be followers of Christ and not separate from Sinners Christ was so He went one way and Sinners went another they followed their Sins and Lusts but he followed the Work his Heavenly Father sent him about If thou art a follower of Christ thou art worthy of the Name of a Christian Do Drunkards and Swearers follow Christ Do the Wanton and Proud follow him Do the Unclean and Hypocrites follow Christ You know they do not why do you call them Christians This is a reproach and shame to the Holy Name of Jesus and to true Christianity that any of these Folks should be called Christians but such as are followers of Christ who are Holy Harmless and Undefiled and Separate from Sinners This is such a strange kind of Doctrine yet if it had been Preached in the Primitive Times there was People that would have received it as Apostolical Doctrine that a man should Crucifie the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts For saith the Apostle Mortifie your Members which are on Earth If you through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the Body ye shall Live but if ye Live after the Flesh ye shall die And to be Carnally minded is Death but to be Spiritually minded is Life and Peace This was sound Doctrine then Now come and tell a man he shall certainly Perish and come to Damnation for all his Profession if he doth not mortifie the deeds of the Flesh If he lives in Sin and dies in it he is like to perish How many have been haled to Gaols and Dungeons only for Preaching this Doctrine and when we were first sent to Preach we durst not do otherwise And God did not send us to Preach till he had washed us and sanctified us and fitted us for the work of the Ministry Now when we saw in the Holy Scriptures that God did work upon others by his Spirit before he sent them to Preach the Gospel was not here sufficient Authority given to Preach the downfal of Sin and destruction of it One would think that such a one thus called and sent of God had as good Authority to Preach the Everlasting Gospel as the Laws enacted by all the Princes of the World could give him a man sure that had such Authority for Preaching the Gospel would not need to wait for Orders and Approbation he would not stay for an Induction The Apostle Paul took it for a Commission that was creditable when he tells you of his mission It was not by Man but by the will of God that he was called to Preach the Gospel If we should say we were made Preachers if you ask by whom never a man in the World can tell you but we were made Preachers many years ago Not by Man or by the Authority of Man but by the will of God What was your Commission to turn men from darkness that darkness we had formerly lived in To turn them from darkness unto light and from the power of Satan unto God The Apostle sums up his Commission in a few words the Lord told me I must turn men from darkness to light This is our Commission that we have received from God in this Age to turn men from darkness But some will say that we have not Humane Learning Qualifications for the work of the Ministry To this I answer If I heard a man Swear or tell a Lie I could tell him that this was not of God I had Learning enough to know and tell men and say that Whoring Drunkenness and Swearing and Lying were works of the Flesh and fruits of the Devils Power I would have you turn from these works to the Power of God What is that Power of God I will tell you it is a manifestation of Grace in your Hearts that will draw you away from the Love of all these things the Grace of God iâ— the Power of God to Salvation to them that believe To as many as received Christ to them he gave power to become the Sons of God to such as believe in his Name Such Christians will shew forth the Power and Life of Religion in their Conversations So that her is a sufficient Authority no want of Authority I have been sometime examined by what Authority do you Preach By the highest Authority in Heaven and Earth by the Authority of God that came by Christ the Redeemer What do you Preach Truth in the inward parts Grace and Truth and against all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit As long as Antichrist hath a Rule you must not Preach down Sin without Authority you must have power you must be Ordained and have an Induction before you undertake to preach the Gospel and preach down Sin and Wickedness the Devil hath got such Power and Rule that some tell us that no Man can live without Sin if it please God here and there to raise a Man and bring him to a Holy and Righteous Life this Man wants a Patent a Commission an Induction an Ordination to Preach and Cry down Sin in other Folks what Commission had the Psalmist when he said Come all ye that fear the Lord and I will tell you what he hath done for my Soul Is it not high time for People that have Evidences of the Love of God shed abroad upon their hearts by the Holy Ghost to bear their Testimony against sin and wickedness Is it not high time for every bodies mouth to be opened that God hath been pleased to open to testifie against such a horrible mist of darkness that is come over Men to testifie against Hypocrisie Uncleanness and Unrighteousness It was the great design of the Primitive Preachers of the Gospel to cry down that which some Ministers cry up so that Christianity is not like what it was for then they told them that there was no Happiness but by breaking off from Sin by Repentance No possibility of Salvation without confessing and forsaking Sin and trusting in the Mercy of God through Christ for the Pardon of it Tell them of the mercy of God and the blood of Christ they will tell you that they cannot be cleansed from all Sin they cannot live without Sin How comes it to pass that there are Ministers that Preach an impossibility of Living without Sin when we are assured in the Holy Scriptures that without holiness no man shall ever see the Lord and that there shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of God any thing that defileth neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a Lie Rev. 21.27 How comes this that Ministers preach an impossibility of living without Sin Will any of you saith he be so presumptuous as to say a man may live without sin I will prove it from good Authority both from Scripture and Fathers that no Man in the World can do it If any set themselves to it in their own strength the Devil will make a fool of them some indeed have gone about it in their own Power and Will and have Cloystered
our design and end in the discovery that is made to us of the Life of Christ that we may grow in it and live in it indeed there is great talking of it but we should labour to shew forth the Resurrection of that Life in us They that come to be baptized for the Dead baptized into the Death of Christ The Apostle tells you In that he died he died unto Sin There are none baptized for the Dead made partakers of the Death of Christ but those that die unto Sin as he did Though Christ had no Sin yet he died unto Sin What use did he make of this That Christ knew no Sin but yet did take our Sin upon him He died unto Sin that they which did partake of his Death might be partakers of his Resurrection He Liveth again and after Death Riseth again Those that partake of this Death unto Sin are Crucified unto this World and have taken up Christs Cross and are Dead to all the Pleasures and Delights of the World which are whithered away and come to nothing What do they Live to now To Righteousness Holiness Chastity Temperance these are pleasant to them these come to live to Righteousness through the Power of him that loved them This shews the Glory and the Power of the Grace of God It is the Grace of God that worketh such a change in a Man or Woman They that delight in Sin and Wickedness in that which is corrupt and ungodly they have no delight in this no delight in Sobriety Chastity Holiness and Purity of mind Where did it work such a change In all that are freely given up to it Where any one is given up to that Life the grace of God hath the praise of it This is the Exaltation and Praise of the Power of God so that others may find by this they may by it come to believe and by believing to be saved Thus the Gospel hath gone forth from one to many and from many to many more and is encreasing more and more for Grace Mercy and Peace are multiplied by which the Heritage of God and so every Man and Woman that partake of this Life are gathered into their Fellowship So that your end in coming to these Meetâ—ngs is not so much to hear what this and â—hat and the other Friend saith but what you have in your selves to witness to The Divine Operations of the Power of God in your Souls bringing down something that is to be brought down and raising up something that is to be raised Temptation to Sin hath more prevalency upon me than it hath upon this and that and the other man I am not come to their degree yet it is better with me than it was at my first convincement If thou dost say this to deceive others Cry to God and Pray earnestly that all that may be brought down which is contrary to his Grace If thou say and profess this if at the same time there is a deceitful Heart to strengthen that which is known by the Light of Christ to be against the truth of God How will this appear at the Great Day of God The Eye of God is upon thy Hypocrisie He that Never Slumbers nor Sleeps he beholds thee if there be any Sin that thou wouldest keep and save alive if thou make a Profession and notwithstanding sayest this Sin I wilâ— keep The Lord Pardon me in this thing 〈◊〉 Like Naaman the Servant of the King of Assyria who said to the Prophet Thy Servant henceforth will neither Offer Burnt Offering nor Sacrifice to other Gods but unto thâ— Lord. In this the Lord pardon thy Servant that when my Master goes into the House oâ— Rimmon to Worship there and he leaneth 〈◊〉 my hand and I bow my self in the House of Rimmon When I bow my self in the House of Rimmon the Lord pardon thy Servant in this thing He knew if he bowed not the King would take notice of the alteration of his gesture therefore he would bow in the House of Rimmon That Sin he would save alive under a Profession That Hypocrisie the Lord did abominate Be upright in the sight of God and be faithful to your own Souls if it be so then every Sin will be a burthen and you will long to be rid of it if it be so you know whose hand it is that hath brought you so far if you be real and cordial and give up your selves to Jesus That Work which he hath begun in you he will finish for you He will finish it for you stand out with him in nothing you give up your selves to him and joyn not with his Enemies take heed of hearkning to them take heed of every Sin that will at last be a burden and oppressive to your Souls But if you Live this Heavenly Life of Jesus you will be set at liberty to have Dominion over Sin and stand without Guilt before the Throne of God Friends let your Hearts be deeply affected with the great mercies that God hath bestowed upon you and for giving you that Divine Life that Is acceptable in his sight Many things have been done upon the account of Religion and we could never be satisfied whether they were acceptable to God we could not be satisfied whether we did any thing pleasing to God we may say of them as the Apostle Paul of the Jewish Sacrifices there remains a conscience of Sin an accusing Conscience that tells us that Guilt is not removed nor the Sin taken away 'till the Lord opens this Divine Mystery to us that our Justification must be by Faith in Jesus that nothing could reconcile us to God but the Life of Jesus and the merit of his Death This Life of Jesus was a holy blameless harmless and innocent Life which Life he gave for the World which Life is the Light of Men and our Souls being turned to this Life we see the Glory and the Excellency of it and desires are kindled in our hearts after it Many have pursued and laboured and travelled that they might come to the enjoyment of it the very discovery of this Life ought to be highly prized and your Souls affected with it and when you have obtained it you will say O what a blessed Condition am I come into that Christ hath manifested his Divine Power in me not only in Reconciling me to God but taking away the Conscience of Sin by that also the Accuser is cast out and I may now sing to God Songs of Deliverance Now you tast of the Mercies that God hath bestowed upon you this will affect your Souls with a Child-like submission and subjection to him that hath begun to save and deliver you that so you may resign up your selves to his will and forsake the World and the things of it Now when they come to such a Meeting as this their minds may be retired and they may be sensible of the Power of Truth upon their hearts but for want of keeping
living presence but this doth not bear them up in a time of Tryal but if a Tryal or an Affliction comes they sink under it and they are filled with anguish and perplexity so that the word barely heard spoken and heard and not rooted in the mind doth not minister to the work the words spoken do not carry that kind of operation upon them as to witness an inward work wrought upon them But where there is an effectual work and operation in the Soul it continues in its labour and travel from Death to Life And as those Heavenly things those Divine operations of Gods Power are spoken of there is an Amen in your Souls saying as far as you have travelled thus hath God dealt with me he hath indeed by his power carried some beyond my State and Condition and my Faith is hereby strengâ—hned and my Hope is confirmed he that hath begun a good work so graciouslâ— in my Soul will carry on his own work and bring me to higher attainments and further experiences that some of his Servants bear witness of So that now being exercised the work goes on and the pleasure of the Lord prospereth in Christians that when they meet together in the name of the Lord they know for themselves that the Lord is present with them they know what the word of the Lord is unto them if they hear the word preached to another State and Condition then what is their State and Condition yet they abide in and keep that which makes manifest to them their own State and this suffers not the Soul to be carried away with the word and sight and vision of a higher state than their Faith can witness to and they keep low and humble and tender and have a care of their own Souls as the Apostle when he was come to glorious and high attainments in the work of the Lord yet he would not glory of any thing but what the grace of God wrought in him We do not boast of things that are not wrought it us It is possible for the Creature to gather in and comprehend the form of things that they have not the work of in them and a great many have done so to their great damage and some it is to be feared to their utter ruine They have comprehended high things and the notions of great attainments they have heard them declared and spoken of thus and so and some have in their speculations declared to others their Conceptions about those things yet those things were never wrought in them they could Preach of humiliation when the root of Pride was not removed they could Preach of Regeneration and the Old Man not put off and the New Man Created in Righteousness not put on All this kind of Preaching hath been in the World and is still too much in World but it hath not produced and brought forth any profit and advantage to the Soul either to Preacher or Hearer for it hath not been accompanied with a Divine and Heavenly Blessing but the true Ministry Ordained of God brings forth a work of Holiness and Righteousness in the Soul And therefore every one that God hath thus reached and hath opened your understandings and hath made you capable of comprehending and of understanding Divine Things take heed lest by the subtilty of Satan and the wiles of your great Enemy you be at any time lifted up and exalted in your Minds in the notion of the things that you have not attained not that you should not so understand the things of God that God openeth to you as they are many times opened to the Creature before the work of them is in the heart of the Creature and why so Why are they opened to me It is for thy encouragement that if thou dost hold on and be stedfast in waiting upon the Lord these things God hath in store for thee Now the Creature waits and saith though I have not attained such things as I have seen yet the very sight of them encourageth me to wait upon the Lord that I may experience the witness of them in my self there are many that have had some tast of great joy and apprehensions of Heavenly things which they have not attained but they know what they are waiting upon God for not that they may have a little joy which passeth through them but come to have that joy and tranquility which will accompany them in all their Doings and their whole Conversation God hath opened many things to you and you have seen the way of Righteousness which he hath cast up for you and many have taken strait steps to themselves till they have attained to saâ— Now my Salvation is nearâ—r than when I at first believed Let such go on and follow that Guide by which they have been directed and they shall at last attain to a further State not only to know that their Salvation is now nearer than when they at first believed but that they may come through the Divine Spirit of Grace that they followed and so closely cleaved to as their blessed Guide in their way to have an enterance administred to them abundantly into the Salvation of God whereby they may sit down in the Kingdom of God with Abraham Isaac and Jacob and have a Wall about them which is the Salvation of God Here is a great encouragement for Sinners and Upright ones to follow on to know the Lord and then they are sure they shall know him for they shall behold his Glory and their Souls shall be satisfied for nothing else will satisfie them People may have great openings and great discoveries of things and may have delight and joy in the opening of things as it was with the Disciples when Christ our Lord Conversed with them in the Flesh he opened many things to them and they had great Jâ—y and Comfort in those things which he opened to them yet there was something wanting to suffice them John 14.8 Phillip said unto Christ Lord shew us the Father and it sufficeth us there was something further to be discovered and revealed so that they could not find their Souls to be satisfied and sufficed till they had it Christ gave them such an Answer as relates to that Administration that we are now under he that hath seen the Son hath seen the Father Now they had seen Christ daily and conversed with him and had eat and drank with him in that fleshly and bodily appearance wherein he Conversed with them but they had not a sight of the Eternal Son of God in a Spiritual manner as he was the Son of God and their Saviour so they had not seen him And he that had seen Christ in a Spiritual manner he had seen the Father also So it is with us in our day we have in our Profession the Teachings of this and that Man we have Conversed with Christ as it were as to his Fleshly Appearance we have read the History of his Birth and of
do those things that are good and profitable and to avoid those things that are reproveable If thou wouldest hearken to the Spirit that is the Reprover that convinceth of Sin thou must turn away thy mind from that which will lead into those things that are reproveable otherwise thou wilt be under Condemnation in thine own bosome When the Spirit of God illuminates Men to see Sin the evil of Sin he will give them power against it but when they come to receive power against it â—nd stedfastness in the ways of God what will be the effect of that If I become Righteous and live a Holy Life and my Companions be wicked they will mock me and reproach me what profit and benefit shall I have by being Righteous I see evidently I shall lose many advantages which I might otherwise reap and reach with mine own hand I must forsake my Profits and Pleasures and all the Delights of this World The Disciples said to Christ we have forsaken all and followed thee what shall we have People before they would forsake all would see some thing they must have in the room of it Christ tells them that he that hath forsaken all Father and Mother Brothers and Sisters and House and Land for his Names sake shall have in this Life an hundred fold and in the World to come Eternal Life what is the meaning of that They shall have in this Life 100 fold Christ that is Truth it self that cannot Lie hath promised that they that forsake all shall receive an hundred fold now people are ready to grasp at it they think it must be something that will answer the loss of that they part withall that thou receivest in this promise must not be of the same sort and kind with those things â—hou didst part withall but when thou hast parted with all for Christs sake and the Gospel thou shalt receive that which thou shalt acknowledge is an hundred fold better and will make thee an hundred fold richer and happier and that it will give thee more an hundred fold than all that thou parted with could give thee If we part with Sin we part with that which brings bondage and fear of Death having parted with that when thy fear and bondage is gone and thou livest then the rest of thy Life time at liberty but this is not all thou livest in the enjoyment of the favour of God thou shalt have the sense of his Love and the Comforts of the Holy Spirit and you shall live in Peace and Righteousness and treasure up to your selves Glory Honour Immortality and Eternal Life whereas before you did treasure up only wrath against the day of wrath and the Revelation of the Righteous Judgment of God thou shalt receive an hundred fold that which is an hundred fold better Those that part with the things that are reproveable and do what Christ in his day performed the good and acceptable will of God the Enjoyments that he hath in Christ and the Comfort Peace and Tranquility he enjoys is an hundred fold better and more delightful than all the pleasures of Sin and the pleasures and delights of Shows and Sights and Plays and Comedies which vain Men entertain themselves with in their Carnal State A Carnal Man cannot understand and discern the things of God and the pleasures that are to be had in his holy ways he only looks at the things that are seen which are Temporal and not at the things which are not seen which are Eternal But my Friends those things which are unseen are not so unseen but that when a man hath an eye opened within him of the same Nature with those things he can see them blessed be God that we have an eye opened to see Spiritual things to see the Heavenly Treasure and enjoy it in these Earthen Vessels For all that have an ear to hear it would be a profitable change to part with all that is evil in the sight of God and put themselves under the Yoak of Christ and receive a Principle of Grace which he will Communicate to them that they may do the good and acceptable will of God and so may enjoy an hundred fold and have comfort peace and joy before they go hence and are no more seen You to whom God hath so graciously and mercifully appeared that have an understanding and a tast and feeling of those things which are Divine and Spiritual and which pertain to Life and Godliness Of all the People in the World you are an engaged People to serve the Lord great obligations lie upon you that you should abide and continue in that which God hath revealed and discovered to you I mean Grace for you will never grow till you be under the Government of the Grace of God that Grace that appeared to you before you came to the Knowledge of God and his ways that hath been with you in your travel from Death to Life and from Darkness to Light Prize it as a Heavenly Jewel as that which contains in it all those things that your Souls stand in need of If you have any strength to resist Temptation it is from the Grace of God that you receive Power to withstand Temptations if you have any living openings in your hearts it comes to you from that Grace that is in Christ When this and that and the other Prophecy of the Prophets of old is opened to you Prophecying and Foretelling that State and Condition which you are travelling towards how the Lord will subdue your Enemies under you you are encouraged hereby to go on cheerfully in your way to that Rest which you are travelling to There are many of those that believe the Truth who are not come to Establishment and they will find the Reason and Cause in themselves Do but ask and enquire how it comes to pass that such and such are established and not so subject to fear and horrour and perplexity as I am a little thing will turn me over and shake and unsettle my mind this hath been the cause want of keeping close to the grace of God in your Conversâ—tion in the World when you and your Children and Servants are governed by the grace of God in all you undertake then the Devil will endeavour to bring you into darkness and bring discomposure upon your Spirits for the purpose of Christ Jesus our Saviour is to settle you and the purpose of the Destroyer is to discompose and unsettle you and to marry you to this and the other changing thing if he can fix your hearts upon this and that Object then there is instability upon the Soul take away that thing and it brings disturbance upon you Hast thou any Objâ—ct that thy mind is set upon Thou wilt be much disturb'd at thy parting with it but whose fault is that The truth manifested to thee from the beginning of thy Conversion did engage thee to separate thy self from all visible sensible things that God might have
that Worship and Religion and the performance of those things that are pleasing to God They that are come thus to Worship they do not only know what the Lord requires of them and when he requires it of them but they are given up into the hands of God they Pray Preach Exhort and Live according to the will of God It is hard for People in a Carnal state to believe this but you that are Believers that are come to know the gift of God in your selves and the necessity of being ruled by him you will believe us for none else will believe us let us Preach to as many People and Nations as we will none will receive us as true Ministers but those that have the truth in their own hearts if there be any that despiseth the Grace of God in his own heart he hates that which chides and reproves him if there be such a Man he will hate me because I am a Minister and a Witness of the Grace of God and of that truth in the inward parts which is the ground and foundation that a Man hath of acceptance with God A Wicked Carnal Wretch will say I hate such a one I hate the Light that which checks me and witnesseth against me thou art such a one as bearest witness against me therefore I hate thee It is very true it cannot be otherwise now our desire and labour is that Men may come to the love of the truth in themselves You know there are a great many other Ministers whose Labour is to perswade People to believe what they say to lay down a Doctrine and prove it by Scripture and Reason and set it home upon their Minds by such testimony as the Scripture affords and hereupon they prevail upon the minds and judgments of People to believe what they lay down It is easie to lay down a Position and prove it and convince People that it must be according to Scripture but when a Person is convinced of a Principle of Truth he is not Regenerate thereby and come to God therefore though he cannot deny the Doctrine of Truth in words yet he can deny it in works and doth not rightly come to love it If People would believe what we say and observe what Arguments we bring for proving a Position they may be convinced of the Doctrine of Truth and come to a profession of it and yet be strangers to it till they come to love it in themselves if it were not for this we would leave Preaching if God had not given a measure and manifestation of the Spirit to every Man to profit withall you have it in your selves we are but as Monitors to you to put you in mind of it you have so much business in the World that you have not had leisure to take notice of it A Man may have a Rich Jewel and be Poor notwithstanding till he come to know the value of it A Man hath a Rich and Precious Jewel a Pearl bestowed upon him that would make him Rich in Faith and Love to God and qualifie him for the Kingdom of God and make him an Heir of it but he knows not nor understands the value of it and esteems it not therefore God hath raised up Ministers to put you in mind of it that you may be happy for ever and live in Blessedness to all Eternity whoever hath an ear to hear let him hear and when they hear what we say let them take the benefit of it to their own Souls We bring not truth to you but God hath bestowed it upon you you will be Rich indeed if you do as a Man that bought a Field where the Precious Pearl was and digged till he found it Come to the foundation upon which you should build all your hopes of happiness and depend not upon your own Works or Religious Performances for acceptance with God for there is no acceptance with God but only through Christ we are only accepted of God through him those that will become Christians indeed and worship God as he hath ordained and appointed himself to be worshipped they must come to the Principle of Light and Grace in their own hearts which they have in and through Christ and then they will find acceptance with God Sermon V. The Divine Life of Christ Jesus Preached in Grace-Church-Street March 16. 1691. THE Blessed Life of Christ is not of this World and it ought to be your care in all your Religious Assemblies that you be gathered into the inward feeling sense of this Divine Life that you may feel your Fellowship and Communion in that Life of Christ that is not of this World And may all of you lay hold upon it for this is the Nourishment and the Heavenly Bread with which the Children of the Kingdom are fed and nourished from day to day there are many that feed upon words that are not the Children of the Kingdom of God but the begotten of God are come to know the vertue of the Divine Life of Christ Jesus their feeding and their nourishment is by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God and they grow up to Life Eternal by that Divine and Heavenly Gift that God the Father hath bestowed upon them through his Son Jesus Christ and they enjoy the Communion of Saints through this Divine Head of the Church that Communicates of his Life and Vertue through every Member by which they are Sanctified and every day more and more prepared for that Living and Eternal Inheritance prepared for the Children of God And where there are a People that are thus gathered into the Life of the Lord Jesus Christ they are able to draw nigh to God they feel the Power of Enterance because their Sin is removed that did formerly lie at the door and the way is opened and consecrated for them to draw nigh and partake of the Table of the Lord by which they grow stronger and stronger in his Might and Power and are thereby enabled to perform the whole will of God and that Divine Worship and Religious Service which God requireth at their hands in their day For it is very certain and we have found it by experience the words of our Lord to his Disciples of old without me saith he ye can do nothing For though People may meet together and may pretend and set up a Form of Worship and of Religion in their own will yet it all amounts to nothing with respect to acceptance with the Lord there is no return in their Souls no addition of Life nor encrease and growth of Life they are not nearer the Kingdom than when they first believed but many times further off by leaning upon a formality and not really entering into the work of God nor travelling out of Death into Life for there must be Path and a travelling in it the Soul must have an exercise through the Power and Life of Jesus for the overcoming of Death that did separate
from God and a preparing for Life that Life that unites us to God again and when People are in earnest in this travel they are really resigned up to the government direction and leading of him that is gone before that hath made a way for us and will further our Progerss towards the Kingdom of God And therefore my Friends you know the way and know how the Power hath reached to you and hath opened your understandings that you may be faithful to that power in your own Souls and may have the true use and improvement of this and all other such Mettings as this for the gathering of your Minds out of all visible and changeable Objects unto that Life which God hath revealed that so in the exercise of it you may hold your fellowship with God and with one another here is the bond of Perfection here is that in which God hath Created Peace and Rest and Joy for his People so far as every one is Partaker of this innocent Life and feels himself changed into it they are gathered into the Church and they are gathered into fellowship with the head of it and are comforted in their Membership in their partaking together Though I be but a little one yet I pertake of the same vertue which the Lord ad-administreth to the greatest Saints while I am waiting upon him and of the same Divine Consolation and Operation and Power that weaneth me more and more from the World and that which is corruptible and raiseth up in me daily more and more fervent desires after that Bread which perisheth not Now herein Men and Women have an evidence of that Christianity in themselves the Spirit of God bearing Record and Witness to their Spirits which all the loose Professors of Christianity in the World are strangers to their evidence in themselves being against them they seek to have evidence without them and to gather up some kind of marks and tokens and sayings and sentences from without to make them believe that they are in Covenant with God and that they are in a state of Salvation by Christ but he that ttuly believeth hath an evidence of his Christianity and of his Reconciliation with God and he hath this evidence in himself a Divine Spiritual Testimony that answereth to his own Spirit that witnesseth to him that he is one of the Children of God And my Friends to this you are called whether you are come to it or no it is this you are called to with a Heavenly call that you might no longer live in the Rudiments of this World to be seeking and looking here and there for a ground of Peace and of Rest a ground of Hope but may know and feel the same thing the same ground of Eternal hope that the Saints of old had what is that What reason did they give and render of their hope of Eternal glory The Apostle tells you plainly the ground or reason of their hope of being glorified in the World to come was Christ in them the hope of Glory they witnessed that Christ gave his Life for the World Take the Glorious Testimony that the Apostle did bear in one of his Epistles saith he the life was manifested in me it was not covered up or hidden that People could not find it God was pleased to bring it to Light by the Gospel When a thing is brought to light you may see it This he affirmed in his day and the same is affirmed in our day The Life is manifested what Life Not the Life of this World but a Life not defiled not polluted but the Life that is of God a Heavenly Life that is Holy and Pure that Life is manifested we have seen it and we exhort all to lay hold of it to lay hold of Eternal Life some had a sight of it that had not laid hold of it they saw it in a Vision and they might say possibly Oh that I could live such a Life that there were no sin in me in my words or thoughts or actions what a gracious Life would that be They had seen that Life they had tasted of it but they did not lay hold of it but let it go by them take heed of that when you have seen it with open eyes Blessed are your eyes for they have seen and your ears for they have heard saith Christ to his Disciples They saw that Life that was holy harmless and undefiled lay hold on this Life especially when you are thus assembled together in a solemn manner in the presence of the Lord waiting to behold it and to see it more and more discovered to you and labour to have that gathering Power that will bring you to it that you may know the strength â—hat comes by it to the Soul There is none of you but you will meet with Temptations in this World that will draw you into Death and Darkness to things That are Carnal and Sensual and Devilish sometimes How shall I stand if I be not centered in that Life that was before the World began and before the Devil was If I labour to feel the influence of that Divine Power this is able to keep me my Faith tells me so I know that Power is able to keep me if I keep in the exercise of it The trust of a true Believer is that whatsoever Temptations and Tryals they are exercised with they know one already come In whom they have trusted who is both able and willing to deliver them So by this means he is kept harmless and innocent and blameless in his Life and Conversation Thus you might be kept if you would regard and have respect to the Life that is manifested in you Whosoever comes to know and feel and witness in their Souls the discovery and revelation of the Life of Jesus they know there is in it a certain Dominion over that which is contrary to it and you have many of you had experience of the exercise of the Power of God in your own Hearts that hath inabled you to reign over those things that have formerly ruled over you That you can now subdue vain thoughts and evil desires that you can withstand Temptations that come from without and from within Now if you could do this and if ever you have done it you did it by that Power that God discovered and revealed in you from Jesus Christ You had not such hold of this once before you believed but by believing the word of God sent unto you it being fixed by Faith in the Heart That Faith which is the operation of God You could then do that which you could not do before and forbear that which you was led away by These experiences which God hath given you should encourage you to hold on in your Labour and Travel and engage you To grow in the Grace of God and in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ Whatsoever is propounded by men in the Profession of Religion this ought to be
despise not the Day of small things live in subjection to that Grace that the Lord hath given you and the Lord will give you more Grace and pour out his Spirit and multiply his Blessings upon you the Lord hath begun a good work in you and he will carry it on to the day of Christ and will vouchsafe to bring the Glorious Day of his Visitation upon you To the Lord I leave you to his Favour and Protection I commit you remember that there is no Salvation but by Jesus Christ and none to be had by Christ till you come to Believe in him to him that searcheth the Heart and tries the Reins that pardoneth Iniquity Transgression and Sin for the sake of Christ Jesus the Mediatour to him I do commit you not doubting but that he that hath begun a good work in you will at last compleat and finish it to his own Praise and your Salvation Sermon IX The Excellency of Peace with God Preached at Devonshire-House August 5. 1691. My Friends IT is Mans great happiness in this World to have Acquaintance with God with the Lord that made him from whom he hath Life and Breath here and his Eternal welfare hereafter this doubtless every one will acknowledge one time or other that peace with God is a great Jewel and the best Estate and Riches It is the great desire of every one that they may attain this one time or other and there is a great neglect of happiness among the Sons and Daughters of Men in not seeking of it and not labouring to attain it while it is to be had Oh! how many trifle away their time about fading and perishing Objects and they know at the same instant that they are yet destitute of the favour of God and of peace with him Oh Friends the very thoughts and consideration of the worth of this Jewel and of the misery of being without it and of the uncertainty of our time while it is to be attained might put every one upon a serious diligent enquiry after the way and means whereby they might attain it that so they might have a resting place for their Souls and satisfaction to their inward Man that it shall go well with them when time shall be no more And they that come to this Consideration and are resolved in their hearts and minds that they will labour after this and set their whole endeavour after iâ— they will in the first place seek the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof These do need a daily encouragement in their way to Heaven and there is nothing on the Lords part wanting to such Souls but that they may attain their desire But alas this hath been and is still the misery of thousands they are seeking after peace with God but they err in the way to it they do not seek in that way nor take hold of those Methods by and through which God hath promised Peace you shall scarce meet with any body but they would have Eternal Life and Peace with God we shall not need to perswade People to wish for and to desire to have Peace with God when they shall come to die and lay down their heads in the dust There is not a Balaam but he desires to die the Death of the Righteous and that his last end may be like his There is not a Scribe or Pharisee or any that profess Religion but they are seeking after Eternal Life The Lord Jesus did witness concerning them that they were an envious proud persecuting People yet that they did seek after Eternal Life and they pitched upon some Methods and Ways whereby they thought to get and enjoy it but all this was errour still they were out of the way of attaining it and so are a great many people at this very day they are in a State and Condition wherein they are never like to enjoy it the Methods and the ways that they have chosen to themselves to find Eternal Life by and to obtain peace with God will never answer the end And God hath been pleased to discover to us the many by ways that People have chosen and seek after peace with God by therefore we are willing at all times to shew People their errour in these great matters of highest concernment to them If they did err in their way of seeking to obtain some earthly good and missed of their end they know the price of it it is but a loss of so much which if they had taken a right course they might have attained but it is an unspeakable loss an inestimable loss if they lose peace with God and all the pains and labour they are at to obtain it I beseech you Friends consider these things they are of great weight and you will say so one day or other for saith our Saviour what will it profit a Man to gain the whole World and lose his own Soul or what shall a Man give in exchange for his Soul O how sad is it to consider that a Man hath not made provision for his Soul that he hath not a place of rest for his immortal Soul and that the arms of the Lord Jesus Christ are not open to receive his Soul when his Body can retain it no longer If this be a Mans state when he comes to die it had been better for him that he had never been born Men may live and gather Riches and enjoy a plentiful Estate but if they be destitute of the favour of God and peace with him what will they do with these perishing enjoyments they cannot possibly satisfie themselves with these Transitory visible things but if these persons only mind their Bodies and neglect their Souls do they not live like the Beasts that perish The Beast seeks after his Meat and when he finds it he eats it with delight and pleasure and in a little while he lies down and dies and there is an end so it is with careless Souls that have no regard to their future State but they say Let us eat and drink and be merry for to morrow we shall die Oh that every one of us here did apply our hearts seriously to the consideration of the weight of these things that concern our Eternal State if persons did this then they might come to an enquiry in their own Souls what method and way is most safe for the attaining of so blessed an end For you know there are abundance of People if you look up and down in the World you will see every body almost hunting up and down in some way of Religion or other and are engaged in Religious Performances what is the matter what would you have We would have peace with God here and everlasting Rest hereafter in the Kingdom of Heaven that we would have Thus have the Nations been scattered and driven up and down in the pursuit of Happiness and Satisfaction There is a general Belief amongst people that there is a Heaven and a