The Application of Redemption, Book 1 · Section · Subsection 5
Two Inferences from the former Cases of Conscience, thus Resolved.
These Two Cases being thus cleered, (1 That an … hath no right to any spiritual Good inInfer: 1. …: And, 2 That the spirit of God doth never … known this to such a Soul) Hence its cleer: … manner and order that men have devised to make own the mind of God to a man, and to give comfort the Soul in distress, being cross to these truths now …, is an Erroneous and False way: As for …, You being in distress about your Sins, and … under the Spirit of Bondage, you must first lay … in the bottom, lay him in the foundation, Christ … first be yours, and so united to you, and your … forgiven by him, before you have any Faith or … qualification wrought in you; This Opinion … sayes, That Christ may be united to the Soul, and … be Justified and Adopted before he have any …; it is a dangerous Opinion, a desperate …; that I may say no worse of it. Mark what …, here's the plot of all prophaness, the ground of loosness and famalism: A man may have Christ … be Justified and Adopted while he is without …, and therefore while he is under the power of Sins and the Spirit of God may witness this; And … though a man fall into any Sin, or live in any sin … it be, he may have recourse to this …, this witness of the Spirit, and thats enough; If a man say, Prove it: Are you in a state of Grace? Is Christ yours? Prove it then. Prove it? (say they) that I cannot do, but the Spirit witnesses this to me: Ay, but prove this witness of the Spirit, that it is from God according to his Word: They will be forced to confess, I cannot prove it neither to my self, nor to another, only thus, I must beleeve it, and you must beleeve me: I was in trouble and distress about my Sins, and then there was a voyce from Heaven, the spirit did witness to me, That Christ was mine, and my Sins were pardoned, &c. This is a Spirit of Delusion, the Devil is there; Whatever the Spirit of God sayes, it is that which the Scriptures say: Therefore if you have a testimony which is not to be found in the Scripture, nor can be proved and made good by the Scripture, it is the testimony of the Devil, not … the Spirit of God: for the Spirit of God, and the Word of God, ever go together; therefore if you say you Have a witness of the Spirit, and the Word say, No: I'le say, It is a Delusion.Infer: 2.
Secondly; Hence it follows also: There are … Promises wherein any saving good is Revealed or Evidenced to the Soul, but either they are such … God promiseth to work the Condition, or suppose the Condition already wrought: either … mentioning a qualification, or necessarily implying … including the same, out of other places to be collected where the same is professedly handled.
All spiritual good (Redemption, Justification, Salvation) purchased by Christ, were intended only for them that do beleeve; therefore there is no Promise in the Scripture, but doth evidence this.
Sometimes you have the Covenant laid down in … lump (as it were) in a brief Expression, as in a … sum comprehending all the whole frame, and then … several actions in their distinct order and manner … Gods working are to be attended and conceived, as though they had been more fully, and in the several branches set forth unto us: Take a tast of some few, Gen. 3. 5. The seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents head: The head of Satan, implys Three things,Acts 26. 18. Policy, Power, and Poyson: To break this head is to crush and confound all these: The Policy and and Power of Satan is overthrown in the work of vocation, when the Soul is turned from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God: the venom and poyson of Satan is taken away; partly in the … and punishment which is done away in Justification, partly in the stain and pollution of sin, which is removed in Sanctification; All these Christ doth in … hearts of all his, and some of these all the Saints of God must have evidence of before they can gain evidence that they are within the compass of this Covenant. Thus the Apostle John disputes, 1 Joh. 3. 3. to 5. Every one that hath this hope purifieth himself as Christ … pure: Why? For sin is the transgression of the law, and Christ was manifested to take away our sins: therefore (vers. 6.) whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: Christ came to take away sin, and therefore he that abideth in Christ cannot abide in sin; and vers. 8. The Son of God was manifested to destroy the works of the Devil.
So again, Jerem. 31. 33. I will be their God, and they shall be my people: Zach. 13. last, I will say it is my people, and they shall say thou art the Lord our God: Here again is the sum of the Covenant comprised, and all the particulars with the manner of the work included and presupposed, as the Apostle once for all expounds these and the like passages, 2 Cor. 6. 16. I will be their God and they shall be my people, wherefore come out from among …, and be ye separate and touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be a father to you, and ye … be my sons and daughters saith the Lord …. If they touch no unclean thing, but be separate … Sin, Self, and the Creature, and so come out of … these in preparation, and come to him in effectual vocation, then he will be a father to them in his Christ, and make them his Children in Adoption, and then he will write his laws in their hearts, and renew them to that Holiness which in Adam they lost, and so enable them to walk in his wayes. And therefore when the Lord promiseth by the … Isa. 43. 25 I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own names sake, and will not remember … sins: that is, I do justifie thee freely when I have made thee to beleeve by my free grace; For it cannot be conceived that the Lord would pass the Sentence of Absolution upon her while she remained in the … of Unbelief: For then that of the Apostle should fail, Its one God that justifies the Jews by Faith, and the Gentiles through Faith, Rom. 3. 30. Therefore look the 20 and 21 vers. of this Chapt. (for we must not have one place justle against another) and there you shall … it is said, I will do this and that for my People, my Chosen, which are Beleevers, and of them and unto them it is said, vers. 25. I will blot out thy sins for my own sake: The resolving of these Cases, and information of these Doubts, infers undeniably thus much, That there is no Absolute Promise that either gives or maintains assurance of our good estate, but such only wherein God engageth … to work the Condition, or else doth of necessity imply it wrought.
It will be said, That the Covenant of Grace is free,Object. and issues out of the free Mercy of God in Christ, and therefore the Lord hath not in it any respect, to any thing we have or do.
Its all confessed, and yet there is no prejudice atAnsw. … accrews to the Cause in hand.
Free Grace is the Fountain of all: It makes the …, it works the Condition, it maintains the … which is wrought: Ephes. 2. 8. By Grace … ye saved, through Faith.
And though God both require and work the … (Eph. 2. 8. Faith is the Gift of God) Yet it not for our Faith, or for the worth of any Grace … is in us, that we have life and salvation but by …, and those, as means and wayes by Grace … and provided to give life. … is of … Grace, doth it not therefore require … in … Party that is Justified, nor yet suppose him to be …? The Apostle openly contradicts such a …, Rom. 8. 30. Whom he called, them he justified: … is also of Free Grace, and yet doth it … suppose Sanctification and Holiness in the Party … must possess it? Without Holiness no man shall … the Lord, Heb. 12. 14. As my Glorification doth … hinder the freedom of my Justification because it … before it, so my Justification doth not hinder the … of my Vocation because Vocation goes … it, but only shewes the order and manner of Gods ….