sinne is onely againe sin because it is a troubling or a damning sinne The striving of the spirit against the flesh is from a deadly hatred of sinne Rom. 7. 15. But thy striving of conscience against sinne is onely from a feare of the danger of sinne for Balaam had a mind to curse the Israelites for his monies sake but if he might have had an house full of silver and gold which is a goodly thing in a covetous eye it is said hee durst not curse them Thirdly In judging of the sincerity of the heart by some good affection in the heart Hence many a deluded soule reasons the case out thus with himselfe Either J must be a prophane man or an Hypocrite or an upright man Not profane I thanke God for I am not given to whoring drinking oppression swearing Nor Hypocrite for I hate these shewes I cannot indure to appeare better without then I am within therefore I am upright Why Oh because mine heart is good mine affections desires within are better then my life without and what ever others judge of me I know mine own heart the heart is all that God desires And thus they foole themselves Prov. 28. 26. This is one of the greatest causes and grounds of mistake amongst men that thinke best of themselves they are not able to put a difference betweene the good desires and strong affections that arise from the love of Jesus Christ. Selfe-love will make a man seeke his own good and safety hence it will pull a man out of his bed betimes in the morning and call him up to pray it will take him and cary him into his chamber towards evening and there privately make him seeke and pray and tug hard for pardon for Christ for mercy Lord evermore give us of this bread But the love of Christ makes a man desire Christ and his honour for himselfe all other things for Christ. It is true the desires of Sonnes in Christ by faith are accepted ever but the desire of servants men that worke onely for their wages out of Christ are not Fourthly In judging of Gods love to them by aiming sometimes at the glory of God Is this possible that a man should aime at Gods glory and yet perish Yes and ordinary too A man may be liberall to the poore maintaine the Ministery be forward and stand for good things whence he may not doubt but that God loves him But here is the difference though a wicked man may make Gods glory in some particular things his end yet he never makes it in his generall course his utmost and last end A subtle Apprentice may doe all his Masters work but he may take the gaine to himselfe or divide it betwixt his Master and himselfe and so may be but a Knave as observant as he seemes to be So a subtle heart yet a vile villanous heart may forsake all the world as Iudas did may binde himselfe Apprentice to all the duties God requireth outwardly at his hands and so doe good works but what 's his last end It 's that hee might gaine respect or place or that Christ may have some part of the glory and he another Simon Magus would give any money sometimes that he could pray so well know so much and doe as others doe and yet his last end is for himselfe but how can you beleeve if you seeke not that glory that comes from God sayes Christ there 's many seeke the honour of Christ but doe you seeke his honour onely Is it your last end where you rest and seeke no more but that If thou wouldest know whether thou makest Christs glory thy last end observe this Rule If thou art more grieved for the eclipse of thine owne honour and for thine owne losses then for the losse of Gods honour it is an evident signe thou lovest it not desirest it not as thy chiefest good as the last end for thy summum bonum and therefore doest not seeke Gods honour in the prime and chiefest place Sinne troubled Paul more than all the plagues and miseries of the world Indeed if thy name be dashed with disgrace and thy will be crossed thy heart is grieved and disquieted but the Lord may lose his honour daily by thine owne sinnes and those that be round about thee but not a teare not a sigh not a groane to behold such a spectacle As sure as the Lord lives thou seekest not the Lords name or honour as thy greatest good Fifthly In judging the power of sinne to be but infirmitie for if any thing trouble an unregenerate man and makes him call his estate into question it is sinne either in the being or power of it Now sinne in the being ought noâ— must not make a man question his estate because the best have that left in them that will humble them and make them live by faith therefore the power of sinne onely can trouble a man Now if a man doe judge of this to be onely but infirmitie which the best are compassed about withall hee cannot but lie downe securely and thinke himselfe well And if this errour be setled in one that lives in no one knowne sinne it is very difficult to remove for let the Minister cast the sparkes of hell in their faces and denounce the terrour of God against them they are never stirred why because they thinke here 's for you that live in sinne but as for themselves although they have sinnes yet they strive against them and so cannot leave them for we must have sinne as long as we live here they say Now marke it there 's no surer signe of a man under the bloudy raigne and dominion of his lusts and sinnes than this that is to give way to sinne though never so little and common nor to be greatly troubled for sinne for they may be a little troubled because they cannot overcome sinne I deny not but the best doe sinne daily yet this is the disposition of Paul and every child of God he mourneth not the lesse but the more for sinne though he cannot quite subdue them cast them out and overcome them As a prisoner mournes the more that he is bound with such fetters he cannot breake so doth eyery one truely sensible of his woefull captivitie by sinne This is the great difference between a raging sinne a man will part with all and a sinne of infirmity a man cannot part withall a sinne of infirmitie is such a sinne as a man would but cannot part with it and hence he mournes the more for it A raging sinne is such a sinne as a man happily by vertue of his lashing conscience would sometimes part withall but cannot and hence mournes the lesse for it and gives way unto it Now for the Lords sake take heede of this deceit for I tell you those sinnes you cannot part withall if you groane not day and night under them saying O Lord helpe me for I am weary of my selfe
suffer or fly God hath made good that promise in Jeremie he hath revealed to us abundance of peace and truth and we through ingratitude have ferfeited both Our peace is shaken and who can promise himself with Hezekiah there shall be peace and truth in my dayes Peace may faile thee but let not Truth Every good Christian may and should say with the good King there shall be Truth in my daies if not peace and truth I will so far honor truth as to receive the love of it I will hold it fast by faith hold it forth by practise praise God daily for it and venture all in defence of it So did the Martyrs whose memory is sweete and whose reward is great It is better suffering for truth then with truth yet if Truth must suffer or can die better it is to dye with Truth then out-live it But that Truth may live and we live by truth let us magniâ—ie God much for truth for his word and good bookes that spring thence Some pâ—obably may say it s enâ—ugh to praisâ— God for his word other books are not â—â—nti Wilt thou praise God â—or the Seâ— and â—e unthankfull for the rivers and springs Wilt thou lift up thy voyce for the great Waters and be silent for the silver drops and showers If the former raiâ—e affect thee be not ingratefull for the latter God would have men to value his servants and praise him for their labours But they have errors in them Be it so shall we refuse to praise God for the Flowers and the corne because there be some weeds in the garden and thistles in the field Prejudice not thy selfe buy reade take thy delight here is a garden without weeds a corne field without Cockle or darnell thorne or thistle Art thou a Sincere Convert here are truths sutable solid and wholsome thou maiest feed and feast without feare The Authour is one of singular piety inward acquaintance with God skild in the deceits of mens hearts able to enlighten the darke corners of the little world and to give satisfaction to staggering spirits His worke needs not the purple of anothers commendation to adorne it But because custome not necessity for it's truths prorogative to travaile without a pasport I say because Customo causeth Truth to crave and to carry Epistles Commendatory know that the worke is weighty quick and spirituall and if thine eye be single in perusing it thou shalt find many precious soule-searching soule-quickning and soule-enriching truths in it yea be so warned and awakned is that thou canst not but blesse God for the man and matter unlesse thou be possest with a dumbe devill To conclude Christian Reader take heed of unthankfulnesse spirituall mercies should have the quickest and fullest praises Such is this worke thou foresawâ—est it not thou contributedst nothing to the birth of it It 's a preventing mercy By it and other of the same nature od hath made knowledge to abound the waters of the Sanctuary are daily increased and growne deepe Let not the waters of the Sanctnary put out the fire of the Sanctuary If there be no praise there is no fire If thy head be like a winters Sunne full of light and heart like a winters earth without fruit feare Iest thy light end in utter darkenesse and the tree of knowledge deprive thee of the tree of life The Lord grant thou mayest finde such benefit by this worke as that thy heart may be ravished with truth and raised to praise God to purpose and made to pray Lord still send forth thy light and truth that they may leade us So prayes Thine in Christ W. Greenhill An Introduction to the Worke. THe knowledge of Divinity is necessary for all sorts of men both to settle and establish the good and to convert and fetch in the bad Gods principles pull downe Satans false Principles set up in mens heads loved and beleeved with mens hearts and defended by their Tongues whilest strong holds remaine unshaken the Lord JESVS is kept off from conquering of the soule Now Spirituall Truths are either such as tend to enlarge the understanding or such as may worke chiefly upon the affections I passe by in this knowing age the first of these and being among a people whose hearts are hard enough I being with the latter sort For the Vnderstanding although it may literally yet it never savingly entertaines any truth untill the Affections be therewith smitten and wrought upon I shall therefore here prosecute the unfolding of these Divine Principles First that there is one most glorious God Secondly that this God made all mankind at first in Adam in a most glorious estate Thirdly that all mankind is now fallen from that estate into a bottomlesse gulfe of sinne and misery Fourthly that the Lord Jesus Christ is the onely means of Redemption out of this estate Fifthly that those that are saved out of this wofull estate by Christ are very few and these few are saved with much difficulty Sixthly that the greatest cause why so many dye and perish in this estate is from themselves either 1. By Reason of their bloudy Ignorance they know not their misery or 2. By reason of their Carnall security they feele not they groane not under their sinne and misery 3. By reason of their Carnall confidence they seeke to helpe themselves out of their misery by their own duties when they see or feele it or 4. By reason of their false faith whereby they catch hold upon and trust unto the merits of Christ too soone when they see and feele they cannot helpe themselves The Contents of this Treatise THat there is a God Page 3 4. That this God is most Glorious p. 16. The happinesse of them that forsake all for this God p. 15. A Discovery of Atheisme p. 10. Whence terrors of Conscience arise p. 8. An Explanation of Gods Attributes p. 17. We should make God to be Our God p. 14. God made all Mankind at first in a glorious and happy estate p. 25. Wherein this glory or blessednesse of man did appeare p. 26. How Adams estate was Ours p. 29. Wee are more perfectly righteous in Christ then we could ever have beene in Adam p. 32. How to get the Image of God renewed in us p. 40. A Discovery of such as content themselves with a certaine measure of holinesse p. 34. How justly God may require perfect obedience to all the Law of every man and curse him if he cannot performe it p. 30. Mans misery in respect of Sin p. 42. Every naturall man is dead while hee lives p. 48. The haynousnesse of Adams sin p. 96. Sinnes of the Heart are worse then sins of the Life p. 55. Every Action of wicked men is sinfull p. 57. Whether good duties ought to be performed by naturall men seeing their best Actions are siâ—nes p. 61. Mans misery in respect of the Consequents of sinne p. 63. Mans fearefull flavery under Sathan p. 67. How to
a swell as pray So did the Scribes and Pharisees even twice a week which could not be publike but private fasts And yet this righteousnesse could never save them But I heare the word of God and like the best Preachers This thou mayest doe too and yet never be saved Nay thou mayest so heare as to receive much joy and comfort in hearing nay to beleeve and catch hold on Christ and so say and thinke he is thine and yet not be saved as the stony ground did Mat. 13. who heard the word with joy and for a season beleeved I reade the Scriptures often This you may doe too and yet never be saved as the Pharisees who were so perfect in reading the Bible that Christ needed but onely say It hath been said of old time for they knew the text and place well enough without intimation But I am grieved and am sorrowfull and repent for my sinnes past Iudas did thus Matth. 27. 3. he repents himselfe with a legall repentance for feare of hell and with a naturall sorrow for dealing so unkindly with Christ in betraying not onely of bloud but innocent bloud True humiliation is ever accompanied with hearty reformation Oh! but I love good men and their company So did the five foolish Virgins love the company and at the time of extremitie the very oyle and grace of the wise yet they were locked out of the gates of mercy But God hath given me more knowledge then others or then I my selfe had once This thou mayest have and be able to teach others and thinke so of thy selfe too and yet never be saved But I keepe the Lords day strictly So did the Jewes whom yet Christ condemned and were never saved I have very many good desires and endeavours to get Heaven These thou thousands may have and yet misse of Heaven Many shall seeke to enter in at that narrow gate and not be able True thou wilt say many men doe many duties but without any life or zeale I am zealous So thou mayest be and yet never saved as Iehu Paul was zealous when he was a Pharisee and if he was so for a false Religion and a bad cause why much more mayest thou be for a good cause so zealous as not onely to cry out against prophanenesse in the wicked but civill honesty of others and hypocrisie of others yea even of the coldnesse of the best of Gods people thou mayest be the fore-horse in the teame and the ringleader of good exercises amongst the best men as Ioash a wicked King was the first that complained of the negligence of his best Officers in not repairing the Temple and so stirre them up unto it Nay thou mayest be so forward as to bee persecuted and not yeeld an inch nor shrinke in the wetting but mayest manfully and couragiously stand it out in time of persecution as the thorny ground did so zealous thou mayst be as to like best of and to flock most unto the most zealous preachers that search mens cōsciences best as the whole Countrey of Iudea came flocking to Iohns ministry and delighted to heare him for a season nay thou mayst be zealous as to take sweet delight in doing of all these things Isa. 58 2 3. they delight in approaching neare unto God yet come short of heaven But thou wilt say True many a man rides post that breaks his neck at last many a man is zealous but his fire is soone quench'd his zeale is soone spent they hold not out Whereas I am constant and persevere in godly courses So did that young man yet he was a gracelesse man Matth. 19. 20. All these things have I done from my youth what lack I yet It is true Hypocrites may persevere but they know themselves to be naught all the while and so deceive others but I am perswaded that I am in Gods favour and in a safe and happy estate since I doe all with a good heart for God This thou mayst verily think of thy selfe and yet be deceived and damned and goe to the Devill at last There is a way saith Salomon that seemeth right to a man but the end thereof is the way of death For he is an hypocrite not onely that makes a seeming outward shew of what he hath not but also that hath a true shew of what indeed there is not The first sort of Hypocrites deceive others onely the latter having some inward yet common worke deceive themselves too I am 1. 26. If any man seeme to be religious so many are and so deceive the world but it is added deceiving his owne soule Nay thou mayst goe so fairely and live so honestly that all the best Christians about thee may thinke well of thee never suspect thee and so mayst passe through the world and dye with a deluded comfort that thou shalt goe to heaven and be canonized for a Saint in thy funerall sermon and never know thou art counterfeit till the L O R D brings thee to thy strict and last examination and so thou receivest that dreadfull sentence Goe yee cursed so it was with the Five foolish Virgins that were never discovered by the wise nor by themselves untill the gate of grace was shut upon them If thou hast therefore no better evidences to shew for thy selfe that thine estate is good then these I le not give a pinnes point for all thy flattering false hopes of being saved but it may be thou hast never yet come so farre as to this pitch and if not Lord what will become of thee Suspect thy selfe much and when in this Ship-wracke of soules thou seest so many thousands sinke cry out and conclude It 's a wonder of wonders and a thousand and a thousand to one if ever thou commest safe to shoare Oh! strive then to be one of them that shall be saved though it cost thee thy bloud and the losse of all that thou hast labour to goe beyond all those that goe so farre and yet perish at the last Doe not say that seeing so few shall be saved therefore this discourageth me from seeking because all my labour may be in vaine Consider that Christ here makes another and a better use of it Luk. 13. 24. Seeing that many shall seeke and not enter therefore saith he strive to enter in at the straight gate venture at least and try what the Lord will doe for thee Wherein doth a childe of GOD and so how may I goe beyond these Hypocrites that goe so farre In three things principally First no unregenerate man though he goe never so farre let him doe never so much but he lives in some one sinne or other secret or open little or great Iudas went farre but he was covetous Herod went farre but hee loved his Herodias Every dogge hath his kennell
through some of them but not all and what they cannot get now they feed themselves with a false hope they shall hereafter they are content to be called Precisians and fooles and crazie braines but they want brokennesse of heart and they will pray it may be for it and passe by that difficultie but to keep the wound alwayes open this they will not doe to be alwayes sighing for helpe and never to give themselves rest till their hearts are humbled that they will not these have a name to live yet are dead Eighthly The way of moderation or honest discretion Rev. 3. 16. which indeed is nothing but luke-warmenesse of the soule and that is when a man contrives and cuts out such a way to Heaven as he may be hated of none but please all and so doe any thing for a quiet life and so sleepe in a whole skin The Lord saith He that will live godly must suffer persecution No not so Lord. Surely thinke they if men were discreet and wise it would prevent a great deale of trouble and opposition in good courses this man will commend those that are most zealous if they were but wise if he meet with a black-mouth'd swearer he will not reprove him lest hee be displeased with him if he meet with an honest man heâ—l yeeld to all he saith that so he may commend him and when he meets them both together they shall be both alike welcome what ever he thiâ—kes to his house and Table because he would faine be at peace with all men Ninthly and lastly The way of selfe-love whereby a man fearing terribly he shall be damned useth diligently all meanes whereby he shall be saved Here is the strongest difficultie of all to row against the streame and to hate a mans selfe and then to follow Christ fully I now come to the sixth Generall Head proposed in order to be considered CHAP. VI. THat the grand cause of mans eternall ruine or why so many are damned and so few saved by Christ it is from themselves Ezek. 33. 11. Why will you dye The great cause why so many people dye and perish everlastingly is because they will every man that perisheth is his owne Butcher or murtherer Matth. 23. 27. Hos. 13. 9. this is the Point we purpose to prosecute at the present The question here will be how men plot and perfect their owne ruine By these foure principall meanes which are the foure great Rocks that most men are split upon and great necessity lyeth upon every man to know them for when a powder-plot is discovered the danger is almost past I say there are these foure causes of mans eternall overthrow which I shall handle largely and make use of every particular reason when it is opened and finished First by reason of that bloudy black ignorance of men whereby thousands remaine wofully ignorant of their spirituall estate not knowing how the case stands betweene God and their soules but thinking themselves to be well enough already they never seeke to come out of their misery till they perish in it Secondly by reason of mens carnall securitie putting the evill day farre from them whereby they feele not their fearefull thraldome and so never groane to come out of the flvish bondage of sinne and Sathan Thirdly By reason of mans carnall confidence whereby they shift to save themselves by their owne duties and performances when they feele it Fourthly By reason of mans bold presumption whereby men scramble to save themselves by their own seeming faith when they see an insufficiency in duties and an unworthinesse in themselves for God to save them I will begin with the first Reason and discover the first traine whereby men blow up themselves which is this They know not their misery nor that fearefull accursed forlornâ— estate wherein they lye but thinke and say they shall doe as well as others and therefore when any friend perswadeth them to come out of it and shewes them the danger of remaining in such a condition what 's their answer I pray yon save your breath to coole your broth Every Fat shall stand on his owne bottome let me alone I hope I have a soule to save as well as you and shall be as carefull of it as you shall or can be you shall not answer for my soule I hope I shall doe as well as the precisest of you all Hence likewise if the Minister come home to them they goe home with hearts full of out-cryes against the man and their tongue dipt in gall against the Sermon God be mercifull unto us if all this be true here 's harsh doctrine enough to make a man run out of his wits and to drive me to despaire Thus they know not their misery and not knowing they are lost and condemned Creatures under the ever lasting vvrath of God They never seeke pray strive or follow the meanes whereby they may come out of it and so perish in it and never know it till they awake with the â—lames of Hell about their eares They will acknovvledge indeed many of them that all men are borne in a most miserable estate but they never apply particularly that generall truth to themselves saying I am the man I am now under Gods wrath and may be snatcht away by death every houre and then I am undone and lost for ever Now there are two sorts of people that are ignorant of this their miserie First the common sort of prophane blockish ignorant people Secondly the finer sort of unsound hollow professors that have a Peacocks pride that thinke themselves faire and in a very good estate though they have but one feather on their crest to boast of I will begin with the first sort and shevv you the reasons why they are ignorant of their misery that is for these 4. Reasons First Sometimes because they want the saving means of knowledge Ther 's no faithfull Minister no compassionate Lot to tell them of fire and brim-stone from heaven for their crying sinnes there 's no Noah to forwarne them of a floud there 's no messenger to bring them tipings of those Armies of Gods devouring plagues and wrath that are approaching neare unto them they have no pilots poore forsaken creatures to shevv them their rockes they have either no Minister at all to teach them either because the Parish is too poore or the Church-living too great to maintaine a faithfull man the strongest Asses carrying the greatest burdens commonly O woefull Physitians sometimes they be prophane and cannot heale themselves and sometimes they be ignorant and know noâ— what to preach unlesse they should follow the steps of Master Latimers Fryer or at the best they shoot off a few pot-gunnes against grosse sinnes or if they doe shew men their misery they licke them whole againe with some comfortable ill applyed sentences but I hope better things of you my brethren the mans Patron may happily storme else
quiet but shaking him up for what he doth but by giving men respite from sinning for a time Satan getteth stronger possession afterwards as Matth. 12. 43. When the uncleane spirit is gone out of a man it returnes worse Sampsons strength alwayes remained and so doth sinnes strength in a naturall man but it never appeares untill temptation come Fifthly By giving the soule faire promises of Heaven and eternall life and fastning them upon the heart Most men are confident their estate is good and though God kills them yet will they trust in him and cannot be beaten from this Why oh Satan bewitcheth them For as he told Evah by the Serpent shee should not dye so doth he infinuate his perswasions to the soule though it live in sinne he shall not dye but doe well enough as the precisest Satan gives thus good words but wofull wages the eternall flashes of Hell II. By false Teachers Who partly by their loose examples partly by their flattering doctrines in publike and their large charitie in private dawbing up every one especially that is a good friend unto them for honest and religious people and if they be but a little troubled applying comfort presently and so healing them that should be wounded and not telling them roundly of their Herodias as Iohn Baptist did Herod Hereupon they judge themselves honest because the Minister will give them the beggerly pasport and so they goe out of the world and dye like Lambes being wofully cheated Matth. 24. 11. Looke abroad in the world and see what is the reason so many feed their hearts with confidence they shall be saved yet their lives condemne them and their hearts acquit them the reason is such and such a Minister will goe to the Ale-house and he never prayes in his Family and he is none of these precise hot people and yet as honest a man as ever lives and a good Divine too Ahab was miserably cheated by foure hundred false Prophets Whilst the Minister is of a loose life himselfe he will winke at others and their faults least in reproving them he should condemne himselfe and others should say unto him Physitian heale thy selfe Theeves of the same company will not steale from one another least they trouble thereby themselves and hence they give others false Cards to saile by false Rules to live by their unconscionable large charitie is like a gulfe that swalloweth Ships soules I meane tossed with tempests and not comforted Isa. 54. 7 8. and hence all being fish that commeth to their net all men thinke so of themselves III. A false spirit This is a third cause that begets a false peace as there is a true Spirit that witnesseth to our spirits that wee are Sonnes of God Rom. 8. 16. So there is a false spirit just like the true one witnessing that they are the Sonnes of GOD 1 Iohn 4. 1. we are bid to try the spirits now if these spirits were not like Gods true Spirit what need tryall As what need one try whether dirt be gold which are so unlike to each other And this spirit I take to be set downe Matth. 24. 23. Now looke as the true Spirit witnesseth so the false spirit being like it witnesseth also First The Spirit of God humbles the soule So before men have the witnesse of the false spirit they are mightily cast downe and dejected in spirit and hereupon they pray for ease and purpose to lead new lives and cast away the weapons and submit Psal. 66. 3. Secondly the Spirit of God in the Gospel reveales Jesus Christ and his willingnesse to save so the false spirit discovereth Christs excellency and willingnesse to receive him if he will but come in It fateth with this soule as with Surveyors of Lands that take an exact compasse of other mens grounds of which they shall never enjoy a Foot So did Balaam Num. 24. 5 6. this false spirit sheweth them the glory of Heaven and Gods people Thirdly Hereupon the soule commeth to be affected and to taste the goodnesse and sweetnesse of Jesus Christ as those did Heb 6. and the soule breakes out into a passionate admiration Oh â— that ever there should be any hope for such a vile wretch as I am and have been and so joyes exceedingly like a man halfe way wrapt up into Heaven Fourthly Hereupon the soule being comforted after it was wounded now calleth God my God and Christ my sweet Saviour and now it doubts not but it shall be saved why because I have received much comfort after much sorrow and doubting Hos. 8. 2 3. and yet remaines a deluded miserable creature still But here marke the difference betweene the witnesse of each spirit The false spirit makes a man beleeve he is in the state of grace and shall be saved because he hath tasted of Christ and so hath been comforted and that abundantly But the true Spirit perswades a man his estate is good and safe because he hath not onely tasted but bought this Christ as the wise Merchant in the Gospel that rejoyced he had found the pearle but yet stayes not here but sells away all and buyes the pearle Like two Chapmen that come to buy Wine the one tasts it and goeth away in a drunken fit and so concludes it is his So a man doth that hath the false spirit but the true spirited man doth not onely taste but buyes the Wine although he doe not drinke it all downe when he coÌ„meth to taste it yet he having been incited by tasting to buy it now he calls it his owne So a child of God tasting a little of God and a little of Christ and a little of the promises at his first conversion although he tastes not all the sweetnesse that is in God yet he forsakes all for God for Christ and so takes them lawfully as his owne Againe the false spirit having given a man comfort and peace suffers a man to rest in that estate but the true spirit having made the soule taste the Love of the Lord stirreth up the soule to doe and worke mightily for the Lord. Now the soule cryeth out What shall I doe for Christ that hath done wonders for me if every haire on my head were a tongue to speake of his goodnesse it were too little Nehem 8. 10. the joy of the Lord is our strength Psal. 51. 12. Vphold me with thy free spirit or as the Chaldean paraphrase hath it thy kingly spirit the Spirit of Adoption in Gods childe is no underling suffering men to lye downe and cry my desires are good but flesh is fraile No It is a kingly spirit that raignes where it liveth IV. False applying of true promises is the last cause of false peace And when a man hath Gods Spirit within and Gods hand and promise as he thinks for his estâ—â—e now he thinkes all safe Thus did the Iewes they said Wee have Abraham to our Father and so reputed themselves safe God having made them promise
prayer hearing reading observing the Sabbath and thus the Pharisees lived and hence they are called the strict sect of the Pharisees Take heede you mistake me not I speake not against strictnesse but against resting in it for except your righteousnesse exceed theirs you shall not enter into the Kingdome of Heaven You shall finde these men fly from base persons and places like the Pesthouses commend the best bookes cry downe the sinnes of the time and cry against civill or morall men the eye sees not it selfe and cry up zeale and forwardnesse Talke with him about many morall duties that are to be done towards God or man he will speak well about the excellency and necessity of it because his trade and skill whereby he hopes to get his living and earne eternall life lieth there but speake about Christ and living by faith in him and from him bottoming the soule upon the Promises peeces of Evangelicall righteousnesse he that is very skilfull in any point of controversie is as ignorant almost as a beast when he is examined here hence if Ministers preach against the sinnes of the time they coÌ„mend it for a speciall Sermon as it happily deserves too but let him speake of any spirituall inward soule-working point they goe away and say he was in their judgement confused and obscure for their parts they understood them not Beloved pictures are pretty things to look on and that 's all the goodnesse of them so these men are as Christ looked on and loved the naturall yong man in the Gospel and that 's all their excellency You know in Noah's floud all that were not in the Arke though they did climbe and get to the top of the tallest mountaines they were drowned so labour to climbe never so high in moralitie and the duties of both Tables if thou goest not into Gods Arke the Lord Jesus Christ thou art sure to perish eternally 7. If they have no rest here in their moralitie they grow hot within and turne marvellous zealous for good causes and courses and there they stay and warme themselves at their owne fire thus Paul Philip. 3. 6. was zealous and there rested They will not live as many doe like snailes in their shells but rather than they will be damned for want of doing they are content to give away their estate children any thing almost to get pardon for the sinne of their soule Mich. 6. 7. 8. If they find no helpe from hence but are forced to see and say when they have done all they are unprofitable servantsâ— and they sinne in all that which they doe then they rest in that which is like unto Evangelicall Obedience they thinke to please God by mourning for their failings in their good duties dâ—siring to be better and promising for the time to come to be so and therein rest Deut. 5. 29. 9. If they feele a want of all these then they dig within themselves for power to leave sinne power to be more holy and humble and so thinke to worke out themselves in time out of this estate and so they digge for pearles in their owne dunghills and will not be beholding to the Lord Jesus to live on him in the want of all they thinke to set up themselves out of their owne stock without Jesus Christ and so as the Prophet Hosea speakes 14. 3 4. thinke to save themselves by their riding on Horses that is by their owne abilities 10. If they feele no helpe here then they goe unto Christ for grace and power to leave sinne and doe better whereby they may save themselves and so they live upon Châ—ist that they may live of themselves they goe unto Christ they get not into Christ Psal. 8. 34 35. like hirelings that goe for power to doe their worke that they may earne their wages A child of God contenâ—s himselfe with and lives upon the inheritance it selfe the Lord in his free mercy hath given him But now wee shall see many poore Christians that runne in the very roade the Papists devoutly goe to Hâ—ll in First the Papist will confesse his misery that he is and all men are by nature a child of wrath and under the power of sinne and Satan Secondly they hold Christ is the onely Saviour Thirdly that this Salvation is not by any Righteousnesse in a Christ but Righteousnesse from a Christ onely by giving a man power to doe and then dipping mens doings in his bloud he merits their life Thus the wisest and devoutest of them professe as I am able to manifest just so doe many Christians live First They feele themselves full of sinne and are sometimes tyred and weary of their lives for their vile hearts and they finde no power to helpe themselves Secondly Hereupon hearing that onely Christ can save them they goe unto Christ to remove these sinnes that tyre them and load them that hee would enable them to doe better than formerly Thirdly If they get these sinnes subdued and removed and if they finde power to doe better than they hope they shall be saved Whereas thou mayest be damned and goe to the devill at last although thou dost escape all the pollutions of the world that not from they selfe and strength but from the knowledge of Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 2. 20. I say woe to you for ever if you die in this estate it is with our Christians in this case as it is with the Ivy which claspes and groweth about the tree and draws sap from the tree but it growes not one with the tree because it is not ingrafted into the tree so many a soule commeth to Christ to suck juice from Christ to maintaine his owne berries his owne stocke of grace alas he is but Ivy he is no member or branch of this tree and hence he never groweth to be one with Christ. 2. Now the reasons why men rest in their duties are these First because it 's naturall to a man out of Christ to doe so Adam and all his posterity was to be saved by his doing Doe this and live worke and here is the wages winne life and weare it Hence all his posteritie seekes to this day to be saved by doing like father like sonne Now to come out of all duties truely to a Christ hath not so much as a coate in innocent much lesse corrupted nature hence men seek to themselves now as it is with a bankrupt when his stocke is spent and his estate crackt before he will turne Prentice or live upon another hee will turne Pedler of small wares and so follow his old trade with a lesse stocke so men naturally follow their old trade of doing and hope to get their living that way and hence men having no experience of trading with Christ by faith live of themselves Sampson when all his strength was lost would goe to shake himselfe as at other times so when mens strength is lost and God and grace is lost yet