to think that God should make you the first Example of a Soul that did endeavour strive and work for Salvation and yet came short of it when you never heard or read of any that put forth themselves to the utmost for the obtaining of Grace and yet fell short of Grace or Glory Thus in these six Particulars put together you have a full and an abundant Answer and Satisfaction to this Objection concerning our Impotency to work out our own Salvation Object 2 Secondly Another Objection against this Doctrin is this Thus to press Men to Obedience and Working is prejudicial and derogatory unto Christ's Merits by which alone we are saved and not by our own Works Hath not Christ already done all for us Hath not he finished and wrought out our Salvation himself And is not this to render his Work as insufficient to go and piece it out by our Obedience Is not this to set up our Works as Antichrist in flat opposition and defiance to the gracious Vndertaking and perfect Accomplishment of Jesus Christ when all that we have now to do is to believe in him and to get a Right and Title to him and saving Interest in him Answ To this I Answer the Merit of Jesus Christ and our Working are not inconsistent but there is a sweet Harmony and Agreement betwixt them in carrying on the Work of our Salvation And to make this evident I shall lay down the due Bounds and Limits of each of them that so it may appear what Christ hath done for us and what he expects we should do for our selves Christ therefore hath done Two Things in order to the carrying on of our Salvation First He hath purchased and procured eternal Happiness to be conferred upon us hereafter Secondly he hath merited Grace to be conferred upon us here to prepare us for that Happiness First He hath purchased Happiness and eternal Life for all that do believe in him I give unto them eternal Life says he himself to John John 10.28 Heb. 5.9 And says the Apostle He is the Author of eternal Salvation to them that Obey him Now as there are two things that must be done for us before we could be brought unto a state of Salvation namely a freeing us from our liableness unto Death and a bestowing upon us a right unto Life eternal so Jesus Christ that he might bring us into this State hath performed both these things for us First He hath satisfied Divine Justice for us snatching us from under the vengeance of God substituting himself in our room and stead bearing the Load of all that Wrath and Punishment that must otherwise have fallen insupportably heavy upon us His Soul Isa 53.10 says the Prophet was made an Offering for Sin And He was made Sin for us 2 Cor. 5.23 says the Apostle that is he was punished as a Sinner for us Who knew no Sin And Secondly He hath perfectly fulfilled the Commands of the Law by his active Obedience that the Life promised by God in the Law to the doers of it doth now undoubtedly belong to all those for whom Christ did obey the Law that is for all those that believe in him And by both these bearing the penalty of the Law and fulfilling the Duties of the Law God is attoned Justice is satisfied Vengeance is pacified and we are reconciled Adopted and made Heirs of Glory according to the Promise But what shall Glory and Happiness be presently bestowed upon us shall we be installed into it without any more Circumstance must nothing intervene betwixt Christs purchase and our actual possession Yes that there must For Secondly Christ hath purchased Grace to be bestowed upon them upon whom he bestows Salvation Eph. 4 8. When he Ascended up on high he led Captivity Captive and gave Gifts unto Men and among others especially the Gifts of Grace For of his fulness John 1.16 says the Apostle have we all received and Grace for Grace And why did Christ make this purchase Why did he merit Grace for us Was it not that we might act it in Obedience And if Christ merited Grace that we might Obey is it sense to Object that our Obedience is derogatory to Christ's Merit If one end of Christ's doing all that he did for us was to inable us to do for our selves will any Man say now I am bound to do nothing because Christ hath done all How lost are such Men both to Reason and Religion who undertake so to argue No Salvation was purchased and Grace was procured that by the acting and exercise of that Grace we might attain to that Salvation and both these are to be preserved entirely as things most Sacred ascribing them solely to the Merits of our Saviour So far are we from Exhorting Men to work out their Salvation by way of Merit and Purchase as that we conclude them guilty of the highest Sacriledg and practical Blasphemy against the Priestly Office of Jesus Christ who think by their own works to Merit the one or the other And therefore though Jesus Christ hath done thus much for us yet that he might leave us also some work to do I shall now shew what he expects from us in order to the working out of our own Salvation And as he hath done two things for us so he requires two things from us As. First He requires we should put forth all the Strength and Power of Nature in labouring after Grace And Secondly He requires that we should put forth the power of Grace in labouring for Salvation purchased for us First He requires that all those who are void of Grace should labour for it with that Power and Strength that they have Those that are void of Grace must labour for it and in so doing they do not at all intrench upon the Work of Christ neither is it at all derogatory to his Merits See how the Prophet expresseth this Ezekiel 18. Ezek. 18.31 Make you a new heart and a new spirit He speaks to those that were in a state of Nature and he bids them make them a new heart and a new spirit for why will you die Noting that if they did not labour after a new Heart and a new Spirit they would certainly die the Death Let every Sinner know that this is it that he is called upon for this is that God expects from him it is his Work to repent and return that he may live It is his Work to labour to change his own Heart and to renew his own Spirit It is true it is God's Work also Ezek. 11.19 for he hath promised to give a new Heart and a new Spirit and it is Christ's Work also as he is God but yet it is not Christ's Work as Mediator And therefore to endeavour the working of a new Heart in us is not at all to intrench upon the Mediatory Office of Jesus Christ for so his Office is not to work Grace but
Labour under the Sun how wavering how uncertain and how unsuccessful Things are how Means run one way and the End another they might hereby be induced to turn their Labours into another Channel and to work for their Souls and for eternal Happiness and Salvation that are as far above the reach of Disappointment as they are far above the rate of earthly Concernments Mine Elect says God Isa 52.22 shall long enjoy the Work of their Hands they shall not labour in vain And this is the great Argument urged by the Apostle upon the Corinthians Be stedfast 2 Cor. 15.58 unmoveable always abounding in the Work of the Lord and why so industrious and constant knowing this says he that your Labour is not in vain in the Lord. Two Things there are that make a Labour to be in vain First When it doth not accomplish its End Secondly When that End it doth accomplish is not worth the Cost and Pains Now in neither of these respects is your Labour in vain For First It shall not fail to accomplish the end to which it is ordained and that is eternal Salvation Three Things there are that make Men come short in the accomplishment of an End propounded First When Men propound to themselves Ends that are in themselves simply impossible Secondly When though the End be possible yet the Means that are used are unfit and improbable Thirdly When though the Means are rightly suited to the attainment of the end yet we do not persevere in the use of them Now none of these ways shall a laborious Christian fail of his end For First The End Christians work for is not impossible The End that you work for is not in it self simply impossible Should you propound to your selves to become Angels should you strive to sublimate your selves into spiritual Essences your attempts herein were all but vain because it is impossible you should ever be refined into Angels But if your end be to be like Angels to be equal to Angels this is possible and may be attained When they arise from the dead Mark 12.25 they are as the Angels that are in Heaven which another Evangelist renders Luke 20.36 they are equal to the Angels If in this Life you propose to your selves a state of perfection and freedom both from Sin and Sorrow a state of consummate Bliss and Happiness this End is impossible But if you make it your End to enjoy such a state as this is hereafter this is attainable and Labour may atchieve it yea aim at what degree of Glory you please next below God and Christ be it as high as Cherubims and Seraphims I cannot say you think of an impossibility your Labour may raise you to such a pitch and advance you to such Glory as shall dazle the Sun in its brightness It is true there was once a time when Salvation might well be reckoned among those Things that were impossible and that was in that sad interval between the Fall and the Promise of Christ when all Mankind lay in the shadow and in the valley of Death under the Breach and yet under the Bond of the Covenant of Works when it had indeed been in vain so much as once to have thought of Happiness or to have laboured for it But since Christ's undertaking We who were once without Hope have now obtained good Hope through Grace the Partition-Wall that then we could neither climb over nor break through is now taken away the Gate of Heaven is now set open and with striving we may enter for our Saviour Jesus Christ hath abolished Death and brought Life and Immortality to Light through the Gospel And therefore though it may seem an impossibility to dejected and despairing Souls that ever such vile Wretches should receive so great a Dignity that those who are sunk so low in Misery should ever be raised to Happiness that those who are so loaden with Sin and Iniquity should ever feel the weight of Mercy and beaten Glory that those whose best Works deserve the lowest Hell should though not for yet upon the performance of those Works obtain the highest Heavens Though this may seem to be an impossibility yet believe it while you think of any Glory lower than the Glory of the Godhead you think of nothing above a possibility and the reach of Industry There are none of you excluded from a possibility of being saved the Covenant of Grace runs in most large and comprehensive Terms Who ever believeth shall obtain eternal Life The Death of Christ and his Blood is a most sovereign Medicine applicable not only to all Maladies but to all Men if they will believe Tho' it is true none shall be saved but the Elect yet is it true also that a possibility of Salvation extends farther than Election Election gives the infallibility of Salvation as Reprobation doth the infallibility of Damnation but yet as there is a possibility for those that shall infallibly be saved to perish if they do not believe so is it possible for those that shall infallibly perish to be saved if they will believe The possibility of Salvation therefore stands not upon Election but upon two other Grounds First The meritorious and all-sufficient procurement of Christ whereby he hath procured Salvation for all the World and for all in the World upon condition of their Faith for that must still be taken in for were it not so how could we preach Remission of Sins in his Name to every Creature were not his Death applicable to all Then though some should believe yet for want of a Sacrifice offered up and a Price paid down for them they should not be saved though they should believe How then is it that we seriously call all Men to repent and believe that their Sins may be pardon'd and their Souls saved Certainly unless the death of Christ hath procured Salvation for all Men upon condition of Faith and Repentance such Calls would be false in us and vain to them for so we should promise Salvation upon believing to those to whom though they should believe Salvation should be denied because they want a Covenant made with them and a Surety to undertake for them Therefore I say Christ's procurement is general so far that whoever believes shall receive the Benefit of his Death Secondly As the Death of Christ is applicable to all for Salvation if they believe so Faith that alone applies this Death is attainable by you all if you be not wanting to your selves you are none of you under an impossibility of believing and therefore not under an impossibility of Salvation Though it be certain that some shall infallibly persevere in Infidelity yet there is none that hears the sound of the Gospel and the outward Call of God in his Word but may believe and obey if they be not wanting to themselves Neither is this Doctrin Arminianism nor is it prejudicial to the efficacious Grace of God whereby the Will
Case you would do And Secondly So absolutely depend and rely upon the alone Merits of Jesus Christ for your Justification and Salvation as if you never had performed an Act of Obedience in all your Life This is the right Gospel-frame of Obedience so to work as if you were only to be saved by your own Merits and withal so to rest on the Merits of Christ as if you had never wrought any thing It is a difficult thing to give to each of these its Due in our Practice When we Work we are too apt to neglect Christ and when we rely on Christ we are too apt to neglect Working But that Christian hath got the right skill and art of Obedience that can mingle these two together that can with one Hand work the Works of God and yet at the same time with the other Hand lay fast hold on the Merits of Jesus Christ Let this Antinomian Principle be for ever rooted out of the Minds of Men that our working is derogatory to Christs Work Never more think Christ hath done all your Work for you for that is unbecoming the free Spirit of the Gospel but labour for that Salvation that he hath purchased and merited Could ever such senseless Objections prevail with those Men who ever seriously read that Scripture in Tit. 2.14 Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purify to himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works Were this place seriously ponder'd over by Men they would be ashamed to Object any longer that our Duties and Works are derogatory to the purchase of Christ for he gave himself for this end that he might purchase such a People that might be zealous of good Works But truly when Sloth and Ignorance meet together if you tell Men what Powers their Natures have to work and how necessary Obedience is to Salvation that thereby we might excite and quicken their Hearts to Obedience they with the Sluggard fold their Arms in their Bosom doing nothing telling us these Doctrins are Arminianism and flat Popery whereas in Deed and in Truth they are as far distant from either of them as Light is from Darkness it is their Ignorance and Sloth only that makes them think so But deceive not your selves this Doctrin is such that whether it take hold on your Judgments and Understandings now I know not but this I know assuredly it shall take hold of your Consciences either here or hereafter and then it will not suffice you to make this Excuse either that you had no Power to do any thing or that Christ hath already done all Things for you And so much for the Second Objection Object 3 Thirdly Others may Object That this Duty of working out of our Salvation is inconsistent with and prejudicial to the freeness of Gods Grace by which alone we are saved If God save them only that work for Salvation how then doth he save them freely and that by Grace we are saved Answ 1 First In general I answer That Salvation upon our Working and Obedience is free Salvation and that for four Reasons 1. Working for Salvation is our Duty and so not meritorious First Because all our working is a natural Duty that we owe to God as Creatures to their Creator Had God required the same Things of us that now he doth and never propounded a Reward to incourage us he had been just and we had been as absolutely and as indispensably obliged to obey as now we are We have not so great a Right to Salvation as God hath to our Obedience God can challenge our Service and Obedience from us because of our natural Bond and Obligation as well as from that voluntary Covenant where into we have entred with God to be Obedient but we can only plead for Salvation because God hath made a Promise that he will save those that Obey Whether God had made that Promise or not yet he might have required the same Obedience from us that now he doth because we owe it to him naturally by our Creation And is it not now free Grace and Mercy that when God might have required Obedience without a Reward that yet he will bestow Salvation according to that Obedience See what our Saviour saith in Luke 17. Luke 17.9 10. Doth the Master thank the Servant because he did the things that he was commanded to do I trow not So even ye likewise when you have done all those things that are commanded you say we are unprofitable Servants for when we have done all we have but done that which was our Duty to do Yea and our Duty it was to do it though God had never made a Promise to reward what we have done We are unprofitable Servants and deserve not so much as Thanks Doth the Master thank the Servant because he did the things that were commanded I trow not And if we do not merit Thanks when we have done our utmost how then can we merit Salvation 2. Our Obedience is imperfect in this Life Secondly Our Obedience is imperfect in this Life it is full of cracks and flaws And if to accept and reward the most perfect Obedience with Salvation be an Act of Mercy and free Grace as it is because it is our Duty if there were no Salvation promised how much more is free Grace magnified and glorified in accepting and rewarding a weak and imperfect Obedience with that Salvation which the most perfect Obedience cannot deserve For when we have done all we have done but that which was our Duty to do and if we could say so doth the Master thank the Servant No But alas in many things we offend all Now to reward that with eternal Salvation that deserves eternal Damnation to reward that Work with Life that deserves to be rewarded with Death what is this but the effect of rich and glorious Grace What is this but to bestow Heaven not according to Merit but rather according to our Demerit 3. There is no comparison between Salvation and our Obedience Thirdly Because there is no comparison betwixt Salvation and our Obediences and therefore free Grace shines forth still It is free Grace though we do obey We obey as Creatures God rewards as a God our Obedience is Temporal but our Reward is Eternal our Obedience is mixed with Rebellion but the Reward hath no mixture to take off the fulness and sweetness of it Therefore it is free Grace still to give an infinite Reward to so mean an Obedience betwixt which Obedience and Reward there is no comparison or proportion Fourthly Though we are commanded to obey 4. Grace whereby we obey is the Gift of God yet that Grace whereby we do obey is the Gift of God It is he that works in us this Obedience which he rewards with Salvation And must not this then be wholly of free Grace To save upon an Obedience wrought in us by God himself it is to save
great a Work it requires that they should presently without delay set upon it 1. Working for Salvation is the undoing our former Works First It is a Work in which Sinners must undo all that they have wrought in their whole Lives before Oh Sinner think what hast thou been doing this twenty thirty forty Years or more Hast thou not instead of working out thine own Salvation with Fear and Trembling been working out thine own Condemnation without Fear or Trembling Hast thou not been working the Works of Darkness Hast thou not been working the Works of thy Father the Devil as our Saviour tells the Jews Truly this is not so much working as making of Work all this must be undone again or you your selves must be for ever undone you must unrip and unravel your whole Lives by a deep and bitter Repentance you are gone far in the way that leads to Death and Destruction and you must tread back every Step and at every Step shed many salt and briny Tears before ever you come into the Way that leads to Life and Happiness and is it not yet time to begin Can the Work of so many Years be undone think you in one moment No Sin and Satan make their Works more durable and lasting than to be so easily and speedily spoiled It were the Work of an Age yea of Eternity it self if possibly we could so spend it rather than of a few faint late Thoughts to get an Humiliation deep enough and a Sorrow sad enough to bear any the least proportion to any of the least Sins that we have committed Do not hope or think that your many great and sinful Actions shall ever be blown away with a slight and general Confession or that ever they shall be wash'd away with a slight and overly Repentance What says holy David Psal 56.8 Thou tellest my Wanderings put thou my Tears into thy Bottle Thou hast my Wandrings by Number but thou hast also my Tears by Measure There must be some proportion betwixt the Humiliation and the Sins great Sins call for great Sorrow and long continuance in Sin requires a continued and prolonged Repentance Is it not then yet high time to begin Have you not already made Work enough for your whole Lives should they be longer than they are like to be Nay and will not every Day of your Lives make Work enough for it self What says our Saviour Mat. 8.34 Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof Truly the Evils that we every Day commit is sufficient Work for the Sorrow and Repentance of that Day to undo Now then begin this undoing Work the longer you delay still the more will lie upon your Hands still the more Sins you have to repent of We already complain That the Work God hath set us is too hard and too grievous and yet such foolish Creatures are we that we make it more and more difficult by our Delays adding to the strictness of Gods Commands the necessity of a severe Repentance And therefore it is Prudence as well as Duty to begin this repenting this undoing Work betimes that so the greatness of the Work and the shortness of the time to do it in may not at last dismay and confound us 2. Variety of Duties to be perform'd in working out of Salvation Secondly Consider the great variety of Duties that must be gone through in the working out of Salvation and this will evince how great a Work it is A Christian's Work is a Life full of Actions and Imployments there should be no gap nor void space at all in it but all should be filled up with Duties ranked in their several Orders that as soon as he passeth through one he should enter upon another that where one leaves him another may find him Thus a Christian should go from one Duty to another from hearing the Word to Meditation from Meditation unto Prayer from Prayer to the acting of Grace and in all there should be much striving and strugling with the Heart and much carefulness and circumspection over the Way and Life Now there are Four great and usual Duties every Man hath to do Four Duties incumbent on all Christians which is enough to fill up all the time of his Life were it stretched and tenter'd out to the end of our time First 1. To get the Truth of Grace He is to get the Truth and Reality of Grace wrought in him this is his first and general Work And this will cost a Man much Sweat and Anguish for this he must suffer many Pangs and Throws of the New Birth and shall lye under many Fears and Jealousies lest Hypocrisy and Presumption should cause him to mistake in a Matter of such infinite Concernment Secondly He is to draw forth 2. To act Grace and to act this Grace when once it is wrought in him This is the next Work of a true Christian continually to act Faith Love Patience Humility and to let all have their perfect Work And there is no moment of a Man's Life so idle but all may administer some Occasion or Object for the exercise of Grace 3. To grow in Grace Thirdly A Christian's next Work is continually to grow and increase in Grace To go from Strength to Strength to be changed from Glory to Glory Still to be adding Cubits to his spiritual Stature till he is grown to such a height and tallness in Grace that his Head shall reach into Heaven and be Crowned there in absolute Perfection with a Crown of Glory and Immortality Here is that Work that will keep you in Imployment all your Days and if you can find one spare minute in your whole Lives wherein you have not some Duty to perform then give over and sit still But besides all this 4. Christians must labour for Assurance of Grace Fourthly Another Work of a Christian is earnestly to labour after the Evidence and Assurance of Grace in himself Give all diligence says the Apostle to make your Calling and Election sure Still a Christian must be ascending ascending from a probable Conjecture to a good Persuasion from a good Persuasion to a full Assurance from that to a Rejoycing with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory These now are the general Works that should take up the Lives of Christians and to these are subservient almost an infinite number of Particulars some whereof are means whereby these great Things are obtained others are Concomitants or the Effects and Fruits of them but I will not so much as mention any of them now For shame then O Christians since that your Work is so great why will you sit still as if you knew not how to imploy your selves Besides there is great variety in your Work and this usually breeds some kind of Delight You are not always to be toiling and drudging at the same thing But as Bees fly from one Flower to another and suck sweetness from each of them
so should a Christian pass from one Duty to another and draw forth the sweetness of Communion with God from every one of them 3. To work for Salvation a difficult Work Thirdly To evince the greatness of this Work consider it is a Work that must be carried on against many Encounters and strong Oppositions that a Christian will certainly meet with within are strong Corruptions without are strong Temptations you have a treacherous and deceitful Heart within and this Traitor holds Intelligence and League with your great Enemy the Devil without You are sure to meet with Difficulties Affronts and Discouragements from a peevish ill-condition'd World in which you live Never any yet could scape free to Heaven without meeting with these Things And doth not all this call upon you to work and strive for Salvation Is it a time to sit still when you have all this Opposition to break through so many Temptations to resist so many Corruptions to mortify Satan that old Serpent to repel and make him become a flying Serpent Doth not all this require a morose Constancy and a kind of sour Resolvedness to go thorough the ways of Obedience notwithstanding all Opposition These great Things are not to be atchieved without great Pains and Labour and therefore if you resolve to do no more than a few heartless Wishes no more than a few more heartless Duties will amount to never raise your Expectations so high as Salvation for let me tell you Salvation will not be obtained at such a rate as this no there must be great Struglings and Labour with earnest Contendings if ever you intend to be saved And thus much for the first Argument taken from the consideration of the greatness of the Work To work Salvation out is a great Work and requireth great Pains But lest the setting out the greatness of this Work should rather deter and fright Men from it than excite and quicken their Endeavours to it let me add a second Thing And that is to consider what an infinite 2. It is infinite Mercy that Sinners may work for Salvation incomparable Mercy it is that God will allow you to work for your Lives that he sets Life and Death before you and gives them into your Hands to take your Choice If you will indulge your Sloth then you choose Death but Life may be yours if you will It will indeed cost you much Pains and Labour but yet it may be yours And is it not infinite Mercy that Salvation and Happiness may be yours though upon any Terms Wicked Men are apt to say O how happy had we been if God had never commanded us to Work if he had never required from us such harsh and difficult Duties if we were but once free from this hard Task and heavy Burden of Obedience But alas foolish Sinners they know not what they say as happy as they count this to be yet if God required no working from them he should then shew them just so much Mercy as he doth to the Devils and damned Spirits and no more from whom God requires no Duty as well as from whom he receives no Duty and unto whom he intends no Mercy You think it a hard Restraint possibly to be kept under the strict Commands of the Law Oh! that God required no such Observances from you But what do you desire herein but only the unhappy Priviledge of the Damned to be without Law and without Commands But should God send to the Spirits now imprison'd and should he declare to them that if they would Work they should be saved oh how would they leap in their Chains at such glad Tidings as these are and count it part of Salvation that there was but a possibility of it No but God commands nothing from them because he intends nothing but Wrath upon them he will not vouchsafe so much Mercy to them as to require those Duties from them that you repine and murmur at as grievous And furthermore consider this if you do not now work but perish under your Sloth in Hell you will think it an infinite Mercy if God would command you more rigid and severe Obedience than ever he commanded from you on Earth It would be a great Mercy there if it might be your Duty to Repent and Pray and Believe nay you would count a Command then to be as comfortable as a Promise for indeed there is no Command but connotes a Promise No but these things shall not so much as be your Duty in Hell for there you shall be freed for ever from this rigorous and dreadful Law of God that now you so much complain of and murmur against Oh! therefore be persuaded while you are yet under the Mercy of the Law give me leave to call it so and while you have so many Promises couched in every Command before God hath left off his merciful Commanding before the time of Duty be expired be persuaded to Work Delay not you know not how long God will vouchsafe to require any thing from you and as soon as that ceaseth truly you are in Hell And this is the second Argument to press this Duty upon you Work and that speedily too while you may Work there is hope that upon your working you may be saved and therefore while God calls upon you and whilst he will accept of Obedience from you it is time for you to begin to work 3. Time to work for Salvation in is very short Thirdly Consider what a short scantling of Time is allowed you to do your great Work in And this I shall branch out into two Particulars First Consider how sad it will be for your Time to be run out before your great Work be done Alas what are threescore Years if we were all sure to live so long from the date of this present moment How short a space is it for us to do that which is of eternal Concernment in and yet how few of us shall live to that which we so improperly call old Age Our Candle is lighted and it is but small at the best and to how many of us is it already sunk in the Socket and brought to a Snuff and how soon the Breath of God may blow it out neither you nor I know Night is hastning upon us the Grave expects us and bids other Corpses make room for us Death is ready to grasp us in its cold Arms and to carry us before God's Tribunal and alas how little of our great Work is done What can any shew that they have done Where are the actings of Faith the labour of Love the perfect Works of Patience Where are those Graces that are either begotten or increased Where are the Corruptions that you have mortify'd These are Works that require Ages to perform them in and yet you neglect them that have but a few Days nay possibly but a few Minutes to do them in But what is God severe Is God unjust to require so
of it What then is it that any rational Man can pretend why he will not work Is it because you are loth to take Pains Why then are you so laborious in Sinning Why do you so sweat and toil in carrying Faggots to your own Fire Why are you continually blowing up those Flames that shall for ever burn you It is in vain to plead this any longer that you are loth to take Pains for where are there greater Drudges in all the World than Sinners are The Devil can scarce find them Work enough they out-sin his Temptations and had they not that Corruption within the scum whereof is continually boiling up in them they must of necessity I was going to say sometimes be Holy for want of Imployment Satan could not find them work enough How restless and impatient are they till they have done some wicked Work And sometimes they are more restless and impatient when they have done it through the Devils Temptations and yet notwithstanding these Torments they will do them again Are there now more Drudges in the World than these are Doth God require more Pains in his Service than these Men take No he doth not Would but Men do as much for their precious Souls as they do against them would they do as much to save them as they do to destroy and damn them truly their Salvation would not lie upon their Hands unwrought off Objection But some may say in their Hearts It is true indeed we are convinced that the Work of Sin is laborious but yet there is pleasure in that labour But to the Works of Obedience we find reluctancy and to struggle against that is exceeding irksome and grievous and therefore we cannot work But is it so indeed Is it all Peace and Tranquility with you when you sin Are your Consciences so utterly seared as that they make no Reluctancy give you no Checks or Reproofs when you sin If they do put that Reluctancy of natural Conscience against sin into the Ballance with the Reluctancy of natural Corruption against Obedience and the most profligate Sinner in the World shall find though this is more strong and prevalent yet that is more vexatious and tormenting God requires no more Labour from you than you now take nay this Labour shall not put you to so much Torment as sometimes you now feel The same Labour with more content and satisfaction may perfect your Salvation that now tends only to consummate your Destruction What Madness then is it for Men not to be persuaded to work the Works of God when it will cost them less Pains I mean less tormenting Pains You wear your Lives in the Service of Sin and at the end of your Days you go down to Hell when with as much ease you might inherit Life and Glory as you thus purchase Hell and Destruction And is not this great Folly and Madness Well now bring all these four Gradations together and look upon them all at once and we shall find the Argument so strong as nothing can resist it but the perverse Reasonings of Mens own Wills you will not because you will not You must work if you work not in God's Service you will work in the Devils Drudgery if you work Satan's Work you must receive Satan's Wages which is the Reward of eternal Damnation and the same Labour that you take to damn your own Souls might suffice to save them Wherefore then shall not God imploy you as well as the Devil Hath he not more right to you Why should you not work out your own Happiness as well as work out your own Misery Doth it not concern you more If Men would but set their Reason on work in this particular if they would but shew themselves to be Men they would soon set Grace on work and shew themselves to be Christians also It is but turning the Streams of your Actions into the right Channel and the Work is done since that they will incessantly flow from you why should they all fall like Jordan into the dead Sea when they might as well run into the infinite Ocean of all Happiness and carry your Souls along with them also But Fifthly Consider this also 5. Men should be as diligent to save their Souls as the Devil is to destroy them 1 Pet. 5.8 Job 1.8 the Devil works constantly and industriously for your Destruction and will not you much more work for your own Salvation See the place of the Apostle 1 Pet. He walks about as a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour And therefore when God questions him Whence comest thou Satan He answers From going up and down to and fro in the Earth and walking in it What Pains doth he take to prompt Men with Temptations to suit Objects and Occasions to their Corruptions Still he is at their Right Hand laying Snares and Traps for them that they might fall as his Prey and wherefore makes he all this ado Is it not to satisfie his Malice and Hatred against Men's Souls And shall Malice and Rancor make the Devil so laborious and unwearied to destroy Souls and shall not your own Happiness and Salvation make you much more diligent to save your Souls Is the Devil more concern'd in your Ruin than you your selves are in your own Salvation Shall the Death of your Souls be more dear to him than the Life of your Souls is to your selves Learn from Satan himself how to rate and value your own Souls Did not he know them to be exceeding precious he would never take so much Pains to get them and did you but know how precious they are certainly you would never lose them so contentedly Let the Devil if you will learn no otherwise teach you the worth of your precious Souls and since he thinks no Pains too much to ruin them why should you think any Pains or Labour too much for to save them 6. Men take pains in things of far less concernments than their Souls Sixthly Consider you your selves do Labour and take Pains in things of far lower and lesser Concernment than the Salvation of your Souls is Men can rise up early and go to Bed late eat the Bread of Carefulness and all to get some little inconsiderable piece of this World to provide for a frail short Life here and who is there that thinks their Pains too much And why then should you not labour for a future Life in another World that you confess to be infinitely more glorious and desirable than any thing you can obtain here To me it is Folly so gross and senseless to be bemoan'd if it were possible with Tears of Blood that Men should so toil for the low Conveniences of the World and yet neglect the eternal Happiness of their precious and immortal Souls as if they were not worth the looking after Sinners do you know what a vain empty Bubble blown up by the creating Breath of the Almighty the World is Do you know
Body of Sin and Death shall never enter with you into Life the Motions of Sin shall for ever cease in that Eternal Rest Are you here oppressed with Sorrows Do Afflictions overwhelm you Why there God shall kiss your blubbered Eyes dry again and wipe with his own Hands all Tears from your Eyes Are you pester'd here with Temptations and doth the evil One without intermission haunt you with black and hellish Thoughts with dreadful and horrible Dejections There you shall be quite beyond the Cast of all his fiery Darts and instead of these you shall have within you an ever-living Fountain bubling up spiritual and sprightly Contemplations and holy Raptures for ever such as you never knew when you were here upon Earth no not when you were in the most spiritual and heavenly Frame Are you here clouded and cast down with Desertions and doth God sometimes hide his Face from you in Displeasure In Heaven there shall be an everlasting Sun-shine God shall look freely and stedfastly upon you and you shall no more see him through a Glass darkly but Face to Face without any interruption or obscurity Think O Soul and then think of any Thing else if thou canst What is it to see the Father of Lights in his own Rays What is it to see the Sun of Righteousness lie in the Bosom of the Father of Lights What is it to feel the eternal Warmth and Influence of the Holy Ghost springing from both these Lights What is it to converse with Holy Angels and the Spirits of just Men made perfect to join with them in singing the same Hallelujahs for ever And when you have thought all this think once more Heaven is all this and more also Well then since Heaven is such and since such a Heaven as this is may be yours what should I say more but only with the Apostle 2 Cor. 7.1 Having these Promises dearly Beloved Promises of so certain and vast a Glory as this is let us cleanse and purify our selves from all filthiness and pollution both of Flesh and Spirit and perfect Holiness in the fear of God Is this Heaven attainable upon your Working Will God give it into Wages after working Will he share Stars nay will he share himself and his Christ among you Truly methinks Christians should not have patience to hear any more methinks it is too much dulness to indure another Motive besides this Why do you not interrupt me then Why do you not cry out What shall we do that we may work the Works of God Why do you not say and pray Lord work in us both to will and to do of thy good pleasure Why is there not such a holy Tumour and Disturbance among you some Questioning some Praying some Resolveing all some way or other testifying a sense of Salvation upon you But alas there is a general Silence Men and Women set as quiet in their Seats as if their Seats were filled rather with Monuments than with Men as if Heaven and eternal Salvation were of no Concernment for them to look after And wherefore is all this but because their Sight is short and their Faith weak They do not see afar off nor believe a far off Heaven they look upon as at a great distance and very unwilling they are to go so long upon Trust and sensual Persons as they are they look for present Reward and present Wages and will not stir till they have received it And this is the Reason why the Consideration of this great and infinite Glory affects Men no more they look for something present Well be it so Will God's Work bring in no present Profit The Reward in working for Salvation is great Yes it will and that such as you your selves shall acknowledge to be great And therefore Secondly Besides those set Wages that are to be received at the end of our Lives there are many Vails and occasional Incomes that accrew to God's Servants in the performance of their Work As First 1. God will provide for us while we are working Such are assured that God will provide for them while they are doing of his Work he hath assured them of the Mercies and good Things of this Life by Promise I do not say of the troublesome abundance of them but of the Enjoyment of them so far forth as they are Mercies and good Things Godliness says the Apostle is profitable for all things 1 Tim. 4.8 having the promise of the Life that now is and of that which is to come It hath the Promises of this Life and that is a large Charter by vertue whereof God feeds them and cloaths them and provides Sustenance and comfortable Enjoyments for all those that work in his Service And therefore that I may note it by the way most Men are greatly mistaken that labour and toil in the World to get Riches and great Estates this is not the right thriving Course if you would grow Rich First seek the kingdom of Heaven and the Righteousness thereof work out your own Salvation Labour for the true Riches and this will not only increase and improve your inward Graces but inincrease and improve your outward Mercies also It is true indeed Earth Worms may by carking and caring by pinching and drudging increase their heap of Dirt but let who will for my part I will not nor cannot call that Man a rich Man that hath more Curses than Enjoyments Well thus we see what great Vails God gives his Servants he gives them not only those of another Life but those of this Life so far as they are Mercies and that is one Vail Secondly As God provides for his Servants while they are working so their very Work is Wages and Reward enough for it self If God should only give us our Labour for our Pains as we use to say and never bestow a Penny more upon us than what we get in his Service we were even in that sufficiently rewarded It was certainly a violent Pang of distempered Zeal in that Person that carried Fire in the one Hand and Water in the other and being demanded a Reason of it his Answer was He would burn up Paradise and quench Hell-fire that so God might be served and Holiness embraced upon no other Motives than themselves This was a violent Pang and cannot be allowed this Fire was strange Fire and this Water was too much muddied to be Water of the Sanctuary But yet certainly that Man who abstracting from the Consideration of Heaven and Hell eternal Rewards and Punishments would not rather choose the Works of God and the Ways of Holiness than the Works of Sin and the Ways of Iniquity let that Man know he never yet had much Acquaintance with that Way and with that Work What says holy David concerning the Commandments of God In keeping them there is great Reward not only after keeping them when those Commands that have here been the Rule of our Holiness and Obedience
God against the damned when he sees his heavenly Father angry though it be not against him yet this must needs strike a reverential Fear and Aw into his Soul Now this reverential Fear will remain for ever The Fear of the Lord endureth for ever yea when the Children of God shall be made for ever happy in Heaven yet this Fear shall be then encreas'd and not at all diminished the more they see of the Power of the Wrath and Severity of God executed upon the damned the more they fear and reverence this powerful this Sin-revenging God and this kind of Fear is no prejudice to their full Assurance and Joy nor shall it be prejudicial to their compleat and perfect Happiness in Heaven Thirdly 3. Because of the desert of their Sins The consideration of the desert of Sin should cause a holy Fear of God even in those that are fully assured of his Love When a Child of God looks upon Sin and sees what Wrath and Torment he hath deserved by it tho' he be assured by the Testimony of the Spirit of God that he is pardoned yet it cannot but fright him to consider that he should deserve so great Condemnation As a Malefactor though he be pardoned yet if he be present at the Execution of his Fellow Offenders it must needs strike him with Fear and Horror that he should be guilty of the same Crimes that they are to suffer such sharp and cruel Punishments for What the Thief on the Cross said unto his Fellow Thief Dost thou not fear God seeing thou art in the same Condemnation The same may I say to Believers Do not your fear God seeing you deserve at least to be in the same Condemnation with those Wretches that lie frying and howling in Hell 4. Because in it self it is possible all this Wrath might have been their Portion Fourthly Another Ground of fear is that it is in it self possible that all this Wrath should be your Portion for ever even you who are most assured of Glory And is not this just cause of Fear if not of Expectation yet at least of Terror Indeed as God hath been graciously pleased to bind himself in a Covenant of Grace and Mercy to you so it is impossible that this Wrath should fall upon you but yet such a Supposition as this is is enough to cause Fear in the most assured Heart to think that if God had not engaged himself by Promise to deliver him from that Wrath what then would have been his Condition to all Eternity Would not such Thoughts as these are make you tremble Suppose a Man were fast chained to the top of some high Rock hanging over a bottomless Gulf though he knew and was assured that he should not fall into it being immoveably fasten'd there yet when he looks down that deep and dangerous Precipice and fees the Gulf foaming and raging under him will not a cold Fear drill through his Heart to think O! if I were not here fastned by a strong Chain to this immoveable Rock what would become of me Even so Believers you that are most assured to escape Hell this is your Condition you are fastned to the Rock of Ages by the unchangeable Promise of God that will ever hold you fast but yet every time you look down into the bottomless Gulf that is under you where thousands are swallowed up to all Eternity doth not such a Thought as this is fright you to think O! if I were not fastned to this immoveable Rock if God had not made an everlasting Covenant with me ordered in all things and sure I should also have been swallowed up with the rest of the World and have gone down quick into Hell Why alas we are all of us held over the Lake of Fire and Brimstone in the Hands of God some he holds in the left Hand of his common Providence and others of them he holds in the right Hand of his special Grace those whom he holds only in the Hands of his Providence he le ts fall and drop one after another into Hell where they are swallowed up and lost eternally those that he holds in the Hands of his Grace it is true it is impossible upon that Supposition that ever they should fall into Hell yet when they think O if we were not upheld yea how possible it was that they should not have been upheld this apprehension must needs strike them with Fear and Terror though not with a perplexing Doubtfulness concerning the safety of their Condition yet with a doubtful apprehension of the possibility of what would have been their Condition if God had held them over Hell only by the Hand of his common Providence 5. Because they escape very narrowly Fifthly Consider though you are assured that you shall escape this eternal Death yet it will be a narrow escape and that may cause Fear It will be an escape with very much Labour and Difficulty tho' you are held in the Hands of God yet he leads you along to Heaven by the Gates of Hell and this is sufficient to cause Fear Our way to Heaven is so strait the Rubs in it so many our Falls by them so frequent our Enemies so potent that though our assurance may make us not to fear but that in the end we shall escape Hell yet it will be high presumption for us not to fear how we may escape it The Apostle brings in the Salvation of the Elect themselves with a scarcely 1 Pet. 4.18 1 Pet. 4.18 If the Righteous scarcely be saved Why now this scarcely doth not imply that there is any uncertainty in the End but only it implies the great difficulty in the means of obtaining of it So then the End is certain that is a Believers Salvation from Hell and that is just cause of rejoycing but the Means are very difficult and laborious and that is just cause of Fear Well then briefly to apply it in one Word Though you are assured through Faith of the Pardon of your Sins yet tremble at the thought of that Wrath and Hell that you have escaped It is observed that those are the fixed Stars that tremble most So Christians who are fixed immoveably in the unchangeable love of God as Stars fixed to the Heavens in their Orbs yet they are most of all in Trepidation and Trembling when they reflect upon themselves and think that instead of being Stars in Heaven they might have been Firebrands in Hell Those to me are suspicious Professors that make a great blaze with their Joys in the apprehensions of their Right to Heaven but never tremble under the apprehensions of their Deserts of Hell What there is in the consideration of God as our God that may cause us to fear him Having shewed you upon what account God is to be feared as he is a consuming Fire in the next place I shall shew you what there is in the consideration of God as our God that
The Fear of being judged by God at the Tribunal of Christ at the last Day engaged the Apostle to labour to please God and to be accepted by him 5. The Fear of God is an excellent Corrective of the base and degenerous Fear of Men. Fifthly The Fear of God is an excellent Corrective of the base and degenerous Fear of Men. Our Saviour says Luke 12.4 Be not afraid of them that can kill the Body and after that have no more that they can do but fear him who after he hath killed hath power to cast into Hell yea I say unto you fear him It is well observed by a learned Author that Men may be considered either as they bear upon them some resemblance and impress of the divine Majesty as they are invested with Authority and Power and constituted Magistrates and Rulers over us This resemblance is so great that the Scripture stiles them Gods I have said ye are Gods and so we are to fear them with a Fear of Reverence and Obedience and to obey them in that which is lawful And they may be considered also as standing in opposition to God abusing their Power by commanding things that are unlawful and by Persecution endeavouring to terrifie Men from the Ways and Service of God And so they may be feared with a Fear of flight and eschewal When ye are persecuted in one City flee you to another Matth. 10.23 We may so fear them as to labour to avoid their Rage and to consult our own Safety But the Fear that is here forbidden is Fear not them that can kill the Body that is with a distrustful perverting Fear such a Fear as causeth Men for the securing of their temporal Life to desert the Profession and Practice of Godliness with such a Fear Fear not Men. He will not that truly fears God thus fear Men no the Fear of God lays a check upon this sinful Fear of Men he that truly fears God will not immoderately fear Men for it is the property of holy Fear to represent the displeasure of God as an infinitely greater Evil than the loss of Estate Liberty nay of Life it self or whatever the Rage and Power of Man can either inflict or threaten and this makes them choose Affliction rather than Sin See this fearless Spirit in those three Heroick Champions Dan. 3.16 Dan. 3.16 who though they saw a burning fiery Furnace before them into which they were threatned to be cast yet all the Terrors of it did not fright them to an Idolatrous Worship with what a holy Contempt and Slighting did they answer King Nebuchadnezar We are not careful say they to answer thee in this matter And whence proceeded this undaunted Courage but only because they were more afraid of God who is a consuming Fire than they were of a fiery Furnace A Man that truly fears God reputes with himself that to gain the favour of Men with the displeasure of God to redeem a temporal Life by an eternal Death is the foolishest Bargain that can be made he knows the rage of Man is under the restraint of God and that a Hair of his Head shall not fall to the Ground without his heavenly Father's Knowledge and Permission and if God doth suffer wicked Men to inflict the utmost that their Rage and Spight can prompt them unto yet it reacheth only their earthly part the dull part of Man the Body they may persecute torment and kill us but yet they cannot hurt us one momentany Gripe of Hells Torments is infinitely more intolerable than all the Cruelties that Men can possibly invent or inflict one Frown from an angry God hath more Dread and Terror in it than all the Rage and Threatnings of the most barbarous and cruel Tyrants and that Christian that makes such an account as this is can never certainly so fear Torment or Death as to be drawn to Sin against God whose Displeasure he more fears than he fears either Torment or Death Now to shut up this whole Subject What there is in God that may affect us with an Awe and Fear of him I shall only briefly mention a few Particulars to you whereby you may take a brief View of what there is in the Nature of God that may justly affect us with a holy Fear and Awe of him First 1. His glorious Majesty The Consideration of God's glorious Majesty may strike us into a holy Dread and Terror And therefore says Job 33.22 With God is terrible Majesty Job 33.22 This is that which daunts the holy Angels in Heaven they cover their Faces with their Wings as not being able to bear the piercing Rays of that Glory wherewith he is cloathed An earthly Prince when he is set forth in the Royalty and Grandeur of his State casts an awe upon those that approach near him And how much more ought we to fear the great and glorious Majesty of Heaven who is always clad with Light as with a Garment that Light which no mortal Eye can approach being always surrounded with an innumerable Host of glittering Attendance each of which maintains more Pomp and State than the greatest Potentate on Earth 2. His Almighty Power Secondly God's Almighty Power should cause us to fear before him He is the uncontroulable Sovereign of all the World to whose Beck all things in Heaven and in Earth yea and in Hell too are subject and therefore says Job 25.2 Job 25.2 Dominion and Fear are with him not that God hath any Fear or stands in Fear but the Dominion and Sovereignity of God causeth Fear it strikes the Heart with an awful Fear when we consider that Dominion and Fear are with God That Power and Authority of God by which he exerciseth his Dominion causeth a Fear of him 3. His severe Justice Thirdly The severe and impartial Justice of God whereby he renders to every one according to his Works this should kindle in us a holy Fear of God So the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.10 11. 2 Cor. 5.10 11. We must receive says he according to what we have done in the Body Whence he infers That knowing the Terrors of the Lord we persuade Men. It is terrible to receive from God's Justice according to what we have done in the Body Fourthly 4. His Omnisciency and Omnipresence The Consideration of God's Omnipresence and Omnisciency may cause in us a holy Fear of him His Eye is always upon us his Presence is always with us where-ever we are and he sees and observes what-ever we do and therefore let us fear him his Eye is awful Fifthly 5. Our absolute dependance upon him The consideration of our absolute dependance upon God should cause us to stand in Fear of him left by provoking him who maintains our Souls in Life in whom we live and move and have our beings in whose Hands are our Breath our Life and all our Ways he should turn his Hand upon us and deprive
us of all those Mercies and Comforts that now he heaps upon us So much for this Time and Text. A DISCOURSE OF THE NATURE Corruption and Renewing OF THE CONSCIENCE WITH Accounts of the Moment of having a Conscience void of Offence to God and Men. FROM ACTS xxiv 16. By EZEKIEL HOPKINS Late Lord Bishop of London-derry LONDON Printed for Jonathan Robinson A. and J. Churchill John Taylor and John Wyat. 1696. A DISCOURSE OF THE NATURE Corruption and Renewing OF THE CONSCIENCE ACTS xxiv 16. Herein do I exercise my self to have always a Conscience void of Offence towards God and towards Man IN this Chapter St. Paul gives an account to Felix of the general Course and Demeanor of his former Life being accused by Tertullian a flattering Orator as one who was Prophane and Seditious After that he had purged himself in sundry Particulars he comes to the Text to shew that he was far from those Crimes that were laid to his Charge having made it his constant Exercise all his Life-time to keep a good Conscience The Words have little or no Difficulty in them and therefore instead of giving you an elaborate Exposition I shall only run them over with a brief Paraphrase The Explication of the Words Herein do I exercise my self that is I make it my constant Care and Imployment to have a Conscience void of Offence that is to keep my Conscience clear that it may not justly accuse me of any Offence done either against God or against Men that is I labour conscientiously to practise as well the Duties of the second as the Duties of the first Table to be Just towards Men as well as to be Religious towards God knowing that the one without the other to be without Offence towards Men only is but meer Morality and to be without Offence only towards God is but vain Hypocrisie Without farther Explication the Words do of their own accord deliver to us this Doctrin Doctrin That it should be our continual Care and Employment in all Things whether relating to God or Man to keep clear and inoffensive Consciences Conscience is nothing but a practical Syllogism or Argumentation What Conscience is and always infers a personal Conclusion either excusing or accusing and it hath three Offices First The Offices of Conscience It discovers to us what is Sin and what is Duty and the Reward that is entailed upon both 1. It informs what is Sin and what is Duty and thus it gives in its Verdict according to that Light that shines into it If it hath only the twilight of Nature to illustrate it as the Heathens had no other then it can pass Judgment only upon natural Duties and unnatural Sins Thus the Consciences of Heathens through some remainders of original Knowledge informed them that Worship was due to God and Justice to Men and that all Impieties against God and all Injuries against Men should in the end be severely punished But if Conscience enjoys the superadded Light of Scripture it judges then of those Duties and those Sins that could only be known by Divine Revelation Hence it is that Conscience is enabled to form such a Proposition as this He that believes shall be saved he that believes not shall be damned This Proposition it forms not from natural Light but from the super-induced Light of Scripture This is the first direct Act of Conscience whereby it pronounceth of Men's Works whither they be sinful or not and what the Reward or Punishment is that shall follow them according as it finds it written in the dark and imperfect Law of Nature or in the superadded Law of God 2. It witnesseth and deposeth Secondly When Conscience hath thus pronounced whether the Action be good or bad and what Reward or Punishment belong to it it 's next Office is to witness and depose we have done such or such Actions this is a reflex Act whereby when Conscience hath discovered what is Sin and what is Duty it testifies that either we have performed the one or that we have committed the other The Scripture reveals that Faith shall be rewarded with eternal Life and Unbelief punished with Death eternal hereupon Conscience makes reflection upon it self and applies the Proposition but I believe or I do not believe and that is its witnessing or deposing Office Thirdly It hath besides this 3. It acquits or condemns the Office of a Judge to acquit or condemn and this it doth by inferring a comfortable or a terrifying Conclusion from the former Premises applying the Reward or Punishment to our selves according as those Actions have been ours to which they belong If it hath proved us Unbelievers strait it pronounceth us condemned Persons or if it evidences our Faith to us presently it justifies and acquits us Hence it is that wicked Men are haunted with pale Fears and ghastly Reflections because they are always Malefactors arraigned at a Bar a Bar that they carry about with them in their own Breasts where they hear a thousand Witnesses sworn and examined where they hear their Judge ten thousand times a Day pronouncing them Cursed and Damned And hence it is also that there is sometimes diffused into the Hearts of God's Children such sweet Joy such solid Peace such calm Stayedness and some Prelibations of heavenly Bliss because they carry in their Breasts a Court of Judicature where their earthly Judge Conscience acquits them and assures them that their heavenly Judge will do so also This is Conscience that faithful Register in every Man's Bosom that writes down the Actions Discourses and Cogitations of every Hour and Minute Now this being premised concerning the Nature and Offices of Conscience I shall come in the next place to enquire into these following Particulars into which I shall digest the method of this Subject First What it is that doth corrupt and vitiate Conscience Secondly What it is to have a clear Conscience Thirdly Of what Importance and Consequence it is that our Consciences be kept clear and void of Offence under which I shall give you the Reasons of the Point Fourthly I shall lay down some Rules and Means whereby we may attain unto and keep a pure and clean Conscience First 1. What vitiates and corrupts Conscience What is it that doth corrupt and vitiate Conscience in executing of its Offices Now this I shall couch under Two Particulars and they are Ignorance and wilful Sinning 1. Ignorance corrupts the Conscience 1. Ignorance Conscience is the Guide of Life and Knowledge is the Eye of Conscience which if it be darkned the Blind leads the Blind till both fall into the Ditch Conscience is a Guide that leads apace and therefore had need see its Way before it which some not being well able to discern have wound themselves into inextricable Wandrings pursuing every glaring Delusion and running after every skipping Light that danceth before it till at last they have lost both themselves and their
of Love and Sweetness the Soul is ready to faint away and dissolve with Joy This is that continual Feast as the wise Man calls it that a good Conscience entertains a Christian with where all is transacted with a still and noiseless Mirth 5. It is the best Comfort and Support in the midst of Dangers Fifthly A clear Conscience is the best comfort and support when Fears Troubles and Dangers are on every side encompassing us about It is a blessed Thing when we have Trouble without to have Peace within in our own Bosoms then to have Peace with God and Peace with our selves And therefore says Christ John 16.33 These Things have I spoken unto you that in me ye might have Peace in the World you shall have Tribulation A strange Paradox but indeed a Christian is made up of such strange Paradoxes as Sorrowful yet always Rejoycing as Poor himself yet making many Rich as having Nothing and yet Possessing all Things as the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 6.10 Here is Tribulation in the World and yet here is Peace also When once the great and bloody Quarrel betwixt God and the Soul is taken up and compounded when we are reconciled to God and thereby our Consciences become reconciled to us all the Enmity and Persecution of the World are but little peltring Differences that cannot disturb that solid and inviolable Peace that a Christian enjoys This is that Peace that as the Friendship of the World cannot give so neither can the Enmity of the World ever take away My Peace I leave with you my Peace I give unto you let not your Hearts be troubled It is observable of Josiah 2 Kings 22.20 God promised there by the Mouth of Huldah the Prophetess that he should be gathered to his Grave in Peace and yet in the next Chapter Verse 29. it is said there That he was slain in the War which he undertook against Pharoah Necho King of Egypt he was slain in War and yet died in Peace and no wonder for whosoever dies in Peace with God and in Peace with his own Conscience dies peaceably though he dies in the midst of Wars and Tumults Sixthly 6. It is an unspeakable Comfort in a dying hour A clear Conscience affords sweet and unspeakable Comfort in a dying hour When all Things must take their leave of us and we of them when Death is setting all its Terrors in Array against us O what a blessed Support will it then be to the departing Soul standing on Tip-toe ready to take its Flight into Eternity to be able to make that Appeal which Hezekiah doth Isa 38.3 Isa 38.3 Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in Truth with a perfect Heart and have done that which is good in thy sight Such a Testimony as this is at such a time as this is is worth Heaven and Glory it self this is to have Heaven let down into us one hour and to be our selves taken up into Heaven the next hour Now possibly Men may frolick away their Days in Sin and Vanity and live as if they should never give an account but believe it the Day and Hour is coming and it will come wherein Conscience will begin to open its Eyes when it may be their Friends stand round about them to close theirs and then it will see these horrid Shapes of Death and Hell and Wrath eternal such as while they were secure Sinners they never imagined and now that they are awakned Sinners and possibly awakned too late too they can never escape If therefore you would enjoy Peace and Serenity in your Death and â—ave the Testimony of your Consciences to carry with you to shew to your Judge for your Acquittance be sure then to cherish a good Conscience in your Life-time Now it may be Conscience may be bribed to give in a false and flattering Testimony but when Eternity is in its view it will then speak Truth and O thrice happy are they to whom a true Conscience becomes then an excusing Conscience And so much for the third Thing propounded namely of what concernment it is to labour to keep Consciences void of Offence Fourthly the next Thing propounded was To give you some Rules and Directions how you may get and also how you may keep clear and inoffensive Consciences Object But you will say It is in vain to give Rules for that which is impossible to be done Doth not the wise Man challenge all the World upon this Point Prov. 20.9 Who can say I have made my Heart clean I am pure from my Sins Never did the raging Sea cast up more Mire and Filth than the Heart of Man doth and as soon may we empty the vast Waters of the great Deep and scour the bottom of it from all its Dirt and Mud as attempt to keep Conscience clear into which a sinful Heart is continually emptying and pouring out its Filth and Mire Answ To this I Answer Were it impossible yet there is no release to our Obligation We are commanded To be holy even as God is holy whose infinite Purity is such as stains the Heavens themselves and puts the glorious Angels out of Countenance This Perfection is much more impossible for us who are but Lumps of Dirt mingled and kneaded together with Sin than for a thick Clod of Earth to be as transparent as the Sun that shines but yet these accessive Commands have a use in them even to raise up our Endeavors to a higher pitch and strain than if we were commanded only somewhat that were within our own Power as he that aims at a Star is like to shoot higher than he that aims only at a Turf Thus though it were impossible to keep clean Consciences void of Offence both towards God and Men according to the exactness of God's Command yet he that is careful to avoid all Pollutions both of Flesh and Spirit shall certainly have a much cleaner Conscience by far than he that wallows in those Sins In a foul way it is perhaps impossible to keep our selves from being bespatered with Dirt yet he that walks warily and carefully comes cleaner home than he that tumbles and rolls himself in it But yet this Duty is not impossible it is indeed difficult to keep a clear Conscience but yet it is a thing that is faesible And in general there are two ways to keep our Consciences clear either by preserving them from being defiled or else by cleansing them when they are defiled First We may keep our Consciences clear by preserving them from being defiled You will say How can this be Is there any Man living says the wise Man that doth good and sinneth not And doth not every Sin leave behind it a spot and stain upon the Face of Conscience How then can we keep them clear I Answer Sins are of two sorts there are Sins that are Crimes and there are Sins that are but Faults Crimes I call those Sins
that are branded for infamous both by God and Man as Murder Adultery Blasphemy and the like at which even natural Conscience recoils such carnal Sins as affright Conscience and make it look pale and ghastly A Crime I also call any sin that is consubstantiated by an access of Guilt by the dreadful Aggravations of being committed knowingly and wilfully By Faults I mean Sins of daily Infirmity and Surreption such as do frequently surprize the best and the holiest Christians from which no Man's Piety nor Watchfulness can secure him Why now though we be over-taken with Faults and every Day and Hour contract new and fresh Guilt upon our Consciences yet we may have clear and good Consciences while we are careful to keep our selves from Crimes from all Sins that are so in their own Nature by the horridness of the Fact and from all Sins that are made so by greatning Circumstances of being deliberate and wilful while we keep our selves from these we have good Consciences notwithstanding Sins of ordinary Weakness That Man hath a good Conscience who preserves himself from all infamous and gross Sins and from all other wilful and deliberate Sins Now this clearness of Conscience is a thing possible to be attained Men may with care and caution keep themselves free from all self-condemning Crimes and live so evenly that when their Consciences are most peevish and toutchy yet they shall have nothing to accuse them of but what is common to all Men of such Men as these this we may affirm that they have been able with Joy to reflect back upon their past Lives in a dying hour that possibly never knew any Guilt by themselves than what the Sins of common and daily Infirmity hath exposed them unto This now is to keep good Consciences We live well says St. Austin if we live without Crimes to live without Fault is impossible and he that thinks he doth it keeps himself not from Sin but from Pardon Secondly Another way to keep our Consciences clear is by cleansing them when they are defiled He keeps his Garments clean that keeps himself from falling and next degree he who being fallen hastes to cleanse himself from his contracted Filth And thus at least we may keep our Consciences clear both from Crimes and from Faults also while we labour to cleanse them from their Defilements and to rub out and wash away those Spots with which at any time we are occasionally bespatter'd There is a twofold Blot Sin leaves behind it there is a Blot of Discredit and a Blot of Defilement the former is indelible As the Scar remains when the Wound is healed so this Blot remains upon the Soul when the Guilt of Sin is removed It is a Discredit to a Malefactor though pardoned that ever he should do that which deserv'd Death And so it is a kind of Blot upon a Christian's Name for ever to have committed those Sins that have deserved eternal Death though through the free Mercy and unspeakable Grace of God he hath obtained the Pardon of them But then there is another Blot a Blot of Defilement that renders Men loathsom and deformed in the Eyes of God and thus every Sin we commit leaves a Blot and a Stain upon the Soul a Stain that defaceth God's Image and that defiles our own Consciences and when this Stain and Blot is cleansed then are we said to have clear Consciences when we have taken off that Blot and Defilement that Sin hath left whereby we are rendred deformed in the sight of God and whereby the Image of God is defaced upon the Soul Thus you see in general there are two ways to keep a clear Conscience Directions for the getting and keeping of a clear Conscience the one by preventing its Defilement and the other by cleansing of it when it is defiled Now to help you in both these Cases I shall lay down several Particulars First 1. Get Conscience rightly informed If you would have your Consciences clear get them rightly informed How can Conscience be clear so long as the Fogs and thick Mists of Ignorance and Error possess it Labour therefore to let in spiritual Light into it that you may see how to cleanse it It is as much Vanity to go about to cleanse an ignorant Conscience as it is in vain to sweep a dark Room An ignorant conscientious Man that knows not the Limits of Sin and Duty may after a great deal of pudder with his Conscience leave it much worse than he found it and cast out Jewels instead of Rubbish Indeed it is impossible for an ignorant Man to have a good Conscience whether we respect Duty or Comfort in point of Duty I have shewed you formerly that Ignorance will make Conscience unnecessarily scrupulous or daringly presumptuous Now neither can an ignorant Conscience be good in respect of Comfort because through Ignorance Conscience oftentimes quarrels at that which is a true Ground of Rejoycing Conscience is that Glass whereby we may both view our selves and also our Actions Now as a Glass when falsly framed represents a beautiful Face monstrous and frightful so Conscience when falsly informed makes even lovely Actions appear mishapen and terrifying by distorted Representations of those Things that are lawful and perhaps our Duty also Therefore in the first place get an enlightned Conscience if you would get a good Conscience for what says the wise Man Prov. 19.2 Prov. 19.2 That the Soul be without knowledge it is not good or as some Translations have it a Soul without knowledge is not good it is indeed good for nothing unless it be to make Men sin conscientiously and to embolden them to commit the greatest Wickedness in the World with Peace and Comfort Thus says our Saviour John 16.2 John 16.2 Whosoever killeth you shall think that he doth God good Service through the Error and Mistake of their Conscience So in 1 Cor. 2.8 Had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory Knowledg betters the Conscience two ways Knowledge betters the Conscience two ways First 1. By instructing of it to discern betwixt Good and Evil. It gives its direction what to choose and what to avoid it instructs it to discern betwixt Good and Evil. Ignorant Persons often mistake the one for the other and eschew what they should follow or if they chance to do that which is good as it is not of great worth to do good only by chance and hazard so they sin also in doing good while the Judgment is in suspence the Conscience must needs be under Guilt If I know not whether I ought to do an Action or to forbear which way soever I take I am entangled in Sin for whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin That is whatsoever is done with a wavering Conscience that I know not whether it be sinful or not that thereby becomes Sin and whatever a Man doth doubtingly he is damned if he doth it
Generousness scorn to prostitute their Consciences and to barter their precious Souls for the Gain of any of these fading and perishing Riches here below Riches that perish in the using If therefore you would keep good Consciences learn to despise the Threats and Frowns the Flatterings and Fawnings of this World look upon it as of no great concernment to you whatever in Adversity or Prosperity can happen to you in this short and frail Life Reflect upon those who groan under the Terrors of a wounded Conscience all the World cannot give them one moments Ease or Comfort yea had they the whole World at their dispose they would give it all to procure Peace yea but a Truce for a while with their own Consciences such a vain and contemptible Thing is the World in comparison of inward Tranquility and Serenity of Mind Why now thus to rate the World below the Peace and Quietness of our own Consciences is an excellent Means to preserve them clear and peaceable Fourthly 4. Strengthen your Faith If you would keep Conscience clear labour above all things to strengthen your Faith Faith is a purifying Grace Acts 15.9 Purifying their Hearts by Faith Now Faith hath a double Influence to purifie the Heart or Conscience Faith purifies the Conscience two ways First 1. As it is a dogmatical Faith and so it doth it morally A dogmatical Faith keeps the Conscience clear and pure and that morally Secondly A justifying and a saving Faith purifies the Conscience and that mystically First 1. What a dogmatical Faith is A dogmatical Faith keeps the Conscience clear and pure A dogmatical Faith I call that which hath for its Object the whole revealed Truth of God and it is nothing but a firm undoubting Assent to the Verity and Certainty of whatever is contained in the Holy Scriptures upon no other Account and Reason than meerly the Authority and Veracity of God who is the Author of it This is a dogmatical or an historical Faith which though it be not Justifying as the Papists hold yet is it of a mighty Influence to sanctifie the Heart and to keep the Conscience and Conversation inoffensive and this it doth in a moral way For did but Men believe that Heaven is so unconceivably glorious sparkling with Light flowing with Pleasure resounding with Praises a Place where Joy and Bliss ever dwells and where we shall dwell too in an endless Eternity in the Smiles and Love of God if now but for a few short Years we strive to live holily did we but as really believe these Things to be true and certain as we know those Things to be true and certain that we see with our very Eyes what manner of Christians would this force us to be in all Holiness and Godliness of Conversation cleansing our selves from all Pollutions both of Flesh and Spirit Wherefore is it that the Promise of some temporal Reward the hopes of some mean Preferment from some great Person is of Force sufficient to make Men obsequious to them And yet the Promises that God himself hath made of Heaven and Glory in comparison of which to promise Crowns and Scepters is but to promise Pebbles and Gugaws work so little effect upon the generality of Men to allure them from Sin to a holy Life Whence is it but that Men believe not that Heaven is so glorious as the Scripture describes it to be Nay indeed if they would speak their Minds they are not yet sure whether there be a Heaven or not it is from their Unbelief Did Men but believe the insupportable Wrath of God those Horrors and Torments that Fire and Sulphur that Stench and Darkness those burning Chains and those fiery Whips the Woe and Anguish of the Damned in Hell which are as far from being utterable as they are from being tollerable did they as certainly believe these Things as if they believe them not they shall certainly feel them would they dare still to venture on to treasure up Wrath to themselves against the day of Wrath Would they still dare by wounding their Consciences now enrage them to their own Wounding and Smart for ever hereafter Would they dare to do it did they believe these Things Did they but believe that Conscience will be revenged seven fold on them for all the Wrongs and Violence that they have done it This Worm that they now carry in their Breasts frozen and benum'd shall be heated by the Fire of Hell and fly upon them and sting their Souls with a burning and flaming Anguish Did they believe this would they not be careful to give no Offence to their Consciences Would they not be as careful to avoid all Sin that arms the Terrors of Hell against them as they have Reason to think a damned Wretch in Hell who hath had the Experience of these Things would do if God would release him out of it with a Promise that he shall for ever escape it upon the same Terms that he hath promised us Think with your selves what effect the Sense and Feeling of those dreadful Things would have upon such a one to make him rigorously conscientious that in nothing he provoke so terrible a God or offend and irritate a revenging Conscience that will be sure to repay him home sevenfold into his own Bosom why the same carefulness and circumspection would it work in all of us did we as firmly and strongly believe those Things to be true as God hath evidently and clearly revealed them to be true in his Word It is true these Things we all know and we persuade our selves that we do believe them Do we not profess to believe that Jesus Christ shall judge both Quick and Dead and that all shall receive Rewards according to their Works those that have done Well shall receive the Reward of eternal Life and those that have done Ill the Reward of eternal Death These Things we may indeed profess to believe and these Things we may frequently represent to our own Thoughts but the weak and small Influence that these Things have to over-awe our Consciences evinceth clearly that this is not Faith but Fancy It is a wavering unevident Opinion that we have taken up and that we call by the Name of Faith for did we live in the Belief of these Truths we should no more dare to sin against our Consciences than if we saw Hell flaming before these Eyes of ours and knew that upon the next Sin we commit we were to be cast into it And thus you see a dogmatical Faith is a great Help to purifie the Heart and to keep the Conscience clear and inoffensive 2. As Faith justifies so it purifies the Conscience mystically 2. A justifying Faith also is of great use to purifie the Conscience And this it doth not morally by any natural Influence or Efficacy of its own but only mystically as it applies to the Soul the Blood of Jesus Christ that Blood that alone takes away
as we are to speak to him who is the God of the Spirits of all Flesh The holy Angels in Heaven stand always ministring in the presence of God and Prayer doth in some kind associate us with them it brings us to lye prostrate at the Feet of God at whose Feet also Angels and all the Powers in Heaven do with much more Humility than we fall down and worship him we and they fall down together at the Feet of the great God we in Prayer and they in Praises This Priviledge cost Jesus Christ dear for it is through him as the Apostle speaks that we have access with boldness unto the Throne of Grace All Access thither was barred against Sinners till Christ opened a Passage for us by his own Death and most precious Blood And shall not we make use of a Priviledge purchased for us at so dear a Rate as that is Hath Christ shed his Blood to procure us liberty to pray and shall not we spend our Breath in praying Hath Christ died such a cursed cruel Death to purchase liberty for us to pray and shall we rather choose to die an eternal Death than make use of it This is to despise the Blood of Jesus Christ to offer an high Affront and Indignity unto him to account it a vile and contemptible Thing when we make no more esteem of that for the purchase of which he shed his precious Blood We look upon it as a great Priviledge to have free and frequent access to those that are much our Superiors and shall we not reckon it a much higher Priviledge that we may at all times approach the presence of him who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and higher than the highest as we may do at all times in Prayer 3. Prayer is a sovereign Remedy for an afflicted Mind Thirdly Prayer it is the most sovereign Medicine and Remedy for an afflicted Mind Nothing is so desirable in this World as a faithful Friend to whom we may at all times unbosom our selves and make all our Secrets and Grievances known Now Prayer directs us to go to God himself he is our most faithful Friend that can best counsel and best help us and Prayer is a means whereby we reveal the Secrets and Troubles of our Souls unto him Prayer it is our discoursing with God When our Hearts swell with Grief and are ready to break within us how sweet is it then to take God apart and give our Hearts vent Prayer it is a making our Case known to him and a spreading our Wants before him casting all our Burthens upon him who hath promised to sustain us Fourthly consider 4. Prayer is a means appointed by God for all Mercies that we want Prayer is a means appointed by God for the obtaining of those Blessings and Mercies that we stand in need of for all Things are Gods he is the great Lord and Proprietor both of Heaven and Earth whether they be spiritual or temporal Mercies that we desire if it be Wealth Strength or Wisdom all are his If we would have spiritual Blessings conferred upon us our Faith our Love our Patience our Humility strengthned and encreased he is the God of all these Graces and Prayer it is a means appointed by God to convey all these unto us Our Prayers and God's Mercy are like two Buckets in a Well while the one ascends the other descends So while our Prayers ascend to God in Heaven his Mercies and Blessings descend down upon us 5. We are always in want therefore we should pray always Fifthly consider All our Supplies are only for our present Exigences to serve us only from Hand to Mouth the stock of Mercy is not ours but God's he still keeps it in his own Hands and this he doth that he might keep us in a constant Dependence upon him and in a constant Expectation of Mercy from him Our Wants grow up very thick about us and if we did but observe it we should find every Day yea every Hour new cause to present new Requests and Supplications unto God and therefore as our Necessities never cease so neither should our Prayers 6. They â—hat will not Pray shall Howl Sixthly consider this If you will not be persuaded to pray you shall one Day be made to howl You that will not now look up to Heaven in Prayer shall hereafter look up in Blaspheming Isai 8.21 Isai 8.21 They shall fret themselves says the Prophet and curse God and their King that is in their horrid Despair and Anguish they shall Curse and Blaspheme both God and their King that is the Devil and they shall look upwards Tho' now wicked Men will not look to Heaven yet then God will force them to look upwards There may Two Objections possibly be made against this Duty of Prayer Object 1 First God doth before-hand know all our Wants and Desires and therefore what Necessity is there of Prayer Answ To this I answer with St. Augustine God says he doth require that we should pray to him not so much to make known what our Will and Desire is for that he cannot be ignorant of but it is for the exercise of our Desires and to draw forth our Affections towards those Things that we beg at his Hands that thereby we may be made fit to receive what he is ready to give Object 2 Secondly Say some It is in vain to pray because all our Prayers cannot alter the course of God's Providence we cannot by our most fervent Prayers change the method of God's Decrees if he hath resolved from Eternity to bestow such a Mercy upon us we shall receive it whether we pray or pray not if he hath resolved we shall never partake of it if we do pray all our Prayers will be in vain Answ I have long since Answered this Objection and told you That it is true God's Providence is immutable But the same Providence that orders the End to be obtained hath likewise ordered the Means by which it must be obtained As God hath decreed Blessings to us so he hath decreed that they should be obtained by Prayer and therefore we must pray that we may obtain those Blessings for that is the Means God hath decreed for the obtaining of them Directions how we must Pray so as to be accepted Some possibly may say If we must thus pray without ceasing how shall we be assured that God will hear us If it be our Duty to pray how shall we pray so as that our Prayers may become acceptable unto God I Answer 1. They that hear God God will hear them First If you would have God hear you when you pray you must be sure to hear him when he speaks See that place Prov. 1.24 28. Because I have called and you have refused and have set at nought all my Counsels therefore says God you shall call but I will not answer you shall seek me early but shall not