a swell as pray So did the Scribes and Pharisees even twice a week which could not be publike but private fasts And yet this righteousnesse could never save them But I heare the word of God and like the best Preachers This thou mayest doe too and yet never be saved Nay thou mayest so heare as to receive much joy and comfort in hearing nay to beleeve and catch hold on Christ and so say and thinke he is thine and yet not be saved as the stony ground did Mat. 13. who heard the word with joy and for a season beleeved I reade the Scriptures often This you may doe too and yet never be saved as the Pharisees who were so perfect in reading the Bible that Christ needed but onely say It hath been said of old time for they knew the text and place well enough without intimation But I am grieved and am sorrowfull and repent for my sinnes past Iudas did thus Matth. 27. 3. he repents himselfe with a legall repentance for feare of hell and with a naturall sorrow for dealing so unkindly with Christ in betraying not onely of bloud but innocent bloud True humiliation is ever accompanied with hearty reformation Oh! but I love good men and their company So did the five foolish Virgins love the company and at the time of extremitie the very oyle and grace of the wise yet they were locked out of the gates of mercy But God hath given me more knowledge then others or then I my selfe had once This thou mayest have and be able to teach others and thinke so of thy selfe too and yet never be saved But I keepe the Lords day strictly So did the Jewes whom yet Christ condemned and were never saved I have very many good desires and endeavours to get Heaven These thou thousands may have and yet misse of Heaven Many shall seeke to enter in at that narrow gate and not be able True thou wilt say many men doe many duties but without any life or zeale I am zealous So thou mayest be and yet never saved as Iehu Paul was zealous when he was a Pharisee and if he was so for a false Religion and a bad cause why much more mayest thou be for a good cause so zealous as not onely to cry out against prophanenesse in the wicked but civill honesty of others and hypocrisie of others yea even of the coldnesse of the best of Gods people thou mayest be the fore-horse in the teame and the ringleader of good exercises amongst the best men as Ioash a wicked King was the first that complained of the negligence of his best Officers in not repairing the Temple and so stirre them up unto it Nay thou mayest be so forward as to bee persecuted and not yeeld an inch nor shrinke in the wetting but mayest manfully and couragiously stand it out in time of persecution as the thorny ground did so zealous thou mayst be as to like best of and to flock most unto the most zealous preachers that search mens cōsciences best as the whole Countrey of Iudea came flocking to Iohns ministry and delighted to heare him for a season nay thou mayst be zealous as to take sweet delight in doing of all these things Isa. 58 2 3. they delight in approaching neare unto God yet come short of heaven But thou wilt say True many a man rides post that breaks his neck at last many a man is zealous but his fire is soone quench'd his zeale is soone spent they hold not out Whereas I am constant and persevere in godly courses So did that young man yet he was a gracelesse man Matth. 19. 20. All these things have I done from my youth what lack I yet It is true Hypocrites may persevere but they know themselves to be naught all the while and so deceive others but I am perswaded that I am in Gods favour and in a safe and happy estate since I doe all with a good heart for God This thou mayst verily think of thy selfe and yet be deceived and damned and goe to the Devill at last There is a way saith Salomon that seemeth right to a man but the end thereof is the way of death For he is an hypocrite not onely that makes a seeming outward shew of what he hath not but also that hath a true shew of what indeed there is not The first sort of Hypocrites deceive others onely the latter having some inward yet common worke deceive themselves too I am 1. 26. If any man seeme to be religious so many are and so deceive the world but it is added deceiving his owne soule Nay thou mayst goe so fairely and live so honestly that all the best Christians about thee may thinke well of thee never suspect thee and so mayst passe through the world and dye with a deluded comfort that thou shalt goe to heaven and be canonized for a Saint in thy funerall sermon and never know thou art counterfeit till the L O R D brings thee to thy strict and last examination and so thou receivest that dreadfull sentence Goe yee cursed so it was with the Five foolish Virgins that were never discovered by the wise nor by themselves untill the gate of grace was shut upon them If thou hast therefore no better evidences to shew for thy selfe that thine estate is good then these I le not give a pinnes point for all thy flattering false hopes of being saved but it may be thou hast never yet come so farre as to this pitch and if not Lord what will become of thee Suspect thy selfe much and when in this Ship-wracke of soules thou seest so many thousands sinke cry out and conclude It 's a wonder of wonders and a thousand and a thousand to one if ever thou commest safe to shoare Oh! strive then to be one of them that shall be saved though it cost thee thy bloud and the losse of all that thou hast labour to goe beyond all those that goe so farre and yet perish at the last Doe not say that seeing so few shall be saved therefore this discourageth me from seeking because all my labour may be in vaine Consider that Christ here makes another and a better use of it Luk. 13. 24. Seeing that many shall seeke and not enter therefore saith he strive to enter in at the straight gate venture at least and try what the Lord will doe for thee Wherein doth a childe of GOD and so how may I goe beyond these Hypocrites that goe so farre In three things principally First no unregenerate man though he goe never so farre let him doe never so much but he lives in some one sinne or other secret or open little or great Iudas went farre but he was covetous Herod went farre but hee loved his Herodias Every dogge hath his kennell
honest man then he will strive to doe as he doth and now he is quieted When he hath attained unto this pitch of his ovvne now he thinkes himselfe a young beginner and a good one too so that if he dyeth he thinkes hee shall doe well if he liveth he thinkes and hopes he shall grow better and vvhen he is come to his ovvne pitch here he sets downe his state fully satisfied And novv if he be prest to get into the estate of grace his answer is That is not to be done now he thankes God that care is past The truth is beloved 't is too high for him his owne legges could never carry him thither all his grace comming by his owne working not by God Almighties power Let a man have false weights he is cheated grievously with light gold why because his weights are too light So these men have too light weights to judge of the weight of true grace therefore light clipt crackt pieces cheat them Hence you shall have those men commend pithlesse saplesse men for very honest men as ever brake bread why they are just answerable to their weights Hence I have not much wondered at them who maintaine that a man may fall away from true grace The reason lyeth here They set up to themselves such a common worke of grace to bee true grace from which no wonder that a man may fall Hence Bellarmine saith That which is true Grace veritate essentiae onely may be lost not that grace which is true veritate firmae soliditatis which latter being rightly understood may be called speciall as the other common grace Hence also you shall have many Professors hearing a hundred Sermons never moved to grovv better Hence likewise you shall see our common Preachers comfort every one almost that they see troubled in minde because they thinke presently they have true grace Now they begin to be sorrowfull for their sinnes 'T is just according to their owne light weights For the Lords sake take heed of this deceit True grace I tell you it 's a rare pearle a glorious Sun clowded from the eyes of all but them that have it Rev. 2. 18. a strange admirable almighty worke of God upon the soule vvhich no created power can produce as far different in the least measure of it from the highest degree of common grace as a Devill is from an Angell for 't is Christ living breathing raigning fighting conquering in the soule Downe therefore with your Idoll grace your Idoll honesty true Grace never aimes at a pitch it aspires onely to perfection Phil. 3. 12 13. And therefore Chrysostome calls Saint Paul insatiabilis Dei cultor A greedy insatiable devouring worshipper of the Lord Almighty Seventhly The Understandings errour is another cause of mans ruine And that is seene principally in these five things these â—ive errours or false conceits First In judging some trouble of minde some light sorrow for sinne to be true Repentance and so thinking they doe repent hope they shall bee saved for sinne is like sweet poyson while a man is drinking it dovvne by committing of it ther 's much pleasure in it but after the committing of it there is a sting in it Prov. 23. 31. 32. then the time commeth when this poyson workes making the heart swell vvith griefe sorry they are at the heart they say for it and the eyes drop and the man that committed sin vvith delight now cryes out vvith griefe in the bitternesse of his soule O that I beast that I am had never committed it Lord mercy mercy Prov. 5. 3 4. 11. 12. Nay it may be they vvill fast and humble and afflict their soules voluntarily for sinne and now they think they have repented Isai. 58 3. and hereupon when they heare that all that sinne shall dye they grant this is true indeed except a man repent and so they thinke they have done already This is true At what time soever a sinner repents the Lord will blot out his iniquities But this Repentance is not when a man is troubled somewhat in mind for sinne but when he commeth to mourne for sinne as his greatest evill as if he should see all his goods and estate on a light fire before him and that not for some sinnes but all sinnes little and great and that not for a time for a fit and away a Land-floud of sorrow but alwaies like a Spring never dry but ever running all a mans life-time Secondly In judging the striving of conscience against sinne to be the striving of the flesh against the Spirit and hence come these speeches from carnall blacke mouthes The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weake and hence men thinke they being thus compounded of flesh and spirit are regenerate and in no worse estate then the Children of God themselves as sometime I once spake with a man that did verily thinke that Pilate was an honest man bâ—cause he was so unwilling to crucifie Christ which unwillingnesse did arise onely from the restraint of conscience against the Fact So many men judge honestly yet simply upon such a ground of themselves they say they strive against their sinâ—es but Lord be mercifull unto them they say the flesh is fraile and hence Arminius gives a diverse interpretation of the seventh Chapter of the Romans from ordinary Divines concerning which Paul speakes in the person of an unregenerate man because he observed divers gracelesse persons as hee saith himselfe having fallen and falling commonly into sinnes against conscience to bring that chapter in their owne defeâ—ce and comfort because they did that which they allowed not vers 15. and so it was not they but sinne that dvvelled in them And so many among us know they should be better and strive that they may grow better but through the power of sin cannot conscience telleth them they must not sinne their hearts and lusts say they must sinne and here forsooth is flesh and spirit Oh no here is conscience and lust onely by the eares together Which striving Herod Balaam Pilate or the vilest Reprobate in the World may have Such a vvarre argueth not any grace in the heart but rather more strength of corruption and more power of sinne in the heart as it 's no vvonder if a horse run avvay vvhen he is loose but when his bit and bridle is in his mouth now to bee wilde argueth he is altogether untamed and subdued Take â—eed therefore of judging your estate to bee good because of some backvvardnesse of your hearts to commit some sinnes though little sinnes for thy sinnes may be and it is most certaine are more powerfull in thee then in others that have not the like struglings because they have not such checks as thou hast to restraine thee Knovv therefore that the striving of the Spirit against the Flesh is against sinne because it is sinne as a man hates a Toad though he be never poisoned by it But the striving of thy conscience against
prayer hearing reading observing the Sabbath and thus the Pharisees lived and hence they are called the strict sect of the Pharisees Take heede you mistake me not I speake not against strictnesse but against resting in it for except your righteousnesse exceed theirs you shall not enter into the Kingdome of Heaven You shall finde these men fly from base persons and places like the Pesthouses commend the best bookes cry downe the sinnes of the time and cry against civill or morall men the eye sees not it selfe and cry up zeale and forwardnesse Talke with him about many morall duties that are to be done towards God or man he will speak well about the excellency and necessity of it because his trade and skill whereby he hopes to get his living and earne eternall life lieth there but speake about Christ and living by faith in him and from him bottoming the soule upon the Promises peeces of Evangelicall righteousnesse he that is very skilfull in any point of controversie is as ignorant almost as a beast when he is examined here hence if Ministers preach against the sinnes of the time they coÌ„mend it for a speciall Sermon as it happily deserves too but let him speake of any spirituall inward soule-working point they goe away and say he was in their judgement confused and obscure for their parts they understood them not Beloved pictures are pretty things to look on and that 's all the goodnesse of them so these men are as Christ looked on and loved the naturall yong man in the Gospel and that 's all their excellency You know in Noah's floud all that were not in the Arke though they did climbe and get to the top of the tallest mountaines they were drowned so labour to climbe never so high in moralitie and the duties of both Tables if thou goest not into Gods Arke the Lord Jesus Christ thou art sure to perish eternally 7. If they have no rest here in their moralitie they grow hot within and turne marvellous zealous for good causes and courses and there they stay and warme themselves at their owne fire thus Paul Philip. 3. 6. was zealous and there rested They will not live as many doe like snailes in their shells but rather than they will be damned for want of doing they are content to give away their estate children any thing almost to get pardon for the sinne of their soule Mich. 6. 7. 8. If they find no helpe from hence but are forced to see and say when they have done all they are unprofitable servantsâ— and they sinne in all that which they doe then they rest in that which is like unto Evangelicall Obedience they thinke to please God by mourning for their failings in their good duties dâ—siring to be better and promising for the time to come to be so and therein rest Deut. 5. 29. 9. If they feele a want of all these then they dig within themselves for power to leave sinne power to be more holy and humble and so thinke to worke out themselves in time out of this estate and so they digge for pearles in their owne dunghills and will not be beholding to the Lord Jesus to live on him in the want of all they thinke to set up themselves out of their owne stock without Jesus Christ and so as the Prophet Hosea speakes 14. 3 4. thinke to save themselves by their riding on Horses that is by their owne abilities 10. If they feele no helpe here then they goe unto Christ for grace and power to leave sinne and doe better whereby they may save themselves and so they live upon Châ—ist that they may live of themselves they goe unto Christ they get not into Christ Psal. 8. 34 35. like hirelings that goe for power to doe their worke that they may earne their wages A child of God contenâ—s himselfe with and lives upon the inheritance it selfe the Lord in his free mercy hath given him But now wee shall see many poore Christians that runne in the very roade the Papists devoutly goe to Hâ—ll in First the Papist will confesse his misery that he is and all men are by nature a child of wrath and under the power of sinne and Satan Secondly they hold Christ is the onely Saviour Thirdly that this Salvation is not by any Righteousnesse in a Christ but Righteousnesse from a Christ onely by giving a man power to doe and then dipping mens doings in his bloud he merits their life Thus the wisest and devoutest of them professe as I am able to manifest just so doe many Christians live First They feele themselves full of sinne and are sometimes tyred and weary of their lives for their vile hearts and they finde no power to helpe themselves Secondly Hereupon hearing that onely Christ can save them they goe unto Christ to remove these sinnes that tyre them and load them that hee would enable them to doe better than formerly Thirdly If they get these sinnes subdued and removed and if they finde power to doe better than they hope they shall be saved Whereas thou mayest be damned and goe to the devill at last although thou dost escape all the pollutions of the world that not from they selfe and strength but from the knowledge of Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 2. 20. I say woe to you for ever if you die in this estate it is with our Christians in this case as it is with the Ivy which claspes and groweth about the tree and draws sap from the tree but it growes not one with the tree because it is not ingrafted into the tree so many a soule commeth to Christ to suck juice from Christ to maintaine his owne berries his owne stocke of grace alas he is but Ivy he is no member or branch of this tree and hence he never groweth to be one with Christ. 2. Now the reasons why men rest in their duties are these First because it 's naturall to a man out of Christ to doe so Adam and all his posterity was to be saved by his doing Doe this and live worke and here is the wages winne life and weare it Hence all his posteritie seekes to this day to be saved by doing like father like sonne Now to come out of all duties truely to a Christ hath not so much as a coate in innocent much lesse corrupted nature hence men seek to themselves now as it is with a bankrupt when his stocke is spent and his estate crackt before he will turne Prentice or live upon another hee will turne Pedler of small wares and so follow his old trade with a lesse stocke so men naturally follow their old trade of doing and hope to get their living that way and hence men having no experience of trading with Christ by faith live of themselves Sampson when all his strength was lost would goe to shake himselfe as at other times so when mens strength is lost and God and grace is lost yet