light in all Non dantur purae tenebrae I think is good Divinity as well as Philosophy and this night-light may discover many sins produce inward prickings of conscience for them yea stir up the creature to step aside rather then drown in such broad waters There are some sins so cruel and costly that the most prostrate soul may in time be weary of their service for low ends but what will all this come to if the creature be not acquainted with Christ the true way to God faith and repentance the only way to Christ such a one after all this busle in stead of making an escape from Satan will run full into his mouth another way There are some wayes which at first seem right to the traveller yet winde about so insensibly that when a man hath gone far and thinks himself near home he is carried back to the place from whence he set forth This will befall every soule ignorant of Christ and the way of life through him after many yeares travel as they think towards heaven by their good meanings blinde devotions and reformation when they shall expect to be within sight of heaven they shall finde themselves even where they were at first as very slaves to Satan as ever Vse 1 This speaks to you that are Parents see what need you have of instructing your children and training them up betimes in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Till these chaines of darknesse be knockt off their mindes there is no possibility of getting them out of the devils prison he hath no such tame slave as the ignorant soul such a one goes before Satan as the silly sheep before the butcher and knows not who he is nor whither he carries him and can you see the devil driving your children to the shambles and not labour to rescue them out of his hands Bloody parents you are that can thus harden your bowells against your own flesh Now the more to provoke you to your duty take these considerations 1. Your relation obligeth you to take care of their precious soules 'T is the soul is the child rather then the body and therefore in Scripture put for the whole man Abraham and Lot went forth with all the souls they had gotton in Haran Gen. 12. so All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt that is all the persons The body is but the sheath and if one should leave his sword with you to be kept safely for him would you throw away the blade and onely preserve the scabbard And yet parents do commonly judge of their care and love to their children by their providing for the outward man by their breeding that teaching them how to live like men as they say when they are dead and gone and comport themselves to their civil place and rank in the world These things indeed are commendable but is not the most weighty businesse of all forgotten in the meane time while no endeavour is used that they may live as Christians and know how to carry themselves in duty to God and man as such and can they do this without the knowledge of the holy rule they are to walk by I am sure David knew no means effectual without this and therefore propounds the question Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way and he resolves it in the next words By taking heed thereto according to thy word Psal 119.9 And how shall they compare their way and the Word together if not instructed our children are not borne with Bibles in their heads or hearts And who ought to be the instructer if not the parent yea who will do it with such natural affection As I have heard sometimes a mother say in other respects Who can take such pains with my childe and be so careful as my self that am its Mother Bloody parents then they are who acquaint not their children with God or his Word what do they but put them under a necessity of perishing if God stirre not up some to shew more mercy then themselves to them Is it any wonder to hear that ship to be sunk or dasht upon the rock which was put to sea without card or compasse no more is it they should ingulph themselves in sin and perdition that are thrust forth into the world which is a sea of temptation without the knowledge of God or their duty to him In the fear of God think of it parents your children have souls and these God set you to watch over It will be a poor account at the last day if you can only say Lord here are my children I bred them compleat Gentlemen left them rich and wealthy The rust of that silver you left them will witnesse your folly and sinne that you would do so much for that which rusts and nothing for the enriching their mindes with the knowledge of God which would have endured for ever happy if you had left them lesse money and more knowledge 2. Consider it hath ever been the Saints practice to instruct and teach their children the way of God David we finde dropping instruction into his sonne Solomon 1 Chron. 28.9 Know thou the God of thy Father and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing minde Though a King he did not put it off to his Chaplins but whetted it on him with his own lips Neither was his Queen Bathsheba forgetful of her duty her gracious counsel is upon record Prov. 31. and that she may do it with the more seriousnesse and solemnity we finde her stirring up her motherly bowels to let her sonne see that she fetcht her words deep even from her heart What my son and what the sonne of my womb and what the sonne of my vows Ver. 2. Indeed that counsel is most like to go to the heart which comes from thence Parents know not what impression such melting expressions of their love mingled with their instructions leave on their children God bids draw forth our souls to the hungry that is more then draw our purse which may be done and the heart hard and churlish Thus we should draw forth our souls with our instructions What need I tell of Timothy's Mother and Grandmother who acquainted him with the Scripture from his youth And truly I think that man calls in question his own Saintship that takes no care to acquaint his childe with God and the way that leads to him I have known some that though prophane themselves have been very solicitous their children should have good education but never knew I a Saint that was regardlesse whether his childe knew God or not 3. It is an act of great unrighteousnesse not to instruct our children We read of some that hold the truth in unrighteousnesse among others those Parents do it that lock up the knowledge of these saving truths from their children which God hath imparted to themselves There is a double unrighteousnesse in it First they are unrighteous to their children
winde himself out of his trouble by sordid flattery of or sinful compliance with the great ones of the times Some would have used any pick-lock to have opened a passage to their liberty and not scrupled so escape they might whether they got out at the door or window But this holy man was not so fond of liberty or life as to purchase them with the least hazard to the Gospel He knew too much of another world to bid so high for the enjoying of this and therefore he is at a point what his enemies can do with him well knowing he could go to heaven whether they would or no No the great care which lay upon him was for the Churches of Christ as a faithful Steward he labours to set this House of God in order before his departure We reade of no dispatches sent to Court to procure his liberty but many to the Churches to help them to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ had made them free There is no such way to be even with the devil and his instruments for all their spite against us as by doing what good we can wherever we become The devil had as good have let Paul alone for he no sooner comes into prison but he falls a preaching at which the gates of Satans prison flie open and poor sinners come forth Happy for Onesimus that Paul was sent to Jaile God had an errand for Paul to do to him and others which the devil never dream't of Nay he doth not only preach in prison but that he may do the devil all the mischief he can he sends his Epistles to the Churches that tasting his Spirit in his afflictions and reading his faith now ready to be offered up they might much more be confirmed amongst which Ephesus was not least in his thoughts as you may perceive by his abode with them two yeares together Acts 19.10 as also by his sending for the Elders of this Church as far as Miletus in his last journey to Jerusalem Acts 20.17 to take his farewel of them as never to see their face in this world more And surely the sad impression which that heart-breaking departure left upon the spirits of these Elders yea the whole Church by them acquainted with this mournful newes might stir up Paul now in prison to write unto this Church that having so much of his Spirit yea of the Spirit of the Gospel left in their hands to converse with they might more patiently take the newes of his death In the former part of this Epistle he soares high in the mysteries of faith In the latter according to his usual method he descends to Application where we finde him contracting all those truths as beams together in a powerful exhortation the more to enkindle their hearts and powerfully perswade them to walk worthy of their vocation chap. 4.1 which then is done when the Christians life is transparent that the grace of the Gospel shines forth in the power of holinesse on every side and from all his relations as a candle in a Crystal glasse not in a dark Lanthorn lightsome one way and dark another and therefore he runs over the several relations of Husband Wife Parents Children Master and Servants and presseth the same in all these Now having set every one in his proper place about his particular duty as a wise General after he hath ranged his Army and drawn them forth into rank and file he makes this following speech at the head of this Ephesian Camp all in martial phrase as best suiting the Christians calling which is a continued warfare with the world and the Prince of the world The speech it self contains two parts First a short but sweet and powerful encouragement ver 10. Secondly the other part is spent in several directions for their managing this war the more succesfully with some motives here and there sprinkled among them To begin with the first 1. The word of encouragement to battel With this he begins his speech Finally my brethren be strong in the Lord the best way indeed to prepare them for the following directions A soul deeply possest with fear and disspirited with strong impressions of danger is in no posture for counsel As we see in an Army when put to the run with some sudden alarm and apprehensions of danger 't is hard rallying them into order while the scare and feare is over therefore the Apostle first raiseth up their spirits Be strong in the Lord as if he should say perhaps some drooping soules finde their hearts faile them while they see their enemies so strong and they so weak so numerous and they so few so well appointed and they so naked and unarmed so skilful and expert at armes but they green and raw souldiers Let not these or any other thoughts dismay you but with undaunted courage march on and be strong in the Lord on whose performance lies the stresse of the battel and not on your skill or strength It is not the least of a Ministers care and skill in dividing the Word so to presse the Christians duty as not to oppresse his Spirit with the weight of it by laying it on the creatures own shoulders and not on the Lords strength as here our Apostle teacheth us In this verse First here is a familiar Compellation My brethren Secondly here is the exhortation Be strong Thirdly here is a cautionary direction annexed to the exhortation In the Lord. Fourthly here is an encouraging amplification of the direction And in the power of his might or in his mighty power CHAP. I. Of Christian Courage and Resolution wherefore necessary and how obtained WE shall wave the Compellation and begin with the Exhortation Be strong that is be of good courage so commonly used in Scripture-phrase 2 Chron. 32.7 Be strong and couragious So Isa 35.4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart Be strong or unite all the powers of your souls and muster up your whole force you will have use of all you can make or get From whence the Point is this The Christian of all men needs courage and resolution Indeed there is nothing he doth as a Christian or can do but is an act of valour A cowardly spirit is beneath the lowest duty of a Christian Josh 1.7 Be thou strong and very couragious that thou mayest what stand in battel against those warlike Nations No But that thou mayest observe to do according to all the Law which Moses my servant commanded thee It requires more prowesse and greatnesse of spirit to obey God faithfully then to command an Army of men to be a Christian then to be a Captain What seems lesse then for a Christian to pray yet this cannot be performed aright without a Princely Spirit As Jacob is said to behave himself like a Prince when he did but pray for which he came out of the field Gods Bannarite Indeed if you call that prayer which a carnal person performes
Apostle Peter in his second Epistle chap. 1. ver 5 6 7. presseth the Christian to a joynt endeavour to encrease the whole body of grace indeed that is health when the whole body thrives Adde saith he to your faith vertue Faith is the file-leading grace Well hast thou faith adde vertue True faith is of a working stirring nature without good works it is dead or dying Fides pinguescit operibus Luther 'T is kept in plight and heart by a holy life as the flesh which plaisters over the frame of mans body though it receives its heat from the vitals within yet helps to preserve the very life of those vitals thus good works and gracious actions have their life from faith yet are necessary helps to preserve the life of faith thus we see sometimes the childe nursing the Parent that bare it and therein performes but his duty Thou art fruitful in good works yet thou art not out of the devils shot except thou addest to thy vertue knowledge This is the candle without which faith cannot see to do its work Art thou going to give an almes if it be not oculata charitas if charity hath not this eye of knowledge to direct when how what and to whom thou art to give thou mayest at once wrong God the person thou relievest and thy self Art thou humbling thy selfe for thy sin for want of knowledge in the tenour of the Gospel Satan may play upon thy ignorance and either perswade thee thou art not humbled enough when God knowes thou art almost quackled with thy teares and even carried down by the impetuous torrent of thy sorrow into despair or else shewing thee thy blubber'd face may flatter thee into a carnal confidence of thy humiliation Perhaps thou seest the Name of God dishonoured in the place where thou livest and thy spirit is stirred within thee as Pauls at Athens now if knowledge sits not in the saddle to reine and bridle in thy zeal thou wilt be soon carried over hedge and ditch till thou fallest into some precipice or other by thy irregular acting Neither is knowledge enough except thou beest arm'd with Temperance which here I conceive is that grace whereby the Christian as Master of his own house so orders his affections like servants to reason and faith that they do not irregularly move or inordinately lash out into desires of cares for or joy in the creature-comforts of this life without which Satan will be too hard for thee The Historian tells us that in one of the famous battels between the English and French that which lost the French the day was a shower of English arrowes which did so gall their horse as put the whole army into disorder their horse knowing no ranks did tread down their own men The affections are but as the horse to the Rider on which knowledge should be mounted if Satans barbed arrows light on them so that thy desires of the creature prove unruly and justle with thy desires of Christ thy care to keepe thy credit or estate put thy care to keep a good conscience to disorder and thy carnal joy in wife and childe trample down or get before thy joy in the Lord judge on which side victory is like to fal Well suppose thou marchest provided thus far in goodly array towards heaven while thou art swimming in prosperity most thou not also prepare for foule way and weather I mean an afflicted estate Satan will line the hedges with a thousand temptations when thou comest into the narrow lanes of adversity where thou canst not run from this sort of temptation as in the Champaigne of prosperity Possibly thou that didst escape the snare of an alluring world mayest be dismounted by the same when it frownes though temperance kept thee from being drunk with the sweet wines of those pleasures yet for want of patience thou mayest be drunk with the wine of astonishment which is in afflictions hand therefore saith the Apostle to temperance adde patience either possesse thy self in patience or else some raving devil of discontent will possesse thee An impatient soule in affliction is a bedlam in chains yea too like the devil in his chaines that rageth against God while he is fettered by him Well hast thou patience an excellent grace indeed but not enough thou must be a pious man as well as a patient Therefore saith the Apostle to patience adde godlinesse There is an atheistical stupid patience and there is a godly Christian patience Satan numbs the conscience of the one and no wonder he complains not that feels not but the Spirit of Christ sweetly calmes the other not by taking away the sense of paine but by overcoming it with the sense of his love Now godlinesse comprehends the whole worship of God inward and outward If thou beest never so exact in thy morals and not a worshipper of God then thou art an Atheist If thou doest worship God and that devoutly but not by Scripture-rule thou art an idolater If according to the rule but not in Spirit and truth then thou art an hypocrite and so fallest into the devils mouth Or if thou doest give God one piece of his worship and denyest another still Satan comes to his market Prov. 28.9 He that turneth back his eare from hearing the Law his prayer is an abomination to the Lord. Yet Christian all thy Armour is not on Thy godlinesse indeed would suffice wert thou to live in a world by thy self or hadst nothing to do but immediate communion with God But Christian thou must not always dwell on this mount of immediate worship and when thou descendest thou hast many brethren and servants to thy Father who live with thee in the same family and thou must comport thy self becomingly or else thy Father will be angry First thou hast brethren heires of the same promise with thee therefore you must adde to godlinesse brotherly kindnesse If Satan can set you at odds he gives a deep wound to your godlinesse You will hardly joyne hearts in a duty that cannot joyne hands in love Secondly there are not only brethren but servants a multitude of profane carnal ones who though they never had the names of sons and daughters yet retain to Gods family and thy heavenly Father will have thee walk unblameably yea winningly to those that are without which that thou mayest do thou must adde to brotherly kindnesse charity by which grace thou shalt be willing to do good to the worst of men when they curse thee thou must pray for them yea pray for no lesse then a Christ a heaven for them Father forgive them said Christ while they were raking in his side for his heart-blood And truly I am perswaded the want of this last piece of armour hath given Satan great advantage in these our times We are so afraid our charity should be too broad whereas in this sense if it be not as wide as the world it is too strait for the
who may lay as much claime to their care of instructing them as to their labour and industry in laying up a temporal estate for them If he should do unrighteously with his childe that should not endeavour to provide for his outward maintenance or having gathered an estate should lock it up and deny his childe necessaries then much more he that lives in ignorance of God whereby he renders himself incapable of providing for his childes soul but most of all he that having gather'd a stock of knowledge yet hides it from his childe Secondly they are unrighteous to God First in that they keep that talent in their own hands which was given to be paid out to their children When God reveal'd himself to Abraham he had respect to Abraham's children and therefore we finde God promising himself this at Abraham's hands upon which he imparts his minde to him concerning his purpose of destroying Sodom Shall I hide from Abraham saith God that thing Which I do I know that he will command his children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord Gen. 18.17 19. The Church began at first in a family and was preserv'd by the godly care of Parents in instructing their children and houshold in the truths of God whereby the knowledge of God was transmitted from generation to generation and though now the Church is not confined to such strait limits yet every private family is as a little nursery to the Church if the nursery be not carefully planted the Orchard will soon decay O could you be willing Christians that your children when you are laid in the dust should be turn'd into the degenerate plant of a strange vine and prove a generation that do not know God Atheisme needs not be planted you do enough to make your children such if you do not endeavour to plant Religion in their mindes The very neglect of the Gardner to sowe and dresse his garden gives advantage enough to the weeds to come up This is the difference between Religion and Atheisme Religion doth not grow without planting but will die even where it is planted without watering Atheisme irreligion and profanenesse are weeds will grow without setting but they will not die without plucking up all care and means little enough to stub them up And therefore you that are Parents and do not teach your children deale the more unrighteously with God because you neglect the best season in their whole life for planting in them the knowledge of God and plucking up the contrary weeds of atheisme and irreligion Young weeds come up with most ease simple ignorance in youth becomes wilful ignorance yea impudence in age you will not instruct them when young and they will scorne their Ministers should when they are old Secondly you deale unrighteously with God that traine not up your children in the knowledge of God because your children if you be Christian Parents are Gods children they stand in a foederal relation to him which the children of others do not and shall Gods children be nurtured with the devils education Ignorance is that which he blindes the mindes of the children of disobedience withal Shall Godschildren have no better breeding The children of a Jew God made account were borne to him Thy sons and daughters whom thou hast borne to me Ezek. 16.20 God had by the Covenant which he made with that people married them unto himself and therefore as the wife bears her children to her husband they are his children so God calls the children of the Jews his and complains of it as an horrible wickednesse in them that they should not bring them up as his but offer them up to Molech They have slain my children saith God v. 21. And are not the children of a Christian his children as well as the Jewes were hath God recall'd or altered the first Covenant and cut off the entaile and darest thou slay not only thy children but the Lords also and is not ignorance that bloody knife that doth it My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge Hosea 4.6 Do you not tremble to offer them not to Molech but the devil whom before you had given up to God when you brought them to that solemn ordinance of Baptisme and there desired before God and man that they might become Covenant-servants to the Lord and hast thou bound them to him and never teach them either who their Lord and Master is or what their duty is as his servants of thy own mouth God will condemn thee Fourthly consider you who are Parents that by not instructing your children you entitle your selves to all the sins they shall commit to their death We may sin by a proxy and make anothers fact our own Thou hast saith God by Nathan to David concerning Vriah slaine him with the sword of the children of Ammon 2 Sam. 12.9 So thou mayest pierce Christ and slay him over and over with the bloody sword of thy wicked children if thou beest not the more careful to train them up in the feare of God There might be something said for that Heathen who when the Scholar abused him fell upon the Master and struck him Indeed 't is possible he might be in the most fault When the childe breaks the Sabbath it is his sin but more the fathers if he never taught him what the command of God was And if the Parent be accessary to the sin of the childe it will be hard for him to escape a Partnership yea a Precedency in the punishment O what a sad greeting will such have of their children at the great day will they not then accuse you to be the murderers of their precious soules and lay their blood at your door cursing you to your face that taught them no better But grant that by the interposition of thy timely repentance thou securest thy soule from the judgement of that day yet God can scourge thee here for the neglect of thy duty to them How oft do we see children become heavy crosses to such Parents It is just that they should not know their duty to thee who didst not teach them their duty to God or if thou shouldest not live so long to see this yet sure thou canst not but go in sorrow to thy grave to leave children behind thee that are on their way to hell Some think that Lots lingring so long in Sodom was his loathnesse to leave his sons in law behinde him to perish in the flames No doubt good man it was very grievous to him and this might make him stay pleading with them till the Angel pull'd him away And certainly nothing makes holy Parents more loath to be gone out of this Sodomitical world then a desire to see their children out of the reach of that fire before they go that God will rain upon the heads of sinners You know not how soon the messenger may come to pluck you hence do your best while you are among
nothing more poor and dastard-like Such a one is as great a stranger to this enterprise as the craven souldier is to the exploits of a valiant Chieftain The Christian in prayer comes up close to God with an humble boldnesse of faith and takes hold of him wrestles with him yea will not let him go without a blessing and all this in the face of his own sins and divine justice which let flie upon him from the fiery mouth of the Law while the others boldness in prayer is but the childe either of ignorance in his minde or hardnesse in his heart whereby not feeling his sins and not knowing his danger he rushes upon duty with a blinde confidence which soon quails when conscience awakes and gives him the alarâ—m that his sins are upon him as the Philistines on Samson alas then in a fright the poor-spirited wretch throwes down his weapon flies the presence of God with guilty Adam and dares not look him on the face Indeed there is no duty in a Christians whole course of walking with God or acting for God but is lined with many difficulties which shoot like enemies through the hedges at the Christian whilest he is marching toward Heaven so that he is put to dispute every inch of ground as he goes They are only a few noble-spirited soules who dare take Heaven by force that are fit for this calling For the further proof of this Point see some few pieces of service that every Christian engageth in First the Christian is to proclaim and prosecute an irreconcileable war against his bosome-sins those sins which have layen nearest his heart must now be trampled under his feet So David I have kept my self from my iniquity Now what courage and resolution doth this require you think Abraham was tried to purpose when called to take his son his son Isaac his only son whom he loved and offer him up with his own hands and no other yet what was that to this Soul take thy lust thy only lust which is the childe of thy dearest love thy Isaac the sin which hath caused most joy and laughter from which thou hast promised thy self the greatest return of pleasure or profit as ever thou lookest to see my face with comfort lay hands on it and offer it up poure out the blood of it before me run the sacrificing knife of mortification into the very heart of it and this freely joyfully for it is no pleasing sacrifice that is offered with a countenance cast down and all this now before thou hast one embrace more from it Truly this is a hard chapter flesh and blood cannot bear this saying our lust will not lie so patiently on the Altar as Isaac or as a Lambe that is brought to the slaughter which is dumb but will roar and shreek yea even shake and rend the heart with their hideous out-cries Who is able to expresse the conflicts the wrestlings the convulsions of Spirit the Christian feels before he can bring his heart to this work or who can fully set forth the Art the Rhetorical insinuations which such a lust will plead with for its life one while Satan will extenuate and mince the matter It is but a little one O spare it and thy soule shall live for all that Another while he flatters the soul with the secrecy of it Thou mayest keep me and thy credit also I will not be seen abroad in thy company to shame thee among thy neighbours shut me up in the most retired room thou hast in thy heart from the hearing of others if thou wilt only let me now and then have the wanton embraces of thy thoughts and affections in secret if that cannot be granted then Satan will seem only to desire execution may be stayed a while as Jephtha's daughter of her father Let me alone a monthor two and then do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth well knowing few such reprieved lusts but at last obtain their full pardon yea recover their favour with the soule Now what resolution doth it require to break through such violence and importunity and notwithstanding all this to do present execution Here the valiant Sword-men of the world have shewed themselves meer cowards who have come out of the field with victorious banners and then lived yea died slaves to a base lust at home As one could say of a great Romane Captain who as he rode in his triumphant Chariot through Rome had his eye never off a Courtizan that walk't along the street Behold how this goodly Captain that conquered such potent Armies is himself conquered by one silly woman Secondly the Christian is to walk singularly not after the worlds guise Rom. 12.2 we are commanded not to be conformed to this world that is not to accommodate our selves to the corrupt customes of the world The Christian must not be of such a complying nature to cut the coat of his Profession according to the fashion of the times or the humour of the company he falls into like that Courtier who being ask't how he could keep his preferment in such changing times which one while had a Prince for Popery another while against Popery answered he was Esalice non ex quercu ortus he was not a stubborn oake but bending osier that could yield to the winde No the Christian must stand fixt to his principles and not change his habit but freely shew what Country-man he is by his holy constancy in the truth Now what an odium what snares what dangers doth this singularity expose the Christian to Some will hoot and mock him as one in a Spanish fashion would be laugh't at in your streets Thus Michal flouted David Indeed the world counts the Christian for his singularity of life the only foole which I have thought gave the first occasion to that nick-name whereby men commonly expresse a silly man or a fool Such a one say they is a meer Abraham that is in the worlds account a foole But why an Abraham because Abraham did that which carnal reason the worlds idol laughs at as meere folly he left a present estate in his fathers house to go he know not whither to receive an inheritance he knew not when And truly luch fooles all the Saints are branded for by the wise world You know the man and his communication said Jehu to his companions asking what that mad fellow came for who was no other then a Prophet 2 Kings 9.11 Now this requires courage to despise the shame which the Christian must expect to meete withal for his singularity Shame is that which proud nature most disdaines to avoid which many durst not confesse Christ openly many lose heaven because they are ashamed to go in a fooles coat thither Again as some will mock so others will persecute to death meerly for this non-conformity in the Christians principles and practices to them This was the trap laid for the three children they
in this case is to do with these motions as you use to serve those vagrants and rogues that come about the countrey whom though you cannot keep from passing through your town yet you look they settle not there but whip them and send them to their owne home Thus give these motions the Law in mourning for them resisting of them and they shall not be your charge yea 't is like you shall seldomer be troubled with such guests but if once you come to entertain them and be Satans nurse to them then the Law of God will cast them upon you SECT II. Secondly another wile of Satan as a troubler is in aggravating the Saints sins against which he hath a notable declamatory faculty not that he hates the sin but the Saint now in this his chief subtilty is so to lay his charge that it may seem to be the act of the holy Spirit he knowes an arrow out of Gods quiver wounds deep and therefore when he accuseth he comes in Gods Name as suppose a childe were conscious to himselfe of displeasing his father and one that owes him a spite to trouble him should counterfeit a letter from his father and cunningly conveyes it into the sons hand who receives it as from his father wherein he chargeth him with many heavy crimes disownes him and threatens he shall never come in his sight or have penny portion from him the poor son conscious to himself of many undutiful carriages and not knowing the plot takes on heavily and can neither eate nor sleep for grief here is a real trouble begot from a false and imaginary ground Thus Satan observes how the squares go between God and his children such a Saint he sees tardy in this duty faulty in that service and he knows the Christian is conscious of this and that the Spirit of God will also shew his distaste for these both which prompts Satan to draw a charge at length raking up all the bloody aggravations he can think of and give it in to the Saint as sent from God Thus he taught Jobs friends to pick up those infirmities which drop't from him in his distresse and shoot them back in his face as if indeed they had been sent from God to declare him an hypocrite and denounce his wrath for the same Quest But how should we know the false accusations of Satan from the rebukes of God and his Spirit Answ First if they crosse any former act or work of the Spirit in thy soule they are Satans not the Holy Spirits Now you shall observe Satans scope in accusing the Christian and aggravating his sin is to unsaint him and perswade him he is but an hypocrite O saith Satan now thou hast shewen what thou art see what a foule spot is on thy coat this is not the spot of a childe whoever that was a Saint commited such a sin after such a sort All thy comforts and confidence which thou hast bragg'd of were false I warrant you thus you see Satan at one blow dasheth all in pieces The whole fabrick of grace which God hath been rearing up many yeares in the soule must now at one puffe of his malicious mouth be blown down and all the sweet comforts with which the Holy Spirit hath seal'd up Gods love must be defaced with this one blot which Satan drawes over the faire copy of the Saints evidence Well soule for thy comfort know if ever the Spirit of God hath begun a sanctifying or comforting work causing thee to hope in his mercy he never is will or can be the messenger to bring contrary newes to thy soule his language is not yea and nay but Yea and Amen for ever Indeed when the Saint playes the wanton he can chide yea will frown and tell the soule roundly of its sin as he did David by Nathan Thou art the man this thou hast done and paints out his sin with such bloody colours as made Davids heart melt as it were into so many drops of water but that shall not serve his turn he tells him what a rod is steeping for him that shall smart to purpose one of his own house no other then his darling son shall rise up against him that he may the more fully conceive how ill God took the sin of him a childe a Saint when he shall know what it is to have his beloved childe traiterously invade his Crown and unnaturally hunt for his precious life yet not a word all this while is heard from Nathan teaching David to unsaint himself and call in question the work of God in his soule No he had no such commission from God he was sent to make him mourne for his sin not from his sin to question his state which God had so oft put out of doubt Secondly when they asperse the riches of Gods grace and so charge the Christian that withal they reflect upon the good Name of God then they are not of the Holy Spirit but from Satan When you finde your sins so represented and aggravated to you as exceeding either the mercy of Gods nature or the grace of his Covenant Hic se aperit diabolus this comes from that foule liar The Holy Spirit is Christs Spokesman to commend him to souls and to wooe sinners to embrace the grace of the Gospel and can such words drop from his sacred lips as should break the match and sink Christs esteem in the thoughts of the creature you may know where this was minted When you hear one commend another for a wise or good man and at last come in with a but that dasheth all you will easily think he is no friend to the man but some slie enemy that by seeming to commend desires to disgrace the more Thus when you finde God represented to you as merciful and gracious but not to such a great sinner as you to have power and strength but not able to save thee you may say Avant Satan thy speech bewrayeth thee SECT III. Thirdly another wile of Satan lies in cavilling at the Christians duties and performances by which he puts him to much toil and trouble He is at Church assoon as thou canst be Christian for thy heart yea he stands under thy closet-window and heares what thou sayest to God in secret all the while studying how he may commence a suit against thee from thy duty like those that come to Sermons to carp and catch at what the Preacher saith that they may make him an offender for some word or other mis-placed or like a cunning Opponent in the Schooles while his adversary is busie in reading his position he is studying to confute it and truly Satan hath such an Art at this that he is able to take our duties in pieces and so disfigure them that they shall appear formal though never so zealous hypocritical though enricht with much sincerity When thou hast done thy duty Christian then stands up this Sophister to ravel out thy work there
thy own works thou doest worse by Christ and shalt thou excel in grace Perhaps some of you have been long Professours and yet come to little growth in love to God humility heavenly-mindednesse mortification and 't is worth the digging to see what lies at the root of your Profession whether there be not a legal principle that hath too much acted you Have you not thought to carry all with God from your duties and services and too much laid up your hopes in your own actings Alas this is as so much dead earth which must be thrown out and Gospel-principles laid in the room thereof try but this course and see whether the spring of thy grace will not come on apace David gives an account how he came to stand and flourish when some that were rich and mighty on a sudden withered and came to nothing Lo saith he this is the man that made not God his strength but trusted in the abundance of his riches But I am like a green olive-tree in the House of God I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever Psal 52.7 8. While others trust in the riches of their own righteousnesse and services and make not Christ their strength do thou renounce all and trust in the mercy of God in Christ and thou shalt be like a green olive when they fade and wither Secondly Christian you will not thrive in true comfort so long as you rest in any inherent work of grace and do not stand clear of your own actings and righteousnesse Gospel-comfort springs from a Gospel-root which is Christ Phil. 3.3 We are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh Now a soule that rests on any holinesse in himself he graffs his comfort upon himself not Christ he sucks his own breast not Christs and so makes Christ a dry nurse and what comfort can grow on that dry tree The Spirit is our Comforter as well as our Teacher and Counsellour Now as the Spirit when he teacheth comes not with any new or strange truth but takes of Christs owne what he findes in the Word so where he comforts he takes of Christs own his righteousnesse not our own Christ is the matter and ground of his comfort all cordials are but Christ distill'd and made up in several promises his acting not ours his suffering not ours his holinesse not ours he doth not say Soul rejoyce thou art holy but Soule triumph Christ is righteous and is the Lord thy righteousnesse Not Soul thou prayest sweetly feare not but thou hast an Advocate with the Father Christ the righteous so that the first step to the receiving of comfort from the Spirit is to send away all Comforters of our own As in learning of the Spirit he that will be taught by him must first become a fool that is no way lean to his own understanding so he that would be comforted must first be emptied of all self-supports must not lean to his owne comforts As a Physician first bids his Patient cast off all others he hath tampered with he asks what Physick he hath had from them takes off their plaisters throws away their Physick and goes about the work de novo So the Spirit when he comes to comfort a poor soul First perswades the soule to send away all its old Physicians O saith the soule I have been in the hand of such a duty such a course of obedience and have thought sure now I shall be well and have comfort now I do this duty set upon such a holy course Well saith the Spirit if you will have me do any thing these must all be dismist in point of confidence Now and not till how is the soule a subject fit to receive the Spirits comforts And therefore friends as you love your inward peace beware what vessel you draw your comfort from Grace is finite and so cannot afford much 'T is leaking and so cannot hold long thou drinkest in a riven dish that hast thy comfort from thy grace 'T is mixt and so weak and weak grace cannot give strong consolation and such thou needest especially in strong conflicts Nay lastly thy comfort which thou drawest from it is stollen thou doest not come honestly by it and stollen comforts will not thrive with thee Oh what folly is it for the childe to play the thief for that which he may have freely and more fully from his Father who gives and reproacheth not that comfort which thou wouldest filch out of thy own righteousnesse and duties behold it is laid up for thee in Christ from whose fulnesse thou mayest carry as much as thy faith can hold and none to check thee yea the more thou improvest Christ for thy comfort the more heartily welcome we are bid to open our mouth wide and he will fill it CHAP. XI The third kinde of spiritual Pride viz. Pride of Priviledges THe third kinde of pride spiritual pride I mean is pride of Priviledges with which these wicked spirits labour to blow up the Christian to name three First when God calls a person to some eminent place or useth him to do some special piece of service Secondly when God honours a Saint to suffer for his truth or cause Thirdly when God flowes in with more then ordinary manifestations of his love and fills the soule with joy and comfort These are Priviledges not equally dispensed to all and therefore where they are Satan takes the advantage of assaulting such with pride SECT I. First when God calls a person to some eminent place or useth him to do some special piece of service Indeed it requires a great measure of grace to keep the heart low when the man stands high The Apostle speaking how a Minister of the Gospel should be qualified 1 Tim. 3.6 saith he must not be a Novice or a young Convert lest he should be lift up with pride and fall into the condemnation of the devil as if he had said this calling is honourable if he be not well ballast with humility a little gust from Satan will tople him into this sin The Seventy that Christ first sent out to preach the Gospel and prevailed so miraculously over Satan even these while they trod on the Serpents head he turn'd again and had like to have stung them with pride which our Saviour perceived when they return'd in triumph and told what great miracles they had wrought and therfore he takes them off that glorying left it should degenerate into vain glory and bids them not rejoyce that devils were subjest to them but rather that their names were writ in Heaven As if he had said It is not the honour of your calling and successe of your Ministery will save you there shall be some cast to the devils who shall then say Lord Lord in thy name we have cast out devils and therefore value not your selves by that but rather evidence to your soules
a Tradesman out of his shop now and then but he is as a fish out of the water never in his element till he be in his calling again Thus when the Christian is about the world and the worldling about heavenly matters both are men out of their way not right girt till they get into their employment again Now this heavenly trade is that which Satan doth in an especial manner labour to stop Could the Christian enjoy but a free trade with heaven a few years without molestation he would soon grow a rich man too rich indeed for earth but what with losses sustained by the hands of this Pyrate Satan and also the wrong he receives by the treachery of some in his own bosome that like unfaithful servants hold correspondence with this robber he is kept but low in this life and much of his gaines are lost Now the Christians heavenly trade lies either within doors or abroad he can be free in neither Satan is at his heels in both First within doores This I may call his home-trade which is spent in secret between God and his own soule here the Christian drives an unknown trade he is at heaven and home again richly laden in his thoughts with heavenly meditations before the world knows where he hath been Every creature he sees is a text for his heart to raise some spiritual matter and observations from Every Sermon he heares cuts him out work to make up and enlarge upon when he gets alone Every Providence is as winde to his sailes and sets his heart a moving in some heavenly affection or other suitable to the occasion One while he is wrap't up with joy in the consideration of mercy another while melted into godly sorrow from the sense of his sins Sometimes exalting God in his praises anon abusing himself before God for his own vilenesse One while he is at the breast of the Covenant milking out the consolations of the Promises at another time working his heart into a holy awe and feare of the threatenings Thus the Christian walks aloft while the base worldling is licking the dust below One of these heavenly pearles which the Christian trades for is more worth then the worldling gets with all his sweat and travel in his whole life The Christians feet stand where other mens heads are he treads on the Moon and is clothed with the Sun he looks down on earthly men as one from a high hill doth upon those that live in some fenne or moore and sees them buried in a fog of carnal pleasures and profits while he breaths in a pure heavenly aire but yet not so high as to be free from all stormes and tempests many a sad gust he hath from sin and Satan without What else mean those sad complaints and groans which come from the children of God that their hearts are so dead and dull their thoughts so roving and unfixt in duty yea many times so wicked and filthy that they dare hardly tell what they are for feare of staining their own lips and offending the eares of others by naming them Surely the Christian findes it in his heart to will and desire he could meditate pray heare and live after another sort then this doth he not yes I durst be his surety he doth But so long as there is a devil tempts and we continue within his walk it will be thus more or lesse as fast as we labour to clear the spring of our hearts he will be labouring to royle or stop it again so that we have two works to do at once to performe a duty and watch him that opposeth us trowel and sword both in our hands They had need work hard indeed who have others continually endeavouring to pull down as they are labouring to rear up the building Secondly that part of the Christians trade which lies abroad is heavenly also Take a Christian in his relations calling neighbourhood he is a heavenly trader in all the great businesse of his life is to be doing or receiving some good that company is not for him that will neither give nor take this What should a Merchant be where there is no buying nor selling Every one labours as his calling is to seat himself where trade is quickest and he is likest to have most takings The Christian where he may choose takes such in relations near to himself husband wife servants as may suite with his heavenly trade and not such as will be a pull-back to him he falls in with the holiest persons as his dearest acquaintance if there be a Saint in the town where he lives he 'll finde him out and this shall be the man he will consort with and in his conversation with these and all else his chief work is for heaven his heavenly principle within inclines him to it Now this alarums hell What not contented to go to heaven himself but by his holy example gracious speeches sweet counsels seasonable reproofs will he be trading with others and labour to carry them along with him also This brings the Lion fell and mad out of his den such to be sure shall finde the devil in their way to oppose them I would have come saith Paul but Sacan hindered me He that will vouch God and let it appear by the tenure of his conversation that he trades for him shall have enemies enough if the devil can help him to such Thirdly the Christians hopes are all heavenly he lots not upon any thing the world hath to give him Indeed he would think himself the most miserable man of all others if here were all he could make of his Religion No 't is heaven and eternal life that he expects and though he be so poor as not to be able to make a Will of a groat yet he counts himself a greater heire then if he were childe to the greatest Prince on earth This inheritance he sees by faith and can rejoyce in the hope of the glory which it will bring him The masquery and cheating glory of the great ones of this world moves him not to envy their fanciful pomp but when on the dunghil himself he can forget his own present sorrowes to pity them in all their bravery knowing that within a few dayes the crosse will be off his back and the crowns off their heads together their portion will be spent when he shall be to receive all his These things entertain him with such joy that they will not suffer him to acknowledge himself miserable when others think him and the devil tells him he is such This this torments the very soule of the devil to see the Christian under saile for heaven fill'd with the sweet hope of his joyful entertainment when he comes there and therefore he raiseth what stormes and tempests he can either to hinder his arrival in that blessed Port which he most desires and doth not wholly despair of or at least to make it a troublesome winter-voyage such as
without any such a burden that therefore he was grown weaker you would soon tell him where his mistake lies Temptation lies not in the same heavinesse alway upon the Christians shoulder observe therefore whether Satan is not more then ordinary let loose to assault thee whether thy temptations come not with more force and violence then ever possibly though thou doest not with the same facility overcome these as thou hast done lesse yet grace may act stronger in conflicting with the greater then in overcoming the lesse The same ship that when lightly ballasted and favoured with the winde goes mounting at another time deeply laden and going against winde and tide may move with a slow pace and yet they in the ship take more pains to make it sail thus then they did when it went faster Secondly positively how thou mayest conclude that grace is declining and that in a threefold respect First in reference to temptations to sin Secondly in reference to the duties of Gods worship Thirdly the frame of thy heart in worldly employments First in reference to sin and that is threefold First when thou art not so wakeful to discover the encroachings of sin upon thee as formerly at one time we finde Davids heart smote him when he but rent the skirt of Sauls garment at another time when his eye glanced on Bathsheba he takes no such notice of the snare Satan had him in and so is led from one sin to another which plainly shewed that grace in him was heavy-eyed and his heart not in so holy a frame as it had been If an enemy comes up to the gates and the sentinel not so much as give an alarm to the City of his approach it shewes he is off his guard either fallen asleep or worse If grace were awake and thy conscience had not contracted some hardnesse it would do its office Secondly when a temptation to sin is discovered and thou findest thy heart shut up that thou doest not pray against it or not with that zeal and holy indignation as formerly upon such occasions it is a bad signe that lust hath got an advantage of thy grace that thou canst not readily betake thy selfe to thy armes Thy affections are bribed and this makes thee so cold a Suitour at the throne of grace for helpe against thine enemy Thirdly when the arguments prevailing most with thee to resist temptations to sin or to mourn for sin committed are more carnal and lesse Evangelical then formerly may be thou remembrest when thy love to Christ would have spit fire on the face of Satan tempting thee to such a sin but now that holy fire is so abated that if there were not some other carnal motives to make the vote full it would hazard to be carried for it rather then against it and so in mourning for a sin there is possibly now some slavish arguments like an onion in the eye which makes thee weep rather then pure ingenuity arising from love to God whom thou hast offended this speaks a sad decay and the more mixture there is of such carnal arguments either in the resisting of or mourning for sin the greater the declination of grace is Davids natural heat sure was much decayed when he needed so many cloathes to be laid on him and he yet feel so little heat the time was he would have sweat with fewer I am afraid many their love to Christ will be found in these declining times to have lost so much of its youthful vigour that what would formerly have put them into a holy fury and burning zeal against some sins such as Sabbath-breaking pride of apparel neglect of family-duties c. hath now much ado to keep any heat at all in them against the same Secondly in point of duties of worship First if thy heart doth not prompt thee with that forwardnesse and readinesse as formerly to hold communion with God in any duty possibly thou knowest the time when thy heart echoed back to the motions of Gods Spirit bidding thee Seek his face Thy face Lord will I seek yea thou didst long as much till a Sabbath or Sermon-season came as the carnal wretch doth till it be gone but now thy pulse doth not beat so quick a march to the Ordinances publick or secret nature cannot but decay if appetite to food go away a craving soule is the thriving soule such a childe that will not let his mother rest but is frequently crying for the breast Secondly when thou declinest in thy care to performe duties in a spiritual sort and to preserve the sense of those more inward failings which in duty none but thy self can check thee of It is not frequency of duty but spirituality in duty causeth thriving and therefore neglect in this point soon brings grace into a consumptive posture Possibly soul the time was thou wert not satisfied with praying but thou didst watch thy heart strictly as a man would every piece in a summe of money he payes lest he should wrong his friend with any brasse or uncurrant coin thou wouldest have God not only have duty but duty stamp't with that faith which makes it currant have that zeal and sincerity which makes it Gospel-weight but now thou art more careless and formal O look to it poor soul thou wilt if thou continue thus carelesse melt in thy spiritual estate apace Such dealings will spoil thy trade with heaven God will not take off these slighty duties at thy hands Thirdly when a Christian gets little spiritual nourishment from communion with God to what it hath done The time hath been may be thou couldest shew what came of thy praying hearing and fasting but now the case is altered There is a double strength communion with God imparts to a soule in a healthful disposition strength to faith and strength for our obediential walking doest thou hear and pray and get no more strength to hold by a promise no more power over or brokennesse of heart under thy usual corruptions what come down the Mount and break the Tables of Gods Law assoon as thou art off the place as deep in thy passion as uneven in thy course as before there is a sure decay of that inward heat which should and would if in its right temper suck some nourishment from these Thirdly by thy behaviour in thy worldly employments First when thy worldly occasions do not leave thee in so free and spiritual a disposition to return into the presence of God as formerly may be thou couldest have come from thy shop and family-employments to thy closet and finde that they have kept thee in frame yea may be delivered thee up in a better frame for those duties but now 't is otherwise thou canst not so shake them off but they cleave to thy spirit and give an earthly savour to thy praying and hearing thou hast reason to bewail it when nature decayes men go more stooping and 't is a signe some such decay is in thee
God be more frequently conversant with it David tells us where he renewed his spiritual life and got his soul so oft into a heavenly heate when grace in him began to chill The Word he tells us quickened him This was the Sunny bank he fate under The Word draws forth the Christians grace by presenting every one with an object suitable to act upon this is of great power to rouse them up as the coming in of a friend makes us though sleepy before shake off all drowsinesse to enjoy his company Affections they are actuated when their object is before them if we love a person this is excited by sight of him or anything that mindes us of him if we hate one our blood riseth much more against him when before us Now the Word bring the Christian graces and their object together Here love may delight her self with the beholding Christ who is set out to life there in all his love and lovelinesse here the Christian may see his sins in a glasse that will not flatter him and can there any godly sorrow be in the heart any hatred of sin and not come forth while the man is reading what they cost Christ for him Secondly from the Word go to meditation this is as bellowes to the fire that grace which lies chosk't and eaten up for want of exercise will by this be cleared and break forth while thou art musing this fire will burne and thy heart grow hot within thee according to the nature of the subject thy thoughts dwell upon resolve therefore Christian to enclose some time from all worldly Suitours wherein thou mayest every day if possible at least take a view of the most remarkable occurrences that have past between God and thee First ask thy soul what takings it hath had that day what mercies heaven hath sent into thee and do not when thou hast askt the question like Pilate go out but stay till thy soul has made report of Gods gracious dealings to thee and if thou beest wise to observe and faithful to relate them thy conscience must tell thee that the cock was never turn'd the breast of mercy never put up all the day yea while thou art viewing these fresh mercies telling over this new coine hot out of the mint of Gods bounty ancient mercies they will come crowding in upon thee and call for a place in thy thoughts and tell thee what God hath done for thee moneths and years ago and indeed old debts should not be paid last give them Christian all a hearing one time or another and thou shalt see how they will work upon thy ingenious spirit It is with the Christian in this case as with some Merchants servant that keeps his Masters cash he tells his Master he hath a great summe of his by him and desires he would discharge him of it and see how his accounts stand but he can never finde him at leisure There is a great treasure of mercy alwayes in the Christians hands and conscience is oft calling the Christian to take the account and see what God has done for him but seldom it is he can finde time to tell his mercies over and is it any wonder that such should go behinde-hand in their spiritual estate who take no more notice what the gracious dealings of God are with them how can he be thankful that seldome thinks what he receives or patient when God afflicts that wants one of the most powerful arguments to pacifie a mutinous spirit in trouble and that is taken from the abundant good we receive at the hands of the Lord as well as a little evil how can such a soules love flame to God that is kept at such a distance from the mercies of God which are fuel to it and the like might be said of all the other graces Secondly reflect upon thy self and bestow a few serious thoughts upon thy own behaviour what it hath been towards God and man all along the day Ask thy soul as Elisha his servant Whence comest thou O my soul where hast thou been what hast thou done for God this day and how and when thou goest about this look that thou neither beest taken off from a through search as Jacob was by Rachels specious excuse nor be found to cocker thy self as Eli his sons when thou shalt upon enquiry take thy heart tardy in any part of thy duty take heed what thou doest for thou judgest for God who receives the wrong by thy sin and therefore will do himself justice if thou wilt not Thirdly from meditation go to prayer indeed a soul in meditation is on his way to prayer that duty leads the Christian has to this and this brings help to that when the Christian has done his utmost by meditation to excite his graces and chase his spirit into some divine heat he knows all this is but to lay the wood in order The fire must come from above to kindle and this must be fetch 't by prayer They say stars have greatest influences when they are in conjunction with the Sunne then sure the graces of a Saint should never work more powerfully then in prayer for then he is in the nearest conjunction and communion with God That Ordinance which hath such power with God must needs have a mighty influence on our selves It will not let God rest but raiseth him up to his peoples succour and is it any wonder if it be a means to rouse up and excite the Christians grace how oft do we see a dark cloud upon Davids spirit at the beginning of his prayer which by that time he is a little warme in his work begins to clear up and before he ends breaks forth into high actings of faith and acclamations of praise Only here Christian take heed of formal praying this is as baneful to grace as not praying A plaister though proper and of soveraign vertue yet if it be laid on cold may do more hurt then good Fourthly to all the former joyne fellowship and communion with the Saints thou lived amongst No wonder to hear a house is robb'd that stands far from neighbours he that walks in communion of Saints he travels in company he dwells in a City where one house keeps up another to which Jerusalem is compared 'T is observable concerning the house in whose ruines Jobs children were entombed that a winde came from the wildernesse and smote the foure corners of it it seems it stood alone the devil knowes what he does in hindering this great Ordinance of communion of Saints in doing this he hinders the progresse of grace yea brings that which Christians have into a declining wasting state The Apostle couples those two duties close together to hold fast our Profession and to consider one another and provoke unto love and to good works Heb. 10.23 24. Indeed it is a dangerous step to Apostasy to forsake the communion of Saints hence 't is said of Demas he hath left us and
of Saints falling from grace gives a sad dash to the sweet wine of the Promises the soul-reviving comfort that sparkles in them ariseth from the sure conveyance with which they are in Christ made over to believers to have and to hold for ever Hence called the sure mercies of David Acts 13.34 mercies that shall never faile This this indeed is wine that makes glad the heart of a Saint though he may be whipt in the house when he sins yet he shall not be turned out of doores As God promised in the type to Davids seed Psal 89.33 Neverthelesse my loving kindnesse will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulnesse to faile and v. 36. His seed shall endure for ever Could any thing separate the believer from the love of God in Christ this would be as a hole at the bottome of his cup to leak out all his joy he might then feare every temptation or affliction he meets would slay him and so the wickeds curse would be the Saints portion His life would ever hang in doubt before him and the fearful expectation of his final miscarriage which he sees may befall him would eat up the joy of his present hope Now how contrary such a frame of heart is to the spirit of adoption and full assurance of hope which the grace of the new Covenant gives he that runs may reade in the Word Vse 2 This truth prepares a sovereign cordial to restore the fainting spirits of weak believers who are surprised with many feares concerning their persevering and holding out to the end of their warfare Be of good cheer poor soule God hath given Christ the life of every soule within the Ark of his Covenant Your eternal safety is provided for Whom he loves he loves to the end Jâ—h 13.1 Hath he made thee willing in the day of his power to march under his banner and espouse his quarrel against sin and hell the same power that overcame thy rebellious heart to himself will overcome all thy enemies within and without for thee say not thou art a bruised reed with this he will break Satans head and not cease till he hath brought forth judgement into compleat victory in thy soule He that can make a few wounded men rise up and take a strong city can make a wounded spirit triumph over sin and devils The Ark stood in the midst of Jordan till the whole Camp of Israel was safely got over into Canaan Josh 3. And so doth the Covenant which the Ark did but typifie yea Christ Covenant and all stand to secure the Saints a safe passage to Heaven If but one believer drownes the Covenant must drown with him Christ and the Saint are put together as co-heires of the same inheritance Rom. 8.17 If children then heires heirs of God and joynt-heirs with Christ. We cannot dispute against one but we question the firmnesse of the others title When you heare Christ is turn'd out of heaven or himself to be willing to sell his inheritance there then poore Christian feare thy coming thither and not till then Co-heires cannot sell the inheritance except both give up their right which Christ will never do nor suffer thee Vse 3 Thirdly this truth calls for a word or two of caution Though there is no feare of a Saints salling from grace yet there is great danger of others falling from the top of this comfortable doctrine into a carelesse security and presumptuous boldnesse and therefore a battlement is very necessary that from it we may with safety to our soules stand and view the pleasant prospect this truth presents to our eye That flower from which the Bee sucks honey the spider draws poison That which is a restorative to the Saints grace proves an incentive to the lust of a wicked man What Paul said of the Law we may truly of the Gospel Sin taking occasion from the grace of the Gospel and the sweet promises thereof deceives the carnal heart and works in him all manner of wickednesse Indeed sin seldome grows so rank any where as in those who water its roots with the grace of the Gospel Two wayes this doctrine may be abused First into a neglect of duty Secondly into a liberty to sin Take heed of both First beware of falling into a neglect of duty upon this score if a Christian thou canst not fall away from grace Take for an antidote against this three particulars First there are other arguments to invite yea that will constrain thee to a constant vigourous performing of duty though the feare of falling away should not come in or else thou art not a Christian what nothing make the childe diligent about his fathers businesse but feare of being disinherited and turned out of doors There is sure some better motive to duty in a Saints heart or else Religion is a melancholy work Speak for your selves O ye Saints is self-preservation all you pray for and heare for should a messenger come from Heaven and tell you Heaven were yours would this make you give over your spiritual trade and not care whether you had any more acquaintance with God till you came thither O how harsh doth this sound in your eares There are such principles engraven in the Christians bosome that will not suffer a strangenesse long to grow betwixt God and him He is under the Law of a new life which carries him naturally to desire communion with God as the childe doth to see the face of his deare father and every duty is a Mount wherein God presents himself to be seen and enjoyed by the Christian Secondly to neglect duty upon such a perswasion is contrary to Christs practice and counsel First his practice Though Christ never doubted of his Fathers love nor questioned the happy issue of all his temptations agonies and sufferings yet he prayes and prayes again more earnestly Luke 22.44 Secondly his counsel and command He told Peter that Satan had begg'd leave to have them to sift them But withal he comforts him who was to be hardest put to it with this But I have prayed for thee that thy faith faile not Sure our Saviour by this provision made for him and the rest means to save them a labour that they need not watch or pray No such matter after this as you may see v. 40. He calls them up to duty Pray that ye enter not into temptation Christs praying for them was to strengthen their faith when they should themselves pray for the same mercy not to nourish their sloth that they needed not to pray Christs prayers in Heaven for his Saints are all heard already but the returne of them is reserved to be enclosed in the answer God sends to their own prayers The Christian cannot in faith expect to receive the mercies Christ prayes for in Heaven so long as he lives in the neglect of his duty on earth They stand ready against he shall call for them by the prayer of faith and