not to God and some labour to keep conscience void of offence to God but not to man but the yoke of Christ extends to both it lies equally on both shoulders and teaches how to keep a conscience void of offence both towards God and man Acts 24.16 Secondly This Yoke is extensive in regard of the subject It reaches to every man and to every thing in man First To every man to every age of man young and old children and fathers tender years and gray hairs it doth not only lay duty upon young shoulders Eccles 12.1 Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth but upon old ones too They shall bring forth fruit in old age Psal 92.14 To every Sex male and female young men and maidens as David says Psal 148.12 and therefore the fourth Commandment is Exod. 20.10 Thou nor thy son nor thy daughter thy man-servant nor thy maid-servant To every Estate this Yoke of Christ reaches duty to them that are out of the Yoke and under the Yoke to the unmarried and to them who are married As the unmarried are to care for the things of the Lord 1 Cor. 7.32 34. so are the married also 1 Cor. 7.29 And therefore it is charged as a great sin upon him who when he was invited to the Wedding-supper refused the Call of Christ upon that pretence I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come Luke 14.20 To every degree and rank of men high and low rich and poor great and small Psal 148.11 Kings of the earth and all people The Law of Christ lays the same Yoke upon all There are none below it because of their meanness none above it because of their greatness Some plead priviledge and exemption from humane Laws and therefore they are compared as Solons Laws were to Spiders webs wherein the lesser flies are intangled and held but the great ones break through But there are none can plead priviledge or pretend immunity from the Law of Christ for it extends to every man Secondly It extends to every thing in man To the outward Members and inward Faculties To the Eye He that looks on a woman to lust after her committeth adultery in his heart Mat. 5.28 To the Ear Incline your ear and come to me hear and your souls shall live Isai 55.3 To the Tongue Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth Ephes 4.29 Let your speech be alway with grace seasoned with salt Coloss 4.6 To the Hands Let him that stole steal no more but rather let him labour working with his hands the thing which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth Ephes 4.28 To the Feet Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path Psal 119.105 And to the inward Parts also To the Vnderstanding Through thy precepts I get understanding Psal 119.104 To the Will. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power Psal 110.3 To the Conscience for that is guided by the Word and accuses or excuses according to the Word Conscience is a rule ruled but it is the Law of God that is the rule ruling To the Affections It teaches us what to love and what to hate what to desire and what to eschew How to rejoyce and how to mourn what to hope after and what to fear God is to be the object of some affections as love Col. 3.2 desire hope joy and delight And sin of others as anger hatred sorrow and fear and both sorts are under the directions of the Word Nay it extends to the very Thoughts To worldâ—y thoughts carking thoughts Matt. 6.25 28 31 34. To vain thoughts Jer. 4.14 To evil thoughts Matt. 9 4. And so brings every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.5 Thus every thing in man comes under the Yoke of Christ Thirdly This Yoke of Christ is extensive as to the Commands it reaches to every Command First To relative Precepts as well as absolute It doth not only teach us to hear and pray and repent and believe and love God and serve him but it extends to every relative Duty It teaches men subjection to Rulers and Rulers their duty to their Subjects It teaches Parents how to govern and Children how to obey it teaches Masters how to command and Servants how to submit It instructs the Husband how to love and the Wife how to be subject It teaches Ministers how to guide and watch and their People how to obey and submit It lays a special Law upon every person to fill up his relation with all becomingness it allows no churlish sour morose carriage in Superiors to them that are beneath them nor any unfaithfulness or disobedience in Inferiors to them that are above them Secondly It reaches to positive Precepts as well as negative and so provides against our sinful omissions as well as against our carnal practices Negatives in Religion are not sufficient though few go farther like the Pharisee Luke 18.11 not oppressive not unjust not unclean But alas this will not serve turn the barren tree that bears no fruit is as well cut down Luke 13.7 as the tree that bears evil fruit Matt. 3.10 The rich man was cast into Hell not for oppressing Lazarus but for not relieving him he did not exercise cruelty but he shewed no mercy Not only the evil servant is cast into Hell for persecuting his fellow-servant Mat. 24.49 as many now a-days do but the slothful servant hath the same doom that hid his talent in a napkin Mat. 25.30 Our obedience should carry a correspondency with Gods mercies which are not only privative but positive He hath not only delivered us from Hell 1 Thess 2.12 but called us to his Kingdom and Glory And Christ is not come only to save us from death Joh. 3.16 Joh. 10.10 but come that we might have life God promiseth Abraham to be his shield and his exceeding great reward Gen. 15 1. A shield to keep off all evil an exceeding great reward in the communication of all good Thus Grace is intirely dispensed in positive mercies as well as privative and our obedience should be proportionable We should not only abstain from sin but exercise our selves to godliness 1 Tim. 4.7 Amos 5.15 Rom. 12.9 Therefore every command of God is positive as well as negative it hath a Precept as well as a Prohibition if not in express terms yet in sense and meaning When he forbids sin he doth therein command all contrary duties that we may as well owne God as abandon lust and keep up a fellowship with him as well as break our confederacy with corruption Thirdly It reaches to commands for suffering as well as commands for doing For you must know that the Cross of Christ is a part of the Yoke of Christ If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me Matt. 16.24 We
temptation Be always employed that when Satan comes he may not find thee at leisure Many have been kept from great temptations by being diligent in their Callings and many by idle diversions have fallen into great temptations and snares Dinah wanders abroad and is deflowred before she comes home Tertullian tells of a Christian Woman who going to see a Play was there possessed by the Devil and when he was asked by some who came to her and set themselves to pray him out how he durst possess one that was a Christian He answered I found her in my own Ground Oh how should this warn young ones to take heed of the Play-houses These are the Devils Ground and what he finds upon his own Ground he will possess as his own He is the Lord of that Mannor and being so the Waifs and Estrays are all his Let young ones therefore take up the Yoke of some lawful Calling betimes But this Civil Yoke is not the Yoke in the Text. Secondly The Yoke as Metaphorically taken is used in a Moral or Religious sense and so there is a threefold Yoke which it is not good to bear and a threefold Yoke which it is good to bear There is a threefold Yoke which is not good to bear The Yoke of Mosaical Ceremonies The Yoke of Antichristian Impositions The Yoke of sin and lust First The Yoke of Mosaical Ceremonies This in its day was a strict Yoke a heavy Yoke a Yoke as the Apostle Peter says which neither we nor our Fathers were able to bear Acts 15.10 But this Yoke the Lord Christ hath freed us from the Ceremonial Law was abolished by him and had no use after his death but by accident as he who builds a Vault lets the Centrels stand till he puts in the Key-stone and then pulls them away So that now the Rule is Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not intangled again in the Yoke of bondage Gal. 5.1 Secondly There is the Yoke of Antichrist which is made up of humane inventions and impositions in the Worship of God on which foundation all the Will-worship Superstition and Idolatry which at this day obtain in the World do stand This is a heavier Yoke than the former for that had once the sanction of God and there the authority made the subjection reasonable though burthensom but this never had and therefore more grievous because herein we are made Slaves to the lusts of men whereas in that we were Subjects to the will of God And therefore to be imposed upon by Ceremonies of mens devising when we are actually freed by Christ from the Ceremonies that were once of Gods appointing Bagshaw's Great Question about things indifferent is a very heavy Yoke a Yoke which one says is in the Imposer tyranny and in the Persons imposed upon burden and bondage And therefore a Yoke which without sin in transgressing the Precept of our Lord Christ Mat. 23.8 and his Apostle we may not submit to 1 Cor. 7.23 Because hereby we owne a power in the Imposers over conscience which God never gave to any and so abet them in their sinful usurpations upon the Prerogative of the Lord Jesus Christ Psal 2.6 Isai 9.6 Matth. 28.18 who alone is King and Head of the Church and hath the Government upon his shoulders And also because we make our selves to be what in things appertaining to the worship of God we are commanded not to be viz. the Servants of men Ye are bought with a price be not ye the servants of men 1 Cor. 7.23 This then is another Yoke which we ought not to bear When once humane inventions become Impositions and lay a necessity upon that which God hath left free then may we lawfully reject them as Plants of mans setting and not of Gods owning and which he will therefore in his time assuredly root up Matth. 15.13 Thirdly There is the Yoke of sin and lust For though Sinners are said to be Children of Belial that is without Yoke * So the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 absque 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 jugum quasi absque jugo scilicet Legis Divinae Clarius Tralatio à bubus jugum subire nolentibus Drusius And accordingly the Septuagint render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet none under such a Yoke as they for as the service of Christ is perfect freedom so to be free from righteousness is the basest thraldom Rom. 6.20 If sin breaks one Yoke off it ever puts another on They have broken the Yoke and burst the Bonds Jer. 5.5 there is one Yoke cast off and then it follows in the next Verse Their transgressions are many their backslidings are encreased there is another Yoke put on As in conversion Christ breaks off the Yoke of sin and Satan and puts his own upon a man so the Sinner breaks off the Yoke of God Psal 2.3 Luke 19.14 27. and subjects himself to Satans Yoke and therefore some say wicked men are called Children of Belial making Belial the name of the Devil Quidam Belial nomen esse Daemonis contendunt ductum à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ascendet quia nos ascendere sursum non permittet What concord hath Christ with Belial i. e. with Satan says the Syriac Version And hence Sinners are said to be taken captive by him at his will 2 Tim. 2.26 And he is said to work that is with power and success in the children of disobedience Ephes 2.2 And this is the Reign of Satan in the soul of a Sinner for as the Lord Christ reigns in the hearts of his people by the power of Grace and righteousness so Satan reigns in the hearts of wicked men by the power of sin and lust Now it cannot be good in any sense to bear this Yoke because it every way tends to the hurt and mischief of the soul 1. As it breaks off the Yoke of God which is everyway suited to the good and advantage of man For the commandment is holy just and good Rom. 7.12 holy as it is the expression of the will of the holy God iust in that it commands nothing but what is equal and fit to be obeyed good as it promotes the advantage and happiness of the soul that obeys it 2. As it inslaves the Creature to the basest bondage and most unreasonable vassalage in the World O what a noble Creature was man while he did bear the Image of God lived in his will and enjoyed a constant fellowship with him But alas How is the Gold become dim and the fine Gold changed Lam. 4.1 How hath sin debased his Excellency defaced the Image of God shut him out of favour and out of fellowship So that now he is become a Slave to Satan and all manner of lusts And can it be good to bear this Yoke What! to oppose God to be
our chief good is in the enjoyment of him and therefore whatever tends to the promoting of our enjoyment of God that is to be reckoned as good be it in it self pleasant or ungrateful sweet or bitter For as nothing is good but what is from the chief good so nothing is so but what conduces to the fruition of him and therefore That may be good in its use which is not Concl. 4 good in its nature Afflictions may be regretful to the flesh because of present smart but they may be very conducing to the soul because of after benefit No affliction at the present seems to be joyous but grievous nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them which are exercised thereby Heb. 12.11 The end puts a loveliness into those means which otherwise have no loveliness in them Thus you launch a part to ease the whole and cut off a limb to preserve life We are not so much to consider what things are in themselves as what they are in their tendency and end Physick must have time to work Quest 2. For whom are afflictions good Answ The Text answers the Question indefinitely and an indefinite is of the nature of an universal It is good for a man that is for every man all men come under one of these denominations they are either good or evil now afflictions are good for both First They are good for a good man or else God would never lay good men under them but we see them that lye nearest to his heart to be most under this Yoke God gave to Esau Mount Seir to possess it but Jacob and his Children went down into Egypt Josh 24.4 and yet Jacob was loved and Esau hated Mal. 1.2 3. The good Figs were sent into the Land of Chaldea for their good Jer. 24.5 He for our profit Heb. 12.10 This Yoke is not only profitable but necessary and it is the wisdom of God to suit his Providence to our necessities For a season ye are in heaveness if need be 1 Pet. 1.6 Not else A tender Father doth not use the Rod but when there is need he provides with delight but he punishes with regret God hath a treasure of mercy and a treasure of wrath the treasure of mercy is of his own filling but the treasure of wrath is of our filling and therefore we are said to treasure up to our selves wrath against the day of wrath Rom. 2.5 that is by our sinning against God There is more or less of all sin where yet the work of conversion is really wrought There is much lust to be mortified pride to be subdued the World to be crucified the will to be made more docile and resigned the affections to be weaned many remains of sin to be purged out and this God doth by afflictions By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away his sin Isai 27.9 He brings them into deep waters not to drown them but to cleanse them Gold is not cast into the fire to be consumed but to be refined so that the fire takes nothing from it but the dross Nor doth affliction take any thing from a good man but his sin And as it is necessary for the purging out of sin so it is for the exercising and improving of Grace it is a Fining-Pot to faith 1 Pet. 1.7 The Promoter of humility 2 Cor. 12.17 The incentive to godly fear Psal 55.19 The Worker of patience Rom. 5.8 A Rack for confession of sin Psal 32.4 5. A Goad to repentance Jer. 31.18 A School of obedience Heb. 5.8 An improvement of all holiness Heb. 12.10 Thus what the outward man loses the inward man gets if he be straitned in the Flesh he is enlarged in the Spirit It is said of the Children of Israel that the more they were afflicted the more they multiplied and grew Exod. 1.12 And so doth Grace in every good man it grows by affliction When the North Wind blows upon the Garden of the Spouse then her Spices flow forth Cant. 4.16 The biggest Fish are in the salt Waters and they are the most growing Christians that are most in the salt Waters of affliction Secondly Afflictions are good for carnal and unconverted men and that many ways First They many times obviate those evils which through the corruption of our natures are occasioned by worldly prosperity Good men are many times made worse by outward successes and therefore no wonder if evil men are so much more Let favour be shewed to the wicked yet will he not learn righteousness Isai 26.10 Outward prosperity causes great indulgence to the Flesh which is an utter enemy to Vertue The beginning of all obedience is the mortifying the Flesh which no natural man can endure especially when nourished by ease and prosperity for then reason is most commonly drowned in sense and judgment extinguished in appetite It tempts a man to take up his rest in present comforts like the Children of Reuben and Gad who when they found the Land of Gilead was a place for Cattel Numb 32.1 they sue to Moses that that may be their portion This Land is a Land for Cattel and thy Servants have Cattel wherefore say they if we have found Grace in thy sight let this Land be given to thy Servants for a possession and bring us not over Jordan ver 4 5. Though Canaan was the promised Land and the Blessing lay in a Portion there yet they desire to take up on this side Jordan without seeking ought in the Land of promise It hinders our enquiries after God and becomes a temptation to set light by him and his Precepts Job speaking of the prosperity of the wicked makes this the sad effect of it Therefore they say unto God Depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways what is the Almighty that we should serve him and what profit should we have if we pray unto him Job 21.14 15. Nay it provokes to down right Atheism And this is the reason of Agars prayer against riches Lest I be full and deny thee and say Who is the Lord Prov. 30.9 Thus the prosperity of fools destroys them Prov. 1.32 It puffs up the heart with pride and scorn They are not in trouble as other men neither are they plagued like other men therefore pride compasseth them about as a Chain Psal 73.5 6. Now these and such like mischiefs are often remedied by early affliction By being inured to wants and abatements we are made to see the emptiness of the Creatures what lying vanities they are The soul is hereby put upon seeking after God In their afflictions they will seek me early Hos 5.15 By this means the soul is debased and laid low And this the Holy Ghost makes to be one fruit of early bearing the Yoke in the next Verses to the Text He sitteth alone and keepeth silence because he hath born it upon him He putteth his mouth
A Religion devised by Mahomet b With the assistance of Sergius a Nestorian Monk and some other Jews and Hereticks that Impostor and made up for the most part of foolish Precepts and as ridiculous rewards c To the observers of his Laws he promises a Paradise furnished with pleasant rivers fruitful trees silken carpets beautiful women choice musick good chear rich wines c. designed chiefly to gratifie the flesh Compare it with the Popish Religion and how much more pure is it than that both in Doctrine Worship and Discipline Their Doctrine is impure It is in many things contrary to the Scriptures as about Venial sins Merits of Works Supererogation forbidding to Marry their seven Sacraments Purgatory c. And in some things it is contrary to reason and sense as in that ridiculous Doctrine of Transubstantiation Their Worship is impure witness their Prayers to Saints and Angels their Image-worship their making their publick Prayers in a Language the people understand not their Masses their denying the Cup in the Lords Supper to the people Their Discipline is impure for whereas the Church is to be governed by Christ his Laws only they have contrived a Discipline of their own and make their Canons and Constitutions to take place of the appointments of Jesus Christ thus the man of sin sits as God in the temple of God 1 Thess 4.4 O what a corrupt filthy Religion is that of Rome an intolerable Yoke and therefore our Forefathers did righteously cast it off and never let us their children any more put it on Secondly This Yoke of Christ is a spiritual Yoke it reacheth the soul as well as the senses There is an intra as well as an extra an internal power binding the heart as well as an external that aweth the outward man The Laws of men have no spiritual power they govern the outward man but can't reach to the heart and conscience A man may love sin meditate mischief think treason and yet liable to no humane Law without overt-acts But Christ's Law reaches the inwards it is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart It binds the soul to its behaviour Heb. 4.12 as well as the senses so that a man may be a transgressor of the Law though he refrains all open wickedness For the Law is spiritual Rom. 7.14 and therefore requires not only outward obedience in word and deed but inward in mind and heart Thirdly It is a strict and absolute Yoke it lays the soul under an absolute subjection allows of nothing to be done but what is according to the will of God what God doth either command or warrant nor doth it abate ought of what God would have performed Though the Grace of the Gospel passes by many sins Rom. 5.16 the free gift is of many offences to justification yet the Precepts of the Gospel allow of no sin Though the young Man kept many commands yet because he failed in one thing one thing thou lackest all was nothing â—â—â—k 10.21 The Covenant of Works did not require a more strict obedience when it was for life than the Law of Christ doth It leaves the Creature no liberty for the least sin It is a yoke of absolute subjection without conditions or reserves and when we give up our selves to the government of the Divine will it is to a subjection that is absolute we are to have no other God Exod. 20.3 he is to be Lord alone If you have a servant and bid him do this or that it may be he will tell you it is not my work it was none of my bargain I am content to serve in the Chamber but not in the Kitchin or to be your Steward but not to serve in the Stable But the yoke of Christ admits of none of these conditions for the Law is indivisible You may number the commands but you may not divide them for they are but the various significations of the same Divine will The Precepts of the Gospel are not to be taken disjunctim but completive not singly but all together and so they make one intire Law of Righteousness And therefore he that wilfully slights any one command of Christ breaks the yoke he violates totam legem Jam. 2.1 though not totum legis the whole Law though not every command As he that breaks one link breaks the whole chain Or as he that breaks a mans arm wrongs the whole man though he doth not break every limb Fourthly It is an extensive Yoke It comprehends the whole of mans obedience It prescribes every duty we have no need to run to humane inventions to direct our obedience both the credenda and the agenda whatever is to be believed and done in order to life eternal is prescribed in the Word Thy commandment is exceeding broad Psal 119.96 Will you see in a few things where the latitude of it lies First It reaches from Heaven to Earth It directs our carriage and behaviour to God and man and teaches us to keep a conscience void of offence towards both The grace of God that brings salvation teaches us to live righteously and godly in this present world Tit. 2.11 12. Holiness to God is not enough without Righteousness to man nor righteousness to man without holiness to God that obedience doth not answer the end of the command that is not extended to both some will make conscience of the first Table and not of the second and some are second Table Christians but not first Some are strict in their devotions but very unrighteous in their dealings They will not bow to an Idol nor allow of the inventions of men in the worship of God but yet make no conscience of breaking the commands of God that are given to govern their dealings with men they will not neglect an Ordinance nor swear an Oath but yet will lie and deceive be uncharitable and cruel forgetting that command of God to deal justly and love mercy Mic. 6.8 As if that Law of loving thy neighbour as thy self were abrogated to let in a liberty for self to compass its own ends upon all without regard to any On the other hand some are very just and equal in their dealings with men but very neglectful and regardless of God they will not bow down to a Harlot but yet will bow down to an Idol They will not defile their bodies with fornication and uncleanness and yet in love to an unclean worship drink daily of the wine of Babylons fornication Rev. 17.2 they will not wrong their neighbour of a farthing and yet stick not to rob God of all that trust love Isai 30.10 fear and worship that is due to him they will not lye nor deceive among men and yet love a lying and deceitful Religion This is the fashion of the world to be in with one duty and out with another Some labour to keep conscience void of offence to man but
time to die a time to weep and a time to laugh c. v. 4. One hath this observation That there are two things Solomon allots no time for viz. for sin and for serving God He allots no time for sin because that ought never to be committed he allots no time for serving God because that ought never to be neglected Sin is never in season and obedience never is out of season It is not enough to shew our respect to the Command at one time and not at another it must reach to all times Psal 119.20 Psal 106.3 Blessed are they that keep judgment and he that doth righteousness at all times And this seems to be the sense of that 119. Psal 96. vers I have seen an end of all perfection but thy commandment is exceeding broad the breadth of the Command is set in opposition to the finiteness of all Creature-perfections it is therefore exceeding broad because it ingages to that duty that is never throughly finished so long as we are in this world Therefore we are never to be weary of well doing Gal. 6.9 Why should we Is not Christ as sweet always at at first The Commands of God as equal The ways of God as lovely Heaven as desirable as ever However the Yoke of Christ be always the same yet a Christian in regard of himself hath more reason to keep it on than he had at first to take it up because by reason of use he hath had his senses exercised to discern between good and evil Heb. 5.14 He hath had such tastes of God in the course of his obedience as he was a stranger to at the first entrance His experiences are now greater Christ upon tryal is sweeter and the recompence of reward is nearer Your salvation is nearer than when ye first believed Rom. 13.11 Therefore there must be no declining The righteous shall hold on his way Job 17.9 He that hath once put his hand to the plow Luk. 9.62 must not look back this Yoke being once put on should never be put off till God take it off which e're long he will do and instead of a Yoke upon the neck put a Crown upon the head Rev. 2.10 and so reward your present obedience with an eternal blessedness Thus you have an account what the Yoke of Christ is It consists of the Commands of Christ which are the Conditions of our Salvation And this Yoke is pure spiritual absolute extensive laborious and lasting That is the first thing I will be briefer in the next Quest 2. Why are the Commands of Christ called a Yoke Answ 1. With respect to the corrupt nature of man 2. With respect to the nature of the Commands themselves 1. With respect to the corrupt nature of man which accounts them so They are the lusts of the flesh that make Duty a Yoke or else the Precept would be a Law but no Yoke As it is the soreness of the foot which makes the shooe a burden which otherwise would be an help The Angels in Heaven are under a Law but not under a Yoke and so are glorified Saints for in them there is no manner of unsuitableness to or regret at the will of God Man with respect to the Law of God is to be considered either as carnal or converted unregenerate or born again First As carnal and unregenerate and while he is in that state the Law of Christ is not only a Yoke but an intolerable Yoke flesh and blood cannot bear it because of that enmity that is between the Law of God and his lusts He is under the prevalency of a quite contrary Law the Law of Sin and where the Law of sin rules the Law of Christ can take no place He is not subject to the law of God nor indeed can be Rom. 8.7 How can an evil tree bring forth good fruit How can darkness have communion with light How can the old nature do the works of the new creature The carnal mind can never bear Christs Yoke because of that opposition that is in lust to the Divine Law it is not only averse to it but adverse it doth not only draw the heart from God but opposeth him Christ commands one thing and the flesh another the Command says Mortifie the flesh Lust says Make provision for the flesh the Command is for self-denial Lust is for self-pleasure Christ is for obedience and holiness and therefore Lust says Luke 19.14 This man shall not rule Because the Law opposes lust therefore lust opposes the Law Jer. 23.34 it crys out The burden of the Lord Joh. 6.60 it complains of hard sayings and grievous commands Secondly Man is to be considered as in a regenerate state which yet is but the imperfection of Grace for though the new creature hath a perfection of parts yet it hath not a perfection of degrees there are remains of corruption in every part though lust be dethroned it is not ejected though it hath lost its regency yet it retains a residence it hath a great power though not a reigning power it hath the power of a Tyrant though not of a King and often captivates Rom. 7.23 though it don't command Now though so far as Grace prevails the command of Christ is no Yoke no burden no task it is a pleasure and delight Rom. 7.22 it is no more a Yoke than it is to an Angel in Heaven or than it was to Christ Is it a Yoke to a man to eat and drink to take his meals and satisfie his hunger No more is it to the renewed nature to obey the will of God I delight to do thy will O my God Psal 40.8 yet so far as corruption remains unsubdued and unmortified in a child of God so far the commands of Christ are a yoke still for though with the mind he serves the Law of God yet with the flesh he serves the Law of sin Rom. 7.25 the body of death will not bear the yoke of the Lord of life And this is the reason why the Soul so oft crys out and complains of it because it opposes and hinders that subjection to Jesus Christ which the Soul longs and labours to come up to He would be holy as God is holy that he might stand compleat to all the will of God but he finds a Law that when he would do good evil is present Rom. 7.21 2. The commands of Christ are called a Yoke with respect to the nature of the commands themselves which lay the strongest obligation upon the Creature both as to Sin and Grace First As to Sin it injoyns the mortifying every lust and that upon pain of eternal death Rom. 8.13 Secondly As to Grace it requires the getting of grace the growing in grace the exercise of grace and that through the whole course of our lives No such tye upon the Soul as the Yoke of Christ therefore some say Religio is à religando it
all that see their need and trust to his supplies And therefore it is all the reason in the world we should obey his Call and take up his Yoke who injoyns no obedience but what he gives strength and power to perform Fifthly It is he into whose hand the Judgment of the World is committed he is ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead Acts 10.42 And this is what you all profess to believe you say in your Creed that he is ascended into heaven and from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead and it is so for the Father hath committed all judgment to the Son John 5.22 He it is who disposes of all persons to their eternal condition the power of life and death salvation and damnation is in his hand He is the Husbandman who appoints the reapers to gather the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them but to gather the wheat into his barn Mat. 13.30 He is the Bridegroom who takes the wise Virgins in with him to the marriage but excludes the foolish Mat. 25.10 Mat. 25.14 He is the man who travelling into a far Country delivered his goods to his servants to one five talents v. 15. to another two to another one v. 19. and after a long time comes againe and reckons with them blessing and rewarding the diligence of the faithful v. 21. v. 31. and dooming the unprofitable servant into utter darkness And is there not great reason then why every one should take up his Yoke especially considering that it is made up of those Laws that are the rules both of his Government and of his Judgment as he rules by them so he will pass Sentence by them the same Laws that are now given by Christ for a rule of life shall then be the rule of Judgment Our Lord Christ tells you so John 12.48 He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him the words that I have spoken the same shall judge him in the last day If you will not submit to his word to guide you you must submit to it to try you you may decline his Precepts but you cannot decline his Sentence You will not obey him when he says Mat. 16.24 Follow me but you cannot resist him when he says Depart from me It is most rational therefore you should submit to his Precepts Mat. 7.23 or ye can't escape his wrath Psal 2.12 3. God the Holy Spirit he calls for thy obedience and for an early submission to the Yoke of Christ and therefore it is that he begins his work in the Soul betimes I know not nor is it for me to say how early but certainly it is very early There are none of you of any competent age but the Spirit of the Lord hath been dealing with you to bring you under the Yoke of Christ * Among such as are religiously educated there is scarce a child of ten years old but the holy Spirit hath been at work in his heart Increase Mather in his Book about Conversion pag. 134. The Gospel is the ministration of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3.8 and the Call of the Gospel is accompanied with a work of the Spirit where the Gospel calls outwardly the Spirit calls inwardly and this is the highest way of Gods calling There is no work of God beyond the striving of the Spirit in the heart and doubtless the Spirit strives less or more with all under the word He cannot be said to strive with all in the same manner nor in all with equal power and efficacy for then all would as well be brought under Christs Yoke as those that are But that he strives with all in one degree or other is evident For whence is it that many are under such frequent and strong convictions and that they are made to see sin and feel the burden of it convinced of their undone condition under it convinced of the necessity and equity of obedience and a holy life it is from the striving of the Spirit And whence is it that many are brought to take up the Yoke of Christ formally and feignedly that have no work of sound conversion wrought in their hearts So did the stony ground hearer he hears the word Mat. 13.20 and receives it and what is the receiving it but conforming to it So did Simon Magus Acts 8.13 he believed and was baptized and so came under the Yoke of Christ And whence is this but from the power of the Spirit put forth to convince of sin and of the equity of the ways of Christ This doth it Through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves to thee Psal 66.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mentientur in te Arias Mont. virtus nolentium nulla est The word which we render submit signifies in the Hebrew to lye Your Margent reads it feigned obedience and to feign obedience when the heart is not right with God is a lye And whence is it that many are wearied out of their lusts and brought to a free and willing submission to Christ and his Yoke but from the irresistible power of the Spirit Acts 7.51 And whence is it that many do resist the Spirit of Grace How could he be resisted if he did not put forth his power and strive with the sinner Resistance is a forcible opposition made by one against another in his onsets and attempts So that it is most evident that the Spirit of the Lord strives with all to bring them under the Yoke of Christ at one time or other Now I pray do but consider what reason there is for your compliance with the Spirit herein First Consider what his work and design is It is to prepare the way of the Lord into the heart to break the Yoke of sin to destroy that confederacy with corruption which will be the ruine of thy Soul and so to captivate the heart to the obedience of Christ Whatever means he uses this is the end he pursues If he wound us if he break us if he empty and out us of our selves it is but to bring us to a more ready and free subjection to the Laws of Christ Wounds of Conscience are painful things and spiritual troubles are grievous troubles the burden of sin is a heavy burden but so long as these things are under the management of the Spirit as instrumental to a ready obedience to the Lord Christ there is all the reason in the world why you should undergo them Secondly Let it be considered how uncertain his striving is you don't know how long or how little while it will last He begins betimes but you know not how soon he may have done If you refuse his calls and repulse him when he knocks you have no promise he will knock again To be sure the more you resist him the sooner you quench him and where he is once utterly
sound belief the want of a serious consideration is the great cause why men dally with God For as Faith makes invisible things evident Heb. 11.1 and future things present so consideration makes them great and gives them their due weight Consideration is an intimate view of things it ponders matters fully their natures events and tendencies It compares one thing with another kind with kind cause with cause circumstance with circumstance issue with issue how they begin and how they end Sin and lust are indeliberate and sudden they must have a present compliance they allow of no consideration they consider not that they do evil Eccles 5.1 He considers not that the dead are there and that her guests are in the depths of hell says Solomon of the simple sinner Prov. 9.18 Consideration would break the force of lust and spoil Satans design Would men but seriously ponder what sin is and what the Soul is how deceitful how vain how unsatisfying how brutish the one and how noble how precious how immortal the other they would not stake and pawn them to every base lust as they do Would they but consider of the nearness of death and eternity that within a few days or hours they must be in Heaven or Hell that there is nothing between but a little breath which the next morsel he eats may stop all hangs upon a small thred of life which the next disease may fret in sunder they could not dally with duty and slight conversion and a life of holiness as they do What is the reason that men are better upon a sick bed than at another time that Jesus Christ is then prized and repentance sought and holiness desired which in health were slighted and put off the reason is the sense of their condition their case makes them considerate and consideration gives death and eternity a near approach and than they do make other kind of impressions than when we look on them at a distance Had we but the same thoughts of these things in health as we shall have in sickness we should labour for Grace and Holiness as much now as we shall then wish we had I tell you you don't consider enough of the nearness of death and eternity and he that puts the evil day far off will put the Yoke of Christ off too and so he is undone by his own security 4. It is from the unsuitableness that is betwixt the things of Christ and the temper of a sinner Christs Yoke doth no way fit a carnal heart and where there is unsutableness there will be dislike Matt. 16.23 They savour not the things that be of God A carnal heart is satisfyed with carnal contentments and delights a rattle will please a child and a toy be more welcome to a fool than a Crown Every nature delights in things sutable to it self and therefore it is that the carnal mind is enmity against God Rom. 8.7 that it neither is nor can be subject to the law of God for how can spiritual things be sutable and relishing to a carnal heart If Christ should come to the ambitious man and say follow me and I will give thee all the honour and grandeur of this world or to the voluptuous man and say follow me and I will give thee all the pleasures of sense and flesh or to the covetous man and say follow me and I will fill thy Bags and thy Barns I will bless the Ship and the Shop I will give thee the treasures of the Earth and the Sea this would do more than all the motives of the Gospel The young man had never left Christ as he did had he but urged such an argument as this for his heart to close with It is the base love of this present world that makes the call of the Gospel so unsuccessful and ineffectual you may see it in that parable Matt. 22.5 They make light of the tenders of Christ and what is the reason why the Farm and the Oxen and the Merchandise were in the case these must not be left for Christ where lust hath the casting voice O how sad is this if Christ should offer you riches and honours you would come and yet for Heaven and Glory you will not 5. It is because they are deceived and beguiled partly by the cunning of Satan who puts a false varnish upon things Partly by the deceitfulness of their own hearts which turns them aside that they cannot see and say it is a lye which they have in their right hand Isai 44.20 Partly from the delusive appearances of things which by reason of both the former seem other than they are Bernard distinguishes of four sorts of things 1. Some things are good and pleasant so is communion with God for there is the chiefest goodness and the highest sweetness 2. Some things are good but not pleasant as repentance and mortification and self-denial 3. Some things are neither good nor pleasant as utter despair in the present State it is a thing full of sin and sorrow 4. Some things are pleasant but not good and such are the delights of sin they are sweet but not safe they please but they deceive It is the sweetness of sin that gives it countenance it would never be committed if there were no pleasure in it And herein the deceitfulness of sin consists Heb. 3.13 it allures by fair baits and kills by a sharp hook it tempts by its sweets and destroys by its snares Sin is like poyson very luscious but very dangerous the pleasant taste invites and the sinner can't refrain though that which is sweet in the mouth be in the belly bitter as wormwood Many are so bewitched to their lust that though they know it will cost them their Souls yet they can't renounce its pleasures Now these five things put together namely Ignorance Unbelief Security Unsutableness of spiritual things and the deceitfulness of Sin are the causes why so many slight the Yoke of Christ Secondly Let me in the next place having shewed you the causes of it lay before you the aggravations of it for it is a sin of a very hainous nature to put off and slight coming under Christs Yoke First it is base disingenuity for we don't deal with God as we would have him deal with us When we want any mercy we must be heard at first call but God calls for duty again and again and we hear him not We are impatient if God delays us and yet we make no scruple to delay him When we have any thing for God to do that must be done speedily In the day when I call answer me speedily Psal 102.2 But when God hath any thing for us to do there we take leisure If we would have mercy that must be to day but if God calls for duty we put him off till the morrow Now this is basely disingenuous that when we can't bear Gods delays yet we make him bear ours although
Christ but an unseigned subjection to him Christ is said in that Day to separate the sheep from the goats Matt. 25.32 33. and to set the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left The one for a blessing the other for a curse And who are the sheep why he tells you John 10.27 they that hear his voice and follow him and to these he gives eternal life v. 28. And who are the goats but carnal sinners that will have their lusts rather than Christ that cast off his Yoke Luk. 19. v. 14. v. 27. and will not have him rule over them And what is their doom bring them out and slay them before me There will be but two sorts of men in that day saints and sinners obedient and disobedient subjects and rebels the great question then will be whose servants you have been to whom have you lived to the world to lust or to Jesus Christ and according to this so shall your sentence be as you have lived so shall you be judged see Rom. 2.6 7 8. And therefore as ever you would be able to lift up your heads in the Day of Gods tryal it concerns you to try your selves CHAP. XII Several Rules for the knowledge of our state laid down both negatively and affirmatively Quest HOW may a man know whether he be under the Yoke of Christ or not Answ I will answer the question first Negatively 1. Negatively There are some of whom it may be said without the least rashness of judgment or breach of charity that they are far from the Yoke of Christ professed rebels to his Government and Authority They carry the tokens of Death and Damnation in their foreheads the Holy Ghost reckons them up in several places of Scripture one is in 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God Revel 21.8 The fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all lyars shall have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone which is the second Death These are all sons of Belial they are not under the Yoke of Christ I beseech you consider a little if any of these sins be chargeable upon you your case is desperate you are actually shut out from any claim in Christ You may know as certainly as if God had told you from Heaven that you are in a lost undone condition the Holy Ghost calls all such children of disobedience because of these things the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience Ephes 5.6 2. Such as are scoffers at Godliness and make a mock of Religion This is one of the reigning sins of this Day 2 Pet. 3.3 There shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts Mark while they scoff at Godliness they live in ungodliness walk after their own lusts they will not leave their lusts and therefore scoff at Religion because that opposes their lusts Now what says the Scripture Judgment is prepared for scorners Prov. 19.29 2 Chron. 36.16 These therefore do openly declare they are not under the Yoke of Christ 3. Such as have a secret enmity against the power of Religion they have a form of godliness but deny the power of it 2 Tim. 3.5 These can be no subjects of Christs Kingdom for the Kingdom of God is not in word but in power 4. Such as have their secret reserve in closing with Christ they will not let Benjamin go some sweet sin some profitable lust they will not part with These are not under the Yoke of Christ for he that comes to Christ and hates not father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters yea and his own life also he cannot be my Disciple Luke 14.26 5. Such as live in the sinful neglect of Gods worship that slight hearing the word restrain prayer before God have no regard to their Souls Such are not under the Yoke of Christ for he that is of God heareth Gods word John 8.47 No man that slights the word and worship of God can be under Christs Yoke for it is the word that fastens this Yoke 6. Such as give up themselves to carnal pleasures and delights that are lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God 2 Tim. 3.4 These were never yet under the Yoke of Christ for they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts Gal. 5.24 7. He that trusts to his own righteousness and looks to find acceptance for that was never under the Yoke of Christ for this is a plain rejecting of Christ it puts him out of office a man makes a Saviour of his own duties and so as other men perish by their sins this man perishes by his duties None do reject Christ more than these Rom. 10.3 Going about to establish their own righteousness they have not submitted to the righteousness of God 8. Such as see no need of any strength for duty but their own can do all without any supernatural aids and divine incomes such were never under the Yoke of Christ For that will shew a man his daily need of divine power for every performance 9. He that never felt the burden of sin was never under the Yoke of Christ For none else are call'd to take it up Matt. 11.28 29. 10. Such as maintain an ungrounded confidence of the goodness of their condition without any experience of a change made in them are perswaded their state is safe but cannot shew one good ground for it these are not under the Yoke of Christ O that you that are young would lay these things to heart for now we are upon the search I pray therefore look every one inward is it thus with you for let me tell you whoever is under any one of these Characters hath never yet took up the Yoke of Christ They shall be reckoned among the enemies of Christ that have rejected his Yoke despised his Authority and as such they shall perish except by a timely conversion they be brought to close with and submit to him 2. Affirmatively How may a man know when he is really and indeed under the Yoke of Christ how may he come to a knowledge of the goodness of his state by the truth of his Subjection to the Lord Christ Give me leave to answer the question First More generally Secondly More particularly First More generally There are some things that will greatly contribute to this and without which he will never attain to a well grounded satisfaction in this matter and therefore they are very necessary to be considered and made use of in this inquiry Rule 1. One is a full and deliberate conference with your own hearts He that makes a judgment upon slight inquiries and sudden inconsiderate answers is very like to
to put your selves under his yoke It may be you think you chose wisely in other matters In your yoke fellow in your calling in your dwelling c. but you never shewed such wisdom as in this When Job asks Chap. 28.12 where shall wisdom be found and where is the place of understanding Job 28.14.15.21 and having told you where it is not not in Silver and Gold not in Voyages to Sea Not to be purchased with all Riches nor found in the land of the living He tells you none know what nor where true wisdom is but God ver 23. God understands the way thereof and he knowes the place thereof and it is he that directs us to it ver 28. Vnto man he said behold the fear of the Lord that is wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding There is no man truly wise but he that fears God and keeps his Commandments Eccles 12.13 See wherein the wisdom of this taking up Christs yoke is manifest in six particulars 1. It is manifest in this that the best and wisest of men in all Ages have done it they have rather chosen Obedience to Christ in the meanest services then to be found in complyance with lust What did David mean when he said I had rather be a door keeper in the house of my God then to dwell in the Tents of wickedness Psal 84.10 It was a wise preferring the meanest service of Christ before the greatest pleasures that wicked men enjoy And what meant Moses to refuse to be called the son of Pharaohs Daughter and to choose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season esteeming the reproaches of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt Heb. 11.24 25 26. What was the meaning of this but only to shew that he preferred the worst of Christs Yoke before the best of sin And what made the Apostles forsake all and follow Christ Mat. 11.19 but to shew that wisdom is justified of her children and that they were ready to sacrifice all for the service of such a Master And what made those primitive Martyrs Heb. 11. suffer such mockings scourgings bonds imprisonments tortures c. but their faithfulness to Christ and his ways And if the best in all Ages have taken up Christs yoke then this makes the wisdom of this practise manifest Great reason therefore you should bless God for and give him the glory of your professed subjection to Christ 2. The wisdom of taking up this yoke of Christ is evident in that it is such a yoke all the duties whereof commend themselves to every mans choice It was not so in the Precepts of the Old Covenant a great part of those Laws had little in them to commend them to a mans choice so long as their symbolical nature was not understood save what the authority of God in commanding their observation gave to them Circumcision legal washings sacrifices c. were but beggarly Elements when the command of God for their observation was taken off Gal. 4.9 therefore the Apostle calls them a yoke of bondage Gal. 5.1 Which shews that their observation of them was more because God commanded them than out of any intrinsecal goodness which was in them They obeyed them not out of love of the thing commanded but out of love to that God who commanded them But now the precepts of the Gospel and the things commanded there are desireable for themselves If they had not been injoyned to love God to fear him to worship him in Spirit to be righteous godly sober chast temperate to be meek patient and contented c. these are amabilia pro se lovely in themselves and tend to the peace and satisfaction of the mind besides their relation to a future happiness And there is no man that acts up to the dictates of a considering mind but would choose these things though you should suppose him under no express command thereunto 3. The wisdom of taking up Christs yoke appears in this that whatever your work is your help is greater than your work and your succour greater than your service That which makes any duty difficult and burdensome is when it masters our abilities for performance Now this can't be said of any work Christ calls us to For as thy work is so shall thy strength be If God calls out one St. to greater services than another he will furnish him with more strength and help than another I laboured more abundantly then they all yet not I but the grace of God which was with me 1 Cor. 15.10 His work was great and his help was great He abounded in labour and God abounded in grace He did more than all and he recieved more than all And if you would know what helps Christians have in the way of obedience They are these 1. They have the help of the Ordinances of Christ and it is a great power and strength that is derived from them to the soul that sits daily under them Pro. 10.29 The way of the Lord is strength to the upright The Ordinances of Christ are not empty things though they have no fulness of their own yet they give out much from the Fountain They go from strength to strength How so Every one of them in Sion appears before God Psal 84.7 2. They have the help of the prayers of all the Saints For as the prayers of every Believer are directed to the good of all the Church of Christ So the prayers of the whole are designed for the good of every member There is a mutual traffick in Heaven by the prayers of Saints one for another if one Believer be in temptations in darkness in sufferings and troubles All the Saints of God are wrestling for his relief So the Church did for Peter when in prison and their prayers did more to release him then all jaylers and fetters could do to detain him Mark that of the Apostle 2 Cor. 1.10 11. Who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust he will yet deliver us you also helping together by prayer for us that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf The prayers of the Saints are greatly available one for another We have many a mercy that we never prayed particularly for but possibly it hath been the fruit of others prayers and therefore the Apostle calls it a gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons Others sow the seed and we enter into their harvest and reap their labours And this is one great part of that Communion of Saints which in our Creed we say that we believe 3. They have a help greater than all this and that is the help of Jesus Christ and he is the mighty helper That is an excellent Scripture could we believe it and live upon it Zech. 10.12 I will strengthen