had not his Holy Spirit so sweetly and suddenly converted my soul from the death of sin, and enlightened the eyes of my mind with the light of life. It was all of him, and none of myself, that I was plucked as a brand from the burning, just as I seemed to be dropping into the fire for ever. Paul.-True; it was so. And can you suppose, that you could possibly have returned to your old way of thieving again, if you had been delivered from the cross; or, that you could have been pleased with the thought of sinning and sinning, that grace might abound and superabound? Thief.-O horrible! what stab my Master again, and crucify him afresh! None but a devil could suggest the doctrine, none but his imps can put it in practice; and damnation is the just reward of both.*-How can they, as you have well observed, who are dead to sin, live any longer therein? The believer is crucified with Christ, and no longer lives spiritually by the life of his own hand or power, but by the faith of the Son of God; or rather, he doth not so much live this life, as Christ in him and certainly the life of Christ can never lead a man to sin, which is a miserable deadness in itself, and the sure forerunner of death everlasting. Paul. You speak rightly, my brother. A formalist may rail against sin, because it produces temporal and threatens eternal evil; but the real believer is led to hate it for its own sake, abstracted from its future inconve niences or disasters: and this also constitutes another specific mark of difference between them. I may fur Rom, iii. 8. + Gal. ii, 20. CC 4 ther : ther observe, that, if a carnal man pretend to fight against sin, and, presuming on his own strength and resolutions, should mortify his flesh like a Bramin, he is but a carnal man still, mere flesh, and in the flesh and as no effect can rise above its cause, so whatever he does, or seems to do, is all from a foul and evil nature, a corrupt principle of flesh and blood,* and is nothing in itself but a work of the flesh, begun and ended in opposition to the divine will, word, and glory, however dressed or disguised. The regenerate person alone, through a help superior to that of nature, can truly detest, mortify, and subdue sin within himself, or overcome the world and satan without him. And this victory turns to a proof of his regeneration and union with Christ; because by this he shows, that he hath light, life, and strength, graciously derived from him. Thus he delights in the law of God, his rule of duty though not fount of life, in the inner man, and rejoices in Christ Jesus, having no confidence in the flesh. He is under the law to Christ, because it is altogether holy, and just, and good; though he is without the law in his conscience, when he pleads his justification before God, by whom he is accepted, not for works of righteousness which he hath done, or could do, but only through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ his Redeemer. This discernment between the offices of the law and the gospel, and the preservation of each in its proper place, are great and momentous points in Christian wisdom and experience, and espe cially in the hours of temptation and trial. Thief. This accounts for the joy, which many of our #1 Cor. xv. 50. brethren brethren tasted in the world, while they found; without, fightings; within, fears. But for this mercy, and the love of God shed abroad in their hearts, they must have sunk under many a weight of woe. I myself had a short taste, a blessed glimpse of glory, before I entered within the vail. Paul. The more a man is beaten out of himself (and continual beating he wants too) the more he seeks after, and delights in, his Saviour. And in proportion also to the strength and depth of mens' convictions, under the fiery trial of God's law upon their consciences for the discovery of sin, all of which is effected by the agency of the divine Spirit; I say, in proportion to all this, is usually their measure of apprehension and delight in the free grace of God, entire recumbence upon it, and deliverance from those errors, which tend to darken or diminish it. Such men, having sorely smarted for sin and sinfulness, have commonly the greatest discoveries and detestation of the apostasy of their nature, and most of all others abhor the bare idea of abusing that mercy, which took the bitter pang from their hearts, and afforded them joy and peace in believing. The dry reasoners and mere speculatists, who never felt much, if any, of these things, are the people, who are most likely to find something good in self, and a little good in Jesus Christ, and to show and enjoy neither the one nor the other, in the conduct of their lips and lives. Thief. This reminds me of your promise, just now, of considering the true religion truly held and enjoyed, which you called the religion of the Spirit, in contra distinction distinction to the religion of the flesh, or even true religion professed by it. Paul. The religion of the Spirit, only God the Spirit begins in the soul. It is his new creation in Christ Jesus. The objects of his grace were spiritually dead even as others; mere bones without life, and (as God knows) very, very dry.* Being dead, they were polluted; for death and pollution, in God's language, are nearly, and in a certain sense, relative and reciprocal ideas. In this state they could not help themselves, nor desire help, nor had even the heart to call for it. But God, who is rich in mercy, sent forth the Spirit of his Son, quickened them in Christ, and gave them freely a new birth unto righteousness. For this purpose, the law was laid upon their old man of sin, condemned him for sin, made the conscience smart on account of it, terrified the soul with its danger, and brought it into distress for its safety. No help, no resource, appeared: every channel of hope was dry; and remorse, terror, bondage, and anxious despair, came with united weight to press down and torment the soul. All these are the usual pangs of spiritual and renewing life. And when the soul is thus humbled and brought low, circumcised or cut off from Ezek. xxxvii. 2. † Lev. xxi. 1. Numb. v. 2. ix. 6.-Pollution entailed death and separation from God, unless expiation or atonement was made by the death of a substitute, who then received the pollution and its curse. This was a part of the law ceremonial, preaching remission of sins by Jesus Christ, who for this end was made sin and a curse for his people. 2 Cor. v. 21. Gal. iii. 13. No pollution under the law was so great as that, which was contracted by the touch of the dead. See upon this subject, and for an answer to the Socinians from the law, OUTRAM de Sacrif. 1. i. c. 6. & passim. its rest in the old Adam or carnal nature; then the divine Spirit sets forth the love of Jesus, and the fitness, freeness, and ability of Jesus and his salvation, before the eyes of the now regenerating and enlightened mind. This he usually performs by the word of the gospel: and gospel, i. e. good news, it then becomes, to the recovering soul. The grace, which first leads to the view, leads also to the desire, of this mercy, in higher or lower degrees, according to his own dispensation. The power, which hath begun to work so much as this, effectually works to produce faith and confidence. The soul believes, and hopes, and loves, and embraces the free salvation of Jesus, with all the efforts of that renovated life, which the same Jesus by his Spirit constantly supplies and upholds. It is filled with astonishment and gratitude in the sense of the loving-kindness of God our Saviour, and is ready to cry out, upon the contemplation of his free and sovereign bounty, "Why me, Lord! why me? What am I, and what is my father's house, that thou shouldest bring me to this, and shouldest promise me, moreover, such good things to eternity, as pass man's understanding to conceive?" Then, in divine strength, he prays, and loves to pray, and praise, and does the will of God from the heart. Then it becomes his supreme delight to follow Jesus in all things as his bright example, as well as to live upon him for wisdom, righteousness, and redemption. And he wishes, with the warmest fervor of his soul, that no deed, no word, no, not so much as a thought, may pass through him or from him, which can, in any measure, disgrace his * 1 Thess. ii. 13. Christian |