be little enough to assure the soul of Gods favour and that he can and will pardon such transgressors therefore I say look upon this doctrine it is for those that are dejected with their dead hearts that they may yet receive some comfort to their souls The last day I shewed you how far forth a child of God might be dead but some may say I cannot believe a child of God may come to this and thou art confident thou shall not come to this therefore I will speak a little further of it And first Let me tell you there is not the fowlest haynousest abominablest the most notorious scandalous sin in the world but the most devout godly mortified man upon the face of the earth may fall into it if he take not heed except the sin against the holy Ghost I will instance in some particulars First For Idolatry gross Idolatry will you think that ever a child of God that believes in his name and is acquainted with his word and his goodness and mercy and his jealousie against this sin and iniquity should fall into it should fall down and worship a stock a stone a creature you will never believe it yet you shall see the wisest man that ever was and one that was beloved of God did fall into this sin in a great degree 1 Kings 11.4 Solomons wives drew his heart away from God they drew away his heart from God in an high degree and they did not nakedly draw away his heart from God but they drew his heart after other gods If a man should say I hope I shall never fall into this sin I say let us hope so still and go on in using the means if we be so confident let us take heed that none of us come to bowe to the creature let our own hating and abominating of it be a watch-word to us to take heed Secondly What say you to apostacy nay almost totall apostacy that a child of God should grow to be an apostate which of you would think it that he should come to curse and bann himself if ever he knew Jesus Christ or loved him or ever did countenance him yet you may see a child of God and a notable one too fell in this fashion Peter he did curse and ban himse lf that he never knew the man Mark 14.71 this is very far Thirdly What say you to persecution to persecute a man that is godly dost think that a man that hath the image of God in him that hath the knowledge of the Scripture that hath the fear of God before his eyes and a sympathy with all the Saints of God in the world that this man should ever persecute one that is godly and for his godliness too would you think this yet directly thus it is Asa a godly man for a fit as long as the time lasted when the Prophet reproved him for his sins and dealt roundly with him what was this but gracious dealing yet the man did not only not submit to the Prophets reproof but his very heart rose up against him and he cast him into prison he was a persecutor of him 2 Chro. 16.10 in one word what enormous flagitious sin in the world is there but a child of God if he look not to himself may actually fall into but the sin unto death Noah a Preacher of righteousness the holiest man upon the earth the world had not his fellow yet he fell to be once drunk David a man after Gods own heart a man of admirable experience a man that traded as far in mortification in holiness and righteousness and walking with God and acquaintance with him and his Laws and promises as ever any Saint in the Old Testament yet he fell into the sin of murther and adultery yea to make a man drunk and that otherwise a good man too one of the worthiest of all the Kingdom you see this is clear there is no sin so desperate the sin against the holy Ghost excepted but a child of God may fall into it therefore he had not need to be carnally confident Secondly When a child of God hath fallen thus into some fowl sin he may be much hardened wofully deaded and benummed and grow blockish and untoward to call upon God and go on in any of his waies become marvelously unfitted and indisposed to the use of Gods ordinances nay he may be grown to that pass that he should never rise up more but that for the infinite goodness of God that doth bring him again home and lift him up again by renewing his faith and his repentance you may see when Jehoshaphat had struck with Ahab and helped the ungodly and loved him that hated the Lord though he were smitten in the field and were like to have lost his life and saw what danger he was in for joyning with Ahab yet all this did not humble him the Lord sent after him by hue and cry rousing up his conscience by his Prophets if he had not done thus God knows how long he might have lain thus so David he found a deadness in all goodness when he had committed those foul sins he found no working of Gods blessed spirit his own spirit grew dull his own heart grew dead he was as if he had never known what grace meant create in me O Lord a new heart Psal 51.10 his sin was like to a sweeping rain that leaves nothing like to a consumption that wastes all it was even like a Thief that breaks into a mans ware-house in the night and a man knows not what he hath lost till he casts up his accounts and then he seeth he hath lost almost all his estate so it is with the best of Gods servants if they give way to sin contrary to evangelical obedience God knows what a Thief they let into their soul they know not what they have lost till God give them an heart to cast up their accounts and then they may see that they have lost almost all that they have who knows what God may do it is a fearful thing you see a child of God may not only fall into foul and fearful sins but he may lie in them Then Thirdly To go further when a child of God is come hither then you will say certainly this man must rise up again quickly grace will not let him lie dead 't is true God will not for ever let him lie dead but for how long he shall lie dead no man nor Angel can tell as the Church speaks concerning her misery there is never a Prophet never an ordinance of God all is gone to wrack and there is none among us can tell us how long Psal 74.9 so when a man hath fallen into sin and hath pulled distempers into his soul there is none among us can tell us how long 't is true Peter got up again within a few hours but David got not up again till after ten months and may
to speak but if others will not he will and he will not stand upon terms and difficulties but come what can come he will stand for God now 't is strange how this zeal may be taken off in a man that is otherwise a good man Secondly He may lose all his affections which is a strange thing you know what the affections are they are the wings of the soul if the wings be off the bird cannot flie now a child of God may lose all his affections as it was with Sardis they had not only lost all their zeal but their affections Rev. 3.2 strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die they had lost all and but a little remained and that little was ready to die what a poor heartless lifeless creature was Asa he was grown to that pass that though God sent his Prophets to him yet his affections were not stirred nay they were stirred the clean contrary way he was angry with him and when God laid afflictions upon him he was so little affected with his sins that he sought not to the Lord but to the Physitians a child of God may lose his sorrow and grief for sin though he be privy to a world of corruption and distempers and dulness and blockishness yet he is not able to relent and grieve for them there is no sorrow in his heart as David when he had committed those horrible sins there were no affections in him when Joab sent him word that Vriah was dead which he had a hand in one would have thought it should have made him cry and roar and made his heart to burst but he was so far from being affected with remorse as that he made nothing of it oh saith he tell Joab the sword kills one as well as another 2 Sam. 11.25 so a child of God may lose all the affection of shame It is one of the duties we owe to God that all the corruptions and untowardness that is in us we should be ashamed of them now a child of God may lose this shame David when he had committed adultery he was not ashamed of it he did not blush nay he was impudent he durst let his servants know it and be privy to his villany he could say to them go and fetch me the woman 2 Sam. 11. Again he may lose all his delights in good duties and the ordinances of God he may go to them but with poor delight what poor delight do you think David had in good duties for the space of ten months till Nathan came unto him we may well think what a blockish and feared heart he had again he may lose all his desires and yearnings he may pray and have no heart to lift up his soul to God and be earnest for the having of those graces he stands in need of but pray so coldly as if indeed he would teach God to deny him again he may lose all his fear he may grow to be so marvellous venterous and bold he may grow to be familiar with sins he may grow to come neer the occasions of sin and thrust himself upon temptation again he may lose his affections of love and have hardly any love at all to God as Christ complains of Simon who otherwise was a good man he forgave his sins and yet he complains he loved him but a little Luke 7.44 sc in one word a child of God may lose all his affections Thirdly He may grow to be even senseless of sin and of the grace of God I may shew this in divers examples to instance in the Patriarchs they conspired the death of Joseph afterwards flung him into a ditch which was a most horrible and unnatural thing one would think this should have been as an arrow unto their hearts and they should have been ashamed of themselves but were they sensible of this or moved at it no but they sate down to eat and drink when they had done Gen. 37. so for the children of Israel in the wilderness when they had committed that horrible sin of making a golden calf and the Text shews that many of the children of God were guilty of it when they had done did their hearts smite them were they affected with their sin did it work any impression upon their hearts no they sate down to eat and drink and rose up to play Exod. 32.6 so David when he had committed those horrible hainous sins of murther and adultery sins which deserved death by the Law his fault was aggravated by many circumstances he had wives of his own he was not a young man but well grown in years he was no novice he was not ignorant of God but an old disciple and one that had had a great deal of experience of Gods goodness one that was the most noted man in all Israel for forwardness for God one that as himself confesseth had more understanding then any one in the world more then his teachers these do aggravate his sin but when he had done was he sensible of this no he was so far from it that he laboured to father his bastard upon Vriah Vriah had been a great whiie from his Wife and must have known it to have been a bastard if he had not sent him down to his house now thought he if I can but get him to go down to his house and lye with his Wife the child may be thought to be his child and not mine nay when Vriah spake words that might have burst his bowels when he bade him go to his house you may see what a gracious answer he gave him 2 Sam. 11.11 The Ark and Israel c. as who should say I had more need to be at prayer and keep a fast all Israel is in the field against their enemies therefore I had more need to seek God then look after my pleasures and pampering my body now one would think this should have been as a dagger to Davids heart and made him ashamed yet he was so senseless that he laboured to do it more and more and was never at quiet till he had made him drunk thinking he would go home thus we see that a child of God may be senseless of his sins Fourthly A child of God may grow to be notoriously vain and notoriously worldly and to be notoriously guilty of sin I do not say to live in sin but to sin notoriously that a man that hath but half an eye may say Yonder man is notoriously proud and conceited of himself he is marvelous froward and given to his passions yonder man is marvelous remiss in his place and calling marvelous dull and idle and sluggish and even those that are without may see this much more the children of God thus it was with many of Pauls brethren and companions he had at Rome though he did conceive these were the children of God yet they were grown notoriously and grossely worldly when Paul had occasion to send some Minister
be another not till after ten years may be twenty forty nay who can tell how long grace is free therefore no man can prescribe any time the wind blows where it listeth and how long it listeth and how long it will be ere it blow again who knoweth Reas 1 The Reasons of this first in regard of Satan he fights most of all against the children of God his fingers itch to be at them and at them most his greatest spight is against them the very bowels of the enmity is between him and them the children of God come to take his place that he once had in heaven the children of God are set up against Satan as David was put in the room of Saul therefore I say all the strength of hell is still a working against the Church of God and the Saints of God and every one of them from that very moment that the woman was delivered of a man child he sought to destroy it Simon Simon saith Christ Satan desires to winnow thee c. Luke 22.31 he is the god of this world and his temptations are welcome enough with any body but the children of God none resist his dominion but they he is the Gaoler and hath all the world in close prison but only them they are the only ones that have broken loose that have gotten away out of the power of Satan therefore all his malice and all the gates of hell they are up to send hue and cry after them to hook them in again if they can he is just like a Pyrate a Pyrate will rather set upon one rich ship then upon a thousand beggarly barks because there he may have a rich prize so the Divel knows he can advantage his Kingdom if but one fall that is a Saint more then by the falls and the notoriousest falls of millions of others therefore no wonder that a child of God should grow remiss and careless at any time that he may have a mischief for it is all the Divels business he hath nothing else to do but do mischief to be busie to get a child of God down and if he have him down to hold him down if he can Secondly Another reason is in regard of the children of God themselves Reas 2 they carry flesh about them as well as other men they have a Traitor in their own bosomes that lies in scout every moment to work them woe as Paul saith I find another law in my members c. Rom. 7.23 though a child of God hath wounded all his lusts nay though he hath given them their deaths wound yet there is never a one but may revive and make head again if he take not heed and that in a woful degree as the Lord saith of the Caldeans Jer. 37. I quote it only for a similitude ver 10. though you had smitten all the whole army of the Caldeans yet they shall come and fire the City when Judah had provoked God though they had wounded all the Caldeans yet those wounded men should come and fire the City so let a man take heed he doth not give way to sin for though his lusts be mortified and he hath given them their deaths wound yet these wounded Caldeans may come and fire all his soul if he take not heed Thirdly In regard of God himself God is pleased to try his people to Reas 3 withdraw himself now and then from them to leave them to themselves and the grace they have received to let them alone with that and when he doth thus no wonder though they fall for every man hath some vileness and rottenness in his heart the wholest simplest heart in the world hath a deal of rottenness in it I say the Lord doth sometimes leave his children to themselves as he did Hezekiah in the business of the Ambassadors 2 Chro. 32.31 as the Church saith Cant. 5.6 my beloved had withdrawn himself the lovingest mothers may sometimes let their little child go alone though they know he will fall they provide may be a rouler about his head that whither they fall backward or forward or any way they may not break their skull and do themselves a mischief to undo themselves but when they have done thus they will sometimes leave them to themselves to go though they know they will fall so the Lord doth put a rouler upon his people that when they fall they may not fall totally and finally as the wicked men do they shall never strike into a wicked course as the ungodly of the earth do that he takes order for but he doth many times leave them not out of any ill will to them but he leaves them to themselves though he knows they will fall and that for divers reasons First That they might be patterns to others of Gods people that if they should fall as they may do when they are down they may have wherewithal to get up again I say the Lord leaves the eminentest of his people to themselves to fall into lamentable miscarriages that they may help inferiour people and they may have something to encourage them that God will recover them and relieve them again and that God will not cast them off for ever as Paul shews 1 Tim. 1.16 saith he for this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long suffering for a pattern to them who shall hereafter believe as who should say there may be a persecutor a blasphemer smitten a vile wretch a fighter against God and Jesus Christ such a one may be smitten and come to see his damned estate a thousand to one but this man will be overwhelmed and drowned in despair but saith he The Lord though I was one of his elect yet he let me fall to this pass that I might be a pattern to them which shall afterwards believe so we may say of Gods children after conversion David may say For this cause among the rest the Lord left me to my self the Lord let me fall so fouly and lifted me up again that I might be a pattern to many poor people to the end of the world that they may see the loving kindness of the Lord and the infinite compassions and bowels of mercy that is in the father of mercy towards them that trust in his name we should never believe the mercy of God the freeness of his grace the goodness of his nature towards his beloved towards those whom he hath effectually called were it not for such examples Secondly The Lord doth this for to punish the carelesseness of his people and their security many times what sin is there that is more apt to grow upon them then security it is a stealing sin it is a secret and cunning sin that comes closely and slightly upon a man before he is aware if he look not to himself now when a man grows to be secure the Lord takes this course many times to eat it out to
doth purpose to make them come to himself and make them partakers of everlasting mercy God hath no such purpose when he calls the reprobate he hath a purpose indeed to do them good if it be not through their own default but yet notwithstanding he hath no such purpose and absolute intention to do them good he hath no such purpose to bring them to his Kingdome and carry them quite through in the business Secondly This is a secret in Gods own bosome and that is another difference wherein this calling differs from the other it is such a calling wherein God puts forth his power and the greatness of his power too God called the light and it came God called the Heavens and they came when as they were noâ— God calling of them they were made to come so when God doth call a man by his Spirit he calls a man powerfully he doth powre in divine instincts of grace and faith and all other holy vertues whereby the soul is made able to come to God the Lord gives the heart a kinde of touch that being touched by his Spirit it must and shall and will know God in Jesus Christ it puts in divine things into the soul whereby the soul must needs know him and come to him and be reconciled to him 1 Joh. 3.9 he puts his own seed into him he that is borne of God sinneth not for the seed of God remaineth in him the Lord puts an holy kinde of ointment upon his eyes and makes him see and that abides in him 1 Joh. 2.27 The holy anoynting which ye have received abideth in you Thirdly It is a continual call it is not a call and so away a call for a year and so an end but it is a continual call he never leaves calling of him till he comes home to him as 1 Thesâ— 5.24 Faithful is he that hath called you who will also do it as who should say he hath called you and doth call you and he is faithful and will do it he hath called you heretofore and made you come to him in truth and sincerity and he will still continue his call he will still do it more and more the Lord draws his people nearer and nearer to himself Now I will prove the Doctrine by divers particulars First Because a man then may be able to look back upon all his life even from his cradle to this day even before his call and see Gods love to him as Paul though he could not see it before yet when God had effectually called him he is able to look back upon all his former time and space he had lived even from his mothers womb Gal. 1.15 Who hath seperated me saith he from my mothers wombe and called me by his grace and so it was with David I have been cast upon thee saith he even from my mothers belly Psal 22.9 10. it is not likely that David was converted then but when God had effectually called him then he was able to go back all along even to his very infancy and trace Gods goodness towards him in this and that even to his very bringing him into the world Secondly This interests a man in all the promises of God 2 Pâ—t 1.3 Who hath given unto us all things pertaining to life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and vertue if we know that God hath called us to glory and vertue then we know that God hath given us all things that pertaine to life and godliness to this life and the life to come we know it when God hath effectually called us we know that all the promises belong unto us as the Apostle speaks Acts 2.39 For the promise is to you and to your children and to yours that are afar of even as many as the Lord our God shall call look how many God calls so many do the promises belong unto all the promises of mercy and grace and comfort of strength and direction and eternal redemption the compleat working of it all these promises from the first to the last they all belong to a man when God hath called him when the Lord effectually calls a man he takes him out of the world to have fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ and in whatsoever he hath done or suffered or purchased for his people Thirdly It doth sweeten all Gods promises to a man what is the reason we can hear such admirable things out of the Word and yet they affect people generally for the most part no more then a dry chip though they hear of the promises of God what promises he hath made to his people to their Prayers to their hearing of the Word to their receiving of the Sacrament what promises he hath made in adversity and prosperity in sickness and in health in life and death when they sin through frailty what promises they have to help them up againe when they are to do any thing what promises to assist them and go along with them when they are called to any employment what promises to sustaine them and bear them out I say though all these things be delivered to people things that were sweeter to David then the hony and the hony combe Psal 119.103 Yet generally people are not affected with these things the reason is because they are not able to say that God hath effectually called them therefore when they heare such things the heart cannot lay hold upon them they think with Francis Spera I have no part in these things they think 't is true they are so to Gods people but they think there is little comfort little sweetness in them because they cannot say that they are effectually called of God Fourthly If a man be effectually called this helps a man to pray Psa l. 119.94 I am thine save me when David was able to say thou hast called me to be one of thine then he was able to pray to God Lord save me Lord help me I am thine thou art my God when he was able to say that he had interest and propriety in God this did exceedingly help him and encourage him with boldness in prayer but when a man questions his effectual calling every petition a man puts up it is choaked a man cannot pray to God but he is beaten off there is no strength in such a prayer as soon as ever Paul was converted saith God to Ananias behold now he prayes Act. 9.11 Paul had prayed a thousand times before no man in Judea prayed more then he but God took no notice of his prayers but when God had effectually called him by his grace now the Lord took notice of his prayers and observed them and heard them and regarded them and inclined his ear to them behold now he prayes Fifthly This is a great encouragement to all goodness in outward things it is a great encouragement to a man to take them in hand when he seeth
then the sincere they may multiply duties as well as the other for the things done but here is the thing a wicked man doth duties heartlesly unaffectionately but a child of God doth them sincerely and willingly and le ts out his heart and affections upon them all God loves a chearful giver 2 Cor 9.10 He loves a giver that gives with all his affections so he loves a chearful comer to Church that is glad to hear a Sermon and his heart leapes to hear the Word of God and he is affected with it he loves a chearful praying one that in prayer poures out his soul before him he loves a chearful comer to the Sacrament that delights to shew forth the Lords death till he comes God doth not love a man unlesse he doth this with all his affections as it is said it is good to be zealous in a good matter the worship and Commandments of God are good matters now it is good to be zealous in these matters nay to have the creame and flower and chief of our affections set upon these things we are acquainted with the wayes and histories of grace and we can speak thereof but it doth not sink down into our hearts it doth not warme us nor put any heat into our souls we are not quickened and moved by these things we know Gods attribute his power and wisdome and mercy and justice c. But none sink down into our hearts they affect us not as they ought to do where are our affections in prayer We pray and come to Church and to the Lords Table but where are our affections in all these things The Lord cares not for these services that have not affections to spice them and sweeten them and beautifie them the Lord loves when a man serves him with all his heart when the will hangs off it is base service and the Lord regards it not as the Lord loves that we that are Ministers should preach with a ready minde 1 Pet. 5.2 That we should preach with gracious affections and be affected in the Pulpit and desire from the bottome of our souls to do good to the people and yearne over the people the Lord loves these things when we do them willingly and heartily so he delights in people when they heare and call upon his Name with affection when we go about Gods Commandments as a Bear to the stake God abhors it may be God commands a man to do such a thing he doth it but it is hard saith he when money is to be fetched out of his purse for good duties it is hard saith he and when he must go against the wicked and pull the ill will of the Countrey upon him may be he doth it but it is hard the Lord distasts this the Lord loves a chearful giver and a chearful worker a chearful Minister and chearfull people now if faith comes into the soul it will not only work obedience but chearful obedience and from the bottome of the heart Secondly true obedience makes a man resigne himself to God it makes a man to be altogether at Gods dispose I am thine saith David he looked upon himself as if he were altogether at Gods dispose as if he were his and not his own You are not your own saith the Apostle you are bought with a price 1 Cor. 2 6. So that is true obedience when a man gives up himself to God many will do things that God commands but they know not how to do them with resignation to be altogether at Gods dispose they love to be called Gods servants but they will be only retainers as many will get to be servants to some Gentleman but it is only for their own advantage to save their purses to have the Gentlemans countenance these will not dwell with the Gentleman but in their own houses and when he hath some great strangers at a Feast or when he rides abroad in state then they will attend upon him but yet they will live at home and be their own men so most people are but the Lords retainers this is no obedience at all it is none of faiths obedience Thirdly true obedience puts forth all a mans strength to God Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy soul and all thy strengh Praise the Lord O my soul and all that is within me praise his Holy Name Psal 103. True obedience lets forth all that is in a man to Christ Mat. 4.20 When Christ called Simon and Andrew they flung away their nets and followed him it was all the living they had and yet they flung away all to follow him so when he spake to Matthew a Publican faith came no sooner into his soul but he followed him presently Mat. 9.9 Though it was a rich office he was a Knight by his place as Cicero speaks it was worth five hundred pounds a yeare of our money yet as soone as ever Christ called him he left his place and went after Christ so when a man will part with purse and friends and all he hath and fling all at Gods foot and give up all to him this is true obedience now if we have not this we have not faithful obedience THE KILLING POVVER OF THE LAW Rom. 7.9 For I was once alive without the Law but when the Commandment came Sin revived and I died IN these words the Apostle shewes Two things First What a jolly man he thought himself to be whilst he was a Pharisee before the Lord wrought upon him by the Law Secondly What a miserable wretched creature he saw himself to be when the Lord took him in hand and discovered his sins unto him before the Law came home unto him and convinced his Conscience he thought himself to be alive but when the Commandment came Sin revived and he died 1. In the former we may observe Two things First The jolliness of the Apostle he thought himself to be alive I was alive without the Law I was a Pharisee and thought my self to be alive I fasted twice a week and prayed every day and made long Prayers each day when he considered how he walked thus in all the Ordinances of God he thought if this was not to be alive he knew not what it was to be alive I was alive once without the Law Secondly We have here the cause why he had this good conceit of himself it was because he was without the Law the law of God had not convinced him it had not discovered his miserable and wretched estate unto him though he had some understanding in the literal sense of the Law yet the Law was not yet come home unto him he was as yet without the Law and that was the reason of that good conceit he had of himself he did esteem himself to be alive And then again in the latter part When the Commandment came Sin revived but I died There we may also observe Two things First
correction and have not obeyed the voice of them that taught me nor inclined my eare to them that instructed me His carnal Reasons are now all gone they are in a swound they were true Instructions that I have hated they were true Reports that I have despised and they were base and damned Courses which I have followed How have I lived One would think all his foolish conceits now were gone they are in a swound indeed and cannot get up But the Gospel will give a man his deaths wound a man can never have that good conceit of himself he had before nor of his lusts and vanities and profits and delights his self-conceitednesse hath now got his deaths wound Secondly For self-confidence when the Law hath humbled a man his self-confidence is only in a swound when he lyeth in Hell under the lash of the Law he seemeth to have no power in himself no life or activity to any duty He sees that he is poor and weak and rotten and wretched A poor creature he is he seeth it plainly and all his self-confidence seems to he gone but yet there is a great deal of self-confidence actually in Hell for though they are in Hell yet they think if they were alive again what they would do I would hear the Word and call upon God I would repent and not live in sin and not do as I have done they think they would do thus and thus as it was with Divâ—s Luke 16.30 I have five brethren saith he if one should come to them from the dead they would repent and not come where I am If they knew but as much as I know they would repent I am sure if they were in my case they would if they were in hell where I am if they knew how certain it is that they shall come to hell where I am when they die unlesse they do repent at the preaching of the Prophets and hearken to the voice of Gods-Ministers and yield and submit to God they would do it I would if it were my case This is self-confidence for self-confidence is only laid asleep in Hell and it cannot rise again It is true the Law may dead a man and give him three deaths wounds There are Three Wounds that the Law gives a man First It makes it appear that a man is worthy of death the Law makes him see his guiltinesse Secondly The Law pronounceth upon a sinner the sentence of death as Paul saith of a natural death I received the sentence of death 2 Cor. 1.9 that is I was a dead man I took my self to be a dead man So the Law doth make a man to be a dead man it pronounceth the sentence of death upon him it doth not only make it appear that he is worthy of death for so it may do and yet he may have hope of mercy but it makes a man receive the sentence of death and to be a dead man If a man be once condemned if the sentence of death be passed upon him then he is without hope that the Judge will save him because the sentence of condemnation is passed upon him A man may see himself worthy of death and yet hope for mercy Rom. 1.31 Therefore the Law doth pronounce the sentence of death upon him and makes a man in a second degree dead Nay Thirdly The law makes a man see there is no hope of return as it is with a dead man when a man is truly dead there is no return from death there is no rising again as the Wise-man speaks of the strange women Prov. 2.18 19. Surely her house tendeth to death and her paths unto the dead they that go unto her return not again neither take they hold of the wayes of life Here the Wise-man sets forth the infinite misery and damnable estate of such a creature and the irrecoverableness of such a person without the extraordinary mercy of God Ordinarily such persons are seldom or never brought to repentance ordinarily they are irrecoverable So the Law makes a man see he is guilty of death and it passeth the sentence of condemnation upon him and it makes him see there is no repeal of that sentence thus the law leaves him Now a man would think Can a man be more dead then thus How can a man be more dead Yet he may be a thousand times more dead for the livelynesse of a man is but in a swound all this while a man cannot be brisk and peark and self-conceited he is now laid in a swound but is not stark dead But when a man comes to be Evangelically dead he is more dead a great deale And I will shew you it in these three things 1. First He is most dead that is hardest to recover Now when a man is legally dead it is easie to recover that man let but the lash of the law be taken off let but God let him alone and the profits and pleasures of the world will make him alive again his friends and vanities and delights will put life into him again it is an easie matter to recover this man but let a man be evangelically dead when the Gospel hath deaded a man he is a thousand times more dead and a great deal harder to recover nothing can recover that man but Christ let all the profits in the world come they cannot chear him without Christ if the devil should come and put into his minde all good conceits and the good opinion of the world If the Ministers should tell him he is in a good estate they cannot quicken his heart he is dead still he is harder a thousand times to be revived then the other as the Apostle saith Col. 3.2 3. Set your affections on things that be above not on things that are on earth for ye are dead and your life is hid in Christ The Gospel hath made you dead and you cannot be revived by any thing but Christ your life is hid with Christ do not you set your affections on things that are below they can never put life into you therefore let not them take up your minds and affections any more for your life is in Christ alone 2. Secondly He is most dead that life it self cannot make alive When a man is but legally dead the law hath made him a dead man and killed him and shewed him he is a damned creature this man let him have but a little life or any thought of life come into him let him have any affections towards God any seeming desires it will make him think I am alive But if the Gospel once have made a man a dead man life it self cannot quicken him Christ himself cannot make this man a live man in himself though life come into him and though he hath life from God yet he himself is dead I am dead through the law saith Paul that I might live unto God thus I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and that life I now live
the wildernesse as the wildernesse is open for all wild-beasts so their hearts are open for all temptations that is the reason they have such dead hearts and cold affections that is the reason they look so little after salvation and eternal life because people never look after this duty of watchfulness nay they are so far from watching how to be saved that they watch how the divel may take them when a man sins he wisheth the Divel would help him to more sin a covetous man is so far from watching over his sin that he would have more opportunities and more occasions of getting the Devil cannot come fast enough to fill his heart with these things So if a man be given to pleasure he thinks he cannot have enough but would have more still Thus people would have the Divel put more corn into the hopper They are so far from watching for good that they watch for evil they devise evil upon their beds as the Prophet Micah speaks They are possessed with the spirit of slumber they have eyes and see not they have eares and hear not hearts and understand not they do not know what watchfulnesse is if they do they are the lesse excusable because they practice it not they do not watch and wake unto Prayer that they may not enter into temptation but are carried away with the world and sin The Second Use is To them that are Godly in some measure that we cannot say they altogether do not watch yet how negligent are they in this duty Many Christians are there among us that have some goodnesse in them yet how doth this duty lye unpractised whence come all the vanities in our minds and untowardnesse in the Ordinances of God Whence comes all unfruitfulnesse in our meetings and unsettlednesse in our Consciences It is because we do not watch Whence comes it that we are no more ready to good duties When we are called forth on the sudden to pray or do any thing for the good of Gods Church and People that we are so unfit to do it and so backward it is for want of watchfulness Nay what is the reason that we perform not the Worship of God in our Families better but because we do not watch the very Regenerate themselves what a world of mischief do they do to their own souls for want of this duty of watchfulness How do they swell in sin and are slack in goodnesse and slubber over Gods service How do they favour themselves too too much and suffer the dishonour of God by the wicked and suffer their own hearts to dishonour him too too much Thirdly The next Vse shall be to shew you the Rules that are to be observed in watching and the Rules are these If you would watch over your selves First Count watchfulnesse your very life and think if you let watchfulnesse go you let your life go for if once watchfulness go hovv dead are you in Prayer and hearing the Word of God So that the security of the heart vvill be the death of the heart vvherefore if vve vvould go on in vvatching let us labour to keep this Holy disposition count it your very lives and think vvith your selves I let Life go if I let Watchfulnesse go We use to say of Sleep that it is the brother of Death and 1 Thes 5.6 vve may see the Phrase used by the Apostle vvhere vvaking is put for living and sleeping for dying that is the meaning of the vvords So that as sleep natural sleep doth lively represent death so it is vvith Spiritual sleep vvhich is the death of the soul Therefore dost thou find thy self to be out of frame and not vvatch over thy vvayes then think vvith thy self that thou art a dead man and take up thy vvatch as fast as thou canst again Secondly Thou must let thy watch stand Catholically universally in all duties and all times vvatch thereunto and persevere therein vve must not only watch but Persevere Be careful in the morning how vve may begin our vvatch in the day hovv vve may spend it at night how vve may end it So vve must vvatch in all duties vvhen vve go to Prayer vve must vvatch in prayer vvhen you go about your Callings vvatch about them vvhen vve are alone vve should be vvatchful and vvhen vve are in Company vve should be vvatchful for the Divel and our ovvn souls plot a great deal of mischief against us vve must vvatch in all places in our houses and vvithout doors and in the fields vve are still in danger vvheresoever vve are Thirdly We should proportion our watch according as the duty is we take in hand so our vvatching may bee there is one kind of vvatching for one kind of duty another for another If vve be to go about our callings then our vvatching must be against distrustfulnesse and covetousness and distracting cares that so vve may not be over head and ears in the vvorld If our duty be prayer vve must have an eye to the promises and take hold on the Lord Jesus Christ and come in his mediation and his onely So vvhatsoever duty it be if it be hearing of the Word of God there is a vvatchfulness to be proportionable to it A man should think the vvord will do me no good unlesse the Lord meet vvith my lusts I have an unmortified heart and unlesse the Lord vvork upon me I shall never lie dovvn under him Therefore vve should be vvatchful that vve may practice and be able to apply vvhatsoever is spoken to us vve are to keep a due vvatchfulness for that vvhich is due to one thing is not due to another that vvhich is sufficient for one is not for another Fourthly Take heed of all things that may hinder Watchfulnesse And first Take heed of vain Company If vve will be watchful we must exercise our selves vvith those that are godly To be vvith secure Christians is the vvay to be secure this vvill hinder a man A man had better be alone then be in bad Company as the Prophet David saith Psal 102.7 I watch and am alone as a Sparrow on the house top he was alone and yet he was watching A man when he is alone may be watching rather then when he is in such Company a man can never look to himself well unlesse he prize the Communion of Saints Secondly A man should be sober Take heed of Spiritual Drunkenness Take heed of the cares of this life and that you be not immoderate in any lawful thing we should stand upon our guard and keep our hearts with all manner of keeping if our hearts grow drowzy and idle and if we neglect Sobriety then we are gone therefore in Scripture these are put together be sober and watch 1 Thess 5.6 1 Pet. 5.8 I do not mean Drunkennesse with Wine for there is a Drunkennesse and not with Wine as the Prophet speaks a man may be drunk with
2. Not as though we should set up a conceited distinction of works in the Trinity 2. What is this voice Not distinct from the word preached Consists 1. In the opening a a mans senses 2. In taking away a mans lameness Called a voice 1. Because it is joyned to the word 2. Because it hath a similitude of a voice Quest How may we know whether that soul hath heard this voice Answ 1. There is a power goes along with this Word 2. This voice makes one hear more then any creature can speak 3. It is the irrefragable propounding of the promise 2. Confidence in natural man 1. In the power of God 2. Unrooted in the will 3. Presumptuous 2. Confidence in the godly 1. Special perswasion of Gods love 2. A constant expectation Confidence in Christ for life and salvation is true justifying faith Arg. 1. From the several expressions of faith in Scripture 1. Trusting 2. Relying on God 3. Staying upon God 4. Rolling ones self on God 5. Adhering unto God 6. Beleeving on God Arg. 2. From the offer of Christ Arg. 2. From the offer of Christ Arg. 3. Because faith is a coming to Christ Arg. 4. Because the object of justifying faith is no proposition but Christ himself Arg. 5. Because true faith is a faith of union Use 1. Then no absurdity to say faith is in the heart as well as in the minde Object Use 2. A believer may not be sure in regard of sense Arg. 1. The event is not the object of justifying faith 2. The event is conditional till a man believes Argument 3. Arg. 4. The event is known another way Arg. 5 Not the truth but strength of faith aprehends the event Doct. It is faith that makes a man obey the call of God Reas 1 Because faith seeth Gods purity and mercy to be inseparable attributes 2. Because faith looks on Christ not only as a Saviour but as a Lord. 3. Because faith gleweth the heart to the Commandements as well as to the promises 4. Because faith looks to a fitnesse for heaven as well as a title to heaven 5. Because faith is eminently all that a man is to do John 2. 2. By carrying a man to God 3. By making a man improve all his abilities 4. By making a man relie on Christ Quest How doth faith fetch power from Christ Answ 1. As an instrument 2. In a moral way Use 2. See what little faith is in the world Use 3. For examination Evidences of true obedience 1. Willing and hearty 2. Works resignation to God 3. It puts forth all a mans strength to God The Division of the Text. Obser The latter part of the Text Opened Obser Luke 16. Quest Answ Vse 1 King 21. Acts 5. What it is to watch Literally Ordinary Extraordinary For a civil end For a Spiritual end Spiritually It implies proneness to be drowzy Endeavour to stir up our selves It is an intentive Consideration in all Cases What we must watch Our Selves Our thoughts Heart Words Senses Eyes Ears Whole selves Duties of Religion Before Duty In Duty Time Present time Time of Gods wrath Time of Grace Death Judgment Reasons Our proneness to be drowzy Christians life is a Warfare The world an Eenemy The Divel The certain advantage of Watchfulness We cannot else expect help or â—â—râ—on Object Answ Gods appointment None can Watch for us Object Answ Vse Condemning the general neglect of Watchfulnesse Reproving the godly's too great neglect Directing how to watch Account watchfulness our life Watching in all things Proportioning it to what we are about Avoiding hinderances Vain company Spiritual drunkennesse Setting God before our eyes Vse Exhorting to watchfulnesse Motives Because otherwise it will be ill with us at last Because our souls are sickly We are already awakened Badness of the times and carelessness of the most Regeneration attributed to the spirit Because Christ doth it by the spirit Spirit is the bond of union between us and Christ Because the spirit quickens the word whereby we are born again That the spirit of God doth regenerate all the Saints What Regeneration is A Renewing A Renewing of the whole man By degrees perfected According to Gods Image In Jesus Christ Why called Regeneration To shew the great Corruption of Nature The work well expressed by the Name Father both in Natural and Spiritual Generation A Mother in both First Conception and then Birth Pain accompanies both Births Both come to a Being they had not New Kindred follows both Wherein Regeneration consisteth Passive receiving Christ An active power to become a child of God Reasons why the Spirit worketh Regeneration It is the good pleasure of God No other agent can do it Man is totally against it of himself How the Spirit worketh Regeneration By the Word of Life By a secret and supernatural power Vse 1. Of Confutation of Pelagians c. Information Of our continual need of the Spirit Exhortation 1. Not to grieve the Spirit 2. To do any thing for God 3. To the Unregenerate to pray for the Spirit Of Examination whether regenerated or no. First Signe When doing good is natural The heart 's a good soil for Grace He cannot live in Sin It is pleasant to do the will of God Grace gets the upper hand He loves the people of God He loves Spiritually to profit others VVhat this Body is The invisible Church of God Gathered out of all Nations Predestinated unto life Begotten again by the VVord VVhat putting into this Body is A part of our ingrafting into Christ VVrought by Faith Making us have â—ommon life with other Members It makes of one consent with all the people of God For mutual care and help That this is the Spirits work Reasons why the Spirit of God doth thus unite to the Body of Christ None but the Spirit is able None but the Spirit is fit to do it How the Spirit doth Unite to Christ's Body By being one and the same spirit in all Members By tying a knot between all the Members Vses The want of the Spirit is the cause of difference Let none put asunder what the Spirit joyns To try our acquaintance hereby To stir up a sâ—mpathy amongst the Saints How to work maintain and express this sympathy By informing our selves concerning one another By visiting our fellow-Members By laying to heart their afflictions Proposit 1. A set time for worship Propos 2. Some set time for worship every day Propos 3. Every day in some sort a Sabbath Luk. 1.74 75. Propos 4. A particular special day for Gods worship Propos 5. One day of Seven to be set apart for Gods worship Propos 6. That day of the seven to be kept holy on which God rested Propos 7. All that is in the Fourth Commandment is not essential to it Quest Answ Propos 8. The 4 th Commandment continual alwayes to abide in the Church Gal. 5.2 Exod. 35.3 Propos 9. The first day of the week was the Lords day and so to continue to the end of the world ver 22 23