is dead while she is alive that is dead in pleasure dead in sin dead in the vanity of her own heart and yet such a Widow liveth she liveth not only a natural life but she is alive in her own conceit in regard of a spiritual life for if she conceived she were a dead creature a damned creature it would kill all her pleasure it would kill the heart of any creature under heaven it would break the neck of all her pleasure but in that she took her pleasure it was a plain token that she was not killed Now for the Opening of the Point I will do these Three things First I will shew what this livelinesse is and wherein it consists Secondly I will shew what the effects of it are Thirdly the Uses First I will shew what this livelinesse is and it consists in these Three things I could branch them into Four but I will reduce them into Three Heads 1. First It consists in the non-appearance of a mans dead and damned estate So long as a mans dead and damned estate doth not appear unto him so long a man thinks he is alive and that he is not a dead man he is not a man that hath the sentence of condemnation lying upon him so long as the law hath not come and shewed a man his wretched estate and made his damnable estate appear in its own colours unto him why he is a live man he conceives himself to be alive because the law of God hath not convinced him of the contrary if the law of God doth seise upon a mans heart and in its own colours appear to a mans eyes and hold it self as a glasse to a mans understanding and shews him his wretchednesse and what a cursed estate he is in before God this will kill his very heart and break the livelinesse that is in him and make him burst out into out-cries Oh! I am a dead man I am a damned man so that the livelinesse that is here spoken of consists in the non-appearance of a mans dead and damnable estate As for example an Adulterer his damnable estate doth not appear to him he knows not that he is a dead man as Prov. 9. 18. He knows not that the dead are there and that her guests are in the depth of hell when he goes to lie with his Whore and commit his wickednesse he doth not think that they are dead and damned men that are there nor that they are in the pit of Hell Though his Conscience may tell him that he is wicked and sinful and wretched and that he is half dead yet he is not a dead man he is not absolutely a dead man he doth not know this It may be he will confesse it Lord I am a dead man Lord I am a damned man it may be he will confesse this in his prayer because he hath some light but yet his heart is not taken down the liveliness of his heart is not killed I will prove it to you for let another man a Minister of God or a child of God say he is a dead man a damned man one that lies under the wrath of God he will deny it and say he is uncharitable and judgeth hardly and why may he not be a live man and a good Christian he hopes he is he doth not know that he is a dead man as the wise-man speaks Prov. 14. 12. There is a way that seemeth right to a man but the issues thereof are death that is there is a way that seems to be a way of life and a man seems to be alive that walks in that way but the truth is it is a way of death and a man that goeth in that way is a dead man and a damned man but yet in the mean time while he walks in that way it seems to be a way of life unto him there is a non-appearance of the deadnesse and damnednesse of a mans estate and condition that walks in that way and therefore it seems to him to be a right way and a way of life and there is great hope in him that he shall live for evermore and many men do walk in that way and therefore it seems to him to be a right way and a way of life it seems right to a man but the end thereof is death and this is the First thing wherein this liveliness consists the non-appearance of a mans dead and damned estate 2. Secondly It consists in Performance he is able as he conceives to do the duties that God commands he hath wisdom and ability at home to go about his affairs he hath understanding and supply at home he hath life and sufficiency to go about these and these duties and performances let the law tell him he must be sober he hath life to avoid the Ale-house and if he commit a Drunken Act he would have you think he hath grace to be sorry for it and let a man tell him he is a dead man he hath no grace in him no life in him he will tell you he doth thus and thus he hears Gods Word and he Prayes to God and he Trusts in God and he Believes in God your telling of him this doth not kill his heart he thinks he is alive for all this nay let the law of God come and tell him He is a dead man for all his doing this will not kill him neither so long as the Lord himself doth not open his eyes and clear his eye-sight and discover his sins and convince his Conscience though the law say he is a dead man and a damned man this doth not kill him he can wait upon God and perform these and these duties Then let the law of God say He is a dead man for all this he must deny himself why so he will I confesse Lord I am an unrighteous man a wretched man a sinful creature and all my righteousnesse is as menstruous raggs and now he thinks all is well but the law of God hath not yet come home unto him and shewed him his heavie estate but he is alive in regard of the performance of the duty and thinks verily he hath life at home in him whereas if the law of God did come home and charge his estate upon him and shew him what obedience the law requires what severity and truth in the inward parts it would break a mans heart and kill him notwithstanding all performance but in the mean time that a mans heart is not killed and the law hath not given him his deaths wound he thinks he is alive Cry aloud saith God lift up thy voice like a trumpet shew my people their transgressions and the house of Israel their sins Isai 58. 1. there the Lord looks upon the people as dead wretched sinners and abominable people but yet notwithstanding they thought they were alive in performances as we may see vers 2. Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my wayes even as a
this will make our hearts that they will not be so wanton and our spirits that they will not be so brisk though they would never so fain mind earthly things they cannot If the Lord would be pleased but to charge his law upon the heart it would make the stoutest spirit to yield Thirdly This takes away the imputation that is laid upon the Word of God many think hardly of the Word of God it takes away the spirits of men the preaching of the Law it pulls down the spirits of men and breaks mens hearts it makes men have no spirits as they said of Jeremy thou makest the knees feeble so the law infeebles the knees and takes away the spirits of a man why here we see that the law of God will do so it is the property of the law to do so wheresoever it comes it kills the heart and pulls down all the pearknesse of it The law it will ever break a mans bones as David speakes Let me hear of joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce Psal 51. The Lord had broken his very back bone by the law and now he could not rejoyce Isai 57. 15. I the Lord dwell with him that is of an humble contrite spirit to revive the spirit of the humble when the law of God hath broken a mans heart and made him contrite he is a dead man till the Lord comes to revive him and raise up his spirit I come now to the Second part of the Text When the Commandment came sin revived and I died Here also as in the former part are two things to be expounded First What doth the Apostle here mean by reviving When the Commandment came sin revived Secondly What doth he mean by dying I died When the Law and Commandment came and discovered me to my self and shewed me what a damnable thing sin was and what a wretched dead creature I was for committing the same and how I lay under the guilt thereof sinne revived and I died Therefore what doth the Apostle mean by sin revived I Answer The Apostle doth not mean here as if sin were indeed dead in him before the commandment came for sin is alive in every carnal mans heart before the commandment comes and therefore he cannot mean thus when the commandment came sin revived as if it were truly and really dead before for his sins were not dead in him when he was Pharisee his sins were not mortified when he was in his unregenerated estate and condition sin was not dead in him that cannot be the meaning as if sin were dead before and now revived But he speaks of the Appearance of the death of sin though it were not dead before yet it did appear to be dead as a Snake in cold weather though it be alive yet it appears to be dead the life of it is in a swound though it hath life yet the cold benums it and keeps it from appearing So before the commandment came sin was in Paul but it seemed to have no life but when the commandment came and discovered plainly what a dead creature he was then the life of sin came indeed to be manifested Now the Law of God doth manifest the life of sin Three wayes it manifests three lifes of sin There are three lifes of sin that appear to the soul when the law comes 1. First There is the life of Aggravation the Law of God doth aggravate and point out sinne to the full life of it it makes sinne appear in the true nature of it the true nature of every thing is the life of the thing the nature of a man is the life of a man Now the law did shew him the nature of his sins it painted them out to the very life in their lively colours this made him see how his sins were aggravated what a cursed and damned thing sin was and what a person it was committed against this made sin appear unto him in the very life of it therefore in the 13. vers of this Chapter the Apostle saith Sin that it might appear si◠wrought death in me that sin might be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 measure sinful by the commandment that is when the commandment comes and is manifested to the soul it makes the life of sin appear the life of sin is then manifested the Law of God like a glasse doth shew the life of the Commandment and the very nature of all sinning and transgressing Now before the Law came thus home unto him he could not thus see sin he could say he was a sinner and had committed these and these sins But what these sins were and the exceeding sinfulnesse of these sins he did not see that He had a dead kind of picture of his sins before but the life thereof was not manifested but the Law of God did make his sin revive and made him see his sinnes in the life of them 2. Secondly There is the life of irritation as I may so call it or of itching and egging a man This is another life of sin whereby it is full of operation and working in the Soul the operation of a thing is the life of a thing Now before the Commandment came sin seemed dead it wrought indeed many evils in him but he did not think his heart had been so full of life and so full of activity against Gods Law and commandments Sin seemed to lye dead before but now when the Commandment came and set upon his heart and began to charge him with better obedience now his heart grew itching and marvellous full of life unto lust Hereupon sin egged him the more on to lust It is like water when a man goes about to stop it it runs the more violently So it is with sin in the heart the more the Law of God goes about to stop it and hinder it the more eager it is and the more full of life and working as the Apostle speaks ver 8. without the Law sin was dead there was no such working of sin in my mortal body then but when the Commandment came when the Law was charged upon my heart then sin took occasion hereby to be the more violent and work in me all manner of Concupiscence before I committed sin without any check I had vain thoughts and foolish courses and many a lust in my soul and I went to it as if it had been a good thing not as if it had been evil But when the Law of God came to shew me the slacknesse of my obedience and to controle me and convince me and to stop the course of sin it wrought all manner of Concupiscence in me it wrought before in Paul for it wrought all his security and all his hardnesse of heart and all his vain thoughts and imaginations but this was but a dead kind of working in comparison of that which it wrought after the Commandment came There are none that have such active Rebellions against the
under ground their lives are hidden with God indeed their persons and outward actions and courses may be seen nay wicked men may do those very outward actions which they do they may Pray together with them and come to Church together with them but this new workmanship they cannot see that runs along under ground the world seeth it not neither can they know it because they know not Christ the Author of it Thus we see the second thing namely Why it is so called Now the Third Thing is Wherein this blessed Work doth consist and it consists in Two Things Joh. 1. 12. The Evangelist saith To as many as received him he gave power to become the Sons of God Here be Two Things and both these Regeneration consists of First A Passive receiving of Christ Whosoever receives him Secondly An Active Title to God as to a Father They have power to become the Sons of God First A Passive receiving of Christ To as many as received him for he came to his own and they received him not his own even his own Elect would not receive him till he made them receive him but as many as received him as many as were made passively to receive him did receive him also actively so that this word implyes the Passive receiving of Christ for there is none can receive any thing except it be given him from above Joh. 3. 27. That is except there be first a passive reception of it It is a strange phrase No man can receive Christ till Christ is first received of him he can never take Christ till Christ come into him till Christ ingraft himself into him and him into Christ this is an act of God it is a passive receiving of Christ the reason is because all the Graces and all the Activity of Gods people flowes from this their Faith and all for Faith is an act which receives from the passive receiving of Christ as Paul speaks to the Colossians As you have received Christ so walk in him Faith receives Christ that is an active receiving of Christ but there was a passive receiving of Christ first for a man is in Christ first in a passive manner before he is in him in an active manner Christ hath taken him already before he can take Christ actually This is the first Thing wherein this work of Regeneration consists The Passive receiving of Christ Secondly It consists in having an active power and â—itle to become a Son of God together with Jesus Christ These are the Two Things wherein Regeneration consists I know many Divines branch it otherwise and make Regeneration to consist otherwise First Of Mortification Secondly Of Vivification First Of Mortification Whereby the Spirit kills the Lusts of the Flesh more as Rom. 8. 13. If ye live after the Flesh ye shall die but if ye through the Spirit mortifie the deeds of the Flesh ye shall live Mark here is Mortification and it is done by the Spirit if you through the spirit mortifie the deeds of the body Secondly There is Vivification that is when a man doth not only die unto sin but rise up again to a new life Rom. 6. 11. Likewise reckon ye your selves to be dead unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. This is the other work of Vivification when a man is made alive unto God and is made able by the spirit of God to be alive unto God and to wind himself out of death into life by the spirit of the holy One. These be the Two Parts whereof many Divines make Regeneration to consist of but though they beat at the same thing yet I rather make them the Effects and Consequents of Regeneration as flowing from Regeneration this passive work goeth before a man never goeth on in mortifying the works of the Flesh and never raiseth himself up to this heavenly life till he be Regenerated so that regeneration is the first ingrafting of a man into Christ whereby he is alive that he may do all these things it is a power put into him wherby he may believe repent so that Believing and Repentance and Mortification and Vivification are acts of the new creature a man must therefore be a new creature first now this is by Regeneration so that Regeneration consists only of these Two Things First Of a passive receiving of Christ the Son of God Secondly In having a title to be the Son of God and Regeneration doth not only bring a relative change but a real change to a man If you would know the meaning of the phrase A relative change is this when there is a change in a man from that he was before but the change doth not lye in a man as the change of Justification before he was not Justified now he is Justified the man is changed but he is not changed in himself but it stands only in Gods imputation he is not just in himself but by imputation just Now the real change is when God doth purifie and make up the defects in a man more and more that is a real change so that I say Regeneration is not only a relative change whereby God accounts a man as a child but it breeds a real change in a man it gives a man a spiritual Being for the Spirit of God when it comes to work this work is a fruitful principle of all good in that man more and more Therefore the Apostle saith The fruits of the Spirit are joy peace long-suffering c. Gal. 5. 22. 'T is true the Spirit doth not bring forth these Graces till after a man is regenerate but by working that Regeneration which makes the soul to bring forth these fruits and making the heart an honest heart and so a good ground to bring forth these seeds the Spirit is a fruitful principle of all good in that man Thus you see the Third Thing viz. Wherein Regeneration consists Now the Fourth Thing is the Reasons of this Point Why the Spirit of God doth work this work of Regeneration The First Reason is Because it is meerly according to the Will of God Man hath no power at all man hath no activity it is meerly at the pleasure of God whether he will do it or no Jam. 1. 18. Of his own Will begat he us he only had an hand in it he only did it and it was meerly at his good Will and Pleasure he might have chosen whether he would have done it or no it is no fruit of our liberty it is no brood of our breeding it is meerly the free act of God in a man Joh. 6. 44. No man cometh to me except the Father draweth him There Christ sheweth it this bringing of a man to be in Christ it cannot be from any man except the Father draw him except he send forth his heavenly Spirit he can never come to Christ all our sufficiency is from God we cannot so much as think a good
receive the sentence of death and to be a dead man if a man be once condemned if the sentence of death be passed upon him then he is without hope that the Judg will save him because the sentence of condemnation is passed upon him A man may see himself worthy of death and yet hope for mercy Rom. 1. 31. Therefore the law doth pronounce the sentence of death upon him and makes a man in a second degree dead Nay Thirdly The law makes a man see there is no hope of return as it is with a dead man when a man is truly dead there is no return from death there is no rising again as the Wise-man speaks of the strange women Prov. 2. 18 19. Surely her house tendeth to death and her paths unto the dead they that go unto her return not again neither take they hold of the wayes of life Here the Wise-man sets forth the infinite misery and damnable estate of such a creature and the irrecoverableness of such a person without the extraordinary mercy of God Ordinarily such persons are seldom or never brought to repentance ordinarily they are irrecoverable So the Law makes a man see he is guilty of death and it passeth the sentence of condemnation upon him and it makes him see there is no repeal of that sentence thus the law leaves him Now a man would think Can a man be more dead then thus How can a man be more dead Yet he may be a thousand times more dead for the livelynesse of a man is but in a swound all this while a man cannot be brisk and peark and self-conceited he is now laid in a swound but is not stark dead But when a man comes to be Evangelically dead he is more dead a great deale And I will shew you it in these three things 1. First He is most dead that is hardest to recover Now when a man is legally dead it is easie to recover that man let but the lash of the law be taken off let but God let him alone and the profits and pleasures of the world will make him alive again his friends and vanities and delights will put life into him again it is an easie matter to recover this man but let a man be evangellically dead when the Gospel hath deaded a man he is a thousand times more dead and a great deal harder to recover nothing can recover that man but Christ let all the profits in the world come they cannot chear him without Christ if the devil should come and put into his minde all good conceits and the good opinion of the world If the Ministers should tell him he is in a good estate they cannot quicken his heart he is dead still he is harder a thousand times to be revived then the other as the Apostle saith Col. 3. 2. 3. Set your affections on things that be above not on things that are on earth for ye are dead and your life is hid in Christ The Gospel hath made you dead and you cannot be revived by any thing but Christ your life is hid with Christ do not you set your affections on things that are below they can never put life into you therefore let not them take up your minds and affections any more for your life is in Christ alone 2. Secondly He is most dead that life it self cannot make alive When a man is but legally dead the law hath made him a dead man and killed him and shewed him he is a damned creature this man let him have but a little life or any thought of life come into him let him have any affections towards God any seeming desires it will make him think I am alive But if the Gospel once have made a man a dead man life it self cannot quicken him Christ himself cannot make this man a live man in himself though life come into him and though he hath life from God yet he himself is dead I am dead through the law saith Paul that I might live unto God thus I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and that life I now live in the flesh I live by Faith in the Son of God Gal. 2. 19 20. When the Gospel had made him dead for that is the meaning of the words he was not only dead by the law but by the power of the Gospel working by the law Now saith he though I have life and Christ be come into me and lives in me yet I do not live I live but not I but it is Christ that liveth in me I live yet do not mistake me I am a dead man I have no life it is Christ that liveth in me when a man is evangelically dead it makes a man content that God should keep life in his hand and keep the purse in his hand and all in his hand it makes him content to be without strength and ability and to have nothing in his own hand but to have all from the Lord and he saith I am a dead man and if I ever have comfort I have none in my self I must go to Christ for comfort and life and strength and ability and so for power and activity and riches and means maintenance and every thing it is not my parts and gifts that can help me to them but I must go to Christ to fetch them now it is the desire of mans heart to have life at home he cannot abide to have life in anothers hands and though the law and hell it self proclaim a man a dead man and make a man see himself a dead man yet it cannot kill this Principle a man would have life and strength in his own hand and ability and sufficiency in his own custody we may see this Principle in Gods own Children though this Principle be begun to be killed yet it rests partly in Gods children there is still a secret lust in their hearts to have life and grace and strength in their own keeping and if any child of God be negligent in coming to God it is because of this Principle that remains in him 3. Thirdly He is most dead that death hath most power over Now when a man is legally dead and the law hath made him a dead man though he be a dead man yet death hath no power over him his heart is stubborn still and will not look toward Christ and the Gospel he is still as stubborn as ever he was he will roar and howl and hear every Sermon but still he hath a hard heart the law hath not power to break his heart to powder and to soften his heart but when a man is evangelically dead when the Gospel hath made him dead as it doth before it quickens a man it breaks the sturdinesse of a mans heart and shatters a man all to pieces that is the meaning of that place Psal 147. 3. He healeth those that are broken in heart and bindeth up their sores Now he is thus made a dead
man it makes his heart to burst under the weight of his sins and it beats him to powder but a man that is onely legally dead he is heart-whole still and his spirit is as stout against the kind working of the Gospel as ever it was nay worse a great deal there are none more hardened then those that see themselves dead damned creatures by the power of the law without the power of the Gospel But when the Gospel comes it breaks the heart to powder Isa 57. 15. Thus saith the high and lofty one He that inhabiteth Eternity whose name is Holy I dwell in the high and holy place and with him who is of an humble and contrite spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to give life to them that are of a contrite heart This man is the object of Mercy that is evangelically dead he is the formal object of mercy why because he is dead with such a kind of death as hath gotten power over him power to break his heart to make it an humble and contrite heart now saith the Lord I will revive such a man This man is the formal object of mercy and into him eternal life will come 2. The Second thing I promised to shew you is the difference between these two between legal and evangelical Privation Between one that is legally dead and one that is dead as the Gospel deads a man before it quickens him 1. First He that is legally dead lies all along in his death but when the Gospel makes a man a dead man it makes him stand up that he might have life Ephes 5. 14. Awake thou that sleepest and stand up from the dead and Christ shall give thee life He doth not mean stand up from being dead but stand up from the dead and then Christ shall give thee life he means such a standing up from the dead as before Christ gives him life the Gospel doth thus far awaken a man though he be more dead a thousand times then he that is dead by the law yet thus far it quickens him that he stands up from his secure estate when the law comes and shews a man that he is a dead man he still lies under his sins he is a dead man and cannot stand up that Christ may give him life That is the First thing 2. Secondly He that is legally dead made dead only by the law he is deaf to the Gospel but when a man is evangelically dead it boors his ears and makes him hear the voice of the Word and not only so but the voice of Christ in the Word Isa 55. 3. Incline your ears and come unto me hear and your soul shall live He calls those that were evangelically dead hear and your soul shall live they are made able to hear Let their profits and old courses and old companions come and tempt them to walk as they have done they are deaf of that ear they cannot go that way to work no now their ears are open heaven-wards seek the Lord and you shall live Amos 5. 6. They are made to seek the Lord thus much life they have though they are more dead in regard of their own misery then one that is dead by the law yet thus much life they have put into them that they will go and seek unto God in the use of the means and follow him up and down and nothing will satisfy the heart but Christ they leave no stone unroled they seek up and down everywhere 3. Thirdly He that is legally dead it is a kind of death to love but he that is evangelically dead it is a death of love when the Church in the Canticles was but sensible of the countenance of Christ she was presently sick of love I charge you O ye daughters of Jerusalem if ye find my wel beloved tell him that I am sick of love Cant. 5. There is a great deal of difference between sicknesse and death death is a total privation of life sicknesse is but a partial privation now when the Gospel hath wrought upon a man that he hath some of Christ and is not deprived of all that privation makes him sick of love but when the Gospel makes a man see he is dead and altogether deprived of Christ now he is dead of love when a man is legally dead this is his death that he is damned and must go to hell this is his death that he hath no mercy not that he hath not grace and holiness and Christ but if a man be evangelically dead this is his death that he hath not Christ The Use is this If there be any that the law hath made dead rest not there but labour that the Gospel may make you dead also when thou art humbled by the law thou mayest think that mercy is prepared for thee but thy lusts may recover again and that damned life that is in thee may recover again therefore labour to be more deaded by the Gospel that thou mayest have a total death begun in thee that thou mayest have thy deaths wound given thee deep not only to be in a swoond but to be dead indeed Joh. 11. Christ staid four dayes after Lazarus was dead before he would raise him because he would have him irrecoverably dead before he would raise him Lord saith Martha he stinstinketh for he hath been dead four dayes vers 39. If he had raised him sooner his glory had not been so great so thou must labour to be dead indeed and to be buried and to be loathsome and abominable and then Christ will quicken thee It is certain that Gods Children have some of this death wrought in them before they are quickned at all for death is before quickning in order of nature there must be a corruption of one thing before there can be a generation of another there must be a privation of one form before there can be an introduction of another A child of God must be dead before he can be quickned Now then if he will have more life he must labour to be dead more and more now thou must labour to have this death truly begun to be wrought in thee thou must labour to have the love of this world and self-conceitednesse altogether dead in thee Hos 6. 2. After two dayes will he revive us and the third day will he raise us up and we shall live in his sight A man may be alive though he have been seemingly dead twenty four hours therefore it is a good custom among us to keep men near two dayes before we bury them that we may be sure they are throughly dead for there are many have been buried alive so after two dayes he will revive us and the third day he will raise us up when a man is dead indeed and hath his liveliness throughly killed in him then God will revive him if he should revive him before his glory would not be so great if he should revive him
nation that did righteously and had not forsaken the statutes of their God they ask of me the ordinances of Justice they draw near to me saying We have fasted and thou regardest it not We see here they take delight in approaching unto God they take delight in Gods Ordinances and seek God early they can do thus and thus and are alive in all performances but that man whose spirit the law hath pulled down and the Lord hath convinced him of his infinite inability to perform the law he cannot see any livelinesse in him unto any performance Let any duty come it kills his heart I should now hear the Word of God but my heart is unprepared and my ear uncircumcised and I cannot hear aright Let an opportunity be offered to pray it kills his heart I should now call upon the Name of the Lord but I have such a cursed heart I cannot pray I cannot speak one right word before God Let an occasion be offered of holy conference it kills his heart alas saith he I want pure language my tongue was never touched with a coal from the Altar my lips have not ability to drop forth savoury speeches I am not able to speak one syllable aright to Gods glory it kills his heart he sees no life at all in him unlesse he can have life from without and ability from without he is dead all is nothing to him the law hath taken away the livelinesse that was in him But he that is not humbled by the law he is alive he hath life in himself it is nothing with him to Pray and go to Church and hear Gods Word it is nothing but thrusting to do the duty he hath life in him to do duties and wait upon God in his ordinances but when the law comes home to him it plainly lets him see that he hath no life in himself to do any good he must seek for life and ability from without else he is a dead man he can do nothing in this case David in this case cannot lookup Mine iniquities are gone over my head I cannot look up Psal 40. Moses he is a man of uncircumcised lips and cannot speak unto Pharaoh Paul cannot do any thing that is good In me dwelleth no good thing Rom. 7. And so for the rest of Gods people when the law hath killed them and laid them dead in regard of any performance they must have life from without there is no life at home no grace at home no understanding at home they must go out for all but a carnal man he is alive unto all performances Many a man is like unsavoury salt good for nothing but to throw upon the dung-hill He never received the Holy Ghost and yet he will be inducted into a living and take Pastoral Charge upon him as if he were able to performe the Duty of a Minister and take the Charge of Souls upon him So Ananias will be a husband and Saphira a wife Athalia will be a Queen and Nimrod a King and Abimelech a Judge they are alive to discharge all these duties thus men are alive the Law of God hath not killed their hearts pulled down their spirits it hath not made it appear unto them what wretched cursed creatures they are This is the second thing wherein this livelynesse consists Thirdly This livelynesse consists in a presumptuous hope he conceives that he is justified before God and that God will not damn him but forgive him his sins There is nothing can make a mans heart more full of life then to think that he is righteous before God and that God will not impute his sins unto him there is nothing can make a man more alive then this If they think they are justified before God they have then a lively hope 1 Pet. 1. 3. blessed be God saith the Apostle even the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again to a lively hope by the Resurrection of Christ from the dead So these men have a hope that makes them lively and full of life as a poor man that hath some grounded hope of an Earthly inheritance it makes the heart lively Poverty deads the heart he that hath nothing to maintain himself and those that belongs unto him it deads his heart but if he hath some hopes of an hundred pound a year and his hope is grounded if he hath sure hope of it and he makes no doubt of it it makes his heart full of life so when a man doth believe that he is in a good case that he is delivered from death that he is in the estate of grace when he hath some probability that God hath justified him from sin this breeds an hope in him of an eternal Inheritance and this hope the consideration of it makes the soul full of life There is nothing can make a man more lively then a hope that he is justified before God and that God will not impute his sins unto him Now when a carnal man conceives he is righteous before God and that God will forgive him his iniquities that God will not damn him nor count him a dead a damned man so long as a man doth imagin this he must needs be a lively man he is alive in his own apprehension nay all the delights in the world cannot make a man so ful of life as this hope It is not mens following their pleasure that makes their hearts so full of life as to have hope that the Lord doth not account them dead men that they are justified men and righteous men that they have salvation to shew for heaven and Eternall happinesse to shew for that they shall go to heaven But if now the Law were charged upon a man if he knew that he were a dead man a damned man it would pluck down his spirits and make his spirits dead for all his pleasures It is the conceit that men are justified that makes them so full of life so long as the Law doth not come home to a man and point him out in his colours and make it appear to him that he lyeth under the wrath of Almighty God that the Lord doth account him an abominable wretched creature so long as he doth not apprehend this especially if he have any good gifts and parts and qualities and moral obedience to the Law doing good duties and a general laying hold upon the promises and a hope they belong to him this makes him alive Phil. 3. 9. Paul when he was a Pharisee and did Moral Duties and performed Moral Obedience to the Law of God he thought he had righteousnesse of his own he calls it there his own righteousnesse he so apprehended of himself now this is that which makes men alive when they conceive that they have some Religion and some Grace You shall have many men and women that hate the Servants of God and yet think they are godly men and have Grace and
them down by laying labours upon them labour and torment and heavinesse pulled down their hearts So when the law makes the heart labour under the wrath of God it lyes labouring and quaking and shaking and weltring and bleeding under the wrath of God this pulls down the will And now I come to speak of the Effects it works in doing of it 1. The First Effect is this it casts the heart into those woful privations we read of there are abundance of comfortable things which the man which is alive in his own conceit thinks himself to have Now when the law comes to dead him it knocks him off from all those comfortable things he seemed to have whereas he seemed to have some admittance to God in prayer he could pray to him before but now he sees he is an out-cast and dares not lift up his eyes to heaven Before he hoped that God would have merey on him and that he had some interest in Christ and hope of salvation but now he seeth he is lost Before he seemed to have liberty and freedom he could do this and that and had a thousand evasions but now he sees himself a meer captive before he thought he had some riches some goodnesse but now he seeth he is but a poor begger before he had some Fig-leaves to cover him but now he seeth he is altogether naked before he was heart-whole and sound he had peace and comfort and quietnesse within him but now he is altogether broken This is the effect of this deadnesse it brings all these privations into the soul death is a privation it self and it brings a hundred privations with it even a privation of all the priviledges of the living this the Law doth when it comes All this while the Soul is lost and captived and poor and blind and miserable and naked and an out-cast it is utterly undone and altogether unable to help it self and this as it doth make a man an object of the Gospel one for whom Christ dyed as it points out such a man so there is a Finger of the Gospel in it also when the soul understands the goodnesse of the Gospel and sees it self to be lost for want thereof yet notwithstanding the first stroke is given by the Law the first stroke that casts the soul into this privation is done by the Law and if the Lord means to convert there the Gospel begins Luke 4. 18. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath annointed me that I should preach the Gospel to the poor he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted to preach deliverance to the Captives and recovering of sight to the blind that I should set at liberty them that are bruised When the Law hath humbled a man and thus brought down his will then begins the work of the Gospel As we use to say of natural Philosophy where natural Philosphy ends there Physick begins So where the Law ends the Gospel begins Thus we see the first Effect of this deadnesse 2. Secondly When the Law hath done this when the deadnesse the Law hath wrought hath produced this effect then the next Effect is this the Law holds the heart there when a man is dead the effect of death is to hold a man there There is no redresse no return without the Almighty power of God there is no return to his former life So when the Law hath deaded a man it holds a man there though a man would never so fain get out he cannot he will be snatching at a Christ and looking at the promises and be presuming that there is mercy for him he would fain be brisk again But if the Law hath killed him and made him a dead man he cannot get out Rom. 7. 6. the Apostle saith We are delivered from the Law being dead unto that wherein we were holden St. Paul could not get out to his livelynesse again but the Law held him So it is with the Law when the Law of God hath humbled a man and made him a dead man it holds him there let the Divel come with all the comforts he can there is no evasion let his vain neighbors bring what Scriptures they can to cheer him there is nothing can lift that soul up let all profits and pleasures come they cannot take off his heart they cannot make him alive again unlesse it please the Lord to quicken and revive him 2. The next Effect of this deadnesse is that it makes the heart stiff when the body is dead all the members are stiff the beatings of the pulses cease and all are stiff So when a man is killed by the Law it makes his head stiff it breaks off all his arguing and reasoning and disputing against the Law of God That is against my profit and that is against my pleasure and that is against my credit thus the heart is full of life activity before But when the Law comes and shews him he is a dead man now he is not able to stir now he can say what if it be against my profit and pleasure what if it be against my credit what if men make a mock at me I am a dead man if I live not in this course Psal 36. 12. there saith the Text They are fallen that work iniquity they are cast down and shall not be able to rise So when the Law of God comes and preacheth righteousnesse to a man and shews him against whom he hath sinned it makes him a dead man he cannot stir any more if the Divel bids him reason for his lusts he dares not do it if his old company perswade him to his former life and conversation he dares not do it Isai 41. 21. Stand to your cause saith the Lord bring forth your strong reasons saith the God of Jacob. You could be reasoning and pleading for your lusts let us now hear your strong reasons and arguments Now this man is a dead man and a damned man he hath no reason no plea to alledge to go on in his former course this man is killed now 4. Fourthly This deadnesse makes the heart yield before the Law comes the heart is marvellous obstinate but now when the stiffnesse of it is gone and the Law hath made him a dead man now he will yield 2 Chron. 30. 8. As Hezekiah speaks Be not now stiff-necked as your fathers but give the hand to the Lord and come into his Sanctuary So when the Lord hath broken the neck of a mans stiffnesse and hath broken his back-bone that he cannot stand stiffly out and hath taken away his livelynesse which was his whale-bone as it were to uphold him in his strength and courage and in his sins Now his heart is made to yield to God he cannot now but yield to the Lord. Thus it is with a poor creature when the law works upon him he cannot stand out any longer It is most true before the Lord converts a man he doth take away
they were in a thousand times more likelyhood to be saved If I could hear of people that were gastered and cast down by the law that saw themselves without Christ and without mercy in the power of Satan and in the bond of iniquity if they cryed out I am a dead man and a damned man if I dye now at this present I shall go to hell if people were in this estate and condition there were more hopes of them a thousand times there is no hope of people that doe live secure in their sins so long as the Trumpet of the Law hath not sounded in their ears so long as the Hammer of the Law hath not sounded upon their hearts there is no hope of mercy for them Therefore now for the clearing of this a little more let me shew you First What it is to be dead according as the Gospell makes a man to be a dead man Secondly What is the difference between Legal Privation and Evangelical and when these Privations are Evangelical and put a man under the actual Title to mercy under an actual interest in the promises Thirdly What Use we are to make of it For the First What it is to be Evangelically dead To be legally dead is not to be half a quarter so much dead as to be Evangelically dead so as the Gospel makes a man dead before it quickens him When a man is Evangelically dead it makes him more dead by a thousand degrees then all the law in the world can make him it makes him more dead by odds when a man is Legally dead and sees himself to be a damned creature and whereas he hoped to have mercy he seeth now he hath none and whereas he hoped to go to heaven he now seeth the gates are shut against him and whereas he hoped he had some good in him now he sees he hath nothing in him a man would think this were a dead man but his livelynesse is only in a swound the law lying upon him will not let his livelynesse appear and if the law should lie upon him for ever it would never let his livelynesse actually appear but yet he is not throughly dead all this while as for example 1. Self-conceitednesse it is not deaded when a man is killed by the law you would think his conceitednesse were gone he was conceited he was a good Christian but now he sees no such matter he was conceited before that he would repent and God would be merciful to him but now he seeth he is utterly deprived of mercy and lies under the wrath of God you would think now that all his conceitednesse was gone but it is but only in a swound all this while he lies for dead as it were but he is not dead So take a man that is in hell all his good conceits of mercy and of himself and his profits and pleasures and vanities and delights they are all gone now What doth pride profit me what good do riches do me what have all my pleasures and delights done me good all my labour is vanity and all my delights folly one would think all his conceits were clean gone but they are only in a swound If a damned man were out of hell if the Lord should take off the lash of his law from him he would have as good a conceit of his profits and pleasures and riches again as ever he had and he would have his carnal reasons against the strictnesse of Religion again as rief as ever he had they are only laid in a swound indeed there they shall lie a man can never get up again because the law lies continually upon him he is continually under the lash of the law and the law holds this picture before his eyes and shews him his damned estate and condition but upon such a supposition that he might come out of hell his conceits would rise up again Prov. 5. 12 13. Solomon there brings in a man wrought upon by the law the law discovered him to be a dead man How have I hated instruction and despised correction and have not obeyed the voice of them that taught me nor inclined my eare to them that instructed me His carnal reasons are now all gone they are in a swound they were true instructions that I have hated they were true reports that I have despised and they were base and damned courses which I have followed How have I lived one would think all his foolish conceits now were gone they are in a swound indeed and cannot get up But the Gospel will give a man his deaths wound a man can never have that good conceit of himself he had before nor of his lusts and vanities and profits and delights his self-conceitedness hath now got his deaths wound Secondly For self-confidence when the law hath humbled a man his self-confidence is only in a swound when he lyeth in hell under the lash of the law he seemeth to have no power in himself no life or activity to any duty He sees that he is poor and weak and rotten and wretched A poor creature he is he seeth it plainly and all his self-confidence seems to be gone but yet there is a great deal of self-confidence actually in hell for though they are in hell yet they think if they were alive again what they would do I would hear the Word and call upon God I would repent and not live insin and not do as I have done they think they would do thus and thus as it was with Dives Luke 16. 30. I have five brethren saith he if one should come to them from the dead they would repent and not come where I am If they knew but as much as I know they would repent I am sure if they were in my case they would if they were in hell where I am if they knew how certain it is that they shall come to hell where I am when they dye unless they doe repent at the preaching of the Prophets and hearken to the voice of Gods Ministers and yield and submit to God they would do it I would if it were my case This is self-confidence for self-confidence is only laid asleep in hell and it cannot rise again It is true the law may dead a man and give him three deaths wounds There are three wounds that the law gives a man First It makes it appear that a man is worthy of death and guilty of death the law makes him see his guiltiness Secondly The law pronounceth upon a sinner the sentence of death as Paul saith of natural death I received the sentence of death 2 Cor. 1. 9. that is I was a dead man I took my self to be a dead man So the law doth make a man to be a dead man it pronounceth the sentence of death upon him it doth not only make it appear that he is worthy of death for so it may do and yet he may have hope of mercy but it makes a man
you the Rules that are to be observed in watching and the Rules are these If you would watch over your selves First Count watchfulnesse your very life and think if you let watchfulnesse go you let your life go for if once watchfulness go hovv dead are you in Prayer and hearing the Word of God So that the security of the heart vvill be the death of the heart vvherefore if vve vvould go on in vvatching let us labour to keep this Holy disposition count it your very lives and think vvith your selves I let Life go if I let Watchfulnesse go We use to say of Sleep that it is the brother of Death and 1 Thes 5. 6. vve may see the Phrase used by the Apostle vvhere vvaking is put for living and sleeping for dying that is the meaning of the vvords So that as sleep natural sleep doth lively represent death so it is vvith Spiritual sleep vvhich is the death of the soul Therefore dost thou find thy self to be out of frame and not vvatch over thy vvayes then think vvith thy self that thou art a dead man and take up thy vvatch as fast as thou canst again Secondly Thou must let thy watch stand Catholically universally in all duties and all times vvatch thereunto and persevere therein vve must not only watch but Persevere Be careful in the morning how vve may begin our vvatch in the day hovv vve may spend it at night hovv vve may end it So vve must vvatch in all duties vvhen vve go to Prayer vve must vvatch in prayer vvhen you go about your Callings vvatch about them vvhen vve are alone vve should be vvatchful and vvhen vve are in Company vve should be vvatchful for the Divel and our ovvn souls plot a great deal of mischief against us vve must vvatch in all places in our houses and vvithout doors and in the fields vve are still in danger vvheresoever vve are Thirdly We should proportion our watch according as the duty is we take in hand so our vvatching may bee there is one kind of vvatching for one kind of duty another for another If vve be to go about our callings then our vvatching must be against distrustfulnesse and covetousness and distracting cares that so vve may not be over head and ears in the vvorld If our duty be prayer vve must have an eye to the promises and take hold on the Lord Jesus Christ and come in his mediation and his onely So vvhatsoever duty it be if it be hearing of the Word of God there is a vvatchfulness to be proportionable to it A man should think the vvord vvill do me no good unlesse the Lord meet vvith my lusts I have an unmortified heart and unlesse the Lord vvork upon me I shall never lie dovvn under him Therefore vve should be vvatchful that vve may practice and be able to apply vvhatsoever is spoken to us vve are to keep a due vvatchfulness for that vvhich is due to one thing is not due to another that vvhich is sufficient for one is not for another Fourthly Take heed of all things that may hinder Watchfulnesse And first Take heed of vain Company If vve will be watchful we must exercise our selves vvith those that are godly To be vvith secure Christians is the vvay to be secure this vvill hinder a man A man had better be alone then be in bad Company as the Prophet David saith Psal 102. 7. I watch and am alone as a Sparrow on the house top he was alone and yet he was watching A man when he is alone may be watching rather then when he is in such Company a man can never look to himself well unlesse he prize the Communion of Saints Secondly A man should be sober Take heed of Spiritual Drunkenness Take heed of the cares of this life and that you be not immoderate in any lawful thing we should stand upon our guard and keep our hearts with all manner of keeping if our hearts grow drowzy and idle and if we neglect Sobriety then we are gone therefore in Scripture these are put together be sober and watch 1 Thess 5. 6. 1 Pet. 5. 8. I do not mean Drunkennesse with Wine for there is a Drunkennesse and not with Wine as the Prophet speaks a man may be drunk with the love of the Creature if thou lovest thy ease too well or any thing in the world too well thou art drunk with it thy heart is giddy thou art no more able to Pray or do any thing that 's good then a drunken man is Fifthly If thou wilt Watch then set the Lord alwayes before thy eyes Set the watchman of Israel before thy face God is called a watcher Dan. 4. 23. Now if thou wilt watch over thy self set God before thy face as David did Psal 16. 8. I have set God before mine eyes so alwayes set the Lord before thine eyes Now I come to the last thing which is an Vse of Exhortation To exhort us to be careful of this Duty and there is great need of it First We all desire to do well Now how can we do well at last unless we watch well all our life time VVhat is the reason that many are without comfort not like the Servants of God full of horrour and fear and quaking it is because they do not watch as it was with the Five wise Virgins they were something wise not like the foolish but they slumbred too Now when the bridegroom came there was a cry they made an out-cry and a skrieking and an howling they were undone the bridegroom was come one would have thought they should have rejoyced that the bridegroom was come What godly Christians and Religious People when the bridegroom comes to fall a howling and a crying This was because they slumbred whereas if a man be watchful over his life and careful to keep an humble heart and to honour God and study how to die comfortably at last he may rejoyce at the coming of the bridegroom but because they were in a slumber there was a cry therefore as the Apostle Peter saith 1 Pet. 4. 7. The end of all things is at hand therefore be sober and watch unto prayer the Apostle brings this as an Argument so I may say the eâ—â— of all things is at hand therefore be sober and watch as a Traveller when the day is almost spent and he hath a great way to go he puts spurs to his Horse and rides the faster so the end of all things is at hand therefore we had need to be the more diligent and watchful that we may have all things ready the end comes upon us We have had the Gospel a long time and God knows how soon we shall have an end thereof therefore how ought we to be careful as a man that is to write a Letter may be at first he is something carelesse and writes his lines something broad but when he comes
near to the end and hath a great dea to write he writes his lines close and crowds them together So now when we are coming towards an end we cannot look that God should alvvayes strive with us we should now therefore labour to write close and to make our Duties thick and to be enquiring after Grace wheresoever we come we think the time is long but we may justly fear it is shorter then we imagine as when an hour-glass is almost out a man that sits below will think there is a great deal to run but the sand is hollow and is run out before a man is aware so the Lord so carries himself towards people that they may think there is a great deal of Patience more and a great deal of Mercy more to be extended towards them but when all comes to all they shall find it lyes hollow and will be out before they are aware Secondly Consider how sickly and diseased our Souls are how apt they are to fall into sin Sickly men are most careful Now our Souls are sick of sin sick of Pride sick of Covetousnesse and Earthly-mindednesse easily carried away with the sins of the times they are sick of pronenesse to do evil and indisposednesse to that which is good therefore we had need to watch over our souls we had need be our own Porters Matth. 13. 34. our Saviour Christ doth compare every Christian to a Porter The Lord of the house takes a great journey and commands the Porter to watch We should all be Porters and keep the gates of our Souls for we are alwayes in danger Thirdly Consider that God hath awakened many of us already and therefore it is a miserable thing for us to sleep again wicked and ungodly men that were never converted and healed and awakened and wrought upon they go to Hell and damnation in a sleepy security but when a man hath been once awakened and hath shaken off sleep and God hath made him look about him to see how he might be saved if this man fall a sleep again it is a most miserable thing the latter end of that man will be worse then his beginning Fourthly Consider the badnesse of the Times and Places and Families we live in they are all secure and therefore we had need be so much the more vvatchful and you knovv it is a very hard thing for a man not to do as others do therefore the Apostle 1 Thess 5. 6. vvould not have them sleep as others do as vvho should say Others do so and therefore you have so much the more need to look to your selves that you may not do as others do THE NEW BIRTH Joh. 3. 6. That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh but that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit MY Purpose is to speak of the several VVorks of Gods holy Spirit in the hearts and minds of his chosen they are Gods peculiar people and therefore he vvill vvork greater Mercies for them then for any else Novv the First grand distinguishing vvork of the Holy Ghost in the Elect is Regeneration he is the Author of Spiritual life in them they are born of him though by nature they are born of the flesh and so are flesh and in that estate can never enter into the kingdom of God yet vvhen the Spirit of God comes to regenerate them they come to be Spirit they come to have a nevv life and the Spirit of God gives it them it is true that Christ is the Author of this life he procured it by his death he quickens whom he will as he told his Disciples Joh. 14. 19. Because I live ye shall live also Life is derived by Christ to all the Members of Christ for as all in Adam died Adam is the general root of all in his loins and by him they come to be dead in sin so Christ is the Second Adam and all that are in his loins all that are in him he is a quickning Spirit to them 1 Cor. 15. 45. The first man Adam was made a living Soul the second Adam was made a quickning Spirit Christ is the second Adam and is a quickning Spirit to all that are in him God the Father hath appointed him to be the Prince of Life as Peter tells his Hearers Act. 3. 15. The Lord Jesus Christ he is the Prince of life to all the people of God and therefore Saint John saith He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life 1 Joh. 5. 12. He is the Father of this new Birth and he is the daily and continual Father of it He is not a Father for one or two or divers years but Isa 9. 6. he is called an everlasting Father to regenerate a people to God and he doth it by his Resurrection 1 Pet. 1. 3. This must needs be granted That Christ must be the Author of this new Life Now you will say Then why is it attributed to the Spirit The Text gives it to the Spirit of God the Holy Ghost now if Christ be the Author of this new Birth and the giver of this new Life and God the Father hath appointed him to be so Why is it then here said That the Spirit doth it I Answer It is given to the Spirit for Three Reasons First Because Christ doth it by the Spirit Whatsoever Christ doth without he doth it by the Spirit when he cast out Divels here upon Earth he did it by his Spirit all the outward VVorks that he wrought he wrought them by his Spirit and therefore the Spirit is called the Finger of God Luk. 11. 20. Now if Christ do this VVork by his Spirit if he do Regenerate all his people by his own Spirit there is reason why they should be said to be born of the Spirit Secondly Another Reason is Because though this life be all from Christ it is he that begets it it is he that is the soul of every Believer as I may so speak yet it is the Spirit that is the Bond of Vnion it is the Spirit that joyns Christ and them together it is the Spirit that tyeth the knot it is the Spirit that unites and puts them together into one though Christ be life and eternal life yet notwithstanding they are all Aliens from Christ they are all out of Christ that the Spirit doth not joyn together with Christ they that have not the Spirit of Christ they are none of his they are all out of Christ they are like dead branches out of the Vine it is the Spirit that is the bond of Vnion between Christ and those that are Christs Thirdly Another Reason is Because the Spirit quickens the Word whereby this is done The people of God the thing that they are born of again it is the immortal seed of the VVord 1 Pet. 1. 23. You are born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible Now this
peace having all our reckoning made even and all scores cancelled The Third Proposition is this As there must be some time for Gods immediate Service and there must be every day some set time at least morning and evening so likewise every whole day all the dayes of our lives should be in some manner a Sabbath day to the Lord we should be holy every day The Apostle finds fault Gal. 4. 10 That they observed times and seasons and dayes and months and years we must not be earthly-minded one day and heavenly-minded another but we must be every day holy to the Lord. The First Reason is The Covenant which God hath made with us doth require it that is the end why God saves a man from his sins and brings him into the kingom of Christ he takes a solemn Oath from him That being delivered from the hands of his enemies he shall serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness all the dayes of his life Every day must be a Sabbath day whensoever a man gives himself up to God there is an Oath hangs upon him and he breaks this Oath if he set not upon it with all his might that every day may be a Sabbath day he is to be careful to live godly and religiously in all places and at all times and in every action he puts his hand unto a man is not only to make conscience on the seventh day but every day of his life The Second Reason is Because not to make every day an holy day is the brand of an Hypocrite it is hypocrisie Job 27. 10. Will he alwayes call upon God To be holy sometimes and not at another time is the trick of an hypocrite will he alwayes call upon God will that man alwayes obey God and worship him will he alwayes set himself to keep close with God No an hypocrite will not do so You may know an hypocrite he hath his fits and his pangs and his moods but a godly man a sincere hearted man is one that doth compose himself to keep a constant course in Gods worship as Act. 24. 16. There saith Paul Herein do I exercise my self to keep a good conscience alwayes both towards God and towards man And as it was the practise of Paul so of all the Elect people of God of all sincere Christians in the world Act. 26. 7. all the Elect of God all the beloved of God they did instantly serve God day and night Thirdly Because blessednesse doth consist in this In keeping every day in some kind as a Sabbath day as the Holy Ghost doth pronounce him blessed that feareth the Lord alwayes Prov. 28. 14. and that doth righteousness at all times Psa 106. 3. It is true the Servants of God are sometimes out of the way they have their swervings and failings but their resolution is to keep a constant course in Gods Worship and they do strive to humble themselves under the hand of God for their failings and to be the more wary because of them Lastly This is the Sum and Scope of all the Law of Righteousness it is the very drift and end of all the Ten Commandements the Lord hath set down in the Decalogue his whole Will and Pleasure what we are to do all the dayes of our lives this day and that day as long as we live and there is no set time but that we should alwayes obey it and this is the practise of the godly alwayes to keep his Commandments as David Psal 16. 8. He set the Lord alwayes before him that is every day he did make it an holy day that he might walk as in Gods presence and live as in Gods Courts that he might do all his worldly businesse as in the presence of God The Fourth Proposition is this As there must be a set time every day and we are to keep every day as a Sabbath day in some sense so there must be a particular special day set apart for Gods immediate Worship and Service This is the next Proposition I will prove unto you for though every day is to be a Sabbath day yet we have particular callings and we have businesse in the world to employ our selves about so that we cannot be every day hearing of the Word and employing our selves in Prayer and spiritual exercises though every day we are to keep it holy yet we cannot be vacant wholly and totally every day Now therefore I say That there is a set day that the Lord hath called for to be devoted unto him the very School-men themselves do acknowledge this and the very Heathen have found it out They have set a day apart for the Service of their Gods which they call their holy day wherein they lay aside all other businesse and set themselves a part to honor and worship their Images and Idols according to their manner Now I will make this good by many Arguments that God will have a set day besides the every day Sabbath he will have a set particular Sabbath for his Worship and Service The First Reason is Because he will have a little emblem and picture of the kingdom of heaven among his Saints and Children in this life in the kingdom of heaven there is no buying and selling no eating and drinking no worldly businesse there is nothing but praysing and glorifying of God and speaking of God and singing of Halelujah unto his holy Name there is nothing but enjoying communion with the Lord and feeding upon him continually there is nothing but this in the kingdom of heaven Now God will have a little picture of this among his Saints here upon earth You know there remains a rest for the people of God Heb. 4. 9. It is an express place the word in the Original is There remains a Sabbath for the people of God As who should say There is a glorious Sabbath that all the Elect of God shall have and they are preserved for it and that is reserved for them and they shall enter into it when this body of death is laid down and they shall enjoy God face to face to all eternity they shall behold him as he is and have communion with him now the Lord will have a little picture of this here in this life we cannot have it altogether in this life for we have mortal bodies that must be fed and cloathed and stand in need of the creature for mans sin is not yet purged away but there is a great deal of rubbish still left therefore this cannot be complete here but yet God will have a little picture ot this even in this life and that is the Sabbath day wherein they are to lay aside all the works of their ordinary callings and rest from all servil labours this is Gods day and we must now call upon him and hear what he saith and wholly employ and occupy our selves about him as neer as we possibly can but now this
a Lawyer offer to plead this day he shall not have the benefit of his pleading or case and if a minister breake this day he shall be excommunicated half a year and throwne out of the Church and shall not be received into the Church again but upon great humiliation This was the judgment of Divines in all ages and it is the observation of a reverend Divine Musculus upon Exod. 20. God doth not say Remember the Sabbath to keepe it holy he that keeps it an hour or two keeps it holy but Remember the Sabbath Day to keepe it holy he will have a day kept holy Nay Calvin whom they take to be on their side to be a patron of their liberty he himselfe writing upon Deut. 6. upon these words Remember the Sabbath day he saith we are to keep this day speaking of himselfe and all the people of God we are to keepe this day and not a part of it but all of it The second Use is this we may hence see that sports and pastimes are not agreeable to the Lords day for if the Lord hath forbidden our weekly works on that day then surely he hath forbidden sports and pastimes The reason is good first because our weekly works are things Commanded at other times now sports and pastimes are never Commanded by God but onely permitted now if things commanded and things that are good at sometimes if these notwithstanding may not be done upon the Lords day then much lesse must those be done that are permitted onely Secondly because weekely works do lesse distract a man from God then sports and pastimes I appeale to any man here present if he be not more heavenly and better employed and lesse distract from good thoughts and gracious affections when he is plowing or sowing or threshing then when he is diceing and carding sports and pastimes beat a man further off from religion and let a man go to prayer after sports and pastimes he shall find himselfe more unfit and unaffected a great deal then he shall when he comes from the works of his calling Now if those things that do lesse distract from Gods worship and service are forbidden upon the Sabbath day then surely much more those things that do more distract must needs be forbidden upon that day FINIS The Division of the Text. Obser Vse 1 Vse 2. Vse 3. The latter part of the Text opened Obser Luk. 16. Quest Answ Mat. 25. Vse 1 King 21 Acts 5. What it is to watch Literally Ordinary Extraordinary For a Civil end For a Spiritual end Spiritually It implies proneness to be drowzy Endeavour to stir up our selves It is an intentive Consideration in all Cases What we must watch Our Selves Our Thoughts Heart Words Senses Eyes Ears Whole selves Duties of Religion Before Duty In Duty Time Present time Time of Gods wrath Time of Grace Death Judgment Reasons Our proneness to be drowzy Christians life is a Warfare The world an enemy The Divel The certain advantage of watchfulness We cannot else expect help or pardon Object Answ Gods appointment None can Watch for us Object Answ Vse Condemning the general neglect of Watchfulnesse Reproving the godly's too great neglect Directing how to watch Account watchfulness our life Watching in al things Proportioning it to what we are about Avoiding hinderances Vain company Spiritual drunkennesse Setting God before our eyes Vse Exhorting to watchfulnesse Motives Because otherwise it will be ill with us at last Because our souls are sickly We are already awakened Badness of the times and carelessness of the most Regeneration attributed to the spirit Because Christ doth it by the spirit Spirit is the bond of union between us and Christ Becaus the spirit quickens the word wherby we are born again That the spirit of God doth regenerate all the Saints What Regeneration is A Renewing A Renewing of the whole man By degrees perfected According to Gods Image In Jesus Christ Why called Regeneration To shew the great Corruption of Nature The work well expressed by the Name Father both in Natural and Spiritual Generation A Mother in both First Conceâ—tion and thâ—â— Birth â—ain accompaâ—ies both Births Both come to a Being they had â—ot New Kindred follows both Wherein Regeneration consisteth Passive receiving Christ â—n active poâ—â—r to become child of God Reasons why the Spirit worketh Regeneration It is the good pleasure of God No other agent can do it Man is totally against it of himself How the Spirit worketh Regeneration By the Word of Life By a secret and supernatural power Vse 1. Of Confutation of Pelagians c. Information Of our continual need of the Spirit Exhortation 1. Not to grieve the Spirit 2. To do any thing for God 3. To the Unregenerate to pray for the Spirit Of Examination whether regenerated or no. First Signe When doing good is natural The heart 's a good soil for Grace He cannot live in Sin It is pleasant to do the will of God Grace gets the upper hand He loves the people of God He loves Spiritually to profit others VVhat this Body is The invisible Church of God Gathered out of all Nations Predestinated unto life Begotten again by the VVord VVhat putting into this Body is A part of our ingrafting into Christ VVrought by Faith Making us have common life with other Members It makes of one consent with all the people of God For mutual care and help That this is the Spirits work Reasons why the Spirit of God doth thus unite to the Body of Christ None but the Spirit is able None but the Spirit is fit to do it How the Spirit doth Unite to Christ's Body By being one and the same spirit in all Members By tying a knot between all the Members Vses The want of the Spirit is the cause of difference Let none put asunder what the Spirit joyns To try our acquaintance hereby To stir up a sympathy amongst the Saints How to work maintain and express this sympathy By informing our selves concerning one another By visiting our fellow-Members By laying to heart their afflictions Proposit 1. A set time for worship Reas 1. Reas 2. Propos 2. Some set time for worship every day Reas 1. Reas 2. Reas 3. Propos 3. Every day in some sort a Sabbath Reas 1. Luk. 1. 74 75. Reas 2. Reas 3. Reas 4. Propos 4. A particular â—pecial day for Gods worship Reas 1. Reas 2. Reas 3. Reas 4. Propos 5. One day of Seven to be set apart for Gods worship Reas 1. Reas 2. Reas 3. Reas 4. Reas 5. Propos 6. That day of the seven to be kept holy on which God rested Propos 7. All that is in the Fourth Commandment is not essential to it Quest Answ 1. Propos 8. The fourth Commandmen continual alwayes to abide in the Church Reas 1. Reas 2. Reas 3. â—eas 4. Reas 5. Reas 6. Gal. 5. 2 Exod. 35. 3 Reas 7. Propos 9. The first day of he week was the Lords day and so to continue to the end 〈◊〉 the world Reas 1. ver 22. 23 Reas 2. Reas 3. Reas 4. Reas 5. Reas 6. Reas 7. Reas 8. Vse 1. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Vse 2