I shall conclude this account with a few words to those who are not of our communion, into whose hands this may come; especially those of our own nation.
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Friends, as you are the sons and daughters of Adam, and my brethren after the flesh, often and earnest have been my desires and prayers to God on your behalf, that you may come to know your Creator to be your Redeemer, and Restorer to the holy image that through sin you have lost, by the power and Spirit of his Son
Jesus Christ, whom he hath given for the light and life of the world. And O that you, who are called Christians, would receive him into your hearts! for there it is you want him, and at that door he stands knocking, that you might let him in; but you do not open to him; you are full of other guests, so that a manger is his lot among you now as well as of old. Yet you are full of profession, as were the Jews when he came among them, who knew him not, but rejected and evily entreated him. So that if you come not to the possession and experience of what you profess, all your formality and religion will stand you in no stead in the day of God’s judgment.
I beseech you ponder with yourselves your eternal condition, and see what title, what ground and foundation you have for your Christianity: if more than a profession, and an historical belief of the gospel. Have you known the baptism of fire, and the Holy Ghost, and the fan of Christ that winnows away the chaff in your minds, the carnal lusts, and affections; that divine leaven of the kingdom, that, being received, leavens the whole lump of man, sanctifying him throughout in body, soul, and spirit? If this be not the ground of your confidence, you are in a miserable state.
You will say, perhaps, that though you are sinners, and live in daily commission of sin, and are not sanctified, as I have been speaking, yet you have faith in Christ, who has borne the curse for you, and in him you are complete by faith, his righteousness being imputed to you.
But, my friends, let me entreat you not to deceive yourselves, in so important a point, as is that of your immortal souls. If you have true faith in Christ, your
faith will make you clean; it will sanctify you: for the saints’ faith was their victory of old: by this they overcame sin within, and sinful man without. And if thou art in Christ, thou walkest not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, whose fruits are manifest. Yea, thou art a new creature: new made, new fashioned, after God’s will and mould. Old things are done away, and, behold, all things are become new: new love, desires, will, affections, and practices. It is not any longer thou that livest; (thou disobedient, carnal, worldly one;) but it is Christ that liveth in thee; and to live is Christ, and to die is thy eternal gain: because thou art assured, that thy corruptible shall put on incorruption, and thy mortal, immortality, and that thou hast a glorious house, eternal in the heavens, that will never wax old or pass away. All this follows being in Christ, as heat follows fire, and light the sun.
Therefore have a care how you presume to rely upon such a notion, as that you are in Christ, whilst in your old fallen nature. For what communion hath light with darkness, or Christ with Belial? Hear what the beloved disciple tells you: “If we say we have fellowship with God, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.” That is, if we go on in a sinful way, are captivated by our carnal affections, and are not converted to God, we walk in darkness, and cannot possibly in that state have any fellowship with God. Christ clothes them with his righteousness, that receive his grace in their hearts, and deny themselves, and take up his cross daily, and follow him. Christ’s righteousness makes men inwardly holy; of holy minds, wills, and practices. It is not the less Christ’s, because we have it; for it is ours, not by nature, but by faith and adoption: it is the gift of God. But,
still, though not ours, as of or from ourselves, (for in that sense it is Christ’s, for it is of and from him,) yet it is ours, and must be ours, in possession, efficacy, and enjoyment, to do us any good; or Christ’s righteousness will profit us nothing. It was after this manner that he was made to the primitive Christians, righteousness, sanctification, justification, and redemption; and if ever you will have the comfort, kernel, and marrow of the Christian religion, thus you must come to learn and obtain it.