Joy in Tribulation, Chapter 33
CHAP. XXXIII. Containing some infallible signes of our Calling and Election.
MAny sure, and evident markes hath the Lord Jesus Christ set upon his Sheep, which as by the hand of his Spirit in the Scripture he hath graven, so hath he by the same hand printed them upon us, that considering our selves marked out by them, we may come, not onelyonly to a probable hope, but full assurance of faith, that we are his chosen Flocke, and Sheepe of his pasture,Ioh. 10.28, 29. who shall never perish, never be plucked out of his, and his Fathers hand. Of very many I will insist onelyonly upon some few.
First then, read advisedly that Scripture, 1 Ioh. 3. 1, 2. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that wee should bee called the Sonnes of God… And, we know that when hee shall appeare, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Hence, in the first place, it is evident, that those whom the Father hath made children unto himselfe, hee hath most dearely, and everlastingly loved: (see also Ier. 31. 3.) And againe, that when wee know our filiation, (when wee are made Sonnes,) wee know also that when Christ shall appeare, wee shall see him as hee is, and bee glorified with him: This then is cleare, that when wee are children of God, wee are eternally beloved by him, and shal reigne with him in eternity. But how shall wee know that we are made children? Looke into the 9 verse of that chap. The seed of God remaineth in them who are borne of God: Iam. 1.18…he begetteth us by the Word of truth. 1 Pet. 1.23That immortall seede brings forth in us an immortall life. Hence also is it manifest that when God hath powerfully and effectually sowne this seed in the heart of any man, then the life of God, (that eternall life) is given him: in which regard the Gospell is often called the power of God to salvation. Rom. 1.16But some will say;1 Cor. 1.18 Now I plainly see my estate were sure, if I could infallibly know that the Word were effectually applied unto me by God. Oh how should I be sure of that? how should I be certaine that the Word is made to me a seed of life? Reade 1 Pet. 2. 2. and compare with it the three last verses of th… former chapter. We are borne not of mortall, but immortall seed, the word of God: this Word endureth for ever: and this is the Word which by the Gospell is preached unto you. Wherefore laying aside, &c. As new borne babes …esire (or thirst for) the sincere milke of the Gospell, that you may grow thereby. From all these Scriptures linked together, observe how plainly, and necessarily, beyond all contradiction, these two conclu…ions are gathered… 1. Whosoever thirsteth for the sincere milke of the Gospell to grow up by it in grace, and all obedience, hee is certainely new borne, and a babe, (at least) in this immortall life. 2. Whosoever is borne of God by this seed of his Word, is everlastingly beloved of God, and shall appeare with Christ in glorie.
When therefore we finde that whereas heretofore, being full, we loathed this hony-combe;Prov. 27.7. but now, feeling our selves empty and hungry, even the most bitter part of Gods word is sweet unto us: so that wee can truly say, All the words of God, even his commands, and judgements, as wel as his promises,Psal. 119. 103. are pleasant unto our taste, more than home unto our mouth; that frequently, as the Infant for the brest, wee longue for it, not for custome, feare, or knowledge onelyonly, but to grow up in all obedience to God, then may we, without all question, conclude; Seeing God hath effectually applied this Word unto my soule, and in his eternall love begotten mee as a childe, and heire to himselfe, joynt heire with Christ, I know that nothing shall seperate mee from the love of God, which is in Christ; nothing shall plucke mee out of the hand of my gracious Saviour, and my Almighty Father.
Againe, whosoever is partaker of the victory of Christ, so that now not sinne, but Christ reignes in him, is certainly a true member of the Lord Jesus, and one of them, for whom Christ hath dyed: See Rom. 8.37,38. We are more than Conquerors through him that loved us: I am perswaded, therefore, that nothing shall seperate us, &c. 1 Cor. 15. 57.God hath given us victorie through our Lord Iesus Christ. So then, when by the Word the strong holds of Satan are battered, and beaten downe in us, & every thought subdued to the obedience of Christ; when the dominion of sinne is deposed in us, and the Scepter of Christ, and his Throne set up in our hearts, we are in the state of grace, (Rom. 6.14.) and members of his mysticall body, baptised into his death, quickened in his resurrection, as is apparent in the whole course of that chapter. But how should I be assured that Christ reigneth in me, and not sinne? Why?Rom… 6.16. Know you not that to whom you yeeld your selves servants to obey, his servants yon are to whom you obey. Marke then, obedience in service must bee from a yeelding willingnesse, and love:Eph. 6.7. (With good will doing service:) If then thou obeyest, thou yeeldest up thy selfe, (not forced) with love, and good will to do what is commanded: See then, and con…ider not so much what thou doest, but what thou wouldst doe, and whom thou obeyest. Thou doest the evill thou wouldst not doe; thou doest not the good thou wouldest doe: Then this is no obedience, when it is done, but not with good wil:Rom. 2.20. nay, so far art thou from obeying, that it is not done by thee, but by sin in thee. Sin doth it in thee, thou doest it not in sinne. But when the inward man delighteth in the law of God, howsoever the command of the Lord is not done as it ought, yet because out of love to it, & the giver of it, thy wil puts on the outward man to obedience: hence is manifest, that the law of God is written in thy heart, (see Psal. 40.8.) and that thou livest in obedience not to sin, but Christ. Hence it is clearly evinced that thou art not a servāt of sin, whose yoak thou hatest: Thou yeeldest not up thy selfe with love, and cheerfulnesse to obey it, but sighest under the burden of it: a captive then thou maist be to sin, but no servant. Remember this… He is not a member of Christ, and his faithfull servant, who either for feare of law, anger of superiours, or some such outward respect, is driven & inforced to Christian duties: yet the hand, or foot (which by reasō of some sore breeding in it, or some weaknesse by a blow, or fal, thorne sticking in it, & festering, cannot doe the office of it is notwithstanding a member; and a servant not throughly recovered of a deadly malady, nor able to do perfect service, is yet a faithful servant: So neither is he a servant to sin, who overwrastled by strong tentations, detesting this body of death, is carried captive, sending up his spirit in grones unutterable, and crying out, oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me? And hee certainly is a servant, and member of Christ, who, pressed with sinfull weakenesse, would doe what hee cannot, and doth what hee can. Take a more through view of this truth in a familiar, and confessed instance: Spai…e is truly said to be under the dominion of the Spanish King; because the people acknowledging thēselves Subjects, willingly live under his lawes: but Holland is as truly said not to be under his dominion, because having shaken off his yoake, they live not under his lawes, nor will heare of his service. And although sometime in fight they are overcome, yet doe they renew their forces, and both openly professe, and behave themselves as enemies. Thus is it with the faithfull:Rom. 6.17. They were the servants of sinne, but now from the heart they have obeyed that forme of doctrine which was delivered them. They hate, and reject the Law of sinne in their members. But doth not sinne fight against them? Yes, and they against it: And this is a signe of enmitie, not obedience: But it often prevailes also. True, but it prevailes as an Enemie; therefore they renew their strength by prayer, plucke up their hearts, and set themselves in order to resist, and subdue it: No signe of dominion in all this, but rather of that deadly feod mentioned by the Apostle,Gal. 5. 17. The spirit lusteth against the flesh, and the flesh against the spirit, and these two are contrarie.
Hence again we may know that we have claime to Christ, and all that hee hath done for the Elect. For, if I am not under the dominion of sinne, I am under grace, and the true subject of Christ, even a member of his body. But I plainly finde in me a rebellion against sinne; within, by loathing it as a body of death, and a stinking carrion; without, by opposing it in all my actions, and labouring to free my selfe not onelyonly from subjection, but from the encumbrance, and molestation of it, utterly to root it our, as the spirituall Canaanite. Certain am I therefore, that Christ hath subdued sinne in me, setled me in his kingdome, and in his bodie: Nothing can separate mee from him.
As it is very easie to see the soule in the body (though invisible in the substance) by the effects and workes of it; so will it be no difficult matter to discerne the blessed Spirit dwelling in us, by his many, and manifest operations: For as in the whole body of Christ, so in every member the holy Ghost is ever working: Looke as in the bodie the soule is never idle, but ever in action, even in swoones when we feele it not, yet then it ceaseth not; and though at such times wee have no sense of it, yet others conversing with us, evidently perceive it working for life; so in the new man,1 Cor. 12.6 It is the same Spirit which worketh all in all: so that when we feele it not our selves, others easily see it.
Two maine actions of the Spirit, comprehending the rest, are mortification, opposing, resisting, and working out the old man, (all sinfull matter in us,) or Vivification, quickning, repairing, and strengthening the new man. No sooner the Spirit enters, but it discovers to us much ignorance; and then stirres up to incline the eare unto wisedome, Pr. 2.2, 3,4and apply the heart to understanding, the tongue to crie for knowledge, and lift up the voyce for understanding. When now the i…elligible part is somewhat cleared, and light brought forth in this new Creation; strait the dulnesse, and deadnesse of the concupiscible part (the will, and affections) is laid open. Then the heart longues, and the tongue calls out for quicke…i…g grace. Take notice of this in the Saints: Thus David begs for more light,Psal. 119. …. 33, 34. Open mine eyes, that I may see the wonders of thy Law. Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy S…at…tes. Give mee understanding. But now when by the grace of God, in the exercise of the Word, hee was growne wiser than his enemses, and of more understanding than all his teachers; then strait his eye was upon that sluggishnesse, and deadnesse of spirit: and how loud, and frequent is he for quickning?Psal. 119. 107. 149. 154. 156. 159, &c. Quicken me according to thy Word; quicken me according to thy judgement; quicken me according to thy loving kindnesse: how often repeated in that one Psalme?
Certaine is it, that as wee can never in this life wholly shake off all sinfull infirmities; so that blessed Spirit will never suffer us to rest in any: Looke as in the earthly Canaan the Israelites (untill the reigne of Salomon) were never in full peace; sometime vexed with Iabin of Canaan, sometime with the Philistims, but ever victorious: Remarkable is it, that ever their vexation was a sure signe of their enlargement; and oppression by the enemy, ushered in the destruction of the oppressor: (for when Israels soule was grieved with the Canaa…ites, Iudg. 10.16Gods soule was grieved for his Israel:) So in the state of grace, till that true Salomon, the Prince of peace, shall fully reigne over all his, and our enemies, wee shall ever be in continuall strife with our sinfull corruptions; first with one, then with another; and nothing should more fully assure us that God hath certainly purposed to cut off any sinfull affection in us, then that discovering it to our eyes, and giving us sense of the burden; he gives us no rest, that wee may give him no rest, but seek importunately for helpe, till we finde it subdued, and destroyed in us. Neither doth the blessed Spirit, by his baptisme of fire, onelyonly mortifie, and purge out the drosse of our sinfull nature, but quickens us by that heat of life in vivification; so that the soule, enflamed with the thirst of grace and glory, can make no stay in his race, till it touch the marke; with all diligence adding to faith, vertue; to vertue, knowledge; to knowledge, temperance: … Pet. 1. 5, 6,7.and when we are not destitute of any grace,2 Pet. 3,18 then putting us forward to grow in the grace which we have received.
Hence is it that even in the depth of tentation when our selves (judging by sense) suppose that all is lost; standers by (as they say) see further then wee, and can easily discerne this Spirit mightily working in us, grieving under the load of sinne, and unutterably groaning under this oppression, judging our selves, sighing for grace.
By this then may wee evidently dis…rne the Spirit dwelling in us, that we are ever in spirituall motion, action, and exercise; sometime mortifying, sometime quickning, ever leading us forward to perfection: (See Rom. 8.11.13, 14.) so that we can never rest, or sit downe in a contented estate, till wee are fully compleat in happinesse, and glory.
Lastly, another signe whereby we may, without all faile, conclude, that we are translated from death unto life, 1 Ioh, 3.…4is, our love to the Brethren. For certainely,Mat. 10.41 42. He that receiveth a Prophet in the name of a Prophet, shall receive a Prophets reward: and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man, shall receive the reward of a righteous man; and hee that gives a cup of water to a Disciple in the name of a Disciple, verilie hee in no wise shall lose his reward: Nay this token of our love proves and makes good all the former; namely, that God is our Father, the Lord Iesus our Saviour, and we Temples of the holy Ghost: 1 Ioh. 4.1.For, whosoever beleeveth that Iesus is the Christ, is borne of God, and every one that loveth him that begot, loveth him also that is begotten of him. & 4.7.And, Behold, let us love one another: for love is of God, and every one that loveth, is borne of God, and knoweth God. Where the love of Gods children is set out by the Spirit as a sure token both of our love to God, and our new birth by God.
Againe, our Saviour appointeth it as the Badge of his Disciples; By this shall all men (how much more our selves) know, that you are my Disciples if you love one another. Ioh… 13.35.Read also, 1 Ioh. 3.23,24. This is his command, that we should beleeve, and love one another: and he that keepeth this Commandement dwels in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit he hath given us.
The two great commandements of the Gospell, are Faith, and love, which when they are written in our hearts by the Spirit, and he stirres us up to cleave unto our head by faith, unto our fellow members by love, it is manifest that we dwell in Christ, and Christ in us by that holy Spirit.
Hence also may a faithfull soule surely gather; God himselfe hath most clearely testified, that if I love the Brethren, I am translated from death to life, that I am borne of God, and therefore love the children of God, because being my selfe his childe, I love my Father. Christ hath set his badge, and cognizance upon me in that love, and that holy Spirit is …hee, which by his presence hath brought my heart into obedience of this precept. Certaine then is it, that this love to the Saints, is proper onelyonly to the Saints, even to those whom God hath begotten by his Word, saved by his death, and sanctified by his grace. Seeing then I finde this love to the Saints rooted in my heart, that my soule cleaves to their persons, delights in their fellowship, admires their excellencies, sure am I that the same grace which I love f…ourishing in others, is planted in my selfe, that their Father is my Father, their Head my Head, and that Spirit which dwels in them, resteth on me, and will abide with me forever.