pray against his sin as it is said Austin did in his Natural State who was afraid that God should grant his request He prayed one thing and desired another But he prays as David did wash me throughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin Psal 51.2 Oh the sighs and groans that a gracious heart sends up to God under the load and burden of sin We groan being burdened 2 Cor. 5.4 Hence that of the Apostle Rom. 7.24 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death never did poor Prisoner more long and wish to be freed from his chains then the Believer doth to be rid of his sins None can know what the wrestlings of a gracious heart are with God against Corruption but they that have been wearied with the burden of it 2. He mourns and sorrows under it as the daily burden of his Soul Grace softens the heart and then sin makes it mourn They shall be on the mountains like Doves of the valleys all of them mourning every one for his iniquity Ezek. 7.16 And this is sorrow of the right kind There is a great deal of sorrow caused by sin that is not right therefore the Apostle speaks of being made sorry after a Godly manner I rejoyced not that ye were made sorry but that ye sorrowed to Repentance for ye were made sorry after a Godly manner 2. Cor. 7.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye sorrowed according to God And it is known from all other sorrow By its object and that is sin Sin more than any thing and special sin more than any sin 1. Sin more than any thing more than suffering more than affliction more than Hell Nothing in the world causes that sorrow in a gracious heart as sin doth Father I have sinned against Heaven and in thy sight sayes the poor prodigal Luk. 15.21 he doth not say I am full of wants ready to famish for bread but here is his wound father I have sinned So as it was with David 2 Sam. 24.10 I have sinned greatly in that I have done and now I beseech thee take away the iniquity of thy servant He doth not say take away this judgment this pestilence nay he is willing to bear it ver 17. Lo I have sinned and done wickedly but those Sheep what have they done Let thine hand be against me He is willing to indure the smart so as God would remove the guilt He would quietly bear his hand in chastisement for sin so that his heart were but towards him in the pardon of sin It is not smart but guilt that is the chief cause of sorrow in a gracious heart Now the hypocrite cryes out more because of smart then guilt Punishment causes sorrow when sin doth not Pharaoh is under a plague of Frogs and he presently calls for Moses and Aaron and what must they do Intreat the Lord that he may take away the frogs from me Exod. 8.8 he doth not say that he may take away my sin from me he was very sensible of the plague of frogs but had no sense of the plague of his heart So that here you see the difference between David and Pharaoh David is for the taking away of sin rather then of judgment Pharaoh is for the taking away of judgment but not a word of the taking away of sin 2. True sorrow for sin is more for special sins then for any other sin Though all sin is matter of sorrow yet special sins above all And it must needs be so for by these God hath been most dishonoured By these he hath so often broke with Jesus Christ By these he hath given the deepest wounds to his own Conscience By these Satan hath so long maintained his power and rule in the Soul And so easily insnared and overcome him The hypocrite never sorrows for his special sins His sorrow as it is feigned so it is either for some petty sins or such as are common to him with others But he feels no remorse for his bosom lusts nor comes near to that which is the chief cause of controversie between God and his Soul His beloved lust lies secure in his heart without the least disturbance or notice taken of it 3. He maintains a constant conflict against sin And this is a natural effect of hatred for hatred stirreth up strife Prov. 10.12 hence ye read of striving against sin Heb. 12.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is a military word and implies an opposing and fighting as against an enemy to whom a man is resolved not to yield And the enemy is here said to be sin which is the greatest enemy in the world and makes the fiercest war for it wars against the Soul 1 Pet. 2.11 against the grace of the Soul against the peace and comfort of the soul against the life and salvation of the Soul Hence it is that the life of a Christian is a continual warfare The Age that men observe in Civil Wars is from sixteen years old to sixty but this war commences from the first moment of taking up the Yoke of Christ to the last moment that a man lives in the world Every man that is born again is born a man of strife as Jeremy speaks in another sense he keeps up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jer. 15.10 a truceless war with sin Cant. 6.13 what is the company of two armies in the Shulamite but the lusts of the Flesh and the Graces of the Spirit in continual conflict and opposition of each other So the Apostle explains it Gal. 5.17 The Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh And mark the Tense it is not said it did lust viz. at the first working of grace or it will lust viz. when grace is come to more strength and maturity but it lusteth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the present Tense and so it notes two things 1. That so soon as ever Grace is wrought in the heart it shews it self in strifes and contests with lust and corruption it lusteth against the Flesh or else it is not Grace 2. That this contest once begun will never end so long as any one lust remains in the heart Nor can it for this hatred of sin wrought by grace in the heart is so radicated in the new nature and so essential to it that as grace is increased so this hatred is heightened and needs it must for all hatred springs from love amor odii causa it is love to God and Christ which works to hatred of sin and therefore as love grows stronger so our hatred of sin still grows greater so that this contest can never end but in the death and destruction of every lust Other enemies a Christian can love and pity and forgive and pray for but he hath no pity for sin It is a hatred wrought by the Spirit of God which is full of indignation and revenge What indignation it wrought in you yea
convictions Secondly It may respect the earliness of being And that seems rather to be the sense of the place Vatablus renders it from his Youth taking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 early impressions upon the conscience by the convictions of the Spirit are a great good to the soul It is good to bear this Yoke betimes for three reasons 1. Because the sooner it is done the easier it is done the longer we are before we come under it the harder it will be to bear it The longer thou continuest in sin the harder it will be to bear repentance If thy conscience be so charged with guilt that thou darest not look into it at ten or twenty years old what will it come to if thou lettest it run on till fifty or sixty The longer the Debt stands in the Book the heavier the account when we come to reckon for all the arrears of so many years actual sins added to the grand Debt of original sin Therefore it is good to bear this Yoke in your Youth Strength to bear it is then greatest and the burden to be born is then lightest Guilt of sâ—n encreases by lying and new guilt daily added to the old makes the burden still the heavier therefore it is good to comply with the spirit of God betimes Reas 2. The sooner it is begun the sooner it will be done the sooner this Yoke is put on the sooner it will be put off For it is but for a time that the soul bears it but how long or how little while is uncertain Paul lay under it three days and nights Acts 9.9 Acts 16.33 the Goaler for ought I can find not above an hour the three thousand in Acts 2. not above the length of one Sermon But some now adays are held days and months and years according as the Case requires But the sooner we come under this Yoke the less while it is like to lye Reas 3. How rich do such grow in Grace that by early conviction pass through the new Birth betimes He that sets up soonest is like to get the fairest estate if be improve his opportunities Ford of Bondage p. 75. If one go to be an Apprentice when he is a man there is a double inconvenience in it First His service will be much more irksome and tedious Secondly The prime of his days will be gone wherein he should have been trading for himself had he been his own man Though the work of the Spirit be better late than never yet it is an unknown loss the soul sustains by a late work He loses much joy and peace the thought of his living so long without God becomes many times a new wound when the old is healed the after pains of the new birth do abide upon some to their dying day And in this Case there is but little comfort though the work be real He loses much sweet communion with God He loses many rich experiences He loses a great accession of Grace Growth in Grace is a work of time and he that hath but little time can make but little improvement He loses many opportunities of service Nay he loses much in the degrees of Glory Hadst thou had more time to sow thy Harvest would have been â—â—â—ater for as a man sows so shall he reap 〈◊〉 â—â—â—refore he that spends the best of his time in the service of the flesh if he should be converted at last which yet few are he is like to prove but a feeble Christian The more our opportunities of service are if improved and the more our seasons of communion are if used aright the richer must we needs be both in grace experience and comfort therefore it is the most thrifty course to be an early Convert to bear the Spirits Yoke in our Youth CHAP. IV. Containing some useful counsel and directions to persons of several denominations with respect to the Yoke of the Spirit THere are three sorts of persons I would speak somewhat to by way of counsel and direction in this matter First To such as have born the Yoke of the Spirit with good success to whom the Spirit of bondage hath at last become the Spirit of adoption who are passed from a state of fear and terrour into a condition of hope and comfort Your Duty lyes chiefly in these three things be thankful be humble be fruitful First Study thankfulness and give the Glory of this work to the Spirit of God We are very apt to ascribe too much to means to this or that Minister alas they are but poor Instruments Who is Paul and who is Apollo but Ministers by whom ye believed 1 Cor. 3.5 even as the Lord gave to every man They have but the place of Instruments God is the great Agent and therefore all supernatural effects are to be ascribed to him alone Neither is he that planteth any thing neither he that watereth but God that giveth the encrease And therefore the Apostle Paul having called the Church of Corinth his Epistle in 2 Cor. 3.2 he doth in v. 3. call them the Epistle of Christ ministred by us written not with Pen and Ink but with the Spirit of the living God Ministers are but as Pens it is the Spirit of the living God that writes his Law in the heart by them and thus they become the Epistle of Christ and therefore let him that glorieth glory in the Lord. 1 Cor. 1.31 Is there not a cause Especially if it he considered 1. What a heart thine was when the Spirit of the Lord first took it in hand how hard how stubborn how dead how obstinate how long was the light opposed that shined in darkness and the attempts of the Spirit frustrated how great were the resistances made by it against Grace and how many the strong holds of Satan which were pulled down to bring about the Conquest Think how often the Spirits motions were slighted his counsels set at nought his strivings resisted Think how often he knocked how loud he called before he could be heard think how much unbelief how many confederacies with corruption what strong lusts what enmity to God and holiness lay in the way to obstruct the Spirits design O what a mighty power did he put forth to make sin a burthen and to fasten his Fetters upon the soul without which thy resistances had never been conquered nor thy thoughts brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.5 And hast thou not cause to be thankful 2. How many miscarry under the same convictions which have issued in a sincere conversion to thy soul Many by their sights of sin and Hell have been driven into utter despair as Cain and Spira Many have laid violent hands on their own lives as Judas many have stifled and sinned away their convictions and thereby have provoked the Spirit finally to withdraw and give them up to hardness of heart many have mistaken their convictions for
you There is a general and a particular day of Grace The general day of Grace is when the Gospel is brought to a people and the Ministry of it set up by God whereby life and salvation is tendred to all in the blood of Jesus Christ The particular and special day of Grace is when the Gospel is not only preached and Salvation tendred but when the Spirit of the Lord doth accompany it and carry it home to the hearts of sinners sometimes inlightning their minds sometimes convincing their consciences sometimes working inward fears and terrors from a sense of their undone condition sometimes stirring up good affections and desires sometimes working them to strong purposes and resolutions to repent and turn and obey Now where the Spirit doth thus inwardly strive with any sinner that is his particular day of grace his special season of finding and obtaining mercy Seek the Lord while he may be found Isai 55.6 Now is the accepted time now is the day of salvation 2 Cor. 6.2 If ever a sinner be converted and brought into obedience to Jesus Christ this is the time And it is very dangerous to neglect or defer our closing with Christ for it is very uncertain how long or how little while the opportunity may be afforded Who knows when his day of grace begins or when it will end Job 14.5 As no man knows the number of his months so much less doth he know the length of his day of grace Acts 1.7 It is not for you as Christ says in another case to know the times and the seasons which the Father hath kept in his own power And the reason why God hides it from us may be because he would have us lose no opportunity of saving our Souls but imbrace the first tenders of mercy lest God should take our refusal and never tender it more If you repulse the Spirit of God when he knocks you have no promise that ever he will knock again and if he leaves off you are undone for ever The harvest is past the summer is ended and we are not saved Jer. 8.20 God will not wait long upon a lingring sinner he takes delays for denials and so departs and the day of grace ends Most certain it is that the day of grace may be sinned away and that whether you consider it in the general or particular notion of it First Take it in the general notion of it for the injoyment of the means of grace and the Ministry of the Word and Ordinances and this may cease God may deprive a people of a converting Ministry and converting Ordinances and may give them Statutes not good as he did to Israel Ezek. 20.24 25. Because they despised my statutes polluted my Sabbaths and their eyes were after their fathers idols therefore I gave them or gave them up to statutes that were not good and judgments whereby they should not live It is a judicial process of an offended God because of abused mercies they had the Statutes and Judgments and Ordinances of God which were just and good and tended to life as vers 21. But because they slighted these therefore he gave them up to the Statutes and superstitious Inventions of men which were not good but tended to death and destruction It is a dreadful judgment when for slighting and rebelling against the Statutes and Judgments of God he gives a person or a people up to Statutes and judgments that are not good And this seems to be the very judgment that God is giving this Nation up to at this day we have slighted the Yoke of Christ and therefore he is giving us up to the Yoke of Antichrist we have been weary of pure Worship and Ordinances and have been lusting after the Romish inventions and therefore the righteous God seems to be giving us up to them and saying to us as to that people v. 39. As for you O house of Israel thus saith the Lord God go ye serve ye every one his Idols When men will not stoop to nor owne those ways of Christ which are for their good it is just with God to give them up to those ways that are not for their good When men receive not the love of the truth that they may be saved for this cause God sends them strong delusions that they should believe a lye and be damned 2 Thess 2.10 11 12. And these are the Statutes that are not good and the judgments whereby they shall not live Sometimes he gives them up to a blind Ministry the sword of the Lord is upon the arm and the right eye of the Idol-shepherd insomuch that his arm is dried up and his right eye utterly darkned Zach. 11.17 He closeth the eyes of the Prophets and Rulers and Seers together with a spirit of deep sleep so that the vision of all is become as the words of a book sealed which neither unlearned nor learned can read Isai 29.10 11 12. Sometimes he gives them up to a profane and debauched Ministry The Priest and the Prophet have erred through strong drink they are swallowed up of wine through strong drink they erre in vision and stumble in judgment Isai 28.7 From the Prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land Jer. 23.15 They cause my people to erre by their lies and by their lightness v. 32. Sometimes he doth utterly take away his Ordinances and means of Grace Behold saith the Lord the days come that I will send a famine in the land not a famine of bread which yet is a sore judgment and makes the mother eat the child of a span long Lam. 2.20 nor a thirst for water for a draught whereof Lysimachus to save his life sold his Kingdom but of hearing the word of the Lord. Amos 8.11 And this was the judgment of God upon Israel We see not our signs there is no more any Prophet neither is there any among us that knoweth how long Psal 74.9 Amaziah and his Courtiers shall not need to pack away the Prophets and forbid them preaching nigh the Court as Amos 7.12 for God will as a woful Plague to an unworthy people remove them And Israel shall be without the true God and without a teaching Priest and without Law 2 Chron. 15.3 And this is what our Lord Christ so severely threatned Mat. 21.43 The kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof And how sadly hath this word been accomplished upon them for sixteen hundred years together The seven Churches of Asia as also those of Africa that vast Continent thrice as big as Europe are sad instances of this It is plain then that the day of grace in regard of the injoyment of the Ordinances may be sinned away But Secondly The Sinners particular day of grace may be lost and sinned away he may not only sin away the Ordinances but the strivings of the Spirit too he may resist it till it is
and dulnesses Are they any of the precepts of Religion that cause this that cannot be for there is no duty God commands but what hath a certain and direct tendency to the comfort and happiness of the creature And therefore the promises are not only said to rejoyce the heart but the precepts too Psal 19.8 The statutes of the Lord are right rejoycing the heart Is it any Grace of the Spirit we are called to the exercise of that is of a dejecting tendency no that cannot be neither for Peace and Joy are the proper fruit of Grace Rom. 15.13 filled with peace and joy in believing The highest exercises of Grace bring forth the sweetest Peace and the richest Comfort which is evident in this that in Heaven where the Saints are in the highest exercise of Grace there they injoy the most perfect comforts and delights Therefore if Religion prohibits no lawful delights if its precepts impose no besotting services if it improves those graces the perfection whereof is attended with perfect joy and delight then Religion is no melancholy besotting thing there is nothing in it but what is desirable and lovely and therefore whereas the Objection says farewel all good days when once young ones come to be Religious I say nay the word of God says they must never look to see good days till then 1 Pet. 3.10 11. He that will love life and see good days Psal 34.12 let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak no guile let him eschew evil and do good Let no man therefore be discouraged from taking up the Yoke of Christ upon this pretence Object 4. Another prejudice that lieth in the way of young ones to hinder their taking up the Yoke of Christ betimes is the difficulty of it The duties Religion binds upon us are an intolerable burden its laws are very rigid and its precepts uneasie it commands duty utterly contradictory to our affections and interests to deny our selves to love our enemies to bless them that curse us to mortifie our members to cut off our right hand and pluck out our right eye John 6.60 c. These are hard sayings who can hear them difficult duties and who can perform them who can enter in at this strait gate and walk in this narrow way without fainting Now I would obviate this Objection thus Answ 1. Either this is the way to Heaven and there is no other or it is not If it be not then the Bible is a lye and the whole of Religion is a grand cheat and God in all his precepts and promises is the greatest Impostor and Deceiver that ever the world knew But who hath a forehead to assert this which is the highest Blasphemy that can be imagined And if this be the way to Heaven and there is no other as most certain it is Jesus Christ himself the true and faithful witness every where attests it Matt. 7.14 Strait is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life And vers 21. Not every one not any one that says to me Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that doth the will of my father which is in heaven Matt. 5.29 30. If thy right eye offend thee pluck it out if thy right hand offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee for it is better for thee that one of thy members should perish than that thy whole body should be cast into hell Matt. 16.24 Matt. 16.24.25 If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me for whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it Matt. 18.3 Verily I say unto you except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven Most evident it is by these and a hundred Scriptures more that there is no other way to Heaven but this and if so then no difficulties should deter us from it how many and great soever they be We should account no pains no labour too much in so important a concern as this Luk. 10.42 which is the one thing needful Nay difficulties in the service of God should rather excite than discourage will ye serve God with that which cost you nothing consider that though the gate be strait Matt. 7.14 and the way narrow yet it leads to life 2. Hath not the service of sin its difficulties too yea greater than any that are imposed by the Yoke of Christ the commands of sin are unreasonable brutish full of contradiction and therein full of difficulty and slavery as I have said and therefore the carnal sinner is in this self condemned in that he objects the difficulties of Religion thereby to keep off the Yoke of Christ and yet at the same time yields a willing obedience to his lusts notwithstanding all the difficulties that attend them which are as great or greater than those of Religion can be Suppose that Religion doth call a man to part with all as sometimes it doth doth not lust do the same Pools Apology for Religion p. 63. and where one man hath sacrificed his all to Religion many have sacrificed their all to their lusts How many have drunkenness and gluttony undone how many have been brought to beggery by pride and excess how many have been brought to a morsel of bread by the whorish woman Prov. 6.26 Besides whatever a man loses for God and Religion God hath engaged to make it up again Matt. 19.29 But if a man wasts all upon the service of his lusts who makes up that again there is none to make up his loss but the wast will make guilt great and his account grievous It may be you account it hard that Religion and the service of God require so much of your time and doth not the world and lust require as much of their followers and that for meer dreams and shadows and why should it be more burdensome to live to God than to the Flesh or to spend time in seeking and serving God for eternal blessedness than in seeking and serving the world for empty vanities which either we cannot get or if we do we cannot keep Doth Religion at any time expose a man to sufferings to corporal pains and death So doth lust much more O how great are the pains of Hatred the torments of Envy that one lust of Vncleanness what pains and miseries hath it exposed men unto and where one dies a Martyr for Christ thousands dye Martyrs to their lusts having their days shortened by excess in sin besides the endless torments that follow after So that they who complain of the difficulties of Religion find greater in the way of their lusts and therefore are self-condemned in that they serve them without complaining 3. The difficulties of Religion do not arise from the nature of the Precept but from
here all the day idle and they answer because no man hath hired us but as soon as he calls they come Do you come in and believe in Christ at the first call as the Thief here did if God calls not till the eleventh hour he that comes in at the eleventh hour comes in good time but he that is called at the first or third hour may come too late if he puts it off till the eleventh if thou darest sinfully say it is too soon to day it may be God may judicially say it is too late to morrow And therefore this instance of the Thief on the Cross is most ignorantly and impertinently urged which doth no way reach the case of impenitent sinners under Gospel Grace and the daily and loud calls of God The Thief never put off the work of repentance and conversion that we find to the last hour this thou dost The Thief never purposed to repent hereafter that he might thereby the better enjoy his lusts at present this thou dost The Thief came into Christ at the first call but thou hast been often called and yet hast refused to come and therefore what is this instance to thee it doth not at all concern thy case it is falsly urged and vainly pleaded And therefore instead of incouraging thy self from this single instance of the Thiefs being at last hour received to mercy thou shouldst consider and tremble at that dreadful threatning of God against such as slight and stand out against the calls and offers of mercy Prov. 1. from the 24. verse to the last Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded but ye have set at nought all my counsel and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh And vers 28. They shall call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me And vers 32. The turning away of the simple shall slay them that is their turning away from the calls of God and offers of Grace will be their Condemnation at the last And therefore remember this it is seldome if ever that any adventure so near the brink of Hell as to put off repentance and closing with Christ to the last hour thinking to come off safe but that they drop in at the last CHAP. X. Wherein the reasons of slighting Christ are inquired into and the evil of it aggravated USE of reproof to such as delay and put off the putting on Christs Yoke O what folly is this and yet there is nothing more natural Few there are that do downright refuse Christ but many there are that put him off till hereafter from one time to another from childhood to youth from youth to manhood from manhood to old age from old age to the death bed till there is no room left for this great work They while away one season after another till the season of Grace is past and gone In the managing this use I will do three things 1. Inquire into the causes why men deal thus with Christ 2. Charge the sinner with such aggravations of this evil as may set home the reproof 3. Propound some Considerations for a thorough conviction First Let us inquire into the causes why men deal thus with Christ whence is it that any do refuse his Yoke break his bonds and cast his cords from him It may be reduced to these five heads chiefly First Ignorance This is one cause of all the slights that are put upon Christ this our Lord Christ intimates in that passage to the Samaritan woman John 4.10 If thou knewest the gift of God A Soul that hath a right knowledge of Christ cannot but owne him and bow to him They that know thy name will trust in thee Psal 9.10 Knowledge begets love and love begets obedience If you did but know Christ his undertakings for you his relation to you his dominion over you you would not thus reject his Yoke and despise his Command It is your blindness that is the reason of your disobedience What is thy beloved more than another beloved Cant. 5.9 In 1 Cor. 2.8 the Apostle charges all their contemptuous carriage to Christ upon their ignorance whom none of the Princes of this world knew for had they known it they would not have crucifyed the Lord of glory Did you know Christ you would not refuse his call nor reject his Yoke Oh how many that are accounted men of understanding and parts and esteemed the wits of the age yet are grosly ignorant of the mystery of Christ and the Gospel and so Rom. 1.22 professing themselves wise they become fools The God of this world hath blinded their minds left the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God should shine into them 2 Cor. 4.4 Secondly It is from that root of unbelief that grows in every carnal heart men don't believe the things of the invisible world the Glory to be revealed or the Misery threatned and the necessity of Faith and Holiness for the securing the one and avoiding the other and that is the reason The Apostle says 2 Cor. 5.7 we walk by faith and not by sight but the generality of men walk by sight not by faith their hearts are fixed upon present things 2 Pet. 1.9 they cannot see afar off Did men believe that sinful pleasures will end in eternal torments that the lusts of the flesh cannot be indulged at any easier rate than the loss of the Soul that there is no relief from the bondage and burden of sin but by a Saviour and that he is a Saviour to none whom he does not rule Heb. 5.9 to none but them that obey him you would hearken to his call and come under his Yoke Psal 17.14 2 Tim. 4.10 Most men are men of this world as David calls them they are for a portion in this life Demas hath imbraced this present world and there is no greater token of a carnal unbelieving heart than for a man to fix upon a present happiness when God hath propounded an eternal felicity in another world The good man is for the Yoke of Christ here and a Crown hereafter the unbeliever is for present ease and satisfaction and therefore takes up with the pleasures of sin that are but for a season Heb. 11.25 3. It is from that general unconcernedness that is in men about the matters of the world to come Amos. 6.3 They put far from them the evil day and things at a distance don't affect us they are like the discharging a gun a great way off we hear the report without concernedness but the same set to our breasts and discharg'd would make us tremble A clap of thunder in a remote part of the Heavens doth not startle us so much as when it is just over our heads Next to the want of a
what revenge 2 Cor. 7.11 Hence it is that he is so conversant and constant in the use of Ordinances his great end is to subdue and weaken lust under all First He uses the word to this end for this is the sword of the Spirit Eph. 6.17 and in conflicts either with corruption within or with Temptation without there is none to that No man was ever overcome either by Corruption or Temptation so long as he kept close to the word I write to you young men because ye are strong and have overcome the wicked one 1 Epist John 2.13 Here is an evidence of their strength their overcoming the wicked one But where lies their strength that is intimated ver 14. I write to you young men because ye are strong and the word of God abides in you and ye have overcome the wicked one The abiding of the word in the heart implies the power and virtue of the word taking hold of the heart and there it is mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds 2 Cor. 10.4 The abiding of the word in the heart includes every part of the word precepts promises and threatenings and the Believer makes use of all to subdue lust 1. The Precepts of the word where all sin is forbidden Hath God forbid sin and shall I indulge to it ought not his word to be my rule can I be true to God and transgress his Precepts what is sin but a transgression of the law 1 Joh. 3.4 and shall I dare to invade the rights of God and deny his Sovereignty Thus his heart stands in awe of the word Psal 119.161 2. The promises of the word he makes use of them to incourage hope and hope purifies the heart 1 Epist John 3.3 Hath God made such promises so many so great of this life of that to come and all to incourage the Soul to dye to sin and shall I live in it and so frustrate my hope in the promise Hath God so often promised Heaven and Glory to such as mortifie sin and shall I live to the Flesh and dye Thus having these promises 2 Cor. 7 1. he labours to be cleansed from all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit 3. He makes use of the threatenings of the word as an incentive to fear for by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil Prov. 16.6 Thus the law of his God is in his heart so that none of his steps shall slide Psal 37.31 Secondly He uses the Sacraments for this end both Baptism and the Lords Supper 1. His Baptism he reflects upon it as a token and seal of that Covenant wherein God hath made himself over to him to be his God and in which God requires a forsaking of all sin and by his owning this Covenant he hath taken God for his God and devoted himself to live to his will and therefore looks upon himself as strictly ingaged against every lust and for this cause labours daily to put off the body of the sins of the Flesh Col. 2.11 2. The Lords Supper here by Faith he sees Christ Crucified for sin and how can this but make him hate sin and heighten his rage and indignation against it shall Christ dye for my sins and shall I suffer any lust to live that had a hand in his death Besides this Supper is a solemn renewing of Covenant with God and no man can renew Covenant with God but he must solemnly ingage to hate and renounce all the lusts of the Flesh Thus the Christian uses and improves every Ordinance to carry on the contest against sin that so he may mortifie and destroy it 4. His hatred of sin appears in his purposes and resolutions against it The Covenant with Hell and Death is now broken and he resolves never to say a confederacy to the lusts of the flesh any more When he is at any time surprized by sin as sometimes he is he hates it the more and it causes him to issue out a practical decree for God like that of David I said I will take heed to my ways that I sin not Psal 39.1 When once a man hath truly taken up the Yoke of Christ the resolve and bent of his Will is never to sin more Though a Believer cannot promise absolutely not to sin yet he may fully purpose not to sin So did David I am purposed my mouth shall not transgress Psal 17.3 No man can be said to hate sin that doth not purpose against it and he that doth not hate sin his heart is not right with God And this is one of those fruits of subjection to the Yoke of Christ whereby judgment may be made a posteriori Now I would to God that young ones would try themselves by this Character What is the disposition of your heart towards sin do ye make it your work to search out sin do ye labour to know more of your secret lusts and carnal frames and deceitful hearts this every one that is under Christs Yoke doth Do ye accuse and charge your selves home before God for sin and is it done freely and in sincerity and brokenness of heart this every one that is under Christs Yoke doth Do ye hate sin with a hatred of abomination I so as to loath and turn from sin and is it from all sin and do ye hate it with a hatred of enmity do ye pray against it do ye mourn under it do ye keep up the spiritual conflict striving against sin and using means of Grace and Ordinances to keep down sin this every one that is under Christs Yoke doth Is the bent and resolution of your soul against sin have you taken up fixed purposes never to live to the lusts of the flesh more thus every one that is under the Yoke of Christ doth By this then every one may make a judgment whether ever he hath taken up the Yoke of Christ or not 2. It may be known by living to God in a course of Holy Obedience Whoever hath truly put on the Yoke of Christ makes it his work and business to live to Christ there is such a Principle of grace infused that obedience becomes natural And this obedience is an infallible sign of your subjection to Jesus Christ and therefore a fit medium to try your State by For 1. What better Testimony can there be of our subjection to Christ than that which evidences the work of holiness in the heart Now obedience in the life is a sure evidence of the work of holiness within It is the natural fruit of the feed of God sowed in the good ground of an honest heart Holiness is an inward frame obedience is an overt act proceeding from it Holiness is the Divine Nature planted in us Obedience is the fruit that grows upon that Root Holiness is our Conformity to the nature of God Obedience is our Conformity to the will of God And nothing can prove our participation of the divine nature like our subjection
to the Divine Will Holiness is the being of the Spiritual Life in us Obedience is the operation of that Life according to the degrees of it in the Soul For there is a great difference in the degrees of Spiritual Life in Believers it is variously Communicated to one more to another less All Believers have it but some have it more abundantly Joh. 10.10 and according to the measure of the life of holiness in us such is our strength to obey and according to the strength of our obedience such will the evidence of our subjection to Christ and his Yoke be 2. What greater evidence can there be of our subjection to Christ then that which is the proper and essential act of the new creature and that obedience is It is not more essential to the eye to see nor to the ear to hear then it is for a renewed heart to obey God A Believer doth but act his nature in obeying and that appears from that pleasure and delight which so far as renewed he takes in it Acts of nature are acts of delight hence that of the Apostle Rom. 7.22 I delight in the law of God after the inner man And that of David I delight to do thy will O my God And whence this delight arises the next words tell you Thy Law is within my heart Psal 40.8 The principle of grace within makes obedience to the law of God a delight and delight in obedience to the law of God proves the truth of that Principle within All delight in doing arises from a suitableness between the Principle and the Precept the heart and the work If there are precepts injoyned us and a defect of Principles in us much may be done but there can be no delight in doing the commands will be grievous But it is not every kind of Obedience that can prove the truth of our subjection to Christ A hypocrite may go far in the outward part of obedience he may have a form of Godliness 2 Tim. 3.5 and what is that but a resemblance of a Christian in all the outward lineaments of Godliness He may be able to do all external acts of obedience in common with Believers But there are some things essential to Believers as such the goodness whereof doth adhere intrinsecally to this work done as to love God to fear God to trust in God to delight in God These mingled with our outward duties make them to be obedience of the right kind and these no hypocrite can attain to and therefore cannot perform any one act of true obedience For obedience consists in a full conformity to the will of God as revealed in his word from a Principle of holiness within Many profess subjection to Christ in word but deny it in works calling him Lord Lord but not doing the things which he sayes Luk. 6.46 And many have flexible knees but stiff necks bowing the former to the name Jesus but will not bow the latter to the Yoke of Jesus being abominable disobedient and to every good work reprobate Tit. 1.16 There is no such Testimony of your being under the Yoke of Christ as conformity to the will of Christ By this then you may make a judgment in this matter When the spies returned from searching the Land of Canaan they brought with them a cluster of Grapes and Pomegranates and Figs Numbers 13.23 and when they came to give an account of their search they shewed them the fruit of the Land and said surely it flowes with milk and hony and this is the fruit of it ver 27. q. d. the Land that yields such good fruit must needs be a good Land The fruit of being under Christs yoke is dying to sin and living to God in a Holy Obedience And by these two Characters your State may certainly be known The heart that yields such fruit is surely a good heart Pray observe that of the Apostle Rom. 6.16 Know ye not that to whom ye yield your selves servants to obey his servants ye are whom ye obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness It is not being Baptized into the name of Christ nor taking up the outward profession of Christ and Religion that can distinguish between the servants of Christ and Satan Here is a surer rule He that obeys sin is the servant of sin and he that obeys Christ is the servant of Christ CHAP. XV. Exhorts to thankfulness to God who inclined the heart to this Yoke The wisdom of taking up this Yoke manifested THE last use shall be of Exhortation and I shall direct it to two sorts of persons 1. To them that have taken up the yoke of Christ in their youth 2. To such as have never yet taken up the yoke of Christ to this day Exhortat 1. To them that have taken up the yoke of Christ in their youth that have made it their work to mind Religion betimes to remember their Creator in the dayes of their youth There are three duties I would commend to such by way of direction Duty 1. The first is thankfulness Though this contributes nothing to God yet it is that which he is delighted with It shews the honesty and integrity of the heart in ascribing effects to their proper causes Thankfulness diminishes the creature to himself and magnifies God It shews a man looks upon himself as nothing and God as all Therefore bless God and be thankful for this great mercy Is there not a cause For 1. How came you to take up Christs yoke Rom. 6.17 Isa 26.13 Time was when ye were the servants of sin other Lords had dominion over you Time was when you were slaves to lust How came you to take up the yoke of Christ It was not natural for by nature we are enemies to grace and holiness It was the fruit of the wisdom of God impressed upon the Soul it was he that gave thee counsel to make this choice and therefore bless him So David sayes in the like case I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel Psa 16.7 Counsel for what to take the Lord for his Lord and that implies taking up his yoke O my soul thou hast said to the Lord thou art my Lord ver â— thou art my Lord that implies subjection Thou hast said thou art my Lord that implyes a Covenant resignation So that here he chooses God for his portion and chief good and for his highest Lord and how he came to make this choice he tells you ver 7. It was the Lord that counselled him to this and therefore he resolves the praise and glory shall be to him I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel Go you and do likewise bless the Lord who hath perswaded and over power'd your hearts to close with Christ For no man comes to Christ except the Father draw him Joh. 6.44 2. It is the wisest choice that ever you made to choose Christ for your Lord and
1.14 Sacrificing was a duty commanded by God but he that corrupted his sacrifices came under a curse as they did that offered the blind and the lame and the sick to God ver 8. When men have not a rule from the word of God for a warrant of their worship that is a blind sacrifice When there is action without affection the lips without the heart that is a lame sacrifice When dutyes are done coldly without life and vigour that is a sick sacrifice and such a sacrificer is a deceiver because he doth not observe the right manner and cursed be the deceiver So Jeremy 48.10 Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully 1 Corinth 11.29 He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh judgment to himself And what the judgment is he tells you in the next verse For this cause many are sick and weak among you and many sleep Many were under soar diseases and many swept away by death for coming to the Lords table in an unworthy manner It is of great concernment therefore to see that your obedience be right for the manner Otherwise we may think we serve God when our very service becomes sin It is excellent counsel of the Apostle Heb. 12.28 Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably That which gives the acceptance is the manner of obedience Now there must be four things to make obedience right for the manner I. It must be a willing obedience duties are to flow from the heart freely like the drops that come from the hony comb without pressing it is a character peculiar to the subjects of Jesus Christ they are a willing people And herein the efficacy of grace is seen in taking away natural reluctancy and opposition and bringing the will into subjection to Christ And therefore it is said to be an effect of the day of his power in the soul Psal 101.3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power God is more honoured by the obedience of the will than by all the service of the outward man Humane force may compell this but nothing but grace can rule the other Many obey but it is by constraint not by choice The influence of by ends or forreign motives or the compulsion of a natural conscience or fears of hell and wrath may compell them to do many things as Herod did but they are burthensome and grievous Ever as the will is such is the service and therefore God who in some cases accepts the will for the deed never accepts the deed in any case without the will 2 Cor. 8.12 In the duties of Gods service the will is all in all Thou Solomon my son know thou the God of thy father and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind 1 Chron. 28.9 II. It must be an universal obedience And that both in respect to the subject and to the object 1. With respect to the subject it must be the obedience of the whole man Jesus Christ hath redeemed both body and soul and regeneration is a work upon the whole man All things are become new 2 Cor. 15.17 and therefore the service of the whole man is required 1 Cor. 6.20 Glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods Many give God an outward obedience but their hearts are set upon their lusts and many pretend their hearts are good and right with God but their lives are vitious and among the unclean but where the Yoke of Christ is truly taken up the whole man is the Lords 2 With respect to the object The whole will of God as revealed in his word Walk in all the wayes that I have commanded you that it may be well with you Jer. 7.23 There are affirmative precepts and negative commands for suffering as well as doing positive commands and relative greater commands and less None may be neglected It is said of David he fulfilled all Gnds wills 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 13.22 i. e. his will in all his commands He had respect to all his commands Psal 119.6 Zachary and Elizabeth walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless Luke 1.6 and it will be so wherever the heart is right with God For in regeneration the whole law of God is impressed upon the heart so that the soul is equally inclined to all the commands as to one and makes conscience of one as well as another I know in a legal sence no believer on earth can obey universally and fully for in many things we offend all But Evangelically and in the sense of the new covenant every believer keeps all the commands of God that is 1. In love and esteem I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right Psal 119.128 Now love is the fulfilling of the law Rom. 13.10 2. In unfeigned desire That which his soul longs after is Col. 4.12 to stand perfect and compleat in all the will of God O that my wayes were directed to keep thy Statutes Psal 119.5 3. In purpose and resolution I will keep thy statutes Psal 119.8 All people will walk every one in the name of his God and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever Micah 4.5 Thus they cleave to the Lord with purpose of heart Acts 11.23 4. In sincerity of indeavour and undertaking He sets no bounds to his obedience that is hypocrisie but forgetting the things that are behind and reaching forth to those things which are before He presses toward the mark Phil. 3.13 14. and this according to the tenour of the new covenant is full and perfect obedience III. It must be an upright and sincere obedience Walk before me and be thou perfect Gen. 17.1 in the margent it is be thou sincere or upright So that sincerity and uprightness is new covenant perfection The perfection of grace in heaven is glory but the perfection of grace on earth is sincerity One dram of this in the heart is worth a world It is that which God delights in Thou triest the heart and hast pleasure in uprightness 1 Chron. 29.17 Nay he doth not only delight in uprightness but in the persons and performances of the upright The upright in their way are his delight Prov. 11.20 there you see his respect to their persons and from the person this delight of God passeth to their performances The prayer of the upright is his delight Prov. 15.8 God can take no pleasure in any duty without sincerity because all duties that are not done in sincerity are a lye It is said of those Israelites in Psal 78.34 36 37. When they sought God and returned and inquired early after him that they did but lye to him with their tongues and why Because their hearts were not right with him It is sincerity that commends every duty to God It supplies all other defects denominates a man a Saint under all his failings