Rule 4. Lastly, Consider what an aggravation it is to your evil, to vent itself in the special presence of God in duties. See how Paul mourns over it in the text : It is not only a sin, but an affront- ing of God to his face : This grieving of his Spirit is the spoil of thy duty ; it is (as one aptly calls it) obex infernalias, an hellish bar or renwra to all sweet and free intercouse of the soul with God.
3. For Consolation. But whilst I am representing the evil of it to some, it may be there are others overwhelmed with the sorrowful sense of it, even to discouragement and despondency: Poor Christian! is this thy case ? Are all the afflictions in the world nothing to thee, in comparison with this evil which is present with thee, when thou wouldest do good ? Well, though thou canst not do the good thou wouldst, nor free thyself yet from the evil thou wouldst, rather than live, be freed from, there are four things that may give much relief to thy pensive soul.
1. Tlvough the presence of evil, even in thy best duties, be sad, yet thy grief and ajfliction for it is sweet: This is a sad sin, but this is a sweet sign. It is not heart-evils, heart- wanderings in duties, hard- ness and unbelief, that hypocrites mourn for, but more gross and
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external evils. Let this trouble for sin comfort thee when the pre- sence of sin grieves thee.
2. God accepts, throiiglt Jesus Christ, zohat you do sincerely, though you can do nothing picrely and perfectly. Cant. v. 1. Your sincerity is your evangelical perfection ; the evil that is present is not imputed ; the good that is present is (notwithstanding that com- mixed evil) accepted, which is stong consolation.
3. You^ find your case was the case of blessed Paul, amanofemi- nent sanctity. ' And if you consult all the saints, one by one, you will find them all sick of this disease ; so that your case is not singular.
4. Your justification is perfect, and without spot, though your sanctU fication be not so : and the time is coming, when your sanctification 'shall be as your justification is, and after that no more complaints.
]M E D I T A T I O N,
In whom cdso, ye believed, that cifter ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of promise.
Jr ROM his doxology and solemn thanksgiving, ver. 3. the apostle enumerates the principal Christian privileges that gave the occasion of that thanksgiving, among which this in the text is not the least, though last named.
In this one verse we have the two noble acts of faith displayed ; Its direct act, called trusting ; and its reflex act, which in order of nature and time follows it, and is implied in the word seahng.
In the latter clause (to which I shall confine my meditations) four things must be remarked; viz. 1. The subject; 2. Nature; 3. Author ; And 4. Quality of assurance.
1. The subject of assurance, which is, and can be no other than a soul that hath closed with Christ by faith : Reflex acts necessarily pre-suppose direct ones. Never was any unbeliever sealed, except to damnation : Assurance is peculiarly the prerogative of believers.
2. The nature of assurance : He calls it sealing; an apt metaphor to express the nature of it ; for assurance, like a seal, both confirms, declares, and distinguishes it ; it confirms the grant of God, declares
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the purpose of God, and distinguishes the person so privileged from other men.
3. The Author of assurance, which is the Spirit, he is the keeper of the great seal of heaven ; and it is his office to confirm and seal the believer's right and interest in Christ and heaven, Rom. viii. 16.
4. Lastly, The quality of this Spirit of assurance, or the seahng Spirit : He seals in the quality of an holy Spirit, and of the Spirit of promise; as an holy Spirit, relating to his previous sanctifying work upon the sealed soul ; as the Spirit of promise, respecting the mediitm or instrument made use of by him in his sealing work ; for he seals by opening and applying the promises to believers from the Spirit's order. The note will be this :
Doct. That the pi'ivilege of sealing follows the duty of he- lieving. There is no season more proper to treat of the sealing of the Spi- rit, than at a sealing ordinance : Nor can I handle the Spirit's seal- ing-work in a more profitable method, than in satisfying these five queries particularly, and then applying the whole.
1. What is the Spirit's sealing- work, and how performed ?
2. Why none are sealed till they believe ?
3. Whether all believers are sealed ?
4. What is the privilege of being sealed ?
5. What are the effects of the Spirit's sealing ?
1. Query. What is the Spirit's sealing- work ? and how is it per- formed.?
Ans. The sealing of the Spirit is, his giving a sure and certain testimony to the reality of that work of grace he hath wrought in our souls, and to our interest in Christ and the promises, thereby satisfying our fears and doubts about our estate and condition.
Every matter of weight and concernment is to be proved by two sufficient witnesses, Deut. xix. 15. Our sincerity and interest in Christ are matters of the deepest concernment to us in all the world, and therefore need a farther witness to confirm and clear them than that of our own Spirits, Rom. viii. 16. Three things concur to the Spirit's sealing work.
He sanctifies the soul ; he irradiates and clears that work of sancti- fication ; he enables it thereby to apply promises.
The first is his material or objective seal ; the latter his formal seal- ing. None but the Spirit of God can clear and confirm our title to Christ, for he only searcheth the deep things of God, 1 Cor. ii. 10. and it is his office, Rom. viii. 16. cuiMfj^aQr-j^uv, to witness with our spirits.
The seal or witness of the Spirit must needs be true and certain, be- cause omniscience and truth are his essential properties. He is omni- scient, 1 Cor. ii. 10. and therefore cannot be deceived himself. He is the Spirit of truth, John xiv 17. and therefore cannot deceive us ;
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SO that his testimony is more infallible and satisfactory than a voice from heaven, 2 Pet. i. 19.
If an angel should appear, and tell us, Christ hath said to him, Go and tell such a man, that I love him, that I shed my blood for him, and will save him, it could never give that repose and satifac- tion to the mind, as the internal witness or seal of the Spirit doth ; for that may be a delusion, but this cannot. The witness of our own heart may amount to a strong probability, but the witness of the Spirit is demonstration, 1 John iv. 24.
So, that as it is the design and work of Satan to cast in doubts and fears into gracious hearts, to perplex and entangle them, so, oppositely, it is the work of the Spirit to clear and settle the sancti- fied soul, and fill it with peace and joy in believing, John xvi. 7. Rom. xiv. 7.