Angels have the least part in the redemption of a sinner We are the redeemed and the saved and we are they that must be glorified and shall we have no ears to hear no hearts to attend to no desires to imbrace the Word of Salvation Oh what a shame is it that we that have so much interest in mercie should have so great a neglect of mercy What then remaineth but this that we all provoke one another to the performance of this dutie here required of us that we stop our ears to all carnall counsell to all delusions of Satan that we hearken to the Lord onely as our Master resolving to attend to no advice to follow no directions to obey no commands but what he shall give us Oh but will some say what is this which you teach us May not a man hear his carnall friends may we not follow the advice that they give us If we slight their counsell we may be undome their anger may be such against us that wee shall not be able to bear it To this Objection I will reply in a word Will carnall friends be troubled and offended because their words are neglected and will not the Lord Jesus Christ thinke you be horribly displeased when his commands are despised Assure your selves my brethren either you must hear the Lord Christ now as a Saviour or you shall hear him hereafter as a Judge either hear him now so as to obey and doe what he requires or if you refuse to hear his counsel expect to hear an horrible sentence thundred against you when he shall sit as Judge at the last day when all your carnall counsellours shall not be able to acquit you You that are wives and pretend that you must please your husbands by submitting to their commands and desires you that are husbands and alledge that you must give satisfaction to your wives you that are Apprentices and plead that if you observe not your masters wills but walk according to the rule of Gods word you shall be thwarted by your masters and driven to some great inconvenience You that stand upon the humoring of your friends and acquaintance consider it well Will the perswasions and counsels and desires and commands of a Father or friend or husband or master stand you in stead at the day of judgement Will this be a satisfactorie answer at that day my husband intreated me my friends counselled me my master commanded me No my brethren as you are brethren in iniquitie and causes of sin one to another so you shall perish both together Therefore knowing the terror of the Lord let that scare you more then the anger and displeasure of all the friends in the world But the truth is you will answer again they are they that we receive all from and should we goe contrary to them and neglect their advice we must resolve to be poor and base and mean all our daies What a silly imagination is this Put case these carnall friends bear some kinds of respect unto thee and promise thee fair and seem able to doe thee good Can they doe thee good unlesse the Lord Christ blesse what they doe Is not he able to draw their hearts from thee or to move them towards thee Cannot he blesse the means and cannot he curse them also Thinke of this my brethren Whether is better for a man to be inriched or glorified To hear an earthly parent that happily may give him an earthly patrimonie or an heavenly father that assuredly will receive him to mercie in the end of this life Thinke of these things and withall know that the means and helps and supports that we desire are not properly in the power of friends and acquaintance but it is God that boweth the hearts and inlargeth the spirits of men whether friends or no to doe us good I have known many a carnall man that having wicked friends hath been inforced to bestow most upon those whose life and practise he most opposed and hated At leastwise beleeve for a truth what the Lord saith by the Prophet Isa 55.3 Encline your ear and come unto me hear and your soul shall live That is enough me thinks to put to silence all such Objections as these What ever carnall friends shall perswade you to nothing shall doe you so much good as the hearing and obeying the voice of Christ But it may be some will reply and say Alas I have present need of such and such therefore I must either hear them counselling or else they will not hear me intreating Oh my brethren thinke of this Hath a man or shall a man have need of a friend and shall he not also have need of the Lord Jesus Christ Must a friend be obeyed because wee have need of him and shall not the Lord Jesus Christ be much more observed because we have much more need of him Hast thou need of a father or master to bestow some favour upon thee and hast thou not need also of a Saviour that may deliver thee from sin here and from everlasting damnation hereafter Know it know it that howsoever now you may neglect the counsell and advice of the Lord Jesus Christ and thinke that you have no need of him because happily for the present your friends smile upon you yet the time will come when you shall find you have more need of Christ then of all the world When a man lieth upon the bed of death and his eies begin to grow dim and his breath short and his pulse weak and he ready to goe the way of all flesh Oh what good can friends doe him then all of them together can neither restore health nor preserve life in that hour He that now would be our Saviour hereafter will be our Judge and will passe sentence upon us one way or other either of salvation or damnation Shall we not stand in need then of his mercy and saving health when that day cometh The soul will then wish for a dram of mercy more then for a whole world Ask a man my brethren when he is going the way of all flesh what then he most desireth and what he would have at that time especially Oh will he say mercy mercy Oh that the Lord would accept my person and pardon my sins and graciously look upon me in the face of Christ This is all that the poor soul then craveth But if you neglect now to hear the voice of Christ how can you expect that ever he will hear you in that day It is just it is just my brethren that you should then have the same sentence that was past upon the foolish Virgins Matth. 25.12 They came and knocked hard and spake loud Lord Lord open unto us Away saith Christ I know you not I know you not You would not hear me in the time of your pilgrimage upon the earth when I sent all my servants the Prophets rising early and sending them therefore now I will not
go further and you shall see more then these cut off from being the sons of Abraham And surely if Abraham should come down from heaven he might complain that there were very few of his sons to be found upon the earth In the next place therefore take a taste of the civilized professors such as are not as other men no common swearers no profaners of the Sabbath no drunkards and the like These men thinke that they go neer indeed to the steps of Abraham yet give me leave to scan these a little I pray and to try them Abraham you know did not stick with God when hee called him but was content to be under the command of God and to yeeld to him in every thing Take now one that hath not the power of godliness in his heart he keepeth it may be his fingers from filching and stealing abstains from the grosse acts of sin and from open profanenesse but what strength of grace is there in his soul What mortification shall you finde of his secret lusts What subduing of sin within Alas aske him what ruleth him at whose command he is at whose call he cometh I appeal to the souls and consciences of all such men The command of God calleth and covetousness calleth which of these is followed The Lord saith to the worldling come out of thy counting-house and goe to prayer come and hear my word the Lord calls to the Gentleman forsake thy pleasures and thy sports and humble thy selfe in sackcloth and ashes and the Lord calleth for these things the times call for them who is obeyed Whose commands doe you stoop unto Is there any command disobeyed but Gods If a man presume on any it is on the Lord Profits pleasures worldly business must be attended whether the Lord be pleased or no or whether the duties he requireth be performed or no. You that are Gentlemen and Tradesmen I appeal to your souls whether the Lord and his cause is not the loser this way Doth not Prayer pay for it Doth not the Word pay for it Are not the Ordinances alwaies losers when any thing of your own cometh in competition Is it not evident then that you are not under the command of the word How doe you tremble at the wrath and threatnings of a mortall man and yet when you hear the Lord thunder judgements out of his Word who is humbled When he calls for fasting and weeping and mourning who regards it Abraham my brethren did not thus these were none of his steps no no he went a hundred mile off of this course The Lord no sooner said to him Forsake thy countrie and thy kindred and thy fathers house but he forsook all neither friend nor father prevailed to detain him from obedience but he stooped willingly to Gods command Look again to the fifth note and step of Abrahams faith and trie your selves a little by that Are you content to run any hazard for the cause of God To spare nothing from him As Abraham withheld not Isaac from God when he required him so are you contented likewise to with hold no not the dearest thing you have when God calls for it If the Lord put you to the tryall to undergoe trouble losse of goods imprisonment banishment are you content to stoop to these things to give way and to break through all impediments Judge your selves If it be so it is well But let your consciences speak nay let your lives and conversations speak Doe they not shew the contrary Doth not the very name of danger the sight of it a afar off the voice of some great man dash all your forwardnesse out of countenance Nay if an Isaac come and complain that those and those things must be provided for and cry out Alas if you take this course what will become of wife and children and family all must to ruine you presently give over your profession Did Abraham doe thus No he did not so and I beseech you thinke of it if you were the children of Abraham you would not you could not you durst not doe so There are yet a third sort that come short of being the sons of Abraham and they are the close-hearted Hypocrites These are a generation that are of a more refined kinde then the last but howsoever they carry the matter very covertly yea and are exceeding cunning yet the truth will make them known Many an hypocrite may come thus far to be content to part with any thing and outwardly to suffer for the cause of God to part with divers pleasures and lusts and to perform many holy services But here is the difference between Abraham and these men Abraham forsook his goods and all but your close-hearted Hypocrites have alwaies some God or other that they doe homage to their ease or their wealth or some secret lust something or other they have set up as an I doll within them and so long as they may have and injoy that they will part with any thing else But thou must know that if thou be one of Abrahams children thou must come away from thy gods thy god of pride of self-love of vain-glory and leave worshipping of these and be content to be governed alone by God and his truth This shall suffice for the first Use I cannot proceed further in the pressing thereof because I would shut up all with the time The second Use is a word of instruction and it shall be but a word or two That it all the Saints of God must walk in the same way of life and salvation that Abraham did then there is no by-way to bring a man to happinesse Look what way Abraham went you must goe there is no more wayes the same course that he took must be a coppy for you to follow a rule as it were for you to square your whole conversation by There is no way but one to come to life and happinesse I speak it the rather to dash that idle devise of many carnall men that think the Lord hath a new invention to bring them to life and that they need not to goe the ordinary way but God hath made a shorter cut for them Great men and Gentlemen think God will spare them what must they be humbled and fast and pray that is for poor men and mean men their places and estates will not suffer it therefore surely God hath given a dispensation to them And the poor men they think it is for Gentlemen that have more leasure and time alas they live by their labour and they must take paines for what they have and the refore they cannot doe what is required But be not deceived if there be any way besides that which Abraham went then will I deny my selfe but the case is clear the Lord faith it the Word faith it the same way the same footsteps that Abraham took we must take if ever we will come where Abraham is You must not baulk in this kind whoever you
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
because through the merit of Christ and the mercie of God it is transitorie to all beleevers 4. Lastly it is called a bodie because as our bodies are made up of many Integrals and consist of several members by which they act and exercise severall functions so also originall corruption is one thing consisting of many particular sins as so many integrall parts or severall members whereby it putteth forth it self in severall operations For these and such like reasons Originall corruption is called a bodie Thus you see what is here meant by bodie And now it is more easie to understand what is meant by the Spirit The Spirit is life because of righteousnesse For if by the body be meant originall corruption then by the Spirit must be meant originall righteousnesse that which is elsewhere in the Scripture called the divine nature or the seed of God or grace or holiness or the like Originall holiness or righteousness is that which I take it is here meant by the Spirit It is so called John 3.6 That which is born of the spirit is spirit and so in many other places Now this same habit of holiness is called the Spirit 1. To shew the excellency of it That as a Spirit is an excellent thing far above all bodily substances so is holiness the excellentest of Gods creatures for grace is also a creature as other things 2. To shew the durableness of it though sin shall die in the Saints and be utterly destroyed yet grace shall never be destroyed stroyed nor cease in the Saints of God 3. It is called the Spirit in regard of the Objects of it for the Objects of this grace are spirituall things 4. In regard of the Author of it It is the holy Spirit of God that begets and works it in people therefore as the child beareth the name of the Father so doth this of the Spirit Thus you see what is meant by sin namely the transgression of Gods Law either in omission or commission What by righteousness The observation of Gods Law in the duties of the first and second Table What by the bodie Originall corruption What by the spirit the habit of holiness or originall righteousnesse Now then the whole amounteth to this That if so bee the Lord Christ be in people then there is a death of sin in them and a life of righteousnesse Thus much is meant by the words let them be taken any way which way soever Expositors can carry them this must be the sence of them and therefore we need not spend further time in the Exposition but will fall directly upon the Doctrine which is this In whomsoever Christ is there is a death of sin and a life of righteousnesse The Point is very evident and expresse in the Text being the main matter scope and drift thereof as well as in other places of Scripture For the proving of it not to trouble you with many other Scriptures you may consider these things First The ends and the offices of Christ which the Apostle Paul expresseth Tit. 2.14 Christ gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquitie and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works The main end of Christ is the redemption of a people from all iniquitie which implieth not onely the removal of the guilt of sin but the destroying of the bodie of sin Therefore 1 Joh. 3.8 it is said That for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devill Not onely the guilt of sin but the power and dominion of sin is the work of the Devill now therefore for this purpose saith the Text the Son of God was manifested that he might free us from the guilt yea and from the dominion and life and power of sin There is one end Another end of Christs giving himself was To purifie us therefore he must put sin to death in us for to purifie is nothing else but to purge out corruption as the fire doth work the drosse out that is in the gold Again To purifie us that we might be a peculiar people zealous of good works Where there is a zealousnesse of good works there must be a life of righteousnesse So that by that place you plainly see that the end of Christ is the putting of sin to death and bringing in the life of righteousnesse Moreover Christ was to be the second Adam and he is so called 1 Cor. 15.45 And to speak the truth the first Adam was a Type of Christ as it is Rom. 5.14 Who is the Figure or Type of him that was to come For not onely the Ceremonies amongst the Jewes were Types of Christ but even Adam in his fall in his undoing the world in his overthrowing of mankind was a Type and Figure of Christ also Onely other Types did figure out Christ by way of similitude but Adam by way of dissimilitude and contrarietie For look what Adam did the contrary to that Christ is to doe Now Adam did cause to all in whom he was as the Parent is in the child a death of righteousnesse and a life of sin Therefore the contrary the Lord Jesus Christ must work in all those in whom he is a death of sin and a life of righteousnesse Secondly this Point is also plain from the consideration of those respects in which Christ is said to be in people Those are as you heard before First in regard of his Spirit Secondly in regard of his Vertue influence and sap that is in them Now where ever these are there must be a death of sin and a life of righteousnesse For the former even as fire doth purge away drosse and rust so the holy Ghost works out corruption and puts sin to death where ever he cometh and as light expelleth darkness even so doth he expell unrighteousnesse and sin because he is the holy Spirit Again for the vertue and life of Christ you know it was the life of righteousnesse therefore whereever this is there must be a life of righteousnesse in that man Last of all the truth of this will appear from the consideration of that communion with Christ and conformitie to him that all those must have which are in Christ and Christ in them Wherein they must have a communion with and a conformitie to Christ Saint Paul sheweth Rom. 6. from the third verse to the twelfth In the third Verse he layeth down that Union by Faith which all justified persons have with the Lord Jesus and from this he inferreth a communion with him and a conformitie unto him But in what In his death and in his resurrection If we have been planted together saith he v. 5. in the likenesse of his death mark not in the same death but in the likeness thereof wee shall bee also in the likeness of his resurrection Where the Apostle declareth that like as there was in Christ a bodily death and a bodily resurrection so there is in
every soule that would make conscience of discharging this duty First of all we are then said to hearken to the voice of Christ as we should doe when we first seek to him and depend wholly and onely upon him for direction I doe not say but we may use all good meanes and helpes that God shall please to put in our hands But this I say howsoever we may use other meanes yet we must depend upon no other but the Lord Jesus first of all have recourse unto him and withall resolve that he onely shall cast the scale that his direction shall onely stand with us in whatsoever case it is we desire counsell And then the soule is said indeed to depend upon Christ for direction when it doth acknowledge a kind of soveraignty in him and also an all-sufficiency to direct a man so that howsoever we sometimes heare the counsell of others and hearken to the voyce of the Minister and of private friends yet we ever use them but as means to bring us to Christ and to reveale his counsell unto us and there being diversity of opinions and variety of judgements in many matters of Religion and that amongst godly and learned men yet in all points that which mainly casteth the scales with us is not the learning or holinesse of this or that man but the so veraignty and authority of Christ what he saith what his mind and his judgement is and what he would have us to doe This is the depending of the soule upon Christ You shall observe in the Old Testament how this course was ever taken up by the Saints in any matter of difficulty how they had alwayes recourse to the counsell of God and made their repair to his mouth We may read how often David did this 1 Sam. 23. When the matter was in much question and he in a great straight and every one gave in their severall opinions he went and enquired of the Lord saying Shall I goe and smite these Philistines verse 2. And when the Lord bad him goe and his followers were utterly against it he enquired yet again verse 4. and in the conclusion the counsell of the Lord bore the sway with him though in the judgement of flesh and blood it seemed the worse So again verse 11. Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into the hands of Saul will Saul come down c. So Psal 85. when he had long pleaded with God as it were in the time of Extremity see whither he had recourse at the last and upon what he setled himselfe verse 8. he resolveth upon this I will hear what God the Lord will speak that is I will not eye meanes nor look upon any mens opinions but I will hear what the Lord will say My brethren this is the course that every one of us must take if ever we purpose to hearken to the Lord in a right manner we must upon all occasions in all doubts and questions have recourse to him and labour to captivate our judgements to that truth that shall be delivered to us from him as knowing all other directions are good onely so farre as they are squared by that standard Look as men doe in their Law matter If one have a sute depending in an inferiour Court and cannot meet with satisfaction there according to the state of his cause he appealeth to a higher Court and there standeth at the judgement of the cheif Judge so ought it to be with us in all spirituall doubts and difficulties we must appeale from the conceits and counsels of men to the authority of Christ This is a point that is grosly mistaken and the contrary professed and maintained in popery But I shall not meddle with that at this time This is the first rule so to repair to Christ as wholly to depend upon him for direction But marke this we must repaire to him in the first place and not suffer our judgement to be forestalled with former counsels but first while the minde lyeth equally and indifferently disposed then set the word step in then let us repaire to Christ for guidance in the cause The contrary is a great hinderance to the effectuall passage of the Word of God into the hearts and soules of men and the world may easily observe it For look what points men have drunk in or what customes they have entertained they keep and retain them and there is no speaking against them their hearts are forestalled against the truth and possest with other principles or carnall customes and therefore the word of God takes no place in them The second thing we are to take notice of concerning the manner of our hearkning to the voyce of Christ is this As the soule must first seek unto Christ and depend upon him for direction so in the next place the heart must settle it selfe upon the truth revealed and quiet it selfe in the manifestation of that direction that God hath been pleased to make known unto it We must not listen and hearken to any of those delusions and silly devises wherewith Satan by the ministery of his instruments laboureth to draw us from the truth but our minds being enlightned the counfell of God being made known unto us we ought to take up our rest and standing there settle there let heaven and earth move but stirre not a foot from that truth God hath made known to us It was great folly in that good Prophet 1 Kings 13. to doe otherwise and he suffered for it He was sent on a message against Jeroboam and the Altar at Bethel and was charged by the Word of the Lord nor to eat bread nor drinke water in that place nor turn again by the same way that he came and accordingly he refused divers offers and withstood suâ—dry perswasions to the contrary But at length there came an old Prophet to him as subtill as ancient and he takes upon him to perswade him to return back to eat and drink and to refresh himselfe and he pleadeth I am a Prophet as well as thou and an Angell spake unto me by the word of the Lord and charged me to reveal to thee that thou shouldst come home with me though with no body else Hereupon the young Prophet yeelded to him and went back with him and eat bread in his house and drank water wherefore the Lord flew him My brethren take heed of this The Prophet had a plain charge the will of the Lord was openly revealed to him he gave him an express command to denounce the sentence against Jeroboams Altar at Bethel and that he should not stay to eat or drink in that place when the word of the Lord is so clear if an Angell from heaven should come and teach otherwise let him be accursed saith the Apostle So in ought to be with every Christian when once the truth is clearly revealed unto us and our mindes truly inlightned with the knowledge of Gods will we must resolve not to
to goe along with men in the use of the meanes is it possible that they should be effectuall Naturally men are carelesse and negligent to attend and wait upon God with faithfull painfulnesse in the use of the meanes and so they will continue till God put another spirit into them and work that in them which will enable them to doe what nature never can doe And hence it commeth to passe that so long as they continue meet naturall men they are not able to receive that sweetnesse nor reap that benefit that otherwise they might from the Word of God they have no mind to it they hear it may be but they are not whether they hear or no. Job telleth us that wicked men say unto God Depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy wayes Job 21.14 It is a place worthy some observation They say unto God Depart from us How doth a man say to the Almighty Depart from me I doe not conceive that a company of men will be so desperate as openly to out-face God in his Ordinances and bid him depart from them or openly to professe it to all the world that they desire not the knowledge of God nor of his wayes But they said it in their hearts and professed it in their lives being carelesse of God and regardlesse of the meanes of life and salvation When the Word came with counsell with reproofe with admonition and the like alas they flighted it they made no regard of it they neglected it and as they behaved themselves toward the counsels and admonitions of the Word so they are said to have behaved themselves towards God And my brethren it is all one if hearing the Minister speak unto you the word of God and bring home to you the reproofes and admonitions and counsels thereof you kick his Word from you and happily take up armes against him it is all one I say as if you take up armes against God and despised him It is a plain case our Saviour himselfe hath said it He that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me Luke 10 16. And so those men Job speaketh of because they manifested a carelesse esteem of the ordinances are said to bid God depart from them and to professe they desired not the knowledge of his wayes as if they should say it is a tedious thing to us to be convinced out of the Word we doe not desire to be perswaded to doe this or that we have no heart to heare such things as these This is a generall fault among most that live in the bosome of the Church to manifest a want of desire of the knowledge of the wayes of God How many severall passages are continually extended to men in the preaching of the Word both counsels and reproofes some whereof it may be they receive but such as crosse their dispositions and thwart them in any pleasant or profitable course of sinne oh how tedious are they to their hearts how unwilling are they to be informed of them how willingly doe they reject those blessed meanes that God would put into their hands to helpe them to salvation Famous it that place 2 Pet. 3.5 Those mockers there spoken of that should come in the last dayes saying Where is the promise of his comming the Apostle saith of them This they are willingly ignorant of that the Heavens were of old by the Word of God c. They are willingly ignorant as if he should say they are ignorant because they will be ignorant they doe nto desire to know that which might convince and reforme them Look how it is with a truant Scholler though the Master be never so carefull in his teaching and take never so great paines with him yet it is impossible that he should thrive in his learning for happily he comes one day to Schoole and withdraweth himselfe a week after and loseth more in two dayes then he can get in four And you that are Tradesmen know that a runnagate Apprentise cannot possibly be informed in his trade so as to behave himselfe skilfully for his Masters profit for the present or his own benefit and comfort afterwards So the truth is if you ask me the cause why so few men are savingly inlightned and informed in the wayes of life and salvation notwithstanding the abundance of meanes that they injoy Oh it is because we have so many truant Schollers in Gods Schoole so many runnagate Apprentises from the meanes of salvation this is the cause that howsoever there be meanes and teaching enough yet men are not gainers by these good occasions and opportunities which God is pleased to put into their hands This I say is the very reason Let a Minister presse a man that is somewhat loose in his life to the performance of good duties urge him to prayer with his family to the sanctifying of the Lords day to leave his swearing and his vain company or the like he will turn the deafe eare to you and though happily he will not presently flie in the face of the Minister yet he will slight all that he saith he for his part hath other businesse in hand no wonder my brethren this man profiteth not by the Word seeing his heart is not set thereunto seeing he intendeth it not hath no mind nor desire of the knowledge of the wayes of God The last and indeed the main reason why in this last age of the world wherein the light of the Gospel shineth so bright yet men sit in darkness and in the shadow of death and remain stark blind in heavenly things and though waters are hard by us yet we continue like a dry and thirstie wildernesse is The corruption of mens hearts in which they are setled and in which they are resolved to continue come what will to the contrary A setled and secret resolution that harboureth in the souls of men to maintain some private lust or other is I say a speciall reason why the mindes of men are no more inlightned nor themselves informed in the waies of life and happiness Mark it I beseech you It is a thing that we may easily find to be true in our own experience The retaining of any private lust alwaies hinders a man from attaining to saving knowledge Look how it is with the bodie of a man if one have a foul stomack full of very bad and noisome humors commonly it breedeth a rheumatick eie and a sleepie and drowsie head Just so it is also with the soul if a mans heart harbour any noysome lusts if any sinfull corruption lodge there the truth is it alwaies breeds a blear-eyed judgement it sendeth up such streams and mists into the understanding as quite dazeleth it so that it cannot discern the truths of God and hence it cometh to passe that the soul being setled on its dregs speak as long as you will perswade as much as you can yet there is no way to prevail
truth but had pleasure in unrighteousnesse Their heart being resolved which way to walk it is just I say with the Lord to give them up to blindnesse of minde to dulnesse of spirit to ignorance and error that they may be hurried on in the waies of destruction for ever It is Gods own word 2 Thes 2.10 Because men received not the truth the whole truth of God in the love thereof Mâ—â—y are loth to have some points to be true as that a man â—hould exactly observe the Sabbath it is just with God to give such up to a profane spirit to deny the Sabbath Others are loth to have this true that they must pray duly every morning and evening in their family it is just with God to give such up to a sottish and stupified course that they can be contended to goe to bed like beasts The like I may say of many other duties The Lord calleth for fasting and prayer and would have his people humble themselves and seek his face now because the duty is tedious and happily the world crosseth it therefore many will fall out with the Ordinance reject it have nothing to doe with it they will have their ease and their quiet their hearts are grown fat and if any thing crosse their corruptions they will not hear with that eare It is fearfull what the Lord speaks against these Rom. 1. 28. and my heart trembleth to think of the hideous curâ—e of God against such courses and his severe indignation against such persons It is said there that because the Heathen delighted not to retain God in their knowledge God gave them over to a reprobate mind to doe those things which are not convenient Mark As they did not like to retain God in their knowledge as who should say Must my mind be inlightned must I be convinced and perswaded that I must lay aside my self and be content in uprightnesse of heart to imbrace every truth of God though it be with the losse of ease and credit and estate yea and of life it self must I doe this well I doe not like it I will not beleeve it all the world shall never perswade me to it And why Because you have taken a sleepy pillow before-hand you have been resolved to keep those things that these truths crosse It is just with God when men doe not love and like to retain the truth he affordeth them to give them up to a reprobate mind that is to a mind void of judgement not knowing the truth not approving the Word And you shall see these men in all their courses and opinions vanishy Why Because the Lord hath given them up to a reprobate mind a mind not able to observe what he revealeth and a heart not willing to entertain what he discovereth to be good Gather up these things This is the last and most speciall argument why the hearts of most men are estranged from God and his truth because they harbour many lusts in their soules and cleave close to some or other corruptions It is a passage worthy observation that is recorded Jer 43. The people that were left behind in the land when the King of Babylon had carried the rest away captive were resolved to goe down into Aegypt but they would first goe to the Prophet and take his advise and he must goe to the Lord and whatsoever the Lord should declare to them by the Prophet that they would doe be it good or be it evill Here was a very fair pretence But their hearts were fully resolved betore to goe down into Aegypt and therefore when the Prophet brought them the answer of God that they should not goe but that they should remain in the Land Thou speakest fatsly say they unto him the Lord our God hath not sent thee to say Goe not into Aegypt to sojourn there but Baruch the sonne of Neriah setteth thee on against us So they obeyed not the voyce of the Lord to dwell in the sand of Judah As if they should have said we had thought thou wouldest have perswaded us that it was lawfull for us to goe down into Aegypt and if thou hadst done so we would have hearkened to thee but because what thou sayest is not as we would have it because it doth not fit us nor stand with that course we are resolved to take we will not yeeld to it whether it be truth that thou speakest or no. I wish this were not so amongst many of us I doe not say carnall and profane ones the world is full of those and their spirits are too too manifest but I say I wish it were not a fault even amongst many that in some measure love and fear the Lord. We are grown sick of our peace and we must have our quiet and ease and contentment therefore though we should appear to be sincere before God in all things and zealous for the cause of the Lord of Hosts we will shuffle in divers practises rather then be disturbed and troubled in that course that we have set to our selves Now I say gather up these and I think the point is clear If it be so that men are blind in their mindes and cannot know the Word if so be they are carelesse and doe not attend to the Word nay if so be they be setled in their sinnes and corruptions from which they will not part it is no wonder that though they have means yet they are not savingly informed in the truth of God answerably to those meanes which are bestowed upon them Let me adde now but one thing for the full clearing of the Doctrine You will say we see the quite contrary For it is cleare and evident that there are many that live in the bosome of the Church that have a great measure of understanding yet are not such as God hath wrought upon effectually yea the Devill himselfe hath knowledge enough and many a man that is nought and carnall hath an abundant measure of understanding happily much more then some godly and holy men can attain to To answer this in two or three words It is true I confesse there is many a cursed hypocrite that hath a great measure of knowledge and yet in very deed hath no true understanding at all For the knowledge whereby such men are inlightned differs much from that information and understanding which the Saints of God have For look as there is wild thime and garden thime both of the same name and both growing after the same manner yet very different in their nature and qualities so it is with knowledge there is a gracious and a sanctifying knowledge garden knowledge as I may say and there is a wild and a common knowledge I will open it a little in two or three words If you goe no further but consider the understanding of both barely you shall cleerly perceive a main difference between a Saint of God and an Hypocrite 1. An Hypocrite and a carnall man like