of their Guilt and Danger, but this is not to repent of Sin. It is the Believer only who forrows for Sin as Sin; who hates all Sin; who Digroans, be ing burdened, from a Sense of his Sinfulness; and who cries out with the Apostle," O wretched Man that I am, who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death? What room can there then be for those licentious Conclufions you fpeak of? Who is the Perfon that can thus rock his Confcience to fleep, under the Prevalence of his Lufts, from the Doctrine of our Union to Christ, as I have described it? Mult it be fuppofed to be one who is united to Chrift; or one who is not united to Chrift?Surely not the former; for how can he be indolent, careless and fecure in the Commission of Sin, from the Doctrine of our Union to Chrift, who has no Evidence of this being his Cafe; nor can have any fuch Evidence, till he is poor in Spirit, and is thereby qualified for the Kingdom of Heaven, Mat. v. 3. till he is one that mourns for his Sins, and comes under the Promife of Comfort, ver. 4. and till he is of a contrite and humble Spirit; for with fuch, and only with fuch, has the high and lofty One, who inhabits Eternity, promised to dwell? Ifai. Ivii. 15. And I think, I need not endeavour to prove, that he who is not united to Chrift, has no Shadow of a Plea or Pretence to make for Carelessness and Security in Sin, from the Doctrine before us. Whence it follows, that all Pretences of this Kind are without any rational Foundation. They only proceed from Mens Delight in Sin, in a Life of fenfual Eafe and carnal Security; and not at all from the precious Truth before us.-This sacred Truth may indeed be perverted and abused; and fo may all the other Doctrines of the Gospel, 2 Pet. iii. 16. But they who thus turn the Grace of God into Wantonness, do it at the Peril of their Souls; Souls; and will find but little Comfort in it, when they come to make up their Accounts.-Whatever extravagant Pretences Mens licentious Difpofitions may prompt them to, they muft in the Conclufion find it true, that a Life of continued Repentance of Sin, a Life of continued Self-abafement and Self-judging, and a Life of repeated and renewed Mourning after Pardon of, and Victory over our remaining Corruptions, is a neceffary Fruit and Evidence of our Union to Chrift; and belongs to the Way which leadeth to Life eternal, and in which the Saints walk to Heaven. If therefore we would not too late be found with a Lie in our right Hand, we must, with Daniel, pray to the Lord, and make our Confeffion. Dan. ix. 4. We must, with the Church, acknowledge ourselves as an unclean Thing. Ifa. Ixiv. 6. We muft, with Job, even abhor ourselves, and repent in Duft and Ashes, Job. xlii. 6. We mult, with Ephraim, bemoan ourfelves, Jer. xxxi. 18. And with David, have our Hearts fail us, on Account of the Number and Aggravations of our Sins, Pfal. xl. 12. For thefe are the Characters, thefe the Difpofitions of fuch who are indeed united to Christ. 2. There is greater Guilt in the Sins of Believers than in the Sins of others. They have therefore greater Caufe to be humbled for them, and to lament them before God. They are indeed united to Chrift, reconciled to God, freed from all Condemnation, and made Heirs according to the Hope of eternal Life: The fatisfying Evidences of which bleffed State must carry them above any tormenting Fears of Hell and eternal Perdition; and deliver. them from that legal Repentance which is the Product of defponding Thoughts, and a Fear of Amazement. But is there no other Motive to Repentance, but flavish Fears of Hell? Does not a true true Repentance and a genuine Sorrow for Sin always flow from affecting Senfe of the Contrariety of Sin to the Nature and Will of God; from a Senfe of the Ingratitude there is in Sin, to a bountiful Benefactor and a compaffionate Saviour; and from a Senfe of the Dishonour to God's name, the Violation of his Law, the Abuse of his Mercy and Love, the Affront and Provocation to his holy Spirit, the Distance procured between God and us; and the Prejudice to others, as well as to our own Souls, occafioned by our Sinning against God?--Now in all thefe Refpects, the Sins of Believers are more aggravated than the Sins of other Men.-They are diftinguished from the most of the World, by re. newing and faving `Grace; and must it not cut them to the Heart, to think of their vile Ingratitude to fuch an infinitely kind and beneficent Friend; and of their horrid Abuse of fuch unmerited Mercy and Love?—They are united to Christ, washed in his precious Blood, and juftified by his Righte oufnefs; and can they be content to load him with Indignities, who has not thought his own Blood too dear a Ransom for their Souls; and who has by the Power of his Grace plucked them out of the Guilt and Danger of a perifhing World, and made them Heirs of the eternal Inheritance ?- -They have felt the divine Influences and Consolations of the bleffed Spirit; and have tasted that the Lord is gracious; and fhall they by their Sins grieve the Spirit of God, provoke him to withdraw, and to with-hold his quickening and comforting Influences from them?. -They are the Friends and Children of God, the fworn fubjects of the eternal Ma jefty; yea, even the Spoufe of Jefus Chrift; and fhall fuch make little Account of Sin? Is this thy Kindness to thy Friend? Is it a light Thing for a Child to rebel against his compaffionate Father; for a a Subject to take up Arms against his Prince; or for a Wife to violate her Marriage-vows?-Certainly the Sins of Believers are aggravated in Proportion to the various Obligations they are under: And though they have no Cause of defponding and difcouraging Fears, they have the greateft Caufe to groan under the Burden of their Sins, and to groan after Deliverance from them. Their Union to Chrift is fo far from extenuating their Sins, that it renders them more heinous in the Sight of God; and is the strongest Reason why they fhould watch against them, lament and hate them. For this Reason God may juftly expoftulate with them upon their finning against him, as in Deut. xxxii. 6. Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish People and unwife? Is not be thy Father, that hath bought thee? Hath he not made thee, and established thee? 3. It is true of Believers, as well as of others, that except they repent they shall furely perish. They are indeed fafe in the Hands of Chrift; and none fhall pluck them out of his Hands: He will preserve them to his heavenly Kingdom. But then, he will fave them in his own Way, in the Way of a repeated renewed Exercife of Repentance, as well as Faith, and in no other Way. If any are not in that Way, they are not in Chrift's Way; and have therefore Reafon to fufpect their Union to Chrift, and to conclude that they are not in the Path of Life - Their eternal Intereft does therefore loudly call upon them to mourn for their Sins, to hate and forfake them, left they perish eternally. True Believers will not indeed finally perifh; for whom God juft fies, he will alfo glorify. But then the Believer's Perseverance is fubferved by a Fear of Caution; nor are there any true Believers, but penitent Believers : And therefore, whoever are habitually carelefs in their Walk, and impenitent for their Sins, will fall fhort - fhort of Salvation, whatever Pretences to Faith inChrift they may make.There is but one Way to Heaven; and whoever get there, must attain the glorious Salvation, by obtaining Affistance from the powerful Influences of divine Grace, to keep that Way. They must be enabled to go weeping and mourning, with their Faces towards Zion. They must offer to God the Sacrifice of an humble and contrite Spirit. They must loath themselves in their own Sight, for their Iniquities and Abominations.-Every other Road but this leads down to the Chambers of Death. Believers therefore, as well as others, have Caufe to pass the Time of their Sojourning here in Fear. They have not Cause indeed (as is before obferved) of a legal and flavish Fear: but they have Caufe of a Jealousy of themselves, left they miss the Way and fall short of their Hope.-They have caufe to watch and pray, that they enter not into Temptation, Mat. xxvi. 41. They have Cause to keep under their Body, and bring it into Subjection, left by any Means they themselves fhould be Caftaways, Cor. ix. 27. And to judge themselves, that fo they may not be condemned with the World, Chap. xi. 31, 32. They have Caufe to follow Peace with all Men, and Holiness without which no Man fhall fee the Lord, Heb. xii. 14. have Caufe to repent and turn themselves from all their Tranfgreffions, that their Iniquity do not prove their Ruin, Ezekiel xviii.-30.- -Believers themfelves would fall into Condemnation, and their Iniquities be their Ruin, fhould they live careless, finful, impenitent Lives. There is no Salvation promifed, there is no Salvation poffible, to any who live fuch Lives. They who are kept by the Power of God, are kept through Faith (an operative Faith, which is accompanied with all the Gra ces of the bleffed Spirit) unto the Salvation which They Shall |