mendacium peccatum lying and sinne as our Saviour said of the devill Iohn 8. when hee speaketh a lye hee speaketh de suo of his owne God never put that into him so for thy sinnes thou must thank thy selfe or rather indeed beshrew and blame thy selfe for they are thy owne but if thou hast any grace or any vertue in thee thanke God for that for it is not thine it is the Lords seeing then thou art but a Tributary to God and hast nothing that good is but what thou art beholding and must be countable to the Lord for it nè superbias bee not proud of it 3. Seeing Grace is the Lords to bestow on whom he pleaseth nè invideas doe not envy it let not thine eye be evill because God is good nor thinke the worse of another man because God is better to him then unto thee for Gods grace is his owne he may give it to whom he will When God shall take off his grace and of his good Spirit as Samuel said to Saul shall give it to a Neighbour of thine that is better then thou what cause hast thou to be envious at this and not rather to humble thy selfe and thinke that as Daniel told the King chap. 5. 27. God hath weighed thee in a ballance and found thee minus habens wanting to God and to thy selfe and therefore hath justly with-holden his favour from thee and given it to one that will use it better for his glory and for the Churches good farre be it from any child of God to cherish in his breast the spawne of that old serpent the Divell for envy is no better as the learned have well observed there is so neere a resemblance betwixt an envious man and the Divell that in the Booke of God the one is taken for the other so the Divell is called {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} an envious man Mat. 13. 28. an envious man is called {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a devill Ioh. 6. 70. How farre better would it become us in this respect to be {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} like the Angels of Heaven who now at Christmas time when they saw that our Saviour would in no wise take their nature which was farre better then ours but tooke our nature upon him which was farre worse then theirs and which was most of all and would have gone most against our stomackes commanded them to worship it Heb. 1. 6. they were so farre from envying or taking offence at this as that elder brother did in the Gospel when the younger was received to grace after his riotous course that even then they sung an Anthem for the joy of our happinesse and even to this day Saint Peter tells us 1 Pet. 1. 12. they doe {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} stoope downe as it were in duty and love to honour the mystery of Christs incarnation and to admire the Grace and favour of God to mankinde In a word then seeing that the honouring of Gods grace wheresoever it lights is a quality so Angelicall and the contrary so diabolicall let it bee thy practice evermore to reverence him that hath it to judge thy selfe unworthy of it seeke it in Gods name and get to be partaker in it but in any case ne invideas doe not envy it 4. Seeing that Grace proceedes from so holy a Fountaine as is the Lord ne Abutaris doe not abuse it doe not vitiate nor staine it with sinne as Lot entreated the men of Sodome Gen. 19. 8. that they would not abuse the Angels of God seeing they were come to shelter themselves under the shadow of his roofe So let mee entreate you all in the Name of Christ that you would not abuse the graces of God seeing they are come from Heaven to take shelter and harbour in your breasts and bosomes The Apostle speakes of some Iud. 4. that turne the grace of God into wantonnesse and that 's a woefull kinde of Alchymie as one saith singularly well would he not esteeme that man prodigally foolish and mad that would spend all his time all his stubstance and all his industry to find out a perverse Philosophers stone that should turne all the gold it touched into lead and drosse even such are they that pervert the grace of God and turne it into wantonnesse into lasciviousnesse into all manner of scurrility and deboistnesse and never lin till they have made a poyson of an Antidote and baned themselves with that which would have beene their blisse Lucerna Dei inspiritu hominis saith Salomon Pro. 20. 27. The spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord it implyes that a man naturally walkes in darkenesse which is full of errour and full of terrour till God in mercy set up a candle in his soule I meane endues him with knowledge and grace from heaven that he may shew him the path of life and to avoid the snares of death Now you know that a candle naturally burnes upwards if you take it and turne it the wrong way and hold it downewards it dyes and goes out alone so fares it with {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Graces and gifts of God as Wit and Wisdome Knowledge and Learning and all these are the candles of the Lord and are purposely given us to light us up to heavenward but if wee take Gods candles and hold them downeward turne them the wrong way and apply and abuse them to sinne it is much to bee feared the light of God will goe out and thou shalt be left at the length in a place of utter darkenesse Therefore as thou tenderest the favour and good-will of God and the eternall welfare of thy owne soule deale not with the Graces of God as Iehu dealt with Iehorams messenger 2 Reg. 9. doe not turne them behinde thee and make them serve against their owne masters but remember that if the sonnes of Iacob would not endure to have their sister abused Gen. 24. ult. how dost thou thinke thy God will endure to have his grace abused and to be prostituted to every sinne In a word as Ruben said to his distressed brethren Gen. 42. 22. did not I speak unto you saying Sin not against the child and ye would not heare Oh bee not you like them monitoribus asperi so carelesse and regardlesse of divine admonition but remember that you have beene spoken unto that you have beene warned of God not to sinne against your owne soules in this too common kinde but if the Lord have betrusted you with his grace labour to cherish it and as the Apostles word is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} 2 Tim. 1. 6. to blow it or stirre it up as we do a dying fire to kindle and quicken it by the use of good meanes but in any case ne abutaris abuse it not 5. Lastly seeing thou hast to doe with the grace and favour of God ne
and Favour of God that wanteth it Appropriare Christum to get an interest into Gods beloved Sonne our deare and precious Saviour 2. Now for the second question Hast thou found the favour of God and faine wouldst keepe it Thou must {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} it is the Apostles owne word Gal. 2. 14. Thou must walke with a right foot to God-ward or as Iohn Baptist expresseth it in other termes thou must Rectas facere semitas tuas Make thy paths straight the meaning is Thou must binde thy selfe to the good behaviour unto God thou must resolve against sinne and evill and set thy selfe constantly carefully sincerely to walke with God so farre forth as frailty shall permit thee so that though there fall out many intercurrent infirmities in the course of thy life for a man may etiam in bono itinere pulverem colligere gather dust and soyle even in a good way yet let it be the generall drift and desire of thy soule in nothing willingly to finne against God but in every thing to please him and to approve thy selfe unto him which if thou dost see what will follow upon it Psal. 84. 11. The Lord will give Grace and Glory and no good thing will hee with-hold from them that walke uprightly with him The Scripture saith of Enoch that hee was Raptus a facie malitiae snatcht as it were out of this wicked world as a brand is snatcht out of the fire and saved from burning that is Hee was translated alive from earth into Heaven and never felt nor tasted of death This you will say was an extraordinary favour of God but what might bee the reason of it Moses tells us Gen. 5. 24. it was because Hee walked with God the Apostle commenting upon it Heb. 11. 5. saith it was because He pleased God {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is the word which signifies Hee gave God content or kept Gods favour and good will so then the way to keepe Gods favour and good will is to please God and give him content and the way to doe that is to walke with God as Enoch did But what doth Moses meane by walking with God how may that be done Answ. Generally A man may then be said to walke with God when he leads his life in such a way as God doth best accept in the way of Godlinesse and Honesty in the way of temperance and sobriety in the way of diligence and industry when a man hath a minde on God in all his wayes and desires Gods protection and conduct to guide his feete into the way of peace This is in a generall sense and acceptance to walke with God more particularly A man is then said in proper sense to walke with God when hee walkes with none else but God as Isaack did when hee sequestred himselfe and went out alone into the fields to meditate and to pray Gen. 40. 69. The word Suach signifieth both then went he out to walke with God And indeed there is no such time for a man to converse with God and as the phrase is in Iob to acquaint himselfe with the Lord as when hee is solitary private and alone If any thing grieve a man or lye heavie upon his conscience when he is Alone he may freely disburden his heart into the bosome of God If a man have faulted any way or done amisse for want of good take-heed when he is Alone hee may freely and fully bewaile and bemone and even beshrew and shrive himselfe unto the Lord his God If a man want any good thing that 's requisite and necessary either for the body or the soule when hee is Alone he hath free and full opportunity to beg and to entreat it to win and to obtaine it at the hand of God No such time for a man to reconcile himselfe and to make his owne attonement and his peace with God as when hee is Alone In a word then if thou dost desire to keepe the favour of the Lord and to abide in his grace and his good-will doe as Isaack did take one turne with thy God every day thou risest steale away from thy earthly occasions as our Saviour stole away from his earthly Parents to doe the businesse of thy heavenly Father or as the Apostles word 2 Pet. 3. 9. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} to retire and repent Let no day passe thee without some commerce and conference with thy God and beleeve it if there bee any meanes in the world to fasten and rivet the favour of God unto thy soule that will doe it {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} to walke aright with God I have done with the first generall part of my Text concerning the meaning of the word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} or what is meant by the Grace here spoken of Come we now to the second and that is the Author and Owner of this Grace exprest in the next word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} God claimes it as his owne peculiar and calls it by a terme of propriety My Grace to shew that none hath to doe with the dispensing of that but himselfe alone Now if you marke the course of Scripture you shall observe that there is not any thing which belongs to man but in one place or other God claimes it for his owne Though he hath given the earth to the Children of men yet hath hee not alienated it from himselfe but that still The Earth is the Lords and the fulnesse thereof whatsoever fulnesse the earth affords us whether it be Fields full of Corne Folds full of Sheepe Orchards full of Fruit Tables full of Meate c. all these fulnesses are the Lords who openeth his hand and filleth all things living with plenteousnesse And not onely the earth in generall and the fulnesse thereof but the very Cattell and Beasts of the earth are all the Lords too Psal. 50. 10. All the Beasts of the Forrest are mine saith God and so are the Cattell upon a thousand Hills The Beasts of the Forrest we know are ferae naturae of a wilde unruly nature they know no Master acknowledge no owner are in subjection to no keeper yet because the Lord takes care of them gives them their being and provides them their food therefore doth he justly claime them for his owne and saith All the Beasts of the Forrest are mine and so are all the Cattell upon a thousand hills whether they be sheepe or goates Neate or Fowle there 's no man living hath any right unto them upon earth but he holds it in capite and hath his right from the God of Heaven Not only so but the very Corne in our Barnes the Wine in our Cellars the Wooll upon our Sheepes backes the Lord claimes for his owne as yee may see Hos. 2. 8 9. For God bestowes his blessings as the Sunne doth his beames in such a manner as that they depend still
diffides doe not distrust it doe not make any doubt or question of it but it will bestead thee and befriend thee and be firme and sure unto thee at any time of need It is the Apostles owne advertisement 1 Pet. 1. 13. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} trust perfectly on the Grace that is revealed and brought into the world by Jesus Christ It is a thing that a man may leane his whole weight upon and venture his whole estate upon and pawne his life and soule upon the certainety the truth and the infallibility of Gods heavenly grace to all that make their peace and put their trust in him Feare not Mary said the blessed Angel to the blessed Virgin for thou hast found favour with God as if he had said Let them feare that are out of Gods favour let them be distrustfull that are wicked and deceitfull that make no conscience of their wayes but live in the displeasure of an angry God paveant illi let them feare but noli tu feare not thou be thou steadfast unmoveable in thy affiance to God for why invenisti gratiam thou hast found favour with him in whose favour is life and whose grace will bee thy guide unto the day of death In a word then to close up this point As I said before so I say it over againe {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} gird up the loynes of your mindes and trust perfectly to the Grace of God doe it not in any wavering or timorous or unconfident manner as if God were like the Poets Tenedos Statiâ— malefida carinis a trustles Anchor-hold to the sea-beaten Traveller or like those deceitfull Iewes Ioh. 2. 24. to whom our Saviour durst not commit himselfe though they seemed to beleeve in his Name Oh let not thy heart entertain the least suspition the least jealousie of the faithfulnesse and fidelity of thy God but try him by thy prayers and trust him by thy faith and urge him with this Text that now is preached unto thee as St. Austin saith his mother Monica did Chyrographa tua ingerebat tibi Lord saith he shee urged thee with thy own hand-writing tell him but how hard the world goes with thee and then say ere God have done with thee if thou dost not finde his Grace to bee sufficient for thee And so I am come in the third place to shew you the efficacie and vertue of the Grace of God how and wherein the sufficiency thereof doth consist {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} saith the Text My Grace is sufficient The principall things whereunto the Grace of God and besides Gods Grace nothing else under heaven is available or sufficient are these that follow 1. Ad Condâ—nandum to pardon and forgive us all our sinnes which would bee the bane and destruction of all our soules Grande est barathrum peccatorum meorum saith a Father sed major est Abyssus misericordiae Dei Great is the gulfe and whirlepoole of my sinnes but greater and deeper is the bottomlesse Sea of Gods Grace and mercy see that place Rom. 5. 20. where sinne abounded Grace did much more abound Hast thou abundance of sinnes let not that dishearten thee God hath abundance of Grace if thy sinnes be great his Grace is greater then thy sinnes and farre more sufficient to justifie than all thy sinnes are to condemne thy soule Onely ne desis be not thou wanting to God in thy prayers and repentance and his Grace shall never bee wanting to thee in thy pardon and forgivenesse What a golden sentence is that of St. Chrysostome {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Thou dost not thou canst not so much desire to have thy sinnes forgiven thee as God doth desire to forgive thy sinnes unto thee I forgave thee all thy debt because thou desiredst mee said that gracious Lord to his ungracious servant Mat. 18. 32. intimating unto us that if God doe not forgive us our debts if he doe not pardon and remit our sinnes we may thanke our selves the fault is our owne because we doe not desire him for if we desired him he would doe it In a word then as our Saviour asked the Cripple Iohn 5. 6. Wilt thou be made whole so wilt thou bee made holy and cleane and fit for absolution from God dost thou desire in sincerity and truth to have thy sinnes remitted and thy soule absolved by the blood and death of Jesus Christ to have all thy misdeeds expunged and blotted out that they may be as if they never had beene Then take the Prophet Esaies counsell Esay 43. 25 26. put God in remembrance of these things it is a pregnant place I pray reade and remember it I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine owne sake and will not remember thy sinnes there 's a gracious promise but marke the condition in the next immediate words put mee in remembrance faith God and I will doe it and not otherwise for though God remember all our sinnes and can tell them better than our owne soules yet hee doth not remember them to our comfort but rather to our confusion unlesse we tell him and put him in remembrance of them so that the onely way to put our sinnes out of Gods remembrance is to put them into his remembrance the onely way to make God forget them is daily and hourely to declare them and put him in minde of them If therefore thou canst not be so good as thou wouldst bee not ashamed bee not afraid to tell God how evill thou art tell him how ungodly how unthankfull how unprofitable a servant thou hast beene unto him and desire God to mend thee and make thee such a one as he would have thee And as Ioseph of Arimathea went to Pilate begged the body of Iesus so goe thou to God and begge the Spirit of Iesus even that spirit of grace and Supplication which the Prophet speakes of Zach. 12. 10. which will come downe from heaven and bring into thy soule first Supplications to prepare thee secondly Grace to assure thee of the free and full forgivenesse of all thy sinnes And then let thy sinnes bee what they will bee sinnes of death sinnes of blood sinnes of hell if thou canst finde in thy heart to pray God will finde in his heart to pardon for his Grace is sufficient to doe it That 's the first 2. The second thing whereto the sufficiency of Gods Grace doth belong is ad consolandum to comfort those sad and heavy hearts that can no other way bee comforted I should have fainted saith David Psal. 27. 13. for all my worldly comforts but that I steadfastly beleeved to see the Lords good grace in the land of the living that is to see it before he dyed therefore we reade 1 Sam. 30. 6. when he was in great distresse had neither house nor home to shelter him neither wife nor child nor friend to be any comfort to
if your case be the same your comfort is the same for God is no accepter of persons his Grace is as sufficient for the one as for the other 1. Saint Paul was Homo in Christo he was a man in Christ as you may see by the second verse of this chapter I knew a man in Christ that was taken up into the third Heaven Art thou such a one I meane art thou regenerate and become a new creature for he that is in Christ is a new creature 2 Cor. 5. 17. dost thou daily renew thy repentance and renew thy obedience and renew thy duty and devotion to God And is it a griefe to thy soule that so much of the old leaven thy old corruption remaines still in thy heart Then take this holy Scripture to thy comfort and assure thy selfe though thy conscience disquiet thee Gods Grace will be sufficient for thee contrarily if thou beest an old weather-beaten sinner an old rusty drunkard swearer and that standest at a stay and gatherest sinne like an old tree that stands and gathers mosse I must say unto thee as Peter said to Simon Magus Act. 8. thou hast neither part nor portion in this priviledge thou art not a man in Christ and consequently canst claime no interest in the Grace and favour of God 2. Saint Paul was Homo in Cruce a man upon the crosse Gal. 2. 20. I am crucified with Christ and elsewhere Colos. 2. 24. I fill up that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ in my flesh whereupon saith a Father quid deest passioni Christi nisi ut nos similia patiamur what is or what can be wanting to the sufferings of Christ but that as he tooke up his Crosse so wee take up ours and follow him for Vae portantibus crucem non sequentibus Christum woe to them that are crucified and not with Christ that beare the Crosse and follow not Christ but turne from him cleane another way It is well knowne that afflictions goe under the name of crosses now a Crosse was a piece of wood for a malefactour to dye on there was no other use of a crosse but that Affliction therefore is called a crosse because it should have the nature and power of a Crosse that is it should be a meanes to crucifie and mortifie all carnall lusts and affections in us that the more we are afflicted the more wee should dye to sinne and the lesse life and power should our corruptions have in us Thus it was with Saint Paul is it so with thee dost thou wish and desire the death of thy sinnes dost thou make this use of thy afflictions even to die daily as the Apostles speakes dost thou every day drive one naile into the body of sinne I meane one sigh or groane to God against it dost thou labour to draw blood of thy soule as they drew blood of thy Saviour I meane the teares of true repentance and is it a death to thy heart that thou canst not dye unto sinne and live unto God as thou shouldest and oughtest to doe Then looke no further for Hearts-ease but to the words of my Text and assure thy selfe what ever Crosses be upon thee Gods Grace in Gods good time shall bee sufficient to case thee Contrarywise if thou beest one that dost {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} as Saint Stephen speaketh Act. 7. 51. one that dost fall crosse and contrary to all but to thy sinnes and art indeede a very crosse to God himselfe and to his good Spirit by thy perverse ungodly courses I must say unto thee as the Prophet Esay saith Esay 3. 6. Woe bee unto thy soule for thou hast rewarded evill unto thy selfe thou forsakest thy owne mercy and deprivest thy selfe of the comfort of Gods Grace in the time of need 3. Saint Paul was Homo in negotiis a laborious man a man full of imployments 1 Cor. 15. 10. I laboured more then all my fellow-Apostles saith hee yet not I but the Grace of God which was with mee there 's an honest acknowledgement by whom hee profited And elsewhere he tells the Corinthians 2 Cor. 11. 9. When I was with you and wanted non obtâ—rpui I was not chargeable nor burthensome to any man The Learned observe that word hath his weight from Torpedo which signifieth a Crampfish a Fish they say that hath such a benumming quality that the cold of it will strike from the hook to the line from the line to the goad from the goad to the arme from the arme to the body of the fisher and so benum him take away al use and feeling of his limbes His meaning is that he was none of those idle drones that by their lazinesse and lewdnesse doe even chill and benumme and dead the charity of well-disposed people but as he laboured in preaching so hee wrought in his calling too and put himselfe to any paines rather then bee chargeable or burthensome to any friend or stranger and by this meanes it came to passe that what he wanted at home he found it abroad and Gods grace that was with him did ever supply him with that which was enough and sufficient for him Is it so with thee Thou that art a poore man art thou also an industrious and a painfull man that as Iacob got the blessing in the garment of Esau which signifieth Working so dost thou work and take paines to get the blessing of thy God dost thou labour with thy hands the thing that is good that thou mayest rather bee charitable then chargeable to him that needeth and will not thy honest labour maintaine thee nor suffice the charge that daily lyes upon thee Take comfort by this Text that now is taught thee and let not thy wants nor thy necessities dismay thee for there is a God above that hath sufficient for thee contrarily if thou beest one that live in pleasure as Saint Paul saith of that widdow {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} she was dead even while she lived one that spendest thy time in this world no otherwise then that Leviathan doth in the Sea onely by taking thy pastime therein or like those Lyllies that our Saviour speakes that neither labour nor spin but onely make a faire shew as long as it will hold Then as Iehu said to Ioram What Peace so may I say to thee What Grace or what favour canst thou looke for at the hands of God 4. Saint Paul was Homo in aerumnis a man full of cares I doe not meane of carnall or wordly cares or such as Martha's were for the things of this life for these he had cast upon God and had learned in whatsever estate he was therewith to bee content but I meane of spirituall divine religious cares for the health and welfare of the soule such as he commends in the Corinthians 2 Cor. 7. 11. as being the first fruits of Grace and godly sorrow {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}