat you to mind this Scripture rule That in order to the satisfaction of the justice of God the sins of God's people were imputed and reckoned unto Christ and in order to our partaking of the benefit of that satisfaction or deliverance thereby Christ's righteousness must be imputed and reckoned unto us The first branch of this rule you have Isa 53.5 6. He was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities c. and the Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all And for the other branch of the rule see Rom. 5.19 As by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous How did Adam's sin become ours Why by way of imputation He transgressed the Covenant and did eat the forbidden fruit and it was justly reckoned unto us It was personally the sinful act of our first parents but it is imputed to many even to all of us who proceeded out of his loyns For we were in him not only natural as he was the root of mankind but also legally as he was the great Representative of mankind In the covenant of works and the transactions thereof Adam stood in the stead and acted in the behalf not only of himself but of all his posterity and therefore his sin is reckoned unto them Even so saith the Apostle After the same manner the obedience and righteousness of Christ is made over to many for justification 6. Observe further to compleat this argument in the last place That no persons whatsoever of the children of men can have the righteousness of Christ imputed to them but only such as are in Christ Such as are united to him and made one with him For Sirs Vnion is the very ground of imputation The sin of Adam had not been reckoned to us nor laid to our charge unless we had been legally and by way of representation in Adam which is the reason that the sins of our more immediate parents and ancestors are not reckoned to us further than we personally comply with them and follow their example Ezek. 18.14 15 16 17. so we cannot have the obedience of Christ made over to us and reputed as ours but first in order of nature we must be in him * Est autem Christus justitia nostra Sed quomodo per illam ut alienam possumus justificari ad vitam aeternam Respondeo sicut Paulus inquit Gal. 3. Quicunque in Christum baptizati estis Christum induistis Simul ergo ejus etiam justitiâ induti sumus Chemn exam Conc. Trid. 2 Cor. 5.21 That we might be made the righteousness of God in him Phil. 3.9 That I may be found in him not having my own righteousness which is of the law but that which is through the faith of Christ even the righteousness which is of God by faith Rom. 8.1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Unless they be in him they are condemned For no union with the Son and no justification in the sight of God through his righteousness This is the first fundamental blessing which hath dependance upon union with Christ viz. The grace of justification 2. There is the grace of adoption or inrollment amongst the number of the children of God whereby we are inabled to look up unto him as a Father and have a right to all the priviledges belonging to the sons and daughters of the most High As by the grace of conversion we are returned back again to the service of the Lord so by adoption we are readmitted into the number of the children of God You know the Church of Christ is called God's houshold or family Now the work of conviction and humiliation and legal terrors bring a sinner to the door of the house Effectuall calling and sanctification open the door for entrance into the house and fit the sinner to live according to the laws of the family Justification clothes him as a member of the houshold and Adoption puts him amongst the children Gal. 4.5 That we might receive the adoption of sons that is that we might be taken out of Satans family for by nature we are of our father the devil Joh. 8.44 and instated into the number of God's children This is a very precious mercy What can a person want who hath such a father to provide for him If earthly parents take care for their children will not the God of heaven supply the necessities of his little ones Shall they be in distress and will not he succour them Mat. 6.32 With what boldness may they come to the throne of grace and beg whatever they need and be assured not to be sent away empty Now this blessed priviledge depends upon our union with Jesus Christ As it was a mercy purchased by his blood so it is actually conferred upon those that are in him The Lord Jesus is the natural eternal only begotten Son of God who lieth in the bosom of the Father and when we are married unto Christ we become the children of God also by vertue of our conjunction with his Son and neerness of relation unto his Son Eph. 1.5 Having predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto himself And if you enquire when this purpose is executed and we actually become his children The same Apostle will resolve it when we are in Christ Predestination hath designed us unto this priviledge and union with Christ doth instate us in it Gal. 3.26 For ye are the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus by that grace which knitteth you unto Jesus This is a second Argument of the necessity of having the Son For no union with Christ no adoption of children by him Therefore the Lord is our Father because Christ's Father and our God because his God we being one with him 3. The third fundamental blessing which I shall mention as flowing from oneness with Christ and having a necessary dependance thereupon is The participation of the supplies of the Spirit of Jesus to guide us in our journey to the kingdom of heaven As a sinner must partake of regenerating grace from the Spirit to put him in the way of everlasting life so he stands in need of the continued supplies of that good Spirit to conduct and keep him in that way Besides the first grace which bringeth us unto Christ there must be fresh influence or actual strength derived from Christ for the assistance succour and support of a Believer on all occasions And this influence is imparted to us from Christ by vertue of our being knit
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
under this use of Trial viz. to shew you what this self-examination is and wherein consisteth your work in the performance of it 2. By way of motive and proveâ—ative to quicken and stir you up to the discharge of it It is a duty whereunto the heart of a man is hardly brought as indeed all spiritual work is untastful and unpleasing to flesh and bloud So that as we need line upon line and precept upon pracept to dispel the mists of ignorance whereby our minds are blinded and to prevent the mistakes whereupon we are apt to proceed in this work so we need motive upon motive and one spiritual argument upon the neck of another to cure the backwardness of our hearts whereby we are commonly averse to the performance of this work I will not be large under this head but only press upon you these four moving considerations or incentives Mot. 1. If you be loath to enter throughly into the disquisition of this matter and to debate the case with your selves whether you are one with Christ or not That very thing will be a shrewd argument against you that you are utter strangers unto Christ and in no wise partakers of salvation through him It will be a sign that your profession is unsound and your hearts rotten when you are unwilling to search into your spiritual condition As when a Tradesman will not suffer his wares to be throughly viewed it ministers ground of suspition that they are not right and good So it is in these spiritual affairs If you are hardly brought to make enquiry into your selves it will yield matter of suspition that you are conscious of some wickedness allowed in your selves and that your hearts are not right in the sight of the Lord. For my brethren It is not truth but falshood that hateth the light and will not come to the light lest it should be discovered A person that is indeed in Covenant with God and dealeth faithfully with him in living up to the terms of that Covenant is willing to be searched to the uttermost Psal 26.2 3. Examine me O Lord and prove me trie me and know my heart For thy loving kindness is before mine eyes and I have walked in thy truth I have not sate with vain persons c. Mot. 2. It concerns you to examine diligently whether you be united unto Christ Because it is an ordinary thing for men and women to be mistaken in this respect to think that they have the Son and are in a state of salvation when as in truth they lie still in the gall of bitterness And this mistake is the cause of their eternal ruine From hence it is that they neglect to seek after a remedy because in their own apprehensions they are safe already For as our Saviour saith They that be whole need not a Physician but they that are sick Mat. 9.12 Whilst men have good conceits of their own condition they rest secure therein and are not sensible of the need of having it changed * Immittit Diabolus securitatem ut inferat perditionem Neque dinumerari possunt quantos hac inanis spei umbra deceperit Aug. And there are multitudes of this sort who say they are Jews when they are the Synagogue of Satan as it is expressed Rev. 3.9 That is they imagine themselves to be and would have others esteem them as living members of the body of Christ when as in reality they are nothing else but the children of the devil You find it was the house of Jacob that is the generality of the people who were thus deceived Isa 48.1 2 3 4. They were obstinate and obdurate sinners their neck was an iron sinew and their brow as brass and yet they called themselves of the holy City and stayed themselves upon the God of Israel And Rev. 3.1 it is mentioned of the Church of Sardis that is the body of the people for unto them Christ speaketh by his Spirit Although the Epistle was directed to the Angel yet it was to be communicated to the Church v. 6. That they had a name to live whereas indeed they were dead Mot. 3. If upon the examination of your selves you shall find that through grace you are indeed united to Christ and make it sure to your selves that you have the Son the sweetness of that knowledge or assurance will abundantly recompense you for all the pains you were at in the search of it and the travel you took in pursuance after it O what an excellent priviledge will this be to be able to say that Christ is yours that his death is a satisfaction for your sins and the salvation he purchased is your inheritance and that he is now at the right hand of the Father interceding on your behalf With what inexpressible joy will this fill your spirits How will it sweeten your enjoyments and ease your burdens and bring a vein of consolation and gladness into every condition that you are in and under every providence that befalleth you Yoâ— will then be able to read the Scriptures with delight when you can say This promise conveyeth mercy to my soul and this is a blessing wherein I am a sharter And as for the threatnings of judgment they speak not a word of terror to my soul for I am not under the Law but under grace being united unto Jesus the head of the Covenant oâ— grace This will inable you to walk cheerfully throughout your pilgrimage and to meditate up on the excellencies of God with an holy exultation when you can say This God is my God upon the account of Christ unto whom I am knit in separably This infinite power is ingaged for mâ— protection and safeguard this incomprehensibâ— wisdom is at work for my direction and guidancâ— this alsufficiency is for my satisfaction and blessedness and the like Then you may say with thâ— Prophet Hab. 3.19 The Lord God is my strengâ— and he will make my feet like Hinds feet and he will make me to walk upon my high places Then you may appropriate the Lord and his attributes unto your selâ—es and be assured he will make haste for your preservation and deliverance as speedily and swiftly as the Hind runneth into her covert and that he will set you on high in the munitions of rocks I might thus expatiate abundantly in setting forth the sweetness of this knowledge of your union with Christ Then you would taste real comfort in the accomodations of this life and be no way terrified or dismayed at the apprehensions of death for it will but translate you hence into a paradise of bliss and glory Mot. 4. Consider seriously in the last place That although upon the examination of your selves it should appear that you are still in the state of wrath â—nd condemnation without a saving interest in â—he Son of God yet the finding it to be so would â—e one good step towards your restauration and reâ—overy out of that estate and make
you bring forth the fruits of righteousness here and endeavour to be holy in all manner of conversation If you live in any course of sin or in the neglect of observing any of God's commandments it is not possible you should come to the enjoyment of God whilst you abide in that estate Never dream of being saved without holiness for such imaginations are but dreams and fancies Heb. 12.14 Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. 1 Cor. 6.9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived c. q. d. It is a plain case that the unrighteous will perish unavoidably it is a token of gross ignorance to think otherwise Do not hope for or expect salvation without righteousness for by such hopes and expectations you will but cheat your own souls Gal. 5.19 20 21. Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness idolatry witchcraft hatred variance emulation wrath strife seditions heresies envyings murders drunkenness revellings and such like Of the which I tell you before as I have told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Mark it if a man live in any of these sins or in any other sin like unto these whether it be filthiness of the flesh or of the spirit open or secret though not here particularly enumerated he cannot enter into eternal life It is a matter as if the Apostle had said which I have studied and the more I think of it the more I am confirmed in it I have preached this doctrine to you formerly and I am still of the same mind and therefore warn you of it again that if you be such persons you cannot be saved 2. Although I counsel you to be much in the works of righteousness yet you must despair of ever being justified or saved upon the account of your righteousness For alas what are the best of our righteousnesses to give satisfaction to the justice of God for the wrong that we have done him If you be pardoned and accepted of the Lord it must be for the sake of the righteousness of Jesus Christ and not by virtue of any thing of your own For the Seripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe Gal. 3.22 3. Although you must be active and diligent in the service of God and labour to walk in uprightness before him yet you are utterly to despair of doing this in your own strength It is only strength and aflistance from Jesus Christ that will inable you to be faithful unto Christ If you trust in your own hearts they will deceive you 2 Cor. 3.5 Psal 71.15 16. * Ad evulsionem hominis à statu peccati requiritur 3. ut ex evictione conscientiae desperatiosalutis consequatur respectu nostrarum virium omnis etiam auxilii quod à creaturis haberi potest Ames de cons 4. I would counsel you to work up your hearts to an utter despair of receiving either righteousness or strength from Christ except you get into him Sit down and rest in this conclusion that unless you be united to the Son of God you cannot dwell in the presence of God There is no salvation to be had upon other terms And thus to despair of deliverance in a state of separation from Christ is an excellent means or inducement to drive you unto him Thus the Law is our School-master to lead us unto Christ i. e. by convincing us of our undone condition without him * Lex in vero suo officio est ad gratiam ministra praeparatrix prodest ad justificationem non quod justificat sed quia urgeat ad promissionem gratiae cam facit dulcem desiderabilem Luth. It pursueth us with wrath as the avenger of bloud that we may be forced to hasten into the City of refuge Gal. 3.24 This is the first Direction I intended in order to the attainment of this grace of union Direct 2. If you would be united unto the Son Get the Spirit of the Lord Jesus into your hearts It is only the holy Ghost who is sent in his name that can lead you unto him and ingraff you in him and form Christ within you And if you have not the Spirit of Christ you cannot be his Rom. 8.9 And therefore to this end 1. Be much in prayer to God for this very mercy that he would graciously send the Spirit of his Son into your souls There is an encouraging word to draw forth your fervent supplications in this behalf Luke 11.13 If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more shall your heavenly father give the holy Spirit to them that ask him It is the mercy which he delights to be sought unto for and to be dealing forth in return to the prayers of his Servants 2. Be much conversant with the word of Christ and constant in your attendance upon the Ordinances of the Gospel Be frequent in reading and studying the Scriptures make them the matter of your daily meditations lose no opportunity to acquaint your selves therewith or to wait upon Christ in the wayes of his appointment Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom Col. 3.16 For it is the word and institutions of Jesus Christ which are designed as conduit-pipes to convey the spirit of sanctification into mens hearts And therefore the word hath the promise of conversion annexed unto it because the spirit of conversion worketh in and with and by the word Psal 19.7 The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul Jam. 1.18 Of his own will he begat us with the word of truth As the word cannot work savingly without the concurrent operation of the holy Ghost So the holy Ghost doth not ordinarily work without the word For the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth Rom. 1.16 And when our Saviour prayeth for them that should be gathered unto him it is under this expression For them that shall believe on me through their word Joh. 17.20.3 Take heed that you resist not the Spirit by quenching his motions or rising up in contradiction against the convictions that he is pleased to work upon your hearts Readily hearken to his call and comply with him in the tenders of grace If you repel him by the frowardness and perverseness of your spâ—rits you know not when he will return Joh. 3.8 Take therefore the Apostles advice Eph. 4.30 Grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption Direct 3. If you would be knit unto Jesus and so have an interest in him endeavour after the uniting grace of faith in his bloud cast your selves upon his righteousness for salvation according to the proposals