God towards us Here lyes the Converting point the effectual working of the Word when together with the outward proposal Christ lets forth some Virtue from himself to draw in the Heart unto him When God owns us for his Children who were not his Children before yet his Adoption makes us Children that is the time of our effectual Calling When under the outward Preaching of the Gospel Christ doth so powerfully impress his own first act of Love upon us in dying for us that we cannot but be sensible of it His Love is shed abroad in our hearts we are overcome by it we cannot but call him Father who by calling us Children hath made us so letting in at the same time the Spirit of the Son into our hearts God's owning us for his Children is a sufficient proof that he is our Father we cannot but call him so ever after Zec. 13. 9. Thus Christ makes himself inwardly known to us by giving us Faith in himself for there is no other way of knowing Christ but by believing Sense and Reason cannot bring Christ into the Soul but Faith can giving that account of him from the Word that is fully satisfactory How Glorious is Christ in the Eye of Faith How is a believing Soul taken with him as the Fairest of Ten thousand And this is the first step according to the Method of the Holy Ghost that God takes in bringing Christ into the Soul Secondly Christ is let into the Soul by an appropriating act of Faith by which we do take him into our hearts as our Jesus Every Believer saith for himself the Lord Jesus my Righteousness and my Life and my Salvation my God and my Lord The Soul knows this by that sense that Faith gives of that act by which we do receive him I say by that sense that Faith gives of that appropriating act by which we do receive Christ as our Jesus Those who understand themselves in an act of believing know it to be so Saving Faith so far as it reaches is all evidence it carries conviction along with it of those Truths which we believe Heb. 11. 1. I told you the last time How Faith doth Spiritually draw in the object upon which it acts into every believing Soul Faith is in us Christ is in our Faith as the object of it always in the view and eye of Faith Faith hath nothing else to act upon for Justification but Christ held forth in the Word Now Faith takes Christ out of the Word into the Heart And this I would a little open to you for here lyes the Mystery of your Faith this is the critical Act of Faith I say thus Faith takes in the Promise and in and with the Promise Christ himself who is wrapt up in it Faith takes in the Promise and in and with the Promise the Mercy it self that is Promised Our Title to and Interest in the Lord Jesus Christ it doth arise out of this Act of Faith By this Act of Faith all is compleated both on God's part and our part that may confirm our Title to Christ. God hath past his word in the Promise Faith lays hold upon that Promise receives Christ from the hand of the Father as his Gift hath it from God's own Mouth that Christ is ours and Faith doth so interpret the Promise of God to the Soul by a particular application of it unto us by Name which gives us that security of mind about our real Interest in Christ that we do no longer doubt of it We are under a sense of the greatness of the Gift of the free Grace of the Donor of our Propriety and Interest in so great a Gift and all this by our actual receiving the Promise and in and with the Promise Christ himself promised Faith draws both into the heart together Christ and the Promise and Faith keeps them together it is impossible to have and to hold one without the other A Promise of Christ is Christ to a Believer Faith takes hold of Christ in and by the Promise Faith carries in the Promise as well as Christ into the Soul To prevent all after challenges The Devil is ready to question our Interest in Christ How came you by Christ By Peace And Pardon What have you to shew that Christ is yours Then the Soul holds up a Promise Here is the offer that God hath made of Christ to me saith a Believer and what should hinder my acceptance of it I have accepted it and I will keep my hold on this Promise It is the Word of God to me who cannot lye and what have you Satan to say against this Thus by resisting the Devil we make him fly from us And this Armour of Light doth so dazzle the Eyes of the Prince of darkness that he is not able to stand before it Many complain that Christ is not theirs but they do not consider that it is long of themselves because they don't receive him To as many as received him to them he gives power to become the Childreu of Cod. You will never be able to apprehend your self to be a Child of God till you receive Christ do that and you will quickly find the Spirit witnessing with your spirit that you are a true Child of God Thirdly We always have in this appropriating act of Faith by which we take Christ into our Souls a respect and reference to Christ without us to him as actually Incarnate according to the Word and personally Glorified now in Heaven yet Spiritually present in us I speak this against a late Generation of Men who speak so much of the Light within them and would seem to understand the same that we do by Christ in us though it is evident they put a mere natural Principle for Christ it is not the Person of Christ as God-Man who dyed at Jerusalem and is now Glorified in Heaven and in our Nature in Heaven it is not this Christ whom they rely upon but a Principle of Light in themselves which they call Christ a mere imaginary Christ. If our Faith doth not terminate upon the Person of Christ without us and fix distinctly upon him observing what was done in by and upon his Person as Dying for us Rising Ascending up to Heaven continually making Intercession there for us I say if our Faith doth not begin with the Person of Christ and end in the Person of Christ we may be mistaken in all our seeming Spiritual apprehensions of Christ. The Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of a real Person of the second Person in the Trinity who is very God and very Man To talk of the Spirit of Christ without any relation and reference to the Divine Person of Christ is mere Enthusiasm and overthrows the foundation of Christian Religion When the Scriptures speak of Christ as dwelling in us it still refers to the Person of Christ to what was really done and acted by and upon that Person Rom. 8. 11. His Spirit dwells
all discouraging thoughts that may arise in thee Deut. 7. 17 18 19. If thou shalt say in thine heart these Nations are more than I how shall I dispossess them Thou shalt not be afraid of them but shall well remember what the Lord thy God did to Pharaoh and unto all Egypt Thou shalt not be afrighted at them for the Lord thy God is among you and he will put out these Nations by little and little v. 21 22 We complain things go on but slowly there is little done God chuses to do things by little and little consider what hath been done and don 't make it less than it is it may seem little in comparison of what shall be yet in it self as it is 't is very great And therefore let us argue as David did 1 Sam 17 37. Psal. 3. 7 8. Psal. 9. 10 11. Psal 143 5 6 7 8. so Jehosaphat 2 Chron. 20. 7 9 12. so Paul 2 Cor. 1. 10. God that hath delivered and doth deliver and we trust will yet deliver The remembrance of what God hath done and doth do will strengthen our Hope in him for the future 3. Converse much with the Scriptures especially with the Promises that through Patience and comfort of the Scriptures you may have hope Rom 15. 4. How did David raise his Hope from the Word of God Psal. 119. in many places v 42 72. and elsewhere in that Psalm When a man gives his word to us again and again we believe him and reckon our selves sure of what we ask having so many repeated promises that it shall be done The Word of God is a living Word in this respect because as often as we mingle it with Faith it represents God speaking afresh to us in particular Faith hearing this again and again is more confirmed Faith at first came by hearing and the oftner it hears God speaking in his Word the more it is strengthned in a lively Hope of all that God hath promised 4. Look upon it as your Duty to Hope in God He hath commanded us because he knows we are apt to doubt and question his Promises It is not presumption but Duty to Hope in God relying upon his free Grace and not upon our own deserts which never begets a true humble Christian Hope but a proud arrogant Confidence in a mans self Whereas the fiducial Confidence of Hope is always derived from Faith Eph. 3. 12. 5 thly and Lastly Look unto the God of Hope Live in a constant dependance upon his Spirit to work it in you It is through the Power of the Holy Ghost we abound in hope Rom. 15. 13. That we are brought under the Power of a Christian Hope which arises from such hidden causes such deep grounds not known to flesh and blood that none but God can demonstrate the reasonableness and certainty of our Hope He knows how to beget us again to a lively Hope by the Resurrection of Christ from the Dead which is more than a Promise It is the actual accomplishing of that in another that makes it credible to us that God can raise the Dead and that as he hath raised up Christ so he will also raise up us at the last Day To the former directions add these Two things following If you would ground your Hope aright upon Christ within you so as to come under the Power of it Then 1. Consider well whether Christ be indeed in you whether you have felt the quickning influences of his Spirit in your own Souls Christ is your life Col. 3. 4. comp with John 11. 25. Consider then whether he be indeed your Life use all your Spiritual senses about this it is no easy matter to understand this Mystery There are many who lead a Natural Rational Moral Life under a Christian Profession and may be estranged from the Life of God all their Days You see how Paul distinguishes in the case lest he should mistake himself or be mistaken by others Gal. 2. 20. I live saith he yet not I but Christ liveth in me And so may a Saint now say I understand Gospel Mysteries yet not I as a man by the Light of my own Reason but as a Man in Christ in the Light of Faith by which I know not only that such things are revealed in the Word but also that they shall be accomplished unto all those who rely upon Christ Neither can I give any other reason for their accomplishment but so it is Written and thus saith the Lord. This is to speak like a Christian when we resolve all into Christ becoming fools in our selves that we may be wise in him The Life I now live in the Flesh saith he I live by the Faith of the Son of God take away that Faith and all my Hope as a Christian vanishes away You had need have a true Spiritual Light rightly discerning of Spiritual things to know that Christ is in you as your Life It cannot be known but by Faith Though Faith be very rational in all its arguings from Gospel Principles yet Faith it self is not properly an act of Reason but rather an act above Reason it carries the Understanding above its Reason to act my Understanding so as to assent to that which I have no Natural Reason for This is the knowledge of Faith a strange way of knowing which the world counts Foolishness Supernatural truths don't rise up into our Minds as the product and consequent of our Reason this is humane knowledge according to our Logick But all supernatural truths are let down through the Word by the Spirit of God into our Understandings they are too deep too mysterious and profound to be conveyed to our Understandings by the ordinary course of Reason And therefore God opens another door and lets them into the Soul by Faith Thus he writes his Law in our Hearts puts his Truth into our inward parts Where is the Scribe Where is the Wise Where is the Disputer of this World How doth God confound the Wisdom of the Wise from whom he hides these things which he reveals to Babes and Sucklings Poor humble Souls they have the knowledge of the Heavenly Mysteries and the World knows not how they came by it Whence hath this man this wisdom and this knowledge having never learned say they of Christ Matth. 13. 54. comp with John 7. 15. They wonder'd that any not brought up in their Schools should be more knowing than themselves It is an astonishment to the World to consider what knowledge poor humble Saints have of things which they do in no wise understand 2. Have a care of too gross conceptions of Christ within you You must understand the Text Spiritually As Reason brings Natural things into your Minds and gives you an Intellectual Vision of them So Faith brings Heavenly things into your Minds and gives you a Spiritual Vision of them Christ is first known to us by Faith There is no knowing him but by Believing in him no coming to
him no seeing of him but as the Soul moves towards him in the Light of Faith God shines in our hearts saith the Scripture the Light of the knowledge of his Glory in the face of Jesus Christ and this Light of knowledge is Faith When we Believe we know Christ we See him we Come to him we Rely upon him Rejoyce in him we Love and Obey him all the actings of the Soul towards Christ they are from Faith representing him to us out of the Word And when we believe the Report of the Gospel concerning him we are persuaded and must be persuaded of the Truth of that which by a present Act of Faith we do Believe There goes no more to your knowledge persuasion and satisfaction than real Believing Faith in its own Nature is all Evidence though Flesh and Blood do contradict this Evidence seek to cast clouds over it yet those doubts that arise they come not from Faith but Unbelief that accompanies it more or less in every act we perform The more Faith the more Hope the more Unbelief the less Hope Hope will be in a proportion to the degree of our Faith The Spirit works Faith in us and then shews us Christ in the Light of it Christ is let into the Soul by Faith there he is and there he dwells transforming us into his own Image by our Faith in him As Faith works by Love so the Spirit works by Faith I mean by our Faith in him The Spirit knows how to improve our Faith in Christ to draw arguments from thence to bring us to any thing which the Gospel calls for I am persuaded I speak to many who have Christ within them who would not quit their Interest in him for Ten thousand Worlds if so you must fetch the reason of this from your Hope in Christ What! Not part with Christ upon any terms and yet Hope for nothing from him not part with Christ upon any terms and yet get nothing by him He doth not offer himself to you upon these terms but that ye may be enriched by him in all things You dishonour Christ and forget your Faith when you don 't Hope for great things from him I Beseech you Sirs Bethink your selves a little of your standing in Christ what hold you have taken of Eternal life in him and don't after all say I have no Hope Neither would I have you content your selves in bare saying you have Hope But stir it up act it shew it rejoyce in it daily Hope to the end that others may see how happy you count your selves in Jesus Christ tell every one you meet That Christ in you is your hope of Glory We often Preach and Hear of Faith and Hope but we practice those Graces at leasure Sermons of Faith and Hope don't beget these Graces in us nor draw them out into act Pray consider of this were our hearts changed under the Preaching of the Word into a frame suitable to it this would be a token for good unto us that the Lord is indeed among us If Sermons of Hope did end in lively actings of Hope we should all go home Rejoycing Blessing and Praising of God for his abundant Mercy towards us Great Hopes can't easily be forgotten we naturally run into our Hopes we are fond of them they present themselves to our Thoughts continually have easy access to us they take up our Minds daily making pleasing representations to us of the Good that is coming towards us I would leave you under the Contemplation of these things Did we converse more with our Hopes of Heaven and Glory this would keep sorrow from our hearts and cause us always to rejoyce in the Lord. Here is a present Cordial for the Poorest the most Afflicted and Disconsolate Soul How uncomfortable soever your present circumstances may be if you would get up into this Hope what happy Men and Women would you be you would count your selves happy and be filled with joy unspeakable and full of Glory None of your wants would pinch you you would be lifted up above the afflicting sense and smart of any outward Cross that may now lye heavy upon you All your Afflictions would be light if compared to this Eternal weight of Glory which weighs down all troubles and doth wonderfully alleviate and moderate all your Griefs You may be AS sorrowful in the Judgment of others and yet always rejoycing in your own Spirits from the Power of Hope It may be some will say How can this be Were we never so high in these Hopes yet we should grow weary and restless under them because all is put off to the Resurrection till the Coming of Christ and who can tell when that will be Hope deferred makes the heart sick we may faint under our desires before they come to pass Prov. 13. 10. I Answer In worldly hope it is so worldly hope is not so strengthned is not so established hath not that overcoming Power and Virtue in it as this Christian Hope hath for these Two Reasons 1. Because of the firm Assurance we have of the certain Accomplishment of our Hopes which cannot be said of any outward humane worldly hope As Christians we know our hope will not make us ashamed Rom. 5. 5. comp with Rom. 8. 38 39. A Christian knows his Hope is founded upon immutable Promises and this doth strangely animate the Power of a Christian Hope 2. We cannot flag in our Christian Hope because of the present satisfaction it gives us Wordly Hope is but a lank thing promises fair but hath little present influence upon the minds of men to give them any real satisfaction but a Christian Hope doth give present satisfaction There is always something in hand some pledges some earnest of all that is to follow and this is sufficient for our present occasions to serve the turn till we have finished our Pilgrimage here below They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up as with eagles wings they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint Isa. 40. 31. There is a strange Strength and Virtue in a Christian Hope The Hope of a Christian is a feeding Hope a Soul-satisfying Hope there is no languishing under it it feeds upon the present overflowings of the Promise Tho the thing it self is not yet brought forth out of the Promises yet the Actings of Faith and Hope do cause a strange present overflowing from the Promise that drops into the heart like Oil to refresh it I say the Promises are continually dropping in fresh Comforts giving us fresh Tastes of the Love and Goodness of God Now under this satisfaction our expectation is raised and this again heightens our present satisfaction we have enough now are full are rich have all our hearts can now hold and yet we do see more a coming with a further Capacity Skill and Wisdom to improve it I shall see him but not now Numb 24. 17.
put no other sense upon any Scripture that is not consistent with and agreeable to this great fundamental Principle keeping close to the just analogy of Faith in all your tenents and opinions I know there are other things to be considered besides Remission of Sin but be sure you begin here don't suppose that some previous qualifications in your selves are required to incline God to pardon your sins for this will carry you unavoidably into a self-righteousness and then Christ will profit you nothing We are not pardon'd because we repent and lead holy lives but we repent and lead holy lives because we are fully Pardoned for Christ's sake Shut all self-righteousness out of your justification and take all that is Christ's into it both his active and passive Obedience though I had rather joyn them together as the Scriptures do and say That by the obedience of one man many are made righteous i. e. by the Obedience of Christ in Suffering and doing all that the Law required And in the Application of this Grace to us 't is clear to me that upon the Remission of all our Sins Righteousness is imputed to us and this is that which the Apostle calls Righteousness without works Rom. 4. 6 7 8. The Righteousness of works so far as it can be attained in this life is but an effect of the Righteousness of Faith You know not the right way of Salvation till you know how to obtain the Pardon of all your Sins then you will see how Christ is become your Righteousness Let us not be too curious in placing one part of our Justification upon his Passive and another part upon his Active Obedience Let us be sure to place all upon Christ and then we are right the Spirit does not reveal the whole Mystery of Christ at once to Believers there is a great deal of Christ to be learned by those who are Justified and Pardoned even after they are in a state of Grace Let us believe Christ to be our Righteousness and leave it to him to make out the way and manner of his being so Our terms and distinctions applied to the fundamental Points of Religion have occasioned many mistakes about them Let us therefore attend more strictly to the simplicity of our own Faith and not call in our Reason to prompt our Faith but rather submit our Reason to the instructions of Faith I would have all Christians study their own Faith more and dwell more in the light of it then they will be more familiarly acquainted with it and better understand themselves in every act of Faith they put forth Let us give our Faith time to act to open it self further to us and our selves time to take in the full sense of our Faith Generally our acts of Faith are too short sudden and transient We make a formal profession of Faith and say We believe in Christ for the Pardon of Sin but don't so well weigh and consider what we say or what we belâ—eve we turn off presently to something else as if we had done with our Faith when the Mystery of it is not half apprehended by us We should attend to it ponder it well in our minds look round it this is the way to keep up a presence of mind in us about what we Believe One act of Faith attended to will fill us with such thoughts and apprehensions of the Love of Christ that will furnish us with matter of discourse for many days But I don't find Professors so much concerned in their own Faith so much affected with it as they should they pass it over as a plain ordinary piece of Religion and having once declared they believe in Christ for the Pardon of Sin they have no more to do with him Whereas the Mystery of Faith should be studied all our lives long we should pray as Paul did Eph â— â—7 c. vide That we may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints Faith has more in it than most People are aware of 't is not so easy a matter to know comprehend and remember what is contained in an act of Saving-Faith we should discourse more with our own Faith look into all particulars search to the bottom by gathering up more and more of the unsearcheable riches of Christ. He that would judge of a curious piece of Workmanship brings it to the light views it round in every part till he has gathered up all the excellencies of it into his mind then he can speak knowingly in the praise and commendation of such a thing having made observations before of all that was admirable in it So you should sit down and consider the consequence of an act of Faith upon Christ for Justification and Pardon what depends upon it what you gain by it what you expect from it all is yours if Christ be yours therefore be persuaded to enter into your Chambers and Closets sit down with a Bible in your hands stir up your Faith consider the state of a Believer and then gather up what makes for your comfort out of the Word of God O how would your Faces shine you would be filled with joy unspeakable and full of Glory by Believing there is not that Joy among Believers because they don't think enough of what they Believe Do you Believe in Christ for the Remission of Sin Then there is a great deal in Christ a great deal in Sin a great deal in the actings of thy own Soul under this Faith to be considered of The knowledge experience and evidence of Faith are things that should be particularly examined and seriously thought of There is a full business in Faith enough to imploy a gracious Soul all his days Faith fills the mind with deep apprehensions of our own great concernments in Christ Jesus Were we wise indeed unto Salvation we should think of nothing oftner than of what we believe there may be Faith and there may be Truth in the heart and yet these Two may not be sufficiently mingled together therefore we should often apply our Faith to the Word that what it does not see at one time it may see at another what it does not reach by one act it may take in by the next The oftner Faith looks into the Word the more distinctly does it gather up the full sense of the Word it dwells in us in more Wisdom and Spiritual Understanding Did we take this course we should quickly find the benefit of it out of our Bellies would flow Rivers of living water we should be more skilful in the word of Righteousness more expert Believers ready to give a reason of the hope that is in us Believers have much to say in defence of Christ the Gospel and their own Profession and the more they study the point the more ready are they to give an answer to them who ask them any questions about their Religion they keep
before Do you find Christ hath had a quickning influence upon your Hearts is indeed become your life He savingly knows Jesus Christ who doth act towards him according to what he believes of him Let men talk of this or that concerning Christ and pretend to understand all Mysteries to have all knowledge yet unless they can shew the work of the Gospel written in their hearts as the Apostle speaks of the work of the Law Rom. 2. 15. I say unless they can shew the work of the Gospel written in their hearts I am sure they are nothing For it is impossible to receive Christ by the saving knowledge of Faith and not to have his Image impressed upon all the faculties of the Soul by that Faith which first brought it in The very conceptions of Faith concerning Christ are the very thoughts of a mans own heart so he is so he thinks so he acts even as he believes Gospel truths cannot enter into our rational Nature at any other door than that of Faith When Faith comes there needs nothing else to turn that Soul unto God Every man is an his Faith is Faith contains the true inward sense of the Soul about Jesus Christ And God is the Author and Finisher of this Faith and understood to be so by all true Believers Pray let us close up all with this for I am only now labouring as well as I can to shew you in general how Faith lets Christ into the Soul The main thing in Conversion is Faith and the main thing in Faith is the Power of God in working it These two things are principally taken notice of by all Believers They observe them in others much more in themselves Acts 11. 17 18. compared with Acts 14. 23. What notice did they take there of the Faith God had wrought in those They perceived they had received the same Faith with themselves that God had granted unto the Gentiles Repentance unto life Faith is the main thing in Conversion Christ is the same in himself both before and after Conversion So are all gospel-Gospel-truths the same in themselves only then we did not believe them and now we do It is Faith makes all the difference and the principal thing in Faith is the power of God in working it How doth Paul admire the goodness of God to him that he should obtain Mercy and believe in Jesus Lord saith he What wilt thou have me to do He never called him Lord before The High Priest was his Lord and Master before from whom he received his orders what to do against the Saints Now he is Sick of that imployment he lays down his Commission at the feet of Christ and desires he would give him instructions what to do None should be his Lord None should now command him but Christ Lord what wilt thou have me to do The beginning of Faith and Conversion lyes in looking unto Christ for Power to believe And our first Faith usually breaks out in an Outcry to God to help our unbebelief All true Converts are sensible of this they in Acts 7. 47. How did they Praise God for their Conversion They ascribe it all to him I say our first Faith in the Lord Jesus comes in with a sense of God's Power in working it and Faith is known to be the gift of God by those who have it They who begin their Faith in the strength of their own Reason thinking to take in such considerations of God and Christ and to draw such arguments from Scripture as can induce them to believe will find themselves mistaken I am persuaded the doubts and fears of many Believers have their rise from hence That they did not begin their Faith in such an humble dependance upon God for strength to believe they did not I say do this as they should And it appears that that is the cause of their fears because nothing but such a dependance upon Christ for Grace does cure them When once they have learned the right way of believing and trusting in Christ they enter into rest there is an end of all their fears There are Promises in Scripture made unto Faith and there are Promises made of Faith These so far as we may be concerned in them seem to be made to Believers quite void of Faith Though to Unbelievers remaining in unbelief nothing is promised yet all things are promised to Unbelievers going out by Faith unto Jesus Christ Or if you will I had rather express it thus These promises of our first faith of the first Grace of giving the Spirit and the like they are made to Christ in the behalf of Unbelievers such who were from Eternity ordained unto Life so many of them whose Names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life The Covenant of Grace made between God and us doth respect the Covenant of Redemption between the Father and the Son This first Faith is wrought in us in such a manner that we are sensible of the Divine Power and Efficacy of God's Grace in working it Though God doth lead out our Souls into rational considerations of Himself and his Son yet we find that these considerations do flow into our Minds from an inward Revelation made of Christ. We do know that such thoughts of God and Christ could never have come into our minds if the Holy Ghost had not suggested them In his Light we see Light and our coming to Christ is always by the Father's drawing CHAP. II. More Particularly How Christ is in us by Faith How Faith brings Christ into the Soul Or how Christ conveys himself into our hearts through Faith And also How we may discern this in our selves THis is the Point and a Point of greatest concernment it is unto us all And therefore I beseech you follow me with your strictest Attention First That Christ may be in us it is necessary that he should be first outwardly proposed unto us There is an outward Light of the letter proposing Christ to us and there is an inward Light of the Spirit revealing Christ in us It is one thing to speak Notionally from the outward Light of the Letter another thing to speak Experimentally from an inward Light of the thing it self in our own Souls Besides the outward Light of the Word there is in every true Believer an inward Light flowing through the Word from the Object or thing spoken of The Spirit reveals Christ the Object and so making us Light in the Lord in his Light we see Light As we cannot see the Sun but by its own Light so neither can we see Christ but in his own Light By Faith we go unto Christ by Faith we go into Christ and we sit down in his Light entertaining our selves with Spiritual Contemplations of his Glory I say that Christ presents himself to us in a Gospel Promise as our God and Saviour He offers himself to us as such and by offering himself or under that proposal he doth act as a Gracious
See how the Psalmist Psal. 77. 7 8 9. under a fit of Unbelief doth not so much question himself as God's Faithfulness and Truth Is his Mercy clean gone doth his promise fail for evermore hath God forgotten to be gracious He had forgot himself and he thought that God had forgot himself But as I told you before Faith in the Power of Christ will carry it at last against all our fears At what time I am afraid I will trust in thee As there is something in Fear that makes us draw back from God so there is something in it that puts us forward The greater the extremity is the more apt we are to venture As a man pursued by an Enemy and running for his life tho he may boggle at some difficult pass he tries and tries again draws back his foot thinks he feels the ground sink under him but the Enemy being now at his heels he must through or Perish and so he ventures without any more ado and glad he is to find firm ground under his feet he did not think so till he was upon it And so it is with a weak Believer Faith doth not presently drop all its fears when it is coming to Christ. Act reliance upon Christ and you will find support which was the thing you doubted of by taking hold of Christ you will stay your selves and feel your selves upheld A Soul when actually come to Christ is rid of many fears it was under all the while it was coming and lives under a more comfortable Hope ever after Thus you see how Faith begets Hope how naturally it arises out of Faith In the Next place I shall shew you how Christ received or Christ in us doth cherish maintain and keep up this Hope in Believers Christ in us the hope of Glory saith the Text. Brethren Glory is a great thing and the Hope of Glory is a great Hope And great hopes must have a great foundation to support them There must be that in the ground of my Hope that will at least make it probable to me that the thing I Hope for is attainable that way else it is not a rational ground of Hope Now I will make it evident to you That a Believer is the most rational man in the world in all the actings of his Faith and Hope He goes upon sure ground he hath the clearest Evidence the fullest Conviction the most demonstrable Proof on his side that can be which heightens his Hope exceedingly Do you make good the foundation that Christ is in you of a truth and I will make good the Hope built upon it and prove it to be sufficiently grounded provided you are grounded and setled and stablished in the Faith Col. 1. 23. comp with Col. 2. 7. I am sure you will not be moved away from the Hope of the Gospel I shall shew you that Christ is the only foundation of a Christians Hope of Glory I prove it many ways First Christ removes all that may obstruct our Hope of Glory Secondly He hath done all that may raise and strengthen our Hope of Glory All that conduces to it that any ways tends to invest us in it and make it ours Thirdly Christ hath given us a famous instance of the full actual accomplishment of his whole Undertaking for us in himself Fourthly He hath given us some present earnest of all this in our selves Fifthly and Lastly Lest Death should dash all our Hopes he hath assured us of a Glorious Resurrection If I make out all this to you there will be no scruple left in the Case you must needs be convinced That Christ in you is your hope of Glory I begin with the First Christ hath removed all that may obstruct our Hope of Glory 1. He hath overcome the Devil that grand Adversary to our Souls The strong man is bound Matth. 12. 29. Captivity is led captive Ephes. 2. 4 8. Satan falls like lightning from heaven Luke 10. 18. He that had the power of death is destroyed Heb. 2. 14. The prince of this world is cast out Joh. 12. 37. Principalities and powers are spoyled triumphed over Col. 2. 15. And thus the head of the old serpent is bruised Gen. 3. 15. We are turned from the power of Satan unto God Acts 26. 18. And for this very purpose the Son of God was manifest that he might destroy the works of the Devil 1 Joh. 3. 8. You see how full how particular the Scripture is in setting forth the Victory that Christ gained over the Devil And all that he might secure unto us this Hope of Glory The devil was once in Hope to bring us all into the same place of Torment with himself but Christ hath appeared and hath destroyed and overcome that great destroyer of Souls 2. Christ hath freed us from the Curse of the Law and the Wrath of God Gal. 3. 13. comp with 1 Thess. 1. 10. He hath redeemed us from the curse being made a curse for us and hath delivered us from the wrath to come He was wounded for our transgressions He was made under the law Gal. 4. 4. He fulfilled all righteousness required in the law Matth. 3. 15. And 3. Christ hath taken away all Sin that causes shame and is therefore directly opposed to this Glory in the Text. Sin is a reproach to a man it fills him with shame and confusion of Face is a blot upon him leaves a note of infamy upon him Now Jesus Christ he bore our Sins in his own body on the tree 1 Pet. 2. 24. That we being dead to sin might live to righteousness While we live in Sin and live unto Sin we live to the dishonour of God to the reproach of our Profession and of all the pretended Hopes that we were under of our Eternal Salvation He was made sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5. 21. He gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity Tit. 2. 14. Thus you see how Christ hath removed all that may obstruct our Hope of Glory Secondly He hath done all that may raise and strengthen our Hope of Glory All that conduces to it that any way tends to invest us in it and make it ours 1. He satisfies the Justice of God in order to the free Remission of our Sins We are justified freely by his Grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Rom. 3. 24 25 26. 2. Christ doth not only justifie us procure Pardon of our Sins but he also reconciles us to the Holiness of God by his sanctifying Spirit Before we were Enemies to God in our minds by wicked works but being justified God doth immediately begin to sanctifie to reconcile us to himself to the Power Purity and Strictness of Gospel-Holiness he transforms us more and more into his own Image from Glory to Glory all this tends to Glory you see by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3. 8. God's
of Glory because Christ without us is now personally in Heaven And if since his Ascension and Glorification he is pleased to descend down into us by his Spirit and dwell in us this is a sure sign he intends to bring us to the same place of Glory with himself Christ was to bring many sons to glory Heb. 2. 7. And he sends his Spirit as an earnest to assure us of this The Spirit never quite leaves that soul into whom he once comes He abides with us for ever John 14. 16. He comes to take possession for Christ he enters in in his name he sets his mark upon the Soul casts out the Devil seals up the Soul for Christ Thou art mine saith the Spirit of Christ The Spirit it self bears witness with our spirits that we are the children of God Rom. 8. 16. Saints are sensible of this and do give themselves unto the Lord As Christ gives himself unto the Saints so they give themselves unto the Lord. My beloved is mine and I am his they do mutually own each other And this is the happy day of our Espousals we are married unto the Lord and he is become an husband to us and ever after we dwell comfortably together in Love Brethren If we set our minds to know these things the Spirit will shew us out of the Word what Christ is now doing for us in Heaven That he is gone to prepare a place for us John 14. 2. To make intercession for us Rom. 8. 34. He is entred in for us as a forerunner Heb. 6. 20. that we may follow after He will come again and receive us to himself John 14. 3. We shall partake of his glory Joh. 17. 22. We shall sit down with him on his Throne Rev. 3. 21. These are good grounds of Hope we should seriously weigh and consider these things we should ponder them well in our hearts Some apply themselves with great earnestness to outward Duties of Religion Others they study the Controversial part and rest in an Orthodox Judgment in the bare knowledge of the Truth And may be neither the one nor the other do attend to the acting of their Faith upon Christ which only brings down Religion to our selves engages our Hearts and Consciences in it And I am sure till then let our Profession and Knowledge be what it will we are not real Christians in the sight of God Christ is not in us of a truth I see many Professors wrapt up close in their several Forms crying Lo here and Lo there each one contending for his own Opinion pleasing themselves with their different ways and methods of outward Devotion Here they rest and are no further concerned in Religion than to join to such or such a Party going under such or such a Name We may see many Professorts of all sorts and forms walking softly to Hell talking of Christ all the way they go This is Truth This is Gospel This is the Protestant Religion This and that is a good Sermon And yet it is visible that the most important Truths of the Gospel have not that weight with them as they should They do not carry on the grand design of their Profession They don't live and walk as if they really believed what they so solemnly profess This is the Charge I have against the Professors of this Age I am afraid of them I am afraid of you I am afraid of my self Let every one examine himself If you know these things happy are ye if you do them Let us either resolve to live up to our Christian Principles or lay aside that Name to live by which we deceive both our selves and others Let us lay aside all Hope of Salvation by Christ or study Christ more who is the only sure Ground and Foundation of our Hope of Glory CHAP. IV. THAT I may take occasion to look a little further into the Text I shall put this Query from the running of the Words as they lye before us Christ in us our Hope of Glory The Query is this If Christ be in us can we hope for any thing more If Christ be ours all is ours How then can Christ in us beget Hope of any thing further Is there any thing more than Christ Can Christ be nearer to us than to be within us Is any thing beyond Christ Any thing more desirable than Christ One would think that Christ in us should compleat our Fruition and not lead out our Souls to a Hope and Expectation of something else This is the Query I answer We must distinguish between the Spiritual and Personal Presence of Christ Christ is present with us in Spirit here but he will be personally present with us in Glory hereafter It is a great deal more or as the Apostle speaks far better for us to be with Christ that is with his Glorified Person than for Christ to be in us now by his Spirit This is in order to that to fit us for himself and to make us meet for the inheritance of the saints in light All is ours if Christ be ours All ours How Not in hand not in full possession but only in Hope in the account and reckoning of Faith all is made over and secured to us our Title is firm and good to the whole Inheritance and all that God hath promised but still the Inheritance is reserved 1 Pet. 1. 4. We are not yet entred into it are not yet invested with all that belongs to us God hath begun a good work here which he will not finish till the Resurrection Our Grace lies in the Spiritual Presence of Christ in us here our Glory lies in the Personal Presence of Christ with us in Heaven hereafter We must speak of these things as men and you must bear with our infirmity and with the weakness of our expression I beseech you consider what I am now saying The Glorified Person of Christ will not bear that which the Spirit of Christ bears now in the Saints The Spirit comes to sanctifie us comes where Sin is and casts it out Tho the Spirit never mingles with our Sins yet the Spirit will hold Communion with those in whom Sin dwells which the Glorified Person of Christ will not No unclean thing shall enter Heaven We must not think to come so near to the Person of Christ till we are perfectly sanctified We must be without spot or blemish or wrinkle or any such thing before we can have immediate Fellowship with the Father and the Son in Glory The Presence of the Spirit now tho it be an inward intimate Presence yet it is but a mediate Presence through the Word through Gospel-Ordinances But the mutual Presence of God and the Saints with each other in Heaven is an immediate Presence face to face We had need have no spot upon our face then but be throughly washed and cleansed that no filth may be found in our skirts Christ hath espoused us now by his Spirit to
Promise so he becomes our God he makes a Covenant with us in Christ to be our God that for his sake he will freely pardon our sins and receive us into a state of Grace and Favour again thus God offers himself in the Covenant to be our God But an outward tender of grace if not closed in with and accepted is but a bare offer not a gift till we receive it when God intends to give grace he secretly joyns with the outward call speaks himself to the heart and inclines us to receive it herein lyes the difference between an outward and an inward effectual Call An effectual Call is that which hath its effect upon the Soul makes us answer to the call and obey it we are called to come to Christ and when we actually come then is the Call effectual and not before when God offered himself to Abraham it was with a purpose not to be refused and therefore he inclined the heart of Abraham to believe You may live long under an outward Call and not be effectually called i. e. not called with such a Call as God gives his Elect at thir Conversion many are called but few chosen i. e. few called with such a Call as God gives his Elect. We cannot be sure of our Election till we are thus effectually called To be frequent Hearers of the word calling us to Christ and yet find no inclinations in our hearts to come to him is a sign that God hath not yet spoken to us himself Ministers have but God hath not yet by his Spirit set home his word upon our hearts The inclinations of the Soul towards Christ that arise from an effectually Call are very strong they put the Soul upon coming to Christ urge us to it every day there is something writ upon the heart whch he that runs may read Conscience is reading over that inward Writing every day to the Soul calls for a speedy answer why is not this done that God requires that God has left upon record in thy heart Why so backward why so slow of heart to believe Arise arise away to Christ as fast as you can run for your life to the City of refuge that God has appointed They who know what an inward Call is cannot resist it an awakened Conscience is in hast will have the business dispatched out of hand nothing can stop that man who is effectually called O that every one here present were under such a Call this day God is able to give it and I am sure none of you are able to resist it Christ is offered to us in the New Covenant as our Peace-maker and Mediator therefore called the covenant of the people Isa. 42. 6. the sure foundation of it Isa. 26. 16. The Covenant made with Abraham is said to be confirmed of God in Christ before his Incarnation Gal. 3. 17. This Covenant was made between the Father and the Son from Eternity Isa. 42. 6. Tit. 1. 2. 2 Tim. 1. 9. The first outward declaration or revelation of it was in time Gen. 3. 15. The actual application of this Grace to our selves is when we first Believe We enter into Covenant by Faith we set our seal to the truth of the Promise and receive that right that Christ Believed on gives to Eternal life Faith it self gives no right to Salvation unto us but what it first receives from Christ we have nothing to do with the promise till we are in Christ by Faith Eph. 2. 12. Rom. 8. 32. Faith discerns the Grace and Love of God to us in Christ and accepts of the offer of life upon Gospel terms which the Soul could never be brought to till Faith came Who has believed the report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been reveal'd i. e. to beget Faith which wins over a Sinner to Christ We should be much in the first direct acts of Faith coming to Christ casting our selves on Christ relying on Christ these direct acts of Faith often repeated will sooner clear up our Interest in Christ than our judging by marks signs effects and fruits which can give no clearer Evidence of their truth than Faith does of its truth in a real closing with Christ in an absolute Promise this is the first act of Saving Grace antecedent to all qualifications in us or conditions performed by us this alters our State They understand not the Gospel who keep off from Christ for want of such and such qualifications which Christ expects not we should bring to him but derive from him an humble sense of our vileness and unworthiness is qualification enough for a Sinner to come to Christ and cast himself upon him When God has once said he will be our God he is ever after minding us of that speaking it over again and again upon all occasions Isa. 43. 1 2 3. c. Isa. 41. 10. Heb. 8. 11 12. I will and they shall God undertakes both parts of the Covenant The Covenant in the first initial Grace of it must be first executed on God's part towards us before it can be executed on our part towards God God begins with us doth his part first and that enables us to do our part i. e. we cannot give up our selves to him to be his people till he has writ his Laws in our Hearts and put his Spirit within us thereby declaring himself to be our God and strongly inclining us to give up our selves to him as his People God first enters into Covenant with us brings us under the bond of it and then governs us ever after by the Grace of that Covenant freely conferred upon us There may be conditions in the Covenant that speak out the order of it what is first and what follows upon it according to the method of the All-wise God in bringing hom-Sinners to Christ But I do not conceive there are any conditions previously required in us in order to our first entring into Covenant God takes whom he will into Covenant and leaves out whom he will 't is not of him that wills nor of him that runs but of God that shews Mercy 't is a Covenant of Free Grace consisting of absolute Promises what God will do our doing comes afterwards as a fruit and effect of God's work in us That which is done by us in the virtue and power of that which is first done in us by God must be ascribed to him and not to our selves Turn thou me and I shall be turned God gives the first turn before we can perceive any such thing as Conversion in our selves God lays in the principle and then draws us in the Power of it after himself The Terms of the Covenant may be outwardly propounded to many who never enter into Covenant with God nor God with them the Covenant is never executed in them and towards them though it be often preacht to them How often would I have gathered you and you would not Mat. 23. 37. When the word of
is God as well as Man The Hypostatical union of the two natures in Christ is the Foundation of our spiritual and mystical union to God God and his Creature Man meet in Christ the Mediator We must not understand our union to Christ so grosly as if we were Deified I abhor that blasphemous Famelistical Notion of our being Christed and Godded no the new Creature in its nearest union and highest communion with God is but a Creature and never will be more nothing that is infinite eternal and uncreated can in its immensity enter into us but we may enter into it hence the Saints are said to enter into life Mat. 18. 8. Mat. 19. 17. As a Barrel cast into the Sea is in the fulness of the Sea tho the fulness of the Sea be not in the Barrel 't is filled according to its Capacity and can hold no more So is the life of Christ derived to us by gradual Communications in a way of influence from Christ the Fountain of life we live because he lives who hath life in himself and is a quickning Spirit in us certainly great things are intended by and implied in our union to Christ I remember a late eminent Divine now in Glory expresses it thus That provided we keep below the Hypostatical union of the two natures in Christ we cannot ascend too high in our thoughts and conceptions of the mystical union between Christ and his Members all that is below the hypostatical union may be allowed to this So that I would not have any interpret our union to Christ and communion with him into so low a sense as not to apprehend how Believers by vertue of their union to Christ stand in a nearer relation to God than the Angels do whose Nature Christ took not I say Believers are under a more special immediate influence of the eternal Spirit their life is hid with Christ in God and will be better understood by us in Heaven than it is here on Earth though we should be studying it more and more I am sorry to see the most spiritual expressions of the Gospel sealed up as it were by a common short exposition of them that goes with most for the full sense of the Text it contains it may be truth but not all the truth or at least does not fully express all the truth 't is looked upon as very unsafe to put a further and higher construction upon the words than others has done before though they will bear it I think while we keep within the Analogy of Faith not wounding any vital part or fundamental Principle of Religion nor wresting the Scriptures to a forced sense we may admit any farther light that shines through the word unto us waiting upon God to lead us by his Spirit further and further into the knowledge of the truth as 't is in Jesus that our light may shine out into the perfect day Christ being thus qualified for his Office is 1. Called the Messenger or Angel of the Covenant Mal. 3. 1. Because he does declare and interpret the terms of the Covenant between God and Man as Moses did Exod. 20. 19. Deut. 5. 5 27. In this he was a type of Christ Deut. 18. 15 18 19. Therefore Christ as Mediator is referred to in the Old Testament Isa. 7. 14. Isa. 8. 8. 2. The Angel absolutely Exod. 23. 20. 3. The Angel of his Face or Presence Isa. 63. 9. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 John 2. 1. An advocate The Holy Ghost has the same name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 14. 16. 26. Because as Christ makes intercession for us above his Spirit makes intercession in us here Rom. 8. 26. God is in Christ reconciling the World unto himself if ever we meet with God in peace it must be in and through this great Mediator Jesus Christ. 5. What are those special Mediotory acts that Christ puts forth CHAP. V. Of Christ's Mediatory Acts. WHAT are those special Mediatory Acts that Christ puts forth Some proper to his Prophetical some to his Priestly and some to his Kingly Office To his Prophetical Office 1. To know and rightly to state the case between God and Man 2. To propose and declare the terms of the Agreement between God and Man contained in the New Covenant To his Priestly Office 1. To make satisfaction in order to our Redemption 2. To make intercession for us by Arguments drawn from that satisfaction To his Kingly Office 1. To Protect and Govern his Church defending it against all the sworn Enemies of it 2. To give Rules Laws and Ordinances to his Church for the avoiding of all Will-Worship But I shall not tye my self to this Method But speak of Christ's Mediatory Acts. First As Mediating with God for us Secondly As Mediating with us on God's behalf 1. As Mediating with God for us 1. By giving satisfaction to his Father's Justice He undertook this as our Surety Heb. 7. 22. Heb. 10. 7. And actually performed this Undertaking 1 Tim. 2. 6. Mat. 20. 28. John 10. 15. To give satisfaction is tantum facere quantum satis est Christ as a Priest offering himself up to death for us was one of the chiefest acts of his Mediation that he might take away the guilt of sin bur this was not all for as our Mediator he puts forth a further act viz. 2. By promising to sanctify us to free us from the filth of sin Eph. 5. 25 26 27. He shews there that Christ upon giving himself for the Church laid himself under Engagements to sanctifie and cleanse it here the law of the spirit of life in Christ makes us free from the law of sin and death Rom. 8. 2. Thus Christ by himself purges our sins Heb. 1. 3. 3. By making Intercession for us 1. On Earth John 17. 9. 20. I pray for them and for all that shall believe on me through their word 2. In Heaven Heb. 9. 24. Rom. 8. 34. 1 John 2. 1. Heb. 7. 25. He ever lives to make Intercession for us 't is continual Intercession should it cease but for a Moment we should be in great danger therefore Christ is continually representing in Heaven what he has done and suffered for us in the flesh 2. As Mediating with us on God's behalf Christ as Mediator came about the Father's business Luk. 2. 49. And deals with us Prodigals about our returning to our Heavenly Father 1. By declaring the Father's Will to us John 1. 18. John 6. 38 39 40. John 17. 8 14. 2. By applying his Merits in the efficacy of them unto us The son quickneth whom he will John 5. 21. If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the deatb of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life Rom. 5. 10. There is a mighty Power in the Death and Resurrection of Christ Phil. 3. 10. Rom. 6. 3 4 5. When we are planted in the likeness of both we shall then as Branches abiding in
A DISCOURSE OF CHRISTIAN RELIGION In Sundry Points Preached at the Merchants Lecture in Broadstreet By THOMAS COLE Minister of the Gospel in London LONDON Printed by R. R. for Thomas Cockerill at the Three Legs in the Poultrey over-against the Stocks-Market MDCXCII THE Preface to the Reader I Dictate nothing to thee I only offer my thoughts about some Points if you find them agreeable to the line and measure of the Word of God receive them if not you cannot do either your self or me a greater kindness then to reject them To take all for truth that we read in humane Authors hath filled the world with Error therefore search the Scriptures whether things are so or no and impartially pronounce that judgment which the Word gives of them whether for or against them I pretend to no new discoveries neither do I affect to be wise above what is Written an improvement of known truths is all I aim at Here is no new unscriptural Light hung up I only snuff the Candle that is already burning seeking to free the Truth from some Obscurities that hinder a right perception of it I am persuaded the chief if not the only cause of difference among real Christians lies not so much in different thoughts as different expressions they mean right but are understood wrong We are not so Angelical yet as to have an intuitive knowledge that looks Truth directly in the face and judges of it as it is But we range about in a discoursive way inferring one thing from another the least error in the Premises affects the Conclusion and leaves a blemish upon it that renders it suspected by all wise men If our more refined thoughts aud speculations in some abstracted notions of truth that we please our selves with lose something of their beauty and lustre when put into Words we must allow for the grossness of the medium thorough which they pass all things being handed to the Intellect by our senses we must phansy something before we know any thing Common sense that rises from particulars may present very unintelligible species to the understanding and occasion much confusion there by those false images of things upon which right notions of truth cannot well be built To avoid these Vncertainties Ambiguities and indistinct Conceptions that our own words are apt to lead us into our surest way is to ground our judgment upon the Infallible Word of God not receeding from the literal Interpretation of Scripture so far as it agrees with the Analogy of Faith and the general scope of the Bible in other places We must not suppose a Figure where there is none nor Allegorize plain Texts into a foreign sense not intended by the Holy Ghost In all our Expositions of such plain Scriptures we should justifie the Letter of the Text and not force a sense of our own upon it which the words will not bear this is the real cause of those unscriptural Expressions that some men cloath their false Conceptions with They cannot speak as the Scripture speaks which argues thoughts within very disagreeable to the Word of God all their Labour and Study is to distinguish the Scripture out of its own sense into theirs that they may have some shew of Divine Authority to maintain their brain-sick Notions which this giddy Age abounds too much with The use of Reason in Divine Mysteries lies in Three things 1. In observing what is plainly laid down in Scripture that it is so and so Written 2. In understanding the true sense and signification of Scripture-terms 3. In discerning the natural consequences of plain truths how one thing follows by a rational deduction from another But as some men would have it we must first look into the nature of the most incomprehensible Mysteries of the Gospel and draw up a Rationale of the Bible that reason may judge what is fit to be believed before we give any credit to the Word of God which is to make our selves the first judges of Gospel-truths and in effect to slight all Divine Testimony If I keep not always the common road but now and then step out of it all I have to say is this I count not my self obliged to go thorough thick and thin for Company especially when I see a nearer and a cleaner way There is some latitude even in the narrow way to Heaven we may take a compass and go wide of each other yet have our faces fixed upon the same point and meet at the same place at night Where there is the greetest agreement among Saints in any point of Doctrine yet we may find some difference in their conceptions of the same thing we are not yet come to that Vnity of knowledge which will make us intirely one in our perfect state In the mean time let us not except against that diversity of gifts and operations that flow from the same Spirit One may follow another though his pace be slower though he tread not directly in his steps who goes before nay short steps often repeated may rid more ground than long deliberate paces one shows how far he can stride the other how fast he can go and a nimble Feet is better than a long lazy Leg that out-strides those whom it cannot out-go I shall give thee only this brief Account of the ensuing discourse I suppose thou hast read the Title Page if thou thinkest thy self concerned in so weighty a Subject read on if not I fear thy hope is only in this life Paul will tell thee what a miserable man thou art 1 Cor 15. None in the world more wretched than thy self So I leave thee to give thy self a reason if thou canst why thou slightest the Hope of Glory and art so unconcerned in the next state of things when this world shall be no more The Knowledg of God in Christ requires frequent and fervent Prayer serious Meditation and diligent searching the Scriptures which testifie of Christ God never made himself visible to man but in the person of Christ Incarnate who is the express Image of the Father best able to make the truest representation of God to man being himself both God and man What is occasionally spoken of some other Points viz. Of the Law of the New Covenant of the Instrumentality of Faith in Justification of Repentance and New Obedience as required in all who are Justified though not unto the Justification of any I refer to thy serious consideration My design is not to satisfie the captious reason of the Disputers of this world but to speak to the experience of humble Christians If I do that I shall have witnesses enough to the truth of what I say Though some may not understand in a Christian Faith is the best understanding Were there more of this among our men of Reason Gospel-Mysteries would not seem such unintelligible Notions as they do to many who think there is no ground of certainty but Logical Evidence The Divine Authority of the Scripture
our Spirits When the Spirit comes as a witness he stands forth distinct from our Spirit that the joynt Testimony of the Spirit of God with ours may be discerned from the single Testimony of our own Spirit which could not be if the Holy Ghost when giving in his Witness laying down his proposition did not stand forth by himself in distinction from the spirit of a man that the truth may be confirmed out of the mouth of two Witnesses at least in the Conscience of a Believer Some of the Heathen of old had their Extasies and Raptures were sensible they were acted by a spirit higher than their own and thought themselves Divinely Inspired when they were under the greatest Infatuation of Satan imaginable But it doth not hence follow that those who are truly inspired by God may not know it Were Christ in us of a truth we should find our selves strong in the power of his Might He that is in us is greater than he that is in the World could we take hold of this great one and go forth in his Name Spirit and Strength we should do great things I can do all things saith Paul through Christ that strengthneth me what do we then in the strength of Christ which we know we could not do of our selves I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me We should labour after some experience of this in our own selves not to rest satisfied till we can experimentally say it of our selves Without this experience we live but at a low rate do no more than others and sometimes not so much neither whereas we should hold forth Christ and walk in his Spirit having our conversation more in Heaven resisting the Devil overcoming the World denying our selves as those who are strengthned by Christ in our inward man so to do While I am putting you upon this search to feel for Christ within you as the Ground of your Hope I shall lay down Two Cautions 1. This Mystical Union between Christ and Believers this Spiritual In-being of Christ in our hearts is a great Mystery We cannot fully comprehend it in this world Some experience we now have of such a thing in our selves but a perfect distinct knowledge of these deep Mysteries is reserved for Heaven Then we shall have a clearer Revelation of the Mystery of the Trinity At that day saith Christ you shall know that I am in my Father and ye in me and I in you John 14. 20. At that day but not before In that day you shall know it perfectly now you know something you see something tho but darkly and we must be content 2. Never take that to be from the Spirit of Christ in you that leads you from the Scripture and would make you wise above what is written Some have run into strong delusions this way fancying every thing they do or say to be by Divine Inspiration What tho some are deceived in thinking they have the Spirit of Christ when they have him not It doth not therefore follow that those who have the Spirit indeed and in truth may not know that they have him One man's Error in this case cannot overthrow another man's Experience He that hath not the Spirit may think he hath him but he that hath the Spirit indeed may know he hath the Spirit Because some men mistake the Truth it doth not follow therefore it cannot be known by any When you seek for Christ in your selves and for further Teachings of his Spirit you should always pray over some Word have your eye upon some Scripture which you beg a right understanding of for no inward Revelation is now to be expected but only of things already revealed in the Word which the Spirit opens to us that is Christ in us doth this But in Heaven we have an Intuitive Knowledge of the things themselves in God who is the First Spring the First Cause the Fountain of all supernatural Truths contained in the Bible In Heaven we shall know the Truth only as it is in Jesus now we know it as it is in our Bibles we know it by the Word as a Sign and Symbol of the Will of God from whence we abstract all our knowledge of Divine things in a discoursive way But Intuitive Knowledge in Heaven is another thing there needs no written Word no other Bible in Heaven but Christ the Essential Word of God who will shew us all in himself all Gospel-Truths do center in him which shews that for us to be with Christ in Glory is more than for Christ to be in us by his Spirit here Secondly Let us lay aside all vain Hopes that confound and make us ashamed Job 6. 20. The Vanity of Hope lies not so much in the Object of Hope as in our Hope it self The Object may be real to wit Life and Eternal Glory They are gay things desirable things and they are real things too But we must see that our Hope be well-grounded If the Grounds be weak such as by no just Consequence of Reason will bear what we infer from them then our Hope is vain we must give a reason of the hope that is in us and such a reason as may answer all Objections against our Hope The Object of Hope is Bonum arduum futurum sed possibile If there be not a possibility of obtaining what we hope for upon the ground we go upon our Hope is vain and will certainly make us ashamed the issue not answering our expectation Job 11. 20. comp with Prov. 10. 28. There are Two Things which men ground their vain Hope of Salvation of Heaven and Glory upon in both which they overlook Christ and pass him by 1. Their own Righteousness so far as they can pretend to any they make the most of it grow proud of it look to be considered by God for it as if he was beholden to them for their good Lives and inoffensive Carriage that they run not into the same excess of Riot with others But alas what a sandy foundation is this to build our Hope of Heaven upon Be not offended at what I am saying but weigh it well in the Balance of the Sanctuary consider it strictly by Gospel-Light I say this We may as soon be saved in our Sins as by our own Righteousness It is as contrary to the Gospel to trust in our own Righteousness as to the Law not to do it Our Sins are not more opposite to the Holiness of the Law than trusting in our own Righteousness is to the Free Grace of the Gospel Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saveth us Tit. 3. 5. It is true a Holy Life becomes a Christian we cannot be Christians without it but it doth not make a Christian Nothing but Faith in Christ doth make a Christian from whence all true Holiness found in Believers doth spring I have sometimes told you That Preaching of Holiness pressing Holiness with little
you find yonr Hopes sinking then look to your Faith for the fault lies there raise that and Hope will quickly recover it self By often proving and examining our selves about our Interest in Christ we come to know it more perfectly to be assured of it Want of Assurance doth come from the want of Light in the Understanding hence that Phrase Col. 2. 2. The full assurance of understanding When we have intire satisfaction in our Judgment and Understandings that things are so and so we know that Christ is in us of a truth We had need make good proof of this for all depends upon it It is a Truth Saints are apt to question when a good Work is begun in them which they and others take to be Conversion and which indeed is so yet the Devil labours to persuade them otherwise puts in many Exceptions Tho he knows he cannot overthrow their state yet such is his Malice he would rob them of the comfort of it and hide it from them if he can He seeks to blind the minds of men to keep out the Light of the Gospel from shining in upon us and when it doth shine in he raises all the Mists and Fogs he can to obscure it he would fain turn day into night and draw a Cloud over that Day-star that is risen in our hearts and therefore we had need have recourse to Christ within us We should often have recourse to Christ within us look well upon him and consider him comparing Christ in our hearts with Christ in the Word for we may take a false Christ into our hearts an Idol instead of the true Christ as the Galatians chap. 1. 6. They had another Gospel quite different from what Paul preached to them There was no such Christ no such Gospel as they fancied to themselves They had a wrong notion of things thought they must join something to Christ did not stick to say Unless they were circumcised they could not be saved Christ himself could not save them without Circumcision We should examine our selves about this Whether our sole dependance be upon Christ or whether we join any thing with him in Justification piecing up a Righteousness partly from Christ and partly from our selves I am not against Works of Holiness and Gospel-Obedience but if we do not warily and wisely distinguish between Faith as Justifying and Faith as it orders and governs the Life according to the Rule of Gospel-Obedience we shall run into endless Disputes and never understand one another Therefore I say let us consider whether or no we rely upon Christ and his Righteousness for our Justification in the sight of God We should examine the Principle by which we are carried out to holiness of life afterward We may know this by searching our hearts and putting close Questions to our selves Whether our whole Trust and Confidence be reposed in him alone Whether we desire to be found in him not having on our own righteousness If we are clear in this and can say from the bottom of our hearts None but Christ None but Christ is the stay and prop of our Souls we have nothing else to trust in or rely upon then all our Hope of Eternal Life must needs flow from him and be grounded upon him only Here we fix and are immoveable from the Hope of the Gospel all our days Secondly By imploring the help of the Spirit to shew us those things of Christ which we read and hear from the Word Without this all our Reasonings and Considerations of Gospel Mysteries will come to little we shall not have one right thought of him We are not sufficient of our selves as of our selves to think a good thought 2 Cor. 3. 5. As of our selves i. e. not by our own Wit Parts and Learning He speaks this chiefly of Ministers And if They stand in need of help from God to guide their Thoughts and Meditations of Christ certainly private Christians do The Spirit shall teach you all things Joh. 14. 26. He will guide you into all truth John 16. 13. He shall receive of mine and shew it unto you v. 15. And therefore when you set your selves to think of any Gospel-Truth be sure you look up to God to enlighten you and to give you good Understanding of that Truth as it is in Jesus or else all your Reading Hearing Studying Discourse and Thinking will come to nothing The Help of the Spirit lies in Two Things 1. In Teaching 2. In Testifying 1. In Teaching The Teaching of the Spirit and the Testimony of the Spirit are Two Things We are Taught that we may Believe but we are sealed after we believe Ephes. 1. 13. For the Spirit bears witness not only to the Truth of the Word but to the Truth of a Work of Grace in our hearts and that must be wrought before the Spirit can witness to it and therefore Sealing comes after Anointing and is distinguished from it 2 Cor. 1. 21 22. He that anoints us is God who also hath sealed us and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts Who also hath sealed us he speaks of it as a distinct thing as a further work of God upon the Soul first Anointing then also Sealing giving us the Earnest There seems to be some difference between these Two Phrases Sealing and giving Earnest who also hath Sealed us and given us the Earnest of his Spirit in our hearts Sealing implies bare Assurance but the Earnest so assures us as to put part of the Inheritance into our hand An Earnest is something in hand but Sealing is a demonstrative Evidence of the Truth and Certainty of a Thing to the Understanding only 't is all Intellectual I shall first shew you How we are led to the Knowledge of Christ in us by the Teaching of the Spirit and then shew How we are confirmed in that Knowledg by the Testimony of the Spirit and both in order to the raising and strengthning our Hope 1. The Spirit shews us Christ within formed in our hearts then teaches us to argue from Christ within us Consider that Scripture Rom. 8. from 10. to 17. and see what work Paul makes of it how he argues from Christ within If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is life because of righteousness If the Spirit be in you then you are assured of the resurrection of the body If the Spirit of Christ be in you then you are led by the Spirit then you know that you are the children of God and if children then heirs joint-heirs with Christ that we may be glorified together So you see he argues up to a lively Hope of Glory as if he had said All this doth naturally follow from Christ being in you He that hath the Son hath life 1 Joh. 5. 12. Believers may have Christ and may have life in him and by him and yet not know that they have it These things have I written to you v.
Name comes with authority commands a due respect from us Since we are redeemed with the precious Blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1. 19. Justified by his Blood saved from Wrath through him reconciled to God by the death of his Son Rom. 5. 9 10. We may conclude from all that has passed between God and Christ concerning our Salvation that God is our God Christ has made him so When we know who is our God what he will be unto us and do for us we may enter into rest for ever rejoycing in his Salvation Two things prove God to be ours 1. His giving himself to us in a Promise 2. Our receiving him in that Promise by Faith which holds him fast will not let him go neither will God wrest himself out of the hand of our Faith for that would be to recede from his own Promise to deny himself no he will approve himself to be every way ours taking a universal Care of us and providing eternally for us causing his fulness to flow in upon our Souls more and more every day Jer. 17. 8. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters that spreadeth her roots by the river and shall not see when heat cometh but her leaf shall be green nor shall cease from yeilding fruit CHAP. VII Some further Evidences of God's being OVR God 1. LOOK into your own hearts for this see what impressions of his Love and Fear you can find there what measure of the Spirit of his Son breathing in you examine prove your own selves that you may know whether Christ be in you of a truth he who has God for his God his heart is much set upon Christ who has brought this about and by a Spirit of Adoption made it known to us that God is our Father the Spirit does not tell us this only by an external Declaration of it in the word but by an internal operation or breathing in our hearts as the Spirit of the Son inclining us to go to God as Children of our Heavenly Father We know God to be our Father by a Divine Instinct the spirit of the Son leads us naturally to our Heavenly Father the Spirit of the Son knows no other Father but God and God acts as a Father towards all in whom he sees the Spirit of his Son when we are joyned to the Lord in one Spirit we stand in the same relation to God the Father as Christ our elder Brother does then it is I and the children which thou hast given me Heb. 2. 13. All Children of the same Father I the first born and these my Brethren Being partakers of the Divine Nature that Nature tells us who is our Heavenly Father we need not say with Philip shew us the Father we shall see the Father in the Son and move towards him in the Spirit of the Son feeling in our selves such childlike affections towards God as will make us call him Father We must be clear in the actings of our Faith upon Christ before we can apprehend God to be our Father still remembring that it 's the Father of Christ who is our Father 2. By that inward satisfaction and rest we find in our selves under this new Covenant-relation to God he that believes doth enter into rest Heb. 4. 3. Soul take thine ease a Child of God may truly say so upon our believing in Christ there is a secret shedding abroad of that love of God in the Soul when we turn to God God turns about to us looks pleasingly upon us we tast and see that God is gracious this is the sinners welcome into a state of Grace he sees it much better with him than before 3. By the confidence we put in him for help and comfort in all our times of need The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want Psalm 23. 1. We see that in God that answers all our fears do we want strength the Lord is our strength would a rock or fortress stand us in any stead God is both would a Buckler a high Tower the Lord is all this to a Believer and Faith understands as much Psal. 18. 1 2. And therefore is confident in God knows that every Promise will be established God will act like a God towards us like a God to Israel as 1 Chron. 17 24 25. We may safely trust in him Dan. 3. 17. Our God is the God of Salvation Psal. 68. 20. Isa. 41. 10. We should apply to him for help upon all occasions Isa. 8. 19. And let others have a care of medling with the people of God to their hurt Jer. 2. 3. All that devour him shall offend evil shall come upon them saith the Lord. They are sensible how God stands engaged to them and they to God God promises to do great things for them and they promise to walk in his ways and to keep his statutes Deut. 26. 16. ad finem Not to do this is to deny God Josh. 24. 27. You say he is your God don't unsay it again by your wilful Disobedience When God owns any for his people he makes them to own him for their God he works answerable Dispositions in their hearts towards himself as he avouches them to be his people so they avouch him to be their God Hos. 2. 23. I will say i. e. I will make them my people Dei dicere est efficere our saying is to believe and obey when we disobey God we disown him we set up something else for our God we say unto God Depart from us Job 21. 14 15. 4. By his appearing for us against all our sworn Enemies as he did for Israel of old bringing them out of Egypt with a Mighty hand when things come to extremities between God and his People he will then save them because he is their God Psalm 3. 7. For his own name sake Isa. 43. 25. David knew the strength of the Argument Psal. 119. 94. Though God may severely Chastise his people yet he will not take away his Loving kindness utterly from them he will not make an utter end of them God cannot do this Hos. 11. 8. 5. By our zealous appearing for God upon all occasions The way of the Lord is strength to the upright Prov. 10. 29. The people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits Dan. 11. 32. 6. The Apostle Phil. 3. 3. when he would prove himself and the Philippians to be the peculiar people of God to belong to him indeed he gives Three Signs of it viz. Worship God in the spirit rejoyce in Christ Jesus have no confidence in the flesh They who say God is their God from a true saving Knowledg of God in Christ they believe there is no other God that he is the only true God Who is God save the Lord who is a rock save our God Psal. 18. 31. Above all gods 2 Chron. 2. 5. And him only will they serve Mat. 4. 10. He is their guide unto death Psal. 48. 14. They
This is the true real State of Thousands and Ten thousands in the World Could we see into their Hearts we should find it just so and no otherwise let their outward profession be what it will their inward thoughts are as you have heard let them deny it if they can I am sure if they will tell themselves what they think they must acknowledge all this to be so and no otherwise If God be not your God then he is none of yours i. e. he is against you you 'll shortly feel the weight of his Almighty hand pressing you sore and giving you an irrecoverable stroke 't is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God If God be for us Who can be against us But if God be against us Who can be for us to secure us from his Vengeance None can deliver out of his hand if God be not your God you are under the power of the Devil he is your God Act. 26. 18. Col. 1. 13. I don't ask what your Opinions are some difference may be among us there but I ask Who is your God I hope we are all agreed in this To us there is but one God and one Lord Jesus Christ If so if God in Christ be indeed your God then his word must be the rule of all your actions both Civil and Religious how careful should you be to keep his Word to do according to the revealed will of your own God you can't answer the contrary to your Consciences 'T is a reasonable motion to put you upon worshipping your own God Deut. 10. 20 21. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God him shalt thou serve and to him shalt thou cleave and swear by his name He is thy praise and he is thy God that hath done for thee great things I have not chosen your God for you you your selves have chosen him as Josh. 24. 22 23 24. Ye are witnesses against your selves that ye have chosen the Lord to serve him c. vide You say he is your God then I say you ought to Fear and Obey him For all people will walk every one in the name of his God and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever Micah 4. 5. All your Godliness lies in the respect you shew to your God If you shall still ask How shall we know that God is our God Ans. God comes himself and tells us so not only in his Word but by some particular Manifestation of himself to our Souls according to the Word John 14. 21. God does act over the grace of such a promise gives us undeniable experience of it in our own Souls that he has made good such a promise to us Here is more than a bare promise here is the Spirit of promise sealing the truth of it to our souls The Holy Ghost is called the Spirit of Promise not only because he himself is the great Promise of the Father but because he is the best Interpreter of all the promises gives us light into them all searches the deep things of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God 1 Cor. 2. 10 11 12. We take that that lies uppermost in a promise but we don't dig deep enough to discover the hid treasures that are there in the light of the Spirit we may look down to the bottom of a promise and see all that is contained in it gathering up the unsearchable riches of Christ. The Spirit makes us to understand our interest in God bearing witness to our Adoption and shedding abroad the Love of God in our Hearts so that we are full of a sense of God's love In the midst of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul Psal. 94. 19. q. d. When I could think of nothing to revive my drooping Soul thy comforts did it presently Let us wait for this particular manifestation of God to us till he know us by name as Joh. 10. 3. Exod. 33. 12. I know thee by name and thou hast found grace in my sight What an accent did Christ put upon the word Mary when he spoke to her She knew his Voice presently and turned her self saying Rabboni Master Joh. 20. 16. He first calls her Woman v. 15. as if he knew not whom she was and 't is plain she knew not who he was though many words passed between them but when he called her by her Name Mary he secretly told her his Name Jesus She did not own him for her Lord and Master till then Though all Believers have not always a full sense and assurance that God is their God yet they always cleave to him as their God they look towards him long for clearer evidences of his Love desire nothing more than that God would be their God Sometimes Grace spends all its strength in desires after more Grace so that what we have is hardly discernable by us we pray for more grace as if we had none at all though the manner of our praying argues the contrary Where there is but little Water in the Bucket we sometimes pour it all into the Pump to fetch up more as he that hath receives more so he that hath desires more and that makes him forget what he hath Phil. 3. 13. Our longing after clearer views of God in Christ may seem to obscure at least to take us off from the consideration of the present sight we have of him The Majesty of God out of Christ is too high for Mortal men to approach unto therefore consider your Immanuel God manifest in the Flesh Pray for a Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him Eph. 1. 17. 'T is granted to some but not to others Mat. 1â— 27. Mat. 13. 11. 't is a signal effect of the Covenant of Grace Heb. 8. 11. made to know that God is our God to know or rather to be known of him Gal. 4. 9. There is a mutual understanding between God and the Saints of the interest they have one in another I am the good shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine Joh. 10. 14. CHRIST The ONLY Saviour of his People from Sin LUKE I. 77. To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins through the tender mercy of our God c. CHAP. I. Some things impli'd in the Text viz. ALL men by nature are in a lost undone Estate 1. Obs. No man knows how to recover himself out of this lost undone estate 2. Obs. i. e. no man by nature knows this great Mystery without the light of the Scriptures revealing it to us and laying before us the only way of Salvation by Jesus Christ declaring all the counsel of God in this matter Act. 20. 27. His Wise contrivance for the Salvation of man by Christ called the Mysterious hidden Wisdom of God 1 Cor. 2. 7. kept secret since the World began but now is made
to thrive under Ordinances In the Description of John Baptist's Office we may see the nature use and end of a Gospel Ministry all must be called to that Office who are imployed in it they must prepare the way and seek to lead their Hearers to Christ Preaching remission of sin through faith in him shewing how all flows from the tender Mercy of God setting forth Christ as the true light of them who sit in darkness c. Before Christ's time the Patriarchs Priests Levites and Prophets carried on this Ministry After Christ's Incarnation John the Baptist was the first Gospel-Minister after him the Apostles and Evangelists by an extraordinary Call then Pastors and Teachers as the ordinary Ministers of the Gospel who continue still in the Church and whose duty still it is to seek the Salvation of their Hearers and Hearers should come to learn the way of Salvation by Christ. To give knowledge of Salvation c. Not that Preachers can infuse knowledge into their Hearers none but God can do this as Dan. 1. 17. There the words have a greater Emphasis than here when applied to men who only prepare the way by Instruction afford some outward help to bring us to the knowledge of Salvation they do aditum patefacere they prepare the way make it plain lay it open setting before you the credenda what you are to believe and do they tell you what way and method what manner and means God has made choice of to bring about Salvation for they give us notice of all this speaking in a plain familiar manner that men may know what is contained in the Bible what the main drift and scope of the Gospel is which we cannot be ignorant of when it 's told us in such plain and intelligible terms which if we do not stop our ears will inform us whether we will or no of the History of the Bible we cannot but conceive something of the matter they are willingly ignorant who being so taught yet slight all they hear and won't regard it where there has been such an outward manifestation of the Truth we may say as 2 Cor. 4. 2 3. If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost Ministers should do what in them lies to help the understanding of their Hearers bringing down things to their Capacities giving the sense and causing the people to understand the reading Neh. 8. 8. This is the way for a Minister to save himself and them that hear him 1 Tim. 4. 16. Many common Hearers can't understand what they read and hear unless some man guide them as the Eunuch said of himself Act. 8. 30 31. When we have in handling the word commended our selves to every man's Conscience in the sight of God 2 Cor. 4. 2. we must leave the success of our Ministry to him whether the word be a savour of life or death to him Paul may Plant and Apollo may Water but it 's God who giveth all the encrease You see how Ministers give the Knowledge of Salvation by Publishing the Gospel i. e. by Preaching Christ Rom. 16. 25. They say to the People what the Angel did to the Shepherds Luk. 2. 10 11. Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people For unto you is born a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. A great multtitude of the Heavenly Host join with the Angel in praising God for his good will towards men v. 14. This is the Ministers work now to declare these glad Tidings this faithful saying so worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners 1 Tim. 1. 15. Christ commanded his Apostles to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature Mark 16. 15. To tell them plainly there is no other name under Heaven by which we can be saved but the name of Christ. One would think this were enough to set all the world upon enquiring after Christ. But who hath believed our report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed Men will not receive this Testimony that God hath given of his Son We who are Ministers cannot finish our course with joy and the ministry which we have received of the Lord Jesus if we do not testifie of the gospel of the grace of God Act. 20. 24. And as for me I would say with Samuel 1 Sam. 12. 23. God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you and to shew you the good and the right way He that hath ears to hear let him hear Having shewed what this knowledge or notice is which Ministers give to the People of the way of Salvation by Christ I shall now speak something of the notice the People take of this how they resent it how they receive it what impression it makes upon the generality of Professors They assent to it seem to be convinced of it and do profess to believe it but in such a cold careless manner that they are not at all concerned in the matter Putting the greatest cheat upon themselves that can be 't is below the reason of a man in all it 's other actings to counterfeit knowledge in things so nearly relating to himself and of so dreadful a consequence if neglected and not strictly attended to to profess to believe in Christ for Salvation and yet never come to him for that Salvation never deal with him about it is such a gross piece of Hypocrisy and self-deceit that one would wonder men should be guilty of Such a formal profession comes not from any true conviction or real belief of what they profess but from custom education and a desire to be like other men they walk in the shadow of other mens Religion who have none of their own they take up the name of Believers and say they have Faith when they know or may know they have none such a feigned Faith undoes Thousands Since they say they have Faith and profess it how does it appear they have it not Appear Ans. As plain as the Sun at Noon If a man say he is convinced there is but one remedy in the whole World that can cure that disease he is sick of and yet refuse it when it 's offered to him I am sure if he be in his right Wits he lyes in saying he is so convinc'd what convinced that his House is on fire and yet not call out for help and seek to quench it or that this is a Cup of Poyson in his hand and yet drink it off This is to take away the force and power of reason over man to make him unconcerned in and for himself even when he is under the greatest sense of imminent danger that such a through conviction must needs bring him to nothing brings things nearer to a man's reason then conviction does 't is an Act of the understanding by which he owns and acknowledges that for truth which he
this man or that woman out of the Kingdom of Heaven whom we saw walking so disorderly under so visible a neglect of their own Salvation Obj. This way of Preaching may grieve the Saints Ans. What! to hear that impenitent unbelieving Sinners remaining so shall never enter into Heaven if this grieve them they must be grieved we can't help it better they grieved than others eternally Damn'd for want of such an awakening word Am I your enemy because I tell you the truth if so I desire never to be friends with you upon other terms Brethren What we do of this kind errante clave affects no man's Conscience But if you find that you are the persons to whom God intends Comfort you ought to receive it if the persons to whom the Curse belongs you ought to apply it to your selves and to tremble under it for what is bound on Earth is bound in Heaven The Curse will certainly come upon you if you repent not you may reverse the Sentence we pass by a speedy turning to God before you dye else 't will be confirmed against you at the last Day to your eternal Destruction by an irreversible Sentence You will frequently find it may be not presently that as you are bound or loosed by the Preachers of the Gospel so suitable impressions of God's Love or Anger are made upon your Souls even in this World God does this to keep up the Authority of his Ministers that they may effectually comfort Believers and as effectually terrifie Unbelievers therefore if we are bold against some 2 Cor. 10. 2. and do use sharpness according to the power which the Lord Jesus has given us for your edification 2 Cor. 13. 10. For that we aim at in all these denunciations of God's wrath against the impenitent 1 Cor. 5. 5. I say if we come with a Rod and seem not so kind and gentle to you as you would have us 1 Cor. 4. 21. If at any time we are found unto you such as ye would not 't is because we do not find you such as we would 2 Cor. 12. 20. The Sum of All. This Phrase of giving the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven is Metaphorical from one who has the Supreme Power in a House or City so Eliakim as Chief Governour of the King's Houshold had the keys of the house laid upon his shoulder Isa. 22. 22. Prefiguring the Kingdom of Christ who gives the Keys i. e. the Power of binding and loosing here on Earth to his Ministers Q. How can the power of Remitting Sin which belongs to God only Mark 2. 7. be ascribed to men A. Christ in Commanding the Apostles and in them all Ministers to remit Sin does not transfer upon them that which is his own peculiar Prerogative i. e. he does not resign to them his Power of forgiving Sin but only Commands them in his Name to testifie to their hearers that the Sins of all those who Believe in Jesus are Pardoned and to pronounce them Pardoned by God So that Ministers are not the Authors of Forgiveness but only God's witnesses testifying his Grace towards Repenting Believing Sinners Nothing makes more for our comfort than to know that our Sins are Pardoned and to this end God hath appointed his Ministers in his Name to tell Believers so and to declare unto all that they who Believe shall be Saved and have all their Sins remitted to them for Christ's sake Thus I have shewed you what is implied in this Text And till men are wrought up by the Preaching of the Gospel to a real conviction of these Truths viz. 1. That all men are Sinners by Nature and under Condemnation by Law 2. That there is no Salvation to be expected or hoped for without a full and free Remission of all their Sins 3. That this Remission of Sin can never be obtained till full satisfaction be first given to the Law and Justice of God for all our Offences and Trespasses against him 4. That none but Christ is able to make this satisfaction for Sin 5. That in order hereunto i. e. for the effecting and compleating this satisfaction the Son of God took our flesh upon him and Dyed in that Flesh for us shed his Blood for the Remission of our Sins 6. That all who come unto this Jesus casting themselves by Faith upon him shall certainly find Mercy shall have all their sins Pardoned and shall be Eternally Saved Till we can prevail with our hearers to own and acknowledge these Generals 't is impossible they should Believe in the Lord Jesus to the saving of their Souls That Faith that is saving does necessarily presuppose and include in it a real assent unto and full conviction of all the forementionned Truths Possibly some will say We know all this already have heard these things over and over it may be so but pray hear them over once more and consider them well in the light of this Text that tells you plainly there is no other way of Salvation Sometimes it pleases God by one Text set home by the Spirit upon our hearts to lead us into a more serious consideration of many other Truths relating to it which we formerly gathered out of the letter of the Word without any application of the matter contained in them to our selves We who are Ministers must insist upon these things we have nothing else to say to Sinners till they are convinced of these truths this is the first opening of the Gospel we cannot proceed one step farther till some credit be given to these first Principles of the Christian Religion I hope you who are here present and do frequent this Assembly do attend upon the Ministry of the Word under a real conviction of these truths Therefore give me leave to put One question to you to every one of you to your Consciences I put it viz. Whether you have answered this Conviction by your personal Coming to Christ and actual casting your selves upon him for the Pardon of all your Sins If this be not yet done I am sure you cannot Answer it to God nor your own Consciences Pray consult your convictions and shew your selves men To say no more Two things I shall speak to from this Text viz. 1. What Remission of Sin is 2. How Salvation consists in the Remission of Sin CHAP. III. I. What Remission of Sin is I Intend to speak distinctly to these Two Heads yet not so distinctly neither but I may now and then run them both together in my Discourse which cannot well be avoided in truths of so near an affinity to each other as these are I begin with the first viz. Remission of Sin What are we to understand by that Remission of Sin implies our justification It can signifie nothing less in Mark 1. 4. and Mat. 26. 28. They who labour most to find a difference are very much put to it to make it out They say that imputation of Righteousness is distinct from Remission of
witness whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son and with a pure conscience 2 Tim. 1. 3. void of offence towards God Acts 24. 16. In simplicity and godly sincerity 2 Cor. 1. 12. When with our minds we serve the law of God Rom. 7. 25. God is a Spirit and will be Worshipped in spirit and truth You have reason to enure your selves to this Spiritual worship because ere long you will be all Spirit when you have laid down these earthly tabernacles I mean it is the will of God that the Souls of men should after death live a while out of the body in a separate state till the Resurrection conversing with an innumerable company of Angels and Spirits of just men made perfect Though Believers now are Spiritually joined to the general Assembly of the First-born and in the apprehensions of their Faith do rejoyce in that relation they stand in to the Church-triumphant yet after death they will have actual communion with those blessed Spirits above though we cannot so clearly apprehend what this happy Paradisical state is after death yet those who are spiritually minded conceive so much of it by Faith as makes them long to be dissolved and to be with Christ they grow weary of all earthly converses waiting till their change comes that they may enter into rest from all their Labours and from that hard travel of Soul which they cannot be freed from till their warfare be fully accomplish'd then they put off their Armour as more than Conquerors and sit down in an everlasting Peace with palms in their hands and crowns upon their heads triumphing in the Grace of Christ to all Eternity Could we look through the dark Entry of the Grace into Eternity lifting up our heads within the Vail we should see a Glorious Light that would dazzle our eyes we should have a stronger taste of the powers of the world to come The wiser sort of Heathens were not without some thoughts of a future happy estate they did praesentire in posterum They had some bodings in their minds of some great good or evil that should befal them after death What a shame is it for Christians to be so little affected with the future eternal state of their Immortal Souls Believers while they are in this world are joyned to the Lord in one Spirit i. e. in one spiritual body or in the same spiritual nature with Christ Heb. 2. 11. We live the life of Christ the Head and the Members being acted by the same Spirit Christians have not every one a diverse spirit as every man hath a divers Soul numerically distinct from the Soul of another man but as all Members of the Body have the same Soul though each of them divers operations Rom. 12. 4. so we have all of us one and the same Spirit though the operations of it be divers 1 Cor. 12. 4 13. Therefore if there be any fellowship of the Spirit let us glorifie God in our bodies and in our spirits which are God's CHRIST The ONLY MEDIATOR OF THE NEW COVENANT HEB. XII 24. And to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant BEfore I speak to the Words of the Text I shall premise Two Things 1. Compare the Covenant of Grace with the Covenant of Works shewing in what they agree and in what they differ 2. Compare the New Covenant with the Mount Sinai-Covenant CHAP. I. Christ the ONLY Mediator c. FIRST I shall Compare the Covenant of Works with the Covenant of Grace in sundry particulars 1. The Covenant of Grace frees a Sinner from two things which by the Covenant of Works are in force against him 1. From the Curse 2. From perfect Obedience as a Condition of life to be performed by man himself My meaning is That the Covenant of Grace does not take away the Condition of perfect obedience but only the Performance of it by us It is enough that Christ hath performed it for us by whose Obedience we are made Righteous 2. The Covenant of Grace is so far a friend to the Covenant of Works or rather to the Good Works commanded by that Covenant that it takes in all the moral Duties of that Covenant they are as much our Duty now under the Gospel as they were under the Law and our coming short in any of them is as much our sin now as then we ought as much to strive against it nay which is more than could be expected under the Law we are called to repent of it The Law neither gave Grace to repent neither did it admit of any Repentance You see how little countenance the Covenant of Grace rightly understood gives to Licentiousness how much it promotes Holiness even the perfection of Holiness For when all the Grace of that Covenant is given forth it will issue in Perfection then the Saints will be perfect The reason why under the Gospel imperfect Obedience is accepted is not because the Imperfections of it are approved but because they are pardoned and covered 3. The Covenant of Works shews what man must do to be justified The Covenant of Grace what a justified man ought to do how he should carry himself ever after towards God Holiness of life by the Covenant of Works went before Justification as the procuring meritorious cause of it but according to the Covenant of Grace it is the consequent or effect of Justification 4. The Covenant of Grace in the application of it to us begins in the pardon of sin No Grace reaches us till pardoning Grace begins with us we are under a curse till then concluded or shut up under wrath but pardoning Mercy opens the door for all manner of Mercies to enter in turns the whole stream and course of God's Grace towards us Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven c. Psalm 32. 1. This leads the way to all other blessings 5. In the Covenant of Grace God declares what he will be to us and do for us and also what he will enable us to be to him and to do for his Glory his free Grace undertakes both Parts of the Covenant 6. The Covenant of Grace presupposes full satisfaction made by Christ for all our sins against the Covenant of Works else God would not be just in justifying a Believer Rom. 3. 25 26. 7. The Covenant of Grace finds nothing in man to commed him to God but what it brings along with it To suppose any preparatory qualifications conditions causes or motives to make way for us into the favour of God does quite overthrow the nature of free Grace and take off greatly from the glory of it 1. None can have an interest in the Covenant of Grace or be said in a Gospel sence to be in Covenant in whom the essential parts of the Covenant are not already in some measure fulfilled viz. To have the Law written in their heart to have a right Spirit put into us to own God for our God to delight in
bear him out in this act then certainly we may safely rely upon this precious Blood for our Justification That which Justifies God in his act of Justifying a Believing sinner must needs be a sufficient cause of our Justification else it could not justifie God in his Justifying act there would be no equitable reason for it besides to say that the Blood of Christ is the only procuring Meritorious cause of our Justification i. e. of the acceptance of out Persons and Performances This is truth but not all the truth belonging to Justification For my next Query is What is it that gives us an interest in the Blood of Christ in the satisfaction he hath made for sin Here nothing must come in as instrumentally necessary to our receiving and applying Christ but Faith only Repentance and new Obedience are the effects of the Faith either they are the effects of Faith or of Unbelief None will say the latter then they must necessarily flow from the real interest that Faith gives us in Christ if not I don't see how we can attain to them At this rate they must be done in our own strength not in Christ's for being conditions as some say of our interest in Christ they must be performed before we can have an interest in him It is an excellent Note of Calvin in his Commentaries upon Rom. 8. 30. Whom he did predestinate them he called and whom he called them he justified c. Scimus enim ubi de salute agitur libenter homines à seipsis incipere fingeréque sibi praeparationes quibus Dei gratiam antevertant i. e. 'T is natural for men in the business of Salvation to begin at themselves fancying some preparatory Works by which they may prevent the Grace of God and do something for themselves in their own strength that may fit and qualifie them for an interest in Christ. In this rotten Principle do many begin their Religion which corrupts their minds ever after from the simplicity that is in Christ and puts them upon seeking Justification Not by Faith but as it were by the works of the law Rom. 9. 32. Supposing something in themselves to be the first cause of their acceptance with God I wish all who call themselves Calvinists would read that place and seriously consider the sense of that Holy man in this main point of our Religion Some through mistake have counted Luther an Antinomian but none call Calvin so 'T is good to be zealous in promoting practical Holiness and Gospel-Obedience but let us be sure it be Gospel-Obedience flowing from a principle of Faith in Christ Jesus For to Preach up Holiness from any other Principle then that of Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is not to Preach like Ministers of the New Testament Faith only is required in Justification rather than to it I so phrase it because they are simultaneus Repentance and New Obedience do follow Faith let them be kept in their due place and be allowed no causal concurrence unto our Justification and we shall avoid all confusion else there will be a fundamental difference between us while some hold that Faith only gives us an interest in Christ others that Repentance and New Obedience do equally with Faith give us an interest in Christ. Some carry it as if the end of Christ's coming into the world was only to set up a New Covenant of Works upon milder and easier terms of sincere imperfect Obedience which all men are to be exhorted to and urged to the performance of upon a supposed general sufficient Grace purchased by Christ enabling all men who do not wilfully refuse to come up to the terms of this New Covenant This Opinion hath many ill consequences in it viz. Of a General Redemption taking away Original sin restoring man to a freedom of will in doing good setting him upon his own legs again to stand or fall as he comes up to or falls short of the terms of this New conditional Covenant So that all is resolved into mans own power and will all being now put into an equal capacity of Salvation by Christ and having said this they have done with Christ have all in their own hands may set up for themselves and love to be put upon duty as persons sufficiently furnished for it already But notwithstanding this specious new scheme of rational Divinity as some call it I must in faithfulness to God to my own Conscience and the Souls of them that hear me tell you plainly That they who trust in a general Redemption will fall short of their particular Salvation upon the Principles that those Universalists go upon We are all by nature dead in trespasses and sins reprobate to every good Word and Work and shall so remain till we do by a particular personal act of our own Faith come to Christ for life that we may be quickned by his Spirit and made alive unto Righteousness We must have life before we can live or put forth any vital operations we must be first quickned by Christ the great quickning Spirit before we can live to God or do any thing that is Spiritually good 'T is Faith that unites us to Christ which is the gift of God to some for all men have not Faith and till this Faith comes by hearing the Gospel we are dead in sin Christ came not only as a Lawgiver to prescribe rules of living to dead sinners but to create in us a principle of life to give us strength to perform what he requires of us as new Creatures created in Christ Jesus unto good Works All our own endeavours after Holiness while we are out of Christ will prove ineffectual we must be first engrafted into the true Olive-Tree deriving all our fruitfulness from the root that bears us else we shall quickly wither away and come to nothing No acceptable service ever was or can be done by man till Faith brings us to Christ without whom we can do nothing when Faith comes life comes strength comes a Spiritual ability to do the will of God in some measure And as this Faith increases by the daily exercise of it so we increase in Spiritual strength perfecting Holiness more and more in the fear of God Let no man think to be made perfect in the flesh Christ came not to reform corrupt Nature but to destroy it and utterly to extirpate it the old man will never learn to lead a new life die he must and be Crucified he must be put off that we may put on the New man which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness Eph. 4. 24. This is the only way to true Holiness here and to Eternal Happiness hereafter To as many as the Lord our God shall effectually call to this Faith to them and to them only doth the promise of Salvation by Christ belong 'T is the command of Christ that all should Believe on him they that do and they only shall be saved by him