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A40520
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Sermons concerning grace and temptations by ... Thomas Froysel.
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Froysell, Thomas, d. ca. 1672.
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1678
(1678)
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Wing F2251; ESTC R1406
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217,249
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284
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though he damn'd the whole world and cast off Cain for ever Ninthly God makes some sharers in the same deliverance who share not in the same grace as the ten Lepers he gave them the same cure not the same grace he gave them all a cure only to one grace Were there not ten cleansed where are Luk. 17. 17. the nine There are not found that return'd to give glory to God save this stranger So the Sons of Noah were all saved in the same Ark and yet not all made partakers of the same Faith We shall now give you the Application of this Point And first Vse 1. See by what tenure the Saints hold and receive all their grace By gift 1. The first work of grace in the soul is a gift No man can come to me saith Christ except it were given him from John 6. 65. Rom. 5. 5. above and Romans 5. 5 All is given It is grace that we have grace the grace of God that we have grace from God 2. The addition and increase of grace is a gift every little degree of grace is a gift and when he gives more still it is more gift 3. Heaven it self is a gift The gift of God is eternal life Rom. 6. 27. mark the whole verse The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life Eternal death is a wages eternal life is a gift men deserve it when they are damn'd but they deserve it not when they are saved their sins are worthy of Death but their graces are not worthy of Life And the reason is 1. Because mens sins are their own and therefore deserve death As Christ speaking of the Devil saith When he speaketh a John 8. 44. lye he speaketh of his own Our lyes and our sins are our own works but our graces are not our own we are beholden to God in that we have grace when we serve him with our graces we serve him but with his own 2. Because our sins being perfectly sinful are worthy of death but our graces being not perfectly gracious are not worthy of life Vse 2. Is grace a free gift then serve God freely We cannot be too free in serving him from whom every thing is a free-gift I may rightly apply that Text to the Saints Freely ye Math. 10. 8. have received freely give I am sure you have freely received grace serve him freely with your grace And therefore a Servant is in Greek called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 15. 17. a reward because servants serve not their Master freely as his Sons do meerly because he is their Father but for reward What is it to serve God freely 1. To count it a greater good to serve God than to be saved not as if a man should not serve God with an eye to his salvation for 't were a sin if he should not because the recompence of reward is the great Promise and 't were a sin not to prize and eye and look up to any promise of God I say we are bound to serve God with an eye to the recompence of reward because it is the Promise of God now we are to make the best of every promise to improve the promise and to make the best advantage of it for the quickning of our graces and the cheering up of our spirits The promises are helps and we are bound to use all Gods Helps And therefore Heb. 12. 2. we may set our salvation befor us and aim at it But yet still this we should do and if we serve God freely will do it count it a greater good to serve God than to be saved to glorifie God than to be glorified Indeed the Lord saith Them that honour me I will honour This is his goodness yet Gods Honour is a greater good than our honour It is a greater good that God be glorified than that we should be glorified because the Glory of God is the good of the Creator but our glory is but the good of the Creature 2. To serve God freely is to serve him willingly As we say of a man that doth a thing willingly he doth it freely for that is the very essence of the Will that which is not done freely is not done with the Will Oh observe thy self Thou Professor it may be prayest in thy closet but if thou durst omit it thou wouldest not pray thou art not drunk but if thou durst for shame thou wouldest not be so temperate now thou dost not pray nor abstain from sin willingly and freely 3. To serve God freely is to serve him abundantly to be liberal in his service He that is no niggard but is liberal in his gifts we call him free So he that serves God freely is no niggard of his service he is very liberal of his service to God As we say of a man that 's liberal of his Fare and liberal in his House he is free he cares not what he spends upon his friends he provides bountifully for them he calls for his Wines and Sweet-meats about him and thinks nothing too much for them we say this man hath a free and noble spirit so the Saints that serve God freely think they can never do enough for him he makes abundant Provision to entertain Christ and sets a long Table full of Services like so many dishes before him When Christ said to Zachaeus To day I must abide at thy Luk. 19. 5. house How did Zachaeus entertain him Wondrous liberally saith he Behold Lord half of my goods I give to the poor Verse 8. and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation I restore him four-fold Zachaeus was wondrous free Christ Jesus might have any thing of him without speaking A Saint cares not what he spends upon Christ wilt thou have me give away one lust yea saith Christ there it is another saith Christ there it is Lord another yet saith Christ there 't is Lord nay all saith Christ take all then Veniat veniat Verbum Domini saith one Et submittemus ei sexcenta si nobis essent Colla Let the Word of the Lord come let it come and wee 'l submit six hundred necks to it if we had them Nay but not thy lusts only but thy life too saith Christ take it then saith St. Paul I am ready not to be bound only Acts 21. 13. but also to dye at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus Vse 3. Is grace a gift then count thy work a gift not a burden but a gift not a toyle but a gift look upon every labour and every service and obedience for God as a gift As a Woman though she travel in pain yet counts her Child a gift from God As the Text saith Lo Children are an heritage Psal 127. 3. of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward The mother counts her child a gift for who
which are wonderful Thy testimonies are wonderful therefore doth my soul Psal 119. 129. keep them There is peace that passeth all understanding joy unspeakable and full of glory There we have the ways of his Wisdom and his dealings with the Saints which are wonderful as Job saith Things too Job 42. 3. wonderful for me which I knew not To bring us to life by death to glory by shame to perfect his work in abasement to bring it low that he may raise after But how may we know these Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven 1. You must use all means you must read and hear and discourse you must study the things of God and converse with the Saints to whom God hath revealed these Mysteries The Ministry of the Word is the golden pipe through which these Divine Mysteries flow down into your Knowledg And then meditate of these things till the heart be warmed fasten your thoughts on them every day It is your Wisdom to spend consideration on them Oh that my people were wise that they would consider their latter end I say it is your wisdom to consider the Excellency of these Mysteries of Religion the Beauty of them in themselves the fruit and sweetness of them in this world and in the world to come An ingredient in the use of means after this Knowledg is that you must search for it The promise of finding Knowledg is only to such as search for Knowledg It is such a precious treasure that it lyeth deep in the bowels of Scripture Thou Prov. 2. 4. shalt find wisdom if thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasures There are two places two veins especially where wisdom is to be found there is the Book of Gods Word and the Book of Gods Works the Book of Scripture and the Book of Providence In these two Books we are to search and study out the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven The Word reveals them the hand of Providence doth dispense them The Word unfolds them Providence makes all things to further them in the soul And let me tell you One great means to irradiate your Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven is to know that Mystery of sinfulness that is in you and that Mystery of misery that lieth upon you It is not to be conceived as Jeremy saith How deceitful the heart is and how desperately wickea what a depth of corruption lyeth there The cursed and woful state we are in by nature is not to be conceived Man's apprehension is too little to take in all the Dimensions of it to lye under the eternal wrath of God what head can comprehend it VVhat created soul can fathom in her widest thoughts the wrath of an infinite God Who can tell what Hell is And how hot the fire is which Gods Almighty wrath hath kindled to all eternity As eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for those that love him so neither hath eye seen nor ear heard nor can the heart of man conceive those depths and treasures of misery that men are in by nature Here we may cry out Oh the depths Therefore the more transparent Knowledg we have of the Mystery of Corruption and of the dreadful misery we are in by sin the more we shall wonder at the unparalell'd goodness of God in the Mystery of our salvation the one will sharpen the appetite of the other Truly Sirs if you are yet in the state of sin consider how little there is between you and eternal Death you are ready to drop into Hell immediately and irrecoverably Did these things sit sadly and seriously upon your spirits how would it advance the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven 2. That you may know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven bring Humility and self-denial Humble reason and make her give place to Faith for the humility we here speak of is a Denial of our own Parts and Wits though they be never so capacious In this case the Intellectus must be rasa tabula I say the understanding must be as a Table scraped all the Writings and Notions of humane Wit and Reason must be scraped out It must be like the Wax that hath no Character that it may receive the Impression of the Seal That which reason should do in supernatural things is to stoop to Faith to believe the things of God upon the sole Authority of God Here it is the greatest reason to yield to Faith In Divine Mysteries Faith is the reason of reason and the highest reason is to yield to God that hath revealed them And therefore Faith stands with the greatest reason that can be for is it not the greatest reason in the world to believe him that is Truth it self Reason it self saith It is the greatest reason to believe God who is the first Truth 3. Wait upon the spirit Give the spirit that Honour to reveal these Mysteries to you For your eyes are blind you have an inward darkness upon you the Gospel takes away the Vail from the things but the spirit takes away the Vail from our souls The Jews had a Vail of types and shadows thrown over the things themselves now I say Our Gospel takes away the Vail from the things but the spirit must take away the Vail from our hearts In Nature there is need of a double light that we may behold Objects 1. A light someness upon the Object it self through the Medium and therefore men cannot see in the night because the air which is the Medium is dark 2. A light besides in the Organ that is the eye and therefore blind men cannot see in the day because though the Sun shines and things may be seen in themselves yet they want a light in the eye So though the former darkness which lay upon the Mysseries of Heaven be taken away those legal shadows and curtains are removed and the Sun of the Gospel shines full upon our faces yet we are blind within there lyeth an inward darkness upon our faculty and the spirit must open our eyes and give us a vital light to joyn with the outward light 4. Send up your prayers to Heaven The holy Vapours of Prayer ascending the spirit comes down in showres upon the soul The earth must send up Vapours before the Clouds can give down rain And therefore Paul prays for the Ephesians That God would give them the spirit of Wisdom and Revelation Eph. 1. 17 18. that the eyes of their understanding being enlightned they might know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints 5. He that would find the knowledg of Divine Mysteries must seek it with a sanctified mind That which enables us to know and understand aright the things of God must be a living principle of Holiness in us As Plotinus saith The eye cannot behold