to think that God should make you the first Example of a Soul that did endeavour strive and work for Salvation and yet came short of it when you never heard or read of any that put forth themselves to the utmost for the obtaining of Grace and yet fell short of Grace or Glory Thus in these six Particulars put together you have a full and an abundant Answer and Satisfaction to this Objection concerning our Impotency to work out our own Salvation Object 2 Secondly Another Objection against this Doctrin is this Thus to press Men to Obedience and Working is prejudicial and derogatory unto Christ's Merits by which alone we are saved and not by our own Works Hath not Christ already done all for us Hath not he finished and wrought out our Salvation himself And is not this to render his Work as insufficient to go and piece it out by our Obedience Is not this to set up our Works as Antichrist in flat opposition and defiance to the gracious Vndertaking and perfect Accomplishment of Jesus Christ when all that we have now to do is to believe in him and to get a Right and Title to him and saving Interest in him Answ To this I Answer the Merit of Jesus Christ and our Working are not inconsistent but there is a sweet Harmony and Agreement betwixt them in carrying on the Work of our Salvation And to make this evident I shall lay down the due Bounds and Limits of each of them that so it may appear what Christ hath done for us and what he expects we should do for our selves Christ therefore hath done Two Things in order to the carrying on of our Salvation First He hath purchased and procured eternal Happiness to be conferred upon us hereafter Secondly he hath merited Grace to be conferred upon us here to prepare us for that Happiness First He hath purchased Happiness and eternal Life for all that do believe in him I give unto them eternal Life says he himself to John John 10.28 Heb. 5.9 And says the Apostle He is the Author of eternal Salvation to them that Obey him Now as there are two things that must be done for us before we could be brought unto a state of Salvation namely a freeing us from our liableness unto Death and a bestowing upon us a right unto Life eternal so Jesus Christ that he might bring us into this State hath performed both these things for us First He hath satisfied Divine Justice for us snatching us from under the vengeance of God substituting himself in our room and stead bearing the Load of all that Wrath and Punishment that must otherwise have fallen insupportably heavy upon us His Soul Isa 53.10 says the Prophet was made an Offering for Sin And He was made Sin for us 2 Cor. 5.23 says the Apostle that is he was punished as a Sinner for us Who knew no Sin And Secondly He hath perfectly fulfilled the Commands of the Law by his active Obedience that the Life promised by God in the Law to the doers of it doth now undoubtedly belong to all those for whom Christ did obey the Law that is for all those that believe in him And by both these bearing the penalty of the Law and fulfilling the Duties of the Law God is attoned Justice is satisfied Vengeance is pacified and we are reconciled Adopted and made Heirs of Glory according to the Promise But what shall Glory and Happiness be presently bestowed upon us shall we be installed into it without any more Circumstance must nothing intervene betwixt Christs purchase and our actual possession Yes that there must For Secondly Christ hath purchased Grace to be bestowed upon them upon whom he bestows Salvation Eph. 4 8. When he Ascended up on high he led Captivity Captive and gave Gifts unto Men and among others especially the Gifts of Grace For of his fulness John 1.16 says the Apostle have we all received and Grace for Grace And why did Christ make this purchase Why did he merit Grace for us Was it not that we might act it in Obedience And if Christ merited Grace that we might Obey is it sense to Object that our Obedience is derogatory to Christ's Merit If one end of Christ's doing all that he did for us was to inable us to do for our selves will any Man say now I am bound to do nothing because Christ hath done all How lost are such Men both to Reason and Religion who undertake so to argue No Salvation was purchased and Grace was procured that by the acting and exercise of that Grace we might attain to that Salvation and both these are to be preserved entirely as things most Sacred ascribing them solely to the Merits of our Saviour So far are we from Exhorting Men to work out their Salvation by way of Merit and Purchase as that we conclude them guilty of the highest Sacriledg and practical Blasphemy against the Priestly Office of Jesus Christ who think by their own works to Merit the one or the other And therefore though Jesus Christ hath done thus much for us yet that he might leave us also some work to do I shall now shew what he expects from us in order to the working out of our own Salvation And as he hath done two things for us so he requires two things from us As. First He requires we should put forth all the Strength and Power of Nature in labouring after Grace And Secondly He requires that we should put forth the power of Grace in labouring for Salvation purchased for us First He requires that all those who are void of Grace should labour for it with that Power and Strength that they have Those that are void of Grace must labour for it and in so doing they do not at all intrench upon the Work of Christ neither is it at all derogatory to his Merits See how the Prophet expresseth this Ezekiel 18. Ezek. 18.31 Make you a new heart and a new spirit He speaks to those that were in a state of Nature and he bids them make them a new heart and a new spirit for why will you die Noting that if they did not labour after a new Heart and a new Spirit they would certainly die the Death Let every Sinner know that this is it that he is called upon for this is that God expects from him it is his Work to repent and return that he may live It is his Work to labour to change his own Heart and to renew his own Spirit It is true it is God's Work also Ezek. 11.19 for he hath promised to give a new Heart and a new Spirit and it is Christ's Work also as he is God but yet it is not Christ's Work as Mediator And therefore to endeavour the working of a new Heart in us is not at all to intrench upon the Mediatory Office of Jesus Christ for so his Office is not to work Grace but
Prelate now in that Kingdom a great Admirer Follower and dear Brother of ours deceased in the Close of his excellent Sermon Preached in St. Mary Aldermanbury-Church upon Coloss 3.1 2 3 4 Verses June 24. 1690. in the Close whereof having Christ's and our Resurrection he proceeds saying This was the Doctrin of the Apostles and the Faith of the Primitive Christians And that this Faith did animate them against the Fears of Death and enable them to meet that King of Terrors with Undaunted Resolutions and it is this which still Buoys up the sinking Spirits of Believers it was this which comforted this Reverend and Learned Prelate whose Funerals was then solemnized This supported him in his late Troubles and Afflictions in his greatest Pains and sharpest Agonies He often discoursed with me on this Subject He fixed his Thoughts upon the Glorious Resurrection and set his Affections on the things above and with the Joyful Hope and Expectation of them he was enabled to bear the Torments of his Body with great Patience and wonderful Magnanimity and was not in the least terrified with the Thoughts of Death It was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to him he spoke of it without Concern and triumphed over all its Terrors and welcomed it as a Joyful Messenger calling him to his Dormitory till the Resurrection And he died full of this Faith and did with Job say Though his Body were destroyed with Worms it should rise again to a Blessed Immortality and in the same Flesh he should see God and through the Merits and Intercession of Christ he doubted not to Partake of the Things above But you expect I should say more of him and indeed he highly deserves it and much very much is due to the Memory of such an excellent Prelate who for Learning and Piety for Wisdom and Courage for Humility and Meekness for Charity and Hospitality was one of the greatest Ornaments of the Church and Nation wherein he lived But unless I had his own Eloquence I should not attempt it A sorrowful Heart a thick Pencil and a trembling Hand will but overshade and darken the Lines of so fair a Piece and therefore I must beg of you who knew him in Oxford in Hackney in Exeter and in this City where he was so much followed applauded and admired to set him in his true Light to the World and give him that great Character which he so justly deserved while I only mention the great Honour and Veneration we had for him in Ireland in which Kingdom he soon made himself famous and for a Learned and Elegant Sermon which I heard him Preach at his first coming and which was afterward Printed I saw him Embraced by the greatest Prelates and courted to stay in that Country and was soon after made Dean and then Bishop of Raphoe and afterward most deservedly translated to Derry In the first of which Bishopricks as I am informed he spent about a Thousand Pounds in Buildings and other Improvements And in the last he was at a very great Expence to Beautifie and Adorn his Cathedral and in furnishing it with Organs and Massy Plate and in both he was a great Precedent of Piety and Holiness He was a burning and a shining Light He knew that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and did therefore preach loudly by example His Actions were Instructive Sermons and his Strict Life and Unblameable Consation had great Influence on all about him At his Table he was piously pleasant and religiously ingenious and doubly feasted all who did eat with him for he had a clear Head and solid Judgment a quick Fancy and a flowing Wit and was every-way accomplished for Address and for Discourse and was so Courteous and Affable so Gentile and so Obliging so Instructive and Communicative that all who conversed with him loved and admired him and though he kept a very Noble and Hospitable House yet was it famous for Regularity and Order And in the midst of the greatest Plenty Gravity and Sobriety were most strictly observed It was indeed a Temple and an Oratory for in it Prayers and Praises Catechising and Reading the Scripture were never omitted He constantly expounded it to his Family explained some part of the Lessons and made short but rare Observations upon them and beside the Publick Prayers he was very often at his Private Devotions and spent much time in Divine Meditations Thus did he behave himself in his House thus did he Instruct his Family and bring his Children up in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord And if you follow him to the Pulpit you 'll find him there constantly once a Sunday while his Health permitted it and surely all who heard him will say his Sermons were Learned and Eloquent Pious and Methodical and as his Motto was Aut suavitate aut vi he either by sweet Discourses and charming Exhortations or by strength of Reason and powerful Arguments drew many to Christ He never omitted that Duty but preached in his Throne when he was not able to ascend the Pulpit And for his Excellency in that Noble Faculty he was celebrated by all Men. He was followed and admired in all Places where he lived and was justly esteemed one of the best Preachers of our Age. And his Discourses always smelt of the Lamp they were very elaborate and well digested He had a Noble Library and delighted in it and was as Tertullian says of Irenaeus Omnium Doctrinarum curiosissimus explorator He was a good Linguist and excelled in Polemick and Casuistical Divinity Many flocked to him to have their Doubts resolved and he gave Light and Comfort to clouded and afflicted Consciences and was admirably accomplished with many other Parts of useful Learning And if you consider him as a Bishop you will own that God had blessed him with Wisdom and Sagacity with Zeal and Courage with Temper and Moderation and all other necessary Virtues for a Governour and Ruler in the Church and surely none was more careful of his Diocess being constantly resident and bringing in learned and ingenious Men into all Livings in his Gift and Patronage And was a most tender and indulgent yet strict and vigilant Ruler of his Clergy He always treated them as Brethren and Friends with all kindness and respect and would spare no pains to protect them in their Rights and used all his interest to promote them as they deserved In a word he was every way qualified and adorned for that great Charge and by constant Preaching a wise Government and an even and steady Hand by a winning Temper an humble Courage and prudent Moderation he gained upon Dissenters and brought many into the Communion of our Church having fully convinced them that her Doctrin was Pure and Primitive Orthodox and Apostolical And did upon all occasions shew himself a wise a learned and a pious Bishop He every way filled his Chair and was an Honour to his See and may deservedly be enrolled in the Catalogue of his
learned Predecessors for with such has that See been blessed ever since the Reformation And undoubtedly his Death will be extreamly lamented in that Country and sure I am the Poor will have great reason to bewail it for to them he was exceeding generous and charitable and gave great Sums every Year amongst them besides the Tenth of his Revenues which he constantly laid by for such uses and did also allow good Yearly Pensions to Students in the University to Ministers Widows and other distressed Persons and did put Children to Trades and largely contribute to the Building and Repairing of some Churches and designed greater things if God had spared him to return But alas he is gone and our poor unsetled Church has an extraordinary loss in him 'T is a sharp Stroke an additional Judgment to lose him now But to God's Holy Will we must submit as he willingly and chearfully did when Death approached He resigned all with great Christian Courage and discoursed Philosophically and Divinely of the Vanity and Uncertainty of all Sublunary Things and setled all his Desires upon the Things above and not long before his death he discoursed of the Necessity and Sincerity of Repentance and Uniform Obedience in such a manner and inveighed with such any Holy Zeal against the Sins of these Nations as might make the greatest Debauchees of our Age quake and tremble to have heard him And then with reflecting on himself he did with great Grief and Sorrow with Sighs and Tears bewail the least Failures of his Life and spent his Last Days in Self-examination in Repentance and Prayer and with great Devotion received the Holy Sacrament in which he found much Joy and Comfort and had such Inward Peace and Antepasts of Bliss that he longed to be dissolved and to be with Christ and did very often beg of God to take him And on Thursday last his Prayer was heard and God in his Mercy took him out of the Troubles of this Life and called him up amongst the Blessed and changed his Fading Mitre into a Crown of Eternal Glory What then remains but that we imitate his Virtue honour his Memory and commit his Body to his Dormitory there to sleep till the Resurrection when he and all who have been diligent and industrious painful and laborious in the Ministry and have been Precedents of Piety and Holiness of Justice and Integrity will meet their Flocks with Joy and Comfort and for turning them to Righteousness shall shine as Stars for ever and ever Which God grant we may all do c. A TABLE OF THE Discourses Sermons IN THIS VOLUME PRactical Christianity Recommended urg'd and Encourag'd in working out our own Salvation Or A Discourse on Philippians 2.12 13. Wherefore my Beloved as ye have always Obeyed not as in my Presence only but now much more in my Absence work out your own Salvation with Fear and Trembling For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good Pleasure The Assurance of Heaven and Salvation a powerful Motive to serve God with Fear In a Discourse on Hebrews 12.28 29. Wherefore we having received a Kingdom that cannot be moved let us have Grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear For our God is a Consuming Fire A Discourse of the Nature Corruption and Renewing of the Conscience With Accounts of the Moment of having a Conscience void of Offence to God and Men from Acts 24.16 Herein do I exercise my self to have always a Conscience void of Offence towards God and towards Men. A Discourse upon Perseverance in Prayer With Exhortations thereunto On 1 Thess 5.17 Pray without ceasing A Discourse upon the Omnipresence of God With the Improvements thereof From Psal 139.7 8 9 10. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit Or whither shall I flee from thy Presence If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there If I make my Bed in Hell behold thou art there If I take the Wings of the Morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the Sea even there shall thy Hand lead me and thy right Hand shall hold me BOOKS Printed for Jonathan Robinson A. and J. Churchill John Taylor and John Wyat. A Practical Exposition on the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer in two Volumes in Quarto The Vanity of the World with other Sermons in 8 vo Sermons or Discourses on several Scriptures in Four Volumes in Octavo The Almost Christian discovered in some Sermons on Acts 26.28 All these written by the Right Reverend Father in God Ezekiel Hopkins late Lord Bishop of London-derry Bishop Vsher's Life and Letters By Dr. Parr in Folio 's Body of Divinity or the Sum and Substance of the Christian Religion Folio 's 22 Sermons on several Subjects Fol. Josephus's History of the Jews Folio Dr. Bates's Harmony of the Divine Attributes Octavo Charron of Wisdom in three Books All Dr. Anthony Walker 's Works viz. The Sinfulness and Danger of delaying Repentance The Vertuous Woman or the Life of the Countess of Warwick The Vertuous Wife or the Life of Mrs. Eliz. Walker His Sermons of Water-drinking Preached at Tunbridge-wells c. The Worthy Communicant a Treatise shewing the due Order of Receiving the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper The 17th Edition By Jeremiah Dyke The Poor Doubting Christian drawn unto Christ By Thomas Hooker Ovid's Metamorphosis in English Verse By George Sandys Aesop's Fables in Prose with Cuts Solitude improved by Divine Meditation By Nathaniel Ranew late Rector of Felsted in Essex Practical Discourses concerning Death and Heaven By Nathaniel Ranew Correction Instruction or a Treatise of Afflictions By Tho. Case The Principles of Christian Religion with a brief Method of the Doctrine thereof By Bishop Vsher The sinfulness of Sin and the fulness of Christ In two Sermons By W. Bridge Practical Christianity RECOMMENDED Urg'd Encourag'd In working out our own SALVATION OR A DISCOURSE ON Philippians ii 12 13. By EZEKIEL HOPKINS Late Lord Bishop of London-derry LONDON Printed for Jonathan Robinson A. and J. Churchill John Taylor and John Wyat. 1696. Practical CHRISTIANITY Recommended Vrged and Encouraged In Working out our own SALVATION Phil. ii 12.13 Wherefore my Beloved as ye have always Obeyed not as in my Presence only but now much more in my Absence work out your own Salvation with Fear and Trembling For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good Pleasure THE whole Sum of Christianity is Comprehended in two Points in Knowledg Introduction and in Obedience The one is Conversant about things Supernaturally Revealed and the other about Duties Supernaturally Performed Now although there be so wide a difference between these two yet where they are suffered to run on in a course they will one fall into the other and Gospel Revelations will make way for and lead unto Gospel Obedience Yea indeed there is no Divine Truth how Abstracted how Sublime and Speculative soever it may
Body of Sin and Death shall never enter with you into Life the Motions of Sin shall for ever cease in that Eternal Rest Are you here oppressed with Sorrows Do Afflictions overwhelm you Why there God shall kiss your blubbered Eyes dry again and wipe with his own Hands all Tears from your Eyes Are you pester'd here with Temptations and doth the evil One without intermission haunt you with black and hellish Thoughts with dreadful and horrible Dejections There you shall be quite beyond the Cast of all his fiery Darts and instead of these you shall have within you an ever-living Fountain bubling up spiritual and sprightly Contemplations and holy Raptures for ever such as you never knew when you were here upon Earth no not when you were in the most spiritual and heavenly Frame Are you here clouded and cast down with Desertions and doth God sometimes hide his Face from you in Displeasure In Heaven there shall be an everlasting Sun-shine God shall look freely and stedfastly upon you and you shall no more see him through a Glass darkly but Face to Face without any interruption or obscurity Think O Soul and then think of any Thing else if thou canst What is it to see the Father of Lights in his own Rays What is it to see the Sun of Righteousness lie in the Bosom of the Father of Lights What is it to feel the eternal Warmth and Influence of the Holy Ghost springing from both these Lights What is it to converse with Holy Angels and the Spirits of just Men made perfect to join with them in singing the same Hallelujahs for ever And when you have thought all this think once more Heaven is all this and more also Well then since Heaven is such and since such a Heaven as this is may be yours what should I say more but only with the Apostle 2 Cor. 7.1 Having these Promises dearly Beloved Promises of so certain and vast a Glory as this is let us cleanse and purify our selves from all filthiness and pollution both of Flesh and Spirit and perfect Holiness in the fear of God Is this Heaven attainable upon your Working Will God give it into Wages after working Will he share Stars nay will he share himself and his Christ among you Truly methinks Christians should not have patience to hear any more methinks it is too much dulness to indure another Motive besides this Why do you not interrupt me then Why do you not cry out What shall we do that we may work the Works of God Why do you not say and pray Lord work in us both to will and to do of thy good pleasure Why is there not such a holy Tumour and Disturbance among you some Questioning some Praying some Resolveing all some way or other testifying a sense of Salvation upon you But alas there is a general Silence Men and Women set as quiet in their Seats as if their Seats were filled rather with Monuments than with Men as if Heaven and eternal Salvation were of no Concernment for them to look after And wherefore is all this but because their Sight is short and their Faith weak They do not see afar off nor believe a far off Heaven they look upon as at a great distance and very unwilling they are to go so long upon Trust and sensual Persons as they are they look for present Reward and present Wages and will not stir till they have received it And this is the Reason why the Consideration of this great and infinite Glory affects Men no more they look for something present Well be it so Will God's Work bring in no present Profit The Reward in working for Salvation is great Yes it will and that such as you your selves shall acknowledge to be great And therefore Secondly Besides those set Wages that are to be received at the end of our Lives there are many Vails and occasional Incomes that accrew to God's Servants in the performance of their Work As First 1. God will provide for us while we are working Such are assured that God will provide for them while they are doing of his Work he hath assured them of the Mercies and good Things of this Life by Promise I do not say of the troublesome abundance of them but of the Enjoyment of them so far forth as they are Mercies and good Things Godliness says the Apostle is profitable for all things 1 Tim. 4.8 having the promise of the Life that now is and of that which is to come It hath the Promises of this Life and that is a large Charter by vertue whereof God feeds them and cloaths them and provides Sustenance and comfortable Enjoyments for all those that work in his Service And therefore that I may note it by the way most Men are greatly mistaken that labour and toil in the World to get Riches and great Estates this is not the right thriving Course if you would grow Rich First seek the kingdom of Heaven and the Righteousness thereof work out your own Salvation Labour for the true Riches and this will not only increase and improve your inward Graces but inincrease and improve your outward Mercies also It is true indeed Earth Worms may by carking and caring by pinching and drudging increase their heap of Dirt but let who will for my part I will not nor cannot call that Man a rich Man that hath more Curses than Enjoyments Well thus we see what great Vails God gives his Servants he gives them not only those of another Life but those of this Life so far as they are Mercies and that is one Vail Secondly As God provides for his Servants while they are working so their very Work is Wages and Reward enough for it self If God should only give us our Labour for our Pains as we use to say and never bestow a Penny more upon us than what we get in his Service we were even in that sufficiently rewarded It was certainly a violent Pang of distempered Zeal in that Person that carried Fire in the one Hand and Water in the other and being demanded a Reason of it his Answer was He would burn up Paradise and quench Hell-fire that so God might be served and Holiness embraced upon no other Motives than themselves This was a violent Pang and cannot be allowed this Fire was strange Fire and this Water was too much muddied to be Water of the Sanctuary But yet certainly that Man who abstracting from the Consideration of Heaven and Hell eternal Rewards and Punishments would not rather choose the Works of God and the Ways of Holiness than the Works of Sin and the Ways of Iniquity let that Man know he never yet had much Acquaintance with that Way and with that Work What says holy David concerning the Commandments of God In keeping them there is great Reward not only after keeping them when those Commands that have here been the Rule of our Holiness and Obedience
Helpers to you in this great Work of working out of your Salvation And therefore they are called Helpers of your Faith and Joy 2 Cor. 1.24 They are said To watch for your Souls as those that must give an account Heb. 13.17 They are said to be Co-workers with Jesus Christ yea Jude 23. they are said To save your Souls Ministers are set in the Church to admonish with all Meekness to beseech with all Earnestness to rebuke with all Authority yea and we have done it Have we not called upon you Sinners Sinners why will you die The Way wherein you now walk leads down to the Chambers of Death and Destruction the Wages of that Work you are now doing is Shame Death and Hell Have we not thus often call'd upon you Yes so often have we thundred Terrors in Mens Ears that they now disregard them out of custom and when we speak of Sin and Death and Hell and Judgment to come Men think we are fallen into a common Peace and we must talk dreadfully to keep in our Road. These are the Apprehensions Men have of the great and fearful Denunciations that are daily discharged in their Ears by the Ministers of the Gospel And have we not also display'd Jesus Christ in all his Excellencies so far forth as his infinite Excellencies can be display'd with a few short-breath'd Words Have we not set forth Holiness in its Beauty and Lustre and done as much as we could do to reconcile you to the ways of Obedience and to remove the unjust Prejudices that Men have taken up against them What could we have done more than we have done to inform Mens Judgments to satisfie their Consciences to answer all their Doubts to allay their Fears to supply them with quickning Considerations to Duty and with deterring Considerations from Sin We appeal to your selves and yet we speak not this to ingratiate or to commend our selves we profess we care not much for the good Opinion of any Man in the World farther than it may be of some advantage to do your Souls good but do you think God expects not some great Thing from you Give me leave â—o deal truly and faithfully with you if your Works do not in some measure answer the Labours of God's Servants that have many Years follow'd you with Line upon Line and Precept upon Precept here a little and there a little still warning and intreating with all Bowels of Tenderness alluring you to pity your own Souls and to save your selves from that Wrath and Vengeance that shall shortly overcome the disobedient World They who have thus exhorted you believe it shall within a while be Witnesses against you Well then since you are daily called upon and warned to flee from Wrath to come since you have such clear Convictions of your Duty that a bribed Conscience can hardly evade since you have such abundance of Examples of others who have gone before you and have done what God requires of you why will not you be hereby persuaded and encouraged to work These Things you must acknowledge are great Helps to further your Salvation and believe it they will prove dreadful Aggravations of your Condemnations if they do not prevail with you But these are only outward Helps 2. Inward Helps Secondly There are other Helps and they are inward and of far greater Force and Efficacy of which I shall name Two 1. The Dictates of Conscience First The Dictates of your own Consciences they are still prompting and exciting of you to work Conscience it is God's Deputy and Vicegerent in the Soul that rules and governs in his Name and by his Authority Now of all the Faculties in Man this was the least corrupted by his Fall though the Will be wholly corrupted and perverse that it will not obey the Commands of Conscience yet Conscience still continues the performance of its Office still it informs and urgeth and threatens and tormenteth and thus may you see it busily working even in those that never had the Law of God to direct Conscience The Gentiles says the Apostle to the Romans that have not the Law Rom. 2.14 15. do by Nature that is by natural Conscience the things contained in the Law their Consciences bearing witness and their Thoughts in the mean while accusing and excusing one another And because they had not the Law therefore Conscience in them was like an Officer walking in the Dark apprehending the Innocent and letting the Guilty escape But yet this was from the beginning so deeply implanted in the Heart of Man that something must be done and avoided for to obtain Happiness which could never yet be obliterated Tho' our knowledge of what is Duty and what is Sin be in a great part defaced yet this knowledg the Scripture doth abundantly supply to us and gives Conscience a perfect Draught of all the Duties that God requires and bids it be Overseer and look that the Work be done How is it not a great Help when you have somewhat within you that stands for and takes part with what is Good and what is your Duty Conscience secretly bids you beware of such and such Sins that will bring Ruin Destruction and Vengeance upon you and perform such and such Duties Pray Hear Meditate and be more fervent and affectionate in all your Services this is the way that tends to Life and Happiness Thus Conscience daily and hourly is following of you with Counsels and Chidings and with Threatnings denouncing Wrath and Vengeance against you and though it speaketh these Things with so low a Voice that others though they lay their Ears to your Soul cannot hear it yet in your Ears it speaks as loud as Thunder and no less terrible it is in vain to wound it it is in vain to stop its Mouth for that will but make it break out with the more violence and out-rage nothing can appease it but Duty and Work Why should you not then since you have that within you that stands for and prompts you to work why should you not as well follow and obey the Dictates and Commands of your Consciences that prompt you to Work and Duty as obey the Propensions of your sensual part to the contrary Secondly 2. God himself helps a Christian to work God himself helps us by working all our Works in us and for us by working in us the will to work and by working for us the work when we have willed And therefore while there is no part of our Work too hard for God there should be no part of it too hard and difficult for us Christ tells us His burthen is not heavy yet were it heavy we might well undergo it since he himself helps us to bear it The frequent experience of every Child of God doth abundantly confirm this Did you never begin a Duty with your Hearts listless and dead with Affections cold and flat with Thoughts very wandring and distracting that
Labour under the Sun how wavering how uncertain and how unsuccessful Things are how Means run one way and the End another they might hereby be induced to turn their Labours into another Channel and to work for their Souls and for eternal Happiness and Salvation that are as far above the reach of Disappointment as they are far above the rate of earthly Concernments Mine Elect says God Isa 52.22 shall long enjoy the Work of their Hands they shall not labour in vain And this is the great Argument urged by the Apostle upon the Corinthians Be stedfast 2 Cor. 15.58 unmoveable always abounding in the Work of the Lord and why so industrious and constant knowing this says he that your Labour is not in vain in the Lord. Two Things there are that make a Labour to be in vain First When it doth not accomplish its End Secondly When that End it doth accomplish is not worth the Cost and Pains Now in neither of these respects is your Labour in vain For First It shall not fail to accomplish the end to which it is ordained and that is eternal Salvation Three Things there are that make Men come short in the accomplishment of an End propounded First When Men propound to themselves Ends that are in themselves simply impossible Secondly When though the End be possible yet the Means that are used are unfit and improbable Thirdly When though the Means are rightly suited to the attainment of the end yet we do not persevere in the use of them Now none of these ways shall a laborious Christian fail of his end For First The End Christians work for is not impossible The End that you work for is not in it self simply impossible Should you propound to your selves to become Angels should you strive to sublimate your selves into spiritual Essences your attempts herein were all but vain because it is impossible you should ever be refined into Angels But if your end be to be like Angels to be equal to Angels this is possible and may be attained When they arise from the dead Mark 12.25 they are as the Angels that are in Heaven which another Evangelist renders Luke 20.36 they are equal to the Angels If in this Life you propose to your selves a state of perfection and freedom both from Sin and Sorrow a state of consummate Bliss and Happiness this End is impossible But if you make it your End to enjoy such a state as this is hereafter this is attainable and Labour may atchieve it yea aim at what degree of Glory you please next below God and Christ be it as high as Cherubims and Seraphims I cannot say you think of an impossibility your Labour may raise you to such a pitch and advance you to such Glory as shall dazle the Sun in its brightness It is true there was once a time when Salvation might well be reckoned among those Things that were impossible and that was in that sad interval between the Fall and the Promise of Christ when all Mankind lay in the shadow and in the valley of Death under the Breach and yet under the Bond of the Covenant of Works when it had indeed been in vain so much as once to have thought of Happiness or to have laboured for it But since Christ's undertaking We who were once without Hope have now obtained good Hope through Grace the Partition-Wall that then we could neither climb over nor break through is now taken away the Gate of Heaven is now set open and with striving we may enter for our Saviour Jesus Christ hath abolished Death and brought Life and Immortality to Light through the Gospel And therefore though it may seem an impossibility to dejected and despairing Souls that ever such vile Wretches should receive so great a Dignity that those who are sunk so low in Misery should ever be raised to Happiness that those who are so loaden with Sin and Iniquity should ever feel the weight of Mercy and beaten Glory that those whose best Works deserve the lowest Hell should though not for yet upon the performance of those Works obtain the highest Heavens Though this may seem to be an impossibility yet believe it while you think of any Glory lower than the Glory of the Godhead you think of nothing above a possibility and the reach of Industry There are none of you excluded from a possibility of being saved the Covenant of Grace runs in most large and comprehensive Terms Who ever believeth shall obtain eternal Life The Death of Christ and his Blood is a most sovereign Medicine applicable not only to all Maladies but to all Men if they will believe Tho' it is true none shall be saved but the Elect yet is it true also that a possibility of Salvation extends farther than Election Election gives the infallibility of Salvation as Reprobation doth the infallibility of Damnation but yet as there is a possibility for those that shall infallibly be saved to perish if they do not believe so is it possible for those that shall infallibly perish to be saved if they will believe The possibility of Salvation therefore stands not upon Election but upon two other Grounds First The meritorious and all-sufficient procurement of Christ whereby he hath procured Salvation for all the World and for all in the World upon condition of their Faith for that must still be taken in for were it not so how could we preach Remission of Sins in his Name to every Creature were not his Death applicable to all Then though some should believe yet for want of a Sacrifice offered up and a Price paid down for them they should not be saved though they should believe How then is it that we seriously call all Men to repent and believe that their Sins may be pardon'd and their Souls saved Certainly unless the death of Christ hath procured Salvation for all Men upon condition of Faith and Repentance such Calls would be false in us and vain to them for so we should promise Salvation upon believing to those to whom though they should believe Salvation should be denied because they want a Covenant made with them and a Surety to undertake for them Therefore I say Christ's procurement is general so far that whoever believes shall receive the Benefit of his Death Secondly As the Death of Christ is applicable to all for Salvation if they believe so Faith that alone applies this Death is attainable by you all if you be not wanting to your selves you are none of you under an impossibility of believing and therefore not under an impossibility of Salvation Though it be certain that some shall infallibly persevere in Infidelity yet there is none that hears the sound of the Gospel and the outward Call of God in his Word but may believe and obey if they be not wanting to themselves Neither is this Doctrin Arminianism nor is it prejudicial to the efficacious Grace of God whereby the Will
Slave unto God And such Slaves are all convinced Sinners that have not yet arrived to the free and filial Spirit of Adoption but are kept under Bondage under the Wrath of God and manacled in the Fetters of their own Fears So saith the Apostle Heb. 2.15 To deliver them who through fear of Death and of Hell that follows after it were all their Life-time subject unto Bondage Thirdly 3. Slavish Fear is wrought in the Soul by the Spirit This slavish Fear is wrought in the Soul by the Spirit of God though it be slavish for it is his Office to convince as well as to comfort and to cast down by the Terrors of the Law as well as to raise up by the Promises of the Gospel In John 16.8 He shall convince the World of Sin and therefore it is said in this place Rom. 8.15 We have not received the Spirit of Bondage again to fear Rom. 8.15 implying that those Terrors that seize upon the Conscience are the Work of the Holy Ghost We bring our selves into Bondage under Sin and he brings us into Bondage under Fear If therefore at any time thou who art a secure Sinner art suddenly surprized with fearful and trembling Thoughts concerning thy present state of Sin and thy future state of Wrath beware thou listen not to any that would persuade thee it is nothing but a Fit of Melancholy or a Temptation of Satan to drive thee to Despair but know assuredly thy Conscience is now under the Hand of the Holy Ghost himself he raiseth those Tempests of Fear in thee and as usually it is fatal to divert and hush them so is it no less than ignorant Blasphemy to impute his Works to Melancholy or to the Temptations of Satan Fourthly When the Soul is prepared for the Work of Grace by the Work of Conviction 4. When the Spirit hath been a Spirit of Bondage it becomes a Spirit of Adoption when it is prepared for Comfort by the Work of Humiliation the same Spirit that was before a Spirit of Bondage becomes now a Spirit of Adoption that is the Holy Ghost persuades and assures us of the love and favour of God and enables us through divine Light beaming in upon our Consciences to behold him as a gracious and a reconciled Father whom before we trembled at as a stern and terrible Judge The same Wind that in a raging Storm tosseth the Sea too and fro in restless Heaps in a Calm doth only gently move and fan it with pleasing Purles So is it here that Spirit of God that in Conviction raiseth a Tempest in the Conscience afterwards the same Spirit breaths forth a sweet Calm of Peace and Comfort upon it The same Spirit that before was a Spirit of Bondage when the Soul is sufficiently thereby prepared for Grace becomes a Spirit of Adoption This is that Spirit of Adoption that is here spoken of and is called so because it witnesseth with our Spirits that we are the Children of God by Adoption God hath but one Son by eternal Generation and that is Jesus Christ called therefore The only begotten of the Father John 1.14 He hath many Sons by Creation even all Mankind so Adam is called The Son of God Luke 3.38 He hath many Sons also by Adoption even all that are effectually called according to the purpose of his Grace all that are sanctified who are of Strangers made Heirs of God and Co-heirs with Jesus Christ himself who is the natural Son of God as it is Rom. 8.17 Now because it is the Work of the Holy Ghost to testifie to us this our great Privilege that we are enrolled in the Family of Heaven and become the Children of God therefore he is called the Spirit of Adoption that is the Spirit that witnesseth to us our Adoption Fifthly To whom the Spirit hath once been a Spirit of Adoption 5. Where the Spirit hath once been a Spirit of Adoption it never more becomes a Spirit of Bondage it never more becomes to them a Spirit of Bondage and Fear That is it never again proclaims War after it hath spoken Peace it never represents God as an inraged Enemy after it hath represented him as a reconciled Father It is true the Spirit of God always keeps up his convincing Office in the Soul of the most assured Saint it convinceth them of Sin and of Wrath due to them for Sin A twofold Conviction of Sin But now there is a twofold Conviction there is a Conviction of the Evil of particular Actions and there is a Conviction of the Evil of our State and Condition Why now though upon particular Miscarriages of Gods Children the Holy Ghost secretly smited their Consciences shewing them the Guilt and Evil of their Sins thereby bringing them to Repentance and a godly Sorrow yet the Holy Ghost never again testified to them that they are in a graceless unregenerate and sinful Estate and Condition and in a State of Wrath and Condemnation it brings them to a deep Humiliation by convincing them of the Evil of their Actions but it never brings them into legal Terrors by convincing them of a sinful State neither indeed can it be so for the Spirit of God is a Spirit of Truth and to witness that we are yet Children of Wrath who are indeed the adopted Children of God this were a false Testimony and therefore utterly abhorred by the Spirit of God who is a Spirit of Truth Doth the same Fountain send forth sweet Water and bitter Doth there proceed from one and the same Mouth Blessings and Curses Certainly the same Spirit that hath once pronounced us to be in the Love and Favour of God never after pronounceth us to be Cursed and under the Wrath of God Object But you will say Have not the best of God's Children sometimes concluded themselves to be reprobated and cast away Have they not lain under sad and fearful apprehensions of God's Wrath Have not some of them who formerly walked in the Light of God's Countenance and flourished in their Assurance yet afterwards have been so dejected that they would not entertain any comfort or hopes of Mercy and Salvation Answ To this I Answer It is true it may indeed so happen that those Saints whose Joys and Comforts are at one time fresh and verdent at another time wither and drop off so that they look upon themselves as rotten Trees destinated to make Fuel for Hell Whence proceeds this It is not from the Spirit of God but as carnal Men are apt to mistake the first Work of Conviction for Melancholy or for Temptation so this really proceeds from one of these two Causes When the Children of God after full assurance come again not only to entertain Doubts of their Condition but also to despair of themselves looking on themselves as Persons that God hath singled out to Destruction this proceeds not from the Holy Ghost but from Melancholy or Temptation Sometimes natural Melancholy obstructs
The Fear of being judged by God at the Tribunal of Christ at the last Day engaged the Apostle to labour to please God and to be accepted by him 5. The Fear of God is an excellent Corrective of the base and degenerous Fear of Men. Fifthly The Fear of God is an excellent Corrective of the base and degenerous Fear of Men. Our Saviour says Luke 12.4 Be not afraid of them that can kill the Body and after that have no more that they can do but fear him who after he hath killed hath power to cast into Hell yea I say unto you fear him It is well observed by a learned Author that Men may be considered either as they bear upon them some resemblance and impress of the divine Majesty as they are invested with Authority and Power and constituted Magistrates and Rulers over us This resemblance is so great that the Scripture stiles them Gods I have said ye are Gods and so we are to fear them with a Fear of Reverence and Obedience and to obey them in that which is lawful And they may be considered also as standing in opposition to God abusing their Power by commanding things that are unlawful and by Persecution endeavouring to terrifie Men from the Ways and Service of God And so they may be feared with a Fear of flight and eschewal When ye are persecuted in one City flee you to another Matth. 10.23 We may so fear them as to labour to avoid their Rage and to consult our own Safety But the Fear that is here forbidden is Fear not them that can kill the Body that is with a distrustful perverting Fear such a Fear as causeth Men for the securing of their temporal Life to desert the Profession and Practice of Godliness with such a Fear Fear not Men. He will not that truly fears God thus fear Men no the Fear of God lays a check upon this sinful Fear of Men he that truly fears God will not immoderately fear Men for it is the property of holy Fear to represent the displeasure of God as an infinitely greater Evil than the loss of Estate Liberty nay of Life it self or whatever the Rage and Power of Man can either inflict or threaten and this makes them choose Affliction rather than Sin See this fearless Spirit in those three Heroick Champions Dan. 3.16 Dan. 3.16 who though they saw a burning fiery Furnace before them into which they were threatned to be cast yet all the Terrors of it did not fright them to an Idolatrous Worship with what a holy Contempt and Slighting did they answer King Nebuchadnezar We are not careful say they to answer thee in this matter And whence proceeded this undaunted Courage but only because they were more afraid of God who is a consuming Fire than they were of a fiery Furnace A Man that truly fears God reputes with himself that to gain the favour of Men with the displeasure of God to redeem a temporal Life by an eternal Death is the foolishest Bargain that can be made he knows the rage of Man is under the restraint of God and that a Hair of his Head shall not fall to the Ground without his heavenly Father's Knowledge and Permission and if God doth suffer wicked Men to inflict the utmost that their Rage and Spight can prompt them unto yet it reacheth only their earthly part the dull part of Man the Body they may persecute torment and kill us but yet they cannot hurt us one momentany Gripe of Hells Torments is infinitely more intolerable than all the Cruelties that Men can possibly invent or inflict one Frown from an angry God hath more Dread and Terror in it than all the Rage and Threatnings of the most barbarous and cruel Tyrants and that Christian that makes such an account as this is can never certainly so fear Torment or Death as to be drawn to Sin against God whose Displeasure he more fears than he fears either Torment or Death Now to shut up this whole Subject What there is in God that may affect us with an Awe and Fear of him I shall only briefly mention a few Particulars to you whereby you may take a brief View of what there is in the Nature of God that may justly affect us with a holy Fear and Awe of him First 1. His glorious Majesty The Consideration of God's glorious Majesty may strike us into a holy Dread and Terror And therefore says Job 33.22 With God is terrible Majesty Job 33.22 This is that which daunts the holy Angels in Heaven they cover their Faces with their Wings as not being able to bear the piercing Rays of that Glory wherewith he is cloathed An earthly Prince when he is set forth in the Royalty and Grandeur of his State casts an awe upon those that approach near him And how much more ought we to fear the great and glorious Majesty of Heaven who is always clad with Light as with a Garment that Light which no mortal Eye can approach being always surrounded with an innumerable Host of glittering Attendance each of which maintains more Pomp and State than the greatest Potentate on Earth 2. His Almighty Power Secondly God's Almighty Power should cause us to fear before him He is the uncontroulable Sovereign of all the World to whose Beck all things in Heaven and in Earth yea and in Hell too are subject and therefore says Job 25.2 Job 25.2 Dominion and Fear are with him not that God hath any Fear or stands in Fear but the Dominion and Sovereignity of God causeth Fear it strikes the Heart with an awful Fear when we consider that Dominion and Fear are with God That Power and Authority of God by which he exerciseth his Dominion causeth a Fear of him 3. His severe Justice Thirdly The severe and impartial Justice of God whereby he renders to every one according to his Works this should kindle in us a holy Fear of God So the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.10 11. 2 Cor. 5.10 11. We must receive says he according to what we have done in the Body Whence he infers That knowing the Terrors of the Lord we persuade Men. It is terrible to receive from God's Justice according to what we have done in the Body Fourthly 4. His Omnisciency and Omnipresence The Consideration of God's Omnipresence and Omnisciency may cause in us a holy Fear of him His Eye is always upon us his Presence is always with us where-ever we are and he sees and observes what-ever we do and therefore let us fear him his Eye is awful Fifthly 5. Our absolute dependance upon him The consideration of our absolute dependance upon God should cause us to stand in Fear of him left by provoking him who maintains our Souls in Life in whom we live and move and have our beings in whose Hands are our Breath our Life and all our Ways he should turn his Hand upon us and deprive
Consciences too How many are there that have thus bewildred themselves in their own Fansies and Opinions and so have fallen upon the Precipice of damnable Errors and into Bogs of Mire and filthy Lusts only through an ignorant Conscience and self-conceited Pride that is always a Companion of it this Ignorance fills the Conscience with false Presumptions and draws it to wrong Determinations and Conclusions which though they seem to be but little mistakes in the Notion yet are they most destructive and pernicious in a Man's practice As a small mistake in the levelling of an Arrow at the Hand makes a wide distance at the Mark so a small mistake in the Notion of Truth makes a wide error in the practice of Godliness A mis-persuaded Conscience usually gives rise to misguided Zeal and Zeal without Knowledge is but a Religious Phrensie that fashions out to it self strange shapes of Sin and Duty of Good and Evil and usually it takes the one for the other until it falls under that Woe denounced by the Prophet Isa 5.20 Woe to them that call Good Evil and Evil Good that put Darkness for Light and Light for Darkness that put Bitter for Sweet and Sweet for Bitter Now Ignorance doth vitiate and corrupt the Conscience two ways Ignorance vitiates the Conscience two ways either it makes it unnecessarily scrupulous or else it makes it daringly presumptuous First 1. By making it unnecessarily scrupulous Ignorance fetters and binds up the Conscience either to the doing of or abstaining from that concerning which God hath laid no Law and Obligation at all upon it This is an encroaching Conscience that makes that an enclosure that God hath left common and rigorously exacts from us what God hath permitted as indifferent It is a very sad Judgment to be given up to the domineering Impositions of a scrupulous Conscience such a Conscience as this is will certainly make much more Sin than over the Law made for whatever we do against the Commands of Conscience is Sin though it be not immediately and directly against the Commands of God Rom. 14.23 Why now some there are that do so needlesly pin and coop up themselves that they cannot stir nor moderately use that lawful Liberty that God hath indulged them but presently they are entangled in Sin because of the imperious Prohibitions of their own Consciences Secondly 2. By making it licentious and daringly presumptuous Sometimes Ignorance makes Conscience licentious indulging it self in those Actions that the Law of God condemns making it daringly presumptuous and this is a quite contrary extream and yet as opposite as these are we oftentimes find them joined together in the same Persons the same Persons that have a needlesly scrupulous Conscience have also a daringly presumptuous Conscience and this proceeds from an Ignorance of their due Bounds and Limits Who ordinarily so prophane as the Superstitious Their Ignorance makes them scrupulous Observers of little Circumstances and yet bold Adventurers upon notorious Sins What a strange wry Conscience have such Men that tie up themselves strictly where God gives them scope and yet run riotously where God's Commands and Threatnings restrain dreading more the transgressing one Law of Man than they do the transgressing of the whole moral Law of God This is now from Ignorance whereby Men do not know the due Bounds either of that Liberty that God indulgeth them or that Restraint that God lays upon them And this is the first Thing that corrupts Conscience namely Ignorance Secondly 2. Wilful Sinning corrupts Conscience and that two ways Wilful Sinning corrupts and vitiates the Conscience and that two ways First Sometimes such Sins stupifie and deaden the Conscience 1. By stupifying and deadning of Conscience especially if they become frequent and customary and therefore we usually call them Conscience-wasting Sins Believe it through a continued course of known and presumptuous Sins you will bring your Consciences into very sad Consumptions that they will pine away under Iniquities and how many are there that have their Consciences already lying Speechless Senseless and Gasping ready to give up the Ghost The Apostle in Eph. 4.19 speaks of them Eph. 4. â—9 that being past feeling have given themselves over to Lasciviousness Secondly 2. By terrifying and inraging of Conscience Sometimes such Sins do affright terrifie and enrage the Conscience filling it with dreadful Thoughts of eternal future Vengeance Wilful and known Sins sometimes terrifie and enrage the Conscience and this is a Corruption of the Conscience when the Terrors of it are so overwhelming as to sink Men into Despair for mark it it is its Office to accuse and to threaten for Sin and the greater the Sin is the more sharp and stinging ought to be its Reproofs but be the Sin never so great for which Conscience reproves if yet it denounceth Wrath without making mention of Repentance and hopes of Mercy it exceeds its Commission that God hath given it and becomes an evil and corrupt Conscience And therefore we have that Expression Heb. 10.22 Heb. 10.22 Let us draw near says the Apostle having our Hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience By an evil Conscience here is meant a despairing Conscience from which we are freed only by the Blood of Sprinkling to be convinced of Sin and not at all to be convinced of Righteousness is such a Conviction as constitutes one part of the Torments of the damned in Hell whose Worm never dies and certainly that Conscience must needs be very evil and very corrupt that breeds in it this hellish Worm while we are here upon Earth And so much for the first Thing what it is that corrupts the Conscience Secondly 2. What it is to have a clear Conscience and that in two Things The next Thing propounded is to shew you What it is to have a their Conscience Now there are two Things that denominate a Conscience to be clear when it is pure and when it is peaceable when it is free from all known and wilful Defilements and when it is not justly burdned with the guilt of Sin then is it a clear Conscience 1. Then a Man hath a clear Conscience 1. When it is free from all known and wilful Sins when it is free from all known and wilful sins I say from all known and wilful Sins for it is impossible while we are encompassed about with Infirmities and oppressed with a heavy Body of Sin and Death to keep our selves free and pure from all Sin For in many things we offend all says St. James 3.2 Jam. 3.2 But these Sins of daily Weakness and sudden Surreption as they are usually small Sins and scarce discernible so are they no Obstructions to a clear Conscience no more than the Moats of the Sun-beams are Obstructions to a clear Day As for those Quotidian Weaknesses and Sins of â—aily Infirmity they neither leave Guilt nor Defilement upon the Conscience of God's Children but
that are branded for infamous both by God and Man as Murder Adultery Blasphemy and the like at which even natural Conscience recoils such carnal Sins as affright Conscience and make it look pale and ghastly A Crime I also call any sin that is consubstantiated by an access of Guilt by the dreadful Aggravations of being committed knowingly and wilfully By Faults I mean Sins of daily Infirmity and Surreption such as do frequently surprize the best and the holiest Christians from which no Man's Piety nor Watchfulness can secure him Why now though we be over-taken with Faults and every Day and Hour contract new and fresh Guilt upon our Consciences yet we may have clear and good Consciences while we are careful to keep our selves from Crimes from all Sins that are so in their own Nature by the horridness of the Fact and from all Sins that are made so by greatning Circumstances of being deliberate and wilful while we keep our selves from these we have good Consciences notwithstanding Sins of ordinary Weakness That Man hath a good Conscience who preserves himself from all infamous and gross Sins and from all other wilful and deliberate Sins Now this clearness of Conscience is a thing possible to be attained Men may with care and caution keep themselves free from all self-condemning Crimes and live so evenly that when their Consciences are most peevish and toutchy yet they shall have nothing to accuse them of but what is common to all Men of such Men as these this we may affirm that they have been able with Joy to reflect back upon their past Lives in a dying hour that possibly never knew any Guilt by themselves than what the Sins of common and daily Infirmity hath exposed them unto This now is to keep good Consciences We live well says St. Austin if we live without Crimes to live without Fault is impossible and he that thinks he doth it keeps himself not from Sin but from Pardon Secondly Another way to keep our Consciences clear is by cleansing them when they are defiled He keeps his Garments clean that keeps himself from falling and next degree he who being fallen hastes to cleanse himself from his contracted Filth And thus at least we may keep our Consciences clear both from Crimes and from Faults also while we labour to cleanse them from their Defilements and to rub out and wash away those Spots with which at any time we are occasionally bespatter'd There is a twofold Blot Sin leaves behind it there is a Blot of Discredit and a Blot of Defilement the former is indelible As the Scar remains when the Wound is healed so this Blot remains upon the Soul when the Guilt of Sin is removed It is a Discredit to a Malefactor though pardoned that ever he should do that which deserv'd Death And so it is a kind of Blot upon a Christian's Name for ever to have committed those Sins that have deserved eternal Death though through the free Mercy and unspeakable Grace of God he hath obtained the Pardon of them But then there is another Blot a Blot of Defilement that renders Men loathsom and deformed in the Eyes of God and thus every Sin we commit leaves a Blot and a Stain upon the Soul a Stain that defaceth God's Image and that defiles our own Consciences and when this Stain and Blot is cleansed then are we said to have clear Consciences when we have taken off that Blot and Defilement that Sin hath left whereby we are rendred deformed in the sight of God and whereby the Image of God is defaced upon the Soul Thus you see in general there are two ways to keep a clear Conscience Directions for the getting and keeping of a clear Conscience the one by preventing its Defilement and the other by cleansing of it when it is defiled Now to help you in both these Cases I shall lay down several Particulars First 1. Get Conscience rightly informed If you would have your Consciences clear get them rightly informed How can Conscience be clear so long as the Fogs and thick Mists of Ignorance and Error possess it Labour therefore to let in spiritual Light into it that you may see how to cleanse it It is as much Vanity to go about to cleanse an ignorant Conscience as it is in vain to sweep a dark Room An ignorant conscientious Man that knows not the Limits of Sin and Duty may after a great deal of pudder with his Conscience leave it much worse than he found it and cast out Jewels instead of Rubbish Indeed it is impossible for an ignorant Man to have a good Conscience whether we respect Duty or Comfort in point of Duty I have shewed you formerly that Ignorance will make Conscience unnecessarily scrupulous or daringly presumptuous Now neither can an ignorant Conscience be good in respect of Comfort because through Ignorance Conscience oftentimes quarrels at that which is a true Ground of Rejoycing Conscience is that Glass whereby we may both view our selves and also our Actions Now as a Glass when falsly framed represents a beautiful Face monstrous and frightful so Conscience when falsly informed makes even lovely Actions appear mishapen and terrifying by distorted Representations of those Things that are lawful and perhaps our Duty also Therefore in the first place get an enlightned Conscience if you would get a good Conscience for what says the wise Man Prov. 19.2 Prov. 19.2 That the Soul be without knowledge it is not good or as some Translations have it a Soul without knowledge is not good it is indeed good for nothing unless it be to make Men sin conscientiously and to embolden them to commit the greatest Wickedness in the World with Peace and Comfort Thus says our Saviour John 16.2 John 16.2 Whosoever killeth you shall think that he doth God good Service through the Error and Mistake of their Conscience So in 1 Cor. 2.8 Had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory Knowledg betters the Conscience two ways Knowledge betters the Conscience two ways First 1. By instructing of it to discern betwixt Good and Evil. It gives its direction what to choose and what to avoid it instructs it to discern betwixt Good and Evil. Ignorant Persons often mistake the one for the other and eschew what they should follow or if they chance to do that which is good as it is not of great worth to do good only by chance and hazard so they sin also in doing good while the Judgment is in suspence the Conscience must needs be under Guilt If I know not whether I ought to do an Action or to forbear which way soever I take I am entangled in Sin for whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin That is whatsoever is done with a wavering Conscience that I know not whether it be sinful or not that thereby becomes Sin and whatever a Man doth doubtingly he is damned if he doth it
as we are to speak to him who is the God of the Spirits of all Flesh The holy Angels in Heaven stand always ministring in the presence of God and Prayer doth in some kind associate us with them it brings us to lye prostrate at the Feet of God at whose Feet also Angels and all the Powers in Heaven do with much more Humility than we fall down and worship him we and they fall down together at the Feet of the great God we in Prayer and they in Praises This Priviledge cost Jesus Christ dear for it is through him as the Apostle speaks that we have access with boldness unto the Throne of Grace All Access thither was barred against Sinners till Christ opened a Passage for us by his own Death and most precious Blood And shall not we make use of a Priviledge purchased for us at so dear a Rate as that is Hath Christ shed his Blood to procure us liberty to pray and shall not we spend our Breath in praying Hath Christ died such a cursed cruel Death to purchase liberty for us to pray and shall we rather choose to die an eternal Death than make use of it This is to despise the Blood of Jesus Christ to offer an high Affront and Indignity unto him to account it a vile and contemptible Thing when we make no more esteem of that for the purchase of which he shed his precious Blood We look upon it as a great Priviledge to have free and frequent access to those that are much our Superiors and shall we not reckon it a much higher Priviledge that we may at all times approach the presence of him who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and higher than the highest as we may do at all times in Prayer 3. Prayer is a sovereign Remedy for an afflicted Mind Thirdly Prayer it is the most sovereign Medicine and Remedy for an afflicted Mind Nothing is so desirable in this World as a faithful Friend to whom we may at all times unbosom our selves and make all our Secrets and Grievances known Now Prayer directs us to go to God himself he is our most faithful Friend that can best counsel and best help us and Prayer is a means whereby we reveal the Secrets and Troubles of our Souls unto him Prayer it is our discoursing with God When our Hearts swell with Grief and are ready to break within us how sweet is it then to take God apart and give our Hearts vent Prayer it is a making our Case known to him and a spreading our Wants before him casting all our Burthens upon him who hath promised to sustain us Fourthly consider 4. Prayer is a means appointed by God for all Mercies that we want Prayer is a means appointed by God for the obtaining of those Blessings and Mercies that we stand in need of for all Things are Gods he is the great Lord and Proprietor both of Heaven and Earth whether they be spiritual or temporal Mercies that we desire if it be Wealth Strength or Wisdom all are his If we would have spiritual Blessings conferred upon us our Faith our Love our Patience our Humility strengthned and encreased he is the God of all these Graces and Prayer it is a means appointed by God to convey all these unto us Our Prayers and God's Mercy are like two Buckets in a Well while the one ascends the other descends So while our Prayers ascend to God in Heaven his Mercies and Blessings descend down upon us 5. We are always in want therefore we should pray always Fifthly consider All our Supplies are only for our present Exigences to serve us only from Hand to Mouth the stock of Mercy is not ours but God's he still keeps it in his own Hands and this he doth that he might keep us in a constant Dependence upon him and in a constant Expectation of Mercy from him Our Wants grow up very thick about us and if we did but observe it we should find every Day yea every Hour new cause to present new Requests and Supplications unto God and therefore as our Necessities never cease so neither should our Prayers 6. They â—hat will not Pray shall Howl Sixthly consider this If you will not be persuaded to pray you shall one Day be made to howl You that will not now look up to Heaven in Prayer shall hereafter look up in Blaspheming Isai 8.21 Isai 8.21 They shall fret themselves says the Prophet and curse God and their King that is in their horrid Despair and Anguish they shall Curse and Blaspheme both God and their King that is the Devil and they shall look upwards Tho' now wicked Men will not look to Heaven yet then God will force them to look upwards There may Two Objections possibly be made against this Duty of Prayer Object 1 First God doth before-hand know all our Wants and Desires and therefore what Necessity is there of Prayer Answ To this I answer with St. Augustine God says he doth require that we should pray to him not so much to make known what our Will and Desire is for that he cannot be ignorant of but it is for the exercise of our Desires and to draw forth our Affections towards those Things that we beg at his Hands that thereby we may be made fit to receive what he is ready to give Object 2 Secondly Say some It is in vain to pray because all our Prayers cannot alter the course of God's Providence we cannot by our most fervent Prayers change the method of God's Decrees if he hath resolved from Eternity to bestow such a Mercy upon us we shall receive it whether we pray or pray not if he hath resolved we shall never partake of it if we do pray all our Prayers will be in vain Answ I have long since Answered this Objection and told you That it is true God's Providence is immutable But the same Providence that orders the End to be obtained hath likewise ordered the Means by which it must be obtained As God hath decreed Blessings to us so he hath decreed that they should be obtained by Prayer and therefore we must pray that we may obtain those Blessings for that is the Means God hath decreed for the obtaining of them Directions how we must Pray so as to be accepted Some possibly may say If we must thus pray without ceasing how shall we be assured that God will hear us If it be our Duty to pray how shall we pray so as that our Prayers may become acceptable unto God I Answer 1. They that hear God God will hear them First If you would have God hear you when you pray you must be sure to hear him when he speaks See that place Prov. 1.24 28. Because I have called and you have refused and have set at nought all my Counsels therefore says God you shall call but I will not answer you shall seek me early but shall not