THE CHRISTIANS Crown of Glory: OR, HOLINESS The Way to HAPPINESS. Showing the necessity of Sanctity, or a Holy life, from a serious consideration of the Life of the holy Jesus, who is Christ our Sanctification. Also a plain Discovery of the Formalist or Hypocrite. Together with the Doctrine of Justification Opened and Applied. London, Printed for Tho. Passenger, at the Sign of the three Bibles, on the middle of London-Bridge. 1671. To all that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, especially to my Christian Friends and Acquaintance in and near London. The Author wisheth all prosperity and true felicity; the progress of Sanctification in this world, with the perfection thereof in Glory. Worthy, and good Friends, BY the wonderful overruling, and sole-disposing hand of Providence, (which some call the Queen of the World), I had the Providentia Dei Regina mundi. ●●nour and the happiness to be cast into your Acquaintance; with whom (at a leastwise with ●any of you) I have had for years (through ●●rcy) comfortable and sweet sociey in the things God: and from whom I have received so many 〈◊〉, and ample manifestations of cordial respect, 〈◊〉 kindness for my support and succour, in the ●●●s of my extremity: For all which (according ●y bounden duty) in all humility, and sincerity, ●esire to bless and Magnify the Possessor of Hea●●●● and Earth, as also to thank you; Begging Father of mercies to reward your labour of love hundred fold; And to enrich you with the fullness of the Blessings of the Gospel of Christ. 'Tis I confess, a duty incumbent on me, To render Rom. 15. 29. ye a due acknowledgement of hearty thanks, for your kindness to me (not long since a perfect stranger to all your faces) lest otherwise▪ I should contract Ingratum si dixeris, omnia dixeris. the stain, and Odium of that monstrous and multiplied sin Ingratitude; debating in my thoughts not how to make Compensation, or requital; (for that as the case stands with me is impossible) but how (at most) to make some small Testification of the unfeigned honour, and love I bear you, not only for your Goodness to me, but primarily, and principally for the spiritual worth and goodness, the God of all Grace according to the riches of of his Grace, hath (I trust) conferred upon ye and infused into ye; I knew no better expedient than the dedication of this ensuing Treatise; which is not presented to ye, or any mortals for Patronage or protection, but for Acceptance, and perusal, at your most serious hours. I never loved to dawb with untempered mortar, nor to sew Pillows under men's elbows, since I knew any thing of the mind of God in truth. If this small piece, doth not, cannot speak for itself, (though in weakness) I will not speak a word for it, neither do I desire, that any should. 'Tis an old and true Veritas non quaerit angulos. Veritas st●t in aper to Campo. Maxim, Truth needs no Patronage, and Error (I am sure) desorves none. What by the Word and rule of Truth, ye find consonant, and consentaneous to the mind and will of God, (the prime Truth) that call God's and Christ's, and therefore prize and practise it. But whatsoever you find if error, obliquity and deflexion from the Rule, that call man's, and mine, and carefully eschew it, imputing to it humane frailty and weakness: for humanum est errare. I remember I have read of Artaxerxes a most Plutarth, in the life of Artaxerxes. noble, and munificent King of Persia, that such was the Princely condescension and sweetness of his disposition, as not only to give great Gifts, unto his Friends, and Favourites, but also kindly to accept of mean Presents from mean persons: so hoping with the like candour, you will please to receive this small Tract; I have presumed to dedicate, and commend it to your Christian consideration. I modestly confess I have been solicited, to print some of my former Meditations, (though I know Apologies of this nature are little credited) yet through sense of my own weakness, I have forborn; as judging none of my Grapes worth the Press; (Besides the great numbers of profitable and practical Books of many famous men already extant): But at length, at the friendly desire of some sober Persons, willing me to leave some Manifesto of my love, or Legacies in their hands, (as they pleased to term it): I have Adventured to make these Labours public, which (I trust) will not seem nauseous or unpleasant to a spirit truly sanctified. I have long since thought, that every faithful labourer in the Lord's Vineyard, had principally a double work to do: (both tending unto, and terminating themselves in holiness), viz. 1. To convert Sinners. 2. To confirm Saints. 1. By the Spirit of Grace, and word of Truth to beget holiness in unholy souls: to bring in them that are without, who belong to the election of Grace. Jam. 1. 18. 2. By the same effectual means (the Word and Spirit) to nourish and nurse up the new Man begotten: to breed up those that are within. I hope 1 Pet 2. 2. (through grace) this holy and blessed work, hath been the white, the mark, I have aimed at in the series of my Employment; and particularly in this undertaking of Sanctification, here offered to your Judgements; which is a Doctrine most Necessary, most Excellent, most Comfortable. 1. 'Tis a Doctrine most needful for the sons of men to learn and practice; 'tis the one thing needful, 'tis the principal thing, there is no seeing the face of God without it: for, without holiness Luke 10. 42. Pro. 4. 7. Heb. 12. 14. no man shall see the Lord. Consider the Decree of the Father, the Mission of the Son, the Office of the holy Spirit, the publication of the Gospel, the Jewels of the Covenant, the nature of the great and precious Promises, the Tendency of all God's Dispensations. Whether smiles or frowns, mercies or afflictions, do they not all respectively speak the same thing, and mutually conspire, yea, meet and centre in the same end, (viz.) to make ye partakers of his Holiness? nay, they all tell ye in plain terms, ye must be Heb. 12. 10. holy. God will not alter his Decree for you, nor send another Saviour, nor chalk out another new way to Heaven, nor proclaim another Gospel for you, nor for any Creatures breathing. If Christ be not your sanctification (as is held forth in this Treatise) sin will be your condemnation; you will perish and die eternally, if there be a necessity of your salvation, there is as absolute a necessity of your sanctification. If the Lord hath revealed Christ to ye, as the Lord your Righteousness, he hath also revealed Christ to ye, and in ye as the Principle and Prince of your Life, as the High Priest, your holiness; and ye must look up daily to Jesus Christ for both, and receive of his fullness. You see there is an indispensible John 1. 16. need of Holiness, and whence, and in whom all your springs and supplies are, against the guilt, punishment, dominion, and filth of sin, (viz.) in your Mediator Christ Jesus. 2. Holiness is most excellent, most excellent in Col. 1. 19 1. It's Author. 2. It's Nature. 3. It's End. 1. 'tis excellent in its Author, it hath a divine Origination: The High and lofty One that Isa. 57 15. Ephes. 2. 10. inhabiteth Eternity, his Name is Holy; he that is the Creator, and former of all things, is the former and Creator of the new Birth. 2. 'Tis excellent in its Nature: more precious than Rubies, than the Topaz of Aethiopia, than the Treasures of the Indies, or any sublunary excellency whatsoever; it hath the Image and Life of the Author in it; it hath the Name and Glory of God upon it, 'tis divine Nature; Therefore 2 Pet. 1. 4. most excellent, because divinely Excellent. 3. 'Tis excellent in its end, salvation. We use 1 Pet. 1. 9 Finis Coronat opus. to say, that is well, which ends well, for the end Crowns the work. If Holiness be implanted in ye, it will not only march about the world with ye in all conditions and estates of Life, and be your Companion in labours, but it will also follow ye; yea, go along out of the World with ye, and be your Companion in Glory, as Samuel Revel. 14. 13. 1 Sam. 16. 13. anointed Saul aforehand for the Kingdom; so the Holy Oil of Grace sets ye apart aforehand, for the fruition of Glory; it never leaves ye, till it hath placed▪ ye on Thrones, arrayed ye with Robes, put Palms into your hands, and encircled your heads with a Crown of Life, and immortality. The perfection of Grace is Glory. 3. The Doctrine of Sanctification (or Holiness) is very Comfortable. There are two Rivers of joy springing, or having their Wellhead, in the precious side and heart of Christ: 1. The Blood for Justification. 2. The Water for Sanctification. Both streaming from one Fountain equally cheering, refreshing and making glad the City of Psalm 46. God, and nourishing up the Believer to eternal life. Amongst my Acquaintance, I have observed two sorts of dejected souls, as also two sorts of Causes of their dejection, and two sorts of means, or helps for their Cure and recovery. 1. Some trembling hearts do much despond, and droop, for want of the sense of pardon; their justification is dark unto them, they know not whether God hath pardoned them; The children of Light may sometime walk in darkness. And then they would give millions of worlds (did they Isa. 50. 10. possess them) for God the father's face to shine upon them, and for the holy Spirit the Comforter, to pronounce peace, and proclaim pardon to them. 2. Other deserted souls, mourn sore like Doves for want of holiness: Comparing their hearts with the perfect nature of God, and their lives with the pure shining Law of God, they are always complaining for their defects and decays of Grace, for the strength and prevalence of corruption, and for the manifold spots and stains of their conversations. Wherefore they are afraid, their spot is not the spot of God's Children, Deut 32. 5. and that such deadness, dulness, vanity of thought, and disorders of spirit and life, cannot be consistent with saving grace. And hereupon they wander in Meanders of perplexities and disquietments: The Indies (if they had them) they would freely part with, for the plentiful effusion and influence of Christ's Unction, and to see him clearly to be made of God sanctification to them. But O ye Bruised reeds, and smoking flax, the Captain of your Salvation will bring forth judgement unto Victory, and perfect your Grace in Glory. There is Balm in Gilead, there is a Physician there. Christ is a Saviour, and a Sanctifier to the uttermost; The Plaster is as Heb. 7. 25. broad as the soar, the blood of Christ is both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the price of our Redemption, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Laver of Regeneration also. 1. Let the first sort, Trust in the Name of Isa. 50. 10. See Dr. goodwin's Child of Light, the Lord; and stay themselves upon their God. Trust in the name of the Lord, that is the infinite mercy of God, through the merit of Christ▪ God is rich in Mercy, Plenteous in Redemption, abundant in goodness and Truth; the mercy of God is the Name of God; yea, the very first letter of his Name: Mercy leads the Exod. 34. 6 chorum in that Catalogue of the Divine Attributes. Exo. 34. 6. 2. Trust in the infinite Merit and Righteousness of Jesus Christ; for this is his Name, the Lord our Righteousness. Let Faith drive Jer. 23. 6. thee quite out of self, and thy own righteousness, and lay fast hold on Christ's Righteousness. Know, that Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness Phil. 3. 8, 9 to every one that believeth. Consider him that hath satisfied Justice, fulfilled all righteousness Rom. 10. 4. in his own Person, and brought in everlasting righteousness for thee; who loved thee, Dan. 9 24. and gave himself for thee: And so let faith grow up unto Assurance, for this Righteousness is Gal. 2. 20. revealed from Faith to Faith, called the Righteousness of God, because 'tis the righteousness Rom. 1. 17. of God, as well as man, and which God appointeth and accepteth for thy justification. This divine Righteousness thou must live upon, as thy daily food, and bread of life. 2. Let the second sort of disconsolate souls, consider these Particulars. 1. That an enlightened soul that communes with his own heart, seethe more vileness, filthiness, and contrariety in himself to the holy nature and Law of God, than such as are in a state of gross darkness, who are strangers to God, and (in this sense) perfect strangers to their own hearts. 2. Let such consider, a Christian state in this world is militant; there must be warring and wrestling, not only with flesh and blood, but also with Eph. 6. 12. Principalities and Powers, (i. e. with the Devils of hell) and the corruptions of the world every day. Shall any say, because I fight I am a Coward? because I find a law in my members, warring against the law of my mind; a double interest, flesh and spirit lusting in the same soul, yea, in the Luke 11, 21, selfsame faculty, therefore I am no Christian? this very warring evinceth the clean contrary, for when the strong man armed keeps the house, all things are in peace; thy very sensibility of sin, and Gal. 5. 17. groaning under the burden and bondage of it, thy struggling with it, and sincere endeavours to subdue it, are evident signs of sanctification begun in thee. 3. Consider Grace begun, destroys not sin utterly, nor carries away a complete Victory presently; thou must be trained and exercised a long time in Christ's School, and endure hardness like a good Soldier of Christ Jesus, before thou dost rout the enemy totally, and come off with a final Conquest. Thou must strive long, and strive lawfully 2 Tim. 2. 5. Quo seme● est imbuta recens, servabit odorem, Test● diu, &c, too, before thou art crowned. Grace by the supplies of the Spirit is daily working out corruption, and cleansing the soul of filthiness, but the Vessel (thy heart) is so deeply tainted, that it cannot be perfectly cleansed presently. Sanctification in the power of it, brings down the dominion of sin, dethrones it, casts it down, though not quite cast it out; Grace weakens the power of sin, but not dissolves 1 Cor. 1●. 53. the being of it, till mortal shall put on immortality. 4. Consider the Cloud of Witnesses: The most, and the best of Saints have had the stain of sin, as well as the stamp of Grace; there have been Ecclipticks in their Zodiacs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Job, David, Solomon, Peter, Paul, etc. retain blots in their Escutcheons to this day, not to encourage sinners, (that's a devilish use) but to comfort Saints, and keep them from despairing, when they find themselves overtaken with infirmities: The 7th. to the Romans is little other than a doleful Elegy of the in-being, concupiscence, and motions of sin in holy Paul, (as a Pattern of all other Christians) who was a man 2 Cor. 12. of as high Attainments, Revelations, and Communion with God, as any other. This may a little comfort thee, that such Temptations, such corruptions as thou dost feel, the most eminent Saints have felt, the same afflictions are accomplished in your Brethren. 1 Pet. 5. 9 5. Look up to Jesus Christ for sanctification, (as well as for Righteousness) He is thy Redemption, as thy King, but he is thy Righteousness and Holiness as thy Priest, which is more fully handled in the ensuing Treatise; Oh that the eye of thy faith might see him in all his Excellencies, and the hand of thy faith might receive him in all his Offices; who is made of God to be thy Wisdom; Righteousness, Sanctification and Redemption; Some poor souls look on Christ to be their Righteousness, but are dark in respect of Holiness; this makes them wander in melancholy shades, and desert paths, but the Scripture tells us we are complete in Christ the Head Col. 2. 10. (an Head of Influence as well as Eminence) and that he of God is made unto us sanctification, as well 1 Cor. 1. 30. John 17. 19 as Righteousness, and that for our sakes he sanctified himself, that we might be sanctified through the Truth; and that Christ as our Highpriest, appears Heb. 9 24. Col 3. 3. 1 John 5. 11, 12. in Heaven for us, and that he is our Life (both of Holiness and Righteousness), and that he that hath the Son, hath Life; were not Christ our sanctifier as well as justifier, he were not a perfect Saviour, but he is both; he is All in All to us, by our mystical Union with him: and what would your souls have more? we are justified by Christ, but sanctified in Christ Jesus, because of the wonderful spiritual intimate Union between us and Christ. 1 Cor. 1. 2. Ego verò malui servare proepositionem▪, quod melius declaret quomodò nos Pater per Christum sanctificet, nempe donando nos filio suo, ut ipse sit in nobis, & nos in eo. Reverend Beza in 1 Cor. 1. 2. Oh that every contrite heart would live purely by faith on Christ as the Lord their Righteousness, and as their Head and fountain of Holiness; the just must live by faith, and is not he the Author Heb. 12. 2▪ and finisher of your Faith? Thus your Sanctification and Consolation will grow up, and increase together. My chief design in this Publication, is to advance Holiness in the world, and thereby God's Honour, which is so much fallen to decay, Partly by the abominable profaneness and debanchery of some, and partly (yea chief) by the horrid Hypocrisy and Apostasy of others, who Dema's-like have made gain godliness, and so shipwrackt faith and a good Conscience. The Lord recover such out of the snare of the Devil, and give them repentance 2 Tim. 2. 25, 26. unto life, for his infinite mercy's sake. I might tell ye, that Families, Cities, Countries, Thrones, Kingdoms, yea the whole world stands See Prov. 20. 28. Pro. 14. 34. Isa. 1. 9 Fiat justitia, aut rua● Coelum. Jer. 31. 23. by Holiness, and for the sake of holy Ones, and that we can never expect to be an Happy, unless we are an Holy Nation; Oh that that most blessed Blessing might be pronounced upon this Kingdom; The Lord bless thee O Habitation of justice, and Mountain of Holiness, This would be the consternation of wicked men and Devils, but the rejoicing of Saints and of all the Holy Angels; The Lord accomplish it in his time. The Blessing of Heaven attend these poor labours to their intended and desired end; And Grant this Word, (like the rain and snow from Heaven) may be prosperous to Isa. 55. 10, 11. them that read it. If any shall be hereby enlightened, quickened, awakened, reproved, comforted confirmed, or any way edified. Let she Father of Lights, from whom comes down every good and perfect Gift, have all the Glory, And be pleased to remember at the Throne of Grace, Jam. 1. 17. Your affectionate Friend and Servant in the Lord, T. C. Christ our Sanctification. 1 Cor. 1. 30. Some part of that verse. — Who of God is made unto us— Sanctification.— The whole verse runs thus. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us Wisdom, and Righteousness, and Sanctification, and Redemption. But the words which (συν θεῶ) we shall insist on at this time, and in this small Tract, are these: — Who of God is made unto us, Sanctification.— THe Apostle Paul, Rom. 1. 14. confesseth himself a debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians, (i. e.) to all sorts of Gentiles, (for he was the great Apostle to the Gentiles) both to the wise, and to the unwise; i. e. to all kinds and sorts of men in particular amongst them: for all sorts of men may be ranged into these two Ranks or Orders, the wise, and unwise. In imitation of the holy Apostle, I who am the lowest and least of Saints, and the unworthiest of all the servants of the Lord, most unfit for so honourable and high a Calling, as the Ministry of the Gospel, must reckon myself a debtor both to the wise and unwise, to the learned and unlearned; as well to the more acute and perspicacious, as to the less judicious and enquiring Christian: And therefore (as in duty bound) must cast in my Mite into the Saint's Treasury, and employ my Talon (though but one, and a small one) as for the information of the more ignorant, so also for the satisfaction of the more ingenious and learned Reader: For his satisfaction therefore, or at least wise for an Essay thereunto, I think it neither unnecessary nor inexpedient, before I come to the words themselves, to preface the subsequent Discourse with these (I think) convenient Prolegomena. THE PROLEGOMENA TO THE Ensuing Discourse. ALl I have to say in the Proem to the Text, I shall reduce to these Heads following. I shall endeavour to show 1. By whom this Epistle was written. 2. To whom it was written. 3. Upon what occasion the Apostle wrote this Epistle. 4. What is the Argument of this Epistle. 5. At what time, and where this Epistle was written. 1. By whom this Epistle was written. The Apostle Paul, a * Act. 9 15. chosen Vessel of God, was the Author of this Epistle, a man that was caught up to the third heaven, (where he heard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; which Montanus and the Vulgar translate, arcana verba: But Beza, ineffabilia verba, unspeakable words; as our English Translators do well render; such words † 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; id est, quae fando explicari à quoquam homine non possint. Beza. which no man can explain by speaking.) A man inspired with the Spirit of God, as he testifies of himself in this Epistle, 1 Cor. 7. 40. Therefore by the inspiration of the Spirit of God he wrote this Epistle. Paul, and all other holy men of old that wrote the Canonical and Divine Scriptures, were but amanuensis Penmen, or Secretaries to the Spirit, the Spirit was the immediate Author, Inditer, and Composer of the Scriptures: All Scripture is of Divine Inspiration, * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 2 Tim. 3. 16. 1 Pet. 1. 21. For the Prophecy came not in old time, or rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aliquando, at any time, by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, acti, inspirati; acted or moved by the Holy Ghost. † D. Owen expounding this Text in his Divine Original of the Scripture, p. 25. One of our Worthies hath an excellent gloss upon this Text. When the Word came, or rather was brought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the holy men that wrote the Scriptures, it was not left to their understandings, wisdoms, minds, memories; to order, dispose, and give it out; but they were born, acted, carried out by the Holy Ghost, to speak, deliver, and write all that, and nothing but that, to every tittle that was so brought to them; they invented not words themselves, suited to the things they had learned, but only expressed the words that they received. And a little after he saith, Not only the Doctrine they taught was the Word of Truth, Truth its self, Joh. 17. 17. but the words whereby they taught it, were words of truth from God himself, etc. Thus this Epistle, and other sacred Scriptures, being of Divine Authority, and thereupon of Sovereignty, and of Eternal Verity, aught to be received and entertained of us with holy respect and reverence, to be heard and read as the Oracles of God. 2. To whom this Epistle was written, together with a Description of Corinth. This Epistle was written to the men of Corinth, but more specifically, the Apostle himself tells ye, 1 Cor. 1. 2. Unto the Church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be Saints, with all that in every place call upon the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours. The Corinthians were Achaians. Corinth Corinthii Achaici fuerunt. was a famous and rich City of Achaia, not only one of the chief, but the Metropolitan, or chiefest of that Region; it was a City placed in an Isthmus, or narrow straight, going into Peloponnesus, now called Morea; and being situate between * Both Poets and Geographers use to call her Corinthus Bi-maris, Corinthus Achaiae, Metropolis olim erat, ob portuum commoditatem Emporium totius Asiae, tum celeberrimum, tum opulentissimum. Marl. two Seas, the Aegean, and Ionian, having fair Havens towards these two Seas, a great concourse of people from many Countries resorted thither, whereupon it was called Nobilissimum Emporium, opibus abundans, a most Noble Mart-Town, overflowing with a confluence of wealth and worldly prosperity; yea, so famous and flourishing was this City, that the Romans themselves began to suspect her greatness; but the Corinthians were as insolent as the Romans were suspicious, for they uncivilly abused the Roman Ambassadors, and cast Urine upon their heads as they passed through the † So Cicero relates it. City. Upon this disgrace the Romans sent Lucius Mummius, than Consul, who burned the City, and made it level with the ground: In the burning of it, so many rich and costly Images of sundry sorts of metal were melted, that thereof was found a very precious Brass called Aes Corinthium, more esteemed than Silver among the Romans. At last it was (say some) re-edified by Julius Caesar; (say others) by Augustus Caesar: because of the excellent fitness and situation of the place, it quickly increased to its former wealth and splendour. It was a place famous for the profession of Christianity, but of late it fell into the hands of Turks and Infidels, and by them it is at this day called Corinto Anno Ch. 1451. and Coranto. To this City the Apostle Paul came from Athens, where he converted to the Faith of Christ Act. 18. 1. Crispus and Sosthenes, two chief Rulers of the Jewish Synagogue, and many of the Corinthians Act. 18. 8. 17. hearing believed, and were baptised, for the Lord had by a Vision in the night told him, he had much people in that City; and withal, for his encouragement, to preach there uncessantly, and to abide there patiently. The Lord bids him be not afraid, but speak, Act. 18. 9 and hold not thy peace. These words were Pillars of Support, and Cordials of Comfort to his fainting heart: Gods words are not empty or a●ery Dictates, like * Vox & praeterea nihil. man's, a voice, and no more; but creating, corroborating, comforting, soul-renewing, and soul-quickning, and soul-restoring, and reviving precepts, where, when, and in whom he pleaseth; for his word He upholdeth all things by the Word of his Power. Heb. 1. 3. is the word of his power, and therefore a word with power: The words that I speak (saith Christ) they are spirit, and they are life, Joh. 6. 63. Again, the Lord promiseth to be with Paul, for I am with thee, and no man shall Act. 18. 10 set on thee to hurt thee, etc. God did not only promise the assistance of his Spirit to his Ministry, (though that is rather implied than expressed) but God also promiseth his Protecting Presence to his person, that no man should set on him to hurt him. How valiantly and cheerfully may a soul fight after such a Leader, and under such Ensigns? under the promise of the faithful God, and in the presence of the Mighty God. He to whom God is a Sun of influence, and a Shield of defence, (as he hath promised) Psa. 84. 11. may go on in the face of the greatest difficulty with courage and success, and fear no colours, because one single God is eminently and infinitely more, more for strength, support and succour, than all the enemies are for fear and terror. When the snares of death prevent thee, and Psa. 18. 4, 5. the floods of the ungodly make thee afraid, call upon God, cry to the Lord in thy distress, as David did, Psa. 18. 6. Act faith on God by the Warrant of his own precious Promises; these among others are ver●●●●rtment and pregnant, Isa. 41. 10, 11. Fear thou not, for I am with thee, etc. Isa. 43. 2. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, etc. Isa. 8. 12, 13, 14. Neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid, but sanctify the Lord of Hosts himself, and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. This is God's Precept, and your Duty; v. 14. And he shall be for a Sanctuary. This is God's Promise, and your Privilege. But to return; the Apostle hereby animated, continued at Corinth a year and six months, Act. 18. 11. teaching the Word of God among them; during which space of time, by the blessing of God upon his Ministry, (or in his own phrase) by the grace of God which was with him, 1 Cor. 15. 10. he had gathered and planted a most flourishing Church at Corinth, to whom he gives many Encomiums, or Titles of praise, in the beginning of this Epistle, Chap. 1. 5, 6, 7. God had indeed much people in this City, whom he sanctified in Christ Jesus, and called to be Saints. A Quis, Quaeso Electos multos in perversissima c●vitate quaesivisset? Deus tamen noverat quos ●iegisset, & qui sui essent. Pareus. Germane Divine admiring at God's goodness, and Paul's success, cries out, Who (I pray) would have sought for many Elect in a most perverse City? But God knew whom he had elected, and who were his. No place is so profane (saith the same Author) in which God hath not his. This passage puts me in mind of an excellent note of a † M. Caryl in his Exposition upon the three first Chapters of Job, p. 23. ● In cor●●●tissima & 〈…〉. Worthy Divine of ours, where he observes; God hath his servants in all places, in the worst of places: There was never any air so bad, but that a servant of God may breathe in it. God had a choice piece even in the Land of Uz, a place of profaneness; here was Bethel in Bethaven, an House of God in a Land of wickedness; and so he goes on excellently. There were Saints in Caesars (wicked nero's) household; so there were Saints, many Saints, at leastwise many, which the Lord did intent actually to call and sanctify by Paul's Ministry, and consequently to save and glorify, that were Inhabitants even in Corinth, in that most * corrupt and most perverse City, infamous for luxury, effeminateness, and many other vices, as a good Author doth observe. 3. Upon what occasion this Epistle was written. The occasion was twofold. First was, Those grievous and great scandals and vices which crept in, and invaded the Church of Corinth after the departure of the Apostle; of which, throughout the whole Epistle, we hear at large. The Apostle having planted a great Church there, went forward in his Ministerial Circuit, (according to his Commission) from thence to preach the Gospel in other Cities of Asia, and after a considerable time, being now at Ephesus, as may be gathered from 1 Cor. 16. 8. he understood there from some of the * A Cloes familiaribus Apostolus edoctus esset. Par. This Cloe seems to have been an honest Matron, and of esteem among the Church of Corinth. So the Dutch Annotat. household of Cloe, that there were divisions among them; wherefore because he could not come himself in person at present to apply healing plasters to their sores, he sends them this Epistle, wherein he doth gravely advertise them, put them in mind of their duty; he shows them their fall and folly, and directs them to the right cure and recovery; and that the cure might be wrought effectually, he labours to effect it several ways, if possibly he might take them with honest guile. 1. Sometimes he praiseth, commendeth, and speaks them fair, as a Father. 2. Sometimes he speaks roughly, and reproves sharply, with Power and Authority, as an Apostle. 3. Sometimes he prays, entreats, and gently instructs them, as a Brother, and all to make them sensible of their sinful malady, and receptive of a spiritual remedy. 2. The other occasion was the Epistle sent to him from the Corinthians, as appears from 1 Cor. 7. 1. wherein they asked the Apostles advice and counsel touching divers matters; as Cum primis de Matrimonialibus de Idolothytis, de Spiritualibus charismatis, de modo Prophetandi, de collecta denique faci●ad●, touching Matrimonials, or the affairs that have reference to Marriage, of Meat dedicated or offered up to Idols, of Spiritual Gifts, of the manner of Prophesying: last, touching a collection to be made for the poor Saints at Jerusalem, as is evident from 1 Cor. 16. 3. As this last from this Text, so all the former are very clear and manifest to every eye that reads, and to every serious mind that notes the Series of this Epistle. 4. What is the Argument of this Epistle. The whole Argument of this Epistle is corrective 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. and hortatory, consisting of * Hujus Epistolae variae est ac multiplex utilitas: multos enim insignes locos contived. Calv. divers parts, as that Church did labour under divers distempers: All may be reduced to these eight Heads. 1. In the four first Chapters, the Apostle reproves the factious spirits and courses of the Corinthians, whereby they had rend themselves into Sects and Parties, and exhorts them to concord and unity: he also excuseth the plainness, simplicity, and purity of his Doctrine; and on the contrary, nips and sharply checks the vanity of the false Apostles in the ostentation of their Grandiloquence, i. e. their lofty and stately Eloquence; by which Artifice, they thought to bring the Apostle into contempt among the people, as though he had been (in comparison of them) a very illiterate and rude Preacher. 2. In the fifth and sixth Chapters he chargeeth them with three vices. 1. In that they continued the incestuous person in their company and communion, who ought rather to have been delivered over unto Satan, and ejected out of the Society of the Church. 2. In that they went to Law, and contended De 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, de secularibus, aut ad hanc vitam pertinentibus. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Plenty begets strife. one with another even before the Heathen Judges, about things pertaining to this life: This (saith the Apostle) I speak to your shame, 1 Cor. 6. 4, 5. For indeed this contentious practice of theirs, brought an odium and shame upon the Christian Religion, and made that pure and peaceable profession to stink in the Nostrils of the Heathen. There were indeed at Corinth many Merchants, who are (as one observes) * Hominum genus delicatum, quaestuosum, habendi cupidissimum, injuria impatientissimum. etc. a delicate kind of men, very desirous of gain, most greedy of having, and most impatient of injury and losing. This scandal he reproves, and labours to remove. 3. He reprehends them, for that they took fornication for an indifferent thing, or for a matter of no great moment; against which filthy sin, as well dishonourable to their bodies (which ought to be the Members of Christ, and the Temple of the Holy Ghost) as damnable to their souls, he inveighs severely, and presseth them by many cogent reasons to Chastity, and Sanctimony. 3. In the seventh Chap. he comes to answer their Epistle, and delivers many Apostolical Precepts, as to divers Matrimonial cases, and as to the private condition of every individual. The Questions which the Corinthians by their Corinthiorum dubia de Matrimonialibus. Letter desired a Solution of, seem (to me) to be these: 1. Whether a Christian might marry? 2. Whether Christian yoke-fellows ought to render to one another due benevolence? 3. Whether it be lawful for a married person to leave or withdraw from his yoke-fellow? 4. Whether a single life be not better than a married state? 5. Whether Divorces are lawful? 6. Whether it be lawful for a believer to dwell with an unbeliever? 7. Whether a Believer being forsaken by the unbeliever, may be held in bondage? 8. Whether it were the best or wisest course for Virgins to marry? Lastly, whether second Marriages are lawful for Widows? 4. In the eighth, ninth and tenth Chapters, he reprehends those, who by pretence of Christian liberty, did very scandalously, and to the offence of others, communicate with the Gentiles in things offered up to Idols; from which unlawful and unchristian communion he doth strongly dehort them, and that he doth two ways. 1. By his own example, showing, that sometimes we ought to abstain from things that are in themselves lawful, (in case of scandal) much more from things unlawful, as he himself forbore to receive any stipend salary, or wages for preaching to them; to avoid thereby the least colour of calumny; for he knew, the false Teachers were ready to catch at any thing that might defame his Person, or traduce his Doctrine, being filled with rancour and emulation. 2. He dehorts them from communion with the Idols, and meats offered to them, by a most convincing Argument, that they could not, nor should not, be partakers of the Lords Table, and of the Table of Devils; for to have fellowship with Idols, was to have fellowship with Devils; for the things the Gentiles sacrificed, were sacrificed to Devils, and not to God, 1 Cor. 10. 19 20, 21. 5. In the eleventh Chapter he reproves and corrects two abuses. 1. One about seemly behaviour in the Church, which both women and men did violate, Circa decorum Ecclesiasticum. and thereby both created scandals: The women praying and prophesying with their heads uncovered in the Congregation, acted against modesty, and became allurements to the men: And the men praying and prophesying in the Church with their heads covered, acted against Reverence, and against the Light of Nature; both was uncomely. 2. The other was about the Supper of the Circa coenam Dominicam. Lord, which the richer sort did mingle with profane feasts, eating and drinking even to excess and luxury; the poorer sort, in the mean time, being shamed, despised, and left hungry. 6. In the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth Chapters, the Apostle lays down several Precepts, both concerning the difference, and use of Spiritual Gifts, and declares by the Allegory of the members of a natural body, that all things are to be referred to unity, and edification of the whole: Having spoken much of the variety and excellency of gifts, he concludes, that all gifts are nothing without the Grace of Love, in the praises whereof he makes a pathetical and sweet digression: of all gifts, he seems both to commend and exhort unto the gift of Prophecy; as also, that a convenient and due order should be kept in Prophesying. Mulieres à Muniis Ecclesiasticis arcet. Lastly, he bars women from meddling with Ecclesiastical Offices or Functions. 7. In the fifteenth Chapter, he corrects the profane error of some in denying the Resurrection Resurrectio carnis, spes nostra. Tertul. of the flesh, and confirms and fortifies the contrary truth, an Article of our Faith, with most weighty and grave Arguments; and excellently shows in many things the specifical differences, between the body now vile, and the body glorious then; and how this Doctrine of the Resurrection may very profitably and practically be accommodated to the Consolation of the Saints. 8. In the sixteenth Chapter, he minds them of a contribution for the poor Saints and Brethren at Jerusalem, which he enforceth by the example of the Churches of Galatia, and after several godly Exhortations, he closeth the Epistle with Salutations, and with a Benediction. 5. At what time, and where, or at what place was this Epistle written? Although by reason of the defect of History, it cannot be positively known at what time, or in what order the Epistles of Paul were written; yet relation being had unto, Epistolarum Paulinarum ordo. and collation of them being made with the Apostles Race or Circuit described in the Acts, affords some probable guesses or conjectures. First and foremost. The first of all the Epistles written by Paul, seems to be the first Epistle to the Thessalonians. The next, the second Epistle to the Thessalonians, sent from Athens. The third in order is reputed the first Epistle to Timothy, sent from Laodicea. The fourth is deemed to be this first Epistle to the Corinthians, before his passage through Macedonia, 1 Cor. 16. 5. The Greek Copies relate it to be written from Philippi, but many hold it was written at Ephesus before Pentecost: For he saith, 1 Cor. 16. 8. I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost, which happened in the year of Christ 64. and of Nero 9 in which year coming to Jerusalem, he was cast into prison. Of this Opinion, (of the Ancient) is Athanasius and chrysostom; (of the Modern) Dionysius, Sixtus Senensis, Martyr, Illyricus, Stapleton, etc. Thus much (if not too much) for the Prolegomena: Palliate (good Reader) my imbecility and prolixity, with thy Humanity and Christian candour; though the Porch of Entrance may seem too large, yet (I trust) thy passage may be more lightsome into the body of this choice Epistle, and more facile into the bowels of the discourse at hand. The first Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians, may be divided into three Parts. The first is the Proem, containing the inscription, 1 Pro●mium. subscription, and salutation; as also a Gratulation or Thanksgiving to God on their behalf, with a commendation of them, and his hearty desire for them, carried on from the first to the tenth verse. The second is a Proposition Dehortatory, that 2 Propositio Dehortatoria. they cherish not Schisms among themselves, lest (Viperlike) they eat out their own bowels; whence he had information, and what their Schisms or Divisions were, he explains in ver. 10, 11, 12. The third is a Confirmation of his Dehortatory 3. Confirmatio. Proposition; many of his Arguments are taken ab absurdo, as they call it. 1. Because to cherish Schisms is, as it were to divide or tear Christ in pieces, v. 13. 2. Because none of their Teachers was crucified for them, v. 13. 3. Because they were not baptised in the name of any of their Teachers, v. 13. Neque Baptizando nec praedi●ando. Par. Non cum dicendi peritiá. Beza. 4. Because the Apostle had given them no occasion of abusing his name to Schisms; neither by baptising, for he baptised but few of them, v. 14, 15, 16. nor by his Preaching, for he preached not with ostentation, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, not in the wisdom of speech, not in acquaint terms, not with Rhetorical flourishes, or Visus autem fuisset Christi crucifixi Spiritus nihil agere si humanae facundiae vi homines ad Christianismum essent adducti. Beza 1 Ab effectu contrarii. humane Eloquence, lest the Cross of Christ should be made of none effect, v. 17. that is, lest the Doctrine of Christ crucified should become fruitless; for as a learned Author well observes, The Spirit of Christ crucified would have seemed to have done nothing, if men should have been brought to Christianity by the force of Humane Eloquence. 1. This is the first reason, and 'tis drawn ab effectu contrarii, from the effect of the contrary. Now lest any should think, that plainness of speech did render the Doctrine of the Cross contemptible, a tacit Objection is answered in v. 18. by a distinction; Though the Doctrine of the Cross be foolishness to the Reprobates, yet 'tis the Power of God to such as shall be saved. 2. From the miserable condition of worldly 2. A conditione mundanae sapientiae. wisdom, it is an Enemy to God, and God an Enemy to it, and threatens to destroy it; I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, ver. 19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, tollam ● medio. The Prophet, Isa. 29. 14. (from whence these words are taken) there useth a Verb Neuter, which the Greeks have turned into a Verb Active. 3. From the good pleasure of God, willing to 3 A Beneplacito Dei. save by the foolishness of Preaching them that believe; and though the obstinate Jews, and Philosophical Greeks, reputed the Gospel foolishness, (for how can blind men distinguish colours?) yet 'tis in very deed and truth infinitely wiser than humane wisdom, and infinitely stronger than humane power; for 'tis the Wisdom and Power of God himself, ver. Psa. 110. 2 The Lord shall send the Rod of thy strength out of Zion: Rule thou in the midst of thine Enemies. Here, vocatio pro vocatis metonymicè ponatur, sicut passim circumcisio pro circumcisis & praeputium pro incircumcisis. Beza in loc. & Marl. in loc to the same purpose. A Fine ultima. 21, 22, 23, 24, 25. The Publication of the Gospel, is the Sceptre by which the Lord Reigns, the Rod of Christ's strength, by which he doth and shall rule in the midst of his Enemies. 4. From the blessed effect of God's good pleasure, expressed in calling, Not many wise not many Mighty, not many Noble, (though some few of these in all Ages have been called) but rather the poor, the foolish persons and things, that in the eye of the carnal world are contemptible, and counted of no account, mere nothings, ver. 26, 27. Ye see your calling Brethren, that is, what way o● manner the Lord hath taken in calling you; or rather, quinam ex vobis sint vocati, who, or what kind of men among you are called, not the wise and Mighty, but commonly and generally, the foolish and weak; for the poor receive the Gospel, as Christ speaks. 5. From the ultimate, or last end, That no flesh should glory in his presence, but in the Lord himself, of whom we are in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption. Thus by this Clue of five Threads, I mean the five last Heads, I have brought you to the Text. 1 Cor. 1. 30. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us Wisdom, and Righteousness, and Sanctification, and Redemption. THe Sacred Scriptures do hold forth our Lord Jesus Christ to be both the Treasurer and the Treasury of all our blessedness, both in this and in the other world; all our Treasures are in him, as well as from him; 2 Col. 3. In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; He is our life, and our life is hid with Christ in God, Col. 3. 3, 4. The beloved Apostle that leaned upon Jesus his bosom, tells us, 1 Joh. 5. 11, 12. This is the Record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Can we ever have wished it in a surer or sweeter place, than in the bosom of our blessed Saviour, the Son of God, and Prince of Life? And farther, He that hath the Son, hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God, hath not life, etc. Our life of righteousness, our life of holiness, our life of glory, or our eternal life, our spiritual life in these three considerations is wrapped, or bound up in Jesus Christ, the bundle of life: As sin and death came by Adam, so righteousness and life came by Jesus Christ; according to that of the Apostle, Rom. 5. 21. That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. This pregnant Text which I am now discoursing from, more rich than Hermes Table bespangled with Emeraules, presents ye with these four most Orient Jewels; the Jewels of Heaven, the choice blessings of the Covenant, (viz Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption; and that which is the glory of all, this Text acquaints ye with, to your inexpressible comfort, that Christ Jesus is all these in himself, and by himself to ye, and for ye; God the Father hath made him your All in All, Col. 3. 11. Christ is all in all, all in all in Illumination, all in all in Justification, all in all in Reconciliation, all in all in Adoption, all in all in Sanctification, all in all in Redemption, all in all 2 Tim 4. 10. in preservation to his heavenly Kingdom. And though it be said of the Saints enjoyment of God in heaven, that God, (i. e.) God the Father is all in all, 1 Cor. 15. 28. yet certainly, as God the Father is pleased to communicate himself in the riches of his grace through the Son to his Saints here, so he will everlastingly communicate himself in the treasures of his glory through the Son to his Saints in heaven; as Christ is the Medium of your spiritual union with God here, so he will continue the eternal Medium of your glorious communion with God hereafter; in his light ye shall see light. The Soul-ravishing Vision of Jesus the Mediator Heb. 12. 24. ●omine fecistinos pro te, & cor irrequic●um est, donec veniat ad te. Aug. of the New Covenant, and the Beatifical Vision of ever-blessed and glorious Deity in and through the Mediator, is no small part or portion of the Saints Celestial happiness: God indeed is the Essence of the Soul, the Eternal Entity of our happiness, the Father of Spirits, is the only rest and centre of our immortal Spirits; for 1 Pet. 3. 18. Christ once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God; (our approximation or drawing nigh to God being the ultimate end (as to us) of Christ's passion) yet the seeing of Christ as he is, when he shall appear in his Father's glory, when he shall come in power and great glory, to see him as he is in his greatest glory and fullest Majesty, sitting at the right hand of the Father, and to see our humane nature in him as far exalted above, so far more glorious than those glittering morning stars, the Angels, will be no small part or measure of our blessedness, (though not the quintessence, compendium or compliment thereof) 1 Joh. 3. 2. Beloved, now are we the Sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: But we know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. But to return; Our Lord Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of Eminency called, that one Pearl of great price, Mat. 13. 46. which the wise Merchantman sold all that he had and bought. This Pearl eminently and virtually contains all other Pearls in it, is comprehensive of all excellent and Sovereign good, which our souls stand in need of, infinitely more precious and excellent than the rest, and infinitely to be prized and preferred above the rest: Christ not only hath, but is wisdom to the simple, raiment to the naked, riches to the poor, rest to the weary, bread of life to the hungry, water of life to the thirsty, righteousness to the guilty, sanctification to the filthy, redemption to the captive, peace and reconciliation to the enemy, power to the faint, a rock and refuge to the afflicted, a shineing Sun to the disconsolate, a saving shield to the assaulted; in a word, a full fons of living water, of rich supply to those that labour under any distress or misery, whether inward perplexity, or outward calamity. Philosophers brag much of their Elixir, Naturalists boast much of their Panaecea and Catholicon, and they would bear the world in hand, as though these were Sovereign remedies against all maladies, good against all diseases; but these, and all other, whether natural, artificial, or moral excellencies, are less than Ciphers to Jesus Christ; compared with him, they are less than nothing, and vanity, Isa. 40. 17. 1. As Christ is God, the worlds were made by him, and for him, by his power, and for his glory, Heb. 1. 2. Col. 1. 16. 2. As Christ is Mediator God-man, so he is Heir of all things, Heb. 1. 2. whom he, that is, the Father, hath appointed heir of all things; by whom also he made the worlds: Now can he want light that lives in the midst of the Sun? Can he want air that lives upon the top of the highest Mountain? Can he want water that lives at the Well head? No more can he want light, life, grace, strength, comfort, or any good thing that lives in union and communion with Jesus Christ, in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, Col. 2. 9 * Qui habet habentem omnia, habet o●nia, He that hath him that owneth and possesseth all things, hath all things: 'Tis an old and true saying, Si Christum noscis, nihil est, si caetera nescis, Si Christum nescis, nihil est, si caetera noscis. Hath the Father given us the Son, the Son of his eternal love, of his eternal bosom? then we may safely make (with the Apostle) this sweet inference, How shall he not with him freely give us all things, Rom. 8. 32. All things pertaining to life and godliness, as the Apostle expresseth and explaineth it elsewhere, 1 Cor. 3. 21, 22, 23. presents ye with a Christians Inventory, and with a Christians tenure. 1. A Christians Inventory: All things. A Christian hath a large dominion, a great possession; all things are yours, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, for all things are yours: Descend from generals to particulars, than all things must be referred to, or subdivided by persons, and things. All persons are yours, that is, for your good and benefit, whether Paul, or Apollo, or Cephas, whether Ecclesiastical or secular persons, whether godly, or ungodly, whether spiritual men, or carnal men; therefore v. 22. he adds the world, the wicked world, or rather the wicked of the world, (who ere long shall be judged by the Saints, as Assessors with Jesus Christ the Supreme Judge) 1 Cor. 6. 2. shall be subservient to God's glory, and to the Saints good. Those Slaves and Scullions that rub off the rust, and scour and cleanse the Vessels of Honour, by temptations, afflictions, imprisonments, persecutions, etc. though not intentionally, as to them) yet accidentally and eventually (by the blessing of God) shall really promote and carry on their spiritual and eternal interest. 2. As all persons, so all things are theirs, whether life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours, ver. 22. What can a soul either have or wish for more? for a man not only to enjoy the comforts of life, but also to find sweetness in death; to find meat in this Eater, to find honey in this Lion, to live in the midst of death, to lie down in peace in the arms, or rather Jaws of the King of Terrors, for this deadly Enemy, by the death of Christ, to be made one of our best friends. Again, For a man to be rich in possession, and rich in reversion too, for a man to have an interest in all things present, and an interest in all things future also; to have Territories as broad as the earth, and a treasure as high as heaven, and returns of glory coming in unto him, and upon him, to all eternity; this is an incomparable rich person, and an incomparable blessed estate indeed. 2. Note the Tenure: Ye hold all in Caepite, in and by union with him who is God's Heir, and your Head, Ephes. 1. last; and ye are Christ's, and Christ is Gods, v. 23. Ye are the Bride, Christ is the Bridegroom; ye are the Body, Christ is the Head; as the Head of Christ is God, so the Head of the Church is Christ. The Father in an ineffable manner communicated (as of old, the Divine Essence and Nature) so at his Incarnation, an unmeasurable measure, an overflowing fullness of the Spirit and Grace to the Son; yea, it pleased the Father, that in him should all fullness dwell, even as Mediator, Col. 1. 19 And the Son by the Ordination and appointment of the Father, communicates, derives, and by his Spirit imparts unto his Saints, all those spiritual Eph. 1. 3. Eph. 3. 8. blessings, all those unsearchable riches, all those riches of glory, or glorious riches, Ephes. 3. 16. which he hath received of his Father for them. Some of which heavenly and choicest treasures we find lying in the field, or rather Mine of this Text, (viz.) Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption. I shall now (Deo juvante) consider the Text itself, open the sense of the words, and draw some practical conclusions from the whole. The Apostle having humbled and dejected the Corinthians, ver. 26, 27. of this Chap. in calling upon them to see or consider their calling, (for ye see your calling Brethren, etc.) where calling is put metonymically for the persons called, that is, what manner of men they themselves were, and generally are, which God calls by the Gospel; not the wise after the flesh, not the Mighty, not the Noble, but commonly the foolish, weak, and base, for the poor receive the Gospel. Now in this verse the Apostle comforts and cheers them, and lifts up their heads Quos antea dejecerat, nunc supra omnes mortales evehit, sed ita ut omnem ipsorum dignitatem doceat, non ab ipsis, sed à Christo emanare, idque à Deo, id est, Dei unius vi, ac beneficio. Beza in loc above all other mortals, by informing them of their Origination from God, their Union with Christ, their spiritual descent from him in Christ Jesus. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus. Here the Apostle shows them the true rise of true honour, and of divine dignity, Corinthiorum animos dejecerat revo●ando eos ad intuendam suam ipsorum vocationem: quod fuit propemodum acsi dixisset, eos insipientes, ignobiles, infirmos omnes fuisse, & quasi non essent, quum ad Christum vocarentur. Quare nunc illos erigit, & pulchrè consolatur, dicens, licèt ex vobis ipsis tales fueritis ut modò estis à me descripti; Attamen jam ex Deo estis. P. Martyr in loc not springing from noble birth, or liberal breeding; not from any natural, moral, or secular accomplishments or considerations whatsoever. But from the special grace of God, the Father in Christ Jesus, manifested and put forth in a double act of divine love. 1. In Election. 2. In Regeneration. 1. In Election. God the Father did choose all believers in Christ before the foundation of the world, Ephes. 1. 4. in that eternal compact, or Foederal transactions between the Father and the Son, commonly called the Covenant of Redemption: Ye are of God in Christ Jesus; (viz.) Emphasis est in verbo estis. q. d. à Deo vobis est principium qui ea quae non sunt, vo●at in Christo verò subsistentia, etc. Calvin. by virtue of the Eternal Purpose and Decree of God: The gracious purpose of God the Father in Christ, is the beginning of the ways of God; the Original and highest Wellhead of all our holiness and happiness, as appears 2 Tim. 1. 9 where ye shall find, that both our Salvation and Calling are no other than the genuine efflux and products of God's purpose and grace given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. So Tit. 1. 2. In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie, promised before the world began. D. Jacomb in his Sermon upon Isa. 55. 10. How was this life promised before the world began, but in this everlasting Covenant, wherein the Father promised unto Christ eternal life for all his Seed? Though the Decrees of God are immanent, Decreta Dei nihil ponunt in Actu. and not transient acts, abiding (with reverence) in the Mind or Breast of God, and not actually passing upon the creature, yet God's eternal purpose in electing us in Christ is the primum mobile, the great wheel that sets all the other inferior wheels at work, that animates, quickens, and actually moves and influenceth, and constantly carries on and perfects all other intermediate acts of grace in order to our Salvation. God's blessing us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things and places, is said to be in relation unto, in correspondence with, in pursuance of his electing us in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in Christ, Ephes. 1. 3, 4. They are all Emanations from this Fountain. Thus in the first place, (and I think not improperly) we may be said to be of God in Christ Neque hoc intelligit quoad creationem, sed ait de eo, quod per gratiam & Regenerationem consecuti erant. P. Martyr. Jesus, viz.) of God, originally and primarily, in Christ Jesus, virtually and radically, by virtue of God's electing love to us in Christ before the world began. 2. More principally, according to the purport of this place; we are of God in Christ Jesus by the grace of Regeneration; we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, Ephes. 2. 10. Believers are of God, i. e. born of God in Christ Jesus; for the Father of our Lord Jesus, as our Spiritual Father, is said to have begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead, 1 Pet. 1. 3. Eadem sententia est cum illa, qui non ex sanguinibus neque ex voluntate carnis, etc. Pomeran. By virtue of his Will we are elected; and by the Power of the same Will we are called and regenerated, Jam. 1. 18. Of his own will begat he us by the word of truth, etc. One saith, This sentence is the same with that Joh. 1. 13. which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Let it not grieve the Saints in that they are not born of Nobles, nor descended of the blood of Princes, but rather rejoice and raise up their spirits in the midst of all reproaches and sufferings, in that they are the Sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus, a Divine Offspring, of an heavenly Extraction; rejoice in this, that your names are written in heaven: Ye are wise, noble, honourable, every way glorious creatures in Christ Jesus; in Christ Jesus, that is, by Eph 1. 6. In Christo Jesus; id est, per Christum Jesum, propter Christum Jesum, nam per Christum, & propter Christum, accepti & grati sumus Patri. Christ Jesus, and for Christ Jesus; for indeed we can be no way amiable or acceptable to the Father but in the beloved. We are said not only to be Elect in Christ Jesus, but also to be sanctified in Christ Jesus, 1 Cor. 1. 2. For indeed all our good the Father hath laid up in him, and daily dispenseth the same to us by him, and through him. Thus I have considered the former clause of the Text in haec verba, But of him are ye in Christ Jesus. Now the latter fall under an Analytical Examen, in these words, Who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. For the better explaining whereof, I shall briefly speak to these four. 1. Quis. 2. Quid. 3. A Quo, or unde. 4. Quomodo. 1. The Quis: Who is made of God unto us Wisdom; who, or what is the Antecedent to this relative; who? why Christ Jesus: Of him are ye in Christ Jesus; who, or which Christ Jesus is made of God unto us wisdom, etc. Valde observandus est hic locus, in quo, ad quatuor praecipua capita revocantur omnia quae in Christo adipiscimur beneficia. Beza. 2. The Quid: What is Christ Jesus made to the Saints; he is made indeed in effect all in all, and all things to the Saints; specifically in this Text these four, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; to which four chief Heads all the benefits, dignities and privileges we obtain by Christ, may be reduced, as a learned Writer well observes. Though the believing Corinthians, and all other truly sanctified in Christ Jesus, as men, are as vile as the dung, and as low as the dust, yet Factus est nobis à Deo sapientia, etc. i. e. ut sapientes & justi, & sancti, & liberi simus. Theohylact. in loc as Christians they shine as the stars, and are exalted as high as heaven. 1. Their understandings are enlightened by the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation, their darkness is scattered, their ignorance healed by Jesus Christ their Wisdom; and they (in their measure) like the Angels of God for wisdom, though they are foolish both in the world's matters, and in the world's account; for commonly the children of this world are wiser in their Generation than the children of light yet they are wise with the wisdom of Christ, the highest and purest wisdom; they are wise for heaven, wise for eternity, wise unto salvation. This is the first excellency. 2. They are freed from the guilt and punishment of sin, both from the dominion of sin and condemnation, and reputed righteous in foro coeli, in the Court of heaven, justified, acquitted, and accepted as Heirs of eternal life and glory by Jesus Christ their righteousness, The Lord their righteousness, Jer. 23. 6. 3. They are delivered from the power of sin, and cleansed from the filth of sin, decked with grace, endued with inward holiness, beautified with this purest glory by Jesus Christ their Sanctification. 4. They are delivered from the power of darkness, from the bondage of corruption, from all the pollutions of this world, from the slavish fears of death and hell, redeemed, or (at leastwise) ere long actually shall be from all the sins, sorrows, sufferings, and miseries attendant upon, or contingent unto this mortal and frail life; and lastly, saved from all their enemies, and from the hands of all that hate them, Luke 1. 71. by Jesus Christ their Redemption. These are the special dignities the Saints are advanced to, and the spiritual Royalties the Saints by Christ Jesus are invested with; who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, etc. Here is Christ displayed in all his glory, a Mine discovered in all its Treasures, a Fountain opened in all its fullness, our Mediator revealed in all his Offices; our illumination, or wisdom, belongs to the Office of Christ, as Prophet; both our Justification and Sanctification belong to the Office of Christ as Highpriest, and great Apostle of our profession, Heb. 3. 1. our Redemption externally from all Enemies, and internally from all sins and sorrows, respect the Office of Christ as Lord and King; for our Saviour must be a Princely Saviour, a Saviour, and a Prince, Acts 5. 31. And the Father hath made him both Lord and Christ, Lord over the dead and living; 'tis he that delivers us from the power of darkness, and translates us into his own Kingdom, Col. 1. 13. 3. A Quo, or unde: By whom is Christ made unto us wisdom, righteousness? etc. I answer, by God the Father, who of God is made unto us, etc. Christ the Son, in the Oeconomy or Dispensation of the Mediatorship, must be considered as God's servant; he is so called, Isa. 42. 1. Behold my servant whom I uphold. The Father broke the business to him of our Salvation; 'twas the Father that sent him into the world, and anointed him, Isa. 61. 1. He had both his Mission and Commission from his Father, him hath God the Father sealed; 'twas the Father that gave him the Spirit without measure, that filled him with an overflowing fullness of all good to us, and for us; therefore we have this phrase here, who of God is made unto us wisdom, etc. 4. Quomodo. How is Jesus Christ, or may Neque enim Christus creatus aut factus est quoad essentiam divinam: sed ordinatus & donatus nobis ad haec bona conferenda; ergo dicitur factus nobis. Par. Jesus Christ be said to be made unto us wisdom, etc. who is made to us, non creatione, sed ordinatione; not by Creation, but by appointment; he is constituted, ordained, or appointed by the Father to be our Wisdom, (that is) to be our Prophet, to open our ears to Discipline, and teach us wisdom; to be our Righteousness, that is, to be our Justifier, our Highpriest, to reconcile us to God, and make an atonement for us; to be our Sanctification, that is, to be our Sanctifier, (for whom he justifies by his Merit, them he sanctifies by his Spirit) to restore our souls for us, to renew us in the Spirit of our minds by the Spirit of holiness; to be our Redemption, Postremo dicetur nobis factus Redemtio quod ita per cum justificati, & sanctificati certam Redemtionem tandem assequa●ur. Beza. that is, to be a perfect and complete Redeemer to us; by being all this before, he will be Redemption in the abstract, a glorious Redeemer or Saviour to the uttermost at the last, Heb. 7. 25. Factus est nobis à Deo, etc. id est, qui da●us est nobis à Deo; who is made to us of God, that is, who is given to us of God, etc. to be our Wisdom, etc. Christ is not here given of the Father to us empty or scanty, but he comes to us laden and fully fraught with the blessings of heaven, and treasures of the Gospel. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Christ●s sidelibus non est datus va●●us, ●ed ad eos cum amplissimis is the sauris venit. P. M▪ Christ is not given as an ordinary, but as a supereminent and transcendent gift, Joh. 4. 10. He is that gift of God; he the Peerless Pearl, and personal Gift, came down from the Father of Lights, and brought all other good and perfect gifts, real, spiritual, divine, immortal excellencies from heaven along with him, Jam. 1. 17. Joh. 1. 16, 17, 18. Christ doth not give 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, giftless gifts, as commonly the men of the world give, but gifts of the highest nature, and of the greatest moment: As the Father gives the Son, so the Son gives himself, Tit. 2. 16. He gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works: And with himself he gives us the most suitable, the most profitable, the most permanent, the most magnificent and noble gifts; in a word, all spiritual blessings in heavenly things and places, Ephes. 1. 3. Thus have ye the Analysis of the Text; the Propositions most obvious from the Text, are these: 1. That Christians are of a Divine Origination, they are of God in Christ Jesus. 2. That Christ Jesus is given of God the Father in all his fullness to true Christians. 3. That Christ Jesus is given of God the Father for our wisdom, for our illumination. 4. That Christ Jesus is given of God the Father for our justification or righteousness. 5. That Christ Jesus is given of God the Father for our sanctification or holiness. 6. That Christ Jesus is given of God the Father for our redemption, or for our deliverance from all our enemies and miseries. To all these Propositions I have in some measure (so far as I have received) spoken: But the Argument I intent (God assisting) at this time, and in this Tract to dilate upon, is contained in the fifth Proposition, (That Christ Jesus is made, i. e. is ordained, is given of God the Father for our sanctification.) Reserving the rest for another Treatise, if these poor labours shall find acceptance with the Saints. — Who of God is made unto us— Sanctification.— Doct. Christ Jesus is given of God the Father for our sanctification. In the prosecution of this precious point, I shall observe this method. 1. I shall prove the point. 2. Endeavour to show how, or in what sense Jesus Christ is our sanctification. 3. Show what sanctification is. 4. The difference between justification and sanctification. 5. The transcendent excellencies of sanctification. 6. The blessed fruits of sanctification. 7ly and lastly, Make application of the whole. 1. For the proof of the point, this Text is plain and clear enough; Christ is made of God unto us sanctification. I need call in but two or three more Scriptures for farther confirmation, That out of the mouth of two or three witnesses every word might be established. The Testimonies I shall allege, are these; Tit. 2. 14. Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works; concerning which Text we may say, as one hath Hen in●. Com. in loc done before us, Singula verba singularem emphasin habent; every word hath a special emphasis: The particulars herein may be reduced to these four Principals. 1. The Donum or Donativum. 2. The Donans. 3. The Donati. 4. Finis Donationis. 1. The Donum or Donativum; the gift here said to be given is the great God, and that is here, even our Saviour Jesus Christ. The Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here, is not to be construed disjunctively, but exegetically. 2. The Donans; the giver or restorer of that gift is also Christ himself, who gave himself. 3. The Donati; the persons on whom this gift is bestowed; i. e. us, who gave himself for us. 4. Finis Donationis; the end wherefore this gift was given, is here expressed to be twofold. For Redemption. For Purification. 1. For Redemption: That he might redeem us from all iniquity. 2. For our Purification: And purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Where Christ is a Redeemer, he is also a Purifier; whom he justifies by his Merit and Blood from the guilt and punishment of sin, those he sanctifies by his Spirit and Word, from the contagion and filth of sin: And this he doth two ways. Sacramentally. Really. 1. Sacramentally: By instituting divers kinds of offerings and washings, and other ceremonial observances in the days of old; of these the Apostle tells us, that they sanctified to the purifying of the flesh, Heb. 9 13. making such as used them externally and Ecclesiastically In foro Ecclesiae. pure and holy. And thus Christians may be said to be purified in and by the Ordinances of Baptism, under the Gospel now. 2. Really: By inward, real and spiritual washing and purifying of the inner man, which consisteth in two things: In washing away the Gild and Filth of sin. The one is done away in Justification, the other in Sanctification. 1. In Justification. The blood of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cleanseth us from all sin, 1 Joh. 1. ●. So Heb. 1. 3. Christ by himself purged our sins, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; having made a purgation, or purification, that is, by making satisfaction to Divine Justice by the sacrifice of himself. 2. In Sanctification. Christ takes away the filth of sin; sin is called, but never out of its own name, pollution, uncleanness, superfluity of naughtiness, the scum of filthiness; and in order to our purification from it, the Blood and Spirit, Word and Ordinances of our Lord Jesus are called and compared to water, to cleanse us from all filthiness of flesh and spirit; and as God hath given us many promises to act faith upon, through Christ, for our purification; as Ezek. 36. 25. F●om all your filthiness, and from all your Idols will I cleanse you; and in v. 29. I will save you from all your uncleanness: So Jesus Christ hath undertaken (by God's appointment) to see these purifying promises performed in his Saints, in whom they are all Yea and Amen; and to bless and sanctify his Word and Ordinances for his people's purification, according to the Commandment he hath received from his Father. Again, Ephes. 5. 25, 26, 27. Who loved his Church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that he might present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, that it should be holy, and without blemish. Christ gave himself, that is, to death, (by the will of God, as 'tis expressed, Gal. 1. 4.) that he might sanctify it, that is, (say the Dutch Annotations) that he might separate her from all worldly men, and appropriate her to himself, and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word; that is, by his Blood and Spirit, whereof the washing of water in Baptism is a sign and seal, and withal, the means whereby the Spirit of Christ doth more and more strengthen this cleansing. The sum whereof is this; Christ by the will of God, and our Father gave himself to death for his Church. The Blood of Christ is the meritorious cause, the Spirit of Christ is the efficient cause, the Instrume●ta in divinis operantu● acsi non operant●r. Word and Ordinances are as subservient causes; they work as Instruments in the hands of Christ for the Church's sanctification; all the virtue that is in them, or flows out to the Saints from them, they receive from the efficiency of Jesus Christ. These Pipes receive the Golden Oil from this Candlestick. Lastly, the end of all is this, that he might present her to himself a glorious Church without spot, or wrinkle, etc. Thus the Church must be prepared by the Bridegroom's grace, and so fitted for the Bridegroom's glory. As the Virgins in Esther were to be purified with Oil of Myrrh, and sweet Odours, before Esther 2. 12. they entered into the King's Palace, or stood in the King's presence: So all the Virgins and followers of the Lamb are to be purified and refined by the Spirit and grace of the Lamb, and perfectly sanctified, completely glorified at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, Rev. 19 7. 9 Christians, your blessed Saviour is made of God, both righteousness and sanctification to ye; he hath both a glorious Robe of justification to impute, and a glorious Robe of sanctification to impart to all believers; and this, without controversy, is the white Linen of the Saints, which render them truly glorious, which commends them to God, to good men, to the holy Angels, which garment of glory and beauty they shall wear for ever in their Father's presence. The believing Corinthians, called to be Saints, are said to be sanctified in Christ Jesus, 1 Cor. 1, 2. The Church considered in her Inherent Grace, is but fair as the Moon, hath many spots in her, but in her Relation to Christ; so she is clear as the Sun, etc. Wherefore, though the Church in herself may be said to be poor, forlorn, deformed, needy. yet by Union with Christ, being implanted into him, * Ecclesia omnem suam sanctitatem venustatem & pulchritudinem, omnia sua bona in ge●ere à Christo Jesu sponso suo accipore & habere dicitur. P. Mart. she is rich with her Husband's riches, holy with his holiness, comely with his comeliness, illustrious with his glory, replenished with his fullness: He that is in Christ is a new creature, 2 Cor. 5. 17. When by faith unfeigned we are united, engrafted into Christ the true Vine, we really partake of spiritual life and sensation from him; we are sanctified in him, and by him: Wherefore speaks a worthy † Sanctificamur ergo, dum in Christi corpus inserimur, extra quod non nisi pollutio est: nec aliundè etitiamnobis confertur spiritus, quam à Christo, per quem Deo adharemus, & in quo simus nova creaturae. Calv. Author, we are then sanctified, when we are engrafted into Christ's body, out of which, instead of sanctification, there is nothing else but pollution, and no other way but from and by Christ is the Spirit of Holiness conferred upon us, etc. Christ in his most heavenly prayer, solemnly confesseth, that his Father sent him into the world for the sake of true believers. Joh. 17. 18. and that for their sakes he did sanctify himself, i. e. dedicate and give up himself for an holy Sacrifice, that they (viz.) believers might be sanctified by the truth, (that is, as most render it) might receive remission of sins, and sanctification of the Spirit; and in fine, the salvation of their souls, as evidently appears from Heb. 10. 10. Through the which will we are sanctified, through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all: And v. 14. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. All which Scriptures seem to a judicious ear to join in Consort, and speak one voice and language with the Text and point in hand; That Jesus Christ is given of God the Father for our Sanctification. Thus much for the first thing promised, (viz.) the proof of the point. We come to the second general. 2. How, or in what sense Jesus Christ may be said to be our Sanctification; or made, ordained, constituted, or given of God to be our Sanctification? I conceive Christ may be said to be our Sanctification in Scripture sense, these four ways. 1. By Imputation. 2. By Union. 3. By Assimilation. 4. By Influence and Communication. 1. By Imputation. 'Tis the saying of a Reverend man (now with God,) That the perfect purity of Christ's Humane Nature is reckoned unto M. Wilson in his Christian Dictionary believers by free imputation of faith: Christ is made unto us Sanctification; this is, (saith he) Sanctification imputed. Jesus Christ being consecrated, and set apart of God to be the Messiah and Mediator for mankind, and having for that purpose all the bounty and fullness of the Father poured on him, being truly God, and truly Man; and as Man, being conceived of the Holy Ghost without sin, ordained to be a Sacrifice for sin, and to sanctify and make his people holy, is worthily in Scripture called, That Holy One, Psa. 16. 10. Act. 3. 14. Joh. 1. 2. 20. Also he is termed the Holy of Holies, or most Holy, Dan. 9 24. And to anoint the most Holy. The poor imperfect Church of Christ, notwithstanding all her blots and spots, blains and Uxor illucescit radiis mariti. Qui justificantur sanctificantur, hae gratiae individuo nexu coherent. Calv. blemishes contracted by original and actual sins, is reputed as a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, as she shines by the rays of the Sun of righteousness, through the sanctification or perfect holiness of her Bridegroom Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is a believers righteousness for Justification, and his holiness for sanctification also: These two are Twins inseparable. The Lamb of God without spot was slain, 1 Pet. 1. 18. to purge us from the guilt of sin, for without shedding of blood there could be no remission, Heb. 9 22. And it must be a Lamb without spot and blemish, and offered up to God by the Eternal Spirit: This Lamb must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, God-man, or else your pollutions had never been removed, your Natures never sanctified, your consciences never purged from dead works, Heb. 9 14. But Christ by the Hypostatical union is eminently qualified, to be both virtually and efficiently your sanctification. As the benefits of Redemption accrue to us by the Kingly Office of Christ, so the benefits of Justification and Sanctification do accrue to us by the Priestly Office of Christ, as Pareus notes: Such an Highpriest it became us, who is holy, harmless, separate from sinners, Heb. 7. 26. And such an one is Christ: He did not only satisfy divine Justice, pacific the Father's wrath, make reconciliation for the sins of the people; but also, as the Highpriest of old, he did, and doth still appear before the Lord in garments of glory and beauty. See Exod. 28. 2, 3, 4, 5. Those garments of gold, blue, purple, scarlet etc. did consecrate Aaron to his Priestly Office: Those glorious garments, without controversy, did typify the pure habitual and actual holiness of our great Highpriest Jesus Christ, expressed by his anointing, Isa. 61. 1. and receiving the Spirit without measure, Joh. 3. 34. That unction and unmeasurable effusion of the Spirit upon him, did consecrate and sanctify him to all his Offices, he was anointed for us, to be a Prophet to us, to be a King in us, to be a Priest for us; which fullness of the Spirit of grace in our Head Christ, is reputed to every one sanctified in Christ Jesus for their sanctification or holiness, which doth also expiate and purge out of the sight of God, all their impurity or unholiness: This holy person described by his glorious titles, (viz.) the Son of God, the Heir of all things, the Maker of the worlds, the brightness of his Father's glory, the express Image of his person, the upholder of all things by the Word of his Power, is said by himself to have purged our sins, Heb. 1. 1, 2, 3. As by the merit of his passive righteousness to purge us from the guilt of sin, so by the influential efficacy of his sanctity, or inherent righteousness, to purge us from the filth of sin, and take down the power of it. God accepts of believers in themselves impure and imperfect, as perfect and complete in him, who is our Head and fullness. Thus Christ is our Sanctification, by way of Imputation. 2. Jesus Christ is our sanctification by way of Union: Union with him is the ground or Basis both of our Justification and Sanctification by him: He that hath the Son, hath life, Joh. 1. 5. Dulcius ex ipso fonte. 12. With him is the fountain of life, Psa. 36. 9 by Faith (through the spirit) a believer hath union with Christ's person, and so communion with his life: He that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life, Joh. 3. ult. Whereupon Jesus Christ is called the life, Joh. 14. 6. and our life, Col. 3. 4. our life of righteousness, our life of holiness, our life of glory, or happiness; and this life is in his Son, 1 joh. 5. 11. By believing we are united to Christ, who is our Head, Fountain, and Principle of spiritual life, or holiness, as the Head is the Principle and Fountain of sense and motion, Ephes. 4. 15, 16. From him, the Head, the Apostle tells us, the whole body is fitly joined and compacted together, and so maketh increase to the edifying of itself in love. All the grace that is in us is but a measure or overflowing of his fullness. Christ is— principle of holiness, by which it is wrought, and also the rule unto which it is proportioned. Dr. Reynolds in his life of Christ. Heb. 12. 2. Christ is the Author and finisher of our faith; he is the first and the last, the Alpha and Omega, both the beginner of our sanctification here on earth, and the perfecter thereof in heaven. As the members by nerves and ligaments are firmly knit to the Head, the superstructure to the foundation, the branches to the Vine, the Wife to the Husband by the Marriage-knot, so are the Saints of God firmly and closely united to Jesus Christ in the spirit, 1 Cor. 6. 17. By virtue of which union they cannot but derive and draw down continual supplies of spiritual life from him; for he is the life, and he is their life. Consider a little the nature of this wonderful Union, I shall but touch it in transitu. 1. It is an Union of Nature; we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones, Heb. 2. 14. because the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same: Christ condescended to assume our Humane Nature, that we might partake of his Divine Nature; he took upon him our rag of flesh, that he might us with his robe of glory. 2. It is an union of and in the spirit, 1 Cor. 6. 17. He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit; as man and wife united make one flesh, so Christ and believers united in and by the spirit, make up one spiritual Christ. 3. It is an union of relations, and that of the nearest and sweetest: Christ is the everlasting Father, Isa 9 6. and begets children to God in his own likeness. Christ is the Son of God, believers are the Sons of God, but Christ is the Son of God's Nature, but we are the Sons of God's will; he by eternal Generation, but we by the grace of Regeneration, to conformity to whose Image we are predestinated, Rom. 8. 29. He is the firstborn among many Brethren, and is not ashamed to call us Brethren, Heb. 2. which relation also bespeaks likeness, for brethren for the most part resemble brethren. Lastly, Christ is our redeeming Kinsman, and Husband, and we are his redeemed Kindred and Spouse: These relations also import similitude, and proportion between Christ and us: Christ as our Redeemer came to deliver us, etc. that we might be like him, and serve him in holiness and righteousness, Luke 1. 74, 75. he came not only to justify, but also to sanctify, Tit. 2. 16. he came as Redeemer, not only to save from hell, but also to save from sin, Mat. 1. 21. not only to deliver us from eternal condemnation, but also from our vain conversation, 1 Pet. 1. 18. not only to proclaim liberty to the Isa. 61. 1, 2, 3. Captives, and the opening of the prisons to them that are bound, but also to pull off their rotten rags, their nasty prison garments, and to Zech. 3. 3, 4. them with change of raiment; to cleanse and wash them from the pollution of sin, and put upon them a robe of righteousness, and renew them with inward holiness, and so to present them as beautiful and glorious, without spot or wrinkle, etc. To show consent, I shall take the boldness M. Jeremy Burroughs in his Saint's Treasury. p. 46. to transcribe the words of a Famous man (now in heaven:) Our Sanctification (saith he) is not only from Christ meritoriously, but efficiently, and in a kind materially too; he doth not only merit it, and work it by his spirit, but through our union with him, there is a kind of flowing of Sanctification from him into us, as the principle of our life; as from the liver there flows blood into all the parts of the body, so through our union with Christ, he having the fullness of the Godhead in him, from him, as from a Fountain, sanctification flows into the souls of Saints; their sanctification comes not so much from their struggling, and endeavours, I wish all disconsolate souls, desponding for want of holiness, would (in the strength of the Lord) take his counsel. vows, and resolutions, as it comes flowing to them, from their closing with Christ, and union with him: There may be (saith he) a great de● of striving and endeavouring that may be utterly ineffectual for want of having recourse to Christ, as the Spring and Wellhead of all grace and holiness. Thus Jesus Christ is our Sanctification; by union with him, we are sanctified in him, and daily receive supplies of grace from him. 3. Jesus Christ may be said to be our Sanctification, and to be given of God for our Sanctification, in regard of Assimilation. 1. As Christ is the Author, so Christ is the 1 Christ is the pattern of our Sanctification. Rule and Pattern of our Sanctification; formal and complete Sanctification consists in a souls conformity to Jesus Christ, as the Exemplar or Pattern of his obedience, Heb. 12. 3. Consider him that endured, etc. i. e. consider him as the Pattern and Precedent of your obedience, both active and passive: Wherefore ye shall find that Christ propounds his own example, as the pattern of our obedience, joh. 13. 15. I have given you an example, i. e. of meekness and humility, that you should do as I have done to you. So Mat. 11. 29. Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly. Again, Phil. 2. 5. Let the same mind be in you as was in Christ; i. e. the same opinion, judgement, affections, compassions. Once more, 1 Pet. 1. 15. As he who hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. Christ throughout his whole life was a standing rule, a walking Bible, a visible Commentary on God's Law, whose ordinary communicable works and duties, are recorded for our imitation. 2. Holiness is the Image of Christ: Now as 2. Holiness is the Image of Christ. the face is both the fountain of that Image or Species which is shed upon the glass, and likewise it is the exact pattern and example of it too; so Jesus Christ is both the principle of holiness, by whom it is wrought, and the pattern to which it is conform. Now in an Image there are two things. 1. Proportion. 2. Deduction. 1. Proportion. A similitude of one thing to another. 2. Deduction. A derivation, or impression of similitude upon the one from the other, and with relation thereunto. Now our Renovation is after the Image of Christ, 1 Cor. 15. 49. As we have born the Image of the earthly, so we shall bear the Image of the heavenly Adam, begat a Son in his own likeness, i. e. his Son was like him in corruption and mortality; so in the Regeneration, Christ begets children to himself in his own likeness, i. e. like him in grace and holiness, in spirituality and immortality, for the seed of which we are begotten is incorruptible. When man had lost that glorious Image 1 Pet. 1. 23 of God wherein he was created, he became an ugly and a miserable creature presently; ugly, because he had lost his holiness; miserable, because full of guilt and horror; he durst no more draw near to the most holy inaccessible Majesty, than stubble before the flames: No man can see his face, and live: We all by sin are come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deficiuntur. short of God's glory, Rom. 3. 23. both of the glory of his Image, and of the glory of his Kingdom. Now unless the Lord be pleased to exhibit this Image to us through some glass or veil, we must be for ever both desolate and destitute. And this the Lord hath graciously been pleased to do by the veil of Christ's flesh; he is God manifest in the flesh, 1 Tim. 3. 16. The glory of God now shines in upon us, and before us, in and from the face of jesus Christ, 2 Cor. 4. 6. Christ is the Image of Col. 1. 15. the invisible God, and he that hath seen him, hath seen the Father: So that now by the Incarnation of the Son, there is a Vision of God's glory, and a restauration of God's Image, joh. 1. 18. No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. The glittering beamings of the Invisible and Eternal Glory, did and do shine most resplendently through the transparent medium of Christ's Humane Nature, which seen, and taken in by the eye of Faith, do strangely irradiate and enlighten, beautify and glorify the soul of man▪ and renew it according to the Image Ephes. 4. 23, 24. of God, in righteousness and true holiness. 4ly and lastly, Jesus Christ is our Sanctification, by way of influence and communication: This is more general, and hath some connexion with, and dependence upon the former: Ye have received an Unction from the Holy One, i e. Christ, etc. joh. 1. 2. 20. This Unction is like that ointment that ran down from the head of Aaron unto the skirts of his garments, to note the plentiful effusion of the Spirit on Christ, and from Christ, unto his lowest members. 1. The Spirit of holiness was Christ's right jure proprio, by virtue of the personal union; so that Christ had a plenitude or fullness of the spirit in him, like the fullness of a fountain; but to us the spirit belongs by an inferior union So Bishop Down●m in his Justification. through Christ our Head, by way of influence from Christ our Head: from the grace of the Spirit is derived in such proportion, as Christ is pleased to communicate, yet 'tis the same holiness for truth and substance: As it is the same light which breaketh forth in the dawning Simile. of the day, with that which inhereth in the body of the Sun, shining in his strength; 'tis in Christ in fullness, in us in measure: The Apostle tells us, 2 Cor. 3. 18. We are changed into the same likeness with Christ by the Spirit of the Lord. 2. Of this fullness of the Spirit which is in Christ, believers do receive, and grace for grace, joh. 1. 16. As the Child receives member for member from the Father, and as the paper receiveth letter for letter from the Press, etc. so a sanctified soul receives grace for grace, i. e. all manner of grace, exactly and proportionably from Jesus Christ. The glorious Image of God's holiness in Christ, fashioneth and produceth itself in the hearts of the faithful; as Simile. an Image or species of light shining on a glass, doth from thence fashion itself upon a wall by reflection: As the head communicates real influences to the body, so jesus Christ, who is both an head of eminence and of influence, communicates his spirit, grace, light, life, comfort to his Body the Church; for he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified, are both of one: As they are one in Nature, so one in Spirit, and in spiritual likeness also. For the farther explication and illustration of this deep and illustrious truth, (viz.) The Jesus Christ is our Sanctification. Before I come to the definition of Sanctification, I shall subjoin these particulars. Causa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Causa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae & meritoria. 1. That the will of God is the inward impulsive cause of our Sanctification. 2. That the blood of Christ is the moral and meritorious cause of our Sanctification. 3. That the holiness of Christ is the material Causa materialis. cause. 4. That the infusion of Holiness, or giving of Causa formalis. the Spirit, is the formal cause. 5. That the Spirit of Christ is the efficient cause. Causa Efficiens. Causae Administrae. Polan. Causae exemplares. 6. That the Word, Ordinances and Faith, ar● the ministering instrumental causes. 7. That the Death and Resurrection of Christ, are the exemplary causes or patterns. 8ly and lastly, That the glory of God in th● D. Ames in Medulla. Theolog. Consecration and Salvation of a sinful creature, i● the supreme end, or final cause of our Sanctification. 1. The Will of God is the principal internal 1 The principal moving cause. moving cause of our Sanctification, Heb. 10. 9, 10. Then, said he, ●o I come to do thy wi●● O God: He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second; that is, he taketh away the first sort of Sacrifices and Propitiations, which was the blood of Bulls and Goats, etc. and establish the second standing Sacrifice, (which is) the offering up of the body of Jesus Christ once for all, by the which will we are sanctified, v. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. i. e. it was the good pleasure of the Father's will, to appoint and accept this precious Sacrifice for our Justification, Sanctification, and complete Salvation. This is the will of God, even our Sanctification, 1 Thes. 4. 3. This is the will of his Precept, that Christ Jesus should be our Sanctification; this is also the will of his Purpose, and Eternal Counsel: Why did God choose us in Christ before the foundation of the world? the Apostle tells us, that we should be holy, Ephes. 1. 4. The principal moving cause of our Regeneration, is the will of God; Of his own will begat he us, etc. 1 Jam. 18. What more clear? 2 The meritorious cause. Omne donum gratiae Dei in Christo est. Ambr. in Ephes. 1. Causa efficiens interna propter quam Deu● nos regenerate, est meritum, justi●ia obedientia Christi. Polan. 2. The blood of Christ is the moral and meritorious cause of our Sanctification; all blessings and graces come down from the Father of Lights through the Sun of Righteousness; both grace and glory, holiness and happiness, flow in to us through the Channel of Christ's blood: The blood of Christ is both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; both the Price of our Redemption, and the Laver of Regeneration also; as is evident by these Scriptures, Heb. 9 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who by the Eternal Spirit offered up himself without spot to God, purge your consciences from dead works, etc. 1 Joh. 1. 7. The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin, f●om the guilt and filth of sin. Heb. 1. 3. He by himself hath purged our sins; Heb. 13. 12. And that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, he suffered without the gate. As a price is said to do that, which a man doth by that power the price purchaseth, so the blood of Christ is said to cleanse us, because the Office or Power whereby he sanctified us, was conferred upon him sub intuitu pretii, under the condition of suffering; for it was necessary, that Remission and Purification should be Morte sua Christus est meritus, resurrectione efficaciter regenerations in nobis applicat. Syntag. Polan. p. 467. both by blood, Heb. 9 22, 23. Christ by his bloody death merited, impetrated, and obtained of his Father the spirit of holiness, faith, the word, promises, and all spiritual blessings, in order to his people's sanctification, Ephes. 1. 3, 4. Phil. 1. 29. Had it not been for this moral and meritorious cause, (the blood of Christ) which is the sole foundation of the Spirits efficiency, of the Faith's existence and instrumentality, of the Word and Promises operation and efficacy, we should never have felt the efficiency of the Spirit, nor the working of Faith, nor the effectual operation of the Word and Promises in the Purification of our Natures, or in the conversion of our souls to God. This purifying virtue of the blood of Christ was typically held forth by divers kinds of offerings, and washings, oblations, and ablutions under the Law, and other ceremonia observances, which the Apostle hath reference to, Heb. 9 13. The blood of Bulls and Goats, an● the ashes of an Heifer, sprinkling the unclean sanctified to the purifying of the flesh; that is, legally and carnally sanctified them, and made them externally pure and holy, as to the Church, into which they were incorporated: But that which was legally and carnally in the Type, was really, substantially, and spiritually effected in the Antitype, the sacrifice of Christ's body, typified by that bloody sacrifice of beasts; as ver. 14. following asserteth; How much more (saith he) shall the blood of Christ, etc. Thus 'tis clear, that the blood of Christ is the moral and meritorious cause of our Sanctification; yea, and the procuring cause of all other blessings, causes, helps, and means, which by divine order and appointment concur to, cooperate in the production and progress of our Sanctification. 3. What is the material cause of our Sanctification? I answer. As the Filiation or Sonship of 3 The material cause. Christ is the material cause of our Adoption, and as the full satisfaction of Christ to the Justice of God, is the material cause of our Reconciliation; and as the perfect righteousness of Christ, as God-man; is the material cause of our justification, so (I humbly suppose) the perfect purity of Christ's Humane Nature, by the Hypostatical Union, united to the divine in one pers●n, and the unmeasurable fullness of the spirit in him, is the material cause of our Sanctification; all the holiness that is in us, is but the beaming forth of his holiness, a ray of his glory, a measure of his spirit, a sprinkling of his Unction, an overflowing of his fullness, for of his fullness we receive, and grace for grace, Joh. 1. 16. In a word, 'tis the communication of the Divine Nature, 2 Pet. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Divine consortes naturae. So Montanus. 4. The Saints are there said to be partakers of the Divine Nature: But how? not that we are Christed into Christ, or Godded into God, as some of late days have most absurdly (if not blasphemously) imagined. We cannot be partakers of God's Substance, or Essence, for that is incommunicable to any creature, but believers partake (per Christ) of the communicable divine qualities and perfections, as wisdom, knowledge, righteousness, holiness, etc. Col. 3. 10. Ephes. 4. 24. This glorious Image of God we lost in the first, and have it restored in the second Adam. Christ received the spirit above measure, we have but some drops or drams of it; he was Joh. 3. 34. anointed with the Oil of gladness above his fellows, yet for his fellows, whole Christ was given to us, Isa. 9 6. To us a Child is born, to us a Son is given: His sanctification also must needs be for us, for our good and benefit; For their sakes I sanctify myself, (saith Christ) that they might be sanctified by the truth, Joh. 17. 19 Holiness in Christ is as the light in the Sun ever shining, and as water in a living fountain never failing, ever running: He is both an ever-flowing, Simile. and an overflowing fountain of grace to us; as 'tis endless and boundless in Christ, so it is diffusive and communicative to his members: Jesus Christ is the Candlestick, from whence the Golden Pipes do empty the golden oil through themselves, Zech. 4. 11, 12. Christ is this Candlestick; the two Olive-trees See the Dutch Annotat. on the place. signify his Kingly and Priestly Offices; the Golden Oil, signifieth the gifts and graces of the Spirit: It must needs be so, because it is the pleasure of the Father, that in him should all fullness dwell, Col. 1. 19 What is this fullness? It is all the fullness of the Godhead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bodily, i. e. personally, substantially; for as the Hebrews put souls for persons, as so many souls went down into Egypt, etc. so the Greeks put bodies for persons. Our Lord Jesus is his Fathers Gazophylacium, the great Magazine of infinite riches and treasures. Note here a Climax, yea three gradations, the Godhead, the fullness of the Godhead; yea, all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ bodily. Now our holiness is a stream derived from this Fountain, a part or parcel of this fullness. 4. What is the formal cause of our Sanctification? 4 The formal cause. I answer, 'Tis the infusion of the habits of grace into us, (as the Schoolmen call them) 'tis the endowment of the soul with inward holiness: So Mr. Perkins, 'Tis the infusion of or communion with the spirit: So D. Reynolds, 'Tis the operation of the spirit dwelling in us, as a spirit of sanctification, Luke 11. 13. Joh. 14. 16, 17. 'Tis the deriving or drawing down the holiness that is in Christ our Head, by the spirit of holiness, who is the Bond of union and communion between him and us; 'tis the spirits transforming of us into the likeness of our Lord Jesus, or the delineation of the Picture of Christ, by the spirit of Christ in the The spirit looks directly upon the glorious Image of Christ represented in the Gospel, and draws exactly the picture thereof in a Saint's heart. Mr. Rich. Vines in ●oc. Zech. 13. 1. soul of man, 2 Cor. 3. 18. It's Synonima's in Scripture are very emphatical, 'tis called a quickening, Ephes. 2. 1. a birth, Joh. 3. 3. a forming of Christ, Gal. 4. 19 a Regeneration, or begetting again, 1 Pet. 1. 3. a new heart, and a new spirit, Ezek. 36. 26. a renewing of the mind, Rom. 12. 2. a new creature, 2 Cor. 5. 17. the new man, Ephes. 4. 24. the renewing of the Holy Ghost, Tit. 3. 5. And the Divine Nature, and the Image or likeness of Christ, in respect of its Divine original and transcendent excellency. The Father sends the Son into the world to work out eternal Redemption for us; and to that end, to open a fountain in his side and heart for our purification; he furnished him with an instrumental fullness and fitness, to be the Lord our righteousness, and our Fountain of grace and holiness; the Son finisheth his Joh. 17. 4. Eph 4. 8. work, ascends up on high, receiveth gifts for men, sends the holy spirit, the sanctifier and comforter, as his Viceroy, to dwell in us, and abide with us for ever; and not only to dwell in us, as our heavenly companion and comforter, but also to work in us as our Sanctifier, Joh 14 16 17. and therefore called, The Spirit of holiness, Rom. 1. 4. He receives from the Son wisdom, righteousness, holiness, all gifts and graces wherewith Joh. 16. 14. He shall glorify me (saith Christ) for he shall receive of mine. Christ was anointed, and bestows them upon the Saints, anoints them with this Unction, implants in them these gifts and graces, imprints upon them the Divine Nature, and therewith sanctifies them; which very impression of the Divine Nature (or likeness of Christ) on the soul of man, by the energy of the spirit, I conceive to be the very formality of sanctification. For the better explication and dilucidation of this Argument, give me leave to show what it is to sanctify. The word Sanctify hath many acceptions, the most famous are these two: 1. To set apart. 2. To cleanse. In each of which we suppose something privative, and something positive. 1. When it signifies to set apart, we must conceive, not only a setting a thing or a person apart from a common or profane use, but also it's or his actual dedication to holy uses, or setting apart for God, which is the proper notion of it. 2. When it signifies to cleanse, you must not only conceive a purgation from filthiness, but also a plantation of the seed of grace, called the seed of God. The abolition of natural corruption is the privative part; the renovation of God's Image is the positive part of Sanctification. 1. To sanctify, is to set apart, and dedicate. Thus God's people are set apart, and dedicated by God, and for God. 1. Before time. 2. In time. 1. Before time. They are set apart by God's Decree to be an holy seed to himself in and by Christ, separate from the reprobate and perishing world, to be Vessels of Honour; whereas the Reprobates are called Vessels of wrath, and dishonour, Psa. 1. 4. Him that is godly, God M. Burroughs in his Saint's Treasury. hath set apart for himself; i. e. as a good man saith, Not only actually set apart in vocation, but virtually set apart by God from eternity in Election, Ephes. 1. 4. Having chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, etc. 2. In time. They are regenerated, called, or actually sanctified, or set apart to be Vessels of Honour, sanctified, and meet for the Master's service, 2 Tim. 2. 21. Sanctification is an actual W●llebius in his Body of Divinity. Election, by which we are set apart from the miserable and vain world, to act for God by Jesus Christ, and to seek the things that make for his glory. Thus by Regeneration we are called his First-fruits, which under the Law were the Lords portion, Jam. 1. 18. Of his own will begat he us, by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of the first fruits of his new creatures; as they are born from above, Joh. 3. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. so they are born for above; they have heavenly affections, and heavenly conversations, and shall have heavenly Mansions. The Saints of Joh. 14 2. God, among other Titles, are called an holy Nation, a Royal Priesthood, and a Peculiar People, 1 Pet. 2. 9 The Priests of old were men consecrated to Minister in God's presence. Now 1. This Consecration infers an holy preciseness, and peculiar singularity in the Saints, to keep themselves unspotted from the world, Jam. 1. 28. 2. As God doth consecrate the Saints, so they themselves having received grace from above, do willingly dedicate and consecrate themselves too God. They present their bodies, i. e. their persons, (the body being put Synechdochically for the whole man) as an holy and living sacrifice, Rom. 12. 1. And for this dedication, the Lord calls, when he saith, My Son, give me thine heart, etc. he is pleased to call it by the name of a gift, when 'tis his due debt; and because our free consent is a necessary fruit of his free grace, every gracious soul doth voluntarily surrender or give up itself to God, (as the Macedonians did) 2 Cor. 8. 5. Thus in the first place, to sanctify is to set apart, and dedicate to an holy use. 2. To sanctify, is to cleanse, together with its positive act, to renew, endow, or adorn with grace: The privative part is cleansing, the positive part is adorning. First, I shall consider the privative part of Sanctification, as it is a cleansing work. As the word Sanctify signifies to separate, so there is a difference between the Saints, and others; but as it signifies to cleanse, so there is a difference between the Saints, and themselves. 1. They differ from others, because they are a people set apart to live and act for God, whether they eat or drink, buy or sell, they do all for God, that is, with respect to his glory, 1 Cor. 10. 31. and so they are distinct from the men of the world, who are merely byassed by their own principles, swayed by their own interests, and act for Carnal Self in all they do. 2. Sanctification makes a difference between them and themselves, inter them unregenerate, and themselves regenerate; they were filthy before, but washen now; impure before, but holy now; Lions before, Lambs now; Swine before, but Doves now: May not we say to, and of, the best of Saints that are extant, as the Apostle speaks of the converted Corinthians? 1 Cor. 6. 11. Such were some of you; i. e. some of you had been Idolaters, Adulterers, Drunkards, Covetous, etc. but now ye are washed, justified, and sanctified in the Name, and by the Spirit of our Lord Jesus; that is, ye are not the same men and women that ye were before, the grace of God having changed both their relations, and their qualities. As a man, lately converted, answered his old Companions, when solicited to excess of Riot. Now I am not I: As sin Ego non sam Ego. Eras. makes a wonderful cursed change in and upon the soul, from good to bad, yea, to stark naught; so grace makes a wonderful blessed change in and upon the soul, from the worst, to the best relation and condition that the rational creature can attain unto. The deep and ingrained pollution of our nature is purged and done away. 1. Inchoatively, and generally, at our grand bathing in Regeneration, or first conversion, Tit. 3. 5. when the soul doth begin at first to wash itself in the Fountain of Christ's blood, that Fountain opened for sin, and for uncleanness; Zech 13. 1. that is the first cleansing, than the Leprosy gins to be abated, and the soul to be made white in the blood of the Lamb; then sin hath its mortal blow. 2. Gradually, and progressively, by degrees; the Image of Christ is drawn brighter and brighter, goes on from glory to glory in the soul of man, by the Pourtraicture of the spirit, 2 Cor. 3. 18. and as the righteousness of Justification, so the righteousness of Sanctification also is revealed, and carried on from faith to faith: The path of the just is a shining light, Pro. 4. 18. that shineth more and more unto the perfect day: As Naaman by the Prophet's order went 2 Kin. 5. 10. 14. down, and washed himself seven times in the streams of Jordan; so the sinful soul of man must go down believingly, and wash itself in the blood of Christ, and in the water of the spirit, in the stream of this Jordan, if ever it will be clean. Christ washed his Disciples feet, Joh. 13. 11, 12. alluding to the custom of the Jews, who wearing Sandals, and dirtying their feet daily, were wont to wash their feet daily: So every day, while we converse in and with the world, we contract dirt and filth daily, we must be therefore washing off the dirt, by the renewed acts of faith and repentance daily; we ought to make recourse daily to the blood, spirit, word, and promises of Christ for our Justification, and thereby cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, 2 Cor. 7. 1. 3. Totally, or wholly, that is at our dissolution, when we shall be glorified, when the body of flesh shall lie in the dust of death, than the body of sin shall lie down with it, than the souls of the Saints shall be presented glorious, without spot, or wrinkle, be pure from sin and perfect in holiness. Now through grace, the Saints are freed from the guilt and dominion of sin, but at death they are perfectly free from the being of it: As a worthy man well observes, That as sin brought death into the world D. Manton in M. Love's Funeral Sermon. with it, so death, by way of revenge, carries out sin: 'Tis probable, the time will be in the very moment of expiring, (saith the same Author.) As the soul in the moment of its conjunction with the body, became sinful; so the soul in the moment of its disjunction from the body, becomes perfectly sanctified, and is presented perfect by Christ to God; for no unclean thing shall enter into the New Jerusalem, Rev. 21. 27. Thus much for the privative part of Sanctification, as it is a cleansing work. 2. Something (very briefly) of the positive work of Sanctification, as it is a decking or adorning the soul with grace; under the Law, as there was an Altar for Oblation, so there was a Laver for Ablution; and the Priests were commanded to wash in the great Laver, before they came to minister at the Altar, Exod. 30. 18, 19, 20. As the Oblation, or Offering, did note Justification, so the ablution, or washing, did note our Sanctification. And moreover, the legal Priests were to be adorned with gorgeous attire, with glorious garments, when they appeared before the Lord; which garments of glory and beauty, without controversy, did Exod. 28. figure out, the glorious graces of Christ, and all true Christians; for as Christ is their King and Priest, so they (through the riches of grace) have Communion with him in his Offices, and therefore called a Royal Priesthood, 1 Pet. 2. 9 To be sanctified, is more than to be purified; for besides the expulsion of sin in Sanctification, there is an infusion of grace, a new disposition and frame of soul, called a new heart, and a new spirit, Ezek. 36. 25, 26, 27. (i. e.) a new mind, new apprehensions, a new will, new desires, new affections, from whence there follows newness of life and conversation. 1. There is a new heart, that is conformity to God's Nature, when the heart of man is like the heart of God, as David is said to be a man after Gods own heart: Conformity to the 2 Pet. 1. 4. Divine Nature, is this new heart: The Nature of God, is the pattern of that Sanctification which is wrought in the heart of man. 2. There is a new life, that is, our conformity to God's Law, or revealed Will, whose will is our Sanctification, 1 Thes. 4. 3. An holy heart breathes and breaks out into an heavenly conversation, Phil. 3. 20. Our conversation is in heaven: The first is our habitual holiness, the second is our actual. The sum is this, our habitual conformity to the Nature or Image of God, and our actual conformity to the Will of God, (thereon depending) is formally our Sanctification. Thus I have showed what it is to sanctify, and have opened the more eminent acceptations of it: We come now to the fifth thing propounded. 5. The Spirit of Christ is the efficient cause of our Sanctification. The work of Creation is commonly ascribed to God the Father, the work of Redemption to God the Son, and the work of Sanctification to God the Holy Spirit; yet Sanctification being a work ad extra, is common to all the persons. 1. It is ascribed to God the Father, Judas 1. to them which are called and sanctified of God the Father. 1 Pet. 1. 3. Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, etc. 2. Christ is said to sanctify us; He is made of God to us Sanctification, 1 Cor. 1. 2. To the Church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, Heb. 13. 12. Wherefore Jesus, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. 3. The Spirit is said to sanctify: Hence these phrases, the sanctification of the Spirit, 1 Pet. 1. 2. 2 Thes. 2. 13, 14. and the spirit of holiness, Rom. 1. 4. The Sanctification of the Spirit, is as necessary as the mercy of the Father, or the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus. Christ by the redundancy of his Merit hath impetrated, and obtained the Spirit of the Father, to sanctify those whom he means to save, to purify, and make them meet for glory, whom he died for, and justified by his blood, The Inchoation is from the Father, the Dispensation is by the Son, the Consummation by the Spirit: 'Tis from the love of the Father, and by virtue of the Merit of the Son, that we are sanctified; but 'tis properly the Office, and the distinct personal operation of the spirit of holiness to sanctify; and it must be the mighty power of the eternal spirit, that converts or sanctifies, because 'tis such a power as is commensurate and proportionate to the raising of the dead, Ephes. 1. 19, 20. called the exceeding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Supereminens magnitudo. Montan. greatness of his power, etc. We are not sanctified or converted, as the Papists and Arminians say, by a moral suasion, or by the bare improvement of our own free will, nor by the accession of some additional help to Nature, but by the most strong, and yet most sweet efficacy of the Almighty Spirit, Psa. 110. 3. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power; or as some render it, in the day of thy Armies; 'tis therefore called a Regeneration, a begetting In die Copiarum. So M. Ainsworth. a soul again, 'tis a new Creation, 'tis a Vivification, or quickening a man before dead in sins and trespasses, not languishing and declining, but in a moral sense stark dead; nay, 'tis a Resurrection, a rising out of the grave of sin and death: All these works of wonder, or rather this one mysterious work of Sanctification, illustrated by these Metaphors, bespeaks no less than the Almighty power of a God, who is able to subdue all things to himself. Phil. 3. 2● 1. 'Tis a Regeneration, or a begetting again, 1 Pet. 1. 3. Jam. 1. 18. 2. 'Tis a Creation, Ephes. 2. 10. We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works: 2 Cor. 5. 17. He that is in Christ is a new creature: Behold, (saith Christ) I make all things new. 3. 'Tis a vivification, or quickening, Eph. 2. 1. You hath he quickened, who were dead in sins and trespasses. A natural man is both legally an morally dead, till the Spirit of Life breathes upon him, and quickens him, Joh. 5. 25. That promise is still in fulfilling now, that the dead shall hea● the voice of the Son of God, and they that hea● shall live. 4. 'Tis a Resurrection, Col. 3. 1. If ye then ●● risen with Christ, seek the things that are above yea, 'tis more, a kind of confession, or sitting together with Christ, Eph. 2. 6. And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. If we live to God we live the life of heaven: Now to regenerate to create, to make all things new, to revive a m●● dead, to raise up a man out of the grave (● Lazarus) both dead and buried; all these ar● the Acts of Omnipotency, the works of ● God, and all those works are done in this o●● work, by the invincible efficiency of the Spirit. 6. The word and faith are the Ministering are Instrumental causes of our Sanctification The Spirit is called the Spirit of Faith. Aristotle calls the hand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the instrument of instruments. Faith being the gift of God, and wrought by the operation of the Spirit, unites the soul to Christ, the Fountain of Holiness, and Hea● of Influence, and having united the soul ●● him, continually receives supplies from him 'Tis the hand of the soul, that useful instrument, whereby we apprehend Christ, and whereby we draw down virtue from Christ Hence, as an Organ or Instrument, it is said to purify, Acts 15. 9 Having purified their heart by faith. As Faith hath the Noblest Objects so Faith for its use and office here, is the Noblest grace; Faith indeed infused and created in us by the Spirit, is commonly called the See Dr. Owen's death of death, p. 126. Simile. Mother grace, and is itself formally a great part of our sanctification. As the woman sick of the Bloody Issue put forth her hand, and touching the Him of Christ's garment, drew virtue from him, and was healed: So that soul to whom Christ hath given the hand of Faith, doth put it forth, make application of the Merits, and mediation of Jesus Christ for his Purification, and doth in truth draw in virtue by that application, 1 Joh. 3. 3. He that hath this hope doth purify himself, even as he is pure. Faith exerts the office of all the senses, and of all the members, 'tis the eye, the hand, the mouth, the foot of the Soul, etc. as might be proved easily, if I should exspatiate: As Christ is all in all to the soul in the sanctification of it, so Faith, (of all graces) is all in all in the out-going of the soul to Christ, and in the Incomes of grace from him. 2. As Faith is the Instrumental, so the Causa Administra. Evangelium est medium, ceu instrumentum, quo Spiritus san●tus efficaciam suam exerit, & sidem, & conversionem operat●r. Syntag. Polan. Word is the ministering cause or medium of sanctification, Psa. 19 7. The Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the Soul; the Law in all its Exhortations, Commands, Consolations, Prohibitions, Comminations and Promises, is a perfect Law, serving as a perfect means for conversion: But the Promissory and Consolatory part thereof, is principally more purifying: Having these promises, let us cleanse ourselves, etc. 2 Cor. 7. 1. 2 Pet. 1. 4. The Go●pel, or Law of Faith, is vehiculum spiritus, the Chariot in which the spirit rides to give your souls a gracious visit, Gal. 3. 2. Received ye the spirit by the works of the Law, or by the hearing of faith, Fides quae creditur. He that makes the Clouds his Chariots, makes also his Word, his Ordinances, and his Ministers, his Chariots, wherein he ●ides down into these lower parts, to give the world a meeting. Mr. Allens Heaven Opened. p. 172. i. e. by the hearing of the Gospel, which is the doctrine of faith. The sanctifying spirit accompanying the holy Word; then the Word is sanctifying, Joh. 17. 17. Sanctify them by thy truth, thy Word is truth. When the Gospel is spoken and heard in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit, and of Power, then is the Arm of the Lord revealed, Isa. 53. 1. then the Word of God works and grows mightily for sanctification and salvation; then the blind eyes are opened, then are the captives released, then are the dead raised, then are the lepers cleansed, then are the devils dispossessed, then are filthy souls washed, unholy souls sanctified. 7. Causa Exemplaris. The Exemplar, or Pattern, to which our Sanctification, in the two parts of it, (viz.) our mortification and vivification is conformable, is the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ; by virtue of the force and energy whereof, through the operation and application of the spirit of faith, our sanctification is effected. The Apostle Paul holds forth a clear Analogy, or proportion, between our dying to sin, and Christ's dying for sin; and between our newness of life, or vivification, and Christ's Resurrection. Rom. 6. 4. 5. 6, 7, 8. where ye may see at large the parallel between them. And the Apostle Peter tells us, We are begotten again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 8●y and lastly. The glory of God's Grace in the Conservation and Salvation of a sinful creature, is the supreme end, or final cause of our Sanctification; there is a mutual intimate coherence, and relation of these three to o●e another. 1. The glory of God's Grace is the Supreme end, as of our Election in Christ, so of our Sanctification by him. All the Acts of God's love in Christ, whether immanent or transient, they are all for the praise of the glory of his grace, both in this, and in the other world, Eph. 1. 4. 6. And specifically Sanctification hath a direct tendency unto, and termination in the glory of God. When we keep our bodies and spirits chaste, and holy, we are then said to glorify God, 1 Cor. 6. 20. Glorify God in your bodies, and in your spirits, which are Gods. 2. Consecration. This is (finis qui) the end for which (quoad nos) we are sanctified, and necessary (necessitate medii) to our Salvation, Jam. 1. 18. We are begotten by the Will of God, ●hat we might be a kind of the first fruits of his creatures; that is, as Beza, Polanus, and others observe, that we might be consecrated and devoted to the Lord, separated from the common lump of mankind, as an holy offering; as the first fruits under the Law were presented to the Lord, as an holy Offering, as the Lords own portion. 3. Salvation. This is our ultimate end: the Apostle Peter acquaints us, 1 Pet. 1. 3. We are begotten again unto a lively hope, by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, etc. What is that lively h●pe we are begotten and born to in Regeneration? he tells ye in ver. 4. Even to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. This incomparable Inheritance, dignified with all these transcendent Epithets, See Dr. Owen's Death of Death, p. 119, 120, 121, 122, etc. is comprehended in one word, Salvation, 2 Thes. 2. 13, 14. God hath from the beginning chosen us to Salvation, that is the end, through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth; that is the way and means. Thus having cleared our way, now we come to the plain and full definition of Sanctification. Sanctification (in the sense of the Text, and of this Tract) is a new inward habitual frame of grace, infused by the power of the Eternal Spirit into the heart of a justified person, united to Christ, whereby he is renewed after the Image of Christ, in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness; and thereby enabled to die to sin, and to live to God, for the praise of God's glorious grace in his Consecration and Salvation. This definition is the sum of the former discourse; every part and branch of this description hath been already proved in the aforegoing particulars, therefore I shall not actum agere, do over the same things again; only give me leave to acquaint you, our Sanctification, Holiness is not any single grace alone, but a Constellation, ● conjunction of all graces together in the Soul. or Inherent Holiness, consists in these two things. 1. In the infusing of holy principles, divine qualities, or supernatural graces into the soul, such as the Apostle mentions in Gal. 5. 22, 23. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no Law. These habits of grace, which are severally distinguished, by the names of faith, love hope, meekness, patience, temperance, etc. are nothing else but the new nature, the new creature, the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness, Ephes. 4. 24. These seeds 1 Joh. 3. 9 2 Cor. 1. 21. 1 Joh. 2. 27. of holiness, these habits of grace, are those sweet ointments where with all must be anointed that ever expect to be glorified: Though men may talk much of God, and brag much of their Interest in heaven and happiness, yet without these habits and seeds of holiness (I am sure) they shall never reap a crop of blessedness. 2. Holiness lies in the use and lively exercise of those supernatural graces, or holy habits in the soul: Holy habits must be brought forth into holy acts, gracious habits are, and and must be attended with gracious motions, gracious operations, and a gracious Conversation; Act. 10. 35. 1 Joh. 1. 3. 7. 2 Pet. 1. 8. Tit. 2. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Eth c. 1. outward works must be suitable to inward habits; as the Philosophers speak concerning the summum bonum, it consists (say they) neque in Idearum contemplatione, neque in virtutis habitu, neither in the contemplation of Ideas, nor in the habit of virtue: But the summum bonum, or chief good, (say they) is the operation or action of the reasonable soul, according to the best and most perfect virtue in a perfect life. I am sure, Sanctification, which is the true felicity and beauty of the soul of man, consists in both (viz.) in internal holy principles, and in external holy practices. Holy habits are golden Talents that must be employed and improved; they are the Candles of the Lord set up in us, not to idle by, but to work and Where there are the seeds, there will appear the Flowers of Holiness. and walk by: Where is holiness of disposition? there is, and will be holiness of Conversation: An holy heart expresseth itself in an holy life. In the next place I shall endeavour, (as I promised) to show the difference between Justification and Sanctification, and then the transcendent excellencies of Sanctification, as appears by the honourable and excellent title● the Scriptures put upon it, and clothe it with them, as its proper Robes, and due Ornaments. And than something as to the Concomitants, adjuncts, and fruits of sanctification. And then lastly, Close all with Application. 1. Wherein Justification and Sanctification differs. How Justification and Sanctification differ. 1. They differ in their kind. 2. In order of Nature. 3. In the manner, or form, 4. They differ in degrees. 1. They differ in their kind. The righteousness 1 ●n genere. of Justification is in the Category of Relation; the righteousness of Sanctification is in the predicament of quality: Justification is a change of a man's Relation and estate, not a change of a man's person; 'tis a change without a man, or upon a man, not a change within a man: But Sanctification is not properly a Relative, but a real inherent change; not a change without a man, but a change within a man; 'tis the expulsion of sin, and the infusion of grace or holiness into the soul of Man. 2. They differ in the order of nature; in order 2 In ordine Naturae. of nature (Divines hold) justification precedes sanctification, though in order of time, they are both wrought together. In the description of the order of causes, Rom. 8. 30. the Link of Justification is set before Glorification in that golden Chain: The best Expositors I Beza, Polanus, M. Jeremy Burroughs, cum multis aliis, etc. have met withal, (and many I have read upon the place) do generally conclude, that sanctification is essentially (though not gradually) the same with Glorification, and must of necessity be included in it, because sanctification is the seed, glorification is the flower; sanctification is the first fruits, glorification is the full crop or vintage; sanctification is the Newborn Babe, Glorification is the perfect Eph. 4. 13. man arrived to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Sanctification is like the dawning of the day, like the early glittering and guilding of Cum sol medium superaverat axim. the Mountains by the Sunbeams; but Glorification is the Sun shining in the Meridian, in his greatest strength and splendour: The difference between Glorification and Sanctification is not specifical, but gradual: We are justified by the Merit of Christ from the guilt, and punishment of sin, in order of Nature, before we are sanctified by the spirit from the pollution and filth of sin, and endowed with inward holiness, though in order of time, Qui justificantur sanctificantur. Hae gratiae individuo nexu coherent, as Calvin speaks, they are wrought together, as the most precious effects of the free grace of God through the blood of Christ. 3. They differ in their form. Take three 3 Modo ceu forma. Notes. 1. In Justification, a believer by the hand of Faith receives Christ, and lays hold upon him as the Lord his righteousness, and inwrappeth his soul with this glorious Robe, and Garment of Salvation; but in Sanctification Faith is considered as a new quality, formally a part of our holiness, and as the root and beginning of good works. In Justification Faith is considered as an useful instrument, in Sanctification as a special grace, or new quality. 2. In Justification sin is taken away, in respect of guilt, and condemnation, that it be Ne imputetur. not imputed; but in Sanctification sin is taken away, as to the dominion, or reigning Ne regnet. power of it, that it may not reign; as in glorification, (which is the perfection of sanctification) sin, all the remainders of it shall be quite taken away, that it shall not exist, or have any Ne restet. being left. 3. In Justification Christ's righteousness is imputed to us; in Sanctification, a new inherent righteousness is implanted in us; in the first our sins are pardoned, our persons absolved, acquitted, and accepted, through the imputation of Christ's righteousness, Rom. 4. 6, 7. By the second our souls are renewed, our Natures changed, decked and adorned with the graces of the Spirit, Eph. 4. 23, 24. by the participation of Christ's holiness. Thus Justification and Sanctification do differ in their form. 4. Justification and Sanctification do differ 4 In gradibus. in degrees. 1. Justification is one individual perfect act, contingent to all the godly: Some of our best Divines do hold, that Justification is transacted in our first union and incorporation into Christ, when the pardon of sin is sealed to a believer at once: How at once? I answer with Reverend Downam, at once, as excluding Bishop Downam on Justification. Burgess upon Justification. degrees; our justification is perfect at first as well as at last: Or as Learned Burgess, at once, as connoting a state we are put into, upon our believing; And indeed thereupon, some godly learned persons take Justification for one continued act, from our vocation to our glorification, and in that sense we are justified but once. A justified person is rectus in curia, acquitted by God the Judge of all, in foro coeli, he hath shot the Gulf, he is gone beyond the Gun-shot of condemnation, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Rom. 8. 1. to him there is not one condemnation: But Sanctification is an inchoate and successive act, carried on by degrees, and compared with Justification; 'tis but imperfect, (though it be an immortal principle, an incorruptible seed, growing up and tending to perfection) for here we know but in part, we see but in part, we see as 1 Cor. 13. 9, 10, 11, 12. in a glass darkly. Now the dust is in our eyes, much blindness and darkness in the eyes of the most enlightened, our understandings are partly light, and partly darkness; our wills are partly flesh, and partly spirit: we find, do we not? a contrary Principle working, a contrary Law rebelling, that when we would do good, evil is present with us, Rom. 7. 21. There is a Law in the members, and a Law of the mind; Rom. 7. 23 There is a double Enemy carrying on a double interest in one soul; there is a Jacob and an Esau, struggling and striving for Mastery in one heart; there remains the being of sin, concupiscence, evil lusting and motions, many sins of ignorance, negligence, and of invincible infirmity in the Saints; for whilst they abide in earthly, they abide in sinful Tabernacles: The bitter moans, groans, complaints, tears, together with the sad lapses of the Saints, do sadly evidence the truth of this, besides the 1 Kin. 8. 46. Jam. 3. 2. 1 joh. 1. 8. Eccl. 7. 20. As a child, as soon as born, is a true man, though not a perfect man, he hath all the parts of a man, not the strength and stature. ample testification of many Scriptures: The Saints that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, are in a sense perfect, and in a sense imperfect, they are perfect as to perfection of parts, every part and faculty of soul and body is sanctified, and yet they are in a sense imperfect, (i. e.) as to perfection of degrees: thus the word perfect is differently to be understood, Phil. 3. 12. 15. In the 12th ver. it notes the fullest measure, or highest Achme of perfection attainable by a Christian: In the 15th ver. it notes sincerity or integrity, which is a Christians Evangelical perfection. God (according to the tenor of the New Covenant) accepting his person in Christ as perfect, (viz.) in and through Christ's perfect righteousness and intercession; and thereupon a believers gracious desires and endeavours for performances, his will for the deed, and his sincerity for perfection. Perfection of degrees being too great a privilege for a Militant estate, is reserved as one of the peculiar Flowers or Jewels of the Triumphant Crown for the Saints to wear in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. A precious jewel which nothing can defile, or dull its shining; so is the state above. their Father's Kingdom: wherefore among the singular distinguishing Epithets given by the Spirit of God to our inheritance, this is one, an inheritance undefiled, 1 Pet. 1. 4. By our Justification now we have peace with God, Rom. 5. 1. all our sins past and present are actually pardoned, and this favour received, is a pledge of assurance, that for the future, by applying ourselves to Christ, we shall receive remission of daily sins; and that at the last day we shall be for ever free from all accusations and condemnation. Our Justification is perfect now; (though the most solemn pronunciation of it in a magnificent manner, is the work of the great day) but our Sanctification is inchoate, imperfect and progressive here; by the supplies of the Spirit of Grace, there must be a going on from faith to faith, from strength to strength; but it shall be most complete and perfect at Christ's appearing: the Picture of Christ will be gloriously drawn, even to the life then; We know, that when he shall Phil. 1. 6. appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 2. The righteousness of justification is equally perfect, and equally impured to all believers; my meaning is, all believers are alike justified, one as well and as much as another, the weak as much as the strong, the newborn Babes so much as the old Fathers, the feeblest Lambs as much as the Hee-goats of the Flock; he that hath the least, as well as he that hath the greatest measure of the Spirit: A Giant holdeth a jewel, and so doth Gemmam amplectitur Gigas, & puerulus; licet Gigas fortiùs eam amplectitur, quàm puerulus, tamen manet gemma aequè preciosa. Luther a Child; the jewel is the same, though the Giant holdeth it with a stronger hand: So here the righteousness of justification is the same though the faith of believers is not the same some being weak, and others strong in faith: As to inherent righteousness, there is much difference; but as to imputed righteousness, all the Saints are equal, none have purer linen than the rest. A believer, of the lowest form in Christ's School, of the meanest stature or growth in Christ, of the weakest and dullest capacity in the mysteries of the Kingdom of Christ, is in point of justification, equal with So M. Burroughs on the Beatitudes, Matth. 5. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses, Samuel, and David, equal with all the most glorious Patriarches, Prophets, Martyrs, and eminent Saints that are. Thou (if a believer) art as much acquitted from sin, and as much accepted as righteous in the sight of God, and as undoubted an Heir of, and hast as true a title to the Inheritance of heaven, as the most famous Saints that are. But there is a great deal of difference among the Saints themselves, as to sanctification; some Saints are children, some are strong men, some are fathers; one star 1 Cor. 15. 41. excelleth another star in glory: There are stellae primae & secundae magnitudinis, etc. Some Saints are more sluggish and dull of hearing, more dull and dark in understanding, others are more acute and quick; some are younglings, weaklings, and have need of milk, (viz.) the principles of the Oracles of God; others are strong men, and have need of meat, can dive into, and digest the deepest mysteries revealed in the Gospel, God having given them senses Heb. 5. 12, 13, 14. exercised to discern both good and evil: Some are more dead to duty, and in duty, others are more vigorous, more fervent in spirit, and lively; some walk more humbly with God, more holily before God, more exactly and venerably before the world, than others do. Some do much fully and slain their garments, others (comparatively) walk in white, and keep their garments clean, and also keep themselves unspotted from the world, Jam. 1. ult. Thus great is the difference between Saint and Saint in sanctification, as great is the Cant. 5. 10 My beloved is white and ruddy, white in the glory of his Deity, ruddy in the preciousness of his Humanity, and white in the beauty of his purity, and ruddy in the blood of his Oblation. Owen's Communion. p. 52, 53. difference between man and man in growth and stature; but in justification, the infant of days, and man of grey hairs, the shrub, and the Cedar, the smaller, and greater stars, the Saints of all dimensions and denominations, of all ages and statures, are equally perfect, and shine equally bright and glorious, because the glory of that righteousness is not inherent in them, as the light is inherent in the body of the Sun; but this robe of righteousness (so 'tis called, Isai. 61. 10.) is imputed to them, and put upon them by the Sun of righteousness, their Elder Brother, who wove this garment of Sunbeams for them out of his own Mediatorial holiness, both in life and death. Thus you have had some representation or Adumbration, something shadowed out, of the difference between Justification and Sanctification: Our knowledge of these mysteries ought to be distinct, and clear, and not intricate and confused, for the clearer our knowledge is, the stronger and greater will our comfort be. The great Apostle handles these two great Doctrines, (viz.) Justification and Sanctification, distinctly, and in order. First he gins with Justification, and treats on that Argument throughout the 3, 4, and 5th Chap. to the Romans. Then he falls upon the Doctrine of Sanctification, and insists on that necessary argument, throughout the 6, 7, and 8th Chap. to the Romans, as a Germane Divine Pareus. well observes. And in this method, since I have pitched upon this Text, I have endeavoured, or made an Essay to handle them, beginning with Justification first, expressed by its Synonimons, in the Text righteousness, and then proceeded to sanctification afterwards. Let thus much suffice for the critical differences between Justification and Sanctification. We now come in the next place, to the next general propounded to be spoken to, (viz.) to the excellency of Sanctification, illustrated by the high and Honourable Encomiums, wherewith we find it dignified in the Scriptures, in which, (as in a glass or Mirror) you may behold the incomparable beauty and worth of holiness. 1. Holiness is the Name of God, Isa. 57 15. Thus saith the High and lofty One, that inhabiteth Eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place, etc. God's Name is holy, Psa. 111. 9 Holy and Reverend is his Name, How often is he called Holy One, and the Holy One of Israel in the Scriptures? His holiness is himself, when he swears by his Holiness; (as Psa. 89. 35. Once have I sworn by my holiness, that I will not lie unto David) he swears by himself; for whatsoever is in God, is God: Quicquid est ●n D●o, Deus est. God is essentially, infinitely, and primitively holy, the Saints only by participation of his holiness, they are called godly from God, Christians from Christ, and Saints from the sanctification of the Holy Spirit: The chosen Generation are an holy Nation, 1 Pet. 2. 9 they partake of God's Name (Holiness.) 2. It is called the Seed of God, 1 Joh. 3. 9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, peccatum non operatur, or, peccato non dat operam. As Beza (i e.) doth not make sin his work and business. 1 Pet. 1. 3. whosoever is born of God, doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, etc. And this seed, (viz.) the Word of God, (i. e.) of which we are begotten and born again, is incorruptible or immortal, 1 Pet. 1. 23. Jam. 1. 18. Sanctification by these Texts, and elsewhere, is held out by the Metaphor of Generation. God the Father of Spirits, is the Spiritual Father that begets a soul to himself in Christ, the Word is the Seed of God, of which the soul is begotten again, the Ordinances are the Bed wherein the soul is begotten, Can. 1. 16. also our Bed is green, (viz.) flourishing Ordinances. Holiness is a Divine Seed. 3. Holiness is the Will and Word of God, or rather the Will of God revealed in his Word: The word of God is the signification of his will, and 'tis the Royal Mandatory will of God, that we should be holy, 1 Thes. 4. 3. This is the will of God, even your sanctification, 1 Pet. 1. 15, 16. As he which hath called you a● holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; for it is written, be ye holy, because I am holy. 'Twas the great Honour of King David, tha● he served his Generation, according to the will of God, Acts 13. 22. yea, he fulfilled all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; qui faciet omnes voluntates meas. God's wills, for the Greek is plural. So 'tis the highest honour of any creature, as well as duty, whether of Angel or man, to fulfil the wills of God, the whole pleasure of his will especially his main design, and great command, in being holy. 4. Holiness is the work of God: All God's works (as in Creation and Providence) are like himself, honourable and glorious, so the Psalmist calls them, Ps. 111. 2, 3. and 'tis our bounden duty to consider, and admire them: But here that old rule holds good, the work is like unto the Operari sequitur esse. worker; next to the highest of all God's works, viz. the Incarnation of the Son of God, the second person in the Trinity, the work of sanctification, without controversy, is the most great and glorious, as appears by these Scriptures, 2 Cor. 5. 5. He that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing, is God. This is called by way of eminency, God's workmanship, Ephes. 2. 10. We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, etc. Holiness is the special, peculiar work of the holy God. 5. Holiness is the very Image of God, and this is more than all the former: The soul a● a spirit may be said (in a sense) to be the Image of God; but the soul, as qualified with grace or adorned with knowledge, wisdom, righteousness, holiness, (in which the Image of God Col. 3. 10. Eph 4. 24. ●onsisteth) is the most lively likeness, and Image of God in the world: By these graces we should show forth God's virtues, 1 Pet 2. 9 'Tis in the Greek virtues, and not praises. Now note: An Image represents a thing in its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, virtutes. highest excellency; an Image doth not represent the legs, feet, or inferior parts of a man, but his countenance, head, face, breast, the most Noble parts: So our sanctification, or inherent righteousness, represents God in his chiefest excellency, as he is glorious in holiness, Exod. 15. 11. In the works of Creation, and Providence, we see the footsteps, at most, the backparts of the Almighty; but in the Saints we see his face or Image, though not perfectly drawn, and to the life. An holy soul represents God in the most lively way, as the Simile. Image of a man in his child is more lively seen than in a piece of wood, or stone; so the Image of God is more lively seen, and more gloriously drawn in the hearts of his Saints (next to Christ, who is the Image of the Invisible Col. 1. 15. Heb. 1. 3. God,) etc. than in all the creatures in the world besides. 6. Holiness is the life of God, and this is more, a man may see his Image, but no man can see his life. Grace is called the life of God, Ephes. 4. 18. Being alienated from the life of God. Now what is God's life? and what is a Saints life? God's life consists in this, in willing himself the chiefest and highest good, and in acting for his own glory, as the ultimate end, and Vita est in se reflexio in ordering all things to this blessed end; this is the excellency of the life of God; and a Saint (through grace) lives this life, he propounds God to be his chiefest good, and the glory of God, as the utmost end of all his actings, and the w●ll of God revealed in the Word, he makes his Rule, and drives on all his designs to this end: And this is the excellency of the life of Sanctification which a Saint (in his measure) lives; he acts from right principles by a right line, to a right end; the perfection of which life the blessed spirits live in heaven. 7. Sanctification or holiness is the Nature of God; we are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, partakers, or Communicants of the Divine Nature, a very 2 P●t. 1. 4. high expression. This place I have already opened, and cleared it of absurdities: By Divine Nature, in a word is meant, the Divine qualities, etc. Grace is nothing else but the reflection, or the sparkling forth of the Divine Nature that is in God himself; 'tis a ray from his glory, a beam from his Sun; every Saint is a Diamond of Christ's own pointing, shining with light and lustre (in some measure) like himself: One spark of this Divine Nature is of greater worth and value, than rubies, than the Topaz of Ethiopia (in a word) than all the treasures of the earth; nil, to be compared to it. 8. Sanctification is the Glory of God in the soul of man, which is higher yet than all the former, Rom. 3. 23. all have sinned, and are come shor● 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, deficiuntur. of the glory of God, (i. e.) of the glorious estate of holiness, in which we were created; and also of the glorious estate of happiness. Adam was planted in a glorious place, Paradise, & adorned with a glorious Ornament (viz.) holiness, the Image and Glory of God, but through sin he fell from both. Now holiness the glory of man, and the glory of God (as to man) lieth in the dust, but when in sanctification the Image of God is renewed in, and restored to the soul, the glory of God and man returns again. Holiness is Gods great Title of Honour, Exod. 15. 11. Who is like unto thee among the Gods, glorious in holiness? etc. God is said in Scripture to be rich in mercy, plenteous in redemption, great in Eph. 2. 4. Psa. 130. 7. Psa. 147. 5. Exod. 15. 11 power, infinite in understanding, but glorious in holiness. 'Tis the glory of all his works, Psal. 145. 17. The Lord is righteous in all his wa●es, and holy in all his works; his holiness shines forth in all his Providences: 'Tis the glory of all his Attributes; his blessed Attributes are, as it were, enameled with holiness; else his Sovereignty would look like Tyranny, else his patience would look like indulgence of sin, else his Justice would look like cruelty, else his special distinguishing mercy would look like respecting of persons, or partiality: All the Attributes of God run in the Channel of his holiness, and partake of its tincture: This glorious Attribute is the ground of the Songs of praise, which are sung to his glory by the Seraphins, Isa. 6. 2, 3. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory, which is repeated, Rev. 4. 8. Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. Why is God's day honourable, but that 'tis holy? Why is Christ's Spouse beautiful, but that she is holy? Why are the Angels of God such glorious creatures, but that they are holy? take away holiness, and they would soon turn devils of darkness: As sin is the basest filth, dishonour, and shame, so è contrario, holiness is the highest honour, the greatest glory, in or upon any rational soul. Upon all these considerations, how glorious is Holiness? But to proceed. 9 Sanctification exalts a Saint above his Neighbour, it lifts him up above the Sphere and Region of other men, Prov. 12. 26. The righteous is more excellent than his Neighbour. Perhaps a Saint is a poor mean man in the world, and his Neighbour a rich man, a great man, a Knight or Lord, worth several hundreds or thousands a year; but yet the righteous, a person vested with the righteousness of Sanctification, is far more excellent in the esteem of God, than the graceless great ones of the earth, for all their Lands and Lordships, for all their their Noble Parentage, for all their Eschutcheons, Ensigns, and Titles of Honour, the Saints are the excellent in the earth: The Saints, in regard Psa. 16. 3. of Saintship, are Gods peculiar treasure, his choice Jewels; all others God reckons but Mal. 3. 17. as Luggage and Lumber: The vast difference between man and man, lies in this; one in all his glory, is but a branch of the old stock, and hath but the Image of the earthly; but the other is transplanted into a new stock, the tree of life, and hath the Image of the heavenly engraven 1 Cor. 15. 49. in his soul. 10. Sanctification must needs be excellent, because 'tis one great end, and precious attainment of the death of Christ, Tit. 2. 14. Christ gave himself for us, not only to redeem us, but also to purify us. Again, Christ came into the world, and was incarnate, not only to save us from our enemies, and from the hands of all that hate us, which implies Redemption; but also, that we might serve him without fear in holiness, and righteousness all the days of our life, and this takes in Sanctification. Further, the Apostle John tells us, that for this purpose the Son of God (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) appeared, that he might unloose, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Dissolvere opera Diaboli. Montan. See the Dutch Annot on the place. or dissolve the works of the Devil, 1 Joh. 3. 8. What are these works of the Devil, which Christ came to dissolve? they are lusts, and sins: Christ dissolves these works two ways: 1. By suffering the punishment of them in his own person, Heb. 2. 14. 15. 2. By regenerating his people by his Spirit, and thereby delivering them from the dominion and slavery of sin. The Apostle Paul tells us, that Christ gave himself for his Church that he might sanctify it, and present it a glorious Church, without spot or wrinkle, etc. Ephes. 5. 25, 26. And without controversy, Sanctification is as honourable and glorious Attainment, as any of the Benefits that accrue to the Heb. 12. 14. Saints by the death of Christ; for, (in short) there is no seeing the Face of God without it: without holiness ●o man shall see the Lord. 11. The excellency of Sanctification consists in this, in that it is a principle of union, and communion with God; None but the sanctified 1 Joh. 1. 3. in Christ Jesus can have fellowship with the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ. Whilst a person is profane, unsanctified, what communion can be between Light and Darkness, between Christ and Belial? between an holy God, an● It was an old saying, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an impure sinner? God is Light in the abstract, 1 Joh. 1. 5. and an impure sinner is darkness in the abstract, Ephes. 5. Holiness is th● principle of Union and Communion between God and man; Ephes. 2. 13. when we are converted, sanctified, the soul is made nigh to God 1 Cor 6. 17 He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit. (who before was afar off) and is now joine● to the Lord in the Spirit. As a man cannot have communion with the Beasts, because they live not the same life, no● the Beasts with the Plants, because they live a contrary life, no more can a natural man have communion with God, because he lives not the s●me life; but the Saints, through sanctification of the Spirit, live a spiritual life, the life of God, and are therefore fitted for Communion with him, and for the communications of his goodness to them. 12. Sanctification turns moral Virtues into Graces: Some persons are naturally meek, patiented, sober, temperate, etc. Some natural As 'twas said of Augustus Caesar; He turned brick into Marble. persons are morally just and righteous in their dealing and Conversation in the World, honest Dealers, good Paymasters, make their word their deed. All this a man may be, and do, & yet perish for ever: but when once Wisdom: enters into thy heart, whence once Sanctification in the power of it, comes into thy soul▪ there is a great change wrought. The new soul acts and works in natural and motal Actions, from inward renewed principles. The principle of Grace (the true Elixir) turns moral Virtues into Graces, and dignifies a man's natural Endowments, and moral actions with a tincture of holiness, which makes a sweet perfume in God's Nostrils: he now acts from God, and for God in all he doth; whether he eats, or drinks, or buys, or sells, all 1 Cor. 10. 31. is for the glory of God. As carnal hearts are always carnal in spiritual performances, (for the streams never run higher than the Head): so on the contrary, gracious hearts are spiritual in natural and moral actions: The reason is, the new man hath a new principle to act from, and a new End to act for, and aim at, but before he was sanctified, he had neither. 13. Another excellency of Sanctification, is this, That the righteousness of Sanctification, next to the righteousness of Christ for justification, will be of the greatest worth, and value, support and comfort at death and judgement. At Death and Judgement, the rich man's Riches, the wise man's wisdom, the ambitious man's honours, the voluptuous man's pleasures, the hypocrites formality, the civil man's civility, and the moral man's morality: These Lying Idols and rotten sticks which unholy persons have made their hope, their stay, and the Rock of their Confidence, shall then all fail them, and sink quite under them: but then shall the pure in heart see God, Mat. 5. 8. then shall the Righteous lift up their heads like Mat. 13. 43. Princes, and shine as the Sun in the presence of their Father; a dram of saving Grace will be then more valuable and more comfortable▪ than mountains of Gold, than millions of Worlds. This was a River of comfort flowing in upon Ezekiahs' heart, as he lay upon his sickbed (for aught he then knew) upon his deathbed, (viz.) the review of his sanctified heart & life: Remember, O Lord, how I have walked Isa. 38. 3. before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, etc. Beloved, There will be a great Cry at midnight, the Bridegroom comes, go forth to meet him, Matth. 25. 6. The coming of Christ to Judgement will be very sudden, and very terrible to secure sinners: if you, with the foolish Virgins, have only oil in your Lamps, a blaze of profession without: and not with the wise, oil in your Vessels, the true stock, and treasure of grace in your hearts, you will cry Mat. 25. 12. Mat. 7. 22. 23. Read those words, and Tremble. most dolefully, and shrick most dreadfully at that day; but Christ will not hear you, he will take no notice of you; The King of glory will enter his Presence-chamber with all his Saints: and shut the door against you, ver. 10. And the door was shut, then knock never so hard, cry never so loud, the door is shut, there's no hope of entrance, the Lord will Answer, I Grace is the Bridegroom's favour, by which they are admitted into his Chamber of Glory. know you not, vers. 12. Then your sop will be sorrow; weeping and wailing, and gnashing of teeth, for madness and anguish will be your portion; no grace, no glory. Wherefore Sirs, for the Lords sake, and for your own souls-sake, look about you, the coming of the Lord draweth nigh; If ever ye hope in earnest to be saved, be sure you are truly and throughly sanctified, for there is no hope of salvation without sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the Truth, 2 Thes. 2. 13, 14. 14. And lastly, To name no more: Sanctification is the early dawning of Salvation, the very beginning of Heaven. In that golden Chain, Rom. 8. 30. there is mention made of Calling, Justification, and of Glorification, but nothing of Sanctification, to note, that sanctification is Heaven begun already: it is not only the way to Heaven, but 'tis Heaven itself, the more holy thou art, the more thou dost live the life of God; and the more thou dost anticipate the life of Heaven, that Glorious life, which the Angels of God, and the blessed spirits of just men made perfect, live there. Heb. 11. 22. 23. Thus through the assistance of God, we have hinted something of the transcendent excellency of Sanctification, which we have in, by, and from our Lord Jesus, who is made of God, (or given of the Father to be) our Sanctification. Holiness is the Name of God, the Seed of God, the Will and Word of God; it is the Work of God, 'tis the very Image of God, it is the Life of God, 'tis the Nature of God, 'tis the Glory of God. Again, Sanctification renders one man far more excellentthan another: 'tis one grand Attainment of the death of Christ, 'tis the principal of Union and Communion with God, Sanctification turns moral Virtues into Graces: 'Tis the second best Cordial of Comfort at Death and Judgement. Lastly, 'tis the dawning of Salvation, the Aurora of Glory. THat Christ is given of the Father to be our Sanctification, we have proved: how Christ may be said to be our Sanctification we have showed: what are the several Causes concurring to our Sanctification, we have explained: The definition of Sanctification we have given: Something of its glory and excellency we shadowed forth in the last Discourse: and now are arrived at the last Stage, the last General, in the doctrinal part propounded, (viz.) what are the sweet streams that issue from this Fountain? What are the precious Fruits that grow upon this Tree of Sanctification. They may also serve for Trials of your estate. You may also call them the inseparable Concomitants, and Adjuncts of Sanctification (if you please.) 1. If you have received the spirit of Sanctification, ye have also received the spirit of Supplication, Zech. 12. 10. The Spirit is entitled both the spirit of Grace, and the spirit of Supplication, where he is the former, there he is the other also; where he dwells as the spirit of holiness, there he dwells as the spirit of prayer. Every sanctified heart is an Harp or Cymbal, to found forth God's praises: an habitation of God through the Spirit, Ephes. 2. ult. and the Temple of the Holy Ghost. The Temple of old was an holy place, a place of relative and Typical holiness, and an house of Prayer. Every gracious heart (like God's Altar) offers up to God the sweet sacrifice and incense of praises and Prayers. Every newborn Babe, (for the most part) comes into the world crying. I am sure every spiritual newborn Babe cries The word Abba, signifieth Father, in the Syriack tongue, which the Apostle here retaineth, which also young Children retain almost in all Languages. Annotat. Abba Father, Rom. 8. 15. Gal. 4. 6. And because ye are sons, God hath sent the spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father. Now, if ye are Prayer-less persons, ye are graceless persons: persons without Prayer, are 'Twas the saying of an old Disciple, A man of much prayer, is a man of much Grace. persons without Holiness: or though ye pray, yet if ye pray not in the Spirit, (according to the caution) Ephes. 6. 18. (i. e.) in Faith, in fervency, with the vigour and intention of the Spirit, or inner-man, if it be not * Jam. 5. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. If ye have not Communion ravishing, have ye Communion sanctifying? an in-wrought prayer (as the phrase is) if ye wrestle not with God in the strength of God, (as Jacob did) if ye have no holy boldness, or Confidence at God's Throne; if ye never feel the sweet melting, quickening, warming, moving, breathe of the Spiris in your souls; In a word, if ye find no growing conformity in your hearts to the divine Nature by Duty, no sweet sanctifying, refreshing communion with God in Duty: 'tis an evident sign to me, the Spirit of holiness dwells not in ye; and consequently, if ye have not the spirit of Christ, ye are none of his, Rom. 8. 9 But as for such as pray in the Spirit, as make conscience of this Duty, and of the spiritual performance of it, and find the relish of God, and Heaven in private prayer, 'tis one happy sign and symptom of their translation from death to life, from a state of Nature to a state o● Grace. Secondly, If the spirit of Sanctification dwel● in thee, the same Spirit, as a spirit of Illumination There are diversities of Gifts, but the same Spirit. 1 Cor. 12. 4. dwells in thee. If Jesus Christ be thy sanctification, he is thy wisdom also; as thy holiness to sanctify thee, so thy wisdom to instruct thee. It is the godly or holy man that feels the virtue and influence of that blessed Promise, I will instruct then, and teach thee in the way that thou shouldst go, I will guide thee by mine eye, Psalm. 32. 6, 8. verses compared together. That Text is famous for this purpose, * Non acumine proprii sensus rectè sapere homines sed illuminatione Spiritus. Buling. in loc. What Unction is? per unctionem, Gratiam Sp. S. intelligit. Beza in loc. 1 Jo●. 2. 20. Ye have received an Unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. By this Unction (or anointing) is meant, the gracious operation of the holy Spiri●, whereby they that are regenerate or sanctified, are also enlightened with the saving Knowledge of Christ. This is compared to the pouring ou● of costly Ointment, Psalm 45. 8. and 137. 2. Unction properly signifies the separation and consecration of a person to the Lord, together with the gifts of Wisdom, Knowledge, Faith, Love, etc. Wherefore it must follow, that a person anointed, consecrated unto God, is also illuminated by God, if his person be sanctified, his eyes are opened, anointed with Eyesalve; if anointed with Grace, then instructed in Knowledge; if a Vessel full of 2 Cor. 1. ●1. Rev. 3. 18. Grace, than a Vessel full of oil: a burning lamp, and shining light; For in Unction, sanctification and illumination are both together inseparably and indivisibly, as light and heat in the Sunbeams. The holy oil of Grace casts a sweet perfume, and splendid light in the hearts and lives of the anointed. By virtue of this Unction, Darkness is now in a great measure scattered, and the man is made light in the Lord, Ephes. 5. 8. An enlightened soul admires, how foolish he was, and ignorant, even brutish in his knowledge before Conversion, he neither knew God, nor himself, he neither knew his present danger, nor his future misery. he neither saw sin as a vicious, or as a Penal evil, neither the evil in it, nor the evil after it; but went on like a Fool to the stocks, like an Ox to the slaughter, and ran like a mad man toward the Gulf of Ruin. Before sanctification, he neither saw his want of Christ, nor knew the worth of Christ. The glory of Christ's Person, the beauty of his ways, the merits of his Blood, the benefits of his Offices, the comforts of his Spirit, the sweetness of his Fellowship, the savour of his Ointments, the blessings of his Kingdom: All these (before Conversion) were hid from his eyes, for the God of this world had blinded him, 2 Cor. 4. 4. Besides the natural Veil of darkness he brought into the world with him; he is blinded by another, (viz.) a diabolical: but in and by Conversion, comes in illumination, in turning from Satan to God, his eyes are opened, and his understanding turns from darkness to light, Acts 26. 18. Now the eyes of his understanding being enlightened by the spirit of Wisdom and Revelation, Ephes. 1. 17, 18. He comes to know, what is the hope of his Calling, and the riches of the glory of his Inheritance in the Saints. Every word is a word of weight: he hath now a visive faculty, an understanding given him to know things that 1 John 5. 20. Phil. 1. 9, 10. are excellent: he hath now a new spiritual, clear affectionate knowledge of, and a more distinct piercing knowledge in the Mysteries of the Gospel, than ever he had bef●r●. An enlightened head, and a sanctified heart go both together. This is the second effect, or rather sweet Concomitant of Sanctification; (viz.) Illumination. 3. The third Effect, or rather Concomitant, or Adjunct of our Sanctification is Faith; he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, id est. eandem fidem ex ejusdem spiritus afflatu & dono. Beza. that hath the spirit of Holiness, hath also the spirit of Faith: 2 Cor. 4. 13. wee having the same spirit of Faith; the spirit of Sanctification is also the Author of Faith, for Faith is formally a special part of Sanctification, 1 Joh. 5. 1. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ. is born of God; that is, our faith in Christ, is a certain sign and evidence of our Regeneration. He that believeth that Jesus is the Christ, i. e. the promised Messiah, is born of God. The learned Blasphemia, & pessima Haeresis erat apud Judaeos Consiteri jesum Mariae filium esse Christum. upon the place observe, that there was a great Controversy in the Apostle John's days, whether Jesus the Son of Mary, was the Christ the promised Messiah, or not? And the blasphemous and blinded Jew's counted it the worst of Heresies, to confess Jesus the Son of Mary to be Christ. The Jews were many ways offended in him, offended in the vileness of his Appearance, in the humility of his Conversation, in the ignobleness of his Parentage, in the sharpness and Authority of his Doctrine, in the knowledge of his Country, (as I might demonstrate easily); when Christ shall come (say they) we know not whence he is, but we know, whence this man is, i. e. of what Parentage, and of what Country, John 7. 27. The Scriptures had foretell, that the promised Messiah, when he came should redeem Israel, restore all things, pardon sins, seek and save that which was lost, proclaim liberty to the Captives, Comfort, those that mourn, bind up the , bring in everlasting Righteousness, and save his people with an everlasting salvation. But the obstinate and heretical Jews would not grant all this to the son of Mary; They denied Christ to be the true Messiah; They Traduced the Son of God, and blasphemously in thought and word reputed him an Impostor. Therefore 'tis said, 1 John 11. 12, 13. verses: He came to his own, and his own received him not; He came to his own creature man, and generally the generation of mankind did not receive him, but refuse him, so some expound it: but others, as Calvin give a better sense; Thus, he came to his own, (i. e.) to his own Country men the Jews (of whom according to the flesh he came, who is over all, God blessed for ever) but they received him not, (i. e.) * Rom. 9 5. Sed rectius sentiunt, qui referunt ad solos Judaeos, Calvin. 1 Joh. 11. as their King and Saviour, but to as many as received him, to them gave he power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, not only power, but also dignity, privilege to become the sons of God, even to as many as believed▪ his Name; and who are these that thus believe in Christ, and receive him into the hearts? Why, such as are not born of blood of an high and noble Parentage, which the Jews gloried in, being descended from Abr●ham, nor of the flesh, nor of the will of man; n●● by any principle of corrupted nature, not b● the mere power of our own will, but by the will and grace, or gracious will of God, we Jam. 1. 18. Ephes. 2. 4. are born again, or sanctified. Now who are they, that born of the will of God? Why, they that believe in Christ, and receive him by Faith into their hearts, as God hath promised, and propounded him in the Gospel, as Prephet, Priest and King, in all his Offices; or a● the Text hath it, as wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. Through Faith the soul doth receive in, and Secundum diversos respectus fides regenerationis nostrae pars est: ex regeneratione tanquam ex fonte manat fides. Calv. conceive with the incorruptible seed of the Word of God, whereby Christ is form, the new creature is produced, the soul is regenerate, or born again into a new and divine life wherefore, if you are born again, or sanctifie● (which is the same) you have faith in Chri●● crucified at Jerusalem. 1. You do believe that Jesus is the Christ. 2. You do believe on Jesus Christ. 1. You do believe that Jesus is the Christ that Jesus is the Saviour, that there is no salvation by any other, Acts 4. 12. That he was ●nointed by the Father, as Prophet, Priest and Ki●● Isa. 61, 1. for the perfecting of your salvation, 〈◊〉 the obtaining of eternal Redemption for you, Heb. 9 12. Luther hath a notable speech upon Psal. Ego saepe & libenter hoc inculco, ut extra Christum, oculos & aures claudatis, & dicatis, nullum vos scrire Deum, nisi qui fuit in Gremio Mariae, & suxit ubera ejus. Luther. Credere quod sit Christus, est ab eo sperare quaecunque de Messia promissa sunt. Calv. Comment. in 1 John 5. 1. 130. Often and willingly (saith he) do I inculcate this, that you should shut your eyes and your ears, and say, you know no God out of Christ, none but he that was in the lap of Mary, and sucked her breasts: He means none out of him. I● is not a mystical Christ within you, but the man Christ Jesus without you, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, crucified at Jerusalem, risen again, and ascended up into Glory, that you must believe in for the remission of all your sins, for the justification of your persons, and for your eternal life. We find it recorded in Scripture, and in History, that this was the Grand Test of a Believer in the Primitive times. Dost thou believe that Jesus is the Christ, or that Jesus Christ is the son of God? because in those days it was little less than Death among the Jews, thus to own and confess Christ. 2. If you are born again or sanctified: you do believe on Jesus, you believe on the Name of the Son of God. This is God's great Commandment, and our great Duty, 1 John 3. 23. As God doth offer and propound him in the Gospel, so accordingly ye do receive him into your hearts, with all his Offices, with all his Graces, with all his inconveniencies. You look upon God's Terms as holy, equitable, and most advantageous to you; Ye trust to Christ, and rely on him alone for wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. God tenders his Son in the Gospel as the desire of all Nations, a● the chiefest, Hag. 2. 7. Cant. 5 10. Isa. 63. 1. Heb 7. 25. Heb. 2. 17. Heb. 5. 2. or Standard-bearer among Ten thousand, as the most mighty, merciful, and every way glorious and complete Saviour: God hath made him your All in All, He is of God made unto us wisdom, righteousness, etc. Now God requires you should honour the Son, as he hath honoured him, for in honouring the Son, you honour the Father, (and that in the highest manner); God expects you should receive him as he hath offered him; Oh then give glory to him, by receiving him, * Justifying faith is defined (in short) to be a Cordial, accepting of Christ as Lord & Saviour, in all his Offices, etc. So Dr. Preston, Mr. Wil Strong, Mr. Baxter, etc. by accepting of him for your Lord and Saviour. Embrace your blessed Saviour in the arms of Faith, veil your souls to him, close with him, cling, and cleave to him, glory and rejoice in him, draw down virtue daily from him, lay all your wants upon him, the oftener you come to him, the more welcome, and the fuller and richer you shall go from him; As God hath made him your All in All, so believe Joh. 1. 16. in him, and make use of him as your All i● All. Now is this precious faith, this faith unfeigned, this faith of Gods Elect wrought in your souls, yea, or not. Know assuredly, if you are sanctified in Christ J●sus, if you are God● workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, etc. Ephes. 2. 10. This precious grace is wrought in yo● called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the work of God * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. John. 6 29. This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he hath sent. Where this precious Faith is, 'tis always found with these precious principal properties, or vital operations: 1. It Animates, 2. It Purifies, 3. It Fructifies, 4. It Pacifies, 5. It Operates, 6. Amplifies, 7. It Corroborates, 8. It Exhilarates. 1. Faith Animates, enlivens and quickens the soul of man, it is such a principle of spititual Life, that a Believer doth not so much live, as Christ by faith lives in him. The spirit of Faith I am certain, if not faith itself (which of all graces leads the Chorum) is the forma informans, whereby a man before both legally and morally dead, is now enlivened, and lives to God, Gal. 2. 20. Hab. 2. 4. Rom. 1. 17. Heb. 10. 38. Our whole life here is a life of Faith, our life hereafter is a life of Vision or Sight; here we walk by faith, and not by sight, 2 Cor. 5. 7. How sweet and heavenly is that Life which is derived from, and maintained by the life of Christ himself. 2. Faith purifies, where there is life there is motion; where faith is, there is purification. A Believer having a vital principle, like a living Fountain labours to work out the mud of sin, to cleanse and purge itself from inward filthiness, so as not to approve it, allow it, or mingle with it, Acts 15. 9 having purified their hearts by faith; as sickness is poison to the blood and spirits, so is sin to the soul; now as all the spirits in their natural motions tend to self-preservation, so the spirit of faith or the spirit by faith musters together, and stirs up all the powers of the Inner-man for self-purification, without purification there can be no preservation, and Faith is the principal grace that purifies. 3. Faith fructifies, a living faith is a working, a fructifying or a fruit-bearing faith, as the Apostle James demonstrates, James 2. 14, to the end. They that are purified by faith in the blood of Christ, are zealous of good works: Tit. 2. 14. How many Believers at large are there, that look green and fair, and make a brave flourish afar off, but come near them, and well observe them, view their hearts and their lives, or their hearts by their lives, and works, and you shall find them like the barren Figtree which Jesus saw, full of leaves, but without fruit to relieve him in his hunger; the Curse of barrenness will strike to the hearts of such Professors, as it did to the heart of that Figtree. By Faith we have Union with Psal. 36. 9 Jer. 2. 13. Joh. 15. 1. Rev. 22. 2. Christ the fountain of Life, the fountain of living waters, the True Vine, and Tree of Life, that grows in the midst of the Paradise of God. All these Metaphors bespeak abundant fruitfulness, and that of the choicest fruit. The grapes of Canaan, the graces of the Spirit, the works of Righteousness, and Acts of charity and mercy to the praise and glory of God by Jesus Christ. In a word, have you faith in Christ Jesus, and hope in Heaven, why then ye bring forth fruit, as they do all the world over, that have received the grace of God in truth. Consider well, 1 Col. 4. 5, 6. 4. Faith pacifies, as well as fructifies: as it fructifies a barren Desert, and makes the wilderness and solitary place to blossom as the Rose, as Lebanon, Sharon and Carmel; so it pacifies Isa. 35. 1, 2 a troubled Conscience, it stills the rage and surges of this Sea. As once Christ said to the Winds and Waves, so faith in the name and power of Christ speaks to the perplexed soul, peace, and be still, and there is a great calm. Christian's would live more the life of peace, if they lived more the life of Faith, the more of faith, the less of servile fear, being justified by faith we have peace with God, etc. Rom. 5. 1. Phil. 4. 7. And this peace of God passeth all understanding. When the Clouds of Temptation, Dr. Tho. Goodwin, in his Vanity of Thoughts. and the winds and waves of passion are up, a few thoughts of Faith will quiet all, as * a worthy Man observes. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked, Isa. 57 21. but a true Believer hath peace with God through Jesus Christ the Prince of peace; he hath peace in Heaven, and peace on Earth, peace with God, and peace with his own conscience, for the Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, Rom. 14. 17. 5. Faith operates, it acts and works by love, Gal. 5. 6. for, in Jesus Christ, neither Circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but Magnes amoris amor. faith which worketh by love. Faith worketh love, we love God, when by faith we apprehend that God loveth us first, 1 John 4. 19 we love him, because he first loved us, and as faith works love, so it works by love; Faith is the great Wheel, the principal Grace, that animates, actuates, moves influences, love, patience, zeal, and every other grace, that sets all other wheels a going, that quickens and strengthens all other graces in their proper respective motions and operations. In the 11 Chapter to the Hebrews, Faith is represented as the principle of Obedience, The words of Dr. Bates, in his Sermon upon Heb. 11. 6. conveying vigour and strength to other graces, whereby they become operative to several ends and Objects; Hence those Acts which immediately spring from other graces as their proper stock, are attributed to faith, that being the principle of their heavenly working, in this respect; as the success of an Army redounds to the General's Honour, so the victory which is effected by other Christian qualities, is here ascribed to Faith, which animates them, and leads them forth as their chief Captain. 6. Faith Amplifies, dilates, enlargeth the heart to run the ways of God's Commandments, 1 John 5. 1. and 3. verses compared together, whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, etc. vers. 1. For this is the love of God, that we keep his Commandments, etc. verse 3. Faith is the ground of Love, and Love the Author of Obedience; holy obedience is the daughter of a lively Faith: when and where Christ dwells in the heart by faith, that soul being rooted and grounded in love, comprehends with all Saints, (secundum quid) what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of the love of Christ, Ephes. 3. 17, 18, 19 Which love like a fire in his bones, like a flame in his bowels, inflames his soul with love to God and Christ, opens, and enlargeth his heart to duties of obedience, to serve the Lord with a most free and Princely spirit. The soul of an affectionate Believer, runs swiftly, cheerfully, nobly in the ways of God, like the Chariots of Aminnadib, Cant. 6. 12. Faith thus argues, Amminadib, i. e. my voluntary, free, bounteous, or noble people. Ainsworth in Cant. 6. 12. Psal. 103. 3, 4. Ephe. 1. 3. Hath God loved me in his Son from everlasting? and will he love me to everlasting? Hath God in Christ forgiven such a wretch as I, all mine iniquities? redeemed my life from destruction, and crowned me (even me) with lovingkindness and tender mercies? yea, with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus? Then what shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits? Nothing I can do, nothing I can suffer too much for him; I am, and will be his for ever, at his Command, and for his service. Thus the faith of a sanctified Person reasons. 7. Faith Corroborates, it strengthens the weak, it revives the faint, it supports the desponding and sinking spirit. The Psalmist in great trials and troubles had great experience of the supports of faith, Psalm 27. 13. I had fainted unless I had believed, to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the Living. Love keeps you from dissembling, Hope keeps you from desponding, Patience keeps you from tiring, but 'tis Faith that keeps you from fainting. When a * 2 Chron. 2. 20. Psal. 57 7. My heart is fixed, in some translations, 'tis suffultum est cormeum, my heart is underpropt. great multitude from beyond the Sea, on this side Syria came up against Judah, and the people were in sore distress; Jehosaphat their good King encouraged the people, saying, believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established, believe his Prophets, so shall ye prosper, 2 Chron. 20. 20. Faith in God is the souls establishment; wherefore, a Believer shall not be afraid of evil tidings, his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord: his heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he see his desire upon his enemies: Thus the Psalmist sweetly sings, Psalm 112. 7, 8. The fixation of the soul by faith on God, on Christ, on his Attributes, on his Promises yields the surest strength, the speediest and sweetest relief and succour in the Crisis of any Exigence. When David for fear of Saul was got into a Wood, Jonathan leaves his Father, and privately came to David 1 Sam. 23. 16. into the Wood, and strengthened his hand in God. So, when a Believer is in a wood of fears and dangers, he strengthens his hand, the hand of his faith in God; and the more his faith is up, the more his fears are down. Divines use to compare, the base fears of men, and the embondaging fears of Death, to the Lead that weighs the Net under water; and faith to the Cork that keeps up the Net from sinking. Hope, the eldest daughter of Faith, is an Anchor, sure and steadfast, Heb. 6. 19 but Faith is the Rock, which this Anchor rests on, according to the Proverb: were it not for Hope, heart would break; and the Scripture tells us, Rom. 8. 24. We are saved by hope: but Hope receives all its subsistence & strength Faith is both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 substantia, & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 argumentum. Heb. 11. 1. from Faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, Heb. 11. 1. 8. Faith exhilarates, comforts, cheers the soul, fills it with joy and peace in believing, Rom. 15. 13. The God of hope fills the soul with joy and peace in believing. Faith is as a twinkling star in a dark Night, as a shining Sun in a cloudy Day, as Rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great Rock in a weary Land. The Apostle Peter elegantly expresseth the soul-exulting operation of saving faith, 1 Pet. 1. 8. Whom (that is Christ) having not seen ye love, in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory. Faith opens a crevice of light, and springs a Mine of * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Exultatis gaudio ineffabili & gloriosa. Beza. exulting joy in the most insulting danger. When once a Believer is justified by faith, and hath peace with God, he than rejoiceth in the most glorious Hope, (viz.) in the hope of the glory of God, and not only so, but he glories also in tribulations, he glories in them, and he glories over them, because the love of God is shed abroad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, effusa est, is poured forth into his heart by the Holy Ghost, Rom. 5. 1, 2, and 5. verses. by faith in Christ, and by communion with Christ in his Conquests, he knows he shall be more than a Conqueror over all his Enemies, Rom. 8. 37. * Neque enim simpliciter dixit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: idest, ut vertit Cyprianus Epist. 26. supervincimus. Amplius quam victores sumus. Beza. 'tis not only said Conquerors, but more than Conquerors, as Cyprian and Beza, on the place. Thus I have endeavoured to present you with some of the precious properties and vital operations of precious Faith, which every one that is born of God, (or sanctified) doth enjoy to his inestimable benefit. Faith is an inseparable Concomitant with, and an infallible evidence of our Sanctification; for whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God, 1 John 5. 1. This is the third Adjunct, and evidence of our Regeneration. 4th. Effect and evidence of our sanctification, is love to God and to the Brethren. As Christ dwells in the heart by faith, Ephes. 3. 17. so the soul sweetly reposeth itself in the ●osome of God by love, 1 John 4 7, 8. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God; he that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is Love. You see love to God, and to the Brethren is both a sure sign, and a genuine effect of Regeneration (which is synomminous with Sanctification.) This grace of Love is the very soul of all Religion, the very life of the new Creature, the closure of the soul with God in the sweetest manner; he that hath most of this grace hath most of all graces. This is one of the precious things promised in the new Covenant, Deut. 30. 6. (viz.) An heart to love the Lord; the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart and with all thy soul. This is made a special effect and evidence of thy spiritual Circumcision, or Sanctification; In Sanctification, as the understanding is enlightened to know God, so the will and affections are renewed, changed, rightly ordered, and inclined to love God as his chiefest good, and as his utmost End: Corn, and Wine, and Oil, and all the world is then counted nothing to the light of God's countenance. All other Beloved's are no body to Jesus Psalm 4. 6, 7. Cant. 5. 10. Christ, the chiefest of ten thousands. A sanctified soul exactly viewing, and well weighing the glittering pomp and splendour of this world, all natural and moral excellencies on the one hand, and Jesus Christ on the other, cries out with the Martyr Lambert, None Fox's Acts and Monuments. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, propter eminentiam cognitionis Christi jesu. Mo●●. but Christ, none but Christ; Counts all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dogs-meat, garbage, to the excellency of the Knowledge of Jesus Christ, Phil. 3. 8. A Christian loves himself, his Relations and worldly comforts with a common love, but God and Jesus Christ with a special love. He loves his temporal Enjoiments secondarily and subordinately, but he loves God and Christ primarily, intensively and superlatively; yea, so highly intensive is his love to God his Father, to Christ his Saviour, to the holy Spirit his souls Comforter, to Heaven and heavenly things, his only Treasure; that his love to other things (comparatively) may be called an Hatred, (i. e.) a much inferior, a far more remiss love. See Luke 14. 26. more distinctly. First, A sanctified heart loves God with a Amore desideri●. love of desire; The strength of the heart goeth out in love, this is called the breathing, thirsting, and panting of the heart after God, Psalm 42. 1, 2. The soul that loves God above all things, desires God above all things, both intensiuè with the greatest vigour, and Adequatè as its Adequate and complete Object: Whom have I in Heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee. 2. A sanctified heart loves God with a love of Union, as the heart of Shechem Amore unionis. clavae to Dinah, Gen. 34. 3. So an holy soul cleaves unto God in Christ. Barnabas exhorted the Disciples, that with purpose of heart they would cleave to the Lord, Acts 11. 23. As, the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, 1 Sam. 1. 18. So this Love, is as it were a knitting of the soul with God: Faith makes a mystical union of Persons, Love makes a moral union of affections. This is the very essence of Gospel-love; God bestows himself A●or. ●o● est, nisi d●num amantis in amatum. on us, and we freely surrender ourselves too God. Thirdly, A sanctified heart loves God with a love of good will, or Benevolence; we wish, and will, give and ascribe all honour and 〈◊〉 Benevolentia. praise, all glory and dominion unto him. This is the genuine product of his love in Christ to us, as Revel. 1. 5, 6. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Lord! saith an holy soul, let all thine be mine, and let all mine be thine; and let thine be for thy glory; let every person Cant ●. 16 and creature and thing in Heaven above, and in earth beneath be a shrill Trumpet, a loud Cymbal to sound forth thy praises. Fourthly. A sanctified heart loves God with Amore complacentiae, & acquiescentiae. a love of Complacence and Rest. Where we love, the eye of the soul (the mind) is fixed with a delightful stay, ubi amor, ibi oculus, the Object dwells in the 〈◊〉: we are still looking where we love; When I awake (saith the Psalmist), Anima plus est ubi amat, quàm ubi animat. I am still with thee, in my contemplations and affections; My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord, Psalm 104. 34. Love goeth forth upon the feet of Desire, and rests in the bosom of Delight. There is an holy acquiescence of the heart in God: God saith of his Saints, This is my Rest for ever, Psal. 132. 14. Psal. 116. 7. Psal. 91. 9 Ephes. 3. ult. here will I dwell; the Saint saith of God, Return to thy rest, O my soul; A Saintt makes God the most High his Habitation, and a Saints heart is the Habitation of God through the Spirit. Here lies the sweetness of holiness, the marrow and fatness of Religion. This World would be a Dungeon, and Heaven itself a melancholy shade, without the love of God; 'tis this, that makes Heaven and Earth sweet unto the sanctified, Heaven would be no Heaven, God could not be the joy, if he were not the love of Saints, but there both love and Psal. 16. ult. joy shall be full. But whilst the Saints are solacing themselves with Heaven, and delighting themselves in God, other men are following after other Lovers. The covetous man makes Mammon his God, the voluptuous man makes Pleasure his God, the Ambitious man makes Honour his God, the Formalist and Hypocrite makes Common grace, self-righteousness, a bare profession, or the mere externals of Devotion, his God, and Saviour; because every one of these make some of these their only Treasure and Happiness: They dote upon them, addict themselves to them, trust to them and in them, and love them more than God. But a Saint that knows God, makes Jehovah his God, he hath but one, the living and true God, to honour, love, and serve, who is the fountain of his life, and blessedness, Psal. 36. 9 Psal. 87. 7. Col. 3. 3. in whom all his springs are, in whom with Jesus Christ all his Comforts live; and from whom by Jesus Christ all his felicity is conveyed, to make him happy in both worlds. The new creature hath a new heart, according to that full and free Promise, Ezek. 36. 26. A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: which new heart I take to be the Genus of all the following graces. And where there is this new heart, there will be new Affections, new long, and earnest breathe of foul after God Christ, Heaven, and Immortality, for behold, saith Christ, I make all things new, Rev. 21. 5. Secondly, As a sanctified person loves his God, so also he loves his Brother; this is made Love of the Brethren, an evidence of Regeneration. one great evidence of our happy and new Translation. 1 John 3. 14. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the Brethren: he that loveth not his Brother, abideth in death. Many a be-nighted soul (I have ●ad Qui diligit fratrem magis novit dilectionem, quá diligit, quam fratrem quem diligit. Aug de Trinit. and heard) upon the plank of this evidence; have been kept from sinking down into the Whirl pool of despair; it hath been a refreshing Cordial to many a doubting Christian upon their Deathbeds: 1 Joh. 4. 7. Every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God; and in v. 20. the Apostle draws down a negative inference from the Premises: If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar; for he that loveth not his brother whom he bathe seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? That interrogation is a plain Negation: if the amiable and visible workmanship of God be not loved, 'tis impossible the invisible Author of that workmanship should. Query, Who are the Brethren intended in this Epistle? Answ. 1. There are Brethren by Nation, Acts 7. 23. 25. Rom. 9 3. 2. Brethren by Nature descended of the same Parents, Matth. 1. 2. 3. Brethren by Office, 2 Pet. 3. 15. 2 Cor. 1. 1, etc. 4. Brethren by Grace and supernatural Relation, and so understand the Term here. Query, How shall we know whether we truly love the Brethren, which is so great a sign of our new birth? Answ. I answer Affirmatively: 1. When we love them as such. The Brethren for their spiritual brotherhood, Christians for their Christianity, the Saints for their Sanctification, 1 John 5. 1. He that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him; he that loves the Father, loves the Image of the Father in the Child; He that loves the Person, loves the picture for the Persons sake. Grace must be the principal Loadstone of our affection: not Beauty, birth, sweetness of disposition, Breeding, Learning, Wealth, Honour, or any outward, or carnal accomplishments whatsoever. Secondly, When we love and delight in them above all other people: Psalm 16. 2, 3. David a King, calls them the Excellent, in whom was all his delight; and Christ prefers his spiritual before his own natural Relations, Mat. 12. 47, 48, 49, 50. 3. When we love those of the Brotherhood most, that are most gracious, if grace allures Love, (Caeteris paribus) the more of the former, the more of the latter. Christ loved all his Disciples, John 13. 1. but John eminently gracious, was eminently beloved: wherefore called the beloved Disciple, John 21. 20. 4. When we singularly and peculiarly love their society above all other; I am (said David Noscitur ex Com●te, qui non dignoscitur ex se. ) a Companion to all them that fear thee. The sanctified can have no intimate contenting fellowship with the unholy; Psalm 26. 4, 5. I have not sat with vain persons, etc. I have hated the Congregation of evil doers, ●, and will not sit with the wicked. Again, Psalm 15. 4. In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the Lord. This is one Character of an Inhabitant in Gods holy Hill. 5. When we are willing in some cases to lay down our lives for the Brethren: A Christian is bound not only to lay down his life for Christ, and for his Gospel, when God calls him to it, but also in some special Cases for the Brotherhood, * Significat in eo probari nostram charitatem, si amorem nostri in fratres transferimus, ita ut sui quisque quodammodo oblitus, aliis Consulat. Calv. in loc. 1 John 3. 16. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the Brethren. If our love to the Brethren be singular, and to the life, (as Christ's was to us) we shall lay down our lives for them; 'tis not a common or cold love of the Brethren that evinceth your Regeneration, every new born babe doth (with John) desire to decrease, so that Christ Mystical may increase, that the Kingdom of Christ be enlarged, the generation of the Righteous multiplied, amplified, and preserved, though it be, (that in the promoting of it) he himself, his Honour, his Name, his Life must lie in the dust of Death. To these things I have spoken more fully from another Subject, I pass on to the fifth particular. 5. A sanctified, or regenerate person overcomes the world, 1 John 5. 4. He that is born of God overcometh the world. 1. Here we have two Adversaries, the Regenerate, and the World. Secondly, the Victor, 1. The regenerate who are chief defensive, as the whole Armour of God is chief defensive, Ephes. 6. 14. to 19 verses. 2. The world on the other part, principally offensive, John 15. 18, 19, 20. Now, what is the world? 1. Partly, the men of the world; these lie in wickedness, 1 Joh. 5. 19 these hate the Saints, because they are not of the world, but chosen out of the world by Christ, John 19 19 1. By the world understand wicked worldlings with their persecutions of the Saints. 2. Partly, the lusts of the world, in Charms So Calv. & Zanch. in loc and Allurements, 1 John 2. 16. the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, i. e, all the delights, pleasures, and Contentments, which the flesh or body desires. Thus the world with all its oppositions and insinuations, frowns and flatteries sets upon the Saints. Secondly, The Victor, he that is born of God overcometh the world, he carrieth away the Conquest. Whilst the Saints are in the world, ●●ey are in an estate militant, there is carried on a spiritual War between two Antagonists, (viz) the Spirit of Regeneration in the Saints, and the Spirit of the World with all his worldly lusts and allurements: which Siren songs do draw in, and drown, which Cups of fornication do choke and poison millions in the world. Now he that is born of God by the spirit of faith dwelling in him, both as the Forma informans, & forma Assistens, is empowered to subdue corruptions within, and to vanquish temptations from without: so that by partaking of the divine Nature, he escapes the pollutions that is in the world through lust, 2 Pet. 1. 4. as the Apostle speaks. A sanctif●●d man hath in him the spirit of sanctity, and a spirit of magnanimity (indeed his sanctity is his Magnanimity) which makes him so high, that the world cannot master him, and so holy, that Inimicos dei, jam hoc ipso quod non cessimus, vicimus. Cyprian. the World cannot (in some sense) defile him. Thus in his measure he keeps himself unspotted from the world, James 1. ult. by the world is here meant, whatsoever resists the Commands of God: Neither the world's frowns, nor favours, neither its Comminations, nor its Invitations, neither the fears of the world, not Quicquid mandatis Dei resistit. Polan. the flatteries of the world can turn a regenerate person from the faith of Christ, nor from obedience to the Gospel, nor bring him unto their Bow. In the Germane Reformation, when some persuaded Erasmus to write to Luther, to bring him back to Popery, or else at least wise to write against his Doctrine; Erasmus answers, ●uther was too great for him to write to, or against. A Gracious spirit is too great a spirit, for the great Ones of the world to force by power, or to bribe by favour, into a base compliance with them against the honour of their God, and the conscience of their Duty. The Egyptians were wont to paint their Judges without hands, and eyes: without hands, they must not take bribes: without eyes, in judgement they must not be partial. Thus a godly man that hath made God his portion, is hand-less and eye-less: he is hand-less, the world doth not, shall not bribe him: he is eye-less, he beholds none of the world's Terrors, so as to daunt him. Thus a sanctified, or regenerate person, in the strength of Christ overcomes the world. 6. A regenerate or sanctified person hath the honour of Sonship. Sanctification lays the foundation of our Adoption: when we are born again, we are born Gods Children; we bear the Image of Christ by grace, as we have have borne the Image of Adam by nature, when we are converted, (ipso facto) we are adopted. Regeneration is the root or stock from which, and on which, this Peer-less, and never fading flower Adoption grows. When a sinner becomes a Saint, at that very moment a child of wrath is made a son of God, a member of the first is made a member of the second Adam; a relative change is contemporary with a real. Behold (ye Saints) this privilege with admiration; Behold! What manner of love is this, that we should be called 1 Joh. 3. 1. the sons of God, etc. When Christ had converted the Paralytic, he calls him Son; When Christ had converted Mat. 9 2. the Menstruous woman (which appears by her faith in touching him, and drawing in virtue from him) he calls her daughter, daughter, be Mark 5. 34. of good cheer, etc. The new creature hath both the white stone, and the new name, the white stone of Absolution, the new name of Adoption. There be some Honours a man can never attain to, unless he be born of Nobles, or descended of the blood of Princes: I cannot Fortuitum est nasci a principibus. teach you to be Princes in this sense, 'tis a rare thing to be born of Princes: but sure I am, unless ye be born again, not of bloods, or of the will of man, but by the will, and of the Spirit of God, 1 John 13. 3 John 3. ye shall not see the Kingdom of God, much less become the sons of God, or Kings and Priests to God, Rev. 1 6. and lest of all live and reign as Princes, and Peers of state in Glory. Now every sanctified soul to his great Comfort may draw up this Syllogism: He that hath the disposition, and the Affections, and doth the work of a child of God, is a child of God; But I have the disposition, and the Affections, and do the work of a child of God; Therefore I am a child of God. If ye are right in the Assumption, ye are thrice happy in the Conclusion. 7th. Effect of Sanctification. Holiness brings the soul to its right frame and Temper, Psalm 23. 3. He restoreth my soul, etc. Sanctification 〈◊〉 the souls restauration, not only to joy and comfort, but also to its former soundness, health and vigour, which was impaired by the fall. The health of the Body consists in the right and sound constitution of of it: when all the members are in their due positure, and all the humours in their right temperature, than the body is in health; so the health of the soul consists in the rectification, or right Constitution of all the faculties. So Dr. Sybs. By the fall they all suffered deordination, disorder, deformity, confusion: by Regeneration, they are set in joint again, renewed, rightly ordered, and re-inclined to their proper, and right objects. Grace coming into the soul (like Physic taken down into the body) works out the peccant humours, heals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. the soul of its old distempers, cleanseth it of its former filthiness, and superfluity of naughtiness, repairs nature by restoring to it the divine Nature, and so makes the soul hail and healthful in God's service; for indeed, none but the vessel of Honour, which is sanctified, is meet for the Master's use. Sin is the souls sickness: what sickness is to the body, that sin is to the soul. Sin is compared to the worst of sicknesses, to the plague of the heart, the noisome pestilence, the running Leprosy. A sick person cannot walk, nor work with comfort, nor relish the sweetness of meat and drink, nor enjoy himself in any of his enjoyments. Wherefore health is counted, the greatest temporal blessing; far greater than wealth, honour, beauty, etc. Now sin being a spiritual distemper, like a disease Physicians call a Corruption Corruptio totius substantiae. of the whole substance of animals, vitals, naturals; an unholy sinner cannot walk in Heaven's way, nor work the works of God, nor savour the things of the Spirit, nor relish the sweetness of Communion with God, nor the pleasures of Piety; his spirit is corrupted: this internal Palate and appetite are vitiated, the whole man is quite out of frame and order, he loves (like a Swine) to rout in the dung and filth, and cannot delight in God, not in his holy Law. Things that are in themselves most excellent, the great and glorious Mysteries of the Gospel, he looks upon as things contemptible and vile; but sin in in its lusts and acts, viler than the vilest filth he lives in, as his Element, and counts his greatest pleasure and Glory; he glories in his Phil. 3. 11, 19 shame. O Lord! how sadly is man fallen? But in sanctification the man is quite altered, the mind is informed, the will is reform, the affections are rightly ordered, the conscience is purged, the Inner-man is recovered to its right temper: yea, the members of the body (which before were weapons of unrighteousness) are now made sub-servient to the Spirits Dictates: And the whole man (body soul and spirit) being sanctified, is now made Membra sunt Arma. ready for every good work, to which (before sanctification) it was altogether reprobate. (Beloved Friends,) are your souls thus well and healthy? are they recovered to their right temper? are ye sound in the faith? are ye sincere at heart? is the habitual frame of your hearts right with God, and for God, or not? deal impartially with your own souls. 'Tis true, a man that is generally lively and healthy, may now and then by accident, get colds and surfeits, have fits of weakness, and for some time labour under some infirmities; but a strong Constitution will ●ub along, wear off, and cast out the disease at last; so an holy, a spiritually healthy man, through humane frailty, and strong temptation, may for a time decay in grace, yea languish very much; he may get cold, his love to God, his zeal for God may chill and cool, his faith may weaken, his hope may almost fail, his patience may tyre, etc. And through the immoderate cares of this life, and inordinate affection to the Creature, he may get a Surfeit, he may fall into sin, yea foully fall into great sins, and labour Nemo esse sine delicto potest, quamdiù indumento carni oneratus est. Lactant. de vero cultu. under the sense of a wounded spirit a long time. Notwithstanding all this, the immortal seed of God in him, (of which he is begotten) by the supplies of the Spirit of Life, will revive and conoborate the man again. The divine Nature in him will get head, exert its influence, and repair the man again; Grace like Leaven will ferment the whole lump, the whole soul, and work out the disease of sin; (in a word) the withering stock of Grace within (like a Psalm 1. 3. Rev. 22. 1. Tree planted by the River of Life) will spring, and flourish, scent, and bud again. 8. Blessed effect or Privilege. If thou art sanctified, or regenerated, thou hast a true and undoubted Title to the Kingdom, 3 Joh. 3. 5. Except ye are born again ye cannot see, ye cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. This Negative is inclusive of the Affirmative. If ye are born again, ye shall both see, and enter into God's Kingdom. This Kingdom of God (if born again) is thy Inheritance. If thou hast the sanctification of the Spirit, thou art begotten again unto a lively hope; this lively is also a most glorious hope; here hope is put for the object hoped for; and what is that? the 3d. v. informs ye, an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, which fadeth not away, reserved in hea-for ye. The children of Regeneration are most certainly, and unquestionably the children of the Kingdom: Sanctification is the Genuine and Evangelical Title to salvation; see 2 Thes. 2. 14. When ye are born from above, ye are at that instant born for above, ye are born children of God, brethren of Christ. Companions with Angels, and heirs of Glory: Nay, let me tell ye more, Sanctification is the very entrance into the Kingdom Sanctificatio est Ingreslus in Regnum Dei. Ca●v. Phillip 3. 20. of God: Holiness is not only the way to Heaven, but it is Heaven itself. A sanctified person lives the life of Heaven, * his conversation is in Heaven, he lives the Life of God, whilst his body is here on earth; it is life eternal (in the present tense) in specie, and in primitiis, in the kind and first-fruits of it, to know God in Christ, John 17. 3. When ye begin to be holy, ye than begin to enter into the white cloud of Glory. Ah then! seeing every one would be happy, who would not be holy? Holiness becometh thine House (O Lord) for ever: Without holiness no man shall see the Lord, (that is) with joy hereafter. Heb. 12. 14. No, nor any enjoyment of the favour and fellowship with God here. An unsanctified person is very miserable, he misseth heaven in both Worlds, he hath nether holiness, nor happiness, he hath neither the seed, nor the flower, neither the first-fruits, nor the Vintage: he hath not a grain of saving Grace, no sweet dews falling from heaven on him, not a drop of the water of Life to comfort him: But his soul is like the Heath in the Desert, and shall not see when good cometh, but shall inhabit the dry and parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land, and not inhabited, Jer. 17. 6. A most dismal state: saltness, and barrenness is his doom here, fire and brimstone is his portion for ever: Certainly, an unholy man must needs be very miserable. Lastly, True sanctification is an abiding, flourishing, progressive Principle, 1. It is an abiding Principle: it lives and abides in itself, and it also quickens the soul Semen manen●. in the life, and keeps the soul in the love of God for ever, 1 Pet. 1. 23. A man externally sanctified may fall away, and come to nothing, like a barren Tree he may lose in time both leaves and fruit: but a man internally sanctified, can never fall away, neither totally, nor finally; for the Name, and Nature of God, the Mark and Seal of God, the Image and Seed of God is in him: And this is incorruptible and immortal; * 1 Pet 4. 14. the spirit of Glory and of God rests upon him, the sp●rit of Holiness dwells and abides in his soul for ever, the Father, Son, and Spirit, (according to their omnipotency, faithfulness, and immutability) will never suffer their seed, seal, nature, image to be lost. Though Hymen●●● and Philetus, (hypocrites and heretics) may err concerning the truth, overthrew the faith of some, and throw themselves and others down to Hell: Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth who are his, 2 Tim. 2. 17, 18, 19 The love of God in Election, and in Vocation (or Sanctification) is like himself, unchangeable. The Gifts, and Calling of God are without Repentance. Joh. 13. 1. Rom. 11. 29. There may be partial and gradual Apostasy in some of the Saints of God, they may backslide in their apprehensions, in their affections, and in their conversations, as is too too manifest by the Scripture-evidence, and by sad experience: but to backslide totally from all the truths of God, and from all the profession of the Gospel, and with the mind and will, with the consent of the whole soul, and finally to fall away, bid an eternal farewell, or departed from God for ever; This cannot, shall not be. Among others, consult these Texts: Heb. 12. 6, 2. He that is the Author, will also be the Finisher of our faith; 1 Phil. 6. He that hath begun the good work in ye, will also perfect it. And Jer. 32. 40. And I will make (saith God) an everlasting Covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts, and they shall not departed from me. Here God in the Riches of his Grace through Christ, undertakes both for himself and his Saints: 1. For himself; I will not turn away from them to do them good. 2. For his Saints: I will put my fear into their hearts, that they shall not departed from me. Though they fall, they shall rise again, though they step aside into the ways of death, God will bring them back, and give them repentance unto life; They may turn from God for a season, but they shall never finally departed from him; The Gates of Hell shall never prevail against them: that is, either the infernal spirits, Eph. 6. 12. called principalities and powers, or the strength of Death and powers of the Grave shall never dissolve the Union between Christ and them: for I am persuaded, that neither Death, nor Life, nor Angels, nor Principalities, nor Powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor Rom. 8. 38, 39 height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 2. It is a flourishing and progressive Principle; Psalm 92. 12, 13, 14. The Righteous The Morto of the Palmtree is, Depressa Resurgo. shall flourish like the Palmtree, he shall grow like a Cedar in Lebanon: Those that be planted in the house of the Lord, shall flourish in the Courts of our God, they shall bring forth fruit in old age: they shall be fat and flourishing. Cant. 8. 16. Awake, O Northwind, and come thou South, blow upon my Garden that the spices thereof may flow out: in adversity, in prosperity, under desertion, under consolation, come smiles, come frowns, come the warm summer of joy, or the cold winter of sorrow: All the gales and blasts of Divine Providence, shall sweetly conspire to open the Spices of God's Garden to ripen, and diffuse the savour of the graces of the Spirit in the hearts of Saints: the Northwind is ripening, the South wind is refreshing, by both, the Spices shall flow out. Grace small at first, like a grain of Mustardseed, in tract of time will grow to a Tree of so great a bulk, that the Fowls of the Air may lodge in the branches of it: and of so high a stature, sa to reach from earth to Heaven. A spark of Grace (like a spark of fire) is kept alive in a sea of water; * Cant. 8. 7. Many waters shall not quench it, neither shall the floods drown it. I give to them (saith Christ) eternal life, and they shall never perish, etc. John 10. 28, 26. Lastly, the Image of Christ is, it is progressive. The picture or likeness of a man in a frame grows not, 'tis always at a stand, but the image of a man in his child is far different, 'tis lively, vigorous, and progressive; 'tis the property (as well as duty) of every real Saint, to perfect Holiness in the fear of God, to forget the things behind, is 2 Co●. 7. 1. reach forth unto those before, to press on towards the Mark: As the wicked grow worse and Phil. 3. 13 14. Rom. 1. 17, Psal. 84. 7. 2 Cor. 3. 18. Gratia Consummata est Gloria perficiens. worse, the Saints grow better and better, they go on from faith to faith, from strength to strength, and from Glory to Glory, till they are swallowed up in Heaven's Glory. The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day, Prov. 4. 18. Well then, cast up your Accounts, examine your hearts, consider your wa●es. Are ye stars or Meteors? are ye burning Lamps, shining Lights, or Dark-lanthorns? grow, (I am sure) ye do, either in sin, or holiness, upward, or downward, Hellward, or Heaven-ward: And go ye do daily, either forward, or backward, either toward the Mount of God, the Hill of Holiness,, or towards the Lake of Fire, the burning Tophet. If ye are Saints, rise up, Ascend, your Lord is risen, Why seek ye the living among the dead? If ye are sanctified by him, ye are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: Comes of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. private. & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Terra, A Saint is not an earthly, but an heavenly-minded man. Grace like fire, is always ascending to its Centre. risen with him; If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, Col. 3. 1. Set your affections on things above, and not on things beneath, or on the earth; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, i. e. mind the things above, and not the things on, or of the earth. If ye are redeemed from the earth, your Contemplation, your Communion, your Conversation is, and aught to be above, where Christ fits at the right hand of God; And the nearer home, the * Omnis ascensus (in this sense) as well as descensus, velocior in fine, quam in principio. swister should your pace be: Gird your Lions, Trim your Lamps, fill your Vessels, prepare your Souls, do all diligence, make your Calling and Election sure, for * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. doing these things, ye shall never fall, but have in abundant entrance into the everlasting Kingdom, etc. 2 Pet. 1. 10, 11. so doing, ye shall have Magnificent and Royal Entrance, the Gate of Heaven opened, full Assurance, and most ample Reception into Glory. Thus having gone through the Doctrinal part of the Proposition, we proceed to Application. Now for Application. Use 1 If Jesus Christ be given of God the Father or our Sanctification; Then in the first place, by way of Information: Ye that are the Saints of God, hence learn to give distinct Glory in Believing, to the several Persons in the Blessed Trinity. Get right apprehensions of the Divine Persons, and of the several endearments, with which their Personal operations are clothed and represented, and so worship, and glorify the Trinity of Persons, in the Unity of the Divine Essence. God is most honoured, your minds most enlightened, and your hearts most warmed and comforted, when your thoughts are most distinct, explicit and clear in this matter: in so doing * Tuum Nomen sanctificetur recte per nomen intelligimus beneficia personarum Patris officium, me●ita & beneficia fil●i Mediatoris, & officium ac ben●ficia Spiritus sancti, quae in Sc●ipturâ revelantur, & pradicantur. M. Chemnit. Harm. Evangel. p 610. Col. 1. 12 Joh. 16. 14. you hollow, or sanctify the Name of God indeed. The Saints are God's gift, the Sons purchase, the Spirits charge. God in the Eternal Compact, gave the Saints to Christ, to save, and Christ gives them to the Spirit to sanctify, and so * fit them for Glory. If the Father had not loved you before all worlds, the Son had not Redeemed you, and if the Son had not Redeemed you, the Spirit had never Sanctified you; and the Spirit works as the Son's Spirit, He (that is the Spirit) shall glorify me, (saith Christ) for he shall receive of mine, etc. Now Consider the love of the Father in Election, the merit of the Son in Redemption, and the efficacy of the Spirit in Sanctification; and give distinct glory to each Person. 1. Consider the love of the Father in Election: 'Tis from the love of the Father that we are blessed with all Spiritual blessings, etc. that Eph. 1. 3, 4. we are chosen in Christ, that we might be holy, etc. Christ himself was a gift of the Father's love, for God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, etc. this was unutterable, John 3. 16 and unconceivable love indeed: wherefore give due praise to the Father. 2. Consider the wonderful love and merit of the Son, his love was transcendent, his merit was Infinite, wherefore to him that hath loved Rev. 1. 5, 6 us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, ●nd hath made us Kings and Priests unto God, and his Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever, Amen. It was superlative love in Christ to lay down his precious life, to spill his precious blood for you, Gal. 2. 20. Christ by the merit of his blood (the price of your Sanctification) hath impetrated and obtained of the Father, the holy Spirit, with all the gifts and graces of the same for your sanctification and salvation; see John 16. 7, 13. John 14. 16, 17. 3. Consider the infinite power and efficacy of the Spirit: The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, (called the Spirit of Holiness Rom. 1. 4.) quickens the Saints to a new life, and dwelleth in them Rom. 8. 11. This new life of holiness which is in Christ Jesus, is by the Spirit of life imparted to you, Rom. 8. 2. For the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, Rom. 8. 2 hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Holiness in us is the fruit of Christ's Purchase, the product of his merit, the sprinkling of his Unction, a parcel of his Fullness, and a measure of his Spirit; we have as great need of his Spirit to sanctify us, as of his blood to justify us; yea, the Eternal Spirit was indispensibly needful to sanctify and dignify the blessed Sacrifice, of Christ's Humane Nature upon the Cross, or else I must profess my Ignorance of that Text, Heb. 9 14. 'Tis not only the power, but the exceeding greatness of the Spirits power to raise up a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Supo●eminens magnitudo virtutis ejus. So Montanus. person, morally dead to an estate of newness of life; 'tis a work proportionate to that power God wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the Heavenly places, Eph. 1. 19, 20. Notwithstanding the Father's Election, and the Sons Redemption, yet without the Spirits Efficacy, we had all at this day, lain rotting, (like stinking Carrion) in the Grave of sin and death. God's Mercy, Christ's Merit, and the Spirits efficacy, must have their distinct glory. The Father is said to sanctify, the Son to Sanctify, It is very observable that all the three Persons challenge an equal share in the working of holiness in the creature, it being such a part of God's Goorie. Mr. Burroughs Saints Treasury. p. 16. the Spirit to sanctify; but with their distinct Idioms or Characters, our sanctification is from the Father in the Son and by the Spirit; the Inchoation is from the Father, he is the prime original, the Dispensation is by the Son, he is the way of Communication, the Application and Consummation is by the Spirit; he receives of the Father and the Son, and shows it unto us, that is, he works grace or holiness in us. Thus all the persons work jointly, and yet distinctly, the love of the Father makes way for the Mediatorship of the Son, and the Mediatorship of the Son for the Offic● of the Spirit. The Sanctification of the Spirit is as necessary as the blood of Jesus, you may see 1 Pet. 1. 2. how all the persons have their distinct operations. Communion with the Spirit is as sweet and choice a privilege as the Grace of our Lord Jesus, or the Love of God the Father. 2 Cor. 13. 14. Thus sanctify the Name of God, give Glory to the Father, Son and Spirit, to the Triuni Deo, the three one God, (three in Persons, one in Essence and Nature) for your Sanctification. Use 2 It Jesus Christ be made of God Sanctification to us, (the Procuring, Meritorious and Moral cause of our Sanctification) then primarily and principally, let your thoughts ascend to God the Father, as the supreme original of your Sanctification; let not your thoughts stop or stay till they centre in him. 'Tis the Father, who of his own will hath begotten us by the Word of Truth; 'tis God the Father of Jam. 1. 18. our Lord Jesus, who of his abundant Mercy hath 1 Pet. 1. 3 begotten us again, etc. Therefore we ought to bless and exalt his abundant Mercy as the Apostle doth: 'Tis the Father, the Heavenly John 15. 1, 2. Husbandman, that purgeth the Branches, that they might bring forth fruit. As we ought to believe in Christ the Mediator, so in God as the first Fountain and Author of Grace, and as the ultimate end of our happiness. 1. As the Fountain of all Grace, John 3. 16. God so loved the world, that he gave, etc. Ephes. 2. 4, 5. God who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Ephes. 2. 4, 5. Rom. 4. 24 Christ. We must believe in him that raised our Lord Jesus from the dead: He that believeth in me, believeth not in me, but in him that sent me; there not is not negative, but corrective, not So Dr. Manton Expounds it in his Commentary on Judas. only in me, but his thoughts must ascend to the Father also, who manifests himself in me: for God was in Christ reconc●ling the World to himself, etc. 2 Cor. 5. 19 2. You must believe in God as the ultimate end of your happiness Christ suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us Pet. 3. 18 to God. When the Mediator brings the Soul into peace with God, by Justification, and into the likeness and fellowship of God by Sanctification, he hath attained: he utmost end of his Mediatorship, and the Soul hath attained its chiefest good, and utmost happiness: therefore is it said, that the Saints by Christ do believe in God, etc. Pet. 1. 21 I would not wittingly or willingly speak a word for a world to detract any thing from the honour of my blessed Saviour, or from the glory of the sacred Comforter; but to rectify your understandings, and to heighten your apprehensions of the Father's love, because many Christians carry all things in the Name of Christ, and of the Spirit, (being more apprehensive of the Sons love, and of the Spirit's grace) than of the Father's abundant mercy; Give me therefore leave to subjoin these four weighty Reasons. Reas. 1. Because all grace gins with the Father: he is the first in order of Being, and the first in order of Working, the Fountain of the Trinity (as we may conceive) 'tis the Father that floweth out to us in Christ by the Spirit: he is the Father of lights, Jam. 1. 17. And the Text tells ye, we are of God in Christ Jesus: 'tis true, Christ as the second Person, is coequal with the Father, in power and glory: but Christ as Mediator must be considered as the Father's Servant, as his elect or Isa. 42. 1. chosen Instrument. Reas. 2. Glorify the Father, for whatsoever good Christ hath done for you, or in you, all is done with respect to the Father's love and grant. God hath saved us according to his own Purpose and Grace, given us in Christ Jesus. God 2 Tim. 1. 9 Joh. 17. 2. gave Christ power over all Flesh, that he should give eternal life to those God had given him. Righteousness, Holiness, Heaven and Happiness, is the Father's free Grant or Donative. To her it was granted to be covered with fine Linen, the Rev. 19 18. Rithteousness of the Saints: and fear not little Flock, 'tis your Father's good pleasure to give you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. the Kingdom, Luke 12. 32. or that Kingdom. 'Tis very observable, that in all Christ's expressions of love to us, he still expresseth obedience to his Father's Will, there is a double ground of hope, as Stella speaks, the Son loveth See Stella at large, de amore Dei. cap. 18. us, because the Father requireth it: and the Father loveth us, because the Son asketh it. Reas. 3. It is a great support and comfort to a Believer in the act of believing, to consider the Love of the Father, as well as the Merit of the Son. Two are better than one, 'tis 1 Joh. 2. 23, 24. 2 Ep. Joh. 9 often made a great privilege to have both the Father and the Son. The Father's love the Son's Merit, severally and apart considered will not yield that full joy and peace in believing, as both conjoined. There's no coming to God but by Christ, for God out of Christ is consuming fire: Again Christ separated from the Father doth not yield so firm a ground of confidence. The Father's Act with the Sons Merit gives us full security. Christ and the Father also are a Believers Guardians, John 10. 28, 29, 30. a double cord is not broken easily; this twofold custody is the best security. The Father is represented as the offended Party by man's sin. Conscience quakes and trembles: now for a soul to know that God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself: and that Christ came from Heaven to do his Father's Will, and that the Father hath made him over to us in all his fullness, as wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption: This settles the soul in peace, Thou wilt keep him in peace, peace (so it is in the Hebrew) whose mind is stayed on thee. Isa. 26. 3. It pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. peace, in perfect peace, Isa. 26. 3. Reas. 4. Because in the Father's love there are many engaging Circumstances, not to be found in the other Persons. 1. In the Father's Love and Acts of Grace, there is an Original fullness: Christ's fullness as Mediator, is but drawn out of the Father's plenty, Col. 1. 19 2. The fullness of the Son in the dispensing of it, is limited by the Father's will, all that Christ dispensed was according to the charge and commandment of the Father, Mat. 20. 23. To sit on my right-hand and left is not mine to give (saith Christ) save to those for whom it is prepared of my Father. Christ as Mediator was limited by the Father's Will: To what end did God give Christ power over all Flesh? but to give eternal life, to as many a God had given him, to none other. Now it is sweet to Joh. 17. 2. think, that the Father himself loveth us, who is first in Order, and whose Will is absolute, and that he hath laid up an inexhaustible treasure in his Son for us. 3. In the Father's Acts you have the purest and freest apprehensions of love. 'Twas the Father that began, and (as we conceive) broke the business of our Redemption, and that sent his Son into the world to accomplish it. The Son as Mediator can have an higher motive than his own love (viz.) the Father's Will, but the Father can have no higher motive than his own Love. After the Apostle had treated of Election, Predestination to Adoption, Remission of sins, etc. he concludes all under the Will of God. The Eph. 1. 11, 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or the good pleasure of the Father's Will, was the Wellhead, or Fountain, Cause of all those acts of Grace that passed out unto the creature by the personal operations of the Son and Spirit. The love of the Father was antecedent to the merit of Christ, and to the operation of the Spirit; therefore in the Father's Acts of Grace, ye have the apprehensions of the first and freest love: you have great reason therefore from Spiritual, Scriptural Considerations to glorify and praise the Father, as the original Author of all your holiness and happiness. Thus much for the second Use. Use 3 If Jesus be given of God for our Sanctification, than we may safely infer, that Sanctification is neither an easy, nor a common work. 1. Sanctification is no easy work. God takes it to be his prerogative, I am the Lord that sanctifies you, Levit. 21. 8. Grace is his own proper immediate creature, man's Will contributeth nothing to the work, but resistance and rebellion, wherefore God makes the Domine errare per me potui, redire non potui. Aust. Meditat. soul willing in the day of his power, Psal. 110. 3. and outward means work not, unless the mighty power of the Spirit works with them, or else, why should the same Word Preached by the same Minister, mollify some, and harden others? Christ must come from Heaven, and open a Fountain in his own side and heart Zech. 13. 1. for our purification: Nothing but the blood of Christ can purge your Consciences from Heb. 9 14 dead works. If any other means had been effectual, Christ had never been made of God Sanctification to us. 'Tis observable, Sanctification is not only expressed by a Creation, (i. e.) a making of things out of nothing, but Luke 11. 21, 22. 1 Joh. 4. 4 also by a victory, or a powerful overcoming of opposition: In Creation, as there was nothing to help, so there was nothing to resist or hinder, but when God comes to sanctify or convert a soul, besides a Death in sin, God finds a strength of resistance against Grace. Therefore Sanctification is wrought by the power of the Almighty: We deserve it not, it comes from the Father's , and Christ's Merit; and we work it not, 'tis wrought in us by the power of the Holy Ghost. 2. Sanctification is not a common work: the making of man at first was not a Common but a special work, let us make man after Gen. 1. 26 our own likeness, the making of other creatures was by the word of power, but the making of man was an act of counsel. And sure I am the forming of Christ in the soul, the new workmanship created in Christ Jesus, to good Ephes. 2. 10 works is one of the greatest and most glorious works of God, fare surpassing the Creation of Heaven and Earth: Wherein God shows himself an Artist to the uttermost. Sanctification is the decking of the soul with Christ's Image, a representation of God in his highest Excellency: and this is not a common but a special Privilege, a divine Ornament which God bestows on none, but upon his choice Favourites: a special and peculiar people. 1 Pet. 2. 9 Use 4 Let all such that are in some measure sanctified, or that truly desire to be sanctified, wait on God till the work be accomplished. Though your wills be perverse and obstinate, God can bend and bow them. God never made a Creature too strong for himself: he that hath begun the good-work in you will Phil. 1. 6. perfect it: he is able to do this thing in us, and for us, and he is faithful in the performance of his Promises to us. 1. He is able: Who hath resisted his will: His Rom. 9 19 Isa. 59 1 Phil. 3. 21 1 Thes. 5. 24. Heb. 10. 23 hand is not shortened: He by the mighty power of his Spirit can subdne us and all things to himself. 2. He is faithful, Faithful is he that hath promised, who also will do it. Believe O ye doubting desponding Souls in the veracity, fidelity, and immutability of the great and good God: Hear what God, and not what the Tempter speaks. God hath promised to work in you to will and to do, Phil. 2. 13. That Assertion carries along with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Et velle, & perficere. These words are a Meiosis. it the nature of a Promise: Hath not the living and true God Promised in the New Covenant to sprinkle you with clean water, to circumcise your hearts, to put his Law into our minds; to write his Law in our hearts; to take away the heart of stone; to give us the ministration of his Spirit; not to quench the smoking Flax, that is, to kindle it; not to break the bruised Reed, that is, to strengthen it: and to send forth Judgement unto Victory, that is, to carry on the work of Sanctification in the Soul, (in spite of all opposition) till it be complete in Glory. Oh then! What remains? but that we should all act Faith upon God's power and faithfulness, in making good his Promises, or else we shall discomfort ourselves needlessly, and dishonour God exceedingly. And withal remember, 'tis very expedient to turn these Promises into Prayers, and act Faith on them in Prayer. The Promises are as so many Bills under Gods own hand, which in the name of Christ we ought to present to the Father, and to put them in suit, at the throne of Grace. Thus come in Faith, and ye shall go away with Comfort. Use 5 (As a consequent of the former) let such as are distressed through the sense of Sin, and for want of holiness look up to Christ Jesus for Sanctification: he of God is made unto us Sanctification, believe in the Joh. 6. Joh. 14. 1 Mediator, in him whom God hath sent; honour the Son as ye honour the Father, God hath so appointed it: Look up to him all ye the ends of the Earth and be saved, so look Isa. 45. 22 up to him, and ye shall be also sanctified: be daily looking up to Jesus the Author and Finisher of your Faith; the Alpha and Omega of your holiness, Heb. 12. 2. Look up to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Aspicientes in illum. Isa. 61. 1. 1 Joh. 1. 7 Christ, for the Spirit of Sanctification from Christ, if ever ye would partake of his Unction. The Crystal stream, wherein we are washed and made clean, flows out of Christ's own heart. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin: Faith makes Application of this blood, and so it purifies: you may be poring long enough on your own filthiness, and be filthy and dejected still, unless you look up to this Fountain, and see Christ given of God for your Sanctification; you must apprehend him as the Lord your Righteousness, and also as the Highpriest of your holiness, else your Consciences will never be pure, nor peaceable: Naaman by the Prophet's order, was to go down and dip himself seven times in Jordan, if he would be cured, 2 Kings 5. 10. So by God's order and appointment you must go down daily by the renewed Acts of believing to this Fountain, and bathe and wash thy unclean Soul in the streams of this Jordan, (I mean Christ's blood) if ever thou wouldst be healed of thy sinful Leprosy. Use 6 My sixth Use shall be to press us all to a serious sense of our absolute need of holiness: Sanctification is not a thing indifferent, which a man may have, or not have, and yet be happy; no such matter: You must be holy, if ye will be happy; 'tis the unum necessarium, the one thing needful. Luk. 10 42 Prov. 4. 7 Sanctification is the principal thing: Sanctification is the Wedding-Garment, which renders ye amiable in the eyes of the King of Heaven: without this, the King will say, Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into outer darkness. Mat 22. 12, 13. Certainly, this Wedding-garment is woven of the glorious beams of the Sun of Righteousness, 'tis both the Righteousness of Christ imputed and imparted; Christ's Righteousness (say others) with Faith and Holiness. So Calvin and other Modern Writers. The Graces of the Spirit are as Parliament Robes. The Peers (say some) by rule of Peereage, are not to sit in Parliament without their Robes. The Graces of the spirit are the Jewels of the Covenant, and Robes of Heaven; No living or reigning there; no sitting in Heaven as Peers of State, as Kings and Priests without these Robes of Glory; the Righteousness of Christ for Justification, and the Graces of Christ for Sanctification, without all this white Linen, the Righteousness of the Saints. Sanctification is the Seal or Mark of Heaven. There is a Necesse est put upon Sanctification. 1. For the honour of God, of each Person in the Trinity. ●. For our own happiness. 1. For the honour of the Father, that his choice be not disparaged. 2. For the honour of the Son, that his Members be not deformed, nor polluted. 3. For the honour of the Holy Spirit, that his charge may not miscarry, or fall short of Glory. 1. For the Honour of the Father whose choice we are, we are chosen in Christ to be holy, Ephes. 1. 4. and chosen to the Sanctification of the Spirit, 2 Thes. 2. 14. Mere morality hath something of Majesty in it in the eye of nature. Those abominable Bruits at Rome could not practise their filthy lascivious pranks, while grave Cato was on the Theater; the most carnal men have some inward respect for holiness, for all their quarrelling with it, and dislike of it. Now should not Gods chosen be an holy People, and live holily, they would be a dishonour to his Name, a scandal to his Gospel a cloud to his Glory. God therefore chief aims at our holiness in all his dispensations. I shall instance in these three. 1. God Chooseth us. 2. Calleth us, 3. Correcteth us, that we might be holy. 1. God Chooseth us, the chosen Generation are to be an holy Nation, and to show forth God's virtues. God chooseth us that we should be of a choice Spirit, he loved us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 virtutes, 1 Pet. 2. 9 with a singular love, that we should be persons of singular lives to him. 2 God calleth us that we may be holy, that he may put the honour of holiness upon us, in the eye of the whole world; Be ye holy in all manner of conversations, as he is holy; Let your light so shine before men, that they seeing your 1 Pet. 1. 15 Mat. 5. 16 La demum est vera religio imitari Deum quem Colis. Lactan. good works etc. That is true Religion, when we imitate God whom we worship. 'Tis impossible God should set his love upon a person altogether unlike himself, similitude is the ground of Fellowship, can two walk together except they are agreed, for what communion hath light with darkness, or Christ with Belial? Surely, none at all. 3. Why doth the Lord many times correct his people, but that they might be holy; this is the sweet fruit that grows upon the sour tree of affliction; this is all the fruit to take away their sin, Isa. 27 9 and more expressly, Heb. 12. 10. To make them partakers of his Holiness. We are Threshed, that ou● husks may fly off; Winnowed, that we may be purged; Tried in the Furnace, that our Graces may be brightened, and our dross, our lusts consumed, God never afflicts his people but for their profit; (Though we may not) yet God many times seethe we have great need of affliction, because 1 Pet. 1. 6 we have need of sanctification, many times the Saints get such deep spots in their Consciences, and stains in their Garments, that nothing but the Salt and Vinegar of afflition will rub them out: God had rather see his people in a suffering, than in a sinful state; he had rather hear them cry, than see them filthy: and better a thousandfold to be preserved in Brine, than to rot in Honey. 2. Sanctification is absolutely needful for the honour of God the Son, lest his members should be deformed, and polluted; head and members must be proportionate like to one another; it were monstruous that Christ should have such Dan. 2. 3●, 32, 33 a strange body; as Nebuchadnezars' Image, which he saw in his Dream, the head of Gold, the arms and breasts of Silver, the thighs of Brass, the feet of Iron and Clay: so strange and odd it is, that Christ should have such a misshapen Body, altogether unlike himself: 'tis not for Christ's honour to be the head either of a monstrous or ulcerous body: by how much we retain of sin, by so much we dishonour our Redeemer, and put him to shame: therefore all Christ's aim is to make us holy. Christ pitched on Sanctification as the fittest blessing to bestow upon us, to make us holy and so to make us in and with himself honourable. Every distinct society must have some distinct honour; now Christ hath set apart his Church as a distinct society to himself; He bestows not on her worldly pomp or splendour, other societies have enough of that, but he beautifies her with holiness the best Ornament: For holiness becometh thine House O Lord for ever, Psal. 93. 5. This is a fare greater gift, than any outward greatness, for moral excellencies do far transcend civil or natural. God is said to be rich in Rom. 10. 12 Eph. 2. 4 Rom. 11. 33 Exod. 24. 6 Mercy, plenteous in Redemption, abundant in Goodness and Truth, infinite in Power, unsearchable in Counsel, but he is glorious in Holiness, Exod. 15. 11. God's Goodness is his Treasure, but his Holiness is his Glory. Again Christ in giving us Sanctification, did not only respect its Excellency, but also out want of it. Christ came into the world to repair and make up the ruins of the Fall; in the Fall we lost not only God's Love, but also God's Image; therefore that the Plaster might be as broad as the fore, he died not only to reconcile us, but also to sanctify us, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, he suffered without the Gate, Heb. 13. 12. His blood was Exod. 30. 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Price, but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Laver, wherein to wash us, and make us clean; as under the Law there was both a Laver, and an Altar; to show that we must be sanctified as well as justified. Christ came into the world not only to abolish the guilt of sin, which makes against The Son of God appeared. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut dissolvat opera Diaboli. Si hodie quoque in Helvetiis Thermae Taberic●ses, etc. vatetudinarios restituunt, id quidem divina tribuendum est b●nignitati; nam nuste res Terrenae vim in se habent salu●arem hominibus, nisi essicaces redd●ntur per po●entiam omnipotentis. Buling. in Joh. 5. 4 Numb. 35 6, 25. our Interest, Peace, and Comfort; but also to destroy the power of sin, and cleanse us of the filth of sin, which makes against Christ's Glory: Christ died that the Gospel, and all the precious Ordinances and Promises of the ●ame might be under a blessing and conduce to the advancement of holiness, Ephes. 5. 26. That he might Sanctify us by the washing of water through the Word. Christ hath procured a Treasure of Grace to be conveyed to the Church by the spiritual use of Ordinances, John 17. 19 I Sanctify myself for their sakes (saith Christ) that they might be Sanctified through the Truth. That profane Wretch Celsus, decries Christianity, as though it were a Nursery of wickedness, and a Seminary of all looseness; such abominable thoughts he had of the Doctrine of Freegrace. Origen wisely answers him: The Gospel is not an Invitation of a Thief to debauch men, but the Invitation of a Physician to cure men of their enormities: 'Tis an Hospital, to heal them of their Diseases, a Fountain to cleanse them of their Filthiness When ever ye come to hear the Word, or to the use of any Ordinance, expect then to reap the fruits of Christ's purchase; look upon the Ordinances as sprinkled by Christ's blood, as influenced by Christ's Spirit. When ye come to this Pool of Bethesda there wait, and wait earnestly for the Angels stirring of the waters, as the impotent folk did, John 5. 2, 3, 4. the Angel of the Covenant, Christ in his Prophetical Office, must stir in these waters of the Sanctuary, manifest his Power and Presence in them, and stir in thy heart also: Open thy immortal Gates, move and melt thy bowels for thee, if ever they are effectual. 'Tis very observable, that under the Law all the Cities of Refuge, were Cities of Levites, and Schools of Instruction. And there the must stay till the death of the Highpriest; So, in like manner, if ye fly from the Pursuer of Blood, (the Law and Wrath of God) to Jesus Christ for Refuge, for Reconciliation, for Justification, as your Highpriest; you must come to Christ also for teaching, as your Prophet, ye must learn the Trade of holiness in Christ's School, as well as look for reconciliation by Christ's Cross. To conclude, Your Head is holy, so must the members be, or else ye exceedingly dishonour your Head, and disgrace his Glory. 3. 'Tis for the honour of God the holy Spirit; the Father and the Son have committed the Saints to the Spirits charge, to this very end and purpose, that they might be sanctified: Sanctification is made the Spirits personal operation, 2 Thes. 2. 14. 1 Pet. 1. 2. The Spirit is to shape and fashion all the Vessels of Mercy, and prepare them for Glory, he is to deck the Spouse of Christ with the jewels of the Covenant. 'Tis the great advantage the Saints have in the Oeconomy or dispensation of Grace, that they have the Father, to purpose it, the Son to purchase it, and the Spirit to work it, the Father, Word, and Spirit are all one, and agree in one for our sanctification. Now 'tis a great grief to the Spirit, when the work of Grace doth not go on and prosper in the soul; for, 'tis he that worketh us to this very thing, and therefore is called the Spirit of holiness. 'Tis not for the Spirits honour, that God's Nursery or Plantation committed to his care and charge should not thrive and flourish. 'Tis not for the Spirits honour to dwell in defiled Temples, nor to let the people go naked without their Ornaments: 'Tis not for the Spirits honour, that any committed by the Father and the Son to his charge, should perish or miscarry, should fall away either totally from all Grace, finally for all time, for ever, to miss of heaven in the end. The Father hath left the Son in charge to be the Captain of our salvation, and to bring many Heb. 2. children to Glory. The Son hath left the Spirit in charge with all his Father's children, to guide them by his Counsel, and to bring them to his Glory. When Christ (as man) left earth, and went to Heaven, he comforts his Disciples by sending another Comforter, and who he is, Christ tells ye, even the Spirit of truth, to guide his people into all truth; for he shall not speak from himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come, he shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you; all things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you, John 16. 13, 14, 15. The Spirit of Christ is Christ's Pro-rex, or Viceroy by Commission from his Father and himself, to rule and govern the affairs of his providential Kingdom, Ezek. 1. 20, 21. The spirit of the living creature was in the wheels: The Spirit acts the Angels (called living Creatures), and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, aux viae vobis erit in omnem veritatem. So Beza in John 16. 13. the living creatures or Angels, act and move the wheels, (that is) the Transactions of divine Providence in the world, and Christ by the Spirit governs and guides his Subjects in his spiritual Kingdom; * the Spirit is Dux via, the Captain of the way, to lead his people into all truth, their Glorious Guest to dwell with them, and to abide with them for ever, John 14. 16, 17. and by his inhabitation▪ and constant influence and operation, to perfect his own work in them, and ripen their souls for Heaven. Thus our sanctification is absolutely necessary for the honour of the Father, Son, and Spirit. 2. Our sanctification is absolutely, and indispensibly needful, as for the honour of God, so also for our attainment of true happiness: Grace and Glory, holiness and happiness, sanctification 〈…〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. Negat queaqua posse vi● re Deum sine sanct●●●o●a 〈…〉 oc●●is v●debimus Deum, quam qui reformati fu●rint ad ejus imaginem. Calv. and salvation, individuo nexu coherent, These are tied and twisted together with a knot inseparable, and indissoluble. There is no going to Heaven, without holiness no man shall see the Lord, Heb. 12. 14. Some there are, which ignorantly, and fond do restrein the word Saints, to the Saints departed; the Saints in Heaven; but we must be Saints here, or else can never expect to be Saints hereafter. The Apostle denies (saith Calvin) that any one can see God without holiness, because he shall see God with ●o other eyes, than those which shall be renewed according to his Image; The Image of God, is but begun on earth, 'tis perfectly and completely drawn by the Vision of God in Heaven. Be sure you are real Saints sanctified in Christ Jesus, and not only nominal, and notional, as too many are: your Saintship is all the evidence you have to show for your inheritance: be sure then, you keep your evidence fair, and clear, without blots and blurs: Unless ye are begotten again unto a lively hope; what have ye to do with that inheritance, gilded with so many glorious Epithets? 1 Pet. 1. 2, 3. How can 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. Math. 5. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. they see God that have not a pure heart, nor a pure eye (indeed, the pure heart is the pure eye) The Degree of Vision will be according to the degree of sanctification; the more gracious we are in this, the more glorious we shall be in the other world. The Apostle tells us, Col. 1. 12. we must be made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light: What should a carnal heart do with Heaven? that knows no other heaven, but to eat, drink, and wallow in sensual delights: (as the Glutton at a feast cried, There's no heaven like to this); We must not look for a Turkish Paradise in Heaven, but for a pure sin less state, not to bathe our souls in carnal pleasures, but to be Consorts of the immaculate Lamb, and Competitioners with the Angels: Perfection of Grace, and fullness of joy in the presence As one saith, Consortes Agni, Angellorum Candidati. of God's Glory is the Saints heaven. Swine know not what to do with Pearls, nor carnal creatures with the life and joys above. Suppose that which is not to be supposed; were it possible an unsanctified person should go to heaven, that holy place and holy Company would be an hell to him, he would be as Coelum est altera Gehenna damnatorum. weary of heaven, as ever water was of running, (according to the Proverb:) If the faint Image of God in his Saints, if the glimpse of God's presence in his Ordinances, be so irksome and unpleasant to an unholy soul here▪ Oh how terrible and contrary to his spirit, would the most glorious Presence of God in heaven be? where the Seraphims cry continually, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth, &c, where God displays his holiness in the greatest splendour and glory. God is perfect light, Isa. 6. 3. Revel. 4. 8. 1 Joh. 1. 5. the man is darkness, they could never agree together. An unsanctified person indeed may desire Heaven, as a disproportionate good, as a place better to be tolerated than the torments of hell: he may desire heaven as a privation of suffering and misery, but not as a privation of all sin, nor as the perfection of Grace and holiness; nor as it is the nearest union of the soul with God, and the highest fruition of the chief good. Thus for him to desire, or long for Heaven, is against the very grain and hair of his spirit, altogether inconsistent with, and contrary to his old untenewed nature. Now on the contrary, the Saints, whose eyes are enlighted with the eyesalve, and by the prospective of Faith, have Rev. 3. 18. had a view of this King and Kingdom, these Isa. 33. 17. make a right Scheam or draught of Heaven, and their believing hopes of interest in this 2 Cor. 5. 17. If any man be in Christ, he is a new Creature▪ Gloria quam habebunt conformem Christi corpori corpori incomprehensibilis est. Calv. in Phil. 3. 21. Kingdom, and of communion with this Company that is above, do engage them to purification, 1 John 3. 2, 3. He that hopes and longs to see Christ, as he is, and to be like him, both for constitution of soul and temper of body, he must ever labour to be holy, and he will be trying, and practising here on earth, to conform to Christ beforehand. He that expects that his vile body shall be made like Christ's Glorious body, (1) in spirituality, purity, clarity, strength, splendour and Glory, he will possess his Vessel in sanctification and honour; he dares not use his body merely as a streiner for meats and drinks, nor as an unclean channel for lusts to pass through; but he will honour it, as a Temple of the holy Ghost: his mind that shall see God, he will not fill with chaff and vanity, with worldly cares, or unclean thoughts, his affections that should cleave to God intensively, and inseparably, he will not prostitute to every base object: he will labour to keep his garments clean, to walk without spot, and blameless, till the coming of the Lord. Thus with respect to the fruition of our hopes, and the attainment of our happiness, we are engaged, and not engaged only, but inclined, and sweetly constrained also to habitual, and actual holiness, or as the Apostle excellently phraseth it, to cleanse ourselves from all fill hiness of flesh and spirit, and perfect holiliness 2 Cor. 7. 1. in the fear of the Lord. Use 7. In the seventh place: This point informs us of the excellency of Sanctification, or Holiness; ye have heard already much of its absolute necessity, now something of its transcendent Excellency. Holiness is the Name of God, the Will of God, the Work of God, the Seed of God, the Nature of God, the Image of God, the life of God, the Glory of God, the lustre and splendour of the soul, the health and vigour of the soul, the soul of man is the Physical Image of God, but the holiness of the soul is the Ethical or qualitative image of God. 'Tis the seed of Glory, the beginning of Heaven, the first fruits and forerunners of eternal Life. 'Tis a known Maxim, That which partakes of the nature of the whole, is Quicquid participate de naturâ totius, est pars totius. a part of the whole: the filings of Gold are Gold ramenta auri sunt preciosa, Grace is very precious, true sanctifying saving grace is Glory; The holy people are the most precious honourable people in the world; Since thou wast precious Isa. 43. 4. in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee, etc. The righteous is more excellent Prov. 12. 26. than his Neighbour. See how many honourable Titles God doth honour his Saints in Scripture with; 1. They are his portion, Deut. 32. 9 2. They are his pleasant portion, Jer. 12. 10. 3. They are his inheritance, Isa. 19 25. others are the works of his hands, but the Saints are his inheritance. 4. They are the dearly beloved of his soul, Jer. 12. 7. 5. They are his Treasure, his peculiar treasure, Exod. 19 5. and his peculiar people, 1 Pet. Segallah, et 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, are the same. 2. 9 Titus 2. 14. 6. They are the Apple of his Eye, Zech. 2. 8. whoso toucheth you, toucheth the Apple of mine Eye. 7. They are his Glory, Isa. 46. 13. 8. They are the house of God's Glory, Isa. 60. 7. 9 They are a Crown of Glory, Isa. 62. 3. 10. They are the Throne of God, Exod. 17. 16. the words may be read thus: because the hand upon the Throne of the Lord, and so by many they are translated. 11. The Throne of Glory, Jer. 4. 21. 12. The Ornament of God, Exek. 7. 20. 13. The Beauty of his Ornament, Exek. 7. 20. 14. The Beauty of his Ornament set in Majesty, Ezek. 7. 20. 15. A Crown of Glory, Isa. 62. 3. 16. A Royal Diadem, Isa. 62. 3. 17. Lastly, The excellent in the Earth, Psalm 16. 3. the Saints that are in the earth, are the excellent in the earth, the Jewels of the world: you may enlarge in your own Thoughts. This then serves to inform the mistaken and blind world, that Grace is no disgrace, that holiness is no dis-enobling, but a most generous, princely and glorious thing. Brave spirits (as the world accounts them) think preciseness, an inglorious, and the power of Godliness a base thing, that taketh off from their Grandeur and Generosity. * Coguntur esse mali, ne viles habeantur. Salvian. Salvian complains that in his time, the Great Ones were deterred from serious holiness, because it was Contemptible. It was Gentlemanlike to be wicked, but Peasant, or Vassal-like to be Godly; whereas the service of God is the noblest and sweetest liberty, but the service of sin the vilest slavery: Though your jolly spirits think they are the freest men on earth; The Apostle nips their Courage with that Calling-card, 2 Pet. 2. 19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of Corruption; for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. They are the slaves of Satan in the bonds of lust: I wish that all Prodigals and presumptuous sinners, would seriously mind that Text: But (my Brethren) I trust, that ye have otherwise learned Christ; If so be, ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, than ye do put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man, etc. ye do put on the new man, which after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in sanctitate veritatis. vulg. God is created in righteousness and true holiness, or holiness of Truth, Ephes. 4. 22. 23, 24. I trust the Lord hath given ye an understanding to know things that are excellent, and to approve them, that ye may be sincere, and without offence till the day of Christ; as the Apostles prays for the Phillippians, Phil. 1. 9, 10. Many excellent Gifts the Father of Lights bestows upon his Children; indeed every good and perfect gift comes from him. Christ himself is the Jam. 1. 17. first Best Gift of God; A Gift of Gifts, and sanctification in, or by Christ Jesus, I take to Joh. 1. 10. be the next Best. Now you that are righteous with this inherent Righteousness, hold on 1 Cor. 1. 2. your way, and prosper, the Lord be with ye, The Angel of his presence save ye, The Spirit of Jesus guide ye to the Hill of holiness, and help you to perfect holiness in the fear of God. You are under the virtue of sure and sweet promises for your great encouragement in Heaven's way: The Righteous shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger, Job 17. 9 The Lord strengthen your hearts, and quicken your See these Texts: Isa. 40. 2 last verses. Phil. 1. 6. Heb. 12. 2. Ezek. 36. 27. speed, by these powerful and precious Promises: and give ye a prosperous arrival at the fair Havens of rest and peace. Amen. We come now to close the whole with these two uses: 1. By way of Conviction, 2. By way of Caution. Though I know the Rules of Method, and the exigence of the Subject, Command me, yet I shall not proceed directly by way of Examination, because that hath been already done, from that Text, Rom. 1. 7. To all that be at Rome, beloved of God called to be Saints: from whence the doctrine of calling hath been discussed, the nature of Saintship, and the signs and trials of Sanctification have been largely shown. We shall therefore (God willing) proceed to the next in order, viz. the Use of Conviction. Use 8. This Doctrine of Sanctification we have so long insisted on, serveth for Conviction. If those that are Gods, and Christ's, are sanctified in Christ Jesus; if God the Father hath given them Christ his Son for their sanctification, to make them holy: Then this Point brings doleful news, sad tidings in the mouth of it to three sorts of Persons: To the Profane, To the Persecutors, To the Scorners. 1. The profane, who mock at sin and slight holiness, are hereby convicted and condemned. 1. The profane. God hath no Birthright for such profane Esau's. The people, who are the Lords portion, are an holy Nation, washed from their filthiness: If ye are converted, ye are washed and sanctified, in the name and by the spirit of the Lord Jesus, 1 Cor. 6. 11. but profane ones have ● spot upon them, which is not the spot of God's Children, Deut. 32. 5. see what St. John speaketh of such kind of persons, as wallow in their filthiness. 1 John 3. 8. He that committeth sin, is of the Devil, for the Devil sinneth from the beginning; he that tradeth in sin, and maketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: qui operam dat peccato. So Beza. sin his constant business, work, or practise, as a workman doth his calling, and followeth the same daily and deliberately. A godly man may slip into sin through humane frailty, and in the hurry of temptation may be overtaken with a fault: But it is the profane man that is a trader in sin, and a constant worker of iniquity. Though such men may presume that they belong to God, yet our Saviour expressly speaks, they are the Devils Children, John 8. 44. Ye are of your father the Devil, for his works ye do, etc. These men have not the least pretence of a claim to Heaven, they come exceeding short of Hypocrites, who pretend to holiness, and seem to be so; but the profane are neither civil, nor moral. Such gross sinners are called Dogs and Swine. They are wel●●ing in the gall of bitterness, and bound fast with the bond of iniquity, as Peter told Simon Magus, Acts 8. 23. All that such kind of sinners have to say (for the most part) for themselves, is this, 1. That God is merciful. 2. That their hearts are better than their lives. To the first I answer, that God is holy, and just, as well as merciful and gracious. The Lamb will turn a Lion, the Saviour of the world will come as a terrible Judge in flaming fire to render vengeance to the ignorant, and disobediext, 2 Thes. 1. 8. And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the wicked and ungodly appear? 1 Pet. 4. 18. They shall appear indeed, but like as chaff before the Whirlwind, and as stubble before the flames. Sinners do little All the Attributes of God, a● justice, mercy, etc. do run in the channel of his Holiness. think, that God's mercy is an holy mercy, which in a saving manner he will dispense to none out of Christ; Sinners do err exceedingly to think, that God is prodigal either of his own mercy, or of his Son's Blood; 'tis only the sanctified in Christ Jesus, exclusively, who shall be the objects of his saving mercy, the mercy of God, and the merit of Christ, are most sacred and precious things, 1 Pet. 1. 18. The former is bestowed on none, the latter is spilt for none but an holy and a peculiar people. Justice must be satisfied, else mercy can be never 1 Pet. 2. 9 dispensed: if the merit of Christ be thine, than the mercy of the Father is thine, otherwise though the Ocean of Gods pardoning mercy be boundless and bottomless, thou shalt not taste one drop of it. Well then, wouldst thou know that God will be merciful to thy soul at the last day, it highly concerns thee to know Christ, in the power of his Resurrection, and in the fellowship of his sufferings in this thy Phil. 3. 10. Day. 2. To the other Plea: That their hearts are better than their lives. I answer, This is to appeal to a witness, that cannot be found; to a witness, that is, (as to us) invisible: 'tis as if a man should lay claim to another man's Land, and pretend he hath lost the evidences; the guilt of the profane is written in Capital legible letters, upon the frontispiece of his Conversation, every eye may see it: As a good tree brings forth good Vita est index animi, index futuri, & index aeterni. See Mat. 12. from 34 to v. 37. Cor instar Promptuarii est bonorum, & malorum. Pareus. fruit, so a bad tree brings forth bad fruit: Men do not gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of thistles. As a good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things, so an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth evil things. A good man speaks good words, and doth good works; and the Apostle tells us, Rom. 2. 6. God will reward every man according to his deeds. Your hearts can never be good, when your tongues and lives be bad; Your Lord Christ speaks expressly, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. The doom of the profane is dreadful, to instance but in two particulars. 1. The unclean shall not enter into, or pass over the way of holiness, Isa. 35. 8. And an high way shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness; the unclean See the Dutch Annotat, on the place▪ shall not pass over it, etc. The meaning of that place is this, The true Church shall be no barren Wilderness, or untrodden Desert, but in it shall be showed the true way to salvation by faith in Jesus Christ; who cleanseth us from all our sins, and giveth us his holy Spirit, to regenerate, and renew us to an holy life, but the unclean, or profane shall not pass in this high way of Holiness; The dogs shall be without, out of the pale of the true Church, Revel. 22. 15. 2. The unclean shall not enter into the new Jerusalem. That most holy place, and blessed state is an heavenly Mansion, and preferment for Doves; not for Vultutes, for sheep, not for Goats or Swine. not for the unclean, but for the holy. No Anathema must be there, Revel. Regnum coelorum clausum est incredul●●, blasphemis, execratis, & iis, qui secundum carnem, ambulant, sed idem apertum e●t electis, & vocatis sanctis. Pignet. 21. 27. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. The inheritance above is a possession for the sanctified, and none else, Acts 26. 18. that goodly Country the Eternal Canaan, is divided among the Saints, 'tis the peculiar portion of an holy peculiar people: but the Flaming Tophet, the Lake that burneth with fire and brimstone is the lot of the profane. 2. This Point brings sad tidings to the persecutors, that hate holy persons, and holy things for the sake of holiness; who labour 2. The Persecutors. to delace the Image, and spiritual worship of Christ, to pull down the honour and glory of God in the world, and to root ou● holiness from the earth. Whatsoever these men's pretences Ch●istianos ad ●ones. Et pu●o●os Deus Apostolos novissimos elegi● velut● Bestiarios. Tertul. John 19 12. are, as 1. State-policy, as Haman told King Abasuerus, when he thought to exterminate the whole Jewish Race; 'tis not for the King's profit that these men should live; Or 2. Fear of Rebellion, these are no friends to C●sar; as hath been the old Calumny: these are Enemies to Government; This unjust charge the Jews insinuate against Christ before P●la●e: If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend? whosoever maketh himself a King, speaketh against Cesar. Whereas the Sceptres and Crowns of Princes have no better friends under heaven, than Religion, and religious men: Or 3. Expediency of an uniformity in all modes in Religion: whereas 'tis as possible for all men to come into the world with the selfsame faces for figure and feature, as for all men in the same Nation to agree in the same, and in all the modes and circumstances of the same Religion: as the Emperor wisely told that Satirist, objecting, why he had so many men of so many opinions in his Army, yet notwithstanding 'tis the white of holiness which they shoot at. The shining lustre of the Saints spiritual worship, and holy Conversation draws a Cloud over theirs, and puts a check upon them: therefore they hate and persecute. The original moral cause of defaming the names, of spoiling the goods, of confiscating the estates, of hating and persecuting the persons of the Saints, is the inbred enmity in the seed of the Serpent against the seed of the woman, Gen. 3. 15. And the Apostle speaking of Isaac the Son of the Promise, and of Ishmael the Son of the Bond Woman, hath this expression, Gal. 4. 29. But as then, he that was born after the flesh, persecuted him that was born after the spirit, even so it is now. 'Tis said of the Panther, that he hates a man with such antipathy, that he will run at the very picture of a man to tear it in pieces; so vile ungodly wretches, acted by the Devil (the old murderer, John 8. 44.) hate the very picture of Christ wherever they see it. These (beloved) are very far off from the blessed estate of sanctification (of which we have been speaking) that (were it in their power) they would not suffer a Saint to breath, nor permit holiness to spring, and blossom in the earth: Oh that such poor creatures were made sensible, what sad work they make, what a pitiful trade they drive. Persecution is, 1 A very wicked practice. 2 A very fruitless practice. 3 A very dreadful practice. 1. A very wicked practice, condemned not only by Scriptures, by the light of Nature, ▪ Hanc veniam petimusque, damusque vicissim. by the Rules of common Equity, but also condemned by the Ancient Fathers, and Counsels. First, we begin with Tertullian. See (saith he) doth not this amount to the elegy of irreligiousness, Videte, ne, & hoc ad irreligiositatis elogium concurrat, adimere libertatem Religionis, & interdicere optionem divinitatis, ut non liceat mibi colere quod velim, sed cogar colere quod nolim. Tertul. Apol. cap 23. or may not we well call it, a most irreligious thing, to take away the liberty of my Religion, and forbidden me the choice of my Divinity, so that it may not be lawful for me, to worship what I will, but I must be forced to worship what I am unwilling to. And in many other places this external compulsion he ascribes to profaneness. * Lex nova non se vindicat ultore gladio. Clemens Alexand. Stromat. 8. Clemens Alexander, and Lactantius also consented to that Maxim of Tertullian, The Law of Christ doth not right itself with a punishing sword. Athanasius, speaking of the Arians, who at first forced men to their Heresy by prisons, and Atque ita seipsam quam non sic pia, nec Dei cultrix manifostat. Athan. in his Ep. ad Solitar. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Epiphan. punishments, concludes of that Sect, it evidently declares itself thereby to be neither pious, nor to have any reverence of God. Epiphanius gives this as the Character of the semi-Arrians; they persecute them that teach the truth, not confuting them with words, but delivering them that believe aright to hatred, wars, and swords, having now brought destruction, not to one City, or Country alone, but to many. Again, The Council of Sardis Ep. ad Alexand. expressly affirms, that they dissuaded the Emperor from interposing his secular power Praecipit sancta Synodus, Nemini deinceps, vim infer: Cui enim vult, Deu● miseretur, & quem vult indu, rat. to compel them that dissented: And the Council at Toledo, by one of their Canons condemned the ugly trade of persecution. The holy Synod commandeth, that none hereafter shall by force be compelled to the faith, for God hath mercy, on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. These instances (among many more producible) I have named, whereby 'tis evident, that persecution was long since condemned, as wicked, both by Fathers and Counsels. Ye shall ever find it the black mark of the Beast, and false Prophet, to persecute the Image of Jesus. 2. As it is a wicked, so it is a fruitless Practice. The silly persecutor doth but beat the air, blow the sand, and kick against the pricks: his work is senseless, and fruitless; though he may bring others to the fire, he doth but labour in the fire, (as the Prophet speaks:) his work will be burnt up, and come to nothing, as with the Children of Israel in the Land of Egypt, the more they were afflicted, the more Exod. 1. 12. they multiplied: So the more the Saints are persecuted, the more they are augmented; this is a strange (yet a true) Paradox; the more they are depressed, and oppressed, the more Depressa resu●go. they grow (like Camomile) the more they rise up (like the Palmtree); 'tis apparent by all stories in all Ages, that the more precious blood hath been spilt, the more precious seed Sanguis Ma●tyrum semen Ecclesiae. (multiplying into an innumerable offspring) hath been sown. All along, the Blood of the Martyrs hath been the seed of the Church. This, not only the Pagan Emperors of old, notwithstanding all the havoc they made of the Lambs of Christ; but also the mightiest Christian Emperor, that ever sweyed the Western Sceptre had experience of. Charles the fifth son of Pepin, King of France, Emperor of Germany, after all his Wars, Slaughters, stirs, and B●zzles in the world to extirpate the Protestant faith, at last was weary, and left the matter much as he found it; and betook himself to a private life. And when in his retirement, he came to die, he dep●●ted in the same faith, (as the renowned Historian Thaanus relates) which in his life-time he had persecuted; Casting himself with Se quidem indignum esse qui prop●●is meritis regnum coelorum obtineret, sed dominum Deum suum qui illad duplici jure obtinuit, & Patris haereditate, & passionia merito, altero contentum esse, alterum sibi donare, ex cujus dono, illud sibi merito vindicet; h●●què ●●duciá fretus, minimè confundatur, & c. ●huan. Hist. lib. 21. his whole soul upon God, he thus reasoned; That for his part, he was on the account of any merits of his own, unworthy to obtain the Kingdom of Heaven; but his Lord, and God, who had a double right unto it, one by inheritance of his Father, the other by the merit of his own Passion, Contented himself with the one, Granted the other unto him; by whose Grant, he rightly laid claim thereunto, and resting in this faith, or Confidence, he was not confounded, etc. Another instance is out of Sulpitius Severus, * Non expressa est hae●esis, sed confi●mata & latius propagata. in the end of his second Book, Ithacius, with some other Bishops his Associates, procured Maximus the Tyrant, to put Priscillian●s a Grostick, with some others to death: and to banish some of their followers: what follows † Inter nost●o● perpetuum discordiarum bellum exa●si● quoth jam per quindecim annos foedis dissentionibus agitatum nullo modo sopiri poterat. Sulp. Severus. thereon? Hoc modo, (saith the Historian) homines luce indignissimi, pessimo exemplo necati, aut exiliis mulctati; On this manner, were those most unworthy wretches, either slain, or punished by banishment, by a very bad precedent: and what was the success of this Fury? He tells us, the Heresy, was so far from being expressed by it, that it was the more confirmed and propogated. And what ensued hereupon in the Church itself? the Author tells us in the end of his Ecclesiastical story. Amongst ours, a lasting war of discord was kindled; which after, now it hath been carried on for fifteen years with shameful Contentions, could by no means be allayed. Those that have read the German, French, and British Annals, will set to their seals, that this is true, that persecution hath ever been a vain unprofitable Work, a beggatly, poor Trade, none have thriven by it, that have followed it, yea, a most destructive Trade. How have Countries, and Kingdoms been enveloped in blood and war, in confusion and distraction, where this frenzy hath reigned, and raged. 3. Persecution of the Saints of God for Conscience-sake, is not only a most wicked, and fruitless, but also a most dreadful practice, and that for two Reasons, (to name no more:) 1. Christ espouses his Saints injuries; he takes them as done unto himself: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? said Christ to Saul. As a Christian shares with Christ in all his dishonours, Acts 9 4. Psal 69. 9 He that toucheth you, toucheth the Apple of mine eye, Zech. 2. 8. The reproaches of them that reproach thee, are fallen upon me: so, Christ partakes with Christians in all their persecutions, he accounts himself concerned in all their injuries. Now, is it not dreadful to be an enemy to Jesus Christ? Is it not dreadful to be found a fighter against God? Is it not dreadful to war against Heaven? to pull down Almighty and eternal Vengeance on a man's head? 2. As the Persecutors ordain their Arrows against the Saints, (their cruel Laws, Edicts, Fines, Pains, Penalties, as they have done) in one part of the world, or other in all Ages: so God hath (by way of requital) ordained his Arrows against the persecutors; (if they turn not) God hath prepared for them the instruments of Death, the Scripture speaks expressly, he ordaineth his Arrows against the Persecutors, Psalms 7. 13. And those Arrows, (viz. divine judgements) shall be sharp in the hearts of Christ's Enemies. 'Tis confessed, an ignorant persecutor may be pardoned upon great Videtur innuere Paulus, nullum esse veniae locum, nisi ubi suppet●t ignorantiae excusatio. Calvin. his verbis neque Paulus piaculum suum extenuat, neque innocentiae suae vocationem tribuit; sed aequitatem, & misericordiam praedicat, quae miserta incredulitatis & inscitiae, peccantem, (sed errore, potius quam m●levolentia) revocavit. Bulinger. 1 Tim. 1. 13. Repentance; there is mercy for such. Paul was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious, and he obtained mercy, because he did it ignorantly through unbelief; but a knowing persecutor, convinced of the Truth he persecutes, and totally falling from it, and maliciously hating the truth, and persecuting the professors of it unto the death; This man's Crime is (I think) unpardonable. Satan hath set the seal of Hell upon him: or else I know not what to make of that Text, Heb. 10: 26, 27. For if we sin wilfully, after we have received the knowledge of the Truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of Judgement, and fiery indignation, which shall devour the Adversaries. 3. This Point serves to convict and condemn the Scorner, that scoffs at holiness, Prov 14. 9 Fools make a mock at sin, (and as the wise man speaks) that is, (as Expositors upon the place) make a laughingstock, or a may-game at it, they slight Holiness the highest Excellency, and make nothing of it. But 'tis bad jesting with edg-tools: Scoffing is the overflowing Non tutum est ludere cum sanctu. of Gall and malice, and a black mark, let it be found, where it will; especially, when Religion or holiness is made a byword, or Reproach, to fit in the seat of the Scorner, is an high degree of wickedness, and utterly inconsistent with a godly state, and bespeak a man at present to be in a cursed state. To fit in the Throne of the persecutor, and in the Psal. 1. 1. Chair of the Scorner, are Diabolical preferments equally dreadful and damnable. Indeed scorning seems to have some precedency, for it makes way for persecuting. First, men hate and scorn the ways of God (which is the scum of Rancour, and malice) and then they persecute them. Scorners do a sad work, and they will have sad wages. 1. They do a sad work, when they deride men for their Holiness, they deride men for that which is the express Image, and Glory of God, for God is Glorious in Holiness, Exod. 15. 11. yea, in so doing, they deride God in his highest Excellency, and consequently sin against him with an high hand. Holy Brethren, as the Saints are called, Heb. 3. 1. should be no more a disgrace, than Holy Father, as God himself i●stiled, John 17. 11. You hate God more than his Saints, if you hate them for their holiness; for holiness in the Saints shineth but with a saint and weak lustre, but God Qui facit tale, magis est ille tale. being the fountain of Holiness, it must needs shine in him with infinite lustre, & splendour, Holy, and reverend is thy Name, Psalm 111. 9 God's Name is Reverend, because holy, so holiness ought to be matter of our greatest respect and reverence, and not of reproach, and scorn. A word to Scorners. Let all scorners return speedily, yet there may be mercy for them. The Spirit of God bewails your condition, and calls upon ye to return; You that are the worst sort of Sinners, hear what the Spirit saith, Prov. 1. 22, 23. How long will scorners delight in scorning, and fools hate knowledge? turn ye at my reproof, etc. Now when God calls, if you refuse and * Cum Deus loquitur cum risu, l●gas cum luctu. will not regard his Counsel, he will laugh at your calamity, and mock, when your fear cometh. See Prov. 1. 24, 25, 26, 27. You that make a mock at holiness, God will make a mock of you, if ye turn not. 2. Scorners will have sad wages if they turn not Prov. 3. 34. Behold, he scorneth the scorners, but giveth grace to the lowly: as they scorn God maliciously, so behold, (a note of Attention) God will scorn them with perfect detestation and abhorrency. As 'tis the greatest mercy for God to accept a man's person, to receive him into Grace and Favour; so 'tis the greatest misery for God to refuse, and scorn a man's person with indignation. 3. As a Consequent of the former, the scoffing ishmael's must be cast out: as scorners cast themselves out of God's love, so God will; cast them out of his presence, and Kingdomt Without are dogs, Revel. 22. 15. the dogs not only, that tear in pieces the Sain●s persons, but the dogs that bark at the shining splendo of the Saints holiness; these are without, and shall without repentance, be without for ever. These dogs bark not at the Moon so much, as against the Sun of Righteousness. The son of the Bondwoman was cast out, Gen. 21. 9, 10. he must not be an Heir with the son Ejice Ancillam. etc. of Sarah, (the marrow of that Ejection Typical, was spiritual and Eternal) no more must scorners that live, and die so, have any co-partnership with the Saints in their inheritance. So much is more than intimated in that Allegory, Gal. 4. 30. Oh then, let none that ever intent to be sanctified, or saved, presume to deride the Name of Holiness; but let them honour, and reverence it, as the most honourable Title under Heaven, yea, as a Divine thing: for 'tis the sparkling forth of 2 Pet. 1. 4. the Divine Nature. Thus much for Conviction. Now we are come to the last Use. Lastly, in the ninth and last place. This Doctrine of Sanctification serveth for Caution, 9th. Use. to prevent mistakes. I shall lay it thus: If Jesus C●rist be given of God for our sanctification, than it concerns us all to look into our sanctification: let us all be sure that we are sanctified, if we miscarry here, we miscarry irrecoverably, we miscarry everlastingly; and to use the Apostles words: Let us therefore fear lest a Promise being left us of entering into his Rest, any of us should seem to come short of it, Heb. 4. 1. Let us all concern ourselves to know this, that God hath set apart him that is godly for himself, as the Psalmist speaks, Psalm 4. 3. he is eternally set apart in Election, and actually set apart for God in Vocation. As the Beast worshippers have the Beasts mark, so God's Children have Gods seal, and impress, 2 Tim. 2. 19 The foundation of God standeth sure, having this Seal, the Lord knoweth who are his; and let every one that nameth the Name of the Lord, depart from iniquity. God's Seal hath a double Motto, and noting his people's preservation, the Lord knoweth who are his; the other noting their sanctification, they depart from iniquity. There are many wild flowers in the Field, gay and beautiful; that look like right flowers in the Garden, but are not the same. Some Metals, as Copper, and Brass, burnished, look like Gold at a distance: but though all Gold glisters, yet all is not Gold that glisters: so, many things at a distance Omne simile non est idem. look like Sanctification, but at a nearer view, and by an exacter trial, and scrutiny, they appear in their colours, to be quite contrary, not only diversa, but adversa also. I might mention many, but I shall name these four only, inclusive of all the rest, which in my reading I have received from worthy hands: Civility. Formality. restraining Grace. Temporary, or Common Grace. 1. Civility, which is nothing else, but a fine, smooth demeanour in the world, a fair Gal. 6. 12. show in the flesh, as the Apostle phraseth it, rather heathenish strictness, than Christian holiness; it is something to be a Civilian, but much more to be a Christian. Ye may descry it by these Notes: Note. 1 1. Mere Civility, is usually accompanied with ignorance of God, and of the Mysteries of his Kingdom. Men may be no Drunkards, no Swearers, no * As Alexander kept himself from Darius his Virgins, and Scipio from a most beautiful Captive Lady. Adulterets, no rude debauched persons, and yet grossly ignorant of spiritual matters, as Nichodomus was, John 3. 10. a Ruler in Israel, a strict Pharisee, a civil Person, but a mere Ignoramus in the new birth, Now spiritual life, or holiness, (wherever it is) gins with Knowledge; where is Quarta expositio ●orum est, qui putant allu●isse Paulum ad mundi creationem, etc. Buling. in 2 Cor. 4. 6. Life, there is Light: indeed the grace of God is the light of Life. As in the old, so in the new Creation: the beginning of the Creation of God is Light, Gen. 1. 3. 2 Cor. 4. 6. A sanctified person called out of darkness into God's marvellous light, he sees his way, and knows his Duty, he hath received an Unction from the holy One; And what he doth, he doth 1 John 2. 20. Omne bonum fit ex integrd Causá. upon right Principles, by a right Rule, and to a right End. Civil men live plausibly, but know not the ground, nor end of their Actions. Faith in God through Jesus Christ is not the Principle, the word of God is not the Rule, the Glory of God is not the End of their Actings. They neither live to God, nor for God, not according to his Will revealed in his Word, nor for the honour and glory of his Name. The Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation Ephes. 1. 17, 18. hath not enlightened their understanding, to see into the mystery of his Will; they do not act out of faith in Christ, and pure love to God in what they do. Note. 2 2. Jesus Christ is little prized by civil men; they are satisfied with their own, but do not hunger and thirst after Christ's Righteousness. The Law is more natural to men, than the Gospel; men naturally are more for doing, than than for believing. Therefore legal strains, and moral Maxims, suit more with them, than Gospel Doctrines, and promises that breed Faith. Men naturally desire to be under a Covenant of works, because ignorant of the glory of the Covenant of Grace. Mere civil men see not the mer it of Christ's blood, they apprehend not the sweetness of his fellowship, nor the efficacy of his Spirit, but go on smoothly without rub, and difficulty; whereas to a true Christian, Jesus Christ is All in All, the Author, and maintainer of his Heb. 12. 2. life, the Alpha and Omega of his happiness; the man doth not live so much, as Christ lives in him, and every day, he seethe an indispensible Gal. 2. 20. need of Christ, and what abundant cause he hath, to bless God for Christ, who is made to him wisdom, righteousness, sanctifitation, and redemption. Note. 3 3. Usually some reigning lust keeps company with Civility. Civility, is but a freer slavery, one way or other, Satan holds them captive; by one fetter of sin or other, they are entangled: I have observed, (commonly) this sin is Covetousness. The young man in the Gospel, was a civil honest man, a fair Dealer in the world, and had kept all those say from his youth (as to the letter of them); but his possessions were a snare unto him; at the narrow Bridge of self-denial, Christ and Matth. 19 22. his soul parted: There is some sweet morsel rolled under the Tongue, some delicate Dalilah lying in the Bosom, some reigning sin kept with greater allowance from Conscience. Commonly this Viper is worldly-mindedness. Note. 4 4. Civil men take more care about their actions, than about their lusts: wrath, pride, concupiscence, vain, worldly unclean thoughts, and affections are digested: because the conversation seems to be smooth and fair, these crawling Vermin swarm without control. Civilility is all for an outward carriage, it minds not the frame of the heart, nor the right tempering of the affections: But holy Paul complains of the law in his members, and of the motions of lust within him, which fall not under the cognizance of the light of Nature; Rom. 7. 7, 23, 24, 25. the first rise of sin, the least rebellion of Nature forbidden in the Tenth Commandment, a true Saint is sensible of, and deeply humbled for. But the affairs of the inward 1 King. 6. 8. man, the workings of the heart, are not minded by mere civil men, but the eyes of sound Christians, like the windows of the Temple, are broad inwards, they look much within: they mourn over the sins of their hearts, as well as over the sins of their lives. 2. Formality, or pretended grace. The Apostle speaks of true holiness, Ephes. 4. 24. in opposition to that which is feigned, and counterfeit. Ye may discover it also by these four Marks: Mark. 1 1. False grace is acted from foreign considerations. The Hypocrites principles of motion are without him, as popular applause, carnal respects, byends, just as Puppets that want the natural motion of life within them, and are artificially moved by an outward He may be forma assistens to him, but not forma informans in him. force. The Spirit of God may assist an bypocrite in some duties, but he is not in him, as an informing, quickening, renewing principle. But true Grace, in the heart of the sanctified, is like a living Fountain naturally bubbling up, and working towards God, and heaven, out of his belly shall flow forth, Rivers of living Joh. 7. 37. 38. Waters. True Grace hath an inward propensity, a natural tendency to comply with the will of God; The Law of God is written in his heart, he delighteth in the Law, in the inner-man, Rom. 7. 22. This is the peculiar Character of a Saint, which no Formalist, or hypocrite in the world can do. Mark. 2 2. False grace is shy of God's sight and presence. Hypocrites neither can, nor do appeal Hypocrita cupit videri justu●. Hypocrita in verbis sanctus, in cord vanus; intus Nero, foris Cato, etc. to God for their sincerity, nor do they live, as in the eye of his Omniscience and Omnipresence; but their chiefest care is to blind the world, to seem, and not to be just, he converseth more with men than with God: Yet the godly can appeal to God for their sincerity, though they tremble at their defects, and impurity: like Peter, John 20. 17. He appeals to Christ's Omnisciency, Lord, thou knowest all things, and thou knowest that I love thee. So holy Job expostulates the case thus: Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity, Job 31. 6. He could appeal to God, the un-erring Rule of Righteousness, in this matter: he knew his integrity would hold weight. And at another time he hath this self-abasing expression: Mine eye seethe thee, therefore I abhor myself in dust and ashes, Job 42. 5. 6. As he could hold fast his integrity, so he could also loath and abhor himself in dust and ashes, at the sight of God's glorious Majesty and purity, and in the sense of his own defects and failings. Mark. 3 3. False grace grows not better and better, but rather worse and worse; pretences whither rather than thrive: an hypocrite goes backward, rather than forward, every day, Jer. 7. 24. The Lord by the Prophet complains there, that his people harkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels, and in the imaginations of their evil hearts, and went backward, and not forward; False grace (like bad salt) grows worse and worse, till it be cast out into the Dunghill: but true grace, from a grain groweth unto a Tree, from a morning glimpse to a perfect Noon, Prov. 4. 18. The path of the just, is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect Day; from smoking flax it is blown up to fragrant flame. Nicodemnus that came to Christ at first by night, for fear of the Jews, afterwards openly declareth for him, and bestowed much cost upon the dead body of our Lord. Grace gets John 19 39 ground upon the flesh, and by degrees advanceth to a Victory. Now examine your hearts whether ye increase, or decrease, whether ye go forward, or backward, whether your faith, love, zeal, patience, heavenly-mindedness, Rev. 2. 4. etc. thrive, or not? If ye have left your first Love, if ye have lost your care of Duty, sense of sin, and hungering, and thirsting appetite after Christ, and his Righteousness, 'tis a sad sign. Remember therefore from whence ye are fallen and repent, and do your first works; be also watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die. 'Tis Christ's Blessed Counsel, Revel. 2. 5. Revel. 3. 2. Mark. 4 4. False grace is not humble. Formalists are commonly proud and self-conceited persons: with true Grace there goeth always Notare verò operae, pretium est, neminem spiritu esse pauperem nisi qui in nihilum apud se redactus, in Dei misericordiam recumbit. Calv. in Matth. 5. 3. a spiritual poverty, or a sense of spiritual wants; the poor in spirit are first in order of the Beatitudes, Matth. 5. 3. The more knowledge the Saints have, the more they discern their ignorance, the more faith, the more they bewail their unbelief? Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief, Mark 9 24. The more they love him, the more they blame their hearts, for loving h●m no more; they call upon their souls to love him most intensively. Grace grows most, and thrives best in a low and humble soil; the lowest Valleys are far more fruitful than the highest Mountains: 'tis a good sign when the soul is kept hungry, and humble in the sense of its wants, amidst the height of its enjoyments. 3. The next is Restraining Grace, which What restraining Grace is. is nothing else but an awe, put by God upon the Conscience, constraining a man to forbear sin, though he doth not hate it. You may discern it by these signs: Sign. 1 1. Love is of little use and force with such spirits: They are under a spirit of bondage, chained up by their own fears, not moved by the great Gospel Motive, (viz.) Mercy. 'Tis our Rom. 12. 1. Duty to serve God with Reverence, and filial fear, but not with a servile and distrustful fear: a servile fear hath little of Grace in it, Heb. 12. 28. much of Torment. We ought to fear God much, but to love him more; Love is the very life and soul of all Gospel-obedience. Sign. 2 2. Restraining Grace doth not destroy sin, but only prohibit the acts of it. Abimeleches lust was not mortified, when God withheld him from Sarah, Gen. 20. 6. 'twas only suspended, not subdued, the heart was not renewed, though the action was kerbed; as Israel had an adulterous heart towards other Lovers, when their way was hedged up with Hos. 2. 6. thorns: But when the Spirit of holiness in power comes, he comes as a Spirit of Liberty. 2 Cor. 3. 17. He frees the soul from the servitude of base lusts, and mortifies them: and both strongly and sweetly turns, and inclines the heart, to hate every false way, and to run the ways of God's Commandments with an enlarged Psal. 119. 32. heart. 4. The fourth thing that looks like Sanctification, and yet is not, is common, or temporary grace. This is a distinct thing from all the rest, 'tis higher than all the former; it differs from Civility, because 'tis more Christian, and Evangelical; it differs from Formality, because that is in show only, but this is a real work on the soul. 'Tis better than restraining grace, because that avoids sin, and performs Duties out of slavish fear, but this seemeth to have some affection for Christ, his Word, and Kingdom; 'tis good in itself, but not the best, not throughly sanctifying, and saving: this a man may have and yet fall away, and departed from God, so it was with the stony and thorny ground, Matth. 13. This is the nearest to true Grace of all the former: of this the Apostle speaks, Heb. 6. 4, 5. which is called an enlightening, a taste of Christ, and of the powers of the world to come, and a partaking of the Holy Ghost, (i. e.) of the common gifts of the Spirit, abilities for holy duties, great parts, etc. from whence I shall briefly note these three things. 1. That the Light here spoken of, is not Quam perniciosum sit inflari notiti● sine charitate in sacris legitur, Prov. 26. 12. P. M. humbling: 2. The taste is not ravishing. 3. Their gifts are not renewing. 1. Their light is not humbling. Knowledge puffeth up, love edifieth, 1 Cor. 8. 1. Foundations sink, that are not laid deep enough; you can never magnify Christ enough nor abase self enough, Christ is most magnified when self is most abased: This Dagon Isa. 2. 19 must fall down before the Ark, sound humiliation brings sure and solid Consolation; we must not rashly close with Christ in the pride of our hearts, as they did, but be sure we have depth of earth, broken and contrite spirits. 2. Their taste was not ravishing, nor increasing, they had but lose, and slight desires after happiness, Glances upon the Glory of Heaven, and the comforts of the Gospel, and no more; just as Balaam, Oh that I might die the death of the Righteous, etc. and like that spiritual carnal Notion, (as a learned Dr. Faller. man phraseth it), Lord, evermore give us of this bread, John 6. 34. They were not serious desires, not holy breathe after Christ, proceeding from a sound principle, neither were they transforming, nor increasing; the Saints that have a taste, groan for a full communion of Graces as well as Comforts: but in temporary Believers, there is a lose assent, some slight affection, profession for a while, rejoicing in the light for a season, etc. But all at last (like Blazing Meteors) vanish, and come to nothing. 3. And lastly, In Heb. 6. 4. it is said, they Vocat participationem Spiritus, quia is est, qui unicuique distribuit prout vult, quicquid est lucis, ac intelligentia, Calv. Heb. 6. 4 were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, (i. e.) of some gifts of the Holy Ghost; yea, perhaps those eminent Gifts, which in the Primitive times God imparted to his Disciples, 1 Cor. 12. 4. There are diversities of Gifts, but the same spirit. Var iis d●●is spiritus sancti Deus ornabat fideles in primitiva Ecclesiâ, ut loqueuntur linguis, ut prophetarent. Cujusmodi enumerat Apostolus, 1 Cor, 12. & 14. Pareus in loc. Now these gifts of the Holy Ghost that hypocrites partake of, are not renewing, throughly sanctifying: they may have good abilities for the edification, and comfort of others, but in the mean time being unsanctified, they themselves may become Castaways. 1 Cor. 9 27. Though a man could speak with the tongue of men, and Angels, yet having not charity, (true love to God) he were but as sounding Brass, and as a tinkling Cymbal, 1 Cor. 13. 1. A man may pray sweetly, preach excellently, ●alk of the things of God knowingly, and affectionately, yet All is but as tinkling with ●●d, if there be no saving Grace; Nay Belo●ed, 'tis possible, a man may have the Spirit of God (in a sense), and yet be an Hypocrite, a Reprobate, and fall short of Heaven. Quer. May a man have the Spirit, and yet not throughly sanctified? Answ. 1. A man, like Saul, or Balaam may have the Spirit transiently, but not abidingly, * He is in all per divinitatis praesentiam: in the Saints only per inhabitationis gratiam. P. Lumb. 1 sect. dist. 17. ●or a time, but not for ever: A Formalist may have some glympses of the Spirit, like the glancing of the Sunbeams for a short time upon a Glass-window, but a Saint enjoys his indwelling presence: the Spirit is in all, and so he may be in an hypocrite, by his divine presence, but not by in-habitation, he is in all, ●ut be dwells in his Saints only. 2. 'Tis possible a man may have the Spirit only as a spirit of Bondage, but a Saint only, hath the Spirit, as the spirit of Adoption, Gal. 4. 5, 6. the legal operation of the Spirit, working fear and horror was in Cain and Judas: the Evangelical operation of the Spirit, working faith in God, love to God, boldness before God, etc. this is in every sanctified soul, that shall be saved. 3. And lastly, To name no more, (for I For further satisfaction, peruse Mr. Burgesses Refinings. M. Robert's Believers Evidences. Mr. Meads Almost Christian, etc. John 3. 5. 2 Cor. 3. 18. judge in these three, lies the Characteristical difference between the Saints having the Spirit, and the unsanctified): an hypocrite may have the Spirit in some inferior operation, but the Saint only in effectual Regeneration and spiritual Transformation: A man may have the Spirit, and not be born of the Spirit; A man may have the Spirit, as a spirit of sharp Conviction, but not as the spirit of complete Conversion. The Spirit may be in a a man by way of common illumination, and yet not, by way of saving Sanctification; renewing the whole man, reforming the whole life, Grace is Conformitas cum Archetypo, a conformity of the soul with God; the Archetype (or first pattern.) 2 Cor. 7. 1. See Dr. Go●den's Child of Light, etc. Conforming, and transforming both, into the likeness of Jesus Christ. This is the peculiar privilege of the Saints; no sinner shall share in this favour; no stranger shall intermeddle with this joy. Finally (my Brethren) this Doctrine of Sanctification is not only essential to, but is of the very essence of your happiness: And the great and constant Duty you should be found in, is to perfect holiness in the fear of God. Some truths belong ad bene esse, to the well and comfortable being of a Christian, as the doctrine of Assurance of God's love, peace of Conscience, joy in the holy Ghost, etc. but sanctification belongs ad esse, to the very being of Christianity, 'tis your life both spiritual and eternal. If ye are not holy men, (my Brethren, ye are dead men, & will be damned men: no grace, no glory, no, nor the least comfortable Heb. 12. 13. vision of God, or Heaven: wherefore let all labour, (as the wise King adviseth) to get wisdom, Prov. 4. 7. Wisdom (Grace, Holiness) is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom; and with all thy getting, get understanding. This is the one thing needful, Luke 10. ult. And let those that have received Grace, exercise and increase it: Grace grows by its exercise, be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. suppeditate sufficite suggerite. Beza. daily adding to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, etc. and that with all diligence, as ye are exhorted, 2 Pet. 1. 5, 6. be daily cleansing yourselves from all filthiness in the Fountain of Christ's blood, and in the Laver of the Promises; and forgetting the things behind, be Phil. 3. 14. daily pressing on towards the mark for the prize of the High Calling of God in Christ Jesus. And daily keep your Garments clean: and be always ready for the coming of your Lord; that ye may be found of him without spot and blameless, enwrapped in his holiness. For Conclusion, that ye may all so be, and do in the fear of God: I commend ye to God, and Acts 20. 32. to the word of his Grace, which is able to build ye up, and to give ye an inheritance amongst all them that are sanctified. Amen, and Amen. FINIS. 1 Cor. 1. 30. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us Wisdom, and Righteousness, and Sanctification, and Redemption. — And Righteousness.— AT the Request of some serious Friends, I have Adventured to make this Discourse public, which otherwise (for aught I know) had never seen the light. If any Illumination, Satisfaction, Confirmation, Consolation, or any spiritual Good any way shall accrue to them that read it: I shall, and will rejoice, Bless, and praise the Father of Lights for it. This Argument of Justification is as substantial, necessary, comfortable, and sweet a Ac primum quidem de justificatione peccatoris corem Deo: qui locus in Theologiâ facile primarius, nobisque maxime salutaris est: quo obscurate, adulterato, vel everso, fieri nequit, ut puritas doctrinae in aliis locis retineatur, aut vera Ecclesia Consistat. Synop. Pur. Theol. P. 434. Doctrine, as any in the whole circuit of Divinity; for, whom he hath justified, them he hath also glorified, Rom. 8. 30. that is, they are as sure and certain of Heaven, as though they were already in it; Justification being the next Christus factus est nobis sapientia, justitia, sanctificatio, & Redemptio, hoc est, sapientes, nos & justos, & sanctos, & liberos effecit. Theophylact. step, the next immediate link in that Golden Chain to Glorification. Who of God is made unto us Righteousness, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, righteousness in the Abstract, that is, (saith Theophylact), who hath made us righteous: who is made unto us righteousness, etc. He is made to us (saith Pareus) not by Creation, but by Ordination: for Christ is not created or made as to his divine Essence, as Heretics deprave this Scripture: but he is ordained, and bestowed upon us to confer these benefits; he is therefore said to be made to us, according to those expressions, Isa. 9 6. Factus est nobis, non creatione, sed ordinatione neque enim Christus creatus aut factus est, quoad Essentiam divinam, ●t haeretici depravant scripturam hanc: sed ordinatus, & donatus nobis, ad haec bona conferenda, ideo discitur factus nobis: sicut Isaiah 9 6. puer natus est nobis, Luke 2. vobis natus est servator, id est, nostro bono. Pareus in loc. To us a Child is born, to us a Son is given; And Luke 2, To you is born a Saviour, that is for our good. He is made of God to us, etc. that is, (saith * Factus est nobis sapientia a Deo, etc. id est, qui datus est nobis a Deo, ut in ipso omnem sapientiam consequeremur, &c, idem de justitiâ, & sanctificatione statuendum est. Beza in loc. Beza) who is given to us of God, that we might obtain all wisdom, righteousness, holiness, etc. in him, and by him. All these interpretations, are significant and proper enough, but the last I best approve of, as the most genuine and consonant to the scope of the Text, and to the sense of the Apostle: only by the way note thus much, that by righteousness here, is, and must be meant the righteousness of justification; for the Apostle immediately annexeth to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, importing the Righteousness of Sanctification, which is the very next word. My observation shall be this: Jesus Christ was given of God to be our Righteousness, (or for our justification.) In the prosecution of this precious and weighty Doctrine. I shall endeavour, 1. To prove the Point. 2. To open the meaning of the word Justify. 3. To show what the justification of a sinner before God, is. 4. What are the essential parts of our justification. 5. The several Causes of our justification. 6. The Fruits and Consequences of our justification. 7. And lastly, Close all with a brief Application for proof. 1. Jesus Christ was decreed, designed, ordained, and determined to be his people's righteousness, propitiation, and redemption: the justification and redemption of a sinner is according to God's purpose, and grace, given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, 2 Tim. 1. 9 which according to the immutability of his Counsel was in the fullness of time accomplished. That in Daniel is very emphatical, Dan. 9: 34. To bring in everlasting righteousness; 'tis in the original, a Righteousness of Eternity's: So in Heb. 9 12. it it said, that Christ obtained eternal Redemption for us. Our Redemption, or Righteousness may be called Eternal a part ante, & a part post. Eternal, upon a double account: 1. Eternal, in reference to the eternal Decree of God, and so a Righteousness from Eternity. 2. External, in reference to the everlasting duration of the virtue of it; the great and glorious Benefits that accrue to Believers by virtue of this Righteousness, extend their virtue, continue their influence throughout the endless duration of Eternity. 'Tis a Righteousness from all Eternity, and a Righteousness unto all Eternity, Rom. 3. 25. Whom God hath set forth (from everlasting, or fore-appointed) to be a propitiation through faith in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. quem proposuit Deus propitiationem. Montan. blood, to declare his righteousness, etc. Christ was A Lamb slain from the beginning of the world, Rev. 13. 8. (viz.) in the eternal purpose and Decree of God. 2. Consider Christ's glorious Name. This is his Name wherewith he shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness, Jer. 23. 6. This is like his other Name Jesus, the same in substance with this, Matth. 1. 21. by the Oracle of an Angel, his Name must be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins, (i. e.) from the power, guilt, and condemnation of sin. 3. 'Tis the office of Jesus Christ as our High Priest, to be our Righteousness. Jesus Christ was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: he was our Redeemer, the price of our Redemption, a Counter-price; our Redemption and revocation from Captivity, he was both the propitiatory and propitiation; he was Priest, he was Altar, he was Sacrifice, he was All in All, to Jam fructum ostendit quem ex Christi sacrificio consecuti sumus, nimirum ut justi coram Deo essemus, qui naturâ impuri, & peccatores sumus. Marlorat. in 2 Cor. 5. 21. make us the righteousness of God in him, 2 Cor. 5. ult. that is, that we who are impure sinners by nature, through the sacrifice of Christ, might become righteous before God. He is our Advocate, and propitiation Jesus 1 Joh. 2. 2. Christ the Righteous; yea, he is our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, our propitiatory, or placatory, alluding Rom. 3. 25. to the Mercy-seat. He is our Passeover sacrificed 1 Cor. 5. 7. for us; he is the Lamb of God slain for us, that the wrath of God might pass over, 1 Pet. 1. 18. and pass away for ever from us, and not fall down upon our heads: if your hearts and Consciences are sprinkled with the blood of Christ, as the Door-posts of the Children of Israel were with the blood of the Paschal-lamb, Exod. 12. 7 the wrath of God will for ever pass by you, and not pass upon you. Thus Jesus Christ is a merciful and faithful Highpriest, Heb. 2. 17. merciful to us in misery, pitying us in our guilt and blood, faithful to God, and to us also in the faithful discharge of his Priestly Office for us; in being our Price, our Ransom, in discharging our Bond, in pacifying the Father's wrath, in satisfying divine Justice, in finishing Transgression, in making an end of sin, in bringing in everlasting Righteousness, and so in bringing us to God. 1 Pet. 3. 18. Now as he is our merciful and faithful High Priest: so he is our Righteousness, (1) our Justifyer, endowing us with a perfect Righteousness Justitia, hoc est, justificator noster, donans nos vera justitiâ coram Deo per fidem. Ad sacerdotale munus Christi hoc pertinet. Pareus in 1 Cor. 1. 30. before God through faith; this belongs to the Priestly Office of Christ. Jesus Christ is the Author, or the procuting cause of our justification, as he is the Author of our eternal Salvation. And this he Heb. 5. 9 doth two ways: 1. By making an Atonement for us on Earth. 2. By making intercession for us in Heaven: He hath made reconciliation for us by his blood upon the Cross, Rom. 5. 10. and he doth continue to make intercession for us by the prevalent and loud cries of the same blood in Heaven, Heb. 12. 24. He is gone up to Heaven to appear in the presence of God for us; just as Aaron (a type of Christ) Exod. Heb. 9 24. 28. 12, 29. and 30. verses, was to bear the name of the children of Israel (a figure of all the Elect of God) engraven in precious stones upon his Shoulders, and upon his Heart, when he went into the holy Place, for a memorial before the Lord continually. So our Lord Christ is entered into the Heavens, with red and glorious Garments, to appear in the presence of God for us: there is not the least Believer but his name is (as it were) engraven upon the Shoulders, Breastplate, and Heart of Christ. Of all cries the cries of blood are the strongest, the loudest, whether for, or against a guilty person. Abel's blood cried aloud to God for vengeance, but this blood of Gen. 4. 10. sprinkling speaketh better things than that of Abel's: it pleads, sues, presses hard for a discharge from all thy sins, and enemies: it cries aloud for mercy, peace and pardon. Lord (saith Christ) here is my price, and my purchase, my Redemption, and my redeemed Ones; here is my Righteousness, and here are the persons justified by it: whatever charge or guilt lies upon them, here are the shoulders that have sustained the weight of thy wrath, which was their due, upon these shoulders, and in this heart, thou mayest behold all their names engraven, acquit and absolve them for my sake; Father, I will that they be righteous by my Righteousness, and glorious with my Glory; My tears, my stripes, my wounds, my groans, my anguish, my Blood, the tortures of my Body, the torments of my Soul do all pray, and plead prevailingly, that all believing sinners be justified, and saved. Thus Christ appears in Heaven, with red Garments, with Garments rolled in blood, and with the whites of peace, pardon, justification, and absolution upon the red: with all the names of his justified, sanctified one's engraven upon his shoulders, and upon his heart before the Lord continually, to present his everlasting Righteousness to the Father for us, to present our persons as righteous, and spotless, enwrapped in that glorious Robe of Righteousness, and to impropriate and apply his everlasting Righteousness▪ to us. Thus I have proved, that Christ is our Righteousness. 2. We come in the next place to open the Vox justificandi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & inde justificationis, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, propriè, & fere semper forinseca, & forensis actio est, judicis, & judicii, scilicet in rei absolutione, condemnationi opposita. Synop. Pur. Theol. p. 434. Justificare absolvere à est, morte, non condemnare. Syntag. Polan. p. 455. meaning of the word (justify.) Justification is a Law-state, and the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) are verba forensia, or judicial, or Court-Terms, taken from Courts of Justice: It imports the absolution of a guilty person, the word justification, is in holy Writ opposed to condemnation. To justify, saith Polanus, is to absolve from death, not to condemn. Though justificare sometimes may note as much as justum facere: if you respect the notation of the Latin word, as magnificare importeth to magnify, or make great; neither is it to be doubted, but that the Lord doth constitute, or make those just, whom he justifieth, they are just, both by the imputation of Christ's Righteousness, which is out of them in Christ, as being his personal righteousness, and by infusion of righteousness, as it were by influence into them from Christ their Head; to the faithful belongs a twofold Righteousness, the one of Justification, the other of Sanctification: I shall make it evident (saith the Reverend Downam's Treatise of Justification. p. 2, 3. learned Bishop Downame) that the Hebrew Hitsdique and the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is, verbum forense, a judicial word taken from Courts of justice, which being attributed to the Judge is opposed to Condemnation, and signifieth, to absolve, or to give sentence with the party Justificare est justum reputare, justum pronunciare. questioned. Thus far he. So that to justify both from Scriptures and the writings of the Fathers, is as much as to absolve, or a quit a believing sinner from guilt, and condemnation, and to accept him as righteous through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. To justify, is to repute, and pronounce a man just or righteous. Justification is opposed to Condemnation, Rom. 8. 33. it is God that justifies, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, not one condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Rom. 8. 1. i. e. acquits, absolves, who shall condemn? so the word is taken, Deut. 25. 1. The Judges are commanded to justify the righteous, and to condemn the wicked: likewise, Prov. 17. 15. he that justifies the wicked, and condemns the righteous, they are both an abomination to the Lord. So also is this word taken in a Law sense, Psalm 143. 2. Lord enter not into judgement with thy servant, for in thy sight shall no man be justified. Rom. 5. 16. Judgement was by one to condemnation, but the free Gift is of many offences to justification. Now the Scripture speaks of a righteousness of the Cause, and of a righteousness of the Person. 1. Of the Cause, When a man in other 1. Justitia Causae. respects sinful, may be said in this, or that particular cause, or matter to be innocent, or just: as in the case of Abimelech, touching the Gen. 20. 5. matter of Sarah; he pleads the integrity of his heart, and the innocency of his hands, etc. 2. Of the Person. That is the universal 2. Justitia Personae. conformity of the whole man, and of all his actions to the holy Law of God, and this twofold: 1. Legal. 2. Evangelical. 1. Legal, By the Law and the works thereof, hereby the Man Christ Jesus, and none Hac justificatione Angeli sancti fruuntur. Polan. Mat. 3. 15. Rom. 8. 3, 4. but he on earth, was in a strict sense legally just and righteous, he only fulfilled all righteousness, even the righteousness of the whole Law, and the Holy Angels are thus justified. 2. Evangelical, That (in short) is this: through faith in Christ's righteousness a believing sinner is justified before God, in foro coeli, Rom. 5. 1. Finis perficiens non interficiens. in the Court of Heaven: And Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth, Rom. 10. 4. we ought directly to go to Christ for justification, and not to go back to Moses; by him all that believe, are justified from all things, from which ye could not be Acts 13. 38, 39 justified by the Law of Moses; a sense whereof a believer hath more or less, in foro Conscientia, in his own conscience: Rom. 14. 17. The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the holy Ghost, Rom. 5. from the 12. to the end, proves at large our sole and whole justification by the righteousness of One, even Jesus Christ. In a word, the Lord accepteth, and reputeth a guilty unworthy sinner (yet believing) as righteous, by the free imputation of the righteousness of Christ unto him. Thus much for the Terms (Justify) and (Justification.) 3. We come in the third place to the definition of Justification. I am not ignorant, that the definitions thereof are many, but the most clear and comprehensive I take to be this: What is Justification? Answ. Justification is a most merciful and Definition of justification. righteous Action of God as Judge, whereby, imputing the righteousness of Christ to a believing sinner, he absolveth him from his sins, and accepteth of him as righteous in Christ, and as an heir of eternal life, to the praise and glory of his own mercy and justice. All which (at leastwise for the most part) is comprehended in, Rom. 3. 23, 24, 25, 26. I do not intent at this time to prosecute the parts of this Definition at large, but only speak to two things in transicu: 1. The justification of a sinner is an Act of God, as Lord, Lawgiver, and Judge, Rom. 8, Opera Trinitatis ad extra sunt. indivisa. 33. it is God that justifieth, the whole Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit, Jam. 4. 12. There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: none but the offended Majesty can pardon man's offences; 'Tis the injured Deity that saith, I even, I am he, that blotteth out thy Transgressions, for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins, Isa. 43. 25. O glorious and gracious Word! He that will by no means clear the guilty, having received satisfaction in his Son, by the imputation of his Son's righteousness justifies the ungodly, acquits them from the guilt of sin, and accepts them as righteous Rom. 4. 5. in his sight. 2. The righteousness of justification (qua●●us justification) works not a real inherent ●hange in us, which is done in sanctification, but makes a relative change without us, and upon us, as it is a judicial act of God, an act of God as Lawgiver and Judge, in opposition to Condemnation. Justification makes a relative change or mutation, in respect of a man's estate or condition: a guilty person is pronounced righteous, the sinful Debtor is discharged; and Enemy is now reconciled, a miserable captive is redeemed, a child of wrath is made a Son of God, and an unworthy worm an heir of Glory. These are relative mutations, though they that are justified, are also together sanctified; in order of Time these acts of grace are wrought together, but in order of Nature justification is the Antecedent, and sanctification is the Consequent; and mark it, where justification changeth a man's Relation (to God, and Eternity) there sanctification changeth a man's disposition, and renews the soul with inward holiness: both are the sacred effluxes from Christ's righteousness; the first is wrought by the righteousness of Christ imputed, the other by the righteousness of Christ imparted; one by Christ's personal righteousness, the other by way of influence, and infusion from Christ is both caput eminentiae, & caput influentiae. Christ as Head. We ought to take great heed lest we confound justification with sanctification, as Bellarmine, and the Papists do. 4. In the fourth place, we come to show the essential parts of our justification, and these are two: 1. Absolution from sin. 2. Acceptation as righteous in Christ. Both which, the Lord granteth by the plenary, and perfect satisfaction made to his Law and justice by Jesus Christ, both our Surety, and Mediator: by which he satisfied the Law in both parts: 1. He satisfied the Law in respect of the penalty, by his Passion, or passive righteousness, undergoing the Curse for us, Gal. 3. 13. 2. He satisfied the Law in respect of the Precept by his perfect active righteousness, habitual and actual: but neither of these can be severed any where from the other: And Rom 3. 4. these which God hath so indissolvably joined, let no man put asunder, each hath its proper interest in, and respective contribution toward the satisfying the injured honour of God's Law; for the honour of God's Law is the equity of both its parts, its Command, and its threatening. Christ's active righteousness, the obedience of the Great God-man, hath honoured the equity of the first, (viz.) repaired the honour of God's Commandments, broken by sinful man. And his passive righteousness in like manner, honours the equity of the Threatening; Christ himself dies, to justify that the sinner is worthy of Death; and by offering up himself as a sacrifice on the Cross, he proclaims to all the world, that sin is exceeding sinful, and that God is exceeding jealous. Again, Consider, Christ's See Wallebius his Body of Divinity, with the Notes of Mr. Rosse p. 109. active Righteousness was every where passive, (the distinction of active and passive is needless) and his passive righteousness every where active. 1. His active Righteousness was every where passive, because all of it was done in the form of a Servant: in our nature he obeyed Christ's obedience is an active Passion, and a passive Action. ibid. the Law, in his very incarnation he was passive, for therein he suffered an eclipse of the glory of his Godhead. 2. His Passive Righteousness was every where active; because what he suffered, was not by constraint, or against his will, it was his own voluntary act and deed, all along he eyed his Father's Glory, and the good of mankind; Ah! take that instance, the Greatest of his sufferings, his very dying was the product, both of the freeness of his love, and of the majesty of his power, John 10. 17, 18. Revel. 1. 5. Read those melting Texes, and chew the Cud upon them. But to return. The Law hath two branches: 1. The Commination, or the Curse. 2. The Precept, or Commandment: so there are two parts of justification. 1. Absolution from the Curse of the Law, this is done by Christ's sufferings: the Prince of Life died, the Lord of Glory became a Curse for us. 2. Acceptation as righteous in Christ, this is done by the imputation of Christ's perfect righteousness to us, both habitual and actual. Thus Rom. 8. 3, 4. Rom. 5. 17, 18. Jesus Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth, for to them that believe in him he hath fulfilled all righteousness: but I must confess, by reason of the most strict Connexion between these two, (viz.) imputation of righteousness and remission of sins, the one doth comprehend or conclude the other: as Rom. 4. 22. and justifi-fication, Propter arctissimam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, una alteram Complectitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; quamvis, justificatio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in peccatorum remissione Constituatur. Synop. Pur. Theol. p. 436. justificatio peccatoris, est remissio peccatorum, figuratè nimirum & metonimicè loquendo, quia remissio peccatorum est causa formalis justificationis peccatoris, etc. Syntag. Polan. p. 445. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is oftentimes placed in the remission of sins: as Psalm 32. 1. Rom. 4. 7. We are justified by Christ's obedience, both active and passive: but I confess chief by the latter: The Scripture in many places seems to lay the stress principally (or at least synechdochically) upon the Blood, the Death, the Cross of Christ, Ephes. 1. 7. Heb. 9 12, 14. Rom. 5. 10. Ephes. 2. 13. Col. 2. 13, 14. Revel. 1, 5, 6. Rom. 5. 8, 9 Cum multis aliis, etc. Before I proceed to the fifth General propounded to be spoken to, I think it not unnecessary to inquire, what is the form of Christ's Forma dat esse. satisfaction, which renders it satisfactory to God, and justificatory to man? I answer, The infinite merit of what he did and suffered: which infinite Merit stands. 1. In the dignity of his Person, the fullness of the Godhead dwelled in him bodily, Col. 2. 9, 14. Now for the work of a servant to be done by the Lord of all, renders his active; and for him to suffer as a Malefactor between Malefactors, who was God blessed for evermore, Renders his passive righteousness infinitely meritorious; No wonder the blood of Christ Acts 20. 28. 1 Joh. 1. 7. cleanseth from all sin, for it is the blood of God, by the figure, called by the Ancients 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Communication of properties: the blood of the Man Christ Jesus, is called the blood of God. And this is the reason, why the righteousness of one, redounds to all (the Elect) for the justification of life, Rom. 5. 18, 19 The do and sufferings of this Glorious Person the Lord our righteousness, (though for a few years) were infinitely of more value, than all, that all the creatures in Heaven or Earth could have done or suffered to eternity; Heb. 16. the very Man Christ Jesus is above all the Angels, for he is the Man God's fellow, an high Word. And this infinite worthiness Zech. 13. 7. of the Redeemers Person ye have excellently described, as the irradiating and infinitely exalting all he did and suffered. Consult these Texts, Heb. 1. 1, 2, 3. Phil. 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. 2. The righteousness of Jesus Christ is of infinite merit, and a mere supererogation of an infinitely Glorious Person. 1. His active Righteousness stood in his obedience to the Ceremonial and Moral Law. 1. His obedience to the ceremonial Law, was a mere supererogation; What? for the substance to comply with the shadows? for the Anti-type to do homage to its own Types? besides, he submitted to those Ordinances, the end and institution whereof supposeth Gild; what sore-skin of iniquity had he to be cut off by circumcision? what filth to be washed away in Baptism? yet he was circumcised Luke 1. 21. 22. Luk, 3. 21. and baptised, and his Mother offered for her purification. 2. His obedience to the moral Laws; Although it must be granted as man, it was his duty, yet it was not his duty to become man; Gal. 4. 4. his incarnation was a work of supererogation, the Law did never command that the eternal Son of the living God should take upon him the form of a Servant, keep the Law, suffer and die. This condescension of his was wholly free and arbitrary; what but his own infinite love could move the eternal Word to pitch his Tent in our Nature? What else could move the Lord of the World to become a servant? the Ancient of Days to become a Child? or the Son of God to be the Son of Mary? And as his Active, so also his passive righteousness was a meet supererogation. What had divine Justice to do with the holy Child Jesus? Had it not been for his own eternal compact with the Father: he was a sinless Person, the Lamb of God without spot; he suffered not for himself, he that knew no sin Dan. 9 26. was made sin for us, (i. e.) a sacrifice for our sins, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, 2 Cor. 5. 21. 3. The stamp of God's Appointment highly dignifies (as to us) Christ's righteousness, and renders it acceptable to God, and meritorious for our benefit. The Assignment and appointment of God the Father sets a great value on it; God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing to men their trespasses, 2 Cor. 5. 19 the reconciliation, or justification of a sinner, is as much the Fathers as the Sons Act. Christ frequently declares in the Gospel of John, that he came John 6. into the world, to do the will of him that sent him. Christ received his mission and Commission from the Father for our justification. Mark that notable place, Heb. 10. 6, 7, 9, 10. In burnt-offerings, and sacrifices for sins, thou hast had no pleasure (the Lord did not delight in the blood of Bulls, Goats or Calves, those brutish sacrifices): vers. 7. then, said l, (the words of Christ) Lo I come, (in the Volume of the Book it is written of me) to do Thy Will, O God. Mark that, ver. 9 Then, said he, lo, I come to do thy will: (O God) He taketh away the first, the first sort of sacrifices, that he may establish the second, (viz.)— sacrifice of his Son, vers. 10. by the which Will, we are sanctified, (i. e.) saved, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Some Dr. Owen, in his Death of Deaths: and Mr. Caryl, in his Lectures on Job. of our Great Divines judiciously judge, that much of the merit of Christ's Passion doth arise from the eternal Compact, and assignment of the Father, (not excluding the other considerations). Now we pass on. 5. To the fifth Query, and that is this, what are the several causes concurring to our justification? A. I answer, The causes of our justification are these four chief: 1. The Efficient. 2. The Material. 3. The Formal. 4. The final Cause. 1. The Efficient cause, and that is twofold, either principal, or instrumental. 1. The principal. God, the whole Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit. Justification being an outward action, ad extra, respecting the creatures, is the common Act of the whole Trinity. God, (the whole Trinity) doth justify as Lawgiver, and Judge, Jam. 4. 12. There is one Lawgiver able to save, and to destroy, he is the Judge of all the Earth; by sin we became God's Doctors, and owed him many thousand Talents, Christ our Surety pays our Debts, and God dischargeth us; by sin we were enemies and ungodly, Christ our Mediator reconciles us enemies, and justifies In summa, nemo ad fidei justitiam perveniet, nis● qui in se erit impius. Calv. in Rom. 4. 5. us, by Nature ungodly, yea, God in Christ reconciles us to himself, not imputing to us our trespasses, 2 Cor. 5. 19 And this is both a gracious, and a righteous Act of God; 1. A gracious act, Rom. 3. 25. we are justified freely by his Grace, 2 Tim. 1. 9 Ephes. 2. 5. we are saved by Grace. 2. A righteous act of God: hereby he eminently declares his Righteousness, Rom. 3. 26. the Apostle brings it in with an ingemination, to declare, I say, his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus; the righteousness of Christ making plenary, yea redundant, and superabundant satisfaction to offended justice; his justice being satisfied, yea, honoured with Christ's righteousness. Now, he is not only merciful, but also faithful and just to forgive us our sins, 1 John 1. 7. Now there is a blessed Harmony between the divine Attributes: righteousness and mercy do sweetly embrace and kiss each other, the Glory of both shine forth most illustriously in, and by the bloody passion of the Son of God. Now the Acts of God, the principal Efficient cause are to be distinguished according to the distinction of the three persons. 1. The Father justifies, as the primary Cause and Author: he gave his only begotten Son for our justification and salvation, John 3. 16. 2. The Father justifies as Legislatour, enacting by his Sovereign Authority, that sweet Law of the New Covenant, by virtue whereof, every believing sinner is justified from the guilt of sin, from which he could not be justified by the Law of Moses. This Law of justification by Faith is Gods own act and Deed, Acts 13. 38. 39 the great justrumentum pacis between God and man: the Tenor of the Gospel (our Magna Charta) runs, that he that believeth shall be saved. 3. The Father justifies as a Judge, in absolving those that believe, and in pronouncing them just in Christ, and that in three respects: 1. God justifies a believing sinner upon his 1 God justifies upon believing actually. believing actually: by Faith we are thus justified, Rom. 5. 1. Gal. 3. 8. By believing he hath a Title good in Law, an indefesible right to all the promises of the Covenant, God then owns, and approves of him as a person justified. 2. At the moment of dissolution God justifies 2. Particularly at Death. Heb. 12. 23. a Believer particularly. (as the Judge of all, and the Judge of all the Earth); passing a particular private Sentence of everlasting life upon every believing Soul. 3. Eminently at the Day of Judgement, 3. Eminently at the day of judgement. God justifies at the last day, by the man Christ Jesus. Act. 17. 31. when the Ancient of Days shall take the Throne, when the Son of Man appearing in power and great Glory, shall in open Court before all the world by public Sentence, for ever acquit and discharge Believers at that solemn and Great Day. Thus the Father justifies. 2. Jesus Christ the Son justifies, as the Mediator and meritorious Cause of our justification, and that in two respects: 1. As our Surety he paid our Debt, and Christ is both: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a Surety and a Mediator. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, redemptionis precium. as our Redeemer he laid down the price of our Redemption, Rom. 3. 23. we are justified freely by the Grace of God, and yet through the redemption that is in Christ. His blood was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the price of our redemption, Ephes. 1. 7. in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his Grace; he is the Mediator of reconciliation between God and Man. 2. Christ justifies as our Advocate and Intercessor, presenting our persons, pleading our cause, prevailing with his Father by the speakings of his blood, that the virtue of his merits may be applied to us, Rom. 8. 34. It is God that justifies, who shall condemn? 'tis Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who also maketh intercession for us: there is a rather put upon the resurrection, and ascension of Christ, 1 John 2. 2. we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Thus Christ justifies. 3. The Spirit justifies as the Applicatory Cause, he doth reveal and apply to us the righteousness of Christ for our justification. 1. The Spirit, as the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation reveals, and discovers this Robe of Glory to us, this Garment of Salvation: Though the Father hath given the Son, and the Son hath given himself for our righteousness, yet 'tis the Spirit that applies this righteousness: Revelation and Application is his peculiar Office. 2. As the Spirit of Regeneration working in us the grace of Faith, which is one of the Directly. fruits of the Spirit, whereby we receive and apprehend Christ the Lord our righteousness, Causae Causae est etiam, causa Causati. unto our justification in the Court of Heaven: the Spirit justifieth as he is the cause of the cause. the Author of Faith that justifies. 3. As a Spirit of Adoption, by confirming Reflectively. our Faith, by working in us the assurance of our justification, by sealing us up unto the day of Redemption, the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirits, that we are the children of God, Rom. 8. 16, 17. Thus the righteousness of God by the revelation of the Spirit is revealed from Faith to Faith, Rom. 1. 17. Thus much for the principal efficient cause. 2. The instrumental or ministering causes are the Word of God, and Faith. 1. The ministry of the Word, is the instrumental cause on God's part, faith cometh by The Gospel is manus Dei offerentis. hearing, and hearing by the Word, Rom. 10. 17. and in Gal. 3. 2. the Gospel is called the hearing of Faith. God in his Word by his Ministers, doth as it were beseech sinners to be reconciled to him, 2 Cor. 5. 19, 20. The Word of God is the vehiculum spiritus, the Chariot of the Spirit, wherein he rides: the Word is the Wardrobe, wherein this glorious Robe of Isa. 61. 10. Matth. 14. 44. Righteousness is laid up, 'tis the goodly Field wherein this heavenly treasure is to be found. 2. The second instrumental cause is Faith: Faith is manus accipientis. Faith is the hand of the Soul, whereby we receive Christ, and apply his righteousness, John 1. 12. Faith justifies, Rom. 5. 1. But how * Non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Primo, & per se, ut qualitas propri● aut motus, actio vel vel passio, aut opus aliquod bonum, & eximii precii, quasi ipsa sit justitia, aut ejus pars, aut etiam justitiae loco, ex censu, & estimatione Dei, sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, secundario, & secundum aliud, nempe ut modus medium & instrumentum ceu oculus & manus qua Christi, ejusque participes reddimur, adeoque relatiuè ad objectum jesum ipsius justitiam, & promissiones gratiae. Synop. Pur. Theol. p. 442. doth faith justify? Faith justifies, as one expresseth it vi legis latae, as it is our evangelical righteousness, or our keeping the Gospel Law; Faith pretends to no merit, nor virtue of its own, but professedly avows its dependence upon the merit of Christ's satisfaction, as our legal righteousness, on which it layeth hold; its excellency ariseth from God's Sanction, who made choice of this act of Believing to the honour of Justification, because it lays the creature low, and so highly exalteth Christ. The Act of believing is as the Silver: God's Authority in the Gospel-Sanction, is as the King's Image stamped upon it; which gives it all its value as to justification, without this stamp, it could never have been currant. Faith doth not justify as an habit, act, work, or quality, (as the Papists say) but as an instrument or hand to receive Christ and his righteousness; * Undè fides imputatur ad justitiam, ut Paulus loquitur. Rom 4. 5. Non quatenus est qualit as nobis inhaerens, nec quatenus est opus, multo minus quatenus est meritum, sed metonymid adjuncti correlatiuè intellectâ per vocem fidel justitia Christi, quâm fides apprehendit, ut patet ex codem. cap. 4. v. 11, 13. And again, nec quatenus est cultus Dei, & radix omnium aliorum bonorum operum: sed quatenus nos Christo conglutina: & unum cum illo facti, participatione justitiae ej●● f●uamur. Polan. p. 456. Faith is an empty and a naked thing without its Object. Faith puts on this Robe of Glory, and wraps the Soul in it; but 'tis this glorious Robe, Christ's righteousness that justifies. 'Tis very certain, that the To credere cannot, doth not justify, as Socinus, and Arminius teach, it doth: 'Tis true, 'tis said, Rom. 4. 5. Faith is imputed for righteousness, and is accepted of God through Christ for the performance of the whole Law: but this is to be understood metonimically, and relatively in respect of Christ the object of faith, who is the end and perfection of the Law to them that believe, by fulfilling the righteousness of the Law for them. Faith invites a Soul to Christ, brings it into Union with his Person, and so into communion of his righteousness. And then for works: what shall we say of them? The Apostle is peremptory and absolute in his Conclusion, Rom. 3. 28. Therefore we conclude, that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law. So also, Gal. 2. 16. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, etc. that is, by the works which Christ hath done in our stead, by the obedience of Christ, which we apply to ourselves by Faith alone: saith Polanus. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 scripserit Paulus pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sicut etiam accipitur. Matth. 12. 4. 1 Cor. 7. 17. Beza in loosed tanium per fidem jesu Christi: hoc est per opera qua Christu● loco nostre fecit, per obedientiam Christi quam solâ fide nobis applicamus. Polan. Faith justifies a sinner before God, and works justify Faith, and demonstrate to the world, and to our own consciences that our faith is not dead and barren, but (Jam. 2. 4.) Living, because fruitful; ●aith as working, doth not justify, but sound justifying faith is a working faith. 2. We come to consider the essential material cause of our justification, that very thing, which is our righteousness, which God imputeth to us, and accepteth on our behalf. To this I answer. 1. Negatively, what it 1. Negatively. is no. 1. It cannot be our own righteousness inherent in us, because inchoate and imperfect, justitiam, qua-coram Tribunali Dei Consistimus, perfectam omnibus numeris partibus, & gradibus esse necesse est-Quid enim ex se agere poterat, ut semel amissam justitiam recuperaret, ●omo servus peccati vinctus Diaboli? assignata est proinde aliena qui caruit su●. Bernard. and the righteousness of justification, must be most absolute & perfect, by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified, (1) no mere man, Rom. 3. 20. We may therefore cry out with Bernard; what is man that is a servant of sin, a Bondslave of the Devil, able of himself to do, for the recovery of righteousness once lost? there is therefore the righteousness of another assigned to him, who hath lost his own. 2. Nor secondly is it the righteousness of Christ, merely and solely (as man) considered: though that was pure and spotless, yet it was not infinite, and meritorious; for Christ taking upon him an humane nature, was bound to keep the the Law, being made of a woman, he was also made under the Law; under the Covenant of Works: the obedience of Christ merely as Gal. 4. 3, 4 man, had been no work of supererogation as to us, it would have served to justify himself; but without the personal Union, there would have been no redundancy, or overflowing of merit in it, to justify those millions of guilty miscreants, who through the infinite Non propter seipsum, sed propter nostram salutem, & ab demolitionem mortis, & Condemnationem, Christus Advenit. Athanas. Orat. Tertia contra Arrian. gr●ce of the Father by the blood of the Son are justified. Wherefore Christ came not for himself, but for our salvation, etc. saith Athanasius. 2. It is not the Essential Righteousness of Non est essentialis justitia Dei, ut Andreas Osiander contendebat, Cujus errorem refutavit. Calvin. Institut. tertio libro. the Godhead, not that righteousness wherewith God is righteous, 'tis not the righteousness of Christ as God solely, though it is called the righteousness of God, 2 Cor. 5. 21. Rom. 1. 17. and so called, because 'tis the righteousness of him, who is truly God, as well as truly man, in one person: and 'tis the righteousness which God appointeth, and ac●●p●eth for our justication. But it is not the Essential uncreated righteousness of God, which being the Essence of God, cannot be communicated to any creature, much less can it become the accidental righteousness of any creature. 2. Positively, that which is our righteousness 2. Positively. for justification. It is the most Adequate and perfect obedience of Jesus Christ the Mediator God-man to the whole Law of God. Gonsisting in a most exact conformity of his whole humane Nature with all its actions Justitia jesu Christi, per quam justificamur coram Deo, est perfectissima totius leg is divinae obedientia, consistens in exactissimâ totius naturae Humane Christi, omaiumque Actionum, & passionum ejus internarum, & externarum conformitate, cum tota lege Dei, quam loco nostro perfectissime implevit, ut nobis a morte aeternâ liberationem, & jus vitae aeternae acquireret. Syntag Polan. p. 457. and passions thereunto: whereby, both actively, and passively he fulfilled the Law most perfectly. For proof you may please to read, Rom. 8. 3, 4. Gal. 4. 3, 4. Rom. 5. 16, 17, 18, 19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous, vers. 19 O Believers, this Garment of Sunbeams wrought out for ye by the Sun of righteousness, must needs be glorious: if ye consider, 1. That Christ's humane Nature was never stained neither with original, nor actual sin: for by his divine Conception by the Holy Ghost, he received of his Virgin Mother, a pure un-deflowred, Virgin Nature, which all along he kept immaculate. 2. The Humane nature in him is dignified with Union to the Divine, to the second person in the Trinity, in which it doth subsist; as God descended to the lowest to become man, so now man, (viz.) the humane Nature ascendeth to the highest, to be personally one with God. 'Tis the righteousness of Christ the Mediator 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God-man, in one person, though inherent in the Humane Nature, and performed by it. And this is that which, by communication of properties, gives infinite value, virtue, and eternal efficacy to the obedience of Jesus Christ; wherefore 'tcalled the righteousness of God. This I must profess to be the chief stay of my faith, and the principal foundation of my comfort, that He is Jehovah our righteousness, Jer. 23. 6. that he who is God blessed for ever, is the root and off spring of David; that Rom. 9 5. 'tis the Prince of Life that died, Acts 3. 15. that the Lord of Glory was crucified, 1 Cor. 2. 8. that, that blood, which is the price of my redemption and justification is the blood of God; that he that was in the form of God, and thought Acts 20. 28. it no robbery to be equal with God did humble himself, and became obedient to the death of the Cross for me, which whole humiliation Phil. 2. 6, 8 Gal. 2. 20. of Jesus Christ God-man, from his conception to his crucifixion, especially his bloody Some say, it consists both in applicatione & pronunciatione ipsius Dei. Justitia Dei est non peccare: justitia bominis, est non imputari peccatum. Bernard Serm 23. in Cantic. passion, is the material cause of our justification. Thus much for the essential material Cause of our justification. 3. What is the formal Cause of our justification? I answer, 'Tis the imputation of Christ's Righteousness, because by imputing and applying it to us, he is pleased to justify us, Rom. 4. 11. Psalm 32. 1. Rom. 4. 8. 2 Cor. 5. 19 Acts 10. 43. Acts 13. 28, 29. Sr. Ambrose, Bishop Downame and others do express it by this simile; When Rebecca clothed her son Jacob with the garments of her elder son Esau, the matter of the action, was the garment of Esau, which being applied to him did cover him; but the form of the action was the applying it to him, the indution, or putting it upon him; so the matter of our justification is Christ's righteousness, the formal cause of our justification, is the Father's imputing, or applying Christ's righteousness to us. The Apostle most clearly argues, by way of comparison between Adam and Christ; how could Rom. 5. 17, 18, 19 the disobedience of Adam be made ours for condemnation? or the obedience of Christ be made ours for justification unto life? but only by imputation, seeing they are both transient Acts. A learned Philosopher tells us, Motus non est, nisi dum fit, postq●am factus est. non est. Jul. Scaliger. That a motion, whether action, or passion, hath no being, but while it is in doing, or suffering, but after it is done, it hath no being: the disobedience of the one, and the obedience of the other; the transgression of Adam and the righteousness of Christ, can be no way conveyed to us, but by imputation: which term of imputation of Christ's righteousness, (notwithstanding the Papists scoffing at it, and calling it putative righteousness) is used ten times in Rom. 4. 4. The End or final Cause for which God doth justify a sinner by imputation of Christ's righteousness, and that is either supreme, or Utriusque enim, & miseri cordiae, & justitiae admirabile bio temperamentum relucet. subordinate. 1. The supreme End, is the manifestation of the Glory, both of his justice and mercy, as both which concur in all his works: so chief in this great work of Justification; The Lord is righteous in all his works, and holy in all his ways, Ps. 145. 17. 1. That his Justice might be fully Glorified: God sent and set forth his own Son to be a propitiation for our sins, and hath punished them in his humane Nature; I say (saith the Apostle) to declare his righteousness, that he Rom. 3. 25, 26. might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. 2. That his grace & mercy also might eminently be magnified; he hath sent his only begotten Son into the World, that we might be justified freely by his Grace, through the redemption that is in Christ, Rom. 3. 25. and Deus Pater nos justificat, ut judex quidem, sed sedens in Throno Gratiae, etc. Synops. that we should be to the praise of the glory of his Grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved, Ephes. 1, 6. Wherefore, not unto us, not unto us, not to any works of righteousness that we have done, but to the Father of Mercies, the Lord God omnipotent, and to the Lamb that sits upon the Throne, be all Honour, and Glory, Blessing and praise for evermore, Revel. 5. 13. 2 Tim. 1. 9 2. The subordinate end is our Salvation, Rom. 8. 30. whom he hath justified, them also he Glorified, Tit. 3. 7. That being justified by his Grace, we should be made heirs of eternal life Though our salvation be our particular proper, Our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. supreme end, or chief good, to which both justification, and sanctification are referred; yet it is subordinate to God's Glory, as to the Sovereign and universal End: for such is the infinite goodness of God to believing sinners, that he hath subordinated their salvation to his own Glory. The precious properties of this Righteousness; how it is a divine righteousness, a temptation vanquishing, and a World-overcoming righteousness, a Law fulfilling, and a justice satisfying righteousness, a most perfect righteousness, a Glorious Robe of righteousness, an everlasting righteousness, etc. Ye have heard at large discussed from another Text, therefore I shall forbear to enlarge herein. Lastly, What are the blessed fruits and consequences of Justification? I answer, 1. Sanctification inherent, with good works apparent, which non praecedunt justificandum, sed sequuntur justificatum, as Austin speaks; they do not go before, but follow after a state of justification. 2. Peace with God; that is an holy Tranquillity, and sweet serenity of conscience, Rom. 5. 1. 3. A free Access to God, Rom. 5. 2. 4. Certain hope of Glory, Rom. 5. 2, 5. 5. Consolation, yea Gloriation in, and over afflictions, Rom. 5. 3. 6. The shedding abroad the love of God into the hearts of the justified, Rom. 5. 5. 7. Conservation from wrath to come, Ro. 5. 9 8. Glorification and eternal life, Rom. 8. 30. Rom. 5. 21. that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might Grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. A word or two at parting to the Justified, by way of Application. 1. Walk up to your Duty. 2. Live up to your Comfort. 1. Walk up to your Duty: Ye that are the tedeemed of the Lord, the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, walk worthy of him who hath called you to his Kingdom and Glory; As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him, Col. 2. 6. Receive not this Grace of God in vain: this is a certain evidence of your freedom from Condemnation, if ye walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit, Rom. 8. 1. and herein is your father glorified, if ye bring forth much fruit, John 15. 6. As your Receipts are great, so give me leave to tell you, your duty is, and your Account will be great also: so live, so act, so work, that ye may give up your account with joy. 2. Live up to the Comfort of your state; ye are already the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear, what ye shall be, 1 Joh. 3. 1. who shall lay any thing to your charge? (whether men or Devils) 'tis God that justifieth, it is Christ that died, etc. Ro. 8. 33. Behold thy Treasures, thy Comforts, thy Joys, thy Portion, thy Privileges, laid up for thee in that precious Cabinet, Rom. 5. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Wherefore feed, nay feast thy Soul by faith upon them: wherefore, in the worst of times, the righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and all the upright in heart shall glory, Psalm 64. 10. Thus, so far as one Exercise would permit, I have endeavoured to give some satisfaction in the great Argument of Justification. Consider what I have said, and the Lord give ye understanding; 2 Tim. 2. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. FINIS.