N34404:518
Human nature in its fourfold state ... In several practical discourses. / By Mr. Thomas Boston, late Minister of the Gospel at Etterick.
United States : s.n. Printed for the booksellers., M,DCC,LXXXVII. 1787
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
yet all that he trusted to for life and salvation, namely, the righteousness of Christ, still stands entire, and the covenant remains firm. See Rom. vii. 24, 25. and viii. 1.
Now, though […] lives in making and breaking such covenants of their own […] upon […] reeking o• them wearing weake• and weake• by degree […] it creates them little or no uneasiness: at the man […] the good work is carried on, till it be accomplished in […] off from the old stock, ti••; these covenants to be […] every touch; and the terror of God, being […] upon […] spirit, and the waters at every […], getting […] cease from catching •old of such covenants […] other way.
Now, though 〈…〉 lives in making and breaking such covenants of their own 〈…〉 upon 〈…〉 re•king o• them wearing weake• and weake• by degree 〈…〉 it creates them little or no uneasiness: at the man 〈…〉 the good work is carried on, till it be accomplished in 〈…〉 off from the old stock, ti••; these covenants to be 〈…〉 every touch; and the terro• of God, being 〈…〉 upon 〈…〉 spirit, and the waters at every 〈…〉, getting 〈…〉 cease from catching •old of such covenants 〈…〉 other way.
Tenthly, Therefore the […] at C•rt••'s •••r for mercy: but, yet he is […] on his personal worth. For, as the […] ⟨p. 181⟩the one only Mediator; so the branches of the old stock, have always something to produce, which they think may commend them to Christ, and engage him to take their cause in hand. They cannot think of coming to the spiritual market, without money in their hand They are like persons, who have once had an estate of their own, but are reduced to extreme poverty, and forced to b•g When they come to beg, they still remember their former character; and though they have lost their substance, yet they retain much of their former spirit, therefore they cannot think they ought to be treated as ordinary beggars; but deserve a particular regard; and, if that be not given them, their spirits rise against him to whom they ad••• themselves for supply. Thus God gives the unhumbled sinner many com••• mercies: and shuts him not up in the pit, according to his deserving• but all this is nothing in his eyes. He must be set down at the children's table, otherwise he reckons himself hardly dealt with, and wronged▪ for he is not yet brought so low, as to think, God may be justified when he speaketh, (against him) and clear from all iniqui••, when he judgeth him, according to his real demerit, Psal. li. 4 He thinks, perhaps, that even before he was enlightened, he was better than many others; he considers his reformation of life, his repentance, and grief and tears his sin has cost him, his earnest desires after Christ, his prayers, and wrestlings for mercy; and useth all these now, as bribes for mercy, laying no small weight upon them, in his addresses to the throne of grace. But here the Spirit of the Lord shoots a sheaf of arrows into the man's heart, whereby his confidence in these things is sunk and destroyed; and instead of thinking himself better than many, he is made to see himself worse than any. The naughtiness of his reformation of life is discovered. His repentance appears to him no better than the repentance of Judas; his tears like Esau's, and his desires after Christ to be selfish and loathsome, like theirs who sought Christ because of the loaves.
He seems to look sternly on him, for his slighting of Jesus Christ by unbelief, which is a sin he fierce discerned before. But now, […] length, he beholds it in its crimson colours; and is pierced to the heart, as with a thousand darts, while he sees how i• has been going on blindly, sinning against the remedy of sin, and in the whole coarse of his life, trampling on the blood of the Son of God. And now he is, in his own eyes, the miserable object of law-vengeance, yea, and gospel-vengeance too.
He seems to look sternly on him, for his slighting of Jesus Christ by unbelief, which is a sin he fearce discerned before. But now, 〈…〉 length, he beholds it in its crimson colours; and is pierced to the heart, as with a thousand darts, while he sees how i• has been going on blindly, sinning against the remedy of sin, and in the whole coarse of his life, trampling on the blood of the Son of God. And now he is, in his own eyes, the miserable object of law-vengeance, yea, and gospel-vengeance too.
Eleventhly, The man being thus far humbled, will no more plead, he is worthy for wh•m Christ should do this thing: but, on the contrary, looks on himself as unworthy of Christ, and unworthy of the favour of God. We may compare him, in this case, to the young man who followed Christ, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body […] on whom, when the young men laid hold, he left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked, Mark xiv. 51, 52. Even so the man had been ⟨p. 182⟩following Christ, in the thin and coldrise garment of his own personal worthiness; but by it, even by it, which he so much trusted to, the law catcheth hold of him, to make him prisoner; and then he is fain to leave it, and flees away naked; yet not to Christ, but from him. If you now tell him, he is welcome to Christ, if he will come to him; he is apt to say, Can such a vile and unworthy wretch as I, be welcome to the holy Jesus? If a plaster be applied to his wounded soul, it will not stick He says, Depart from m•, for I am a sinful man, O Lord, Luke v. 8. No man needs speak to him of his repentance, for his comfort; he can quickly espy such faults in it as makes it naught: nor of his tears, for he is assured, they have never come into the Lord's bottle. He dispute himself away from Christ; and concludes, now that he has been such a slighter of Christ, and is such an unholy and vile creature, he cannot, he will not, he ought nor, to come to Christ; and that he must either be in better case, or else he'll never believe. And hence, he now makes his strongest efforts, to amend what was amiss in his way before: He prays more earnestly than ever, mourns more bitterly, strives against sin in heart and life, more vigorously, and watcheth more diligently; if by any means he may, at length be fit to come to Christ. One would think the man is well humbled now: But ah! devilish pride lurks under the veil of all this seeming humility. Like a kindly br•nch of the old stock; he adheres still; and will not submit to the righteousness •f God, Rom. x 3. He will not come to the market of free-grace, without money. He is bidden to the marriage of the King's Son, where the bridegroom himself furnisheth all the guests with wedding garments, stripping them of their own: but he will not come, because he wants a wedding-garment; howbeit he is very busy making one ready. This is sad work;
and therefore he must have a deeper stroke yet; else he is ruined. This stroke is reached him with the axe of the law, in its irritating power. Thus the law girding the soul with cords of death, and holding it in with the rigorous commands of obedience, under the pain of the curse; and God, in his holy and wise conduct, withdrawing his restraining grace; corruption is irritated, lusts become violent, and the more they are striven against, the more they rage, like a furious horse checked with the b••. Then do corruptions set up their heads, which he never saw in himself before. Here oft-times atheism, blasphemy, and, in one word, horrible things concerning God, terrible thoughts concerning the faith, arise in his breast: so that his heart is a very hell within him. Thus, while he is sweeping the house of his heart, not yet watered with gospel-grace, these corruptions which lay quiet before in neglected corners, sly up and down in it like dust. He is as one who is mending a dam, and while he's repairing breaches in it, and strengthening every part of it, a mighty flood comes down, overturns his work, and drives all away before it, as well what was newly laid, as what was laid before. Read, Rom. vii. 8, 9, 10, 13. This ⟨p. 183⟩is a stroke which goes to the heart: and, by it, his hope of getting himself nore sit to come to Christ, is cut off.
and therefore he must have a deeper stroke yet; else he is ruined. This stroke is reached him with the ax of the law, in its irritating power. Thus the law girding the soul with cords of death, and holding it in with the rigorous commands of obedience, under the pain of the curse; and God, in his holy and wise conduct, withdrawing his restraining grace; corruption is irritated, lusts become violent, and the more they are striven against, the more they rage, like a furious horse checked with the b••. Then do corruptions set up their heads, which he never saw in himself before. Here oft-times atheism, blasphemy, and, in one word, horrible things concerning God, terrible thoughts concerning the faith, arise in his breast: so that his heart is a very hell within him. Thus, while he is sweeping the house of his heart, not yet watered with gospel-grace, these corruptions which lay quiet before in neglected corners, sly up and down in it like dust. He is as one who is mending a dam, and while he's repairing breaches in it, and strengthening every part of it, a mighty flood comes down, overturns his work, and drives all away before it, as well what was newly laid, as what was laid before. Read,
Lastly, Now the time is come when the man betwixt hope and despair, resolves to go to Christ as he is: and therefore, like a dying man stretching himself, just before his breath goes out, he rallies the broken forces of his soul; tries to believe, and in some sort lays hold on Jesus Christ. And now the branch hangs on the old stock, by one single tack of a natural faith, produced by the natural vigour of one's own spirit, under a most pressing necessity, Psal. lxxxviii. 34, 35. When he slew them, then they sought him, and they returned and enquired early after God. And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their Redeemer. Hos. viii. 2. Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee. But the Lord minding to perfect his work, fetches yet another stroke, whereby the branch falls quite off. The Spirit of God convincingly discovers to the sinner, his utter inability to do any thing that is good: and so he dieth, Rom. vii. 9. That voice powerfully strikes through his soul, How can ye believe? John v. 44. Thou canst no more believe, than thou canst reach up thine hand to heaven, and bring Christ down from thence. And thus at length he sees, he can neither help himself by working, nor by believing: and having no more to hang by on the old stock, he therefore falls off. And while he is distressed thus, seeing himself like to be swept away with the flood of God's wrath; and yet unable so much as to stretch forth a hand to lay hold of a twig of the tree of life, growing on the banks of the river; he is taken up, and ingrafted into the true Vine, the Lord Jesus Christ giving him the spirit of faith.
Lastly, Now the time is come when the man betwixt hope and despair, resolves to go to Christ as he is: and therefore, like a dying man stretching himself, just before his breath goes out, he rallies the broken forces of his soul; tries to believe, and in some sort lays hold on Jesus Christ. And now the branch hangs on the old stock, by one single tack of a natural faith, produced by the natural vigour of one's own spirit, under a most pressing necessity, Psal. lxxxviii. 34, 35. When he slew them, then they sought him, and they returned and enquired early after God. And they remembred that God was their rock, and the high God their Redeemer. Hos. viii. 2
By what has been said upon this head, I design not to rack or distress tender consciences; for, tho' there are but few such, at the day, yet, God forbid I should offend any of Christ's little ones. But, alas! a dead sleep is fallen upon this generation; they will not be awakened, let us go as near the quick as we will: and therefore, I fear there is another sort of awakening abiding this sermon-proof generation, which shall make the ears of them that hear it to tingle. However, I would not have this to be looked upon as the sovereign God's stinted method of breaking off sinners from the old stock: but this I assert as a certain truth, that all who are in Christ, have been broken off from all these several confidences; and that they who were never broken off from them, are yet in their natural stock. Nevertheless, if the house be pulled down, and the old foundation razed: it is all a case, whether it was taken down stone by stone, or whether it was undetermined, and all fell down together.
Now it is, that the branch is ingrafted in Jesus Christ. And, as the law, in the hand of the Spirit of God, was the instrume•• to cut off the branch from the natural stock, so the gospel, in the hand of the same Spirit, is the instrument used for ingrafting it in the supernatural stock, 1 John i. 3. That which we have seen and heard, declare ⟨p. 184⟩we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. See Isa. lxi. 1, 2, 3. The gospel is the silver cord let down from heaven, to draw perishing sinners to land. And, tho' the preaching of the law prepares the way of the Lord; yet it is in the word of the gospel, that Christ and a sinner meet. Now, as in the natural grafting, the branch being taken up is put into the stock; and being put into it, takes with it; and so they are united: even so in the spiritual ingrafting, Christ apprehends the sinner; and the sinner being apprehended of Christ, apprehends him; and so they become one, Philip. iii. 12.
First, Christ apprehends the sinner by his Spirit, and draws him to himself, 1 Cor. xii 13. For by one Spirit, we are all baptized into one body. The same Spirit, which is in the Mediator himself, he communicates to his elect in due time; never to depart from them, but to abide in them, as a principle of life. Thus, he takes hold of them, by his own Spirit put into them; and so the withered branch gets life. The soul is now in the hands of the Lord of life, and possessed by the Spirit of life: how then can it but live? The man gets a ravishing light of Christ's excellency, in the glass of the gospel: he sees him a full, suitable, and willing Saviour; and gets a heart to take him for, and instead of all. The spirit of faith furnisheth him with feet to come to Christ, and hands to receive him. What by nature he could not do, by grace he can; the Holy Spirit working in him the work of faith with power.
Secondly, The Sinner, thus apprehended, apprehends Christ by faith, and so takes with the blessed stock, Eph. iii. 17. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. The soul that before tried many ways of escape, but all in vain, doth now look again, with the eye of faith, which proves the healing look. As Aaron's rod, laid up in the tabernacle, budded, and brought forth buds, Numb. xvii. 8. So the dead branch apprehended by the Lord of life, put into, and bound up with, the glorious quickening stock, by the Spirit of life, buds forth in actual believing on Jesus Christ, whereby this union is completed. We having the same spirit of faith—believe, 2 Cor. iv. 13. Thus the stock and the graft are united, Christ and the Christian are married: faith being the soul's consent to the spiritual marriage covenant, which, as it is proposed in the gospel to mankind sinners indefinitely, so it is demonstrated, attested, and brought home, to the man in particular, by the Holy Spirit: and so be, being joined to the Lord, is one Spirit with him. Hereby a believer live in and for Christ, and Christ lives in, and for the believer, Gal. ii. • I am crucified with Christ: Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in […]. Hos. iii. 3. Thou shalt not be for another man, so will I […] be for thee. The •o•ds then of this blessed union are, the Spirit on Christ's part, and saith […] the believer's part.
Secondly, The Sinner, thus apprehended, apprehends Christ by faith, and so takes with the blessed stock, Eph. iii. 17. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. The soul that before tried many ways of escape, but all in vain, doth now look again, with the eye of faith, which proves the healing look. As Aaron's rod, laid up in the tabernacle, budded, and brought forth buds,
Now, both the souls and bodies of believers are united to Christ. He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit, 1 Cor vi 17. The very bodi•• of believers have this honour put upon them, that they are the templ•• of the holy Ghost, ver. 19. And the members of Christ, ver. 15. When they sleep in the dust, they sleep in Jesus, 1 Thess. iv. 14. And it is in virtue of this union, they shall be raised up out of the dust again, Rom. viii. 11. He shall quicken your metal bodies, by his Spirit […] dwelleth in you. In token of this mystical union, the church of believers is called by the name of her head and husband, 1 Cor. xii 12. For as the body is one, and hath many members,—so also is Christ
Now, both the souls and bodies of believers are united to Christ. He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit, 1 Cor vi 17. The very bodi•• of believers have this honour put upon them, that they are the templ•• of the holy Ghost, ver. 19. And the members of Christ, ver. 15. When they sleep in the dust, they sleep in Jesus, 1 Thess. iv. 14. And it is in virtue of this union, they shall be raised up out of the dust again, Rom. viii. 11. He shall quicken your m•tal bodies, by his Spirit 〈…〉 dwelleth in you. In token of this mystical union, the church of believers is called by the name of her head and husband, 1 Cor. xii 12. For as the body is one, and hath many members,—so also is Christ
USE From what is said, we may draw these following inferences:
1 The preaching of the law is most necessary. He that would ingraft, must needs use the snedding knife. Sinners have many shifts to keep them from Christ; many things by which they keep their hold of the natural stock: therefore, they have need to be closely pursued, and hunted out of their skulking holes, and refuge of lies.
1 The preaching of the law is most necessary. He that would ingraft, must needs use the snedding knife. Sinners have many shifts to keep them from Christ; many things by which they keep their hold of the natural stock: therefore, they have need to be closely pursued, and hunted out of their sculking holes, and refuge of lies.
2. Yet it is the gospel that crowns the work: the law makes nothing perfect••• •he law lays open the wound, but it is the gospel that heals. The law strips a man, wounds him, and leaves him half-dead: the gospel binds up his wounds, pouring in wine and oil, to heal them. By the law we are broken off: but, it is by the gospel we are taken up, and implanted in Christ.
3. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his, Rom. viii 9. We are told of a monster in nature, having two bodies differently animated, as appeared from contrary affections at one and the same time; but so united, that they were served with the selfsame legs Even so, however men may cleave to Christ, call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel, Isa. xlvii 2. And they may be bound up as branches in him, John xv. 2. by the outward ties of sacraments: yet, if the Spirit that dwells in Christ, dwell not in them they are not one with him. There is a great difference betwixt adhesion and ingrafting. The ivy clasps and twists itself about the oak; but it is not one with it, for it still grows on its own root: so, to allege […] Isa. iv. 1. many professors take hold of Christ, and eat their own bread, and wear their own apparel, only they are called by his name. They stay themselves upon him, but grow upon their own root: they take him to support their hopes, but their delights are elsewhere.
3. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his, Rom. viii 9. We are told of a monster in nature, having two bodies differently animated, as appeared from contrary affections at one and the same time; but so united, that they were served with the selfsame legs Even so, however men may cleave to Christ, call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel, Isa. xlvii 2. And they may be bound up as branches in him, John xv. 2. by the outward ties of sacraments: yet, if the Spirit that dwells in Christ, dwell not in them they are not one with him. There is a great difference betwixt adhesion and ingrafting. The ivy clasps and twists itself about the oak; but it is not one with it, for it still grows on its own root: so, to alled• 〈…〉 Isa. iv. 1. many professors take hold of Christ, and eat their own bread, and wear their own appar•l, only they are called by his name. They stay themselves upon him, but grow upon their own root: they take him to support their hopes, but their delights are elsewhere.
Tenthly, Therefore the 〈…〉 at C•rt••'s •••r for mercy: but, yet he is 〈…〉 on his personal worth. For, as the 〈…〉 ⟨p. 181⟩the one only Mediator; so the branches of the old stock, have always something to produce, which they think may commend them to Christ, and engage him to take their cause in hand. They cannot think of coming to the spiritual market, without money in their hand They are like persons, who have once had an estate of their own, but are reduced to extreme poverty, and forced to b•g When they come to beg, they still remember their former character; and though they have lost their substance, yet they retain much of their former spirit, therefore they cannot think they ought to be treated as ordinary beggars; but deserve a particular regard; and, if that be not given them, their spirits rise against him to whom they ad••• themselves for supply. Thus God gives the unhumbled sinner many com••• mercies: and shuts him not up in the pit, according to his deserving• but all this is nothing in his eyes. He must be set down at the children's table, otherwise he reckons himself hardly dealt with, and wronged▪ for he is not yet brought so low, as to think, God may be justified when he speaketh, (against him) and clear from all iniqui••, when he judgeth him, according to his real demerit, Psal. li. 4 He thinks, perhaps, that even before he was enlightned, he was better than many others; he considers his reformation of life, his repentance, and grief and tears his sin has cost him, his earnest desires after Christ, his prayers, and wrestlings for mercy; and useth all these now, as bribes for mercy, laying no small weight upon them, in his addresses to the throne of grace. But here the Spirit of the Lord shoots a sheaf of arrows into the man's heart, whereby his confidence in these things is sunk and destroyed; and instead of thinking himself better than many, he is made to see himself worse than any. The naughtiness of his reformation of life is discovered. His repentance appears to him no better than the repentance of Judas; his tears like Esau's, and his desires after Christ to be selfish and loathsome, like theirs who sought Christ because of the loaves. John vi. 26. His answer from God seems now to be, Away proud beggar, How shall I put thee among the children?
Eleventhly, The man being thus far humbled, will no more plead, he is worthy for wh•m Christ should do this thing: but, on the contrary, looks on himself as unworthy of Christ, and unworthy of the favour of God. We may compare him, in this case, to the young man who followed Christ, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body 〈…〉 on whom, when the young men laid hold, he left the linen cloth, and fied from them naked, Mark xiv. 51, 52. Even so the man had been ⟨p. 182⟩following Christ, in the thin and coldrise garment of his own personal worthiness; but by it, even by it, which he so much trusted to, the law catcheth hold of him, to make him prisoner; and then he is fain to leave it, and flees away naked; yet not to Christ, but from him. If you now tell him, he is welcome to Christ, if he will come to him; he is apt to say, Can such a vile and unworthy wretch as I, be welcome to the holy Jesus? If a plaister be applied to his wounded soul, it will not stick He says, Depart from m•, for I am a sinful man, O Lord, Luke v. 8. No man needs speak to him of his repentance, for his comfort; he can quickly espy such faults in it as makes it naught: nor of his tears, for he is assured, they have never come into the Lord's bottle. He dispute himself away from Christ; and concludes, now that he has been such a slighter of Christ, and is such an unholy and vile creature, he cannot, he will not, he ought nor, to come to Christ; and that he must either be in better case, or else he'll never believe. And hence, he now makes his strongest efforts, to amend what was amiss in his way before: He prays more earnestly than ever, mourns more bitterly, strives against sin in heart and life, more vigorously, and watcheth more diligently; if by any means he may, at length be fit to come to Christ. One would think the man is well humbled now: But ah! devilish pride lurks under the veil of all this seeming humility. Like a kindly br•nch of the old stock; he adheres still; and will not submit to the righteousness •f God, Rom. x 3. He will not come to the market of free-grace, without money. He is bidden to the marriage of the King's Son, where the bridegroom himself furnisheth all the guests with wedding garments, stripping them of their own: but he will not come, because he wants a wedding-garment; howbeit he is very busy making one ready. This is sad work;
