Weak The Perfect that have the Truth of their side must not condemn others nor the Weak must not condemn and censure them 2. Something expressed Or the Reason of this mutual Condescension and Forbearance if they be sincere and humble God will at length shew them the Truth I begin with his Counsel to the Strong and Grown Christian and there I shall speak first of the Term by which they are expressed Let as many of us as be perfect Doct. That there is a kind of Perfection attainable in this Life I shall first explain the Point by several Distinctions Secondly Prove that all Christians should endeavour to be perfect For the first There is a double Perfection Perfectio termini praemii perfectio viae seu cognitionis sanctitatis A Perfection of the Reward and a Perfection of Grace 1. Of the Reward which the Saints shall have in Heaven where they are freed from all sinful Weakness 1 Cor. 13. 10. When that which is perfect shall come then that which is in part shall be done away In Heaven there is perfect Felicity and exact Holiness then the Saints are glorious Saints indeed when they have neither spot nor wrinkle nor blemish nor any such thing Ephes. 5. 27. When presented faultless before the presence of his Glory Jude 24. Now this we have not in the World but because this we expect in the other World we are to labour after the highest perfection in Holiness here because allowed Imperfection is a disesteem of Blessedness Do we count Immaculate Purity and Perfection in Holiness to be our Blessedness hereafter and shall we shun it and fly from it or at least neglect it as if it were our Burden now No surely he that hath this hope in him purifieth himself as Christ is pure 1 John 3. 3. That looketh not for a Turkish Paradise but a Sinless Estate will endeavour it now get as much as he can of it now When you cease to grow in Holiness you cease to go on any farther to Salvation you seem to be out of love with Heaven and Blessedness when your Desires and Endeavours are slaked 2. The Perfection of Grace and Holiness is such as the Saints may attain unto in this Life Col. 4. 12. That ye may stand perfect and compleat in all the Will of God So we are perfect when we want none of those things which are necessary to Salvation when we study to avoid all known Sin and address our selves to the practice of all known Duty serving God universally and intirely Secondly There is Perfection Legal and Evangelical Legal is unsinning Obedience Evangelical is sincere Obedience the one is where there is no Sin the other no Guile no allowed Guile The one standeth in an exact conformity to God's Law the other in a sincere endeavour to fulfil it the one will endure the Ballance the other can only endure the Touchstone 1. The legal Perfection is described Gal. 3. 10. Cursed is every one that continueth not in all the words of this Law to do them A personal perpetual perfect Obedience It supposeth a Man innocent it requireth that he should continue so for the least Offence according to that Covenant layeth us open to a Curse As the Angels for one Sin once committed were turned out of Heaven and Adam out of Paradise The omitting of ought we are to perform the committing ought we are forbidden yea the least warping as well as swerving by an obliquity of Heart and Spirit maketh us guilty before God Now this is become impossible through the weakness of our Flesh. Rom. 8. 3. Man is fallen already and hath mixed Principles in him and cannot be thus exact with God 2. Evangelical When the Heart is faithful with God fixedly bent and set to please him in all things 2 Kings 20. 3. Remember Lord I have walked before thee in Truth and with a perfect Heart This may be pleaded in subordination to Christ's Righteousness this Perfection is consistent with Weakness 2 Chron. 15. 17. Nevertheless the Heart of Asa was perfect all his days And yet he is taxed with several Infirmities This Perfection all must have 1 Chron. 28. 9. And thou Solomon my Son know thou the God of thy Father and serve him with a perfect Heart and a willing Mind What is done for God as it must be done willingly readily not by constraint but the native Inclination of the Soul so perfectly that is with all exactness possible As some may do many things which are good but their Hearts are not perfect with God 2 Chron. 25. 2. He did that which is right in the sight of the Lord but not with a perfect Heart Not a sincere bent of Soul towards God alone when the Heart is divided between God and other things Hosea 10. 2. Their Heart is divided Jam. 1. 8. A double-minded Man is unstable in all his ways An Heart against an Heart In point of Faith between God and other Confidences in point of Love between God and the Vanities of the World and God's Interest is not chief nor do we love him above all things In point of Obedience between pleasing God and pleasing Men and pleasing God and our own vain Fancies and Appetites honouring God and promoting our Worldly Ends you set up a Rival and Partner with God Now this Perfection we must have or else not in a state of Salvation 3. There is a Perfection Absolute and Comparative 1. That is absolutely perfect to which nothing is wanting This is in our Lord Christ who had the Spirit without measure this is in our Rule but not in them that follow the Rule Psal. 18. 30. As for God his way is perfect But that absolute Perfection is not in any of the Saints here upon Earth I prove by these Arguments 1. Where there are many Relicks of Flesh or carnal Nature left there a Man cannot be absolutely perfect but so 't is with all the Godly there is a double warring-working Principle in them Gal. 5. 17. For the Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh and these are contrary the one to the other so that ye cannot do the things that ye would And 't is actually confirmed in Paul witness his Groans Rom. 7. 24. Oh wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death Mark there the Apostle speaketh of himself not of another of himself in his present renewed Estate not of his past and unconverted Estate when a Pharisee His past Estate he had spoken of vers 9. Sin revived and I died but vers 14. I am Carnal and vers 15. That which I do I allow not and vers 18. How to perform that which is good I find not Many things there said cannot agree to a Carnal Man As for instance not allowing Sin vers 15. Hating Sin in the same Verse What I hate that do I so delight in the Law of God vers 22. Again there is
sum of the Salvation which we expect or our everlasting Happiness with God in Heaven 2. What is the Right of Believers or the Interest of Faith in this great Benefit I Anser 1. It doth not merit this Reward for it is not a Reward of due Debt by virtue of any intrinsick Righteousness in us or any thing that we can do and suffer but of mere Grace and Favour Ephes. 2. 8. For by Grace ye are saved through Faith and that not of your selves it is the Gift of God The Apostle is very tender of the Honour of Grace and the Interest of Grace in our Salvation From the first step to the last period all is of Grace and this Glory of his free Grace God must not be robbed of neither in whole nor in part We have all from his Elective Love we have all from the Merit and Righteousness of Christ and all from the almighty Operation of the sanctifying Spirit Faith it self is a Gift and Fruit of God's Grace in us To you 't is given to believe Phil. 1. 29. Therefore surely 't is God's free Grace Favour and Good-will which doth freely bestow that Salvation on the Elect which Christ by his Merit hath purchased and that very Faith by which we apply and make out our actual Claim and Title is wrought in us by the Spirit so that there is nothing in the Persons to whom all this is given to induce God to confer so great Benefit on us 2. Tho it be an undeserved Favour upon which our Works have no meritorious Influence yet Believers have an undoubted Right by the Grant and Promise of God wherein they may comfort themselves and which they may plead before God John 3. 16. God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have Life Everlastingly And Iohn 5. 24. Verily verily I say unto you He that heareth my words and believeth in him that sent me hath everlasting Life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from Death to Life And in many places where the Believer is qualified as the Heir of Glory He that entertaineth Christ's Doctrine and receiveth and owneth him as the True Messiah and Saviour of the World and dependeth upon him and obeyeth him this Man hath a full right and new Covenant-Title to eternal Life 3. He hath not only a new Covenant-Right but a begun Possession We have some small Beginnings Earnests and Foretastes of it in this partly in the Graces partly in the Comforts of the Spirit 1. In the Graces of the Holy Spirit For Salvation is begun in our new Birth Titus 3. 5. And therefore Sanctifying Grace is called Immortal or incorruptible Seed 1 Pet. 1. 23. There is an eternal Principle put into them which carrieth them to eternal Ends. The Life is begun in all that shall be saved and it is still working towards its final Perfection The Apostle telleth us That he that hateth his Brother hath not eternal Life abiding in him 1 Joh. 3. 15. Whereby he implieth That he that loveth his Brother or hath any saving Grace he hath eternal Life begun in him 2. As to Comforts so they have some foretastes of that sweetness which is in Heaven by the Life and Exercise of Faith which is followed with Peace and Joy Rom. 15. 13. Or in their approaches to God in the Word and Prayer where Cod most familiarly manifests himself unto his People 1 Pet. 1. 3. or upon some apprehensions of his favour or the exercise of Hope and Love 2 Pet. 1. 8. By these or the like ways the Spirit of God giveth us the foretaste Surely such an Author such an Object must needs put ravishing and heavenly Joy into the Heart of a Believer 4. They are also made meet to partake of the heavenly Inheritance Col. 1. 12. There is Ius Haereditarium and Ius Aptitudinale The difference is as between an Heir grown and in his nonage when a Child in the Cradle As their Natures are more renewed and purified and their Souls weaned from the delights of sense they are changed into the Divine Nature 3. What is that saving-Faith which giveth us a title to it This deserveth to be cleared that we may not deceive our selves with a false claim Saving-Faith is such a believing in Christ for reconciliation with God and the everlasting Fruition of him in Glory as maketh us to forsake all things in this World and give up our selves to the conduct of the Word and Spirit for the obtaining of it 1. The general Nature of it I express by believing There is in it Assent Consent and Aâ—â—iance 1. Assent That leadeth on the rest when we believe the Truth of God's Word Acts 24. 14 15. especially those practical Truths which do most nearly concern our recovery to God as concerning Man's Sin and Misery that we have broken his Laws and are obnoxious to his Justice and have deserved punishment for our Sins Rom. 3. 23. And concerning Christ his Person and Office that he is the Son of God and that he came from God to bring home Sinners to God and what he hath done to reconcile us to him 1 Pet. 3. 18. For Christ also hath once suffered for our Sins the Iust for the Vnjust that he might bring us to God being put to death in the Flesh but quickned by the Spirit And also concerning your Duty and Happiness the End and the Way There is no other End and Happiness but God no other Way but the Mediator and the Means appointed by him Iohn 14. 6. Now these and such-like Truths must be believed that is in the sense we are now upon assented unto as faithful Sayings and worthy of all acceptation and regard 2. There is a Consent in Faith whether you apply it to the Word or Christ. If Christ be propounded as the Object of it 't is called a receiving Iohn 1. 12. But as many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God So the word Acts 2. 41. They gladly received his Word that is embraced the Gospel-Covenant being really affected with what he had spoken concerning their Sin and their Duty Without this the Assent is but Intellectual and Speculative not Practical An Opinion not an Act or Motion of the new Nature I am to receive the Christ offered to embrace the Covenant propounded To accept of the Blessings offered for my Happiness and to resolve upon the Duties required as my Work This is Consent or an hearty accepting of Christ or the Covenant of Grace offered to us in his Name 3. There is Affiance Trust Dependance or Confidence which is a quiet repose of Heart in the Mercy of God or Fidelity of Christ that he will give me Pardon and Life if I seek after it in the way that he hath appointed This cometh in upon the former for when I consent to seek my happiness in God through Christ I depend
King saith the Lord of Hosts Slight Worship argueth lessening thoughts of God Do you know to whom you speak 'T is a contempt of God if you think any thing will serve the turn you have mean thoughts of him and do not consider him as you ought to do So our vileness Gen. 18. 27. Who am I that am but Dust and Ashes that I should speak unto God Dust as to the business of his Original and Ashes by the desert of Sin In our nearer Approaches to God thus should we think of our selves 2. With Delight and Affection as our reconciled Father in Christ. So he is to us as the Well-spring of all Grace and Goodness The great Work of the Gospel is to bring us to God as a Father Gal. 4. 6. God as a Judg by the Spirit of Bondage driveth us to Christ But Christ by the Spirit of Adoption bringeth us back again to God as a Father This is the Evangelical way of worshipping that in a Child-like manner we may come to God 3. With Trust Hope and Confidence He knoweth all our Wants can relieve all our Necessities Psal. 57. 2. I will cry unto God most high who performeth all things for me Worship would be a cold Formality if we had to do with one that knew us not or had not Sufficiency and Power to help us But God is Omniscient and All-sufficient and hath promised to hear and help us in our straits He knoweth our Necessities when we know them not II. We come now to the second Character And rejoice in Christ Iesus Thence observe Doct. That the great Work of a Christian is a rejoicing in Christ Iesus or a thankful sense of our Redeemer's Mercy In opening this Point I shall use this method 1 st Shew you What is this rejoicing in Christ. 2 dly I shall prove That Christ is matter of true Rejoicing in his Person Offices Benefits 3 dly That Christians are not sound and sincere in their Profession unless they do keep up this Rejoicing in Christ. 1 st What is this Rejoicing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Original word implieth such a degree of Joy as amounts to glorification or boasting or such an exultation of Mind as breaketh out into some sensible expression of it There are in it three things 1. An apprehension of the Good and Benefit which we have by Christ For otherwise how can we rejoice and glory in Him 1 Cor. 1. 30 31. But of him ye are in Christ Iesus who of God is made to us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption That according as it is written He that glorieth let him glory in the Lord Christ is All. That our whole Rejoicing may be in him who hath enlightned us with the Knowledg of the Gospel and shewed us the way of Salvation and is the Author of our Justification and Sanctification and of our deliverance from all Calamities and from Death it self These Benefits are the cause of our rejoicing namely the Promises of the Gospel sealed by his Death and the Graces conveyed to us by his Spirit We rejoice and glory in him as the only and all-sufficient Saviour They that gloried in Circumcision gloried in their entrance into the Legal Covenant They became Debtors to the Law but Christ hath ratiâ—ied it in the New Covenant by his Blood therefore here is more abundant cause of rejoicing 2. Due Affections of Contentment Joy Love Exultation of Heart that followeth thereupon A blessing our selves in our Portion that this great Happiness is fallen to our share offered to us at least if not possessed by us The very Knowledg of Christianity breedeth Joy Acts 8. 8. And there was great joy in that City That is upon the tendency of the Gospel much more when we believe in Christ and embrace his Religion and resolve to become his Disciples They received his Word gladly Acts 2. 41. His Doctrine must be welcomed with the Heart with all Love and Thankfulness 'T is said of the Jaylor Acts 16. 34. That he rejoiced believing in God and all his House He was but newly recovered out of the Suburbs of Hell ready to kill himself but just before so that a Man would think 't were easier to fetch Water out of a Flint or a spark of Fire out of the bottom of the Sea than to expect or find Joy in such an Heart yea though still in danger of Life for treating those as Guests whom he should have kept as Prisoners yet he rejoiced when acquainted with Salvation by Christ More especially should we rejoice when the Comfort is sealed up to our Consciences Rom. 5. 11. Not only so but we also joy in God through our Lord Iesus Christ by whom we have now received the Atonement The Eunuch when he was baptized He went on his way rejoicing Acts 8. 39. 3. An expression of it by an open Profession of Christ's Name both in Word and Deed what-ever it costs us They are said to rejoice in Christ Jesus who in those Times could profess his Name though with hazard and self-denial As the Thessalonians who received the Word with much Affliction and much Assurance and Joy in the Holy Ghost 1 Thess. 1. 6. And 't is expressed by the Parable of the Man that found the true Treasure and for joy thereof sold all that he had to buy the Field Matth. 13. 44. They are willing to lose all other Contentments and Satisfactions for this Christ is enough They needed this Joy to encourage them against the Tryals which they then underwent for Christ's sake and the Gospel's sake 2 dly That Christ is matter of true Rejoicing for they are Fools that rejoice in Bawbles and Trifles A Christian's Joy may be owned and justified When Christ's Birth was celebrated by Angels 't is said Luke 2. 10. Behold I bring you glad tydings of great Ioy. Here is Joy and great Joy in Salvation by Christ And Mary Luk 1. 46 47. My Soul doth magnify the Lord and my Spirit doth rejoice in God my Saviour Surely there is no cause of Joy wanting in God and in God coming as a Saviour In short In Christianity all is fitted to fill our Hearts with Delight and Joy 1. The wonderful Mysteries of our Redemption by Christ. Thereby 1. A way is found out for our Reconciliation with God and how that dreadful Controversy may be taken up and Heaven and Earth may kiss each other 2 Cor. 5. 19. Surely this is glad Tidings of great Joy to self-condemned Sinners who stood always in fear of the Wrath of God and the Flames of Hell What Joy is it to a condemned Man that is ready every day to be taken away to Execution to hear that his Peace is made that Pardon may be had if he will seek it and sue it out 2. A distinct Relation of a defeat of the great Enemies of our Salvation Death Hell the Devil and the World He hath not only made our Peace with the Father by the
will catch hold of any thing Judg. 17. 13. Now I know God will bless me because I have a Levite to my Priest giving him Meat and Drink and about fifty Shillings per Annum So willing are we to justify our selves by something in our selves or done by our selves Therefore that the Ell may be no broader than the Cloth they devise a short Exposition of the Law that they may entertain a large Opinion of their own Righteousness 4. There is another Reason Interest External Forms of Religion draw an Interest after them Therefore the Apostle saith Rom. 2. 29. Whose praise is not of Men but of God And Gal. 1. 10. If I yet please Men I were not the Servant of Christ. And Rudiments of the World Col. 2. 10. It maketh a Man to be applauded and countenanced by the World Let a Man betake himself to such a Religion there are these which will back him and stand by him and their disfavour and displeasure he shall incur iâ— he forsake it And where the false Worshippers are the prevailing Party he runneth great hazard by contradicting such Form and Opinions Therefore the Heart of that Man that is set on Externals takes up with the Religion of his Country whether true or false 2. They place their Confidence therein Every Man that hath a Conscience must have something to trust unto Now what feedeth his Confidence but the Religion which he hath chosen There are two things which detain Men from God and Christ Some false Imaginary Happiness and some Counterfeit Righteousness and wherein they please themselves The False Happiness is as their God and the Counterfeit Righteousness is as their Christ and Mediator and so they are secure and sensless and 'till God open their Eyes they neither seek after another Righteousness nor trouble themselves about the way whereby they may attain it That Men set a false Happiness is evident for ever since Man fell from God he ran to the Creature Ier. 2. 13. Left the Fountain for the Cistern And if we can make a shift to patch up a sorry Happiness apart from God we never care for him nor will not come at him Ier. 2. 31. Our Pleasure our Profit our Honour that is our God And if we can enjoy these things without any rubs and checks we look no farther and will not seek our Happiness in an invisible God nor wait to injoy it in an invisible World But the second Error is That there is something instead of Christ to us to keep the Conscience quiet Our Happiness is to satisfy our Dâ—sires our Righteousness to allay our Fears Now here we run to a 〈◊〉 Religion or something External which is diversified according to 〈…〉 Pagans to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. 15. Jews to the Observances of the Law Christians to Baptism outward 〈◊〉 or some strict Form without the Power under which we shelter our 〈◊〉 and by which we bolster up our Confidence till God convince us of our 〈◊〉 And so Christ and his renewing and reconciling Grace is neglected 〈…〉 certainly not cordially accepted as our Redeâ—mer and Saviour I come now to shew 3 dly Why a good Christian should have no Confidence in the Flesh. 1 Because till we are dead to the Law we cannot live to God Now to be dead to the Law is nothing else but to have our Confidence in the Flesh or External 〈◊〉 mortified You hear often of 〈◊〉 dead to Sin and dead to the World you must be also dead to the Law or otherwise you cannot 〈◊〉 in Christ and bring forth Fruit unto God Gal. 2. 19. For I through the Law am dead to the Law that I may live unto God And Rom. 7. 4. By the Body of Christ ye are become dead to the Law that ye may be married to another even to him who is raised from the dead We grow dead to the Law when thereby we understand our sinful miserable Estate without Christ and how unable we are to help our selves By the convincing Power of the Law we know our Sins by the condemning Power of the Law we know the misery and curse we are subject unto by the irritating Power of the Law we find that the Righteousness which the Law requireth is not in us nor can it be found in us Now in one of those places we are said by the Law to be dead to the Law and in the other by the Body of Christ. By the Law it self we are said to be dead to the Law as it maketh us to despair of Righteousness by that Covenant By the Body of Christ that is by the crucified Body or Death of Christ so we are dead to the Law as we are invited to a better Hope or Covenant which Christ hath established by bearing our Sins on his Body on the Tree or enduring the Curse of the Law for us Be it by the one or the other or both none will value the Grace of Christ till they be dead to the Law Men will shift as long as they can patch up a sorry Righteousness of their own mingle Covenants turn one into another make one of both chop change mangle and cut short the Law of God do any thing rather than come upon their Knees and beg Terms of Grace in a serious and broken-hearted manner None can partake of Christ but those that have their legal Confidence mortified who are first driven then drawn to him None but they who are convinced of Sin â—ly to Christ for Righteousness none but they who are left obnoxious to Wrath and the Curse prize his delivering us from Wrath to come none but those who are made sensible of their impotency will seek after his Renewing Grace But will still keep to their base shifts mingling and blending Covenants resting in a little Superficial Righteousness or half-Covenant of Works or mingling a little Grace with it are not brought in an humble penitent and broken-hearted manner to sue out their Pardon in the Name of Christ and so regularly to pass from Covenant to Covenant 2. The Superficial Righteousness doth not only keep Men from Christ but set them against Christ his Way his Servants and true Interest in the World These were Dogs evil Workers to whom the Apostle opposeth the true Christians usually they that are for the Form oppose the Power Gal. 4. 29. He that was born after the Flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit They that have but the Form and Shadow of Godliness no more than the Power of Nature carrieth them unto will persecute those that have the Reality and Truth that is the renewing and reconciling Grace of Jesus Christ partly because the true Spiritual Worshippers by their serious Godliness disgrace and condemn those that lazily rest in an empty Form and therefore they cannot endure them At the bottom of their Hearts they have an enmity and hatred against God and vent it on his People 1 John 3. 12. Not as Cain who
was of that wicked One and slew his Brother And wherefore slew he him Because his own Works were Evil and his Brother 's Righteous Partly Because there is in them a Spirit of Envy and Emulation Both are Rivals for the Favour of God The Spiritual Worshippers take the right way and the Formalists the wrong way to obtain it The first are received the latter rejected And they being at such great pains and costs in their wrong way cannot endure that any should be preferred before them witness Cain and Abel Where carnal Confidence is there is bitterness of Spirit against sincerity 3. Because they have so much to do with God They that look to Men may rest in an outward appearance but one whose Business lieth mainly with God must look to the frame of his Heart that it be right set towards Holiness Now this is the course of a thorow Christian 'T is God's Wrath that he feareth God's Favour that is his Life and Happiness God's Presence into which he often cometh God's Mercy from whom he expecteth his Reward and with God he hopeth to live for ever Now bare Externals arâ— of no account or worth with God John 4. 24. God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth 1 Sam. 16. 7. But the Lord said unto Samuel Look not on his Countenâ—nce or on the heighth of his Stature because I have refused him for the Lord seeth not as Man seeth for Man looketh on the outward Appearance but the Lord looketh on the Heart Prov. 16. 2. All the ways of a Man are clean in his own Eyes but the Lord weigheth the Spirit Men judg after the outward Appearance but God weigheth the Spirits 4. Because of the Nature of Gospel-Worship which is simple spiritual and substantial therefore called Spirit often in opposition to the Ceremonies of the Law and the ministration of the Spirit unto Life 2 Cor. 3. 8. The Law is called Letter and the Gospel Spirit Now for a Christian to turn the Ordinances of Christ into Flesh which were appointed to be the Ministration of the Spirit this is to alter the nature of Things and turn the Gospel by which is all our Claim and Hope into a dead Letter 5. This Confidence should not be cherished by a Christian because it can bring no solid Peace to the Conscience for the present External Justificiaries are uncertain the Man that kept all these things from his youth saith What lack I yet Mat. 19. 20. He asketh as a Man unsatisfied for our Bondage doth not wear off with External Duties but is increased rather till we are justified in the Name of Christ and sanctified by his Spirit But suppose it satisfieth blind Conscience for the present yet afterwards Men whose Hearts are not sound in God's Statutes fall into sad Complaints and are involved in a Maze and Labyrinth of Doubts and Troubles whence they know not how to extricate themselves They have so much sense of Religion as to understand their Duty and yet are so little brought under the Power of it as not to be able to make out their claim But if this be not the case of all when the hour of death cometh we shall find all is but froth 1 Cor. 5. 56. If we have not minded the Redeemer's Grace his whole Grace the Imputation of his Righteousness and the Regeneration of his Spirit and lived in obedience to his sanctifying Motions Then we shall be filled with horror and amazement The 1. Use is Caution Take heed of having Confidence in the Flesh of placing Religion and valuing your Interest in God by External Observances but look to this That your Hearts be upright with God in the New Covenant To this end 1. Take heed of a false Happiness The Wisdom of the Flesh which is natural to us doth incline us to it Iames 3. 15. doth only prompt us to Pleasure Profit and Honour We set our Hearts on vain Delights and are wholly carried to them value our Happiness by them Whilst we indulge this sensual Inclination the Soul careth not for God other things are set up instead of God The Belly is God Phil. 3. 10. Whose God is their Belly Mammon is their God Mat. 6. 24. And Honour and worldly Greatness is another Idol which Men set up while they value the praise of Men more than the praise of God Iohn 12. 42. Carnal Self-love maketh Idols and sets up other Gods instead of the True God Now therefore make it your first Work to return to God as your Rightful Lord and Chief Happiness as your Soveraign Lord. If you make it your business and purpose to worship God in the Spirit you will rejoice in Christ and have no Confidence in the Flesh. Spiritual Worship convinceth us of Defects and you will see a need of Christ's renewing and reconciling Grace Our Treasure and Happiness is our God Now therefore do you value your Happiness by the Favour of God and not by woâ—ldly Things 2. In the next place Take heed of a Superâ—icial Righteousness For this is plain Confidence in the Flesh. This maketh you sensless and ignorant of your Danger and careless of the means of your recovery and so your Conviction and Conversion is more difficult And therefore Christ saith That Publicans and Harloâ—s enter into the Kingdom of God before Pharisees and Self-Justiciaries Mat. 21. 31. No Condition is more dangerous than to be poor and proud corrupt and yet conceited and confident The most vicious are sooner wrought upon than those that please themselves in External Observances without real internal Holiness or change of Heart This is Two-fold 1. Outward Ordinances 2. Partial Morality 1. Outward Ordinances To rest in your attendance upon and use of these Consider how displeased God was with those that submitted to Sacraments without Reformation 1 Cor. 10. 1 2 3 4 5. With many of them God was not well-pleased but they were overthrown in the Wilderness Spiritual Meat and Spiritual Drink could not keep them from Destruction when they murmured when they fell from Christ to Idolatry when they lusted after Quails when they tempted Christ And will he be more favourable to you Oh! rest not then in the outward use of the Ordinances of Christ God may vouchsafe you this Favour and yet not be well-pleased with you Many that have eaten and drunk in his Presence yet are finally rejected for their sins Luke 13. 26. Many prize the Seal yet tear the Bond that is break the Covenant yet seem to value the Seal of the Covenant that they may have Confidence in the Flesh in the bare external Performance 2. Partial Morality Those that live fairly and plausibly but want the true Principle the Spirit of Christ the true Rule the Word of God the true End the Glory of God that are in with one Duty and out with another fail in their Duties to God or Men Are much in Worship but defective in
and Joy as the capacity of it is able to contain There will be 1. A compleat Vision of God and Christ 1 Cor. 13. 12. No desire of the Mind shall be unfilled or unsatisfied with the Knowledg of God in Christ. 2. A compleat Possession and Fruition of God Here we are in a waiting expecting longing Posture but there is a plenary Fruition we are filled up with all the Fulness of God Ephes. 4. 19. and 1 Cor. 1. 20. God is all in all 3. A compleat Similitude and Transformation in the Image of Christ 1 Iohn 3. 2. Psal. 17. 15. Here Grace is mingled with Corruption we are like God by the first Fruits of the Spirit but unlike him by the Remainders of Corruption But in Heaven we shall be wholly like him Here we resemble Christ but we also resemble Adam yea and often shew forth more of Adam than Jesus But there we only shew forth the Holiness and Purity of Christ His Image shineth in us without Spot and Blemish 4. A compleat Delectation arising from all the rest The Vision Fruition and Likeness of God Psal. 16. 11. Those Delights are full and perpetual Our great Business will be to love what we see and our great happiness to have what we love This is our never-failing Delight we enter into our Master's Joy Mat. 25. and 1 Pet. 4. 13. That when his Glory shall be revealed ye may be glad with an exceeding Ioy. The Lord hath reserved the fulness of his People's Joy until that time when Sorrow will be no more Vse 2. Are we perfect that is grown Christians in the way to Perfection The Notes of it are 1. When there is such a base esteem of worldly Things that our Affections are weakned to them every day One half of Religion is dying to the World as the other half is living to God the mortifying of Self-love and the strengthning and increasing our Love to God Self-love is gratified by the Pleasures Honours and Profits of the World so love to God aimeth at the enjoyment of God when we get above the Hopes and Fears of the World and the Delights of Sense I am crucified to the World Gal. 6. 12. when every thing is loss and dung for Christ's sake 2. When more unsatisfied with present Degrees of Holiness with a constant endeavour to grow better Our maimed and defective Service is a real trouble to us we bewail our Wants and Imperfections I cannot do what I would Oâ— wretched Man that I am Who shall delivâ—â— me from the Body of this Death 'T is the grief and shame of your Hearts that yoâ— serve God no better you are still groaning longing striving after greater Perfection but when you allow your selveâ— in your Imperfections and digest Failing without remorse you are Weaklings iâ— Christianity A true Christian desireth the highest degree of Holiness and to bâ— freed from every thing that is Sin cannoâ— sit down contented with any low degree of Grace 't is a trouble to him that he knoweth and loveth God no more and serveth him no better his smallest Sins are a greater burden to him than the greatest bodily Wants and Sufferings Rom. 7. 23 24. 3. Such are more swayed by Love than Fear Weak Christians are most obedient when most in fear of Hell but the more we love the Lord our God with all our Hearts the more we advance towards our final Estate At first our Pride and Sensuality beareth sway and rule in us and have no resistance but now and then some frightnings and uneffectual checks from the fears of Hell such they are not converted yet And if the sense of Religion do more prevail upon us yet our Condition is more troublous than comfortable and all our business is to escape the everlasting Misery which we fear and so we may forsake the practice of those grosser Sins which breed our Fears or perform some Duties that may best fortify us against them but this Religion is animated by Fear alone without the Love of God and Holiness that 's only preparative to Religion near the Kingdom of God But when really converted we have the Spirit of his Son inclining us to God as a Father Gal. 4. 6. But as yet the Spirit of Adoption produceth but weak Effects we differ little from a Servant 'T is perfect Love casteth out Fear 1 John 4. 18. When the Soul loveth God mindeth God and is inclined to the Ways of God delighteth in them as they lead to God then we are in a better progress and more prepared for our final Estate His great Motive is Love his great End is perfect Love For the present he would serve him better because he delighteth in his ways O how I love thy Law Psalm 119. 97. and vers 140. Thy Word is very pure therefore thy Servant loveth it They are willing and ready for God these are throughly setled in a Christian Course 4. The grown Christian is more humble he seeth more of his Defects than others do Weak Christians are more liable to be puffed up than the wiser and stronger for the more Men increase in Grace whether Knowledg or Holiness the more they know their Emptiness Unmortifiedness and manifold Sins and Failings The more they know of the Jealousy of God's Holiness of the Evil of Sin of the Strictness of the Covenant have a deeper sense of their Obligations to God and have more experience of their own slippery Hearts Sin is more a burden to them than ever they see they have more difficulties to grapple with and all this keepeth them humble and low in their own Eyes All this is spoken to press you to look to this growth and progress which is our Perfection By the way He that thinketh he hath Grace enough to be saved and careth for no more dealeth more niggardly with God than he would do in the World if a Man hath Bread enough to keep him from starving would he be content There is no Truth where no care of growth if our Condition be safe 't is not sure to us A Perswasive to Unity in Things Indifferent PHIL. 3. 15. As many as be perfect be thus minded and if in anything ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you I Now come to the other part of the Text 1. As many as be perfect be thus minded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 think the same thing with me that is forsaking all other Confidences cleave to Christ alone whatever it cost you Mind this take care of this be thus affected let us actually perform that to which Circumcision was designed let us worship God in a spiritual manner trusting Christ as the substance of all these Ceremonial Shadows depending upon him for his renewing and reconciling Grace and adhering to pure Christianity without mingling with it the Rudiments of Moses 2. If in any thing ye be otherwise minded know not the abolition of the Ceremonies through weakness of Faith or an affected
take from them what they resign to him but they are not prepared for a submission to all Events Like those that make large Promises to others when they think they will not take them at their words So their Hearts secretly except and reserve much of that they resign to God But this is false-dealing and is shewn in part in murmuring when God taketh any thing from us 1 PET. 1. 9. Receiving the End of your Faith even the Salvation of your Souls THE Apostle here giveth a reason why Believers rejoice in the midst of Afflictions they are qualified thereby to receive Salvation yea in part have it already Receiving the End of your Faith the Salvation of your Souls In which words observe 1. The Benefit The Salvation of our Souls 2. The Grace which qualiâ—ieth us for that Benefit Faith 3. The respect between the Benefit and the Grace 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the End or Reward 1. The Benefit Which may be considered as consummated or as begun And accordingly the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must be interpreted If you consider it as to Consummation and actual Possession so we receive it at Death when our Self-denying Obedience is ended And for the present we are said to receive it because we are sure to receive it at the close of our days We believe now that we shall at length have it and therefore rejoice with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory 2. If you consider it with respect to Inchoation or begun Possession We have an undoubted Right now and some beginnings of it in the Consolations of the Spirit Now we receive it in the Promises we receive it in the first Fruits which are some forerunning Beams of the day-light of eternal Glory 2. The Grace which qualifieth and giveth us a Title to this Benefit is Faith The word Faith is taken in Scripture sometimes for fides quae creditur sometimes for fides quâ creditur for the Doctrine or Grace of Faith The first Acceptation will make a good sense here namely that the whole Tenor of Christian Doctrine leadeth us to the expectation of and diligent pursute after eternal Salvation 'T is the whole drift of the Christian Religion But I take it rather for the Grace This is the prime Benefit which Faith aimeth at as I shall shew you by and by 3. The Respect between Faith and Salvation 'T is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the End or the word signifieth the Fruit and the Reward As 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken for an End and Scope the Scripture favoureth that Notion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I press towards the Mark or Scope Phil. 3. 14. And 2 Cor. 4. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Salvation of our Souls is the prime Benefit which Faith is not only allowed but required to aim at A Believer levelleth and directeth all his Actions to this end that at length he may obtain eternal Life Sometimes 't is put for the Fruit or Reward Rom. 6. 22. Being made free from Sin and become Servants to God ye have your Fruit unto Holiness and the end everlasting Life The issue of all the final result was your Salvation The Point that I shall inâ—ist on is this Doct. That the End and Reward of Faith is the Salvation of our Souls I shall open the Point by explicating three Questions 1. What is this Salvation of our Souls 2. What Right the Believer hath to it 3. What is that saving-Faith which giveth us a Title to it The last is most important 1. What is the Salvation of the Soul 'T is not meant of temporal Deliverance or an escape from Danger as some would affix that sense upon it but of eternal Life or our happy Estate in Heaven This belongeth to our whole Man the Body as well as the Soul but the Soul is the chief part of Man and that which is first glorified When Men come first into the World first the Body is framed and then the Soul cometh after As we see in the Creation of Adam first his Body was organized and then God breathed into him the Spirit of Life And we see it in common Generation when the Body is first framed in the Womb then 't is quickned by a living Soul This lower Region of the World is properly the place of Bodies therefore Reason requires that the Body which is a Citizen of the World should first be framed that it may be a receptacle for the Soul which is a stranger and cometh from the Region of Spirits that is above But when we must remove into these heavenly Habitations then 't is quite otherwise for then the Soul as a Native of that place is presently admitted but the Body as a stranger is forced to recide in the Grave till the Day of Judgment and then for the sake of the Soul our Bodies also are admitted into Heaven This is the ordinary Law for all private Persons Christ indeed who is the Head of the Church and the Prince of this World and that which is to come his Body as well as his humane Spirit was made a Denizon of Heaven as soon as he ascended He entred into Heaven not as a private Citizen but as King and Lord of the Heavenly Jerusalem and therefore carried both Body and Soul along with him But as to us first the Soul goeth there as into his ancient Seat and proper Habitation and afterwards the Body followeth Well then 1. at Death our Souls go to Christ and enter into a state of Happiness Phil. 1. 23. I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ. The Soul is not annihilated after Death nor doth it sleep till the Resurrection nor is it detained by the way from immediate passing into Glory but if it be the Soul of a Believer as soon as it is loosed from the Body it is with Christ Luke 23. 43. Verily I say unto thee to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise He asked to be remembred when Christ came into his Kingdom and Christ assureth him of a reception there that day as soon as he should expire 2. In due time the Body is raised and united to the Soul and then Christ will be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe 2 Thess. 1. 10. Such glory and honour will be put upon those who are but newly crept out of Dust and Rottenness the Saints themselves and all the Spectators shall wonder at it 3. There is another Period in this Happiness Our everlasting habitation in Heaven near unto the Throne of God and in the presence of his Glory John 14. 2. In my Father's House are many Mansions There we shall also have the company of Angels and blessed Spirits and make up one Society with them Heb. 12. 23. To the general Assembly and Church of the first Born which are written in Heaven and to God the Iudg of all and to the Spirits of just Men made perfect This is the