strain we move it a little though ordinarily we cannot stir it So there are some certain strains of Faith that give us that discerning of Spiritual Things that we never had before lifting up our heads within the Vail Let us then wait upon God for such further manifestations of his Spirit and pray That he would shine in our hearts the Light of the Knowledge of his Glory What shall I say more Now we live upon Creatures and have but a remote View of God in them and through them and this is our Grace But when we come to Heaven God will be all in all We shall stand in no need of Creature-Comforts to Eternity but shall derive all our support satisfaction and joy immediately from God himself His Spirit will be instead of Meat Drink and Cloaths to our bodies and will to Eternity fill up the Capacity of our Souls with Ravishing Joys and Delights And this is our Glory The sum of all is That Christ received into the heart by Faith as our Jesus our Redeemer and Saviour doth beget in the Soul thus relying upon him an earnest Expectation and lively Hope of all that Good that may consummate and perfect mans Happiness to Eternity And this in the Text is called Glory Christ in us the Hope of Glory So much for that part of the Text. I come now to the First Part of the Text. What are we to understand by Christ in us And this is Mystery upon Mystery It is evident that in Scripture Christ is said to be in us and we in him he to abide in us and we to abide in him I shall now only give you a more general Exposition of these Words in the general sense of the Text. I say Christ is said to be in us and we in him To abide in us and we in him John 15. 4. And all this must be spiritually understood all this is by Believing by Faith we receive him and by continued Acts of Faith we do keep him dwelling in our hearts Eph. 3. 17. We abide in Christ and Christ in us we are in him and he in us when we do persevere in the Faith when we have in our hearts an inward belief and persuasion of all the Gospel saith concerning Christ as our Redeemer and Saviour He is in the thoughts and imaginations of our hearts continually and we do act towards him according to what we believe of him this is believing indeed And here comes in hope as most suitable to the apprehensions of our Faith concerning Christ as our Jesus Christ in you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some render the Greek thus Christ among you outwardly Preached to you is the hope of Glory This is Doctrinally true but this is not enough to beget Hope Many hear and don't believe they have much of Christ without them but nothing of Christ within them Hope arises from something within impressed upon the mind the Soul doth not stir till then doth not put forth any act of Hope till Faith comes That sets all the wheels in motion draws our affections after him such is the power of Faith that we cannot but love and desire what we believe to be so good and desirable Hope naturally springs out of Faith and in this Hope you have the comfort of your Faith you see the benefits of Faith rejoycing in what you believe Gospel truths are very advantageous to a believer when he sees the advantage that accrues to him by them and therefore is filled with joy unspeakable and full of Glory by believing We should be little concerned in our Faith were it not for the Hope it begets It is life Eternal to know Christ in the light of that knowledge you perceive how you live in him and by him As Faith carries up our Souls to Heaven so it brings down all the good things of Heaven to our Souls Faith is a very enriching Grace rich in Faith saith the Apostle when the Soul takes notice of this it cannot but Hope What Faith hath obtained of God through Christ Hope goes out after longs for and patiently waits for things unseen Faith hath ensured them and therefore Hope will expect them So that Christ outwardly Preached is the Hope of Glory that is Doctrinally so It is Doctrinally true but it is not experimentally true to you and me that Christ is our Hope of Glory till we do believe in him Christ must be ours before this Hope in the Text can be ours Christ is not ours till we receive him by Faith from an inward Revelation of him Gal. 1. 16. Till then he is a Christ without us not in us With the heart man believes It is an inward act of the mind to believe in Christ. The Soul doth converse with Christ about its own Salvation our Thoughts are much taken up in considering him applying to our selves the benefits of his Death If Christ be thus in you you cannot but have Hope I am upon the general Exposition and shall shew you more at large how Christ is in us by believing I say Faith lets Christ into the Understanding Will and Affections Naturally when the Vnderstanding acts upon any Object it draws the species and image of that Object into its self Hence they say Intellectus intelligendo fit omnia the Understanding is every thing it understands That is it takes in the Idea Shape Image of that thing which it knows under all its distinguishing Properties else there would be confusion in the Understanding we should not know one thing from another which is not to know at all So Faith brings in Christ into the Soul under a peculiar Character as the fairest of Ten thousand proposes him as the greatest truth to the Understanding as the greatest good to the Will and frames conceptions of him accordingly thus is Christ formed in us Faith doth not take in Christ notionally only to lye by as other notions do in which we are little concerned but it takes him in in reference to our selves as a new Mould into which the Soul is to be cast as a Spirit and Principle of new life He comes to rule and reign and to reduce man to a conformity to himself And here lies the difference between historical and saving Knowledg one is purely Speculative the other is Experimentally Practical that is there is always something done upon it in and by the Soul 2 Cor. 3. 18. We do behold as in a glass the glory of God and are changed Pray observe that Text There is a Beholding and there is a Transformation upon that beholding a being changed into the same Glory We do not know Christ savingly if every thing we know of him doth not help to change us more and more into his Image I say we do not know Christ savingly till then You must judge of your saving knowledge of Gospel Truths by the lively impressions they make upon your hearts Are you brought to act do think that which you never did
before Do you find Christ hath had a quickning influence upon your Hearts is indeed become your life He savingly knows Jesus Christ who doth act towards him according to what he believes of him Let men talk of this or that concerning Christ and pretend to understand all Mysteries to have all knowledge yet unless they can shew the work of the Gospel written in their hearts as the Apostle speaks of the work of the Law Rom. 2. 15. I say unless they can shew the work of the Gospel written in their hearts I am sure they are nothing For it is impossible to receive Christ by the saving knowledge of Faith and not to have his Image impressed upon all the faculties of the Soul by that Faith which first brought it in The very conceptions of Faith concerning Christ are the very thoughts of a mans own heart so he is so he thinks so he acts even as he believes Gospel truths cannot enter into our rational Nature at any other door than that of Faith When Faith comes there needs nothing else to turn that Soul unto God Every man is an his Faith is Faith contains the true inward sense of the Soul about Jesus Christ And God is the Author and Finisher of this Faith and understood to be so by all true Believers Pray let us close up all with this for I am only now labouring as well as I can to shew you in general how Faith lets Christ into the Soul The main thing in Conversion is Faith and the main thing in Faith is the Power of God in working it These two things are principally taken notice of by all Believers They observe them in others much more in themselves Acts 11. 17 18. compared with Acts 14. 23. What notice did they take there of the Faith God had wrought in those They perceived they had received the same Faith with themselves that God had granted unto the Gentiles Repentance unto life Faith is the main thing in Conversion Christ is the same in himself both before and after Conversion So are all Gospel-truths the same in themselves only then we did not believe them and now we do It is Faith makes all the difference and the principal thing in Faith is the power of God in working it How doth Paul admire the goodness of God to him that he should obtain Mercy and believe in Jesus Lord saith he What wilt thou have me to do He never called him Lord before The High Priest was his Lord and Master before from whom he received his orders what to do against the Saints Now he is Sick of that imployment he lays down his Commission at the feet of Christ and desires he would give him instructions what to do None should be his Lord None should now command him but Christ Lord what wilt thou have me to do The beginning of Faith and Conversion lyes in looking unto Christ for Power to believe And our first Faith usually breaks out in an Outcry to God to help our unbebelief All true Converts are sensible of this they in Acts 7. 47. How did they Praise God for their Conversion They ascribe it all to him I say our first Faith in the Lord Jesus comes in with a sense of God's Power in working it and Faith is known to be the gift of God by those who have it They who begin their Faith in the strength of their own Reason thinking to take in such considerations of God and Christ and to draw such arguments from Scripture as can induce them to believe will find themselves mistaken I am persuaded the doubts and fears of many Believers have their rise from hence That they did not begin their Faith in such an humble dependance upon God for strength to believe they did not I say do this as they should And it appears that that is the cause of their fears because nothing but such a dependance upon Christ for Grace does cure them When once they have learned the right way of believing and trusting in Christ they enter into rest there is an end of all their fears There are Promises in Scripture made unto Faith and there are Promises made of Faith These so far as we may be concerned in them seem to be made to Believers quite void of Faith Though to Unbelievers remaining in unbelief nothing is promised yet all things are promised to Unbelievers going out by Faith unto Jesus Christ Or if you will I had rather express it thus These promises of our first faith of the first Grace of giving the Spirit and the like they are made to Christ in the behalf of Unbelievers such who were from Eternity ordained unto Life so many of them whose Names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life The Covenant of Grace made between God and us doth respect the Covenant of Redemption between the Father and the Son This first Faith is wrought in us in such a manner that we are sensible of the Divine Power and Efficacy of God's Grace in working it Though God doth lead out our Souls into rational considerations of Himself and his Son yet we find that these considerations do flow into our Minds from an inward Revelation made of Christ. We do know that such thoughts of God and Christ could never have come into our minds if the Holy Ghost had not suggested them In his Light we see Light and our coming to Christ is always by the Father's drawing CHAP. II. More Particularly How Christ is in us by Faith How Faith brings Christ into the Soul Or how Christ conveys himself into our hearts through Faith And also How we may discern this in our selves THis is the Point and a Point of greatest concernment it is unto us all And therefore I beseech you follow me with your strictest Attention First That Christ may be in us it is necessary that he should be first outwardly proposed unto us There is an outward Light of the letter proposing Christ to us and there is an inward Light of the Spirit revealing Christ in us It is one thing to speak Notionally from the outward Light of the Letter another thing to speak Experimentally from an inward Light of the thing it self in our own Souls Besides the outward Light of the Word there is in every true Believer an inward Light flowing through the Word from the Object or thing spoken of The Spirit reveals Christ the Object and so making us Light in the Lord in his Light we see Light As we cannot see the Sun but by its own Light so neither can we see Christ but in his own Light By Faith we go unto Christ by Faith we go into Christ and we sit down in his Light entertaining our selves with Spiritual Contemplations of his Glory I say that Christ presents himself to us in a Gospel Promise as our God and Saviour He offers himself to us as such and by offering himself or under that proposal he doth act as a Gracious
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
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.
The Soul cannot bear more of God in this world than what comes in by Faith and Hope and tho we are satisfied in our present state yet we wait for a change The Husbandman is satisfied to see the Seed sown coming up in the green tender blade but the joy of Harvest is another thing Nothing but the full Fruition of all that good you are capable of to Eternity can swallow up our Faith and Hope which will be continually reaching out after those things which are before till we have attained them In Heaven there will be no need of Hope but prize it while you live upon the earth at a distance from your Heavenly Countrey If you would know Whether indeed you are under the Power of Christian Hope then try the Strength of it in your selves What it doth in you How it supports and comforts you 1. Under all delays of Providence in fulfilling the Promises can you wait the Lord's leisure and not make haste but patiently wait for what you yet see not this is a sign of Hope in Power Rom. 8. 25. 2. Doth your Hope support you not only under delays but when God seems to act contrary to his Promises to let out his Anger against you It is no easie matter for us to turn towards God by Faith and Hope when God turns away in Anger from us hiding his face It was well said of the Prophet I will wait for the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob and I will look for him 3. When things seem desperate as to all second causes in the judgment of man can you then count upon the Truth and Certainty of the Promise And 4. When you are actually surprized with Fears what doth Hope do then Doth it check your fears Doth it raise you above them Psal. 56. 3. What time I am afraid I will trust in thee In the 4 th verse it is read thus What time I am afraid I will not fear A brave Resolution I will not fear what man what flesh can do unto me What is man What is flesh to the great God of Heaven and Earth What time I am afraid I will not fear If God be for me it matters not who is against me When you can thus reason your selves out of all your carnal fears it is a sign you are under the Power of Christian Hope When Grace doth master that sinful Passion that is contrary to it that is Grace in Power reigning Grace it keeps Sin under it shall not have dominion over us CHAP. VI. How Hope rises from Christ in us higher and higher till we abound in Hope and come more fully under the Power of it FIrst viz. By a frequent serious Consideration of Christ in his Divine Person and Offices what his end was in coming into the World in taking our Nature upon him and in dying for us in that Nature We should ponder these things in our minds and be intent upon them We are exhorted to this in order to hope Heb. 3. 1. and 6. verses comp Therefore holy brethren partakers of the heavenly calling consider the Apostle and High-Priest of our Profession Jesus Christ To what end That you may hold fast your confidence and the rejoicing of your hope firm unto the end v. 6. There are Two Effects of this serious and frequent Consideration of Christ. 1. We shall know him better what he is in himself 2. We shall better understand our own Interest in him what he is to us which will mightily raise our Hope 1. We shall know what he is in himself I say we shall know this better the more frequently and seriously we consider of him This was that which raised Paul's Hope 2 Tim. 1. 12. I know whom I have believed and am persuaded he is able to keep that which I have committed to him They that know thy name saith the Psalmist Psal. 9. 10. will trust in thee By reflecting often upon Christ in us and conversing much with him we see further and further into the Mystery of the Gospel Christ opens himself more to us shines in more clearly upon us gives us a fuller discerning of the deep things of God which lye at the bottom of the Covenant we must dig deep to find them out When we set our selves to it in good earnest praying the Father to reveal his Son in us Christ will further manifest himself unto us Joh. 14. 21. That is not spoken of the first saving discovery of Christ in Conversion but of a further Revelation of Christ to a Soul after Conversion He that keeps my commandments and loves me to him will I further manifest my self So v. 23. If a man love me and keep my words we will come unto him and make our abode with him It is not meant of his first coming to a Soul in Conversion but of an after-Visit that God will give every Converted Soul who waits for him His Spirit shall teach us all things and bring all things to our remembrance The Spirit seldom makes any Repetition of a Sermon in our Consciences but it is with further light clearing up matters to us that which we did not so well understand before When we act our Faith afresh upon any gospel-Gospel-Truth which we have formerly heard and believed we grow more expert in the knowledge of that Truth we discern that by an after-Act of Faith which we could not discern by all former Actings of our Faith And thus it pleases God to supply what is wanting in our Faith and raise it up by degrees to an higher pitch making us to grow and encrease in our knowledge of Christ which makes Hope to grow and encrease in us We abound more and more in Hope the more we know of Christ. 2. Secondly We shall better understand our own Interest in him get a greater Assurance of that which strengthens our Hope exceedingly Whilst we are under doubts about our Interest in Christ questioning our state our Hope is small it runs very low Our fears being greater than our Hopes we are much dejected there is not that holy boasting and glorying in God as heretofore the Soul is now under a Cloud sits in darkness sees little or no light And it is a great Work of the Spirit of God as a Comforter to revive our Hopes Faith may hold out in some Spiritual Reasonings and Arguings from a bare Promise when Hope may fail as to any present comfortable Influence upon the Soul Faith may keep some hold of the Promise when Hope is ready to let go the things promised or at least to put them afar off from us Tho it is not impossible yet saith a drooping Soul it seems to me very improbable that such an one as I should be saved Here is Hope at a very low ebb labouring under those Difficulties and seeming Improbabilities that shake us exceedingly But God orders the matter so that a weak Hope puts us upon labouring after a stronger Faith When
13. that believe in the Name of the Son of God that you may know that ye have eternal life John wrote this Epistle purposely to satisfie weak Believers that whatsoever they thought of themselves they had Eternal Life and he would have them know as much Put then the Trial of your state upon this very point Whether you have Christ and in him Eternal Life Do you make good the former and we who are Ministers of the Gospel may by the Blessing of God undertake to prove the latter to your great Comfort and Satisfaction These things have I written to you that believe that you may know you have eternal life Then Believers themselves stand in need of such Writings and Sermons as may help to open the Mysteries of Christ to them and to this end is a Gospel-Ministry appointed to make manifest a savour of his knowledg in every place 2 Cor. 2. 14 15. We are a sweet savour of Christ unto God in them that perish under our ministry saith he We must seek to please God in our Preaching and not men whatever the issue be Men have no savour don't savour such Sermons and Gospel-Discourses that do lead them into the Mysteries of the Gospel they are for a more Rational way of Preaching they love Moral Preaching but this Mystical Mysterious Preaching of Christ and Faith in him and Union to him this they count foolishness they don't savour it but saith he we are a sweet savour of Christ to God even in them that perish 2. The Spirit doth not only teach us to know Christ in us but confirms us in that knowledge by an after-Testimony bearing witness with our spirits that so it is This fixes and settles our minds in a firm persuasion of the Truth Had we no other witness but our own Spirits we should vary and fluctuate in our minds about these great Points of the Gospel we should be of one mind to day and of another to morrow Reason is not always consistent with it self varies in its apprehensions of things argues pro and con according to the different appearance of things the different Impressions that contrary Reasonings make upon our unstable minds I say all these things make Reason very uncertain Fancy and Imagination are very uncertain and variable and do strongly influence mens understandings It is hard to know whether Sense or Reason do lead us but the Testimony of the Spirit of God is a more uniform Testimony doth never vary from it self always passes the same Judgment about the same point It is not yea and nay it doth not say and unsay but stands to the first judgment it is purposely given to testifie of Christ and of the infallible consequents of our Faith in him which must needs beget Hope The oftner we appeal to this witness and hear the Testimony of the Spirit in our hearts concerning Christ the more are we confirmed in our Faith and Hope They who are full of the Holy Ghost they are full of Faith and Hope When we have found out Christ within us we should appeal to the Spirit of God Whether it be not so indeed Whether Christ be not in us of a Truth None knows the Son but the Father and it is by his Spirit he reveals him in us Ask the Spirit then Whether this be the Christ of God which your Faith hath taken hold of and brought into your Soul to Live Rule and Reign there Did we live in more Communion with the Holy Ghost we could not be so much estranged from the Life of Christ we should not be so unacquainted with Christ. No man can say That Jesus is the Lord but by the Spirit Say what you will of Christ you understand not what you say till the Spirit reveal him in you There is no thinking talking no meditating on Christ in our own Light and Strength if the Holy Ghost doth not help us Believers have a sense of this that God hath taught them and shined into their hearts it is in his Light they see Light and have a true Spiritual Discerning of the Mystery of God in Christ. You know in the first days of the Gospel the Spirit bore witness unto the Divine Person of Christ That he came from God and was God for the world could believe neither John 15. 26 27. comp with Acts 5. 32. It was the great business of the Spirit I say to testifie to the world That Christ was sent of God and that he was very God This the Holy Ghost did by many signs and wonderful effects of the Divine Power of Christ wrought through Faith in his Name And so ever since the same Spirit breathing in the Consciences of Believers doth testifie of Christ in them with that Evidence and Power that they cannot withstand they are convinced and satisfied That Salvation is only by him and that relying upon him their Souls are secured to all Eternity This begets Peace in their before affrightned Consciences If you ask how doth the Holy Ghost bring over the Mind of a man to be so fully persuaded of the truth of that which Flesh and Blood cannot reveal unto him I Answer The Holy Ghost doth this as a Spirit of Power Luk. 24. 49. Christ is said to Teach us as one having Authority There is Power and Authority as well as Teaching Reasoning and Objective light I say the Spirit acts as a Spirit of Power impressing a sense of God's Love so upon our Hearts that we cannot but count upon it rejoyce in it feeling it shed abroad into our Hearts The Testimony of the Spirit is a convincing undeniable Evidence able to persuade of the truth of that he bears witness to against all surmises of Flesh and Blood Were not the Spirit of Christ a Spirit of Power it would be impossible he should ever establish such a a Doctrine so contrary to all the sentiments of Nature and to all rational Inferences men can make from any principles of Reason The Spirit comes as a Spirit of Power will have the Heart open will bring over Man to assent though it be to what his Understanding cannot reach and this the Spirit of God doth by particular Application of the Blood of Christ to us by Name so revealing Christ in us that we cannot but feel the Virtue of his Blood in our Conscience cannot but know him and own him as our Jesus In all Hope there is a peculiar Application of Promises to our selves He that believes hath eternal Life John 3. 36. Is not only persuaded there is such a thing but that he hath it already begun in him and shall be further let into it ere long We shall be like him 1 John 3. 2. We shall be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life Tit. 3. 7. For the hope which is laid up for you Col. 1. 5. There is a particular Application to our selves of those things we Hope for It is impossible for a man to Hope and be no
way concerned in his Hope it is impossible to leave himself quite out of his Hope If Christ in you be your hope of Glory Then look upon him as the only sure bottom and foundation of all your Hopes you will prize him the more We naturally love and esteem that which gives us hope of any goood coming towards us The Reason why Christ is so little regarded so lightly set by is because men are afraid they shall be losers by him Go and sell all and follow me this is an hard saying to such as understand not the gain of Godliness the excellency of Christ that he is able to do more for them than all the World can Paul was so persuaded Rom. 8. 37. Nothing could separate him from the Love of God in Christ Jesus Neither life nor death nor all evils that it was possible for men and devils to bring upon him In all these things saith he we are more than conquerors As if he had said we are so far from being losers that we are great gainers come off with advantage Thanks be to God who hath given us the victory 1 Cor. 15. 57. Thanks be to God who also causes us to triumph in Christ 2 Cor. 2. 14. Thus he overcomes the world who believes Jesus is the Son of God 1 John 5. 4 5. Quenches all the fiery darts of the wicked one Eph. 6. 16. Overcomes by the blood of the Lamb Rev. 12. 11. But after all this If any should Object and say We cannot rejoyce in this Hope of Glory by Christ we cannot bring our hearts under the Power of this Hope as you have been persuading us to do I Answer You cannot but God can God by his Spirit of Power can do this in you and upon you We have a cloud of Witnesses to this in all those Saints in former Ages who have gone Triumphing to Heaven in a Joyful Hope and Expectation of Eternal Glory and you will find it so in your selves when the Spirit of God comes upon you as a Spirit of Power Let me tell you The impressions of the Spirit are strange things till you come under them then you feel the powerful effects of them in your own Souls will see that done which you thought could never have been done find that made easy to you which you thought was impossible And thus it will be when you are begotten again to a lively Hope Many Professors have a dead Hope of Eternal Life and Glory which make no impression upon them but a lively Hope hath lively Effects that will be felt It may be you will further Object and say It is true there are some who have this Hope and this Joy But may not all this be a Delusion upon false Grounds All I shall say in Answer is this I wish you would make the same Objections against your Worldly Hopes as you do against this Christian Hope I am sure you have more cause How prone are men to Object against the Hope of the Gospel And how willing are men to be flattering themselves with all Worldly Hopes they follow them are mightily pleased with them they all run well and are well founded But this Hope of Glory by Jesus Christ that is an ignote thing they know not what to make of it Look to it Those who are willing to nourish vain Hopes now will have Hope little enough ere long they will be Punished with Everlasting Despair in Hell But alas with what confidence and security do Men Hope in the Creature but with what trepidation and doubtfulness do some Trembling Souls Hope in Christ Methinks their Reason might instruct their Faith to argue otherwise from Gospel Principles the consequence of which Sanctifi'd Reason may discern and ought to attend unto You find a Thousand Instances in every Age of such whose Worldly Hopes have disappointed them and made them ashamed But never since the World began could there be one Instance produced of any Believer whose Hope in Christ hath made him ashamed It is strange that we should rejoyce so much under that Hope which seldom or never answers our expectation and be so much cast down and dispirited under those Hopes of Glory that never fail I wish you would but ask your selves the Reason of this It is a sign we are rather Carnal than Spiritual and savour more the things of this Earth than the things of Heaven It is a shame to think how little Influence this Hope of Glory hath upon us We usually count our selves the better for our Hopes but it seems the Hope of Glory adds little to us we lay it by as that which speaks of something to come a great while hence in another world we know not when we cannot get our minds to attend to it and look for the accomplishment of it And thus we bereave our selves of much good by suffering our Hope to languish as it will do if we don't take comfort in it and daily solace our selves with the thoughts of it To think of our Hopes is enough to revive us at any time especially when we count them sure and certain I know not whence it is but you may observe many Christians to be more in the Exercise of Faith and Love than of Hope We reverence the Word and dare not disbelieve that when we are under little or no Hope of what is promised to us in the Word A little Fear drowns our Hope We believe the Truth of the Promises but in modesty suspend the application of them to our selves as if it were a piece of Humility to Believe much and Hope but little God is good and gracious and faithful saith the drooping Soul here is Faith But I am unworthy I am less than the least of all his mercies unfit to receive any thing at his hand Thus by sinking our Hope we do insensibly weaken our Faith for a weak Faith doth always follow a languid Hope the Promises will grow out of credit with us when in an affected Despondency we humour our selves too much in refusing our own Mercies It would make our hearts ake if God should take us at our word and say Because you will not have this or that Mercy you shall not have it because you will not have life by applying this and that Promise to your selves I reverse it call it in declare you shall never have that Mercy I say it would make our hearts ake if God should take us at our word when in a froward sullen fit of Despondency It is a slight to his rich Grace to be so shy of it to take but little when much is offered Express then the greatness of your Faith by the greatness of your Hope As God hath abounded yea superabounded in his Grace towards you so do you abound more and more in your Hope in him Faith is but a Notion a mere empty Speculation when the good things of the Promise are not brought down to our selves by a lively Hope that
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
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
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
the word fresh in their Memories by reflecting often upon it conversing much with it Whilst I am exhorting you to a more frequent Consideration of the fundamentals of Christianity don't mistake me as if I were putting you upon reading many Books upon studying Controversies and knotty Disputes no no study your own hearts and the Bible more keep under the power of those truths that are plainly revealed We lose much of the joy of Faith by diverting our Minds to things of an inferior Nature I observe among all sorts of Professors there is more stir about uninstituted things more zeal for their own unscriptural Traditions and Customs than for the grand fundamentals of Faith and Holiness there is utterly a fault among us in this matter If you would keep up the joy of your Salvation you must consult often with your Faith about the prime fundamentals of Religion and muse often upon them examine your Faith about them consider what a priviledg it is to have all your sins blotted out and laid upon Christ who shed his Blood for the remission of them you must think and think again upon this till you find your hearts overcome with the sense of God's Free-Grace towards you in Christ. You cannot conceive before-hand what further Light will break forth what further Discoveries God will make of the Mystery of his Grace one thought rises strangely out of another in holy Mediation things come into our minds that all our hearing and reading could not furnish us with when we are in our thoughts pursuing spiritual truths through all the consequences of them there is that let into our minds which before we were not in a fit posture to receive or understand but when Faith hath set all before us which we have attained unto and drawn as it were a Scheme of the whole Gospel in our minds the Spirit knows how to carry on his work further in such a Soul Having already given you a general and also a more particular account of the nature of remission of sin I shall now proceed to the 2 d. Head propounded whicâ— is this viz. To shew you 2 How Salvation consists in the remission of all our sins And to make way to this I shall speak something of the necessity of remission of sin in order to Salvation which can never be attained without it The necessity of Forgiveness and of Preaching this comfortable Doctrine to all 1. Because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God Rom. 3. 23. and are therefore liable to Condemnation 2. No man is able to make satisfaction for his sins if we could we should not need a Pardon 3. There is no escaping Divine Vengeance no flying from Justice and it 's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God if this be so then either sin must be Pardoned or we must perish under it therefore blessed is that man whose Iniquities are forgiven Further to evidence the necessity of Pardon consider this viz. That all our Sanctification all our inherent holiness all our good works will stand us in no stead without a Pardon because of the imperfection and sin that cleaves to them this makes Pardon so necessary to remit sin is not to condemn us for sin he that belâ—eveth on him is not condemned John 3. 18. Not to condemn is to justifie to justifie is not to impute sin but to impute righteousness without works either the sin that cleaves to all our good works must be imputed to us or else a righteousness must be found out for us without works that does not touch upon any of our works but is imputed to us not done by us man fell by his own sin but he rises by anothers righteousness which covers all his sins CHAP. V. How Salvation consists in the Remission of Sin THE knowledge of Salvation that the Law gave was by a legal Righteousness in keeping the whole Law That which the Gospel gives is by the remission of sin How Salvation consists in this viz. remission of sin Because it takes away that which hinders our Salvation viz. The guilt of sin and the wrath of God The expiatory Sacrifices under the Law were called Sin-Offerings because the sin of the people i. e. their guilt was transferred to the Sacrifice and laid upon that it was to bear the iniquity of the Congregation to make atonement for them before the Lord Levit 10. 17. i. e. The sin was imputed to the Sacrifice the wrath of God and the Punishment due by Law for sin was inflicted upon the Sacrifice in this sense Christ is said to be made sin for us 2 Cor. 5. 21. Because he suffered in our stead his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree 1 Pet. 2. 24. He bare our sins alluding to the Sacrifices that were lifted upon the Alter this is to offer up sacrifice Heb. 7. 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sursum tollo So Christ lifted up or took up the heavy burden of all our sins upon his own back God looked upon Christ lying under the imputation of our sins as the object of his wrath and vengeance that he might ever after look upon us under the imputation of his righteousness as the objects of his love and delight to bear iniquity is to suffer the punishment due for it Levit. 5. 1. To bear iniquity and to be cut off for it is all one Levit. 20. 17. He shall bear his judgment Gal. 5. 10. The blood of the sacrifice was to make atonement for the soul of man Levit. 17. 11. I am shewing you how remission of sin takes away guilt by a non-imputation of it to us God forgives as men forgive Mat. 6. 12 14. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our Debtors So Mat. 18. 21. 35. Among men Debts are remitted when nothing is required of the Debtor the Creditor counts the Money as received which he remits to the Debtor so it 's in our Justification God deals with Believers as with those for whose sins he hath received satisfaction though not from their hands yet from Christs so their sins are Pardoned and taken away The same word 1 Sam. 15. 25. That we render Pardon signifies to take away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nunc tolle peccatum meum from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abstulit condonavit pardon so takes away sin that God will not visit it upon us he will not require it which Joseph's brethren feared their brother would Joseph will peradventure hate us and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him Reddendo reddet in requiting he will requite i. e. he will fully requite this evil he will make it revert upon our own heads so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 redire fecit Both these significations are to be carried into the Construction of these Texts viz. That remission takes away sin and the taking
had a Son from eternity yet he had none of humane race none of our kind all being fallen in Adam 4. Our spiritual Sonship runs thus If children then heirs 't is not so among men all Sons are not Heirs but only the eldest but we shall every one possess the whole Inheritance Come ye blessed of my father inherit the kingdom c. Mat. 25. 34. 5. Adoption among men implies a succession into the inheritance after the death of the Adopter Haereditas est successio in universum jus defuncti Civil A Testament is of force after men are dead Heb. 9. 17. The Heir whether Natural or Adopted has nothing to do with the Estate till then But our Heavenly Father never dies our Elder brother never dies and yet we enter into possession have a present Copartnership with the Father and the Son Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ 1 John 1. 3. Nay we actually enjoy the whole inheritance with the Father and the Son indeed they are our inheritance the only portion of our Souls Had God left us never so much to be enjoyed by it self apart from God 't would be as nothing to us Heaven would not be Heaven if God were not there therefore we are said to be glorified together Rom. 8. 17. Christ will be always among his Brethren John 17. 24. Their Glory lies in beholding his the Father and the Son will have all things to be in common between them and the Saints and that to all Eternity Here is a Glorious Adoption indeed the world never knew the like What manner of love is this that we we should be called the children of God Tho our Heavenly Father never die nor our Elder Brother never die yet we must die before we can have full possession of the whole inheritance so did the Man Christ and so must we If we suffer with him we shall reign with him 2 Tim. 2. 12. CHAP. III. Fourthly The signs of Adoption 1. A Loving peaceable disposition Blessed are the peace-makers for they shall be called the children of God Mat. 5. 9. Who is the God of peace and hath commanded us with great earnestness if it be possible and as much as lies in us to live peaceably with all men Rom. 12. 18. So far as may be without wrong to the truth and our own Consciences we must so follow Peace as not to quit Holiness Heb. 12. 14. A zealous contending for the Truth is very consistent with the peaceable Temper of a true Christian We may have salt in our selves and yet have peace one with another Mark 9. 50. Adoption is an uniting principle the Saints should live together in Love as the Children of one Father as joined in the same interest Behold how good and how pleasant is it for brethren to dwell together in unity Psal. 133. 1. What Abraham said unto Lot Gen. 13. 8. we should say to each other Let there be no strife I pray thee between me and thee for we be brethren I wish there were more of this sign of Adoption among the Children of God this day We have reason all of us to pray for more of that Wisdom that is from above Which is first pure then peaceable gentle and easy to be intreated James 3. 17. 2. A spiritual and holy Conversation Abraham's children do the works of Abraham Joh. 8. 39. Walk in the steps of his faith Rom. 4. 12. Who is the father of us all V. 16. The Children of God should not debase themselves to the sordid practices of the men of the World they should shine out as lights in the midst of a crooked Generation making streight paths for their feet walking evenly and uprightly as those who are led by the Spirit of God and thereby do approve themselves to be the Children of God Rom. 8. 14 3. A reverential Fear of God in all our ways 1 Pet. 1. 17. Mal. 1. 6. joined with filial Obedience 1 Pet. 1. 14. which they are led to not from a mercenary hope of reward but from an innate Principle of Love to God as their Heavenly Father they cannot but take after that will of God of which they were begotten 4. A restless breathing and panting after God when he hides his face from us in any displeasure A child of God can't bear the least distance between God and his soul Psa. 42. 1 2. There is nothing that a gracious Soul more desires than the presence of God Psal. 84 10. Psal. 65. 4. He is carried out by a Divine instinct after God his joy is full when he is in communion with God and he is presently troubled when his face is hid The more God sheds abroad his Love in our hearts the more are our hearts captivated to him made more willing in the day of his power to serve him The Love of God is a conquering Love a heart-subduing Love it has a mighty constraining power over us drawing the will after it The Law presses duty but gives us no strength to perform it it pricks us forward as with the point of a Sword but does not bear us up in doing it The Law commands Holiness but under the Gospel Holiness commands us the Principles of it being inlaid in our renewed Natures We consent unto the law that it is good we delight in it after the inward man Rom. 7. 16. 22. 'T is written in our hearts we are a Law to our selves and therefore not without Law to God but under the Law to Christ 1 Cor. 9. 21. The Grace of the Gospel suits our wills to the will of God the free Spirit of Christ inclines us to new Obedience God knows how to commend his Love to us how to ingratiate himself with us till he has so taken our hearts that we begin to be sick of love towards him Cant. 5. 9. Full of vehement desires and longings after him David's heart was ready to break under this most holy frame Psalm 119. 20. Till we are Adopted children we are as to our state under the Law To be under the Law is to be without a Spirit of Grace to be a debtor to the Law when we have nothing to pay to be under the curse and servitude of the Law acting out of Fear not Love We can't Love God or Godliness till we Believe God loves us in Christ this molifies and changes the heart we are holy by choice now are a Law to our selves ergo the Doctrine of Free-Grace is no licentious Doctrine as some would make us believe 'T is not wrangling about Faith and Works but living by Faith that gives us an experimental knowledge of the truth and power of the Doctrine of Free-grace which makes us own God as our God We must break the First Commandment before we can break any of the other Nine In a dying hour Bellarmine's Tutissimum est will be good Doctrine When we bring things to an issue between God and our own
under continual influences from Christ. In the next place I shall speak of power and wisdom not as they relate to the Person of Christ but to his Doctrine or to Christ Preached we Preach Christ Crucified The Doctrine of Christ Crucifi'd is a powerful Doctrine able to save those who believe it Rom. 1. 16. 1 Cor. 1. 18. Heb. 4. 12. This Doctrine is called the Wisdom of God in a Mystery 1 Cor. 2. 7. 't is the revelation of a Mystery Rom. 16. 25. There are many Mysteries in this Doctrine The manifold wisdom of God Ephes. 3. 10. This way of saving sinners by Christ Crucified is called The wisdom of God because he doth thereby manifest his deep and unsearchable wisdom they who are spiritually enlightened do count it so they desire to know nothing else 1 Cor. 2. 2. The Gospel contains the Glorious method of a Sinner's Salvation by Christ who is therefore called the Wisdom of God Prov. 8. 12. In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge Col. 2. 3. The Doctrine of the Gospel appears to be a powerful Doctrine because it is so effectually a means for the Conversion of sinners who are so much against Conversion certainly there is Wisdom and Power in it else it could never bring such a strange thing as that to pass Obj. The learned men of the world see not any Wisdom in the Gospel the Greeks seek after Wisdom but cannot find it there and therefore they count it foolishness They seek after Wisdom And why not Must we not speak reason in the Pulpit Answ. We speak wisdom among them that are perfect 1 Cor. 2. 6. i. e. That have a true solid judgment of Spiritual things But if you mean by reason that which falls under our understanding and is comprehensible by us as men I say we speak Mysteries above reason which we propound only to your Faith the Doctrine of the Gospel is worthy of all acceptation 1 Tim. 1. 15. Let not man oppose his wit to the Wisdom of God We speak Wisdom but not the Wisdom of this world but the Wisdom of God in a Mystery hidden Wisdom When our frail reason can do nothing in discerning this wisdom the Spirit comes and demonstrates the Truth to us with power by an invincible internal perswasion 1 Cor. 2. 5. Men may think by their Wit Learning and prompt Parts to run down the Doctrine of the Gospel But let them remember that Christ is the Power and Wisdom of God They who do not rely only upon Christ Crucisied for Justification unto life do despise the Gospel and count it foolishness they are ashamed of the Gospel Rom. 1. 16. Paul was not let us follow his Example and labour to promote it praying daily for the propagation of the Doctrine of the Gospel That the way of God may be known upon earth and his saving health among all nations Psalm 67. 2. Because the foolishness of God is wiser then men c. V. 25. The Power and Wisdom of God by anironical concession are here called weakness and foolishness i. e. admit this according to the opinion of the unconverted Jews and Gentiles Let them say what they will what they call foolishness is wiser then men i. e. then the wisdom of men and what they call weakness is stronger than men i. e. then the strength of men Any thing that belongs to God is to be preferred before that which is but Humane the least things of God do infinitely exceed the greatest of mens When we consider that the Name of God is upon such a thing it should create a reverence in us towards it whatever is in God is God The way that God has made choice of and the means he hath pitched upon must needs be the best for all things are great or little weak or strong as God makes them to be by putting more or less of his fulness into them Obj. They who count the Gospel foolishness are the wise men of the world therefore sure they are in the right Answ. Not many wife are called and when they are called they see the folly of their carnal wisdom by which they judged amiss of Christ before The APPLICATION LET us now consider seriously how we stand affected towards Christ and the Gospel whether we do receive the truth in the love of it viz. Whether we do indeed believe in the Lord Jesus and are persuaded that nothing is required as a Meritorious procuring cause of our Justification in the sight of God but Christ and his Righteousness received and applied by Faith And that all our Evangelical righteousness so much contended for is only to prove the truth and sincerity of our Faith from whence it springs though I think there will not be any formal proving of such matters then Yet if this be all I would not contend about it but leave others to their own methods schemes and expressions heartily wishing all may understand them as clearly and Orthodoxly as they profess to understand themselves Though I must tell you those words will prove the most wholesome and grow most in use among serious Professors which they best understand and which do most easily and plainly convey the Spiritual sense of the Gospel into their minds If any should say our own Evangelical Righteousness hath some causal influence into our Justification though I count it a very Unorthodox expression yet I would in Charity think that the reason why they say so is out of a zeal to promote practical Holiness by the strongest motive imaginable And if they who say Holiness of life is only an effect of Justification making it as indispensably necessary in all who are justified as the former Is not Holiness secured and promoted this way as well as the other way and without any suspicion of derogating from Christ Pray then Why should we contend so much for the former way laying stumbling-blocks before others who cannot get over them when all our ends are better answered the other way Let none say we are Solifidians who hold this We know very well that good works are required in the New Covenant as well as Faith but all that is required in the New Covenant is not required unto Justification Besides Justifying-Faith doth many things by its influence which must not be put into the justifying act of Faith for then we shall confound Justification and Sanctification and make them as the Papists do all one As the Apostle hath stated the point of Justification we are not only to consider how we are justified in God's sight but in the first place to consider how God himself is Just in his Justifying-act Rom. 3. 26. If God be just in that act and can Pardon sin without any impeachment of his Justice then sure there is sufficient ground and reason for it God can do no unjust thing and if God in justifying Believers be just i. e. if there be merit enough in the Blood of Christ to
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-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
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
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.