fault in him in this matter she had no reason to tax him upon this point it was her owne Counsel vers 2. that he should goe in to her maid that I may have Children by her therefore there was no colour of any just complaint on her part yet see this meek spirited woman failed in the point of her meeknesse herein and did expresse no greater failing all her life long that we read of she was weak in Faith once but there was great reason for that her womb was dead and her Lord as she called him was old also Nor doth the Angel so much blame her about it but that action wherein she most failed was in that grace wherein she most abounded And though every grace of the Spirit be of great force when the Lord doth act and move it yet let a man goe forth in the strength of his greatest gifts and if ever his heart faile him it will be in them Thinke not when you have done all you can that you are worthy of any thing but say that you are unprofitable servants For though sanctification be the way wherein the Lord will poure out all his blessings upon his servants yet he doth require them to boast in none of their excellencies but look at them all as freely given them of God and consider that the right unto all springeth from fellowship with Jesus Christ that so not onely the gift it selfe is grace but the blessing that followeth upon the gift is grace also and suppose that we have attained all that we pray for shall we then exalt our owne gifts No but let us say with Jacob I am lesse than the least of all the mercies and truth which thou hast shewed unto thy servant Doe not trust as not upon gifts nor upon duties performed by those gifts to reach the blessing so look not for your Justification from thence at all for the Apostle is plaine that he looked not for any thing for his righteousness before his conversion and after his conversion he counteth it all as drosse and dung that he might win Christ Phil. 3.6,7,8 And for our faith they are not to be trusted upon as grounds of our Faith for all the gifts of our sanctification are fruits of our Faith and therefore our Faith is said to worke by love Gal. 5.6 and so it doth by all other gifts of the Spirit and if they be fruits of Faith then Faith is not built upon them And thus much of the second Use which Christians are to make of their Sanctification 3 There is in the next place a point of Witnesse which this Sanctification doth yield and the Spirit of God with it the water beareth witnesse to the blood and the blood to the water and the Spirit unto both 1 John 5.6,7,8 A mans owne Spirit beareth witnesse also Rom. 8.16 And therefore as a witnesse of God unto our Faith we may lawfully hear what it speaketh But this is the life of a true Evidence that all these gifts of God doe not bear witnesse any further then a man seeth the Lord Jesus working them in him and for him for it is Faith that maketh all the graces of the Gospel active and it is a condition so requisite that unlesse our works be of Faith and flow from it they are not acceptable before God Heb. 11.6 Therefore unlesse Faith carry an end our works they are not works of holinesse such as should bear witnesse to the soule therefore the Apostle doth stir up the Corinthians unto this mainly Examine your selves whether you are in the faith 2 Cor. 13.5 And if he doe exhort them to Examination it is in point of Faith therefore Reverend Forbes of Middleburgh who hath written a Sermon upon that Text saith well That unlesse men find faith in their holinesse none of all their sanctification will become a sound witnesse of the grace of God unto them but if Faith be found then you shall see Jesus Christ accepting you and breathing in you except ye be reprobates There is a marvelous gratious witnesse that Sanctification giveth unto him that liveth by Faith in Jesus Christ if it be in Christ and work from him and for him This onely is that sanctification which the Lord commendeth unto his servants to seek after it 4 A fourth Use of our sanctification is that the Spirit of God helpeth us by it in point of Rejoycing and therefore it is that you shall see the Servants of God rejoycing in their holinesse so doth the Apostle Paul 2 Cor. 1.12 This is our rejoycing the testimony of our conscience c. He rejoyceth at what the Lord doth by him and with him Gal. 6.4 But what is it that maketh the Apostle rejoyce before God When he rejoyceth in his work before the Lord you shall ever find him rejoycing at the Lords acting these gifts in him and blessing him in his work Let us look upon two or three Scriptures for this end 1 Tim. 1.12,13 So that mind you as he â—eeth God giving him these gifts and enabling him unto the work so he blesseth God in that behalfe You shall find him also blessing God that had prospered this worke of the Ministry wheresoever he came 2 Cor. 2.14 The Lord working in him and for him maketh him to triumph and to over-wrastle all the difficulties that he meeteth withall The Lord had given him gifts taught him to exercise those gifts and doth accept him and therefore he expresseth himselfe in a marvelous strong speech Phil. 1.20,21 I am in nothing ashamed c. for to me to live is Christ and to dye is gaine To me to live is Christ as if he had said I have no life but from Christ I put forth no act of life but for Christ this is the sum of all his conversation and if Christ be his life then death will be his advantage and Christ will be magnified in either Thus we see how the Saints of God have made use of their Sanctification they are carefull to see that it flow from Christ and yet when they have it they dare not trust in their best gifts for the least duty neither doe they look for their Faith from their best gifts but they expect their best gifts to flow from their Faith They make use of the testimony of their holinesse when they see Christ in it and Faith in it and the Spirit of God carrying them along in the ways and duties thereof Thus they see their holinesse and take comfort in it from the witnesse of it as that by which the Lord dispenseth comfort unto his people when they receive it from the hands of Christ by Faith in him by which they are taught of God to carry an end their whole conversation in his name 5 Furthermore as we receive it from Christ and trust not in it but in Christ and receive the witnesse of it in Christ and in the Holy Spirit of Christ and as we receive