before we die because Paul was or be rais'd to Life when dead because Lazarus was as to find Mercy upon a late Repentance because this dying Thief did Who that rightly understand themselves would venture their Lives in that Physician 's Hands that never cured but one of all that he undertook the cure of eat of that Food of which all but one that eat died turn Thieves because one of those many that did was pardon'd much less run the hazard of a late Repentance from this single Instance because at the same time there was an Instance of Mercy in him there was one of Justice in the other one sav'd that none should despair and but one that none should presume And yet how many are there viz. of the Gentiles to whom the Cross of this Thief has prov'd a stumbling-block as that of Christ's in 1 Cor. 1. 23. another sense was to the Jews at which they have stumbled and fallen into Hell and this great Instance of Salvation through an ill use of it prov'd an occasion of Damnation Some through prophaneness cast off all thoughts of Death and Repentance and some through Presumption the Thoughts of a sudden Death and early Repentance Some cast off all thoughts of Death Though they are hourly departing as fast as the Heavens can turn about Day and Night yet think not of it this day they have no thoughts of it nor to morrow They do not say as those Epicures Let us eat and drink Isa 22. 13. for to morrow we shall die no more than they did believe it though they said so but with them in St. James Jam. 4. 13. To morrow we will go into such a City and continue there a Year buy and sell and get Gain Or as they Let us fill Isa 56. 12. our selves with Wine and strong Drink and to Morrow shall be as this Day and much more abundantly This Day we live to morrow we shall live also and the next day too and thus in their vain Imaginations dream of an endless Life here eke out Time to Eternity and live as if they should never die or never think their Time is come until it is almost gone nor believe themselves Mortal until Death strikes its Dart into their Hearts and gives them their mortal Wound Some cast off all thoughts of a sud Death and early Repentance They know they are Mortal and such as must die and may suddenly too for some they see die so but yet hope that they shall die not by a violent but natural not by a sudden but lingring Death Upon which they presume that either they shall not die until they are old as if with Achilles they were only mortal in the Heel of their Age or if they do that then it shall be by a wasting Disease that shall give them a sufficient warning to prepare for Death to go out and meet it half way They believe that unless they repent they shall perish therefore intend to repent before they die but put it off as the last Work of their Lives in worldly Matters they act with Reason Matters of Importance they dispatch after the best manner and in the fittest time they send to a Physician as soon as they are sick bind up a Wound without delay sow their Seed in season they do not put it off to the time of Harvest gather in their Fruits when ripe quench a Fire as soon as it breaks out they do not stay to see if it will go out of it self rise early when to go a long Journey and desire Security when they lend out their Mony because they are mortal But when called to Repent then they conclude they are immortal or that they have time enough to consider of it and that hereafter may do well enough and never think of begging Mercy till they In articulo mortis have but one breath to fetch They lie on the River's side until the Waters are risen so high that there is no passing over and neglect their Cause until the Court is risen and God gone from his Mercy-Seat with a resolution never to return to it more A folly to be bewail'd if it could be with Tears of Blood They that would have their Watches go true must set them not by the Clock but by the Sun-dial and they that would walk regularly and safely must walk not by Example but by Rule for though Rules in other Arts are from Example yet here Examples are regulated by Rules The Rule we are to be guided by directs to present Repentance This Example of the Thief repenting secures none in the neglect of it for though he did not repent till he came to die yet it cannot be prov'd that he did desperately and wittingly put it off till then Therefore none should defer it to the last moment of Life nor say of it as Diogenes of Marriage when young That it is too soon lest they say as he when old That it is too late Nor think that they have time enough lest God leave them and then they find that Time is past Nor resolve that as yet they will not repent lest God say They shall not and they at last by sad experience find they cannot as Hannibal when he wanted a Will to conquer when he had a Power and a Power when he had a Will It is better to repent a day too soon si modo fiat than an hour too late FINIS
sent by the Father he Joh. 12. 44 49. did not step in as a private Person nor of himself take this Office upon him but came as a publick Person sent forth from God his Righteous Servant a Isa 53. 11. Son by Nature a Servant by Office to justify many God and Christ the Father and Son were one in this Work and therefore as no Sin dishonours God more than Unbelief a Sin that of all he will the least bear with because it dishonours the Father by dishonouring the Son not only as he is of one Nature with the Father but as one set apart by the Father for this Work so no Grace honours God more than Faith nor is there any that he so highly esteems of in that it gives him the Glory of all those Attributes viz. the Depth of his Wisdom the Omnipotency of his Power the Exactness of his Justice the Beauty of his Holiness and Greatness of his Love that so eminently appear'd in this Work and gives Honour to him by receiving Christ as sent to accomplish it Faith honours God as it approves of all that he has done in this great Work and God honours Faith as set apart by him to receive the benefit by it by receiving Christ the Author of John 1. 12. it Upon this account it is that Faith is a Grace of such singular worth and excellency as a Quality it has no more worth in it than any other Grace in some respects less but as design'd to so Manus mendicans noble an Office as that of justifying Sinners before God which no Grace else is it has and is preferr'd before all it being as necessary to it necessitate medii as Christ himself he as a Mediator and Faith as a Means of applying him for we are not justified before we believe nor by any thing but by believing Satisfaction made on Christ's part is nothing without Application made on ours Of the Nature of Faith Faith Is not a bare Assent it is more than that Is not Assurance it is less than that It is not a bare Assent Christ appears in his Royalty in the Gospel viz. as the only and All-sufficient Saviour the Persons are described who are interested in him and the Terms specified upon which they are viz. not Devils but Men nor all Men but Believers only A knowledg of and an assent to this Declaration as incomparably good and undoubtedly true is necessary but not enough for as there is no Faith where there is no Assent so there is no Justifying Faith where there is no more For Assent Is a Faith in common with all those kinds of Faith that are not saving it may consist with Despair and necessarily attends it and with the Sin against the Holy Ghost for as it is commonly understood it cannot be committed without it it may be found in the worst of Men it was in the stony ground in the Parable and in Simon Luke 8. 13. Acts 8. 13 23. Jam. 2. 19. Magus who was in the Gall of Bitterness it may be found in Devils for they believe and in Hell as well as upon Earth Assent is necessary and antecedent to justifying Faith and is contain'd in it as the Vegetive and Sensitive Soul is in the Reasonable but it is not that for that is but General Faith but this is Particular and appropriating that is in the Understanding only without any quickning Influence on the Will but this has an Operation there and is represented under the Notion Of seeking Christ Which implies diligence Psal 27. 8. in the use of Means Of coming to Christ Which implies the Mat. 11. 28. Motio est actio totius compositi Act of the whole Soul going out to him with Affections and Desires the feet of the Soul to find that in him which it has not in it self Of running to Christ Which implies Isa 55. 5. the fervor of the Motion Of receiving Christ Whereby it is entitled John 1. 12. Jus ad rem sequitur jus ad personam to all the Privileges purchased by him None can use Christ to their benefit unless they have him nor have him until they by Faith receive him It is not Assurance Faith in time may bring Assurance It does not Competere omni soli semper and often does and for a time it may not for it is seldom crown'd with Assurance until it is of some standing it many times ends in Assurance but never begins in it for it goes in Time and in Nature before it 1. In Time Faith goes first and Assurance follows â— John 5. 13. after first believing and then knowing that as the necessary Antecedent this as the Consequent for all must believe before they can know they do as they must before they can be justified by it 2. In Nature Faith is the Condition required on our part in order unto Life believe and be sav'd Faith not Assurance for if that was required then our Sins would be forgiven before we believed Reprobates would be damn'd for 2 Cor. 13. 5. Reprobation may be taken either in opposition to the Eternal Decree of Election or in opposition to Soundness and Reprobates for such as are either rejected absolutely or such as reprobate Silver as are cast off for the present Jer. 6. 30. not believing a Lie viz. that they are in a state of Life when they are not and all would be commanded to believe an Untruth viz. that they are pardoned Mark 16. 16. before they are Assurance Is properly an Act of Experience and not an Act of Faith which is a true Perswasion tho not ever a full one or an Act of the Mind only but Faith is an Act of the whole Soul it is rather God's Act than ours rather the Eminency than the Essence of Faith and relates more to its well-being than being if not then none belong to the Houshold of Faith but such as are assur'd when-as Assurance tho it many times accompanies them yet it does not constitute and make them so That Child which knows neither Father nor Mother may be as true a Child and as much of the Family as those that are come to perfect Knowledg and they as true Members of the Houshold of Faith that want Assurance as they that have it For Tho all that believe are justified yet all that are justified are not sure they are Then Faith and Doubts are inconsistent which sometimes they are not for they are not opposite to one another as Life and Death but only as Cold and Heat in remiss Degrees and may consist as Contraries in some Degree and do when those Doubts are accompanied with Shame and Sorrow attended with earnest desires after the Things doubted of with solicitous Enquiries and Endeavours to get them and with a full purpose of Heart to follow hard after God and cleave close Isa 50. 10. to him in a way of trust
time only but for ever The Throne and Bed admit no Rivals and Christ will be all or nothing a Lord for ever or not at all 1. Then they are much mistaken in Faith that think it is no more than a bare believing Christ to be the Saviour of Sinners without any conformity of their Lives to him To make the Conclusion more than the Premises is Sophistry to put Freedom from Sin into the Premises and Liberty to it into the Conclusion is the Devil's Logick the Premises are God's the Conclusion is the Devil's Presumption and not Faith to lay claim to Christ's Person without being 2 Pet. 1. 4. partaker of his Nature to cling to his Cross and cast off his Yoke to challenge a share in the Privileges offer'd and reject the Duties commanded to pretend to his Righteousness and contemn his Grace to trust to his Righteousness and indulge our own Unrighteousness is to reject Christ and not to receive him or so to receive him as that we shall never receive any benefit by him viz. No benefit by the Blood of Propitiation 1 John 5. 6. Rom. 5. 9. if we cast away the Water of Purification 2. And as much mistaken are they that think it an easy thing to believe it is but believing they say and that they think they can do when they please Let him come down from the Mat. 27. 42. Cross said the chief Priests and Scribes and we will believe but they were much mistaken for it lay neither in their Will nor Power to do it for they were faster bound under Unbelief than Christ was nail'd to the Cross nor could his coming down from the Cross have wrought it in them without a Work of his Spirit upon them Neither they could nor any of themselves can believe as will appear if we consider 1. The Opposition that is made against it 2. The Power that is exerted in the working of it 1. The Opposition made against it viz. By the Devil and our Selves 1. By the Devil Who out of envy to Christ enmity and malice to Us raises all the Force and Power of Hell against it of all our Comforts and Graces he fights neither against small nor great so much as against Assurance and Faith as knowing what a hindrance the want of one will be in Duty and how destructive the other will be to it for what is not Rom. 14. 23. of Faith is Sin One a Bar to our Peace here the other to our Safety and Happiness hereafter 2. By our selves Not only as to the things that are preparatory to Faith viz. Contrition and Humiliation which are both necessary but things that we are naturally averse to but as to the Work it self For We are naturally proud and would do something to merit Salvation To believe is to abhor our selves and to love another better than our selves and to love him for that in him viz. his Holiness which is contrary to us to hope in him that we verily believe is our Enemy upon the account of Sin and to love him too when he is displeas'd and angry to trust to him upon his bare Word and deny our selves for him to enquire what his Will is and comply with it tho' never so contrary to ours to do what he commands and when done to look upon all as nothing to hate our selves and become Enemies to the things we love to fall out with that which is as dear to us as our Lives and so as to part with it to be fed at the Cost maintain'd at the Charge supported by the Strength and sav'd by the Righteousness of another Hard Terms for proud Nature to yield to but yet must be done and are by believing for Christ's Righteousness alone is the meritorious Cause of our Salvation and will avail us nothing without the denial of ours We must go out of our righteous as well as our sinful Self when by Faith we go out to Christ 2. If we consider the Power that is exerted in working Faith which is no less than that which raised Christ from the Dead To raise the Dead to Life is an Act of creating Power but it was more to raise Christ than any other from Death to Life in that he was not only totally depriv'd of Life for a time but bound under Guilt having by imputation more guilt of Sin on him than any kept in the Grave the strong-hold of Death with a Stone upon it Mat. 27. 64 65 66. seal'd and guarded by Souldiers and all the Forces of Hell as it were upon the Watch with them to hinder him from rising and was not barely rais'd to Life but as a Conqueror over-powering that great Enemy Death trampling on it and triumphing over it Now this Power this great Power this exceeding great Power the supereminent vastness and working activity of this exceeding great Power and all in the abstract that was put forth in raising Christ from the dead this and no less than this is put forth in working Faith in us For we believe Eph. 1. 19 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the working of God's mighty Power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead But yet tho' difficult in it self and a Work that we of our selves are wholly unable to God has appointed to work it in us for there is a Promise John 6. 27. Ephes 2. 8. of Faith as well as a Promise made to it and Christ has receiv'd a Commission to enable us to it and when we seek unto him that which we are commanded to do by the Ministry of the Word we shall be enabled to by the efficacy of his Spirit That which is now God's Will shall 1 Thess 4. 3. then be our Work Of the singular Worth and Excellency of Faith It is usual in the Hebrew Language the Mother-Tongue of the World for the setting forth the Greatness and Excellency of a Thing to add the Name of God to the Word whereby the Gen. 23. 6. 30. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Sam. 14. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thing is signified viz. great Wrestlings and Tremblings the Wrestlings and Tremblings of God The Soul's Excellency is set forth by this it is called the Spirit of God not only in respect of its immediate proceeding from him but of its resemblance to him Explaining as one saith by the plurality of Powers in the Vnity of Essence the plurality of Persons in the Vnity of the Deity And no less is it the Excellency of Faith in that it is call'd God's Work John 6. 29. not only in regard of Efficiency but Excellency in that no Work pleases him more than this nor any without it Faith's Excellency appears in its Usefulness and its Usefulness in the great Benefit and Advantage we receive by it For by it 1. We have Union with Christ 2. We have Peace with God 3. Our Duties are accepted 4. We have an
the Promise of the Messiah as being that which was Abraham's Riches and Isaac's Dowry for Rebekah and it is the Happiness of Believers that all the Promises which are in Christ their Head Yea and Amen certain and fulfilled 2 Cor. 1. 20. are theirs for they are Heirs of the Promise and by Faith inherit Jam. 2. 5. the Promise and by inheriting are rich in Faith richer than any without it for they are all but Heirs of Vanity If the Grace of Faith is theirs the Privileges of Faith are theirs also 5. We have Victory over all our Enemies 1. Over Sin in the Guilt and Filth of it There was an Altar and a Laver under Exod. 30. 28. the Law the Altar for Sacrificing the Laver for Washing one for Guilt the other for Filth both typifying the double Benefit by the Death of Christ who came by Water and Blood by Blood to expiate the Guilt of Sin by Water to wash away the Filth of it And by Faith in him we have a relief under all our Fears against both 1. The Guilt of Sin Under all the stingings of this fiery Serpent it brings healing by looking up to Christ the brazen Serpent in whose Sides the Sting was left under all the guilty Aggravations of it which cause the Soul to swoon it fetches a Vertue from his Blood that expiated the Guilt and appeas'd the Wrath due Ephes 1. 7. to it which as a reviving Cordial brings it to life again I had fainted Psal 27. 13. unless I had believed Under all the Accusations of the Law it causes it to triumph in him in whose Condemnation its damning Sentence was repeal'd in whose Death its killing Power was destroy'd by whose Blood the Hand-writing of Ordinances that was against us more terrible than that upon the Wall of Dan. 5. 5. Col. 2. 14. Belshazzar's Pallace was blotted out so as never to be read more and removes all fear from under its Arrests by going to him the Surety of the New Testament not only as one able to discharge the Debt and passing his Word for it but as one that has made Heb. 7. 22. Rom. 8. 34. full paiment of it Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that has died 2. The Filth of Sin Our Sanctification is God's Will 1 Thess 4. 3. part of his Covenant-will and part of Christ's Purchase for he died to redeem from Sin and a Fruit of his cleansing Blood and by Faith in this Blood we are delivered from the Power of Sin as well as the Guilt from the Guilt by the Value of it and from the Power by the Vertue of it There is a healing Vertue in Christ's Blood to dry up the bloody Issue of Sin for it pacifies by the Merit and purifies by the Efficacy of it 2. Over the Devil The Devil the strong Man the Prince and God of this World an Enemy terrible to afright and strong to hurt bloody and cruel seeking to devour and fighting to destroy an unequal Match for us an Enemy too strong for us of our selves to contend with was by Christ the Captain of our Salvation fought upon the Cross the higher Ground and overcome the God of Heaven cast down this God of the World and brought him under his Feet He has conquer'd this Conqueror and led this captivating Enemy captive and by Faith in him we share in this Conquest and by Faith alone in him it is that we stand and make good our Ground against him in our Spiritual Warfare He was slain viz. in his Power not in his Person by Christ our Head who fought him in his own Person and got the Day His Weapons are taken away Quoad judicialem potestatem non quoad exercitium his Force enfeebled and his Power crush'd his Empire broken down his Authority taken from him and his Policies defeated for he is wounded in the Head but yet he remains as our Enemy still he is not troden under our Feet tho' he is under Christ's he shall shortly when all Christ's Enemies are made his Footstool then he shall be under our feet but not till then it will not be long before God as the Apostle says will bruise Rom. 16. 20. him under our feet but till then he shall bruise our Heel not the Heart but Heel the farthest part from the Head and Heart touch us he may but not with a deadly touch to try us but not so as to destroy us he is no Tactu qualitativo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more the Leo vorans and Draco terribilis but yet he has some Teeth left some strength to oppose some strength as an Enemy but no great strength for he is an Enemy in Chains a captiv'd Enemy an Enemy but not so cowardly as not to assault us nor yet so couragious as not to flee from us but not Jam. 4. 7. unless resisted Without resisting there is no conquering and without Faith there is no resisting this Lion will flee at the sight of the Fire of Faith and the force of all his Darts will be repell'd by this Shield for it is Metal of Proof The Shield cover'd the Armour as well as the Body and the Shield of Faith is not only our Armour but the Armour of all our Armour the Heb. 11. 34. Strength of all our Graces and the Grace in which our principal strength consists they waxed valiant in Fight by Faith and according to the strength or weakness of it we shall be more or less valiant in Fight and victorious 2 Cor. 1. 24. 1 Pet. 5. 9. by it By Faith we stand and if by Faith we stand the Devil will either flee or fall before us 3. Over the World in the Good and Evil Things of it 1. The Good Things Tho' these things in themselves are not evil yet they many times prove so they are no Enemies to us yet through the Corruption within and the Devil from without they become Materials of Lust and war against us he gets into these and by them into us as he did into our first Parents and overcomes us but by Faith we are antidoted against this Poison of the Serpent for through Faith we understand by Heb. 11. 3. whom the World was framed and how and by Faith we understand what the things of the World are viz. That they are all Vanity and as such Eccles 12. 1. not much worth our seeking For Things that are vain and empty cannot make us happy whilst we have them nor miserable if we have them not That they are but common Blessings Eccles 9. 12. the Gifts of common Bounty to Good and Bad may be given in Hatred and with-held in Love Since therefore they are no Signs of God's Love they deserve but little of ours That they will rather hinder than further us in our Christian Race disturb us in our way to Heaven and Mark 10. 23. make the entrance into it
difficult And therefore better lost than found That they are good in their kind but not the best things that it will be our happiness to live above them and our greatest delight not to delight in them Martha's Work was good but Mary's was better That it is sometimes necessary to want them and therefore never necessary inordinately to love them For In things of which there is no absolute necessity there is no great reality That inordinate Love to them is inconsistent 1 John 2. 15. with Love to God his to us and ours to him for they are to be lov'd only in him and for him Him we cannot love too much nor these too little That they will be but of little use and that to our Bodies only while we live and avail us nothing when we come to die it will then not signify any thing whether we fall under a great or small title die rich or poor as to this World so we die rich in Faith All these died in the Faith Heb. 11. 13. That the continuance of them is but Quae diuturna esse non possunt habent diuturnum tormentum short but the abuse of them will eternally torment Therefore it is better to be without them than to be made miserable by them That Riches may be found in Poverty Affatim dives qui cum Christo pauper and Fulness in Wants enough without them and more than they have in a Crucified Saviour who is virtually all A poor Believer is as great a contradiction as a dark Sun Thus Faith brings down the Market of worldly Things and lessens them in our esteem for as things appear to be so they are esteemed it draws a Cloud over this earthly Tabernacle and eclipses the Glory of it or rather shews that it has none condemns the folly of all that think not so and shews how much it concerns them that by Faith Gal. 2. 20. are crucified to the World neither insatiably to lust after the things of it nor inordinately to love them nor through discontent to complain for the want of them It is as much our Duty by Faith to moderate our Affections to what we have as it is to depend upon God for a supply of what we want 2. The Evil Things of it The Anchor is of most use in a Storm the Shield in a day of Battel and Faith in a time of Suffering Peter sunk in his Faith before he sunk in the Waters but Jonah when under the Waters in the Belly of Hell was Jonah 2. 3 4. supported by it and the Primitive Christians were at ease when tortur'd at liberty when captiv'd Conquerors whilst subdu'd and out of weakness were made strong through Faith bearing Heb. 11. 34. God's Trials with God's Strength and so may all when suffering for by this we know That no afflictive Evil comes by chance God as the Efficient orders and disposes them That Suffering is part of a Christian's Work as well as Doing They must not run to it before they are call'd nor from it when they are That all our Sufferings are nothing to Christ's the Cross not so heavy nor the Cup so bitter for We taste Love where he did Wrath. That our Sufferings when right for Cause Manner and End are Christ's as well as ours viz. for his sake and such as he is sensible of As God he knows them and as Man is sensible of them and quantum sufficit suffers in them That in all our Sufferings Christ is with us when Troubles are nigh he is nigh not only as a Sufferer but as a Comforter Israel had a greater Light by Night Exod. 13. 21 than by Day That the heaviest Sufferings are but light and the longest but short they may lie heavy but shall not lie long the Rod may fall on us but shall not Psal 125. 3. rest there The Viper shall be shaken off That all our Sufferings are attended with a good Issue The Cup is perfum'd by Christ's Lips who drank it off and the Cross sanctified by him who died upon it and shall sooner or later work for Rom. 8. 28. good All that suffered for him had ever a good issue in the end That Suffering comes within the Reward as well as Doing Christ's Crown of Thorns was an Earnest of his Crown of Glory and his suffering Mountain was his ascending Mountain to it and they that suffer with him are assured by the Promise to which Faith has an eye that they shall Rom. 8. 17. reign with him also The Cross shall be crown'd Christ overcame the World it was John 16. 33. 1 John 5. 45. conquer'd by him and by us in him for by Faith in him we have a perfect Victory over it in the Good and Evil Things the Smiles and Frowns Honours and Reproaches Gains and Losses Joys and Sorrows of it for by this we are carried above the Hopes and fortified against the Fears of any thing from it They that neither hope for any thing Nec spe nec metu from the World nor fear any thing have overcome the World 4. Over Death the last but not the least Enemy When Adam sinn'd Death took hold of him and of us in him he could never get free from that Enemy tho' it was long before he fell by his Hands Nor can we for we are all under the Sentence of Death appointed Heb. 9. 17. to die and must e're long fall by it for it is a Sentence not to be reverst Death will triumph over our Vita moriens conflixit cum vivente morte non quem mors fecit sed quo mors facta est peccato morimur non morte peccamus Aug. Bodies but by Faith in Christ we may triumph over Death have help at a dead lift from him who fought this King of Terrors and by his Death took away the Sting of it by his Resurrection the Strength of it and by his Ascension the Hope of it ever to conquer Gratias tibi agimus Christe salvator quod tam potentem adversarium dum occidiris occidisti Hierom. or prevail more he has weaken'd its fatal Power rescued us from its Dominion and made us Heirs of Life which by Faith we have a Title to and by Death a Way made into the possession of By Christ Death's Sting the Weapon 1 Cor. 15. 56. by which it kills is pull'd out and the bitterness of Death is past Thus Faith in a crucified Saviour is the spoil of all our Enemies whose Arrows have been sharp in their Hearts Psal 45. 5. and affords a strength against them beyond what all the Angels in Heaven or Men upon Earth can do When the Israelites saw their Enemies the Egyptians dead on the Sea-shore they sang a Song of Praise unto Exod. 14. 30. 15. 1 6. God whose right Hand became glorious in Power and dash'd in pieces their Enemies and by Faith in Christ all