us to all holy endeavours of Obedience this is sometimes called the activity or working of Grace Faith worketh by love Gal. 5.6 Sometimes Zeal or an earnest burning of affection towards God or that holy Ardor whereby we repress those affections unruly motions and desires which are contrary to his Will and do excite and stir up our selves more and more to honour him and please him Titus 2.14 Zealous of good works Sometimes Alacrity and Chearfulness as we prevail in striving against sin and our Love to God increaseth 1 John 5.3 4. All these are as so many degrees First We make Conscience of doing our Duty but that 's not enough a Convinced man may have his Conscience stirring and pleading for God but a Converted man or a renewed Heart hath an inclination and not only an inclination but some fitness and not only some fitness but there is an impulsion which discovereth its self either by stirring or exciting to that which is good though with difficulty which is the lowest degree All Grace is stirring and would fain break out into action for 't is not a dead and sleepy habit but seeketh to break forth and is called by the Apostle The Lustings of the Spirit Gal. 5.17 Another Degree is Zeal and Love to the glory of God whom they honour and desire to exalt continually which maketh them complain of Corruption and to strive against it and to shake off sloathfulness and the weights of sin that hang upon us when the Spirit gets the upper hand but the flesh is not easily subdued Then we are more at liberty to serve God and so Alacrity followeth when a man hath Pleasure in good actions and the Flesh is so overcome and subdued that it can make little or no opposition and so we perform our Duty with more ease and delight which is the highest degree SERMON III. MATTH XXV v. 3 4. They that were foolish took their Lamps and took no Oyl with them But the wise took Oyl in their Vessels with their Lamps I Come now to the Second Effect Secondly An habitual Aversation to that which is evil Psal. 97.10 Ye that love the Lord hate evil 'T is as natural to Grace to hate evil as to love good As Love was made for God and the things which he hath Commanded and tends to the enjoyment of him so Hatred was made for sin and what is contrary to God Man hath an eschewing faculty as well as an embracing and choosing faculty and Grace falleth upon both and sanctifyeth the one as well as the other Amos 5.15 Hate the evil and love the good Love was given us for good and Hatred for evil Love was made for the chiefest good and all things that tend to it and Hatred for that which is truely and properly evil Now concerning this Effect of Grace I shall observe these things 1. Grace produceth an Hatred of sin not a bare abstinence from it Sin may be restrained by forreign reasons not proper to Grace as a Dogg that hath a mind to the Bait may abstain for fear of the Cudgel So Men may abstain because of the Penalty of Laws Infamy shame in the World or other reasons as Haman refrained himself that he might the better take Revenge upon the whole race of the Jews Men may refrain from sin when there is not a rooted Enmity against it whereas in the Saints there is a constant Principle of resistance against it 1 John 3.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Seed of God abideth in him The Grace of Sanctification doth change the nature of a man and his Heart is set against that he loved before Look as the Lord will not respect mens external practice of Good when it may be their Hearts abhor and loath it and are bent on other courses he requireth chiefly that they be rooted in the Love of good and delight in it so he will not accept a simple not-doing or forbearing evil while it may be their Hearts are going a Whoring after it but will have them really hate and detest it that there should be an abiding Enmity in their Hearts against it and where 't is so that there is an habitual Love of good and hatred of evil Christ will pass by many failings in practice as you may see Rom. 7.22 23 24 25. that is the Case there The evil that I hate that do I and I delight in the Law of God in the inward man Clear these two once and the remainders of sin will not be your ruine 2. Grace produceth an hatred of sin as sin out of a principle of Love to God and as it is contrary to his Law and the new nature planted in us Ye that love the Lord hate evil and he that is born of God sinneth not that is the principle because the Seed of God abideth in you The School-men distinguish of two sorts and kinds of Hatred Odium abominationis and Odium inimicitiae the first is defined by Aquinas to be Dissonantia quaedam appetitus ad id quod apprehenditur ut repugnans noxium an aversation of the Appetite to what is apprehended repugnant and contrary to us Such an hatred there is in the regenerate for they apprehend sin as repugnant and contrary to their renewed Will to the unregenerate 't is agreeable and suitable as Draffe to the appetite of a Swine or Grass and Hay to a Bullock and Horse The other is an Hatred of Enmity so called both for the ground of it and the effect of it the ground as an evil that which is an Enemy and hurtful to us as sin is to our Peace and Happiness Temporal Spiritual and Eternal but chiefly as to the effect of it Hatred is a willing of evil and mischief to the thing or person hated Both these Hatreds are in the Children of God They hate sin not only as it may bring Loss and Detriment horrour of Conscience and Damnation but out of the pure Love of God as 't is contrary to his Image and Will and they hate it with an hostile Hatred so as to seek the destruction of it Non cessat in laesione Peccati sed in exterminio it doth not scratch at the Face of sin but is seeking to mortifie and subdue it and therefore are alwayes Mourning Praying Watching Striving Famishing it by cutting off its Provisions and denying its Satisfactions and still following the work close 'till we get the Mastery of it 3. I Observe That renewing Grace doth so far obtain and produce this effect in the Hearts of those that are under it that their Hatred to sin is greater than their Love to it and sin is thereby more and more weakened and subdued in the Soul We flatter our selves with notions of Love and Hatred unless there be some answerable Success and Prevalency It cannot be Imagined that sin should Live in its full strength where there is a fixed settled frame of Heart against it that there should be in the Soul
against it Methinks it looks like going to the Day of Judgment Here we receive the Pledges of our Salvation or Damnation 3. We should come with Oyl in our Vessels as well as in our Lamps 1. Our Lamps should be kept burning bright If you are sluggish now 't is a sign you are slight in the whole Surely now the King sitteth at his Table Cant. 1.2 our Spicknard should send forth the smell thereof a lively exercise of Grace Now we come for meat which perisheth not now is our familiar converse with Christ and near Communion with him now we come to our Legal Investiture Christ and all his benefits are delivered by these signs which he hath instituted As if a man should say Here is my House when a Deed is delivered and you give up the Key or give possession of Land by a Turf This is our solemn taking possession of him and all his benefits We receive Christ in the Promises of the Covenant but here is a particular close Application In the Word Christ is offered and exposed to all as the Brazen Serpent that whoever looked upon him might be healed But this Supper is like the Blood sprinkled upon the Door-posts In the Word Christ and Immortality are brought to light now Christ is slain before our eyes The Bread is put into our hands and mouths 2. We should come with Oyl in our Vessels Would we have the Spirit blow upon a dead Cole He findeth nothing in us to work upon We are bidden to examine and what must we examine 1 Cor. 11.28 The Apostle will tell you Whether you be in the faith or no 2 Cor. 13.5 But to speak to this case I confess that in Foro Ecclesiae in the Court of the Church all are Virgins that take their Lamps that do profess to believe all these must be admitted But in Foro Coeli in the Court of Heaven none but Converted ones are admitted But in Foro Conscientiae in the Court of Conscience I dare not discourage those that have the grace of the second or third ground 'T is a means to strengthen them in Faith Hope and Love and make them more firm in the Covenant of God And the difference is too nice between temporary Grace and saving Grace for any to exclude themselves I am bound to come with Grace but I am not bound to come with Assurance Besides in the Kingdom of Grace Christ will not shut them out They that have good affections should come but with this caution I would press them to mind the renouncing and engaging part of the Covenant and earnestly to break the League between themselves and their own wayes and engage themselves more firmly to God for time to come that you may not think as you have done or speak as you have done nor behave your selves in your Relations as you have done but throw sin out of doors I would press you in the Apostles words Heb. 10 22. Let us draw near with a true heart having our Hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our Bodies washed with clean water The one relateth to the Duty-part Let us draw nigh with a true heart the other relateth to the Promissory part Though your Grace be common Grace 't is this way moulded into special 2 Doct. That this will be found to be true Wisdom and the other Folly For Wisdom to begin with that Wisdom is Index sui obliqui Wisdom lyeth 1. In proposing a right End 2. In the Choice of fit Means And 3. In an earnest Prosecution of the End by these Means This is the property of Wisdom in the General and it holdeth true in Godly Wisdom The wise Virgins did so Their End was right to be admitted in to the Nuptial Feast or everlasting enjoyment of God And then they use right Means such as will bring them to the end We do not use to draw Ships in the Sea with Horses nor draw Wagons with the Wind. We must not use contrary means nor insufficient means We cannot go to to the bottom of a Well that is thirty foot deep with a line that is but ten foot We must use such as will certainly do The Wisdom of God hath fixed Means for us and we are doubly Fools if we will not use them opportunely carefully and constantly Else 't is a Prize put into a fools hand Prov. 16.17 The Wise Virgins did all this sought Oyl in time both for their Lamps and Vessels Luk. 13.24 On the contrary he that contents himself with a profession of Christ without a work of Grace upon his Heart is a Fool he is not a Profane Fool that doth the contrary but a Professing Fool that sort of Profession is better than Prophaneness so far 't is a degree of Wisdom but rested in 't is Folly it faileth in all the points of Wisdom in the end they do not esteem the Lord as the chief good for they think a little ease of the Flesh or a little sensual Liberty or a satisfaction of a Lust to be better or Honour or Pleasure or Gain this quiets them in the neglect or want of God they see some good in Christ offer fair for him but take him not as the chiefest good they are willing to part with something but not with all for his sake SERMON IV. MATTH XXV v. 5. While the Bridegroom tarryed they all Slumbred and Slept WE have seen wherein they differed now we shall see again wherein they agree In the words observe 1. What happened to the Virgins They all slumbred and slept 2. The Occasion of it I do not say the Cause While the Bridegroom tarryed The Cause of sleeping was Infirmitas humana the Occasion of it Mora Sponsi In the first of these 1. Who They all 2. What slumbred and slept First Who They all 'T is no wonder to hear it of the foolish Virgins but that the wise should do it there is the difficulty Therefore some of the Ancients understand it of Death which is called sleep in Scripture but that is improbable and suiteth not with the frame and drift of this Parable Some would understand it distributively not conjunctively that the wise slumbred and the foolish slept but 't is not said slumbred or slept but slumbred and slept The meaning is all of them were not so diligent in their Duty as they should have been even the good are in part negligent as well as the foolish though they alwayes keep a good Conscience and an heart in some measure alwayes prepared to meet Christ. Secondly What Slumbred and slept Wherein the degree of their security is set forth they did not only slumber which is a less failing but Slept Thirdly The Order First slumbred and then slept Doctrine That the Foolish and Wise both Slumber and Sleep I shall First enquire What this Slumbering and sleeping is Secondly How far it may befall the Children of God or the Wise Virgins Thirdly The Causes and Reasons of it First What
be opened therefore when we are about to do any thing unworthy say as he Acts 19.40 We are in danger to be called to an Account for this day uproar there being no Cause whereby we may give an Account of this Concourse so should you We that are to give an Account how careful should we be how we use our Time Health Strength Understanding Authority Wealth and other Blessings of God The commonness of these Notions maketh them to lose their Life and Influence Therefore we should especially act Faith in Believing and urging the Soul with this Account Secondly 'T is particularly described and there 1. Of the Servants Allegation 2. The Masters Approbation 1. The Servants Allegation vers 20 and 22. The two first Servants came chearfully to their Account as having discharged their Duty faithfully and with all diligence improved the Talents received Not that in the day of Judgment good men shall make any Narrations of what they have done they need not for Christ shall do it for them they rather wonder that any thing that they have done is taken notice of as in the 37 th verse of this Chapter but all this is spoken after the manner of men and to keep up the Decorum of the Parable if it signifieth any thing it signifieth the Confidence of a good Conscience and what Comfort and boldness it breedeth in the day of our Accounts Doct. That a faithful Discharge of our Duty will give us Comfort and Boldness when our Lord cometh to reckon with us 1. There is a Confidence and Comfort that ariseth from a good Conscience or from Sanctification as well as Justification In the inward Court Conscience is one of the Witnesses as well as the Spirit of God Rom. 8.16 and much Comfort ariseth from its Testimony 2 Cor. 1.12 This is our rejoycing the Testimony of our Conscience A Carnal man is ashamed of the Grounds of his rejoycing and what it is that keepeth his Heart merry but a Godly man can own the Causes of his joy which are in the first place the Blood of Christ Rom. 5.11 We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have received the Atonement next the Testimony of his Conscience concerning his sincere walking But if a man can live with these Comforts can he dye with them 2. The Review of a well-spent life is a great Comfort in Death Our Lord Jesus at the end of his days when he was to go out of the World John 17.4 saith I have glorified thee upon Earth and finished the Work thou gavest me to do Hezekiah when that sad Message was brought to him that he must die and not live Isa. 38.4 that comforted him upon his Death-bed Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done what is good in thy sight So the Apostle Paul when he drew nigh his end 2 Tim. 4.7 8. saith I have fought a good fight I have finished my Course I have kept the Faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day Oh 't is a blessed thing if we can have this Comfort when Conscience puts off all Disguises and the everlasting Estate is at hand and we are immediately to appear before the Lord to remember then that we have been careful to please and honour God and done his work how sweet is it 3. In the Day of Judgment their works follow them into the other World Rev. 14.13 Their Wealth doth not follow them but the Conscience of having done well abideth with them Conscience is Heaven or Hell to us in Hell it maketh up a part of the Worm that never dyeth so in Heaven it giveth us Confidence 1 John 2.28 and 1 John 4.17 That we may have boldness in the day of Judgment Works are not Meritorious and have no causal influence upon our Salvation yet they have the full place of an Evidence and so may wonderfully Comfort and embolden our Hearts VSE Let us labour to get this Evidence The time of Death is a time that will rifle all our false Hopes You are in your Health and Strength now but how soon you may shoot the Gulph you know not we are hastening into the other World apace When you are immediately to appear before God you will have other thoughts of the World to come and the necessity of Preparation for it than you have now that which will comfort you now will not comfort you then you must look that the Devil will then be most busie to tempt and trouble you and as now he prejudiceth you against the Precepts of the Gospel so then against the Promises of it all your worldly Comfort then will fail and have spent their Allowance and become to you as unsavoury as the white of an Egg. Will this Comfort you that you have sported and gamed away your precious time that you have fared of the best and lived in Pomp and Honour Oh no But this will comfort you I have made it my business to glorifie God I have been Faithful in my place have gotten some Evidence of the Love of God It is not Riches or Greatness or any Earthly Advantage will do you good Oh 't is a Cutting Thought to the Careless and Negligent Now I must give an Account of every day and hour I have spent in this World The Improvement of every Opportunity will be called for Then all your Vanities and carnal Pleasures will be smart upon you and vex your Souls with the grievous Remembrance of them Well then can you in any measure look back upon the Discharge of your Duty There are two Extreams First Some are Presumptuous and Confident because they are not gross Sinners but what have they done for God The sluggish and unprofitable Servant was cast into utter Darkness he did not mispend his Talent but yet he did not improve it The Tree that bringeth forth no Fruit is hewen down though it did not bring forth bad Fruit. 'T is not a Negative Religion will comfort thee but a Positive and a Fruitful one You are no Drunkard no Adulterer no Prophane Person but have you been at work for God Secondly Others are Pusillanimous and Diffident because they do not arrive at the Eminency and Perfection of the highest David had other Worthies besides the first three There were two faithfull Servants one brought five Talents the other two Now the middle is of those that can see in themselves more Zeal than Formality more Grace than Corruption that for the main have made it their business to Honour God though conscious to many Weaknesses and Defects yet throughout Grace gets the upper hand according to the degrees of Grace received they are faithful with God 2. The Masters Approbation Well done thou good and faithful Servant The Faithful Servants are well accepted by Christ. First He entertaineth them
in the way of worldliness all their toiling and excessive care and pains are for the worldly life in short they follow after earthly things with greatest earnestness and spiritual things in an overly formal and careless manner A carnal man may do many things in Religion which are good and worthy Man that hath an Appetite hath also a conscience tho the flesh is importunate to be pleased and unwilling to be crossed that it giveth way to a little superficial duty that conscience may be pacified and so its self may be pleased with the less disturbance Religion is but taken on as a matter by the by as you give way to a servant to go upon his own errand Nay sometimes the flesh doth not only give leave but it sets them a work to hide a lust or feed a lust to hide a lust from the world as in Hypocrites as the Pharisees made their worship serve their rapine Matth. 3.14 Or from their own consciences every man must have some Religion therefore the flesh alloweth a few services that it may the more securely possess the heart 't is not for the interest of the flesh to have too much Religion nor none at all the carnal life must have some devotion to cover iâ— that men may take courage in sin the more freely Or feed a lust pride or vain-glory may put men on preaching or praying before others Phil. 1.16 17. The one preacâ—eth Christ out of contention Or give alms Matth 6.1 take heed that you do not your alms before men to be seen of men and a sacrifice may be brought with an evil mind Prov. 21.27 The devil careth not what means we use so he may have his ends that is to keep men in a carnal condition 3. That make it their scope end and happiness That is our scope and end that solaceth our minds and sweetneth our labours that which they aim at is to be rich and great in the world or enjoy their pleasure without remorse Phil. 3.19 Whose end is destruction whose God is their belly they mind earthly things That is our God which lieth next our hearts to which we offer our actions and from which we fetch our inward complacency be it the pleasing of the flesh or being accepted with God all their delight and contentment is to have the flesh pleased in some worldly thing this giveth them a joy and rest of mind and quencheth all sentiments of Religion and delight in God they that aim at Pardon Grace and Glory no worldly thing will satisfie them God and Heaven are preferred above all the Pleasures Honours and Profits they can enjoy here Psal. 4.7 Thou hast put gladness into my heart more than at the time when their corn and wine increased But 't is otherwise with the carnal for their hearts run out more pleasingly after some worldly thing and when they obtain it it keepeth them quiet under the guilt of wilful sin and all their soul-dangers and forget eternity because they have their hearts desire already Luke 12.19 20. And I will say to my soul thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thine ease eat drink and be merry but God said unto him Thou fool this night thy soul shall be required of thee then whose shall these things be thou hast provided And the peace and pleasure which they dayly live upon is fetched more from the World than from God and Christ and Heaven the flesh is at ease and hath nothing to disturb it and they designed the conveniencies of the flesh in their whole lives this is their principle their chief scope and aim whatsoever he doth he still designeth the contentment of the flesh or some temporal good that shall accrue to him Thus you see who live after the flesh Where no contrary principle is set up to check it where 't is our daily work to please the flesh and our great scope and solace to have it pleased 3. What is this death that is here threatned ye shall dye Surely the natural death is not intended for that is common to all both to those that please the flesh and those that crucifie the flesh Heb. 9.27 'T is appointed for all men once to die And besides to the godly it is matter of comfort a thing which they should rather desire than fear 1 Cor. 3.22 Death is theirs therefore death is but a softer word for eternal damnation yet used with good Reason the Apostle saith Ye shall die rather than ye shall be damned first because death to the wicked is an inlet to their final and eternal misery 'T is dreadful to them not only as a natural evil as it puts an end to their worldly comforts but as a penal evil Heb. 2.14 15. Who are all their life time subject to bondage through fear of death because of the consequences of it then their torment beginneth Secondly because 't is more liable to sense We know hell by faith and death by sense now that notion that is more known affects us more all abhor death as a fearful thing Briefly then this death consists not in an extinction and abolition of the creature but in a deprivation of the favour and presence of the blessed God who is the fountain of all comfort and the everlasting pains and torments which the soul and body being cast out of Gods presence feeleth in hell all that weeping and gâ—ashing of teeth that bitter remembrance of what is past the acute sense of what is present that despair and fearful looking for of the fiery indignation of the Lord what the Scripture speaketh of 't is all included in this word ye shall die 't is in short to be separated from God and Christ and the Saints and Angels and to have eternal fellowship with Devils and damned Spirits together with those unknown pains inflicted on us by the Wrath of God in the other world 3. It would not be sufficient to restrain men from sin if God should only threaten temporal death and not eternal every murtherer would venture to execute his maliee every adulterer follow his lusts and voluptuous man his swinish and brutish pleasure if it were only to endure a short pain at death and then be free from misery for ever after We see how offenders venture on mans punishment and how many shorten their days for their vain pleasure therefore unless the death were everlasting the world would be little awed by it unless the bitterness be greater than the present sinful pleasure therefore eternal torment is that which God threatneth and will surely execute on the sensual and carnal so that the sinner hath no hope to escape unless by repentance and breaking this course of living after the flesh Secondly Now by way of Confirmation We must shew the fit Connexion between these Two Things the carnal living and this terrible Death and there we must shew you 1. That this threatning is every way consistent with the Justice and Wisdom
of the Gospel he urgeth this Argument 2 Tim 1.7 8. For we have not received the spirit of fear but the spirit of love and power and of a sound mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a poor cowardly dasterdly spirit mated or overcome with every difficulty but now a spirit confirmed in the love of God and the faith and hope of the Gospel is a fruit of power and fortitude the righteous is as bold as a Lion Pro. 28. 1. Dan. 3.17 18. If it be so our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of thine hand O king but if not be it known unto thee O king that we will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up and Rom. 8.37 38. I am perswaded that neither life nor death nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 3. It hindreth the readiness and chearfulness of our service and crippleth our endeavours The sloathful servant was affraid Luke 19.21 22. when we do not know whether we shall please or be accepted or no 't is a very discouraging thing and we drive on heavily when nothing appears to us but fear but love maketh a willing people 1 Joh. 5.3 For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous 4. It resisteth sin unwillingly we had rather let it alone than go about it the mortifying of lust is like the cutting off of an Arm with a rusty Saw rather let go any thing than sin but grace furnisheth us with the most powerful arguments For means 1. Cherish good thoughts of God the spirit of bondage is increased upon us by unreasonable fears and jealousies of God the Lord is good and doth good Psal. 119.68 his commands are not greivous Matt. 11.30 My yoke is easy and my burden is light The tryals sent us by him are not above measure nor beyond strength 1 Cor. 10.13 Who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able Nor his punishments above deserving Neh. 9.13 thou hast punished us less then than we deserved he is not hard to be pleased nor inexorable upon our infirmities Mal. 3.17 And I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Heb. 11.6 2. Study the nature and constitution of the Gospel which maketh rich preparation of Grace Help and Comfort for you this is Gods Act of Oblivion which easeth you of your troubles for here God promiseth to blot out your transgressions and remember your sins no more this is a Sanctuary and Refuge for your distressed souls to fly unto when pursued by the laws curse the Charter of your hopes or the word of salvation which secureth you aginst the laws curse or the fears of the damnation of Hell the law is good as a rule of duty but the Gospel is glorious 2 Tim. 1.8 11. In short Your souls will never sit easie within you till you resolve not to seek for that in the law which is only to be found in the Gospel peace of Conscience and Reconciliation with God The law can only save the innocent but the Gospel pardoneth the penitent sinner Look not for that in self which is only to be found in Christ a perfect Righteousness and Merit to appease Gods Justice and propitiate him to us this is only by the Blood and Obedience of Christ never look for that on earth which is only to be had in Heaven which is exact and unspotted holiness Jude 21. Then we are presented faultless in his presence 3. An hearty and sincere love to God 1 John 4.18 There is no fear in love for perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment and he that feareth is not made perfect in love He speaketh not of a childlike Reverence of the Divine Majesty or a carefulness not to displease him but of slavish fear of Condemnation which is the life and soul of many mens Religion but they are never soundly converted till God hath their hearts that is their love Now this strong and fervent love arising from faith in Christ driveth and forceth this tormenting fear out of the heart and will never be affraid of him whom they love and on the other side will not love him whom they look upon as ready to condemn them and cast them into Hell Surely God will never damn the soul that loveth him therefore if we would get rid of the fear of wrath or hell let us love God with our highest and best affections we have reason to love him if we consider the wonder of his love and good will to sinners manifested to us in and by Jesus Christ. 4. Live holily and obey the motions of the sanctifying spirit We deprive our selves of comfort by falling into sin the more the spirit is a Sanctifier the more a Comforter Holiness breedeth a generous confidence 1 John 3.2 Behold now we are the Sons of God Gal. 5.18 But if ye be led by the spirit ye are not under the law If we are not watchful against sin our bondage returneth therefore David saith Psal. 51.12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me by thy free spirit The Holy Spirit withdraweth and suspendeth his comforts when we walk vainly and loosely then we cannot serve God with any delight and readiness of mind 't is not a free spirit but a servile that then governeth us and influenceth our actions SERMON XXIII ROM VIII 15 But ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father IN the Words we have 1. A Priviledg Ye have received the Spirit of Adoption 2. One special fruit and effect of it Whereby we cry Abba Father In setting down the effect the change is emphatical ye received we cry He includeth himself and puts in his own name together with theirs to shew that it is a Priviledg common to all that receive the New Testament the meanest and least of Gods Children have an affectionate and childlike way of praying unto God Doct. That the spirit which we receive under the new Covenant dispensation is a spirit of Adoption I shall explain these Five Things 1. The state of Adoption which we obtain under the New Testament 2. The spirit of Adoption consequent thereupon 3. Whether all that live under the New Testament Dispensation have the spirit of Adoption 4. Whether all that have it know it 5. The reasons why this is the fruit of the new Covenant Dispensation 1. What is the state of Adoption Our admission into Gods family that he will be a Father to us and we shall be his children 2 Cor. 6.18 I will be a father unto you and ye shall be my sons
all persons and hath the hearts of Men in his own hands and performeth all things according to his own will He knoweth their Persons Necessities and Temptations and if we trust him for our Heavenly Inheritance we may trust him for our daily Maintenance which he vouchsafeth to the Fowls of the Air and Beasts of the Field yea to his Enemies while they are sinning against him dishonouring his Name oppressing his Servants opposing his Interest in the World he that feedeth a Kite will he not feed a Child He that supplieth his Enemies will he not take care of his Friends those of his own Family Indeed he chooseth rather to profit us than please us in his Dispensations but 't is your duty to refer all to his Wisdom and Love 3. Eternal Blessedness is also the fruit of this Adoption Rom. 8.17 If sons then heirs coheirs with Christ as soon as we are taken into Gods Family we have a right to the blessed Inheritance and the right and hope that we have now is enough to counterballance all Temptations Alas what are all the carnal pleasures and delights of Sin which tempt us to disobey our Father to those blessed things which he hath provided for us in Heaven 'T was Esau's Profaneness to sell his Birth-right Heb. 12.16 So all the fears and sorrows of the present Life Luk. 12.32 Fear not little flock 't is your fathers good pleasure to give you a kingdom if we have the Kingdom at the last 't is no great matter what we suffer by the way but hereafter we shall fully receive the fruits of our Obedience Rom. 8.23 We our selves groan within our selves waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our bodies In Heaven we have the fullest and largest demonstration of Gods love and favour 'T is Love now and Grace now that he will take us into his Family and Imploy us in his Service But then 't is another manner of Love when taken not onely into his Family but Presence and Palace where we have not onely a Right but Possession not onely some remote service and ministration but everlastingly injoying delighting and praising God Secondâ—y We now come to the proof and testimony of our Interest in this Priviledge The spirit beareth witness with our spirit Here let us 1. Open the double Testimony 2. What the one superaddeth above the other 3. The necessity of their conjunction to our full comfort 1. The Nature of this double Testimony and there first let us begin with that which is more known to us and understood by us and that is the Testimony of a renewed conscience Let us consider it as conscience and as renewed 1. As conscience There is a secret spy within us that observeth all that we think or speak or do Rom. 2.15 Their conscience bearing them witness and their thoughts in the mean time accusing or excusing Now this conscience must not be slighted partly in respect of our selves because 't is so intimate to us 'T is a spy in our bosoms and can give a better judgment of us and our actions than any thing else can The judgment of the world by way of applause or censure is foreign and grounded upon appearance therefore not so much to be valued 1 Cor. 2.11 The spirit of a man which is in him knoweth the things of a man Who knoweth more of us than we do our selves And this witness cannot be suspected of partiality and ill will for what is dearer to our selves than our selves Therefore if our hearts condemn us what shall be said for us 1 John 3.20 21. For if our hearts condemn us God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things Beloved if our hearts condemn us not then have we confidence towards God And partly because of its relation to God 't is called the candle of the Lord Pro. 20.27 'T is Gods Deputy Judg and in the place of God to us and therefore if it doth accuse or excuse it is to be regarded for it is before Gods Tribunal that it doth condemn or acquit us 'T is his sentence that we are to stand in fear and dread of to whom doth it accuse us but to God whose Wrath doth it fear but Gods even then when there is no outward cause of dread and fear Conscience is the Vicegerent of the supreme Judg partly because of the rule it goeth by which is the will of God by which good and evil are distinguished which is either revealed by the light of Nature or the light of Scripture the light of nature Rom. 2.14.15 For the gentiles who have not the law do by nature the things contained in the law these having not the law are a law to themselves which shew the work of the law upon their hearts their consciences also bearing witness and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another The Apostle proveth the heathens had a law because they had a conscience for conscience ever inferreth some rule and law by which good and evil are distinguished The light of Scripture comprehendeth either the Covenant of Works or the Covenant of Grace Works and so conscience condemneth all the world as guilty before God Rom. 3.19 and there is no escape from this sentence but a regular appeal and passage from Court to Court Psal. 10.3 4. If thou shouldest mark iniquities O Lord who shall stand But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared Psal. 143.2 Enter not into judgment with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified where poor condemned sinners may take sanctuary of the Lords Grace and humbly claim the benefit of the New Covenant Grace wherein the penitent believer and those that sincerely obey the Gospel are accepted The legal conscience condemneth all the world but the evangelical conscience aquitteth us if we sincerely and thankfully accept the new covenant that is if we take the priviledges offered for our happiness and the duties required for our work therefore 't is said 1 Pet. 3.21 Baptism saveth not the puting away of the filthiness of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience toward God Not the bare Ordinance but the Covenant which is sealed by it And what doth the Covenant require Accepting the Lords offers and resolving to obey his commands 2. As renewed By nature conscience is blind partial stupid but by grace it 's made pure tender and pliant and more able to do its office The spirit is not said here to witness to our heart but to our spirit that is to conscience as renewed and sanctified now such a conscience implieth these things 1. Some knowledg of and consent to the new covenant for without knowledg the heart is not good Pro. 19.20 It erreth in point of law and rule and therefoe cannot well witness in the case And 2. Consent there must be for we cannot claim Priviledges by a Charter which we never accepted Therefore Isa. 56.4 And chuse the things
that please me and take hold of my covenant They thankfully accept the offered benefits and resolve by the strength of the Lords grace to perform the required duties 3. That our hearts be set to fulfil our covenant vow For otherwise we double and deal unsincerely with God Heb. 13.18 We trust we have a good conscience willing in all things to live honestly The habit and bent of the heart is for God and obedience to him 4. That there be some answerable endeavours and pursuance of this resolution and care to please God in all things Acts 24.16 And herein do I exercise my self to have always a conscience void of offence towards God and towards men 5. That these endeavours be uniformly carried on that our sincerity may be evidenced to conscience For then 't is matter of Rejoicing and assurance to us 2 Cor. 1.12 This is our rejoicing the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversations in the world 1 John 3.19 And hereby we know we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him Grace constantly and self-denyingly exercised hath an evidence in the conscience and conduceth also to give liberty and boldness before God 2. The witness of the spirit Because this is often mistaken I shall the more distinctly lay it before you 1. The spirit layeth down marks in Scripture which may decide this question whether ye are the children of God yea or no. As for instance 1 John 3.10 In this the children of God are manifested and the children of the Devil whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his brother And again Rom. 8.14 As many â—â— are led by the spirit are the sons of God So every where in the Scripture God expresly telleth us who shall go to Heaven and who shall go to Hell and that there is no neutral and middle estate between the Holy and Carnal all are of one sort or other Now if we should go no further the Text would bear a good sence The spirit beareth witness with our spirit when our conscience can witness our sincerity in a course of obedience unto God The spirits witness in Scripture that this is a sound so a true evidence and the Testimony of conscience confirmed by Scripture for whatever is spoken in Scripture 't is supposed to be the very voice and Testimony of the Spirit as Acts 28.25 Well spake the Holy Ghost by Isaiah the prophet unto our fathers so Heb. 3.7 Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith To day if ye will hear his voice So the spirit speaketh or witnesseth to our spirits namely in the word supposing what is to be supposed this must not be slighted yet this is not all for the context speaketh not of a witness without but motion within whereby we are restrained from sin and inclined to cry Abba Father 2. He worketh such graces in us as are peculiar to Gods children and evidences of our interest in the Favour of God as when he doth Renew and Sanctify the Soul and so many of the choicest Divines take the word witness for evidence or the objective Testimony namely that the presence and dwelling and working of the Sanctifying Spirit in us is the Argument and matter of the proof upon which the whole cause or traverse dependeth That it is so to be taken is clear in that exclusive mark Rom. 8.9 But ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit if so be the spirit of God dwell in you Now if any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his And in that positive mark 1 John 3.24 And he that keepeth his commanments dwelleth in him and he in him and hereby we know that he abideth in us by the spirit which he hath given us and again 1 John 4.13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he is us because he hath given us his spirit That Holy and Charitable spirit The gracious operations of his presence are the Argument whence we conclude 3. He helpeth us to discern this work in our souls more clearly Conscience dothits part to discover it and the spirit of God doth his part namely as he helpeth us to know and see that Grace which he giveth and actuateth in us for he revealeth the things given us of God 1 Cor. 2.12 not only in the Gospel tho chiefly but also in our hearts The workman that made a thing can best warrant it to the buyer First he Sanctifieth and then he certifieth sometimes we overlook our Evidences through the darkness and confusion that is in our hearts Hagar saw not the Fountain that was near her till God opened her eyes Gen. 21.19 There is a misgiving in the conscience we cannot see grace in the midst of weakness and imperfections Mary wept for the absence of Christ when yet he stood by her John 20.14 15. The spirit dwelleth and worketh in their hearts but they know it not 4. He helpeth us not only to see grace but to judg of the sincerity of grace 'T is more easie to prove that we believe than to know that our faith is saving to love Christ than to know that we love him in sincerity because of the deceitfulness of the heart and the mixtures of unbelief self-love and other sins and some degrees may be in hypocrites as temporary faith tasts imperfect love partial obedience and besides Grace where it is weak is hardly perceived the air will shew it self in a windy season the fire when 't is blown up into a flame 't is no more hidden grace strengthned increased acted is more evident to conscience habits are discerned by acts and exercise and God is wont to reward the faithful soul with his assuring seal of light and comfort 1 John 3.18 Love not in word or in tongue only but in deed and in truth The less we are Christians in shew and the more in sincerity the more joy and peace 5. He helpeth us with boldness to conclude from these evidences Many times when the premises are clear the conclusion is suspended we find in case of condemnation 't is suspended out of self-love many know that they that live after the flesh shall die yet they will not judg themselves and the same may be done in case of self-approbation out of legal fear or jealousie for persons of great fancy and large affections are always full of scruples or loathness to apply the comforts due to them the spirit concludeth for them that they are the children of God 1 John 3.14 We know that we have passed from death to life 1 John 2.3 And hereby we know that we know him 6. He causeth us to feel the comfort of this conclusion Rom. 5.13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing 'T is an impression of the comforting spirit and Acts 9.31 They walked in the fear of the Holy ghost The spirit is necessary to
Excellencies of this inheritance Page 177 178 Holiness distinct from Godliness Page 16 The better part of our deliverance Page 38 Holiness and Goodness is the very nature of God Page 38 Holiness compleated ere we enter Heaven Page 38 Holiness visible to be charitably judged Page 77 Wherein it now consisteth Page 300 Honesty binds us to obey God Page 104 Hope and fear motives to duty Page 105 Saving Hope Page 230 Twofold of expectation and experience Page 165 Great and glorious Page 202 Saveth Page 222 What 't is Page 223 Its object Page 223 Ground Page 224 Very necessary Page 225 Vanquishes Page 225 Respect between Faith and Hope Page 226 May every one Hope for Salvation Page 227 Distinguisht into its kinds Page 229 May be interrupted Page 232 Mercy object of Hope Page 232 So is the promise Page ib. 233 How we brought to Hope Page 233 234 How increased Page 234 235 Brings Heaven to us on earth Page 235 Proper object Page 237 Built on promises Page 238 These confirmed sufficiently Page 239 How far seen Page 239 Real Page 240 Should over-rule our Hearts Page 241 Its qualifications Page 242 Humiliation what where begins and ends Page 145 I IGnorant we may be of some thing without danger Page 201 Incarnation of Christ with the ends and fruiâ—s of it Page 28 29 30 Immunnities we have by Christ Page 205 Inclination of the flesh what Page 41 Not alike to all sins Page 121 Indulgence to the flesh what Page 43 44 Image of God None so fit to restore as Christ Page 300 301 Image of God Must be restored ere we can have communion with God Page 34 35 It is mans glory Page 300 Immensity of God thence Omniscience Page 257 Immutability of God and eternal merit of Christ foundation of our eternal glory Page 183 Immortality known or guessed at by nature Page 141 Impotency of mind is from unmortified heart Page 130 To prayer without the spirit Page 251 Impeccable no Saint on earth is Page 148 Infirmities in Believers and occasions to the World to misjudge them and the spirit Page 77 They sin but design it not Page 103 Innocent Creatures punisht for mans sin and why and how Page 198 Impossibilities may be imagined not hoped Page 237 Interests of flesh what Page 41 Prevails in some without any controul Page 103 Our true Interest by God made motive to our duty Page 140 Intercession of Christ and of the spirit Page 244 How these differ Page ib. Invisible World to be sought Page 241 Joys of good conscience are foretasts of Heaven Page 148 Judgment to come not so generally known as Immortality and a state of Eternity Page 141 Yet known and own'd by some Page ib. Presag'd by fears of guilty conscience Page 240 Justice of God joins sin and punishment Page 22 60 Justification excludes not Mortification Page 125 What it implyeth Page 333 How many ways this done Page 334 How consistent with Gods Justice c. Page 334 335 336 Sinner Repenting and Believing is justified Page 335 336 Shall not be reversed Page 336 And why Page 336 337 Justified ones are Sanctified Page 335 K KIndness to be shewed to the creature subjected to vanity by our sin Page 199 Kingdom of God some far off Page 47 Knowledge of our selves and our state how to be obtained Page 43 44 That carnal men have of God is cold and lifeless Page 55 Knowledge of sin by the spirit necessary to mortification Page 133 L LEadings of God by which Saints are kept in their way Page 146 147 To be Led what Page 148 Its branches Page 148 149 Great mercy Page 151 It is through all duty Page 152 Legality partial or predominant and what each is Page 158 Law of spirit of Life what Page 8 Of sin what Page 9 Why so called Page 9 Its effects Page ib. Of God constitutes and directs duty Page 11 Given to man in innocence Page 11 And what Page ib. Of nature left in fallen man Page 11 Its effects Page ib. 155 Of man what tends to Page 11 Law what it includes Page 12 The New Covenant or Law of God and man differ and in what Page 13 Law could not put away sin Page 26 Nor justifie us ib. and Page 27 Was next to Christ and the Gospel most Divine Page 26 Cannot sanctifie us Page 28 Nor save Page 154 Irritates sin Page ib. Is not abrogated Page 35 36 37 Hath twofold office Page 154 Continues in force in Heaven Page 37 How fulfilled by a Believer Page 37 Law pretended against persecuted Christians Page 363 Law ceremonial what Page 206 Law-giver God Page 101 Legal spirit what and its operations Page 154 155 158 'T is timerous towards God and for truth Page 158 159 How removed Page ib. Liberty from sin and death by Christs merit and intercession Page 23 On what terms to be had Page 24 These terms cannot by man be changed Page 24 Of Gods children what now Page 201 Liberty mistaken Page ib. 'T is not to live as corrupt nature listeth Page 204 205 Liberty future glorious what Page 206 207 Compar'd with our present Liberty Page 207 Light and Life brought to Light by the Gospel Page 360 Life natural Beast-like Rational Spiritual Page 75 What this is Page ib. Of Grace vigorous as sin languisheth Page 126 Grieved with opposite sins Page 133 Spiritual both beginning and pledge of Life eternal Page 139 What it is Page ib. Natural and eternal compared Page 144 Eternal and Spiritual compared Page ib. Life must be ventured for Christ and why Page 363 Love of God to Believers engaging motive to love him and obey Page 330 To suffer also Page 369 Love of God to what Page 36 Lesser love to God is accounted hatred Page 62 And why Page ib. Love or hatred as we respect Gods Law Page 63 Love to God is principle of mortification Page 128 Surest way to assurance Page 160 Love that you may Live Page 140 And go possess the blessed hopes Page 242 Longings spiritual shall not be frustrated Page 140 For God giveth them that he may satisfie them Page ib. The objects of them Page 219 Lusts contrary to each other Page 48 Love to God what Page 280 281 282 Its properties Character of such as God will benefit by all and why Page 284 285 Best seen in sufferings for God Page 285 Twofold sincerity of Love and what each is Page 286 God Lovely for himself Page 286 For his Love to us Page 286 M MAn subject to God and on what grounds Page 10 11 Owes him a voluntary obedience Page ib. and 71 Men are of two sorts different in original principles c. Page 39 Discover what they are by respect to different objects Page 42 Three sorts of Men in the World Page 46 Mankind fallen under Gods displeasure Page 69 Corrupted wholly Page 106 Of two sides Page 314 315 Man pleasing what c. Page 72 Master sins like great diseases
by the power and influence of Faith 'T is not enough to have Faith but we must walk by it our whole Conversation is carryed on and influenced by Faith and by the Spirit of God on Christs part Gal. 2.20 I live by the Faith of the Son of God a lively Faith There living by Faith is spoken of as it respecteth the principle of the Spiritual Life here walking by Faith as the scope and end of it there as we derive vertue from Christ here as we press on to Heaven in the practice of Holyness In short walking noteth a progress and passing on from one place to another through a strait and beaten way which lyeth between both So we pass on from the earthly state to the Heavenly by the power and influence of our way our way is through all Conditions we are appointed unto and through all duties required of us 1. Through all Conditions By honour and dishonour evil report and good report afflictions prosperities 2 Cor. 6.4 5 6.7 8. Whether despised or countenanced still minding our great journey to Heaven Faith is necessary for all that the evil be not a discouragement nor the good a snare Evil Rom. 8.18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the Glory that shall be revealed in us Good 2 Tim. 4.10 For Demas hath forsaken us and loved the present World 2. All duties required of us That we still keep a good Conscience towards God and towards man Acts 24.15 16. In this Faith and Hope Reasons 1. Walking by Faith maketh a man sincere because he expecteth his reward from God only though no man observe him no man commend him Matth. 6 6. Thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly Yea though all men hate him condemn him Matth 5.11 12. Blessed are you when men shall revile and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my names sake rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven Now this is true sincerity when we make God alone our pay master and count his rewards enough to repair our losses and repay our cost 2. It maketh a man vigorous and lively When we consider at the end of our work there is a Life of endless joys to be possessed in Heaven with God that we shall never repent of the labour and pain that we have taken in the Spiritual Life 1 Cor. 15.58 Always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. Phil. 3.14 I press towards the mark because of the high prize of the calling of God in Jesus Christ. The thoughts of the prize and worth of the reward do add Spirits to the runner 3. It maketh a man watchful that he be not corrupted with the delights of sense which are apt to call back our thoughts to interrupt our affections to divert us from our work and quench our zeal Now one that walks by Faith can compare his Eternal Happiness with these transitory pleasures which will soon have an end and everlastingly forsake those miserable Souls who were deluded by them As Moses Heb. 11.24 25. By Faith Moses when he was come to years refused to be called the Son of Pharaohs Daughter Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to injoy the pleasures of sin for a season 4. Walking by Faith will make a man self denying having for Heaven in his Eye he knoweth that he cannot be a loser by God Mark 10.21 Forsake all that thou hast and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven So the 29 30. Verily I say unto you there is no man that hath left House or Brethren or Sister or Father or Mother and Children and Lands for my names sake but he shall receive an hundred fold 5. Walking by Faith maketh a man comfortable and confident a Believer is incouraged in all his duty imboldened in his conflicts comforted in all his sufferings The quieting or imboldening the Soul is the great work of Faith or trust in Gods fidelity A promise to him is more than all the visible things on Earth or sensible objects in the World it can do more with him to make him forsake all earthly pleasures possessions and hopes Psa. 56.4 In God I will praise his word in God I have put my trust I will not fear what flesh can do unto me So Paul Acts 20.24 But none of those things move me neither count I my Life dear unto me so I may fulfil my course with joy Save the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every City saying that bonds and afflictions abide me Did wait for him every where I make no reckoning of these things I maketh us constant Have ye fixed upon these hopes with so great deliberation and will you draw back and slack in the prosecution of them Have you gone so far in the way to Heaven and do you begin to look behind you as if you were about to change your mind Heb. 10.39 The Apostle saith Phil. 3.13 I forget the things which are behind reaching forth unto the things which are before The World and the flesh are things behind us We turned our backs upon them when we first looked after Heavenly things Heaven and remaining duties are the things before us if we lose our Crown we lose our selves for ever Use is to shew the advantage the people of God have above the carnal and unregenerate The people of God walk by Faith against the present want of sight How do the World walk Not by Faith they have it not nor by the sight of Heaven for they are not there and so continuing never shall be there So they have neither Faith nor sight what do they live by then They live by sense and by fancy by sense as to the present World and they live by fancy and vain conceit as to the World to come Live in their sins and vain pleasures and yet hope to be saved Here they walk by sight but not such a sight as the Apostle meaneth they must have something in the view of sense Lands Honours pleasures and when these are out of sight they are in darkness and have nothing to live upon But now a Christian is never at a loss let his Condition be what it will Suppose God should bring him so low and bare that he hath no estate to live on no House to dwell in yet he hath an inheritance in the promises Psa. 119.111 Thy Testimonies I have taken for an heritage for ever And God is his Habitation Psa. 90.1 A full heap in his own keeping is not such a supply to him as Gods alsufficiency Gen. 17.1 That 's his storehouse But his great Happiness is in the other World there is all his hope and his desire and he looketh upon other promises only in order to that SERMON XI 2 Cor. 5.8 We are confident I say and willing rather to be
make us to be by your false reports Job saith you shall not take away mine integrity nor will I let my innocency go till I dye Job 27.5 Paul would not pass for mans sentence 1 Cor. 4.3 Yea it will fortify us against accusations Internal arising from defects failings I sleep but my heart waketh Cant. 5.2 A Gospel conscience will acquit us yea it comforts in sickness Isa. 38.3 Remember Lord I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart A sick man when his appetite is gone when he can eat nothing a good conscience is a continual feast 3. The latter Testimony in the consciences of others is to be regarded Here let me shew you 1. That it is to be regarded 2. How far 1. That it is to be regarded 1. Partly because the safety and credit of our service dependeth upon it When we have a Testimony in the Consciences of men 't is a restraint to violence Mark 6.19 20. Herodias would have killed John but she could not for Herod feared John because he was a just man So Paulinus was spared by Valence Wicked men fear the good but hate them When their hatred is greater then their fear then no mercy now 't is grievous when their fear is lessened by our scandals 2. This is not affectation of praise but doing things praise worthy Our care must be to do our duty and trust God with our credit Most men do otherwise they would have honour from men but neglect their duty to God Yet honour me before the people 1 Sam. 15.30 We are careless of service and yet hunt for praise Austins rule is good Laus humana non appeti debet sed sequi 't is not a thing to be desired but it must follow of its own accord if it be the event of the action let it not be the aim So Aquinas Gloria bene contemnitur nihil malè agendo propter ipsam bene appetitur nihil malè agendo contra ipsam A good fame is well contemned by doing nothing evil for it well desired by doing nothing evil against it 3. Complying with the humours of men is dangerous but leaving a witness in their Consciences is safe for Conscience is Gods deputy the most serious faculty in us Let us convince others though we aim not at their applause 1 Pet. 3.16 Having a good Conscience that whereas they speak evil of you as of evil doers they may be ashamed that falsly accuse your good Conversation in Christ. 2. How far it may be regarded 1. Surely so far as that we should not forfeit it by any sin or imprudent action or indiscretion of ours 2 Cor. 6.3 Giving no offence in any thing that the Ministry be not blamed So that the profession be not blamed that the way of truth be not evil spoken of 2dly So far as to make a just Apology or Vindication of our credit from aspersions As Paul in the Text wherein he doth not intend his own Apology so much as the Apology of the Gospel An Holy Life is the best Apology 1 Pet. 2. â—5 With well doing we put to silence the ignorance of foolish men Muzzle or stop the mouths of gain-sayers yet we may make Apologies that the truth suffer not 3. The utmost end must be the Glory of God and the honour of the Gospel Matth. 5.16 Let your light so shine before men that they may see your gâ—od works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven 1 Pet. 2.12 That they may by your good works which they shall behold glorify God in the day of visitaâ—ion They do not glorify you but God that entertain a good opinion of the Christian Religion 4. That though this threefold approbation must be looked after yet every branch of it in its proper place The order is that we should first look to God and then our own Consciences and afterwards a Testimony in the Consciences of others for thus downward the one succeeding the other then a man hath the full comfort of his sincerity but if upward and singly or apart it will not hold As if a man had the approbation of others but not of his own Conscience Or if of his own Conscience but not of God if of others a man cannot rejoice in the Testimony of another mans Conscience because another man saith I am a good man for another man knoweth not the springs and motives of my actions Or if I had the bare Testimony of mine own Conscience that would not be sufficient for my comfort 1 Cor. 4 4. For I know nothing by my self yet am I not hereby justified There is an higher Judge for I am blind partial and unadvised till the Spirit concurreth with the witness of Conscience I cannot have a firm and solid peace Rom. 9.1 I say the truth in Christ I lie not my Conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy-Ghost And Rom. 8.16 The Spirit it self beareth witness with our Spirit that we are the Children of God There are two witnesses Gods Spirit and our Conscience But now descendendo it holdeth good and many times one inferreth all the rest If I have the approbation of God his Spirit beareth witness with my Conscience and he hath also the hearts and tongues of men in his own hand or if that be not the approbation of God is absolutely necessary for my Salvation the Testimony of Conscience is very comfortable and the third conduceth much to our safety and service in the World My Salvation dependeth upon the approbation of God my inward comfort upon the witness of his Spirit in my Conscience my outward peace and service upon a Testimony in the Consciences of others I observe this to a double end 1. To direct us in point of duty A good man should look more to God than to Conscience and to Conscience more than to fame and report to a good name in the last place First he looketh to God who is above Conscience and who is an infallible Judge and then he looketh to Conscience which is Gods Deputy and then to good report among men Invert this order and great inconvenience will follow Look to men above God and it maketh a breach upon sincerity John 5.44 And John 12.42 Therefore 't is not man or Glory and praise from him but God alone that the sincere heart is fixed upon As those that run in a race as the Scripture often compareth our Christian course did not regard the acclamations of the spectatours but the opinion of the Quaestor Palestrae or the Judge of the sports who was to determine on whose side the victory was So again if the last be set before the Second it will be almost as bad A Christian cannot be safe if he doth not value and prize the witness of a good Conscience before the Opinion of men for then by humouring men a man displeaseth Conscience which is his best friend of all things and above all persons next to God a
of an infinite and unlimited Dignity and Authority how could the punishment of the Body by Death be proportionable to the offence committed against an infinite God An outrage done to the supream Majesty of Princes is punished more than an Offence against an inferiour person therefore there must be a time when the Body shall be raised to be capable of such a Punishment Besides how could the Soul be compleatly happy since 't was made for a Body if it should alwayes remain a Widow and never meet with its old mate again 2. It argueth from the Providence of God There are many Judgments that are Pledges that God will at length judge the World for sin as the Drowning of the old World the Burning of Sodom the Destruction of Jerusalem these are a document and proof what God will do to the rest of ungodly ones for they are set forth as an ensample Jude v. 7. The force of the Argument lyeth in this that God is the same still in one mind who can turn him he hateth the sin of one as well as the other in all his dispensations he is alwayes consonant and like himself Gal. 3.20 If he would not put up the sins of the old World he will not put off the Iniquities of the new if he punished Sodom he will punish others that sin in like manner for he is not grown more indulgent to sin than he was before Therefore if it be not now there will be a time when he will call them to an account and reckoning When Man first sinned God did not immediately execute the Sentence against him but gave him time of Repentance 'till he dyed and since he giveth every man time and space he would not have all the World be born at once and die at once but to live in several successions of Ages from Father to Son in divers Generations 'till he cometh to the period which Providence hath fixed Now as he reckoneth with every man particularly at Death so with all the world at the end of time Particular Judgments shew that God is not asleep nor unmindful of humane affairs but the general Judgment is referred 'till then 3. From the feelings of Conscience After sin committed men tremble though there be none to call them to an account as when the sin is secret and the person powerfull Conscience is under a dread of divine Justice and the solemn Process and Triumph which one day it must have hence Conscience is sensible Rom. 2.8 Felix trembled when Paul reasoned of Judgment to come Acts 24.25 There are hidden fears in the Conscience which is soon revived and awakened by the thought of this day Every guilty person is a Prisoner to Divine Justice and being held in the invisible chains of Conscience standeth in dread of a great and general Assize 4. The Conveniency of such a day 1. To vindicate Truth and Honesty from the false Judgment of the World The best Cause is often oppressed there needeth a review of things by an higher Court that that which is good may be restored to its publick Honour and evil may receive its proper Shame Christ will convince the World of his Love to the Saints when he cometh to be admired in them 2 Thes. 1.10 and when their Faith is found to Praise and Glory 1 Pet. 1.7 Thus shall it be done to the men whom Christ will honour proclaim their Pardon adorn them with Grace introduce them into their everlasting Habitations and this in the eyes of the scorning wicked as that Noble man Thine eyes shall see it but not taste of it then for their everlasting Confusion their Crimes shall be repeated in the ears of all the World and their false appearances shall be refuted 2. That the Counsels and Courses of Gods manifold Wisdom and Justice may be solemnly applauded We now view Providence by pieces but then the whole Context and coherence of it shall be set together and the full History of all the world produced before the Saints 3. Such a coming is necessary that God may fit us with all kind of Arguments against sin and so a restraint will be put upon the heart against it many times sin and wickedness is acted in secret Eccles. 12.14 God will bring every work into the Judgment with every secret thought whether it be good or evil And 1 Cor. 4.5 Christ will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the Counsels of the Heart Many make no Conscience of secret sins and if they make Conscience of Acts yet not of thoughts yet according to Christs Theology Malice is Heart-murther lustful inclinations Heart-adultery Mind-imaginations are Heart-Idolatry There may be a great deal of evil in a discontented thought against Providence Psa. 73.22 He that sinneth secretly is conscious to himself that he doth evil and therefore seeketh a vail and covering Men are unjust in secret unclean in secret envious in secret declaim against Gods Children in secret neglect Duty in secret sensual in secret afraid that men should know it yet not afraid of the great God Man cannot damn us man cannot fill our Consciences with everlasting burnings Now that we may be ashamed to commit those sins before God the day of Judgment is appointed to set these sins in order before us Psa. 50.22 I will reprove thee and set thy sins in order before thee Secondly If it be doubtful to Reason 't is sure to Faith Faith sheweth he will come The light of Faith is more certain and more distinct More certain because it buildeth upon a divine testimony which is more infallible than the ghesses of Reason and yields us a more compendious way to confute Atheism than our arguings by which we are often entangled 'T is so for God hath said it And 't is more distinct Nature could never find out the circumstances of that day It only apprehendeth the coming of a Judge but by whom this Judgment shall be managed in what quality he shall come as a Bridegroom and Lord and Husband of the Church it knoweth nothing In what manner he shall proceed and with what Company and Attendance all this we have from special Revelation Faith argueth 1. From Christs merit and purchase Would he buy us at so dear a rate and cast us off so lightly as to come no more at us surely he that came to Redeem us will come to save us if he came to suffer he will come to triumph Faith seeing Christ upon the Cross determineth I shall see him in the Clouds Would he be at all this cost and preparation for nothing and purchase what he never meant to possess It cannot be if he came from Heaven upon the one errand will he not come upon the other Surely Christ will not lose all this pains he hath taken to purchase to himself a People 2. Faith argueth from Christs Affection to us which is very great Christ is not gone in anger but about business to set all
the most secret discovery of wrath and discontent and suiteth his Temptations to all the postures of spirit we are in Secondly There is besides this Hostis domesticus the bosom Enemy the Flesh or the inbred Corruption of our Nature that is ready to betray us to the basest Temptations and to open the Gates to the Enemy without Man needeth no Devil to tempt him we have enough in our own bosoms to prompt and urge us to sin Jam. 1.5 The Spirit in us lusteth to envy Gen. 6.5 The thoughts and imaginations of our hearts are evil continually 'T is easie to set Tinder Gunpowder or Flax on fire and therefore they had need to be kept asunder We cannot be too careful the best of us have a good self and a bad self the one must watch over the other or all will come to ruine and Grace will be ready to die Rev. 2.2 Be watchful and strengthen the things that remain that are ready to die From whence cometh the vanity of our Minds our proneness to break the bounds of due liberty in all our Comforts our readiness to erre in Speech our frequent Miscarriages in Conversation our frequent unfitness for holy Duties our unfruitfulness in our Conversing with others our unsettledness in our Consciences our immoderate cares and fears whence I say cometh all this but from our want of Watching against this inward Enemy our Flesh Especially when temptations are near importunate and constant We proceed every step to Heaven by Conflict and Contest because Sin is alwayes at hand ready to assault us and taint us So that a serious Christian cannot but take himself to be still in danger Thirdly The World We walk in the midst of Snares and Temptations saith Austin and Bernard saith That our Life is a continual Temptation We are in the midst of tempting Objects that are comfortable to our Senses necessary to our Uses and present to our Embraces that we can hardly distinguish between what Necessity craveth and Lust desireth and so we are strangely gained upon 1 Joh. 2.16 For all that is in the VVorld is the lust of the Flesh the lust of the Eye and pride of Life He doth not say Whatsoever is in our corrupt Hearts but he describeth the Objects by the Lusts because they are readily excited by them All that is in the World there are Baits for every Temper Honour for the ambitious Wealth for the covetous Pleasure for the sensual Now every distemper loveth the Diet that feedeth it Lust in the Soul or unmortified corruption maketh our abode in the World dangerous 2 Pet. 1.4 That having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust Here one plungeth himself over head and ears in the World another is intemperate in the delights of the Flesh and the Entertainments of Sense another is aspiring after Honour great Places and Pomp of living or Esteem in the World or at least we give our selves too great a liberty and freedom in these things Therefore you see what need there is of watching when alluring Objects lay such close siege to the Appetite and Senses 2. There is a VVatching unto Good or for the Performance of our Duties that we go about them in an holy serious conscionable Manner observing the best Opportunities and taking heed there be no secret Leaven of Hypocrisie in them Of all holy Duties the Scripture applieth it to Prayer which of all other holy Services is the commonest and the chiefest and Watching therein is a great help though by Analogy it holdeth good in other duties as we shall see in a few places Col. 4.2 Continue in Prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving So 1 Pet. 4.7 Be sober and watch unto Prayer So Eph. 6.18 watching therein with all perseverance Sathan is a great Enemy to this duty and our Hearts are averse and hardly brought and kept to it Unless it be well performed our Communion with God is interrupted and at a stand Out of all these places we may well collect That there is First A watching unto Prayer or before Prayer Secondly A watching in Prayer or in the Duty Thirdly A watching after Prayer or when the Duty is over 1. The VVatching unto Prayer or before the Duty is mainly to keep up a Praying frame that we may be ready upon all occasions to call upon God The praying frame lyeth partly in Brokenness of heart or a due sense of our Necessities and partly in an earnest Bent of heart towards God and holy and heavenly things and partly in an holy Liberty and Child-like confidence If either of these be lost how slack and backward shall we be in Gods Worship or slight in the performance of it whether in Closet or Family or publick Assemblies and slubber it over in any fashion But when this frame of spirit is kept up the Soul is mightily actuated and enlarged in the Duty As when there is brokenness of heart or a due sense of our Necessities which is the occasion of Prayer or an earnest desire of Grace which is the Soul of Prayer or our Liberty and Confidence is not broken which is the great Encouragement of Prayer then we are like light and airy Bodies whose natural motion is upwards so are we carried out towards God and Prayer is our Element in which we live and breathe Indeed the whole spiritual Life is but a watching unto Prayer that we may have alwayes a readiness for Communion with God 1 Pet. 3.7 2. There is a VVatching in Prayer that the Duty be performed with that seriousness attention and affection that the Nature of it doth require This Watching is necessary because of the slipperiness of our Hearts which easily go off from the work in hand We often mingle Sulphur with our Incense interline our Prayers with carnal distractions suffer our Hearts to be stollen away from under Christs own arm therefore we had need to watch Eccl. 5.1 2 3. There is a Watching after Prayer Partly that we may observe Gods dealing with us whether our Souls have been streightened or whether he hath given liberty hidden his face or shewed himself gracious Here we may gather some matter of Comfort to our selves and Thanksgiving to God Col. 6.2 We must not throw away our Prayers as Children shoot away their Arrows and never look after them Hab. 2.1 I will pray and look up to spy the Blessing a coming We should have many an Argument against Atheism great helps to Faith and encouragements to love God and many a sure ground of comfort in our selves if we did look after the answer of our Prayers And partly that we lose not that affection which we have professed and expressed before God We seemed to express a great desire of glorifying his Name and doing his Will and being sanctified pardoned and strengthened against Temptations Now 't is but the personating and acting a part before God if we be not such in some measure as we professed our selves
say unto you I say unto all watch Some Persons are especially deputed to watch over others as Magistrates Rom. 13.6 Ministers Heb. 13.12 But every man is made a Guardian over his own Soul rich and poor they are both to watch The meanest people are then taken notice of and that exactly Mat. 24.40 41. Two Women grinding at the mill one shall be taken and the other left Two in the field one taken and the other left Those of the meanest degree All that live in all Ages in all times to them he said Watch Do not put it off to them that live in the Age on which the Ends of the World are come You will be found at that day as Death leaveth you None of all degrees of Grace are past this care If there be any difference between Christian and Christian one is more watchful than another if of never so long standing and experience yet if not watchful soon surprized Gods best Servants have been surprized for want of watching Noah was overtaken in Drunkenness Lot that was chast in Sodom committed Incest in the Mountains where were none but his own Family And do but compare David and Joseph you find David tempting Joseph tempted David was a King Joseph a Slave David an Old Man of much experience Joseph a Young Man David a married Man and Joseph a single Man David was fain to plot and contrive to make way for his sin but Joseph had the advantage of secresie but the one stood and the other fell David left his Senses at randome but Joseph kept himself in an awful watchful posture Gen. 39.9 How shall I do this great wickedness and sin against God Thirdly Consider when and how long we are to watch The time is kept from our knowledge for this very end that we may alwayes be watching Mat. 21.36 Watch and pray alwayes 2 Tim. 4.5 But watch thou in all things There must be a constant and continual watch When we are secure we lose our actual fitness and our common Enemy breaks in upon us There is a working warring Principle in our Hearts Fourthly There is a Blessing promised to those that watch Rev. 16.15 Blessed is he that watcheth And Luk. 12.37 Blessed are those Servants whom their Lord when he cometh shall find watching What do we lose by watching but a few trifling Pleasures which are abundantly recompensed here and hereafter by solid rejoycing in Christ 'T is irksome to the flesh but the Reward sweeteneth it Fifthly The Hazard and Danger of not watching 'T is notably represented in this Parable Only the Ready enter Take heed therefore the like do not happen to you as to the foolish Virgins They are excluded and that irrevocably If they would never so fain enter Christ will not hearken unto them Rev. 3.3 If therefore thou shalt not watch I will come upon thee like a Thief in the night 1 Thes. 5.3 Woful is their condition that are secure and unprovided Sixthly Consider what men would do to avoid temporal Inconveniency Mat. 24.43 If the good man of the house had known when the Thief would come he would have watched much more should Christs Disciples to avoid eternal destruction 'T is an advantage to put the case in outward things Mal. 1.8 it sheweth the disproportion of our respects to Temporals and Spirituals If we are so careful in looking to our Bodies and Goods we are or should be more careful in watching over our Souls where the danger is greater The Worlds diligence and double-diligence in earthly things will condemn our neglect in spiritual things 1. VSE I may from hence take occasion to bewail the neglect of this Duty Oh how much is watching laid aside thence cometh our decay of Grace The Church of Sardis was even dead for want of it Rev. 3.2 Thence comes our want of Comfort and of assurance of Gods love Our peace of Conscience is gotten by diligence and kept with watchfulness Thence comes our loathness to die and our coldness to everlasting Life We do not gird up the loyns of our minds and watch Thence come all our afflictions God is fain to use dreadful means to awaken his Servants out of their drowsiness We are apt to be drowsie and sleepy God useth sharp discipline to awaken us some smart Cross or Sickness to bring us to our selves again We should bewail the neglect of watching in two things 1. Our not watching for the Coming of the Lord. Some can live merrily and quietly in a careless unprepared estate but do these men consider what it is to meet with their Redeemer before they have gotten any benefit by his Blood VVe cannot draw nigh to him with any Comfort till we feel the Benefit of his Death Heb. 10.22 His business is to present his People faultless to God Jude 24. These men do not consider what 't is to meet with the Judge 1 Pet. 4.5 There is no Plea but Innocency and Pardon in Christ Rom. 8.1 1 Joh. 3.8 These do not consider how they shall look Christ in the face when so unlike him 1 Joh. 3.1 2. and 1 Joh. 4.17 These do not consider what it is to meet the Bridegroom when their filthy Garments are yet on 2. Bewail the neglect of VVatching against present evils with care and Circumspection What is the matter is Sathan less busie to tempt or is the Heart of Man and humane Nature grown better and Sin less dangerous Is our weakness and inability so far strengthened and cured that we are out of danger of falling Were the Servants of God such weaklings that prayed as David Psal. 39.1 Put a watch upon the door of my lips and Job that made a Covenant with his eyes Job 31.1 But rather are not we more fool hardy and negligent do not mind our business and consider not the inconveniency of not watching 2 VSE To press us to this Duty there is a God that watcheth and Enemies that watch and Conscience watcheth and will do its Office first or last a Day of Judgment when you are to answer for all that you have done and will not you watch When you consider how much you are in danger of Sin and in danger by Sin can you be negligent and secure Oh watch your Hearts Prov. 4.23 watch your Tongue Psal. 39.1 watch your Senses Job 31.1 gratifie them and you wound your Hearts Watch your wayes Prov. 4.24 But above all watch your State let us examine well our Case that we may be found in Christ and have the Seal of his Spirit Eph. 1.13 that is your warrant For Means to help us in this Duty of Watchfulness 1. Sobriety or Moderation in the use of all outward things 1 Thess. 5.6 Therefore let us not sleep as do others but watch and be sober 1 Pet. 1.13 Chap. 4.7 2. Go to God in Prayer Watching and Prayer are often joyned together We are best kept when recommended into Gods hand Psal. 141.3 Set a watch O Lord before my
the Understanding soundness of Judgment or solid Wisdom all these were given you of God and he expects an Improvement of these for his Glory that every man should be what he is for his Creatour 'T was a good saying of Epictetus in Arrian Si essem Lucinia c. If I were a Nightingale I would sing as a Nightingale Si essem Alauda c. If I were a Lark I would piere as a Lark but now I am a Man I will glorifie God as a Man But alas how often do men of the best endowments miscarry Isa. 47.10 For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness thou hast said None seeth me Thy wisdome and thy knowledge it hath perverted thee and thou hast said in thine Heart I am and none besides me Sathan made use of the Serpent who was the subtilest of Beasts of the Field Gen. 3.1 The Devil loveth to go to work with the sharpest Tools God hath given great Abilities to some above others to enable them for his Service Now the Devil to despight God the more turneth his own Weapons against himself But it should not be so We should remember that we have nothing but what we have received and who maketh us to differ 1 Cor. 4.7 So of the Body as Health and Strength Surely these Bona Corporis are Talents God fitteth every man for the work wherein he will be honoured by him Gal. 1.15 Separated from his Mothers Womb with a Body fit to endure travel and hardship Strength 't is not to be wasted in sin and vanity but employed for God It is better it should be worn out with labours than eaten out with rust Secondly Outward Interests such as Wealth Honour and Power these are comfortable to the Animal life and lay an Obligation upon us and also they give us many advantages of doing good which should alwayes be taken hold of and used by us as the greater Veins abound with blood to supply the less Prov. 3.9 Honour the Lord with thy substance and the first-fruits of all thy increase Though many never forget God more than when he hath blessed them it is their duty to make some improvement of this Talent also Eccl. 7.11 Wisdom with an Inheritance is good 'T is good of it self alone but 't is better more useful and beneficial to our selves and others when God giveth us with the blessings of this life Wisdome Wealth is an excellent instrument whereby a man is enabled to do much good and is an help to Piety and Charity Poor men are not heeded and regarded So Honour and great Place is an opportunity whereby Grace may put forth it self with greater advantage Neh. 1.11 The Lord shew me favour in the sight of this man For I was the Kings Cup-bearer He mentions his Relation as having made an advantage of it Thirdly The Providences we are exercised withall whether Mercies or Afflictions we are to give an account of them Mercies and Comforts vouchsafed to us by God 'T is a naughty heart that would enjoy any thing apart from God and looketh to his own personal contentment more than Gods Glory Joel 2.14 In a great famine they desire plenty that there may be a Meat-offering and a Drink-offering for the Lord. So for Afflictions God expecteth some improvement of them There is mercy in it that God will put us under his Discipline Job 7.18 What is man that thou shouldest visit him every morning and try him every moment and we must account for our afflictions Amos 4.2 3. God reckoneth up our Chastisements Fourthly Ordinances and instituted helps they come under a fourfold Notion Duties Priviledges Means Talents As Duties injoyned so they are part of our homage due to God 'T is not a matter arbitrary there is a tie upon our Consciences to keep us to the due observance of them As Priviledges Hos. 8.12 I have written to them the great things of my Law This keepeth us from weariness that we may not consider them as a burthensome task They are a great Priviledge dearly bought 'T is by the blood of Jesus that we draw near to God As Means for our growth and improvement that notion is necessary that we may not rest in the work wrought but look after the Grace dispensed thereby There is much difference in doing things as a Task and using them as a Means Means are for some end As Talents for which we must give an account which will quicken us to more earnest diligence in the improvement of them Some do not look upon them as Duties and so neglect them others not as Priviledges and so are not so chearful in the use of them others not as Means and so rest in the work wrought others not as Talents and so are indifferent whether they get good by them yea or no. Secondly What is it to trade with them It implyeth 1. A Conscionable use of all our Gifts 2. A Diligent Improvement of them to the ends for which they were intended 1. That we should use them well and holily our Graces well our Parts well our Estates well Our Gifts and Graces are not for Pride and Ostentation Open my lips that my mouth may shew forth thy praise not my own saith holy David The Service of Hell must not be maintained with the Contributions of Heaven neither must we seek Gods approbation to the setting up of our own glory Phil. 1.15 Some preached the Gospel out of strife and envy Unmortified Corruption will make a mans most excellent Gifts subservient to his basest Lusts though exercised in the choicest Duties of Prayer and Preaching Applause Vain-glory and such like carnal motions and ends may set some men on work and make them prostitute the service of Christ to their own Lusts. This is not to trade as Factours for God but to set up for our selves So for Estate to spend it in pomp and vanity 't is sowing to the flesh Gal. 6.8 To spend our Wit Time and Strength upon the service of our fleshly Lusts or to make our Body a Strainer for meat and drink or a Chanel for Lust to run thorough to be all for present profit pleasure and Preferment this is instead of trading with Talents to use them to Gods dishonour 2. That we should be laborious according to our Gifts and opportunities As a Servant is sent abroad to spy all advantages of gain for his Master so we are sent into the World to take all occasions of doing good 1 Cor. 15.58 Alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord. Ministers are to watch for Souls and Magistrates are to watch for good and private Christians to be careful to maintain good Works To do a little good by the bye will not be accepted we must be hard at work for God Thirdly To whom the Gain and Increase redoundeth In a Moral consideration there are three Beings God Neighbour and Self Accordingly we are appointed to work for three Ends the Glory of God the Salvation of our own Souls
3.6 compared with Gen. 18.12 He will own a Pearl on a Dunghil the least Act of sincere Obedience though there be many failings But I must return 3. The usual ill thoughts of God are these three 1. That He is rigorous in his Commands 2. Niggardly and tenacious in his Gifts and helps of Grace 3. And as to Acceptance that he is hard to please and easie to offend All these may be gathered out of the words of the unfaithful Servant and all these lye deep in the Hearts of men against Gods Sovereignty 1. Hyppocrites accuse God of Tyranny in his Laws as if he dealt hardly with his Creatures to leave them with such affections in the midst of the Snares and Temptations of the present Life and requiring such Duty from them Certainly all that God hath required of us is holy just and good conducing not only to his Glory but to the Rectitude and Perfection of our Natures man would not be man if such things were not required of him so that if we were in our right wits and were left to our own Option and Choice we would preferre Subjection to such Laws before Exemption and freedom Micah 6.8 Are Justice Temperance Chastity Piety Patience Gives and Fetters to Humane Nature We cannot be without these and preserve the Nobleness of our being and the good of humane Societies 'T is true this lower World furnisheth us with many Temptations to the contrary but these Temptations work not by constraining Efficacy but only by inticing Perswasion and have we not more earnest Perswasions to love God and please God Are not God and Christ and Heaven more lovely Objects than all the Pleasures and Profits and Honours of the World These things do not force the will but draw your consent and surely God hath propounded more lovely things in his Covenant to draw this consent from them The great fault is in our Lust 2 Pet. 1.4 As the Poyson is not in the Flower but in the Spider 2. He accuseth God as backward to give Grace and help our Impotency and as if he did require more than he giveth This is obvious and express in the words of the naughty Servant Reaping where thou hast not sowen and gathering where thou hast not strawed But this also is an unjust charge for God requireth nothing but according to the Talents received Now he needeth not take any thing from the Creatures for he giveth all he had one Talent and God expected the Improvement but of one Let men try to the utmost and see if they have cause to make this Complaint they will find that the way of the Lord is strength to the upright Prov. 10.29 and that all these jealousies are but a slander against Gods Government Why do you complain that he would reap where he hath not sowen Is it because you would have God force you to be good whether you would or no and by an absolute constraining Power drive you out of your flesh-pleasing course Consider how unbeseeming it is the Wisdom of God that men should be holy and good by Necessity and not by Choice Vertue would then be no vertue not a moral but a natural Property as burning is to Fire And it were no more praise-worthy to mind Heavenly things than it is for a Stone to move downward 'T is true God must make make us willing but willing we must be now there is no such thing on your parts when you wilfully refuse the hopes God offereth Acts 13.46 Since ye put away the Word of God from you and judge your selves unworthy of eternal life lo we turn to the Gentiles At least you do not apply your hearts to work with God or frame your doings to turn to him as 't is in the Prophet you do not improve Means and Mercies and Providences and Helps vouchsafed And will you after all this think God a Pharaoh that requireth Brick and giveth no Straw Here 't is verified Prov. 17.3 The foolishness of man perverteth his way and his heart fretteth against the Lord. We usually ruine our selves and then complain that God giveth no more Grace But do not we justifie this conceit of wicked men when we say God requireth Duty of the fallen Creatures who have no power to perform it I answer 1. We must so maintain God's Goodness as still to keep up his Sovereignty and right of Dominion Man had power which was lost by his own default but God doth not lose his Right though Man hath lost his Power Their Impotency doth not dissolve their Obligation A Drunken Servant is bound to the Duty of a Servant still 'T is against all reason the Master should lose his right to command by the Servants default A prodigal Debtor that hath nothing to pay yet is liable to be sued for the debt without injustice God contracted with us in Adam and his obedience was not only due by Covenant but by Law and immutable right not by positive Law only or Contract And therefore he hath a right to demand Obedience as the fruit of Original Righteousness 2. 'T is harsh men think to answer for Adam's fault to which they were not conscious and consenting But every man will find an Adam in his own heart the Old Man is there wasting away the relicks of natural light and strength and shall not God challenge the debt of Obedience from a proud prodigal Debtor We are found naked yet we think our selves cloathed poor yet we think our serlves rich and to have need of nothing Therefore God may admonish us of our Duty demand his right to convince us of our Impotency and that we may not pretend we were not called upon for what we owe him Man is prodigal we spend what is left lose those relicks of Conscience and moral Inclinations which escaped out of the ruines of the fall 3. God requireth it that we may acknowledge the Debt and confess our Impotency being practically convinced thereof and so humbly implore his Grace 4. God is still offering recovering Mercy and never forsaketh any but those that forsake him first 1 Chron. 18.9 If thou forsake him he will cast thee off for ever 2 Chron. 5.2 If you forsake him he will forsake you Did you improve your selves and beg Gods Grace and carry on the Common work as far as you can then 't were another matter He that useth Gods means as well as he can he lyeth nearer to the blessing of them than the wilful despiser and Neglecter of them Unsanctified men may do less evil and more good than they do Therefore if they neglect the means they are left inexcusable not only as originally disabled but as wilfully graceless So that no such prejudice can lye against God he offereth grace and power and men will not have it 3. The third Prejudice is That he is hard to please and easily offended As if he did watch advantages to ruine and destroy the Creature Oh! No This cannot be thought of
on his head nor the Entertainments made him when he lived upon earth but the feeding and cloathing of his hungry and naked Servants The greatest part of Christians never saw Christ in the Flesh But the Poor they have alwayes with them Kindness to these is Kindness to him Again Among these he doth not mention the most Eminent the Prophets and Apostles or the great Instruments of his Glory in the World but the least of his Brethren even those that are not only little and despicable in the esteem of the World but those that are little and despicable in the Church in respect of others that are of more eminent Use and Service Again The least Kindness shewn unto them Mat. 10.42 Whosoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones a Cup of cold water in the name of a Disciple verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his reward He had spoken before of kindness to Prophets and righteous Men Men of Eminent Gifts and Graces then ordinary Disciples among these the least and most contemptible either as to outward Condition or State of Life or to Use and Service and it may be inward Grace Now all this sheweth what value Christ sets upon the meanest Christians and the smallest and meanest Respect that is shewed them The smallness and meanness of the Benefit shall not diminish his Esteem of your Affection any thing done to his People as his People will be owned and noted When the Saints that newly came from the Neglects and Scorns of an unbelieving World shall see and hear all this what cause will they have to wonder and say Lord who hath owned thee in these Alas in the World all is quite contrary Let a Man profess Christ and resemble Christ in a lively manner and own Christ thoroughly presently he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 set up for a Sign of Contradiction and that not only among Pagans but Professing Christians yea by those that would seem to be of great note in the Church as the Corner-stone was refused by the Builders 1 Pet. 2.7 And therefore when Christ taketh himself to be so concerned in their Benefits and Injuries they have cause to wonder Christ was in these and the World knew it not 3. At the Greatness of the Reward That he should not only take notice of these Acts of Kindness but so amply remunerate them In the Rewards of Grace God worketh beyond humane Imagination and Apprehension 1 Cor. 2.9 Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither have entred into the Heart of Man the things God hath prepared for them that love him We cannot by all that we see and hear in this World which are the Senses of Learning form a Conception large enough for the Blessedness of this Estate Enjoyers and Beholders will wonder at the Grace and Bounty and power of their Redeemer 'T is transcendent hyperbolical weight of Glory 2 Cor. 4.17 Where is any thing that they can do or suffer that is worthy to be mentioned or compared with so great a Recompence When these Bodies of Earth and Bodies of Dust shall shine like the Stars in Brightness these sublime Souls of ours see God face to face these wavering and inconstant Hearts of ours shall be immutably and indeclinably fastned to love him and serve him and praise him as without Defection so without Intermission and Interruption and our Ignominy turned into Honour and our Misery into everlasting Happiness Lord what Work of ours can be produced as to be rewarded with so great a Blessedness VSE That which we learn from this Question of theirs supposed to be conceived upon these Grounds is 1. An humble Sense of all that we do for God The Righteous remember not any thing that they did worthy of Christ's Notice and we should be like-minded Nehem. 13.22 Remember me O my God concerning this also and spare me according to the Greatness of thy Mercy When we have done our best we had need to be spared and forgiven rather than rewarded On the contrary Luk. 18.11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus to himself God I thank thee that I am not as other Men are Extorioners Vnjust Adulterers or even as this Publican And those Isa. 58.3 Wherefore have we fasted say they and thou seest not wherefore have have afflicted our Souls and thou takest no Knowledge They challenge God for their Work None more apt to rest in their own Righteousness than they that have the least Cause Formal Duties do not discover Weakness and so Men are apt to be puffed up they search little and so rest in some outward things 'T is no great Charge to maintain painted Fire The Substantial Duties of Christianity such as Faith and Repentance imply Self-humbling but external things produce Self-exalting They put the Soul to no stress Loaden Boughs hang the Head most so are holy Christians most humble None labour so much as they do in working out their Salvation and none so sensible of their Weaknesses and Imperfections Old Wine puts the Bottles in no danger there is no Strength and Spirits left in it So do formal Duties little put the Soul to it On the other side they are conscious to so many Weaknesses as serious Duties will bring into the View of Conscience and have a deep Sense of their Obligations to the Love and Goodness of God and a strong Perswasion of the Blessed Reward None are so humble as they They see so much Infirmity for the present so much Obligation from what is past and such sure Hope of what is to come that they can scarce own a Duty as a Duty None do Duties with more Care and none are less mindful of what they have done They discern little else in it that they contribute any thing to a good Action but the Sin of it This is to do God's Work with an Evangelical Spirit doing our utmost and still ascribing all to our Mediator and blessed Redeemer 2. What Value and Esteem we should have for Christ's Servants and Faithful Worshippers Christ treateth his Mystical Body with greater Indulgence Love and Respect than he did his Natural Body for he doth not dispense his Judgment with respect to that but these He would not have us know him after the Flesh 2 Cor. 5.16 Please our selves with the Conceit of what we would do to him if he were alive and here upon Earth but he will judge us according to the Respect or Disrespect we shew to his Members even to the meanest among them To wrong them is to wrong Christ Zech. 2.8 He that toucheth you toucheth the Apple of his Eye The Churches Trouble goes near his Heart which in due time will be manifested upon the Instruments thereof To sleight them is to sleight Christ He that despiseth you despiseth me To grieve and offend them is to grieve and offend Christ. Matth. 18.10 Take heed that ye despise not one of these little Ones for I say unto you That in
you will fall off and all will end in shame and horror Therefore take heed of following Christ for the Lâ—aves John 6.26 It was an old Complaint Non diligunt Jesum propter Jesum Men have their Carnal Ends in Religion as to make it a Step to Promotion a Cloak to Injustice a Means to get Rich Matches Whatever thou dost in Religion do it upon Reasons of Religion Especially take heed of neglecting Warnings Reproofs and Checks of Conscience stifling of Convictions makes way for Hardness When you are convinced of any Sin or neglect of Duty O do not hold the Truth in Vnrighteousness Rom. 1.18 Truths many times are imprisoned in the Conscience there they are but they cannot get a fair Hearing till God give them a Gaol-delivery and bring them out of the House of Bondage The Devil holds you Prisoners when you hold the Truth in Prison when you are convinced of any Sin or of the neglect of any Duty do not choak Conscience but humble thy self till the Heart be gained to practise the Duty and the disposition of Heart towards Sin be in some measure abated 3. Beware of Treason against Christ. God forbid you will say any of us should be treacherous to Christ Many are so that seem to defy it Judas did put a great affront upon Christ when he sold him for thirty Pieces a cheap and vile price You will find in the Law that thirty Pieces was the price of a Slave Exod. 21.32 If an Ox shall push a Man-Servant or Maid-Servant he shall give unto their Master thirty Shekels and the Ox shall be stoned They proffered no more than was wont to be given for the basest of Men possibly there may be something of Mystery in it that Christ should be sold for the price of a Servant or Slave however it aggravated his Treason and Treachery There are many such Judas's alive that do but wait for a Chapman that are ready to sell Heaven and Happiness and Religion and all their Profession for a Penny matter God tries us as Constantius did them in his Army having some sense of the Christian Religion he made this Proclamation Whoever would not renounce their Profession they should no longer have their Military Places And this he did to prove them said he For if they be not faithful to their God they will not be faithful to me So the Lord in his Providence seems to put us upon such a Trial whether we will renounce our Profession tho we cannot sell Christ in Person and there be no Priests to deal with us yet Satan is still alive and therefore when for worldly Ease and Peace and handfuls of Barley and pieces of Silver we part with the Promise and Comfort and Hopes of it and hazard the Favour of God and Peace of Conscience for the trifling Matters of the World we are guilty of this Treason of Judas Tho you hate the memory of Judas you love his Sin I observe that the Historical Passages of Christ's Sufferings are often morally verified The Jews preferring Barabbas by the Sensualist preferring his Pleasures and brutish and swinish Delights before the Delights of Communion with Christ Judas his selling Christ by the Mammonist that yieldeth against Conscience for a little worldly Gain and Sustentation of himself here in this present World 4. Take heed of his Despair O cherish the Repentance of Peter but not of Judas If you have sinned against God go out and weep bitterly but take Sanctuary at the Lord's Grace Do not hug a Distemper instead of a Duty There were two Ingredients wanting in Judas's Repentance that should be in every true Penitent 1. Love to Conversion Whatever a convinced Hypocrite doth he doth it out of Self-love Pharaoh could say Take away this Plague he doth not say Take away this hard Heart Every Creature loveth its own Quiet and Safety Wicked Men only hate Sin when they feel Wrath and are surprized with Horror and Trouble not out of a Love to Grace but Fear of Hell When Hurt is at hand the Fear of it worketh upon us True Repentance cometh from a sight of the Beauty and Excellency and Sweetness that is to be found in the ways of God And they grieve not only for the Effects of his Wrath because God is angry but because God is offended 2. Hopes of Mercy Judas goeth not to God but hangs himself No Conviction is good that doth not lead to God When the Spirit convinces of Sin he convinces also of Righteousness John 16.8 And the Heirs of Promise are described to be those that flie for Refuge to the Hope that is set before them Heb. 6.18 They are sensible that there is an Avenger of Blood at their Heels that the Wrath of God is pursuing them for their Sin O but they run to take Sanctuary at the Grace of God Judas's Sin stuck close to him and he casts away himself but Peter runs to Christ and Christ sends him a comfortable Message Mark 16.7 Go tell my Disciples and Peter that I go before them into Galilee 4. Observe That the Wicked in their Machinations against the Church do but draw Perdition upon themselves The Church hath Benefit by Judas's Treason we are redeemed and God hath Glory but he is the Son of Perdition Judas was the first Heretick of the Gospel denying Christ's Godhead he betrayed him thinking him a meer Man and he was the first false Brother and Persecutor And now Hereticks and Persecutors what do they carry away but Shame The Plots blow up the Author Heresies edify the Church but damn the Broacher Light breaketh out by knocking of Flints Persecutors are an Iron in the Fire heated too hot burneth their Fingers that hold it but the Church is purged The Church was beholden to Charles the Fifth God doth it to shew his Justice Power and Wisdom 1. His Justice that they are taken in their own Net Judas was hanged ere Christ was brought to the Cross. Psal. 76.10 Surely the Wrath of Men shall praise thee 2. His Wisdom He taketh the Wise in their own Craftiness The wise Painter knoweth how to lay on black Lines and Shadows All their Policy is but a Spider's Web woven with much Art but it cometh to nothing God will be known to be only wise even when wicked Men think to over-reach him As the Governor of a Castle that is privy to the Plots of his Enemies he knows what they will do and suffers them to run on to such a Point 3. His Power Let Cain Pharaoh Achitophel Haman Herod Judas speak is not this true They all confess They did but kick against the Pricks dash against the Rocks roll up a Stone that will fall upon them and break them all to pieces It is the Devil's Torment that all his Plots are turned to his loss and the good of those he hated most all his Instruments are but Executioners of God's Will while they rush against it As Men walking in a Ship
Temptation in that Livery which suiteth with every Man's Humour and Complexion and plieth that Object which suiteth with the Distemper he knoweth every Distemper loveth the Diet that feedeth it hath Honours for the Ambitioâ—s Wealth for the Covetous Pleasures for the Sensual and God by a Righteous Dispensation permitteth it Jer. 6.21 Therefore thus saith the Lord Behold I will lay stumbling-blocks before this People and the Fathers and the Sons together shall fall upon them As when we â—uspect a Servant to be given to filching we leave loose Mony about the House to try if he will steal it So God to try us may suffer Satan to ply us with a Diet suitable to our Distemper Secondly The next Reason is our own weakness There are not only Snares and Temptations in the World but there is a flexibleness in the Party tempted James 1.14 Every Man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own Lust and inticed The Fire burneth in our own Hearts Satan doth but blow up the Flame There is bad Liquor in the Vessel Satan giveth it vent and sets it abroach with Violence Mat. 5.28 He that looketh upon a Woman to lust after her hath committed Adultery with her already in his Heart There is an intrinsecal flexibleness in the Heart a treacherous Party within The Evils of the World were tolerable if there were not Lust in the Heart 2 Pet. 1.4 Having escaped the Corruption that is in the World through Lust. We carry the worst Enemy in our own Bosom Satan could not prevail against us were it not for our own Lusts as the Philistines could not prevail against Sampson if Dalilah had not lull'd him asleep or as Baalam first corrupted Israel before he could curse them Nay when there is Grace wrought still there is a treacherous Party within Mat. 26.41 The Spirit is willing but the Flesh is weak The Will hath a proneness still and in your Affections there is a suitableness to carnal Baits It is as with a Garison besieged tho the treacherous Party be weakest in the Town yet they may do much hurt so there is still corruption enough to open the Door to Satan Vse 1. Caution Take heed the World is a dangerous place even to a Disciple of Christ and therefore you have need to use it as if you used it not The Heart is soon tainted and that insensibly There are two Remedies that you should constantly use Watching and Prayer they are prescribed by our Saviour Mat. 26.41 Watch and Pray that ye enter not into Temptation These must always go together we Watch that we may not be careless we Pray that we may not be self-confident These two Duties help one another the Heart is best kept when it is commended to God We watch only to discover the Approaches of the Enemy and we cry for God's help against the Temptation As Watching helps Prayer Danger descried giveth quickness fervency and earnestness in Supplication So also Prayer helpeth Watching we can best maintain our Station when we call in God's Help 1 st Watch and that especially against two Things the Occasions of Sin and the privy Distempers of the Heart 1. The Occasions of Sin Do not put your selves upon danger it is a sign of a naughty Heart to dally with Occasions as Ravens when they are driven away from the Carrion will stand within the scent It is not good to be within the scent of Sin Lot and his Wife were not to look back upon Sodom Gen. 19.26 Lot 's Wife looked back from behind him and she became a Pillar of Salt The Act in it self was not sinful but it was forbidden to them as an Occasion of Sin You shall see Vers. 29. Abraham looked towards Sodom and Gomorrah and he is commended but it was forbidden to Lot Vers. 17. Escape for thy Life look not behind thee because it was likely to work Relentings he was loth to leave that pleasant Vale the sight was more like to work on Lot's Heart and his Wives than Abraham's and prove a Snare to them Therefore Lot's Wife is turned into a Pillar of Salt Pray mark it Ananias and Saphira were striken dead for a Sin and Lot's Wife for putting her self upon a Temptation to Sin God hath declared his displeasure against hankering after Corruption as well as closing with it and in these days Sin is not grown less dangerous nor God less angry with it a wanton Look putting our selves upon the presence of a Temptation without a Call beholding the Wine while it sparkleth in the Glass these are Temptations and we have no need to tempt the Tempter Satan is waiting for such Advantages he can interpret the silent Language of a Blush a Smile a Frown a Look the glance of a lustful Eye he is watchful and is an excellent Naturalist skilled in the external Gestures and Motions of the Spirits 2. Against Privy Distempers We are not only to watch against Actual Sins but the secret growing of Evil Habits especially against Deadness Drowsiness and those Distempers that insensibly creep upon the Heart Conversing with worldly Pleasures and worldly Objects breedeth a deadness and withdraweth the Heart e're we are aware Natural Conscience is kept waking against foul Lusts and Corruptions they are in a dead sleep that can as Jonah did sleep in a storm that fall into brutish practices without remorse But the great end of Spritiual Watching is to keep the Heart in Frame to prevent the sly Incroachments of the World But how shall we know when the World doth incroach I Answer When your care is lessened towards Heavenly Things and your Delight is lessened in them 1. When your Care is lessened towards Heavenly Things you are not so serious so frequent in communion with God This is Martha's Fault She was cumbred about much serving while Mary sat at Jesus his feet and heard his Words Luke 10. latter end When you begin to lessen your course of Duty tho the same Abilities Opportunities and Necessities continue and only out of respect to the World it is a carnal Distemper especially when the World beginneth to upbraid Conscience if I hear as much and pray as much and meditate as much as I was wont it will engross my Time and hinder my worldly Pursuits As Sarah thrust Ishmael out of Doors when he began to scoff at Isaac it is good to thrust the World out of the Heart when it encroacheth too much Be it the World of carnal Delight or of carnal Profit when it would defraud God or the Soul or the Family of its due Allowance it is sad 2. When your Delight is lessened and you have lost your savour of the Word or the Ordinances or Sabbath and prize Communion with God less God is defrauded 1 John 2.15 Love not the World nor the Things of the World for if any Man love the World the Love of the Father is not in him The Love of the World hath made you weary of God When
Light with it to see Sin after another manner altho a Man did not know it before Faith persuadeth us that the Commands of God are just and equal there is a believing Commands as well as Promises this is a Command from God Psal. 119.66 Teach me good Judgment and Knowledg for I have believed thy Commandments SERMON XXVII JOHN XVII 17 Sanctify them through thy Truth thy Word is Truth I NOW Proceed to the Reasons why God sanctifieth by his Truth It is most suitable to God's Honour and to Man's Nature I. To God's Honour It was meet that God should give a Rule to the Creatures or else how should they know his Will And then it was meet to honour this Rule by owning it above all other Doctrines by the concomitant Operation of his Spirit This is the authentick Proof the Efficacy of the Word is a Pledg of the Truth of it John 8.32 And ye shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make ye free from the Bondage of Sin the Devil and Death A wicked Man cannot have an absolute assurance of the Truth of the Word he hath no feeling of the Power of it There is a great deal of Do How do you prove the Scriptures to be the Word of God A Believer hath the Testimony in his own Heart 1 John 5.10 He that believeth in the Son of God hath the Testimony in himself His Conscience and Heart are set at liberty by Water and Blood This made the Apostles bold and should make Ministers so Rom. 1.16 I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the Power of God unto Salvation We should not be ashamed to preach it and you should not be ashamed to profess it it is the Power of God God will not associate and join the powerful Operation of his Spirit with any other Doctrine So David when he commendeth the Law by which he doth not mean the Decalogue but the whole Word of God Psal. 19.7 8 9. The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the Soul the Testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the Simple The Statutes of the Lord are right rejoycing the Soul the Commandment of the Lord is pure enlightning the Eyes The Fear of the Lord is clean enduring for ever the Judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether He had spoken before of the Excellency of the Sun now of the Word intimating that the Word of God is as necessary for the Heart as the Sun is for the World We can as well be without the Sun as without the Bible But how doth he evidence it From the Effects upon the Heart and Conscience Comfort and Grace are two great Evidences of the Perfection of the Word No Doctrine in the World save this Divine Truth set down in Scripture is able to discover the Sin and Misery of Man the Remedy and Relief of it in Christ. No Doctrine save this alone can effectually humble a Soul and convert it to God make it sensible of the Loss by Sin and restore it to a better Condition II. It is more suitable to Man's Nature The Word is more morally accommodated to work upon the Heart of Man than any other Instrument Means or Doctrine in the World 1. The Precepts of it It is the Copy of God's Holiness the Light by which we see ever◠thing in its own Colours The Light of Nature is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Work of the Law Rom. 2.14 15. It taketh notice of gross Acts of Sin and the outward Work of Duty they made Conscience to abstain from gross Acts of Sin and to perform outward Acts of Piety and Devotion as offering Sacrifices and Prayers But now there is an excellent Spirit of Holiness that breatheth in the Word and all matters of Duty are advanced to their greatest perfection Psal. 119.96 Thy Commandment is exceeding broad of a vast extent and latitude comprizing every Motion Thought and Circumstance in Duties not only the Act is required but the Frame of Heart is regarded not only Sins but Lusts are forbidden If ever there were an Instrument fitted to do a thing the Word is fitted to promote Holiness the true Purity that is pleasing to God 2. The Paterns and Examples of the Word We miscarry by low Examples and learn Looseness and Carelesness one by another Therefore the Word of God to elevate Holiness to the highest extent presseth not only the Examples of the Saints whose Memorials are left upon record in the Word but the Holiness of the Angels yea the Holiness of God himself The highest Aim doth no hurt he will shoot further who aimeth at a Star than he that aimeth at a Shrub Be ye Followers of them who through Faith and Patience have inherited the Promises Heb. 6.12 Thy Will be done on Earth as it is done in Heaven Mat. 6.10 Be ye holy as I am holy 1 Pet. 1.15 Communion begets Conformity We need all kinds of Examples high Examples that we may not rest in any low degrees and beginnings of Holiness low Examples that we may think it possible We are not Angels but Men and Women 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of like Affections that have the same natural Interests natural Wants with others It is a trodden Path in the Way to Heaven you may see the Footsteps of the Saints 3. Excellent Rewards and fit Arguments to induce us to the Practice of Holiness 2 Cor. 7.1 Having these Promises dearly Beloved let us cleanse our selves from all the Filthiness of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the Fear of God 2 Pet. 1.4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious Promises that by these ye might be Partakers of the Divine Nature having escaped the Corruption that is in the World through Lust. God covenants with us as if we were free-born to interest our Hearts in the Love and Practice of Holiness we have as much propounded as we can wish for nay and more 1 Cor. 2.9 Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither have entred into the Heart of Man the Things which God hath prepared for them that love him Lactantius saith of the Heathens Virtutis vim non sentiunt cujus proemium ignorant They feel not the Power of Vertue because they are ignorant of the Reward of Vertue Life and Glory and the great things to come are powerful Motives can you meet with the like elsewhere All Creatures seek their own Perfection Philosophy is to seek of a sure Reward and Encouragement 4. Our many Advantages in Christ. We have not only Encouragement offered but Help and Assistance Christ hath purchased Grace to make us holy 1 Pet. 2.24 Who his own self bare our Sins in his own Body on the Tree that we being dead unto Sin might live to Righteousness by whose Stripes ye were healed He hath not only purchased the Rewards of Grace to wit that God should not deal with us in Soveraignty but purchased the Abilities of Grace redeemed us from
far from the Kingdom of God they approve things that are good but they have no mind to take hazard and lot with Christ. 5. If there should be a Profession there is no Power The Net draws bad Fish as well as good There are mixtures in the Church Many revere Godliness but were never acquainted with the Virtue and Power of it Many have an excellent Model of Truth and make a Profession as plausible and glorious in the World as possibly you can desire yet they never knew the Virtue of this Religion it never entred into their Heart 1 Cor. 4.20 For the Kingdom of God is not in Word stands not in plausible Pretences but in Power 1 Thess. 1.5 For our Gospel came not unto you in Word only but also in Power You know the State of Men were represented by Christ in the Parable of the two Sons Mat. 21.28 29 30. A certain Man had two Sons and he came to the first and said Son go to work to day in my Vineyard He answered and said I will not but afterwards he repented and went And he went to the second and said likewise And he answered and said I go Sir and went not Oh there be many that say I will go that pretend fair that are convinced so far as to make a Profession yet never bring their Hearts seriously to addict themselves to God to walk in his Ways and keep his Charge there is no real change of Heart no serious bent of Soul towards God 6. If there be some real Motions as there may be in temporary Believers for we must not think all is Hypocritical yet it is not intire Mark 6.20 Herod did many things and heard John Baptist gladly His Heart and his Profession went a great way together till he was to part with his Bosom-Lust John was safe till he touched upon his Herodias then Conviction grows furious and he turneth into a Devil Therefore take heed of meer Conviction Vse 4. To press the Children of God to express such Fruits of their Union with Christ that they may convince the World Christ prays not only that the World may be convinced but that it might be by those that are real Members of his Mystical Body that they may have a Hand to further it What are the Fruits of the Mystical Union that you may convince the World 1. Love and mutual serviceableness to one another's Good When we live as Members of the same Body that have a mutual care for one another then we shall bring a mighty Honour and Credit to Religion and can with Power give Testimony to the Truths of Christ. Acts 2.44 And all that believed were together and had all things common When Christians were of One Mind and Heart they had all things common O it is a mighty convincing thing when all those that profess Godliness labour to carry on the same Truths and Practices Divisions breed Atheism in the World The Lord Jesus knew it and therefore he prays Let them be all one c. that the World may believe that thou hast sent me We never propagate the Faith so much as by this Union Divisions put a great stop to the progress of Truth When contrary Factions mutually condemn one another it is a wonder any are brought off from their vain Conversations The World is apt to think there is no such thing as Religion and one sort is no better than another they see the World cannot agree about it therefore they stay where they are 2. Holiness and Strictness of Life and Conversation there is a convincing Majesty in it natural Conscience doth homage to it where ever it findeth it Therefore live as those who are taken up into Fellowship with God through Christ. Herod feared John Baptist Why because he was a strict Preacher No but because he was a Just Man Mark 6.20 When you live thus holily and accomplish the Work of Faith with Power then the Lord Jesus is glorified in you 2 Thess. 1.11 12. 3. When you can contemn the Baits of the World and Allurements of Sense this is a mighty Argument to convince the World that you have higher and nobler Principles you are acted by and better Hopes you are called to Tho you have not divested and put off the Interests of Flesh and Blood for you are not Angels yet you can be faithful to God and Christ. The World admireth what kind of Temper Men are made of 1 Pet. 4.4 They think it strange that you run not with them into all excess of Riot They have the same Interests and Concernments and yet how mortified how weaned are they from those Things which others go a whoring after sure they have a felicity which the World knoweth not of they dread and admire this tho they hate you 4. A Chearfulness and Comfortableness in the midst of Troubles and deep Wants when you can live above your Condition take joyfully the spoiling of your Goods Heb. 10.34 and bear Losses with an equal mind for you are not much troubled with these Things then you live as those that are called to a higher Happiness 5. To be more faithful in the Duties of your Relations The Fruits of the Mystical Union run to every part of the Spiritual Life None commend their Religion so much as those that make Conscience of the Duties of their Relations that they may carry themselves as becomes Christians Husbands and Wives Parents and Children Masters and Servants So poor Servants make the Doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ comely Tit. 2.10 That ye may adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour in all things And the Apostle saith Men that do not obey the Word may without the Word be won by the Conversation of their Wives 1 Pet. 3.1 Worldly Men have been much gained by the Lives of Religious Persons Thus you propagate the Truth by carrying your selves usefully in your Relations This hath been ever the Glory of Religion as it was in the Primitive Times Austin makes this Challenge Vbi tales Imperatores c. Let all the Religions in the World shew such Emperors such Captains such Armies such Managers of Publick Treasury as the Christian Religion The World was convinced there was something Divine in them O! it is pity the Glory of Religion should fall to the ground in our days and that the quite contrary should be said none such careless Parents as those that seem to be touched with a sense of Religion None so disobedient to Magistrates none such disobedient Children to Parents as those that seem to be called to Liberty with Christ Therefore if you would honour Christ and propagate the Truth keep up this Testimony and convince the World 6. A Constancy in the Profession of Faith You should live as if Christ and you had one common Interest Sure they believe Christ was sent from God and able to reward them else why should they sacrifice all their Interests for his sake It is said Rev. 12.11 The
Love of Christ is there too His Love may be in us in the Sense and Feeling when we have the assurance of it Rom. 5.5 The Love of God is shed abroad in our Hearts by the Holy Ghost which he hath given to us that they may feel it in their Hearts that God loved them in Christ. There is the Work of the Spirit and the Witness of the Spirit both are intended in that Expression chiefly the latter such a Sense of God's Love as stirreth up Joy and Thankfulness and Hope The precious Ointment gave no savour while it was shut up in a Box till it was poured out So God's Love while it is kept secret it yieldeth no reviving Fragrancy These two differ for many have the Effects of God's Love but not the Sense and the Effects of Love do always abide for it is an Immortal Seed but the Sense of Love is flitting and changeable Nothing can separate us from the Love of God in Christ yet the Love of God in Christ is often beclouded overcast and interrupted and some have more Effects tho less Sense the most shining Years are not always the most Fruitful a Man may have greater increase of Grace tho less comfort Observe for your Comfort that Christ prayeth for both he hath prayed not only for Grace but for Assurance that we may feel our selves beloved by the Father The Lord delighteth not only to love us but to assure us of his Love It is no comfort to a blind Man to hear of a glorious Sun or brave Shews he cannot see them God would not leave us in the dark but give us an Experience of his Love II. How this ariseth from the Manifestation of God's Name in the Gospel 1. The Knowledg of God is a means to kindle our Respects to God 2. To convey the Influence of his Grace to us 1. It is a means to kindle our Respects to God as Trust Psal. 9.10 They that know thy Name will put their Trust in thee Men are ignorant of God's Goodness Mercy and Truth and therefore they make so little use of him Usually Fears are in the Night Doubts come from Ignorance of the Tenour of the Gospel if we did believe those Things to be true which are revealed concerning his Mercy and Love to Sinners we should trust in him Fire once kindled would burst out of it self into a Flame so did we once savingly know God's Name there would be more Trust and Confidence in God Isa. 50.10 Who is among you that feareth the Lord that obey the Voice of his Servant that walketh in Darkness and hath no Light let him trust in the Name of the Lord and stay upon his God We are overwhelmed with Difficulties and Straits for want of studying God's Name So also for Love Cant. 1.3 Thy Name is as Ointment poured forth therefore do the Virgins love thee Ignoti nulla cupido Love springeth from Knowledg In the Beams of the Sun there is a mixture of Warmth and Light We know not the Gift of God and therefore our Bowels are not troubled Did we but see him as he is it would set us all on Fire 2. It is the means to convey all the Influences of Grace to us 2 Pet. 1.2 Grace and Peace be multiplied unto you through the Knowledg of God and of Jesus our Lord. God worketh upon us as rational Creatures agreeably to an intelligent Nature and so nothing can be wrought unless Knowledg go before An House the more the Windows stand open the more it is filled with Light so the more Knowledg the more is the capacity of the Soul inlarged to receive Comfort and Grace Guilty Nature is full of Fears more presagious of Evil than of Good and therefore it must have clear grounds of Comfort and Hope But you will say How comes it to pass that Persons of great Knowledg want Comfort and have no sense of God's Love I Answer It is not the Light of Parts but of the Spirit I have declared c. It is God's Prerogative to settle the Conscience I create the Fruit of the Lips Peace Peace c. Isa. 57.19 The Gospel is a Sovereign Plaister but God maketh it work Our own Thoughts do nothing unless God put in with them Vse 1. It informeth us of a double Duty 1. To study God's Name It would settle the Conscience to meditate upon those Declarations which Christ hath made of his Will Deep Thoughts fasten things upon the Spirit and musing maketh the Fire to burn How hath God declared himself we may trust him upon his Word Psal. 104.34 My Meditation of him shall be sweet I will be glad in the Lord. We should oftner find sweetness if we did oftner meditate of God It is sweet thus to inlarge our Thoughts upon the Promises and Comforts of the Gospel 2. To apply it When God's Name is proclaimed and made known to thee urge thy own Soul with it Rom. 8.31 What shall we say to these things Job 5.27 Lo this we have searched it so it is hear it and know thou it for thy good This is Christ's Aim that Knowledg should beget Love in them Knowledg without Application doth no good We must take out our Share The Riches of God's Goodness are laid open to us for this End and Purpose that we may feel what is expressed We have known and believed the Love that God hath to us 1 John 4.16 It is no presumption it is the great End why the Gospel was written Wicked Men are too forward and presumptuous of God's Love they continue their ungodly Courses do those things which offend him and yet are perswaded that God loveth them God's Children pray against their Sins and fight against their Sins and yet after all cannot be perswaded of it There is a fear of Presumption and a fear of Security 1. A fear of Presumption as some say I am not worthy it is as if you should say I am too poor to ask or receive an Alms too filthy to be washed say not so for this is the way to make you worthy 2. Of Security this is to say If I take the Physick I shall be sick whereas it is not by applying Christ that we are endangered but by an insensibleness of our Misery If thou feelest thy Misery there is no danger of Security it is not every thing will satisfy a sensible Sinner not every slight Comfort Vse 2. Examination Whether you have gotten benefit by the Gospel Is God's Love in you Have you any Fruits or Feeling of his Love Can you say God loveth you All God's Children cannot feel his Love but have you the Fruits of his Love The Feeling of his Love is to be improved immediately to Thankfulness and the Fruits of his Love are to be improved by Spiritual Discourse to Confidence The present Argument will afford us ground of search and enquiry 1. Things without us are excluded they can be no Evidence or Argument of God's Love It
present or absent we may be accepted of him A new life inferreth new ends and pursuits the new Being obligeth us to be to the praise of his glorious grace Eph. 1.12 Fifthly The Properties of it 1. It is a godly Life as beginning and ending in God and carried on by those who are absolutely devoted and addicted to him 2 Pet. 3.11 What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness It is called the life of God Eph. 4.18 it is from God and for God you live by him and to him in others Self is the Principle Measure and End 2. It is an holy Life measured by the pure Word of God Psal. 119.140 Thy word is very pure therefore thy servant loveth it Rom. 7.12 The law is holy and the commandment is holy and just and good not by our own natural inclinations or the fashions of the world but Gods direction 1 Pet. 1.15 As he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation Luk. 1.75 That we should serve him in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our lives The inclinations are planted in us by Gods first work Eph. 4.24 That ye put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness they are directed by his Word all Moral Duties being comprised in those words Holiness or Dedication to God Righteousness performing our duties to men Acts 24.26 Herein do I exercise my self to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men 3. It is an heavenly life Phil. 3.20 Our conversation is in Heaven Our great work is to prepare for everlasting Life seeking rejoycing in that endless Happiness we shall have with God a living for or upon the unseen everlasting Happiness as purchased for us by Christ and freely given us of God We live for it as we seek after it with our utmost diligence Acts 26.7 Unto which promises the twelve Tribes instantly serving God day and night hope to come We live upon it as fetching thence all our supports solaces and incouragements 2 Cor. 4.18 While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal II. How strongly we are obliged by Baptism to this kind of life Baptism hath three Offices it representeth sealeth undertaketh it representeth as a signifying Sign sealeth as a confirming Sign undertaketh as a Bond wherewith we bind our selves when we submit to it First What it representeth primarily and principally the Death of Christ and secondarily his Resurrection the one in order to the other 1. The Death of Christ which is the meritorious Cause of all the Grace and good which is communicated to us in this or any other Sacrament or Mystery of the Gospel We are told 1 Pet. 2.14 That he himself bore our own sins in his body on the tree that we being dead to sin might be alive to righteousness I told you before that Christs Death may be considered as an instance of his Love or as the Price paid for the Blessings of the new Covenant as an instance of his Love it worketh morally as the Price of our blessings meritoriously as it worketh morally and exciteth our gratitude we should not go on in that course which brought these sufferings on Christ but live holily in gratitude to him and kindness to our selves lest we bear our own sins which are so hateful to God This consideration we exclude not but to make this all the sense of the Place no Christian heart can endure therefore we go to the second Consideration as the Price and Ranson of our own Souls and of the Blessings we stand in need of he purchased Grace to mortifie sin and quicken us to the duties of Holiness that the love of sin might be weakened in our hearts and we might be quickened to live to God in the Spirit Now if this be represented in Baptism then surely it strongly obligeth us to improve this Grace for those ends and purposes and that this is represented is evident for in the Apostles interpretation Baptism is a sort of Burial and first it is a Commemoration of the Burial of Christ who when his Soul was separated from his Flesh he was buried his Sacred Body was laid up in the Chambers of the Grave This was necessary not only in compliance with the Types Mat. 12.40 As Jonas was three days and three nights in the whales belly so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth Christ was found to be the true Messias by his Resurrection from the Dead as Jonas was authorized to be a true Prophet of the Lord by his miraculous deliverance Prophecies of this you may see Psal. 16.9 My flesh also shall rest in hope Isa. 53.9 He made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death But also this was necessary for the confirmation of the reality of his Death past and the verity of his Resurrection suddenly to follow Therefore in Baptism the truth of his Death is represented as the ground of all our hopes 2 The next thing which is represented is the Truth of his Resurrection Christ that purchased this Grace is risen to apply it he is a Saviour merito efficaciâ his Merit immediately depended on his Death and his Power for effectual application though mediately on that too depended immediately on his Resurrection for Christ rose on purpose to turn men from their iniquities Acts 3.26 God having raised up his Son Jesus hath sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities Christs Resurrection hath a twofold regard 1. It is a Pattern 2. It is a Pledge 1. It is a Pattern of our rising from the death of sin to newness of life If Christ that was dead and buried rose again and cast off the burden of our sins which for our sakes he undertook or cast of the form of a servant we must not only be dead and buried but we must rise also Christs Resurrection is every where made in a Pattern of the new Birth 1 Pet. 1.3 He hath begotten us to a lively hope by the resurrection of Christ from the dead that is the influential Cause and Pattern of it So 1 Pet. 3.21 The like figure whereunto even Baptism doth now also save us not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience towards God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Anima non lavatione sed responsione sancitur the Soul is dedicated to God to live a new life not by the water but by the answer to the demands of the new Covenant and this is by the Resurrection of Christ. 2. As it is Pledge of his Power by which that great change is wrought in us Eph. 1.19 20. And what
be breathing after and pressing on yet more and more to the purity and perfection of the heavenly Estate Phil. 3.14 I press toward the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Well then unless those that are baptized into Christ change their course of life all their Profession is but an empty Formality a Mockery a meer Nullity as to reward not as to punishment Their circumcision is made uncircumcision Rom. 3.25 As when God came to reckon with his People Jer. 9.25 26. Behold the days come saith the Lord that I will punish the circumcised with the uncircumcised Egypt Judah and Edom with the children of Ammon and Moab and all that are in the utmost corners that dwell in the wilderness for all these nations are uncircumcised in flesh and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart Circumcision was the Sign and Seal of the new Covenant to them as Baptism is to us they were distinguished from other Nations that were without it and this Prerogative they stood not a little upon Gen. 34.14 We cannot do this thing to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised for that were a reproach unto us They quarrelled with Peter Acts 11.3 Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised and didst eat with them Now to cut off this presumption God telleth them this was a sorry stay for them to trust to for he intended shortly to hold a Visitation wherein he would proceed against wicked persons without difference whether circumcised or uncircumcised and would deal impartially with the one and the other because the one were such in heart as the others were in flesh The outward Rite is of no force and worth in Gods account 2. It is a Bond wherewith we bind our Souls It is enough evidence that because it is an Answer to the Covenant 1 Pet. 3.24 as there God undertaketh to renew and strengthen us and give us Grace by his Almighty Power so we undertake to improve this Grace and to put off the old Man that we may walk in newness of life and Covenant-ingaging is the most solemn ingaging Ezek. 20.37 I will cause you to pass under the rod and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant As also by Analogy Gal. 5.3 I testifie to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to the whole Law He obligeth himself to the whole Oeconomy of Moses so by parity of reason he that is baptized is a debtor to the Law of Faith And so Debtors is the word used by the Apostle Rom. 8.12 Therefore Brethren we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh A Covenant-bond is sacred as that of an Oath or Vow a solemn Promise made to God hath the nature of a Vow Numb 30.2 If a man vow a vow to the Lord or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond he shall not break his word he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth Now if it be not performed we violate Gods Ordinance and are infringers of the Oath sworn to Christ and so are to be reckoned among the Perfidious rather than the Faithful Besides â—ake it in the notion of a Dedication or Consecration or yielding our selves to the Lord. Every Consecration implieth an Execration whether it be formally expressed or no. Sometimes it is expressed Nehem. 10.29 They entred into a curse and into an oath to walk in Gods Law Now see if this holds not good in the new Covenant consider the tenour of it Mark 16.16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned Therefore the Bond of the Covenant is a strict Bond. Vse 1. Is matter of lamentation that so many are baptized into Christ and yet express so little of the fruit of his Death or Resurrection Alas the Rabble of nominal Christians live in defiance of the Religion which they profess and are angry with those that would reduce them to the strictness of it They are alive to sin and dead to righteousness as if they had promised rather to continue in their sins than to renounce and disclaim them and were in Covenant with the Devil the World and the Flesh rather than Father Son and Holy Ghost as if they had vowed to be utterly unlike to Christ. Now it will go ill with them in the Judgment worse than with Heathens because they knew better were obliged to do better had grace to do better in offer at least We laugh at the rudeness of one bred up at Plough but are sorely displeased at the ill manners of one bred in places of more refined Conversation The Heathens were never buried with Christ in Baptism never professed to be dead to the World or alive to God but Christians are under a solemn ingagement and if they had the courage to set about their Duty would God be wanting to them Vse 2. To perswade you to make Conscience of your Baptismal Vow and to observe and perform it with all good fidelity and that in both parts of it 1. Dying to sin you are not only dead but buried O do not neglect the mortifying of your sins You think it is hard to renounce sensual delight and pleasure but better lose the pleasure of the Senses than incur the pains of Hell that is that which our Saviour teacheth us Mat. 5.29 30. If thy right eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee For it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell And if thy right hand offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee c. Literally that place cannot be taken no man ever yet hated his own flesh nor can he lawfully hate it this is contrary to the sixth Commandment for a man to hurt his body to prevent his sin is to run from one fire into another to be guilty of Murder to prevent Adultery the fault is not in the eye but in the heart Mat. 15.19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts murders adulteries fornications thefts false witnesses blasphemies If the right eye were plucked out the left eye might easily transmit the temptation Metaphorically you may take it for the principal members of the body of sin beloved lusts But the meaning is it is better to be blind than damned to lose their senses than lose their Souls much more to deny the pleasures of sense You may say if you allow your selves a little liberty the danger is not great you should say rather the pleasure is not great therefore mortifie your sins Motives 1. Till sins be mortified they easily break out again 2 Pet. 2.20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are again intangled therein and overcome c. their heart is in secret league with their lusts which is
only know and discourse of these things but apply them to our selves The best and the most profitable knowledge is in applying general Truths to a mans own case Likewise reckon ye your selves also to be dead unto sin c. This is a Truth which concerneth us in Mortification I profess Faith in Christ am baptized with Christ I must die unto sin Omnis operatio est per contactum the closer the truth the more effectual the operation Rom. 8.31 What shall we say to these things 5. It is Actus Judicii decernentis we do determine this we must do or be undone 2 Cor. 5.14 15. We thus judge that if one dyed for all then were all dead and that be dyed for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which dyed for them and rose again 6. It is Actus Voluntatis consentientis this Death and Life is much promoted by the firm purpose and resolution of our minds 1 Pet. 4.1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh arm your selves likewise with the same mind for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin The summ of the whole is 1. That we should think of it seriously and here many are defective who little think of dying to sin or living to God all their thoughts are how they may please the flesh Rom. 13.14 To make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof or thrive in the world Luke 12.17 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he thought within himself saying What shall I do because I have no room where to bestow my fruits And he said This will I do I will pull down my barns and build greater and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods Or as those Jam. 4.13 To day or to morrow we will go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain and so their great work lyeth neglected 2. That by Reason we should so evidence it to our selves to be our Duty that we should make conscience of it A sluggish heart needs to be awakened by plain and evident Conclusions for wherefore was Reason given us to lye asleep No we must argue and conclude for God that we may bring it to this issue that either we are flat Rebels or must do those things he hath given us in charge 3. We must assent to those Principles of Faith from whence this Conclusion is deduced by necessary consequence as namely 1. That Christ is set up as a Pattern to whom all the Heirs of Promise must be conformed 2. That our Conformity is mainly seen in resembling his two Estates his dying to Sin and living to God 3. That our Baptism obligeth us both by way of Dependence and Obedience By way of Dependence waiting for his Grace whereby this Conformity and Likeness may be accomplished By way of Obedience using all those holy means and endeavours that conduce to this end and purpose Faith assenteth Reason concludeth 4. We must resolve upon it as an unquestionable Duty that we may not play fast and loose with God For the Judgment determintaing and the Will consenting make up the strength of Resolution which in this case is very necessary because we are likely to be assaulted with many enemies and seeing we are too often secure and forgetful of our work and welfare therefore we must stand fast in the purpose of our own hearts still to pursue this work till it be finished Those who are regenerated by the Spirit surely will have such reasonings in themselves and are not only in profession but indeed as the word is in the Text dying to sin and living to God And it is ordinary in Scripture to exhort by affirming that is to speak of the Duty of Believers as already done by them thereby to assure them it shall be done and to oblige them the more strongly to the endeavour of it Vse To press us to two things 1. To regard your Duty 2. To owne the Grace of Christ. 1. To regard your Duty of dying to Sin and living to God The Arguments to press it are these 1. From the Work it self which is so noble and excellent that if there were no benefit to ensue it were enough to ingage us It consists in these four Branches and Parts First To have the sensitive Appetite subject to Reason which is nothing else but to have the order of Nature preserved or that Man should carry himself rather like a Man than a Beast nor serve divers lusts and pleasures but be governed by his Reason and Conscience Now it should not be a hard Precept to us to perswade us to walk upon our feet rather than our heads let the head guide the body and the feet obey its direction put Reason in the Throne Secondly To have Reason illuminated and rectified by Faith which discovereth things to us out of the ken and view of Reason Heb. 11.1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen The Heathens had the highest opinion of those who were admitted into secrecy with their Gods and had things revealed to them which other Mortals could never have known This Honour have all his Saints They shall be all taught of God Joh. 6.45 higher Mysteries than Nature could discover Thirdly That this Faith should make us alive to God or enable and incline us to persevere in our Duty to him Faith is our life as begun Gal. 2.20 The life that I live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me As consummated Heb. 10.38 Now the just shall live by faith the Spirit working in us a practical fiducial assent to the saving Truths of the Gospel or affiance on God according to the Promises doth beget life in us or a resolution to obey God whatever it cost us Fourthly That this Faith working by Love doth incline and enable us to live accordingly The property of Faith is to work by love Gal. 5.6 Now see what these two Graces do The property of Love is to incline us to God it is the bent and biass of the Soul and the property of Faith is to enable us by presenting greater encouragements to the holy and heavenly Life than the World and the Flesh can produce to the contrary Now is this a toilsom and tedious life to have Appetite governed by Reason Reason elevated by Faith to the sight of God and the other World and Faith acting by Love and Hope which incline us to God and Heaven and fortifie and strengthen us against all the delights and terrors of sense This is nothing but dying to sin and living to God 2. From the consequent Benefits which are 1. Pardon of all their sins these have an interest in Christ a Pardon sealed by his Blood They that die to Sin and live to Righteousness have passed from death to life
Graves mouth and wealth pleasure carnal rest worldly honour are no longer of use â—o us when we are to be laid in the dust One would think this should cure the mad desires of all mortal Creatures 1 Joh. 2.17 The world passeth away and the lusts thereof but he that doth the will of God shall endure for ever When we come to die neither can the thing do us good and the very lust and desire is gone and is bitter in the remembrance of it Pray how little can all the World then do for you when you have most need of comfort the taste of these things is gone and the sting remaineth the pampered flesh must then be cast into the dust and all its pleasure will then be at an end Which will be a doleful day to those that had their good things here and all their portion in this life when that is gone which is so much valued and sought after and the true Felicity forfeited because it was undervalued and contemned how will they be ashamed of the folly of their perverse choice Therefore if we would joyfully bear or contentedly yield to the dissolution of our bodies we should now master and mortifie the desires of the flesh 4. To shew that in this state of Mortality and Frailty we may prevent the reign of sin Many will say We are frail Creatures we are not glorified Saints the desires of Nature are impetuous Ay but you may resist them and that with success The mortality of the body doth not excuse sin but aggravate it that for a little brutish pleasure that is but for a while we will forfeit eternal Joys and run the hazard of eternal Pains But can we avoid the pleasing of desires so natural Yes many that live in the flesh do not live after the flesh their Reason is not enslaved by sense but illuminated and directed by Faith to higher things The Apostle produceth himself as an instance Gal. 2.20 I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me And he speaketh no more of himself than what is common to all Believers surely they may or can if they be not wanting to themselves crucifie the flesh with the affections and passions thereof yea they have if they are true Believers Gal. 5.24 They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts Indeed nothing seemeth harder and harsher than for men to get such a Victory over their own Flesh and to contradict motions that are so pleasing They are not stocks and stones they say How is it possible to be so dead to the interests of the animal life as not to be moved and sometimes greatly moved with these things which either gratifie or displease the flesh I answer in Christs words Mat. 19.26 With men this is impossible but with God all things are possible There is the Spirit of Christ to change our Natures and the Spirit of Christ to direct and influence our motions and Ordinances and means appointed to convey this Spirit to us as the Word which revealeth better things Sacraments which assure to us our great hopes and oblige us to live answerably there are many Providences to deaden the taste of the flesh and train us up for better things in another World and we are to be watchful serious heavenly 5. To shew that the tediousness of our Conflict and this troublesom resistance shall endure but for a little while All our business is that sin may not reign in our mortal body there will a time come when this mortal shall put on immortality 1 Cor. 15.53 and long before that our spirits must return to God that gave them Eccles. 12.7 Now the more we think of another life the stronger we are against sin the troublesom part of our duty is but while we are in the flesh or in the world and if we can but escape the corruption that is in the world through lust we shall be happy for ever Thirdly When is sin said to reign I answer in general That is said to reign which attaineth the chief power in the Soul and particularly sin is said to reign 1. Negatively when it is not opposed or but slightly opposed We must take in this part of the description because there are contrary Principles in us There is no question but fleshly lusts will solicite you but your business is to inquire whether you oppose them it may be you do for it cannot be imagined that whilst a spark of Conscience remaineth alive in us a man can apparently be tempted from his duty but his heart will give back a little but an ineffectual striving will not acquit us even the unregenerate have a remnant of natural Knowledge and Conscience which in its measure resisteth sin as Light resisteth Darkness as is seen in the Gentiles Rom. 2.14 15. For when the Gentiles which have not the Law do by nature the things contained in the Law these having not the Law are a Law unto themselves which shew the work of the Law written in their hearts their conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another And where supernatural Revelation is added it may do more for Christians know what is evil more than Heathens do and so may escape through the knowledge of Christ the common pollutions of the world 2 Pet. 2.20 or be much troubled if they fall into them and God may give unto many some common internal Grace of the Spirit Heb. 6.4 5. which may occasion many convictions of the evil way they walk in But the business is whether there be such a Principle of resistance set up in the Soul that you walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8.1 so that your hearts are habitually bent to God and your course of life is altered you dare not wittingly nor willingly give way to any known sin or live in the neglect of any known Duty as they do that live in any customary practice of sin or constant neglect of God or ordinarily break out into enormous offences It may be after all your care caution watchfulness resistance you may be overtaken or overcome by some violent temptation and may feel in your selves some infirmities you find you are guilty of many idle thoughts passionate words unwary practices but what is this to iniquities So those that say they relent and strive and have many wishes to be better but still continue in a carnal and ungodly life these do but sin against Conscience and never conquer the sin which they strive to resist till the opposite Principle be the ruling Principle for the main bent of your hearts and course of your lives the opposition and striving is but ineffectual If there be no sin but what you are truly desirous to
of a Reverend Man will hold us in some order if Gehazi had known that the Spirit of Elisha went with him would he have run after Naaman for a reward 2 Kings 5.26 his prophetick Spirit went with him We can no more be removed from the presence of God than from our own Being he is the continual Witness and Judge of our Conversations he seeth us in secret as well as in publick Now when the Soul is habituated to this thought how awful and watchful shall we be Psal. 119.168 I kept thy precepts and thy testimonies for all my ways are before thee The sense of his Presence is the great ground of watchfulness God is not so shut up within the Curtain of the Heavens but that he doth see and hear all that we do or say yea he knoweth our thoughts afar off Thirdly Love to God maketh us tender of offending him for it is a Grace that studieth to please the Soul is jealous of any thing which looks like an offence to those whom we love Others are not troubled though they sin freely in Thought foully in Word frequently in their daily Practice because an offence to God seemeth as nothing they have no love to God Psal. 97.10 Ye that love the Lord hate evil it is a loathsom thing to them to a gracious heart it is argument enough against sin That it is the transgression of the Law 1 Joh. 3.4 and he inferreth it out of Love to God ver 1. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us c. They have such a deep apprehension of Gods Love to them in Christ that it breedeth an awe upon them or a fear to offend Ezra 9.13 14. After all that is come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespass seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve and hast given us such deliverance as this Shall we again break thy commandments Joshua 24.31 Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the Elders that outlived Joshua and which had known all the works of the Lord which he had done for Israel What! offend God who is so blessed a Being who created us out of nothing of whose Mercy we have tasted every moment who preserveth and delivereth us continually from whose Goodness we expect all our Blessedness Is our deliverance by Christ of less value than all our temporal deliverances Will not Love draw the same Inferences and Conclusions from it Caution doth not arise out of a fear of anger but a lothness to offend 2. The Time when this Duty is to be practised always it is never out of season Conscience must still sit Porter at the door and examine what goes in and out If men neglect their watch but for a little while how soon doth sin get an advantage against them Lot that was chast in Sodom miscarried in the Mountains where there was none but his own Family David whose heart was so tender that it smote him for cutting off the lap of Sauls garment falleth into so deep a sleep afterwards that his Conscience was silent when he had defiled it with Blood and Lust. The tears and sorrows of many years may perhaps not repair the mischief which one hour may bring unto you You have need to watch after the sense of your Duty hath been revived upon you Satan loveth to snatch the prey from under Christs own arm He entred into Judas after the sop Joh. 13.27 After solemn Duties how soon do people miscarry Assoon as the Law was given with terrible Thundrings the people do presently miscarry by worshipping the golden Calf Exod. 32. And the Priests in the very day of their Consecration in the beginning and first day of their Ministration offered strange fire to the Lord Lev. 10. After some escape from sin we need to watch that we be not intangled therein again 2 Pet. 2.20 If after they have escaped the pollution of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are again intangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning As under the Law a Sore rising as a boil when it was healed might afterward break out again and turn to a Leprosie Lev. 13.18 19 20. So sins after we seem to be healed of them may return and make us worse than before As Christ saith to the man cured Joh. 5.14 Behold thou art made whole sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee In Prosperity we need to watch it is hard to carry a full Cup without spilling and to live at ease and yet to keep up a due and lively sense of our Duty And in our Adversity when the course of Temptation is altered we are strangely surprized every Condition bringeth its own snares with it Ephraim is a cake not turned Hos. 7.8 Those who are most advanced in a state of Grace they need still to watch Mark 13.37 What I say unto you I say unto all Watch. We are never past this care this is the great difference between Christian and Christian one is more watchful than another 3. Against what we must watch 1. Generally against the three grand Enemies of our Salvation the Devil the World and the Flesh. First Against Satan for he hath laid his Ambushes and Enterprises against us continually and by his spiritual Nature hath advantages of being near us when we are little aware of him 1 Pet. 5.8 Be sober be vigilant for your adversary the Devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour Satan is ever watching therefore you should watch you give him the greatest advantage by your folly and negligence now the Apostle saith he would not give him any advantage 2 Cor. 2.11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices He is unwearied in his motions lays his designs deep takes all advantages and occasions to destroy us If the Devil were either dead or asleep or had lost his malice and power then we need not stand so much upon our guard Secondly Against the World for we are bidden to deny worldly lusts Tit. 2.12 not only ungodliness must be watched and prevented but our inclination to worldly things See how these two are matched for when we fall off from God we take to the Creature Jer. 2.13 My people have committed two evils they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and hewed them out cisterns broken cisterns that will hold no water And Christ died to deliver us from this present evil world Gal. 1.4 Here lye all the baits and snares and dangers pass but safe through these flats and quicksands and we shall soon arrive to the Haven of eternal Glory The great virtue and proper effect of the Cross of Christ is seen in crucifying us to the World Gal. 6.14 God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
from the power of Sin and the Curse of the Law that our inthralled Spirits may be set free to love serve please and delight in God and so Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty 2 Cor. 3.17 And for this end we are freed from the Law as a Covenant of Works which required what to us is become impossible Rom. 8.2 The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made us free from the law of sin and death and freed us also from the burdensom task of Ceremonies which God thought fit to impose in the Churches Non-age Gal. 5 1. Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not intangled again with a yoke of bondage These Ceremonies did revive the sense of Transgressions and the Curse due to them Secondly The sinful Liberty is a freedom from Righteousness as the Apostle calleth it Rom. 6.20 When ye were the servants of sin ye were free from righteousness from a voluntary subjection to God and his holy Laws a desire to be free from that strict and holy manner of living which God commandeth or to be at liberty to sin against God or please the Flesh and follow our own wills to be merry wanton lustful worldly to eat and drink what we have a mind to to game and roar and riot and revel and in the general to live as we list without being curbed by so precise a Law as God hath given us Now I will shew 1. That this is not Liberty 2. That Christ never came to establish it 3. That the contrary is the true Liberty 1. That this is not Liberty For Libertas non est potestas volendi faciendi quod velis sed volendi faciendi ea quae lex divina jubet It is not a liberty to live as we list but to live as we ought Psal. 119.45 And I will walk at liberty for I keep thy precepts Man affects the false Liberty and is impatient of any restraints Psal. 2.3 Let us cast away his bands and cords from us they would do what they please without check and controul But all this is but delusion and mistake in reality they live the freest life that lye under the bonds of Duty that make conscience of praying to and praising God and walking with him in the stricter course of Holiness Carnal Liberty is but a Thraldom or Slavery for these we are disablâ—â— from pursuing our great end which is to be everlastingly happy in the enjoyment of God they that indulge this Liberty dare not call themselves to an account for the expence of their time and Employments which every wise man should do nor think seriously of Death or Judgment or Heaven or Hell but presently they feel an horrour and torment in their minds 2. Christ never came to establish this Liberty for he came to bring us back again in heart and life to God from whom we had fallen to fit us to obey the Law of God by healing our Natures Heb. 8.10 This is the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days saith the Lord I will put my laws into their minds and write them in their hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people The great Blessing of the Gospel is Grace to keep the Law not liberty to break it and all new Creatures are inabled to keep it not in absolute perfection yet with a sincere obedience Eph. 4.24 And that ye put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Luke 1.75 That we should serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our lives 3. The more we set our selves to keep the Law the more we enjoy God and our selves 1. The more we enjoy God for the more obedient we are the more pleasing we are to him and amiable in his sight Prov. 11.20 They that are of a froward heart are an abomination to the Lord but such as are upright in their way are his delight Psal. 11.7 The righteous God loveth righteousness his countenance doth behold the upright God delighteth in us not so much as pardoned but as sanctified They have most Communion with him 1 Joh. 1.7 If we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another they have most of the favour of God and fellowship with him 2. The more also we enjoy our selves Sin is a wounding thing Nature looketh upon it as a disorder therefore where it is allowed it breedeth fear which is a bondage the wicked are never freed from though they do not always feel it Heb. 2.15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage But now the more we set our selves to keep the Law of God the more happiness and serenity in our own Souls Psal. 119.165 Great peace have they that love thy Law and nothing shall offend them partly from the consciousness of having done their Duty partly as their interest is more clear and so their comfort more full and strong Thirdly The Doctrine of Perseverance Sin shall not have dominion over them whether they strive against it yea or no and so instead of a resolute resistance they cherish a presumptuous security There is a holy confidence which the sincere cherish not to slacken Duty but increase it such as that of Paul 2 Tim. 1.12 For the which cause I also suffer these things nevertheless I know whom I have believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day This is trusting our selves in Gods hands and keeping his way But there is a presumptuous security also when men think they are past all danger and so look upon cautious watchfulness as a needless thing whereas the Scripture presseth it every where Now to prevent this consider First The union of ends and means The sincere Convert shall be kept blameless to Gods heavenly Kingdom but he is kept in Gods way All Gods Purposes are executed by fit means God had assured Paul That there should be no loss of any mans life among them but only of the ship Acts 27.22 yet afterwards he telleth them Except these abide in the ship ye cannot be saved vers 31. How could that assurance given to Paul from God and Paul's caution stand together God that decrees the end hath appointed means whereby he will execute his Decree Well then God having shewed us in his Word what means are necessary to such an end there is a necessity of Duty lying upon man to use those means and not to expect the end without them God intended to save all in the Ship yet the Mariners must abide in the Ship we must not perverts Gods order You shall not fall away and revert into your old slavery but you must remember you have given up your bodies as
reward the obedient with everlasting Blessedness Though we merit nothing of him you cannot say you work for nothing he is very ready to manifest his approbation of the obedient Mat. 25.23 Well done good and faithful servant It is a delightful thing to him to speak good of his Servants and that before all the World Vse 1. We learn hence whom we should chuse for our Master or to whom we should stand in the relation of Servants 1. Consider Gods unquestionable Title that will awe the Soul You are Servants of God by Obligation before you are Servants of God by Consent you are His by Creation before you are by Contract Our self-obligation is necessary the more to enliven the sense of our Duty and make it more explicite and active upon our hearts and more acceptable to God God will make the wicked see he hath a right to punish them without asking their consent but he will not reward you without your consent unless you willingly give up your selves to serve him and obey him Christ forceth not men to good against their wills but the effect of his victorious Grace is to make you willing to bring you to yield up your selves to obey him Psal. 110.3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power 2. Consider the necessity of Obedience Our service is not abrogated by Grace but changed His servants ye are to whom ye obey we are redeemed that we may obey Luke 1.74 75. That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our lives We are pardoned that we may obey Psal. 130.4 There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared We are renewed and sanctified that we may obey 1 Pet. 1.2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience And when once we are brought into this blessed estate and are in Covenant with Christ to depend upon him and obey him then all the subsequent Priviledges are dispensed according to our obedience as the further supply of the Spirit Acts 5.32 Whom God hath given to them that obey him and eternal Life Heb. 5.9 And being made perfect he became the Author of eternal life to all them that obey him all the effects of Gods internal and external Government all the intervening Communion with God that we have in the World Joh. 14.21 He that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self unto him that is he will inlighten him with the knowledge of his Salvation quicken him by the saving operations of his Grace and lift up the light of his Countenance upon him give them peace of Conscience Mat. 11.29 Take my yoke on you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest for your souls a sanctified use of such good things as he seeth meet for them Isa. 1.19 If ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the land It is his obedient Servants that Christ is so tender of and willing so to cherish and to give to them the effects of his illuminating quickening comforting Grace and of his fatherly Providence 3. Consider much what it is wherein you should obey him or study to know his Will Eph. 5.17 Be not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is Rom. 12.2 Be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed in the renewing of your minds that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God Doubtfulness of our Duty doth exceedingly weaken our care of obedience so it doth also our detestation and resistance of sin when you are sure a thing is sin you will be more shy of medling with it and when you are sure it is a Duty Temptations will less draw you from it for it will strike you with horrour in the hour of Temptation What! shall I disobey God by venturing to do that which he hath forbidden or omitting to do that which he hath expresly commanded When our Duty is once made matter of Controversie you shall always find people less serious in it therefore it is the Lords mercy that most of the necessary things are unquestionable and out of debate otherwise sin would be more commonly committed and with less regret of Conscience Therefore it concerneth you to understand what is Duty or what is Sin that want of Light may not disable nor enfeeble your Practice and abate your Zeal for such things as God hath commanded or against such things as God hath forbidden 4. To continue your Resolution of obeying God you should often consider of two things what is past and what is to come First What is past the fruit of serving Sin and obeying God The fruit of serving sin Alas we cannot look back without shame and blushing Rom. 6.21 What fruit have you of those things whereof you are now ashamed The object of shame is either Folly or Filthiness now your eyes are opened by Grace you see both in that former course of Disobedience wherein you wandred from God But what fruit had ye then It filled you with the bondage of anguish and fear that you could not have one comfortable thought of God and alas what was all the vanishing pleasures of sin to this trouble and anxiousness of mind And you that have tasted of these bitter waters will you try once again What an evil and bitter thing it is to forsake God and walk in the way of your own hearts Jer. 2.19 They that have smarted before are wont to be more cautious afterwards a Child that hath been bitten by a snappish Curr will not easily venture his fingers again They reasoned Joshua 22.17 Is the iniquity of Pear too little for us from which we are not cleansed until this day Will you again fly from the face of God and grow shy of him Sin is another thing in the review than it was in the committing do not lay open your old wounds and make Conscience bleed afresh But do not only remember the fruits of your Disobedience but your experiences of Obedience also in the tastes of Gods Love the Deliverances and Blessings vouchsafed to you as David Psal. 119.56 This I had because I kept thy precepts this Comfort this Peace or serenity of Conscience this Protection this Deliverance and why should we grow weary of God What iniquity have we found in him Micah 6.3 Wherein have I wearied you Secondly For what is to come what will be the fruit of Sin or Obedience Of sin unto death of obedience unto righteousness Sin in it self deserveth Damnation and Hell is not a matter to be jested with for this many are now in flames and will you take that path which leadeth down to the Chambers of Death But the
to your satisfaction and peace This is enough to support us in all conditions one drop of it is enough to sweeten all our crosses Rom. 5.5 Hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us And it is the life of all our comforts Psal. 4.6 7. Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased And Psal. 63.3 Because thy loving-kindness is better than life my lips shall praise thee 3. As God will owne them so Conscience speaketh peace and comfort to them that have their fruit to Holiness Before our full and final reward we have this solace that our own hearts do not only acquit us but approve what we do and a holy course of Life is usually rewarded with peace of Conscience it is not only without offence Acts 24.16 Herein do I exercise my self to have always a conscience void of offence towards God and towards man but it breedeth Joy 2 Cor. 1.2 Our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world On the contrary mens hearts smite and reproach them for their sins and the breaches they make in their Duty Job 27.6 My heart shall not reproach me as long as I live the words imply that the heart hath a reproaching and condemning power when we do evil we shall sensibly find it by accusing thoughts within our selves Rom. 2.15 Their conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts in the mean time accusing or else excusing one another Conscience must be better used before it will speak a word of well-grounded peace to a man They that keep the thorn in the foot will never walk without pain If you would prevent the checks and upbraidings of your own Consciences you must take away the causes and occasions thereof walk so that our hearts may not reproach you Do you take care of your Duty and God will take care of your Comfort but if you give way to sin Conscience will awaken upon you 4. Our Title to the heavenly Inheritance is more clear and our Right confirmed by Holiness There is fulness of joy reserved for Gods People Psal. 16.11 and if we look to the end it must needs make the way the more pleasant and comfortable especially when we have by Faith a lively foresight of this endless Glory and Blessedness Heb. 11.1 Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen and by Hope and Love a foretaste of it Rom. 5.2 We rejoyce in hope of the glory of God Blessed will the time be when ye shall be for ever with the Lord and see his Glory and this is the end of the way you walk in Alas others can never have solid comfort they know where they are but know not where they shall be when they dye they must into an unknown World and which is worse to an unknown God of whose Love they never had any Taste or Experience But those that live always in the fight of the World to come and keep themselves in the way that tendeth thither and look continually when God will translate them into his immediate Presence they have the Foretaste before they have the Injoyment the Promise is matter of joy to them which is Gods Grant Psal. 119.11 Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever for they are the rejoycing of my heart The way they walk in is matter of Joy to them because that confirmeth their Right 1 Tim 6.12 Fight the good fight of faith lay hold on eternal life whereunto thou art also called and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses While they are in the way they look to the end of their Journey while running their Race they see a Crown set before them the very Acts of Faith Hope and Love are pleasant Rom. 15.13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost 1 Pet. 1.8 Whom having not seen ye love in whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Well then who live the more pleasant lives they that walk upon the brink of Hell every moment or the Heirs of Eternal Life and Happiness who have an Heaven to wait for 5. They have easier Access to God or more free Communion with him here than others have because there is nothing to hinder neither on Gods part nor theirs God hath assured them of Audience and Welcome and they have in a great measure overcome their legal Bondage so as they are not shy of God nor stand aloof from him they do not allow themselves in the omission of any known Duty nor in the commission of any known sin and are sincere though not perfect 1 Joh. 3.21 22. If our hearts condemn us not then have we confidence towards God And whatsoever we ask we receive of him because we keep his commandments and do the things which are pleasing in his sight Two things obstruct our ready access to God our own Guiltiness and Gods Terror Our own Guiltiness straitens the heart and stops the mouth and makes us afraid and shy of God but they who are renewed and pardoned come out of this state of bondage their hearts do not condemn them for living in any known disobedience to God or course of sin which whosoever doth carrieth his sting and his wound about him and is subject to tormenting evils and legal fear On Gods part he is reconciled to such as make Conscience of Holiness and they may obtain at his hands whatever in Reason and Righteousness they ask of him he hath given them Liberty by his new Covenant-Grant and Charter founded in the Blood of Christ the Covenant is large and gracious and their Claim firm and sure and therefore they come boldly unto him But now Gods Presence which is the comfort of the Faithful is the burden of the carnal and the guilty terrible to them that live in sin and therefore they think they are never better than when they are furthest off from God Well then you see to have our Fruit to Holiness is the pleasure and comfort of our Lives for then we maintain our liberty in Prayer and our confidence towards God there is an open door of access to admit us to God and free and full Communion with him 6. Their Work is more easie because it is not done against the bent of the Heart but it is the course of Life which they have chosen Psal. 40.8 I delight to do thy will O God yea thy Law is within my heart 1 Joh. 5.3 This is the love of God that we keep his commandments and
promising life to the good and threatning death to the evil Out of all this discourse about the Wisdom Justice and Holiness of God we conclude the suitableness of Death to Sin That the difference between good and evil is not more naturally known than it is also evidently known that the one is rewarded and the other punished Other cannot be looked for if we consider the Wisdom of God which suiteth all things according to their natural order therefore sin which is a moral evil is punished with suffering somewhat that is a natural evil that is the feeling something that is painful and afflictive to nature or if we consider the Justice of God which dealeth differently with men that differ in themselves And the Holiness of God who will express his love to the good in making them happy and his Detestation of the wicked in the misery of their punishment 2. The certainty of this connection of sin and death was the Second Thing proposed 1. Reason sheweth in part That there is a state of torment and bliss after this life or Eternal Life and Death All men are perswaded there is a God and very few have doubted whether he be a punisher of the wicked and a rewarder of them that diligently seek after him now neither the one or the orher is fully accomplished in this world even in the judgment of those who have no great knowledg of the nature and malignity of sin or what punishment is competent thereunto Therefore there must be some time after that of sojourning in the body when men shall receive their full punishment and reward since here we see so little of what might be expected at the hand of God Surely if man be Gods Subject when his work is ended he must look to receive his Wages accordingly as he performed his duty or fail in it now our work is not over till this life be ended then God dealeth with us by way of Recompence giving us eternal life or the wages of sin which is death 2. Conscience hath a sense of it Conscience is nothing else but serious and applicative reason now the Consciences of sinners stand in dread of eternal death Rom. 1.32 Who knowing the judgment of God that they which commit such things are worthy of death This Thought haunts men living and dying living Heb. 2.15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage But chiefly dying 1 Cor. 15.56 The sting of death is sin For then men are most serious and apprehend themselves nearest to danger Stings of conscience are most quick and sensible then and a terrible Tempest ariseth in sinners souls when they are to die 3. Scripture if we take Gods Word for it is express the first Threatning Gen. 2.27 In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die and Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death and 21. What fruit have you in those things whereof ye are now ashamed for the end of those things is death Will you believe this or venture and put it upon the Trial Oh! Take heed of sin The dead are there and her guests are in the depths of hell Prov. 9.18 Men are destroyed by their heedlessness and incredulity in what a woful case are you if it prove true and prove true it will as sure as God is true 3. Consider the terribleness of this death The Life to come and the Wrath to come are both eternal Punishment in one scale holdeth conformity with the reward in the other as those that escape have an eternal and far more exceeding weight of glory so they that still remain under the sentence of death for sin are condemned to an eternal abode both in body and soul under torments Mat. 25.46 These shall go away into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life eternal Oh how woful is their condition whose bodies and souls meet again at the Resurrection after a long separation but a sad meeting it will be when both must presently be cast into everlasting fire if we did only deal with you upon slight and cheap motives you might refuse to hearken they are but slight matters that can be hoped or feared from man whose power of doing good or evil is limited to this life but it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Heb. 10.31 The afflictions and sorrows of this life are a part of this death our miseries here are the fruit of sin and after them followeth that death which consists in the separation of the soul from the body called in the book of Job the King of Terrors but after that there is a second death which is far more terrible which consists in an eternal separation from the Blessed and Glorious Presence of the Lord. In all Creatures that have sense death is accompanied with some pain but this is a perpetual living to deadly pain and torment from which there is no release there is no change of estate in the other world after our trial is over and things of faith become meer matter of sense the gulf is then fixed there is no passage from torments to joys Luk. 16.26 Things to come would not considerably counterballance things present if there were not eternity in the case therefore this death is the more terrible that men might abhor the pleasures of sin Well then this is the condition of all men once to be under sin and under the sentence of this death which is a woful bondage 2. Our liberty must answer the bondage To be redeemed from wrath is a great Mercy so it is also to be redeemed from sin these are the branches Christ delivered us from wrath to come 2 Thes. 1.10 He hath redeemed us also from all iniquity Tit. 2.14 The first part of freedom from the power of sin is spoken of Rom. 6.18 Being then made free from sin ye became the servants of righteousness Man in his natural estate is free from righteousness v. 10. That is Righteousness or Grace had no hand and power over him but in his renewed estate he is free from sin To be under the dominion of sin is the greatest slavery and to be under the dominion of Grace is the greatest liberty and inlargement they that are free from righteousness have no inclinations or impressions of heart to that which is good no fear to offend no care to please God are not brought under the awe and power of Religion on the other side then are we free from sin when we resist our lusts so as to overcome them and have a strong inclination and bent of heart to please God in all things and accordingly make it our business trade and course of Life Luk. 1.75 That being delivered from the hands of our enemies we might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life The other part of the Liberty is when we are freed from the sentence of death
things found in them but the carnal minding is not mortified nor doth the meek holy heavenly Spirit prevail in them There are others 2. Who are regenerate but Grace is weak in them and corruptions break out and shake off the Empire of Grace for a time tho it habitually prevail and governs their Actions Now for the former we must perswade them to get a good and an honest heart that is that their intentions be more sincere and fixed their way more thorough and exact least they get a Name for Relgion to do a mischief to it For most of the calamities of the Church and the Prejudices against Religion and hardening by scandals and blemishes come from that sort of men and are to be laid at their doors And for the second we are to advise them and call upon them to distinguish themselves from the carnal state more clearly and explicitely For tho God may accept them yet whilst they border too near upon the carnal World it is in vain to find out Evidences whereby they may assure their hearts before God For tho God possibly hath given them saving Grace and will accept them at last yet he will not give them assurance and we do but perplex Cases of Conscience to reconcile the Tenor of Christianity with their weak estate Exhortation doth better than Tryal If they be sincere they will come on in the way of godliness and then that which was doubtful will be more clear and satisfactory and their sincerity will be more unquestionable 3. Because God's dear children write bitter things against themselves either out of weakness of Judgment or consciousness of too much prevalency of corrupt affections and tenderness of God's Honour and trouble for their own imperfections it will be necessary further to state the point There is to the very last flesh and spirit in the best Gal. 5.17 For the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit lusteth against the flesh yet there is enough to distinguish them from the carnal World and that is the potency and the predominancy of the spiritual Principle Denominatio est a potiori not from what is perfect but from what is sincere and habitually reigneth and beareth the upper hand in the soul. But then the Question returneth How shall we know the prevalency I answer 1. Negatively Not by a bare sense of duty or a dictate of Conscience that sheweth what ought to be done but many times we do quite otherwise for many hold the truth in unrighteousness Rom. 1.18 A dictate of Conscience is unsufficient to change the heart and sanctifie the life Nor barely by the resolution of the Will for that may be uneffectual and without a full purpose of heart I go Sir said the first Son in the Parable but went not Mat. 21.30 Many resolve well but they have not an heart to verifie and make good their Resolutions Deut. 5.29 The Jews said All that the Lord hath spoken we will do Oh that there were such an heart in them saith God! Nor by a faint desire for many can wish not only for Heaven and Happiness but that it might be otherwise with them in point of Holiness that God would change their Natures but they do not use the means The soul of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing Prov. 13.4 None goeth to Heaven by the Sluggard's wishes not by prevailing in one act or more for many in a pang of Zeal may do much for God Gal. 4.18 It is good to be zealously affected always in a good matter Psal. 106.3 Blessed are they that do righteousness at all times Nor by every kind of dislike and resistance of sin that may sometimes arise from other Lusts for they sometimes fight among themselves James 4.1 Whence comes wars and fightings among you come they not hence even from your lusts which war in your selves Or from Hypocrisie to hide and feed some other Lusts the more plausibly Or if from Conscience the resistance is too feeble to break the power of sin till the heart be renewed or more thoroughly set towards God and Heavenly Things 2. Positively 1. By the course of our Actions Habits are known by the Uniformity of Acts when the effects of the Spirit are more constant than those of the Flesh and the drift and business of our lives is for God and our salvation our bent and business is the pleasing of God and the saving of our own souls Men must be judged not by a few Acts but their Walk or the Tenor of their Conversations They that spend their time in knitting one carnal contentment to another and glut themselves with all manner of vain delights and God hath from them but what the Flesh can spare a little formal slight service that they may pacifie Conscience and enjoy their Pleasures with less remorse what are they doing but the Flesh's business 2. By cherishing the best Principle with all care and diligence and mortifying and suppressing the other The better Principle must be cherished that is we must get more degrees of Faith Love and Hope that Faith may be more strong Love more fervent Hope more lively 2 Pet. 3.18 But grow in grace and in the knowledg of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. On the other side the Flesh would fain be pleased before God but you must subdue it more and more 1 Cor. 9.22 I keep under my body and bring it into subjection give it not what it craveth Rest not in endeavours without success for Gal. 5.24 They that are Christ's have crucified the flâ—sh with the affections and lusts thereof A Christian is seen proposito conatu eventu Some Victory there must be over the carnal mind See that the power of the Flesh be diminished in you both as to the motions of it and your obedience to it VSE 2. Is Exhortation First Negatively Not to mind the things of the Flesh That is Take heed not only of the grosser out-breakings of the Flesh but of serving it in a more cleanly manner by too free and full a gust and relish in any outward thing for by this means it securely gets interest and gaineth upon you If you freely let loose the heart to every alluring Object and withhold not your selver from any Joy Lust will grow bold and head-strong and be hardly kept within bounds Motives 1. Consider your engagement as you are Christ's Gal. 5.24 They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof Every man is engaged by his Profession and Covenant sealed in Baptism so to do which should be a very moving Argument to press us to do things cross and unpleasing to the Flesh. 2. Your comfort dependeth on it For here is your evidence either you must mortifie the Flesh or gratifie the Flesh if you gratifie the Flesh you are not under the conduct of the Spirit and so not under the hope of glory if you mortifie it then you shall live The only evidence that
have as the constitution is so is the Gust and Tast Tell a carnal Person of the joys of the Life to come the comforts of the Spirit the Peace of a good Conscienee the sweetness that is in the Word and Ordinances they find no more savour in these things than in the white of an egg or a dry chip but Banquets merry meetings and idle sports they have a complacency for these things and soon find a delight free and stirring at the mention of them their hearts are in the house of mirth Eccles. 7.4 To be well clad and well fed maintained in Pomp and State these are the Things which are most sweet and pleasing to them and which they most desire and seek after for they mind these things and so bestow their care and delight upon them and can spend Days and Hours without weariness in them carnal men relish no sweetness in Religion 1 Cor. 2.14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned As they do not perceive them so not receive them these are not the Things which are likely to make an Impression upon their souls But on the contrary the spiritual minding is discovered by this because 't is best pleased with spiritual things spiritual minds find a marvellous sweetness and comfort in the Word of God and the means of Grace and Salvation Psal. 119.103 How sweet are thy words to my tast yea sweeter than honey to my mouth and Psal. 63.5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness and Job 23.12 I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food What gladness doth Communion with God put into their hearts One day with him is better than all those flesh-pleasing Vanities wherewith others are deluded and inticed from God 3. It reacheth also to practise and implieth earnest prosecution and so to be carnally minded is to make the things of the flesh our work and scope to be spiritually minded is to make that our work and trade to seek after the things of the spirit therefore the course of mens actions and the trade of their lives is to be considered Our business sheweth our bent and what we constantly frequently and easily practice discovereth the over-ruling principle Wicked men have their good moods and godly men have their carnal fits the constant practice sheweth the prevailing inclination to mind the things of the flesh or spirit is to seek after them in the first place when men are seriously constantly readily willingly carried to those things which please the flesh without any respect to God and eternal life Effects shew their causes if the drift and bent of our lives be not for God and salvation and our great business in the world be not the pleasing of God and the saving of our own souls and this be not chiefly minded and attended more than all the pleasures honours and profits of the World God hath not the precedency but the flesh Walking after the flesh or the spirit is the great discriminating note in this place propounded ver 1. amplified afterwards by minding the things of the flesh and then living after the flesh ver 13. so Gal. 6.8 He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting We must see whether our lives be a sowing to the flesh or the spirit The mind leaveth a stamp upon the actions as a godly man sheweth spirit in all things so a carnal man sheweth flesh in all things Zach. 14.21 On every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness to the Lord of hosts As God sheweth his Divine power in every creature in a Gnat or Pile of grass as well as the Sun so a Christian sheweth grace in all things on the contrary carnal men shew their mind in all things not only in eating and drinking and trading but in preaching praying and coâ—fâ—rence about holy things The one goeth about his worldly business with an heavenly mind casts all into the mould of Religion the other goeth about his heavenly business with a carnal and worldly mind the flesh doth not only influence his common actions but his duties either to feed or hide a lust to serve his Worldly mind and vain glory or else that he may more plausibly carry it on without blame before men or check of conscience and so maketh one duty excuse another 'T is the flesh maketh him pray preach confer about holy things give alms and seemingly forgive enemies or do that which is outwardly and materially just Thus you see what is the carnal minding only I must tell you that because the Apostle saith it is death or the high way to everlasting destruction we must more acurately state the matter 1. The minding of the flesh must be interpreted not barely of the acts but the state Who is there among Gods children that doth not mind the flesh and too much indulge the flesh but yet he doth not make it his business to please the flesh but rather mortifieth and subdueth it Gal. 5.24 and they that are Christs have crucified the flesh and they are still labouring that they may subdue it more and more 1 Cor. 9.27 but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection 2. This minding of the flesh or spirit must be understood as to the prevalency of each principle that is to say when we mind the flesh so as to exclude the minding of the spirit and the things that belong to the spirit 1 Joh. 2.15 If any man love the world and the things of the world the love of the Father is not in him And so on the other side when we so mind the spirit as that it deadneth our affections to the world and baits of the flesh Gal. 6.14 the conversation in heaven is that which is opposite to minding earthly things Phil. 3.19 20. Therefore if the flesh can do more constantly and ordinarily to draw us to sin than the spirit to keep us from it we are under the power of the fleshly mind 3. This minding of the flesh must be interpreted with respect to continuance not with respect to our former state For alas all of us in time past pleased the flesh and walked according to the course of this World in the lusts of the flesh Tit. 3.3 We were sometimes foolish and disobedient serving divers lusts and pleasures and if we yet please the flâ—sh we are not the servants of Christ. But if we break off this servitude and do at length become servants of righteousness God will not judg us according to what we have been but what we are therefore it is our duty to consider what principle liveth in us and groweth and encreaseth whether the interest of the flesh decreaseth or the interest of the spirit if we grow more brutish
know what is the hope of his calling and the riches of the glory of the inheritance of the Saints in light and 2 Pet. 1.9 He that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off Nor of our duty for tho some moralities be evident to corrupt nature Rom. 2.14 Yet for a full resignation Obedience and Love to God Nature owneth little of it and depraved Reason is blind or sleepy so that we may have no clear deep sense of our duty impressed upon our hearts so as that conscience which is applicative reason should warn us of sin or mind us of our duty upon all necessary occasions 2. The commanding power is weakned For our sences are so masterly inordinate and eagerly set upon the Objects that we yield our selves to the conduct of them how unreasonable soever the acts are Tit. 3.3 For we our selves were sometimes foolish and disobedient serving divers lusts and pleasures living in malice and envy hateful and hating one another We give way to that which is evil and oppose that which is good even against the urgings of Conscience The law of our members warreth against the law of our minds Rom 6.22 And 't is a trouble to the flesh to be restrained from what it desireth as an headstrong Horse is loath to be curbed 2. Because as the leading part of the soul cannot hinder sin so it doth promote it and the more Wit and Wisdom we have if it be carnal the more is our enmity against God as appeareth by those men in a carnal estate who have most of natural Acquisitions the Devils cause is varnished by them and they prostitute all their sufficiencies to the interest of the flesh and to cast off the Government of God how many Wit themselves into Hell But it is common to all as appeareth by the two principal effects of the carnal minding Arguing and Contriving by these two the Malignity of the flesh doth most bewray its self 1. By the arguings of the flesh What carnal Reasons have men for every sin and against every duty which sheweth the corruption of Nature hath not not only taken hold of the Appetite and Senses but hath over-spread the Mind and Reason let any Temptation come to inordinate Pleasure they will palliate it and honest it with some excuse that the bait is soon swallowed or to unlawful gain by it they pretend they shall be inabled to do good to the Church of God if to honour and applause they will say Religion shall have the advantage of it so if the Temptation be against duty they will say that they will recompence it another time 2. By contriving Rom. 13.14 and make no more provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof Wherein do men usually spend their Time but in studying to please the flesh or to fulfil their fleshly desires all their Wit is wholly imployed to this end 1. VSE is Caution Not to stroke the carnal minding with a gentle censure as if it were no great matter it is enmity to God and if you indulge it you live in a state of Rebellion against him 't is an evil first as a wrong done to God whose we are and whom we should serve because 't is an usurping of the Government of our selves against Gods right as if we were at our own disposal as if we might do with our selves and faculties as we list without giving an account to an higher Lord now to rob God of his Authority over his Creature is no small evil Psal. 12.4 Who have said with our tongue we will prevail our lips are our own who is Lord over us To challenge any thing as our own is to affect to be as God Secondly 't is a wrong to our selves for so we set up our sences and appetite above our Reason and make the Beast ride the Man for the lower faculties rule when the mind is debauched to serve the flesh and to cater for it and contrive about it when it should govern our senses in order to our true happiness and felicity Jude 10. In what they know naturally in those things as brute beasts they corrupt themselves That is against the light of nature they ingulph themselves in all manner of sensuality Thirdly 't is a contempt of that glorious happiness which God hath provided for us Heb. 3.2 When Soul and Heaven and God and all Things are despised for our carnal ends how can we look upon it as a light sin Is it nothing to cast off God and Christ and despise our own souls and all the happiness of the world to come which God hath encouraged us to expect as if a little worldly transitory pleasure of sin were much better Fourthly 'T is the worse because it is natural your very natures being destitute of original Righteousness incline you to please the flesh before God so that this opposition against God being natural 't is first the more lasting for natural Antipathies are not easily broken and cured as that between the Wolf and the Lamb the Raven and the Dove and the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy Jam. 4.5 and Gen. 6.5 Every imagination of the thought of his heart is only evil continually We find it early we find it to be constant after Grace received the understanding is not so clear and watchful as it should be but a dark imperfect guide to us our will not so powerful as it ought to be the Wisdom of the flesh is kneaded into our natures that we cannot get rid of it and there is too great a rebellion in the Appetite and Sences and in the best a great averseness to their duty our reason still too often stoopeth to our sensuallity 1. 'T is the less to be pityed Accidental evil is matter of compassion but natural of indignation we pity a Dog poisoned but hate a Toad that is poisonous if it were only a slip of our natures or a frailty it were another thing but 't is the rooted disposition of our hearts we can better dispense with a fit of Anger than with cankered Malice a blow and away may be forgiven but an abiding enmity provoketh us to take rerevenge Thus 't is necessary to know the evil that we may seek after and admire the cure 2. VSE is To press us to come out of this estate of carnality Will you live in enmity against God 1. Can you make good your part against him 1 Cor. 10.22 Will you provoke the Lord to jealousie are you stronger than he Secondly He hath potestatem vitae necis Jam. 4.12 There is one law giver who is able to save and to destroy Thirdly God is an enemy to those that are enemies to him Psal. 5.5 He hateth all workers of iniquity And Psal. 7.11 12. He is angry with the wicked every day if he turn not he will whet his sword he will bend his bow and will make it ready Gods Justice if it doth for a while spare the
was he made and sent into the world not that he might live to himself but unto God I prove it by this Argument 'T is mans happiness to please him upon whom he dependeth all the world goeth upon this Principle that dependance begetteth observance or a study to please and as the dependance is less or greater so men take themselves bound more or less to please those upon whom they receive their supplies as Children their Parents Servants their Masters and if any breach and displeasure fall out their dependance obligeth them to see it made up again We have an Instance in Scripture Act. 12.24 Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and Sydon but they came with one accord to him and desired peace because their country was nourished by the Kings country What their Interest taught them to do to man our Interest teacheth us to do to God we depend upon none so much as God from whom we have both our being and well-being In his hand is our breath and all our ways Dan. 5.23 Our business lieth more with God than with all the world besides and therefore him should we love and study to please 2. That this being mans duty and happiness it should be our work and scope to approve our selves to God for man is never in his proper posture till he mindeth his true work and happiness but is either out in the End or Way his End if pleasing God and being accepted with him be not his Scope the way if he doth not those things which God will accept therefore Gods children are sometimes described by their Intention which is of the end intentio est finis ultimi sometimes by their choice which is of the means electio est medii by their scope and intention 2 Cor. 5.9 Therefore we labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the honour we affect the end which we propound to our selves and which our minds are principally set upon some seek to please God others to please their fleshly mind by the fruition of some inferior good that 's our end which we love most and are pleased best with and would do most for so the people of God are sometimes described by the choice of their ways Isa. 56.4 They chuse the things that please him and take hold of his covenant that is resolve to do what is pleasing to God or to behave themselves in such a manner as they may be accepted with him 3. That it is no easie matter to make this our scope and work to please God This I shall prove by two Reasons 1. Because of the thing it self 2. Because of the requisites thereunto which are that a man be renewed and reconciled c. 1. The matter of its self God is a great and holy God and will not be put off with any thing but expecteth Worship and Service from us becoming his Majesty and lest we should mistake hath stated our duty in his holy law which we are to study and fulfil we are to study it and know how God will be pleased Rom 12.2 That we may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God 'T is a good and perfect rule that we must live by for this is only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 acceptable or well-pleasing unto God so Eph. 5.10 Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. We must not serve God hand over head but prove and try our way and every step of it whether it be well pleasing unto him and consult often not what is our interest but our duty not what is for our advantage and will gratifie our lusts and please the world but what will please God and again v. 17. Be not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is We may mistake and therefore we must search again and again crassa negligentia dolus est 'T is a sign men have no mind to practise when they have no mind to know or be informed And we are to fulfil our duty as well as to understand it and that not in a few things but all Col. 1.19 That ye walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing Some men are in with one duty and out with another but this is to please our selves not to please God Some will rest in rituals and neglect morals tho the moral duty hath the attestation not only of the Word of God but of Conscience Rom. 14.17 18. for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy-Ghost for he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men Many will rest in ordinances and Church-Priviledges this will not satisfie God 2 Cor. 10.5 With many of them God was not well-pleased Some rest in moralities and cast off faith and the love of God Others please themselves in an overly Religion without moral duties Nor must this be minded superficially no we must be every day more exact in our walking that no cause of offence or breach may arise between us and him 1 Thes. 4.1 As ye have recived of us how to walk and how to please God so you would abound therein more and more You never please God so much but you are to please him better he expecteth more from you the more you are acquainted with him and that we should not always keep to our first weaknesses 2. Consider what is requisite thereunto viz. That a man be in a reconciled and re-renewed estate 1. Reconciled to God by Christ. All mankind is fallen under the displeasure of the most High God by preferring the pleasure of the flesh before the pleasing of God and there 's no atonement found to pacifie him but only Jesus Christ who is his beloved Son in whom he is well pleased Matt. 3.17 Upon his account grace may be had both to justifie and sanctifie us Now while men are in Rebellion against God they have no interest in Christ or the grace purchased for them but are under death and damnation and therefore cannot be accepted with God so far as to obtain the great reward yes to do nothing acceptably to him till we believe and are in Christ Jesus and have his Merits applied to us Therefore 't is said Heb. 11.6 Without faith 't is impossible to please God For till there be some means that God be a Rewarder rather than a Punisher to the fallen creature nothing is done kindly or taken kindly Well then nothing can please God but what is done in faith or in a reconciled estate and that both in respect to the person working or the work its self With respect to the person working for he is not within the Covenant of Grace till he believe but the wrath of God abideth on him John 3.36 he is an enemy to God 2. With respect to the work its self For till it be quickned by a true and lively faith and
partly under the vail of the natural life 'T is a life within a life they live in the flesh as others do but they do not live after the flesh they eat drink sleep trade marry and give in marriage as the rest of the world do but all these things are governed by Grace and carried on to high and eternal ends The spirit and life is not seen and felt by others but only discovered in the effects as these things are carried on holily and with a sincere respect to Gods Glory 1 Cor. 10.31 Besides the effects are imperfect and clouded with a mixture of remaining infirmities the best Christians shew forth too much of the flesh and do not act as those that have the spirit of God dwelling in them now this is a great hindrance to the converting of the world and a means of hardning to prying Atheists who think all strictness is but a pretence 1 Cor. 3.3 While there is yet strife envyings and divisions among you are ye not carnal and walk as men Matth. 18.7 Wo to the world because of offences for it must needs be that offences come but wo to the man by whom the offence cometh 'T is dangerous to scandalize the world but the chief cause is their secret enmity to holiness they censure and traduce good men by reproaches and base misprisions and cannot endure that those that take a contrary course should have an excellency owned that might alarm their consciences to reverence 1 Pet. 4.6 Judged according to men in the flesh but live to God in the spirit as deceivers and yet true So reputed in the world as a company of dissemblers the worlds malice will not give them leave to see any good in those whom they dislike 3. It sheweth how much it becometh Christians to give such a demonstration and proof of the spirits dwelling in them that others may be able to say they are not in the flesh but in the spirit So did these Romans to Paul they gave ground for his charity to think them justfied so should all that are sincere do Now these others may be either the godly or the carnal world First for the godly who are best able to judg they have cause to think so when you are companions with them in the Faith Holiness and patience of the Gospel the men in the world are tied to one another like Sampsons Foxes by their tails tho their heads look several ways by their mutual interests and common agreement in mischief and enmity to the godly but the godly themselves should be joined together in the communion of the spirit loving one another with a Christ-like love and seeking each others good as their own and being affected with mutual sympathy towards each others condition as if it were their own case and with one mind and mouth glorifying God and promoting the interests of his kingdom and by their personal holiness bringing his honour in request in the world surely whoever do so we are to judg them heirs with us of the same grace of life and to bless God for them Secondly for the carnal world you must keep up the majesty of your profession that they may see there is a generation of men whose life is not spent in carnal pleasures and delights who are not as other men nor as themselves once were and do things which can be accomplished in them by no other Means or Agent than the Spirit of God Who in their common business act upon reasons and principles of Religion and turn all duties of the Second Table into duties of the first discharging all their respects to men out of the love of God and fear of God and are led by conscience rather than Interest and begin and end with God in all they do and cast their whole lives into an holy and heavenly mould making straight steps to their feet and walk with a temper becoming Religion in all the inequality of conditions they pass through in the World looking for no great matters heâ—e but fetching their main supports and comforts from the World to come 1. Those that do so will in time overcome malice and prejudice and convince the world that God is in them of a truth and they a heavenly and holy people and have a spirit and a presence that others have not Prov. 12.26 The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour 2. They will reprove the World Heb. 11.7 Noah condemned the world by his ready obedience to Gods warning 3. They will make the world wonder 1 Pet. 4.4 They think it strange you run not into the same excess of riot with them 'T is no wonder to see men proud covetous revengeful carnal self-seeking corrupt Nature will sufficiently prove this As 't is no wonder to see the Sun move tho 't was a wonder in Iâ—shuah's time when the Sun stood still so 't is no wonder to see men loose and wicked but 't is a wonder to see men holy heavenly mortified self-denying 4. You will justifie the ways of God against the cavils of Atheists and prophane carnal men Matt. 11.19 Wisdom is justified of her children and Israel justified Sodom Ezek. 16. 2. Vse is to exhort us to get this holy Spirit to dwell in our hearts that he may work in us a Divine Nature or that spiritual and Divine Temper which will teach us to live above and against the inclinations of the flesh 1. The means of infusing the Divine Nature into us is the Doctrine and example of Christ First his Doctrine which discovereth higher things than the flesh inclineth us unto and is the only cure of the carnal spirit This word was indited by the holy spirit For holy men spake as they were moved by the Holy-Ghost 2 Pet. 2.21 He inspired the Holy Apostles first to speak and then to write the Doctrine of Christ he led them into all truth John 6.13 The same Spirit attested this Doctrine by miraculous gifts Heb. 2.4 is conveyed by it Gal. 3 2. Received ye the spirit by the works of the law or the hearing of faith He prepareth and assisteth the ordinary Ministry that they may be fitted to convey this great gift Acts 20.28 Take heed therefore unto your selves and to all the flock over which the Holy-Ghost hath made you overseers and 2 Cor. 3.6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament not of the letter but of the spirit He writeth this Doctrine upon the heart Heb. 10.8 and 2 Cor. 3 3. Doth so renew and sanctifie our souls that we may live unto God Secondly The example of Christ for he had the days of his flesh John 1.14 and Heb. 5.7 lived in the world as men do but not after the flesh and God in our nature is the fit pattern for us to imitate that we may be in the world as he was in the world and not please the flesh as he pleased not himself To this example we are to be conformed but
so Psal. 143.10 Teach me to do thy will for thou art my God thy spirit is good lead me in the land of uprightness They that would walk circumspectly and incur no blame from God and hazzard to their souls need ever to seek direction from God according to his Covenant we need such teaching as hath with it leading and such direction as hath with it strengthning unto obedience such as will not only help us to understand the general rule but also how to apply it to particular actions that no part of our duty may be left upon our selves and this only can we have from the Spirit of God who directeth and leadeth us in all our choices and actions Well then whosoever would walk in a regular course of life in an exact obedience to all the commands of God and do nothing but what is all perfectly good and acceptable in Gods sight must thus beg for the leading of his gracious and sanctifying Spirit who is the only Fountain of all Goodness and Holiness to direct him and assist him in every turn and motion of his life 3. The Necessity of it because we are inabled to guide our selves the way of man is not in himself Jer. 10.23 It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps The Metaphor of leading is taken from the blind or the weak the blind who cannot see their way must have one to lead them and the lame who tho they can see yet cannot walk of themselves but must have one to help them the ignorant Traveller needs a guide and the weak Child a Nurse to attend upon him 'T is true the Children of God are light in the Lord besides their natural Reason they have some Understanding of the Way of Godliness but yet to a steady constant course of Obedience all strict and righteous living we need to be directed by the good Spirit to make that light which we have both directive and perswasive 1. Directive Tho we have a general understanding of our duty yet to make use of it in all particular cases needeth new Grace from God the Heathens were wise in generals Rom. 1.20 They became vain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in their imaginations and their practical inferences from these general truths their foolish heart was darkned and professing themselves to be wise they became fools And tho the people of God have greater advantages by that knowledg they have from the Scripture whereby they are made wiâ—e unto salvation and get more by Gods putting his Laws into their minds in Regeneration whereby they become light in the Lord yet being not impeccable and having many mixtures of sin yet remaining in every faculty in particular cases are apt to err and turn out of the way being in part ignorant and heedless and too often blinded by their own rebellious lusts and passions Therefore they desire that God would not leave them to themselves but warn them of their snares and dangers that they may still keep the path of life without defection or turning aside Psal. 119.133 Order my steps in thy word and let not any one iniquity have dominion over me They would not only have their path right but their steps ordered as not their general course wrong as those who walk in the way of everlasting perdition so not a step awry they would not miss the way to Heaven either in whole or in part Men that have such a tenderness upon them see a continual need of Gods Counsel which careless and slâ—ght spirits do not they would not be corrupted by their covetousness or sensuallity or ambition these things blind us in particular cases tho they see their way or know their duty in the general Therefore they need the constant assistance of the spirit to rescue them from the power of every known sin and to keep them in exact Obedience for all our general light pride or passion or sensual and worldly inclinations may make us err 2. That our light may be perswasive and overcome temptations and inclinations to sin Alas how weak are our arguings and how easily are our considerations of our duty overborn when a temptation sets our lusts a work and come on upon us with fresh strength We see what we should do but yet we are carried away by our rebellious affections to do the contrary or through sloath and negligence omit to do that which conscience calleth for at our hands Poor truth is taken captive and held prisoner detained in unrighteousness Rom. 1.18 It may talk like a man in chains but hath no power can do nothing to break the force of the temptation but now the spirits leading is lively and effectual to be led is to be excited moved stirred forward yea effectually inclined to do those things which please God he leadeth us not only monendo by warning us of our duty or inlightning our minds but movendo by inclining our hearts The Holy Ghost doth inlighten our minds and warm our affections and purge away their impurities we are moved that we may move and we receive the impression of his Grace that we may act and do the things he inclineth us unto this powerful leading the Saints beg Psal. 119.34 35. Give me understanding and I shall keep thy law yea I shall observe it with my whole heart Make me to go in the path of thy commandments for therein do I delight Gods teaching begets Obedience and he sheweth us the path of life and he maketh us to go in it 'T is such direction that giveth strength that exciteth the sluggish will and breaketh the force of corrupt inclinations it removeth the darkness which corruption and sin have brought upon the mind and maketh us pliable and ready to obey yea it giveth not only the will but the deed In short it engageth us in a watchful careful uniform and constant Obedience 4. The nature or manner how the spirit performeth the office of a guide or leader to us He guideth us partly by his word and partly by his inspirations and motions or the light of internal Grace By his Word that containeth the matter of his guidance and direction Psal. 119.105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path Mark there is path and feet not only direction for our general choice and course but our particular actions and mark also the notions by which the word is expressed lamp and light We have the light of the Sun by day and we make use of a lamp or candle by night whether it be day or night in all conditions as well as in all actions here is a sure direction therefore the word is called the Sword of the Spirit now this is the light the Spirit maketh use of partly the inward inspirations and motions of his grace that we may have a spiritual discerning 1 Cor. 2.14 Besides the outward letter there must be an inward light that the understanding be opened as well as the Scriptures
Belief of the threatnings of God from whence ariseth a sense of our sinful and miserable condition so far 't is good and useful Partly from an ill cause the Devil who delighteth to vex us with unreasonable terrors 1 Sam. 16.14 The spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord vexed him The Devil both tempteth and troubleth as the Huntsman hideth himself till the poor Beast be gotten into the toile then he appeareth with shouts and cryes Partly from the corruption of mans heart which either turneth this work to an utter aversation from God or some perfunctory and unwilling way of serving him some know the right use of the Covenant others not and therefore we must consider not only how 't is wrought by the spirit but how 't is entertained by man through our corruption our conviction of sin and misery by the spirit turneth into Bondage and servitude 2. The spirit of bondage is better than a profane spirit Some cast off all thoughts of God and the World to come and are not so serious and mindful of religion as to be much troubled with any fears about their eternal condition it were happy for them if they were come so far as a spirit of Bondage they that are under it have a conscience of their duty but such as perplexeth them and lasheth and stingeth them with the dread and horror of that God whom they serve Now this is better than the prophane spirit that wholly forgets God Psa. 10.4 God is not in all their thoughts whether he be pleased or displeased honoured or dishonoured this may tend to good the gradus ad rem gradus in re Yea it may in some degree be consistent with sincerity for though to have no love to God is inconsistent with a state of grace or to have less love to God than sin yet to have more fear than love is consistent with some weak degree of grace especially if the case be so that love is less felt in act than fear and therefore though men are conscious to much backwardness yet keep up a seriousness though to their feeling 't is more fear than love which moveth them yet we dare not pronounce them graceless for there may be a love to God and a complacency in his ways though it be oppressed by fear that the spirit of adoption is not so much discovered for the time 3. That 't is an ill frame of spirit to be cherished or rested in For while men are under the sole and predominant influence of it they are never converted to God fear doth begin the work of conversion but love maketh it sincere the spirit by fear doth awaken men to make them see their condition terrifying them by the belief of Gods threatning and the sense of his indignation that they may flee from wrath to come Matth. 3.7 Or cry out What shall I do to be saved Acts 2.37 But yet tho they have a sensible work they have not a saving work Some by these fears are but troubled and restrained a little and so settle again in their sensual course but to their great loss for God may never give them like advantages again Others betake themselves to a kind of religiousness and forsake the practice of those grosser sins which breed their fears and so resting here continue in a state of hypocrisie and self-deceiving religiousness 1. USE is Information and Instruction to teach us how to carry it as to the spirit of Bondage First 't is not to be slighted partly from the matter which breedeth the fear and bondage which is the law of God the supreme rule and reason of our duty by which all debates of conscience are to be decided partly from the Author this sense of sin and misery is stirred up in us and made more active by the Operation of the Spirit of God partly from the faculty wherein 't is seated the conscience of a reasonable creature the most lively and sensible power of mans soul which cannot be pacified but upon solid grounds and reasons partly from the effect the fear of eternal death the greatest misery that can befall us for surely 't is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God Heb. 10.31 To smother and stifle checks of conscience doth increase our misery not remove it and produceth hardness of heart and contempt of God therefore when our souls are at this pass that we see we are in bondage to sin and know not how to help it in bondage to wrath and know not how to quench these fears which are awakened in us by the spirit surely we should look after solid satisfaction and peace of soul setled on us upon Gospel Terms Run to the blood of sprinkling Heb. 10.20 2. Yet 't is not a thing to be chosen prayed for or rested in Partly because 't is a judiciary Impression a spark of Hell kindled in the conscience a tender conscience we may and must pray for but not a stormy conscience when we ask legal terrors we know not what we ask a belief of the threatnings belong to our duty as well as a belief of the promises but we must not so reflect upon terrors as to exclude the comfort and hope of the Gospel when under a spirit of Bondage we are in a most servile condition far from all solid comfort courage and boldness but is it not an help to conversion Answer Let God take his own way we are not to look after the deepness of the wound but the soundness of the cure not terrible representations of sin and wrath but such an anxiousness as will make us serious and solicitous partly because the Law-Covenant is an antiquated dispensation the law of nature bindeth not as a Covenant for the promise of life ceased upon the incapacity of the subjects when under a natural impossibility of keeping it the threatning and penalty lieth upon us indeed till we flee to another court and covenant The Jewish Covenant was abolished when Christ repealed the Law of Moses that Covenant dealt with us as servants the Gospel dealeth with us as sons in a more ingenuous way and inviting us to God upon nobler motives and partly from the nature of that fear that doth accompany it it driveth us from God not to God Gen. 3.5 Adam hid himself among the bushes and he gives us this reason because he was afraid and still we all fly from a condemning God but to a pardoning God we are incouraged to come nigh Psal. 103.4 There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared In the wicked the fear of Gods Wrath once begun it increaseth daily till it come to the desperate fear of the damned and the fault is not in the law or in the spirit but in man who runneth from his own happiness and maketh an ill use of Gods Warnings 2. USE is to put us upon tryal and self-reflection All that attend upon Ordinances receive some spirit
our mouths to God 3. When struck dumb by some newly contracted guilt as David kept silence and grew shy of God Psal. 32.3 The Spirit urgeth us to penitent confession and humble suing out our pardon v. 5. with that brokenness of heart which becometh a sinner 4. When straitned by barrenness and leanness of Soul would fain Pray but are dry and barren of matter 't is because we use not meditation and serious recollection Psal. 45.1 My heart is inditing a good matter my tongue is the pen of a ready writer One that is well acquainted with God and himself cannot want matter First The Holy Ghost puts us upon the serious consideration of these things and then when we come to speak to God a man will copiously enough be supplied out of the abundance of his heart Matth. 12.34 Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh If the mind be stocked and furnished with holy thoughts and meditation it will break out in the lips 2. His next office is to quicken you or raise your affections and holy desires which are the life of Prayer The prayer continueth no longer than the desires do Therefore groans are more Prayer than words weeping hath a voice Psal. 6.8 The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping Tears have a tongue and a language which God well enough understandeth look as babes have no other voice but crying for the mothers breast that 's intelligible enough to the tender parent so when there are earnest and serious desires after grace God knoweth our meaning 2. It informeth us that the motions of the spirit are an help in prayer not the rule and reason of prayer many will say they will pray only when the spirit moveth them Now he helpeth in the performance not in the neglect of the duty we are to make conscience of it God giveth out influences of grace according to his will or good pleasure but we must Pray according to his will of precept the influence of grace is not the warrant of duty but the help we are to do all acts in obedience to Gods command whatever cometh of it Luke 5.5 God is soveraign disposed or indisposed you are bound our impotency is our sin now our sin cannot excuse us from our duty for then the creature were not culpable for his sinful defects and omissions the outward act of a duty is commanded as well as the inward tho we cannot come up to the nature of a perfect duty yet we should do as we can tota actio and totum actionis falleth under the command of God Hosea 14.2 Take with you words I and also take with you affections Tho I cannot do all I must do as much as I can bring such desires as I have Gods spirit is more likely to help you in duty than in the neglect of it You quench the Spirit that must assist you by neglecting the means when the door is bolted knocking is the only way to get it open present your selves before God and see what he will do for you By tacking about men get the wind not by lying still there is many times a supply cometh ere we are aware Cant. 6.11 12. Or ever I was aware my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib We begin with much deadness and straitness by striving against it rather than yeilding to it we get inlargement afterwards God assists those that will be doing what he commandeth when we stir up our selves he is the more ready to help us 2. USE is Caution See that your prayers come from the Spirit there are some prayers is a reproach to the Holy Spirit to father them upon him 1. An idle and foolish loquacity when men take a liberty to prattle any thing in Gods hearing and pour out raw tumultuous and indigested â—â—oughts before him Eccles. 5.2 Be not hasty to utter any thing before God 'T is a great irreverence and contempt of his Majesty Surely the Spirit is not the Author of ignorant sensless and dull praying nothing disorderly cometh from him The Heathen are charged with vain babling and heartless repetitions Matth. 6.7 They think to be heard for their much speaking Shortness or length are both culpable according to the causes from whence they come shortness out of barrenness and straitness or length out of affectation or ingeminating the same thing without savour or wisdom or a meer filling up the time with words 2. A frothy eloquence and affected language as if the Prayer were the more grateful to God and he did accept men for their words rather than their graces and were to be worshipped with fine phrases and quaint speeches No 't is the humble exercise of faith hope and love which he regardeth and such art and curiosity is against Gods soverâ—ignty and doth not suit with the gravity and seriousness of worship If we would speak to God we must speak with our hearts to him rather than our words and the more plain and bare they are the better they suit with the nature of duty Moses was bid to put off his shoes in holy ground to teach us to lay aside our ornaments when we humble our selves before God 't is not words but spirit and life not a work of oratory but filial affection Too much care of verbal eloquence sheweth our hearts are more conversant with signs than things words than matter and it hath a smack of the man and smelleth of the man but savoureth not of the Spirit Psal. 119.26 I declared my ways and thou heardest me 3. Outward vehemency and loud speech The heat which ariseth from the agitation of bodily spirits and vehemency of speech differeth from an inward affection which is accompanied with reverence and child-like dependance upon God 't is not the loud noise of words which is best heard in heaven the fervent affectionate crys of the Saints are those of the heart not of the tongue Psal. 10.17 Lord thou hast heard the desire of the humble and Psal. 38.9 O Lord all my ways is before thee and my groanings is not â—id from thee The vehemency of the affection may sometimes cause the extention of the voice but without it we are but as tinkling cymbals 4. Natural Fervency when instant and earnest for some kind of blessings especially when we are oppressed with grievous evils and would fain get rid of them yet they cannot be looked upon as a motion of the spirit partly because 't is the temporal inconvenience they mind more than the removal of sin and cry more to get ease of their troubles than repentance for their sins which procured them and the supply of their necessities which they mind and not the favour of God and therefore the Holy Ghost calleth it howling Hos. 7.14 Like the moans of the Beasts for ease partly because they have no more to do with God when their turns are served and they are delivered from their troubles Jer 2.27 In the time of their trouble
when 't is cross to our carnal interest his favour must be valued as our happiness and the pleasing of â—im made our greatest work and for his sake we must be content to sâ—ffer any thing tho never so hard and difficult and contrary to our nature Let not such sâ—y they lâ—ve God that cannot deny a lust for him nor will not for his sake venture the loss of any thing that is dear to them either goods or liberty or favour of men or preferment or credit Pilate was loath to venture the Jews displeasure the Gaderenes would part with Christ rather than their swine Surely if we put the love of God to hazard upon light occasions we do not love him nor count his favour our supream happiness 2. Others have a deliberate resolution and seem for the present absolutely and seriously to please God in all things and keep his commandments but they do not verifie it in their conversations Their purposes and resolutions are not dissembled for the present but yet soon changed they neither keep the commandments of God nor study to please him there is a moral sincerity in them but not a supernatural sincerity Wherein differ they The moral sincerity is a dictate of conscience but the supernatural sincerity is a fruit of heart-changing grace What shall we do then Beg such an heart of God Deut. 5.29 Oh that there were such an heart within them that they would fear me and keep my commandments always God sheweth what we should do convinced conscience sheweth what purposes and resolutions we should make but a converted heart is only able to keep them That must be sought of God and all good means must be used that these purposes that we conceive to be sincere may be found to be so And God will not fail the striving and indeavouring soul that seeketh to persevere in its holy will and purpose to obey and please God but by internal grace and external providence will help us onward in our course to Heaven But if we depend upon our purposes and resolutions made in solemn duties with a clear conscience and with a deliberate and seemingly resolved will without those subsequent indeavours which evidence they come from a renewed heart alas they will soon come to nothing 2. VSE To exhort us to the love of God The more you love him your title is the clearer experience greater hopes of eternal life stronger 1. Consider these two things God is lovely in himself and hath love us 1. That God is lovely in himself because of his Wisdom and Greatness as well as because of his Benignity We are or may be soon perswaded that we ought to love him as the fountain of all goodness but the other Attributes should attract and draw our hearts also I shall add this argument to all the rest Whatever ingageth us to adhere to God as an all-sufficient portion that is certainly a motive of our love for love is nothing else but a delightful adhesion to God Now his infinitely glorious essence dominion and power ingage us to adhere to him Therefore we must press you to consider the excellency of his nature evidenced in the absolute dominion of his providence and holiness of his laws We would have you consider neither with the exclusion of the other nor his greatness without his goodness nor his benignity and goodness without his greatness neither of both without his holiness all maketh our love more strong and regular 2. He hath loved us in what he hath done already in what he hath prepared for us 1. In what he hath done already in Christ which sheweth that God is love John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son 1 John 4 10. Herein is love not that we loved God but he loved us and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins 2. In what he will do he hath greater benefits to give us than what he hath already given James 2.5 God hath chosen the poor of the world rich in faith and heirs of a kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him not to learned rich benefactors but to them that love him and are willing to do and suffer any thing for his sake 1 Pet. 2.9 But ye are a chosen generation a royal Priesthood an holy nation a peculiar people that you should shew forth the praise of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light 2. That love runneth a wasting on the creature That is ruitions and destructive This conduces to our good if we suffer loss here 't will be recompenced by a greater benefit I come now to the last clause who are called according to purpose Doctrine The effectually called are those that love God and are beloved by him Let me speak 1. Of the several kinds of calling 2. The properties of effectual calling 3. The ends of it 1. Let us distinguish the several kinds of calling 1. There is a twofold calling proper and improper First the improper call is the general and common invitation of all men in the world by the works of Creation and Providence by all which God inviteth men to seek after him The work of Creation Acts 17.27 all Gods works have a tongue and a voice proclaiming and crying up an infinite and eternal power who is the fountain of our being and happiness So Rom. 1.20 The invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood from the things which are made Psal. 19.1 The Heavens declare the glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy-work No man can look seriously upon the works of Creation but this thought will arise in his mind That all this was made by a powerful wise and good God he telleth us verse the 3 d. There is no speech and language where their voice is not heard Though it be not an articulate yet it is a very intelligible voice They in effect speak to every Nation in their own language that there is an eternal God who must be sought after and worshipped and served And as the works of Creation so the works of Providence whether for good or evil Good Acts 14.17 Nevertheless he left not himself without witness in that he did good The comfortable passages of providence are a pregnant full and clear testimony that the government of the world is in the hands of a good God So afflictive providences some of Gods works have a louder and more distinct voice than others Micha 6.9 The Lords voice cryeth unto the city and the man of wisdom shall see thy name hear ye the rod and who hath appointed it Or if you suppose that concerneth the Church take Rom. 1.18 For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men God doth discipline and instruct the world by his judgments that he is holy just and true Gods works speak to us only we must take heed
of a deaf ear nonattentiveness to Gods providence made way for the prevalency of Atheism and Idolatry in the world There are two propositions that if well minded and improved would preserve a lively remembrance of God in the hearts of men That all good cometh from God James 1.17 Every good and perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights And all evil from God Amos 3.6 Shall there be evil in a city and the Lord hath not done it And that any notable effect in either kind is a sign and witness of an invisible power If men would not look upon all things that befall them as meer chances they could not sleep so securely in their sins but God would have a greater testimony in every mans bosom that he hath a care of human affairs and is a rewarder of such as please him and an avenger of such as do offend him The question about this improper calling is What is the use of it or whether it be sufficient to salvation 1. Though the works of Creation and providence reveal a God yet these natural Apostles Sun Moon and Stars say nothing of Christ and there is salvation in no other Acts 4.12 They did teach the world That there is a God and that this God must be served and will be terrible to those that serve him not And possibly that God was placable or willing to be appeased because of the continuance of the Creation and the manifold mercies we lost or forfeited by our Apostacy and defection from him The Apostle saith 't is an invitation to repentance Rom. 2.4 Yet the knowledge of Jesus Christ the Son of God and of Redemption purchased to lost sinners through him is a mystery which the greatest wits in the world could not understand but by Gods revealing it in his word 2. The use of this call to those that have no other but barely it is to leave men without excuse Rom. 1.20 And that it might prevail to work some restraint of sin and to promote some external reformation in the world for the good of mankind Rom. 2.14 3. Those who have a louder call in the word are the more obliged to regard this call and invitation by the works of Gods creation and providence The call by the word is more perfect and more pressing and suited more to work upon our thoughts the object being more clearly and fully propounded to us yet this latter call is not privative but accumulative it doth not nâ—ll the duty of the former call or make it wholly useless to us but helps us to interpret it the better and we need all helps Faith doth not withdraw it self from natural knowledge and make it useless to us though we are to exercise our selves in the law of God day and night yet we must not overlook the works of Creation and Providence and whilest we study his word neglect Gods works for they are a confimation of our faith and a great occasional help to our love as appeareth by the instructions which the holy men of God gather thence witness David his night-meditation Psal. 8. Thy moon and thy stars And his morning-meditation Psal. 19. The Heavens declare the glory of God The glories of God which we read of in the word are visible in the Creation and though David preferreth the book of Scripture yet he doth not lay aside the book of Nature We must use the world as a glass wherein to see the glory of God he hath not the heart of a man in him who is not stricken with admiration at the sight of these things the glory of the heavenly bodies and the wonderful variety of all creatures and besides there is none so good but he needeth the mercy and direction of God to invite him to a more frequent remembrance of him How happy are they that have such a God for their God How miserable they that make him their Judg and Avenger 2. The proper calling is the voice of God in the word of his grace inviting sinners to Christ. This is called his distinctly calling Eph. 1.18 That ye may know what is the hope of his calling And the high calling of God in Jesus Christ Phil. 3.14 And again That our God would count you worthy of his calling 2 Thes. 1.11 And explained 1 Cor. 1.9 Faithful is he which hath called you into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Now this is a more close and full discovery of God than is to be found elsewhere God calleth and inviteth some by the creatures only others by his grace in Christ. But this being calling most properly taken Why is it not vouchsafed to all I answer 1. God is not obliged to send the gospel to any 'T is his free dispensation Rom. 11.35 Or who hath first given to him and it shall be recompenced to him again God doth not send the Gospel by necessity of nature or any pre-obligation on the creatures part but meerly of his own grace which worketh most freely and sendeth it where it pleaseth him 2. All have more knowledge of God by nature than they make good use of Rom. 1.21 When they knew God they glorified him not as God And till men improve a lower dispensation why should they be trusted with an higher If a vessel will not hold water you will not trust wine or any more precious liquor in it 2. Gods gracious invitation of lost sinners to Christ which properly is his calling them is either external or internal external by the word internal by his Spirit 1. External by the commands and promises of the word requiring such duties from them and assuring them of such blessings upon obedience Thus Wisdoms Maidens are sent forth to invite guests to her palace Prov. 4.2 And the kings servants to call them to the marriage feast Matth. 22.9 And so far they prevail in their message that many present themselves God would not leave us to a book but hath appointed a living Ministry 2 Cor. 6.10 2. Internal not only by the word but by his Spirit and the checks of their own conscience which is a nearer approach of his grace and power to us By the motions of his Spirit How else could it be said Gen. 6.3 My Spirit shall not always strive with man And Acts 7.51 Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost And also by their consciences sollicâ—ting them to the performance of their duty and challenging them for the neglect of it 'T is natural duty Rom. 2.14 15. The Gentiles do by nature the things contained in the law these having not the law are a law to themselves which shew the works of the law written in their hearts their consciences also bearing witness and their thoughts in the mean while accusing or excusing one another And for acceptance of the Gospel-Covenant 1 John 3.20 21. If our hearts condemn us God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things If our heart condemn us not
of dulness deadness and neglect of Christ and his salvation So that your hearts need quickning and exciting to duty sometimes a coldness in holy things and a sluggishness creepeth on the best and you may find you begin to grow careless and customary the conscience becometh sleepy the heart dead the affections cold a lively inculcation is then necessary you must rouze up your selves by putting questions to your hearts Heb. 2.3 How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation Both by way of assent is it not true that there is an Heaven and an Hell And is the Gospel a Fable And by way of Consideration What trifles and paltry vanities do you neglect Christ for And application by way of inference Must not I work out my own salvation with fear and trembling By way of discovery Is this a flight from wrath to come and a pursuit after eternal life That serving God instantly day and night we may attain to the blessed hope that giving diligence we may be found of him in peace 3. VVhen strong lusts tempt you to sin in some scandalous and unworthy manner what will you do to relieve your selves but by such kind of questions Gen. 39.9 How shall I do this great wickedness and sin against God Rom. 6.21 VVhat fruit have you in those things whereof you are now ashamed And your hearts should rise in indignation against the temptation or carnal motion Shall I lose my fatness to rule over the trees If of profit Matth. 16.26 VVhat is a man profited if he shall gain the world and lose his own soul If of pleasure What lose the birth-right for one morsel of meat 4. In a time of sorrow and discouragements When afflictions breaketh us and lieth heavy upon us day and night Suppose continual poverty or sickness or else when we are wearied with a vexatious and malicious World Then should we revive our hopes and comforts expostulate with our selves about our drooping discouragements Psal. 42.5 Why art thou disquieted O my soul and why art thou cast down within me still hope in God We must cite our Affections before the Tribunal of sanctified Reason This is the drift of this question in the Text What shall we say to these things This were enough to comfort the most distressed and afflicted Who will be so much grieved for what he knoweth is for his good Yea so great a good as eternal salvation 5. Whenever any message of God is sent to you go home and practise upon it speedily whether any duties are pressed upon you in the name of Christ or sins reproved What shall we say to these things Is it not a duty or that a sin A weighty duty or an heinous sin Do I perform this duty or avoid this sin or what do I mean to do for the future If upon the first oppportunity as soon as the message i◠brought to us we did fall a working of the Truth upon our hearts more good would be done our Christianity would be more explicate and serious Whereas the impression that is left upon us in hearing is soon defaced and all for want of such serious reflections and self-communings James 1.22 23 24. But be ye doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own souls For if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer he is like a man that beholdeth his natural face in a glass For he beholdeth himself and goeth his way and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was They forget how much they were concerned in the Truths delivered Second Question by way of Explication If God be for us who shall be against us There observe Two Things 1. The ground supposed If God be for us 2. The comfort built upon it Who shall be against us From both observe That if God be for us we need not be troubled at the opposition of those that are against us 1. I shall explain the words of the Text both concerning the ground laid and the comfort thence inferred 2. Shew you the Reasons of it 1. To explain the words and there the ground supposed If God 'T is not dubitantis but ratiocinantis not the if of doubting but of reasoning The meaning is this being taken for granted the other must needs follow In the supposition Two things are taken for granted 1. That there is a God 2. That he is with and for his Children 1. For the First 'T is some comfort to the oppressed that there is a God who is the Patron of humane societies and the Refuge of the oppressed who will take notice of their sorrows and right their wrongs Eccles. 5.8 If thou seest the oppression of the poor and the violent perverting of judgment in a province marvel not at the matter For he that is higher than the highest regardeth and there be higher than they So Eccles. 3.16 Moreover I saw under the Sun the place of judgment that wickedness was there and the place of righteousness and that iniquity was there I said in my heart God shall judg the righteous and the wicked Man that should be as a God to his Neighbour proveth oftentimes as a Devil or wild Beast to him making little use of his power but to do mischief And many times God's ordination of Magistrates is used as a pretence to their violence and Tribunals and Courts of Justice which should be as Sanctuaries and places of Refuge for wronged innocence are as Slaughter-houses and Shops of Cruelty Now this is a grievous Temptation but 't is a comfort that the Lord will in due time review all again and judg over the Cause that he may right his people against their oppressors There is an higher Court to which we may appeal All things are governed by an holy and wise God who will right his people and vindicate their innocency 2. That he is with and for his Children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If God be with us But when is God with us This must be stated with respect to the forementioned acts of grace Worldlings judg of God's presence by wrong Rules they measure his love and favour altogether by the outward estate if their mountain stand strong if their houses be filled with the good things of this world then they conclude God is with them No we must determine it by the Context and we begin first with Predestination God is with his people not by a wavering Will but a constant eternal Decree There are some that belong to the Election of his Grace 2 Tim. 2.16 The foundation of the Lord standeth sure See that reasoning Luke 18.7 8. And shall not God avenge his own elect which cry day and night unto him Though he bear long with them I tell you that he will avenge them speedily Now Election is for a while a secret but we have the comfort of it when we make our calling and election sure Certainly God loveth his people with a dear and tender love since he
unto the day of Redemption When freed from all sin and misery All sin at Death and misery at the last day Converse and Communion with God here is the beginning of our Everlasting Communion and living with God hereafter For the throne of grace is the gate and porch of Heaven so that a Believer when he dyeth doth only change place not company 4. Earnest is given for the security of the Party that receiveth it not for him that giveth it Indeed he that giveth the Earnest is obliged to fulfil the Bargain but 't is most for the satisfaction of the receiver So this Earnest is given for our sakes there is no danger of breaking on God's part but God was willing more abundantly to shew to the Heirs of Promise the Immutability of his Counsel because of our frequent doubts and fears in the midst of our Troubles and Tryals we need this Confirmation 5. 'T is not taken away till all be consummated and therein an Earnest differeth from a Pawn or Pledge A Pledge is something left with us to be restored or taken away from us but an Earnest is filled up with the whole Sum So God giveth part to assure us of obtaining the whole in due season the beginning assureth the man of obtaining the full Possession Phil. 1.6 Being confident of this very thing that he that hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Christ. The beginning assureth the Compâ—eat Consummation of their blessed estate in Soul and Body Spiritual comforts are joys of the Spirit which assure us that we shall receive the end of our Faith the Salvation of our Souls 1 Pet. 18. 3. The use and end of an Earnest is 1. To raise our confidence of the certainty of these things Believers are apt to doubt if ever the Covenanted Inheritance shall be bestowed and actually injoyed by them Now to assure them that God will be as good as his word and doth not weary us altogether with expectation he giveth us something in hand that we may be confident You see God offered you this Happiness when you had no thought of it and that with an incessant importunity till thy anxious Soul was troubled and made a business of it and by the secret drawings of his Spirit inclined thy heart to chuse him for thy portion pardoned thy failings visited thee in Ordinances supported thee in troubles helped thee in temptations his Spirit liveth dwelleth and worketh in thee therefore always confident ver 6. There is some place for doubts and fears till we be in full possession from weakness of Grace and greatness of Tryals 2. To quicken our earnest desires and industrious diligence The first fruits are to shew how good as well as earnest how sure this is but a little part and portion of those great things which God hath provided for us If the Earnest be so sweet what will the Possession be A glimpse of God in the heart how râ—â—ishing is it O how comfortable a more lively expectation 3. To bind us not to depart from these Hopes The Earnest of the Spirit convincing comforting changing the heart have you felt this in your selves and will you turn back from God after Experience SERMON VIII 2 Cor. 5.6 Therefore we are always Confident knowing that while we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord. IN the words observe Two things 1. The Effect of God's giving the Earnest of the Spirit Therefore we are always confident 2. The State of a Believer in this World Knowing that while we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord. In the first Branch take notice 1. Of the Effect its self We are confident 2. The constancy or continuance of this Confidence Always To be confident at times when not tempted or assaulted is easie but in all conditions to keep up an equal tenour of Confidence is the Christian heighth which we should aspire unto for the strength of this Confidence is discovered by manifold Tryals and Difficulties 3. The illative Particle Therefore Why Because God hath wrought us for this very thing and given us the Earnest of the Spirit For the Effect itself There is a twofold Confidence 1. Of the thing 2. Of the Person for both are requisite for the latter presupposeth the former there can be no certainty to a person of a thing which is not certain in itself An Immortal state of Bliss is to be had and enjoyed after this life we are Confident of that before we can be Confident of our Interest and actual injoyment of it We are Confident of the thing because God hath promised it and set it forth in the Gospel But because the promise requireth a Qualification and performance of duty in the person to whom the promise is made Therefore before twe can be certain of our own Interest and future injoyment we must not only perform he duty and have the Qualification but we must certainly know that we have done that which the promise requireth and are duly Qualified Now the Serious performance of our duty Evidenceth its self to the Conscience And as our diligence increaseth so doth our Confidence But so far as a man neglecteth his duty and abateth his Qualification so far his confidence may abate also The Illative Particle Therefore The earnest of the Spirit hath influence both upon the Confidence of the thing and of our own interest 1. Of the thing If God never meant to bestow Eternal life upon his people he would not give Earnest 2. Of our Interest and future injoyment For the Spirit of God convincing Comforting and changing the heart doth assure us that he hath appointed us to Everlasting glory Well then the full meaning of this clause is That we certainly know that we shall be Crowned in Glory and being assured by the Earnest of the Spirit that we shall not fail of it therefore we lift up the Head in the midst of pressures and afflictions knowing that if they should arise as high as death they will bring us the sooner to the Lord that we may live with him for ever Doct. They who have the Earnest of the Spirit are and may be Confident of their future and glorious Estate Let me shew you 1. What is this Confidence 2. What is the Earnest of the Spirit 3. How this Confidence ariseth from having the Earnest of the Spirit in our hearts 1. What is this Confidence 1. The Nature of it 2. The Opposites of it 3. The Effects of it 4. The Properties of it 1. The nature 'T is a Well grounded perswasion of our Eternal Happiness But I must distinguish again as before There is a twofold Confidence one which is proper to faith another which may be called assurance or a sense of our own interest 1. There is a Confidence included in the very nature of Faith usually called Affiance We have often considered Faith as it implyeth a firm assent and
godliness or of those who profess faith in Christ namely that we may be so approved of God that we may injoy him for ever among his Blessed ones I shall prove it by three arguments that this must be our constant scope taken from the many advantages which redound to us thereby 1. We cannot be sincere unless this be our great aim and Scope that we may approve our selves to God One main difference between the sincere and the Hypocrite is in the end and scope The one seeketh the approbation of men and the other the approbation of God the one is fleshly wisdom the other Godly simplicity and sincerity 2 Cor. 1.12 The one acts to be seen of men the other maketh God his Witness Approver and Judg. So elsewhere the Spiritual life is negatively a not living to our selves and positively a living to God and both carryed on by the power and Influence of an holy and sincere love to God 2 Cor. 5.14 15. For the Love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one dyed for all then were all dead And that he dyed for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which dyed for them and rose again Love acteth most purely for God whilst it designeth him as the end of all things our study to please desire to injoy him keepeth us upright The more fixed our end is and the more we renew the intention of it and daily prosecute it the more sincere we are If we keep the right mark in our eye it maketh us level right but he that mistaketh his end is out of the way in the first step he taketh and all his acts are but acts of sin errour and folly how splendid soever the matter or manner of the action may represent it to vulgar appearance suppose praying or preaching out of envy or alms for vain glory Phil. 1.15 Some preach Christ out of envy and strife and some of good will They may preach to others who are but hollow hearted men themselves And a mans most excellent gifts and the duties of Gods own Worship may be prostituted to so base an end as to hide and feed our lusts So Christ speaketh of the Hypocrites giving alms to be seen of men Matth. 6.1 And praying to be seen of men 5 th verse These things are incident to the corrupt heart of man even sometimes when 't is in part renewed by ends and motives will be interposing themselves but good Christians had need to resist the very first motions of these things for where they are once rooted in the Heart and prevail our duties are not a Worship of God but a service of sin and we our selves will be found at length but unsincere and rotten hearted Hyprocrites a Christian should content himself with Gods approbation and needs no other Theatre than his own Conscience nor other Spectator than our Father who seeth in secret Matth. 6.4 6. Besides the sweet Testimony of the Conscience following upon such actions And in time this shall be laid open and found to our praise and honour 'T is God and Glory the upright heart aimeth at and bendeth his study heart and life to seek 2. It maketh us Serious and watchful and to keep Close to our duty Finis est mensura mediorum The Aptitude and fitness of means is judged of by the end Let a man fix upon a right end and Scope and he will soon understand his way and will address himself to such means as are fitted to that end and make straight towards it without any circuits and wandrings What is the reason that men fill up their lives with things that are Impertinent to their great end and sometimes altogether inconsistent with it Because they have not fixed their Scope or do not regard their end A man that hath resolvedly determined that this is his end to be accepted of God and to enjoy God he valueth Gods favour as his happiness the being reconciled to him and his great care the pleasing of him his utmost industrious Imployment of his life is nothing else but a seeking to please honour and injoy God And so by this means First Impertinencies Secondly Inconsistencies are prevented and cut off 1. Do but Consider how many Impertinencies are cut off if I be true to my end and great scope for instance when I remember that my business is to be accepted of God at the last and am resolved to seek after that and mind that can I spend my time in ease and idleness or carnal vanities and recreations Eccl. 2.2 What doth it What good and profit cometh of this What respect hath it to my great end When I am gaming and sporting away my precious time or it may be but trifling it away in impertinent chatting and vain censures is this the way to Heaven Shall I get thither sooner by toying or praying by sowing to the Flesh or the Spirit by studying the Word of God and meditating therein day and night or by reading Romances filthy Plays and obscene and scurrilous writings by cards and dice or by holy conference and praising God Alas if men would but sum up the imployment of every day they might write at the bottom of the account here is nothing but vanity a great deal of time spent and a pudder made and little or nothing done to our great end Christians what do you Or what have you done Jer. 8.6 That question is to be answered not only by reflecting upon your rule but by reflecting upon your end 2. It will not only cut off impertinencies but a far greater mischief and that is inconsistencies with our great end Gen. 39.9 How can I do this wickedness and sin against God Men do not only forget their end and happiness but run quite from it by doing actions directly contrary vanities are impertinent to our great end but direct sins are inconsistent Would men dishonour God and disobey his Laws and grieve his Spirit if they did remember seriously that their misery and Happiness did depend upon Gods pleasure or displeasure Surely then they would avoid Gods wrath and displeasure and sin which is the cause of it as the greatest misery and evil that can befall them and seek after his favour as their great happiness 3. It would solace and comfort us under the difficulties of obedience the hardships and inconveniencies of our Pilgrimage and that mean and afflicted State of Life wherein perhaps God will imploy us and exercise us for his Glory 1. It would sweeten the difficulties of obedience for the end doth sweeten the means 'T is troublesome to the flesh to limit and confine our desires and actions within the compass of a strict rule but it satisfieth a resolved heart to remember that either we must please the Flesh or please the Lord. If now it be troublesome to us hereafter it will be comfortable Wicked men have comfort now when they want it not and
a wedding Garment and he was examined the man was speechless Matth. 22.12 When every one is particularly observed and tryed there is nothing to reply but glorifying God Jude 15. 2ly Satisfaction of the World in the righteousness and justice of Gods proceeding When every person is arraigned and every work is manifest it cleareth Gods Justice in rewarding his own and in punishing the wicked and ungodly 1. It cleareth his justice in rewarding the faithful they undergo the tryal and though they have failings yet for the main their faith is found to praise and honour and Glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.7 When his people come to be Judged and have been found obedient to his commands Faithful under tryals patient under all sufferings and inconveniencies 'T is a faith that may be owned before men and Angels Christ will confess them before God Men and Angels Rev. 3.5 So in punishing the wicked Josh. 7.19 God is glorifyed by the Creatures conviction and acknowledgement Psal. 51.4 I acknowledge mine iniquity that thou mayst be justified when thou speakest and clear when thou Judgest God is justified when the Creature is rewarded according to his own deservings God overcometh and we are cast in the plea and suit 2. The word signifieth to be made manifest And so importeth that we must all be manifested or laid open before the Judgment seat of Christ our persons must not only appear but our hearts and ways be tryed 'T is said Luke 12.2 There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed nor hid which shall not be made known 'T is brought as a reason against Hypocrisy the innocency of Gods Servants is beclowded for a while and the sin of men lyeth hid for a while but at length all shall be open hypocrisy shall be disclosed and sincerity shall be rewarded So 1 Cor. 3.13 Every mans work shall be manifested All the ways and works of wickedness though acted in never so secret a manner shall be laid open The Scripture telleth us at the Judgment Eccl. 12.14 God shall bring every work into Judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil The final doom shall repeal all the Judgments of this life and repair them abundantly many things that are varnished with a fair gloss and pretence here shall then be found filthy and abominable and many things disguised with an ill appearance to the World shall be found to be of God approved and allowed by him So 't is said 1 Cor. 4.5 That Christ will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the Counsels of the heart and then shall every man have praise of God When every mans intentions and purposes actions and spring of actions shall be displayed then they that deserve blame shall be discovered and the sincere and upright Justifyed and commended Well then the Scripture shews they shall be made manifest and when made manifest In the general there are two places demonstrate it one is Psal. 50.21 I will reprove thee and set thy sins in order before thine Eyes All the ways and circumstances of sin shall be so represented to the conscience that the sinner shall not be able to deny or excuse evade or forget but ever be vexed with the remembrance of his past folly and ever see his sins before him as if fresh committed The other place is Rev. 12.12 And I saw the dead small and great stand before the Lord and the Books were opened and another Book was opened which is the Book of life and the dead were Judged out of these things which were written in the Books according to their works There are Books and another Book there is the Book of conscience and the Book of Gods remembrance Mal. 3.16 In these Books all things are written which belong to the Government and Judgment of the Rational Creature our good and evil is all upon record our means and mercies and our unthankfulness and unprofitableness under them Jer. 17.1 The sin of Judah is written with a pen of Iron and the point of a Diamond Not only in their consciences but before God Isa. 65.6 Behold it is written before me God doth not forget or pass over but note and remember Now these Books are opened at the last day there is not one Book but Books the Book of Scripture is opened as a rule the Book of Conscience as a witness and the Book of Gods remembrance as the notice or Judges knowing both persons and facts But more particularly how are we manifested 1. By the knowledge of the Judge We may hide our sins from men but not from God from the World and from our selves but Christ shall perfectly discover them and bring them forth into the light and shew themselves to themselves and to the World and all their shifts will not serve the turn God observeth men now and observeth them in order to judgment Psa. 33.13 14 15 16. The Lord looketh from Heaven he beholdeth all the Sons of men from the place of his Habitation he beholdeth all the inhabitants of the Earth he fashioneth their hearts alike he considereth all their thoughts Though God resides in Heaven yet he beholdeth all and every of their actions yea their most secret thoughts He fashioneth their hearts alike Sept. One by one He is the former of their Souls as well as their Bodys and knoweth the Operations of their hearts as well as their outward actions Men think otherwise Ezek. 9.9 They say the Lord hath forsaken the Earth the Lord seeth not When he came to mark the Mourners and to distinguish them from the Sinners Psa. 94.7 They say the Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard it These are mens Brutish Atheistical thoughts and so go on and are regardless of the Judgment But then your Judge shall Convince you upon his own knowledge A Judge is not disabled from being a witness The Woman of Samaria said John 4.29 Come and see a man that told me all things that ever I did is not this the Christ Christ knoweth all that men do and is able to produce their lives by tale and number even those passages which were most secret there needeth no proof to our Judge for all is open and naked before him 2. The Good Angels may be produced as witnesses they have an inspection over this lower World are Conversant about us in all our ways and are conscious to our conversasations Psa. 91.11 He shall give his Angels charge over thee they shall keep thee in all thy ways Reverence is pressed upon us in Scripture in this respect Eccl. 5.6 Suffer not thy Mouth to cause thy flesh to sin neither say thou before the Angel it was an errour All the business is what is meant by the Angel There some understand it of the Angel of the covevenant the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Searcher of hearts who will not be mocked who cannot be deceived
them And the Wicked are described by this that they forget God Psal. 9.17 They seldom or never think with themselves whether they please or displease honour or dishonour him But the Godly will be often directing fixing elevating the intention of their minds O God I lift my heart to thee Psal. 25.1 The end is our measure Now an expert Carpenter that worketh by line though he doth not in every stroke yet very often will be trying his work by the line and square Besides the end is our motive as well as our measure It addeth strength and vigour to the Soul in acting Therefore to excite my drooping and languishing heart I should often think for whom I am working and for what end 2. In all momentous actions I must actually intend the glory of God In lesser things the general frame and bent of my heart to please God in all things sufficeth There are certain actions of moment and such as we make a business of we need there explicitely to call in the help of Christ and expresly to aim at the glory of God There are some actions to the performance of which we go forth in a general confidence Others which are not undertaken without deliberation and invocation There must be special direction of the intention of the Soul suppose a Minister in preaching the Gospel 2 Cor. 1.20 For all the promises of God in him are yea and in him Amen to the glory of God by us Suppose any hazardous Voyage the disposing our selves into any course of life or abiding relation we must be sure to aim at Gods Glory 3. Weak habits and inclinations need express formal observed thoughts For without them Christians cannot do their work but to powerful and strong habits where men have in a manner naturalized themselves to a Godly course the strength of the general inclination sufficeth A weak Christian needs often to consider that he is acting for God and approving himself to God that he may keep more close and faithfully to his work and be true to his end Now the habits of Grace being weak in most they cannot easily keep afoot Gods interest in their Souls if they should seldom think of him and their obligation to him 4. And lastly Tempted Christians and when they are in danger to seek themselves must renew and revive the actual intention As when we do any publick action for God which hath somewhat of Pomp and Glory in it that our eyes may look right on and we may not squint a little upon any by-motive Or when we feel the ticklings of vain Glory Divines suppose that double not unto us not unto us to be the rebuke of a temptation Psal. 115.1 This is a re-inkindling of our purpose when it seemeth to be quenched As Bernard when the Devil tempted him to vain glory propter te non coepi non finiam propter te I neither began for thee nor will I make an end for thee And this cometh home to the instance of the Text Paul was forced to commend himself unless he would have the Gospel trampled upon Now to assure them it was not vain glory and to guard his own heart he saith If we be besides our selves 't is to God or whether we be sober it is for your cause 6. Observe again when actions are likely to be misinterpreted and do tend to our dishonour yet if the glory of God call for them they should not be omitted For we must be contented to be nothing so God be glorified As here it seemed to be the act of an imprudent person or of one besides himself to speak so largely of himself yet 't was necessary that the false Apostles might not draw them from the Gospel which he had Preached And therefore Paul would run the hazard of the Imputation of Folly and Imprudence rather than Unfaithfulness to God and their Souls Thereby teaching us all to value the honour of God above our own Interest And to approve our selves to men no farther then will stand with the approbation of God There are some actions which our duty calleth for which are disgustful to the world and may seem to expose the reputation of our wisdom and reason Yet better be counted a fool and a mad-man for God than one of this worlds wise Men with the neglect of our duty Nay there are some actions which are against the gust of the strictest Professors so that not only the reputation of our Wisdom and Reason but of our Conscience and integrity is put to hazard But he that is not contented with the glory which cometh from God only will never be a thorough Christian John 5.44 And we must be content not only to deny our own reason and reputation for Wisdom but also our reputation for sincerity in Religion our own every thing but our own God and our own Christ. 7. Observe again from that if we be sober 't is for your cause Pauls madness in their Eye was his asserting the credit of his Ministry his Sobriety when he spake humbly of himself Now he was as sincere in the one as in the other In our most sober moods we must be sure that we glorify God as well as when we are apt to be misjudged by the world When we refuse Praise as well as when we own Gods gifts and graces in us For some men will beat back honour when it cometh to them at the first hopp that they may catch it at the rebound and so seek that which they seem to deny as if they held the stealth and underhand receipt of it more lawful than the purchase in the open Market No we must be sure to be as sincere in our professions of humility where men are least apt to suspect our pride as there where they are most ready to charge us with it As the Apostle doth assert that he was besides himself for God so sober for their sakes for Gods glory and their profit 8. The end is either ultimate or subordinate The ultimate end is that which terminateth the action and wherein our thoughts rest The subordinate end is that which we aim at but yet look further as here the ultimate end is Gods glory the subordinate end was their profit So take that other place 1 Cor. 10.31 Whether ye eat or drink or whatever ye do do all to the glory of God In eating and drinking the subordinate end is health strength and cheerfulness The ultimate and supream end Gods glory 'T is a failing in our subordinate end if we mind only Carnal pleasure and not service Eccl. 10 7. Blessed art thou O Land when thy Princes eat in due season for strength and not for drunkenness When our Meals are a Meat-offering or a Drink-Offering to lust and appetite 't is a perversion of Gods bounty They were ordained to be a refection after business and to repair that strength which hath been weakned in the work of our Callings But now the ultimate end
our Passive the other our Active Regeneration And as in Generation that which begets produces the same Life that is in himself a Beast communicates the Life of a Beast and a Man of a Man so 't is the Life of God that we receive when we are formed for his use by the power of his Grace It is called the Life of God and the Divine Nature Spiritual qualities being infused whereby we resemble God And Herein again it agrees with common Life Life consists in the union of the matter with the Principle of Life as when there is union between the Body and Soul then there 's Life without which the Body is but a dead and an unactive lump As Adams Body when it was organized and framed until God infused the breath of Life in it lay as a dead lump so this Life is begun by a Union between us and Christ he lives in us by his Spirit and we live in him by Faith Gal. 2.20 The Spirit is the Principle of Life and Faith is the means to receive it and therefore we are said Rom. 6.5 To be planted into the likeness of Christs Resurrection Planting notes a Union as a Bud that 's put into a Stock it becomes one with the Stock and bears Fruit by vertue of the Life of the Stock We no sooner are planted into Christ but we feel the power of his Life and vertue of his Resurrection he begins to live in us and we in him as the Graft in the Stock and as the Stock in the Graft 2. Where there is Life there is Sense and Feeling especially if wrong and violence be offered to it A living Member is sensible of the smallest prick and Pain and so is the Spiritual Life bewrayed by the tenderness of the Heart and the sense that we have of the interest of God Stupid and insensible Spirits shew they have no Life and therefore those that are alienated from the Life of God they are said to be past feeling Eph. 4 18 19. As long as there is Life there is feeling We may lose other senses yet there may be Life the Eye may be closed up and sight lost and the Ear may be deaf and lose its use but yet Life may remain still but feeling is dispers'd throughout the whole Body and we do not lose our feeling till we are quite dead therefore this is the Character of them that are alienated from the life of God that they have no feeling Now the Children of God the Regenerate are sensible of the injuries done and Spiritual Life by Sin and of the decays of that Life they have and of the comforts of it What Consciences have they that can live in carnal pleasures and sin freely in Thought and foully in Act and yet never groan under it never be sensible of it Paul was sensible of the first stirrings and risings of Sin Rom. 7.24 Oh wreâ—ched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of Death Now where there is no sense of this it shews such have no Life who are neither sensible of the injuries done to the Life they have nor of the decays of it by God's absence When the Bridegroom is gone sensible Hearts will mourn Mat. 9 15. when they have lost Christ when they feel any abatements of the influences of his Grace Carnal men that sleep in their filthiness they have no sense of God's favours or frowns of his absence or presence because they are quite dead they do not take notice of God's dealings with them either in Mercy or Judgment therefore are touched with no remorse for the one or thankfulness for the other but are careless and stupid and past feeling And can a man be alive and not feel it And can you have the Life of Grace and not feel the decays and interruptions of it and neither be sensible of comforts or injuries 3. Where there is life there 's an Appetite joyned with it an earnest desire after that which may feed maintain and support this Life What makes the Brute-creatures to run to the Teats of the Dam as soon as they are born but instinct of Nature Appetite is the immediate effect of Life Where there is life it must have some supports it hath its Tasts and Rellishes as 1 Pet. 2.2 As new-born Babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby I say where there is a new birth there will be an Appetite after Spiritual unmixed milk the new-nature hath its proper supports and there will be something relish't and favor'd besides meats drinks and bodily pleasures and such things as gratify the Animal Life As Jesus Christ said John 4.32 I have meat to eat that ye know not of So Spiritual Life hath inward consolations it hath hidden Manna whereby it is supported and maintained Meat that perisheth not John 6.27 painted fire needs no fuel those that do not live they have no Appetite there 's no need of nourishment But where there is life there will be a desire an Appetite that carrieth us to that which is Food to the Soul to Christ Jesus especially and to the Ordinances in which he is exhibited to us And therefore where there is no desire to meet with God in these Ordinances where Christ may be food to our Souls it is to be feared there is no Life Wicked men they may desire Ordinances sometimes but not to strengthen the Spiritual Life but out of carnal ends and reasons they are loth to be left out of the Worship that is in esteem in the place where they live as the Pharisees submitted to Johns Baptism though they hated the Lord Christ it was then in esteem therefore he calls them a Generation of Vipers Mat. 3.7 and partly because they trust in the work wrought there is somewhat to pacify Natural Conscience by the bare external performance of a duty and carnal men rest in the Sacraments or visible Ordinances It is Natural to us to be led by sensible things and the external action being easy they choak their Consciences with these things How usual is it in this sense to see many that tear the Bond yet prize the Seal that is to say they contemn the Bond of the Covenant and the duty of the Covenant yet dote upon the Lords Supper which is a Seal of it But a true Appetite desires these Ordinances that we may meet with God in them This is a sign of Life 4. Where there is Life there will be growth especially in Vegetables there Life is always growing and encreasing till they come to their full stature so do the Children of God grow in Grace Our Lord himself though he had the Spirit without measure yet he grew in Wisdom and favour with God Luke 2.40 not in shew but in reality he grew in Wisdom as he grew in Stature Though his Human Nature in his Infancy was taken into the Unity of his Divine Person yet the capacity of his Human Nature
That 't is a great felicity not to be obnoxious to condemnation 2. That this is the portion of the true Christian or such as are in Christ. 3. Those who are in Christ obey not the inclinations of corrupt Nature but the motions of the Spirit First It is a great priviledg not to be obnoxious to condemnation There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ. To understand this you must consider First What condemnation importeth Secondly How came we by this exemption 1. What condemnation importeth The terror of it is unspeakable when 't is sufficiently understood and therefore by consequence our exemption and deliverance from it is the greater mercy In the general Condemnation is a sentence dooming us to punishment Now particularly for this condemnation 1. Consider whose Sentence this is there is Sententia Legis and Sententia Judicis the Sentence of the Law and the Sentence of the Judge The Sentence of the Law is the Sentence of the Word of God and that is either the Law of Works or the Law of Grace The damnatory Sentence of the Law concludeth all under the curse for all are under sin Gal. 3.10 For as many as are under the works of the law are under the curse for it is written Cursed is he that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the Law to do them So all the World is guilty before God Rom. 3.10 But the Gospel or the Law of Grace denounceth damnation to those that believe not in Christ and obstinately refuse his mercy Mar. 16.16 he that believeth not shall be damned and also against them that love not Christ and obey him 1 Cor. 16.22 If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be accursed This is the Sentence of the Law But then there is Sententia Judicis the Sentence which the Judg passeth upon a sinner and is either 1. The ratifying of that Sentence which the word denounceth be it either Law or Gospel for what is bound in earth is bound in heaven and God condemneth those whom his Word condemneth so that for the present wicked men have a Sentence against them they are all cast in Law condemned already as it is John 3.18 If men were sensible of their danger they would be more earnest to get the Sentence reversed and repealed before it were executed upon them they are not sure of a days respite 't is a stupid dulness not to be affected with this woful condition there is but a step between them and death and they mind it not 2. As pronounced and declared So it shall be at the last day by the Judg of all the Earth Acts 17.30 Because he hath appointed a day in which he will judg the world in righteousness And 2 Thess. 1.8 He shall come in flaming fire taking vengeance on all them that know not God and obey not the Gospel Then the Sentence is full and solemn pronounced by the Judg upon the Throne in the Audience of all the World Then 't is final and peremptory and puts men into their everlasting estate And then 't is presently executed they go away to that estate to which they are doomed Of this the Scripture speaketh John 5.39 they that have done evil shall arise to the resurrection of damnation It is miserable to be involved in a Sentence of condemnation by the Word Now that shuts up a sinner as in a Prison where the Door is bolted and barred upon him till it be opened by Grace But doleful will their condition be who are Condemned by the final Sentence of the Judg from which there is no appeal nor escape nor deliverance 2. Consider The punishment to which men are condemned and that is twofold Either the poena damni the loss of an heavenly Kingdom they are shut out from that But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into utter darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Matth. 8.12 Or poena sensus the torments and pains they shall indure called the damnation of hell Matth. 23.33 Both together are spoken of Matth. 25.41 Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels Words that should cut a sinner to the heart if he had any feeling of his condition now to be exempted from condemnation to this punishment is the greater mercy 'T is enough to heighten in our thoughts the greatest sense of the Love of God that we are freed from the curse that Jesus hath delivered us from wrath to come 1 Thess. 1.10 that we are as brands plucked out of the burning but much more when we consider that we shall be admitted into Gods Blessed presence and see him as he is and be like him 1 John 3.2 And for the present that being justified by faith we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life Tit. 3.7 The Apostle expresseth both parts of the deliverance in one place 1 Thess. 5.9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Mark the Antithesis not to wrath but to obtain salvation Which should increase our sense of the priviledg that when others lie under the wrath of God we shall see him and love him and praise him in Heaven to all Eternity 3. How justly it is deserved by us by reason of Original and Actual sins both before and after Conversion Original sin for the Scripture telleth us Rom. 5.16 the judgment was by one to condemnation and again in Verse 18. by the offence of one judgment came upon all to condemnation All Adam's Children are become guilty before God and liable to death or brought into such an estate wherein they are condemnable before God So by many actual sins it is deserved by us As we are by nature children of wrath Eph. 2.3 so for a long time we have treasured up wrath against the day of wrath Rom. 2.5 We have even forfeited the Reprieve which Gods Patience allowed to us and have more and more involved our selves in condemnation Till we comprehend our great need of pardon and exemption from condemnation we cannot understand the worth of it Nay we have deserved this condemnation since conversion He doth not say here There is no sin in us but there is no condemnation sin in its self is always damnable and our Redemption doth not put less evil into sin but in strict Justice we deserve the greater punishment this is another consideration that should indear this priviledg to us 4. How Conscience standeth in dread of this condemnation For if our own hearts condemn us 1 John 3.20 they are a transcript of Gods Law both Precept and Sanction and therefore do not only check us for sin and urge us to duty but also fill us with many hidden fears which sometimes are very stinging When we are serious the more tender the heart is the more it smiteth for sin Ro. 1.23 Who knowing the judgment
of God that they that commit such things are worthy of death In your Consciences you will find an inward conviction that God is your Judg and will call you to an account for the breach of his Law We feel this living and dying Heb. 2.15 Who were all their life-time subject to bondage through fear of death And 1 Cor. 15.56 the sting of death is sin Only 't is more piercing and sharp when we die Secondly Let us enquire how or upon what reasons we come to have this exemption from condemnation This is 1. Vpon the account of Christs satisfaction to Gods Justice We all in our natural estate lie under the curse and wrath of God but Christ was made a curse for us to redeem us from the curse of the Law Gal. 3.13 And the Apostle telleth us 2 Cor. 5.21 That he was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him Christ became a Sacrifice for sin to appease God towards us he was made a publick instance of Gods poenal Justice that we might be made an instance of Gods Merciful Justice or that God might deal with us in a way of grace upon the account of the Righteousness of Christ. 2. Vpon the account of the New-Covenant-grant John 5.24 Verily verily I say unto you He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation Christ would have us mark this as a a certain and important truth for escaping Eternal death and obtaining Eternal life are not trifles and Gods Faithful Word is interposed that such an one shall not come into condemnation Verily verily Well then the Gospel or New Covenant offereth pardon and exemption from condemnation to that death which the Law hath made our due to all those who will come under the bond of it 3. The certainty is considerable which resulteth or ariseth from these two grounds 'T is just with God to pardon them and to exempt them from Condemnation who take sanctuary at his Grace and devote themselves to him 1 John 1.9 If we confess and forsake our sins he is just and faithful to forgive them 2 Tim. 4.8 We read of a crown of righteousness which the righteous judge shall give at that day Justum est quod fieri potest God may do it or not do it he is not unjust if he doth it and justum est quod fieri debet This latter is understood here because of the fulness of the merits and satisfaction of Christ and his truth in his Promises he must judg men according to the Law of Grace and give them that which his Promise hath made their due 4. There must be an Appeal to the Gospel Where this Grace is humbly sued out by the penitent Believer for God is Sovereign and must be sought unto Appeals from Court to Court and from one Tribunal to another are often set down in Scripture as Psal. 130.3 4. If thou Lord shouldst mark iniquities O Lord who shall stand but there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared No man could escape condemnation and the Curse if the Lord should deal with us in strict justice but from the Tribunal of his strict justice we appeal to the Throne of Grace where favour and pardon is allowed to us upon certain equitable and gracious Terms According to the old Terms who is able to appear in the judgment before God A Sinner must either despair or die or run for refuge to this new and blessed hope so Psal. 143.2 Enter not into judgment with thy Servant O Lord for in thy sight shall no man living be justified An innocent creature must beg his mercy and devote himself to his fear I proceed to the second Proposition 2. Doct. That this priviledg is the portion of those that are in Christ. 1. I shall here shew you What it is to be in Christ. 2. How we come to be in Christ. First What it is to be in Christ. The Phrase noteth Vnion with him There is certainly a real but spiritual Union between Christ and his Members which I have often described to you But late Cavils make it necessary to speak a little more to that Arguments All that I will say now is this 1. That it is more than a relation to Christ as a political head 2. That the Vnion of every Believer with Christ is Immediate 1. That it is more than a relation to Christ as a political head I prove it because it is represented by Similitudes taken from Vnion real as well as relative Not only from Marriage where Man and Wife are relatively united but from Head and Members who make one body not a political but a natural body 1 Cor. 12.12 For as the body is one and hath many members and all the members of that one body being many are one body so also is Christ also by the similitude of root and branches John 15.1 2 3. Yea 't is compared with the mystery of the Trinity and the Vnity that is between the Divine Persons John 17.21 22 23. that they all may be one as thou father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us and the glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one as we are one I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one which tho it must not be understood in the utmost strictness yet at least there is more than a relation as also by reason 't is not only a notion of Scripture but a thing effected and wrought by the Spirit on Gods part 1 Cor. 12.13 We are by one spirit baptized into one body and by confederation one with another Cant. 2.16 I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine Christ is ours and we are his and he is also in us and we in him 'T is such a real Conjunction with Christ as giveth us a new being that Christ becometh to us the principle and fountain of a spiritual life 1 John 5.12 He that hath the Son hath life Christ is the stock we the graft he is the vine we the branches therefore we are said to be planted together in him Rom. 6.5 So that we may grow and live in him We are united to him as the body is to the soul all the members of the body are quickned by the soul the second Adam becometh to all his Members 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a quickning spirit 1 Cor. 15.45 as giving them life not only by his merit and promise but the influence of his spirit which life is begun here and perfected in Heaven it is begun in the soul Phil. 3.20 and Rom. 8.10 but 't is perfected both in body and soul in Heaven for the spirit is life to the body because of righteousness and if the spirit of him that raised Christ from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also