A Discourse of Christian Religion, Part 1 · Chapter 4
CHAP. IV.
THAT I may take occasion to look a little further into the Text, I shall put this Query from the running of the Words as they lye before us, Christ in us, our Hope of Glory. The Query is this:
If Christ be in us, can we hope for any thing more? If Christ be ours, all is ours; How then can Christ in us, beget Hope of any thing further? Is there any thing more than Christ? Can Christ be nearer to us, than to be within us? Is any thing beyond Christ? Any thing more desirable than Christ? One would think that Christ in us, should compleat our Fruition, and not lead out our Souls to a Hope and Expectation of something else. This is the Query.
I answer; We must distinguish between the Spiritual and Personal Presence of Christ: Christ is present with us in Spirit here; but he will be personally present with us in Glory hereafter. It is a great deal more; or, as the Apostle speaks, far better for us to be with Christ; that is, with his Glorified Person, than for Christ to be in us now by his Spirit. This is in order to that; to fit us for himself, and to make us meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. All is ours, if Christ be ours: All ours; How? Not in hand, not in full possession; but only in Hope, in the account and reckoning of Faith; all is made over and secured to us; our Title is firm and good to the whole Inheritance, and all that God hath promised; but still the Inheritance is reserved, 1 Pet. 1. 4. We are not yet entred into it, are not yet invested with all that belongs to us. God hath begun a good work here, which he will not finish till the Resurrection.
Our Grace lies in the Spiritual Presence of Christ in us here; our Glory lies in the Personal Presence of Christ with us in Heaven hereafter. We must speak of these things as men, and you must bear with our infirmity, and with the weakness of our expression. I beseech you consider what I am now saying: The Glorified Person of Christ will not bear that which the Spirit of Christ bears now in the Saints. The Spirit comes to sanctifie us, comes where Sin is, and casts it out. Tho the Spirit never mingles with our Sins, yet the Spirit will hold Communion with those in whom Sin dwells, which the Glorified Person of Christ will not. No unclean thing shall enter Heaven: We must not think to come so near to the Person of Christ, till we are perfectly sanctified. We must be without spot, or blemish, or wrinkle, or any such thing, before we can have immediate Fellowship with the Father and the Son in Glory.
The Presence of the Spirit now, tho it be an inward, intimate Presence, yet it is but a mediate Presence through the Word, through Gospel-Ordinances: But the mutual Presence of God and the Saints with each other in Heaven, is an immediate Presence, face to face. We had need have no spot upon our face then, but be throughly washed and cleansed, that no filth may be found in our skirts. Christ hath espoused us now by his Spirit to himself here under all our Infirmities: And he sends his Spirit to put a Beauty and a Comeliness upon us, to adorn the Bride, to clothe her with beautiful garments against the day of his coming, that she may be fit to stand in the Presence of the Bridegroom, as the king's daughter, all glorious within, and without too; then, being perfectly sanctified both in Body, Mind, and Spirit. The Spirit of Christ gives us access now into the Grace of God; but nothing but the glorified Person of Christ can gives us access into the Glory of God; Come ye blessed: All are admitted into Heaven by the glorified Person of Jesus Christ. The Spirit of Christ acting now through the Word, in the Absence of the Person of Christ, prepares us for his coming, keeps us waiting for that blessed day: Rev. 22. 17. The spirit and the bride say, Come. The spirit saith so in the Word, saith so in the hearts of the Saints, that is, makes them to say so: The whole Church, and every particular Member saith the same thing for himself, Amen, so come Lord Jesus, come quickly. If Believers were asked one by one, Whether they desire the Coming of their Lord, they would all agree with John, and say, Amen, so come Lord Jesus; they care not how soon, Come quickly. They are all of a mind in that thing. The earnest longings of every gracious Soul after Christ, are from the Spirit of Christ breathing in Believers, kindling and keeping up strong desires in them after Christ: They retain these desires in their Spirits after death. The Souls under the Altar cry out, How long, Lord, holy and true, &c. Rev. 6. 9, 10. We are still to conceive of the Spirit, as the Spirit of Christ. It is Christ in us shedding abroad his Love in our hearts, uniting them to himself: He will see we shall not forget him; therefore he dwells in us by his Spirit, to keep up love in our hearts to his Person. And is not this a good ground of hope, That Christ and Saints shall have a joyful meeting ere long, who do thus continually remember each other: The heart of Christ is towards them, and their hearts are towards him. They are joined together in one spirit now. The Glory of the Saints lies in beholding the Glorified Person of Christ, because in him they see the Human Nature so highly dignified and exalted in the Divine Person of Christ. They see the express Image of God in Christ shining out in the brightness of Glory: They see the Image of Christ in themselves, shining out in the Perfection of Grace. When he shall appear, they shall be like him, which is their Glory.
Thus Christ dwelling in us now by his Spirit, raises our Souls to the Hope of this Glory in the Text.
The Application contains a Threefold Exhortation:
(1.) That you would be persuaded to examine and prove your Hopes, Whether they be well grounded, yea or no.
(2.) If you find them otherwise, not sufficiently grounded upon Christ, that you would be persuaded to throw away those vain Hopes, to lay them aside. And
(3.) That you would earnestly labour every one of you, to come under the Power of this true Christian Hope in the Text; and then you will know where you are.
I begin with the
First: Let us examine and prove our Hope to be well-grounded upon Christ within us. 2 Cor. 13. 5. Know ye not your own selves, how that Christ is in you of a truth, except ye be Reprobates; that is, such (who dying in that state) God will reject at the last day. We should do all we can to secure our Hopes, lest our Crown be taken from us. Hope rises out of Faith; yet we must not so take it upon trust, as not to be able to give a Reason of it, 1 Pet 3. 15. Hope without Faith, is Presumption, Hope without Faith, is without a Reason, a foolish Hope. Till we are justified by Faith, we can have no Hope, but we lye under all the damning Circumstances of our sins, exposed to the Wrath and Vengeance of God. To be without Christ, implies all misery: Then we have no hope, Eph. 2. 12. He that hath the Son, hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God, hath not life, nor shall ever see life, 1 John 5. 12.
We should not rest till we know this, because it may be known. The Spirit is given us to this very end, 1 John 3 24. To shew us that we are in Christ, and Christ in us, John 14. 20, 21. Such a manifestation of Christ to us, is a great Argument of his love to us, ver. 21. The Spirit doth testifie of Christ, John 15. 26. Besides, it is a Glory to Christ, to make him our Hope of Glory. We render him great in the eyes of men, when we look upon him as one who makes us great. The generality of men know nothing of Christ, but what the Faith and Hope of Christians speak him to be. They understand the Language of your Hope, who have none themselves. How mean thoughts soever they have of Christ, yet they cannot but look upon him as one greatly admired by others, whose expectations from him are so high. Ambition is natural to men; all would have Glory, tho few take the right way to obtain it. The present satisfaction men take in sins, may be great, yet their Hopes of any future good from them, are very small: When they give themselves time to think, they are usually surprized with some fear of the ill consequence of their sins; they are under some secret bodings of some evil that will follow: Let them ask their Consciences if it be not so. Therefore that you may have more solid grounds of Future Blessedness, search for Christ within you; rest not till you feel the quicking Influences of his Divine Power and Spirit in your selves; till you feel Christ living in you. It is one thing to walk as men, another thing to walk as Christians, in the Spirit of Christ. Did we pray more to the Father to reveal his Son in us, form Christ in us, make us Partakers of the Divine Nature; waiting for the coming down of the Spirit upon us; we should be endued with Power from on High, we should know what it is to do all things in the strength of Christ, to have all our Works wrought in God: What it is to act supernaturally, which every Christian should aim at, experimentally to know what it is to act supernaturally: They who do so, will know that they do so; They cannot be well ignorant of that which is so new, so much another thing from all that is Natural. They are lifted up above themselves, they are carried away by the Spirit of God, and they may know that they are in that Spirit; every such appearance of God in the Soul, is a manifestation of the Spirit; not only to others, but more especially to our selves. The Spirit bears Witness, that the Spirit is truth; The Spirit witnesseth with, and to our Spirits.
When the Spirit comes as a witness, he stands forth distinct from our Spirit, that the joynt Testimony of the Spirit of God with ours, may be discerned from the single Testimony of our own Spirit, which could not be, if the Holy Ghost when giving in his Witness, laying down his proposition, did not stand forth by himself, in distinction from the spirit of a man, that the truth may be confirmed out of the mouth of two Witnesses, at least in the Conscience of a Believer.
Some of the Heathen of old had their Extasies and Raptures, were sensible they were acted by a spirit higher than their own, and thought themselves Divinely Inspired, when they were under the greatest Infatuation of Satan imaginable. But it doth not hence follow, that those who are truly inspired by God, may not know it: Were Christ in us of a truth, we should find our selves strong in the power of his Might. He that is in us, is greater than he that is in the World; could we take hold of this great one, and go forth in his Name, Spirit, and Strength, we should do great things; I can do all things, saith Paul, through Christ that strengthneth me; what do we then in the strength of Christ, which we know we could not do of our selves? I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. We should labour after some experience of this in our own selves, not to rest satisfied till we can experimentally say it of our selves: Without this experience, we live but at a low rate, do no more than others, and sometimes not so much neither; whereas we should hold forth Christ, and walk in his Spirit, having our conversation more in Heaven, resisting the Devil, overcoming the World, denying our selves, as those who are strengthned by Christ in our inward man so to do.
While I am putting you upon this search to feel for Christ within you, as the Ground of your Hope; I shall lay down Two Cautions:
1. This Mystical Union between Christ and Believers, this Spiritual In-being of Christ in our hearts, is a great Mystery. We cannot fully comprehend it in this world. Some experience we now have of such a thing in our selves; but a perfect, distinct knowledge of these deep Mysteries, is reserved for Heaven. Then we shall have a clearer Revelation of the Mystery of the Trinity: At that day, saith Christ, you shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you, John 14. 20. At that day, but not before: In that day you shall know it perfectly; now you know something, you see something, tho but darkly; and we must be content.
2. Never take that to be from the Spirit of Christ in you, that leads you from the Scripture, and would make you wise above what is written. Some have run into strong delusions this way, fancying every thing they do or say, to be by Divine Inspiration. What tho some are deceived in thinking they have the Spirit of Christ, when they have him not? It doth not therefore follow, that those who have the Spirit indeed and in truth, may not know that they have him. One man's Error in this case, cannot overthrow another man's Experience. He that hath not the Spirit, may think he hath him; but he that hath the Spirit indeed, may know he hath the Spirit. Because some men mistake the Truth, it doth not follow therefore, it cannot be known by any. When you seek for Christ in your selves, and for further Teachings of his Spirit, you should always pray over some Word; have your eye upon some Scripture which you beg a right understanding of; for no inward Revelation is now to be expected; but only of things already revealed in the Word, which the Spirit opens to us; that is, Christ in us doth this. But in Heaven we have an Intuitive Knowledge of the things themselves in God, who is the First Spring, the First Cause, the Fountain of all supernatural Truths contained in the Bible. In Heaven we shall know the Truth only as it is in Jesus; now we know it as it is in our Bibles; we know it by the Word, as a Sign and Symbol of the Will of God, from whence we abstract all our knowledge of Divine things in a discoursive way. But Intuitive Knowledge in Heaven is another thing; there needs no written Word, no other Bible in Heaven, but Christ the Essential Word of God, who will shew us all in himself, all Gospel-Truths do center in him; which shews, that for us to be with Christ in Glory, is more than for Christ to be in us by his Spirit here.
Secondly; Let us lay aside all vain Hopes, that confound and make us ashamed, Job 6. 20. The Vanity of Hope lies not so much in the Object of Hope, as in our Hope it self: The Object may be real, to wit, Life and Eternal Glory: They are gay things, desirable things, and they are real things too: But we must see that our Hope be well-grounded: If the Grounds be weak, such as by no just Consequence of Reason will bear what we infer from them, then our Hope is vain; we must give a reason of the hope that is in us; and such a reason as may answer all Objections against our Hope. The Object of Hope is Bonum arduum futurum, sed possibile: If there be not a possibility of obtaining what we hope for, upon the ground we go upon, our Hope is vain, and will certainly make us ashamed, the issue not answering our expectation, Job 11. 20. comp. with Prov. 10. 28.
There are Two Things which men ground their vain Hope of Salvation, of Heaven and Glory upon; in both which they overlook Christ, and pass him by.
1. Their own Righteousness, so far as they can pretend to any, they make the most of it, grow proud of it, look to be considered by God for it; as if he was beholden to them for their good Lives, and inoffensive Carriage; that they run not into the same excess of Riot with others. But alas! what a sandy foundation is this to build our Hope of Heaven upon!
Be not offended at what I am saying, but weigh it well in the Balance of the Sanctuary; consider it strictly by Gospel-Light: I say this; We may as soon be saved in our Sins, as by our own Righteousness. It is as contrary to the Gospel to trust in our own Righteousness, as to the Law, not to do it. Our Sins are not more opposite to the Holiness of the Law, than trusting in our own Righteousness is to the Free Grace of the Gospel. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saveth us, Tit. 3. 5. It is true, a Holy Life becomes a Christian; we cannot be Christians without it; but it doth not make a Christian: Nothing but Faith in Christ doth make a Christian, from whence all true Holiness found in Believers, doth spring. I have sometimes told you, That Preaching of Holiness, pressing Holiness with little or no mention of Christ, will never bring men to Christ; but Preaching up Christ will bring men to Holiness; that is the right spring and root of all true Godliness. It doth as much belong to Christ to Sanctifie us, as to Justifie us. We must go out of our selves for Sanctification, as well as Justification. Who shall bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one: None but God. No unjustified person can be sanctified.
He whose sins are imputed to him, must needs be under the power of them: Sin will live under its own Guilt: If that be removed, sin dies presently. If it cannot kill us, it ceases to reign over us. The strength of sin is the law. When the Law cannot by any Act of Justice belonging to it, curse us for our sin, sin in us grows weaker as to its own Acts hereafter; because we are no longer under the Law, but under Grace, which teacheth us to deny-ungodliness. A man will never be brought off from his own course, by all the teachings of the Terrors of the Law, till the Grace of God begins to tutor him, to instruct him. The Law was not intended to be our Teacher, but our Judge: It was given to man in his Perfect State, who knew the whole compass of his Duty, had the Law written in his heart. The breach of the Law left him under the Curse, where he doth, and will lye, till free Grace relieve him, and brings him under the Blessing of the Gospel. The Law shews fallen man his Transgression, but cannot shew him any Righteousness in himself, because there is nothing exactly answering the Law found in man fallen. Malum est ex quolibet defectu; The whole Action is sinful, because imperfect.
The Righteousness of the Law, in a strict Legal sense, (for I must be forced to distinguish; I know many in this Age will not understand me; but they that have ears to hear, let them hear: I say, The Righteousness of the Law in a strict Legal sense) admits of no degrees; it must be perfect or none: It is true, a gradual tendency towards the exact Righteousness of the Law, is commendable in any; but because it is not a fulfilling of the Law, the Law will not reward it, but punish that man as a Sinner; not because he goes so far in his Obedience, but because he goes no further. A man may do many things, but if he doth not always do every thing that is right in the Law, the Law will curse that man, and his former Righteousness shall not be remembred.
2. The second false Ground of hope, is the Gracious and Merciful Nature of God. How is this cried up! his Philanthropia, God's Love to his creature man! And this they think will make God unnatural to himself, and cause him to lay aside his Justice, that he may shew kindness to them who have acted so contrary to him. And therefore they hope God will have as little regard to his own Justice and Holiness, as they have had.
All I shall say is this; That those who reject the only way of Salvation by Christ, in whom the Justice and Mercy of God are reconciled, will find it a hard matter to plead the Mercy of God for themselves in a direct Opposition to his Justice: Whether they can dye in Peace under these Thoughts, let them see to that. Men may talk what they will of their Good Works, and of their inherent Holiness; but sure I am, Nothing but the Righteousness of Christ imputed to us, will remove that Guilt that cleaves to us in every thing that we do; and you will never be Justified till that be done. What is all your Duties, Performances, all Holy Works, What is all this to the Pardon of thy Sin, Man? God never absolves the sinner, never looks upon him as Righteous, till he be found in Christ, not having on his own Righteousness.