they by virtue of their fellowship should walk in the light And then Secondly Explains this more particularly in the subsequent discourse and shews that by walking in the light he mainly intends walking in holiness that is to abominate and abandon the waies of sin and to live as becomes those that are born of God in holiness and righteousness and this is the plot of the whol Epistle And then he begins with the first branch of it and that is to depart from the waies of sin and sets down this conclusion That if any man do pretend Communion with Jesus Christ and walk in sin he is a meer Dissembler he hath not one dram of Communion with God and Jesus Christ That is a certain rule no man that hath Communion with Jesus Christ can walk in a sinful life but every branch of the great things that Christ bestows upon his people the purport and intent of them all is to make them leave sinning that they wholly overthrow the very tenour of the Gospel who talk of believing in Christ and walk in a Godless life Now this first Branch the Apostle prosecutes at large both in the first Chapter in this second Chapter and begins the second Chapter thus Now all these things do I write to you that you sin not and presently at the 3d verse takes it up again saith he If any man know him he must walk as he walketh and so proves it by many Arguments Now Brethren you shal see the intent of my Text The Apostle knowing what an uncomfortable Doctrine this would be if it were not explained how uncomfortable it would be even to the best of Gods Saints and people he prevents the sad objection that every gracious heart would be ready to make for when he hath set down this for his Conclusion He that is in Christ cannot sin he cannot sin he deceives himself if he talks of Christ and sins Why A poor Soul would presently come out and say Then am I utterly undone I have then no interest in Christ for I sin I sin dayly I cannot live without it I cannot perform one Duty but my corruption is intermingling it self with it wo be to me if that Doctrine go for currant that he hath nothing to do with Christ that sins Now by way of Prolepsis the Apostle anticipates this objection and cleers the mind of God about it and then proceeds further to prosecute his Doctrine and it is laid down in these words But if any man sin let him know that we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous who is the Propitiation for all our sins and not only ours that are Jews but throughout all the world if they be Beleevers This he laies down to stay the hearts of Gods people in reference to that sadness that they would be ready to be overwhelmed with Now Brethren because there is but one main Doctrine that I intend to insist upon I wil but briefly explain the words to you and then I wil propound the Doctrine First When the Apostle saith If any man do sin he thereby plainly implies that there are certain sorts of sins that even Gods Children though they dare not commit sin nor walk in sin yet even Gods own Children for them he speaks to my little Children I write this to you I say there are sins that Gods own people are overtaken with even after they have fellowship and Communion with Jesus Christ that is the first thing that he takes for granted Then Secondly To that he adds But saith he if any man sin that is when we do thus sin when Gods people do thus sin What then We have an Advocate that you all know the meaning of one that pleadeth our cause that is the office of an Advocate to appear in behalf of another in his cause We have an Advocate with the Father above in Heaven at his right hand that is Jesus Christ our Lord who died for us and loved us and gave himself for us he appears in Heaven for us yea he is Jesus Christ the righteous that is though he be so righteous that he wil never plead an ill cause yet this is a part of his righteousness to intercede and appear in the behalf of his own people even when they sin against him Jesus Christ the righteous who is the Propitiation for our sins that is who once upon earth offered himself up a Sacrifice to satisfie for them and now in Heaven pleads the benefit and virtue of it for ever in the behalf of his people And not for ours only that is we that are Jews but for the sins of the whol world supposing stil he speaks of the same matter of those that believe in Christ that have Communion with him throughout the world Rich and Poor Yong and Old Jew and Gentile this is a truth to them all When Gods people sin Jesus Christ the righteous at Gods right hand maketh mediation for them So the words thus briefly paraphrased upon do afford us this Doctrine which is the only Lesson that I intend to handle this day namely Doct. That the Lord Jesus Christs intercession in Heaven is the great dayly relief that al the Saints have upon Earth against their dayly sins A Doctrine which at the very first propounding Promiseth not only comfort to Believers but carnal men they wil be ready to promise themselves liberty though I hope without cause by that time I have done with it but Jesus Christs mediation in Heaven is the great relief to all Gods Saints upon earth against the dayly sins that they are overtaken with Now Beloved that I may handle this Doctrine for your profit there are two questions which God willing I shal endeavor to cleer and that wil be the sum of all my work the discussing of them First Quest. 1. What sins the Lords Children and People are liable to while they are in this world what those sins are that the Children of God may be overtaken with while they live in this world Secondly Quest. 2. I wil shew you how the Intercession of Jesus Christ is the great relief to Gods Children against these sins For the first First What are those sins which the Lords people his own Children are liable to while they live in this world And to make you the more attentive to it be pleased to note that there are two Conclusions about sin laid down so cleerly in the Scripture yea in this very Epistle that they almost seem to contradict one another and therefore it is of great weight to have that cleared First 1. Nothing clearer then this That he that is born of God doth not sin nor cannot sin and if a man say he hath communion with Jesus Christ and walkes in sin he is a Liar and deceives his own Soul Nothing clearer then this in this Epistle So likewise in Romans 6. How can we that are dead to sin Live any longer therein Sin cannot
how the time is gone nor how burdensom I may be to you and although this was all the use I intended when I prepared this Sermon for this place yet since I finished it there is brought somwhat to my hands that doth enable me to make another use of it at least of one branch of it and I beseech you give attention to it and I have done I am informed that it is one of the ends of this grave honorable and solemn meeting of the Magistracy of the City and of this holy service to promote a work of Mercy and Charity towards the poor of the several Hospitals to let the wel affected be acquainted how things are and what may be expected or desired from them and that I may do it in a few words have patience but while I read this short paper to you and then I shal spend a little more of my Theam about it and then I have done Here is a true report c Thus Beloved I have read over this paper and I think I shal not need to tell you how it fals within my Theam I told you that one special branch of Self denial is to resign up all that we have of Wealth Lands Mony Trades Parts Abilities to resign them up to Christ to serve him with them to lay them out in the way that he wil appoint Now your hearts could not wish for a way more cleer and evident for the testifying your being good Stewards for Christ than in owning the present business that hath been read to you and to make it good I wil say but these two things in a few words First 1. That of al the Services of al kind of Services that ever we can do for Christ next to the saving our souls the work of Mercy and Compassion to People is most accepted with him that that himself wil most own in the great day when there shal not a cup of cold water go unrewarded that ever hath been given for his sake I am confident you so frequently hear of the excellency of the work of mercy and bounty to the poor that I shal not need to spend any more time to commend it to you only I pray you to think of it 2. But the other thing that I would commend to you is this and I beseech you beleeve I would not willingly flatter but according to the best information that ever I could obtain There is no such Treasury in the Christian world no such Banck where a man might promise what he doth to be faithfully and wisely and most advantagiously laid out as in this Treasury of the honorable City of London and the Governors of these Hospitals I have often heard for I am but an ignorant man my self in the affairs of this City Godly men and wise men often say that had they any Hospitals to erect any sums of mony were it a hundred thousand pounds that they would promise themselves to be laid out so that it should not go into private mens purses or be given to Vagrants and Knaves but to the halt and the lame that have need of it they have professed they would put it into the hands of those that are the Governors of the Hospitals about London where things are done in such a way that setting aside such frailties as al humane affairs are suhject to in the generality they are above making personal gains but desire only to be faithful Stewards and therefore if God do put it in any of your hearts that you would shew your self-denial and would indeed make Christ beholding to you as he will be pleased to cal himself your Debtor know that such things as these are very fit objects for your thoughts And the Lord of Heaven direct you about it I dare stay you no longer FINIS THE SAINTS DUTY To keep their HEARTS In a GOOD FRAME Opened in a Sermon at Olaves Silverstreet November 9. 1654. PROVERBS 4.23 Keep thy Heart with all Dilligence or as it is chiefly read Keep thy Heart with all keepings for out of it are the Issues of Life IN most of the Chapters of this Book of the Proverbs there is no connection of one verse with another that one should give light or help to clear the other but they are as a multitude of excellent Pearls put into a large Box whereof every one singly is of a very great price and it is thought by many that they were but so many sentences that King Solomon did utter usually when he sate in judicature according as the cause or condition was that was heard before him so there was a divine sentence in the Lips of the King and the Lord in his good providence and love to his Church hath recorded them to be for instruction for his People to the end of the world and amongst them al if you go from one end of the book to the other if it be lawful to make comparisons I may freely say there is not one Pearl of greater price one sentence of more divine use than this that I have read to you and shal endeavor God willing to open as far as I can within the compass of an hour and in it there are these two things plainly laid down Here is first 1. A Duty enjoyned to all the Lords Children in these words Keep thy heart above al keeings Secondly 2. Here is an Argument to enforce to this Duty in these words for out of it are the issues of life 1. And in the Duty there are likewise two things First 1. Here is the subject matter the thing that is to be done and that is Keep thy heart Secondly 2. Here is the manner how it must be done and that is as we translate it with al diligence Keep thy heart with all diligence or above all keepings keep thy heart Now give me leave briefly to interpret the meaning of the words and then I will put it all into one instruction which I will endeavor to handle in this hour First 1. What is meant by the heart And 2. Keeping the heart And 3. Keeping it above all Keepings And so 4. Of the issues of life that flow from it Let me give you a brief interpretation of each of them 1. What doth Solomon mean by the heart here that must be kept No doubt it is not meant of the heart made of flesh that is in the midst of our bodies it is spiritually meant that no man doubts of Now take the heart spiritually and somtimes in the holy Scripture the heart is put for the whol soul somtimes it is put for the understanding faculty somtimes it is put for the memory somtimes it is put for the Conscience sometimes it is put for the Wil sometimes for one or two Affections it were endless to give you the instances of all these but here is a Key in the Text which will tel you what is meant here for without question that is meant by the Heart here that is
Disciple of Christ that will not submit to it What Reason for it I answer first 1. Because wheresoever the Lord Christ is received by any soul he wil be received as the All of that Soul mark my words Christ wil be all or he wil be nothing what the Father hath sent him to do he wil be all to do it he wil never undertake a piece of it and the Lord hath sent him to be all that a poor lost sinner can need Now I pray conceive my meaning thus Take a Maid that a Man wil be a Husband to her when she marries to this man he wil be all in the place of a Husband and she must renounce all the men in the world in matters that belong to conjugal Relations the marriage state wil admit no rivalty I but for al that though the Husband must be all in the relation of a Husband yet he is not al that the Wife needs and she may lawfully have application to other Creatures and to other men for some things wherein her Husband cannot be all to her if she be sick she must have a Physitian if she be wounded she must have a Chyrurgeon if she be sad it may be she must have another to comfort her neither can her Husband be her Bread and her Cloaths she must have another must make them and prepare them But now Christ Jesus is All that the soul needs he is their Father their Husband their Brother their Friend their Companion their Bread their Drink their Cloth their Gold their Silver their Honor he is All in All Christ Jesus is so and he wil be so or he wil be nothing and there is this natural reason for it Because every mans heart shares out both its prayers and its confidence and its love and its praises I say it shares it out according as it needs or findeth supply any where If one man be my Patron and give me a great deal of my maintenance I share out my expectations my prayers my love my service most to that man but another helps me with some of these and he hath part of my good wishes and part of my prayers and part of my praises according to the proportion of good I receive from him so is my heart shared out to him in dependance or thankfulness or love But Christ Jesus wil have no sharing he wil have all thy heart all thy prayers all thy love all thy affections all thy obedience Christ Jesus expects all which he cannot have until he be all and he never can be all til al other be renounced til I have no God but Christ til I have no Father but Christ til I have no Wisdom but Christ til I have no Righteousness but Christ I shal never share out al my prayers and confidence and love and the like to Christ for al and therefore wil Christ have al renounced that he may be all That is one Ground and the great Ground There is another which I wil briefly touch and that is this 2. Because al these things that we are to renounce even the best of them al in those notions wherein we are to renounce them they are al of them and wil be adversaries and hindrances to us in the way that Christ Jesus expects we should walk before him and therefore until our souls do totally renounce them we are in perpetual danger of being undone by them as I pray conceive my meaning thus in a familiar comparison Suppose in a Civil War wherein a Nation is divided and one Faction engaged against the other if a man that hath been engaged on the one Party do leave that Party and come over to serve that side against which he did oppose before this man must renounce all the other Party though his Brethren were there though his Estate lay in those Quarters he must renounce them all or otherwise he wil never be trusted by them to whom now he pretends to joyn or be sure which is the thing I alledg it for if he hold correspondence with them they wil ever be dropping destructive principles into him against the way that he now engageth for So al these things not only our Drunkenness and Whoredom and Lust and Lying and stealing and slandering but our Reason our Wills our Affections our Wealth our Honor our Children our Friends our Duties our Performances wil lie as blocks in the way to hinder us from some of the things that the religion of Christ wil put upon us there is nothing cleerer Saint John hath an excellent speech in 1 John 2.16 saith he All that is in the world mark his words All that is in the world the Lusts of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye and the Pride of life it is not of the Father It is not of the Father al that is in the world What means he by all that is in the world that that he had said before Little Children love not the world nor any thing in the world his meaning is love not Life love not Wife love not Children Estate Honor Wealth love them not Why They all serve but to nourish the Lusts of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye or the pride of Life and that is not of the Father they wil draw you away from God therefore take heed of them and look what John saith of the things of the world the same may be carried to al the other Love not your Duties love not your Righteousness love not your Performances love not your Honesty love none of these as you in your natural estate cleave to them they al of them tend but only to advance your self and to pul down Christ and wil be hinderances to you in the way wherein Christ wil have you walk And thus I have endeavored Beloved to make plain unto you this great Doctrine of Christianity that is the very first door that we pass through when we come into Christs School to deny our selves Now it remains that I make some Application of it and that I shal do as briefly and as cleerly as the Lord shal please to enable me and among many other things there are but two or three that I intend to insist upon The one is USE 1. Hence from all this discourse it cleerly follows that among the great multitude of those that are called Christians there are but very few who are Christians indeed for Gods sake marke this that I say to you I say If this discourse of mine be true as I hope I have made it cleer out of Gods word to you that a man cannot be Christs Disciple that hath not learned this lesson of self-denial certainly there are very few Christians to be found in Christendome and truly I have often thought and am perswaded it is true that the not understanding of this lesson or the not coming to Christ upon the tearms of this Lesson is the great cause of all the formalities and hypocrisies and the unbelief