us of all those Mercies and Comforts that now he heaps upon us So much for this Time and Text. A DISCOURSE OF THE NATURE Corruption and Renewing OF THE CONSCIENCE WITH Accounts of the Moment of having a Conscience void of Offence to God and Men. FROM ACTS xxiv 16. By EZEKIEL HOPKINS Late Lord Bishop of London-derry LONDON Printed for Jonathan Robinson A. and J. Churchill John Taylor and John Wyat. 1696. A DISCOURSE OF THE NATURE Corruption and Renewing OF THE CONSCIENCE ACTS xxiv 16. Herein do I exercise my self to have always a Conscience void of Offence towards God and towards Man IN this Chapter St. Paul gives an account to Felix of the general Course and Demeanor of his former Life being accused by Tertullian a flattering Orator as one who was Prophane and Seditious After that he had purged himself in sundry Particulars he comes to the Text to shew that he was far from those Crimes that were laid to his Charge having made it his constant Exercise all his Life-time to keep a good Conscience The Words have little or no Difficulty in them and therefore instead of giving you an elaborate Exposition I shall only run them over with a brief Paraphrase The Explication of the Words Herein do I exercise my self that is I make it my constant Care and Imployment to have a Conscience void of Offence that is to keep my Conscience clear that it may not justly accuse me of any Offence done either against God or against Men that is I labour conscientiously to practise as well the Duties of the second as the Duties of the first Table to be Just towards Men as well as to be Religious towards God knowing that the one without the other to be without Offence towards Men only is but meer Morality and to be without Offence only towards God is but vain Hypocrisie Without farther Explication the Words do of their own accord deliver to us this Doctrin Doctrin That it should be our continual Care and Employment in all Things whether relating to God or Man to keep clear and inoffensive Consciences Conscience is nothing but a practical Syllogism or Argumentation What Conscience is and always infers a personal Conclusion either excusing or accusing and it hath three Offices First The Offices of Conscience It discovers to us what is Sin and what is Duty and the Reward that is entailed upon both 1. It informs what is Sin and what is Duty and thus it gives in its Verdict according to that Light that shines into it If it hath only the twilight of Nature to illustrate it as the Heathens had no other then it can pass Judgment only upon natural Duties and unnatural Sins Thus the Consciences of Heathens through some remainders of original Knowledge informed them that Worship was due to God and Justice to Men and that all Impieties against God and all Injuries against Men should in the end be severely punished But if Conscience enjoys the superadded Light of Scripture it judges then of those Duties and those Sins that could only be known by Divine Revelation Hence it is that Conscience is enabled to form such a Proposition as this He that believes shall be saved he that believes not shall be damned This Proposition it forms not from natural Light but from the super-induced Light of Scripture This is the first direct Act of Conscience whereby it pronounceth of Men's Works whither they be sinful or not and what the Reward or Punishment is that shall follow them according as it finds it written in the dark and imperfect Law of Nature or in the superadded Law of God 2. It witnesseth and deposeth Secondly When Conscience hath thus pronounced whether the Action be good or bad and what Reward or Punishment belong to it it 's next Office is to witness and depose we have done such or such Actions this is a reflex Act whereby when Conscience hath discovered what is Sin and what is Duty it testifies that either we have performed the one or that we have committed the other The Scripture reveals that Faith shall be rewarded with eternal Life and Unbelief punished with Death eternal hereupon Conscience makes reflection upon it self and applies the Proposition but I believe or I do not believe and that is its witnessing or deposing Office Thirdly It hath besides this 3. It acquits or condemns the Office of a Judge to acquit or condemn and this it doth by inferring a comfortable or a terrifying Conclusion from the former Premises applying the Reward or Punishment to our selves according as those Actions have been ours to which they belong If it hath proved us Unbelievers strait it pronounceth us condemned Persons or if it evidences our Faith to us presently it justifies and acquits us Hence it is that wicked Men are haunted with pale Fears and ghastly Reflections because they are always Malefactors arraigned at a Bar a Bar that they carry about with them in their own Breasts where they hear a thousand Witnesses sworn and examined where they hear their Judge ten thousand times a Day pronouncing them Cursed and Damned And hence it is also that there is sometimes diffused into the Hearts of God's Children such sweet Joy such solid Peace such calm Stayedness and some Prelibations of heavenly Bliss because they carry in their Breasts a Court of Judicature where their earthly Judge Conscience acquits them and assures them that their heavenly Judge will do so also This is Conscience that faithful Register in every Man's Bosom that writes down the Actions Discourses and Cogitations of every Hour and Minute Now this being premised concerning the Nature and Offices of Conscience I shall come in the next place to enquire into these following Particulars into which I shall digest the method of this Subject First What it is that doth corrupt and vitiate Conscience Secondly What it is to have a clear Conscience Thirdly Of what Importance and Consequence it is that our Consciences be kept clear and void of Offence under which I shall give you the Reasons of the Point Fourthly I shall lay down some Rules and Means whereby we may attain unto and keep a pure and clean Conscience First 1. What vitiates and corrupts Conscience What is it that doth corrupt and vitiate Conscience in executing of its Offices Now this I shall couch under Two Particulars and they are Ignorance and wilful Sinning 1. Ignorance corrupts the Conscience 1. Ignorance Conscience is the Guide of Life and Knowledge is the Eye of Conscience which if it be darkned the Blind leads the Blind till both fall into the Ditch Conscience is a Guide that leads apace and therefore had need see its Way before it which some not being well able to discern have wound themselves into inextricable Wandrings pursuing every glaring Delusion and running after every skipping Light that danceth before it till at last they have lost both themselves and their
that are branded for infamous both by God and Man as Murder Adultery Blasphemy and the like at which even natural Conscience recoils such carnal Sins as affright Conscience and make it look pale and ghastly A Crime I also call any sin that is consubstantiated by an access of Guilt by the dreadful Aggravations of being committed knowingly and wilfully By Faults I mean Sins of daily Infirmity and Surreption such as do frequently surprize the best and the holiest Christians from which no Man's Piety nor Watchfulness can secure him Why now though we be over-taken with Faults and every Day and Hour contract new and fresh Guilt upon our Consciences yet we may have clear and good Consciences while we are careful to keep our selves from Crimes from all Sins that are so in their own Nature by the horridness of the Fact and from all Sins that are made so by greatning Circumstances of being deliberate and wilful while we keep our selves from these we have good Consciences notwithstanding Sins of ordinary Weakness That Man hath a good Conscience who preserves himself from all infamous and gross Sins and from all other wilful and deliberate Sins Now this clearness of Conscience is a thing possible to be attained Men may with care and caution keep themselves free from all self-condemning Crimes and live so evenly that when their Consciences are most peevish and toutchy yet they shall have nothing to accuse them of but what is common to all Men of such Men as these this we may affirm that they have been able with Joy to reflect back upon their past Lives in a dying hour that possibly never knew any Guilt by themselves than what the Sins of common and daily Infirmity hath exposed them unto This now is to keep good Consciences We live well says St. Austin if we live without Crimes to live without Fault is impossible and he that thinks he doth it keeps himself not from Sin but from Pardon Secondly Another way to keep our Consciences clear is by cleansing them when they are defiled He keeps his Garments clean that keeps himself from falling and next degree he who being fallen hastes to cleanse himself from his contracted Filth And thus at least we may keep our Consciences clear both from Crimes and from Faults also while we labour to cleanse them from their Defilements and to rub out and wash away those Spots with which at any time we are occasionally bespatter'd There is a twofold Blot Sin leaves behind it there is a Blot of Discredit and a Blot of Defilement the former is indelible As the Scar remains when the Wound is healed so this Blot remains upon the Soul when the Guilt of Sin is removed It is a Discredit to a Malefactor though pardoned that ever he should do that which deserv'd Death And so it is a kind of Blot upon a Christian's Name for ever to have committed those Sins that have deserved eternal Death though through the free Mercy and unspeakable Grace of God he hath obtained the Pardon of them But then there is another Blot a Blot of Defilement that renders Men loathsom and deformed in the Eyes of God and thus every Sin we commit leaves a Blot and a Stain upon the Soul a Stain that defaceth God's Image and that defiles our own Consciences and when this Stain and Blot is cleansed then are we said to have clear Consciences when we have taken off that Blot and Defilement that Sin hath left whereby we are rendred deformed in the sight of God and whereby the Image of God is defaced upon the Soul Thus you see in general there are two ways to keep a clear Conscience Directions for the getting and keeping of a clear Conscience the one by preventing its Defilement and the other by cleansing of it when it is defiled Now to help you in both these Cases I shall lay down several Particulars First 1. Get Conscience rightly informed If you would have your Consciences clear get them rightly informed How can Conscience be clear so long as the Fogs and thick Mists of Ignorance and Error possess it Labour therefore to let in spiritual Light into it that you may see how to cleanse it It is as much Vanity to go about to cleanse an ignorant Conscience as it is in vain to sweep a dark Room An ignorant conscientious Man that knows not the Limits of Sin and Duty may after a great deal of pudder with his Conscience leave it much worse than he found it and cast out Jewels instead of Rubbish Indeed it is impossible for an ignorant Man to have a good Conscience whether we respect Duty or Comfort in point of Duty I have shewed you formerly that Ignorance will make Conscience unnecessarily scrupulous or daringly presumptuous Now neither can an ignorant Conscience be good in respect of Comfort because through Ignorance Conscience oftentimes quarrels at that which is a true Ground of Rejoycing Conscience is that Glass whereby we may both view our selves and also our Actions Now as a Glass when falsly framed represents a beautiful Face monstrous and frightful so Conscience when falsly informed makes even lovely Actions appear mishapen and terrifying by distorted Representations of those Things that are lawful and perhaps our Duty also Therefore in the first place get an enlightned Conscience if you would get a good Conscience for what says the wise Man Prov. 19.2 Prov. 19.2 That the Soul be without knowledge it is not good or as some Translations have it a Soul without knowledge is not good it is indeed good for nothing unless it be to make Men sin conscientiously and to embolden them to commit the greatest Wickedness in the World with Peace and Comfort Thus says our Saviour John 16.2 John 16.2 Whosoever killeth you shall think that he doth God good Service through the Error and Mistake of their Conscience So in 1 Cor. 2.8 Had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory Knowledg betters the Conscience two ways Knowledge betters the Conscience two ways First 1. By instructing of it to discern betwixt Good and Evil. It gives its direction what to choose and what to avoid it instructs it to discern betwixt Good and Evil. Ignorant Persons often mistake the one for the other and eschew what they should follow or if they chance to do that which is good as it is not of great worth to do good only by chance and hazard so they sin also in doing good while the Judgment is in suspence the Conscience must needs be under Guilt If I know not whether I ought to do an Action or to forbear which way soever I take I am entangled in Sin for whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin That is whatsoever is done with a wavering Conscience that I know not whether it be sinful or not that thereby becomes Sin and whatever a Man doth doubtingly he is damned if he doth it
seem to be but by the help of one or two Consequences may be handed down along to clear and direct our Practice And therefore the Apostle speaking of the Whole of Christian Religion 1 Tim. 3.16 Titus 1.1 calls it The Mystery of Godliness And the Truth according to Godliness He calls it not a Mystery and Godliness or Truth and Godliness but he knits and joyns them both together the Mystery and Truth of Godliness a Truth yea and a Truth wrapt up in a Mystery because discovered only by a Divine Light and yet a Mystery of Godliness because it is a Truth that tends to incline the Will and raise the Affections and so direct the Conversations of Men unto Godliness and Obedience And thus also in this Chapter after the Apostle had soared up very high in those Transcendent Mysteries of Christ's Godhead in the 6 verse of his Incarnation in the 7 verse of his Humiliation Obedience and Passion in the 8 verse of his Glory and Exaltation above every thing both in Heaven and in the Earth and in Hell 9.10 and 11. verses After he had thus soared aloft in these Transcendent Mysteries he makes a sudden descent to the Exhortation in the Text Wherefore work out your own Salvation with Fear and Trembling This Illative Particle wherefore looks back as far as to the 5 verse Where the Apostle Exhorts them Exposition that the same mind should be in them that was in Christ Jesus Who though he was Essentially Equal with God yet Mediatorily became subject unto God Though he was in the form of God yet he took upon him the form of a Servant laid aside his Glory emptied and humbled himself and became Obedient even to the lowest Duties and to the vilest Sufferings he was Obedient unto the Death That is He was Obedient to Gods Law till Death by fulfilling of it and he was Obedient unto God's Will in Death by suffering of it for which Exinanition and Obedience God hath highly Exalted him and given him a Name above every Name that at the Name of Jesus every Knee should bow Now says the Apostle be you also of the same Mind with Christ Wherefore as he was Obedient so be you also do you Work that is Do you Obey As he was humble and emptied himself be you also humble and lowly Work with Fear and Trembling That is obey with Humility and Reverence as the Phrase imports and is often used in Scripture That so as Christ obtained Glory and Exaltation you also may be Exalted and Glorified with him Work out your own Salvation For these Words come in as a Parallel with Christ As he was obedient so be you as he was humble and emptied himself so be you also humble that so when he is Glorified you may be Saved Wherefore work out your own Salvation with Fear and Trembling And this I judge to be the Apostles scope in drawing this Conclusion In the Words you have three Parts The Division of the Words First A Duty pressed upon us by a most serious and rational Exhortation Wherefore Work out your own Salvation Secondly An express way and manner how it is to be performed and that is With Fear and Trembling Thirdly Here is the Reason of this Exhortation For it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure First Here is a duty pressed upon us and that is To Work out our own Salvation To explain the Words a little First For Salvation you may take it for the whole supernatural State of a Christian begun here in Grace 1. What Salvation is and to be finished hereafter in Glory And Secondly To Work out this Salvation 2. What it is to work out Salvation is nothing but to continue and persevere in ways of Obedience until through them that Salvation that is begun here on Earth be perfected in Heaven What it implies To Work out our Salvation therefore implies three things 1. Pains and Labour First Pains and Labour Salvation is that which must be wrought out it is that which will make the Soul pant and breath yea run down with Sweat to obtain it 2. Diligence and Constancy Secondly It implies Constancy and Diligence A Christian that would work out Salvation must always be imployed about it It is a Webb into which we must weave the whole Thread of our Lives That Man that works at Salvation only by some passionate fits and then within a while undoes it all again by foul Apostacy and Notorious Sins that Man will never work Salvation out No it must be Diligence and Constancy that must effect that 3. Success Thirdly It promises Success and Accomplishment also And this is a mighty encouragment to enforce the Exhortation Though the Work be difficult our Strength little the Enemies many and the Oppositions powerful yet continue working your Labour shall not be in Vain though it be hard work it shall not be long work for it shall be wrought out and what before was your Work shall be your Reward and what before was your Labour shall be your Wages And this Salvation that was so painful in working shall be most blessed in the Enjoyment Secondly Here is the express way and manner how this Work should be done and that is With Fear and Trembling Work out your own Salvation with Fear and Trembling Now this Fear is not to be taken for a Fear of Diffidence Perturbation or Despondency for this is so contrary to the Duty of working out Salvation as that it only stupifies and dulls us And as in other matters so in Spirituals it hinders both Counsels and performances But this Fear and Trembling that must qualify our Obedience is nothing else but an humble Self-Resignation Self-Denyal and a Holy awe and reverence of God with which Humility and Reverence the highest degree of spiritual Joy and Assurance is so far from being inconsistent that it usually springs from it and is built upon it This now is meant by Fear and Trembling and so the Phrase is often used in Scripture So the Psalmist Psalm 2.12 Serve the Lord with Fear and rejoyce with Trembling It is not meant of any desponding diffident Fear but only of an awful reverential Fear of God joyned with Self-abasement And so St. Paul to the Corinthians says of Titus 2 Cor. 7.15 That he was received with Fear and Trembling There was no Reason why Titus's coming should cause Fear and Trembling which was so much desired Only the meaning is they received him with Fear and Reverence And so Servants are Commanded to be Obedient unto their Masters So here Work out your own Salvation with Fear and Trembling Ephes 6.5 That is Work it out with Humility Self-Abasement and Reverence Thirdly Here is the Reason of this Exhortation For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to do of his good Pleasure Wherein now lies the Strength of the
to think that God should make you the first Example of a Soul that did endeavour strive and work for Salvation and yet came short of it when you never heard or read of any that put forth themselves to the utmost for the obtaining of Grace and yet fell short of Grace or Glory Thus in these six Particulars put together you have a full and an abundant Answer and Satisfaction to this Objection concerning our Impotency to work out our own Salvation Object 2 Secondly Another Objection against this Doctrin is this Thus to press Men to Obedience and Working is prejudicial and derogatory unto Christ's Merits by which alone we are saved and not by our own Works Hath not Christ already done all for us Hath not he finished and wrought out our Salvation himself And is not this to render his Work as insufficient to go and piece it out by our Obedience Is not this to set up our Works as Antichrist in flat opposition and defiance to the gracious Vndertaking and perfect Accomplishment of Jesus Christ when all that we have now to do is to believe in him and to get a Right and Title to him and saving Interest in him Answ To this I Answer the Merit of Jesus Christ and our Working are not inconsistent but there is a sweet Harmony and Agreement betwixt them in carrying on the Work of our Salvation And to make this evident I shall lay down the due Bounds and Limits of each of them that so it may appear what Christ hath done for us and what he expects we should do for our selves Christ therefore hath done Two Things in order to the carrying on of our Salvation First He hath purchased and procured eternal Happiness to be conferred upon us hereafter Secondly he hath merited Grace to be conferred upon us here to prepare us for that Happiness First He hath purchased Happiness and eternal Life for all that do believe in him I give unto them eternal Life says he himself to John John 10.28 Heb. 5.9 And says the Apostle He is the Author of eternal Salvation to them that Obey him Now as there are two things that must be done for us before we could be brought unto a state of Salvation namely a freeing us from our liableness unto Death and a bestowing upon us a right unto Life eternal so Jesus Christ that he might bring us into this State hath performed both these things for us First He hath satisfied Divine Justice for us snatching us from under the vengeance of God substituting himself in our room and stead bearing the Load of all that Wrath and Punishment that must otherwise have fallen insupportably heavy upon us His Soul Isa 53.10 says the Prophet was made an Offering for Sin And He was made Sin for us 2 Cor. 5.23 says the Apostle that is he was punished as a Sinner for us Who knew no Sin And Secondly He hath perfectly fulfilled the Commands of the Law by his active Obedience that the Life promised by God in the Law to the doers of it doth now undoubtedly belong to all those for whom Christ did obey the Law that is for all those that believe in him And by both these bearing the penalty of the Law and fulfilling the Duties of the Law God is attoned Justice is satisfied Vengeance is pacified and we are reconciled Adopted and made Heirs of Glory according to the Promise But what shall Glory and Happiness be presently bestowed upon us shall we be installed into it without any more Circumstance must nothing intervene betwixt Christs purchase and our actual possession Yes that there must For Secondly Christ hath purchased Grace to be bestowed upon them upon whom he bestows Salvation Eph. 4 8. When he Ascended up on high he led Captivity Captive and gave Gifts unto Men and among others especially the Gifts of Grace For of his fulness John 1.16 says the Apostle have we all received and Grace for Grace And why did Christ make this purchase Why did he merit Grace for us Was it not that we might act it in Obedience And if Christ merited Grace that we might Obey is it sense to Object that our Obedience is derogatory to Christ's Merit If one end of Christ's doing all that he did for us was to inable us to do for our selves will any Man say now I am bound to do nothing because Christ hath done all How lost are such Men both to Reason and Religion who undertake so to argue No Salvation was purchased and Grace was procured that by the acting and exercise of that Grace we might attain to that Salvation and both these are to be preserved entirely as things most Sacred ascribing them solely to the Merits of our Saviour So far are we from Exhorting Men to work out their Salvation by way of Merit and Purchase as that we conclude them guilty of the highest Sacriledg and practical Blasphemy against the Priestly Office of Jesus Christ who think by their own works to Merit the one or the other And therefore though Jesus Christ hath done thus much for us yet that he might leave us also some work to do I shall now shew what he expects from us in order to the working out of our own Salvation And as he hath done two things for us so he requires two things from us As. First He requires we should put forth all the Strength and Power of Nature in labouring after Grace And Secondly He requires that we should put forth the power of Grace in labouring for Salvation purchased for us First He requires that all those who are void of Grace should labour for it with that Power and Strength that they have Those that are void of Grace must labour for it and in so doing they do not at all intrench upon the Work of Christ neither is it at all derogatory to his Merits See how the Prophet expresseth this Ezekiel 18. Ezek. 18.31 Make you a new heart and a new spirit He speaks to those that were in a state of Nature and he bids them make them a new heart and a new spirit for why will you die Noting that if they did not labour after a new Heart and a new Spirit they would certainly die the Death Let every Sinner know that this is it that he is called upon for this is that God expects from him it is his Work to repent and return that he may live It is his Work to labour to change his own Heart and to renew his own Spirit It is true it is God's Work also Ezek. 11.19 for he hath promised to give a new Heart and a new Spirit and it is Christ's Work also as he is God but yet it is not Christ's Work as Mediator And therefore to endeavour the working of a new Heart in us is not at all to intrench upon the Mediatory Office of Jesus Christ for so his Office is not to work Grace but
great a Work it requires that they should presently without delay set upon it 1. Working for Salvation is the undoing our former Works First It is a Work in which Sinners must undo all that they have wrought in their whole Lives before Oh Sinner think what hast thou been doing this twenty thirty forty Years or more Hast thou not instead of working out thine own Salvation with Fear and Trembling been working out thine own Condemnation without Fear or Trembling Hast thou not been working the Works of Darkness Hast thou not been working the Works of thy Father the Devil as our Saviour tells the Jews Truly this is not so much working as making of Work all this must be undone again or you your selves must be for ever undone you must unrip and unravel your whole Lives by a deep and bitter Repentance you are gone far in the way that leads to Death and Destruction and you must tread back every Step and at every Step shed many salt and briny Tears before ever you come into the Way that leads to Life and Happiness and is it not yet time to begin Can the Work of so many Years be undone think you in one moment No Sin and Satan make their Works more durable and lasting than to be so easily and speedily spoiled It were the Work of an Age yea of Eternity it self if possibly we could so spend it rather than of a few faint late Thoughts to get an Humiliation deep enough and a Sorrow sad enough to bear any the least proportion to any of the least Sins that we have committed Do not hope or think that your many great and sinful Actions shall ever be blown away with a slight and general Confession or that ever they shall be wash'd away with a slight and overly Repentance What says holy David Psal 56.8 Thou tellest my Wanderings put thou my Tears into thy Bottle Thou hast my Wandrings by Number but thou hast also my Tears by Measure There must be some proportion betwixt the Humiliation and the Sins great Sins call for great Sorrow and long continuance in Sin requires a continued and prolonged Repentance Is it not then yet high time to begin Have you not already made Work enough for your whole Lives should they be longer than they are like to be Nay and will not every Day of your Lives make Work enough for it self What says our Saviour Mat. 8.34 Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof Truly the Evils that we every Day commit is sufficient Work for the Sorrow and Repentance of that Day to undo Now then begin this undoing Work the longer you delay still the more will lie upon your Hands still the more Sins you have to repent of We already complain That the Work God hath set us is too hard and too grievous and yet such foolish Creatures are we that we make it more and more difficult by our Delays adding to the strictness of Gods Commands the necessity of a severe Repentance And therefore it is Prudence as well as Duty to begin this repenting this undoing Work betimes that so the greatness of the Work and the shortness of the time to do it in may not at last dismay and confound us 2. Variety of Duties to be perform'd in working out of Salvation Secondly Consider the great variety of Duties that must be gone through in the working out of Salvation and this will evince how great a Work it is A Christian's Work is a Life full of Actions and Imployments there should be no gap nor void space at all in it but all should be filled up with Duties ranked in their several Orders that as soon as he passeth through one he should enter upon another that where one leaves him another may find him Thus a Christian should go from one Duty to another from hearing the Word to Meditation from Meditation unto Prayer from Prayer to the acting of Grace and in all there should be much striving and strugling with the Heart and much carefulness and circumspection over the Way and Life Now there are Four great and usual Duties every Man hath to do Four Duties incumbent on all Christians which is enough to fill up all the time of his Life were it stretched and tenter'd out to the end of our time First 1. To get the Truth of Grace He is to get the Truth and Reality of Grace wrought in him this is his first and general Work And this will cost a Man much Sweat and Anguish for this he must suffer many Pangs and Throws of the New Birth and shall lye under many Fears and Jealousies lest Hypocrisy and Presumption should cause him to mistake in a Matter of such infinite Concernment Secondly He is to draw forth 2. To act Grace and to act this Grace when once it is wrought in him This is the next Work of a true Christian continually to act Faith Love Patience Humility and to let all have their perfect Work And there is no moment of a Man's Life so idle but all may administer some Occasion or Object for the exercise of Grace 3. To grow in Grace Thirdly A Christian's next Work is continually to grow and increase in Grace To go from Strength to Strength to be changed from Glory to Glory Still to be adding Cubits to his spiritual Stature till he is grown to such a height and tallness in Grace that his Head shall reach into Heaven and be Crowned there in absolute Perfection with a Crown of Glory and Immortality Here is that Work that will keep you in Imployment all your Days and if you can find one spare minute in your whole Lives wherein you have not some Duty to perform then give over and sit still But besides all this 4. Christians must labour for Assurance of Grace Fourthly Another Work of a Christian is earnestly to labour after the Evidence and Assurance of Grace in himself Give all diligence says the Apostle to make your Calling and Election sure Still a Christian must be ascending ascending from a probable Conjecture to a good Persuasion from a good Persuasion to a full Assurance from that to a Rejoycing with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory These now are the general Works that should take up the Lives of Christians and to these are subservient almost an infinite number of Particulars some whereof are means whereby these great Things are obtained others are Concomitants or the Effects and Fruits of them but I will not so much as mention any of them now For shame then O Christians since that your Work is so great why will you sit still as if you knew not how to imploy your selves Besides there is great variety in your Work and this usually breeds some kind of Delight You are not always to be toiling and drudging at the same thing But as Bees fly from one Flower to another and suck sweetness from each of them
so should a Christian pass from one Duty to another and draw forth the sweetness of Communion with God from every one of them 3. To work for Salvation a difficult Work Thirdly To evince the greatness of this Work consider it is a Work that must be carried on against many Encounters and strong Oppositions that a Christian will certainly meet with within are strong Corruptions without are strong Temptations you have a treacherous and deceitful Heart within and this Traitor holds Intelligence and League with your great Enemy the Devil without You are sure to meet with Difficulties Affronts and Discouragements from a peevish ill-condition'd World in which you live Never any yet could scape free to Heaven without meeting with these Things And doth not all this call upon you to work and strive for Salvation Is it a time to sit still when you have all this Opposition to break through so many Temptations to resist so many Corruptions to mortify Satan that old Serpent to repel and make him become a flying Serpent Doth not all this require a morose Constancy and a kind of sour Resolvedness to go thorough the ways of Obedience notwithstanding all Opposition These great Things are not to be atchieved without great Pains and Labour and therefore if you resolve to do no more than a few heartless Wishes no more than a few more heartless Duties will amount to never raise your Expectations so high as Salvation for let me tell you Salvation will not be obtained at such a rate as this no there must be great Struglings and Labour with earnest Contendings if ever you intend to be saved And thus much for the first Argument taken from the consideration of the greatness of the Work To work Salvation out is a great Work and requireth great Pains But lest the setting out the greatness of this Work should rather deter and fright Men from it than excite and quicken their Endeavours to it let me add a second Thing And that is to consider what an infinite 2. It is infinite Mercy that Sinners may work for Salvation incomparable Mercy it is that God will allow you to work for your Lives that he sets Life and Death before you and gives them into your Hands to take your Choice If you will indulge your Sloth then you choose Death but Life may be yours if you will It will indeed cost you much Pains and Labour but yet it may be yours And is it not infinite Mercy that Salvation and Happiness may be yours though upon any Terms Wicked Men are apt to say O how happy had we been if God had never commanded us to Work if he had never required from us such harsh and difficult Duties if we were but once free from this hard Task and heavy Burden of Obedience But alas foolish Sinners they know not what they say as happy as they count this to be yet if God required no working from them he should then shew them just so much Mercy as he doth to the Devils and damned Spirits and no more from whom God requires no Duty as well as from whom he receives no Duty and unto whom he intends no Mercy You think it a hard Restraint possibly to be kept under the strict Commands of the Law Oh! that God required no such Observances from you But what do you desire herein but only the unhappy Priviledge of the Damned to be without Law and without Commands But should God send to the Spirits now imprison'd and should he declare to them that if they would Work they should be saved oh how would they leap in their Chains at such glad Tidings as these are and count it part of Salvation that there was but a possibility of it No but God commands nothing from them because he intends nothing but Wrath upon them he will not vouchsafe so much Mercy to them as to require those Duties from them that you repine and murmur at as grievous And furthermore consider this if you do not now work but perish under your Sloth in Hell you will think it an infinite Mercy if God would command you more rigid and severe Obedience than ever he commanded from you on Earth It would be a great Mercy there if it might be your Duty to Repent and Pray and Believe nay you would count a Command then to be as comfortable as a Promise for indeed there is no Command but connotes a Promise No but these things shall not so much as be your Duty in Hell for there you shall be freed for ever from this rigorous and dreadful Law of God that now you so much complain of and murmur against Oh! therefore be persuaded while you are yet under the Mercy of the Law give me leave to call it so and while you have so many Promises couched in every Command before God hath left off his merciful Commanding before the time of Duty be expired be persuaded to Work Delay not you know not how long God will vouchsafe to require any thing from you and as soon as that ceaseth truly you are in Hell And this is the second Argument to press this Duty upon you Work and that speedily too while you may Work there is hope that upon your working you may be saved and therefore while God calls upon you and whilst he will accept of Obedience from you it is time for you to begin to work 3. Time to work for Salvation in is very short Thirdly Consider what a short scantling of Time is allowed you to do your great Work in And this I shall branch out into two Particulars First Consider how sad it will be for your Time to be run out before your great Work be done Alas what are threescore Years if we were all sure to live so long from the date of this present moment How short a space is it for us to do that which is of eternal Concernment in and yet how few of us shall live to that which we so improperly call old Age Our Candle is lighted and it is but small at the best and to how many of us is it already sunk in the Socket and brought to a Snuff and how soon the Breath of God may blow it out neither you nor I know Night is hastning upon us the Grave expects us and bids other Corpses make room for us Death is ready to grasp us in its cold Arms and to carry us before God's Tribunal and alas how little of our great Work is done What can any shew that they have done Where are the actings of Faith the labour of Love the perfect Works of Patience Where are those Graces that are either begotten or increased Where are the Corruptions that you have mortify'd These are Works that require Ages to perform them in and yet you neglect them that have but a few Days nay possibly but a few Minutes to do them in But what is God severe Is God unjust to require so
Slave to be a Slave unto the Devil whom the People of God have in part subdued and overcome and over whom they shall shortly at once perfectly triumph And now having thus by several Arguments prest this great Duty of working out of our own Salvation I should now proceed to some other Things that are necessary to be spoken unto from this Doctrin But because this is a Duty of so vast Importance and of so universal Concernment unto all and the Slothfulness and Backwardness of many so great and if persisted in will be so ruinous and destructive I shall further urge the practice of this Duty upon the Consciences of Sinners by these following Considerations 1. Working for Salvation is delightful Work First This working for Salvation is the most delightful Work and Imployment that a Christian can be engaged in What is it that makes the whole World so busy in the Service of Sin and Satan but only Pleasure which they either find or imagine The Devil baits all his Temptations with this enticing Witchcraft which the World calls Pleasure and this is that makes them so successful But hath the Devil ingrossed all Pleasure unto his Service Can the Ways of God promise no Delight Are they only ruff and rugged Ways David certainly thought otherwise when speaking of the Commandments of God Psalm 19.10 he tell us They were sweeter than the Hony and the Hony-comb He could squeeze Hony out of them it is an Expression that sets forth the exceeding Pleasantness and Delight that is to be found in the ways of Obedience And truly the whole Book of Psalms is abundantly copious in setting forth that Delight that is to be found in the ways of God Ask therefore the Children of God who are the only sufficient Judges in this Matter and they will tell you with one Consent that they know no Delight on Earth comparable to that Delight that is to be found in Obedience Indeed if you are only taken with a soft luxurious washy Pleasure this is not to be found in the ways of Holiness but if a severe Delight can affect you a Delight that shall not effeminate but innoble you if you desire a masculine rational vigorous Pleasure and Delight you need not seek any further for it than in the ways of Obedience Now there are two Things that make this working for Salvation to be so pleasant Two Things make working for Salvation pleasant the suitableness of this Work to the Agent or Worker and the visible Success and Progress of the Work it self And both these make the working out of Salvation exceeding pleasant and delightful to the People of God First 1. Suitableness of the Work to the Agent It is a Work suited to their Natures and that makes it pleasant As Jesus Christ had in a phisical Sense so every true Christian hath in a moral Sense two Natures in one Person There is the divine Nature or the Nature of God and there is the humane corrupt Nature the Nature of sinful Man and each of these have Inclinations suited unto them there is the carnal part and that is too apt to be seduced and drawn away with the Pleasures of Sin that are Objects proportioned to the carnal part But then there is also a divine and if I may so call it a supernatural Nature imprinted by Regeneration that only doth relish heavenly and spiritual Things So that it is not more natural to a godly Man by reason of the Propensions of the old Nature to sin against God than it is natural to him by reason of the Propensions of the new Nature to obey and serve God Now when Nature acts suitably to its own sway and pondus this must needs cause two Things First Facility and Easiness Secondly Delight and Complacency Streams flow from the Fountain with ease because they take but their natural Course So the Works of Obedience flow easily from that Fountain Principle of Grace that is broken up in the Hearts of the Children of God because they flow naturally from them and therefore because Nature makes things easie that easiness will make them pleasant and delightful It is true indeed when they work there is an opposition and reluctancy from their other contrary Nature for as they act suitably to the one so they act quite contrary to the other Nature But doth not the gracious and new Nature as strongly wrestle against and oppose the Workings and Eruptions of the old Nature as the old doth the Workings of the new Yes it doth and therefore you that are truly Regenerate never sin because of the easiness of it because of its suitableness because else you must offer violence to your Nature if you resist a Temptation Do you not offer violence to your Nature if you close with that Temptation You are not all of one piece if I may so speak if you are Regenerate And what must the corrupt part only be indulged and gratified and must the renewed part be always opposed Why should not Grace since it is as much nay more your self than Sin is why should not that have the same scope and liberty to act freely as Sin doth Truly these Things are Riddles to wicked Men and they are unfit Judges in this Case they wonder what we mean when we speak of Easiness and Delight in ways of Obedience which they never found to be otherwise than the most burthensome Thing in the World And truly it is no wonder for they have no Principle suited to these Things they are made up only of the old Nature that is as contrary and repugnant to them as Darkness is to Light But if once God renew and sanctifie them then they will confess as we do that the Works of God have more easiness in them than the generality of the World do imagine and therefore St. Paul tells That he delighted in the Law of God after the inward Man Rom. 7.22 But why after the inward Man But because though his corrupt part was contrary thereunto yet his renewed part which he calls his inward Man was suited to the Duties of the Law of God and carried him out as naturally to Obedience as the Spark flies upward And hence it is that the Children of God delight in the ways of Obedience because they suit with their new Nature that is implanted in them Secondly 2. Progress in working for Salvation makes it pleasant Another Thing that makes working for Salvation so delightful is That visible Success that the Children of God gain and that visible progress that they make in this Work Nothing doth usually cause greater Delight in Work than to see some riddance in it and that we are like at length to bring it to some issue So truly this is that which mightily delights the Children of God to see that their Work goes forward that their Graces thrive that their Corruptions pine and consume away that they are much nearer Salvation
any thing from the piercing discovery of his Eye He knows our Thoughts those Nimble and those Spiritual Things that are so quick in their flight that they cannot be seized upon by any Creature in the World God knows them the Devil cannot know them nor can an Angel know them yet God discerns our Thoughts more clearly than we can discern the Faces of one another he sees our Thoughts afar off as the Psalmist tells us he sees our Thoughts in their first Conception when they first begin to heave in our Breasts he knows the least Windings and Turnings of our Souls Now would not this compose us to an habitual and holy Awe of God to be continually thinking that whatsoever we do God's Eye is now upon us Let every one say within himself Where-ever I am or whatever I do I am in the Presence of the Holy God who takes notice of all my Carriages there is not a Glance of mine Eye but his Eye observes it there is not an irreverent or unseemly Gesture but he takes notice of it there is not a Thought of mine can escape but he knows that Thought and he knows my Down-lying and Vp-rising c. Let this Consideration season your Lives and Conversations be still pondering in your Minds That whatsoever you are doing his Eye is upon you and he is present with you Secondly Consider That God not only sees into all you do but he sees it to that very end that he may examine and search into it He doth not only behold you with a common and indifferent Look but with a searching watchful and inquisitive Eye he pries into the Reasons the Motives the Ends of all your Actions Psal 11.4 it is said The Lord's Throne is in Heaven his Eyes behold his Eye-lids try the Children of Men. Rev. 1.14 where Christ is described it is said His Eyes are as a Flame of Fire You know the Property of Fire is to search and make trial of those things that are exposed unto it and to separate the Dross from the pure Metal So God's Eye is like Fire to try and examine the Actions of Men he knows and discerns how much your very purest Duties have in them of mixture and base ends of Formality Hypocrisie Distractedness and Deadness he sees through all your Specious Pretences that which you cast as a Mist before the Eyes of Men when yet thou art but a Juggler in Religion all your Tricks and Sleights of Outward Profession all those things that you use to cozen and delude Men withal they cannot possibly impose upon him he is a God that can look through all those Fig-leaves of Outward Profession and discern the Nakedness of your Duties through them In the last place Thirdly God tries all your Cases and Actions in order to an Eternal Judgment and Sentence to be passed upon them This Consideration might damp the stoutest Sinner's Heart in the whole World Believe it Sirs God doth not only see your ways but he sees them so as to remember them against you another day though you have forgot what you have thought and what you have spoken and what you have done yet God for ever remembers them and at that day he will sadly recall all these things again to your remembrance Oh! that therefore this might prevail with you so to do every thing as being now already under the Eye of God and shortly must be under his Doom and Sentence Now if God should send an Angel to stand at our Backs and tell us whatever we are doing this Action of ours we must be judged for it should make us fearful of sinning as that Angel himself True we have no such Monitor but our Conscience performs to us the same Office Therefore charge it upon your Consciences that they still put you in mind of God that he sees you that he will judge you and that he always looks upon you and writes down in those Eternal Leaves of his Memorial-Book whatsoever proceeds from you either in Duties of Religion or the Actions of your Ordinary Course and Conversation Therefore because he is Omnipresent and sees all things stand in awe of his Omnisciency whereby he sees whatsoever we do and whereby he will try and judge us at the last day FINIS Books Printed for Jonathan Robinson ANnotations on the Holy Bible as also a Survey of the same by way of Supplement to the Annotations By S. 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