his Prayer and so prevails So I might instance in others sometimes God casts in a promise gives some secret hint of a promise in Prayer As Paul he had that promise when he was afflicted with the Thorn in the Flesh and a Messenger of Satan to buffet him God told him that his Grace should be sufficient for him 2 Cor. 12.9 And he makes use of that and gathers strength from it But Suppose now a man or woman have no particular promise to strengthen his Faith in Prayer then let him eye some general promise or other and this will be a mighty encouragement and strengthning and help to Faith in prayer to encline the Heart to be perswaded that God is willing because of such general promises Or suppose that any Man or Woman have no promise to lay hold upon or to act Faith in Prayer upon then Fourthly In the Fourth place take a fourth direction and that is to eye the Name of God the Attributes of God they are called the Name of God thereby God doth discover himself and his nature to us and plead by vertue of some attribute of God the Name of God for sometimes a Believer may be in the dark and may not have the light of so much as any one promise to make use of Now you know what the Holy-Ghost saith in Isaiah 5.10 Who is among you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voice of his Servant that walketh in Darkness and sees no light not the light of any Promise let him trust in the Name of the Lord and stay upon hâ—s God let him make use of the Name of God to strengthen his Faith The Saints and People of God have been wont to plead for the Name of God and the Glory of Gods Name that you find frequently in the Scripture in Jeremiah 14.7 O Lord though our iniquities testify against us do thou it for thy Names-sake So in the Psalms frequently in Psalm 25.11 For thy Name-sake Oh Lord Pardon my iniquity for it is great But more particularly eye some Attribute of God some particular Name of God as I may so call it for God is made known and discovered to us by his attributes and the properties of his Name now let us eye some Attribute of God that may be helpful to us in Prayer as now the Power of God it is very useful to eye the Power of God in Prayer and so you will find the Saints have made use of the power of God that was put forth in the Creation of the World I remember Jeremiah Chapter 32. when the Children of Israel were to go into Captivity for seventy years the Lord bad Jeremiah to buy the Field of his Uncle for an evidence that God would bring his people back again Jeremiah when he had done he would fall to Prayer and he makes use of the power of God at the 17th verse Ah Lord God behold thou hast made the Heavens and Earth by thy great Power and stretched out Arm and there is nothing too hard for thee It is a hard thing for Flesh and Blood to believe that I and my posterity shall have this Land again but there is nothing too hard for thee God can easily bring them back again from their long Captivity so you may see how Moses did eye the Power of God in Numbers 14.17 18. And now I beseech thee let the Power of my Lord be great according as thou hast spoken c. He urges the greatness of Gods Power and so Jehoshaphat in that Prayer of his 2 Chron. 20.6 Oh Lord saies he art not thou God in Heaven and rulest not thou over all the Kingdoms of the Heathen and in thine Hand is there not power and might so that none is able to withstand thee And so Asa when he also was in the like distress when his Land was invaded 2 Chron. 14.11 he cried to the Lord and mark how he eyed the Power of God And he said Lord it is nothing with thee to help whether with a many or with them that have no power help us O Lord our God for we rest on thee and in thy Name we go against this Multitude And so if you observe when Christ gives us directions to pray in that which is called the Lords Prayer still in our prayer we are to eye the Power of God For thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory Still eye the Glory of Gods Power and this is more helpful to Faith than we are aware of you know when many came to Christ in their distresses when he was here upon Earth for help the poor Leper when he came to Christ he came with this Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean Mat. 8.2 And saies Christ to the Father of the Child that was possest when he came to him to cast out the Devil Canst thou believe saies Christ that I am able to do this because he questioned the Power of Christ Mark 9.22 Lord if thou canst do any thing have compassion on us and help us saies Christ if thou canst believe all things are possible to him that believeth Verse 23. He would have him to eye his Power and the eying of the Power of God doth wonderfully strengthen Faith and enable us to pray in Faith And so again eye the mercy and goodness and kindness and grace and compassion of God in Prayer and that will help us in our prayers strengthen Faith in the Mercy of God You read of it frequently in the Psalms how David made use of that in his Prayer For thy mercy sake deliver me and have mercy upon me according to the multitude of thy tender Mercies Psal 51.1 So Moses in Numb 14.17 18. He argues the Cause with God in his Prayer upon the account of his Mercy Let the Power of my Lord be great according as thou hast spoken saying the Lord is long suffering and of great Mercy forgiving iniquity c. Verse 19. Pardon I beseech thee the iniquity of this People according to the greatness of thy Mercy This is now the fourth direction to help us to pray in Faith namely to eye the Name of God the Glory of his Name some of his Glorious Attributes and plead the vertue of them To name but one more Fifthly To pray in Faith is to pray with a hope and expectation of an audience of our prayers there is much lies in this many pray and pray and never look after their Prayers they pray without any hope or expectation of Gods hearing and answering their Prayers Now I say we should pray with hope and expectation waiting for an answer of our Prayers from the Lord one way or other in the Lords own way for sometimes the Lord may answer us in a way that we could not expect not in that particular thing that we pray for As David saies in Psal 35.13 But as for me when they were sick my cloathing was Sackcloth I humbled my Soul with fasting and
said there when Christ was warning them to take heed of the world Ye cannot serve God and Mammon The Pharisees who were covetous heard all these things and they derided him this was against the grain their hearts were covetous and set upon the riches of the world and now whatever Christ speaks they despise and set at nought This is that which the Holy-Ghost doth warn us against and doth shew us that this is the great ground and cause why people hear the Word and profit not because their hearts go after their covetousness Ezek. 33.31 32. says the Lord there This people cometh unto thee as the people cometh and sit before thee as my people and they hear my words and they seem to be pleasing to them and they take delight in them and thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice and they hear thy words and do them not why so for with their mouth they shew much love but their hearts goeth after their covetousness Their hearts goeth after the world and therefore whatever is spoken will do them no good and therefore Christ doth admonish us and advise us to take heed and beware of covetousness Luke 12.15 Well this is another impediment if we do desire to hear the Word to profit and edification let us get our hearts off from the riches of the world Fifthly To name no more Take heed also of having the heart filled with the cares and matters of this world if our hearts be filled with the world there will be no room for the Word to take place Just as if a Room be filled and taken up there is no room for others to come in If the world and business and occasions of the world come and take up the head and the heart here will be no room for the Word to take place it is just as it is in a great croud where there is a great noise if there be a great noise in the Street if one come and speak a word in your ear you cannot hear him because of the noise so if our hearts and ears be filled with the cares and the business of the world it makes such a noise as we cannot hear and therefore Christ tells us that these cares of the world are like Thorns in Matt. 13.22 He that receiveth seed among thorns is he that heareth the word and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choak the Word and he becometh unfruitful Though we hear much and there be much Seed sown yet if it spring up among Thorns it will never come to any maturity and therefore hence it is that Christ by two Parables doth shew us how the occasions and businesses of the world doth hinder people from listening to the voice of Christ in his Word in Luke 14. There is one Parable of a great Supper that a great man made and invited many but they refused to come and made light of it And the other Parable you have in Matt. 22.5 concerning a King which made a Marriage Feast for his Son and invited his Guests and when the Feast was prepared they made light of it and would not come What was the Reason One must go to his Farm and another to his Merchandise one about this business and another about that and they could not attend to the Lords Voice in his Word Christ doth thereby shew us that the matters and cares of this world when they fill the head and the heart they do hinder us from attending upon God in his Word This is now another impediment which is to be removed if we would so attend upon the Word as to hear it with profit And truly Brethren to speak plainly I am afraid that this is one great cause why many do profit so little by hearing the Word they come reeking out of the world and their hands and heads and hearts are full of the world and by that means the Word comes to be unprofitable to them Oh! that we could therefore learn to understand the Lords Will to understand what are the impediments that hinder us from hearing the Word with profit and be careful to get them removed This is the second Direction how to hear the Word in a way of Faith Faith doth put us upon the removing those impediments that do hinder us from profiting by the Word Thirdly The Third Direction is this If we would hear the Word in a way of Faith so as we may profit by it it is to hear it as the very Word of God as if God should speak from Heaven to us immediately How would we hear the Word if God should speak to us immediately from Heaven with what reverence and attention would you hear how would you be careful to swallow up every Word that God should speak Brethren know this that God out of tenderness and respect to us speaks in another manner and way to us now instrumentally by man more mediately because we are not able to bear the immediate Voice of God as they said at Mount Sinai Let not God speak any more to us for we cannot bear it Now the Lord out of indulgency to us because we cannot bear his own immediate voice the Lord is pleased to speak to us by means and instruments by men that are like our selves now I say it is God that speaks to us by men it is God that speaks from Heaven to us by men therefore we are to hear the Word as if God from Heaven did speak to us as the Apostle speaks in Heb. 12.25 Take heed that ye refuse not him that speaks from Heaven This is the way now to profit by the Word and to hear it in Faith you shall find that Cornelius he heard in this manner when Peter came to Preach to him Cornelius attended to him as if God himself spoke to him in Acts 10.33 Now therefore are we all here present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God as if we should hear God himself speak And you see what the advantage and benefit of it was it is said in vers 44. that while Peter yet spake these words the Holy-Ghost fell on all them that heard him By this means the Word was made profitable and effectual to them the Holy Ghost fell on all them that heard it as if God himself had spoken to them And the like you read concerning the Thessalonians in 1 Thess 2.13 says the Apostle For this cause thank we God without ceasing because when ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us ye received it not as the word of man but as it is in truth the word of God which effectually worketh also in you that believe Ye received it not as the word of man though it was spoken by man but ye heard it as the very Word of God as if God himself spake from Heaven to you and therefore Brethren mind this when we come to
THE GLORY OF CHRIST Set forth in several SERMONS FROM JOHN III. 34 35 36. and V. 25. AND The necessity of Faith in order to pleasing GOD. FROM HEBREWS XI 6. By that able and faithful Servant of Jesus Christ Mr. Thomas Allen late Pastor of a Church in the City of Norwich LONDON Printed by A. M. and R. R. for Edward Giles Bookseller in Norwich near the Market-place 1683 TO THE READER IT being desired that more might be published of the Works of this Reverend Author Mr. Thomas Allen you have here some more Sermons taken from him in short-hand which have been transcribed with care and diligence The main points of the Gospel are handled in these Sermons so that those that Read them may understand the Authors knowledg in the mystery of Christ And they are delivered with plainness of speech with words easie to be understood so that it will easily appear that his aim was to set â—orth Christ and not to set forth himself in â—is Preaching His speech and his preachâ—ng was plain grave solid weighty and â—owerful like an Ambassador of Christ These Sermons arise naturally from the Texts of Scripture they are upon for it was not the manner of this Author to name a Text only for fashion sake One great cause of ignorance in the people is because there is no more direct opening and applying the Scripture The more Scripture is solidly opened and practically applied in a Sermon the better the Sermon is whatsoever the injudicious and ignorant do think to the contrary Indeed as I never heard any man Pray too long at a time so I never heard any man Preach too long upon a Text. But as many that seem to pray long do oftentimes rather Discourse than Pray and keep so little to the business of Prayer that while they seem to Pray long they Pray very little So it is with some in Preaching that though they name the same Text a great while as if they Preached many Sermons from it yet it may be Preach not one according to the direct scope and tendency of the words they are upon I take notice of this to commend the Author of these Sermons as a pattern to young Preachers not to think it any part of the excellency of their Sermons to take but a few words for their Text or to be long upon the same words but to open and apply as much Scripture as they can at 〈◊〉 time which will not only prevent many impertinences in Preaching But when what is said ariseth immediately and naturally from the portion of Scripture handled the people may take notice that it is not so much the Minister as God himself that speaks these things to them in his word These Sermons also are Orthodox sound according to the truth which is after godliness We have lived in a time of an inundation of errors and heresies and yet the Lord hath continued the truth of the Gospel in the Churches of the Saints And although the Churches of the Congregational way have been looked upon by some as Seminaries of error yet through the presence of Christ in the midst of them the truth of the Gospel hath continued in them as well as in other Churches of Christ that differ from them in some points of order and discipline Blessed be the Father of lights that hath kept the guides and members both of Congregational Churches and other reforming Churches stable and steady in the main truths of the Gospel which have been publickly owned and professed in the Land since the reformation whereas many others have been carried away with diverse and strange Doctrines There seems to be a great conspiracy in these days against the Lord Jesus as the Mediator between God and sinners Men are studying how they may ascribe as little to Christ as may be to whom we are to ascribe all concerning the making atonement for our sins and the bringing in an everlasting righteousness to justifie us before God Indeed Christ hath been so abundantly Preached amongst us and many have such outward advantage by a profession of his name that they cannot well openly renounce him yet they are secretly undermining the very fundamental points of our Religion Many amongst us slight what hath been generally taught concerning our fall in Adam original sin Christs satisfaction for sin and the imputation of his righteousness to them that believe on his name and make a mock of being weary and heavy laden with the sense of the wrath of God due to us for sin and looking to Jesus as the Mediator and resting our weary Souls and perplexed Consciences upon him as our only Saviour Now if these foundations be destroyed if these main Doctrines be denied we are really putting away the Lord Jesus from us though we use never so many external Rites to make shew of honour to his name Yea it is considerable That this opposition to the main points of our Religion is fiercey maintained by persons greatly differing in other things yet in this they agree and are very earnest upon the matter to deny the Gospel I speak of these things to this end to shew what great need there is of Preaching much of our fall in Adam of the corruption of our nature of the sentence of death and condemnation that we are under for sin of the person and offices of Christ the Mediator of the necessity of knowing him and fleeing for refuge unto him as this Author hath excellently shewed in these Sermons and so he did in all his Preaching Indeed this Author was a son of thunder and a son of consolation he took all occasions from the Texts he Preached upon to thunder out the wrath of God against sinners to set them before Mount Sinai and shew them the fiery Law that they might be convinced of their lost and undone condition in themselves and then endeavoured to bring them unto Mount Sion and shew them Jesus the Mediator and the blood of sprinkling that taketh away sin In his Preaching he shewed the people the flaming Sword the curse of the Law shewed them that the avenger of blood was coming and then told them of Christ as the City of refuge and cryed to them to flee unto him And indeed he is a right Preacher of the Gospel that can thus change his voice and readily turn his discourse upon all occasions The blessing of Heaven go along with these Sermons that they may be for the profit of many that they may be saved Martin Finch The Glory of Christ set forth John III. 34 35 36. For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God for God giveth not the spirit by measure unto him The father loveth the son and hath given all things into his hand He that believeth on the son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not on the son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him IN these Words our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is described
will do it Your heart was not right says he ye pretended and said whatever the Lord our God shall say we will do but ye did dissemble This is one kind of hypocrisy and guile when a Soul doth dissemble with God and seem to worship God and yet the heart is far from God pretend to come to know the Mind of God and yet have not a full purpose and resolution of heart to do what God shall reveal and make known to be his Will And then there is another kind of hypocrisy and guile which is towards men when as a man doth pretend love to his Neighbour and kindness and friendship in Word and Lip and yet there is no reality at all in the heart The Apostle John speaks of this very thing says he 1 Joh. 3.8 My little Children let us not love in word neither in tongue but in deed and in truth It is not a love in deed and in truth when as our Brother or Neighbour stand in need of supply and help and we shut up our bowels towards him here is dissembling we pretend love and there is no reality Now says the Apostle if you will hear the Word so as to profit by it you must lay aside all guile and hypocrisy this may be another great cause and reason why people do come and hear much and profit little because they harbour guile and hypocrisy in their hearts therefore this you must be careful also to lay aside Thirdly Another impediment which the Holy-Ghost also points at in Scripture which doth hinder us from profiting by the Word is this when we come to hear with our hearts royled with passion and anger and wrath when we come to hear and have our spirits in a storm as it were with passion then we may hear and hear but shall not profit by our hearing for now the heart and spirit is like a joynt or bone out of the Socket now it hath no ability to act its part to do what lay upon such a Member to do So 't is in this case when the heart and spirit is in a royle it is put out of joynt and frame by passion and being disturbed now 't is unfit to attend upon God to hear what God shall speak Now a mans passion may be disturbed one of these two ways so as to be put out of frame to attend upon God to hear the Voice of God in his Word 1. Sometimes by some pinching Providence of God some afflicting Hand of God upon him which doth pinch and disturb the spirit and put it into a royle now a man or woman being thus disturbed in his spirit is unfit to hear what God speaks though he speak to him in a way of mercy and grace you have an instance for this in Exod. 6.9 And Moses spake so unto the Children of Israel but they hearkned not unto Moses How did he speak to the Children of Israel See vers 6.7 8. Wherefore say unto the Children of Israel I am the Lord and I will bring you out from under the burden of the Egyptians and will rid you out of their bondage and I will take you to me for a people and I will be to you a God and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God which brought you out from under the burden of the Egyptians and I will bring you in unto the land which I did sware to give it to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob and I will give it you for an heritage I am the Lord. And Moses spake so unto the Children of Israel but they hearkned not unto Moses for anguish of spirit and for cruel bondage Through the Providence of God it came to pass that they were oppressed under Egyptian power and when Moses came to speak of inlargement and deliverance they were oppressed and their spirits were filled with anguish and trouble and now let the Lord speak in never such a gracious manner by his Prophet they could not attend to him for anguish of spirit 2. And so sometimes the spirit may be put into a royle and passion for some small petty cross some kind of vexation which others do occasion when they cross them and vex them and thereby their spirits are put out of order and now they are unfit to attend upon God You have an instance for this in 1 Sam. 1.6 7. concerning Hannah it is said there that her adversary provoked her sore for to make her fret because the Lord had shut up her womb and she went up to the House of the Lord and she wept and did not eat she could not tell how to keep the Feast to wait upon God in his Ordinances Why because her spirit was vexed and did fret So you may observe it if your spirits be put out of order as sometimes they are upon a small occasion observe it the Devil is wont to take such opportunities when you are about to draw near to God in any Ordinance then to minister some occasion or other to put you into a fret possibly a little thing out of the way will do it sometimes the misplacing of a Pin will disturb the spirit and sometimes the Husband may take some offence against the Wife and the Wife against the Husband or against the Servants or Children and the Spirit is royled and now you come to hear you shall not profit because now your spirits are royled with passion and this is another impediment and here may be also one great reason why people come and hear and hear and profit little because many times their spirits are royled with passion and this also must be removed Fourthly Another Impediment that must be removed if you will hear the Word to profit then take heed that your hearts do not go after covetousness be not inordinately set upon the riches of this world bent and resolved to be rich in the world truly this will be an impediment and will hinder you from waiting upon God in his Word this will be like Thorns to choke the Word for now the Word is that which doth cross and thwart us in our reaches after the riches of the world The Word tells us of other riches that are more true Riches now when a mans heart is set upon the riches of the world he cannot then yield to what is spoken just like the rich man we read of in Matt. 19. The rich man comes to Christ to know what good thing he shall do to inherit eternal life Go says Christ in ver 21.22 sell that thou hast and give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven And it is said he went away sorrowful because this was contrary to his grain his mind and heart was set upon riches and he could not yield to this Word of Christ And our hearts are ready to scorn and slight and despise what is spoken if our hearts be set upon the riches of the world as you may read in Luke 16.14 't is
must take it as spoken to our selves and here is now the act of Faith to make that particular which is spoken in general This is now a Fourth direction I shall name but one more and so conclude Fifthly If we would hear the Word of God in Faith so as to profit by it then we should act Faith variously according to the several kinds or parts of the Word for you know there are divers parts in the Word as now there is a Word of Doctrine and a Word of Promise some are Commands and some are Threatnings now I say we should act Faith upon the Word variously according to the several parts of it as now for example if so be that we meet with a word of Doctrine as concerning the Creation of the World that was made out of nothing or the Resurrection of the Dead that every person shall be raised again or concerning the Trinity of persons in the Godhead or the union of two natures in one person or our being justified by Faith in the Righteousness of Christ c. These things are Doctrinal now Faith is to be acted here Namely by giving our assent to the truth thereof by believing of it as faithful and true He that receiveth his Testimony hath set to his seal that God is True John 3.33 And by Faith we believe that the World was created out of nothing this is acting of Faith upon this part of the Word by giving our assent to it and believing of it to be true because the Lord hath spoken it possibly we cannot understand it how there should be three persons in one essence and that the same Body shall be raised again that is mouldered into Dust we cannot understand the reason of it but because God hath spoken it we should believe it But then there is another part of the Word that contain Promises now how should Faith act upon the Promises namely by leaning and resting with expectation upon the Lord for the performance of them being perswaded that God can do it and that God will perform what he hath spoken just like Abraham Rom. 4.20 21. God had made him a promise to give him a Son in his old Age Flesh and Blood would have disputed against this promise but saies the Apostle He was strong in Faith giving Glory unto God he believed that God would perform what he had spoken it was against Flesh and Blood Sarah was Old and he was a Hundred years old or there-about he might have said how can these things be and refused to believe it no but he gave Glory to God by believing Thus we are to act Faith upon that part of the Word Another part of the Word is Commands The word of Command how is Faith to act there Namely in a way of Obedience we should yeild Obedience to what God Commands though it may be very hard to us Just as Abraham did God commanded him to go out of his own Country and to go into a Land he knew not whither Abraham by Faith obeyed and went out not knowing whither he went and so God commanded him to offer up his Son Isaac Abraham acted Faith in a way of Obedience to the Command And then another part of the Word is Threatning and how is Faith to act upon the Threatnings Namely thus in a way of fear to endeavour to avoid those Judgements that are threatned in Hebrews 11.7 By Faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet moâ—ed with fear prepared an Ark to the saving of his House c. Truly thus I say Faith is to 〈◊〉 set a work and to act variously according â—o the several parts of the Word of God There are several parts of the Word of Goâ— now the whole word of God is the Objeâ—â— of Faith but yet notwithstanding Faith doâ—â— act variously according to the variety oâ— the parts of the Word Now it is the wisdom of Christians to exercise Faith sutably according to that part of the Word that Faith is exercised about And thus Brethren I have briefly given you four or five Directions how we are to exercise Faith in hearing of the Word that so we may not hear without profit that so we may please God in our hearing for without Faith it is impossible to please God Brethren and Beloved I must not enlarge but in a word It hath been the complaint of most Christians and possibly some here present their want of profiting by the Word Oh! I hear and hear but the Lord knows I do not profit this is the matter of your complaint well now you may go home and lay your hand upon the Sore the Lord hath discovered to me this day the great Cause why I have profited no more under the Word that I have heard so often I see now it is for want of the exercise of Faith I have heard my duty but the Lord knows I have exercised Faith but little and therefore I say here is matter of humiliation for us before the Lord we should lye low in the presence of the Lord for our so little acting of Faith in our hearing the Word of God And Oh! therefore for the future as we do desire that the Lord may be pleased with our hearing so let us be careful to exercise Faith in our hearing you have heard the Directions I shall not need to repeat them but go home and consider them and be careful to put them in practice that you may be acting and exercising Faith in hearing the Word for without Faith it will be impossible for you to please God Though you should hear Sermons never so often if you neglect to act and exercise Faith you will not profit by them nor please God in your hearing And so now I have done with this particular namely how we are to exercise Faith in hearing the Word it remains that we should speak about exercising Faith in our partaking of the Lords Table But thus much shall suffice for the present SERMON IX Hebrews XI 6. But without Faith it is impossible to please him THE words of the Text is a Proposition I have spent some time in the handling of it we came by way of inference to this That if it be impossible to please God without Faith then it doth concern us every one in all the duties and services that we perform to be acting and exercising of Faith not only without the Grace of Faith but without the exercise of Faith we cannot please God and therefore to this end we came to lay down some Directions how we may come to exercise Faith in those Duties that we perform that so we may please God we gave you some Directions the last time about the exercise of Faith in hearing of the Word I come now to lay down some Directions about our partaking of the Lords-Supper in Faith That Faith is requisite and necessary to our partaking of the Lords-Table that I think is out of doubt and
them a City and in enjoying God they enjoy all And then observe that the Happiness of Believers is for ever they are not freed from all evil for a time only and enjoy all good for a time only but for ever And so they have everlasting Life 2. Let us enquire what is this believing what this Faith is upon which a man or woman comes to have everlasting Life I answer 'T is not a bare assent to the Truth of the Gospel 'T is not a meer Historical Faith Yea though you should be somewhat affected with it and hear the Word with Joy and do many things as Herod did But this believing is a Receiving of Christ himself in some word of Grace wherby the humbled Sinner doth wholy rely upon Jesus Christ for Life and Salvation Although we are to believe all that is Written in the Law and the Prophets and the whole Word of God yet Christ as a Saviour and Mediator is the object of justifying Faith Gal. 3.2 Received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith Faith is wrought in us by the hearing of the Gospel by some word of Grace wherein Christ is held forth as a Saviour either Explicitly or Implicitly The Text saith He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting Life And Paul bids the Jaylor believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved So that whatsoever word the Lord hints to us to work and beget Faith in our Hearts yet the Soul doth not stay there but Ventures and Casts it self wholy upon Jesus Christ as the Saviour and Mediator Thirdly To give you some Demonstrations or Arguments to prove that whosoever believeth on the Son hath everlasting Life 1. God the Father promised this to Christ the Mediator in the behalf of his Ransomed ones Tit. 1.2 In hope of Eternal Life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began God promised to Christ no less than Eternal Life for his Seed Rom. 6. last The Gift of God is Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Joh. 2.25 This is the Promise which he hath promised us even eternal Life This was promised to Christ that by his Obedience all his People should be made Righteous and have Eternal Life 2. Christ as Mediator prayed for no less than Eternal Life for his people and the Father always heareth him Joh. 17.24 Father I will that those whom thou hast given me may be with me where I am that they may behold my Glory which thou hast given me 3. Jesus Christ hath purchased Eternal Life for his People Hebr. 9.15 And for this cause he is the Mediator of the New Testament that by means of Death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament they which are called might receive the Promise of Eternal Inheritance Christ having made Satisfaction for the Sins of his People and brought in an everlasting Righteousness for them What should now hinder them of Everlasting Life who believe on his Name 4. One thing more to shew you in what sense it is said in the Text That he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting Life not only shall have it but hath Everlasting Life Seeing that Believers have Sin dwelling and remaining in them and are liable to Temptations and Buffetings of Satan and liable to all kind of outward Sorrows and Afflictions and have this Earthly Tabernacle yet to put off How can it be said that a Believer now hath everlasting Life I answer 1. In regard of the certainty of it As when it is said Babylon is fallen 'T is as certain that Babylon shall fall as if it were fallen already So it is as certain that Believers shall have everlasting Life as if they had it already And so it is said 2 Tim. 1.9 Who hath saved us and called us We are saved already 2. In regard that everlasting Life is begun to a Believer Every Believer is in a justified estate his Sins pardoned and the Righteousness of Christ imputed to him and Holiness and Communion with God is begun already in this Life his Fellowship is now with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ 3. In regard of Christ our head Ephes 2.6 He hath raised us up and made us sit together in Heavenly Places in Christ. The members of the mystical Body are now in Heaven though not in their own Persons yet in Christ their Head Heb. 6.20 Whither the fore-runner is for us entred even Jesus He hath taken up Heaven for them and appears in the presence of God for them Application Use 1. From what is said here That he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting Life and he that beleiveth not on the Son shall not see Life but the wrath of God abideth on him Learn that there is an everlasting estate appointed for every one either everlasting Life or everlasting Death An eternity there is for every one of us and we are near it we are upon the brink of it we are near Heaven or Hell The Lord knows that we mind these present things too much and eternity very little But O! That when we come to dye to go into eternity that we may be in Christ that so when the Earthly house of this Tabernacle shall be dissolved we may have a Building of God an House not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens O! that we may remember our eternal condition more that the thoughts of Eternity may be with us in our Callings and Business all the day long and that we may make sure of our interest of Christ that we may have everlasting Life Use 2. Wonder at the Lord's Grace in Christ that he should give everlasting Life to any of us fallen sinful men God doth not give everlasting Life to any of the Angels that sinned but cast them all down to Hell And you that live under the Preaching of the Gospel bless God that you hear of these glad tidings of everlasting Life through Christ and hearing this way of Life Preached and Declared to you O! that you may receive Christ That you may believe on him that you may have everlasting Life Use 3. Heere is matter of strong consolation to those that have believed on the Son O! Let such rejoyce in the Grace of God the Lord hath abounded towards them in his kindness through Christ Jesus It is true you may meet with many sorrows here in this world but rejoyce in this that there is no Condemnation to you because you are in Christ Jesus And not only no Condemnation but you have everlasting Life You may lose Estate Name Liberty and Life in this World but you can never lose everlasting Life for he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting Life Use 4. Here is Direction to those that are convinced of their sins that are weary and heavy laden whose consciences are pressed with the burden of their sins as if they had a heavy mountain lay upon them
yielded to them yet that doth not make it to be warrantable and lawful for us But in a word do we believe are we perswaded that whatsoever is not of Faith is sin If we be not fully perswaded of the lawfulness of a thing and yet do it it is sin And do we believe what the Text saith here That without faith it is impossible to please God Then if so be that we have not Faith to perswade us that such as do Preach are sent by Christ then I think we cannot act Faith in hearing the Word from them This is the first Direction about hearing in Faith namely that we be perswaded that those that we do hear be called and sent by Christ 2. A second Direction how to act Faith in hearing the Word is this namely we should be careful to remove all impediments that may hinder us in our hearing from enjoying the presence of Christ and our profiting by the Word for this is the work of Faith to put us upon the use of all lawful means to attain an end Faith will not expect the end but upon the use of means And so on the other side as it is the work of Faith to put us upon the use of means for the attaining of the end so to avoid all the impediments and hindrances that lye in the way to the attaining of the end when the Lord called Jacob to go to Bethel Gen. 35.1 2 3. that he might worship God there now Jacob that he might enjoy the Presence of God and Communion with God in Bethel in his drawing near to God there Jacob he removes impediments now he calls upon his houshold and all that were with him to put away the strange gods from among them and be clean says he and change your garments and let us arise and go up to Bethel and I will make an Alter unto God c. And so at Mount Sinai God gave order to Moses that the people should be sanctified and purified when they should come to draw near to God and God should draw near to them Exod. 19.10 11. And so now when we are to draw near to God in the hearing of his Word we are to be careful to remove all impediments that may hinder our profiting by our hearing and this is the work of Faith Faith doth set a Soul a work to endeavour to remove all impediments Now there are divers impediments to be removed which will certainly hinder our profiting by the Word I shall name some few special ones which the Scripture hints to us As First This is one Malice in the heart to have the heart possessed with Malice towards one or another this will hinder us from profiting by the Word The Apostle Peter therefore expresly calleth upon us in 1 Pet. 2.1 2. Wherefore laying aside all malice c. As new born babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby As if he should say if you harbor malice in your hearts when you come to hear the Word you will not grow and profit by it if you entertain and allow malice in your hearts towards one another this malice may break out in the envy of the good and welfare of another and so the Apostle brings in that branch of malice envy and sometimes it breaks out in reviling and evil-speaking and therefore says the Apostle Lay aside all malice and envy and evil-speaking and so receive the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby As in Prayer if I regard iniquity in my heart God will not hear my Prayer so in this case if we allow any sin in our hearts any malice towards one or another when we come to hear the Word God will not listen to us and we shall not profit by the Word this may be one cause why people hear so much and profit so little If so be they do allow malice and envy in their hearts and allow themselves to speak evil of others they cannot hear the Word to grow and profit by it no we are to exercise love in our drawing near to God love to God and love to the Word and love to the Saints and love to one another for if so be that we do not love them that we have seen or do see says the Apostle how can we be truly said to love God whom we have not seen 1 John 4.20 Therefore this is one thing Let us be careful to lay aside all malice and envy and evil-speaking if we do desire so to draw near to God in the hearing of the Word as to profit by it Secondly Another impediment that the Apostle hath in the same place of Peter is hypocrisy and guile this also must be laid aside or else we shall not receive the Word so as to grow and profit by it if we come to the hearing of the Word and do maintain guile and hypocrisy in our hearts and allow of it then we cannot profit or grow by the Word The Apostle Peter doth plainly hold forth that all guile and hypocrisy must be laid aside and so receive the Word as new born babes that ye may grow thereby Guile and hypocrisy doth hinder our profiting by the Word for this is now a kind of stumbling-block we draw near to God and have a stumbling-block in our hearts and says the Lord in Ezek. 14.7 If any man setteth up Idols in his heart and putteth the stumbling-block of his iniquity before his face and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me I the Lord will answer that man by my self Some do expound that place the word stumbling-block for the separating and withdrawing the heart from God Now there are two kinds of hypocrisy or guile that are to be laid aside in hearing the Word one is in respect of God the other is towards man the guile and hypocrisy towards God is this namely when as a man or woman doth seem to draw near to God in his worship attending upon his Word and yet notwithstanding the heart is not near God but afar off from him here is hypocrisy and dissimulation towards God This people says God draw near to me with their mouth and lips but their heart is far from me Isa 29.13 And so Christ tells the Scribes and Pharisees in Matt. 15.8 when as a man doth pretend to draw near to God as if he would know the Mind of God that he may do the Will of God and have no such intendment in his heart he comes to hear the Word what doth this hold forth but that he intends to do the word which he hears Now when the heart is not set to do the Will of God here is hypocrisy I remember Jeremiah speaks to that purpose in Jer. 52.20 For ye dissembled in your hearts says he when ye sent me unto the Lord your God saying pray for us unto the Lord our God and according to all that the Lord our God shall say to us we