the badge 't is the beauty 't is the blessing of the Church My Dove is but one saith Christ the daughter saw her and blessed her Yea there the Lord comâ—…andeth the blessing even life for evermore Exod. 36.13 Phil. 1.27 Zach. 11.10,14 Cantic 6.9 Psal 13.3 throughout 5. Vnfeignedly both as concerns the external management of your Confession and the internal minde wherewith you confess You may not corrupt the Word of God nor contemper humane traditions with divine truths or cunningly dawb over your own worldly ends or errors yea or Gods work and interest with the enticing words of mans wisdom This work must be done in demonstration of the spirit and of power As of sincerity as of God in the sight of God so should you speak in Christ 2 Cor. 2.17 Col. 2.18,21 1 Cor. 2.45 Alas for the old holy simplicity and sincerity of Profession which is swallowed up most-what in the sink of selfish policy though spread and shadowed over with several guizes of piety Christians look to your spirits as well as speech Be sure you speak the truth in and from your hearts Bring us forth your good things out of the good treasure of a good heart Psal 15.1,2 Mat. 12.34,35 Let your thoughts sense what your tongues speak That is the excellent Confession which comes from experience in the speaker who speaks what he feels and is usually consequented with choicest effectâ— in the hearers who feel what the others speak 1 John 1.1,3,4 Act. 4.20,21 6. Vniversally both as respects things and times with the limits premised You must never flinch till you have finished your testimony nor forbear confessing till you have finished your course but must fight it out to the last drop in the good fight of faith as ever you would finde that Crown of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Judge reserveth for his victorious Confessors who will not quit the Cause nor desert the Colours Rev. 11.7 2 Tim. 4.7 On with your spiritual armour you holy Confessors you and I in this cause abhor Civil gird them fast about you having the shield of faith in one hand and the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God in the other These are mighty through God to the pulling down of the strong holds of sinne and Satan Follow the Captain of your salvation who was made perfect through sufferings Love not your lives to the death You have not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin Behold Christ hath set before thee an open door A bold Confession will have a blessed Conclusion in an happy Conquest or an honourable Crown Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee the Crown of life Rom. 13.12 Eph. 6.11 19. 2 Cor. 10.4 Heb. 2.10 Rev. 12.11 Heb. 12.6 Rev. 3.8 2.10 7. Vnoffensively Give no offence no not in any thing or unto any man that the blessed Gospel be not blamed 1 Cor. 10.32 2 Cor. 6.3 Lord it not herein over other men as if their faith were to be limited by thy faith much less by thy phancie 2 Cor. 1 24. 1 Pet. 5.3 Be lowly and meek in your answers to them that ask you yea though they are adversaries to you 1 Pet. 3.15 2 Tim. 2.25 Set aside whatever matters or modes of expression may justly harden or provoke them and study to please wherein thou mayest profit them 1 Cor. 10.33 Rom. 15.2 Comport your selves agreeable to the circumstances you are in Others lose the benefit and your selves may lose the blessing of your Confession by an unbecoming circumstance oft-times therein Mind what they can now bear who are private men Iohn 16 12. and whose authority they also bear who are publick Magistrates That your zeal for God may be tempered with submission to Governours as it ought and so neither those not these may take any just offence 1 Pet. 2.13 17. Rom. 13.4,5 8. Vltimately for God 'T is the end specially of intention that puts the due estimate upon any employment or action Spiritual exercises without spiritual ends signifie nothing in Gods esteem Zech. 7.5,6 Hos 7.14 The true value of all Confession whether vocal or virtual active or passive is principally from your end in Confession not from the end of Confession finis operis but from your end in Confession finis operantis Whatever profession you make or persecutions you endure if your purpose and design thereby determine but in your selves in self-applaus self-approbation c. you miserably destroy the same as to your souls advantage and our Saviours acceptation because you therein make your selves your God your idol and manifestly usurp upon the throne of God and shall therefore reap nothing but shame and sorrow Ier. 17.13 16.10,11 Psal 73.27 See then that you do not spoile all at last with not intending God upmost Let your Confessions of the Truths of God conclude and terminate alone in the God of Truth If your ends be rotten you ruine all and abuse Religion Though your bodies may be burnt neither souls nor bodies shall be blest And though you may be killed and called Martyrs yet as long as Charity toward God was not your principle and the Glory of God was not your end you shall be sure to lose the Crown of Martyrdom FINIS
confessed I am not the Christ John 1.19,20 He did neither deny the truth nor detain his testimony nor defer it till another time but actually and openly acknowledged touching himself that he was not the Christ and touching our Saviour that he was the Christ the Son of God ver 36. QUEST II. What is it to confess CHRIST TO this I shall speak 1. More Generally then 2. More Specially In General I shall premise briefly 1. Touching the Object and then 2. Touching the Act or Operation with reference to this Object 1. The object of this act is Christ which I understand in its ordinary latitude not onely of Christ himself but of whatsoever carrieth his Stamp upon it that doth become matter of confession i. e. of Christ and all his concernments which he hath either râ—…ealed as matter of Faith or doth require as matter of Obedience In this sense the Apostle seemeth to understand this term in Hebr. 11.26 Esteeming the reproach of or for Christ c. Christ was not reproached by the Egyptians in his person to whom as far as appears he was not at all yet made known But these reproaches were rather in what he had prescribed and his practised in the Doctrines which as Moses well knew Christ had imparted and in the Duties which as he well knew also Christ had injoyned Paul sticks not to call the Gospel of Christ by this name Christ and Christ crucified 1 Cor. 1.23,24 Christ being indeed the Sum and Subject Matter of the Gospel that contains all matters of Christian Belief and Obedience Plainly The preaching of Christ imports the preaching of whatsoever matters of Faith or Worship are prescribed by and point us to him as their End and Author Acts 5.42 11.20 8.5 Phil 1 15-19 Hence the confession of Christ must import also the confession of whatsoever matters he hath so prescribed whether of Faith or Worship For your profession of him must be of the same latitude with our preaching of him and so extensive to the whole Doctrine contained in his Gospel 2 Cor. 9.13 1 Thes 1.5 ad finem Again the Words of Christ which comprehend all the Doctrines and Duties of Godliness are explicitely made the Object of confession together with Christ Mar. 8.38 Luke 9.26 And they that have learned these concerns are therein said to have learned Christ as likewise those that deny them are therein said to deny him There is so exact and close an union and connexion between him and them which carry the impression of Christs name upon them Eph. 4.20 Jude v. 4. 2 Pet. 2.1 Let me subjoyn that as Christ accounts those acts of charity done to or detained from him which are done to or detained from his Members Matth. 25 40,45 So he accounts those acts of confession as done to or detained from himself which are in declaring for or denying of his Matters 1 Joh. 4.2,3 2 Joh. v. 3,9 2 The act or operation before us in reference to this Object is to confess What is it to confess Christ This is 1 Exclusive of three things in the Negative viz. 1. Of Denying him and his Truths opposed to confessing Matth. 10.32,33 Luke 12.8,9 2. Of Detaining or withholding our Testimony whether by a downright concealment or by dissembling coverts 3. And of Deferring or delaying our Testimony till another time when it is of present debt and use These two are implicitely interpretatively and to their degree a deniall of Christ 2 'T is Inclusive of this in the Affirmative 1. That we acknowledge Christ and his concerns 2. Actually or in present and also 3. Openly or publickly i. e. not onely in secret between God and my own self but so as it may be to others sense and observation also So much 1. The Notation of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Confitebitur doth import 2. And the next words to confess do intimate it viz. before men 3. And that noble and worthy Promise of Christ immediately subjoyned does instruct us as much also I also will confess i. e. I will openly acknowledge him before the Angels and before my Father which is in heaven Mat. 10.32 Luke 12.8 But more especially What it is to confess Christ seems best explicated by considering 1 How 't is injoyned and 2. How 't is illustrated in the Scriptures last mentioned 'T is injoyned as a Debt ef Justice from us to him from us as his Inferiors to him as our Superior So that to confess Christ bespeaks such an open acknowledgement of him as includeth 1. His Rights both of Dignity with him and of Dominion over us 2. And our Relation to and dependance upon him 'T is illustrated by Christs confession of us which is not without the acknowledgement of our near Relations to him and of his dear Affections for us So that this confession of Christ by us implies likewise our publick acknowledgement of his nearness and relation to us and of our dearnesses and affections for him These things I shall sum up severally and as succinctly as I may I. First We are to acknowledge the Rights and Dignities of Christ Phil. 2.11 This is to profess our Faith of Christ and speaks the professed sense we have of him These Rights being of a large compass this confession cannot be of a little comprehension But they may be considered and are to be confessed with relation to his person and to his place and call ng 1. We are to acknowledge then the Rights of and appertaining to his person which was the subject matter of those signal and momentous confessions by Peter and John Matth. 16.16 John 1.34 6 69. Within this verge we may take in the confession 1 Of his twofold Nature Divine and Humane Isa 9.6 1 John 5.20 4.2 2 The transcendent Union of those Two Natures in one person 1 Tim. 3.16 John 1.14 3 His transcendent perfections and fulness John 3 28-33 Cantic 5 9,10 And therewith taketh in 4 His twofold state both of Abasement or Humiliation and of Advancement or Exaltation Phil. 2 6-12 That taketh in the confession of whatever appertaineth to his Conception Birth Life Death and continuing in the state of the dead till the third day Isai 7.14 9.6 Acts 10.38,39 1 Cor. 15.3,4 This takes in the open acknowledgement of his Resurrection Ascension Sitting at the Right hand of God and his coming again to judge both the just and unjust and whatsoever appertaineth to them Of which the Apostles and Primitive Christians were and we to our proportion should be witnesses Acts 10 39-44 2. We are to acknowledge the Rights of and appertaining to his Place and Office as the Anointed Christ according to the memorable and imitable Examples of Peter and of Martha Luke 9.20 John 11.27 This includes our open acknowledgement 1 Of his Anointing with a most diffusive Fulness both of Authority and Ability for his Place and Office Psalm 45. throughout And 2 Of his actual discharge of these Offices
give witness to him before the world to any degree of suffering must according to the copy which he hath left written out before and for them witness a good confession 1 Tim. 6.12,13 These are ingaged to a degree of eminence as respects 1 Their present entrance and this initiating providence That flight which is allowed by Casuists and by Christ himself to others that are yet free and unseared by Persecutors Mat 10.23 is denied those who are fallen into the hands of and seized by the Authority that persecuteth And it hath the Probatum est both of Christs own example and of the holy Apostles and Brethren who when they might have declined the cross and delivered themselves by flight yet did not durst not attempt an escape till they were discharged more immediately by God himself or by the Magistrates own act in whose hands they were held Mat. 26.52,53 Acts 12.7 16 37,39 2 The publick expectation from others doth ingage them likewise both in reference to his dignity and honour and the duty which they owe. Expectations there are from the friends of Chrâ—… whose hands should not be weakned or hearts grieved and wounded and from the foes of Christ whose hands should not be strengthned or hearts gratified and made glad in their sin and wickedness by these mens silence or waywardness 3 The powerfulness of their example addes to their ingagement and obligations powerfull 1 Upon the People of God to quicken confirm and comfort them and 2 Upon the persecutors of godliness to cool convince and convert them if these resolutely acknowledge and ad here to Christ to harden heat and harden them if these recede or apostatize from Christ 4 Besides the praise and interest of Christ is now eminently exposed in this example and by these expectations to open observation and so to honour or dishonour and this should be the earnest expectation and hope of these men above all others as it was Pauls that as alwayes so now also more abundantly Christ shall be magnified in their bodies whether it be by life or by death Phil 1.20 QUEST IV. With what kinde of Confession are we to confess Christ COnfession is say some of two kindes 1 Negative 2 Positive or Affirmative Whether they speak herein with that â—…tness as is to be expected is not for me now to examine who suppose they understand this term Kinde not in the more limited and proper aceeptation thereof but in the larger and less proper 〈◊〉 fly 1 The confession of Christ implies two things 〈◊〉 Negation that we do not deny Christ either vocally in words Maâ— â—… 70,72 or virtually in works Tit. 1.16 An Affirâ—…tion that we openly acknowledge Christ as hath been premised 2 Confession of Christ in the affirmative sense is as 1 Of different sizes or degrees of expliciteness and observedness so also 2 Of different â—…res or â—…innes 〈◊〉 I may use these terms in their larger and common notion with us 3 So there is 1 A formal or vocal confession of Christ by word of mouth 2 And there is a virtual confession of him by the works of a man Manifest enough it is that there are many such confessors in that catalogue of Martyrs Heb. 11. 4 This virtual confession of Christ is either 1 In an active way by doing for him ver 33 34. 2 Or in a passive way by induring for him ver 36 37. 5 And this again by induring either 1 the force and cruelty of the adversary ver 35. Or 2 flight and exile from our own Country which is made a degree of Martyrdome ver 27. 6 Again 1 There is a confession that sorts indifferently both with holy men and hypocrites both a John and a Judas an Ananias as well as the Apostles which in this regard we may call Common 2 And there is a special confession or saving such as is found with none but those who are inwardly sanctified and make confession unto salvation Propos 1. All these sorts and kindes of confession are due from us to our Lord Christ according as they or any of them may best serve his glory our own or others good and according to the several circumstances we are or may be in Phil. 1 20-26 Concerning this you may receive a more full account on the Seventh Question whither I must dismiss you Propos 2. As we would see what sort or kinde of confession as also what degree is due from us in the present case that is or may be before us The several circumstances we are in must be considered and compared with the ends of confession whereunto this act subserveth This Paul doth Acts 20 22-26 And by this you must be determined See also Qu. 7. prop. 7 c. Propos 3. All are concerned to see that their confession of Christ be special and discriminating and not onely such as sorts with hypocrites and holy men and women Their Salvation is concerned in it Eternity is at the yonder end and otherwise they shall but contract guilt and shame to themselves incur the loss of whatsoever they declare do or suffer miss the Reward promised to the sincere confessor and meet with the Recompence threatned to the unsound Hypocrites and Unbelievers Gal. 3.4 Rom 10.10,11 Mat. 24.51 Hence emergeth this Case which I shall briefly answer Quest How may we know whether our Confession of Christ be saving yea or no THough the matter of the confession may be and many times is the same in that general or common and in this special and saving confession and a Demas or Judas cannot be thereby discerned from an Israelite indeed yet the Minde wherewith the Motives whereon and the Manner wherein the confession is made which is consequenced with Salvation are far different Let your consciences then faithfully attend and answer these five Questions upon the Case First Is your Heart with it Professing of yea or Prophesying in Christs Name is but as a cypher without a figure and signifieth nothing to Salvation till the heart comes and gives value to it Otherwise our precious Saviour would never profess unto such persons I know you not depart from me ye that work iniquity Mat. 7.22,23 The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdome and his tongue talketh of judgement May not others do the same True but the Law of God is in his heart There is a copy within of what he confesseth without Psal 37.30,31 His outward expressions are answered by and with inward impressions The Spirit hath transcribed those Truths upon his heart inwardly which he utters by the instruments of speech outwardly 2 Cor. 3.3 Jer. 31.33 Heb. 8.9 Sirs 't is not the confession of Christ without you but Christ confessed within you that is the hope of glory Behold he desireth truth in the inward parts Col. 1.27 Psal 51.6 Secondly How is your heart in it He is not a confessor that is one outwardly onely neither is that confession which is outward in the flesh but he is the
frequently to the test and to the tormentors They loved not their lives to the death their liberties to bands and suffered joyfully the spoyling of their goods Rev. 12.11 Act. 20.23,24 Hebr. 10.34 What mean these subterfuges and shifting fetches that shyness and straitning fear which so hold or oppress you Come shew your selves men if not Saints Yea be followers of them who through faith and patience do inherit the promises Hebr. 6.12 III. Look you to what is past of your own selves Remember that time when you were without Christ Oh! How long How long did ye outstand his calls oppose his commands cause and concerns in the world oppress your own Spirits and offend his holy Spirit Brethren should not the time past suffice you should you not study to repair his honor and right holiness as much as in you lieth 1 Pet 4.1 Rom. 6 19. If you are indeed in Christ let your strict confessions now make some amends for your loose conversations then Though you cannot intrinsecally repair his honor you may and should extrinsecally Paul was not so eminent a persecutor but he willingly becomes as eminent a professor when the power of transforming grace hath once past upon him He had lived more adversly to Christ then all before his conversion and labors more abundantly for Christ then they all after his conversion 1 Cor. 1.5 9,10 4. § Fourthly look you forward Oh! how will the confession of Christ be reciprocated and rewarded How will the contrary thereunto be reciprocated and revenged I. First How will your confession of Christ be reciprocated and rewarded confesse him and he will confesse you confesse him on earth and he will confesse you in heaven confesse him before men in your day end he will confesse you before men before Angels and before his father in his day Mat. 10.32 Rev. 3.5 Luke 12.8 Plead his cause and he will plead yours vindicate His Name and he will vindicate Yours contend for him and he will contend for you and contend against them that contend against you Psal 35.51 Lam. 3.58 Isa 49.25 51.22 Sirs how would you that Christ should carry it towards you when he cometh in his glory Would you be cleared and confessed by him then would you that he acquit acknowledg and approve you then As ever you would be found on his side then with the glorified comprehensors in patriâ fall in with his side now amongst the gracious Confessors in viâ II. Secondly how will the contrary be reciprocated and revenged Deny him and he will deny you deny him before men on earth and he will deny you before the Angels of God and before his Father in heaven 2 Tim. 2.12 Mat. 10.33 Luke 12.9 Are you ashamed of him he also will be ashamed of you If you are ashamed of him and his words in this adulterous and sinful generation he also will be ashamed of you when he cometh in his own glory and in his Fathers and in the holy Angels Mark 8.38 Luke 9.26 He will admit no claim of theirs to him then who will not assert his claime to them now but will abandon them for ever with an I never knew you Mat. 7.22,23 Luke 13.27 5. § Fifthly look you inward I. First for this are all those holy principles from God imparted to you and his holy and pure Law imprinted within you Psalm 40.8,9,10 There is not one talent but is to trade with Holy faith hope love c. are all for exercise and imployment and so for evidence to the praise and honour of the giver though not for popular ostentation by the user All the fruits of righteousness are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God Phil. 1.11 True grace is compared to light to fire c. which are not only communicative of their vertues but carry a self-evidence Love and faith are not without their evident works and labour and become effectual by the acknowledging every good thing Rom. 13.12 Psal 39.3 1 Thes 1.3 Philem. 5.6 Can you then believe in Christ with your hearts and not confesse Christ with your mouths These two are connexed Rom. 10.9,10 Can there be hope in you and you abide wholly carelesse to render a reason of it when thereunto required and the object of your hope will be thereby also honoured 1 Pet. 3.15 II. Secondly upon this the holy presence and inhabitation of God is insured to you Whosoever shall believe and confesse that Jesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God 1 John 4.15 O sweet promise O the signal priviledge of sincere professors God and the godly confessour have a mutual cohabitation with one another a mutual inhabitation in one another Every new act of your holy confession will be a new advance in this happy communion Now ordinarily is the most soul enriching intercourse with God and the most soul-ravishing illapses from God even to joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1.6,7,8 Now it was that Stephen saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God And that he said to others Behold I see the heavens opened c. Now when the showers of stones like a storm of haile fell upon this holy Confessour who was yet full of the holy Ghost and of power Act. 7.55,56 III. Thirdly to this all those holy relations whereinto you are called ingage you You are his subjects his servants nay his friends his brethren his bride Who should witnesse to and for him if you do not You are my witnesses saith the Lord Is 43.10 Sirs you are neerest related to him of all the world May I not say to you in the words of Pilate Behold your King Treason of the deepest dye to say with those wicked Jews Away with him away with him and crucifie him rather then adventure to confesse him Iohn 19.14,15 Behold your master your friend that calls you not henceforth servants i. e. comparatively not so much servants as friends for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doth But saith he I have called you friends John 15.15 What! and yet loath to confesse him Where is the loyalty of a servant Where is the love and ingenuity of a friend Behold your elder brother one that is not ashamed to call you brethren though lifted up to the throne far above all principality and power Heb. 2.11,12 And are you ashamed to call him brother that yet lie upon the dung-hill In short Behold your beloved husband you are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones This is a great mystery How should your thoughts be taken up in expatiating touching his honour and your happinesse How should your tongues be tuned to the imblazoning of his excellencies How should you tell every one that asketh you in the language of the spouse Cant. 5.9 ad finem He is the chiefest among ten thousand he is altogether lovely This is my beloved and this is my friend O ye daughters of
Jerusalem 6. § Sixthly and lastly look you outward behold the spirit of glory rests upon you the sequel will be victory to you you are secured in your lives till you have finished your testimony and secured in your liberties so far as it may further your testimony I. First The spirit of glory rests upon you while you are vilified for your testimony If ye be reproached for the name of Christ happy are you for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you On their part he is evil spoken of but on your part he is glorified 1. Pet. 4.14 You may bind such contumelies to you as a crown of glory and as a Diadem of beauty T is a grace a great grace that is put upon you Phil. 1.7 Acts 4.33 Others curses do but contribute to your blessedness Here Christ Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you when they shall separate you from their company and cast out your name as evil and shall say all manner of evil against you falsly for my sake Rejoyce and be exceeding glad c. Rejoyce and leap for joy c. Mat. 5.11,12 Luke 6.22,23 II. Secondly The sequel will be victory to your testimony if not a vindication of your selves too Oh the succession of conquests which have been made down along all ages by the sealed confessions of the sacred martyrs What acclamations are there victory victory Now is come salvation and strength and the Kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ For the accuser of our brethren is cast down c. How overcame they By the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony For they loved not their lives to the death Rev. 12.11,12 True it is that the Christian may lose but Christ gains The confessour falls many times in the quarrel but the cause riseth by his fall And if it cost you bonds so Christ and his Church gave liberty nay if it cost your blood so these live by your death you have lain in prison and presented your lives in martyrdom to good purpose Farther it may be attended with your vindication also Philadelphia kept his word and denied not the name of Christ Therefore saith he Behold I will make them of the Synagogue of Satan which say they are Jews but are not but do lie I will make them to come and worship before thy feet and to know that I have loved thee Rev. 3.8,9 There were white robes given to every one of them that were slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which they held Rev. 6. Vntil the number of their brethren which should be killed as they were should be fulfilled ver 9 10 11. Let the adversary know they shall see and be ashamed for their envy to Gods people And such as cast out the holy confessors for his name sake saying let the Lord be glorified our Lord Jesus in his own time shall appear to the joy of these and they shall be ashamed Yea shame shall cover their faces which said unto these where is the Lord your God Isa 26.11 66.5 Mic 7 8,9,10 III. Thirdly You are secured in your lives till you have finished your testimony You are immortal till your witnesse is delivered and your work is done And who can desire to live longer that liveth in and for God here and hopeth to live with God in glory hereafter when he hath finished his work he had to do in grace 'T is said when the two witnesses had finished their testimony then and not till then the beast that ascended out of the bottomlesse pit overcame and killed them Rev. 12.7 They never fell till their testimony was finished O ye believers the year month week day hour of your end or death and of effecting their design is under a divine limit When our Saviour taught in the Treasury and therein to the very teeth of his adversaries so that they might have easily taken him in the eye of second causes and by wicked hands have slain him yet as full of enraged malice as they were no man laid hold on him Why what was the reason 'T is immediately subjoyned For his hour was not yet come John 8.20 But when that hour once came they forthwith laid hands upon him and led him away to Caiaphas and so to crucifying Luke 22.53,54 Fear not them then which can kill the body so as to flee or forbear thy duty For besides that they have no more that they can do Luke 12.4 they are under an almighty restraint in this also The daies and accidents of your lives yea the very hairs of your heads are all numbred Not only the essential or integral parts of his confessours but the very excrementitious are under the lock and key the care and custody of their Lord Christ Job 14.5 Luke 12.7 Mat. 10.30 And when you have finished your course and filled up your confession let the enemy kill you he cannot hurt you He shall but let your soul out of prison which is therewith immediately let into his presence who forthwith crowns his faithful confessours with a crown of righteousness 2 Tim. 4.7,8 Phil. 1.20,21,23 IV. Fourthly You are secured in your libertie too so far as it will further your testimony And can you reasonably expect or religiously endeavour more So long as liberty will best serve the ends for which you were made are maintained or new-made you shall be sure to have it i.e. so long as it will be most useful for you to serve God by it He ensured Paul as much Acts 18.9,10 23.10,11 26.16,17 And you may by faith warrant your interest in the same promises as far as concerns the same profession and your continued preservation will best promote the same ends The particular security or promise to Joshua is applied as of general extent to all that professe and imbrace Jesus Josh 1.5 Heb. 13.5 Nay the more eminently you keep up the life of profession the more indearedly will he keep the liberty of your persons as it may and will best subserve the same in a loose and perverse generation You have his promise Because thou hast kept the word of my patience I also will keep thee from the hour of tentation which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth Rev. 3.10 Away with your fears then and act faith The gates of hell all the united power and policy thereof shall never be able to prevail against sincere profession though they may sharplie persecute it Mat. 16.18 Nor Satan himself nor any his subtilest and strongest agents and instruments can touch either your selves or states till God suffereth it whose glory you are pleading for and whose Gospel you professe They cannot move one link further then he lets them out the chain in whose hands it is Rev. 20.1,2 Job c. 1 and 2 'T is true your profession may cost some of you a prison But your denial of him will cost you
in this one verse And he that fears sin as the greatest evil because most opposite to God his greatest good will not dare upon hopes or ensurance of pardon to incur sin or indulge it protection but doth with the blessed Apostle reject such an inference with abhorrence and refute it likewise by arguments Romans 6.1,2 c. Quest May we lawfully use the proper badges and peculiar characters of such as are of an adverse profession adverse to the true Faith and Worship of Christ when we may thereby preserve our civil liberty and secure our persons Though you may use a civil Badge or Cognizance of such professors as also that which is sacred that is common to them and to the Orthodox and though I could gladly in this perswade you to suspend your Christian liberty when it may subserve charity and to become all things of this nature to all men whereby you may serve the Gospel and save them as Paul hath done 1 Cor. 9.19 to 24. yet under pretence of securing your persons or serving others profit you may not scandalize your holy profession by symbolizing with or conformity to that peculiar service Those proper ceremonies or sorts of spiritual vestments which do character forth to or bespeak before others that profession and none but that which is alien from and adverse to the pure faith worship of our Lord Jesus This were indeed little less than to abandon the sound and hypocritically to assume a sinful profession to us Will you see 1 How it is reprehended by Paul in those Judaizing tâ—…chers and temporizers who in compliance to the Jews constrain'd Christians to be circumcised only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ when Circumcision had now received an honorable burial in the Churches of Christ among the Gentiles and was retained by the Jews in opposition to the cross of Jesus Gal. 6.12,14 Peter also is for this withstood by him to the very face at Antioch because he was to be blamed for before that certain came from James he did eat with the Gentiles of the meats prohibited by the law of Moses But when they were come he withdrew fearing them which were of the Circumcision Paul therefore argues him of dissimulation which is twice mentioned in that he endeavored to secure his liberty with a semblance of conformity And did therein not only scandalize the Gentiles but symbolize with the Jews who upheld this discrimination of meats and that as distinctive from the Gentiles And Paul plainly professeth that he walked not uprightly herein according to the simplicity of the Gospel Gal. 2.11 to 15. 2 How is it restrained The Lord chargeth his people that they should not herein do like the heathens that were round about them that they should not round the corners of their heads they shall not cut themselves nor make any baldness between their eyes for the dead nor print any marks upon them for ye are the children of the Lord your God an holy a peculiar people to himself 2 Kings 17.15 Lev. 19.27,28 Deut. 14 12. The reason of these prohibitions is doubtless extensive to us as whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning Rom. 15.4 You may not then use proper Popish idolatrous Ceremonies or sorts of Vestments to preserve your safety among them more than you may use proper Paganish and idolatrous Ceremonies or sorts of Vestments to preserve your safety among these And might Saints have taken shelter by the use of such without sin they need not have wandred about as they did in sheep-skins and goat-skins Heb. 11.37 Surely if a woman may not wear that which pertaineth to a man as neither may a man put on a womans garment but all that do so are an abomination unto the Lord thy God Deut 22.5 Then much less may there be an allowance of such metamorphosing habits in Religion with acceptation to the Lord our God If the open discrimination of the Two sexes in the same kinde may not be destroyed by that then neither may the open differencing of a flagitious sect from the faithful in Christ be destroyed by this 3 What is the result You are secured by these subterfuges but 't is in and by sin and with snares if not upon your corporals yet which is worse upon your consciences You are secured but sinners are hardned The Jewish compliances to their idolatrous neighbors did but heighten their obdurateness and opposition to the true faith and worship 2 Kings 17.8 c. You are secured but others are seduced Barnabas himself as well as the other believers was led away with Peters dissimulation Gal 2 13. You are secured but who suffers God suffers in his honor the Gospel suffers in its ordinances the godly suffer in their names and spirits And whether this be a security for such to seek after as set God before them as their reward and his Gospel as their rule and godliness as the matter of their rejoycing Let Conscience speak faithfully Quest May we not lawfully accept of and use anothers Certificate that we have renounced our holy profession in this or that particular which is the butt of persecution when we may thereby secure our persons and do still retain the same principles Though self-safety is and should be dear to every man may yea must be endeavored subordinately yet not by sinful means or with scandal and ignominy to our Master In this Case it must be sacrificed to him or we are not saved but lose our selves Mat. 10.38,39 â—0 12.25 and by accepting deliverance on sinful terms and Testimonials we do but accelerate destruction to our selves and dishonor to him This was the un of the Libellatici in the primitive times who were censured for it by the Church That they accepted by themselves or others for self-safety such Certificates and Letters testimonial of adoring the idols while they did not adore but abhorred them Will you consider 1 How distant this is from the Commands of Christ Let Conscience judge impartially Is this to contend earnestly for the Faith once delivered to the Saints by seeking coverts from this duty or at least from the danger hereby under anothers sinful testimony Is this to be valiant for the truth upon the earth to call for justice and to plead for truth Jude 3 Jer. 9 3. Is 59.4 Is this to shine as lights in the world or to sit down in darkness to hold forth the word of life or to hold it back for fear of death or torments Is it to put your Candle on a Candlestick or is it not to put it out rather or at least to put it under a bushel Mat. 5.15,16 Phil. 2.15,16 2 This were deceit and collusion with men not confession to men And cannot be excused from an high degree of dissimulation with man of deserting your Mediator of base cowardise in you and of betraying his cause w th others And cursed be the deceiver saith the
spirit as Paul sometimes was Do not oppress or stifle it but satisfie such bonds and obligations of Conscience as he did testifying both to Jews and Gentiles That Jesus was the Christ whatsoever bonds or afflictions did abide him for it Acts 18.5.20.22,23 17.16,17 2. Set your wills to this work That our confessions are so defective is usually through the wills default which hath the dominion over the outward works and parts A willing heart will make a willing head hand mouth and members Exod 35.21,22,29 Psalm 40.8 And indeed the welcome Confession is the willing Confession Neh. 11.2 Judg. 5.2 1 Cor 9.17 First Set therefore the election of your wills aright If your choice be rotten your confession will never be right but a good-choice will infer a good confession I have chosen the way of thy truth saith David VVhat then Thy judgements have I laid before me I have stuck unto thy testimonies I will run the wayes of thy Commandments Psalm 119.30,31,32 They that leave the commands and Cross of Christ our of their choice at first especially when the commands are hard and the Cross is heavy their corrupt hearts being not yet changed Jo. 6.26.60.66 Luke 8.13 1 Tim. 5.11,12.15 See then that there be a thorow conversion of you to Christ or we shall never see a thorow confession of Christ by you And remember that the true Confessor is not charged simply to bear his Cross but to take up his Cross It should be the matter of his own choice and not onely of anothers cruelty Matth. 10.38 Mark 8.34 Secondly Set your intentions right As the end directs and is instructive so it draws and is impulsive to the use of all meanes whereby we may attain it Vigorbus intentions for God and his Gospel will beget vigorous indeavours for God and his Gospel They that seek God with their whole heart they also do no iniquity they walk in his wayes Psalm 119.2,3 When your intentions are actually right for Christ your inclinations will be ready also for confession 1 Peter 3.14,15 Acts 20.24 Do you intend the glory of God in Christ as your greatest business and the injoyment of God in Christ as your greatest blessedness and are the edification of Christians and the inlargement of the Church your greatest Bias in your ordinary converses VVhat then can impede your course or intercept your Confessions while these counsels and intentions are upmost and you may clearly obtain these ends by an open confession The place and power of the end in nature beside the precedents of pious ones in Scripture are a clear and full proof in this particular Phil. 1.20 c. Ps 73.25 ad finem Thirdly Set the resolutions of your wills aright Mens halvings in Religion arise out of half resolutions Let your resolutions be but constant and Religion cannot but be confessed 1 King 18.21 Hos 6.4 Away then with your Aguish fits and fluctuancies of resolution as ever you would adhere faithfully to Religion An holy resolution will never forsake the holy Faith nor fall before the unholy Idol no not for fear of the hottest Furnace and though it can fore-see no hopes of deliverance in second Causes But if liberty be not enough for his Lord Christ he shall have his life also Daniel 3.17,18 Acts 21.13 This soul will follow God fully with Caleb whatever it cost and so he findes the promised rest Numb 14.24 This Confessor hath sworn and he will perform it he will keep Gods righteous judgements whatever happens His heart is inclined to perform his statutes alwayes even to the end Psal 119.106,112 Put on then and preserve this holy courage and happy stoutness for thy Saviour Christ All people will walk every one in the Name of his God and shall the professer of Christ warp Nay say you also we will walk in the Name of our God for ever and ever Mic. 4.5 3. Set your affections to this work Affections are much-what the spring of action These you must ingage most firmly to God and God inquireth after these most fully in you Who is this that ingageth his heart to approach unto me saith the Lord Jer. 30.21 The more fixed your affections are upon Christ the more free and full will be your acknowledgements of and unto Christ Psalm 108.1 57.7 'T is true such affections as have evil for their object must be kept off from Christ but such as have good for their object must be quickned toward and kept up upon and with Christ 1. Keep off the former from Christ especially sinful shame and fear First Keep off shame As you would endure the Cross and witness a good confession you must despise the shame Hebr. 12.2 And indeed nothing but sin properly is the object of shame or in order to sin Others you see glorying in their shame and will you be ashamed of your glory Brethren it is no shame to speak do or suffer as a Christian T is rather a glory both to your selves and Saviour who is herein glorified by you and you also may glory in him and in it through him and the spirit of Glory resteth on you 1 Peter 4.13 17. Acts 5.41 Let the proud be ashamed for sin doth and God will stain the pride of their glory but let not the pious Professor be ashamed on whom the spirit of Glory resteth and for whom the state of Glory is reserved You should speak of his testimonies before Kings and not be ashamed Psalm 119.46 This should be your earnest expectation and hope that in nothing you shall be ashamed whatever you abide for confessing Christ in an afflicted life or inflicted death Phil. 1.20 Is not a glorified Christ ashamed to call you his in Heaven And shall vilified Christians be ashamed to call Christ theirs upon Earth far be it As you would not have Christ to be ashamed of you Hebr. 2.11.16 Mark 8.38 Are the perfect exercises of Christianity and injoyment of Christ the business and blessedness also of the glorified spirits there Certainly they do not call for or cause shame here Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of the Lord neither of his cause nor of thy call neither of his Captives nor of their chains 2 Tim. 1.8.12.16 Secondly Keep down fear Fear of sinful men and of suffering miseries As you would not strengthen faith suppress anxious and amazing fears which cause a snare and contract a stain upon your cause straitness upon the conscience spoil your confession and are a shame to Confessors Isa 8.12.13 Prov. 29.25 Christ therefore carefully preventeth these when he presseth this Luke 12.3 10 Matth. 10.26 34. Truth is Confessors of all others have least cause of inordinate fears who have the All-mighty presence of God to keep them and the aboundant promises of his Grace to comfort them Hear him I even I am he that comforteth you Who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die and of the Son of man that