for necessary uses When he had spoken of free Iustification through his grace then the Text saith teach a man to maintaine good works for necessary uses and in the 4. and 5. verses Verses 4. 5. hee saith After that the kindnesse and love of God our Saviour towards man appeared not by works of righteousnesse which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration Now least any man should say if God doe not save a man for his works then why shall we doe good works and the like See what he addes Let us learne to maintaine good works c. There are many necessary uses of the meanes though they be not meritorious and of absolute sufficiency Were not he a mad man that should say what shall I doe with my money if I cannot eate it and what shall I doe with my boate if I may not dwell in it A man may buy meate with his money and row with his boat So you must use all meanes and improve all importunities and if ever pray and fast pray and fast now in these dayes of trouble but thinke not to bee saved nor justified by the worth and merit of them yet use them for some necessary uses and the uses are three Vse 1 First We must use all the meanes that gives us as guides Of the means to leade us by the hand to the Lord Iesus Christ and as lights to shew us where life is to be had Iohn Baptist professed plainly that hee was not the Messiah but he pointed at him and said Behold the Lambe of God that takes away the sinnes of the world So I say all the ordinances of God which are honourable and commendable and comfortable they all professe that they are not our Saviours onely they point us to a Saviour even the Lord Iesus Christ the Word reveales Christ and Prayer goes to a Christ and the Sacrament presents Christ to us and therefore they all say with one accord let us goe to the Lord Iesus and looke up to him When your hearts are troubled and disquieted all your duties knocke at your hearts and say would you not have mercy and power against corruption and some evidence of Gods favour Oh say you it is that which we want and it is all that we desire in this world Come then saith Prayer and the Word we will goe to Christ with you there is all fulnesse in him this is the end of all the holy ordinances of God not to make them Saviours but to lead us to a Saviour Vse 2 Secondly as they are guides to lead us to a Christ soe they are meanes to convey grace Of the means mercy and comfort from Christ to our soules Though they are not meate yet they are as dishes that bring the meate They are the meanes whereby salvation hath beene revealed and is conveyed to you There is a fountaine of grace in Christ but the word and prayer and Sacraments and fasting these are the conduites to convey this water of life and to communicate this grace to us You doe not use to drinke the conduite but the water that the conduite bringes Aske that your joy may be full saith our Saviour and so the Lord speakes by the Prophet Esay Esay 55.3 incline your eare and come unto mee heare and your soules shall live As if he had said waite upon God in his word and ordinances and your soules shall live Though the meanes are not life it selfe yet life is conveyed by them In Christ are hid all the treasures of wisedome and knowledge Colloss 2.3 If you would have any grace and holinesse the treasure of it is in Christ The word is as the Indenture or great will of God whereby the treasure of Gods favour is made knowne to your Soules The bond or will is not the treasure but conveyes the treasure to us and makes us have a right and title to it our Saviour saith my peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you and all the promises in Christ are yea and Amen yea that is truth it selfe and Amen that is confimed now you must receive the tenure of all these in Christ And the holy Sacraments are as the broad seales whereby the Covenant of grace is confirmed made authenticall and ratified to your Soules When a man hath much goods and lands and would make an other his heire he passeth his lands or goods over to him by will and if the will is not onely drawne but also sealed then though this will is not the treasure it selfe yet it is a speciall meanes to convey this treasure to the heire that must have it So the Word is the will of God and the Sacraments are the Seales of it and all that mercy and goodnesse in Christ is made knowne to you by the Word and made sure to you by the Sacrament the Word and Sacraments are not this treasure but they are blessed meanes to convey this treasure to your Soules Therefore when your hearts are dead weake and heavy and you begin to breath for some consolation saying who will tell mee how I may have my dead heart quickned and my heavy heart refreshed as David once breathed for the water of Bethlem then mee thinkes the word and prayer and Sacraments doe all say we will goe to the Lord Iesus Christ for all these for you and then Christ will sanctifie you in his word and if you have strong devils hanging upon you fasting and prayer will fetch power and grace from Christ and cast all these devils out So then you see their good use of all these Thirdly the last use of the meanes is this Vse 3 that by the exercise of our selves in them Of the means and by the improvement of our times and meanes we may glorifie the God of grace that hath given us all these meanes and that we may waite upon him with feare and reverence and honor God in his word and come to his table and there partake of the dainties of life and salvation and expresse the virtues of him that hath cald us to this marvellous light that we may see Gods grace in prayer and in professing and delight in the duties of his worship These are all very good uses so then the conclusion is this you must not thinke that your duties can pardon one sinne yet they must be used and blesse God for them and if ever now is a time to improve all these for they are a meanes to leade us to Christ and to convey grace and life from Christ into our soules and thereby we may glorifie the God of grace that hath beene so mercifull to us When we doe despaire of all help in the meanes The second thing that I mentioned is this When shall wee know that our hearts are brought to this passe that the meanes of grace do worke so kindly that our hearts may bee brought to this holy
This is our nature We would faine have something to trade withall but the Lord will keepe the staffe in his owne hand and the Soule is content to have it so He comes sometimes and God will not heare and he goes away and comes againe and then goes away fasting and well contented too See how the poore Woman of Canaan did Shee comes to beg mercy of our Saviour Matth. 15.26 and he said It is not lawfull to cast the children bread to dogs truth Lord saith she I am as bad as thou canst call mee I yeild all I am as vile a sinfull poore creature as ever any was Yet Lord the dogs may eate the crums that fall from their Masters table vers 27. You know the Dog must stay till his Master comes in and when hee is come hee must stay till he sit downe and then till he cut his meate and hee must not have the meate from his trencher neither when he hath stayed all this while he hath nothing but the crums So it is with a poore sinner you must not thinke that God will be at your becke No you must be content with the crums of mercy and pitty and lye under the table till the Lord let the crums fall The humbled soule saith Lord let my condition be never so hard doe what thou wilt with mee let the fire of thy wrath consume mee here onely recover mee hereafter and let me finde mercy and if the time be never so long if at last gaspe I may finde mercy I am content and whatsoever thou givest I blesse thy name for it The Soule doth not quarrell with the Almighty and say Why are not my graces increased and why am not I thus and thus comforted and refreshed Nay it lyes and lookes for mercy and if it have but a crum of mercy it is comforted and quieted for ever Thus the heart is brought very low Why doth the Lord thus bring the heart under Reason is this necessary and requisite Yes it is without all question not onely convenient but very necessary that it should be so And the reason is taken from the nature of the covenant of grace which requires this and without which the covenant of grace could not be fitted for us For the covenant of grace is this Beleeve and live The condition on our part is faith and beleeving Now faith is nothing else but a going out of the Soule to fetch all from another as having nothing of it selfe and therefore this resting in our selves will not stand with the nature of this covenant Now were it so that wee were not resolved to yeild to and to be guided by another it is certaine we could not have our hearts enlarged to goe to that other by whose wisedome and providence we would not be guided and disposed To be in our selves and out of our selves to have power in our selves to dispose of any thing belonging to our spirituall estate and to fetch all from another these are two contraries and therefore cannot stand together To have the dispensation of life and grace in our owne hands to dispose of it as we will it utterly overthrowes the nature of this second Covenant of mercy and grace in Christ For I pray you observe it this I take to be the maine difference betweene the second maine Covenant of grace whereof the Apostle disputes so often And the first Covenant of works which he so often confutes The first Covenant is to Doe and Live This Adam had and if he had stood still he should not have needed any Saviour The second Covenant is Beleeve and Live that is to live by another These two cannot stand together in one and the same Soule at one and the same time The same Soule that is saved by the Covenant of Grace cannot be saved also by the Covenant of Works The Lord in the beginning put the stuffe into Adams hand and he had libertie to dispose of Life and Salvation by reason of that abilitie and that principle of Grace that God had given him for he had perfect knowledge and perfect holinesse and righteousnesse and by the power of these he had libertie freely to please God and to keepe the Law and to be blessed in so doing and if he had done that which hee had power to doe hee might have beene blessed for ever and we all in him but he lost it and so overthrew himselfe and all his posteritie Now we being thus falne in Adam and being deprived of all that holinesse and righteousnesse which Adam had Now the sinner is neither able to fulfill the Law and so to purchase mercy for himselfe nor to satisfie for that which is done amisse A sinner must die and yet he cannot satisfie in dying he is dead in sinnes and trespasses and having lost all that abilitie which Adam had therefore the Soule must goe out of it selfe and since it is so that nothing which he hath or doth can save him he must goe to another that whatsoever is amisse that other may satisfie for it and whatsoever mercy is needfull he may purchase it and whatsoever is to be done he may doe it Now what we have done amisse Christ hath satisfied for it and what we cannot doe Christ hath done it hee hath fulfilled all righteousnesse And hence it is that these two are so professedly opposite the one to the other the Law and Faith The first Adam and the second Adam Consider a passage or two The Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace cannot stand together in the point of Life and Grace As the Apostle saith If it bee of grace Rom. 11.4 then it is no more of works and if it be of works then it is no more of grace As if he had said If a man be saved by grace then he cannot be saved by works and if he be saved by works then be cannot be saved by grace And in another place the same Apostle saith Rom. 4.14 If they which are of the Law be heires faith is made voyd and the promise is of none effect If a man that thinks to merit life by the Law be an heire what needed faith or the promise For it is the nature of faith to goe out to Christ and to receive all from him now if I had enough in my selfe I had no need of Christ and faith were made of none effect You are saved by grace through faith Ephes 2.8 saith the Apostle and that not of your selves There S. Paul brings in a deniall not onely of sinne but of works and saith You are not saved of your selves He doth not say of your sinne but your selves you and your works and all must be renounced and all that you are and doe as any way meritorious and not to bee found in your selves but in Christ before ever you can receive mercy from Christ So I dispute thus There is none that will save us Man nor Angel and
true the Saints of God are sometimes discontented and discouraged but when they see it they are content that the Word should worke upon them against it and they complaine of these wretched hearts and when they finde this discontentednesse they quarrell with themselves for it and a good man would even pull out that heart which quarrels against the Word of God and he saith is not this the Word of God by which we must be saved and is not this the power of Christ and shall I be angry with it God forbid But these distempers are naturall in a carnall man and though he be reprooved for a foolish fashion yet hee will hold his corruptions still he puls and the Minister puls the Minister would pull downe his proud heart and take away his corruptions but he will have his pride and foolish fashions and his corruptions still then keepe them and perish with them and know that thou art a wretched man the humble heart contends with his corruptions and sinfull distempers and hee is not quiet therewith As it is with a treason If it be revealed to a Traitor and a good Subject the Traitor keeps it secret but the true Subject reveales it and complaines of the Traitor and the Treason and calles for justice against them so it is with a gracious good heart Hee seeth these cursed distempers and sometimes finds bublings of heart against the Word of God and this shakes his Free-hold yet when a good heart seeeth the Treason he doth not joyne with it but he complaines to the Lord of it and saith Oh treason Lord this vile heart will bee my destruction good Lord reveale it yet more to mee and take away all these corruptions take thou the possession of mee that I may serve thee here and be with thee for ever hereafter Thus much for the use of Examination Vse 3 Is it so that the heart truly humbled and prepared for mercy is content to be at Gods disposing as you have heard then what shall wee say of those that lift up themselves against the Almightie this discovers the fearefull condition of every such Soule It is certaine the haughtie Soule is furthest of all from Salvation how proove you that hee that is furthest of from Humiliation he is furthest of from the beginning of grace here and from perfection afterward the gate of grace is meerely here for except you become as little children that is except you be humbled you cannot enter into the Kingdome of Heaven a proud heart is farre from grace now and from happinesse in the end of his dayes For the discovery of this mans misery let mee lay open foure particulars and I would have my selfe and you to consider them that our proud hearts may be puld downe First Foure degrees of a proud mans misery Pride is professely against God and is the most directly contrary to the whole beeing of God and that in the whole man Indeed Pride opposeth God all sinnes are nothing else but a kinde of crossenesse to the Lord of Hosts and a kinde of thwarting of some Attribute or other in God As falshood crosseth the Truth of God impatience crosseth the patience of God and injustice crosseth the Iustice of God So that these sinnes goe against the Almightie in their measure some against one Attribute some against another but a proud heart smites at the whole Essence and Being of God Nay he doth as much as in him lyeth labour to take God out of the world and he would be God himselfe and have no God but himselfe The Lord doth principally Attribute two things to himselfe which can bee in none but himselfe God is the first of all causes and the last End of all All things were created by him for himselfe He made all by his Will and Wisedome and by his Wisedome and Providence he governes all for himselfe Before any thing was God was and all must returne tribute of praise and thankesgiving to God A man may be like God in Mercy and in Iustice though not so perfectly yet sincerely and a man may be like God in other of his glorious Attributes but God onely is first and last If it bee a creature then it was made but here is the venome of a proud heart he would be first and last He doth all by his owne power and hee will promote his owne praise in all that he doth As the great King Nebuchadnezzar saith Dan. 4.30 Is not this great Babel that I have built by the might of my power I built it there is the first for the honour of my Majestie there was the last So it is not the wisedome and pleasure of God that must stand but his owne proud heart it must not be what God commands but what he would have all of a proud man is against the Almighty The Saints of God have wondered that the Lord is able to beare a proud man that thus out braves God in regard of his speciall prerogatives it is a wonder that God sends not some lightning from heaven and even stamp them to pouder and send them downe packing to hell suddainely I take this to be the sinne of the devills that are now chayned up in eternall darknesse untill the judgement of the great day nay I take this pride of a mans Spirit of his minde his reason his will and affections to bee an other old man of sinne Drunkennesse is a lymme of this old man and so is adultery and other sinnes but pride is as it were the old man it selfe This is the broader the Spawne and the very mother from whence the sinne against the Holy-ghost growes and there wants nothing but the illumination of the truth to come in upon the heart when a mans understanding is enlightned and this Illumination comes upon the heart and hee is violently carried against the truth with indignation this is the sin against the holy ghost 2. Pride opposeth the covenant of grace Secondly as Pride is opposite to God himselfe so it is opposite to the covenant of grace beleive and live for the truth is that which wee call infidelitie and the ingredients of it are pride as the Apostle saith Rom. 3.7.7 Where is boasting then it is excluded by what Law by the Law of workes no but by the Law of faith If there be beleeving then away with carnall reasoning and with pride Therefore I may say by collection if faith exclude all boasting then pride or boasting opposeth the covenant of faith Faith is excluded by this pride of a mans Spirit and by this swelling of heart and the holy Prophet Habakkuk saith Habak 2.4 the Soule that is lifted up himself is not not upright within him hee that swells and bubles up in his heart and puffes up himselfe against the word of God hee hath no upright Spirit within him but the just man shall live by his faith above all see that place in Esay hearken to
mee all you stout hearted ones of the world which are farre from righteousnesse Esay 26.12 Let mee speake to all you stout hearted men and women that are heere this day you that swell against the truth of Christ and will not come under the power of Gods ordinances you are farre from righteousnesse The further you are gone in this sinne the further you are from the righteousnesse of God A stout hearted man is a thousand miles from righteousnesse Drunkards and adulterers are far enough from it but a proud man is as it were 20. hundreth thousand miles from it hee is far from the covenant of faith Faith goes out for all that it hath to an other it reacheth up to heaven for all it wants meate and nourishment and therefore it goes to Christ for all and pride onely rests upon it selfe for all faith gives the glory of all that it hath to another but pride takes all the glory to its selfe Faith goes to another for strength in what he doth but pride rests upon it selfe for strength So that though all sinnes hinder the worke of faith yet pride hinders it more then any thing You that thinke it a brave matter to be proud and you must not buckle to the Minister and you must doe what you list you are stout-hearted men but you are farre from beleeving men The more faith the lesse pride and the more pride the lesse faith 3. A proud soule is farre from mercy Thirdly As pride opposeth God himselfe and as it opposeth the covenant of grace so it followes from the two former that the proud Soule upon these conditions that it is in shall never receive any grace from the Lord. Set your hearts at rest for that You may swell and lift up your selves but if ever you receive the worke of grace and mercy upon these termes I will bee your bond-man for ever For he that is professely contrary to the grace of God that gives all and he that is contrary to the covenant of grace by which all is conveyed let him set his heart at rest for ever receiving any mercy The Lord himselfe is not able to endure the sight of a haughty spirit he cannot looke upon him much lesse will he live with him He beholds the proud man a farre off hee drives a proud man farre from heaven Psal 138.6 The Lord deales by a proud man as a man doth that is carried with indignation against his enemy he will not looke upon him So it is with the Lord hee will not be within the ken of a proud man and if the Lord doe come neere a proud man woe to him that he doth so The Lord resists the proud Hee whets all the sharpest arrowes of his vengeance and shuts them all against a proud man You broken hearts consider this The Lord gives grace to the humble but the proud man must be content with his portion he shall be resisted not received he shall be resisted not converted nor saued nor sanctified Hee may bid farewell to all grace hee shall never have it upon those termes and as God intends no good to him so a proud man comes not within the scope of mercy nor of that redemption which Iesus Christ hath wrought and purchased Christ came not to call the righteous that is them that looke loftily in regard of what they do You stout hearted people thinke of it The Lord Christ came not to call you The devill calls and you may goe to him but Christ came to call and save the poore broken hearted sinners It is said of Christ That hee was annointed of the Lord Esa 61.1 2 3. to preach the glad tidings of the Gospell to whom to the meeke c. You meekened Soules shall heare good newes from heaven But there is not any one sillable of one promise in all the Gospel that any proud spirit can conceive to belong unto him If I could seperate all the good from the bad I would have the good to stand by and heare these good newes that I have for them and if you proud hearts will come in and yeild they may be yours too You that tremble at Gods Word and are willing to doe what God shall command if there be any such here this day as I doubt not but there are many then know that the Sonne of man came to seeke and save you it is good tidings Nay in the Lord Iesus Christ are all the Treasures of wisedome and knowledge and out of this fulnesse of holinesse and happinesse he fills all your meeke hearts and hee will give all grace according to your necessities here is newes of salvation life and comfort from heaven But to whom is it Christ came to seeke and save them that are lost that is them that are lost in their owne apprehension but the proud man was never lost in himselfe A lost man in the Wildernesse is content to be guided into his right way but the proud man saith hee will be filthy and fashionable still therefore hee was never lost and Christ never came to seeke nor save him All meanes doe a proud man no good All the meanes of Grace that God gives will never benefit a proud man So that now it is as possible nay more possible for heaven and earth to meete together then for a proud man to come to heaven except God give him a heart to stoope No man can receive benefit by the word except he be under the power of it if the wax be not under the Seale how can it receive any impression As the Apostle saith Rom 6.17 They were delivered into the forme of that doctrine propounded The forme of the Gospell tooke place in their hearts There is no Soule can get any benefit by the Gospell but hee must receive what it reveales and what it commands hee must doe and what it forbids he must labour to avoyd but a proud heart is above all meanes and therefore the word will not nay it cannot worke savingly on him As those wicked ones said Our tongues are our owne we ought to speake Psal 11.4 who is Lord over us What reproofe shall awe me saith a proud heart I will be led by my owne lusts Your owne reason leades you and your owne wills rules you your owne mindes and your lusts and what your hearts will have they must have You stout hearted ones that are resolved not to yield nor to come under the grace of God you will not have your affections framed nor made more teachable then seeing you will not bee taught be for ever deluded goe your way and be for ever hardned and for ever cast off from the presence of God and goe downe to the bottomlesse pit you will have your owne wills therefore goe to your owne places for that 's all you can have You that are the faithfull of God and know any such mourne for them Fourthly Againe 4. A proud