for it is a communion with him in his own nature which is holiness Now thus every good man walks with God and hath a daily communion with him so far as holiness is in exercise How often may we hear the Children of God complaining of the want of communion with God! this arises from a mistake of the thing They judge of fellowship by sensible fruitions and of communion by comfort So much as God gives out of the comfort of his presence and the light of his face so much communion they partake of And where this is not injoyed there all communion is denied Whereas communion with God may be maintained and yet present comfort may be left out Though they cannot walk by the light of his countenance yet they may walk by the light of his counsels So did Job Chap. 23.8 9 10 11 12. Behold I go forward but he is not there backward but I cannot perceive him on the left hand where he doth work but I can't behold him he hides himself on the right hand that I cannot see him But he knows the way that I take my foot hath held his steps his way have I kept and not declined Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips Here you may see Job walking with God when at the same time he cannot find him He walketh by the light of his will revealed when he can't walk by the light of his face discovered and so hath a communion with him in his counsels though not in the light of his countenance And this makes the Yoke of obedience pleasant it is a walking with God you have hereby communion with him in his Holiness when you want the comforts of his presence and this makes your way sweet though God doth not shine upon your path This I take to be the meaning of that of David Psal 112.4 Vnto the upright there ariseth light in darkness Holiness yields a sweetness and comfort when it may be the light of Gods face yields none 2. Godliness is attended with the pleasure of a witnessing Conscience He that follows its guidance shall never want its witness God leads man by a twofold guide the Word and Conscience the Word without and Conscience within the Word is a light to us and Conscience is a light in us the Word directs the Conscience and Conscience directs the conversation And he that follows the guidance of Conscience as it is guided by the Word shall never want a witness to the goodness of his state and heart He that opposes and violences Conscience shall find it witnessing against him but he that is guided by it shall have it a witness for him As the Spirit of God is first a Counseller and then a Comforter so Conscience is first a guide and then a witness And what greater pleasure than the witness of a mans Conscience to the goodness of his conversation As a condemning Conscience is the greatest torment as being a degree of Hell so a witnessing Conscience is the greatest comfort as being a first-fruits of the joy of Heaven 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 2 Cor. 1.12 A witnessing Conscience brings with it an unspeakable sweetness and comfort As for instance First What is it that satisfies a man when nothing else can it is the witness of his Conscience A good man is satisfied from himself Prov. 14.14 Secondly What is it that gives confidence and boldness towards God it is a witnessing Conscience 1 John 3.21 If our hearts condemn us not then have we confidence towards God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we have boldness so the word is rendred in Heb. 10.19 Having brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus A good man hath a threefold boldness and confidence from a witnessing Conscience 1. A boldness in Prayer Let us come boldly to the throne of grace Heb. 4.16 There are three things which together cause this boldness First The Throne God is upon to whom we make our requests viz. a Throne of Grace and Mercy Let us come boldly to the throne of grace Heb. 4.16 Secondly The advantage we have by Jesus Christ at the right hand of God Who ever lives to make intercession for us Heb. 7.15 Thirdly The help of the Spirit whereby we are inabled to call him Father and who makes intercession in us Rom. 8.15 26. 2. Boldness and confidence in the midst of all dangers He shall not be afraid of evil tidings Psal 112.7 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death yet will I fear no evil Psal 23.4 The righteous is bold as a lion Prov. 28.1 3. Boldness and confidence in the day of Judgment 1 John 4.17 That we may have boldness in the day of judgment And how sweet must this be to dye and go to the Bar of God confidently assured of the goodness of our case Thirdly What is that which comforts and supports a man when all else it may be witness against him It is a witnessing Conscience Sometimes men may witness against him and falsly charge him as in Jobs case yet then Conscience supports him in the testimony whereof he can appeal to God as in Chap. 10.7 Thou knowest that I am not wicked Sometimes God seems to witness against him Thou writest bitter things against me Job 10.17 Job 13.26 Yet then to the upright there arises light in darkness Psal 112.4 Sometimes Satan witnesseth against a man accuses him of hypocrisie and unsoundness of heart in the ways of God as he did Job of serving God for by-ends Job 1.9 10. yet then Conscience supports him as it did good Hezekiah in the testimony whereof he appeals to God Remember Lord Isai 38.3 how I have walked before thee with an upright heart Fourthly What is that which fills the Soul with peace and joy when troubles and distresses are upon us it is the witness of Conscience This made Paul and Silas sing in the Stocks This made the Martyrs triumph in the midst of the flames As sorrowful yet always rejoycing 2 Cor. 6.10 O what a sweet thing is a witnessing Conscience it fills a man with the richest and the most lasting peace 1. With the richest peace and therefore it is called the Peace of God Phil. 4.7 The peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus That this is the peace of Conscience is evident in that it is said to keep the heart and mind And it is called the Peace of God First Because of the greatness and excellency of it according to that Hebraism whereby things great and excellent are intitled to God Psal 36.6 As the mountains of God the Cedars of God Psal 80.10 the increase of God Col. 2.19 c. Secondly Because he gives it When
apply the marks of Grace to his own heart as he finds them laid down in the word he might certainly know that his state is good for the fruits of the spirit Gal. 5.22 are as manifest as the works of the flesh As God is principium essendi the cause of the being of Grace so the word of God is principium cognoscendi the rule by which we judge of the truth of Grace and therefore to the law and to the testimony Isai 8.20 Solomon says The commandment is a lamp and the law is light Prov. 6.22 as a lamp it is the guide of our way as a light it is the tryal of our state And so the former verse clears it when thou goest it shall lead thee there it is a lamp to guide us when thou awakest it shall talk with thee there it is a rule to try us Try your state therefore by this rule and believe nothing either for or against your selves but according to the word of God This is the rule God will try us by and therefore we should try our selves by it The judgment of God concerning us will be according to the word John 12.48 Rom. 2.16 So should ours be But in making use of the word for a rule of tryal it will be your wisdom to observe these three directions 1. You must take negative and positive signs together Many judge themselves by negative signs only and not by positive but this is to deceive themselves for negative holiness can never commend us to God whose commands are positive as well as negative A man may abstain from that which is positively evil and yet be but negatively good So did the Pharisees Luke 18.11 2. In trying your selves by the word you are not to look so much to the habit and principle of Grace in its being as to the properties and effects of Grace in its working for properties best prove principles and effects bear witness to their causes That which constitutes godliness is the habit and principle of Grace but that which evidences godliness is the properties of it Formae nos latent We do not know the internal forms of things but their natures become known by their properties and effects Our knowledge is for the most part à posteriori from effects the principles of Grace in us are not evident to us but by the motions and effects of them in our souls and lives 3. In judging your estate by the word you are not to look for perfect signs in your selves I mean such as do exactly answer to the latitude of the Law for these are not to be found in any Believer upon earth And if we look for such signs we shall be so far from receiving any satisfaction concerning our state that the more we try the more we shall distrust the more we prove our subjection to Christ the more we shall disapprove it We are to look for true signs but not for perfect for such as are common to the weakest believer not for such as are above the strongest The least grace discovered in a believer if sincere and true is a sure sign of his good estate in Christ though it be not enough to satisfy his desire yet it is enough to satisfy his judgment though it be not sufficient to fill up his measure in Christ yet it is a sufficient sign to make out the truth of his interest in Christ And that is the seventh general rule laid down for the carrying on the tryal of our state that we be sure to make use of a right rule Rule 8. As the word of God must be your rule so Conscience must apply it and give testimony according to it for the word of it self proves nothing but as conscience applys it and argues from it The word doth no where say this or that man is converted to Christ is a child of God and in a state of salvation no but it describes that state to which salvation is promised and then Conscience evidences that to be our state and so infers a certainty of salvation from the word The word lays down things in plain propositions Conscience makes the assumption and then draws the conclusion The word says Any man that is in Christ is a new creature 2 Cor. 5.17 there is the proposition now the good mans Conscience helped by the spirit as I shall shew anon that makes the assumption thus but I am in Christ and then draws the conclusion therefore I am a new creature The word says They that are Christs sheep hear his voice and follow him John 10.27 Conscience says but I hear his voice and follow him and thence concludes therefore I am one of Christs sheep And this is that wherein the true testimony of Conscience doth consist in giving evidence according to the rule laid down and by that either condemning or acquitting Hence that of the Apostle He that believes on the son of God hath the witness in himself 1 John 5.10 truly so hath the unbeliever too for Conscience by the light of the word witnesseth against him if he would but hear it The word says the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 but says Conscience Thou art unrighteous and thence concludes therefore thou shalt not inherit the kingdom of God And hence the Apostle speaks of a condemning Conscience 1 John 3.20 If our hearts condemn us It witnesseth in the sinner to condemnation and in the Believer to justification Object 1. But you will say if it be thus why doth not every Believer know his own state why are they so often calling the goodness of their state into question and so full of doubts and fears about their condition if they have a witnessing Conscience why is it thus Answ It is possible they may have witnessing Consciences and yet may know little of the goodness of their state For First They may not possibly be acquainted with their own Consciences nor keep up a communion with their own hearts as they ought Psal 4.4 It is no new thing for a good man to be a stranger to himself who might otherwise be satisfied from himself Prov. 14.14 Secondly They may have Conscience witnessing to the goodness of their state and yet not credit the testimony As a bad man is deaf to the testimony of his Conscience when it witnesseth against him from the power of self-love so is a good man to the testimony of his conscience when it witnesseth for him from the power of jealousie and suspicion He can look forward to apprehend the right object but can't look inward to apprehend his own act He can believe the testimony of the word but cannot believe the testimony of his own Conscience though it speaks according to the word though he hath truly received Christ yet he will not receive the testimony of Conscience witnessing to his state in Christ Thirdly Many may have witnessing Consciences and yet Conscience may not witness it s witnessing act may for a time be suspended and this is frequently so Partly from the contraction of new guilt when sin is committed Conscience is silenced guilt spoils the testimony Partly
from the hidings of God for Conscience speaks no peace to us unless God speak peace to that And therefore it is very possible that a good man may not always know his own state and yet he may have the witness in himself And would he but be careful to keep Conscience clean from guilt and defilement and be diligent to attend to its testimony he would quickly attain to satisfaction in his spiritual state for Conscience purged and sanctified is a faithful witness that will not lye especially when joyned in its testimony to that which is the great witness of all and that is the spirit Rom. 8.16 The spirit bears witness with our spirits that we are the Children of God And that brings me to the last general rule to be observed in this tryal Rule 9. The way to come to a true satisfaction about your state is to call in the assistance of the spirit of God beg his testimony for there is no witness like his And that First Whether ye look to the clearness of it no testimony can be so full It is such a testimony as removes all perplexing doubts and fears 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost what room for questionings and hesitancies against the spirits testimony * Culverwell's Whitt Stone p. 113. Hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his spirit 1 John 4.13 No witness so satisfying as this if God should send an Angel from Heaven as he did to Daniel Dan. 9.23 to tell us we are greatly beloved it would not be so full and satisfying as this Secondly It is a sure testimony and that 1. Whether you look to the object of his testimony the work of God in the heart he never witnesses to the goodness of that state where there is not a work of Grace wrought and therefore to talk of comforts and ravishing joys from the spirit without a true conversion to Christ first wrought is a meet self delusion the spirit of God hath no hand in it and so to boast of the comforts of the spirit while we walk not in the counsels of the spirit it is a meer pretence there is no such thing found among Christians as this The spirit witnesses to his own work and therefore cannot be deceived in the object of his testimony 2. If you look to the nature of the testimony for it is the witness of him who is truth it self and therefore he is called the spirit of truth John 16.13 the testimony that he gives to the goodness of a believers state is infallible and certain Thirdly It is a prevailing testimony that bears down all the testimonies that can any way be brought against us As the intercession of Christ in Heaven for us prevails over all charges that are brought there against us sin may charge and Satan may charge and the Law may charge but yet the intercession of Christ prevails against all and silences all Who is he that condemns it is Christ that dyed yea rather that is risen again who is at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us Rom. 8.34 So is the testimony of the spirit in the heart a prevailing testimony the believer hath many adversaries wicked men whose tongues are set on fire of Hell reproaching traducing of them and ready to witness falsely against them And Satan is not wanting to bring in new charges against them but this blessed witness of the spirit in the heart prevails against and carrys the Soul above all Fourthly It is an abiding testimony that lasts till testimonies shall be needed no more There would be no need of witnesses if things were clear and not apt to be called in question but so it is with the work of God in the heart it is ever and anon called in question and hence arises the need of the spirits testimony There will be no need of this way of witness in Heaven for there is no doubts nor fears nor calling our state into question but during the present state it is necessary for new hidings and new temptings and new sinnings will cause new doubtings and questionings concerning our state and therefore the testimony of the spirit shall abide and out last all our doubts and fears I know this testimony may be and is sometimes suspended a good man may not have it at all times it is rare that any one hath Sometimes nay too often he sins it away sometimes for wise ends God takes it away for it is an arbitrary priviledge but he that hath had it once really shall never lose it finally though it may be suspended it shall never be totally lost for it is an abiding witness and therefore he that hath it is said to he sealed to the day of redemption Ephes 4.30 this sealing is not to be taken for the regenerating work of the spirit but for his witnessing work for it is a sealing that follows after believing After that ye believed ye were sealed with that holy spirit of promise Ephes◠1.13 and this seal shall never be broken off it shall abide to the Day of redemption And therefore above all things beg the testimony of the spirit concerning your condition for neither the word of God nor Conscience can evidence the goodness of our state without the witness of the spirit nay the highest measure of Grace wrought in the heart cannot of it self be an evidence of the goodness of our state without the spirits testimony as Grace cannot act it self without the spirits help so nor can it evidence it self with out the spirits light as the being of Grace is from the work of the spirit renewing so the evidence of Grace is from the work of the spirit witnessing And therefore in this work rely much upon the testimony of the spirit And thus I have answered the question more generally CHAP. XIII Shews the truth of our subjection to Jesus Christ by some things necessarily antecedent to it Secondly I come now to a particular and distinct answer to the question How a man may know that he is indeed under the Yoke of Christ There are two ways by which you may make a judgment of your selves A Priori A Posteriori 1. By such things that always precede it and are antecedent to it or causal of it 2. By such things as are the natural effects and consequences of it First By such things as are antecedent to it For you must know that taking up Christs Yoke is not presently done it is not the next work of a carnal sinner there are many things to be done in him and upon him before this work can be done by him No natural man as such can bear Christs Yoke it is impossible
then they came to him 6. It teaches them to see the emptiness of the Creature and what a vain thing the World is In our ease and prosperity we are apt to surfeit by excess in sensual fruitions The lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life are the young mans Trinity Hence that of the Apostle 1 John 2.14 15 16. I write to you young men though the expression there hath a spiritual sense and what doth he write unto them Love not the world nor the things that are in the world for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life is not of the Father This is a rare Lesson for young men but how seldome do any learn it till they come into the School of affliction How have I known many young ones wholly given to pride and pleasure but when God hath brought them under the Rod fetter'd them with afflictions made their Bed upon the Brink of the Grave O how have they then cryed out of their follies their mispending precious time their neglecting God and their souls their regarding lying vanities and so forsaking their own mercies and what strong resolutions have they then made never to return to these follies again And these things are great Preparatories to conversion Now then if afflictions obviate those evils which through the corruption of our Natures are occasioned by prosperity if they are inlightening and helpful to great discoveries and if they are preparatory to Grace and conversion then surely it must be good for a man to bear the Yoke of affliction betimes CHAP. III. Shewing the difference between the Yoke of the Spirit and the Yoke of Christ What the Spirits Yoke is Why convictions are compared to a Yoke Why Sinners must come under the Yoke of the Spirit Why it is good to come under it betimes THE next sense in which I am to speak of this Yoke is that of conviction of sin to make way to the last Notion of it which more especially design to insist upon and that is the Yoke of Gospel obedience and subjection the one is the Yoke of the Spirit the other is the Yoke of Christ These two are not the same but very different Yokes especially in these four things First The Yoke of the Spirit is grievous the Yoke of Christ is not grievous 1 John 5.3 the Yoke of the Spirit is very heavy the Yoke of Christ is very light Matth. 11.30 Secondly It is the heaviness of the Spirits Yoke which makes Christ's Yoke easie It is not easie to all no they that never felt the Spirits Yoke to them Christ's Yoke is a burthen And therefore when Christ says My Yoke is easie it points to them whom he calls to come and take it up and who are they Why the heavy laden and weary ver 28. They who are wearied by the Spirits Yoke shall thereby find ease under Christ's Yoke Thirdly The Yoke of the Spirit is but for a time and then to be taken off and never put on again but the Yoke of Christ is always to be kept on never to be put off the soul is under a perpetual obligation to Duty and obedience to Christ Jesus Fourthly The Yoke of the Spirit is to prepare us for the Yoke of Christ for Christ's Yoke can never be put on till the Spirit by his Yoke hath fitted the neck for it The soul will never obey Christ till it be conquered to Christ and that will never be till the Spirit in conviction put his Yoke and Fetters upon it I shall now speak somewhat of the Spirits Yoke and if ever the Lord give such another Call to this Work then I shall speak of Christ's Yoke more largely And in speaking of the Yoke of the Spirit in conviction I would insist a little upon these four things First That the Spirit hath his Yoke Secondly Why the convictions of the Spirit upon the soul of a Sinner are compared to a Yoke Thirdly Every Sinner that shall be saved must come under this Yoke of the Spirit Fourthly Therefore it is good to come under it betimes and why First That the Spirit hath his Yoke There is such a thing upon the consciences of Sinners at one time or other as the Yoke of the Spirit As the Spirit hath his joys and comforts so he hath his Yokes and Bonds as he hath a liberty which he brings some into so he hath a thraldom which he brings some under And it is first bondage and then liberty He is a Spirit of liberty to none but to whom he is first a Spirit of bondage The Spirits Yoke described And if you ask me What this Yoke of the Spirit is It is that state he brings the Sinner into and holds him in before his conversion to prepare him for his conversion and that is a state of sensibleness of sin and wrath which flows from the convincing work of the Spirit The Spirit of the Lord whereever he comes to work a saving change doth first put his Yoke upon the Sinners neck that is he doth convince the soul of the evil of sin and of its liableness to the wrath of God and so fills it with fear and horrour so that the poor Creature looks upon it self as utterly lost and undone so long as it abides in that state This is the Spirits Yoke It is called so in Scripture Lam. 1.14 The Yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand they are wreathed and come upon my neck the Lord hath delivered me into their hands from whom I am not able to rise up Into their hands that is into the hands of sin and she was not able to rise up from under them Prov. 5.22 and why Because the Spirit had bound them upon her as a Yoke Secondly Why are the convictions of the Spirit compared to a Yoke First A Yoke is very heavy and burdensome So is sin when once the conscience is truly convinced of it Mine inquities are gone over mine head as an heavy burthen they are too heavy for me Psal 38.4 And therefore a soul under the sense of sin is said to be heavy laden Matth 11.28 Secondly A Yoke bows the Back by reason of its weight Hence is that expression of the kindness of God to Israel Lev. 26.13 I have broken the Bonds of your Yoke and made you go upright implying that the Yoke causes a man to bow and stoop under it so doth conviction of sin it bows the soul under it I am troubled I am bowed down greatly I go mourning all the day long Psal 38.6 Thirdly A Yoke is a galling wounding thing so is conviction O how it wounds with the sense of sin and dread of wrath Prov. 18.14 and a wounded Spirit who can bear Foarthly A Yoke is a taming thing It tames the wildest Beast so conviction tames the most unruly Sinner though he be never so raging
in his lusts yet when the Spirit of God doth but set sin close to the conscience O how pliable is he So it was with Saul he breathed nothing but threatnings and slaughter against the Disciples of the Lord Acts 9.1 but Christ no sooner smites him with a word from Heaven but how tame and pliable is he He trembling and astonished said Lord what wilt thou have me to do v. 6. And hence the convictions of the Spirit are fitly compared to a Yoke Thirdly Every Sinner that ever shall be saved must come under this Yoke of the Spirit he must be brought to a conviction of his lost estate There is a necessity for this and I will shew you why Reason 1. Because it is essential to sound conversion What is conversion but a turning from sin to God and how can a man turn from sin without a true sense of sin or how can he turn to God till he be made to see and feel the want of God therefore it is absolutely necessary Reas 2. It is the constant method of God with all that are capable of the work First He shews man his sin then his Saviour first his wound then his cure first his malady then his remedy first his danger then his Redeemer Gen. 3.10 15. Thus God began with Adam and Eve he first opens their eyes to see their sin and misery their nakedness and shame and then makes them a promise of the seed of the Woman God will have sense of misery go before the participation of mercy He look upon man and if any say I have sinned and it profited me not he will save his soul from going down to the pit and his life shall see the light Job 33.27 28. The Israelites are first stunâ— with the fiery Serpents Numb 21.6 8. and then the Brazeâ— Serpent is set up for them to look to for healing Peter's three thousand Converts werâ— first pricked in their hearts and then he applies the promise Acts 2.37 39. The Gaolâ— is first struck with a Spirit of trembling anâ— then Jesus Christ is held out to him for salvâ—tion Acts 16.29 31. Reas 3. God will not frustrate and makâ— void the use of the Law There would be 〈◊〉 conviction of sin no sight of the misery of natural state but for the Law therefore say St Paul I had not known sin but by the Law Rom. 7.7 How could he what should discover it to him Sin had not been sin but for the Law and therefore nothing can discover it but the Law which is Index sui obliqui 1 Joh. 3.4 for sin is a transgression of the Law The Spirit himself could not fasten this Yoke upon the Sinners neck but by the bond of the Law Rom. 5.13 for sin is not imputed where there is no Law Look how the Needle goes before to pierce the Cloth and so makes way for the Thred to sew it so the Law goes before to break the heart and so makes way for the Gospel to heal it The Spirit makes use of it as a School-master to bring us to Christ Gal. 3.24 Bonnerges makes way for Barnabas and John for Jesus Reas 4. The soul lyes under no promise of good from Christ till it come under the Yoke of the Spirit Then it is sensible of sin and sensible Sinners lye under the promise of Christ There is not one promise in all the Gospel made of Christ to a Sinner as he is a Sinner if there were it would be in vain For as such he could not receive it nor can it belong to him for he is under another Covenant Reas 5. Without this he can never set a true estimate upon the blood and Grace of Jesus Christ The Pearl of Pardoning Grace shall never be cast before Swine that wallow in their sins Though Christ be free of his bloud yet we shall see the want of it before we have it that we may know the worth of it when we enjoy it He discovers himself in such a way as the Sinner may prize him most and when is that but when sin lyes with the greatest load upon conscience When the Yoke of the Spirit is heaviest then redemption by Christ is sweetest When he sees his Case at worst then he prizes Christ most When he is made to know how wretched his state is then he considers how precious the bloud of Christ is Reas 6. Till the soul comes to bear the Yoke of the Spirit it can never be brought to close with Christ upon Gospel terms It is sense of sin and misery that must bow the soul to Gods conditions of mercy The reason why so many Sinners perish under the Call of Christ is not because they totally reject him but because they don't make a right close with him they don't come up to God's terms There are stated Conditions which every one that would have Christ and benefit by Christ must come up to and what are they Why he that would have Christ must have whole Christ Christ in all his Offices not only as Priest but as King and Prophet And this necessarily suposes a renouncing all sin and lust a resolute owning and adhering to his Truths and Ordinances and an unfeigned resignation of heart and soul to his will in all things This is the right receiving of Christ Now there are but few that can come up to this they would have Christ but they would not part with their lusts they would have a justifying Christ but not a sanctifying Christ a Christ to pardon and save them but not to purge and cleanse them There is such a close League between the natural man and his lust that till conscience be convinced and sin imbittered the soul will not be divorced and so long Christ can't be received therefore there is a necessity that every Sinner that would be saved should come under the Spirits Yoke Fourthly It is good to come under the Spirits Yoke betimes to bear the Yoke in a mans Youth A mans Youth may have a twofold respect either to the earliness of profession or to the earliness of being First To the earliness of profession Our first entrance into the ways of God is called in Scripture our Youth Jer. 2.2 I remember the kindness of thy Youth that is of her first espousals to God as the next words explain it It is a blessed thing when our profession of God and Religion begins in sound and thorow convictions It is good to bear the Yoke of conviction in the Youth of our profession For that profession of Religion that is not founded in conviction of sin will never hold out it cannot last long it is Seed sown in stony ground which though it may spring up for a while yet when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word it will wither away for want of depth of Earth to take root in Mat. 13.20 21. It is good therefore to found an early profession in sound
conversion resting in them and so perishing in the place of the breaking forth of children Hos 13.13 Now that others should eternally miscarry under those means that have been blessed to thy conversion that they should perish under the same convictions which have been to thee the pangs of the new birth O what mercy is this While some despair and others presume thou art brought by a sight of sin to close with Christ upon Gospel terms And hast thou not cause to be thankful 3. This Yoke of the Spirit being once taken off shall never be put on again thou shalt never come under it more Doth not the Scripture say as much Rom. 8.15 Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear In whomsoever the spirit of bondage once becomes a spirit of adoption he is never a spirit of bondage more in that soul If after he hath once sealed our adoption to us he should again impress fears of eternal wrath upon us he would herein be contrary to himself Object But are not many of the Children of God after Grace wrought full of fears and apprehensions of Hell and wrath Answ We must distinguish between bondage by desertion and bondage by the Spirit in conviction A Believer under desertion may be in bondage by his own spirit but not by the spirit of God When God doth suspend the wonted influences of Grace and comfort a mans own conscience may fill him with fears of Hell and dread of wrath but this is not from the suggestions of Gods spirit but from the mistake of his own He can never be a spirit of bondage more And is not this cause of thankfulness 4. How great the advantage is that comes by complying with and yielding to the spirit in convincing work For where he is complyed with in the beginning he carries it on to perfection If he convinces of sin and the soul fall under it by humiliation and repentance he will convince of righteousness too and so raise it up again by faith and dependance Nay by an early compliance with the strivings of the spirit when he first comes to discover to thee thy lost estate thou hast secured his presence for ever and he shall carry on this work of conviction so long as there is any one lust remaining A Believer hath need of the convictions of the spirit so long as he lives It is a mistake to think the convincing work of the Spirit is over when it hath discovered to a man his lost estate and so brought him to a close with Christ there is a great deal of convincing work yet to be done as there is a sinful estate so there is a sinful frame of heart Now though the Believer can no more need the convictions of the Spirit as to the former for his estate is changed yet he always needs them as to the latter Though he was convinced of the filthy nature and damning consequences of sin to prepare him for Christ and conversion yet there are convictions of necessary use to the carrying on and compleating the work of sanctification There is a great deceitfulness in sin more than the Believer ever yet saw and therefore he wants conviction of that There is a great power in remaining lusts to draw the heart from Christ he wants further conviction of that There is a gradual secret hardening of heart which in-dwelling sin works to even in the regenerate he wants further conviction of that Nay how many secret spiritual lusts hidden and close corruptions are there in the heart which at first entrance into a state of Grace the Believer never saw they lye in the heart undiscerned till the Spirit comes in with further light So that a Believer always needs the convincing work of the Spirit it is essentially necessary to the perfecting of Grace and holiness Now he that yields to the convictions of the Spirit at first doth thereby secure them to the last He shall never cease enlightening striving counselling so long as there is any one lust remaining His influences shall abide till he hath got the mastery of every sin and judgment be sent forth to victory over every corruption He dwelleth with you Matth. 12.20 and shall be in you John 14.17 O what cause of thankfulness have such as have born the Spirits Yoke with success Secondly Your Duty is to be humble Remember your Bonds so doth the Church Lam. 3.19 20. Remembring mine affliction and my misery the Wormwood and the Gall my soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled in me One excellent means to cure spiritual pride is to look often back to the days of your soul distresses therefore God when his people were settled in the promised Land often remembers them of their wilderness state that they might not pride themselves in their present possessions Deut. 8.2 Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee in the Wilderness to humble thee And ver 3. He humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger And ver 14 15. Beware lest thine heart be lifted up and thou forget the Lord thy God who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness wherein were fiery Serpents and Scorpions and drought where there was no water that he might humble thee No man will be lifted up under his present mercies that doth but seriously and frequently reflect upon his lost estate and the means and manner of his deliverance O think often of the sighs and sorrows the tears and terrours the griefs and groans of thy sinking Spirit in the Day when the Arrows of God stuck there How long thou hast formerly lain at God's foot begging for one Drop of the bloud of Christ to pardon sin one Dram of Grace to secure thy Estate one glympse of comfort to refresh thy wearied and heavy laden spirit and then be proud if thou canst Thirdly Labour to be fruitful This is the great end of the Spirit in all his convictions He convinceth of sin to break off the Sinner from it he convinceth of righteousness that the Sinner may seek after it and he convinces of the necessity of holiness that he may get it and grow up in it so that ye sin against and frustrate the whole design of the Holy Ghost in his work in the heart without this For ye are therefore made free from sin and become servants to God that ye might have your fruit unto holiness Rom. 6.22 And the same Apostle tells you cap. 7.4 Ye 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 ye should bring forth fruit to God Labour therefore to be fruitful for this is that which secures the Spirits influences to your great advantage Every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit John 15.2 Secondly This Doctrine affords matter of counsel to such as never were under the
like sense of sin and sight of a lost estate So that there is mercy even in being under the Spirits Yoke And therefore Secondly Do not be unsensible of the mercy of being under the bondage of the Spirit though it is not a Case that hath comfort in it yet it is a Case that hath mercy in it And no present misery of any condition should make us to overlook the mercy of that condition You see sin in its filthy nature and damning guilt and thereupon are filled with dread and fear and is not this a mercy Though to do sin is the most unprofitable work yet to see sin is the most profitable sight For so long as sin is unseen Christ will be unsought The remedy is never desired till our misery be discerned and felt Your conscience is full of trouble and you are weary and cry out under the burthen of your soul-troubles and is not this a mercy How shall the burthen of sin be removed if conscience be not troubled under it The more the Sinners conscience is at peace the more sin is in power The strong man armed keeps that house Luke 11.12 Besides it is the design of God that sin shall be the trouble of every Sinners conscience sooner or later here or in Hell Hell is full of troubled consciences there is not one soul there but lyes under terrour of conscience for sin for that is the worm that never dies Mark 9.44 And is it not a mercy to be troubled for sin here rather than in Hell Here the trouble is but for a season there it will be for ever Here the end of your trouble for sin is peace and comfort Weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning Psal 30.5 But in Hell your trouble will end in desperation and everlasting horrour Whatever therefore your troubles are yet reckon it for a mercy that God hath brought you to a real sense of your sin and misery for that this is the only way to drive you out of your selves to Christ You had been undone but for this undoing Thirdly Do not be weary of the Spirits operation in his carrying on the work of conviction lest by growing weary of his work you make him weary of working There are two things Sinners express a great weariness under viz. the Word and the Rod. To sit long under the Word or to lye long under the Rod O what a weariness is it Now to be weary of these is to be weary of the Spirits work for by these he calls and knocks and strives to make his voice to be heard and therefore they often go together and hence you read of chastising and teaching Psal 94.12 The Rod prepares us for hearkening to the Word and the Word teaches us to understand the Rod and therefore the Spirit sometimes uses them together He binds them in Fetters and holds them in Cords of affliction and then shews their work and their transgressions that they have exceeded Job 36.8.9 10. and so opens their ear to discipline and commands that they return from iniquity Why then should any be weary of the Spirits work And yet that it is so is most evident For why do Sinners so many ways stifle the motions of the Spirit in the soul sometimes looking on spiritual troubles as mere melancholy sancies and as such shake them off Sometimes they are stifled by shame lest others should think them mad and distracted Sometimes they are stifled by declining that Ministry that deals most with the conscience and will not let them alone in sin Sometimes by running into idle debauched company that scoff away the troubles of a convinced conscience Sometimes by over business in worldly matters The cares of this World choke the Seed and it becomes unfruitful Matth. 13.22 And is not this a great sin it is murder to destroy a Child in the womb I charge you young ones with this sin this day before the Lord. And I will prove you guilty of it For what is the reason that the Word preached hath so little success that so few of you are converted from your sins and lusts to Christ I tell you this is the reason You have stifled the motions of the Spirit of God in your souls you have resisted and quenched him you have broken his Yoke from off your neck and do ye understand what ye do Do ye know the mischief of this sin It drives the Holy Spirit out of the heart You say to him depart Job 21.14 you are weary of his striving to make you weary of sinning It greatly gratifies Satan For his design is to harden the heart against the impressions of the Spirit and so lead Sinners to a Hell through a Fools Paradise It provokes the Lord to give you up to your own hearts lusts and vile affections Rom. 2.24 26. And I am perswaded that it is the Judgment that many of the young Generation of this day lye under It provokes him to take away the Gospel And I am afraid that this Judgment is at the door for why should God continue it to a Generation that slight and reject it And wo to such as shall be found to have had a hand in sinning away the Gospel It is this sin that makes Hell hot indeed It will be one of the saddest reflections in that state for a damned Sinner to recal the many sweet motions of the Spirit which in his day of Grace he had In such a Sermon how was my heart touched and my conscience awakened But all came to nothing In such a sickness how did the Spirit of God deal with me and set sin home and made it a burthen What promises and resolutions did I then make to shake off sins to leave my former wicked courses but it came to nothing Had I then yielded to the strivings of the Spirit and hearkened to his calls and counsels I had never felt these flames But my slighting God breaking the Spirits Yoke by resisting and quenching his motions this is that which hath brought this endless misery upon me O what a dreadful thing is it to be weary of the Spirits work when he comes to convince of sin Quest But when may a man be said to be weary of the Spirits work Answ First When he cannot endure an awakening convincing Ministry nor searching truths but declines those Doctrines that interrupt him in the way of his lusts and disturb the quiet of his conscience as Felix did Paul's Sermon of righteousness and judgment to come because it made him tremble the Doctrine came too close to his conscience and therefore he dismisses the Preacher to a fitter season Acts 24.25 Secondly When he is over-hasty for peace and comfort then he is weary of the Spirits Yoke This is the Case of most they are no sooner under the sense of sin but they must have comfort The Arrows of the Almighty are sharp and when they go deep do cause an unspeakable
smart no wounds to the wounds of God in the conscience A wounded Spirit who can bear Prov. 18.14 In this Case it is very natural to cry out for comfort But to seek the cure for a wound before it is searched and cleansed is to make the remedy worse than the disease Vnseasonable comfort is ever unsound comfort And when it comes before the Sinner is fit for it it is then unseasonable and such comfort is from Satan not from the Comforter for he first makes the soul fit to receive comfort and then applies it Quest When is the soul prepared and fit to receive comfort Answ Five things must concur to make up this meetness for comfort First The heart must be truly broken and humbled under a sense of sin Comfort is proper for Mourners and therefore the promise is made to such I will restore comfort to his Mourners Isai 57.18 Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Humiliation fits for consolation Secondly When weariness of the burthen of sin drives the Sinner to Christ Many run to Christ under their convictions that yet are not fit for comfort for it is smart that drives them and not guilt sorrow and not sin and therefore they seek more for peace and ease than for pardon and righteousness Though such may desire comfort yet they are not fit for it Matth. 11.28 for rest is for the weary and heavy laden Thirdly When it is made freely willing not only to come to Christ but to close with and receive him upon his own terms that is as a Prince to rule as well as a Priest to redeem and save when it is as willing to submit to the Duties of his Yoke as to reap the benefits of his Cross as desirous to be sanctified as saved to be freed from sins reigning power as well as from its damning guilt Then is it fit for comfort Fourthly When the Work of conversion is actually wrought in the soul then it is fit for comfort A state of sin cannot be a state of comfort There is no peace saith my God to the wicked Isai 57.21 The Spirit of God cannot be a comforting Spirit where he is not a converting Spirit Could he be supposed to work peace without Grace he would harden the Sinner in sin instead of turning him from it and so contradict his own design which is first to work Grace and then peace first he converts and then he comforts Fifthly When a man makes conscience of Duties and uses all means for the obtaining comfort as if it were to be obtained by doing and yet at the same time depends upon the Spirit for comfort as if he had done nothing Some look to their Duties for comfort and so slight the Spirit whose work is to give comfort and others look that the Spirit should do all and so sinfully neglect those means by which comfort comes in Means without the Spirit cannot comfort and the Spirit in the neglect of means will not but when a man depends upon the Spirit in the use of means then he is fit for comfort But if the heart be not broken if sin be not a burthen if the will be not bowed to Christ by converting Grace it is not prepared nor fit for comfort the season of comfort is not yet And therefore to desire it without labouring for a meetness for it is to be weary of the Spirits Yoke Thirdly Then a man is weary of the Spirits Yoke when he uses improper remedies skins over the wounds the Spirit makes in the soul with wrong Plaisters turning from a loose conversation to a profession of Religion and so by an empty form of godliness bringing in a delusive peace to the undoing of his soul Know this That nothing can administer true quiet to a wounded conscience but the bloud of Jesus Rom. 5.1 It is the cunning of Satan to hurry a troubled Sinner to an empty profession of Religion that so he may take upshort of Christ and conversion He is for any work but a saving work Take heed therefore of using improper remedies for the cure of soul-wounds and which is a necessary caution in this place take heed of imprudent Guides and unskilful Conductors of thy soul in this Case There needs one of a thousand to be an Interpreter in this matter Job 33.23 All that take upon them to be Preachers are not fit for this work they do not skill how to deal with a wounded conscience some make the wound too wide some bind it up too soon some use improper remedies for healing There are many spiritual Mountebanks as well as natural that poyson sick souls as others do sick Patients Of all things therefore take heed what spiritual Physicians you go to when you are under a wounded conscience and sick of sin for he that shall bind where God looseth or loose where God binds is unskilful in the word of righteousness Heb. 5.13 and knows not how or when to apply either the terrours of the Law or the comforts of the Gospel Fourthly Then a man is weary of the Spirits work when he breaks off his Yoke Such were they in Jer. 5.5 They have altogether broke the Yoke and burst the bonds This is done by stifling the Spirits motions refusing his counsels blotting out the impressions he makes Indeed a state of conviction is not a state to continue in therefore we ought to labour in the use of God's appointed means to get out of it Though it is a mercy to be brought under the Spirits bonds and bondage yet the mercy is not with reference to the state it self but to what follows therefore it is good to pass through it but not to continue in it Convictions are like travailing pangs which are a mercy as being greatly helpful to the forwarding the birth but if they continue ever long they spend natural strength and destroy the Mother and the Infant too Hence that of God to Ephraim Hos 13.13 The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him he is an unwise Son for he should not stay long in the place of breaking forth of Children To stay long in the birth destroys both the birth and the Bearer too The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed and that he should not dye in the pit Isai 51.14 But yet take heed of making more haste than good speed Though it is a Duty to labour to get from under the state of bondage yet it is a sin to break the Yoke of the Spirit of bondage therefore take heed of this The present Duty is to wait the Spirits season Eccles 3.1 To every thing there is a season there is a time to kill and a time to heal ver 3. a time to break down and a time to build up this is the Spirits season And then it follows ver 4. There is a time to weep and a time to laugh a time to mourn and a time to dance
is the tye of God upon the Soul till a man comes under the power of the Precept he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not without Law but under the Law to Christ 1 Cor. 9.21 CHAP. VI. Holds forth the Reasons of the Doctrine 2. WHY it is the concernment of every one to take up the Yoke of Christ in his Youth Reas 1. Because of the Call of God He doth not call us to bow to his Yoke to submit to his Authority to obey his Commands only but to do it betimes as he states our duty what we shall do so he times it when it must be done And therefore it is as much a sin to let slip the time as to neglect the thing Not to do what God commands is a sin and not to do it when God commands it is another sin If God says To day go work to day in my vineyard Mat. 21.28 To day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts Heb. 3.15 Why then to put it off till the morrow is a sin and so the adding of one days neglect to another is the adding of sin to sin For it is a repeated slight to the Call of God Now to shew you the force of this reason do but consider who it is that calls and what the Call is First Who it is that calls it is God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost 1. It is God the Father he that made thee and gave thee thy being And this one would think should be obligation enough to duty He that gave thee thy being calls for thy obedience especially considering he made thee for this end other Creatures were made to serve thee but there was no end of thy being but to serve God and therefore thou hadst another make tnan other Creatures He stamped a greater excellency upon man than upon the rest of the Creatures Every Creature bears some impression of God but no Creature on earth but only Man bears the likeness of God In other Creatures there are vestigia Dei but in man only there is imago Dei there you may see his footsteps but here only his image Other Creatures are formed of earth but Man is partly earth and partly Heaven the dust of the earth is married to the breath of God And why such an excellent being but to fit him for the end to which God designed him viz. Duty and Service And is it not reason that God who gave thee thy being should have thy obedience That he who gave thee a reasonable Soul should have a reasonable service Creation is an obligation to service Hence that of Solomon Eccles 12.1 Remember thy Creator He that was not made by himself should not live to himself He that can't cease from depending on God as a Principle he ought not to cease from intending God as an end that he may be the object of our obedience as well as the Author of our being 2. It is God the Son the Lord thy Redeemer First It is he that took up flesh came into thy Nature was made Man became thy Surety bore the Curse due to thy sins shed his Blood laid down his life to ransom thy Soul rose again for thy Justification is gone to Heaven upon thy Errand It is this Christ that calls thee to take up his Yoke and is it not reason that we should bear the Yoke for him that bore the Cross and the Curse for us Is it not reason that if we have the good of his Sufferings he should have the glory of our service Secondly It is he that with the Father hath stablished this as the great Condition of Salvation bearing the Yoke so that it is the standing Law of Heaven Whoever will be saved must take up Christs Yoke This is the way to blessedness and there is no other bear the Yoke of Christ and be blessed cast that off and Christ will cast you off submit and be saved reject it and Christ will reject you This is the unalterable condition of Salvation and there is no other Things are so setled in the eternal Compact between Father and Son about the case of man that the Blood of Christ it self cannot stead us nor the mercy of God infinite as it is benefit us Per legem per crucem per lucem per concilium per afflatum auxilium See Pareus in Revel 3.20 without this condition be performed by us And therefore it is that Christ is so importunate in this Duty that he calls and knocks so many ways by the Law by the Cross by Gospel-light by the operation of the Spirit Thirdly It is he that made this his great end in redeeming us to restore us to obedience as well as to favour and to render us capable of that service and duty which hath Glory and Blessedness annexed to it Therefore his Blood is said to purge the conscience from dead works to serve the living God Heb. 9 14. And this is made a reason of his bearing our sins in his body on the tree that we being dead to sin might live to righteousnss 1 Pet. 2.24 And who did he redeem was it not young ones as well as others Did he not shed as much blood and pay as great a price for them as others Fourthly It is he that hath purchased unto himself a fulness of Grace to be given forth for the inablement of thee for the susception of this Yoke and the performing all the Duties belonging thereto so that there shall be nothing wanting if there be but a willing mind The Lord Christ knows thy case and the impotency contracted by sin that thou canst not bear his Yoke without his strength and influences of his Grace and therefore he calls thee to partake of his fulness that thou mayst be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might The wise God permitted the loss of mans self-fulness that he might never more be any thing in himself but might glorifie the Redeemer by an intire constant dependance upon him in fetching all from him as an indigent Creature Mans first miscarriage was in a desire of self-sufficiency and he hath been poor and naked from that very day He would have a stock in his own hands and he hath been a begger ever since It was pride at the first that overthrew him and ever since God hath left sin in him to humble him He would have a happiness in himself and therefore he shall have no happiness but by being outed of himself He would live as an independent Being and therefore to cure this God brings him to an absolute dependance for all things he shall have nothing but what he hath by faith and expectation that he may thereby see what a beggerly indigent Creature he is and so glorifie the fulness of Christ And it is the mercy of Christ that he hath a sufficiency of Grace for
It is true that a hearty resignation to God and a serious imbracing Religion by an unfeigned subjection to Christ always finds acceptance with the Lord Joh. 6.37 Him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out There is a double Negative in the Greek which serves to make the promise strong and to incourage faith against all doubts and fears 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will not not cast him out The promise doth not only import the safety of the estate of such as are in Christ but the welcome reception of all that come to Christ As he will not cast them out that are once united to him so nor will he keep them out who desire truly to close with him whenever it be sooner or later when ever the heart is willing God is ready A sincere obedience shall find acceptance at any time but the earlier we come the kinder shall be our reception and the greater our welcome and it must needs be so First Because we resist the fewer calls and invitations of God which are the expressions of his love and good will to sinners and as nothing provokes God more than when his love is slighted so there is nothing he is more pleased with than when the Soul is won by it to a readiness of obedience and that which pleases God heightens our acceptation Secondly We save God the labour to speak after the manner of men of using other means in which he less delights there are methods which God doth not love to be found in the use of which yet he is constrained to use for our benefit he hath his thorn hedges to stop our course reduce our wandrings and bring us to himself hence we read of his strange works and his strange acts Hos 2.6 7. Isa 28.21 Things which God delights not in but is forced to by the stubbornness of the Creature that he that will not hear the word and who hath ordained it may be made to hear the rod and who hath appointed it Mic. 6.9 Now by early imbracing the ways of Christ we happily prevent God in that work which is so contrary to his disposition as being more inclined to mercy than wrath Thirdly We gratifie him in the thing he loves and that is an early obedience Under the Law all Sacrifices were required to be young Deut. 15.19 All the firstling males that come of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctifie unto the Lord thy God And Exod. 22.29 Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits and of thy liquors Mark It must be the firstling of the herd and the firstling of the flock and the first ripe fruits and the first liquors And why but to teach us by these Types how pleasing to God a timely conversion is and that if we would present our selves an acceptable Sacrifice to him it must be by an early subjection to the Yoke of Christ He loves a young Abijah a young Josiah a young Timothy a young Saint for a Sacrifice Joh. 20.2 Chap. 21.20 John is called the Disciple whom Jesus loved Joh. 13.23 And why did Jesus love none other of the Disciples but him Yes he loved them all and that both living and dying Joh. 13.1 Having loved his own which were in the world he loved them to the end But yet he loved John above all the rest and the reason that is given of it by some is because John was brought to Christ betimes of all the Disciples he was youngest when he took up the Yoke of Christ he loved Christ first and therefore Christ loved him best and as he had the highest affection for him so he made the greatest revelations to him All which shews the gracious acceptance of his early obedience It addeth greatly to the value of a gift when it is given readily and at first asking So when we give up our selves to the Call of God without shifting and hucking without demurrs and delays it puts a great value upon our obedience and makes it the more accepted with God Long standing off greatly provokes God and grieves the Spirit though we yield at last Many do by their lusts as Pharaoh did by the Israelites Exod. 5.2 he refuses to let them go Though God commands him till Judgment terrifies him into some kind of compliance and then he will let them go Exod. 8.28 but not far away that he may fetch them back again and when another Plague comes then he will let some go but not all Exod. 10.11 some must stay behind to be Hostages for the rest He never consents they shall all go till he is forced to it so that it was not thank-worthy when he did consent Many love their lusts more than Christ and will not part with them though at the Call of God till by judgment upon judgment he makes them weary of their communion and plagues them out of them the smart of Gods rod the coming of the evil day the wastes of nature the decay of strength the growth of diseases the prospect of another world the sense of a polluted nature a corrupt heart and a mispent life the fore-tastes of the wrath of God these set home by the Spirit may create such terrors in the conscience as may weary a sinner out of his lusts and bring him to Christ at last but he shall not have that welcome as the early Convert hath He shall be received and entertained but not made so much of as if he had come sooner He shall not have those comforts that an earlier Convert feels who took up the Yoke of Christ betimes and so hath walked in the fear of the Lord all his days His own conscience shall upbraid him and fill him with shame for the sollies of a mispent life if his bones are full of the sins of his youth Job 20.11 though they are pardoned in Heaven yet he may carry the pain of them to the grave with him and then he must needs lye down in sorrow Or if he meets with comfort in this life it may be long first and cost him many prayers and many tears much wooing and much waiting Though Christ when he stands at the door and knocks promises that if any man opens he shall sup with him Revel 3.20 Yet if Christ wait long for entrance the Soul may be made to wait long for its entertainment If his own Spouse deny him entrance he 'l deny her his presence if she suffers him to knock and call without admittance he will suffer her to seek and sue for a time without success Cant. 5.2 3 6. Delay God and God will delay you the longer you make him wait in the tenders of his Grace the longer he will make you wait in the expectation of peace and comfort Reas 5. It is the greatest business we have to attend to in the world and therefore is to be most minded and first entred upon It is the
you There is a general and a particular day of Grace The general day of Grace is when the Gospel is brought to a people and the Ministry of it set up by God whereby life and salvation is tendred to all in the blood of Jesus Christ The particular and special day of Grace is when the Gospel is not only preached and Salvation tendred but when the Spirit of the Lord doth accompany it and carry it home to the hearts of sinners sometimes inlightning their minds sometimes convincing their consciences sometimes working inward fears and terrors from a sense of their undone condition sometimes stirring up good affections and desires sometimes working them to strong purposes and resolutions to repent and turn and obey Now where the Spirit doth thus inwardly strive with any sinner that is his particular day of grace his special season of finding and obtaining mercy Seek the Lord while he may be found Isai 55.6 Now is the accepted time now is the day of salvation 2 Cor. 6.2 If ever a sinner be converted and brought into obedience to Jesus Christ this is the time And it is very dangerous to neglect or defer our closing with Christ for it is very uncertain how long or how little while the opportunity may be afforded Who knows when his day of grace begins or when it will end Job 14.5 As no man knows the number of his months so much less doth he know the length of his day of grace Acts 1.7 It is not for you as Christ says in another case to know the times and the seasons which the Father hath kept in his own power And the reason why God hides it from us may be because he would have us lose no opportunity of saving our Souls but imbrace the first tenders of mercy lest God should take our refusal and never tender it more If you repulse the Spirit of God when he knocks you have no promise that ever he will knock again and if he leaves off you are undone for ever The harvest is past the summer is ended and we are not saved Jer. 8.20 God will not wait long upon a lingring sinner he takes delays for denials and so departs and the day of grace ends Most certain it is that the day of grace may be sinned away and that whether you consider it in the general or particular notion of it First Take it in the general notion of it for the injoyment of the means of grace and the Ministry of the Word and Ordinances and this may cease God may deprive a people of a converting Ministry and converting Ordinances and may give them Statutes not good as he did to Israel Ezek. 20.24 25. Because they despised my statutes polluted my Sabbaths and their eyes were after their fathers idols therefore I gave them or gave them up to statutes that were not good and judgments whereby they should not live It is a judicial process of an offended God because of abused mercies they had the Statutes and Judgments and Ordinances of God which were just and good and tended to life as vers 21. But because they slighted these therefore he gave them up to the Statutes and superstitious Inventions of men which were not good but tended to death and destruction It is a dreadful judgment when for slighting and rebelling against the Statutes and Judgments of God he gives a person or a people up to Statutes and judgments that are not good And this seems to be the very judgment that God is giving this Nation up to at this day we have slighted the Yoke of Christ and therefore he is giving us up to the Yoke of Antichrist we have been weary of pure Worship and Ordinances and have been lusting after the Romish inventions and therefore the righteous God seems to be giving us up to them and saying to us as to that people v. 39. As for you O house of Israel thus saith the Lord God go ye serve ye every one his Idols When men will not stoop to nor owne those ways of Christ which are for their good it is just with God to give them up to those ways that are not for their good When men receive not the love of the truth that they may be saved for this cause God sends them strong delusions that they should believe a lye and be damned 2 Thess 2.10 11 12. And these are the Statutes that are not good and the judgments whereby they shall not live Sometimes he gives them up to a blind Ministry the sword of the Lord is upon the arm and the right eye of the Idol-shepherd insomuch that his arm is dried up and his right eye utterly darkned Zach. 11.17 He closeth the eyes of the Prophets and Rulers and Seers together with a spirit of deep sleep so that the vision of all is become as the words of a book sealed which neither unlearned nor learned can read Isai 29.10 11 12. Sometimes he gives them up to a profane and debauched Ministry The Priest and the Prophet have erred through strong drink they are swallowed up of wine through strong drink they erre in vision and stumble in judgment Isai 28.7 From the Prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land Jer. 23.15 They cause my people to erre by their lies and by their lightness v. 32. Sometimes he doth utterly take away his Ordinances and means of Grace Behold saith the Lord the days come that I will send a famine in the land not a famine of bread which yet is a sore judgment and makes the mother eat the child of a span long Lam. 2.20 nor a thirst for water for a draught whereof Lysimachus to save his life sold his Kingdom but of hearing the word of the Lord. Amos 8.11 And this was the judgment of God upon Israel We see not our signs there is no more any Prophet neither is there any among us that knoweth how long Psal 74.9 Amaziah and his Courtiers shall not need to pack away the Prophets and forbid them preaching nigh the Court as Amos 7.12 for God will as a woful Plague to an unworthy people remove them And Israel shall be without the true God and without a teaching Priest and without Law 2 Chron. 15.3 And this is what our Lord Christ so severely threatned Mat. 21.43 The kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof And how sadly hath this word been accomplished upon them for sixteen hundred years together The seven Churches of Asia as also those of Africa that vast Continent thrice as big as Europe are sad instances of this It is plain then that the day of grace in regard of the injoyment of the Ordinances may be sinned away But Secondly The Sinners particular day of grace may be lost and sinned away he may not only sin away the Ordinances but the strivings of the Spirit too he may resist it till it is
quenched and so quench it that it can never be kindled again Many do in this sense out-live their day of grace by sinning away the motions and strivings of the Spirit for though he strives long with many and longer with some sinners than others yet he will not strive always The Lord said My Spirit shall not always strive with man Gen. 6.3 Nay the Spirit may not only cease striving when the Ordinances are removed but he may cease striving while the Ordinances are continued and then the day of grace is past though the means of grace abide The general and revealed day of grace may possibly last as long as life lasts and the sinner may sit under the Gospel-call all his days and yet the secret and particular day of grace may be ended the Spirit may never strive more but leave the sinner to his lusts This is denied by some and hardly believed by any let me therefore make it out that so the danger of sinning away your particular day of grace may be a prevailing reason why you should mind Christ and his Yoke betimes lest you defer it till it be too late I shall therefore make out the truth of this five ways First By the unerring evidence of Scripture instance Was not Ishmael a sad instance of this truth He was descended of a godly father was in Covenant with God had the Covenant-seal upon him Gen. 17.26 injoyed all the means of grace for Abraham was King Priest and Prophet in his own house And therefore he was not without the strivings of the Spirit and yet for all this he is cast out of the Church and out of Covenant Cast him out saith the Lord Gal. 4.30 Now this casting out is a cutting him off and depriving him as a just punishment of his scoffing spirit of the means of grace Gen. 21.9 Gal. 4.29 and especially of the strivings of the Spirit of God And this was done when he was not above twenty years old Oh what a dreadful instance is this How should it awaken young ones that sit under the means of grace and fill them with trembling Here is Ishmael standing out against the strivings of the Spirit and losing his day of grace at twenty years of age So that his day of grace lasted but few years for he was thirteen years old when he was circumcised Gen. 17.25 and so sealed with the Covenant-seal and therefore he was but seven years under the priviledges of the Covenant Now how old are you How long have you been sealed with the Covenant-seal How long have you been under the means and have had the Spirit striving with you Surely much longer than ever Ishmael had and therefore how dangerous is thy case if thou art not yet come under the Yoke of Christ And what think ye of Esau Did not he sin away and out-live his day of grace Why else is it said That he would afterward have inherited the blessing and was rejected For he found no place for repentance though he sought it carefully with tears Heb. 12.16 17. His time for the blessing was past and gone he came too late and so lost it and was rejected and no tears could recover it again Now there is a great Mystery in this and it instructs us in three great and concerning truths 1. That by many the greatest blessings are less minded than things of smaller moment Here 's Esau preferring a morsel of meat before his birth-right 2. To prefer temporal benefits before the greatest spiritual blessings is an evident argument of a profane spirit For therefore Esau is called a profane person because he sold his birth-right a Type of spiritual blessings for a morsel of meat 3. He that neglects to secure to himself spiritual blessings when they may be had his judgment shall be to seek and mourn after them when it will be too late to find them Esau first sells the blessing profanely which God had bestowed and afterward seeks it with tears and is rejected And when was this that Esau thus profanely parts with his birth-right It was very early in the days of his youth This is easily gathered from the story of his hunting which ye have in Gen. 25.27 and so to the end of the Chapter where it it said that the boys grew and Esau was a cunning hunter v. 27. and coming faint out of the field v. 29. he desires his brother Jacob to feed him v. 30. Jacob offers him bread for his birth-right v. 31. Esau being very faint at the point to die the Text says v. 32. sells him his birth-right for bread and pottage Thus Esau despised his birth-right v. 33. And this was very early as soon as the boys were grown up So that Esau survived his day of grace many years The Spirit of the Lord left striving with him betimes And was it not the sin of the poor Jews Did not they out-live their day of grace Luke 19.44 Oh that thou hadst known in this thy day the things which belong to thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes Secondly If a man may fall away from the Faith once professed and that totally and finally then may he sin away the strivings of the Spirit and so out-live his day of grace Though a man cannot fall away from the work of grace finally yet from the word of grace he may though he cannot utterly depart from faith implanted yet he may from the faith professed The Apostle says 1 Tim. 4.1 That the Spirit speaks expresly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith Now when a man comes to depart from the Faith the word of faith the Scriptures and the profession of faith and that finally then the Spirit strives no more for his Conscience the next verse tells you is seared with a hot iron Thirdly It is evident in that God sometimes gives men up to their own lusts Psal 81.11 12. My people would not hearken to my voice and Israel would none of me had no will to me so the Hebrew and what follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So I gave them up to their own hearts lusts and they walked in their own counsels And what is it for God to give a man up to his lusts but to let sin and corruption have the whole rule and sway in the Soul without the wonted checks and restraints of the Spirit This is called letting him alone in sin Ephraim is joyned to idols let him alone Hos 4.17 that is let him take his own course and pursue his lusts till God deal with him once for all Fourthly It appears in that judicial hardness of heart blindness and impenitency that he gives some up to which renders all the Ordinances utterly ineffectual like rain falling upon a rock that runs off without fruit Nay in this case the Ordinances do not only not soften but they harden for where God hardens every thing hardens every word every rod every
he tastes in it So it is with a regenerate man sweetness becomes a motive to obedience and duty is drawn forth by delight I delight to do thy will O my God And mark whence this delight springs Thy Law is within my heart Psal 40.8 The Law was not only his Command but his nature God writes his Law in the Word and so it becomes our rule but when he writes it in our hearts then it becomes our nature And this is it that makes obedience sweet and pleasant because it is now natural There is an inward Principle suited to the outward Precept Thirdly Consider the pleasures with which this service is attended It is not more natural for sin to bring forth sorrow and trouble than for Religion to afford pleasure and sweetness It denies no lawful pleasure which others injoy It affords pleasures which others cannot injoy First It denies no lawful pleasures which others injoy doth the sinner take pleasure in the creature So doth the good man more truly for Religion moderates the affections and teaches the right use of the creature and thereby heightens the pleasure of the injoyment it curbs and restrains our excesses and moderated affections make our fruition the more sweet because hereby sin is excluded which imbitters the injoyment There is no pleasure which a wicked man sins in injoying but a good man may injoy without sin and where there is least sin there is most sweetness Nay farther Religion spiritualizeth the injoyment and thereby a good man hath more sweetness in the creature than any other can have as the Bee hath more delight in the flower than other creatures can because they have only the sweetness of the scent but the Bee hath the sweetness of the honey with the scent Natural man hath only a natural sweetness but the spiritual man hath a spiritual sweetness with the natural and so injoys a higher pleasure in the creature than any natural man can Secondly Religion hath its peculiar pleasures which none but good men can partake of It gives pleasure and delight in God when the creature affords none The sensual man is beholden to the Fig-tree and the Vine and the Olive to the Field the Fold and the Stall if these fail his comfort fails But the good man hath a never-sailing Spring of delight when all these streams are cut off Although the fig-tree shall not blossom neither shall fruit be in the vines the labour of the olive shall sail and the fields shall yield no meat the flock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls Here are all his streams cut off now where is his never-failing Spring why it is in God Yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation Habak 3.17 18. No delight so sweet as delight in God The dim light of Moon and Stars are a comfortable ministry in a dark night and we are glad to walk by the light of them but when once the light of the Sun breaks out who regards the Moon or Stars then Creature-comforts are pleasant things to a sensual Spirit that knows no better injoyment but when once God discovers himself to the Soul and sheds abroad his love in the heart Rom. 5.5 what poor things are these then The pleasure of walking with God and the pleasure of a witnessing Conscience without naming any more outvie all the pleasures in the World for sweetness and delight And these are peculiar to Religion and a life of godliness Prov. 14.10 no stranger intermeddles with this joy 1. In Religion and the practice of Godliness a good man walks with God There is a twofold walking with God and both exceeding sweet In Holiness and Obedience In Comfort and Experience First There is a walking with God in Comfort and Experience and this consists in sensible communion and fellowship with God This is that our Lord Christ injoyed much of John 16.32 I am not alone because the Father is with me He had much of it in that Voice from Heaven Mat. 3.17 This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased He had much of it in the Transfiguration Mat. 17.2 He was transfigured before them this imports a wonderful letting forth of the glory of God upon him and so speaks an high degree of communion Exod. 34.29 Moses had a great measure of this transfiguring communion in the Mount when his face shone and Paul when he says he cannot tell whether he was in the body or out of the body 2 Cor. 12.3 4. but speaks as though he had been really in Heaven These are extraordinary manifestations of God which are fitted only to special seasons and though they are exceeding sweet and fill the Soul with great transports of joy yet they are not designed for continuance nor alotted to many But there is a more ordinary communion with God which every good man may lay claim to The Apostle John speaks of it as the undoubted priviledge of every Believer 1 Joh. 1.3 Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ And Christ promises it to all that obey his Commands John 14.21 He that hath my commandments and keepeth them loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him And v. 23. We will come unto him and make our abode with him These expressions import a special presence of God and peculiar emanations of his love filling the Soul with such a sweetness and delight as none else can experience Hence that of Judas not Iscariot to Christ in v. 22. Lord how is it that thou wilt manifest thy self to us and not to the world This is a comfort the world knows nothing of Indeed a Believer himself hath no security of injoying it always As one Believer injoys it more than another and the same Believer injoys it more at one time than another so sometimes he injoys it not God never promised to any man such a vouchsafement of his comsorting presence as should know no interruption for if so then God would leave himself without a liberty to shew his dislike of sin That promise Heb. 13.5 I will never leave thee nor forsake thee secures to a Believer the duration of his union but not of his communion it intitles him to the certainty of his presence and care of his Providence but not to the light of his countenance It makes over to him the constant supports of his Power and Grace but not always the actual possession of joy and comfort Secondly There is a walking with God in Holiness and Obedience Thus it is said Enoch walked with God three hundred years Gen. 5.22 that is by an holy conformity to his will * To live to the will of God loving what God loves hating what God hates doing what God commands this is the highest kind of walking and communion with God
is magnus in magnis as Austin says yet he is not parvus in minimis though his work be great in some of his children yet it is not little in any and therefore is to be owned in all Shall a Child deny its being because it is not a Man the great Oak was once a little Plant nay a small Acorn The blessing on man in the first Creation was increase and multiply In the second it is grow in grace so that it shall grow for there is a blessing in it And therefore for believers to compare themselves with Saints of the highest attainments and to make those things to be a measure of the truth of Grace which are evidences of Grace in its growth and strength this is a false measure Thirdly Another false rule of judging by is much corruption because they find much filthiness in their natures strong lusts stirring within and too often breaking out into actual sins therefore they conclude they have no Grace Now this is a false rule to judge by For First There is no believer but by this rule would condemn his own state For where is that man that hath not much indwelling sin which too often breaks out into actual sin indwelling lust may be mortified in some more than in others and the habits of corruption more weakned but yet there is much in the best Look on Abraham a great believer the Father of the faithful and yet how much sin did he discover once in Egypt Genes 12.13 another time in Gerar Genes 20.2 Look on Moses a man of great Grace and yet how much doth corruption break forth in that fourth chapter of Exodus what unbelief doth he discover what plea's to excuse his unwillingness to go on Gods errand Exod. 3.11 Exod. 4.1 Exod. 4.10 Exod. 4.13 V. 14. One while who am I that I should go to Pharaoh another while they will not believe me then I am not eloquent at last send by whom thou wilt send as much as to say I will not go so that the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses The like you may see in Samson what corruption doth he discover insomuch that if the spirit of God had not put him into that Catalogue of believing worthies Heb. 11.32 you would hardly have judged him one and yet Samson is recorded for a true Saint Heb. 11.39 though he had much corruption Secondly God will not reject little Grace if it be true where there is corruption though it be much If there be but little Gold in the Ore and much dross yet the Refiner separates the dross and preserves the Gold It is said of Christ his fan is in his hand and what is the use of the fan but to cast out the chaff the chaff is more than the wheat but Christ will not suffer the least grain of wheat to fall to the ground Amos 9.9 Satan hath a sieve in his hand and he sifteth us Christ hath a fan in his hand and he fanneth us now the use of the sieve is to let out the best and keep in the worst the fan casteth out the worst and keepeth in the best Satans work is to sift us Luk 22.31 Satan hath desired to sift you that is to countenance sin and destroy Grace But Jesus Christ he fanneth us that is he purges corruption out of us and nourishes and preserves Grace in us so then though your Grace be never so little it shall be preserv'd and though your corruption be never so much it shall be destroyed And therefore Thirdly You ought to be humbled under sin and make it matter of mourning but not to deny your Grace though under much and great sin There is a great deal in sin to humble us it divests us of our spiritual priviledges it spoils our communion with God that should be matter of humbling it dishonours honours God and grieves the spirit that should be matter of humbling it defiles the soul and wounds the conscience that should be matter of humbling but though every sin ought to be bewailed yet our state is not therefore to be condemned Fourthly Another false rule of judging is by the frame of their hearts because upon search they find their hearts dead carnal listless to duty wandring from or distracted in duty hence they give it against themselves and judge their state carnal because the frame of their heart is so And no wonder that it is so though it ought not to be so if you do but consider three things 1. The goodness of a believers state will give him no acceptance with God in any duty unless the frame of the heart be right in it A carnal frame shall do more to spoil a duty than a spiritual state can do to give it acceptance this is most evident by that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 11.29 30. He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh judgment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to himself There is a worthiness of state and a worthiness of frame now every believer hath a worthiness of state in an Evangelical sense for every ordinance and therefore for the Lords Supper but yet he may be unworthy in regard of the frame of his heart and where it is so an unworthy frame shall do more to bring judgment than a worthy state can do to prevent it therefore it is said in the next verse for this cause many are weak and sick among you and many sleep 2. God may carry it to a believer under a carnal frame of spirit in duties as if he were no believer when he comes to God in a carnal frame God may carry it to him as if he were in a carnal state he may shut his ear and reject his services 3. A believer may injoy as little peace when the frame of his heart is not right as if the state of his soul were not right for it is common with such a one to judge of his state by the frame of his heart If his heart be dead and carnal he judges his state to be a dead carnal state but this ought not to be for by this rule he will be forced to condemn himself a thousand and a thousand times over even as oft as he finds his heart out of frame And where a believer judges his state to be carnal he can enjoy no more of the peace of his state though it be spiritual than if it were carnal But this is a false rule to judge by For First A carnal frame is one thing and a carnal state is another many a man may be found under a very carnal frame and yet his state be spiritual and good It was the case of Christs own Disciples therefore he tells them Matt. 18.3 Except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven The Disciples were converted as to their state but yet they were in a carnal frame for they were contending among themselves about
three heads and speak a little distinctly to each of them that so you may know how to make use of them in the tryal of your state The first is The enlightening the mind The second is The convincing the Conscience The third is The inclining the will 1. There is a saving illumination of the mind There can be no coming to Christ out of the darkness of a natural state till the light of God break in to shew us the way Spiritual things cannot be discerned by natural light The natural man receives not the things of the spirit of God 1 Cor. 2.14 for they are foolishness to him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned The object is supernatural God in Christ and the mysteries of the Kingdom and therefore cannot be discern'd but by a supernatural light Psal 36.9 In thy light we shall see light By nature we know little of God but nothing of Christ 2 Cor. 4.6 or the mind of Christ till God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness shine into our hearts The first creature that God made in the World was light and the first work of God in the soul is light The will of man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a rational appetite it is acted by the guidance of the mind and therefore God deals first with the mind and understanding of man And hence it is that Christ is made a Prophet as well as a King he doth not subdue the will meerly by an unaccountable power but by a saving light And because the mind must first be inlightned in this work therefore Christ first appears in the office of a Prophet not only revealing the will of God as a rule of obedience but inlightening the mind to see the reasonableness of complying with the rule He doth not only bring light unto the soul by the revelation of the word but he brings light into the soul by the communication of his spirit We have received the spirit of God that we may know the things that are freely given to us of God 1 Cor. 2.22 This I call a saving illumination for that light which the Lord works in such as are brought home to Christ is of a saving nature and hath saving effects First It is in its own nature as saving as any Grace in the will or affections for it is a work of the same spirit and wrought for the same end to bow the soul to Christ It is an essential part of that Image of God after which we are renewed Colos 3.10 And have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him So that this light differs not only gradually but specifically from the highest light that is in hypocrites and formal professors A hypocrite may have much notional knowledge great measures of light in spiritual things from the common work of the spirit but in the highest degree of it it is not saving for as to saving light so he is in darkness until now Secondly It hath saving operations and effects and that both as to believing and obeying First As to believing They shall all be taught of God and what then John 6.45 every man that hears and learns of the father comes to me This coming to Christ is believing and this believing is the fruit of Gods teaching so that this is a saving operation Secondly As to obedience As it is said of the two blind men whom Christ cured that as soon as they had received their sight straight way they arose and followed him Matt. 20.34 David says the sun arises and man goes out to his labour till the evening Psal 104.22 23. when the sun of righteousness arises in the heart it is so So that this is a saving operation Now let this be a rule of tryal for young ones have you been prepared for subjection to Christ by a saving illumination do you know any thing of being called out of darkness into his marvelous light 1 Pet 2.9 can you say I was blind John 9.25 but now I see the soul that is savingly inlightened it sees that in sin it never saw before it sees that in Christ it never saw before That soul is far from the Yoke of Christ that was never inlightened with the light of Christ 2. The second thing is the convincing of the conscience Where the soul is brought to take up the Yoke of Christ it is the fruit of through convictions There must be a threefold conviction wrought upon the sinner before ever he will stoop to Christ A conviviction of sin a conviction of righteousness and a conviction of judgment this is through conviction and all conviction short of this leaves the soul short of Christ And therefore when ever the spirit of God comes to convince the soul to conversion he convinces of all these as you see John 16 8. When he is come he will convince the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment First He convinces of sin This is the next end of illumination He sets up a light to see sin and then applys the guilt of sin to the Conscience for though a man lies under the infinite guilt of sin and the dreadful wrath of God for it yet till the spirit of God do set this home upon a mans Conscience he never sees his condition nor considers with himself what to do No it is the being pricked at heart that causes this Acts 2.37 When they heard this they were pricked in their heart and what then then they cry out men and brethren what shall we do And therefore the spirit first deals with a man about his sins so he did to the first sinners he opens their eyes to see their nakedness and shame their sin and misery before the seed of the woman is promised Gen. 3.10.15 There is one instance instead of a thousand and that is of Paul I call it so because he tells you that Jesus Christ set him up for a pattern in his dealing with sinners 1 Tim. 1.16 And therefore look how Christ dealt with him to bring him under his Yoke and so he deals with all Now the first great work upon Paul was conviction of sin The Spirit of Christ by the word set sin home upon his Conscience and there the work began This is meant by the coming of the Commandment Rom. 7.9 When the commandment came sin revived and I dyed You may see it more particularly expressed in Acts 9.3 4 5 6. There shined round about him a light from heaven and he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying to him Saul Saul why persecutest thou me and he said who art thou Lord and the Lord said I am Jesus whom thou persecutest it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks And he trembling and astonished said Lord what wilt thou have me do Here 's a light and a voice there shined
them in the Lord and they shall walk up and down in his name What or who can be too hard for such as walk in the ways and worship of Christ with the strength of Christ Now the Lord Christ helps two ways 1. By his powerful intercession he is ever praying and pleading for you Heb. 7.25 2. By his Almighty Spirit for how are your sins mortified but by the Spirit Rom. 8.13 And how are your hearts quickened in duty but by the Spirit Joh. 6.63 And how are you guided in the ways of God but by the Spirit Joh. 16.13 And how are you taught but by the Spirit 1 Joh. 2.27 And who upholds you in your course but the Spirit Psal 51.12 Besides the grace the Spirit works in you at first you have spiritual incomes and supplies of the Spirit daily Phil. 1.19 And is not the Believers help then greater than his work now it was not so under the Law there was great service but little assistance but now the Christians help is greater then his work Phil. 2.13 for it is God that works in you to will and to do The works of Gospel Obedience are more sublime more spiritual and therefore more difficult than any of the works of the Law but so far as we have Communion with the power and strength of the Spirit to actuate and inable us they are all easy and pleasant Gospel duties may be difficult in respect of divine imposition but they are easy in regard of divine cooperation The Father sets the Child a Copy and bids it write the Child knows not how but yet takes the Pen and then the Father guides the hand and the Child writes after the Copy Lord sayes Austin give what thou commandest and then command what thou wilt 4. The wisdom of taking up Christs yoke appears in this that under this yoke though the weakness of your obedience is great yet the truth of your obedience is accepted God looks at truth in the inward parts Psal 51.6 O the many weaknesses that God passes by in his people where he finds the heart and affection true to him though there be much commanded yet the least you do is accepted Were it not for this there could be no serving him If thou Lord shouldst mark iniquities who could stand But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared Psal 130.3 4. God will not take advantage of your fallings and infirmities I will spare them as a man spares his son that serves him Mal. 3.17 O what a sweetness must this put into service how easie must it needs make the yoke of Christ when the least we do is accepted as a handful of goats hair was for the Temple when it came from a willing heart What reason therefore have we to bless the Lord that ever inclined our hearts to stoop to the yoke of Christ The wisdom of taking up Christs yoke is evident in this that herein true liberty consists This may seem a Paradox for sinners do therefore indulge themselves in their lusts because there is liberty and they therefore refuse Christs yoke because it abridges their liberty they cannot live as they list Now you must know there is a twofold liberty 1. A carnal liberty wherein a corrupt base heart takes a latitude to it self to live and act according to its own vitious inclinations without any restraint or controul Indeed the yoke of Christ is an enemy to this liberty and it were not worth the taking up if it should not for this liberty is only the licentiousness of lust and no man such a slave as he that is thus at liberty He is a servant to corruption 2 Pet. 2.19 Under the devils rule led captive by him at his will 1 Tim. 2.26 He is held in the chains of Hell and will you call this liberty are not the Saints at liberty in Heaven and yet there is none of this liberty there will ye call this liberty to be loaded with the guilt of sin to be bound over to damnation to be vexed daily with an accusing Conscience to have all the threats of the word lye against thee to have wrath hanging over thy head every moment and God ready to throw thee into Hell is this liberty when thou art in such a dreadful case that thou darest not think of dying for fear of hell and damnation better be the veryest gally slave in the world then thus at liberty But then 2. There is a Spiritual liberty which is wrought out for us by Christ the purchase of his blood John 8.36 If the son make you free then are ye free indeed And he that partakes of this liberty may well be said to be free indeed for he is freed from the curse of the Law Gal. 3.10 He is freed from the condemning power of sin Rom. 8.1 He is freed from the Spirit of Bondage Rom. 8.15 And he is freed from the dominion of sin Rom. 6.14 And a man never enjoyes this liberty till he comes under the yoke of Christ and is there not reason to bless God for drawing the heart to Christ 6. The wisdom of taking up Christs yoke appears in this that the longer you are under it the easier you will find it I will make it out in three things 1. The longer you wear it the lighter it will be it is not so in other matters A little burden in tract of time is heavy and the longer it lyes the heavyer it is because of a wast of strength by long bearing but Christs burden the longer it is born the lighter it is because though the burden is not diminished yet your strength is increased Psal 84.7 Job 17.9 They go from strength to strength He that hath clean hands shall grow stronger and stronger And as spiritual strength increases so spiritual difficulties must needs abate 2. The more progress you make in obedience the greater testimony you shall have from conscience of the uprightness of your hearts with God and you can't imagine unless you ever felt it what peace this brings in 2 Cor. 1.12 Nothing gives conscience that advantage to witness aloud to our case as godly sincerity in our obedience to Christ 3. Much obedience brings in much comfort The more seed the more sheaves that Christian is likest to injoy most comfort that walks most close with God in the way of obedience He hath comfort in the most difficult duties even in his sufferings for Christ and they are the most pinching part of his Yoke And yet as the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ 2 Cor. 1.5 And therefore Christ bids us rejoyce even in persecution Matth. 5.11 12. He hath comfort in the worst of times To the upright there ariseth light in darkness Psal 112.4 When the figtree doth not blossom Hab. 3.18 yet then he can joy in the God of his salvation CHAP. XVI Directs our obedience as to principles matter