Discovering the Work of Christ's Spirit in Reconciling of a Sinner to God
by Thomas Shepard
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Read the following excerpt for a taste of what's inside:
Therefore behold the insufficiency of all duties to save us; which will appear in these three things which I speak, that you may learn hereafter never to rest in duties:—
First. Consider, your best duties are tainted, poisoned, and mingled with some sin, and therefore are most odious in the eyes of a holy God, (nakedly and barely considered in themselves,) for, if the best actions of God's people be filthy, as they come from them, then, to be sure, all wicked men's actions are much more filthy and polluted with sin; but the first is true—"All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags;" for as the fountain is so is the stream; but the fountain of all good actions (that is, the heart) is mingled partly with sin, partly with grace; therefore every action participates of some sin, which sins are daggers at God's heart, even when a man is praying and begging for his life; therefore there is no hope to be saved by duties.
Secondly. Suppose you could perform them without sin; yet you could not continue in doing so. (Is. 40:6,) "All flesh and the glory thereof is but grass." So your best actions would soon wither if they were not perfect; and if you cannot persevere in performing all duties perfectly, you are forever undone, though you should do so for a time, live like an angel, shine like a sun, and, at your last gasp, have but an idle thought, commit the least sin, that one rock will sink you down even in the harbour, though never so richly laden. One sin, like a penknife at the heart, will stab you; one sin, like a little burning twig in the thatch, will burn you; one act of treason will hang you, though you has lived never so devoutly before, (Ezek. 18:24;) for it is a crooked life when all the parts of the line of your life be not straight before Almighty God.
Thirdly. Suppose you should persevere; yet it is clear you have sinned grievously already; and do you think your obedience for the time to come can satisfy the Lord for all those previous obligations, for all those sins past? Can a man that pays his rent honestly every year satisfy hereby for the old rent not paid in twenty years? All your obedience is a new debt, which can not satisfy for debts past. Indeed, men may forgive wrong and debts, because they be but finite; but the least sin is an infinite evil, and therefore God must be satisfied for it. Men may remit debts, and yet remain men; but the Lord having said, "The soul that sins shall die," and his truth being himself, he can not remain God, if he forgive it without satisfaction. Therefore duties are but rotten crutches for a soul to rest upon.
But to what end should we use any duties? Can not a man be saved by his good prayers, nor sorrows, nor repentings? Why should we pray any more then? Let us cast off all duties, if all are to no purpose to save us; it is as good to play for nothing as to work for nothing.
Though your good duties can not save you, yet your bad works will damn you. You are, therefore, not to cast off the duties, but the resting in these duties. You are not to cast them away, but to cast them down at the feet of Jesus Christ, as they did their crowns, (Rev. 4:10,11,) saying, If there be any good or graces in these duties, it is yours, Lord; for it is the prince's favor that exalts a man, not his own gifts: they came from his good pleasure.
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Table of Contents
To His Dear Friend, Mr Greenhill
CHAPTER I
As the Great Cause of the Eternal Perdition of Men is of Themselves, So the Only Cause of the Actual Deliverance and Salvation of Man is Jesus Christ
Sect. 1. A fourfold act of Christ's power in rescuing and delivering men out of their miserable state
Sect. 2. The first act of Christ's power is conviction of sin. What is the sin the Lord convicts of? How he doth it; and what measure and degree of conviction he works
Sect. 3. The second act of Christ's power is compunction, or sense of sin. 1. This compunction immediately follows conviction. 2. The necessity of this to succeed the other. 3. Wherein it consists. 4. The measure of it in all the elect
Sect. 4. The third act of Christ's power, which is humiliation. 1. What is this humiliation? 2. What need there is of it. 3. What means the Lord useth to work it. 4. What measure of it is here required
Sect. 5. The fourth and last act of Christ's power is the work of faith. 1. Faith defined
The efficient cause of faith
The subject or matter of faith
The form of faith
The end of faith
The special ground of faith, viz., the call of Christ in his word
The nature of this call
The necessity of this call in three particulars
An exhortation to come to Christ
CHAPTER II
Every Sinner, Believing in Christ, is Translated into a Most Blessed and Happy Estate. What is that Happy State they are Made Partakers of, Answered in Six Particulars, as Follows:-
Sect. 1. Justification, its nature, its efficient cause, its subjects, and its results
Sect. 2. Reconciliation. It consists in two things, viz., our peace with God, and the love and favor of God
Sect. 3. Adoption; begun and perfected
Sect. 4. Sanctification, its nature, and its evidence of justification
Sect. 5. Audience of all prayers
Sect. 6. Glorification. What is it?
CHAPTER III
All Those that are Translated into this Blessed Estate are Bound to Live the Life of Love, in Fruitful and Thankful Obedience Unto him that Hath Called them, According to the Rule of the Moral Law
The Saint's Jewel. Showing How to Apply the Promises
Certain Select Cases Resolved
Tending to the Right Ordering of the Heart
The First Principles of the Oracles of God
The Sum of Christian Religion, in Way of Question and Answer