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lievers meet in a bleffed union: It is Chrift's glory to be one with God; it is our glory to be one with Chrift, and with God by him: But how is this done? Certainly no other way but by the giving of his Spirit unto us; for fo much the phrafe, I in them, muft needs import: Chrift is in us by the fanctifying Spirit, which is the bond of our union with him.

Secondly, The fcripture every where makes this giving, or indwelling of the Spirit, the great mark and trial of our intereft in Chrift; concluding from the prefence of it in us, pofitively, as in the text; and from the abfence of it, negatively, as in Rom. viii. "Now if any man have not the spirit of Chrift, the fame is none "of his," Jude, ver. 19. " Senfual, not having the Spirit." This mark therefore agreeing to all believers, and to none but believers, and that always, and at all times, it must needs clearly infer the foul's union with Chrift, in whomfoever it is found.

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Thirdly, That which is a certain mark of our freedom from the covenant of works, and our title to the privileges of the covenant of grace, muft needs alfo infer our union with Christ, and special intereft in him; but the giving or indwelling of the fanctifying Spirit in us, is a certain mark of our freedom from the first covenant, under which all Chriftlefs perfons still stand, and our title to the fpecial privileges of the fecond covenant, in which none but the members are interefted; and, confequently, it fully proves our union with the Lord Jefus. This is plain from the apostle's reafoning, Gal. iv. 6, 7. “ And because ye are fons, God hath fent forth the "fpirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba Father: Where"fore thou art no more a fervant, but a fon; and if a fon, then " an heir of God, through Chrift." The spirit of the first covenant was a fervile fpirit, a spirit of fear and bondage, and they that were under that covenant were not fons, but fervants; but the fpirit of the new covenant is a free, ingenuous fpirit, acting in the ftrength of God, and those that do fo, are the children of God; and children inherit the bleffed privileges and royal immunities contained in that great charter, the covenant of grace: they are heirs of God, and the evidence of this their inheritance, by virtue of the fecond covenant, and of freedom from the fervitude and bondage of the first covenant, is the Spirit of Chrift in their hearts, crying, Abba Father; So Gal. v. 18. "If ye be led by the Spirit, ፡፡ ye are not under the law."

Fourthly, If the eternal decree of God's electing love be executed, and the virtues and benefits of the death of Chrift applied by the Spirit, unto every foul in whom he dwelleth, as a spirit of fanctification; then fuch a giving of the Spirit unto us must needs be a certain mark and proof of our fpecial interest in Chrift; but the decree of God's electing love is executed, and the benefits of the blood

of Chrift are applied to every foul in whom he dwelleth, as a fpirit of fanctification. This is plain from 1 Pet. i. 2. «Elect accord"ing to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through fanctifica"tion of the Spirit unto obedience, and fprinkling of the blood of "Jefus Chrift:" Where you fee both God's election executed, and the blood of Jefus fprinkled or applied unto us by the Spirit, which is given to us as a Spirit of fanétification. There is a bleffed order of working obferved as proper to each perfon in the Godhead; the Father electeth, the Son redeemeth, the Spirit fanctifieth. The Spirit is the laft efficient in the work of our falvation; what the Father decreed, and the Son purchased, that the Spirit applieth; and fo puts the last hand to the complete falvation of believers. And this fome divines give as the reafon why the fin against the Spirit is unpardonable, because he being the last agent, in order of working, if the heart of a man be filled with enmity against the Spirit, there can be no remedy for such a fin ; there is no looking back to the death of Chrift, or to the love of God for remedy. This fin against the Spirit is that obex infernalis, the deadly stop and bar to the whole work of falvation: Oppofitely, where the Spirit is received, obeyed, and dwelleth in the way of fanctification; into that foul the eternal love of God, the ineftimable benefits of the blood of Chrift run freely, without any interruption; and, confequently, the intereft of fuch a foul in Jefus Chrift is beyond all difpute.

Fifthly, The giving of the Spirit to us, or his refiding in us, as a fanctifying Spirit, is every where in fcripture made the pledge and earnest of eternal falvation, and confequently must abundantly confirm and prove the foul's intereft in Chrift, Eph. i. 13, 14. "In whom alfo after that ye believed, ye were fealed with that "holy Spirit of promife; which is the earneft of our inheritance," &. So, 2 Cor. i. 22. who hath alfo fealed us, and given the ❝earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." And thus you have the point opened and confirmed. The ufe of all followeth:

Ufe. Now the only use I make of this point shall be that which lieth directly, both in the view of the text, and of the defign for which it was chofen; namely, by it to try and examine the truth of our interest in, and the validity of our claim to Jefus Chrift. In pursuance of which defign, I fhall first lay down fome gêneral rules,TM and then propofe fome particular trials.

First, I fhall lay down fome general rules for the due information of our minds in this point, upon which fo much depends.

Rule 1. Though the Spirit of God be given to us, and worketh in us, yet he worketh not as a natural and neceffary, but as a free and arbitrary agent: He neither aflifts, nor fanctifies, as the fire burneth, ad ultimum fui poffe, as much as he can affist or fanctify, but as

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much as he pleaseth; " dividing to every man feverally as he will," 1 Cor. xii. 11. Bestowing greater meafures of gifts and graces upon fome than upon others; and affifting the fame perfon more at one season than another; and all this variety of operation floweth from his own good pleasure. His grace is his own, he may give it as he pleaseth.

Rule 2. There is a great difference in the manner of the Spirit's working before and after the work of regeneration. Whilft we are unregenerate, he works upon us as upon dead creatures that work not at all with him; and what motion there is in our fouls, is a counter-motion to the Spirit; but after regeneration it is not fo, he then works upon a complying and willing mind; we work, and he affifts, Rom. viii. 26. Our confcience witneffeth, and he beareth witness with it, Rom. viii. 16. It is therefore an error of dangerous confequence to think that fanctified perfons are not bound to ftir and strive in the way of duty, without a fenfible impulfe, or preventing motion of the Spirit, Ifa. Ixiv. 7.

Rule 3. Though the Spirit of God be given to believers, and worketh in them, yet believers themselves may do or omit fuch things as may obftruct the working, and obfcure the very being of the Spirit of God in them. Ita nos tractat, ut a nobis tractatur: He dealeth with us in his evidencing and comforting work, as we deal with him in point of tenderness and obedience to his dictates; there is a grieving, yea, there is a quenching of the Spirit by the lufts and corruptions of thofe hearts in which he dwelleth; and though he will not forfake his habitation, as a Spirit of fanctification, yet he may for a time defert it as a Spirit of confolation, Pfal. li. 11.

Rule 4. Those things which discover the indwelling of the Spirit in believers are not fo much the matter of their duties, or fubftance of their actions, as the more fecret fprings, holy aims, and fpiritual manner of their doing or performing of them. It is not fo much the matter of a prayer, the neat and orderly expreffions in which it is uttered, as the inward fenfe and fpiritual defign of the foul; it is not the choice of elegant words, whereby our conceptions are clothed, or the copioufnefs of the matter with which we are furnished, for even a poor ftammering tongue, and broken language, may have much of the Spirit of God in it. This made Luther fay, he faw more excellency in the duty of a plain ruftic Chriftian, than in all the triumphs of Cæfar and Alexander. The beauty and excellency of spiritual duties is an inward hidden thing.

Rule 5. All the motions and operations of the Spirit are always harmonious, and fuitable to the written word, Ifa. viii. 20. “To the law "and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, "it is because there is no light in them." The fcriptures are by the infpiration of the Spirit, therefore this infpiration into the

hearts of believers must either fubftantially agree with the fcriptures, or the infpiration of the Spirit be felf-repugnant, and contradictory to itself. It is very obfervable, that the works of grace wrought by the Spirit in the hearts of believers, are reprefented to us in fcripture, as a tranfcript, or copy of the written word, Jer. xxxi. 33. "I will write my law in their hearts.” Now, as a true copy anfwers the original, word for word, letter for letter, point for point; fo do the works of the Spirit in our fouls harmonize with the dictates of the Spirit in the fcriptures; whatfoever motion therefore fhall be found repugnant thereto, muft not be fathered upon the Spirit of God, but laid at the door of its proper parents, the fpirit of error and corrupt nature.

Rule 6. Although the works of the Spirit, in all fanctified perfons, do fubftantially agree, both with the written word, and with one another, (as ten thousand copies, penned from one original, muft needs agree within themfelves); yet as to the manner of infufion and operation, there are found many circumftantial differences. The Spirit of God doth not hold one and the fame method of working upon all hearts: The work of grace is introduced into fome fouls with more terror and trouble for fin, than it is in others; he wrought upon Paul one way, upon Lydia in another way; he holds fome much longer under terrors and troubles than he doth others; inveterate and more profane finners find stronger troubles for fin, and are held longer under them, than thofe are, into whofe hearts grace is more early and infenfibly infufed by the Spirit's bleffing upon religious education; but as thefe have less trouble than the other at first, fo commonly they have lefs clearness, and more doubts and fears about the work of the Spirit afterwards.

Rule 7. There is a great difference found betwixt the fanctifying and the comforting influences of the Spirit upon believers, in respect of confancy and permanency. His fanctifying influences abide for ever in the foul, they never depart; but his comforting influences come and go, and abide not long upon the hearts of believers. Sanctification belongs to the being of a Christian, confolation only to his well-being: The first is fixed and abiding, the latter various and inconftant. Sanctification brings us to heaven hereafter, confolation brings heaven into us here; our fafety lies in the former, our cheerfulness only in the latter. There are times and feafons, in the lives of believers, wherein the Spirit of God doth more fignally and eminently feal their fpirits, and ravish their hearts with joy unfpeakable. But what Bernard fpeaketh is certainly true in the experience of Chriftians: "It is a fweet hour, and it is but U u VOL. II. No. 15.

• Rara borg, brevis mora; fapit quidem fuaviffime, fed gußtatur varissime. Bera,

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"an hour; a thing of fhort continuance: the relifh of it is exceed"ing fweet, but it is not often that Chriftians tafte it." And fo much may fuffice for the general rules about the inbeing and workings of the Spirit in believers, for the better information of our understandings, and prevention of mistakes in this matter: Ishall next, according to promife, lay down the particular marks and trials by which we inay difcern whether God hath given us his Spirit or no, by which grown Chriftians, when they are in a due compofed frame, may, by the affiftance of the Spirit of God, (for which therefore they are bound to pray), difcern his indwelling and working in themfelves.

Evidence 1. In whomsoever the Spirit of Chrift is a Spirit of fanctification, to that man or woman he hath been, more or less, a Spirit of conviction and humiliation. This is the order which the Spirit conftantly observes in adult or grown converts, John xvi. 8, 9. “ And when he is come, he will reprove the world of fin, and of righte"oufnefs, and of judgment: of fin because they believe not on me." This, you fee, is the method he obferves all the world over; he fhall reprove or convince the world of fin. Conviction of fin hath the fame refpect unto fanctification, as the bloffoms of trees have to the fruits that follow them: A bloffom is but fructus imperfectusy et-ordinabilis; an imperfect fruit in itself, and in order to a more perfect and noble fruit. Where there are no bloffoms, we can expect no fruit; and where we fee no conviction of fin, we can expect no converfion to Chrift. Hath then the Spirit of God been a Spirit of conviction to thee? Hath he more particularly convinced thee of fin, because thou haft not believed on him? i. e. hath he fhewn thee thy fin and mifery, as an unbeliever? Not only terrified and affrighted thy confcience with this or that more notorious act of fin, but fully convinced thee of the state of fin that thou art in by reason of thy unbelief, which, holding thee from Chrift, muft needs alfo hold thee under the guilt of all thy other fins. This gives, at least, a strong probability that God hath given thee his Spirit, especially when this conviction remains day and night upon thy foul, fo that nothing but Christ can give it reft, and confequently the great enquiry of thy foul is after Chrift, and none but Chrift.

Evidence 2. As the Spirit of God hath been a convincing, fo he is a quickening Spirit, to all those to whom he is given; Rom. viii. 2. "The law of the Spirit of life in Chrift Jefus hath made me free "from the law of fin and death:" He is the Spirit of life, i. e. the principle of fpiritual life in the fouls whom he inhabiteth; for, uniting them to Chrift, he unites them to the fountain of life; and this fpiritual life, in believers, manifefts itself as the natural life doth in vital actions and operations. When the Spirit of God

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