our Spirits When the Spirit comes as a witness he stands forth distinct from our Spirit that the joynt Testimony of the Spirit of God with ours may be discerned from the single Testimony of our own Spirit which could not be if the Holy Ghost when giving in his Witness laying down his proposition did not stand forth by himself in distinction from the spirit of a man that the truth may be confirmed out of the mouth of two Witnesses at least in the Conscience of a Believer Some of the Heathen of old had their Extasies and Raptures were sensible they were acted by a spirit higher than their own and thought themselves Divinely Inspired when they were under the greatest Infatuation of Satan imaginable But it doth not hence follow that those who are truly inspired by God may not know it Were Christ in us of a truth we should find our selves strong in the power of his Might He that is in us is greater than he that is in the World could we take hold of this great one and go forth in his Name Spirit and Strength we should do great things I can do all things saith Paul through Christ that strengthneth me what do we then in the strength of Christ which we know we could not do of our selves I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me We should labour after some experience of this in our own selves not to rest satisfied till we can experimentally say it of our selves Without this experience we live but at a low rate do no more than others and sometimes not so much neither whereas we should hold forth Christ and walk in his Spirit having our conversation more in Heaven resisting the Devil overcoming the World denying our selves as those who are strengthned by Christ in our inward man so to do While I am putting you upon this search to feel for Christ within you as the Ground of your Hope I shall lay down Two Cautions 1. This Mystical Union between Christ and Believers this Spiritual In-being of Christ in our hearts is a great Mystery We cannot fully comprehend it in this world Some experience we now have of such a thing in our selves but a perfect distinct knowledge of these deep Mysteries is reserved for Heaven Then we shall have a clearer Revelation of the Mystery of the Trinity At that day saith Christ you shall know that I am in my Father and ye in me and I in you John 14. 20. At that day but not before In that day you shall know it perfectly now you know something you see something tho but darkly and we must be content 2. Never take that to be from the Spirit of Christ in you that leads you from the Scripture and would make you wise above what is written Some have run into strong delusions this way fancying every thing they do or say to be by Divine Inspiration What tho some are deceived in thinking they have the Spirit of Christ when they have him not It doth not therefore follow that those who have the Spirit indeed and in truth may not know that they have him One man's Error in this case cannot overthrow another man's Experience He that hath not the Spirit may think he hath him but he that hath the Spirit indeed may know he hath the Spirit Because some men mistake the Truth it doth not follow therefore it cannot be known by any When you seek for Christ in your selves and for further Teachings of his Spirit you should always pray over some Word have your eye upon some Scripture which you beg a right understanding of for no inward Revelation is now to be expected but only of things already revealed in the Word which the Spirit opens to us that is Christ in us doth this But in Heaven we have an Intuitive Knowledge of the things themselves in God who is the First Spring the First Cause the Fountain of all supernatural Truths contained in the Bible In Heaven we shall know the Truth only as it is in Jesus now we know it as it is in our Bibles we know it by the Word as a Sign and Symbol of the Will of God from whence we abstract all our knowledge of Divine things in a discoursive way But Intuitive Knowledge in Heaven is another thing there needs no written Word no other Bible in Heaven but Christ the Essential Word of God who will shew us all in himself all Gospel-Truths do center in him which shews that for us to be with Christ in Glory is more than for Christ to be in us by his Spirit here Secondly Let us lay aside all vain Hopes that confound and make us ashamed Job 6. 20. The Vanity of Hope lies not so much in the Object of Hope as in our Hope it self The Object may be real to wit Life and Eternal Glory They are gay things desirable things and they are real things too But we must see that our Hope be well-grounded If the Grounds be weak such as by no just Consequence of Reason will bear what we infer from them then our Hope is vain we must give a reason of the hope that is in us and such a reason as may answer all Objections against our Hope The Object of Hope is Bonum arduum futurum sed possibile If there be not a possibility of obtaining what we hope for upon the ground we go upon our Hope is vain and will certainly make us ashamed the issue not answering our expectation Job 11. 20. comp with Prov. 10. 28. There are Two Things which men ground their vain Hope of Salvation of Heaven and Glory upon in both which they overlook Christ and pass him by 1. Their own Righteousness so far as they can pretend to any they make the most of it grow proud of it look to be considered by God for it as if he was beholden to them for their good Lives and inoffensive Carriage that they run not into the same excess of Riot with others But alas what a sandy foundation is this to build our Hope of Heaven upon Be not offended at what I am saying but weigh it well in the Balance of the Sanctuary consider it strictly by Gospel-Light I say this We may as soon be saved in our Sins as by our own Righteousness It is as contrary to the Gospel to trust in our own Righteousness as to the Law not to do it Our Sins are not more opposite to the Holiness of the Law than trusting in our own Righteousness is to the Free Grace of the Gospel Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saveth us Tit. 3. 5. It is true a Holy Life becomes a Christian we cannot be Christians without it but it doth not make a Christian Nothing but Faith in Christ doth make a Christian from whence all true Holiness found in Believers doth spring I have sometimes told you That Preaching of Holiness pressing Holiness with little
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
imperfect Obedience pleases God 3. Whether God allows the free use of all indifferent things These are the puzzling points that are apt to disturb our Consciences till we rightly understand the nature of Christian Liberty which does not countenance that excess that too many of the Richer sort run into vying who shall be finest in their Apparel most sumptuous in their Entertainments these things are not forbidden say they 'T is true the things themselves are not forbidden but the immoderate use of them is forbidden Therefore let your moderation be seen in all things and know that your Christian Liberty lies as well in abstaining from indifferent things when inexpedient as in using them Christian Liberty relates to Conscience both thy own and thy Brothers So use your Estates that you may glorifie God and edifie your Brother and we shall not question your Liberty 't is not for nothing that so many woes are pronounced against the Rich Luke 6. 24 25 26. Read that place and also Amos 6. to v. 7. I don't quote these places that you should throw away your Riches and lay aside all Mirth no do but throw out the sin that is in all these and I have nothing to say against the lawful use of the things themselves but see you don't abuse them CHAP. V. The APPLICATION LET us labour to live in the comfortable sense of our Adoption as the only way to walk worthy of it Mal. 1. 6. 'T is a shame to do otherwise Deut. 32. 6. The best way to keep up a sense of our Adoption and of all the high priviledges belonging to it Is 1. To attend to the witness of the Spirit within us Our Adoption is a great mystery the grounds and reasons of it lie very deep quite out of the reach of a mere Humane understanding that cannot discern the deep things of God we shall certainly be at a loss in our own thoughts how to clear up our Adoption if the Spirit do not help us and make it out plainly to our Spirit from the word and when that is done we sit down astonished at the greatness of God's Love when the Spirit has satisfied us that it is so we can give no reason why it should be so but must resolve all into the Love of God in Christ that passes our knowledg Behold what manner of love is this 1 John 3. 1. That we should not only be called but really be the Children of God We must observe what inward evidence and demonstration the Spirit gives of our particular Adoption by name that is properly the work of the Spirit in witnessing to us the Spirit applies in particular the promises of Life and Pardon they are generally propounded by Ministers but there comes a word behind from the Spirit Isa. 30. 21. privily assuring a man of his Adoption You may know 't is not a delusion of your own Spirit nor of Satan Not of your own Spirit because this testimony to the truth of our interest in Christ is usually given in when we have no sensible apprehension or feeling of the Love of God to us as Mat. 27. 46. The Spirit comes in to comfort us when we are most cast down and overwhelmed in our own spirits and so not in a condition to speak comfort to our selves Not from Satan who at such a season seeks to drive you to utter despair but the Spirit strengthens our Faith at such a time sets it against all discouragement 't is not said he that feels but He that believes has everlasting life John 3. 36. And there is a feeling that belongs to Faith that none but the Spirit of God can give us the sense of hence it is that the Saints know more certainly that they are the children of God than the men of the World do that they are the Children of those whom they call their Fathers in the Flesh. The witness of the Spirit is a secret information of the Love of God and his Fatherly affection to us a still voice from Heaven that God is thy God which the heart rests in and is fully satisfied 't is more than if an Angel should come from Heaven and tell thee Thou art greatly beloved as Dan. 9. 23. The earnest of the Spirit in our hearts is more than all this 2 Cor. 1. 22. We may without this testimony of the Spirit know that there is such a thing as Adoption spoken of in Scripture but that we in particular are Adopted none can assure us of this but the Spirit by a particular application of this Grace to our selves The Spirit of God in us speaks particularly to us to our case to our state to our Souls I hope he is so speaking to you now so speaking in you at this time shewing you what interest you have in Christ and what follows upon it reasoning you into a belief of the thing in reference to your selves When the Spirit comes in as a witness 't will be believed the Spirit comes on purpose to answer all our doubts and objections to make the matter plain and evident to us else the Spirit could not be so effectual a Comforter if he did not bring convincing light along with him into our dark Souls You may put by all that we can say to you and remain unsatisfied after all the arguments that Ministers may use to convince you of your Adoption you may hang down your heads every one of you and say notwithstanding all this I fear I am not a Child of God But when the Spirit himself comes into that Soul there is no resisting the wisdom of the Holy Ghost Ministers have not wisdom enough to quiet a troubled Conscience We may set outward light before a dark Soul and yet that Soul be as dark as ever for want of inward light we may speak the truth as it is in Jesus but we cannot give you a discerning of that truth we may hold the object before you but cannot give you eyes to see it but the Spirit does both gives us a capacity to learn and take in what he teaches us I grant an enlightned mind may reason it self into some present sense of his Adoption but seeing so many things contrary to the Divine Nature in himself he doubts again and questions his Adoption and will be ever and anon at a loss wavering in this matter 'till the testimony of the Spirit confirm him which is distinct from all his own spiritual reasonings from all the right inferences that his Faith draws from the word I mean the testimony of the Spirit hath a greater cogency and force with him than all the apprehensions of his Faith can have though Faith and the Spirit both go upon the same grounds and quote the same Scriptures yet the testimony of the Spirit is stronger than the bare apprehensions of our Faith and makes deeper impression upon the mind of Believers than their Faith can which impressions are more easily retained and remembred than all the
we may taste and see how gracious the Lord is We never suck the sweet of a Promise till then Therefore judge of your Faith by your Hope and judge of your Hope by your Faith Whether it be well grounded upon the Word if it be it can never rise too high otherwise Hope is an aspiring Passion and usually flies too high when it is not fixed upon a right Object the Soul is overset by it How are some men intoxicated and drunk with their vain hopes There is no fear of any such excess in true Christian Hope No man was ever questioned by God for having too much Grace we may all complain of too little More Grace is the constant Desire of every holy Soul as there is a Propensity in God to give it To him that hath more shall be given God loves to accumulate his Favours to load us with his Benefits he gives liberally that he may draw out our Hope to follow him for more and more still Let us then abound in Hope holding fast our Confidence firm unto the End What it is to KNOW GOD in CHRIST JOHN VIII 54 55. Of whom ye say That he is your God yet ye have not known him but I know him CHAP. I. EVery one of you in this Assembly may be ready to say That the God of Abraham is your God but what if I prove to the faces of some Professors that they have not yet known the Lord I am from these words to shew who among you do and who among you do not yet savingly know the Lord. This Enquiry will be as Comfortable to some as it may be Terrible to others the Lord make it an Awakening Word to us all There is no dallying in this matter 't is Life Eternal to know God and Eternal Death not to know him Ye say he is your God yet ye have not known him A likely matter indeed That God should be your God and you not know him I am sure you know him not because you know not me I know him but you do not I know him and none else do but such as I reveal him to Since you refuse to learn of me I do pronounce you a company of ignorant formal Professors quite beside the Truth and Power of Religion aliens and strangers from the commonwealth of Israel without God in the world worshipping you know not whom doing your devotions to an unknown God The Knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ are often put together in Scripture because we cannot know one if we do not know both 2 Pet. â— 2. Joh. 14. 6 7 9. No man cometh unto the Father but by me If ye had known me ye should have known my Father also He that hath seen me hath seen the Father And through the knowledge of both there is a multiplication of grace and peace to us 2 Pet. 1. 2. Some seek to know every thing but Christ Paul desires to know nothing but Christ 1 Cor. 2. 2. The Lord grant that may be the unfeigned desire of every Soul here present The Coherence Because the sense of the Text depends very much upon what goes before in this and the 7 th Chapter therefore I shall give you a brief Analysis of both these Chapters down to the very Words of the Text. In these two Chapters there are hot Disputes and Contests between Christ and the Jews about the Divinity of his Person and the Truth of his Doctrine Christ maintains both In the beginning of the 7 th Chapter Christ and his Brethren have a consultation about his going up to Jerusalem to the Feast of Tabernacles which was at hand verse 2. The Point they deliberate upon was this viz. Whether he should go up at the beginning of the Feast his Brethren who did not yet believe in him verse 5. were for it tho upon very slight grounds vers 3 4. Christ is against it refuses to go then verse 8. I go not yet unto this feast but go ye I will go when I see my time my time is not yet full come vers 8. Christ knew the proper seasons and moments for every part of his Work so he sends 'em away but himself abode still in Galilee vers 9. Upon this there were great Enquiries after Christ where he was and why he was not there This occasioned a murmuring among the people concerning him verse 12. About the middle of the Feast Jesus appears among 'em Teaching in the Temple to the admiration of all that heard him vers 14 15. The Points of Doctrine that he there handles with his Answers to all their Cavils and Objections I shall for brevity sake omit you may read 'em in that Chapter from the 16 th to the 37 th verse so ends his Sermon at the midst of the Feast Verse 37. He begins another Sermon at the end of the Feast for the Feast lasted Eight days and in the last day that great day of the Feast wherein there used to be the greatest Assemblies Lev. 23. 36 On the eighth day shall be a holy Convocation a solemn Assembly And upon this day that the people might have something to meditate on by the way and to carry home with 'em Christ prâ—aches an excellent Sermon about Spiritual Water vers 37 38 c. which had different effects upon his â—earers some believed and some believed not as it was then so it is now The Feast being over Christ continues Preaching in the same place you have him early in the morning teaching the people in the Temple Chap 8. 2. But the Scribes and Pbarisees purposely to interrupt his Preaching put an ensnaring question to him about a woman taken in the very Act of Adultery what his Judgment was concerning her Whether she should be put Death according to Law in that case Levit. 20. 10. How he managed himself in acquitting the Woman to the Shame and Conviction of all his Opposers I refer to your own reading from the 1 st verse of this 8 th Chapter to the 12 th verse Having dispatched that business he falls to Preaching again of many weighty and very useful Points suited to the present condition of his Auditors First He preaches himself to be the true light of the world vers 12. which occasioned a long Dispute between him and the Pharisees about the validity of that Testimony which he gave of himself Christ vindicates both himself and his Doctrine and proves both to be from Heaven 'T is observable how in the close of one Point Christ gives occasion for another which he knew their Objections would lead him into vers 32 33. about Spiritual Freedom declaring what that is and that the Jews had not yet attained to it because they were the servants of sin vers 34. in bondage to their own Corruptions and Lusts this he urges close upon 'em notwithstanding their vain-glorious boasting of their descent from Abraham Now because my Text comes in upon this Discourse I shall give you some account
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