difficult And therefore better lost than found That they are good in their kind but not the best things that it will be our happiness to live above them and our greatest delight not to delight in them Martha's Work was good but Mary's was better That it is sometimes necessary to want them and therefore never necessary inordinately to love them For In things of which there is no absolute necessity there is no great reality That inordinate Love to them is inconsistent 1 John 2. 15. with Love to God his to us and ours to him for they are to be lov'd only in him and for him Him we cannot love too much nor these too little That they will be but of little use and that to our Bodies only while we live and avail us nothing when we come to die it will then not signify any thing whether we fall under a great or small title die rich or poor as to this World so we die rich in Faith All these died in the Faith Heb. 11. 13. That the continuance of them is but Quae diuturna esse non possunt habent diuturnum tormentum short but the abuse of them will eternally torment Therefore it is better to be without them than to be made miserable by them That Riches may be found in Poverty Affatim dives qui cum Christo pauper and Fulness in Wants enough without them and more than they have in a Crucified Saviour who is virtually all A poor Believer is as great a contradiction as a dark Sun Thus Faith brings down the Market of worldly Things and lessens them in our esteem for as things appear to be so they are esteemed it draws a Cloud over this earthly Tabernacle and eclipses the Glory of it or rather shews that it has none condemns the folly of all that think not so and shews how much it concerns them that by Faith Gal. 2. 20. are crucified to the World neither insatiably to lust after the things of it nor inordinately to love them nor through discontent to complain for the want of them It is as much our Duty by Faith to moderate our Affections to what we have as it is to depend upon God for a supply of what we want 2. The Evil Things of it The Anchor is of most use in a Storm the Shield in a day of Battel and Faith in a time of Suffering Peter sunk in his Faith before he sunk in the Waters but Jonah when under the Waters in the Belly of Hell was Jonah 2. 3 4. supported by it and the Primitive Christians were at ease when tortur'd at liberty when captiv'd Conquerors whilst subdu'd and out of weakness were made strong through Faith bearing Heb. 11. 34. God's Trials with God's Strength and so may all when suffering for by this we know That no afflictive Evil comes by chance God as the Efficient orders and disposes them That Suffering is part of a Christian's Work as well as Doing They must not run to it before they are call'd nor from it when they are That all our Sufferings are nothing to Christ's the Cross not so heavy nor the Cup so bitter for We taste Love where he did Wrath. That our Sufferings when right for Cause Manner and End are Christ's as well as ours viz. for his sake and such as he is sensible of As God he knows them and as Man is sensible of them and quantum sufficit suffers in them That in all our Sufferings Christ is with us when Troubles are nigh he is nigh not only as a Sufferer but as a Comforter Israel had a greater Light by Night Exod. 13. 21 than by Day That the heaviest Sufferings are but light and the longest but short they may lie heavy but shall not lie long the Rod may fall on us but shall not Psal 125. 3. rest there The Viper shall be shaken off That all our Sufferings are attended with a good Issue The Cup is perfum'd by Christ's Lips who drank it off and the Cross sanctified by him who died upon it and shall sooner or later work for Rom. 8. 28. good All that suffered for him had ever a good issue in the end That Suffering comes within the Reward as well as Doing Christ's Crown of Thorns was an Earnest of his Crown of Glory and his suffering Mountain was his ascending Mountain to it and they that suffer with him are assured by the Promise to which Faith has an eye that they shall Rom. 8. 17. reign with him also The Cross shall be crown'd Christ overcame the World it was John 16. 33. 1 John 5. 45. conquer'd by him and by us in him for by Faith in him we have a perfect Victory over it in the Good and Evil Things the Smiles and Frowns Honours and Reproaches Gains and Losses Joys and Sorrows of it for by this we are carried above the Hopes and fortified against the Fears of any thing from it They that neither hope for any thing Nec spe nec metu from the World nor fear any thing have overcome the World 4. Over Death the last but not the least Enemy When Adam sinn'd Death took hold of him and of us in him he could never get free from that Enemy tho' it was long before he fell by his Hands Nor can we for we are all under the Sentence of Death appointed Heb. 9. 17. to die and must e're long fall by it for it is a Sentence not to be reverst Death will triumph over our Vita moriens conflixit cum vivente morte non quem mors fecit sed quo mors facta est peccato morimur non morte peccamus Aug. Bodies but by Faith in Christ we may triumph over Death have help at a dead lift from him who fought this King of Terrors and by his Death took away the Sting of it by his Resurrection the Strength of it and by his Ascension the Hope of it ever to conquer Gratias tibi agimus Christe salvator quod tam potentem adversarium dum occidiris occidisti Hierom. or prevail more he has weaken'd its fatal Power rescued us from its Dominion and made us Heirs of Life which by Faith we have a Title to and by Death a Way made into the possession of By Christ Death's Sting the Weapon 1 Cor. 15. 56. by which it kills is pull'd out and the bitterness of Death is past Thus Faith in a crucified Saviour is the spoil of all our Enemies whose Arrows have been sharp in their Hearts Psal 45. 5. and affords a strength against them beyond what all the Angels in Heaven or Men upon Earth can do When the Israelites saw their Enemies the Egyptians dead on the Sea-shore they sang a Song of Praise unto Exod. 14. 30. 15. 1 6. God whose right Hand became glorious in Power and dash'd in pieces their Enemies and by Faith in Christ all
Interest in the Promises 5. We have Victory over our Enemies 1. We have Union with Christ What this Union is is hard to tell the word Mystical implies as much but that there is a Union is most certain for it is one of the great Mysteries of Godliness It is not the Essential Union of divers Persons in one Nature nor the Hypostatical Union of two Natures in one Person but more than a Political Natural or Moral Union for it is Mystical viz. of divers Natures in one Person and Spiritual not outward by External Profession only but inward by Internal Implantation made by the Spirit on Christ's part and by Faith on ours by that Primarily and Efficiently by this Secondarily and Instrumentally There is a Moral Union by Love and a Mystical one by Faith a Union both Real and Inseparable 1. Real As Real as the Union betwixt God and Christ tho' in a different manner that is Essential and Substantial this Mystical only yet not less Real because Mystical and Christ and they John 17. 21. who are thus united are as truly One as God and Christ are they are one with Christ tho' not the same one Body tho' not one Person 2. Inseparable The Ax may sever the corporal Union betwixt Root and Branches and the natural Union betwixt Head and Members Death the Conjugal Union betwixt Husband and Wife Time the Artificial Union betwixt the Foundation and Building distance of Place or an Accidental Difference the Moral Union betwixt Friend and Friend Vnus uterqut fait alter ego who were one in Affection and in whom there was but one Soul tho' two Bodies but neitheir Men nor Devils can break this Union betwixt Christ and them no nor Death it self Jer. 31. 3. 32. 40. Hos 2. 19 Rom. 8. 38 39. whether Natural or Violent The Hypostatical Union was not broken by Death the Vision was suspended but the Union was not broken nor can the Mystical it is then more near and firm and the Reason is because it depends on God's Will and not on theirs The great Honour conferr'd upon us is by the Hypostatical Union to our John 13. 1. Heb. 7. 25. 2. 16. Nature and the Mystical Union to our Person an Honour above any conferr'd upon Angels for Christ took not on him the Nature of Angels nor has he at any time said unto them Ye are my Body Other Graces make us like to Christ This makes us one with him 2. We are reconciled to God Adam by Creation was a Son of Luke 3. 38. Love by Corruption he became a Son of Wrath his state of Innocency was a state of Favour that of his degeneracy a state of Wrath in that God and he were one in Point of Affection but in this at Variance Sin separated those Friends he rebell'd and God proclaim'd his displeasure against him Adam being the Natural Head and Representative of all Mankind the Covenant made with him concerned them as well as him being as naturally in him as Branches in the Root sinning in him they fell with him and became Enemies to God haters of Rom. 1. 30. him and hated by him Enemies without a Power to flee from him a Strength to withstand him or a Will to be reconciled to him God that in Ephes 2. 7. 3. 11. 2 Cor. 5. 19. 2 Tim. 1. 9. 1 Pet. 1. 20. the Ages to come he might shew the exceeding Riches of his Grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus in whom he was reconciling the World to himself ordain'd him before time and sent him in the fulness of Time to make reconciliation for Iniquity by reconciling him to the World and the World Gal. 4. 4. Dan. 9. 24. to him Christ the Prince of Peace as the only Mediator betwixt God and us was usher'd into the World by a Quire of Angels with a Song of Peace on Earth peace and good-will towards Luke 2. 14. Men while living he published it and when dying purchased it for us In the first Adam we lost Peace in the second Adam by whom the Enmity is abolished we may find it but not unless by Faith in him we apply to us what he by his Death hath purchas'd for us for tho' merited for us without any Qualification in us it will not be conferr'd upon us without an Application by us the Blessing of Peace is the Blessing of Faith in Christ who as a Prophet published it as a Priest purchased it and as a King applies it to none but them and to all them that believe in him He died to merit it and ever lives to maintain it by him they have a right to it and by Faith in him the possession of it 3. Our Duties are accepted In the first Covenant the Person was accepted for the Work 's sake In the Second the Work is for the Person 's Ephes 1. 6. sake viz. accepted in Christ Until our Persons are accepted we are Enemies Objects of Wrath and appear before God as an incensed Judg upon the Seat of Justice we stand at a Exod. 24. 1. distance and worship as the Elders of Israel afar off with Fear but when they are accepted we come to him as a reconciled Father upon a Ephes 3. 12. Heb. 10. 22. Throne of Grace and may come in the full Assurance of Faith with boldness by Faith our Persons are accepted and by the same Faith our Works are Faith justifies our Persons Works justify our Faith and Faith sanctifies our Works they shew our Faith to 1 Pet. â— 2. Splendida peccata omnis virtus absque Christo vitium be good and Faith makes them so for they are all but splendid Sins without it viz. without Faith looking to the Command as the ground of them to the Promise as the encouragement to them to God's Glory as the end of them to the Spirit for assistance in them and to Christ for the acceptance of them the Law as a Rule directs the Promise quickens the End excites the Spirit assists and Christ presents but not unless they are by Faith offer'd up in his Name in whose strength all our Duties are to be perform'd and for whose sake alone they are accepted 1 Pet. 2. 5. There is no pleasing God meritoriously without Christ nor instrumentally without Faith in him without whom the best Duty and worst Sin are both alike 4. We have an Interest in the Promises The Promises run for this Life and that to come an Entail that can never be cut off and are all as so many Bonds and Bills under God's Hand either Explicitly or Implicitly made over to Faith None are ours until we believe nor any that are not when we do for if Christ is ours all are ours â— Coâ— 3. 23. The Rabbins suppose that Abraham's â—en 24. 10 Servant when sent to get a Wife for his Son Isaac carried with him Tesseram hospitalem wherein was written
for as Clemens his Scholar says whilst he liv'd upon the hearing of a Cock crow he wept His Faith was great when he threw himself into the Sea to go to Christ but his Sorrow was greater when he threw himself into a Sea of his own Tears for sinning against him Once he was nothing but words tho' all be Mat. 26. 33. offended yet will I never be offended but then he was nothing but Tears the remembrance of his Sin was bitter and so was his Sorrow for he wept bitterly and so must all that are true Penitents rising up and lying down Mat. 26. ult Psal 38. 6. with mournful Confessions of Sin and with inward hearty and daily sorrow for it Ever fearing lest they should Sin and Semper in timore semper in dolore ever sorrowing because they have The Heathen wish'd that he might ever laugh but instead of wishing one another much Joy we may better for justly wish one another much Sorrow we have been impudent in sinning and must be humble in sorrowing for it we cannot be found in Innocency it is fit therefore we should be found in Tears We cannot with the Purifier under the Law offer up a Lamb of Innocency we must therefore a pair of mournful Turtles it being all the amends we can make for our sinning the best way we can testify our Love to Christ who shed Blood as well as Tears for our Sins and the most acceptable Sacrifice we can offer unto God who has an Eye an Ear and a Bottle for our Tears An Eye Tears blot our Book but they are Isa 38. 5. written in God's he sees them and takes notice of them An Ear. Mutae sunt loquuntur dearsum cadunt sursum petunt ponders vocis habent Sighs and Tears are the Rhetorick of an humbled Heart they are words they descend and yet ascend they are dumb and yet speak and God hears their Voice Psal 6. 8. A Bottle Tears of godly Sorrow are Angels Lachrymae poenitentium angelorum vinum Bern. Wine and none of that noble Liquor shall be lost nor fall to the Ground For Christ the Sun of Righteousness will exhale them God will bottle them up and the Spirit the Comforter will turn them as Christ did the Water into Wine For They that mourn and they only Mat. 5. 4. shall be comforted Since then God has an Eye for our Tears let our Eyes be daily filled with them since he has an Ear for them let the Voice of our weeping go daily up into it to drown the cry of our Sins Gen. 18. 20 21. that is great and gone up to Heaven and since he has a Bottle for them let Job 14. 17. us who have filled his Bag with our Sins fill his Bottle with our Tears pouring out floods of Tears for those floods of Sins we have poured down Musick on the Water and Repentance with Tears are ever most pleasant 3. Hatred to Sin Contrition if true rises up to Detestation and then Detestation is Psal 97. 10. Rom. 12. 9 right 1. When it is to Sin as Sin To the Intrinsecal Evil more than the Extrinsecal the Evil of Sin more than the Evil of Punishment the Filth more than the Guilt and the defiling more than the damning Nature of it not only because of Hell but worse than Hell more to the Hell that is in it than the Hell that comes by it 2. When Universal Anger is against Individuals but Hatred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to the whole kind and if right here it is to all Sin and especially to the Sin that once we loved most 3. When implacable We never hate Sin truly unless we hate it to the Death Some are angry with Sin when it has impair'd their Credit in the World and made a breach upon their Peace within but are soon pleased with it again for Anger is a mixt Passion and cease from the Act of Sin for a time and yet love it but hatred to Sin if right is irreconcileable A thing that is poison'd we pity but a thing that is poisonous we hate the Serpent is hated above all Creatures and of all and so must Sin of a far more venemous Nature be hated by us The Israelites hated every Canaanite 4. Departure from Sin Humiliation if right leads to and issues in Reformation Repentance consists of two parts viz. Aversion from Sin and Conversion to God 1. Aversion from Sin Repentance is a Covenant-Engagement against Sin in the use of all means to keep that Covenant And is then right When Universal viz. from all Sin forsaking gross Sins and bewailing unavoidable Infirmities Hypocrisy turns from some Sins or from one Sin to another true Repentance departs from all When perpetual True Repentance sues out a Bill of Divorce with a resolution never to return to folly more When out of hatred to it We may cease from the Act of Sin while we love it indulge the Lust even then when we deny the Act and hate the evil Consequence of Sin and yet never hate the Evil in it but as no hatred to Sin is right unless it is to the Evil that is in it so no departure from it neither unless it arises from a hatred to it When a Traveller changes his way it is out of dislike 2. Conversion to God from whom and against whom we have turn'd by Hos 6. 1. Isa 1. 16 17. Titus 2. 12. 1 Pet. 2. 11 12. Rom. 8 1 13. 1 Thess 1 9. Sin Ceasing to do Evil is not a learning to do well nor departing from Evil a doing Good nor is it enough to deny Ungodliness unless we live godly not to walk after the Flesh unless we walk after the Spirit to cease to bring forth the Fruits of the Flesh unless we bring forth the Fruits of the Spirit Fruits meet for Repentance nor that Mat. 3. 8. we turn from Sin for we never truly repent unless we turn to God nor turn to God truly unless universally viz. In all the ways of Righteousness and Holiness Perpetually Optima poenitentia nova vita Wholly and for ever To him we cannot in this Life fully turn and therefore must daily so to him as never willingly to turn from him Once is above any Indulgence granted Of the Danger of delaying Repentance SOme reject Repentance as a legal and needless thing some counterfeit and dissemble it some mistake it but most neglect and delay it Mistakes and Delays are two great Impediments to it yet more delay than refuse it Our Passage to Heaven is dangerous we either split on the Rock of Presumption or fall into the Gulph of Despair and all Delays are grounded either on Despair or Presumption 1st Despair which arises Either from a sense of Sin 's Greatness as Impardonable or a fear of the loss of time as Irrevocable 1. From a sense of Sin 's Greatness as Impardonable The