tan's yoke to him who sees the beauty and tastes the liberty of holy obedience! A sick man confined to bed, how happy does he think them who can walk abroad about their employments! Oh, saith a gracious heart, how sweetly does such a Christian pray! how strictly does he live! how close is he in duty! how fruitful in conversing! But I, alas! how feeble, how dead, how unable! I am held under by a tyrant; oh that I could be his death!

[6.] By recollecting its former folly in loving sin: thinking thus; Formerly I loved that which now I see would have murdered me: what a deal of pains, care, cost, time, laid I out to satisfy my lusts! oh that I could recall these follies as I recollect them! but since I cannot make them never to have been, I will labour to hinder them for time to come. Oh that my hatred might be greater than ever my love was to them! A soul that has been mad upon sin, afterward is as vehement against it. This is the apostle's argument, “ As you have yielded your members servants to uncleanness, so now to righteousness," Rom. vi. 19; and, "The time past of our lives may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles," 1 Pet. iv. 3.

[7.] By withdrawing those things which have been as fuel and fodder to corruption. Fire is put out as well by taking away wood, as casting on of water. A sin-mortifying heart forbears the using of that which it has heretofore abused; it knows that often Satan lies in ambush behind lawful enjoyments. He that has taken physic in wine, afterward is ready to loathe that very sort of wine in which his loathed medicine was given him: he that has been sin-sick, dreads those temptations in which Satan was wont to wrap sin up; he considers, that he who always goeth as far as he may, sometime goes further than he should. He feeds not without fear, Jude, ver. 12, but trembles in every enjoyment, lest it may be an inlet to sin, and his own corruption get advantage by it; he fears a snare under his very trencher, and poison (for his soul) in every cup of wine, especially if he has been formerly bitten thereby. Whereas a carnal heart ingulfs itself in occasions of sin, if in themselves lawful, sees no enemy, and therefore sets no watch: he "makes provision for the flesh," Rom. xiii. 14, he cuts not off the food which relieves his enemy; whereas a sin-mortifier, as an enemy that besieges a city, hinders all the supplies and support of lusts, that so he may make himself more yieldable to

holiness.

[8.] By reinforcing the fight after a foil; by gaining ground after a stumble, by doubling his guard after unwariness, strengthening the battle after a blow; praying more earnestly, contending more strenuously, laying on more strongly after sin hath been too hard: thus Paul was the more earnest with God against sin; he besought the Lord thrice after the messenger of Satan had buffeted him, 2 Cor. xii. 8. [9.] By a holy vexation with the constant company and troublesome presence of sin. Thus was holy Paul put upon opposing of sin: he complains, sin was always present with him, even when he would do good, Rom. vii. 21. And sin is called encompassing, easily besetting, UTEρioтaroc, Heb. xii. 1. It dwells in us; it is a leprosy not ceasing till the wall is pulled down, the house of our mortality dissolved; it is as near as the skin upon the back, bowels in the body; it goeth along with a saint in every duty, sabbath, ordinances, like Pharaoh's frogs into the king's chambers, pestering a saint at every turn: the apprehension hereof puts the soul upon endeavouring sin's ruin. The nearer an enemy is, the more hateful he is; the closer the conflict is, the quicker are the strokes, the fiercer the fight.

To conclude, A holy insulting and rejoicing in

God follows, if at any time he has given the soul victory, and any heads of these uncircumcised; it blesses God, as Paul, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord," Rom. vii. 25; going about duty more cheerfully, and yet humbly. A man may read the good news of a victory in a saint's countenance. Does he not say to Christ, when some lust hath been smitten, (as Cushi to David,) I would that all the enemies of my Lord were as that one young man? Lord, when will there be a perfect riddance of these vermin? Oh how sweet will heaven be, when I shall trample upon every Goliath, and see every Egyptian dead upon the shore! when I shall have neither tear in my eye, nor lust in my soul!

66

Having stated the first thing in the nature of sanctification, viz. mortification, we proceed to the 2. Vivification, whereby we live a new and spiritual life. The scriptures proving it are abundant: “I live (saith Paul); yet not I, but Christ liveth in me," Gal. ii. 20. If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things that are above," Col. iii. 1. The life of Jesus is "made manifest in our mortal flesh," 2 Cor. iv. 11. As the death of Christ is the death of corruption, so the same power of God by which he raised Christ from the dead, frames us to the life of Christ's holiness, Eph. i. 19, 20. Christ, by the power of his Deity, whereby he raised himself, having communicated spiritual life to all his members, (as life is communicated from the head to the other members,) enables them to manifest it accordingly. "As Christ was raised up from death by the glory of the Father, even so we also walk in newness of life," Rom. vi. 4. 66 Reckon ye yourselves alive unto God through Jesus Christ," ver. 11. "We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them," Eph. ii. 10. "He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit," John xv. 5.

These brief considerations may show in what respects a sanctified person lives a new life, a life of holiness.

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(1.) A sanctified person lives a holy life, in moving and acting from a principle of holy life. All vital actions are from an inward principle: a body without a soul lives not, moves not naturally; nor without an internal principle of spiritual life received from Christ does any one live spiritually. The body of every living creature has a heart, which is the forge of spirits and the fountain of heat. True holiness proceeds from an implanted seed, 1 John iii. 9, the fear of God in the heart, Jer. xxxii. 40, the law put into the inward man, Jer. xxxi. 33. Sanctity, unless Christ be in us, is but a fable. Christ liveth in me," saith the apostle, Gal. ii. 20; and so he speaks of living to God by Christ, Rom. vi. 11. Christ must abide in us, John xv. 5; he is formed, Gal. iv. 19, and dwelleth in us, Col. i. 27. The actions of a sanctified person are from a vital principle, the spirit within the holiness of another is but from without, begins at his fingers' ends; he is drawn by outward inducements; his motions are not the motions of a living creature, but like those of a clock, or some image, which move not from within, but from weights without: when his alienis mobile ligweights are down, his work is done, num. Hor. Ser. A person spiritually enlightened, hath not only Spiritum adstantem, but assistentem: should he have all the encouragements of honour or profit from without, he could never do any thing cheerfully, but would ever be complaining, unless he enjoyed the supplies of the Spirit, viz. inward quickenings and enlivenings of heart in duty by the Spirit of Christ. (2.) A sanctified person lives a holy life, as in

Duceris ut nervis

1. 2.

not holy men suffered more to keep from sin, which tends to spiritual death? have they not left goods, lands, children? have they not run through fire, water, nay, into them, even embracing death temporal rather than death spiritual? A man would give all the world rather than lose one natural life; but a Christian would give a thousand lives rather than lose the life spiritual. Lord, (saith he,) I desire but to live, to keep Christ, who is my life, Psal. lxiii. 3; Col. iii. 4. (2.) In prizing that food which upholds life. He loves what nourishes him,-delights in the law of God,-hungers after the "sincere milk of the word," 1 Pet. ii. 2,-accounts it sweeter than the "honey and the honey-comb," Psal. xix. 10,-has a most ardent affection to uncorrupted truths,-estimates a famine of the word the sorest,-esteems the bread of life the staff of life. When he was dead, he had no hunger, the word was as food in a dead man's mouth, found no savour or entertainment: now, though God give him never so much of other supplies, yet it is a famine with him, if he have not bread; like an infant king, that prefers the breast before his crown. Though he be rich in grace, yet he is poor in spirit; he desires grace, having the grace to desire. He never says, I have enough; truth of grace ever puts him upon growth. (3.) A sanctified person labours to preserve his inward principle of life, in using the means that may recover him when his life is endangered by sickness, desiring earnestly that God would heal him, Jer. xvii. 14; Psal. xli. 4; embracing the sharpest administrations, the bitterest reproofs, taking down the most loathed pill, bearing the heaviest affliction, being willing to be cut, sawed, seared, so as to be saved. His great request is, that he may be whole, walk holily, that the pain and impotency of his disease, the filthiness and hurtfulness thereof, were both removed.

2. A sanctified person acts for his principle of spiritual life, in labouring to communicate it to others, as well as to preserve it in himself. The life of a spiritually-quickened soul is generative of itself. All living creatures have a seminary for propagating their kind: the spirit of life is fruitful, endeavouring to communicate itself from one to another. You never heard of a soul that loved to make a monopoly of Christ. Grace may be imparted, not impaired. Samson, when he had found honey, gave his father and mother some with him. The woman of Samaria, being called, calls others to Christ, John iv. 29. How diffusive of Christ was blessed Paul! like the wall which reflects upon the passenger when the sun shines upon it. How suitable was that wish of his to a sanctified soul; "I would to God that thou, and all that hear me this day, were almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds!" Acts xxvi. 29. Every Christian labours to raise up seed to his elder Brother. The great design of the soul is to set up Christ more in itself and others, to leaven others with grace; and this gaining of souls is a Christian's greatest covetousness.

So much for the explication of the sort or kind of their first privilege, sanctification. The observations follow in the second place.

Obs. 1. Grace whereby we are changed, much excels grace whereby we are only curbed. The sanctification wherewith the faithful were said to be adorned, was such as cured sin, as well as covered it; not a sanctification that did abscondere, but abscindere; not only repress, but abolish corruption. The former, restraining grace, is a fruit only of general mercy over all God's works, Psal. cxlv. 9; common to good and bad, binding the hand, leaving the heart free; withholding only from some one or few sins; tying us now, and loosing us by and by;

intended for the good of human society, doing no saving good to the receiver: in a word, only inhibiting the exercise of corruption for a time, without any real diminution of it; as the lions that spared Daniel were lions still, and had their ravenous disposition still, as appeared by their devouring others, although God stopped their mouths for that time. But this sanctifying grace with which the faithful are here adorned, as it springs from God's special love in Christ, so it is proper to the elect, works upon every part in some measure, body, soul, and spirit, abhors every sin, holds out to the end, and is intended for the salvation of the receiver. It not only inhibits the exercise of corruption, but mortifies, subdues, diminishes it, and works a real change; of a lion making a lamb; altering the natural disposition of the soul, and making a new man in every part and faculty.

Obs. 2. This sanctification changes not the substance and faculties of soul and body, but only the corruption, and disorder, and sinfulness thereof. It rectifies, but destroys not; like the fire in which the three children were, it consumes the bonds, not the garments; it does not slay Isaac, but only the ram; it breaks not the string, but tunes it. The fall of man took not away his essence, but only his holiness; so the raising of man destroys not his being, but his unholy ill-being. Grace beautifies, not debases nature; it repairs, not ruins it. It makes one a man indeed; it tempers and moderates affections, not abolishes them; it does not extinguish the fire, only allay it that it may not burn the house. It does not overthrow, but order thy love, hatred, sorrow, joy, both for measure and object. Thou mayst be merry now thou art sanctified, but not mad-merry; thy rejoicing will now be in the Lord, elevated, not annihilated. They are mistaken that think sanctification unmans a man, that he must now always be sad, and sour, and solitary; that, as they said of Mary, a Christian looking toward heaven is always gone out to weep: no, there is nothing destroyed by sanctification but that which would destroy us; we may eat still, but not be gluttons; drink, but not be drunken; use recreation, but not be voluptuous; trade, but not deceive; in a word, be men, but holy men.

Obs. 3. The people of God even in this life are saints. Perfectly indeed hereafter, but inchoatively here. A child has the nature, though not the stature of a man. A Christian has here as truly grace, though not so fully as in heaven. Grace is glory in the bud; this life is the infantage of glory; "Ye are sanctified," I Cor. vi. 11. They who look upon sanctity as an accomplishment only for heaven, are never like to get thither. It is common to hear a reproved sinner give this answer, I am no saint. Were this an accusation, and not an excuse for his unholiness, it might be admitted; but he is no saint, nor desires to be one; holiness and holy ones are his scorn. Such in this condition shall never see God: heaven must be in us, before we be in heaven. "Depart from me" will be the doom of them that work iniquity; dogs shall be without, Rev. xxii. 15. Ye who here cannot be merry without scoffing at purity, hereafter shall mourn for your want of purity; ye who account purity and sanctification inconsistent with nobleness, breeding, and generosity, will see that these were nothing without purity. That which is the beauty of heaven, the glory of angels, is it an ignominy upon earth, the shame of worms? You are not too good for holiness, but holiness for you. I confess, it is a great sin and shame, and should be a sorrow, that there are so many counterfeit, unsanctified saints, who have made sanctity so hateful; but yet for thee by these to be scandalized at sanctity, is thy woe as well as theirs. Let the

bere. Bern.

Obs. 5. How great the change that is wrought upon a person when God comes with sanctifying grace! There is no difference in the world greater, than between a man and his former self. The world, and men of it, need not take it ill that a saint differs so much from them, he differs as much from himself: a sanctified person is utterly opposite to all he was and did before; the stream is turned: he sees now, he was blind before; he loves that which formerly he loathed, he loathes that which formerly he loved; he unlives his former life; he picks it out, as it were, stitch by stitch. The wicked are said to think the course of sanctified persons strange, 1 Pet. iv. 4; Lεvilovrai, the word is, they are like men in a strange country, that see strange sights, which before they were altogether unacquainted with. Oh the power of grace! a lion is now a lamb, a goat is now a sheep, a raven is now a dove, and, which is more, a sinner is now a saint: he that before rushed into sin, now trembles at it; he that before persecuted holiness, now preaches it. They in the gospel hardly knew the man that had sight restored to him, but said he was like the blind man, John ix. 9. Did the alone recovery of sight make such a difference in him from what he was formerly? what a difference is wrought then by grace, which makes not only a new eye, but a new tongue, ear, hand, heart, life!

Obs. 6. The holiness of a sanctified person is not purely negative. It stands not altogether in labouring not to sin. It is not enough for the tree that escapes the axe not to bring forth bad fruit, unless it also bring forth good; nor is it sufficient for the sanctified soul to put off filthy, unless it put on beautiful, garments. The old man must be put off, and the new put on. We are not content with half happiness, why should we be with half holiness? The holiness of the most is not to be as bad as the worst; few labour to be as good as the best. Men love to be complete in every thing but that which deserves exactness. We must not cut off the garment of holiness at the midst. Our eternal happiness will not only consist in being out of hell, but in being in the fruition of heaven: we must not mete to God one measure, and expect from him another.

Obs. 7. Sanctification admits no coalition between the new and the old man. This latter is abolished as the former is introduced. The new man is not put upon the old, as sometimes new garments are put upon old, but in the room of it, Col. iii. 9, 10; Eph. iv. 22, 24. In sanctification there is no sewing of a new piece to an old garment, which always makes the rent the wider. It is one thing for sin to be, another thing to be allowed; one thing for sin to be in us, another thing for us to be in sin. Sin is a saint's

Obs. 8. As a sanctified person allows no mixtures with grace, so he puts no limits to grace. He desires that the grace he has should be perfect as well as pure; and as he loves that no part of him should be defiled, so, that none should be destitute; he is sanctified throughout; he "perfects holiness in the fear of God," 2 Cor. vii. 1. A saint's complaints of his wants and deficiencies rather proves him covetous than poor; his strong appetite rather speaks him healthful than empty; his desires of clothing, rather growing than naked: he desires that the dominions of Christ may be as large as ever were those of sin, even extending to the whole man. He is not like an upstart gallant, who, unable to furnish himself with new attire for every part, is new and adorned in some parts, and uncomely in all the rest; he labours for furniture for every room, to see a whole Christ formed, to have graces for every faculty. There is no grace he sees in another, but he wishes he had it too: he never thinks he has lived enough, or done enough for God; he never thinks his work done while he is on this side heaven. Who ever was the man that so thoroughly mortified sin, as to leave no life in it? who ever had such a degree of spiritual life, as not to want a further increase? Thy sword must never be thrown away while so many enemies remain. The means of preserving a holy life must never cease, till grace be consummated in glory. He that has holiness enough, never had any. Sanctified persons are always adding to grace, and taking away from sin. Sanctification is a progressive work. The least saint has grace enough to be thankful, the greatest not enough to be idle. To neglect the helps of sanctification never was a Scripture sign of sanctity; to live above ordinances is to live below a saint. Abstinence from spiritual food is so far from proving a strong Christian, that it proves but a sick Christian at the best. He who gives over, never truly began; he who goes not forward, goes backward. Till the flame be out, we must never cease crying for water; till sin be quite extinguished, we must ply the blood of Christ. How short do the best come of their duty, of what God doth and they should desire !

Obs. 9. Outside, superstitious mortification is but a shadow of the true. Penance, fasts, starvings of the body, abstinence from marriage, are not blessed to kill sin; they have no blood in them; sin and Satan fear no such holy water. It is the death of Christ that must be the death of sin; the mortifying or macerating of the carcass, is but the carcass of the duty; there is more labour required to let the blood out of our corruptions, than out of our bodies. A child of God takes more pains with his heart in a day, than a papist with his skin in a year; the one indeed whips himself, but the other denies himself; the one scratcheth his skin, the other pulls out his right eye; the one afflicts the flesh, the other the soul; the one something without himself, the other his very self.

Obs. 10. The Lord estimates his people by the better part, their bent and strain, not their defects. They are here called sanctified; but, alas, how imperfect is their sanctification! Yet their Father looks upon them as they would be, not as they are or

corn.

do: Not I, (saith the apostle, Rom. vii. 20,) "but sin that dwelleth in me." Corn full of weeds we call Christ loves what he sees of himself in the midst of much more he sees of us; he casts not away the honey because of the honey-comb; he spies a grain of grace in a heap of corruption; he considers what we aim to be now, and what we are to be hereafter, more than what we are now. The owner of an orchard that knows the goodness of every tree in it, although a tree which is of a good kind hath fruit upon it which for the present is green, and as hard as a stick, yet he will say, This is an excellent apple, &c., considering its kind, and what it will be when ripe.

Duplici sub speritus se mundo ostendit, Columbina et ignea,

cie Divinus Spi

implet, et colum

Obs. 11. How causelessly the world complains of those who are truly sanctified! The contentions of a saint are most with himself; the destructions he makes are bloodless; if he thirsts after any blood, it is that of a lust; the tyrants he brings to punishment are those in the soul. Were all his enemies in the world overthrown, and those in the heart spared, those Mordecais still in the gate, what would all avail him? Men have little reason to blame sanctity for distracting the times; there is more reason to blame the want of it. If a good man carry himself turbulently, it is because he is no better, not because he is good. He is, or should be, at peace with every thing but sin: if he shuns any company, it is not for hatred of the person, but the plague-sore; if he reproves, he wounds not destructively, but medicinally: his greatest heats are pious, God is in his flame; his very Moses causam po- anger is patient, his indignation humprecibus, causam ble; he participates of the dove, as well Dei apud populum gladiis alle as of the fiery tongues, as the Spirit gavit. Greg. Cha that fills him had both shapes. Doth sævire, patienter he reprove sharply and openly? he militer indignari. prays for thee secretly. A saint, when Bern. Ep. 2. ad he acts like himself, is always doing est medicus fu- good, diffusive of holiness, a benefactor renti phrenetico, to the age in which he lives, a conduitplinato filio; ille pipe of blessings to a whole kingdom. dendo, sed ambo If his endeavouring to make thee holy diligendo. Aug. make thee hate him, he will be hated still.

bæ simplicitate mansuetos, et

igne zeli ardentes

exhibet. Greg. 2. P. past. cap. 11.

puli apud Deum

ritas pie solet

novit irasci, bu

Fulc. Molestus

et pater indisci

ligando, iste cæ

Ep. 1. ad Bon.

(2.) The author by whom sanctification is bestowed, "God the Father."

I shall briefly explain two particulars. How they are said to be sanctified by God; and, How by God the Father.

Θεία φύσις.

[1] How they are said to be sanctified by God. I. Not transferendo essentiam, by transferring his essence unto them; but operando gratiam, by way of operation and working holiness in them, Eph. ii. 10; Acts v. 31; 1 Thess. v. 23; Heb. xii. 10; not by bestowing his Deity upon them, but by setting up the Divine nature in them, 2 Pet. i. 4, as fire warms by its virtue and operation. 2. God was the author of their sanctification, not excludendo media, as if he made not use of the ministry of the gospel for accomplishing it. The word cannot sanctify without him; and ordinarily he will not sanctify without it: he sanctifies by the word, John xvii. 17, enlivening and actuating it, making it his power to salvation, bestowing upon it an enlightening power, to discover our misery and deformity by reason of unholiness, as also to discover the beauty of holiness, and the happiness laid up for holy ones; bestowing also upon it an inclining power, to bow us to embrace and obey his holy will, the pattern of all holiness.

3. From God we have our sanctification, not by traduction from our parents. Grace is not of an

equal extent to nature; grace is not native, but donative; not by generation, but by regeneration; it is from the Father of spirits, not fathers of our flesh. Who can bring a clean thing out of filthiness? The new birth is "not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor of man," John i. 13. The purest seedcorn brings forth the stalk, the husk, and chaff; and the holiest men have a posterity with a nature covered over with corruption.

4. God sanctifies so that the first infusion of the habit of grace is without the active concurrence of any abilities of our corrupted nature to the acquiring of grace in the heart. The plantation of grace in us is purely supernatural. God's manner of working is altogether Divine, beyond the power and without the help of any thing in man, only he being a rational creature is a subject capable of grace, and thereby in the work of sanctification has a passive concurrence; for of ourselves we are not sufficient to think a good thought, but our sufficiency is of God. He worketh in us both to will and to do. We are dead in trespasses and sins, &c. New-begotten, newcreated, &c. Grace is an habitual quality, merely infused by Divine virtue, not issuing out of any inward force of human abilities, howsoever strained up to the highest pitch of their natural perfection. All civility, sweetness of nature, ingenuity of education, learning, good company, restraint by laws, and all moral virtues, with their joint force, cannot quicken our souls to the least true motion of a spiritual life.

5. God sanctifies so that in the practice of sancFor, tification man actually concurs with God. being sanctified, and inwardly enabled in his faculties by spiritual life put into them, he moves himself in his actions of grace, although even in these actions he cannot work alone, he being only a fellow worker with the Spirit of God, not in equality, but in subordination to him. Nevertheless, though these actions are performed by the special assistance of the Spirit, yet because man is the next agent, they are properly said to be man's actions.

[2] God the Father sanctifies. And yet, Eph. v. 26; I Cor. i. 30, Christ is said to sanctify, and to be sanctification. And most frequently the Holy Ghost is said to sanctify; grace being called "the fruits of the Spirit," Gal. v. 22; the whole work of sanctification styled by the name of Spirit, Eph. v. 9; and the Scripture expressly speaks us sanctified by the Spirit, Gal. v. 17; and the Holy Ghost is called the Spirit of sanctification. Yet when the Scripture says we are "sanctified by God the Father," it does not contradict itself.

For the explication whereof I shall briefly set down this distinction, and these conclusions.

All the attributes of God are either, 1. Essential, which are the very Divine essence, and pertaining to the very nature of God, as to be a Spirit, omniscient, eternal, true, good, powerful, merciful, &c. Or, 2. Relative; and that, either, 1. Inwardly, to the persons within themselves; as for the Father to beget, the Son to be begotten, the Holy Ghost to proceed from Father and Son. Or, 2. Outwardly; and that either, 1. To the creatures, as to create, sustain, &c. ; or, 2. To the church, as to redeem and sanctify, &c.

Conclusion 1. The attributes which appertain to the nature or essence of God, are common to the Three Persons, as to be a Spirit, omniscient, eternal, &c.

Concl. 2. The attributes or properties which inwardly belong to the Persons among themselves, are peculiar and proper to each of them, both in respect of order of being and working. The Father has his being from himself alone, the Son has his being from the Father alone, the Holy Ghost has his being from