are come to Chrift in the virtue of his teachings, admire the wonderful condefcenfion of God to them. O that God should speak to thy foul, and be filent to others! There be many thousands living at this day under ordinances, to whom the Lord hath not given an ear to hear, nor an heart to obey, Deut. xxix. 4. "To you it " is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given," Mat. xiii. 11. And I befeech you, walk as men and women that have been taught of God. When Satan and your corruptions tempt you to fin, and to walk in the ways of the carnal and carelefs world; remember then that fcripture, Eph. iv. 20, 21. "But ye have not fo learned Chrift, if fo be that you have "heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Je"fus." To conclude, fee that you be exceeding humble, and lowly in fpirit. Humility qualifies you for divine teachings, Pfal. xxv. 9. The meek he will teach;" and the more ye are taught of God, the more humble you will still be. And thus you fee, that no man can come to Chrift without the application of the law, and the teachings of the Father; which being confidered, may be very useful to convince us, (which indeed is the defign of it) that among the multitudes of men and women, living under the ordinances of God, and the general profeffion of religion, there are but few, very few to be found, who have effectually received the Lord Jefus Chrift by faving faith. And now, reader, I fuppofe by this time thou art defirous to know by what figns and evidences thy union with Chrift by faith may be cleared up, and made evident to thee; and how that great queftion, whether thou haft yet effectually applied Chrift to thy foul or no, may be clearly decided; which brings me to the third general use of the whole, viz., The examination of our intereft in Chrift, by 1. The donation of the Spirit, from 1 John iii. 24. 2. The new creation, from 2 Cor. v. 17. 3. The mortification of fin, from Gal. v. 24. 4. The imitation of Chrift, from 1 John ii. 6. Of each of these trials of our interest in Christ I shall speak in their order: And, firft, of the donation of the Spirit. SERMON XXIV. Of the Manner and Importance of the SPIRIT'S Indwelling. 1 JOHN iii. 24. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.. THE HE apoftle in this chapter is engaged in a very trying difcourfe; his fcope is to difcriminate the fpirits and ftates of fincere believers, from merely nominal and pretended Chriftians; which he attempts not to do by any thing that is external, but by the internal effects and operations of the Spirit of God upon their hearts. His enquiry is not into thofe things which men profefs, or about the duties which they perform, but about the frames and tempers of their hearts, and the principles by which they are acted in religion. According to this teit, he puts believers upon the fearch and study of their own hearts; calls them to reflect upon the effects and operations of the Spirit of God, wrought within their own fouls, affuring them, that thefe gracious effects, and the fruits of the Spirit in their hearts, will be a folid evidence unto them of their union with Jefus Chrift, amounting to much more than a general, conjectural ground of hope, under which it is poffible there may fubeffe falfum, lurk a dangerous and fatal mistake: But the gracious effects of the Spirit of God within them, are a foundation upon which they may build the certainty and affurance of their union with Chrift: Hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us. In which words we have three things to confider, viz. 1. The thing to be tried, our union with Chrift. 2. The trial of it, by the giving of his Spirit to us. 3. The certainty of the trial this way: Hereby we know, First, The thing to be tried; which is indeed the greatest and weightieft matter that can be brought to trial in this world, or in that to come, namely, our union with Chrift, expreffed here by his abiding in us; a phrafe clearly expreffing the difference betwixt thofe who, by profeffion and common eftimation, pafs for Chriftians among men, tho' they have no other union with Chrift, but by an external adhesion to him in the external duties of religion, and thofe whofe union with Chrift is real, vital, and permanent, by the indwelling of the Spirit of Chrift in their fouls. John xv. 5, 6. opens the force and importance of this phrafe, "I am the vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in me and I in him, 3 the fame bringeth forth much fruit: If a man abide not me, he «is caft forth as a branch, and is withered." The thing then to be tried is, Whether we ftand in Chrift as dead branches in a living ftock, which are only bound to it by external ligatures' or bonds that hold them for a while together; or whether our fouls have a vital union and coalition with Chrift, by the participation of the living fap of that bleffed root? Secondly, The trial of this union, which is by the giving of the Spirit to us: The Spirit of Chrift is the very bond of union betwixt him and our fouls. I mean not that the very perfon of the Spirit. dwelleth in us, imparting his effential properties to us; it were a rude blafphemy fo to speak; but his faving influences are communicated to us in the way of fanctifying operations; as the fun is faid to come into the houfe, when his beams and comforting influence come there. Nor yet muft we think that the graces or influences of the Spirit abide in us in the felf-fame measure and manner they do in Chrift; " for God giveth not the Spirit to him by measure;" in him all fulness dwells. He is anointed with the Spirit above his fellows; but there are measures and proportions of grace differently communicated to believers by the fame Spirit; and thefe communicated graces, and real operations of the Spirit of grace in our hearts, do undoubtedly prove the reality of our union with Chrift; as the communication of the felf-fame vital juice or fap of the ftock, to the branch whereby it lives, and brings forth fruit of the fame kind, certainly proves it to be a real part or a member of the fame tree. Thirdly, Which brings us to a third thing; namely, the certainty. of the trial this way, rooper, in this, or by this we know: We fo know that we cannot be deceived. To clear this, let us confider two things in grace, viz. 1. Somewhat conftitutive, 2. Somewhat manifeflative, There is fomething in grace which is effential, and conftitutive of its being; and fomewhat that flows from grace, and is manifeftative of fuch a being: We cannot immediately and intuitively discern the effence of grace, as it is in its fimple nature. So God only difcerns it, who is the author of it; but we may difcern it mediately and fecondarily, by the effects and operations of it. Could we fee the fimple effence of grace, or intuitively difcern our union with Chrift, our knowledge would be demonftrative, a priori ad pofterius, by feeing effects, as they are lodged in the cause: But we come to know the being of grace, and the reality of our union with Chrift, a pofteriori, by afcending in our knowledge from the effects and operations, to their true caufe and being. And, accordingly, God hath furnished us with a power of self 2. intuition and reflection; whereby we are able to turn it upon our own hearts, and make a judgment upon ourselves, and upon our own Acts. The foul hath not only power to project, but a power alfo to reflect upon its own actions; not only to put forth a direct act of faith upon Jefus Chrift, but to judge and difcern that act alfo, 2 Tim. i. 12. "I know whom I have believed:" And this is the way in which believers attain their certainty and knowledge of their union with Chrift: from hence the obfervation will be, Doct. That intereft in Chrift may be certainly gathered and concluded from the gift of the Spirit to us: "No man (faith the apostle) hath "feen God at any time; if we love one another, God dwelleth « in us, and his love is perfected in us: Hereby know we that we "dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his "Spirit," John iv. 12, 13. The being of God is invifible, but the operations of his Spirit in believers, are fenfible and difcernable. The foul's union with Chrift is a fupernatural mystery, yet it is difcoverable by the effects thereof, which are very perceptible in and by believers. Two things require explication and confirmation in the doctrinal part of this point. 1. What the giving of the Spirit imports and fignifies. 2. How it evidences the foul's intereft in Jefus Chrift. Firft, As to the import of this phrafe, we are to enquire what is meant by the Spirit, and what by the giving of the Spirit. Now the Spirit is taken in fcripture two ways, viz. Effentially, or perfonally. In the first fenfe it is put for the Godhead, 1 Tim. ii. 16. "Juftified in the Spirit," i. c. By the power of his divine nature, which raised him from the dead. In the fecond fenfe it denotes the third perfon, or fubfiftence in the glorious and bleffed Trinity; and to him this word Spirit is attributed, fometimes properly in the fenfe before-mentioned, as denoting his perfonality; at other times metonymically and then it is put for the effects, fruits, graces, and gifts of the Spirit communicated by him unto men, Eph. v. 11. "Be ye filled with the Spirit." Now the fruits or gifts of the Spirit are either, 1. Common and affifting gifts: Or, 2. Special and fanctifying gifts. In the last sense and fignification, it must be taken in this place; for, as to the common aflifting and miniftering gifts of the Spirit, they are bestowed promifcuously upon one as well as another; fuch gifts in an excellent degree and a large measure, are found in the unregenerate, and therefore can never amount to a folid evidence of the foul's union with Chrift: but his fpecial fanctifying gifts, being the proper effect and confequent of that union, muft needs ftrongly prove and confirm it. In this fenfe therefore we are to understand the Spirit in this place; and by giving the Spirit to us, we are to understand more than the coming of the Spirit upon us: The Spirit of God is faid to come upon men in a tranfient way, for their present affistance in fome particular fervice, though in themselves they be unfanctified perfons: Thus the Spirit of God came upon Balaam, Numb. xxiv. 2. enabling him to prophefy of things to come: And, although thofe extraordinary gifts of the Spirit be now ceafed, yet the Spirit ceafeth not to give his ordinary affiftances unto men, both regenerate and unregenerate, 1 Cor. xii. 8, 9. 10, 31. compared: But, whatever gifts he gives to others, he is faid to be given, to dwell, and to abide only in believers, 1 Cor. iii. 6. "Know ye not that ye are the temple of "God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth, in you?" An expreffion denoting both his fpecial propriety in them, and gracious familiarity with them. There is a great difference betwixt the affling and the indwelling of the Spirit; the one is tranfient, the other permanent. That is a good rule the fchoolmen give us, Illa tantum dicuntur ineffe, que infunt per modum quietis: thofe things are only faid to be in a man, which were in him by way of reft and permanency, and fo the Spirit is in believers: Therefore they are faid to live in the Spirit, Gal. v. 25. to be led by the Spirit, ver. 18. to be in the Spirit, and the Spirit to dwell in them, Rom. viii. 9. And fo much of the first thing to be opened, viz. What we are to understand by the giving of the Spirit. Secondly, In the next place we are to enquire and fatisfy ourfelves, how this giving of the Spirit evidently proves and strongly concludes that foul's intereft in Chrift unto whom he is given: and this will evidently appear by the confideration of these five particulars. 1. The Spirit of God in believers is the very bond by which they are united unto Chrift: If therefore we find in ourselves the bond of union, we may warrantably conclude, that we have union with Jefus Chrift: This is evidently held forth in those words of Christ, John xvii. 22, 23. “The glory which thou gavest mè, "have I given them, that they may be one, even as we are one. "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in "one, and that the world may know that thou haft fent me, and "haft loved them as thou haft loved me." It is the glory of Chrift's human nature to be united to the Godhead: "This " (faid Christ) thou gavest me, and the glory thou gavest me, I "have given them," i. e. By me they are united unto thee. And how this is done, he fheweth us more particularly, I in them; there is Chrift in us, viz. myftically: And thou in me; there is God in Chrift, viz. hypoftatically: So that in Chrift, God and be |