in effect all one but we are Saints by calling and our calling is by the Gospel of Grace 2 Thes 2.14 and therefore our sanctification is from Grace also 5. We are sanctified by being in Christ whence are those expressions frequent in Scripture Saints in Christ Iesus sanctified in Christ and such like Now our implanting into Christ is onely from Grace and therefore so is our Sanctification also 6. Our sanctification is called a new Creation Create in me a cleane hearâ— O God saith David Psal 51. Psal 51. And in Ephes 2.10 Ephes 2.10 We are created unto good workes And in 2 Cor. 5. We become new Creatures in Christ Iesus And in Ephes 4.24 Ephes 4.24 The new man is created after God in holines c. All which imply that there must be a creating power put forth to the working of this new man in us We must therefore deifie the workes of the Law and make a God of them induing them with a creating power if we will ascribe such efficacy unto them as to worke true sanctification in us 7. We receive the Spirit by faith Gal. 3.14 therefore not by the workes of the law 8. Christ tells us plainly the world of unbelieveâ—s that are under the Law cannot receive the Spirit Ioh. 14.17 Iohn 14.17 whom the world cannot receâ—ve 9. Sanctification is purchased for us by the bloud of Christ He gave himselfe for us to purge us c. Tit. 2.14 T it 2.14 And so in Ephes 5.25 26 27. He gave himselfe for his Church that he night sanctifie it The third Part. THE BENEFITS and BLESSINGS this Covenant brings THE Covenant of Workes presupposeth our sanctification but it promiseth it not It presupposeth it I say because there could have bin no place for a Covenant of Works if God had not first given Adam a spirit of holinesse to enable him thereunto First therefore God creates man holy and then makes a Covenant with him requiring of him to work according to that holiness of his nature which he was endued with but if he violated and brake this Covenant this Covenant doth not promise to renew him to holinesse again this promise belongs to another Covenant But especially consider the proper and immediate worker of our sanctication which is the Holy Ghost Rom. 15.16 for which cause the spirit is called the spirit of Grace Zach. 12.10 and the spirit of holinesse Rom. 1. Election is the immediate work of the Father Redemption the work of the Sonne Sanctification the work of the Holy Ghost All the whole Trinity working together in the work of our salvation yet every one in his owne order First the Father elects then the Sonne redeems and lastly the Spirit sanctifies Concerning these severall works of the three Persons we are to consider 1. That they are all of equall extent 2. That they doe all issue from the same spring and fountaine of Grace First they are of the same extent none larger nor narrower then another Those that the Father hath chosen those doth the Sonne redeem Those that the Sonne hath redeemed those doth the Spirit sanctifie The Father chooseth none but whom hee gives to the Sonne to be redeemed by him the Sonne redeems none but those that were so given him by the Father and so it holds also in the third place that the Holy Ghost sanctifies none but whom the Father had chosen and the Sonne redeemed Secondly as it is thus in the extent so it is also in respect of the ground and cause from which they issue and spring Look then as our Election is of Grace and not of works Rom. 11.6 and our Redemption is of Grace Rom. 3.24 so is our Sanctification also Tit. 3.4 5. Not according to the works which we had done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Ghost so that the same grace favour and good will which moved the Father to set his love upon us in our Election and caused the Sonne to give himselfe for our Redemption the same Grace sends or brings the Spirit into our hearts to renew us unto holinesse And thence it is that sometimes we are said to be chosen that we might be holy as in Eph. 1.4 sometimes said to be redeemed that we might be holy Luke 1.74 75. to the end that we might know that our sanctification and renewing unto holinesse doth come from the same grace as doe our election and redemption and therefore as our election is not of works but of grace and our redemption is not of works but of grace so it is also concerning our sanctification I conclude therefore that by the works of the Law no man being under the Law or Covenant of works can attaine to true sanctification and holinesse And if sanctification be not by the Law or Covenant of works then it necessarily and invincibly followes that for a man to try his estate in Grace by his sanctification is no turning aside to a Covenant of works Thus much we do not unwillingly assent unto namely that there is a kinde of outward sanctification improperly so called or rather an outward reformation which a man under the Covenant of Works may attayn unto The Law hath a power not only to irritate and provoke the lust that is within by its contrariety thereunto Rom. 7.11 but also to curb and restrayn the breaking of it forth into outward acts by the terrour of it Gal. 3.19 Exod. 20. And by this reformation thus wrought by the work of restraynt the unclean Spirit may seem to be cast forth Math. 12. but whatsoever reformation is thus wrought is as farre from true sanctification as earth is from heaven For though this reformation doth and may come from some inward work of the Spirit of God upon the spirit and soule of man as namely to convince and terrifie the conscience to stirre the affections and to awe the will also so that a man dares not commit the things he would yet the minde and will is still unrenewed the frame and disposition of the heart is still the same as it was before and therefore this reformation is not true sanctification That may be by the Law this is only by the Gospel and from Grace Object But in Hebr. 10.29 it is said of some who in respect of their inward estate never went beyond a Covenant of works yet of them it is said that they were sanctified by the blood of the Covenant which is the blood of Christ therefore such as are under a Covenant of works may be sanctified Answ There is a twofold sanctification one reall another in profession only As some men are said to beleeve when the work of faith is really wrought in the heart who are therefore said to be found in the faith Tit. 1.13 and 2.2 so others are said to beleeve only because they make a profession of faith as Iohn 2.23 Acts 8.13
a type of one under the covenant of works I have served thee these many years never brake thy comandment c. Hence is that in Rom. 11.4 To him that works the wages is counted a debt Man might have required life from God as a due debt But in the covenant of grace a man hath nothing left him of his own to glory in before God But all his glorying is in the grace of God as 1 Cor. 1.30 31. 1 Cor. 1.30 31. Christ is made unto us wisdome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption that whâ—soever glories should glory in the Lord. The covenant of grace teacheth us to look at our selves as lost and undone creatures but withall to look at the riches of grace and to glory in Christ As Paul 1 Tim. 1.13.14 I was a blasphemer c. But the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ was aboundant towards me This difference the Apostle layes down on both parts both in respect of the covenant of works and of grace Rom. 3.27 Rom. 3 27. Where is boasting then It is excluded By what law Of works No the law of works doth not exclude boasting but it is excluded by the law of faith which is the summe of the covenant of grace And so Ephes 2.9 Ephes 2.9 We are saved by grace and not by works Why so lest any man should boast as implying that there is matter of boasting if saved by works but not in bâ—ing saved by grace It is with us now as with a company of condemned prisoners all have received the sentence of death but thoâ—gh some be executed yet others are spared by favour from the Prince what have those that are saved to glory in more then the other Nothing in themselves onely in the favour of the Prince As in Pharaohs two officers whereof one was restored the other hanged so it is with us we are all condemned all have received a sentence of death in our sâ—lves and in some God will shew forth his wrath and make his power known Rom. 9.22 Rom 9.22 others he will spare reserving them as vessels of mercy prepared unto glory But nothing hath one to glory in more then the other but onely in the riches of grace which was shewed to the one and not to the other They that are saved may say I was in the same condemnation but the Lord hath had compassion on me because it so pleased him Here is that which gracâ— teacheth us to glory in Hee that is under the Law if hee fulfill the Law may say as Deut. 9.4 Deut 9.4 For mine own righteousnesse c. But he that is under grace must say as Deut. 9.6 Deut. 9.6 Not for mine own righteousnesse but according to his great mercy Tit. 3.4.5 Tit. 3.4 5. Object But Gal. 6.4 Paul who taught a covenant of grace no where more then in that Epistle yet wisheth a man to prove his own work that so he may have matter of rejoycing in himself and not in another Therefore it may seem that even the covenant of grace teacheth a man to glory in himselfe There is a twofold glorying one of confidence Answer the other of a good conscience First there is a glorying of confidence in regard of our righteousnesse and justification by it before God And this the Apostle wholly excludes Rom. 3.27 Rom 3.27 Ephes 2.9 Ephes 2.9 as was shewed before n ither doth he give any allowance to this in the place alledged Gal. 6.4 Secondly there is the glorying of a good conscience before men and this is allowed unto the Saints Thus Paul himselfe 2 Cor. 1.12 2 Cor. 1.12 My rejoycing is the testimony of a good conscience and 1 Cor. 9.15 And this glorying is either sincere and upright or hypocriticall and unsound Sincere glorying is when a man being privie to his own integrity pleads his own faithfulnesse against the calumnies and accusations of men As Job when he was accused to be an hypocrite was forced to plead the uprightnesse and holinesse of his former conversation chap. 30. 35. And so Paul when hee began to bee vilified among the Corinthians was constrained to plead his own faithfulnesse and diligence and great labours in the work of Christ which hee did in the integrity of his conscience lest the Gospel should be despised Hypocriticall glorying is when a mans glorying in himselfe ariseth not from the soundnesse of grace and the uprightnesse of his own conversation but from a vain proud comparing himselfe with other men as bâ—ing more excellent then they in his own eyes like the Pharisâ—e Luke 18.11 Luke 18.11 I am not as other men c. Now the Apostle speaks of this last kind of glorying whereas some had fallen by infirmity v. 1. others were ready to please themselves that they had not discovered so great weaknesse as others had done and so were apt to think better of themselves and therein to boast The Apostle therefore exhorts them not to glory in this that they were stronger then such as had so fallen but to examine whether all were well with themselves and sound within because otherwise the matter and ground of their rejoycing is in anothers weaknesse and not in their own goodnesse rather in anothers falling then in their own sure standing by grace and so they glory in another not in themselves which is but an unsound and vain kind of rejoycing and this the Apostle condemnes But Hezekiah glories even before God Isai 33.3 Isaiah 33.3 Remember Object O Lord saith he what I have done c. Answer He glories not of his merit and worth unto justification but of his uprightnesse and good conscience As if hee should say Thou hast been wont to shew favour to thy servants that have walked faithfully before thee therefore doe the like unto me and so usâ—th it as an argument to encourage himselfe to seek and hope for favour from the Lord. Vse Hereby we may see of what spirit wee are whether it bee the spirit of grace or of the law that dwels or works in us There is a spirit or the law and there is a spirit of grace The spirit of the law may teach us and inform us of the duties we ought to walk in and also stirre up to a lâ—gall performance of them by the light which it hat wrought and yet the spirit of grace may still bee wanting Would wee know then whether the spirit which is in us be a spirit of the law or of grace the point in hand will shew it The spirit oâ— the law fills a man with rejoycing and glorying in himselfe and in that which he hath done it makes him to boast of his own righteousnesse as the Pharisee Luke 18.11 12. Luke 18.11.12 he is full of his own goodnesse and as the Church of Laodicea Rev. 3. The spirit of the law maketh a man to say as the proud King of Ashur Isai 37.24 25. Isaiah
was at first full of grace and goodnesse an Image of the blessed God but now he is become a spectacle of misery So all other things under the Sun are to him turned to vanity and vexation of spirit As a deale of wind in the body doth not refresh it but gripe and pain it so all the windy comforts of the world cannot satisfie but rather trouble us till we recover our fellowship with God As we lost our felicity in losing God so we must recover it again by recovering him Therefore wee find in experience that the soule never finds setled test till it come to rest in God As the Bee goes from flower to flower because there is not full contentment to be found in any one so the soulâ— from creature to creature til it comes to God Hence the Lord is called the rest of the soule Psalm 116.7 And this the Lord knowing that the soule cannot find rest any where else but in him therefore he will communicate himself to them this being his end to make the creature blâ—ssed by enjoying of him Consider how God is an All-sufficient God to us in two respects First in respect of all our occasions and necessities whatever our case be It 's Gods prerogative alone to be an universal good The things of the world can help but against some one thing bread against hunger drink against thirst cloathes against cold and nakednesse houses against wind and weather friends against solitarinesse riches against poverty Physick against sicknesse c. But God is an All-sufficient good he supplies all the necessities of his people he is all in all to them he is habitation to them he is life c. he doth good to the inward and outward man his grace is sufficient to help all the defects of the soule Look upon the guilt of sinne there is abundant grace to pardon Are our infirmities many there is power in Gods grace to heale them Are our corruptions strong the power of Gods Spirit can overcome them and make us able to keep his Statutes and Judgements and to doe them Are our consciences disquieted and our peace broken His joy is able to make us rejoyce with joy unspeakable and glorious Again his sufficiency extends also to the body all the welfare of the outward man is laid up in God he is the God of our life Psal 42.8 Psalm 42.8 and the strength of our life Psal 27.1 Psalm 27.1 He is a quickning spirit 1 Cor. 15.45 1 Cor. 15.45 which though it be true in regard of the inward man which he doth also quicken by his Spirit and grace yet it is there spoken of the outward man of the body which the Lord shall quicken after death and doth now keep alive by his power For in him we live and move and have our being Acts 17.28 Acts 17.28 When God formed the body at first out of the dust whence had it life Not from it selfe nor from any creature God breathed into him the breath of life and so he still keeps the breath in our nostrils and upholds our soule in life or else we should presently return to dust Secondly God is an all-sufficient good in respect of all times and seasons both for this life and the life to come Other things serve but in their seasons as it was said of David that he served his time so doe the things of this life but they continue not our health and strength are with us in youth but they stay not The flowers give their smell in the spring but by and by they are withered and gone The Sunne gives light in the day time but hides it selfe in the night cloathes keep us warme but they wear away But God is a lasting yea and an everlasting good He is God and changeth not and therefore is called God from everlasting to everlasting Psal 90.2 In a word he is sufficient First to save us from all evill and thence hee is said to bee a Wall of fire round about his people Zach. 2.8 So also a Cloud against the heat a Shield and Buckler against the Sword c. an all-sufficient protection to his people against all evill Secondly an all-sufficient good to communicate all blessings to us which we stand in need of therefore hee promises to open his good treasure Deut. 28.11.12 And hee tells Abraham when hee enters into covenant with him that he will be his exceeding great reward I will be all things to thee Hence the Lord is called a Sunne Psalm 84. that as the Sun is the cause of all fruitfulnesse to the earth bringeth forth corn grasse and hearbs and withall cherishes them so the Lord by the influence of his grace and goodnesse bringeth forth something out of every creature for the good and comfort of his people Thirdly he is able to make up all our losses whatever wee have forgone for his Names sake and his Gospels we shall have an hundred fold more either in the same kind or in contentation or inward peace of conscience Thus the Prophet tells Amaziah 2 Chron. 25. when he asked what he should doe for the hundred talents saith the Prophet The Lord is able to give thee more then this Have we with Abraham forsaken our native countrey and our kindred The Lord is able to make up all Fourthly He is sufficient to work for us and by us what ever we desire according to his will What ever enterprise wee have in hand or goe about though wee have mountaines against us as Zach. 4.7 yet the Lord can make them plains and work all our works for us Have we any grace to bee wrought in us Hee can make all grace to abound in us He hath abundance of spirit Heb. 13.21 and can work both will and deed Thus you see that God is every way sufficient to his people Vse 1 This may let us see both the cause and cure of those manifold discontents that we meet withall in our daily course troubled we are on every side nothing satisfies the unsatiable desires of our hearts but when we have the things we sought at Gods hand yet we are discontented The reason of all is because we doe not injoy God we doe not live upon him wee doe not possesse nor improve our interest in him We pore upon the Creature and place our rest there and so misse of our expectation If we did injoy God in our daily conversation wee might finde a sufficiency and contentment in every estate as Paul did Phil. 4.13 Phil. 4.13 2 Cor. 6.10 as having nothing and yet possessing all things He lived to God and enjoyed him and he was an all-sufficient good to him Wee may injoy God in any condition in the meanest as well as the greatest in the poorest as well as the richest Nothing can separate us from God but sin alone God will goe into a wildernesse into a prison into a low condition with his people and he
speak elswhere Vse 3. To teach us hereby to try our selves whether we have any part in that salvation which God promiseth in his Covenant when we heare the Lord say as he doth herein my Text As for thee also thou shalt bee saved by the blood of thy Covenant wee should search and see whether we have been made partakers of this salvation promised But how shall we know that even by our sanctification if the Lord hath renewed and sanctified our natures and made us new creatures in Christ At what time God saveth his people at the same time he sanctifieth them And thus he tells the Israelites Ezek. 36. when he promiseth them to bring them back into the Land which their Fathers dwelt in which was unto them a type of heaven and was therefore called the Lords Land Hos 9.3 2 Chron. 7.20 he tells them withall that when and at what time he would performe this unto them at the same time he would poure out his spirit upon them and would cleanse them from their iniquities vers 33. sutable to that of the Apostle Tit. 3.4 5. he hath saved us by the washing of the new birth and by the renewing of the Holy Ghost At what time God sanctifieth us at the same time he saveth us he gives us the one as a pledge of the other And therefore it is that when the Lord had converted and sanctified the heart of Zacheus and made him a new creature hee did withall thus testifie unto him This day is salvation come to thy soule c. Luke 19.9 Some do deny this way of triall as if no evidence could bee had from our sanctification till we first know our election and justification by immediate revelation of the Spirit This mediate witnesse of the spirit which is by habituall and inherent graces is not to be harkned unto untill the immediate witnesse hath spoken But if there be no triall and knowledge of our estate to be had by habituall grace then 1 What did Christ mean when he told his Disciples that hereby should all men know them to be his Disciples if they love one another Iohn 13. What did Paul mean when he bids us prove our selves whether we be in the faith or no 2 Cor. 13. David surely was deceived when he said hereby I know that I shall not be confounded when I have respect unto all thy Commandements if so be no knowledge of our good estate may be gathered hereby Yea to what end did Iohn lay down all those signes and tokens of a blessed estate which are scattered here and there through the whole first Epistle his scope in that Epistle being this even to give unto the faithfull some certaine evidence of their salvation as is manifest by Chap. 5.13 And this being his scope mark then how frequent and plentifull he is in bringing in evidences of this nature as now we speak of as we may see Chap. 1.7 If we walk in the light of holinesse as he is in the light then have we fellowship one with another that is God with us and we with him so Chap. 2.3 4. hereby we are sure that we know him so as to have eternall life by the knowledge of him John 17.3 if we keep his Commandements and in verse 29. Know yee that he which doth righteousnesse is borne of him and in Chap. 3.7 hee that doth righteousnesse walking in the righteousnesse of a good conscience and upright conversation is righteous namely by imputation even as Christ is righteous and in verse 9.10 he that is borne of God sinneth not In this are the children of God known from the children of the Devill even by righteousnesse and loving of our brethren and verse 14. hereby wee know that we are translated from dâ—ath to life because we love the brethren so also verse 18 19. and 24 and Chap. 4. verse 7 12 13 16. Surely these are no lying Testimonies these witnesses are true If in taking evidence from these things we be deceived we may herein say as Ieremiah said in another case O Lord I am deceived and thou hast deceived me Ier. 20.7 2. If there were no evidence to be taken hereby this were to leave the work of the Spirit in as much darknesse and obscurity as is the work of the Father and the Son But the work of the Spirit is to make known and manifest unto us the things that are given us of God 1 Cor. 2. So long as the Fathers work of election stands alone and is not accompanied with the work of redemption and sanctification his electing of us is so hidden in his own bosome that none can tell what he will doe with any of the sonnes of men whether he will save any or destroy all But when the sonne comes and layes down his life for mans redemption hee doth thereby bring to light the Fathers intention thus farre that it is now known that certainly there be some whom the Lord will save But yet who these some be that is counsell still that is unknown therefore in the third place the Spirit comes and sanctifies those that are so chosen and redeemed And now by this work of the Spirit it is known not onely that there be some that God will save but the very persons themselves are thereby singled out and marked these have the seale and marke of God upon them whereby they are known to bee the sheep for which Christ laid down his life according to the counsell and will of the Father Even as in Matth. 3.17 when the Spirit came down upon Christ then God witnessed This is my beloved Sonne So it is here concerning our selves hereby we have Gods witnesse testifying of us that we are his children even by his Spirit of sanctification which he hath sent down into our hearts By this we know that we are children redeemed and chosen If we be sanctified we are saved Our salvation is begun and shall be perfected in due time Object But when the Apostle saith we know that wee are translated from death c. his meaning is as if he should say we which have first received the seale and immediate witnesse of the Spirit we know c. but others cannot know it Answ This is not the meaning of the Apostle as is evident to any one that with attention doth observe the scope and manner of the Apostles writing The matter stands thus There were a number in the Apostles time such as Iames elsewhere speakes of which professed to know and believe in Christ and would say they had faith as it is in Iam. 2.14 and yet they had no works They would say they had fellowship with the Father 1 Ioh. 1.6 and yet they would walk in darknesse They would say they knew God 1 Ioh. 2.3 and yet would not keep his Commandements They would say they did abide in Christ and yet did not walk after the steps of Christ ver 6. They would say they were in the light and
towards both Acts 24.16 It is but false sanctification which neglects either of these duties or any part of them when we put on a forme of Religion and yet deale unrighteously with men this is cursed hypocrisie And when we deale squarely with men but are carelesse Gallio's in the things of God this is but a kinde of civill profanesse there is no true sanctification in one or other of them True sanctification cleaves to the whole law and to all the Commandements of it seeking to doe and fulfill all such an heart the Lord requires Deut. 5.29 and such he works where he works Grace in truth 2 King 23.25 3. True sanctification will never suffer the soule to finde rest and peace but only in the way which is called holy A sanctified soule may step aside into the way which is not good but it can finde no rest there Holinesse stands in a conformity with God It will not agree with any thing which is contrary to God or to his will a godly heart can finde no peace there As on the one side a sinfull heart may do the thing that is good but it takes no pleasure in such things so contrà the sanctified heart may by occasion and by strength of temptation and prevailing power of inward corruption be drawn to act amisse but when hee hath done so he finds no rest in his spirit till he be returned againe into the way of holinesse which he had turned from Thus David stept aside but what peace found he Peter fell into shamefull denyall but how grieved was he afterward Thus Paul he confessed he did the evill that he would not but how was he pained at the very heart till he was rid of that body of sinne It was his continuall vexation As the needle in the compasse may by shaking be turned from the right point and from the pole but it will finde no rest till it be turned to it againe So here When therefore the heart sinnes and finds rest in it and is not labouring to work out the corruption which is within this is an evill sign and dangerous this argues a carnall disposition and an unsanctified Spirit But when we are grieved for the evill which is in us when our sinne is counted our misery making us lament with Paul and say O miserable man that I am c. and that not only as it troubles the conscience but as it cloggs the Spirit hindring us in well doing this is a sign of a sanctified estate and springs from a Spirit of grace 4. True sanctification will make us most wary and watchfull against those sinnes which doe most staine our holy profession and blemish the glory of Christ and make us most studious of those things in which God is most glorified As Paul said of himselfe I can doe nothing against the truth but for the truth so indeed a sanctified soule can doe nothing against Gods glory but all things for his glory Sanctity devotes a man unto God he is for God not for himselfe not for the world he accounts himselfe that he is Gods If we live we live for God whether we eat or drink or labour or rest we doe them for God 1 Cor. 10.31 If we get riches we grow rich for God to honour God with our riches Prov. 3.9 Our whole life is for God Rom. 14.6 This is a sanctified disposition when it is thus with us And when otherwise we eat for our selves as Zachary speaks chap. 7.6 we labour for our selves get riches for our selves not caring how our profession is blemished and God dishonoured by our worldly and coveteous conversation this is from the flesh which loves its own and minds its own things and not the things of Christ 5. True sanctification makes a man affect society with those that are holy It s a good signe when the heart doth inwardly cleave to those that excell in grace especially when it is for Grace sake and because of the Grace that is in them There may be an outward complying with them and some externall society had with them also when yet the heart is not with them there may be some sutablenesse of disposition some morall qualifications in a godly soule which may give content unto a carnall heart but to love them inwardly and that not for any other respect but for the grace which is in them this is from a sutable Spirit of grace working in our selves Thus it was with David Psal 16.3 and Psal 119. Come unto mee all yee that feare God c. and away from me ye wicked c. 6. True sanctification makes us aspire after communion and fellowship with God himselfe it loves fellowship with the Saints but rests not in them but aspires higher nothing will satisfie a sanctified soule but God yea it is God which he loves and seeks in his Saints So it is also in the use of Ordinances they are all empty things without God unlesse the Lord be there The Word Prayer Sacraments are but leane and empty things unlesse hee enjoy God in them He is the fat the marrow and sweetnesse of them all when God meets the soule in any of these it is then satisfied as with marrow and fatnesse but when he withdrawes and absents himselfe it findes no satiety no rellish in any thing The soule is empty still till he fill it who is the fulnesse of all things God only doth fill and satisfie the soule that is sanctified See Ier. 50.4 There you shall see the children of Israel and children of Iudah together comming to Ierusalem the place of Gods worship but is that all they goe for No saith the Prophet they goe seeking the Lord their God they goe to Ierusalem to worship there but there is a further thing they seek for even God himselfe without whom Ierusalem and Temple and all would be but as a solitary cave in a wildernesse if God were not found there This Gods servants finde in frequent experience Sometimes they finde God sweetly present with them in prayer Sacrament or the like and then they goe away as a man refreshed with new wine Sometimes they seek him but find him not as Cant. 5. and then they are like men that faine would eat to the satisfying of their hungry soule but they want their appointed food or like those in the Prophet they doe eat but they are not satisfied they have not enough Whom have I in heaven but thee saith David Psal 73.25 Whom there are Angels there are Saints the Spirits of just and perfect men Hebr. 12. Are all these nothing with David These were in heaven and are also in earth yet saith David Whom have I in heaven or earth but thee These are good with God but not able to satisfie a sanctified soule without God If it were possible for such a soule to be in heaven it selfe there to enjoy all the glory of it and communion with all the company of Saints and Angels there yet
if it should not there enjoy God it would say I finde not him whom my soule loveth and longeth for where is he I must finde him ere my joy can be full Thus a sanctified heart aspires to fellowship with and enjoyment of God himselfe It stayes not till it come to the top of the ladder where God is Ordinances are as so many steps to ascend up unto him be only is the end which the godly heart seeks in them when we rest in them not seeking or not finding God in them this is but formality not true sanctity True sanctity stayes not till we can say as 1 â—oh 1.3 Verily our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Iesus Christ 7. True sanctification makes us exceeding sensible of our own wants and weaknesses in Grace making us to see how farre short we come of that perfection which should be in us Thus it was with Paul he strove unto a conformity wiâ—h Christ but saith he I have not yet attained unto it And so it was with David Psal 119.5 Oh that my wayes were directed to keep thy statutes q.d. but alas how short doe I come of such a course when men are so full and so perfect that they lack nothing it s a sign that pride and selfe-conceit and hypocrisie hath filled their heart rather then true sanctity These are proud Pharises Hypocrites Laodiceans who are indeed poore and blind and naked and miserable having no truth of Grace in them It s a true saying He that wants nothing in Grace hath nothing others there are which are ever wanting ever craving begging as men that are made up of wants seeing such abundance of corruption in themselves that it makes them to abhorre themselves when they come before God only this they doe they are still purging themselves in that fountaine of Grace Zach. 13. seeking to grow up to full holinesse in his feare 2 Cor. 7.1 These are sanctified soules such Christ pronounceth blessed Blessed are the poore in Spirit Blessed are these that thus hunger and thirst after righteousnesse Matth. 5. 8. There bee sundry sanctified affections and dispositions which doe shew forth true sanctification were it is As First holy mourning for sinne when our sinne is our chiefest sorrow as it was in David Psal 51.4 Secondly a chusing of the way of Grace when godlinesse and Grace with losse accompanying them are chosen and preferred before riches and treasures of the world doing as Moses who chose affliction rather then the treasures of Aegypt Heb. 11. and David who said of himselfe I have chosen the way of thy precepts c. What ever befall us this is our resolution in this way I will live in this I will die Thirdly a caring and taking thought for the things of Christ Paul that chiefest of Saints had his head full of these cares even cumbred with them every day This was from the abundant Grace of God which was in him those that are after the flesh they take thought for the flesh to fulfill the lusts of it Rom. 13. but those that are after the spirit they take thought for the things of Christ Phil. 2. Fourthly an holy zeale and earnestnesse for good to be active and working for Christ with an holy emulation and contention of Spirit being provoked thereto not only by the zeale of others as 2 Cor. 9. but even by their lukewarmnesse the lesse they doe we will doe the more and seek to draw on others by our example loth that any should bee more forward in evill then wee for good By these things try we our selves try we our sanctification where these things are there is the Spirit of holinesse and where they are not in some degree more or lesse there the Spirit of Grace is not nor have those that doe wholly want these things before named any part or portion in any saving blessing of the Covenant Vse 4. For direction unto all Gods people which have given up themselves by Covenant unto God These doe many times complaine of the power of their corruptions prevailing against them They see so much sinfull uncleanesse in themselves that it makes them to doubt whether the Spirit of Grace ever had any abiding in them Now for these here is direction how to get help that they may become pure holy undefiled and clean from their sin Let them look unto the promises of this Covenant which God hath made with his people Here is a fountaine of Grace opened unto them to wash in God hath promised That he will poure clean water upon them and will cleanse them from all their filthinesse Ezek. 3.25 He hath said he will wash away the filthinesse of the daughters of Zion that they may be cleane Are you then Ieprous and unclean in your own eyes Goe then and wash seven times in these waters of Iordan and so your leprosie shall depart from you Goe to God and plead his Covenant and promise and say unto God Lord thou hast made promises unto thy servants that thou wilt not only forgive the sinnes of thy people but that thou wilt sanctifie them and make them an holy people unto thee why then am I still thus corrupt sinfull and uncleane Lord wash me wash me throughly till I be cleane from all my sin This is our way to get help against our corruptions wee think for the most part that if we have sinned we must indeed goe to God for pardon and forgivenesse but we think we must work out our sanctification of our selves by our own watchfulnesse resolutions vowes and promises made unto God But herein we wrong our selves were there not more help in Gods promises which he makes to us then in our promises to him we might lie in our pollutions for ever we must therefore goe to God for help against all our corruptions seeking to him by faith in his Covenant and promise saying as Iehoshaphat Lord I am so borne downe by the power of my sinne that I know not what to doe only mine eyes are unto thee doe thou subdue mine iniquities doe thou help me The whole life of a Christian is a life of faith the life of justification the life of sanctification we live both these lives by the faith of the Sonne of God Gal. 2.20 and therefore we are said to be sanctified by faith because by faith we seek for and receive the Spirit of sanctification which is promised unto us Herein then lies our help What is the reason that after so many resolutions against such or such a sinne yet we are overcome againe and againe It is in a great part because we look at the victory against them to come as from our selves we think this or that shall doe it but the Apostle tells us that the victory by which we must overcome is our faith 1 Ioh. 5.4 Rest upon Gods faithfulnesse for help and strength against sinne as well as for forgivenesse of sinne And then though there be no help
foundation of our assurance But may not will some say and doth not the Lord sometimes give comfort to his servants by an absolute promise and if so then what need we looke to those that are conditionall Ans I doubt not but the Lord doth give refreshings to the souls of his beloved by such absolute promises for there being a sum of grace contained in every promise whether absolute or conditionall the Lord may let the soule raste of the comfort of that grace by what promise he will when the soule is taken up with some deep and serious meditation of that abundant grace and free goodnes of God towards us and the minde is fastned upon some expression of such a promise setting forth that grace unto us the Spirit sends down that sweetnesse of grace into our hearts letting us taste and feel the comfort of it This none will deny But 1. the question is not whether we may taste of comfort by an absolute promise but by what kinde of promise we are to try our selves the Spirit may give refreshing by an absolute promise but our way of tryall is by the conditionall examining our selves by the graces expressed in them and thereupon making application to our selves of the mercy promised which we cannot doe by the absolute there being nothing expressed in them to helpe us in this way 2. Though comfort may he had by an absolute promise yet it is never given if it be true and not a delusion but where the condition of Faith and other graces are in being and are first wrought otherwise it is lying false comfort not true and saving 3. Though we may have comfort by an absolute promise yet when times of temptation doe return when scruples and doubts doe afterwards arise in our heart we must then turn to the conditionall promises trying whether the graces expressed in them be wrought in us and then finding in our selves that faith and love which is in Christ Jesus we doe thereby grow up in assurance that the former consolation was no other but the consolation of Gods own Spirit So that upon the point here is the usuall and ordinary way of tryall of our estates even to try our selves by the graces expressed in the conditionall promises And though the comfort so tasted as was before expressed be the more sweet and delightfull whiles it is felt yet the assurance which we have by the tryall of our graces is the more constant and durable If upon pretence of the seale and witnesse of the Spirit in an absolute promise any shall despise this way of tryall by the graces that are in them let them take heed least Sathan who knows how to transforme himselfe into an Angel of light doe deceive them with false flashes of comfort which in the end will cause them to lie down in sorrow It is but an unpleasing businesse to separate and oppose the things which God hath so nearely joyned together to oppose the absolute promises against the conditionall or the conditionall against the absolute the Lord hath made no such separation or opposition betwixt them The absolute and conditionall promises are both one in substance though they differ in manner of expression For when the Lord saith he will forgive our sins for his own sake Esay 43. which is an absolute promise this promise intends faith in those in whom it shall be fulfilled though he do forgive our sinnes for his own sake yet he doth it only to such as doe believe faith therefore is implyed in that promise though not expressed And on the other side when God promiseth life to such as doe believe which is a conditionall promise this promise implies the former freenesse of Grace as was before expressed in the absolute promise to doe it for his own sake the expressing of faith the condition doth not exclude the freenesse of Grace nor doth the expressing of freenesse of Grace exclude the condition these two kinde of promises help to explaine one another not to contradict or overthrow the truth of either When we heare a conditionall promise believe and be saved if any shall now aske Why will the Lord save such as believe without works To this the Lord answers in the absolute promise for mine own sake will I doe it On the otherside when hearing an absolute promise As for mine own sake will I doe this If any shall here aske To whom will the Lord performe this mercy promised To this he answers in the conditionall promise I will doe it to them which doe believe so sweetly doe these promises agree betwixt themselves helping to explaine and expound one another Let us not then dash them on against another and betwixt themselves they will not jarre The Apostle found no disagreement betwixt Grace and Faith or betwixt being saved by Grace and being saved by Faith Ezek. 2.8 and if Grace and Faith agree so well then must the absolute and conditionall promises agree also the one expressing the Grace of God as the cause of our salvation the other expressing the condition Faith by which it is received and our interest in it discerned this way of tryall by conditionall promises Let none count a legall course as not agreeable to the spirit of the Gospel This is that way of tryall which Paul who was no legall Preacher directed the Saints unto So doth Peter also 2 Pet. 5. to 11. v. Some that love to be wise above that which is written and not according to sobriety despise this way as fit for novices but not for such as are perfect as they are They have their assurance by revelation seeing the very book of life unsealed and opened unto them so that they may see and reade their own names written in it it is too low a work for them to descend into themselves and to examine how it is with them within whether they be in the faith or no. But if this people have any eare to heare Let them take heed of speaking evill of the way of the Lord which is so clearely laid down in the Word or if they be already hardned in their own way and being wise in their own eyes will count this way legall and contrary to the free Grace of the Covenant I doubt not to tell them that an humble soule which is able to prove his estate in life by his faith and other Graces accompanying it as holy mourning for sinne which they set so light by love of God and of the bretheren care to please God and such like shall finde more setled and sure comfort in the truth of these then they shall doe in their fancyed revelations and absolute way neglecting the state of the inward man That wretched Jezabell whom the Devill sent over hither to poyson these American Churches with her depths of Sathan which she had learned in the Schoole of the Familists who made her selfe a Prophetesse as understanding all secrets of the counsell of God shee counted all such
but legall Christians and legall Preachers as allowed this way All her assurance was from revelation it was revealed unto her that shee was one of the Elect of God and shee knew all things by immediate revelation from above but I fear she knows not that her glorious revelations were but Satanicall delusions Let her damned heresies shee fell into denying the resurrection c. and the just vengeance of God by which she perished terrifie all her seduced followers from having any more to doe with her leaven which shee spred among them Beware of her sinne least yee perish in her plague Vse 2. Is there a condition of the Covenant Then let this provoke us all who look for the blessing which it brings to be faithâ—ull with God in keeping our Covenant with him take heed we fall not short of the condition least we be deprived of the blessing this is that which the Apostle teaches us Heb. 4.1 Seeing we have a promise left us of entering into his rest there is the blessing promised let us feare least through unbeliefe any of us should be deprived there is the condition required The words through unbeliefe are not in the Text expressed but they are evidently implyed as appears both by the coherence with the third Chapter and by that which followes Chap. 4.2 To be deprived of such a blessing is a heavy losse such as can never be recompenced and the preventing of this losse so far as concernes us is by keeping of our Covenant which the Lord commands us to walk in If we forsake the condition we forsake the promise and therefore it is also that when God took Abraham into a Covenant with him he did not only tell Abraham what he would be unto him a God to blesse him but he brings Abraham to walk in Covenant with him Thou also shalt keep my Covenant saith the Lord Gen. 17.9 Thou shalt walk before me and bee upright Gen. 17 1. When God takes us into Covenant with him we are said to be brought into the bond of the Covenant Ezek. 20. to teach us that now we must look at our selves as tyed and bound unto God in a Covenant never to be broken we are not now any longer at our own liberty to walke as we list but must observe our Covenant to walk therein when we walk so that we may truly say before the Lord our heart is not turned back from thee neither have we dealt falsely with thee in thy Covenant as it in Psal 44.17 18 this keeps the heart in a comfortable expectation of the blessed hope which is set before us Thus Paul I have kept the faith I have finished my course and now henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousnesse 2 Tim. 4.7 8. Let us carefully walk in the condition and then the promise will be sure not only sure in it self but suâ—e to us 2 Pet. 1.10 These bonds of the Covenant are not like the fetters of a prison they are like the pleasing bonds of wedlock vincula nuptiarum which every one gladly enters into Oh let us love these bonds give up both our hands unto the Lord yea and our hearts also to be bound in them for ever these are sweet bonds they work no griefe seek not therefore to break them Psal 2. nor cast them from you say not we will be our own and walk by our will such lawlesse and licentious spirits as will be at liberty they shall be at liberty to their wo they shall have such a liberty as Jeremy threatned to the rebellious Jewes a liberty to the sword to the famine and to the pestilence Jer. 34. a liberty to goe to hell to their eternall destruction a liberty with a curse granted unto them in wrath which shall end in chaines of everlasting darknesse and bring them into that prison from whence there is no going out Therefore let all such as look for the blessing and life promised in the Covenant Let them walk faithfully in the condition of it and in this way expect the mercy which is promised Thus wee have shewed First That there is a condition of the Covenant Secondly Why the Lord hath put a condition unto it 3. The third point follows to shew what the condition is which though it hath been obiter mentioned before yet is now to be spoken of more particularly The condition then of the Covenant of Grace is faith Rom. 4.16 Rom. 10.9 10. If thou believest in the Lord Jesus thou shalt be saved so Acts 18.31 Joh. 3.16 hence in Rom. 3.27 The Gospel is called the Law of Faith because as the Law of works doth put works as the condition of that Covenant so the Gospel puts faith as the condition of the new Covenant Quest But why is faith made the condition of the Covenant Answ 1. The blessing of life promised is not in our selves but in Christ Christ is life and he which hath the Sonne hath hath life and he which hath not the Son hath not life 1 Joh. 5.12 We are dead Colos 3.3 and our Works are dead Heb. 9.14 there is no life in them they cannot bring life unto them that doe them nor can wee quicken our own soules but Christ is the life of men Joh. 1.4 Colos 3.4 and the way to receive Christ and the life which is in him is only by faith Ioh. 1.12 unbeliefe rejects Christ and puts him away But faith as an hand puts forth it selfe to receive him in whom our life is If we had life in our selves and could have found it in our own works it had then been needlesse to appoint faith as the condition of the Covenant but being that both we our selves are dead in sinne and our works are dead works nothing but death to be found in either therefore it s required that wee believe in Christ that we may receive life from him 2. The condition of the law is now become impossible unto us through the infirmity of our flesh Rom. 8.3 and therefore the Apostle saith that the Law cannot possibly give life Gal. 3.21 Therefore the Lord would go that way with us no more the Lord saw by Adam what would be the fruit of that condition if we had been put upon the same as Adam was we should have done as he did we should have shewed our selves men like men transgressing the Covenant as Hoseah speaks Hos 6.7 This condition being above our ability to performe the Lord hath in goodnesse appointed another which is possible through grace to be fulfilled by us having now received a spirit of faith 2 Cor. 4.13 It is now given us to believe Phil. 1.29 this is possible 3. It is by faith that it might be by grace Rom. 4.16 The Covenant is stablished upon the condition of faith that it might appeare to be by grace that wee obtain the blessing the condition must answer the nature of the Covenant therefore being a Covenant of grace the
and Christ in the promise Joh. 1.12 Heb. 11.13 A man may have an hand and yet not have the gift which is offered him unlesse hee put forth his hand to receive it faith is the hand of the soule and the putting of it forth is the act by which wee receive Christ offered 2. Look as it was with Adam in that Covenant made with him he had an habituall righteousnesse within him but that was not the condition of the Covenant betwixt God and him but the acting of that inward habit in acts of obedience was the condition of the Covenant so here in the Covenant of grace first God puts into us the habit of faith and then requires of us act of faith to lay hold of the promise and to receive the grace which iâ— offered in the Covenant 3. It is not an habit of faith but a life of faith which is required of the Saints that are in Covenant with God it is the habit which enables and fits us to live by faith but the life of faith consists in the acts of faith put forth according to the severall occasions we meet withall Gal. 2.20 2 Cor. 5.8 Heb. 11. 4. There must needs be a difference betwixt that which God promiseth as a part of the Covenant on his part and that which he requires of us on our part now the habit is that which God promiseth to us when he saith I will give you a new heart c. and this he worketh in us in our effectuall calling and then the acting of that faith received is that which is required on our part Quest But what is that act or acts of faith by which we perform the condition of the Covenant Answ 1. First there is an act of faith by which we doe as it were first close with the Covenant revealed and offered unto us 2. There is also another act of it by which we are carried on to an answerable walking before God according to the Covenant made with him 1. For the former before we give a direct answer we must lay down these two grounds First That in the making up of the Covenant betwixt God and us God is first with us he is the first mover he begins with us before we begin with him we should never seek to be in Covenant with him if he did not allure us and draw us unto him Thus in Ezek. 20.37 I will bring them saith the Lord into the bond of the Covenant It is the Lord which brings them they doe not first offer themselves And first God prepares his own way for entering into Covenant with us and then he finisheth the work and in this preparation he doth these three things 1. He breaks us off from our Covenant with Hell and Death makes us sensible of our undone estate makes us see that we are without God without Christ without hope Ephes 2. that we are not under mercy that wee are not of his people 1 Pet. 2. 2. He opens unto us his minde and will shewing himselfe willing to receive us to grace and to enter into a new Covenant with us yet againe to take us to be his people and hee to be our God he goes into the streets and open places as it is in Prov. 1.20 21. and there makes publike proclamation Ho ho every one that will Come yee unto me and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you Esay 55.3 Esay 65.1 yea more he comes and beseeches us to be reconciled unto him 2 Cor. 5.20 and speaks to us as pittying us Jer. 3.12 and lamenting over us Ezek. 33.11 thereby to perswade us to come into a Covenant with him 3. By the hearing of these promises and offers of grace the Lord usually scattereth some little seeds of faith in the hearts of those that he will bring unto himselfe which seed being sown doth sometimes quickly put forth and acts towards the Covenant propounded and layes hold of it as we see in Lydia the Jaylor Zacheus and such others but sometimes and that most usually before that faith hath done any great thing in seeking after God to make a Covenant with him the Lord doth againe withdraw himselfe and goes away as Hoseah 5. end hiding himselfe as if he would regard us and look after us no more so that now if we will get into Covenant with him we must seek after him as he before sought after us and must sue unto him for grace to take us into Covenant with himselfe and herein faith begins to shew it selfe beginning to work and move towards the Covenant which the Lord offereth to make with us For though the Lord hath withdrawn himselfe yet he hath left such a touch of his Spirit upon the heart as makes the soule affectionate towards him so as now it cannot rest but feeling its own wo being without God and without Covenant and having heard of the Lords willingnesse to enter into a Covenant with us it now begins to seek after the Lord to be in Covenant wirh him This is the first ground that God is first he begins with us Secondly The second is that whatsoever faith doth in seeking to enter into Covenant with God it doth it alwayes in that way and according to that order in which the Lord hath gone before us in the offer of his Covenant unto us faith doth alwaies follow the Word and doth nothing but as it hath a word of Faith to guide its way it goes step by step as it hath the light of the word directing and going before faith doth not prescribe unto God it will not presume to appoint the conditions of the Covenant onely it answers and applyes it selfe to Gods offer taking conditions of peace but giving none It doth not seek to wind about the promise of grace to our own minde and will It doth not say I will have it thus thus it shall be or else I will admit of no conditions of peace but the soul now finding that the everlasting estate of it for weal or woe life or death stands at the meer good pleasure and mercy of God and knowing that either it must submit to that way of the Covenant and to those conditions which the Lord is pleased to set down or it must perish for ever it gladly comes in humbly accepting the offer of grace in the same way as it is tendred and offered unto us of God Here then that we may see how faith closeth with the Covenant propounded we must see first how God offers himselfe in his Covenant unto us Now in that main promise of the Covenant which is indeed the sum of all I will be thy God God offers himself unto us two wayes as hath been before shewed in the opening of that promise First he offers himselfe unto us as a God of mercy to pardon us as a God of blessing to blesse us with all sufficient blessings 2. As a God over us and above us to order us and to rule us
Eph. 2.8 9. ye are saved by grace through faith There is first the maine blessing of the Covenant yee are saved There is secondly the fountaine or cause of it by grace yee are saved by grace Then thirdly there is the condition through faith And if any should now ask how it could be by grace and yet depend upon the condition of faith the Apostle goes on and shews how that may be namely 1. Because faith is not of our selves but it is the gift of God and 2. Because faith doth not come to God boastingly to claime life by the works of righteousnesse which we have done but comes to him with an empty hand to receive what grace and mercy is willing to give such a condition as this doth no more derogate from the freenesse of grace then doth the beggers receiving of the almes given him derogate from the kindnesse of him that gave it 4. The grace of the Covenant is free notwithstanding the condition because we doe not put any condition as antecedent to the Covenant on Gods part whereby to induce and move the Lord to enter into Covenant with us as if there were any thing supposed in us which might invite and draw him to take us into Covenant with himselfe only we suppose a condition antecedent to the promise of life which condition we are to observe and walk in and in the observation thereof to expect the blessing of life which the Covenant promiseth If God had not purposed to have dealt with us after his rich grace he might have said to us when he saw us polluted in our bloud I will no more have mercy as it is in Hoseah 1.6 9. ye shall no more be my people neither will I be yours But yet he is pleased to over-look all our sinfull pollutions and to sprinkle clean water upon us and then to take us by the hand and to enter into Covenant with us here is grace free notwithstanding the condition of faith to which the promise is made In a word The Lord out of his free grace purposing life and salvation to his chosen then to make way for the accomplishment of his purpose in bringing us to life first he works in us renewing grace and puts within us a spirit of faith and so leads us on in the way of faith to the obtaining of that great blessing the salvation promised the one of these being antecedent and as a condition to the other 5. It s a good consideration which Doctor Ames hath in Coron Arâ—ic 5. cap. 3. That eadem res absolutè promittitur quia certò efficietur cum conditione quia non alià s efficietur nisi per media in illis mediis hominis ipsius exigitur cura thus forgivenesse of sinne is absolutely promised Esay 43. For mine own sake will I put away thy transgressions and yet it is promised also with condition 1 Joh. 1. If wee confesse our sins he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sinnes These promises are both of them promises of free grace the annexing therefore of a condition doth not impaire the free grace of the Covenant Vses And first from this that faith is the condition of the Covenant from whence first we may conceive how it is that even in the Covenant of grace life is promised unto good works and to well-doing as it is in Iohn 5.29 Luke 14.14 Gal. 6.9 1 Tim. 6.18 19. Hebr. 6. by all which it might seeme that works have the same place in the Covenant of grace as in the Covenant of works even to be proper causes of salvation but where we finde the promise of life made unto good works we must not look at them as works of the Law but as works and fruits of faith wrought by a beleever wrought forth by the power and by the life of faith which being a living grace cannot be idle and fruitlesse but will be working and fruitfull in well doing These kind of promises which promise life unto works are if I may so call them not casuall but declarative making manifest who be those true beleivers to whom the life promised in the Covenant doth belong In these promises workes are not set as the causes of our salvation but as evidences and signes of those that do beleeve unto life distinguishing betwixt beleevers and unbeleevers between those that are sincerely faithfull and seeming professors which professe and say they beleive but indeed their faith is but a dead faith and therefore vaine the promise is made to works not as the cause of our salvation but to note out the nature and quality of that faith which is the condition of life seeing faith is a grace more inward and that act of it by which it saveth is secret and cannot be seen for who knows our resting on or adhering unto Christ therefore this saving faith shews it selfe by some other acts of it setting love a worke which discovers it selfe by obedience in all righteousnesse and true holinesse and these fruits being seen do make knowne the tree from whence they come although therefore the promise of life is made sometimes to faith sometimes to workes yet this is not to note out a twofold condition of the Covenant as if the condition were partly faith and partly works but to note out the property and nature of that faith which hath the promise of life belonging to it not an idle but a working faith not a dead faith but living not ineffectual in word or tongue only but operative and effectuall making us carefull to shew forth good works Tit. 3.8 Otherwise if we look at workes by themselves as separated from faith to such works there is no promise of life made in the Covenant of grace The same work done by a beleever hath a promise of reward and the same work being done by an unbeleever hath no promise which shews that the promise is made rather to the worker or to the beleever thus working then to the worke it selfe and by this meanes the promise of life being made to this kinde of faith which doth thus work hereby the faithfull are enabled the better to see their own estate in the promise of life as having a good foundation of assurance thereby that they shall obtaine eternall life 1 Tim. 6.19 hereby also carnall professors who talk of saith but have no works walking unholily are convinced to have no part and right thereunto 2. This may let us see the kindnesse and love of God towards us in that he hath appointed such a condition of life unto us as through his grace is possible for us to fulfill To fullfill the righteousnesse of the Law is now become impossible through the infirmity of our flesh but it is not impossible to beleeve on him who hath fulfilled all righteousnesse for us Here is grace in appointing such a possible condition for though the Lord should have fully pardoned all our former breaches of Covenant with him and
an holy calling 2 Tim. 1.9 and we called unto holinesse 1 Thes 4.7 and when God takes us into Covenant with him he chargeth us henceforth to touch no unclean thing 2 Cor. 6.17 4. In regard of the effect it works holinesse in those that are called It worketh effectually that which it promiseth and commandeth The promises of the Covenant have a sanctifying vertue in them to sanctifie those to whom they are made for God by them conveyes the Spirit of holinesse into our hearts as the Apostle implyes in 2 Pet. 1.4 and we are thereby encouraged and quickned to grow up â—n all holinesse according to the will of God as is evident by that in 2 Cor. 7.1 compared with chap. 6. end where God having made that sweet promise Come out from among them and touch no unclean thing and I will receive you and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty from hence the Apostle inferres Having then such promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthinesse of flesh and spirit and grow up unto full holinesse in his feare c. And in regard of this effect of the Covenant thus working holinesse in those that are the people of God they are called the holy people Dan. 12.7 and the people of Gods holinesse Esay 63.18 So in all these respects the Covenant may well be called an holy Covenant And it must needs be an holy Covenant First because the Lord himselfe is the author and ordainer of this Covenant the summe and substance of it was framed and set down in heaven in the counsels of eternity comming forth from the bosome of the Father and concluded by the assent of the Sonne and holy Ghost All the articles of it were first decreed and concluded there and therefore must needs be holy If they had been devised by men they would have been of an other quality savouring of the sinfull and licentious spirit that is in man but being a Covenant of the Lords own drawing he setting down all the articles and conditions of it it must needs be as himselfe is an holy Covenant proceeding from so pure and holy a God hence it is that in Psal 60.6 he hath spoken the words of his Covenant in his holinesse Look as grace and holinesse are united together in God so they are in his Covenant God can no more cease to be holy then he can to be gracious he is both gracious and holy so that his Covenant of Grace is also an holy Covenant as proceeding from him which is both gracious and holy 2. Because the end of this Covenant is to make us partakers of all the holy things of God from which all unholy and uncleane ones are excluded Levit. 12.2 3 6. Psal 50.16 but those that are sanctified enjoy them and use them as their own they are their portion their inheritance Deut. 33. their pearles Matth. 7.6 The Lord would have all his Ordinances to be used holily he cannot abide to have them prophaned and therefore it is that in Ezra 6.21 none but such as were separate from their uncleanesse might eat of the holy things and therefore the Lord will have his people to be an holy people that they may participate in all his holy things Nay more we are called not only to participation of these holy things of God but to fellowship with God himselfe 1 Ioh. 1.3 The Lord saith unto them ye are my people and they say unto him thou art our God Zach. 13. ult But without holinesse no man can have fellowship with God and therefore they must be an holy people that are taken into Covenant with God to enjoy followship and communion with him Quest But wherein stands that holinesse which the Covenant requires of all Gods covenanted people Answ There is a twofold holinesse 1. Relative 2. Positive First Relative in two things 1. In separation from common use 2. In dedication to God 1. There must be a separation from common use in this sence things holy are called separate things Deut. 19 2. Things common in Scripture are opposed to holy to shew that holy things must be separate from common use Hence Solomon speaking of Gods taking Israel to be his own he useth that expression Thou hast separated them unto thy selfe from all the people of the earth c. and thence was that exhortation of Ezra Separate your selves from the people of the lands Ezrah 10.11 and that of the Apostle Come out from among them and separate your selves 2 Cor. 6.17 If then we will be holy we must be separate from the common conversation of the world having no fellowship with the works thereof 2. There must be a dedication and devoting our selves unto God we must be offered up and given unto him Thus the holy dayes were dedicated unto the service of God they were not only separated from common and ordinary use but were dedicated to the Lords service thus were the first fruits called holy and thence the holy things and the dedicated things are taken for one and the same 1 Kings 15.15 as the Altar Numb 7. end the Temple 1 King 8.63 and thus must we be dedicate or given to the Lord as is said of the Macedonians that they gave themselves to the Lord 2 Cor. 8. we must resign up our selves unto him to be his and for him alone Secondly Positive and this is also twofold Habituall Actuall 1. Habituall qualifying and fitting us by graces infused for the service of God which we are devoted unto as all the things that were appointed for the service of God were anoynted with the holy oyl Exod. 30.26 27. so must we be anoynted with the sweet oyntments which are the graces of the spirit 2 Cor. 1.21 1 Ioh. 2.27 The oyntment of the holy Ghost which was poured upon the head of Christ Acts 10.38 must run down upon us that the savour of his oyntment may be found upon us Cant. 1. we must be sanctified throughout in soule in body and in spirit 1 Thes 5.23 2. Actuall it s not enough to have grace in us but there must be an holy use and exercise of those graces that are in us they are not given to us to be idle or that we should be slothfull in the possessing of them but that we should put them forth in our practice so as to be fruitfull in the improvement of them 2 Pet. 1.8 and thence it is that the Apostle speaking of the holinesse which the Lord requires to be in his people he doth not only require a holinesse of disposition by inherent graces but that we should be holy in all manner of conversation 1 Pet. 1.15 16. and for this cause the way of Saints is called holy Esay 35.8 they are sanctified not only in their vessels as 1 Sam. 21. but their way is holy also and they are said to be undefiled in their way Psal 11 9. where the soule is sanctified by the spirit of Christ the life will be
falsifying God will not own he knowes the terms of his own Covenant and will hold to that which his own hand hath written he will acknowledge none of Sathans forgeries his Covenant is holy and either we must take the Covenant as Gods offers it or we can never partake oâ— the blessing of it Try we our selves therefore by the Spirit of holinesse and therby judge of our interest in the blessing of life which the Covenant promiseth Signes 1. True holinesse is conformable to the first pattern of holinesse which is the Lord himselfe as it is written Be ye holy for I the Lord your God am holy True holinesse stands not in conformity with this world nor doth it rest in imitating the best examples that be in the world but makes us strive to a conformity with God to be even as he is in this world 1 Ioh. 4. following the Lord till we come to be partakers of his own holinesse Heb. 12. 2. True holinesse towards God is ever accompanied with righteousnesse towards men It s but hypocriticall holinesse which is not attended with righteousnesse The new man which is created after God is said to be created in righteousness and true holinesse or holinesse of truth There is a true holinesse and there is a false lying and dessembling holinesse how is the one discerned from the other holinesse of truth hath righteousnesse going with it but false holinesse thinks it enough to seeme holy towards God neglecting duties of justice and righteousnesse towards men It was not so with the holy Apostle who speaking of his own conversation among the Saints appeales to their consciences how holily how justly how unblameably he had his conversation among them 1 Thes 2.10 these two which God hath so joyned together we must not put asunder if we will approve our selves to have attained that holinesse of truth 3. True holinesse works for holy ends the glory of God Pet. 4.11 the credit of the Gospel Tit. 2.10 and the salvation of men 1 Cor. 10. ult It abhors those Pharisaicall ends of hypocrites mentioned in Matth. 6. 4. There is in a sanctified Christian both light and life light in his minde life in his will and affection The light which is in him makes him to see both the loathsomnesse of sin and the excellency of grace and the life that is in him makes him to feel the burthen of his own corruptions and to long after the grace which is still wanting in him so that true holinesse makes us weary of the body of corruption that is in us groaning under it as under a misery not to be endured as Paul did Rom. 7.24 and makes us thirst after more grace that we might be enabled in every thing to please God Psal 119.5 Painted holinesse puffes up with conceit of our own goodnesse as Esay 65.5 but true holinesse humbles us by reason of the sight and sence we have of the corruption that is in us More such signs might be added but I hasten to an end By these try we our selves and see thereby what part we have in the blessing of the Covenant Vse 3. To stirre up all that have taken hold of this Covenant and doe professe themselves to be a people in Covenant with God Let them labour to expresse this holinesse in their lives and wayes that they may thereby approve themselves to be faithfull in their Covenant with God can two walk together except they be agreed Amos 3.3 certainly unlesse we agree to walk in holinesse with our God we cannot long walk together nor hold Covenant one with another let us then strive to be a holy people unto the Lord our God separate from the pollution of the world devoted to his service and honour Motives 1. This is Gods end in taking us into Covenant with him that he might be glorified Esay 43.21 44.23 In 1 Pet. 2.9 the Apostle tells us we are for this end taken to be a peculiar people unto God that we might shew forth the vertues of him that hath called us out of darknesse into his marvellous light he took us to himselfe when he saw us polluted in our bloud Ezek. 16. yet then he cloathed us with the beauty of his own vertues that his name may be glorified in us but without holinesse we pollute Gods name and make it vile we honour it not Ezek. 36. â—0 2. Sanctity and holinesse is the beauty and glory of any people by which they excell all other people of the world Deut. 26. ult In Exod. 15.11 God himselfe is said to be glorious in holinesse and the same is the Churches glory too which is then glorious when it is holy and without blame Ephes 5.27 we cannot honour our selves more then by growing up in true holinesse nor can we make our selves vile any way so much as by sinful impiety Psal 15.4 3. Our holinesse is that which must testifie to the world and to our own consciences that we are indeed the people of God as Christ by the Spirit of holinesse raising him up from the dead waâ— declared to be the Sonne of God so we are declared to be Gods saved ones by the same spirit of holinesse raising us up and quickning us unto newnesse of life This is Christs mark which he sets upon all his redeemed ones they are holy This is written in their foreheads Holinesse to the Lord and therefore they are said to be sealed with the holy spirit of promise Eph. 1.13 as men set on their seales to note their propriety in that thing that is sealed If then we will know or have the world to know that we are God's we must be sealed with the spirit of holinesse 4. Holinesse is the perfection of our Christian state this is that which we wish for even your perfection saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 13.9 and what perfection is that even the same that he mentions Chap 7.1 that they might perfect their holinesse in the feare oâ— God This was mans perfection in the beginning and the same shall be our perfection in heaven Heb. 12.23 Holinesse adds perfection to all other gifts and without this they are all of no worth Wisdome without holinesse is but fox-like craftinesse courage without holinesse is but lyon-like cruelty humblenesse without holinesse is but basenesse of spirit justnesse in dealing without holinesse is but heathenish harmlesnesse but let holiness be added to each of these and then are they perfect as a colour of a perfect die 5. Holinesse makes us live the life of God which all other unsanctified ones are strangers from Ephes 4. by holinesse the life of Christ is manifest to be in us 2 Cor. 4. so that we may say that now we live not our selves but Christ liveth in us Gal. 2.20 wickednesse makes a man live the life of Devils holinesse conformes us to the life of Christ 6. All those that are in Covenant with God are a people neare unto him and being neare unto him he