Faith Spirits Hopes are all obligations to Fidelity Sermon III. Sect. 1. SAcrifices Propitiatory and Eucharistical 2. Praises the matter of a Covenant a Staple commodity for commerce with Heaven 3. Praises the fruits of Repentance 4. An Argument in prayer God forceth his glory out of wicked men but is glorified actively by the godly 5. A principle of obedience difference between the obedience of fear and of love 6. An Instrument of glory to God Praises of the heart and of the lips Communion of Sinners Communion of Saints 7. Converts report Gods mercies to others No true praises without Piety Sins against mercy soonest ripe 8. The more greedy the less thankeful Gods greatness matter of praise Things strongest when neerest their original Other creatures guided by an external Reasonable by an internal knowledg 9. Gods goodness matter of praise Knowledg of God notional and experimental Praise the language of Heaven Sacrifices were Gods own Love of Communion above self-love 10. We are wide to receive narrow to acknowledg The benefit of praises is our own 11. Wherein the duties of praising God stand 12. Repentance careful of obedience 13. This care wrought by godly sorrow Present sense Holy jealousie Love to Christ. Sons by adoption and regeneration 14. Repentance sets it self most against a mans special sin 15. By this sin God most dishonored By this repentance sincerity most evidenced Sermon IV. Sect. 1. REpentance removes carnal confidence Naturally we affect an absoluteness within our selves 2. This failing we trust in other creatures 3. When all fail we go to God in ways of our own inventing Repentance the cure of all this 4. Confederacies with Gods enemies dangerous Take heed of competition between our own interest and Gods 5. The creature not to be trusted in it wants strength and wisdom 6. Idols not to be trusted in they are lyes Grounds of confidence all wanting in Idols 7. God onely to be trusted absolutely in the way of his commands and providence 8. The way to mercy is to be fatherless weakness in our selves makes us seek help above our selves 9. Sin healed by pardon purging deliverance comfort Why back-sliding pardoned by name 10. Our conversion grounded on free-grace No guilt too great for love to pardon Gods anger will consist with his love 11. Conversion and healing go together Sin a sickness and a wound 12. The proper passions of sickness agree to sin viz. pain weakness consumption deformity 13. Sin a wound the impotent wilful and desperate case of this patient 14. The mercy of the Physitian 15. Guilt cannot look on Majesty Apprehensions of mercy the grounds of prayer 16. Sense of misery works estimation of mercy 17. Back-sliding formally opposite to faith and repentance Apostacy two-fold What it is to speak against the Son of man and against the Spirit How a sin is said not to be forgiven in this world nor in the world to come Free love respects not persons nor free pardon sins 18. From beginning to end of salvation all is free grace 19. In judgments Gods anger more to be noted then our sufferings Sermon V. Sect. 1. BLessings as large to the penitent as curses to the impenitent and answer all our wants 2. God answereth prayers beyond the petitions of the people 3. We pray according to the knowledg and love we have of our selves God answers according to his knowledg and love 4. God answers prayer not only with respect to our wants but his own honor Gods ultimate end in working our strongest argument in praying 5. Encouragement to prayer Gods shekel double to ours 6. Prayer may be ambitious and beg great things 7. Free love puts forth it self in various blessings 8. Grâ—ce as dew of a celestial original fruit of a serene heaven 9. Abundant insensible insinuating and searching vegetating and quickning Refreshing and comforting 10. Peace no blessing except it come as dew from Heaven 11. All wants must be supplied from Heaven Christ all beauties to his Church The root and stability of the Church foundation doctrinall personall Righteousnesse of Redemption stronger then of Creation 12. Growth of the Church under the Law Nationall under the Gospell Universall Christ the Olive-tree originall of grace to his Church 13. Our refuge and shelter Our power above afflictions 14. All Christs graces fruits of Lebanon the best of all others Creature-helps liers either by falsenesse or impotency 15. Promises should beget duties God promiseth Beauty to his Church wee should labour to adorn it 16. He promiseth stability we should be rooted in truth and grace all our gifts should serve the Temple 17. He promiseth growth we should grow our selves and endeavour the growth of others Christ both the end and the beinging of the Churches growth 18. Compacture and unity in the Church necessary to the growth of it Divisions hinder it 19. In the body compacted there are severall distinct members each to act in his owne place and joynts fastning members to the head and to one another A different measure of vertue for severall offices A mutuall supply and helpfulnesse on unto another An eternall faculty in each part to form and concoct the matter subministred unto it 20. He promiseth the fruitfulnesse of the Olive which wee should shew forth in workes of grace and peace 21. He promiseth the smell of Lebanon the oyntment of the Gospell the graces of which we should expresse 22. He promiseth protection and conversion we should make him our shelâ—er and from his protection learn our duty of conversion 23. He promiseth reviving out of afflictions profiting by them We should not be discouraged by temptations but amended they have many times mercy in them 24. The vertues of Heathen grapes of Sodom the graces of Christ â—rapes of Lebanon What ever we present unto God must grow in Immanuels land Sermon VI Sect. 1. GOds promise enabling is our confidence to engage Idols sorrows Gods observing us a note of care counsell honour hearing prayers 2. Summe division 3. Mans seal to Gods promise only a confession Gods seal to mans covenant a confirmation 4. Mans covenant of obedience hath its firmnesse in Gods promise of grace Indissolvable dependance of all second causes on the first 5. In sins of men God hath an influence into them as actions a providence over them as sinnes In gracious actions Gods influence necessary both to the substance and goodnesse of them 6. Of the concord between Gods grace and mans will Freewill naturall theologicall Innate praviâ—y and corrupt force which resisteth grace the remainders whereof in the regenerate 7. The will of Gods precept and of his purpose 8. They who are called externally only resist and perish they who eternally are made willing and obedient 9. By an act of spirituall teaching 10. By an act of effectuall enclining and determining the will preventing assisting subsequent grace 11. We may not trust in our owne strength but be ever jealous of our originall impotency unto good our naturall antipathy against
will nor doe any thing further then we receive from him both to will and to doe Pharoah made promise after promise and brake them as fast Exod. 8.8.28.9.28 Israel makes ptomises one while and quickly starts aside like a deceitfull bow as Ice which melts in the day and hardens againe in the night Psal. 78.34 38. Ier. 34.15.16 to day they will and to morrow they will not againe they repent to day and to morrow they repent of their repenting like the sluggard in his bed that puts out his arme to rise and then puls it in again So unstable and impotent is man in all his resolutions till God say Amen to what he purposeth and establisheth the heart by his own grace Heb. 13.9 When the waters stood as a wall on the right hand and on the left of Israel as they passed through the red Sea this was a work of Gods own power for water is unstable and cannot keep together by its own strength nor be contained within any bounds of its own So great a work is it to see the mutable wills and resolutions of men kept close to any pious and holy purposes The point wee learn from henâ— is this That our conversion and amendment of life is not sufficiently provided for by any band obligation or Covenant of our own whereby we solemnly promise and undertake it except God bee pleased by his free grace to establish and enable the heart unto the performance of it or thus A penitent mans conversion and Covenant of new obedience hath its firmnesse in the promise and free grace of God Israel here in the confidence of Gods mercy prayes for pardon and blessings and in the confidence of his grace maketh promise of Reformation and amendment of life but all this is but like a written instrument or indenture which is invalid and of no effect till the parties concerned have mutually sealed and set to their hands Till God be pleased to promise us that wee shall doe that which wee have promised unto him and doe as it were make our own Covenants for us all will prove too weak and vanishing to continue The grace of God unto the purposes of men is like graine to colours died or like oyle to colours in a Table or Picture which makes them hold fresh and not fade away There is a necessary and indissolvable dependence of all second causes upon the first without whose influence and concurrence they neither live nor move nor have or continue in their Being Acts 17.28 Heb. 1.3 He who is first of causes and last of ends doth use and direct the necessary voluntary contingent motions and activities of all second causes unto whatsoever ends hee himselfe is pleased to preordaine And this the naturall and necessary concatenation of things doth require that that which is the absolutest supremest first and most independent will wisdome and power of all others should govern order and direct all other wills powers and wisedomes that are subordinate to and inferiour under it unto whatsoever uses and purposes he who hath the absolute Dominion and Soveraignty over all is pleased to appoint It cannot be other then a marvellous diminution unto the greatnesse of God and a too low esteeme of the absolutenesse of that Majesty which belongs unto him to make any Counsels Decrees Purposes of his to receive their ultimate forme and stampe from the previous and intercurrent causalities or conditions of the creature This I have alwayes looked on as the principall cause of those dangerous errors concerning grace free-will and the decrees of God wherewith the Churches of Christ have been so miserably in the former ages and in this of ours exercised by the subtlety of Satan and by the pride of corrupt minded men namely the too low and narrow thoughts and conceptions which men have framed to themselves of God the not acquiescing in his Soveraign Dominion and absolute Power of disposing all things which hee made unto whatsoever uses himselfe pleaseth into which I am sure the holy Scripture doth resolve all Matth. 11. 25.26 Rom. 9.18.21.11.33 36. Eph. 1.5.9.11 Psal. 135.6 Even in the sinfull actions of men Gods influence and providence hath a particular hand As actions his influence as sinfull his providence His influence to the naturall motion and substance of the action though not to the wickednesse of it for this standeth not in Being or perfection else the fountaine of Being and perfection must needs be the first cause of it but in defect and privation of perfection As when a hand draweth a line by a crooked rule the line is from the hand but the crookednesse of it is from the rule or as when a man goeth lamely the motion as motion is from the naturall faculty but the lamenesse of the motion is from the defect and vitiousnesse of the faculty A swearer could not speak an oath nor a murtherer reach out his hand to strike a blow but by the force of those naturall faculties which in and from God have all their Being and working But that these naturall motions are by profanesse or malice directed unto ends morally wicked this proceedeth from the vitiosity and defect which is in the second cause making use of Gods gifts unto his owne dishonour 2. The Providence of God hath a notable hand in the guiding ordering and disposing of these actions as sinfull unto the ends of his own glory in the declaration of his Power Wisedome and Iustice unto which the sinnes of wicked men are perforce carried on contrary to those ends which they themselves in sinning did propose unto themselves As an Artificer useth the force of naturall causes unto artificiall effects as an Huntsman useth the naturall enmity of the Dogge against the Fox or Wolfe unto the preservation of the Lambs which otherwise would bee destroyed though the dogge himselfe by nature is as great an enemy to the Lamb as the Fox As the Pharisees were as great enemies to Religion as the Sadduces yet Paul wisely made use of their emnity amongst themselves for his own preservation and deliverance from them both Nothing more usuall then for God to mannage and direct the sinnes of men to the bringing about of his own purposes and Counsels Gen. 50.20 1 Sam. 2.25 1 King 2.26.27 2 Sam. 12.11 compared with 2 Sam. 16.22 Esay 10.5.6 7. Act. 4.28 Psal. 76.10 But now unto gracious actions which belong not at all unto nature as nature but onely as inspired and actuated with spirituall and heavenly principles a more singular and notable influence of God is required not onely to the substance of the action but more especially to the rectitude and goodnesse of it for wee have no sufficiency of our selves not so much as unto the first offers and beginnings of good in our thoughts 2 Cor. 3.5 when we are bid to work out our own salvation with feare and trembling it must be in dependence on the power and in confidence of
the aide of God for it is he that worketh in us both to will and to do Phil. â— 11.12.13 when we Covenant to turn unto God we must withall pray unto him to turne us Lam. 5.21 Ier. 31. God commands us to turn our selves and to make us a new heart and a new spirit that we may live Ezek. 18.30.31 32. but withall he telleth us that it is hee who gives us one heart and one way and a new spirit that we may walk in his Statutes Ezek. 11.19.20 Ier. â—2 39 He giveth us posse velle agere proficere the power to make us able the heart to make us willing the Act to walk the proficiency to improve the perseverance to finish and perfect holinesse David cannot run in the way of Gods Commandements till he enlarge his heart Psal. 119.32 nothing can finde the way to heaven but that which comes first from heaven Ioh. 2.13 wee cannot give unto God any thing but of his own Who am I saith David and what is my people that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort for all things come of thee and of thine own have we given thee 1 Chron. 29.14 For the further understanding of this point and of the sweet concord and concurrence betweene the will of man converted and the effectuall grace of God converting wee shall set down these few propositions 1. That there is in man by nature a power or faculty which wee call Free will whereunto belongeth such an indifferency and indeterminacy in the manner of working that whether a man will a thing or â—ill it choose it or turne from it hee doth in neither move contrary to his owne naturall principles of working A stone moving downward doth move naturally upward contrary to its nature and so violently But which way so ever the will moves it moves according to the condition of its created being wherein it was so made as when it chose one part of a contradiction it retained an inward and fundamentall habitude unto the other like those gates which are so made as that they open both wayes So that as the tongue which was wont to sweare or blaspheme when it is converted doth by the force of the same faculty of speaking being newly sanctified utter holy and gracious speeches so the will which being corrupted did chuse evill and only evill being sanctified doth use the same manner of operation in chusing that which is good the created nature of it remaining still one and the same but being now guided and sanctified by different principles This wee speak onely with respect to the naturall manner of its working for if we speake of liberty in a morall or theologicall sense so it is certaine that the more the will of man doth observe the right order of its proper objects and last end the more free and noble it is the very highest perfection of free will standing in an immutable adherency unto God as the ultimate end of the creature and all ability of receding or falling from him being the deficiency and not the perfection of Free-will And therefore the more the will of man doth cast off and reject God the more base servile and captive it growes In which sense we affirme against the Papists that by nature man since the fall of Adam hath no Free-will or naturall power to beleeve and convert unto God or to prepare himselfe thereunto 2. In man fallen and being thereby universally in all his faculties levened with vitious and malignant principles there is a native privitie and corrupt force which putteth forth it selfe in resisting all those powerfull workings of the word and spirit of grace that oppose themselves against the body of sinne and move the will unto holy resolutions for the wisedome of the flesh cannot bee subject unto the Law of God Rom. 8.7 The flesh will lust against the spirit as being contrary thereunto Gal. 5.17 an uncircumcisied heart will alwayes resist the holy spirit Act. 7.51 there is such a naturall antipathy between the purity of the word and the impurity of the will of man that he naturally refuseth to heare and snuffeth at it and pulleth away the shoulder and hardneth the heart and stoppeth the eare and shutteth the eyes and setteth up strong holds and high reasonings against the wayes of God and is never so well as when he can get off all sight and thoughts of God and be as it were without God in the world Ier. 5.3.6.10.17.23.19.15 Mal. 1.13 2 Chron. 36.16 3. According to the degrees and remainders of this naturall corruption so farre forth as it is unmortified and unsubdued by the power of grace this originall force doth proportionably put forth it selfe in withstanding and warring against the Spirit of God even in the regenerate themselves A notable example whereof wee have in Asa of whom it is said that he was wroth with Hanani the Seer and put him in a Prison-house and was in a rage with him when hee reproved him for his carnall confidence 2 Chron. 16.10 and the Apostle doth in many words both state and bewaile the warring of the Law of his members against the law of his minde so that when hee did with the one serve the law of God hee did with the other serve the law of sinne and was unable to doe the thing which hee would and the evill which he would not he did doe by the strength of sinne that dwelled in him â— Rom. 7.14 15. 4. We are to distingish of the will of God which is set forth in Scripture two manner of wayes There is voluntas signi or that will of God whereby he requires us to work and which he hath appointed to bee observed by us His will signified in precepts and prohibitions This is the will of God saith the Apostle even your sanctification 1 Thess. 4.3 So we are said to prove to try to doe Gods will or that which is pleasing in his sight Matth. 7.21 Rom. 12.2 Ioh. 8.29 and there is voluntas beneplaâ—iti the will of his purpose and counsell according unto which hee himselfe in his owne secret and unsearchable good pleasure is pleased to work for hee worketh all things after the counsell of his owne will Eph. 1.11 whatsoever the Lord pleaseth that he doth in heaven and earth Psal. 135.6 And no second causes can doe any thing else though they never so proudly break the order of Gods revealed will but what his hand and Counsell had before determined Acts 4.28 The will of Gods precept and command is every day violated resisted and broken through by wicked men unto their owne destruction How often would I and yee would not Matth. 23.37 Ierem. 13.11 But the will of Gods Counsell and purpose cannot bee resisted or withstood by all the powers of the world the Counsell of the Lord must stand and those very agents that worke purposely to disappoint and subvert it doe by those very workings