no confidence in God 2. No man can doubt that the spirits of just and perfect Men now in Heaven do believe and wait for the redemption of their bodies therefore faith and sight are not so opposed as they cannot stand together 3. If there shall be a word in Heaven then faith but there shall be a word not this written or printed Bible but the substance of that Doctrine which is contained in the Bible and consequently all those Promises which speak of the Eternity of that glorious Estate reserved for Believers in He aven shall be written in their hearts So that if any ask what use shall there be oâ— Faith when now they enjoy the Lords promised Salvation I Answer they shall believe that God will perpetuat and continue those joys and pleasures that blessed condition to them for ever and ever 4. I suppose this is sound Doctrine which hath hitherto gone for currant among our Divines unless in that late Controversie whether faith or repentance hath precedency it have received some affront Faith is the root foundation original of holiness Doth the root wither when the tree and branches flourish more than ever 5. In the day of Judgment the Lord shall pronounce all the sins of the righteous eternally forgiven the sentence of absolution remission shall be openly and fully declared and confirmed as Divines teach Shall they nor believe what Christ speaketh 6. Why may we not say that as the godly in this world believe things past as the creation the incarnation death resurection of Christ so shall they in the life to come These arguments sway me to this opinion as most probable that Faith in God is an eternal gift abiding in the Heavens the some Operations of it shall cease in Heaven whereof there shall be no number The matter is not of such weight that I would contend with any man about it Let the Prophet judge and instruct him better if he orr who in points of this nature suspecteth his own judgment as much as any other and is more desirous to learn than to teach Lastly from this instruction its easie to gather that we must seek unto and rest upon God as well for the finishing as beginning of our salvation Should the beginning be Gods work the accomplishment ours so wise an Apostle would not have spent nor by his own example taught us to spend so many prayers for it This is to be marked as meeting with the Papists they will have God lay the foundation of mans salvation by Predestination redemption free remission of sins but afterwards they will not be much beholden to him they can now perfect the building themselves for they can merit increase of justice and eternal life so that in effect they say to God as a man sometimes to his neighbour when he would have this or that work done do but set me in and I shall do well enough But that doctrine which suffereth us not with the Apostle to pray while we live Lord accomplish in us weak and worthless Vessels by thine own power the work of faith and all the good pleasure of thy goodness is not from heaven but from men and the Devil Hitherto we have unsolded the special requests which the Apostle made unto God for the Thessalonians There now remaineth only the end why or for which he thus intercedeth with God and moveth him for the forenamed blessings and its double 1. Principal respecting Christ 2. Subordinate respecting the Thessalonians themselves The former is set down in these words that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you that is that Christ himself by this means may be honoured in you and by you in this present world As if he should say I do the rather beg these things for you because they mainly tend to the promoting of the glory of Christ among the sons of men which thing I am sure your souls earnestly wish and desire Observe from these words to instructions First Doct. 1 that the scope of Christians must be the glorifying of Christ The Apostle testifieth of himself in another place that he desired nothing more than that Christ might be magnified in his frail body Phil. 1.20 whether by life or death and professeth that he made this the only end of his life the mark at which he aimed in his whole Ministry all his actions and passions to bring glory to Christ For so I expound those words for to me to live is Christ and generally of all true believers he saith elsewhere Whether we live we live unto the Lord or whether we die we die unto the Lord. And good reason For First Reas 1 Christ is the Author both of their being and conservation From him they have life and sustentation natural and spiritual For by him all things were created Col. 1.16 do subsist and are upholden by the word of his power he gives unto every Mun that comes into the World a reasonable soul he quickens sanctifies the elect Feeds them with his own flesh and bloud 1 Cor. 1.2 2 Co. 5.17 presenteth stablisheth enableth to every good word and work holds them in his hand supports them by his grace as the High Priest the ruines of Israel on his shoulders without him we have nothing can do nothing would return to nothing Therefore nothing is more meet than that Christians should wholly addict themselves to his glory Secondly Reas 2 consider the several relations of Christ unto Christians Is he not their Husband Must not all Wives give honour to their Husbands Is he not their King yea the King of glory are not subjects bound to honour their King Is he not their Lord and Master ought nor servants to count their masters worthy all honour Lastly he is their dear Redeemer who willingly disrobed and emptied himself of his regal glory and put on the homely mantle of humane flesh that he might ransom them with the price of his own bloud Therefore they owe themselves wholly to him and stand obliged to glorifie him in soul and body whose they are both in soul and body For to this end saith the Apostle Christ died for them 1 Co. 6.20 that they should not henceforth live to themselves but to him that died for them Hence the living Creatures are brought in saying with a loud voice worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive honour glory and blessing Thirdly Reas 3 it s no small honour which through Christ is already put upon them and from Christ they expect far greater in the next life They are now partakers of a glorious adoption a glorious shining righteousness glorious graces glorious joys they are called to glory and wait for a richly glorious inheritance an eternal weight of glory to be conferred upon them by Christ Now shall not those that have and look to receive so great glory from Christ endeavour so to live as Christ may have glory from them But alas Vse
they are most subject to be poisoned with pleasures puffed up with pride surfet of prosperity let loose the reigns to all injustice violence cruelty in a word to break the bonds of all discipline promise to themselves impunity and become incorrigible while they powre out themselves to all licentiousness because few dare freely reprove them hence no doubt sprung that Dutch Proverb which must be taken with a corn of salt Princes in Heaven are as scarce as Venison in poor mens Kitchins therefore they have need to be extraordinary careful of their salvation and guarded with double diligence watchfulness zeal in all religious duties Lastly their lives are very exemplary obvious to publick inspection and imitation many eyes are fixed upon them their actions are powerful to command effectual to corrupt inferiours who are too ready to follow and conform to their courses and think if great men live wickedly they may do the same by authority Satanknoweth that by their exorbitances they not only lose their own souls but draw much company with them to perdition Examples even of greatest Princes Kings Emperours further confirming this point are not wanting David though entangled in many wars besides other incumbrances and employments not a few spent no small time in communing with God and his own heart as appears by this that 140 of the Psalms in probability are of his penning and composing King Josiah in the eigth year not of his life as some mistake but of his reign that is in the sixteenth of his life began to seek after the God of David his father that is to give himself to the private study of piety to reading prayer and such like exercises Who more devout than Daniel and Nehemiah two great Courtiers and Governours Constantine the Great besides reading and praying with his family did every day at set times shut himself in his closet and there converse with God by solitary Prayer Alfred King of England spent eight hours the third part of every natural day in prayer study and writing These things I have thus discoursed that your Lordship may see and others acknowledge I do not without cause offer to your hands and eyes a Treatise wherein the two main parts of religion faith and good life are explained and urged It pleased your Noble Father while yet he dwelt in the land of the living to vouchsafe me the meanest of Gods messengers that gracious respect which I could never have expected from so honourable a personage and your Honour also in those times to take notice of me The remembrance of those things hath emboldened me to this Dedication which otherwise I should never have presumed to attempt Wherein the Searcher of hearts knoweth I seek and aim at nothing else but the honouring of his memory who now sleepeth in the Lord and stirring up your tender mind to the imitation of his vertues What honest heart ever knew him and did not lament his departure as a publick loss or say this world which now wants him was unworthy of him He was a professed enemy of Popery and Prophaneness a true friend and favourer of all godly and painful teachers without exception or partiality receiving their persons and doctrine with such gladness and singular reverence as I must needs say to me was vvonderful and in persons of his ranck is rarely seen ready at all times by his authority speech letter to help and encourage them in their holy function What shall I say of his supported life in the slippery time of youth his religious care of constant frequenting Gods house not only twice on the Lords day but ordinarily on Lecture days and preparing himself for the use of the Lords Supper his sincere affection to the holy ways of the Lord and all that walk in the same which to any observant eye appeared by many not obscure signs and testimonies I shall comprehend all if I do but say by profane great ones who openly reverenced him he was secretly twitted for Preciseness and Puritanism And could the Epilogue of such a life be any other but a blessed death Though his sickness was violent yet how sweetly he comforted himself in the Lord and having foretold the day of his death rejoyced in spirit from assurance of being with Christ after his dissolution how graciously feelingly powerfully he powred out his heart in supplication before the Lord those that were present can witness and will never forget and amongst the rest I remember one an ancient and reverend Minister who professed to me that himself was exceedingly affected and refreshed by his prayer and that he hath seldom heard any Preacher pray more excellently more divinely Novv my Lord vvhy hath the Divine Providence which doth nothing in vain sent set before you such a domestical precedent Surely for your admonition and instruction that you might be warned there by to tread in the same steps and learn the path of life by example as well as precept Suffer therefore I beseech your Honor the word of exhortation As God hath made you heir of your fathers greatness so labour to shew forth an express image of his graces and godly conversation and think often you hear his voice thus sounding in your ears for by his life being dead he yet speaketh to you My son know the God of your father and serve him with a perfect heart and willing mind Macte nova virtute puer sic itur ad astra By the grace of God I have led you the way walk as I have walked that we may meet and enjoy one another in Heaven Repel with infinite loathing the whisperings of those witches who go about to perswade that though it s not amiss for Nobles to have a form of godliness yet forwardness in Religion is a stain and blemish to Noble bloud Such things are suggested by the father of lies to rob you of true comfort in this life and a Crown of glory after death For I assure your Lordship in the word of truth as true piety is able to accommodate Noblemen with the best Musick peace of Conscience the best Counsellor the wisdom which is from above the fairest and strongest house Gods protection the best weapons defensive offensive faith and the spirit of prayer the best attendants Gods holy Angels so it will wonderfully adorn and beautifie all other excellencies purchase them more true honour than an external accomplishment even the honour that cometh from God only a place and a Name better than of Dukes Earles Lords an everlasting name that shall never be cut off and at last put them into the possession of immortality and eternal life The father of mercies inrich with all blessings of heaven and earth the noble and vertuous Lady Philadelphia your mother keep your Honour from every evil now and ever season and govern your young years by his holy spirit that as you increase in days and stature so you may increase in all sanctifying gifts and in favour with
Totum Hominis OR THE WHOLE DUTY OF A CHRISTIAN Consisting in Faith and good Life Abridged in certain Sermons expounding PAVL'S Prayer for the Thessalonians Epist 2. Chap. 1. Vers 11 12. By the late Reverend and Worthy Mr. SAMVEL WALES Minister of the Gospel at Morley in York-shire 1627. The Second Edition With the occasion of Re-printing it AS ALSO A Prefatory Epistle from the Lord WHARTON and Sir THOMAS WHARTON his Brother to their Children LONDON Printed by T. B. for Benjamin Alsop at the Angel and Bible in the Poultry over against the Counter 1681. THe Reader is to take notice of the Providence by which the ensuing Treatise and the Epistle before it came to be reprinted so many years after the first Impression and the Reason thereof which was as followeth The Lord Wharton in Sept. 1674 being at Leedes and looking on the Pictures in the room where he dined among the rest there was one of Mr. Wales the Author of both A Gentleman there present spoke highly in his commendation he having been a neighbouring Minister in those parts of great worth and esteem and said he he dedicated a Book to your Lordship which I think I have in my Closet my Lord not remembring any thing of the said Book or Epistle was desirous to see it and finding in the â—â—â—â—â—le so honourable a character of his Lordships Father he begged the said book Afterwards finding also the Treatise it self so useful he communicated the same to his onely Brother Sir Thomas Wharton who both of them thought fit to cause the said Treatise and Epistle to be reprinted both in respect of the memory of their ever honoured Father and for the usefulness of the Treatise it self and they also thought fit to add a few lines of their own to their Children collecting from that word in the Epistle of the worthy and reverend Author That the Domestical Precedent of such a Father was for Admonition and Instruction of the said Lord Wharton that surely it was and they hope and pray it may be no less admonishing and instructive to all those who come but of the loines of the same holy and worthy Progenitor PHILIP Lord WHARTON and Sir THOMAS WHARTON his only Brother wish Grace and Peace unto their Children and their Childrens Children from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ through the Sanctification of the Holy Ghost Dear Children YOU have been acquainted with the Original of the ensuing Discourse and the occasion of its Revival at this time Your especial concernment in it is from the Character and Account given of the Life and Death of your Grand-Father our Father in the Epistle Dedicatory prefixed unto it and although we had not the advantage of knowing him our selves so as then to have had a sense of the things spoken of him he being taken away in our tender Age yet we have a full assurance of the Truth of the Testimony given in the Epistle following unto his Zeal Wisdome and Piety The known Reputation and Integrity of the Reverend Author of that Epistle with the time of his Writing of it being after the Death of our Father and its Direction to one of us then a Child from whom he could expect no Countenance nor Reward do exempt his Testimony from the common Condition of such Epistles and Dedications even when Written by other good men On this Account we do in the first place commend the Treatise it self unto your diligent perusal and do leave it as a pledge of our concernment for you in the things contained therein For being not designed nor contrived by us nor the Author for any such end the Tender of it being made unto you from that hand of Providence whereof ye have heard it ought to be had of you in especial regard It is a Treasure in and unto a Family to have such a Person as your Grand-father is here truly represented to have been on the Roll of its Progenitors And we have been taught that where Soveraign Grace hath made an entrance into any Family especially in a principal Root of it it doth not utterly forsake that Family at least in some of its branches unless the Covenant whereby it is administred be generally neglected or refused On this Occasion it is not improper for us to add what we each of us know and can with much comfort Witness of the holy and exemplary Lives and Conversations of our dear Mother and of each of our Wives from whom ye have respectively issued on which Account as the Apostle said of Timothy that he called to remembrance the unfeigned Faith that dwelt in his Grand-mother Lois and his Mother Eunice we can truly say the like of your Grand-mother and respective Mothers and we should rejoyce in nothing more than with the like Confidence to add with the same Apostle concerning you all that we are perswaded the same Faith dwells in you also as we hope we can say of some of you It becomes not us to speak any thing unto you of our selves nor of our endeavours to transmit this Priviledge unforfeited unto you It is sufficient for us which we must abide by that we have not been wanting in any means of Instruction which we thought might conduce unto your good and advantage You that are our own Children immediately are most of you in that State for Age and understanding as wherein you must answer for your selves We therefore leave it in charge with you that there be not an Intercision of the Administration of the priviledge and grace of Gods Covenant in and towards our Family by your Default Your Lot is fallen into Times of great Advantage on the account of the Light of the Knowledge of the Gospel and of great Disadvantage from the abounding of various Temptations in them it requires more then ordinary Diligence so to deport your selves that you neither suffer for abused mercies nor fall into a Course of sin upon urgent opportunities Remember also in point of Honour and Interest that no Families are more contemptible in the World than those who degenerate from pious Ancestors for in that case it is which God himself hath given that express Rule They that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed It is but a little while that we shall be present with you neither have we much more to do for your advantage than we have done Our principal Design now is to leave an abiding sense with you of this our present Advice We are not altogether ignorant of what hath been said by others and of what yet may be said in the way of Advice to Children by Parents who have a Care of their Temporal and Eternal good The substance of all that can be spoken in this Case is comprized in the last words of David to Solomon his Son And thou Solomon my Son know thou the God of thy Father and serve him with a perfect heart and a willing
grace vvill make no such conclusions It s the Devils Logick not Gods vvhich teacheth to reason from the certainty of Gods grace to the neglect of our ovvn duty Thus of the former instruction Our second Lesson from the same ground is that Godly Mens Prayers promote the salvation of others The hearty supplications of the faithful put up unto God for their brethren are good means furthering and helping forvvard the salvation of their brethren if this were not so our Saviour would not have taught us to pray that Gods Kingdom of grace and glory may come to others as well as our selves that others as well as our selves may know and obey the will of God sincerely chearfully constantly The Apostle would not have said I know this shall turn to my salvation through your prayers my prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved the Lord grant that he may find mercy in that day If a man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death he shall ask and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death For sometimes the prayers of the godly obtain for others the beginning of actual salvation that is conversion as our Saviours prayer for the Jews who crucified him took effect when so many of them were brought to repentance by Peters first Sermon and Stevens when Paul was converted therefore the Apostle willeth Christians to pray that Heathenish Magistrates may be turned to the Lord and come to the knowledge of the truth sometimes the progress of it that is the continuance and increase of all consequent blessings and gifts which are preparatives forerunners certain prognosticks of perfect salvation as fuller assurance comfort in afflictions spiritual establishment and the like Yet here we must know that we may rightly and soundly understand the point that Prayer is not a cause moving God to save those whom before he did not intend to save or making him more willing to save such whose salvation he formerly willed for Divinity teacheth that the will of God admitteth not intension or remission but a condition commanded and required in us which being fulfilled by us the Lord hath promised to shew and shed abroad upon others that grace which he had purposed before all time to bestow upon them The which doctrine serveth first to teach us what is the best office and greatest good turn we can do to any whom we love or whose kindness we desire to recompence as faithful friends bountiful benefactors kind parents dutiful children loving yoke-fellows Lend them many hearty prayers intreat the Lord ser them that they may be delivered from this present evil world their eyes enlightned their sins pardoned their hearts parged their feet guided in the way of peace beg these things for them If thou prevailest in thy suit thou hast done more for them than if thou hadst made them Lords of all that the Iberian Nimrod doth either possess or desire all the Kingdoms of the earth Oh the dignity utility riches of prayer a good man by prayer may do that for his friend which all the wealth and power of the world cannot do The poorest Christian on whom God hath powred the spirit of supplications may be very profitable to the rich helping him to that which all his store cannot purchase For by the Heaven-piercing prayers which ascend daily from the Altar of a pure heart in the Temple of his soul he may be a means of receiving him into everlasting habitations that is of saving his soul Secondly hence we must be stirred up 1. In our daily petitions not only to speak for our selves but to remember also the whole community of them that belong to God wheresoever scattered It s a great fault in Christians not only to omit this duty altogether but to make it as too many do a meer matter of form Indeed our wicked hearts out of sloth or unbelief will be too ready to say Alas wherein can our prayers be profitable to them whose faces and cases are unknown to us But answer them from this Doctrine our prayers may advance the business of their salvation and like a prosperous wind facilitate their course or set them forward with happy speed towards the Celestial Paradise How are we friends of Gods people if we deny our helping hand to procure in special sort we should be mindful of them that travel under tribulation and suffer with Christ or for Christ This duty is included in that general precept remember them that are in bonds The practice of it occurs often in Scripture The sweet Psalmist singeth redeem Israel O God out of all his troubles that thy beloved may be delivered save with thy right hand and hear me How often do the Faithful in the Psalms complain to God of the Churches distress and petition for redress Psal 74.79 80. Daniel and Nehemiah Courtiers both in great favour with the greatest Monarchs in the world at that time how mournfully and earnestly do they intreat for the church then in misery For First Reason 1 they are our fellow-members parts of the same body if one member suffer or be diseased will not the rest sympathize and seek the best relief for it they can if the head ake the stomack want meat the heart be pained the arme wounded the foot gouty will not the tongue the souls orator by speaking the hand by writing crave supply or remedy sure else they were unworthy to have any place in the body or receive life or motion from the head and heart Secondly Reason 2 they greatly need our prayers for their condition is both pityful and dangerous They stand as Gods souldiers in the very heat and heart of the most dangerous battle have not these need to be well backed by our prayers they sigh and groan under oppression and wrong have not these need to be eased and helped by our prayers they are in the furnace of fiery tryal Have not these need of the cooling comfort of our prayers if they should quail and start back whom the Lord hath now brought into the open field for the maintenance of his truth the enemies would insult Satan be proud of his victory Gods cause in danger to fall to the ground and many weak ones be discouraged Thirdly Reason 3 we may do them much good by our prayers We may knock their persecutors in the head it hath been observed that the faithful fighting against proud and cruel Tyrants with no other weapons but prayers and tears have given them blows after which they could never rise or recover we may move the Lord to give them compassion before those that afflicted them or to raise them up friends and fautors we may obtain for them deliverance as the Church did for Peter or strength to stand invincible under the cross Lastly our own hearts will tell us Reason 4 that were we in their case we would desire and expect this kindness from others We would think them
by the fore-named distinction Secondly Reason 2 this fulness is exceeding comfortable for it gives strong assurance of the special and everlasting love of God The richer a man grows in grace the more is his election evidenced and sealed unto him because this is the fountain whence all saving and gracious gifts as streams do flow the more he is conformed to Christ and so ascertained of Christs dwelling in him the nearer he draws to heaven and the life of Angels hath more certain testimonies and pledges of his salvation and lastly the less power shall any evil which can befal him have to disquiet his course damp his joy disturb his inward peace or remove him from his stedfastness Thirdly Reas 3 the more a man abounds with grace the more able he will be to glorifie God First in word he will be often breaking out into Pauls doxologies Psal 63.5 Eph. 5.18 19. When the soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness the mouth will praise God with joyful lips if the heart be filled with the Spirit the mouth will be filled with Psalms and spiritual songs of hearty thankfulness Secondly in works of obedience 1. Active As abundance of spirits in the body makes one more light and lively so abundance of grace in the heart makes a Christian go about Gods business more nimbly strongly with more chearfulness and largeness of heart more ready to do the good will of God more fruitful and abundant in all good actions 2. Passive As he that is well lined with meat and drink will best endure winter blasts and as the body or any part of it the fatter it is the less it is pierced with pinching cold whence it is that in greatest frosts our eyes never feel cold because the fatness of the white keeps them warm so the richer any one is in grace he will bear afflictions the more equally rejoyce in tribulations more sweetly and like the Elephant walk most steadily under the greatest load Lastly Reas 4 the best have some vacuity or emptiness in them and therefore stand in need of repletion for neither doth spiritual light so perfectly possess their minds nor holiness their wills that there is not place for increase and these heavenly graces are of all things in the world incomparably far the best and worthiest as being the very image of God coming from heaven and fitting for heaven excelling finest gold and costliest pearl a thousand times further than these excel the mire in the streets Is not a large portion of such riches worthy to be desired This reproveth three sorts Vse 1 1. Our muddy and base minded wordlings who thirst indeed after fulness but of Mammon of earthly and outward blessings they desire but what To see their corn and wine encreased and God abundantly bringing into their hands even more than heart can wish to have their bellies filled with his hid treasure their garners full affording all manner of store their bags full of gold and silver their hearts of food and gladness that they may be able to say to their souls with the rich man in the Gospel Soul thou hast much good laid up for many years take thine ease eat drink and be merry these are the things which the men of this generation admire this is the only happiness their Souls long to find As for the gifts of the Spirit the riches and ornaments of the Soul which make man an Angel among men abide with him in death and goe with him into heaven they are so far from desiring to be filled with them that they care not for tasting or being acquainted with them yea scarcely once think of them except when they are forced in hearing a Sermon Alas silly-wood-cocks whose whole life is in sucking the ground when you see a company of little children busie as Bees in making houses and banquets and yet if a shower fall or hunger pinch take themselves to their heeles and seek refuge or relief elsewhere do you not laugh at their folly Should you send your servant to buy in a market-town spices drugs wines and such things of special price and use and he come again laden with clay or peble-stones or should you see a Merchant undertake a long painful perillous â—â—stly voyage into the remotest parts of the world and return at length fraught with sand vile earth or such baggage as either he could not carry out of the ship with him or if he did would not profit him would ye not stand amazed at the mans madness I tell you before hand the terrours of death shall open your eyes to see and confess the case to be your own that is that all the study thought care of your whole life hath been consumed in heaping up goods which can do you no good in the day of wrath or else if your hearts in death be turned into a stone like Nabals which is much to be feared you shall curse your selves in the dark dungeon of hell and say Fie upon us idiots more brutish than the beasts of the field we never lived the life of men or reasonable creatures before God because in so many years we never began to mind or do what we were born to mind and do above all things In the mean time I wish you to consider that he cannot be Gods child who contents himself with Gods basest blessings Did you see one in a Gentlemans kitchin seeding upon scraps or the coursest food in the house you would not doubt to conclude this is none of the children but some scullion or one that belongs not to the family apply this to your selves and you shall find just cause to fear that you are but vessels of dishonour slaves that must not abide in the house for ever 2. Prophane Protestants are here to be taxed Ezek. 9.9 who are or strive to be full of wickedness and perverseness like Jerusalem of mischief and subtilty Act. 13.10 Matth. 23.28 Rom. 1.29 Act. 13.45 c. like Elimas of hypocrisie and iniquity as the Pharisees af all unrighteousness as the Gentiles of envy and wrath as the unbelieving Jews have mouths full of cursing and deceit eyes of adultery tongues of deadly poyson who in a word take the high way to be filled with the spirit of Satan As Abner said to Joab so I to these Know you not that it will be bitterness in the latter end When for every sugred morsel of sin which now goes down so pleasantly you shall receive a double portion of the sowre sauce of vengeance The more you fill your selves with the liquor of hell the more will the Lord fill you with the dregs of the wine of his indignation and dash you like bottles one against another the more pains you take to fulfil the lusts of the flesh the more you fill up the measure of your sins and take heed lest God accomplish his fury and fulfil the good pleasure of his justice in your condemnation 3.
it appears that his doubts are the enemies of Gods Word and Spirit and therefore not the eccho of the word nor the just verdict of conscience speaking from the word but the voice of Satan Secondly a believer finding doubts in himself is exceedingly grieved for them bewails want of Faith as his greatest misery willingly accuseth and condemneth himself for these pangs and qualms of unbelief as for greatest sins they are very burthensome to him chiefly because they rob God of his glory and make him less cheerful in rendring unto the Lord praises and other obedience But the hypocrites doubts trouble him and he wisheth to be rid of them only because they are attended with inward disquietness terrours fears of the Lords judgments not because they are sins against God whereof this is a sufficient proof that if he enjoy a kind of peace and perswasion that he is the Child of God though his evil heart full of infidelity secretly deny or call into question an hundred things in divinity one after another he relents not he is not troubled tush these are but flitting motions nor worthy check or controlement Thirdly doubts drive a true believer first to God by earnest requests for the discovering and diminishing of his unbelief strengthening of his faith then into himself by a more exact and impartial scrutiny of his own Conscience and estate they quicken him unweariedly and constantly to go forward in resisting and subduing them in seeking and lamenting after Christ and never to sit down till God have brought his heart into the harbour of a stablished assurance till he see feel and as it were handle eternal life in himself till he know Christ and all the treasures of grace and glory in Christ as undoubtedly to be his own as his apparel money house lands till the Holy Ghost have signed sealed and delivered the heavenly inheritance in the Court of conscience in a word till he have gotten such a faith as can glory in God insult over Hell Death Devil Sin the Curse of the Law and out-wrestle all difficulties but the unsound Christian either builds himself a Castle of imaginary assurance upon the sand of false grounds or lies under his doubts irrecoverably giving over seeking before he receive a sound certain and satisfactory answer from the Lord either out of sloth or despair of obtaining or because he hath learned the strongest faith is subject to some faintings and therefore judgeth it needless to strive any longer or labour for more faith seeing that which he hath will serve his turn and it s no otherwise with him than it is with a true Christian Thirdly We must hence be admonished not to disdain or condemn such Christians as sometimes bewray some feebleness of faith in word or work Thou seest or hearest thy brother is impatient in affliction fears poverty shrinks at the approach of persecution or death is discouraged by reproaches and slanders not so zealous and valiant in maintaining Gods glory and cause as it were to be wished for fear of the wrath of Man omits some necessary good defiles himself with the doing of some evil do not now think or say such a one is a faithless temporizer take heed of such judgment lest thou be judged seeing the truly faithful have done as much thou shalt do well to be sparing in thy censures till thou canst shew a perfect faith Fourthly Vse 4 see the reason why sometimes the lives of very godly men are blemished with some faults Alas the tree is imperfect therefore the fruits must needs be so for nothing can give that it hath not Though the godly by the grace of God may be free from notorious sins yet they cannot obey perfectly because they believe but in part Why then do carnal men if they spie but a spot in a godly mans face a frailty in his conversation though it be but a moat in comparison of their beams Why do they presently cry out These that make so much profession are naught they are naught all of them they are dissemblers they are not what they seem c. Absurd unreasonable men do you expect they should be perfectly holy when they are but imperfectly faithful If one of your children have a slow or unseemly pace by reason of lameness or debility in some member you think he is rather to be pitied than upbraided If you will not learn to judge mercifully of the godly when they fall and to impute their slips rather to the imperfection of their condition than the hypocrisie of their hearts and naughtiness of their disposition you shall but prove your selves to be haters of your brethren and he that hates his brother is a murtherer 1 John 3.15 and no murtherer hath eternal life abiding in him Fifthly hence we are taught Vse 5 that believers must not trust to the strength of their faith as is by the power of it alone they were able to stand against all blasts resist all temptations for though it 's an excellent grace yet it 's but a creature and imperfect too and therefore in sense and distrust of our own weakness we have need to cry to God that he would shield us with his grace and support both us and our faith by his power Lastly it follows hence Vse 6 that faith doth not justifie by any valour vertue dignity of its own neither as an habit or quality nor as a work but as it is a means or instrument of obtaining that for which we are justified it s not the gift of Faith dwelling in the Heart nor the act of believing as the Novellers teach but the thing holden and possessed by believing which is our Righteousness For that thing by which we are in proper sense absolutely and as I may say formally justified and presented spotless before God must be perfect yea expiate infinite guiltiness answer the Justice of God but this faith cannot do because it is imperfect as we see The second Instruction or Conclusion to be drawn out of these words is Christians must desire the accomplishment and perfection of Faith above all other Graces Doct. 2 The reason is because Faith of all Graces which exist in us is the noblest for excellency and of necessity it hath the preeminence whether we consider the Glory it brings to God or Profit to Man First Reason 1 no grace exalteth and honoureth God as faith doth For 1. In the cause of Justification and Salvation Faith utterly annihilates man tramples under foot all the glory of nature all goodness all privileges all works of man seeks righteousness and life onely from Gods grace in Christ when a poor sinner seeth himself a condemned rebel and traitour feels nothing in himself but darkness unworthiness wrath and death hath nothing to bring to God but shame and misery Faith leads him to the Throne of Grace and makes him bold to beg and expect pardon in Christs blood for no other cause but because God is gracious yea
is a bountiful rewarder of all diligent and faithful servants of his most beloved Son Secondly the members must follow and be conformed to the head Now Christ the head of believers first glorified his father upon earth and was afterward glorified with that glory which he had with the father before the world Therefore the faithful shall go the same way that is after they have finished their course of obedience in doing and suffering to the glory of Christ they shall be received into the glory of Christ and the Father Thirdly in glorifying the godly Christ glorifieth himself Relatives mutually give and receive honour The nobility beauty bravery discretion of a wife is an honour to the husband and the glory of the spouse of Christ shall fet forth and illustrate the glory of Christ If any ask Quest what is this glory which the Lord bestows upon his Saints that honour him I answer Answ It s either present or future Present in this world a preamble to that which shall follow in the next is either more open and manifest or more hidden and secret More manifest is when God gives them some great and famous deliverance or lifts them from a base and mean condition to places of dignity or makes them to be highly reverenced and had in precious esteem even amongst those who are of a different religion and contrary disposition Joseph had great glory in the Egyptian Court Ge. 45.13 Moses was very great in the sight of Pharoahs servants and the people of Egypt David honourable in Sauls house 1 Sa. 22.14 Mordecai in the Court of Ahasuerus Est 8.15 More secret is when the wicked who openly despise vilifie condemn the godly are forced inwardly to justify them and to feel their own consciences telling them that they or no people in the world are in an happy estate and in the way of life Whence it is that sometimes we have known Mockers and professed Enemies of Gods Servants Puritans Men call them now adays in cold bloud or in the evil day desire their prayer wish to dy their death and commit to their trust most important businesses For the spirit of glory rests upon them which causeth the face to shine and imprints that Majesty in the countenance or conversation which makes their persons no less venerable and terrible to those that hate them than amiable to those that love them Future is that wherewith they shall be crowned in the life to come when every faithful person shall be cloathed in soul and body from top to toe with such glory as shall cause admiration in men and Angels and dwell for ever with most glorious company in a most glorious Mansion of which particulars I think it not fit to treat largely in this place it shall suffice briefly to have named them because I hasten to an end First Then it follows hence Vse 1 by the rule of contraries that the end of all such as either oppugne the glory of Christ or wholly neglecting it hunt and hawk after the glory of the World shall be shame and confusion Think on this ye proud vain-glorious men who leave no stone unmoved that you may magnifie your selves whose only study and strife is to climb to the height of earthly greatness but if the name of Christ lie inglorious in the dust will not wag a tongue stir a hand or foot to lift it up Think on this ye persecutors of Christs truth ways sincere servants ponder it betimes and believe before you feel Though your excellency mount up to Heaven and your fame reach unto the ends of the Earth though all mouths should bless you all tongues extol you to the skies and all knees bow unto you yet shall you perish like your own dung leave your names as a curse which religious posterity shall abhor and detest as the smoke of a dunghil or stink of a carcase and in the day of the Lord if not in this life be brought to a shameful ruine and clothed with ignominy never to be removed Secondly Vse 2 This must comfort us against the shame of the world and encourage us patiently to bear the reproach of Christ Are we scoffed at reviled slandered by wicked tongues overwhelmed with calumnies and indignities because we are zealous for the Lord Jesus and do the things are pleasing in his sight remember the time will come when Christ shall abolish our shame and deck us with his own glory when both our persons names shall shine as the Sun in his brightness Do the children of this world disgrace us Christ will honour us Do we lose our credit with men for submitting to Christs Laws We shall recover it with advantage when Christ shall admit us to society in his own happiness to eat to drink and reign with him in his kingdom Lastly Vse 3 this should admonish and provoke us if we desire never-fading glory to be studious and zealous of Christs glory He that will neglect himself and all things for honouring Christ shall neuer want true honour tho the world think this the high way to shame and dishonour Here is a lesson for all ambitious spirits thirsting after renown Lo this is the path leading to the temple of honour O ye sons of the mighty the way to be famous and glorious is doing homage to the Son of God Exalt him in your hearts houses dominions and he shall promote you to greatest dignity Advance him by your Councils swords Authority and he shall advance you yea make you an eternal excellency Honour him in his ordinances ministers members and he shall make you high in name in grace and in honour 1 Sam. 7.9 The zeal of Gods house consumed David and God made him a great name like unto the name of the greatest men of the earth Do not think that pomp and Bravery Wit and Policy Worldly wealth preferment and power of commanding many sumptuous buildings stately tombes and monuments much less cruelty and tyranny shall immortalize your names no no its blessed conformity to Christ in true spiritual purity hearty subjection to his government and down-right resolution for his cause which shall embalm and emblemish your memorials that children unborn may admire the fragrancy and splendor of them and at last set upon your head an immarescible crown of glory Be strong therefore and do it for if you despise and pollute the Name of the Lord Jesus know for a certain that he will expose your names to contempt and make your memory not Deâ— 9.20 If you transgress against the Lord it shall not be for your honour the seed of evil doers shall never be renowned the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it The cause of this glory remaineth in the last words according to the grace of our God and of the Lord Jesus Christ the meaning is the which glory cometh and shall be bestowed upon you O Thessalonians and all other believers from the free favour and