to the E P H E S I AN S. 1 99 that end. No, upon thy believing, and by being fandified, and receiving tice ~ Spirit at fir!\, thy falvation is made as fure as by all the works of the Holy Ghofi ~ for ever after. . 1h . Well then, there is nothing there:ore that IS left t~Jat ould b~ the mcanmg and the principal fcope of the Holy Ghofl here, bur tlus, That rhey arefeolcd by the Spirtt to make them fure, to make thelf Perfons fure of thelf l:1h anon, ro perfwade their hearts , to put them ou.t of que!\ton that thts Jnhenrance was theirs that tbey mtght be able to clatm tt. In the 32 .7erem. to. when .7ere– miah did buy Land, you read there that he had both the Evidences written, and he had Wimeffes to them, and he had them Sealed too; and all rhts mpubhck, before publiclc Nctaries, before the Magtfir.1te. (It ts the manner amongfi men !\ill,) and the Holy Ghof/ alluderh to what was done then; he doth, I fay, mention his Sea!i11g there unto that end, that there mtght be a publ1ck and a general Notice, that he him!elf mtght be able to clatm that Land for e– ver. Now my Brethren this is that that I pitch upon to be the meaning of the Holy Ghojl here. Yo~ mu!\: know that in Ancien_t times,as likewife now,(as the Scripture recordeth) when there /hould be a pubhck Certificate made, that all men !hould take knowledge that fuch an Ad is authentical, it was done by a Seal and without hands, fometimes. Look into Eflh.8.8,g. whenas a Decree was made by the Perji,m Mot1arch, it was fa id, Jt WM w rittm i11 the Kmgs 11ame, ( there was not the Kings hand to It,) a11d 1t WIU Jea!td.wuh the Kwgs Ring. Read on in that Chapter, he wrote (,at the rothverfe) m the Kmg Aba– jilt>'M his name, and fealed it wtth the Kmg s Rmg. All acknowledge thn to be the King's Seal when they faw It. The end of the. Seal was to make a Certi– ficate, that it mtght be known by thofe whom tt dtd concern. 1\nd therefore now to this day you fee, where the King's Broad-Seal is,the King's hand is not to it· but there is the Seal fer, and it is enough to alfure all that fee it, that it is the K{ng's ad. The end of a Seal here t~erefore, is to make known, to affure, td perfwadc, and to certifie that fuch a thmg IS an act of Gods. And, my Brethren, not to make falvation fure in it felf, but to make us fure of it, is plainly the meaning of the Holy Ghojl here; for fir!! you lhall fee, that iri other Scriptues Set1!i11g is fo taken. Take but one or two places; I will name one e!,Ilinent one, 2 Cor. r.21. Now ht which efl,•b!ijheth tu with)'ott in Chrijl, a11d bath atl0i1Jttdtts,;. God, who bath a!fo fealed tu, rmd givm the tarnefl of the Spirit;, our hearts. As Mufm!us well obferveth upon the place, There are ( faith he) three fimilitudes ufed to exprefs what he .had faid plainly at fir!\:; he had faid, he thattj/ab!tJheth tts with) 'OU: this fame efiablilhing, it is expre!l: both by Anointing, (for the Holy Ghofi: is given to teach us all Truths, the A– tJOinti11g ttt~cheth tu all thi11gs,) and by Sealing, who bath tJifo fealedu;,faith he he affureth us of our interefi in them, and he hath given us an Earnefi of them in our hearts; and thus faith he, the Holy Ghojl e!lablilheth.a man, It is not making Salvation fure, but it is making the Perfon furc, it is therefore exprefi byEf/ab!tjfmiguswzth)•ou. And the fcope of the Holy(4/;oft 10 this place is evtdent to be fo, for mark by what degrees he fetteth forth the revelation of falvation to Believers, He telleth them fir!\, that the Gofpel brought them the fir!\ news of it, it was the hai'PY news ofyottr (a!vatio11, as the qth verfe bath tt, and fo Beza expoundeth It; and as ufual!y. the firH news of a thing is but confufed; fo IS the fir!\ news of the Gofpel, It 1s but an mdefinite hint there is falvation, this Salvation is offered to you, it may be yours. Well the~ Second. ly cometh Faith, and that clofeth with this falvation: Tot< 6tlieved, faith he, you gave yo~r Souls up unto tt to be faved by tt; then cometh the Sea! of the Spirit, after beltevmg, and confirmeth a man, fettleth and ef/a6!ijheth the Soul, ( as tlie Apofile's phr~fe is in that of the Corinths, ) that this Salvation is lm. And then again in the Second plac~, if you obferve it, he doth not fay that your JnhtrttmJct is fealed, as if it were made fure in it felf; but he faith, the Ptrjons are fealed, htfealed us, he(ea!edyou; thofe are the phrafcs both here and~~ that of the Corinths; therefore the end of this fealing, is to feal up their pecuhar mterefi, · And
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