you find yonr Hopes sinking then look to your Faith for the fault lies there raise that and Hope will quickly recover it self By often proving and examining our selves about our Interest in Christ we come to know it more perfectly to be assured of it Want of Assurance doth come from the want of Light in the Understanding hence that Phrase Col. 2. 2. The full assurance of understanding When we have intire satisfaction in our Judgment and Understandings that things are so and so we know that Christ is in us of a truth We had need make good proof of this for all depends upon it It is a Truth Saints are apt to question when a good Work is begun in them which they and others take to be Conversion and which indeed is so yet the Devil labours to persuade them otherwise puts in many Exceptions Tho he knows he cannot overthrow their state yet such is his Malice he would rob them of the comfort of it and hide it from them if he can He seeks to blind the minds of men to keep out the Light of the Gospel from shining in upon us and when it doth shine in he raises all the Mists and Fogs he can to obscure it he would fain turn day into night and draw a Cloud over that Day-star that is risen in our hearts and therefore we had need have recourse to Christ within us We should often have recourse to Christ within us look well upon him and consider him comparing Christ in our hearts with Christ in the Word for we may take a false Christ into our hearts an Idol instead of the true Christ as the Galatians chap. 1. 6. They had another Gospel quite different from what Paul preached to them There was no such Christ no such Gospel as they fancied to themselves They had a wrong notion of things thought they must join something to Christ did not stick to say Unless they were circumcised they could not be saved Christ himself could not save them without Circumcision We should examine our selves about this Whether our sole dependance be upon Christ or whether we join any thing with him in Justification piecing up a Righteousness partly from Christ and partly from our selves I am not against Works of Holiness and Gospel-Obedience but if we do not warily and wisely distinguish between Faith as Justifying and Faith as it orders and governs the Life according to the Rule of Gospel-Obedience we shall run into endless Disputes and never understand one another Therefore I say let us consider whether or no we rely upon Christ and his Righteousness for our Justification in the sight of God We should examine the Principle by which we are carried out to holiness of life afterward We may know this by searching our hearts and putting close Questions to our selves Whether our whole Trust and Confidence be reposed in him alone Whether we desire to be found in him not having on our own righteousness If we are clear in this and can say from the bottom of our hearts None but Christ None but Christ is the stay and prop of our Souls we have nothing else to trust in or rely upon then all our Hope of Eternal Life must needs flow from him and be grounded upon him only Here we fix and are immoveable from the Hope of the Gospel all our days Secondly By imploring the help of the Spirit to shew us those things of Christ which we read and hear from the Word Without this all our Reasonings and Considerations of Gospel Mysteries will come to little we shall not have one right thought of him We are not sufficient of our selves as of our selves to think a good thought 2 Cor. 3. 5. As of our selves i. e. not by our own Wit Parts and Learning He speaks this chiefly of Ministers And if They stand in need of help from God to guide their Thoughts and Meditations of Christ certainly private Christians do The Spirit shall teach you all things Joh. 14. 26. He will guide you into all truth John 16. 13. He shall receive of mine and shew it unto you v. 15. And therefore when you set your selves to think of any Gospel-Truth be sure you look up to God to enlighten you and to give you good Understanding of that Truth as it is in Jesus or else all your Reading Hearing Studying Discourse and Thinking will come to nothing The Help of the Spirit lies in Two Things 1. In Teaching 2. In Testifying 1. In Teaching The Teaching of the Spirit and the Testimony of the Spirit are Two Things We are Taught that we may Believe but we are sealed after we believe Ephes. 1. 13. For the Spirit bears witness not only to the Truth of the Word but to the Truth of a Work of Grace in our hearts and that must be wrought before the Spirit can witness to it and therefore Sealing comes after Anointing and is distinguished from it 2 Cor. 1. 21 22. He that anoints us is God who also hath sealed us and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts Who also hath sealed us he speaks of it as a distinct thing as a further work of God upon the Soul first Anointing then also Sealing giving us the Earnest There seems to be some difference between these Two Phrases Sealing and giving Earnest who also hath Sealed us and given us the Earnest of his Spirit in our hearts Sealing implies bare Assurance but the Earnest so assures us as to put part of the Inheritance into our hand An Earnest is something in hand but Sealing is a demonstrative Evidence of the Truth and Certainty of a Thing to the Understanding only 't is all Intellectual I shall first shew you How we are led to the Knowledge of Christ in us by the Teaching of the Spirit and then shew How we are confirmed in that Knowledg by the Testimony of the Spirit and both in order to the raising and strengthning our Hope 1. The Spirit shews us Christ within formed in our hearts then teaches us to argue from Christ within us Consider that Scripture Rom. 8. from 10. to 17. and see what work Paul makes of it how he argues from Christ within If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is life because of righteousness If the Spirit be in you then you are assured of the resurrection of the body If the Spirit of Christ be in you then you are led by the Spirit then you know that you are the children of God and if children then heirs joint-heirs with Christ that we may be glorified together So you see he argues up to a lively Hope of Glory as if he had said All this doth naturally follow from Christ being in you He that hath the Son hath life 1 Joh. 5. 12. Believers may have Christ and may have life in him and by him and yet not know that they have it These things have I written to you v.
verse is called God And he blessed Joseph and said God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk the God which fed me all my life long unto this day the angel which redeemed me from all evil bless the lads Hence Christ is called our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isa. 43. 14. Thus saith the Lord your redeemer the holy One of Israel Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel and his redeemer the Lord of hosts Isa. 44. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Redemptor ejus This word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a near kinsman as well as a Redeemer Ruth 4. 4. Blessed be the Lord which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Redeemer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Redemptor propinquus Ruth 3. 12. a near kinsman Christ was both Heb. 2. 14. ad finem vide So in the New Testamen the word used for Redemption or to redeem is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 forum to buy as in a market with ready money as in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ye are bought with a price So Rev. 5. 9. Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood And Rev. 14. 3 4. The Hundred forty four thousand were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 redeemed or bought from the earth and from among men Hence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 3. 13. Christ hath Redeemed us from the Curse of the Law emercatus as Merchants who give a valuable consideration for the Commodities they buy so Christ emendo exemit has redeemed us by buying us off The same word you have Gal. 4. 5. God sent forth his Son to redeem them that were under the Law by laying down a sufficient price Hence Christ is said to give his life a ransom for many Mat. 20. 28. He gave himself a ransom for all 1 Tim. 2. 6. The words used in those places are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 solvo to loose one from his bands as Paul was Acts 22. 30. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he loosed him from his bands It signifies also to loose from sin by the Free Pardon of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven Mat. 16. 19. The same word is applied to Christ 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ye are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ or with the honourable invaluable Blood of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As Servants under the Law were redeemed by Price or Compensation Lev. 25. 52. so are we under the Gospel we are Servi emptitii bought Servants By all this it appears That our Redemption by Christ is not a bare simple deliverance and freedom from Misery by a meer act of Power only but a real Price was paid It pleased God to redeem man in a way of Justice as most agreeable to his holy Nature who as a Righteous God punishes sinners Psal. 11. 5 6 7. Rev. 16. 15 16. Rom. 3. 26. Natural Conscience is convinced of the equity of this that a sinner is worthy of death Rom. 1. 32. Justice cannot be taken off from inflicting this Punishment but by Satisfaction given by Christ If sin could have been forgiven without it Christ would never have undergone such Sufferings as he did A Believer may plead both Mercy and Justice for the Pardon of Sin Art thou afraid Grace will not reach thee then know that Justice it self will discharge thee Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died Rom. 8. 33 34. CHAP. III. SIxthly For whom and to what end was this Price paid For all the Elect that not one of them might be lost John 6. 39. 'T was the love of God that procured this Ransom God so loved the world c. John 3. 16. Rom. 3. 24 25. We are brought nigh to God by the blood of Christ Eph. 2. 13. Justice being satisfied nothing can now obstruct the free course of his mercy towards us Christ knew he was able to rescue us out of the power of Sin and Satan undertook this when he laid down the ransom but the actual accomplishment of this in us is a work of time many for whom Christ shed his Blood are not presently freed from Sin and Satan they both have power over them till Christ by his Word and Spirit hath subdued them and set his Elect at perfect liberty some degrees of this liberty they attain in this World but not their full and perfect liberty till the Resurrection then the strong man shall be quite cast out by one stronger than himself then will those Scriptures Heb. 2. 14. Col. 2. 14 15. be fulfilled in us Our Redemption by Christ is the greatest expression of God's love to us that ever was Rom. 5. 8. Rom. 8. 32. Joh. 15. 13. Seventhly By the law of Redemption the Redeemed pass over Body and Soul into the possession of the Redeemer they become his Isa. 43. 1. vide His peculiar people the lot of his Inheritance Deut 4. 20. Deut. 32. 9. God calls them so from their Redemption out of Egypt which was a Type of our Redemption by Christ therefore Believers are called in the New Testament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a peculiar people or a purchased people 1 Pet. 2. 9. To buy is to acquire or procure unto ones self a special right in any thing so bought thus the Church is purchased by the Blood of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 20. 28. Possession follows Purchase the Purchased Possession Eph. 1. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to do something about us God does clasp us round as it were and incircle us he draws us to himself separating us from the rest of Mankind These are mine says Christ I am the sole Proprietor I have purchased an everlasting right in them and dominion over them they are my own I am their Lord and King they are at my disposal 1 Cor. 7 23. I am their father and redeemer Isa. 63. 16. A dwelling-house in a walled city if it were not redeemed within a whole year after 't was sold it was established for ever to him that bought it Levit. 25. 30. But the Saints are Christ's own for ever as soon as he has bought them he will never sell them never part with them What right did God recover in and to us by Redeeming us 1. God has an original right to and dominion over all Creatures by the Law of Creation Hath not the Potter power over the clay of the same lump to make what vessels he pleases unto honour or dishonour Rom. 9. 21. 2. God as a Creator and Judge hath a right to man fallen to dispose of him according to justice to execute his vengeance upon him To make his power known upon vessels of wrath fitted to destruction Rom. 9. 22. But 3.
imperfect Obedience pleases God 3. Whether God allows the free use of all indifferent things These are the puzzling points that are apt to disturb our Consciences till we rightly understand the nature of Christian Liberty which does not countenance that excess that too many of the Richer sort run into vying who shall be finest in their Apparel most sumptuous in their Entertainments these things are not forbidden say they 'T is true the things themselves are not forbidden but the immoderate use of them is forbidden Therefore let your moderation be seen in all things and know that your Christian Liberty lies as well in abstaining from indifferent things when inexpedient as in using them Christian Liberty relates to Conscience both thy own and thy Brothers So use your Estates that you may glorifie God and edifie your Brother and we shall not question your Liberty 't is not for nothing that so many woes are pronounced against the Rich Luke 6. 24 25 26. Read that place and also Amos 6. to v. 7. I don't quote these places that you should throw away your Riches and lay aside all Mirth no do but throw out the sin that is in all these and I have nothing to say against the lawful use of the things themselves but see you don't abuse them CHAP. V. The APPLICATION LET us labour to live in the comfortable sense of our Adoption as the only way to walk worthy of it Mal. 1. 6. 'T is a shame to do otherwise Deut. 32. 6. The best way to keep up a sense of our Adoption and of all the high priviledges belonging to it Is 1. To attend to the witness of the Spirit within us Our Adoption is a great mystery the grounds and reasons of it lie very deep quite out of the reach of a mere Humane understanding that cannot discern the deep things of God we shall certainly be at a loss in our own thoughts how to clear up our Adoption if the Spirit do not help us and make it out plainly to our Spirit from the word and when that is done we sit down astonished at the greatness of God's Love when the Spirit has satisfied us that it is so we can give no reason why it should be so but must resolve all into the Love of God in Christ that passes our knowledg Behold what manner of love is this 1 John 3. 1. That we should not only be called but really be the Children of God We must observe what inward evidence and demonstration the Spirit gives of our particular Adoption by name that is properly the work of the Spirit in witnessing to us the Spirit applies in particular the promises of Life and Pardon they are generally propounded by Ministers but there comes a word behind from the Spirit Isa. 30. 21. privily assuring a man of his Adoption You may know 't is not a delusion of your own Spirit nor of Satan Not of your own Spirit because this testimony to the truth of our interest in Christ is usually given in when we have no sensible apprehension or feeling of the Love of God to us as Mat. 27. 46. The Spirit comes in to comfort us when we are most cast down and overwhelmed in our own spirits and so not in a condition to speak comfort to our selves Not from Satan who at such a season seeks to drive you to utter despair but the Spirit strengthens our Faith at such a time sets it against all discouragement 't is not said he that feels but He that believes has everlasting life John 3. 36. And there is a feeling that belongs to Faith that none but the Spirit of God can give us the sense of hence it is that the Saints know more certainly that they are the children of God than the men of the World do that they are the Children of those whom they call their Fathers in the Flesh. The witness of the Spirit is a secret information of the Love of God and his Fatherly affection to us a still voice from Heaven that God is thy God which the heart rests in and is fully satisfied 't is more than if an Angel should come from Heaven and tell thee Thou art greatly beloved as Dan. 9. 23. The earnest of the Spirit in our hearts is more than all this 2 Cor. 1. 22. We may without this testimony of the Spirit know that there is such a thing as Adoption spoken of in Scripture but that we in particular are Adopted none can assure us of this but the Spirit by a particular application of this Grace to our selves The Spirit of God in us speaks particularly to us to our case to our state to our Souls I hope he is so speaking to you now so speaking in you at this time shewing you what interest you have in Christ and what follows upon it reasoning you into a belief of the thing in reference to your selves When the Spirit comes in as a witness 't will be believed the Spirit comes on purpose to answer all our doubts and objections to make the matter plain and evident to us else the Spirit could not be so effectual a Comforter if he did not bring convincing light along with him into our dark Souls You may put by all that we can say to you and remain unsatisfied after all the arguments that Ministers may use to convince you of your Adoption you may hang down your heads every one of you and say notwithstanding all this I fear I am not a Child of God But when the Spirit himself comes into that Soul there is no resisting the wisdom of the Holy Ghost Ministers have not wisdom enough to quiet a troubled Conscience We may set outward light before a dark Soul and yet that Soul be as dark as ever for want of inward light we may speak the truth as it is in Jesus but we cannot give you a discerning of that truth we may hold the object before you but cannot give you eyes to see it but the Spirit does both gives us a capacity to learn and take in what he teaches us I grant an enlightned mind may reason it self into some present sense of his Adoption but seeing so many things contrary to the Divine Nature in himself he doubts again and questions his Adoption and will be ever and anon at a loss wavering in this matter 'till the testimony of the Spirit confirm him which is distinct from all his own spiritual reasonings from all the right inferences that his Faith draws from the word I mean the testimony of the Spirit hath a greater cogency and force with him than all the apprehensions of his Faith can have though Faith and the Spirit both go upon the same grounds and quote the same Scriptures yet the testimony of the Spirit is stronger than the bare apprehensions of our Faith and makes deeper impression upon the mind of Believers than their Faith can which impressions are more easily retained and remembred than all the
bear him out in this act then certainly we may safely rely upon this precious Blood for our Justification That which Justifies God in his act of Justifying a Believing sinner must needs be a sufficient cause of our Justification else it could not justifie God in his Justifying act there would be no equitable reason for it besides to say that the Blood of Christ is the only procuring Meritorious cause of our Justification i. e. of the acceptance of out Persons and Performances This is truth but not all the truth belonging to Justification For my next Query is What is it that gives us an interest in the Blood of Christ in the satisfaction he hath made for sin Here nothing must come in as instrumentally necessary to our receiving and applying Christ but Faith only Repentance and new Obedience are the effects of the Faith either they are the effects of Faith or of Unbelief None will say the latter then they must necessarily flow from the real interest that Faith gives us in Christ if not I don't see how we can attain to them At this rate they must be done in our own strength not in Christ's for being conditions as some say of our interest in Christ they must be performed before we can have an interest in him It is an excellent Note of Calvin in his Commentaries upon Rom. 8. 30. Whom he did predestinate them he called and whom he called them he justified c. Scimus enim ubi de salute agitur libenter homines à seipsis incipere fingeréque sibi praeparationes quibus Dei gratiam antevertant i. e. 'T is natural for men in the business of Salvation to begin at themselves fancying some preparatory Works by which they may prevent the Grace of God and do something for themselves in their own strength that may fit and qualifie them for an interest in Christ. In this rotten Principle do many begin their Religion which corrupts their minds ever after from the simplicity that is in Christ and puts them upon seeking Justification Not by Faith but as it were by the works of the law Rom. 9. 32. Supposing something in themselves to be the first cause of their acceptance with God I wish all who call themselves Calvinists would read that place and seriously consider the sense of that Holy man in this main point of our Religion Some through mistake have counted Luther an Antinomian but none call Calvin so 'T is good to be zealous in promoting practical Holiness and Gospel-Obedience but let us be sure it be Gospel-Obedience flowing from a principle of Faith in Christ Jesus For to Preach up Holiness from any other Principle then that of Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is not to Preach like Ministers of the New Testament Faith only is required in Justification rather than to it I so phrase it because they are simultaneus Repentance and New Obedience do follow Faith let them be kept in their due place and be allowed no causal concurrence unto our Justification and we shall avoid all confusion else there will be a fundamental difference between us while some hold that Faith only gives us an interest in Christ others that Repentance and New Obedience do equally with Faith give us an interest in Christ. Some carry it as if the end of Christ's coming into the world was only to set up a New Covenant of Works upon milder and easier terms of sincere imperfect Obedience which all men are to be exhorted to and urged to the performance of upon a supposed general sufficient Grace purchased by Christ enabling all men who do not wilfully refuse to come up to the terms of this New Covenant This Opinion hath many ill consequences in it viz. Of a General Redemption taking away Original sin restoring man to a freedom of will in doing good setting him upon his own legs again to stand or fall as he comes up to or falls short of the terms of this New conditional Covenant So that all is resolved into mans own power and will all being now put into an equal capacity of Salvation by Christ and having said this they have done with Christ have all in their own hands may set up for themselves and love to be put upon duty as persons sufficiently furnished for it already But notwithstanding this specious new scheme of rational Divinity as some call it I must in faithfulness to God to my own Conscience and the Souls of them that hear me tell you plainly That they who trust in a general Redemption will fall short of their particular Salvation upon the Principles that those Universalists go upon We are all by nature dead in trespasses and sins reprobate to every good Word and Work and shall so remain till we do by a particular personal act of our own Faith come to Christ for life that we may be quickned by his Spirit and made alive unto Righteousness We must have life before we can live or put forth any vital operations we must be first quickned by Christ the great quickning Spirit before we can live to God or do any thing that is Spiritually good 'T is Faith that unites us to Christ which is the gift of God to some for all men have not Faith and till this Faith comes by hearing the Gospel we are dead in sin Christ came not only as a Lawgiver to prescribe rules of living to dead sinners but to create in us a principle of life to give us strength to perform what he requires of us as new Creatures created in Christ Jesus unto good Works All our own endeavours after Holiness while we are out of Christ will prove ineffectual we must be first engrafted into the true Olive-Tree deriving all our fruitfulness from the root that bears us else we shall quickly wither away and come to nothing No acceptable service ever was or can be done by man till Faith brings us to Christ without whom we can do nothing when Faith comes life comes strength comes a Spiritual ability to do the will of God in some measure And as this Faith increases by the daily exercise of it so we increase in Spiritual strength perfecting Holiness more and more in the fear of God Let no man think to be made perfect in the flesh Christ came not to reform corrupt Nature but to destroy it and utterly to extirpate it the old man will never learn to lead a new life die he must and be Crucified he must be put off that we may put on the New man which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness Eph. 4. 24. This is the only way to true Holiness here and to Eternal Happiness hereafter To as many as the Lord our God shall effectually call to this Faith to them and to them only doth the promise of Salvation by Christ belong 'T is the command of Christ that all should Believe on him they that do and they only shall be saved by him
before Do you find Christ hath had a quickning influence upon your Hearts is indeed become your life He savingly knows Jesus Christ who doth act towards him according to what he believes of him Let men talk of this or that concerning Christ and pretend to understand all Mysteries to have all knowledge yet unless they can shew the work of the Gospel written in their hearts as the Apostle speaks of the work of the Law Rom. 2. 15. I say unless they can shew the work of the Gospel written in their hearts I am sure they are nothing For it is impossible to receive Christ by the saving knowledge of Faith and not to have his Image impressed upon all the faculties of the Soul by that Faith which first brought it in The very conceptions of Faith concerning Christ are the very thoughts of a mans own heart so he is so he thinks so he acts even as he believes Gospel truths cannot enter into our rational Nature at any other door than that of Faith When Faith comes there needs nothing else to turn that Soul unto God Every man is an his Faith is Faith contains the true inward sense of the Soul about Jesus Christ And God is the Author and Finisher of this Faith and understood to be so by all true Believers Pray let us close up all with this for I am only now labouring as well as I can to shew you in general how Faith lets Christ into the Soul The main thing in Conversion is Faith and the main thing in Faith is the Power of God in working it These two things are principally taken notice of by all Believers They observe them in others much more in themselves Acts 11. 17 18. compared with Acts 14. 23. What notice did they take there of the Faith God had wrought in those They perceived they had received the same Faith with themselves that God had granted unto the Gentiles Repentance unto life Faith is the main thing in Conversion Christ is the same in himself both before and after Conversion So are all Gospel-truths the same in themselves only then we did not believe them and now we do It is Faith makes all the difference and the principal thing in Faith is the power of God in working it How doth Paul admire the goodness of God to him that he should obtain Mercy and believe in Jesus Lord saith he What wilt thou have me to do He never called him Lord before The High Priest was his Lord and Master before from whom he received his orders what to do against the Saints Now he is Sick of that imployment he lays down his Commission at the feet of Christ and desires he would give him instructions what to do None should be his Lord None should now command him but Christ Lord what wilt thou have me to do The beginning of Faith and Conversion lyes in looking unto Christ for Power to believe And our first Faith usually breaks out in an Outcry to God to help our unbebelief All true Converts are sensible of this they in Acts 7. 47. How did they Praise God for their Conversion They ascribe it all to him I say our first Faith in the Lord Jesus comes in with a sense of God's Power in working it and Faith is known to be the gift of God by those who have it They who begin their Faith in the strength of their own Reason thinking to take in such considerations of God and Christ and to draw such arguments from Scripture as can induce them to believe will find themselves mistaken I am persuaded the doubts and fears of many Believers have their rise from hence That they did not begin their Faith in such an humble dependance upon God for strength to believe they did not I say do this as they should And it appears that that is the cause of their fears because nothing but such a dependance upon Christ for Grace does cure them When once they have learned the right way of believing and trusting in Christ they enter into rest there is an end of all their fears There are Promises in Scripture made unto Faith and there are Promises made of Faith These so far as we may be concerned in them seem to be made to Believers quite void of Faith Though to Unbelievers remaining in unbelief nothing is promised yet all things are promised to Unbelievers going out by Faith unto Jesus Christ Or if you will I had rather express it thus These promises of our first faith of the first Grace of giving the Spirit and the like they are made to Christ in the behalf of Unbelievers such who were from Eternity ordained unto Life so many of them whose Names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life The Covenant of Grace made between God and us doth respect the Covenant of Redemption between the Father and the Son This first Faith is wrought in us in such a manner that we are sensible of the Divine Power and Efficacy of God's Grace in working it Though God doth lead out our Souls into rational considerations of Himself and his Son yet we find that these considerations do flow into our Minds from an inward Revelation made of Christ. We do know that such thoughts of God and Christ could never have come into our minds if the Holy Ghost had not suggested them In his Light we see Light and our coming to Christ is always by the Father's drawing CHAP. II. More Particularly How Christ is in us by Faith How Faith brings Christ into the Soul Or how Christ conveys himself into our hearts through Faith And also How we may discern this in our selves THis is the Point and a Point of greatest concernment it is unto us all And therefore I beseech you follow me with your strictest Attention First That Christ may be in us it is necessary that he should be first outwardly proposed unto us There is an outward Light of the letter proposing Christ to us and there is an inward Light of the Spirit revealing Christ in us It is one thing to speak Notionally from the outward Light of the Letter another thing to speak Experimentally from an inward Light of the thing it self in our own Souls Besides the outward Light of the Word there is in every true Believer an inward Light flowing through the Word from the Object or thing spoken of The Spirit reveals Christ the Object and so making us Light in the Lord in his Light we see Light As we cannot see the Sun but by its own Light so neither can we see Christ but in his own Light By Faith we go unto Christ by Faith we go into Christ and we sit down in his Light entertaining our selves with Spiritual Contemplations of his Glory I say that Christ presents himself to us in a Gospel Promise as our God and Saviour He offers himself to us as such and by offering himself or under that proposal he doth act as a Gracious
himself here under all our Infirmities And he sends his Spirit to put a Beauty and a Comeliness upon us to adorn the Bride to clothe her with beautiful garments against the day of his coming that she may be fit to stand in the Presence of the Bridegroom as the king's daughter all glorious within and without too then being perfectly sanctified both in Body Mind and Spirit The Spirit of Christ gives us access now into the Grace of God but nothing but the glorified Person of Christ can gives us access into the Glory of God Come ye blessed All are admitted into Heaven by the glorified Person of Jesus Christ. The Spirit of Christ acting now through the Word in the Absence of the Person of Christ prepares us for his coming keeps us waiting for that blessed day Rev. 22. 17. The spirit and the bride say Come The spirit saith so in the Word saith so in the hearts of the Saints that is makes them to say so The whole Church and every particular Member saith the same thing for himself Amen so come Lord Jesus come quickly If Believers were asked one by one Whether they desire the Coming of their Lord they would all agree with John and say Amen so come Lord Jesus they care not how soon Come quickly They are all of a mind in that thing The earnest longings of every gracious Soul after Christ are from the Spirit of Christ breathing in Believers kindling and keeping up strong desires in them after Christ They retain these desires in their Spirits after death The Souls under the Altar cry out How long Lord holy and true c. Rev. 6. 9 10. We are still to conceive of the Spirit as the Spirit of Christ. It is Christ in us shedding abroad his Love in our hearts uniting them to himself He will see we shall not forget him therefore he dwells in us by his Spirit to keep up love in our hearts to his Person And is not this a good ground of hope That Christ and Saints shall have a joyful meeting ere long who do thus continually remember each other The heart of Christ is towards them and their hearts are towards him They are joined together in one spirit now The Glory of the Saints lies in beholding the Glorified Person of Christ because in him they see the Human Nature so highly dignified and exalted in the Divine Person of Christ. They see the express Image of God in Christ shining out in the brightness of Glory They see the Image of Christ in themselves shining out in the Perfection of Grace When he shall appear they shall be like him which is their Glory Thus Christ dwelling in us now by his Spirit raises our Souls to the Hope of this Glory in the Text. The Application contains a Threefold Exhortation 1. That you would be persuaded to examine and prove your Hopes Whether they be well grounded yea or no. 2. If you find them otherwise not sufficiently grounded upon Christ that you would be persuaded to throw away those vain Hopes to lay them aside And 3. That you would earnestly labour every one of you to come under the Power of this true Christian Hope in the Text and then you will know where you are I begin with the First Let us examine and prove our Hope to be well-grounded upon Christ within us 2 Cor. 13. 5. Know ye not your own selves how that Christ is in you of a truth except ye be Reprobates that is such who dying in that state God will reject at the last day We should do all we can to secure our Hopes lest our Crown be taken from us Hope rises out of Faith yet we must not so take it upon trust as not to be able to give a Reason of it 1 Pet 3. 15. Hope without Faith is Presumption Hope without Faith is without a Reason a foolish Hope Till we are justified by Faith we can have no Hope but we lye under all the damning Circumstances of our sins exposed to the Wrath and Vengeance of God To be without Christ implies all misery Then we have no hope Eph. 2. 12. He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life nor shall ever see life 1 John 5. 12. We should not rest till we know this because it may be known The Spirit is given us to this very end 1 John 3 24. To shew us that we are in Christ and Christ in us John 14. 20 21. Such a manifestation of Christ to us is a great Argument of his love to us ver 21. The Spirit doth testifie of Christ John 15. 26. Besides it is a Glory to Christ to make him our Hope of Glory We render him great in the eyes of men when we look upon him as one who makes us great The generality of men know nothing of Christ but what the Faith and Hope of Christians speak him to be They understand the Language of your Hope who have none themselves How mean thoughts soever they have of Christ yet they cannot but look upon him as one greatly admired by others whose expectations from him are so high Ambition is natural to men all would have Glory tho few take the right way to obtain it The present satisfaction men take in sins may be great yet their Hopes of any future good from them are very small When they give themselves time to think they are usually surprized with some fear of the ill consequence of their sins they are under some secret bodings of some evil that will follow Let them ask their Consciences if it be not so Therefore that you may have more solid grounds of Future Blessedness search for Christ within you rest not till you feel the quicking Influences of his Divine Power and Spirit in your selves till you feel Christ living in you It is one thing to walk as men another thing to walk as Christians in the Spirit of Christ. Did we pray more to the Father to reveal his Son in us form Christ in us make us Partakers of the Divine Nature waiting for the coming down of the Spirit upon us we should be endued with Power from on High we should know what it is to do all things in the strength of Christ to have all our Works wrought in God What it is to act supernaturally which every Christian should aim at experimentally to know what it is to act supernaturally They who do so will know that they do so They cannot be well ignorant of that which is so new so much another thing from all that is Natural They are lifted up above themselves they are carried away by the Spirit of God and they may know that they are in that Spirit every such appearance of God in the Soul is a manifestation of the Spirit not only to others but more especially to our selves The Spirit bears Witness that the Spirit is truth The Spirit witnesseth with and to
our Spirits When the Spirit comes as a witness he stands forth distinct from our Spirit that the joynt Testimony of the Spirit of God with ours may be discerned from the single Testimony of our own Spirit which could not be if the Holy Ghost when giving in his Witness laying down his proposition did not stand forth by himself in distinction from the spirit of a man that the truth may be confirmed out of the mouth of two Witnesses at least in the Conscience of a Believer Some of the Heathen of old had their Extasies and Raptures were sensible they were acted by a spirit higher than their own and thought themselves Divinely Inspired when they were under the greatest Infatuation of Satan imaginable But it doth not hence follow that those who are truly inspired by God may not know it Were Christ in us of a truth we should find our selves strong in the power of his Might He that is in us is greater than he that is in the World could we take hold of this great one and go forth in his Name Spirit and Strength we should do great things I can do all things saith Paul through Christ that strengthneth me what do we then in the strength of Christ which we know we could not do of our selves I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me We should labour after some experience of this in our own selves not to rest satisfied till we can experimentally say it of our selves Without this experience we live but at a low rate do no more than others and sometimes not so much neither whereas we should hold forth Christ and walk in his Spirit having our conversation more in Heaven resisting the Devil overcoming the World denying our selves as those who are strengthned by Christ in our inward man so to do While I am putting you upon this search to feel for Christ within you as the Ground of your Hope I shall lay down Two Cautions 1. This Mystical Union between Christ and Believers this Spiritual In-being of Christ in our hearts is a great Mystery We cannot fully comprehend it in this world Some experience we now have of such a thing in our selves but a perfect distinct knowledge of these deep Mysteries is reserved for Heaven Then we shall have a clearer Revelation of the Mystery of the Trinity At that day saith Christ you shall know that I am in my Father and ye in me and I in you John 14. 20. At that day but not before In that day you shall know it perfectly now you know something you see something tho but darkly and we must be content 2. Never take that to be from the Spirit of Christ in you that leads you from the Scripture and would make you wise above what is written Some have run into strong delusions this way fancying every thing they do or say to be by Divine Inspiration What tho some are deceived in thinking they have the Spirit of Christ when they have him not It doth not therefore follow that those who have the Spirit indeed and in truth may not know that they have him One man's Error in this case cannot overthrow another man's Experience He that hath not the Spirit may think he hath him but he that hath the Spirit indeed may know he hath the Spirit Because some men mistake the Truth it doth not follow therefore it cannot be known by any When you seek for Christ in your selves and for further Teachings of his Spirit you should always pray over some Word have your eye upon some Scripture which you beg a right understanding of for no inward Revelation is now to be expected but only of things already revealed in the Word which the Spirit opens to us that is Christ in us doth this But in Heaven we have an Intuitive Knowledge of the things themselves in God who is the First Spring the First Cause the Fountain of all supernatural Truths contained in the Bible In Heaven we shall know the Truth only as it is in Jesus now we know it as it is in our Bibles we know it by the Word as a Sign and Symbol of the Will of God from whence we abstract all our knowledge of Divine things in a discoursive way But Intuitive Knowledge in Heaven is another thing there needs no written Word no other Bible in Heaven but Christ the Essential Word of God who will shew us all in himself all Gospel-Truths do center in him which shews that for us to be with Christ in Glory is more than for Christ to be in us by his Spirit here Secondly Let us lay aside all vain Hopes that confound and make us ashamed Job 6. 20. The Vanity of Hope lies not so much in the Object of Hope as in our Hope it self The Object may be real to wit Life and Eternal Glory They are gay things desirable things and they are real things too But we must see that our Hope be well-grounded If the Grounds be weak such as by no just Consequence of Reason will bear what we infer from them then our Hope is vain we must give a reason of the hope that is in us and such a reason as may answer all Objections against our Hope The Object of Hope is Bonum arduum futurum sed possibile If there be not a possibility of obtaining what we hope for upon the ground we go upon our Hope is vain and will certainly make us ashamed the issue not answering our expectation Job 11. 20. comp with Prov. 10. 28. There are Two Things which men ground their vain Hope of Salvation of Heaven and Glory upon in both which they overlook Christ and pass him by 1. Their own Righteousness so far as they can pretend to any they make the most of it grow proud of it look to be considered by God for it as if he was beholden to them for their good Lives and inoffensive Carriage that they run not into the same excess of Riot with others But alas what a sandy foundation is this to build our Hope of Heaven upon Be not offended at what I am saying but weigh it well in the Balance of the Sanctuary consider it strictly by Gospel-Light I say this We may as soon be saved in our Sins as by our own Righteousness It is as contrary to the Gospel to trust in our own Righteousness as to the Law not to do it Our Sins are not more opposite to the Holiness of the Law than trusting in our own Righteousness is to the Free Grace of the Gospel Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saveth us Tit. 3. 5. It is true a Holy Life becomes a Christian we cannot be Christians without it but it doth not make a Christian Nothing but Faith in Christ doth make a Christian from whence all true Holiness found in Believers doth spring I have sometimes told you That Preaching of Holiness pressing Holiness with little
there we may sing as prisoners of hope Zech. 9. 12. It is an helmet to receive all Blows securing the head from hurt Ephes. 6. 17. It is an anchor to keep the Soul steady in a tempestuous season Heb. 6. 19. Great is the patience of Hope 1 Thes. 1. 3. It bespeaks a troubled Soul as Psal. 42. Why art thou cast down O my soul why art thou disquieted within me Hope thou in God There is little comfort for a Christian in this world if the hope of eternal life be cut off 1 Cor. 15. 19. First The usual Effects of this Hope when it is in any other Power are these 1. Hope of Glory and an earnest expectation of the coming of Christ are joyned together and indeed they are almost the same Waiting for his Coming looking for and hastning to the Coming of the Day of the Lord Christ was called the hope of Israel Acts 28. 20. Because our Fathers looked for his first Coming and so he is now called the Hope of Glory because the Saints do so earnestly look for his second Coming 1 Cor. 17. 2 Pet. 3. 12. 2. This Hope and Prayer go together The Schools tell us that Petitio is Interpretativa spei we cannot better express our Hopes than by wishing Praying and earnest breathing after what we Hope for Would you know whether you shall enter into Glory and be Eternally Saved If you have the Spirit of Prayer you will certainly be Saved But mistake not the gift of Prayer which may be nothing but words for the grace of Prayer that lies in the inward earnestness of the heart sometimes in Groans that are unutterable If you can pray inwardly in the frame of your Hearts with Fervency and Affection in the Name of Christ this is Praying in the Holy Ghost let your words be never so few and your expressions never so broken and imperfect if the desire of your Souls be after Christ it is laid down as an infallible Mark of your title to Heaven Gal. 4. 6 7. Because you are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father Wherefore we are no more servants but Sons and if sons then heirs of God through Christ. The Spirit of Prayer is a convincing Evidence to those that have it or else the Spirit of God would miss of his end if he did not assure us by that assuring act which is put forth for that very purpose Therefore be much in Prayer If you are not in that measure of lively Hope as you would be much in Prayer for Hope Saints can't but Pray much under Hope Hope invites to Prayer and disposes to it if it be but to tell God what we Hope for which we cannot do but under some present renewed Acts of Hope which possibly we may not perceive in our selves Yet however Pray under all your despondencies for Hope that God would raise it and kindle it in you Though you pray but faintly weakly through fear and diffidence yet pray on God usually comes in with strengthning Grace in the time of Prayer He saith to the fearful Soul Fear not there is a sudden reviving a shedding abroad of the Love of God in our hearts by the Holy Ghost We may be under dismal apprehensions of of the Wrath of God in the beginning of Prayer and yet conclude with rejoying and triumphing in his Grace towards us There are many instances of this in the Psalms Faith if it be right knows not how to conclude a Prayer till it hath taken some hold of Christ for relief we cannot say Amen till then we cannot come to the conclusion till then and then the Soul rises up in a comfortable frame under some Hope of Mercy Thus Hope is raised nourished and increased in us by earnest fervent Prayer 3. Hope of Glory and Mortification of Sin go together He that hath this hope saith the Apostle purifies himself as God is pure 1 Joh. 1. 3. Every Sin in any measure Mortified brings on a further degree of Glory upon us and leaves a deeper impression of the Image of God upon the Soul you resemble him more which brings you nearer to your Heavenly State when you shall be exactly like him 4. Hope of Glory and Chearfulness under all outward Afflictions go together 2 Cor. 4. 16 17 18. We faint not because of that far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory You should always hold fast the rejoycing of your hope firm unto the end Heb. 3. 6. Gird up the loyns of your mind be sober and hope unto the End for the Grace that is to be brought unto you at the Revelation of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1. 13. We are often assaulted by Temptations outward Afflictions and inward Desertions are ready to sink our hope We say sometimes as the Church did Lament 3. 18. My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord. Our hopes seems to be plucked up even by the roots as a tree that is removed Job 19. 10. yet revives again and springs up as God turns his face towards us filling us with joy and peace in believing then we abound in hope tbrough the power of the Holy Ghost Rom. 15. 13. Directions how to get under the Power of this Cristian Hope for a Power it hath and it is nothing to us till we come under that Power 1. Labour to understand your Hopes What it is you look for from Christ how great the inheritance is A Minor under Age who is born to a great Estate is little affected with it till he comes to know what he is Heir to what Houses Mannors and Lordships belong to him then he counts himself rich indeed The Apostle prays for this Ephes. 1. 17 18. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory may give to you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him The eyes of your understanding being enlightned that ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the Glory of his inheritance in the Saints Did you know what a rich Glorious Inheritance is reserved for you this would mightily raise quicken strengthen your Hope You would count your Hope something then and rejoyce more in it That is the First Direction Labour to understand your Hopes Read over the Inventory of God's Gifts bequeathed to you in the Covenant of Grace till you can say This is mine and that is mine and all is mine through Christ. 2. Call over former experiences What God hath already done for you Experience begets Hope as in Jacob Gen. 32. 10 11 12. With my staff did I come over this Jordan and now I am become two Bands Lord I am not worthy of the least of thy mercies deliver me from the hand of my Brother Esau Thou that hast done such great things for me go on and deliver me Be not afraid of present danger but remember what the Lord hath done for you suppress
all discouraging thoughts that may arise in thee Deut. 7. 17 18 19. If thou shalt say in thine heart these Nations are more than I how shall I dispossess them Thou shalt not be afraid of them but shall well remember what the Lord thy God did to Pharaoh and unto all Egypt Thou shalt not be afrighted at them for the Lord thy God is among you and he will put out these Nations by little and little v. 21 22 We complain things go on but slowly there is little done God chuses to do things by little and little consider what hath been done and don 't make it less than it is it may seem little in comparison of what shall be yet in it self as it is 't is very great And therefore let us argue as David did 1 Sam 17 37. Psal. 3. 7 8. Psal. 9. 10 11. Psal 143 5 6 7 8. so Jehosaphat 2 Chron. 20. 7 9 12. so Paul 2 Cor. 1. 10. God that hath delivered and doth deliver and we trust will yet deliver The remembrance of what God hath done and doth do will strengthen our Hope in him for the future 3. Converse much with the Scriptures especially with the Promises that through Patience and comfort of the Scriptures you may have hope Rom 15. 4. How did David raise his Hope from the Word of God Psal. 119. in many places v 42 72. and elsewhere in that Psalm When a man gives his word to us again and again we believe him and reckon our selves sure of what we ask having so many repeated promises that it shall be done The Word of God is a living Word in this respect because as often as we mingle it with Faith it represents God speaking afresh to us in particular Faith hearing this again and again is more confirmed Faith at first came by hearing and the oftner it hears God speaking in his Word the more it is strengthned in a lively Hope of all that God hath promised 4. Look upon it as your Duty to Hope in God He hath commanded us because he knows we are apt to doubt and question his Promises It is not presumption but Duty to Hope in God relying upon his free Grace and not upon our own deserts which never begets a true humble Christian Hope but a proud arrogant Confidence in a mans self Whereas the fiducial Confidence of Hope is always derived from Faith Eph. 3. 12. 5 thly and Lastly Look unto the God of Hope Live in a constant dependance upon his Spirit to work it in you It is through the Power of the Holy Ghost we abound in hope Rom. 15. 13. That we are brought under the Power of a Christian Hope which arises from such hidden causes such deep grounds not known to flesh and blood that none but God can demonstrate the reasonableness and certainty of our Hope He knows how to beget us again to a lively Hope by the Resurrection of Christ from the Dead which is more than a Promise It is the actual accomplishing of that in another that makes it credible to us that God can raise the Dead and that as he hath raised up Christ so he will also raise up us at the last Day To the former directions add these Two things following If you would ground your Hope aright upon Christ within you so as to come under the Power of it Then 1. Consider well whether Christ be indeed in you whether you have felt the quickning influences of his Spirit in your own Souls Christ is your life Col. 3. 4. comp with John 11. 25. Consider then whether he be indeed your Life use all your Spiritual senses about this it is no easy matter to understand this Mystery There are many who lead a Natural Rational Moral Life under a Christian Profession and may be estranged from the Life of God all their Days You see how Paul distinguishes in the case lest he should mistake himself or be mistaken by others Gal. 2. 20. I live saith he yet not I but Christ liveth in me And so may a Saint now say I understand Gospel Mysteries yet not I as a man by the Light of my own Reason but as a Man in Christ in the Light of Faith by which I know not only that such things are revealed in the Word but also that they shall be accomplished unto all those who rely upon Christ Neither can I give any other reason for their accomplishment but so it is Written and thus saith the Lord. This is to speak like a Christian when we resolve all into Christ becoming fools in our selves that we may be wise in him The Life I now live in the Flesh saith he I live by the Faith of the Son of God take away that Faith and all my Hope as a Christian vanishes away You had need have a true Spiritual Light rightly discerning of Spiritual things to know that Christ is in you as your Life It cannot be known but by Faith Though Faith be very rational in all its arguings from Gospel Principles yet Faith it self is not properly an act of Reason but rather an act above Reason it carries the Understanding above its Reason to act my Understanding so as to assent to that which I have no Natural Reason for This is the knowledge of Faith a strange way of knowing which the world counts Foolishness Supernatural truths don't rise up into our Minds as the product and consequent of our Reason this is humane knowledge according to our Logick But all supernatural truths are let down through the Word by the Spirit of God into our Understandings they are too deep too mysterious and profound to be conveyed to our Understandings by the ordinary course of Reason And therefore God opens another door and lets them into the Soul by Faith Thus he writes his Law in our Hearts puts his Truth into our inward parts Where is the Scribe Where is the Wise Where is the Disputer of this World How doth God confound the Wisdom of the Wise from whom he hides these things which he reveals to Babes and Sucklings Poor humble Souls they have the knowledge of the Heavenly Mysteries and the World knows not how they came by it Whence hath this man this wisdom and this knowledge having never learned say they of Christ Matth. 13. 54. comp with John 7. 15. They wonder'd that any not brought up in their Schools should be more knowing than themselves It is an astonishment to the World to consider what knowledge poor humble Saints have of things which they do in no wise understand 2. Have a care of too gross conceptions of Christ within you You must understand the Text Spiritually As Reason brings Natural things into your Minds and gives you an Intellectual Vision of them So Faith brings Heavenly things into your Minds and gives you a Spiritual Vision of them Christ is first known to us by Faith There is no knowing him but by Believing in him no coming to
The Soul cannot bear more of God in this world than what comes in by Faith and Hope and tho we are satisfied in our present state yet we wait for a change The Husbandman is satisfied to see the Seed sown coming up in the green tender blade but the joy of Harvest is another thing Nothing but the full Fruition of all that good you are capable of to Eternity can swallow up our Faith and Hope which will be continually reaching out after those things which are before till we have attained them In Heaven there will be no need of Hope but prize it while you live upon the earth at a distance from your Heavenly Countrey If you would know Whether indeed you are under the Power of Christian Hope then try the Strength of it in your selves What it doth in you How it supports and comforts you 1. Under all delays of Providence in fulfilling the Promises can you wait the Lord's leisure and not make haste but patiently wait for what you yet see not this is a sign of Hope in Power Rom. 8. 25. 2. Doth your Hope support you not only under delays but when God seems to act contrary to his Promises to let out his Anger against you It is no easie matter for us to turn towards God by Faith and Hope when God turns away in Anger from us hiding his face It was well said of the Prophet I will wait for the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob and I will look for him 3. When things seem desperate as to all second causes in the judgment of man can you then count upon the Truth and Certainty of the Promise And 4. When you are actually surprized with Fears what doth Hope do then Doth it check your fears Doth it raise you above them Psal. 56. 3. What time I am afraid I will trust in thee In the 4 th verse it is read thus What time I am afraid I will not fear A brave Resolution I will not fear what man what flesh can do unto me What is man What is flesh to the great God of Heaven and Earth What time I am afraid I will not fear If God be for me it matters not who is against me When you can thus reason your selves out of all your carnal fears it is a sign you are under the Power of Christian Hope When Grace doth master that sinful Passion that is contrary to it that is Grace in Power reigning Grace it keeps Sin under it shall not have dominion over us CHAP. VI. How Hope rises from Christ in us higher and higher till we abound in Hope and come more fully under the Power of it FIrst viz. By a frequent serious Consideration of Christ in his Divine Person and Offices what his end was in coming into the World in taking our Nature upon him and in dying for us in that Nature We should ponder these things in our minds and be intent upon them We are exhorted to this in order to hope Heb. 3. 1. and 6. verses comp Therefore holy brethren partakers of the heavenly calling consider the Apostle and High-Priest of our Profession Jesus Christ To what end That you may hold fast your confidence and the rejoicing of your hope firm unto the end v. 6. There are Two Effects of this serious and frequent Consideration of Christ. 1. We shall know him better what he is in himself 2. We shall better understand our own Interest in him what he is to us which will mightily raise our Hope 1. We shall know what he is in himself I say we shall know this better the more frequently and seriously we consider of him This was that which raised Paul's Hope 2 Tim. 1. 12. I know whom I have believed and am persuaded he is able to keep that which I have committed to him They that know thy name saith the Psalmist Psal. 9. 10. will trust in thee By reflecting often upon Christ in us and conversing much with him we see further and further into the Mystery of the Gospel Christ opens himself more to us shines in more clearly upon us gives us a fuller discerning of the deep things of God which lye at the bottom of the Covenant we must dig deep to find them out When we set our selves to it in good earnest praying the Father to reveal his Son in us Christ will further manifest himself unto us Joh. 14. 21. That is not spoken of the first saving discovery of Christ in Conversion but of a further Revelation of Christ to a Soul after Conversion He that keeps my commandments and loves me to him will I further manifest my self So v. 23. If a man love me and keep my words we will come unto him and make our abode with him It is not meant of his first coming to a Soul in Conversion but of an after-Visit that God will give every Converted Soul who waits for him His Spirit shall teach us all things and bring all things to our remembrance The Spirit seldom makes any Repetition of a Sermon in our Consciences but it is with further light clearing up matters to us that which we did not so well understand before When we act our Faith afresh upon any Gospel-Truth which we have formerly heard and believed we grow more expert in the knowledge of that Truth we discern that by an after-Act of Faith which we could not discern by all former Actings of our Faith And thus it pleases God to supply what is wanting in our Faith and raise it up by degrees to an higher pitch making us to grow and encrease in our knowledge of Christ which makes Hope to grow and encrease in us We abound more and more in Hope the more we know of Christ. 2. Secondly We shall better understand our own Interest in him get a greater Assurance of that which strengthens our Hope exceedingly Whilst we are under doubts about our Interest in Christ questioning our state our Hope is small it runs very low Our fears being greater than our Hopes we are much dejected there is not that holy boasting and glorying in God as heretofore the Soul is now under a Cloud sits in darkness sees little or no light And it is a great Work of the Spirit of God as a Comforter to revive our Hopes Faith may hold out in some Spiritual Reasonings and Arguings from a bare Promise when Hope may fail as to any present comfortable Influence upon the Soul Faith may keep some hold of the Promise when Hope is ready to let go the things promised or at least to put them afar off from us Tho it is not impossible yet saith a drooping Soul it seems to me very improbable that such an one as I should be saved Here is Hope at a very low ebb labouring under those Difficulties and seeming Improbabilities that shake us exceedingly But God orders the matter so that a weak Hope puts us upon labouring after a stronger Faith When
to manifest the Name of God to his Elect Joh. 17. 6. to tell us all things relating to our salvation Joh. 4. 25. Therefore let us hear him Mat. 17. 5. by Christ Angels have a clearer knowledge of God Eph. 3. 1. He is seen of Angels as the Redeemer of the World and he only gives us understanding of those truths that lead unto Eternal Life 1 Joh. 5. 20. He is the way the truth and the life no man comes unto the Father but by him Joh. 14. 6. 4. What it is to know God in Christ Of this only in general to make way to the last Head which I shall more enlarge upon He that knows Christ to be God knows God in Christ this needs no proof But what is it know Christ to be God Answer To own him to be the Eternal Son of God When do we own him as such Ans. when we acknowledge him to be indeed the Christ the Saviour of the world Joh. 4. 42. Trusting in him for the Pardon of Sin Jer. 31. 34. They shall all know me from the least to the greatest saith the Lord for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more Till we know God to be a God of Forgiveness casting our selves by Faith upon Christ for the pardon of our Sins we do not savingly know the Lord. To know in the sense of the Text includes in it Faith Love and Approbation Faith in the Truth Love to the Truth and a hearty Approbation of the Truth which we profess to know testifying all this by our ready subjection and obedience to it As to know is to love and approve Psal. 1. 6. So not to know is to disallow to disown to disapprove to hate that which I do I allow not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 7. 15. I know not and therefore know not because I allow not I hate it So the Lord said to the foolish Virgins Mat. 25. 12. I know you not i. e. I do refuse reject and condemn you So Joh. 17 25. The World is said not to know the Father because they rejected that Revelation which he made of himself in Christ The Galatians in their Pagan state are said not to know God Gal 4. 8. some knowledge of God they had by the creatures but none in Christ and therefore are said not to know God This saving-knowledge of God in Christ is altogether Spiritual and lies in the spâ—cial light of Faith discerning the God-head of Christ and therefore inclining us to trust in the Merits of his Precious Blood for the Pardon of all our Sins 'T is a very gross corrupt Interpretation of that Text 2 Cor. 5 16. that the Lutheran Divines give Tho we have known Christ after the flesh yet now henceforth know we him no more i. e. say they in favour of their Ubiquity Tho we have known him as a Body circumscribed and limited to a certain place while on earth yet since his Ascention we know him so no more but suppose a Corporeal Ubiquity by virtue of his Divine Glorified Person which is in effect to deny the Truth of his Human Nature by ascribing that to it which is altogether inconsistent with it The Apostle's meaning is plainly this Henceforth know we no man after the flesh i. e. I and all true Believers since our Conversion bear no affection no carnal worldly respect to any man living Tho once we knew Christ after the flesh i. e. as the world knew him by his outward appearance only slighting and condemning that in him in his state of Humiliation which the world so much despised Then we looked upon him as a mere Man as an Impostor worthy of death therefore we blasphemed him and persecuted all his Followers This was the sense of the flesh But now we look upon him in the Light of the Spirit as the Son of God who died to save us from our sins They counted Paul's Ministry inferior to that of the other Apostles because he had not conversed with Christ on earth What tho says Paul I have not known him after the flesh as you have who boast much of this That you knew his Parents his Brethren and Sisters where he was born and bred c. Yet I spiritually know him by Faith as the Redeemer of the world tho I have not known him after the flesh as you have neither do I desire henceforth so to know him i. e. to account of him according to any mere human Endowments or outward worldly Circumstances but I judge of him according to his Divine Supernatural Excellencies and so I admire and magnifie him When Paul says We know Christ no more after the flesh flesh here is not taken for the substance of the flesh but for the quality or natural Passions of his Human body being liable to all those natural yet sin-less Infirmities of Human Flesh He was hungry athirst weary a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs 'T is not said we know no more the flesh of Christ but we know no more Christ after the flesh i. e. according to that mean outward appearance he made in the world in his state of Humiliation Our thoughts run higher now to Christ glorified in Heaven in our Nature These words Not to know Christ any more after the flesh must not be taken in Servetus's sense as if the Human Nature of Christ were now quite swallowed up by the Divine as if Christ had now put off his Human Body and was turned into a Spirit This overthrows the whole Foundation of Christian Religion Tho the Papists many of 'em seem to be against the Lutheran Ubiquity yet 't is evident That neither the Doctrine of Consubstantiation nor Transubstantiation can possibly stand without a Corporal Ubiquity and therefore both must fall to the ground as having no foundation in Scripture The Apostle's meaning is That we don't know Christ now according to the sense of the flesh but by a Divine Spiritual Knowledge as New Creatures Vers. 17. Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature CHAP. III. What a true saving Knowledge of God implies Being the Fifth and last Head WHat that Saving Knowledge of God in Christ that every new Creature hath does imply I shall more particularly shew some things first premised viz. 1. True Religion flows from and is grounded upon a right Knowledge of the True God 2. A Religion without a God is a very strange unaccountable thing no reason can be given for it 3. A man without a God is a very lonely solitary Creature he would not know what to do with himself under extraordinary difficulties and distresses if he had not a God to go unto and to rely upon 4. Man by Nature is a devout Creature he will have a God and a Religion he hath a Conscience and therefore he must have a God and a Religion of some sort or other 5. Man by Nature is prone to Idolatry grossly mistaken in the
is Let me tell you the wisest among you cannot comprehend God you cannot know him to Perfection but the weakest among you may be made to Believe what you can't Comprehend If there be any Atheists or Scepticks here who either deny or doubt of the Being of a God let them be persuaded for once to make trial of Christ to cast themselves upon the Infinite Almighty Incomprehensible God held forth by Christ in the Gospel We stand in need of that which none can do for us but an Infinite God let us not then be startled when we hear of such a God but get under the shadow of the Almighty as fast as we can then we shall count our selves safe to Eternity We may as soon comprehend the Trinity of Persons as the Infinite Essence of God both are alike incomprehensible Three finite Persons have each of them an Essence numerically different from each other but the Three Persons in the Trinity have but one and the same numerical Essence of the Godhead among them all else there would not be One only God but as many Gods as Persons From what hath been said it appears that God in Christ is the true God God indeed Which is the first thing implyed in a saving-knowledge of God The second is this viz. CHAP. V. God in Christ the ONLY True God 2. WHat it is to know him as the only true God They know not God aright who do not know that there is and can be but One only God none like him this takes us off from all Idolatry and directs our Worship to the true object of all Divine Worship This is life eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Joh. 17. 3. The Lord our God is one Lord Deut. 6. 4. I even I am he and there is no God with me i. e. none besides me none equal to me Deut. 32. 39. Who is God save the Lord Who is a rock save our God Psal. 18. 31. We are strictly commanded to have no other gods before him Exod. 20. 3. Because there is none other God but one To us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him 1 Cor. 8. 4 6. There is one God and one Mediator 1 Tim. 2. 5. To Worship many gods as the Heathens did is to Blaspheme them all to ascribe Impotency and Insufficiency to them one hand is too weak where many are required there can be but one infinite Supreme God What we ascribe to other gods we detract from the true God we are commanded to Love God with all our hearts soul and strength Luke 10. 27. If all be due unto one God What remains for any other We never truly rely upon God when we put confidence in any thing else He only is my rock and my salvation my soul wait thou upon God Psal. 62. 25. Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee Psal. 77. 25. God is one there is none like him therefore to be worshiped with a peculiar singular Worship appropriated to him only which for the height and spirituality of it belongs to him and to none else he will not give his Glory to another There is a Glory belonging to God that is truly Divine that is too much and too great to be ascribed unto any Creature When we come before the Lord if our hearts are not enlarged and extended to a further Degree of Zeal and Fervency deriving some elevation more than ordinary from the greatness and excellency of the object that inflames our Devotions makes us to be otherwise affected towards God than we find our selves to be towards other things we are not under a true sense of the Greatness and Majesty of God neither do we know him as we ought to know him they who know God in Christ do love him more fear him more rejoyce in him more than we do in other things they are carried out in an extraordinary manner towards him from the high apprehensions they have of his glorious Majesty What made the Angels and Elders Rev. 5. 12. ad finem raise their Note so high in that Doxology but because they thought him worthy of the highest Honour more worthy than all Creatures in Heaven or Earth So Rev. 4. 8. ad finem There is that in God that calls for the highest Adoration and Worship Thou art worthy i. e. It is most decent fit and convenient to pay this just Reveretce to the great God 'T is highly rational the worth and excellency of the Object calls for it 't is injustice towards God to rob him of his Glory by not rendring to him the Praises due unto his Name How was Paul affected with the consideration of God in Christ Jesus 1. Tim. 1. 17. We shall be apt to come in a slight common Spirit to the worship of God till we apprehend it to be a special peculiar Service of a higher Nature requiring more intenseness of Spirit more zeal and ardency of Affection then we exert and put forth upon any other occasion because we have to do with God who is above all If your Hearts are not now fixed upon God wholly taken up with serious thoughts of God Trembling at his Word You do not behave your selves wisely in the House of God This one only true God is known by this distinguishing Character as the Father of Jesus Christ to be convinced of the truth of a Deity and of the Mystery of Christ's Incarnation holding forth this God unto us are the Two points upon which all our Religion hangs every Gospel-truth hath relation to both these depending upon 'em and naturally flowing from them Since we all profess our selves to be Worshippers of God it highly concerns us to know that true God and that this God is but one even he who hath appeared in Christ Jesus To Worship God out of Christ is to Woiship as the Heathens do in plain English 't is to Worship the Devil 1 Cor. 10. 20. The things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to devils and not to God I would not you should have fellowship with devils I am afraid there is a great deal of Heathenish Worship among us the Devil carries away all that Worship that is not directed to God in Christ. There is no other medium of Worship but Christ 't is not the intention of Worshipping the True God in or by an Image that will justifie Image-worship from being down-right Idolatry We may be mistaken in Worshipping one God if that prove a False one Nay if we intend the True God yet as represented by that which by nature is no God Gal. 4. 8. 't is a false object of Worship All Creatures but the Devil do pay a Worship to something which they call God he only is a constant Blasphemer though he be no Atheist yet
Promise so he becomes our God he makes a Covenant with us in Christ to be our God that for his sake he will freely pardon our sins and receive us into a state of Grace and Favour again thus God offers himself in the Covenant to be our God But an outward tender of grace if not closed in with and accepted is but a bare offer not a gift till we receive it when God intends to give grace he secretly joyns with the outward call speaks himself to the heart and inclines us to receive it herein lyes the difference between an outward and an inward effectual Call An effectual Call is that which hath its effect upon the Soul makes us answer to the call and obey it we are called to come to Christ and when we actually come then is the Call effectual and not before when God offered himself to Abraham it was with a purpose not to be refused and therefore he inclined the heart of Abraham to believe You may live long under an outward Call and not be effectually called i. e. not called with such a Call as God gives his Elect at thir Conversion many are called but few chosen i. e. few called with such a Call as God gives his Elect. We cannot be sure of our Election till we are thus effectually called To be frequent Hearers of the word calling us to Christ and yet find no inclinations in our hearts to come to him is a sign that God hath not yet spoken to us himself Ministers have but God hath not yet by his Spirit set home his word upon our hearts The inclinations of the Soul towards Christ that arise from an effectually Call are very strong they put the Soul upon coming to Christ urge us to it every day there is something writ upon the heart whch he that runs may read Conscience is reading over that inward Writing every day to the Soul calls for a speedy answer why is not this done that God requires that God has left upon record in thy heart Why so backward why so slow of heart to believe Arise arise away to Christ as fast as you can run for your life to the City of refuge that God has appointed They who know what an inward Call is cannot resist it an awakened Conscience is in hast will have the business dispatched out of hand nothing can stop that man who is effectually called O that every one here present were under such a Call this day God is able to give it and I am sure none of you are able to resist it Christ is offered to us in the New Covenant as our Peace-maker and Mediator therefore called the covenant of the people Isa. 42. 6. the sure foundation of it Isa. 26. 16. The Covenant made with Abraham is said to be confirmed of God in Christ before his Incarnation Gal. 3. 17. This Covenant was made between the Father and the Son from Eternity Isa. 42. 6. Tit. 1. 2. 2 Tim. 1. 9. The first outward declaration or revelation of it was in time Gen. 3. 15. The actual application of this Grace to our selves is when we first Believe We enter into Covenant by Faith we set our seal to the truth of the Promise and receive that right that Christ Believed on gives to Eternal life Faith it self gives no right to Salvation unto us but what it first receives from Christ we have nothing to do with the promise till we are in Christ by Faith Eph. 2. 12. Rom. 8. 32. Faith discerns the Grace and Love of God to us in Christ and accepts of the offer of life upon Gospel terms which the Soul could never be brought to till Faith came Who has believed the report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been reveal'd i. e. to beget Faith which wins over a Sinner to Christ We should be much in the first direct acts of Faith coming to Christ casting our selves on Christ relying on Christ these direct acts of Faith often repeated will sooner clear up our Interest in Christ than our judging by marks signs effects and fruits which can give no clearer Evidence of their truth than Faith does of its truth in a real closing with Christ in an absolute Promise this is the first act of Saving Grace antecedent to all qualifications in us or conditions performed by us this alters our State They understand not the Gospel who keep off from Christ for want of such and such qualifications which Christ expects not we should bring to him but derive from him an humble sense of our vileness and unworthiness is qualification enough for a Sinner to come to Christ and cast himself upon him When God has once said he will be our God he is ever after minding us of that speaking it over again and again upon all occasions Isa. 43. 1 2 3. c. Isa. 41. 10. Heb. 8. 11 12. I will and they shall God undertakes both parts of the Covenant The Covenant in the first initial Grace of it must be first executed on God's part towards us before it can be executed on our part towards God God begins with us doth his part first and that enables us to do our part i. e. we cannot give up our selves to him to be his people till he has writ his Laws in our Hearts and put his Spirit within us thereby declaring himself to be our God and strongly inclining us to give up our selves to him as his People God first enters into Covenant with us brings us under the bond of it and then governs us ever after by the Grace of that Covenant freely conferred upon us There may be conditions in the Covenant that speak out the order of it what is first and what follows upon it according to the method of the All-wise God in bringing hom-Sinners to Christ But I do not conceive there are any conditions previously required in us in order to our first entring into Covenant God takes whom he will into Covenant and leaves out whom he will 't is not of him that wills nor of him that runs but of God that shews Mercy 't is a Covenant of Free Grace consisting of absolute Promises what God will do our doing comes afterwards as a fruit and effect of God's work in us That which is done by us in the virtue and power of that which is first done in us by God must be ascribed to him and not to our selves Turn thou me and I shall be turned God gives the first turn before we can perceive any such thing as Conversion in our selves God lays in the principle and then draws us in the Power of it after himself The Terms of the Covenant may be outwardly propounded to many who never enter into Covenant with God nor God with them the Covenant is never executed in them and towards them though it be often preacht to them How often would I have gathered you and you would not Mat. 23. 37. When the word of
Name comes with authority commands a due respect from us Since we are redeemed with the precious Blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1. 19. Justified by his Blood saved from Wrath through him reconciled to God by the death of his Son Rom. 5. 9 10. We may conclude from all that has passed between God and Christ concerning our Salvation that God is our God Christ has made him so When we know who is our God what he will be unto us and do for us we may enter into rest for ever rejoycing in his Salvation Two things prove God to be ours 1. His giving himself to us in a Promise 2. Our receiving him in that Promise by Faith which holds him fast will not let him go neither will God wrest himself out of the hand of our Faith for that would be to recede from his own Promise to deny himself no he will approve himself to be every way ours taking a universal Care of us and providing eternally for us causing his fulness to flow in upon our Souls more and more every day Jer. 17. 8. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters that spreadeth her roots by the river and shall not see when heat cometh but her leaf shall be green nor shall cease from yeilding fruit CHAP. VII Some further Evidences of God's being OVR God 1. LOOK into your own hearts for this see what impressions of his Love and Fear you can find there what measure of the Spirit of his Son breathing in you examine prove your own selves that you may know whether Christ be in you of a truth he who has God for his God his heart is much set upon Christ who has brought this about and by a Spirit of Adoption made it known to us that God is our Father the Spirit does not tell us this only by an external Declaration of it in the word but by an internal operation or breathing in our hearts as the Spirit of the Son inclining us to go to God as Children of our Heavenly Father We know God to be our Father by a Divine Instinct the spirit of the Son leads us naturally to our Heavenly Father the Spirit of the Son knows no other Father but God and God acts as a Father towards all in whom he sees the Spirit of his Son when we are joyned to the Lord in one Spirit we stand in the same relation to God the Father as Christ our elder Brother does then it is I and the children which thou hast given me Heb. 2. 13. All Children of the same Father I the first born and these my Brethren Being partakers of the Divine Nature that Nature tells us who is our Heavenly Father we need not say with Philip shew us the Father we shall see the Father in the Son and move towards him in the Spirit of the Son feeling in our selves such childlike affections towards God as will make us call him Father We must be clear in the actings of our Faith upon Christ before we can apprehend God to be our Father still remembring that it 's the Father of Christ who is our Father 2. By that inward satisfaction and rest we find in our selves under this new Covenant-relation to God he that believes doth enter into rest Heb. 4. 3. Soul take thine ease a Child of God may truly say so upon our believing in Christ there is a secret shedding abroad of that love of God in the Soul when we turn to God God turns about to us looks pleasingly upon us we tast and see that God is gracious this is the sinners welcome into a state of Grace he sees it much better with him than before 3. By the confidence we put in him for help and comfort in all our times of need The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want Psalm 23. 1. We see that in God that answers all our fears do we want strength the Lord is our strength would a rock or fortress stand us in any stead God is both would a Buckler a high Tower the Lord is all this to a Believer and Faith understands as much Psal. 18. 1 2. And therefore is confident in God knows that every Promise will be established God will act like a God towards us like a God to Israel as 1 Chron. 17 24 25. We may safely trust in him Dan. 3. 17. Our God is the God of Salvation Psal. 68. 20. Isa. 41. 10. We should apply to him for help upon all occasions Isa. 8. 19. And let others have a care of medling with the people of God to their hurt Jer. 2. 3. All that devour him shall offend evil shall come upon them saith the Lord. They are sensible how God stands engaged to them and they to God God promises to do great things for them and they promise to walk in his ways and to keep his statutes Deut. 26. 16. ad finem Not to do this is to deny God Josh. 24. 27. You say he is your God don't unsay it again by your wilful Disobedience When God owns any for his people he makes them to own him for their God he works answerable Dispositions in their hearts towards himself as he avouches them to be his people so they avouch him to be their God Hos. 2. 23. I will say i. e. I will make them my people Dei dicere est efficere our saying is to believe and obey when we disobey God we disown him we set up something else for our God we say unto God Depart from us Job 21. 14 15. 4. By his appearing for us against all our sworn Enemies as he did for Israel of old bringing them out of Egypt with a Mighty hand when things come to extremities between God and his People he will then save them because he is their God Psalm 3. 7. For his own name sake Isa. 43. 25. David knew the strength of the Argument Psal. 119. 94. Though God may severely Chastise his people yet he will not take away his Loving kindness utterly from them he will not make an utter end of them God cannot do this Hos. 11. 8. 5. By our zealous appearing for God upon all occasions The way of the Lord is strength to the upright Prov. 10. 29. The people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits Dan. 11. 32. 6. The Apostle Phil. 3. 3. when he would prove himself and the Philippians to be the peculiar people of God to belong to him indeed he gives Three Signs of it viz. Worship God in the spirit rejoyce in Christ Jesus have no confidence in the flesh They who say God is their God from a true saving Knowledg of God in Christ they believe there is no other God that he is the only true God Who is God save the Lord who is a rock save our God Psal. 18. 31. Above all gods 2 Chron. 2. 5. And him only will they serve Mat. 4. 10. He is their guide unto death Psal. 48. 14. They
This is the true real State of Thousands and Ten thousands in the World Could we see into their Hearts we should find it just so and no otherwise let their outward profession be what it will their inward thoughts are as you have heard let them deny it if they can I am sure if they will tell themselves what they think they must acknowledge all this to be so and no otherwise If God be not your God then he is none of yours i. e. he is against you you 'll shortly feel the weight of his Almighty hand pressing you sore and giving you an irrecoverable stroke 't is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God If God be for us Who can be against us But if God be against us Who can be for us to secure us from his Vengeance None can deliver out of his hand if God be not your God you are under the power of the Devil he is your God Act. 26. 18. Col. 1. 13. I don't ask what your Opinions are some difference may be among us there but I ask Who is your God I hope we are all agreed in this To us there is but one God and one Lord Jesus Christ If so if God in Christ be indeed your God then his word must be the rule of all your actions both Civil and Religious how careful should you be to keep his Word to do according to the revealed will of your own God you can't answer the contrary to your Consciences 'T is a reasonable motion to put you upon worshipping your own God Deut. 10. 20 21. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God him shalt thou serve and to him shalt thou cleave and swear by his name He is thy praise and he is thy God that hath done for thee great things I have not chosen your God for you you your selves have chosen him as Josh. 24. 22 23 24. Ye are witnesses against your selves that ye have chosen the Lord to serve him c. vide You say he is your God then I say you ought to Fear and Obey him For all people will walk every one in the name of his God and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever Micah 4. 5. All your Godliness lies in the respect you shew to your God If you shall still ask How shall we know that God is our God Ans. God comes himself and tells us so not only in his Word but by some particular Manifestation of himself to our Souls according to the Word John 14. 21. God does act over the grace of such a promise gives us undeniable experience of it in our own Souls that he has made good such a promise to us Here is more than a bare promise here is the Spirit of promise sealing the truth of it to our souls The Holy Ghost is called the Spirit of Promise not only because he himself is the great Promise of the Father but because he is the best Interpreter of all the promises gives us light into them all searches the deep things of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God 1 Cor. 2. 10 11 12. We take that that lies uppermost in a promise but we don't dig deep enough to discover the hid treasures that are there in the light of the Spirit we may look down to the bottom of a promise and see all that is contained in it gathering up the unsearchable riches of Christ. The Spirit makes us to understand our interest in God bearing witness to our Adoption and shedding abroad the Love of God in our Hearts so that we are full of a sense of God's love In the midst of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul Psal. 94. 19. q. d. When I could think of nothing to revive my drooping Soul thy comforts did it presently Let us wait for this particular manifestation of God to us till he know us by name as Joh. 10. 3. Exod. 33. 12. I know thee by name and thou hast found grace in my sight What an accent did Christ put upon the word Mary when he spoke to her She knew his Voice presently and turned her self saying Rabboni Master Joh. 20. 16. He first calls her Woman v. 15. as if he knew not whom she was and 't is plain she knew not who he was though many words passed between them but when he called her by her Name Mary he secretly told her his Name Jesus She did not own him for her Lord and Master till then Though all Believers have not always a full sense and assurance that God is their God yet they always cleave to him as their God they look towards him long for clearer evidences of his Love desire nothing more than that God would be their God Sometimes Grace spends all its strength in desires after more Grace so that what we have is hardly discernable by us we pray for more grace as if we had none at all though the manner of our praying argues the contrary Where there is but little Water in the Bucket we sometimes pour it all into the Pump to fetch up more as he that hath receives more so he that hath desires more and that makes him forget what he hath Phil. 3. 13. Our longing after clearer views of God in Christ may seem to obscure at least to take us off from the consideration of the present sight we have of him The Majesty of God out of Christ is too high for Mortal men to approach unto therefore consider your Immanuel God manifest in the Flesh Pray for a Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him Eph. 1. 17. 'T is granted to some but not to others Mat. 1â— 27. Mat. 13. 11. 't is a signal effect of the Covenant of Grace Heb. 8. 11. made to know that God is our God to know or rather to be known of him Gal. 4. 9. There is a mutual understanding between God and the Saints of the interest they have one in another I am the good shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine Joh. 10. 14. CHRIST The ONLY Saviour of his People from Sin LUKE I. 77. To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins through the tender mercy of our God c. CHAP. I. Some things impli'd in the Text viz. ALL men by nature are in a lost undone Estate 1. Obs. No man knows how to recover himself out of this lost undone estate 2. Obs. i. e. no man by nature knows this great Mystery without the light of the Scriptures revealing it to us and laying before us the only way of Salvation by Jesus Christ declaring all the counsel of God in this matter Act. 20. 27. His Wise contrivance for the Salvation of man by Christ called the Mysterious hidden Wisdom of God 1 Cor. 2. 7. kept secret since the World began but now is made
manifest by the Scriptures Rom. 16. 25 26. That no man knows this but by a Scripture-light appears by these Texts Act. 2. 37. Men and brethren what shall we do They knew not what to do Sirs what must I do to be saved Acts 16. 30. and 1 Cor. 2. 9 10. Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him but God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit When we were yet without strength and could do nothing to help our selves in due time Christ died for the ungodly Rom. 5. 6. This outward revelation in the letter of the Scripture 3. Obs. of God's intended Grace towards Sinners is little regarded by the generality of men they cast the Word of God behind their backs and count the Doctrine of the Cross foolishness There are Two Causes of this 1. They are not convinced of their lost Estate Rev. 3. 17. The whole need not a physician Mat. 9. 12. 2. When they are convinced I mean when they are under the highest degree of Conviction that a natural man is capable of yet they can't reach the mystery of the Gospel 't is foolishness to them nay the more they are Convinced of the sinfulness of sin the further they see into the horrid nature of it the more improbable nay impossible does it seem to them that ever their sins should be pardoned 'T is an easier matter to convince them of sin than it is under that Conviction to perswade them to believe in Christ for the pardon of sin there is something in Nature that helps forward the Conviction of sin natural Conscience joyns with the Law to accuse for sin but there is nothing in Nature that does any way promote our belief of the Gospel the first is a common work of the Spirit this latter a special saving work Therefore 4. Obs. Besides the written word which God has put into every man's hand who lives under the outward light of the Gospel God ordained and appointed Ministers to go up and down as his Embassadors to beseech and intreat sinners to be reconciled unto God and put them in mind of what is written in the Word to exhort them to read it to hear it to consider seriously of it God sends his Ministers to discourse them to expostulate the case with them so unwilling is God that any should perish but that all should come to repentance and live If any object Why may not the written word suffice without the Ministry to bring men to the knowledge of Salvation I answer All cannot read therefore they must be spoken to and instructed by Preaching Besides 'T is not for us to prescribe unto God what means he should use to fit us for Heaven he hath appointed this Ordinance of Preaching It preased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe 1 Cor. 1. 21. Therefore let it not displease us Besides should God speak to us immediately in his own voice we should not be able to bear it as they Deut. 5. 25 26 27. Therefore he speaks in our voice and language to us that he may more secretly and silently convey himself to our hearts by the ministry of man speaking in his Name and uttering his words which are capable of more of the Spirit of God than our hearts can well bear the Word of God and the Spirit of God do perfectly agree but it is not so between the Spirit of God and our hearts the Spirit enters not without opposition therefore to avoid all clamour abroad and noise in the streets God chuses this more soft easie way by putting his power into the word preached by man so making it effectual to what degree he pleases Thus God gets within us ere we are aware his word spoken by man comes home to our hearts with power in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit shewing us the way of Salvation Having thus led you to the Text by these things that are impli'd in it and must be first supposed in order to a right understanding of the words read to you which I shall now speak more directly to 1. As relating to John's Ministry in particular The words of the Text are part of that Prophecy which Zacharias uttered when he was filled with the Holy-Ghost vers 67. Concerning Christ and concerning John he begins with Christ great things he speaks of him lays open the whole mystery of the Gospel and of the Churches Salvation by Christ. Then in the same breath continuing his Discourse he makes a sudden Transition and directs his Speech to the Infant John then present as I suppose And thou child shalt be called and here is a description of his Person and thou child And of his Office shalt be called a Prophet of the highest John was to teach them the way of Salvation to tell them the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand and to call them to Faith and Repentance in order to the remission of sin The time of John's Ministry was a middle state between the Law and Gospel between Moses and Christ he is preferred before all the Prophets Mat. 11. 11. And yet as to clearness of light inferior to the Apostles and Gospel-Ministers in the renewed state of the Church though he knew more than all that were before him yet he saw less than they who came after him This John is the voice of one crying in the wilderness exhorting the people to believe on him that should come after him Acts 19. 4. Christ as Man was six Months younger than John came a little after into the world and a little after him into the Ministry it was meet it should be so John being his fore-runner a Messenger sent before to prepare the way Mark begins his Gospel from the Ministry of John because then the Judaical worship began to cease The Law and the Prophets were until John Luk. 16. 16. i. e. All the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John Mat. 11. 13. They spoke of the Messiah to come John shews he is already come in the flesh points to him Behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world John 1. 29. Therefore John's Ministry is called the beginning in the Gospel of Jesus Christ Mark 1. 1. This Gospel-Administration we are now under began in John the Baptist who brought that New-Testament Ordinance of Baptism into the Church Thus much of that which peculiarly relates to John I am now come to that which relates 2. To a Gospel Ministry in general and shall shew you from this Text what it is what you are to expect from it what you should aim at in your attendance upon it which is briefly this viz. The knowledge of Salvation for the remission of sin this is that which we are sent to teach and which you come hither to learn if you propose to your selves any other end than his you are not like
God's Justice would not permit that man should be received into favour and freed from that misery he had brought upon himself 'till a sufficient Price was paid for his ransom nothing but the Blood of Christ could quench that flaming Sword of God's just Anger that kept man when cast out of Paradise from the Tree of Life So that the right that God recovered was for the good of man a right to shew Mercy to the worst of Penitent sinners without any reflection upon his Justice That he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus Rom. 3. 26. That a Holy God should justifie a sinful man is the greatest Mystery that ever the World heard of but God who works wonders hath in his infinite Wisdom Job 28. 23. glorified his Justice and Mercy both in our Salvation by Christ. God had a special right by Election in all his chosen Ones but foreseeing the fall of his Elect he provides for their Redemption in case of Transgression Election was unto Eternal Life but sin intervening between Election and Salvation threatens Eternal Death puts such a rub in the way which must be removed or else the Elect themselves could not be Saved therefore that Election might stand and obtain its end Rom. 11. 7. God provides for our Redemption laies help upon one that is Mighty we were chosen in him in whom we have redemption Eph. 1. 4 7. God had an Eye to Christ in our Election 't is that makes it sure What wonderful difficulties does Election meet with enough if it were possible to hinder the Salvation even of the Elect Mat. 24. 24. But Christ has secured them John 10. â—8 I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any pluck them out of my hand The end of our Redemption was not to rescue us quite out of the hand of God to take us out of his power for that cannot be but to let us into his Love to reconcile us to him to bring us to a nearer conjunction with him than ever John 17. 21. That which moved God to Redeem us was his Love and Pity Isa. 63. 9. CHAP. IV. Seventhly How by tbe Law of Redemption the Redeemed pass over Body and Soul into the possession of the Redeemer LAstly The relation that Christ hath to and the interest and propriety that he hath in all Believers as their Redeemer obliges them in Reason Justice Equity and Conscience to Dedicate and Devote themselves all that they are and have to his Service to Glorifie God in their Body and Spirit which are God's All the Persons of the Trinity have a special Interest in the Persons of all true Believers 1. God the Father Their Body and Spirit are God's says the Text they are Redeemed unto God Rev. 5 9. 2. God the Son as they are Members of Christ 1 Cor. 6. 15. 3. God the Holy Ghost as they are the Temples of the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6. 19. 1 Cor. 3. 6. Eph. 2. 21. 2 Cor. 6. 16. The Spiritual House of God 1 Pet. 2. 5. If any man defile the temple of God him shall God destroy 1 Cor. 3. 17. for the temple of God is holy which temple ye are Redemption fixing such a right and propriety in the Redeemer over the Redeemed must necessarily imply obedience and subjection on our part Ye are not your own How shall we live any longer in sin Rom. 6. 2. Being made free from sin we should become servants of righteousness v. 18. Believers are not sui juris to live as they list Rom. 14. 7 8 9. 1 Pet. 4. 2. For me to live is Christ Phil. 1. 21. My business is to serve him not to comply with the lusts of men 1 Cor. 7. 23. What to Glorifie God in our body viz. When in all our outward actions we govern our selves by the law of Christ following the rule of his word and the guidance of his Spirit The Body is for the Lord who is our Head to govern our bodies in all their motions Christ is the Saviviour of the body and will raise it up to eternal life Rom. 6. 5. and make it conformable to his glorious body Our Bodies are the Members of Christ and as such they ought to subject themselves to the command of the Soul under Christ mortifying the deeds of the Body through the Spirit Rom. 8. 13. The whole man is the temple of the Lord 1 Cor. 3. 16. Our Bodies are as it were the Porch of this temple therefore we should not touch any unclean thing 2 Cor. 6. 16 17. lest we grieve the Spirit of God who dwells in us The Sanctification and Holiness of the Body is opposed to any outward pollution of it by which we do defile and dishonour the Body 1 Thes. 4. 3 4 5. If Christ has such an undoubted right to your Bodies as they are his members and temples of the Holy-Ghost then be sure you keep them holy and undefiled I need not exhort you to flee Fornication you are all convinced of the evil of that but the outward Attire I will not say of whom Prov. 7. 10. lest I put some to the blush does not become serious Worshippers of the true God a more grave sober modest Apparel would convincingly testify to others the due respect and reverence you have for the holy Spirit dwelling in you your Bodies are the temples of the Holy-Ghost do not then prophane these temples by antick exotick dresses the sure emblems of a vain mind such plumes and wethercocks as some wear upon their heads become not the Pinacle of these Temples of the Holy-Ghost Therefore if there be any fellowship of the Spirit cloathe your selves as women professing Godliness and that I may apply this to both Sexes 1 Cor. 11. 14. I must tell you it argues a very Effeminate age to see so many men's head thatch'd with Womens hair what may be brought by some as an argument in point of health for the cutting of their own Hair will never justifie what is put on by most in the room of it When you have trickt up your selves according to the Mode and Fashion of the world before you go forth to be seen of others put this question to your selves Is this to Glorifie God in my body or will it not rather open the mouths of many to blaspheme that profession of Godliness that I have taken up Answer it to your Consciences if you can He that does not keep his body in a due subjection to the Spirit of Grace will never keep his heart long in a right frame What to Glorifie God in our Spirit To serve God only with our bodies is Hypocrisy it must be with Body and Spirit else our service is not reasonable service Rom. 12. 1. If our minds are not pure in the sight of God and our outward profession answerable thereunto in the sight of men Paul sets forth this inward service Rom. 1. 9. God is my
is God as well as Man The Hypostatical union of the two natures in Christ is the Foundation of our spiritual and mystical union to God God and his Creature Man meet in Christ the Mediator We must not understand our union to Christ so grosly as if we were Deified I abhor that blasphemous Famelistical Notion of our being Christed and Godded no the new Creature in its nearest union and highest communion with God is but a Creature and never will be more nothing that is infinite eternal and uncreated can in its immensity enter into us but we may enter into it hence the Saints are said to enter into life Mat. 18. 8. Mat. 19. 17. As a Barrel cast into the Sea is in the fulness of the Sea tho the fulness of the Sea be not in the Barrel 't is filled according to its Capacity and can hold no more So is the life of Christ derived to us by gradual Communications in a way of influence from Christ the Fountain of life we live because he lives who hath life in himself and is a quickning Spirit in us certainly great things are intended by and implied in our union to Christ I remember a late eminent Divine now in Glory expresses it thus That provided we keep below the Hypostatical union of the two natures in Christ we cannot ascend too high in our thoughts and conceptions of the mystical union between Christ and his Members all that is below the hypostatical union may be allowed to this So that I would not have any interpret our union to Christ and communion with him into so low a sense as not to apprehend how Believers by vertue of their union to Christ stand in a nearer relation to God than the Angels do whose Nature Christ took not I say Believers are under a more special immediate influence of the eternal Spirit their life is hid with Christ in God and will be better understood by us in Heaven than it is here on Earth though we should be studying it more and more I am sorry to see the most spiritual expressions of the Gospel sealed up as it were by a common short exposition of them that goes with most for the full sense of the Text it contains it may be truth but not all the truth or at least does not fully express all the truth 't is looked upon as very unsafe to put a further and higher construction upon the words than others has done before though they will bear it I think while we keep within the Analogy of Faith not wounding any vital part or fundamental Principle of Religion nor wresting the Scriptures to a forced sense we may admit any farther light that shines through the word unto us waiting upon God to lead us by his Spirit further and further into the knowledge of the truth as 't is in Jesus that our light may shine out into the perfect day Christ being thus qualified for his Office is 1. Called the Messenger or Angel of the Covenant Mal. 3. 1. Because he does declare and interpret the terms of the Covenant between God and Man as Moses did Exod. 20. 19. Deut. 5. 5 27. In this he was a type of Christ Deut. 18. 15 18 19. Therefore Christ as Mediator is referred to in the Old Testament Isa. 7. 14. Isa. 8. 8. 2. The Angel absolutely Exod. 23. 20. 3. The Angel of his Face or Presence Isa. 63. 9. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 John 2. 1. An advocate The Holy Ghost has the same name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 14. 16. 26. Because as Christ makes intercession for us above his Spirit makes intercession in us here Rom. 8. 26. God is in Christ reconciling the World unto himself if ever we meet with God in peace it must be in and through this great Mediator Jesus Christ. 5. What are those special Mediotory acts that Christ puts forth CHAP. V. Of Christ's Mediatory Acts. WHAT are those special Mediatory Acts that Christ puts forth Some proper to his Prophetical some to his Priestly and some to his Kingly Office To his Prophetical Office 1. To know and rightly to state the case between God and Man 2. To propose and declare the terms of the Agreement between God and Man contained in the New Covenant To his Priestly Office 1. To make satisfaction in order to our Redemption 2. To make intercession for us by Arguments drawn from that satisfaction To his Kingly Office 1. To Protect and Govern his Church defending it against all the sworn Enemies of it 2. To give Rules Laws and Ordinances to his Church for the avoiding of all Will-Worship But I shall not tye my self to this Method But speak of Christ's Mediatory Acts. First As Mediating with God for us Secondly As Mediating with us on God's behalf 1. As Mediating with God for us 1. By giving satisfaction to his Father's Justice He undertook this as our Surety Heb. 7. 22. Heb. 10. 7. And actually performed this Undertaking 1 Tim. 2. 6. Mat. 20. 28. John 10. 15. To give satisfaction is tantum facere quantum satis est Christ as a Priest offering himself up to death for us was one of the chiefest acts of his Mediation that he might take away the guilt of sin bur this was not all for as our Mediator he puts forth a further act viz. 2. By promising to sanctify us to free us from the filth of sin Eph. 5. 25 26 27. He shews there that Christ upon giving himself for the Church laid himself under Engagements to sanctifie and cleanse it here the law of the spirit of life in Christ makes us free from the law of sin and death Rom. 8. 2. Thus Christ by himself purges our sins Heb. 1. 3. 3. By making Intercession for us 1. On Earth John 17. 9. 20. I pray for them and for all that shall believe on me through their word 2. In Heaven Heb. 9. 24. Rom. 8. 34. 1 John 2. 1. Heb. 7. 25. He ever lives to make Intercession for us 't is continual Intercession should it cease but for a Moment we should be in great danger therefore Christ is continually representing in Heaven what he has done and suffered for us in the flesh 2. As Mediating with us on God's behalf Christ as Mediator came about the Father's business Luk. 2. 49. And deals with us Prodigals about our returning to our Heavenly Father 1. By declaring the Father's Will to us John 1. 18. John 6. 38 39 40. John 17. 8 14. 2. By applying his Merits in the efficacy of them unto us The son quickneth whom he will John 5. 21. If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the deatb of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life Rom. 5. 10. There is a mighty Power in the Death and Resurrection of Christ Phil. 3. 10. Rom. 6. 3 4 5. When we are planted in the likeness of both we shall then as Branches abiding in
is the exemplar the Spirit impressing upon us the similitude of that exemplar we become the Children of God I shall open this a little and shew you what influence Christ has into our Adoption God gives the Elect to Christ as his Children as the Heirs of God and joint-Heirs with Christ they lostt-heir Inheritance in the first Adam and recovered it in the second Adam they now stand in the same relation to God in their measure as Christ does I and the children thou hast given me Heb. 2. 13. The Son of God must become the Son of Man that we might be made the Sons of God in him Gal. 4 4 5. Here comes in our Adoption by vertue of our relation to Christ our elder Brother as one with him Gal. 3. 28. All God's Adopted Children are found in his natural Son mystically united to him deriving from him that filial relation which they have to God Al God's Chidren are of one mould of one shape and fashion all conformable to the image of his Son this is the Mark by which they are known and distinguished from others The great enquiry that God makes is What of Christ there is in us what of Christ there is held forth by us God owns none for his Children but such as resemble Christ Christ is the express Image of the Father and Christians are the express Image of Christ. The reason why God the Father is so well pleased with the man Christ is because he sees his own Image in him he sees himself his own essence in Christ not so in the Saints the Image of the Father in Christ and the Image of Christ in the Saints do agree in many things yet they differ in some the Image of Christ in the Saints is not the essence of God for that is incommunicable to any mere Creature but it is a lively resemblance of all the communicable attributes of God in some degree and measure drawn from the very face of Christ upon the faces hearts and lives of all Christians yet still Christ is the original by eternal Generation the Saints are but so many Copies drawn in time from that Original and they are drawn to the life not only in a way of outward resemblance but by a real inward participation of the Life and Spirit of Christ according to their finite capacity As the humane Nature does subsist in the Divine Person of Christ so our humane Persons so far as we are new Creatures do Subsist in Christ in whom we spiritually live move and have our Being as New Creatures the Divine Graces of Christ do subsist in the Saints by the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them i. e. They act the same Graces finitely which Christ acts infinitely they receive of his fulness but cannot contain all his fulness they have not a capacity for that they enter into his fulness but all his fulness cannot enter into them 3. Our Adoption is brought about not only by the Father and the Son but also by the Spirit bearing Witness with our spirit to the truth of the Image of Christ drawn upon the Soul inferring from thence our Adoption The same Image bears the same name implies in a measure the same nature and Spirit to be in us that is in Christ puts us into the same relation to God that the Man Christ stands in the names of things would never occur to our memories if the likeness of the object we look upon did not teach us what to call it conveniunt rebus Nomina c. The Spirit witnesses by inward impressins tho no voice be heard and these impressions are always according to the word the Spirit does not speak from himself suggesting any thing to us not contained in the word but of this more hereafter I am now shewing how Adoption is carried on by the Spirit therefore called the Spirit of Adoption because given only to the Adopted and because he bears witness to them of the good Will of God wherewith the Father hath accepted them in the beloved that he might be a Father to them Tho the Spirit works all other saving Graces in us yet because Adoption is the prime and chief work of the Spirit therefore he is called the Spirit of Adoption 2. The manner of it This is clearly set down Gal. 3. 25. ad finem 'T is Faith makes us the Children of God by joyning us to Christ our union to and communion with Christ the natural Son of God is the Foundation of our Adoption Gal. 3. 29. Christ by coming into the World in our Nature made way for our Adoption of which Baptism is the symbol or sign we are Baptized into Christ we put on Christ are incorporated into him by Faith are all one in him Gal. 3. 27 28. If ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise Gal. 3. 29. All Abraham's believing Posterity are blessed in Isaac i. e. in Christ Gal. 3. 16. They are Children and remain in the House of God i. e. in the Church for ever John 8. 35. 3. The time of it 1. From Eternity in the purpose of God This is virtual Adoption Eph. 1. 5. Hence the Elect not yet called are said to be the Children of God John 11. 52. compare with John 10. 16. God intended Adoption in Predestination and in the fulness of time sent Christ to effect it Gal. 4. 4 5. And his Spirit to evidence it Gal. 4. 6. We were Adopted in the purpose of God before we were born this is virtual Adoption 2. At our effectual vocation then actual Adoption begins we receive the first fruits of it here it follows Faith at least as to our sense of it Ephesians 1. 13. 3. At our Glorification then will our Adoption be compleated and perfected in our Bodies and Souls we shall actually enjoy all the Priviledges of it then there will be a clearer manifestation of the Sons of God the glorious Liberty of the Children of God will more fully appear then now it does Rom. 8. 19 21. Hence the Consummation of our Redemption at the last day is called Adoption Rom. 8. 23. 24. But I now speak only of the present fruits of Adoption which the Saints enjoy in this life CHAP. II. Thirdly How it differs from humane Adoption 1. DIVINE Adoption presupposes a Title to the Heavenly Inneritance by Justification John 1. 12. Humane Adoption gives all the Title that a Man otherwise a Stranger to the Blood hath to the Inheritance of him who adopts him 2. Humane Adoption conveys only outward goods to a person does not change his nature but the Father communicates to us the Spirit and likeness of his natural Son Rom. 8. 29. 3. Humane Adoption is for want of a natural Son 't is an act of law imitating nature for the comfort of those who have no Children But Divine Adoption is from the abounding love of God to us making us joint heirs with his well-beloved Son Though God