suffer or fly God hath made good that promise in Jeremie he hath revealed to us abundance of peace and truth and we through ingratitude have ferfeited both Our peace is shaken and who can promise himself with Hezekiah there shall be peace and truth in my dayes Peace may faile thee but let not Truth Every good Christian may and should say with the good King there shall be Truth in my daies if not peace and truth I will so far honor truth as to receive the love of it I will hold it fast by faith hold it forth by practise praise God daily for it and venture all in defence of it So did the Martyrs whose memory is sweete and whose reward is great It is better suffering for truth then with truth yet if Truth must suffer or can die better it is to dye with Truth then out-live it But that Truth may live and we live by truth let us magniâ—ie God much for truth for his word and good bookes that spring thence Some pâ—obably may say it s enâ—ugh to praisâ— God for his word other books are not â—â—nti Wilt thou praise God â—or the Seâ— and â—e unthankfull for the rivers and springs Wilt thou lift up thy voyce for the great Waters and be silent for the silver drops and showers If the former raiâ—e affect thee be not ingratefull for the latter God would have men to value his servants and praise him for their labours But they have errors in them Be it so shall we refuse to praise God for the Flowers and the corne because there be some weeds in the garden and thistles in the field Prejudice not thy selfe buy reade take thy delight here is a garden without weeds a corne field without Cockle or darnell thorne or thistle Art thou a Sincere Convert here are truths sutable solid and wholsome thou maiest feed and feast without feare The Authour is one of singular piety inward acquaintance with God skild in the deceits of mens hearts able to enlighten the darke corners of the little world and to give satisfaction to staggering spirits His worke needs not the purple of anothers commendation to adorne it But because custome not necessity for it's truths prorogative to travaile without a pasport I say because Customo causeth Truth to crave and to carry Epistles Commendatory know that the worke is weighty quick and spirituall and if thine eye be single in perusing it thou shalt find many precious soule-searching soule-quickning and soule-enriching truths in it yea be so warned and awakned is that thou canst not but blesse God for the man and matter unlesse thou be possest with a dumbe devill To conclude Christian Reader take heed of unthankfulnesse spirituall mercies should have the quickest and fullest praises Such is this worke thou foresawâ—est it not thou contributedst nothing to the birth of it It 's a preventing mercy By it and other of the same nature od hath made knowledge to abound the waters of the Sanctuary are daily increased and growne deepe Let not the waters of the Sanctnary put out the fire of the Sanctuary If there be no praise there is no fire If thy head be like a winters Sunne full of light and heart like a winters earth without fruit feare Iest thy light end in utter darkenesse and the tree of knowledge deprive thee of the tree of life The Lord grant thou mayest finde such benefit by this worke as that thy heart may be ravished with truth and raised to praise God to purpose and made to pray Lord still send forth thy light and truth that they may leade us So prayes Thine in Christ W. Greenhill An Introduction to the Worke. THe knowledge of Divinity is necessary for all sorts of men both to settle and establish the good and to convert and fetch in the bad Gods principles pull downe Satans false Principles set up in mens heads loved and beleeved with mens hearts and defended by their Tongues whilest strong holds remaine unshaken the Lord JESVS is kept off from conquering of the soule Now Spirituall Truths are either such as tend to enlarge the understanding or such as may worke chiefly upon the affections I passe by in this knowing age the first of these and being among a people whose hearts are hard enough I being with the latter sort For the Vnderstanding although it may literally yet it never savingly entertaines any truth untill the Affections be therewith smitten and wrought upon I shall therefore here prosecute the unfolding of these Divine Principles First that there is one most glorious God Secondly that this God made all mankind at first in Adam in a most glorious estate Thirdly that all mankind is now fallen from that estate into a bottomlesse gulfe of sinne and misery Fourthly that the Lord Jesus Christ is the onely means of Redemption out of this estate Fifthly that those that are saved out of this wofull estate by Christ are very few and these few are saved with much difficulty Sixthly that the greatest cause why so many dye and perish in this estate is from themselves either 1. By Reason of their bloudy Ignorance they know not their misery or 2. By reason of their Carnall security they feele not they groane not under their sinne and misery 3. By reason of their Carnall confidence they seeke to helpe themselves out of their misery by their own duties when they see or feele it or 4. By reason of their false faith whereby they catch hold upon and trust unto the merits of Christ too soone when they see and feele they cannot helpe themselves The Contents of this Treatise THat there is a God Page 3 4. That this God is most Glorious p. 16. The happinesse of them that forsake all for this God p. 15. A Discovery of Atheisme p. 10. Whence terrors of Conscience arise p. 8. An Explanation of Gods Attributes p. 17. We should make God to be Our God p. 14. God made all Mankind at first in a glorious and happy estate p. 25. Wherein this glory or blessednesse of man did appeare p. 26. How Adams estate was Ours p. 29. Wee are more perfectly righteous in Christ then we could ever have beene in Adam p. 32. How to get the Image of God renewed in us p. 40. A Discovery of such as content themselves with a certaine measure of holinesse p. 34. How justly God may require perfect obedience to all the Law of every man and curse him if he cannot performe it p. 30. Mans misery in respect of Sin p. 42. Every naturall man is dead while hee lives p. 48. The haynousnesse of Adams sin p. 96. Sinnes of the Heart are worse then sins of the Life p. 55. Every Action of wicked men is sinfull p. 57. Whether good duties ought to be performed by naturall men seeing their best Actions are siâ—nes p. 61. Mans misery in respect of the Consequents of sinne p. 63. Mans fearefull flavery under Sathan p. 67. How to
the roome of God aswell by making himselfe his finis uttimus as if he should make himself primum principium Sin is a forsaking or departing from God Now every naturall man remaining alwayes in a state of separation from God because hee alwayes wants the bond of union which is Faith is alwaies sinning Gods curse lyes upon him therefore hee brings out nothing but briers and thornes Object But thou wilt say if our praying and hearing bee sinne why should we doe these duties wee must not sinne Answer 1. Good duties are good in themselves although comming from thy vile heart they are sinnes 2. It is lesse sinne to doe them than to omit them therefore it thou wilt go to hell goe in the fairest path thou canst in thither 3. Venture and try it may be God may heare not for thy prayers sake but for his names sake The unjust Iudge holpe the poore widow not because hee loved her or her suite but because of her importunitie and so be sure thou shalt have nothing if thou doest not seeke what though thou beest a dog yet thou art alive and art for the present under the Table Catch not at Christ snatch not at his bread but waite till God give thee him it may be thou maiest have him one day Oh wonder then at Gods patience that thou livest one day longer who hast all thy lifetime like a filthy Toade spet thy venome in the face of God that hee hath never beene quiet for thee oh looke upon that black bill that will one day be put in against thee at the great day of account where thou must answer with flames of fire about thine eares not only for thy drunkennesse thy bloody oathes and whoring but for all the actions of thy short life and just so many actions so many fins Thou hast painted thy face over now with good dueties and good desires and a little honesty amongst some men is of that worth and raritie that they thinke God is beholding to them if hee can get any good action from them But when thy painted face shall be brought before the fire of Gods wrath then thy vilenesse shall appeare before men and Angels Oh know it that as thou doest nothing else but sinne so God heapes up wrath against the dreadfull day of wrath Thus much for mans misery in regard of sinne Now followeth his misery in regard of the consequents or miseries that follow upon sinne And these are 1. Present 2. Future First Mans present miseries that already lie on him for sinne are these seven that is First God is his dreadfull enemy Psal. 5. 5. Quest. How may one know another to be his enemy Ans. 1. By their lookes 2. By their threats 3. By their blowes So God 1. Hides his face from every naturall man and will not looke upon him Isay 59. 2. 2. God threatens nay curseth every naturall man Gal. 3. 10. 3. God gives them heavie bloudie lashes on their soules and bodies Never tell me therefore that God blesseth thee in thine outward estate no greater signe of Gods wrath then for the Lord to give thee thy swinge as a Father never lookes after a desperate Sonne but lets him run where he pleases And if God be thine enemy then every creature is so too both in Heaven and Earth Secondly God hath forsaken them and they have lost God Ephes. 2. 12. It 's said that in the grievous famine of Samaria Doves dung was sold at a large price because they wanted bread Oh! men live and pine away without GOD without bread and therefore the dung of worldly contentments are efteemed so much of Thou hast lost the sight of God and the favour of God and the speciall protection of God and the government of God Caines punishment lyes upon thee in thy naturall estate thou art a Runagate from the face of God and from his face thou art hid Many have growne madde to see their houses burnt and all their goods lost Oh but God the greatest good is lost This losse made Saul cry out in distresse of conscience 1. Sam. 28. 15. The Philistians make warre against me and God is departed from me the losse of the sweetnesse of whose presence for a little while onely made the Lord Jesus himselfe cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me whereas thou hast lost God all thy life time Oh thou hast an heart of brasse that canst not mourne for his absence so long The damned in hell have lost God and know it and so the plague of desperate horrour lyeth upon them thou hast lost God here but knowest it not and the plague of an hard heart lyeth upon thee that thou canst not mourne for this losse Thirdly They are condemned men coÌ„demned in the court of Gods justice by the law which cryes treason treason against the most high God condemned by justice merey by the Gospel which cryes murder murder against the sonne of God Iohn 3. 18. so that every naturall man is damned in Heaven and damned on earth God is thy allâ—seeing terrible Iudge Conscience is thine accuser an heavie witnesse His word is thy Iayle thy lusts are thy Fetters In this Bible is pronounced and writ thy doome thy sentence Death is thy hangman and that fire that shall never goe out thy torment The Lord hath in his infinite patience reprived thee for a time O take heed and get a pardon before the day of execution come Fourthly being condemned take him Iaylor he is a bondslave to Satan Eph. 2. 3. for his servants yee are whom ye obey saith Christ. Now every naturall man doth the Devillsâ—drudgery and carries the Devillspack and howsoever he saith he defyeth the Devill yet he sinnes and so doth his worke Satan hath overcome and conquered all men in Adam and therefore under his bondage and dominion And though he cannot compell a man to sin against his will yet he hath 1 Power First to present and allure a mans heart by a sinfull temptation Secondly to follow him with it if at first he be something shie of it Thirdly to disquiet and wrack him if he will not yeeld as might be made to appeare in many instances Fourthly besides he knowes mens humours as poore wandering beggerly Gentlemen doe their friends in necessitie yet in seeming courtesie he visits and applyes himselfe unto them and so gaines them as his owne Oh he is in a fearefull slavery who is under Satans dominion who is 1. A secret enemy to thee 2. A deceitfull enemy to thee that will make a man beleeve as he did Evah even in her integrity that he is in a faire way yet most miserable 3. He is a cruell enemy or Lord over them that be his slaves 2 Cor. 4. 3. he gaggs them so that they cannot speake as that man that had a dumbe devill neither for God nor to God in prayer he starves them so as no
heart I am the poorest vilest basest and blindest creature that ever lived If thou doest not thus feele thy selfe poore thou never camest out of thy duties For when the Lord bringeth any man to Christ he bringeth him empty that so he may make him be holding to Christ for every farthing token Fourthly those that gaine no Evangelicall righteousnesse by duties reâ—t in duties I say Evangelicall righteousnes that is more prizing of acquaintance with desire after loving delighting in union with the Lord Jesus Christ for a morall man may grow in legall righteousnesse as the stony and thorny ground seede sprang up and increased much and came neere unto maturitie and yet rest in duties all this while For as it is with tradesmen they rest in their buying and selling though they make no gaine of their trading now Jesus Christ is a Christians gaine Phil. 1. 21. and hence a childe of God askes himselfe after Sermon after prayer after Sacrament what have I gained of Christ have I got more knowledge of Christ more admiring of the Lord Iesus Now a carnall heart that rests in his duties asketh onely what he hath done as the Pharisee I thanke God I am not as other men I fast twice a weeke I give almes and the like and thinkes verily he shall be saved because he prayes and because he heares and because he reformes and because he sorrowes for his sinnes that is not because of the gaining of Christ in a dutie but because of his naked performance of the duty and so they are like that man that I have heard of that thought verily he should be rich because he had got a wallet to beg so men because they performe duties thinke verily they shall be saved No such matter let a man have a bucket made of gold doth he thinke to get water because he hath a bucket No no he must let it downe into the well draw up water with it so must thou let downe all thy duties into Christ draw life and light from his fulnesse else though thy duties be golden duties thou shalt perish without Christ. When a man hath bread in his wallet and got water in his bucket he may boldly say so long as these last I shall not â—amish so mayst thou say when thou hast found and got Christ in the performance of any duty so long as Christs life lasteth I shall live as long as he hath any wisdome or power so long shall I be directed and enabled in well doing Fifthly if thy duties make thee sin more boldly thou dost then rest in duties for these duties which carry a man out of himselfe unto Christ ever fetch power against sinne but duties that a man rests in arme him and fence him in his sinne Isa. 1. 14. A cart that hath no wheeles to rest on can hardly be drawne into the dirt but one that hath wheeles commeth loaded through it so a child of God that hath no wheeles no duties to rest upon cannot willingly be drawne into sinne but another man though he be loaden with sinne even sometimes against his conscience yet having duties to beare him up goeth merrily on in a sinfull course makes no bones of sinne when we see a base man revile a great Prince strike him we say surely he durst not doe it unlesse he had some body to beare him out in it that he rests and trusts unto so when wee see men sinne against the great God we conceive certainly they durst not doe it if they had not some duties to beare them out in it and to encourage them in their way that they trust unto For take a prophane man what makes him drink sweare cozen game whore Is there no God to punish Is there no hell hot enough to torment are there no plagues to confound him yes why â—inneth he then so Oh! he prayeth to God for forgivenesse and sorroweth and repents in secret as he â—aith and this beares him out in his lewd pranks Take a morall man he knowes he hath his failings and his sinnes as the best have and is overtaken sometimes as the best are why doth he not remove these sinnes then He confesseth them to God every morning when he riseth why is he not more humbled under his sinne then the reason is he constantly observeth morning and evening prayer then he craves forgivenesse for his failings by which course he hopes he makes his peace with God and hence he sinneth without seare and riseth out of his falls into sinne without sorrow And thus they see and maintaine their sinnes by their duties and therefore rest in duties Sixthly those that see little of their vile hearts by duties rest in their duties For if a man be brought nearer to Christ and to the light by duties he will spy out more moats for the more a man participates of Christ his health and life the more he feeleth the vilenesse and sicknesse of sinne As Paul when he rested in his duties before his conversion before that the Law had humbled him he was alive that is he thought himselfe a sound man because his duties covered his sinnes like fig-leaves Therefore ask thine own heart if it be troubled sometimes for sinne and if after thy praying and sorrowing thou doest grow well and thinkest thy selfe safe and feelest not thy selfe more vile If it be thus I tell thee thy duties be but fig-leaves to cover thy nakednesse and the Lord will find thee out and unmaske thee one day and woe to thee if thou dost perish here Secondly Therefore behold the insufficiency of all duties to save us Which will appeare in these three things which I speake that you may learne hereafter never to rest in duties First Consider thy best duties are tainted poysoned and mingled with some sinne and therefore are most odious in the eyes of an holy God nakedly barely considered in themselves for if the best actions of Gods people be filthy as they come from them then to be sure all wicked mens actions are much more filthy polluted with sin but the first is true All our righteousnesses are as filthy ragges for as the fountaine is so is the streame but the fountaine of all good actions that is the heart is mingled partly with sin partly with grace therfore every action participates of some sin which sins are daggers at Gods heart even when a man is praying and begging for his life therefore there is no hope to be saved by duties Secondly Suppose thou couldest performe them without sinne yet thou couldest not hold out in doing so I say 40. 6. All flesh and the glory thereof is but grasse So thy best actions would soone wither if they were not perfect and if thou canst not persevere in performing all duties perfectly thou art for ever undone though thou shouldest doe so for a time live like an Angel shine like a Sunne and at thy last
Men make a bridge of their own to carry them to Christ I meane they looke not after faith wrought by an omnipotent power which the eternall Spirit of the Lord Jesus must worke in them but they coÌ„tent themselves with a faith of their own forging and framing and hence they thinke verily and beleeve that Christ is their sweet Saviour and so doubt not but they are safe when there is no such matter but even as dogs they snatch away childrens bread and shall be shut out of doores out of heaven hereafter for ever for their labour All men are of this opinion that there is no salvation but by the merits of Jesus Christ and because they hold fast this opinion therefore they thinke they hold fast Iesus Christ in the hand of faith and so perish by catching at their owne catch and hanging on their owne fancy and shadow Some others catch hold of Christ before they come to feele the want of Faith and abilitie to beleeve and catching hold on him like dust on a mans coate whom God will shake off or like burrs and bryers cleaving to ones garment which the Lord will trample under foot now they say they thanke God they have got comfort by this means and though God killeth them yet they will trust unto him Mich. 3. 11. It is in this respect a harder matter to convert a man in England than in India for there they have no such shifts and forts against our Sermons to say they beleeve in Christ already as most amongst us doe wee cannot wrap off mens fingers from catching hold on Christ before they be fit for him like a company of theeves in the street you shall see an hundred hands scrambling for a jewell that is fallen there that have least nay nothing to doe with it Every man saith almost I hope Christ is mine I put my whole trust and confidence in him and will not be beaten from this What must a man despaire must not a man trust unto Christ thus men will hope and trust though they have no ground no graces to prove they may lay hold and claime unto Christ. This hope skared out of his wits damnes thousands for I am perswaded if men did see themselves Christlesse creatures as well as sinfull creatures they would cry out Lord what shall I doe to be saved True faith is a precious faith 2 Pet. 1. 2. precious things cost us much we set them at an high rate if thy Faith be so it hath cost thee many a prayer many a sob many a salt teare But ask most men how they came by their faith in Christ they say very easily when the Lyon sleepes a man may lye and sleepe by it but when it awakens woe to that man that doth so so while God is silent and patient thou mayest befoole thy selfe with thinking thou dost trust unto God but woe to thee when the LORD appeares in his wrath as one day he will for by vertue of this false faith men sinning take Christ as a dish-clout to wipe them cleane againe and that 's all the use they have of this faith They sin indeede but they trust unto Christ for his mercy and so lye still in their sinnes God will revenge with bloud and fire and plagues this horrible contempt from heaven Hence many of you trust unto Christ as the Apricock tree that leanes against the wall but it 's fast rooted in the earth so you leane upon Christ for salvation but you are rooted in the world rooted in your pride rooted in your filthinesse still Woe to you if you perish in this estate God will hew you downe as fuell for his wrath what ever mad hope you have to be saved by Christ. This therefore I proclaime from the God of Heaven to you 1. you that never felt your selves as unable to beleeve as a dead man to raise himselfe you have as yet no faith at all 2. You that would get faith first must feele your inability to beleeve and fetch not this slip out of thine own garden it must come downe from Heaven to thy soule if ever thou partakest thereof Other things I should have spoken of this large subject but I am forced here to end abruptly The Lord lay not this sin to their charge who have stopped my mouth labouring to withhold the truth in unrighteousnesse And blessed be the good God who hath stood by his unworthy servant thus long inabling him to leade you so farre as to shew you the rockes and dangers of your passage to another world FINIS Psal. 73. 1. Psal. 44. 4 Psal. 76 10. 2 Tim. 3. 8 9. Esay 26. 20. Esay 4 32. Esay 41. â—0 11. Revel 9. 2 Revel 1â— 19. Iohn â—1 15 16 â—7 The principall heads infisted upon Plin. lib. 1. Nat. Hist. Rom. 1. Groundes to prove a God Iohn 3. 3 Obj. Answ. Obj. Answ. Vse 1. A discovery of Atheisme Vse 2. Vse 3. Vse 4. Gods Essence An explanation of Gods Attributes Doct. 1. Quest. Ans. Quest. Ans. Eph. 4. 23 The Image of God in Man Prov. 8. Obj. Ans. Vse 1. Vse 2. Vse 3. Vse 4. Vse 5. A threefold reprehension Men that content themselves with a certaine measure of holinesse and go no further Rom. 2. 12 Vse 6. How to gaine the Image of God Rom 6. 7. Mans misery in regard of sin Vse The horrible nature of the first sin The hainousnesse of Adams sinne Secondly dead in sin Best actions of the wicked how sinfull Vse 2. How every Naturall man is dead while he livâ—â— Mar. 23. 37. 38. Fulnesse of sinne Iames 3. 6 Francis Spira Sins of the heart worse than the sins of the life Rom. 7. 4. Every action is sinfull as comming from a Naturall Man Lu. 16. 15 Rom. 3. 13 Isai. 13. 14 Ier. 20. â—3 Deut. 28. Obj. Ans. Why good duties must bee performed though we sin in doing them Mans present miseries Isai. 55. 6. Act. 28. 21. Mans fearfull slavery under Sathan 1 Pet. 2. 9 Mans future Miseries The terrour of mans particular judgement Obj. Ans. Why there must be a day of IudgemeÌ„t Quest. Ans. Quest. Ans. The manner of the last judgement Ecclâ—s ult ult Wherein consists the wrath of God Mat. 25. 41. The scope of knowing our miseries is to be humbled Doct. Quest. Answ. How men are redeemed Dan. 9. 24 Vse 1. Vse 2. Vse 3. Gal. 5. 2. Vse 4. Ob. Answ. The offer of Christ universall and why Mark 16. 15. The offer of Christ universall whâ—rein Ob. Ans. Prov. 9. 4. â— Cor. 5. 20. Pro. 1. 22 23. Obj. Ans. Obj. Ans. Obj. Ans. Obj. Ans. Obj. Ans. Obj. Ans. Obj. Ans. Obj. Ans. Quest. Ans. On what termes Christ may be â—ad Fouresorts of people that reject Christ. The great evill in rejecting Christ. Obj. Ans. Obj. Answ. Obj. Answ. Vse 5. Ob. Answ. Obj. Ans. Doct. 1. Luk. 22. 32. Few saved in all ages Isa. 1. 9. Ioh 1. 12. Rovel 3. 4. Act. 20. 28. 29. 30. Few shall be saved in all places Few shall be saved in England 1 Cor. 1. 29. Luk. 15. 24 25. Vse 1. Tit. 2. 14. Vse 2. Vse 3. Obj. 1. Ans. Obj. 2. Ans. Obj. 3. Ans. Obj. 4. Ans. Ezek. 33. 31 32. Obj. 5. Answ. Obj. 6. Answ. Obj. 7. Answ. Obj. 8. Ans. Rom. 2. 18 Obj. 9. Ans. Obj. 10. Ans. Luk. 13. 24. Obj. 11. Answ. Phil. 3. 6. 11. 2 Chron. 44. 4 5 6. Obj. 12. Ans. Obj. 13. Answ. Pro. 14. 12. Mat. 25. Vse 4. Quest. Answ. Wherein a childe of God goeth beyond an Hypocrite Doct. 2. 4 Straight gates to be passed through before we can enter into heaven Vse The false wayes to Heaven discovered The way of selfe-love Quest. Answ. How men plot their own ruin Ignorance the first Geneâ—â—ll Reason of mans tuine The 1. sort Reason Reason Reas. 4. 2. Sort. How men come to be deceived about their spirituall estates Estheâ— 6. 6. 2 King 10 18. How false peace is bred in the soule Ps. 38. 16. The second Reason why men ruine theÌ„selves Reas. 1. Nahum 1. 2. Reas. 2. Reas. 3. Reas. 5. Reas. 6. Rom. 1. ult Reas. 7. Reas. 8. Reas. 9. Reas. 10 Vse Quest. Answ. 1. How to get a broken heart 1 Thes. 5. 3 4. 2 Cor. 5. 19. 3. Generall Reason of mans ruine Wherein Mens Resting in Duties appeares Zeph. 3. 11. Rom. 2. 10 Why men doe rest in their good duties Reas. 1. Reas. 2. Reas. 3. Reas. 4. Vse 1. Ob. Ans. Signes of mens resting in Duties Signe 1. 2 things keepe us from Christ. Signe 2. Phil. 3. 8. Signe 3. Isa. 66. 2. Signe 4. Signe 5. Signe 6. Rom. 7. The insufficiency of any dutie to save a man Isay 6. 6. Gal. 3. 10. Obj. Ans. Good duties not to be cast off but our resting upon them Ob. Ans. Vse 1. Vse 2. Vse 3. 4 Generall reason of mans ruine Eph. 1. 19.
every swine hath his swill and every wicked man his lust for no unregenerate man hath fruition of God to content him and there is no mans heart but it must have some good to coÌ„tent it which good is to be found onely in the Fountaine of all good and that is God or in the cisterne and that is in the creatures hence a man having lost full content in God he seekes for and feeds upoÌ„ contentment in the creature which he makes a God to him and here lyes his lust or sinne which he must needs live in Hence aske those men that goe very farre and take their penny for good silver and commend themselves for their good desires I say aske them if they have no sinne Yes say they who can live without sinne and so they give way to sinne and therefore live in sinne Nay commonly all the duties prayers care and zeale of the best Hypocrites are to hide a lust as the whore in the Proverbes that wipes her mouth and goes to the Temple and payes her vowes or to feed their lusts as Iehu his zeale against Baal was to get a Kingdome There remaines a root of bitternesse in the best Hypocrites which howsoever it be lopt off sometimes by sicknesse or horrour of conscience and a man hath purposes never to commit it againe yet there it secretly lurkes and though it seemeth to be bound and conquered by the Word or by prayer or by outward crosses or while the hand of God is upon a man yet the inward strength and power of it remains still and therefore when Temptations like strong Philistines are upon this man againe he breakes all vowes promises bonds of God and will save the life of his sinne Secondly no unregenerate man or woman ever came to be poore in spirit and so to be carried out of all duties unto Christ if it were possible for them to forsake and breake loose for ever from all sinne yet here they sticke as the Scribes and Pharisees and so like zealous Paul before his conversion they fasted and prayed and kept the Sabbath but they rested in their legall righteousnesse and in the performance of these and the like duties Take the best Hypocâ—ite that hath â—he most strong perswasions of Gods love to him and aske him why he hopes to be saved He will answer I pray reade heare love good men cry out of the sinnes of the time And tell him againe that an Hypocrite may climbe these staires and goe as farre Hee will reply True indeed but they doe not what they doe with a sound heart but to be seene of men Marke now how these men feele a good heart in themselves and in all things they doe and therefore feele not a want of all good which is poverty of spirit and therefore here they fall short Isa. 66. 2. there were divers Hypocrites forward for the worship of God in the Temple but God loathes these because not poore in Spirit to them onely it is said the Lord will looke I have seene many Professors very forward for all good duties but as ignorant of Christ when they are sifted as blocks And if a man as few doe know not Christ he must rest in his duties because he knowes not Christ to whom he must goe and be carried if ever he be saved I have heard of a man that being condemned to dye thought to be saved from the Gallowes and to save himselfe from hanging by a certaine gift he said he had of whisâ—ling so men seeke to save themselves by their gifts of knowledge gifts of memory gifts of prayer and when they see they must dye for their sinnes this is the ruine of many a soule that though he forsake Aegypt and his sinnes and flesh-pots there and will never be so as he hath beene yet he never commeth into Canaan but loseth himselfe and his soule in a wildernesse of many duties and there perisheth Thirdly if any unrâ—generate man come unto Christ he never gets into Christ that is never takes up his eternall rest and lodging in any thing else but Jesus Christ Heb. 4 4. Iudas followed Christ for the bagge he would have the bagge and Christ too The Young man came unto Christ to be his Disciple but he would have Christ aâ—d the world too they will not content themselves with Christ alone nor with the world alone but make their markets out of both like whorish wives that will please their husbands and others too Men in distresse of conscience if they have comfort from Christ they are contented if they have salvation from hell by Christ they are contented but Christ himselfe contents them not Thus farre an Hypocrite goes not So much for the first Doctrine observed out of the Text. I come now to the second Doct. 2. That those that are saved are saved with much difficulty or it is a wonderfull hard thing to be saved The gate is straight and therefore a man must sweat and strive to enter both the entrance is difficult and the progresse of salvation too Jesus Christ is not got with a wet finger It is not wishing and desiring to be saved will bring men to heaven hells mouth is full of good wishes It is not shedding a teare at a Sermon or blubbering now and then in a corner and saying over thy prayers and crying God mercy for thy sinnes will save thee It is not Lord have mercy upon us will doe thee good It is not comming constantly to Church these are easie matters But it is a tough work a wonderfull hard matter to be saved 1 Pet. 4. 18. Hence the way to Heaven is compared to a race where a man must put forth all his strength and streâ—ch every limbe and all to get forward Hence a Christians life is compared to wrastling Ephe. 6. 12. All the policy and power of hell buckle together against a Christian therefore he must looke to himselfe or else he falls Hence it is compared to fighting 2 Tim. 4. 7. a man must fight against the Devill the world himselfe who shoot poysoned bullets in the soule where a man must kill or be killed God hath not lined the way to Christ with velvet noâ— strewed it with rushes He will never feed a slothâ—ull humour in man who will be saved if Christ and Heaven would drop in their mouthes and if any would beare their chaâ—ges thither If Christ might be bought for a few cold wishes and lazy dâ—sires he would be of small reckoning amongst men who would say lightly come lightly goe Indeed Christs yoke is easie in it selfe and when a man is got into Christ nothing is so sweet but for a carnall dull heart it is hard to draw in it for There are foure straight gates which every one must passe through before he can enter into Heaven There is 1. the straight gate of Humiliation God saveth none but first he humbleth them now it is hard to passe through the gates
men will goe and try how they can live by shifts and working for themselves still Secondly because men are ignorant of Jesus Christ and his righteousnesse hence men cannot goe unto him because they see him not hence they shift as well as they can for themselves by their duties Iohn 4. 14. men seeke to save thēselves by their own swimming when they see no cable cast out to helpe them Thirdly because this is the easiest way to comfort the heart and pacifie conscience and to please God as the soule thinkes because by this meanes a man goes no further than himselfe Now in forsaking all duties a soule goeth to heaven quite out of himselfe and there he must waite many a yeare and that for a little it may be Now if a fainting man have Aquavitae at his beds head he will not knocke up the shopkeeper for it Men that have a Balsome of their owne to heale them will not goe to the Physitian Fourthly because by vertue of these duties a man may hide his sin and live quietly in his sin yet be accounted an honest man as the whore in the Pro. 7. 15 16. having performed her vowes can intice without suspition of men or check of conscience so the Scribes and Pharisees were horribly covetous but their long prayers covered their deformities Matth. 23. 14. and hence men set their duties at a higher rate than they are worth thinking they shall save them because they are so usefull to them Good duties like new apparrell on a man pursued with Hue and cry of conscience keepe him from being knowne Take heede of resting in duties Good duties are mens money without which they thinke themselves poore and miserable but take heed that you and your money perish not together Gal. 5. 3. The paths to Hell be but two The first is the path of sinne which is a dirty way Secondly the path of Duties which rested in is but a clearer way When the Israelites were in distresse Iudg. 10. 14. The Lord bids them goe to the Gods they served so when thou shalt lie howling on thy death-bed the Lord will say Goe unto the good prayers and performances you have made and the teares you have shed Oh they will be miserable comforters at that day Object But I thinke thou wilt say no true Christian man hopes to be saved by his good workes and duties but onely by the mercy of God and merits of Christ. Answ. It is one thing to trust to be saved by duties another thing to rest in duties A man trusts unto them when he is of this opinion that onely good duties can save him A man rests in duties when he is of this opinion that onely Christ can save him but in his practise he goeth about to save himselfe The wisest of the Papists are so at this day and so are our common Protestants And this is a great subtilty of the heart that is when a man thinkes he cannot be saved by his good works and duties but onely by Christ he then hopeth because he is of this opinion that when he hath done all he is an unprofitable servant which is onely an act or worke of the Judgement informed aright that therfore because he is of this opinion he shall be saved But because it is hard for to know when a man rests in duties few men finde themselves guiltie of this sinne which ruines so many I will shew two things 1. The signes of a man resting in duties 2. The insufficiency of all duties to save men That so those that be found guilty of this sin may not goe on in it First for the signes whereby a man may certainly know when he rests in his duties which if he doe as few professors especially but they doe he perisheth eternally First Those that never yet saw they rested in them they that never found it an hard matter to come out of their duties For it 's most naturall for a man to sticke in them because nature sets men upon duties hence it is a hard matter to come out of resting in duties For two things keepe a man from Christ. 1. Sinne 2. Selfe Now as a man is broken off from sinne by seeing and feeling it and groaning under the power of it so is a man broken from himselfe For men had rather doe any thing than come unto Christ there is such a deale of selfe in them therefore if thou canst not tell the time when thou didst rest in thy duties and then diddest groane to be delivered from these intanglements I meane not from the doing of them this is familisme and prophanenesse but from resting in the bare performance of them thou dost relye upon thy duties to this day These rest in duties that prize the bare performance of Duties wonderfully for those duties that carry thee out of thy selfe unto Christ make thee to prize Christ. Now tell me dost thou glory in thy selfe now I am some-body I was ignorant forgetfull hard-hearted now I understand and remember better and can sorrow for my sinnes if thou dost rest here thy duties never carried thee further than thy selfe Dost thou thinke after that thou hast prayed with some life now I have done very well and now thou dost verily thinke meaning for thy duties the Lord will save thee though thou never come to Christ sayest as he in another case now I hope the Lord will doe good to me seeing I have got a Priest into mine house Iudg. 17. 13. Dost thou inhance the price of duties thus that thou dost doate on them then I doe pronounce from God thou dost rest in them these things saith Paul I accounted gaine that is before his conversion to Christ he prized them exceedingly but now I account them losse and this is the reason why a childe of God commonly after all his prayers teares and confessions doubts much of Gods love towards him whereas another man that falleth short of him never questioneth his estate the first seeth much rottennesse and vilenesse in his best duties and so judgeth meanly of himselfe the other ignorant of the vilenesse of them prizeth them and esteemeth highly of them and setting his corne at so high a price he may keepe them to himselfe the Lord never accepteth them nor buyeth them at so high a rate Thirdly those that never came to be sensible of their poverty utter emptinesse of all good for so long as a man hath a penny in his purse that is feeles any good in himselfe he will never come a begging unto Jesus Christ and therefore rests in himselfe Now didst thou never feele thy selfe in this manner poore viz. I am as ignorant as any beast as vile as any devill O Lord what a neast and litter of sin and rebellion lurks in my heart I once thought at least mine heart and desires were good but now I feele no spirituall life Oh! dead
his glory If men did see him they would speak of him who speakes of God Nay men cannot speake to God but as beggers have learned to cant so many a man to pray Oh men see not God in prayer therefore they cannot speake to God by prayer Men sin and God frownes which makes the devils to quake yet mens hearts shake not because they see him not Vse 3. Oh make choice of this God as thy God What though there bee a God if it be not thy God what art thou the better Downe with all thy Idoll gods and set up this God If there be any creature that ever did thee any good that God fet not a work for thy good love that think on that as thy God If there be any thing that can give thee any succour on thy death-bed or when thou art departed from this world take that to be thy God Thou mightest have beene borne in Iâ—dea and never have heard of this true Goâ— but worshipped the Devill for thy God O therefore make choyce of him alone to be thy God give away thy selfe wholly and for ever to him and he will give away his whole selfe everlastingly unto thee Seeke him weeping and thou shalt find him Binde thy selfe by the Strongest oathes and bonds in covenant to be his and hee will enter into covenant with thee and so be thine Ier. 40. 5. The fourth use is an use of comfort to them that forsake all for this God thou hast not lost all for nought thou hast not cast away substance for shadowes but shadowes for somewhat Proverbs 8. 18. When all comfort is gone there is a GOD to comfort thee When thou hast no rest here there is a God to rest in when thou art dead hee can quicken thee when thou art weak he is strong and when friends are gone he will bee a sure one to thee Thus much of the first part of this Doctrine or Divine truth that there is a God Now it followeth to shew you that this God is a most glorious God and that in foure things hee is glorious 1. In his ESSENCE 2. In his ATTRIEUTES 3. In his PERSONS 4. In his WORKES 1. Hee is Glorious in his Essence Now what this Glory is no man or Angell hath doth or ever shall know their cockle-shell can never comprehend this sea he must have the wisedome of God and so bee a God that comprehendeth the Essence of God but though it cannot be comprehenâ—ed what it is yet it may be apprehended that it is incomprehensible and glorious which makes his glory to be the more admired as wee admire the lustre of the Sunne the more in that is is so great we cannot behold it 2. God is Glorious in his Attributes which are those Divine perfections wherby he makes himselfe knowne unto us Which Attributes are not qualities in God but natures Gods Wisedome is GOD Himselfe and GODs Power is GOD Himselfe c. Neither are they diverse things in God but they are divers onely in regard of our understanding and in regard of their different effects on different objects GOD punishing the wicked is the justice of GOD God compassionating the miserable is the mercy of God Now the Attributes of God omitting curious divisions are these 1. He is a Spirit or a spirituall God Iohn 4. 24. therefore abhorres all worship and all duties performed without the influence of the spirit as to confesse thy sins without shame or sorrow and to say the Lords Prayer without understanding to heare the word that thou mayest onely know more and not that thou mayest bee affected more oh these carkasses of holy duties are most odious sacrifices before God 2. He is a living God whereby he liveth of himselfe and gives life to all other things Away then with thy dead heart to this principle of life to quicken thee that his Almighty power may pluck thee out of thy Sepulchre unloose thy grave-lockes that so thou mayest live 3. Hee is an infinite God whereby he is without limits of being 2 Chron. 6. 18. Horrible then is the least sinne that strikes an infinite great God and lamentable is the estate of all those with whom this God is angry thou hast infinite goodnesse to forsake thee and infinite power and wrath to set against thee 4. Hee is an Eternall God without beginning or end of being Psal. 80. 1. Great therefore is the folly of those men that preferre a little short pleasure before this eternall God that like Esau sell away an everlasting inheritance for a little pottage for a base lust and the pleasure of it 5. He is an all-sufficient God Genesis 17. 1. what lacke you therefore you that would faine have this GOD and the love of this God but you are loath to take the paines to finde him or to bee at cost to purchase him with the losse of all Heerâ—s infinite Eternall present sweetnesse goodnesse grace glory and mercy to bee found in this GOD. Why post you from mountaine to hill why spend you your money your thoughts time endeavours on things that satisfie not Here is thy resting place Thy cloathes may warme thee but they cannot feede thee thy meate may feede thee but cannot heale thee thy Physicke may heale thee but cannot maintaine thee thy money may maintaine thee but cannot comfort thee when distresses of Conscience and anguish of heart come upon thee this GOD is joy in sadnesse light in darknesse life in death Heaven in Hell Here is all thine eye ever saw thine heart ever desired thy tongue ever asked thy minde ever conceived Here is all light in this Sunne and all Water in this Sea out of whom as out of a Christall fountaine thou shalt drinke downe all the refined sweetnesse of all Creatures in heaven and earth for ever and ever All the world is now seeking and tyring out themselves for rest here only it can be found 6. He is an omnipotent God whereby he can doe what ever he will yeeld therefore and stand not out in the sinfull or subtile close maintenance of any one sinne against this God so powerfull who can crush thee at his pleasure 7. Hee is an all-seeing God Hee knowes what possibly can bee or may bee knowne approve thy selfe therefore to this God only in all thy wayes It 's no matter what men say censure or thinke of thee It 's no matter what thy fellow Actors on this stage of the world imagine GOD is the great Spectator that beholds thee in every place God is thy spye and takes compleate notice of all the actions of thy life and they are in print in heaven which that great spectator and Judge will open at the great day and â—â—â—de alowed in the eares of all the World Feare to sinne therefore in secret unlesse thou canst find out some darke hole where the eye of God cannot discerne thee Mourne for thy secret neglect of holy duties mourn for thy
the bell before them will credit him hee will be so what ever it cost him but yet he never will be so exact in his course as to bee hated for it unlesse hee perceives the hatred hee contracts from some men shall be recompenced with the more love and credit by other men He disguiseth himselfe according to the places or company hee comes into King Ioash was a good man so long as Iehoiada the Priest lived If a little Religion will serve to credit men that shall serve for that time if more in another place you shal then have them commending good men good sermons good bookes and drop forth 2. or 3. good sentences what will they think of him then They cover themselves over with these Fig-leaves of common honesty to cover their nakednesse they baite all their courses over with honesty that they may catch for they fish only for credit One may trap these people thus Follow them in their private houses there is worldlinesse passion loosenes and to their private chambers there they ordinarily neglect or shuffle over duties to their private vaine thoughts In this Tyring house you shall then see these stage players their shop-windowes are shut here no honesty is to be seene scarce because their gaine their respect comes not in at this door where none beholds them Let either Minister or any faithfull friend search try discover accuse and condemne these men as rotten though gilded posts as unsound hollow-hearted wretches their hearts will swell like toads and hisse like snakes and bark like dogs against theÌ„ that thus censure them because they rob them of their God they served their gaine is gone 2. The guilty selfe condemned sinner that goes further than the Formalist and contents himselfe with so much holinesse as will quit him and hence all the Heathen have had some Religion because they had some Conscience to trouble themâ— This man if he hath lived in foule sinnes and beginnes to be wrackt and troubled for them he will then confesse and forsake those roaring sinnes but how as a dogge doth his meate not because he hates his carrion but because he feares the cudgell he performes holy duties not because he will use them but because hee must use them there is no quiet else If Conscience be still he omits duties if Conscience cry and stirre he falls to duties and so hath his good moode as conscience hath his sits They boast and crow over hypocrites because the holinesse they have is not a bare shew No but it is to stop thy conscience and only to quiet the clamors of that Thou dost bribe and so quiet the Bailiffe thy conscience by thy praying hearing and sorrowing but GOD thy Judge hath heavie things to lay to thy charge before whom thou shalt shortly with dread appeare 3. The pinching devont hypocrite that being pursued with the feare of Hell goes further and labours for just so much holinesse as will save him onely and carry him to heaven at last Hence the young man in the Gospell came with that great question to Christ which many unsound hearts come with to Ministers now what he should doe to inherit eternall life These people set up such a man in their thoughts to bee a very honest man and one doubtlesse that shall be saved and hence they will take him to bee their Copy and Sampler and labour to doe as he doth and to live just as hee lives and to hold opinions as he holds and so hope to be saved They will aske very inquisitively what is the least measure of grace and the least graine of faith and the best Sermons are not such as humble them most but such as slatter them best wherein they may heare how well good desires are accepted of by God which if they heare to be of that vertue to save them God shall bee served only with good desires and the Devill in deed all their life time Thus they pinch God they labour not after so much holinesse as will honour Christ but after just so much as will beare their charges to heaven and save themselves For this is one of the greatest differences betwixt a child of God and an Hypocrite In their obedience the one takes up duties out of love to Christ to have him and hence he mournes daily because Christ is no greater gainer by him the other o it of love to himselfe meerely to save his owne soule and hence he mournes for his sins because they may damne him Remember that place therefore 1 Cor. 15. ult Lastly labour to get this Image of GOD renâ—wed againe Honest men will labour to pay their debts this is Gods debt How doe men labour to be in the fashion better to bee out of the world then out of the fashion To be like God is heavens fashion Angels fashion and it will bee in fashion one day when the Lord Iesus shall appeare Then if thou hast the superscription and Image of the devill and not the Image of GOD upon thee GOD and Christ will never own thee at that day Labour therefore to have Gods image restored againe and Satans washt out seeke not as many do to purchase such and such a grace first but. 1. Labour to mortifie and subdue that sinne which is opposite in thine heart to that grace First put off the old man and then put on the new Eph. 4. 2. Labour for a melting tender heart for the least sin Gold is then only fit to receive the impression when it is tender and is melted when thine heart is heated therefore at a Sermon cry out Lord now strike now imprint thine Image upon me 3. Labour to see the Lord Iesus in his glory For as wicked men looking upon the evill example of great ones in the world that will beare them out grow like them in villany so the very beholding the glorious grace in Christ this great Lord of glory transformeth men into his Image 2 Cor. 3. 17 18. As the Glasse set full against the sunne receives not onely the beames as all other darke bodies doe but the image of the sunne So the understanding with open face beholding Christ is turned into the Image and likenesse of Christ. Men now adayes looke only to the best mens lives and see how they walk and rest here ô looke higher to this blessed face of God in Christ as thine owne As the application of the seale to the waxe imprints the Image so to view the grace of Christ as all thine imprints the same image strongly on the soule I come now to the third Principall Head in order which I shall insist upon out of Rom. 3. 23. All have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God Whence observe CHAP. III. THat all mankind is fallen by sin from that glorious estate he was made in into a most wofull and miserable condition The Devill abusing the Serpent and man abusing his owne free-will overthrew Adam and in
prayer hearing reading observing the Sabbath and thus the Pharisees lived and hence they are called the strict sect of the Pharisees Take heede you mistake me not I speake not against strictnesse but against resting in it for except your righteousnesse exceed theirs you shall not enter into the Kingdome of Heaven You shall finde these men fly from base persons and places like the Pesthouses commend the best bookes cry downe the sinnes of the time and cry against civill or morall men the eye sees not it selfe and cry up zeale and forwardnesse Talke with him about many morall duties that are to be done towards God or man he will speak well about the excellency and necessity of it because his trade and skill whereby he hopes to get his living and earne eternall life lieth there but speake about Christ and living by faith in him and from him bottoming the soule upon the Promises peeces of Evangelicall righteousnesse he that is very skilfull in any point of controversie is as ignorant almost as a beast when he is examined here hence if Ministers preach against the sinnes of the time they coÌ„mend it for a speciall Sermon as it happily deserves too but let him speake of any spirituall inward soule-working point they goe away and say he was in their judgement confused and obscure for their parts they understood them not Beloved pictures are pretty things to look on and that 's all the goodnesse of them so these men are as Christ looked on and loved the naturall yong man in the Gospel and that 's all their excellency You know in Noah's floud all that were not in the Arke though they did climbe and get to the top of the tallest mountaines they were drowned so labour to climbe never so high in moralitie and the duties of both Tables if thou goest not into Gods Arke the Lord Jesus Christ thou art sure to perish eternally 7. If they have no rest here in their moralitie they grow hot within and turne marvellous zealous for good causes and courses and there they stay and warme themselves at their owne fire thus Paul Philip. 3. 6. was zealous and there rested They will not live as many doe like snailes in their shells but rather than they will be damned for want of doing they are content to give away their estate children any thing almost to get pardon for the sinne of their soule Mich. 6. 7. 8. If they find no helpe from hence but are forced to see and say when they have done all they are unprofitable servantsâ— and they sinne in all that which they doe then they rest in that which is like unto Evangelicall Obedience they thinke to please God by mourning for their failings in their good duties dâ—siring to be better and promising for the time to come to be so and therein rest Deut. 5. 29. 9. If they feele a want of all these then they dig within themselves for power to leave sinne power to be more holy and humble and so thinke to worke out themselves in time out of this estate and so they digge for pearles in their owne dunghills and will not be beholding to the Lord Jesus to live on him in the want of all they thinke to set up themselves out of their owne stock without Jesus Christ and so as the Prophet Hosea speakes 14. 3 4. thinke to save themselves by their riding on Horses that is by their owne abilities 10. If they feele no helpe here then they goe unto Christ for grace and power to leave sinne and doe better whereby they may save themselves and so they live upon Châ—ist that they may live of themselves they goe unto Christ they get not into Christ Psal. 8. 34 35. like hirelings that goe for power to doe their worke that they may earne their wages A child of God contenâ—s himselfe with and lives upon the inheritance it selfe the Lord in his free mercy hath given him But now wee shall see many poore Christians that runne in the very roade the Papists devoutly goe to Hâ—ll in First the Papist will confesse his misery that he is and all men are by nature a child of wrath and under the power of sinne and Satan Secondly they hold Christ is the onely Saviour Thirdly that this Salvation is not by any Righteousnesse in a Christ but Righteousnesse from a Christ onely by giving a man power to doe and then dipping mens doings in his bloud he merits their life Thus the wisest and devoutest of them professe as I am able to manifest just so doe many Christians live First They feele themselves full of sinne and are sometimes tyred and weary of their lives for their vile hearts and they finde no power to helpe themselves Secondly Hereupon hearing that onely Christ can save them they goe unto Christ to remove these sinnes that tyre them and load them that hee would enable them to doe better than formerly Thirdly If they get these sinnes subdued and removed and if they finde power to doe better than they hope they shall be saved Whereas thou mayest be damned and goe to the devill at last although thou dost escape all the pollutions of the world that not from they selfe and strength but from the knowledge of Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 2. 20. I say woe to you for ever if you die in this estate it is with our Christians in this case as it is with the Ivy which claspes and groweth about the tree and draws sap from the tree but it growes not one with the tree because it is not ingrafted into the tree so many a soule commeth to Christ to suck juice from Christ to maintaine his owne berries his owne stocke of grace alas he is but Ivy he is no member or branch of this tree and hence he never groweth to be one with Christ. 2. Now the reasons why men rest in their duties are these First because it 's naturall to a man out of Christ to doe so Adam and all his posterity was to be saved by his doing Doe this and live worke and here is the wages winne life and weare it Hence all his posteritie seekes to this day to be saved by doing like father like sonne Now to come out of all duties truely to a Christ hath not so much as a coate in innocent much lesse corrupted nature hence men seek to themselves now as it is with a bankrupt when his stocke is spent and his estate crackt before he will turne Prentice or live upon another hee will turne Pedler of small wares and so follow his old trade with a lesse stocke so men naturally follow their old trade of doing and hope to get their living that way and hence men having no experience of trading with Christ by faith live of themselves Sampson when all his strength was lost would goe to shake himselfe as at other times so when mens strength is lost and God and grace is lost yet
gaspe have but an idle thought commit the least sin that one rocke will sinke thee downe even in the haven though never so richly loaden one sin like a pen-knife at the heart will stab thee one sinne like a little fire-stick in the thatch will burne thee one act of treason will hang thee though thou hast lived never so devoutly before Ezek. 18. 24. For it 's a crooked life when all the parts of the line of thy life be not straight before almighty God Thirdly suppose thou shouldest persevere yet it 's cleare thou hast sinned grievously already and dost thou think thine obedience for the time to come can satisfie the Lord for all those Rents behind for all those sinnes past as can a man that payes his Rent honestly every yeare satisfie hereby for the old rent not payed in twenty yeares all thy obedience is a new debt which cannot satisfie for debts past Indeed men may forgive wrong and debts because they be but finite but the least sin is an infinite evill and therefore God must be satisfied for it Men may remit debts and yet remaine men but the Lord having said the soule that sinneth shall die and his truth being himselfe he cannot remaine God if he forgive it without satisfaction Therfore duties are but rotten crutches for a soule to rest upon But to what end should we use any duties cannot a man be saved by his good prayers nor sorrowes nor repentings what should wee pray any more then Let us cast off all duties if all are to no purpose to save us As good play for nothing as worke for nothing Though thy good duties cannot save thee yet thy bad workes will damne thee Thou art therefore not to cast off the duties but thy resting in these duties Thou art not to cast them away but to cast them downe at the feet of Jesus Christ as they did their crownes Rev. 4. 10 11. Saying if there be any good or graces in these duties it 's thine Lord for it is the Princes favour that exalts a man not his owne gifts they came from his good pleasure But thou wilt say to what end should I performe duties if I cannot be saved by them For these three ends 1. 1. To carry thee to the Lord Jesus the onely Saviour Heb. 7. 25. he onely is able to save not duties all that come unto God that is in the use of means by him heare a Sermon to carry thee to Jesus Christ Fast and pray and get a full tide of affections in them to carry thee to the Lord Jesus Christ that is to get a more love to him more acquaintance with him more union with him so sorrow for thy sins that thou mayest be more fitted for Christ that thou mayest prize Christ the more use thy duties as Noah's dove did her wings to carry thee to the Arke of the Lord Jesus Christ where onely there is rest If shee had never used her wings shee had fallen in the waters so if thou shalt use no duties but cast them all off thou art sure to perish Or as it is with a poore man that is to goe over a great water for a treasure on the other side though he cannot fetch the boate he calls for it and though there be no treasure in the boate yet he useth the boate to carry him over to the treasure so Christ is in heaven and thou on earth he doth not come to thee and thou canst not goe to him now call for a boate though there is no grace no good no salvation in a pithlesse dutie yet use it to carry thee over to the treasure the Lord Jesus Christ. When thou comest to heare say Have over Lord by this Sermon When thou comest to pray say Have over Lord by this prayer to a Saviour But this is the misery of people like foolish lovers when they are to woe for the Lady they fall in love with her handmaid that is onely to leade them to her so men fall in love with and doate upon their owne duties and rest contented with the naked performance of them which are onely handmaids to leade the soule unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly use duties as evidences of Gods everlasting love to you when you be in Christ for the graces and duties of Gods people although they be not causes yet they be tokens and pledges of salvation to one in Christ they doe not save a man but onely accompany follow such a man as shall be saved Heb. 6. 9. Let a man boast of his Ioyes feelings gifts spirit grace if he walks in the commission of any one sin or the omâ—ssion of any one knowne duty or in the slovenly ill favoured performance of duties this man I say can have no assurance without flattering of himselfe 2 Pet. 1. 8 9 10. Duties therefore being evidences and pledges of salvation use them to that end and make much of them therefore as a man that hath faire evidence for his Lordship because he did not purchase his Lordship will he therefore cast it away no no because it is an evidence to assure him that it is his owne and so to defend him against all such as seeke to take it from him he will carefully preserve the same so because duties do not save thee wilt thou cast away good duties No for they are evidences if thou art in Christ that the Lord and mercy is thine owne Women will not cast away their love-tokens although they are such things as did not purchase or merit the love of their husbaÌ„ds but because they are tokens of his love therfore they will keep them safe That God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ may be honoured by the performance of these duties therefore use them Christ shed his bloud that he might purchase unto himselfe a people zealous of good workes Tit. 2. 14. not to save our soules by them but to honour him Oh! let not the bloud of Christ be shed in vaine Grace good duties are a Christians Crowne it is sin onely makes a man base now shall a King cast away his Crowne because he bought not his Kingdome by it No because it is his Ornament and glory to weare it when he is made a King so I say unto thee it 's better that Christ should be honoured than thy soule saved and therefore performe duties because they honour the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus use thy duties but rest not in duties nay goe out of duties match thy soule to the Lord Jesus take him for better for worse so live in him and upon him all thy dayes Fourthly By reason of mans head-strong Presumption or false faith whereby men seeke to save themselves by catching hold on Christ when they see an insufficiency in all duties to helpe them and themselves unworthy of mercy For this is the last most dangerous rock that these times are split upon