Debts and using Justice Equity and Honesty in all their Dealings they are Robbers Thieves and Enemies to Human Society 4. Opera Charitatis Misericordiae as to relieve the Poor to be good to all to help others by our Counsel or Admonition We are often called upon for these thus Acts 9 36. Dorcas is said to be full of good Works and Alms-deeds which she did So 1 Tim. 6. 18. Charge them to be rich in good Works It is not left arbitrary to you but laid upon you as Part of your Charge and Duty a Debt we owe to God Now if you do not mind these kind of good Works you are unfaithful Stewards in the good things committed to your Trust. You must not deny God his own when he or any of his have need of it 5. I think there is another Sort of good Works which concern our selves and that is Sobriety Watchfulness Mortification Self-denial A Man oweth Duty to himself Tit. 2. 12. Teaching us that denying Ungodliness and worldly Lusts. we should live soberly c. These conduce to our Safety 1 Pet. 5. 8. Be sober be vigilant for your Adversary the Devil like a roaring Lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour And belong to our Fidelity to Christ. Gal. 5. 24. They that are Christ's have crucified the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts thereof Therefore take in these also and call them Opera Militiae Christianae the Works of our Spiritual Warfare by which we guard our selves from the Enemies of our Salvation that our Hands be not weakned and enfeebled in God's Work that we may carry it on without unevenness and interruption Secondly The Requisites to a good Work are 1. That the Person be in a good State Mat. 7. 17. A good Tree bringeth forth good Fruit. Married to Christ. Rom. 7. 4. Wherefore ye also are become dead to the Law by the Body of Christ that ye should be married to another even to him who is raised from the Dead that we should bring forth Fruit unto God A Believer Tit. 3. 8. Let them which believe in God be careful to maintain good Works A carnal unregenerate Man may do that which is for the matter good but till he be changed in his Heart and State his Works are not acceptable to God 2. The Principles of Operation must be Faith Love and Obedience Faith owning God's Authority Psal. 119. 66. Teach me good Iudgment and Knowledg for I have believed thy Commandment Love inclining the Heart 2 Cor 5. 14. The Love of Christ constraineth me Obedience swaying the Conscience 1 Thess. 4. 5. This is the Will of God your Sanctification 1 Tim. 1. 5. The End of the Commandment is Charity out of a pure Heart and good Conscience and Faith unfeigned There we have the Pedigree of good Works Faith unfeigned begets a good Conscience and that a pure Heart and that Love to God and then all particular Duties succeed 3. A due Regard of Circumstances that it may be not only good but done well Luk. 8. 15. with that Diligence Reverence Seriousness Alacrity which the Nature of the Work doth require 4. The End that it be for God's Glory Phil. 1. 11. Filled with the Fruits of Righteousness which are by Christ Iesus to the Praise and Glory of God II. How new Creatures are obliged to these good Works 1. With respect to God He hath ordained that we should walk in them If you refer it to his Decree he will have his Elect People distinguished from others by the Good they do in the World that they may be known to be followers of a good God as the Children of the Devil are by their Mischief His Eternal Decree is made evident to us by our making Conscience of good Works and so we make our Calling and Election sure 2 Pet. 1. 10. If you take it for his Precept and Command surely we should make Conscience of what our Father giveth us in charge he hath appointed us to do so sent us into the Vineyard to work and shall we say I will not Mat. 21. 29 30. or loiter and neglect when we have given our Consent or pretend to go and never set about it To a gracious Heart the Signification of God's Will is instead of all Reasons 1 Thess. 5. 18. In every thing give thanks for this is the Will of God concerning you 1 Pet. 2. 15. For this is the Will of God that with well-doing you may put to silence the Ignorance of foolish Men. 2. With respect to Christ who died to restore us to a Capacity and Ability to perform these good Works Tit. 2. 14. Who gave himself for us to redeem us from all Iniquity and purify to himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works not only to do them but do them with Alacrity and Zeal As Christ came to raise the Comfort of the Creature to the highest so also the Duty of the Creature to the highest that his People might be eminent in Holiness Justice Goodness and Truth above all others 3. With respect to the Spirit who reneweth us for this end We are new made that we may look upon doing good as our Calling and only Business All other things are valuable according to the Use for which they serve the Sun was made to give Light and Heat to inferior Creatures and we are enlightned by Grace and inclined by Grace that our Light may shine before Men Mat. 5. 16. 4. With respect to Heaven and Eternal Happiness They are the Way to Heaven We discontinue or break off our Walk when we cease to do Good but the more we mind good Works the more we proceed in our Way Phil. 3. 14. Pressing onward to our final Reward and at length our Entrance is more full and with greater peace 2 Pet. 1. 11. III. How they are fitted and prepared by this new Nature that is put into them for good Works Answ. There is a remote Preparation and a near Preparation 1. The remote Preparation is an Inclination and Propensity to all the Acts of the holy and heavenly Life All Creatures have an Inclination to their proper Operations so the new Creature As the Sparks fly up and the Stones downward by an Inclination of Nature so are their Hearts bent to please and serve God The Inclination is natural the Acts are voluntary because it is an Inclination of a free Agent The Law of God is in their Hearts Psal. 40. 8. Psal. 37. 31. Others force themselves but here there is an Affinity between the Work and the vital Principle which is in us so that we need not much enforcement 1 Thess. 4. 9. As touching Brotherly Love I need not write unto you for you are taught of God to love one another Now God's teaching is not by Expression but by Impression he hath inclined suited our Hearts to it As there need not many Arguments to move the Mother to give suck to her tender Infant Nature hath taught her
expectation that we shall have an Estate of compleat Felicity and excellent Holiness that we shall behold our Nature united to the Godhead in the glorified Redeemer and our Persons admitted into the nearest intuition and fruition of God we are capable of and live in the exercise of a constant uninterrupted Love and be perfectly capable of receiving his highest Benefits Surely this Joy we have in our Pilgrimage But there is not only our hope but our partial enjoyment of it is matter of Happiness to us his Favour is as Life and his Frown as Death to the Soul that loves him The Saints look on God reconciled as the best Friend God displeased as the most dreadful Adversary therefore if they have any taste of his Love their Souls are filled as with Marrow and Fatness Psal. 63. 3 4 5. Because thy loving-kindness is letter than Life my Lips shall praise thee I will bless thee while I live my Soul shall be satisfied as with Marrow and Fatness and my Mouth shall praise thee with joyful Lips But if God hide his Face if God be altogether a stranger then they are troubled indeed Psal. 30. 7. But yet we are not gone to the bottom of the matter of delighting in God Those whose Souls are possessed with the Love of God are so well pleased with him that every thing is sweet to them by the relation it hath to God It is a delight to them to think of God Psal. 104. 34. I will be glad and rejoyce in him my meditation of him shall be sweet It is a delight to them to speak of God Eph. 5. 4. Not foolish jesting but giving of Thanks The Delight of God's Children or that which serves instead of jesting to Christians is the grateful remembrance of the Lord's Mercies especially of our Redemption by Christ. To draw nigh to him in Ordinances there this delight is exercised again There is Prayer A gracious Soul cannot be a Stranger to it because it cannot have a greater refreshing than to be alone with God and unbosome himself with God The Hypocrite is rejected from being capable of this Character Job 27. 10. Will he delight himself in the Almighty will he always call upon God Sometimes he will call upon God he is frighted into a little Religiousness it may be when Death is at his Back in great Afflictions or time of great Judgments but he hath no constant delight in God The constant delight in God is that that brings the Saints into his presence So for all other Christian duties Psal. 122. 1. I was glad when they said unto me Come let us go into the House of the Lord there they entertained Traffick and Commerce with God about matters of the highest concernment to their precious and immortal Souls nay all their work the whole course of their Obedience is sweetned to them because it is commanded by God and tends to the enjoyment of God as Psal. 112. 1 Blessed is the Man that feareth the Lord that delighteth greatly in his Commandments they not only keep the Commandments but delight and that greatly to keep the Commandments And Psal. 119. 14. I have rejoyced in the way of thy Testimonies as much as in all riches Delight in God is a great act of Love to which we should not be Strangers even in the house of our Pilgrimage though we have no assurance or sensible enjoyment of his Favour For it is a Duty of the first Commandment that results from the owning of God as our God II. For the External Effects of Love they are Doing and Suffering his Will when we are contented to do what God will have us do and be what God will have us be 1. For Doing If we love God we shall be loth to offend him we shall be desirous to please him Faith I do confess is a marvellous Grace it can apprehend things strange to Nature but it can do no worthy thing for God till it be accompanied with Love Gal. 5. 6. When the Apostle tells us of that Faith that carries away the prize of Justification he describes it to be a Faith working by Love Faith itself serves as the Bellows to blow up this Flame in our Hearts as the next and immediate principle of Action In short Love is the overruling bent of our Souls the weight and poize upon us that inclines us to God And look as all noble Qualities when restrained cannot produce their consummate Act so Love suffers a kind of imperfection till it can thus break forth into some Act of Thankfulness to God but then it is perfected 1 Joh. 2. 5. Whoso keepeth his Word in him the Loue of God is perfect that is hath attained its consummate Act that which it aims at No Man certainly can be owned as a perfect sincere lover of God but he that makes conscience of doing what he commands none but they have a deep sence of his Majesty none but they have an esteem of his Favour therefore they dare not hazard it by a breach or neglect of their Duty 2. For Suffering his Will For when the Apostle prays here God would direct their Hearts to love him he means that they should endure any thing rather than deny the Faith and confess Christ whatever it cost them As Obedience is virtually contained in Love so also Courage and Resolution Solomon represents Love as a powerful thing as an Affection that will not be bribed nor quenched Cant. 8. 7. Many Waters cannot quench Love nor can the Flouds drown it if a Man would give the whole substance of his House for it it would be utterly contemned It is true of Love in general much more of Love to God In carnal matters Love is a venemous Poison when it hath invaded the Heart nothing will reclaim us but in Divine matters it is a sovereign Antidote against Temptations both on the right hand and on the left For right-hand Temptations all the Riches Pleasures Honours are contemned they cannot bribe them over from Christ that really love him All the Flouds of Persecution cannot quench this holy Desire This is the Genius and Disposition of Love when once the bent of the Heart is set towards God and Heaven they are vehemently set against any thing that would turn them out of the way and divert them from their purpose III. To speak of the Properties if it be sincere 1. It is not a speculative but Practical Love not consisting in lofty airy strains of devotion too high for the common rate of us poor Mortals no it is put upon a surer and infallible Test our Obedience to God Again it consists not in a bold familiarity but in an humble subjection and compliance with his Will He that hath my Commandments and keeps them he it is that loves me God's love is a love of Bounty but ours a love of Duty therefore we are properly said to love God when we are careful to please him and fearful to offend him
The Scripture declares both the first This is love to keep his Commandments and his Commandments are not grievous The second Psal. 97 10. Ye that love the Lord hate evil When we are fearful of committing or omitting any thing may be a violation of his Law a grief to his Spirit or a dishonour to his Name then we are said to love God What ever lofty and luscious strains of devotion we may otherwise please our selves with here will our Trial rest He doth not love God that can most accurately discourse of his Attributes or soar aloft in the nice speculations of contemplative Divinity or pretences of Secrecy with God but he that is most awful serious and consciencious in his Duty 2. It is a Transcendental Love we owe to God we must love him above all other things For he must be loved as our Felicity and End He must have the chiefest place in our Hearts and our principal design must be to please serve and glorify him If we seek God in order to other things we do not love him but our own Lusts nay if all other things be not sought after in order to God we do not set him up as our chief good or last end He that loves Father and Mother more than me is not worthy of me Luke 14. 26. If any Man come to me and hate not his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters yea and his own Life also he cannot be my Disciple Many have a partial half-half-love to God but a greater love to other things then God's interest will be least minded For there is something nearer and dearer to us than God which will be soon preferred before the Conscience of our Duty to him No all must be subordinated to our supream Happiness and last end or else God is not loved as God But now the second thing propounded is the nature of that influence upon Love which is exprest here by the Apostle in the word direct The Lord direct your Hearts in the Love of God What doth this Imply 1. It implies that God works upon us as Rational Creatures He changeth the Heart indeed but he doth it by Direction he draws us to himself but it is with the Cords of a Man he teacheth while he draws Joh. 6. 44 45. None can come unto me but those whom the Father draws and he proves it by this because they shall be all taught of God God's drawing is teaching it is both by the attractive force of the Object and the internal Efficacy of his Grace the Spirits conduct is sweet yet powerfull accomplisheth the Effect but without offering violence to the liberty of Man We are not forced but directed There is not a violent compulsion but an inclination sweetly raised in us by victorious Grace or the overpouring sweetness of his Love For we love him because he loved us first 1 Joh. 4. 19. And this love is shed abroad in our Hearts by the Holy Ghost who by giving us an esteem and serious remembrance of his Benefits blows up this holy flame in our Hearts We do not love God we know not why or wherefore An account can be given of all the Spirits operations Look as in an impression there must be a Seal and Wax to the Seal and the hand that stamps it so all concurr here The Word doth its part that is the Seal and the Heart of Man receives the Impression but to make it effectual and durable the hand of God concurs or the power of his Spirit The Object is the Gospel wherein God commends his Love to us by the Incarnation Death and Intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ as also by the new Covenant because he will work upon Man after the nature of Man by Love he will work upon Love Beside all this there is an internal powerful Agent the holy Spirit The external objective means cannot do it without the inward cause Though God's Love doth so gloriously and resplendently shine forth in the Gospel yet the Heart of Man is not affected with it till it be shed abroad by the illuminating sanctifying Spirit The Heart of Man is dark and dead to these things till changed by Grace and when that is once done that Impression is according to the Stamp 2. The Inclination to God as our Felicity and End which is the Fruit of this Grace is the inclination of a reasonable Creature so the Inclination is necessary but the Acts are voluntary therefore you must keep them up still There is an Inclination put by God into inanimate things as in light and airy Bodies to move upwards and in heavy Bodies to move downwards as a Stone falls to the Earth but Fire and Smoak ascend they cannot do otherwise because they have no choice But now in Man there is an Inclination to God and Heaven which is the Fruit of Grace The Inclination is necessary why because all those whom the Spirit sanctifies he sanctifies them not in vain he certainly begets this Tendency in them towards God therefore so often they are said in Scripture to be converted or turned to God Their Hearts were averse before but then they tend and bend towards him but the Acts are voluntary There is a Duty lying upon us to stir up the Gift of Grace that is in us the Word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 1. 6. When this holy Fire is kindled in our Bosoms we must blow it up and keep it burning We must not be negligent and secure for we cannot reasonably imagine the idle and diligent should fare alike that the Holy Ghost will direct our Hearts into the Love of God whether we will or not therefore not only as we are rational Agents but as we are new Creatures we are obliged to use the Means and then expect his Help and Blessing What is a Prayer in the Text the Lord direct your Hearts into the Love of God to the patient waiting for Christ is an Exhortation Iud. 21. Keep your selves in the Love of God looking for the Mercy of our Lord Iesus Christ unto everlasting life There is both again you must look to your Love that your Hearts be kept streight and bent towards God and not distracted with worldly Vanities The Blessing is from God but you must use the Means this Direction is not to encourage Slothfulness but Industry We must charge it upon our selves as our main Work and Duty the Spirit stirs and quickens we must rouse up our selves 3. It implies there are many things would writhe and crook and turn our Hearts another way the Devil the World and the Flesh. The Devil seeks to draw us off from God to abate the Fervor of our Love towards him therefore we are bidden to flee youthful Lusts 2 Tim. 2. 22. that we may not be taken captive by him at his will and pleasure Some tamely yeeld to his Temptations and he doth unto them as he listeth but there is more tugging
and drawing to get a serious Christian into his Snare Therefore we are bidden to be sober and watchful for your Adversary the Devil like a roaring Lion goes about seeking whom he may devour Sobriety is a sparing Use of worldly Delights and Vigilance is a serious Diligence in the use of all those holy Means whereby Temptations may be vanquished And as the Devil so the Flesh Iam. 1. 14. A Man is tempted when he is drawn away by his Lusts being enticed that is by seeking to please his fleshly Mind and Appetite And then the World would pervert us and offers many Baits to that End and Purpose 1 Joh. 2. 15 16. 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 For whatsoever is in the World is either the Lust of the Eyes the Lust of the Flesh or the Pride of Life that is Pleasures Riches and Honours These seem sweet Baits but there is a dangerous Hook in them and your Love to God may soon be lessened Well then this Directing is opposed to Wavering by reason of any of these Temptations on the one or the other side that the Holiest may keep in us that ardent Love of God which of duty we owe to him 4. Directing notes the Orderliness of the new Creature There is not a more beautiful thing in the World when the Motions thereof are directed by the Spirit for then we are in a due posture both to God our Neighbour and our selves To God for then the Creature is kept in a due subjection to Him and all our Motions and Actions are subordinated to his Glory When we sin we are in rebellion against God and set up the Creature against Him as if it were more amiable and fitter to content and delight the Soul than God and so disturb the Order and Harmony of the World abusing both our selves and all things within our grasp to a wrong End Look as in the Motions of a Watch there is such a Proportion in every part that if one Wheel be wrong the whole is put out of Frame So the World that was made for us and we for God is all disordered when we use the World for our selves and not for God So as to our Neighbour Self-lovers and Self-pleasers will never heartily do good to others The most sincere Commerce in the World is among those that love God So for our selves Till the Love of God rule in our Hearts all is out of order Look as in the Body if the Feet were there where the Head should be the Disorder and Deformity would be great so it is in the Soul when the Beast rides the Man and Conscience and Reason are made Slaves to Lust and Appetite But when once a Man is gained to love God every thing is in frame again Self-government is restored due Obedience to God is well provided for 3. To give you some Reasons to shew you the Necessity of this both as to Persons Regenerate and Unregenerate 1. The Necessity of God's Direction to Persons unregenerate They cannot love God till the Lord direct and set their Hearts streight It is a hard thing to say but we must not mince the matter that in the carnal State we were all Haters of God Rom. 1. 13. And it were well if this Enmity and Hatred were throughly got out of our Hearts How can this be Nature tells us that he from whom we have received Being and Life and all Things deserves our Love I answer Though Men may see some Reason of Love to God as he is our Creator and Preserver but as he is a Law-giver and a Judge so we all hate him Three Reasons there are of that natural Enmity that is in the Hearts of Men against God I would have you consider them seriously that we may feelingly bewail our own Aversion from God 1. Our Inclination to carnal things which prepossesseth our Hearts and then there is no Room for any Inclination to God Naturally Men are addicted to vain and sensual Delights for that which is born of the Flesh is Flesh 2 Joh. 16. Having no Principle to incline them to God they wholly seek to please the Flesh. When Men once lost Original Righteousness they took up with what came next to hand and so became Lovers of Pleasures more than Lovers of God 2 Tim. 3. 4. And this Inclination we cannot devest our selves of till it be cured by Grace Therefore the Lord promiseth this Cure Deut. 30. 6. The Lord thy God will circumcise thine Heart and the Heart of thy Seed to love the Lord thy God with all thine Heart and with all thy Soul The Heart must be circumcised before it can love God Till God pare away the Foreskin and till this carnal Love be mortified there is no place for Divine Love to be raised and quickned in our Hearts We are intangled in the Love of worldly things and shall so remain till God bend the crooked Stick the other way and God set our Hearts right to himself 2. The second Reason is Carnal Liberty and so we hate God as a Law-giver who would bridle our Lusts. There is in the Law the Precept and the Sanction The Precept is to our purpose the Sanction will come to be considered in the next Because of God's Restraint we cannot enjoy our Lusts with that freedom and security we desire his Law is in the way therefore the Heart riseth up against God because he hath made a Law to forbid those things that we affect Rom. 8. 7. The natural Mind is Enmity to God for it is not subject to the Law of God neither can be Col. 1. 21. Enemies in your Mind by evil Works We love Sin therefore we hate God who forbids it and makes it so penal and damnable to us 3. Slavish Fear is the Cause of this Enmity This relates to the Sanction and Penalty of the Law Thus we hate God because we fear he will call us to account for our Sins and punish us For a condemning God barely apprehended under that Notion can never be loved by a guilty Creature Thus Adam when he had sinned ran away from God and hid himself in the Bushes Now it is in vain to come and tell them of the Goodness of God and his Perfections till he change their Hearts As you do in vain induce a guilty Prisoner to love his Judge to tell him he is a discreet Person a Man of solid Judgment one well skill'd and verst in the Law this sticks he is one that will condemn him Therefore the Gospel as a Means to induce us to love God sets him forth as a Sin-pardoning God There is Forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared 2. Come we to the Regenerate The Thessalonians did excell in all Graces and yet the Apostle prays that the Lord would direct their Hearts to the Love of God Why 1. Because there are many
God 1. The consciousness of God's displeasure and the fear of his Wrath should make offers of Pardon acceptable to us When Sin entred into the World Fear entred with Sin The grand scruple which haunteth the guilty Creature is how God shall be appeased and the Controversy taken up between us and his Justice Micah 6. 6 7. Wherewith shall he be appeased and what shall I give for the Sin of my Soul We fear Death and Punishment from a Holy and Just God and this is the bottom cause of all our Troubles Therefore till the forgiveness of Sin be procured for us and represented to us upon commodious Terms we know not how to get rid of this Bondage the Justice of the Supream Governour of the World will be ever dreadful to us These fears may be for a while stifled in Men but they will ever and anon return upon us Now let us admire the Wisdom of God who hath provided such a suitable remedy to our Disease as reconciliation and remission of Sins by Jesus Christ. And that God shewed himself so ready to pardon us who are so obnoxious to his Wrath and vindictive Justice 2. The other great Priviledg offered in the Covenant is Eternal Life which suiteth with those desires of Happiness which are so natural to us Corrupt Nature is not against the offers of Felicity We would have Immunity Peace Comfort Glory none would be against his own Benefit but every one would be willing to be freed from the curse of the Law and the Flames of Hell and enjoy Happiness for evermore Though we be unwilling to deny the Flesh and renounce the Credit Pleasure and Profit of Sin and grow dead to the World and worldly things yet never was there a Creature heard of that would not be happy for there was never a Creature but loved himself Now the Lord in his Covenant hath brought Life and Immortality to light setled our Happiness and the way to it he promises that which we desire to induce us to that which we are against As we sweeten Pills to Children that they may swallow them down the better they love the Sugar though they loath the Aloes God would invite us to our duty by our Interest He hath told us of an Happiness full sure and near that he may draw us off from the false Happiness wherewith we are inchanted and bring us into the way of Holiness that we may look after this blessed Hope 2dly The Terms he hath required of us The Terms are either for Entrance or making Covenant with God or Continuance or keeping Covenant with God For Entrance Faith and Repentance are required 1. Faith in Christ. The World thinks Faith quits Reason and introduceth fond Credulity No there is much of the Wisdom of God to be seen in it For Faith hath a special aptitude and fitness for this Work 1. Partly in respect of God For He having design'd to glorify his Mercy and free Grace and to make our Salvation from first to last a meer Gift and the Fruit of his Love to us hath appointed Faith for the acceptance of this Gift Rom. 4. 16. It is of Faith that it might be by Grace Faith and Grace go always together and it is put in opposition to the Merit of Works or the Strictness of the old Covenant 2. As it is fittest to own Christ the Redeemer the Fountain of Life and Happiness and our Head and Husband whom we receive and to whom we are united and married by Faith 3. With respect to the Promises of the Gospel which offer to us an Happiness and Blessedness spiritual and for the most part future Unseen things are properly Objects of Faith Heb. 11. 1. Faith is the Substance of things hoped for the Evidence of things not seen 4. It is fittest as to our future Obedience that it may be comfortable and willing Now we owning Christ in a way of Subjection and Dependance and consenting to become his Disciples and Subjects other Duties come on the more easily 2 Cor. 8. 5. 2. For Repentance This is the most lively and powerful Means of bringing Men to new Life and Blessedness 1. It is most for the Honour of God that we should not be pardoned without submission without confession of past Sin and Resolution of future Obedience Common Reason will tell us that our Case is not compassionable while we are impenitent and hold it out against God Who will pity those in Misery who are unwilling to come out of it Besides it would infringe the Honour of God's Law and Government that one continuing in his Sins and despising both the Curse of the Law and the Grace of the Gospel should be pardoned and saved Repentance is often called a giving Glory to God Mal. 2. 2. Ye will not lay it to Heart and give Glory to my Name Josh. 7. 19. My Son give Glory to God and make Confession to him Rev. 16. 9. They repented not to give Glory to God Repentance restoreth God's Honour to Him as it acknowledges the Justice of his Laws The self-condemning Sinner acknowledges that God may destroy him and if he save him it is meer Mercy 2. The Duty of the Creature is best secured and the penitent Person more bound to future Obedience partly by the Vow it self or the Bond of the holy Oath into which he is entred and the Circumstances accompanying it which surely induce a Hatred of Sin and a Love of Holiness There will be a hearty Consent to live in the Love Obedience and Service of our Creator with a detestation of our former Ways When we feel the smart of Sin such a Sense of it will ever stick by us and when we are in the deepest and freshest Sense of his pardoning Mercy when we see at how dear rates he is pleased to have us and upon what free terms to pardon all our Wrongs we shall love much Luk. 7. 47. Surely they that are brought back from the Gibbet and the very Gates of Hell by such an Act of pardoning Mercy are most likely to remember the Vows of their Distress and are more ingaged to love God and please Him than others are 3. It is most for the Comfort of the Creature that a stated Course of recovering our selves into the Peace and Hope of the Gospel should be appointed to us which may leave the greatest Sense upon our Consciences Now what is likely to do so much as this apparent Change whereby we renounce and utterly bewail our former Folly and solemnly devote and give up our selves to God by Christ. Those things that are serious and advised leave a Notice and Impression upon the Soul This is the most important Action of our Lives the Setling of our Pardon and Eternal Interest The Heart is hardly brought to this to renounce what we dearly love therefore it is usually rewarded with some notable Tasts of God's Love Isa. 57. 15. God delights to revive the Hearts of his contrite Ones 2.
think all their business is to get a Victory over their Consciences and though they do not deny their Lusts yet if they can be strongly perswaded that God will be merciful to them in Christ they shall not perish but obtain everlasting Life No we must obey we must deny our selves or else we do not trust Christ to bring us to Heaven in his own ways and methods but trust to some vain conceits of our own II. How this is to be understood That whosoever believeth since many other things are required of us as Repentance Mortification of Sin Self-denial new Obedience or Holiness Luk. 13. 5. Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Mortification Rom. 8. 13. If ye live after the Flesh ye shall die but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the Body ye shall live Self-Denial Luke 14. 16. If any Man come to me and hate not his Father and Mother yea and his own Life also he cannot be my Disciple New Obedience or Holiness Heb. 12. 14. Follow Peace with all Men and Holiness without which no Man shall see the Lord. I answer all Truths are not delivered in one place and therefore a solitary Faith will not bring us to Heaven but that which is seconded with other things But more distinctly I. Faith is not required to exclude other things that are connexed with it by the Ordination of God For every one that believeth Christ believeth the whole Gospel to be true Except against one part and you may except against all the rest Now it is evident in the Gospel that without Regeneration Repentance and Holiness no Man can be saved and see God therefore every one that believeth in Christ must trust him to obtain it in the way that he hath appointed and promised to give it 2. Faith is not required to exclude other things that are included in the nature of it or flow as genuine Effects from such a cause A purpose of Obedience is included in the Nature of Faith and actual Obedience is the fruit of it Every one that believeth Christ receiveth him in all his Offices therefore a purpose of Obedience is included in the nature of it and if Faith be sincere universal Obedience in Self-denial Mortification and our duty to God and Men will naturally be derived from it Therefore as he that is to entertain a King makes reckoning of his Train and that he will not come alone so every one of whom Faith in Jesus Christ is required must reckon that his Faith must be evidenced to be sincere by the Fruits of it III. Why is Faith required that we may receive Benefit by Christ For these Reasons 1. In respect of God 2. In respect of Christ. 3. In respect of the Creature 4. In respect of our Comforts 1. In respect of God that our Hearts may be possessed with a full apprehension of his Grace who in the new Covenant appeareth not as a revenging and condemning God but as a pardoning God This reason is rendred by the Apostle Rom. 4. 16. It is of Faith that it might be of Grace The Law brought in the Terror of God by being the Instrument of revealing Sin and the punishment due thereunto ver 15. The Law worketh Wrath for where there is no Law there is no Transgression no such stinging sense of it but the Gospel brought in Grace The Law stated the Breach but the Gospel shewed the way of our Recovery And therefore Faith doth more agree with Grace as it makes God more amiable and lovely to us and beloved by us by the discovery of his Goodness and Grace The saving of Man by Christ that is by his Incarnation Life Sufferings Death Resurrection and Ascension do all tend to possess our Hearts with his abundant Grace To the same tend also his merciful Covenant gracious Promises and all the Benefits given to us his Spirit Pardon and Communion with God in Glory all is to sill our Hearts with a Sense of the Love of God And all this is no more than necessary for a guilty Conscience is not easily setled and brought to look for all kind of Happiness from one whom we have so much wronged Adam when once a Sinner was shy of God Gen. 3. 10. and Sin still makes us hang off from him Guilt is suspicious and if we have not one to lead us by the Hand and bring us to God we cannot abide his Presence For this End serveth Faith That Sinners being possest of the Goodness and Grace of God may be recovered and return to him by a fit Means In the new Covenant Repentance more distinctly respects God and Faith respecteth Christ Acts 20. 21. Repentance towards God and Faith in our Lord Iesus Christ. Repentance respects God because from God we fell and to God we must return We fell from him as we withdrew our Allegiance and sought our Happiness elsewhere to him we return as our rightful and proper Happiness but Faith respects the Mediator who is the only Remedy of our Misery and the Means of our Eternal Blessedness He opened the way to God by his Merit and Satisfaction and actually bringeth us into this way by his renewing and reconciling Grace that we may be in a capacity both to please and enjoy God and that is the reason why Faith in Christ is so much insisted on as our Title and Claim to the Blessedness of the new Covenant It hath a special aptitude and fitness for our recovery from Sin to God because it peculiarly respects the Mediator by whom we come to him 2. With respect to Christ. 1. Because the whole Dispensation of Grace by Christ cannot well be apprehended by any thing but Faith partly because the Way of our Recovery is so supernatural strange and wonderful that unless we believe God's Testimony how can we be perswaded of it That the Carpenter's Son should be the Son of that great Architect and Builder who framed Heaven and Earth that Life should come to us by the Death of another that God should be made Man and the Judge a Party and he that knew no Sin be condemned as a Criminal Person that one crucified should procure the Salvation of the whole World and be Lord of Life and Death and have such Power over all Flesh as to give Eternal Life to whom he will Reason is puzsed at these things Faith can only unravel them Partly because the Comfort of the Promises is so rich and glorious and the Persons upon whom it is bestowed so unworthy that it cannot easily enter into the Heart of a Man that God will be so good and gracious to us 1 Cor. 2. 9. Eye hath not seen Ear hath not heard neither hath it entred into the Heart of Man to conceive the Things God hath prepared for them that love him Therefore Sense and Reason could look for no such thing Faith is necessary and a strong Faith that it may work upon us These are things
Restraint and groan for our Liberty we would fain have an opportunity of glorifying God if God should hear us in these kinds should not we be like affected to our Fellow-Servants and not seek to hunt every one that do a little dissent from us as Vermine to Death and as unworthy to be allowed among us A Man which is in Debt how grievous is it when others deal rigorously with him Now for him to deal so with others is a double Crime as being a Sin against a Law and against Experience You complain to God in the bitterness of your Soul when ye are under these Oppressions so will they complain against you therefore it is more evil in you The 3. Observation is this That this Rule is Spiritual and concerneth the inward Man as well as the outward not only Actions Words and Practises though it be said whatsoever Men do unto you but the Thoughts The whole Law of God is Spiritual Psal. 19. 7. The Law of God is perfect converting the Soul not only guides the Motions of the outward Man but reacheth to the workings of the Heart As is the first Table so is the second for we are told Mat. 22. 39. The second is like unto it Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self How like to it 'T is as Spiritual as the first and therefore not only what I do but what I would think and purpose to do to others is comprehended in it Christ therefore speaks of Adultery committed in the Heart by impure and wanton thoughts and desires This Rule which concerns the whole second Table not only concerns the Actions but your Dispositions and Inclinations and not only provides against hard Speeches and outward Behaviour but the secret grudgings in your Hearts against others that your Affections may not be alienated from them For mark what is here What ye would Men should do to you do the same to them In other places it is Love thy Neighbour as thy self Gal. 5. 14. So that all the Duties and Practices which concern the good of our Neighbour must proceed from a Principle of Love The Justice of the second Table as required of Christians is a Justice tempred and excited by Love Though our outward Acts be never so pleasant yet if Love be not at the bottom of it it is not right As 1 Cor. 13. 3. If I give all my Goods to the Poor and have not Charity it signifieth nothing You will think that 's excessive Charity to give all my Goods Yea but if it be not done with Love it 's nothing worth not accepted nor rewarded by God And so we must refer these Words not only to the outward Man but the Principle of Love which is in the Heart 4. Proposition That all which is done by virtue of this Rule must be done not only out of Love to Man but out of Love to God and as an act of Obedience For when Christ gives us this Direction Whatsoever ye would c. he doth not give it as a Politick Course to establish Peace in the World but as a Compendious Rule to guide us in the Duties of the second Table Self-Love is the Measure but 't is not the Reason Ground or Principle of our Actions a Measure it is for we will certainly do right to our selves but to make it an act of Obedience so it is accepted of God It is a common Rule All Moral Duties must be done as in and to the Lord out of the Love of God Fear of God and Obedience to his Blessed Majesty Therefore it is said Eph. 5. 21. Submitting your selves one to another in the fear of God That must be the great Principle which swayeth us not Policy or respect to our own Interest but Conscience there must be a right Principle of Motion as well as a just Action if we will do exactly and according to the Law of Christ. Therefore here is the great difference between a Christian and an other Man in the Duties of the second Table in his Moralities he turns second-Table-Duties into first-Table-Duties it is a thing carried on throughout the whole Scripture Thus if he gives Alms his Alms is a Sacrifice Sacrifice is a Duty of the first Table but Alms is clearly a Duty of the second Table So all his Commerce I do but instance in one for all what he doth to Men must be done in and to the Lord. So here in this very Case Love to Man it is but a Stream which comes from a higher Fountain and that is Love to God A Christian loves God first and indeed he loves nothing but God for he loves God in all his Creatures In Men we love his Natural Image but in the Saints his Spiritual Image 1 Joh. 4. 21. This Commandment have we from him that he who loveth God love his Brother also Our Love to our ordinary Brother must be excited and measured by our Love to God and our Love to our Christian Brother our Fellow-Saints must be from the Love of God 1 Joh. 5. 1. Every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him So much for the Negative part Secondly Now let us come to the Affirmative part which establisheth Charity For it is not enough if we do not hurt others but we must do them good Now Charity is seen in two things both in Giving and Forgiving First in Giving What you would Men should do to you do you the same to them Be as ready to do good as to receive good A Man is never in a right frame of Spirit untill he takes as much delight in doing others good as he would take in having good done to himself nay more for our Lord tells us That it is a more blessed thing to give than to receive Acts. 20. 30. Why a more blessed thing because this comes nearest to the Nature of God who gives all and takes of none And therefore as we would imitate God in other things we should in this also for all God's Works should leave an Impression upon us his Election should make us choose him and his ways his Love to love him his Giving should make us to give As a Child hath Part for Part Limb for Limb answerable to his Father so should a Child of God answer God in all his moral Perfections especially in his Goodness As you come behind saith the Apostle in no Gift so do not come behind in this also 2 Cor. 8. 2. And the Rule of Christ here is that which doth inforce this As ye would c. do you afford to others that Comfort that Succour that Relief in all their Distresses which you would desire they should afford to you if you were in the same Case and in the same distress Alas you will say Pity should be shewed to a Man by his Friend and will you be Merciless and shut up your Bowels and not shew this pity to others If you were pined with Hunger and your
left such an Instinct and Inclination upon her which doth sufficiently excite her to do it 2. The near Preparation is called Promptitude and Readiness for every good Work or a ready Obedience to every good Work Tit. 3. 1. So 1 Tim. 6. 18. Ready to distribute Heb. 13. 16. Ready to communicate So Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 21. 13. This is beyond Inclination The Fire hath an Inclination to ascend upwards yet something may violently keep it down so a Christian may have a Will to Good a strong not a remiss Will but yet there are some Impediments Rom. 7. 18. Inclination implieth a remote Power but Readiness the next and immediate Power therefore a Christian ought to keep himself in a readiness or fitness of Disposition for his Duty whether it concerneth God our selves or others This is seen in Zeal that beareth down all Impediments All Graces are operative and Zeal is that earnest Impulsion and Activity of every Grace where it is in strength and vigour Faith worketh Gal. 5. 6. Love constraineth 2 Cor. 5. 14. Hope quickneth 1 Pet. 1. 3. A lively Hope This proceedeth from the new Nature when it is in right Frame and Strength We need not only make Conscience of our Duty or have some mind to it but our Hearts will not let us have any Quiet and Rest without it 2 Pet. 1. 8. They make you that you shall be neither barren nor unfruitful in the Knowledg of our Lord Iesus Christ. Christians must be zealous of good Works Tit. 2. 14. Paul was pressed in Spirit Acts 17. 10. Acts 18. 5. The Benefits that come by it are 1. We do good Works more easily as being inclined thereunto Exod. 35. 29. The Children of Israel brought a willing Offering unto the Lord. Psal. 110. 3. Thy People shall be willing in the Day of thy Power There is a great deal of Difference between doing things by Compulsion and doing things from an Inclination between Israel's making Brick in Egypt and building the Wall in Nehemiah's Time Neh. 4. 6. 2. With more Delight and Alacrity 1 Iohn 5. 3. His Commandments are not grievous Psal. 112. 1. Blessed is the Man that feareth the Lord that delighteth greatly in his Commandments It is a Pleasure to them to do a good Work to others a Toil. 3. With Constancy That which is forced lasts not long Upon the first occasion we break out cast off the Burden which pincheth and galleth us A Man is never constant to his Duty till he be held to it by his Heart and the Byass of the Heart is not Fear but Love You cannot easily perswade him against his Love and Inclination though you may overcome his Fears Cant. 8. 6 7. Set me as a Seal upon thine Arm for Love is strong as Death Iealousy is cruel as the Grave Many Waters cannot quench Love neither can the Floods drown it If a Man would give all the Substance of his House for Love it would utterly be contemned The Uses are 1. For Reproof of many professing Christians who are not more prepared for the Lord and made ready for every good Work Alas some are to every good Work reprobate Tit. 1. 16. unfit for any Christian Practice In others all their Holiness standeth in being less vitious or wicked than others If they avoid the greater Crimes though they freely practise the less they are accounted good Men. Some talk but do nothing like Cypress-Trees tall and beautiful but unfruitful or the Carbuncle afar off seeming all on fire but the Touch discovers it to be key-cold their Zeal is more in their Tongues than their Actions Others are very unready arguing for a Mediocrity disputing every inch with God beating down the price of Religion as low as they can as little Worship and Charity as may be and will do no more than needeth and it is well if they do that True Goodness like live-Honey droppeth of its own accord 2 Cor. 8. 2. and is always desirous to do more for God Psal. 71. 14. I will praise thee more and more Phil. 1. 9. I pray that your Love may abound yet more and more in Knowledg and in all Iudgment 1 Thess. 4. 1. Furthermore we exhort you Brethren That as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God so ye would abound more and more But little of this Temper is to be found 2d Use of Information First Observe the Deduction of good Works from their proper Causes viz. The Will of God requiring our Regeneration fitting the one determineth our Duty the other maketh us ready to perform it While carnal that which we do is but the Image of a good Work not really and spiritually good 2dly The Necessity of good Works 1. Necessitate Consequentis as the Fruit and End of Regeneration All things are valued by their use What doth the new Creature serve for but that we may walk in newness of Life otherwise it is but a Notion It is not given us to lie hid in the Heart as a sluggish idle quality but that we may act by it and improve it for God The Lord made no Creature in vain Inded all that we have from God both in Nature and Grace was that we might be fruitful in Holiness In Nature we have Life Health and Parts for nothing else but that by our present Duty we may prepare our selves for everlasting Joys All God's Mercies bind us to Diligence all his Ordinances are Means to help us all his Graces are Power to enable us and there is over and above the holy Spirit to excite and quicken that Power Ioh. 4. 10. Ezek. 36. 27. 2. Necessitate Praecepti God hath required them at our hands Now we must make Conscience of what God hath required especially when all his Commandments are holy just and good If some greater thing were required ought we not to have done it 2 Kin. 5. 13. But when he hath required such noble Work shall we refuse There is nothing in his Law but what becometh his Nature preserveth and makes happy ours 3. Necessitate Medii as the Way to Heaven Good Works are indispensibly required of grown Persons if they mean to be saved Heb. 12. 14. Follow Peace with all Men and Holiness without which no Man shall see God A Christian shall be judged at the last day by what he hath done Rev. 20. 12. I saw the Dead small and great stand before God and the Books were opened and another Book was opened which was the Book of Life and the Dead were judged out of those things that were written in the Books according to their Works 1 Pet. 1. 17. If ye call on the Father who without respect of Persons judgeth every Man according to his Work Profession will not carry it but our Works come into the Judgment So Rev. 14. 13. Their Works follow them that is They have the Fruit and Comfort of them in another World and without them we cannot be
saved 4. Necessitate Signi as Evidences of our Right to Salvation both to others and our selves Works or external Acts are more sensible and visible and also liable to the notice of our own Consciences and it is more hard to judg of the internal Grace than the external Fruits 1. As to others God seeth what is in our Hearts but Men see it not till the Effects manifest it When Iohn suspected the Pharisees he said to them Mat. 3. 8. Bring ye forth therefore Fruits meet for Repentance The Fear of God is more known by the external Act than by the internal Habit therefore that Description is given Prov. 8. 13. The Fear of the Lord is to hate Evil Pride and Arrogancy and the evil Way and the froward Mouth do I hate And Iob 28. 28. The Fear of the Lord that is Wisdom and to depart from Evil is Understanding The Current of a Mans Life and Actions doth best expound and interpret his Heart Thus the Psalmist discovered the wicked Psal. 36. 1. The Transgression of the Wicked saith within my Heart that there is no Fear of God before his Eyes 2. To our selves holy Conversation and Godliness is the surest note of our Regeneration We judg others by external Works alone For the Tree is known by its Fruit Mat. 7. 16. Charity forbids us to pry any further but we judg our selves by internal and external Works together If within we have Faith in Christ a love to God and hatred of Evil a delight in Holiness a deep sense of the World to come all which Graces make up the new Nature then these things issue out into an holy Conversation this breedeth Joy and Peace of Conscience 2 Cor. 1. 12. This is our rejoycing 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 1 John 3. 18 19. Let us not love in Word neither in Tongue but in Deed and in Truth and hereby we know that we are of the Truth and shall assure our Hearts before him 3. That good Works must not be opposed to God's Mercy and free Grace or Christ's Satisfaction Merit and Righteousness either in the matter of Justification or Salvation but kept in a due subordination to God's Grace and Christ's Merits This is the business of this Context to reconcile the Grace of God with the necessity of good Works è contrà and very well it may be for they are part of the Grace obtained He is most beholden to God and indebted to Grace who is enabled to do most good for all is from him Phil. 2. 13. He worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good Pleasure So that our very doing is receiving But because there are a sort of Men that may be called Justiciaries who trust and teach others to trust to their own Vertues and Works without a Saviour or ascribe the part of a Saviour to them and on the other side the Libertines who teach Men not to look at any thing in themselves at all not as an Evidence Condition or Means but to trust to Christ's Blood to be instead of Faith Repentance and Obedience which is their Duty to be performed by them therefore it will be necessary to be well acquainted with what is truly the Part and Office of Christ what is truly the Office of Faith and Repentance what of Works that you may be sure to give every thing its due and may wholly trust Christ for his part and not joyn Faith or any of your Works and Duties in the least degree of that Trust and Honour which belongeth to our Saviour but regard them according to that use for which they are commanded in the Gospel 1. Our Works whatever they are either Duties to God or Man are not the first moving cause or inducement to incline God to shew us Favour or to bring about our Salvation No this Honour must be reserved for the Grace of God which moveth and stirreth all in the business of our Salvation It was his Grace to provide us a Saviour John 3. 16. God so loveth the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life And the giving of Faith or converting Grace to some before others is the meer Effect of his Mercy and good Pleasure Eph. 2. 4 5. God who is rich in Mercy for his great Love wherewith he hath loved us when we were dead in Trespasses and Sins hath quickned us together with Christ by Grace ye are saved Then the Benefits consequent upon Conversion are from God's Love and Mercy As Justification Rom. 3. 24. Iustified freely by his Grace Not only by his Grace but freely that is not excited by our Works but acting freely of its own accord Then for Eternal Life we have it from the Grace of God and the Mercy of our Redeemer Jude 21. Looking for the Mercy of our Lord Iesus Christ unto Eternal Life So that Grace is the first Mover and Principle in the whole Business of our Salvation it is originally from Grace and all along by Grace 2. Our Works before or after Conversion are not that Righteousness not any part of that meritorious Righteousness by virtue of which Sins are expiated the Wrath of God appeased all Blessings of Heaven purchased and we reconciled to God For this is only to be ascribed to the Merit and Satisfaction of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we were Enemies we were reconciled by his Death and are saved by his Life Rom. 5. 10. He is our Propitiation we live by him 1 John 4. 9 10. In this was manifested the Love of God towards us because that God sent his only begotten Son into the World that we might live through him Herein is Love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the Propitiation for our Sins It is Christ's Office and Honour to be a Sacrifice for Sin and a Propitiation for us and a perfect Saviour and Intercessor to obtain the Spirit to fit us for our present Duty and future Happiness We are his Workmanship in Christ. 3. Our Works or Duties which we perform in Obedience to God are not the first means to apply the Grace of the Redeemer or the Condition of our first entrance into the Evangelical Estate No that is proper to Repentance and Faith Rom. 3. 22. The Righteousness of God is by Faith unto all and upon all them that believe And Repentance is frequently required also to receive Pardon and the Gift of the Holy Ghost Acts 2. 38. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Iesus Christ for the remission of Sins and ye shall receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost Acts 3. 19. Repent ye therefore and be Converted that your Sins may be blotted out It is the penitent believing Sinner that is