this Rest of Faith for justification St. Paul shews in the next words that they rather confirm and ratifie the pardon than question or lessen it through that experience of Gods wise and faithful love in making all things work together for good to those that love him above all Who shall seperate us from the love of God in Christ shall Tribulation or Distress Persecution or Nakedness Famin or Sword in all these we are more than Conquerors through him that loved us If weak Christians coming to Christ with faithful desires and resolutions to weare his Yoke and bear his Burthen meekly and humbly find not this Rest of justification with such a degree of Peace and Joy as St. Paul expresseth 't is not because Christ giveth them not what he promiseth but because he giveth it them gradually according as they are able and fit by their Faith to receive it for he saith to every Soul now as to them in St. Matt. 9.24 Be it unto you according to your Faith if your Faith be strong and lively both in believing my promise and merit and in undertaking that Yoke of his Yoke though they find not as yet that Rest and Peace which their Souls desire pray and stay for Blessed is he that stayeth and waiteth with humble Prayer Gods leisure since he hath promised who cannot fail that he will not break the bruised Reed but give in time the Garment of joy for the Spirit of heaviness and Isai 57.15 16. I will dwell with the contrite humble Spirit to revive it for I will not contend for ever neither will I be always wrath lest the Spirit should fail before me and the Souls which I have made Thus you have seen the first Rest which true believers enter into even here in this life the Rest of Pardon and Justification upon their Repentance and Faith in Christ The second is a Rest from the Tyrannous reign of sin by those Motives of Hope and Fear Love and Gratitude which faith propoundeth from Christs Gospel and the Spirit of grace holiness and comfort which faith procureth by earnest Prayer Now this is so necessarily joyned with the other the Rest of Pardon that 't is its ordinary standing evidence and the means to obtain it more and more For we may not come to Christ for Pardon to give us the Rest of justification from sins guilt and condemning power by his Blood unless we so value that pardon and its price as sincerely to hate and be heartily willing to forsake that sin which the wisdom and holy justice of God could not or would not remit or forgive but at such a price as his own eternal infinite Sons humiliation to and in that humane nature which had offended We must feel as well the burthen of sins loathsom filth and hateful disorder as well as that of its guilt and punishment before we are those weary and laden those poor and humble ones in Spirit who have a Title to rely on Christ for Rest from both but to those who so come unto him our gracous Lord never denies what he invites to Rest from the slavish service of sin as well as from its intolerable guilt and condemnation His blood and spirit are never sever'd where-ever the one is actually imputed to justification the other is always imparted also to sanctification and therefore St. Paul joyns them together 1 Cor. 6.11 Such were some of you but ye are washt but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God And Rom. 8.2.9 The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath set me free from the Law of sin and death But if any Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is as yet none of his though he may be his by repentance and faith And indeed this Rest from sins dominion you will easily see to be a necessary and great part of the Souls happiness in this life if you will but consider the burthensome drudgery that wicked Men lie under until they obtain it and enter into it by such a faith in Christ Jesus as works by obedience For every person living in any course of impiety unrighteousness intemperance is a self-accusing self-condemning divided creature a terror and shame unto himself He cannot choose but wish and desire eternal Rest yet is customarily drawn by his lusts and passions to do that which certainly leads to eternal anxiety and tribulation His reason invites him to that good which is Spiritual immortal infinite and therefore a satisfactory Rest to his Soul to the only God who made him at first and who alone can make him happy But his lust and passions draw him away to that which is earthly sensual devilish Not only finite and fading and so disappointing him but filthy and base and so distracting and vexing his Soul with foul disorder and guilty shame His Spirits and conscience often tells him that he ought to maintain an humble holy communion with God by Faith and Hope and Love Prayers and Praises that so he may be prepared to see him in that immediate clear revelation of his glory but his lusts and passions so burthen and oppress him that he cannot lift up his heart to God nor draw near his holy presence with any delight but studies to shun him and live without the remembrance of his goodness and mercies that he may forget his power and justice To behold the Creator in the Creature and love the giver in his gifts to contemplate his power wisdom and goodness shining in his word and works to be thankfull for his past benefits rejoycing in his present favour and panting after his blessed presence to all eternity to fit himself for that presence by purifying himself as he is pure by being righteous holy and merciful as he is to govern himself and those that are under him in such order as God prescribes this is the Rest as well as the Labour of rational Souls in this life a pleasure and honour as well as a taske But sin is such a burthenous Tyrant and oppressor that it makes the sinner imploy his reason made to serve know love and enjoy God It makes him imploy this reason in the drudgery of covetousness in the brutishness of lusts and sensuality in the devillishness of malice envy revenge pride and ambition His reason was given to study God and his Will to please and delight in him here that he may for ever see and enjoy him with mutual complacency to help others to do so by word and deed and who is there that hath not quite unchristian'd and unman'd himself but in sober retirement thinks this a work that hath pleasure in it and Rest as well as Labour But sin is such a wearisom Tyrant and oppressor that it makes the reasonable immortal Soul that heavenly breath that Image of God a sneaking Pandor to his lusts a drudging purveyor to his belly and appetite a fawning
dissembling false hearted flatterer to his pride and ambition a slanderous sycophant detractor and whisperer to his envy a brawling railing reviler to his wrath or anger a bloody assassinate to his revenge a griping extortioner or theevish cheater to his covetousness a seducer and tempter that is an assistant to Satan in ruining his own and other Mens Souls And when all this is done see what wearisom restless toyle remains for the sinner He would live for ever in this World but sees he must die and be call'd to account and seeing that he would die for ever and turn to nothing but that he sees he cannot neither He would have Gods favour but dares not come near him He would live in peace and approbation with himself but a civil War and contrary desires lusts and passions contrary each to one another and all to reason tear and divide him from himself He would live at Rest and Peace with other Men but his covetousness and pride makes him injurious his wrath and revenge his malice and envy makes him impatient and quite bereave him of this Peace He would be rich but either his sloth will not gather or his lusts and vain glory scatters as fast as his industry gets He would live in safety and ease but his haughty ambition makes him endure labour and danger day and night He would be in honour and high repute but his sordid lusts and cowardly fears griping covetousness or wrathfull revenge makes him hateful and contemptible His pride and ambition would command all Men but it makes him first fawn and flatter bow and cringe to those whom he secretly hates and scorns He would be true to his own principles and religion not give himself the lie by professing what he doth not believe but his love of the World and fear of poverty or of death doth so disturb the Rest of his Soul that he coucheth under every load complies and conforms to any profession of faith or worship which those who prevail would have him subscribe to till he lay down his faith hope and conscience at the feet of a Man whose breath is in his nostrils who threatens and strikes and is no more Thus he that serves is restless indeed opprest and tired with contrary Tyrants crossing and thwarting one another till they wrack and tear the Man in pieces and drag him to everlasting trouble anguish and sorrow How sweet then and highly pretious is that Rest which faith in God through Jesus Christ enters into when under the light and worth of that truth which it hath received it guides and subdues all its appetites affections and passions from a right principle by a right rule to a right end which is nothing but God and his word God as its author governour and happiness or perfect Rest For though the Rest be yet imperfect because the World the Flesh and the Devil do yet oppose it yet Christ hath promised that no opposition shall overthrow it unless we willfully and obstinately grieve that Spirit of truth holiness and comfort which was given us as the Seal of our faith and peace with God the preserver and finisher of this Rest the assurance of our present adoption and future inheritance if we will but wisely and thankfully value that Rest into which we are enter'd humbly and watchfully pray unto Christ to confirm and increase it all oppositions shall prove advantages all dangers travails and labours so many evidences of Gods faithfulness to us and ours to him of his being our all sufficient shield and supporter here our exceeding reward and satisfactory Rest for evermore Now see what a blessed Rest there is in faith and holiness and all those graces which wait on them Faith in God gives the mind a Sabboth of Rest from all those anxious perplexing enquiries and self contradicting resolutions which humane reason left to it self is vexed with and settles the heart on that divine Wisdom and truth which can neither deceive nor be deceived humbling at once the understanding and advancing it because it is its greatest advancement to be humbled under God who never fails to honour those who honour him and makes the conscience arise and rejoyce to see that it hath submitted it self to such a guide Take faith in its meanest Offices of trusting God in our temporal affairs resigning our selves to his wisdom power and goodness as one that can and will chuse better for us than we our selves what peace and rest is this to our Souls from all those servile fears and cares those base submissions and baser oppressions which the covetous worldling or cowardly trembling unbeliever undergoes Though the Waters rage and the Earth shake yet he whose heart trusts in the Lord that all things shall work together for good he is the only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a squar'd Man whom no change can make a changeling because his heart stands fast and believes in the faithful God he is gotten above this region of meteors clouds and winds because the Lord is his sun and shield which no cloud can intercept no wind shake But then in the higher Offices of faith whereby it considers and embraces the glorious truth of God our Redeemer and Saviour and sees that they are as certainly true as gloriously great That former sins confessed and forsaken are blotted out for the merits of Christ the Law satisfied by such a surety Satans accusations silenced by such an Advocat That afflictions and death have lost their sting and are turned into benefits That he who hath begun a good work will also finish it and never leave us in life and death untill he hath brought us to perfect Rest and full happiness both of soul and body what fruit can this produce but peace and joy in the holy Ghost cheerful constancy and perseverance in doing and suffering the will of God It rescues us from all those trembling fears and sorrowful agonies which else must seize upon our hearts from the weakness of the flesh and the strength of our enemies from the curse of the Law and the horrors of conscience from the malice and subtilty of the World and the Devil How well then might St. Paul say we that believe enter Gods Rest do already in good degree shall compleatly and unchangeably if we persevere Hope the second Christian grace is so near of kin to Faith that 't is lineally derived from it and born of it nor can that heart but find a comfortable blessed Rest which hopes in the fountain of all blessedness hopes to see and enjoy him for ever and in that hope purifies himself All other hopes are dead or dying sure to leave him void of Rest full of anxiety that builds on them This is the only lively hope as Saint Peter calls it because placed in the fountain of life and joy it self This is that grace which applies to our selves the general promises the Souls Anchor which makes it ride safe and triumphant in
'till his abominable wickedness be found out and 'till in the same Net that he laid for others is his foot taken and 'till his own demerits and the justice of the laws halter him into a shamefull death and swing him into another World there to have his portion with the first and greatest of rebels the Devil and his Angels and unless prevented by a timely repentance to remain in flames that burn to all eternity Another sort of Rebels there are more noble though not less bloudy than the former of an higher and more honourable extraction yet such as move in the same Sphere who hide their heads aloft in the Clouds who also think that none shall see them but he that is higher than the highest laughs them to scorn and lets them drop into the same pit which they made for others 'till the Sanction of the Laws strikes the Coronet from off their Heads their Heads from their Bodies and lays the Ax to the root of that Tree which brought not forth good fruit and is therefore hewn down rieven out as it were and cleaved for the fire Were Religion as much in these Mens hearts as it hath been in their pretences that Religion I mean which is first pure then peaceable they might have been gathered to their Fathers in peace and not have pulled upon themselves a speedier and a sadder mortality than that which God and Nature had first appointed for them Next The Zealous Schismatick thinks he is making sure of this eternal Rest for himself and also for his followers who runs before he is called and intrudes himself into that holy function of which we read Heb. 5.4 No Man taketh that honour unto himself but he that is called of God as was Aaron That is no good or holy Man must or ought or doth take this honour upon himself but he that is truly called of God Such as Corah have too often and too presumptuously taken it upon them without being called appointed or ordained by lawful authority But how hainous a sin it is so to do may appear by the dreadful punishment thereof the Earth opened and swallowed him and his up in a moment Uzza may not touch the Ark the Bethshemites may not so much as gaze into it And though now no such punishment be inflicted any more nor such a death as St. Peter inflicted on Ananias befall Sacrilege for Miracles are ceased and such Examples at the first were inflicted on purpose to signify the guilt of that sin and so to terrify from it for ever yet God and his law is the same for ever and they who prophane his holy orders and institutions by bold obtruding themselves upon them will find a punishment meet for their sin here or hereafter What more prophanes holy things than that which makes them common to all who have but the forehead to claim and take them But since the acceptance of the office and its work on Gods part is all in all as that which can bring a blessing on Priest or People it highly concerns us both in wisdom to our selves and in duty to God and in Charity to others neither to take that honourable office to our selves nor give admittance or countenance to those that do so since it is indeed no honour nor office unless as it is derived from him and is more likely if not more certain to bring a curse and not a blessing on such invaders of the Priesthood and their followers If God will be Sanctified by them that draw near unto him then surely most by them that draw nearest by having the office of being his mouth unto the People and theirs unto him And sure it were a great dishonour unto Religion that all great and publick things nay every profitable Science and Art should in all societies be distinguisht by their proper professors Ministers or Artists and only Religion should be in common exposed to be bruised by the hard hands of any Mechanicks and sullied by the rude touch of undiscerning undistinguisht unconsecrated Persons In reason the means should hold some proportion with their end and therefore the end of this holy office being divine and supernatural 't is reasonable Persons which enter into it should be able to shew their vocation mission and ordination for that the very design of Religion forces us to a distinction of Persons and solemn call and ordination in order to the office and work And because every one is not fit to approach to God in the publick addresses of his Church there must in reason be a solemn separation and ordination made of those Persons whose calling peculiarly is holy and they thereby taught and obliged to be so That such Persons being made higher than the People by their calling though our Brethren in nature may be the instruments of conveying the Peoples Prayers unto God and Gods blessings unto the People Thus it was throughout the World Jew and Gentile before Christ's time either pretendedly or really and if Christian Religion allow otherwise we must in effect confess that we have the worst Religion which is blasphemous dishonour to Christianity and as false as its greatest infernal enemy Or that we are the worst of Men which is intolerable shame to our selves and therefore to be disowned and detested in heart and deed Let any favourer of these intruders name if they can but one true and sound Doctrine which any one party dissenting from the Church of England hath recommended to the World which was not before sufficiently and solidly taught and proved by lawful Pastors But who can number the dangerous errors which have been multiplied and spread abroad by these dissenters Heresies and Schismes abroad and at home have invaded the vnity peace and prosperity of almost all the reformed Churches to the extream hazard of the Christian Faith to the introducing Sedition in State Schisme in Church darkness and confusion in both While many pretend to strive for the Truth how do they darken their own understandings as well as others with tumult and clamor wrath and bitterness amongst which truth is lost on both sides as well as Charity They write and fight as they say for the Truth but Truth and Love are slain in the quarrel and prest to death is it were in a throng whilst they that stand by as neuters laugh at both What good Christian can remember without sorrow and detestation the horrid confusions and dismal effects in Church and Kingdom which they have introduced and maintained The like whereof if not greater threatens us daily if God in his mercy overcome not our evil with his goodness As to their several pretences to piety and holiness what hinder'd or yet hinders them from living as godlily and as holily with thankfulness and honour within the Church to its preservation as without it and against it they pretend to do to its disturbance and destruction A Surplice and Hood a signing the Child with the Cross at Baptisme