VERA EFFIGIES SAMVELIS BOLTON S.S. THEOL D NVPER COLL C CANTAB MAG Qui Obiit 15 Oct bâ—s 1654 AEtatis 48. Ars vtmam mores animumâ— depâ—â—gere posset Pulâ—nrior in terris 〈◊〉 â—abella foret O 〈…〉 Art could pensâ—â—l ou◠〈◊〉 mind A fairer peice on Earth we should not find G. Faithâ—â—â—â—â—culp THE Dead Saint Speaking TO Saints and Sinners Living In severall TREATISES VIZ. The Sinfulness and greatest evill that is in Sin On 2 Sam. 24.10 Loves of Christ to his Spouse On Cant. 4.9 Nature and Royalties of Faith On John 3.15 Slowness of Heart to Beleeve On John 1.50 Cause Signes and Cure of Hypocrisie with Motives Helps to Sincerity On Isaiah 58.2 Wonderfull Workings of God for his Church and People On Exod. 15.11 Never before Published BY SAMVEL BOLTON D. D. Late Mr. of Christ Colledge in Cambridge Prepared for the Presse â—â— himself during Life Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver mee from the body of this Death Rom. 7.24 But God commended his love towards us in that whilst wee were yet Enemies Christ dyed for us Rom. 5.8 LONDON Printed by Robert Ibbitson for Thomas Parkhurst and are to be sold at his Shop at the three Crowns over against the Great Conduit in Cheapside 1657. TO THE Right Honourable and Right Religious Lord Robert Earle of Warwick Baron of Leez and to the truly Noble and truly vertuous the Lady Elianor Countess of Warwick his most pious Consort E. B. wisheth to your present prosperities the addition of many dayes increase of Grace in this life and the full fruition of Glory in the life to come Right Honourable IT was the purpose of my dear Husband deceased to have presented these his Works unto you Both by an Epistle Dedicatory wherein hee would have spoken his gratitude for your manifold favours And when his wasting weaknesses had rendred him unfit for that intended service hee desired if these manuscripts should bee esteemed worthy of publick view they might come abroad under your Honours Patronage to bee living evidences of his high respect and unfeigned thankfulness This Narrative will I humbly hope make a satisfying Apologie for my presumption in prefixing your noble Names before these his Sermons which are likely to find the same good acceptance from the Presse as some eminently pious and learned upon the perusall of them judge which they received from the Pulpit My prayers are that Your Selves and Your Family may both here and hereafter reap the fruit of all those encouragements which many famous Ministers some dead and others surviving to do service have received from Your Honours favour I humbly crave your acceptance of this Widdows mite of Gratitude for all the expressions of Your respect both to my reverend Husband and worthlesse self Right Honourable I am under many Obligations bound to bee Your Honours humble Servant ELIANOR BOLTON An Epistle to the Reader THE Books of learned and godly Ministers published by others after their death's do for the most part come far short of those Books which they themselves publish in their lives time The children of their brains being herein like unto the children of their bodies who many times live plentifully while their Fathers live but meet with much hardship after their death's It may bee said of the posthumous works of most men in comparison of their first works Printed by themselves as it is of Abishai and Benaiah 2 Sam. 23.19.23 They were very valiant and honourable men but they attained not unto the three first Worthies of David But it fairs far otherwise with this our Reverend Brother hee hath attained a double happiness which few arrive unto These ensuing Sermons were written out in a fair and legible Character and prepared for the Press in his life time and wherein they were defective they have been supplied and made up by an able learned and judicious Friend so that the Reader may assure himself that they are no whit inferior to those other Books which he himself set forth and that these Fatherless children suffer no considerable prejudice by their Authors death The Subjects treated on in this Book are all of them of singular use and benefit Here you have exactly proved That Sin is the greatest of Evils and therefore calls for the greatest sorrow the greatest hatred the greatest care to avoid it and to be rid of it That the heart of Jesus Christ is exceedingly taken with his Church and people and that therfore his people ought to be exceedingly in love with him Here you have the Nature Necessity and Difficulty of Faith learnedly and practically handled and especially the Priviledges and Royalties of it Here also is shewed the Cause and Cure of Hypocrisie And how far a man may go towards Heaven and yet fall short of it The truth is As the rude Satyre in Plutarch who strove to make a dead man stand upright had so much wit as to say Deest aliquid intus there wants a principle within to inable him to stand So may I truly say of him that shall read this Book and not be very well pleased with the matter therein contained Deest aliquid intus hee wants a principle of grace within to cause him to close with such wholesome spiritual and heavenly truths There are other very profitable Treatises of this our Reverend and godly Brother prepared by himself for the Press yet behinde which may happily be brought to light if God shall please to cause this Book to finde acceptance with his people for whose spiritual advantage it is intended And that it may obtain the end for which it is Printed is the Prayer of Thy Servant in the Work of the Ministry ED. CALAMY THE CONTENTS OF Sin the greatest Evil. 2 Sam. 24.10 And now I beseech thee take away the iniquity of thy servant for I have done very foolishly THe occasion of the words p. 1. Parts of the Text. p. 3. Words opened Ibid. The letter of the words speake three Doctrins First Gods servants may commit sin commit iniquity the iniquity of thy servant Ibid. Secondly Fresh sinning must have fresh repentings Ibid. Thirdly There needs fresh pardon for fresh revoltings Ibid. Doctrines handled are two First Sin is and Gods people do apprehend it to bee the greatest Evil in the World Secondly When God threatens to punish sin it is the best way to run to God to take away sin p. 3. First Doctrin p. 4. That sin is the greatest Evil Shewed First By Collation Secondly By Demonstration First By Collation and Comparison First Most of all other evills are but outward Secondly All other evills are but of a temporal nature they have an end this evil is of an eternal nature Thirdly All other evills do not make a man the subject of Gods wrath Fourthly Other evils do but oppose our well being nay only our well being for present Fifthly Other evils are but destructive to a mans self fight but against particulars Sixthly All other evils are
day and poor to morrow The Lord hath given Dominus dedit Dominus abstulit the Lord hath taken away Both with one breath Hence the wise man Riches make themselves wings and flye away But these are abiding Treasure A Treasure whose spring is in Heaven whose Foundation is in Christ Our life is hid with Christ in God not only hid for secrecy but hid for safety It is a safe life an abiding life Nay but if they should continue yet will they do us no good in the day of trouble They cannot save our souls from nor in the day of wrath They cannot save us from sicknesse nor from death not from Hell Nor are they able to mitigate our Torments to purchase one drop of water in that lake of fire What profit had Ahab of his Vineyard Baltazar of his cups Dives of his wealth Judas of his thirty-pence Agrippa of his gay apparel The rich fool of his full barns All these would do them no good Neither quench nor bribe these flames but rather afford Oile to increase them But now Grace that riches which Faith doth inrich us withall it is such as will uphold us in sickness bee a choice cordial in that bitter potion it will deliver us in death save us in the day of wrath and inable us to lift up our heads with joy and boldness in the day of Judgement that terrible day of the Lord when the wicked shall tremble before the Judge and call upon the Mountains to fall upon them and the Hills to cover them from the presence of him that sitteth on the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. Hast thou other riches and wantest thou Faith Hast thou Mountains of Gold Rocks of Diamonds shores of Rubies And wantest thou Faith wantest thou Grace Oh! thou art a poor man Thus you see Faith is an Heart-inriching-Grace A Beleever hath title to all A Beleever is the poorest and the richest man in the World As none is poorer than a godly man in himself so none is richer than a Beleever in Christ Hee is as having nothing and yet possessing all things Christ is the Heir of all things All are yours if you bee Christs No sooner can the soul say Christ is mine but hee may say His Blood is mine his Spirit mine his Glory mine all is mine Christ and all his are conveyed and made over by the same Deed of Gift Hence the Apostle saith Wee are made partakers of Christ Not of some part but of Christ all Christ not of Justification only but say Christ and there is all Fifteenth Royalty 15. Royalty Faith is an Heart-raising-Grace 15. Faith is an Heart-raising-Grace There is a threefold Death that Faith doth raise up the soul from 1. The Death of Sin 2. The Death of inward Trouble 3. The Death of outward Trouble 1. Faith raiseth up the soul from the Death of Sin Wee are all of us Dead by nature in trespasses and sins Ephes 2.1 Dead-Born And as dead men so wee have no notion to spiritual things no motion no strength to any good no sense being insensible of the weight of sin insensible of mercies and judgements wee have no desires after any thing good no affection to them And a Death it is not only Privative A meer absence and privation of spiritual life but a Positive Death wherein there is an Introduction of a Positive vitious Habit. As in Natural Death there is not only a Privation of Life of the former form but the Position of another form there is another form left in the body So in Spiritual Death there is not only a meer Absence a bare Privation of Life But there is a Positive Evil and Vitious Habit left in the soul Hence Heb. 9.14 The works of natural men are called Dead works There would bee a contradiction in calling them Dead works if unregenerate men were only deprived of spiritual life and had not another positive evil form in them Thus dead wee are then not only Privatively but Positively And it is Faith which doth raise up the Soul from the Death of Sin to the Life of Grace Faith is the Resurrection of the Soul from under the spiritual death the Death of Sin The first rise of the Soul from the Death of Sin is by beleeving Vita sancta aâ— fide sumit initium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fide regeneramut Calv. Resipiscentia non modo fidem subsequitur sed ex ea noscitur Calv. ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fides justificationem praecipit sanctificationem efficit Tilen An holy life hath its rise from Faith The Fountain of all our spiritual Graces The worker of all good things That which begets Love Fear Repentance Hence Calvin saith Faith regenerates Repentance doth not only follow Faith but doth arise from Faith Hence Clemens Alexandrinus Faith is the first awakening the first inclination of the Soul to Christ. Hence by some Faith and the New Creation Faith and Sanctification do differ as much as the Cause and the Effect Faith is the Instrument of Justification but the efficient of Sanctification They who distinguish Regeneration which is part of our Vocation and Sanctification do make Faith and Sanctification differ as much as Cause and Effect Vocation say they produceth Faith â—nd Faith being begotten produceth Sanctification both habitual and â—ctual Hence it 's called the Mother-Grace But they who make Vocation and Sanctification all one and both to bee nothing else but our inherent Righteousness or those Habits that frame of Grace implanted in the Soul whereof Faith is a part they do say Faith doth not produce the Cause of the Habits of Graces but Faith produceth the acts of Grace of Love Repentance c. Faith doth not produce the Habits but the acts of Grace For the clearing of this Sanctification may bee considered as it is either In actu primo vel secundo 1. Habitual Or 2. Actual 1. For our Habitual Sanctification There wee say the Spirit of God is the only Cause and Faith is an Effect as well as others Faith is a part of our inherent Sanctification 2. For our Actual Sanctification or as those Habits do act and exercise and there wee say Faith doth help to produce the acts of Grace of Love of Repentance 1 Tim. 1.5 Love out of a pure heart and a good Conscience and of Faith unfeigned Faith doth not only lend an hand to its Fellow-Graces for the perfecting of Grace but Faith doth help to produce the Acts of Grace the Acts of Love of Repentance Zeal Patience c. Though at the same time they bee all implanted yet in Nature Faith hath the precedency and helps to produce the Acts of all the rest As God the Father is before the Son in Nature yet not in Time Hee is not a Father till hee have a Son So is it to bee understood concerning Faith and all other Graces 2. Faith raiseth us up
Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom also through Faith wee have access into this Grace wherein wee stand rejoycing under the hope of the Glory of God Rom. 15.13 The God of Hope fill you with all Joy and Peace in Beleeving Where there 's Faith there 's Joy If Faith of Evidence Ubi Fiducia ibi Laetitia there Joy doth naturally result and arise from it If but Faith of Adherence there Joy is hid and secret though it doth not appear The seed of Joy is hid as yet under the Clods of Faith but in time it will break forth and appear Joy is there though it bee not seen There may bee a divorce between Faith and actual rejoycing for a time but there can bee no divorce between Faith and the Matter and Ground of Rejoycing not between Faith and the Affection of Joy My Joy shall none take from you Thus you see Faith is an Heart-chearing-Grace It fills the soul with such a Joy as nothing is able to bereave the soul thereof It is not Losses Crosses Poverty Sickness Prisons Persecutions which are able to take away this Joy of Faith 1. Faith will inable a man to rejoyce in Bonds to rejoyce in Tribulations and Sufferings for Christ as the Apostle saith As Sufferings abound the Consolations shall superabound As if all the floods of Consolation did issue from the spring of Sufferings 2. It will inable a man to rejoyce in sicknesse Faith will bee our best Cordial and let in such a beam of Gods love into the Soul as will chear and comfort the heart in this condition warm and inlighten it not only inlighten but warm the heart in this condition 3. It will inable a man to Rejoyce in Poverty in Calamity in Famine You see Habakkuks confidence Hab. 3.17 18. Although the Figtree do not blossome nor shall there bee fruit in the Vines though the labour of the Olive shall fail and the field shall yeeld no meat though the sheep bee cut off from the Fold and there bee no Bullock in the stall yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation Though the waters of Calamity should rise so high as to drown up all his comforts yet hee could rejoyce in God In the absence of all worldly comforts Faith can let in springs of Consolation from God to rejoyce the Soul If God if Christ if Glory can rejoyce the heart Faith will not want matter of Joy in the saddest condition It is an Heart-chearing Grace Faith will present to man Soul-rejoycing-grounds There are these five grounds of Rejoycing 1. Our Election Hence Christ saith Rejoyce that your Names are written in the Book of Life 2. Our Redemption 3. Our Justification 4. Our Sanctification 5. The Promises and Hopes of Glorification And Faith presents all these grounds of rejoycing It makes a discovery to the soul that wee are Gods chosen such as hee hath elected that wee are his Redeemed ones such as hee hath purchased that wee are his Justified ones such as hee hath pardoned that wee are his holy ones such as hee hath sanctified and shall bee hereafther glorified And when such a report is made to the soul from Heaven when Faith hath been in Heaven and brings this news down to the soul how can it bee but the Soul must rejoyce and bee filled with all Consolations Object But alas you will say Who are more sad who are more disconsolate than Beleevers are And therefore how is Faith an Heart-chearing-Grace Ans 1. Beleevers may rejoyce and thou not discern it It is a Joy which is not known but by experience Hence the Apostle saith It is a Joy that passeth all understanding None know it but they who feel it A stranger doth not intermeddle with this Joy As they cannot feel it so they cannot see it and therefore are no Competent Judges whether Gods people are joyfull or whether they bee sorrowfull 2. But to answer further You say Beleevers are sad and disconsolate people 1. All Beleevers are not so They are such as are 1. Under some present cross and affliction Gods hand is gone out against them though for good For all things work together for good to them that love God and are chosen according to his purpose But I say some present evil is upon them and this may sadden the spirits of the best for a time though this may bee their infirmity Paul had learned in all estates therein to bee content and if to bee content then to rejoyce unless it were Contentation by force sure not well pleasing to God If indeed their comfort did lye in the presence and injoyment of these outward things then no marvel if in the absence of them they were cast down I say If the floods of their comfort were maintained by such springs as these then no marvel if these being taken away they bee bereave of their Joy But seeing these things are too short either to breed or feed either to beget or fuel a Christians Joy why should the deprival of them so much affect the heart as to take away their Joy Have you not still the ground of Joy you have lost your goods but not your God You are deprived of your Comforts not of your Christ And therefore except you do make Gods of the Creature prize them too highly in your Judgement ingage your hearts and affections too much to them why should your Joy bee taken away You see Paul had learned in all estates to bee content and the Prophet Habakkuk before mentioned and why not you 2. Such they are as for the present are under some sad and sore Temptation combate with Satan and for the present their spirits are sadned and cast down 3. Such as are in deserted conditions God having withdrawn himself and hid his face from the Soul Than which there is no sadder condition in the World when not a Star but the Sun it self is rent from the Sky when not a single Comfort but the universal Comfort seems to bee gone This may sadden the spirit of Gods people for a time All Jobs crosses did not so much affect him as this The loss of his Goods of his Possession of his Children came not so neer him as the apprehension of the loss of his God Hee could lift up his head under all the other but here hee was ready to sink Such a Condition Gods people may bee in which may cause sadness of spirit as was David Heman Hezekiah and others 2. So secondly for those of Gods people that are thus sad and disconsolate it is not as they are Beleevers but as they are Doubters Their Trouble ariseth from Doubting not from Beleeving It is not Faith but the want of Faith which is the cause of their uncomfortable walking If Gods people would live more out of themselves and more in Christ if they would live more the Life of Faith and less the Life of Sense if they would
as well as in broad waies in rugged waies as well as in plain smooth waies In difficult as well as in easie waies You see this in Abraham concerning the sacrificing of his son In which act hee might seem to disobey in his Obedience And the dutiful yeelding to it might seem to contradict duty There seemed not only Nature and reason to cry down this act of Obedience but even the word too The yeelding of Obedience did seem to justle against the Precept of Obedience Yet you see hee obeyed God It is said By Faith Abraham obeyed God By Faith indeed It was a strong Faith That strong Faith that beleeved hee should have a Son did now obey God in offering of his Son Strong Obedience proceeded from his strong Faith Strong Faith produceth strong Obedience 1. Strong for Active 2. Strong for Passive Obedience The same Faith doth supply the soul with Active strength for doing duties and with Passive strength for suffering duties 1. A strong Faith is strong to bear Reproaches for Christ As Moses Hee esteemed the Reproach of Christ greater riches than the Treasures of Egypt Heb. 11.26 And Paul Therefore wee labour and suffer Reproach because wee trust in the living God 1 Tim. 4.10 2. A strong Faith is strong to bear losses for Christ As they Heb. 10.34 Who took joyfully the spoiling of their goods as if the enemy had done them a great courtesie A strong Faith is strong to bear Persecutions Scourges Death it self for Christ You see what the Apostles indured what Stephen indured Why saith the Text Hee was a man full of Faith Act. 5.8 Strong Faith did inable them to suffer and bear and to go through difficulties prisons persecutions scourgings c. for Christ A strong Beleever doth rejoyce if hee can hold up God as it were though himself bee down if hee can raise up Gods Glory though it bee by the ruine of himself save his honour by losse of himself What Epaminondas said who having resolved concerning his Buckler either to defend it or to dye for it being wounded to death brake forth into these words Num salvus est Clypeus meus Is my Buckler safe If that bee safe I am well So the Beleever in the midst of all his sufferings if hee can keep his Buckler safe hold up God and his Glory All is well 3. A strong Faith will beleeve nothing contrary to his belief All the temptations of Satan all the arguments of men shall never bee able to reason him out of his Faith A weak Faith is quickly brought to deny his conclusion to yeeld up the cause Satan may make a man unsay what formerly hee hath said But a strong Faith will hold the conclusion against all Satans sophistry His Faith hath been gotten up by many invincible experiences from Gods behaviour to him as a Father from the souls behaviour to him as a Child And all that Satan can do shall not out-reason his Faith What a man saith by feeling a temptation may make him unsay but what a man saith by Faith nothing can make him unsay If Satan do assault such a man and tell him God doth not love him God is not his Father yet will the soul binde it self to this Mast and hold his conclusion against all with the Church Isa 63.16 Doubtless thou art our Father thou Lord art our Father our Redeemer Say Satan takes up arguments from Gods 1. Inward Or 2. Outward dealings with us 1. From his Inward dealings May bee a man is in some present Desertion and wants the clear Evidences which formerly hee had and Satan from thence doth argue That God is not our God hee is not our Father yet will not a strong Faith bee reasoned out of his Faith The soul will yet conclude it though it cannot clear it and beleeve it when it cannot see it The strong Christian lives by Faith not by feeling and knows God may bee His God though by sense it bee not discerned but that God is not his God You see this in Psal 22.1 My God! My God! There 's Faith Why hast thou forsaken mee There 's sense Faith held the conclusion against sense That God was his God though sense could not apprehend but that hee was forsaken of God And therefore when the eye of Sense and Evidence is put out yet hee hath the eyes of Faith to see and beleeve And Blessed is the man saith our Saviour to Thomas who beleeves and sees not Joh. 20.29 A strong Faith will trust God further than hee sees him Faith is the Evidence of things not seen Heb. 11.1 Faith will trust upon the Promise of Mercy in the want of Sense of Mercy Our Faith is not begotten by sense and feelings but by the Promise and therefore in the want of sense and feelings the soul may beleeve Isa 50.10 Though a man walk in darkness and sees no light yet may hee trust in the Lord and lean upon his God A weak Faith if it want feeling it is gone but the strong Faith will Hope against Hope Beleeve against Sense Reason and present Evidence and can say God is mine though it want the present Sense and Evidence of it It will trust in God a Father when his dealings seem to argue him an Enemy Faith will read Love in his angry looks and look through the mist of Desertion and see the affections of a Father under the expressions of an Enemy Thus did Job by Faith Though thou kill mee yet will I trust in thee Full well it knows Though God hide his face yet hee cannot deny himself 2. Say hee takes an argument from Gods outward dealings in chastising and afflicting of us and say If God loved thee hee would not so afflict thee If God were thy Father hee would not so chastise thee However the weak Faith may bee born down with such a temptation as this yet the strong Faith is not moved with such a temptation it is able to retort on Satan because God loves mee therefore hee scourgeth mee that I might not bee condemned with the World That I might not love the World therefore hee suffers the World to frown on mee That I might bee crucified to the World therefore hee suffers mee to bee crucified in the World Because I am a Child therefore hee afflicts mee Hee scourgeth every Son whom hee receiveth Rom. 12.6 7 8.9 c. God takes liberty to chastise our bodies to save our souls And God loves tenderly when hee corrects severely Job 5.17 Pro. 3.11 Thus doth a strong Faith hold up the conclusion of Faith against all the Reasonings of Satan against it Let him produce never so many Evidences to the contrary yet will hee not bee born down in it It 's a maxime of Faith hee will hold to against all opposition whatsoever You see it was thus in Job When God had taken away his goods when his hand was upon his body and upon his spirit too not only withdrawing himself from
the Apostle 2 Cor. 5. This should make us live more humbly more actively more studious to please more diligent to obey more carefull to serve him This should make us live at higher rates for Heaven more spiritual more heavenly minded It is a Cord let down from Heaven to fetch our souls up thither And doth this cause us to bee more remiss more careless Doth this which should quicken slacken our hand to duty Oh base ungrateful neglect of Love 3. when wee take heart to sin thereby Grow more loose careless This is an high abuse of this Love Because God is Good wilt thou bee Evil because hee is Merciful wilt thou bee sinful because hee is Gracious wilt thou bee impious What fearful abuse of Love is this This is to wound Christ in the house of his friends To return good for good is but Humane To return evil for good is Wicked To return good for evil is Christian-like But To return evil for good and the greatest evil for the greatest good Sin for Love this is devilish Were you his enemies hee knew how to deal with you hee could revenge himself and the abuses of his love upon you but you are his friends and those bowels which you wrong are stirred in him when hee goes about to punish you Oh Ephraim How shall I give thee up how shall I deliver thee Israel my bowels are turned within mee My repentings are kindled together Hos 11.8 The greatness of God prevails with wicked men that awes them often that they dare not sin against him But the goodness of God this should prevail with us There is mercy with thee therefore thou art to bee feared It is set down as the Principle in such with whom the heart of Christ is taken Hos 3. ult They shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter dayes None but venimous spirits will suck poison from such a sweet as thence to draw incouragements to sin from that which is the great incouragement to service The Love of Christ had so prevailed with Chrysostome that hee used to say Ego sic censeo sic assidue praedicabo And Anselme That if on the one hand hee should see sin and on the other the torments of Hell hee had rather chuse to fall into Hell than fall into sin 4. When wee stagger and doubt give way to misgiving thoughts of Christs Love and unbeleevings of our own hearts wee abuse this Love What is it possible that Christ should do or suffer more than hee hath done and suffered to perswade your hearts of his Love If Christ should ask the question of you who doubt most of his Love What shall I do to answer your scruples to satisfie your souls for ever in this that I love you could you rationally desire more than what hee hath expressed in his words and to your heart and if notwithstanding all bee in vain 1 Sam. 25.21 may hee not justly say as David of Nabal Surely in vain have I done all this when this all commeth to nothing 3. Direction to them of the Church 3. Bee much in the contemplation of this Love of Christ Dwell upon this This Love of Christ will bee matter of eternal perusal in Heaven Wee shall do nothing but read over this Love Oh! let us not bee strangers to it now View it in the 1. Fulness 2. Freeness 3. Bounty 4. Perpetuity thereof 1. Measure it in the Fulness of it It is a Love which reacheth to every necessity A love able to make you holy and able to make you happy Thou art under guilt and sin thou art terrified by the one and ashamed and confounded because so loathsomely defiled by the other Why It is a pardoning a purging a sanctifying Love it is a Love as large as himself though the persons beloved bee finite 2. Read it over in the Freeness of it 1. It was an undeserved 2. It was an unsought-for Love 1. It was an undeserved Love Wee may provoke him to anger but wee cannot tempt him to love Amat Deus non aliundè hoc habet The former doth arise from our sins the latter from himself His chusing justifying adopting saving love all are free 2. It was an unsought-for Love Never a prayer put up for it I am found of them that sought mee not Isa 65.1 3. Read it over in the Bounty and Expressions of it 1. What hee did 2. What hee suffered 3. What hee hath given to his Church 4. Look upon it in the Perpetuity Permanency and continuance thereof A Love which reaches from Eternity to Eternity From Eternal chusing to Eternal glorifying An unchangeable Love Let us then peruse this Love Read it over in all the Dimensions Dwell upon the thoughts of it till your hearts bee Humbled melted inabled in-nobled winned quickened comforted c. The Thoughts of this Love are 1. Soul-humbling Thoughts Nothing layes the soul lower than Love The consideration of this will vile a man to Hell Ezek. 36.25 to 33. where you may read some expressions of love how it affects These would bee 2. Soul-melting Thoughts They will not only humble but melt not only break but dissolve the heart Nothing doth melt the soul more than Love The Law may break us but it is as the breaking of a flint every dust retains hardness but it is the Gospel that melteth us The thoughts of Gods Justice do stone the heart make it more hard but the thoughts of Gods Mercy do melt the heart You know you never mourn indeed till Love till Mercy do melt you Every drop of tears sticks like an hailstone and congeals in the eyes but when Love comes in then all the springs are opened and a man is dissolved into waters So much apprehensions of this Love of Christ so much godly sorrow They are like the Fountain and the Stream whereof the one doth rise no higher than the other The thoughts of this Love have 3. A Soul-inabling Power It will not only ingage us to service as the Apostle The Love of Christ constrains mee But it will inable us to service make us pray and pray with affections pray with life make us hear and hear with strength This puts us upon work and puts life vertue and vigor into our actions No actions stronger than those that come from Love Things incredible and impossible to others are yet easy to them who love See what the Saints have gone through what they have done what they have suffered Let but the thoughts of this love lye on your spirits a little and you will finde that Love is strong as death Cant. 8.6 and will mightily carry us through that which otherwise may seem impossible They will bee 4. Soul-innobling thoughts They will make you like themselves Whatever the soul feeds on the soul is digested into the nature of it So here feed on the thoughts of this love and your spirit will bee digested into it Whiles wee behold as in
bee content to climb to Heaven by a thread of our own spinning God is willing to give and wee would deserve hee would have all of Grace and wee would have all of debt Wee would fain bring our penny to the Promise yea when wee are nothing wee would bring our own nothingness So hard it is to make a soul empty and when that is done to bring that empty soul over to the Promise 3. A third ground from our selves which makes men humbled so slow to beleeve It may bee too much tenderness they are affraid of abusing Gods Justice in their closes with his Mercie Oh say they I am affraid of presuming of Mercy It was their fault before to presume the fear of it their fault now I say to presume of Mercy was their fault before and the fear of presuming is their fault now One would think this to carry a fair forehead they dare not beleeve say they and why so because they are affraid to presume is not this a good pretence But ah here is the Prince of darkness like the Angel of light let us examine it thou sayest thou darest not beleeve because thou art affraid to presume And why dost thou fear to presume It is presumption to beleeve Mercy and yet continue in a way of sin and it is presumption to expect Mercy in a way of unbelief but it is no presumption to beleeve Why dost thou fear thou shalt presume thou canst not say thou takes that which doth not belong to thee for it belongs to whoever can take it But it may bee thou sayest thou art not fitted for Mercy thou art then fit for Mercy when thou art made willing to close with Mercy in the tearms of Mercy that is to take Mercy as to render up thy self to duty as to give up thy self to obey But thou sayest thou shalt presume for thou art not worthy of Mercy And wouldest thou bee worthy of Mercy dost thou know what thou sayest wouldest thou deserve Mercy where then were Grace This overthrows the Covenant of Grace it cannot bee a Covenant of Grace if there should bee any thing of thy bringing which is not of Gods bestowing May wee not say to thee truly what Eliab Davids Brother falsely said to him when hee told him hee came out for Gods Glory Hee tells him no it was the pride of his heart 1 Sam. 17.28 So thou pretends Gods Glory thou sayest because thou wouldest not wrong Gods Justice and make Gods Mercy a sinfull mercy therefore thou doest not beleeve but take heed it bee not the pride of thy heart If the time would permit I would put something to thee 1. By way of Question 2. By way of Supposal 1. That which I should have put to thee by way of question should have been 1. Couldst thou not have beleeved God would bee mercifull unto thee if thou wert not so sinfull 2. If thou wert more humble if thou hadst more Grace couldst thou not bee content to pennance thy self for a time for thy former sin were not this good and what were this but to make thy humiliation a step to Mercy to a pardon 2. That which I would put by way of supposal Suppose thou hadst been a Traytor and thy Prince should offer thee a pardon for all thy treason upon condition of acceptance and rendring up thy self to him for service And thou shouldest refuse a pardon because thou art a Rebel or Traitor or because thou doubt'st of the truth and reality of thy Princes tender or else because thou thinkest thou art not able to do him service for future therefore wilt not accept of a pardon for present what should wee think of this Or suppose a Creditor should tell thee if thou wouldest but bring thy books come to him and reckon with him and acknowledge thy debt hee would pardon thy debt And the debtor should now refuse to come 1. Either because hee is not able to pay 2. Or because hee thinks hee shall bee able to discharge all himself in time 3. Or else because hee doubts of the truth of his intention in stead of bringing him to reckon that hee might pardon him hee intends to arrest him and cast him into prison Is not here a great deal of pride and unbeleef and wronging of love And how shall wee interpret this standing off is not the case alike God tenders mercy to thee as a Prince a pardon and thou refusest why either thou beleevest not the truth of this that God offers pardon upon beleeving or else thou thinks to deserve thine own pardon So God offers thee an acquittance if thou wilt bring thy book and come and reckon with him confess sin acknowledge Mercy but thou commest not and what is the reason either thou beleevest not the truth of this this is too good news to bee true thou thinkest it is but to take advantage against thee You think when you go to God in confession you go as a debtor into the hands of a hard Creditor who doth but wait to arrest him You cannot beleeve the truth of this offer or else you think you shall bee able to pay your own debt in time 4. Another ground from our selves why wee are so slow to beleeve is that wee doubt of Gods will wee doubt whether God will have mercy on us yea or no. It is with us as with a Prince or Creditor as before were wee but well setled in the Major of the Gospel in these truths 1. That God sent his Son for this end into the World to save poor sinners 2. That Christ was able to save to the utmost 3. And that Christ was as willing as hee is powerfull wee should not bee so slow of heart to beleeve My Brethren what can God do more to perswade you of his willingness nay more what could Christ do more than is done Will you go by his revealed will and that you shall bee judged by at the last day why there you see nothing but willingness of God and Christ to accept of them who come If you should go by the revealed will of man you may bee deceived they may speak one thing and intend another But if you go by the revealed will of God you cannot miscarry because Gods heart is really the same that his word is hee speaks not a syllable more than hee will make good Men speak often more than their hearts or they may speak contrary to their hearts but God doth not hee really intends what hee speaks And his revealed will tells thee that hee would have thee saved by comming c. that if thou wilt beleeve thou shalt bee saved That if thou confess c. therefore no cause to doubt of Gods will 5. A fifth ground of our slowness to beleeve It may bee you finde some rest to your souls on this side Christ It may bee you have been troubled for sin have been in anguish of conscience and you have prayed you have mourned
special and particular fruits set down 2 Cor. 7.11 of godly sorrow on which I want time to insist But now an hypocrites sorrow is a sorrow to sorrow a paenal not a fruitful sorrow hee is never the better for all his howling his heart never the more humble his spirit never the more broken his soul never the more set against Sin These tears they leave him as they found him they are not changing and transforming tears hee is never the more watchful never the more careful to please God hee rather grows more secure takes more heart to sin against God hee thinks hee hath done penance and satisfied the Law hee hath discharged the former score by his present roarings and therefore may beginne a new reckoning a new score and sin more freely against God whereas true mourning makes us watchfull and so our falls make us secure To sum up all in a little 1 The unsound heart hee mourns for Sin either as clad with punishment or as it bringeth the evil of punishment after it the first you see in Pharaoh the second in Ahab The other laments Sin as Sin sin abstracted and separated from wrath and punishment 2 The one howls under the present lashes the evil of punishment the other under the evil of sin 3 Sence doth provoke the one to mourning faith and love do cause the other to mourn 4 The ground of the one is self-self-love the ground of the other love to God 5 The one is slavish the other childish 6 The end of the one is peace and joy of the other it is discouragement and dispair as in Cain and Judas c. 7 The one breeds a bitternesse and turbulency of spirit the other humility mildness self-denial Thus I have shewed you these three things and cleared them I beleeve there 's many of you who do not pray at all many who are yet to shed one tear for Sin Alas when was the time thou hast entred thy Chamber thy closet and broken thy heart for sin humbled thy soul for sin Let mee tell thee thus much thou hast sinned this sinne will have sorrow one time or other if not here in fruitful mourning hereafter in paenal mourning in weeping and gnashing of teeth If thou wilt not sorrow for a time thou shalt howl for ever It may bee thou thinks no such matter conscience is now at peace Ista tranquillâ—tas tempestas erit it is like a book bound up if once opened your peace shall end in a storm your joy in sorrow happy thou if God wound thee that hee may heal thee break thee that hee may bind thee humble thee that hee may comfort thee It is better bee broken here than to go whole to hell better be wounded here than to go sound to hell better to bee a sad Saint than a merry Devil What David prayed for his enemies may wee pray for our best friends Send them down quick to Hell Send them down here by humiliation that they may avoid eternal damnation hereafter Wee began with the last first viz. clear your sincerity in your performances in particular wee named three particulars in Hearing Praying Mourning Wee come now to the end which is the first in order of nature though wee have made it last in time Clear sincerity in Obedience in the general 2. Clear the sincerity of your hearts in Obedience in general Now to this as to the former I will give you some Characters of a sincere Obedience Sincere Obedience is 1. A faithful 2. An universal 3. A fruitful 4. A filial Obedience Wee shall only single out some of them because wee are willing to finish this Doctrin 1. Character Full. A sincere Obedience is a full Obedience an universal Obedience It is universal in respect of the subject the whole man it is universal in respect of the object the whole Law it is universal in respect of durance the whole life Hee who obeyes sincerely obeyes universally his obedience is not only sutable to the rule in respect of the nature and quality of it but it is proportionable also to the rule in respect of the latitude and extent of his obedience There is no man that serves God truly who doth not indeavour to serve God fully Sincerity turns upon the hinges of universality It is said of David that hee had respect to all the Commandements of God and that hee hated every false way Hee had not obeyed any if hee had not respected all nay which is yet more Act. 13.22 hee fulfilled all the will of God the words are in the plural number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the wills and Commands of God and of Zachary and Elizabeth Luk. 1.6 that they walked in all the Commandements of God blameless hee who obeyes sincerely indeavours to obey thoroughly Wee will instance in these branches 1. In suffering as doing First Hee will obey God in suffering Commands as well as doing in losing as well as gaining Commands An unsound spirit may follow God while hee can follow his own game too while they can serve God without cost without pain or losse c. such men love cheap obedience But when Obedience comes to bee chargeable when his Obedience to God may cost him his liberty his riches his estate then they retire while Religion and the World do walk in the same path there are many who will tread the paths of Religion but when there comes a turning that they must shake hands and part riches one way Christ another God one way the World another then they will forsake Christ You see it was so with the young man hee was willing to follow Christ so far as hee might bee no loser so far as to keep his wealth too But when Christ told him if hee would follow him hee must sell all when it comes to this that either hee must part with his Riches or with Christ then hee falls off and went away sorrowing But hee who obeyes sincerely serves God for himself such a man will obey God though to the hazard and loss of all hee will obey God in costly as well as cheap losing as well as gaining duties Such a man prizeth more of one act of Obedience than hee doth of all his injoyments and will take up naked Obedience though with the loss of all As hee will not commit a sin though hee might gain the World for it so hee will not neglect a duty though hee lose a World for it You see this in the three Children in Daniel and in Queen Maries dayes those go in Sheep-skins who might have gone in Silks c. Secondly Hee will obey God in relative Commands as well as absolute Sincerity doth not only lye in absolute Commands towards God but in relative Commands one towards another And where the heart is sincere hee will not only hear and pray and obey God but hee will walk in all duties of Righteousness and charity towards his Brother Hee is