There is a twofold application of our redemption, one primary, the other Secondary : The former is the act of God the Father, ap- plying it to Christ our surety, and virtually to us in him : the lat- ter is the act of the Holy Spirit, personally and actually applying it to us in the work of conversion : The former hath the respect and relation of an example, model, or pattern to this ; and this is pro- duced and wrought by the virtue of that. What was done upon the person of Christ, was not only virtually done upon us, consider- ed in him as a common public representative person, in which sense, we are said to die with him, and live with him, to be cruci- fied with him, and buried with him, but it was also intended for a platform, or idea, of what is to be done by the Spirit, actually upon our souls and bodies, in our single persons. As he died for sin, so the Spirit applying his death to us in the work of mortification, causes us to die to sin, by the virtue of his death : And as he was quickened by the Spirit, and raised unto life, so the Spirit applying
IEEM. I. THE METHOD OF GRACE. 19
unto us the life of Christ, causeth us to live, by spiritual vivification. Now this personal, secondary, and actual application of redemption to us by the Spirit, in his sanctifying work, is that which I am en- gaged here to discuss and open ; which I shall do in these follow- ing propositions.
Prop. 1. The application of Christ to us, is not only comprehen- sive of our justification, but of all those works of the Spirit which are known to us in scripture by the names of regeneration, voca- tion, sanctification, and conversion.
Though all these terms have some small respective differences among themselves, yet they are all included in this general, the applying and putting on of Christ, Rom. xiii. 14. " Put ye on the " Lord Jesus Christ."
Regeneration expresses those supernatural, divine, new qualities, infused by the Spirit into the soul, which are the principles of all holy actions.
Vocation expresses the terms from which, and to which, the soul moves, when the Spirit works savingly upon it, under the gospel- call.
Sanctification notes an holy dedication of heart and life to God : Our becoming the temples of the living God, separate from all pro- fane sinful practices, to the Lord's only use and service.
Conversion denotes the great change itself, which the Spirit causeth upon the soul, turning it by a sweet irresistible efficacy from the power of sin and Satan, to God in Christ.
Now all these are imported in, and done by the application of Christ to our souls : for when once the efficacy of Christ's death, and the virtue of his resurrection, come to take place upon the heart of any man, he cannot but turn from sin to God, and become a new creature, living and acting by new principles and rules. So the apostle observes, 1 Thess. i. 5, 6. speaking of the effect of this work of the Spirit upon that people, " Our gospel (saith he) came " not to you in word only, but in power ; and in the Holy Ghost :" There was the effectual application of Christ to them. " And " you became followers of us, and of the Lord," ver. 6. there was their effectual call. " And ye turned from dumb idols to serve " the living and true God, ver. 9. there was their conversion. " So that ye were ensamples to all that believe," ver. 9. there was their life of sanctification or dedication to God. So that all these are comprehended in effectual application.
Prop. 2. The application of Christ to tli<e souls of men is that great project and design of God in this world, for the accomplish- ment whereof all the ordinances and all the officers of the gospel are appointed and continued in the world.
This the gospel expresslv declared to be its direct end, and the
20 THE METHOD OE Git ACE. SERAf. I.
great business of all its officers, Eph. iv. 11, 12. " And he gave " some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and " some pastors ahd teachers ; till we all come in the unity of the " faith, and the7 knowledge of the Son of God ; to a perfect man, " unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ,* i. e. the great aim and scope of all Christ's ordinances and officers, are to bring men into union with Christ, and so build them up to per- fection in him ; or to unite them to, and confirm them in Christ : and when it shall have finished this design, then shall the whole frame of gospel-ordinances be taken down, and all its officers dis- banded. " The kingdom (i. e. this present ceconomy, manner, " and form of government) shall be delivered up," 1 Cor. xv. 24. What are ministers, but the bridegroom's friends, ambassadors for God, to beseech men to be reconciled ? When therefore all the elect are brought home in a reconciled state in Christ, when the marriage of the Lamb is come, our work and office expire to- gether.
Prop. 3. Such is the importance and great concernment of the personal application of' Christ to us by the Spirit, that whatsoever the Father hath done in the contrivance, or the Son hath done in the accomplishment of our redemption, is all inavailable and ineffectual to our salvation without this.
It is confessedly true, that God's good pleasure appointing us from eternity to salvation, is, in its kind, a most full and sufficient impulsive cause of our salvation, and every way able (for so much as it is concerned) to produce its effect. And Christ's humiliation and sufferings are a most complete and sufficient meritorious cause of our salvation, to which nothing can be added to make it more apt, and able to procure our salvation, than it already is : yet neither the one nor the other can actually save any soul, with- out the Spirifs application of Christ to it ; for where there are di- vers social causes, or concauses, necessary to produce one effect, there the effect cannot be produced until the last cause hath wrought. Thus it is here, the Father hath elected, and the Son hath redeem- ed ; but until the Spirit (who is the last cause) hath wrought his part also, we cannot be saved. For he comes in the Father's and in the Son s name and authority, to put the last hand to the work of our salvation, by bringing all the fruits of election and redemp- tion home to our souls in this work of effectual vocation. Hence the apostle, 1 Pet. i. 2. noting the order of causes in their opera- tions, for the bringing about of our salvation, thus states it, " Elect, u according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through " sanctificatioH of the Spirit unto obedience, and sprinkling of the " blood of Jesus Christ." Here you find God's election and Christ's blood, the two great causes of salvation, and yet neither of
gEEM, 1. THE METHOD OF GRACE. 21