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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	believe_v	faith_n	work_n	2,988	5	6.1212	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60194	A learned commentary or exposition: upon the first chapter of the second Epistle of S. Paul to the Corinthians Being the substance of many sermons formerly preached at Grayes-Inne, London, by that reverend and judicious divine, Richard Sibbs, D.D. Sometimes Master of Catherine-Hall in Cambridge, and preacher to that honourable society. Published for the publick good and benefit of the Church of Christ. By Tho. Manton, B.D. and preacher of the Gospel at Stoake-Newington, near London.	Sibbes, Richard, 1577-1635.; Ashe, Simeon, d. 1662.; Manton, Thomas, 1620-1677.	1655 (1655)	Wing S3738; ESTC R215702	745,441	567

book comforts against sin comforts against trouble outward and inward and all but till the Comforter come till God send his holy Spirit we shall not make use of them Therefore let us labour to have more communion with God before we come to hear the Word and after we have heard it let us have communion with God again that he would seal whatsoever is spoken to our soules and make it effectual to us Therefore we must learn to give the just due to the Ordinance of God and not to idolize it to make it the means of comfort not to make it the chief Comforter but the Spirit of God by it What is Paul or Apollo what are we but Ministers of faith and by consequent Ministers and helpers of comfort but not the authors of comfort Oh if I had such and such here I should do well I should be so and so Alas all is to no purpose unlesse thou hast the Holy Ghost the Spirit of God that can help by weak means Therefore we must not tie comfort and joy to this or that means but in all means look to the ground of comfort and the spring of all the Holy Ghost The reason why men do nor profit more that they are not more cheared and lift up with the Ministery of the Word which is a Word of reconciliation and of joy and comfort it is because they are more careful in the use of means then in going to God for his Spirit to blesse the means Now these must go together a care of using the means and a care to pray to him that he would give us wisdome and strength and blessed successe in the use of all means Then if we would joyn religiously and conscionably these two together the use of all means conscionably and in the use of all to lift up our hearts to God to blesse them we should find a wondrous successe upon the Ministery and all other good means likewise So much for that I go on to the last clause of the Chapter For by faith ye stand Why doth the Apostle vary the word we have not dominion over your faith but are helpers of your joy whereas the consequence it seems might run thus we do not domineer over your faith but are helpers of your faith he puts joy instead of faith and afterward he brings in faith again for by faith ye stand This is one main reason because joy riseth from faith therefore he names it in stead of faith for the Holy Ghost is not curious of words but when the same Spirit wroks both he names that which he thinks will fittest suit the purpose Faith breeds joy How is that Because faith first of all doth shew to us the freedome from that that is the cause of all discomfort whatsoever it takes away all that may discourage For it takes away the fear of damnation for our sins it shewes our reconciliation in Jesus Christ. Faith shewes liberty and deliverance and so discovering deliverance by a Mediator it works joy Is not a prisoner joyful when he is set at liberty Then likewise faith discovers to us the face of God shining to us in Jesus Christ it shewes not only deliverance but favour It shewes us the ground of all the righteousnesse and obedience of our Saviour whereby we are delivered and brought into favour Now from this comes peace from the knowledge of our deliverance and acceptance with God founded upon the obedience of God-man a Saviour there comes in peace and peace breeds joy because faith discovers all these the ground of reconciliation with God in Jesus Christ and thereupon peace therefore it causeth joy For this is the pedigree and descent of joy as the Apostle hath it Rom. 14. The Kingdome of God is in righteousnesse and peace and joy There must be righteousnesse first of a Mediatur to satisfie the wrath of God and procure his favour From righteousnesse comes peace peace with God peace of conscience From peace comes joy there is no joy without peace no peace without righteousnesse And this whole pedigree of joy as it were is excellently set down Rom. 5. Being justified by faith we have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord and have accesse to the throne of grace by which grace we stand and not only so but rejoyce So there is justification by the righteousnesse of Christ and thereupon peace with God and from peace boldnesse and accesse to God and thereupon joy So we see how faith brings in joy because it shewes the spring of joy whence it comes it shewes peace and peace riseth from reconciliation and reconciliation from righteousnesse of Christ Mediator whereupon we are delivered from all that we may fear and set in a state of true joy God being our friend When God is reconciled all is reconciled all is ours have we not cause of joy then Therefore the Apostle saith Rom. 15. The God of peace fill you full of joy in believing shewing that faith is the cause of all spiritual joy And the same you have in 1 Pet. 1. 8. In whom ye rejoyced after ye believed with joy unspeakable and glorious In whom after ye believed that is in Christ you rejoyced with joy unspeakable and glorious And therefore you see the Apostle might well substitute joy in stead of faith because it springs and riseth from faith in Jesus Christ the Mediatour Hereupon we may come to make this Use of tryal how we may know whether our joy be good or no. Among many other evidences this is one that spiritual joy is good if it spring from the Word of faith If it spring from the Ordinance of God unfolded in the Word shewing us the ground of believing For he that truly joyes can shew the ground of his joy Herein joy differs from presumption from presumptuous swelling conceits true joy that is not the joy of an hypocrite it doth shew from whence it comes it riseth from grounds out of divine truth Then again this joy doth more immediately spring from faith in the Word from assurance that God is ours and that Christ is ours that God is at peace with us and that we are at peace with him it ariseth from peace that is wrought by faith Then again this joy if it be sound it is such a joy as S. Peter saith is an unspeakable and glorious joy joy arising from the Word of God and from faith and peace it is above discouragement because we have in the Word of God matter of joy above all discouragements and all allurements whatsoever It is a joy above the joy of riches or pleasures or profits why because the Word shewes matter of joy above all these The Prophet David rejoyced in the Word of God above Gold and Silver as one that had gotten great spoyles you see how oft he repeats it Psal. 119. It was sweeter to him then the honey and the honey-comb Psal.

deliverance to his children He hath delivered he doth deliver and he will deliver us for the time to come Was this confidence of St Paul a presumption without the use of means he will deliver us you also helping together by prayer for us The chief cause doth not take away the subordinate but doth establish it And though God be the great deliverer and salvation belong to the Lord as the Scripture speaks salvation and deliverance it is his work yet notwithstanding he hath not for defect of power but for the multiplication and manifestation of his goodnesse ordained the subordinate means of deliverance and as he will deliver so he will deliver in his own manner and by his own means He will deliver but yet notwithstanding you must pray you also helping together by prayer for us The words have no difficulty in them you helping together that is you together joyning in prayer with me I pray for my self and you together helping me by prayer God will deliver me The points considerable in the words are these First of all that in the time of peril or in the want of any benefit the means to be delivered from the one and to convey the other it is prayer God will do this you praying The second is this that Gods children can pray for themselves The third is that notwithstanding though they can pray for themselves yet they require the joynt help of others and they need the help of others The fourth is that our own prayers and the prayers of others joyning all together is a mighty prevailing means for the conveying of all good and for the removing of any ill God will deliver me you helping by your prayers Prayer is a means to convey all good and to deliver from all ill Because God hath stablished this order Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee Psal. 50. he joyns deliverance to calling upon him So in Psal. 91. 15. a notable place besides others indeed the Psalmes are wonderous full in this kind He shall call upon me and I will answer him I will be with him in trouble I will deliver him and honour him mark it He shall call upon me and I will deliver him and more then so for Gods benefits are complete he doth not onely deliver but he honours I will deliver him and advance him God doth not onely deliver his Children by prayer but he delivers them from evil works and preserves them to his heavenly Kingdom he delivers them and advanceth them together he doth not do his work by halves Psal. 34. The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears are open to their cry his eyes are upon them to see their miseries and wants I but though his eyes be open his ears must be open too to hear their cry if his eyes were open to see their wants if his ears be not open to hear their cry his children might be miserable still Sometimes God delivers wicked men he preserves them but the preservation of a wicked man is but a reservation of him for future judgment to feed him for the slaughter and that deliverance is not worth the speaking of But for his children his eyes are open on them and his ears to hear their cry as they be in misery that he sees them so they must cry that he may hear them God hath stablished this order he will deliver but prayer is the means Now the reason that he hath established this order It is for his Glory our own good It is for his own glory because prayer gives him the glory of all his attributes for when we go to him do we not give him the glory of his omniscience that he knowes our hearts and knowes our wants Do we not give him the glory of his omnipotence that he can help us Do we not give him the glory of his omnipresence that he is every where do we not give him the glory of his truth that he will make good his promise which we alledge to him and presse him with what a world of glory hath God by prayer And then for our sakes he hath established this order to convey all by prayer to shew our dependance on him for we being in such a low distance under God it is good that we should know from whom we have all therefore he will have us to pray to him he commands it Prayer is an act of self-denial it makes us to look out of our selves higher Prayer acknowledgeth that we have that which we have not of our selves but from him Prayer argueth a necessary dependance upon him to whom we pray for if we had it at home we would not go abroad And then again it doth us good because as it gives God all the glory so likewise it exerciseth all the graces in a man There is not a grace but it is put into the fire it is quickned and kindled by prayer For it sets faith on work to believe the promise it sets hope on work to expect the things prayed for it sets love on work because we pray for others that are members of the Church it sets obedience on work because we do it with respect to Gods command prayer sets humility on work we prostrate our selves before God and acknowledge that there is no goodnesse or desert in us there is not a grace in the heart but it is exercised in prayer The Divel knowes it well enough and therefore of all exercises he labours to hinder the exercise of prayer for he thinkes then we fetch help against him and indeed so we do for in one prayer God is honoured the Church is benefited grace is exercised the Divel is vanquished what a world of good is by prayer So that God hath established this order upon great reasons fetched from our own comfort and good and from his glory Since God hath established this order away with idle suggestions partly carnal and partly divellish God knowes what we want and God knew before all time what we have need of and he may grant it if he will I but that God that decreed at the same time that he decreed to convey good at the same time he decreed to convey it this way by prayer therefore let us not disjoyn that which God hath joyned Christ knew that God decreed all and yet he spent whole nights in prayer and who knew Gods love more then he Yet because as he was man he was a creature because as he was man he received good from his Father to shew his dependance he continually prayed he sanctified every thing by prayer And all holy men of God from the beginning the more certain they were of any thing by promise the more eager and earnest and fervent they were in prayer it was a ground of prayer they knew that this was Gods order therefore if they had a promise they turned it into prayer presently The

in the truth is not properly concord but conspiracy consent in a lie in falshood The builders of Babel they had a consent among themselves when they came for a wicked purpose as we see oft-times in Scripture Consent must be in the truth in that which is good or else it is not consent but conspiracy By reason of our weaknesse consent is usefull and that is the reason why in doubtful cases we may alledge Antiquity not that the Word is not sufficient in it self but to help our weaknesse to shew that we do not divert from the truth but that it is a truth warranted by others before In doubtfull cases this is warrantable He brings it likewise to enforce obedience the more when it was a truth brought to them by so many But that is not a thing I mean to stand on a touch is enough That which I will spend a little more time in is the next thing that is That Evangelical doctrine now is most certain Something I spake of it before in the former verse but I have reserved something to speak of it now The Son of God preached by S. Paul with the consent of these blessed men it was not yea and nay it was not unconstant Evangelical truth is not yea and nay and the Preachers of it the Apostles were not yea and nay in the delivering of it As it is true in it self so it was true in the delivery of it they were constant in it they sealed it with their blood some of them How shall we know the doctrine of the Gospel concerning Christ to be yea undoubtedly true I answer how do we know the Sun shines I know it by its own light and by a light that I have in my eye there is an inward light joyned with the outward light So it is in this businesse how do we know Divine truth out of the Book of God to be Divine By the light in it self by the majesty of the Scriptures by the consent of the Old and New Testament by the opposition of the enemies and the confusion of them at the last that have been opposers of it by the miraculous preservation of it and the like But especially by the powerfull work of it on the heart by the experience of this blessed truth I know this to be an undoubted truth I find it quelling my corruptions changing my nature pacifying my conscience raising my heart casting down high imaginations turning the stream of nature another way to make me do that which I thought I should never have done onely because I have a strong light of Divine truth and comfort There is this experience of Christ that a man finds in his soul it sets him down that he can say nothing but that it is Divine truth because he finds it so Besides this the testimony of the Spirit of God and the work of the Spirit in him For as to see there is an outward light required and an inward light in the eye so to see Divine truth there must be a light in it self a Divine sparkle in Gods Book in every passage but yet I must have an eye to see too I cannot see it except God witnesse to my soul that these things are divine that they are yea that they are certainly and infallibly true There is a great difference between us and our adversaries I can but touch it and I need but touch it They say we must believe and we must believe because of the Church I say no The Church we believe hath a kind of working here but that is in the last place For God himself in his Word he is the chief The inward arguments from the Word it self and from the Spirit they are the next the Church is the remotest witnesse the remotest help of all For the Church is but to propound Gods truth to lay it open to be as it were the candlestick now the candlestick shines not but upholds the candle while that shines So the Church is but to propose to set up Divine truth that of it self being set up will enlighten well enough The Church is to set out the Word and to publish it by the Ministery which Word of it self will shine That work which the Church hath therefore is the last and the inferiour for the Spirit of God and the inward majesty of the Word is of more force If a messenger come and bring a relation or bring a letter from one and he tells me many things of the man I but I doubt him because he may be false for ought I know but when I see his hand and seal and his characters and stile that shewes such a spirit to be in him I know by his own characters certainly this comes from the hand of that man Now the messenger brings it and gives it but I believe it because I see the characters and hand and seal of such a one that it is a truth So the Church propounds it is the messenger that brings the truth of God to us but when a Christian soul hears the truth and sees Gods seal upon it there is a majesty and power that works on the soul now we believe not for the messenger but for the thing it self Here is the difference we believe the Scripture for the seal of Divinity that is in it self they believe it for the messenger As if a doubtfull messenger should come that is not certain and a man should believe the things he brought for him for his sake we believe and entertain the messenger for the message sake not the message for the messengers sake our faith is better built then theirs But they say this All comes to this at the last God speaks by the Church as well as by the Scriptures therefore the Church is to be believed more then the Scripture it self I answer God speaks indeed in his Church by his Spirit and by his Word but his speaking by his Word is the cause of his speaking in the Church For what is the Church but begotten by the seed of the Word How is the Church a Church but by the Word Therefore he speaks first by the Scriptures there is a majestie and a Spirit in the Scriptures and then he speaks by the Church as cleaving to the Scriptures in a secondary manner He speaks by the Church mediately because that goes to the Word which speaks immediately The Word was written by men led immediately by the Spirit of God and the Church relying on that he speaks by them in the Church but primarily by his Word Having just occasion I thought to touch this Undoubtedly there are none that are not led with partiality but incomparably they see our faith is built on a better foundation then theirs they have a rotten foundation They talk of a Church and when all comes to all the Church their mother is nothing but the Pope their father What is their Church but the Pope

ill upon slight grounds Now this oft-times ariseth and is fed with seeming probability Christ conversed with wicked men here was some colour for them to conjecture him so We say things have two hands a right hand and a left now suspition takes hold of the left hand alwayes if things will admit of a double construction suspition alway takes hold of the worst suspition takes hold of the ill part That is the nature of a diseased soul to take things by the wrong hand We see then it is a disposition that we are subject unto naturally and it is cherished by Satan and Satans instruments wicked men And why doth the Devill so cherish suspition and a jealous disposition Oh it hath been wondrous instrumental to Satan I dare say there is no disposition or frame of soul that hath been the occasion of more blood-shed of more unjustice in the Church and State from the beginning of the world then a jealous disposition especially in great ones Therefore the Devil labours as to breed jealousies of God so of Gods Church and Children from the beginning Was it not ever the disposition of ill-minded men to put jealousies into the hearts especially of those that were in authority concerning men far better then themselves Was it not Hamans policy when the Jewes had angred him Oh they are a people that care not for the Laws c. perhaps they were more obedient then himself had it not been the occasion of their ruine if God had not been more merciful Herod had a jealousie and suspition that Christ when he was born would turn him out of his Kingdome and all Jerusalem was in an uproar Alas Christ came to give a heavenly Kingdome and not to take away earthly yet this jealousie cost the lives of the poor Infants So in the Primitive Church there were wicked men put jealousies concerning the Christians into the heads of the Emperours when alas they reverenced the Emperours next God above all yet alway there were wicked instruments that sought to domineer and have their own ends under the Emperours they conveyed jealousies and thence came so much blood-shed In later times in Popish Countreys if a man read the stories whence came that blood-shed This was one chief cause jealousies and suspitions cast into the heads of Popish Princes by wicked men about them set on work by Satan himself O they are such as will turn you out of your state a people that are rebellious and unquiet This was the policy among us in former times we may consider of later times to see the disposition of a man that was a great States-man in his time and a man of great parts and learning but of a very fierce and cruel disposition I mean Stephen Gardiner The chief hurt that was done in that magnanimous Princes time it was done by him And how By jealousies as appears by his Letters c. Oh if these things prevail this and that will come he cast such jealousies that did affright thas great Prince Oh other Princes will fall out with you if you maintain not these things they will break with you And so upon his death-bed this doctrine of Justification if the people once know it all is gone God shewes that all these jealousies are but follies for all that he feared came to passe In good Queen Elizabeths time Religion that he was so jealous of was established and she cared not for Princes correspondency that were of other Religions further then might stand with reasons of State and did not she flourish and her people in quiet all her time notwithstanding all former jealousies as if Religion established could not stand with peace So that the event proved what kind of jealousies these were Do we think then that a great deal of hurt is not done among particular persons when in States there is such a world of hurt done by Satan and his instruments Well let us take notice therefore of our disposition and of the inclination of men this way that we may the better prevent it and that will appear in the second thing That We should labour by all means to avoid suspition and to decline it as much as we can It should be the care of Ministers and others it generally belongs to all Christians to free themselves from any ill suspition in the hearts of others as much as they can as S. Paul did here the suspition of inconstancy and lightnesse and want of love to them that he did not come among them Suspition is a Canker that eats into the soul where it is and it will consume and waste all love It is the very venome of Love and friendship A little thing will breed it but will not work it out Therefore we ought first of all to take great heed that we give no ground of suspition at all or if we do that we be careful to get it out as soon as we can for usually where it takes place it boyls till it break out into words and then words when they are discovered breed strangenesse and that breeds other inconveniences And the rather we should labour to avoid it because Quod suspectum c. that which is suspected is made unprofitable for a man when he unwarrantably suspects another thing it is unprofitable to him We take little good by those that we suspect are ill or ill-affected to us and then we do little good to them for love is much danted by the ill conceit we have taken against them A man cannot do that good that he might when he is suspected there lies a barre in the way ill suspition in the other party which is an obstruction between him and the good he might do Therefore even for the love of others we ought to avoid suspition as much as may be that they may receive good from us As we ought not uncharitably to suspect others that we may do good to them so we ought to avoid by all means suspition from them left it be a barre for that good we might do towards them Let us labour to clear our selves from all suspition of want of love and ill carriage what we may that so there may be nothing between our spirits and theirs that may hinder the good that might come from us to them but that all may passe clear You see how curious holy men have been in all times to avoid suspition as much as they could Even God himself we cannot have a more glorious pattern what course hath he taken from the beginning of the world with mankind he hath condescended and stooped to mans weaknesse to clear himself of suspition of unkindnesse to man that man might not cherish suspition that he doth not love him For there is that poyson in the cursed nature of man that do God what he can he will lay imputations upon God to bear himself out in stubborn courses as if God delighted not in him

he not onely greives but with Achitophel he goes to ill courses it is a sign he trusted too much and too basely to them before Again when the enjoying of these things is joyned with contempt and base esteem of others it is a sign that we rest too much in them there is more trust put to them then they should bear we should not in the enjoying of honour or riches or pleasures or any thing think the meaner of others Especially security shewes that we trust too much in them when we bless our selves I shall do well Soul soul thou hast goods laid up for many years saith the foole and he was but a foole for it to promise certainty for uncertainty A man cannot stand in that which cannot stand it self to promise life in a dying condition to promise any thing in this world when the very nature of them is uncertain Thou foole saith the Scripture If his soul had been so full of faith as his Barnes were of Corn he would never have said Soul soul take thy rest for these things but he would have trusted in God It is a sign we trust too much to these things when we secure our selves all will be well and blesse our selves as the Scripture speaks Again it is a sign we trust too much to these things when upon confidence of these things we go to ill and unwarrantable courses and think to be born out by these things As when the younger sort shall pour forth themselves to vanity and are carelesse of swearing and licentiousnesse that they care not what to do they shall live long enough to repent c. This is a diabolicall trust that God will give them no security in So when men that have riches will venture on bad causes and think to carrie it out with their purse they trust in matter of oppression and think to bear out the matter with their friends or with their place or with their wits this is false trust Thy wisdom hath caused thee to rebell as the Prophet saith concerning Babylon they thought they had reaching heads and so ventured upon rebellious courses When any of these outward things draw us to unwarrantable unjustifiable courses it is a sign we plant too much confidence in them and it is a sign if we belong to God that he intends to crosse us in them The very confidence in these things hath drawn many to ill courses to do that that they should not do as good Josias Hezechias David and the rest Thus we see how we should examine our selves whether we trust too much in these things or no. Now since we are thus prone to this false confidence and since we may thus discern it if we discerne it in our selves how shall we cure it That in the next doctrine That we might not trust in our selves From whence observe It is a dangerous state to trust in our selves This ill disposition to trust in our selves or any thing out of our selves but onely in God in whom we should trust it is dangerous For a man may reason thus from the text That which God is forced to take such desparate courses for as to bring such an excellent man as St. Paul to such extremity and all that he should not trust in himself that he was not onely prone to but it was a dangerous estate for him but God brings him to deaths doore that he received the sentence of death that he might not trust in himself that he might see the nothingnesse of all things else therefore it was a dangerous estate for him to trust in himself It is ill in respect of God Our selves In respect of God to trust to our selves or the creature is to Idolize our selves or the creature we make an Idol of the thing we trust in we put God out of his place and set up that we trust in in Gods roome and so provoke God to jealousie VVhen men shall trust their wits in matters of Religion as in Popery they do they serve God after their own inventions what a dishonour is it to God as if he were not wise enough to prescribe how he will be worshipped Go after me Satan saith Christ to Peter he calls him Divell why what hurt was it he came with a good intention That which Popery think they please God most in they are Divells in and these things that they teach are the doctrines of Divells But the wisdom of the flesh is death it is not subject to the law of God nor can be subject saith the Apostle Rom. 8. So it is dangerous because it is offensive to God There is a way that seemeth right in a mans own eyes the issues whereof are the issues of Death It is Idolatry in regard of God And it is spirituall Adultery for what should take up our affections should we not place our joy our delight which follows our trust alway for trust carries the whole soul with it what should take up our joy and delight should not God and Heaven and Heavenly things should not these things have place in our hearts as they have in their own worth when we take these affections from God and place them upon the creature they are Adulterous affections when we love riches or pleasures better then God that gave us all it is an Adulterous whorish Love Oh ye Adulterer s and Adulteresses saith blessed St. James know ye not that the love of this world is enmity with God It is likewise falshood for it makes the creature to be that that it is not and it makes God that which he is not we despise him and set up the creature in his roome There is a false witnesse alway in false confidence indeed there are many sins in it There is Ignorance not knowing the creature to be so vain as it is there is Ignorance of God not knowing him to be All in all as he is And there is rebellion to trust in the Creature when God will not have it trusted in And there is impatience when these supports are taken away then men grow to murmuring There is almost all sins hidden in self-confidence and self-sufficiencie you see the danger of it to God Besides that it is dangerous to our selves it brings us under a curse Cursed is the man that maketh flesh his armes Jer. 17. that trusts in any thing but God It brings us under a curse as I said because it is Idolatry and spiritual Adultery And then again because leaning to a false prop that being taken away that shored us up before down we fall with that we leaned on Now all things but God being vanity we relying upon that which is vain our trust is vain as the thing is vain we can hope for no better condition then the things we trust to they are vain and we are vain so there is a curse upon them Therefore we have great cause to hate

that upstart Religion that hath been devised for their own ends for their own profit because it would bring us under a curse They would have us to trust to our own works in matter of salvation to trust to our own satisfaction to be freed from Purgatorie c. They would have us to trust to creatures to something besides God to trust in the mediation of Saints to be our intercessors c. And what doth this false trust it breeds despair at length What is the reason that a well advised Papist that knowes what he doth cannot but despair or else renounce Popery Because Popery carries the soul to false props in matter of Justification they renounce their own Religion at the hour of death as Bellarmine did they live by one Religion and die by another which would not be if their Religion were good For their hearts tell them that they have not done so many works that they may trust in them and they have not been so well done that they may trust in them It is a dangerous thing Cursed is he that trusts in man or in any thing in man Nay we must not trust our own graces as they are in our selves not by way of merit no not by way of strength we must not trust our present graces to carrie us out without new supply to further us It was Peters fault Though all men deny thee yet will not I he trusted to his present strength he forgot that if he had not a new supply from the spring of grace that he should miserably miscarry and so he died All our righteousnesse to trust to it it is a broken reed It is somewhat if we place it in the due place to give us evidence that we are true Christians but to trust in it by way of merit the Divell will pick so many holes in that kind of title and conscience will see so many flawes in it if we bring no better title then either the holinesse in us or the works from us the Divell and our own conscience will spie so many flawes and cracks in it at the time of Death that we shall not dare to trust in it but we must run out of our selves to Christ or else we die in desperation Let us know these things all things but God the more we know them the lesse we trust in them but it is clean contrary of God the more we know him the more we shall trust in hm the more we meditate and enlarge our hearts in the consideration of his divine essence every way the more we shall trust in him They that know thy Name will trust in thee Psal. 9. Let us trust in no outward thing No not in the humanity of Christ I add that further we are very prone to trust in things sensible and the Apostles because Christ was present with them and comfortable among them as indeed he was sweet and loving bearing with their infirmities and incouraging them upon all occasions O they were loath to part with him he tells them that he must leave them but they should not fare the worse he would send them the Comforter The flesh it self profits nothing without the Godhead saith he Trust not in the Sacraments above their place It is a dangerous thing to put too much in any creature God is extreamly offended at it as not onely our adversaries the Papists but proud persons among us that are weary of the doctrine of the Church and will not submit in their pride to riper judgments they attribute too much to the Sacraments as some others do too little they attribute a presence there they make it an Idol they give it such reverence as they will not do to God himself and from a false conceit Oh there is I know not what presence Therefore the Lutherans must needs in a great degree be Idolaters by their Consubstantiation and the Papists by their Transubstantiation by their reall presence Coster saith and saith truly If Christ be not there we are the greatest Idolaters in the world But there is a more subtile kind of attributing to the Sacraments that alway God gives grace with the Sacraments the Sacraments convey grace alway as a plaister it hath a kind of power to eat out the dead flesh and as Physick hath a power to carry away the ill humours so the conveying of Grace is included in the Sacraments so they tie Gods Grace to these things Indeed there is grace by them though not in them God gives grace to the humble receiver but otherwise to him that comes not with an humble believing heart they are seals to a blanck there is no validity in them All the good use they have is to strengthen faith and if there be not something before to be strengthened and confirmed and assured they are but seals to a blanck It is in these things according to our faith and according to our preparation and then God in the holy and humble and faithful use of them blesseth his own ordinance for the increase and confirming of our faith and for the increase and strengthening of all grace So that there is not any thing in the Church but the proud naughty heart of man will take hurt by it rather then submit to the pure and powerful truth of God it will have by-wayes to have Confidence in the flesh one way or other And many men rather then they will trust to sound repentance and humiliation for sin they will trust to the words of absolution without it and when are they said go to hell with a pardon about their necks The false heart will trust to outward things though it be damned for it In their place they are good if they be used onely as helps in their kind We lay more weight upon outward things upon the Sacraments and upon the words of the Minister then they will bear and never care for the inward powerful work of grace Everything of God is excellent in their order and kind but our corrupt hearts bring an ill report upon the things You see then it is a dangerous disposition to trust any too much it is to Idolize them and to wrong God to take the honour from God it is to hurt our selves and bring our selves under a curse and to wrong the things themselves to bring an evil report upon the things It is universally true you shall never see a false bitter heart that will not stoop to Gods plain truth they will have by-wayes of their own but in some measure or other they are barren of greater matters and given up to some sensible bitternesse to self-conceitednesse and self-confidence they are alway punished in that kind with a spiritual kind of punishment We must take heed therefore of trusting too much eo any thing but God himself God is jealous of our trust he will have us trust in nothing but himself in matters of salvation no not in matters of common life