And what comes of this, when we receive Christ, and set to our seal that God in the promise of salvation by Christ is true ? Then we having honoured him, he honours us by his Spirit, as the apostle saith, Eph. i. 13, ' In whom, after ye believed, ye were sealed.' So when we believe and set to our seal that God is true, God seals us by his Spirit ; ' after ye be- lieved you were sealed.'
But what is this seal of the Spirit whereby God seals us after we believe ?
I answer, God seals us when he sets the stamp of his Spirit upon us ; when the work and witness of his Spirit is wrought in us. For as in a seal the wax hath all in it, the whole likeness of the image that is in the seal, so the soul that is sealed by the Spirit hath the likeness of the Spirit of Christ stamped on it. God imprints in their spirits the likeness of his Son ; that is to say, he makes them loving souls, bumble souls, obe- dient as Christ was in all things, patient, meek, &c. You may see in the spirit of a believing man an expression of the spirit of Christ. So that if you would see Christ in his excellencies, look on the spirit of a true Chris- tian. There you shall see a resemblance of Christ Jesus, not perfectly, but in some comfortable- measure. You shall see the very image of Christ. Y'ou shall see how full of love he is, how patient in crosses, how humble, how meek, how obedient to God in all things, both in a passive and active obedience. This is the stamp of the Spirit ; when a man believes, God honours him by setting his image on him.
And yet this is not all. Besides this, we are sealed with the witness and comfort of the Spirit as well as with the work of the Spirit, the Spirit of God sweetly witnessing that we are the sons of God. And this sweet wit- ness of the Spirit especially comes after we have honoured God by believing in temptation, when we are able to hold out and say as Job said, ' Though be kill me, yet will I trust in him,' Job xiii. 15. So when we can, after conflicts of doubting and despair, say, ' Though he kill me, yet will I trust in him,' I will set to my seal that he is true. Well, will you so? God, to * Qu. ' conformable ' ? — Ed.
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honour such a soul, seals him to the day of redemption ; that is, he gives to the soul of such a one a sweet evidence and testimony that he is the Son of God.
And this seal of the Spirit is douhle : not only done by the witness and work of the Spirit inwardly, which I have shewed, but likewise the Spirit doth seal them outwardly, enabling them to make an outward confession of Christ and his truth ; and therefore, in Rev. vii. 3, seq., Christians are said to be * sealed in the forehead,' that is, as they are marked and singled out in ill times, to be such as God hath set his special favour upon, so they are * sealed ' with a spirit of boldness, willingly and with forwardness to confess the truth of Christ in ill times.'
Now, to apply it to our purpose, wouldst thou know whether thou be such a one, for the present, as for whom Christ is ' sealed ' a mediator ? Examine, first of all, whether thou hast put to thy seal that God is true, by receiving and believing Christ, and the promise of salvation through him. If thou hast done so, then thou wilt find another seal from God, even the work of the Spirit in sanctifying of thee, and conforming of thee to the image and likeness of Christ ; and thou wilt find the witness and comfort- able testimony of the Spirit, in telling thee that thou art the son of God ; and withal thou wilt have a spirit of boldness, and readiness, and forward- ness to confess Christ. Thou wilt not care for all that the world saith ; but wilt, if need be, stand to the profession of religion to the death.
If thou canst find this in thyself, undoubtedly thou art not only such a one as Christ came to seal, but for the present thou mayest be assured that thou hast interest in this mediator, sealed by God for that purpose.
Thus you see that here is ' food that endures to everlasting life,' which is Christ and the benefits we have by him. You see that that blessed meat is attainable, because he is willing to give it ; for he is become man for that purpose. He is able to give it, for he is God as well as man, and he hath authority to give it, for God the Father hath sealed him and fitted him for that ofiice. If we receive him, he will seal us with his blessed Spirit ; that is, the same Spirit that furnished Christ with grace, that sanctified him in the womb, will sanctify all those that are his members, will work a likeness and conformity in them to his blessed image ; for the same Spirit that was in the natural Son is in all the adopted sons of God. And he will Hkewise give us the comfortable evidence and assurance that we are the sons of God, furnish us with boldness and resolution to profess Christ in all times.