Fellowship with God, License – Dedication
August 23. 1670.
IT is Ordered by the Lords of His Majesties most Honourable Privy Council, That none shall Re-print, or Import this Book of Mr. Hugh Binning's, Entituled, Fellowship with God, on the 1. Epistle of Iohn, Chap. 1.2. Nor The Sinners Sanctuary, on Rom. Chap. 8. Nor Principles of Christian Religion, all by the said Author, for the space of 19. years to come, without licence of the Printers hereof.
A. G.
FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD: OR, XXVIII. Sermons on the 1. Epistle of Iohn, Chap. 1, and 2.
Wherein the true ground and foundation of attaining, the spiritual way of intertaining fellowship with the Father and the Son, and the blessed condition of such as attain to it, are most succinctly and dilucidly explained.
By that eminent Preacher of the Gospel, Mr. Hugh Binning, late Minister at G…van.
Joh. 17.21.
That they all may be one, as thou Father, art in me & I in thee, that they also may be one in us.
Vers. 22.
And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one.
EDINBVRGH, Printed by George Swin…un and Iames Glen, and are to be sold by them, and by David Trench and Th…mas Brown, and at most Book-sellers Shops. 1671.
To the sincere seeker after fellowship with God, and seriously Heaven-ward-tending Christian.
De…r and welbeloved friend,
AS thou a…t in thy self a rare Iewel, a most precious Stone, one of a thousand, …ea, of ten thousand, being compared with the many thousands of c…mmon Stones, I mean, external Professors in the visible Church, who rest on a bare name, and of whom that is verified in every Nation, which our Saviour saith, M…t. 20 16. Many are called, but few chosen; and of many of which, that is also too true in every generation (and oh that it were not too manifest in this also) which Paul observed in his time, Phil: 3.18, 19. For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you, even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind ear…ly things. And as to Christ thy Lord most comely, as a Lilie among thorns, being …is love among the daughters, Cant 2.2. So also, thou in a …pecial way art the dearly beloved and longed for, the joy and crown, of every sincere servant of Christ in the Gospel, Phil. 4.1. Thou art, if not the only, yet the chief object of their labours, their work being either to confirm and strengthen thee in thy way, that thou may so stand fast in the Lord, or remove impediments, make crooked thing… straight, and so prepare the way of the Lord before thee, or to guide thee by the light of Gods Word in the dark night of temptation… and desertion: Now, as we are confident these Sermons were preached at first by that blessed serious labourer in the work of the Ministry, Mr. Hew Binning, with a special eye to the advancement of sincere seek…rs after fellowship w…h God▪ and seriously Heaven-ward tending Christians am…ngst his hear…s, So to whom shall we dire…t this posthumous▪ and al…s, unperfected wor…, but to thee (O serious C…rist…an) who makes it thy work not only to s…k after the knowledge of …d in Christ, in a meer speculative way that thou may know, and therein rest, a… if thy w…k were done, but also to f…llow after the enjoyment of that known God, and believed … S…iour, and all the promised priviledges of grace in …his l…fe, and of eternal glory in the life to come; To thee es…cially belong these precious soul-ravis…ing t…uths delivered in these Sermons. Two things, we kn…w, thou hast determined thy soul unto, and fixed thine eye on, as thy a…m and ma…k in thy gene…ation▪ viz. the light of knowledge, and the life of practice; as to knowledge, we are confident that with the Apostle Paul, 1 Cor. 2.2. Thou ha… determined to know nothing but Christ, and him crucified, and as to practice, with the said Apostle thou prayes, that thou may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousnesse, which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory of God▪ Phil. 1.10, 11. And that …hou may be bl…melesse an… h…rmlesse, the Son of God, without rebuke i… the mi…st of a crooked and perverse nation, shining as a light in the world, Phil. 2.15. Now in reading these Serm…ns thou shall perceive, that to help thee in both thes…, hath be…n the very scope and design of this s…rio… Preacher; d…s…est thou to know Jesus Christ the Lord of life, either acc…ding to his eternal subsistence in the infinit understanding of the …ther, as Go…, or as to his appearance in the flesh, as Man, or fitnesse as Medi…tor, to …econcile the… to God his Father …oth in respect of wi…lingness and ability to save, then here thou shall behold him deline at to the life: Would thou be clearly informed a…ent the only true and sure foundation of fellowship with God, the way of intertaining it, the honour or happinesse of it, and sweet fru…s of it, that fulnesse of joy that accompanies it, here sha… thou find so clear a light as shall rejoyce thy soul: Would tho… be fortified against the in…ursions and recursions of sin an… Satan, then come to this Magazine, and be furnished …b…da…tly: desirest thou to have thy so…l …ncreased in the … of God, and to see manif…st demonstratio… of … love in Christ to thee, o… then turn in hither▪ … g…t satisf…ion to thy souls desires: …f thou des…rest with David, to hate … with a perfect hatred, here, if any where, thou shal… … thy desire: yet let none think that we limit… the … an… usefulness of these Sermons to ser…o… Christians …, an… so by consequence exclude all others fro… a…y …ope of … in reading them: Nay, we declare that thoug… … …de…yable that …o…n did write this Epistle w…th a …pecial re…pect to the spir…ual advantage of serio… …; and that this holy Preacher also, had this same design, …et …e da… be bold to … all of what degree soever, to the serio… pe…using of them, assuring them that in so doing, they …all not find their labour in vain in the Lord; for her… are such pregnant demonstrations of a Deity, infinit, eternal▪ …ipotent, incomprehensible, g…verning all things by the wor… of his powe…, as ma… dash the boldnesse of the most … raphys…cally notional, or prop…an…ly practical Atheist, and wit… conviction of spirit m…ke him cry out, as Psal. 73.22. So fooli… … beast before thee: Here … such clear … …lenesse of sin, of its direct opposition to a holy God, and his most holy will, of its wofull soul d…ning effects, as may convince the most prophane and stout-h…arted carnalist, and awake him out of his soul-… of security and presumption: …ere are so glorious evidences of Gods free and inconceivable love to the world, in Christ Jesu… the Son of his love, as are able to inlighten with the light of consolation the sadliest dejected and … down soul under the apprehension of the curse and wra…h of God due to it for sin, and raise it up to the hope of mercy in and through so clearly a revealed Saviour: In a word, here are to be found convictions for Athe…sts, piercing reb…kes to the prophane, clear instructions to the ignorant, milk to b…es in Christ, strong meat for the strong, strength to the weak, …uickning and reviving for such …s faint in the way, re…ratives for such as are in a decay, reclamations and loud o…esses after backsliders to recall them, breasts of consolations for Zions mourners, whether under the first convictions of the Law, and pangs of the new birth, or under the ch…llenges and compunctions of heart for recidivation… and relapses after conversion, even while they are groaning …nder the power and burden of the body of death, Rom. 7. And to add no more, here are most excellent counsels and directions to serious seekers of fellowship with God to guide them in their way, and help them forward to the attainment of that fulness of joy which is to be had in fellowship with the Father and the Son. That the Lord may blesse all such to whose hands these Sermons shall c…me, with blessings suit…ble to their souls condition, es…ecially (the serious Christian.) for whose soul furtherance and advancement these Sermons were first Penn'd, and now Printed, is the most affectiona… desire of
Thy Servant in the Gospel of our dearest Lord and Saviour▪ A. S.