effectually of sin of the sin of Nature and the Nature of sin all these little appendices and appurtinances of Vanity will fall and drop of course For this was our blessed Saviour's method Mat. 23.26 Mat. 12.33 Cleanse the inside of the cup or platter and the outside will be clean also And if we could as supernatural Grace only can make the Tree good the Fruit would be good by consequence Direction X. Whatever fashions of Apparel you have found a temptation to your own souls when worn by others in prudence avoid them You may reasonably suspect that what has been a snare to you will be so to another For tho all are not guilty of the same actual sins yet all have the same seeds of sins in them And what has awakened your Pride and Lust may awaken the same Corruptions in your Neighbour Direction XI Let all your indifferences be brought under the government and guidance ef Religion Indifferent things in their general Natures are neither good nor evil but when Religion has the main stroke in managing and ordering them it will make them good and not evil Advise with Gods Glory what you shall eat what you shall drink and what you shall put on That will teach us to deny our selves in some particulars of our Christian Liberty Whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do else 1 Cor. 10.31 do all to the glory of God Than which all the Masters of the Art of Eating all the Mistresses of the Science of Dressing cannot give you a more approved Directory Direction XII Use all these indifferent things with an indifferent affection to them an indifferent concern for them and about them Treat'em value 'em as they deserve Cloathes commend us not to God nor to Wise and Good Men Why are we then so solicitous about them as if the Kingdom of God lay in them The Apostle in consideration that the Time is short would have us use this World as not abusing it because the fashion thereof passes away Yet a little while and there will be no use 1 Cor. 7.31 because no need of them But God and the World are commonly of contrary Judgments and that which is highly esteemed among men Luke 16.15 is oftentimes an abomination to him Lukewarmness is a Temper hot enough for what is neither good nor evil How great then is our sin who are stone-cold in those matters wherein God would have us fervent in Spirit but where he would have us cool and moderate all of a flame Direction XIII Lastly Seek that honour chiefly which comes from God only The World is never so wise or so good that we should much value its good word or approbation but oftentimes so bad and foolish that its commendation is our reproach What evil have we done that an evil World should speak well of us To be accounted honourable by him and made beautiful by him is true Honour real Beauty In his Judgment stands our absolution or condemnation in his Sentence our life or death to him and by him we stand or fall What a wretched honour is it that we receive from it Apparel which is no part of our selves and for which we are beholden to the trivial skill of a Taylor or Attire-woman but the true Reason of the affectation of these Vanities lies in that of our Saviour How can ye believe that seek honour one of another John 5.44 and seek not the honour that comes from God only Considerations to press to such a cautelous walking that we partake not in the sinfulness of strange Apparel I. Let us seriously consider How Apparel came into the World Sin brought in Shame and Shame brought in Apparel and Apparel has at last brought in more Sin and Shame The old Riddle has here found an Oedipus Mater me genuit peperit mox filia matrem In the state of Primitive Integrity Man was cloath'd with Original Righteousness He wore the glorious Image of him that created him in knowledg righteousness and true holiness But sin has now stript him of his glory and expos'd his shame to the view of God his Judg. How great then is that Pride when we are proud of what should abase us How vile that glory that glories in its shame It was good advice of Chrysostome Homil. 18. in Genes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let the wearing of our Apparel be a perpetual Memorial to us of the good things we have lost and an Instruction what penalties mankind is liable to by disobedience For as Gregory Nazianzene reasons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orat. de Mort. If says he we had continued the same we were at first created we had had no need of a coat of skins the divine Image shining in our souls And therefore Chrysostom's Inference is very clear Tom. 6. p. 241. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cloaths were not given us to set forth our beauty but to cover that shame that proceeded from nakedness But Tertullian excellently prosecutes this argument Si tanta in Terris moraretur fides quanta in Coelis merces ejus expectatur nulla omnino vestrum sorores ex quo Deum cognovisset De hab Mulieb in initio de sua id est foeminae conditione didicisset laetiorem habitum nè dicam gloriosiorem appetisset ut non magis in sordibus ageret squallorem potius affectaret ipsam circumferens Evam lugentem poenitentem quo plenius quod de Evâ trabit ignominiam dico primi delicti invidiam perditionis humanae omni satisfactionis habitu expiaret If there was as much Faith on Earth as there is reward for it in Heaven there 's none of you since the time she knew God and understood her own condition that would have affected a joyful much less a splendid Garb but rather have lien in sackcloath and ashes carrying about her an Eve within that laments and repents that so she might compensate with the most mortified habit that she derived from the first Eve I mean the scandal of the first sin and the odium of having been the Ruin of Mankind Alas what pleasure could we take in these Vanities did we consider them as the Effect of so sad a Cause And what would the Gold of Ophir the Pearls of the Ocean the Jewels of the Indies signifie to a soul that was taken up with Reflections on its Exile from Paradise and the loss of God's Image II. It deserves to be laid to heart how we came into the World how we must go out and how we shall rise again Holy Job confessed that when he was reduced to beggary he was somewhat better than when he was born Job 1.21 Naked came I out of my mothers womb and naked shall I return thither i. e. to the Earth the common Mother of us all And we may add Naked shall I rise again I shall see my Redeemer at the last day with these eyes but I
are given for as the rigid Dominicans do certainly make God the Cause of Sin whether culpable or not culpable is not the Question even so do the Scotists and Molinists for they both include in the matter of Sin somewhat more than what is meerly Natural even somewhat that is morally Vicious and yet assert that this Matter is the immediate effect of Gods Causality only the one says That God does as it were take man by the hand and lead him to Sin the other That man determines the Efficiency of God and the Scotist says That the first and second Cause do walk hand in hand to the Sin but whether I lead another to the Sin and help him to commit it or whether I am taken by the Sinner and determined to help him to produce what is sinful in the Act or whether I walk with him stil I am at least a Concauser of what is sinful in the Act so that neither the Scotist nor the Molinist give me any satisfaction in this Matter The Result therefore of my thoughts is as follows I am sure that no Natural Being ever has been is or can be without the Efficiency of God the first Cause and yet I am as confident that no Moral Evil is in any sense the Effect of the Physical Efficiency of God The Moral Undueness that is considered as that which is the Foundation of Sin cannot be from God but yet how satisfactorily to reconcile these things or how to comprehend the Modes of Divine Operation is above us we cannot reach unto it it transcends our Understandings 5. There are also several Doctrines which have a special Aspect on those Transactions that are about the carrying on Fall'n Mans Salvation to the Illustrating the Glory of the divine Perfections which are very profound The Doctrines of the Fall of Man the Transition of Original Sin from Adam to his Posterity the Methods taken for the Recovery of the Elect the Covenant of Reconciliation between the Father and the Son from all Eternity the Incarnation of the Son of God and the many surprizing Doctrines with reference thereunto even about his several Offices as Mediator and in special That of his Being a Priest after the Order of Melchisedek his Suretyship how our Sins were imputed to him and his Righteousness made ours beside those Doctrines about the Nature of the Mystical Vnion that is between Christ and Believers and how this is the ground of Imputation and many other momentous points might be spoken unto to evince That though there is nothing of Contradiction in these Doctrines yet there is very much that transcends the most enlarged Capacity They are points that the Angels themselves are prying into but cannot fully comprehend But these things I must wave and go on to acquaint you with some of the many Providences that do in like manner transcend our Understandings II. Among the many amuzing Providences that are before Us I will single out a few 1. That the greatest part of the World should lye in Wickedness unacquainted with the Methods of Salvation is an amuzing Providence Look we into the remotest parts of the World we find nothing but a strange Ignorance of the true God or of the true Worship of God Oh how great a part of the World is over-run with Paganism Mahometanism and Judaism Come we nearer home and take a view of the Christian World behold how small is it in comparison of those parts where the abovemention'd false Religions prevail and of the many thousands who are called Christians how many Invelop'd with the thick clouds of Ignorance and Error and how â—ew free from the Influence of Idolatry and Superstition A multitude of those who have been baptiz'd into the name of Christ have not the opportunity of looking into the sacred Oracles which reveal the true way to Life everlasting and of those who have the happy Advantages of consulting the sacred Scriptures how few can understand them The which is not without a Providence of God But can we compare these Providences with those discoveries that are made of the Infinite Compassions of Almighty God towards the Children of men and comprehend a consistency between them In the Scriptures 't is said That God would have all men be saved and to that end come to the Knowledg of the Truth even when but a very small spot of the Earth have any suitable means afforded 'em for the obtaining such knowledg In the Scriptures the Proclamation is general to all Ho every one and the Expostulation with Sinners is Turn ye Turn ye why will ye dye as I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of a Sinner of a Sinner indefinitely q. d. of any Sinner but rather That he would Turn and Live Besides did not Christ die for this end namely to shew the unexpressible greatness of Gods Love to the world God so loved so so loved the World as if it had been said the Love of God to the World is so transcendent that no words could sufficiently express it nothing would fully represent it but the Delivery of the Son the only begotten Son of God to the Death the cruel the shameful and the reproachful Death of the Cross for the salvation of the World on their Believing and this even when God left Millions of Angels to continue in everlasting Chains of Darkness notwithstanding all which it is manifest That they cannot believe in him of whom they have not heard and cannot hear unless a Preacher be sent unto them and that no such thing has been done no Preacher has been sent or if in one Age yet not in another How can we reconcile these Providences with the Discoveries that are given us of the infinite Compassions of God to Mankind when so few are made partakers of it What of Grace is there in leaving the greatest part of the World in a very little better condition than the fallen Angels I know that there are many things offered towards the satisfaction of a thoughtful Person as Who can tell but there are thousand of Worlds above us whose Inhabitants are in a better capacity to receive and improve the Instances of Divine Love and that this world is but a Spot in comparison of them and if this whole World should perish 't is but as the hanging up a few Malefactors to shew that God is just as well as merciful but how does this solve the Difficulty which is not meerly taken from the Notion we have of Gods meâ—ciful Nature in it self considered but from the Revelations made thereof unto the Children of men in the Scripture about which we cannot have any solid satisfaction but from things which are obvious before us not from what is so fully out of our view and knowledge and concerning Creatures of another kind 'T is true there are some intimations in the Sacred Scriptures which apart and by themselves considered afford Relief such as these The Gentiles which have not
cured Would you take Pleasure in his witty sayings and be jested into your Grave Or if you go unto a Lawyer about your whole Estate though it were in Leases that will expire would you choose one that you think did not care whether you win or lose your cause Would you be pleased with some witty sayings impertinent to the pleading of your cause Would you not say Sir I am in danger of losing all I am worth my Estate lyes at stake deal plainly with me and be serious in your undertaking for me and tell me in words that I can understand the plain Law by which my case must be tryed And will you be more careful about the Temporal Life of a Body that must dy and about a Temporal Estate which you must leave when you dy and not about your Soul that must ever live and never dye No! not so much as to set your selves under faithful Preachers that shall in words that you can understand plainly tell you the Laws of Christ by which you must be tryed for your Life and according to them be Eternally damned or saved 11. Such an Eyeing of Eternity would make you serious and lively in all your spiritual duties in all your approaches unto God If you have no Grace the serious thoughts of the unseen Eternal World would stir you up to beg and cry and call for it if you have to desire more and to exercise what you have to confess your sins with such contrite broken penitent hearts as though you saw the fire burning which by your sins you have deserved to be cast into To beg for Christ and Sanctifying Grace and pardoning Mercy with that lively Importunity as if you saw the Lake of boiling Brimstone into which you must be cast if you be not sanctifyed and pardoned to hear the Word of God that sets this Eternal World before you with that diligent attention as Men hearkning for their Lives to commemorate the Death of Christ with such life while you are at the Lords Supper while you do as it were see the Torments you are delivered from and the Eternal Happiness by Faith in a crucifyed Christ you have a Title to it will cause a fire and flame of Love in your Hearts to that Lord that dyed for you ardent desires after him complacential delight in him thankfulness hope of Heaven hatred to sin resolution to live to or dye for him that dyed for you If your Hearts are dead and dull and out of frame go and look into the unseen Eternal World take a believing view of Everlasting Joyes and Torments on the other side of time and you shall feel warmth and heat and lively actings to be produced in you Particularly this Eyeing of Eternity would make Ministers sensible of the weightiness of their work that it calls for all possible diligence and care our utmost serious study and endeavours our fervent Cryes and Prayers to God for ability for the better management of our work and for success therein for as much as our imployment is more Immediately about Eternal matters to save under Christ Eternal Souls from Eternal Torments and to bring them to Eternal Joyes When we are to Preach to people that must live for ever in Heaven or Hell with God or Devils and our very Preaching is the means appointed by God to fit men for an Everlasting state when we stand and view some Hundreds of Persons before us and think all these are going to Eternity now we see them and they see us but after a little while they shall see us no more in our Pulpits nor we them in their Pews nor in any other place in this World but we and they must go down unto the Grave and into an Everlasting World when we think it may be some of these are hearing their last Sermon making their last publique Prayers keeping their last Sabbath and before we come to Preach again might be gone into another World if we had but a firm belief of Eternity our selves and a real lively sense of the mortality of their Bodies and our own and the Immortality of the Souls of both of the Eternity of the Joy or Torment we must all be quickly in how pathetically should we plead with them plentifully weep over them fervently pray for them that our words or rather the word of the Eternal God might have Effectual Operation on their Hearts This Eyeing of Eternity should 1. Influence us to be painful and diligent in our studies to prepare a message of such weight as we come about when we are to Preach to men about Everlasting matters to set before them the Eternal Torments of Hell and the Eternal Joyes of Heaven Especially when we consider how hard a thing it is to perswade Men to leave their sins which do endanger their Immortal Souls when if we do not prevail with them to hearken to our message and obey it speedily and sincerely they are lost Eternally when it is so hard to prevail with men to accept of Christ the only and Eternal Saviour on the conditions of the Gospel You might easily see that Idleness either in young Students that are designed for this work or in Ministers actually engaged in it is an intolerable sin and worse in them than in any men under Heaven Idleness in a Shop-keeper is a sin but much more in a Minister in a Trader much more in a Preacher bear with me if I tell you an Idle Cobler that is to mend mens Shooes is not to be approved but an Idle Preacher that is to mend mens Hearts and save their Souls shall be condemned by God and Men for he lives in dayly disobedience of that charge of God 1 Tim. 4.13 Give attendance to reading to exhortation to doctrine 15. Meditate upon these things give thy self wholly to them 16 continue in them 2. It would provoke us to be faithful in delivering the whole counsel of God and not to daub with untempered mortar not to flatter them in their sin or to be afraid to tell them of their evils least we should displease them or offend them Is it time to sooth men up in their Ignorance in their neglect of duty when we see them at the very door of Eternity on the very borders of an Everlasting World and this the fruit that they shall dye in their sins and their Blood be required at our hands Ezek. 33.1 to 10. but so to Preach and discharge the Ministerial Function that when dying might be able to say as Act. 20.25 And now behold I know that ye all among whom I have gone preaching the Kingdom of God shall see my face no more 26. Wherefore I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men 27. For I have not shunned to declare to you all the counsel of God 3. To be plain in our speech that every capacity of the weakest in the Congregation that hath an Eternal Soul that
your selves in the Love of God And then the Case and Question is this What we must do to keep our selves in the Love of God A solemn and weighty Question and wherein every Soul of us is nearly concerned There are three things that require some Explication Q. 1. What is meant by your selves A. Every one himself and every one each other so far as he can 2. What is meant by the action which each is to see put forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to keep to observe to preserve firmly safely constantly I have kept the Faith 2 Tim. 4.3 Thus we keep and thus God keeps us Jam. 1. ult John 3.22 Rev. 12.17 Joh. 17.11 John 17.15 In all which Places the word is the same in the Text to keep fast and safe and faithfully with all Care and Diligence and Conscience as we would keep a thing for our Life Prov. 4.23 Keep thy Heart with all Diligence for out of it are the Issues of Life From all which thus explain'd ariseth this Proposition It is the Duty of every Child of God Obs to keep themselves in the Love of God This Proposition is grounded upon a threefold Supposition 1. That some men are in the Love of God really and eternally 2. That this Love wherewith God loveth his Chosen Rom. v. 8. 11 12 13. is a special Love a peculiar and distinguishing Love 3. That it is a Duty as well as a Priviledge to keep our selves in the Love of God our Activity as well as Gods Act. Which will be hereafter more explained Before we come to the main Question we will answer this Question How Love can be said to be in God for Love is a Passion in the Creature and Passions are Imperfections which are contrary to Gods Perfection A. 1. It is true Nothing of Imperfection is in God but Love is in God as a Perfection because Love is in God in the abstract that is essentially for Abstracts speak Essences God is Love 1 John 4.8 The Love of God is either natural or voluntary thus Divines distinguish and that well Mat. 3.17 Joh. 3.35 Joh. 5.20 Joh. 17.24 1. The Natural Love of God is that wherewith God loves himself That is the reciprocal Love whereby the three Persons love each other This Essential Natural Love of God is therefore necessary God cannot but love himself 2. The Love of God is voluntary thus he loves his Creatures with a general Love 1. Because he made them and made them good therefore he preserves them Gen. 1.31 for though Sin be really evil and none of Gods making but contrary to God and hated of God yet God loves the Creatures as his Creatures although sinful with a general Love Mat. 5.44 45. 2. He loves some Creatures with a special Love and by this he loves Jesus Christ as Mediator Joh. 3.35 Eph. 1.6 1 Joh. 4.9 Rom. 8. ult 1. This Love of God to Christ as Mediator is the Foundation of Gods Love to his Elect. 2. By a special Love God loves his Elect. John 13.1 Of this Love it 's said that it is inseparable Now this is the peculiar Love which God bears to some above others Not because they were more lovely than others nor because God foresaw they would believe and love him but because God loved them first antecedently to all those things Eph. 1.3 4 5. Deut. 7.6 7 8. Eph. 2.3 4 c. to 10. and because he loved them therefore Christ shall come and die and therefore they shall believe in him and love him The summ is this Our Love to God is the Effect and not the Cause of Gods Love to us yea Christ himself as Mediator is the Effect of Gods Eternal Love This is primitive Doctrine John 6.37 All that the Father hath given me shall come unto me V. 44. No man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him 1 John 4.19 He hath loved us first Rom. 10.20 I am found of them that sought me not Rom. 5.8.10 God commended his love toward us that while we were yet Sinners and Enemies Christ died for us Upon which I would have old and new Donatists which make God to love all alike in order to their Salvation and that there is no special Grace let them read St. Augustine Tom. 9. Tract 102. on John Tom. 7. Lib. contra Donatistas post Collat. p. 403. also pag. 402. likewise in Brevic. p. 387. Collat. cum Donatistis Collat. tertii diei Item Tom. 9. Tract 87. on John Item Tom. 2. Epist 48. p. 118. and many more places I have therefore named all these because there is a sort of Men risen up among us Gal. 1.6.7 corrupters and perverters of the Word and Wayes of God who raise up Donatism and Pelagianism from the Death I know some make this Love of God in the Text to be meant not of Gods Love to us at all but of our Love to God only Contrary I judge it spoken principally of Gods Love to us not excluding our Love to God but comprehending it as a great sign that God loves us when we truly love God According to this sence I shall proceed to speak to the present Case which is a practical Question How Christians shall do to keep themselves in the Love of God Quest 1. In General One whom God loves and favours Answ must do as the Favourite of a Prince useth to do to keep himself in his Princes Love and Favour He will study what the will of his Prince is and will do all that he can to please him He will set himself wholly to promote his Princes Interest and Honour and to gratifie his Desires yea he will be infinitely shy of displeasing him So will a Child of God carry himself towards God to keep himself in the Favour and Love of God This is a great Art to study Ephes 5.17 to know what is the will and Pleasure of God and to conform to it The Reason whereof is this Because 1. The Will of God is a Sovereign Will to all the World therefore to thine and mine there is no controuling of it Who can say unto God What dost thou When any mans will comes in competition with Gods Will thou knowest what thou hast to answer Dan. 3.16 17. and what thou hast to do Act. 4.19 But if mans commanding Will be agreeable to Gods revealed Will which is the Standard then we please and not displease God in submitting to man because subordinate things do not clash 2. Because the Will of God is a holy Will and we can never keep our selves in the Love of God 1 Pet. 1.15.16 but by what is agreeable to his Holiness and that is when we our selves are Holy because this is not only the Will of God but the Image of God Eph. 4.24 created after God Now God loves Children that are most like him for Likeness is the Cause of Love Thus much in General
Agenda of the Church and thâ—â—eservedly for this Perswasion is built on infallible Divine Testimonâ—â—â— The Communication of Christ herein and our participation of him are expressed in such a manner as to demonstrate them to be peculiar such as are not to be obtained in any other way or divine Ordinance whatever not in Praying not in Preaching not in any other exercise of Faith on the Word or Promises There is in it an eating and drinking of the Body and Blood of Christ with a spiritual Incorporation thence ensuing which are peculiar unto this Ordinance But This especial and peculiar communion with Christ and participation of him is Spiritual and Mystical by Faith not carnal or fleshly To imagine any other participation of Christ in this life but by Faith is to overthrow the Gospel To signify the Real communication of himself and benefits of his Mediation unto them that believe whereby they should become the food of their Souls nourishing them unto eternal Life in the very beginning of his Ministry he himself expresseth it by eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood John 6.53 Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood you have no life in you But hereon many were offended as supposing that he had intended an oral carnal eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood and so would have taught them to be Cannibals Wherefore to instruct his Disciples aright in this mystery he gives an Eternal Rule of the interpretation of such expressions v. 63. It is the Spirit that quickneth the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life To look for any other communication of Christ or of his flesh and blood but what is Spiritual is to contradict him in the Interpretation which he gives of his own words Wherefore this especial Communion with Christ and Participation of him is by Faith If it were not unbelievers ought all partake of Christ aswell as those that believe which is a contradiction For to believe in Christ and to be made partakers of him are one and the same We must therefore find this peculiar participating of Christ in the special actings of Faith with respect unto the especial and peculiar exhibition of Christ unto us in this Ordinance And these actings of Faith are diverse and many but may be referred unto four Heads 1. It acts it self by Obedience unto the Authority of Christ in this Institution This is the foundation of all Communion with Christ or pâ—rticipation of him in any Ordinance of divine Worship whatever thaâ— is peculiarly of his own Soveraign Appointment and that in and with such circumstances as unto the Time or Season and manner of it as requires especial actings of Faith with respect thereunto For the Institution of this Ordinance was in the close of his Ministry or Prophetical Office on the Earth and in the entrance of the exercise of his Priestly Office in offering himself a Sacrifice unto God for the sins of the Church between them both and to render them both effectual unto us he interposed an act of his Kingly Office in the Institution of this Ordinance And it was in the same night wherein he was betrayed when his holy Heart was in the highest exercise of zeal for the glory of God and compassion for the Souls of sinners sâ—ith hath herein an especial regard unto all these things It doth not only act it self by a subjection of Soul and Conscience unto the Authority of Christ in the Institution but respects also the exerting of his authority in the Close of his Prophetical and entrance of the exercise of his Sacerdotal Office on the Earth with all those other circumstances of it which recommend it unto the Souls and Consciences of Believers This is peculiar unto this Ordinance and unto this way of the participation of Christ And herein faith in its due exercise gives the soul an intimate converse with Christ 2. There is in this divine Ordinance a peculiar Representation of the Love and Grace of Christ in his death and Sufferings with the way and manner of our Reconciliation unto God thereby The principal design of the Gospel is to declare unto us the Love and Grace of Christ and our Reconciliation unto God by his Blood Howbeit herein there is such an eminent Representation of them as cannot be made by words alone It is a Spiritual Image of Christ proposed unto us intimately affecting our whole Souls These things namely the ineffable Love and Grace of Christ the bitterness of his Sufferings and Death in our stead the Sacrifice that he offered by his Blood unto God with the effect of it in Atonement and Reconciliation being herein contracted into one entire Proposal unto our Souls Faith is exercised thereon in a peculiar manner and so as it is not in any Divine Ordinance or way of the Proposal of the same things unto us All these things are indeed distinctly and in parts set before us in the Scripture for our Instruction Edificacion But as the Light which was first made and diffused unto the whole Creation did suffice to enlighten it in a general way yet was far more useful glorious and conspicuous when it was reduced and contracted into the Body of the Sun so the Truths concerning Christ as they are diffused through the Scripture are sufficient for the Illumination and Instruction of the Church but when by divine wisdom and institution they are contracted into this Ordinance their taste and efficacy is more eminent and communicative unto the eyes of our Understandings that is our Faith than as meerly proposed by parts and parcels in the Word Hereby Faith leads the Soul unto a peculiar Communion with Christ wâ—â—ch is thereon made partaker of him in an especial manner 3. Faith herein respects the peculiar way of the communication and exhibition of Christ unto us by symbols or sensible outward Signs of Bread and Wine It finds the divine Wisdom ond Sovereignty of Christ in the choice of them having no other foundation in Reason or the Light of Nature and the Representation that is made herein of him with the Benefits of his Death and Oblation is suited unto Faith only without any aid of Sense or Imagination for although the Symbols are visible yet their Relation unto the things signified is not disceâ—nible unto any Sense or Reason Had he chosen for this end an Image or a Crucifix or any such Actions as did by a kind of natural and sensible Resemblance shew forth his Passion and what he did and suffered there had been no need of Faith in this matter And therefore as we shall see such things are found out unto this end by such as have lost the use and exercise of Faith herein Besides it is Faith alone that apprehends the Sacramental Vnion that is between the outward Signs and the Things signified by vertue of Divine Institution And hereby the one
flatter themselves whilst they please that on one consideration or other they shall be the Objects only of their kindness if these men according to their Profession be obliged in conscience to execute whatever their Superiors shall command them no less than Abraham was to sacrifice his Son on the Command of God they hold their Lives at the Mercy and on the good Nature of these Superiors who are always safe out of the reach of Revenge It is marvellous that Mankind doth not agree to demolish this cursed Image or the Ascription of a Godlike Power unto men to require blind Obedience unto their Commands especially considering what effects it hath produced in the world All men know by whose Device it was first set up and erected by whom what means and unto what end it was confirmed and consecrated and at this day it is maintained by a Society of men of an uncertain Extract and Original like that of the Janizaries in the Turkish Empire their Rise being generally out of obscurity among the meanest and lowest of the People Such they are who by the Rules of their Education are taught to renounce all respect unto their Native Countreys and Alliances therein but so as to make them only the way and matter for the advancement of the interest of this new Society And this sort of men being nourished from their very first entrances into the conduct of the Society unto hopes and expectations of Wealth Honour Power Interest in the disposal of all publick Affairs of Mankind and the Regulation of the Consciences of men it is no wonder if with the utmost of their Arts and Industry they endeavour to set up and preserve this Image which they have erected from whence they expect all the advantage which they do design But hereof I may treat more fully when I come to speak of the Image of Jealousie it self SECT X. From these Generals I shall proceed unto more particular Instances and those for the most part in important Principles of Religion wherein Christian Faith and Practice are most concerned And I shall begin with that which is of signal Advantage unto the Framers of these Images as the other also are in their degree for by this craft they have their Livelihood and Wealth and most pernicious to the Souls of other men It is a Principle of Truth that such as wherein the whole course of Christian Obedience is concerned that there is a Spiritual defilement in Sin This the Scripture every where declares representing the very Nature of it by spiritual Uncleanness And this Vncleanness is its contrariety unto the Holiness of the Divine Nature as represented unto us in the Law This Defilement is in all men equally by Nature all are alike born in Sin and the pollution of it Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean And it is in all personally in various degrees some are more polluted with actual Sins than others but all are so in their degree and measure This pollution of Sin must be purged and taken away before our entrance into Heaven for no unclean thing shall enter into the Kingdom of God Sin must be destroyed in its Nature Practice Power and Effects or we are not saved from it This Purification of Sin is wrought in us initially and gradually in this Life and accomplished in Death when the Spirits of just men are made perfect In a compliance with this work of Gods Grace towards them whereby they purifie themselves consists one principal part of the Obedience of Believers in this world and of the exercise of their Faith The principal internal immediate efficient cause of this purification of Sins is the Blood of Christ the Blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God cleanseth us from all our Sins 1 John 1.7 The Blood of Jesus purgeth our Consciences from dead works Heb. 9.14 He washeth us in his own Blood Rev. 1.5 And there is an external helping Cause thereof which is Trials and Afflictions made effectual by the Word and accomplished in Death But this way of purging Sins by the Blood of Christ is mysterious There is no discerning of its Glory but by spiritual Light no experience of its Power but by Faith Hence it is despised and neglected by the most that yet outwardly profess the Doctrine of the Gospel Men generally think there are a thousand better ways for the purging of Sin than this by the Blood of Christ which they cannot understand See Micah 6.6 7. It is Mysterious in the Application of it unto the Souls and Consciences of Believers by the Holy Ghost it is so in the Spring of its efficacy which is the Oblation of it for a Propitiation and in its relation unto the new Covenant which first it establisheth and then makes effectual unto this end The Work of it is gradual and unperceptible unto any thing but the eyes of Faith and diligent spiritual Experience Again It is so ordered by Divine Wisdom as strictly to require to begin excite and encourage the utmost diligence of Believers in a compliance with its efficacy unto the same End What Christ did for us he did without us without our aid or concurrence As God made us without our selves so Christ redeemed us but what he doth in us he doth also by us what he works in a way of Grace we work in a way of Duty And our Duty herein consists as in the continual exercise of all gracious Habits renewing changing and transforming the Soul into the Likeness of Christ for he which hopes to see him purifieth himself as he is pure so also in universal permanent uninterrupted Mortification unto the end whereof we shall speak afterwards This also renders the Work more Mysterious and difficult The improvement of Afflictions unto the same end is a principal part of the Wisdom of Faith without which they can be of no spiritual Use unto the Souls of men This Notion of the Defilement of Sin and that of the Necessity of its purification were retained in the Church of Rome for they could not be lost without not only a rejection of the Scripture but the stiffling of natural conceptions about them which are indelibly fixed in the Consciences of men But Spiritual Light into the Glory of the thing it self or the mystical Purification of Sin with an experience of the power and efficacy of the Blood of Christ as applied unto the Consciences of Believers unto that end by the holy Ghost were lost amongst them In vain shall we seek for any thing of this Nature either in their Doctrine or their Practice Wherefore having lost the Substance of this Truth and all experience of its Power to retain the Use of its Name they have made sundry little Images of it creeping things whereunto they ascribe the power of purging Sin such as Holy Water Pilgrimages Disciplines Masses and various commutations But they quickly found by experience that these things would neither purifie the Heart nor
renders them comly in the sight of men yea and in the sight of God too As the Ornament of a meek and quiet spirit so the Ornament of an humble and lowly spirit is in his sight of great price Indeed all along this was the great Requisite in the People of God The main thing that he required of them was to do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with and before him so the Prophet informs us Mic. 6.8 To do justly and to love Mercy that is the Sum of all Duty to man to walk humbly that is the Sum of all Duty to God 8. Set before your eyes the Examples of humble and lowly Persons Direct 8 Some are greatly influenc'd by Examples more than they are by Precepts 1. Look upon the most eminent Saints that ever were upon the earth and you will find they were most eminent for humility Jacob thinks himself less than the least of Gods Mercies David speaks of himself as a worm and no man Agur says that he was more brutish than any man The Apostle Paul says of himself 1 Tim. 5.15 Eph. 3.8 that he is the chiefest of sinners and less than the least of all Saints How does that great Saint and Apostle vilifie and nullifie himself Bradford that holy man and Martyr subscribes himself in one of his Epistles a very paintâ—d Hypocrite The Apostle Peter said unto our Saviour Depart from me Luke 5.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for I am a sinful man O Lord a man that is a great sinner Thus the heaviest ears of Corn do always hang downwards and so do those Boughs of Trees that are most laden with fruit 2. Look upon the Angels of God the elect Angels they excel in strength and so they do in humility likewise they readily condescend to minister unto the Children of men that are abundantly inferior to themselves they take charge of them and bear them up as it were in their arms Are they not all ministring Spirits says the Apostle to the Hebrews The Interrogation is an Affirmation The greatest Angels do not disdain to minister to the least Saints When they have appeared to men they have utterly rejected the reverence they would have shewn them and have openly declared themselves our fellow-servants that we and they have but one common Lord. 3. Look upon the Lord Jesus Christ himself he is the great instance of humility though he was in the form of God and thought it not robbery to be equal with God yet he was made in the likeness of men and took upon him the form of a Servant and made himself of no reputation or as the word signifies he emptied himself of all his Glory he sought his Fathers glory and not his own yea he humbled himself so as to become obedient unto Death even the death of the Cross The very Incarnation of Christ is condescention enough to pole both men and Angels what then was his Crucifixion When you feel any Self-exaltation then remember and reflect upon Christ's Humiliation and think how unsutable a humble Master and a proud Servant is a humble Christ and a proud Christian This alone through the Spirit 's assistance is sufficient to bring down the swelling of the Spirits Direct 9 9. Use all Gods dealings with you and dispensations towards you as so many Antidotes against this Sin You hear they are design'd by God I pray you let them all be improv'd by you for this very end and purpose Hath God shined into your hearts and given you the knowledge of his Glory in the face of his Son Jesus Christ says Judas not Iscariot How is it Lord that thou dost manifest thy self unto us and not unto the World Hath he quickned and saved you from Sin and Death Say then By Grace we are saved not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy he hath saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Is Grace and Life preserved and increased which was at first infused into your Souls give God the Glory Say Not unto us O Lord not unto us but to thy Name be the praise Yea let all Gods outward Dispensations have this operation upon you Let Mercies humble you if God gives you worldly wealth and honour and lifts you up above others in Estate or Esteem say as David Who are we Lord and as Jacob We are less than the least of thy Mercies Let Afflictions humble you if God lays his hand upon you then lay your mouths in the dust if he smites you upon your backs do you smite upon your own Thighs We are call'd upon in Scripture to humble our selves under the hand of God 2 Chro. 33.32 You read of Manasseh how when he was in affliction he humbled himself greatly before the God of his Fathers May your Afflictions have the like effect Direct 10 10. Be much in the Duty of Prayer Give thy self to it If Pride doth not hinder Prayer Prayer will subdue Pride and whilst thou art in this Duty make this one of thy chief Petitions that God would cure thee of this evil disease Some are ready to wonder why Prayer in all cases is one of our chief Directions and Prescriptions they may as well wonder why Bread in all Meals is one chief part of our Food Why Prayer is the principal thing that calls in God to our Assistance without whose help we shall never be able to master the Pride of our hearts This was the course the Apostle took when he was like to be exalted above measure he besought the Lord thrice that is often a definite Number for an indefinite he did not only pray that God would take the Thorn out of his Flesh but that he would also cure the Pride that was in his heart he knew if the Cause were taken away the Effect would cease Oh for this do you beseech the Lord again and again pray and that earnestly that God by his Spirit would help thee to mortifie the Pride of thy Spirit be humbled as Hezekiah was for the Pride of thy heart in times past and pray as Paul prayed that God would prevent and cure the Pride of thy heart for time to come Desire God to use what Preservatives and Medecines he pleaseth so that the Cure be effected Beg of God that he would help thee on with this Ornament and cloath thee with Humility he hath promised to give Grace to the humble do you pray that he would give you the Grace of Humility Quest Wherein is a middle worldly condition most eligible SERMON XVII PROV XXX VIII IX Remove far from me Vanity and Lies give me neither Poverty nor Riches feed me with food convenient for me Lest I be full and deny thee and say who is the Lord or lest I be poor and steal and take the Name of my God in vain MY Text presents you with a short yet very pithy Prayer of Agur concerning whom
Neither was Gods goodness to them nor their sin against him less when God was manifest in the flesh Mat. 23.37 O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and ye would not Their sin was great they killed and stoned Prophets It was their Fathers work for many Generations and they take up the same Trade and use it against Christ himself Thou that stonest the Prophets in the Present Tense They endeavoured to stone Christ himself more than once John 10.13 Now see what good he would have done them notwithstanding and with what affection O Jerusalem Jerusalem He was inwardly moved when he uttered these words You have the like expression 2 Sam. 18.33 The King David was much moved and wept when he heard of Absalom's death and said O my son Absalom my son my son Absalom How often would I have gathered thee even every hour of the day as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings earnestly and affectionately clocking them together that they might be safe and out of danger Observe how he carried toward them that would have slain him for curing an impotent man on the Sabbath-day John 5.16 He to abate their fury speaks many words to them and at last tells them ver 34. These things I say unto you that you may be saved Here is salvation endeavoured for destruction intended They would have killed him but he would have given them life And a little after ver 40. he speaks as one bewailing that they would not come to him that they might have it Ye will not come to me that ye might have life Now if there be such rich goodness in God there should be in all that profess his name an endeavour to be like him that they may appear to be the Children of so good a Father Christ chargeth his Disciples to use the best means within their reach to overcome the worst evils they meet with from others Mat. 5.44 Bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you If such evils as these must be overcome with good much more should lesser evils when they arise as sometimes they will from Friends or near Relations be overcome by the like means Which brings us to the second thing mentioned viz. 2. What geod means should be used to this purpose And they are Three 1. To do good to them 2. To wish them well and pray for them 3. To use good words to them and of them Two of these are expresly mentioned by Christ in the place aforecited 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebraica phrasis pro bene precamini vel beneficio afficite alioquin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 idem valet quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 laudare Beza Gen. 1.3 Gen. 27.33 Heb. 11.20 viz. to do good to them and to pray for them and they are all carried in that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bless if it be taken in its largest sense When God blesseth men he always doth them good His Benediction is a real benefit because his speaking is doing God said let there be light and there was light He said to Abraham Gen. 22.17 in blessing I will bless them that is I will surely and certainly do it So Isaac speaking of Jacob says I have blessed him yea and he shall be blessed And so he was but not so much because Isaac had said it as because God had said it before him For the Apostle tells us That Isaac did bless him by Faith Now Faith must have some Word of God to be the ground of it It was God spake and it was done he commanded and it stood fast When men are said to bless they do it one of these Three ways 1. By being beneficial to others in yeilding or giving to them any good thing that is in their power Thus Jocob calls the Present he made to his brother Esau his Blessing Gen. 33.10 11. And Naaman offering Elisha a Present says I pray thee take a blessing of thy servant 2 King 5.15 And the Apostle speaking to the Corinthians to make up their bounty for the poor Saints calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their Blessing 2 Cor. 9.5 2. By wishing them well and praying for them So Jacob speaking of Joseph's sons says In thee shall Israel bless saying Gen. 48.20 God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh And Deut. 24.14 where charge is given to deliver the poor Man's Pledg before the going down of the Sun a Reason is added That he may sleep in his raiment and bless thee That is that he may find in his heart to pray to God for a Blessing upon thee 3. By speaking well of others and praising them So the wicked is said to bless the covetous Psal 10.3 That is to commend him for a wise Man that will look as they say to the Main Chance and so it falls in with that in Psal 49.18 Men will praise thee when thou dost well to thy self 1. First then We ought to endeavour to overcome evil in others Est illa obliquae talionis forma ubi ab iis qui nos laeserunt beneficentiam avertimus Calv. by doing all offices of love and kindness to them in the capacity wherein we stand according to our power Are Friends unkind or injurious to us we should not withdraw kindness from them but be kind still Do our Relations not perform the duties of their place we should be the more careful to perform all the duties of ours to them Have we to deal with enemies that would do us all the mischief that lies in their power we should not do as they would do to us but on the contrary be beneficial to them in any thing we may If thine enemy hunger feed him Rom. 12.20 Juris periti cui victus testamento legatus est ei intelligunt vestitum habitationem lectum medicinus alia similia legata esse P. Martyr if he thirst give him drink These Expressions carry more in them than a little bread and drink When God is said Mat. 5.45 to make his Sun to arise on the evil and the good and to send rain on the just and the unjust more is meant than the meer shining of the Sun and the descending of the rain upon them All earthly comforts which are produced by the Suns influence and the fructifying vertue of the rain are comprehended in them So when you ask of God daily bread in asking that you ask all other necessaries for your life In like manner when God says Give bread and drink he intends any thing else that may do them good Thus did Joseph deal to his brethren who had been very injurious to him Gen. 50.21 when by the Providence of God he came to such an estate that he
5.3 His Vineyard were themselves in a Figure and God is willing the case should be referred to their own determination if they would give themselves time and leisure to think of it So Amos 2.11 Is it not even thus O ye Children of Israel saith the Lord as if God had said I call your own Consciences to witness and let them but speak they will testifie both my Mercies to you and your sins against me or as elsewhere Ezek. 18.25 Are not my wayes equal and your wayes unequal And oh that men would consider how self-condemned they must needs be for all their sins against God and all their neglects of Salvation and disregards of their Souls their sins usually go thus beforehand unto Judgment and men cannot but condemn themselves who can think but that a humble useful temperate pious Life is far better than a proud useless luxurious and prophane Conversation Would we but shew our selves men in the concerns of our Souls as we do in those of our Bodies or Estates acting with that caution and concern in the one as we do in the other what a vast change should we soon discover for all Gods Commandments are for our good and his ways are pleasantness would we but seriously view and consider them Howsoever this is that which will make the Worm to gnaw and the fire to burn the ungodly in the other World in that they have sinn'd against those notices of good and evil which they had or might have had and in that they have put no difference between their vile bodies and their precious Souls whereas our Saviour here appeals to them concerning the worth of their Souls and the worthlesness of all things comparatively besides 2. From the form or manner of expression here used by way of a positive interrogation or Expostulation What is a man profited or what shall a man give We observe that the Negation is intended to be more vehement It being usual not only in Scripture but in common speech by a positive question vehemently to deny as by a negative question vehemently to affirm any thing as by these Scriptures before quoted Amos 2.11 18. Ezek. 25. amongst many other places may appear so that the sense of these words amounts to this 1. It is most evident and undeniable that if any man could gain the whole World not that such a thing was ever done or is indeed possible but upon that supposition he would be a vast loser by it if he lost his Soul for it Because 2. There is nothing of worth or value sufficient to exchange for a Soul with all Now this Text is as it were a ballance or pair of Scales in which the Commodities therein spoken of are weighed 1. In the one Scale is layd the whole world 1 Jo. 2.16 here you may take in the lust of the Flesh the lust of the Eye and the Pride of Life or whatsoever serves for Pleasure Gain or Honour the worldly man's Trinity Abate nothing make good weight more than was ever weighed out to any one but supposed or granted only for Arguments sake Yet here is a Mene Mene writ against it it is weighed and found too light It is touched and found under value 2. In the other Scale only a single Soul is put yours or mine and that doth so far praeponderate and outweigh or outvie the whole World as that there is no comparison betwixt them nothing is of value to be given or taken in Exchange for any of them As to the former of these the World and the Glory of it Our present purpose is to take no further notice of it Sic transit gloria mundi The Moon is not worth the looking after whilst the Sun appears nor all these fading changeable things when the Soul comes under consideration Gal. 6.14 It is now expected that the World should be crucified to us and we to the World and then only we shall be able to hear i. e. to understand what our Saviour here says concerning our Souls which being my intended Subject I shall take occasion from his words to speak to these following Particulars 1. What is meant by the Soul here spoken of 2. What this Soul here spoken of is 3. In what more particularly the worth of this Soul does appear As to the first of these viz. 1. What is meant by the Soul What is meant by a Soul in the Text To mention no other acceptions of the word than such as may be accommodated to this place and our present purpose 1. Soul or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word here used is put for Life by a Metonymy of the Efficient for the Effect because our Life depends upon the Soul thus Matth. 6.25 take no thought for your Lives when the same word is used which is here translated Soul which well considered will give a great light into the meaning of this place For these words are looked upon as a proverbial Speech taken out of Job 2.4 All that a man hath will he give for his Life As if our Saviour had from thence inferr'd if a man being in an apparent danger of a corporal Death would give any thing or do any thing to prolong or redeem his Life how much more should a man do or part with to prevent an Eternal Death or to procure an Everlasting Life 2. The word Soul is put for the Whole Man Synecdoche Partis frequently in Scripture thus Gen. 46.26 The number of Persons that came with Jacob into Egypt are reckon'd by so many Souls as also Act. 2.41 They that were Converted by St. Peter's Sermon are counted three thousand Souls This if considered furthers our present purpose and must needs add to our esteem of our Souls for the Soul is the Man Our Souls are our selves and what by this Evangelist our Saviour calls losing of the Soul in Luk. 9.25 That Evangelist relating the same thing calls losing of our selves The Body is but the House or Cabinet the Soul is the Jewel in it the Body is but the cloathing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Soul for a while is cloathed with and must put off 3. This word Soul is taken most properly and strictly for the Form constituent and better part of Man that Breath that is breathed into him from God Gen. 2.7 when Man becomes a Living Soul And in this acception we shall take this word here in our following Discourse and are come to enquire what it is 2. What this Soul is But we shall not be throughly able to satisfie our inquiry for being all our knowledge ariseth from our Sences and there is nothing in our Understanding which was not first in one of them Our Souls not incurring into our Senses Our understanding is at a loss to frame any adaequate conceptions of them There are three things reckoned amongst the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such things as cannot be known and by consequence be defined and they are
make for the Soul whilst it may be the Body hath only a dish of Herbs 2. Reprehension I may then in the next place blame and bewail the folly and madness of most men who live as if they had no Souls or as if their Souls were fit only to be placed with the Dogs of the fold Like a woman I have heard of who when her house was on fire was very busie in saving of her stuff carrying out with all her might as much as she could at last she bethought her self of her Child which was left in a Cradle but when she returned to look after that she found that the fire had destroyed it and there she was first aware of her praeposterous care for her Goods before her Child running up and down as one distracted crying my Child my Child as David for his son Absalom So â—las when 't is too late all that neglect their Souls in this life will how I out in the midst of their scorching flames 2 Sam. 18.33 Oh my Soul my Soul I would I had dyed for thee my dear and pretious Soul We would have nothing bad by our good Will we would not have bad Relatives Children or other no not so much as a bad piece of Coin and how comes it to pass that men can be so content with bad Souls Thy Soul is thy self and if thy Soul be bad thou art bad thy self and how hast thou deserved so ill of thy self that thou shouldest neglect thy self and care not what become of thy Soul which is thy self Xerxes when he beheld his numerous Army wept Oh sayd he what a many here are that in a very short space must yield to Death and be devoured by VVorms It is a far sadder consideration that such multitudes of mens Souls are lost and perish Eternally and let the abounding of sin speak whether this be a causeless fear When the Apostles heard that one of them though but one was the Son of Perdition and should lose his Soul Every one of them was jealous over his Condition and cryed out Is it I Is it I Matth. 26.22 I cannot tell who particularly it is yet I cannot but know there are many sins that speak men ripe for judgment and many other sins which though they be not so notorious and visible are yet certainly as truly destructive and damnable A leak in any part of the Ship may sink it And now oh that my words might reach your hearts I speak in the behalf of your pretious Souls These words are not about trifles which you may consider or neglect as you please but as Moses said in the like case These words are your Life and no less than Life or Death Eternal depends upon your receiving of them When your Bodies are distemper'd what sending is there for a Physitian How are the symptoms of the Disease considered Or if an Estate be doubtful what counsel do we not take What cost and charge are we not at to ensure it Yet we let our Souls run all imaginable yea and unimaginable hazards without the least care to be sure without suitable care to their worth or danger and how can we any longer go for Christians or the Disciples of him who taught us here the pretiousness of our Souls and himself valued them accordingly Whatsoever we may flatter our selves with only such as are of the same mind with him shall have Salvation by him It is high time then to be Exhorted 3. Exhortation and prevailed with to suitable affections and dispositions shall I say or rather to suitable Lives and Conversations unto what ye have heard The truths that have been spoken unto are not so much speculative as practical they meet with little or no controversie in the Theory but in the practice of them The Devil knows that let men believe what they will concerning their Souls he is sure enough to obtain them and that with great advantage to a more sore condemnation if they do not practice according to what they are convinc'd of Shew then that thou doest value and esteem thy Soul according to the worth and dignity Children or Fools or Barbarous Africans preferr Beads and Toyes before Gold and real Pearls but it were folly and madness if we should do so and yet I am afraid we do worse every day Whatsoever is the price the tempter offers or perswades to sin with remember that it is for thy Soul if thou consentest and yieldest the bargain is struck thou doest what in thee lies to give thy Soul for the pleasure or advantage of the sin Judas had an ill bargain that lost his Soul and his Saviour for thirty pence though many sell their Saviour and their Souls too cheaper every day a goodly price be it what it will God gave his Son for thy Soul and entrusted thee with it and thou ungrateful and vile wretch doest barter it away for trifles You know Nathan 's Parable of the Ew-Lamb 2 Sam. 12. so tenderly beloved by the right owner of it and yet it was slain to entertain a stranger That Parable respects more than David Thou art the Man Thy Soul is the beloved Lamb and the Devil is the Stranger whom to be sure thou art no way concern'd to entertain when thou sinnest thou slayest this Ewe-Lamb to entertain and gratifie this stranger Oh that the Parallel might be carryed a little further and that some or other upon the reading of this would cry out with David I have sinned And if thou wouldest indeed value thy Soul be perswaded from what thou hast heard that all those things which concern thy Soul are far more excellent than those which concern thy Body as for instance That 1. Thy Souls riches are the best riches call'd by our Saviour true riches Considerations to facilitate this duty Luk. 16.11 Ah that any should be contentedly without them 2. The Souls pleasures are the choicest pleasures True Joy is not a superficial thing that affects the countenance and produces smiles or laughter many poor wretches in Bedlam are thus merrily mad but res severa est verum gaudium The Heart is the seat of all our Affections and so of our Joy and nothing can rejoyce that but the favour of God to the Soul 3. The Souls honour is the truest honour if honour be in honorante what honour is it to have the applause or homage of sorry sinful men But it is God that delights to honour the Soul and will put off his own glory upon it I shall say nothing to vilifie the Body which is the other part we consist of and we overprize and value it is enough to say with Bernard quantumcunque excolatur caro est Trim thy Body pamper it bestow all thy care and pains upon it 't is but flesh still t will be wormes meat and by all thy carking and caring for it thou art but preparing to feast those contemptible Creatures more delicately or if that will
own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things how can he not be freely willing to give us any thing at his Sons request when he loved us so as to give the Son himself for us Vse Since it is thus What greater encouragement can we have for our Faith and Prayers than this Prayer of Christ What can be a firmer ground of hope or more effectually raise our expectations of what is here prayed for that is of all wherein our happiness is concerned for the Prayer doth comprize all that is requisite to make us happy here and for ever I. What support is there that Faith doth need or can have which it may not here meet with Is it the infinite Mercies and Compassions of God Why this Prayer not only engages the Mercy and compassions but the Justice and Righteousness of God it is a Righteous thing with God to grant the requests of Christ Is it the Covenant of Grace or the great and pretious promises Why he that here prays is the Mediator of the Covenant in whom all the promises are Yea and Amen Is it the Humiliation of the Son of God Why this is a signal instance of his Humiliation where he who hath Heaven and Earth and all Creatures at his Command offers himself in the form of a Servant and presents these particulars in the posture with the voice and in the Words of a Supplicant Is it the Obedience and Righteousness of Christ Why this was in him a meritorious Act of Obedience he prayed as one made under the Law and this was one way whereby he fulfilled the Righteousness of it Is it the Death and Sufferings of Christ Why this is the ground upon which his Prayer proceeds ver 19. For their sakes I sanctifie my self that they also might be sanctified those for whom I offer these requests are no other than those for whom I offer my self a Sacrifice Is it the intercession of Christ at the right hand of the Father Why his Prayer on Earth and Intercession differ but circumstantially and the Circumstances which make the difference make no less for the support of Faith he prayed for the same Persons and for the same things too for which he intercedes and it is the same Person that both prayed and intercedes he is in both the Son of God and the Son of Man too The difference is that in his Intercession his Sacrifice is presented as already offered in his Prayer it was presented as ready to be offered but it was no less effectual before it was actually offered than after Besides he prayed in the state of Humiliation he intercedes in the height of his Glorious Advancement but his Exaltation in Heaven is the effect of his Prayer on Earth ver 5. Now O Father glorifie thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the World was in short his Prayer was his Intercession begun and his Intercession is the continuing of his Prayer for it hath the Essence of a Prayer being the presenting of his Will and Desires to the Father on the behalf of his People Lastly is the Word of him who is Truth it self a support of Faith Why this we have also in reference to Christs Prayer John 11.41 42. Jesus lift up his eyes and said Father I thank thee that thou hast heard me and I know that thou hearest me alwaies You see what supports Faith hath from this Prayer even all that is requisite to raise it to a full assurance if not all that is possible II. What qualifications would you desire in one that pleads for you to make you confident that his plea will be successful and prevalent You may find a concurrence of all these and that far more transcendently than in any in whom you would have the most confidence For First He hath Power no less than all all power is given him in Heaven and Earth Matth. 22.18 He hath power to prevail with the Father and power to order all Creatures in Heaven and Earth into a subserviency to what he desires He is willing and earnestly desires the happiness of his People and all that tends to it and these desires flow from the wonderful Love of an Infinite God and the greatest compassions of a perfect man united in one person and so from an affection altogether unparallel'd such as cannot be found in Heaven or Earth save only in the Lord our Redeemer and Advocate Farther he hath Authority he was called to be an High Priest Heb. 3. and obliged by that Office to pray for his people Heb. 5.1 7. and being faithful in the discharge of it could not but be successful therein his Honour is engaged and depends both upon the Execution of his Office and the success of it The Father called him to be an High Priest and so to pray for his People he would not have called him to it but with a design to comply with him in it and to be prevailed with by it Besides he hath right and pleads for nothing but what he hath right to obtain pleads for nothing with the Righteous God on our behalf but what he hath purchased with that which is of infinite value Also he hath Interest the greatest imaginable as much Interest as is possible he makes not this address to a Stranger or a Friend or a common Relative but to his Father one who loves him as himself Joh. 5.20 He hath as much Interest in him as in himself and can prevail as much with him as with himself and can no more be denyed by him in what he desires than he can deny himself for they are both one Joh. 10.30 I and my Father are one they have not only one Interest and Design but one Essence and Will What Christ wills the Father wills Christ directs us to say to the Father when we pray thy Will be done and the Father saith to Christ praying for us thy will be done for it is no other than his own Will and Heaven and Earth shall pass away rather than one jot or tittle of it shall not be fulfilled Lastly He had a personal a particular respect for every of his Servants in his Prayer It is as comfortable and will be as effectual and gives as much assurance of success as if now in Heaven he did pray for every of us by name The High Priest under the Law carried the Names of the Twelve Tribes upon his Breast when he vent into the Holyest to intercede for the people he was herein a Type of Christ the great High Priest and his People were so in his Mind and Heart while he made these requests that his Prayer reached every individual no less effectually than if he had petitioned for each of them by Name These severals duly considered are enough if any thing in the World be so to advance Faith unto the height of Confidence that those for
by Impatience and he in his Wisdom and Love is resolved to bring us to his Foot Well! If we Comply before hand when we see the Storm approaching God's end is Attained and he either lay's down his Rod or Mitigateth the Chastizement yea he will e're long Embrace and Comfort broken and humble Ephraim Indeed this Frame superseed's Affliction for Judgment upon Saints are not to Destroy but Subdue them to their Fathers Will. And if we meet our angry Father in this Spirit he may Correct a little but he will certainly Comfort much 5. Lastly a resigned Soul meeteth God in the way of Judgments or Mercies to great advantage They are so far from doing him harm that they do good therefore it must needs be a blessed Preparation for either Physick never works so well as when the Body is antecedently prepared nor is any Person so certainly profited by Judgments or Mercies as he that is ready to entertain them I know God can do an unprepared Soul good by any Providence but I am sure none can come amiss to such as be prepared What then will prepare us to receive Chastizments Profitably The Apostle tells us Be Subject to the Father of Spirits and Live Heb. 12.9 Comply with his Will resign your selves to his Pleasure and what ever he doth will be a quickning in proving Providence Qu. What is the Nature of this Resignation to the Will of God for his Glory Or wherein doth it consist Ans I shall reply to this Quere by laying down something implyed in it and then speak to the Proper Nature thereof It implies many things I shall Instance only in a few for Brevity's sake 1. It supposeth a Lively exercise of Faith For as no Unbeliever ever did resign himself freely to the Will of God so no believer if Faith be not in Exercise can do it Yea it must be an active Faith will enable us to put our selves into the Hands of God especially in a Day of Affliction to deal with us according to his Pleasure I say that Soul must have a good Acquaintance with and a blessed Confidence in him whom he trusteth with his Life and All. Paul therefore tells us in case of Suffering he knew whom he had Trusted 2 Tim. 1.12 Therefore our Saviour here when he Referreth himself to God expresseth his Faith in that very Resignation Father Glorify c. He believed God to be his Father and that his Father loved him and now he is Satisfied that his Father dispose of him Psal 31.14 15. But I trusted in thee Lord I said thou art my God What then my times are in thy Hands q. d. 't is not only thy Perogative to dispose of me and my Days but I refer them Voluntarily to thee He put them into the hands of his God and trusted them with him There be many Perticulers that the Faith of a resigned Soul is Exercised in As That God is his God Faith must have Interest in him whom it Trusteth Isaac will Suffer his Father to Bind and Sacrifice him Why Abraham was his Father and God who had given the command for it was his God Gen. 22. And it believes that all the will of God is Good Good in it self and good for the resigned Soul A believer may know that there may be Pain and Affliction in Suffering according to the Fathers Pleasure but 't is withal assured 't is his good pleasure Heb. 12.10 And such a Soul believes that it 's God and Father is kind loving and tender that he will not oppress that he will not overwhelm He believes that God Glorifies not himself to the damage of his People but that his Glory and their Benifit are inseparably Linkt together Yea it is in Christ the Redeemer of the Soul putteth it self into the Fathers Hands and it expects Power and Strength from its God to bear the Sufferings and carry through them When Moses forsook Egypt and his Interest there and chose to Suffer Affliction with the People of God He did this in Faith Eying him who is Invisible Heb. 12.24 c. And David in the like case was well Satisfied in the good will of God to him 2 Sam. 15 25 26. Chap. 25. 5. 2. Consequently 't is an high act of Love He that loves his Heavenly Father will be disposed of by him but it must be above becoming the glorious Objection which it is fiâ—t Matt. 22.37 A Love that prefers his Will and Glory before all things else A Love in Comparison of which all other Love is hatred Luke 14.26 A Constraining love 2 Cor. 5.13 14. Abraham loved Isaac well why then did he offer him up at the Command of God O 't was because he loved God better This is the Love of God that we keep his Commandments and nine of his Commandments are greivous 1 Jo. 5.3 What no Command greivous Not Self-denial not bearing the Cross No! Those Commands are not greivous because the Soul loves God better then it self We have a great word Rev. 12.11 They loved not their Lives unto Death why because their love of Christ was stronger then Self-love Rev. 14.4 We Read of some that followed the Lamb where ever he went Into Tribulation of all sorts they followed the Lamb Why Love constrained them Christ therefore resigned himself into the Fathers hands for he loved his Father Love will lay the Soul at Gods Feet Love will follow and Obey the Fathers call in all things Love will keep stedfastly in the way of the Will of our beloved It argues little Love to Christ when we seek to evade Suffering for his Name by finding out Carnal Shifts He that loves the Father and Son is as to the main resolved into their Will 3. To come nearer to my Intendment This resignation of our Wills to the Pleasure of God for his Glory respect's Sufferings and Dutys Principally For there is no difficulty Ordinarily to comply with the good Will of God in Distributing Mercy and Favour But to have our Wills Resolved into his in case of difficult Duty and hard Sufferings which Cross our corrupt Nature and press upon our Pamper'd Flesh is a great Work far above the Sphear of an unregenerate Person and a special Effect of the Spirit of God in and upon the Hearts of Saints But because our Subject leads to consider the matter in case of Afflictions only I shall confine my Discourse thereto Only adding this by the way that where a Soul disputeth no Sufferings it Submits to all Dutys If it be resigned to the Will of the Lord in the one 't is Subjected to him in the other also 4. Therefore the Resignation I spake of consists in several things 1. In referring our selves to the Will of God in a Day of Tryal in the very things we fear Our Lord Jesus dreaded nothing like this Hour that was coming upon him It troubled and amazed his very Soul v. 27. gladly would he be saved from it had it been