Covenant of God with you in Christ of the offer of Christ unto you now under seal that he is yours seal with your Ring put your Seal to the Covenant and Deed of Christ and God and feed on him believe on him draw from him This is my Lord this is my Saviour this bloud was shed for me my Christ will do me good I shall be saved by his bloud reconciled by his bloud healed and preserved by his Spirit And shoes on his Feet This is the third Favour which is bestowed upon the repenting Prodigal his Lips were kissed his Back was clothed his Hand was adorned and now his Feet are shod the penitent person is onely the compleat person But what these What is meant by shoes on his feet Feet are and what the Shoes which are put-on them is a point differently conjectured of by Interpreters Sol. Not to waste time both the Words are Metaphorically to be understood for some things which do in some respects answer to Feet and Shoes Feeet are taken sometimes 1. for the springs of our actions and courses as for our Will and Affections so Eccles 5. 1. 2. For the actions and courses themselves which Solomon calls the path of our feet Prov. 4. 26. And in this sense David saith Wilt thou not keep my feet from falling Psal 56. 13. and God is said to guide the feet of his People and to preserve the feet of his Saints 1 Sam. 2. 9. And Shoes on the feet are also diversly taken in a metaphorical sense 1. Sometimes for a mortified disposition to the world as the shoes keep the feet at a distance from the earth and with them we trample upon the earth 2. Sometimes for strength against passive injuries and evils as feet shod can pass upon sharp thorns and stones this is called Feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Christ Ephes 6. 3. Sometimes for a â—it ability in all walking for the shoes do not onely adorn the feet but strengthen them in and unto motion From all which we may I think observe this Proposition That God doth enable a penitent person with grace and strength Doct. God doth enable a penitent person with grace and strength for a singular walking for a better and singular walking or course of Life and Obedience The Prodigal before his Conversion walked with naked feet wildly loosely disgracefully dangerously but upon his repentance he hath shoes put on his feet not onely his Heart is altered but his Life not onely his disposition but condition not onely his condition but his conversation He was another man and now walks as another man The same you see in Paul before his Conversion and after it Before his Conversion his feet were swift to shed bloud he persecuted the Saints and Members of Christ to the death but after his Conversion he exalts Jesus Christ and is endeared in highest affection unto him and his servants prizeth Christ above all loves Christ above all strives for the propagation and for the obedience of the Gospel above all and his feet carry him to most places and persons for the service of Christ And this alteration in the course of life Paul expresseth to be in all that are effectually called and converted that they do not now walk as other Gentiles Ephes 4. 17. nor as they themselves once did in darkness and voluptuousness but do put off their old Conversation Ephes 4. 22. and walk as children of the light Ephes 5. 8. and become servants of righteousneâ—â— Rom. 6. 18. and have their fruits unto â—oliness v. 22. What this singular walking is But the Question may be What that singular course of living or walking is unto which God doth enable penitent persons Sol. I conjecture of it thus 1. It is an heavenly and spiritual A heavenly and spiritual walking walking In Abraham this is called a walking before God and in Noah a walking with God in the Galatians a walking in the Spirit in others a walking in Christ in the Phillippians a conversation in heaven Before our conversion we mind nothing and endeavour after nothing and imploy our selves in nothing but sinfull sensual vain things and courses But when the soul is truly made penitential now our hearts mind a God and his Word and his Glory now they meditate on his Will and Laws now they crave after Grace and heavenly strength now they busie and endeavour What shall we do to be saved Now our feet can bring us to the Courts of God and now we can conscionably prize and use communion with God we take more delight a thousand times to read his Word than all Play-books and merry Histories to hear the voice of Christ to be reforming of what is evil to be much in Prayer and all the works of holy Obedience than in any wicked or vain way whatsoever 2. It is a regular course of life The feet when shoes are on them are then restrained as it were and confined they are A regular course of life kept to a size and do not â—quâ—nder and expatiate So is it with the course of a man who is made a true Penitent it is not now loose and wild guided by the season of every company nor by the examples of every man nor by the course of the world nor by the lusts of his own heart what others do is no rule to him and what others applaud is no rule to him and what others decide is no rule to him and what his own heart suggests is no rule to him But he hath a sure rule unto which he takes heed and according to which he orders his conversation and walks If the Word of God saith Go he goeth if that say Come he cometh If that like the Cloud before the Israelites moves by Precept he riseth up and endeavours to follow it if that like the same Cloud doth rest and forbid he sits down and dares not do it He doth not do what he will but what he may live after an Humour but after a Law he would have every action not bad but good and that it may be so first consults with the Word Is it lawfull and then resolves to practise it because it is so 3. It is an even and upright course of life as the shoes keep An even and upright course of life the feet up on either side Such feet doth God bestow upon penitent people as the living creatures had their feet were straight feet Ezek. 1. 7. not like the Images feet in Daniel 2. 33. which were part of Iron and part of Clay A conversation that is like the Prophets cake which was not turned Hos 7. 8. Dough-baked bread on the one side and dough on the other so Pâ—ous in one part and Impious in another publickly Religious and secretly Prophane in one society Angelical in another Diabolical in one place a Doctrine and in an other an Use of Confutation like a Fish to give a
sometimes in the heat of a punishment how our hearts perhaps fall down before the Lord and we are very urgent on him and very diligent spend much time in his service and a kind of watchful tenderness is come upon us against sin but then we let fall our hands and our candle quickly burns more dimly our task abates our affections grow slack our purposes our services wear away and we begin to grow as forward to our sins as before the liking of God and of his waies and services cool and sinful occasions grow as pleasing and acceptable Remember it that man will be quickly bad who grows negligently good and the soul which is weary of Gods service is ready for sins work 6. Partial reservations when men in or after punishment will Partial Reservations profess against the great bulks of sin and as Pharaoh at length was willing to let the people go but to stay the little children so we wil bid defiance and seem to take resolution against our former great iniquities in the greatness of them but yet we will keep back and not part with such and such things which perhaps formally are not sinful but occasionally they may to our corrupt affections prove so Why how can it be but such a soul should make yet a progress in sin who reservs still an incendiary motive a quick and captivating incentive unto sin The river will quickly over-spread and fill the channel if you give it way spare but your self in occasions and they will bring on first the lesser trials of sin and the lesser trials will quickly ingage you to greater adventurings and some adventurings will easily bring you to your old courses In the second place let us apply our selvs to such waies as may Directions take us off from sinning yet more after punishment which you have heard doth make the condition yet worse The directions which I would commend unto you are these 1. In all punishment for sinning follow the writ open it and see In all punishment for sin search out thâ— Cause whose name is in it my meaning is enquire into thy self search diligently for whose sake this evil befals thee as the Mariners in Jonah concerning the tempest they did cast lots that they might know for whose cause that evil was upon them so should we in the presence of our punishment when Gods hand is in any kind upon us search and lift up our hands unto God to shew us the special reasons of his wrath and indignation for though earthly parents do many times inconsiderately in passion chastize their children after their own pleasure yet God doth it wisely and never without cause we may say of all our punishment what the Prophet saith to the Israelites Jer. 4. 18. Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee this is thy wickedness c. Punishments never prove reformations until first they be informations they never cure the heart unless first they clear the eye We must first spell the Lesson before we can take it forth therefore this do if thou canst not find the specialty of thy provocations 1. Look thy afflictions and punishments well in the face perhaps thou mayest in them see the very feature of thy sin which hath caused God to punish thee very usually that punishment which is a Rod is also a Glass it shews us the fault for which we are lashed 2. Observe thy self in the estate when thy punishment doth come do but recal thy bent of heart course ways imagination devices sometimes a man is taken by the punishment when he is dealing in a way which doth more especially provoke God 3. Peruse the Word and well consider what sins have brought down such kind of punishment Pares culpae Pares poenae God doth many times keep his course of the same punishments with the same sins else the Apostles dehortation of the Corinthians from Idolatry and Uncleanness which was the Israelites sins for fear of the like punishments were somwhat vain 4. Lastly Regard the first and more frequent verdicts of thy own conscience There are two times when Conscience deals more home and faithfully with us One is when we are to die Another is when we are to suffer in a time of judgment and affliction we find as Josephs brethren did the remembrance of former evils Surely this is befallen us because of our brother c. said they So our hearts tell us Well assuredly this comes upon me for my Swearing for my Drunkenness for my Uncleanness for my Covetousness c. 2. When your sins are brought to light that you can say Here is my punishment and there are my sins then go to God When the sin is discovered go to God in an humbâ—e confession of iâ— with them to him that smote thee By most humble and broken Confession that thou hast done wickedly but the Lord hath dealt most righteously acquit him but condemn thy self Accuse and indite thy sinning soul O Lord thus and thus have I sinned and provoked thee c. Deal ingenuously with the Lord and freely confess unto him and never leave until thy soul be afflicted for sinning as well as thy body until thou canst grieve a thousand times more for thy sins than for thy punishment for the dishonour which God hath felt by thy sinnings than for the smart which thou feelest under thy punishments By most vehement and constant Petition and that for two things especially Go to God by earnest petition for viz. 1. Reconciliation with that God whom thou hast so much provoked by thy sinnings As Moses said to Aaron Take a Censer Reconciliation Numb 16. 46. and put fire therein from off the Altar and go quickly to the Congregation and make an attonement So let us speedily strive to reconcile our selves unto the Lord beseeching him to love us freely to receive us graciously to pardon us for his own sake to remember our sins no more not to contend with us for ever but to cast our sins into the depths of the Sea and mercifully to be our God And in this business of reconciling our selves with God take notice 1. Of the meritorious cause of it which is the bloud of Christ called therefore our attonement Rom. 5. and our Propitiation 1 Joh. 2. 1. Now beseech the Lord to look on thee in Christ and to remember the bloud of the everlasting Covenant which was shed for the remission of sins and to make peace Beseech him to be reconciled unto thee in and through Christ and do thou stedfastly trust unto him by faith for it 2. Of the means of it To the Word to Prayer O be earnest for such dispositions upon which the Lord will â—eal mercy and forgiveness He will be gracious to the cry of the mournfull soul Isa 30. 19. and to the penitent 2 Chron. 7. 14. 2. Sanctification Alas if the Lord should lay upon thee Sanctification as many and
hast thou prayed would trouble thee if thou didst not pray and therefore hast thou prayed to give it a little quiet as we do a crying child the brest to still it What things soever ye desire when ye pray believe that you receive them and ye shall have them Hast thou and doest thou consider and ponder the promises of Gods mercy made over the penitent persons Hast thou considered of his mercifull nature tender love in and through Christ of his commands to broken and afflicted souls to come unto him for Balm and Oyl Hast thou found how proper his mercifull promises are to thy condition every way good and convenient and doest confess this word of promise a gracious and a good word and judgest him to be faithfull who hath promised and thy self unworthy of mercy and thereupon in the Name of the Lord Jesus hast bended thy heart and knees to the God of mercy trusting through him to find grace and mercy to help in time of need and those his promises to be Yea and Amen to thy soul through Christ Joh. 14. 13. Whatsoever ye ask in my Name that will Ido According to your faith said Christ to the blind men Matt. 9. 29. so be it unto you Alas thy prayers have not found the way to Gods Mercy-seat all this while because they have not had faith for their Guide if our Messenger lose their way no marvel if we stay long for an answer Lastly Why hast thou called home the Embassadors those prayers Hast thou not called home thy prayers of thine which were Leigers at Heaven In a fit of proud impatience and fruitless vexation and bold presumption thou hast limited the holy One of Israel to a day And if at such another prayer God did not sensibly answer thee thou wouldest and hast restrained seeking of him What doest thou mean to beg and yet to prescribe Alas that there should be so much pride yet in an heart which we would think humbled as low as Hell That it should profess it self to deserve a thousand damnations and yet quarrel with God for not being quick in a present expedition of mercy Thou art too quick with God Judge how these answer one the other O Lord I do not deserve the least mercy I deserve never to find mercy and yet if the Lord doth not presently shew me mercy I will not seek unto him any more As you must get humbled hearts so you must get humble hearts He hears the desires of the humble Your Prayers must be patient as well as â—ervent Mercy pardoning mercy is worth the waiting for It is the most excellent of mercies and most sure to the patient Petitioner Psal 40. 1. I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined unto me and heard my cry Blessed are all that wait for it Isa 30. 18. Or there may be Reasons on Gods part why he doth a while Reasons on Gods part God suspends mercy To give us some taste what it is to provoke him suspend or hold up the demonstration of his mercy to a troubled soul and seeking 1. To give us some taste what it is to provoke him and sin against him Jer. 2. 19. Thine own wickedness shall correct thee and thy back-slidings shall reprove thee know therefore and see that it is an evil and a bitter thing that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God As we have had years to bath our selves in the delights of sin so we must have some minutes to taste the proper fruits the bitterness of sin Thou wouldst not believe the Gall and the Wormwood c. Lam. 3. 2. To alienate or work off our affections wholly from sin which now is so To alienate our affections from sin deadly a sting so smart a wound so noisome a prison which fills us with such horrible terrours and costs us almost our lives to obtain pardon and mercy Thou wouldst not easily part with sin Who would love sin any more which 1. raiseth so great terrours 2. utterly depriveth of mercy 3. or hinders it and makes it slow to answer 3. To abase us more in our own eyes To abase us the more in our own eyes that we may exalt his mercy that so his mercy may exalt us and we may exalt his mercy to value the excellency of mercy to confess our unworthiness of mercy to enlarge our desires of mercy 4. Nay not onely to exalt his mercy but retain his mercy not easily forfeit the excellency and sweetness of mercy by any future sinning The That we may retain his mercy Church which had much adoe to find Christ she then caught him and would not let him go The pardoning mercies of God ordinarily yield us most sweetness and abide in their strength To make us an Instance of mercy and Instrument of comfort with us after deepest humiliations and difficultest fruitions of them 5. Perhaps the Lord will make thee a great Instance of mercy and a great Instrument to comfort others and therefore suffereth thee to lie a long time in darkness and silence and at length will relieve thee Object Yea but how shall a troubled soul be supported in the How shall not be supported in the interim the interims until mercy pardoning mercy doth come and prayers therein be answered fully Sol. I answer to this also 1. If thou canst not have comfort to feed on yet thou hast duty to work on If thou hast not comfort look to duty Every Christian may either find it an Autumn to gather fruit or else a Spring to set it It is a great mercy that thou art at the gates of Mercy it is a great mercy 1. to enjoy 2. to beg 3. to wait for mercy a comfort to have such an heart to come so near to mercy thou hast a time to search thy heart more and to review thy estate and to peruse thy prayers to mend and continue all All which are but thy improvements in grace and will eventually prove the enlargements of thy mercy and peace No man can make a better progress in his repentance but he doth thereby prepare for the greater for the sweeter for the longer mercies 2. Though you have not experience to support you yet you have faith Though thou hast not experience yet thou hast faith It is written and sealed though not delivered as yet Whosoever doth truly repent mourn for sin forsake it endeavour to walk with God c. though he have not the joy of his pardon in his conscience yet he hath the assurance of his pardon in the promise Now Gods Word should support us as much as Gods Testimony his Word should be as good to our faith as his Testimony is sweet to our sense and feeling 3. The dawnings of pardoning mercy The dawnings of pardoning mercy may support which are rising upon you may also support you Though you cannot read your Pardon under the Broad Seal yet you may find it passing
by which we come to be filled with all the fulness of God Eph. 3. 19. See but Luke 7. 38. You shall find that much was there forgiven the woman though a great sinner was graciously reconciled what followes on this she loved much she wept much she humbled her self much her affections to Christ her tears for her sins her humility of spirit all of them are set down as exemplary copies this is it which will make the light of our Moon to be as the light of the Sun and our light of the Sun as the light of seven dayes You may perhaps reply unto me this evidence that God is reconciled to us which is so excellent in it self and produces such effects were a very heaven upon earth if we could attain unto it But what means should we use that we may at length enjoy it Means to attain it I conâ—ecture thus that the means of obtaining it are twofold Internal External The Internal means are three viz. Conscience the Spirit of God and Faith for all these have in them a reflexive and an evidencing virtue or power 1. Then you must get your consciences renewed Conscience Get your Consciences renewed absolutely considered hath a reflexing power it can look on our natural acts and conditions but it must be conscience renewed which must testifie of the spiritual estate and that God is reconciled to you The testimony or evidence of conscience renewed is you know syllogistical and nothing else but the eccho of the word v. g. whosoever truly repents of sin the Lord is reconciled to him this is the proposition of the word as you may read in Hos 14. 1 2 3. They are described as acting the parts of true penitents and then v. 4. I will love them freely So Jer. 31. 19. Ephraim is turned and repents and then v. 20. Ephraim is a dear child and a pleasant Son he is earnestly remembred and sure mercy is his .i. Ephraim is reconciled and dearly loved of God Here renewed conscience assumes But I do unfainedly repent I do truly mourn and forsake sin and now with assurance it concludes by way of evidence and testimony Therefore the Lord is reconciled unto me he doth freely and surely love me Obj. But it is objected Conscience may be deceived it may assume without ground and so deludingly conclude the matter Sol. I grant that conscience may be erronious in its grounds but conscience as renewed and concluding as a renewed conscience will not delude you nor err for conscience renewed concludes not upon an empty imagination but upon a solid examination of the heart and life It finds that integrity in the heart and that uprightness in ordering the life which doth answer the word of God And reading that the Lord loves the upright and that he will shew his salvation to him that orders his conversation aright Now upon search finding this habitual and actual uprightness it concludes Surely I am the person whom the Lord loves and to whom he is reconciled 2. You must get the spirit of God The Apostle in Rom. 5. 5. Get the spirit of God saith that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy Ghost so that if ever you would know the love of God unto you you must have the spirit of God the spirit of God hath many operations given unto him as that he inlightens the mind humbles the heart sanctifies it and then that he sealeth and comforteth it and as these effects so the order of them is observable he doth not first of all seal or assure and then inlighten and then sanctifie and then humble but he first inlightens humbles sanctifies and converts the soul and then assures and comforts it Peruse Rom. 8. you shall find that the witness of the spirit that we are the children of God v. 16. followes the spirit of bondage and of adoption and of supplication v. 15. and the quickning of the spirit v. 11. and a leading of the spirit v. 14. So that if ever you would be assured that the Lord is reconciled to you you must get his spirit convincing humbling renewing and leading you so much evidence as you have of holiness so much assurance you may build on of Gods reconciled favour unto you Obj. But here also it is objected we may thus be cozened with Enthusiasms taking a fond dream and delusion for a witnessing or testimony of Gods spirit Sol. I answer this is a fond and ridiculous exception for the spirit of God as S. Ambrose speaks can neither deceive nor be deceived The sealing or assuring testimony of Gods Spirit is never Nudum nor Nudatum testimonium but as it is a seal to a deed drawn I mean an heart first written over with renewing graces so in the sealing it alwayes produceth more tender and lively operations of holiness in all good works 3. Lastly If you would get assurance of Gods love reconciled unto your souls you must get Faith Faith is the eye by which we Get Faith look on God and it is that light by which we see God looking on us How did Simeon see Christ to be his Saviour Or Paul know that Christ loved him but by Faith There are two wayes by which Faith can and will bring the soul to see or know God reconciled unto it One is by and in Christ there is no seeing of a reconciled God but in a Mediator and therefore Christ is called so often our Peace our Atonement our Reconciler The other is by and through the Promises which is therefore called the Covenant of Grace q. d. sets forth and presents God unto us as graciously reconciled If you have so much faith as will bring you to Christ to know him to embrace and accept of him to rely on him you may with safest confidence conclude and be perswaded that God is your reconciled God For God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself 2. The external means of obtaining assurance are 1. Conscionable External means Diligent Application of our selves to the Word and diligent application of our selves to the Word The word of God is both the instrument of our Regeneration and of our Consolation and is not only productive of faith as it is an adherence but able also to produce it as it is an evidence and therefore as you read that faith in acceptance depends on the word Rom. 10. 17. so we read that faith in assurance flowes likewise from it 1 Joh. 5. 13. These things have I written unto you that believe on the Name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye have eternal life And as the Word is oftentimes called a Word of Faith so it is sometimes called a Lip of Peace Isa 57. 19. q. it produceth an assurance from which that peace doth flow 2. And to the Sacrament The Sacrament hath I confess many To the Sacrament ends and it is as the Word of God is an Organ
causes in Christ to accept of him and to resign up to him rather than to sin or world or any thing else and when the Will is wrought upon so as to accept of Christ in his Person and Offices and Estates the soul is now matched or married to Christ by Faith It bestows it self and gives Christ all the right and cleaves unto him in an indissoluble bond of affection and service Quest 3. The third resolveable is concerning the Subject of this The subject of this faith faith who hath it The Text resolves that by telling us that the Ring was put on the returning Prodigals finger so that the penitent person is he who wears the Ring i. who is an espoused The penitent person is onely married unto Christ or married person by Faith unto Christ You may be married to your Lusts and to the World though you be impenitent yet none but Penitents are married unto Christ by Faith Not that Repentance goes before Faith in Christ for no Grace habitually considered is in time before another though in operation it be Nor that Repentance is the cause of Faith for it is a most improper Assertion to make one Grace to be the cause of another Grace when as every Grace doth come onely from the Spirit of Reasons Christ as the cause But because 1. The penitent person is only the The penitent person onely hath faith subject of Faith which doth marry us to Christ no person is a believer who is not a penitent person The Prodigal while onely a Prodigal he hath neither Garment nor Ring but when he is a returning Prodigal then he hath both and not till then 2. Onely penitent persons can evidence their faith and espousal unto Onely penitent persons can evidence their faith Christ Another who is impenitent can no more evidence his interest or title to Christ then an Alien that never heard of this Land can evidence or conclude his title and right to any Goods or Chattels of yours The title to Christ is proper onely to the Penitent for them he lived and for them onely he died Now if any should yet further demand Why the Lord should Why will the Lord give this to penitent persons To convince the world there is no loâ—s in leaving sin To support the soul of the heavy laden give unto penitent persons a precious faith to espouse them to Christ I conjecture briefly that these may be the Grounds or Reasons 1. To convince all the world that there is no loss in leaving of sin Abjice tectum tolle coelum said one The repentant person forsakes his sins but presently finds a Saviour he is divorced from that which would damn him and by faith is espoused unto one that will save him 2. To support the soul of the penitent which of all other is most sick and heavy laden It is most sensible of sin and guilt and Gods displeasure on all which it cannot long look alone If the penitent person had not faith to see a Mediatour he would not long have an eye to look upon his transgressions It is a truth that Repentance could never act it self unless the penitent person had faith to act it self too The sorrow in Repentance would infinitely sink into despair and the forsaking of sin would turn into a forsaking of God if Faith saw not a Mediatour for Transgressions and a mercifull God through him 3. Lastly The Lord intends singular mercy to the penitent God intends singular mercies to the Penitent persons to perform many precious promises of pardon and grace and comfort unto them and therefore gives them Faith unto which all the Promises are made The promises may be considered two ways either in respect 1. of Intention so they look unto the Penitent of Application so onely Faith is the Hand in the Penitent which actively applies the Promises Again you know that the Promises of God are Yea and Amen in Christ i. they are all sealed by him and made good unto us by him so that first we must have Christ before the Promises made good unto us by Christ And therefore God gives unto the penitent person the Grace of Faith to espouse him unto Christ that so he may settle upon him all the Dowry upon the Marriage of the rich mercy and good in his precious Promises The main Use which I will make of this assertion is To try our selves whether we have this precious Ring of Faith a Ring Vse Try our selves whether we have this precious faith A necessary trial if we consider The paucity of true believers more precious than that of Gold put on our fingers yea or no. It is as necessary a demur as ever you were put unto all your dayes whether you consider 1. The paucity of true believers All men have not faith saith the Apostle All men nay very few Who hath believed our report said the Prophet We preach we offer Christ unto you we beseech you to accept of the Lord of Life to give up your hearts and lives unto him but who believes our report We tell you that Christ is better than all the world his bloud is better than sin it 's better to love and serve him than world or sin but who believes our report Men care not to know the excellencies of Christ they prize him not they care not to hear him speak in his Ordinances they will in no wise consent and yield to his terms and conditions 2. The Vtility The utility of it of it To the Sacrament of the Lords Supper if we come without our Wedding-Ring it will be as sad a day to us as to him who came without his Wedding Garment We do not onely receive no good at the Sacrament for we have neither hand nor mouth to take and eat if we have not Faith not title at all to the intrinsecal benefits by Christ if we have not faith in him Nay we occasion much evil and Judgment upon our selves we adventure to eat and drink our own damnation not discerning the 1 Cor. 11. Lords body And righteously may the Lord judge us for coming to his Sacrament without Faith for as much as in so doing we do not onely presume against an express prohibition that we should hold off but also we do at the least interpretatively assay to make God a Liar and a favourer of all villany as if he would put his Seal of Pardon and mercy and for all the good of his Covenant in Christ to a wicked impenitent and unbelieving sinner 3. The Hypocrisie of our hearts so apt to deceive themselves with shadows in stead of substances not The hypocrifie of our hearts considering that Satan can delude a man with the shew of any grace Every Ring is not a Ring of Gold nor is every Faith a precious and unfeigned Faith There is a thing called Presumption which is bold enough but it is not Faith and there
is Knowledge of Christ as revealed in the Word which a man may have and utter too and yet not have Faith there is Profession of Faith for the truth against errours and yet the Grace of Faith is another thing A man may have so much faith as to believe that there is a Christ and to confess his excellencies and in some sort to see his own necessities of Christ yea he may begin to article and capitulate as the Young-man and yet break off and be far enough from a Faith which doth indeed espouse and marry his soul unto Christ 4. Lastly The misery and danger Suppose The misery and danger you do deceive your selves and in the event it appears that you are not espoused to Jesus Christ by Faith that you never gave your hearts unto him that there never was any conjugal Union and Bond twixt you if thou indeed shouldst live Christless and die Christless what helpless hopeless happyless person art thou But you will reply We trust that we are truly penitent persons and that God hath given unto us such a Faith whereby we are really married unto Christ Sol. Well if that be so you have great cause to bless the Lord And that you may not be deceived therein I will deliver unto you some proper effects which that Faith produceth in every soul that is indeed married unto Qualities produced by an espousing faith Christ There are four Qualities produced by an espousing Faith 1. Estimation Let the Wife see that she reverence her Husband saith the Apostle Ephes 5. She must both acknowledg Estimation him as a Head and honour him as a Lord juâ—â—e and esteem of him in a relative consideration above all other The like effect doth Faith produce if it espouseth us to Christ it sets up Christ above all accounts of him as most excellent judgeth of all other things but as dross and dung in comparison of him will part with all for to get Christ The beauties of Christ are glorious in the eyes of every believer Christ doth not seem a mean thing an ordinary or common thing but he is the Pearl the Sun of Righteousness My Lord and my God saith Thomas In a word Faith if right exalts the Excellency of Christ and the Authority of Christ the Excellencies of his Person and the Authority of his Will and Laws 2. Election Election We make choice of Christ before all other Though sins though the pleasures and profits of the world proffer themselves yet as the Martyr at the stake None but Christ Or as Paul I desire to know nothing but Christ crucisied So the true believer Give me Christ I have enough I have that which is best of all he is the the Optimum and the Vnicum to Faith 3. Affection Conjugal Affection Faith ever produceth conjugal Love It were a monstrous evil for a woman to marry a man and noâ— love him and it were an adulterous thing for her to love any more then her own Husband Marriage doth by way of Duty infer and draw with it two qualities of Love one is exclusive and it is an unity of Love the other is intensive and it is a redundancy of Love Thus is it with us if Faith hath espoused us unto Christ it doâ—h kindle in us a love unto Christ not a divided love a love to Christ and a love to sin a love to Christ and a love to the world but an united love none is by us esteemed and loved as our Lord but Christ Nor doth it satisfie it self with a remiss and diminutive love which may serve any inferiour object but as Christ is in himself the most excellent object so Faith produceth such a degree of love which bears some proportion with that object viz. a superlative love a love of Christ above all and more then all more set on Christ than on any other object which yet may lawfully be loved more than our father or mother or wife or children Do we find this love in our hearts to Christ against all and above all Nay again True conjugal love infers with it a Love 1. of Complacency to delight in the thing loved 2. of Society to be with the person loved Is it so with us what delght have we in Christ in his person in his excellencies in his works in his ordâ—â—ances Is it our best joy to hear him to see him to speak with him 4. Subjection I confess that marriage doth not make the Subjection woman a slave yet by vertue thereof she is bound to submission or subjection she doth in a sort give away her self unto the disposal of another in the Lord Thy desire saith God Gen. 3. 16. shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee If thou hast a Faith which doth espouse thee unto Christ that Faith brings thy heart into the obedience and subjection of Christ It subjects thy will to Christs will and thy judgment to his truths and thy desire to his rule and thy works to his laws If Christ would have thee be and do one thing and thou wilt be and do another that thy will is still contradicting of Christs will and thy way is still contrary to his way Though a man may be married to such a stubborn and perverse piece yet Christ is not for all that are married unto him by Faith have in some measure wrought in them an obediential spirit desirous to know the mind of the Lord and willing to live godly in Christ Jesus Now this subjection which is the effect of an espousing Faith hath these properties in it viz. 1. Vniversality the wife is subject in all things 2. Diligence we must take care to please him 3. Delightfulneâ—â— it must be no burthen 4. Constancy as long as we live we must be subject to the will of our Lord. The last Use shall be for Exhortatiou That in case you find Vse 2. Exhortation this Ring of Faith by which you are espoused unto Christ given unto you then be very carefull to wear it and to bring it along with you to this next Sacrament We usually put on our Robes and our Rings when we come to any solemn Feasts The Sacrament of the Lords Supper is a Feast of good things there is Christ and mercy and redemption and sanctification and what not for the soul but bring your Ring with you Christ looks that you should come with it and you can do no good at the Sacrament if you have not the Ring on your hand Though you put forth your hand yet if the Ring be not on it the hand may take the bread but the Ring is it which onely can take Christ therefore bring Faith with you to the Sacrament Josephs Brethren must bring Benjamin with them or else they must not see his face nor should get food And let your faith work upon Christ all along on the love of Christ on the sufferings of Christ of the