And why may not you that have received Christ, receive the comfort of your* union with him ? There be all the grounds and helps of assurance furnished to your hand ; there is a real union betwixt Christ and your souls, which is the very ground-work of assurance. * You have the scriptures before you which contain the signs of faith, and the very things within you that answer those signs in the word. So you read, and so, just so, you might feel it in your own hearts, would you attend to your own experience. The Spirit of God is ready to seal you, it is his office and his delight so to do. O therefore, give diligence to this work, attend the study of the scriptures and of your own hearts more, and grieve not the holy Spirit of God, and you may arrive to the very desire of your hearts.
2. Bring up your conversations to the excellent principles and rules of faith ; " As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so " walk in him," Col. ii. 6. Live as you believe ; you received Christ sincerely in your first close with him, O maintain the like seriousness and sincerity in all your ways, to the end of your lives :
* The power and constancy of a firm hope reigns in us. Cypr. Serm. de patientia.
3EKM. VII. THE METHOD OF GRACE. 139
you received him intirely and undividedly at first, let there be no exceptions against any of his commands afterward. You received him exclusively to all others, see that you watch against all self- righteousness and self-conceitedness now, and mingle nothing of your own with his blood, whatever gifts or enlargements in duty God shall give you afterwards.
You received him advisedly at first, weighing and considering the self-denying terms upon which he was offered to you ; O shew that it was real, and that you see no cause to repent the bargain, whatever you shall meet with in the ways of Christ and duty af- terwards : convince the world of your constancy and cheerfulness in all your sufferings for Christ, that you are still of the same mind you were, and that Christ, with his cross, Christ, with a prison, Christ, with the greatest afflictions, is worthy of all acceptation : " As ye have received him, so walk ye in him." Let him be as sweet, as lovely, as precious to you now, as he was in the first mo- ment you received him ; yea, let your love to him, delights in him, and self-denial for him, increase with your acquaintance with him, day by day.
Use of direction. Use : Lastly, I will close all with a few words of direction to all that are made willing to receive the Lord Jesus Christ ; and sure it is but needful that help were given to poor Christians : in this matter, it is a time of trouble, fear, and great temptation ; mistakes are easily made of dangerous consequence ; attend needfully, therefore, to a few directions.
Direction 1. First, In your receiving Christ, Beware you do not 7)iistake the means for the end. Many do so, but see you do not. Prayer, sermons, reformations, are means to bring you to Christ, but they are not Christ ; to close with those duties is one thing, and to close with Christ is another thing. If I go into a boat, my design is not to dwell there, but to be carried to the place whereon I desire to be landed : so it must be in this case, all your duties must land you upon Christ; they are means to bring you to Christ.
Direct. 2. Secondly, See that you receive not Christ for a present help, but for your everlasting portion. Many do so; they will en- quire after Christ, pray for Christ, cast themselves (in their way) upon Christ, and the satisfaction of his blood, when the efficacy and terror of conscience is upon them, and thev feel the sting of guilt within them ; but as soon as the storm is over, and the rod that conscience shaked over them laid by, there is no more talk of Christ then : alas ! it was not Christ/ but quietness that they sought ; beware of mistaking peace for Christ.
Direct. 3. Thirdly, In receiving Christ, come empty-handed unto
140 THE METHOD OF GRACE. SERM. VII,
him: "believing on him who justifies the ungodly," Rom. iv. 5. and know that the deepest sense of your own vileness, emptiness, and unworthiness, is the best frame of heart that can accompany you to Christ. Many persons stand off from Christ for want of Jit qualifications ; they are not prepared for Christ as they should be, i. e. they would not come naked and empty, but have some- thing to commend them to the Lord Jesus for acceptance. O ! this is the pride of men's hearts, and the snare of the devil. Let him that hath no money come: You are not to come to Christ because you are qualified, but that you may be qualified with whatever you want ; and the best qualification you can bring with you, is a deep sense that you have no worth nor excellency at all in you.
Direct. 4. Fourthly, In receiving Christ, beware of dangerous delays. O follow on that work till it be finished. You read of some that are almost persuaded, and of others not far from the kingdom of God ; O take heed of what the prophet says, Hosea xiii. 13. Delays here are full of danger, life is uncertain, so are means of grace too. The man-slayer needed no motives to quicken his flight to the city of refuge.
Direct. 5. Fifthly, See that you receive all Christ, with all your heart. To receive all Christ, is to receive his person clothed with all his offices ; and to receive him Avith all your heart, is to receive him into your understanding, will, and affections, Acts viii. 37. As there is nothing in Christ that may be refused, so there is nothing in you from which he must be excluded.
Direct. 6. Lastly, Understand that the opening of your hearts to receive the Lord Jesus Christ, is not a work done by any power of your own, but the arm of the Lord is revealed therein, Isa. liii. 1. It is therefore your duty and interest to be daily at the feet of God, pouring out your souls to him in secret, for abilities to be- lieve. And so much, as to our actual reception of Christ.
Thanks be to God for Jesus Christ.
SERM. VIII. THE METHOD OF GRACE. 141
Setting forth the Believer's Fellowship with Chkist, the next End of his Application to them.
Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
X HE method of grace in uniting souls with Jesus Christ, hath been opened in the former discourses ; thus doth the Spirit, (whose office it is) make application of Christ to God's elect : The result and next fruit whereof is communion with Christ in his graces and benefits. Our mystical union is the very ground-work and foundation of our sweet, soul-enriching communion and participa- tion of spiritual privileges ; we are first ingrafted into Christ, and then suck the sap and fatness of the root : first married to the per- son of Christ, then endowed and instated in the privileges and bene- fits of Christ. This is my proper work to open at this time, and from this scripture.