the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God THE last and greatest step to or into a Christian's perfection is the Soul's resignation in death Death as 't is alike certain and inevitable to all men so 't is equally profitable and advantagious to all Believers But it must be noted it 's easy and comfortable to some more to others less in a great variety as Job said concerning men so we may say of Christians One dies in his full strength another in the bitterness of his soul Job 21.23 that is one dies mourning and dejected another joyous and triumphant which was Paul's ambition in these words That I may finish my course with joy The Life of man is a Race and so is his Work First His Life is a Race Every man runs from the womb to the grave a Stage far shorter to some indeed than 't is to others but it 's a Race to all 2dly His Work in his Life-time is a Race Man is a busy Creature and doth much Work such as it is in a little time and therefore his action in this World is not only called in Scripture his walking as Job 9.25 My days are swifter than a post they flee away they see no good But it 's called his running and running his course as in the Text and in Jer. 8.6 Every man turned to his course as the horse rusheth into the battel that is to his own way and actions John's work in the Ministry is called his course Acts 13.25 As John fulfilled his course he said c. And so Paul speaking of Christian practice tells the Galatians Ye did run well Gal. 5.7 And thus the Apostle's own work was his course in which he proceeded with an extraordinary swiftness I laboured more abundantly than they all 1 Cor. 15.10 But the course which he here speaks of finishing is that of his life the other of his Ministerial work being presently subjoined And the ministry which I have received Both these Races had the same period in Paul's intention at least and probably in performance though not the same speech it was the Apostle's intention not to leave off the work of his Ministry during the term of his life and his great desire was that when he should finish the one and so be taken off from the other he might finish both with joy the course of his life and the course of his work That I may finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received Of the former I may finish There is nothing wherein according to nature a man is more passive than his death and yet even death it self is sometimes attributed to men as their own act All men are active to their own death in sinning which is the meritorious and procuring cause of it the wages of sin is death Godly men are active in their own death in a willing resignation of themselves and delivering up of their Souls into the hand of God as 't is said of Jacob Gen. 49. ult He yielded up the spirit So for a man to finish his course is to die and depart this life which Paul earnestly desires to do with joy And hence we may observe Doctr. That it is a Christian 's great concernment that he may depart this life with spiritual joy and comfort or while he lives to consult and provide for a comfortable dying Because first Reas 1. A Christian is subject to many Troubles in his life-time In the world says St. John ye shall have tribulation John 16. It 's a sad thing after a wearisom day to lie down in sorrow A servant says Job waits earnestly for the shadow of the evening Job 7.2 that is of his going to his rest after his days-work whether you live regularly or loosely if you stick to rule men will be upon you if you sin God will rebuke you 2dly Reas 2. A Christian has great need of spiritual joy to support him against the sorrows with which death is naturally accompanied Death is so sorrowful a thing that it would be too much misery to a godly man to endure it without spiritual comfort and therefore as God in kindness to him will not leave him altogether destitute of it in so needful a time so he himself is highly concerned to make the best and most effectual provision for it There are three sorts of sorrows of death that make spiritual comfort highly needful to a dying Christian First The sorrow of the parting between Soul and Body This is the most proper and immediate sorrow of death the union between Soul and Body is such as makes division grievous to the person Death of it self is an enemy to Nature and therefore it must needs be a very sorrowful thing to come under its hands even Christ himself that had no sin in him was afraid of it and prayed against it Hebr. 5.7 When he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared The Scripture sets forth this by many significant expressions as the pains of death Acts 2.24 Whom God hath raised up having loosed the pains of death And again the terrors of death and the king of terrors as Job 18.14 His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle and it shall bring him to the king of terrors Again it 's called the bitterness of death 1 Sam. 15.32 And Agag said Surely the bitterness of death is past And then it 's called the sorrows of death as David says in Psal 18.4 The sorrows of death compassed me Now seeing death is unavoidable and has in it self so much grievousness men have great need of comfort to make it easier and more tolerable Secondly The sorrow of parting with present mercies and comforts that we have had the use of if a man has not hopes of better this also is very grievous though he gets better yet 't is hard to leave the comforts which we have been used to and in which God has been kind to us It 's said of Hezekiah that when the message of death came to him he wept sore 2 Kings 20.3 though he knew his passage from hence was into a far better place therefore God is usually pleased to mortify men to the World by Age and Sickness before Death comes to make it easier parting with present comforts Thirdly The sorrow of God's Rebukes and Reproofs for Sin Death commonly brings Sin to remembrance and awakens Conscience to inveigh against the Soul for it So Conscience will tell us at such a time when Death's approaching it will mind us of our Sins of Omission the undue expence of precious time the loss of opportunities for spiritual benefit It will mind us of the careless use of the means of Grace Sins of Commission in which a man has dishonoured God or been injurious to man These things usually come to remembrance at such a time and
that many times the Sin that mostly takes up the thoughts of such a Soul at first is some sin that has less of malignity against God in it than many other which the Party has been guilty of as Lying Sabbath-breaking Disobedience to Parents or some external act of Sin in which he has been more carried by his sensual inclination than maliciously wicked 2. He considers the severe Judgment of God denounced against Sinners and his own concernment in it The Word says The soul that sins shall dye and makes Eternal death the wages of every sin Rom. 6. Yea the Word declares all men by Nature dead in trespasses and sins and children of wrath and hereupon the Sinner reasons thus with himself Is there not a reality in these Threatning words And do they not take effect upon Sinners according to the plain sense and import of them What may I think then of my self Am I liable to all this danger or have I any fence against it If I should now dye as I know not how soon I may what were like to come of me If I be under the force of these Threatnings wo unto me And what have I to plead against them If I was by Nature a Child of wrath how got I out of that condition or am I yet in the gall of bitterness and bands of iniquity Thus the Soul studies and examines his own estate And this is the First step towards Conversion Consideration The Second step or degree of this work is a strong Conviction of a miserable and perishing Estate But before we come directly to consider that work we must take notice of some hindrances or diversions by reason of which many men are taken off even at the first step and never come to a sound Conviction at all and others are long e're they come at it 1. Some grow weary of the unpleasant work of Self-Consideration and let it fall before ever they have brought it to any Convincing issue This is very ordinary with Persons a little shaken under a Sermon or griped by Conscience under an Affliction or scared with the thoughts of Death to ask the Question What estate they are in But the Subject being very ungrateful to Nature they never stay their Studies upon it to bring it to any determinate conclusion As Pilate asked What is truth But would not stay to hear the Answer They translate their thoughts to other matters as being loath to endure the pains of a thorough Examination of themselves 2. From the Consideration of themselves some turn aside to the survey of others whom they think to be as great or greater Sinners and so content themselves in hope to speed as well as they They observe many as bad as they or worse who yet are confident of a safe estate yea they are knowing Persons and likely to understand their own condition as well as any they are Learned men it may be Ministers that of all others should see if there be any danger in their way and besides they are well thought of generally by their Neighbours and few or none seem to question their estate Why then says the a-little-startled Sinner should I further disquiet my self with sad and doubtful apprehensions of my condition I see no probability but I may speed as well as thousands that are round about me I 'll even take up and run the common hazard of my Neighbours and of Mankind in general Thus Consideration is many times obstructed and falls short of a sound Conviction But where God goes on with the design of Saving a Soul he holds the Mind close and keeps it from the vain study of other things and Persons till he has made the Sinner plainly see himself Wretched Miserable and Perishing and that is the second degree of this work which comes now to be considered This Conviction is the proper effect of a well prosecuted Self-consideration and the conclusion naturally issuing from these two premises well attended 1. The demands of the Law from every man 2. The Judgment of God against every Offender of which before He that well considers these and duly applies to himself as his own concernment must needs understand himself to be in a perishing estate without the use of some proper and sufficient Remedy Thus the Prodigal was kept pondering his condition till he perceived himself perishing for hunger Luke 15.17 When he came to himself he had been ranging abroad from himself as well as from his Father's house and unmindful of his greatest concernments where he was which way he was going and what was like to come of him was none of his study all this while But now at length he returned home to himself and took his own estate into a sober consideration upon which he found plainly that he was like to dye for want of Bread I perish for hunger So the Jews Acts 2. were held under the sad thoughts of what they had done and deserved till they were pierced at the heart that is they found themselves dead men as a man that is stabb d to the heart for whom there is as we use to say but one way This account also the Apostle gives of himself Rom. 7.4 That when the commandment came sin revived and he died he perceived that vigor and Soul-destroying power of sin in himself which he was not aware of before and plainly saw himself a dying man Spiritually undone and perishing The like work we also see in the Jailor Acts 16. What must I do to be saved That word to be Saved plainly implies a sense and deep Conviction of a lost estate that he was at present an undone man Thus the poor Sinner hangs as it were over the mouth of Hell in his own apprehension and sees nothing more likely than that he should presently fall into it he plainly hears the Law threatning him with Death Eternal sees God frowning upon him and destruction ready to swallow him up he that a few days ago thought himself as safe and as much in favour with God as any in the world and it may be was secure of Soul-concernments never troubled himself with thoughts of Eternity and took it for a point of folly and a beginning of madness in other men to disturb their minds with fear of Hell and Condemnation is now become a miserable and perishing man in his own Judgment and of all men alive the most likely to be Damned Eternally The Third step or degree of this work is a Soul-Afflicting Humiliation a work made up of terror and sorrow under the apprehension of the wrath of God and the sense of a perishing estate A deep sorrow and anguish of Spirit seizing upon the Sinner under the Conviction before spoken of This work is commonly called Legal Repentance because it is a deep sorrow and trouble about sin depending upon that sense which a man has of his condemnation under the Law But though it be not that sorrow which is called Godly
to the means is called Faith As we are saved by faith Eph. 2.8 or as Rom. 8.24 We are saved by hope I shall therefore for plainness treat of fiducial Faith and Hope as one Act not as affecting to follow the Schoolmen or others who go that way but as intending the best advantage of the Understanding which is usually disturbed by an unnecessary multiplication of things And if Scripture commonly speaks of both as one Act which is confessed why may they not be so handled Obj. If any object that in 1 Cor. 13.13 Where Faith Hope and Charity are enumerated as three distinct Graces Ans I answer If we take Faith for Assenting Faith which is primarily and most properly Faith the number is made good and indeed it is most probable that the Apostle intends that Faith whereby we believe those thing now which we shall hereafter see as by Hope he means the confident expectation of that Good which we shall hereafter enjoy These things premised I proceed to the Description of fiducial Faith Viz. A Resting or trusting in the mercy of God in Christ in hope of his Salvation tendered to Sinners in the Gospel Here we are distinctly to consider 1. The end of Faith the Salvation of God 2. The tendency of Faith to that end and that is in Hope 3. The foundation of that Hope the mercy of God in Christ First The End of Faith i. e. that which it looks to attain is the Salvation of Christ propounded in the Gospel 1 Pet. 1.9 What this Salvation is was shewed before Viz. Pardon of Sin and an holy union and conjunction with God John 3.16 not to perish i. e. to be condemned for Sin but to have everlasting life i. e. he united to God and enjoy him which is the Soul's life Sin separates from God meritoriously and legally by virtue of the Curse binding the Sinner over to an everlasting Separation from his glorious presence and to everlasting Destruction And it separates from him naturally and formally though there were no punishment by Law assigned to the Sinner for what fellowship has light with darkness Now separation from God is man's spiritual Death even as the separation of the Body and Soul is his natural Death So men are by nature dead in Trespasses and Sins as well as liable to death for them Death is the work of Sin as well as its wages And the Salvation of Christ consists as well in delivering men from Sin it self as from the punishment of it Matth. 1.21 And if he did not this as well as the other he could never make them happy Sin would keep them miserable still though they were redeemed from the pain of sense Then a man is saved when he is brought to God 1 Pet. 3.18 i. e. into an union and conjunction with him And indeed pardon of Sin is but in order to this part as the principle of mans Salvation The Law subjecting the Sinner to his Sin and giving him up to Satan as the most signal part of his punishment it is impossible that he should be delivered from Sin unless the bond of the Law the Curse I mean which holds him under Sin be loosed 1 Cor. 15.56 This then is the End of Faith Salvation from Hell and Sin Pardon and an holy Conjunction with God Secondly The tendency or motion of fiducial Faith to this end i. e. toward Salvation is in a way of Hope Faith rests on Christ in hope of everlasting Life All fiducial Reliance or trusting in any thing or person in reference to any good to be attained is in hope of that good When a Man trusts in a Physician for his Health 't is in hope of obtaining it When a rich Man trusts in his Riches 't is in hope of safety and favour among Men c. When the Jews trusted or were said to trust on the broken Reed Egypt it was in hope of aid from thence So to trust in Christ for Salvation is to hope for his Salvation Tit. 1.2 The faith of God's elect is in hope of everlasting life Now Hope as was said before is the Intention or Desire of the Soul to some good thing which is looked upon as attainable Some put in difficulty but that is not always competent to the object of hope Hope therefore implies First 1. An earnest desire of the thing hoped for Secondly 2. A Perswasion in the mind that it may be attained Where-ever these two meet there is Hope and no where else No man hopes but as the word is sometimes used Catachrestically for that which he desires not A Man may desire that which he has no hope of As Men totally despairing under sense of God's Wrath have a desire of Pardon else they could not be grieved as they are for want of it but they have no hope of Pardon A Man may wish himself an Eagle or a Swallow as David but can have no hope to be so For besides desire Hope always implies a Perswasion that the good desired may be attained or which is more that it shall be attained Devils may have a desire to be out of Torment and 't is certain they have so but no hope of it because they cannot believe it attainable The lame man Acts 5. hoped to receive Money of the Apostles as desiring it and thinking they had it to give him But as for a Cure he desired that also but hoped not for it because he did not believe at first that they had such an healing-power about them He that hopes for any thing looks on it as attainable and the more likely he apprehends it to be attained the more confident he is in his hope And if he looks upon it not only as probable but as certain then 't is full Assurance of hope as Heb. 6.11 Now to apply this to the case in hand When God has brought the humble Soul to an hearty believing of the Gospel he thereby works him up to an hearty desire of the Salvation therein propounded and withal perswades him that he may for his own part attain it and so the Soul begins to hope for everlasting Life The Soul understanding already and believing the Gospel sees such an excellency in the Salvation of God as makes him vehemently desire it he now accounts it the greatest happiness in the World to be delivered from Sin and Hell and joined unto God though he made never so light of it before and earnestly crys out Oh that I might have peace with God Union with God and God to be my God for ever Oh that I might eat Bread in my Father's house Luke 15. Thus the Merchant having seen the Pearl like Achan presently fell in love with it and so importunately desired it that he stuck not at selling all he had to buy it This is that Hunger and Thirst to which the promise is made Matth. 5.6 Isaiah 55.1 and elsewhere This is that willingness which makes a Soul capable of the Water of
of the Religion they have profest and of the Ordinances on which they have attended and the People of God with whom they have conversed and this fear is a great Affliction to them though it be a good sign of sincerity 6thly Sometimes they tremble in the fear of some dreadful Judgment or sore Rebuke from God to fall upon them They think God will not long bear with such sinful Wretches Persons so proud so sensual so hypocritical but some way or other providentially manifest his displeasure against them if they be graceless they know God is angry with the wicked every day And if he intends good to them they look he should take some severe Course with them therefore David prays Lord rebuke me not in thy wrath c. Psalm 38.1 They find their hearts so lazy and themselves so formal and hypocritical they think sure God will deal severely with them in their Persons and Families c. 7thly They are often afflicted with the fear of perishing eternally That this fear was rising in the heart of the Apostle himself when he spoke these words may very probably be collected from what follows Chap. 8.1 where he seems to encourage himself against the danger of its Death and the means which he professes himself to use for prevention of that danger There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit And in 1 Cor. 9.27 I keep under my body and bring it into subjection lest that by any means when I have preached to others I my self should be a cast-away Which shews that he was not altogether above the fear of it And indeed this must needs be a sore trouble to them that have tasted of the Wrath of God in their former Convictions and have had the sense of his Love shed abroad in their hearts and have been comforted in the hope of Glory Neither Judas nor Cain ever felt such horror and astonishment under their despairs as a sincere Christian in this case of fears would fall into if he were not upheld by a secret power of Grace For alas they never knew so much of the Love and Goodness of God as the weakest of sincere Christians knows nor ever had such desires and hopes to enjoy him I come now to some Causes of these great Troubles in sincere Christians about Sin within 1. The first Cause is The awakened activity of Sin and Satan being effectually disturbed by the Spirit of Mortification When the strong Man keeps the House all things are at peace Luke 11.21 i. e. till the stronger the Lord Jesus enters and begins to take away his Goods and his Harness Then Satan bestirs himself and raises all the force of sordid Lusts and Corruptions which lay much more still before if Sin had been so active before the Sinner would have proceeded to the very acting of the Sin which now it doth but reach at being checked and held back by Grace which makes him say in himself how shall I do this great wickedness But now as things are ordered by the blessed Work of God there is a principle of Grace that forbids and hinders the acting of those Sins to which corrupted Nature is disposed And that conflict makes a great unquietness in the Soul and so gives a Christian much more notice of the wickedness of his heart than ever he had and hence arise those Troubles Distresses and Fears which I have spoken of there being so much ado to hold in the wickedness that would be breaking out and to repress the inward Motions of it As when Physick is admitted into the Stomach ill Humours are rouzed and that causes hard Gripes sick Qualms and sad Complaints These are ultimi conatus moribundi peccati the last Struglings of dying Sin First Cause 1. It 's the subtilty of Satan 1. To sollicite some Men less to outward Acts of Sin while unconverted because he sees and observes 't is usual with God to make their great and gross wickedness occasional to their Conviction and Conversion according to that in Matth. 21.31 Publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of God before you And therefore having hold on Men in a natural Estate he is not so zealous to excite them to Sin lest he should over-do and suffer loss Therefore I say he solicites some less for there are whom he drives on to much outragious Wickedness as the Publicans and Harlots 2dly To stir up Men converted as much as he can to Sin that he may make Apostates of them If they be not sincere which he knows not or make them shame their Profession by gross Acts of Wickedness or at least cause them to go on with the more trouble and discomfort 3dly It is the nature of contraries to be excited by the Opposition of their contraries as we see in Nature it self Water thrown upon the Smith's Coals makes them burn the more fiercely and so in Meteors Philosophers tell us That the cold Cloud gathering about an hot Vapour makes the Heat gather it self together and so it fires and thence comes the Lightning and the Thunder Thus Grace in the Soul pressing hard upon Corruption makes it more vehement in its strugling to preserve it self Thus 't is no wonder though Christians striving against Sin think it grows upon them because it is indeed more active and stirring than ever though not more in the Habit or Principle They have more evil desires and reachings and wishings toward Sin and thinkings and ruminations upon it than ever Sin that was always in them is more sinning in them Lust is more drawing aside and enticing and in conceiving as James 1.14 15. than ever it was Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed When Lust hath conceived it brings forth Sin and Sin when it is finished bringeth forth Death though the body of Sin it self was as much and more in the Soul And hence come all the forementioned Troubles the former Apprehensions which the Soul had of its peace with God being for a time eclipsed by these sad appearances Cause 2. They see Sin more clearly than they did before The Spirit of Grace is a Spirit of Light in the understanding by which they see the evil and sinfulness of all those within-door workings of Corruption which they scarce found any fault withal before and take notice of those stirrings of Sin which they did not mind before and so Sin being indeed more active than it was and they having better Eyes to see it no marvel that these think it much grown and be otherwise much troubled at it as Paul says I see another law rebelling and warring c. 3dly They have a greater dislike of Sin As understanding more of the evil nature of it and the worse apprehension they have of it the more they are troubled and disheartened at the sight of it If you see a company of Men coming
Conscience falls fiercely on the Soul for them and this is plainly the Reproofs of the Almighty within a man Conscience being his Deputy and Remembrancer yea Death it self is a Rebuke for Sin God would never put us to the pains of Death were it not that we have sinned As when God pardoned the sin of David yet he appointed him the sword to dwell in his house as a sorrowful memorial of his sin 2 Sam. 12.10 so he appoints all his people many afflictions in this life though he forgives their sin and Death at last as an unavoidable Rebuke for sin As if he should say I take away your sin and free you from the curse of my Law but yet not a man of you shall get to Heaven but through the pains of death through the dark valley of the shadow of death Yea many times Christians have Reproofs given them in their Death for some particular Sins which God gives them notice of as Moses and Aaron died in the Wilderness for a Reproof of their Unbelief And many of the Corinthians were judged of God in their Death for their Sin about the Holy Supper 1 Cor. 11. that is as the Apostle there expounds it They were chastened of God that they might not be condemned And this is a very sorrowful thing to be smitten with Death in a Rebuke for Sin as Moses complains of it Deutr. 4.22 The Lord sware against me that I shall not go into the land of Canaan Thus Death is so sorrowful a thing as would be too much for a Christian to endure without spiritual comfort to take off the bitterness of it Reas 3. It is highly due to the Honour of Christianity that a Christian should die comfortably in the exercise of spiritual joy Christianity propounds life and glory to be enjoyed after Death and teaches men to accept of Death as a passage to such happiness as eye hath not seen c. Blessed are the dead dying in the Lord Rev. 14.13 Now if they that hold up this Profession among men should be as sadly surprized with Death and as much affrighted and appaled at it as other men this would bring a shame upon their Profession and lay it open to the reproach of those who will be ready to say I thought you had been going home to your Father to your beloved Jesus Christ to your blessed Inheritance c. and can you die sorrowfully Thus Christians are exercised with great Afflictions and no appearing help Adversaries are presently ready to ask Where now is your God and there is no sufficicnt Answer but to acknowledge his comforting and supporting presence where is He why here he is in our hearts and souls strengthning and upholding us So 't is in the case of Death no maintaining the credit of Religion against Reproach but by rejoicing in the Lord when we are going out of the world and therefore our great care should be that we may die in peace with God Reas 4. It 's a necessary part of a Christian's love to those whom he leaves behind him to die chearfully A Christian's chearful Death eases the sorrow of surviving Friends and we should 1. Endeavour so to go out of the world as to leave them as little trouble as may be that stay behind us Especially to provide what we can that if they mourn they may not mourn as those without hope concerning us 2. But besides this A Christian's chearful and comfortable dying is an encouragement to others to follow him in the way of Christianity Balaam himself desired to die the death of the righteous but where grace is the death of the righteous will encourage a man to live the life of the righteous considering as the Apostle says the end of their conversation Hebr. 13.7 Now for the Uses Use 1. Hence we learn That the work and care of a Christian is as lasting as his life When he is converted to God and believes in Christ he must take care to live well and when he has walked with God and demeaned himself like a Christian in his conversation he must have a care also to die well that he may depart in peace and in the joy of the Lord. They greatly mistake that think a Christian once justified and adopted has no more to do but stay the time when he shall go to Heaven He must take heed how he lives and have a care how he dies so that living and dying he has peculiar Duties to attend Use 2. It shews the happiness of a Christian in his death He dies such a death as will not only bear joy and comfort but requires it He has not only cause to rejoice when he goes out of this world but ought to do it Blessed are the dead dying in the Lord Rev. 14.13 Men of this world please themselves in the present delights of their life but that 's a happy life indeed which tends to a pleasurable and truly joyous end Use 3. The third Use teaches and exhorts Christians to be always providing not only for a safe but a comfortable death And to this end take these few Directions following Direct 1. Be diligent to assure your selves that you are reconciled to God in Jesus Christ and at peace with him The great terror of death is that it brings men to the Bar of God's great judgment But when we are once sure of Pardon we may safely expect a justifying Sentence and an Adjudication to Glory And there is no danger in appearing before that Judge by whom we shall certainly be acquitted when a man can say I am going to my God my Father my Redeemer c. This will make it comfortable dying as our Saviour said I go to my Father and your Father This assurance made Paul triumph over death as in Rom. 8.38 Neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And so in 1 Cor. 15.55 O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory Direct 2. Be much in meditation of heaven according to the report that Scripture gives of it that which is more and better than Eye has seen or Ear heard yea a fulness of joy Or as as Eliphaz said to Job of hearing Job 5.27 Hear this and know it for thy self Think of these things for your selves How happy shall I be if once I may behold the face of God in Righteousness be like him and see him as he is When the Prodigal thought what was in his Father's House it made him glad to return and that 's the Argument that our Saviour gives his Disciples against trouble in this World the consideration of what is provided for them in his Father's House John 14.2 In my father's house are many mansions And in Phil. 3.20 Our conversation is in heaven whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ We look at things not seen Direct 3. Be always labouring to discharge your selves of earthly hopes We are looking for some contentment in things of this World and that makes Death more unacceptable But you have no certainty of any Earthly comfort that you can propound to your selves and be it what it will there is better to your satisfaction to be had in Heaven Remember what Leah and Rachel said to Jacob Is there any portion or inheritance yet for us c. Gen. 31.14 That made them willing to go into Canaan They had no expectation left in Padan-Aram Direct 4. Endeavour always to maintain uprightness and sincerity of heart That 's the comfort of Christians while living and dying that 's comfort while we live 2 Cor. 1.12 Our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience And when we dye Psal 37.37 Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace And so Prov. 14.32 The righteous has hope in his death Direct 5. Diligently apply your selves to all duties of righteousness and goodness toward men It conduces much to the comfort of our death to live as in the exercise of holiness toward God so in practice of honesty and goodness to men It helps to make a man wait with confidence for the coming of Christ Tit. 2.12 13. Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ See how Paul takes his dying leave of the Ephesians though he was not presently to die Acts 20.33 I have coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel Sixthly and Lastly Direct 6. Live in a continual exercise of faith in Jesus Christ for remission of sin and everlasting life Be always trusting and renewing your confidence in Christ There is no preserving our assurance of peace with God no maintaining of our hope of glory without continual recourse had to the great Advocate for the saving benefits of his Mediation He can never dye comfortably that doth not always live by faith 2 Tim. 4.7 I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith The continual exercise of judgment and holy discretion in our Actions is a keeping of Judgment Psal 106.3 Blessed are they that keep judgment and he that doth righteousness at all times So the continual exercise of Faith is a keeping of Faith which confirms the Soul against the fear of Death and Judgment 2 Tim. 1.12 I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day Thus now have I endeavoured to shew you what is necessary to a Christian's comfortable passage through this World and that 's the last thing of a Christian's motion towards his Perfection To go well out of this World And now this work of a Christian's motion towards his Perfection I shall conclude with this I have finished my course FINIS
How can I understand except I have some one to guide me Some take Redemption to be more extensive than it is and think it enough to entitle them to Salvation that they are Sinners because Christ died to save Sinners Thus many make no more doubt of calling Christ their Saviour than of calling him the Saviour Others again mistake the other way and think some Sinners to be excluded from Salvation especially such as they take themselves to be though they come never so heartily to Jesus Christ to seek it And indeed there are many such Souls as have been hitherto described that fall into this Error and by it into despair mistaking such places as that in Luke 13.24 Many shall seek to enter in and shall not be able That in Matth. 12. Whosoever shall speak a word against the Holy Ghost it shall never be forgiven And so that in Heb. 6. c. As if these and such like Scriptures were Exceptions to the offer and promise of Salvation So all the former work of Conviction Terror Consultation c. is lost by reason of such like misapprehensions How sadly Judas miscarried in the point of consultation was shewed before And probably that took him very much off from studying what he knew of the Gospel But yet 't is very likely he might stumble also at this Stone though he was not ignorant of the Doctrine of Salvation by Jesus Christ yea had often preached it to others yet he might think himself excluded from the Grace of the Gospel though it be never so freely offered to Sinners in general because Christ had so often denounced irreversible Judgment against the man that should betray him though in truth that was no bar to his Salvation if he had sought it in the way of the Gospel For this is the condemnation of them that perish that they will not come to Christ that they may have life And that was his Condemnation For though many shall seek to enter in and not be able yet that is at the Day of Judgment as appears by the next words to these Luke 13.25 And as a man that has sinned against the Holy Ghost might have pardon but that the nature of that Sin is such as binds the Sinner up in impenitency and unbelief so that Sin of Judas was such as hardned his heart against any serious Address to Christ for pardon And so our Saviour doomed him to destruction not as one excepted from the Promise but as one concluded under unbelief Thus many men come near to Faith and yet miscarry by reason of a misunderstanding of the Gospel But where God goes on with the design of Conversion he so directs the humbled Sinner in his Attention to the Gospel as to bring him at the next Step to an hearty believing of it So the Jews Acts 2. attending diligently to the Gospel preached by Peter at length gladly received it which they could not have done if they had not heartily believed it This is that which the Apostle calls Believing of the record which God hath given of his Son 1 John 5.10 and which is usually and fitly called Assenting Faith This Assenting Faith consists in two things 1. A Perception or understanding of the Doctrine of Salvation in the Gospel 2. A Reception or taking of it for Truth upon God's own Testimony 1. First The humbled Soul by a serious Attention to the Gospel comes to understand what is the Report and Account which it gives of the Salvation that is in Christ Nothing can be believed that is not understood the Soul must apprehend the sense and import of that which is propounded to belief before it can believe the truth of it Now the sum of the Gospel which is to be known and believed to Salvation is That God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him might not perish but have everlasting life 3 John 16. or as it is Epitomized in 1 John 5. This is the record That God has given us eternal life and this eternal life is in his Son Which may be thus plainly expressed That whereas the Law condemns every Sinner to Eternal Death and Justice requires Execution Jesus Christ hath satisfied the Law in his own Death and Righteousness so that now God may save Sinners at his own pleasure without offence to his Justice And accordingly he doth most seriously and freely offer Salvation to all Sinners without exception Particularly 1. That the Law condems Sinners and Justice demands Execution is presumed by the Gospel and the Sinner under Soul-humbling Consideration is convinced of it already as has been said God so loved the world that whosoever believes might not perish This doth manifestly imply that according to Law and strictness of Justice all Mankind is under Condemnation to perish eternally and must perish if God had not made provision for the saving of some The wages of sin is death Rom. 6. 2. That Christ not only fulfilled all Righteousness in obeying the Law in his Life but endured in his Death the Punishment which it denounceth against Sinners is manifestly the Doctrine of the Gospel Gal. 3.10 Isa 53.4 5 6. 2 Cor. 5. c. For though he was not under the Wrath of God he bore the Pains and Torments in which the Wrath of God is poured out on Sinners and the anguish of a forsaken Person though he was not forsaken And though his Sufferings were not Eternal yet they were equivalent to Eternal by reason of the unconceivable greatness of them for the time and the infinite worth of his Person 3. That by this means it is become free for God to save Sinners without prejudice to his Justice is clearly asserted by the Gospel Rom. 3.24 25 26. Herein is declared the Righteousness of God in forgiving sin because he doth it not against Law but upon a full satisfaction given to it So that he is not only Merciful in justifying him that believes but Just in shewing that mercy on him 4. That God in Christ hereupon most seriously offers Salvation in a way of free gift to all Sinners without Exception This is indeed the very Gospel it self as the Apostle John expresses it This is the record That God has given us eternal life c. What Salvation is we are plainly taught in Joh. 3.16 Not to perish but to have eternal life this is to be saved To have Sin pardoned that we may not perish and so to be brought into an holy Union and Communion with God which is begun in this Life and compleated in that to come and so continued to Eternity This I say is Gospel-Salvation for a man to be freed from Condemnation for Sin and to be brought into an holy and blessed Conjunction with God By Nature we are dead in Trespasses and Sins How dead Dead because Sin separates from God and a man divided from God is as a Body separated from the Soul so take away Sin by
therefore perswades them to submit themselves to the practice of Godliness for this is implied in that freedom But he speaks of the freedom of Justification which strongly calls for Holiness and demands Obedience as Psal 130.4 There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared And thus with thankfulness to God he reminds them of the gifts of his Grace under which being justified they became Servants of Righteousness By becoming Servants we understand a Self-resignation to the Will of God in the practice of the duty of Righteousness and Holiness as Verse 17. Ye have obeyed from the heart that is willingly the form of Doctrine delivered to you Neither are these Romans to be considered only as freed from Condemnation as apprehending themselves to be so As 't is evidently the main Subject of the Chapter Verse 1. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound Where he condemns the ill use that Men might be supposed at least to make of their Pardon and Justification that is to take liberty thereupon to Sin because if they sinned never so much they were under Pardon and the more they sinned the greater would be the glory of that Grace that pardoned them Now no Man can possibly thus argue himself into Sin unless he apprehends himself to be pardoned and free from Condemnation So that the Sense of the Text is plain that when Christians do truly apprehend themselves to be free from Condemnation for Sin they willingly deliver up themselves to be Servants of Righteousness So we have clear ground for this Assertion Prop. That justified Persons especially when they apprehend themselves to be so do heartily apply themselves to Duty in the practice of Godliness Psalm 116.8 9. Thou hast delivered my soul from death I will walk before the Lord that is I 'll serve him in holiness and righteousness before him as is expressed in Luke 1.74 75. And Psalm 56.13 Thou hast delivered my soul from death c. and 2 Cor. 7.1 Let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. It plainly argues a propension in such Persons as are in a state of Grace and apprehend themselves to be so to obey the Lord in the perfection of Holiness And this is evident in the following Particulars 1. First They studiously endeavour to inform themselves of the commanding Will of God Whereas before they were mostly inquiring after promises that might comfort them Now they earnestly seek to know the Precepts by which they ought to be directed in the well ordering of their Life That as the Apostle says They may prove what is the good and acceptable will of God Rom. 12.2 Now they make it their business to ask questions concerning the lawfulness or unlawfulness of matters of Practice and enquire what may be done and what must be done Thus the Corinthians wrote to Paul about matters of Practice Marriage in time of Suffering 1 Cor. 7.1 2. And eating of things offered to Idols Chapter 8. Such were the things that they wrote about that they might clearly understand what was the Will of God concerning their practise in such things This also is evident in the case of the Centurion Acts 10.6 7. the Angel assured him of his acceptance with God and that he was in a state of Salvation but tells him a way to know his Duty what he ought to do And presently he observes the direction and sends for Peter carnal Reason would have replied If I be accepted with God then my Sins are pardoned and I am safe what need I more but immediately says he Verse 33. I sent for thee c. So 't is manifest that Persons in the state of Grace and perceiving themselves so do very much intend the knowledge of their Duty 2. Secondly They very gladly accept and comply with the Will of God when once they have discovered it They have in them a new Nature the Law written in their hearts which makes them with pleasure to receive information of their Duty from the Word because it agrees with what they have through Grace an internal Disposition to 1 Thess 4.1 We beseech you brethren and exhort you by the Lord Jesus that as ye have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God so ye would abound more and more Ye received the Word is often used for an affectionate Reception as a Man receives him whom he kindly entertains and makes much of him Acts 16.33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes and was baptized And John 14.3 And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to my self The Commands of God are welcome to a Man in the state of Grace especially when he once comes to understand himself to be so 'T is but a Meiosis that the Apostle uses in the 1 John 5.2 His commands are not grievous that is they are very pleasant As Heb. 6.10 God is not unrighteous that is he is highly Righteous Before they were willing to know the Law but nothing was comfortable to them but the Gospel the word of promise to stay them from despair But now they rejoyce to know their Duty and what will please him that has shewed mercy on them See a notable instance of this in Acts 15.31 They rejoyced greatly for the consolation in the Margin 't is Exhortation declaring matter of Duty So the Jews rejoyced for that they understood the first words of the Law Neh. 8.12 3. Thirdly They put themselves upon speedy and present performance of Duty as soon as they know it They do not only consent to the Law and approve of what it requires and so resolve upon it for time to come but according to their Ability they apply themselves to a present performance of it As David I made haste and delayed not Psalm 119.60 This some understand by the first love Rev. 2.4 Thou hast lost thy first love that is thou art not so zealous in thy Work and Duty as formerly The Apostle's Argument implies this 1 Cor. 15.58 Always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as ye know The words evidently presume That if Men know their acceptance they will addict and give up themselves to Duty In Scripture-Language the same word signifies Consolation and Exhortation 1 Thess 4.18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words The Comfort that Christians receive from the Promise presently exhorts and perswades them to the Duty which they owe to the Command So they set up Duty of Religion in Families and appoint themselves times of Prayer in secret take all opportunities to hear the Word and provide for the strict Observation of the Sabbath c. 4. Fourthly They are much pleased with a Course of Christian Duty when once they are got into it It 's no burden but a pleasure to them as David saies in Psalm 119.14 I have rejoyced in the way
and for all that ever they can do you may be strengthning your selves in your love to God lowering your selves in humility bowing your souls to patience and perswading your hearts to love them that use you most unkindly and injuriously while men are acting their enmity against you you may be confirming your love to them which will be no small advantage to you Against these there is no law Gal. 5.22 2d Use The second Use shews the unsoundness of their Religion who rest in external Reformation Christians indeed begin there but they cannot rest there nor suffice themselves with it It 's that which our Saviour charges on the Scribes and Pharisees that they made clean the outside only You are temperate and abstain from Excesses just and honest in your dealings you worship God in publick and in Families as others But what do you within doors Thirdly 3d Use It shews how far they are from true Christianity that are not careful so much as to rectify the course of their Lives who make not clean the outside that are not ashamed to appear outwardly Ungodly Atheistical Voluptuous Intemperate Fourthly 4th Use The Fourth Use is to perswade Christians to the mortification of Sin 1. Resolvedly deny the motions of Sin when first you observe them As Asaph when he found his heart about to speak bad language against God Psal 73.15 presently recollects his thoughts and says If I speak so I shall offend against the generation of thy children 2dly When you are overtaken in any signal act of Sin take an early opportunity to humble your selves for it So what Sin gains by your Fall it will lose and somewhat more by your Humiliation 3dly In all your resistances to Sin look up to Heaven for help As the Apostle says 1 Pet. 5.3 Whom resist stedfast in the faith 4thly Interest all your Crosses and Afflictions into Rebukes for Sin that you may set your hearts against it 5thly Aim still at perfection of Holiness As in the Text Perfecting holiness in the fear of God Keep up an awful fear of God And thus much for the fourth Period of a Christian's motion towards Perfection A laborious endeavour to mortify indwelling Sin ROM VII 24. O wretched man that I am THE Fifth Step or Period of a Convert's motion toward Perfection that I shall treat of is the Sou's Conflict with Discouraging-troubles arising from the sense of indwelling Sin which as 't is the main Subject of the latter part of this Chapter so is most emphatically exprest in these words O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death or as 't is in the Margin from this body of death I confess I cannot well say how long Paul had been converted when he wrote this Epistle the time of his writing it being uncertain but 't is certainly evident first 1. That he speaks of himself as a converted Person and in the state of Grace renewed and sanctified in some good degree his Will being habitually determined against the evil which he did and to the good which he did not as verses 15 16. and verses 18 19. He speaks of himself of his inner man delighting in the law of God verse 22. which is the very practice of a godly man as David speaks in Psal 40.8 I delight to do thy will O my God yea thy law is within my heart The Law is always grievous to a wicked man though he may like well of some Duties required by it yet the Law it self is a burden to him which he is not willing to bear c. All this that he professes of himself to wit that he had such a will to good against evil and delighting in the Law was highly good and that for which he is thankful verse 25. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. But he utterly denies any good to dwell in him as carnal verse 18. For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing So that if he had now been altogether fleshly and carnal thus much good could not have been in him nor any at all 2dly That he speaks of himself as labouring to do the Will of God in a course of Obedience He did some good and intended and was desirous to do all the rest even that he did not and though he did many evil actions yet his intention and endeavour was against them all which is manifestly the case of a man applying himself to holiness of life 3dly That in his endeavouring thus to obey God in all his Actions he found a strong and vigorous Inclination in his heart to Sin and against Holiness As appears verse 21. I find then a law that when I would do good evil is present with me And ver 23. I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind 4thly That upon this discovery of so much wickedness within him he turned his hearty endeavours against it As appears by these words verse 23. Rebelling Warring leading Captive In his mind he had as before entertained the Law of God and in obedience thereto he made resolute Decrees against his contrary Inclinations But they rebelled he fought against them and they against him for a War cannot be without fighting on both sides And when he sinned at any time he was carried Captive by his indwelling Sin which plainly argues he made resistance against it for they are Adversaries one to another that carry one another Captive 5thly That in this War against his evil Inclinations he found himself too weak of himself to obtain the Victory and therefore cries out as a distressed man in these words O wretched man that I am No man will so bewail his case that finds it in the power of his hand to keep himself O wretched man that I am it's the same word that 's translated Misery Rom. 3.16 Destruction and misery are in their ways And Jam. 5.1 Go to now ye rich men weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you O miserable man I It 's made of two Greek words which signify Suffering and Lamentation that is to say I am a lamentable Sufferer Hence we observe this Doctrine Doctr. That Christians heartily endeavouring and labouring against Indwelling Sin are subject to much discouraging and afflicting trouble about it O wretched man that I am The very Phrases of mortifying the members of the body of Sin Coloss 3.5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth fornication c. Crucifying the Flesh imply much pain and anguish killing and crucifying are painful things Object Yea you will say to them that are killed now that is Sin not the man that kills it I answer Answ Sin in a man is so near to him and has such an union with him that it is not unfitly called himself And so the man that mortifies Sin as he is spiritually renewed mortifies himself as he is sinful and unsanctified therefore the Apostle
all through Christ implies him not otherwise sufficient for any thing according to the words of our Saviour John 15.5 Without me ye can do nothing 4thly The strength on which he professes his reliance is the power of Christ working in him Christ strengthening me within A strength not only given by Jesus Christ but acted and exerted by him not a strength received from Christ but the strength of Christ imployed in him Christ in me strengthening me 5thly He attained to this dependance on the Power of Christ by the benefit of Experience He had learned it verse 12. As men learn matters of Practice by many Experiments So States-men learn their Policy and Trades-men their Arts So David learned to keep the Commands of God by experience of the Evil of Affliction that attends the neglect of them and the comfort that follows a diligent observance of them even in affliction as Psal 119.21 Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed which do err from thy commandments Thus Paul having had experience of his own weakness and the power of Christ in him was now come to this That he could confidently undertake the whole Duty belonging to him as a Christian and an Apostle too depending on the Power of Christ And hence we may observe Doct. 1. That Experience brings Christians to a stedfast reliance on the gracious power of Christ for the performance of their whole Christian Duty 1. I shall give you Scripture-Arguments to prove that Christians do depend on Jesus Christ for his gracious Power in the performance of their Christian Duty First The promise of perseverance is made peculiarly to them that depend upon the gracious Power of God for it Isa 40.31 They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength 't is promised to them that wait on God for strength Now see the former Verse and you find the rest excluded the Youths that trust to their own strength shall fail Hence it 's manifestly consequent That all persevering Christians that make a constant progress in Godliness and grow up to maturity do thus depend on the Grace of God for it Joh. 15.4 5. In the 4th Verse our Saviour commands his Disciples to abide in him as the branch doth in the vine Now men are in Christ by Faith and so their continuing in him is in a continual exercise of Faith and particularly Faith for a Fruit-bearing Virtue as the Branch cleaves to the Vine to derive nourishment from it and be made fruitful by it And to such as abide so in him he promises that they shall bring forth much Fruit Verse 5. So all fruitful and thriving Christians do certainly depend on Jesus Christ for strength and spirit requisite to Christian duty The Conditions of Promises are the qualities of those to whom they are performed If a man be justified 't is certain he is a Believer because 't is promised to such and so if a man makes a good proficiency in Christian practice 't is evident he depends on the strength of Christ because 't is promised only to such 2dly It 's their earnest prayer that they may be enabled for their duty in the strength of God That they may be strong in the power of his might As David prays in the 119th Psalm 35. Make me to go in the path of thy commandments for therein do I delight Though he had not only been exercised to obedience but had found pleasure in it yet he knew himself unable to go on without the Power of God and therefore begs that he may be made to go Matter of Precept is matter of Prayer to a Godly man what God requires of him that he requests of God what God bids him do that he begs God to do in him The Apostles Acts 4.22 was mightily confirmed with strength and courage for their work of Preaching the Gospel and yet they pray for further supplies as acknowledging themselves unable to go one step further without the strength of God though they had gone with much boldness so far already Prayer is the Language of Faith what a serious Petitioner asks of God that he depends and relies upon him for According to that of the Psalmist in the 62d Psalm 8. Trust in the Lord at all times pour out your hearts to him 3dly They humbly acknowledge all that they do in the way of duty to the grace of God working in them Phil. 1. last So in 1 Cor. 15.10 I laboured more abundantly than they all according to this working Yet not I but the grace of God which was with me So in 2. Gal. 20. I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me So the Church confesses all her work to be the work of God Isa 26.12 Thou hast wrought all our works for us or in us All which plainly demonstrates that experienced godly men do constantly and in a setled way depend and rely on the power of Christ for the performance of their duty Now I shall shew you in the 2. Second place How Experience brings them to it First Upon trial and experience they find themselves utterly unable to maintain the practice of godliness in their own strength At first setting out Christians usually betake themselves to reformation and holiness of Life as if they were now able enough for it of themselves in the use of that which they have attained thinking that the hatred which they have to Sin which has cost them so much humiliation and their high esteem of Godliness will carry them through all they have to do in obedience to God They know indeed that all that belongs to their Salvation is of Grace and therefore do in some measure trust in Christ for it But yet at first there is but little of this Faith in them and much of Self-confidence remaining till Grace has wrought it out and therefore they are much persuaded at first that they shall discharge all Christian Offices in the strength of those Resolutions and Purposes of Holiness which are raised in them and scarce apprehend any danger of being at any time drawn away from their known duty to the Sin which they have heartily forsaken But after a-while the sense they have of indwelling Sin makes them ready to despair of any progress at all in Christianity because they are so strongly diverted by the body of Death from the good they would do and carried to the evil which they would not This makes them cry out O wretched man and raises in them that woful Soul-trouble of which I have been lately speaking and so brings them to that sorrowful acknowledgment of the Apostle Rom. 7.18 To will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not Moses Example is a fit Emblem of a Christian in this Case At first he went out among his Brethren in Egypt and smites an Egyptian and reproves an injurious Israelite As if he would presently deliver the Nation and reduce them to a free Estate even of