whence and in whom all your springs and supplies are against the guilt punishment dominion and filth of sin viz. in your Mediatour Christ Jesus 2. Holinesse is most excellent most excellent in Col. 1. 19. 1. It s Authour 2. It s Nature 3. It s End 1. T is excellent in its Authour it hath a divine Origination The High and lofty One that Isa 57. 15. Ephes 2. 10. inhabiteth Eternity his Name is Holy he that is the Creatour and former of all things is the former and Creatour of the new Birth 2. 'T is excellent in its Nature more precious than Rubies than the Topaz of Aethiopia than the Treasures of the Indies or any sublunary excellency whatsoever it hath the Image and Life of the Authour in it it hath the Name and Glory of God upon it 't is divine Nature Therefore 2 Pet. 1. 4. most excellent because divinely Excellent 3. 'T is excellent in its end salvation We use 1 Pet. 1. 9. Finis Coronat opus to say that is well which ends well for the end Crowns the work If Holiness be implanted in ye it will not only march about the world with ye in all conditions and estates of Life and be your Companion in labours but it will also follow ye yea go along out of the World with ye and be your Companion in Glory as Samuel Revel 14. 13. 1 Sam. 16. 13. annointed Saul aforehand for the Kingdome so the Holy Oyl of Grace sets ye apart aforehand for the fruition of Glory it never leaves ye till it hath placed ye on Thrones arrayed ye with Robes put Palmes into your hands and incircled your heads with a Crown of Life and immortality The perfection of Grace is Glory 3. The Doctrine of Sanctification or Holiness is very Comfortable There are two Rivers of joy springing or having their Well-head in the precious side and heart of Christ 1. The Blood for Justification 2. The Water for Sanctification Both streaming from one Fountain equally cheering refreshing and making glad the City of Psalm 46. God and nourishing up the Believer to eternal life Amongst my Acquaintance I have observed two sorts of dejected souls as also two sorts of Causes of their dejection and two sorts of means or helps for their Cure and recovery 1. Some trembling hearts do much despond and droop for want of the sense of pardon their justification is dark unto them they know not whether God hath pardoned them The children of Light may sometime walk in darkness And then they would give millions of worlds did they Isa 50. 10. possess them for God the fathers face to shine upon them and for the holy Spirit the Comforter to pronounce peace and proclaim pardon to them 2. Other deserted souls mourn sore like Doves for want of holinesse Comparing their hearts with the perfect nature of God and their lives with the pure shining Law of God they are alwayes complaining for their defects and decays of Grace for the strength and prevalence of corruption and for the manifold spots and staines of their conversations Wherefore they are afraid their spot is not the spot of Gods Children Deut 32. 5. and that such deadness dulnesse vanity of thought and disorders of spirit and life cannot be consistent with saving grace And hereupon they wander in Meanders of perplexities and disquietments The Indies if they had them they would freely part with for the plentifull effusion and influence of Christs Unction and to see him clearly to be made of God sanctification to them But O yee Bruised reeds and smoaking flax the Captain of your Salvation will bring forth judgement unto Victory and perfect your Grace in Glory There is Balm in Gilead there is a Physitian there Christ is a Saviour and a Sanctifier to the uttermost The Plaister is as Heb. 7. 25. broad as the soar the blood of Christ is both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the price of our Redemption and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Laver of Regeneration also 1. Let the first sort Trust in the Name of Isa 50. 10. See Dr. Goodwins Childe of Light the Lord and stay themselves upon their God Trust in the name of the Lord that is the infinite mercy of God through the merit of Christ God is rich in Mercy Plenteous in Redemption abundant in goodnesse and Truth the mercy of God is the Name of God yea the very first letter of his Name Mercy leads the Exod. 34. 6 chorum in that Catalogue of the Divine Attributes Exo. 34. 6. 2. Trust in the infinite Merit and Righteousnesse of Jesus Christ for this is his Name the Lord our Righteousnesse Let Faith drive Jer. 23. 6. thee quite out of self and thy own righteousnesse and lay fast hold on Christs Righteousnesse Know that Christ is the end of the Law for righteousnesse Phil. 3. 8 9 to every one that believeth Consider him that hath satisfied Justice fulfilled all righteousness Rom. 10. 4. in his own Person and brought in everlasting righteousnesse for thee who loved thee Dan. 9. 24. and gave himself for thee And so let faith grow up unto Assurance for this Righteousnesse is Gal. 2. 20. revealed from Faith to Faith called the Righteousnesse of God because 't is the righteousnesse Rom. 1. 17. of God as well as man and which God appointeth and accepteth for thy justification This divine Righteousness thou must live upon as thy daily food and bread of life 2. Let the second sort of disconsolate souls consider these Particulars 1. That an enlightned soul that communes with his own heart seeth more vileness filthiness and contrariety in himself to the holy nature and Law of God than such as are in a state of gross darkness who are strangers to God and in this sense perfect strangers to their own hearts 2. Let such consider a Christian state in this world is militant there must be warring and wrastling not only with flesh and blood but also with Eph. 6. 12. Principalities and Powers i. e. with the Devils of hell and the corruptions of the world every day Shall any say because I fight I am a Coward because I finde a law in my members warring against the law of my minde a double interest flesh and spirit lusting in the same soul yea in the Luke 11 21 self-same faculty therefore I am no Christian this very warring evinceth the clean contrary for when the strong man armed keeps the house all things are in peace thy very sensibility of sin and Gal. 5. 17. groaning under the burden and bondage of it thy strugling with it and sincere endeavours to subdue it are evident signs of sanctification begun in thee 3. Consider Grace begun destroyes not sin utterly nor carries away a compleat Victory presently thou must be trained and exercised a long time in Christs School and endure hardness like a good Souldier of Christ
above they have heavenly affections and heavenly conversations and shall have heavenly Mansions The Saints of Joh. 14 2. God among other Titles are called an holy Nation a Royal Priesthood and a Peculiar People 1 Pet. 2. 9. The Priests of old were men consecrated to Minister in Gods presence Now 1. This Consecration infers an holy preciseness and peculiar singularity in the Saints to keep themselves unspotted from the world Jam. 1. 28. 2. As God doth consecrate the Saints so they themselves having received grace from above do willingly dedicate and consecrate themselves to God They present their bodies i. e. their persons the body being put Synechdochically for the whole man as an holy and living sacrifice Rom. 12. 1. And for this dedication the Lord calls when he saith My Son give me thine heart c. he is pleased to call it by the name of a gift when 't is his due debt and because our free consent is a necessary fruit of his free grace every gracious soul doth voluntarily surrender or give up it self to God as the Macedonians did 2 Cor. 8. 5. Thus in the first place to sanctifie is to set apart and dedicate to an holy use 2. To sanctifie is to cleanse together with its positive act to renew endow or adorn with grace The privative part is cleansing the positive part is adorning First I shall consider the privative part of Sanctification as it is a cleansing work As the word Sanctifie signifies to separate so there is a difference between the Saints and others but as it signifies to cleanse so there is a difference between the Saints and themselves 1. They differ from others because they are a people set apart to live and act for God whether they eat or drink buy or sell they do all for God that is with respect to his glory 1 Cor. 10. 31. and so they are distinct from the men of the world who are meerly by assed by their own principles swayed by their own interests and act for Carnal Self in all they do 2. Sanctification makes a difference between them and themselves inter them unregenerate and themselves regenerate they were filthy before but washen now impure before but holy now Lyons before Lambs now Swine before but Doves now May not we say to and of the best of Saints that are extant as the Apostle speaks of the converted Corinthians 1 Cor. 6. 11. Such were some of you i. e. some of you had been Idolaters Adulterers Drunkards Covetous c. but now ye are washed justified and sanctified in the Name and by the Spirit of our Lord Jesus that is ye are not the same men and women that ye were before the grace of God having changed both their relations and their qualities As a man lately converted answered his old Companions when sollicited to excess of Riot Now I am not I As sin Ego non sam Ego Eras makes a wonderful cursed change in and upon the soul from good to bad yea to stark naught so grace makes a wonderful blessed change in and upon the soul from the worst to the best relation and condition that the rational creature can attain unto The deep and ingrained pollution of our nature is purged and done away 1. Inchoatively and generally at our grand bathing in Regeneration or first conversion Tit. 3. 5. when the soul doth begin at first to wash it self in the Fountain of Christs blood that Fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness Zech 13. 1. that is the first cleansing then the Leprosie begins to be abated and the soul to be made white in the blood of the Lamb then sin hath its mortal blow 2. Gradually and progressively by degrees the Image of Christ is drawn brighter and brighter goes on from glory to glory in the soul of man by the Pourtraicture of the spirit 2 Cor. 3. 18. and as the righteousness of Justification so the righteousness of Sanctification also is revealed and carried on from faith to faith The path of the just is a shining light Pro. 4. 18. that shineth more and more unto the perfect day As Naaman by the Prophets order went 2 Kin. 5. 10. 14. down and washt himself seven times in the streams of Jordan so the sinful soul of man must go down believingly and wash it self in the blood of Christ and in the water of the spirit in the stream of this Jordan if ever it will be clean Christ washt his Disciples feet Joh. 13. 11 12. alluding to the custome of the Jews who wearing Sandals and dirtying their feet daily were wont to wash their feet daily So every day while we converse in and with the world we contract dirt and filth daily we must be therefore washing off the dirt by the renewed acts of faith and repentance daily we ought to make recourse daily to the blood spirit word and promises of Christ for our Justification and thereby cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit 2 Cor. 7. 1. 3. Totally or wholly that is at our dissolution when we shall be glorified when the body of flesh shall lie in the dust of death then the body of sin shall lie down with it then the souls of the Saints shall be presented glorious without spot or wrinkle be pure from sin and perfect in holiness Now through grace the Saints are freed from the guilt and dominion of sin but at death they are perfectly free from the being of it As a worthy man well observes That as sin brought death into the world D. Manton in M. Loves Funeral Sermon with it so death by way of revenge carries out sin 'T is probable the time will be in the very moment of expiring saith the same Author As the soul in the moment of its conjunction with the body became sinful so the soul in the moment of its disjunction from the body becomes perfectly sanctified and is presented perfect by Christ to God for no unclean thing shall enter into the New Jerusalem Rev. 21. 27. Thus much for the privative part of Sanctification as it is a cleansing work 2. Something very briefly of the positive work of Sanctification as it is a decking or adorning the soul with grace under the Law as there was an Altar for Oblation so there was a Laver for Ablution and the Priests were commanded to wash in the great Laver before they came to minister at the Altar Exod. 30. 18 19 20. As the Oblation or Offering did note Justification so the ablution or washing did note our Sanctification And moreover the legal Priests were to be adorned with gorgeous attire with glorious garments when they appeared before the Lord which garments of glory and beauty without controversie did Exod. 28. figure out the glorious graces of Christ and all true Christians for as Christ is their King and Priest so they through the riches of grace have Communion with him in his Offices and therefore
Jesus before thou dost rout the enemy totally and come off with a final Conquest Thou must strive long and strive lawfully 2 Tim. 2. 5. Quo seme◠est imbuta recens servabit odorem Test◠diu c too before thou art crowned Grace by the supplies of the Spirit is daily working out corruption and cleansing the soul of filthiness but the Vessel thy heart is so deeply tainted that it cannot be perfectly cleansed presently Sanctification in the power of it brings down the dominion of sin dethrones it casts it down though not quite cast it out Grace weakens the power of sin but not dissolves 1 Cor. 1◠53. the being of it till mortal shall put on immortality 4. Consider the Cloud of Witnesses The most and the best of Saints have had the stain of sin as well as the stamp of Grace there have been Ecclipticks in their Zodiacks Abraham Isaac Jacob Moses Aaron Job David Solomon Peter Paul c. retain blots in their Escutcheons to this day not to encourage sinners that 's a devillish use but to comfort Saints and keep them from despairing when they finde themselves overtaken with infirmities The 7th to the Romans is little other than a dolefull Elegy of the in-being concupiscence and motions of sin in holy Paul as a Pattern of all other Christians who was a man 2 Cor. 12. of as high Attainments Revelations and Communion with God as any other This may a little comfort thee that such Temptations such corruptions as thou dost feel the most eminent Saints have felt the same afflictions are accomplished in your Brethren 1 Pet. 5. 9. 5. Look up to Jesus Christ for sanctification as well as for Righteousness He is thy Redemption as thy King but he is thy Righteousnesse and Holiness as thy Priest which is more fully handled in the ensuing Treatise Oh that the eye of thy faith might see him in all his Excellencies and the hand of thy faith might receive him in all his Offices who is made of God to be thy Wisdome Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption Some poor souls look on Christ to be their Righteousnesse but are dark in respect of Holinesse this makes them wander in melancholly shades and desert paths but the Scripture tells us we are compleat in Christ the Head Col. 2. 10. an Head of Influence as well as Eminence and that he of God is made unto us sanctification as well 1 Cor. 1. 30. John 17. 19. as Righteousness and that for our sakes he sanctified himself that we might be sanctified through the Truth and that Christ as our High-Priest appears Heb. 9. 24. Col 3. 3. 1 John 5. 11 12. in Heaven for us and that he is our Life both of Holiness and Righteousness and that he that hath the Son hath Life were not Christ our sanctifier as well as justifier he were not a perfect Saviour but he is both he is All in All to us by our mystical Union with him and what would your souls have more we are justified by Christ but sanctified in Christ Jesus because of the wonderfull spiritual intimate Union between us and Christ. 1 Cor. 1. 2. Ego verò malui servare proepositionem quod melius declaret quomodò nos Pater per Christum sanctificet nempe donando nos filio suo ut ipse sit in nobis nos in eo Reverend Beza in 1 Cor. 1. 2. Oh that every contrite heart would live purely by faith on Christ as the Lord their Righteousness and as their Head and fountain of Holiness the just must live by faith and is not he the Author Heb. 12. 2 and finisher of your Faith Thus your Sanctification and Consolation will grow up and encrease together My chief design in this Publication is to advance Holiness in the world and thereby God's Honour which is so much fallen to decay Partly by the abominable prophaneness and debanchery of some and partly yea chiefly by the horrid Hypocrisie and Apostacy of others who Dema's-like have made gain godliness and so shipwrackt faith and a good Conscience The Lord recover such out of the snare of the Devil and give them repentance 2 Tim. 2. 25 26. unto life for his infinite mercies sake I might tell ye that Families Cities Countries Thrones Kingdomes yea the whole world stands See Prov. 20. 28. Pro. 14. 34. Isa 1. 9. Fiat justitia aut rua◠Coelum Jer. 31. 23. by Holiness and for the sake of holy Ones and that we can never expect to be an Happy unless we are an Holy Nation Oh that that most blessed Blessing might be pronounced upon this Kingdome The Lord bless thee O Habitation of justice and Mountain of Holiness This would be the consternation of wicked men and Devils but the rejoycing of Saints and of all the Holy Angels The Lord accomplish it in his time The Blessing of Heaven attend these poor labours to their intended and desired end And Grant this Word like the rain and snow from Heaven may be prosperous to Isa 55. 10 11. them that read it If any shall be hereby enlightned quickned awakened reproved comforted confirmed or any way edified Let she Father of Lights from whom comes down every good and perfect Gift have all the Glory And be pleased to remember at the Throne of Grace Jam. 1. 17. Your affectionate Friend and Servant in the Lord T. C. Christ our Sanctification 1 Cor. 1. 30. Some part of that verse Who of God is made unto us Sanctification The whole verse runs thus But of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us Wisdome and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption But the words which συν θεῶ we shall insist on at this time and in this small Tract are these Who of God is made unto us Sanctification THe Apostle Paul Rom. 1. 14. confesseth himself a debtor both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians i. e. to all sorts of Gentiles for he was the great Apostle to the Gentiles both to the wise and to the unwise i. e. to all kinds and sorts of men in particular amongst them for all sorts of men may be ranged into these two Ranks or Orders the wise and unwise In imitation of the holy Apostle I who am the lowest and least of Saints and the unworthiest of all the servants of the Lord most unfit for so honourable and high a Calling as the Ministry of the Gospel must reckon my self a debtor both to the wise and unwise to the learned and unlearned as well to the more acute and perspicacious as to the less judicious and enquiring Christian And therefore as in duty bound must cast in my Mite into the Saints Treasury and imploy my Talent though but one and a small one as for the information of the more ignorant so also for the satisfaction of the more ingenious and learned Reader For his satisfaction therefore or at least wise
4. 10. He is that gift of God he the Peerless Pearl and personal Gift came down from the Father of Lights and brought all other good and perfect gifts real spiritual divine immortal excellencies from heaven along with him Jam. 1. 17. Joh. 1. 16 17 18. Christ doth not give 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 giftless gifts as commonly the men of the world give but gifts of the highest nature and of the greatest moment As the Father gives the Son so the Son gives himself Tit. 2. 16. He gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works And with himself he gives us the most suitable the most profitable the most permanent the most magnificent and noble gifts in a word all spiritual blessings in heavenly things and places Ephes 1. 3. Thus have ye the Analysis of the Text the Propositions most obvious from the Text are these 1. That Christians are of a Divine Origination they are of God in Christ Jesus 2. That Christ Jesus is given of God the Father in all his fulness to true Christians 3. That Christ Jesus is given of God the Father for our wisdome for our illumination 4. That Christ Jesus is given of God the Father for our justification or righteousness 5. That Christ Jesus is given of God the Father for our sanctification or holiness 6. That Christ Jesus is given of God the Father for our redemption or for our deliverance from all our enemies and miseries To all these Propositions I have in some measure so far as I have received spoken But the Argument I intend God assisting at this time and in this Tract to dilate upon is contained in the fifth Proposition That Christ Jesus is made i. e. is ordained is given of God the Father for our sanctification Reserving the rest for another Treatise if these poor labours shall find acceptance with the Saints Who of God is made unto us Sanctification Doct. Christ Jesus is given of God the Father for our sanctification In the prosecution of this precious point I shall observe this method 1. I shall prove the point 2. Endeavour to shew how or in what sense Jesus Christ is our sanctification 3. Shew what sanctification is 4. The difference between justification and sanctification 5. The transcendent excellencies of sanctification 6. The blessed fruits of sanctification 7ly and lastly Make application of the whole 1. For the proof of the point this Text is plain and clear enough Christ is made of God unto us sanctification I need call in but two or three more Scriptures for farther confirmation That out of the mouth of two or three witnesses every word might be established The Testimonies I shall alledge are these Tit. 2. 14. Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works concerning which Text we may say as one hath Hen inâ— Com. in loc done before us Singula verba singularem emphasin habent every word hath a special emphasis The particulars herein may be reduced to these four Principals 1. The Donum or Donativum 2. The Donans 3. The Donati 4. Finis Donationis 1. The Donum or Donativum the gift here said to be given is the great God and that is here even our Saviour Jesus Christ The Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here is not to be construed disjunctively but exegetically 2. The Donans the giver or restorer of that gift is also Christ himself who gave himself 3. The Donati the persons on whom this gift is bestowed i. e. us who gave himself for us 4. Finis Donationis the end wherefore this gift was given is here expressed to be twofold For Redemption For Purification 1. For Redemption That he might redeem us from all iniquity 2. For our Purification And purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Where Christ is a Redeemer he is also a Purifier whom he justifies by his Merit and Blood from the guilt and punishment of sin those he sanctifies by his Spirit and Word from the contagion and filth of sin And this he doth two wayes Sacramentally Really 1. Sacramentally By instituting divers kinds of offerings and washings and other ceremonial observances in the daies of old of these the Apostle tells us that they sanctified to the purifying of the flesh Heb. 9. 13. making such as used them externally and Ecclesiastically In foro Ecclesiae pure and holy And thus Christians may be said to be purified in and by the Ordinances of Baptisme under the Gospel now 2. Really By inward real and spiritual washing and purifying of the inner man which consisteth in two things In washing away the Guilt and Filth of sin The one is done away in Justification the other in Sanctification 1. In Justification The blood of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cleanseth us from all sin 1 Joh. 1. â— So Heb. 1. 3. Christ by himself purged our sins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having made a purgation or purification that is by making satisfaction to Divine Justice by the sacrifice of himself 2. In Sanctification Christ takes away the filth of sin sin is called but never out of its own name pollution uncleanness superfluity of naughtiness the scum of filthiness and in order to our purification from it the Blood and Spirit Word and Ordinances of our Lord Jesus are called and compared to water to cleanse us from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and as God hath given us many promises to act faith upon through Christ for our purification as Ezek. 36. 25. Fâ—om all your filthiness and from all your Idols will I cleanse you and in v. 29. I will save you from all your uncleanness So Jesus Christ hath undertaken by Gods appointment to see these purifying promises performed in his Saints in whom they are all Yea and Amen and to bless and sanctifie his Word and Ordinances for his peoples purification according to the Commandment he hath received from his Father Again Ephes 5. 25 26 27. Who loved his Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing that it should be holy and without blemish Christ gave himself that is to death by the will of God as 't is expressed Gal. 1. 4. that he might sanctifie it that is say the Dutch Annotations that he might separate her from all worldly men and appropriate her to himself and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word that is by his Blood and Spirit whereof the washing of water in Baptisme is a sign and seal and withall the means whereby the Spirit of Christ doth more and more strengthen this cleansing The sum whereof is this Christ by the will of God and
Christ hath given the hand of Faith doth put it forth make application of the Merits and mediation of Jesus Christ for his Purification and doth in truth draw in vertue by that application 1 Joh. 3. 3. He that hath this hope doth purifie himself even as he is pure Faith exerts the office of all the senses and of all the members 't is the eye the hand the mouth the foot of the Soul c. as might be proved easily if I should exspatiate As Christ is all in all to the soul in the sanctification of it so Faith of all graces is all in all in the out-going of the soul to Christ and in the Incomes of grace from him 2. As Faith is the Instrumental so the Causa Administra Evangelium est medium ceu instrumentum quo Spiritus sanâ—tus efficaciam suam exerit sidem conversionem operatâ—r Syntag Polan Word is the ministring cause or medium of sanctification Psa 19. 7. The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the Soul the Law in all its Exhortations Commands Consolations Prohibitions Comminations and Promises is a perfect Law serving as a perfect means for conversion But the Promissory and Consolatory part thereof is principally more purifying Having these promises let us cleanse our selves c. 2 Cor. 7. 1. 2 Pet. 1. 4. The Goâ—pel or Law of Faith is vehiculum spiritus the Chariot in which the spirit rides to give your souls a gracious visit Gal. 3. 2. Received ye the spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of faith Fides quae creditur He that makes the Clouds his Chariots makes also his Word his Ordinances and his Ministers his Chariots wherein he â—ides down into these lower parts to give the world a meeting Mr. Allens Heaven Opened p. 172. i. e. by the hearing of the Gospel which is the doctrine of faith The sanctifying spirit accompanying the holy Word then the Word is sanctifying Joh. 17. 17. Sanctifie them by thy truth thy Word is truth When the Gospel is spoken and heard in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit and of Power then is the Arm of the Lord revealed Isa 53. 1. then the Word of God works and grows mightily for sanctification and salvation then the blind eyes are opened then are the captives released then are the dead raised then are the lepers cleansed then are the devils dispossessed then are filthy souls washed unholy souls sanctified 7. Causa Exemplaris The Exemplar or Pattern to which our Sanctification in the two parts of it viz. our mortification and vivification is conformable is the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ by vertue of the force and energy whereof through the operation and application of the spirit of faith our sanctification is effected The Apostle Paul holds forth a clear Analogy or proportion between our dying to sin and Christs dying for sin and between our newness of life or vivification and Christs Resurrection Rom. 6. 4. 5. 6 7 8. where ye may see at large the parallel between them And the Apostle Peter tells us We are begotten again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 8â—y and lastly The glory of Gods Grace in the Conservation and Salvation of a sinful creature is the supreme end or final cause of our Sanctification there is a mutual intimate coherence and relation of these three to oâ—e another 1. The glory of Gods Grace is the Supreme end as of our Election in Christ so of our Sanctification by him All the Acts of Gods love in Christ whether immanent or transient they are all for the praise of the glory of his grace both in this and in the other world Eph. 1. 4. 6. And specifically Sanctification hath a direct tendency unto and termination in the glory of God When we keep our bodies and spirits chaste and holy we are then said to glorifie God 1 Cor. 6. 20. Glorifie God in your bodies and in your spirits which are Gods 2. Consecration This is finis qui the end for which quoad nos we are sanctified and necessary necessitate medii to our Salvaâ—ion Jam. 1. 18. We are begotten by the Will of God â—hat we might be a kind of the first fruits of his creatures that is as Beza Polanus and others observe that we might be consecrated and devoted to the Lord separated from the common lump of mankind as an holy offering as the first fruits under the Law were presented to the Lord as an holy Offering as the Lords own portion 3. Salvation This is our ultimate end the Apostle Peter acquaints us 1 Pet. 1. 3. We are begotten again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ c. What is that lively hâ—pe we are begotten and born to in Regeneration he tells ye in ver 4. Even to an inheritance incorruptible undâ—filed that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you This incomparable Inheritance dignified with all these transcendent Epithets See Dr. Owens Death of Death p. 119 120 121 122 c. is comprehended in one word Salvation 2 Thes 2. 13 14. God hath from the beginning chosen us to Salvation that is the end through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth that is the way and means Thus having cleared our way now we come to the plain and full definition of Sanctification Sanctification in the sense of the Text and of this Tract is a new inward habitual frame of grace infused by the power of the Eternal Spirit into the heart of a justified person united to Christ whereby he is renewed after the Image of Christ in knowledge righteousness and true holiness and thereby enabled to die to sin and to live to God for the praise of Gods glorious grace in his Consecration and Salvation This definition is the sum of the former discourse every part and branch of this description hath been already proved in the aforegoing particulars therefore I shall not actum agere do over the same things again only give me leave to acquaint you our Sanctification Holiness is not any single grace alone but a Constellation â— conjunction of all graces together in the Soul or Inherent Holiness consists in these two things 1. In the infusing of holy principles divine qualities or supernatural graces into the soul such as the Apostle mentions in Gal. 5. 22 23. But the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance against such there is no Law These habits of grace which are severally distinguished by the names of faith love hope meekness patience temperance c. are nothing else but the new nature the new creature the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Ephes 4. 24. These seeds 1 Joh. 3. 9 2 Cor. 1. 21. 1 Joh. 2. 27. of holiness these habits of grace are those sweet oyntments where with all must be
annointed that ever expect to be glorified Though men may talk much of God and brag much of their Interest in heaven and happiness yet without these habits and seeds of holiness I am sure they shall never reap a crop of blessedness 2. Holiness lies in the use and lively exercise of those supernatural graces or holy habits in the soul Holy habits must be brought forth into holy acts gracious habits are and and must be attended with gracious motions gracious operations and a gracious Conversation Act. 10. 35. 1 Joh. 1. 3. 7. 2 Pet. 1. 8. Tit. 2. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eth c. 1. outward works must be suitable to inward habits as the Phylosophers speak concerning the summum bonum it consists say they neque in Idearum contemplatione neque in virtutis habitu neither in the contemplation of Idea's nor in the habit of vertue But the summum bonum or chief good say they is the operation or action of the reasonable soul according to the best and most perfect vertue in a perfect life I am sure Sanctification which is the true felicity and beauty of the soul of man consists in both viz. in internal holy principles and in external holy practises Holy habits are golden Talents that must be imployed and improved they are the Candles of the Lord set up in us not to idle by but to work and Where there are the seeds there will appear the Flowers of Holiness and walk by Where is holiness of disposition there is and will be holiness of Conversation An holy heart expresseth it self in an holy life In the next place I shall endeavour as I promised to shew the difference between Justification and Sanctification and then the transcendent excellencies of Sanctification as appears by the honourable and excellent titleâ— the Scriptures put upon it and cloathe it with them as its proper Robes and due Ornaments And then something as to the Concomitants adjuncts and fruits of sanctification And then lastly Close all with Application 1. Wherein Justification and Sanctification differs How Justification and Sanctification differ 1. They differ in their kind 2. In order of Nature 3. In the manner or form 4. They differ in degrees 1. They differ in their kind The righteousness 1 â—n genere of Justification is in the Category of Relation the righteousness of Sanctification is in the predicament of quality Justification is a change of a mans Relation and estate not a change of a mans person 't is a change without a man or upon a man not a change within a man But Sanctification is not properly a Relative but a real inherent change not a change without a man but a change within a man 't is the expulsion of sin and the infusion of grace or holiness into the soul of Man 2. They differ in the order of nature in order 2 In ordine Naturae of nature Divines hold justification precedes sanctification though in order of time they are both wrought together In the description of the order of causes Rom. 8. 30. the Link of Justification is set before Glorification in that golden Chain The best Expositors I Beza Polanus M. Jeremy Burroughs cum multis aliis c. have met withall and many I have read upon the place do generally conclude that sanctification is essentially though not gradually the same with Glorification and must of necessity be included in it because sanctification is the seed glorification is the flower sanctification is the first fruits glorification is the full crop or vintage sanctification is the New-born Babe Glorification is the perfect Eph. 4. 13. man arrived to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Sanctification is like the dawning of the day like the early glittering and guilding of Cum sol medium superaverat axim the Mountains by the Sun-beams but Glorification is the Sun shining in the Meridian in his greatest strength and splendour The difference between Glorification and Sanctification is not specifical but gradual We are justified by the Merit of Christ from the guilt and punishment of sin in order of Nature before we are sanctified by the spirit from the pollution and filth of sin and endowed with inward holiness though in order of time Qui justificantur sanctificantur Hae gratiae individuo nexu cohaerent as Calvin speaks they are wrought together as the most precious effects of the free grace of God through the blood of Christ 3. They differ in their form Take three 3 Modo ceu forma Notes 1. In Justification a believer by the hand of Faith receives Christ and layes hold upon him as the Lord his righteousness and inwrappeth his soul with this glorious Robe and Garment of Salvation but in Sanctification Faith is considered as a new quality formally a part of our holiness and as the root and beginning of good works In Justification Faith is considered as an useful instrument in Sanctification as a special grace or new quality 2. In Justification sin is taken away in respect of guilt and condemnation that it be Ne imputetur not imputed but in Sanctification sin is taken away as to the dominion or reigning Ne regnet power of it that it may not reign as in glorification which is the perfection of sanctification sin all the remainders of it shall be quite taken away that it shall not exist or have any Ne restet being left 3. In Justification Christs righteousness is imputed to us in Sanctification a new inherent righteousness is implanted in us in the first our sins are pardoned our persons absolved acquitted and accepted through the imputation of Christs righteousness Rom. 4. 6 7. By the second our souls are renewed our Natures changed decked and adorned with the graces of the Spirit Eph. 4. 23 24. by the participation of Christs holiness Thus Justification and Sanctification do differ in their form 4. Justification and Sanctification do differ 4 In gradibus in degrees 1. Justification is one individual perfect act contingent to all the godly Some of our best Divines do hold that Justification is transacted in our first union and incorporation into Christ when the pardon of sin is sealed to a believer at once How at once I answer with Reverend Downam at once as excluding Bishop Downam on Justification Burgess upon Justification degrees our justification is perfect at first as well as at last Or as Learned Burgess at once as connoting a state we are put into upon our believing And indeed thereupon some godly learned persons take Justification for one continued act from our vocation to our glorification and in that sense we are justified but once A justified person is rectus in curia acquitted by God the Judge of all in foro coeli he hath shot the Gulph he is gone beyond the Gun-shot of condemnation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 8. 1.
to him there is not one condemnation But Sanctification is an inchoate and successive act carried on by degrees and compared with Justification 't is but imperfect though it be an immortal principle an incorruptible seed growing up and tending to perfection for here we know but in part we see but in part we see as 1 Cor. 13. 9 10 11 12. in a glass darkly Now the dust is in our eyes much blindness and darkness in the eyes of the most enlightned our understandings are partly light and partly darkness our wills are partly flesh and partly spirit we find do we not a contrary Principle working a contrary Law rebelling that when we would do good evil is present with us Rom. 7. 21. There is a Law in the members and a Law of the mind Rom. 7. 23 There is a double Enemy carrying on a double interest in one soul there is a Jacob and an Esau strugling and striving for Mastery in one heart there remains the being of sin concupiscence evil lusting and motions many sins of ignorance negligence and of invincible infirmity in the Saints for whilest they abide in earthly they abide in sinful Tabernacles The bitter moans groans complaints tears together with the sad lapses of the Saints do sadly evidence the truth of this besides the 1 Kin. 8. 46. Jam. 3. 2. 1 Ioh. 1. 8. Eccl. 7. 20. As a child as soon as born is a true man though not a perfect man he hath all the parts of a man not the strength and stature ample testification of many Scriptures The Saints that are sanctified in Christ Jesus are in a sense perfect and in a sense imperfect they are perfect as to perfection of parts every part and faculty of soul and body is sanctified and yet they are in a sense imperfect i. e. as to perfection of degrees thus the word perfect is differently to be understood Phil. 3. 12. 15. In the 12th ver it notes the fullest measure or highest Achme of perfection attainable by a Christian In the 15th ver it notes sincerity or integrity which is a Christians Evangelical perfection God according to the tenour of the New Covenant accepting his person in Christ as perfect viz. in and through Christs perfect righteousness and intercession and thereupon a believers gracious desires and endeavours for performances his will for the deed and his sincerity for perfection Perfection of degrees being too great a priviledge for a Militant estate is reserved as one of the peculiar Flowers or Jewels of the Triumphant Crown for the Saints to wear in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A precious jewel which nothing can defile or dull its shining so is the state above their Fathers Kingdome wherefore among the singular distinguishing Epithetes given by the Spirit of God to our inheritance this is one an inheritance undefiled 1 Pet. 1. 4. By our Justification now we have peace with God Rom. 5. 1. all our sins past and present are actually pardoned and this favour received is a pledge of assurance that for the future by applying our selves to Christ we shall receive remission of daily sins and that at the last day we shall be for ever free from all accusations and condemnation Our Justification is perfect now though the most solemn pronunciation of it in a magnificent manner is the work of the great day but our Sanctification is inchoate imperfect and progressive here by the supplies of the Spirit of Grace there must be a going on from faith to faith from strength to strength but it shall be most compleat and perfect at Christs appearing the Picture of Christ will be gloriously drawn even to the life then We know that when he shall Phil. 1. 6. appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is 2. The righteousness of justification is equally perfect and equally impured to all believers my meaning is all believers are alike justified one as well and as much as another the weak as much as the strong the new-born Babes so much as the old Fathers the feeblest Lambs as much as the Hee-goats of the Flock he that hath the least as well as he that hath the greatest measure of the Spirit A Giant holdeth a jewel and so doth Gemmam amplectitur Gigas puerulus licet Gigas fortiùs eam amplectitur quà m puerulus tamen manet gemma aequè preciosa Luther a Child the jewel is the same though the Giant holdeth it with a stronger hand So here the righteousness of justification is the same though the faith of believers is not the same some being weak and others strong in faith As to inherent righteousness there is much difference but as to imputed righteousness all the Saints are equal none have purer linnen than the rest A believer of the lowest form in Christs School of the meanest stature or growth in Christ of the weakest and dullest capacity in the mysteries of the Kingdome of Christ is in point of justification equal with So M. Burroughs on the Beatitudes Matth. 5. Abraham Isaac and Jacob Moses Samuel and David equal with all the most glorious Patriarchs Prophets Martyrs and eminent Saints that are Thou if a believer art as much acquitted from sin and as much accepted as righteous in the sight of God and as undoubted an Heir of and hast as true a title to the Inheritance of heaven as the most famous Saints that are But there is a great deal of difference among the Saints themselves as to sanctification some Saints are children some are strong men some are fathers one star 1 Cor. 15. 41. excelleth another star in glory There are stellae primae secundae magnitudinis c. Some Saints are more sluggish and dull of hearing more dull and dark in understanding others are more acute and quick some are younglings weaklings and have need of milk viz. the principles of the Oracles of God others are strong men and have need of meat can dive into and digest the deepest mysteries revealed in the Gospel God having given them senses Heb. 5. 12 13 14. exercised to discern both good and evil Some are more dead to duty and in duty others are more vigorous more fervent in spirit and lively some walk more humbly with God more holily before God more exactly and venerably before the world than others do Some do much fully and stain their garments others comparatively walk in white and keep their garments clean and also keep themselves unspotted from the world Jam. 1. ult Thus great is the difference between Saint and Saint in sanctification as great is the Cant. 5. 10 My beloved is white and ruddy white in the glory of his Deity ruddy in the preciousness of his Humanity and white in the beauty of his purity and ruddy in the blood of his Oblation Owens Communion p. 52 53. difference between man and man in growth and stature but in justification the
sanctified is now made Membra sunt Arma ready for every good work to which before sanctification it was altogether reprobate Beloved Friends are your souls thus well and healthy are they recovered to their right temper are ye sound in the faith are ye sincere at heart is the habitual frame of your hearts right with God and for God or not deal impartially with your own souls 'T is true a man that is generally lively and healthy may now and then by accident get colds and surfets have fits of weakness and for some time labour under some infirmities but a strong Constitution will â—ub along wear off and cast out the disease at last so an holy a spiritually healthy man through humane frailty and strong temptation may for a time decay in grace yea languish very much hee may get cold his love to God his zeal for God may chil and cool his faith may weaken his hope may almost fail his patience may tire c. And through the immoderate cares of this life and inordinate affection to the Creature he may get a Surfet he may fall into sin yea fowly fall into great sins and labour Nemo esse sine delicto potest quamdiù indumento carni oneratus est Lactant. de vero cultu under the sense of a wounded spirit a long time Notwithstanding all this the immortal seed of God in him of which he is begotten by the supplyes of the Spirit of Life will revive and conoborate the man again The divine Nature in him will get head exert its influence and repair the man again Grace like Leaven will ferment the whole lump the whole soul and work out the disease of sin in a word the withering stock of Grace within like a Psalm 1. 3. Rev. 22. 1. Tree planted by the River of Life will spring and flourish scent and bud again 8. Blessed effect or Priviledge If thou art sanctified or regenerated thou hast a true and undoubted Title to the Kingdome 3 Joh. 3. 5. Except ye are born again ye cannot see ye cannot enter into the Kingdome of God This Negative is inclusive of the Affirmative If ye are born again ye shall both see and enter into Gods Kingdome This Kingdome of God if born again is thy Inheritance If thou hast the sanctification of the Spirit thou art begotten again unto a lively hope this lively is also a most glorious hope here hope is put for the object hoped for and what is that the 3d. v. informs ye an inheritance incorruptible undefiled which fadeth not away reserved in hea-for ye The children of Regeneration are most certainly and unquestionably the children of the Kingdome Sanctification is the Genuine and Evangelical Title to salvation see 2 Thes 2. 14. When ye are born from above ye are at that instant born for above ye are born children of God brethren of Christ Companions with Angels and heirs of Glory Nay let me tell ye more Sanctification is the very entrance into the Kingdome Sanctificatio est Ingreslus in Regnum Dei Caâ—v Phil 3. 20. of God Holinesse is not only the way to Heaven but it is Heaven it self A sanctified person lives the life of Heaven * his conversation is in Heaven he lives the Life of God whilst his body is here on earth it is life eternal in the present tense in specie and in primitiis in the kind and first-fruits of it to know God in Christ John 17. 3. When ye begin to be holy ye then begin to enter into the white cloud of Glory Ah then seeing every one would be happy who would not be holy Holinesse becometh thine House O Lord for ever Without holinesse no man shall see the Lord that is with joy hereâ—ftâ—r Heb. 12. 14. No nor any enjoyment of the favour and fellowship with God here An unsanctified person is very miserable he misseth heaven in both Worlds he hath nether holiness nor happiness he hath neither the seed nor the flower neither the first-fruits nor the Vintage he hath not a grain of saving Grace no sweet dews falling from heaven on him not a drop of the water of Life to comfort him But his soul is like the Heath in the Desart and shall not see when good cometh but shall inhabit the dry and parched places in the wildernesse in a salt land and not inhabited Jer. 17. 6. A most dismal state saltness and barrenness is his doom here fire and brimstone is his portion for ever Certainly an unholy man must needs be very miserable Lastly True sanctification is an abiding flourishing progressive Principle 1. It is an abiding Principle it lives and abides in it self and it also quickens the soul Semen manenâ— in the life and keeps the soul in the love of God for ever 1 Pet. 1. 23. A man externally sanctified may fall away and come to nothing like a barren Tree he may lose in time both leaves and fruit but a man internally sanctified can never fall away neither totally nor finally for the Name and Nature of God the Mark and Seal of God the Image and Seed of God is in him And this is incorruptible and immortal * 1 Pet 4. 14. the spirit of Glory and of God rests upon him the spâ—rit of Holiness dwels and abides in his soul for ever the Father Son and Spirit according to their omnipotency faithfulness and immutability will never suffer their seed seal nature image to be lost Though Hymenâ—â—â— and Philetus hypocrites and hereticks may err concerning the truth overthrow the faith of some and throw themselves and others down to Hell Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure having this seal the Lord knoweth who are his 2 Tim. 2. 17 18 19. The love of God in Election and in Vocation or Sanctification is like himself unchangeable The Gifts and Calling of God are without Repentance Joh. 13. 1. Rom. 11. 29. There may be partial and gradual Apostacy in some of the Saints of God they may backslide in their apprehensions in their affections and in their conversations as is too too manifest by the Scripture-evidence and by sad experience but to backslide totally from all the truths of God and from all the profession of the Gospel and with the mind and will with the consent of the whole soul and finally to fall away bid an eternal farewell or depart from God for ever This cannot shall not be Among others consult these Texts Heb. 12. 6 2. He that is the Author will also be the Finisher of our faith 1 Phil. 6. Hee that hath begun the good work in ye will also perfect it And Jer. 32. 40. And I will make saith God an everlasting Covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts and they shall not depart from me Here God in the Riches of his Grace through Christ undertakes both for himself and his
communicated to any creature much less can it become the accidental righteousness of any creature 2. Positively that which is our righteousness 2. Positively for justification It is the most Adeqâ—ate and perfect obedience of Jesus Christ the Mediatour God-man to the whole Law of God Gonsisting in a most exact conformity of his whole humane Nature with all its actions Justitia Iesu Christi per quam justificamur coram Deo est perfectissima totius leg is divinae obedientia consistens in exactissimâ totius naturae Humane Christi omaiumque Actionum passionum ejus internarum externarum conformitate cum tota lege Dei quam loco nostro perfectissime implevit ut nobis a morte aeternâ liberationem jus vitae aeternae acquireret Syntag Polan p. 457. and passions thereunto whereby both actively and passively he fulfill'd the Law most perfectly For proof you may please to read Rom. 8. 3 4. Gal. 4. 3 4. Rom. 5. 16 17 18 19. For as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous vers 19. O Believers this Garment of Sun-beams wrought out for ye by the Sun of righteousness must needs be glorious if ye consider 1. That Christs humane Nature was never stained neither with original nor actual sin for by his divine Conception by the Holy Ghost he received of his Virgin Mother a pure un-deflowred Virgin Nature which all along he kept immaculate 2. The Humane nature in him is dignified with Union to the Divine to the second person in the Trinity in which it doth subsist as God descended to the lowest to become man so now man viz. the humane Nature ascendeth to the highest to be personally one with God 'T is the righteousness of Christ the Mediatour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God-man in one person though inherent in the Humane Nature and performed by it And this is that which by communication of properties gives infinite value vertue and eternal efficacy to the obedience of Jesus Christ wherefore ' â—is called the righteousness of God This I must profess to be the chief stay of my faith and the principal foundation of my comfort that He is Jehovah our righteousness Jer. 23. 6. that he who is God blessed for ever is the root and off spring of David that Rom. 9. 5. 't is the Prince of Life that died Acts 3. 15. that the Lord of Glory was crucified 1 Cor. 2. 8. that that blood which is the price of my redemption and justification is the blood of God that he that was in the form of God and thought Acts 20. 28. it no robbery to be equal with God did humble himself and became obedient to the death of the Crosse for me which whole humiliation Phil. 2. 6 8 Gal. 2. 20. of Jesus Christ God-man from his conception to his crucifixion especially his bloody Some say it consists both in applicatione pronunciatione ipsius Dei Justitia Dei est non peccare justitia bominis est non imputari peccatum Bernard Serm 23. in Cantic passion is the material cause of our justification Thus much for the essential material Cause of our justification 3. What is the formal Cause of our justification I answer 'T is the imputation of Christs Righteousness because by imputing and applying it to us he is pleased to justify us Rom. 4. 11. Psalm 32. 1. Rom. 4. 8. 2 Cor. 5. 19. Acts 10. 43. Acts 13. 28 29. Sr. Ambrose Bishop Downame and others do express it by this simile When Rebecca cloathed her son Jacob with the garments of her elder son Esan the matter of the action was the garment of Esau which being applyed to him did cover him but the form of the action was the applying it to him the indution or putting it upon him so the matter of our justification is Christs righteousness the formal cause of our justification is the Fathers imputing or applying Christs righteousness to us The Apostle most clearly argues by way of comparison between Adam and Christ how could Rom. 5. 17 18 19. the disobedience of Adam be made ours for condemnation or the obedience of Christ be made ours for justification unto life but only by imputation seeing they are both transient Acts. A learned Philosopher tells us Motus non est nisi dum fit postqâ—am factus est non est Jul. Scaliger That a motion whether action or passion hath no being but while it is in doing or suffering but after it is done it hath no being the disobedience of the one and the obedience of the other the transgression of Adam and the righteousness of Christ can be no way conveyed to us but by imputation which term of imputation of Christs righteousness notwithstanding the Papists scoffing at it and calling it putative righteousness is used ten times in Rom. 4. 4. The End or final Cause for which God doth justifie a sinner by imputation of Christs righteousness and that is either supream or Utriusque enim miseri cordiae justitiae admirabile bio temperamentum relucet subordinate 1. The supream End is the manifestation of the Glory both of his justice and mercy as both which concur in all his works so chiefly in this great work of Justification The Lord is righteous in all his works and holy in all his wayes Ps 145. 17. 1. That his Justice might be fully Glorified God sent and set forth his own Son to be a propitiation for our sins and hath punished them in his humane Nature I say saith the Apostle to declare his righteousness that he Rom. 3. 25 26. might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus 2. That his grace mercy also might eminently be magnified he hath sent his only begotten Son into the World that we might be justified freely by his Grace through the redemption that is in Christ Rom. 3. 25. and Deus Pater nos justificat ut judex quidem sed sedens in Throno Gratiae c. Synops that we should be to the praise of the glory of his Grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved Ephes 1 6. Wherefore not unto us not unto us not to any works of righteousness that we have done but to the Father of Mercies the Lord God omnipotent and to the Lamb that sits upon the Throne be all Honour and Glory Blessing and praise for evermore Revel 5. 13. 2 Tim. 1. 9. 2. The subordinate end is our Salvation Rom. 8. 30. whom he hath justified them also he Glorified Tit. 3. 7. That being justified by his Grace we should be made heirs of eternal life Though our salvation be our particular proper Our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 supream end or chief good to which both justification and sanctification are referred yet it is subordinate to Gods Glory as to the Soveraign and universal End for such is the infinite goodness of God to believing sinners that he hath subordinated their salvation to his own Glory The precious properties of this Righteousness how it is a divine righteousness a temptation vanquishing and a World-overcoming righteousness a Law fulfilling and a justice satisfying righteousness a most perfect righteousness a Glorious Robe of righteousness an everlasting righteousness c. Ye have heard at large discussed from another Text therefore I shall forbear to enlarge herein Lastly What are the blessed fruits and consequences of Justification I answer 1. Sanctification inherent with good works apparent which non praecedunt justificandum sed sequuntur justificatum as Austin speaks they do not go before but follow after a state of justification 2. Peace with God that is an holy Tranquility and sweet serenity of conscience Rom. 5. 1. 3. A free Access to God Rom. 5. 2. 4. Certain hope of Glory Rom. 5. 2 5. 5. Consolation yea Gloriation in and over afflictions Rom. 5. 3. 6. The shedding abroad the love of God into the hearts of the justified Rom. 5. 5. 7. Conservation from wrath to come Ro. 5. 9. 8. Glorification and eternal life Rom. 8. 30. Rom. 5. 21. that as sin hath reigned unto death even so might Grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. A word or two at parting to the Justified by way of Application 1. Walk up to your Duty 2. Live up to your Comfort 1. Walk up to your Duty Ye that are the tedeemed of the Lord the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus walk worthy of him who hath called you to his Kingdom and Glory As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him Col. 2. 6. Receive not this Grace of God in vain this is a certain evidence of your freedome from Condemnation if ye walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Rom. 8. 1. and herein is your father glorified if ye bring forth much fruit John 15. 6. As your Receipts are great so give me leave to tell you your duty is and your Accompt will be great also so live so act so work that ye may give up your accompt with joy 2. Live up to the Comfort of your state ye are already the sons of God and it doth not yet appear what ye shall be 1 Joh. 3. 1. who shall lay any thing to your charge whether men or Devils 't is God that justifieth it is Christ that died c. Ro. 8. 33. Behold thy Treasures thy Comforts thy Joys thy Portion thy Priviledges laid up for thee in that precious Cabinet Rom. 5. 1 2 3 4 5. Wherefore feed nay feast thy Soul by faith upon them wherefore in the worst of times the righteous shall be glad in the Lord and all the upright in heart shall glory Psalm 64. 10. Thus so far as one Exercise would permit I have endeavoured to give some satisfaction in the great Argument of Justification Consider what I have said and the Lord give ye understanding 2 Tim. 2. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 FINIS
riches of his grace through the Son to his Saints here so he will everlastingly communicate himself in the treasures of his glory through the Son to his Saints in heaven as Christ is the Medium of your spiritual union with God here so he will continue the eternal Medium of your glorious communion with God hereafter in his light ye shall see light The Soul-ravishing Vision of Jesus the Mediator Heb. 12. 24. â—omine fecistinos pro te cor irrequicâ—um est donec veniat ad te Aug. of the New Covenant and the Beatifical Vision of ever-blessed and glorious Deity in and through the Mediator is no small part or portion of the Saints Coelestial happiness God indeed is the Essence of the Soul the Eternal Entity of our happiness the Father of Spirits is the only rest and centre of our immortal Spirits for 1 Pet. 3. 18. Christ once suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God our approximation or drawing nigh to God being the ultimate end as to us of Christs passion yet the seeing of Christ as he is when he shall appear in his Fathers glory when he shall come in power and great glory to see him as he is in his greatest glory and fullest Majesty sitting at the right hand of the Father and to see our humane nature in him as far exalted above so far more glorious than those glittering morning stars the Angels will be no small part or measure of our blessedness though not the quintessence compendium or complement thereof 1 Joh. 3. 2. Beloved now are we the Sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be But we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is But to return Our Lord Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of Eminency called that one Pearl of great price Mat. 13. 46. which the wise Merchant-man sold all that he had and bought This Pearl eminently and virtually contains all other Pearls in it is comprehensive of all excellent and Soveraign good which our souls stand in need of infinitely more precious and excellent than the rest and infinitely to be prized and preferred above the rest Christ not only hath but is wisdome to the simple rayment to the naked riches to the poor rest to the weary bread of life to the hungry water of life to the thirsty righteousness to the guilty sanctification to the filthy redemption to the captive peace and reconciliation to the enemy power to the faint a rock and refuge to the afflicted a shineing Sun to the disconsolate a saving shield to the assaulted in a word a full fons of living water of rich supply to those that labour under any distress or misery whether inward perplexity or outward calamity Philosophers brag much of their Elixir Naturalists boast much of their Panaecea and Catholicon and they would bear the world in hand as though these were Soveraign remedies against all maladies good against all diseases but these and all other whether natural artificial or moral excellencies are less than Cyphers to Jesus Christ compared with him they are less than nothing and vanity Isa 40. 17. 1. As Christ is God the worlds were made by him and for him by his power and for his glory Heb. 1. 2. Col. 1. 16. 2. As Christ is Mediator God-man so he is Heir of all things Heb. 1. 2. whom he that is the Father hath appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the worlds Now can he want light that lives in the midst of the Sun Can he want air that lives upon the top of the highest Mountain Can he want water that lives at the Well head No more can he want light life grace strength comfort or any good thing that lives in union and communion with Jesus Christ in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily Col. 2. 9. * Qui habet habentem omnia habet oâ—nia He that hath him that owneth and possesseth all things hath all things 'T is an old and true saying Si Christum noscis nihil est si caetera nescis Si Christum nescis nihil est si caetera noscis Hath the Father given us the Son the Son of his eternal love of his eternal bosome then we may safely make with the Apostle this sweet inference How shall he not with him freely give us all things Rom. 8. 32. All things pertaining to life and godliness as the Apostle expresseth and explaineth it elsewhere 1 Cor. 3. 21 22 23. presents ye with a Christians Inventory and with a Christians tenure 1. A Christians Inventory All things A Christian hath a large dominion a great possession all things are yours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for all things are yours Descend from generals to particulars then all things must be referred to or subdivided by persons and things All persons are yours that is for your good and benefit whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas whether Ecclesiastical or secular persons whether godly or ungodly whether spiritual men or carnal men therefore v. 22. he adds the world the wicked world or rather the wicked of the world who ere long shall be judged by the Saints as Assessors with Jesus Christ the Supreme Judge 1 Cor. 6. 2. shall be subservient to Gods glory and to the Saints good Those Slaves and Scullions that rub off the rust and scoure and cleanse the Vessels of Honor by temptations afflictions imprisonments persecutions c. though not intentionally as to them yet accidentally and eventually by the blessing of God shall really promote and carry on their spiritual and eternal interest 2. As all persons so all things are theirs whether life or death or things present or things to come all are yours ver 22. What can a soul either have or wish for more for a man not only to enjoy the comforts of life but also to find sweetness in death to find meat in this Eater to find honey in this Lyon to live in the midst of death to lie down in peace in the arms or rather Jaws of the King of Terrors for this deadly Enemy by the death of Christ to be made one of our best friends Again For a man to be rich in possession and rich in reversion too for a man to have an interest in all things present and an interest in all things future also to have Territories as broad as the earth and a treasure as high as heaven and returns of glory coming in unto him and upon him to all eternity this is an incomparable rich person and an incomparable blessed estate indeed 2. Note the Tenure Ye hold all in Caepite in and by union with him who is Gods Heir and your Head Ephes 1. last and ye are Christs and Christ is Gods v. 23. Ye are the Bride Christ is the Bridegroom ye are the Body Christ is the Head as the Head
of Christ is God so the Head of the Church is Christ The Father in an ineffable manner communicated as of old the Divine Essence and Nature so at his Incarnation an unmeasurable measure an overflowing fulness of the Spirit and Grace to the Son yea it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell even as Mediator Col. 1. 19. And the Son by the Ordination and appointment of the Father communicates derives and by his Spirit imparts unto his Saints all those spiritual Eph. 1. 3. Eph. 3. 8. blessings all those unsearchable riches all those riches of glory or glorious riches Ephes 3. 16. which he hath received of his Father for them Some of which heavenly and choicest treasures we find lying in the field or rather Mine of this Text viz. Wisdome Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption I shall now Deo juvante consider the Text it self open the sense of the words and draw some practical conclusions from the whole The Apostle having humbled and dejected the Corinthians ver 26 27. of this Chap. in calling upon them to see or consider their calling for ye see your calling Brethren c. where calling is put metonymically for the persons called that is what manner of men they themselves were and generally are which God calls by the Gospel not the wise after the flesh not the Mighty not the Noble but commonly the foolish weak and base for the poor receive the Gospel Now in this verse the Apostle comforts and cheers them and lifts up their heads Quos antea dejecerat nunc supra omnes mortales evehit sed ita ut omnem ipsorum dignitatem doceat non ab ipsis sed à Christo emanare idque à Deo id est Dei unius vi ac beneficio Beza in loc above all other mortals by informing them of their Origination from God their Vnion with Christ their spiritual descent from him in Christ Jesus But of him are ye in Christ Jesus Here the Apostle shews them the true rise of true honour and of divine dignity Corinthiorum animos dejecerat revoâ—ando eos ad intuendam suam ipsorum vocationem quod fuit propemodum acsi dixisset eos insipientes ignobiles infirmos omnes fuisse quasi non essent quum ad Christum vocarentur Quare nunc illos erigit pulchrè consolatur dicens licèt ex vobis ipsis tales fueritis ut modò estis à me descripti Attamen jam ex Deo estis P. Martyr in loc not springing from noble birth or liberal breeding not from any natural moral or secular accomplishments or considerations whatsoever But from the special grace of God the Father in Christ Jesus manifested and put forth in a double act of divine love 1. In Election 2. In Regeneration 1. In Election God the Father did chuse all believers in Christ before the foundation of the world Ephes 1. 4. in that eternal compact or Foederal transactions between the Father and the Son commonly called the Covenant of Redemption Ye are of God in Christ Jesus viz. Emphasis est in verbo estis q. d. à Deo vobis est principium qui ea quae non sunt voâ—at in Christo verò subsistentia c. Calvin by vertue of the Eternal Purpose and Decree of God The gracious purpose of God the Father in Christ is the beginning of the wayes of God the Original and highest Well-head of all our holiness and happiness as appears 2 Tim. 1. 9. where ye shall find that both our Salvation and Calling are no other than the genuine efflux and products of Gods purpose and grace given us in Christ Jesus before the world began So Tit. 1. 2. In hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began D. Jacomb in his Sermon upon Isa 55. 10. How was this life promised before the world began but in this everlasting Covenant wherein the Father promised unto Christ eternal life for all his Seed Though the Decrees of God are immanent Decreta Dei nihil ponunt in Actu and not transient acts abiding with reverence in the Mind or Breast of God and not actually passing upon the creature yet Gods eternal purpose in electing us in Christ is the primum mobile the great wheel that sets all the other inferiour wheels at work that animates quickens and actually moves and influenceth and constantly carries on and perfects all other intermediate acts of grace in order to our Salvation Gods blessing us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things and places is said to be in relation unto in correspondence with in pursuance of his electing us in Christ according as he hath chosen us in Christ Ephes 1. 3 4. They are all Emanations from this Fountain Thus in the first place and I think not improperly we may be said to be of God in Christ Neque hoc intelligit quoad creationem sed ait de eo quod per gratiam Regenerationem consequuti erant P. Martyr Jesus viz. of God originally and primarily in Christ Jesus vertually and radically by vertue of Gods electing love to us in Christ before the world began 2. More principally according to the purport of this place we are of God in Christ Jesus by the grace of Regeneration we are Gods workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works Ephes 2. 10. Believers are of God i. e. born of God in Christ Jesus for the Father of our Lord Jesus as our Spiritual Father is said to have begotten us again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead 1 Pet. 1. 3. Eadem sententia est cum illa qui non ex sanguinibus neque ex voluntate carnis c. Pomeran By vertue of his Will we are elected and by the Power of the same Will we are called and regenerated Jam. 1. 18. Of his own will begat he us by the word of truth c. One saith This sentence is the same with that Joh. 1. 13. which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God Let it not grieve the Saints in that they are not born of Nobles nor descended of the blood of Princes but rather rejoyce and raise up their spirits in the midst of all reproaches and sufferings in that they are the Sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus a Divine Off-spring of an heavenly Extraction rejoyce in this that your names are written in heaven Ye are wise noble honourable every way glorious creatures in Christ Jesus in Christ Jesus that is by Eph 1. 6. In Christo Jesu id est per Christum Jesum propter Christum Jesum nam per Christum propter Christum accepti grati sumus Patri Christ Jesus and for Christ Jesus for indeed we can be no way amiable or acceptable to the Father but in the beloved We are said not only to be Elect
Lord in garments of glory and beauty See Exod. 28. 2 3 4 5. Those garments of gold blew purple scarlet c. did consecrate Aaron to his Priestly Office Those glorious garments without controversie did typifie the pure habitual and actual holiness of our great High-Priest Jesus Christ expressed by his annointing Isa 61. 1. and receiving the Spirit without measure Joh. 3. 34. That unction and unmeasurable effusion of the Spirit upon him did consecrate and sanctifie him to all his Offices he was annointed for us to be a Prophet to us to be a King in us to be a Priest for us which fulness of the Spirit of grace in our Head Christ is reputed to every one sanctified in Christ Jesus for their sanctification or holiness which doth also expiate and purge out of the sight of God all their impurity or unholiness This holy person described by his glorious titles viz. the Son of God the Heir of all things the Maker of the worlds the brightness of his Fathers glory the express Image of his person the upholder of all things by the Word of his Power is said by himself to have purged our sins Heb. 1. 1 2 3. As by the merit of his passive righteousness to purge us from the guilt of sin so by the influential efficacy of his sanctity or inherent righteousness to purge us from the filth of sin and take down the power of it God accepts of believers in themselves impure and imperfect as perfect and compleat in him who is our Head and fulness Thus Christ is our Sanctification by way of Imputation 2. Jesus Christ is our sanctification by way of Union Union with him is the ground or Basis both of our Justification and Sanctification by him He that hath the Son hath life Joh. 1. 5. Dulcius ex ipso fonte 12. With him is the fountain of life Psa 36. 9. by Faith through the spirit a believer hath union with Christs person and so communion with his life He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life Joh. 3. ult Whereupon Jesus Christ is called the life Joh. 14. 6. and our life Col. 3. 4. our life of righteousness our life of holiness our life of glory or happiness and this life is in his Son 1 Ioh. 5. 11. By believing we are united to Christ who is our Head Fountain and Principle of spiritual life or holiness as the Head is the Principle and Fountain of sense and motion Ephes 4. 15 16. From him the Head the Apostle tells us the whole body is fitly joyned and compacted together and so maketh encrease to the edifying of it self in love All the grace that is in us is but a measure or overflowing of his fulness Christ is principle of holiness by which it is wrought and also the rule unto which it is proportioned Dr. Reynolds in his life of Christ Heb. 12. 2. Christ is the Author and finisher of our faith he is the first and the last the Alpha and Omega both the beginner of our sanctification here on earth and the perfecter thereof in heaven As the members by nerves and ligaments are firmly knit to the Head the superstructure to the foundation the branches to the Vine the Wife to the Husband by the Marriage-knot so are the Saints of God firmly and closely united to Jesus Christ in the spirit 1 Cor. 6. 17. By vertue of which union they cannot but derive and draw down continual supplies of spiritual life from him for he is the life and he is their life Consider a little the nature of this wonderful Union I shall but touch it in transitu 1. It is an Union of Nature we are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones Heb. 2. 14. because the children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same Christ condescended to assume our Humane Nature that we might partake of his Divine Nature he took upon him our rag of flesh that he might cloath us with his robe of glory 2. It is an union of and in the spirit 1 Cor. 6. 17. He that is joyned to the Lord is one spirit as man and wife united make one flesh so Christ and believers united in and by the spirit make up one spiritual Christ 3. It is an union of relations and that of the neerest and sweetest Christ is the everlasting Father Isa 9. 6. and begets children to God in his own likeness Christ is the Son of God believers are the Sons of God but Christ is the Son of Gods Nature but we are the Sons of Gods will he by eternal Generation but we by the grace of Regeneration to conformity to whose Image we are predestinated Rom. 8. 29. He is the first-born among many Brethren and is not ashamed to call us Brethren Heb. 2. which relation also bespeaks likeness for brethren for the most part resemble brethren Lastly Christ is our redeeming Kinsman and Husband and we are his redeemed Kindred and Spouse These relations also import similitude and proportion between Christ and us Christ as our Redeemer came to deliver us c. that we might be like him and serve him in holiness and righteousness Luke 1. 74 75. he came not only to justifie but also to sanctifie Tit. 2. 16. he came as Redeemer not only to save from hell but also to save from sin Mat. 1. 21. not only to deliver us from eternal condemnation but also from our vain conversation 1 Pet. 1. 18. not only to proclaim liberty to the Isa 61. 1 2 3. Captives and the opening of the prisons to them that are bound but also to pull off their rotten rags their nasty prison garments and to cloath Zech. 3. 3 4. them with change of rayment to cleanse and wash them from the pollution of sin and put upon them a robe of righteousness and renew them with inward holiness and so to present them as beautiful and glorious without spot or wrinkle c. To shew consent I shall take the boldness M. Jeremy Burroughs in his Saints Treasury p. 46. to transcribe the words of a Famous man now in heaven Our Sanctification saith he is not only from Christ meritoriously but efficiently and in a kind materially too he doth not only merit it and work it by his spirit but through our union with him there is a kind of flowing of Sanctification from him into us as the principle of our life as from the liver there flows blood into all the parts of the body so through our union with Christ he having the fulness of the Godhead in him from him as from a Fountain sanctification flows into the souls of Saints their sanctification comes not so much from their strugling and endeavours I wish all disconsolate souls desponding for want of holiness would in the strength of the Lord take his counsel vows and resolutions as it comes flowing to them from their closing with
〈◊〉 Causa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae meritoria 1. That the will of God is the inward impulsive cause of our Sanctification 2. That the blood of Christ is the moral and meritorious cause of our Sanctification 3. That the holiness of Christ is the material Causa materialis cause 4. That the infusion of Holiness or giving of Causa formalis the Spirit is the formal cause 5. That the Spirit of Christ is the efficient cause Causa Efficiens Causae Administrae Polan Causae exemplares 6. That the Word Ordinances and Faith arâ— the ministring instrumental causes 7. That the Death and Resurrection of Christ are the exemplary causes or patterns 8ly and lastly That the glory of God in thâ— D. Ames in Medulla Theolog. Consecration and Salvation of a sinful creature iâ— the supreme end or final cause of our Sanctification 1. The Will of God is the principal internal 1 The principal moving cause moving cause of our Sanctification Heb. 10. 9 10. Then said he â—o I come to do thy wiâ—â— O God He taketh away the first that he may establish the second that is he taketh away the first sort of Sacrifices and Propitiations which was the blood of Bulls and Goats c. and establish the second standing Sacrifice which is the offering up of the body of Jesus Christ once for all by the which will we are sanctified v. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. it was the good pleasure of the Fathers will to appoint and accept this precious Sacrifice for our Justification Sanctification and compleat Salvation This is the will of God even our Sanctification 1 Thes 4. 3. This is the will of his Precept that Christ Jesus should be our Sanctification this is also the will of his Purpose and Eternal Counsel Why did God chuse us in Christ before the foundation of the world the Apostle tells us that we should be holy Ephes 1. 4. The principal moving cause of our Regeneration is the will of God Of his own will begat he us c. 1 Jam. 18. What more clear 2 The meritorious cause Omne donum gratiae Dei in Christo est Ambr. in Ephes 1. Causa efficiens interna propter quam Deuâ— nos regenerat est meritum justiâ—ia obedientia Christi Polan 2. The blood of Christ is the moral and meritorious cause of our Sanctification all blessings and graces come down from the Father of Lights through the Sun of Righteousness both grace and glory holiness and happiness flow in to us through the Channel of Christs blood The blood of Christ is both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both the Price of our Redemption and the Laver of Regeneration also as is evident by these Scriptures Heb. 9. 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ who by the Eternal Spirit offer'd up himself without spot to God purge your consciences from dead works c. 1 Joh. 1. 7. The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin fâ—om the guilt and filth of sin Heb. 1. 3. He by himself hath purged our sins Heb. 13. 12. And that he might sanctifie the people with his own blood he suffered without the gate As a price is said to do that which a man doth by that power the price purchaseth so the blood of Christ is said to cleanse us because the Office or Power whereby he sanctified us was conferr'd upon him sub intuitu pretii under the condition of suffering for it was necessary that Remission and Purification should be Morte sua Christus est meritus resurrectione efficaciter regenerations in nobis applicat Syntag. Polan p. 467. both by blood Heb. 9. 22 23. Christ by his bloody death merited impetrated and obtained of his Father the spirit of holiness faith the word promises and all spiritual blessings in order to his peoples sanctification Ephes 1. 3 4. Phil. 1. 29. Had it not been for this moral and meritorious cause the blood of Christ which is the sole foundation of the Spirits efficiency of the Faiths existence and instrumentality of the Word and Promises operation and efficacy we should never have felt the efficiency of the Spirit nor the working of Faith nor the effectual operation of the Word and Promises in the Purification of our Natures or in the conversion of our souls to God This purifying vertue of the blood of Christ was typically held forth by divers kinds of offerings and washings oblations and ablutions under the Law and other ceremonia observances which the Apostle hath reference to Heb. 9. 13. The blood of Bulls and Goats anâ— the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctified to the purifying of the flesh that is legally and carnally sanctified them and made them externally pure and holy as to the Church into which they were incorporated But that which was legally and carnally in the Type was really substantially and spiritually effected in the Antitype the sacrifice of Christs body typified by that bloody sacrifice of beasts as ver 14. following asserteth How much more saith he shall the blood of Christ c. Thus 't is clear that the blood of Christ is the moral and meritorious cause of our Sanctification yea and the procuring cause of all other blessings causes helps and means which by divine order and appointment concur to co-operate in the production and progress of our Sanctification 3. What is the material cause of our Sanctification I answer As the Filiation or Sonship of 3 The material cause Christ is the material cause of our Adoption and as the full satisfaction of Christ to the Justice of God is the material cause of our Reconciliation and as the perfect righteousness of Christ as God-man is the material cause of our justification so I humbly suppose the perfect purity of Christs Humane Nature by the Hypostatical Union united to the divine in one persâ—n and the unmeasurable fulness of the spirit in him is the material cause of our Sanctification all the holiness that is in us is but the beaming forth of his holiness a ray of his glory a measure of his spirit a sprinkling of his Unction an over-flowing of his fulness for of his fulness we receive and grace for grace Joh. 1. 16. In a word 't is the communication of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Divine consortes naturae So Montanus 4. The Saints are there said to be partakers of the Divine Nature But how not that we are Christed into Christ or Godded into God as some of late daies have most absurdly if not blasphemously imagined We cannot be partakers of Gods Substance or Essence for that is incommunicable to any creature but believers partake per Christ of the communicable divine qualities and perfections as wisdome knowledge righteousness holiness c. Col. 3. 10. Ephes 4. 24. This glorious Image of God we lost in the first and have
Heb. 1. 3. God c. than in all the creatures in the world besides 6. Holiness is the life of God and this is more a man may see his Image but no man can see his life Grace is called the life of God Ephes 4. 18. Being alienated from the life of God Now what is Gods life and what is a Saints life Gods life consists in this in willing himself the chiefest and highest good and in acting for his own glory as the ultimate end and Vita est in se reflexio in ordering all things to this blessed end this is the excellency of the life of God and a Saint through grace lives this life he propounds God to be his chiefest good and the glory of God as the utmost end of all his actings and the wâ—ll of God revealed in the Word he makes his Rule and drives on all his designs to this end And this is the excellency of the life of Sanctification which a Saint in his measure lives he acts from right principles by a right line to a right end the perfection of which life the blessed spirits live in heaven 7. Sanctification or holiness is the Nature of God we are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 partakers or Communicants of the Divine Nature a very 2 Pâ—t 1. 4. high expression This place I have already opened and cleared it of absurdities By Divine Nature in a word is meant the Divine qualities c. Grace is nothing else but the reflexion or the sparkling forth of the Divine Nature that is in God himself 't is a ray from his glory a beam from his Sun every Saint is a Diamond of Christs own pointing shining with light and lustre in some measure like himself One spark of this Divine Nature is of greater worth and value than rubies than the Topaz of Ethiopia in a word than all the treasures of the earth nil to be compared to it 8. Sanctification is the Glory of God in the soul of man which is higher yet than all the former Rom. 3. 23. all have sinned and are come shor◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deficiuntur of the glory of God i. e. of the glorious estate of holiness in which we were created and also of the glorious estate of happiness Adam was planted in a glorious place Paradise adorned with a glorious Ornament viz. holiness the Image and Glory of God but through sin he fel from both Now holiness the glory of man and the glory of God as to man lieth in the dust but when in sanctification the Image of God is renewed in and restored to the soul the glory of God and man returns again Holiness is Gods great Title of Honour Exod. 15. 11. Who is like unto thee among the Gods glorious in holiness c. God is said in Scripture to be rich in mercy plenteous in redemption great in Eph. 2. 4. Psa 130. 7. Psa 147. 5. Exod. 15. 11 power infinite in understanding but glorious in holiness 'T is the glory of all his works Psal 145. 17. The Lord is righteous in all his waâ—es and holy in all his works his holiness shines forth in all his Providences 'T is the glory of all his Attributes his blessed Attributes are as it were enamelled with holiness else his Soveraignty would look like Tyranny else his patience would look like indulgence of sin else his Justice would look like cruelty else his special distinguishing mercy would look like respecting of persons or partiality All the Attributes of God run in the Channel of his holiness and partake of its tincture This glorious Attribute is the ground of the Songs of praise which are sung to his glory by the Seraphins Isa 6. 2 3. Holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole earth is full of his glory which is repeated Rev. 4. 8. Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come Why is Gods day honourable but that 't is holy Why is Christs Spouse beautiful but that she is holy Why are the Angels of God such glorious creatures but that they are holy take away holiness and they would soon turn devils of darkness As sin is the basest filth dishonor and shame so è contrario holiness is the highest honour the greatest glory in or upon any rational soul Upon all these considerations how glorious is Holiness But to proceed 9. Sanctification exalts a Saint above his Neighbour it lifts him up above the Sphere and Region of other men Prov. 12. 26. The righteous is more excellent than his Neighbour Perhaps a Saint is a poor mean man in the world and his Neighbour a rich man a great man a Knight or Lord worth several hundreds or thousands a year but yet the righteous a person vested with the righteousness of Sanctification is far more excellent in the esteem of God than the graceless great ones of the earth for all their Lands and Lordships for all their their Noble Parentage for all their Eschutcheons Ensigns and Titles of Honour the Saints are the excellent in the earth The Saints in regard Psa 16. 3. of Saintship are Gods peculiar treasure his choice Jewels all others God reckons but Mal. 3. 17. as Luggage and Lumber The vast difference between man and man lies in this one in all his glory is but a branch of the old stock and hath but the Image of the earthly but the other is transplanted into a new stock the tree of life and hath the Image of the heavenly engraven 1 Cor. 15. 49. in his soul 10. Sanctification must needs be excellent because 't is one great end and precious attainment of the death of Christ Tit. 2. 14. Christ gave himself for us not only to redeem us but also to purifie us Again Christ came into the world and was incarnate not only to save us from our enemies and from the hands of all that hate us which implies Redemption but also that we might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousnesse all the dayes of our life and this takes in Sanctification Further the Apostle John tels us that for this purpose the Son of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appeared that he might unloose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dissolvere opera Diaboli Montan See the Dutch Annot on the place or dissolve the works of the Devil 1 Joh. 3. 8. What are these works of the Devil which Christ came to dissolve they are lusts and sins Christ dissolves these works two wayes 1. By suffering the punishment of them in his own person Heb. 2. 14. 15. 2. By regenerating his people by his Spirit and thereby delivering them from the dominion and slavery of sin The Apostle Paul tels us that Christ gave himself for his Church that he might sanctifie it and present it a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle c. Ephes 5. 25 26. And without controversie Sanctification is as honourable
Heb. 5. 2. or Standard-bearer among Ten thousand as the most mighty merciful and every way glorious and compleat Saviour God hath made him your All in All He is of God made unto us wisdome righteousnesse c. Now God requires you should honour the Son as he hath honoured him for in honouring the Son you honour the Father and that in the highest manner God expects you should receive him as he hath offered him Oh then give glory to him by receiving him * Justifying faith is defined in short to bee a Cordial accepting of Christ as Lord Saviour in all his Offices c. So Dr. Preston Mr. Wil. Strong Mr. Baxter c. by accepting of him for your Lord and Saviour Embrace your blessed Saviour in the armes of Faith vail your souls to him close with him cling and cleave to him glory and rejoice in him draw down vertue daily from him lay all your wants upon him the oftner you come to him the more welcome and the fuller and richer you shal go from him As God hath made him your All in All so believe Joh. 1. 16. in him and make use of him as your All iâ— All. Now is this precious faith this faith unfeigned this faith of Gods Elect wrought in your souls yea or not Know assuredly if you are sanctified in Christ Jâ—sus if you are Godâ— workmanship created in Christ Jesus c. Ephes 2. 10. This precious grace is wrought in yoâ— called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the work of God * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 6 29. This is the work of God that you believe in him whom he hath sent Where this precious Faith is 't is alwayes found with these precious principal properties or vital operations 1. It Animates 2. It Purifies 3. It Fructifies 4. It Pacifies 5. It Operates 6. Amplifies 7. It Corroborates 8. It Exhilarates 1. Faith Animates enlivens and quickens the soul of man it is such a principle of spititual Life that a Believer doth not so much live as Christ by faith lives in him The spirit of Faith I am certain if not faith it self which of all graces leads the Chorum is the forma informans whereby a man before both legally and morally dead is now enlivened and lives to God Gal. 2. 20. Hab. 2. 4. Rom. 1. 17. Heb. 10. 38. Our whole life here is a life of Faith our life hereafter is a life of Vision or Sight here we walk by faith and not by sight 2 Cor. 5. 7. How sweet and heavenly is that Life which is derived from and maintained by the life of Christ himself 2. Faith purifies where there is life there is motion where faith is there is purification A Believer having a vital principle like a living Fountain labours to work out the mud of sin to cleanse and purge it self from inward filthinesse so as not to approve it allow it or mingle with it Acts 15. 9. having purified their hearts by faith as sicknesse is poyson to the blood and spirits so is sin to the soul now as all the spirits in their natural motions tend to self-preservation so the spirit of faith or the spirit by faith musters together and stirs up all the powers of the Inner-man for self-purification without purification there can be no preservation and Faith is the principal grace that purifies 3. Faith fructifies a living faith is a working a fructifying or a fruit-bearing faith as the Apostle James demonstrates James 2. 14 to the end They that are purified by faith in the blood of Christ are zealous of good works Tit. 2. 14. How many Believers at large are there that look green and fair and make a brave flourish afar off but come near them and well observe them view their hearts and their lives or their hearts by their lives and works and you shall finde them like the barren Fig-tree which Jesus saw full of leaves but without fruit to relieve him in his hunger the Curse of barrenness will strike to the hearts of such Professors as it did to the heart of that Fig-tree By Faith we have Union with Psal 36. 9. Jer. 2. 13. Joh. 15. 1. Rev. 22. 2. Christ the fountain of Life the fountain of living waters the True Vine and Tree of Life that grows in the midst of the Paradise of God All these Metaphors bespeak abundant fruitfulness and that of the choicest fruit The grapes of Canaan the graces of the Spirit the works of Righteousness and Acts of charity and mercy to the praise and glory of God by Jesus Christ In a word have you faith in Christ Jesus and hope in Heaven why then yee bring forth fruit as they do all the world over that have recieved the grace of God in truth Consider well 1 Col. 4. 5 6. 4. Faith pacifies as well as fructifies as it fructifies a barren Desart and makes the wilderness and solitary place to blossom as the Rose as Lebanon Sharon and Carmel so it pacifies Isa 35. 1 2 a troubled Conscience it stils the rage and surges of this Sea As once Christ said to the Winds and Waves so faith in the name and power of Christ speaks to the perplexed soul peace and bee still and there is a great calm Christians would live more the life of peace if they lived more the life of Faith the more of faith the less of servile fear being justified by faith we have peace with God c. Rom. 5. 1. Phil. 4. 7. And this peace of God passeth all understanding When the Clouds of Temptation Dr. Tho. Goodwin in his Vanity of Thoughts and the winds and waves of passion are up a few thoughts of Faith will quiet all as * a worthy Man observes There is no peace saith my God to the wicked Isa 57. 21. but a true Believer hath peace with God through Jesus Christ the Prince of peace he hath peace in Heaven and peace on Earth peace with God and peace with his own conscience for the Kingdome of God is righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14. 17. 5. Faith operates it acts and works by love Gal. 5. 6. for in Jesus Christ neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but Magnes amoris amor faith which worketh by love Faith worketh love wee love God when by faith wee apprehend that God loveth us first 1 John 4. 19. we love him because hee first loved us and as faith works love so it works by love Faith is the great Wheel the principal Grace that animates actuates moves influences love patience zeal and every other grace that sets all other wheels a going that quickens and strengthens all other graces in their proper respective motions and operations In the 11 Chapter to the Hebrews Faith is represented as the principle of Obedience The words of Dr. Bates in his Sermon upon Heb. 11. 6. conveying vigor and strength to other graces whereby they
Sanctification and give distinct glory to each Person 1. Consider the love of the Father in Election 'T is from the love of the Father that we are blessed with all Spiritual blessings c. that Eph. 1. 3 4. we are chosen in Christ that we might be holy c. Christ himself was a gift of the Fathers love for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son c. this was unutterable John 3. 16 and unconceivable love indeed wherefore give due praise to the Father 2. Consider the wonderful love and merit of the Son his love was transcendent his merit was Infinite wherefore to him that hath loved Rev. 1. 5 6 us and washed us from our sins in his own blood â—nd hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen It was superlative love in Christ to lay down his precious life to spill his precious blood for you Gal. 2. 20. Christ by the merit of his blood the price of your Sanctification hath impetrated and obtained of the Father the holy Spirit with all the gifts and graces of the same for your sanctification and salvation see John 16. 7 13. John 14. 16 17. 3. Consider the infinite power and efficacy of the Spirit The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead called the Spirit of Holiness Rom. 1. 4. quickens the Saints to a new life and dwelleth in them Rom. 8. 11. This new life of holiness which is in Christ Jesus is by the Spirit of life imparted to you Rom. 8. 2. For the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus Rom. 8. 2 hath made me free from the law of sin and death Holiness in us is the fruit of Christs Purchase the product of his merit the sprinkling of his Unction a parcel of his Fulness and a measure of his Spirit we have as great need of his Spirit to sanctifie us as of his blood to â—â—stifie us yea the Eternal Spirit was indispensibly needful to sanctifie and dignifie the blessed Sacrifice of Christs Humane Nature upon the Cross or else I must profess my Ignorance of that Text Heb. 9. 14. 'T is not only the power but the exceeding greatness of the Spirits power to raise up a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Supoâ—eminens magnitudo virtutis ejus So Montanus person morally dead to an estate of newness of life 't is a work proportionate to that power God wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the Heavenly places Eph. 1. 19 20. Notwithstanding the Fathers Election and the Sons Redemption yet without the Spirits Efficacy we had all at this day lain rotting like stinking Carrion in the Grave of sin and death Gods Mercy Christs Merit and the Spirits efficacy must have their distinct glory The Father is said to sanctifie the Son to Sanctifie It is very oâ—servable that all the three Persons challenge an equal share in the working of holiness in the creature it being such a part of Gods Gâ—orie Mr. Burroughs Saints Treasury p. 16. the Spirit to sanctifie but with their distinct Idioms or Characters our sanctification is from the Father in the Son and by the Spirit the Inchoation is from the Father he is the prime original the Dispensation is by the Son he is the way of Communication the Application and Consummation is by the Spirit he receives of the Father and the Son and shows it unto us that is he works grace or holiness in us Thus all the persons work jointly and yet distinctly the love of the Father makes way for the Mediatorship of the Son and the Mediatorship of the Son for the Officâ— of the Spirit The Sanctification of the Spirâ—t is as necessary as the blood of Jesus you may see 1 Pet. 1. 2. how all the persons have their distinct operations Communion with the Spirit is as sweet and choice a priviledge as the Grace of our Lord Jesus or the Love of God the Father 2 Cor. 13. 14. Thus sanctifie the Name of God give Glory to the Father Son and Spirit to the Triuni Deo the three one God three in Persons one in Essence and Nature for your Sanctification Use 2 It Jesus Christ be made of God Sanctification to us the Procuring Meritorious and Moral cause of our Sanctification then primarily and principally let your thoughts ascend to God the Father as the supreme original of your Sanctification let not your thoughts stop or stay till they center in him 'T is the Father who of his own will hath begotten us by the Word of Truth 't is God the Father of Jam. 1. 18. our Lord Jesus who of his aboundant Mercy hath 1 Pet. 1. 3 begotten us again c. Therefore we ought to bless and exalt his aboundant Mercy as the Apostle doth 'T is the Father the Heavenly John 15. 1 2. Husbandman that purgeth the Branches that they might bring forth fruit As we ought to believe in Christ the Mediatour so in God as the first Fountain and Authour of Grace and as the ultimate end of our happiness 1. As the Fountain of all Grace John 3. 16. God so loved the world that he gave c. Ephes 2. 4 5. God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us when we were dead in sins hath quickened us together with Ephes 2. 4 5. Rom. 4. 24 Christ We must believe in him that raised our Lord Jesus from the dead He that believeth in me believeth not in me but in him that sent me there not is not negative but corrective not So Dr. Manton Expounds it in his Commentary on Jude only in me but his thoughts must ascend to the Father also who manifests himself in me for God was in Christ reconcâ—ling the World to himself c. 2 Cor. 5. 19. 2. You must believe in God as the ultimate end of your happiness Christ suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us Pet. 3. 18 to God When the Mediatour brings the Soul into peace with God by Justification and into the likeness and fellowship of God by Sanctification he hath attained he utmost end of his Mediatourship and the Soul hath attained its chiefest good and utmost hâ—pâ—iness therefore is it said that the Saints by Christ do believe in God c. Pet. 1. 21 I would not wittingly or willingly speak a word for a world to detract any thing from the honour of my blessed Saviour or from the glory of the sacred Comforter but to rectifie your understandings and to heighten your apprehensions of the Fathers love because many Christians carry all things in the Name of Christ and of the Spirit being more apprehensive of the Sons love and of the Spirit 's grace than of the Fathers aboundant mercy Give me therefore leave to subjoin these
not 't is wrought in us by the power of the Holy Ghost 2. Sanctification is not a common work the making of man at first was not a Common but a special work let us make man after Gen. 1. 26 our own likenesse the making of other creatures was by the word of power but the making of man was an act of counsel And sure I am the forming of Christ in the soul the new workmanship created in Christ Jesus to good Ephes 2. 10 works is one of the greatest and most glorious works of God farre surpassing the Creation of Heaven and Earth Wherein God shews himself an Artist to the uttermost Sanctification is the decking of the soul with Christs Image a representation of God in his highest Excellency and this is not a common but a special Priviledge a divine Ornament which God bestows on none but upon his choice Favourites a special and peculiar people 1 Pet. 2. 9. Use 4 Let all such that are in some measure sanctified or that truely desire to be sanctified wait on God till the work be accomplished Though your wills be perverse and obstinate God can bend and bow them God never made a Creature too strong for himself he that hath begun the good-work in you will Phil. 1. 6. perfect it he is able to do this thing in us and for us and he is faithful in the performance of his Promises to us 1. He is able Who hath resisted his will His Rom. 9. 19 Isa 59. 1 Phil. 3. 21 1 Thes 5. 24. Heb. 10. 23 hand is not shortned He by the mighty power of his Spirit can subdne us and all things to himself 2. He is faithful Faithful is he that hath promised who also will do it Believe O ye doubting desponding Souls in the veracity fidelity and immutability of the great and good God Hear what God and not what the Tempter speaks God hath promised to work in you to will and to do Phil. 2. 13. That Assertion carries along with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Et velle perficere These words are a Meiosis it the nature of a Promise Hath not the living and true God Promised in the New Covenant to sprinkle you with clean water to circumcise your hearts to put his Law into our mindes to write his Law in our hearts to take away the heart of stone to give us the ministration of his Spirit not to quench the smoaking Flax that is to kindle it not to break the bruised Reed that is to strengthen it and to send forth Judgement unto Victory that is to carry on the work of Sanctification in the Soul in spight of all opposition till it be compleat in Glory Oh then What remains but that we should all act Faith upon Gods power and faithfulness in making good his Promises or else wee shall discomfort our selves needlesly and dishonour God exceedingly And withal remember 't is very expedient to turn these Promises into Prayers and act Faith on them in Prayer The Promises are as so many Bills under Gods own hand which in the name of Christ we ought to present to the Father and to put them in suit at the throne of Grace Thus come in Faith and ye shall go away with Comfort Use 5 As a consequent of the former let such as are distressed through the sense of Sin and for want of holiness look up to Christ Jesus for Sanctification he of God is made unto us Sanctification believe in the Joh. 6. Joh. 14. 1 Mediatour in him whom God hath sent honour the Son as ye honour the Father God hath so appointed it Look up to him all ye the ends of the Earth and be saved so look Isa 45. 22 up to him and ye shall be also sanctified be daily looking up to Jesus the Author and Finisher of your Faith the Alpha and Omega of your holiness Heb. 12. 2. Look up to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aspicientes in illum Isa 61. 1. 1 Joh. 1. 7 Christ for the Spirit of Sanctification from Christ if ever ye would partake of his Unction The Christal stream wherein we are washed and made clean flows out of Christs own heart The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin Faith makes Application of this blood and so it purifies you may be poring long enough on your own filthiness and be filthy and dejected still unless you look up to this Fountain and see Christ given of God for your Sanctification you must apprehend him as the Lord your Righteousness and also as the High-Priest of your holiness else your Consciences will never be pure nor peaceable Naaman by the Prophets order was to go down and dip himself seven times in Jordan if he would be cured 2 Kings 5. 10. So by Gods order and appointment you must go down daily by the renewed Acts of believing to this Fountain and bathe and wash thy unclean Soul in the streams of this Jordan I mean Christs blood if ever thou wouldest be healed of thy sinful Leprosie Use 6 My sixth Use shall be to press us all to a serious sense of our absolute need of holiness Sanctification is not a thing indifferent which a man may have or not have and yet be happy no such matter You must be holy if ye will be happy 't is the unum necessarium the one thing needful Luk. 10 42 Prov. 4. 7 Sanctification is the principal thing Sanctification is the Wedding-Garment which renders ye amiable in the eyes of the King of Heaven without this the King will say Binde him hand and foot and cast him into outer darkness Mat 22. 12 13. Certainly this Wedding-garment is woven of the glorious beams of the Sun of Righteousness 't is both the Righteousness of Christ imputed and imparted Christs Righteousness say others with Faith and Holiness So Calvin and other Modern Writers The Graces of the Spirit are as Parliament Robes The Peers say some by rule of Peereage are not to sit in Parliament without their Robes The Graces of the spirit are the Jewels of the Covenant and Robes of Heaven No living or reigning there no sitting in Heaven as Peers of State as Kings and Priests without these Robes of Glory the Righteousness of Christ for Justification and the Graces of Christ for Sâ—nctification without all this white Linnen the Righteousness of the Saints Sanctification is the Seal or Mark of Heaven There is a Necesse est put upon Sanctification 1. For the honour of God of each Person in the Trinity â— For our own happiness 1. For the honour of the Father that his choice be not disparaged 2. For the honour of the Son that his Members be not deformed nor polluted 3. For the honour of the Holy Spirit that his charge may not miscarry or fall short of Glory 1. For the Honour of the Father whose choice we are we are chosen in Christ to be holy Ephes 1. 4. and
Angellorum Candidati of Gods Glory is the Saints heaven Swine know not what to do with Pearls nor carnal creatures with the life and joyes above Suppose that which is not to be supposed were it possible an unsanctified person should go to heaven that holy place and holy Company would be an hell to him he would be as Coelum est altera Gehenna damnatorum weary of heaven as ever water was of running according to the Proverb If the faint Image of God in his Saints if the glympse of Gods presence in his Ordinances be so irksome and unpleasant to an unholy soul here Oh how terrible and contrary to his spirit would the most glorious Presence of God in heaven be where the Seraphims cry continually Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabaoth c where God displayes his holiness in the greatest splendor and glory God is perfect light Isa 6. 3. Revel 4. 8. 1 Joh. 1. 5. the man is darkness they could never agree together An unsanctified person indeed may desire Heaven as a disproportionate good as a place better to be tolerated than the torments of hell he may desire heaven as a privation of suffering and misery but not as a privation of all sin nor as the perfection of Grace and holiness nor as it is the nearest union of the soul with God and the highest fruition of the chiefe good Thus for him to desire or long for Heaven is against the very grain and hair of his spirit altogether inconsistent with and contrary to his old untenewed nature Now on the contrary the Saints whose eyes are enlighted with the eye-salve and by the prospective of Faith have Rev. 3. 18. had a view of this King and Kingdome these Isa 33. 17. make a right Scheam or draught of Heaven and their believing hopes of interest in this 2 Cor. 5. 17. If any man be in Christ he is a new Creature Gloria quam habebunt conformem Christi corpori corpori incomprehensibilis est Calv. in Phil. 3. 21. Kingdome and of communion with this Company that is above do engage them to purification 1 John 3. 2 3. He that hopes and longs to see Christ as he is and to be like him both for constitution of soul and temper of body he must ever labour to be holy and he will be trying and practising here on earth to conform to Christ before-hand He that expects that his vile body shall be made like Christs Glorious body 1 in spirituality purity clarity strength splendor and Glory he will possess his Vessel in sanctification and honour hee dares not use his body meerly as a streiner for meats and drinks nor as an unclean channel for lusts to pass through but he will honour it as a Temple of the holy Ghost his mind that shall see God he will not fill with chaffe and vanity with worldly cares or unclean thoughts his affections that should cleave to God intensively and inseparably he will not prostitute to every base object he will labour to keep his garments clean to walk without spot and blamelesse till the coming of the Lord. Thus with respect to the fruition of our hopes and the attainment of our happiness we are engaged and not engaged only but enclined and sweetly constrained also to habitual and actual holiness or as the Apostle excellently phraseth it to cleanse our selves from all fil hiness of flesh and spirit and perfect holiliness 2 Cor. 7. 1. in the fear of the Lord. Use 7. In the seventh place This point informs us of the excellency of Sanctification or Holiness ye have heard already much of its absolute necessity now something of its transcendent Excellency Holiness is the Name of God the Will of God the Work of God the Seed of God the Nature of God the Image of God the life of God the Glory of God the lustre and splendor of the soul the health and vigour of the soul the soul of man is the Physical Image of God but the holiness of the soul is the Ethical or qualitative image of God 'T is the seed of Glory the beginning of Heaven the first fruits and fore-runners of eternal Life 'T is a known Maxim That which partakes of the nature of the whole is Quicquid participat de naturâ totius est pars totius a part of the whole the filings of Gold are Gold ramenta auri sunt preciosa Grace is very precious true sanctifying saving grace is Glory The holy people are the most precious honourable people in the world Since thou wast precious Isa 43. 4. in my sight thou hast been honourable and I have loved thee c. The righteous is more excellent Prov. 12. 26. than his Neighbour See how many honourable Titles God doth honour his Saints in Scripture with 1. They are his portion Deut. 32. 9. 2. They are his pleasant portion Jer. 12. 10. 3. They are his inheritance Isa 19. 25. others are the works of his hands but the Saints are his inheritance 4. They are the dearly beloved of his soul Jer. 12. 7. 5. They are his Treasure his peculiar treasure Exod. 19. 5. and his peculiar people 1 Pet. Segallah et 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are the same 2. 9. Titus 2. 14. 6. They are the Apple of his Eye Zech. 2. 8. whoso toucheth you toucheth the Apple of mine Eye 7. They are his Glory Isa 46. 13. 8. They are the house of Gods Glory Isa 60. 7. 9. They are a Crown of Glory Isa 62. 3. 10. They are the Throne of God Exod. 17. 16. the words may be read thus because the hand upon the Throne of the Lord and so by many they are translated 11. The Throne of Glory Jer. 4. 21. 12. The Ornament of God Exek 7. 20. 13. The Beauty of his Ornament Exek 7. 20. 14. The Beauty of his Ornament set in Majesty Ezek. 7. 20. 15. A Crown of Glory Isa 62. 3. 16. A Royal Diadem Isa 62. 3. 17. Lastly The excellent in the Earth Psalm 16. 3. the Saints that are in the earth are the excellent in the earth the Jewels of the world you may enlarge in your own Thoughts This then serves to inform the mistaken and blind world that Grace is no disgrace that holiness is no dis-enobling but a most generous princely and glorious thing Brave spirits as the world accounts them think preciseness an inglorious and the power of Godliness a base thing that taketh off from their Grandure and Generosity * Coguntur esse mali ne viles habeantur Salvian Salvian complains that in his time the Great Ones were deter'd from serious holiness because it was Contemptible It was Gentleman-like to be wicked but Peasant or Vassal-like to be Godly whereas the service of God is the noblest and sweetest liberty but the service of sin the vilest slavery Though your jolly spirits think they are the freest men on earth The Apostle nips their Courage
guilt of the prophane is written in Capital legible letters upon the frontispiece of his Conversation every eye may see it As a good tree brings forth good Vita est index animi index futuri index aeterni See Mat. 12. from 34 to v. 37. Cor instar Promptuarii est bonorum malorum Pareus fruit so a bad tree brings forth bad fruit Men do not gather grapes of thorns nor figs of thistles As a good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things so an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth evil things A good man speaks good words and doth good works and the Apostle tels us Rom. 2. 6. God will reward every man according to his deeds Your hearts can never be good when your tongues and lives be bad Your Lord Christ speaks expresly out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh The doom of the prophane is dreadful to instance but in two particulars 1. The unclean shall not enter into or pass over the way of holiness Isa 35. 8. And an high way shall be there and a way and it shall be called the way of holiness the unclean See the Dutch Annotat on the place shall not pass over it c. The meaning of that place is this The true Church shall be no barren Wildernesse or untrodden Desart but in it shall be shewed the true way to salvation by faith in Jesus Christ who cleanseth us from all our sins and giveth us his holy Spirit to regenerate and renew us to an holy life but the unclean or prophane shall not pass in this high way of Holiness The dogs shall be without out of the pale of the true Church Revel 22. 15. 2. The unclean shall not enter into the new Jerusalem That most holy place and blessed state is an heavenly Mansion and preferment for Doves not for Vultutes for sheep not for Goats or Swine not for the unclean but for the holy No Anathema must be there Revel Regnum coelorum clausum est incredulâ—â— blasphemis execratis iis qui secundum carnem ambulant sed idem apertum eâ—t electis vocatis sanctis Pignet 21. 27. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lye but they which are written in the Lambs book of life The inheritance above is a possession for the sanctified and none else Acts 26. 18. that goodly Countrey the Eternal Canaan is divided among the Saints 't is the peculiar portion of an holy peculiar people but the Flaming Tophet the Lake that burneth with fire and brimstone is the lot of the prophane 2. This Point brings sad tidings to the persecutors that hate holy persons and holy things for the sake of holinesse who labour 2. The Persecutors to delace the Image and spiritual worship of Christ to pull down the honour and glory of God in the world and to root ouâ— holinesse from the earth Whatsoever these mens pretences Châ—istianos ad â—ones Et puâ—oâ—os Deus Apostolos novissimos elegiâ— velutâ— Bestiarios Tertul. John 19. 12. are as 1. State-policy as Haman told King Abasuerus when he thought to exterminate the whole Jewish Race 't is not for the Kings profit that these men should live Or 2. Fear of Rebellion these are no friends to Câ—sar as hath been the old Calumny these are Enemies to Government This unjust charge the Jews insinuate against Christ before Pâ—laâ—e If thou let this man go thou art not Cesars friend whosoever maketh himself a King speaketh against Cesar Whereas the Scepters and Crowns of Princes have no better friends under heaven than Religion and religious men Or 3. Expediency of an uniformity in all modes in Religion whereas 't is as possible for all men to come into the world with the self-same faces for figure and feature as for all men in the same Nation to agree in the same and in all the modes and circumstances of the same Religion as the Emperour wisely told that Satyrist objecting why he had so many men of so many opinions in his Army yet notwithstanding 't is the white of holinesse which they shoot at The shining lustre of the Saints spiritual worship and holy Conversation draws a Cloud over theirs and puts a check upon them therefore they hate and persecute The original moral cause of defaming the names of spoiling the goods of confiscating the estates of hating and persecuting the persons of the Saints is the inbred enmity in the seed of the Serpent against the seed of the woman Gen. 3. 15. And the Apostle speaking of Isaac the Son of the Promise and of Ishmael the Son of the Bond Woman hath this expression Gal. 4. 29. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit even so it is now 'T is said of the Panther that he hates a man with such antipathy that he will run at the very picture of a man to tear it in peeces so vile ungodly wretches acted by the Divel the old murtherer John 8. 44. hate the very picture of Christ whereever they see it These beloved are very far off from the blessed estate of sanctification of which we have been speaking that were it in their power they would not suffer a Saint to breath nor permit holiness to spring and blossome in the earth Oh that such poor creatures were made sensible what sad work they make what a pittiful trade they drive Persecution is 1 A very wicked practise 2 A very fruitless practise 3 A very dreadful practise 1. A very wicked practise condemned not only by Scriptures by the light of Nature Hanc veniam petimusque damusque vicissim by the Rules of common Equity but also condemned by the Ancient Fathers and Councels First we begin with Tertullian See saith he doth not this amount to the elogy of irreligiousnesse Videte ne hoc ad irreligiositatis elogium concurrat adimere libertatem Religionis interdicere optionem divinitatis ut non liceat mibi colere quod velim sed cogar colere quod nolim Tertul. Apol. cap 23. or may not we well call it a most irreligious thing to take away the liberty of my Religion and forbid me the choice of my Divinity so that it may not be lawfull for me to worship what I will but I must be forced to worship what I am unwilling to And in many other places this external compulsion he ascribes to prophaneness * Lex nova non se vindicat ultore gladio Clemens Alexand. Stromat 8. Clemens Alexander and Lactantius also consented to that Maxime of Tertullian The Law of Christ doth not right it self with a punishing sword Athanasius speaking of the Arians who at first forced men to their Heresie by prisons and Atque it a seipsam quam non sic pia nec Dei