among the papists, some of them) concerning theoretical knowledge, wherein they place the sum of all religion, that it doth tangere intangibiliter, it touches the mind as if it never touched it; indeed this is the deceiving belief of the multitude, they have a belief that so toucheth their minds that it cannot be perceived it ever touched it, it never touched their minds at all, but leaves them unimpressed; there is no signature left behind, no mark, no character, by which it can be said such a faith was ever there. That is, notwithstanding all the belief they pretend to concerning this Jesus, and concerning the great things of the Christian religion, (whereof this is the sum,) their hearts are as dead, as cold, as terrene, as unaffected, as if they had never heard of any such thing, void of all kind of impression. Dost thou believe Jesus to be the Christ, and retain a hard heart, a dead heart, a stupid heart, touched with nothing, having no sense, no feeling of any thing that this great truth carries so plain a signification of in it? What doth this Jesus being the Christ signify? It plainly signifies the lost, undone state of souls, the miserable condition of men in this world, that there needed such a Jesus, such a Christ to descend and come down from heaven with such fulness and divine power. When a man can believe Jesus to be the Christ, (as he said he doth,) but it never moves his soul one way or other; his faith makes no more impression upon him than if he had never believed or heard of such a thing, or than if he had believed the quite contrary. Be no more affected with Christ by believing him to be the Christ, than if he had believed him to be a deceiver and an impostor; his heart as little touched or moved with any suitable, correspondent impression of such a belief of his being the Christ, as if he had never heard of any such thing, or had believed concerning him the quite contrary. Will we call this believing Jesus to be the Christ with a Gospel faith? (2.) With complacency; that love that hath heightened itself into a complacential joy thereupon. Do I believe this Jesus to be the Christ? O! how can a pleasant joy be thereupon but spread in my soul! As we find it was when this belief first began to obtain concerning him, John i. 35. We read, that the two disciples of John having received the account, and being satisfied concerning this blessed one, having had John's testimony, that he bare record that he upon whom ye shall see "the Spirit of God descending like a dove is the Son of God;" he having seen this satisfactory sight, and acquainting the other two of his disciples, they run away with it. Oh we have found the Messiah, who by interpretation is the Christ; so say they in transport. What a joy were these good men in, and how did it diffuse and spread among others! They run and tell others, Oh we have found Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ. It flies like lightning from one to another, every one being the ready instrument to convey the pleasant notice which they had got concerning this great thing. The joyful Eipnka runs from mouth to mouth, and from ear to ear, and from heart to heart. Eipnxa, Eipnka, saith one to another, we have found, we have found the Messiah, the Christ. Have we indeed found him? Is it found among us that this Jesus is the Christ? O, what multitudes of transported souls would there be among us! For it is no excuse that this is no novelty among us: for it is a thing that never ought to grow old. As he is the way of returning sinners to God, that is always new and always living. It is a reproach to us to say that the notion is grown stale among us, of Jesus being the Christ. Instead of being grown old, it is grown to nothing, dwindled away to nothing. It looks but like a notion without any thing at the bottom, that we seem to account hath nothing of reality in it; from our apprehensiveness of the state of the case, and what the design of Heaven was in constituting such On the other hand, the sincere belief of this, that Jesus a one in that high and sacred office that is notified by the is the Christ; it worketh through and through a man's name Christ, it is thus become such a notion. But, what? soul-works down into every power and faculty. It is a are not the necessities free and urgent upon us every day faith that hath spirit in it, that penetrates and spreads it- for which we did need a Christ? Nay, can we go to Ged self into all the regions of a man's soul; as we read of a without him? And can we live comfortably in this world spirit of faith, 2 Cor. iv. 13. "We having the same spirit without God? Nay, can we draw a breath without him? of faith," (speaking of what had been said by David many Are not all things delivered up into his hand? And is not an age before,) what doth that signify when he quotes him he constituted Lord of all? By the same thing by which professing faith in reference to such a thing so long ago: we would pretend the commonness of this belief, and the and the apostle now resumes the matter, and saith, "We ancientness of it, as a reason why it affects no more, we have the same spirit of faith." It signifies that faith, where- do (as it were) proclaim the nullity of it, that it doth not soever it hath been sincere and true, even in the most dis-only signify little with us, but it signifies nothing; it is an tant times and ages, that may be supposed it is a spirit of unoperative thing; and to be a dead thing in this kind is faith, or it is a faith full of spirit. Sincere faith is a spi- to be nothing: as a dead man or the carcass of a man is ritual thing, a thing that carries life, and spirit, and power equivalent to no man, and so is that faith (in the apostle with it, wherever it is. Pray let us not deceive ourselves James's phrase) which is unoperative and works not, dead about this. They are mighty affections, which the belief also. This faith that doth not affect the heart is but as a of such a thing as this must excite and raise in those souls carcass without a spirit, which is for no valuable purpose in whom it truly is; especially those two most correspond- and use to be reckoned otherwise of than a mere unformed ent unto the person concerning whom we have this belief, piece of clay. An unformed piece of clay signifies as much that he is the Christ; to wit, reverence and love, and espe- for any valuable purpose as that which is formed into the cially that love which rises unto delight and high compla- shape of a human body where there is no spirit, and when cency, the joy taken in him of whom we have this appre- it is but a breathless thing. hension or this belief. This of the operativeness and efficacy of this belief in (1.) Reverence. This belief concerning Jesus, that he is contradistinction to the dead cold faith of the multitude in the Christ, it fills the sincere believer with the profoundest this matter, leads to what is yet further and more deeply reverence of him; so that he falls before him, saying, to be considered concerning it; and that is, the residence My Lord and my God," John xx. 28. He is acknow-which this faith hath in the will: for, being so efficacious ledged in his glorious greatness when any do sincerely a thing, it works itself into a government, a regency, a believe this concerning him; he is beheld as on the throne; ruling power, into that which is the imperial faculty of the he is considered as one that having purged our sins is soul; to wit, the will, there it comes to have a throne ascended and sitten down at the right hand of the Majesty erected, or rather there it doth enthrone Christ, so as that on high. It is a great thing to have this belief concerning he comes to be exalted in a subject-will, and is actually him, answerably forming a man's spirit into adoring pos- entertained there according to that discovery the Gospel tures. He is now great in our eyes; a glorious one; one makes of him. And so next to this persuasion of the mind, that we think it profane ever to look towards but with ve- which is to be distinguished from that which carries with neration. We dare not lift an eye towards him but with multitudes the same deceiving, insignificant name-I say, an adoring soul. O! my great, glorious, and exalted besides and next to that persuasion or assent of the mind, Lord. This is he whom God hath exalted to be a Prince there is a compliance of the will that belongs to the essence and a Saviour, to give repentance and remission of sins. of this faith. We believe this Jesus to be the Christ, so as Him whom he hath sealed, to whom he hath given power to will him accordingly; or by our will to entertain him over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many in a correspondent admission unto the design of the reveas God hath given him. With such a reverence must this lation. We acknowledge him, we own him suitably acbelief be accompanied concerning this Jesus, that he is the cording to the import of this name Christ. Christ. And then, SERMON XLI.* 1 John v. 1. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God. I SHALL now go on to clear the efficacy of this faith, which, if it be right and such as it ought to be, will diffuse a mighty and efficacious influence through the whole soul. It will be as a great vital spring in the heart, that sets all the wheels in motion, and acteth every faculty and power. But its next and more immediate operation must be upon the will. So doth this belief, (as it were) transire, pass over from the mind into the heart, into the very centre, and therein especially and most principally the will, which is the chief thing that goes under the name of the heart in Scripture phrase. Its great effect is, that the will is proportionably framed, inclined, bowed, made to comply, according to this discovery and revelation that is made of so great and glorious an object; one in whom the soul hath so near and great a concern-" The Christ of God," as he is called. This is the representation that is made in the mind, this Jesus is the Christ. "Whom say ye that I am?" Peter answers, (Luke ix. 20.) "Thou art the Christ of God." Such a truth as this cannot be received aright into the soul, but it must turn the whole soul, and especially the governing faculty, the will, so as that it shall be inclined and bowed to him accordingly. For it is never to be thought that there should such a revelation be made, not only in the Gospel, but in the mind, concerning this Jesus, that he is the Christ, but it is in order to some further purpose. He is not so revealed to be gazed upon, to be looked upon, but that the soul should be acted towards him and be carried towards him, according to that revelation and belief. Therefore the great effect that is wrought by such an efficacious belief, is, the will's consent that he shall be such to me, as this name (Christ) doth import; I consent to it, that he shall be Christ to my soul, and that consent takes in two things, reception and resignation. These two things I shall distinctly open to you, reception of him, and resignation of ourselves to him. But consider we first what is more general here. This consenting act of the will, how that is the consummation of faith; this is faith perfected. The bare assent or belief, that this is he, is inchoate faith, faith begun, faith tending to its end and perfection; but this is faith in its end. The other is faith moving towards Christ, this is faith resting in Christ. It is the acquiescence of faith by which he comes to have an inbeing in the soul, and the soul hath a possession of him. He dwells in the heart by faith. It is by faith, thus considered, that he comes to dwell even in the very heart, in the centre, as the expression is, Eph. iii. 17. The soul hath possession of him, and is said to have him; "He that hath the Son, hath life," as in the 12th verse of this chapter. This is the unitive act of faith, by which the soul closeth and falls in with him, as in the 20th verse of this chapter. He hath given us an understanding (there's faith in the mind, a right belief or apprehension of him) to know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ, who is the true God and eternal life. There are considerable the same gradations in faith, as it relates to Christ, as there are commonly observed to be in faith as it relates to God, that is, Credere Deum, credere Deo, and credere in Deum. To believe that there is a God; to believe God speaking to us in his word, revealing this or that to us; and to believe in God or into God: to wit, to unite with him as our God, take him for our God. The same gradation is in faith as to Christ: you "believe in God, believe also in me." There is a credere Christum, credere Christo, and credere in Christum. To believe, first, that there is a Christ, in opposition to the pagan world, that never thought of any such thing. Then to believe him to be revealing himself to be he, "I am he," (if ye believe not that I am he,) in opposition to the Jews, who indeed believed that there should be a Christ, that there must be a Messiah; but who did not believe that this was he. And Preached April 15th, 1694. then, again, to believe in Christ, or to believe into Christ, (as the prepositions used signify,) to believe into a union with him, in opposition to the formalists, or pseudo Christians, the mere nominal Christians, that can believe (or say they do) against pagans, that there is or must be a Christ; or against the Jews, that this is he, but never believe into him for all that, so as to close with him, as my Christ; unite with him, admit him into my heart and soul, so as that he comes to have his throne, not only his dwelling, but his seat of government in my very will; as the will is the governing faculty in the soul, Christ is the governor, the ruler there in that seat of government. So (God knows) he is believed in but by few even of them that bear his name, and call themselves Christians. We are as much concerned to have a faith concerning this Jesus, that he is the Christ, in opposition to formalists and nominal Christians, as we are to have a faith in this matter, in opposition to pagans and Jews: for it is all one how we perish, whether we perish under the name of pagans, or Jews, or false Christians, that never had the power or spirit of faith in Christ in them. And so much of this consent of faith in general. But more particularly, it carries (as I said) these two things in it, reception and resignation: reception of him, and resignation of ourselves to him. There is in that faith, that will avail us unto salvation, taking and giving at the same time, complicated with one another. When we give we take, when we take we give. When we take him, we at the same time consent that we will be his, and that he shall be ours. This constitutes the covenant between him and us. And considering that he is to be covenanted with but as a Mediator, as Mediator of the Gospel, and that through him we finally and ultimately covenant with God, according to that, "ye believe in God, believe also in me:" you must believe me in your way to God. Why it is this that doth make up the entire covenant between God and us in Christ. We accept him, and God in him; we give ourselves to him, and to God through him. This is consummate faith, as you will see more, when we have (as we intend) opened further to you what it comprehends. And that we may more clearly and distinctly apprehend that, there are several things yet more particularly to be spoken to; to wit, to let you know that this same faith concerning Jesus as the Christ, must carry with it, 1. Suitable apprehensions concerning ourselves and concerning him. 2. It includes in it some correspondent actings yet further to be considered. 3. It must be attended with some suitable qualifying adjuncts. And, 4. It must be attended with some concomitant dispositions and affections that are proper hereunto. 1. It must have with it suitable apprehensions both of ourselves and him: for you see here is the most immediate transactions in this matter imaginable between us and him, when we are to accept him, and resign ourselves to him. Here must be then necessarily suitable apprehensions both of ourselves and of him. (1.) Of ourselves. When one goes upon such a transaction as this with Jesus as the Christ, I must consider with myself what I am, and what my state is. And, what am I, upon my most serious and inquiring thoughts? Why, [1] I find myself a creature under obligation to be governed by him that made me; and who shall be further obliged hereunto, if he that made all will further be favourable to me. [2.] I must understand myself to be a miserable creature. It is as such I must have to do with this Jesus as the Christ. An undone creature, a lost creature. I do but touch upon these things. [3.] I must consider myself an offending creature, as one that am miserable by my having broken laws and rules, and who that way have brought myself under guilt. A miserable creature, without the apprehension of being a guilty creature, is an insolent and proud creature. I am miserable, but I am faultless. If any should bear that sense with them, they can have nothing to do with Christ, he is nothing to them. And, [4.] I must apprehend myself to be a depraved creature, habitually depraved; destitute of any good principles, either of duty towards God, or that have any tendency to felicity for myself. And I am under the possession and power of the most pernicious, radical principles of all iniquity and injuriousness towards God, and misery to myself. So I must apprehend the state of my case when I apply myself, and when my soul moves towards this Jesus as the Christ. And, (2.) I must have suitable apprehensions of him too; here I am to consent to accept of him for mine, to resign myself to him as his. Both these, reception and resignation, do require that I should have suitable apprehensions of him; that is, [1] I must consider his original power over me, as he is the beginning of the creation of God; "as by him all things were made, visible and invisible," Col. i. 15, 16. As by whom God made the worlds, Heb. i. 2. As originally invested with a sovereign, governing power, which, because it was original and natural to him, can never be lost, more than the Godhead. He is the Lord my maker, whom I am to receive, and unto whom I am to resign. And, [2] I must consider him as a constituted Ruler. So he is as Mediator. Consider him abstractedly, as he was the eternal Son of God, so he hath a natural power of government over all. But as he is Mediator, God-man, he is a Governor too by constitution. All power is given him both in heaven and earth. The Father hath given all things into his hand, John xiii. 3. "Thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as God hath given him," John xvii. 2. So I must apprehend and conceive of him. [3.] I must conceive of him as a Saviour; and thereupon as a Redeemer, as a Reconciler, that was to save, by redeeming and reconciling perishing, lost, guilty creatures, to an offended God. This is the apprehension one must have in consenting to him. And the soul that hath believed aright that this Jesus is the Christ, it will be full of this sense in this transaction: Aye, this is just such a one as I need; for I find myself miserable, I find myself lost, I find myself undone, by my having offended, and involved myself in guilt, against my sovereign, rightful Lord. There can never be any reception of him, or resignation to him, without this. And, [4] He must be understood and apprehended as a vital head, replenished with spirit and holy influence; so as that all that shall come into holy union with him, shall thereby derive spirit, and life, and grace, and holy influence from him: the thing which the exigency of the case so much calls for, as we are creatures so miserably depraved, and dead in trespasses and sins, disinclined to the doing and enjoying good in point of felicity. Such a one I need; and so I must consider Christ as one given to be "the head of all things to the church," Ephes. i. 22. He hath a universal political headship over all. But a vital headship over the church, (to wit, that is truly such,) that is, his body, his living body. And such a one must the soul, that is treating and transacting with him, apprehend him to be even in this closure, this unitive closure; I am a most wretched, deformed, depraved creature; I believe this Jesus to be the Christ, I believe it belongs to the office of this same Christ to be the fountain and spring of life and renovating grace to poor souls that shall come into union with him and I come unto him as such, I receive him as such, and resign myself to him as such. Every one that is in Christ is a new creature. I need to be new made throughout, new created; I am lost and undone for ever if I be not so; I come to him, unto this union with him, to be made anew throughout, according to that, 2 Cor. v. 17. and that, Ephes. ii. 10. "We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works." He is a new plastes; we had a miserable protoplast; we have another former now, a reformer. Christ is to be formed in us, his own image is to be formed in our hearts. He himself can only form his image, and draw it upon us: and that is our business with him. And blessedness itself can never make us blessed, if we be not made new, if we be not made over again, another sort of creatures than we were before. Thus there must be in this belief (as it comprehends our reception of him and resignation to him) suitable apprehensions both of ourselves and of him in this transaction, otherwise all will turn to nothing. And again, 2. There must be suitable included acts, even in those of receiving him and resigning ourselves. First, there must be the act of trust: and, secondly, the act of subjection: otherwise we do not receive him, and resign ourselves to him, suitably to the apprehensions that are given to us of that object. When we do receive him, how do we receive him? We receive him as Christ Jesus the Lord, Col. ii. 6. You receive Christ, (that is, the name of his office, that we are to believe Jesus to be invested with,) the anointed one of God. But what is he anointed to, or what is he anointed for? To be to us both Jesus and the Lord. Jesus is a Saviour, Lord is an owner and ruler. It cannot be, then, but that our receiving him, and our resigning ourselves to him, must comprehend in them, (1.) Trust, an absolute trust. When we receive him, we receive him as one in whom we trust; and when we resign ourselves to him, we resign ourselves as committing ourselves, in trusting ourselves. We receive him under the pleasant notion of a Saviour, and so we resign ourselves to him, to be saved by him, confiding in his saving mercy, encouraged by his word," "Whosoever cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." I will cast myself upon him, without any suspicion that he will ever cast me out; he will ever be as good as his word. Who ever did venture upon him, and perish? I will throw myself into those safe arms. This is included both in receiving and resigning; for I receive him as a Saviour, as Christ Jesus; and I resign myself to him, I commit, I intrust, I can credit myself to him accordingly as such. And then, (2.) As both these together do carry in them trust, so they carry in them subjection; there is not only committing ourselves, but there is also submitting ourselves. We commit, and submit, and subject ourselves to him at the same time; for he is received as Christ Jesus the Lord, and according as the Gospel represents him. "For all the house of Israel know, that God hath made him both Lord and Christ," Acts ii. 36. This must go for a known thing all Israel over, and all the world over, wherever he comes to be revealed; "That God hath made him both Lord and Christ. And him hath he exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour, (Acts v. 31.) to give repentance and remission of sins." Repentance, wherein we humble ourselves before him as a Prince, prostrate ourselves, throw ourselves down at the footstool of his throne; and remission of sins, which he gives as a Saviour. Now are all sins forgiven to you, go away and be whole, you are accepted, you are pardoned. Your scores are taken off; all things set right between him and you. God hath exalted him to be a prince, and so he humbles and gives repentance; and as a Saviour he forgives you. These are the acts correspondent to this two-fold notion. Not that the one is any cause of the other, or signifies any thing for the obtaining of them. But these are conjunct things by divine constitution and the exigency of the case itself. As a Prince, he humbles them to repentance: and as a Saviour, he forgives them, wipes off all scores, takes off their guilt, and sets all things right between God and them. We here must then be at once both trusting in him as a Saviour, and subjecting ourselves to him as a Prince; devoting and dedicating ourselves, so as determining henceforth not to live to ourselves; no, but to him that died for us, and rose again. This is the judgment of a soul brought under the constraint of the love of Christ, 2 Cor. v. 14, 15. So that hereupon this becomes the sense of the soul, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain," Phil. i. 20. While I live, I have no business to do but for Christ; my gain comes to me when I die-then I gain him. In the mean time, the business of my life is Christ, to live up Christ, live up his interest, serve him as a devoted one. My life is sacred to Christ, a hallowed and devoted thing. This is receiving and reigning, as comprehending acts suitable to the state of the case to what he is, and what we are. We are not to think of receiving and resigning blindly, and in the dark, and as those that know not for what; but upon such accounts, and with such actions of heart and soul as these, committing and submitting ourselves most absolutely to him. And, 3. Here must be some qualifying adjuncts of these acts of receiving and resigning, especially these two, totality and vitality. It may be, you will remember them the better for the sound's sake. But they are expressions that speak the importance of the thing more plainly than any other can that occurs to my thoughts. (1.) There must be totality with these acts of the one part and the other, to wit, with reference to the object, and with reference to the subject. Consider the act of reception with reference to the object, we are to receive a whole Christ; consider the act of resignation with respect to the subject, and we are to resign our whole selves. Reception must be with totality, a reception of a whole Christ; resignation must be with totality, a resignation of our whole selves. To take Christ but by halves, will not do the business; to resign ourselves but by halves, will not do the business neither. To take Christ only to serve a turn, that he may save me from wrath, without renewing my nature, and bringing me into a union and communion with himself and with God through him; this will not do; neither will it do for me to resign myself, and not my whole self-my whole soul. Will it content any one to be saved by halves, to be half saved, and half lost, if this were possible? But then, (2.) There must be vitality as to both these, as well as totality. There must be vital reception, and vital resignation; life must accompany these acts. "He that hath the Son hath life," as it is afterwards, ver. 12. of this chapter. I must so take him and receive him, as that, by a vital act of my will, I become united with him as with a living thing; for I find new life hath entered into my soul. I must so resign myself to him that life may go into that act of resignation. "Yield yourselves unto the Lord as those that are alive unto God. And reckon yourselves dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ," Rom. vi. 11, 13. There must be life springing in my soul towards God and through Jesus Christ. The cold, dead indifferency and aversion towards God is gone, and with the spirit of faith a spirit of life enters. And so when I come to give myself up, it is not as a dead thing. "Offer up yourselves living sacrifices, acceptable unto God through Jesus Christ," Rom. xii. 1. But then, 4. There must be suitable concomitant affections, especially these two, reverence and joy. ing this Jesus that he is the Christ? Why should it be revealed? Why should it be declared? why am I required to believe it? to be persuaded in my heart of the truth hereof? Can it be for any end, but that my soul may be brought into a vital, unitive closure with him hereupon? If it doth not effect this, it effects nothing. It is from hence my Christianity commenceth. It is but now that I become a Christian, any thing besides a name. When my soul passeth into this union with him by consent, by reception, by resignation, now I become a Christian, now I am in Christ, now the spirit of faith hath exerted its power in my soul, without which there is no believing. "We having the same spirit of faith, believe," 2 Cor. iv. 13. There can be no faith to purpose without a spirit of faith. Here doth the spirit of faith exert itself, and so it is but now that I do begin to be a Christian; for he that hath not the spirit of Christ is none of his, he is no Christian; let him be called what he will, let men call him what they please, he is none of Christ's. And what, will my Christianity without a Christ save me, or do me any good? To have a Christless Christianity, what shall I be the better for that? And it is indeed not only a nullity as to myself; but it is an affront and provocation to God and Christ, if in believing and assenting to this truth, that Jesus is the Christ, my soul do not hereupon unite and close with him; for it is a refusing him in the face of light. It is a refusing him, when I know and profess to know who he is. I profess this Jesus to be the Christ, and yet my soul stands out against him. For I must be either a consenter or refuser. To refuse him when I know who he is, when I profess to believe who he is, this is higher wickedness than the Jews were guilty of when they crucified him; for if they had known him to be the Lord of glory, they would not have crucified him. But I know this Jesus is the Christ, yet I will him not. "You will not come to me, that you may have life." Here is a knowing and denying at once. "He that denieth the Son, hath not the Father," 1 John ii. 23. But he that doth acknowledge that this Jesus is the Christ, hath the Father and the Son both together. If it be vitally acknowledged, so as that the soul pass hereby into union with both, then he hath both. (1) Reverence. Whom do I receive? and to whom do I hope we speak and hear of these things with a design I resign? The great and glorious Lord of all. Think to be and do accordingly, otherwise here is time the most what this name (Christ) doth import. The Christ of God, unhappily thrown away that could have been. We had as you heard. He to whom all power is given in heaven been better treating of any trivial subject, if such a thing and earth. When I receive him, how great a one is now as this should have been spoken or been attended to slightly, to enter my soul! This sense is now to possess it, "Lift and with neglect. All lies upon this, depends upon this: up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlast-all for our present comfort in this life here in this world, ing doors, for the King of glory is entering in." He is to and our future happy blessed life in the other world. come and take up his dwelling in my soul by faith, as in the 24th Psalm, latter end. It must be with a prostrate soul that I am to receive him; let the everlasting doors fly open here is a mighty one to come, him, the Lord of glory. Lord, I am not worthy thou shouldst come under my roof; I know if thou comest thou bringest life with thee, and salvation with thee to my soul. But O in how humble and reverential a posture must the soul be in this thing! And, (2.) Joy. He is to be received and resigned unto with highest complacency; with a most complacential reception and resignation. The soul is glad things are brought to that pass between God and him. Oh, blessed be God for this day, that he hath revealed his Christ, and hath revealed him in me; and that I have found him, and in him found according to his own word, "They that find me find life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord." O! what a blessed day is this! How hath God signalized this day with my soul, in bringing about this union and commerce between this Christ and me! This is believing Jesus to be the Christ. If you believe it to purpose, this is it. And pray think with yourselves; can it be any thing less than this? That faith that is short of this is both a nullity and an affront. A nullity, a vanity as to you, and an affront as to God and Christ. To you a nullity, a vanity, a nothing: for can that faith, that belief, signify any thing, that doth not reach its end? I pray what is the end, think you, of this revelation of Christ, that there should be such a record extant concern • Preached April 22nd, 1694. SERMON XLII.* 1 John v. 1. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God. AND thus, what this faith, concerning Jesus's being the Son of God, or the Christ, doth in itself import, hath been largely shown. And now, II. What is said of such as do believe this with this faith, we are to open to you, to wit, what this being "born of God" imports. And concerning it, I shall first note to you two things in general; and then come to give you a more distinct and particular account of it afterwards. In general, 1. That this must needs be a very great difference, which such a work as this makes between men and men, this being "born of God." The difference cannot but to every one's understanding appear very great, between one that is born of God, and one that is not born of God: especially too, when you consider, that every one that is not born of God, is of the seed and offspring of the worst father that ever was. For there are but two great fathers whose posterity divide all mankind; they that have not God for their Father, as being born of him, our Lord tells | mercy which he had obtained, had made him quite another them, "You are of your father the devil, and his works ye will do," John viii. 44. "And by this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil," I John iii. 10. It hath enough in it to amaze a man's soul, to have this matter represented as a thing doubted of, and to be inquired about, To which of these fathers do I relate? If the one of them be not my father, the other is. This must be understood (as any ordinary understanding will easily apprehend) not concerning a person's naturals but his morals. When a man is said to be a child of the devil, it is not as if there were any thing of positive natural being wrought in him by the devil, but only a moral depravation. And so when any are the children of God, it is not that any new natural faculty is created, but the faculties that were created at first, and that are depraved, and upon which the image of the devil is impressed, are sanctified; defaced, and purged of that impurity, and stamped with an impression from the Spirit of holiness, which is the regenerating Spirit. That is one consideration, and a mighty one it is; and very obvious, one would think, to every one's thoughts, that this must make a very vast difference between men to be born of God, and not to be born of him, and to be either of his, or of the devil's seed. And, man. And this he doth not speak of himself as a single person separately considered, but he speaks of himself as a pattern to all that should thereafter believe; that he was taken herein as set for a pattern (as the expression is in the original) what mighty changes the power and spirit of grace could work in the souls of men, so as to make them so much other men from themselves. Is it very true indeed, that for those that hitherto continue in their natural and unregenerate state, they are not all sinners alike, they are not all sinners in the same kind. Every such sinner is not a persecutor, is not a blasphemer. But every such sinner is a carnal wretch, a stranger to God, alienated from him, unacquainted with him; one that hath no love to him, no fear of him, no delight in him, no desire to please him, no design to serve him. "No, as to what change is made in me, (saith the apostle,) I am not here to speak of myself as a single person, but I am to speak of myself as a pattern, what the Almighty Spirit of divine grace can effect upon the soul of a man, to make him quite another sort of thing from what he was." There is somewhat common to all unregenerate persons, and to all regenerate persons, wherein such a pattern may very well reach and suit every one's case. Every one that is unregenerate, is a stranger to God, unacquainted with him; one that lives as without him in 2. This is to be generally noted too, that this difference the world; that hath no design to know him, or love him, is universal upon all believers. The greatness of it, and or please him, or serve or glorify him. Every one that is universality of it, are the two things that I would have regenerate, his dispositions are changed in all these repreviously noted. And this latter you have expressly in spects. Now what is common herein, must the apostle be the text, "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, understood to mean himself to be, a pattern to subsequent is born of God." Every one, without exception. So that believers; those that should come hereafter to believe. - there is no room left for such an imagination to any one, Wherever that believing is, there is this change; there is Is it not possible that some or other may pass for believers, that imitation in the subject, as will speak this person to be without having this work pass upon them, so vastly differ-new born. There is a new production in him, by which he encing men from one another, as this being born of God is quite another sort of man from what he was. "Every is? A great thing indeed! What? may none pass for a one that is in Christ (as every one comes to be in him by believer but such as are born of God? May not in the believing) is a new creature," 2 Cor. v. 17. It is the great census some or other escape without that mark upon them? design of our Lord Jesus Christ (as he is the restorer and No, saith the apostle, "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is repairer of the ruins of a lapsed world, and of a corrupt the Christ, is born of God." Let him call himself whatso- nature in man,) to make all things new, so far as his deever he will, he is real infidel; let him be never so much sign takes place and succeeds. "Behold I make all things a nominal believer, if he be not born of God, his believing new," Rev. xxi. 5. That is my business upon which I am of this, that Jesus is the Christ, is as nothing; it is no be-intent; so that there is a real new production every where, lieving. As in another case, circumcision goes for no circumcision, if it be not of the heart and spirit, and not only of the letter. As circumcision will go for no circumcision (where there is the very thing figured and represented) if it be the figure and no more, so doth such a pretended faith go for no faith, (let men say never so long we believe Jesus is the Christ,) if they be not born of God, they will never pass in the divine estimate for believers. And now these two generals being noted, we must come to give you a more distinct and particular account what this being "born of God" doth import. And that we shall do in this two-fold gradation: 1st, Speaking to it as it is a birth; and 2dly, As it is a being born of God, as it is a divine birth. As it is a being born; and as it is a being born of God. The latter whereof, as you may easily apprehend, doth greatly sublimate the former, and raise it higher, and should raise our thoughts and apprehensions proportionably higher about it. (1.) As this work done upon the soul is called a birth, let us consider it so. And that is a more general consideration, and a lower one; and as a fountain and substratum to what is afterwards to be added under the other more specifying notion. Why, as it is said to be a birth, it signifies such things as these, [1] A real new product in the soul, that there is somewhat really produced anew in it. This must be signified by being born. Being born is not a fiction, is not a fancy; it is not an imaginary thing. Being born signifies a real new production, that there is really somewhat new brought forth into being, that before was not; and so as to make the subject so far another thing from what before it was; or works such an imitation, as that the person in whom this work is wrought, is not what before he was. It brings the matter to this, that he may truly say, Ego non sum ego, I am not the same (1) that I was. As the apostle saith of himself, 1 Tim. i. 11. "I was a blasphemer, I was a persecutor, I was injurious, but I obtained mercy." And that where there is faith in Christ wrought, in every such person, which makes him truly differ (and not in imagination only) from what he was, and from what others are. And again, [2.] As this is a real production to be thus born, new born; so it is a spiritual production, in contradistinction to such productions as lie within the sphere of nature. It is an extra-natural production. For, as I told you before, this makes men differ from what they were, not in mere naturals, but morals; and so it is an extra-natural production. It doth not lie in the sphere of nature, but lies in the sphere of grace. You may collect it to be an extranatural production by two things: 1st, The principal seat of it; and 2dly, The great agent that is employed herein. The prime subject of it is the mind and spirit. The great agent employed herein is our Lord Jesus Christ, as it appears to be the immediate result of believing this Jesus to be the Christ: then he is born of God. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." First, Consider the former of these; it is a work, the primary subject whereof is the mind. "Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." Here is a transformation to be wrought, by which men cease to be conformed to the world, to be like the world as they were. But where is the seat of this transformation? "Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." Romans xii. 2. and so Ephesians iv. 22, 23. "We have not so learned Christ: if ye have heard of him, as the truth is in Jesus," that is, "to put off the old man which is corrupt by deceivable lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your mind." If you have heard and learned Christ, or the truth as it is in Jesus, this is the effect of it, that you "be renewed in the spirit of your mind." It is an expression that hath somewhat more of emphasis in it, than that last mentioned expression. Transformed by the renewing of the mind, doth represent the subject not merely, not only as a knowing thing, but as an active thing; as the |