The Sound Believer

CHAP. I. As the great Cause of the eternal Perdition of Men is of themselves, so the only Cause of the actual Deliverance & Salvation of Man is Jesus Christ: View this Text.

HOSEA XIII. ix.

O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thy Help.

THESE Words as they are set down in the Hebrew, are (according to the Style of this Prophet) very short and sententious, and therefore difficult to translate into English without some Periphrasis; but the Sense is here truly express'd, In me is thy Help; which you may see confi◊◊◊d from ◊.4. There p. 2is no Saviour beside me; and v. 14. I will ransom them from the Power of the Grave, O Death, I will be thy Plague, O Grave, I will be thy Destruction. Suppose the Prophet should speak here of temporal Salvation, Help and Ransom, (which he doth not) yet the Argument is strong; if there be no Saviour from temporal Woe and Misery, but only the Lord Jesus, how much more is there from Woes eternal? Only understand me here aright; I am not now speaking of Man's Deliverance and Salvation by Price, in Way of Satisfaction to Justice, (for that I have already handled) but of his Deliverance and Salvation by Power; not of Man's purchased Deliverance, which is by the Blood of Christ, but of Man's actual Deliverance, which is by the Efficacy and Power of the Spirit of Christ. Some Captives among Men, are redeemed by Price only, some by Power without Price; but such is the lamentable Captivity of all Men, under the Severity of Justice, and Power of Sin, that without the Price of Christ's Blood, Eph. 1.7. and the Power of Christ's Spirit, John 8.36. there is no Deliverance; the Lord Jesus having paid the Price for our Deliverance. Yet it is with us, as with a Company of Captives in Prison; our Sins like strong Chains hold us; Satan, our Keeper, will not let us go, the Prison Doors, thro' Unbelief, are shut upon us, Rom. 11.32. and thereby God and Christ are kept out from us; what Power can rescue us, that are held fast under such a Power, even after the Price is paid? Truly it can be no other but that in my Text, In me is thy Help: When our Ransom is paid, the Lord himself must come and fetch us out by a strong Hand, Isai. 53.1. To whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed? Truly to very few, yet to some it is▪ and certainly look as they ma◊e Christ no Saviour indeed, who deny p. 3his Salvation by Price and Satisfaction; so those also make him an imperfect Saviour, who deny Salvation and actual Deliverance of Man, to be only the almighty Arm and Efficacy of his Spirit and Power: Excellent therefore is the Speech of the Apostle, Acts 5.30, 31. God hath exalted Jesus to give Repentance and Remission of Sins unto Israel; look as Jesus was abased to purchase Repentance and Remission, so he is now exalted actually to give and apply Repentance and Remission of Sins. Whose Glory is it to remit Sins, but God's in Christ, and by Christ only? Whose Glory is it to give Repentance (which in this Place, comprehends the Work of Conversion and Faith, as Bez◊ observes) whereby we apply Remission, but the same God only? The one is as difficult to be conveyed as the other, and we stand in as much need of Christ to do the one as the other; all the Power of Christ exalted, is little eno' to give us Repentance and Remission, the Condition of the Covenant express'd in Repentance, and the Blessings in the Covenant, summed up in the Forgivness of Sins; the Socinians deny Redemption and Salvation by Price; the Arminians, by Christ's Power, leaving Swasion only to him, but Power of Conversion to the Power and Liberty of the Will of Man; O adulterous Generation, that are thus hacking and cutting the Cords of their own Salvation! I shall here speak only to one Question, which is the principal and most profitable, and that is this, p. 3Quest. How doth Christ redeem and save us by his Power, out of that miserable Estate; and consequently what is the Way for us to seek, and so to find and feel Deliverance by the Hand of Christ's Power?

Answ. As there are four principal Means & Causes or Ways, whereby Man ruins himself. 1. Ignorance of their own Misery. 2. Security and Unsensibleness of p. 4it. 3. Carnal Confidence in their own Duties. 4. Presumption, or resting upon the Mercy of God by a Faith of their own forging. So on the contrary, there is a fourfold Act of Christ's Power, whereby he rescues and delivers all his out of their miserable Estate.

The first Act or Stroke is Conviction of Sin.

The second is Compunction for Sin.

The third is Humiliation, or Self-Abasement.

The Fourth is Faith.

All which are distinctly put forth (when he ceaseth extraordinarily to work) in the Day of Christ's Power; and whoever look for actual Salvation and Redemption from Christ, let them seek for Mercy and Deliverance in this Way, out of which, they shall never find it; let them begin at Conviction, and desire the Lord to let them see their Sins, that so, being affected with them, and humbled under them, they may, by Faith, be enabled to receive Jesus Christ, and so be blessed in him. It is true, Christ is applied to us nextly by Faith, but Faith is wrought in us in that Way of Conviction and Sorrow for Sin; no Man can or will come by Faith to Christ, to take away his Sins, unless he first see, be convicted of, and laden with them. I confess the Manner of the Spirit's Work in the Conversion of a Sinner unto God, is exceeding secret, and in many Things very various; and therefore it is too great Boldness to mark out all God's Footsteps herein; yet so far forth as the Lord himself tells us his Work, and the Manner of it in all his, we may safely resolve our selves; and so far, and no farther, shall we proceed in the Explication of these Things. It is great Prophaneness not to search into the Works of common Providence, tho' secret and hidden, Psal. 28.5. and 92.6. much greater is it, not to do thus unto God's Work of especial Favour and Gra◊e upon his chosen.