and they that shall put their hands to the Plow and look back are not fit for the Kingdom of God Oh great is the danger of Apostacy but now without some considerable strength you will not be kept from failing and those failings will turn to fallings and those fallings to fallings away and at last falling into everlasting destruction Now these fallings and fallings away do usually follow this want of spiritual strength not being strengthened with strength in our souls But may be you will say to me What course must we take that we may get this spiritual strength in our souls I answer briefly make use of these rules and helps First Be very sensible of your weakness and infirmity be humble be base in your own eyes be nothing in your selves that you may be able to say In Jesus Christ have I righteousness and strength Isa 45.24 It was a sweet Meditation of Saint Augustin Lord I will be weak in my self that I may be strong in thee And the Apostle hath such a phrase For when I am weak then am I strong 2 Cor. 12.10 that is when I am most weak in my self then am I most strong in a Saviour Secondly If you would have this strength in your souls be acting the Grace which you have received already for action increaseth strength and strength will help action forwards the more you are doing duty the more will you gather strength to do duty It was the Motto of an eminent Divine in this Nation now with God The way to Holiness lyes in the works of Holiness so the way to get spiritual strength lyes in doing the work you have to do with that strength you have use strength and you shall have more strength Thirdly If you would have strength in your souls grow especially in corroborating and strengthening Graces What are those strengthning Graces 1. Faith that is a very strengthning Grace you read of the strength of Faith Abraham was strong in Faith and that made him do great things that he could against hope believe in hope that is against hope of sense believe in hope of a promise Rom. 4.18 so be strong in Love Love to Jesus Christ Love is a very strengthening Grace Love is strong as death Cant. 8.6 7 Death you know is so strong that it hath conquered all men that ever were in the World never was there any Gyant so strong but could be conquered by Death there is no discharge in that War the meaning is this never any man encountred with Death that came off but Love is stronger than Death If thy heart be fired with Love to Jesus Christ it will carry you with a great deal of strength through all difficulties and sufferings with patience and perseverance 3. Again Get more sincerity Job 17.9 The righteous also shall hold on his way and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger Oh the more sincere you are the more strong you are For example Wherein consists the strenth of a Pillar it is in the uprightness of it if it begins to bow and bend and be crooked then it falls but the uprightness of it is the strength of it 4. Joy Joy that is another strengthening Grace Nehem. 8.10 Neither be ye sorry for the joy of the Lord shall be your strength Oh the more inward joy in the Holy Ghost you have the more chearful you are the more strong you are grow in these strengthening Graces Fourthly Would you have this strength in your souls then take heed of rushing into any known sin for sin as it wounds the conscience it weakens the soul also sins against conscience are like a thief in the Candle which weakens our strength and wasts our joy Nothing weakned Sampson so much as his sporting with his Dalilah Never had he lost his strength had it not been for his running into that sin take heed therefore of sins against conscience Fifthly If you would have strength in your souls take heed of evil company shun them as a Pest-house for many times evil company weakens the soul more than any outward temptation Psal 119.115 Depart from me ye wicked for I will keep the Commandements of my God It is as if he should say he could never set about the work of Obedience so long as he kept company with the wicked Sixthly If you would have strength in your souls then get more intimate and bosom-communion with Jesus Christ every day for the truth is all our strength is from him I am able to do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me Phil. 4.13 The more you are acquainted with Christ the more will you have of this strength which David here in the Text speaks of Lastly If you would have this strength be much in prayer that is an excellent Scripture Psal 119.28 My soul melteth away for heaviness strengthen thou me according to thy word Oh the more we are in Prayer and Care and Watchfulness and Humility and Self-denial and in the exercise of Grace the more we shall find our spiritual strength increased then we shall experimentally say with David Thou hast strengthened me with strength in my soul LIGHT DISCOVERED AND MAN RECOVERED A SERMON Preach'd Augst 17. 1656. 2 Tim. 1.10 the latter part of the Verse And hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel THE Apostle in the beginning of this Chapter exhorting Timothy to a faithful discharge of his Ministerial Calling puts in this weighty caution in the 8 verse Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord nor of me his prisoner but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the Gospel according to the power of God that is be not ashamed of the Gospel that he calls there the Testimony of our Lord Jesus Though it may be thou maist meet with afflictions and oppositions in the profession of it yet seeing these afflictions are but sufferings for the Gospel-sake therefore bear them patiently it is better that thou shouldest suffer than that the Gospel should suffer This Caution or Exhortation the Apostle presses from an Argument drawn from the unspeakable benefit and advantage that comes streaming to us by the Gospel namely Eternal life and that the Apostle might be rightly understood he lays down the three causes of this Eternal life or Salvation First The principal and moving cause of this Salvation that is the Grace of God in the foregoing verse ver 9. Who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began Secondly He lays down the meritorious cause of our salvation that is the Lord Jesus Christ who hath merited this salvation by dying for us in the middle part of the 10th verse who hath abolished death that is who hath taken away the sting and curse of Death Thirdly He lays down the instrumental cause of our salvation that is the
thee to prove thee and to teach thee to prise Jesus Christ so much the more It may be God le ts loose these infirmities as the avenger of blood was let loose upon the man slayer to force the man slayer to fly to the City of Refuge Numb 35 so these infirmities are let loose to force thee to fly to Jesus Christ the Refuge of thy soul Some there are that was it not for strong infirmities cleaving to them strong temptations meeting with them would never be beholding to Jesus Christ at all Look therefore in every infirmity not only at the evil of it but at the good God intends by it it may be God intends good to thy soul by them Whereas we as he said once many times make plaisters to become a poyson the Lord is able on the contrary to make a plaister of poyson We many times bring sin out of Grace God can bring grace out of sin he can bring Heaven out of Hell therefore as there is something against God so there is something from God in our infirmities therefore we should not be discouraged because of them Secondly Consider the great difference between thy self when thou wast in a state of nature and now when thou art a weak Christian and subject to infirmities did not God reject thee at that time and cast thee off when thou wast an open Traitor and Rebel marching on in a course of rebellion against him did he not cast thee off but had compassion on thee and did pity thee and spare thee then certainly he will not now cast thee off for some unvoluntary errour which thou bewailest and mournest for in his presence Did the Lord seek thee at that time when thou despisedst him certainly then he will not despise thee when thou feekest him That is a good argument of the Apostle to strengthen and support and comfort drooping spirits Rom. 5.10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life Certainly therefore God will not reject thee for an infirmity if he was so gracious to thee in thy state of sin and enmity to him there is as great a difference between a state of grace and a state of nature as there is between Heaven and Hell though grace be never so weak and imperfect Thirdly Consider the great danger of being pluckt away from Jesus Christ by giving too much way to despondency Satans main drift and great plot is to drive thee away from Jesus Christ by thy infirmities he labours to bring thee to despond and despair and to say there is no hope for thee because Satan knows the more he draws thee from Jesus Christ the weaker thou wilt be Thy infirmities should not drive thee from Christ but they should drive thee to Christ to improve and make use of his gracious disposition in helping and healing thee in thy miseries and distresses Fourthly Consider what may be the causes of thy infirmities those infirmities will be cured in the causes For example if thy infirmities arise from want of age or time to gather strength that will be cured because the path of the just is as a shining light that shineth more and more to the perfect day Prov. 4.18 Or if from want of the means of grace or because the means of grace thou enjoyest are not such as others enjoy the Lord in such cases will have a tender respect to thee and measure to thee not according to what thou hast but according to what thou wouldst have Again if thy infirmities arise from some corruption that was not discovered to thee at thy first conversion thou must then pray and beg that the Lord would discover thy self to thy self more and more Again if thou hast forsaken some old truths of God and art grown weary of them and hankerest after Novelties and new Opinions then return from thy wandrings and prize solid meat above kickshaws beg that thy soul may taste once again the sweetness of Gospel-truths In a word what ever the cause of your infirmities be get the disease healed in the cause get thy heart more weaned from the World and stir up thy self to take hold of God remember thy former zeal and repent and do thy first works and this is the way to get thy infirmities healed That 's the first Use a Use of Comfort and Consolation The second Use is a Use of Caution The Lord Jesus Christ as you have heard hath a tender respect to his people a tender care of his people in respect of their infirmities let not a wicked man then apply this to himself and say the Lord Christ will have a tender respect to me that go on in the course of sin that live in sin and lye in sin and sleep in sin and wallow in sin No for there is a great deal of difference between the weakness of a Lamb and the wickedness of a Wolf the Lord Jesus Christ pities his Lambs for their weakness but he doth not pity a Wolf for his wickedness that is that man who is resolved to go on in a course of sin say a Minister what he can to the contrary if he is dead in trespasses and sins if he hath no spiritual life in him if there be no work of grace begun in him all that I have said concerning Christs tender care of his peoples infirmities doth not belong to him he hath no part in this Inheritance if thou beest a Wolf and not a Lamb the Lord Christ that hath a tender care of his Lambs will be sure to meet thee not as a Shepherd that carries his Lambs in his Arms but he will meet thee as a Lion Hosea 13.7 8 Therefore I will be unto them as a Lyon as a Leopard by the way will I observe them I will meet them as a Bear that is bereaved of her Whelps and I will rent the caul of their heart and there will I devour them like a Lyon the wild beasts shall tear them The same Christ that is a Shepherd to his People he knows how to be a Lyon a Leopard and a Bear to his Enemies That is an awakening Scripture Psalm 68.21 But God shall wound the head of his enemies and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses If therefore thou art one that goest on in thy trespasses in an unreformed course if thou livest in sin and settest thy heart on wickedness and takest pleasure therein this doctrine doth not belong to thee thou art not a Lamb in Christs account he will not deal tenderly with thee nay he will deal most roughly with thee his wrath and fury will be powred out upon thee as the Prophet speaks That 's the second Use of Caution Lastly A word of Exhortation If the Lord Jesus Christ hath such a tender respect in his carriage to the infirmities of his People O then resolve to have no other
Christ the Saviour of the world 2. Be much in Duty if you would not be weary of well-doing be much in well-doing It is a Paradox in other things to say He that would not be weary of running let him run the more and if you would be weary of working work the more I but here in Divinity it is a truth the more you are doing the better you will be able to do be acting grace and in the acting of it your grace will be encreased grace acted intends the habit and the habit intended does encrease strength therefore up and be doing and God shall be with you 3. Walk in the spirit and then you shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh if the Spirit of God help you you shall run and not be weary walk and not faint Isa 40. ult Remember what I have told you It is not the strength of habitual grace but it is the auxiliary the assisting-grace of the Spirit that carries you through every duty Though you do duty yet the Spirit of Christ is the moving and working-cause for without him you can do nothing 4. Set before you the example of the Saints that is another help to perseverance it is said of Moses he held out though he met with temptations on the right hand and on the left he held out why because he saw him that was invisible Heb. 11.27 So Job Job 23.11 My feet hath held his path his way have I kept and not declined So David I was almost consumed on earth by trouble and persecution that he met with yet have I not forgotten thy Law Psal 119.87 So Daniel when he knew the Writing was sealed and his Religion would cost him not only his liberty but his life Daniel was Daniel still he went on his course as he was wont to do Dan. 6.10 The blessed Martyrs that went through imprisonment bonds reproaches persecution yet with what courage did they press towards the Mark and so with courage they held out to the end and in the end 5. Be often meditating on the rich and royal Reward those rich and glorious hopes laid up for those that persevere this if any thing will bear up your hearts and hopes when they are ready to faint What made the Apostle hold out in the midst of all temptations 2 Cor. 4.16 For this cause we faint not Why because says he our light afflictions which are but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Ver. 17. Moses he held out chusing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season Why he had an eye to the recompence of reward Heb. 11.26 A Traveller after a long journey when he is weary and faint and sits down if he see the Town before him it puts life into him and he plucks up his feet and resolves not to be weary till he be at his journeys end O look at the Crown and white Robe set before you and faint if you can get on the top of Mount Nebo look on the Land of Promise those good things set before you taste the grapes of Canaan before you come to Canaan Consider two things from what you are delivered and to what you are appointed You are delivered from wrath and appointed to mercy delivered from Hell and appointed to Heaven delivered from a hopeless condition to a most hopeful and happy condition that the heart can conceive or tongue express If these things were soundly digested and seriously considered they would awaken your drooping drowsie spirits and set the wheels a going and make us redouble our endeavour and encrease our diligence that the Kingdom of Heaven might even suffer violence yea these things will constrain us in the midst of all afflictions temptations and tryals to press towards the Mark therefore awake thou that sleepest the Apostle speaks of a sleep of drowsiness Rom. 13.11 For says the Apostle your salvation is nearer than when you believed A stone the nearer it comes to the Center the swifter the motion will be Redeem and recover lost time by double diligence set on Heaven by a new resolution set thy face towards Sion as one that looks on all these creature-comforts as vanishing into smoak and as one that resolves to have Heaven or nothing do much and suffer much thou wilt never repent Be stedfast and unmovable abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. To set home this Exhortation of holding fast what you have received there are two Motives in the Text which I will dispatch with a quick hand First Behold I come quickly What coming does our Saviour here speak of I Answer This coming of our Saviour may be understood three ways He comes either in a way of Tryal or in a way of Mercy or in a way of Judicature He comes in a way of Tryal so he foretels the heavy temptations and persecutions that came upon his Church in the time of Trajanus the Emperor as Mr. Brightman well observes This lasted fourteen years yet our Saviour calls it but an hour of temptation in ver 10. Likewise Strabo the Geographer writes That the Church of Philadelphia was often shaken with Earth-quakes both she and other Cities were shaken with Political Earth-quakes as well as Natural with Adversaries that sought their ruine Hence you may take this Observation That God hath sore and shaking Tryals to exercise his Church withal Through many Afflictions we must enter into the Kingdom of Heaven And they that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution In one kind or other in one measure or other God sees shaking is needful to awaken us to shake us out of our security and to purifie and reform and refine us therefore let us not settle upon our Lees and promise our selves security from Tryals The hand of God hath been heavy upon the Protestant Churches in Piedmont in Poland Oh the dreadful things that they have suffered Why should we expect exemption are we better than they Be forewarned that you may be fore-armed lay in provision against the day of Tryal lay in a stock of Faith and Patience and Self-denial c. Gird on the whole armour of God that you may be able to stand 2. It may be understood in a way of mercy I come quickly in a way of mercy I come to moderate the tryals and to deliver thee from temptations God will not suffer the Rod of the wicked to lie on the back of his righteous servants Psal 125.3 So then the Doctrine is this Doct. The troubles and tryals of Gods Church and Chosen though they may be sharp yet they shall be but short I come quickly I come to deliver my Church quickly Nero's Tribulation was but for ten days Rev. 2.10 For a small moment have I forsaken thee but with great mercies will I gather thee in a
vanity of it are ready to draw away our hearts to it O then have a care to do Gods will Deut. 6.11 12 When thou hast eaten and art full when thou art in a prosperous condition then beware lest thou forget the Lord which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt c. The Apostle Saint Paul had learnt a great Lesson when he said I have learnt in whatsoever state I am in therewith to be content I know how to be abased and I know how to abound Phil. 4.11 12. There is more danger in prosperity than in adversity as in a croud a man is in danger to lose his Purse so in a croud of worldly businesses and prosperity a man is in greatest danger to lose his God Secondly In a time of danger then God calls you to do his will that you should not decline Duty for danger sake that you should not break a Hedg to miss a foul way See a singular example of this in Daniel when he knew the doing of his duty would be the hazard of his life when he knew the writing was sealed and that snares were laid for his life yet he would not omit duty for the saving of his life he prayed three times a day as he was wont to do his Window being open in his Chamber towards Jerusalem Dan. 6.10 So those three Noble Worthies who were so highly honoured by God as to be miraculously preserved they would not deeline duty for dangers sake Be it known unto thee O King our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from this burning Furnace but if not we will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden Image which thou hast set up Dan. 3.17 18. So singular was the courage of Saint Peter and Saint John Acts 4.20 We cannot but speak the things that we have seen and heard Threaten or not threaten imprison or not imprison we cannot but speak the things that we have seen and heard Thirdly A third Season when God calls us to do his will is this when he puts an opportunity into our hands of doing some special piece of service for him now is a price put into your hands now a man should do the will of God especially This is that which Mordecai told Esther Esther 4 Who knows whether thou art come to the Kingdom for such a time as this It is as if he should say It may be God hath put an opportunity into thy hand to help his Church at this time The third thing by way of Explication is this But why must the Disciples of Christ be Doers of Gods will The Reasons are these First Because the whole Body of Religion as I may say consists in these two things namely in Believing and Obeying take away one of these and Religion is a lame Religion Secondly By doing the will of our Father we shew our selves to be Disciples of Christ indeed because we now imitate our Lord and Master for thus did he see that remarkable Scripture John 6.38 I came from Heaven not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me Thirdly Because if we do not do the will of God we shall certainly do the will of a worse Master if we do not work in Gods service we shall do the Devils drudgery if we be not workers of righteousness we shall be workers of iniquity as appears by that in Matth. 7.21 23 He that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven compare it with verse 23 And then will I say unto them I never knew you depart from me ye workers of iniquity It is as if our Saviour should say Because you would not be workers of righteousness to do the will of my Father therefore it is that you are workers of iniquity Fourthly Christians must do the will of God because this is that which makes for the honour of God John 15.8 Herein is my Father glorified if ye bring forth much fruit Look as by believing we give honour to the Truth of God so by obeying we give God the honour of his Soveraignty As obedient Children we shall shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light 1 Pet. 2.9 Before I come to the Application there are two or three Objections that lie in the way which I shall endeavour to remove Object 1. It may be some will say You do so cry up Duty and doing the will of God that you infringe or eclipse the Free grace of God this is not Preaching Free grace Answ I answer This is not an infringing or an eclipsing of the free-grace of God because you must know Faith and good Works are not opposite one to another but they are subordinate they are consistent and may stand one with another very well Secondly I answer The grace of God doth not exclude all works but it excludes those works only that are meritorious Good works therefore we may say truly are Causes without which we cannot be saved though they are not Efficient Causes nor instrumental Causes yet they are Causes without which we cannot be saved as the Apostle saith Without holiness no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 So may I say here Though we be not saved for our good works yet we shall never be saved without good works I would have you to remember this Good works though they are not necessary to our Justification yet they are necessary to our Salvation there is a great deal of difference between these two to be saved by faith and saved for faith this is certain we are not saved for our faith this is the errour of the Socinians that say The Act of believing is our righteousness Though we are not saved for faith yet the Apostle saith We are saved by faith So here we are not saved for our good works yet we are not saved without good works as the Apostle saith He that is a Doer of the Word shall be blessed in his deed James 1.25 He doth not say for his deed so you may be blessed in your good works though not for your good works Thirdly I answer Although faith alone doth justifie yet that faith that is alone doth not justifie though no man is justified for his works yet that faith that is a justifying faith is a working faith Secondly It may be objected But why do you press us to do the will of God when of our selves we are not able to do it we cannot of our selves think a good thought nor speak a good word much less do the will of God in that manner as you have laid down how it must be done To this I answer Our inability doth not nullifie or make void the Commands of God God for example bids you believe 1 John 3.23 And this is his Commandment that we should believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ and yet Faith it is the gift of God