SERMON CXLIX.
Roxs xiii. 11. For now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
TiiF.rti is hot a more comprehensive, a more embracing word in ail religion, than the first word of thls text, ww; for the word before that,for, is but a word of connexion, and rather al,lertains to that which was s.id before the text, than to the text itse]f: the text begns with that important and considerable p,rticle, ow, now is salration -earer, &c. This present word, now, denotes an advent, a new comin, or a new operation, otherwise than it was before: and thercfore doth the church appropriato this Scriptnre to the celebration of the advent, before the feast of the birth of our S.vioxtr. It is an extensive word, now; for thouyh we dispute whether this fow, th3t is, whether an instant be any part of time or no, yet in truth it is ail time; for whatsoever is past, was, and whatsoever is future, shall be an instant;
and did and shall fall within this now. We consider in the church four advents or comings of Christ, of every one ofwhich we may say now, now it is otherwise than belote: for first there zerbum in carne, the word came in the flesh, in the incarnation; and then there is caco in verbo, he that is made flesh cornes in the word, that is, Christ cornes in the preaching thereof; and he cornes again in carne saluta, when at out dissolution and transmigration; at out death he cornes by his spirit, and testifies to our spirit that we die the children of God: and lastly he cornes in carne reddita, when he shall corne at the Resurrection, to redeliver our bodies to out souls, and to deliver everlasting glory to both. The ancicnts for the most part understand the word of our text, of Christs first comin in the flesh to us in this vorld; the latter exposition understand them rather of his coming in glory: but the apostle could not properly use this present word with relation to that which is not now, that is, to future glory, othervise than as that future glory hath a preparation and an inchoation in present race; for so even the future glory of heavcn bath a now, now the elect children of God bave by powerïul grace a present possession of lory. So then it will hot be impertinent to surfer this flowing and extensive word now to spread itself into ail three: for the whole duty of Christianity consists in these three things; first, in pietate erga Deum, in religion towards God; in which the apostle had enlarged himself from the beginning to the twelfth chapter of his epistle: and secondly in clmritate er.qa pro,rlmum, in out mutual duties of society towards out equals and inferiors, and of subjection towards out superiors, in which that tweltth chapter, and this to the eighth verse is especially conversant: and then thirdly, in sanctimonia lroyrla, in the works of sanctification and holiness in ourselves: and this text the apostle presents as a forcible reason to induce us to that, fo those works of sanctification, because _A'ow our ah'ation i nearer u than u'hen u'e belieed. Take then this now, the first way of the eoming of Christ in person, in the flesh into this world; and then the apostle of Christ directs himselï prineipally to the Jews eonverted to the faith of Christ, and he tells them, that their salvation is nearer them now, now they had seeu him corne, than when they did only believe that he would oeme: take th wor th« scond w, of his comin in ce into out hss; snd so the postl directs hi to U Criians; now, now that you bave been bred in the Christin choech, now tht you are grown from aee to go, from fifl to faith, now tht God by his spirit strenhens and oenfis you; Now is you salvation arer than when ye believed, that is, whon you began to believe, either by the faith of yo parents, or the kith of the chuoeh, or the faith of your sureties at your baptism; or when you gan to bave some notions, and impreions, and apprehensions of faith in yourselÇ when you came to me de.ces of understanding and discrion; tako the word of Christ's coming to at the hour of death, or of his coming to at the day of judgment (for tho«e two are ail one to out present ppose, because G never rers any paicar judgment given at a man's dth, at the day of the generM judgment:) take the word so, and this is e apostle's arment, you bave believed, d you have lived accordingly, and that faith, and that good lire th brought lvation near you, that is, given you a fait and mode infallibility of salvation, in the natte of reversion; but now, now that you a como to the approches of death, which shaH make your reversion a poesession, Now is alvation nearer tlan when you belied. Summarily, the text is a rson why we ought to proeeed in g and holy ways; and it works in ail the three ceptations of the word; for whether slvation be id to be near us, because we are Christians, and so bave advantage of the Jews, or near us, because we hve ruade some proficiency in holine and sanctimony; or near us, becau we are near our end, and thereby near a possession of out enoeess joy and glo: still from all these ceptations of the word arise religious provocations to persence in holiness of llfe; and therefore wc shall pursue the words in ail three ceptations. In ail three ceptations we must consider three tels in the text; fir, Quid salu», what this salvation is that is intended here and ff]en, Quidprope, what this stance, this nearne is; and ltly, Quid credere, what belief this is. So then, taking the vords first the st way, spoken by the apoles, to the Jews newly converted to the Christian faith, salvation is the outward means of salvation, whieh are more and more manifest to the Chriitiaui, thau they vere fo the Jews. And theu the second term, nearness (salvation is nearer) is in this, that salvation to the Christian is in things present or past, in things already donc, and of which we are experimentally sure; but to the Jews it was of future things, of which, howsoever they might assure themselves that they wou]d be, yet they had no assurance when: and therefore (in the third place) their believing was but a confident expectation, and faithful assenting to their prophets; quauto crediditis, when you believed, that is, when you did only believe, and saw nothing. First then, the first term in the first cceptation, salvation, is the out,vard means of salvation. Outward and visible means of knowing God, God hath given to ail nations in the book of creaturcs, from the first leaf of that book, the firmament above, to the last leaf, the mines under our feet; there is enough of that. There they have a book which they real; and they have a sentence of condemnation, if they do not, lorro inexcusabilis, Therefore art thon inexcusable 0 man I. The invisible God was presented in visible things, and thou nùghtest, and wouldest hot sec him: but this is only such a knowledge of God as philosophers, moral and natural men may bave, and yet be very far from making this knowledge any means of salvation. A man that hath often travelled by that way where there stands a fair bouse, will say, and say truly, that he knows that bouse; but yet he knows hot the ways that lead nearest and fairest to it, nor he knows hot the lodgings and conveniencies of that house as he doth that bath been often and welcome guest to it, or a continual dweller in it. atural men by passing often through the contemplation of nature bave such a knowledge of God; but the knowledge which is to salvation, is by being in God's house, in the household of the faithful, in the communion of saints, and by having such a conversation in heaven in this life. That vhich out Saviour Christ says, In domo Patrie, In 7ny Iaatker's bouse there are 7nany vaanion, as it is intended prineipally of our state of glory, and diversity of degrees of that in heaven; so is it truc also of God's bouse at large, Multw manslones. In God's bouse, which is all (all this world, and the next too, is God's bouse) there are out- I Rom. iL I.
st:R. CXLIX.J bouses, rooms without the bouse; se considered in this world on the Gentiles, and the heathen, which are without the church, anti yet amongst them God bath seine servants: se in his bouse there arc women be]ow stairs, that is, in bis visible church bere upon esrth; and women above stairs, that is, degrees of glory in the trittmphant church. Te them that are lodged in those outbouses, out of the covenant out of the church, salvation cornes sometimcs, God doth save some of them: but yet is net ncar them, that is, thcy bave no ordinary ner established way of ttaining te it, bec,use Christ is net manifestcd te thcm in an ordinary i)reaching of the Vord, and an ordinary administration of the sacraments. And thon te them who are above stairs, that is in possession of salvation in heaven, we canner say salvation is nearer and nearer te them, because they are already in an actual possession thereof. But te them who are in God's house, and yet below stairs; te them who bave salration presented unto them by sensible and visible means; te thern their salvation is properly sid te be near. And such people God had frein the beginning, and shall bave te the end; and that people the Jews were; snd therefore their glory was just and true glory, when they glorified themselves in that, lVtat nations is o yreat. wherei consisted their greatness. that follows ie is te us? and in what consisted this nearness nation iatt ordinances and law o riylteo« a we tare? I[ere then was their salvation; first God withdrew them frein the nations; ho naturalized them; he denizened them into his own kigdom, sd siyillo cir««»wisionis, in the seal of their blood in circumcision, he gve them an interest in his blood te be shed in his passion: and then, this was their further salvation, that when he hd thus tken them into his service, and put them into his livery, a livery of his own colour, of blood in their circumcision, then he gave them a particular law for all their actions, how they should lire in his faveur; and he gve them a particular ferre of outward religious worship, which should be acceptable te him; the law, which was a sensible rule of their life, and their sacrifices, whlch were the sensible rule of their relion, was sslwtion: A'on taliter, says David, God bath net dealt se with Deut. x.i. 7. PIm cxx.viL 9.
other nations; for though God from other nations de hcre and there pick out a servant, yet he bath net given other nations salration, that is, settled an ordinary means of sah, ation amongst them. That was truc of the Jcws, and will always be truc of the whole church of God, which Calvin says, Quia ee oculisyerspicitur, ec manibua palpatur apiritualis gratia, because the graee of God itself eannot ho discerned by the eye, ner distinguished by the touch, Non poa»umua niai externia aigni» adjuti, atatuere Deum nobi» es»e propitium, we could net assure ourselves of the mereies of God, if we had net outward and sensible signs and seals of those mercies; and therefore God never left his church without such external and visible means and seals of grace. And thou/zh ail those means were net properly seals, (for that is proper te sacramcuts, as a sacrament is strictly taken te be a seal of grace) yet the fathers did often call many of these things by that naine Sacraments, because they had se much of the nature of a truc sacrament, as that they advanced and furthêl'ed the working of grace. Itow a visible sign, water or wine, (even in a truc and proper sacrament) should confer grace, Fateor me non posse capere, says a learncd bishop in the loman church', as easy a matter as they make St, ho professes that he cannot understand it: he argues St subtilly, but he concludes St modestly; Omnia brevi senteutia dicenda sunt, comitere in pactia; this must says he be the end of ail, that these things are net te be considercd in the tesson of man, but in the covenant of God: God hath covenanted with his people, te be present with them in certain places, in the church st certain times, when they make their congt'egation, in certain actions, when they meet te pray; and though he ho net bound in the nature of the action, yet he is bound iii his covenant te exhibit grace, and te strenhen grace, in certain sacrifices, and certain sacraments; and se other sacramental, sud ritual and ceremonial things ordained by God in tho vesce of his church, because they further salvation, are called salvation in this sense, and acceptation of the word, the first way. This was the first branch, in the first sense of these words; alt adminicula aalutia, sah'ation is means of salvation; and thenext is the prope, wherein these means and helps were nearer te Catarin. Ep. 5.
the Jews, after they were converted to the Chrlstian religion, than hefore: anà we consitler them justly, to lave been nearer, that is, more discernible; first, çu« llura, because the lelps of the Christians are nore; and then, quia lotiora, because in their nature they are hetter; anti lastly, çuia maoEe»tio;'a, because they bave a better evitlence towards us; for so as the more bodies are together, the greater the ohject is, anti so nade the nmore visible; so they are ne.rer, ¢lUia llura, because they are more; anti so, the more beautiful, and better Iroportionetl a body is, the more it draws the eye to look uIon it so they are nearer quia ]»ecause they are better: anti so as the more evidence, and light and lustre they bave in thesclves, the casier things are discerned, so they are nearer, qia maoE«sto;'a because they are more visible. First, how there should be more belles in the Christia religion, than in the Jewish, is hot so evident at first: for first, if we consider the law to be salvation, they had vast nmltiplicity of laws, scarce less than six hundred several laws vhcreas the honour of the Christian religion is that it is verbm ««t, brevatum, an abridgment of ail ito ten words, as loses ca]ls the commandments; and then a re-abridgment of that abrid.,nent ito two, love God,.nd love thy neighbour, that is, faith and worls. If we consider their laws to be their salvation, they had nore; and if we consider their sacrifices to be their salvation, they had nore too; for their rabbins obser-e at least fit'ty several kin{s of contracting uncleanness, to which there were a{)l»ropriated several expiations and sacrifices; whereas we haro only the sacrifices of prayer, and of pralse, and of Christ in the scrament for so it is the ordinary phrase and manner of speech in the fathers, to call that sacrifice; not only as it is a commemorative sacrifice, (for that is amongst otrselves, and so every person in the congregtion may sacritlce, that is, do that in remenbrance of Christ,) but as it is a real sacrifice, in which the priest doth that, which none but he dees; that is, really to offer tp Christ Jesus crucilled to Almighty God for the sins of the people, so, as that that very body of Christ, which offered hinse!ï for a propitiatory sacrifice upon the cross, once for ail, that body, and ail that that body suffered is oflëred again, and presented to the Father, and the Father is entreated, that for the merits of that Perron, so pre-
40 PREACHED TO THE PIINCE [SEI. CXLIXo sented and offered unto him, and in contemplation thereof, ho will be merciful that conetion, and apply those merits of his, their particulr seuls. These re our scrifices, prayer nd prai, and Christ thus offered; and hov are the more than the Je-s had they had more laws, and more scrifices, and as mauy sraments we; and if nearness of lv3tion consist i tho plurality of these, how is lvation nrer te us than te them' Q«at«t«slura, in that first respects as the means are more, as it is truly and properly id, that tbere are more inrcdients, more simples, more means cf restoring in our drain of triacle or mithridate*, than in an ounce of any paicular syrup, in which flero may be three or four in the other, perchancc se many hundred; se in that roeeipt of our Saviour Christ, uicuid liyaeris, in tho absolution of the minister, that whatsoever he shall bind or loose upon earth, shall be bound or loosed in hven; there is more physic, thon in ail the expiations and soerifices of the old law. There an expiation vould serve tday, which would net serve -morrow if it were omitted till the sun were set upon it, it required a more severe expiation: and al an expiation would serve for one transgression, which would net serve for another; but here, in the absolution of the minister, the te a concurrencc, a conuen of medicines ofall qualities; purgative in confessiou, and restorative in absolution; corrosive in fle preaching of jud- mcn, and cordial in the b31m of the rament: here te no limitation of time, at what time soever 3 sinner repenteth, ner limitation of sins, whatsoever is forgiven in erth is forgiven in heaven: lvation is nearer us in this respect, that we have plura »iicu&, more outward and visible means tban the Jcws had, because we may reive more in oe tion, than they could in ail theirs. It te se also, net only uia lua, because ve have more means, but ia otia, use those means which we have are in their nature, better, more attractive, and more winning. The means, ( we have id before) were their laws, and their soerifices, and their rament and for their law, it vas Lex iateoEcies, wn erflcie»; It was 3 law, that punished unrighteousness, but it Uve meches, compoded of a vety of hedien. See Vol. IV. p. 343, note *. Ausfine.
dià hot confer righteousness: and their sacrifices, being iu blood, (ifwe remove from them their typical signification, and what they prefigured, which vas the hedding of the blood of the Lamb which takes away the sins of the world) must necessarily create and excite a natural horror in man, and an averseness from them. Take their sacraments into comparison, and thon one of their sacraments, circumcision, was limited to one sex, it reachcd hot to wonlen; and their other sacrament, the passover, svas in the primary signification and institution thereof, on|y a gratu|atory commemoration of a temporal benctït of thcir de|ivcratncc frolu Egypt. And therefore to constitute a judgment proportionably by the effects, we sec the law, and the sacrifice, and t|lc sacraments of the Jews, did hot much work upon foreigm nations; it was salvation, but salvation shut up amongst thelnselves; whereas we sec that the law of the Christians. which ix, to cmiform ourselves fo out great example and pattern, Christ Jesus, who, (if we wotdd consider him merely as man) was the most exemplar man, for ail theological virtues, and moral too, that cver any history presented; aud the sacrifices of Christians, which are all spiritual, and therein more proportional to God who is a|l Spirit; and the sacraments of Christians, in which, though hot ex opere olerator, hOt because that action is performed, hot because fllat sacrament is administered, yet ex lacto, and quando oisus oteramur: by God's covenant, whensoever that action is perforlued, whensoever that sacrament is administered, the gracc of God is exhibited and offered; 2Vecfallaciter, as Calvin says wdl, It is offered with a purpose on God's pat% that that grace shottld be accepted, we sec, I say that these laws, and these sacrifices, and these sacraments bave gained upon the whole world; for in their nature, and in their attractiveness, and in their al»pliablencss, and so iu their eflbct, t|ley are ]ootiora, better, and in that respect, salvation is nearer us than it was to the Jews. And so it is, }astly, uia manifetiora, because they have au evidence and manifestation of themselves in themselves. Now, this is espeeially truc in the sacraments, because the sacraments exhibit and convey grace; and grace is such a light, such a torch, sneh a beaeon, as whero it is, it is easily seen. As there is a lustre in a precious atone, whieh no man's eye or finger can limit to a certain place or point in that stone, so though we do hot assin in the sacrament, where, that is, in what circumstance or part of that holy action grace is: or when, or how it enters, (for though the word of consecration alter the brcad, hOt to nnother thing, but to another use: and though they lcave it bread, yet tbey make it other bread, yet the enunciation of those words doth not infuse nor imprint this grace, which we speak of, into that bread) yet whosoever receives this sacrament worthily, secs evidently an entrance, and a growth of grace in himself. But this evidence which,ve speak of this manifestation, is hot only, (though especially) in the sacraments, but in other sacramental and ceremonial things, which Goal (as he speaks by his church) hath ordained, as the cross in baptism, and adoration et the sacrement (I do not say, I ara far from saying, adoration of the sacrement; there is a fait distance and a spacious latitude between those two, an adoring of God in a devout humiliation of the body in that holy action, and an adoring the bread, out of a fidse ilnagination that that bread is God: a rectified man may be very huuible and devout in that action, and yet a great way on this side the superstition and idolatry in the practice of the loman church) in these sacramental and rituel, and ceremonial things, which are the bellows of devotion, and the subsidies of religion, and which were always in ail churches, there is a more evident manifestation and clearness in these things in the Christian church, than,vas amongst the Jews in the ceremonial parts of their religion, because almost ail ours have reference to that which is already donc and accomplished, and not to things of a future expectation, as those of the Jews were: so you know the passover of the Jews, had a relation to their coming out of Egypt; that was past, and thereby obvious to every man's apprehension; every man that eat the passover, remembered their deliverance out ofEgypt; but then the passover had also relation to that Lamb which was to redeem that world; and this was a future thlng; and this certainly very few amongst them understood, or considered upon that occasion, that as thy lamb is killed here, so there shall be a Lamb killed for ail the world hereafter. Now, out actions in the church, do most respect things formerly donc, and so they awaken, and work upon out memory, which is an casier faculty to work upon, than the understandin or the in these outward helps, becae their siification and more awehensile by us, being of thins pa, and accomplished already. So then the apostle miht weH tio, that is, outward means of salvation, w nearer, tht is, more in nmnber, better in use, clearer in edence tlmn it w befoc quando credid«rn, when they believed, which is the third and last terre, in this first acceptation of the word. Salvatio was brought into the world, in the first proise of a Mcssias in the semen contrt, that the ed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head; and it was brought nearer, when this Meias w fixed in Abraham's race, In snine tuo, In thy seed shall all nations be blessed; it was brought nearer than that, when it was brought from Abrnham's race David's family, In solio t«o, The sceptre shall hot depart from thee, till he corne; and still nearer, in lsaiah's viryo concip&t, when so particdar mark w set upon tho lcssias, that ho should be the son of a virgin; and yet nearer in lieM's et tu Beth&m, that Bethlem was designed for tho place of his birth; and nearer in Daniel's seventy weeks, when the time w mnifested. And though it were nearer than all this, when John Bnptist came y, Repent for the ki»ydom of 6'od is at hand , yet it ws truly very near, nearest of ail, whon Christ came to say, Behold tac kinydom of God is amonyt you*; for ail the rest were in the credlderunt, he was nearer them beeause they believed he would eome; but then it was brought to the viderunt, they saw he was corne. Beati, says Christ: Blsed are they that hara believed, and haa hot seen": they had lvation brought near unto them by their bolieng; but yet Christ spoaks of another manner of blemedness eonferred upon disciples, Blsed are your hear; for, veri(q I say unto you, tkat many prophets and riykteous men, bave sired fo see the thinga which ye cee, and bave hot,een them. To end this, o belief of the patriarehs ws blessns; and it was kind of seeing too; for so Christ ys, lburfatker Abraham rejoieed to see mg dag, and fie saw it°: but this was a
- PREACIIED TO TIIE PII.çE tSER. CXLIX. seeing with the cye of faith whlch dscovers future things; but Christ prefers t]lC blcssedness of the disciples, because they saw thlngs present and already done. Ail out life is a passing bell, but then w Simeon content his bell should ring out, when his cyes had secn Iris salvation. In that especially doth St. John exalt the force of his arment; Quw bave seen cith our eyes, whic/ we kave oked upon, and our hands hare kondled of the word OE le, that declare we unto you". Hero is then th« inestimable prerogatlv« of is grounded so far upon things which were bught far from matter of faith, to matter of fact; fm phecy to llismry; fmm what the Messias should do, to what he hath done; and that w their ce to whom this apostle spake these words, as we take them in the first acceptation; salvation, that is, outxxrd means of salvation in the church is nearcr, that is more and better and clearer to you now, that is when you have en Christ in the flesh, than when yon prefigured him in your law, or soerifices, or sacraments, or believed him in your prophets. In second sense we ok these words, of Christ's second advent, or comlng, his coming to our heart, in the working of his grace; and so the apostle's words are directed to ail Christians, and hot only to the new conveRites of that nation; and so these three ternls, saltion, nearness, and befieving, (which we pro- scd to be considered in ail the three acceptations of the words) will bave this signification. Salvation is the inward means of salvation the working of the irit, that se a sea] to the eternal nleans: the ],tope, the nearness lies in this, that this grace which is this sah'ation iu this sense, gmws out of that which is in you already; hot out of any thing xvhich is in you naturlly, but God's first aces that are in you, grows into more and more e. Grace does hot ow out of nature; for nature in the highest exaltation and reiing thereof cannot produce ge. Corn does not gmw out of the eaRh, it must be sowed; but corn grovs oly in the earth; natu, and natural reason do not produce grace, but yet grace can take roet in no other thing but in the nture and reason of man; whether we consider God's subsequent sEr(o CXL|X. 1 AND PnI.N'CES graces, which grow out of and well employed y us, or his rst ace, which works upou our natural faculties, and gmws there; still this lvation, that this grâce is near us, for it is within us; and thon the third terre believing, is either, quando crediJi»ti primum, when you began to believe, either in an imputative belief of others in your baptism, or a faint belief, upon your first cachisings and instructions or quando credidistis tantum, when you only professed a belie or faith, and did nothing in deelaration of that faith, to the edifieation of others. First then alvation in this second sense, is the internal operation of the Holy Ghost, in infusing grace; for therefore doth St. Basil call the Holy Ghost rerbu» Dei, the word of God, (which is the naine pperly peculiar to the Son) q«ia interpres Filil, sieur Filius Patris; that as the Father had reveMed his will in the prophets, and then the Son cornes and interprets ail that actually; this prophecy is meant of my coming, this of my dying, and so makes a rem comment, and an actual interpoetation of ail the pmphecies; for he does corne, and he does die accordingly; so the Holy Ghost cornes, and comments upon this comment, iuterprets this interpretation, and tells thy soul that ail this that fle Father had pmmised, and the Son h! performed, w intended by them, and by the working of thcir spirit, is now. appropriated to thy particular soul. In the constitution and making of a natural man, the body is not the man, nor the soul is hot the man, but the union of these two mak up the man; the spirits in a man which are the rhin and active pa of the blood, and so are of a kiud of lniddle natu, between soul and by, those spirits are able to do, and they do the oce, to unite and apply the faculties of the soul the organs of the body, and so there is a man: so in a regenerate man, a Cristian man, his being born of Christian parents, that gi'es him a body, that makes him of the body of the covenant, it gives him a title, an interest in the coveuant, which is jus ad rem; theby he may make his claire the seal of the oevenant, fo baptism, and if cannot be denied hin: and then in his baptism, that sacrament gives him a soul, a spiritual oeal, jus in re, an tual poession of grace; but yet, as there are spirits in , which uuite body and soul, so there must be subsequent acts, and vorks of the blessed Spirit, that must unite and confirm ail, and make up this spiritual man in the ways of sanctification for without that, his body, that is, his being born within the covenant, and his soul, that is, his having received race in baptism, do hot make him up. This grace is this salvation and when this grace works powerfully in thee, in the ways of sanctification, then is this salvation near thee; which is our second term in this second acceptation, ]ro¥ near. This nearness, which is the effectual working of grace, the apostle expresses fully, that it pierceth to the di¢iding a, under of »oul and »piri$'t; for, though properly the soul and spirit of a man be ail one, yet divers faeulties and operations give them ometimes divers names in the Scriptures; Anima quia animat, says St. Ambrose, and spiritu» quia a¥irat: The quickeniug of the body, is the soul; but the quickening of the soul, is the spirit. If this salvation be brought to this nearness, that is, this graee to this -powerfulness, thou shalt find it in anima, in thy soul; in those organs wherein thy soul uses thy body, in thy senses, and in the sensible things ordained by God in his ehureh, saeraments and ceremonies; and thou shalt flnd it nearer, in »piritu, as the Spirit of God hath sealed it to thy spirit invisibly, inexpressibly: it shall be near to thee, so as that thy reason shall apprehend it; and nearer than that, thy faitll shall establish it; and nearer than ail this, it shall create in thee a modest and sober, but yet an infallible assurance, that thy salvation shall never depart from thee: 3[agniflcabit onima tua Dominum, as the blessed Virgiu speaks, Tt »oul dall magnif tlw Lord; all thy natural fheulties sllall be employed upon an assent to the Gospel, thou shalt be able to prove it to thyself, and to prove it to others, to be the Gospel of salvation: and then eultabit »¥iritu», thy spirit shall rejoice in God thy Saviour, because by the farther seal of sanctification, thy spirit shall receive testimony from the Spirit; that a Christ is idem omo cure te, the saine man that thou art, so thou art idem airitu, cure Domino, the ame spirit that he is; so far, as that a a spirit eannot be separated in itself, so neither eanst thou be separated from God in Christ; and this, this exaltation of gra¢o, when it thus grows up t ]=[eb. iv. 1.
to this height of sanctification, is that nearness, which brin salvation farther thau out believing does. and that is the last terre in this part; believing. low, nearer than believing, nearer than faith, a man might well think nothing can bring sal'ation; for faith is the hand that reaches it, and takes hold of it. But yet, as though out hodily han«l reach to out temporal food, yet the mouth and the stomach must do their once too and so that ment must he distrihuted into all parts of the body, and assimilated to them; so though out faith draw this salvation near us, yet when out mouth is employed, that we have a delight to glorify God in out discourses, and to declare his wonderful works to the sons of men» in out thank|hlness: and wheu this faith of ours is distributed over all the body, that the hody of ChrisCs church is edified, and.lienated hy out good lire and sanctification, then is this salvation nearer us, that is, safelier sealed to us, thau when we believed only. Either then, this «ando crediditi, when you believe], may be rcferred to infants, or to the first faith and the first de,ces thereof in men. In infants, when that seminal faith, or potential faith, which is by some conceived to be in the infants of Christian parents at their baptism; or that actual faith, which from their p.rents, or from the church, is thought to be applied to them, accepted in their behalf, in that sacrament, whcn this faith grows up after, hy this new coming of Christ in the power of his grace and his Spirit, to he lively faith, expressed in charity; then alu ]ro]ior, then is salvation nearer than when they believed; whether this helief were their own, or their parents or the churchs, we have no ground to deny, that salvation is neuf, and preseut to ail chi]dren rightly baptized but for those who have ruade sure their salvation hy a good use of God's graces after, we h,ve another fuir piece of evidence, that salva tion is nearer them. It is so too, if this helieving be referred to our first elements and heginnings of faith: a man helieves the history of Çhrist, because itis matter of ïact, and a stor)" probable, and well testified: a man may believe tho Cristian religiozz, or the reformcd religion for his case, either because ho cannot or will not debate controversies, and reconcile differenees, or because he sees it best for order and quiet, and civil ends, which he bath in that state where he lires. These be kinds of faith and moral assents: and sometimes when a man is corne thus far, to a historical and a moral faith, God superinfuses true faith for howsoever he wrought by reason, and natural faculties, and moral, and civil ways, yet it was God that wrought from the beginning, and produced this faith, though but historical or moral. And then, if God do exalt this moral or historical faith tarther than so, to believe hot only the history, but the Gospel: uot only that such a Christ lived, and did those miracles, and died, but that he was the Son of God, and died foi" the redemption of the world; this brings salvation nearer him, than when he believed; but then, when this graee cornes to appropriato Christ to him, and more than that, to annunciate Christ by hinl, when it makes him (as John Baptist was) a burning aud a sllining lamp that Christ is showed to him, and by him to others in a holy lifo, then is salvation nearer him than when he believed, either as it is credidit primum, when he began to believe, but had some scrul,les, or credldit tantum, that he laid all upon faith, but had no tare of works. To end this, flfis nearness of salvation, is that uuion with God, which may be had in this lire: it is the peace of conscience, the undoubting trust and assurance of salvation. This assurance (so far as thev will confess it may be had) the Roman church places in faith, and so far, well; but then, in..AA,te format«; and so far well enough too; in those works which declare and testify that faith; for, though this good work do nothing toward nly salvation, it does much towards this nearness, that is, towards my assurance of this salvation; but herein they lead us out of the way, that they call these works the soul, the form of faith: for, though a good tree cannot be without good fruits, yet it were a strange manner of speech to call that good fruit, the lire or the sou], or the form of that tree; so is it, fo call works which are the fruits of faith, the lire or soul, or form of faith for that is proper to grace only which infuses faith.
They would knowledge this nearne of salation, this aurance in g works; but y they, man cannot be sre, that their works is good, and therefore they can bave no such surance. They who nderk the rfformation of religion in out fathe" days, obrving that there was no peace without this rance, exçressed this assurance thé, That when a man is sure that he believes arit, that he th no scruples of G, lO dence in Go, and ses a]l endeavors to continue it, and to exçress it in his lire, as long as he continues , he is sure of salvation; nd frther they vent hot: and then there arose nen, which would reform the reforme, aud refine sal¢tion and bring it into a less room; they wou]d tae away the condition, if you ho]d fast, if u express it and came up roundly and presently to that if ever yo did believe, if ever yo d faith, yo are sale for ever, and upon that assurance you nmy test. 'ow I make no doubt, but that both these souht the truth, that tuth wich coucerns us, perce and asrance; and I disçute hot their resolutios now; only I say, fr these words which we ave in and now thcre is conditional assurance inçlied in them; for when it is »aid now, now that yo re in this state, salvation is near you: thus mch is pregnantly It inthnated, that if you were hot in this state, salvation were farther removed from you howsoever you prete»d to be]ieve. ow this bath broght us to ot third and last sense and acceptation of these word as they are spoken of Christ's ]ast coming, his coming in glory; which is to us af out deaths, and that judgment which we reive then. And in this acceptation of the word, these three terres, snlvation, nearness and believing, are thus to be uuderstd: salvation is lvation peffected, consummated; salvation which was brought near Mptism, and nearer in outward holizess, must be brought nearer than that: and this rope, this nearness is, that now being near death, you are ner the last seal of your perseveranee; and so the credidistis, the believing amounts to this: though you have believed and lived accordingly, believed with the belief of a Jew, believed all the prophets, and with the belief of a Christian, belie'ed all the Gospel, believed with a seminal belieï oï your own, or aa Folio editiol, " pugnantly." VOL. VI. E actual belief oî otbers at your baptism, with a historical belief, and with an evangelical belieî too, with a belief in your root, in the beart, and a belieî in the fruits, expressed in a good liïe too, yet there is a continuance and a perseverance that must crown ail this; anti because that cannot be discerned till thine end, then only is it safe]y pronounced,,Vow is saleatio nearer you ttn een you believed. Here then salvation is eternal salvation; hot the outward seals of the church upon the person, hot visible sacraments, nor the outward seal of the person, to the church, visible works, nor the inward seal of the Spirit, assurance here, but fruition, possession of glory, in the kingdom of heaven; where we shall be infinitely rich, and that without labour in getting, or care in keeping, or ïear in losing; and fully wise, and that without ignorance of necessary, or study of unnecessary knowledge, where we shail hot mcasure our portion by acres, for ail heaven shall be all ours; nor our terre by years, for it is lire and everlasting lire; nor our assurance by precedent, for we shall be saler than the angels themselves were in the creation; where our exaltation shail be to bave a crown of righteousness, and our possession of that crown shall be, even the throwing it down at the feet of the Lamb; where we shall leave off all those petitions of Adveniat reynum, Thy kingdom corne, for it shall be corne in abundant power; and the D« nobls hodie, Give us this day our daily bread, for we shall bave ail that which we can desire now, and shall bave a power to desire more, and then bave that desire so enlarged, satisficd; and the liba nos, we shall hot pray to be delivered from evil, for no evil, culpw or ¥cenw, either of sin to deserve punishment, or of punishment for our former sins shall offer at us: where we shall see God face to face, for we shall have such notions and apprehensions, as shall ehable ns to see him, and he shall afford such an imparting, such a manifestation of himself, as he shall be seen by us; and where we shall be as inseparably united to our Saviour, as his humanity and divinity are united together: this unspeakable, this unimaginable happiness is this salvation, and thereïore let us be glad when this is brought near US. And this is brought nearer and nearer tmto us, as we corne
I$ERo CXLIX.] AND PRINC]S8 PALATINI. nearer and nearer to our end. As he that travels weary, and late towards a great city, is glad when he cornes to a place of execution, beeause he knows that is near the to; so en thou comest to the gate of death, glad of that, for itis ut one step from that to thy Jerusalem. Christ bath brought us in some nearness to salvation, he is ver lvatr i, in at we know, that thi i inde the Christ, the viour the world»: and ho bath boeught it nearer than that, as he is,Slator coepori sui, in that we know, that Chris is the ead OE te churck, and the iour ta¢ bodyZ«: and nearer than that, as he is 'alrator tuu» anctus, in that we know, he is tke Lord out God, the Holy One OE I»rael, out »'aviour: but nearest of ail, in the alator tuus zenit, Behold thy lvation cometh z«. It is hot only promised in the prophets, nor only Tit in the Gospel, nor only sealed in the sacraments, nor only prepared in the visitations of the Holy Ghost, but, ecce, behold it, now, when thou canst behold nothing ee: the sun is setting to thee, and that for ever; thy bouses and furnitur, thy gardens and orchards, thy titles and oces, thy wife and children are departing from thee, and that for ever; a cloud of faintness is corne over thine eyes, and a cloud of sorrow over ail theirs; when his hand tha.t loves hee best hangs tremblingly over thee to close thine eyes, ecce,altor tu venir, behold then a new light, thy Savioufs hand all thine ey, and in his light thou shalt see light; and thus shalt see, that though in the eyes of men thou lie upon that bed, as statue on a tomb, yet in the eyes of God, thou sndest as colsu one foot in one, another in anoer land; one foot in the grave, but the other in heaven; one hand in the Womb of the earth, and the other in Abraham's booem: and then v«e prie, salvation is truly near thee, and nearer than when thou believed, which is out last word. Take this belief in the largest extent; a patient assent to foretold of Christ and of salvation by the pphets; a hiorical assent to ail tt is written of Chri in the Gospel; an humble and supple, and appliable assent m the ordinances of the church a faithful application of ail this to thine own soul, a fruitf n John iv. 42. a Eph. v. 23. h xL 3. ze Ih L. 11.
PREACHED TO THE PRINCE [.ER. CXL[X. deelaration oF all that to tbe whole orld in thy lire, yet all ths (thouh this be inestimable riches) i but the earnest of the Holy host it [s hot the fll payment, t is but tbe firt fruits i is hOt the harvest, it is but a truce; it is not an inviolable peace; There remalneth a test to tke peoFle o.f God", says the apostle; they vere the people of God before, and yet there remained a test, which tbey had hot yet; not that there is hot a blessed degree of rest, iR the creàidi, a happy assurance in the strength of faith here, but yet there remaineth a rest better than that; and therefore says that apostle there, Let «s labour to enter into that test; as though we bave test in our consciences all the six days of the wcek, if we do the vorks of our callings sincerely, yet all that while we labour; and there remains a sabbath, which we have hOt ail the week; so though we have peace and rest in the testimony of our faith and obedience in this lire, yet there remains a rest, a sabbath, for which we must labour; for the apostle in that place adds the danger Labour to enter into that test, says he, lest any man fidl after the ame examlde of unbdlef: he speaks of the people of God, aud yet they rnight fall; he speaks of such as had believed, and yet they might fa[l, after the example of unbelief, as far as they that never believed, if they laboured not to the last and set the seal of final perseverance to their former faith. To conclude all with the force of the apostle's argument, in urging the words of this text, since God bath brought salration nearer to you, than to them that believed; nearer to you in the Gospel, when you have seen Christ corne there to the Jews in the prophets, where they only read that he should corne, and nearer to)'ou, than where you believed, either seminally and potentially, and imputatively at our baptism, or actually, and declaratorily in some parts of your lire, by having persisted therein thus far; and since he is now bringing it nearer to you, than when you believed at best, because your end grows nearer, now, whilt tke eril day corne hot, or the year aFFroach, wllereln thou ailalt aay, I hae no plea«ure in them'°; before the grinders eease, beeause thev are few, and they wax dark, that look out at the windows, before thou go to the house of thine age, and the mourners go about lu the streets, preparc thyself by casting off » IK'b. iv. 9. *o Ecclt.. xii.
thy sins, and all that is gotten by thy sins: for, as the plague is got as soon in linings, as in the outside of a garment, salvation is lost as far, by retaining iii gotten goods, as by iii getting; forget hot thy past sins so far, as hot to repent them; but remember hot thy repented sins so far, as to delight in remembering them, or to doubt that God bath hot fully forgiven them; and whether Goal have brought this salvation near thee, by sickuess, or by age, or by general dangers, put off the eonsideration of the ineommodies of that age, or that siekness, and that danger, and fill thyself with the eonsideration of the nearness of thy salvation, which that age, and sickness, and danger, minister to thee: that so, when the best instrument, and the best song shall meet together, thy bell sball toll. and thy soul shall hear that voice. E«ce,S'alrator, Behold thy Saviour cometh, thou mavest bear a part, and cheetSully make up that music, with a l'eni Domine Jesu, Come Lord Jesu, eome quiekly: eome now.