But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
— 1 Corinthians 12:18
For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
— Romans 11:36
But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
— 1 Corinthians 1:24
My mouth shall shew forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day; for I know not the numbers thereof. I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only.
— Psalm 71:15-16
Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
— 1 Corinthians 1:2
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
— 1 Corinthians 15:54-57
The Method of Grace and Effectual Application, by John Flavel. The following contains an excerpt from his work, “The Method of Grace”.
The Epistle To The Reader
Every creature, by the instinct of nature, or by the light of reason, strives to avoid danger, and get out of harm’s way. The cattle in the fields presaging a storm at hand, fly to the hedges and thickets for shelter. The fowls of heaven, by the same natural instinct, perceiving the approach of winter, take their timely flight to a warmer climate. This naturalists have observed of them, and their observation is confirmed by scripture testimony. Of the cattle it is said, Job 37: 6, 7, 8. “He saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth, likewise the small rain, and the great rain of his strength; then the beasts go into dens, and remain in their places.” And of the fowls of the air it is said, Jer. 8: 7. “The stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed times, and the turtle, and the crane, and the swallow, observe the time of their coming.”
But man being a prudent and prospecting creature has the advantage of all other creatures in his foreseeing faculty: “For God has taught him more than the beasts of the earth, and made him wiser than the fowls of heaven,” Job 35: 11. “And a wise man’s heart discerneth both time and judgement,” Eccl. 8: 5. For as there are natural signs of the change of the weather, Matt. 16: 3, so there are moral signs of the changes of times and providence, yet such is the supineness and inexcusable regardlessness of most men, that they will not fear till they feel, nor think any danger very considerable, till it become inevitable.
We of this nation have long enjoyed the light of the glorious gospel among us; it has shone in much clearness upon this sinful island, for more than a whole century of happy years: but the longest day has an end, and we have cause to fear our bright sun is going down upon us; for the shadows in England are grown greater than the substance, which is one sign of approaching night, Jer. 6: 4. “The beasts of prey creep out of their dens and coverts,” which is another sign of night at hand, Psal. 104: 20. “And the workmen come home apace from their labours, and go to rest,” which is as sad a sign as any of the rest, Job 7: 1, 2. Isa. 57: 1, 2. Happy were it, if, in such a juncture as this, every man would make it his work and business to secure himself in Christ from the storm of God’s indignation, which is ready to fall upon these sinful nations. It is said of the Egyptians, when the storm of hail was coming upon the land, Exod. 9: 20. “He that feared the word of the Lord made his servants and cattle flee into the houses.” It is but an odd sight to see the prudence of an Egyptian out-vying the wisdom and circumspection of a Christian.
God, who provides natural shelter and refuge for all creatures, has not left his people unprovided with, and destitute of defence and security, in the most tempestuous times of national judgements. It is said, Mic. 5: 5. “This man (meaning the man Christ Jesus) shall be the peace when the Assyrian shall come into our land, and when he shall tread in our palaces.” And Isa. 26: 20. “Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee; hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.”
My friends, let me speak as freely, as I am sure I speak seasonably. A sound of judgement is in our ears; “The Lord’s voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who has appointed it,” Mic. 6: 9. All things round about us seem to posture themselves for trouble and distress. Where is the man of wisdom that does not foresee a shower of wrath and indignation coming? “We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now, and see whether a man does travail with child? Wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas, for that day is great, so that none is like it; it is even the day of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be delivered out of it,” Jer. 30: 5, 6, 7.
Many eyes are now opened to see the common danger, but some foresaw it long ago; when they saw the general decay of godliness every where, the notorious profanity and atheism that overspread the nations; the spirit of enmity and bitterness against the power of godliness wherever it appeared: and though there seemed to be a present calm, and general quietness, yet those that were wise in heart could not but discern the distress of nations, with great perplexity, in these seeds of judgement and calamity: but as the ephah fills more and more, so the determined wrath grows more and more visible to every eye; and it is a fond thing to dream of tranquillity in the midst of so much iniquity. Indeed, if these nations were once swept with the besom of reformation, we might hope God would not sweep them with the besom of destruction; but what peace can be expected, whilst the highest provocations are continued?
It is therefore the great and present concernment of all to provide themselves of a refuge before the storm overtakes them; for, as Augustin well observes, None facile inveniuntur praefidia in adversitate, quae non fuerint in pace quaesita. O take up your lodgings in the attributes and promises of God before the night overtake you; view them often by faith, and clear up your interest in them, that you may be able to go to them in the dark, when the ministers and ordinances of Christ have taken their leave of you, and bid you good night.
Whilst many are hastening on the wrath of God by profaneness, and many by smiting their fellow servants; and multitudes resolve, if trouble come, to fish in the troubled waters for safety and preferment, not doubting, (whensoever the overflowing flood comes) but they shall stand dry. O that you would be mourning for their sins, and providing better for your own safety.
Reader, it is thy one thing necessary to get a cleared interest in Jesus Christ; which being once obtained, thou mayest face the storm with boldness, and say, come troubles and distresses, losses and trials, prisons and death, I am provided for you; do your worst, you can do me no harm: let the winds roar, the lightnings flash, the rains and hail fall never so furiously, I have a good roof over my head, a comfortable lodging provided for me; “My place of defence is the munition of rocks, where bread shall be given me, and my waters shall be sure,” Isa. 33: 16.
The design of the ensuing treatise is to assist thee in this great work; and though it was promised to the world many years past, yet providence has reserved it for the fittest season, and brought it to thy hand in a time of need.
It contains the method of grace in the application of the great redemption to the souls of men, as the former part contains the method of grace in the interpretation thereof by Jesus Christ. The acceptation God has given the former part, signified by the desires of many, for the publication of this, has at last prevailed with me (notwithstanding the secret consciousness of my inequality to so great an undertaking) to adventure this second part also upon the ingenuity and candour of the reader.
And I consent the more willingly to the publication of this, because the design I first aimed at, could not be entire and complete without it; but especially, the quality of the subject matter, which (through the blessing and concurrence of the Spirit) may be useful both to rouse the drowsy consciences of this sleepy generation, and to assist the upright in clearing the work of the Spirit upon their own souls. These considerations have prevailed with me against all discouragements.
And now, reader, it is impossible for me to speak particularly and distinctly to the case of thy soul, which I am ignorant of, except the Lord shall direct my discourse to it in some of the following suppositions.
If thou be one that hast sincerely applied, and received Jesus Christ by faith, this discourse (through the blessing of the Spirit) may be useful to thee, to clear and confirm thy evidences, to melt thy heart in the sense of thy mercies, and to engage and quicken thee in the way of thy duties. Here thou wilt see what great things the Lord has done for thy soul, and how these dignities, as thou art his son or daughter, by the double title of regeneration and adoption, do oblige thee to yield up thyself to God entirely, and to say from thy heart, Lord, whatever I am, I am for thee, whatever I can do, I will do for thee; and whatever I can suffer, I will suffer for thee; and all that I am, or have, all that I can do or suffer, is nothing to what thou hast done for my soul.
If thou be a stranger to regeneration and faith; a person that makes a powerless profession of Christ; that has a name to live, but are dead; here it is possible thou mayest meet with something that will convince thee how dangerous a thing it is to be an old creature in the new creature’s dress and habit; and what is it that blinds thy judgement, and is likeliest to prove thy ruin; a seasonable and full conviction whereof will be the greatest mercy that can befall thee in this world, if thereby at last God may help thee to put on Christ, as well as the name of Christ.
If thou be in darkness about the state of thy own soul, and willing to have it faithfully and impartially tried by the rule of the word, which will not warp to any man’s humour or interest, here thou wilt find some weak assistance offered thee, to clear and disentangle thy doubting thoughts, which, through thy prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, may lead thee to a comfortable settlement and inward peace.
If thou be a proud, conceited, presumptuous soul, who has too little knowledge, and too much pride and self-love, to admit any doubts or scruples of thy state towards God, there are many things in this treatise proper for thy conviction and better information; for woe to thee, if thou shouldst not fear, till thou begin to feel thy misery, if thy troubles do not come on till all thy hopes are one off. I know all these things are performed by me with much infirmity; and that the whole management is quite below the dignity of the subject. But when I consider that the success of sermons and books in the world has but little relation to the elegancy of language, and accuracy at method, and that many may be useful, who cannot be excellent, I am willing, in all humility and sincerity to commit it to the direction of Providence, and the blessing of the Spirit.
One thing I shall earnestly request of all the people of God, into whose hands this shall fall, that now at last they will be persuaded to end all their unbrotherly quarrels and strifes among themselves, which have wasted so much precious time, and decayed the vital spirits of religion, hindered the conversion of multitudes, and increased and confirmed the atheism of the times, and now at last opened a breach, at which the common enemy is ready to enter and end the quarrel to our cost. O put on, as the elect of God, bowels of mercy, and a spirit of charity and forbearance, if not for your own sakes, yet for the church’s sake: Si non vis tibi parcere, parce Carthagini.
I remember it is noted in our English history as a very remarkable thing, that when the Severn overflowed part of Somersetshire, it was observed that dogs and hares, cats and rats, to avoid the common destruction, would swim to the next rising ground, and abide quietly together in that common danger, without the least discovery of their natural antipathy.
The story applies itself, and O that Christians would everywhere depose their animosities, that the hearts of the fathers might be turned to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest God come and smite the earth with a curse.
O that you would dwell more in your closets, and be more frequently and fervently upon your knees. O that you would search your hearts more narrowly, and sift them more thoroughly than ever, before the day pass as the chaff; and the Lord’s fierce anger come upon you: look into your Bibles, then into your hearts, and then to heavens for a true discovery of your conditions; and if this poor mite may contribute any thing to that end, it will be a great reward of the unworthy labours of
Thy Servant in Christ, John Flavel
Sermon 1: The General Nature of Effectual Application Stated
1 Cor. 1:30
“But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:”
He that enquires what is the just value and worth of Christ, asks a question which puts all the men on earth, and angels in heaven, to an everlasting non-plus.
The highest attainment of our knowledge in this life, is to know, that himself and his love do pass knowledge, Eph. 3: 19.
But how excellent soever Christ is in himself, what treasures of righteousness soever lie in his blood, and whatever joy, peace, and ravishing comforts, spring up to men out of his incarnation, humiliation, and exaltation, they all give down their distinct benefits and comforts to them, in the way of effectual application.
For never was any wound healed by a prepared, but unapplied plaister. Never any body warmed by the most costly garment made, but not put on: Never any heart refreshed and comforted by the richest cordial compounded, but not received: Nor from the beginning of the world was it ever known, that a poor deceived, condemned, polluted, miserable sinner, was actually delivered out of that woeful state, until of God, Christ was made unto him, wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption.
For look as the condemnation of the first Adam passeth not to us, except (as by generation) we are his; so grace and remission pass not from the second Adam to us, except (as by regeneration) we are his. Adam’s sin hurts none but those that are in him: and Christ’s blood profits none but those that are in him: How great a weight therefore does there hang upon the effectual application of Christ to the souls of men! And what is there in the whole world so awfully solemn, so greatly important, as this is! Such is the strong consolation resulting from it, that the apostle, in this context, offers it to the believing Corinthians, as a superabundant recompence for the despicable meanness, and baseness of their outward condition in this world, of which he had just before spoken in ver. 27, 28. telling them, though the world condemned them as vile, foolish, and weak, yet “of God Christ is made unto them wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption.”
In which words we have an enumeration of the chief privileges of believers, and an account of the method whereby they come to be invested with them.
First, Their privileges are enumerated, namely, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, mercies of inestimable value in themselves, and such as respect a fourfold misery lying upon sinful man, viz. ignorance, guilt, pollution, and the whole train of miserable consequences and effects, let in upon the nature of men, yea, the best and holiest of men, by sin.
Lapsed man is not only deep in misery, but grossly ignorant, both that he is so, and how to recover himself from it: Sin has left him at once senseless of his state, and at a perfect loss about the true remedy.
To cure this, Christ is made to him wisdom, not only by improvement of those treasures of wisdom that are in himself; for the benefit of such souls as are united to him, as an head, consulting the good of his own members; but also, by imparting his wisdom to them by the Spirit of illumination, whereby they come to discern both their sin and danger; as also the true way of their recovery from both, through the application of Christ to their souls by faith.
But alas! simple illumination does but increase our burden, and exasperate our misery as long as sin in the guilt of it is either imputed to our persons unto condemnation, or reflected by our consciences in a way of accusation.
With design therefore to remedy and heal this sore evil, Christ is made of God unto us righteousness, complete and perfect righteousness, whereby our obligation to punishment is dissolved, and thereby a solid foundation for a well-settled peace of conscience firmly established.
Yea, but although the removing of guilt from our persons and consciences be an inestimable mercy, yet alone it cannot make us completely happy: For though a man should never be damned for sin, yet what is it less than hell upon earth, to be under the dominion and pollution of every base lust? It is misery enough to be daily defiled by sin, though a man should never be damned for it.
To complete therefore the happiness of the redeemed; Christ is not only made of God unto them wisdom and righteousness, the one curing our ignorance, the other our guilt; but he is made sanctification also, to relieve us against the dominion and pollutions of our corruptions: “He comes both by water and by blood, not by blood only, but by water also,” 1 John 5: 6. purging as well as pardoning: How complete and perfect a cure is Christ!
But yet something is required beyond all this to make our happiness perfect and entire wanting nothing; and that is the removal of those doleful effects and consequences of sin, which (not withstanding all the fore-mentioned privileges and mercies) still lie upon the souls and bodies of illuminated, justified, and sanctified persons. For even with the best and holiest of men, what swarms of vanity, loads of deadness, and fits of unbelief, do daily appear in, and oppress their souls! to the embittering of all the comforts of life to them? And how many diseases, deformities, and pains oppress their bodies, which daily boulder away by them, till they fall into the grave by death, even as the bodies of other men do, who never received such privileges from Christ as they do? For if “Christ be in us (as the apostle speaks, Rom. 8: 10.) the body is dead, because of sin:” Sanctification exempts us not from mortality.
But from all these, and whatsoever else, the fruits and consequences of sin, Christ is redemption to his people also: This seals up the sum of mercies: This so completes the happiness of the saints, that it leaves nothing to desire.
These four, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption, take in all that is necessary or desirable, to make a soul truly and perfectly blessed.
Secondly, We have here the method and way, by which the elect come to be invested with these excellent privileges: the account whereof the apostle gives us in these words, “Who of God is made unto us,” in which expression, four things are remarkable.
First, That Christ and his benefits go inseparably and undividedly together: it is Christ himself who is made all this unto us: we can have no saving benefit separate and apart from the person of Christ: many would willingly receive his privileges, who will not receive his person; but it cannot be; if we will have one, we must take the other too: Yea, we must accept his person first, and then his benefits: as it is in the marriage covenant, so it is here.
Secondly, that Christ with his benefits must be personally and particularly applied to us, before we can receive any actual, saving privilege by him; he must be (made unto us) i.e. particularly ap lied to us: as a sum of money becomes, or is made the ransom and liberty of a captive, when it is not only promised, but paid down in his name, and legally applied for that use and end. When Christ died, the ransom was prepared, the sum laid down; but yet the elect continue still in sin and misery, notwithstanding, till by effectual calling it be actually applied to their persons, and then they are made free, Rom. 5: 10-11. reconciled by Christ’s death, by whom “we have now received the atonement”.
Thirdly, That this application of Christ is the work of God, and not of man: “Of God he is made unto us:” The same hand that prepared it, must also apply it, or else we perish, notwithstanding all that the Father has done in contriving, and appointing, and all that the Son has done in executing, and accomplishing the design thus far. And this actual application is the work of the Spirit, by a singular appropriation.
Fourthly and lastly, This expression imports the suitableness of Christ, to the necessities of sinners; what they want, he is made to them; and indeed, as money answers all things, and is convertible into meat, drink, raiment, physic, or what else our bodily necessities do require; so Christ is virtually, and eminently all that the necessities of our souls require; bread to the hungry, and clothing to the naked soul. In a word, God prepared and furnished him on purpose to answer all our wants, which fully suits the apostle’s sense, when he saith, “Who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption.” The sum of all is, Doct. That the lord Jesus Christ, with all his precious benefits, becomes ours, by God’s special and effectual application.
There is a twofold application of our redemption, one primary. the other secondary: The former is the act of God the Father, applying it to Christ our surety, and virtually to us in him: the latter is the act of the Holy Spirit, personally and actually applying it to us in the world of conversion: The former has the respect and relation of an example, model, or pattern to this; and this is produced and wrought by the virtue of that. What was done upon the person of Christ, was not only virtually done upon us, considered in him as a common public representative person, in which sense, we are said to die with him, and live with him, to be crucified with him, and buried with him, but it was also intended for a platform, or idea, of what is to be done by the Spirit, actually upon our souls and bodies, in our single persons. As he died for sin, so the Spirit applying his death to us in the work of mortification, causes us to die to sin, by the virtue of his death: And as he was quickened by the Spirit, and raised unto life, so the Spirit applying unto us the life of Christ, causeth us to live, by spiritual vivification. Now this personal, secondary, and actual application of redemption to us by the Spirit, in his sanctifying work, is that which I am engaged here to discuss and open; which I shall do in these following propositions.
Prop. 1. The application of Christ to us, is not only comprehensive of our justification, but of all these works of the Spirit which are known to us in scripture by the names of regeneration, vocation, sanctification, and conversion.
Though all these terms have some small respective differences among themselves, yet they are all included in this general, the applying and putting on of Christ, Rom. 13: 14. “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Regeneration expresses those supernatural, divine, new qualities, infused by the Spirit into the soul, which are the principles of all holy actions.
Vocation expresses the terms from which, and to which, the soul moves, when the Spirit works savingly upon it, under the gospel call.
Sanctification notes an holy dedication of heart and life to God: our becoming the temples of the living, God, separate from all profane sinful practices, to the Lord’s only use and service.
Conversions denotes the great change itself, which the Spirit causeth upon the soul, turning it by a sweet irresistible efficacy from the power of sin and Satan, to God in Christ.
Now all these are imported in, and done by the application of Christ to our souls: for when once the efficacy of Christ’s death, and the virtue of his resurrection, come to take place upon the heart of any man, he cannot but turn from sin to God, and become a new creature, living and acting by new principles and rules. So the apostle observes, 1 Thess. 1: 5, 6. speaking of the effect of this work of the Spirit upon that people, “Our gospel (saith he) came not to you in word only, but in power; and in the Holy Ghost:” There was the effectual application of Christ to them. “And you became followers of us, and of the Lord,” ver. 6. there was their effectual call. “And ye turned from dumb idols to serve the living and true God, ver. 9. there was their conversion. “So that ye were ensamples to all that believe,” ver. 9. there was their life of sanctification or dedication to God. So that all these are comprehended in effectual application.
Prop. 2. The application of Christ to the souls of men is that great project and design of God in this world, for the accomplishment whereof all the ordinances and all the officers of the gospel are appointed and continued in the world.
This the gospel expressly declared to be its direct end, and the great business of all its officers, Eph. 4: 11, 12. “And he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers; till we all come in the unity of the faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God; to a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ,” i.e. the great aim and scope at all Christ’s ordinances and officers, are to bring men into union with Christ, and so build them up to perfection in him; or to unite them to, and confirm them in Christ: and when it shall have finished this design, then shall the whole frame of gospel-ordinances be taken down, and all its officers disbanded. “The kingdom (i.e. this present oeconomy, manner, and form of government) shall be delivered up,” 1 Cor. 15: 24. What are ministers, but the bridegroom’s friends, ambassadors for God, to beseech men to be reconciled? When therefore all the elect are brought home in a reconciled state in Christ, when the marriage of the Lamb is come, our work and office expire together.
Prop. 3. Such is the importance and great concernment of the personal application of Christ to us by the Spirit, that whatsoever the Father has done in the contrivance, or the Son has done in the accomplishment of our redemption, is all unavailable and ineffectual to our salvation without this.
It is confessedly true, that God’s good pleasure appointing us from eternity to salvation, is, in its kind, a most full and sufficient impulsive cause of our salvation, and every way able (for so much as it is concerned) to produce its effect. And Christ’s humiliation and sufferings are a most complete and sufficient meritorious cause of our salvation, to which nothing can be addled to make it more apt, and able to procure our salvation, than it already is: yet neither the one nor the other can actually save any soul, without the Spirit’s application of Christ to it; for where there are divers social causes, or concauses, necessary to produce one effect, there the effect cannot be produced until the last cause has wrought. Thus it is here, the Father has elected, and the Son has redeemed; but until the Spirit (who is the last cause) has wrought his part also, we cannot be saved. For he comes in the Father’s and n the Son’s name and authority, to put the last hand to the work of our salvation, by bringing all the fruits of election and redemption home to our souls in this work at effectual vocation. Hence the apostle, 1 Pet. 1: 2. noting the order of causes in their operations, for the bringing about of our salvation, thus states it, “elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” Here you find God’s election and Christ’s blood, the two great causes of salvation, and yet neither of these alone, nor both together can save us: there must be added the sanctification of the Spirit, by which God’s decree is executed; and the sprinkling (i. e. the personal application of Christ’s blood) as well as the shedding of it, before we can have the saving benefit of either of the former causes.
Prop. 4. The application of Christ, with his saving benefits, is exactly of the same extent and latitude with the Father’s election, and the Son’s intention in dying, and cannot possibly be extended to one soul farther.
“Whom he did predestinate, them he also called,” Rom. 8: 30. and Acts 13: 48. “As many as were ordained to eternal life, believed;” 2 Tim. 1: 9. “Who has saved and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Jesus Christ, before the foundation of the world.”
The Father, Son, and Spirit, (betwixt whom was the council of peace) work out their design in a perfect harmony and consent: as there was no jar in their council, so there can be none in the execution of it: those whom the Father, before all time, did chose; they, and they only, are the persons, whom the Son, when the fulness of time for the execution of that decree was come, died for, John 17: 6. “I have manifested thy name unto the men, which thou gavest me out of the world; thine they were, and thou gavest them me;” and ver. 19. “For their sakes I sanctify myself;” i.e. consecrate, devote, or set myself apart for a sacrifice for them. And those for whom Christ died, are the persons to whom the Spirit effectually applies the benefits and purchases of his blood: he comes in the name of the Father and Son. “But the world cannot receive him, for it neither sees, nor knows him,” John 14: 17. “They that are not of Christ’s sheep, believe not,” John 10: 26.
Christ has indeed a fulness of saving power, but the dispensation thereof is limited by the Father’s will; therefore he tells us, Mat. 20: 23. ” It is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.” In which words he no ways denies his authority, to give glory as well as grace; he only shows that in the dispensation proper to him, as Mediator, he was limited by his Father’s will and counsel.
And thus also are the dispensations of grace by the Spirit, in like manner, limited, both by the counsel and will of the Father and Son.
For as he proceeds from them, so he acts in the administration proper to him, by commission from both. John 14: 26. “The Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name:” and as he comes forth into the world by this joint commission, so his dispensations are limited in his commission; for it is said, Johns 16: 13. “He shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak?” i.e. He shall in all things act according to his commission, which the Father and I have given him.
The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father do, John 5: 19. And the Spirit can do nothing of himself; but what he hears from the Father and Son; and it is impossible it should be otherwise, considering not only the unity of their nature, but also of their will and design. So that you see the application of Christ, and benefits by the Spirit, are commensurable with the Father’s secret counsel, and the Son’s design in dying, which are the rule, model, and pattern of the Spirit’s working.
Prop. 5. The application of Christ to souls, by the regenerating work of the Spirit, is that which makes the first internal difference and distinction among men.
It is very true, that in respect of God’s fore-knowledge and purpose, there was a distinction betwixt one man and another, before any man had a being, one was taken, another left: and with respect to the death of Christ, there is a great difference betwixt one and another; he laid down his life for the sheep, he prayed for them, and not for the world; but all this while, as to any relative change of state, or real change of temper, they are upon a level with the rest of the miserable world. The elect themselves are “by nature the children of wrath, even as others,” Eph. 2: 3. And to the same purpose the apostle tells the Corinthians, 1 Cor. 6: 11. (when he had given in that black bill, describing the most lewd, profligate, abominable wretches in the world, men whose practices did stink in the very nostrils of nature, and were able to make the more sober Heathens blush; after this he tells the Corinthians) “And such were some of you, but ye are washed,” &c. q. d. look, these were your companions once: as they are, you lately were.
The work of the Spirit does not only evidence and manifest that difference which God’s election has made between man and man, as the apostle speaks, 1 Thes. 1: 4, 5. But it also makes a twofold difference itself; namely in state and temper? whereby they visibly differ, not only from other men, but also from themselves; after this work, though a man be the “who”, yet not the “what” he was. This work of the spirit makes us new creatures, namely; for quality and temper, 2 Cor. 5: 17. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are past away, behold, all things are become new.”
Prop. 6. The application of Christ, by the work of regeneration, is that which yield unto men all the sensible sweetness and refreshing comforts that they have in Christ, and in all that he has done, suffered, or purchased for sinners.
An unsanctified person may relish the natural sweetness of the creature, as well as he that is sanctified; he may also seem to relish and taste some sweetness in the delicious promises and discoveries of the gospel, by a misapplication of them to himself. But this is like the joy of a beggar, dreaming he is a king; but he awakes and finds himself a beggar still: but for the rational, solid, and genuine delights and comforts of religion, no man tastes them, till this work of the Spirit has first passed upon his soul: it is an enclosed pleasure, a stranger intermeddles not with it. “The white stone, and the new name,” (denoting the pleasant results and fruits of justification and adoption) “no man knows but he that receives it,” Rev. 2: 7. There are all those things wanton, in the unsanctified (though elect) soul, that should capacitate and enable it to relish the sweetness of Christ and religion, namely, propriety, evidence, and suitableness of spirit.
Propriety is the sweetest part of any excellency; therefore Luther was wont to say, that the sweetness of the gospel lay mostly in pronouns, as me, any, thy, &c. who loved (me) and gave himself for me, Gal. 2: 20. Christ Jesus (my) Lord, Phil. 3: 18. So Matt. 9: 2. Son, be of good cheer, (thy) sins are forgiven. Take away propriety, and you deflower the very gospel of its beauty and deliciousness: and as propriety, so —
Evidence is requisite to joy and comfort; yea, so necessary, that even interest and propriety afford no sensible sweetness without it. For as to comfort, it is all one not to appear, and not to be. If I am registered in the book of life, and know it not, what comfort can my name there afford me? Besides, to capacitate a soul for the sweetness and comfort of Christ there is also an agreeable temper of spirit required; for how can Christ be sweet to that man’s soul, whose thoughts reluctate, decline, or nauseate so holy and pure an object? Now, all these requisites being the proper effects and fruits of the Spirit’s sanctifying operations upon us, it is beyond controversy, that the consolations of Christ cannot be tasted, until the application of Christ be first made.
Prop. 7. The application of Christ to the soul effectually, though it be so far wrought in the first saving work of the Spirit, as truly to unite the soul to Christ, and save it from the danger of perishing; yet it is a work gradually advancing in the believer’s soul, whilst it abides on this side heaven and glory.
It is true, indeed, that Christ is perfectly and completely applied to the soul in the first act for righteousness. “Justification being a relative change, properly admits no degrees, but is perfected together, and at once, in one only act; though as to its manifestation, sense, and effects, it has various degrees.” But the application of Christ to us, for wisdom and sanctification, is not perfected in one single act, but rises by many, and slow degrees to its just perfection.
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