hath all Ruleth all and doth all if by finding him they have attained to be in Favour with him and to have his Presence with them 2ly The Possibility nay Probability of finding god if he be but duly sought Were God not at all to be found or were he at such a vast Distance from us that he could not be found without a very Tedious Inquisition we might hereby somewhat excuse our sloth in neglecting to seek him But when he may be found and that without going very far he being so near us it is a Madness to lose him for want of a little seeking after him I shall comprehend the substance of the Text in this brief but full Proposition It is the Duty and Concern of all to seek the Lord while he may be found to call upon him while he is near I say all are obliged and concerned thus to do for the Precept and Exhortation is Generall extending to all Sexes Ages and Conditions of men that are without God unless we can imagine that there are some without God that need him not but can be well enough without him although the Apostle representeth this as the height of the Misery of an Unregenerate Person that he is without God in the World Ephes. 2. 12. The Foregoing Proposition implieth 1st That men in their Naturall Condition are so without God as not to find him without seeking They are at a Remote distance from God not as to Place that being utterly impossible for he who fills Heaven and Earth with his Immense Essence cannot but be intimately present with every Soul but as to State For the Bent of their Hearts being directly contrary to the Divine nature and Will they are no more capable of admitting the gracious Influences of God than a Lump of Clay can take in the Light of the Sun tho' it shine never so bright round about it But this is not all the Wretchedness of an Unregenerate Condition for men in that Estate are not only without God who is the only Originall of their Life and Comforts the only Foundation of their Hopes but are also Ignorant where to find him If they understood but how to go Directly to God they would not need long to seek him And this is one of the Bitterest Fruits of the Originall Apostacy of our first Parents which has been continued and increased by our Actuall Transgressions It is the Root of all those Extreme Mischiefs which follow Sin either as Naturall Consequences of it or Penall Chastisements for it Whatever we at any time complain of may be justly Imputed to this Isa 59. 2. Your Iniquities of have Separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear 2ly That men while without God and thus at a distance from him do greatly and Extremely stand in need of God and can in no wise be without him Were it not for this we should hear of no Commands issued out from God for the enjoyning men to seek him For the good and wise God although his Supremacy be unquestionable yet he Loves not to Act Arbitrarily merely for the Ostentation of his Power but he is induced to Act by the Consideration of some Holy Righteous and good End which he would Promote Now this End cannot refer to himself for the infinite ever Blessed all sufficient God the Lord of Heaven and Earth is utterly uncapable of any Addition to himself It must therefore be the Conveniences and Necessities of poor Sinfull man that God consults in the giving out of his Commands When God therefore sayes to man Seek me we may assure our selves that we have need so to do God knows we have need Possibly Foolish man may have other Conceits in his head while with Children he pleases himself in Toyes but when once with the Prodigal he comes to himself being awakened out of his pleasing Dream by a sight of Sin fear of Gods wrath and the Law 's curse by a sense of Judgements Especially such as Afflict the Body or affright with black Apprehensions of Death or deprive of those Lower Comforts which are most set by then he clearly descerns and sensibly Experiences the Vanity and Vexation of whatever is besides and below God and thereby Learns that the Satisfaction he so much needs is no where to be expected but in God only 3ly That men notwithstanding the need they stand in of God are very backward to seek him Men will not be induced to seek God by the fairest Invitations and the most earnest Entreaties they must be in a manner compelled to seek God by strict Commands and severe Threatnings God would spare those did he not see that there would be no seeking him without them nay Experience shews that all these will scarce do for men seldome seek God in good earnest till the Incessant Judgements of God do as it were drive them out of their Sins their Earthly Comforts and themselves unto God This is one great piece of the Misery of an Apostate State that men are senseless of it and so do not concern themselves to seek unto him who only can save from it like men in High Feavers who greatly need the Help of a Physician yet being in raging Phrensies they as much despise and reject it as being altogether unapprehensive of their own Danger Men are generally so averse from seeking God that the Apostle observes out of Scripture that there are none that seek after God and he imputes it to this that they understand not Rom. 3. 11. Alass they know not their Want of God they feel not their need of God they understand not the Worth of God they have severall things to make Gods of to themselves to please themselves in The God of this World blinds them that they see not their Godless Condition he hardens them that they feel it not and holds them that they stir not out of it The Lusts of the Flesh the World find them severall other things to seek besides God whom they most need 4ly That God may be Found if duly and Timely fought While one observes what Gross neglect there is of God in the World how few seek him and that men are for the most part wholly intent upon the Pursuit of other things he has Temptations to conceit that surely God is not at all to be found otherwise men would not be so desperately mad as never to concern themselves about seeking him seing without him they cannot but be Utterly and Everlastingly undone without Remedy But this strange Carelessness of God is rather the Result of their Senselessness of the need they stand in of God than of their Despair of finding him For the Gâ—d of Truth would never have commanded and Encouraged men to seek him if in seeking they were likely to lose their Labour No he Never said neither to the Seed of Jacob nor to the Seed of Adam seek ye me in Vain Isa 45. 19.
does this Gate brings into this Way of Life whereas no other Gate does None can be careless whether he make Ingress and progress here but he who sets light by Life that Life which for permanency and privileges doe exceedingly transcend this Or 2ly Of the difficulty of going in and going on here A threefold difficulty is here mentioned 1st There is a difficulty in finding this Gate and this difficulty is so great that there are few overcome it Most drop into destruction before they know where the Gate of Salvation lies 2ly There is a difficulty in entring this Gate when it is found it being a strait Gate and so not to be entred with any bulk in any posture a Man must strip himself of all unnecessary lumber and compose his body into the most advantageous posture if he would get in at this strait Gate 3ly There is a difficulty in holding on in the Way which we have entred into through the Gate this Way being a narrow Way such as will not leave us at liberty to do as we list but will confine us within bounds and tye us to good behaviour so that we shall be necessitated to conform our Steps unto our Ways Doct. 1st There is a way which leads unto Life This is so clear a truth and so generall acknowledged that Christ does not think it needfull to prove it no nor so much as to assert it neither he only supposes there is such a way all that he does directly assert is touching the narrowness of this Way and the Straitness of the Gate which admits into it Here we must enquire what this Life is which has a Way to it what this way is which leasts unto this Life how this Way leads unto this Life Quest 1st What is this Life which has a Way leading to it Answer Man has a double Life 1st A Life of the Body in this World 2ly A life of the the Soul which is either inchoat and begun in this World or consummate and perfect in the other Now this Life of the Body consists in the conjunction of the Soul and Body together and exerts its self in natural vital Animal operations whereby we Eat Drink and Grow and Breath See and Hear Smell and Feel and Talk and Walk c. But this is not rhe Life which we have to do with here for we are speaking of a Life which Men generally are without yea are at a great distance from and cannot arrive at but by passing through a long Way but such a Life is not this present bodily life for all on this side the Grave have this Life The life then which we have to Enquire about is the Life of the Soul this men are without unless they be born again to it and they are but few who are born again nay men are at a distance from this life neither prizing this nor desiring it nor knowing the way to it Nay it is not the life of the Soul while it is yet in the body this vile body which we here Enquire after For though these two lives that of the Soul here and that of the Soul hereafter do agree much in their natures and Qualitys they have the same subject the immortall Soul which once was dead in trespasses and Sins Eph. 2. 1. The same principle Christ who saith of himself Job 14. 6. I am the way The truth and the Life whom St. Paul professes to be his Life Gal. 2. 20. I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me Col. 3 4. When Christ who is our Life c. The same effect influencing upon all the faculties of the Soul to raise and enlarge them bettering both mind and heart in all their operations The same excellency putting upon noble designes such as concern the Glory of the great God and the welfare of precious Souls and furnishing with Satisfactory delights such as are the result of Gods presence in the Soul and the Testimony of our Conscience that according to our power we have kept close to God in obedience The same permanency neither of them ever having any end yet these two Lives differ much in degrees more than the life of a man differs from the life of a new born Child yea more than the life of a grown man differs from the life of a Child in the womb It neither has such high operations nor such high comforts it is oft so secret and so hardly discernable either by the man who enjoyes it or by others that Christ rather counts it a tendency to life than life it self it is so exceedingly below that life which shall be in righteousness peace Joy and Glory the great perfections of this life that it scarce deserves to bear the same name the life then which we are here enquiring of is the life of the Soul after it is uncased of the body this is the great life whereunto the life of grace received in regeneration serves but as a way this is that which all Gods People find feel a want yea a need of which they all pant and breath after it makes the Soul happy immediately after death and the body too as well as the Soul soon after the resurrection 2ly What is this way which leads to this life Ans The way it self is obedience and self-denyal complying with Gods will and denying our own It is but going back the same way which man took when he fell from this life we had not been to seek for this life if Adam had continued in the state wherein he was created had he thus done both he himself had been confirmed in holiness and Righteousness and all his posterity after him had probably been born in the same state but he being Tempted by Satan closed with the Temptations and instead of complying with Gods will gratified his own and thereby ruined not only himself but us too Thus we are told by one man Sin entred into the World c. Rom. 5. 12. A double death entred by Adams Sin 1st A death of the Soul as to eternal life this was the immediate result of his Sin for by it he did as it were cut his own throat and thereby utterly stript himself of Spiritual life 2ly A death of the body as to this Temporal life this Followed upon his Sin also yet not so speedily for the seeds of death was only then sown which must have time to ripen Now the way to get out of this death into which we are plunged and to attain again that life which we have through Sin and folly lost is to take a quite contrary Course and whatever Temptations we have to do with either from the World or Satan more to consider what is Gods will then our own and rather to do what God bids us than what our own lusts incline us to This is the way the onely way though Christ when inwardly received into the Soul as a new life is the principle inclining and enabling us
in our Souls which formerly they had and hereby the Soul is more easily to be reduced under the Command of Christ and under The law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ 4ly We keep close under the influences of the Quickening Spirit All life is from God and the nearer we are to God the nearer we are to life Now the distance we are in at any time from God is not of place but of state We cannot possibly be any where where God is not present for God Fills Heaven and Earth Jer. 23. 24. But he is not present to us we have no sensible Experience of his presence in us because our minds are averse from him The way then to find and feel the warmth of the Sun of Righteousness is to turn to it not by Changing our place but by Changing the posture of our Soul our backs are towards God while we follow our lusts then we turn to God when we put our selves in the way of duty 3ly As a condition upon which God has suspended the giving of life Eternal life being the gift of God he may give it out unto whom he pleases upon what termes he pleases Rom. 6. 23. And that he has made Obedience the termes of Eternal life is euident Christ tells the young man Mat. 19. 17. If thou wilt enter into life keep the Commandments Paul Saith God will render to every one according to their works to them who by patienâ— Continuance in weldoing seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality Eternal life Rom. 2. 7. John saith Men come to have right to the Tree of life by doing Gods Commands Rev. 22. 14. The difference betwixt the Old and New Covenant do's not lie here that the one requires works and the other do's not But they both require works onely with this difference the Old Covenant requires good works from us to be done by our selves the other requires good works in us to be done by the Spirit of Christ And therefore by our Works we shall be tried at the great day whether we be fit for life or we be not As is evident Mat. 25. Vse 1st Is there a way to life then none are excluded by God from Eternal life seeing God has not set this where it cannot be come at but has left a way to it which who ever take cannot miss of Eternal life There is a way to Eternal life this way is declared what it is and how it lies we are loudly called by God into this way Continually called by all providences and Ordinances Now Therefore if we will not take this way and for want of taking it ruine our selves can we say that it is Gods fault that we come short of life Can we clear our selves either by pretending ignorance as if we knew not the way when the Lord has shewed thee O man what is good And what do's the Lord by God require of thee c. Mic. 6. 8. Or by pleading Impotence we could not walk in it this cannot be for if it be a way it must be passable And though we cannot walk in this way of our selves by our own strength yet by the help of God we may and God is Never backward Seasonably to give in Convenient help to those who heartily desire it of him 2ly Is there a way to life let every one take heed how they come short of life had mans case been desperate and now that he has once fallen from life there were no more possibility of his return to it again then there is for the Devils there being no way left to life for them it would have been a troubling our selves to no purpose should we have striven to get to life What vse could there be of any cares or Endeavours in such a case All would have been superfluous But now that there is a way to life a way opened to us by the Blood of Christ and we may attain to life if we do but for our selves what we might and ought we are greatly concerned to look to it that we come not short of life for all this through our own unbelief carelesness and sloth It is sad to lose life and to be vtterly and everlastingly undone for want of it But it will be far sadder to lose it when it has been prepared and offered a way has been made to it and the way declared and we called into it Be the good never so Valuable that we come short of the Evil never so Intolerable that we are plunged into yet if the one could not be by us attained the other could not be by us avoided we Comfort our selves with this that how greivous soever our Sufferings be yet it could not be helped But as the case is here if we lose life and plung our selves into an endless Death we shall be vtterly deprived even of this Comfort we can never be able to say that it could not be helped there was no Remedy it could never be otherwise then it is No then we shall be made to Remember and to Acknowledge that it might have been far otherwise we might have been as full of Happiness as we are now of Misery had we but taken the right way and that we Missed the way was not so much Ignorance as Willfulness or at the best Carelessness This is that which will make Hell-fire burne hotter and its pains Torment more intolerably when we are made to Remember what Fair warnings we had against it how we were told that the way we took was the ready Road to it how we were seriously invited and that frequently into another way which we were assured would lead us into a state of as great Blessedness as we were capable of Doct. 2. The Enterance into the way of life is through a Gate a strait Gate If ye ask what Gate is this it is the Gate of Regeneration for this is the passage through which we turne out of the way of destruction into the way of Salvation while we are in our old nature our motions are Earth-ward and Hell-ward for that way do our Inclinations lead us But when we have attained a new nature a divine nature our bent is altered and by this we are carried Heaven-ward and God-ward our outward man is kept within bounds by the Law and our inward man is Enlarged and Raised carried towards those things which are Spiritual and Eternal by the Spirit Qu. But what is Regeneration which is the Gate into the way of life It is such an alteration wrought in the Soul by the powerfull operation of Gods Spirit whereby the Soul which was Dead in Trespasses and sins Passes from Death to Life 1 Joh. 3. 14. It comes to have new Senses new motions It comes to have different apprehensions from what it had before Wealth Honour Pleasures it counted things of Worth and use now it looks upon them but as vanity and vexation the ways of Sin it looked upon as wayes of
Credit and Delight now it can see nothing in them but sorrow and shame The Councells of God it did despise as advising it to its prejudice now it esteems them as the most advantageous The anger of God it slighted as a thing which onely Melancholy Fools feared now it cannot think of it without dread Grace it looked upon as an Inglorious useless thing now it Esteems it most Honourable most Serviceable It comes to have different affections from what it had before as its light is Changed so is its liking it has new Objects for its Love Desire Hope Delight for its Hatred Fear Anger Greife Other things other persons other occasions raise these from what did before Qu. But what makes Regeneration to be a strait Gate Answer 1st It has difficulty in it which cannot be Mastered by any power within us but requires a power above us No less power is required to raise us from the Death of sin to the life of Faith then was exerted on Christ to raise him from the Dead Ephe. 1. 19. 20. In Regeneration we are raised aboue our selves and we have not onely an impotency to it but a reluctancy against it we are so far from helping forward this work that we oppose and hinder it we cannot alter our own bent and Motion if this be done in us it must be done by one without us one above us 2ly It has trouble in it which we cannot beare up under without much patience here is the Cutting of the foreskin of the flesh which will not be without Wounds and Blood the plowing up the fallow ground of the heart which cannot be done without much rending and tearing Bringing out a man Child unto God which cannot be without the pangs of the new birth Here is cutting of a Right Hand plucking out a Right Eye which can never be done without smart The trouble is occasioned in getting 1st Seperated from lusts 2ly Freed from Satans slavery Vse 1st For Examination Let us hereby try our selves whether we be in the way to life or no men generally presume they are and do not take it well at the Hands of any to Question whether they be or no. To be sure it is the Concernment of all to look to it that they indeed be But may we not be allowed to ask those who conceit they are got into the way of life how came they there What Gate passed they in at to that way Was it a wide Gate or a strait one We are told by Christ that the Gate which brings into the way of life is a strait Gate and sure through such a Gate we cannot get we do not know how It is very suspicious we are not yet in the way if we know nothing at all of the straitness of the Gate If we have not found Difficulty and Trouble in Getting through it Here it is that the Devil vtterly loses his interest in us if he let us now go we are gone for ever and will he be contented quietly to part with his prey Here the strong man Armed is Dispossest of his House Luke 11. 21 22. And can ye think he will come out of his possessions without Tearing Can there be such a great tug betwixt Gods Spirit and Satan whether should have possession of the Soul and the Soul know nothing of this all the while Vse 2. For Exhortation Let us strive to Enter in at this Gate what though it be a strait Gate not to be passed through without difficulty and Trouble it immediately brings into the way of life And whoever are got in at this Gate they are sure of life out of danger of Death I do not say that they have attained this Assurance so that they are delivered from all Feares of finally miscarrying forthwith after they be Regenerate but this I say they are in a sure state whether they think themselves sure or they do not Now that they are entred in at the Gate brought unto the life of Christ Their Salvation is undertaken by Christ himself Who will finish that good work which he has already begun Phil. 1. 6. That God who has brought us in at the Gate will bring us on in the way till he has brought us to the End of our Hope the Salvation of our Souls Again If we be got in at the Gate we have reason to bless God for it both Considering the great difficulty of this the main difficulty of the work of mans Salvation lies in the getting through the strait Gate and also Considering the great advantages by this we are not onely put in a possibility or probability of Salvation but even in a certainty of it That work is begun which God has undertaken to finish in spite of all opposition that shall be made either by lust within or Satan and the world without Vse 3. For Consolation who ever have got so far as to get beyond the strait Gate they are in the way of life and need not fear but they shall arrive at the End of this way life it self The greatest difficulty is over what is behind is easy in Comparison This little which God has done already in bringing through the Gate and advancing to life is but an earnest of what God will further do Doct. 3. The way of life is a narrow way To keep in it there is Required 1st Care that we Observe our way those who have but a narrow way to go in may soon Step aside if they take not great heed to themselves 2ly Jndustry that we take pains with our selves to set our steps right otherwise we shall either sit down in the way or turn out of the way for sloth 3ly Patience That we bear the Trouble which will be Necessarily occasioned to us by our Continuall care and Industry to know and keep the way There will be more need of Patience upon severall accounts 1st By reason of the prevailency of corruption which makes the flesh so vnruly that it will not be kept in the way It will be both Troublesome to Curb these lusts and Troublesome to gratify them by resisting them we Trouble the flesh by Complying with them we Trouble the Spirit and the Conscience 2ly By Impetuousness of Temptations from the World and Satan wherby we are Vehemently sollicited to do something which we cannot do with freedome of Spirit it suiting not the inward frame which God has set our Souls in or we dare not do for fear of provoking God and violating our own Conscience 3ly By pressure of afflictions which the Lord do's variously Exercise his People with in this way for the Mortifying their lusts the practising of their graces that they may live in a sense of their own Sinfulness weakness Apprehensive of the Worlds scorn and Malice raised by Faith to Expect Comfort and Help from God in a time of need maugre the World and Hell 4ly By the discomforts of desertion when we are left wholy in the dark without
have something blown off it or washed from it As some Slate or Tile off the Roof some Plaister off the Walls c. One really Vnited to Christ and Quicken'd in him and by him may lose much of the Vigour of his life much of the strength of his life much of the Fruits of his life The inward motions of his Soul after God and the things of God such as Holiness Righteousness goodness may be less Vehement less Frequent the outward Expressions of gracious motions within whether in words or Carriages or Actions may be less conspicuous And this may be either through Gods Arbitrary withdrawing from the Soul to try it and humble it and Empty it Or through the Souls Voluntary withdrawing from God for though he who is Born of God so far as he is Born of God cannot sin yet as he is Born of meer Man and carries about him his Old nature he may especially when he is exposed to Violent Temptations And by Sinning he may provoke God to suspend his Influences and may incapacitate himself to Receive the Influences which God is willing and ready to give in That then which is to be Asserted is 4ly That one Built upon the Rock Christ can neither fall Totally nor Finally By a Totall fall I mean such a fall as would be incurr'd by the Christian should he be supposed to be removed off the Foundation and to lose his Union to Christ The Consequence whereof must Necessarily be the loss of all saving grace so that though he still retained some gifts and Common graces which might render him Tolerable in the World yea Serviceable yet he was wholly without saving grace which might make his heart good bent for God and holiness Now thus fall he cannot though he may commit some sins yea and gross sins and also Neglect some Considerable duties and come under the Tyranny of some lust which he was Unacquainted with before and little Exercise such graces as formerly were stirring in him yet still he can never be so but he 'le have the Root of grace in him and still the bent of his heart will be Heaven-wards though as to any actuall motions of his Soul that way he be either diverted from them by some Deceit or hindr'd in them by some Violence Thus the stone has an Inclination towards the center though it move not that way so long as some hand interposes to stop its motion The Fountain has a strong tendency to send our streams of fresh water though so long as the spring is stopt with stones or mud no water at all appears A Christian then may fall partially but he cannot fall Totally By a Finall fall I Understand such a fall as he will never recover out of nor shake off the prejudice of Now a partiall fall may be supposed where thereis no Totall As there may be a finall death where there is no Totall As when a Man dies as to one part be it a leg or an Arm which is so Seized on by the Palsey as to lose all sense and Motion which he never recovers again in this case he dies finally as to one part though he die not Totally as to his whole body Now this we say of one who is Built on the Rock Christ and is a Christian As he can neither fall Totally so as to lose his whole new life Root and Branch so neither can he fall Finally so as never to recover that Measure of Life and Grace which he is supposed to lose Indeed he may lie some while in his fall without Rising again by Repentance as it was with St. Peter who after he had denyed Christ once went on to deny him again and again more Grievously and continued in this sin without Repentance for about three houres as Divines by comparing together severall Circumstances of the History do compute from Nine till about Midnight though he was Admonished of his sin by the Cock Crowing Twice for we find Luke 22. 61. That St. Peter did not Remember what Christ had told him about his Denying him Thrice before the Cock Crew Twice till Christ looked upon him and much more in David who after he had defiled Bathsheba and Murdered Uriah Continued in his sin about a Year not Repenting for he Repented not till Nathan reproved him and Nathan reproved him not till a Child was born of his adultery with Bathsheba 2. Sam. 12. 14. But God will order it so that by some Ordinance or some Providence he shall be Excited and Enabled to recover himself again either dureing his Life time or however at his Death he shall recover himself so as to be able and ready to forsake every sin he has lived in to discharge every duty he has Neglected to overcome every lust he has been kept under by to Exercise every grace he has been deficient in But how do's it appear that those who are Built on Christ neither do nor can fall either Totally or Finally I shall not go about to Evidence either of these distinctly but shall handle them conjointly 1st That life and grace which Christians Receive upon their Union to Christ as their Foundation head and Root are resembled to such things as abide if they do not grow and Flourish It is like a well of Water which usually is not dryed up though the Summer be very droughty John 4. 14. A well of water Springing up into Everlasting Life It is like a Tree Planted by the waters which lives and grows and Flourishes when others are quite dead for want of Rain Jere. 17. 8 It is like Seed which has Taken Root in good Ground and therefore abides and Thrives and brings forth Fruit St. Mat. 13. 23. St. Luke 8. 15. But you will say all these things have their end few Fountaines but in time they quite fail No Trees how Commodiously soever planted but in time die No seed but when it has brought forth as much fruit as it will dies it self and its Fruit will in time decay Yet let it be Considered that all these last full as long as it could be Expected they should do according to their nature and if they last not always it is because their Nature is but to continue for a time Now it s the nature of saving grace to continue for ever for it is Everlasting life as it is called St. Jobn 3. 36. He that beleives on the Son hath Everlasting life 1. John 5. 11. God hath given to us Eternal life 2ly Those who are thus united unto Christ are such as God has Chosen to Salvation and therefore they cannot fall away Totally Finally if they could they would miss of that Salvation which they are chosen to and so Gods Election would be Frustrated Whoever are united to Christ are chosen of God is evident because all those are Effectually called Vnion to Christ being the Immediate result of Effectuall Vocation and none are thus called by God but such as he has
Evil. John 17. 5. And this he begs not only for his Disciples that then attended him But for all that should Beleive on him through their words Verse 2. Therefore it cannot be pretended that this prayer was made for some few and not for all Christs Members Now if the Prayer of a Righteous Man be so Effectuall Jam. 5. 6. Shall we think that the prayer of Christ who is the Holy one of God the Son of God that it shall prevail 〈◊〉 nothing may Christians be Confident That if they ask any thing According to God's will he hears them 1 Joh 5. 14. And may they not be as Confident that if Christ aske any thing he shall not be denyed he himself was so John 11. 41. 42. I know that thou hearest me always And St. Paul upon this account was very Confident that none could rise up against him to Condemn him or otherwise hurt him because Christ Interceded for him among others Rom 8. 34. 8ly This is the great thing which those who are Vnited to Christ do most Prize Love and desire seek and pray for that they may be Established in what is good 1. Pet. 5. 10. Peter begged no more for the dispersed Jewes then every Sincere Christian begs for himself that they may be kept from the Evil of Temptations Mat 6. 13 Christ Teaches them thus to pray by his Spirit that they may be made To go in the Paths of his Commandments Psal 119. 35. Make me to go c. Incline mine heart c. Turn away mine Eyes c. Now shall not he Who fulfills the Desire of such as fear him Psal 145. 19. Answer them in these which are so every way agreeable to his will When they desire to be kept Close to God and God desires it too Shall the Devil or the World or the Flesh be able to hinder it When God bids them Ask Seek Knock and Encourages them to this by telling them they shall Receive Find and get Opened Mat. 7. 7. And when they follow his Counsell and obey his Commands and take heart by his Encouragements will he disapoint them 9ly God is Engaged by Covenant to keep them from falling and therefore he is Engaged to do his utmost Towards this and he is able to do what he has Engaged to do Jude 24. Now unto him who is able to keep you from Falling c. This is the Tenure of the New Covenant which God has Entered into with every one who is Really Vnited to Christ to Put his Law in their Inward parts and Write it in their hearts c. Jere. 31. 33. That he 'le neither depart from them nor they from him Jere. 32. 39. 40. They shall fear him for ever c. That he 'le cause them to walk in his Statutes and Keep his Judgments and do them Ezek 36. 27. That he 'le betroth them to himself for ever c. Hose 2. 19. 20. That the Mountains should sooner depart and the Hills be Removed c. Isai 54. 9. 10. That his Spirit shall not depart from them nor their Seed Isai 59. 11. Indeed these promises seem to be made unto Israel after the Flesh but they were designed for Israel after the Spirit the Jewes Literall are but a Type of the Jewes Mysticall and the promises which were made to them in the Letter according to their more Spirituall and high meaning belong to the True Israel of God And we have the very same things promised in the New Testament though in other Terms that God will Build his Church so on a Rock that Hells Gates with all the power and policy of Hell cannot prevail against it Mat. 16. 18. And that the Spirit which God gives his People shall abide with them for ever John 14. 16. It s true also that these promises are not sensibly made good to his People of a long while yet even then they are Really made good though not so fully as they shall be they cleave to God when their hearts seem to wander from him they fear God when their Hearts seem most hardened from his Fear 10ly In those who are truly United unto Christ Sin is so Mortified as never to recover Life again and the Soul is so Quicken'd as never to die again no more than Christ died after he once rose Those who are Really United unto Christ are Baptized into his Death so as they begin to die unto Sin and though Sin do's no die forthwith in them no more than Christ dies immediately after he was Nailed on the Cross yet they continue dying by degrees as Christ did untill they be quite dead and they are Baptized into his Resurrection so as to be Raised to a new Life which shall no more die than Christ did after he was once Raised And this is the importance of Rom. 6. 3. 11. Know ye not that so many of us as were Baptized into Jesus Christ were Baptized into his Death Likewise reckon your selves Dead unto Sin but alive to God And those whom it is thus with can never fall either Totally or Finally 11ly Those who thus fall evidence that whatever they seemed they never really were United unto Christ for if they had been they would have kept to him It will appear that we are Christs house if we hold on to the end Heb. 3. 6. We are partakers of Christ if we hold to the End V. 14. It will appear that we are Disciples indeed if we continue in Christs words St. John 8. 31. He saith not we shall be Partakers of Christ or we shall be Christs Disciples but we are already if we have that in us which will make us Stedfast It will appear that we are Sons if we abide in Gods house for ever V 35. T is a certain Sign that those were never of the true Church of Christ who at any time go out from it 1. John 2. 19. But you will say what Reason 〈◊〉 there why those who are thus Built on Christ cannot fall neither Totally nor Finally I answer First because the Foundation it self cannot fail it being the Rock of Ages Psa 26. Jesus Christ is the same Yesterday and to day and for ever Heb. 13 8. He is a sure Foundation Isa 28. 16. 2ly The union between the Soul and Christ the Foundation cannot be dissolved On Christs part it cannot because he is altogether Unchangeable On the Souls part it cannot because Tho' it be mutable in it self yet it is Established in Christ There is a double Reason of its Establishment 1st From the Nature of that Life which Springs up in it from the Foundation of Life Christ unto whom it is United This continually springing up keeps the will which otherwise would be fickle enough steadily bent for God the same way Heaven-wards hence it 〈…〉 he who is Born of God cannot sin St. John 3. 9. For there is no Sin but what is Voluntary now their will is already Engaged for God They may do what
The Condition of lost man would be very deplorable if that God in whose Enjoyment his Happiness consists could in no wise be found The Undertaking of Christ also would be altogether in vain whatever he he has done or suffered even that Painfull shamefull Execrable Death upon the Câ—â—ss would be wholly to no Purpose if men could not be brought to God so as to find him for S. Peter tells us this was the great End of all That he might bring us unto God S. Pet 3. 18. Doubtless then God may be Found if he be but Sought 1. Duly If men seek him out of a feeling sense of their want need of him and out of a sincere desire to find him if they diligently enquire after him faithfully follow the guide which leads to him and carefully use the means whereby he is drawn nigh unto He hath promised Jer. 29. 13. Ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your Heart Which is as true of Gods readiness to be found when rightly sought to deliver from the Bondage of Sin as from the Captivity of Babylon 2ly God must be sought timely while he may be found before the Proper season of finding him be over Prov. 8. 17. Those that seek me early shall find me For The fifth thing implied in the Proposition is that the Time of finding God by seeking him will not always last And 1st It will certainly be ended at Death Indeed there is a Presence of God according to which he will be found after Death unsought for and undesired A Terrible furious presence which fills the Conscience of the Impenitent Sinner with a sense of Guilt and wrath and his heart with anguish and Horror Perplexity and Despair It is this Presence which kindles That fire that shall never be Quenched and which so affrights the greatest and stoutest that they are not able to abide it but Call to the Mountains and Rocks to fall on them and hide them from it Rev. 6 16. When the Soul is once separated from this Lumpish Body which straitens its Capacities and dulls its senses and greatly unfits it for Converse with any thing but this Gross world then it comes immediately to have to do with God himself whom it has so much despised and hated and his presence they can in no wise possibly avoid although by reason of the Contrariety which is between Gods nature and theirs it be extremely Tormenting to them like a fire that doth continually scorch Isa 33. 14. Who among us shall dwell with Everlasting Burnings But as for the Amiable and Gracious Presence of God that Presence which the Soul needeth and desireth with which it is so refreshed and ravished this if it be not sought here can never be found hereafter After Death the state of the Soul is unalterable it is with men then as it was with the Devils immediately after their Fall their Wills are Immutably fixed to their former Choice so that those who will not seek God now cannot then There is no such Work as seeking in the Grave whither we go Besides if there could be any seeking God after death there could be no finding him then seing there is then a Vast Gulf fixt between God and Sinfull Souls S. Luke 16. 26. The Romanists who suppose a Purgatory after death and a seeking and finding God out of Purgatory only assign this Purgatory for those in the state of grace who have been sincerely seeking God during this Life but have not found him being not sufficiently purified and so not prepared for him 2ly It may possibly be ended during Life There are those who have outlived the day of Grace in which God offers himself to be found Thus it was with Pharoah whom God after the sixth Plague reserved alive till he should have a more seasonable opportunity for the Glorifying of himself in his destruction Thus it was also with Judas of whom Christ gave this Character some time before his death that he was a Devil S. Joh. 6. 70. A Devil not only for the Wickedness of his heart but also for the desperateness of his state Devils might as soon find God as he There are those who while alive sin the Sin unto Death S. John 5. 19. Opposing the Spirit of God so obstinately and contumaciously in its saving work that at last it fully and finally Resolves to leave them to themselves to go on to their own Destruction God can never be found but when he sets himself to be found saying Behold me Behold me Isa 65. 1. Nay while he himself Seeks his Servants Psal 119. 176. And this is only so long as there is any Hopes that a Sinner may be Reclaimed by any Methods of Grace which Gods Wisdome and Justice will allow to be used towards him But if after a Tryall of all these in spight of Instructions and Reproofs of mercy and Judgement of what God can do mediately by his Ministers and of what God thinks fit to do immediately by his Holy Spirit the Sinner persist obstinately and Incorrigibly in neglecting and rejecting of God God saith of him as he said of Ephraim Hos 4. 17. He is joyned to Idols let him alone I see he will have none of me and I am resolved he shall not And let me tell you this is one of the greatest Judgements a sinner is capable of on this side Hell to be herein by God Iudicially condemned to his own sinfull choice After this there can be no seeking God so as to find him let a man live never so long Having shewn you those things that were implied in the first Proposition I come now to the Proposition it self and shall shew you That it is the Duty and Concern of all to seek God so as to find him It is their Duty for 1st It is the Precept of God whom we ought to obey Psal 25. 4. Seek ye the Lord and his strength Seek his face evermore 2. It is the Practise of the Saints whom we ought to imitate This is the Generation of them that seek him Psal 24. 6. It need not be Explained whom God speaks to Isa 51. 1. Ye that seek the Lord for it is to them that follow after Righteousness 3. The Promises of God encourage to it and they ought not to be slighted The Promise assures of us that we Shall find God if we search for him with all our heart Jer. 26. 13. And together with him every good thing besides Psal 34. 10. They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing 4. The Providences of God call to this and they ought to be complied with Mercies are therefore vouchsafed to men to this purpose God hath set men The bounds of their habitations that they should seek the Lord. Act. 17. 46. 27. Judgements are inflicted for this purpose upon this account God ill resents it that People turn not unto him that smiteth them neither do they seek the Lord of