line but this will not doe Christian Esau was rejected though he was Isaacs sonne and Ishmael though he was Abrahams sonne Justus non gignit justum gignit hominem Thy righteous father did not beget thee a righteous man but he begat thee a child of flesh corrupt flesh and bloud Thy godly mother brought thee forth under the Apple-tree there thy mother brought thee forth there she brought thee forth that bare thee This was the Jewes great brag that they came forth out of the waters of Judah and were called by the name of Israel and were of the house of Jacob Isa 48. 1. They call'd themselves of the Holy City and this made them stay themselves upon the God of Israel but for all this observe what God sayes to them v. 4 5 6 c. This was that which the Jewes had to boast of to the Lord Jesus Christ Joh. 8. 33. We are Abrahams seed and were never in bondage to any man how sayest thou you shall be made free They tooke it ill that they being Abrahams seed should be so much as supposed to be in a bad condition But observe how Christ takes away their brag in the 39. Jesus saith unto them if you were Abrahams children that is his spirituall children you would doe the works of Abraham But in plainer English ver 44. Ye are of your Father the Devill and the lusts of your Father you will doe Heare this you that had godly parents and your selves have no goodnesse in you Abrahams faith will carry none to heaven but himselfe your parents faith will want a way of conveyance to doe good to your soules Graft a sweet Peare or Plumme upon a wild or sowre Crab-stocke it will grow and yeeld a pleasant fruit the nature will be changed in the fruit but now take the stone or kernell of that fruit and set it in the earth it shall not come forth a Plum-tree but a Crab-stock againe It is thy case Christian thy parent was a naturall Crabstocke the Lord grafted grace upon him then he brought forth sweet and pleasant fruit worthy of amendment of life But now thou art his kernell come out of the earth thou art not come forth gracious but naturall Thy parents grace was by vertue of an inoculation not by nature Therefore to conclude this use let me mind you of the words of the first Gospell-preacher John the Baptist Mat. 3. ver 8. Bring forth fruit therefore worthy of amendment of life and thinke not to say within your selves we have Abraham to our Father Looke to your condition Christians It is neither your noble nor yet gracious parentage and descent will carry you to heaven think not to say within thy self I had a gracious parent Thirdly from hence we may be instructed what a soul-cheating principle Libertines build on that conclude thus There is no need of Repentance or faith or such holy and strict life if we be elected we shall be saved if not we shall be damned Suppose thou beest elected poore creature yet know thou art borne under the Apple-tree O turne not the grace of thy God into wantonnesse looke to find thy selfe raised or thou shalt never see thy soule saved It is true for the sinnes of those whom the Lord hath chosen by name to everlasting life they are decretally pardoned from all eternity and meritoriously pardoned in the death of Christ but still they remaine as offences to God and keep the soule under a reall obligation unto death till the Lord comes and actually and formally in justification acquits the beleeving soule from hels claime and frees it out of the Devils imprisonment Suppose a condemned man in prison the Prince hath determined to pardon him and some friend of his possibly hath purchased his pardon for him but yet he is in the dungeon in fetters in the Gaolers hand till he be actually set free c. So it is with every Elect Vessell Cheat not thy selfe therefore with such licentious soule-deceiving principles of Libertinisme I have done with the first Use of Instruction I passe on to a second Use 2 How doth it now stand every poore soule in hand to examine his condition whether he be not in this sad condition yet yea or no. Christians the weight of your soules hangs upon this Examination This was your and my condition Try therefore your selves whether you be in the faith or no prove your owne selves know you not that more more than nature is in you Jesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobates I have in this place not long since handled this point so fully that I shall at this time adde very little to what I have already said Only it lying so full in my way give me leave to speake a word or two and the Lord speake it to your hearts I will speake but foure words 1. Therfore know this If none hath done more for you than your mother hath done you are under the Apple-tree still That is plaine in the Text There your mother brought you forth there she brought you forth that bare you What doth our Mother doe for us she conveighes Nature to us from her we derive flesh and bloud and our naturall dispositions if thou beest nothing but Nature thou hast nothing of Grace But some will say this is a note as darke as the other To make it therefore so as to be understood by the meanest capacities we must understand that there are two sorts of Natures A more corrupt or a more refined sort of Nature All short of Grace is Nature 1. If thou hast nothing seen in thee but corrupt filthy nature That thy naturall inclination carries thee out to acts of prophane wickednesse and thou hast not so much as put a bridle upon thy wild spirit but letst it run at randome and carry thee out to drunkennesse wantonnesse lying swearing all manner of ungodlinesse This thou mayest be sure of thou art not raised yet out of thy hellish danger in which thou wert borne Eph. 5. 5. 1 Tim. 1. 9 10. Rev. 21. 8. Rev. 22. 15. 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. But secondly If thou hast no more than bridled and refined Nature I call Bridled Nature a kind of civility which thou pridest in that thou art not so debauched a wretch as others are It consists first of all in a Negative righteousnesse Thou canst say thou art no Papist no Malignant and perhaps as much as the Pharisee Luke 18. v. 11. I thanke thee I am not as other men are extortioners unjust adulterers or even as this Publicane Secondly In a Positive righteousnesse Thou canst say whose Oxe have I taken whose Asse have I taken or whom have I defrauded Thou tythest Mint and Annis and dost no more to others than thou wouldst be content they should doe to thee thou art a good Second-table-man keepest the rule of justice strictly Thus had he done To whom Jesus Christ said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One thing is
did it freely we buy without money or money-worth Isa 55. 1 2. 2. If you aske to what end hee did it It was his own glorie that he might get himselfe glory from poore dust and ashes that little thanke him for all this mercy declared to their souls He Predestinated Redeemed and Adopted us meerely to the praise of the glorie of his grace Ephes 1. verse 6. The end which he aimed at in Calling us was his glory Rom. 9. 23 24 25 26. If you aske me why God that could as well have been glorified in the damnation of poore wretches would chuse rather to be glorified in their salvation and bringing them to life I must run back again to the Fountaine againe meerly because so it pleased him because it was his will There wee must rest I shall now proceed to the Application of this mysterious sweet and precious Doctrine and it might be applyed severall wayes But I shall onely apply the consideration of it as offering you ground and matter First of Humiliation Secondly of Instruction Thirdly of Examination Fourthly of Exhortation Fiftly of Consolation Use 1 First of all for Humiliation Harke Christians is it so that thou wert so lost and undone that none but Jesus Christ could raise thee and hee hath done it when none else could and wil raise thee higher yet and this hee could not have done without taking thy flesh dying upon the Crosse suffering the bitternesse of his Fathers wrath consider then what cause thou hast to be humbled for thy sins 1. Considering that these were they put Christ to death 2 that by these since that time thou hast crucified the Lord of life 1. Consider that thy sins were those that put Christ to death Rom. 4. 25. He was delivered to death for our sinnes Me thinks every one when they heare of Christs Agony and bloudy Sweat of his Whippings Buffetings of his bitter Sufferings c. should be ready to cry out with Pilate Quid mali fecit What evill I pray hath he done Ah none Christian it was to raise thee thou wert dead lost undone he dyed to raise thee thou stolest the fruit he climbed the tree thou enjoyedst the sweetnesse of sinning and he for that was acquainted with the bitternesse of suffering He bore thy iniquity even thine and mine too if we be elected Certainly it was a great griefe of heart to David to remember that he had an hand in the bloud of Uriah that was surely the great transgression that hee complained of to be sure that heart-troubling sinne for which hee puts up that particular Petition Deliver mee from bloud-guiltinesse O God And questionlesse it was no small Trouble of Spirit to Paul afterwards to consider that he was one of them that were consenting to Stephens death Acts 7. 59 60. Chap. 8. verse 1. he afterwards repeats it with shame I was a persecuter Christian here is one murdered by cruell hands not an Uriah not a Stephen but hee that is worth ten thousand of these not an Abell yet his bloud troubled Cain all his life time but one whose bloud cries for better things than the bloud of Abell did here 's the Lambe of God slaine slaine by thy hands he was bruised for thine iniquities and his soule was made an Offering for thy sinnes Is it nothing to thee O Christian when Pilate was but about to condemne him his wife came startled in and cries Have nothing to doe with that just man and when Stephen charged the Jewes Acts 7. 52. for being the betrayers and murtherers of the Lord Jesus they apprehended it as a thing so hainous that they would not endure him beyond that word but were cut to the heart and gnashed upon him with their teeth verse 54. Christians there is none of you here but your sinnes were the betrayers and murtheres of the Lord Jesus that Christ that had such eternall sure and unchangeable thoughts of love to your soules Ah! how great were those sins which could not be remitted without the bloud of the immaculate Lamb of God Me thinks every one of you should sit downe and say Ah Lord that ever I should be such a wretch so farre to provoke the fire of thy wrath that nothing could quench it but the bloud of thy Sonne that I should throw my selfe so deep into Hell that nothing could raise mee but the bloud-shedding of the deare Sonne of Gods love You have had to doe with that just man Christians not to doe with condemning him but even with the vildest acts of Barbarisme were done unto him your hypocrisie was the kisse that betrayed him the sinnes of your hands and feet were the nailes that fastened his hands and feet to the Crosse the sinnes of your body were the Spears that pierced his sacred side the sinnes of your soules were they that made his soule heavy to the death that caused the with-drawings of his Fathers love from him and made him in the heavinesse of his panged soule to cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me O sit downe goe alone weep and weep bitterly for him whom you have pierced for those stripes by which you are healed 2. But secondly if any thing will move your soules to make your head a Fountaine of water and your eyes Rivers of teares Consider That this Christ you have crucified even since his death upon the Crosse for you When the Apostle St. Peter Acts 2. had made a long Sermon of Christs love shewing the Auditors what Christ had done and what he was he summeth up all verse 36. God hath made that same Jesus whom yee have crucified both Lord and Christ Now saith the Text verse 37. When they heard this viz. that they had crucified this Christ they were pricked at the heart This Christ my beloved whom you have crucified by your youth sinnes and life sins this was he that was crucified for you O be pricked at the hearts at this saying Was it not enough that he once was pierced scoffed wounded crucified for you but must you againe crucifie him and which of you doe it not daily Causinus tels us a story of Clodoveyus one of the Kings of France that when he was converted from Paganisme to Christianity while Remigius the Bishop was reading in the Gospell concerning the Passion of our Saviour and the abuses he suffered from Judas and the rest of the Jewes he brake out into these words If I had been there with my Frenchmen I would have cut all their throats In the meane time not considering that by his daily sins he did as much as they had done Which of us is not condemning the crucifiers of Christ for their cruelty and in the meane time we condemne not our selves who by our daily sinnes make him to bleed againe afresh Ah let us judge our selves and sit downe and mourne we are they that have added to Christs bonds that have increased his wounds and the pangs of his grieved soule
thee 2. Thee that wert as low as others Adam left thee as deep in hell as any reprobate there Loe here the infinitenesse of free grace Two were in the same house yea grinding at the same mill of iniquity and thou art taken and the other is left possibly thou wert in thy wildest youth seeming to ride faster to hell than the other were that were thy brethren friends and acquaintance yet the Lord hath raised thee and let the others lye wallowing in their bloud he hath not said to them live 3. Thee that wert his Enemy Was ever dying love yea love in dying extended to an enemy before You have heard of two stories one of a Grecian the other of a Roman paire Theseus and Perithous Pilades and Orestes that would have dyed for their friends each for another but hath any offered to dye for his Enemy Moses would offer to have his name blotted out for his people that were Gods people and which he loved but would Moses have done it for a Philistine yet this hath Christ done O love ye the Lord all his Saints 4. Thee that never askt it He was found of them that sought it not Alas mankind lay as well without a tongue to aske as an hand to help themselves and behold Christ pitied them and amongst them thee his love declared from Eternity towards thee had not so much cause in thee as a poore prayer would have amounted to he was not moved by thy sighs and teares but by his owne infinite love 5. Lastly thee that hast still Rebellion in thee Christ said within himselfe when he dyed upon the Crosse Now is my heart-bloud powred out for as vile wretches as any are and for those that I know will requite my bleeding wounds my dying love with new speares and thornes thus he knew that thou wouldst doe in the time of thy unregeneracie yea and after thou shouldst be called too Who lives and sinnes not Now Christian lay these things to thy heart meditate of study out this love and see if thou hast not cause to say My soule and all that is within me my tongue and all that is without me praise the Lord. But O remember Christian Remember Burnt offering and sacrifice he doth not require but this he requires that thou shouldst doe his will O say Loe I come I am ready to do it But more particularly let me point thee out some particular duties that the Lord requires of thee in a poor answer to his rich Acts of eternall love First hath not he thought his glory too deare to lay aside for a while for thee nor his Word and Truth too dear to pawne for thee nor his bloud too deare to spill for thee hath he valued nothing in comparison of thee O doe thou value nothing in an equall ballance with him be willing to deny thy selfe for him who in every thing hath denyed himselfe for thee Thy Lusts cannot be so pleasing to thee as Christs glory was to him Be content to leave them Thy Honour cannot be so great as his was which he left for thee and became ignoble in our eyes Surely when wee saw him we esteemed him despised smitten of God and afflicted Isa 53. 4. But it was when hee was wounded for our Transgressions and bruised for our Iniquities when the chastisement of our peace was upon him and that by his stripes we might be healed Thy Riches cannot be greater than his yet remember him O remember the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who though he was rich yet for your sake became poore that you through his Povertie might be made rich 2 Cor. 7. Thy life cannot be more deare than his yet he valued not his life for thee but powred out his bloud his precious bloud upon the Crosse that through his bloud thou mightest have remission purchased Learne hence Christian a lesson of self-deniall Be content to suffer for him who was content to suffer that he might raise thee value nothing in comparison of him This Lesson had Saint Paul learned Phil. 3. v. 7 8. What things were gaine to me I counted losse for Christ yea doubtlesse and I count all things but losse for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the losse of all things and doe count them but dung that I may win Christ c. ver 10. That I may know him and the power of his Resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death Looke upon nothing in an equall ballance with him 1 Cor. 2. 2. I determined not to know any thing amongst you save Jesus Christ and him crucified Secondly hath Christ entred into a Covenant and given his word to his Father and kept his word with his Father for you O then learne of him Vow your selves to him and keep the vowes of your lips Say with David Psal 116. ver 16. Ah Lord truly we are thy servants we are thy servants and the sons of thy handmaids for thou hast loosed our bonds Say with David Psal 40. Mine eares hast thou opened and bored them Say Ah Lord we come to doe thy will Christ kept his word with his Father for you Ah keep your word with him pay him the vowes which you have made Thirdly Hath Christ to raise you taken upon him your flesh O then Take ye upon your selves his spirit He hath become for you the childe of man doe you become for him the children of God Be made partakers of the divine Nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust 2 Pet. 1. 4. Your Nature was full of imperfection and weaknesse the divine Nature is full of perfection and glory He hath raised you be raised put off your filthy rags and put on change of Raiment Fourthly Hath Christ died that he might raise you from the death of Sinne and from the power of the Second death O then dye to sinne Col. 3. 5. Mortifie therefore your members which are upon the earth fornication uncleannesse inordinate affection evill concupiscence and covetousnesse which is idolatry for which things c. The Apostle Saint Paul presseth the great duty of mortification from this very principle Likewise reckon yee also your selves to be dead to sinne but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6. 11. and so on ver 12 13. Let not sinne therefore reigne in your mortall bodies c. Ah throw away the nailes that pierced your Christ Fifthly Did Christ rise from the dead that he might raise you from the death of sinne O then rise to newnesse of life The Apostle Saint Paul presseth this worke of Vivification also from Christs Resurrection Rom. 6. ver 4. We are buried with him by Baptisme into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father euen so we also should walke in newnesse of life and so all along that Chapter Sixthly Hath he
but a fained joy that the sinner hath a sudden short lived flame without any coales underneath to preserve it There is no peace to the wicked saith God and if no peace there can be no joy when the sinner is serious he cannot rejoyce his rejoycing is like the skipping of mad men that know not what they doe Thirdly Consider it is a starving condition The sinners soule starves whiles he feasts his body like a glutton his soule dyes for thirst when his body is overslowne with drunkennesse It is impossible the puffe-past of iniquity should nourish a soule Doth an Angell feed upon the earth doth a Saint feed upon hell The soule is of an Angelicke substance it cannot feed upon sinne sinne starves it Dost thou love to be in the middest of thornes dost thou delight to lye downe in sorrow canst thou endure to see thy better part starved whiles thou pamperest thy filthy Carcasse O let this deterre thee from the wildernesse of sinne and perswade thee to come out of it unto Paradise There First Thou shalt be in a safe condition Out of the feare of judgements out of hells gunshot There life or death will be either peace temporall or else eternall either grace or glory unto thee here thy soule shall be in a harbour if thousands fall at thy left hand and ten thousands at thy right none shall make the afraid thou shalt laugh at trouble when it comes Thou shalt be sure to goe to heaven either by land or water If thou goest through the fire thou shalt be sure to have Christ with thee Heaven is a security in all estates a protection from all Arrests if the King of glory hath a mind to sue thee thou shalt not be arrested like other men with a writ of wrath but invited to sup with him in glory onely by a letter of love and he will send his Ushers of glory to waite upon thy soul to the chambers of glory Luke 16. 22. The soule of good Lazarus was carried by Angels into Abrahams bosome you shall not live like other men haunted with the blood-hounds of wrath nor dye like other wretches that goe out of the world haled by the Sarjeants of hell to everlasting prison but quietly sleepe and awake againe one day in glory O who would not desire such a protection for himselfe such a security for his soule who would not throw off his raggs of sinne to put on Christs livery of grace when Christs badge upon his shoulder shall free him from all Arrests That he shall walke up and downe and nothing shall make him afraid Secondly Consider that Heaven is a place as full of joy as ever the wildernesse was full of sorrow and trouble of this I spake before O thinke of the joy of the Saints you children of vaine pleasure you mad-men of the earth that can dance over the hole of the Aspe and put your hands on the Cockatrices den Your false and flattering joy is nothing to the reall joyes of heaven There is joy like the joy of the harvest like the joy when men divide the spoyle The yoake of their burthen is broken and the rod of the oppressour O you that love your drinking meetings and dancing dayes that you would but love heaven where you might drink new wine with your Lord Christ where you might dance in glory and make all your dayes dayes of joy and every houre an houre of pleasure Thirdly consider that there and there onely is provision for your soule Christs robes is the only cloathing that will cover the nakednesse of it his flesh is meat indeed and his bloud is drinke indeed there my friends Eate and drinke and be merry there you may have wine and milke without money or without price O spend not your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which profits not Here you may eate that which is good and let your soule delight it selfe in fatnesse Here is a Feast of fat things The fatlings are killed O come to the wedding Why should your roomes be emptie in the day of the Lords Espousals You shall bee welcome to my Masters Table Now O now Behold he stands at the doore and knocks Lord breake where thou knockest If any man will heare his voice and open the doore he will come into him and sup with him and he shall sup with him O let me intreat you to pittie the yerning of your Saviours bowels toward you pittie the groaning of his tender heart for you pittie your selves if not your Christ and O come come out of the wildernesse of sinne into this wildernesse of sorrow that of a drunken profane creature thou mayest be a mourning pious soule of a proud carelesse sinner become a poore humbled paenitent that the world may admire Saul amongst the Prophets and Paul amongst the Apostles and thee amongst the Saints of Christ and say of thee who art now a profane Swearer and Blasephemer Behold he Prayeth Of thee that wert a filthy Wanton Behold he Mournes Of thee that wert a filthy Drunkard and Glutton Behold he fasts And may in time say of thee Who is this that commeth up from the wildernesse leaning upon her Beloved But Secondly Is there any before the Lord this day that is in any other wildernesse of Sorrow Affliction Temption Desertion c O leane Come out of your wildernesse leaning upon your Beloved First Is there any one here to whom the Lord hath shewne their owne sad condition too and yet hath not revealed the fulnesse of his free grace to them O leane upon the Lord Jesus Christ and leaning come out of thy wildernesse Beleeve and thou shalt be saved But here 's the hard taske to perswade such a soule to beleeve Consider but these few things 1 That now thou art in a capacitie of beleeving Povertie of spirit is the nearest capacitie of faith Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after Righteousnesse Now thou art weary Christ hath promised to ease thee now thou art heavy laden he hath promised to help thee Secondly Consider that thou hast ground enough to build thy faith upon Christs power and love are two Pillars able to hold up the weakest faith First Beleeve leane upon Christ for he is able to pardon thy sinnes thou shouldest blaspheme in thy thoughts if thou shouldest not thinke this Can infinite mercy be fadomed thinkest thou Can any one plead his underservings against free grace Were thy burthen farre heavier then it is cast it upon Christ for he is able to beare it Art thou thick darknesse he is infinite light Art thou all sinne he is all pardon Art thou altogether lovely why Christ is altogether lovely Secondly Beleeve because Christ is as much love as he is power he is not only able but he is willing to pardon thee free grace thirsts after thee Nay beleeve me thou canst give Christ no greater satisfaction then to receive his mercies Christ is with child
righteous with God to render trouble to them that trouble him we presse God with our sinnes as a cart is prest with sheaves it is his owne similitude no wonder if hee lades us with troubles to the breaking of our hearts when wee take such liberty to break his lawes I am not of their mind that think Saints troubles come not upon them for their sinnes that they come not as law demands for satisfaction I grant that they may come medicinally or meerly for the exercise of faith or patience or some other graces I also easily grant Whether wee may call them punishments or no though I see no solid reason against the affirmative in that nicety I will not dispute but this is sure enough If the Saint were not a sinner hee should not bee a sufferer neither in body nor in spirit nor in his estate nor his relations Death with all the appurtenances of it death both in the egge and bird is sinnes wages sinnes off-spring Saints by their sinnings by their inconstant and uneven walkings are causes of their own sufferings causes of their owne miseries A third head of causes for the Saints troubles may be the world And that 1. In respect of the incertainty of its comforts 1 Joh. 2. 17. The world passeth away and againe 1 Cor. 7. 31. The fashion of this world passeth away Job complaines that his welfare past away as a cloud Job 30. 15. Take what you will of the world it passeth away our friends passe away One generation goeth and another commeth Our prosperity passeth away Job's sunshines had a cloud came over them Riches take themselves the wings of the morning and flie away Now hence of course ariseth trouble when the heart of the creature is fixt upon a Relation and the Generation passeth the parent dies the husband wife child friend or what ever the Relation be it is gone Man goeth to his long home the mourners of course goe about the streets the affection remaines but the object being gone the spirit is disquieted the heart dissetled c. and so for other things Trouble followes of course upon the flitting and passing away of what the heart was let out after 2. The world is also a cause of the Saints troubles In respect of the ill nature of its inhabitants the malice of them Joh. 15. 19. Because you are not of the world but I have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hateth you The world is very selfish in its love it loves none but its own If yee were of the world the world would love its owne The world cares for none but those that are it 's owne it hateth Christ and all that claime kinred of him all that are in relation to him Joh. 15. 18. it hated Christ before it hated the Saints but hating him it hateth those that are flesh of his flesh and bones of his bones Eph. 5. 30. Thus you see various causes of the Saints troubles and so I have dispatched the third thing I promised you The fourth followes What peace is that that the Saint may have in Christ in the midst of this worlds troubles how is it in Christ and what paines hath Christ taken concerning it and how may the Saint get this peace and find it out in Christ and draw it from Christ To this I shall answer and first wee must enquire what peace is Pax est concordia Peace is an agreement say some tranquillitas ordinis a quiet of order saith Aquinas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because it drawes into an unity unio cordium rerum an union of hearts and actions say others tranquilla constitutio animorum ac rerum say others a quiet composure of differing spirits and actions Mutuus consensus say others a mutuall consent betwixt persons All amount to the same peace is a quiet composed frame of spirit amongst divers parties Now as there are many different parties in the world to agree and many different cases upon which agreements may bee so there are different sorts of peace There is an outward peace or an inward peace a peace with men and a peace with God peace with men may be either Politicall with Princes and subjects of different Kingdomes or amongst the subjects of the same Kingdome or betwixt the head and members of the same body politick or amongst men of the same City and Corporation contrary to forrain or civill warres and dissentions Or it may be domestick which is an agreement betwixt Husband and Wife Parents and Children Governours or Servants of the same family or more private betwixt party and party call'd pax sociorum the friendship and agreement of friends and companions c. All these now are the worlds peaces which Christ puts in opposition to his peace Ioh. 14. 27. Peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you not as the world giveth give I unto you There is a peace that is properly called Christ's peace It was Christ's legacy hee left it by his last will and testament to his Disciples and Saints hee distinguiguisheth it from all other peace whatsoever Now in generall this is the peace that the Saints may find in Christ in the midst of this worlds troubles it is Christs peace But more particularly what is that what peace is that that the world cannot give that Christs peace This is that peace with God which is nothing else than mutuus consensus Dei hominis an agreement betwixt God and man the Creator and the creature it may be considered in the root and in the fruit in the cause and in the effect in the originall and in the coppy 1. The originall is our Justification in foro Dei in Gods Court A peace betwixt God and the soule by vertue of an Act of Oblivion that the Lord hath passed in Heaven concerning all the sinners sinnes hee hath said I will remember your sinnes no more hee makes them as if they never had beene now upon the passing this Act there is an agreement concluded betwixt God and the sinner the differing parties are one the peace is made and entered in the rolls of heaven God looks upon the sinner no more as his enemy but as his sonne daughter friend in the nearest relation to him From hence ariseth 2. A piece of conscience which is nothing else but the agreement of the sinner within himselfe Conscience that is Gods agent in the soule proclaims no more warre bids no more defiance the man is at peace with himselfe hee dare say to himselfe conscience is it peace and his conscience shall make him answer it is peace Now this peace is but the sealing up of the other in the court of the mans own bosome A coppy of the other taken out by faith according to that Rom. 5. 1. Beeing justified by faith wee have peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ this is also Christ's peace Now this peace with God whether considered in the originall
5 6 11 12. numbred with the transgressors that bare the sinne of many and made intercession for the transgressor That same Christ is he that bore my griefs and carried my sorrowes that was smitten of God and afflicted that was wounded for my transgressions and bruised for mine iniquities the chastisement of my peace was upon him and by his stripes I am healed When he looks upon himselfe as a daily backslider renewing his sins as the dayes of his life and the mercies of his dayes are increased and is ready to swoone in these sad thoughts the name of Christ is a cordiall againe Ah! saith the soule that same Christ is that righteous one that is my advocate 1 Joh. 2. 1. with the Father and makes intercession for me When hee looks upon himselfe as unfit to doe any duty and upon all his prayers as poore livelesse heartlesse duties and considers the deadnesse dulnesse distraction vanity that constantly accompanies him and is ready to swoone in the thoughts of this the naming of Christ is a cordiall to him againe Ah! saith the Christian that is he that is the Angel that stands at the Altar having a golden Censer and to him there is given much incence that he should offer it up with the Prayers of all Saints upon the golden Altar which is before the throne Rev. 8. 3. Thus now try Christian whether thou hast tasted of the fruit of the Apple-tree is Jesus Christ a Cordiall to thy soule in soule-swoonings 3. The apple is Nutritive Eaten moderately and seasonably it affords nourishment and maintaines life and strength This is a plain consequence from the other were it not nutritive it would not be cordiall Try thy selfe by this Christian whether Christ be in thee yea or no If he be thou derivest strength from him and he maintaineth spiritual life in thee Observe that place Joh. 4. v. 14. Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up to everlasting life Dost thou find that thy heart is growing that by a strength derived from Jesus Christ thou walkest and goest on from strength to strength Doest thou find that from a digestion of Jesus Christ's death resurrection and Ascension the fruits that grow upon that Apple-tree of free grace thou gettest strength against thy Corruptions against the Devels temptations that upon thy tasting of Christ thou growest in grace when thou tastest him afresh in the Sacrament if thou hast a part in him thou wilt find that he is Nutritive to thy soul thou wilt quicken thy life and increase thy strength by all the ordinances which hold out and set forth Jesus Christ unto thy soule God sayes that those that are of cleane hands shall grow stronger and stronger And that the Righteous shall grow up like the calves in the stall which grow apace and fat Nay thou wilt find not only a growth but that thou growest from that Nourishment that Christ Jesus affords thy soule that thou walkest in his strength and that all the strength of thy soule is purely derived from him not from thy owne indeavours and walkings Try therefore thy heart Christian if thou hast eaten of the Apples thou wilt find them Nutritive it will not be like the swallowing of a dry stone or stick that have no nourishing quality in them Lastly the Apple Eaten is diffusive the Vertue and Nutritive or comforting quality and juce of it diffuseth it selfe into all the body If thou hast tasted of Jesus Christ and hast swallowed the Apples of free grace the vertue of them diffuseth it selfe into thy whole soule and body Grace is in every veine of thee There is something of Jesus Christ in thy eyes face tongue hands and abundance of him in thy heart Thy head is full of thoughts of Christ and plottings and designes for Christ The wantonnes of thy eye is restrained by the law of Christ the vanity of thy tongue is taken away and the Lord hath made thee one of a pure lanquage thy hand is awed by Christ that it dare not stretch forth it selfe to doe any iniquity thy feet are guided by Christ His word is a light unto thy feet and a lanthorn unto thy paths And now for thy soule and inward man thy Understanding is full of the knowledge of Jesus Christ Yea thou hast determined with thy selfe to know nothing but Christ and him crucified Thou seest abundance of Christ in the rich dispensations of free and infinite grace Thy Will hath taken the oath of Allegeance to Jesus Christ Thy will is subordinated to his his will is thy law and thy will Thou art ready to do his will or suffer his will Thy Affections are wholly carried out to Christ him thou lovest desirest delightest in above all things in the world whatsoever In short It makes thee to present thy body as a living Sacrifice holy acceptable unto God this thou judgest thy reasonable service Thou art not conformed to the world but thou art transformed by the renewing of thy mind that thou mayest try and prove what that good and acceptable and perfect will of thy God is Rom. 12. 1. 2. Is it thus now with thee Christian is the vertue of the Apple thus diffused throughout thy whole Soule then thou mayest be of good comfort So I have done with the second note of Triall If thou hast not tasted of the fruit of the Apple-tree thou art yet but under it 3. A third note of Triall may be this Thou mayest be sure thou couldst not pluck and eate of the fruit of the Apple-tree without an hand to reach and a mouth to eate Christ is the Apple-tree faith is the hand without faith it is impossible to please God saith the Appostle to the Hebrewes He that beleeveth not is condemned already Therefore the Apostle 2 Cor. 13. 5. sayes Examine your selves whether you be in the faith or no prove your selves And this goes before the next words Know yee not that Christ is in you except yee be reprobates Christ is in you except yee bee reprobates that is his position Now if you would know whether Christ bee in you or no you must examine whether you bee in the faith or no. In Scripture you shall frequently finde the worke of faith set downe as the Action of the feet comming to Christ Come unto me all yee Joh. 6. 35 37 45. that are weary and heavy laden who so commeth to mee hath everlasting life c. As the Action of the hand receiving Jesus Christ as the Action of the mouth eating the flesh and drinking the bloud of Christ All unbeleevers Joh. 6. 51 53 54. are yet out of Christ Nay more you must not onely have an hand but such an hand as will reach to this end 1 A true hand 2 A perfect hand 3 A lively hand 1 It must be a true hand A
Heb. 3. 17. one reason is given why the Lord Jesus became man and tooke part of flesh and bloud with us that he might be a faithfull High-priest 3. It was requisite that he should thus raise us that he might fulfill the Law for us Now the Law was to be fulfilled two wayes 1. Actively 2. Passively Neither could have been done without the Assumption of our flesh There is not such a contradiction between the Covenant of Grace and the Covenant of Works as some ignorant Libertines would this day make God gave a Law and his Covenant was doe this and live this is that which we call the Covenant of Works man could not doe it What is Gods mind altered now no such matter God sayes Doe this and live still and if you doe not this you shall dye It was written long since that time Deut. 27. ver 26. Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this Law to doe them And all the people must say Amen to it now as well as they did then But herein is the Covenant of Grace more favourable The Covenant of Works sayes thou shalt personally doe them or dye The Covenant of Grace sayes thou shalt doe it or get Christ to doe it for thee the Covenant of Workes sayes I will take no baile no surety doe it or dye Durus est hic sermo an hard saying who can heare it The Covenant of Grace saith Get me Christs Baile and I will acquit thee if thou beleevest in him Therfore saith the Apostle Gal. 3. 10 11. As many as are of the workes of the Law that look to be justified by their owne workes by their owne righteousnesse in fulfilling the Law are under the curse for it is written Cursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the Law to doe them Look to it saith the Apostle if you look to be justified by obeying the Law in your owne persons take my word for it you have an hard taske But verse 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law But how was that it followes in the next words Being made a curse for us ver 14. That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ Hee was to fulfill the Law Actively that he might fulfill what we through the weaknes of the flesh could not and in regard that he was to fulfill it for us it was requisite he should have our nature and as hee was to fulfill the Law Actively so in regard that his Elect by their past Transgressions had broken the Law of God Adam for himselfe and all his posterity and the body of death which he knew was to remaine after sanctification in his Elect ones would lay them open to hell He also was to fulfill the Law Passively for us therefore saith the Apostle He hath redeemed us from the eurse of the Law Now he tells you how that was verse 13. by being made a curse for us as it is written Cursed is every one that hangs upon a tree Now hee could not have been in capacity of being subject to the curse of the Law by hanging upon the tree for us unlesse he had taken upon him our flesh Nay yet a Fourth Reason may be given why it was necessary that Jesus Christ should raise up his redeemed ones by the assuming their flesh viz. That he might be a mercifull High-Priest It is the Reason that the Apostle gives Hebr. 2. verse 17. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to bee made like unto his brethren that hee might bee a mercifull and faithfull High-Priest in all things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sinnes of the people for in that hee himselfe suffered being tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted I shall adde nothing to it Thus he raised us by Assuming of our flesh which in order to our raising it was necessary for him to doe 3. He raised us Passione by his precious death upon the Crosse his falling was our rising his life our death The chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes wee are healed His owne bloud was the balme from Gilead as well as himselfe the Physitian there Now in order to the raising of his Elect ones it was requisite that he should dye 1. That he might satisfie 2. That he might conquer 1. That he might satisfie and purchase Remission He that will redeem any slave out of Captivity must pay the summe of Redemption-money required Now Death was that which could alone satisfie for the redeemed ones It was the Lords first Law In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die temporally and eternally Now a death must be paid or justice is not satisfied therefore saith the Apostle Heb. 9. 22. Without blood there is no remission he therefore dyed for our sinnes saith the Apostle he was our sacrifice 1 Cor. 4. 7. And he is no sacrifice till slaine This was typified by the slaying of beasts for sacrifices in the old Law which God required of all those that would obtain pardon And in regard that man had deserved hell as well as death Christ by dying that he might raise us and and make the face of God againe to shine upon us was content to suffer the withdrawings of his Fathers love and to feele as it were the paines of hell to raise us to the joyes of heaven Secondly as it was necessary in order to our raising that Christ should dye to the intent that he should satisfie for us so it was also necessary that he should dye that he might conquer for us This the Apostle fully expresseth Heb. 2. 14 15. Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and bloud he also himselfe tooke part of the same that through death he might destroy him that hath the power of death even the Devill and deliver them who through feare of death were all their life-time subject to bondage Christ was to lead Captivity captive to take away deaths sting and hels victory which he could not have done without wrastling with death himselfe had he not been deaths captive he had never been deaths conquerour Hee raised us by dying for us 4. He hath raised us Resurrectione by rising againe from the dead therefore saith the Apostle Rom. 4. 25. He was delivered to death for our offences and rose againe for our justification Now his Resurrection had and hath an influence upon raising his Elect ones 1. By witnessing to them Christs conquest for them and therefore the Apostle makes the worke of satisfaction for us to be proper to his death and the worke of our justification he appropriates to his Resurrection Rom. 4. 25. When he dyed he went downe that he might conquer but it was his comming up out of the grave that witnessed his conquest over death and hell It was in that day that this Song was sung O death where is thy sting O hell
so he hath no company The paths in the Wildernesse are not trodden no beaten high wayes are there no company but the Owles and the Ostriches the beasts of the field and creeping things of the earth Nothing fit to be a companion for man No it is a Wildernesse 5. The Wildernesse is a disconsolate place no curiosities of nature to refresh his spirits with Terror is round about him no pleasure to delight him 6. Lastly the Wildernesse is a place voyd of all provisions There is neither bread for the hungry nor water for the thirsty soule no necessaries much lesse superfluities The expression is very apt such a Wildernesse yea many a such Wildernesse the Spouse of Christ hath had and may have her dwelling in 1. A Wildernesse of Sinne. 2. A Wildernesse of Sorrow 3. A Wildernesse of Affliction 4. A Wildernesse of Temptation 5. A Wildernesse of Desertion Nay lastly This whole life is but a wildernesse to her Shee hath been in some of these and may be in all of them but out of all Shee cometh up leaning Every one of these is the soules Wildernesse and as they come up to Christ they come up from some of them and in their walking with the Lord Christ they goe through some of them and some goe through all of them The first is Eremus peccati The Wildernesse of sinne and every soule is born in this Wildernesse Man at first created dwelt in Paradise but alas he threw himselfe out into the Wildernesse and God lockt the Garden gate against him Sinfull man perferr'd the Wildernesse before Paradise and God allots him his dwelling there There was man thrown all mankind born in it We are all Wildernesse brats by nature Ephes 2. 3. You were children of wrath by nature even as others And sinne may well be call'd a Wildernesse it is status naturalis our naturall condition We are in a Wildernesse habit when we are clothed with the raggs of iniquity Ay and it is a state as dangerous as the Wildernesse The Lion claims him in the Wildernesse as his prey and if he scapes his teeth it will be hard to escape the Cockatrice and young Lion and Adder the lesser fry of destroyers If in this sinfull naturall condition we do escape the mouth of the roaring Lion the Devill it is greatly to be feared that the Beare and the Wolfe and the Cockatrice the lesser judgments of God will swallow us up we are children of wrath as well passively as actively in a dangerous condition Lastly as the Wildernesse is a place void of all necessary provisions for the body so is sinne a state voyd of all necessary provisions for the soule We are hungry and naked and bloudy and filthy in our sinnes it is a wildernesse dresse Ezek. 16. As for thy nativity in the day that thou wert born thy navell was not cut neither wert thou washed in water to supple thee thou wert cast out in the open field Verse 5. Every spouse of the Lord Christ hath been in this Wildernesse Who is this that cometh up of this I have spoke before and therefore passe it over The second Wildernesse is Eremus contritionis The wildernesse of contrition or sorrow for sinne Every soul is naturally in the Wildernesse but every one that is in it seeth not that it is there Every soul is born blind though most think they see When God opens the soules eyes and shewes it the hell that it treads over every houre and makes the soule apprehensive of its danger it conceives it selfe in a worse Wildernesse than before the physick works the Patient thinks it is nearer death than before it took it Here it cryes out Oh I am a lost undone creature Oh whither should I goe on one side behold terror on the other side despaire If it lookes up to heaven there is an angry God if downward there is a gaping hell Oh! whither should it goe Now it cryes out with the Iaylor O what shall I doe to be saved I am lost in my sinnes I am lost in my owne righteousnesse I know not what to doe If I stay in my sinnes I perish if I go out of the world I perish Here stands the soule turning it selfe every way and seeing comfort no way till the Lord Christ bowes the heavens and thrusts out his arme of salvation his shoulder of merits and takes the soule by the hand saying Come my Beloved I will tell thee what thou shalt doe I am the way out of this wildernesse come out leaning leane thy arme of faith upon the shoulder of my merits Free grace is able to beare thee I am thy Welbeloved and thy Welbeloved is thine And ordinarily the soule when it comes to the Lord Christ comes through this wildernesse this losing place of conviction and contrition and weeps her selfe a path where she would drown in the waters of Marah if Christ did not hold her up Indeed God could have brought the Israelites a shorter Journey than through the wildernesse to Canaan and sometimes God miraculously drawes a soul to himselfe onely by the cords of mercy God is not tyed alwayes to bring a soule the same road to heaven Elijah was carried to heaven in a fiery chariot but the more ordinary way is by Jacobs ladder The common way to heaven is by the gates of hell the way to life is through the chambers of death through a wildernesse Who is this that commeth up out of the wildernesse The third Wildernesse in which Christ's Spouse may somtimes have her dwelling in is the Wildernesse of affliction bodily afflictions I meane A Wildernesse is a place full of bryars and thornes and through such a wildernesse the holy Ghost tells us lies the Saints way to heaven By much tribulation much pricking of thrones thornes in the flesh somtimes must we enter into the kingdome of God The Spouse hath a dirty way to go to marrying in and when shee is marryed she hath a dirty way home too A wildernesse on either side The Apostle speakes plain Heb. 11. 37 38. They wandred about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skines being destitute afflicted tormented they wandred in deserts and in mountaines and in dens and in caves of the earth And who were these that wandred thus in the wildernesse They were such of whom the world was not worthy the Spouses of the Lord Christ And truely afflictions may be called a wildernesse for the disconsolacy of them too they are times of sorrow no delights please the spouse in affliction is in a wildernes 4. A fourth wildernesse that the Spouse sometimes dwells in is the wildernesse of temptations The Bridegroom himself was in this wildernesse He was led into the wildernesse to be tempted of the Devill The spirit took him thither Matth. 4. vers 1. and Paul was in this wildernesse troubled on every side this is Satans wildernesse that he leads many a poore soule into and it had been a sad wildernesse had not our
is his greatest glory he will not give that to any other None shall share with him in his Spouses love he is a jealous Saviour The Spouse leanes upon her Beloved not Beloveds Thus I have done with my use of reproofe The next use is for examination here may every one try himselfe whether he be the Spouse of the Lord Jesus Christ or no Even by what hath been already said I will reduce it all to three heads First Examine thy selfe whether thou beest out of the wildernesse of sinne yea or no. Secondly Whether thou wert or art in any other wildernesse yea or no. Thirdly What was or is thy demeanour in these wildernesses thou hast been or art in and how hast thou come or dost thou come out Examine whether thou beest not in the wildernesse of sinne yea or no It was given as the Character of the Spouse to come out of this wildernesse O but how shall I know that will the soule say I will name two or three notes by which thou mayst suspect thy selfe as from probabilities 1. The wildernesse it is an incult place a place where the soyle was never tilled it is hard almost as a milstone the over-growne Trees were never pruned the unruly boughs never lopt the bushes never cut or stubbed dost thou find thy heart in such a condition that it is as hard as ever neither judgement breaks it nor mercy melts it the fallow ground of it is not plowed nor the seed of righteousnesse sowne in it Thy unruly lusts are not tamed thy life is as much overgrowne with sinne as ever it was thy sinnes were never yet cut off from the body of thy life O friend suspect thy selfe Thou mayest justly feare yea and know too that thou art not the Spouse of Christ thou art in the wildernesse in thy naturall estate Secondly The wildernesse is a barren place it brings forth no corne for the sickle no wholsome fruit no grapes for mans pallat for can a man gather grapes of thistles or figgs of thornes No pastures wholsome for the beasts The fire hath devoured the pastures of the wildernesse Joel 1. 19. And God complained that Nineveh was dry like a wildernesse Zeph. 2. 13. Art thou a barren and unfruitfull creature that dost nothing for God thy heart is a barren heart no seeds of good are sown there thy tongue is a barren tongue no good words come out thence thy whole soule a barren soule not a good action upon the record of thy life Indeed no soule can be barren the soule is of a working nature but sinfull works are unfruitfull workes in the Apostles language The unfruitfull workes of darknesse and what fruits had ye of those things whereof you are now ashamed Gods Spouse is a fruitfull creature Gal. 5. 22. The fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long-suffering c. A barren soule is alwayes a wildernesse-soule Those that are borne of God bring forth fruits unto God Thirdly thou mayest know whether thou beest in the wildernesse or no by the company thou delightest in It is a knowne rule Noscitur ex socio qui non dignoscitur ex se He that is a wildernesse-creature loves wildernesse-company the Wolves and Beares and Foxes but he that is out keeps the company of men dost thou love the wildernesse-company the swinish drunkard the politike Fox the malitious Lyon the venomous lyer and slanderer the lascivious wanton more than the Children of God Oh suspect thy selfe By this we know saith John that we are translated from death to life if we love the Brethren Lazarus when he was raised from the grave we do not read he went to keep the dead men company againe those that God hath raised from the death of their sins live amongst living men and delight in living mens company Thus examine whether thou beest come out of the wildernesse of sin or no. Secondly As comming out of the wildernesse is a signe of the child of God so being in the wildernesse is likewise a note whereby thou mayest know thy selfe Gods Spouse comes out of one wildernesse into another out of the wildernesse of sinne into the wildernesse of sorrow and out of that to their Saviour Wouldest thou know whether thou art found or no Examine whether thou wert lost or no Wouldest thou know whether ever thou wert a beleever examine whether ever thou wert a penitent or not This is Gods ordinary way thence he complaines of his people that they would not repent that they might beleeve in him Dos thou find God in another manner of working in thy soule blesse God for it and if thy title be good to heaven which will be knowne by thy walking with God beleeve me God hath used thee kindly heaven hath cost thee cheaper then it costs many a poore soule and walke humbly before God because he hath not humbled thee under his mighty hand as he hath done many another poore creatures And though I would not condemne those that plead their title to heaven this way for feare I should condemne the generation of the righteous yet beleeve me I should suspect it in my owne cause They that goe out weeping and carry precious seed shall returne rejoycing and bring their sheaves with them 2. Examine thy selfe What other wildernesses thou meetest with Afflictions temptations c. I would not give this as an infallible marke yet God sayes whom he loves he chasteneth and scourgeth every child whom he receiveth and thence the Father drew out his Conclusion Unicum Deus habuit filium sine peccato nullum sine flagello God had one Sonne without sinne but none without a rod. But I know even the wicked sometimes begin their hell upon the earth and though I would suspect my selfe if I met with no afflictions yet I would not be glad to have a life full of crosses and afflictions my best evidence for heaven I rather named this for a preface to the next note 3. Examine how thou carriest thy selfe in the wildernesse there is a different carriage betwixt the child of God and the child of the Devill in afflictions the one sinkes into the grave with despaire the other lifts up his head to Sion with hope the one is prest to death under crosses the other above all crosses Cain cries my punishment is too heavy for me to beare Job cries though he should kill me yet I will trust in him The Reprobate cryes Who is the Lord that I should wait for him The Saint sayes I will patiently wait for the Lords Salvation the wicked man dyes the Saint leanes the eyes of the sinners faile that day but the Saints look up to Sion from whence comes their helpe that day 4. Examine How thou hast come out of thy wildernesse of thine owne strength or leaning Canst thou say That God knew thee in the wildernesse in the land of great drought Hos 13. 5. If thou thinkest thou camest out alone thou art there stil What