vanish and perish from under the sunne and the good Lord reduce all such who in simplicity are mis-led from this blessed truth of God I will not now enter into that depth concerning the means of our sanctification in mortification by Christs death and vivification by the resurrection of Christ this may suffice for explication of the nature of it Onely see and for ever prize this priviledge all you blessed soules whom the Lord hath justified thou hast many sad complaints what is it to me if I be justified in Christ and be saved at last by Christ and my heart remaine all this while unholy and unsubdued unto the will of Christ that hee should comfort me and my holy heart be alway grieving of him what though the Lord save me from misery but saves me not from my sinne oh consider this benefit It is true thou findest a wofull sinfull nature within thee crosse and contrary unto holinesse and leading thee daily in captivity yet remember the Lord hath given thee another nature a new nature there is something else within thee which makes thee wrastle against sinne and shall in time prevaile over all sinne Mat. 12.20 this is the Lords grace sanctifying of thee Oh be thankfull that the Lord hath not left thee wholly corrupt but hath begun to glorifie himselfe in thee and to blesse thee in turning thee from thine iniquities 1. By this thou hast a most sweet and comfortable evidence of thy justification favour with God he that denyes this must what ever distinctions he hath abolish many places of Scripture especially the epistles of Iames and Iohn who had to doe with some spirits that pretended faith and union to Christ and communion with him and so long as it was thus this was evidence sufficient to them of their justified estates What faith Iames Thou sayst thou hast faith shew it me then prove it for my part saith he I le prove by the blessed fruits and works which flow from it as Abraham manifested his Iam. 2.18 22. What saith Iohn You talk saith he of fellowship and communion with Christ and yet what holinesse is there in your hearts or lives If you say you have fellowship with him and walk in darknesse we lye and doe not the truth but if you walk in the light then although your holinesse and confession and daily repentance for sinne doth not wash away sinne yet the blood of Christ doth wash us 1 Iohn 1.6 7. Againe you say you know Christ and the love and good will of Christ toward you and that he is the propitiation for your sinnes how doe you know this saith he He that saith I know him and keeps not his commandements is a lyar 1 Iohn 2.4 True might some reply he that keeps not the commands of Christ hath hereby a sure evidence that he knowes him not and that he is not united unto him but is this any evidence that we doe know him and that we are united to him if we doe keep his commandements yes verily saith the Apostle hereby we doe know that we know him if we keep his commandements verse 3. and againe verse 5. Hereby know we that we are in him What can be more plain What a vanity is this to say that this is running upon a covenant of workes Is not sanctification the writing of the Law in our hearts a speciall benefit of the covenant of grace as well as justification Heb. 8.10.12 and can the evidencing then of one benefit of such a covenant by another be a running upon the covenant of workes is it a truth contained in the couenant of grace viz. that he that is justified is also sanctified and he that is sanctified is also justified And is an errour against grace to see this truth that he that is sanctified is certainly justified and that therefore he that knowes himselfe sanctified may also know thereby that he is justified Tell me how will you know that you are justified You will say by the testimony of the spirit and cannot the same spirit shine upon your graces and witnesse that you are sanctified as well 1 Ioh 4.13 24. 1 Cor. 2.12 Can the Spirit make the one cleare to you and not the other Oh beloved its a sad thing to heare such questions and such cold answers also that sanctification possibly may be an evidence may be is it not certaine Assuredly to deny it is as bad as to affirme that Gods owne promises of favour are true evidences thereof and consequently that they are lyes and untruths for search the Scripture and consider sadly how many Evangelicall promises are made unto severall graces i. e. unto such persons as are invested with them you may only take a taste from Mat. 5.3 4 c. where our Saviour who was no legall Preacher pronounceth and consequently evidenceth blessednesse by eight or nine promises expresly made to such persons as had inherent graces of poverty mourning meeknesse c. there mentioned the Lord Jesus leaving those precious Legacies of his promises unto his children that are called by those names of Mourners poore in spirit pure in heart c. that so every one may take and bee assured of his portion manifested particularly therein That I many times wonder how it comes to passe that this so plaine and ancient principle of Catechisme for so it was among the Waldenses many 100 yeeres since grounded on so many pregnant Scriptures should come to be so much as questioned in our dayes sometimes I thinke it ariseth from some wretched lusts men have a minde to live quietly in desirous to keepe their peace and yet unwilling to forsake their lusts and hence they exclude this witnesse of water the witnesse of sanctification to testifie in the Court of conscience whether they are beloved of God and sincere hearted or no because this is a full witnesse against them and tells them to their faces that there is no peace to the wicked Isa. 57. ult Deut. 29.19 20. and that they have nothing to doe to take Gods name into their lips that secretly hate to bee reformed Psal. 50.16 In others I think it doth not arise from want of grace but because the Spirit of grace and sanctification runs very low in them t is so little that they can scarce see it by the help of spectacles or if they doe they doubt continually of the truth of it and hence because it can speake little and that little very darkly and obscurely for them they have no great mind that it should bee brought in as any witnesse for them Others I thinke may have much grace and holinesse yet for a time cast it by as an evidence unto them because they have experience how difficult and troublesome it is to finde this evidence and when t is found how troublesome to read it and keep it fair and thereby have constant peace and quietnesse and hence arise those speeches why doe you looke to your sanctification
a subject like a white paper fitted immediately to take the impression of Gods image but since by his fall Sinne is falne like a mighty blot upon the soule whereby a man not onely wants grace as the darke ayre doth light but also resists grace Iohn 14.17 Hence this resistance must be first taken away before the Lord introduce his image againe To say that a man can of himselfe dispose himselfe unto grace was Pelagianisme in Aquinas his time yet some disposition is necessary saith Ferrius not unto actuall grace or that which is wrought upon a man per modum actus as he saith but unto the reception of habituall or sanctifying grace it being in the soule per modum formae no forme being introduced but into materiam dispositam i. matter fitted or prepared or into such a vessell which is immediately capable of it There is in man a double resistance against grace 1. Of a holy frame of grace by originall corruption which is opposite to originall and renewed holinesse or to this holy frame 2. Of the God of grace himselfe when he comes to work it Iob 21.14 Ezek. 24.13 The first is taken away in that which we call the spirit of sanctification after faith the second is taken away not onely in the act of it as by terrours it may be in reprobates Psal. 66.2 but in some measure in the inward â—oot and disposition of it onely in the elect there being as hath been said no more separation from sinne at this time required then so much as may make the soule come to the Lord to take it away or at least not unwilling nor resisting the Lord when he comes to doe it himselfe Whether doth not the work of union unto Christ goe before our communion with Christ I suppose t is undenyable that union must be before communion and that union to Christ is a work of grace as peculiar to the elect as communion with him Now justification and sanctification are two parts of our communion with him and follow our union Rom. 8.1 Our union therefore must be before these of which there are two parts or rather two things on our part necessarily required to it 1. Cutting off from the wild olive tree the old Adam 2. Implanting into the good olive tree the second Adam The first must goe before the second for where there is perfect resistance there can be no perfect union But take a man growing upon his old root of nature there is nothing but perfect resistance Rom. 8.7 and therefore that resistance must first be taken away before the Lord draw the soule to Christ and by faith implant it into Christ. In a word I see not how a man can wholly resist God and Christ and yet be united unto him at the same instant and therefore the one in order of nature at least goes before the other and therefore let any man living prove his union to Christ and to his lust also if he can You will beleeve in Christ many of you and yet you will have your whores and cups and lusts and pride and world too and oppose all the meanes that would have you from these also I tell you you shall find one day how miserably deceived you have been herein You cannot serve God and Mammon How can ye beleeve saith Christ Iohn 5.44 that seek honour one of another If you can have Christ and be ambitious too take him but how can you beleeve till the Lord hath broken you off from thence Whether vocation as peculiar to the elect as sanctification doth not goe before justification and glorification Rom. 8.30 Whether also there are not two things in effectuall vocation 1. Is not Christ that good the tearme to which the soule is firstly called 2. Is not sin and world that evill the tâ— arme from which the soule is called I suppose t is evident that the soule is effectually called and therefore actually and firstly turned from darknesse to light from the power of Satan unto God First from darknesse then unto light first from the power of Satan then unto God as is evident by the Apostles owne words Act. 26.18 where he methodically sets down the wonderfull works of Christs grace by his ministery the first is to turne them from darknes to light and from Satans power unto God which are the two parts of vocation that they may receive forgivenesse of sinnes in justification vocation being a meanes to this end that they may receive an inheritance in glorification among such as being justified are sanctified also by faith in his name The Apostle doth not say that he was to returne men to light and unto God and so turn them from darknes from the power 〈◊〉 Satan though this is true in some sense but he was first to turne from darknesse and Satan and so to returne them unto light and God in Christ. For how is it possible to be turned unto Christ and yet then also to be turned to sinne and Satan Doth it not imply a contradiction to be turned toward sinne which is ever from Christ and yet to be turned toward Christ together All Divines affirme generally that in the working of â—aith the Lord makes the soule willing to have Christ Psal. 110.2 3. but withall they affirme that of unwilling he makes willing and therefore it followes that the Lord must first remove that unwillingnesse before it can be willing it being impossible to be both willing and unwilling together Whether the cause of all that counterfeit coyne and hypocrisie in this professing age doth not arise from this root viz. not having this wound at first but onely some trouble for sinne without separation from it sore throwes without deliverance from sinne is not this the death of most if not all wicked men living how many are there that claspe about Christ and yet prove enemies to the crosse of Christ fall from Christ scandalously or secretly afterward what is the reason of it Certainly if the Lord had cut them off from their sin they had never falne to everlasting bondage in sinne againe but there the Spirit of God forsook them the Lord not owing so much love to them Consider seriously why the stony and thorny-ground-hearers Mat. 13. came to nothing in their growth of seeming faith and sanctification was the fault in the seed No verily but onely in the ground the one was broken but not deep enough the other was broken deep but not through enough the roots of thorns choked them the lusts and cares of the world were not destroyed first therefore they destroyed that ground I conclude therefore with that of Ieremy Break up your fallow grounds seek to the Lord to break them for you and sow not among thornes take heed of such brokennesse which removes not the thornes of sinfull secret stubbornnesse lest the wrath of the Lord break out against you and burne that none can quench it Doe not cut
think the Lord pardons your sinnes because you have been lesse sinners then others or if you think the Lord will not pardon your sinnes because you are greater sinners then any else you sin exceedingly against the riches of Gods grace in this point What is the meane by which the Father doth thus justifie T is for the satisfaction or by the price of the redemption of Christ Rom. 3.25 Rom. 5.10 Eph. 1.7 for Mercy would but Justice could not forgive without satisfaction for the wrong done Hence Christ satisfies that Grace and mercy might have their full scope of forgiving So that neither works before conversion which are but glistering sins Rom. 1.18 nor works of grace in us after conversion can be causes of our Justification for Abraham when he was justified and sanctified yet had not whereof to boast but beleeved in him that justified the ungodly Rom. 4.5 And the Apostle Paul saith expresly We that believe have beleeved that we might be justified Gal. 2.16 t is therefore the price of Christs redemption which doth procure our justification But understand this aright for this price is not applyed to each particular man as the common price redeeming all for then every Beleever should be accounted a saviour and redeemer of all but as the price of those soules in particular to whom it is specially intended and particularly applyed Christs righteousnesse is sufficient to justifie all to whom it is imputed but it is no further imputed then to the attaining the end of imputation viz. to justifie and save me in particular not to make me a head of the Church or a common Saviour it argues a man weakly principled that denies the necessity of Christs satisfaction to our Justification because forsooth every Beleever should then be a Redeemer By Satisfaction I understand the whole obedience of Christ unto the very death which is both active and passive by which we are justified Heb. 10.10 Phil. 2.8 that righteousnesse of Christ wrought in his satisfaction is imputed which satisfies the Law and divine Justice Gal. 4.1 2 3 4. which is both active and passive the very reason why the Law requires perfect obedience of us which we cannot possibly bring before God is that wee might seek for it in Christ that fulfilled all righteousnesse and therefore he is called the end of the Law for righteousnesse Rom. 10.3 4. And it is strange that any should deny Justification by Christs active obedience upon this ground viz. because that by the works of the Law which satisfy the Law shall no sinner be justified and yet withall say that we are justified by that which satisfies the Law This righteousnesse of Christ is not that of the God-head for then what need was there for Christ to doe or suffer but that which was wrought in the Man-hood And hence it is finite in it selfe though infinite in value in that it was the righteousnesse of such a person This righteousnesse of God-man may be considered two wayes First absolutely in it selfe Secondly respectively as done for us 1. Christs absolute righteousnesse is not imputed to us viz. as he is Mediatour Head of the Church having the Spirit without measure which is next to infinite c. for though these things are applyed for our good yet they are not imputed as our righteousnesse and therefore the objection vanisheth which saith we cannot be justified by Christs righteousnesse because it is of such infinite perfection 2. The respective or dispensative righteousnesse which some call justitia fidejussoria is that whereby Christ is just for us in fulfilling the Law in bearing Gods Image we once had and have now lost by sin and thus we are truly said to be as righteous as Christ by imputation because hee kept the Law for us and here observe that the question is not whether all that Christ did and had is imputed to us as our righteousnesse but whether all that he did pro nobis for us as a surety in fulfilling the Law be not for substance our righteousnesse and therefore to think that we are not justifyed by Christs righteousnesse because then we are justifyed by his working of miracles preaching of Sermons which women are not regularly capable of is but to cast blocks before the blind so that though Christ doth not bestow his personall wisdome and justice upon another yet what hinders but that that which Christ doth by his wisdome and righteousnesse for another the same should stand good for him for whom it is done for thus it is in sundry cases among men Christs essentiall righteousnesse infinite wisdome fulnesse of spirit without measure c. is not imputed to us yet these have conspired together to doe that for us and suffer that for us by which we come to bee accounted righteous before God hee shall be called the Lord our righteousnesse Ier. 23.6 This righteousnesse therefore imputed to us justifies us Rom. 5.18 we are said to be made the righteousnesse of God in him not the righteousnesse of God whereby he is just but whereby we are just opposed to the righteousnesse of man which is called our owne righteousnesse Rom. 10.3 Rom. 1.17 Not righteousnesse from him as the Papists dreame but righteousnesse in him nor remission by Christ only but righteousnesse in Christ this imputed justifies as sin imputed condemnes Who are the persons the Lord doth justifie They are beleevers we are justifyed by faith Rom. 5. or for Christs righteousnesse apprehended by faith Phil. 3.9 it is by faith not as a work of grace but as by an instrument appointed of God for this end Christ did not dye that our sins should be actually and immediately pardoned but mediately by Faith Iohn 3.16 Iohn 17.20 and the Lord in wisdome hath appointed this as the only means of applying righteousnes because this above all other graces cast down all the righteousnesse of man in point of justification and so all cause of boasting and advanceth grace and mercy only Rom. 3.27 Rom. 4.16 Rom. 4.5 Rom. 9.30 31 32. the faithfull account themselves ungodly in the businesse of justification and thence it is said that Abraham though a godly man in himselfe yet beleeved in him that justifies the ungodly he only is righteous whom God pronounceth and saith is righteous Now Faith above all other graces beleeves the word and a Beleever saith I beleeve I am righteous before God not because I feele it so in my selfe but because God saith I am so in his Son so that you are not justified before you beleeve nor then only when you have performed many holy duties but at the first instant of your closing with Christ you are then to see it and by Faith to admire Gods rich grace for it What is the extent of this sentencâ— The description saith that Christs satisfaction thus applyed the Father doth two things 1. He absolves them from all guilt and condemnation of sin so that in this sense
man-slavers of the 6. for whoremongers and defilers of mankinde of the 7. for men-stealers of the 8. for Lyars of the 9. and for those that in any thing walke contrary to sound doctrine the purity of the Law and will of God of the 10. So that this place is farre from favouring any of those that run in this channell of abolishing the Law as our rule No beloved the love of Christ will constrain you to embrace it as a most precious treasure It is the observation of some that in the Preface to the Morall Law Exod. 20.1 2. the Lord reveales himselfe to bee the Lord their God that brought them out of the Land of Egypt the very scope of which words is to perswade to a reverend receiving keeping of that good Law this Law all nations are bound to observe because he is Iehovah the Lord but to be thy God in speciall Covenant and that redeemed thee from Egypt and from that which was typified by it this belongs to none but unto them especially that are already the people of God and therefore of all other people in the world they are bound to receive it as their rule for obedience doth not make us Gods people or God our God but hee is first our God which is only by the Covenant of grace and thence it is that being ours and we his we of all others are most bound to obey To conclude they that stick in these bryers therefore cry downe the law as a Christians rule because by this means a Christian shall find no peace because he is continually sinning against this Law the Law therefore say they will be alway troubling of him I answer first a corrupt heart and putrid conscience can have no peace by the Law Isa. 57.21 there is no peace to the wicked and it is good it should be so 2. A watchfull Christian may Psal. 119.15 Great peace have they that keepe thy Law Hezekiah had it when he desired the Lord to remember how he had walked before him with a perfect heart Isa. 58.1 2 3. Paul found it the testimony of his conscience bearing him witnesse was his rejoycing herein 2 Cor. 1.12 3. If a Christian ignorant of maintaining his peace with God by faith in his justification notwithstanding all the errors in his obedience and sanctification if I say hee wants his peace shall wee therefore break the Law in pieces if a secure Christian that walkes loosely want peace by the accusations of the Law t is Gods mercy to him to give him no peace in himselfe while he is at truce with his lust 4. That peace will end in dismall sorrow which is got by kicking against the Law it is but dawbing for a man to keep his peace by shutting his eyes against the way of peace a servant may have peace in his idlenesse by thinking that his Master requires no work from him and by hiding his talent yet what will his Lord say to him when his day is ended and he comes to reckon with him at Sun-set bring the Law into thy conscience in point of justification it will trouble conscience for there only Christs righteousnesse Gods grace and the promise are to be looked on and our own obedience holines laid by in the dust but bring it before thee as a rule of thy sanctification and as thy copy to write after and to imitate and aspire after that perfection it requires it will then trouble thee no more then it doth a child who having a faire copy set him to write after and knowing that he is a sonne is not therefore troubled because he cannot write as faire as his copy hee knows if he imitates it his scribling shall be accepted howsoever though his Father may chastise him with rods if he be carelesse to imitate yet he will never cast him therefore off from being his sonne The truth is this it argues a most gracelesse carnall wretched heart for a man to cast by Gods rules because attendance to them is his trouble and torment which unto a gracious heart are life and peace and sweetnesse All the wayes of wisdome to him are wayes of pleasantnesse and her paths peace And it is Gods common curse upon them that love not the truth in these dayes that because sin is not their sorrow nor breach of rules their trouble that therefore the observance of the Law and attendance unto rules shall bee their burden and trouble they feele not the plague in their owne hearts and therefore reproofes plague them and commands are a plague and a torment to them crooked feet and crooked wills make men tread awry in such corrupt opinions All the called ones of God are therefore to live this life of obedience and that out of love which I call the life of love Gal. 5.6 for else circumcision availes nothing nor uncircumcision no nor faith it selfe unlesse it be of this nature as that it works by love there is much obedience and externall conformity to the Law in many men but the principall difference between these formalities and the obedience of the Saints is love the obedience of the one ariseth from selfe-love because it pleaseth themselves and suits with their owne ends the other from the love of Christ because it pleaseth him and suits with his ends 1 Cor. 13.4 c. 1 Iohn 5.3 Wherein doth and should this life of love appear In these five particulars In thinking and musing much on Christ and upon his love and on what you shall doe for him he that saith he loves another and yet seldome thinks on him or will seldome give him a good look when he meets him certainly deceives himselfe the least degree of love appeares in thinking on what we love because the loving kindnesse of God was better then life unto David hence hee did remember him upon his bed and meditate on him in the very night Psal. 63.3.6 they that feare the Lord i. with a sonne-like feare where love is chiefly predominant are such as think upon his name Mal. 3.16 We have thought of thy loving kindesse oh Lord in thy Temple Psal. 48.9 Thou that canst spend dayes nights weeks months yeares and hast thy head all this time swarming with vain thoughts and scarce one living thought of Christ and his love that didst never beat thy head nor trouble thy selfe in musing oh what shall I doe for him nor in condemning thy selfe because thou dost so little verily thou hast not the least degree of this life of love In speaking and commending of him is it possible that any man should love another and not commend him not speak of him if thou hast but a Hawk or a Hoâ—â—d that thou lovest thou wilt commend it and can it stand with love to Christ yet seldome or never to speak of him nor of his love never to commend him unto others that they may fall in love with him also you shall see the Spouse Cant
off Iohn Baptists head you that can be content to heare him gladly and doe many things but he must not touch your Herodias and make a divorce there but suffer him to come in the spirit and power of Eliah nay of Christ Iesus to beat downe your mountaines fill up your vallies make your crooked rough waies smooth that you may see the glory of the Lord Jesus without which he shall be ever hid from you Cry you faithfull servants of the Lord that All flesh is grasse and all the glory of man of sin of world is a withering flower that the Lord Jesus may be revealed ever fresh and sweet and precious in the eyes of the Saints The evidence of this truth in the generall put blessed and learned Pemble upon another way for when he perceived as himselfe confesseth that it is the generall doctrine of all Orthodox Divines viz. that actuall faith is never wrought in the soule till beside the supernaturall illumination of the mind the will be also first freed in part from its naturall perversenesse God making all men of unwilling willing hereupon he concludes that this is done by the spirit of Sanctification and one supernaturall quality of holines universally infused in all the powers of the soul at once so that the Spirit instantly first sanctifies us puts life in us then it acts in sorrow for and detestation of sin and so we come actually to beleeve And because he fore-saw the blow viz. that in this way Christians are sanctified before they be justified he answers Yes we are justified declaratively after this Others who follow him answer more roundly viz. that we are sanctified before we are really and actually justified herein differ from him Now when it is objected against this viz. that our vocation is that which goes before our justification sanctification being part of glorification following after Rom. 8.30 Hereupon some others treading in his steps affirme that vocation is the same with sanctification and not comprehended under glorification Others perceiving the evill of this errour viz. to place sanctification before justification good fruits before a good tree they doe therefore deny any saving worke whether of vocation or sanctification before justification And hence on the other extream they doe place a Christians justification before his faith in vocation or holinesse in his sanctification so that by this last opinion a Christian is not justified by faith which was Pauls phrase but rather as he said wittily and wisely faithed by his justification Before I come to cleare the truth in these spirituall mysteries let this onely be remembred viz. That Sanctification which Pemble calls out spirituall life may be taken two wayes 1. Largely 2. Strictly 1. Largely for any awakenings of conscience or acts of the Spirit of life and so t is true we are quickned by these acts and so in a large sense sanctified first 2. Strictly for those habits of the life of holinesse which are opposite to the body of death in us and that we are not first sanctified before we are justified in this sense we shall manifest by and by Onely let me begin to shew the errour of the last opinion first viz. 1. That a Christian is not first justified before faith or vocation may appeare thus 1. It is professedly crosse to the whole current of Scripture which saith We are justified by faith and therefore not before faith and to say that the meaning of such phrases is that we are justifyed declaratively by faith or to our sense and feeling in foro conscientiae is a meere device for our justification is opposed to the state of unrighteousnesse condemnation going before which condemnation is not onely declarative and in the court of Conscience but reall and in the court of Heaven For so saith the Scripture expresly Iohn 3.18 He that beleeveth not is condemned already and verse 36. The wrath of God abideth on him and Gal. 3.22 The Scripture which is the sentence in Gods Court hath concluded all under sinne Hence a second Argument ariseth 2. If a man be justified before faith then an actuall unbeleever is subject to no condemnation but this is expresly crosse to the letter of the Text He that beleeves not is condemned already Iohn 3.18 and the wrath of God doth lye upon him The subjects of non-condemnation are those that be in Christ by faith Rom. 8.1 not out of Christ by unbelief Rom. 11.20 There is indeed a merited justification by Christs death and a virtuall or exemplary justification in Christs resurrection as in our Head and Surety and both these were before not onely our faith but our very being but to say that we are therefore actually justified before faith because our justification was merited before we had faith gives as just a ground of affirming that wee are actually sanctified whiles we are in the state of nature unsanctified Eph. 2.1 because our sanctification was merited by Christ before we had any being in him We must indeed be first made good trees by faith in Christs righteousnesse before we can bring forth any good fruits of holinesse God makes us not good trees without being in Christ by faith no more then we are bad trees in contracting Adams guilt without our being first in him God gives us first his Sonne offered in the Gospel and received by faith and then gives us all other things with him he doth not justifie us without giving us his Son but having first given him gives us this also 2. That sanctification doth not goe before justification may appeare thus 1. If guilt of Adams sinne goe before originall pollution Rom. 5.12 then imputation of Christs righteousnesse before renewed sanctification 2. To place sanctification before justification is quite crosse to the Apostles practise which is our patterne who first sought to be found in Christ Phil. 3.9 in the work of union not having his owne righteousnesse in the work of justification which in order followes that that he may then know him in the power of his death and resurrection in sanctification here comes in sanctification if by any meanes he might attain to the resurrection of the dead in glorification the last of all 3. This is quite crosse to the Apostles doctrine which makes justification the cause of sanctification and therefore must needs goe before it Rom. 5. as sin goes before spirituall and eternall death so righteousnesse goes before spirituall life in sanctification and eternall life in glory the Lord holds forth Christ in the Gospel first as our propitiation Rom. 3.24 and then it comes dying to sinne and living to God in sanctification chap. 6.1 Holinesse is the end of our actuall reconciliation Col. 1.21 22. 4. If sanctification goe before justification by faith then a Christians communion with Christ goes before his union to him by faith but our union is the foundation of communion and it is impossible there should be communion without some precedent
eternall righteousnesse that never can be lost if the Lord should make thee as perfectly righteous as once Adam was or Angells in heaven are and put on thy royall apparell againe thou wast in danger of losing this and of being stript naked againe but now the Lord hath put your righteousnesse into a safer hand which never shall be lost Heb. 9.12 Dan. 9.24 By this you please God and are more amiable before him then if you had it in your selfe doe not say this is a poore righteousnesse which is thus out of my selfe in another why doe you think righteousnesse in your selfe would be best is it not because hereby you think you shall please God Suppose thou hadst it yet thy righteousnesse should be at the best but mans righteousnes but this is called the righteousnesse of God which cannot but be more pleasing to him then that in thy selfe 2 Cor. 5.20 what is Angelicall righteousnesse to the righteous-of God t is but a glow-worm before the Sunne the smell of Esaus garments the robes of this righteousnesse of the Sonne of God are of sweeter odour then thine can be or ever shall be Eph. 5.1 2. tis said By faith Abel Enoch c. pleased God their persons were sinfull their owne duties were weak yet by faith in this they pleased God thou thinkest when thou goest to Prayer if I had no sinne but perfect holinesse in me surely God would heare me I tell you when you bring this offering of Christs righteousnesse the Lord had rather have that then all you can doe you bring that which pleaseth him more then if you brought your owne For aske thy owne conscience if it be possible for the righteousnesse which is done by thy self to be more pleasing to God then the righteousnesse of the Sonne of God the Lord of Glory himselfe done and perfected for thee 7. By this you glorifie God exceedingly as Abraham beleeved Rom. 4. and gave glory unto God In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory Esay 45.25 For 1. By this you glorifie him perfectly in an instant for you continue to doe all that the Law requires that instant you beleeve The Apostle propounds the Question Rom. 3.21 whether a Christian by faith doth make void the Law No saith the Apostle but we establish the Law How is that Paraeus shews three wayes One is this because that perfect righteousnesse which the Law requires of us we performe it in Christ by faith So that in one instant thou continuest to doe all that the Law requires and hence ariseth the impossibility of a true Beleevers apostacie as from one principall cause They that deny satisfaction by Christs doing of the Law because by our own works and doings we cannot be justified before God may as well deny satisfaction by Christs sufferings because by our owne sufferings we cannot be justified our obedience to the Law in way of suffering is as truly the works of the Law as our obedience in way of doing 2. By this you glorifie Gods justice what ever Justice requires to be done or suffered you give it unto God by faith in Christ. 3. By this you glorifie grace and mercy Ephes. 1.7 for by this meanes mercy may over-abound toward you and you may triumph in it as sure and certaine to you What a blessed mysterie is this Doth it not grieve you that you cannot glorifie God in your times and places Behold the way if thou canst not doe it by obedience thou maist by faith and thereby make restitution of all Gods glory lost and stolne from him by thy disobedience to him By this you have peace in your consciences by this Christs blood is sprinkled upon them and that cooles the burning torments of them Rom. 5.1 The commers unto the Leviticall sacrifices and washings types of this offering of Christ could not thereby be perfected and bee without the guilty conscience of sinne none of your duties can pacifie conscience but as they carry you hither to this righteousnesse but the commers to this have no more terrours of conscience for sinne I meane they have no just cause to have any this Rain-bow appearing over your heads is a certaine signe of fair weather and that there shall be no more deluge of wrath to overwhelme thee By this all miseries are removed when thy sinnes are pardoned there is something like death and shame and sicknesse but they are not it 's said Isay 33. ult There shall be none sicke among them why so because they shall be forgiven their iniquities T is no sicknessse in a manner no sorrow no affliction if the venome sting and curse be taken away by pardon of sinne thy sicknesse sorrow losses death it selfe is better now then health joy abundance life you may here see death hell grave swallowed up in victory and now tread upon the necks of them 1 Cor. 15. You may see life in death heaven in the deepest hell glory in shame when thou seest all thy sinnes done away in the blood of Christ Jesus This is the blessednesse of all you poore beleevers and commers to the Lord Jesus what should you doe but beleeve it and rejoyce in it If the wicked that apply this righteousnesse presumptuously say Let us sinne that grace may abound and make no other use of forgivenesse but to run in debt and sinne with a license Why should not you say on the other side Let me beleeve and owne my portion in this righteousnesse that as my sinnes have abounded so my love may abound as my sinnes have been exceeding great so the Lord may be exceeding sweet as my sinnes continue and increase so my thankfulnesse glory in God triumph over death grave sinne through Christ may also increase as you see righteousnesse in Christ for ever yours so you may from thence expect from him such a righteousnesse as may make you righteous also as hee is righteous Tremble thou hard-hearted impenitent wretch that didst never yet come to Christ nor feele thy need of him or prize his blood this is none of thy portion all thy sinnes are yet upon thee and shall one day meet thee in the day of the Lords fierce wrath when he shall appeare as an everlasting burning before thine eyes and thou stand guilty before him as chaffe and stubble SECT 2. Secondly Reconciliation This is the second benefit which in order of nature followes our Justification although sometime in a large sense it is taken for the whole work of Justification strictly taken it followes it Rom. 5.1 Being justified by faith we have peace with God i. e. not onely peace from God in our consciences but peace with God in our reconcilement to him and his favour toward us Being justified we shall be saved from wrath i. e. not onely the outward fruits of wrath but wrath from whence those come Christ is first King of Righteousnesse then King of Peace Heb. 7.2 for is not finne the cause of
our heavenly Father in Sanctification because we are under grace Hence it comes to passe that we are freed from the raigning power of sin Rom. 6.14 so that our Sanctification followes our Justification and Adoption goes not before it In justification we have the love and righteousnesse of the Son in reconciliation the love of the Father in Adoption the love of a Father and presence of the Spirit assisting witnessing in Sanctification the image of our Father by the same spirit and this I conceive with submission is the seale of the Spirit mentioned Eph. 1.13 the seale sealing is the Spirit it selfe the seale sealed consists first in the expression of it in Adoption Secondly in the impression of it in Sanctification and that hee only shall passe as currant coyne that hath both these I know the most full and cleare expression and testimony of the Spirit is after all Gods work is finished in glorification but the beginning of it is here in Adoption a fuller measure of it in Sanctification Gods seale is ever set to some promise as mens seales to some bond not to blanks the Lords promise of actuall justification and reconciliation pertaines onely to men sanctified or called in Adoption therefore we receive the Spirit which lookes both wayes testifying either thou sanctified art justified or thou called art justified and reconciled I speak not now of externall sanctification by outward shew and profession and common illumination and operation of the Spirit upon men from which many fall away Heb. 10.29 but of internall and speciall the nature of which you may best conceive in these three degrees 1. It is the renewing of a man So that by it a man is morally made a new man another man All things are become new he hath new thoughts new opinions of things new desires new prayers and praises new dispositions regeneration not differing from it 2. It is a renewing of the whole man 1 Thess. 5.23 for as every part and faculty of man is corrupt by the first Adam so they are renewed by the second Adam not that we are perfectly renewed in this life by Christ as we are corrupt by Adam but in part in every faculty Rom. 6.19 and from hence ariseth our spirituall combat and warfare with sin yea with all sin it is not because of our sanctification simply for if it were perfect we should warre and wrastle no more but from the imperfection of it And this renewall in part is in every part even in the whole man and as the first Adam propagates sin chiefly and radically in the soule especially into the heart of man and from thence it diffuseth it self like leven into the whole lump of our lives so the Lord Jesus chiefly communicates this renewall into our hearts and thence it sweetens our lives and hence it is called the inner man Rom. 7.22 Eph. 3.16 You see a little holinesse in a Christian I tell you if he be of the right make there is a kind of infinite endlesse holinesse within him from whence it springs as there is a kind of infinite endlesse wickednesse in a wicked man from whence his sins spring if a man bee outwardly holy but not within he is not sanctified no more then the painted Sepulchres of the proud Pharisees if any man say his heart is good though he makes no shew in his life he speaks not the truth if the Apostle may bee beleeved 1 Iohn 1.6 for sanctification is a renewall of the whole man within and without it is not for a man to have his teeth white and his tongue tipt and his nayles pared No no the Lord makes all new where he comes 3. It is a renewall unto the Image of God or of God in Christ an unsanctified man may bee after a sort renewed in the whole man his outward conversation may be faire his mind may bee enlightened his heart may tast of the heavenly gift c Heb. 6.4 5. he may have a forme of godlinesse 2 Tim. 3.5 he may have strong resolutions within him unto godlinesse Deut. 5.29 and hence with the five foolish Vâ—rgins may be received into the fellowship of the wise and not discerned of them neither till the gate is shut but they are never renewed in their whole man after the Image of God i. they doe not know things and judge of them as God doth they doe not love and will holinesse and the meanes thereto as God doth they hate not sin as God doth they doe not delight in the whole Law of God it is not writ in their hearts and hence they love it not as God doth and this is the cut of the threed between a sanctified and unsanctified Spirit by sanctification a man is renewed unto Gods Image once lost but here again restored Eph. 4.24 Iohn 1.16 we receive from Christ grace for grace as the seale on the wax hath tittle for tittle to that in the seale it selfe we are changed into the same Image of Christ by beholding him in the glosse of the Gospell by Faith 2 Cor. 3.18 I delight in the Law of God in my inward man Rom. 7.23 and hence a Christian by the life of sanctification lives like unto God at least hath a holy disposition and inclination the habits of holinesse so to doe Gal. 2.19 I live unto God he calleth us from darknesse into his marvellous light that we might shew forth his vertues and that this is true sanctification may thus appeare because our sanctification is opposed to our originall corruption as our justification to our originall and contracted guilt of sin now as originall corruption is the defacing of Gods Image by contrary dispositions to sinfulnesse so our sanctification can be nothing else but the removall of this pollution by the contrary habits and dispositions to be like unto God againe our sanctification is to be holy Levit. 20.7 our holinesse hath no other primary pattern but Gods holinesse so that our sanctification is not the righteousnesse and holinesse in as it is inherent in Christ for that is the matter of our justification and therefore sanctification must be that holinesse which is derived unto us from Christ whereby we are made like unto him and thus Christ is made sanctification unto us 1 Cor. 1.30 There should be no difference betweene Christ our righteousnesse and sanctification if that holinesse which is in Christ should be both unto us Hence also Sanctification is not the immediate operation of the Spirit upon us without created habits of grace abiding in us as the spirit that came upon Balaam and mightily affected him for a time but left him as destitute of any grace or change of his nature as the Asse he rode on No no it renewes you unto the image of God himselfe if you be truly sanctified And therefore let all those dreames of the Familists denying all inherent graces but onely those which are in Christ to be in the Saints let them