as they are under age are put to Tutors and Governours and doe not enjoy so noble a manner of conversation as they enjoy after they come to Age so the Lord served the Church while the Church was in infancie till the coming of Christ she was under the Schoolmaster of the Law of Shadowes and Types and of those Shadows and Types whereby she was nurtured and fitted up in a meaner and lower manner then shee is now being of age But now since the comming of Christ the Church is come of Age and therefore now God doth reveal himself in a more excellent manner than before Why should God thus while his Church was under age keep it under Tutors and Governours The reason was this That he might prepare the Church to receive the Doctrine of Christ and the Gospel for the nature of man is so exceeding opposite to the doctrine of Christ and the Gospel that if it had not been long framed by the tutoring of many hundred yeers by the Law it had never been convinced of the necessitie of salvation by Christ and the Gospel All these things you have laid down to us in Gal. 3. from Verse 19. to the 5th Verse of the fourth Chapter wherin the Apostle openeth these things to us at large Thus briefly you have seen this Point also opened to us That all the favour and priviledges that the people of God enjoy it is all by grace that is by Christ and by his Gospel I will onely make a Use or two of this point in a few words and so passe it over First this Doctrine serveth to check their unthankfulness that doe enjoy the Gospel and are not abundant in thanksgiving to God for it Whatsoever thou hast whatsoever boldness toward God whatever access into his presence whatever hope of pardon whatever victorie over corruption whatever change of nature whatsoever thou hast that bringeth thee or furthereth thee in grace and favour with God all is by Christ and the Gospel Whence is it then that thou art so unmindfull of Christ and so unthankfull for Christ and the Gospel There are three unthankfulnesses and unmindfulnesses which the Scripture marks The first is that of the chief Butlers forgetting the kindness of Joseph The other is that of the King of Egypts forgetting also the kindness of Joseph And the last is that of Joash his forgetting the kindness of Jehojada the high Priest These are branded for their unmindfulness of the great favours they had received But all these put together are not so deeply to be charged with the guilt of unthankfulness and unmindfulness as we are that live under the Gospel and enjoy such great favours by Christ and the Gospel and yet are no more thankfull for them than we are The other Use shall be for an Exhortation to provoke you above all things to prize Christ and the Gospel as you prize life libertie pardon of sin favour of God salvation of souls so prize Christ and the Gospel for by them you have all these Even our outward priviledges my brethren come by the Gospel the Gospel of peace hath brought a great deal of peace to this Land temporall honour prosperitie renown and plenty hath come to us by the Gospel But those things that above all are prize-worthy are the favour of God the peace of conscience the victorie over corruptions c. These things they are all brought to us by Christ and the Gospel Therefore let us prize these above our lives or liberties Great cause have we of this age to fear that Christ and his Gospel are departing from us we cannot but see that there are those things among us that usually cause Christ to depart we have a great deal of intemperancie a world of prophanesse and impietie c. These things are usually fore-runners of Christs going away and carrying his Gospel from a Nation Let us therefore more fear the losse of these then the losse of our own lives We may lose our lives and yet keep the favour of God we may lose our lives and yet injoy all the Priviledges of the people of God but if Christ and the Gospel be taken away so many of us as have not made a sure part for our selves in Christ and in the Gospel we lose all favour with God and all the priviledges of the new Covenant Therefore let us bestir our selves within the bounds of our callings to the uttermost of our abilities both by praying and every way that God hath appointed more then for our lives to preserve among us Christ and the Gospel Thus much briefly for those generall Observations that lay in our way which I could not well passe over without a short touch I come now to the particular words themselves You are not under the Law but under Grace The Doctrine to passe by other things that the words particularly afford us it is thus much That All they that are in Christ they are not under the Law but under Grace Saith the Apostle You are not under the Law but under Grace who are they In the beginning of this Chapter the third Verse Know you not saith he that so many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death These are the persons of whom the Apostle speaks You are not under the Law but under Grace You that are baptized into Christ you that are joyned unto Christ you that are one with Christ you are not under the Law but under grace The Doctrine you see is the very expresse words of the Text and it is so clear and evident that I suppose I shall not need to spend time to prove it For the opening of it I will first shew you what is meant by the Law what is meant by being under the Law and then what is meant by grace and by being under grace and so make some brief Uses and conclude First What is meant by the Law By the Law is meant that same perfect rule of obedience which God hath prescribed man by the works thereof to attain life everlasting This Law is that of which Moses was the Mediator when it was delivered to man after his fall therefore it is called the Law of Moses This Law is that which is called the old Covenant because it was made with us before the fall with Adam in Paradise This Law is that which is called the Covenant of works because it promiseth salvation onely on the condition of works This is meant by the Law What is meant by being under the Law I answer by being under the Law is meant a full subjection to the Law in all its properties and in all its qualities Now there are four properties of the Law two of them are direct and two of them are accidentall and occasioned to the Law by our sins There are two properties of the Law that are direct The first is this that it accepteth of nothing but perfect obedience it pardoneth no failings no imperfections This
my hands The like Christian courage was in Luther when his friends disswaded him to goe to Wormes If all the Tiles in Wormes were so many Devils said he yet would I goe thither in the name of my Lord Jesus This is the last step Now gather up a little what I have delivered He that is resolved to stoop to the call of God to prize the promises and breath after them to rest upon the Lord and to wait his time for bestowing mercy upon him to break through all impediments and difficulties and to count nothing too deare for God to be content to performe ready and cheerful obedience he that walketh thus and treadeth in these steps peace be upon him Heaven is hard by he is as sure of salvation as the Angels are it is as certain as the Lord liveth that he shall be saved with faithfull Abraham for he walketh in the steps of Araham and therefore he is sure to be where he is The case you see is clear and the point evident that every faithfull man may and must imitate faithfull Abraham It may be here imagined that we draw men up to too high a pitch and certainly if this be the sense of the words and the meaning of the Holy Ghost in this place what will become of many that live in the bosome of the Church Will you therefore see the point confirmed by reason The ground of this Doctrine standeth thus Every faithfull man hath the same faith for nature and for work that Abraham had therefore look what nature his faith was of and what power it had of the same nature and power every true Beleevers faith is Breifly thus The promises of God are the ground upon which all true faith resteth the Spirit of God it is that worketh this faith in all beleevers the power of the spirit is that that putteth forth it selfe in the hearts and lives of all the faithfull gather these together if all true beleevers have the same promises for the ground of their faith have one and the same spirit to work it have one and the same power to draw out the abilities of faith then certainly they cannot but have the very selfe same actions having the very selfe same ground of their actions Every particular beleever as the Apostle Peter saith 2 Pet. 1.1 hath obtained the like precious faith Mark that There is a great deal of Copper-faith in the world much counterfeit beleeving but the Saints doe all partake of the like precious faith As when a man hath but a Sixpence in silver or a Crown in gold those small pieces for the nature are as good as the greatest of the same metall so it is with the faith of Gods Elect. And look as it is in graffing If there be many Scions of the same kind grassed into one stock they all partake alike of the vertue of the stock just so it is here The Lord Jesus Christ is the stock as it were into which all the faithfull are grafted by the spirit of God and faith therefore whatsoever fruit one beareth another beareth also howsoever there may be degrees of works yet they are the same for nature As a little Apple is the same in tast with a great one of the same tree even so every faithfull man hath the same holinesse of heart and life because he hath the same principle of holinesse The fruit indeed that one Christian bringeth forth may be but poor and small in comparison of others yet it is the same in kind the course of his life is not with so much power and fulnesse of grace it may be as anothers yet there is the same true grace and the same practise in the kind of it for truth however in degree it differ Here by way of caution I will suggest too things to you 1. That howsoever all beleevers have the selfe same nature of faith yet all must not look to have the same measure of faith and the same degree of works 2. That faith doth not performe all its works at one time but groweth to a ripenesse upon severall occasions A Child is a perfect man in regard of parts though not of degrees he is able to eat and to see though he cannot walk and talk yet because he hath a reasonable soule as well as others he will walk and talk like others in due time So howsoever many of the Saints of God have not attained to those great actions of grace that others have yet having the same spirit and principle of grace within they shall be inabled hereafter to a further discharge of those holy services that God requireth Thus you see the point confirmed by reason if all the Saints of God are ingraffed into Christ indifferently if all have the same ground of faith and the same spirit to work it and to make it work they must needs have the same actions and fruits of faith because I say they have the selfe same causes of their faith Let us now come to see what benefit we may make to our selves of this point thus proved and confirmed And certainly the Use of this Doctrine is of great consequence In the first place it is a just ground of Examination For if it be true as it cannot be denyed the reasons being so strong and arguments so plain that every sonne of Abraham followeth the steps of Abraham then here you may clearly perceive who it is that hath saving faith indeed who they be that are true Saints and the sonnes of Abraham By the light of this truth by the rule of this doctrine if you would square your courses and look into your conversations you cannot but discern whether you have faith or no. That man whose faith she weth it selfe and putteth it selfe forth in its severall conditions agreable to the faith of Abraham that man that followeth the footsteps of the faith of Abraham let him be esteemed a faithfull man let him be reckoned for a true beleever But if any mans faith doe not this but be contrary unto or fall short of this in the truth I say not in the measure of it certainly it is counterfeit it is Copper-faith O the world of counterfeit faith then that is in the Church at this day It was the complaint of our Saviour Christ that when he should come he should scarce finde faith on the earth Luke 18.8 as if he should say It will be so little and so rare that one shall hardly know where to find a faithfull man It was the complaint of the Psalmist of old and is most true of these times that the faithfull faile from among the children of men Psal 12.1 Many a man hath a name that he is alive and yet is dead Rev. 3.1 Many have a fancie of faith yet upon the tryall we shall find that there are but few even of those that are interested in the title of Christians and live in the bosome of the Church that have any right or
temper he should find this that I say to bee too too true What is the reason else you will not suffer a good Minister to follow you home to search your soules but take pet at such a man presently what is the cause of this Surely your wayes are naught your mindes are blinded your hearts are hardned under the means Men are loth to let others see what they are because they are not as they should be they are like dull-headed Schollars to whom it is death to be posed But I say observe therefore the mervailous deadnesse and weaknesse the strange besotted dulnesse of our natures to good that when we have all the incouragements and meanes that may be yet we get no benefit we reap no profit by them If a man should have a tree in his garden that all the dunging and pruning and dressing that he can use will doe no good of nor make it bring forth any fruit certainly he would think that tree to be of a strange temper so here let us see and wonder when we see that the Lord hath bestowed so much cost upon us made his judgements come home even to our very doores powred his mercies on us in abundance yet we are not provoked nor quickned nor inlarged in the wayes of life that though wind and tide be both with us yet we make no progress in goodness but he that was ignorant is ignorant still and he that was filthy is filthy still That we may therefore shame our selves humble our soules and bemoan our estates before the Lord consider I pray you but these two things The variety of helps that God vouchsafeth us and the success those helps find in our hearts When all the fire in the town cannot warm a man how cold is he When all the perswasions under heaven cannot work upon a man oh how flinty is he How graciously my brethren hath the Lord dealt with you that live in this place How many helps hath he put into your hands you have prayers and sermons and exhortations and instructions and admonitions and comforts forts and all things that are available to bring a man to life and happiness Now he that groweth not under this means he that thriveth not with this food he that is not heated by this fire he that is not quickned by this dew of heaven let him take notice of the strange distemper of his own heart and the deadnesse of his spirit I know not what to say to you Certainly had the Devill himselfe but any hope of receiving mercy the sermons that are made in this City were able even to melt his heart as it were and to bring him to consider and repent of the sinnes he hath committed against Almighty God but because he hath no hope of mercy he remaineth in a forlorne and desperate condition Yet the Apostle saith Jam. 2.19 The Devils also beleeve and tremble that is they know all things contained in Gods Word are true they beleeve them and assent to them and are perswaded that God will one day make all his threatnings good upon them and upon the hearts of all the damned for ever and that they together shall be wholly deprived of all those mercies that God hath propounded in his Word and they tremble at it Look now into your own hearts and see what kind of temper they are of when notwithstanding the many judgements that have been threatned the many woes that have been denounced yet most either turn their back upon the Church or turn a deaf eare to what they hear and cast the Commandements of God behind them and rather fleer in the face of the Minister and contemn what he saith then be any wayes humbled for their sinnes or tremble at the Word of God and the threatnings denounced out of it My brethren think of it for the Lords sake reason a little with your selves and consider and say Lord what a wicked heart and what a wretched disposition have I the Sea is troubled the Mountains quake and the earth sinketh when the Lord speaks and uttereth his voice nay the Divels beleeve and tremble but oh what terrors and woes have I heard out of the Word against my pride my covetousness my swearing my drunkenness my profaning of the Sabbath yet none of them stirre me one jot I have had the fire full in my face yet remain as ycie and cold and frozen as ever I have had many a heavenly dew upon me many a silver drop yet continue a dry and barren Wilderness Oh what a heart have I Surely my brethren such a case as this is very desperate and deplorable think of it betime in vain it will be for you to put it off You dream and have conceits of knowledge and imagine that you have faith and repentance whereas alas you have little or none of these graces I pray therefore consider it now and now hear and tremble least you tremble afterwards when you are sunk down in the pit for ever When you are in hell you shall feel another manner of trembling then now is expected from you for it shall be farre greater and altogether without hope of remedy Where now are all those professed enemies and rebels against God where is Nimrod where is Pharaoh where is Sennacherib are they not in hell and there left to perish for ever Reason the case therefore seriously with your selves to the end that now you may be humbled and brought to tremble at the Word of God least hereafter you tremble when all hope is past To move you the more consider how graciously the Lord hath been pleased to work upon others They have heard the Word and have lived under the light of the Gospel and they have received benefit by it they have attained to good measures of saving knowledge Are there not some that live neer thee of whom thou mayest say such a man I know and I thought my selfe once to have had as much understanding in religion as he I made account I had as much ability to doe God service as ever he had But now the case is altered he is able to discourse savourly and feelingly of the things of God to pray sensibly and spiritually to reason of the matters of salvation profitably farre beyond that which I can doe and yet I have had as many helpes I have heard as much and understood as much as he O Lord what a case is my soule in what a sinfull creature am I Here is a drunkard converted there is a profane swearer and a Sabbath-breaker wrought upon my next neighbour that happily was as bad as I hath his soule humbled many a gain-sayer of the Gospel the Lord hath made him come crying to him for the forgivenesse of his sinnes begging pardon for such and such rebellions especially for his refusing of the offers of mercy made in Jesus Christ and all this while I stand it out What a strange heart have I That drunkard that profane
is in this case as if a man were in prison for a great deal of monie and a friend of that mans should agree with his creditor that upon condition he would discharge the man and let him out of prison he would pay him the full debt If the creditour accept of this offer and the partie perform the condition the poor man is acquitted and discharged Even thus it is God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ agreed that upon Christs paying of all that which was due to God from all those for whom he paid it they should be discharged Christ he did it and so they are set free Thus you see how it cometh to passe that Christ by giving himself hath set free all beleevers from all iniquitie Lastly for the full clearing of this point consider the reasons why Christ should thus pay this price for beleevers why Christ should give himself to redeem beleevers from all iniquitie There are two reasons of it The one in respect of God the other in respect of beleevers First In respect of God Christs love to God made him doe it Beleevers they are the elect and chosen of God chosen by him to a kingdom Now to the end they might come to the kingdom to which God hath chosen them they must be redeemed from Iniquitie they cannot redeem themselves therefore they must lie there Christ out of love to God the Father that he might bring to happines those whom God hath chosen to happines he offereth himself and undertakes the work This is that you have in Hebr. 10. 5 6 7 8. the Apostle there brings in Christ speaking to God the Father When he cometh into the world that is when Christ was Incarnate he saith Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not but a body hast thou prepared me In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast no pleasure Then said I lo I come in the volume of thy book it is written of me to doe thy will O God God had appointed Christ to ransome beleevers Christ knowing it to be Gods will out of his love to God willingly offereth himself to doe it so that here is the first reason in obedence to God out of love to God that he might deliver his elect and bring them to that happiness to which God hath chosen them he giveth himself to redeem them from all iniquitie The second reason is From Christs love to beleevers Beleevers as they were the chosen of God so they were the chosen of Christ The Lord Christ had a speciall affection to beleevers upon three grounds First Because they were Gods chosen and Christ loving God could not chuse but love them Secondly because they were his own chosen for he hath chosen them as well as God the Father Thirdly Because by God the Father they were given to him as hee himself saith John 17.6 Thine they were and thou gavest them me Upon these three grounds Christ loveth beleevers now loving of them Christ could not but pitty them in their miserie therefore having it in his power he setteth himself to bring them out and so giveth himself a ransome to redeem them from all iniquitie so you have it Eph. 5.25 Husbands love your wives as Christ loved his Church and gave himself for it by the Church is meant the company of beleevers his love to them is said to be the cause of his giving himself for them Thus by these things you have seen the Doctrine cleared and opened That Christ gave himself for that end that he might become a ransome and set free beleevers from all iniquitie from the transgression of the Law and from the guilt of that transgression and from the punshment that belonged to that guilt To make now some Use of this Point and so to conclude This Doctrine my brethren is wonderfull sweet and usefull and therefore I have been somewhat the longer in the proving and explaining thereof It serveth both for Consolation Exhortation and Instruction First of all here is wonderfull sweet consolation to all you that are beleevers you that have a faith purifying your hearts a faith working by love a faith as a brestplate which preserveth in you a conjugall affection to Christ from all the aduldulteties of the world flesh and Devill you that have a faith overcomming the world to you I speak you are those happy ones for whom Christ gave himself to redeem you from all iniquitie to redeem you from the power of sin from the guilt of sin from the punishment of sin Be therefore of good comfort thou that art a beleever thou shalt certainly be delivered from all iniquitie Hath Christ given himself for this end and is not attainable It were folly in Christ to give himself for an end which is not attainable No my brethren hath Christ given himself for it and shall it not be done If this be the end for which Christ gave himself then either this end is made good or else Christ is disappointed of his end Is it possible thinkst thou for Christ to redeem thee from all iniquitie Oh yes Christ hath made the world he hath conquered hell the Devill and the grave therefore Christ can doe this If it be possible for Christ to doe it then Christ will doe it for it was the very end why he gave himself Doest thou think Christ hath been at so much cost and pains that he hath coveted thy redemption so strongly that he hath not spared himself but given himself for this end to redeem thee from all iniquitie and will not Christ effect it Oh consider it and be assured of it seeing it is the very end for which Christ gave himself the thing shall be done Thou that art a beleever thou art alreadie redeemed in a great measure from all iniquitie thou art redeemed from the power and dominion of sin thou art no longer a servant of sin thou art now a servant of righteousnesse thou art already redeemed from the guilt of all sin there is no sin God will ever charge upon thee to thy condemnation thou art already delivered from the punishment belonging to sin Oh take comfort in that redemption thou already hast and rejoyce under hope in that which is to come the time is coming and shall assuredly be when thou shalt be perfectly redeemed from all iniquitie Thou art now freed from the power of sin the time is coming in which thou shalt be freed from the presence of sin The Lord Christ he hath now so ordered it that God in his justice is tyed to deliver thee from all iniquitie for he hath paid the price therefore God must set thee free God covenanted with Christ that if he would pay the full price for the redemption of beleevers they should be discharged Christ hath paid the price God must be unjust or else hee must set thee free from all iniquitie Oh comfort thy self therefore with this What Moses once said to the children of Israel I may speak to
the wrath of God due for the breaking of the Law To doe both these the Lord Christ hath given himself and if Christ have certainly done it what need men come after to add any thing to it The Church of Rome hath a Doctrine of Satisfaction and it telleth us That men must satisfie in this life and after this life All this is needlesse and derogatorie to Jesus Christ as if men should come after and adde any thing to what he hath done as if the redemption of Christ were not perfect as if Christs giving of himself were not enough to redeem us from all iniquitie Learn this therefore that so you may abhor that Doctrine and here is the first instruction The Second is to teach us the great bondage and slavery that iniquitie holdeth them in that are under it for if so be that Christ gave himself to fetch beleevers out of iniquitie then certainly it is a miserable thing to be under iniquitie It were a silly thing that Christ should be at so much cost as to give himself to free beleevers from iniquitie if it were not a miserable thing for beleevers to be under iniquitie the very Phrase teacheth us that it is a bondage to be under sin he gave himself to redeem us from iniquitie therefore to bee under iniquitie is a bondage for redemption supposeth a slaverie Oh it is a bondage indeed and a slaverie worse then that of the Turks or Moors For first the slaverie of the Turk is but of the bodie but the slaverie to sin is of the bodie and soul both The slaverie to the Turk is but to men the slaverie to sin is a slaverie to the Devill The slaverie to the Turk is but for a while at the longest but for a mans life but the slaverie to sin is for ever Again the slaverie to the Turk a man may be redeemed from it by some ordinary price by a certain sum of Gold and Silver but the slaverie to sin a man can never be freed out of that but by the precious bloud of the Lord Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.18 Yee were not redeemed from your vain conversation redemption from sins slaverie is not attainable by silver and gold and corruptible things but by the precious bloud of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot Blood must be shed before freedome from the slaverie from sin can be attained and the bloud of one that is innocent and the blood of one that is the Son of God Oh what a slaverie is this our of which nothing can redeem but blood innocent blood even the blood of the Son of God Certainly either it is an infinite miserie to be under sins slaverie or Christ was very foolish to give such an infinite price to redeem us from it For what is it for Christ to give himself but for Christ to give an infinite price For is not Christ God whom the Angels worship who made the world Christ gave himself to redeem people therefore it is an infinite miserie under which they are or he had been infinitely unwise to give so great a price Learn then That Christ gave himself to redeem from sin therefore sin is an infinite bondage and slaverie give no reft therefore to your souls till you come out of it Thirdly and lastly Hath Christ given himself for this end Oh then let all that are beleevers know that is their duty to love the Lord Jesus Christ Now I shall speak to all of you for there is none of you but say you are beleevers there is none of you but think that Christ gave himself for you Is there any of you here present that doe not think Christ gave himself for you If you did not thinke so you would despair presently If you doe thinke so see your dutie hath Christ given himself to ransome you oh then what a love do you owe to Christ Consider but these particulars in Christs giving of himself for your ransome First he hath given a great price he hath given himself for our ransome it is the most costly ransome that ever friend gave to ransome a friend Many men have given money but Christ hath given himself to redeem you Secondly It is a perfect ransome he hath redeemed you from all iniquitie Thirdly It is a perpetuall ransome he hath for ever redeemed you Fourthly It is an undeserved ransome What did you deserve when Christ gave himself to ransome you from sin you were enemies to Christ you hated him you persecuted him you rejected him There is no nation in the world so bitter an enemie to our nation as you were to Christ when he gave himself to ransome you On then behold a costly ransome a perfect ransome a perpetuall ransome an underserved ransome What doth this deserve but wonderfull love at your hands If there were a man that were to lie in prison all his life long for debt and one should come to him that he never knew of whom hee never deserved any kindnesse if this man should set him free how would he love that man and truly there were great cause that he should Suppose a man were a slave to the Turk and there for ought he knew he was to spend all his dayes in that drudgerie and a man comes and payes an exceeding great ransome even as much every farthing as is desired would that man that is thus redeemed thinke it too much to be a servant to him that set him free No surely I remember what the men of Israel said once to Gideon Judg. 8.22 Rule thou over us both thou and thy son and thy sons son for thou hast delivered us out of the hand of Midian Because he had delivered them they give their Crown and Scepter to him and to his posteritie for divers generations and Gideon deserved it These persons shall rise up in judgement against you that will not love the Lord Jesus Christ Never did any Creditor never did any redeemer that ransomed a slave from drudgerie never did this Gide on doe half so much for them as Christ hath done for you They did not give themselves Christ hath given himself and that to redeem you from iniquitie therefore as the work is of infinite worth so your love should be abundant Oh love Christ therefore above all above your sins above the world above your friends above your liberties above your goods above your lives for he hath loved you above his life he hath given himself to redeem you from all iniquitie let it be said of you as the Apostle speaks of those beleevers in 1 Pet. 1.8 Whom though yee see not yet yee love though you see not Jesus Christ yet love him for he hath done these things for you But how shall you be assured that you are in the number of them for whom Christ gave himself to redeem from all iniquitie If you finde your souls to love the Lord Christ above all things but on the other side if
of it Again it is constant not onely for a time but for ever Yea and there is a progress in it also sin still groweth weaker and the strength thereof daily more and more abateth But where is not such progress where there is not a continuance in the deaths-wound of sinne there the deaths-wound was never given to sin by the blessed spirit of Christ For howsoever Christ doth not kill the old man presently yet he killeth it cortainly and when once the deaths-wound is given it can never be recovered any more Hereby you may trie whether there be a death of sin in you however you may finde in your selves all the parts and kinds of sin and corruption the severall lusts and inclinations of the flesh rising and bubling up in you however some times particular corruptions may have a very strong hand and put forth abundance of might in you to the mastering and captivating of you so that you are for the present sold under sin as the A postle Paul speaks of himself Rom. 7. yet if there be this lessening and weakning of corruption and that universally and constantly it is most certain there is a death of sin in you Now on the other side let me shew you how you may know the life of righteousness and this will also help you the better to discover the death of sin For as yee have heard both goe together and the one helps to manifest the other Therefore I say in the next place let us consider the severall effects of the life of Righteousnesse which are these First where ever there is a life of righteousnesse there is a seeking after God and after the things of God Righteousnesse is of a divine nature and therefore it alwaies carrieth the soul wherein it is up to God from whence it came As the fire being heavenly doth alwaies move upward so righteousness because it is of God doth alwaies raise up the soul of that person in whom it is toward God Hence it is that the righteous are described to be a generation of them that seek the Lord Psal 24. and Psal 27. 8. the Psalmist professeth that he will seek the face of god People that have no life of righteousness are described Rom. 7 to be such as do not seek after God But whereever there is a life of righteousnesse there is a seeking after God God in himself God for himself God as he is accomplished with his holy excellencies and admirable Attributes and perfections God as he is take him altogether is alwaies the aim and scope end and object of the desire of that soul that is endued with the life of righteousnesse so that when he praies or receives the Sacrament or hears the word or whatsoever he doth he seeks after God in all And as he seeks after God so he seeks after the things of God the favour and mercie of God the presence and fellowship of God those glorious inheritances which are Gods and are called his because they are with him the things of the kingdome of God they are the things he seeks after that hath the life of righteousnesse in him Secondly where the life of righteousnesse is there is a sutableness of the spirit and an agreement of the heart to the whole law of God I beteech you observe this The body of righteousness is nothing else but as it were the stamp of Gods Law there is a proportion and conformitie between the one and the other therefore in whomsoever the life of righteousnesse is in his spirit there is a sutableness of disposition to the whole Law of God so that howsoever there is much antipathie and deformitie and unlikeness and disagreement from the Law of God yet notwithstanding there is something within that soul that is agreeable to the whole Law of God so that there is no particular branch nor part of the Commandment of God but it doth find a principle to which it is suted and agreeable in the heart of all them that have the life of righteousnesse in them And this I take it is the meaning of that of writing the Law of God in their hearts that is the very Law of God in all the parts of it it hath a stamp and impression and a resemblance in the spirit of all them that have the life of righteousnesse This the Apostle largely expresseth in that seventh of the Romans from the 15. Verse and so forward I consent saith he to the Law that it is good and that it is holy and just They that have the life of righteousnesse they doe not onely finde a truth and a justice in Gods Law but they doe finde a goodness a loveliness in Gods Law there is a sutableness and an agreement between their spirit and the whole Law of God not onely in some but in all particulars Those branches of Gods Law which are most contrary to their customes and naturall dispositions and inclinations they see them good they behold them amiable they finde a disposition in their souls suteable and agreeable thereunto And hence is that of David Psal 119.6 Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect to all thy Commandments There is the second thing The third Effect of this life of righteousness it is a discerning of the evill of sin The want of the life of righteousnesse is the very cause why people doe not see the evill of sin Many people doe see the evill of the consequences of sin the plagues and judgements that come for sin but they doe not see the evill of sin Take sin in its own nature as it is an unlikeness to the nature of God as it is a transgression and a going beside a swerving from the Commandment of God they doe not see any evill in sin thus But now where ever there is the life of righteousnesse there is an apprehension and feeling of the evill of sin as it is sin it self and the reason of it is cleer because that the life of righteousnesse is nothing but an impression of the Law of God upon a man therefore it must needs cause that soul in which it is to know and apprehend the Evill of the transgression of Gods Law In a word they that have the life of righteousnesse in them they doe in their hearts apprehend sin to be the greatest evill and the most bitter thing that is in the world whether it be a great sin or a small sin in regard of the matter of it whether it be a secret sin or a publike sin in regard of the circumstance however sin may differ yet they apprehend the greatest evill and bitterness to be in all sin thereupon it is that they are as truly though not as strongly shy of the least sin as of the greatest of the secretest sin as of the most publique and scandalous sin You have Saint Paul for this Rom. 7.24 Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the bodie of this death The
dutie of all people to look to signs and to try themselves by them And if there were nothing more but this that is in the Text me thinks it is an unanswerable Argument to confute them that crie out against Signs and Evidences of the truth of grace Doth not the Apostle Paul as plain as any man in the world can put them upon the tryall of themselves by Signs telling them that if they have such and such things in them they are in a good estate and if they have not that they are in a dangerous and damnable condition Therefore I say put it not off but make conscience to practise this duty to view your souls in this and the like looking-glasses Especially considering that which our Saviour Christ hath laid down for a certain truth That there are many called but few chosen There were four sorts of grounds upon which the seed of Gods word was cast and but one of those four proved good There were six hundred thousand of the people of Israel that came out of Egypt and went toward Canaan and yet but two of them that went into Canaan There were twelve Tribes which the Lord had caused to make them cleave to himself as a girdle to a mans loins and yet there were ten of those Tribes at one clap that were all cast off from being the people of God and but two of twelve that did remain You know how that the Apostle Paul telleth us in Rom 9.27 Though the number of the Children of Israel be as the sand of the sea a remnant shall be saved The Lord will put up righteousness in a short sum I say considering these things that there are so many of those that doe profess and hope to be saved shall miscarry how much doth it concern us all to try our selves When as our Saviour Christ had told his twelve Discriples that one of the twelve should betray him every one began to put himself upon the examination and asked their master whether it were he Were they so carefull every one to try himself when Christ told them that one of the twelve should betray him and shall not we be carefull to try our selves when as the Scripture telleth us that scarce one of twelve shall be saved and that eleven of twelve Professors are like to perish and miscarry Oh the heart of man is exceeding deceitfull hypocrisie is very strong and exceeding cunning hardly is a man able to finde out the state of his own spirit when he tryeth it with all his dilgence But above all my brethren let me presse you to this duty to try and examine your selves considering the times we live in These are the times wherein the Lord putteth people upon the tryall trying times even times like the times of the Fullers purging his cloth and the Goldsmiths refining his mettall And there are more trying times like to come Have we not wofull experience of divers falling away some falling scandalously perhaps being the Saints of God Davids and Lots and Noahs and Peters for so it is possible that some that are the children of God may yet notwithstanding fall into scandalous and offensive sins through their want of watchfulness and fear and carefulness But a great many doe fall and fall scandalously yea many give all cause of fear that there never was the soundness and truth of grace in them they went out from us because they were not of us Now I say considering that there are those that doe fall such as take upon them the profession of religion and are eminent in the waies of Christ and in the Gospel and yet fall and fall desperately and damnably Doth it not concern us all to fear and upon fearing to try our selves When the Apostle discoursed of the fall of the Jewes how they were broken and cast off What use did he teach the Gentiles to make of this Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall So say I are these such times that many fall away then such of us as doe stand let us also take heed that we doe not fall How shall we take heed of falling Oh let us look to our selves that we are sound the ordinary cause of falling away is rottenness and unsoundness when people in hypocrisie take up the profession of Religion Therefore let us not make that use of the falls of holy men as the people of the world doe if there be any that falls into any scandalous sin and manifests himself to be naught at the heart what use doth the world make of it To flie upon God and upon religion and upon all professors of pietie and upon the Ministers and Preachers of the word Oh say they this is their Religion they are all but hypocrites this will be the end of them all These kind of Uses doth the world make of the falls of upright men whereas alas there is nothing lesse use to be made of them than this If so be that people were not desperately malicious against God and all goodness and that they were not shamefully ignorant they would never make this Use of the falls and scandalls of these men For first of all how can it blemish God or Religion or good men because some that seemed to be good and were not good doe discover their rottenness and unsoundness by their falls What kind of blemish was it to the holy Apostles and to the beleevers in the Primitive Church that some that were amongst them did goe out from them What kind of blemish was it to the twelve Apostles that one whom Christ kept familiar company with and was conversant with the Apostles as brethren did prove a hypocrite Was Judas his desperate fall a sign that the Religion and Preaching of Christ were naught and the other Disciples hypocrites None dare say so and if it were not then why should it now be a sign They that doe fall away they doe therefore fall away because they are not religious and not because they are religious They therefore fall away because they did not observe the rules of that religion they profest and not because they profest it And as it argueth thus an ignorance in people so further if so be that the world were acquainted with the Gospel and works of God they would know that the Lord hath decreed from all eternitie that in all ages of the Church some that have been eminent in profession should fall away There must be offences and scandalls given the Lord Jesus Christ himself layeth down the rule Matth. 18.7 It must needs be that offences come The Lord hath foretold it and hath ever made it good in all ages and times of the Church that there shall be offences and scandalls and that for good ends First to the making of them that are true hearted to be more fearfull and watchfull and more diligently to try their own estates and to fear lest they fall and by this kind of painfull and
to make thee able to doe them Yes where is the fault then what is the reason thou doest not doe them but that thou walkest in so many transgressions where is the fault what canst thou say for thy self Is not God able or is not God faithfull Yes God can doe it and God hath promised to doe it Surely then the fault lieth onely in thy self Consider it seriously and you shall finde one of these two things to be the cause of all the sins you live in that are the people of God Either this that you are not willing to bee made whole you are not willing to be rid of your sins or else this that you are not able to beleeve the truth of what God hath said One of these two is the cause of all the sins of Gods people First thou art not willing it may be to be made whole thou art not willing to obey Gods Commandements Truth God hath commanded thee a great many things but thou art not willing to doe them and because thou art not willing therefore God doth not make thee able For my brethren this is a sure rule God never makes any able to obey but they that first of all by God are made willing to obey In Joh. 5. When our Saviour could cure that impotent man that lay at the pool of Bethesda he first asked him this question vers 6. Wilt thou be made whole If so bee he had not been willing Christ would not have healed him Why did Christ ask him the Question To stir up in him a desire of being made whole for God never giveth till we desire Therefore look well and it may be thou shalt find thou art not willing to obey Gods commands thou art not willing to subdue every lust a lust that is suteable to thy constitution a lust that is very sweet to thee through long custome a lust that is dear unto thee by reason of the pleasure or profit that it brings in it may be thou art not willing to obey God in subduing this lust But even as it was with Jacob when he commeth to let Benjamin goe into Egypt he striveth against himself he would let him go and he would not necessitie constrained him that he should go but yet his affection made him unwilling he should go This kinde of strugling there is in Gods people when they look upon the command they know they must obey but yet considering the dearness and sweetness of their sin they are loth to obey And this is the reason God doth not help thee in matter of obedience to his commands because thy heart is false and thou art not willing to it Oh what a shame is this when God requireth no more but thy will not to let him have thy will for thee still to be unwilling to obey when Christ died for this end that thou shouldst obey But if so be thou canst cleer thy self in this Point and canst say thou ant willing to be made whole look into thy self once more and happily thou shalt find that thou art not able to beleeve that God will make thee whole When the father of the possessed child in Mark 9. brought his son to Christ to be cured Lord saith he v. 22. If thou canst doe any thing have compassion on us and help us If thou canst doe it saith Christ If thou canst beleeve all things are possible to him that beleeveth So I say to such of you as are willing to obey Gods commands in all things are you able to beleeve this Doctrine that I have this day preached That God will make you able upon your endeavours to doe all he commandeth if you could be beleeve this all obedience were possible But here is thy fault if it be not in the former thou canst not beleeve God will give thee strength over every lust a lust that is strong in thee by constitution is strong in thee by custome by education a lust that hath so great a rooting in thee that hath so often foiled thee that God will help thee against such a lust Because thou canst not beleeve here is the cause thou canst not obey Gods commands What a shame is this for thee not to beleeve the God of truth not to bee able to take his word when his word is confirmed by his promise when his promise is seconded with his Oath when his Oath is also accompanied with so many seals as thou hast had renewed every time thou hast received the Sacrament of the Supper and yet notwithstanding thou art not able to believe what a shame is this Thus you see how that the sins of Gods people are altogether unexcusable unpardonable they are not mercie there shall bee but yet notwithstanding they are unexcusable All your disobediences whatsoever they are notwithstanding all the frailty of your nature they are without all excuse For the ground of your disobedience is either because you are not willing to obey or else because you are not able to beleeve the truth of what God hath said Therefore learn I beseech you to be ashamed of your selves and of those guilts and disobediences that lie upon you there is great sault in your selves for though you have no power in your selves God having promised to make you able you should have been able if you were not guiltie either in want of a will to be cured or in want of abilitie to beleeve what God hath said Here is the Second Use Again the third use of this point is to teach us what is the onely and ready way to be able to obey Gods Commandements This is a thing which all that are truly godly desire much to know and this point teacheth us The onely way to be able to obey Gods Commandements is to beleeve It ariseth thus God hath promised to make his people able to doe all that he commandeth if God hath promised it then they have no power but from God it were but a slight thing for God to promise that which they could doe of themselves God having therefore promised it it plainly appeareth they have no power of themselves to doe it and God having promised to doe it they must have this power to doe it by laying hold upon the promise and that is by beleeving So that the onely way to attaine to any obedience is by faith to lay hold upon the promise of God In a word all strength to obey commeth by promise the promise is made ours by beleeving there is no way therefore to obey but by beleeving Hence it is that in 1 John 5. 4. Faith is called our victory whereby we overcome the world by the world is meant all sinne faith is our victory that is the instrument of our victory as a sword is called the souldiers victorie because it is the means whereby he gets the victorie Faith is the means whereby we come to have victorie over the world Hence is that also in john 6. 29. They had asked
our Saviour Christ this Question What shall we doe to work the works of God How shall we bee able to doe it saith Christ This is the work of God that you beleeve on him whom he hath sent There is no way to come to work Gods work to obey Gods commands but to beleeve in the promise of God whereby he hath ingaged himself to make thee able to doe whatsoever he commandeth Oh then you that would fain better your obedience in these times wherein Gods judgements be abroad when God so much expects we should grow better for I perswade my self there is never a child of God but is much desirous to be more obedient now than ever now in these evill times and I should much suspect that soul yet to bee under the power of Sathan and sin that by the judgements of God that are abroad is not provoked to a resolution and endeavour to better obedience Now I say to such of you as desire to grow better in obedience learn the way Observe what the Text saith Neh. 8. 10. Be not sorry for the joy of the Lord is your strength Would you have strength to obey Gods Commandements better then ever Here is the way doe not give way to sadness and dumpishness and discouragements Godly sorrow is to be admitted and is a great help of bettering your obedience but such a sorrow as doth afflict your souls and keep them under discouragements this is not to be admitted strength of obedience lyeth not in this slavish fear but it is the joy of the Lord that is your strength Get the joy of the Lord by beleeving that God will make you able to obey whatsoever he biddeth and that will make you able to obey Here therefore is the way search out the promises wherein God hath ingaged himself to help you in any duty you would perform When you have found out that promise labour to rest upon that promise labour to believe that as God hath promised to make thee able to doe it so he will make thee able to doe it in the use of means And I say unto thee According to thy faith it shall be unto thee Here then is the third Use God hath graciously undertaken to enable his children to doe all he biddeth them to doe therefore the onely way to doe what is commanded is to get faith to rest upon the promises wherein the Lord hath engaged himself to help us to doe what he hath commanded First of all finde out what is the will of God that thou shouldst doe Secondly work thy heart to a willingness and desire to doe it Thirdly Bring thy self to trust upon God in the use of his means for abilitie to doe it and then in the next place thou shalt be able to doe it in such a measure as God will accept The fourth and last Use of this Doctrine is for a singular incouragement and consolation to all that are Gods children Thou that art one of Christs here is thy comfort Whatsoever God in his word biddeth thee to doe hee by his promise hath undertaken to make thee able to perform Truth it is the things that God hath commanded thee to doe they are wonderfull hard even impossible to flesh and blood but yet notwithstanding to thee easie and possible because God hath undertaken to give thee strength to doe them So that thou hast great cause to be incouraged considering the power of God the power of God is with thee it is bound to be thine by his promise and if God be able thou shalt obey whatsoever he hath commanded thee so thou wilt beleeve this promise and use the means Indeed I grant many of Gods children are not enabled to do what God hath commanded but the reason is as I shewed before either because they are not willing and that is horrible baseness or else they are not able to beleeve this Doctrine and that is horrible insidelitie But if thou couldst but beleeve all that God hath said thou shouldst be enabled to doe whatsoever God requireth of thee to doe in an Evangelicall manner Thus the Lord Christ incourageth and comforteth his Disciples in Mat. 19. 24. I say unto you saith he that it is easier for a Cammell to go through the eye of a needle then for a Rich man to enter into the Kingdome of Heaven Here was a Doctrine that stumbled the very Disciples themselves for when they heard it the Text saith They were exceedingly amazed saying who then can be saved Surely it is impossible for any to be saved if this be true that the man whose heart cleaves to any of these temporall things cannot be saved for that is the meaning of the words though Christ instanceth in a rich man onely yet it is true of a voluptuous man and of all those that have their hearts cleave to any thing in the world if this be true it is impossible for any man to be saved for it is impossible for any man but to have his heart cleave to something in this world either friends or honours or riches or pleasures How doth Christ comfort them against this impossibility In verse 26. saith he With men this is impossible but with God all things are possible as if he should say It is true I grant that it is impossible for any man to be saved if you look to the power of man because it is unpossible for a man not to idolize some outward thing but yet notwithstanding with God it is possible God can make a man live in the world and yet have his affections divorced from all things in the world and God will make you doe this because he hath promised to you being his children that whatsoever he biddeth you doe you shall be enabled to doe in such a measure as he will accept Therefore as Christ comforted his Disciples so let us comfort our own soules what God hath commanded he will make us able to doe therefore let us up and be doing and beleeve the promises and we shall prevail to an Evangelicall obedience Thus much for this first Doctrine that the Lord doth deale thus graciously with his children that whatsoever he biddeth them to doe he will enable them to doe it he commanderh them that sinne should not reign in their mortall body and here he promiseth that sinne shall not have dominion over them Having observed this from the coherence of the words let us now come to the words themselves sinne shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the Law but under grace You have here first a promise Secondly the ground and reason of the promise First of all a promise in the former part of the words sinne shall not have dominion over you Secondly the ground of the promise in the latter part of the words for you are not under the Law but under Grace Let me briefly open the words unto you and I will begin with the first sinne shall not have
with the punishment of sinne such of you as doe desire as truly to be rid of sinne it selse as to escape damnation for sinne in a word such of you as are sensible of the corruption of your nature and groan under it as under the greatest misery you can possibly lie under such of you as maintain an invincible opposition against the sinnes of your nature and make them your daily conflict you are Gods people and to you I speak at this time Here my brethren is comfort for you sinne may be in thee it may foile thee it may have sometime a great power over thee yet notwithstanding be of good comfort sinne shall never have dominion over thee it shall never make thee his subject it shall never damne thee I pray take notice of the speech of God to Saint Paul 2 Cor. 12. 8 9. The Apostle was troubled with his corruptions and he prayed thrice to be rid of it here is a signe of Gods childe though he have corruptions in him yet he is restlesse under them and he never giveth over praying till God deliver him from them Paul prayed thrice that is often he could not be quiet till he were free from it it was as a thorn in his foot what answer doth God give My grace is sufficient for thee As if he should say Paul be of good comfort art thou annoyed with corruption yet notwithstanding My grace is sufficient for thee thy corruption shall never have dominion over thee well may it dwell in thee never shall it reign over thee well may it foile thee never shall it conquer thee thou shalt never come to be overcome with thy corruptions so as to give up thy selfe with full consent of will to obey thy sinnes My grace is sufficient to keep thy corruption from reigning over thee though I will not keep it from dwelling in thee My grace is sufficient to keep sinne from damning of thee though I will not yet keep it from molesting of thee Here is comfort for thy poor soule therefore that art burthened and grieved with the sense of thy corruptions As the Lord resolved that he would not for a time drive out the Canaanites from among the people of Israel but yet they should be Tributaries to them and acknowledge them for their Soveraigne so the Lord hath resolved that sinne shall dwell in thee but yet it shall be a Tributary it shall never sway the Scepter it shall never weare the Crown it shall never set on the Throne of thy soule and not prevailing to reign over thee it shall never prevaile to damne thee Be of good comfort therefore God will deliver thee from all dominion of sinne yea he hath done it already Oh how did Saint Paul crie out Rom. 7. 24 Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Here is a true signe of Gods childe they that have not this are none of Gods by reason of the remainders of corruption which is as death in him therefore the Apostle here calleth it the body of this death he meaneth originall corruption but calleth it a body of death because it is a death to him and he had rather suffer death then have it in him by reason of this he counteth himselfe miserable and wretched Oh miserable and wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death he would give all the world if he had it but to be delivered from the presence of sinne this is the state of Gods children nothing in the world burtheneth them so much as the presence of their corruptions they are not pleased when they break Gods Commands they doe not make it their trade to commit sinne it is the greatest griefe and shame and wound their soule hath Well how doth Saint Paul comfort himselfe against the remainders of corruption in him I thank God saith he through jesus Christ our Lord As if he should say why doe I thus dismay my selfe sinne is in me but yet notwithstanding sinne shall not have dominion over me by Christ I am delivered from the reign of sinne Oh thanks be to God through jesus Christ Here is consolation take it and incourage your selves by it against the remainders of corruption that are in you God hath left sinne in you but why It is but to serve you as the Canaanites that were left in Canaan they shall not reign over you saith God they shall be Tributaries to you to draw water and to hew wood for the service of the Sanctuary to helpe you in offering up Sacrifices they shall be your servants I speak this to your comforts onely that are the Lords sinne is left in you not to reign over you but to serve you You are Priests to God the Father and you must have Sacrifices to offer up unto God of old God made his people offer up costly Sacrifices Oxen and Sheep and Calves but now sinne serveth the turne the sinne that is in thee serveth thee for Sacrifice every sinne that thou mortifie it is as pleasing a Sacrifice to God as if thou offerest up an O xe or a Sheep thus they are thy servants and they save thee cost they serve in stead of Sacrifices they serve to draw water and cut wood thy sinnes they doe more further thygrace then any thing else they helpe thee to draw the water of godly sorrow of true repentance they helpe thee to prize the mercies of the Lord Jesus Christ they helpe thee to humility to meeknesse to a spirit of compassion to others in a word nothing doth thee so much service as the sinne that is in thee Be of good comfort therefore if thy sinnes be grieved for striven against laboured against they further thy reward for all eternity Here is the second Use The last Use is for Exhortation in as much as you that are Gods people see that sinve shall never have dominion over you be exhorted therefore to fight against your sinnes you have a good cause you are sure of victory oh then play the men Souldiers that have a good cause and have good hope of victory how manfully doe they fight and yet they are not sure of victory neither But thou that art one of Christs what cause can here be better then thine the cause of Christ against the Devill what greater assurance can there be of obtaining the victory seeing God himselfe is ingaged in the quarrell the word is gone cut of his mouth he hath said it Sinne shall not have dominion over you Oh then stand it out against sinne never yeeld the bucklers to thy corruptions that make hard upon thee make the battell fresh and strong against thy lusts though thou art foyled again and again never give over conflicting for God hath said it and his words shall never fall to the ground that sinne shall not have dominion over thee he hath engaged himselfe in the cause and if God be true and able
Abraham That man that not onely enjoyeth the Priviledges of the Church but yeeldeth the obedience of faith according to the Word of God revealed and walketh in obedience that man alone shall be blessed with faithfull Abraham Two points may be hence raised but I shall hardly handle them both therefore I will passe over the first onely with a touch and that lieth closely couched in the Text That Faith causeth fruitfulness in the hearts and lives of those in whom it is Mark what I say A faithfull man is a fruitfull man Faith inableth a man to be doing Ask the Question By what power was it whereby Abraham was inabled to yeeld obedience to the Lord The Text answereth you They that walke in the footsteps not of Abraham but in the footsteps of the faith of Abraham A man would have thought the Text should have run thus They that walk in the footsteps of Abraham that is true too but the Apostle had another end therefore he saith They that walk in the footsteps of the faith of Abraham implying that it was the grace of faith that God bestowed on Abraham that quickned and inabled him to every duty that God required of him and called him to the performance of So that I say the Question being Whence came it that Abraham was so fruitfull a Christian what inabled him to do and to suffer what he did Surely it was faith that was the cause that produced such Effects that helped him to perform such actions The Point then you see is evident Faith is it that causoth fruit Hence it is that of almost all the actions that a Christian haah to doe faith is still said to be the worker If a man pray as he should it is the prayer of faith Jam. 5.15 If a man obey as he should it is the obedience of faith Rom. 16.26 If a man war in the Church militant it is the fight of faith 1 Tim. 6.12 2 Tim. 4.7 If a man live as a Christian and holy man he liveth by fasth Gal. 2.20 Nay shall I say yet more if he die as he ought he dieth by faith Heb. 11.13 These all died in faith What is that by the power of faith that directed and ordered them in the course of their death furnished them with grounds and principles of aflurance of the love of God made them carry themselves patiently in death I can say no more but with the Apostle 2 Cor. 13.5 Examine your selves whether yee bee in the faith Why doth not the Apostle say Examine whether faith be in you but whether yee bee in the faith His meaning is that as a man is said to be in drinke or to be in love or to bee in passion that is under the command of drinke or love or passion so the whole man must be under the command of faith as you shall see more afterwards If he pray faith must indite his prayer If he obey faith must work If hee live it is faith that must quicken him and if he die it is faith that must order him in death And wheresoever faith is it will doe wonders in the soul of that man where it is it cannot be idle it will have footsteps it sets the whole man on work it moveth feet and hands and cies and all parts of the bodie Mark how the Apostle disputeth 2 Cor 4.13 We having the same spirit of faith according as it is written I beleeved and therefore have I spoken we also believe and therefore speak The faith of the Apostle which he had in his heart set his tongue a going If a man have faith within it will break forth at his mouth This shall suffice for the proof of the point I thought to have pressed it further but if I should I see the time would prevent me The Use therefore in a word is this If this be so then it falleth soul and is a heavie Bill of Indictment against many that live in the bosome of the Church Go thy wayes home and read but this Text and consider seriously but this one thing in it That whosoever is the son of Abraham hath faith and whosoever hath faith is a walker is a worker by the footsteps of faith you may see where faith hath been Will not this then I say fall marvellous heavie upon many souls that live in the bosome of the Church who are confident and put it out of all Question that they are true beleevers and make no doubt but that they have faith But look to it wheresoever faith is it is fruitfull If thou art fruitlesse say what thou wilt thou hast no faith at all Alas these idle Drones these idle Christians the Church is too too full of them Men are continually hearing and yet remain fruitless and unprofitable whereas if there were more faith in the world we should have more work done in the world faith would set feet and hands and eies and all on work Men go under the name of professors but alas they are but Pictures they stir not a whit Mark Where you found them in the beginning of the yeer there you shall find them in the end of the yeer as profane as worldly as loose in their conversations as formall in dutie as ever And is this faith Oh faith would work other matters and provoke a soul to other passages then these But you wil say May not a man have faith and not that fruit you speak of May not a man have a good heart to God-ward although he cannot find that abilitie in matter of fruitfulnesse My brethren be not deceived Such an opinion is a meer delusion of Satan whereever faith is it bringeth Christ into the soul Mark that Whosoever beleeveth Christ dwelleth in his heart by faith Eph. 3.17 And If Christ be in you saith the Apostle the body is dead because of sin but the spirit is life because of righteousness Rom. 8.10 If Christ be in you that is Whosoever beleeveth in the Lord Jesus Christ dwels in such a man by faith now if Christ be in the soul the bodie cannot be dead but a man is alive and quick and active to holy duties ready and willing and cheerfull in the performance of whatsoever God requireth Christ is not a dead Saviour nor the Spirit a dead Spirit The second Adam is made a quickning spirit 1 Cor. 15.45 And wherever the Spirit is it works Effects suteable to it The Spirit is a Spirit of puritie a spirit of zeal c. and where it is it maketh pure and zealous c. When a man will say he hath faith and in the mean time can be content to be idle and unfruitfull in the work of the Lord can bee content to be a dead Christian let him know that his case is marvellously fearfull For if faith were in him indeed it would appear yee cannot keep your good hearts to your selves where ever fire is it will burn and where ever faith is it cannot be