First, To those that never yet heard the voice of God speaking to their hearts ; and truly this is the general case of most men and women, in the professing world : They have heard the sound of the gospel, but it hath been a confused, empty, and ineffectual sound in their ears ; they have heard the voice of man, but have never yet heard the voice of God. The gifts and abilities of preach- ers have, in a notional and mere human way, improved their un- derstandings, and sometimes slightly touched their affections : All this is but the effect of man upon man. O that you would look for something which is beyond all this : satisfy not yourselves with what is merely natural and human in ordinances ; come to the word with higher ends and more spiritual designs, than to get some notions of truth which you had not before, or to judge the gifts and abilities of the speaker : If God speak not to your hearts, all the ordinances in the world can do you no good, 1 Cor. iii. 7. O remember what a solemn and awful thing it is to come to those ordinances, and attend upon that ministration, in and by which the eternal decrees of heaven are to be executed upon your souls, which must be to you the " savour of life unto life, or of death " unto death ;" Wrestle with God by prayer for a blessing upon the ordinances. Say, Lord, speak thyself to my heart, let me hear " thy voice, and feel thy power in this prayer, or in this sermon : " Others have heard thy voice, cause me to hear it : It had been " much better for me if I had never heard the voice of preachers, " except I hear thy voice in them.*1
Secondly, Let all those that have heard the voice of God, and
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are come to Christ in the virtue of his teachings, admire the won- derful condescension of God to them. O that God should speak to thy soul, and be silent 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,'1 Mat. xiii. 11. And I beseech you, walk as men and women that have been taught of God. When Satan and your corruptions tempt you to sin, and to walk in the ways of the carnal and careless world; remember then that scripture, Eph. iv. 20, 21. " But ye have not so learned Christ, if so be that you " have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in " Jesus." To conclude, see that you be exceeding humble, and lowly in spirit. Humility qualifies you for divine teachings, Psal. 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 see, that no man can come to Christ without the application of the law, and the teachings of the Father ; which being considered, may be very useful to convince us, (which indeed is the design of it) that among the multitudes of men and women, living under the ordinances of God, and the general profession of religion^ there are but few, very few to be found, who have effectually re- ceived the Lord Jesus Christ by saving faith.
And now, reader, I suppose by this time thou art desirous to know by what signs and evidences thy union with Christ by faith may be cleared up, and made evident to thee ; and how that great question, whether thou hast yet effectually applied Christ to thy soul or no, may be clearly decided ; which brings me to the third general use of the whole, viz.
The examination of our interest in Christ, 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 sin, from Gal. v. 24.
4. The imitation of Christ, from 1 John ii. 6.
Of each of these trials of our interest in Christ I shall speak in their order : And, first, of the donation of the Spirit
328 THE METHOD OF GRACE. SERM. XXIV.
Of the Manner and Importance of the Spirit's Indwelling.
And hereby we know that he abideth in tis, by the Spirit which he hath given us.
A HE apostle in this chapter is engaged in a very trying dis- course ; his scope is to discriminate the spirits and states of sincere believers, from merely nominal and pretended Christians ; 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 those things which men profess, 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 test, he puts believers upon the search and study of their own hearts ; calls them to reflect upon the effects and opera- tions of the Spirit of God, wrought within their own souls, assuring them, that these gracious effects, and the fruits of the Spirit in their hearts, will be a solid evidence unto them of their union with Jesus Christ, amounting to much more than a general, conjectural ground of hope, under which it is possible there may subesse falsum, 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 assurance of their union with Christ : Hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us. In which words we have three things to consider, viz.
1. The thing to be tried, our union with Christ.
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
weightiest matter that can be brought to trial in this world, or in that to come, namely, our union with Christ, expressed here by his abiding in us ; a phrase clearly expressing the difference be- twixt those who, by profession and common estimation, pass for Christians among men, though they have no other union with Christ, but by an external adhesion to him in the external duties of religion, and those whose union with Christ is real, vital, and permanent, by the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ in their souls. John xv. 5, 6. opens the force and importance of this phrase, *c I am the « vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in me and I in him,
SEIOI. XXIV. THE METHOD OF GRACE. 329
" the same bringeth forth much fruit : If a man abide not in me, he " is cast forth as a branch, and is withered.'" The thing then to be tried is, Whether we stand in Christ as dead branches in a living stock, which are only bound to it by external ligatures or bonds that hold them for a while together ; or whether our souls have a vital union and coalition with Christ, by the participation of the living sap of that blessed root ?