So that we may consider these words either as a Doctrinal Assertion That such as are in Christ Jesus are always New Creatures Or as a Seasonable Exhortation That they should manifest that they are in Christ by discovering themselves to be New Creatures In both senses the New Creature is a necessary Consequent of Vnion to Christ The connexion is inseparable between these two So that we may truly affirm That all such are so And we may rationally exhort all that pretend to such a Priviledge that they would be so and show it But whether considered as a Doctrinal Proposition or as an Exhortation whether consider'd as a Command from God or as a wish and Prayer of the Apostle There are three things obvious enough to be explained and spoken to 1. Something concerning this Priviledge of being in Christ and the import of it 2. Concerning this New Creation which is to be Connected with it And 3. Of the Connexion between them and the Vniversal Obligation upon all that are in Christ to be New Creatures That if any Man be in Christ he is he must be a New Creature or where there is no such Change it is in vain to pretend to be in Christ Or he that is not a New Creature he is not in Jesus Christ he hath no part in him and shall have no benefit by him Every Man's Title and Claim to a special Interest in Christ and Relation to him must be tryed by this Rule This is more fully exprest Ephes 4.20 21 22 23. But you have not so learned Christ if so be you have been taught of him as the Truth is in Jesus that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts And be ye renewed in the spirit of your mind And that ye put on the new man which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness 1. If any man be in Christ Something it will be necessary to speak concerning this Vnion to Christ from which we are said to be in him as sometimes Christ is said to be in us And both are sometimes joyned together John 6.56 He that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood dwelleth in me and I in him There are three sorts of Vnion which we cannot sufficiently admire The first from all Eternity in the impenetrable Secrets of inaccessible Light The second in the fulness of Time in the Womb of the Virgin The third is made daily by the Spirit and Grace of Christ. The first of these is the Essential Vnion between the Eternal Father and the Eternal Word in the Adorable Mystery of the ever blessed Trinity The second is the Personal Vnion of the Humane Nature with the Divine in that unspeakable Mystery of the Incarnation The third is the Spiritual Vnion between Christ and Christians which depends on the two former and hath some dark resemblance of them Concerning which let me mention a few things 1. That there is a real Vnion between Christ and the Souls of Believers how difficult soever it be to understand the manner of it He is not only Emanuel God with us as partaker of Flesh and Blood having assumed our Nature He is not only for us in the Work of Redemption by giving himself to God a Ransom and Sacrifice for us But he is said to be in us and to dwell in our hearts and we are said to be in him and dwell in him as the Branches are in the Vine and by many other Images and Idaea's of Union is this set forth by Allusions and Metaphors and Similitudes of many sorts to signifie and represent to us this blessed Union between Christ and real Christians And as he did partake with us of Flesh and Blood Heb. 2 14. We are said to be made partakers of Christ Heb. 14. as the Principle and Measure of all * Mr. Polhill Christus in Corde p. 10.12 our Spiritual Enjoyments and Expectations And to be in h m that is true in Jesus Christ John 1.5.20 It is sometimes set forth by the natural Union between Head Members At other times by the Marriage union and both are discoursed of together Eph 5.25.30 We are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones By Allusion to what is said of Eve as to the first Adam He is set forth as a Foundation for never failing Support as a Husband for the dearest Love as a Vine as an Head for Vital Influence as Food and Nourishment for the most intimate Conjunction He is said to be one flesh with us and we are said to be one spirit with him Yea as Christ is said to be in the Father Believers are said to be in him and he in them John 14.20 Yea further he is said to be one with them as he and the Father are one John 17.21 And he is said also to live in them and they to live in him Gal. 2.20 Insomuch that sometimes the Scripture speaks of Christ and the Church as of one Person 1 Cor. 12.12 where the Church is called Christ How amazing and admirable is the Expression Christ in us and we in him What Riches and Glory is there in this Mystery as the Apostle speaks 1 Colos 27. Who ever heard before of a Servant's being in his Master or a Disciple in his Lord or the Members being in the Head But here is a Mystery of Divine Love and Grace which the Apostle seems with some kind of Affectation to speak of at every turn and upon every occasion to mention it several times in one Chapter in one Verse yea and over and over in the same Verse So unfeigned and so fervent was his Love to Christ if he fight or triumph it is in Christ Jesus If he bless God or God bless him it is still spoken of as in Christ Jesus He speaks as if he could do nothing without him His Life his Motion his very Being is to be in Christ We must silently Adore this Wonder of Divine Love and cover our Faces in humble Adoration for such an Honour which the blessed Angels might envy if they were capable of it For however Christ be there Head they are yet at his Feet they are not in him as Believers are It is true the Angels serve him and worship in his presence they follow him by Millions they encompass his Throne with Flames of Love they quit Heaven to obey his Orders they flye swift as the Wind to execute his pleasure But Christ is not in them as he is in us nor they in him as we are said to be The Name Emanuel is to them an inexpressible Name they cannot say God with us in the sense that we can For he took not the Nature of Angels at first and he hath not taken them into such an union with himself as he has the Sons of men But 2. That you may not mistake remember that all Christians are not in Christ in a like manner Some
word is truth Accordingly we find Sanctification is ascribed unto Faith in Christ as the true Messiah or a sound Belief of the Revelation he hath made Act. 15.9 Purifying the heart by Faith So that we are washed and sanctified through the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ or by Christ known and beleived on as one means of it and by the Efficiency of the Spirit of God as the other whâ—ch I shall afterwards speak of In the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God In discoursing of these words I shall therefore First Give some brief account of the Nature of this Change here exprest by being Washed Sanctified and Justified Secondly Of the two great Means whereby it is brought about the Name of the Lord Jesus and the Spirit of our God Thirdly Make some Improvement by Application especially to assist you in examining your selves in order to the Lord's Table that we may know whether we are in the number of such upon whom this Change is passed Whether we are Washed Sanctified and Justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God 1. Concerning the nature of this Change It is evident that the defiling nature of Sin is here supposed there could not otherwise be any need of Washing And we find it represented in Scripture by Spots and Blemishes by Mire and Vomit by the Blood and Pollution of a New-born Child by the most filthy dung and Excrements and whatsoever is reckoned the most vile and abominable Therefore whatsoever Excellencies and Ornaments whatsoever Priviledges and Advantages an Unsanctified Person may partake of to recommend him to the eyes of the World he is yet a Vile Person loathed and abominable in the sight of God 2. Consider that by Nature we are All as an Unclean thing That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh and Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean John 3.6 Rom. 3.10 Job 14.4 All the Purifications and Washings under the Law did suppose our inward Defilement and represent our need of Cleansing Whatever was injoyned by the Mosaick Institution of this kind which we find was very strictly charged and earnestly prest and indispensably required and the neglect of it most severely punished yet did but signifie and represent this Which proves our Sanctification necessary Tit. 3.5 He saved us by the washing of Regeneration and by the renewing of the Holy Ghost All Men are Defiled and Unclean by Nature and need to be Washed 3. We are all over Unclean from the Crown of the Head to the Sole of the Foot Universally diseased and polluted and so need to be Sanctified in Soul Body and Spirit Ephes 5.26 1 Thes 5.23 Isa 1.6 we read of the filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit from which we are to be cleansed 2 Cor. 7.1 All the Powers of the Soul and all the Members of the Body are tainted Heart and Hand must be Cleansed the inward and outward Man Sanctified Cleanse your hands ye sinners and purifie your hearts ye double minded Jam. 4 8. 4. The Change therefore by Sanctification must be Universal in heart and life By the knowledge of God and affection to him of whom we were Ignorant and to whom before we were Disaffected by the Image of God recovered by participation of the Divine Nature and Life by the Law of God written on the Heart and expressed in the Conversation Holiness and Love to God must be the frame and temper of our Souls so that the Actings of it become easie pleasant and delightful The Old Man must be put off the New put on Old things be done away and all things become new New Principles new Ends new Motives new Rules new Comforts which will make an unspeakable difference between this Change and that Negative Religion and common Honesty which many may pretend to who are strangers to Regeneration There were many Philosophers and Sophists among these Corinthians who boasted of Purity and Reformation which came unexpressibly short of this Sanctification which I am now speaking of as owing to some other cause than the Spirit of Christ unto whom the production continuance and progress of this Sanctification is alone to be ascribed 5. It may farther be considered in its Begining or Progress or Consummation As begun by the Spirit of Life and Power from Christ as maintained and carried on by a continual influence from the same Spirit and the diligent use of God's appointed means Whereby the Lineaments of the Divine Nature are rendred more clear holy impressions more powerful and efficacious Whereby we go from strength to strength and are inabled to perfect holiness in the fear of God pressing on towards perfection to the fulness of the stature of the Man Christ Jesus till it be consummate in Heaven when by seeing Christ as he is we shall be made like him and be presented to the Father without spot or wrinkle or any such thing 6. For the sake of those who intend to come to the Lord's Table let me add That such Washing and Sanctification is requisite to our Communion with Christ in the special Ordinances of the Gospel particularly that of the Lord's Supper This is intimated by our Lord in the 13th of John v. 7 8. in his words to Peter If I wash thee not thou hast no part with me It must have a Spiritual meaning because notwithstanding the external Washing Christ says All of them were not clean And soon after this he instituted his Supper to the due participation whereof it is necessary we be Washed and Sanctified For we cannot otherwise have a Right to the Benefits purchased by his Blood which are Sealed to us in that Ordinance and we can have no Communion with him there till partakers of the Spirit of Christ Unless we are Sanctified by that Spirit we have no interest in him no Right to his Supper and so we can have no Communion with him if we are not cleansed from our Filthiness if we have spots upon us that are not the spots of God's Children unto whom this Feast doth particularly belong And therefore I may say as Peter to Simon Magus Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter for thy heart is not right with God neither can it be if this Change do not precede The Enquiry therefore is highly seasonable whether we are thus Washed and Sanctified or not But before I give the Characters of such Persons it will be expected I should speak somewhat concerning the double means of this Change In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God II. The double Means of this Change by the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God First We are Purified and Washed By the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ or by Faith in him To this purpose Consider First That all the Arguments laid down in Scripture to press Sanctification and Holiness of Heart and Life have influence
of Prayer and other parts of Divine Worship All these will aggravate your sin But the Possibility of doing other Services of Religion amiss is not counted a sufficient Reason for the not doing ' em After all such pretences and excuses there is too much Reason to think that the most are afraid of coming to this Ordinance lest the preparing for it and the consequent Duties which they know are required should interrupt their Sensual Pleasures or their inordinate Prosecution of the World and oblige them to leave their sins which as yet they have no mind to part with Such as these ought not to come indeed they have other work first to do They are first called to Repentance and Faith in Christ and afterwards to the Communion of his Body and Blood They are called to understand and own their Baptismal Covenant by the Answer of a good Conscience and then to renew it at the Table of the Lord This Priviledge belongs not to them till they have truly repented and forsaken sin and yielded themselves to be the Lord's 3. Object But others are ready to say I would come and have had many a Thought about it But I doubt of my own Sincerity and the truth of my Grace I know it is Childrens Bread and I am not certain I am one of that number And does not the Apostle tell us That he that doubteth is damned if he eat Now I doubt whether I am passed from Death to Life or no May such a one as I venture to come who have no Assurance that I am in a State of Grace Are all those unworthy and unfit to come who come in any other State of Soul than they think they may safely dye in Several things may be said in Answer to this 1. That many mistake the Nature of true Faith and Sincerity and think if they have not Assurance of the Love of God that therefore they have no true Faith They make saving Justifying Faith to consist in believing the special Love of Christ to their Souls in believing that their sins are pardoned and that they are in Christ But this is a dangerous Mistake which one would wonder under such clear Light as we enjoy should be so common For how unspeakable is the Difference between the Truth of Grace and the Knowledge of its being true between a hearty Consent to the Terms of the Covenant and the Reflex Act of Faith so as to be able to say I know my Interest in the Covenant Many a false Professor may flatter himself that his Faith is true when it is not and many an Vpright Christian may doubt and question Whether he be one or no But the Latter shall one Day be ashamed of their Fears as the Former of their Hopes The Lord knoweth who are his when many that are His do not know it themselves And if a Minister of Christ will ask a few home close Questions of such doubting trembling Christians by which their hearty consent to the Covenant may be judged of Their Answers plainly shew That they believe in Christ and love him above all the World and regard no Iniquity in their hearts And yet will continue to doubt of their Integrity though the Bent of their Hearts and the Endeavours of their Lives do abundantly prove that they are Sincere 2ly However it may ordinarily be known whether your Faith be of the right kind or no and whether you are Vpright towards God or no. We are bid to Examine and Search and try and prove our selves in order to it that we may find the Mark and Impress of God upon our Souls the Fruits of the sanctifying Spirit there and so have Rejoycing in our selves and not in another It is so far from being unlawful to collect Comfort from the Marks and Signs of our Sanctification and to prove our Vnion to Christ and Justification that way that it is the very Method of the Gospel to direct us to know our State towards God by thus looking inward to find the Image of Christ upon the Soul and by observing the Fruits of the Spirit in a godly Conversation Such doubting Christians would do well to Consult some Faithful Minister of Christ and Represent the State of their own Case what they feel that so they may be told what it doth signifie and be help'd to judge of themselves It is granted that you know how it is with you better than any Minister can do For as * Mr. Baxter One well expresses it A Patient knows better than any Physician what he feels but a Physician when he hears it can tell from what Cause it comes and what is the Nature of the Disease and what is like to come of it and what is the proper Method for a Cure There is a great deal of Reason why you should expect and hope for the Resolution of your Doubts in such Cases by consulting some Minister of Christ especially him under whose Ministry you have chosen to place your selves as the Helper of your Faith and Joy 3. The Penitent Christian though he want Assurance is Accepted of God and hath Right to this Ordinance whether he believe it or no. If you unfeignedly consent to the Covenant of Grace and with an humble penitent Sense of your past Sins are willing and desirous to close with Christ on the Terms of the Gospel That God shall be your God and Christ your Redeemer and Lord and the Holy Spirit your Sanctifier and Guide If you are willing heartily willing to give up your selves to be instructed ruled and saved by him This is the very Heart of saving Faith And if this be your Character you are the Members of Christ and ought to come to the Lord's Table For though your timorousness and present Scruples may make you Suspend for a-while they cannot deprive you of your Right to the Ordinance nor disoblige you from the Duty of coming to it For All such who unfeignedly consent to the Covenant they may and ought to come to signifie their Consent and to receive the Seal of the Covenant 4. Every Christian ought to endeavour to know his State lest they be distracted between the Hopes of God's Acceptance of them on the one hand and the Fears of coming Vnworthily on the other Because they doubt of their Worhtiness they fear to come And because they have some good Hope they dare not stay away lest they neglect their Duty The proper Remedy is to Resolve Unfeignedly to please God and obey him in this and all other Instances and then do this in Remembrance of Christ as what all his Followers are obliged to do It may be that Ignorance of thy State from whence thy Doubts proceeds is owing to the Neglect of Self Examination and the use of proper Means to know thy Self 5. It may yet be Adviseable for some melancholy tempted Persons under some perplexing Doubts to stay away for a-while till they have competently over-come their Fear lest
Pardon I now unfeignedly acknowledge own and avow Thee for my Saviour my Lord my God Though he professed his Unbelief in larger Words Except I see the print of the Nails and thrust my Finger c. Yet this Expression of his Repentance is equally significant He only stammers out two or three words My Lord my God But such as prove his Conversion and his Cure As the voice of the Patient will sometimes discover the Cure of a Disease in the Head When the Heart is full the Expressions are many times short and abrupt The Groans Desires and Inward Affections of the Soul are unutterable He had much more to say but he could not bring it out His Penitent shame on the one hand and his Zeal and Admiration on the other stopt his Mouth But the little he doth say is very much to the purpose He calls him Lord and God which upon the Resurrection of Christ every Tongue was to Confess The Truth of his Repentance Love and Zeal he afterwards more abundantly proved by labour and diligence and travelling up and down the World to spread the Gospel into * See Dr. Cave's Life of St. Thomas Parthia and afterwards among the Medes and Persians passing through the Asian Ethiopia says Chrysostom and at last came to India perswading them to Renounce their Idolatry and receive the Faith of Christ Some Remainders of this there are in some parts of India to this day And at last he was thrust through with Lances by the Command of an Indian King If we may believe the Account of some of the Jesuits * Relatione della Cina del P. A. Semedo 12. Parte Prima cap. 31. and other Missionaries of the Roman Church into China and those parts they do Ascribe the Preaching of the Gospel there to this Apostle and his Followers And the Chaldee Books concerning the Indian Christianity Cultivated by his Means are mentioned to this Purpose and Preserved to this Day by an A. Bishop of Granganour or Della Serra and Translated into Latin by a Jesuit One of those Books is a Breviary wherein are these words By the Means of St. Thomas the Errors of the Idolatry of the Indians were scattered By the Means of St. Thomas the Chineses and the Aethiopians were converted to the Truth By the Means of St. Thomas they obtained the Vertue of Baptism and the Adoption of Sons and kept the Faith which they promised to God By Means of St. Thomas the Beams of the Knowledge of Life enlightened all India and the Kingdom of Heaven entred into China And presently there follows an Antiphona which saith The Indians the Chineses the Persians and other Islanders those of Syria Armenia Grecia and Romania in Commemoration of St. Thomas do offer their Adoration unto thy Most Holy Name O Great God 2. Let us Consider the Reality of his Faith in this short Confession of it For upon these Words My Lord my God our Saviour owns in the next Verse the Truth of his Faith Blessed art thou who hast seen and hast believed Though a more ample and abundant Blessing be pronounced on such as did also believe without that help of Sight and Sense But here is an Excellent Faith and all the Essential parts of it comprehended in this Expression My Lord my God 1. An Assent to this Truth that Jesus is the Christ the true Meissah who had Risen again as he foretold 2. An acknowledgment that this Jesus is both Lord and God that absolute Supremacy Power and Dominion belong to him that he is true God 3. An Appropriation of him to himself as his Lord and his God which following upon the former two contain the Essentials of true Faith 4. In this Expression we have an Evidence of the Two Natures of Christ the Reality of his Humane Nature and the Truth of his Divine 1. The Reality of his Humane Nature The Method our Lord uses to prove his Resurrection to this Apostle doth suppose that he was true man Partaker of Human Nature that his Body was of such a kind that our Senses might judge of it for else he would not have bid Thomas behold him and reach hither his Hand This may easily be improved to overthrow the Popish Fancy of Transubstantiation that the Body and Blood of Christ are in the Lord's Supper under the Accidents of Bread and Wine For at that rate Thomas might have still objected That what he saw and touched was not the Body of Christ but the Accidents of it and that he was not obliged to believe on the Testimony of his Senses that the Body of Christ was present But his Obligation so to believe is implyed in our Saviour's Words Reach hither thy Hand and be not faithless but believing And on the same Testimony of Sense we are bound to believe that it is Bread after Consecration and not Flesh that it is Wine and not Blood 2. The truth of his Godhead is also evident that he is really and truly God This Title My God as well as My Lord is very observable because it hath the Article before the Word God And it is commonly granted by the Adversaries of the Deity of Christ that where-ever the Word God is used with the Article before it it there imports the True and Eternal God So is the Expression here which our English Translation does not reach for it may rather be read The Lord mine the God mine My Lord my God From his Office as Lord and Christ he Riseth to his Divine Nature and the Dignity of his Essence He had reason to own him to be Christ the Lord by his Resurrection and other things which he had observed before and from that Dignity he owns him to be true God worthy of the Highest Homage and Adoration Had it been otherwise the Apostle would not have given the Title of God unto Jesus Christ nor would he have received it For the Greater any Person is the greater Danger there is of giving him such Titles as belong not to him As to give to One that is next to the King the Title of King Especially to ascribe Divinity and Godhead to a Creature What can be more provoking to him who is Jealous of his Honour and will not give his Glory to another Isa 42. It cannot well be supposed that (a) See Placaei disput in loc Tom. 3. 4 to Thomas who was brought up in the Jewish Religion could be ignorant of the Doctrine of the Vnity of the Godhead He must needs know what Moses and the Prophets teaâ—h concerning it Hear O Israel the Lord thy God is one Lord Deut. 6.4 This was one of the Sentences written on the Fringes of their Garments and quoted by Christ as a known thing Mark 12.32 Neither can it be imagined that our Saviour would have permitted such a thing without Rebuking him if he had not been true God as well as real Man But so this Apostle does acknowledge him and so must we
those who did officiate in the Temple who after having been purified and Washed in the morning as often as they came out and returned againe did only wash their Feet Doubtless therefore the necessity of inward Purification and Holiness must be comprehended as the import of this washing The being sanctified in Soul Body and Spirit as necessary unto all that are accepted of God and in a Covenant Relation with Christ necessary to a saving intrest in Him and Communion with him And such a Change as this some of the vilest and worst of sinners have experienced upon true Repentance and an unfeined Faith This the words I have read give us an account of And such were some of you c. In the beginning of this Chapter the Apostle reproves a very unwarrantable Practice among these Corinthians to implead one another in matters of Right and Wrong before the Heathen Tribunals which seems to blemish the Christian Profession and contradicted the prescribed Rule of our Lord. Matth. 18.15 they were also Injurious and Unjust in their Carriage to their Brethren from which he Indeavours to deter them 1. By that dreadful threatning vers 9. Know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven And for the farther confirmation of it enumerates several kinds of such Persons and bids them look well to it and not deceive themselves tho' one would hardly think that men should be deceived in so plain a case as if their profession of Christianity would save them while they lived in any such wickedness Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers in any c. shall inherit the Kingdom of God He then adds another argument in this Text to diswade them from such an unchristian Behaviour viz. from the mighty Change that had been wrought upon several of them by their Conversion to the Faith of Christ And such were some of you but ye are Washed c. The Change is represented by three several expressions and the Means by which it was brought about is double viz. In the name of our Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God 1. The mighty Change which was wrought upon them by their Conversion to the Faith of Christ in those words But ye are Washed but ye are Sanctified but ye are Justified some would consider these three expressions as a regular Gradation and make this Washing to signifie the first Change by Regeneration or the new Birth and being Sanctified to denote the further progress measure and Degree of the spirit of Holiness and being Justified follows as that which by a real change of Heart and Life is evidenced and cleared to the comfort of Believers Others think we may consider this being Washed as the general Term comprehending the other two Sanctification and Justification For we find that expression used in both senses for our deliverance from the Guilt of sin by pardoning mercy and from the impurity and stain the power and filth of sin by renewing grace David beggs to be Washed and made Clean in both respects 51. Psalm 2.7.10 And our Lord is said to have loved us and washed us from our sins in his owne blood Rev. 1.5 Which comprehends both the forgiveness of sin and the sanctifying influence of the spirit of Christ Others think all the three terms Washed Sanctified and Justified are here Synanimous as significant of the great Change that is wrought by the renewing and converting grace of God and that Justified in this place is not to be taken in a * Le Blank Theses theol de usu acceptatione vocis Justificandi c. p. 256. §. 6.8.9 Answered by Dr. O. of Justification p. 179. Forensick or Law sence but hath the same import with the other two expressions Washed and sanctified so the expression 12. Dan. which we render turn many to Righteousness in the Original is Justifie many So Sanctification they think may be comprehended under the term Justified Rom. 8.30 Or else one of the greatest Advantages we enjoy by Christ is not there enumerated So here where our Justification is ascribed to the holy Spirit whose office and work it is inwardly to renew and change us and whereby those Corinthians who were vile and impure before are now qualified for the Kingdom of God Tit. 3.5.6.1 However I exclude not our being washed from the guilt of sin as part of the Sense of this Text but it is the other Washing by Sanctification of which I would speak at this time 2. You have the double means whereby this is brought about In the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God c. 1. In the Name of the Lord Jesus or by and through the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Greek Particle doth often signifie For it is the same in the Original in both Clauses The first may as well be rendered By the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ as the other By the Spirit of our God The same Preposition being used in both Referring the whole to Sanctification In my present Discourse I shall not need to Assign Reasons why the word Justified is put last or search for the like Instances of an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tho such may be given to vindicate the order of the Expressions and why the Name of Christ which especially refers to Justification should be mentioned before the Spirit of our God which especially refers to Sanctification which yet is named before our being Justified In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ or by his Name may import in the General for the sake of Christ upon the account of his Merit and Mediation and so we pray in the Name of Christ and beg Mercy for his sake But more distinctly the Name of Christ may be considered 1. In relation to his Office of Mediator and the Soveraign Authority of it he is the Jesus the Saviour this is the Name that is given him above every Name and so in by or through the Name of Christ does signifie through faith in him as the only Mediator between God and Man In several like Expressions we must grant that Faith must be supposed when it is not expressed As when we are said to be Baptiz'd in the Name of Christ for the remission of sin Acts 2.38 i. e. believing on his Name 2. It may be considered in relation to the Truth of his Doctrine and the Divine Authority of that Revelation which he made from God to the World upon which his Name is engraven As when we read of suffering for the Name of Christ i. e. for owning the profession of the Christian Religion To this purpose our Sanctification is said to be by the belief of the Truth John 15.3.17 chap. 17. 1 Pet. 1.22 2 Thes 2.13 Ye are clean through the word that I have spoken to you sayes our blessed Lord. And in his Mediatory Prayer to the Father Sanctifie them by thy truth thy